Events @ GTS Blog

Winning with Local Internet Marketing

mikej — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:55:01 GMT

Last week, I was asked to speak at The Independent Glass Association's (IGA) 2009 Marketing Conference at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The day-long conference focused on branding, social media, television and radio media buying, value-selling, and my topic "Internet Marketing: Optimizing Your Local Search". The presentation was very well received and the feedback provided by the attendees suggested that it would be worthwhile to share the content with the "GTS Community".

At a high-level, the presentation focused on how independent automotive replacement glass company owners can compete against a national chain that is investing significant dollars in national television and on-line advertising to capture market share. These glass company owners can not only compete with a national chain on-line, they can win. More specifically, independent owners can leverage what they have that the competition does not - local stores, local brand awareness, and involvement in their local communities.

It is estimated that 40% of all Internet searches (via search engines like Google) include "Local Intent". In other words, an on-line search aimed at finding something within a specific geographic area and typically seeking information online with the intention of making a transaction offline. In our industry, anything on-line that traditionally was sought in the printed yellow pages.

In a Google results page, relevant local establishments providing the goods and/or services the searcher is searching for are most prominently displayed on page-1 with Google Maps and accompanying local business listings. It is important that you optimize your business to appear at the top of these local business listings when a potential customer is looking for a good or service that you provide WHERE you provide it - for example, windshield repair in downtown Denver.

I shared with the attendees what we believe are the "Top 5" actions glass shop owners can take to kick-start their local Internet marketing strategy. It is important to understand that when GTS manages a client's local Internet marketing strategy we routinely manage over 40 specific items on a monthly basis to optimize our clients business listing and mitigate any algorithm changes that occur at the major search engines. However, we wanted to share the "Top 5" actions that are widely accepted as important first steps to launching a focused local Internet marketing strategy.

So, here is a very abbreviated look at our "Top 5":

#1. Claim your business listing in Google's Local Business Center (Click Here to Access): This is a Free listing where local customers already search Google for the products and services you offer. From here you can create a business listing to be sure they find you and keep your address, phone number, hours of operation, and more up-to-date.

#2. Leverage your Local Business Listing Address in City of Search: Have a physical location and address in the city that is relevant to the search (w/s repair Denver).

#3. Make sure your business information is accurate with the Major Data Providers: A great way to learn more and utilize a very cost-effective service is http://www.universalbusinesslisting.org/

#4. Connect to 3rd party local blogs, industry directories, and local sites: Mentions of your business and locations on community blogs, directories, and sites (chamber of commerce, etc.) will drive improved ranking.

#5. Customer Reviews: The more on-line reviews about your business and specific locations, the better.

Soon we will have a recorded version of the presentation in the Internet Marketing section of the GTS community. Feel free to check back for a more detailed exploration of each tactic. If you absolutely can't wait....feel free to eMail me at mikej@gtsservices.com with any questions.

Social Media Best Practices

wendym — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:00:58 GMT

With social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter being all the rage lately, there are bound to be questions about how these popular online tools should be deployed in a business environment. Some companies fully embrace social media, creating Facebook and MySpace profiles and pages, Twitter accounts, and using them to interact with customers, as well as advertise to potential customers, and manage their online reputation. Here are some best practices for implementing social media in your company.

DO use Social Media as a customer service tool. Your customers—and potential customers—are already talking about you online. To their Facebook friends, on their blog or via Twitter. Why not become a part of those conversations? If a customer has a gripe, they are much more likely to post something about it online, and social media is an increasingly popular place for online rants, especially about customer service. Social media is a great way to manage your online reputation. By engaging people who may have experienced a less than optimal situation with your company, you can greatly reduce the amount of negativity associated with your company and brand. Resolving issues in plain view of the general public goes miles towards building a reputation for transparency, as well as building trust in your company/brand. Comcast has been particularly successful at using Twitter to resolve customer issues.

DON’T use social media for recycling data or automated feed dumping. Nothing is worse than a company reposting the same thing that is on their website on their Facebook page or Twitter feed all the time. Linking to the website or blog post from your page/feed is great, but always save some unique information for social media. You want to engage your audience, not recycle information. One recommended use would be posting an online coupon just for your Facebook friends/fans, or Twitter followers. Make sure it is a ‘limited time only’ offer, to ensure the coupon isn’t abused. Some other potential uses would be “web only” deals or specials, free gifts, or complimentary services and perks.

DO be conversational. Monitor your pages and feeds (most social media sites offer email notification for this), and interact with your customers. With Twitter, use “@username” replies and “re-tweet” interesting and relevant posts as much as possible. On Facebook, respond to questions or requests for information on your company or its products. When someone has a gripe, respond publicly, and use the opportunity to show you are human, and willing to work with someone to resolve an issue.

DO have fun and be human. Give your customers some personality to enjoy. Being a social media automaton is not going to get you any fans or followers, and could even hurt your potential to gain new customers. Make social media fun and interesting to your fans and followers, and they will think of you first when they need your product or service.

DON’T be rude or condescending to people online, even if they are a troll or are trying to flame you. Most things posted online can remain there indefinitely. Having rude interactions with people online won’t win you new customers, and will just remind everyone that you didn’t handle a situation appropriately. If needed, you can always appeal to moderators or help staff of the social media platform for help with trolls and people who flame you online.

DON’T share sensitive information. If you are managing a social media presence for your company, you definitely don’t want to post things about layoffs, gossip, and other sensitive or potentially harmful information. Avoid things that could put your company in a negative light, or cause distrust among your potential customers. That’s just common business sense!

DON’T let your page, profile or Twitter stream go stagnant. Social media is all about engagement, and creating a profile or page, and then letting it sit there, is not going to do you any benefit. Post links to interesting articles in your industry. Ask questions, post surveys, contests and/or special offers…anything to engage your fans and get them thinking about your company and its offerings.

Use of social media is growing at an exponential rate. What are you doing to capitalize on these exciting new online tools? Are you doing enough?

Can Your Customers Find you online? (Local Search)

wendym — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:45:08 GMT

Much has been written about advertising on the Internet, and using search engines to get customers to your website, but can those customers really find you in your town? An easy (and free) tool many business owners don’t take advantage of is the “local search” listing section of the major Search Engines.

What is local search? Simply put, local search is a listing within the search engine’s maps database for your business. It is important to note that local business listings are only valid for businesses that have a real physical location. “Virtual” or “mobile” locations are typically not allowed. Local business listings include the company’s name, address, phone number(s), website address, and even hours of business and services offered. And best of all, they are FREE!

As an added bonus, local listings are shown in the local business results section within the regular search engine results page. A Google “10-Box” local business results section is shown below, for the search “commercial roofing products” near Portland, Oregon.

Chances are, your company already has a local business listing on Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Live Search, even if you didn’t enter that information yourself. Here’s why: The major search engines take business information posted on other websites. Data from business review websites, like CitySearch.com, Yelp.com and MerchantCircle.comis imported by the search engines for this purpose as well.

In the example below, the local business listing was created from listings on Super Pages and Dex Knows, and has not been claimed or edited by the business owner. There are 8 additional web pages that mention the company (ABC Supply), and 2 pages of user-generated content, typically blog posts, that also reference the business somewhere online. This business has not received any reviews online, positive or negative.

Some questions to consider about your local business listings:

· Do they exist in the 3 major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN/Live)?

· Is the information they contain correct and relevant to your business?

· Have you claimed your business listing in each of the major engines?

Yes, all of the major engines allow, and actually prefer, business owners to claim their local listings. To quickly find out if your local business listings have been claimed, visit GetListed.org and enter your businesses name and zip code. GetListed.org even gives you easy links to claim your listing in each search engine.

Once you have submitted a claim request to each engine, the engines will verify that you are indeed the business owner by calling you or mailing you a letter with a unique code that must be entered into the listing. After you have verified your ownership and claimed the listing, you are free to edit your listing information. Here are some tips to consider when you do this:

· Make your listings as accurate as possible.

· Place your listing in as many appropriate categories or types as possible in each engine’s local business center.

· Solicit positive reviews from customers! If a customer thanks you for doing a great job, ask them to review your business on Google, CitySearch, Yelp, or other review sites. A good idea would be to create postcards for your company, with the URLs to your local business listing, Yelp, CitySearch, etc…to make it easy for them to find you on those popular review sites.

Total number of reviews, as well as amount of additional user content and web pages helps the local listing to rise within the “10 Box” results section. Note that while negative reviews are not good for the company’s reputation, they do actually help the listing get better rankings in local search, and provide a way for the company to address customer issues publicly, which increases trust.

In review, it is very important to have a good local search strategy in place for your business. You can start by following the tips below:

1. Go to GetListed.org and check your local listings.

2. Claim each listing.

3. Edit/update each listing.

4. Solicit user feedback in the form of reviews and user generated content (blog posts, etc).

5. Ensure your full business address is located on your website.

What is Your New Year's Resolution?

mikej — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:03:32 GMT

I have been avoiding this....but, the Super Bowl is over (Go Steelers!). The groundhog saw his shadow. I need to accept that 2009 is here and make a New Year's resolution. I'm not sure what is holding me back this year. Maybe the uncertainty of what lies ahead in the economy, etc. Regardless, 2008 is history and it is time to focus on overcoming what lies ahead to deliver a better performance than last year.

I have been speaking with a lot of our customers about this and I am finding out that I am not alone. One thing is certain, all of us need to focus on actions that will enable our companies to emerge from this downturn stronger than the competition. Most of my conversations have focused on conservation of cash or launching projects to improve productivity and reduce costs. Some of our customers are investing heavily in marketing during this time in an effort to build their brand and pull in customers that can later become loyal advocates for their service. These are the most interesting conversations given that many companies cut their marketing budgets to reduce expenses whenever times get tough.

These companies are focused on ROI for their marketing investment. This is not the time to create a beautiful brochure that everyone likes unless it can be proven that it drives sales. Many of these firms are shifting their marketing investments on-line so that they gain visibility into what drives new business and what does not.

Based on what I have learned from these companies I offer you the following 5 possible New Year resolutions in case you are like me, still struggling to pick one:

1. I will establish an on-line presence – This is at least half the battle. Establish a budget, allocate the funds, define your site's business objectives, and dedicate the people necessary to make it happen.

2. I will engage and delight those who visit my website – Each customer’s experience should lead them down a path. A path that ends in a sale. Based on your knowledge of your target customer, what content will keep their eyes glued to your site? What will make them take that next step towards the sale. In the autoglass market GTS tool www.glassquoter.com has proven to be a viable interactive solution for on-line consumers.

3. I will capitalize on my company's reputation – Your customers are conserving cash just like you for fear of what the future may hold. They can’t afford to spend money with a company that they do not trust. Capitalize on your good reputation and community involvement in your marketing messages. Activate your loyal customers and word-of-mouth recommendations with an e-mail campaign, on-line blog or customer review section on your website.

4. I will fail quickly – Because web marketing is real-time it provides an inexpensive way to experiment and come up with creative ways to close business. You can quickly implement a new tactic or promotion and see results. If an idea is successful immediately test a slight variation of the idea to see if you can outdo the last one. If something is going to fail, do it quickly and then move on. It is all about ROI and continuously improving to drive better results.

5. I will seek expert advice – This is not a sales pitch! Your budget can be wiped out quickly if you don't know what you are doing. Expert advice is available for free on the Internet if you have the time to do the research. Or, find someone with digital marketing as their core competency. This will let you focus on your business while they help you bring on-line buyers to your company's doorstep.

Does Marketing work in this economy?

wendym — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:16:05 GMT

We all know what’s happening in the economy. We’re living it. Homeowners are in trouble. Home buyers are nowhere to be found. Banks aren’t lending. Consumers aren’t spending. The sky is fall. Responsible businesses are slashing spending across the board to ride out the storm… Or are they? Or should they be?

Penn State’s Smeal College of Business * study, “Turning Adversity Into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing During a Recession Pay Off?" , finds that companies that proactively market during a recession not only survive but thrive. Marketing dollars spent during a down economy are more powerful than the same amount spent during the good times, because each dollar represents a greater percentage of the marketing pie.

This isn’t time to launch a huge branding campaign, but it is the time to weigh every penny against results. Just getting your name out there isn’t enough. Accountability is important in every aspect of your business. Marketing shouldn’t get a pass.

· How many people are seeing/hearing your advertisement? (If you can’t answer this you’re losing money!)

· How many people are responding to your ad?(Same as above!)

· Your buyers have changed the way the research and buy. Have you? Forrester Research found that in the next six months 26 percent of interactive marketers plan to increase their interactive marketing investments and 46 percent will maintain them at current levels. GTS' own Mike Jones has a great blog post on this subject.

What have you found that works? Are you doing enough?

*I sincerely apologize to my fellow University of Pittsburgh alumni for noting a Penn State Study. I tried desperately to find something from anywhere else. (It could be worse. It could be West Virginia).

Survive the Downturn with Internet Marketing

mikej — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:21:00 GMT

It is brutal out there. Banks won’t lend to each other, consumers are holding back spending uncertain of the future, and companies are cutting back as they have lost faith that consumers will buy.

Although times are tough, history has shown us that companies that invest wisely in marketing during economic downturns can steal market share and strengthen brand image.

You only have so much budgeted for marketing. A wise move in 2009 might be to shift some of those marketing dollars on-line. Internet marketing can prove more cost effective, targeted and measurable than traditional advertising.

Here are five on-line marketing strategies that I believe can help you survive the downturn to emerge stronger and ahead of the competition.

Demand Accountability and ROI

Is data driving your marketing? Do not rest until the value from your marketing plans and activities can be quantified and measured.

By using web analytic tools you can see how visitors found you and interacted with your site. You can determine what messages work and don’t work. And by integrating your on-line efforts with your off-line advertising you can deliver consistent, planned messages to move buyers comfortably through the decision making process.

Test, test, and re-test. The web provides an inexpensive way to experiment and come up with creative ways to engage customers and prospects. Continue to iterate and test focusing on continuous improvement.

Leverage Search Engines

Although the market is tough, buyers still need information on what to buy, where to buy it and who is providing the best deal. And today, over 80% of consumers and businesspeople turn to search engines to get the information they require.

Traditionally, we try to interrupt potential buyers with our advertisements to get their attention. On search engines you serve up an ad that is relevant to exactly what they are researching. Ads are actually welcomed by the buyer.

Build Your Brand On-line

Determine where your target customer is performing research and consuming on-line content for advertising opportunities to hammer home your value proposition.

Stay Close to Customers

By participating in or spending time exploring social sites and blogs that relate to your company’s demographic or target customer you can learn more about their needs and your competition. You can merely listen in or even contribute.

Focus on Trust

Buyers are generally skeptical of marketing messages and advertising. And now, the economy is delivering a major blow to consumer and business confidence. Because they have limited funds the risk of buying the wrong product or service is increased. They need to turn to companies and brands they can trust.

In today’s connected marketplace it is more critical than ever to leverage the fact that consumers trust each other more than they do marketers. One bold move you can take is to allow customer ratings and reviews on your Website. Although the possibility of negative comments may make you nervous, buyers will appreciate your company’s openness and vulnerability.

This economic downturn will be difficult. But, there is an opportunity for those that choose to act.

NACE (International Autobody Congress & Exposition) 2008- Las Vegas

wendym — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:16:16 GMT

It is hard to believe NACE was a month ago already! I had hoped to post a recap for everyone as soon as we got back to Portland. It’s been a whirlwind since we returned, partly because NACE was such a great show for us.

Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week (AAIW) took place in Las Vegas November 3-8. AIA consists of three main shows: AAPEX, SEMA and NACE.

To kick the week off our friends at Aquapel were exhibiting at AAPEX and allowed us to spend time in their booth to meet with customers and prospects. Anyone who hasn’t already really needs to check out Aquapel rain repellant. I’ve tried the others, and they don’t come close to stacking up! Aquapel is amazing! www.aquapel.com

We were able to slip away and spend some time at SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association). What an overwhelming spectacle SEMA is: 2 Million square feet of exhibits, well over 100,000 people and all kinds of outrageous hotrods & parts that I can’t even describe. The one that sticks in my mind was this crazy motorcycle meets batmobile thing (like I said hard to describe).

With the week in full swing, NACE began November 5^th. GTS’ Internet Marketing Services team had a lot to show off:

· ScoreMyWebsite – This tool continues to be a wealth of information for our customers and prospects. If you haven’t already, check it out now. You can read more about it here

· Speaking engagements—It is great to share our expertise with the industry, and it is always well received.

o NACE- 11/5 We focused on strategies for using online marketing to push offline success.

o NWRA- 11/7 We focused on ways to get immediate return on your Marketing dollar

o IGA- 11/8 We covered advanced strategies for gaining online presense

If you are interested in viewing any of these presentations, please let us know.

· Sonic Rocks- GTS gave away “Sonic Rocks” at our booth. What are Sonic Rocks?

They’re fun and addictive magnetic rocks that you toss in the air to make noise. They were a huge hit! People were coming from far and wide to find GTS to get noise makers. No matter where you were on the NACE exhibit floor you could hear someone playing with their Sonic Rocks.

How is this relevant to GTS’ Internet Marketing Services? It’s simple. Marketing is all about getting noticed. We did it! We have new customers coming in the door today, because we got their attention. Are you doing enough to get noticed? Are people able to find you?

A whirlwind week to say the least!

Can't Make the Client Conference? (How to sneak in the back door)

kevinj — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:18:08 GMT

Are you not able to make this year's Client Conference? That's too bad because we are going to have a great time. But, hey - maybe next year!

We don't want you to miss out on ALL the fun, so we have done or will be doing a number of things to help you feel a part of the festivities:

I will be blogging each day's activities that week. From setup to sessions, from Vegas life to being totally wiped out at the end. Be sure to check back to find little bits of information and any announcements we may just have (teaser...).
A community for the Client Conference was created to house all the information: course materials and handouts, schedules, discussions, etc. Feel free to browse around and grab any of the information out there. Sure, it is not as good as actually being there, but at least you will be able to share in some of the learning and information.
Notes from the roundtable sessions will be taken and posted. There will be some great information there!
During our stay we will be taking pictures and posting them up on Flickr, a photo sharing site. In this community you will be able to see them all and hopefully attend vicariously with us.
Of course, some of the most valuable information comes from the discussions you would have with other attendees. And we don't want the end of the conference to end the conversation. We want to carry those discussions past the conference. Feel free to join any of the discussions we have in the Client Conference community - network with others who were able to attend.

So be sure to join us (online) for a great conference. We will miss seeing your face, but hopefully won't miss your participation!

My Company Doesn't need a Digital Strategy.....Or, does it?

mikej — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:49:19 GMT

Last week I attended the Internet Strategy Forum's (ISF) Summit West. ISF is a nonprofit global professional organization dedicated to development, research and thought leadership among senior Internet decision-makers. Like all the Internet Marketing conferences I attend I go in with moderate expectations and leave totally blown away. The reason for this can be summed up best by quoting Robert Liodice, CEO Association of National Advertisers, "The amount of change in marketing over the last 3-5 years probably equals the amount of change over the past 30 years."

You remember the "Intel inside" commercials on TV, right? Have you seen one lately? No, because Intel has shifted its' advertising spend so that 70% of the dollars are now invested on-line. And they aren't the only one. According to every research firm, online advertising spending in the US surpassed radio in 2007 and is projected to pass consumer magazines in 2008. In fact, it is the only segment of advertising spending that is growing!

Why are they investing in on-line marketing and advertising? The number one reason is that on-line marketing is the most cost-effective approach and provides traceable, measurable positive and negative responses from consumers. No other medium does that. And, with the economic challenges we are faced with in 2008, understanding the return on our marketing dollars is essential.

Further fueling the requirement to invest in on-line marketing is the fact that consumers have modified their service expectations and altered their buying decision-making process based on their on-line experiences. In October 2007 a Nielsen survey asked consumers to rate their level of "trust" with different media formats - Brand Websites ranked more trustworthy than radio, television and magazines. And don't you love checking out on-line user reviews before you buy something? On a scale from 1 (low trust) to 10 (high trust) consumers rated "strangers with experience" an 8 in a 2007 University of Massachusetts study up from a 4 rating 10 years ago.

Bottom line, we can't ignore the on-line consumer and we have to figure out what role the Internet plays in our marketing strategy.