Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category

Just beware of web design companies!!

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

It has been a while since I have added to the page, but a few things have changed recently so I have a bit more time to focus on the important aspects of ebusiness.

A recent call revealed that an acquaintance had been off and had a website developed. The company in question didn’t do search engine optimisation, which is a shame as this is critical in developing a site. I have said it before and will say it again there are a few key elements to a site which are vital from an SEO stand point.

1. Ensure that each page has appropriate titles and that they are not the same across the whole site. Google prefers that they are not the same, as this indicates that the content is the same across all the pages. Titles should be unique.

2. Please ensure that you have the ability, if they are not their already, to add tags to existing/new content. Specifically marking certain parts of the page with h1 tages is key.

3. If you are buying a site with a content management system (please do it will save you money in the long run) then ensure it has access to elements such as the page titles, meta keywords and meta description. The meta description is still the call to action from the search results page. If you can’t add something, then Google will randomly select some other stuff from the page which may not be an appropriate message for a potential customer.

4. Web design companies are very good at ‘designing’ websites, please be aware that a website should be part of wider marketing strategy, making it look good is a tiny proportion of the whole story. Content and keywords are going to be critical. 
If you have any questions related to this then do contact me for more information.
By Michael Bates 
Director of MSI Commerce - an internet marketing company 

Posted in SEM, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, company website, marketing | No Comments »

The benefits of email newsletters

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

I have just spent some time trawling the net looking for some statistics on the benefits of an email newsletter. To my suprise I haven’t found anything to report back on.

“Hang on.” do I hear you say, “There are tons of stats out there.”

Yes indeed there are, but none are specific on the benefits of just a newsletter. No sales, no offers just a business talking about what they have been up to. This might be that some of the largest email senders are retailers. Hardly suprising as there are stats that offer figures like $50+ per dollar spent (sorry for the dollars). Impressive figures.

But what about the humble enewsletter? I have worked with a company who, on launching their site, sent out a newsletter talking about the site launch and the what they had been up to. The response was 2 enquiries from a cold (first email) list of 400. The numbers are low, but then they aren’t in retail.

I will shortly be launching a round of newsletters from my own business and will be looking to report back on the response. I will continue to look round to find the stats but there are the obvious benefits:

1. Keeps the customer up to date with your industry developments, this can be useful as it proves that you are adding value to your services, which they can benefit from.
2. Keeps them informed of what you are doing in the market.
3. Reminds them that you are there. Which in todays market is vital.

The other point is that some businesses don’t suit a sales letter, as the customer base probably wouldn’t accept it. Some work with a fine wine company revealed that their customers expect the personalised phone service that the business has been built on, to switch to a swarm of marketing emails would downgrade the brand.

Let me know if you have any feedback on the newsletters.

Posted in e-business, eBusiness, eMail marketing, marketing, online strategy | No Comments »

Developing eNoise

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

The web provides a great way of generating some eNoise for your business. e-what I hear you cry.


The internet has numerous channels for interacting with your audience. An example would be a blog similar to this one where you can post you ideas and thoughts and allow others to comment.

There are many other similar outlets that allow you to generate a buzz around your company and many of them are free. Search for networking opportunities online and you will find hundreds varying in size from regional sites (business scene) to multi nationals such as LinkedIn.

Most are free to join and some will let you publish articles and general ramblings for free. I have recently joined a number of these as a means of generating some online activity for my site. Business Scene offers the chance for local face to face networking which can be a great channel for driving traffic to your website through your business cards.

Other ways for generating a community around your business include the generation of groups on sites. These are more appropriate for some businesses rather than others. An example would be Facebook, here you can generate a group and showcase your products and company.

As with any online activity there is an overhead associated with it all so you need to choose the one that is most appropriate for your audience, don’t be afraid to ask your customers where they look.

Posted in eBusiness, marketing | No Comments »

eMail Marketing

Friday, May 16th, 2008

My recent experience of this with one of our partner companies has shown that as well as customising the offering in the email to segments of your customer base, you also need to be playing with other aspects of the mail to see what works. Don’t expect instant success either building familiarity with customers takes time.

Here are a few examples

  • Alter the subject of the email to find what works best, different calls to action work for different customers. Consider using product names in the subject line as these can be of more interest than another sale.
  • Typically the email offers similar links into a site as might be seen on site menu system, however with limited space this cannot be identical. Therefore make sure the menus maximise the opportunity for that segment, if you are promoting jeans in the email replace the jeans link with another sales opportunity.
  • The best time for sending an email campaign needs to be established over time. Don’t believe what you read on the web that Tuesday’s are the best or Wednesday’s or … if you look hard enough you will find every time is best.

Posted in customer segmentation, eMail marketing, marketing | No Comments »

eCommerce During a Recession

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

eCommerce sites provide an excellent form of marketing during economic downturn. When the high street is starting to feel the pinch it is guaranteed that shoppers will be heading online looking for greater value.

The internet also offers a wider source of customers than you might receive from your other channels, obviously the market is virtually world wide.

However simply having a site isn’t going to be sufficient, it is now that extra work is required in order to capture market share at a time when others might be starting to cut back. Investment in search engine optimisation and pay per click advertising will prove money well spent when you start to build your customer base.

eBusiness also offers a cheaper alternative for keeping in touch with your customers. Email marketing is a very cheap method for keeping in contact with your customers and shouldn’t be ignored. It does need to be combined with data from other sources to gain the most value though. Providing personalised and segmented emails to your customers is a great way of showing them that you care. Similar to the mail that comes through the door people pay more attention to mail that is relevant to them.

Many view marketing as an expense that can be cut to save money. I have personally witnessed the implications of such a mistake, a company I worked for previously saw a drop in sales for 6 months, due to reduced marketing activity.

Posted in business strategy, eBusiness, marketing, online strategy | No Comments »

Customer Proposition

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Having identified your target customers, this could be one or more segments, you are looking to build up a proposition(s) that either suits one or more of the groups. If you look at your segments and their characteristics, from a market point of view, there are likely to be a number to a few that over lap. Where this occurs you can start to group some of the segments.

If you already have an ecommerce site then this stage of the segmentation can be slightly easier than just from a retail channel. Internet sites provide such a wealth of information that are key in delivering targeted products and services. If you are just using Google Analytics to track customers it can be a bit trickier.

Look to build a proposition that suits each of your segments this will include the product and the promotional structure offered to the groups. With an eCommerce site this will be the products offered in a particular category and the cross sells that are offered along side a particular product. Today’s sites should allow the site to be tuned to individual customer requirements -including the home page, order of products on the category page and the recommendations to customers on the product page.

Posted in Google Analytics, customer segmentation, eCommerce, marketing | No Comments »

Building The Customer Proposition Through Segmentation

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

In order for a business to generate new revenue opportunities or to encourage our customers to spend more with us, we need to examine who our customers are. If you haven’t done a segmenation exercise in your business it can be quite challenging, especially when the segments seem to blend into one.

I recently completed one for my business, in the end I chose to break down the market by size of business, as I am working in a B2B environment. It took a while to find some useful market data, but a good trawl across the internet can usually uncover some interesting stats. The UK government typically has statistics on major industries, otherwise look in trade press and other internet sites to find what you are looking for. Esentially you are looking for a supported analysis of your markets. (Here we seen a good example of how businesses make use of IT in day to day business. The internet can be an excellent source of marketing data and if you cannot find public domain information it can be a great way to source a supplier. )

Segmenting customers is vital in all businesse, but provides great opportunities for those with an eCommerce channel. Having identified customer segments you can attribute sales and enquiries to the various groups to build a picture of their value. This then allows you to focus your resources on the most valuable groups.

Posted in customer segmentation, e-business, eBusiness, marketing | No Comments »