Email Marketing

Author Archive for Heike

Sep
17

The run down on Virtual Events

by Heike

Virtual Events are all the hype today, especially for the entrepreneurs among us who want to build their list of prospective clients and fill their database with valuable “warm” contact details of people who already show on interest in our services and products!

Have you ever wondered if a virtual event is something that you could benefit from?

A virtual event

  • can help you reach out further than your own town or city because you can invite people from all over the world with your message
  • a virtual can help you build a list of “warm” prospects who already love what you may have to offer, so conversion into active purchases of your services and goods may be a bit easier
  • virtual events can give you credibility because prospects hear first hand what you know about your chosen topics
  • this also adds to your expert status
  • you get your name out quickly for quality content
  • it’s a great tool for market research: you see how many people attend and hear their most pressing questions making it much easier for you to create the right services for your clients
  • it’s cheaper to organize than a live event where you have to book a room or hall, provide seating, nibbles, drinks, etc.
  • the virtual event can actually become a passive income product in no time: simply record the event and offer it on your website!
  • people who get to know on the event start bonding with you, the all important “I know, like and trust you” effect can happen much easier than only reading an ebook written by you
  • it’s very convenient for people to learn from you without having to travel or interrupt their daily activities
  • prospects can decide just at the last minute if they want to attend, great for those busy people you want to attract
  • virtual events can be profitable if you charge for them, even with only a few people attending because the set up costs can be quite low
  • the event helps you get more and more confident with speaking and “entertaining” prospects; you learn to keep people interested because a lot of virtual event software shows you when people get distracted, when they are most engaged, etc.
  • it’s a great training to later organize big live events and a whole lot easier to fill your seats in the live seminar because people know the immense value you offer

What counts as a virtual event?

Virtual events can be

  • Teleseminars
  • Webinars
  • Live radio shows
  • Live video shows
  • any live presentation that uses the computer, phone or video

Why would you do a live event, rather than offer a recorded audio or video?

I know it’s more convenient and easier for the shy ones among us to simply record an audio and post if on our website, but virtual events with you on LIVE are very powerful because

  • people bond easier with you because they feel you are there for them, they can talk to you and you answer their questions
  • they are interactive, at least the Questions and Answers section, usually at the end of the presentation
  • people love being part of a group event (when using a chat function as some software offers)
  • you really come across as the expert in your niche
  • you can experiment with topics and finetune them before you may attempt to organize a more expensive live event or create a high cost program

You see virtual events have many advantages. Virtual events are great to give yourself the status of the expert, you can interview someone else or even a group of people to make it interesting or get started in the whole game, you can offer live trainings or coaching without having to book a seminar room, you can do virtual events to launch a new product or service with a high possibility of prospects signing up with you.

Now the all important question most entrepreneurs new to virtual events ask: how do I organize a virtual event?

Your virtual marketing support can help you organize a virtual event easily and make it all run smoothly. Your virtual assistant (VA) discusses what you have in mind with you and can make suggestions of what kind or virtual event would be most suitable for the topic and which software is best to use for it. If you want to hold a virtual event, but are not quite sure on which topic, your VA can also brainstorm with you as she often knows of successful topics in the industry, so you can benefit from her experience.

After getting to a topic that would be most useful for your prospects and matches your products and services, the VA will start to draft a project plan. You will give her the content about you want to talk and she organizes everything that needs to be done to organize this special event. She will research different software and come up with costings for services, if you wish, or she already knows what service is best for your unique situation.

Organizing a virtual does not only rerquire technical and content creating tasks, it also involves the marketing part

Organizing a virtual event is not only about the technical and content parts, it’s all about marketing, otherwise you will have no one on the call (Which by the way is actually not the worst that can happen as you still have a great recording that you can re-run or sell as a product!). But you want to have people on the call to be most interactive and answer prospects questions to show them how you can help them.

The VA knows how to launch a virtual event, create the timeline, and work back from the date of event to the preparation pieces. She will give you advice on where to promote it, how to promote it and how often. The VA can also help you release bits of information and snippets you will talk about in the virtual events to create curiosity among your target market.

The VA then organizes all call in information, supports prospects who sign up with their questions and test the software with you. She will have some test calls with you so you feel comfortable. Most of the time she will actually be part of the virtual event to help you get it done properly, watch the chat panel, moderate and record (and make sure it actually IS recorded).

After the event the VA works on the recording, might even edit parts of it and transforms it into a product that you can offer straight away to get more enrollments in your promoted product or service than only the people that were on the call. She also can do customer services and screen calls and emails in regards to the offered product or service, answering those herself (with the information you provide her with) and sort out enrollments.

If your head is spinning right now you can actually relax as most VAs do know the nitty gritty on virtual events pretty well and run through most of the steps herself easily. All you need to do is to create the content and show up at the date of the event!

 

 

 

Categories : Teleseminar, Virtual Assistant, Virtual events
Sep
16

“Help, my VA wants to change from hourly rates to packages”

by Heike

If you’ve heard your  Virtual Assistant (VA) saying that she is changing her business model and going away from the hourly rate, you may be surprised and hit with some shock.You feel the hourly rate worked, at least more or less, and you knew exactly what you could afford monthly or weekly and now you feel the jitters of uncertainty. Will you be able to afford to pay for those packages and get the same amount of work done as before?

If you wonder why many VAs are changing to service packages, here are some reasons:

  • Because VAs often experience their clients rushing them with tasks to pay less, feeling they can’t achieve a good enough result in a short timeframe 
  • Because VAs feel bad when a task takes longer than expected and they know that the business owner will scrutinize their time sheets in a way that doesn’t establish trust and understanding
  • Because some VAs are amazingly fast workers, some are very slow and most VAs are in the middle, meaning that it’s really hard to estimate how long a task will take, espcially when you hire a multi VA firm with different people working on the team
  • Because every VA has extraordinary skills in one or two areas and is a bit weaker in others, so the weaker ones may take a bit more time, but overall she is an amazing worker, very reliable and does her best to help building her clients’ businesses
  • Because sometimes out of the ordinary circumstances happen and technology breaks down (such as teleseminars or video recording troubles) and things take much longer than expected, causing upset by the paying client, who needs to pay more on an hourly rate
  • VAs are always keen to make their clients happy, there is not one VA that doesn’t want to satisfy the clients’ business needs so she feels bad when doing a task is time-oriented and not result-oriented
  • Because VAs often have one or two cash strapped clients who constantly pressure them into working faster, so these VAs give hours for free to make the client happy and consequently get worn out and dissatisfied with their work conditions
  • Because sometimes a VA has to rush a job because the client has set a strict budget and ends up with a less then great result
  • Because an hourly rate can actually create disharmony and exhaustion in both VA and client
  • Because a package can be easier to manage when the VA has more than one client, the tasks are usually set and entered into the project management software and due to the outlined steps that get ticked off, nothing gets forgotten, which makes the client very happy

These are just some of the reasons. The reasons come from both sides and make it hard to develop an harmonious and equal relationship.  VA coaches have observed and heard these concerns from many exhausted VAs who work an enormous amount of hours for little reward and get more and more dissatisfied. Some even drop out of the industry because they can’t cope with the struggle anymore and their skillsets are lost, which is a real loss as there are still not enough VAs out there to serve all clients who need what they have on offer. Remember, the online industry is also growing, so demand for skilled support staff is rising.

The solution?

VAs are starting to create packages, either standard packages or customized packages, instead of offering hourly rates. Most VAs will develop standard packages with all tasks outlined for a great result for the client, estimate the time and work out the price for the package.  At first glance this package may look more expensive than the hourly rate because a number of tasks are bundled together, but realistically the client gets so much more value from a set package.

The value of VA service packages for the client

  • The client gets the assurance the task will be finished, regardless of how long it takes, and no half-done things stay in the “to do list”
  • The client can see what is included in the package and knows the outcome
  • There is no uncertainty what a project will cost client, so the client knows exactly how to calculate their own fees for their clients, products and services to make a profit (after all we have a business to earn money, aren’t we?)
  • The client knows costs upfront and can actually set their own budget much easier with less surprises (eg. the client wants to hold a teleseminar to a VIP coaching package. Looking at the VA’s package price for preparing, moderating, recording and transcribing and setting a target, the business owner can confidently set a price for the VIP coaching package to earn a decent profit, so no out of pocket virtual events for you anymore!)
  • The client knows that the result of the task will be excellent and not a rushed mess
  • There is so much great transparency
  • Client and VA meet in the middle and as equal business partners and the relationship can nurtured without looking at the hourly rate all the time, after all results for your business will be better with a VA that knows your business well, so keeping on the same team or support person for a long time is vital to your business success

When you look at these reasons you have to admit that calculating your own profit will become so much easier for you with packages. You know what services you require per month, how much the service packages will cost you, what you will achieve with the end result and calculate the fees you need to charge to your own clients.

If you need help with determining what services you ideally require or planning out your marketing calendar, your VA, online marketing coordinator or online business manager can sit down with you and create a plan and a calendar of marketing activities that are customized to your business.

 

Categories : Internet Marketing, Success Mindset, Virtual Assistant
Sep
14

Tip on how to build your team of virtual assistants (VA)

by Heike

Entrepreneurs often want to get tips and advice on how to build a virtual team. Questions high on the agenda are how to interview people to check out their skillsets, speed of working (when they are paid hourly), reliability and so on. Something that is often missing, though, is the question about the personality factor.

To have a successful team you need to be very precise on what sort of personality you have, what kind of person is good to support you best and how many team members you have with different personalities. Personality typing involves psychological classifications of different types of individuals.

This is done to help people for self development, to see how they fit into a team, what their best learning style is, to determine what approach in life they usually take and what jobs are actually right for them. I  know stereotyping or “pigeonholing” people is not PC or “in”, but it can be a powerful tool for understanding people.

This also applies to relationship troubles where people of different personalities come together who may not understand why the other half is behaving in the way they do and sometimes get upset and angry by the other person’s actions. Personality-typing can help these people to understand the other person better, not to see actions as a personal affront, but to see how the other person actually views the world.

The impatient Driver/Director type personality

It’s great to be able to see the world with the eyes of your partner because then you are more understanding and maybe can bridge the gaps and find ways to communicate with each other without blame and fights. It is also beneficial for individuals to determine what sort of job would be great for them and see in which area they would find most fulfillment and use their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

I still remember that my dad wanted me to become an IT professional and study computer science with a lot of mathematical content in the courses, while I was actually  better at learning languages, writing and the arts. It was a big disappointment for my parents and they felt I was just being difficult. I genuinely didn’t really grasp maths at school, trying hard, but never really “getting” it. My elder brother did get maths, he was exceptional at it and became a computer specialist.

He was quite a quiet person, didn’t like the limelight and worked well by himself. He was detailed and the thought of making a speech terrified him. In contrary, I always volunteered when speaking up or even giving speeches or announcements to large groups and never got nervous at all. I just acted naturally and found it enjoyable.  I loved being around people and working with them, brainstorming with them and working in a team environment. My brother didn’t.

Coincidence? No. Personality typing helps us understand why my brother wasn’t good at public speaking and I wasn’t good at maths or working in a lab examining specimens.

For me learning about personality typing was a big relief. Finally I understood why I wasn’t patient when it came to endless data checking, working alone in a closed room until a solution was found or fiddling with number doing accounting. When I found out what type I was it meant for me, that actually I was a person with a lot of value to give to society, but not in the way my parents wanted me to do. I was good and bad at some things, but exceptional at others.

I remember in the past, mostly at school, people/teachers always advised to overcome your weaknesses, work on your mistakes and get to become good at what you dislike. Strangely, though, many top achievers rather nurture their talents and discard their weaknesses. They don’t even try to overcome their weaknesses, they just ask other people to deal with the areas they are not good at.

The 4 personality types

An example is Richard Branson, who is an excellent and charismatic visionary who loves big picture thinking. He is a person who comes up with amazing ideas and lets other people implement and finance his ventures. He isn’t working on becoming a detailed implementor or financial whizz who sits for hours in his office analyzing figures and checking balances, he rather utilizes his biggest strength of big picture thinking and innovating, and asks the people who are good at what he’s not, to do what they do best.

A person like him would become impatient at longwinded reviews and “boring” data collection, whereas other people love data collection and checking things and would never want to invent anything new as it’s way too scary for them.

Giving people the tasks they do best gives them the  biggest satisfaction and they also offer the fruits of their labour and strength to society.

The same sort of thinking is necessary when you are an entrepreneur and want to build a team of supporters around you. You first need to determine who and what type you are, what you are good at, what kind of person brings out the best in you (when you work with them) and what kind of person is the right for the tasks you want them to do. This sounds complicated, but is not as complicated as it sounds right now.

Click here to read more about the 4 types or here. Once you familiarize yourself with the different types you will recognize them, regardless of what the author calls them. A, B, C, D or Driver, Expressive, Amiable and Analytical or Powerful, Playful, Peaceloving and Problemsolving. Once you familiarize yourself with the types, you know exactly which one is meant by its description.

Copyblogger, an amazing blog for entrepreneurs who want to find out more about copywriting on the net and Internet marketing, also has a take on the personality-types on here. Don’t forget to sign up for the blog updates, they are really good!

I bet by now you have fun playing with the personality types and start thinking what types your family members and friends are. It’s really useful to know and don’t forget to type your clients because it will save you from misunderstandings and troubles. When you clients feel understood and supported appropriately you will gain the benefits!

After you have found your own type that feels right to you,  look at your business and what the role in your business is that you like most. I understand you may call yourself CEO (chief executive officer) or head coach or consultant, but which tasks or services dp you like and use most. Be honest. If there are things you just find a drag, admit it and be ok with it. It’s not a problem, it’s a good thing because now you know you can find a support person or assistant who is good at what you are not good at.

If you are a person who is very artistic, full of big picture ideas, but doesn’t like to sit down and put it all on paper or research it, then you need someone with these complimentary skills. Find an assistant who loves to sit down and check things, researches in books and online, is a bit introverted and has a strong attention to detail. This person is probably the opposite of you and you may find her/him a bit boring, but don’t look for a carbon copy of yourself even if you click with someone like you on the phone.

Be careful: if you are excited about interviewing someone and you feel they are so much like you and consequently so much fun to chat to, you should take note. You may just be talking to a perso who has the same personality style as you, which is not a problem when this person is a client, but might cause you headaches when this person has to work for you, because she or he is not complimentary to your own strengths.  If you hire this person you hire a mini me. This person will possibly be have the same strengths and weaknesses as you. Do you need someone like you or do you need someone who loves what you hate to do? Chances are you need someone who is rather complimentary to you.

Also think about the tasks you want your virtual assistant/VA to do for you. If you look for a website coder, chances are the best choice for the job is a detailed person, usually quiet, introverted, patient and works best when you tell them exactly and precisely what you want from it. Don’t expect her or him to give you lots of creative flair or any surprises. Don’t think this person wants to come up with the ideas and you can do something else, you need to take a lead with this type of person and enjoy that they will do exactly what you tell them to do. How good is that?

If you hire a graphic designer, chances are this person is artistic and creative. He or she may not like it when you are too strict and narrow minded with your ideas. They will want to create a logo or graphic and show it to you as a kind of surprise, full of pride and easily offended when you don’t like their draft. Be careful not to upset them with blunt criticism, give them some positive feedback and tell them the mood you want to create rather than the exact image that you have in your head. These type of people often think in pictures, so describe your wishes in pictures, too. And be open, they may actually come up with a fantastic new approach that is better than yours!

If you hire a customer service person, this person is probably bubbly, friendly and likes to make friends. He or she is outgoing, fun and easygoing. They often create a good feeling within you you after talking with them. They are patient and thrive in the helping industries. If you get a VA who applies for a customer service role in your company, such as first point of contact or complaints department, this is the right one to choose. If the person you hire has a cold voice, an abrasive personality, is either shy or introverted, stay away! She or he won’t be warmer or friendlier with your clients either.

These are examples of classical personality traits people should ideally display show if they are in the right job.  Many times, though, a quirky creative artist may apply for your bookkeeping tasks because he/she can’t find another job right now or doesn’t know yet what they really are good at, because you would probably end up with a mess in your Quickbooks. Ideally your bookkeeper is a detailed person, not a creative person, with a lot of attention to detail. You get the gist?

The Analytical Type

Similarly, when you look for an infusionsoft or shoppingcart specialist you need to write down the qualities you think  a person needs to have to be successful in this role. This would be similar to the bookkeeper and the web coder: attention to detail, patience, focuse, doesn’t get impatient when testing autoresponders or links for hours, etc. Don’t make the mistake and hire someone who is impatient and gets sloppy after a few hours, simply because their personality doesn’t match the job description.

Create job descriptions for the tasks you need done and come up with the personality that fits the description. When you write an ad, mention these traits so that everybody who applies knows what you are looking for. This will make your job of hiring easier  and you may get more applicants with the right attitude, skillset and personality type.

 

Categories : Coach, Consultant, Freelancing, Online Business Manager, Teambuilding, Virtual Assistant
Aug
5

What you recommend really matters (and how I learned this the hard way)

by Heike

 

Tina Forsyth, CEO of Onlinebusinessmanager.com

by Tina Forsyth, CEO of Online Business Manager, on August 5, 2011

Tina says,

“I had a really ick situation happen earlier this year. I was asked to be part of a telesummit, and of course with my inclusion as a speaker I agreed to do some promotion for the event – including some solo email blasts to my list.

After sending one of these promotions to my list I got a response from a lady who essentially said:

“I don’t believe in what you are promoting here, and so I’m unsubscribing from your ezine [which I totally get and respect] and I’m also unsubscribing from the ezine of the person who connected me to you in the first place [eeek! this person lost a subscriber due to me!].”

Now I get that I can’t please everyone, but the thing is, you guys, is that I KNEW that this was not something I should have promoted. It just wasn’t my “thing” – and no offense to the telesummit folks themselves, it just wasn’t my style, my target or my message.

All of these things I knew the minute I was asked to participate and commit to promoting. BUT I still did it anyway.

Why? I was on automatic “yes” for being asked to speak. I’d fallen prey to the say-yes-to-everything-no-matter-what-it-is syndrome… not sure if that is an actual syndrome, but you get my point.

And because of this I sent something to my list that:

  1. Was not something I actually believed in or agreed with. (If i’m honest I actually cringed when I saw someone promote this series the year before.)
  2. Cost someone else – a biz colleague and friend whom I know and respect – a subscriber. That’s the part that hurt the most… I’m OK with me paying for my mistake but someone else also had to pay for it. Ouch :(

This one person spoke up, and who’s to say how many others didn’t speak up and simply hit the unsub button?

So from now on I’m committed to recommending ONLY stuff from people or companies that:

  1. I know and like/respect what they have to offer.
  2. I have had a positive experience with (either knowing them personally, as part of a program or having used their software, etc.).
  3. I know would be useful to the folks on my list.
  4. feel *right in my gut* – this has to be the final check cause it’s never wrong.

Oh, and it’s worth mentioning here, too, that affiliate commissions aren’t that important to me. If someone is offering an affiliate commission on something I want to recommend, then great… I’ll take it. And if not, that doesn’t stop me from making a recommendation on something I know you will find valuable.

How about you? What is your criteria for promoting/recommending stuff?”

What would you do?

When it comes to affiliate marketing, many people may support anybody who asks them to promote or who pays high commissions, but is it actually a good thing to promote something that doesn’t fit your own beliefs, your brand and your target market?

Check out the replies on Tina’s Blog here.

Categories : Affiliate Marketing
Aug
5

A great online shopping experience

by Heike

If you are an online shop selling babyproducts or a coach selling your knowledge and information products, there are some things that make your online shop more interesting.

Things that come to mind that I like in an online shop are:

  • longer, detailed descriptions of the items
  • if possible, add a video of every item
  • the shoppingcart actually works
  • when the menu works well and I can actually find things
  • when I get presented similar products or complementary products offered underneath the product I look at (upsells)

Why do I like the “upsell” feature in the shoppingcart?

Because sometimes we like to have the right shoes to the dress and also want to see a matching bag with it. Why don’t all shops who sell online think about this? It benefits both, the customer who may not be savvy in finding the right accessories and the shop that can sell more.

Example: Melanie Benson-Strick's CD folder for the Virtual Team Building Program

For an information marketer, consultant or coach the upsell could be another ebook that would be interesting to the purchaser or a blueprint poster or a video. Try to think about complimentary items or in a different media, such as a hardcopy of the ebook you sell for a small extra amount. This hardcopy could be a nicely printed folder with your ebook, workbook and CDs.

Multi-media is the key! Although your customers might like to read your ebook on their computer, they may also want to listen to the CDs while they drive to work.

Get creative with your offerings! :)

For media kits, like the one on the left, I would recommend using Vervante who can dropship your kits and offer the option to print only on demand. This is a true recommendation without any affiliate commission attached to it.

Categories : Coach, Consultant, Local Business, Multi-Media kit, Online store, Shopping cart
Aug
5

Local small business needs to smarten up

by Heike

Lots of doom and gloom in the retailing sector in New Zealand and Australia, but I bet US retailers also feel the pinch of having to compete with online sellers. Looking at the recent trouble around the Rugby shirt of the New Zealand team All Blacks where local New Zealand retailers offer the official shirts of the national team for NZ$220 while online retailers in the UK and US offer the same Adidas made shirts for half the price, one has to look at what local business, regardless of where in the world they are, may want to change about their business.

How about local businesses adding some VALUE to their more expensive offering in the shops? Online marketers already know about the power of adding bonuses to their products, why are retailers so “boring” and do the same old as always. What worked in the past may not work today.

How many retailers actually think about value on top of their products? Some do, especially cosmetic outlets, when they offer brand-driven special sets of little bags with some cosmetic goodies as a thank-you for these customers who spend a certain amount of money on their brand. Or they offer the always eagerly awaited bonus samples, small versions of a perfume or a moisturizer sample.

But go to your average local shop and all you get is an often stressed looking shop assistant whose eyes follow you around the shop the whole time, as if you are a potential thief, and who doesn’t offer you a friendly smile nor an added bonus or little something when you buy.

How much time do you want to spend in an environment like that?

How different is the experience when I shop online? I do say not ALL online shops are a pleasure to visit because some shoppingcarts don’t work well, some shops don’t offer enough photos and information, but in general shopping online gives me plenty of time to cruise through the shop (imaginative) and look, think and take up any special offers or bonuses. I love looking around the online shop, see videos, imagine how things would add to my life and the whole shopping experience.

The morale of these early morning weekend ramblings about online business are:

If retail or online consultant, make it easy for your potential customers to buy from you. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, try to find an avenue to offer online offerings. The local clothing store can add an online retail component of its favorite items and the local business consultant can add some value-driven ebooks and information to their website offerings. Why only a boring website with your office’s address and phone number with the call to action: “call me”. How many people actually call you? How about getting them to know you first? Offer them more of you by adding valuable content in your blog or create some ebooks or short videos for them to purchase or have for free so they get to know, like and trust you?

Try it. :)

 

Categories : Internet Marketing, Local Business, New Zealand
Aug
3

Internet report uncovers local surprise

by Heike

5:30 AMThursday Aug 4, 2011 New Zealand Herald

Photo / Brett Phibbs

Small business are increasingly targeting customers in their local area through the internet, a senior Google executive says.

Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Nick Leeder said he was amazed new research showed small firms were more focused on winning customers nearby rather than selling to the world. “A lot of small businesses were saying, which was a bit surprising, that they are using the internet as a way of more efficiently reaching customers who might well be local,” Leeder said. “I was expecting them to say that they were reaching customers who were outside their geographic footprint.”

Leeder was speaking to reporters at the launch of “The Connected Continent: How the internet is Transforming Australia’s Economy” report in Sydney on Tuesday. The report, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics, found the internet made a direct contribution to the Australian economy of A$50 billion ($62 billion), or 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product. “This contribution is of similar value to the retail sector or Australia’s iron ore exports,” the report said.

In terms of the outlook, the report said the direct contribution to the Australian economy over the next five years would increase by A$20 billion, or 7 per cent, to A$70 billion. This growth was twice as fast as the rest of the economy, the report said.

The report found the internet yielded A$27 billion in productivity increases to business and government, which flowed through to lower prices and new products, and delivered benefits of about A$53 billion to households.

Were it not for the internet, Australia’s poor level of productivity growth in recent times would have been even worse, said Deloitte Access Economics director Ric Simes. Leeder said research had shown that for every job lost due to the internet, 2.6 new jobs were created.

“While overall it is good, a change like that does create friction,” Leeder said. – AAP

Categories : Google Australia, Internet Marketing, Local Business, New Zealand
Apr
1

Advertising too expensive – does Social Media do the trick?

by Heike

Off the radar with wacky look

5:30 AM Saturday Apr 2, 2011

Paul Henry and Richard Simmons in the new Air New Zealand inflight safety video. Photo / Supplied 

Air New Zealand’s wacky marketing strategy is designed as a cost-effective way to get noticed. But marketers are asking where that leaves this great Kiwi brand.

How does a comparatively small airline like Air New Zealand make a bang in a big market like the United States?

Chief executive Rob Fyfe notes that one 30-second ad during the Superbowl would wipe out the airline’s entire marketing budget.

Space in traditional media is expensive. “We can’t match United Airlines, Delta or probably even Qantas,” he said.

So the airline’s approach is to stand out with a mixture of online and social media.

The hope is that viral media campaigns will spread like wildfire and, like the recent duet between muppet mascot Rico and singer Snoop Dogg, get picked up by mainstream media.

The airline’s online content is a mixed bag, as Fyfe admits – not everyone will like everything.

But the hope is that people who choose to view clips or other material will think they are fun, will associate that with Air New Zealand, and if they’re planning a trip to New Zealand will choose the airline.

On a purely retail-focused view of “getting bums on seats”, the strategy makes good sense.

But some in the marketing industry are looking askance at the state of the iconic Air New Zealand brand and wondering if it has lost its way.

One branding consultant says there are dangers in using controversy and “smash and grab” cam-paigns – retail-focused strategies designed to get cash registers ringing.

These have been popular with many companies as they try to rebuild after the global financial crisis.

In Air New Zealand’s case, there are the added factors that they’re using controversial products on new media and are dealing with an extraordinarily strong local brand.

Midway through the last decade, Fyfe was drawing admiration for classy, innovative approaches to traditional branding campaigns, working closely alongside its branding agency Colenso BBDO.

The “Nothing to Hide” commercials – featuring staff in body paint and G-strings and even featuring Fyfe in a cameo – marked a shift to a retail-focused campaign using Colenso’s retail division, .99.

Some content in spots featuring All Blacks has touched base with the old brand values.

Yet the focus hasn’t been on those traditional values but on a crude puppet specialising in double-entendres.

Last month, Rico appeared with rapper Snoop Dogg in an online clip that has been picked up by American breakfast TV, which Fyfe points out gave coverage you could not buy.

This week, 80s aerobics star Richard Simmons featured in the airline’s in-flight safety video – in a duet with polarising TV star Paul Henry.

Fyfe agrees there are risks in the marketing strategy and says that the adventurous approach could become “too successful”.

The danger is that offbeat ads aimed at niche online audiences are being picked up and, as Fyfe says, “leaching” into editorial coverage in mainstream media with a different market.

Toby Talbot is executive creative director at DDB advertising and, in a previous role at branding agency Colenso BBDO, worked closely with Air New Zealand.

He applauds the airline for taking risks and says it is being talked about, scoring big hits online.

But there is a danger if different ad campaigns are run in unison.

“You must stay within your brand and consistent in the way the brand talks to people. People should love the brand, not flinch,” says Talbot.

Retired Colenso founder Roger MacDonnell is more direct. “My own view is that they have lost their way.”

“They want to be in the new media, they want to be new and be different. Which is fine, but I don’t like what they’re doing.” he said.

“Whether you like it or not, Air New Zealand is an iconic and much-loved New Zealand brand. I’ve seen one [ad] featuring Richie McCaw and Graham Henry – but it works because it connects back to the core brand.”

James Bickford – the managing director for the New Zealand arm of branding specialists Interbrand – also sounded a note of warning.

“Smash and grab” promotions like those employed by Air New Zealand could erode the brand and Air New Zealand could lose the real essence of who they are.

New Zealand was a small nation that was extremely passionate about the Air New Zealand brand.

If Air New Zealand continued on its present path, consumers would be confused about what it stood for.

It was fine to have distinct approaches for different media, Bickford said, but Air New Zealand wasn’t pulling together the threads.

Fyfe acknowledges there are risks in the strategy to stand out at all costs but has no concerns about the effect on the wider brand.

Richard Simmons, Snoop Dogg and Rico the rodent puppet reflect New Zealand-ness, he says.

“You come back to brand personality as a small airline and the notion of being yourself,” he said – citing Prime Minister John Key as exhibiting the same traits.

“We think that is what New Zealand is about. It’s a little quirky – a little bit different.

“Social media campaigns have to stand out. A lot of content we put on social media – where people actively choose to watch – we would not put on TV,” he said.

Fyfe’s view reflects the world of retail advertising where turnover is fast and relatively cheap. If campaigns don’t work, they’re quickly pulled.

Last year, Air New Zealand took the approach further. It dropped its affiliation to a single agency, invited freelancers and agencies to pitch ideas direct to clients, and ran its own creative department.

Perhaps significantly, Air New Zealand has reverted to a “lead agency” relationship with Colenso’s .99.

Fyfe’s background working for British broadcast company ITV Digital may be an added factor for his interest in content.

Perhaps more than any other New Zealand chief executive, Fyfe takes an intimate role in his company, which is 75 per cent owned by taxpayers.

Surprisingly – given that the CEO appears virtually naked in a TV ad and the annual report includes five photos of Fyfe – he sees himself as an introvert.

But Air New Zealand itself has a vibrant image, he says.

“I have to lead by example. Any CEO embodies the brand and personality of the company.”

Categories : Social Media, Web2.0
Mar
16

How to Generate Lots of Buzz on Your Facebook Page

by Heike

This blogpost is written by Denise Wakeman

I think it’s a great idea! I will try it! Watch this space for feedback!

In the last couple of months I stumbled on a great way to generate a lot of activity and buzz on my Facebook page. In my post on 6 Ways to Engage Your Facebook Fans, #5 was about inviting your fans to share links.

5. Invite your fans to share links to their site/blog/fan page/twitter. My monthly Brag About Your Blog Day has become quite popular. Recently over 200 people bragged about and posted links to their blog. It was an awesome way to learn about what people are doing, what their interests are find potential JV partners and guest posting opportunities.

I just hosted another Brag About Your Blog Day and the results surpassed last month. Nearly 300 people posted links to their blog along with a short description about the topic of their blog.


This screenshot was captured about 24 hours after I initiated the event.

As a result of this one day “event”:

* Added over 130 new fans to my page
* Over 436 people clicked the link to my page in 24 hours
* Lots of people (I didn’t count) tweeted about the event
* The post was shared on countless profiles
* I got a great testimonial from a former client
* Everyone was thrilled that they got to promote their site and said nice things about me which made me feel warm and fuzzy and happy! :-)

You can do this too. It does not take a lot of effort and it’s a lot of fun. I love seeing who shows up, what they have to say, and what they’re writing about.

Here are the steps I took that you can easily model:

1. Come up with a clever hook. What can you invite people to share on your page? A picture? A link to their favorite xxxx? A link to their book? A tip on your topic? It’s got to be about them for this to work really well, in my opinion.

2. How often will you host the event? I like making it a monthly (or weekly) event that people can look forward to. I started getting questions about when I was going to host the new Brag day. Since I’m actively engaged with the thread throughout the day, I prefer doing it monthly.

3. If you’re creative or can spend a few bucks, get a graphic image designed to help draw attention to your event. You’ll be able to use it on blog posts, Facebook, twitter, your website.

4. Craft your copy and post it in the morning. I like to give BABD a full day of my attention (dipping in throughout the day). Be patience because due to Facebook’s mysterious algorithms, you may not see activity right away. Click the like button and post your own comment to start the ball rolling.

5. Create a tracking link with budurl.com or bit.ly to use in your promotions so you can track your efforts. (click on the date/time of the post to get the unique URL for the post)

6. Let everyone outside of your Facebook network know what you’re doing.

* Tweet about it (3-4 times thoughout the day)
* Post info to groups you belong to on LinkedIn and Facebook
* Got an email list? Send an announcement with a link to the direct wall post. This one tactic alone will net you new fans. In order to comment or like and contribute to the wall post, they have to like your page first.
* Post in discussion groups and forums you belong to
* Write a blog post

7. Participate. Once you start to get activity, pop onto your page throughout the day and “like” every single comment. Add a your own comments, respond to questions, thank people for playing. When you like and comment, a notification goes to everyone who has already commented. This brings them back to get updates AND increases your visibility in the Facebook News Feed (very important!).

8. Read every comment. I found a wonderful testimonial from a former client. That’s gold so I did a screen capture with SnagIt in case I want to use it later.

9. Follow up. Report on what happened. Feature some of the people you connected with. Write another blog post about your event.

Did I forget anything? What would you add for getting the word out?

A lot of people said they wanted to “steal” this idea. Hey, go for it! I don’t consider it stealing. I’m sure I got the idea from someone else as well.

If you do host something like this on your Facebook Page, please let me know.

Categories : Social Media, Web2.0
Mar
15

What type of website serves your business best?

by Heike

When it comes to websites people get really confused. The market is full with webdesigning companies, freelancers, virtual assistants, students and marketing agencies offering website design services. There are different platforms used and everybody has a slightly different style and a different skill set.

Some webdesigners produce the most stunning looking work when it comes to design, but the traffic ranking is bad. Others produce horrific looking, weirdly coloured websites and lots of traffic and sales. If you are lucky your website looks attractive and attracts sales.

So, how on earth do you know what kind of website to get, who to ask to do it, how much you should spend, which keywords to use, etc. etc.

The best thing to start with is to find out what kind of site you require for your specific situation and goal. If you know that you have a much better understanding of who and what to look for. You then are also able to search for the right solution on Google.com or ask your prospective webdesign the right questions.

There are different kind of websites available for you and need to match your business strategy. Things have changed a lot in the recent years with the rise of Social Media and you can actually make very different decisions about your web presence than in the years before. I will start off with telling you about the different types of websites that are out there and for what purpose they are (because they all have their purpose).

Types of websites

Brochure website

This is the traditional website that we all know from the past – and of course, the presence. It is the website that many webdesign companies still recommend, but this choice may be limiting you in your marketing efforts. Many brochure websites are done in HTML, which means they are static websites and don’t index in the search engines that easily. It is often recommended by Internet Marketers to have all your websites on a Blog/Wordpress platform for better search engine optimization.

The brochure website is great to show off your logo and branding, it can be the “home” of your business, but it is not interactive, you can’t communicate with your visitors and often you can’t keep them on your website for longer than a few minutes or seconds.

This is an example of a brochure website:

The brochure website can be a great company website portal, meaning that it simply shows off who you are, what you are about and what services you can offer. This may be a starting point for your business if you are a wedding event manager, photographer, etc.

What is missing is a way to attract your visitors to

  • communicate with you
  • share your articles or content
  • add new content regularly, even daily
  • show off specials
  • offer a free taste or service for your website visitor

You can create your brochure website as a portal. The portal is like a front entrance that leads you into the hall of the homepage and you have different doors people can enter. One door might read: Consulting. The other door might be Products, the next Books and so on. It can be accummulation of all your business offers. It may also be a portal if you have different sub businesses, say your business domain name is <your name.com>, eg. Lizzy Lissington, and on this website you simply tell people what you are offering. This may be Lizzy Lissington’s sub businesses, such as Lizzy’s Photography, Lizzy’s Dog Equipment, Lizzy’s Dog Breeding Kennels, etc. People can click on the part of Lizzy’s business that they are looking for. They may want to buy a puppy, so they go to Lizzy’s dog information. When they click on Lizzy’s dog breeding, they may be led to another website called: Lissingtonkennels.com. Please note the names are purely ficticous.

When the visitor clicks on Lizzy’s Photography, they may be taken to a Facebook page with a customized Facebook page where they can check out all her work and click on “like” to be added to Lizzy’s community on Facebook, ask her questions, read her posts and interact with other people who like Lizzy’s Photography.

When the visitor clicks on Lizzy’s dog beds and dog equipment, they may be led to a shop website called “Lizzysdoggear.com” and are able to see all dog equipment Lizzy has on offer, from leashes, dog food to dog beds. They simply browse the store front and click on the items they like and order them by using the shoppingcart system and paying by credit card.

So in the end, you can see it as a hub that shows you all about Lizzy. Lizzy could even add information about her dog training ebook on there. When you click on “dog training”, you will find yourself on a so-called squeeze page, which means that all you can do on that particular website or page is ordering a free, sample ebook on dog training. It could be a 30 page free document on “How to buy a puppy” or “how to stop your dog from barking at the neighbours”. Lizzy short report is meant to give you a taste of what her training is about, how easy it is to implement her suggestions and to show you how knowledgable she is when it comes to dog training. It is also meant to buy her database, her “list”. The database or list is a list of prospects who may want to buy her dog training videos or ebooks that are not free of charge, but as you already liked her free report, you may be more inclined to buy her information products because you start to “know, like and trust her”.

Squeeze or Listbuilding page

Example of a squeeze page

A listbuilding page is also called a squeeze page and has only one purpose: to get the website visitors contact details, including the email address, to keep in touch with them. The marketer knows that many visitors don’t buy at first or second touch, they need to feel the “I know, like and trust you” factor before they want to buy from you. Different to the sales page, the squeeze page has no buy button anywhere. It is also much shorter, usually only one screen size long and often has a video or photo attached and an opt-in form, asking the visitor for name and email address. Sometimes other details are asked for, but the more the more information is asked the less people usually sign up, so business owners need to be careful to not push their visitors off the page by asking too many contact details. Often only two fields, name and email address, are compulsory, even if there are fields for phone number, address, website, questions, etc..

When a website visitors signs in, the contact information goes into a listbuilding shoppingcart or email marketing system. From there the business owner can contact the visitor whenever they like with a newsletter or a special offer. It is not recommended to contact the list (the people who opted in) too often, otherwise people will perceive it as spam and unsubscribe. There has to be an unsubscribe function in your system, otherwise you go against the spam laws.

When the website visitor has entered into Lizzy’s squeeze or listbuilding page, he or she may at some stage be led to a sales page. This is the time when Lizzy hopes that someone will buy her complete video dog training course. Underneath you see what a salespage could look like.

Sales page

On the left you see an example of a very long sales page for dog training. Please note I’m not affiliated to the service nor have done the webdesign. It’s simply a good example of a sales page for you to check out. Click on the image to enlarge it to see its elements: video use, persuasive text, website only leads to one thing: the sale. The salespage also has large buy buttons, testimonials, photos, etc.

Say you want to sell a product, such as an ebook or an information report or a CD Multi-Media coaching set, you do best by organizing yourself a sales page.

A sales page is often very long. It states problems the website visitors may have and talk about the solution, gives examples, features, benefits and also testimonials. At the end (and in-between) there are calls for action, to buy the product.

Sales pages are highly effective when done correctly and don’t really look like webdesigners “pretty” works, they have only one aim and that is SELL. Many sales pages have no link going anywhere other than the shoppingcart to buy the product. The philosophy behind this is that a confused person doesn’t buy. If your whole page/website deals only with the sale of this one product or event or service, then all you can do here is buying or not buying.

The longer you stay with the text the more likely it is you buy. The sales page is a conversation and written in a conversational style. There is no place for British English and high level academic language on it.

Online reports and video series can often be represented by graphic design products. The actual product is an information product (mp3 audio, Youtube video, ebook in pdf. format, etc.) and the graphic designer creates a graphic showing off how the online products could potentially look like. Very often you will never receive a real product when you buy an online product. Sometimes you will receive a real folder with CDs and you can choose to have an online version.

The graphics for an information product could look like this:

You may wonder why the trainer or information marketer uses these graphics that makes you think you purchased a real book or real CDs. This is just to help you make a decision to buy. If they talk about a report or video only, you may not be able to imagine how much information you will get for your money. If they show you a graphic with ten CDs you will think that you receive the content that fits on 10 CDs, so it must worth the money you spend.

If you sell an information product you may consider using graphics for them as well. Look at the graphic on the left: doesn’t it look like you are purchasing a ton of information instead of just some online videos or reports?

 

The Store website

If you sell real products, such as dogs leases, dog beds, dog food, etc. you will consider have your own store. This store has a shoppingcart that helps the visitor purchase the goods and pay for them immediately online. They often take Paypal or creditcards or both.

Underneath you see an example of an online dog store.

Example of an online dog equipment shop

Facebook page

As mentioned, Lizzy could have a store or a page on Facebook as well. Some people who haven’t got a business website yet, actually choose to build a customized Facebook page instead. The page is different to your profile. Lizzy would have her profile set up for Lizzy Lissington and then a Facebook page for her dog business. This is free of charge and she can talk to her clients online and attract a lot of traffic as Facebook is one of the world’s leading websites. It’s of similar importance as Google.

To make her Facebook page memorable and to sell her products and make her business known, she might want to hire a web designer who design her custom Facebook page as it’s not that easy to do it yourself, but it is usually cheaper than a full website.

Check out the example of a Facebook dog business page:

To engage people, Barkbusters have a Facebook page with a competition. If you “like” their page, you go into the draw to win something. Check it out underneath:

Example Facebook page

Hub

Cesar Millan, the famous dogtrainer, has a big hub for his dog training business, offering everything from online video training, book sales, apparel, forum, etc. His website is done as a static website. Being Cesar and famous, his website ranks extremely high in the search engines, but when you are a newbie to the online world, chances are that your static website would rank worse than a WordPress website with constantly fresh content via the blog page. The blog page is your newspage that will get indexed very quickly in Google when you update the blog frequently and with the right keywords.

Example of a big hub website

A hub website (could also be called portal website) that also integrates the blog (news items) and Social Media, such as Youtube, Facebook, etc. is the website from the internet marketer Fabienne Frederickson. It’s a great example of a web site that shows off everything that someone offers, such as online courses, coaching, mastermind groups, events, etc. Check it out http://www.clientattraction.com.The reason I show you Fabienne’s's website is that she combines the elements mentioned in the text above: she uses the sign up box for her listbuilding, she lists her products and services like a portal and she intergrates Social Media (video, Facebook, etc.)

Social Media integration is nowadays a must to grow your business. Fabienne is using a WordPress platform. Two-way-communication is more and more important for the consumers of today and integrating a blog and Social Media platforms make that possible.

See the example: Fabienne makes use of the sign up box for her listbuilding, she uses her blog to show the website visitor she knows what she is talking about, helps the search engine optimization with it, she displays a Facebook bad on the side bar, she shows off the icons of the Social Networks you can connect with her (Twitter, etc.) and she posts videos and photos. When you go to her product page, you will find links to salespages, so she integrates all marketing methods in one.

Conclusion

You see that there are several options to market your services and products successfully online. Each solution mentioned her has its reasons. The sales and squeeze pages want the website visitor to only to ONE thing (either sign up with your contact details or to buy something) and don’t want any distraction, therefore you can only do one thing on these pages.

The store has the aim to offer the visitor a great shopping experience with a handy way to buy products, pay online and get them delivered to your door. Great for time-poor people.

The portal and hub helps you to see what services and products are on offer. Often businesses have a variety of these websites with different domain names to get maximum results.

Looking at Fabienne’s clientattraction website, you see it all integrated in one, but then leading off from different pages and links you see squeeze pages, sales pages, blog pages and her Facebook page in action. Why did she do this? Because Fabienne is a very well known marketer and wanted to show her readers and clients what services and products she offers and what she can do for you. She has many programmes, products and training events available that it makes sense to have a big hub or portal to show them all off at one glance. In the past, she used to have a squeeze page as her homepage and had a WordPress website hidden behind the squeeze page. I will show it to you underneath:

 

Categories : Blog, Wordpress
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