There is a lot of hype around online marketing these days. At Pollen Marketing, we use a four-point approach that aims at developing strategy in the key digital areas. These are: Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Email Marketing and Social Media.

From the countless marketing campaigns we conduct per year, this order also relates to the amount of leads each business will generate on average. Bottom line, none of these options will work without a strong focus on the first: Content Marketing.

Why? Digital Content Marketing focuses on more than one area of customer development and lead generation. Since it is focused on what I have termed ‘downloadables’ or free information, products, what-have-you, the investment on the part of the customer is minimal out of the gate. Content Marketing focuses on reaching the customer early in the buying process. Plus, people love getting something for nothing. Whether you produce a white paper, an eBook, or offer some sort of insight into your business and your industry, the base concept behind Content Marketing taps into that love of “free” and “privileged.”

There’s more going on, however, than just an exchange of digital material. When a customer chooses to engage with your company’s content marketing strategy: they get to know you. Especially in B2B marketing situations where information sharing and innovation drive consumer demand, showing off your knowledge through content that is freely available establishes you as an expert in the customer’s mind. This leads to trust, which is paramount in turning a lead into a sale.

Image by King Kong 911

• Confirmation of order or shipping detail
• Request for feedback on a purchase
• Request to tell all your friends about a purchase
• Happy birthday email with coupons
• You didn’t finish your order email
• Renew your subscription or contract
• “You may also like” emails showing you the other products and services also available?  Maybe at a buyers discount.
• Request for a product/service review
• Welcome message

I certainly think there’s a lack of knowledge about these mechanisms and plenty of opportunities that are missed.  It can be tailored to a company’s different types of customers and central to their interest.  We use well trigger emails to attract the customer’s interest, educate the buyer and nurture the lead.

Some prospects are not ready to buy your offer right now, particularly in the services industry. Great email automation can get them further along the buying cycle, and automate your sales before you engage your business development team.

According to a recent survey made by StrongMail in 2011, 46% of the businesses surveyed were already using automated, event-triggered, email marketing programs.

Interesting enough, the survey highlighted that the industry with the biggest life cycle email marketing usage is the travel & hospitality, closely followed by the retail industry.  Travelling to certain parts of the country or globe is very cyclical and email auto-responders for certain times of the year are just one brilliant example.  Once they are set up, you can forget about them but be assured that your prospects are getting a full tour of your brand.

The main benefits the survey respondents found about using these campaigns are shown in the graph below.

According to the survey, the main impediment companies find in implementing life cycle email marketing campaigns is the budget.  I think the investment is not so big, given the ROI on email marketing as a whole is the best per dollar spent.  Business should take advantage of it and I bet we could come up with 10 different ways for you to use trigger email right now!

For more hot uses on email automation, get the Effective Email Marketing Guide.

Here are 5 smart incentives to grow your database.

1. Free product samples

If you can send people things that help to advertise your business or stand out from the crowd then do it! For example, when Procter & Gamble launched Ivory Soap against Colgate’s market leader, Tender Care Soap ten years ago, the Colgate guys spoiled the launch by offering free samples for the housewife to compare Tender Care fragrance against Ivory’s “laundry soap smell”.
2. Service Samples
If you don’t get your Pizza Hut Delivery in 15 minutes, we will give it for free! If you think your service is second to none, let people try it out, if they agree it is the start of a beautiful new relationship.
3. Newsletter
The number of subscriptions to your newsletter will relate to the perceived value of the information that you have to share. Make clear the frequency of your newsletter and send one worth reading. Remember… give value!
4. Blog updates
Blogs are slightly more informal and are often perceived as less of a time waste to read, rather than blatant advertising. If your blog is useful, then people will want to subscribe to be kept updated. Some companies send blogs every few hours and some may do a weekly roundup. You can offer people the choice of email or RSS updates depending on their preference. Pick your niche.

5. Free e-books or downloads

Give massive value with free e-books on topics that would interest your readers. You can either purchase a license for an existing book, have someone write one for you or write your own.

One final word.

Before I sign off. here are few simple tips for gathering data from your website prospects.
When designing your website, put your call to action (and buttons, links or forms) in a prominent place on the screen (like top, right). This may also be in the form of a report or white paper.

You can also add a link to your main call to action at the end of your copy. Track the results of your call to action and if you are not getting good results, review how your offer is presented, as well as whether it has enough value to inspire people to participate. Once you start to collect information from your visitors, keep them informed and delighted to hear from you consistently.

image via flickr by aussiegall

Despite all the talk about having a niche, many businesses still operate without one. Your must have something that sets you apart from anyone else either in product, distribution or promotion at all times. Doing this type of regular activity, protects your business from competing on price.

Now do not over think this. It does not have to be a new invention. It can simply be a new feature added to one of your current offerings. This is strategy to the core!

So below are three methods of uncovering your niche:

1. Call your top 6 clients.

They know what they want and need. Take detailed notes during the conversations and follow up on a least one idea that comes out in the conversation within a month. Keep the client involved in the progress too!

2. Do a ‘documented’ competitive analysis.

In a 3 column table, the headings should read ‘Unique Differences’ /’Risk Low -1 High -5′/ ‘Action’. List your competitors unique differences, the level of risk to your business and the actions you will take to combat them. Do a separate table for each client and review for possible feature combinations and brainstorm.

3. Compare against leaders in other industries.

If you are an IT company compare your product offering to a business in the restaurant industry or any category killer for that matter. It sounds odd, but list out all of your product or services for both you and them next to each other. You will be surprised how quickly a new offering idea can come to you and how creatively satisfying this can be.

Do this every quarter or half year and also pop it in your business plan.

If this is the first time you have done this, it will be a much needed reality check. I get to do this for clients all the time and it is quite scary how long they operate without a niche and wonder why is always comes down to price.

It is also advisable to have somebody outside of your business do this on your behalf and provide a report back to you. Business ‘owners’ and ‘founders’ in particular make ill judgements about the products or services and they never know that they are doing it

A recent trip to my beloved KikkiK last weekend appealed to a sentiment not often felt when hauling my 3 youngsters through a shopping centre – Peace. Normally running errands for this mother of 3 is nothing short of a nightmare.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, the 2007 birth rate was the largest recorded in history (ABS 2009). That was 19,400 more babies than the previous year. There is a mountain of mothers pushing around record numbers of three years.

Research has shown that women are the primary decision makers for consumer goods in 85% of households, and women make 75% of decisions about buying new homes, and 81% of the decisions about groceries.

I am not referring to ‘Parental Yielding’ (Berey & Pollay 1970) which is a term given when parents give into the child’s repeated and persistent requests. What I am saying is that even if the child’s nagging is not a direct influence in the purchase decision, making a visit to your business effortless for her will resonate long after she leaves the store.

However aside from the obvious products that families with small children need to purchase such as nappies or suitable cereal, many other businesses could benefit from catering for this portion of the population. What I am really trying to say is ‘ease of use’ for families. The moment we come through the door at Kikki.K, the shop assistant addressed my kids as if Brad & Angelina had just walked in the door. I was completely at ease while browsing and I bought a number of items because I had the time to flick through everything and fall in love. You can see my daughter in the picture above. She is a Kikki.K girl too!
Just look at iconic global brands MacDonald’s or Ikea. I would pay for Ikea’s momentary childcare – but it just so happens to be free. Businesses should incorporate such elements into their marketing plan now.

I would love to hear other brands that cater well for young families or how others can innovate in the comments section below.

This is a short and snappy post about setting goals for your business. My wonderful personal trainer Esther from Passion8 PTput me onto the RunKeeper App for the iPhone. It tracks the exact distance by GPS, how far and how long you run. Now if you know me well, you know I HATE running. I will power walk for kilometers, follow a black line in a pool for as long and ride my bike with joy – but running – YUCK!

That would be fine except if my goal for 2010 is to finally compete in a Triathlon. It has been a long time dream because I love combining swimming and riding. So my goal is to learn to love to run. I have tried many times before and have failed.

So I started using this App and things have changed. Suddenly I am single minded about achieving my goal.Comparing previous runs and setting small weekly targets. I also get the sweet satisfaction of hitting these smaller goals with the end game in sight.

When on a run this week, my words from a recent post I did about Strategy for Social Media came back to me. Closely tracking myself against a long term goal means I am far less likely to give up and every move I make is deliberate.

Talk about motivation – I can’t wait to get back out there and beat myself. Previously I was running, but I didn’t really know where. I would easily tell myself that is far enough now.

Fluffy undefined goals are unachievable by their very nature. There is also a multitude of activities in your business you can waste time on and not achieve success. Ultimately strategy means clarifying what you want and setting goals on how you are going to achieve it.