#1 Failure of Small Business Websites

Robert Tyson writes frequently and enthusiastically on many social media and digital marketing topics. In an email introduction to a subscription webinar on website optimization, Robert recently wrote that the failure to capture email addresses of visitors was the #1 failure of small business websites. His logic is straightforward. With upwards of 98% of website visitors bouncing off the typical small business website after going to only one web page, if the business do not have some way of continuing the conversation, the business is constantly spending valuable marketing dollars just to drive ineffective website traffic.

People buy from people (and companies) they trust, that are credible and who they believe can help them solve a problem. This trust and demonstration of credibility cannot be accomplished on one website visit or one touch or encounter of any type for that matter.  A relationship is built over time and with multiple touches or interactions that the prospective customer has given permission to take place.

A key goal of your small business web strategy is, therefore, to build an email list of visitors so the business can communicate with them over and over, over time to build trust and credibility and demonstrate that your product or service offering has value for the problem they need to solve.  This email list will be one of the business’ most important assets since it is an asset you own and can use as frequently as responsible judgment and the marketing budget allows.  Unlike social media where the business is basically renting space on the social media platform, the business website and its email list is owned by the business. And, with all the enthusiasm and hyperbole around social media, email marketing continues to be an effective marketing tool and one for which its positive ROI can actually be determined.

So, how does a business get its website visitors to give their permission to be contacted in the future via email?  This is the $64,000 question...now I am showing my age! Robert’s answer (and I certainly agree) is to provide an incentive...an offer that the visitor sees has having enough benefit to overcome their concern of being deluged by a flood of unwanted communications. That incentive could take many forms depending upon the business. Providing special access to information the visitor deems valuable is a popular type of incentive that might be appropriate for your business...an e-book, a newsletter, a special report for example. Certainly, for many, a “free” offer is appealing.  The good news is that, as with any email marketing campaign, a business has the option to test various offers and incentives for a minimal cost.

Making the Sale

“Making the Sale”

A mentor of mine used to say that the perfect marketing message and the perfect product or service solution was one being one that appealed to the head, the heart, the stomach and the pocketbook.  He used the derriere as a proxy for the pocketbook so he could make the analogy around body parts. The head is the rational factor, the analysis of tangible benefits, the “should”.   The heart is the feeling, the emotion, the how I see myself or want to be seen. The stomach is the functional part. Does it do the job? Does it address the need just as eating addresses hunger? And finally, the derrière--the money. Can I afford it?  Does it represent a good value?

Of course, there is one more body part that can come into play...the feet. As in the customer using their feet to run away because you have not given them a persuasive reason to engage with you and the product or service you are offering.  We have all seen the “feet” in action.

So, how do we take the feet out of the equation? How do we engage, influence, persuade and meet the “buyer’s” needs so that we can make the sale, whether that “sale” is for a non-profit fundraising request or a job interview or a product/service transaction? My experience teaches me that there are five essential factors to “making the sale.”

# 1: Establishing Trust

Establishing trust is about you as a person more than about the product/service you are offering to solve the need. It is often said, “A person will not care about your product until they know that you care about them.” There are three ways to establish trust.

1.     Be authentic

2.     Be credible. Demonstrate your expertise as it relates to what is important to the buyer

3.     Demonstrate you care about them and the relationship and not just the transaction

a. Being authentic

An old adage in advertising is that “authenticity sells”...and it does! Being authentic is about being real, being honest and not being fake. Would you buy a product from someone you believed to be dishonest or willing to misrepresent the truth?  No one trusts someone they do not see as being real. Showing some vulnerability is part of being authentic. Others like knowing you do not see yourself as having all the answers or being perfect.

b. Being credible and demonstrating expertise

There are several ways to demonstrate your expertise and credibility.  Share trends or “facts” that relates to the industry, best practices, product category or buying environment. This shows you have an understanding of the space and are up to date. This can be particularly powerful if the trend for fact reinforces something the “buyer” probably already knows or feels. For example, if marketing a service related to the Internet, you could provide industry research that indicates 80% of buyers, especially buyers under age 30, have already used the Internet to research the product they are interested in.

Another way to show your expertise is by highlighting past accomplishments. Presenting the accomplishment as a SPAR (situation, problem, action taken, results) paints a picture and gives the person some context for evaluating you and your expertise.

c. Building the relationship

To build the relationship, you can first show common interests. This could be growing up in a similar area, having similar hobbies, or caring about the same professional topics. You learn of these common interests by asking questions...about the person’s work experience, about how they spend their time outside of work, about their interests, about why they chose to do what they do, etc., and by listening. You are looking for points of connection.

But, be careful not to come across as an inquisitor with the questions. The questions need to flow as part of the conversation and not be a countdown. You are relating their experiences to yours. You “tell” when asked or when your “sharing” reinforces the point being made. Building the relationship is about the other person, not about you; and it is not about the transaction.

Sharing information of the type mentioned in “b” above is a key part of relationship building. By sharing information the buyer finds helpful or interesting you are positioning yourself as a trusted advisor who cares about their success.

# 2: Answer the “why” question first

One of the biggest mistakes new salespeople make is focusing on how great their product is. They love to tell about all the product features that make it different, and by extension, better than that of the competition. But, the customer really does not care about features. They care about the benefits those features deliver. More specifically, they ask, "how does this product solve my problem?"  If you are the product, as in a job interview or if you are representing a product or service, be prepared to answer the “why” questions. 

·       Why is this important? 

·       Why is your product going to solve my problem better than the competitive product?

·       Why should I care?

The “why” question is also important to start to explore the emotion in the decision-making.

# 3: Paint a picture (tell a story)

People learn and take in information differently. Some are auditory learners, some are tactical learners, some are experiential learners and some are visual learners. This is why information we try to communicate sometimes sticks with someone and has meaning and why, at other times, it does not and is quickly forgotten.  The difference between the two could win or lose you the job or the sale.

To create persuasive answers and share persuasive information, you will want to go beyond the numbers to prove your case. Hard facts and logic are important and appeal to the rational decision-making process. Remember, the head! But to most effectively communicate your message you will want to provide examples that can be visualized by your prospect or buyer. Use details, that can be seen, touched, felt, (and maybe tasted?). In your description of the benefit, use words that help you paint a picture. Even an analogy or metaphor can help, as long as it's not too cliché.

And, don't count on thinking up these examples on the spot. Be prepared with least some of this persuasive vivid language ahead of time.  Paint a picture of what success looks likes...of what it will feel like when the problem is solved...of what others will think and feel when the problem is solved by your product or service.

# 4: Leverage emotion (appeal to the heart)

New research has confirmed that the driving force behind decision-making comes from a part of the brain called the limbic system. This is the part of the brain where emotions are processed.

In the business world, being rational is often seen as a sign of professionalism. We try to kid ourselves into thinking that we are rational beings when it comes to decision-making. Yet emotions can also be a real asset.  Another old adage that is still relevant and true and expressed in many forms... “People buy on emotion but justify the purchase with rationale.”

Not only should your message have an emotional component but you should try to engage with your prospect emotionally.  Painting a picture or telling a story that includes how you will feel is one way. Another way to do this is to take rational, objective sorts of words and replace them with more emotive ones that connect better with their emotions. “Powerful”, “successful”,  “provocative” are words that carry a lot of emotion. Develop your list of words that conjure up specific feelings and incorporate them into your presentations and proposals. It is a subtle change but one that plays to a different part of the brain and the decision-making process.

Aside from these, you will want to use emotion to be more in tune with your prospect or buyer.  For instance, if your prospect seems quieter, perhaps a bit down, you don't want to knock them over with super high energy fast-talk. Instead, take a quieter but positive approach. It is important to remember that you are still working on making a connection and developing a relationship. Being sensitive to the “space” your prospect is occupying is important.

I have forgotten the author but not the quote that speaks exactly to this point: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

# 5. Present a strong value proposition

Value means much more than price although price or cost is certainly a key part of the equation. And, value is in the eyes of the beholder since no two people or buyers will necessarily judge the same features/benefits to have the priority. In fact, what is thought to be a benefit to one person or buyer might not be seen as benefit at all to another. For example, a product feature that allows a container to be easily and conveniently opened might be seen as a negative to a mother with small children who needs to keep the contents of that container out of the hands and mouths of your children.

Not only is price relative to the benefits being delivered, it is relative to other competitive products and substitutes. So, the pricing decision cannot be made in a vacuum. But, it must make sense to the buyer.

Incorporating these five factors into your message or product/service solution will keep “the feet” out of the equation and help you make the sale!

Performing Under Pressure

Mark Anderson, President of ExecuNet wrote the following recently. Thought I would share it. 


We've all been there... demanding boss, tight deadline, impossible project, too many demands and not enough resources. We've all had to manage the stress of being too busy and having too many responsibilities, but when you need to produce a specific response... that's when the pressure is really on. To do well in a pressure situation, it comes down to perspective. Approach the situation as an opportunity, not as a threat.

That's the advice world-renowned psychologist and pioneer in the field of pressure management, Dr. Hendrie Weisinger, shared in a conversation with ExecuNet CMO Anthony Vlahos about performing under pressure. Typically, we think that the great performers in life do better when under pressure, but Weisinger said that his research showed that they "simply don't do worse." It is their consistency, even when faced with pressure, that makes them top performers.

In addition to seeing pressure as an opportunity to excel, and visualizing solutions to obstacles, Weisinger suggests remembering that you are a good person independent of the outcome. Too many people, he said, tie their personal self-worth into their career success. Again, it comes down to maintaining proper perspective, and "not allowing yourself to become victimized by a pressure environment."

"Pressure anxiety is becoming the contemporary plague in corporate America," said Weisinger. This feeling of having to produce every day and wondering how much longer you can do it is exhausting. "Just focus on doing your best. Navigate your life based on what's important to you, your own interests, instead of pleasing another person. When you do this, pressure falls away," said Weisinger. Confidence, optimism, tenacity and enthusiasm are the attributes Weisinger's research identifies as the keys to performing best when the pressure is on.

The One Thing

When in a reflective mood, we all probably have contemplated the question: “What is the one thing I would do over again if “do overs’ were possible?” For most of us, this might be a hard question to answer since there could be multiple options to choose from. And, while it is a nice walk down memory lane, the exercise is about “wishes” and like I heard as a child, “if wishes were fishes, then no one would be hungry.” The past is just that.

In the movie City Slickers, Curly challenges Mitch to figure out his “one thing” as a way to get him to focus on what is truly important.  For each of us, asking this question about aspects of our lives is essential if we want to realize our goals.

What is the one thing you have to do each day to:

·      Succeed in your business or career?

·      Make the important relationships in your life work?

·      Get out of bed and take on the world?

·      Be happy?

When you have figured out your “one thing,” everything else will fall into place.  Focusing on the “one thing” creates a sweet spot or “zone” where anything and everything is possible. Your focus pushes out the distractions that can sabotage success. Once you have found your “one thing”, live it and breathe it and proclaim it.

Key Metrics for Marketing ROI Calculation

The CEO asks the old-school CMO, “how do I know I am getting what I am paying for when it comes to marketing? Finance can tell me my return on assets and return on invested capital. Sales can show me how many new customers and what revenue was created last month. But, how to I know that all the things you are doing to build brand awareness, promote our products and to engage the prospect and customer in “conversations” are really worth what we are spending? How do I know that we are spending the money in the best way?”

The soon to be ex-CMO replies, “We know that 50% of what we are doing is working; we just don’t know which 50%!”

The question of how to calculate the ROI for a company’s marketing spend has plagued marketers historically as the practice of marketing was considered to be more of an “art” than science.  This was particularly true in the mass-market communication age than today, where the spreading use of marketing automation and social media delivery and management platforms makes the calculation of Marketing ROI much easier. Even so, it is still not an easy task, complicated by the question of “what” to measure and the need to evaluate marketing programs, communications campaigns, media channels, distribution channels and key customer segments.

In a recent whitepaper on Social Listening, Brandwatch.com advocated for measuring three things to determine the effectiveness of social media marketing: Outputs, Outtakes and Outcomes. These three factors can be applied to the larger marketing ROI question, although the specific outputs, outtakes and outcomes to measure will differ based on the marketing and overall business goals and strategies.  The paper is high-level but a clear take-away is that, while template dashboards of major campaigns and programs can be developed, it is very difficult to capture all the levels and nuance in a single “calculator”.  

Writing for Hubspot, Mike Volpe proposes that the best marketing metrics look at the total cost of marketing, including program spend, salaries of the team, and overhead and relate that cost to the results every business cares about—revenue and customer acquisition. Here are the top six marketing metrics Mike believes a CEO should care about...and a good place to begin the process of determining the ROI of a company’s marketing investment.

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Divide total sales and marketing cost, including salaries, commissions, plus OH allocation for a given period by the number of new customers added. 

2. Marketing % of Customer Acquisition Cost (M%-CAC): Divide the marketing portion of the total CAC by the total CAC.  Monitor this ratio overtime both as an absolute benchmark and to indicate that something has changed in strategy or effectiveness.

3. Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) to CAC:  LTV needs to be expressed in current value terms and is calculated taking the average customer revenues, subtracting out cost of goods sold, and then divide the gross margin amount by the estimated churn or cancellation rate % for that average customer.  Then, simply divide the LTV by the CAC. The higher the ratio, the higher the sales and marketing ROI. The benchmark ratio will vary by industry. 

4. Time to Payback CAC: This is the time it takes to earn back the customer acquisition cost, usually expressed in months. To calculate, divide the CAC by the gross margin generated by the average customer in a month to yield the number of months required to payback the acquisition cost. 

5. Marketing Originated Customer %:  This measure shows what % of your new business was actually driven by marketing. Take all of the new customers you sign up in a period and look at what % of them started as a lead that Marketing generated, as opposed to sales prospecting. The % varies company-to-company depending upon the nature of the sales team and structure.  Revenue can also be used in the calculation, not just the number of customers.

6. Marketing Influenced Customer %: This measures expands #5 above to include all new customers where Marketing touched or nurtured the lead at any point in the sales process, not just the leads that originated from marketing. 

What other marketing metrics would you add to the list?

Have you solved the “calculator” problem?