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Archive for the ‘E-commerce’ Category

How to Capitalize on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and The 2010 Holiday Shopping Season

E-commerce, marketing campaigns | 0 Comments »

Regardless of the type of business you’re in, lets face it, the holidays are the times when consumers actually LIKE spending money. We need to take that sentiment, roll with it, and capitalize on the trend.

Here are some down and dirty tips for the various types of business:

Retail:
You guys (and gals) have the upper hand. Consumers are still obsessed with physically visiting stores during the holiday season. Your first objective must be getting these customers into your stores. How do you do that? By enticing the heck out of them. Check out all the pre-black Friday deals. Ipods for $50, Laptops for $199, jackets for $10. Throw some amazing deals out on the table, knowing you’re going to lose some money on those products (loss leaders) but that you will make it up in the end.

Another key point for retail stores is to have tons of extra help on hand. You don’t want customers leaving because they need assistance and can’t find anyone. Beef up your staff for the holidays.

Last but not least, remember that you will make more of your money on the back end and the lifetime value of these customers. Many of these people may be visiting your store for the first time. Capture their email, their name and their mobile number (at the least) so you can market to them in the future (with their permission of course)

Service Businesses:
Just because you are not selling a physical product doesn’t mean you can’t reap the rewards of the holiday season. The key is to figure out how you can tie in your service with the holidays. One of the best ways is by offering gift certificates along with some other item of value to get people to buy the certificates. Here are some gift certificate examples:

  • 1 Free Dog Grooming Sessions
  • 4, 30 Minute Marketing Strategy Sessions
  • 1 Month of Free Lawn Service

The other thing you want to be doing during this holiday season is getting ready for the next year. While things tend to slow down a bit (for some service businesses) take the extra time to plan your marketing calendar for next year.

E-Commerce:
The trend continues to shift to more and more transactions happening online.
Here are four key tips:

  • Offer Free Shipping. All the big stores are doing it and you will get clobbered if your products can be found at other stores that are offering free shipping.
  • Invest in something like Mcafee to show that your web site is secure.
  • Figure out a way to get them coming to your site on a frequent basis during the holidays. My favorite way is to offer a deal of the day with limited quantities
  • Similar to retail, beef up your customer support and your staff that is manning the Live Chat Feature on your site (if you don’t have live chat, get it). You don’t want them on hold for more than 15 seconds

I hope you have a highly profitable holiday season!

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Posted in E-commerce, marketing campaigns | No Comments »

The Shift from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

E-commerce, Multiple Streams of Traffic, Online Marketing, Online Strategy, online marketing trends, second life, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »

Web 2.0 began when Web users started to drastically change the way they were using the Web on a day-to-day basis. The main trends that shaped Web 2.0 include content sharing, creativity, segmentation, social components, and added functionality. The four key components of Web 2.0 are Social Networks, Social Media, User-Generated Content, and Social News and Bookmarketing. Although these components have been king of the mountain for a time, there are limitations and loopholes, which in turn, become fresh opportunities.

Enter Web 3.0. Web 3.0 describes the next wave that is already taking place and is the shift from Web 2.0. The key driving factors to Web 3.0 include browsing habits, browsing methods, more intelligent information, the experience we’re looking for, and the openness of the Web. BlackBerrys and iPhones, portals into Web 3.0, are ruling the day. Simplified: Web 3.0 marketing is the convergence of new technologies and rapidly changing consumer buying trends.

Live, streaming video is outpacing static video, and companies like Twitter, Plurk, and Jaiku are growing much more rapidly than Blogger, WordPress, or TypePad. The Web 3.0 marketing world is where customized, intelligent information is available at our fingertips, on any device, from anywhere in the world!

The Five Key Components of Web 3.0:

  • Microblogging is the ability to share your thoughts with a set number of characters. People are busy with limited time, so why not get right to the point of the story in 140 characters or fewer? Examples include Twitter, Plurk, and Jaiku.
  • Virtual reality worlds are places users visit to interact with others from around the world in a 3-D setting. Meetings are being conducted in these spaces, and trade shows are being replaced with virtual reality shows. Examples include Second Life and Funsites.
  • Customization/personalization allows visitors to create a more personalized experience. They are starting to expect their name to appear at the top of Web sites, personal e-mails, and even advanced checkout options that suit their buying habits. As the Web becomes more and more intelligent, personalization will be the norm. Examples include SendOutCards, Google, and Amazon.
  • Mobile plays on the fact that there are billions of cellphone users throughout the world. This number is much larger than those that use PCs. Consumers are surfing the Web and purchasing products right from their mobile phones. They are also using their phones and becoming instant journalists by shooting raw footage of random acts. Examples include iPhone and BlackBerry.
  • On-demand collaboration allows users to interact in real time by looking over documents, collaborating, and making changes in real time. Software as a service also fits into on-demand collaboration as it allows users to leverage only Web-based solutions. Examples include Google Docs, Salesforce.com, Slideshare.net, and Box.net.

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Posted in E-commerce, Multiple Streams of Traffic, Online Marketing, Online Strategy, online marketing trends, second life, web 3.0 | No Comments »

Collaboration: Connecting and Sharing Data at Lightening-Speed Paces

E-commerce, Online Marketing, internet marketing, link building, marketing campaigns | 0 Comments »

Everyone wants things quicker than the day before. Taz Solutions, Inc., is actually the fourth company I have started and grown. After experiencing issues in the other three, I knew that I had to learn everything I could about different systems that could help a business run more effectively. After much research, and chats with different people using these various systems, I realized that Web-based systems were the way to go. I came to this conclusion from two paths: The first was that I found from speaking with others that it’s much cheaper in the long run to use Web-based systems. The second was that I wanted to hire and work with people throughout the world. I wasn’t going to maintain some massive server in my home office for everyone. I’d rather the systems I purchased cover that cost.

Collaboration is critical for success in today’s marketplace. There are many businesses that are being run by one person, but chances are that even that one person has a team of vendors or contractors who are helping with business functions such as marketing, fulfillment, accounting, and general administrative support. Even the Fortune 500 companies use independent contractors or consultants and, more often than not, the contractors work off the business’s premises. This poses a data-sharing issue as well as a potential delay in getting and sharing the information. With Web 3.0, every day, every hour, counts in terms of your competitiveness and performance.

Web-based applications can help you effectively manage all of your team members (internal and external), as well as increase your speed to market.

There are hundreds of ways teams can collaborate, but I’ve zeroed in on the most important, the ones that will make the biggest difference to your speed and competitive edge:

  • Chatting
  • Sharing docs, files, audios, videos
  • Project management
  • Analytics
  • Shopping-cart system
  • E-mail management
  • Customer relationship management
  • Teleconferences/webinars

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Posted in E-commerce, Online Marketing, internet marketing, link building, marketing campaigns | No Comments »

Web 3.0 Apps – Take Advantage of These!

E-commerce, Multiple Streams of Traffic, internet marketing, mobile marketing, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »

An “app” (which is shorthand for “application”) is a piece of software that may be found on your computer, on your mobile phone, or across the Web. Originally, all software programs were called “apps” But recently apps have come to be used specifically to refer to the small programs found on iPhones and now other smartphones, Facebook, and Google. They typically help you do something and make your life a little easier in a big way. For example, the iPhone has an application that allows you to put your phone up to the radio (or any type of speaker) to have the app search for and find the name and musician for the song that is playing!

Over the past two years, the development of different apps has been growing at an extraordinary rate. Even more significant is the use of the apps, which is primarily for many of the Web 3.0 sites and marketing tactics we have discussed.

Rather than only talking about the traditional apps in your marketing, there are three totally different ways of looking at apps. First, think of the apps for general business use. These apps will make your job easier, create more revenue, and make communication with your prospects and clients easier. Second, think of using apps in your Web 3.0 marketing. These are the apps that can be used for mobile marketing, in targeted forums, in microblogging, and the like. Third, think of apps as a possible lead generator or profit house. Entire businesses are being made solely for developing, selling, or giving away apps.

Selling apps is one way to generate revenue. But giving away apps is an even more powerful way. As we’ve discussed before, one of the best marketing tactics for generating leads is to offer free stuff, whether it’s a whitepaper, a CD/DVD, or an app. Give first, and it will all work out in the end!

I personally use apps to make my businesses run more smoothly, to keep me productive, and to have some fun along the way.

Posted in E-commerce, Multiple Streams of Traffic, internet marketing, mobile marketing, web 3.0 | No Comments »

What Marketing Campaigns are Making you the Most Money?

E-commerce, marketing campaigns, web analytics | 4 responses »

Can you tell me exactly how much money you’re making from your various marketing campaigns?

  • How many leads did you get from the tradeshow you just attended, even further how many became sales?
  • How much money do you make from spending $5000/month on pay per click marketing?
  • How many people visited your web site from the ad you placed in Time magazine?  Was it worth the $100,000 you spent?

You need to be able to track every penny you spend regardless of the size of your company.  We’ve got to identify what’s working and what’s not working.  Save some money and cut out whats not working and beef up the campaigns that are bringing in the most dollars for your company.  That follows the golden rules of why companies are in business: to make a profit.  To do so, you need to reduce expenses and or increase sales.

You should be thinking this sounds great, but how do I actually track my campaigns?  

First, you need to identify all the various campaigns you have taking place: online marketing, magazine ads, TV ads etc.  Each and every campaign needs to be tracked in a different way. 

The next step is to get google analytics installed on your web site – contact us if you need help in doing so - http://www.tazsol.com .  Once installed, you will gain a HUGE amount of data.   The basics of google analytics – it will tell you how many people are coming to your web site,  where they came from and what they are doing on your web site.   In another post we will go into more advanced Google Analytics options,  for now, simply get it on your web site!

The last step to tracking your campaigns to dollars is to customize and configure a customer relationship management tool.    We prefer and only use www.salesforce.com Its the most robust tool we have ever used.  If you are dealing with any phone orders or customer service issues you need to use a system like salesforce.com.  This tool will allow you to setup campaigns and then track them thru the entire sales process.  It also allows you to manage quality issues, technical issues and so on.   It will do just about anything you need: you need an English Muffin it will literally hand you an English Muffin (that’s an extreme dramatization, but you get the point)  If this sounds familiar we borrowed it from Geico :)

Let’s show you an example of how you can use a CRM tool to track your campaigns.  You sell sprinkler systems to schools and just got back from a tradeshow.  You’ve got 25 leads.    Your task is to follow up with those leads.  Our task – to determine how many of these leads became sales.

Using a tool like Salesforce.com, you would enter in the leads in the system noting the lead source – the specific trade show.  Once the lead became qualified (some will already be qualified) , you would change it into an opportunity.  An opportunity is qualified lead that has some sales potential. 

 If you end of quoting that person/company that information would get entered in Salesforce.com along with any other activity along the way: any phone calls that were made, emails exchanged etc.  The last step is closing out the opportunity – did you win it or did you lose it?  If you lost it we want to know why, if you won it great!

Re-read this section to see how we closed the loop.  You went from attending the trade show to coming back with 25 leads to quoting some of those and to winning some orders and not winning some.

If your orders/profits are greater than the cost of the show, you made a good decision.  If your orders does not cover the cost maybe you think about another show!

Keep reading our posts for further information on how to track leads to dollars – allowing you to make more informed and practical decisions!

Have a profitable Day!

   

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Posted in E-commerce, marketing campaigns, web analytics | 4 Comments »

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