Category Archives: Lead Generation

Local Marketing and Franchise Companies

Posted on by Michael Boyer

We recently surveyed 100+ franchise companies about local marketing and how they supported their local franchisees with local online marketing programs.

Online Local Marketing Survey Results

01. What’s your greatest challenge in generating local leads for your Franchisees?
(Please rank, 1-4, 1 being most important.)

  • ~ 1.3 (average rank) Franchisees have limited time and budget to produce local marketing campaigns
  • ~ 1.9 (average rank) Local franchisees have little expertise to effectively implement marketing campaigns.
  • ~ 2.9 (average rank) Local marketing solutions rely on the franchisee to implement with little time & few resources.
  • ~ 3.9 (average rank) Independent competitors are dominating the local lead generation sources.

02. How do you control your brand at the local Franchisee level?

  • ~ 87.5% of surveyed franchisors have implemented a strict process with brand standards and approvals required for any locally generated marketing materials.
  • ~ 62.5% of surveyed franchisors said that branding is controlled tightly at the national level with no ability for the Franchisees to customize any aspect of marketing for their local level.
  • ~ 37.5% of surveyed franchisors allow franchisees to use approved brand assets, campaign programs and online tools to create customized, online local marketing campaigns.
  • ~ 12.5% of surveyed franchisors have not implemented brand standards; franchisees target their own local markets.

03. How would your Franchisees rate their local online presence: 4.88 (average rating between 1 & 10)

  • ~ 50% of surveyed franchisors responded that their franchisees were not represented online. (1-4)
  • ~ 37.5% of surveyed franchisors responded that their franchisees had some representation online. (5-7)
  • ~ 12.5% of surveyed franchisors responded that their franchisees were well-represented online. (8-10)

04. How are your Franchisees represented online now:

  • ~ 98.6% of surveyed franchisors give each franchisee a page on the corporate website for local clients to find.
  • ~ 28.6% of surveyed franchisors give each franchisees a 2- to 5-page micro-site that we list in the ”sponsored links” section of the search engines and the Franchisees pay for each lead that comes from their micro-site.
  • ~ 42.9% of surveyed franchisors said Franchisees have their own website(s), domain(s) and email marketing which complies to brand guidelines, so Google ranks them very high in their local communities.
  • ~ 14.3% of surveyed franchisors responded “none of the above.”

Based on these results, franchise companies are not taking full advantage of their national market segment and corporate branding by messaging in their local communities with targeted local online marketing strategies.

Eenie, Meenie, Miney…Moe!

Posted on by Michael Boyer

Choosing a name for anything is daunting. Your kid, your business or website domain, you want to make a good choice. Your domain name is your internet identity and should be a vital component in your overall business and marketing strategy. How do you figure out what your ultimate domain name is?

I Am What I Am

Ideally, the planets will align so that your website name and business name will come together at the same time. The name that you’ve been using in your marketing and branding efforts is the name you want for your website and domain. It’s the first thing users will try to enter into a browser.

If you already have a well-known name or brand, you should obviously get the domain that matches that name. You put a lot of effort into getting that name and branding established in your community. But what if that name is taken? Don’t change your company name because you couldn’t get the domain name.

Look up the current owner on www.whois.net and contact them to see if they are willing to sell it to you. If they are agreeable to selling the name, they will probably up the fee so you could be paying a higher rate than when you buy a new domain.

If your website and/or company is new, you might want to check out domain names first and find one that suits the name of your business. So, let’s say you find that bitsandbobs.com is available and buy it, it could be a perfect name for your Bits and Bobs business with your website being bitsandbobs.com.

Remember, the internet is an extremely fast-paced world and your customers want ease of use, so don’t make them work. A domain name that reflects your business and website is one less piece of information for users to remember. When visitors think of your business and website they’ll know it by name and where to go or what to enter into the browser.

The Long and Short of It

It’s true. Shorter domain names are easier to remember (but it’s harder and harder to get meaningful short names that make sense). Short names are also less apt to give users problems with typos. Todayisyourluckyday.com (sort of an average length) is much easier to remember and use than goandconquetheworldtodayisyourluckyday.com.

On the other hand, if a short name seems confusing or random unless the user is very familiar with you, then stick with something longer. So, tiyld.com is short and sweet, but it’s an odd assortment of letters that aren’t even pronounceable as an acronym. Spelling this out is probably easier to remember and use: TodayIsYourLuckyDay.com. Additionally, search engines will probably not pick up on your randomly-lettered domain name.

Word! What’s the Key Here?

Another point to consider is using site keywords in your domain name. Using keywords are likely to boost your site ranking with search engines. It’s not your business name, but the plus side is that search engines gravitate toward keywords that are also found in domain names. However, in order to make keywords in your domain work for you, you’ll need to know what words people are searching for. There are quite a few tools that will can help you figure out the best keywords to use. See Good Things and Do Your Leg Work below for a more detailed discussion.

So being that you can use up to 63 or 67 characters in a domain name, you could use several keywords…go crazy! But, and try to remember that run-on name and type it into a browser! It’s probably a good idea to avoid a horrendously long name…no one will remember it, much less want to type in out. The key to your domain name, long or short, is that it makes sense and doesn’t cause a lot of confusion for your customers or other potential users.

Spell It Like It Is

A correctly-spelled domain name will help your users find your website easily. It might be cool and fun to use z’s for s’s or even add a few zzzz’s to your name, but opt for simple and easy… kewlgurrrlsurferz.com …huh?

To Hyphen or Not to Hyphen

Some things to think about with a hyphenated name:

Not So Good Things:

  • ~ You’ll have a hurdle making people aware of the hyphens in your domain and people don’t usually remember to type them in. Most people would type in todayisyourluckyday.com, not today-is-your-lucky-day.com
  • ~ Adding hyphens in your name makes for a potential mouthful when users say your name…verbal marketing will sound clumsy. It would be almost more logical to buy clumsyhyphenandhyphenawkward.com because you’ll be saying “clumsy hyphen and hyphen awkward dot com.” If you aren’t clear about the hyphens, when people recommend your fabulous product or service and site, other users will type in clumsyandhyphen.com, not clumsy-and-awkward.com. Take a cue from most corporations and try not to use them.
  • ~ Generally, they are a pain to type, especially several of them within one domain.

Good Things:

  • ~ Hyphens help search engines identify keywords more easily. Because they distinguish your keywords better, your site will be better ranked in search results for those specific keywords.
  • ~ It’s an alternative when the un-hyphenated domain name is already registered to someone else. If you can limit them, you may still be able to get a not-too-awkwardly-hyphenated domain you want.

Happy Medium Thing:

  • ~ Buy both your natural and hyphenated domain names…since typing the name is easier without hyphens, this is the one you use for marketing and everywhere else. Since search engines usually like and rank domains with hyphenated names better and better ranking drives more users to your site, you’ll get the benefits of the hyphen.

What’s the Point?

Registering multiple domain names and pointing each one to a specific page or a few to your general website can help generate higher sales and traffic to your site. When you do this, you give users multiple avenues to your site. So, both customers who know the business name will be able to find you and customers who know your product or service will be able to find you.

Consider purchasing domains that are similar to your domain, contain hyphens or are even misspelled: coolcoffeeshop.com, coolcoffeeshoppe.com, koolcoffeeshop.com, cool-coffee-shop.com, coolcofeeshop.com, kewlcafeshop.com…you get the picture. Registering several domains will cast a wider net when users search for you. A word of caution: don’t point too many multiple domains to the same page because most search engines will dump your site.

Dot Wat?

.com is the most common and widely known extension. Like a good short name, finding your .com domain can be challenging. Most people now recognize .biz, .edu, .org, .net…but these also have certain implications. Be aware that .biz is generally recognized for businesses; .edu is intended for educational institutions; .org is widely used by non-profit and similar organizations; .net was originally for network providers, but it has a general use like .com now. However, there is nothing wrong with buying your domain name with several of these extensions.

iCUGOT12?

Numbers can present a similar problem as hyphens, especially with vocal marketing: is shineything4you.com – 4you or foryou or fouryou or 4u…..?

Shock Value

Using profanity in your domain name is unprofessional and gives you a negative image. Done.

Do Your Leg Work

Getting back to using a keyword or words in your domain name…this will help optimize search engine results, but to make your choices meaningful, you have to know what people are searching for.

  • ~ Word Search – www.wordtracker.com is one of the many tools that can help you find good keywords. Enter the words or phrase/phrases you think people would use to search and the program shows you which words are most popular. You can use this information to optimize our website content, generate more keywords and improve your organic or pay-per-click searches. This site gives you a free 7-day tour, beyond that it’s a paid membership. If you search for “keyword tool,” you’ll find other tools to use as cross-reference.
  • ~ Trademarks – If you have any question about your domain name being trademarked, do some research to verify you aren’t violating the law. However, if you register domain name and then a company trademarks it, you’re probably safe.
  • ~ www.whois.net – You can do various searches on this site, obviously finding out if the domain you want already has a current owner. You can search by domain name, keyword and owner. Using the domain search will help you with trademark research. You can find deleted domains as well.
  • ~ www.deleteddomains.com – The name says it all! Do a primary search for deleted and on-hold domains here. The site has a great feature that allows you to choose search parameters like character length or domains that contain specific words. You’ll need to register to get the full benefits of their services.
  • ~ www.nameboy.com – This is a playful generator site. You search for words and let the program know if you want your domain to use hyphens or rhyming words. It also has a “who is” search. A cool feature is that you can submit your domain name and they will appraise the words for things like search frequency, terms and keyword advertising values, popularity. Using this tool will help you evaluate your domain relative to keywords.

Because your domain name is part of your image and branding, use all the resources available to make a good choice. Sometimes domains come easy and are a logical fit AND are available—the planets aligned for you! It gets tricky when your first choice isn’t available or you can’t find a good combination of words. Your domain should represent your company and product or service in order to better integrate your website into your marketing strategy.

The ultimate domain name does not make an ultimate site…you still need to put some work and effort into great content and design. Go the extra mile with keywords and some SEO work. Otherwise, your website will be all dressed up with nowhere to go.

A Recipe for Successful Local Marketing …

Posted on by Michael Boyer

Franchise companies have many challenges, one of which is local marketing. Traditionally, it has been difficult to produce consistent local marketing campaigns that drive leads to the local office. These campaigns normally consist of some sort of direct mail, “yellow pages” or print advertising, all of which are becoming much less effective in these techno-savvy times.

A new recipe for local marketing includes 2 cups website, 1/2 cup email, 1 cup search engine and a dash of tracking. Mixed well to make a successful local marketing campaign.

2 cups Website – A website is made of visual imagery and textual content. When mixing up your website, please choose only natural and relevant text for your content. This will allow the search engine and website to blend well together and produce a better tasting (more leads) dish. Use the combination of visual imagery and text to produce the fragrant smell (call to action) that entices your guests (site visitors) heads toward the kitchen (your contact information)

1/2 cup Email – An email is one page of your website delivered to your contact’s email box. It’s a combination of problem-solving and education. If you can brew these two items together to create interest and anticipation then you have succeeded in stirring up interest in your website. Email should never outwardly sell your services, but should educate your customer.

1 cup Search Engine – Search engine is the final and most often forgotten ingredient to your successful local marketing campaign. Search engine is only effective if it is incorporated well with website. If your website and search engine have similar content then customers will find website in their search engine queries.

A dash of Tracking – To realize success is to measure success. Use Google analytics to track your website and your traffic sources to understand if these ingredients are producing an increase in customers coming to your website. This tool will also show you the increase the number of customers who contact you.

We hope you enjoy this new recipe! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Keep ‘Em Coming Back for More – The Write Way

Posted on by Michael Boyer

Cultivating users and customers who return to your site is no easy task. What? Your business doesn’t offer a product that you can advertise as “special clearance!” or “for a limited time only!” that will entice users back? Well, developing repeat customers the “write” way can keep you connected to them as well as build your reputation as an industry leader, grow your brand awareness and spark interest from prospective clients.

First Things, First

Unless you have a way to capture your users’ contact information, you won’t be able to send out an online marketing campaign. You’ll need an online marketing manager that includes a database to store your client information list.

That in place, include a “join us” or “sign up” call to action prominently on your website, in multiple places (tastefully). Whether the user visits your site once or several times, or visits one page or explores your entire site, that call to action should always be available.

Special E-livery

For any company, e-newsletters and/or e-mail campaigns are a logical start. Make no mistake, however, compelling and successful campaigns take work

  • ~ Share your knowledge and choose a topic relevant to your client base to focus on. Whether it’s an intro or advanced level topic for a service, clear and direct copywriting will always inspire learning. Include tips and advice – builds trust and shows your expertise.
  • ~ Providing an in-depth view of a product or service may also introduce clients to something new. Emphasizing benefits rather than features encourages the customer to view you as a solution-provider. How are you leaps and bounds in front of your competitors? Leading with benefits inspire confidence in your company, your brand and your product.
  • ~ If your clients experience a Success Story, write about it. Testimonials about your product or service increase your credibility. Real life stories also give your campaign another dimension and human touch – your customers relate to each other.
  • ~ Q&As and interviews are a creative way to break up the content of the newsletter while offering quick nuggets of information. Generate participation by inviting your clients to submit questions and choose a few to answer. Or, a more interesting approach is to interview another expert in the field answering the question. Your partner should offer a product or service that complements your own.
  • ~ If you do offer a product for sale online, sending an e-mail campaign featuring products often encourages return visits. Whether it’s seasonally, monthly or weekly, schedule the email consistently so that your customers look forward to “what’s next?”

What Can New Do For You?

“New” and “free” and “Improved”…but especially “new” and “free” attract us like…well, you know. They are probably the most attractive and potent words product and service providers can use in marketing and advertising. There are studies that show that something in “new” activates a reward center in our brain. And whether the reward is to be the first to get the newest, shiniest widget, or to learn something new, it’s a great tool for online marketing as well.

Advertising new products on your site and in your e-marketing campaigns is a no-brainer, the novelty is built in.

If your company doesn’t offer a product? This “new” does not necessarily involve developing a new service each month…it’s you “new” content. Keep your site content (articles and images) updated regularly. Your users will return often to see what’s “new.” If your content doesn’t change for months and months, your web analytics return rate will probably reflect that.

An excellent source of new content is your own company news – New and Press, Press Releases, Media, Press Center. Give your news some prominence on your home page, include a spot for it in your main navigation and make it easy to find. More importantly, keep on top of issuing your news – being diligent about this takes commitment and dedication. Sending out monthly news is good; sending out weekly news is great!

It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It

  • ~ Your writing should paint a picture in your client’s head: write in the active voice (who did what, rather than what was done by whom.
  • ~ Be persuasive and clear: avoid the $25 paragraph to say 25-cents worth of message.
  • ~ Be engaging in your approach: clever writing balanced with professionalism in a tone that is appropriate to your message: urgent-action needed; helpful; warm-fuzzy; fun.
  • ~ Write to inspire action: think about radio spots or movie reviews – they’re quick and evocative, and they make you want to see the movie.

One-on-One

Write as if you were talking to your best user or client. Your ONE best user or client. Writing as if you were presenting your widget or widget service to your entire client list takes away from the personalization of your message. Writing on a personal level, like a one-on-one conversation addresses your client’s individual needs…just the way he or she receives your e-mail or e-newsletter – as an individual.

Journalism 101

Learn the upside-down paragraph used in journalistic writing. Write general to specific. Remember to lead with benefits, so start with that in your headline. Repeat that benefit early on in first paragraph and include a few more benefits as well. Detail the features and logistics of how your company delivers your benefits in the following paragraphs. Learn it, use it, live it!

The Marketing Manager who never sleeps (and it’s not insomnia) – Can you read in your sleep?

Posted on by Michael Boyer

Online marketing is all that it’s cracked up to be and isn’t as difficult as it’s cracked up to be.

It doesn’t even need to be a wazoo marketing campaign. In fact, it’s already on every page of your website. It’s your copy. If crafted thoughtfully and clearly, your entire website is the Marketing Manager who sells your company, your brand, your product or your service 24/7/365 (or 366 depending).

Great website content is the foundation for driving great qualified leads to your site. But what makes the content great? Snappy writing? Tech-speak and pop culture buzzwords? Lots of it? Not really…and it’s much simpler than finding your inner-copywriter.

GET IN THE 10-RING…KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Who are you speaking to? What is your niche market? What does your target audience want and need? Define these users and tailor your copy to them. Your copy should address their specific wants, needs, questions or “yeah, but…” hurdles, just like an in-person sales pitch would do.

Take some time to figure out your users’ behavior and habits on your site. Your website host, Google Analytics reports or other web stat program can tell you a lot about things such as:

  • ~ What page gets the most user time?
  • ~ What time do you get the most visitors?
  • ~ From which page do users most often bail from your site?

PUT OUT A CREATIVE WELCOME MAT

Here’s where the snappy writing does help.

Your site headlines are quick snippets of information. Your users often decide whether they are interested in your site and/or page right here. So easy-to-understand, attention-grabbing headlines will help make users want to hang on your door step and then delve deeper into your website.

Choose your words wisely and keep them relevant to what your users want to know.

THE SCAN ARTIST

A copy-heavy page is not well-received or read in full. But don’t distract your user with a ton of images, flash, slideshows, automatic videos or intro music either.
Users tend to skim through websites and scan pages, so large paragraphs are not useful, even if you think it will help with key word relevancy. Your user will skip out before you know it.

  • ~ Write short 4-5 line paragraphs. Even a one-liner, now and then, adds good je ne sais quoi.
  • ~ Use bullet-point lists.
  • ~ Mix the above two to break up the page.
  • ~ Use subheads to divide longer chunks of copy.
  • ~ Use easy-to-read, web-friendly fonts like Verdana or Arial.
  • ~ Avoid dark, patternend backgrounds; a light-colored plain background gives the most readability.
  • ~ Less is more – choose your images and graphics carefully and make them applicable to the copy.

Hot Chillys does this really well …

HOW’S YOUR STREET CRED?…OK, WEB CRED?

How is what you have to say more credible than the rest of oh, say, every other company in your industry that has a website? Yep, those hundreds, maybe even thousands of sites?

People want to know and trust that what you’re offering has credibility, integrity, quality…you need to establish this quickly and early on in your users’ visit.

  • ~ Your About Us section – what about you? Talk about your credentials and what separates you from the rest of the herd. Show your users you are solid.
  • ~ Who are you? Not your company, product or service as a business or commercial entity, but as a person. Make your offering relevant as a person, not as an object. Your users want to relate to the total package and the way to do that is tell them who you are, what’s your story?
  • ~ Use testimonials to build trust. Testimonials from your happy clients or customers pack a powerful punch to your credibility. Engage past clients to write about their expectations and results they received by partnering with you. Make sure to include your client’s name, business name and their website URL…it helps the user know the bandwagon is real.

GOOD TO GREAT

Features are good, but get to the real great thing: what benefits do you offer? How do you fill a need and make your future client’s life easy, painless and stress-free? Anticipate that your client will want to know “what do I get out of this?” and show them how you can solve their problems.

  • ~ Good: ElementsLocal offers Franchise companies a website platform that provides a local website for each of their Franchisees.
  • ~ Great: ElementsLocal provides each Franchisee with a customizable local website in one-third the cost AND capitalizes on the strength and power of national branding and established online presence.

CALLS TO ACTION

Now that your user must absolutely have your product or service, you need to let them know how to get it. Make your calls to action clear and easy to find. Include them in several places (tastefully) on each page, for example as a side bar button.

  • ~ Use the online wizard to purchase your site in 4 easy steps. (inline copy)
  • ~ Purchase your site now! (button copy)
  • ~ Click here to receive your sprocket, risk-free! (inline copy)
  • ~ Order your sprocket! (button copy)

Your website copy, especially that on your home page, is your 15 seconds for a great first impression—that awesome smile and pleasantly firm handshake. Your clients need to be crystal clear about why you are the person they should partner with.

You don’t need to embark on a site overhaul and rewrite all your content. Employing some of these techniques will help you build your website into an effective marketing tool. Employ all of them and you’ll produce an outstanding online marketing manager who will sell your product or service 8760 (or 8784 depending).

3 wonderful ways to drive better leads from your website…

Posted on by Michael Boyer

Driving high-quality leads with your website is a long-term strategy that requires commitment, persistence and patience. As many people will tell you, content IS king, please internalize that and realize that your customers are at your website because they are looking for better information …

It’s our job to give it to them …

Write Great Content

Your website content should be useful to your users. They need to see value in your articles and your topics. Customer testimonials, case studies and work examples are great for service based businesses. Product businesses should concentrate on differentiation with competitors and testimonials.

One new article per week to give your customers consistent meaningful information about your company, your people and your accomplishments.

Tell People About Your Great Content

Always mention your website in all advertising. Submit a press release to the PRWeb or Business Wire to inform people about your great content and accomplishments. Send press to the Chambers, clubs and community organizations that your company is affiliated with.

Use your trade media to drive qualified people to your website by featuring your content in articles or advertisements in industry trade publications.

Link to Others with Great Content

Linking to others websites with quality content will tie your brands together. The more you link to other websites the more links you’ll receive to your website, which increases your websites search engine listings.

Your users will also remember that your website was the go-to source for information from your content and the links on your site.

Just remember, that great content is the foundation for driving great qualified leads to your website.

4 Powerful Reasons to do Local Web Marketing

Posted on by Michael Boyer
  • Relationship Building & Management
    Web marketing is a great way to enhance your relationship building. Sending a monthly email to customers and sales prospects in your business network keeps them knowledgeable about how your business will provide them with the very best service possible. These emails should focus on your accomplishments and educational items such as “how tos” and business announcements.
  • Lead Generation
    Drive local leads by creating great local content on your local website. This content will be picked up by Google and other search engines, which will list your site in their search results. The better your content, the higher you’ll rank on the search engines. Each website might feature emergency calls to action as well as newsletter and contact us forms for lead generation.
  • Public Relations
    Local web marketing is great for public relations, as the news media will look up your website and reference it in any media coverage you receive. Reporters will use your web site to verify research and the capabilities of your company.
  • Professional Creditability
    Increase the creditability of your business by publicizing your website with press releases, email marketing and adding your domain name on your business cards. Local Paul Davis Restoration websites are world-class, professional sites that build on the brand and creditability of the national websites.

ElementsLocal – Use the power of your franchise network to dominate your industry.

Paul Davis Restoration uses ElementsLocal™ to drive their brand to local markets.

Posted on by Michael Boyer

ELEMENTS Launches Paul Davis Restoration on ElementsLocal for Franchise Systems.

San Luis Obispo, CA – June, 30 2008. Elements, an interactive agency, today announced that they have launched Paul Davis Restoration on their ElementsLocal software platform. ElementsLocal is an online local marketing platform for franchise systems.

The primary objective of ElementsLocal is to provide each franchise of Paul Davis Restoration with a marketing platform targeted to their local market. ElementsLocal provides franchise systems with an unmatched ability to give franchise leaders BrandSecure™ online marketing tools. These vital tools drive local business leads without diluting the franchise’s national brand. ElementsLocal puts the power of online marketing in your franchisees’ hands, while consistently driving your brand across all web properties. Typically franchise companies have a single website and domain name to represent all of their franchises, thus internet search engines see one website for each of the hundreds or thousands of locations. Franchise companies miss a huge opportunity for localized search engine optimization.

“Paul Davis Restoration recognized the value of a local web marketing empowered through corporate branding and support,” said Michael Boyer, Vice President and CMO of ELEMENTS. “We are excited to partner with Paul Davis in providing a local marketing platform to their network of franchisees.”

ElementsLocal was developed specifically for the unique challenges and opportunities franchise companies face in online franchise marketing. ElementsLocal is proven to maximize search engine results for franchise companies by taking advantage of the hundreds or even thousands of unique franchise locations of the franchisor company.

About ELEMENTS – www.elementsinc.net
ELEMENTS is an interactive marketing agency, we design and develop online business products and corporate web sites. Our online business products provide industry-specific platforms, which enable our clients to harness the power of the internet to streamline their business. Our world-class interactive services provide marketing solutions for mid-market companies. From conception and strategy to design and implementation, we combine world-class creative services and proven technological expertise with forward-thinking business strategies. We deliver successful and elegant solutions for deployment of enterprise web initiatives.

About Paul Davis Restoration – www.pdrestoration.com
Paul Davis Restoration is one of the nation’s foremost franchise organizations with over 220 independently owned and operated franchisees. Since 1966, the Paul Davis Restoration network of contractors has been an innovative leader in the areas of property damage mitigation, reconstruction and remodeling. We work across the United States serving our residential, institutional and commercial customers and clients. We have built our heritage one project at a time establishing a reputation for performance, integrity and responsibility.