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Scoop.it!
What your sales back end can tell you about your small business marketing… When considering small business marketing, most owners think about getting exposure and visits/clicks/views, etc. 
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Scoop.it!
This article and infographic posted by Chelsey Kilser and Daily Infographic and is about the of findings from Entrepreneur, TheLogoFactory and Logodesignworks. Jan Gordon: Effective social business requires a strong brand message, great content and the ability to build community through deeper engagement and is first and foremost. However, the way you package your services matters and the colors you use are very important. Excerpt: "Colors matter and they are one of the factors that keeps your company standing out, gives your company a voice and gives you leverage over other similar companies." Here are a few takeaways: **The true colors of the world's top brands:
*29% use red *33% use blue *13% use yellow *28% use black or grayscale **Good information about how people respond to different colors Here are just a few: *Red is agressive, provacative, attention- grabbing *Purple signifies royalty, sophistication, mystery *Black means prestige, value, timelessness *Brown is earthlike, natural, simplistic Selected by Jan Gordon covering "Content Curation, Social Business and Beyond" See article and infographic here: [http://bit.ly/OjaJjM] Via janlgordon, thinksmart.it
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Scoop.it!
MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) have followed up their study of B2B content marketing trends with research into the emerging trends in the B2C
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:
Fascinating study showing a narrowing gap between B2B, traditional leaders in content marketing and curation, and B2C. The narrowing gap proves what most on Scoop.it already know - content marketing is THE MOST IMPORTANT MARKETING your company, brand or personal brand is doing (period, full stop).
Deanna Dahlsad's curator insight,
October 15, 2013 5:00 PM
I'm still not convinced that curation is all that new or different than blogging or other online publishing activities. (Blogging is not dead.) Nor am I convinced it is the most important thing you can do in terms of marketing. (And just because "everyone is doing it" doesn't sway me either; like momma always said about if so & so jumped off a bridge...) But I don't think curation can be overlooked much longer. Curation needs to be evaluated for several major factors: a) can it fit within your scope (Do you have the time & skill set? Can you do this in house or should you hire?) b) purpose (to maintain existing clients/customers, to reach new ones?) b) where would it fit? (Not all curation sites are the same; some are more suitable for products, brands, B2B or B2C reach, demographics, etc.)
Deanna Dahlsad's curator insight,
October 15, 2013 5:00 PM
I'm still not convinced that curation is all that new or different than blogging or other online publishing activities. (Blogging is not dead.) Nor am I convinced it is the most important thing you can do in terms of marketing. (And just because "everyone is doing it" doesn't sway me either; like momma always said about if so & so jumped off a bridge...) But I don't think curation can be overlooked much longer. Curation needs to be evaluated for several major factors: a) can it fit within your scope (Do you have the time & skill set? Can you do this in house or should you hire?) b) purpose (to maintain existing clients/customers, to reach new ones?) b) where would it fit? (Not all curation sites are the same; some are more suitable for products, brands, B2B or B2C reach, demographics, etc.) 
Alessandro Rea's curator insight,
October 17, 2013 5:28 AM
While B2B marketers are beginning to adopt B2C best practices when it comes to e-commerce, B2B marketers have traditionally invested more of their budgets into content marketing than their B2C counterparts, making it interesting to see how both sides measure up in this rapidly-growing area. There are many more similarities than one might expect. |
Great post by Michael Nelson about how and why Small To Medium sized Businesses can create a highly converting online process. Backend is movement of visitors to buyers. Buying can be defined broadly such as joining an email list is a form of "buying".
I love this tip about the Thank You Page:
"The “thank you” page is the location where your prospects who sign up on your squeeze page are taken. This page can be the place they download or print the free offer and can be a page that provides them with another “call to action.” Here is an example of a thank you page.
As you can see, neither page has to be too visually appealing, just have an effective offer and clear message."
The ""neither page has to be too visually appealing" message is so important. I've watched new to web SMBs spend budgets on how things look. The elastic value, what you bank after costs, of "beautiful" and confusing vs. "ugly" and clear is NOTHING. I'm an Internet marketer which means "beautiful" to me is something that converts better than what was there before especially if I didn't have to break the bank to learn how to "beat the control".
Michael Curatti.com post explains how to engage and close "sales" online in great detail. Here is another favorite quote from the Curatti.com piece:
"The “call to action” is the most obvious, but often the most overlooked in small business marketing. Make it clear what you would like the prospects to do. Click here to get this…Act now to get a free coupon… etc."
YES, hidden or lack critical CTAs (calls to action) would be on my "most common landing page mistakes" list of all time. High contrast CTAs, I prefer orange or red but have tested blue to a win once, that jump off the page would be my preference.
A boss told me he thought CTA approach was too "used car salesmen-like". Perhaps, but visitors WANT you to share what they are supposed to do next AND the benefits such an action should generate. The person who saw me as a used car salesmen did at least an equal disservice by keeping his true desires under wraps.
I prefer being clear, honest and immediate. DO THIS and GET THIS and this offer ends ON. We had long discussions about my belief B2B marketing is only different from B2C in one significant way - TIMING.
The more I thought about it the more even TIMING seems similar since B2C only SEEMS like immediate S-R curves (Stimulus-Response). A B2C merchant’s ability to sell today is built on their reputation and relationships too, so there is NO difference between B2B and B2C marketing.
I tried to explain my "invisible hand" theory of Internet marketing. When you visit a site I've architected you are looking for me (me or my team's curation and design hand). You want to "know" the architects of the space you are in. Clicking is a sign of respect and recognition of that desire (to get to know the environmental architects).
Michael's great explanations expose the invisible hand; make it clear what visitors need to do and who benefits. What a concept! A simple concept that can double your online sales.