If you’re interested in improving your website, here’s an introduction to why/how you gather data (analytics) to improve your site’s effectiveness. It’s ideal if your website has at least one order a day online and you have some patience to gather the data.
My Fashion & Jewelry Brand Needs A Tagline
I already have my debut clothing and jewelry collection ready to show at a few tradeshows but I still have to prepare my marketing materials. I need a little help in developing a tagline. The collection features all natural, eco-friendly fibers and the jewelry features sterling silver.
My target market would be women between the ages of 23-35 and located in the U.S. No I don’t have a website up as of yet. It’s still be worked on. My price point would be $$-$$$. My brand is special because I am using organic cotton fabrics to create a contemporary clothing line that can be dressed down with a pair of jeans or leggings but can also be dressed up with a cute pair of peep toe heels.
###
Jay’s Answer:
- Live Simply Beautifully
- Sensational. Not Sin-sational.
- Strut Your Self Naturally.
- Show Your Planetary Higher Consciousness
- Let Your Beauty Shine Out
My Fashion & Jewelry Brand Needs A Tagline
I already have my debut clothing and jewelry collection ready to show at a few tradeshows but I still have to prepare my marketing materials. I need a little help in developing a tagline. The collection features all natural, eco-friendly fibers and the jewelry features sterling silver.
My target market would be women between the ages of 23-35 and located in the U.S. No I don’t have a website up as of yet. It’s still be worked on. My price point would be $$-$$$. My brand is special because I am using organic cotton fabrics to create a contemporary clothing line that can be dressed down with a pair of jeans or leggings but can also be dressed up with a cute pair of peep toe heels.
###
Jay’s Answer:
- Live Simply Beautifully
- Sensational. Not Sin-sational.
- Strut Your Self Naturally.
- Show Your Planetary Higher Consciousness
- Let Your Beauty Shine Out
What Should Your B2B Website Do For You?
What are the most important things you think a B2B Web site should feature and do? In other words, how should it support and further our core marketing and business goals? I realize that’s a general question, but I appreciate whatever you have to say on the topic.
###
Jay’s Answer: In general, a website should start or continue a dialog with a prospective client. People arrive at a website either from a direct referral or from a online search. The website itself is fairly “safe” way to examine a business. No sales people chatting you up. No pressure to buy. No email clogging your inbox. Since purpose of a B2B website isn’t to sell anything outright (it’s to generate a qualified lead), you want lots of information that describes who your target market is and how you specifically help them with their problems. A case study or two (featuring ROI). A client list. White papers on your methodologies. Make things easy to find (a search box, for example).
You need a clear call to action on why they should act today to contact you. You don’t want them reading your site and thinking, “this looks like a good company with a great offering, but since I don’t need them now, I’ll try to remember it for later.” You want them to take action: a phone call, a opt-in signup, or even simply ask a question. Therefore, make it easy for them to contact you (prominently placed email, phone, opt-in forms, etc.) and make it seem that if they don’t contact you it’s their loss. For example, if you target market are plumbing contractors, then offering a free report of the “Top 10 Ways To Increase Your Plumbing Revenue” might be just the incentive you need for them to take action. The offer must obviously match your target’s problems and have a clear benefit for them.
A website can also help save your sales and receptionist a lot of time. Place frequently asked questions (if you don’t yet have them, ask your sales and reception staff to start writing down the questions they get and their answers), directions, service menus, brochures, etc. online. Even if someone doesn’t find them online, your sales staff can send them a URL to the information.
A B2B website that has great SEO will help customers find you easily instead of having to find your customers.
A B2B website should continue your branding effort. For many new clients, this may be the first touch to your organization. Therefore, set the tone with the colors, wording, imagery, layout, and tone that works for the rest of your marketing materials. You want your prospective client to intuitively know how it will be to work with you.
Your website should have analytics installed (such as Google Analytics) to allow you to understand your traffic. Ideally, your site should also be optimized for conversion (opt-in form completion, for example) (for example, using Website Optimizer ).
My Do-It-All Computer Company Needs A Slogan
I’m form India. I am recently going to open a company which will provide computer application & multimedia training also we will do multimedia production jobs, Desktop Publishing jobs and computer hardware & networking services and solution. We named our company “TechnoWings” but I can not find any good punch line in 3-4 words , which will express our company , I’ll be very helpful for any help from you.
###
Jay’s Answer: No doubt your problem arises from trying to say too much in too few words. The problem is that your services are wide-ranging, which is a problem for a targeted message.
Some ideas:
- Computer Training And Support (note: simple)
- We Speak Geek (note: humorous, may not be locally understood)
- Computer Headaches? We Solve (Remedy). (note: point to the pain they feel)
- Quick Solutions To Tech Problems (note: a reference to TechnoWings)
- Solving Flighty Computer Problems (note: a play on TechnoWings)
A Slogan For Therapeutic Massage Business?
My business name is Mackay Therapeutic Massage and I am after a short slogan to be printed on a T-shirt so I can use it as another form of advertising. I specialise in remedial & therapeutic relaxation massages. I am after something that gets the message across, but is catchy and not corny.
###
Jay’s Answer:
- A Healing Touch
- Send Your Body On A Quick Vacation
- Put Your Body And Mind At Ease
Trade Show Banner Tips?
We have a trade show coming up and we are launching a new product in a new market. Therefore the product is unknown and so are we. We are however working with a well known channel partner to enter the market. We are therefore planning to have an interactive demo unit (operational) with a 35″ x 90″ banner. I’d like some feedback on the content:
-words _ too many ?
-logo sizing
etc..
and general rule of thumbs as it applies to product banners vs. corporate banners.
###
Jay’s Answer: A banner is not a brochure. It’s also competing visually against the entire environment. Since no one knows your company name, product name, or logo, don’t spend valuable space trying to announce yourself. Instead, focus on the key benefit that your prospects care about. That’s who ultimately you want to attract. Yes, put your logo & company name, but not prominently. Keep your message simple, your text large, easily read, and able to catch their attention in 3 seconds as they pass on by your booth.
How Can We Get Our Company Profiled By The Press?
Can you recommend best-practices for getting our company profiled or quoted in the press? We’ve already begun blogging, and are seeing some nice results. We also have a number of experts on staff who can speak intelligently on topics that should be of interest to potential clients. How can we position ourselves optimally for getting covered by the media?
###
Jay’s Answer: To get picked up by specific media, understand their demographics and the article trends. Spend time to sincerely develop relationships with the editors, so that when you do contact them, they’ll answer your call/email, Then, based on your company’s expertise, suggest story ideas to the proper editors. In addition to the story provide them with some possible sources for material (including your company, if appropriate).
Another approach to being picked up by the media is to do/say something outrageous. The media is looking for a “story”, not just another business ho-hum “piece”. Take a stand completely against the mainstream, and justify it with lots of data. Start an argument, dare someone publicly, or simply play “devil’s advocate”. Done right, you’ll be seen as a passionate expert on a topic and worth covering.
Branding Only Works On Cattle
In Jonathan Salem Baskin’s book, Branding Only Works On Cattle, he takes firm aim at the practice of the marketing practice of branding. He defines branding as building consumer awareness with the goal of influencing their future behavior. Simply put, he believes that branding is useless.
Traditional marketing is focused on behavior: identifying prospective customers, their needs, and communicating how your business solves their problems. Behavior is measurable. Either someone takes action or they don’t. Split testing on messages can give statistically valuable information to improve your marketing campaign. You can optimize your marketing based on the response you do (or don’t) get.
Traditional branding is intangible. How can you measure the influence of someone’s future behavior? When it comes time to make a purchase decision, people don’t decide in a vacuum. They ask their community for input, do research, and then purchase. Impulse purchases aren’t made based on brand either; impulse happens on the spur-of-the-moment, and is based on the offering targeting the immediate need at the right price.
In the past, branding was possible because customers had few choices (besides their immediate community) – television (with just a few channels) and magazines. Larger corporations could spend money to control the messages of these limited media. The Internet has allowed people to easily search for information. Search, the author contends, is the enemy of brand. Search allows people to find information anywhere (not just in company-controlled locations). The end result is that companies are simply trying to scream louder to get their message heard about the din.
The author also believes that social online “communities” are a poor way to brand/market your company. Most of these communities aren’t really communities – people can be anonymous, there’s no shared responsibility, no trust, and no informal conversations.
Instead he suggests paying attention to the basic strategies of guerrilla marketing, which are focused on changing near-term behavior:
- Support existing behaviors, don’t create them [piggyback on habit]
- Show, don’t tell [by example]
- Prompt behaviors, not ideas [cause action]
- Talk to many, every time you talk [involvement by dialog]
Taglines Passe? Try Six-Word Memoirs.
Photo by Prabhu
I recently listened to an interview by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser (who compiled Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure) on National Public Radio. The basis of their compilations was the legend that when asked to write a six-word novel, novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
That got me to thinking about taglines, those seven-or-so words that we use to encapsulate a key benefit of our business. Or headlines, short pithy words that get people to keep reading. And I realized that a six-word novel might even be more juicy material to build your marketing.
A tagline (or slogan) tries to be self-contained. Easily understood. Unambiguous. Maybe clever or memorable. But the end result is often dull. Yes, it’s clear but it’s not helping to inspire dialog between you and your prospective customers.
Perhaps it’s time to create your own business’ six-word memoir to pique some targeted interest in your message.
For example, instead of an insurer with a tagline:
- Protecting Your Family And Your Future
(which has a clear emotional hook/benefit), imagine any of the following business memoirs:
- Unplanned Future. I forgot. Our loss.
- Should’ve saved. Could’ve relaxed. Too late.
- Boring insurance. Sudden catastrophe. Lucky me.
These memoirs serve a slightly different purpose than a tagline. They don’t tell your whole business. They paint a quick emotional story, which could easily be filled in by supporting copy.
How hard could six words be?