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Just imagine how much time, effort and money goes into strategically, developing and deploying an outbound message to a customer, client or associate. No matter if it’s an eMail campaign, print ad, direct mail piece or television spot the collective brain cells and bank account required to bring the campaign to a successful client engagement is enormous.

Yet, all to often a critical component to the process is left out, forgotten or considered inconsequential. This missing link, the fluid cross-platform process, can mean the difference between success and failure of a marketing program.

Today, there are basically two actions most marketing programs seek to achieve. The first is to have the customer make an immediate purchase. They can do that by either going directly to the store, or by calling a company representative and calling-in an order (the variation on this might be calling the rep and beginning the process of estimation, negotiation and P.O., but you get the point).

The second action is to move the customer to a Web site where they either seek more information, or immediately engage. In most cases, visitors look for more data to support their interest before committing to a purchase decision.

The enormous disconnect comes most frequently in the second instance when the message does not align with the call-to-action. That is, this highly-crafted marketing driver simply lands you on the home page of a company with little or no similarity between the offer and a way to investigate or fulfill it.

You’ve probably seen an ad, a banner or an eBlast that you are really interested in. You click on the ad and are taken to a Web page that 1.) doesn’t immediately repeat the offer somewhere prominent on the page, 2.) has no graphic continuity with the marketing driver, 3.) is cluttered with messaging unrelated to the reason you clicked the banner in the first place. In frustration, most people click away and leave the site, which is unfortunate. All that time and effort has been wasted.

In my opinion, one of the highest priority items in the online marketing transaction process (aside from the message itself) is the seamless transition from driver, to Web site (hence, cross-platform). It’s critically important to preserve the intent, message and environment all along the marketing path. Especially when you’re asking the user to jump from one media source to the other. In a perfect world, make the offer and don’t allow distraction anywhere along the journey until they reach the successful conclusion.

The operative concept here is message and environment continuity.

Think of the landing page for your drivers. Does it clearly map-in to the message, look and feel of the campaign? Often times, it does not. (Frequently, a driver will take a user to a home page, or a product page within the site with not obvious reference to the campaign’s offer, nor any easy way to find it).

I hear the groaning already. “You’re telling me I have to create, in effect, a micro-site that is built around my outbound!” Yes. Precisely. You got the user to click to (or visit) your site; now it’s time to reinforce the journey, preserve the emotional bond you have initiated, assure them of your qualifications, and go for the close. If the process is seamless, your chances of success are much greater.

Consider one of my favorite recent examples, Prudential. Like many other personal wealth management companies, they offer products that specifically target people considering retirement; a very emotional “sell” since it involves money, well-being, happiness, hopes and desires.

In a recent magazine I noticed two huge ads for similar retirement products. One pictured a middle-aged man sitting in a small fishing boat with a headline that blandly talked about retirement and had a link to their corporate web site. The other ad, for Prudential, was surrounded by a sea of red (THAT studk out!) had a banner headline that shouted “The Retirement Red Zone” with short sub-headlines and sidebar stories on “risks,” “impacts” and “concerns.” Wow, got my attention.

To learn more, they encouraged me go to their microsite (it was NOT their Prudential home page!). www.retirementredzone.com not only preserves the message, campaign theme (red) and overall look-and-feel, but has three calls-to-action right at the top (learn more, download, and try…) that came directly from the drivers.

Why does this approach optimize the marketing transaction process? Precisely because Prudential has aligned the message, appeal, graphic design and CTA’s between all their outbound marketing, and the place where business gets done: the Web site.

Their messaging (the Red Zone concept) alone sets them apart from their competitors. Driving them to a separate web site (the micro-site) that continues that messaging while offering a variety of emotional connections between the user’s state of mind and Prudential’s solutions is the master stroke. There is an immediate connection between ALL of Prudential’s retirement-related marcom, and the engagement portal. The message is strong, it resonates, and it’s consistent. The user comes from a driver, is put into a different environment (the Web site) and immediately knows where they are.

Do you provide the same seamless transition? Do you make the journey simple, and the message compelling? Do you keep the user oriented in regards to your message?

While it may require additional time and budget, creating a landing page (or micro-site) that connects and resonates with your marketing program can be well worth the effort, and lead to better conversion rates.

Agree? Disagree? Have a success story? Have a question? Share it with me at: bob_chernet@viewmark.com

View a complete list of Bob’s Marketing Insights articles.

© 2008 Bob Chernet
Reproduction in any manner is unlawful, without the written permission of the author.

It can be fun to draw analogies between the real world and cyberspace. For most people, the acronym VIP means “Very Important Person”. The media, and especially the tabloids, focus a lot of time and effort on following their every move. We all seem to get in on the act; for example, when someone knows a VIP there always seems to be a tendency to name-drop them whenever possible.

In cyberspace, I think of VIP as “Very Important Page” and the analogy to a very important person can be made in an eerily similar way, but keep in mind, search engines don’t understand human traits like infatuation. Traditional advertising concepts like “celebrity sponsorship” are not familiar to search engines and don’t really work very well.

I’m glad search engines don’t seem to get “star struck” like humans and try to concentrate on web pages from topic authorities instead of the celebrity sites. It makes the search engine optimization (SEO) process a little bit more predictable. However, many web site owners and search engine marketing (SEM) firms still seek out web pages with high page rank (PR) in an attempt to get a link placed to their web site from them.

This reminded me of a time in my life when I was required to travel coast-to-coast a few times a month on business because our New York 3D graphics firm had been acquired by an engineering software company in Los Angeles. Well, I quickly became an American Airlines Advantage Gold Member and was upgraded to first class on just about every flight I took. As a result, I flew with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Keith Richards, Whitney Houston, Andy Williams, and Frank Gifford to name a few.

My colleagues were all excited about it since they got to hear a lot of interesting stories about the celebrities, but for me it was just too much time away from family and friends. Interestingly, search engines would have probably considered my Hollywood anecdotes valuable information if my business was celebrity gossip, but they certainly would not have indexed them in relation to engineering software design.

There are many instances where a link from a specific type of web site can quickly move your rankings higher in the major search engines, Sites like Wikipedia, Academic and Professional Associations deliver much higher value than any celebrity site ever could. Search engines pay very close attention to how sites link to you and how you link to them.

So this brings me back to the VIP analogy. Of course it is important to have links from sites with high PR value, but I believe it is more important to concentrate on links that are from authority web sites from within your vertical industry or community. Soliciting a link just because it is located on a web site with a high PR value is like grabbing a camera, jumping on a motorcycle and joining the link paparazzi.

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I often find myself examining at all sorts of marketing materials that come my way. Besides the obvious of looking at layout, appeal, message and such, I also look for the way the company’s Web address is positioned, highlighted and used. Such information tells me, as a marketer, whether the company “gets” it; that is, how important they view the Internet as not only a marketing channel, but as a method to retain top-of-mind awareness and solidify their relationship with new and returning customers.

Last year I wrote an article titled Using URLs to Support Marketing Efforts to help marketers understand that putting a Web address on marcom materials, and even packaged goods in the proper way can help drive interest, traffic and brand loyalty.

Some of the response I received from that article was in full support. Others thought I was getting too granular, or figured that most people would not go to a Web site of an underarm deodorant product unless they were sick in bed, bored and had nothing else to do.

My point was that there was no such thing as a bad URL, offer or Web site; only bad (read: lazy) creative writers. If you buy deodorant you either smell, don’t want to smell, or want to save money. If I can find the right way to appeal to one of those feelings, I can craft a message and include my Web address to help solve the issue (or at least try to). Plus, it exposes the customer to the brand again, and helps deliver a message (or an offer) that can drive another engagement.

That same approach goes for business-to-business marcom as well.

How many times have you been given a business card, mailer or other material from someone that buried their Web address? That didn’t give you a reason to visit the site, other than sheer curiosity? For me, the biggest criminals are in packaged goods where URLs are literally an afterthought. (Read my praise for Hewlett-Packard’s creative and engaging use of Web addresses in the article I mention, above).

Usually, if it’s not just a Web address under the company’s logo, it’s placed on a package with the words “visit our web site!” hidden somewhere on the back. To prove the point I went looking in my own medicine cabinet and came across an example of a typical company’s approach to promoting their Web site.

On the rear of the can of shaving gel, in between their marketing hype and the directions, were the words “Visit our web site!” At least they reversed the type over a pink (pink?) solid bar. In this case I agree with my reader; there is no reason to visit the site. There are better things to do with my time. They have offered no value statement, or reason I should make the effort to visit it.

As I’ve said before, when you’re talking about rather mundane products such as personal hygiene products, you’re going to be hard-pressed to offer a reason to visit a site other than to save money.

So, why not offer 50-cents off your next purchase by going to the site, and also delivering some good information why “Edge” is a better product than the competition? Why not use that exposure to reinforce their purchase decision in the first place, while they are getting their coupon? “Edge products are made from organic…” or “won’t harm the environment…” or something.

A slightly better example is Finesse hair spray.

At least they made the effort to tell the consumer why they should visit the web site (for “tips” and “talk”). Tips I can understand, but talk? I visited the site and they, naturally, have a lot of messaging about how great their product is. However, they offer a section on “trends” which might be a better choice of words. People love to stay on top of trends. And, what industry besides fashion is so dependent on trends?

The final example was the “best” I could find around my house. Smuckers jelly jar still doesn’t win my award for the most prominent use of their Web address, but they sure tried.

As you can see, they use bold type right under the nutrition information (these days, who doesn’t read nutrition information?) and provided at least three reasons to click: delicious recipes, hard-to-find flavors, gift ideas.

Once you’re on their site, the overt marketing messaging is acceptable, but many offers abound including RSS delivered recipes, the as-promised hard-to-find flavor finder, and other useful promotions.

Three products, three approaches to marketing their Web sites. Why do we care? Well, there are a few reasons. First, you probably have a Web site that you’ve spent time, money and effort in developing and maintaining. Shouldn’t you be driving traffic to it? Using it to build customer loyalty? Repeat business? Offering new ways and incentives to use your product?

Secondly, your Web site is your storefront (or main office, or chief representative). You have a branch office everywhere in the world that is easy to get to. Not promoting it on each and every piece of marcom or product, in the proper way (READ: not just listing it) is a big marketing sin in my book.

Thirdly, promoting it can be inexpensive (as compared to P4P or other methods). You already have marketing materials, business cards, products, packaging and the like. USE IT to drive traffic to your site. FIND A WAY to make the Web address engaging. PROVIDE A VALUE STATEMENT why visiting your site will be worthwhile. MAKE THE JOURNEY RELEVANT by not dumping them on your home page and hoping they find something they like. GIVE THEM A REWARD for taking time to visit. Maybe it’s a coupon, or a free whitepaper, or a recipe. Get creative. FIND MORE REASONS THEY SHOULD RETURN. Once they’ve come to your site, get them to engage with you repeatedly.

Web addresses can (and should) be another weapon in your marketing arsenal that is easy to deploy, and have valuable impact.

Agree? Disagree? Have a success story? Have a question? Share it with me at: bob_chernet@viewmark.com

View a complete list of Bob’s Marketing Insights articles.

© 2008 Bob Chernet
Reproduction in any manner is unlawful, without the written permission of the author.

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I like to think that I can understand a bit of Spanish, French and German when necessary. But like most Americans, having the knowledge (and use) of a second language is not something we boast about.

Increasingly, whether we like it or not, the “melting pot” of America is speaking in foreign tongues other than English. In my neighborhood I routinely hear English, Spanish, Russian, Korean and Indian. These individuals have not only moved-in, but set-up shop and are actively doing business.

They’re not just selling, but they are buying: cars, lawnmowers, clothing, vacations, groceries, school supplies; you name it. They’re no different than you and me. They need and want things, and go to places that provide it.

Yet, have you noticed that they also prefer to go to stores that not only have their particular cultural or ethnic items, but speak in their language? For example, the Russian grocery in my area is a hub of activity; people chatting with each-other, buying meats and sharing stories. They feel comfortable there. Sure, they go to the “other” grocery stores and to Target when necessary; but being able to converse in a familiar language and comfortable surroundings makes things easier.

Now, step-back and look at the web site(s) you or your company are responsible for? Do people whose first language is not English stand to benefit by conducting business with these sites? The same can be said about your marketing programs. If it is appropriate, do you produce translated versions of ads, brochures and other media that is targeted to a specific language?

Today, if your marketing efforts and web site are only available in English, you’re effectively shutting the door on a large and growing audience segment.

Look around. Billboards are appearing in Spanish, Korean and more. Television stations are going on the air to serve Spanish viewers. Newspapers and magazines are popping-up in many other languages other than English, and are available almost anywhere.

With the increasing use (and importance) of these other languages in today’s society does it make business sense that non-English speaking people can be a natural part of your audience? More importantly: would they do business with you if you made it easier for them to do so?

A little extra effort, or re-adjusted marketing dollars might be well-spent if you’re looking at ways to effectively increase business for an audience that’s waiting for you to reach out to them.

Agree? Disagree? Have a success story? Have a question? Share it with me at: bob_chernet@viewmark.com

View a complete list of Bob’s Marketing Insights articles.

© 2008 Bob Chernet
Reproduction in any manner is unlawful, without the written permission of the author.

One tip we picked up from the Google Analytics (GA) folks at Webmaster World (12/07) was to update our GA clients’ page tags as soon as possible. It’s really not a big deal, the updated tag just points to the new (ga.js) file and the change doesn’t affect any past data. We made the change for all our customers before 2008 and have not seen any anomalies.

It turns out that Google has been using the (urchin.js) file since they acquired the San Diego based firm in March 2005, but don’t think this update is just cosmetic. There are several new features that are only supported if you update your code including analyzing form posts from search products like HTDIG. It also eliminates the redundancy of managing two sets of tags (http and https).

We have several sites using HTDIG for web site search. In the past, we have used customized code to breakdown unstructured searches for our customers. With the new (ga.js) file in place you can add the search parameters you use in your form posts to the Site Search settings. The searches are collected and the results are displayed under GA’s Site Search menus. It’s really as simple as that.

The easiest way we’ve found to include a video in a WordPress blog post is to use the Anarchy Media Player plugin. Adding videos is straight-forward once you get the plugin installed since it’s integrated right inside the “Write Post” functionality and covers most video formats. We recommend that you use Flash though, it’s pretty easy to encode your footage as FLV these days and Flash seems to be the best format for video delivery on the web, just ask YouTube. Here’s a sample:

denver.flv

Once you’ve uploaded your Flash Video (video.flv) it’s really simple to add it to a blog post because the Anarchy plugin handles the controls and the display. Keep in mind that if you use Flash FLV the size of your videos will remain the same throughout the blog since the resolution is adjusted as a parameter in the plugin’s options. You could use the Flash SWF format to adjust the size, but this adds several levels of complexity to the whole process. Most other formats are available too, but for consistency and easy deployment, Flash FLV is the way to go.

When we start the process of building a web site the URL nomenclature always seems to come up. Sometimes we research and buy a new domain name, other times we create a new directory under an existing domain name and then there are times when we use a subdomain.

Clearly, your site’s URL strategy will have a major affect on how your web pages appear in the search engines results pages (SERPS). Here’s an example; for a long time we used subdomains when implementing blogs for our clients. Later, we changed our strategy to use the domain hierarchy because we found that the latter was more effective at increasing the page rank for the root domain through the natural propagation of inbound links to the blog (as a directory).

There are cases where we just can’t use the company’s domain name; server access, backend software, content updates, etc. and sometimes it’s just easier to build the web site on a subdomain located outside the company’s normal IT infrastructure. To accomplish this, all you need to do is to get a CNAME (subdomain) on the company’s DNS server and point it to an IP address located on an alternate network.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about subdomains being treated as directories by the major search engines. My guess is that the search engines are trying to make sure that subdomains are providing unique content and that they are not being exploited for higher SERP rankings. This got me thinking about how search engines evaluate web sites in the same way as we critique our favorite bands.

Like many people, I have been actively listening to music for most of my life and in that time I can remember many songs that I would now say fall into the category of “One Hit Wonders”. Every generation has them, songs like: “The Macarena” by Los Del Rio (1996),  ”Tainted Love” by Soft Cell (1982) and “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas (1974) all come to mind.

Wikipedia characterizes “One Hit Wonders” as short-lived novelty songs deliberately written to cash in on a fad. Early on, I bought into the commercialization of music and actually bought several albums from some of these bands. I think I may still have an Iron Butterfly album in the attic somewhere. I guess we are all young and naïve at some point in our lives.

So how does this relate to URL nomenclature? Well, if you want to get traffic from organic search to a web site and you are using a subdomain, a good rule of thumb is to make sure that the content is unique in nature and there is an adequate level of substantive content. Think of the bands that have passed the test of time, they typically have their own style and many memorable songs accredited to them. Search engine algorithms are like web site critics, in that they attempt to identify valid web sites in a similar way to how we evaluate our favorite bands and their music over time.

Now this isn’t to say that subdomains can’t be used as single pages. Just like a “One Hit Wonder” can sound really good and make an artist and their record company a great deal of money, these “One Page Wonders” can be very visual and achieve their business goals; however, when planning these types of web sites don’t expect any search engines to ever rank them very high and consider the fact that you’ll need to use paid advertising to promote them.