Market Awareness – Understanding Your Target Market

A business without market awareness is like a ship without a rudder. If the wind happens to blow in the right direction, success is possible. The chances of that happening, however, are almost none. In order to succeed in business, we must know our markets.

Multiple Generations/Multiple Strategies

One of the most important ways to analyze our markets is in terms of demographics. Right now, perhaps more than ever, marketers need to consider three distinct generations in our culture. Those generations are usually known as Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millenials.

These three groups are dramatically different in terms of how they buy, how much they buy, how they view money and business, and how they communicate. Therefore, we must market to them with these distinctions in mind. We need multiple strategies for multiple generations.

Generational Marketing

This is the first in a series of blogs on how to market to these three generations. We’ll briefly identify each generational group, and give some insight on how to tailor your marketing strategies for each. Of course, these are not hard lines or hard and fast rules, but benchmarks to help give direction.

Marketing to Baby Boomers

Who are Baby Boomers? Baby Boomers are the ones who still listen to and leave voicemails. They were born between 1946 and 1964, so they grew up in the idealistic post-WWII era. In general, theirs is a rather “white-picket-fence” view of the world.

Though their kids say they are technologically challenged, they are not averse to it. Researchers say that by 2014, over 65% of people ages 50-64 were using social networking sites. In addition, Boomers spend more on technology than any other generation.

Most importantly, this generation is a huge and often untapped market. Though the over-50 crowd accounts for over 50% of all expenditures, we marketers currently only spend 10% of our budgets going after them. Oops! Let’s see how we can correct that. Here are some tips on marketing to Baby Boomers.

1.  Don’t Low-Ball

According to the AARP, US adults over 50 spend $3.2 trillion annually and have accumulated $15 trillion in financial assets! This means that they’re not afraid to spend. They spend more per purchase, more per shopping trip, and more per year than any other group.

Baby-boomers not only aren’t afraid to spend, but they may, in fact, be suspicious of prices that are too low. Their years have taught them that quality matters, and they believe they deserve it. So market premium, full-priced products to Boomers. Just make sure your products are worth the price.

2. Win Their Loyalty

This brings us to the next tip. Baby Boomers tend to be very brand loyal. Once they’re convinced a product is great and they like it, they’re committed. My mother is on her “umpteenth” (that’s the word she would use) new Buick, and she’ll keep buying them because that’s what she buys.

The trick with boomers is often to become “what they buy,” “what they use,” or “who they go to.” If you can become their brand, you can build serious consistency. The key is to make sure your products and services are really great and do a great job convincing them of that fact.

3. Reward Their Loyalty

Consistency and longevity are important to Boomers. One way to communicate that you’ll be around is to set up programs that reward their longevity as a customer. Cash-back programs or loyalty discounts are excellent ways to make these customers stick. To most of them, front-end discounts often mean something is wrong. Loyalty programs do the opposite, adding value instead of taking it away.

4. Go Old-School

Facebook ads just annoy most Boomers. According to research, they use social media to revive old friendships and not much else. Therefore, they will most likely tag your FB ads as spam.

The most effective way to market to this generation is through direct contact. These big-spenders are more likely to buy from a real person than any other way. Call them on the phone (by the way, many of them still have landlines), but just make sure it isn’t during dinner!

If personal sales contacts are not practical for your business, the next best thing is email marketing. Boomers are more likely to read an email than a blog or pop-up ad, especially if it’s brief and professional. Particularly if you’ve already won them as a customer, used wisely, email can be a powerful tool for keeping yourself in front of this generation.

Speaking of blogs, don’t count them out. Boomers do read blogs as long as they are brief. Researchers have found that most people 50 years and up will read a blog if it’s about 300 words or less. The long-form blog that takes forever to get to the point won’t work. However, if you can write concisely and get your message across quickly, Boomers will get it.

5. Always Tell the Truth

This is just good business, and we assume the vast majority of our readers know and practice that. However, if you’re tempted to fudge occasionally, don’t. If you read about the next two generations, you’ll find that this is one of the tips for all three generations. However, the reasons differ slightly for each one.

For Boomers, it’s about trust. Many of them feel that the moral fiber of our culture is eroding. They have been burned by slick salesmen and misleading ads, especially on the internet. In order to gain and keep these loyal customers, you’ll have to prove yourself. You’ll need to establish integrity.

Speaking of integrity, there’s a fact we all need to remember while we’re working to get ahead in business. Author and researcher Tom Stanley surveyed vendors, friends, and family of self-made deca-millionaires (people who had achieved a net worth of $10 million or more) and found they had 38 things in common. The number one thing they all shared was fanatical integrity.

Market Personalities

Maybe you’re already marketing to this generation. Perhaps you see this as uncharted waters. Either way, remember that these guidelines are intended to shed light and open doors, not to draw hard lines.

Every customer will differ slightly, but research shows that in general, these three groups have distinct market personalities. Learning how to approach them can greatly increase your ability to win and keep them as customers. Watch for our next entry in this series, “Generational Marketing Part 2: Generation X.”

Digital Marketing Strategies

At McWilliams Media in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, we are passionate about helping you succeed in today’s market. From branding and overall strategy to web design, video, and social media, we can help you build a marketing strategy to win in the digital age. Contact us today for a free consultation.

The post 5 Unique Strategies to Utilize When Marketing Baby Boomers first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

First impressions are important – in person and online. Email subject lines are basically your business’ first impression to new and potential clients. They are the first thing a person sees when combing through their inbox, and many times they are the deciding factor in whether to click it or trash it.

Most recipients (69%) determine whether or not an email is spam based on the subject line. Because of this, it is important that subject lines sounds legitimate and important.

Make sure that:

• Your subject lines don’t sound overly sales-driven.
• You don’t send too many emails that sound like spam.
• You realize how important a good subject line is.

Email subject lines are similar to news headlines – they are meant to grab the reader’s attention. People are attracted to emotions. Depending on the purpose of your email, it is vital to understand what emotion best speaks to your market.

Urgency

• Deadlines
  •  Deadlines and “limited time” messaging can inspire immediate action.
    Example: Successful marketers will open this … before time runs out.
• The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
  • The “fear of missing out” is real, and no one wants to miss out on something good.
    Example: Limited spots available! Claim yours now.
• Pose a Potential Consequence
  •  Show your reader that it’s in their best interest to read what you have to say.
    Example: Don’t let your lawn suffer under the summer sun.

Curiosity

• Cliffhanger
  •  Leave out enough detail to instill interest, without telling the whole story.
    Example: Bob’s lawn got greener than ever using …
• Being with the End
  • Offer readers a conclusion that leaves them wondering how the story starts.
    Example: How did Bob’s lawn get so green?
• Question
  • Start with a question that can only be answered by opening your email.
    Example: What’s new at Bob’s Lawn Care Emporium?

Excitement

• Verbs
  • Use language that encourages people to take action.
    Example: Blast your abs for less at Dave’s Gym
• VIP Feeling
  •  Everyone loves feeling like they have important information. Make your reader’s feel the same way by giving them an “inside scoop”.
    Example: Can you keep a secret? Here’s some cool news coming soon …
• Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse
  • Use an accurate, but hard-to-believe, statistic or incredible offer to generate excitement.
    Example: Did you know 73% of clients see improvement using this tactic? 

Joy

• Emojis
  • A well-placed emoji can be great for getting a chuckle, or showing that you are on-trend.
    Example: Aloha! Try our NEW Hawaiian BBQ Ribs 
• Humor
  •  Laughter is good for your health. Put people in a good mood and they’ll react more positively to your content.
    Example: So three marketers walk into a bar …
• Do Good Feel Good
  •  In the world we live today, people are all about giving back. Give your reader the opportunity to give to a good cause.
    Example: Make a difference with us for our local animal shelter

Overall, there are a few staple rules that are important to remember when writing subject lines:

1. Don’t Reuse Subject Lines
2. Try to Keep Your Subject 5-7 Words Long
3. Don’t Sound Like an Ad
4. Use Verbs
5. Use Humor
6. Surprise Them with a Stat
7. Be Clear
8. Be Human
9. Don’t Yell

Subject lines are tough, but they have a lot of potential. Often, writing short and concisely is harder than elaborating. Don’t make your client read everything in the subject line – keep the meat of what you want to say for the body of your email.

So above all else, keep it simple! Try different techniques out to see what works best for your business, and repeat what you like.

The post Increasing Your Opens first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Social media is all the rage in many areas of the world today, including the business world. Even though it’s a great way to reach a large audience, it may not be the best way to ensure you are reaching the people you want to, with the information you want to give them. Email marketing, although it doesn’t sound as simple or modern as social media, is the most effective way to grow a business.

Sending out monthly newsletters via email isn’t the first thing people think of when trying to expand their business, but it has proven to be the best way to reach people. In hopes to persuade you, we’ve listed the top five reasons that email marketing is best for your business.

Target Audience

People voluntarily gave you their email address as a way of saying they are interested in your products or services. You already know that they want more information about your business. Use your email list to connect with this targeted group of potential customers: offering sales, discount codes, exclusive pre-launch opportunities, etc.

Relevance

Email marketing helps you stay in touch with your audience on a regular basis, keeping you at the front of their mind. This helps ensure that when your services, products or programs are needed, they are more likely to turn to you than your competitors.

Influence

Email newsletters are a great way to promote your website to potential customers. Drive your email newsletter subscribers back to your website by promoting recent blog posts in each issue. Showcasing content from your website in each newsletter will make the subscriber want to explore your website more, increasing the possibility for them to utilize your content and seek your services.

Engagement

Social media is a great way to reach people, but it isn’t going to give you the type of engagement that you’re looking for with your customers. You want one on one engagement with them, and email is the best way to create that. Whenever you attempt to create engagement with your customers through email there are two important keys to remember: Do not send emails with a no-reply address, and if there are so many replies that you can’t handle the volume, set up a “From” address that you can check periodically.

Less Competition

Think about how many emails you get in an average day. Maybe 50 to 100? Now think about how many social media updates appear in your various feeds each day. Several hundreds to thousands. You have a far higher likelihood of having people see, open, and click on your email newsletter than you do having them see updates you post on social media. It’s a lot easier to ignore a status update than it is to ignore an email in your inbox.

If email marketing is a tool you’re ready to begin using for your business but aren’t sure how to get started, McWilliams Media is here to help you. We have experience in growing businesses and reaching customers through email. To get on board with email marketing, contact us through our website and we’ll be in touch soon.

The post Monthly Newsletters: How They Will Grow Your Business first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Entrepreneurs are known for having their hands in lots of things at once. That is, of course, what makes them so great. They are always thinking outside the box to grow their business and their influence.

McWilliams Media has a hand full of these awesome people that are continually using their entrepreneurial skills for you. We’re always coming up with innovative ways to make your business succeed. Here’s a look at what we do for our clients.

Web & Graphic Design

First and foremost, we are a website company that designs, maintains, and hosts WordPress websites. We start with a blank slate and build the site from the ground up to ensure that our clients get exactly what they want.

Once the site is built, we do training with the client on how to use their site and make their own updates. In many cases the client has no desire to do any work on the backend of their sites, so we do that for them as well.

Our graphic designs can be as simple as a graphic for a newsletter or as complex as an entire promotional set for an event. We produce high-quality graphics you can use online or for print. Need a logo? We can do that. Need a baby shower invitation? We can do that too. Need a banner for your store’s grand opening? Yep-we do that too.

Online Marketing

Marketing is a vast subject. Although we mainly specialize in the online aspect of online marketing, we will help with anything to make your business succeed. Let’s touch on a few types of marketing that we focus on.

Social Media

When we say social media, that’s what we mean. A form of media that is social in nature. It’s relational, informative, and generally a quick-hitter. There are tons of platforms you can “be social” on, but we focus on the most commonly used ones. We’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, and YouTube. Each platform has its own unique audience and companies can make great connections on the appropriate platforms.

Not only do we start each of these media channels for our clients, but we can also maintain them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If our clients prefer to do their own social media we train on the best practices for their type of business.

Why is social media such a huge part of our client’s success? Because “everybody’s doing it.” Last time I checked the stats, 88%* of your potential clients are online, and that’s just in the USA. Guess how many of those people are on social media? We’re talking over 70%*. That’s a pretty big market. And you can reach them all from your computer in your PJ’s.

The key to social media success is consistency. That’s proven to be rather difficult when our clients are entrepreneurs themselves. McWilliams Media has people on staff that are designated to be on social media all day for our clients.

Newsletters

This online marketing tool is a good fit for both current and potential clients. In some cases, a newsletter carries more weight than other marketing avenues because people voluntarily gave you their email addresses as a way of saying “I’m interested in you and your product.” You know they are already “all in.”

Our team creates email marketing campaigns for our clients. We can put together the entire newsletter or design a template that the client can use to plug in their own info. Either way, we’ll help capture more emails, design an eye-catching newsletter and stay consistent with our clients’ branding.

Search Engine Optimization

Let’s face it, if people can’t find you online, you’re not making money. You might have the best invention ever made or a product that will save people a ton of time, but if they don’t know you exist, it’s not helping anyone.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is what makes sure you’re being heard in a world of online big-mouths. We hear things like “we need to be at the top of Google,” or “we want to show up when people search best spas in Dallas.” It’s our job to make that happens. Our team spends hours of behind-the-scenes time working a multitude of avenues to ensure that happens.

Blog Creation

Blogging is no longer for the stay-at-home-mom who wants to share tips on how to keep a clean house. The reasons for business blogging are quite vast these days. Blogging helps drive traffic to your site, it increases your number of leads and increases your area of influence in your niche market. This article is a good read on why blogging is so important in business.

Our writers stay in communication with our clients and come up with excellent content that reflects our clients’ brand and message. McWilliams Media can handle all the aspects of blogging for our clients or simply set them up with a template and they do the rest.

Odds & Ends

Video

As I stated earlier, we are a Jack Of All Trades when it comes to the online world. We offer other services that complement what we do. For instance, a client may ask for a testimony video for their website. In that case, we will shoot and edit a custom video to enhance the site. We’ve done commercials and full TV shows for some of our clients too.

Audio

A church in Illinois contacted us to set up their website and create a page where they could put their messages online. Not only did we do that, but we also went on location to set up the audio and train their volunteers on how to use the equipment, as an added bonus we also got to see their beautiful church building and grounds.

Event Promotion

We helped in planning a community Easter Eggstravaganza for one of our clients. We did everything from door hanger invites to videos for their event. You can see the promotional set here.

Email Integration

A great way to market and have more continuity in your company is to have email addresses for your employees. An email address for Landscaper Pros that looks like “sambarnes@yahoo.com” doesn’t carry near as much weight as “sambarnes@landscaperpros.com.”

McWilliams Media is ready to take you and your business to the next level. And when it comes to cost, you’ll find we’re very reasonable too. For a free quote that is customized to your business, contact us any time.

*Reference links
http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/us/
http://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/

The post Yes, We Do That first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Since the boom of social media, some business owners think social media is the most effective way to market their business. While social media is an excellent tool, it doesn’t hold the same return-on-investment that business owners are searching for. The best way to market one’s business is through email marketing. It may not be as sexy and cool as social media but when it comes to the bottom line, it’s most effective and will actually help grow your business.

That may seem unbelievable, but read on and in this article you’ll discover 6 reasons why email marketing is the best way to reach people and make them aware of your business.

6 Reasons Email Marketing Will Grow Your Business

1 – Penetration 

When it comes to getting information about your business in front of someone’s eyes, there’s no better way than through email. There are more than 3.2 billion emails accounts today, 95% of online customers use email, and 91% of those customers check their email once per day. (Source: Exact Target)

2 – Return-on-Investment

The reason a business is more likely to choose social media as a marketing tool over email is because they think social media is free. Both email and social media have costs. The difference in their costs is that email is going to cost you a monthly fee. Even though you’ll be charged a monthly fee, the return on that is going to be high. Exact Target estimates for every $1 you spend on email you’ll receive a return of $44.25.

3 – It’s Effective

People voluntarily gave you their email address as a way of saying “I’m interested in you and your product.” You know they are already all in. They love your voice, appreciate your brand and look to you as an expert in your field.  Use your email list to connect with this highly targeted group of potential customers, offering sales, discount codes, exclusive pre-launch opportunities, etc.

4 – Engagement

When you think of engagement you probably think of Facebook or Twitter, but social media isn’t going to give you the type of engagement that you’re looking for with your customers. You want one on one engagement with them, and email is the best way to create a two way street with them. Whenever you attempt to create engagement with your customers through email there are two important keys to remember: (1) Do not send emails with a no-reply address, and (2) If there are so many replies that you can’t handle the volume at least set up a “From” address that you can check periodically.

5 – It’s Less Competitive Than Social Media

Think about how many emails you get in an average day. Maybe 50 to 100? Now think about how many social media updates appear in your various feeds each day. Several hundreds to thousands! You have a far higher likelihood of having people see, open, and click on your email newsletter than you do having them see updates you post on social media. It’s a lot easier to ignore a status update than it is to ignore an email in your inbox.

6 – Your List Is Your Own

Growing a following–a unique group of people who believe in the message of your brand–across multiple social media platforms is important. But ultimately, you don’t own Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest. The developers of the platform can decide at any point to change the “rules of the game.” They have too much information to show users in their feed, therefore they have to be strategic with what they show when and offering businesses the option to purchase ads for greater visibility.

As social networks continue to grow, we’ll see more and more networks going this way. It’s not a guarantee that every follower will see every post. But your email list is your own and nobody can take that away from you! If social media platforms all disappeared tomorrow, what would you have left? How would you communicate with your followers? If your answer is, “I don’t know!!” you need to start growing an email list.

If email marketing is a tool you’re ready to begin using for your business but aren’t sure how to get started then McWilliams Media is here to help you. We have experience in growing businesses and reaching customers through email. To get on board with email marketing, contact us through our website and we’ll be in touch soon.

The post 6 Reasons Email Marketing Will Grow Your Business first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.