The Marketing Message Blog

Attract, Convert, and Transform: The secret to online marketing success

Guest Post By Shama Kabani

Did you ever watch TV’s Mad Men?  Those guys had it easy.  When they wanted to sell something, they used a controlled medium where consumers were passive recipients of whatever message marketers wanted to put out there. 

Those days are gone forever.  Today, everyone with access to the Internet can publish their own reviews, commentary, or responses – and marketers who aren’t part of the dialogue are quickly being left behind.

But some things don’t change.  Crafting a solid marketing message that is built on a great marketing strategy is just as important – or maybe more important – today than it was when the Mad Men ruled Madison Avenue. 

So what does it take to create the best marketing message for today’s wired world?  I can’t stress enough how strongly I believe that the ACT Methodology – three basic building blocks – is the key to successful online marketing.

A is for Attract. To attract means to get attention or stand out. Practically, this means attracting traffic to your website—your main online marketing tool. Nowhere is social media marketing more successful and useful than in the “attracting” phase of online marketing. During the attraction phase, you are trying to drive traffic to your site and stand out from the masses.

C is for Convert. Conversion happens when you turn a stranger into a consumer or customer. And there is a difference between the two! A consumer may take in your information or even sample your product, but he or she may not always buy. That’s okay! Over time, that consumer may become a customer. The more expensive a purchase, the longer it may take. This means that you constantly have to work to convert people into consumers and customers.

T is for Transform. You transform when you turn past and present successes into magnetic forces of attraction.

People, especially strangers, crave social proof. Social proof is the theory that we are more likely to do something when we see others doing it. This applies even more when the others in question are similar to us. We often decide what to do (including whether to buy) based on what others are doing. This isn’t the only factor in our decision making, but it is a major one

One of our clients is K9Cuisine.com. They sell premium dog food online. Nothing too glamorous, but their customer service is amazing. They go above and beyond just delivering an order. If a client orders regular shipping, they upgrade it for no extra charge. If a customer says his dog didn’t like a specific brand, they swap it out and help him find something that his dog will like. They’re more than just a dog food seller; they become trusted dog nutrition advisors who care about your four-legged friend.

And they’re great at retelling the stories their customers share with them.  When K9Cuisine.com receives an email thanking them for helping Jack, the loved golden retriever, start eating again after a long illness, they ask the customer if they can share their story with others. The story then makes its way onto their Facebook page and into their tweets. Soon, lots of people know about how K9Cuisine.com helped Jack. Next time they think about Fido needing dog food, they will think about K9Cuisine.com. If they have a great experience, they may tell their friends, and the ACT cycle continues.

Shama Kabani is president of The Marketing Zen Group, and author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing, which hits store shelves this week.

Don't wait for the coach to call you in- grow your business!

Today I have some thoughts about small business owners taking initiative online that I want to share with you.  

Although many of my clients are small business owners and entrepreneurs, some still retain the mindset of an employee.  What do I mean by that? 

I see that some of them are still waiting to be chosen by the 'coach' to go in, meaning that they are waiting to be selected to lead something. 

Online businesses are made strong when the leader appoints herself.  If you have a good idea or a way to make something happen for your business, you should seize it.  No one is sitting around thinking about how to grow YOUR business.

One result of information overload is feeling too overwhelmed to create a new product or start a new revenue stream.  Don't wait to be picked as the leader, it's your show now.

I am very serious about helping people take action to create new products and develop new revenue streams for their businesses.

If you want to take action on this for your small business I have the next round of my 4 week eClass starting August 10th. You can go here to find out more

But whatever you do, take action now.

Clayton Christensen's Innovation Brain 10 Years Later

Check out Jena McGregor's interview in BusinessWeek with Clayton Christensen who wrote "The Innovator's Dilemma" 10 years ago .  The books warns businesses to be alert to competition that goes after new customer groups or low-end markets.  This message still resonates today. 

Key to what Christensen says in this interview, is that blindly listening to your customers to find the next big thing is not the answer.  You must listen to your customers to meet their needs. But, to truly find 'disruptive' growth that changes a paradigm, you need to find a NEW set of customers to lead you in new directions.

The example he uses, is how Starbucks came into the 'middle of the market.'  By this he means they disrupted all the sit-down restaurants.  Starbucks made it inexpensive and easy to have sit-down conversations with friends and colleagues. 

To grow your business, don't follow the new, follow the 'disruption.'

Reset your thinking; grow your business

John Naisbitt's new book Mind Set! is a must-read for small business owners (see Required Reading.)  He presents 11 'mindsets' that will help you understand how future trends can impact your business today.  If you understand how to view trends, you will be able to maximize opportunties. 

This is not an esoteric exercise.  If you are too focused on the limitations of today's marketplace, you will not be poised to seize opportunities as they present themselves.  His mindset is stated as, 'you don't get results by solving problems, but by exploiting opportunities.'   He recounts several stories of business people who saw an opportunity and took it as opposed to following a set plan with no deviations.  Louis Pasteur is quoted as saying, "Change favors the prepared mind. I was ready."

This is a key notion for business owners who stubbornly cling to their ideas and don't invite change.  Try to listen and keep your mind open to new opportunities.  When a problem presents itself, instead of trying to fight it, think of it as a chance to do something new.  Let me know if you have a great example you can share with us.