Don't wait. Pluck that low-hanging fruit.
The Facebook campaign you launched, then forgot.
The home page that hasn't been updated since the Bush administration.
The voicemail greeting, for Pete's sake, that makes the wrong first impression on customers.
Yes, yes, I know.
The laundry list of untapped marketing opportunities is L-O-N-G. And your spare time to tackle them is non-existent.
I know because I'm a business owner, too.
This post is dedicated to those baby steps that we never take because we're waiting for the new hire/approved budget/final branding/company anniversary/product launch/PR spin before we do anything about it.
Don't wait.
Do something now.
Even something small.
Why?
Because small gains snowball into big gains. And competitive advantage is built when the other guy is waiting for his budget/personnel/launch to happen before his next move.
I dedicate this post to VoiceQuilt, one of Maternal Instinct's clients. They get it. They don't have deep pockets, yet they are always looking for ways to move the needle slightly in their favor.
Case in point: recently they asked us to make one or two suggestions for their home page to improve conversion, working within the existing layout and design. I wrote two new headlines for them.
TWO NEW HEADLINES.
That's it.
Okay, two headlines and one subhead.
30 words in total.
Yet it improved their conversion by 10 basis points.
Below is the messaging I changed on their site. What small change like this could bump you 10 points forward?
Labels: A/B testing, conversion, Email marketing to moms, VoiceQuilt
Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.
posted by Kat Gordon @ 1:05 PM
3 Comments
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3 Comments:
Kat-
It was your copy -- and layout suggestions -- that gave VoiceQuilt those tremendous conversion gains. Who knew that the tweaks you suggested could yield so much! We're grateful. Thank you.
I am so excited that I found your blog. As an interior designer and small business owner with little or no cash for advertising, I've been spending a lot of time trying to find information that is viable for my business. The world is changing and the way interior designers of 20 years ago practice is quite different to the what is desired by a typical homeowner now. While it seems people still want design, they don't want what they feel is overinflated pricing on luxury goods. With the recession and this mindset, it is really hard for designers to make a living in our former business model. The DIY route is sadly misrepresented on tv, making things seem so easy and cheap. People expect designers to pull stunts like that for them, for almost nothing, just like on tv.
I'm trying to find a way to stay true to what I want to do while hopefully making a good living. With social networking, I'm trying to establish my brand and get my name out there. It's extremely time consuming and distracting from my work, but I've found it very fascinating. When I've tried to talk to local marketing people, they seem to be stuck in 1995, wanting to wrap my vehicle in a huge sign or pay extravagant fees for SEO. Not where I want to spend my money or how I want to present myself.
I look forward to reading your blog and learning more about marketing in today's world. I'm so glad I found you. I promise my future comments won't be so long!
Thanks for your really thoughtful comment, Carla. As President Obama so aptly put it in his SOTU speech the other night "America is great at reinvention." We all need to somewhat reinvent ourselves in this new customer-centric marketing age.
I would encourage you to think about the time you are spending on establishing your brand on social networks AS your work, not as a distraction from it. The more you write, share + connect, the more you establish yourself as a thought leader and a trust agent (you must read Chris Brogan's book Trust Agents, if you haven't already). It's a slow process, but one that will pay off in the long run.
I look forward to your future comments, of any length!
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