Marketing Insights From Pinterest

May 9, 2012 – 4:15 am

Chances are, you’ve heard of Pinterest, the virtual pinboard that soared to 10 million US monthly visitors faster than any other website in history. Even if you’re not currently using Pinterest, checking to see what people are pinning from your website can be informative. Here’s how:

Go to http://pinterest.com/source/yoururl.com/, replacing “yoururl” with your actual website address, minus the “www.” Up will pop a page showing all the images that have been pinned from your website, who pinned them and any comments they or their Pinterest followers have made.

After checking what’s been pinned for all my clients, I encountered a number of surprises. Based on the overwhelming number of pins of one product, we’re trying a new photo in one client’s ad. Other pins suggest some sleeper product categories we’ll feature in future emails. One Pinterest user noted that they liked one of our client’s products, but noted one feature they did not like, some helpful feedback.

Click on the name of anyone who pinned your product, and you can see what else they’ve pinned, and who they follow on Pinterest. It’s not very scientific, but it does give you visual birdseye view of who your market is, and what’s important to them. Check it out and let me know what kind of insights you discover!

By Val Gosset | Posted in Marketing, Pinterest, Social media | Tagged | Leave a Comment

3 Simple Secrets to Refining Your Keyword List, Part 3

May 2, 2012 – 4:15 am

Our last two blog posts discussed an often-overlooked but extremely effective method of doing keyword research, plus another for refining keyword lists you’re bidding on. Today, here’s one more tool for developing a strong keyword list:

As with our last tip, start by choosing any keyword in your Google AdWords account, and go to the Keywords tab. In the middle of the grey bar above the keyword list, look for the drop-down menu titled, “See all search terms…”  Click on that tab, and select “All.”

Look for search terms listed as “Phrase match” that get a fair amount of volume. Add those to the keywords you’re bidding on. When someone searches on those search terms in the future, your ad will show up as an Exact match. Since Adwords deems Exact matches to be more relevant that Phrase or Broad matches, you’ll get a little extra boost in ranking without raising your bid amount.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

3 Simple Secrets to Refining Your Keyword List, Part 2

April 27, 2012 – 4:15 am

In our last post, we discussed a little secret for researching keywords easily and inexpensively. Today, here’s another tip for developing a strong keyword list:

Choose any Ad Group in your Google AdWords account, and go to the Keywords tab.  In the middle of the grey bar above your keyword list, you’ll find a drop-down menu called “See search terms…” Click on that tab, and select “All.”

That will give you a list of all the search terms people used to find your ad. Review it carefully for unqualified search terms.

For instance, people looking for “cheap plants” may be bargain hunters you’d prefer not to attract. Those searching on “The Black Dahlia” are probably looking for a murder mystery, not a perennial flower.

You can specify that your ad does not appear  when words like “cheap” or “black” are included in the search by using Negative Match. Eliminating such searches should improve your click-through rate, which will in turn boost your ranking without increasing your cost per click.

Coming up next: another tip on using often-overlooked Google tools to boost your AdWords ranking.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment

3 Simple Secrets to Refining Your Keyword List

April 25, 2012 – 4:15 am

Whether you want to optimize your site for organic search, or get the most out of a paid search campaign, focusing on the right keywords is a critical first step. No matter how hard you try, it’s tough to brainstorm every keyword possibility.  What’s more, the relative popularity of various keywords is often hard to predict. Even Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool can be remarkably inaccurate.

What to do? Here’s the first of three little tricks we use to refine keyword lists for our clients:

We’ll often set up a Google AdWords campaign and choose a very broad search term – “greenhouse,” for instance – and bid on it using Broad Match. With Broad Match, any time “greenhouse” is included in part of the search term, our ad is eligible to show.

If our goal were making sales, this strategy would be a budget-killer. However, when our goal is research, we’ll use a low budget cap and a low bid amount.  By using the “See search terms” feature in AdWords, you can see exactly how many people searched on exactly which keyword phrases, and – if you have conversion tracking in place – how well they converted.

Armed with that information, you’ll know which search terms will give you the biggest payoff for your SEO and/or paid search efforts.

Stay tuned for our next two posts for additional tips on refining your keyword list.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Online marketing, Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Are You a Problem Solver?

April 3, 2012 – 4:15 am

Whether you sell plants, seeds, tools, greenhouses, outdoor living products, or something else, there are many types of appeals you can use to sell product. For instance:

-We sell unusual varieties of plants.
-We guarantee the lowest prices.
-We offer more product choices than our competitors.

One of the easiest ways to make sales is to convince prospects that you can make their pain go away. What pain, you ask? Do you ever get comments like these from your prospects?

-Nothing will grow in my shady yard.
-It’s getting harder and harder for me to dig or kneel when I garden.
-I need an inexpensive way to make my backyard private.
-My plants keep dying because of watering restrictions in our area.
-I want to try vegetable gardening, but it seems awfully complicated.

Start listening to your customers carefully, and you’ll be amazed at how much pain they express. Address their problems everywhere you can: on your website, in your emails, in your catalog, in paid search ads. Don’t just say, “We sell 247 varieties of xeriscape plants,” but try something like “Turn your parched, dry soil into a thriving garden.”

Low prices and immense variety may be the most common ways to make a sale, but they’re not the only way. Listen to your customers carefully, and they’ll tell you exactly how to sell to them. Become a problem-solving resource, and you’ll earn their loyalty for a long time to come.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising, Copywriting, Marketing | Leave a Comment

An Insightful View Of The Future Of Catalog Marketing

March 29, 2012 – 4:15 am

The most fascinating talk I heard at the recent NEMOA conference was that by industry veteran Kevin Hillstrom of MineThatData. The eye-opening presentation offered a completely new take on multi-channel marketing. The hundreds of catalogers in attendance were nodding their heads in agreement, acknowledging how Kevin’s view resonated with their own experience.

Titled How Traditionals (Judy), Transitionals (Jennifer) and Transformationals (Jasmine) Shape the Future of Catalog Marketing, the talk crystalized current and future changes in catalog marketing through the use of three personas. Here’s just a brief summary of this very insightful presentation:

Judy, the 59-year-old diehard catalog shopper is the core customer for most of us. Catalog shopping is practically a hobby for her. The more catalogs you send her, the more she buys. Discounts are nice, but not essential to her purchase. And yes, she’s on Facebook, but she’s not there to shop; she’s there to keep up with her grandkids.

Jennifer, 43 years old, grew up in an online world. She loves her iPad, and responds well to email marketing. For her, catalogs are a source of inspiration, a jumping off point. When a catalog product captures her imagination, she goes online to search for the best deal. She won’t buy without free shipping, and looks for bargains on top of that. Your catalog might trigger a purchase, but it won’t necessarily be from your company.

Jasmine, 27 years old, lives in a mobile world. Her smartphone is more important to her than her car. She’s an unlikely catalog shopper. Instead, her shopping is likely to be driven by Facebook, Twitter, flash sales, and word of mouth.

What does this mean for the future of catalog marketing? Here’s a summary of Kevin’s thoughts on that score:

• Our job is to maximize profits from Judy for the next 5 to 10 years. That’s likely to mean mailing her more catalogs, and modifying our merchandise mix as she ages. Most of us know how to market to Judy; we simply need to recognize that we’re facing a limited window of opportunity.

• It’s critical that we figure out how to market to Jennifer. With her insistence on free shipping and discounts, plus her limited brand loyalty, we can’t afford to send her an endless stream of catalogs. Fewer mailings, smaller catalogs, and an emphasis on products that appeal to her are key. Most importantly, we need to convince Jennifer that we’re delivering the best value on the best products.

• Marketing to Jasmine may be an uphill battle for many of us. A small percentage of Jasmines may be catalog buyers, but most are not. By the time Jasmine has significant buying power, new marketing strategies are likely to have evolved. Over the next decade, the great bulk of our profits will come from Judy and Jennifer.

With apologies to Kevin, this is an oversimplified summary of a very rich presentation. You can read much more on the subject on Kevin’s blog and/or email him for a copy of his NEMOA talk. His views rang true with nearly everyone I spoke with at the conference. I hope you find them as insightful as I did.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Catalogs, Ecommerce, Email marketing, Garden industry trends | Comments (2)

Explosive Growth of a Powerful New Marketing Vehicle

March 21, 2012 – 4:15 am

Do you know which website reached 10 million unique visitors faster than any other in history? It’s not Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, but rather a recent upstart: Pinterest. Launched in late 2010, Pinterest jumped from 1.6 million visitors in September 2011 to 11.1 million in February 2012, and the growth shows no signs of stopping.

If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, it’s a visual social sharing site. Pinterest users “pin” photos of things they like, grouped by theme, and share them with friends who follow them on Pinterest.

Not surprisingly, Pinterest generates a huge amount of referral traffic. Merchants are now creating their own Pinterest boards to foster more engagement with their brands.

There’s a lot to learn about this new vehicle, but the explosive growth, the visual medium, and the fact that much products comprise much of the content makes Pinterest ideal for marketing gardening merchandise. Check out the gardening category on Pinterest, search for some companies you know, and start learning more about this new kid on the block. It’s sure to have a huge influence on shopping in the months and years to come.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Ecommerce, Pinterest, Social media | Leave a Comment

Welcome, White Flower Farm!

March 13, 2012 – 4:15 am

We’re pleased to welcome White Flower Farm (www.WhiteFlowerFarm.com) as a new client. Since their inception in 1950, White Flower Farm has built a widespread reputation as the go-to source for unusual plants. If you ever find yourself in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut during spring, summer or fall, their display gardens are a delight.  We’re looking forward to helping White Flower Farm grow!

By Val Gosset | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

An Inexpensive Way To Test

March 9, 2012 – 4:15 am

Our last post discussed how to avoid common mistakes in testing. Today, here’s a suggestion for doing some valuable testing on the cheap:

Use paid search.

While space constraints (just 95 characters) sometimes make it difficult to test as extensively or as scientifically as you’d like, there’s still plenty you can learn that’s valuable in other venues:

• Which search terms are most important to optimize your site for

• Which appeals are strongest

• What headlines generate the most qualified leads

• What’s the relative interest in different products

• Which landing page converts at the highest rate

Before you start paid search testing, be sure you’ve implemented conversion tracking. The ad that generates the greatest number of leads is not always the most profitable.

I love testing with paid search because actual results are always a much stronger indicator of future performance than any other form of market research. Given sufficient volume, you’ll get responses quickly and inexpensively. The resulting data can guide you in all your marketing efforts: catalog, email marketing, website, social media, search engine optimization and more.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Direct response advertising, Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged , | Leave a Comment

How To Avoid The Most Common Mistakes In Direct Marketing Testing

March 2, 2012 – 4:15 am

One of the best things about direct marketing is that it eliminates the need for guesswork. Develop a theory about what will improve your marketing results, test it correctly, and you can move forward confidently when hard data supports your theory.

The problem is, many “tests” are poorly executed and can lead to erroneous conclusions. Here are a few tips to help you ensure you’re reaching valid conclusions:

• Test Against a Control. Trying something completely new without testing it against a proven control is not a test. All too often, marketers throw out the old because they’re tired of looking at it, and assume their customers are too. Don’t make that mistake. Always test the new against what’s worked in the past. Just because something is “same old, some old” to you, it doesn’t mean it’s stopped working.

• Isolate Variables. It’s surprisingly common for marketers to reach conclusions based on unscientific data. For instance, once company recently reported that a digest sized catalog far outperformed a full-size catalog. On further investigation, it turned out that they not only changed the catalog size and amount of selling space, but they had mailed the full size catalog in January, and the digest size in February, and that the list mailed in the two months were not comparable. Unless you test one variable at a time, you can’t know for certain what’s driving a difference in results.

• Get Statistically Valid Results. The more responses you have, the more confident you can be that you’ll get similar results the next time. For a reasonable degree of statistical significance, aim for 100 responses from any given test segment.

• Reconfirm Results. Direct marketers can tell you that quirky things can happen, and often do. Once you have test results, it’s prudent to reconfirm them with a somewhat larger test. Don’t blow out your budget on a major new change until further tests have confirmed their validity.

Keep these few principles in mind, and you’ll avoid the most common mistakes in testing.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Direct response advertising | Tagged , | Leave a Comment
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