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From the Eggblogg ... |
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Ways the internet is ruining kids' brains |
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Is Google making us stupid? Are children's brains being turned to mush by the internet?
Read the full story...
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Things we've read... |
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Why urgency succeds like nothing else in a bad economy |
A fantastic post by Sean d'Souza. If you read nothing else today (apart from eTips of course!) read this.
Read the full story...
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50 ideas on using Twitter for business
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Not that I hang on Chris Brogan's every word or anything, but ...
Read more here ...
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Ask who, then what
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Michael Fleischner on how to stay on top of the new marketing tools and technologies.
Read more here ...
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8 pricing strategies you can implement right now
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Loads of good ideas (although I'm not a fan of them all) on that difficult business of pricing, from Ivana Taylor.
Read the full story here ...
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And now for something |
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... completely different. |
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I recently visited Brantwood in the Lake District, where John Ruskin lived. It's unspoilt, charming and with lovely staff. (Unlike many National Trust properties, I'm sorry to say, which can be overcrowded and overbearing.)
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Welcome back to eTips after a summer break. A few months ago I set up a Google alert for the term 'credit crunch', to see just how much was being written about it, and unsurprisingly it's gone from one or two mentions to more like 30 articles a day.
You might think marketing budgets would be particularly vulnerable at times like these. But from what I've seen and read, online marketing is going strong. Why? Here are a few ideas why it makes sense to keep marketing online when every instinct tells you to cut, cut, cut. Oh, and there's even an Olympics theme. No prizes for spotting it though.
Robin Houghton
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Feeling the squeeze? Beat it with a marketing Triple Jump
- HOP: Love the ones you're with
Imagine you and I are the customers for a moment. When we're watching our outgoings, the last thing we're going to do is take risks. And buying from a new supplier or uknown company is a risk. So from a company's point of view, selling to a new audience at this time is going to be tough.
But the good news is, you have a ready-made audience in the shape of your existing customers. Talk to them, listen to what they've got to say. Make the most of your email marketing: if you have a newsletter, keep going with it. Add new content. Give readers something for free (this doesn't necessarily have to cost you anything). Cross-promote, cross-sell, remind them what you have to offer. But be careful not to overdo it - if you up the frequency of your mailshots without giving people any choice in the matter, your unsubscribe rate will go up and your reputation may go down.
If you've always looked after them and continiue to do so they'll be yours through thick and thin.
- STEP: Sweat the small stuff
In an economic downturn, we all get a bit more picky.
A colleague recently admitted that for the first time ever, rather than accepting the car insurance quote he'd got from his broker, he was tempted to get alternative quotes even it meant saving just £50. You may think 'doesn't everyone do that?' but they don't. Truth is, we all have our own 'acceptability' thresholds, and they are changing.
Poor copy writing with punctuation errors, failing to research the best quote or not honouring unsubscribe requests are all symptoms of laziness or complacency. And no business can afford that in a credit crunch.
- JUMP: Figure it out
One of the defining and beautiful qualities of online marketing is the measurability factor. There's a big difference between 19.32 seconds and 19.30, as Usain Bolt proved yesterday.
Online, you can measure the results, very often down to that kind of accuracy. Keeping track of the stats, and (more importantly) using them to refine your marketing decisions, is worth doing if you're looking to evaluate online marketing activity and decide where you're getting the best return.
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