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pull marketing

I am conflicted, therefore I am

February 16, 2014 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

morning light coming through forest

Last week one of my BAD challenge colleagues wrote a blog post on distilling a marketing message into one word using this phrase, I _______, therefore I am. It seemed like a simple answer: I design, therefore I am…but that’s all about me. As a business owner, being “all about me” is a tough way to turn ones passion into profit because businesses succeed, or fail, based on how well they meet the needs of their customers.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’ve been doing this business “thing” for the past 21 years. My business was launched when my my youngest son was still in diapers. A series of calligraphy classes inspired me to learn how to reproduce my artwork so that I could make greeting cards and stationery: Perhaps even sell my designs to a Hallmark or American Greetings as a stay-at-home mom. You want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

Instead, an acquaintance needed some custom designed invitations to a large event, plus wanted the envelopes calligraphed. After fulfilling her request, and then a few more, I soon became her go-to person for all invitations, plus other graphic design services like brochures, interpretive panels, product catalogues, signage, advertisements, newsletters and all kinds of fundraising pieces where she worked as the Director of Alumni Relations for a prestigious boarding school. She also became my best salesperson. Soon other departments were requesting my services, as well as other private schools, colleges, and even museums and small local businesses. Within 5 years I had four employees and was working around the clock.

Having my own business was not foreign to me. I grew up in  family business, and married a man who inherited a family business. Although I worked for others as early as 13, (I was tall and desperately wanted a Singer sewing machine so lied about my age to work on a local tobacco farm), and worked during and immediately after college for others, it just didn’t seem right to be on staff when my children were little. As any mom knows, there is no such thing as sticking to your plans when your kids are small because someone inevitably throws up on your best shoes as you’re rushing out the door to a much anticipated event, or trip, or … you fill in the blank.

21 years later it’s just me, once again. Graphic design and computer classes at every high school and community college, plus computers on every business desk in the country, coupled with the stock market crash and Global Financial Crisis in 2008 nearly forced me to close my one thriving service business.

This time, however, it’s going to different. My customers are different, and so am I. I have a business coach and a former client who is teaching me project management. I have no intention of making the same mistakes, and running myself into the ground. Been there. Done that.

Thus, my excellent journey through the forest of entrepreneurship has begun…finally.

 

Filed Under: business, Design Tagged With: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Holiday invitation, logo design, pull marketing

SEO Part 2: Why Good Copy Writing Will Give You Better Search Results

January 29, 2013 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

The more I learn about SEO (search engine optimization), the more I understand that I’ve been thinking about it backward.

In world of search, people will learn about a product or service in this order:

  1. Title tag
  2. Description tag
  3. Web page headline
  4. Web page copy

search for tango shoes

Knowing this, it seemed logical to put most of my effort into picking out the ‘right’ keywords to improve my ranking.

What I’ve learned, however, is that I need to be putting most of my effort into my copywriting, before putting out my search pearls. Why? The ‘right,’ and often best keywords will jump out in copy that’s concise and written well.

Picking out the right keywords

Now, instead of spending too much time searching for, and racking my brain for attention grabbing key words, I’m putting more time and effort into writing, and following this order for SEO:

  1. Web page copy
  2. Web page headline
  3. Description tag
  4. Title tag

Attracting the right kind of attention on search engines

It’s true, attention-grabbing keywords are critical for getting prospects to click on a URL, but keywords should relate to the web page in order to achieve my big 3 marketing goals:

  • know
  • like
  • trust

Why the right words matter

The logic is really quite simple: If you are who you say you are, and can say it well, you will be what your prospects are searching for = Win – Win.

Filed Under: SEO, WordPress Tagged With: copy writing, pull marketing

SEO Part 1: Why SEO matters to your business website

January 17, 2013 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps you talk to the people who already know they want your product or service. It’s called Pull Marketing. The opposite of Pull Marketing is Push Marketing, which uses ads (TV, newspaper, billboards), direct mail, and yes, even old fashion cold sales calls to attract your prospect’s attention and convince them they need your product or service.

About SEO

Nearly every business owner knows that SEO is important for their website to be found, but few people know how to get to the top of the search page.

You can pay to be on the first page with a pay-per-click ad, but fewer than 6% of the people looking for your product or service will click on a pay-per-click ad. Instead, over 90% of people searching will click on the “organic” listing, and 42% (of the 90%) will click on the first “organic” listing. SEO experts at Wordtracker point out that 12% of searchers will click on the number 2 spot, 9% on the 3rd spot , and 6%, on the 4th organic listing.

Being in the Top 10 organic listing is your goal

Why 10 ten?

  1. Only the top 10 organic listings appear on the first search page.
  2. 90% of people searching for your product or service will never go beyond the first page.

So, how do you hit the sweet spot, or at least be among the top 10?

Check out my other articles in this blog on SEO in which I share tips learned from the Wordtracker experts for how to give your business a better on-line presence.

Filed Under: SEO, WordPress Tagged With: pull marketing

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