So online shopping is a bit of a godsend for people like me. We can browse, research, compare and share purchases with our friends, all from the comfort of our own home. I’ve been doing online shopping for many years now and am happy to buy all sorts of things — groceries, clothes, kids toys, books and more.  So when I was asked to buy a pair of shoes from www.styletread.com.au and to blog about the experience, I said sure, why not?

But then it turned out this is harder than it looks.  The reason being is that my experience with buying the shoes was so flawless as to not be worthy of writing anything at all! In many ways it was a complete NON EVENT.  I searched, I found, I ordered, I paid and Style Tread delivered exactly what I asked for.  There were no missing parcels, no wrong sizes, no strange transactions on my credit card.  What’s more, the shoes are awesome!

But in the spirit of writing SOMETHING, here are the things I really liked about StyleTread:

• the sheer volume of shoes was super impressive (I don’t think you’d find that many shoes in the whole of Canberra!) and the ability to search across so many different variables was both practical and user friendly;
• the ability to see the detail of the shoe at multiple angles was a huge winner. By dragging your mouse over the picture an enlarged image reveals great detail about the shoe. This works to increases the confidence in your purchase — you know what you’re going to get — and this is something so many shopping websites could learn from these guys.
• I really like the fact you could return the shoes for free if required. This is another confidence booster that encourages you to try shoes you’d not normally purchase – perhaps even add another pair or two to the shopping cart??
• When the parcel arrived (just a few days later) I loved the fact that there was a voucher encouraging me to share the style tread love with up to 3 friends, which each coupon having a code for a $5 discount. Not only do I get bragging rights but I look generous to boot!

The only slightly negative thing about my experience is that I got added to the enewsletter list and I don’t remember explicitly opting in. That said, however, I haven’t unsubscribed as I’m too busy looking at all the shoes and planning my next purchase!

Online shopping is certainly going from strength to strength but I think many online retailers could learn a thing or two from what this company is doing. It will be interesting to see the impact that the growth of online shopping will have on bricks and mortar stores over the next decade or so.  But I know where I’ll be. I’ll be shopping from home and looking forward to more non-event experiences.

But the latest issue on the professional speakers checklist, and very much on ours, is not what did your audience think ‘after’ the presentation and what will they say about you ‘back at the office’ – now we have to think ‘What are they going to say during the presentation and how will this talk look in the social media space’.

I read a great article from  Drew Neisser who blogs on Fast Company in which he shared he ‘new rules’ of presenting that add a social layer the old rules like ‘don’t bore the shit out of your audience with powerpoint’.

Drew’s article deals with ‘Real Time learning distribution’ and audience engagement through social media.  Or put simply, how to use your audience that is present onsite to connect with an audience that is present online.

Here’s the top tips (full article on Fast Company):

1. Don’t Panic if They Aren’t Looking at You

2. Stifle the Temptation to Ask for a Device Moratorium

3. If You Aren’t Nervous, You Should Be Now

4. If You Don’t Speak Twitterese, It’s Time to Learn It

5. Congratulations! You May Be Speaking to Millions You Can’t See

6. The Reviews Are In–In Real Time

7. When All Else Fails, Surprise the Audience with Honesty

I have had mulitple experiences of people tweeting and posting content real time but still haven’t mastered the ‘on-stage’ reply. 

Some good food for though….now I’m off to post this to our facebook.…

- Todd

Yes - A false start with a flat battery...

Last week saw five Threesiders piling into cars and heading to beautiful Jervis Bay to experience firsthand the whale watching that we’ve been busy promoting for the last few months.

This is a story of changing expectations and how managing a customer’s expectations throughout a journey could make or break a business.

Our plan to spend the night kicking back at the Husky Pub was squashed when we found it undergoing renovations (expectations lowered) but it looks well worth a visit once completed. Instead, we wandered down to the RSL.  At reception we were greeted by the staff member on duty, who asked where we were from and what we were up to.

When we told him we were taking to the water to see the whales his response was “You’ll be disappointed.  All you’ll see is big blobs of flesh floating around.” Somewhat taken aback and a little deflated we continued inside to enjoy a good value meal and the cheapest drinks we’ve bought in a while.  Still, our less than enthusiastic welcome had left a lingering bad taste.  For a town heavily reliant on tourism and whale and dolphin watching cruises, it is vital to the visitor experience that everyone involved in the industry contributes towards making that experience positive.  This undoubtedly results in return visits and positive word of mouth, which in turn can lead to increased visitation to the area. (expectations lowered).

Breakfast at Kiosk the next morning was a delicious surprise and a fabulous lunch at Supply later in the day revealed that there are some quality cafe experiences to be had in Huskisson (expectations raised). Excited and keen, we climbed onboard the Extreme Eco Cruise boat and headed out into Jervis Bay.

Our skipper Matt was very clear that we were about to have a nature based experience and that we were relying on a mix of luck and experience to find the whales in their own natural environment.  So with eyes peeled we began to skirt the Bay in search of these magnificent creatures.  The whales were being quite elusive but we finally found two rare Minke whales, enjoying a morning snack on a school of fish which was also being plundered by a flock of madly diving gannets (expectations being managed).

The Minkes weren’t all that interested in putting on a visual extravaganza for us so after watching them for a while we went in search of the more acrobatic humpbacks.  Matt understood that his passengers were after the wow factor of breaching whales but he was careful to emphasise that we had seen something really special with the Minkes (expectations being managed).

On the way back into the Bay we were treated to Oceanic dolphins playing in the wake of the boat, a seal lounging in the waves, albatross and a large flock of tiny brown birds that circumnavigate the world.  Now that is amazing!

Matt had been carefully managing our expectations throughout the cruise, and announced that what we had seen so far was pretty fantastic and anything else was going to be icing on the cake.  And we believed him.  We hadn’t seen the Humpbacks but we’d seen rare Minke whales, dolphins, seals, incredible birdlife and we’d loved it.  But then – the icing on the cake came along, and it was the most amazing icing EVER.

Shouts rang out as all heads on the boat swivelled to see a baby Humpback whale spy hopping and then completely launching itself out of the water, breaching all over the place.  Meanwhile, the calf’s mother was calmly swimming along, giving us an occasional glimpse of her absolutely massive size.  She was as big as a bus, a double-decker bus even.  She was HUGE!

This was without doubt, the most amazing animal encounter of my life.  I will never forget the sight of that playful humpback calf joyfully splashing around in the water, somehow propelling its enormous body completely out of the water while its mother swam alongside it.

Incredible, unforgettable, awe-inspiring! Every single person in that boat was on a high.  This is what the man at the RSL should have told us about whale watching.  That our lives would be richer for the experience.

That we would feel compelled to tell everyone we knew how great it was.  That it was one of life’s must-dos.

Smiles plastered on our faces, we left the boat bubbling over with excitement, checking out each other’s photos, plugging our whale sightings into the Wild About Whales phone app and generally raving about the experience.  No wonder so many people are Wild About Whales (expectations met).

There were a few key marketing learnings that I took out of this trip.

1. If you work in the tourism and hospitality industry, particularly in a town that is reliant on tourism, be enthusiastic, promote your assets and give your visitors a great experience.  If you focus on the experience, visitors will return and they will send their friends along too.  Realistically build expectations at every turn.
2. Managing the expectations of your customers is vital to ensuring they have a great experience.  Overselling and under-delivering can be devastating to your customer experience but managing expectations and sometimes over-delivering leaves your customers more than satisfied and fosters great word of mouth for your business.
3. Look for partnership marketing opportunities that will leverage the positive expectations visitors have developed.   If someone else is bringing the business to town (eg. Whales and the cruises) work out how you get a slice of the pie by working in partnership.

So, if you haven’t been whale watching before or it’s been a while, I highly recommend it.  Download the Wild About Whales mobile phone app, book a cruise in Jervis Bay with Dolphin Watch Cruises and get out there – you won’t regret it!

-Kathryn

I presented a number of online marketing training sessions for local businesses and tourism members and after one session got talking to one of the participants – Vicki Bidner who runs a local real estate agent in Forster.  After a short chat and discussion about online marketing and how she markets her business, we parted company and I was on my way back to Canberra.

A few days after I got home I got a package in the mail.  In this packahe were some chocolate brownies and a personalised thankyou card from Vicki.  I read the card that featured a photo of one of the best spots in the Great lakes and also the personalised message.  on the card there was also a QR code that linked to a short video I had shot in the session.  See the card below:

So at this point I was thinking:

(a)  mmm…. brownies
(b) Wow – what a great idea to send a thankyou to someone
(c) I am suitably impressed with Vicki Bidner

So always having my marketing mind ticking at a million miles an hour – I called Vicki and said thanks for the thanks.  Then spent the next 10 mins discussing the value of this type of thankyou to her business, the program she uses, past examples and her story.  Vicki wrote it all down for me and you can read Vicki’s story below with her examples.

For me the lessons out of this encounter were:

1. People value a thankyou,
2. It’s take time and something special to be remembered,
3. Innovate your message – Vicki uses Send out Cards,
4.  The simple things in life are often the best – does a thankyou on facebook or Google plus have the same impact as a personalised card and a packet of brownies?!
5. Make your marketing personal and make it mean something – because your competitors probably aren’t.

So will Vicki’s card turn into 100′s of house sales?  Probably not, but what they do lead to is fantastic word of mouth, great customer loyalty and a personal sense of satisfaction in Vicki’s business that people knows she cares.  Good to see someone breaking the Real Estate agent cowboy stereo-type.

Here’s Vicki’s story and thankyou to Vicki for sharing it.

- Todd

———————-

The Value of a Thankyou from Vicki

I looked into the SendOutCard (SOC) program initially as a marketing tool for my real estate business and also as a very efficient and inexpensive way to keep my relationship ongoing with my current clients, friends and family.

Previously I diligently spent many hours handwriting a lot of “thank you” cards etc to many clients however SOC offered a tool where I could create cards using my own handwriting font, photos, QR codes etc, in a much, much more cost effective (about 1/5^th of store price) and productive manner while still maintaining that personal touch. (and they are printed, stamped, enveloped and posted for you by SOC!)

I do not like receiving e-cards, e-newsletters, etc and I certainly don’t like getting a generic card or flyer that has obviously been produced to the masses and is not in any way personal.   Infact it is usually a company telling me how good they are (boring ….) and before I have finished reading  I have efficiently filed it in the bin!   My e-cards etc get filed exactly the same way in computer land and I haven’t even opened them!     My marketing and relationship maintenance obviously steers away from everything I have just complained about.

I like to send cards to all my clients on special occasions and make them about the person, not about me or my business.   I will give you a few examples :

Our last Christmas card was received with a many a fantastic comment, but my favourite story is a elderly lady (who actually didn’t buy her home from me, but was lovely and I wanted to keep in touch).

She told me this story ……. Her children (who are in their 60’s) called around in April and said, “Oh Mum why have you still got that Christmas Card up?  It was Christmas 4 months ago and it should have been taken down!”    She replied “I will tell you why, because every morning when I come out to make my cup of tea, I look at those 6 smiling faces and it brings me joy, every single day!”

She also told me that she has now taken the card down and replaced it with the Easter card, however she stressed that she had not thrown it out, she has infact kept every card I ever sent her.  I love the impact we have had on her life, and I would imagine that when she does move on – her children may well think of me to sell her home.

On Anzac Day last year I sent a poem I had read about a little girl who had lost her father in the war.   It took me 5 minutes to create the card but the response was amazing, people were touched in a very personal way and the many phone calls I received made me feel proud and about 10ft tall!

On Valentine’s day this year I sent a card celebrating the ones you love, whether it be a partner, an ex, a romance, your family or just yourself.   It was funny and thought provoking.  I got cards back and also many, many calls particularly from older people who reminisced with me about their romance/marriage proposals etc in the war years.   Very humbling and very touching that so many people wanted to share their lives with me.

This Easter I sent a card that was pretty plain, yet I got numerous calls, Easter cards in the mail and one lady also bought in 3 bags of Easter Eggs for me, saying that she really appreciated the effort I went to, to include her in my card list.   She felt special (as she should) however that card went out to hundreds, but because it was addressed specifically to her it felt like a one on one.

With the phenomenal response from my clients, friends and family who also slowly became curious and wanted to become involved, I realized that the business aspect of SOC was also very appealing.   It is a get rich slow business which creates a hell of a lot of fun and pleasure on the journey.   I can honestly say “even if I didn’t make a cent on the business, the amount of direction and joy it has brought into my personal and professional lives has been priceless”.

(UPDATE:  Here was a follow up note from Vicki)

The local Commonwealth Bank revamped their site and invited everyone in the street to the opening party.  I sent a card purely to say “thank you”.

A few weeks later I received a call from Commonwealth Bank HO and said I had been recommended to list 3 x mortgagee-in-possession properties.  HO were dumbfounded when I told them that we did not bank with the Commonwealth Bank and said it was highly unusual for the business not to go to a client in real estate, but said I obviously had a great rapport and great respect from that branch.

The truth is, they appreciated my card (at a cost of .93c I might add!) and in return I got potentially $30,000 in commission!

I would love you (and any/all of your networking friends) to check out my website :   www.sendoutcards.com/vicki_bidner

Watch the video and send some cards for free (my shout!)

Cheers – Vicki

Well it’s no fluke and good marketers know there’s existing media hype everywhere ripe for the picking.  Keeping a keen eye on existing media hype around particular themes that relate to your brand and piggybacking
off this hype is a really cost effective way to get your message to the masses.

Over the past three months the team at Threesides has been working closely with the marketing team at NSW National Parks and Wildlife, and their incumbent PR agency Starr PR to roll out a marketing campaign to increase visitation to coastal national parks during a traditionally quiet winter period.

The annual migration of whales from Antartica to
warm water breeding grounds provided the perfect
platform on which to hook the campaign.  The whales swim right past many of the coastal NSW national parks
gaining significant media coverage as they go, so why not tap into this hype to further the reach of the marketing messages for coastal national parks
and turn the whales into the biggest billboards you’ve ever seen!

So what does an 18metre long billboard with a tail actually look like -  it looks like this:

• A new website
• Customised Twitter feed with tweets on latest whales spottings up and down the coast
• Customised Facebook presence with video and data capture
• Electronic Direct Mail to exsiting database of over 20,000
• Pay per click advertising to capture existing search engine traffic
• Development of a whale watching mobile app
• Point of sale presence in visitor centres
• National media coverage and ongoing media coverage

You didn’t really think we spray painted a bunch of whales with the national parks logo did you?

Some more info below and you  can register to attend on their website:

The Dollars and Sense of Online Marketing and Communications – How to Back Winners in 2011

Websites, Social Media, Search Engine Marketing, Online Direct marketing — there is no end of online activities competing for your time and money in 2011. But what’s worth it, what’s not and what’s missing from your plan that you should in fact be budgeting for?

Current trends indicate that consumers are increasingly directed to the web by the organisations with which they interact. This is not only for information, but for a number of transactions, be it buying your groceries and white goods or even updating your details with government departments. In an age where most transactions occur online, how can you utilise these tools to increase business awareness and exposure in your targeted demographic areas?

This AIM Hot Topic will challenge attendees to look at their budget from a different perspective and start involving other areas of the company in the conversation. This session will cover:

* The big 5 — activities every online marketing plan needs

* Which online activities are most often missed in the budgeting process

* In-house or Outsource — how to tell when it’s time to get help

* Good ideas — but who’s going to do it all – the value of people in your plan and what is their time worth?

Get the full information on the Australian Institute of Managment website.

Todd has plenty of tips on how to get the most out of your email marketing efforts, including database development, templates, spam issues and the best time to send.  Check out the edition via Scribd below.

Threesides Email Tips – NettMagazine March2011

Looking for help with your email marketing?  We use our own hosted email solution ‘Threemail”.  For more information contact us and we can give you a demo of the system and show you how 23 other Threesides clients are currently using it in their businesses.

The biggest advantages of Google adwords is its cost effectiveness, reach and measurability.   It’s cost effective by offering a cost per click option, meaning you’ll only pay if someone clicks on your ad.  The reach into your online audience is huge and it is one of the most accountable and measurable forms of marketing online (if you believe the stats).

Although too often it’s used to get visitors to sites with no goal behind what the visitors should do when they get there.  Ultimately you want to convert your visitors into customers.  This is where the full potential lies with Google adwords.

Before signing up to Google adwords, complete the following checklist;

1. What’s your conversion goal?
2. Understand your sales breakdown
3. Target your audience
4. Consider your Keywords
5. Write effective Google ads

What’s your conversion goal?

A conversion is a desired action you want your visitors to do.  Do you want your visitors to purchase through an online shop, make a booking, sign up through a form, or call a representative?  There needs to be a goal on your site to identify its success.

Sales breakdown

At this point, targets need to be set for Google Adwords to work towards.  A couple of key questions to ask:

1.       How much does it cost your business to attract one customer?

2.       What would your forecast of sales be in the month ahead?

3.       Apply the sales targets against the marketing spend of each channel? For example if you spend $2,000 on brochures and your cost per customer is $20.  Brochures should bring in 100 signups.

Target your audience

Now it’s time to indicate who will see your ads.

1.       Location – Do you have a local business that serves only a small geographical area in your town? No problem. With these selections, you can select either a country, city, or a custom location that is within a specified distance from a location you choose

2.       Languages – This is fairly self-explanatory.  If your targeting English speaking audience use English.  If you ever need to target other languages you need to that language in the ad text.

Keywords

Now you need to develop a robust keyword list to target.  What are the likely terms your target audience would be searching? Could your website satify their query with relevant content?

There are a few steps to approach keyword research:

1.       Brainstorm – Use colleagues, friends and family to determine what keywords customers would search;

2.       Use the Google Keyword Tool – Google provides a tool to expand keyword lists.  It lists alternatives, competition levels, monthly search volumes;

3.       Use the Google Wonder Wheel – The wheel is a tool allows you to see relevant search results to your query.

Write an effective Google ad

To ensure people will click on your ad you need to make it worth their while.  Google does not make it easy to write an effective ad.  The ad copy space is minimal, there’s 35 characters for the headline, 710 characters for body copy and the displayed website link 35 characters.

There’s a few steps to writing a good ad;

1.       Use keywords in your ad

2.       Promote an offer

3.       Have a clear call to action

4.       Link to relevant pages on your website

We always follow these steps when planning a campaign in Google adwords.  It’s the best way to use the system to its fullest potential and achieve your business goals.

…and if this list seems a bit daunting, see professional help – as the saying goes “If pain persists, see your doctor (or Threesides)”.

Despite the entertainment factor, social media is a powerful tool for business and I’m not talking big businesses.  In a recent survey conducted by Millward Brown in conjunction with World Federation of Advertisers (see the SlideShare presentation at the bottom of this post), found that smaller social media sites (owned by SMEs) achieve higher fan ratings in comparison to larger social media sites.

The report showed that the five basic expectations from fans are (1) regular posts, (2) trustworthy brand news, (3) new product information, (4) contests and (5) special offers.

Here’s our take on it from the perspective of some of our clients and social media sites we use in the office.

1. Regular posts

When you’ve built a fan base on facebook or a twitter following, those people expect to be engaged with, they expect to engage with fellow fans and at times expect to have their views & comments challenged.  Whether it’s hourly, daily or weekly is dependent upon the receptiveness of your community.  This requires testing and monitoring until you find the right balance.

The content that you use should be engaging and relevant to your fan base.  It doesn’t mean it should be 100% of your own product information.  Add comments which will get responses, open-ended questions to initiate conversation is a good place to start.

2. Trustworthy brand news

Authentic brand news gives your page a sense of credibility and worth.  It gives your fans the ability to consume up-to-date relevant content.  Outside of your own business news, insert links to articles, links to credible news & information sites, links to video channels and photo sites, podcasts and webinars, ensuring you are crediting sources.

Build your page by liking businesses within your sector, and Government pages, and other SMB pages to give fans an added value.  The Visit Young facebook page has liked several different business and organisations.  The Visit Young page will then cross promote news between each of the pages.  As a user I’m getting news from Visit Young and information on different festivals and events, outdoor movie listings, hotels.

3. New product information

As a fan you do expect special treatment for following a brand.  They want new information which acts as social currency; they would like to boast to their friends knowing they’ve received exclusive information before them or the wider market.

Kicks entertainment who holds the Foreshore and Warehouse music festivals in Canberra will announce all new event information on tickets, artists, employment opportunities, photos through their facebook page first.

Another example from a larger business is NIKE ID.  Not only do they release new product information but those products are designed and voted by the public and in return professional athletes will wear the apparel.

4. Contests

The rise of social media is not without the content creation by fans and followers across the globe.  We all love creating and being recognised for it.   Grill’d a franchise burger restaurant currently has a contest targeting students to win a scholarship.  Students have to highlight why Grill’d should support their studies.  In return students are creating new and innovative product ideas.  This may or may not be used but to have your idea recognised is a win in itself.

The We love the Gong facebook page recently ran a competition to give away tickets to a Roller Derby.  They required fans to come up a creative Roller Derby alias.

Crust Pizza a gourmet pizza outlet incorporates the Crust free pizza Friday.   Followers on twitter will tweet that comment for a chance to win a free pizza

5. Special offers

Incorporating special offers for your fans and followers is an easy win.  It’s a nice way to acknowledge them for being the brand advocates that you love.  A good example is Bums up modern cloth nappies.  Previously they’ve encouraged their fan base to help the page reach a number of fans by asking them to personally promote amongst their network of friends and family.  In return the company offers more prize packs and competitions to enter.

Clearly contacts, an online retailer for contact lenses and glasses, use exclusive facebook deals for their fans.  To track ROI they use a unique coupon code, to allow them to track back to the facebook promotion.

You don’t need to apply these tactics in unison or following a sequential order.  You could use a couple of points once and maybe applying another down the track.  It is about testing and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

Of course there are plenty of other ways to get your fan ratings up – What works best foryou?

HerCanberra - like catching up for coffee with friends. Image courtesy www.smh.com.au.

Canberra has come a long way from the place I remember as a child in the 1970s and 80s. And whilst Canberra’s reputation in the broader population still has some way to go, locals know what a great place it has become. We’re now spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping, dining, facilities, entertainment and more, but we’ve still got those ‘big country-town’ elements which make it such a great place to live and work. And I reckon it’s only going to get better.

Which leads me to two Canberra-centric websites that have popped up in recent weeks – hercanberra.com.au, and bestincanberra.com.au. These kinds of websites show the richness and diversity of experiences and facilities that Canberra now has to offer. But they do it quite differently.

A disclaimer before I start: hercanberra.com.au is the brainchild of a friend of mine, and I also happen to be smack bang in the middle of the websites’ target demographic (Canberran, female, mid to late 30s).

But this is what makes HerCanberra different from online directories such as Best in Canberra. It so obviously has a defined target market. Everything on that website speaks to Canberra women in their 20s to 40s, regardless of whether they are single women or stay-at-home mums. From great local shopping to kid-friendly restaurants, its content is interesting, useful and relevant to people just like me. It’s not trying to be all things to all people.

And it does it in a way that doesn’t scream advertising. In fact, it doesn’t even whisper it, because hercanberra.com.au puts quality content first and foremost. Amanda and the other contributors at hercanberra.com.au are fantastic writers, putting forward their opinions, experiences and ideas in ways that are both engaging and entertaining. The website itself is beautifully designed too.

Now I can’t write a post about my favourite local websites without a reference to RiotACT – the website I visit every single day (the-riotact.com). But whereas RiotAct is where I go for current affairs and local news (and the sometimes fiery exchanges in the comments), HerCanberra will be where I go to be entertained, to chillax and to find new ideas on how to enjoy our wonderful (and growing) city.

If you’re a local business targeting females in their 20s to 40s, or if YOU are a female in or around this age group, be sure to check out hercanberra.com.au. We here at Threesides think it might be the next big thing on the Canberra media scene!