LinkedIn is different – it’s used (at least by me) for business purposes only.  I use it for research on clients, partners, investors, etc.  I use it to get answers to questions.  I use it to connect with current colleagues, past colleagues, and sometimes for recruiting purposes. 

Let me preface my upcoming rant with this – I am not an “open networker”.  I send invitations to connect to people I know and have worked with, and accept invitations to connect from people I know and have worked with.  Personally, I don’t believe in the “open networking” thing because I think it defeats the purpose of a community like LinkedIn, but hey…to each his own.  So now that you know where I stand on that…

What I don’t understand is why people join LinkedIn, connect with a few people, and never fully complete their profiles.  And I am not talking about adding silly pictures.  Tell me where you worked.  Tell me where you went to school.  List your website and/or blog.  At least add the basics, ok?  Assuming you’re connecting with people you know, or even for those of you who connect with people you don’t know, this helps me learn more about you and your business.  The more I know about you, the more I may be able to help you.  If you’re not willing to reveal some details to at least the folks you’re connected with, then I am not sure what the point of participating in LinkedIn really is. 

Trust me, I love my anonymity as much as the next guy.  But once you take the LinkedIn leap, you can’t really do it with one foot in and one foot out.

Landing Pages

Let’s start with the landing page.  Landing pages are typically one-page creations.  They focus on one particular offer, and specifically on getting the visitor to take advantage of that particular offer.  Sometimes called lead capture vehicles, landing pages are used primarily for direct marketing programs – pay per click search engine marketing, direct mail, print advertising, etc.  Well-designed landing pages are critical to the success of these campaigns, and the savviest of marketers use and test hundreds of different landing pages in order to optimize conversion rates. 

For visual reference, here is an example of a Gold’s Gym landing page touting their 7-day free membership:

Gold’s Gym Landing Page

Microsites

Microsites, sometimes called minisites or sitelets, typically consist of a cluster of web pages and are used for a variety of purposes: 

• Large consumer goods companies may use microsites to independently market a new product, because the primary company website may leave the product underexposed. 
• A newspaper may use a microsite to cover a time-sensitive and popular event, such as the upcoming presidential election or the Olympics. 
• A business-to-business software company may use a microsite to provide prospects with deep information on a product, information that cannot be handled via a landing page. 

In many cases microsites, like landing pages, are designed to convert the site visitor into a lead, but that lead capture is handled through a more content-heavy approach.  An additional benefit to building a microsite is enhanced search engine optimization opportunities.  Microsites are typically housed on a domain separate from the primary company website and contain sometimes dozens of pages of topic-specific content, setting the stage for high organic search rankings.

Here is just one example of a well-designed microsite from Black & Decker:

Black & Decker VPX System Microsite

How Do I Choose Between Microsite or Landing Page?

First of all, you don’t have to choose.  Most sophisticated marketers will have a need to use both microsites and landing pages somewhere along the way.  If you’re trying to choose for a particular project or campaign, your decision factors should include:

• Marketing campaign objectives
• Budget
• Content

The examples above should help you identify whether a microsite or landing page is the best fit for your needs.  If you’re still left scratching your head, go ahead and drop me a line and I’ll offer my viewpoint.

From a business standpoint, 90% of companies are trying to figure out how to address social media, and the other 10% are just pretending they know what they’re doing with regards to social media.  Much like the early days of the internet as a new medium, social media vehicles are developing so quickly that it’s almost impossible to keep up and address the business opportunities associated with social media.

My guess is that social media is going to be a topic covered in this blog for years to come, but just in case this is the last time we discuss it, here are a few things you should know about this phenomenon:

1. There is no universally accepted definition of social media.  Most of us, including the so-called experts, make it up as we go.

2. Speaking of experts, those who proclaim themselves social media experts are typically just folks that understand the innerworkings of social media properties like LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace.  That comment isn’t meant to demean the folks that proclaim themselves experts in social media, as much as to acknowledge that social media changes on a daily basis, which makes it difficult to become an expert in this infant industry.

3. Social media is for real, and every business needs to address it in some form or fashion.  If you’re the guy/gal that is just now getting around to believing in search engine marketing as a potent lead generation/customer acquisition vehicle, here’s a piece of advice – get on this train early, as it’s only going to get bigger over the next few years and you don’t want to be left behind.

4. Educating yourself on social media vehicles is easy, unless you believe the so-called experts (referenced above) who may tell you it’s a very, very complicated area.  Start a blog.  Join LinkedIn.  Sign up for Facebook.  Use a social shopping site like Kaboodle.  You’ll learn a lot about social media just by experiencing these sites on your own.

5. The more you read on the topic, the better.  The more you read on the topic, the more confused you’ll become.  Did I just contradict myself?  Yes, and I did that on purpose.  Social media is a topic covered by many, but again there are few universally accepted news sources on the topic.  Just read as much as you can, and then ask your agency/marketing department/consultant lots of questions and figure out the answers together.

No easy answers here.  Factors include company type, size, industry, budget, existing leadership, financial goals, etc.  It goes without saying that every situation is unique.  Over the next few months I’ll provide some deeper insight into the topic, but here are two initial pieces of guidance:

1) There is a tendency to want to separate internet marketing into its own business unit or department.  In 8 out of 10 situations I recommend against that.  Don’t get me wrong – you’re obviously going to have a separate team with separate staff focused on internet marketing projects – but the more you separate conceptually, the less you’ll integrate.  And that lack of integration is a pet peeve of mine, and wreaks havoc on marketing-focused businesses.  For agencies, that lack of integration manifests itself in clunky client pitches and “us vs. them” battles between interactive and non-interactive teams.  For clients/companies, that lack of integration means your offline and online marketing efforts won’t be as “tight” as they should be, and you may never experience the positive impact that internet marketing can have on your more “traditional” marketing efforts.  The fact is – internet marketing impacts every marketing vehicle, so the separation typically isn’t necessary.

2) Content is king.  Say it again with me.  Content is king.  Sure, a typical organizational structure will include folks with expertise in search engine marketing, email marketing, web design, web development, social media, public relations…but without someone to produce effective, web and non-web friendly content, your marketing execution will suffer.  Why is content, and someone competent to produce that content, so critical? Because it impacts every area and every vehicle.  Good content influences SEO.  Good content influences all of your lead generation and advertising efforts.  Good content impacts your website and its usability.  Good content can make or break your email marketing efforts.  Good content is at the core of your social media marketing efforts.  You get the point.  Regardless of who else you hire for your internet marketing department, don’t skimp on the content and the people that produce the content.

Based on experience, I am certain there are a bunch of you with your hands raised.  4 of every 5 website projects I’ve been involved in veer off track due to delays in the copy approval/revision process, not necessarily the copywriting process (although the initial copywriting phase is a delay candidate as well).

Why so many cooks in the kitchen, you might ask?  From what I can gather, the reasons are fairly simple.  In a mid-size organization, a Director or Manager level employee “owns” the website project, and may even have a webmaster or marketing manager as a “co-owner”.  Then you insert 1-3 members of the senior management team, all of whom (rightfully so) hold a stake in the success of the website.  Those members of the senior management team may be involved in the early phases of the website revamp process – they want to sign off on final design, general site structure, etc.  But what they REALLY want to get involved in is the copywriting of the website, or at least the critique of copywriting piece of the website.

Right or wrong (and senior management getting involved in copywriting is not necessarily a bad thing), here’s why senior management wants to get involved, and why it always causes delays:

1) While most members of the executive team can’t design a website, and can’t write a line of code, they all feel like they can write.  The reality - some can, and some can’t.  Most, even if they’re decent writers, don’t understand writing for the web.

2) Along the same lines, members of the executive team often consider themselves “closet” marketers.  They think, if given the chance, they could really come up with some creative marketing ideas that would turn the entire marketing organization around.

3) Members of the executive team mistakenly assume that if they write something intelligent and post it on the website, that prospects, customers, or other stakeholders will take the time to read the entire missive.

If you’re that Director or Manager in charge of the website relaunch, don’t try to fight the idea that members of the executive team want input on the copy piece of the website.  As a matter of fact, you should embrace it because that means you have some stakeholders who understand the importance of the website as a marketing vehicle for the organization.  That being said, here are a couple of suggestions to reduce potential delays on this piece of the project:

1) Establish the team in charge of copy review and revisions before you even begin the project.  Ask that each department assign one person who will participate in the copy review.  Set expectations, however, that those in Customer Service will only review Customer Service copy, and those in HR will only review HR copy, and so on and so forth.

2) Distribute the complete project schedule to your new copy review team, be very upfront that you intend to meet the launch date for the project, and be a complete pain in the ass (use some diplomacy, of course) about members of your team meeting deadlines.  If members of this team cannot understand why you’re being a pain in the ass about these deadlines, they’re not worth having on the team. 

3) Inevitably, you will run into a member of your new copy team that will miss a deadline.  First, ask that they notify you that they’re going to miss a deadline a few days before the missed deadline.   Let’s be serious – most of us know if we’re going to miss a big deadline a few days before the deadline, it’s just that some of us aren’t willing to admit it.  Next, accept the missed deadline and set a new deadline for copy review/revisions.  Never, ever accept the idea that a member of your team will get it done “when they have time”.  If you’re in charge of a website relaunch, that means someone (probably your boss) has given you a drop-dead date for completion, and if you start accepting flimsy deadlines from Ricky the Product Manager, you’ll never get the project done.

Copy is a critical element for any website project, and I will consistently beat the drum that bad copy will ruin any good marketing vehicle or campaign.  Copy impacts the brand, impacts performance of the site in terms of “stickiness”, impacts search engine optimization (SEO)…you get the point, it’s very important.  Don’t let a mismanaged copy review team ruin a great website relaunch. 

While the recommendation is always to address SEO during the earliest stages of a website redesign project, the “I forgot about SEO” camp can relax a bit.  Assuming the has been structured correctly from a design/coding standpoint, you will still be able to handle SEO appropriately prior to site launch and in a more comprehensive manner post-launch.  So let’s discuss the simplest things you can do during these later stages…

While there are literally 30-35 factors involved in successful SEO, often times companies get caught up in the seemingly more complex SEO tactics instead of executing the basics first.  If you haven’t addressed these basics, get started now before the site launches:

• Write a descriptive title tag for every single page of the site.  It boggles my mind why people dismiss this, as it is still a critical factor (and easy to execute) for SEO success.  Ideally you’re able to write individual title tags to match up with the content on individual pages, but even if you can’t get to that, at a bare minimum write the descriptive tag that you can install on every page of the site. [When I say descriptive, the title tag shouldn't just tell the engine the name of your company, tell the engine what you do].
• Once you’re finished with that, make sure you write the keywords tag and description tag for the site.  Again, in an ideal world you can write individual tags for individual pages, but if that’s not a possibility given the time crunch then go ahead and at least write your keyword/description tags for the entire site.
• When you launch the new site, you are bound to have new pages replacing old ones, and old URLs that won’t contain content anymore.  Here’s the problem – some of those old URLs may be indexed by engines already, and therefore if you flat out ignore those pages then you’re missing out on potential site traffic.  Not exactly the best SEO strategy, right? Whether you use redirects, placeholder pages or some other method, be sure to address this component before you launch the new site.
• Go out and start securing the “low hanging fruit” links.  Partners, customers, employee web pages, blogs, LinkedIn profiles, etc. are all great candidates to link to your site without too much resistance.  Just go out and get it done.

For the sake of this exercise, we’ll use this new search engine called Google.  Hopefully everyone has heard of it.  Let’s assume I am looking for a pediatrician in Morristown, New Jersey – naturally, I go to Google and type in “pediatricians morristown nj”.  Although your results may differ slightly depending on location and your preferences, here is what most will see:

http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&safe=off&q=pediatricians+Morristown+NJ&aq=f

Now, many people will click on “Local business results for pediatricians near Morristown, NJ” and view the following page:

http://maps.google.com/maps?complete=1&hl=en&safe=off&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=pediatricians&near=Morristown,+NJ&fb=1&view=text&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=more-results&cd=1

Great.  Now we’re in Google Maps and viewing local listings for pediatricians in Morristown, NJ.  Look at listings A – J.  Did you learn anything from the pediatricians listed here? Of course not.  Why? Because most of these physicians haven’t enhanced their listings with descriptions of their practices, operating hours, services offered, etc.  Why do this?

The few physicians that do enhance their listings will rise to the top of the local search listings.  Complete your information, get a few testimonials, add a picture and before you know it you’ll be the top-ranked pediatrician in Morristown, NJ or wherever you’re located.

And the best part? It literally takes 5-10 minutes – click here and get it done now:

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Flocal%2Fadd%2FbusinessCenter%3Fgl%3DUS%26hl%3Den-US&service=lbc&hl=en-US&gl=US

And then move on to Yahoo, MSN, Yellow Pages online, etc. 

I was recently re-reading a post from Brian Carroll in his B2B Lead Generation Blog, titled “Collaboration Huddles and 35 Other Ways to Improve Sales and Marketing Teamwork”.  Although I can always grab something useful from Brian’s posts, within his list of 35 I immediately stopped when I read #15:

15. Get the marketing team out in the field with the sales team regularly.

Scary thought, huh? Sales folks like to operate independently, and don’t want anyone in marketing looking over their shoulders.  Marketing folks like to write case studies and press releases about customers, but they don’t really want to be responsible for the actual acquisition of said customers. 

Having spent the first 10 years of my career purely on the marketing side of the business, and the last two years playing a hybrid sales/marketing role, I am here to tell you this is a great idea.  The sales team needs to see that the marketing team is actually experiencing how a prospecting meeting flows, how business pains are identified, and most importantly how the sales team determines which leads are qualified vs. unqualified.  The marketing team needs to see first-hand that it is in fact impossible to ask 32 questions to qualify a lead, and that not every lead driven by marketing is a blue bird.  As we all know, the truth lies somewhere in the middle when it comes to the sales and marketing. 

Just do it.  Send the marketing folks out with the sales team occasionally.  At a bare minimum get everyone in the room together every once in awhile.  I’ve been on both sides, and until you walk in the other man’s shoes, you can’t become a complete marketer. 

1. They start with identifying the metrics that matter for any lead generation campaign – initial value of a new customer, lifetime value of a new customer, average lead-to-sale conversion rate, target cost per lead, target cost per new customer, etc.
2. They set up the appropriate tracking mechanisms (web analytics, CRM, lead scoring tools, etc.) to ensure that their lead generation campaigns are measurable.
3. They diversify their lead generation sources as much as possible.
4. They test, test, and test again.
5. Based on testing, they refine each campaign tied to each source of lead generation.
6. They test, test, and test again.
7. Based on testing, they narrow down what works and what doesn’t and adjust their lead generation “portfolio” to reflect that.

The point I want to focus on here is diversification.  Lead generation marketing isn’t all that much different from managing a stock portfolio, or any type of investment portfolio.  You must diversify – some lead generation investments are sure things, some are high risk/high reward, others are low risk/low reward.  If you rely on one stock to carry your entire investment portfolio, you’re opening yourself up to some significant risk if something happens to that stock.  The same applies to lead generation – if you rely exclusively on one source of lead generation, and that source begins to tail off or even disappears, you open yourself up to significant risk. 

Hence, the title of this post –  ”Buckets of Leads”.  In an ideal world, you are managing multiple buckets of leads, each bringing a different volume, a different quality, and a different set of metrics.  Putting all your eggs in one basket may leave you open to an Enron-esque collapse somewhere along the way.

• Google gives you what seems like 10 characters in which to fit your entire marketing message.  OK, I am exaggerating, but most marketers and copywriters are long-winded folks by nature, so restricting us to somewhere in the range of 100 characters is tough. 
• As opposed to a print ad or radio spot where writers and creative folks are able to express concepts with supporting visuals or audio cues, the typical ppc ad is relatively lifeless.
• Your ads appear right above or under ads from 3-20 of your closest competitors, depending on your category.  Not exactly exclusive territory.
• If you’ve designed your ppc campaign well, you’re controlling which ad copy is appearing under individual keywords.  That being said, even knowing which keywords a search engine user is searching for does not mean the writer knows the search engine user’s ultimate goal of searching.

OK, OK.  I’ll stop giving copywriters and PPC professionals a reason to ask for a raise, and instead focus on a real-life example of solid ad copywriting.  I was recently searching for a plumbing/heating company to repair our water heater, and realized that we’ve never really liked any of the plumbers we’ve used.  Without much time to ask for any referrals from friends/neighboors, I did what most folks do these days – I googled it. 

To protect the innocent, I am going to remove the actual geographic descriptors and company names from the remainder of this post.  Here’s how the next steps unfolded:

1) I searched for “plumbers xxxx city, virginia” on Google.  As expected, a plethora of local search listings, hit or miss SEO listings in the top 10, and pay-per-click listings up the you know what.

2) For a variety of reasons, I dismiss the local search listings and organic listings, primarily because in this category you get every directory (superpages, yellowpages, yellowbook, switchboard, etc.) listing possible, and that’s not what I am after.  I don’t want to call 16 plumbers to find the right one, I want to try to make 1-3 calls and get someone out to the house.

3) So here is a sample of the ppc ads I see and my commentary on each:

Plumbers
www.insertplumberhere.com      Expert Plumbing Installation, Repair And Replacement Services!

Commentary: Uhhh…great, you haven’t told me anything.  I have no idea if you’re really local, no idea if you can take care of my project today, I just know you’re a supposed expert.  Terrible ad.

Local VA Plumber.
www.insertplumberhere.net      We Drain Your Pipes Not Your Wallet. Call (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

Commentary: A bit better than the first example.  Some may like the cute tag line, I just see it as an obstacle. The good news is that I know this company is local through the use of “VA” in the title and the listing of a local phone number in the ad copy.  Average ad.

Plumbers
Find Washington DC Plumbing
Services & Contractors w/Superpages
www.Superpages.com
Washington, DC (Hagerstown, MD)

Commentary: I just list this one for giggles.  My apologies to Super Pages, but you’re asking me to take an additional step to go to what amounts to yet another lesser search engine, just to find more listings.  No thanks - if I wanted to open up my 20,000 page Yellow Pages book, I’d do that.

Plumbers
XXX Plumbing – Serving Virginia.
We Give Phone Quotes. 24 Hr Service
www.insertplumberhere.com
XXX, VA

Commentary: The best of the bunch, although still not perfect.  You tell me you serve Virginia so you at least appear to be local.  You tell me you have 24 hour service, so given the urgency of my problem you can probably get here today (by the way, does anyone really want to wait a few days to resolve a plumbling problem?).  And here’s the bonus! You offer phone quotes, so I’ll know before you arrive at my house whether my job requires my first born as collateral, or my first born + my house. 

And don’t even get me started on the landing pages associated with each of these ads….that’s a topic for another day.  Here’s the point – when writing ads for ppc campaigns, every word matters.  Every character matters.  Capitalization matters.  Your URL matters.  Don’t take this process lightly.