MarketingHQ Blog

How to exclude internal traffic from your Google Analytics data

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 04:00:42 GMT

The accuracy of your website traffic data is critical when making marketing decisions. This data musn't be skewed by internal traffic.

For example, if you are adding new pages to your website or creating blog content, this activity should not be recorded as customer traffic to your website. Additionally, any traffic from internal staff or other contractors working on your website should not be included in your data.

One way to exclude traffic from your data is to use IP exclusion in Google Analytics. Here is a step-by-step guide to set this up, assuming you have Google Analytics installed on your website.

Step 1: Go to Google Analytics home page and select "Admin"

Step 2: Click "Data Streams"

Step 3: Open your "Data Stream"

Step 4: Click "Configure Tag Settings"

Step 5: Click "Show More"

Step 6: Click "Define Internal Traffic"

Step 7: Click "Create"

Step 8: Give your rule a name i.e. Marketing Staff or Web Developer etc

Step 9: Click "Match Type" and select from the dropdown menu, "IP address equals"

Step 10: If you know your IP address, click "Value" and enter it in. If you don't, select "What's my IP address" and a new Google tab will open identifying your IP address.

Final Step: Click "Create" to save the rule and you can exit.

One final and very important point, is to ensure you add additional IP addresses if you access your website from different locations. For example, when you are working from home. It is likely your IP address will change when you change location.

What’s the difference between Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)?

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 21:46:47 GMT

In marketing, lead qualification is a crucial step in the sales and marketing process. It helps companies identify potential customers who are most likely to make a purchase.

However, not all leads are created equal. Understanding the difference between Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) can significantly impact your marketing success. With this post, we aim to help business owners and marketing professionals unfamiliar with these concepts understand their importance and how to leverage them effectively.

What is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)?

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead that has shown interest in your company's products or services through various marketing channels. These leads have engaged with your marketing efforts but are not yet ready to make a purchase. MQLs are identified based on specific criteria, such as:

Engagement with marketing content (e.g., blog posts, webinars, social media)
Website visits and interactions
Downloading resources (e.g., eBooks, whitepapers)
Subscribing to newsletters

The role of marketing is to nurture these leads by providing valuable content and information, guiding them through the buyer's journey until they are ready to be handed over to the sales team.

RELATED ARTICLE: Why good customer service is not a USP

What is a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?

A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a lead that has been vetted by the marketing team and deemed ready for the sales team to engage with. These leads have shown a higher level of interest and are more likely to make a purchase. SQLs are identified based on criteria such as:

Readiness to make a purchase
Budget availability
Authority to make purchasing decisions
Specific needs and requirements
Timeline for making a decision

The sales team's role is to convert these leads into customers by addressing their needs, answering their questions, and providing personalised solutions.

Key Differences Between MQLs and SQLs: While both MQLs and SQLs are essential for a successful sales and marketing strategy, they represent different stages of the buyer's journey.

Here are the key differences:

Stage in the Buyer’s Journey: MQLs are at the top or middle of the funnel, while SQLs are at the bottom, closer to making a purchase.
Level of Interest: MQLs have shown interest but need more nurturing, whereas SQLs are ready for direct sales engagement.
Criteria for Qualification: MQLs are qualified based on engagement with marketing efforts, while SQLs are qualified based on readiness to buy and specific criteria like budget and authority.

RELATED ARTICLE: What is a buyer persona?

Why Understanding the Difference Matters: Distinguishing between MQLs and SQLs is crucial for several reasons:

Resource Allocation: Properly identifying and categorising leads ensures that marketing and sales teams allocate their resources efficiently.
Improved Conversion Rates: By nurturing MQLs and targeting sales efforts at SQLs, businesses can enhance their conversion rates and close more deals.
Effective Strategies: Understanding the difference helps in developing targeted marketing and sales strategies that cater to the specific needs of each lead type.

In summary, understanding the difference between Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) is vital for optimising your sales and marketing efforts. By adequately qualifying and nurturing leads, businesses can enhance their conversion rates, allocate resources more efficiently, and develop more targeted marketing strategies. Implementing these practices can lead to greater success and growth for your company.

Why good customer service is not a USP

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 03:56:53 GMT

This one will be short and sweet...

I'm always amazed how many businesses list great customer service as their unique selling proposition. Customers expect good customer service, and any business that doesn’t provide it will not be in business for much longer.

If your business uses customer service as a USP, you need to do some market research to find out why your current customers prefer you over your competitors. The results may surprise you.

A case study that has been documented and demonstrates this fact is the story of a small footwear manufacturer in the US called K Shoes. Some market research found that customers liked their product because their shoes don’t creak. Customers saw this as a sign of product quality. K Shoes used this information to develop an advertising campaign to promote this USP. The ad showed a wife sneaking up on her husband when he was out to dinner with another woman. The ad demonstrated the USP beautifully and led to a rapid increase in sales. You can check out the ad below:

The message hear is to research your customers to find out what is Unique about your business. The results may surprise you.

7 marketing lessons from the real estate industry

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 04:51:19 GMT

This post is one of admiration....

No, I’m not thinking of giving away marketing and getting into real estate sales...

But I’ve always admired the real estate industry, its marketing systems, and how it markets properties. I’ve always believed that other businesses can benefit from observing how real estate agents sell a property, and in this post, I’ve listed 7 key marketing lessons any business can learn from real estate marketing.

Here they are:

1. To sell something, you need to market it.

Imagine if you went to an agent and they said to you, " We’ll list your property, but we won’t do any marketing. “We won’t create a promotional flyer, we won’t take any photos, and we certainly won’t promote it in our shop front. “You would walk out the door. So why do other businesses believe they can sell products and services without marketing?

Real estate agents include marketing as a cost of sale. To sell the product, an investment needs to be made. This is a good lesson for any business.

2. Good copy sells

Agents use good copy and employ professional copywriters to develop the words to sell their properties. They use the copy to highlight the unique selling points and develop headlines that capture buyers' attention. It makes you wonder why so many small business websites begin with the words – “Welcome to Company X”. You don’t see too many “Welcome to my house” lines in real estate marketing, do you?

3. Good photography sells more houses.

Real Estate Agents use good photography to showcase every property. A property that is poorly photographed really sticks out. This is an important lesson when creating marketing materials for your products. Invest in good photography and show your products in the best light. It will help customers choose you over your competition.

4. First impressions are everything

In real estate, first impressions are everything. A buyer forms an opinion as soon as they walk into a property. The same goes for any business. Your first impression is the most important touchpoint for any business. In most cases, it will be the deciding factor if someone will do business with you. Always make a great first impression.

5. You need to know your target market

When presenting a property for sale, agents know it needs to appeal to the local target market. They know the demographics of an area and how to make it appealing to the right buyers. This is fundamental to the successful marketing of any business. Know who you’re targeting and market your product to them.

6. Measure your success, track and follow up your leads.

Have you ever noticed how when you view a property for sale, the agents ask for your details? By walking into a property, you have become a sales lead, and by taking down this information, the agent can put hard figures on how successful their lead generation activity has been. They also have figures to share with the property owner when they ask how many people viewed the property. Imagine the agent telling the owner, “I’m not sure exactly how many people came through; it seemed like a lot”. You would be shopping for another agent. By tracking leads, the agent can determine what leads are warm so they have sales to follow up on.

7. Marketing is a system

Now I’ve saved the best lesson to last. Real Estate sees marketing as a system. When a new property is listed, agents systematically implement that system to attract the right buyers. This system includes:

1. Strategy : Identification of unique selling points and key messages.

2. Marketing Collateral: Posting for sale signs and designing flyers, all with good photography and good copy and using a consistent brand identity and format.

3. Lead Generation: Website promotion, advertising, direct selling to buyer databases and open house inspections.

4. Lead Conversion: Providing contracts of sale, contacting interested parties and taking properties to auction.

5. Measurement: Tracking sales leads, managing offers and determining the number of interested parties.

5 things you need in a marketing brief

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 03:38:54 GMT

I heard a great quote the other day. It was “give me the freedom of a tight brief” from David Ogilvy, the man regarded as the “father of advertising”.

In my years of marketing, I’ve written hundreds of briefs. Briefs for advertising campaigns, briefs for brand development and briefs for new websites amongst many others. And I’d like to think I do a reasonable job of them.

I try to be very clear, provide lots of information and give a clear guide to what I want the brief to achieve.

Unfortunately, I don’t often receive detailed briefs from clients, so I’ve come up with five things you must include in your brief to get the outcome you want.

1. Include everything you already know.

This might seem obvious, but it’s important to share everything you know about your business, your market and your target market in a brief. Don’t make the recipient go and find this information, as it will cost you time and money. Tell them everything you know, and you will have a good foundation to build your brief.

RELATED ARTICLE: What is a Buyer Persona?

2. Include things you want to know (but don’t)

Nearly every business has knowledge gaps. It may be that you don’t have a clear idea of where your website traffic is coming from, the market perception of your brand, or even how you should price your product. If you can be clear about what you don't know, then we can go about finding the answers for you.

3. Tell me where you want to get to.

The point of a brief is to provide a destination. If you don’t know where you want to be, an agency will find it difficult to give you the guidance to get there.

RELATED ARTICLE: 6 steps to creating a great tagline

4. Tell them when you want to get there.

Any brief needs timelines. There may be an event the brief relates to or a date the project must be completed. If you give a date, a project plan can be implemented to meet the deadline. Without it, you’ll just be a rudderless ship.

5. Tell me who I must talk to to complete the job.

In brief, there are decision-makers and facilitators of decisions. Outline who makes the decisions and the process to reach a conclusion. It makes life a lot easier.

What is a Buyer Persona?

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 03:16:42 GMT

I wish I had a dollar for every time a business owner said their ideal customer is “everyone. " The question usually coincides with a big open-arm gesture and a smug, wry grin…… mostly because they think they nailed the answer.

For a marketer, there isn’t a bigger red flag than that response.

It’s unrealistic, as a business owner, to think you can be all things to everyone. And if that is how you approach your customer segmentation then you are going to waste a lot of money chasing customers that aren’t going to buy from you.

This is where creating a Buyer Persona is so important.

A buyer persona, by definition, is a semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer. These are customers that you would like to attract to your business and are based on market research and real data about existing customers.

A buyer persona is critical as a marketing tool. It provides both demographic and buying insights that allow you to tailor your marketing activities to address the needs of your customers.

When you create a buyer persona, you’ll understand your customers' needs, behaviours, and pain points, which will improve the effectiveness of your marketing activities.

What insights should you research to build a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona goes beyond demographic information and delves into the motivations, goals, and challenges of the target audience. It consists of general demographic and buying insights that help us understand the buying behaviour of your ideal customers.

One key benefit of a buyer persona is that it humanises the target market, enabling businesses to empathise with their customers and develop marketing strategies that resonate with them. By creating detailed buyer personas, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their customers' decision-making processes and preferences, ultimately guiding them in crafting compelling and relevant marketing campaigns.

What are the benefits of using buyer personas in your marketing?

More Targeted Marketing

Buyer personas allow businesses to target their marketing efforts more effectively. By understanding the specific needs and pain points of their target audience, businesses can create tailored content and messaging that speaks directly to those needs, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.

Product Development

Buyer personas provide valuable insights into the features, benefits, and solutions customers seek. This information can guide product development and innovation, ensuring that businesses create products and services that align with their customers' preferences.

Personalisation of the customer experience

Understanding the buyer persona enables businesses to personalise the customer experience. From the initial interaction to post-purchase support, businesses can align their customer service and engagement strategies with the preferences and expectations of their target audience.

Identify the right marketing channels

With buyer personas, businesses can identify the most effective marketing channels for reaching their target audience. Whether it's social media, email marketing, or traditional advertising, understanding the buyer persona helps businesses allocate their resources to the channels that are most likely to yield positive results.

Example of a Buyer Persona for Financial Advice.

Buyer Persona workshops are an important part of the discovery process we undertake when working with clients. Below is an example of a buyer personal for the financial advice industry.

Demographic Insights

Name: Financially aware Eric

Sex & Age: Male, aged 40-50

Occupation: Marketing manager earning $120-$150k per annum.

Marital Status: Married with two primary school-aged children.

Buying Insights

Goals and motivations:

· To be financially secure and have a plan in place for retirement.

· To have financial security in the event of an accident or illness.

· To make the right decisions regarding schooling and other expenses as their children enter high school

Challenges

· Limited understanding of financial planning and advice, including cost of advice.

· Lack of confidence in understanding financial instruments and investment options available.

· Limited time to manage personal investments due to family and work commitments.

Thoughts and feelings

· Concerns about rising interest rates and risk associated with investment.

· Some lack of trust in financial advice due to recent poor media coverage.

Information sources

· Friends and family that have used financial advisors.

· Accountant

· Online financial advice and education resources.

Key attributes they want

· Honesty - Open and upfront pricing model that is easy to understand.

· Reviews - Case studies and reviews from families in similar situations.

· Personalisation – Not looking for a cookie-cutter approach but a plan specific to their needs.

· Concise – Looking for advice that is specific and actionable.

· Maintenance – Want the plan to be reviewed yearly to ensure the plan fits their circumstances at the time.

By understanding Financially Savvy Eric's goals, motivations, and challenges, a financial advisory firm can tailor its services and marketing efforts to address his needs. For example, the firm could create educational content on retirement planning targeted at professionals in their mid-career stages, host webinars on investment strategies for busy working professionals, and provide personalised financial guidance that instils confidence in Eric’s financial decision-making.

In conclusion, buyer personas are invaluable tools for businesses in all industries. They help you to create personalised and targeted marketing strategies that resonate with the specific needs of the target audience. By investing in thorough research and crafting detailed buyer personas, businesses can gain a competitive advantage, enhance customer engagement.

Ensombl Podcast #382 - Chris Dale from MarketingHQ

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 03:59:45 GMT

Chris Dale sits down with Clayton Daniel from ensombl to discuss all things marketing for financial planners.

The best piece of sales advice I've ever received

cdale@marketinghq.com.au (Chris Dale) — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 23:01:42 GMT

Too often we associate good salesmanship with having the “gift of the gab”. Like being a good salesman is about beating the customer into submission through charm and fancy words that bamboozle them into handing over their hard-earned cash.

I beg to differ.

My view is that sales is a trained skill. Through over 20 years of working in both sales and marketing, I’ve noticed the top performing sales people are often those that say the least. They listen. They find out the customers problem. And then they solve it.

So that leads me to the reason you’re probably reading this article. What is the best piece of advice I’ve ever received? Here tis…

“Customers will show you how they want to buy from you. You just need to let them.”

I’ll let that sit with you for a minute. Go on, read it again.

Now think about it. What is it actually telling you?

Firstly, it’s telling you to listen. Secondly it’s telling you to ask questions. Thirdly, it’s telling you to find out what the pain point is that led them to your door. And finally, for them to tell you how they would like you to fix the problem.

So when I heard this advice, you are probably wondering how did it change my own sales approach?

Well, I stopped pitching and started listening.

From that day, I implemented several changes to our sales process. These are:

1. Never present an overview of MarketingHQ at an initial client interview, even if the client asks you to.

2. Only present a proposal once you fully understand the clients pain points.

3. Try and ask the question at a first meeting, “tell me why I’m here”

I have to say, being firm and committing to these new ‘sales philosophies’ was tough. My resolve was tested quite a few times. But I had immediate success bringing on two new clients in the first two meetings I had. That 100% conversion rate and I know I was up against some tough opposition – these new clients told me that upfront.

So how did these two interactions play out?

My first attempt with an accounting services firm.

For the first opportunity, I was contacted by an accounting services firm who asked me to come in and pitch to them. Those were their exact words.

I was told I was one of three marketing firms they had researched and we made the short list.

Whilst being polite on the phone, I told the potential client I won’t be presenting a pitch document at our meeting. I got some push back as that is what they were expecting.

I pushed back again and said, how can I present anything when I know nothing about your business? They reluctantly agreed, we set a time and I went in without a proposal. Just me and a lot of questions.

During the meeting I was able to verbalise clearly how I could help fix their pain points. They wanted to re-brand, develop a clearer brand position in the market and wanted on-going marketing assistance. I was able to talk them through how we had helped other businesses in the same boat. What I didn’t do was speak about things that were not relevant to what they needed. I didn’t waste time talking about services they would never use. They told me how they wanted to buy, and I let them. And I won the business. This was four years ago and they are still a client to this day.

The large managed IT services firm

My second meeting was with an IT services firm. They’ve found us online and asked to meet at a coffee shop in the Sydney CBD. I thought I was meeting with one person, but in reality five business partners turned up.

After some pleasantries they got down to business. And said the inevitable. “So, tell us about MarketingHQ”

My response was this. “I tell you what, you guys obviously got in touch with me as you are having some marketing challenges. I’d love you to tell me why I’m here”

Well the flood gates opened. Each and every one of the partners expressed their frustrations and what they felt they were missing in their marketing. They were a successful business and had around 40 or so staff.

But there marketing was letting them down. They had started another business that wasn’t performing as well as they had expected due to poor marketing.

Once again, this potential client told me what they needed. I told them verbally how we have helped others in the same boat. And I won the client. They have been a client for four years.

So you would have to say this change was a success.

This philosophy is now ingrained in our sales process and we are more successful because of it. Great advice indeed!

So what is the best piece of sales advice you have had. I’d love to hear it.

6 steps to creating a great tagline

cdale@marketinghq.com.au (Chris Dale) — Wed, 19 May 2021 03:03:41 GMT

Creating great taglines that stick in the mind of the consumer is not an easy task.

Especially for small businesses that may not have the resources to use an advertising or specialist branding agency. However, the task is not impossible if you know the key elements of creating a great tagline. It helps to look at some of the great taglines of all time and see if there is some consistency of what they are trying to communicate. Here are some examples that have stood the test of time:

-M&M's: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand"
-AVIS: "We try harder"
-DeBeers: "Diamonds are forever"
-Federal Express: "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight"

Looking at these examples, we can see that each tagline seeks to differentiate the brand from its competition.

With M&M's, this tagline creates the perception that other products melt in the hand. For AVIS, this tagline says to the consumer that they try harder to please their customers than the market leader.

With DeBeers they use the tangible and emotional benefit of the diamond of being the gift of a lifetime and Federal Express cornered the global overnight package delivery market by guaranteeing overnight service.

Underlying each of these examples is also a solid brand promise which is a guarantee of what the consumer can expect to receive from the brand. The brand promises for these examples are:

- M&M's: Our product won't melt in your hand.
-AVIS: We try harder than our competitors serve you well.
-DeBeers: Our product will last forever.
-Federal Express: We will guarantee overnight delivery of your valuable package.

With these examples in mind, below are some key steps small businesses can take to create a tagline of their own:

1. Analyse your competitors and find what product benefits they use differentiate themselves in the market.
2. Find out what key product or service benefits your customers value.
3. Identify one truth (brand promise) about your brand that differentiates you from your competitors.
4. Write down as many nouns and adjectives that you can that describe this truth.
5. Create at least 20-30 taglines using 10 words or less that communicate this truth and a key benefit of your product. Use the nouns and adjectives as your inspiration.
6. Seek feedback on your taglines from people who know your business and decide on one or two preferred options.

Once developed, a tagline should then be the central point of all advertising to promote the brand. Not hidden in the corner of your print campaign.

Great taglines can last forever and set your marketing apart from your competitors. They are not easy to create but if you follow these simple steps, you can come up with something that will help your small business grow.

5 ways to capture more testimonials for your small business

cdale@marketinghq.com.au (Chris Dale) — Tue, 18 May 2021 12:13:10 GMT

Testimonials are a key marketing tool for any business. Used effectively, they can increase your credibility and help improve sales conversion in your marketing campaigns.

But many businesses shy away from gathering testimonials from happy clients; many are just too embarrassed to ask.

However, you don’t always have to ask for them directly. If you’re too embarrassed to do this, here we provide five ways you can gather more testimonials.

1. Write down verbal testimonials or video them

Verbal testimonials are given more often than written ones. If a customer gives you great verbal feedback, ask them if you can video them on your SmartPhone or record what they said and use it as a testimonial. You can then easily transcribe their comments and use them in the marketing of your business.

2. Ask a leading question

Instead of asking for a testimonial directly, you can get them indirectly by asking your clients leading questions. Questions such as “What did you think of our service?” or “Were you happy with the turnaround time?” often lead to positive responses. Those responses can be used as testimonials. Of course, make sure you then ask the customer if they are happy for you to use their comments as a testimonial.

3. Give to receive

In business, we often have customers who are also suppliers. The “give to receive” principle is simply providing a testimonial for a supplier who in turn provides one for you. It’s sort of like good business karma. When you do provide a testimonial, more often than not the customer feels obliged to provide a testimonial as well.

4. Use customer feedback forms

Customer feedback forms are a great way to gather testimonials without having to ask directly. Simply add some leading questions to the form and include a note on the form that positive comments may be used as a testimonial.

5. Place a capture form on your website

Testimonials can easily be captured via a specific capture form on your website. You can easily create a space on your website where customers can add a testimonial that goes live once approved by you. This can work particularly well for a variety of businesses where the product is visual such as a house, pool or even printed material. You give customers the opportunity to take a photo of the work you’ve done and upload it to your site. It gives them a little bit of promotion too!

Testimonials are an important credibility builder for your business. There is a saying in business: “Visibility + Credibility = Profitability”. By gathering more testimonials, you can put your business on the fast track to greater profits – and you don’t even have to ask for them!

10 strategies to convert more leads into customers

cdale@marketinghq.com.au (Chris Dale) — Tue, 18 May 2021 12:03:44 GMT

Are you a born salesman? No, neither am I.

When I hear that term, images of a smooth talker who hoodwinks customers into handing over their cash come to mind. It’s an outdated concept, but a stereotype that still exists today.

I have a different philosophy. I think good salespeople are trained, not made. Sure, some are good at building rapport, and others very personable, but at the top end of town, if you don’t know your stuff – you are going to get found out.

From my experience, converting more leads into customers is more science than luck. Over the years, I’ve learned a variety of techniques through training and observed some top salespeople ply their trade. Based on this, here are 10 strategies I’ve learnt over the years that can dramatically increase how many leads you convert into customers.

Stop talking and start listening

Years ago, I got a great piece of advice from a leading sales expert. “Customers will tell you how they want to buy from you – your job is to let them”. This really made me think and completely changed the way I approach sales conversations. It also dramatically increased my conversion rate.

Put simply, let your customer talk. Ask some leading questions and they will tell you the problem they need to be solved. Most will also have some idea of what the solution may be. Your job is to mould their “idea” of the solution with your service offering. When they tell you how they want to buy, and it matches your solution – you’ll convert more sales.

Get customer buy-in for your proposal

Where possible, try and get your customer to buy into your proposal. And by buying in, I mean having a role in its creation. This usually works well when you have multiple decision makers, but one person managing the selection process.

Simply send them a “draft” proposal for their review prior to finishing your final document. Get them to give you feedback and incorporate this into the proposal. By doing this, the customer has bought into your proposal and will most likely become a champion for it over others that are in the running.

Use a copywriter and proofreader

Really important proposals should always be proofread and edited by a copywriter. Many proposals don’t get any further due to basic spelling and grammatical errors. You’ll find a well-written proposal is more likely to succeed over a poorly written one.

Use scarcity to your advantage

Scarcity is a great marketing tool but is seldom used in proposals. Any proposal should have an expiration date. This is the date at which your offer is no longer valid, and also the date from which the team you may have recommended to work on a project cannot be guaranteed to be available. This creates a sense of urgency and works particularly well with consulting proposals.

Offer references straight up

If you have clients that are happy to act as references for your business, put them in the proposal up front. This shows you have confidence in your business and have nothing to hide. I can also guarantee you that most of your competitors won’t put them in there. The other truth: they are unlikely to be called, but it will add real value to your proposal.

Find common ground

There are three things that most customers must do before they will buy your service or product: they need to know you, like you and trust you.

You can achieve the “know” and the “like” by finding common ground early in a sales conversion. Look for opportunities to engage with a prospect on a personal level. If it’s obvious they have young children and you do too, talk about that before you engage in any formal sales talk. The more you do, the more you will be liked and you’ll then be on your way to be trusted – even if “trust” is a little tougher to earn.

Don’t shock them on price

You can’t hide from the fact that price will be a very important part of the buying decision. But don’t wait for the final proposal to present them with a price.

Firstly, if their expectations on price are unrealistic then these potential clients should be filtered out well before the proposal stage. Indicate verbally a general figure or better still, have your pricing available on your website or marketing material. If you shock them on price, it can become too distracting to the whole process and you will often lose the sale.

Follow Up

It’s amazing how many sales opportunities are lost because of no follow-up. Any proposal or sales meeting should be followed up the next day. Don’t look for an answer though, just ask if there is any more information you can provide. Then you need to follow up your proposal.

People get busy and distracted so you need to remind them to keep them on track. If they don’t want to proceed, it’s better for you to know early so you can pursue other opportunities.

Find trusted endorsers

Trusted endorsers are people that may know your sales prospect and can put in a good word for you. Hearing second-hand that you are a decent and reputable person goes a long way to building trust and will increase your conversion rate.

Offer a guarantee

A guarantee is the ultimate risk-reversal strategy. It works well in any product or service category and will always increase conversion.

A guarantee takes the risk away from the buyer and places it firmly with the seller – so with no risk, most customers will go ahead. The truth is unless the product is mechanical, 99% of customers won’t take up the guarantee. They just want security when they make that purchase.

While some of these strategies may sound simple, sometimes simple is simply the best strategy. Using any one of these strategies may create improvements to your sales conversions; use more than one and integrate them into your regular sales practice – that’s when you could dramatically increase your conversions. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Why you must invest in good graphic design

cdale@marketinghq.com.au (Chris Dale) — Tue, 18 May 2021 11:50:23 GMT

How often have you received a piece of marketing collateral and thought ‘backyard operation’?

Small business owners know their trade. Be they a physiotherapist, mechanic or veterinarian, the service they provide to their customers is likely first-rate. But if you are their first-time customer, you are, however, trusting a stranger with some pretty important stuff, like, in this example – your body, motor vehicle or pet.

1. Good graphic design builds trust.

When consumers consider using a business for the first time, and in the absence of any personal recommendations, they search for signs of professionalism to help them gain trust. Creating marketing collateral on a Word document will not build trust. The consumer is not expecting you to be a graphic designer, but they are expecting you to know that your first impression is important – and that you will therefore make the necessary investment in this area.

2. Good design won’t kill your budget

Good graphic design doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Most designers charge by the hour; this can range from $50 to $150 per hour, depending on their experience and standard. Where you save time (and money) is by providing a detailed brief. The more detail you give a designer, the less time they need to spend bouncing a design backwards and forwards because you (the client) didn’t provide them with enough detail. If you get the brief right, you will save time and your design costs will be kept to a minimum.

3. Consistency builds trust

A golden rule in marketing is that consistency builds trust: consistency in marketing messages, consisistency with products and consistency in graphic design. To build consistency with your graphic design, you must aim for uniformity across every ‘touchpoint’ of your business. This includes your website, business cards, letterhead, and point of sale material – they all need visual consistency and uniformity.

Think of Apple and all of their different methods of communication – TV commercials, their website, their packaging etc. – and notice how they speak with ‘one voice’. This is what you are trying to achieve, albeit on a smaller scale and for a smaller cost.

The initial setup will require you to invest some time to work with the designer to agree on the look and feel that you want to portray. It may be quite a deviation from what you currently have in place or it may just be some slight tweaking. Templates can then be created by the designer so that moving forward you can easily populate your Word documents and PowerPoint presentations, update your email signatures, order new business cards or do any other essential business that involves communication.

Keep in mind that humans are naturally drawn to good design and make a connection between the look of your marketing communications and the anticipated professionalism of your service delivery. If your marketing is visually appealing, the consumer is more likely to connect with your brand and choose you over your competition.

The power of you

cdale@marketinghq.com.au (Chris Dale) — Tue, 18 May 2021 05:27:17 GMT

The word ‘you’ is very powerful in marketing. But sadly, those three letters don’t get used often enough when small businesses are writing marketing copy.

The most common word used is ‘we’. I’m sure you’ve seen it before.

“We provided accounting services to small businesses....”
“We stock a large range of office furniture.....”,
“We have been in business in the local area for over 20 years.....”.

I’m sure you’ve read them all before. Businesses love to talk about themselves. For some reason they think that will make them more attractive to prospects. Unfortunately, the complete opposite is the truth.

Imagine you are in a retail store looking for shoes and the shop assistant came up and said to you “I just wanted to let you know we’ve been here for over 20 years and have a range of over 200 styles of Mens shoes” and walked away. What would you think? I know what I would be thinking....Firstly, I’d probably say “What the?” and then I would think “Are they going to ask me what I’m looking for?”

That is why is the word ‘you’ so important in marketing.

The word ‘you’ makes customers feel like you are talking to them. Fundamentally, your marketing copy is there to connect the problem your business solves with the needs of the customer.

The word ‘we’ only allows you to be very general about your services and say what you can provide. The word ‘you’ forces you to take these services and relate them specifically to the needs of the customer. And when you do that, your marketing copy is much more effective.

So how do I fix this?

The first step is realising you have a problem. You need to review your marketing copy and simply look for how many times you say the word ‘we’. I guarantee that now you are aware of the problem, it will stick out like a sore thumb.

Secondly, have a go at re-writing your copy yourself. And re-write it as if you are talking directly to a customer. Pretend for a moment you are that sales assistant working in a shoe store and you are talking to your customer trying to find out what they need. You may ask questions like “Are you looking for casual or work shoes?” or “Are you sick of of wearing shoes that don’t fit properly?”. This copy will connect more with the customer than “We sell casual and dress shoes” or “We provide a fitting service for every customer”.

A better option, is to get a marketing copywriter to take a look at your marketing materials and re-write them for you. The investment will be well worth it.

7 habits of highly successful business owners

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 15:49:26 GMT

Few things are more important to a business than its ability to market its products and services effectively. If you want to grow your business and increase your profitability, you might be wondering what steps you need to take to reach your goal.

Over time, MarketingHQ has worked with many owners of small, medium and large businesses. These business owners are successful. With our help, their businesses are thriving. And they share similar habits when it comes to marketing their businesses. Want to know what they are? Here’s a summary of the seven key habits of business owners that we’ve observed.

Habit 1: They understand the importance of good branding

At MarketingHQ, a brand is defined as ‘the consumer’s gut feeling about a product, service or organisation’. Successful business owners understand the importance in investing in branding that connects with their customer, positions them against their competition and stands out from the crowd.

A well-designed and consistently used brand also builds trust and helps associate your business with a solution, action or even a specific word. Google is a great example of this. Their brand is associated with the online searching. Now, instead of consumers saying that they need to ‘search online’ for something, they say to ‘Google it’. This is the power of good branding.

Habit 2: They have marketing systems and processes in place

Marketing is most effective when it’s part of running a business, not just something your business does when things get a bit quiet. Smart business owners know that consistent, systematic marketing drives new and repeat business. They are consistent with their implementation and methodical in their approach as they know that this is the way to ensure marketing works for them.

Habit 3: They know when to hire experts

Good business owners are not afraid to admit they cannot do everything on their own. If you try to do everything in your business, you’ll waste a lot of time and energy. Instead, focus on getting good at one or two vital skills and outsource marketing to trusted experts.

Those who hire experts to help run their businesses are often surprised at the amount of time they save. Doing so will also enable you to maintain your perspective so that you can view your business as a whole without getting too caught up in individual tasks.

Habit 4: They understand their customers

All truly successful businesses have one thing in common: they understand their customers on a deep level. If you want to get the best possible marketing results, then you need to understand what your customers need, want and desire. This will allow you to tailor your marketing in a way that gets their attention and compels them to buy your product or service.

You can achieve this via marketing research, by observation or just by talking to customers. If you can understand your customers and their motivations to buy, your marketing will be much more effective.

Habit 5: They know their customers' pain points

In addition to understanding their customers, successful business owners also understand the pain points that trigger the need for their product or service. This pain point is the first step in the customer’s decision-making process and should be the focus of your marketing messages. When you know what bothers your customers and causes them stress, you can show them how your product or service eases their pain and why they should spend money to fix it.

Habit 6: They’ve got a marketing plan

There’s a saying in business, ‘What gets written, gets done’. In our experience, successful business owners have a marketing plan. That’s why the first step of any engagement with MarketingHQ involves the creation of a marketing plan. The plan should identify your ideal customer and their pain points, specify marketing objectives and provide the structure for how your business is going to systematically market your product and services to that customer.

A good marketing plan is also a fluid document: it gets updated continually, not written once and then ignored for 6 to 12 months. In our experience, marketing plans often change as markets change with new competition, products, services and technological advances that sometimes change how customers access a product or service. You need to be flexible, and so should your marketing plan.

Habit 7: They measure all marketing activities

The importance of measurement in marketing is twofold. Firstly, any investment in marketing should be evaluated to determine if it connects with the customer and increases revenue. It should be measured against the lifetime value of a customer (that’s in your marketing plan) to determine if the investment in that activity has delivered a return on investment.

The second reason for measurement is to know if a marketing activity is not worth continuing. We’ve had many conversations with business owners who’ve invested in activities for over 12 months but cannot tell us if it was worthwhile or not. Some activities might seem like a good idea at the time and make sense. But for some reason, they just didn’t work. The last thing you want to do is continue investing in an activity that isn’t creating new or repeat business. If you are going to fail, fail quickly, re-evaluate and move on.

At MarketingHQ, we’ve helped hundreds of business owners change the way they use marketing to drive new and repeat business. For most businesses, it’s about providing the marketing expertise they need to establish a marketing plan, get their strategy right and ensure it’s implemented effectively. If you’d like to know more about our services, contact us today.Always wondered what happens on the other side of your campaign. Well, now you’re going to find out.

It's time to put marketing high on your priority list

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 15:50:46 GMT

Running a small business is tough going. Most business owners wear many hats and often bite off more than they can chew. It’s not their fault, there is lots to do. Sales to manage, orders to process and bills to chase up. And after all that – they must market their business!

It’s not uncommon for marketing to come off second best in terms of priorities. But it's marketing that will deliver build awareness of the business and more consistent revenue from new and current customers.

Marketing shouldn’t be low on the priority list, but we find that when businesses are struggling to generate business – this is often the case.

The marketing challenges of small businesses

The most common marketing challenges we see in most small businesses are:

1. Understanding who their ideal customer is

2. Finding the time for marketing

3. Generating regular, high-quality leads

4. Knowing what marketing strategies and tactics to use

5. How to be visible online and produce content consistently

6. How to use social media and which platform to use.

Most of these challenges require the business owner to have some experience or skills in marketing. But not all business owners do. Surprisingly though, many will try to do it themselves and most will fail. Then they think marketing doesn’t work when it fact it was their execution that let them down.

I’ve never understood why so many small business owners try to do their own marketing. I often ask those that do – would you represent yourself in court? Would you try to build an extension on your house with no building skills? Of course you wouldn’t, you’d use a lawyer and a builder. The same rules apply for marketing. Either get some training on how to do it correctly, employ someone to do it or outsource it.

What are the first steps in marketing?

At MarketingHQ, when a new marketing consulting client comes on board, the process is always the same. We don’t just head off blindly, implementing marketing campaigns without a clear plan and analysis.

Our first step is to develop a buyer persona. A buyer persona is like the concept of the target market but aims to ‘humanise’ the ideal customer of our client. We give the person a name, identify some demographic information (age, sex, marital status etc) but also find out their pain points and motivations that will trigger the need to buy the products or service of our client.

Understanding the buyer persona allows us to craft better marketing messages. If we have a picture of who our customer is, we can create marketing messages and content that connects with them. You need to show you understand the customer and their issues – only then can you show them how you can help.

The next steps are often depending on the needs of the clients. Often, the buyer persona process highlights the need for a re-brand, or if that’s not required we move to the development of a unique selling proposition (USP) and marketing plan using a customer journey model.

Ultimately this process aims to implement a marketing system that delivers consistent, high quality leads through a well-structured, well thought out and well-implemented marketing plan.

Which social media platform to use if any

In this age of digital disruption and digital marketing, it is also important for business owners to keep up-to-date with what’s happening not only in marketing – but in technology.

Technology, and social media can influence to decision to buy a product of service. Customers use social media to ask for product recommendations, to check out reviews and of course to provide positive (and negative) feedback about a business. Social media is also a great marketing research tool.

Some business owners I’ve met don’t like to read what people say about their business – they are scared to read something negative. But sometimes a negative review can highlight something you can easily fix. You’ve got to take the good with the bad – but most importantly you have to listen to you customers and social media is an easy way to do that.

Where to from here?

The first thing we want small business owners to do is recognise that marketing must be a high priority. When done well it will drive revenue growth and ensure the success of the small business.

The decision to then make is, how will it be managed. The choices are either to keep doing it yourself (and do it poorly), employ someone (someone with experience will be expensive) or outsource to a business like ours who can give you the benefit of high level marketing expertise, without the high cost of employment.

Where is marketing on your priority list?

How to keep your brand promise

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 15:43:18 GMT

What promise do you make to your customers? It’s a simple question, and one that is very important when creating a compelling brand for your small business.

To be effective, your brand must make a promise. When it does, it is more memorable and captures a place in the mind of your customer — and that’s a good place to be. For many businesses, the challenge isn’t coming up with the brand promise. That’s the easy part. The challenge is to make sure you live up to it and deliver on it every time.

Here, we provide you with some insights to make this easier for you and your business.

Refine your systems

Often the heart of delivering on a promise is to ensure your business has good processes and systems. For example, a plumbing business that provides a guaranteed turn-up time needs to ensure they have the systems in order to ensure their plumbers do in fact deliver on this promise.

These systems could include good communication as well as service processes to ensure jobs don’t run overtime.

Educate your staff

To deliver on a promise, your staff must know that it exists. That means you must educate them. This can be done through formal training or via your regular staff communication. Education in this instance is often no different to advertising: you need to keep repeating the message until it sinks in.

Give staff incentives

If educating isn’t enough, giving staff incentives around your brand promise is a great way to ensure they focus on what is important to your business. Good examples include linking pay rises to services standards or providing one-off rewards for staff that go over and above to deliver on your brand promise.

Ensure delivery at all customer touch points

Customer touch points are any areas where your business interacts with customers. For most businesses, your touch points will be through a salesperson or an online transaction.

But there are also many other touch points to consider; for example, accounts and product service departments. Many businesses don’t consider these other touch points closely enough and businesses are often let down by the experience the customer has with these departments. To keep its brand promise, a business must deliver on it at every touch point.

Ultimately, a brand promise is what a customer can expect from you every time they do business with you. If you promise next-day delivery, make sure it happens. If you promise your staff will be on time, make sure it happens. When customers see you fulfilling your promise every time, you will build a strong brand.

How to bring staff on your re-branding journey

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 14:48:21 GMT

Re-branding is a challenge for any business.

It involves the creation of a new brand for a business that already has an established brand in the market. A re-brand can be required for many reasons – due to a merger or acquisition or because the business has changed and it needs a new brand to differentiate itself.

The road to successful re-branding is fraught with potholes and speed bumps. Having managed this process a number of times, I thought I would share some techniques to ensure a smooth re-branding journey and deliver an effective brand that’s supported by all staff.

Get your staff on-board first.

To staff outside of marketing, branding can be a difficult concept to understand. In my experience, many general staff do not understand brands and why they are important to a business. The important point here is not to confuse staff with branding theory – instead, tell them what the re-branding will mean to the business and its future success. Teach them why the brand is an important asset and how re-branding it will improve the success of the business.

Include junior staff in market research

Effective re-branding requires market research including in-depth interviews of staff members. A common mistake is to only interview senior management and not junior staff. Apart from providing a better research outcome, junior staff will feel valued and take more ownership of the process. You will also find they are more supportive when the brand is revealed.

Make all staff brand managers

It’s a misconception that the marketing department is totally responsible for the brand. Each and every staff member must see themselves as brand managers. Give authority to all staff to be custodians of the brand and watch them take pride in their new role. You’ll find they engage more with the new brand and will develop an understanding of its importance to the business.

Give updates along the way

Once they are on board, update all staff on the progress of any re-branding project. This doesn’t mean showing them and gaining approval for various design concepts. Just keep them updated by the way of a company blog or internal communication that shows their feedback is being put to good use.

Sing from the same songbook

Once you’re ready to show the new brand, everyone from the business owner down must be “singing from the same songbook” – that is being consistent with what they are saying about the new brand and its benefit to the business. Branding projects can be severely undermined if the owner doesn’t show leadership or isn’t clear on what the new brand represents to the business.

If you are looking to re-brand your business, the keyword is engagement. Engage your staff, take them on the journey and you will have staff that are passionate about your new brand and your business.

Help others to spread the word

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 14:43:18 GMT

Despite all the changes occurring in the marketing world, one thing still remains constant – word-of-mouth is still the best tool in marketing.

Nothing is more powerful that one person recommending your service to someone else.

That personal endorsement carries more weight than any advertising message, testimonial, Facebook ‘like’ or online review.

But creating positive word-of-mouth is hard. You have tough competitors, and your customers are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands, of marketing messages every day. But with word-of-mouth, it’s the little things that count.

The ability of others to share what you do, doing the unexpected and building trust for the long-term with help others spread the message about your business.

Do you pass the mum test?

Businesses that generate good word-of-mouth referrals are easy to share. Being easy to share is when customers, friends and family can clearly explain what you do.

To demonstrate this, I invented something called the ‘mum test’ which is something I use with clients who have this problem. The test is quite simple. Ask yourself, can your mum explain to someone else what you do? If she can’t then your business isn’t easy to share.

This test isn’t about making your mum your best referral source. It’s about people who know, like, trust (and love) you, knowing what you do and the value you provide. To become easy to share, you need to be easy to remember – and if your mum, your biggest supporter, can’t explain it to someone else then you have a problem.

Do the unexpected

Great word-of-mouth recommendations also come from delighting customers. This can be done by adding greater value to your service – give them something that’s not expected. Throw in something for free, or give out a discount that wasn’t advertised. To generate word-of-mouth endorsements, you need to stand out.

You won’t stand out by just doing a good job these days. Customers expect you to do your job but they won’t talk about you if that’s all you do. Find opportunities to delight and your customers and give them a good reason to tell others about you.

Build long-term trust

Trust is earned, and it is earned over time. Before a customer trusts you, they must know and like you. Trust grows from the experience customers have with your company, the service you provide and the personal relationship you develop with them.

That trust is also built from experiences with customer service, through interactions on social media and the experience of buying from you. One of the key factors is consistency and always delivering on your brand promise. If you promise hassle-free returns, make sure returns are hassle-free. It’s not that hard. Live up to what you promise and customers are more likely to trust you and share their experience with others.

For most businesses, being easier to share is about simplicity. Break your message down to a simple form, make it easy to understand and do simple things to delight your customers. This makes your business stand out from the crowd and motivates others to spread the word about y ou.know!