Marketing Ideas

We're getting ready to market out new website - any great ideas out there on the best method to do it?

Can you tell us a little bit about what features the website has that will interest people? What are the main goals of the website? (i.e., inform the prospect, transition to a lead, etc)

There needs to be a hook, in my opinion to make people take the time!

The website will be primarily to inform the customers about our business and everything we do. We do have some sample documents to view in some of the links so they can actually see some of the work as well - kind of like the Amazon pop-up books that you can flip through the pages - along with client testimonials as well. So the goal is first to inform, then perhaps to generate a lead. As a small consulting firm, our business has primarily been built on our positive reputation somewhat locally within the industry and an existing client base, which we hope to expand upon in 2009.

Hey Valerie! This seems like such a DUH, but please put ALL contact info somewhere on every page of the site, like phone, snail mail, and email addresses! Sometimes people print a page and then it doesn't have any contact info. Or sometimes the "Contact Us" page is a pain to navigate to. Today I was trying to find contact info on a web page and it had phone and physical address but no email contact...on a web site? Really? The point is to get someone interested enough to contact you...so make it easy!
Mary

Has the site already launched? Is it the site you have listed on your profile? If so, the site is all Flash. Why??? You are going to have a tough time having search engines pick you up, so there is a marketing problem right there. Your site should be search engine optimized for your business, industry, and company name.

I would tell you to create link backs with keywords on social sites and other websites, but with your entire site being Flash that wouldn't be very effective. I'm not trying to be all negative here, but Flash sites just aren't great for Google or Yahoo!.

Now time for some ideas. You've got a good start here on Multifamily Insiders. Participate and contribute. I'd also encourage you to participate in groups and discussions for multi-family on Linkedin. This would at least be a start. There are a group of us on Twitter that chat often, and many of us are linked up via Facebook as well. Any social networking sites are great for you. Did I say participate and contribute?!

There are also a number of Multi-family related blogs out there I would encourage you to participate in. I think the theme for you is participate.

Oh, and email everyone to let them know. Email still works great!

Best of luck.

Mary is right. Make sure all of the contact info is on every page. That is really critical.

My other pet peeve is websites that don't have clear pathways between pages. Make sure the icons to go back to the home page or any of the other pages are easy to see and/or find, and big enough so that you don't hit the wrong one by mistake. Hope that helps. Holly

That's a great idea, Mary - thank you! Our contact info is really easy to find (and unlike that silly person we do have email info!), but we currently don't have it on every page. I appreciate your input.

Thanks Mark. Yes, the site is live and the one you viewed from the profile - we just haven't formally introduced it to the world yet. And actually, as a small consulting firm, our goal isn't to necessarily have a lot of web traffic driven to our site via search engines; but rather to simply have a web presence to refer potential clients back to when they are looking for more or preliminary information, and to have it be an attractive site when we direct them there (thus the flash).

Email is going to be our primary tool. We are preparing to do our marketing campaign launch, first via email ... I was just wondering if anyone had any unique ideas to create interest in that email to get them to look at the site (a coupon, special offer, good verbiage, etc.). We have a good connection base in our area, but as we reach out to those we don't know as well, we're hoping to draw them in and engage their interest. Also, as a follow-up, has anyone had luck with snail mail postcard campaigns?

Did you say participate and contribute?! LOL. I agree. Thanks again for your input.

For your email I'd use video. Online video is huge and you can make a bigger impact with a video than with a plain old email.

Good luck!

Mj

I have some suggestions too! But first, I'd like to say I love the color and the photos in the site... bright and light! Very attractive.

Here are my humble suggestions:

1. Create a mobile site version or remove the flash altogether, iPhone users can't view flash and you'll lose a lot of traffic (2009 will see an increase in mobile web browsing).

2. Put a site map at the bottom near the privacy policy, to help mobile users navigate the site.

3. Put your phone number or preferred method of contact at the bottom of the page with the site map and the privacy policy.

4. I would put some white space above the header images, not much but enough so that it balances on the screen.

I think you would do well to create a company Facebook page as well; it might help you drive traffic to your site and connect on a social-level with your customers. We want to engage them, inspire them, and learn from them...

Good luck!