Fixing the Local Print Business - The Biggest Target

 
It might be about the local postal store, franchise or independent.  Many years ago someone told me about a company (a start-up at the time) called Mailboxes, Etc. (now The UPS Store)  My original thought was, why use them instead of the post office?  I believed the business concept was flawed - I was way wrong.  Yes, many of these businesses are feeling the strain of the economy and being a franchisee, but the outlook for this group is very positive - just walk into one on any given weekday (especially after 2pm).  The question I have is - can the franchisors bring in higher margin products to more utilize their current foot traffic - and give the franchisee a chance to succeed?

Being a target market for LightsOn Graphics is the wrong phrase; it is much more a prediction. Postal stores provide a convenience that creates foot traffic and business in that it is hyper localized - one stop to send mail, UPS, Fed-X, get the boxes and packing you need to complete your mailing.  They have morphed from a post office box and shipping center to a business center providing copy service, document shredding, limited but critical office supplies, and limited emergency print (copies, business cards).  Just a side note - If you need shredding, buy a shredder.

Offering print and collateral marketing services is a natural expansion to their business; some would say they already do.  I tend to use Postnet in my examples because, not only are they in that postal store target bunch, but they also use a service that, from my research, provides nothing except the satisfaction that they can say, "we have an online print site".  No they don't, but that is just my opinion.  I have interviewed several small printers that use the same system - orderless (like zero) - they stretch to find value in something they pay for every month.  The system they use does provide marketing benefits and a few  convenience tools, but not sales.

Now that the market has been identified, we can start talking about the product and what makes LightsOnGraphics.com different (better) in both product and concept - see our forthcoming blog entries (or see an earlier taste - Fixing the Local Print Business).

In Review - Targets:

1. Postal Stores - because this is where the customers are.
2. Local Quick Printers with poor web presence.
3. Postal Store Franchisors Postnet, Postal Annex, Goin' Postal, etc.)
4. Quick Print Franchisors (AlphaGraphics, Minuteman Press, Sir Speedy)
5. Local Graphic Designers.
6. Vertical Market providers (newly identified)

Thank You For Reading.!.!

Bob

561-371-4113

Localizing a User's Web Experience - Scenario One & Benefits

Localizing your website simply adds to the users experience.  This is now recognized by many of the largest consumer product companies and retailers.  There are still many companies that don't recognize the opportunity of localization.  This is the first in series of Localization Scenarios.

Localization Champion

Scenario One:

I like to use ACE Hardware in my examples as they are the epitome of "Saving Local" in the hardware business (in my opinion).  This scenario works with all the major players in hardware (Lowe's, Home Depot and True Value) as they have all Localized built into there website - but they could all do better - they all bought localization, but no one told them what they could do with it.


The most obvious benefit of Localization is identifying where the local store is located.  This feature should be located on every page of the website for every product.  Google does this for you if you search "ACE Hardware" before you even get to AceHardware.com, but what if they were searching "Lawn Mower"?  I have now found the lawn mower I was looking for, but now, where is the store?  Location information and the phone numbers should be there - without clicking away or back - because Clicks Cost Customers.

Product placement is a huge benefit of Localization.  There is no reason to sell snow blowers in Florida or lawn mowers in Minnesota in in January.  There is a bit of opportunity to get creative here.  Don't waste the users time clicking - Clicks Cost Customers.

The biggest benefit of Localization, in my opinion, comes from the ability to partner with community businesses.  Carpenters, landscapers, plumbers and more; it is already done behind the service desk - move this to the website -  it is a chargeable service!  Imagine the opportunity of listing landscapers on the gardening pages for each of the local franchisees - image the benefit to the website user - imagine the benefits through local business partnerships - Imagine the revenue potential - I want to be there!

See The Following Add-on Articles

Localizing a User's Web Experience - Scenario Two & Benefits

Localizing a User's Web Experience - Utopia or Just the Future

Consulting Online Localization
Bob Leonard @LightsOn Ventures
561-371-4113

What is the Cost of a Click? A Lost Sale...

Have you ever clicked on a Google paid ad (one of those at the top of the search) and the link took you someplace other than the product page you were searching for and expecting?  Some businesses always want to bring you through the front door (my analogy to the home page) and then force you to figure out how to find the product you were searching.  This is obviously the wrong way to do PPC (Pay-Per-Click)  or even Proactive SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Clicks Cost Customers

First, let's understand, we have a buyer; someone who has searched for a very specific product.  The link should take the user directly to the Product Buy Page - never make the user search for the product..  It is too easy for the user to hit the back button and click to the next site.

Always

• Use specific key words for each product.
• Link directly to the Product Buy Page being searched (from your PPC)
• Tweet specific products and include the link to that Product Buy Page (Proactive SEO)   "Butterfly Ping Pong Paddle" is better then "Ping Pong Paddle".  If you sell multiple brands, list those other brands: "Stiga Ping Pong Paddle".  In addition, the specific search should be less expensive than the generic search "Ping Pong Paddle",

Never

• Never assume the user wants more information or different information than they searched.
• Never take them to the home page and make them search for the product - take them directly to the Product Buy Page.

There are so many analogies to a brick-and-mortar store - just take the user to the Product Buy Page and make the sale.  After they become a customer, then tell them about all your other products.

 Connect to me on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/in/robertleonard5699

Follow me on Twitter
@T4Leonard

Why Collaborative, Cooperative, Complementary Sales Efforts Work

Any time you can build a local team of people who call on like customers, and refer those customers to each other, develop a win – win for all involved.  It’s formalized - structured networking.  Local BNI groups do this better, on a general business basis, than any others I have seen – they say “Givers are Getters”.  The giver, by making the referral, is building trust within the customer by recognizing a need and assisting outside their normal business scope.  The customer, by receiving the referral has saved time by receiving it from someone they already trust thus shortening their search effort (even if they need to evaluate multiple suitors – one down).  Finally, the receiver of the lead, a warm lead, is a sale that is theirs to lose.  It still takes follow up with the lead and making the sale – Sales is all about numbers – I call this an easy number.

LightsOn Graphics, unlike a BNI, brings different locals together under one brand, much like ACE Hardware.  It is a collaborative product that features exclusively local members locally.

Companies with multiple offices should always have a localization component within their website so they can feature the local components of their business (people, services. etc).

Bob

 Connect to me on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/in/robertleonard5699

Follow me on Twitter
@T4Leonard

The Importance of Tweeting in Your SEO Plan.

When selling, there is nothing more important than getting a handshake, but before you get that handshake, you need to be found.  One of the ways for you to do that is to use your website as your virtual business card and brochure.  But how does your website get found?  One of the ways is to get it to appear high, and multiple times organically on Internet search engines through good SEO.

The first thing you need to do is get all the basic SEO stuff done on your website (Tags, good URL names, key words, back links and blog links).  Then, getting on top, especially in competitive online areas (like real estate - like anything today) requires "Relevance". The more relevance you can attach to your website (or a page within your website), the higher, and more frequent, it will appear.  You can create that relevance with Tweets; it's the best way (easiest way) to create relevance.

Tweet example:
#race #road #Bikes #Trek #aluminum http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/road/performance_race/1_series/ @T4Leonard {include pic so people see it too}

What this Tweet does is relate each of the hashtag (#) words with the URL - creating relevance.  Repeat as directed as frequently as you like (couple times a day) and do so for each product page - Relevance!  Leave room in your Tweets for retweets and use a 3rd party product like Bit.ly to shorten the URLs and track your tweet actions.

Remember, don't lose your buyer - link directly to the product page - besides greater relevance you won't lose customer as Clicks Cost Customers (CCC).

Finally, today's Secret SEO Tip:  When Tweeting "local" include your 7 digit phone number in the tweet - Google filters out 10 digit telephone numbers but allows 7 digits to pass and thus appear.

Twitter DOs
Get on Twitter if you’re not already and if you are start using it!

Post unique content on repetitively.

Post frequently, 3-5 times a day is NOT too much.

Include links in your Tweets like you should have already been doing.

Hashtag (#) key words to create relevance to the link in your Tweet

Post images in your Tweets, when it makes sense; they enhance the search result

Twitter DON'Ts

Don’t Get off track and stop posting to Twitter.

Don’t Think that there is little to no benefit to Twitter any longer.

Don’t Forget to optimize your Twitter profile with hashtags and location information.

Do you have a medium-big ticket item/service you sell online (or want to)?  Do you want real SEO (SEO is not a one time service) that will make you more $$$.  Call me: 561-371-4113

Bob Leonard

561-371-4113 (Call My Cell)
512-593-8830 (in Austin)

 Connect to me on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/in/robertleonard5699

Follow me on Twitter

@T4Leonard 

Add me to Your Google+ Circles

https://plus.google.com/+RobertLeonard5699/about 

Strange Things Pop Into My Head - While Waiting for the Lowes Truck, I am Balancing My Checkbook and ....

Ok, put this to the tune of "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from the Music Man.... I'm no lyricist, but I try. :)

Watch the YouTube video and then think lyrics below...  Lowes, are you listening?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kfi-DWUYM8

New Lyrics
All DIYers:
O-ho the Lowes Home improvement truck a comin’ down the street

Oh please let it be for me!

O-ho the Lowes Home improvement truck a comin’ down the street

I hope, I hope this delivery is for me!

1st DIYer:
I got a box of Kobalt tools on my birthday.

2nd DIYer:
In March I got Scott’s Weed & Feed.

3rd DIYer:
And once I got energy efficient appliances.

4th DIYer:
Lowes Home improvement Delivered me a bathtub and a cross-cut saw.

All DIYers:
O-ho the Lowes Home improvement truck is a-comin' now
Is it a prepaid surprise for me.

Fifth DIYer:
It could be curtains!

Sixth DIYer:
Or a dishwasher!

Seventh DIYer:
Or a set of drill bits!

Eighth DIYer:
Or it could be

All DIYers:
Yes, it could be
Yes, you're right it surely could be

8th DIYer:
Somethin' special

All DIYers:
Somethin' very, very special now

8th DIYer:
Just for me!

All DIYers:
O-ho the Lowes Home improvement truck is a-comin' down the street.
Oh, don't let him pass my door!
O-ho the Lowes Home improvement
truck is a-comin' down the street
I wish I knew what he was comin' for.

9th DIYer:
I got some insulation from isle 13 last September.

10th DIYer:
And I expect a new deck lounge chair.

11th DIYer:
I hope I get my range from GE.

Seperate Quartet of  civic do-gooders:
I purchased pressure treated for the courthouse square.

Little Boy (ron howard lookalike):
O-ho the Lowes Home improvement truck ith a-comin' now,
I don't know how I can ever wait to thee.
It could be thumpin' for thumone who is
No relation but it could be thump'n thpethyul
Just for me!

All DIYers:
O-ho, you Lowes Home improvement truck keep a-comin'
O-ho, you Lowes Home improvement
truck, keep a-comin'.
O-ho you Lowes Home improvement truck, Don't you dare Mae a stop
Until you stop for me!

Never Send Your Local Customer, or Even a Local Warm Lead, to Your Website - Even if They are Not Local

Never send your customer, or even a warm lead, to your website - Why?  Let's set the stage first.

Do you ever get the feeling the "Internet" is spying on you as it knows exactly what you are doing, even offline?

Maybe you have been doing some home improvement or some car maintenance in the last few days; maybe you have been doing a little research on how-to.  Then, all-of-a-sudden, it seems like every web page you visit has very specific ads for items you have searched; maybe an air filter or a circular saw - the very one you were researching or searching for - scary...

You need to understand - Websites do know what you are doing and it is not scary.  When you are are researching a product or a service, "cookies" (small bits of data and information) are planted on your computer. They are not harmful and there is nothing you need to do (or can do about it). Cookies are designed to improve and enhance the user's Internet experience (your experience).

Let's get to why you should not be sending your customers and warm leads (or any referral) to your website.  Very simply put, the same Internet spying that happens to you, happens to them.  Let's say you are the local Sherwin Williams paint store and you get a phone call (warm lead) asking, "Do you carry "X-Quality Paint" and rather than answering them immediately, and potentially writing up an order, you send them to your website, after they look at your website, that warm lead will likely be exposed to ads from other websites that will not only be specific to the product they wanted to ask you about, but  even more specific ("X-Quality Passion Blue at Lowe's").  It's gets even worse if you email the answer to a public mail service like GMail - the ads are email specific - all these ads pop up IN YOUR EMAIL that say"ME TOO - WE HAVE X-QUALITY PASSION BLUE TOO".  This is called Intelligent Ad Delivery.  Obviously I am embellishing my point here, but the question still is, who wants to expose their customers to the competition.

Why does the Internet work like this?  Very simply put, it is the Internet companies that have an interest in you buying there.  Advertisers bombard us with information because they have identified us as A BUYER.  Whats even worse, the Local Sherwin Williams Paint Store, can't profitably compete there, even if it knew how.

Sometimes we need an analogy - It's like sending a caller (warm lead) back to the phone book to see the list of colors you carry.  Think about how dumb that sounds.

This situation seems so obvious if you understand all the ingredients, but so few of us do.

Make your website is a one way path - from your website to you.  That is its purpose - to make your phone ring. If people are calling, they want to talk to you and get questions answered - answer them and take their order.  Your website did its job.

So what inspired this article?  I called a local HVAC company who I knew carried the AprilAire air filter I needed (high-tech air filter not available at Home Depot or Lowe's).  Instead of giving me the information over the phone (I was a buyer), he told me he would immediately email me if I gave him my Gmail address (collecting email addresses).  He did immediately email me the pricing information as well as pricing for removal of the old filter and installation of the new filter.  Up popped ads with similar pricing and detailed removal/installation instructions - stupid-is-as-stupid-does - convenient local instantly became very inconvenient.  Don't repeat his mistake.

Lesson Learned.  You have zero privacy anyway . . . . Get over it."  ~ Scott McNealy

Bob Leonard