Clients often ask me if they can print their own marketing materials in order to save money. This is a tricky question, because, yes, of course it’s possible to print your own marketing materials so long as you have access to a printer and some paper. So, of course, you can either take a PDF from your designer and print it, or lay something out in Word or Publisher and run it off.

But, beyond the question of whether you can print your own marketing materials is whether you should. This often boils down to a simple question of whether printing materials yourself will present the right image for your company — whether the materials you produce will actually look good enough to represent your company well. And, of course, whether printing the materials yourself will actually save you money, or if it will be worth the time it will take.

And, whether you should depends on a few factors:

• The age of your business. If you’re just starting your business, then printing some materials may make sense. Printing yourself would be a cost-effective way to start getting clients in the door, and this way you can start by testing your designs and marketing messages. If you’ve been around for a while, clients may expect to see professionally printed materials.
• Your confidence in your text. You could use your early home-printed materials to test your marketing text with your audience — there’s no use in professionally printing hundreds of copies of anything and then discovering that it doesn’t connect with or make sense to your audience. Or that you’ve accidentally misrepresented some bit of information. Try printing a few at home to see if they’re effective before producing thousands.
• The actual amount of money (and time) that you’ll save. Printing things at home still has a cost associated with it. There are the hard costs of paper and ink, along with wear and tear on your printer. And, then there’s the expense of your time — how much are you willing to spend waiting for your printer, fixing paper jams, feeding in new paper, and trimming the finished prints down to size? With the option of printing many pieces digitally these days, and discount printers available online (like www.psprint.com), the cost of professionally printing materials is not really that large — so do some research and see if you can afford to have your materials printed. It may pay off by saving you time and irritation.
• The loss of credibility that you’ll face. What goes through your mind when you receive a packet of printed materials that are obviously printed on a home or office printer? Do you wonder if the business is stable? If they’re worth their asking price? If they take pride in their work? Do you think about their level of sophistication? You don’t want any of these sorts of thoughts going through a new prospect’s mind. You want them to get your materials, be impressed, and then to consider hiring you — you don’t want to create more questions in their minds.
• The likelihood that your competition’s materials will look better. Unless you’re in a very “homey” industry (like a babysitter or errand running service), then there’s a good chance that your competitors are printing their materials professionally. You want your materials to look as good as — if not better than — your competition’s materials. This includes print quality and design.
• What marketing materials you’re planning to print. Printing a flyer out on your home or office printer sends out an entirely different message than printing your business cards yourself. So, ask if printing your piece at home is appropriate for the actual piece itself.

This article was written by Erin Ferree, founder of elf design, a United States business that helps small businesses stand out from their competition so that they can connect with their best customers. She does this by working with business owners to define their brands, and then using that definition to create logos, marketing materials and websites that show how they shine. She also believes that all of a business’s brand materials should be not just pretty, but also designed effectively and strategically. This produces a winning combination of materials that communicate visually, look stunning and are designed effectively, which help her clients reach their target audiences. She writes about design, branding and marketing through her eBooks, her blog at www.not-just-pretty.com, and in free articles in her newsletter, “Stand Out”, which you can subscribe to at http://www.elf-design.com/newsletter.html.

Happy reading!

Paul Hurkmans

Brochure-style websites vs content management systems

In the web development world it’s the equivalent of Ali vs Frazier or Holden vs Ford: Which is better for businesses – brochure-style websites or content management systems?

For the uninitiated, in simple terms a brochure-style website is often called a static website and is updated using editing software and knowledge of web hosting. This updating is usually done by the web developer. Content Management System (CMS) websites, on the other hand, are dynamic and can be updated by a business owner or employee. Two popular open-source (freely available) CMS platforms are Joomla! and WordPress.

Some web developers swear by brochure-style websites while others will only develop websites for businesses using a content management system.

For me, the decision on which style of website is best for your business is an individual one. If your business needs a website for web presence and you don’t envisage updating it more often than a few times a year, a brochure-style website is likely to be your best bet. This is even more the case if you have limited computer skills or free time. If you think you’ll be updating your website reasonably regularly and have the skills and time, a content management system may be your best bet.

For more information on the brochure-style vs content management system debate, go to the full story on En Pointe’s website.

Why your business website should be powered by WordPress

If you decide a content management system (CMS) website is the best option for you, the question then is which CMS to choose.

There are literally thousands available, so you can place your trust in a web developer and go on his or her recommendation or you could use what I believe is the best CMS for many businesses – WordPress.

Why WordPress?

WordPress is the number one blogging web development tool on the scene. It’s also a great platform for CMS, even if you have no thought of ever having blogs, posts or articles on your website. There are many benefits to choosing WordPress but in my opinion the key one is ease of use. Anyone with a reasonable level of computer-literacy should pick up WordPress quite quickly. As with any new system there are basics that need to be learned, but most people will be able to learn these basics in a few hours or less. It’s probably comparable to learning Word or Outlook for the first time.

Not all CMS platforms are as easy to learn as WordPress and this, for me, is why WordPress stands out.

Email your way to marketing communications success

If you own or run a business you’ll love free publicity through marketing communications, but many businesses do miss out on free publicity every day simply because they give little or no thought to their email signature.

The email signature is the block of text and possibly an image that is automatically appended to the bottom of an email message. As well as your name, it’s a great place to provide your contact information such as address, phone numbers and email address.

If you already have an email signature that includes this information, give yourself a small pat on the back – you’re already promoting your company in a small but albeit important way. If you don’t already have an email signature, drop everything (after finishing this article!) and create one immediately.

But when you consider you probably send out tens or perhaps hundreds of emails every day, if you only include basic contact information in your email signature you’re still missing out on opportunities.

Go to En Pointe’s website for some ideas on what you could include in your email signature to further promote your business.

The importance of external links… And how to get them!

Links to your websites by other websites are often referred to as external links and, to put it mildly, they are vital for how well your website will rank in search engines such as Google.

In fact, while there are many things you can do to increase your website’s chances of ranking highly in search engines (called search engine optimisation) increasing your external links is probably the most importing single thing. If your website has a significant number of these external links (or more correctly a significant number of quality external links) it’s likely to rank well; if your website has no external links it might not rank at all!

So how do you get more external links, without paying a cent? The most common methods are:

• Links in directories such as True Local, Google Local Business Centre, Aussie Web and Only Melbourne are a good place to start.
• Links on article marketing and news websites.
• Reciprocal links (i.e. exchanging links with another website owner).
• Links from blogs, forums and social media sites.

A word of warning, there are paid services that promise to include a link to your website on hundreds and sometimes thousands of other websites. Even if the claim is true (and perhaps particularly if the claim is true) be careful. A website that suddenly increases its external links significantly in a short time can be penalised by search engines. And that’s a situation you don’t want to be in.

For more advice on external links or search engine optimisation, contact En Pointe.

Measuring the success of email marketing

Email marketing is quickly becoming one of the most popular marketing communications methods for businesses. Why? Because it’s not only cheaper than many other forms of marketing, in some cases it’s more effective. But this doesn’t mean email marketing is easy. Not only do you have to develop the email content – whether it be a customer newsletter, tips or a sales campaign – you also have to deliver it to your customer.

For many businesses this delivery is through their chosen email platform, usually Microsoft Outlook. However, there are issues with using your email program to deliver your email marketing campaigns. One of the most important of these issues is that using a system such as Outlook doesn’t provide you with any chance to measure your success or lack of success.

The good news is there are many commercial systems available that can not only help you overcome the issues listed above, they’ll also provide you with information that will help you decide whether your emails are hitting the mark.

While systems differ, the information you’re likely to receive by using an email management system will include:

• How many emails were sent
• How many emails were opened
• Who opened your email
• What links were opened
• Who unsubscribed
• Which recipients didn’t receive your email
• How many emails were forwarded to others

Of course, if your email is a sales campaign the most important information to know is how many sales you received due to your emails. Email management systems are clever and efficient, but you’ll need to work this vital statistic out yourself!

Welcome to the En Pointe family

• Outside Concepts – website copywriting
• Bosetti Blinds – copywriting and branding projects

As I explained in an earlier article (see Brochure-style websites vs content management systems), this decision needs to be based on many factors but in general if you want to update your own content a CMS is the way to go. Once you decide that a CMS website is your best option you then need to think about which CMS to use. There are literally thousands available, so you can place your trust in a web developer and go on his or her recommendation or you could use what I believe is the best CMS for most businesses – WordPress.

Why WordPress?

WordPress is the number one blogging web development tool on the scene. It’s also a great platform for CMS, even if you have no thought of ever having blogs, posts or articles on your website. Benefits include:

• Quick and easy to install.
• Open source, so it’s free to use. However, most businesses will need to hire a web developer to customise and set-up WordPress for their needs.
• While less relevant for businesses who need a customised look and functionality, there are thousands of WordPress themes and plugins available. Many of these are free to download.
• Self-updating to increase security and reduce spam.
• Because it’s open source, support for issues is often only a Google search away.

While all these benefits are important and are perhaps enough to get WordPress over the line, the most important advantage of WordPress, in my opinion, is ease of management for the end user.

In the years that I have developed websites for businesses, most of the business owners I’ve met don’t have much time, resources or skills to keep their website updated. For these people it’s obviously imperative that their website is easy to update.

This is the beauty of WordPress. Anyone with a reasonable level of computer-literacy should pick up WordPress quite quickly. As with any new system there are basics that need to be learned, but most people will be able to learn these basics in a few hours or less. It’s probably comparable to learning Word or Outlook for the first time.

Still not convinced? Then go to www.wordpress.com and sign up for a new blog to drive-test WordPress. It’s free and you’ll be able to create and update pages and posts to your heart’s content. While the look of the resulting test website will be vastly different from a business website, the way you create new material and update existing posts and pages will be the same.

Email marketing can be valuable for businesses for a variety of reasons. For starters, it drives direct sales and is relatively easy and quick to implement and maintain. But perhaps more importantly email marketing allows businesses to effectively target customers and easily build and maintain relationships.

But this doesn’t mean email marketing is easy. Not only do you have to develop the email content – whether it be a customer newsletter, tips or a sales campaign – you also have to deliver it to your customer.

For many businesses this delivery is through their chosen email platform, usually Microsoft Outlook. After all, it’s free and easy to use. However, there are issues with using your email program to deliver your email marketing campaigns. These include:

• Greater chance of your email not appearing correctly when viewed in another email platform
• Increased likelihood of your email being treated as spam or your business being considered a spammer
• If you send emails with larger file sizes or have a significant distribution list you may have difficultly sending your emails
• Particularly for larger emails and distribution lists, you can easily go over your hosting allowance

Another very important issue – the most important one in my opinion – is the inability to measure your success. By finding out basic details about your campaigns you’ll be able to judge whether your emails are being successful. This will give you the chance to modify your campaigns or drop them completely to concentrate your valuable time on another area of the business.

The good news is there are many commercial systems available that can not only help you overcome the issues listed above, they’ll also provide you with information that will help you decide whether your emails are hitting the mark.

While systems differ, the information you’re likely to receive by using an email management system will include:

• How many emails were sent
• How many emails were opened
• Who opened your email
• What links were opened
• Who unsubscribed
• Which recipients didn’t receive your email
• How many emails were forwarded to others

Of course, if your email is a sales campaign the most important information to know is how many sales you received due to your emails. Email management systems are clever and efficient, but you’ll need to work this vital statistic out yourself!

By all means, if you are starting out in business or are giving email marketing a go for the first time – and on a small scale – use Microsoft Outlook or your chosen email platform. But be prepared to search for an email management provider if your email marketing becomes more long term. There are inexpensive options available and the small expense will be worth it in the end.

The email signature is the block of text and possibly an image that is automatically appended to the bottom of an email message. As well as your name, it’s a great place to provide your contact information such as address, phone numbers and email address.

If you already have an email signature that includes this information, give yourself a small pat on the back – you’re already promoting your company in a small but albeit important way. If you don’t already have an email signature, drop everything (after finishing this article!) and create one immediately (see below for instructions for Outlook 2007).

But when you consider you probably send out tens or perhaps hundreds of emails every day, if you only include basic contact information in your email signature you’re still missing out on opportunities. Here are just a few ideas on what you could include in your email signature to boost your business marketing communications:

• The company logo. Make sure the logo is a .gif, .jpeg or .png file and the file size is small.
• A link to your website. If you include a company logo you can probably add an additional link in the logo.
• Your business’ key position statement (i.e. The Marketing Communications Specialists).
• Current special.
• A link to your website’s latest post, blog or article.
• A list of your major products or services.
• Any significant news, such as an award or a large contract your business has won.

If you really wanted to go to a bit of trouble, you could have a suite of several email signatures. Then, for example, if you were sending an email to a first-time customer you could choose a signature with a customer focus; an email to a colleague could simply be appended by a signature including your contact information.

A word of warning: It’s generally best not to go overboard and include too much in your signature. Having a link to every page on your website or including every key business message is probably a bit over the top!

Creating an email signature in Outlook 2007:

• In Outlook, select Tools | Options from the menu.
• Go to the Mail Format tab.
• Click on Signatures.
• Go to the E-mail Signature tab.
• Click New.
• Type in a name for your new signature.
• Click OK.
• Type in your desired information.
• Click OK.
• Click OK again.

You should be able to find information on how to add signatures to other email platforms by conducting a search in your favourite search engine.

For the uninitiated, in simple terms a brochure-style website is often called a static website and is updated using editing software and knowledge of web hosting. This updating is usually done by the web developer. Content Management System (CMS) websites, on the other hand, are dynamic and can be updated by a business owner or employee. Two popular open-source (freely available) CMS platforms are Joomla! and WordPress.

Some web developers swear by brochure-style websites while others will only develop websites for businesses using a content management system.

So what do I think? Well, at the risk of sounding like a fence-sitter, I simply say that it depends.

As a person who specialises in marketing communications, I develop websites for businesses based on strategic reasoning (i.e. after analysing key areas such as aims, target audiences, budget, key messages, etc.). I also think the decision on whether to develop a brochure-style website or a content management system needs to be made strategically.

For example, if your business is simply looking for a website to gain a web presence and you don’t envisage updating it more often than a few times a year, a brochure-style website is likely to be your best bet. This is even more the case if you have limited computer skills or free time.

Content management systems are intended to separate the design of a website from the content, making it easy for users to update and add new content. In practice, however, learning how to use a content management system can be difficult, especially for those who aren’t particularly computer-literate. I’ve used several CMS systems – some are anything but user-friendly while others, such as WordPress, are much simpler but still require a reasonable degree of knowledge and skills.

The risk, therefore, with a CMS website, is that businesses don’t update their websites because of a lack of knowledge and skills, or in some cases time and focus. Or they change the content or add new content, make a few mistakes, and their business website starts to look anything but professional.

So why would you choose to have your business website developed using a CMS? There are several but the main one is the ability to update and add new content any time you want, without having to get your web developer to do the work for you. CMSs can be very powerful and flexible. For example, if you want to have a blog and let people add comments, which can be a great idea and is one of the big business trends, a CMS is a must.

Still undecided? If you are unsure on which style of business website to develop, talk to a reputable web developer, preferably one with marketing communications experience, who will sit down with you to chat about the strategic decisions.

If you want to hedge your bets, however, I would generally recommend a CMS website, providing you have a web developer who can update the content for you until you feel confident or have the time to do it yourself. You will generally pay a little more for a website developed using a CMS platform, however, for many businesses the investment will be worth it because of the flexibility these websites provide.

The new site features an improved design and look, new features, improved userability and loads of information, news and tips on marketing communications for businesses.

Some of the features are due to the fact the new website has been developed using content management system (CMS) technology – in this case one of the world’s leading CMS and blogging systems, WordPress. If you are interested in finding out more about CMS and whether it might be a good option for your next business website, contact En Pointe.

Without a plan it’s possible, if not likely, a business’ marketing communications will end up being haphazard, more expensive than necessary and unsuccessful. So what do you include in a plan? Virtually everything you can think of that will help you determine the best way forward. It’s also wise to ask other people, including, if possible, some of your customers or potential customers. Sometimes you can be too close to the business to know all the answers.

What do you want to achieve through your marketing communications?

It’s always good to have something to aim at. Be specific, be measurable, be achievable and don’t be too conservative. For example, to increase my customer base by 25% in the next financial year is specific, and easy to measure and most likely achievable with a bit of a stretch. You may find you’ll have several aims – list all of them.

Who is your target customer?

Who is your ideal customer? Who is likely to want to purchase your products or services?

Try to add as much detail as possible. For example, you might decide lawyers are one of your target customers, but add to this by listing where they are located, whether you’re targeting small, medium or large firms, and whether they specialise in any particular field. Then think about who makes the decisions in your target firms or households: owners or managers, sex, age, ethnicity, etc.

This work isn’t meant to limit who you would take on as a customer. The details will simply help later when you’re developing your plan, your messages and where and how you deploy them.

What are your products or services?

This might seem obvious, but surprisingly a lot of business owners/managers don’t necessarily know much about their products and services and can’t describe them in a way that most people can understand. If there are too many to list, just list the major categories.

Why should people buy your products or use your services rather than your competitor’s (your key selling points)?

Are you the cheapest or are your products or services premium quality? Is your service exceptional? Do you have the biggest range? Do you have free delivery? Do you make a coffee for your customers while they wait? There are too many possibilities to list here but it’s a good idea to list everything that is relevant to your business.

These points are often called your unique selling proposition but I believe you don’t have to be unique to succeed in business. You just need to do what you do well, and promote yourself just as well.

Does your business have a key message (e.g. McDonalds – I’m lovin’ it)?

Personally, I like these key messages. They succinctly tell something about your business; something that the customer can expect when they walk through your door (or your virtual door, as is often the case these days.) The key message should go hand in hand with ‘why should people use you’. For example, many businesses have a key message indicating they have the lowest prices, because that is one of their key selling points.

What image is your business trying to portray?

This is another question that goes hand in hand with your key selling points and key message. Do you want to be seen as professional, stylish, cheap, glamorous, etc.? Remember, it’s no point simply trying to portray an image in words; you have to live it. In my experience, customers don’t like businesses who can’t deliver what they say they can.

What is your budget for marketing communications?

You don’t need to spend a fortune and, if you’re like most small businesses, you may want to do thing a bit at a time. Get your business cards now, then a few months later a website. Next year, invest in a flyer and start an email marketing campaign. However, don’t be stingy; not spending enough money on marketing communications can hurt your business.

What skills do you have in your small business? Can anyone write, take photos or design a website.

Ask your staff – if you have any staff – as you may be surprised.

]]> http://www.enpointeconsulting.com.au/2010/01/marketing-communications-plan/feed/ 0 http://www.enpointeconsulting.com.au/2010/01/free-link-building-methods-that-works/ http://www.enpointeconsulting.com.au/2010/01/free-link-building-methods-that-works/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:47:38 +0000 Paul Hurkmans http://www.enpointeconsulting.com.au/?p=645 One of the most important search engine optimisation undertakings website owners can do is getting other website owners to link to their website (called external links). This article by H.E. Muller looks at the importance of external links and how you can get them… For free!

The building of high quality links to your website is the most important part of search engine optimization. Search engines allocate importance to websites based on the amount of high quality links they have from other sites on the Web. High quality links are links from trusted and established websites with a high PageRank.

Various SEO link building methods are available to website owners and new links have to be built on a regular basis in order to maintain the current website keyword rankings. There is software available that can automate the link building process. Search Engines penalise sites that they suspect of using automated link building methods. When a site suddenly acquire thousands of links in a very short period of time, search engines generally downgrade the rankings of the site.

It is very important to build links from sites that have similar but not competing content. The following 5 SEO Link Building methods are essential towards achieving high search engine rankings:

1. Reciprocal Backlinks: Reciprocal backlinks are links that are exchanged between two website. When exchanging links with another site always ensure that the site has a higher PageRank than yours. Never exchange links with adult or gambling sites to prevent the search engines from penalising your site. Make sure that the site that you are linking is established (older than 3 years) and has a good reputation.

2.Links from Blogs or Forums: Post comments on relevant blogs and forums. There are do-follow and no-follow blogs and forums. Do-follow means that the PageRank gets passed on. Post comments on some no-follow blogs or forums as well to prevent the search engines from penalising you. Use your target keywords in the anchor text of the links. Always post a comment that is relevant to the content to prevent your comment from being removed or denied.

3.Social Media and Bookmarking sites: Bookmark your site on Faves, Delicious and the rest to generate high quality one-way links. Use Stumble Upon and Digg to generate links and promote your site. Create profiles on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Post tweets, videos and updates with links to your site. Join relevant community sites and post comments with links to your site.

4.Article Marketing: Write and submit SEO aligned quality articles on article sites with links back to your site. Make effective use of your target keywords in the articles. Use your target keywords in the anchor text of the links back to your site. For the best results use original content.

5.Free Classified Adds: Submit adds promoting your site and using your target keywords on sites that offer free classified adds.

Combining the above methods will ensure an effective SEO Link Building campaign and improved search engine rankings for your target keywords. Remember not to use the same anchor text in all of your links to prevent spamming penalties.

This article was written by H.E.Muller, a website owner assisting people with their Website Optimization and SEO.

The good news for existing clients is the fee increase will only apply to new clients, until 1 July 2010. This means that until the middle of the year, any work we conduct for you – whether it’s web development, email marketing, photography, copywriting or development of marketing materials – will be costed at $50 an hour.

Contact En Pointe is you have any questions about the fee increase.