Apr
30

Categories:

WON Marketing is proud to help out a local organization, Sleep Out for Shelter.

We will be sleeping outside with our children in our own homemade shelters to raise awareness. Please help and donate here –> http://www.crowdrise.com/GiveBackHope

THE STORY:

 

Come for the rally…Stay for the experience!

The statistics are real, since 2009, we’ve seen a staggering 48% increase in people needing help.

Just this last year, we saw a:

27% increase in homeless veterans
26% increase in transitional youth
20% increase in families requiring shelter
17% increase in women seeking assistance

Homelessness is growing, we need to act now. Your pledges help fund our program throughout the year.

TWO WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Register
Register as an individual or team to sleep out and become a fundraiser for our event. By registering you will have access to your own fundraising page (or team page!) to collect donations from family, friends and colleagues.

Sponsor a Participant/Fundraise
If you can’t sleep out, you can sponsor a participant, or you can simply collect donations for McHenry County PADS.

THE “MAKE CHANGE” CHALLENGE

If you are interested in helping to collect donations for McHenry County PADS you can do so with our “Make Change” collection boxes. They can be left on your desk at work, taken to school; you can walk around your neighborhood with it, or even simply put it on your kitchen counter and empty your pockets of change each night.  Request a change box.

SHELTER BUILDING CONTEST

Get your duct tape, markers, paint and glitter ready…we want you to express your creativity with the shelter building competition!  This competition offers prizes for the shelter that exhibits the best in these four categories:

Homelessness Theme
Most Creative
Most Comfortable
Most Livable

To enter the competition, sign-up at the registration desk the night of the event.  WE will provide cardboard to build your “shelter.” Remember that in addition to promoting awareness on homelessness, your shelter also needs to be as comfortable as possible for you to spend the night in.  Bring a tarp to put under (or over) your shelter in case of inclement weather. A tour of the cardboard shelter homes will leave from the main stage after the rally.

You Must Sign-Up to Participate in the Shelter-Building Contest
There is no cost to participate in the shelter-building contest, but you need to sign-up by May 11 at 6:00 pm.  Sign-up forms will be at the registration table at the event.  Once completed, you will receive a number to attach to your shelter.  Judging will begin at 8:45 pm with the winners announced at 10:30 pm.

Rules
Maximum shelter size: 10’ x 15’
Acceptable building materials: cardboard, paper, tape, staples, chalk, props, string, rope, crayons and water based markers or paint.
Unacceptable building materials: wood, glue, non-water based paint or markers, large staples.
Battery powered lighting may be used for visual effect.

 

SLEEPOUT FOR SHELTER CHECK LIST

___Create a team. Remember, campers under 18 must have a supervising adult with them all night. Pick a creative team name!
___Start a fundraising campaign by sending emails to family, friends and co-workers asking for them to sponsor you.
___Think about what “home” you will create for the Shelter Building Competition.
___Collect the materials needed to build your cardboard home. Duct tape (lots of it!), water-based paint or markers, etc.
___Make your final donation requests! Post on Facebook, send one more email!
___Attend SleepOut for Shelter on May 11, 2013.

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Jan
10

Categories:

Three simple words, Return on Investment, have been at the center of business decisions for centuries.

ROI formula ROI and its Relationship to Internet MarketingThis traditional formula is used in each and every department of a functioning business. From finance to marketing, companies need to know that resources being spent are adding to revenue and profit for the business at the end of the day. While this equation is pretty straightforward for some situations, it can be much more complicated for others. Calculating the ROI of traditional marketing efforts has always been somewhat abstract. Applying this formula to digital and internet marketing only becomes more complex.

Retailers and business are operating in an increasingly complicated marketing arena. One of the most significant factors is that consumers now rely on multiple marketing channels, both offline and online, when making purchasing decisions. Today’s marketing channels include social, search, television, radio, email, mobile, print, blogs, reviews, billboards, infographics, press releases, PPC, and tradeshows. The list goes on and on. These different channels complement each other and provide synergies for the overall marketing campaign. It is impossible to attribute additional sales to a single channel of influence these days. Not to mention that it is inaccurate and irresponsible.

Measuring the ROI of internet marketing comes with both new challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, it becomes more difficult to prove the worth of individual channels and decipher how certain data relates to the overall ROI. However, internet marketing allows us to use analytics to collect highly detailed and specific data about the habits of our target audience. Here are a few examples of the benefits of analytics:

  • Web Analytics to observe where website users come from, what pages they view, and what they purchase. You can also test the effectiveness of different webpages through split testing.
  • Video Analytics to observe how many people viewed the video, how long they viewed it for, what part they stopped viewing at, and even what they did immediately after viewing the video.
  • Social Analytics to track the number of fans, likes, replies, views, tweets, shares, reach, and people talking about your page. These analytics also provide an in-depth look at demographics.

There are also additional factors that need to be taken into consideration when looking at ROI. These include the marketing campaign’s impact on raising brand awareness, engaging interest, building customer loyalty, and stimulating sales. Do not discount a single channel due to the perception that it may not be contributing to a directly traceable ROI. Search, mobile, video, email, and social all play pivotal roles in the overall internet marketing strategy.

Social Analytics ROI and its Relationship to Internet Marketing

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Nov
29

Categories:

originally posted here

Local Marketing Industry Weekly Update – #32 – November 28, 2012

This week’s agenda:
• A second head rolls in the wake of Apple’s map debacle
• Having Issues with Your G+Local Social Merge? My Advice: Don’t
• Google Acquires Incentive Targeting For Coupon Programs
• Google+ Page 500 Error Bug & Work Around
• Wal-Mart Tries Same-Day Delivery

TIP: This Week Citation Acquisition Strategies

Citations

Acquire citations from at least the following sources.
Public Sources
• Annual Reports, SEC Information
• Federal, State and City Gov’ts
• Business Magazines
• Newspapers
• Postal Service Information
Data Providers & Review Sites

Superpages
• infoUSA
• Theme Sites
• Yelp
• Citysearch
• InsiderPages
• Google
• Yahoo Local
• Angie’s List
• Judy’s Book

Outside the Box
•ATM or Kiosk at your location? List in directories
• National Register of Historic Places
• Free Wifi Directories
• RedBox Directory
• Sponsorships / Charity Events
• Speaking Engagements
• Host a Weather Station

The Local Marketing Industry Weekly Update, presented by Scott Gallagher. Scott is the co-founder of Local Marketing Source and has become the recognized expert in providing local marketing services to local businesses.

Welcome to the Local Marketing Industry Weekly Update. This presentation is brought to you as part of the Local Marketing Source professional development series for the local marketing industry. (Note: This is an audio presentation so turn up the volume on your speakers)

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Oct
30

Categories:

WON Marketing’s CEO Scott Gallagher does a weekly industry update for the Local Internet Marketing Industry, from the comforts of his Chicago based Local Internet Marketing Company, WON Marketing.

Here is his weekly update.

This week’s agenda:

• Facebook stock pops 21%
• Coming To You Live From The Apple (Mini) Event
• Now Playing: Video Ads Arrive On LinkedIn
• After Sting Operation, Yelp Outs 8 Businesses That It Caught Trying To Buy Reviews
• Welcoming Qype to the Team to YELP
• How the Online Marketing Industry Is Impacting Local Businesses

The Local Marketing Industry Weekly Update, presented by Scott Gallagher. Scott is the co-founder of Local Marketing Source and has become the recognized expert in providing local marketing services to local businesses.

Local Marketing Industry Weekly Update – Free Subscription

 

 

 

itunesicon Local Marketing Update #28

iTunes – Click Here

 youtubeicon Local Marketing Update #28

YouTube – Click Here

 podbeanicon Local Marketing Update #28

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Oct
18

Categories:

Why Courier Companies need Internet Marketing

Here is a short (3:20) video put out my WON Marketing President, Scott Gallagher discussing the implications and importance of Internet Marketing for the transportation business.

83% of Americans use the Internet.  Over half of those people use the Internet to find a Local Business.  That’s almost 1 in every 2 americans who end finding a business that they give money to through the Internet.

Hands down, search is where people find businesses.  Google is the behemoth with 70% market share.

So all these people use the Internet, but Google tells us that less than 50% of businesses today don’t have a website, AND 90% aren’t doing any Internet Marketing.

See the disconnect here?  Or see the opportunity?

If you want to grow your business, which most entrepreneurs do, and you aren’t considering Search Marketing services, you’re going to lose.  These statistics are only increasing.

Not to mention the Courier industry is slow to adopt technology.

You still have tremendous opportunity to capitalize in Search in Your local market.

You now have three choices.

  1. Hire a firm to get you to #1
  2. Learn it yourself, or empower an employee
  3. Wait

Whether you chose to hire someone or learn the skill set in house, you are already ahead of the majority of you courier competition.

We can help with both.

In the next couple of months, stick with us.  We’re going to be sending you some emails providing the right education that we’ve learned to give an industry.

I have 1000’s of students who have bought my training, heck I sell my full course at LocalMarketing Source for TWO grand.  I have students who are helping hundreds of small business owners with great success around the globe.  Check me out, I’m not like most other Internet Marketers today.

The secret is marketing, not manipulating the search engines.

Stand by, I’ll teach you exactly what we do for our clients.  You can choose to take this to the next level.

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Oct
18

Categories:

Twitter’s Definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.

twitter bird white on blue #Hashtag Marketing Campaigns on Twitter? What’s a #Hashtag…?A successful hashtag campaign can increase brand awareness, drive traffic, start conversations, and encourage calls to action. Generic hashtags have more creative potential and give followers additional freedom when using them. Be true to your brand. Keep hashtags short, informative, and to the point. Search for your hashtag to make sure it’s not already being used. Followers hate messages that appear to be spam. Don’t overload tweets with hashtags. Twitter best practices recommends using no more than 2 per tweet. Cole Haan’s Hashtag Marketing is an example of a tremendously successful campaign.

For a campaign to be successful, it is important to incorporate hashtags into multiple marketing channels in addition to social channels. There are tools and plugins for website development that will stream the most recent tweets that contain a targeted hashtag. Add the hashtag to existing marketing channels, such as webinar reminders and printed promotional material. Event hashtags and live tweeting are some other great ways to take advantage of hashtag marketing. Create a simple and unique hashtag for an upcoming event and encourage attendees to tweet about their experiences. These hashtags can create industry buzz and may lead to relationships with new customers/audiences. Be sure to monitor and participate in the conversation!

It is important to assess the risks associated with implementing a hashtag campaign. Make sure you are proactive and not reactive. Branded hashtags come with high risk, but also great potential reward. Have a crisis plan in place to mitigate any problems that may arise from a hijacked hashtag. McDonald’s has one of the most well know twitter marketing disaster stories. In January, McDonalds launched a twitter campaign with the #McDStories hashtag hoping that customers would recount pleasant experiences, like buying a grandchild their first Happy Meal. The plan completely backfired and McDonald’s was facing a PR nightmare with people tweeting countless stories of negative experiences. Take a look at some tweets that followed:

Hashtag Marketing copy1 #Hashtag Marketing Campaigns on Twitter? What’s a #Hashtag…?

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Aug
30

Categories:

Local Review Sites

A review site is a website where reviews can be posted about businesses, products, or services. In some cases, even people.  These days, these websites are using  Web 2.0 techniques to gather reviews from customers.  Sometimes they may employ professional writers to author reviews on the topic of concern for the site.

Review sites are typically also portal sites and data aggregators. However, not all review sites are portal site and not all portal sites are review sites. For this reason we have to classify certain sites as review sites.

Industry Perception

Many, in fact most review sites make little attempt to control postings, or to verify the reviews, especially for a Chicago Internet Marketing company. Faultfinders claim that positive reviews are sometimes written by the businesses or individuals being reviewed, while negative reviews might be written by competitors, disgruntled employees, or anyone with a grudge against the business being reviewed. In addition, studies of research methodology have shown that in forums where people are able to post opinions publicly, group polarization often occurs, and the result is very positive comments, very negative comments, and little in between, meaning that those who would have been in the middle are either silent or pulled to one extreme or the other.  This is critical to understand.  As you implement a review acquisition strategy for your customers it is imperative that you identify and focus on your clients top customers immediately to leave reviews.  This will initially establish a positive should group polarization occur in your clients profile page.   Another criticism against sites that rely on income from businesses is that they are reluctant to post negative since that undermines their business model. This leads to a conflict of interest.

The fact is that the review sites, like Google, want to filter all the garbage.  Sometimes they don’t get it right, but they are always looking to improve their algorithms.  We have to assume they are getting better daily, like Google with their algorithm for search. With this assumption it makes no sense to me to game the review filters.  It’s like chasing the algorithm.  We shouldn’t be focusing on either quantity or quality of reviews, but focus on the natural organic adoption or reviews with existing customers.  I feel if this is our objective we will always meet the needs set forth by the review sites.

Forget those Critics!

Most review sites admit that reviews may not be objective, and that ratings may not be statistically valid.  I know this will work itself out over time.  Most consumers are yet trained to leave reviews.  Many businesses have yet adopted a acquisition strategy.  If the trends continue, like a 100% increase in reviews for Yelp in 2010, then this is likely the year that’ll curb much of this critics.  It’s for this reason that we tested profile review authority and sure enough, different profiles are assigned different levels of trust.  Just focus on quality and you’ll clear those filters.  Let’s talk more about filters now.

Review Filters

As we have been talking about all of the review sites have review filters. Here’s some information about those filters.

Reviews that reflect perfectly legitimate experiences are sometimes filtered out by the review filter’s algorithmic processes.   Don’t worry about this.  To solve this, have the reviewer leave additional, unbias reviews for other local businesses.  Within a few weeks, that reviewers profile filter should be lifted.

Reviews are never deleted by the review filter; they are always shown on users’ profile pages but not the business that is being reviewed unless you dig deep. The review filter simply groups established users’ reviews from their user pages onto business pages. This automated process sometimes creates the perception that reviews are being deleted and re-added over time; what’s actually happening is users are becoming more-or-less established over time.

The best word of mouth is organic and unsolicited. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, Yelp discourages business owners from asking people to write reviews about their businesses. It’s tough for an algorithm to tell the difference between a business owner aggressively putting a laptop in front of a client and saying, “Give me 5 stars!” and that same business owner flipping the laptop around and manufacturing a fake 5-star review about themselves.  Follow my review acquisition process to avoid violating the T & C’s of Yelp and others, yet still have the systems to drive unsolicited, organic reviews.

Both positive and negative reviews can be affected. This is to protect Dentist A from  Dentist B’s writing of malicious 1-star reviews about his competitor.

SEO helps here too.  Identifying relevant, authoritative sites to have links going to a user’s profile will increase the trust and authority for that profile, as long as it’s relevant sites and not just link building.

Local Reviews Website List

This should not be confused as the data provider list to acquire citations.  The list is very similar, but these reviews sites are listed in order of review preference.  Please be aware as these companies grow and change, some might be better, others might get worse.  Use this list priority with a grain of salt and do your due diligence to uncover other sites.

  • Google
  • Yelp
  • City Search
  • Yahoo Local
  • InsiderPages
  • Angie’s List
  • Judy’s Book
  • Superpages
  • Merchant Circle
  • Insider Pages

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Aug
13

Categories:

There is a new name on the small to medium business block today. Formerly known as Comprehensive Courier Solutions or CCS is now known as WON Marketing. Our company has built a reputation on services we have distributed with trustworthiness and reliability. Our clients know they can depend on Scott Gallagher, CEO of WON Marketing, to continue offering the solutions for small to medium business for their marketing projects.

Our CEO, Scott Gallagher, offers online training with up-to-date information on how your business can flourish in today’s internet world. WON Marketing will continue to create multimedia designed sales presentations to aid your business to get the word out about your products and services that you offer to your own clients.

WON Marketing may be a new company, but we have established solutions obtained from a blended twenty years of old-fashioned marketing experience. We have ten years of experience with Internet development and promotional sales to bring to the table an approach to old fashion and cutting edge marketing practices. Custom designed websites, multimedia presentations, SMO campaigns and email marketing campaigns are among the things you will find in our portfolio. To find out how to get your own free assessment online today, please visit us at WON Marketing.

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Jul
20

Categories:

What is Social CRM?

By: Joe Bongiovanni

Social CRM has evolved from traditional CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to become a strategy that concentrates on customer engagement and interactions. The purpose of traditional CRM was to continuously move the customer through the sales funnel. This was one-way communication directed at the customer.

Social CRM allows companies to better understand the potential needs of their customers by targeting and segmenting them based on data collected. Traditional CRM strategy focuses on the sales, marketing, and service/support departments to be effective. Today, Social CRM is primarily managed by Public Relations departments to keep the brand image consistent across the web. The biggest change is that Social CRM interactions and conversations are driven by the user, not the business. The new role of a business is to facilitate this digital dialogue.

Despite the surge in Social Media users, only a small percentage of people actually interact on a regular basis. Furthermore, these users are using social media to connect with family and friends opposed to engaging with brands. There seems to be a huge disconnect between why users say they interact with a brand and the reasons businesses think they do. Also, customer advocates are normally drawn to participate and engage with brands they already feel passionate about. Many businesses incorrectly believe that engaging followers will “create” these advocates.

From Social Media to Social CRM1 1024x533 What is Social CRM?

According to IBM, the main reasons consumers reported following a business through social media was for Discounts and Making Purchases, not to stay connected with a business or be part of the community. Writing and Reading Reviews about products/services is increasingly becoming a reason to visit social media profiles. This supports the assumption that social layers will continue to have a bigger and bigger impact on search engine results in the future. As with all Local Internet Marketing initiatives, companies’ needs to stay focused on providing value to the consumer.

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Jul
15

Categories:

cross posted on Scott’s Business Canvas

WON Marketing Local Search Marketing Strategies

Growing Your Local Business Online — SEO for Local Businesses — LIVE Webinar

(this is only a partial strategy.  For a complete 25 page strategy specific to your business, please contact WON Marketing.  We have both FREE and Paid Strategy Campaigns available for your business).

1.      Profilesstrategy Local SEO Strategies used by WON Marketing

Establish Profile Authority

Follow Google’s Best Practices Guide here.

  • Verify and Claim your Listings at http://www.getlisted.org
    • Claim at least Google, Bing, Yahoo and Superpages
  • Complete all info thoroughly, including clear, long, excellent description (Basic and Enhanced Information)
  • Establish NAP format
  • Use email matching domain to register account
  • Establish photo shoots with Google when possible.  Always upload at least 5 pictures
  • Use images and video, (walk-through, testimonials)
  • Establish Service area
  • Utilize QR Codes when possible
  • Real Address, No UPS or PO Boxes
  • Consider implications of Walk-in versus Service Based

2.      Reviews

Implement a Review Acquisition System

  • Professional Service offices should create a ‘Thank You’ post card when a thank you mentioned in the office, including instructions to leave a review on Zagat.
  • Properly train employees to have a lending ear for positive feedback from customers, patients and clients.
  • Encourage positive customers to leave a review online.
  • Use the hReview HTML Rich Snippet Markup on Website for reviews.
    • Link Reviewers’ name to their online social profile, preferably LinkedIn.
    • Do not solicit reviews.  Only ask to leave a digital review if a verbal unsolicited testimonial is provided.

3.      Social Media

Create and participate in social media channels

  1. Create a Business Page or Fan Page
    • Facebook (Get Vanity URL after 25 likes)
    • Google+ Local
    • LinkedIn
  1. Follow Best Practices
    • Photos
    • Descriptions
    • Links
    • Product / Services
    • SEO Optimization
  1.  Engage with Audience

 

4.      Citations

Acquire citations from at least the following sources.

Public Sources

  • Annual Reports, SEC Information
  • Federal, State and City Gov’ts
  • Business Magazines
  • Newspapers
  • Postal Service Information

Data Providers & Review Sites

  • Superpages
  • infoUSA
  • Theme Sites
  • Yelp
  • Citysearch
  • InsiderPages
  • Google
  • Yahoo Local
  • Angie’s List
  • Judy’s Book

Outside the Box

  • ATM or Kiosk at your location?  List in directories
  • National Register of Historic Places
  • Free Wifi Directories
  • RedBox Directory
  • Sponsorships / Charity Events
  • Speaking Engagements

Host a Weather Station

5.      Video

Local Businesses can create and distribute four types of video

I.         Office / Warehouse Walkthrough

II.         Testimonial Videos

III.         Operational (for product / service)

IV.         Commercial (advertisement for product / service)

 

  • Distribution to YouTube is critical.  Optimize video title and description similar to this video.
  • Promote through Social Channels once distributed and optimized.

6.      Local PR

Create and distribute an effective press release.  Hire a local writer from the local news paper.  Distribute the local press release to at least ten local publications, including:

  • Local Newspaper
  • Regional Newspaper
  • Local FREE Publications (pick one up a Chiropractor’s office)
  • Local Chamber of Commerce
  • Local College – Approach business admin

7.      Website On-The-Page SEO

This is only a partial list of the factors and represents the most important items to complete.

  1. Validate your HTML code so it is “spider” compliant.  http://validator.w3.org/
  2. Text link navigation at the bottom of the page.  Use your keywords as anchor text.
  3. The Title Tag should be compelling and focused.
  4. Your description tag needs to work hand-in-hand with the Title to get the searcher to “click” on the listing.
  5. Every page should have a unique (60% of the words completely original) Title & Description.
  6. H1 tag should be used and should be very compelling
  7. Add ALT tags to your main graphics and do not attempt to fool the Search Engines here.
  8. Place your keyword phrase in the following areas:

                                     i.     Title Tag

                                   ii.     Meta Description

                                 iii.     H1 tag to begin the content

                                   iv.     First paragraph of content

                                     v.     Appearing in Bold or Italic in the first three paragraphs of content (if possible, not that big of a deal)

                                   vi.     Appearing in the filename (or directory name)

vii.     Used in anchor text to either an internal page or relevant external site.

  1. Fix bad links and create XML Sitemap and submit to Google.

8.      Company Blog

This is a critical piece for any Internet Marketing Strategy for a business.  Almost every piece of marketing communication can be hosted on a blog including all types of media.

  • Use WordPress Self Hosted
  • Use SEO Plugins (All-in-One-SEO)
  • Blog Weekly
  • Internal Links to Business Website
  • Opt-in Conversion Optimization (Welcome Gate / PopUp / Scipt)
  • Create compelling content prospects can relate to

 

9.      External Links

Link Building is critical for Organic SEO Rankings in the SERPs.  Find sources to link to the following pages, including your root domain.

Location Based Pages

  • Local newspaper (PR Campaigns)
  • Chamber or Networking Groups
  • J.V’s
  • Local Directories / Phonebooks

Theme Related Pages

  • Directories / Data Providers
  • Social Networking Groups and Sites
  • High Authority Exposure

10.  Systems for Measurement and Correction

It is said that everything that is measured improves.  Create the systems for measurement in your business, and measure at least the following items for your online marketing campaign.

I.         Claimed Listings

II.         KW Rankings

III.         KW Strategy

IV.         Competitive Research

V.         Citation Acquisition Strategy

————————————————–

Learn What You Need for YOUR Website

WON Marketing Online Analysis

Call us at 847.594.7488 or visit to Register –>  http://goo.gl/fdbqQ

 

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