Orthotown August 2017 - 63

Signals and drivers

T

How marketing channels work

hose of us who live and breathe
marketing love ever y new
channel that launches-but
we also understand that our
customers must stay up to speed
with the latest technology in their own
industries. I tell customers to look at
some marketing as "trust signals"
that help convert more leads and to
treat other channels as true drivers.
(Of course, the first step is to have
the proper tracking in place.) Here's a
breakdown of the main buzz words or
channels you'll hear when making your
2017 marketing decisions.

Social media: Is it really
going to get me business?
Yes, but mainly as a trust signal.
Consumers look at Facebook and
other social media channels to get
a glimpse into the voice and experience of your business.
Facebook also allows users to promote posts and run advertisements
that can be drilled down to a specific ZIP
code and target people who, statistically,
should be interested in your business.
I tell customers they should post on
Facebook at least once or twice a week
and to reserve part of their marketing

budget for Facebook's advertising
platform, to expose their brand to
potential customers in the local area.
Even this is still relatively passive,
though, because these customers
aren't specifically looking for your
services-yet.

AdWords: Pay-per-click
sounds so complicated!
I consider AdWords or pay-perclick to be a primary driver in getting
new customers, because Google gives
so much real estate to people who
are willing to pay for top positions.
Try this for yourself: Google your city
plus the term "dentist." What do you
see at the top of the page? Probably
the three or four paid ads that Google
gives priority to.
Google AdWords or pay-per-click
should be set up by a professional. It
might be easy to set up by yourself but
you need a professional landing page
and a call tracking number to really get
the most out of your marketing dollars.
(If you use a professional, make sure
you own the AdWords account and
landing page. Too many pay-per-click
professionals retain this if you decide
to pause the account or transition the

account. If you pay for something like
a landing page to be built, make sure
you own it.)

Email blasts: They feel
like spamming. Are they
really that important?
They are! Email marketing drives
new business to your website. When I
look at a customer's monthly analytics accounts, I can almost always
identify the highest-traffic days
as being related to an email blast
that was sent. Going even further:
If a customer didn't send an email,
inevitably that month's web traffic
underperformed.
What's the trick to feel like you're
not spamming people? Provide value.
This can be as simple as telling customers about a special, informing them
of your updated hours, or providing a
brief synopsis of important information
a customer should know about your
services.
Make this an easy and fun process!
Mailchimp and Constant Contact are two
prominent companies that offer email
blast platforms that let you create or
upload a list, set up a nice template,
and get to work.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orthotown August 2017
