Making Waves Online a presentation for the NW Marina & Boatyard Conference November 14, 2012

1. Making Waves Onlinea presentation for the NW Marina & Boatyard ConferenceNovember 14, 2012

2. Agenda • What’s new since last year • Websites • Making sense of online advertising • Social media • Word of mouth • Q&A

3. What’s new since last year Mobile use has grown exponentially • Mobile to overtake fixed Internet access by 2014 • Half of all searches performed on mobile devices  • Americans spend more time per day socializing on their mobile devices than eating! • 9/10 mobile searches lead to action – more than half lead to purchase

4. What’s new since last year Social is here to stay – you can’t ignore it • 93% of online adults use social media regularly • Facebook: 955 million active users (222 million in the U.S.) • Twitter: 165 million users • 200 million+ YouTube views mobile devices daily

5. What’s new since last year Social is here to stay – you can’t ignore it • 50% of smartphones connect to Facebook every hour of every day • 74% of brand marketers saw an increase in website traffic after investing just 6 hours per week on social media • Online advertising is increasing at a rate of 20% per year

6. Websites

7. Web Design Refresher • Your website is your calling card to the world • Old websites not search engine friendly • Flash is BAD! • Content Management Systems (CMS) are the current standards (e.gWordPress) • CMS allows easy updates websites w/o knowing HTML or CSS

8. The goldfish factor Length of time in seconds 3 seconds

9. The credibility factor When visiting your site, will people know: • what you do within seconds? • what page they're on and what it's about? • what to do next? • why should they buy/subscribe/download from your site instead of from someone else?

10. Top 5 tips of great web design: • Simple, clean look, with clear navigation • Easily accessible, well written information • Good use of colors and typography • Relevant imagery, not stock photography • Animations and music are rarely necessary

11. Easy links to social media and e-news sign-up Clear navigation Clean grid layout with good use of white space Color used to draw attention to important items Sans-serif fonts are clean and easy to read online

12. But it’s not all about design…

13. But it’s not all about design… Make your copy scannable by: • Highlighting keywords • Using subheads that are meaningful, simple and concise • Using bulleted lists • Emphasizing text using  bolding and italics • Usinghalf the word count (or less) of conventional writing

14. But it’s not all about design… Too much dense copy turns visitors off from reading it

15. But it’s not all about design… Text broken out in smaller chunks, with subheads and bullet lists, is much easier on the eye

16. But it’s not all about design…

17. Other must-haves for a great website: • Quality inbound links, the more the better • SEO optimized text, work with a web copywriter • Don’t forget to leverage social media!

18. Inbound links • Authorized dealer links • Yacht clubs and other boating organizations • Social media • Blogs, articles, online advertising • Do NOT borrow, beg, barter, bribe or buy links

19. Mobile

20. Mobile websites • More than 50% of mobile phones are smartphones • 94% of smartphone users will use mobile Internet this year • By 2014 mobile Internet users will outnumber desktop Internet users

21. Mobile websites

22. Top 5 tips for making your site mobile-friendly • Mobile site should load in under 5 seconds • Type should be readable w/o pinching/zooming • Links/buttons should be “thumb-friendly” • Phone should be “click-to-call” link • Visit www.howtogomo.com/en/d/test-your-site/ to see how mobile-friendly your site is

23. Costs Website Mobile website $500-1,000+ for a generic CMS Mobile template $1,500+ for a custom designed CMS mobile site • $1,200+ for a generic CMS (WordPress) template website • $3,000 - $8,000+ for a custom designed WordPress site

24. Social Media

25. Social media: What it is not • A place to blast your marketing message as loud and often as possible • A replacement for all other marketing methods • A place to market without a strategy

26. Social media: What it is • A place to connect and share • A great addition to most marketing strategies • A place to grow your business It’s powerful and should not be ignored

27. Social media: 5 common errors small businesses make • Social isn’t the place for the hard sell • Social isn’t about self-promotion • You don’t have to be everywhere • You don’t have to keep up with the big brands • Social isn’t free

28. 10 tips for mastering Facebook • Share the responsibility – but make sure everyone understands your brand and your strategy • Follow the 80/20 rule • Don’t leave it to chance - create a calendar • Set up Google searches to find content • Embrace images

29. 10 tips for mastering Facebook 6. Learn the art of tagging 7. Make the most of your cover photo 8. Highlight or pin your best posts 9. Run contests to boost engagement 10. Don’t brag. Change the bragging around.

30. Word of Mouth

31. “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” - Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

32. Word of mouth WOM is as much about customer service as it is about marketing If you want word of mouth you have to participate Fixing problems is the most powerful WOM you can do WOM is also your best market research tool WOM can’t be faked

33. A simple thank you goes a long way

34. Customer referral program Dear Lisa, Thank you for trusting your BMW to us at Strictly BMW. We know that there are options for you when servicing your car and truly appreciate you choosing us. We pride ourselves on performing only work the vehicle needs, and completing that work correctly, the first time. We guarantee our work and I wanted to take this time to follow up with you and ensure that all of your needs and expectations were met. Please let us know if there is anything we could be doing better. I also want to make sure you’re aware of our Customer Referral Program. We are happy to provide you with a complimentary oil and filter change when a new customer that you have referred comes to us for service. So if you have a friend or colleague with a BMW, please let them know about us! We rely primarily on word of mouth to grow, so if you are happy with our service, please help spread the word!

35. Encourage customer reviews It’s our responsibility and goal to show everyone who may be interested in replacing their windows/doors that Keystone is a choice they’ll feel happy with in the end and that we’ll always be there for them, just like we are for you. We would like to increase the number of ratings and reviews on the sites, with the goal of strengthening our overall scores. I know you’re busy, but it would be great if you could take a few minutes to upload your testimonial to the websites below. Then email us at when you have finished. As a token of our appreciation here at Keystone, we will send you a $25 Visa gift card!  In addition, we’ll be entering your name in a drawing to win a free iPad on April 30!! On behalf of everyone who works at Keystone, thank you so much

36. Encourage feedback – both positive and negative

37. Give them something to talk about: surprise and delight your customers • Boatyards – consider leaving a gift in your customer’s boat upon completion of the work • Marinas – deliver the Sunday paper, run shuttles to town, complimentary coffee in the office, provide bicycles, kayaks, maps of the area • Recognize and reward good customers in an unexpected way

38. Swag is powerful . . . but make it interesting

39. Dealing with negative word of mouth • Make it really easy for upset customers to contact you • Put a feedback form on your website • Follow up shortly after a sale to make sure they’re happy • Put the phone number of someone important on your receipts

40. Dealing with negative word of mouth • Respond calmly and offer to help • Do not get into a fight • Be human • Write for the record • Follow up. Deliver what you promised • Do something wonderful

41. Online Advertising

42. Don't get fooled again Five basic tips for using stats to drive successful online advertising

43. There are three kinds of lies: lies, dammed lies, and statistics. -- Mark Twain

44. Overview • Know your source • Understand the audience • Location, location, location • Get what you pay for • Don't get fooled again

45. Back in the misty fogs of ancient history . . .

46. Know your source Web server logs vs. page tagging

47. Web server logs

48. Web server logs Utilizes the record of all the requests to a website's server to generate statistics. • i.e. AWStats

49. Page tagging

50. Page tagging Utilizes a little piece of JavaScript code on a webpage so it records when a webpage is actually opened and viewed • i.e. Google Analytics