Runaware Software Marketing and Tech Blog

Convert Your Prospect Subscriber into a Full-fledged Customer

2009-09-18T14:55:00.011-04:00

Although some like to think we marketing managers are psychics...the real reality is most of us can use all the help we can get to figure out which prospects are close to making a purchase and which are still just kicking the tires. The most successful marketing managers are those who can identify a good number of promising customers and give them the right boost to get them to make a purchase.

There are so many priorities all needing to happen at the same time, so having a creative strategy that will drive the results without spending much effort is goal. For most of us it's a balancing act of one-to-one marketing and scheduled e-mail blasts.

Here are just a few tips to engage different groups of customers on your e-mail list to nudge them into making that final purchase:

1. Use Web analytics to keep track of behavior. E-mail subscribers often give inaccurate survey responses, and prospect reported data gets old fast. Try instead to track prospects by watching what they do with their e-mails and on your web site. Using tools like RFM (recency, frequency and monetary value) analysis will help you fin that 5%-10% on your list that's highly engaged.

2. Take a look at model behavior, models that detail your prospects behavior can not only help gain first time customers but it can also yeild a prompt secondary purchase as well. The key to this is usually in the balance of implementing the behavioral model and its true incremental benefit.

Yes this can be a time and cost heavy approach but the insight to better understanding human behavioral purchase patterns can give you an edge in pre-determining our customers actions.

3. Change things up, replace e-mail blasts with life-cycle messaging. Try not to send the same e-mail blast to everyone; the churn rate of finding new subscribers will cost you more than identifying the most interested people on your current list.

Start this by crafting targeted messages to subscribers by knowing what stage of the sales cyle thy're in. To gain that data, you need tools that count the click and open rates. If you don't know the best way to handle this type of life-cycle messaging there are various companies that can assist in creating a messaging program to fit your needs.

Keep in mind disinterested prospects of today could be your customers of tomorrow, so continue to talk to them the right way to move them on in the cycle.

4. Make it personal, personalized e-mails equate to higher engagement. Prospects appreciate you listening to their needs and because of that their interest increases. Develop the content of the e-mail to reflect their interest level, for example offering information on specific products or services or even a vertical industry.

When you get someone who asks for more info that's the key time to convert them to a sale by handing them over to a member of the sales team to speak to.

TestDrive Online Demos Showcased on Adobe Web Site

2009-09-01T15:02:00.003-04:00

Today Adobe has gone live with their TestDrive online demo of the Technical Communications Suite 2. This environment has been under development for several months and is the culmination of a lot of work with the Adobe team, including Senior Product Evangelist RJ Jacquez.

Adobe worked with Runaware to create a superior experience for their visitors and provide a way of demonstrating the full suite of software included in TCS2 without the 5GB download or DVD that were previously the only trial options for the suite.

Visitors are met with a menu from which they can select the software included in the suite that they would like to try. RJ Jacquez and his team provided Runaware with some valuable tutorials that help users walk through the value of software applications such as RoboHelp and FrameMaker.

RJ posted on his Adobe blog today about the launch of the TCS2 TestDrive. If you'd like to see a video of RJ explaining the TestDrive online demo and what's included, you can view his recorded Adobe Connect session.

Follow this link if you'd like to view the Adobe Technical Communications Suite online demo directly.

We worked with Adobe to make this one of the best implementations of an online demo, using all of the lessons I've talked about in the past - placement in your marketing, profiling, targeted messaging, tutorials/scenarios and integration of your software. The best part is that we can continue to build on this and add more resources to continue improving the user experience and adding value.

What do you think of the new Adobe TCS2 TestDrive?

Get creative with your software demos and marketing partners - do more software marketing for less

2009-08-25T09:46:00.000-04:00

I recently penned an article on how software marketers can get more from their marketing efforts for less money and effort. This article was just published in the "MarketingProfs Today" newsletter. My goal with this article was to describe how marketers can analyze their marketing programs for effectiveness and look for ways to increase their ROI.

One of the main things I feel some software marketers overlook is software demos. I go on to describe the most common demos - downloads, CDs, one-on-one demos, videos and online software demos and how they compare in cost and return on investment.

I also go on to talk about how software marketers can leverage pay-for-performance models to decrease costs and share risk while engaging their vendors as partners. When you treat your marketing vendors like partners, you can utilize their expertise and really get a lot more for your investment.

Finally, I describe how the software demo process can be used to learn more about your prospects, which will increase conversions.

The article is entitle Software Sales: How to do More with Less and you can read it in its entirety over on the MarketingProfs web site.

Have you evaluated the ROI on your software demos? marketing programs? Do you engage your marketing vendors as partners?

Disguising your products to sell more in a recession

2009-07-20T11:25:00.000-04:00

Recently I was in the grocery store picking up the usual food items and found myself spending over 5 minutes in the dairy aisle looking for the Kraft Colby & Jack shredded cheese I always use to melt over my Triscuits. I scanned the entire aisle of cheeses and simply couldn't find what I was looking for.

It was then that I realized that the packaging had changed. It looked just like the store's "generic" brand. I thought this was a little odd and "out of character" for a big name brand like Kraft, but really didnt give it much thought.

Then I was further on down the store, looking to pick up a 12 pack bottle of Pepsi when I had the same trouble - I was visually scanning the aisle filled with soda and couldn't locate the familiar Pepsi packaging I was so used to. I realized that Pepsi had also changed it's packaging! Now we know that Pepsi has evolved their packaging and branding over the years, but it was always instantly recognizable. I studied the packaging and realized - it was similar to what Kraft had done. The packaging was very simplistic - and again looked "generic" in it's appearance.

I didn't give it much thought, other than just thinking it was strange that Pepsi would go this route. It wasn't until I was sitting at my desk thinking about the challenges of marketing in this economy when it hit me - maybe this was a planned product marketing strategy. Maybe Kraft and Pepsi were being clever.

We are conditioned to recognize brands - the big names spend tons of money so that at a glance we know what their products look like and engender a sort of trust in the product. However, at the same time, so-called generic brands have established themselves a less costly alternatives to the big brands. Have the big brands caught onto this? Have they decided that in a down economy they must disguise themselves?

I personally think that they are playing a bit of a psychology game. A majority of the population is looking for ways to cut costs and are more value conscious. I think that brands like Pepsi and Kraft are pulling a quick one and making their products look more like the generic brands in an attempt to subconsciously make shoppers think they are getting more for less. I think in some way, when consumers are going through the mechanics of picking up the foods we are used to, may be getting the satisfaction of buying the brands they are used to, but in some ways tying these products to the savings they would realize from purchasing generic products.

How does this translate to software? I haven't seen any software companies change their retail boxes to look "generic." In fact, I'm not really sure there is such a thing as "generic" brand software. But it did get me thinking - what can we as software marketers do to pull a fast one and subconsciously get our customers to think that they are paying less or getting more value?

It's something to think about as we continue through the financially challenging times. What do you think, would using visual cues in your marketing campaigns or software packaging to engender a "value" approach help you sell more software?

The Marketer’s New "Business as Normal"

2009-06-22T12:01:00.014-04:00

Since the end of last year retailers have pulled out all the stops to get customers to enforce their buying power. From educational webinars to online/in-store discounts and big savings coupons, retailers have been using their resourcefulness and marketing savvy to make the best of a gloomy economic year.

Even with all their efforts retail numbers were down last year and the outlook for 2009 looked even more desperate. Perhaps the very profile of the retail environment has shifted as consumers settle in for what may be a prolonged economic change and preparing themselves for the new "business as normal" standard. Here are some smart, manageable tips on how to cut back and survive through the second half of the 2009 to keep your business on track.

Keep the Driving Force Going
Now is no time for a vacation. It’s important more than ever to stay focused on the goal which is survival in this tight economy. We are doing it at home and work is no different if we plan to keep our lively hoods. No matter how tired you are or how discouraged you might feel, it's time to think positive, rally and continue marketing to your customers. A cutback in marketing efforts is not an option. Marketing keeps you in front of current customers, engages prospects, and positions well for the economic rebound. Don’t lose the momentum…stay on the ground running.

Keep Your Customers Coming Back for More
Although statistics can vary by type of business, product, and service, one thing is undeniable...it costs more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. A loyal customer base can carry you through even the toughest times. Whether asking customers to sign up for your newsletters, encouraging them to join your community forum, or by offering upgrade discount incentives, you have ways to re-engage buyers.

Don’t Just Go on a Hunch
Customers make or break your business. You need to listen to and accommodate your clientele and that means knowing what they want. To find out what they want you can use your newsletter or toolbar to distribute an open-ended customer survey. Review your customer feedback and make some enhancements, this way customers can see you're making real changes based on their feedback. Make sure to track the success of those changes in your marketing strategies on a monthly basis.You will want to modify your campaign content if it isn't producing results and switch out elements of your toolbar if they aren't being used.

Make that Investment Back
Stop any spending activity that isn't directly resulting in new business. Dollars are tighter than ever, so managing them properly is critical. You might not need the latest hardware, but you do need well-designed web site and toolbars to expand the value of your site. Stick with those tools that work. Make an objective to review one new free tool for small businesses that is popular or new. Consider how best to apply that tool for account management, marketing or sales; for example, not every business needs a Facebook page, but for some it can help. Find out where your customers go to speak with or about the companies they work with and then make your decisions from there.

Realize that today's customers are different from those just a year ago. They expect more… more information, more choices, and more convenience and they are looking for you to bring that to them as quickly as you can.

Offer better software demos using the data you already collect

2009-06-18T16:14:00.000-04:00

All marketers use lead capture or registrations forms in their marketing programs. How else would we generate leads for our sales departments? Some marketers keep things simple and only ask for the necessities, some ask for everything under the sun and some assess what they really need to know and conduct testing to see what their audience will bear before increasing abandonment rates. By the way - I highly recommend balancing the information you need with what's nice to have and test your conversion rates, but we can save that for another post.

In most cases registration forms will include a few optional questions outside of the contact fields, intended to help us understand more about our visitors - whether the information is used to help marketing define their "buckets" or to help sales target their pitch - is really moot when it comes to your visitors. What if you used this information instead to help provide a more customized experience for your visitors? If you positioned the questions in a way that made it obvious that the answers would better help your visitors find what they're looking for, I can almost guarantee that your visitors would be more likely to answer the questions.

Here are a few examples:

1. Ask a question that provides the opportunity to offer a specific demo suited to your visitor's needs
One of our clients, Intuit Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions (QBES), uses the question "What is your business type?" to identify the visitor's vertical industry. This is important to the marketers so they know what verticals they need to be targeting, but its also helpful for the visitor because QBES develops different versions of their product for different verticals. In the screen shots below, you can see how when I answered "Distribution & Wholesale" I was offered the TestDrive online demo of their "Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition", saving me the effort of figuring out which version of the software I should try.

2. Find out who your competition is and take the initiative to show why you're better
Intuit QBES also asks their trial visitors what their current accounting solution is. Not only does it give the marketers insight on which competitors they should be paying the most attention to, it also gives them the opportunity to target that competition specifically. Depending on your selection, you will receive an automated email, addressed to you, either explaining why you should upgrade to the new version of QBES (with a special discounted offer) or why QBES is better than the solution you're using now - also providing links to resources that may help in your information gathering.

In the example below, you'll see that I selected "Peachtree", then I received an email with the message "Upsize" as well as a link to learn more about the Free Peachtree to Quickbooks Conversion tool. "WOW! So if I switch they will take care of moving all my data over to Quickbooks and I don't have to worry about a thing?? I'm SOLD!"

You can even take it a step further and make your registration forms "dialogs". Instead of just asking a series of questions, let your visitors know why you're asking them. Instead of "tell us about your business", position it as "So we can provide you the best demo of our software, please tell us a bit about your business. We'll provide a customized demo to suit your needs".

Give your visitors what they want and you will have a much higher chance of converting them and closing the sale. Make it easy for them to see why your software is the right solution for their needs and you can get the same results. So why don't we ALL do this??

I can think of a half dozen, but the initial ones that come to mind are:

I just didn't think about using my data that way.
I don't have time to go through this exercise; I have so many other marketing programs to implement!
It's going to take so much time and I don't have the resources to create the content needed.

We're all being asked to do more with less, and for software companies your software demos are one of the key sales tools and I'm sure a lot has already been invested in them. Putting a little focus on this process and what you can do to better meet your visitors' needs and creating more customized experience can really pay off in spades. And remember, you don't have to do it all at once! Start small and build up from there.

Are you doing anything right now to make better use of the data you are collecting or doing anything to provide a software demo that actually addresses what your visitors are looking for?

Could Twittering be the end to blogging as we know it?

2009-06-12T14:46:00.007-04:00

I for one believe the ease of Twitter will spell the end to a majority of blogs as we know it today. Sure we will still have the media blogs and your industry blogs but the Average Joe blogging about whatever happens to be on his or her mind will be replaced by Twitter. To be honest this is probably a good thing as blogs can be very useful once you find a good one to read; the problem is finding the right one then and then when you do hoping the writer keeps blogging at a regular pace.

Although I don’t find twitter to be that useful as a social media tool today I do think it has its place in the social media industry, just how big who knows, probably the same as Facebook or MySpace. The remaining question though is...will Twitter have staying power?

Make Content the Core of your Email Marketing

2009-05-19T23:24:00.007-04:00

An impressive looking email template is important for establishing brand credibility and recognition with readers; but, remembers it’s not all about looks, there needs to be substance too. A nice-looking email means nothing if subscribers aren't engaged and interested in what you have to say. The content of your email is the critical core to the success of your campaign.

What makes content so important?

When readers open an email you have about five seconds to let them know what’s in it for them. Look and feel play a big role here. At first glance, your brand should be clearly visible and the content easily understood, but that alone won't hold your readers' attention for long. The real magic for lasting beyond that five second mark is in the content of your email.

Content should always be relevant and engaging. If either element is lacking, your reader will hit delete and move on. If that happens once too often, your subscriber may go one step further and block future emails from you or could possibly report you as a spammer.

The relevancy of your email answers the "What's in it for me?" question. The engaging aspect promotes activity within your email, such as drawing readers to your Web site for a call to action, ensuring click-throughs to additional content, or encouraging readers to forward your promotion to friends and colleagues who might also find value in your offer.

Things to do to enhance your content:

- Know your audience

One of the most important steps to take toward providing more-relevant content is understanding who you're writing to. You could have a wide range of customers so it’s important to target your content based on their interests. Those interests can be determined by using email marketing tools that offer reporting functions. The reporting functions allow you to learn more about your subscriber base, such as their open and click-through rates.

- Short and Sweet

Having only seconds to capture your readers' attention it’s crucial to get to the point and fast. Make sure your content is planned to convey your messages in a clear and concise manner. If you have a difficult time coming up with ideas, try using a campaign ready template. Some templates provide not only a format and a layout but also pre-populated content to help you send the right message.

- Email layout and design should enhance content

Now that you have relevant and engaging content, make sure the look and style work in its favor. Keep your emails looking clean. Be consistent with the look and feel throughout your email. Use a high contrast between font colors and background colors help to keep your content readable, and columns aid readers with quick on-screen reading.

- Get Personal

Brand perceptions are established through the tone and personality of your communications. Instead of sending generic emails, personalize them to reflect who you are, in the beginning that might mean simply signing your name. A personal voice in your communications not only helps the customer feel connected but also fosters a relationship with your readers.

- Offer links and try themes

Incorporating links to your email campaign engages your readers and helps to drive traffic to your site. Add strategically placed hyperlinks throughout the email. Have these links connect to detailed content on your web site. By offering links you'll notice higher click-through and response rates. Use themes when holidays come about or during seasonal changes within your email layout. Planning content around a theme keeps your readers engaged and makes it easier for you to figure out what to say.

Always keep in mind the content you provide is the main reason your readers subscribed to your email in the first place. Offering valuable content is the key to executing winning campaigns and expanding your subscriber following.

Top 4 things to keep in mind when merging your search and social media

2009-05-07T17:19:00.019-04:00

1. The customer must initiate something in both search and social media. With search the customer is coming and saying "I am interested or want to know more about this now." With social media, the plan is people will share the info with others.

2. Social Media tends to be more entertaing from B to C but the same cannot be said from B to B. In B to B folks are looking to solve problems. This is where you must be the expert and help to resolve common issues.

3. We as marketers have to come to terms with the fact that most people doing searches are not necessarily looking for your company. So its important to think about the key words or terms that defines your company.

4. Marketers especially of B to B companies need to adopt direct marketing. Its important to fully grasp how much it is worth for each new visitor to come to your site.

Getting Greener with Better Performance

2009-04-29T16:14:00.000-04:00

I was reading a blog by Lilac Berniker Fortisphere where she talks about virtualization and green.

I agree with much of what she said, personally I think that Green has taken a back burner in the economy, lower gas prices have definitely taken the pressure off transport and people are afraid to sign up for the typically higher acquisition costs associated with the “green solution” and instead are trying to spend less. One of the great things about Online Demos like our TestDrive Solutions is that they are much greener than printing thousands of CDs or mailers and sending out – it’s all online.

I have been looking at our data center costs and analyzing what new hardware we are going to need over the coming months as business grows and her article was very relevant. We have many servers that are underutilized, but we always have to be ready for those unexpected spikes in demand or a failure in one of our data centers. Because of our need to always be able to support all our users if we suffered a catastrophic failure in one of the two data centers, we probably will never be able safely to go beyond 50% utilization of hardware, but we could still improve by an order of magnitude the usage on some servers.

The majority of our servers are 2U 2CPU rack mounted servers, the majority running Windows Server 2003 x64. We still keep some running x86 because of application compatibility issues which limits the usage on those servers. We’ve been playing around with blade servers for a while now and they definitely qualify for a green status, they use less power and air conditioning than our current servers, but have 2 main disadvantages for us – the limited internal storage and the risk of an enclosure failure (which is very low, but would take out many servers). Moving our entire infrastructure to a virtual based one will allow us to overcome all these issues, and once we complete more performance testing and make sure that our management platform is equipped to maximize the benefit and track the virtual servers, we will make the move. For now though I am, like I expect most companies are, looking to be green without additional cost, so optimization of existing hardware is the plan for now.

Virtual servers should allow us to give a better service to our customers and at the same time reduce our environmental impact!

Green Software Marketing - online demos are better for the environment, and can be cheaper too

2009-04-22T16:58:00.000-04:00

Happy Earth Day! I hope everyone has taken a little time out of their day to to figure out what they can do in their lives to help the environment and our planet. Even the smallest efforts can have a major impact. If we evaluate our business practices for green alternatives, we can have an even larger impact than with our personal green decisions.

A lot of people equate green with expensive. Organic foods are more expensive, certified green products are more expensive, hybrid cars are more expensive than the traditional gas guzzlers. In the current economic climate, people who may be inclined to lean green feel that green may be a luxury and give up on environmentally-friendly practices and products.

What I'd like to touch on today is the fact that online demos are more green than traditional demos. Specifically I'd like to point to trial CDs as compared to downloads and hosted online demos.

Trial CDs
Not many people consider the environmental impact of CD production. During production of the actual CD petroleum plastics and metals are used to create the CD. During packaging, plastics, paper and industrial inks are used in large quantities. Petroleum is often used in the production of these plastics. The use of paper in packaging contributes to deforestation. Commercial printing inks often contain volatile chemicals that can harm the environment. Very few CD manufacturers have green production processes, and if you must provide a CD trial, you can ask if the manufacturers use green practices in their manufacturing processes. All of these CDs must also be delivered; depending on the service used CDs are delivered via ship, plane or truck - adding to the carbon footprint.

Online Demos
The green benefit of demos delivered online, such as downloads or TestDrive online demos, is that the same resources are used to provide demos to thousands of potential customers. Online delivery ensures that nothing needs to be manufactured or shipped. With no physical trial, no CDs or packaging will end up in landfills. Depending on how your downloads or online demos are hosted, the hardware and infrastructure can be extremely energy efficient.

With a hosted online demo, your software is virtualized so that it's available online at all times and can be reused for all potential customers. The same hardware can be used for multiple software companies and multiple end users since isolation is used to prevent users from viewing each other. This type of demo lends itself to efficiency since the hardware is shared and used to its capacity.

Online demos tend to be less expensive than Trial CDs, in-person demos or even downloads. In an earlier blog post, I covered how online demos haven been proven to cost less and generate more revenue than both CDs and downloads. So not only can you be a little more green in your marketing efforts, but you can also save money - accomplishing both tangible and intangible goals.

Many people think that being green is a gimmick or don't take it seriously. But in 2009 especially, I have seen an increasing amount of conversation in the news, on Twitter, in blogs and amongst the people I know about the environment. We continue to see more evidence of global warming and oil shortages, hybrid vehicles have been well publicized lately and we continue to send satellites to space that monitor our environment. I think being green is becoming less a fad and will be embraced more by the public. The more companies are not only perceived to be green, but are actually backing up their green claims, the more they will be accepted and respected by the public.

Evaluating the way you provide software demos and how it affects the environment may be a small factor in the grand scheme of things, but we all have to start somewhere, right?

What do you think, would replacing your physical software demos with online demos make sense for your company?

Looking to sell more software online?

2009-04-13T13:50:00.004-04:00

Now more than ever we marketers need to keep the revenue stream flowing come hell or high water, our basic lively depends on it these days. Sometimes we are thinking so far outside the box that we can miss some of the easiest online marketing tactics out there.

Here are 10 fast and easy actions you can take to greatly improve your conversion rate online.

1. Post professional box shots of your product. Even the downloadable products should display a box shot of your product.

2. Include a short video presenting your product for prospects to review. Not everyone enjoys waiting for a trial download to install, offering a video is an easy way to present your product’s benefits and most useful features.

3. Offer online demos of your software, but collect emails when offering them and follow up with an auto responder. Don’t request too much information up front or you can lose prospects.

4. Create individual landing pages for different products. Don’t drive prospects to your homepage, but instead bring them to detailed pages featuring your product(s), or better yet, your product benefits.

5. Don’t forget to include a clear call to action. If your goal is to make a sale, the buy button should be the most eye-catching element on your page.

6. Set up a company or product blog and post news and specific features of your product. This is a great way to interact with your customers, through their interaction with the blog they can in some cases urge others to buy your product and offer ideas on how to enhance your current software.

7. Even if you are trying to drive online sales, include a clearly visible phone number. This helps visitors know they can reach you if they want or need to.

8. Post testimonials from satisfied previous customers. Third party endorsements sell your product better than you ever could. Choose your testimonials carefully so they address the benefits you want to promote. If you can include pictures or even video of your customers that will help to drive sales even further.

9. Make sure your check out process clearly show the number of steps and what will happen next. Many sales can be lost in the checkout process.

10. And of course the key to achieving more sales is to analyze your traffic when engaging in any online marketing activity. Recording the data can help you set benchmarks and view trends so you know how to better engage your prospects.

My experience with Twitter and 10 great software marketing articles found on Twitter

2009-03-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

After recently attending the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) I realized that a lot of people, especially marketers were on Twitter. I didn't really know much about Twitter, or what real-world use it had - I'd heard Twitter referenced as the first source some of our recent major disasters have been reported from, but not much beyond that. I decided that as one action item I would take home from this conference would be to start a Twitter account and see what this phenomenon is all about. You can find me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JaysonAG.

For those of you not familiar with Twitter, it's a web site that allows you to post messages of 140 characters or less - otherwise known as micro-blogging. Other Twitter users are then able to follow you and view your stream of posts - you can follow others and see what they have to say. These posts are called "Tweets."

I joined Twitter in February and the going was a bit slow, it took me a few weeks to understand the format and the use of the site. But I soon realized that Twitter is a great way to find resources other people think are valuable or interesting. It's also a great way to identify people who are talking about topics in my space.

So now I follow people on Twitter who talk about topics interesting to me personally and professionally - software marketing, online marketing, online demos, software demos, aviation, automotive, tech, etc. I have gotten a lot of great articles and stories and also contribute and redistribute when I find something interesting. It's really a great collective of "what's happening now."

I thought it may be interesting to share some of the most interesting articles I found on Twitter, ones that I feel software marketers, especially those not on Twitter might be interested in. (The urls are short urls generated to fit inside Tweets)

Gartner thinks SaaS could cost more in the longrun - http://tinyurl.com/czdata
The myth of social media transparency http://bit.ly/3WAMR
Social Media: Just 1 piece of the marketing puzzle. http://bit.ly/9Q6u9
Forrester: Sponsored conversation is here to stay (so get over it) http://bit.ly/hB3wy
10 measurements of social media success http://bit.ly/Gxf6u
Want More Traffic? Blog more Often! http://tinyurl.com/8czbej
Social Media's 'Gee-Whiz Factor' Must Die: Time to Get Down to Business http://tinyurl.com/apzl26
What Are The Steps Companies Need To Take To Get involved With Social Media? http://ping.fm/hnIF2
Here's 100 ways to boost your software sales in 2009: http://bit.ly/lsOQo
10 tips for higher search rank. http://bit.ly/2f7G2

Are you on Twitter? Do you see any use for Twitter personally or professionally? Have any questions about Twitter?

The end of advertising?

2009-03-23T06:37:00.013-04:00

Eric Clemons had a great post on TechCrunch laying out his case for why the Internet is destroying traditional advertising not just in print and broadcast media, but also on the Internet.

I find his arguments compelling, but regardless of whether or not push advertising eventually disappears, we can clearly see consumer behavior changing rapidly. Old patterns of passive consumption of media and content are being replaced by users who expect to interact and be in control. People want to do more research before making informed decisions as opposed to impulse or brand based purchases.

In the new paradigm, the most effective way to communicate with our potential customers is to make the information they want available to them when they want it. People who are actively researching products in your market are extremely receptive to learning details about your product. The more you make it possible to learn about the product quickly, the more likely they are to get interested. Simple, traditional marketing collateral built in a web accessible way with good search optimization is obviously a mandatory first step. For software products, online demonstrations are a natural follow on which gives users a painless chance to try the software out for themselves first hand. The only thing which has more impact than the opinion of someone we trust is our own opinion!

As we move from push advertising to pull marketing, one natural question is how do we generate buzz about a product, market segment or possibly even an entirely new market? If we can’t put ads in front of people’s eyeballs, how will they know our product exists to begin with? Here, social networking is the key. I still read traditional technology journals like ComputerWorld and PC World, but I have just as much respect for purely online news sources like The Inquirer and Tom's Hardware. Even for these sites, I find articles here through Google, my RSS reader, digg or delicious where I'm just as likely to find information from a blogger I've never heard of before. Jayson and Christina have lots of posts here on how to get the most out of social networking.

Cloud Computing – What does it mean to me?

2009-03-18T16:00:00.006-04:00

Cloud computing is a term that covers the use of applications and data that are internet based. In essence, this means that you can access applications over the internet and that your data is securely stored and maintained in the cloud. SaaS is a subset of cloud computing, but it covers everything from websites where you may store some of your data to full application access like productivity applications.
There are many advantages to this type of computing –

You don’t have to spend large sums on hardware, essentially you are renting space and capacity from the cloud

Monthly costs can be low as large vendors can make more efficient use of servers and equipment, passing some of that efficiency on to you in the form of low pricing

You rely on the service vendor for all infrastructure and their IT skills

You can choose a vendor with a SLA to suit your cost / availability needs

Rolling out new applications can be much quicker

Of course, nothing comes without disadvantages –

You have to be confident enough to trust the cloud with your data

Data backups are out of your hands, so you need to make sure your supplier meets whatever standards you need for data storage and retention

Data Security comes down to how securely it is transmitted over the internet and how well your provider protects it. Laws like the US’s Patriot Act, the seeming abuse of National Security Letters and the uncertainty over how much of our internet traffic is searched and stored by governments worldwide, mean you need to be sure that you are OK with making it available…

You are reliant on the Vendor – do you have a plan for what happens to your data and business if they go bankrupt?

Do you trust the vendor to not look at your data? Some applications such as Google’s G-Mail claim to search your data to provide you with context sensitive advertisements. While they don’t use any results from this, what’s next?

So Should I offer my applications through the Cloud?
If you are an ISV, you have probably been thinking about offering your application(s) through the web in some kind of hosted rental model for some time. You have different choices – offering your existing Windows based application through the web using one of many technologies from companies such as Microsoft or Citrix. You could also go down the path that many companies try with mixed success; rewriting your application as a web application. With today’s “Web 2.0” technologies, you can make a web based application much closer in terms of functionality to Windows applications, but still not quite as good. So depending on your users expectations, a web based application may or may not work for them. Some companies like salesforce.com have been hugely successful with web applications and Cloud computing, but they may not work for you.
What does this mean for my Lead Generation and Product Demos?
It really doesn’t change much – sure, it’s easier for you to give people access to your applications through the web, but that doesn’t change the fundamental requirements for successful customer profiling, lead capture and demos.
You need to efficiently profile the customer while capturing their essential data without scaring them off and suffering a high drop off rate, then to actually benefit from your demo, you need to have meaningful sample data and contextually appropriate messaging / tutorials in the demo. Without these, Cloud based application or not, you won’t benefit from an online demo as much as you should.

Do you know who is talking about your brand?

2009-03-12T16:07:00.005-04:00

With so many folks using social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter these days, its easier more than ever for the public to get the good, the bad and even the ugly on your company out to a mass audience. Having such tremendous access to others makes it even more important, to you as a marketer, to get actively involved in your brand’s social media conversations.

Here are some core things to keep in mind when conducting your own monitoring plan for social media:

-Make a decision on what you want to achieve. Have a clear goal on how you will measure the success of your monitoring program. For example that objective could be to increasing sales, address a percentage of negative comments, or increase the number of positive posts.

-Figure out what tools you want to use to listen in with. There are many sites that offer this service for free however if you want highly detailed analytics you want to look into services that require payment.

Some suggestions for free monitoring sites include:

http://www.trendrr.com/- tracks, charts and compares the trends of any keyword.

http://www.socialmention.com/- offers a snapshot of conversations surrounding your brand on blogs, Twitter, bookmarks, images and more.

http://www.backtype.com/- will monitor the comments that are related to your company regarding a blog post. This online service can also keep track of comments made by a specific person and alert you.

-Decide where you will go and what you want to listen to. It’s good to start out looking for social networks, sites and blogs where your target audiences are already having a discussion.

-Know when and how to respond to comments or posts and decide if what you want to say will actually help your brand’s online reputation. Sometimes not saying anything at all, can in the long run, be the best policy when it comes to unruly commenters.

-Don’t just wait around to respond to others that are talking about your brand. Get out there and make mention of new features on your product or thank others who have decided to make comments boasting about your brand’s product/service.

-Keep in mind that you not only want to give praises to your product/service on social media sites but you also want to display value so offer information readers can generally find useful.

- Monitoring social media is not just for the folks in PR and marketing, it’s something that the CEO, VP and other high level executives should also be taking part in. Their interaction will help present your brand with a bigger, more involved and knowledgeable voice.

If you know of other free or paid social media monitoring sites out there post them in the comments section below.

Online demos cost less and generate more revenue than CDs and downloads

2009-03-02T11:32:00.000-05:00

One item that all software marketing professionals must include in their marketing is a demo of their software. It’s impossible to compete, or even show potential customers what your software does without a demo. Some marketers have a good idea of what their demos contribute to their bottom line, some have no clue and just consider demos a cost of doing business.

It doesn’t have to be this way – software demos are a valuable software marketing resource and not all demos are created equally.

Ask yourself – do you really know what your demos cost you and how much revenue are they generating for you?

I’ve done some research to find out how much it costs to produce and deliver trial CDs, downloads and TestDrive online demos. I chose these demo methods because CDs and downloads are the most common form of software demo and the cost is easy to evaluate. I’ve used actual numbers from real producers/service providers to come up with the software demo cost.

To provide the conversion rates, I’ve used real Runaware online demo customer data and recorded conversion rates to compare how the different demos perform. Keep in mind that these numbers are not set in stone and will vary by company but are actual observed numbers from our online demo clients.

We based our numbers on providing an average of 1,000 demos per month for a year for a desktop software package that sells for $150.

	CDs	Downloads	Online Demos
Production cost/CD	$0.98	$0.00	$0.00
Mailing Cost/CD	$2.75	$0.00	$0.00
Cost/Download	$0.00	$3.45	$0.00
TestDrive Setup	$0.00	$0.00	$5,000.00
TestDrive Hosting	$0.00	$0.00	$1,500.00
Cost/Demo	$3.73	$3.45	$1.92
Cost/Month	$3,730.00	$3,450.00	$1,500.00
Annual Cost	$44,760.00	$ 41,400.00	$ 23,000.00

Average Conversion	5%	8%	14%
Annual Revenue Generated	$90,000.00	$144,000.00	$252,000.00
ROI	201%	348%	1096%

While it may appear that the initial cost of an online demo is more, over the year it’s shown that online demos are less expensive per demo and cost less to provide overall. In addition, the higher conversion rate of online demos leads further improves the ROI by generating more revenue.

One added benefit of incorporating online demos into your marketing is the account management that you receive from experienced marketers that help increase your conversion rates by using a proven customer profiling and lead capture system and improve the customer experience using best practices – ensuring a higher return.

Online demos are best used to augment other demos being offered, giving your consumers a choice and providing squeezing more value out of your other software demos.

Do you know how much your demos cost and what they are contributing to your ROI? Do these numbers surprise you?

Forrester Agrees: B2B marketers should be involved in social media

2009-02-24T17:05:00.001-05:00

Just a quick addition to yesterday's post - the Forrester blog just posted an article about some research they've done.

The research basically says that B2B buys are very active in social media and have a high level of engagement there.

Like I said yesterday, it's not should I be in social media but Why aren't you in social media?

Some highlights of the research pulled from the blog post:

Some highlights from this research (start by looking at the right two columns):

91% of these technology decision-makers were Spectators -- the highest number I've ever seen in a Social Technographics Profile. This means you can count on the fact that your buyers are reading blogs, watching user generated video, and participating in other social media. Note that 69% of them said they were using this technology for business purposes.
Only 5% are non-participants (Inactives).
55% of these decision-makers were in social networks (Joiners) -- despite as mature businesspeople and not college students, you'd think they'd be participating a lot less.
43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.) and 58% are Critics, reacting to content they see in social formats. Again the numbers are very high compared to other groups we've surveyed, and again the level of participation for business purposes is also very high.

Read the entire article about B2B buyers in social media here

Online Marketing Summit - Lessons Learned About Social Media

2009-02-23T17:12:00.000-05:00

So I've been back from the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) for a few weeks now, and have somewhat had a chance to catch up and breathe. As promised, I want to provide some information about the lessons I learned and the topics that were discussed, especially those topics that affect us in software marketing. I've said this before and I'll say it again - if you haven't attended OMS and you're working in the online marketing world - I highly suggest you attend. I know it's hard in the current economy, but those educational dollars will go far and the networking opportunities are invaluable.

A main theme at the conference this year was the fact that everyone is dealing with a tough economy, marketers are being asked more than ever to prove ROI on their programs and many are being asked to do more with less. A lot of the presentations focused on how we as marketers can measure our results, market in a recession, wring more value out of what we are already doing and how to make sure that marketing is still relevant when the finance people start looking for cuts. As a professional in the world of software marketing, I can attest to the pain and the topics definitely resonated with me.

A major topic at this year's conference is Social Media. When marketers are looking for ways to advertise, create a community or engage their audience social media seems to fit. Most social media efforts are free and really only take the time needed to set up profiles, fan pages, and keep them updated with content. However, social media isn't as direct a channel as say - emails or PPC.

Another interesting change from last year to this year really struck me. Social media was a big topic at OMS 2008. But the discussions centered more around "should we be in social media?" or "should we be blogging?" and "how does social media make sense for my business?" Now social media is a foregone conclusion, whether you are a B2B or B2C company, it seems to be widely accepted that you can make social media work for you. Blogging has also seem to become and marketing standard - an easy way for you to create fresh content, establish thought leadership, create a community and engage your customers. Now the conversations center around "why aren't you in social media" or "what's the url of your blog" and "what's your name on Twitter?"

This was a bit of shock for me - our company has experimented with Social Media in the last 8 months, and have obviously started the software marketing blog, and gotten involved in a few social sites. The reason we wanted to begin building a community is that we noticed there is no association, conference, blog or community especially for software marketing. It's definitely a niche within a niche, but we felt that the needs of those marketing professionals in the software industry were unique enough that it deserved attention.

But we, like most companies, are still trying to find the best way for social media to benefit our business. And most of all - how do we measure its success? It seems that the measurability aspect is still a question on everyone's mind - everyone is confident they need to be in social media but not confident in the best way to measure its results. However, we were taught that social media should be used to augment your main marketing channels and not measured as a standalone channel.

Here are a few tips I got from a session entitled "Is Your Company Social?" presented by Michael Weisfeld, Sr. Social Media Strategist at BusinessOnline.

First review your business goals and your CRM initiatives - what do you want to accomplish?
What are the metrics you want to measure? Followers, comments, fans, etc?
Come up with a strategy first, then look at the tactics. Determine your costs and manpower investments, see if you have the resources and if it makes sense for you.
If you don't know where your audience is - try conducting a survey to find out where they are.
Find the influential people in your space and engage them - find common terms and topics.
What is your competition doing? If your competition is on Facebook, or LinkedIn or participating in a particular blog, chances are you should be too.
Find topics to talk about - that excite or educate your audience. Look everywhere, your company news, other blogs, current events, etc. The more effort you make to engage your audience the more successful you will be, though getting that initial involvement may be a challenge.
When engaging in social media you need a lively, passionate tactful personality who will be able to connect to the audience. This could be your CEO, product manager or even communications person. (Though most people can tell "normal" writing styles from those of us marketing types, so unless you are trying to talk to marketers it's probably a good idea not to have your marketing people author your blog.)
Participate externally - the more you participate in other blogs, profiles, etc, the more you will be driving traffic to your own social media efforts. Once you establish a connection with another blogger, or an advocate in your market the more likely they will be to participate in your own social media efforts and engender participation from others.

Whether you are participating in social media or thinking about dipping your toe into the raging waters, I hope these tips will help you figure out how best to pursue your options. But as I learned, its not Should I be in Social Media? it's Why aren't you in social media?

Do you have any good or bad experiences with social media? Thoughts on what should be considered when adding social media to your marketing mix?

Selling In A Recession

2009-02-06T14:47:00.005-05:00

Officially the world economy hasn’t become a “Recession” as such but every business person knows we are in a recession and time will tell if it is actually a depression or a deep recession, either way companies are hurt and in the US a lot of people are personally hurting. The number one topic today is how to save money? Companies that have been making money are looking at the future with uncertainty and are trying to be proactive; the standard acceptable norm is to cut 10% of your work force now and get ready to cut more from sales in early 2009 if you’re off target. Along with the cut back in employees companies all have the same marching order “NO NEW EXPENSES".

For sales and marketing this is the worst of times. Sales people are asked to sell more and Marketers are asked to produce more both with fewer resources at hand. As a Sales person how do you sell in this type of volatile market? And Marketer, how do you get more Leads for your sales teams with less?

Businesses will continue to buy new products and service during recession the only difference is that the sales cycle will involve more decision making and take twice as long. If you can prove your service or product can help your customer make more money or save money people will still buy. Marketer, your days of spending loads of money on products and services that produce little or no leads or revenue for the company are done. These types of expenses in the past have always been written off as brand recognition. Brand recognition today will be the companies that survive during these tough times. So concentrate on providing highly qualified leads to your sales team, spend the money on what is proven to work, make sure you have the ROI to defend your purchases, if you do this you and you company will prosper.

Sales folks your lives are changing as well, the days of flying all over to meet potential customers have ended, along with the golf, the extravagant lunches and any other perk that was associated with wining and dining a potential customer. Sure you have to keep your customers happy, so you will continue to do those things but just not like you have in the past, everything will have a purpose and everything will need to have positive results for your company. How you sell will also change, in most cases you will have to prove your product/service does what you say it does, you will need to be flexible and will need to work with your customers to make them comfortable, they need to know what they buy from you will work and will make them look good in the end. You will need to be prepared to run pilot programs so clients can see that your product/service will work for their needs. Unfortunately it is no longer going to be about company X is using our service so why don’t you,those days are gone.

Sales in a recession are possible, actually if done right you can really prosper. The good thing about a recession is eventually it will end and the companies that survive will be the ones that have a good product/service that really is relevant and has proven to work for the masses. Be prepared to listen to the customer and flexible enough to meet their needs, prove the ROI and more importantly have a product or service that does what it says it does.

The Online Marketing Summit - great for software marketing

2009-01-28T14:35:00.051-05:00

Next week I'm off to San Diego to attend OMS - the Online Marketing Summit. This is a fairly small, newer conference that targets those marketers who focus in online marketing. The great thing about this conference, and what makes it different, is that speakers are not allowed to sell to you. you're actually encouraged to boo them if they do!

There is a very aggressive agenda that covers everything from SEO, web strategies and Analytics, to Social Media, Paid Search and Lead generation. The speakers are often industry experts, some from very large respected companies. This year there are 3 tracks - Fundamentals, In Practice and Advanced Strategies. The schedule is jam-packed, but there are plenty of opportunities to network - you're actually encouraged to do so! Aaron Kahlow - the director for this conference, has put together an extremely educational and beneficial conference with a huge following.

Aaron has invited professionals to join the OMS community and help each other. Marketers sharing ideas and experiences to help others and keep up with the latest trends and technologies. There's even a blog where you can read articles constantly posted by some very experienced and successful marketers. I often get a lot of my ideas from this blog, or even reference it in my posts here.

I attended OMS last year, and the things I learned shaped my marketing strategy in 2008 and brought some really great results. I made it a priority to attend this year, and if I could only choose one educational event this would be it. The great thing about OMS is that whether you are a newbie to some of this topics, or an expert, there is definitely something to learn.

I didn't see many software companies last year, and I know it's short notice, but if you are in California, or can make plans with short notice, I highly recommend attending OMS. I think the information learned here applies especially to software marketing as we move our focus online, learn how to make use of social media to promote our brands and our products and most importantly, share ideas with marketers from other industries.

Even if you can't make it, stay tuned because I will be taking a lot of notes, and I'm sure I'll have enough material for several blog posts.

What topics would you like me to pay attention to and post about?

ROI becomes even more important for software marketing in a recession

2009-01-22T11:11:00.001-05:00

Happy new year! It's been awhile since I've had a chance to post and I hope the break has given everyone time to reset and prep for 2009, it's going to be a challenging year!

Everywhere I look lately marketing news outlets and blogs are talking about how 2009 is going to be a challenging year for marketers and how we are all going to have to do more with less. I think this is no truer than for software marketers, especially as our companies have to cut back when consumers and businesses are purchasing less technology.

Now we know that marketing becomes even more important in a recession as we strive to drive more revenue for our companies. Some of us work for management teams that understand this and we are lucky, some do not. No matter your situation, to save your efforts or to justify them, ROI is the bottom line. How are you going to justify your marketing efforts when comparing their cost to the revenue they generate.

As marketers we've always looked at this metric, but now more than ever we need to scrutinize it more, squeeze more out of our dollars and become more inventive with our budgets.

Among the several articles I've read recently, one really struck me. On the front page of the latest BtoB magazine were the words "Frugality First." If there is anything I know more, especially working for a small company, it's trying to be frugal with my marketing budget - and getting the most bang for my buck.

The article covers some great points about how marketers should be looking at their ROI, including how we can be smarter and more strategic. Bring costs in line with revenue - and sometimes that means cutting back if your ROI doesn't make sense.

As software companies look for ways to increase marketing efforts without additional cost, social media becomes increasingly important. Social media give you the chance to get your name out in the marketplace and start conversations with your potential customers. Tying social media programs in with traditional online marketing efforts can create the buzz and viral marketing about your software that everyone strives for and can really produce some results.

A great marketing tactic is also promoting your software in a way that shows your prospects how it will save them money or be more efficient - these issues are on the forefront of everyone's minds during a recession and are almost guaranteed to get attention.

This recession will prove to be a good thing for successful marketers, they will come out the other end smarter and better at what they do.

How do you plan to look at your marketing programs and their ROI to help you during the recession?

Simple Steps to Creating a Compelling Landing Page

2009-01-06T16:39:00.010-05:00

If you engage in Internet marketing, you know the importance of a high converting "landing page"—aka: a promotional page or jump page. Effective creation of these pages is a must for online marketing success. After a click from within a web browser on a search-engine-generated link (organic or paid), the user is directed to a Web site or landing page.

Depending on your promotional tactics, you may be using pay-per-click marketing to generate signups, inquiries, or sales. Regardless of the specific purpose, one fact remains the same; you want the user to take some type of action. In the steps that follow, you will read about some landing-page best practices for increasing conversion rates and getting users to take the action you're hoping for.

Keep the following concepts in mind when designing your landing page:

Headline- Make it Big, make it Bold

If you don't catch the attention of the browser with a big, bold, headline that is relevant, nothing else matters. This is savvy marketers test multiple landing pages at once to see which page proves most relevant to those who are browsing. If a user is searching for Netflix, the headline should be targeted accordingly—rather than saying, for example, "Hey, check out these new movies." Using that type of headline is not particularly pertinent, and as a result individuals may never get past the first few sentences of your landing page.

Include Images

If people have to read beyond your headline and sub-headline before understanding what you're selling or offering, you'll have a difficult time getting them to read any further. Here is where images can make a big difference. Pictures help to convey your message quickly and with less effort. Make sure your landing page goes further than plain text and integrates visuals such as a different colored font, pictures, or video.

Testimonials can Sell

Would you buy a product you've never heard of? What if you best friend had used the product, now would you try it? People like to buy based on recommendations. This is particularly true of online purchases. Getting support from like minded individuals removes fear and breaks down skepticism. There are a variety of ways to share a testimonial that work, you could use any of the following a photo and quote, audio recording, or even a video.

We all like something for FREE

Encourage action by offering something free in exchange for a name and email address. If you're selling a product from your page, consider giving added bonuses for making a purchase. The more you offer at the price point you've identified, the more value you create for your potential customer.

Create Urgency

Create a sense of urgency with an offer that is only valid for a short time. You may also make your offer available to a limited number of new registrants. Both methods work for creating urgency and encourage purchasing. You will need to test your time-bound and limited-number offers to identify the time frame that works best for your potential customers

Give Payment Options

Give users multiple options for how they pay: from credit cards to PayPal, the more the better. Also include an 800-number for any questions they may have. This step may sound obvious but there are many marketers out there that forget about the basics.

Always test and then test again

No matter how good you think you are, you can always do better. Always test your control page in an effort to improve conversions each time. This will ensure that your business will continue to grow and you'll better understand what works and what doesn't with your target audience. It will also help you better understand seasonal trends.

Creating an effective landing page is essential for successful online marketing. Begin with a basic page that follows the criteria mentioned above. Test multiple pages to determine which has the highest conversion rate, and continually tweak the page to improve results and to ensure your landing page will continue to produce long into the future.

Do you optimize your press releases to aid your SEM efforts?

2008-12-12T14:02:00.000-05:00

In today's world most marketers know that their web site is more than an online brochure. It's a digital representation of their company, a community, a store and so much more. Especially in the software industry is this paramount as a majority of our users tend to be tech savvy and prefer to research their software purchases online. Now, more than ever, the effort you put into your web site is going to provide more impact than many other marketing efforts.

We all try to drive traffic to our web site - through search engines, referrals, direct traffic, etc. Our companies also try to keep a continuous stream of news flowing so customers, investors and prospects can see that the company is forging alliances, developing new products, securing new business, etc. Does your PR person/department/agency interface with your marketing department? They should!

So many companies are putting a lot of effort towards increasing visibility and rankings with the search engines. There are a million things you can do towards this goal, and one of the things we hear over and over is to continually create new content. How can you create new content? Well you can write a blog, update your page content, publish case studies and whitepapers, and you publish news.

Whether you are a large or small company, where you have a person, a department or an agency that does your PR - the output is some of the best content that should be added to your web site and indexed by search engines. Each and every release your company posts should be optimized around your key words and should have optimized links back to your site. The more you do this, the more benefit these releases will have to your search engine optimization efforts.

And if you are a company whose releases are regularly picked up by the wires, web sites and publications, even better! The optimized links in your press releases will all be votes for your site and Google, Yahoo! and MSN all look at these - and the more authoritative the news source, the more the vote counts.

Get your PR and Marketing department, or your PR and SEM (search engine marketing) agencies working together! This shouldn't slow down the PR process at all, and if you have a savvy PR firm, if you give them your SEM goals they should be able to handle it themselves. Otherwise just having input from the SEM staff on wording and links for your releases can go a long way.

Inboung Marketing site HubSpot has created a FREE new tool called the PressRelease Grader to help you evaluate the SEM value of your releases by following some basic rules and providing an effectiveness score as well as some suggestions to improve the content of the release. This tool will never replace the expertise of a true PR and SEM professional, but it will help you learn some things to watch out for when writing press releases.

Releases are also a great way to drive people to view your software, so another tip is to include a link to your product page, software demo or even TestDrive online demo - increasing traffic and exposure to your software.

So if you aren't integrating your PR and SEM efforts, take some time and come up with a process that works for your company. If you aren't sure what makes a good SEM-optimized release, try the PressRelease Grader. And if you're already on the ball, you're ahead of the game!

How many of you make sure your PR efforts are coordinated with your SEM efforts?

Sending Business Holiday Cards - Dos and Don'ts

2008-12-01T11:10:00.025-05:00

Sending business Holiday cards remind your clients of your service during a time of year that they typically would not. These cards are more than just being a polite greeting. By practicing wise card sending etiquette, you can create an atmosphere of familiarity and camaraderie between professionals.

Here are 5 basic Dos and Don'ts that will get your best holiday wishes to your customers with a minimum amount of stress.

DO shop early.
Order your Holiday cards as early as possible. You can receive a discount on the total order if you purchase early enough. Buying in bulk can get you another discount.

If you weren't able to get your order in before the discount deadlines you may want to consider choosing an online card option. In the past many considered sending electronic cards as a "too cheap" option but today with so many companies cutting budgets and an overwhelming concern for the environment, eHoliday cards are becoming a positive alternative to turn to.

DON'T try to reach out to every religion.
Your clients probably come in all varieties of faiths and religious practices, but one message that comes across loud and clear is good will.

You don't need to get a sample pack of religious cards, just find a tasteful card that states "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings". Even if they don't celebrate anything at that time of year, you have reminded them that you exist and, more important, that you are thinking of them.

DO be imaginative.
There are lots of ways to make your business Holiday cards stand out from the other ones your clients will be receiving. One way to do this is the shape or the style of the card itself.

It's not much more expensive to get cards in shapes related to your business or service.

If you deal with construction software, what about holiday greetings inscribed on a shiny paper hammer or a card that appears to look like mini blueprints? If your specialty is child education software you could go with a card that resembles a chalkboard. The creative possibilities are endless here!

DON'T be generic.
Request personalized Holiday cards from the card company doing the printing.

You don't want to give the impression that you bought your cards last minute at a quick stop. If you got the time, think about having a design created in house and ask your trusted print company to process the order. The card should reflect your company's image, whether that's bold and respectable, or wild and creative.

DO get the contact information right.
You wouldn't misspell the name of a relative or a friend, so don't do it to your customers. Take some extra care in verifying names, addresses and in some cases email addresses. The only word for poorly addressed business Holiday cards it tacky.

To be successful in business these days it's not just about providing a high level product and service. You must also convince your customers that there is a human side to the service itself.