How Websites Interact with Yellow Book and Other Ads
26.10.07Filed Under: Marketing Strategies, Website Profitablity
I focus on the process and the psychological responses people have when they see an OFFLINE AD, go to a website from that OFFLINE AD, and view a website. The same is true same for online searches finding websites and how they work to win or lose new customers so I touch on that too. I also discuss briefly how “Word Of Mouth” Advertising works and what the built-in, often invisible competition is all about.
I’ve seen how the Internet has evolved over the past 10 years, and what people expect today. You cannot work today in business, especially in an upscale area like the Hamptons where most of your customers use the net all the time, and not have a professional online presence. In addition, being a famous tourist area, you cannot connect to the tens of 1000’s of searches weekly online for this area by people all over the world.
There is a lot of activity with offline advertising - Yellowbook, Newspaper Ads etc. and today most interact with the Internet. Not only directly from the ad, but most of these sites have Websites where your ads also appear - and can easily link right into your website.
Your OFFLINE advertising today must annex your ONLINE presence - your website. Not just that, it has to pique your prospective customer’s interest to WANT TO GO to view your site FROM that ad. Putting in your website address is not all that needs to be done and that is usually the biggest mistake made.
Let’s take a quick look at how you can gain or lose a customer by having or not having a quality web presence.
Today, your competition’s ads will usually have a link to their website. If they’re smart (or one of my clients) they will know the secrets to getting someone to go to the site from that ad)…
If you don’t have a site it can cost you that customer, and if your site is not done professionally, looks great, is constructed properly to pursue a call to action (get them to call you, email you etc.), it can hurt you more than not having one at all.
You open up a newspaper or you’re searching in the Yellow book and you want a Landscape Designer. There you have 10 listings. 5 have sites, the rest do not.
You go to your computer, type in the website addresses and there you have their site.
You do the same for the others using other browser windows so you now have 5 sites up in front of you - this same process happens when you search Google or Yahoo etc.
One site looks great, the photos are crisp and artfully photographed, the site opened fast, it’s easy to navigate, and the other one looks like someone on drugs did it in 15 minutes.
Pick!…
Website images and layout/design elements can create an emotional reaction that is positive, it can aesthetically move someone, it can excite and pique someone’s real interest. How this is accomplished is what website design is all about.
If your site is not professional, does not look great and has poor images on them, and your competition does have a quality site, you will lose that customer right then and there.
You never know about the customers that you lose!
So every precaution has to be taken to insure that you
at least have a competitive chance.
More on Word of Mouth:
I realize this gives you a sense of security as over the years you’ve worked hard to create a reputation. It’s great when you’re booked due to this one advertising process. But Word of Mouth Advertising has competition too and usually it’s invisible and misunderstood - thus relying on this solely can be a mistake. Most do not realize this.
If you’re a builder for instance, and someone is at their friend’s new home and they are seeking to build a new home or have a renovation done, be sure they will ask who built it. But here is where the mistake is - THEY WILL ASK ALL of their friends, who will each have another builder who built their home.
Someone spending a lot of money on a potential new home, will want to call all of those recommendations, and look at their website.
Again, we are in the same place as we were with the ad.
a person went to one source, was referred to a website and now that site is speaking to them about that business, what they offer, what their professional quality is - all of it happening within minutes. The person is either excited to learn more (call to action) or not.
Connecting yellow book or any other ads to a site today requires that your site be professionally handled. It’s not the number of photos you put on a site that matters, it’s the quality and the selection and how the site is constructed. It’s not the size of the site that matters - it’s the presentation, the clean, easy-to-use interface and so on… Behind the scenes, there are many technical issues that have to be addressed I cannot go into that here. Low-Cost, or Do-It-Yourself websites usually are lacking in too many of those technical necessities, and subsequent problems for your website presence are affected that you will not even know about.
Your website works for you as an ad, ad-annex to other ads, and a sales and marketing tool. Your goal should be to create a site, or upgrade one you have, that can be used today for all of the areas covered above. You need to consider how you can best annex your Offline Ads, and drive traffic to your website which should be the center for all of your advertising and sales/marketing efforts. It can expand a small ad to a huge experience, and be the bridge between someone not calling you or becoming a life long customer and tell 100 people about you. All from the interaction between one small ad, a great site, and a relationship that evolved from it.
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Written by
John Monteleone
www.HamptonsWebDesign.com
www.HamptonsDirectory.com
631-725-5251
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November 9th, 2007 at 4:38 pm