Using Sex to Sell - Marketing Fail

Yet another Marketing Fail from Facebook. Here we go...

THE EPIC MARKETING FAIL

What does this image have to do with a link building strategy?

Personally, in the B2B space I think it is very risky to use any kind of imagery like the one in the above Facebook ad. First thing that happens in this case, is that your prospects are associating your brand with the image they see.

So RYP Marketing - is this an ad for an escort service? Is it some kind of dating line? Or maybe its for bikinis? I am confused... let me read the copy in your ad.

NOPE, actually its for link building (and... Infographics?!) to increase your website's SEO ranking. Interesting. That is probably the last thing I would have guessed after seeing this picture.

Okay, so some of you will argue that the image will get people to look at the ad. As I'm writing this my wife walks by, sees the ad, and says, 'what the...?' and I explain that I am writing a new entry for Epic Marketing Fails. She later comments 'not very professional'. Well, she just proved my point before I even had to write it down. 

Although ads like this may originally get people's attention, they do so at the expense of everything that comes after that first glance.

THE UN-FAILURE

When it comes to using images for your B2B brand, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Keep it professional. Anything you use in your ads wil be associated to your brand, so use the front page of the New York Times scenario. If you wouldn't want to see the image with your company name beside it on the front page, don't use it.
2. Don't use boring corporate stock images. These have been done a million times and if you are going to use the guy sitting at his glass desk looking at his blacked out iMac monitor, please just don't use an image at all.
3. Be different. Sticking out is a good thing, but as long as its done in a professional manner. To be honest, I am guessing that is where RYP Marketing is coming from. They are on Facebook and they are trying to break through the noise. The reality is that there is a lot of noise out there these days and Marketers need to be more creative and intriguing than ever to get people's attention. 
4. Don't spend too much time on graphics. Content is king, and having a great creative around it will simply augment it. When short on cycles, spend more time on your content and less on creative. 
5. Test. Test. Test. Try out different banners, images and layouts. Marketing Automation tools like Marketo make this easier than ever to do effectively. I would also recommend checking out www.whichtestwon.com. It's a site that shows the results of marketers A/B tests on their campaigns. It is truly amazing how seemingly minor changes can lead to massive gains.

That's it for this time guys. Now let's hit the beach!

Epic Website Fail

For this post, let's look at an epic website marketing fail:

Flash website fail.

THE EPIC MARKETING FAIL

Open this website, and then come back and read the rest of this blog post. The website took a 63 seconds to load on my machine and my internet is usually pretty fast. On the web, where even patient people have A.D.D., that is about 60 seconds too long. The bounce rates on this website must be really high (close to 100%). In that minute, most people are probably thinking 'I haven't waited this long for a website to load since the days of dial-up internet. This site must be really good'. But, if its on this blog...


It could use some work. The load time is the first issue. Here are some others:

• After the load screen, you are presented with a bunch of numbers and its difficult to know what to do
• Then the music starts...
• The homepage contains a lengthy history lesson
• About us is a picture of a tradeshow booth with a bunch of servers/technology
• There is a section about horses and Equestrian (it's an IT security company)
• Products page is a very difficult to read networking diagram
• On the contact us section you cannot click on or copy the email address
• There is a timestamp to show when they updated the site. Some pages date back to 2009

THE UN-FAILURE

Here are the top 5 tips to ensure your website does not end up on Epic Marketing Fails:

1. Don't make a flash website

Flash sites can look great. I've seen some beautifully designed flash websites. The problem with them is usability. If your site doesn't load in under 5 seconds, you are losing visitors. If you are losing visitors, you are losing customers and money. Not to mention all of the iPhone and iPad visitors that are now gone.

2. Design your site for your visitors, not you

There is a fantastic story behind every business, but people are not coming to your website for that - they could care less. They are coming to your website to figure out how they can solve their problems, and are trying to decide if you are the right person to help them do that. Your homepage should clearly tell them what problems you solve, and point them to other pages that help them make their decision.

3. Keep it updated

People want to know that they are looking at recent information. Having at least one section of your website (a Twitter feed is a good one) that is constantly updated at least gives the sense that you care about your website and the people coming to it. If you are not updating your site on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, remove any timestamps that show when it was last updated.

4. Make it easy for people to get in contact with you
Your website should make it easy for people to engage with you. Don't make them search your contact information that is buried on one page. If possible, have chat functionality where people can reach a live person at any time. If you have a CRM system, use a form so you can track exactly where your leads are coming from. If you can't support chat or a form, at the very least make your email address hyperlinked so it automatically opens someone's email application.

5. Create a lead generation engine

Websites are no longer one way vehicles to get your information across. With CRM systems like Salesforce and marketing automation like Marketo, you can transform your site to start generating leads for your business. Offer your prospects something interesting of value, and in turn get their contact information to start a relationship with them. Giving people information is great, but getting theirs in return is even better. That way you can help them along their buying cycle and accelerate their purchase. Not to mention making your business look good and establishing your company as a thought leader in your field.