The Customer Factory

Although I started using and recommending Constant Contact from just about the time they opened their doors in 1995, I know why many people avoid marketing with email – or don’t do as much with it as they should.

And even though email marketing has the highest ROI of virtually any marketing channel (20x higher than direct mail), and is the best way to communicate with up to 500 of your closest friends for the impossibly low price of $15 per month, I understand your hesitation.

I know because I have gotten scores of clients up and running with email marketing over the years.

And Constant Contact knows because they’ve helped their customers face and overcome the same 3 hurdles tens of thousands of times.

The Three Biggest Obstacles Slowing You Down Are:

1. Gathering Your Contacts

2. Creating Your Email Template

3. Deciding What To Write & Finding The Time To Write It

But never fear. Because we have all these problems solved  and will show you what to do at a special educational seminar  at The Microsoft Store in Arlington next Monday morning February 18, 2013 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.

Getting Started with Email Marketing

In this fast-paced one-hour seminar you’ll learn how to quickly get up to speed with email marketing and begin making the most of this powerful marketing channel.

We’ll talk about seeding, growing and managing your list. You’ll learn how often to mail, what to say, how to get the most people to open, read and share your message, and how to read the reports when you’re done.

If you’ve been meaning to do a better job with email marketing (for years?) now is the time to learn how.

Is Your Business Invisible Online?

After we spend an hour learning how to grow your organization with email marketing, we’ll take a deep breath and then spend 60 minutes talking about how to get your information on the front page of Google – pronto!

Few things confuse entrepreneurs and non-profits more than the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Everyone has an opinion on what the most important factors are to ensure a good placement on Google search results. But no one would argue that this is not a critical factor in local business marketing today.

By the end of this seminar you will understand more about the topic than you may have thought possible.

And you’ll walk away with my DIY SEO handbook:

Three Weeks To Local Search Domination

So, join me, won’t you?

Getting Started with Email Marketing

PLUS

Is Your Business Invisible Online?

Monday February 18, 2013

8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

The Microsoft Store

The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City

1100 South Hayes Street | Arlington, VA 22202

Admission is Free but Seating Is Limited!

Click This Link to Register Now

Is Your Business Invisible Online? Secrets of Local Internet Marketing That Can Put Your Company on Page One of Google This Week

Wondering how to start getting phone calls from new prospects via the Internet? In this 52-minute webinar Frank Felker explains it all.

Let’s face it, unless they already know your company’s name, local buyers of your product or service can’t possibly find you when they are searching for what you do online. Even if you have a web site.

This is a big problem because thousands of local buyers are searching for immediate solutions to their needs everyday on their computers, smartphones and tablet devices.

They’re not finding you so they’re buying from your competitors, costing you thousands in sales every month.

Learn how to stop being invisible and start becoming famous online in this informative video from Frank Felker, Founder and President of The Customer Factory.

Here’s what you will learn:

How search engines work.

What you’re actually seeing when looking at search results.

And how Google decides whether your site or your competitor’s site is going to appear on the first page.

Then Frank shows you the difference between what you see on a web page versus what Google sees and how that determines who ends up on page one.

Frank talks about the powerful opportunities available when you focus your search optimization efforts on local buyers.

And he does a number of live search demonstrations which prove his techniques work.

Frank Felker of The Customer Factory Named Authorized Local Expert in Washington, DC area by Leading Online Marketing Company

Click Graphic to Download Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Frank Felker Selected as Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert

Old Town Alexandria marketing expert to help small businesses and non-profits apply the power of online marketing to grow their organizations.

ALEXANDRIA, VA December 11, 2012

Frank Felker, Founder and President of The Customer Factory, has been selected as an Authorized Local Expert by Constant Contact®, Inc., the trusted marketing advisor to more than half a million small organizations worldwide.

As an Authorized Local Expert, Felker will offer training seminars on best practices in online marketing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

“We are thrilled to have Frank Felker as part of the Authorized Local Experts program,” said Catherine Kniker, Vice President of Local Success at Constant Contact.

“We believe education and training on marketing best practices leads to more success for small organizations. Our Authorized Local Experts are in a fantastic position to serve their local community by sharing their expertise and our successful, educational KnowHow.”

Frank Felker will be hosting free small business seminars and training workshops throughout the greater Washington, DC area focused on using email marketing and social media marketing to engage key audiences, drive dialogues, and build relationships.

Click this link to download entire press release as PDF.

The Customer Factory Produces A Video Explaining Fred’s Best LifeTime Trim Process

One of the most vexing aspects of maintaining the exterior of one’s home is exposed wood trim around windows, doors and siding.

While wood trim looks great, it doesn’t hold up very well under the elements and requires frequent repair, replacement and repainting.

This video, produced for the home improvement company Fred’s Best Windows, Doors and Siding of Vienna, Virginia, demonstrates the company’s proprietary LifeTime Trim Process, which guarantees that homeowners will never again have to perform any maintenance of any kind to their exterior trim.

Video Script

In their quest to create a completely maintenance-free exterior, many homeowners overlook one of the most important – and certainly one of the most troublesome – features outside their home:

Exposed Wood Trim.

Without a doubt, new energy-efficient windows, doors and siding all mean a big decrease in the amount of painting and repair you’ll have to do after you replace them.
But, if you don’t get your wood trim capped, and capped correctly, you’re likely to be back up on that ladder every couple of years – or paying someone else to get up there and repair the rotted wood and paint over it as it succumbs to the elements.

That’s why the good folks at Fred’s Best Windows, Doors and Siding created their proprietary LifeTime Trim Process. To allow you to forget about exterior maintenance for a lifetime, while still maintaining the architectural integrity of your home’s design.

Unlike other home improvement companies, the craftsmen at Fred’s Best go to extreme lengths to ensure that your covered trim matches the original appearance as close as humanly possible. When they’re finished your home will still have the attractive look of wood trim, but with none of the headaches.

And, as part of the LifeTime Trim application process, they use no caulking whatsoever. Instead they use an industrial-grade adhesive that guarantees your home’s wood surfaces will never again be exposed to the elements.

So there you have it: Fred’s Best LifeTime Trim Process. Beautifying and protecting your home for a lifetime.

For a no-obligation exact cost proposal give us a call at 703-888-5805.

Mention you watched this video for a special bonus offer.

Are Daily Deals a Good Idea for My Business?

Daily Deal sites can be a very powerful marketing medium for some businesses.

They can also be an utter disaster if the merchant hasn’t fully thought through his strategy and tactics for handling the rush and converting the maximum number of one-time customers into long-term clients; sources of ongoing repeat and referral business.

This video gives a fascinating insight into the experiences of three business owners.

How Free Can Mean Profitable in the Mobile Marketplace

Have you ever wondered why Google has put so much time, money and promotional effort into Android, the smart phone operating system that they give away for free?

Unlike Apple with its iPhone, Google doesn’t sell smart phone hardware, though they will, once their Motorola purchase closes. There is no way they can profit directly from the sale of Android-powered phones. So what’s all the fuss about?

The fuss has to do with the unique relationship we humans have with our smart phones. We love them. We interact with them constantly, texting, surfing, mailing, playing, paying, watching, listening and, occasionally, calling. When we’re not slobbering all over them we’re sure to always keep them close at hand – even when we’re asleep.

From a marketer’s perspective there has never been a medium like the smart phone to communicate your messages over.

Google wants you to have an Android phone so that you will connect all of your Google contacts, Gmail, Google+ friends and any other Google solution you use regularly. Once all of those connections have been made in your most treasured possession, Google has you right where they want you. They also now know where you are and a little bit about what you’re up to.

Combined with what they know about your search and surfing history, they are better able to deliver just the ads and offers you are most likely to respond to. That means more money for them and their advertisers.

So how does all this relate to you and your business? In short you need to follow Google’s lead and get on the mobile bandwagon.

The Mobile Marketplace
Your target market is on mobile. Some day in the next 3-6 months more Internet traffic will travel over mobile networks than over tethered ones. I could quote stat after stat about the rise of the mobile marketplace but just take my word for it: if you’re not accessible via mobile today you’re falling behind and if you’re still not there tomorrow you will be invisible.

Mobile offers you opportunities to connect and communicate with your target market in ways that have never been available before. You need to start learning all about it and creating promotional messages for your company that can easily be accessed and consumed via mobile.

For starters, there is over a 90% chance that your web site looks like crap on a smart phone. You need to get that fixed. Now.

Beyond that, having a mobile-optimized video brochure for your company is an absolute home run. It’s the equivalent of a 2:00 television commercial delivered directly to the nose of only the people most likely to buy from you, which they can watch whenever and as often as they like – and forward seamlessly to as many friends as they want.

SMS Marketing
Perhaps the stealth missile of the Mobile Marketplace is SMS or Text Message Marketing. Incentivizing prospects to text a keyword (like FREEFOOD) to a shortcode (like 72727) allows you to gather their telephone numbers, segment them into special interest groups, and then send them infrequent, short promotional messages related to that special interest going forward. I will devote an entire article to this concept soon but let me give you a couple of quick stats to support the power of this medium. Average broadcast email open rates are less than 20% over the course of 7-10 days. Average text open rates exceed 90% and generally occur in less than 30 minutes.

Why do you think American Idol has been using this technique for over 10 years?

Let me return to the bottom line: You need to get on the Mobile Marketing bandwagon sooner rather than later. Start learning and getting comfortable with the whole concept now so you’ll be prepared to act as soon as possible.

Give us a call at 703-348-7390 with any questions on how to implement a Mobile Marketing strategy for your company.

Web Sites Are Now Free For Virginia Businesses

If you still don’t have web site for your Virginia-based business, today is your lucky day.

Google and a variety of government agencies and trade groups have partnered to give you a free web site, free domain name and one year’s free site hosting.

According to Google…

“Virginia Get Your Business Online is a Google-led program dedicated to driving economic growth by providing Virginia businesses the tools and resources to get online and succeed.”

While it is true that getting more businesses on the web should help overall economic activity, Google’s motives are not entirely altruistic. The benefit to them is getting more AdWords advertisers onto their system.

Whatever their motives, this is a good deal for every local company that has been meaning to get their company on the web for years.

Every business owner can benefit from a strong set of sales skills but very few have them.

In this workshop I combine my 30+ years as an entrepreneur and sales professional to teach business owners how to think, act and close like a professional salesperson.

Drawing from lessons outlined in my 2004 book, The Greatest Job You Never Thought Of, I explain how, in spite of my many years as the owner of a successful business, I never really learned what sales was all about until I was forced to succeed as a commission-only salesman for a home improvement company.

That company provided extensive sales training and showed me how a sales-focused organization operates. They also gave me the opportunity to earn as much as $20,000 per month if I was willing to work for it.

In this workshop I dispel some myths and communicate some truths about sales while also sharing real, actionable information that any business owner can use to increase their company’s sales almost immediately.

I first presented this workshop yesterday at Connect113 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, where it was very well received. If you’d like to have me present it to your business group, please give me a call at 703-348-7390.

Is It Time For Your Home-Based Business To Run Away From Home?

In this excerpt from Radio Free Enterprise you’ll hear from Billy Winburn, Co-Founder of Connect113, a coworking facility in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

Billy and I discuss a wide range of topics that should be of interest to any home-based business owner who’s feeling a little cramped by trying to run a home and a business out of the same building. Not only are your kids, pets and spouse driving you crazy with their constant interruptions, you’re also driving them crazy by working so hard to ignore them.

You probably think you can’t afford something like Connect113, but when you look at what you’re already spending everyday and all the benefits you’ll get, you’ll begin to wonder why you haven’t done something like this sooner.

Give a listen and see what you think.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash? Download the mp3 of this interview by clicking on this link.

Sinclair Engineering Company in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Engages The Customer Factory To Create Web Presence

This professional engineering company has been in business since 1989 but only recently decide to present themselves on the web through a web site design and deployed by The Customer Factory.

Built using the WordPress platform and the Small Biz Theme from Expand2Web for maximum search engine optimization, the site has a built-in blogging capability and describes the four categories of engineering services that Sinclair Engineering Company offers:

1. Residential – for homeowners and residential real estate investors
2. Commercial – for current or prospective owners of or investors in office buildings, warehouses or shopping centers
3. Governmental – for state, local and federal owners and managers of properties of all kinds
4. Forensic – for the legal and insurance professions

Especially interesting is Sinclair’s Forensic Engineering services where they examine a property that has been damaged by storm, fire or accident and determine if there were any existent underlying design or construction flaws and what will be required to repair or rebuild the structure and bring back up to code.

As with every site they build, The Customer Factory installed Google Analytics tracking code on the Sinclair site and also created a mobile-optimized site designed for easy viewing and interaction via smart phones such as iPhones and Android phones.

To visit the new Sinclair Engineering Company web site, click the graphic above or this link.