In your marketing and sales process, it is often getting qualified leads and customers that tends to be the most costly or difficult within your processes (your funnel).  Once you have achieved that, you want to build a relationship with your customers, and nurture that.  Instead of making the mistake of making it only about a pitch.

So lets take a look a a few things you should remember:

This is why you don’t want to simply have a one night stand.  This means simply trying to “close the deal” with pitches without building a relationship by providing value and show them what you stand for in the market place.  You want to increase the lifetime value of your customers and prospects, and have them come back to you again and again now that you have filled their need.
Your customers are a valuable commodity, to be treated with respect.  You don’t want to simply continuously blast them with offers if you want them to be responsive.  Yet, the truth is I see many markters doing exactly this.  Provide them value, then once every few messages provide the pitch.

If you are the face of your brand, you need to be sure that it gets in front of your customers and see that there is a personal touch.  Provide them ongoing value, and they will keep coming back to you within your marketplace.  If not, it is still key that your brand still has a clear message to your customers, and continues to provide value.  Remember the old rule of thumb that it takes 7-12 contacts with a prospect to close a sale.
If you are interacting with your prospects and customers on Facebook, know that your fans want to interact with you, not be marketed to.  The moral of No one night stands is particularly important in social media.  Remember it is “social media,” you wouldn’t run into a party and start trying to sell everyone, and you must take a similar approach when interacting in social media, think first about what they can learn about you to make a good decision, or interact with you, so they WANT to take further action with you.

Know why your prospect come, and why customers buy your brands product or service.  This means you need to know the real full resason that your customers make that buying decision and what is the complete need you are filling.  It is very easy for people to make assumptions about their customers, but lets dig a bit deeper and you will discover a lot more profit potential by indetifing your market.  Just because a person decides to participate in a fat loss program doesn’t simply mean that they think they are fat.  Why are they doing this?  It may be that the want to FEEL healther, be more appealing to the opposite sex/spouse, or feel more confident with friends perceptions of them.  This is a simple example, but whatever you provide, knowing the specifics of the need you are really filling will put you far ahead of your competion.

Understand that perception often become reality when it comes to marketing and what people think of your brand.  If they have a bad experience they are likely to continue to have a bad perception, if they have a good opinion, then it is likely that it will perceive their contact with you as more positive.  So be sure you have control and know what perception you are creating within your marketspace, is it a good perception or a bad one?  Truth is that within marketing, how they perceive you will have a big effect on the conversion of your product or service.

No more one night stands.  Start thinking about the long term relationship with your customers.  Keep these things in mind, remember that you want to increase the lifetime value of your prospects, and get them coming back to you again and again now that you have them, because THEY know that you can best fill their need within your marketplace.

According to a study released by ThreatMetrix in partnership with the Ponemon Institute, Only 20% have purchased something directly within Facebook, despite ongoing direct exposure to products through Facebook. That this is do in large part to the social nature of Facebook. Consumers are glad to learn about, share opinions, or even be rewarded for interactions with brands they like, however studies indicate that many consumers feel that Facebook is the wrong place to be urged to complete transactions due to its more “social” environment nature, and more likely to distrust motives of brands that do.

In practical terms you could liken it to someone showing up at a gathering of friends and urge everyone to immediately buy a sweater from them, like the cool one they are wearing. Maybe the sweater is cool, and people may want to learn about it in casual discussion, to later make a buying decision. It is not the time, however, to be hawking the actual product.

A separate study, by Oracle, found that whooping 34% of American and Canadian consumers said they would never purchase products via a Facebook page, while only 10% said that they had done so. There is also concerns of security with Facebook stores as a ThreatMetrix /Ponemon Institute study show that 53% of consumers fear that Facebook stores are less secure in protecting them against fraud than typical internet storefronts. Clearly there is a perception issue here.

So does this mean that Facebook order pages and storefronts should be avoided? Certainly not, and there may be special considerations for some direct marketers as well. While Facebook stores may not be best for many brands and companies, it appears to come down to approach. Studies show that the businesses successful with Facebook storefronts are high touch businesses where customers have close relationships with the brand and commonly deal with all customer contacts on a highly personal level and have a one-on-one–relationship, which lends itself to trust. Custom services, personal/consultant type services, and “luxury” type brands are key examples of those that come out on top in studies.

So what does this mean for your business? It means that if you have intentions of selling directly to customers on Facebook, examine your business and the level of relationship with your customers and decide if it is right for you. You must first build a strong relationship, and be able to build higher than usual levels of trust where your brand has a high level of personal touch with your customers and prospects, then you can extend your relationship with direct sales on Facebook in your advertising and marketing campaigns.

This is supposed to be particularly true of led by young affluents, men, ultra-affluents, and high-net-worth affluents. So who are these affluent individuals? The report defines mature affluents as aged 45 and older, high-net-worth affluents as those with *investible assets* of $1 million or more, ultra-affluents as the top 2% with incomes of $250,000+, and young affluents as those aged 44 or younger.

Of this group, about 28% will spend significantly more, and 72% spend somewhat more. Keep in mind that men in general are expecting to spend more as well.

To me this indicates 2 things, first that sentiment among individuals is that the economy is improving and that they feel more secure in spending disposable income.

Besides this survey other indicators are also showing that the buying public is spending more and positive changes in consumer behavior. Besides the obvious opportunities in travel, this is likely to continue to mean better spending across the board by all consumers, but particularly the affluent This means as entrepreneurs and marketers we should look at how we can embrace customers with a more positive light going forward in 2012, as well as look for special opportunities to reach affluents, who appear prepared to loosen their purse strings in 2012.

Look towards your business in how you can take advantage of these opportunities.

A new study also shows that consumer sentiment views tablet and smart phone devices as secure as using typical desktop or laptop computers for making purchases. According to a study by ThreatMetrix in partnership with the Ponemon Institute, 51% of consumers believe the fraud risk is the same on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop devices. Almost one third believe that mobile and tablets may actually be more secure. Only 19% say they believe fraud risk is higher on tablets and smart phones.

This combined with ongoing data showing the quick growth in the use of smart phones and tablets, combined with market confidence indicates that the quick growth in mobile devices with continue and that the proportion of sales is going to proportionately increase as well.

Meanwhile , smart marketers will continue to look forward in how they can utilize mobile within their businesses marketing campaigns and develop mobile specific tactics, so they can make the best use of this trend, growing sales.

This is what I mean, Ok we are all here online, we “know” about FB and social media is all the buzz,with the topic of return on investment with social media participation seeming to polarize many marketing, advertising, and PR folks, but in the end what we need to do is have our brands connect with consumers with needs we can fill.

But are we really doing this and doing it properly?

I was going over some work in my own mind when I came across a review that really crystallizes this well and brings up some things I wanted to point out.

This is what we need to be looking at when bring people to your brand or product on FB:

It’s about the customers.- You want to have contact with them and be able to form relationships with them, social media, gives you clear avenues to do this. It’s about the connections you make with customers, far more than having an outright ROI machine. These connections make customers instead in referrals and advocates for your products/services

-It’s about relationships. You you want to get to know your customers and form relationships with them, not be a one night stand. The value companies can get from investment in social media is directly tied to the relationships they build with customers and a relevant community.

-ROI is also about cost savings. Using the RIGHT and INTEGRATED social media, using the right processes to create efficiencies, often translate into better, faster, and more useful information for customers that result in cost savings (they get you now)or even more sales (easier/high conversions)

Measure what matters-the better connections your prospects have with your product or brand, the more likely those consumers will be positively inclined to buy this is how you increase end ROI

-It’s about inspiration and influence-remember in the end you want to both inspire and influence your prospects so that you have motivated them to make the right decision. This will get prospect to take faster, more decisive action, and who doesn’t want to sell more products, more often, and more quickly?

Don’t believe it? Take a look at some real life examples:

USA Today – Coca-Cola Facebook fans are two times as likely to consume product and 10 times more likely to purchase than non-fans, according to Wendy Clark, senior vice president of integrated marketing.
see http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/talkingtech/story/2011-11-08/coca-cola-social-media/51127040/1

Yahoo – Brands who sponsored content with social features increased purchase intent by 13 percent.
see http://advertising.yahoo.com/article/the-impact-of-social-features.html

eMarketer – Over 50 percent of Twitter followers are more likely to purchase from brands they follow.
see http://bit.ly/sx1dJr

There are some heavy hitters that are testing this move besides the well known Microsoft Windows 7 campaign that uses real consumers saying “Windows 7 Was My Idea”. This includes tech powerhouses Intel and IBM, Best Buy, pizza giant Domino’s, who has not always had luck with media and employees, and conglomerate GE. All who have used actual team members, and in many cases actual customers, to evangelize their products and tell a compelling story in major advertising campaigns.

Since this marketing tactic seems to be gaining momentum, and receiving positive response, the question becomes how can your business get in on the action.

There are 2 sides of this, first in house evangelists that believe in their company, brand, product or service. Second is the powerful voice of customers or clients within the online community. Social media greatly enhances your customers ability to talk about your products and company online. Besides popular social media sites like facebook and twitter there are countless forums, and product review sites to talk about buyer experiences, both consumer and B2B. This can work either to your advantage or disadvantage.

What you want to be able to do is take control of the conversation by being the one to start it, or at least point it in the direction you desire.

Here is how:

Know what makes your company special and why you are the only solution to your customers needs? This is a great way to spread the word so that others can find out too.

They report mobile traffic is expected to be a more focused traffic source with regards to actual buying than other online sources. They are reporting current mobile conversion rates at 3.5%, but IPAD’s are getting a whopping 6.9% conversion on traffic. There is something to think about with regards to targeting. (It also estimates that 5% of all holiday traffic will be specific to the Ipad).

On the other Android user based sales are expected to be way up this year and are expected to be as high as that of Iphone users this year. So don’t forget about Android user traffic.

They predict overall that November online sales will be 15% higher than last year.

Some food for thought in digital ad planning and marketing strategy…

The projected US ad spend alone for 2010 is 27 billion, and 61 billion globally, in US dollars. That is a growth of 16% from 2009. Also note, less than half is from paid search ads, indicating a growing success with banner ads and similar mediums for some businesses.

The vast majority of those ads now claim some form of behavioral targeting. Marketers embrace the concept, question is: does it just increase costs, or is it really increasing ROI in your campaigns? A very cost effective form of behavioral advertising that is becoming increasingly popular is re-targeting.

It is so profitable because re-targeting serves ads to those who have specifically already seen your website and/or performed a specific action, but not purchased. Lets face it, what percentage of your visitors buy on their first visit? The more that someone sees your product, the more likely it is that they will buy it. Traditional wisdom has told us that a prospect needs to see your product 7 times before making a buying decision.

You can regain many of these visitors as future customers, as their likely hood to buy is much higher than cold prospects. Internet consumers investigate before they make a purchase. Even if they want and like your product, they are likely to think about it, shop around, or investigate the product before you can close the sale.

By developing a re-targeting strategy you can expose that same consumer or business to specific ads designed for previous visitors, as they surf the web. Also, for products with a longer purchase cycle, re-targeting is effect because it leverages sequential advertising to reinforce your message, as the consumer goes through the process prior to completing a purchase.

You can build a large base of potential buyers to retarget, by combining re-targeting with traffic-driving solutions. For example, if you run a search campaign, re-targeting would be an excellent complementary solution to drive sales, for those that visited your site, but did not make a buying decision.

A growing number of ad networks support re-targeting as its power has become more apparent. Ad networks can make re-targeting quite effective, because they enable you to retarget visitors of countless sites across the net, rather than just one. You can also provide a custom message depending on the action the prospect took on your site, such as cart abandonment.

Re-targeted ads can be extremely successful in comparison with the an average online ad campaign targeted demographically. One study showed 10 times the number of sales conversions, and 21 times the number of info requests over an array of products.

With a lot of noise online about behavioral targeting of ads, re-targeting is one method that can clearly drive a lot of sales through your site, and improve your bottom line.

Black Friday, total visits to the top 500 retail sites increased 2%, compared to 2010. Small business did even better as overall ecommerce sales jumped 26% compared to last year according to Comscore’s report!

Some people have been asking on the sweet spot regarding time of sales, especially for the holidays. IBM coremetrics reported that the peak for Cyber Monday was around 11am PST/2pm EST.

The best news however is that Cyber Monday rose 22% from 2010, and broke the record for the largest online sales in a day at $1.25 billion, as reported by Comscore. They then report this was followed by 2 more billion dollar breaking days. These three billion dollar spending days currently rank as three of the four heaviest online spending days in history. We are at around $18 billion for the holiday season so far.

As far as take-aways for digital marketers, mobile is looking like a big way to look. Mobile is a big player with 17% of all shoppers are using mobile devices (alhough at 10.8% for cyber monday), as reported by IBM Smarter Commerce. So mobile is taking an interesting share this year. According to the attached article “If you don’t have a mobile strategy in place, get one now.” As well as showing the importance of multiple channels for ecommerce sales, as shoppers are using multiple channels now to complete their digital shopping. (More than seven out of 10 (71%) consumers surveyed by Deloitte said they would engage in multichannel shopping online (meaning looking both online and offline for products for example)

So keep this stuff in mind guys!

Clearly some publishers have a reason to want them to be. They don’t get the fees they would like to charge on these ads, and from a consumer response perspective, many seem to have become “blind” to banner ads in many cases.

Many reasons are given for this, and we do not wish to speculate, however when several experts were asked for their opinon on banner ads, none seemed to believe that this format is dead. Instead it appears to be undergoing an evolution, and smart marketers are learning how to create responsive banner ads that viewers will click.

Savvy marketers have discovered that they are able to buy up these ads cheaply, and when formatted properly, for actual response rather than simply being “pretty,” “clever” or “creative,” are able to receive an excellent ROI.

Another perspective on this issue comes from the likes of Brendan Star, digital media director at McGarrah Media: “”Banner ads aren’t going extinct, but the ways they are used, bought, and served are.” He, unfortunately, was referring to for use in old school branding efforts, rather than actual sales and promotion, however it may turn out that these ads can have a good ROI when designed properly and used selectively.

In the mean time, don’t let anyone tell you that “banner ads are dead”, and most importantly that they do not work. While improperly designed banners may fail horribly, properly designed ads, in a properly executed campaign, can command response, and provide an excellent ROI on your marketing dollar.