lead generation

advertisingskyworkmedia If you can spare some cash, a tight economy is actually a great time to do some advertising to expand your brand’s reach. Your competitors may be pulling back on advertising, which makes this a good time to steal some share from them. All of this is meaningless if you don’t have effective advertising.

I’ve seen many clients who have pretty good click-through rates for their ads (especially Google AdWords), but when you take a look at how much they’re paying for a conversion (usually a sale), it often is more than the product is selling for. Here are some tips to make your advertising more effective:

Tout benefits to the customer.
Be clear and to the point.
Make your brand stand out.
Don’t be obnoxious – avoid too much movement.
Ads should lead to an effective landing page.
Make information needed for purchasing clear and consistent.
Minimize clicks for whatever action you want people to take.
Target your ads to places that actually have potential customers.
Don’t try to trick your customers.
Be attractive – your ad and landing page (and website) need to look good.

What else makes for effective advertising? Please share any ideas in the comments below.

(photo by Skywork Media @ Flickr CC)

Technorati Tags: advertising, ads, marketing strategy, internet marketing, internet advertising, business, marketing

butterflyjustchaos Now that we’ve had an overview of what customer-centric design is, let’s discuss how it can be used to create leads.

Providing Valuable Information

Having a reason for customers to visit your site is the first step in creating leads. The most important aspect of customer-centric design is providing your customers with exactly what they are looking for. Think about everything they might come to your website to look for and make sure the information is easy to find. It should also be easy for customers to contact you with questions or concerns.

A Place to Connect

By providing a place for your customers to connect with each other and with you, you can help your customers get the information and support they need. More importantly, you’ll be able to get information about who needs help and where they are in the buying process.

Enticement

Do your customers have a reason to give you their contact information? Is there some useful information or service you can provide for free in exchange for contact information? Enticement to create leads can be very effective for you and provide a useful service for your customers. Remember to keep information gathering to a minimum. (name and email work best).

How do you use customer-centric design to create leads?

(photo by Just chaos @ Flickr CC)

Technorati Tags: customer-centric, design, customer-centric design, usability, customer service, brand, brand management

lead generation

Do you have Effective Advertising?

Creating Leads with Customer-Centric Design