Potential First Client! What should I pitch besides SEO?

12 years ago

As I usually, here's what I say to all clients first...

"Where do you make your money?"

I'm not sure how Duck Commander makes there money, so it's hard to say what to offer as services. And there lies what most people do...

They offer services based upon what's hot or what others are offering, forgetting that business owners don't care about SMS marketing, SEO or email marketing. They care about increasing their profits. Whatever online vehicles get them to increasing profits is what they ultimately care about.

So finding out (which you probably know already) how your company makes money is where you want to start. After that, tailor a plan of attach to introduce your company to those vehicles that will DIRECTLY AFFECT their profits.

- Do they want to sell more product?
- Well then put some products on the HOMEPAGE!

- Do they want more members to login?
- Then start an email marketing campaign with a pop-up giving them benefits to sign-up.

I could go on, but it's pointless without knowing specifics to offer.

Thanks
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RentItNow 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Voasi

As I usually, here's what I say to all clients first...

"Where do you make your money?"

Very good advice.

You could likely double their income with one simple website change. Put ORDER NOW or whatever call to action tests out on the top of the webpage.

The entire top header is wasted linking the page to itself when it could say "Order Now! Free Shipping!"

Also, I would sell them on adwords as it will serve two purposes, get their message, offer etc down and I am sure make some sales.
- Thanks
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I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

Aside from TV and DVD sponsors, the main way we make money via online is products. Whether its duck calls, hunting videos or merchandise. So without being home at MY pc, all I can think of at this moment is to do some research on "duck calls" and "hunting videos" with all relevant searches included. If I can get a report done on all that in time, I'd like to see how hard it would be to make a mobile version of the 2 mentioned sites.

Thanks

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godinu

12 years ago

I would also ask yourself, since you work there, who are the potential customers that are being MISSED right now? Perhaps some hunting forums, readers of certain magazines, etc. You could offer forum posting or advertising to increase awareness; a facebook page, social networking, etc.

Thanks

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Seantrepreneur

12 years ago

I think the hunting forums would be a good place to look. Also, see if you can find some newsletters you could get in. Some newsletters have huge readership and that might be a great place to get some new customers.

Do you guys currently do any email marketing?

Sean

Thanks

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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

Thanks for the replies so far. I'll be looking into all of them.

I wanted to also mention in case it wasn't obvious, the company I work for/potential client is a worldwide brand so the kind of marketing I'll need to be doing will be a bit harder than trying to rank a local dentist for my town.

I just got my hands on the Google Analytics login details and I think that is going to help a TON. Some of the searches I'm seeing have 4k+ searches/mo and we're only getting 230 of it.

Thanks

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Lori Kelly

12 years ago

There are quite a few followers on Twitter. Don't discount the advantages of social networking. Are the camp mocks on the best selling items? That was the first thing that caught me eye. I'm using FF and the text below the mocks is garbled up. ?

I see an opt in but no reason to. Why would I opt in?

Super slow download speed on the "Store" link. I have a high speed connection and it is taking a long time. Maybe a thorough review of the website, every link, etc.

Sounds like a great opportunity. Good luck!

Thanks
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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Lori Kelly

There are quite a few followers on Twitter. Don't discount the advantages of social networking. Are the camp mocks on the best selling items? That was the first thing that caught me eye. I'm using FF and the text below the mocks is garbled up. ?

I see an opt in but no reason to. Why would I opt in?

Super slow download speed on the "Store" link. I have a high speed connection and it is taking a long time. Maybe a thorough review of the website, every link, etc.

Sounds like a great opportunity. Good luck!

Thanks for the input! A full website review will most certainly be in order. the camp mocks are not necessarily a big seller but we just got them in so they're promoting them. I didn't see any error text under the mocks. It might just be the font.

The opt-in you see at the bottom is for Duckaholics Anonymous members. It's a paid membership where they get a special duck call, tshirt, signed poster and discounts in our store along with a few other online shops.

I've written a note to bring up putting a normal opt-in box on the front page. It would be a good way to promote new products and clearance items to new and old customers. I will also mention how the site is slow in some areas.

Also, what is that little picture called? The one that appears next to the site name in the internet tab? It's on the tip of my tongue but I can't think of it.

Thanks

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danielkanuck

12 years ago

Along with seo, you could also offer facebook and twitter marketing, some EZA marketing to get visitors to sample your expertise, implement some email marketing if the cost of your products are relatively high priced, definitely advertising and PPC marketing. You have alot of options at your side, so all you have to do is show your boss how all of this means more sales for him/her.

Also if you can share some of your personal internet marketing work to your boss, this will boost your credibility in their eyes. Make sure it's some major results tho. If your alexa ranking is low and you're not getting alot of sales, they'll probably pass on your offer. They want to see SALES... so show them how much money you're making online, and how they can benefit from your expertise. You never know... do a good job, and they may promote you to the marketing department. Good luck.

Thanks
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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

Originally Posted by danielkanuck

You never know... do a good job, and they may promote you to the marketing department. Good luck.

Thanks! And yes, that is what I'm hoping.

Thanks
1 reply

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Lori Kelly

12 years ago

Hello.

The opt-in you see at the bottom is for Duckaholics Anonymous members. It's a paid membership where they get a special duck call, tshirt, signed poster and discounts in our store along with a few other online shops.

Where does it mention what they get for the membership? If it was on top of the opt-in box, it should increase membership.

Check out the site in FF. Is it all garbled up at the bottom on your screen? It is on mine.

I've written a note to bring up putting a normal opt-in box on the front page. It would be a good way to promote new products and clearance items to new and old customers. I will also mention how the site is slow in some areas.

Perfect!

Also, what is that little picture called? The one that appears next to the site name in the internet tab? It's on the tip of my tongue but I can't think of it

Is it an identity icon - favicon?

Good luck. Come back and let us know how it goes.

Thanks

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Jason Kanigan

12 years ago

I don't believe you should "pitch" anything. Ask questions. Find out what they don't like about what's going on in their world. What do they want to change, what results do they want to get? Then figure out what services you have to offer that will get your prospect to where they want to go. Do not make the mistake of getting too technical--business client's don't care precisely how you're going to get the results...just that you do!

Thanks

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dindocans

12 years ago

Actually, you can do whatever best to you. That is for your own benefits. That is a good courage man!

Thanks

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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

Thanks for all of the replies. As for an update, the 2 people I know I need to talk to both have not been in the office since this post. I tweaked a presentation template from the Offline Optimizer WSO and made a 5 page report regarding our site and SEO needs. I will copy some of the key notes tonight and post them here to see what you guys think.

Since this is my first offline venture, I'm not sure what to charge them if they want the SEO service. I'm not exactly trying to rank a local, easy to get search term here. The main ones I'm going after are "duck hunting" and "duck calls" which we are already on the first page for both, just not in the top 3.

Thanks

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Hugh

12 years ago

Don't "Pitch."
Instead, "Catch."

Hugh

Thanks

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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

Sorry for the semi-bump but does anyone have a pricing idea for a job like this? I want to be ready just in case I see the people I need to talk to today.

I did the math on the keywords I added up the search counts of the 7 keyword's I want to rank the website for, took 15% of that, gave a 1% conversion rate of $30 a sale and it came out to an extra $19,000/year for this business.

Reconfiguring the meta tags, slight design overhaul and everything set aside...what is a good price to charge for a conservative number of an extra $19,000 a year?

Thanks

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Aaron Doud

12 years ago

Since you already work there wait and see if they want to create a position for you to do this. You may end up paid more that way.

After talking to them if they want you to do it outside of work on the side than quote a price. But in this situation I would aim for them to make it all or part of your job.

Thanks

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ebizwizard

12 years ago

A lot of good advice so far.

What I've personally done in the past is provide a simple outline of features and benefits for the potential client. Forget all the fluff and focus on the end goal. Most of the time they won't know what you're talking about anyway.

Congrats & good luck on your adventure!

Thanks

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owenian1

12 years ago

Originally Posted by dminorfmajor

Here's the deal. I work for Duck Commander/Buck Commander full time as my day job. I send out orders, engrave duck calls, etc. Basically, I have nothing to do with marketing or sales. Today I got up the courage to bring up that I've been doing IM and SEO practices for the better part of 1.5 years now. Well some of the powers that be kind of got excited and said I should talk to our boss about it.

So tonight I'm going to do some research and make a small report on the business we're losing out on due to not being ranked for our product's relevant keywords. The only traffic our site gets is pretty much direct traffic because we've been making hunting videos for 16 years and we have our own show on the Outdoor Channel.

The site is Duck Commander Official Web Site and Buck Commander. By looking at the sites, main one being DuckCommander, what would you pitch? I'm thinking of SEO right off the bat but I also would like to add some flair to the presentation like maybe a mobile site or something else.

I'm really excited about this and I'm looking for all of the help I can get. Thanks Warriors!

wow, after reading your post I had no idea what a duck commander was except that it was a website. After looking at the site I am still unsure what it is - I assume it has to do with duck hunting.

Metta tagss could be improved in both the keywords and description. For example do you really think lots of searchers are looking for the keywords 'duck commander'

Not much text on the main page so how is Google supposed to know what this site is about?

Do you service local area - if so build a place page

Do article marketing and blog commenting.

Good luck

ps What did you put in your report and how did the boss react?

Thanks

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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

I forgot all about this thread. Basically what happened is I wow'ed some people who had no idea about me having knowledge in this field. I don't really broadcast my moonlighting career as an IMer. It's still in the works but I'm hoping that once duck season is over Jan 31st that I'll work my way into a marketing position of sorts.

Thanks

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cuppatea78

12 years ago

I would also personally start a Facebook fan page and get a twitter account (if you haven't already).

There is massive potential with having a very well laid out fan page. If you are unfamiliar on how to create a nice effective fan page you might want to check out a WSO by Peter Beattie called Fan Page Carnage. That is a pretty could place to start and would be very effective IMO.

Thanks

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dminorfmajor

12 years ago

::UPDATE::

Well I've gotten official word that come February 1st, I'll be getting moved from the warehouse into the office area doing Online Marketing for both companies! I'm pretty excited and I owe most of it to this forum for keeping me motivated the last couple years.

The part of the meeting that surprised me most is how the bosses were mainly focused on our FB/Twitter pages. They're excited about SEO and all that but me running the fan pages was the big topic.

This is going to be a great opportunity and I can't wait. Being an outdoorsman, I love working for this company but if for some reason this job doesn't last, at least I have a multi-million dollar business I can put on my resume now. Thanks SO much guys!

Thanks

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Lori Kelly

12 years ago

Totally awesome and a huge congrats to you! You will rock this new job. Good luck to you dminorfmajor.

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Potential First Client! What should I pitch besides SEO?

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