by Greg Milner | Apr 12, 2014 | Blog
It’s a game changer for sure.
And Google can certainly do that since they pretty much run the online show.
So, here’s what new and decidedly different.
Google has made the biggest change to their search algorithms since 2001. Called Hummingbird, the new change affects 90% of all searches.
Instead of the old style traditional keyword search, Google now uses conversational searches to deliver results. Why? Because that’s how most people search for what they are looking for.
And yes, that means searchers are using longer search phrases and more specific phrases to find what they want. Instead of “iPhones,” searchers are using phrases like, “Where can I get the best price on an iPhone 5?” (Business News Daily, 10/1013)
But here’s the kicker: 
“Content for the sake of ‘words on a page’ doesn’t have the base value it once had,” said Bill Sebald, owner of Greenland Search Marketing, a search engine optimization consulting group. “Now your content really has to answer something. This should move content strategy higher on the list of business marketing objectives. It’s now even more important for desktop and mobile SEO.”
- Searches are more conversational
- And your content has to answer something
No more poorly written copy stuffed with keywords like a Thanksgiving bird.What you write has to add value. It has to mean something not only to your clients, but to Google. I’ve preached that forever. Thanks Google for catching up with me!If you ever needed validation that conversational copy paired with a message makes you money, you now have it.
This makes the 580 articles in the Salon & Spa Beauty Bank the equivalent of Internet gold. Go here to learn just what you get with The Bank. Then, as Nike says, Just Do It. Join up! As a bonus, I’ll also give you 4 articles that encourage gift certificate sales, a value of $400. None of these are in The Bank library.
Work Smarter,
P.S.
Hate to write marketing articles and Facebook posts? Wish there was someone you trust that could do it for you? Check out the Salon & Spa Beauty Bank here.
by Greg Milner | Jun 4, 2013 | Blog, Featured, The Right Mindset
Sharp-eyed Worldwide Salon Marketing member David Wood of Elan Men’s Hair in Brisbane is another who can thank his immersion in ‘our’ way of salon marketing for honing his B.S. Antenna to a state of high alert.
David sent me an article written by a purported ‘expert’ on customer retention that makes my eyes water.
Under the heading “Don’t ask customers why they left you!”, the article argues, correctly, that customers leave for three main reasons:
* Drawn: They are drawn away to a supplier that offers them substantially more of what they value (e.g. service, benefits, savings, etc.).
* Drift: They drift away to a similar supplier who offers them marginally more. Most often this occurs at points of change in their own life (e.g. moving job/house/site, having children, etc.).
* Driven: In the absence of a strong engagement, they become disenchanted over time and then a particular incident (trigger) pushes them to change suppliers.
But then the author falls in a hole, with the scholarly opinion that “…instead of asking them why they left you, try the following strategies to reduce customer defections:
1. Conduct value research
* Use analysis of relevant online discussion forums, traditional focus groups and other tools to identify what customers actually value from their relationship with you. Then use these insights to drive value into your customer relationships.
2. Leverage your customer data
* Use customer complaints data to prioritise and address those things that annoy customers (and start collecting it immediately if you don’t already!)
* Statistically analyse customer transactional behaviour to identify other change triggers (positive and negative).
Online discussion forums? Focus groups???
Oh, yawn. In other words, tip-toe around, do anything except send ‘em a letter, in an envelope, with a stamp on it, asking them to come back and giving them a bloody good reason (offer) to do so.
It’s classic avoidance strategy, padded with big words and fancy phrases, to give business owners comfort for not doing what it takes to get the damn customers back.
If you want to do ‘research’, here’s my contention: get the customers back first, then find out why they left in the first place. If they’re standing right in front of you, having eagerly responded to your ‘come back’ offer, that’s a pretty good place to start your ‘focus group’. Particularly after they’ve just been blown away by a ‘wow’ experience.
“C’mon Shirley, we haven’t seen you for three months. What happened?”
Sometimes, ‘experts’ just love to over-think things. Thankfully, our Members know the value of a well-crafted ‘Raise the Dead’ series of letters they can simply download from the Membership area. Many are getting a 30% response rate, or better, sending these letters to their ‘missing in action’ clients.
Like, for example, Hannah McEnteggart of Oasis Health & Beauty Spa in Great Missendon, UK:
