VernonGirl

Vernon, B.C. Creative Firm Lava Marketing Erupts New Website

Lava Marketing, the creative firm I launched in 1999, erupted with a new website yesterday. It features a portfolio, our clients and packages for search engine optimization (also known as getting your website to the top of Google), Content Management Systems, Web Design, Logo design, Corporate Identity Design and Brochure Design.

Lava Marketing works fast.....

Lava Marketing is a unique creative firm because we can produce high quality work that is affordable, and ready fast. If you need a web site design, ad design, packaging design or logo design, we can provide you with first concepts within 48 hours, guaranteed.  

We break all the rules, and give you original design files....

Have you ever felt that your hands were tied because you couldn't get the original design files for your logo, a print piece or your website design? Lava Marketing does what most web designers or printers will NOT ever do....once you make your final payment for work completed, we turn over all of the editable design files to you immediately. This gives you more freedom in sourcing suppliers (like printers), saves you time, improves the quality of your marketing and especially saves you money.

We work with all file formats....

We know that some of your advertising partners may not have all of the latest design software. That's why we design in Photoshop (.psd) AND Adobe Illustrator (.ai). We also provide .pdf, .tiff and .jpg file formats. This allows you, our client, the most flexibility when transferring files to your advertising partners like printers or online advertising.

We're really quite small, but our experience is vast...

When you hire Lava Marketing, you're hiring me. I personally take care of you. There is lots of me to go around. I have several suppliers, over fifteen years of marketing experience, own two companies, have worked with various sectors (manufacturing, wood products, mortgage, real estate, public speaking, training, health care, leisure and tourism) and I have a very broad perspective.

Ask us for a Quote...

If you are wondering how affordable I am (we are), fill out our quote request form.

I look forward to being your marketing partner.

Cheers,

Courtenay Pitcher

What are your website objectives?

An Internet presence should begin with a website.
Here are some objectives that your website can accomplish:

*Attract new customers
*Reduce the time to market of certain products or services
*Make announcements to current customers
*Reduce paper and postage charges by using email
*Inform and educate clients about products and services
*Service existing clients
*Advertise your business around the world
*Advertise your business locally
*Increase the value of your company
*Increase your company’s credibility
*Improve your company’s image
*Help you and your staff spend less time on the phone with customers
*Attract new employees
*Show examples of your work
*Replace your brochure with quicker information fulfillment
*Replace service manuals
*Help your customers locate key personnel
*Promote upcoming events
*Attract entrepreneurs to business opportunities
*Offer on-line product purchases and/or product knowledge
*Demonstrate that you are great corporate citizens
*Attract shareholders
*Open a new communication channel to media
*Explain who you do business with (partnerships)
*Book appointments or reservations
*Take applications

Establishing credibility is one of the most underestimated powers of a good website…and a dangerous one for some consumers. A colleague of mine – a webmaster – told me about his pawn shop client who has a website. If you walk into the guy’s store, you see carpet that hasn’t been changed for 30 years and dust that’s at least that old, too. Yet, he has the most incredible website – with nice graphics and professional design, great information and a sophisticated shopping cart system. (That’s because my colleague, the webmaster, designed it for him.) His customers from around the country who buy products off his site will likely never know what a pigsty his store is. His website is first-rate and that is all they will ever see. (Boy! You gotta be careful with Internet blind dates if this principle applies!)

Think of it the opposite way. Sometimes you are better off to pull an ugly website off the Internet if it creates a bad impression of your business. One of my clients had a large website for their Optometry business when they hired me to help them update it. It was so outdated we pulled it off immediately and posted a single page that said: “We are currently renovating our website to serve you better. Please enter your email address and we’ll notify you as soon as we launch our new site.” The former site just didn’t reflect the quality of their service and products and so they were better off not using it at all.

To meet your objectives of what you want to accomplish with your website, here are some items to include:

*Frequently asked questions
*Company structure and staff, along with phone numbers and email addresses for all key personnel
*Products
*Services
*Prices
*Hours
*Locations and contact information, including physical addresses
*Directions or maps on how to find your stores
*Testimonials
*Warranties
*Employment information
*Business or franchise opportunities
*Vision/mission statement or corporate philosophy
*Number of years in business
*Upcoming events
*Community involvement and sponsorships
*Newsletter
*Shareholder information
*Search tool – especially if your website contains lots of information
*Portfolio (for designs, plans, art work, etc.)
*Listings (real estate agents)
*Reservations (accommodation)
*Vehicles (used and new cars)
*Book your appointment (vehicle maintenance, dental, etc.)
*Activities (travel, tour companies, event company)
*Packages
*Mortgage calculator (mortgage broker)
*Site Map – for larger sites
*Applications – financial industry
*Partners (companies you work with)
*Resources (links to helpful sites)
*Promotions
*Customer Care
*Awards

Realistic Expectations…

 “A friend called me up the other day and talked about investing in a dot-com that sells lobsters. Internet lobsters. Where will this end? The next day he sent me a huge package of lobsters on ice.
How low can you stoop?”
--Donald Trump

The owners of a manufacturing company came to me to help them develop a website. They did not have a marketing budget and were struggling to sell their quality wooden fireplace mantels into the state of Washington. They thought that if they had a website, residential home developers would phone them to buy wooden mantels.

It is a myth that a website is the overnight answer to your marketing problems. Like a brochure, your website must be designed, published (or in the case of a website – launched), distributed (emailed or advertised in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or StumbleUpon) into the right hands, read (or seen), have a ‘call to action’ and target a willing participant who acts on the call. If you expect new business from your website, it needs to be promoted properly, measured for effectiveness, maintained and kept ‘fresh’.

For most people, giving birth to an effective website requires a substantial investment in time, planning and money. Although most websites take from three to six months from concept to launch, a nine-month investment in your website baby is not unrealistic if you expect a quality result (unless you have a superior marketing company to project manage for you).

Websites also serve certain marketing functions. Getting new overnight business from them is definitely not one. There are pros and cons to consider before deciding to put the website bun in the oven!

Website Advantages

*A great way to get information into the hands of your customers immediately
*Can be updated immediately
*Can present information statically and dynamically
*Are interactive – providing you with valuable customer feedback
*Are visual and can include audio
*Have unlimited space (very affordable)

Website Disadvantages
 
*Require frequent maintenance
*Can be costly to set up – both in time and money
*Are somewhat of a mystery – kind of like your car if you’re not a mechanic. Your webmaster, like your mechanic, has a lot of power and knowledge and you are subjected to trusting him or her.
*Have continual yearly and/or monthly fees including hosting, domain name renewal and maintenance

Consider Your Timeline…

 “If I had to sum up in a word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.”
--Lee Iacocca

A typical website project, from design to launch, takes at least three to six months. The majority of the time is spent gathering ideas, images and text. Set a timeline for yourself and your web design team upon starting this project. Here is a check list that will help:

1.    Gather information, plan your site, and develop a bid document
2.    Have three design companies bid on your project
3.    Choose a design company
4.    Meet with design company to begin your project
5.    Wait for initial design concept
6.    Review the home-page and sub-page concept. Provide feedback.
7.    Review the home page and sub page again, give the web design company the go ahead to develop the remainder of the site.
8.    Wait for the design company to incorporate all of your images and text into the site.
9.    Review the completed site, test links, proof read, and provide feedback.
10.    Wait for the designers to make final adjustments to the site.
11.    Review the final design and sign it off. Have meta-tags (we’ll explain later) programmed into the site.
12.    Launch the site.
13.    Submit the site to key search engines and announce it to media and customers.
14.    Get your backup and passwords from the design company and make your final payment to the web design team.
15.    Promote, Promote, Promote!
16.    Track your success.
17.    Keep it fresh!

Patience and planning are key to making your website project a positive experience.

Don’t get e-screwed!

 “There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody.”
-Adlai E. Stevenson

When your gut feeling tells you that the prices are ridiculous, they probably are. Continue reading and you’ll know whether you’re paying a fair price for the services you are about to receive!

Budget…
Establish a budget to determine what you can afford. Most website designs start at $900 and up. This cost does not include your domain name ($25 - $45/year), hosting (from $180 per year and up), database ($1,500 and up), or e-commerce ($3,000 and up). Other charges can include maintenance ($40/hour and up) and promotion ($100 and up).

When considering your return on investment, determine ways that a website can save or make you money if it:

*Eliminates or reduces the need to print brochures or catalogues
*Cuts postage and faxing charges
*Cuts time for stuffing envelopes and packages
*Cuts long distance phone calls to customers or staff
*Saves printing charges for brochures, catalogues, annual reports, owner’s manuals, etc.
*Saves personnel time speaking with customers
*Saves personnel time searching for information
*Brings new customers
*Sells products

To do Internet marketing well, it requires its own marketing plan. Every activity in your Internet marketing plan should have a budget, an objective, a market and a way to track success.

Each activity should include costs for creative, time (human resources) and items such as hosting, advertising, maintenance or design charges.

Target Market
Consider who will use your website and it will be easier for you to determine your objectives. Will it be…
*Staff
*Present Customers
*Suppliers
*New Customers
*Distributors

Important for pricing and language considerations, is to determine where your website will be accessed from…
*Locally
*Nationally
*Internationally

Determine which age group will use your website as it will help you consider the information, type style, graphics and technology that you include in the site…
*Kids
*Teens
*Adults
*Seniors

You get the idea! As with other types of media, you have to know your market before you can design an effective website for it.

Revenue
Consider the ways that your website can bring in new revenue streams….
*Support existing products and services
*Offer New products and services
*Advertising or link exchanges
*New customers

Expenses
Consider some of the expenses of website development and marketing…
*Photograph acquisition
*Copywriting
*Design
*Hosting
*Maintenance
*Promotion

Price
Pricing of the website design, hosting and maintenance is important to consider as part of your marketing plan. I always advise my customers to start small and build. Get on the Net with a small investment. Begin promoting the site and generating traffic to it. Then expand.

You also need to consider how to price your products on your website. For example, will you offer discounts for on-line ordering? Will you use your website to blow out slow moving products? Will you offer your purchases in Canadian or US currency, or both?

If you feel that the website will be worth your time, energy and money, then let’s get started!

Blogs are also great alternatives to a website. Read more about blogs.

Thanks for reading.

Courtenay Pitcher, Webmaster, Website content writer

This article was adapted from my book: Secrets of Internet Marketing

How a luxury real estate brand for Kelowna, Vernon and Calgary is born

When Gord Fowler, a dually licensed RE/MAX real estate agent in Calgary and Vernon, came to my company Lava Marketing to create a luxury real estate brand for him, I was delighted.

Obviously, everything about a luxury brand must scream:

professionalism,

quality

and class.

When a new brand is developed, we also make sure that elements like colour, font choices or design touches are consistent throughout the client's marketing pieces. 

For Gord, we developed a proposal that included a new logo, tagline and marketing photo. Once these projects were complete, he hired us to do a web page design, business card design, web page programming and 8.5 x 5.5 flyer.

Gord was decisive about choosing his new brand name: Fowler Luxury Homes. 

We came up with several tagline choices. The one that took first prize was:

You Deserve The Best.

This tagline has a double entendre....not only do you deserve to live in a luxury home with a luxury lifestyle, but you also deserve a specialist and seasoned professional in dealing with Okanagan luxury and resort properties, Gord Fowler.

Here is the logo with the tagline:

 

Every great real estate agent needs a really great photo. Our original intent was to take Gord's picture in front of a crackling fireplace inside a luxury home. As it turned out, the location we used for the photoshoot had a fabulous balcony in front of the Vernon Yacht Club. What better backdrop to scream "luxury" and "Okanagan lifestyle" than yachts? (A blue suit is always a safe and professional choice too.) Here is the result:

We integrated his logo/tagline, with his image to create a web page design that we uploaded (in pieces) to Ubertor, a template website system popular with real estate agents. I have to admit that working with a template system like Ubertor is challenging. We had to adapt our original design to fit into their rigid template. But I'm pleased with the results:

Here is the business card (front and back) that incorporates many of the same elements:

Business Card Back (notice the background with elements of the logo):

This is the 8.5 x 5.5 flyer design just approved:

What do you think of Gord Fowler's new marketing pieces? Do you think we hit the mark so that when you are looking to buy a luxury property in Calgary or the Okanagan, you'll call Gord Fowler? Please leave a comment at the bottom of this blog.

I really enjoyed working with Gord on this project. Thanks Gord!

Thanks for reading.

Courtenay Pitcher, Personal branding specialist

Five Tips For Giving a Blog Interview

As blogging becomes more popular, you might be approached to give an interview to a Blogger (aka Writer, Journalist) so they can create a story about you or your business for their blog. Here is some etiquette on giving the interview and interview follow-up that I have learned by working with various media and publicity personnel over the years in traditional media. I have updated it here to apply to social media as well.

1. Everything is on the record. Bloggers are typically very good interviewers and they will ask you to provide the highs and lows of your business. The Blogger will also assume that everything you say is okay to print. So, if you do not want something in print, don't say it.

2. Make time for the interview. Typically, a Blogger is on a time schedule to make a deadline.  If you can provide the interview when they call you, that is typically most effective. You can ask the Blogger to schedule the interview at another time, but this can lose momentum. You want your story to get out immediately. A third party endorsement is great publicity. So try to make time for the interview as quickly as possible. You may lose the Blogger's interest, or get smaller exposure, if you delay.

3. Be honest and intimate. Bloggers are like bloodhounds. They can sniff a story and don't appreciate bull. Be honest. Be yourself. It goes a long way. They can tell when you're holding back information. Try to give the Blogger a nice new tidbit of info that nobody has written about you or your business before. Maybe a new revelation you've had, an award you've just received or a new client would be something to talk about. 

Reveal something sort-of intimate or personal, like an "inside scoop" or breaking news or developments. If you make a mistake and say something personal that you don't want in print, tell the Blogger that right away. Say, "Oops, I didn't mean to say that. Can you make sure that stays out of print?" Yes, this goes against the "Everything is on the record" point I made above. But Bloggers want to be able to come back to you later-on for more stories, so they don't want to damage their relationship with you. They will recognize your mistake and respect your wishes, usually (unless you are the former Mayor of Vernon and you are fudging receipts, lol.) 

4. Follow up with information or photos quickly. Bloggers are usually working with inspiration, or a timeline in mind. I write when I feel inspired. Then, I want to get the story posted as soon as possible so I can rest easy and feel a sense of accomplishment. I'm not as organized as other Bloggers who have a story plan and a publishing schedule.    No way.     So when I ask someone for a logo or a photo, I want in NOW. (Sorry, I'm a Type A personality.)

Additionally....a story looks better with a photo. In fact, your story gets greater exposure with a photo or video and has more credibility. If you can provide large web resolution photos to the Blogger for their use with the story, it will get you more mileage.

In terms of information...if you don't have it at your fingertips during the interview, tell the Blogger you'll get it right away and then do it. If you can't get the information you want right away, let the Blogger know when you can get it and see if that timeline is adequate. Maintain your integrity as a good source of information by updating the Blogger about the status of that information or following through with it.

5. Thank the Blogger publicly. Once the story is published, leave a comment on the blog endorsing the story or adding something extra to it. Tweet or retweet the story on Twitter. Promote the story on Facebook and/or leave a Facebook comment. These are great ways to build links and traffic back to your website, to show appreciation to your local Blogger who took the time to write about you, and to "toot" your own horn.

Blog interviews are now the new "media" interview. They are important and necessary for promoting your business. Bloggers are often looking for new, refreshing stories, so don't be afraid to approach them about your business.

Have you given a blog interview lately? Leave a comment at the bottom of my blog with a link to the story. I would love to read it.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Courtenay Pitcher