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Today's newsletter is about persona and forming
online strategic alliances.
In the first article Gerry McGovern, a prolific
writer, shows how to create a reader's persona, which is a fictional person who
bears the characteristics
of your target audience. By creating a reader's
persona, it is easier to write
or engage a conversation on a personal level and
therefore develop a closer relationship
with your reader.
Well, the picture to your right is not a persona. (You can click on the picture to enlarge.) It's the real me taken in front of Boffins Bookshop where I was giving a talk a
few weeks ago. Now you can write to me as if you know me! Are you wondering why
there are Cadbury
chocolate bars in the window display? Kathy, Boffins Promotions & Events Coordinator,
believes that my book '200
Marketing Ideas for Your Website' is "Like chocolate for your website's soul".
That's sweet food for thought and music to my ears!
Strategic alliances can enable you to grow your
business quickly and economically on the web. The strategic alliances article is
divided into two parts. In the first part you will learn how strategic alliances
can boost your sales, and in the second part (to be published in the next email
newsletter) how you can increase your exposure and enter new markets.
Hope you enjoy this newsletter,
Henriette
The
Key steps in creating your reader persona
By Gerry McGovern
The first step in developing successful reader personas is to decide what
readers you are not going to focus on. Good web management is often more about
what you exclude than what you include.
I know of a large organization that primarily targets four key markets offline,
yet targets 20 markets online. Its website isn’t great, with lots of
poor-quality, generic content. There is no marketing focus and consequently the
website delivers precious little in results.
The Web is about self-service and self-service is about simplicity and
convenience. You’ve got
a small screen and every time you add something extra to
that screen you make the world more complicated for your reader. You must make
very difficult choices if you want your website to work. You can’t serve
everybody, and if you try to you will serve nobody.
Three readers best; five readers maximum
Aim to have no more than three core reader personas for your website, with a
maximum of five. Having three readers gives you a much better chance of creating
a simple self-service environment with clear messages that are immediately
evident to each reader.
Aerlingus.com is a successful low-cost airline. If you go to its website you
will find four clear market segments: Ireland, UK, Europe, USA. However, most of
the homepage shows offers for Irish people flying abroad, because for Aer Lingus,
this is the core market. Like other successful websites, Aer Lingus makes tough
decisions on who to target and who not to target.
The task is everything
Once you’ve identified your core readers, the next job is to identify their core
tasks. Again, you should not have more than three tasks per reader, and ideally
one dominant task. On the eBay homepage there are three key tasks: Find, Buy,
Pay. When you go to Google, there is one: Search.
On the Web, the task is everything and you must focus relentlessly on it. Your
arch enemies
are statements like: “They might be interested in this; Some people
come to our website looking for information.” Nobody that matters comes to your
website looking for information. They come because they have a task they want to
complete. All information must serve task completion. Websites that are full of
aimless, vague information are a waste of time, effort and money. They should be
shut down.
Put a face on your reader
Give your core readers names and faces. Buy some stock photography or do some
photography yourself. Give a little background on John or Mary, and clearly
articulate their tasks. What you want to create is a set of fictional characters
who will become part of the daily conversation. This is vital. Your characters
must be integrated into the day-to-day thinking of the staff responsible for the
website.
This is another reason why you should try and not have more than three key
readers. If you ask your team to get to know and understand three reader
personas, that’s feasible. If you ask them to get to know ten reader personas,
that’s highly improbable.
Our very nature leads us on an inward journey, so we need to work hard every day
to ensure that we focus outward, and genuinely make the customer king.
Developing reader personas helps us do that.
© Gerry
McGovern. Reprinted with permission.
Gerry McGovern provides website content
management solutions. See Gerry's website.
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com
24 reasons to form online strategic alliances
Part 1 of 2: Product sales and development
Strategic alliances are valuable affiliations or partnerships with similar or
complementary businesses. They are not reserved for large corporations. Because
of the nature of the web, you can easily link in with like-minded businesses to
pool your resources and capture a greater share of the global market. By
aligning yourself to carefully selected organisations and sharing your
strengths, you can fast track your online success economically.
The success of strategic alliances depends on what each party brings into the
relationship e.g. assets, experience and commitment and on what terms and
conditions the relationship is defined e.g. joint venture, endorsement or
partnership.
Strategic alliances can be useful to extend your product line, add new points of
sales and consequently increase your turnover. Here are a few benefits of
product strategic alliances:
-
Expand your range of products
Offer a wider selection of products by adding those of your strategic alliance
partners to your regular offerings without incurring the cost of producing and
distributing the goods.
In some cases, you simply need to provide a link and
direct product enquiries from your customers to your partner’s website. If a
sale is made, you receive a referral commission. This type of alliance creates a
new source of income.
-
Cross-sell products
A customer who enjoys your products is more likely to seek and follow your
advice for future purchases because you have gained credibility. Recommend the
products of your strategic alliance partners and receive a pre-negotiated
referral commission on product sales. Because of your trusted recommendation, customers
benefit from a shortened purchasing process (no need to research and review) and
reduced element of risk in trialling new products.
-
Supply holistic solutions
Provide ‘complete’ solutions that require bundling your products with those of
your strategic alliance partners. This is similar to the one-stop-shop principle
where you find
all products and services under the roof (in this case website).
Buying a package deal for
a fixed price is convenient, quick and relatively easy
for the customer to order.
Example: Some web site designers bundle their design services with hosting and
domain name purchases. On the one hand, customers benefit from not having to
deal with three different entities (web designer, web host and registrar) and
having to work out the logistics. And on the other hand, web designers receive a
commission on sales of their strategic alliance partners’ products whilst adding
value to their own services.
-
Create products jointly
Develop new products drawing on skills and knowledge of each partner. Shared
resources and expertise will gain lead time, reduce product development costs
and may also widen the appeal of your product.
-
Develop new applications
Tailor products from your strategic alliance partners to meet the needs of your
own market and likewise, your partners can find new uses or applications for
your products.
Example: My book ‘200 Marketing Ideas for Your Website’ has found a new lease of
life with one of my strategic alliance partners. It is now sold as a human
resource management tool for recruiting staff and volunteers on the web.
-
Invite an expert
Form a strategic alliance with an expert in your field who will answer questions
from your website visitors. Advertise your products on the sidebar where the
answer to the problem is displayed and have the expert recommend your products
when appropriate. From this arrangement, the expert can benefit from free
publicity for his services and possibly a commission on your product sales.
-
Increase perceived value
This is a win-win-win situation. By offering a product from a strategic alliance
partner as
a bonus, you add value to your own product, the customer benefits
from a freebie and your strategic alliance partner gets a special introduction.
Naturally, this can be a reciprocal arrangement where a strategic alliance
partner offers your sample or promotional product.
Example: Give away a half-hour introductory consultation with your partner or a
promotional ebook valued at $29 with each sale of your product. All parties
benefit from this transaction.
-
Gain product acceptance and credibility
To increase the attractiveness of your products or services, have a reputable
expert in
your field endorsing them. As part of the alliance, give a commission
on product sales
and advertise the expert’s own products and services on your
website.
-
Pre-sell products
Recommend products and services from your strategic alliance partners. When a
product receives a favourable mention, as in an article or review, it is usually
‘pre-sold’ to the customer i.e. the customer has already made his mind to buy
the product, before the click on the purchasing link to the partner’s website.
You may want to produce articles and reviews for your own products that your
strategic alliance partners can publish on their websites.
-
Increase your sales force
Your strategic alliance provides an additional sales force. With more people and
more websites to promote your business, your sales should increase.
-
Develop new distribution channels
Add new points of sales for your products using your strategic alliance
partners’ locations to service your customers. This will reassure those
customers who are uneasy about purchasing over the web.
-
Exchange knowledge and products
Save on operational costs by trading products and services for free or discount
prices with your strategic alliance partners.
Example: Within the National Speakers Association, we ‘pick each other’s
brains’, refer customers and sell each other’s books. This strategy enables us
to increase our knowledge base and provide new distribution channels for our
products.
By forming strategic alliances with like-minded people, you can build on each
other’s brand equity without incurring costs.
In the next part, we look at how online strategic alliances can increase the
visibility and market share of your business and conclude with a short checklist
of issues to consider before forming
a strategic alliance.
© 2005 Henriette Martel-Lawson
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