Web-SEO Content & Consulting For Pet Industry Marketers
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Wildly Profitable Marketing for the Pet Industry
Finally — a how-to Marketing Success Guide for all pet and veterinary businesses. Co-written by PetCopywriter.com's Pam Foster.
PetCopywriter.com owner
Pam Foster is a SuccessWorks
Certified SEO Copywriter
Fascinating Facebook Facts for Pet Retail Marketing
November 28, 2011
This weekend, I was browsing through some pet retail magazines and came across a new report that might interest you. It’s called Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts for the Retail Industry, and it includes a number of fascinating facts that may well be worth considering for your pet business Facebook page, whether you’re marketing pet products or services.
- Posting 1-4 times a week produces 71% higher user engagement than 5 or more posts for retail brands: quality trumps frequency
- Posts containing fewer than 80 characters produce 66% higher engagement than longer posts (wow!)
- Posts containing questions generate more than double the amount of comments, even if they may get fewer “likes,”
- Top retail sales keywords that produced more user engagement: “$ off” and “coupon” worked best (55% higher user engagement rates); while the words “sale” and “percent off” (or % off) produced the lowest; even posts about offers less than $10 off produce 17% higher engagement than percent-off posts
- The 2 most effective types of retail brand posts contain a single photo attachment or use only words. Posts containing only words produce 94% higher engagement than avg.
- Wednesday is the best day to post, although you obviously shouldn’t post ONLY on Wednesday.
The best pet marketing strategies start with the fundamentals
December 9, 2010
Last week, I was going through my pile of marketing books and deciding which ones are keepers… and which can go to charity. Suddenly I came across one of my all-time favorites, Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins.
Have you read this classic gem first published in 1923? I have, and I was motivated to read through it again to see what relevance it has to today’s web content world, and specifically for the pet industry.
Believe it or not, the tested marketing principles presented by Claude 87 years ago are SPOT ON when it comes to writing pet web content that connects with an audience and generates sales orders. I can only assume that it’s because we’re still marketing to people after all. Our basic desires, wishes, needs and wants haven’t changed all that much. It’s very likely that your customers want to help their pets or customers stay well or feel better, solve problems and enjoy life, etc. — just as people did 87 years ago.
Therefore, I’m devoting the next few tips to specific and powerful ideas mentioned in Scientific Advertising; and applying them to web content best practices, whether you’re marketing to pet owners, retailers or veterinary practices. Here’s the first one:
Give prospects enough information to take action
Is it true that we must always be very brief online because people won’t read lots of content? Here’s what Claude has to say about this common misconception that I hear a lot in the web content world:
“Would you say that to a salesman? With a prospect standing before him, would you confine him to a certain number of words? That would be an unthinkable handicap. The only readers we get are people whom our subject interests. Consider them as prospects standing before you, seeking for information. Give them enough to get action.”
Ahhh… thank you Claude! I’m constantly torn between the pressure of being super-concise and also giving people what they need to know before making a buying decision.
Here’s how I answer the question, “How much content is too much for a pet business website?”
It depends. If your prospect is buying a dog leash, she probably doesn’t need much content.
But if you’re asking a prospect to change the way she performs a major business task, invest hundreds of dollars in a new service, switch to a new service or trust an online tool that requires the sharing of sensitive information… you may need to spend some time (and content) explaining why she should bother. You may need to explain how it works, why it’s the ideal solution, how other customers are benefiting, etc.
You need to overcome objections, offer delightful surprise bonus benefits and literally win the prospect over. This takes salesmanship in the form of web content.
Here’s a great way to do this (I use this technique all the time):
Interview your best salesperson and ask him or her to go through a pitch that works well with prospects. Capture what is said, how it’s said, what makes the prospect light up and how much it takes to complete a typical sales call. You may discover that it takes more than a catchy paragraph to sway people and move them to buy.
How much content is right for your pet website? As much as it takes to get the highest number of responses.
Until next time, here’s to a prosperous site!
Pam Foster, PetCopywriter.com
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Commit to content clarity on EVERY page of your pet website
October 27, 2009
The other day, I received an entertaining piece of mail from a credit card company. Due to recent legislation, credit card issuers are now being forced to make a “Clarity Commitment™” regarding their credit card account summaries; promising to offer consumers “a clear and straightforward description of their credit card rates and fees.”
Hopefully this “wonderful new commitment” means that fine print will finally be written clearly enough to help credit card holders better understand their account terms and avoid unexpected rate hikes and fees.
However you may feel about this issue, I’m all for anything that improves clarity and informed decision-making.
This prompted me to think about the following tip:
Make a commitment to CLARITY on every page of your site … and you’ll likely see improved leads and sales for your pet-related business.
I know I’ve talked about the importance of clarity, or clear content, in a few other tips I’ve written. But now I’m adding the concept of committing to clarity.
From now on, whenever you’re faced with a web page, make sure the message and flow is clear. This includes every headline, subhead, bullet, chart, offer and call to action.
As you’re collecting your thoughts and preparing to write the content, ask yourself
- What’s the #1 mission of this page? Perhaps the mission is to get a lead, sell something or get someone to sign up for your newsletter. Be clear before you proceed.
- What do I want the site visitor to understand? Identify the main takeaway you want to convey if your visitor is site-hopping and prepared to give your page just a 5-second scan. (Of course, if your content is clear and compelling, the visitor will stay longer than 5 seconds, right?)
- Why would the visitor stay on your page? Make sure you clearly and concisely offer what the visitor is looking for. Provide information that helps him or her see how you could solve a problem. And make sure graphics or animations aren’t distracting the visitor from that solution.What exactly am I offering the visitor? Make sure it’s not just a list of features, but a strong, compelling benefit or reason for the visitor to get excited. Some examples are: the easiest way to choose the right pet, avoid a serious infection in your pet, keep track of your pet, build a dog house, find bargain pet toys, get pets to take medicine, anything at all. Or an amazing once-in-a-blue-moon bargain on something your visitor really wants. Be crystal clear.
- How does the visitor get the solution you’re offering? Again, clarity rules here! If there are any confusing barriers to the visitor’s ability to order a product or fill out a newsletter sign-up form, you’re sunk. So make the trial offer clear and simple. Make the buying process as easy as 1-2-3. The fewer the clicks, the better.
To see a few sites that have made a commitment to content clarity (in my opinion), visit the Pet Airways website.
My tip of the day is this: commit to content clarity on every web page you write.
Here’s to a clear and prosperous site!
Pam
PetCopywriter.com
How to recognize a clear, optimized pet-industry web site that works
May 22, 2009
First and foremost, an optimized web site includes content written for your customers, telling them how you’ll solve their problem.
Customers are not excited about a company that talks all about itself. “We do this, we do that.” (This is known as business “we-we.”)
The number one rule of successful web site content is that it must tell customers how your solutions will meet their needs.
For example, let’s say you sell a series of programs specifically designed to help new dog owners learn how to train their pups for the first time. Your first instinct might be to say on your home page:
“We offer courses on training your dogs to behave. We’ve been doing this for years. We’re really great at it.”
The customer will see this and say, “But what kind of courses? What will I learn from them? How easy or hard are they? How will the courses help me?”
Instead, if your content is written for the customer, you might say the following:
New dog owners:
Learn to train your dog basic obedience skills in just three evenings.
With our easy, helpful tools and guidance, you’ll know how to get your dog to sit, stay, come when you call, and not jump on people.
See the difference? This content clearly identifies the audience (new dog owners) and offers a unique, specific promise that solves their need.
Now it’s your turn. Dig deep to determine the needs your customers are looking to solve when they surf the ‘Net — and then make sure your web content immediately offers a clear solution.
Until next time,
Here’s to a clear and prosperous site!
Pam
P.S. Contact me anytime at pam@contentclear.com if you need help in making your web site work harder for you … or for coaching on how to write optimized content.
Posted in Marketing pet products,Pet Business,pet facebook,pet marketing strategies,pet retail marketing,pet web content,Pet Website by PetCopywriter