Published on Thursday, January 18th, 2018 under Facebook

What the latest Facebook changes mean for your business

Last week, Facebook announced some changes.

They’ll be prioritising posts from friends above posts from businesses.

The goal is to make Facebook a better experience for their 2.07 billion users across the globe. Makes sense.

But the reaction from marketing people around the globe has been mixed. Some are worried.

Whether you should be worried or not, depends on your current Facebook approach.

If you see your Facebook page as purely a sales channel, you should stop now.
If your posts get barely any likes or comments – it’s only going to get worse.
If you’re not prepared to boost or promote your Facebook content, it’s going to become even harder to get seen.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, it’s the exact opposite.

These latest Facebook changes are fantastic news, because they reward businesses who are producing and promoting engaging content, and that’s what we’re all about at Likeable.

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Published on Monday, May 22nd, 2017 under Facebook, Marketing

Subliminal Advertising

Have you seen the movie Inception?

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious.

And as the movie goes on, Leo stops stealing info, and starts trying to plant ideas instead. Inception if you will.

Now I don’t normally go for sci-fi thrillers, but it’s a great watch, and the way Leo accesses the subconscious has parallels with marketing – well, re-marketing to be specific.

Here’s how remarketing works:

John visits your website looking for brown leather shoes
John leaves your website without buying
Days later, John see’s ads for your brown leather shoes

Creepy? Kinda. Illegal? Not at all.

Remarketing is about as close to subliminal advertising as you can get, and it’s not sci-fi, it’s real life. And it’s ready and waiting for kiwi businesses who can see the opportunity.

Could remarketing work for you? Contact us if we can help.

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Published on Friday, February 3rd, 2017 under Facebook, Marketing

Right tool, right job.

I’m no mechanic.

But I know the difference between a spanner and a screwdriver. Each tool is for a certain purpose. I get that.

Marketing is kinda the same. You might not be on the tools yourself, but it’s helpful to know what each tool does, and when to pull it out of your toolkit.

Take online advertising.

Google Adwords is about demand fulfilment. Consumers search for a product, and your advert meets their need. Makes sense.

Facebook advertising however is about demand generation. Suggesting your product to consumers who don’t know they need it yet, and doing so by targeting demographics and interests.

Renting storage sheds? Setup Google Adwords. People will search when they need storage, and probably make a purchasing decision on the spot.

Selling kids clothes? Setup Facebook ads targeting Females who ‘Like’ Pumpkin Patch on Facebook. These ladies are probably looking for somewhere new to buy kids clothes.

It’s not always clear cut, but choosing the right tool is a great start.

Can we assemble your marketing toolkit?

To arrange a meeting, visit likeable.co.nz/meet

ps – 99,290 people ‘like’ Pumpkin Patch on FB. Someone should run that campaign. I don’t have any kids clothes to sell, otherwise I’d be straight in there!

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Published on Friday, January 27th, 2017 under Marketing

Yes, Yes, No

The charity collector knocked on the door.

I prepared for her sales pitch, but it didn’t come. Instead, she asked to leave a brochure.

I said YES.

She asked if she could come back to collect it tomorrow.

I said YES.

And then she left.

The next morning over breakfast, I read the brochure. It was a well designed, full colour brochure that clearly demonstrated why I should donate. It was good, real good…

That evening, she returned for the brochure, and asked if I’d like to donate. Read More

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Published on Thursday, January 19th, 2017 under Email Marketing, Marketing

Shooting the messenger

There’s a misconception that email marketing sucks.

Why? Because we’re all tired of getting lousy emails from businesses trying to sell us stuff.

But don’t shoot the messenger.

Don’t let everyone else’s poor email-marketing practice put you off – because email isn’t the problem, it’s the approach.

When it’s done right, email is the most powerful weapon in your digital marketing arsenal. Seriously.

Heck, for Likeable, email is the only thing we do to seek clients.

We’ve sent 85 emails over the last 3 years, and we’re grateful to have grown from a one-man-band into a small team.

Time to reconsider your stance on email?

Take the first step and arrange a meeting with us, visit likeable.co.nz/meet

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Published on Friday, January 13th, 2017 under Marketing

The latest craze

Heard of bottle flipping?

It’s the latest craze, where participants flip a water bottle repeatedly, in an attempt to have it land on it’s bottom.

But it’s just a fad.

And as a father of three, fads like this roll through my house all the time.

Countdown collectables
Loom bands
Pokemon cards

But fads aren’t just for kids, they exist for businesses too – and while they might not be as obvious, they’re just as distracting.

So this year, I’ll be trawling through digital marketing fads and trends, to find the tools that actually work, and will stand the test of time.

My personal goal for 2017 is to cut through the online marketing clutter of the internet, and share my findings with our clients, so we can do better work, to achieve greater results.

Can we cut through the clutter for your business?

If so, we should talk. Visit likeable.co.nz/meet to arrange a meeting.

j j j

Published on Thursday, December 8th, 2016 under Marketing

The sleazy salesperson

Do you like being sold to?

If you ask me, there’s nothing worse than dealing with pushy salespeople.

And that’s why sales can be a dirty word.

Heck – even people who do sales, don’t have the word sales in their job title.

Shop assistant
Insurance broker
Real estate agent
Business development manager

So when it comes to online sales, and business websites, there’s something I can’t get my head around.

I can’t understand why so many businesses use generic sales@yourcompany.co.nz email addresses.

I get that there may be multiple people checking the one email account, but technology can take care of that now. It’s 2016.

As humans, we react poorly to pushy, sleazy salesmen – so having a sales@ email address is like placing an pushy, sleazy salesperson at the front door of your business. No good.

Better to use something authentic, like a persons name.

This article inspired by Zero to One.

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Published on Thursday, November 24th, 2016 under Marketing

The Digital Marketing Road Code

Yesterday, I drove to the supermarket.

When I indicated to turn right into the supermarket carpark, a car coming towards me went to turn in also.

And that’s when it got weird.

Because the other car waited at the corner of the intersection, in the middle of the road.

And waited.

And then I realised, they were waiting for me.

The give-way rule changed in 2012, but this driver had slipped through the cracks. They didn’t know the rules had changed.

And it’s the same in business, because the digital marketing rules are changing all the time.

– Having a website is no longer enough

– Social media isn’t about sales

– And email marketing is more important then ever

Can we help you stay ahead of these changes?

j j j

Published on Thursday, November 17th, 2016 under Marketing

Spot the difference

Drowning in a sea of competition?

If so, it’s time to ask – what makes your business different?

When I first studied marketing, I remember learning all the fancy terms that explained the idea that businesses should be different from each other.

Differentiation
Market Positioning
Unique Selling Proposition

But rather than wading through text books to answer the ‘what makes your business different question’, you might like to take a shortcut I’ve found.

The shortcut is to create an onliness (only-ness) statement for your business.

The onliness statement is the brain-child of branding guru Marty Neumeier (fancy name, must be smart) and there are 6 ingredients: Read More

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Published on Friday, November 4th, 2016 under Facebook, Marketing

Are you scared?

It’s a scary time of year right now.

Halloween. End of year deadlines. Evil clowns. Presidential elections. The list goes on.

But I must say I got a surprise yesterday when someone mentioned they’re too scared to put their business on Facebook (I mean – of all the things to be scared of, Facebook?)

I admit, it’s easy to be worried about what an unhappy customer might say on your Facebook page. Negative comments. Bad reviews. You know the ones.

But this isn’t a Facebook issue, it’s a business issue. Or more accurately, a business opportunity.

Let’s face it, if a customer is unhappy, they’ll complain wherever the heck they like. Trip advisor. Online forums. Your competitor’s Facebook page. Their local newspaper. Anywhere they can find.

But having a customer complain on your Facebook page provides a chance.

The chance to turn your customer around, the chance to do so in front of everyone watching, and the chance to improve your business so it doesn’t happen again. And that’s a great thing if you ask me.

What do you think?

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