Buh bye, Vegas! All last week, Promo Marketing was reporting live from the PPAI Expo 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. If you were at the show, we hope you had a great time and learned a lot. If you weren’t there, we made sure to include product information, session wrap-ups and a whole lot more in our newsletter. Up now: recapping Chris Jenkin’s education session on promotional products sales, “Marketing Your Business Online.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 15, we had the chance to hear from Christopher Jenkin, CEO and founder at gotcha! Mobile Solutions, and sit in on his PPAI Expo education session, “Marketing Your Business Online.” In 2008, Jenkin entered digital marketing, and by 2011 he launched gotcha! Mobile Solutions, a software development company.
Back in 2011, the idea of anything being digital or something being “online” was nothing like it is today. Creating and marketing your business online has changed a ton. One of Jenkin’s main points was that “everyone is online.” He shared that there are over 100 billion monthly web searches. One large question he offered—and one crucial question you have to ask yourself—is, “What are they searching for?” Jenkin categorized these searches into three sections: information, people, and products and services.
Having a website is important for any business. When you meet a person or prospect for the first time, they are going to look you up online, Jenkin said. Chances are, they’re also going to check out your website, especially if it comes up in their search. For Jenkin, that means creating a good website and, more importantly, driving people to it, is essential.
“The most important things that you own is your website,” he said. Having a well-built website is what’s going to help your prospect understand who you are, who your company is, and what products and services you have to offer. Ultimately, a lot of information can be placed on your website. “The goal of your website is to drive people to it and have a call to action,” Jenkin said.
“Be online or be gone” was another tip that Jenkin stressed. Changing times call for changing business approaches. Since more sales are happening online, this is a chance to increase business and recognize where consumers are ultimately looking.
What goes into a well-built website? It helps for it to be modern and updated, but Jenkin also stressed the necessity of certain background features, like location information and your SSL, which is your website security certificate. “NAP: name, address, phone number,” he said. “It needs to be on every one of your pages. Put it in the footer of your website.”
Google can be a great resource too, especially so if you understand how it works and how it can be of use to you. Jenkin talked about verifying your website with Google, so that you can also add and use Google Analytics. “This tells you how people find you,” he said.
To Jenkin, like many others, a vital step is to know your audience. If you don’t, how can you create online content that will attract the audience you want? “Know your audience: It’s sales 101,” he said. “You have to know your shoppers and what they’re looking for, so you can give them what they want.”
Jenkin also mentioned four main ways to do drive visitors to your website: search, advertising, social media and email. Link your website to each of these channels, he advised. This will help get it in front of people and make it easy to find and access. As for social media, Jenkin believes businesses should be on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, at minimum. He suggested creating content on your website, then posting a snippet of it with links back to your site to really drive people there.
What content should you be putting out there? “Don’t create content based on what you like, because it’s not about you, it’s about your customers,” Jenkin said. Instead, find out what it is your customers are searching for and create content based on that. “These kinds of tools will help you know what you should be targeting online.”
“Your website is your hub—spend money on your website,” Jenkin said. He talked about how people are willing to spend a decent amount of money on their company location, so why not spend a few extra dollars on tools to improve your website, like Facebook ads? “You have to advertise to boost leads.”
