Paris 2024 blocked tweet

When the Olympics can’t use good English

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I love the Olympics – it’s been my “thing” since Sydney and I have travelled to watch most of the Games since that time.

And I follow a lot of sport on social media as well – so when I saw Paris 2024 had a Twitter account, I started to follow them too. It’s two years out from the Games now and I love the gradual build up of excitement, plus the news about how the preparations are going.

But Paris 2024 has got really irritating.

Tweeting to your audience

I do know that you should speak to your audience where they are hanging out. And so Twitter is a good choice for Olympic fans like me.

For an international sporting event, held in France, I’m going to guess that English will probably be the second most used language for fans – possibly the first if a lot of folks travel from outside France to watch. And so why, oh why does @Paris2024 not have a native English speaker on their team to do the translations?

In following their tweets they were mostly in French – I speak passable schoolgirl French and so could understand much of what was being said. But then English language tweets started coming out on the account. When one announced a “club” where I could register for advanced ticket information, I was quick to act.

The experience fell flat.

Customer transparency

Naturally I clicked through to register for the Club – but the landing page was beautifully designed (love the font) but lacking in two aspects of English communication

  • The “anticipatory” introduction text above the registration form was poorly written
  • The privacy opt in notices were unclear

Being a bit keen, I rewrote the introduction text and tweeted it back to @Paris2024 to illustrate how it could be improved. They blocked me. FFS that’s just childish and frankly, from a super fan like me, going to really put my back up.

I’ve reproduced the tweets lower down just so you can see whether I did a good job of improving the copy.

Secondly the privacy notices which are probably ore important from a marketing communications point of view were unclear.

I signed up for the “club” and so hope to get information about buying tickets. But what do all these acronyms mean? What if I do not tick either box? Will I get any emails about how to buy tickets? What marketing messages am I missing if I don’t check the box? And who are these partner organisations?

If I’d been copywriting this page I would have written out the names of the organisations in full IOC – International Olympic Committee –  and used similar language in both check box messages so it’s clearer to the user what they get or do not get when selecting each one.  I am guessing the second statement is for the Paralympics. Can you see the inconsistency in messaging?

Paris Olympics, fan communications,

Ambiguous email opt in statement from Olympics Paris 2024

Sport Fan Engagement Strategies

Sports fans are a committed bunch – it takes a lot to put us off your brand. And engagement with fans makes community building in public spaces a great way to sell tickets.

Paris 2024 missed a trick here.

If I was in charge of social media for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games I would do 3 things

  1. Build a fans list on each social media platform and seek to get email engagement with them too.
  2. Segment the list by country, sports of interest and start newsletter messaging for them
  3. Create separate profiles for different languages – Spanish, English, German, French for starters…. It can be confusing to get multi-language updates on one profile.

And they should also get some hashtags going… and when tweeting about Rowing in Great Britain, tag the team (@BritishRowing), write in English as well as French, and choose a photo to illustrate the tweet which actually has a British athlete in it.

Paris 2024, Olympics,

The first tweet announcing the club for receiving email updates 

Paris 2024 Olympics, Poor copywriting,

Others agreed that the English could be improved 

Copywriting, Paris 2024

My improved copy for Paris 2024 landing page 

Paris 2024 blocked tweet

And I got blocked for my troubles. 

British Rowing, Paris 2024, Twitter best practice

I love rowing and this thread about the history ended with a photo which didn’t include any British athletes. Nor did they tag @BritishRowing

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Alex Haney Photographer, Restaurant marketing tipps,

Ways to increase interest in your restaurant

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How To Increase Interest In Your Restaurant

If you’re currently running your own restaurant establishment and want to increase the level of interest you’re getting in your business, then take a look at the following post. We’ll be listing some top tips on how to make your restaurant stand out more to the public and increase your revenue. Subjects we will cover include marketing, making changes to your menu, and how location affects your business. Keep reading to find out more.

Offer Deals And Incentives 

One way to help gain more customers is to offer discounts and incentives. For example, you could run a buy-one-get-one-free offer on drinks and cocktails, or discounted meals on certain nights of the week. This will help to create a buzz around your restaurant as you’ll be offering something unique. Marketing the deals and incentives you have on offer will help to generate interest in your business and widen the audience of potential customers. If you want more of an idea of what deals and incentives will appeal to customers best, then consider running a survey through your website or social media pages. This way customers will be able to help you decide by suggesting what would appeal to them the most.

Invest In Marketing And Advertising 

Well, we would say this wouldn’t we – but an ongoing programme of promotions and brand awareness is critical for long term restaurant marketing success. When it comes to generating more interest and increasing the number of customers you get, marketing and advertising are key tools to use. Whilst initially spending more money on marketing and advertisements may come at a cost, you should see it as a long-term investment in your business. As marketing can help you to target more customers and generate more business, ultimately it can end up making you more money. Good marketing strategies to use for restaurant advertisement include having active and engaging social media pages, a high-quality website, and advertising on other websites. And don’t forget Google My Business – keeping your listing up to date with new photos and post announcements weekly is really important for local marketing.

Change Up Your Menu 

Part of the reason you may be seeing less interest in your restaurant is that customers have grown tired of your menu options or there aren’t enough options available. Changing up your menu can help to solve this problem and generate more interest from customers. You don’t necessarily have to make grand changes to your menu. Simply adapting the dishes you have on offer can make a big difference to the interest you get from customers. Try using high-quality ingredients such as locally sourced meats and organic vegetables. You can use this as a selling point for your menu as your customers will know they are receiving good quality food. If you’ve been running the same dishes from your menu for a while, making changes and being more innovative with your menu options can help create more interest. When you make menu changes make sure you advertise this so that your customers are aware. For example, posting images and content on your website and social media. 

Redecorate Your Premises 

It’s important to remember that the food your restaurant is serving isn’t the only factor that can affect the customer’s opinion of your establishment. Even if you’re serving great food, customers can be put off from coming back to your restaurant if you don’t create an overall high-quality dining experience. The way your restaurant is decorated could be off-putting for customers and make them less likely to enjoy their experience whilst being served. Especially in this day and age where people like to post about their experiences on social media, having an aesthetically appealing restaurant can help generate more interest. If you renovate your restaurant and make it a good photo opportunity, you can quickly begin trending on social media as customers post about your restaurant. This makes it more desirable to attend, meaning more customers and higher revenue.

Change Locations 

The location of your restaurant business could also be leading to a lack of interest from customers. When it comes to choosing where to eat, many people need a venue to be conveniently located for a number of reasons. For example, customers might require ease of access and parking facilities. It could also be due to how you’re located in regard to other businesses. Some customers might be looking to go out for drinks before or after their meal.

 If you’re in a more secluded location, this can make it inconvenient for potential customers so they may look elsewhere. If you feel your location may be holding your business back, then consider moving to a different location that could offer more benefits for your restaurant. Try and look for premises that are within your budget, but also offer you aspects that can help to boost your business. For example, premises that are located near to other points of interest or businesses but not too close to direct competition. Premises that are highly visible and that will have plenty of nearby footfall are also good options. 

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instagram, real estate agent marketing

Real Estate and Instagram

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Do real estate agents get good marketing returns (listings and sales) from Instagram?

Great question – and one worth answering before you decide to go all in on social media marketing.

You first have to find out

  • is your target audience on Instagram?
  • Do they think about real estate while using the platform?
  • Will they interact and follow you?

I’m dubious about Instagram as a way to sell real estate or get listing instructions.

Second stage research

Find out if other real estate agents are just growing a following or are actually getting listings from their social media.

Below are articles about how to get followers…. but before you invest a lot of time and effort into this work, figure out whether people who will hire you to sell their homes are using Instagram as a way to find a real estate agent. Do this by asking the people who DON’T list with you, do this by asking your friends and neighbours, do this by asking other agents in your business and competitors. Form a rounded view from all their information. Remember some will lie to you or exaggerate. Who you pick in your sample will affect the answers – if you only speak to cynics you’ll get answers slanted towards the negative.

And it could be that your type of clients are very different from other agents’ clients – this could be geography or age or ethnicity driven.  So assess your answers carefully.

Get social media followers

Here’s how to get followers on Instagram for yourself by copying successful practitioners

  • Search instagram for NZ real estate agents
  • Follow them and read all their posts
  • Also check out their other social media sites (FB/LI/Snapchat (unlikely)/TikTok/Twitter)
  • Work out which ones are getting likes, comments, follows, shares
  • Work out what TYPE of posts are getting the most likes, comments and shares
  • Adapt and copy what they do for your own account
  • See if you gain followers

Above all, beware of buying followers. Just don’t do it.

But you should consider buying social sharing software e.g. Buffer or Hootsuite because they can save you a lot of time especially with scheduling posts (which isn’t allowed on the native Instagram site).

Learn how to do Instagram right

For these links. Read them. Then subscribe to their newsletter, follow them on social (Neil Patel has a great youtube channel too).

And you should research AdFenix – they specialise in guiding your marketing practice for real estate professionals.
Expensive but probably worthwhile. They are a whole-marketing service not just social media.

 

Now it’s down to persistence and regular hard work. Give yourself 3 months before you decide to quit.

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Ecommerce, road sign commerce street

Ecommerce retail product coherence

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Asking the right questions is key to getting the most out of an ecommerce retail marketing adviser.

Web traffic to online store

Giving “free” advice on the Manaaki forum, I showcase where and how online retailers can improve a lot of their business without a lot of cost. One question asked was

I need help with increasing traffic through my online store on my website.

I would like to add to more products but if there is  no interest on what I’ve already put up, then I’m unsure if I should proceed further. 

The questions look good – but when I did basic research into the site, the other social media profiles and the product set, it was clear that the author was not asking the right questions.

Online Product Mix

This site sells a book and some note cards.

The description of the products are accurate, but not aligned to any obvious audience, nor do they connect together – why does an author sell note cards?

I did some research and I could see why – she’s an artist AND and author.

The images she creates are her social media publicity and the “experimenters mindset” she identifies with gives a clear alignment with an audience of searchers.

So far so good, but the website and the social media profiles are not aligned.  There’s no connection between what she does on each and so without that logic, the customer won’t see any reason to go from one to the other. If you like her social media pictures, there’s a website selling a book = disconnect. And the reverse.

You need your product-set to have coherence – they must sit together logically. A website that sells milk and furniture doesn’t work because few people just buy those two things together.

Can you build other products which are related to your book which allow the customer to step up a “ladder” of purchases? This allows the customer to buy one thing and it’s obvious what the next thing they should buy.

This is a great test for any ecommerce store.

You need entry level products, you need larger ticket and high priced items and a pathway from one to the other. And if possible, you also need replenishables – things which can be bought over ad over again.

Let me share a way you can check your ecommerce store has a good product set and is aligned with your target audience along with the marketing you do. Read on.

Assess your competitors

Go and find websites for your 4 favourite competitors. Analyse them.

What are their websites like? What products do they sell? How are the home pages laid out?

Draw a ‘wireframe’ of their website home page and identify each block of the page and what it is – this is a photo – this is a buy button – this is a link to the top 3 products etc…. You will quickly see a pattern and a logic to a nicely designed website. You don’t need to know what the ‘rules’ of good design are – but you do need to be able to explain to a friend why you like each site.

Search for “shops / brands similar to….”  and find sites you don’t know and do the same analysis.

You are trying to work out who their customers are and to answer the same questions above. Write all this down in a spreadsheet so you can compare them. Then ask a friend to check your work and see if they agree.

Now you have an idea of where your website matches up with these design rules. Make any changes you need so your site is laid out better.  And who is YOUR customer? When you know your audience – re-write your website as if you are speaking to one person who is your ideal customer persona.

Online retail merchandising

After doing your website audit, now review your product mix.

Can you build other products which are related to your number one best seller which allow the customer to step up a “ladder” of purchases? So they buy one thing and it’s obvious what the next thing they should buy is. Keep the list of products short and concentrate on a range of price points as well as the ladder of purchases.

There’s a lot of work in here – pace yourself, small actions done regularly are a good way to make progress.

 

Read the case study answers where I suggest products to add to the range and also low cost marketing tactics for promoting the brand, head back to Manaaki.

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facebook groups, facebook marketing,

FB Group tips – invite a friend

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facebook groups, facebook marketing,

Invited by option for group memberships

I am a Facebook for Business group administrator and I’m delighted that they just added back an old feature.

When FB introduced the new interface for Group Admins about 9 months ago, the “Invited by….” feature was missing.

I sent my feedback that this is really useful and I wanted it…. Today it reappeared.

Why is this helpful? We have screening questions for the group and if you don’t answer them, we don’t let you in. BUT if introduced by an existing group member, that allows the applicant to bypass this step and still get accepted. Without knowing if they’d been invited or not, I couldn’t work out who to refuse or accept.

Now I wish they’d allow me to filter group applicants by “have they been invited”.

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Klaviyo, retail, US checks

Will consumer spend recover after Lockdown?

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When will consumer spending get back to pre-Covid19 levels?

It’s a gigantic question with huge implications for marketing and the world economy.  Early clues are coming out and if you know where to look, you will be able to improve your marketing planning.

Frontline consumer research

This week I saw two research reports which start to show clues about how different retail sectors are responding.

The first is from Datamine – an analytics firm – who took credit card transaction data and disaggregated it by spend type to create a year on year comparison of how New Zealanders are buying.

Datamine, retail spend, NZ consumers, Covid19

Total online retail spend NZ Feb-Apr 2020

It also provides a breakdown by sector – comparing year on year as well as online versus total spend.  Supermarkets and Liquor stores make particularly good reading.

US stimulus cheque spending

Getting insight into how US consumers are using their Government-provided stimulus cheques has come from Klaviyo – this is interesting as it separates “essentials” for households from “New Essentials” which Lockdown has emphasised such as electronics, home improvement and toys/hobbies as well as online entertainment companies.

Klaviyo, retail, US checks

US stimulus check spend on retail

 

Do your own research

I’ve done micro-polls on Facebook, and detailed audience surveys from subscribers to website browsers during this recession.

Do your own and use it to interpret this public research into the context of your brand and audience.

 

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Marketing funnel improvements

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Continuing my lockdown series of mini videos for marketers.

How can we improve funnels to get more revenue per customer?

  • Thank you page should include an upsell
  • Offer a phone call to discover more and suggest solutions. This works particularly well if you are selling services.  For products you could use text chat on the site.

Related posts:

  1. The Essential Checklist for Choosing a Tradeshow Company

Analysis of CEO message to customers

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Writing tone of voice aligned with brand values is a powerful marketing tool.

This email is so powerful because the structure of this message is aligned to brand values

  1. open Reminder of their mission 
  2. Then acknowledge pain
  3. New tools that support their community
  4. Sign off with a humble acknowledgement

The full text

Dear SoundCloud Creators,

Since our founding, SoundCloud’s mission has been to give people the power to share, connect and grow through music.

As the coronavirus crisis has unfolded, we’ve seen a global outpouring of tracks on SoundCloud — with a 50% surge in creators uploading in the past month alone. But behind this creative response, we know there continues to be financial loss and uncertainty for our creator community.

Last week we rolled out our first wave of creator support — our partnership with Twitch, 50% off SoundCloud Pro Unlimited, a resource guide and weekly creator office hours with our artist relations team — to help with the impact some of you are facing. This felt like a good start, but we want to do more for the long term.

Today, we’re accelerating a series of new initiatives and over $15M in direct investment to support creators on SoundCloud during this difficult time.

  • New direct fan-support button for all creators.
    We’ve created a simple button for your SoundCloud profile to connect your preferred way to receive direct fan support including Kickstarter, Patreon, Bandcamp, Paypal and more. Learn how to get this live on your profile right now.
  • $5M in free promotional support for all creators to drive more plays on SoundCloud.
    For the rest of 2020, we’re giving away all of our Promote on SoundCloud inventory. Tag your SoundCloud uploads #GetMorePlays and our editorial team will select up to 5 artists per week to feature with promotion. More details to come soon on our blog.
  • Immediate launch of Repost by SoundCloud, a new marketing and distribution service.
    Independent artists who want to take their career to the next level can now access professional marketing and monetization services plus industry-leading distribution features. Repost by SoundCloud is available to everyone, no play count thresholds. Learn more here.
  • $10M artist accelerator program to support independent creators’ career growth.
    We are committing $10M to help fuel the careers of independent artists upstreamed from Repost by SoundCloud into our artist services offering, Repost Select. Apply here.

We understand our efforts here are no match for the care providers on the frontlines of this global crisis. But we will continue to look for ways to support our global SoundCloud community, so you can keep sharing music we can all turn to in these challenging times, and long into the future.

Kerry

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Rush into eCommerce during Lockdown

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Today’s first quick marketing tip is about Competitor analysis – find out what your competitors are doing to market at this time

Open a search window and type your brand name vs.

Wait and see what auto complete suggests.

Then do it again for the suggested name. I did the Warehouse vs and it suggested Kmart. Then I did Kmart vs…

Set up your online shop

Getting online for ecommerce is happening for many brands due to the lockdown.

Ensure that your proposal suits your current need, the speed you need to roll it out and the ability of your marketing team to execute.

The video explains why.

 

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