A David Creation

As 2009 comes to an end, I look back at yet another year in which I am truly thankful for all that has been accomplished. I have been blessed with awesome clients, a wonderful family, a great church, a roof over my head and wonderful friends. Every year is a good year. Even when trials come, I am thankful for how God has blessed my life. It is so wonderful to have a day devoted to giving thanks! I hope and pray that this Thanksgiving will give us all many opportunities to express our thankfulness to someone close to us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

When building my Linkedin networks over the past few years, I’ve noted a number of small business owners and executives that put their profile on “private” mode. In other words, if I want to connect with them, I need to know his or her email address. The main purpose of Linkedin is to get connected with business people. The more people you know, the better. My suggest is simple: “Approve Everyone.” You can always go through your contact list and “weed out” any unwanted guest later. Use Linkedin to build your network. Once you have a contact, begin the process of building a friendship and a strong connection with key people who can help grow your business.

If you still just want a business or personal profile and want a more private club, Facebook is probably better fit for you. Facebook is not just about networking. It is either personal or business: you choose. Linkedin is for business: to grow your business, your network and your referrals.

I’ve been getting request in the last few weeks and months to offer blog writing services for painters. I am currently writing for 4 paint companies in these cities: San Diego, Portland, Los Angeles, and the Washington D.C. area. The main reasons people should outsource blog writing are threefold: 1) They don’t have the time, 2) They don’t know what to write about on a constant basis, 3) How to write for good search engine results.

If you need blog writing services, let me know. It is rather in expensive and saves you a lot of time. By having a professional blog that has good content, your SEO will only improve! I will not be writing all the blogs myself in the future. I have been in contact with professional writers that I am working with showing them how to write for painting blogs. If you end up having me be your blog manager, I will make sure each blog written has good content and will help your SEO rankings over time.

Finally, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) takes time and patience. It does work. I am getting very good success with the blogs I’ve been writing on for awhile now: Chism Brother’s BLOG, A Allbright’s Blog and Hallco’s. So, a well-designed site, the right blog software, good content, good social media: equals better results!

Every month or two, I receive a Blue and White advertisement from Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% coupon. Sound familiar? I do not typically need a 20% coupon nor do a buy a lot from them regularly. However, I can count on receiving the coupon each month and when the time is right, I might even use the discount. I’ve also gotten so use to seeing their 20% off coupon flier that I can pretty much not even look at it.

All this was the normal way of dealing with Bed Bath and Beyond each month: I either stuff it in a drawer or threw it out. I never paid any attention to the advertisements and specials, because in my mind, I knew the general idea of why they were sending me their ads: “Buy from us and take 20% off your next purchase.” However, recently I received a plain letter envelope with my wife’s name as the addressee and the return address with Bed Bath and Beyond on it. Everything was typed, no logos. Being a marketing guy, I wanted to know what they were up to in their latest direct mail campaign! Why the change?

When I opened the envelope, I received a blue and white 20% advertising flier. In fact, I believe it was 100% the same as the ones I typically receive. The only difference: it was in a white envelope. They did something different to get a better open rate. Maybe they realized people were stuffing or throwing them out instead of using them. Maybe people got too familiar with them! I strongly believe that because of their name recognition and their new “white envelope campaign” homeowners were just as curious as I was as they opened the mail piece. Maybe people even looked at the blue advertisement to see if it was different too. Whatever the case, Bed Bath and Beyond, a major retail chain in America is still doing Direct Mail. They have not stopped!

So, does direct mail still work? If someone with the big bucks like BB&B still do it, I must believe that direct mail still works. However, the campaign still must strike interest to the potential buyer and remain consistent. The bottom line: don’t stop sending your mailers. Make sure you track results, make any necessary changes to the way you send them or the offer, and keep sending those mailers!

We just finished the website of MB Jessee Painting and are very pleased with the results. It was a privilege working for the owner, Matthew Jessee. He was so easy to deal with all the way through! It says a lot on the way he runs his own business by the way he treated me and my web designer, David Guy. Matt was so professional, yet reasonable. He wanted a new and updated website that would reflect the type of quality he did for his clients. I also was able to read a number of detailed client reports provided to me by Matt and his staff while we were in the design stage of his website. On every page of the report, I read almost the same thing: clients hired MB Jessee because they had excellent customer service and did incredible work. In our redesign of his site, you will see just how good his photo gallery looks and the colors of the site we selected that represent elegance. Also, his testimonials on the site are real and awesome.

Matt Jessee was kind enough to write a testimonial about the work I was able to do for him, and all I can say is, “I am grateful, Matt. Thank you for the very kind words!”

Working with David during the complete reconstruction of my company website has been the best experience I have ever had with anyone in the world of marketing and design.

David and his team asked the right questions, took control, and efficiently put together a site that has exceeded my best expectations. From concept, content and design they took charge and implemented my ideas and desires. Busy running my own business, I asked David to make my initial ideas come to reality with little legwork on my end.

The level of communication as the project progressed could not have been better. David’s use of latest technology kept me completely up to date at all times.

The design, overall feel, and content of the site is awesome. I will continue to work with David on a variety of projects as my company grows.

Check out our new site for yourself, and let me know what you think: mbjessee.com

Please contact me if you have any feedback, or would like additional information.

Matt Jessee

President

MB Jessee Inc

matt@mbjessee.com

I recently began running a Facebook Ad test for a Christmas Decor franchise here in Maryland. Facebook has such a huge following which made me curious about advertising on it. What intrigued me the most about Facebook ads was the very targeted demographics you could select when creating an ad. I was about to target college graduates in select areas of Maryland, male or female and specific ages. Facebook demographics are pretty right on, because most Facebook users don’t lie about their profile (as they are trying to connect with old friends).

I started out with a very conservative dollar amount of only $3 a day back in September and have done almost 6 weeks of testing. The campaign is a pay per click ad, very similar to Google Adwords. I am only charged if someone clicks on my ad. The visitor, when they click on the ad lands on a Christmas Decor “landing page” that I created. (View Landing Page). The cool thing about Facebook ads is that I can change them anytime I want and always have a picture. The picture ads are perfect for a Christmas decorating franchise as the beautiful display homes speak for themselves! Most days I max out my number of clicks that range from 3-6 per day. As I write this blog, the company has received 3 quality/targeted leads for $107 invested. The average cost per job for this Christmas Decor company is $2,800. So to spend $107 to get 3 leads with a closing ratio of 50%+…that is a great ROI.

Finally, I expect the Facebook ads to do even better as we move into the Christmas season for 2009! Typically people do not start thinking of Christmas til the middle of November and even more after Thanksgiving. It is not on their radar screen. So, if my theory is correct, I believe Facebook advertising for a product/service business works: especially for Christmas lights! As for painters advertising on Facebook, I would love the challenge of testing an ad campaign for them. I would say it may not be as successful as Christmas lights, but if the ad is written well with a good landing page, who knows!

I have been helping a client come up with a customer promise and guarantee and could not help but think about Nordstrom. They have one of the best guarantees in all of the retails chains across America, and no one can come close because it is what Nordstrom practices everyday! Their guarantee is known by us all: if you are not happy, bring it back! Period! When you step inside a Nordstrom to return an item or even with a complaint, you probably will never feel like you are not important. Instead, they treat you with respect and take care of your needs right away!

So, I would strongly suggest that contractors think carefully about their guarantee. If you have one already, revisit it. How is it unique? Make sure you stand out among your competition as having the best guarantee in your area and your customers love it too! Oh…and sometimes the guarantee is not just in written form. You have to put it into practice!