Securing, Protecting and Promoting the Shop Online Brand Renato - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Securing, Protecting and Promoting the Shop Online Brand

Renato Cruz Sogueco renato@floriologyinstitute.com

Introduction & housekeeping

• Who speaking? Advice from an old friend — joined

BloomNet from Society of American Florists.

• Served industry for 20 years — researching,

analyzing and evangelizing innovative technology and marketing.

• Insights from Google, digital marketing resources

and from fellow florists.

• Slides and more resources available at:

www.floriologyinstitute.com/2017GreatLakesExpo

–Warren Buffet

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”

Why do you need to Protect Digital Brand?

• You have an online brand — whether you like it or not.
• If you don’t control it, customers and competitors will

define your digital brand

• Digital presence is the primary driver of sales now and

into the future — 81 percent of shoppers turn to search, says RetailingToday.

• More people will visit your website than your store —

how much do you spend on merchandising displays? Most customers on the phone are on your website!

Four Strategies to secure & build online Brand

• 1. Secure brand handles (before a competitor)
• 2. Apply Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• 3. Invest in Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• 4. Create unique content consistently
• website content, social media posts, directory

references, accurate citation and reviews

Strategy 1 of 4: Secure Brand Handles

• Capture domains — misspellings, close variations
• Capture social media handles.

https://www.namecheckr.com/

• Prioritize: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram,

Pinterest

• Create single email account to open and manage all

accounts: social@yourshopdomain.com

Strategy 2 of 4: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Think two groups of keywords — geography and

products and services from customer perspective

• SEO friendly URLs: www.shop.com/birthdayflowers
• Every page (home and subpages) requires unique Title

and Description — consider placing content on listing pages!

Strategy 2 of 4: SEO

• Business citation is accurate and consistent across

search engine references, online directories and social media. Use tool: www.moz.com/local

• https://www.google.com/business
• https://www.bingplaces.com/
• https://biz.yelp.com/
• Facebook Page, LinkedIn, Twitter
• WeddingWire.com, TheKnot.com

Strategy 2 of 4: SEO

• User generated references: Reviews!
• More reviews the better — build confidence
• Negative review response — respond to all, leave

contact information, no matter how old the post.

• Google and Yelp

Strategy 2 of 4: SEO

• SSL certification
• Mobile responsive website
• April 21, 2015 Google mobile “armageddon”
• Website not mobile ready or responsive no longer

appear in search results

• https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/

mobile responsive

designmodo.com, 2015

Strategy 3 of 4: Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• SEM Ad prominence in Search Engine Result Pages

(SERP)

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) = earned vs SEM = paid
• Ads that appear when you conduct search (more than 80

percent of shoppers use search prior to purchase).

• Pay-per-click (PPC) / Cost-per-click (CPC) / CPM
• Advertisers place bids on keywords people type in search
• So highest bid usually wins other factors in algorithm: ad

quality and relevance, good landing page = Quality Score

• Ads will show but not charged until you click — hence,

you “pay per click.”

Where are the Ads?

• Search engines removed color

background from ads

• Ads only distinguished with

small “ad” badge

• Look very similar to organic

results in formatting

• Mobile usage “training”

searches to click on top links, according to Mediative

Strategy 3 of 4: Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• If florists do not advertise, it’s inexpensive for

competitors to use geographic keywords, and your

• wn business name.

Why SEM is a MUST

• Florists do not invest in search

marketing, so there is an

• pportunity — for competitors.
• Lack of competition allows

national competitors to bid low

• n geographical keywords

such as “florist jacksonville fl”

• Research shows shoppers are

getting trained to click top links mostly because of increasing mobile usage.

Why SEM is a MUST

• National, local competitors

exploit florist non- participation in SEM.

• Your business name can be

used as keyword — inexpensive if you’re not investing.

• Practice is LEGAL.
• Consumers continue to

conduct searches for business, even though they know URL.

Strategy 2 of 3: Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• Start advertising!
• Use Google Adwords www.google.com/adwords
• Budget $20 a day ($600 a month)
• Use business name as pay-per-click keyword, add local

delivery zips and towns to Locations targeting, use Radius as well

• Google confirms you are true business and decreases

your PPC while raising competitors PPC

Strategy 4 of 4: Content

• Google confirms content is the most important factor

when all SEO practices are equal

• Activate or build a blog within the website (not outside)
• Content must be topical (nothing general, think business

categories or segments)

• Content change doesn’t have to be verbose
• Photos are great, video is better (ALT tag all this media,

place descriptions in video)

Strategy 4 of 4: Content

• 1. Write up to 100 words, include flower varieties, color, relevant

trends, occasion and venue (if applicable): “For Emma and Jim’s wedding reception at the Deerwood Country Club, we adorned the head table with white, pink and purple calla lily flowers in the

• centerpieces. The brides hand-tied bouquet included the same

callas.” (36 words)

• 2. Extract #hashtags: #callalillies #weddingflowers #pink

#handtiedbouquet and take 3-4 photos, and/or 30-second video describing floral design, how you were inspired and/or floral trend

• 3. Post on blog, then post to appropriate social media. Link back to

blog post from social.

Strategy 4 of 4: Content

• 1. Gather Ratings & Reviews. Require comments! Most

powerful since it’s user generated — and Google on accepts reviews with comments.

• 2. Capture reviews from customers IMMEDIATELY after

purchase (senders online — through pop at Thank You

• f order confirmation, walk-ins).
• 3. Mitigate negative reviews — respond to everything no

matter how old. Leave personal contact, shop info.

Wrap-up

• Secure. Even if you don’t have immediate plans to use
• handles. Secure accounts on new social you

encounter.

• SEO. Secure domain and social handles. Focus on

keywords, every page unique, verify citation.

• SEM. Protect the brand.
• Content remains King!

Connect with me and Floriology Institute

• renato@floriologyinstitute.com
• www.facebook.com/floriologyinstitute
• www.twitter.com/floriology

Slides and resources!

• www.floriologyinstitute.com/2017greatlakesexpo