TheWeddingMarketingBlog.com

Hopefully, you have an online inquiry form on your website. Something more detailed than just an email link, where the customer fills in information to give you some background about their needs.

Oh you have that… great!

Perhaps you have a field asking: How did you hear about us?

If you do, that’s pretty good, but not good enough.

With all the communication options, these days, chance are that someone has heard about you from two or more sources. If you just give them a fill-in-the-blank field, they’ll usually give you the source of the last place they heard about your company, and no more.

That kind of incomplete information will give you misleading data on how your advertising is working. Your print advertising, for example, may drive people to your website, but you may not hear about.

In Part 2 of this topic, I’ll share the ideal way to structure customer response to give you better information about how they found you.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: advertising ROI, Andy Ebon, database, lead sourcing, website, wedding marketing

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: advertising ROI, Andy Ebon, database, lead sourcing, website, wedding marketing

In a post from November 1st, I suggested that now would be a good time to update your contact files. One  easily neglected tasks is transferring business card information to your address book, contact management or database software.

There is a highly effective tool for accomplishing that work, quickly and effectively. It is Card Scan; a scanner-software combination that makes short work transferring information from a pocketful of business cards into your computer-based records.

I have an earlier version of Card Scan, and judging by recent reviews, the latest hardware and software are even more efficient. I’m going for the upgrade, and suggest you do, too. It’s one of those specific-use products (such as Dymo Labelwriters) that perform extremely well for what their designed to do.

Card Scan is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: address book, Andy Ebon, business cards, contact database, contact management, scanner, scanning software, wedding marketing blog

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: address book, Andy Ebon, business cards, contact database, contact management, scanner, scanning software, wedding marketing blog

Call it what you want: Rolodex, contact files, database, address book…

Whatever you call it, bring it current. Businesses move, people get promoted, job titles change, people get laid off, new businesses open, you collect business cards at networking events, membership in networking groups and association change, [your addition to this list goes here]

In our rapidly changing world, we tend to acquire new information and contacts, faster than we process them. If you plan to send holiday cards or just keep in touch, being up to date comes first.

There is no worse feeling than having the holiday cards arrive and, only then, discovering your contact information is way out of date.

Today is the 1st day of November. Make it a 3-week project, then you won’t drive yourself crazy, when you need to use the information.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: address book, contact files, contact management, database, relationship management, rolodex

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: address book, contact files, contact management, database, relationship management, rolodex