Ethical SEO company - Web Designer - Emarketing Consultant - New Jersey : New York

Today, I attended a Luxury Marketing Councila meeting at Fleishman-Hillard. It was small group of attendees such as Barbara Fuller from Tufenkian Carpets, Laura Steele of Artistic Tile and other decision makers from within the luxury market. The guest speaker was Joshua E. Rockoff, of Strike Interactive. He spoke to the topic of Digitial IQ.

For me, personally, his discussion was a pleasant reminder of basic principles and opportunities available to all industry types: SEO, SEM, SMO, BAAM. He also shared some new statistics as provided by Jupiter media and others. For example, did you know that 89% of people in US have bought something ONLINE in the last year? Did you know that only 12% of all businesses in America have a web presence? The most interesting bit of information he shared was that most luxury websites only have a .4% conversation ratio because they obsesses about "design". In comparison, non-luxury sites enjoy a 3.9% conversion rate. I concur. In my years of experience, I have found the following to be true.

Most luxury brand marketers and CEO's get lost in "aesthetic" because they are trying to apply old brand philosophy to new media. They forget their objective - leads / sales. They obsesses about aesthetic detail and lose focus on the fact their website(s) should be a robust and scaleable marketing tool for enhancing the brand AS WELL AS developing leads / sales / tracking / managing ROI and building brand loyalty through social network functions like blog commenting, testimonial showcases, etc. Their websites can also be used for streamlined work flow, internal communications, etc. Traditional brand marketers and CEO's forget to KISS (keep it simple stupid) their sites and emarketing campaigns. They forget to provide basics like a phone number and a prominent link to a contact form. As hard as that may sound, it is true and NOT limited to the luxury market. One client of mine had their phone number only listed on their contact page. The contact page was obscured in the footer links. Upon an SEO - GUI review, they moved their phone number and contact link into a prominent header position and their leads increased radically the same day. The same holds true for luxury marketing as well. Brand marketers and CEO's tend to forget the necessity of POST marketing efforts and technology such as an effective Contact Relationship Manger (CRM). A CRM is crucial to any site desiring to be effective online. It is especially important to the luxury market where the prospective customer is not likely to "buy" directly online. Customers need to "touch" the product before opening their wallets. Or, at the very least, they need to speak with a knowledgeable and courteous sales person who makes them feel comfortable enough to place a phone order. They might be impressed with the aesthetic, but if they can't reach someone within 3 seconds, they often go elsewhere and so the luxury market only has a .4% conversion rate.

In short, luxury brand marketers and CEO's need to keep the GOAL in mind as they re-develop their sites and online marketing strategies. In todays economy, "traditional branding" is no longer enough.

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