Avant Marketeer Nikki Alvin-Smith Offers Timely Insights For Your Marketing Delight
“A major effort to draw prospective customers to the business website is often a multi-pronged attack with tactics that range from hard-nosed customer acquisition costs (CAC) to sophisticated social media posts that invite attention to the brand.
Trouble is, once the target audience has arrived at the website they often depart as quickly as they arrived. Reasons for the sales funnel failure can be complex but much of the time the answer to addressing the poor performance issues are surprisingly simple.
Fundamental principles of truth, transparency and rational content production offer a logical start to bringing the prospective client or consumer to the table. But what is dished up to them when they get there is often stale. A menu that lacks creative spirit and offers nothing fresh and so delicious the customer just must try it, is an off-season piece of fish that came right out of the freezer and into the fryer.
The discerning palate of the consumer is developed at an ever-rapid pace in today’s world. This is because just as when folks are trying to develop their palate for new foods they experiment with new spices, sugars, salts, and acid combinations, in today’s market they are bombarded with new products and services to try.
If you want your product or service to add that fifth element, the umami, defined in Japanese culture as the essence of deliciousness that deepens the flavor, then you must be aware of the current market.
In marketing terms, you need to keep abreast of what is trending and understand where it lives and why. Decisions to ignore certain trends will be needed to establish the core identity of the business and define the brand. The website content must address the common questions and FAQs, but it must also show an evolving message and be refreshed.
Surprisingly, some websites are be riddled with bad links and 404 error messages. This always amazes me because any webmaster should be running the easy link check options and staying ahead of this type of unnecessary blunder. The 404 is 101 in IT terms. But aside from technical missteps, the prospective customer should be impressed with the engagement of the website content. It should offer a logical route toward decision making.
In my earlier career as an international freight forwarding executive, I was sent off to attend several Dale Carnegie sales courses. The same old successful key directives and advice I learned then apply to business models today. The business website has transcended the informational tone of yesterday. Today it needs to be evocative, current and it needs to sparkle. It needs to have test closes and a means past the auto-drip coffee eblasts to add zest and excitement to the buying process. The wordsmith skills need to show sincerity and make viewers smile. The verbiage must demonstrate a genuine caring attitude based on a keen understanding of the problem at hand and how the product or service will help. The messaging needs to be honest.
As a seasoned content writer, I have written copy for many advertisements for equestrian and pet businesses in addition to building brand strategies individualized to specific companies or individuals. One of my most successful ads was one for the sale of horses from a warmblood breeding program aimed at competitors in the upper echelons of international equestrian sport. It read something along the lines of:
“Horses that sparkle from the inside. Out.”
The business website today, should provide an interest that does the same. A showcase that merits attention and invites more in-depth study. An eye that sparkles and shows soul and depth and begs the viewer to participate and enjoy the learning process. A collaboration of education, a fun event, a stellar learning journey that is an adventure the prospective client is desperate to take. A defined route that will offer the satiating experience it promises.
Does your business have heart? And if it does, does your website presence illustrate that? Does it offer inclusion and show respect for the customer?
Unique content also requires a unique perspective. I am fortunate that my international background (both historically in the world of corporate business as an executive for many years in various businesses including international horse transport and in online equestrian retail, and as a Brit/American advance level competitor/clinician that is hooked into today’s equestrian industry worldwide), enables me to provide a fresh innovative viewpoint.”
If you would like to engage Nikki Alvin-Smith’s services via her company Horse in a Kilt Media Inc., please don’t hesitate to reach out to find out what’s on offer. Individually tailored package pricing is more affordable than you may think and having a professional content producer on board for your pet or equine business will make all the difference in your branding and market presence.
Trot in and visit Nikki Alvin-Smith, Horse in a Kilt Media Inc., to learn more about her stable full of marketing skills as a content writer, equestrian blogger, columnist, and marketing specialist. As a British/American professional Grand Prix competitor/coach/clinician she brings a unique experience/angles and thought leadership/authority to her wordsmith wizardry.
About Nikki:
Internationally published writer, content creator, PR/Marketing specialist, photographer and equestrian Nikki Alvin-Smith offers “Engaging Content that Engages Riders to Read,” with unique and fresh material for your horse or pet related business, magazine, website, newsletter, blog and email blast sales machine. Her portfolio of works is extensive and includes equestrian and pet features that have been published worldwide in over 230 different magazine titles. Her clients include equestrian and “B” list movie celebrities for whom she regularly ghostwrites and provides PR services; manufacturers of equine and pet related medical devices, feedstuffs, supplements, grooming supplies, fencing and barn equipment, horse transport, horse structures and professional equine service providers; profit and non-profit initiatives and organizations; and non-equestrian related businesses/publications in the pet industry, investment, real estate and international travel and rural lifestyle.
Nikki Alvin-Smith is a British international level Grand Prix dressage competitor/trainer/coach/clinician. Together with her husband Paul, who is also a Grand Prix dressage rider, Nikki operates Willowview Hill Farm in the Catskill Mountains of New York; a full-service horse training facility. The duo provides ‘team’ clinician services to clients worldwide to riders of all levels and many riding disciplines.
Contact: Nikki Alvin-Smith: Content Writer; PR/Marketing Specialist
Email: Nikki@NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com
Website: NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com
Cell: 607 434 4470