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CAPITAL IDEAS UPCOMING EVENTS JUNE 23: T H E B O O ST R STA G E — A PITCH EVENT Entrepreneurs pitch their crowdfunding plans to the audience, with attendees choosing the winner. ■ Where: Theatre Junction (608 1 Street S.W.) ■ When: 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ■ Admission: $20. Details at eventbrite.com (search “BoostR”)
FINANCIAL POST
CA LG A RY H E R A L D
COMMUNITY QUESTION
WHAT CONVERTS ONLINE VISITORS INTO CUSTOMERS? Entrepreneurs talk about using the Internet to build loyalty
J U LY 1 4 : MARKETING SUMMER SCHOOL: GET READY! CREATING YOUR MARKETING MACHINE Solid, practical advice on what you should and shouldn’t focus on to get the best bang for your buck ■ Where: The Commons Calgary (1900 11st S.E. Unit 150) ■ When: 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ■ Admission: $69. awebusiness.com For more great events, visit capitalideascalgary.com/ calgaryevents.
C A P I TA L QUESTION
How do you create and sustain a culture of innovation?
Michael Grills, owner of Michael Grills Illustration (michaelgrills.ca) believes that you have to contact an online visitor to convert them into a customer. “For me, the only way to turn an online visitor into a customer is quick follow-up. My potential clients need to know that I am interested in their project no matter what it entails and the surest way for me to show that I’m interested is by getting back to them quickly, whether it’s by email or by phone.” PHOTO SUPPLIED BY: MICHAEL GRILLS
“Quality content and user experience. Same as offline.” Kita Eserve, president of Metrik Marketing, metrikmarketing.com
“Creating a conversation, making your business a source of information and resource, and building a brand personality that is relatable, will encourage an engaged and responsive audience. Rather than selling yourself, create a genuine online presence through social media that your audience can trust and feel connected to. Your biggest fans will be the most valuable customers.” Amber Fountain, wine director at WineCollective, winecollective.ca
“You can turn online visitors into customers by providing great content. People have access to so much free information, so your content should be amazing. You must tell people what to do and where to go, send them to a lead page where they will find exactly what they are looking for and then make it easy for them to buy.”
“It is extremely important to educate online customers about your services. Clarity on your services and background info helps build understanding and trust beforehand. Hopefully they feel confident to take the next step in connecting so you can learn more about their situation and how to support the customer moving forward.” Michelle Phaneuf, Alberta co-director at Workplace Fairness, workplacefariness.ca
“A win-win approach is needed. Engage with your customers online to provide a win for them. Why would they want to buy from you? Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Find out more about their needs, share knowledge, build trust and credibility. What is their pain point? If you have a solution, the sale takes care of itself.” Laura Bechard, business & executive coach, Bexco Business & Executive Coaching, linkedin.com/in/ laurabechard
Pat Mussieux, CEO and founder of Pat Mussieux, patmussieux.com
Whether it’s a game-changing idea for your industry, or lots of incremental changes to improve and grow your business, successful businesses find ways to innovate, which is why Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business, is curious to hear from you: How do you create and sustain a culture of innovation? You can answer the question in two ways: Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member or visit capitalideascalgary.com. We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on June 18. For more great information on what business owners in Alberta think, visit atb.com/businessbeat.
“You have to have an extremely strong presence online so that people will feel like they know you without actually meeting you. Online media gets the word out that you exist.”
Dorothy Briggs, publisher and owner of Womanition Magazine, womanition.com
“Because most of our purchasing decisions are extremely emotional, it’s important to take a moment to research the psychological triggers involved that prompt a website’s visitors to actually take action.”
Jéssica Carmona, digital marketing strategist at Navut, navut.com
“Converting online visitors into customers takes communication, and your website is just the beginning of the conversation. Your website must clearly represent your company, your services and your values. Good communication skills, translated down to your web presence, is what will entice visitors to become customers.”
authentic.”
“Our visitors are savvy. We’re all accustomed to being marketed to. As a business, if we’re pretending to be something we’re not we’ll be found out immediately, and likely never trusted again. Remember to be human. Have a sense of humour, share stories, be honest and
Christy Switzer, co-owner of I Know A Guy Renovations, iknowaguyrenovations.com
NEXT EVENT Join us as at the Glenbow ConocoPhillips Theatre on June 18 as we welcome Graham Sherman of Tool Shed Brewing Company, Amanda Hehr of Cru Juice Inc., and Kevin Kent of Knifewear and Kent of Inglewood for our 6th Capital Ideas Calgary event. These Calgary business owners will be on hand to discuss the culture of innovation and how it drives their businesses. A big thank you to ATB Business for making it all possible.
Merri Lemmex, Lemmex Williams Training Inc. lemmexwilliams.com
“People don’t read everything, so our approach to web design is simple, intuitive and clean. We’re constantly looking to see what works on our client websites and make tweaks to make the most of sales leads.” Kris Hans, strategist at Market Grade, marketgrade.com
These answers are in response to a question posed by David Forster, Business owners helping business owners
president of Adster Creative. Here’s his take: “For Adster and our clients, it begins with identifying key actions
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allows us the ability to track and measure all of these. Once we identify these goals, we can determine which online channel like organic search, paid search, social media, etc., did to either directly result in, or assist in these customer acquisition related actions, and subsequently establish an ROI for each.” Adster is hosting a free lunch with Google’s Partners Team in Calgary on June 16. Join the wait list at adster.ca/ blog.