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| Frequently Asked Questions |
FAQ's
Read on to find out
more about the cost of running an OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO Performance Marketing
™ campaign. OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO believes strongly in providing high
quality and targeted marketing to our users. Remember that it's not how much
you spend that's so important, but rather how much return you get on your
investment (ROI)! CPC (Cost per Click) search results listings
should be a very effective part of your overall marketing plan. Consider that
80% of print advertising does not work or at best yields a 2 to 1 ROI (return
on investment) Online advertisers who track performance say that they received
the highest return on investment (ROI) from search results listings. Take
advantage of the one advertising medium that gives you the highest ROI (Return
On Investment) , credibility and advertiser satisfaction.
| Performance Marketing™ Campaign Costs |
| 1. How much will my membership
cost? |
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO's Performance
Marketing ™ offers
substantial
savings over Cost-Per-Click (CPC) search engines (Overture average
pay-per-click advertising is .70 cents). your basic listing membership is
$19.95 a year. The cost of campaign ads or additional listings depends on
how much you have decided to invest in marketing, and knowing your marketing
goals. What are your specific goals? How many new customers do you need to fill
your trips, as an example?
|
KNOW YOUR WEB SITE'S CONVERSION RATE
What
percentage of unique visitors to your web site actually make a purchase? For
instance, a web site that makes 1 sale for every 100 visitors has a conversion
rate of 1%.
Although the quality of visitors you get from
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO may be higher than what you normally get through other
marketing means, knowing your CR (conversion rate) will give you a "baseline"
to help determine your ROI (return on investment - one time sale). What is your
average sale? Lets say it is $200. You spent $20 to get a return of $200
that's' a 10 to 1 ROI (return on your advertising investment). [The minimum
acceptable marketing return is 2 to 1] If you are not doubling your money, it's
a poor investment.
EXAMPLE:
Let's say your conversion rate is
1%. Based on this, you need 100
click-throughs on your
link to make 1 sale. That's an investment of 20 cents/click or $20. Figure out
whether or not your profit margin is sufficiently high enough to justify the
cost. If so, are you willing to spend even more to get your link displayed
longer in the search results and possibly generate more
click-throughs and
sales? Will the additional sales justify the extra cost?
COST OF ACQUIRING A NEW CUSTOMER
What you
are calculating is the cost of acquiring a "new" customer. Once you have that
new customer how many times will he/she come back and buy again? What is their
TLV (total life value), how many times will they spend $200 in the future?
|
THE CLIENT VALUE FORMULA: |
|
$200 |
X |
40% |
= |
$80 |
X |
2 |
= |
$160 |
X |
6 years |
= |
$960 |
|
Average Sale |
|
GPM
gross
profit margin |
|
Profit per Sale |
|
Sales per year |
|
Profit per year |
|
Client Life |
|
Total Value of Client |
|
Acquiring 1 customer cost you $20 and your TLV (Total
Life Value) return will be $960. Your ROI (return on Investment) is 48 to 1
TLV. |
- Set your limits: Choose how much you are going to
budget per day and per month. You can choose a daily budget as low as $5
dollars ($5 X 30 days = $150 a month) or as high as you want. See question 5 for more information on selecting your daily
budget.
- Be smart: First, don't budget more than you can
afford. Second, if you are unsure what to budget per day or month to acquire a
new customer, we help you by giving you cost estimates, specific to your
campaign, during the sign up process. Finally, we suggest you start off with a
reasonable budget.
|
FORMULAS FOR YOUR MARKETING BUDGET
For start-ups & young growing companies with
little or no customers ... there is no formula. Because whatever % you come up
with would be meaningless. i.e. 5% of nothing = nothing. Even with successful
established companies, this varies greatly ... but there are formulas.
There are industries that spend only 3% of
revenue to generate clients (but they tend to be well established, have lots of
customers and old fashioned.) I know other industries that spend 25-30% of
Revenues back on marketing ... and also are very established, but have a low
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) and a high GPM (gross profit margin)
The "norm" most companies work from is the
"8-10-12% Rule" for established companies, which means:
- Reinvest 8% of "gross profits" (not
revenue) into all marketing for marginal growth
- 10% for average growth
- 12% for aggressive growth
|
|
Grow from what works: Once you know what works, you
can start to build more campaigns to attract new customers.
Additional information and specific
Click-Through
Cost-Per-Click (CPC), Cost-Per-Email (CPE), Performance
Listings™ and Performance Ads™ can be found in the account
activation screens. You must have at lease one trip listed and be logged-in to
access this information.
| 2. What else affects the cost of my
marketing? |
There are also a couple of other factors to
consider:
- Keywords: Choosing the right keywords ensures
that you attract only your potential customers and only pay for
click-throughs that are
likely to bring you a good ROI (return on investment). Using keyword and topic
matching helps you manage your listings to the most relevant searches.
- Targeting: Targeting your listing to your
specific market ensures that you are competing in the right market looking for
your service. Effective targeting is accomplished through trip titles that
interest a potential customer, keywords an individual thinks of when they think
of your service and great description text.
| 3. Am I charged for emails from my
listing? |
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO does allow the potential customer to email
you. This service is not offered by search engines. They can request a brochure
or specific information about a trip through an email form. You then have
opened up the channel of communication and obtained their valuable email
address, which gives you permission to contact them. OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO has
delivered you a "HOT LEAD" that is even more targeted that from your own web
site. Because of the priority of this HOT LEAD it is important to respond as
soon as possible to their request. It has been proven, companies that respond
quickly are perceived as service oriented and usually get the sale.
There is no additional cost for HOT LEAD emails
| 4. How can I be in the top position
every time? |
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO
Performance Marketing
™ basic membership listing does not rank listings on cost. There
is no way to reserve top placement in the basic Performance Marketing
™ program. This approach results in an easy to manage and cost
effective campaign that allows for fair competition, regardless of your budget.
You can't be outbid. Listings are evenly rotated. NOTE: We don't even
show the price of your service to encourage the potential customer to
click-through to your
web site where you have more trip details, availability and accurate
prices.
BUT, you may reserve
top placement or top 3 listings with our Performance
Listings™ program. These listings appear above the Performance
Marketing ™ listings and are evenly rotated within OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO.
search results, when the page reloads the top 3 listings change position.
| Performance Marketing ™ Billing information |
| 1. When does my marketing start
accruing costs? |
Your basic Performance Marketing
™ listings don't begin running and accruing costs until you activate
your account. When you are ready to activate your account, log-on to your
account and submit your billing information. Your listings will then appear on
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO immediately.
| 2. What are my payment options?
|
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO offers one membership payment plan for you
to choose from.
-
Basic
Performance Marketing
™ Plan membership $19.95 a Year
This automatic plan ensures
uninterrupted service during your season with minimum account management. You
authorize your credit card to be charged a specific fixed amount annualy. You
will be notified by email when your account is charged or when your marketing
hs ended.
We currently accept checks, MasterCard and
Visa credit cards. If you are paying in a non-USD currency, you can use Visa,
MasterCard with those logos.
We do accept payment by check for your
payment in advance for the basic membership marketing program.
| 3. Does
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO offer credit terms to customers? |
There are no credit terms for billing or
monthly invoicing all accounts are pre-paid. Typically, these companies will
have an established monthly marketing campaign they have committed to in
advance for their marketing program.
We bill on your anniversary date, or when your account was
activated.
You pay only for the basic membership which includes
click-throughs and
email HOT LEADS you've actually received.
If you desire other terms or invoicing, we are happy to
review all such requests.
OUR GUARANTEE
You will only pay for results.
Results is defined as page views, click-throughs, or emails from your basic
membership listing. If you do not get any "results" your membership fee will be
refunded.
OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO filters search result click-throughs and
removes robot traffic, repeated clicks by the same IP within a 2-hour period,
clicks on results over 2-hours old, IP addresses of suspicious origin and
clicks from OUTDOORTRIPS.INFO staff testing functions of the service.
You only pay if you get RESULTS.
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LISTED TODAY!
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