Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

This does not seem like the kind of service that anyone would be searching for.

If I understand correctly, you're waiting for people to find you, when I think what you need to be doing is smilin' and dialin'.

At the very least, you need to generate some buzz in the trades so that your target market will learn about you and say, "I gotta call these guys!"

1. Search doesn't seem like the right place to be advertising. Who is the primary target audience, what search terms would people be using, and what are they really looking for?

2. What does someone have to do to be in the running for the iPad? Just complete the form and give you their contact info? You may end up with a very expensive (and short) list, if nobody finds your site, or if everyone opts-out immediately.

3. Ditch the references to Cosmos unless your primary target audience already knows them and respects their work. That's just a confusion factor for you. And if you have to keep them, can you hide the references somewhere so people won't be confused about your message?

If this were my program, I would begin by doing some case studies or user stories about the effectiveness of your programs.

I would build a mail list (that's not a typo... a mail list including titles and contact numbers, not an e-mail list) for key contacts in my target market. I would include more contact names at larger prospects (e.g. professional football teams) and fewer contacts at smaller organizations (e.g. small college athletic departments).

I would post the user studies on my website, and I was certainly used search engine optimization and Google ad words to drive traffic to the site. But I would expect more response from a series (again, not a typo... a series of postcards to each recipient) and my offer would not be some unrelated gizmo, but it would be one or more printed case studies. You could also offer samples of some of your previous promotional materials.

It seems to me that your basic corporate premise is that having something physical in people's hands enhances their experience. Sorry to be blunt, but you either believe this, or you do not. If you believe that having something physical in a person's hand is important, then you must use regular mail (not e-mail) to accomplish this.

If it were me, I would intersperse regular mailings with occasional telephone calls, leaving a message (maybe once every two or three months) to remind them of your mailings and direct them to your website.

after you have a sustained postcard marketing plan in place, you can open your marketing toolbox and add webinars and e-mail marketing and social media marketing and really have a field day.

To be very specific ...

You asked: "Any recommendations to improve the opt-in rate or is this just not a good strategy for developing the type of leads we are looking for?"

My response: It's the latter. This is not a good strategy for developing the type of leads you're seeking.

Interesting marketing challenge. Maybe you need some outside consulting help ... to bring a fresh perspective to your own thinking.

I disagree with most of the other responses above. I think that search marketing is an ideal way to go about this. Everyone turns to Google to find the stuff they want to buy. I'm going to assume that you've done some search marketing before and understand the basics, which keywords you're looking for, etc.

I would recommend that you drive your search marketing to land on a custom designed page. (Never run a search campaign without a custom designed page for it to land on.) That page will do three things:
1. Promote your product as the answer to their needs.
2. Promote the contest to gather their info.
3. Call them to action to win the iPad with the form.

Make it fun! Make it imperative! You're a promotions company- promote it!

I would also recommend that you simplify the form to the bare essentials. Typically you only need 3 or 4 pieces of info- name, email, phone, organization. Although you can usually get organization from their email. Every other question you ask causes people to not fill in the form. Make it as easy and friendly as possible.
Put all of the fine print under the form on the bottom of the page, where small print belongs.