Results that match "Efficiency"
LinkedIn was my first experience with social media. Not Facebook, not MySpace, but LinkedIn. Because of this unexpected occurrence, I immediately noticed the business potential of social media and related technologies BEFORE the personal, ‘fun’ aspects to social.
To be a great manager, put people development first. http://t.co/0LFBH7ZJ6r
— LinkedIn for SMBs (@LinkedInSMB) February 9, 2014
I quickly became a LinkedIn evangelist, with clients and anyone else I networked with. However, I would continually ask others how LinkedIn was received in their workplace, and the reviews were mixed.
At first, bosses complained about LinkedIn usage because they viewed the social network as little more than a channel on which to post resumes – believing that their employees were secretly using LinkedIn to simply look for another job.
Must See LinkedIn Profiles of 2013 from LinkedIn
This continued to be the prevailing assumption about 6-7 years ago, but sentiment changed when Groups, Company Pages, and other features began to appear. As the company increased its functionality – perhaps owing to competition from Facebook and Twitter, or to provide additional services – organizations of all sizes began to recognize the fundamental business value of LinkedIn.
Going public in May 2011 didn’t hurt the company’s visibility among professionals either.
However, LinkedIn is still missing a huge swath of a professional audience, and I’m continually confounded by how many individuals are still not on LinkedIn. Or, the response I get is, ‘Yes, I know, I have a LinkedIn profile but I haven’t done anything with it.
One way to help get the most out of LinkedIn is to see how it is received by your company. If resources exist to assist you in promoting your capabilities or utilizing LinkedIn’s vast, rich feature set, then additional value of using the social network is created.
Here are some considerations for utilizing LinkedIn on the job, for the benefit of yourself and your company:
1. Find a LinkedIn champion. Because of LinkedIn’s different audience and purpose, find an individual within the organization who can keep everyone updated on LinkedIn features and best practices.
I’ve found that a LinkedIn champion at a company is not necessarily a social media manager sitting in the PR or marketing department, but rather someone in sales, as many forward-thinking sales professionals have been quick to capture the potential of LinkedIn for prospecting and identifying opportunities.
Even if you are not in sales, nonetheless there could be much to learn from a LinkedIn champion from sales.
2. Capture interactions in the company’s CRM system. To prove to others – and senior management – of the potential for LinkedIn, track any relevant, valuable interactions with your network in your company’s CRM database. These insights will not only bring you additional visibility, but it will garner a more organizational favor towards use of the social network.
Final Thought: Spend more time on LinkedIn, even during the workday. You may already utilize LinkedIn for your own personal professional development, but demonstrating value to others in your company will help you in other ways, and possibly net you additional resources (i.e., a premium subscription). Agree to join your organization’s LinkedIn task force or dream team, and show others the benefits of engaging properly and professionally on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is expected to announce Q4 2013 earnings on February 6, and I’m excited to see their usage stats and new products coming down the pike.
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I love reading the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections of websites – sometimes before even reading company information in the About section or product specs via the Product tab. I like doing this for a few reasons:
1. More organic. Since the material is written to answer questions or solve problems, it usually shies away from simply broadcasting the product’s features. As such, the tone is very different from that of traditional brochureware.
2. More revealing. The selection of sample questions to which they have provided responses tells me a lot about the company. What do they feel is most relevant for potential customers to know? Conversely, what should customers not know or what questions do they not anticipate customers asking?
As both a creative and an analyst, I can extract a lot about a company just from its FAQ section.
As a bonus, when available, I love clicking on the option at the bottom of the webpage that asks, ‘Was this page helpful?’ I never get bored seeing that question.
So, then, should company websites be entirely comprised of FAQs?
Perhaps. Nowadays, I’ve begun to notice a trend in converting FAQ-type content into the company’s external online community. You will notice these URLs for the portals as http://community.CompanyX.com or http://support.CompanyX.com.
The community can serve various purposes. The first one is obvious: facilitate self-service and make it findable, reducing the strain on the contact center and others responsible for handling direct inquiries or requests.
Moving beyond the FAQ format, the community can extend to include new product announcements, promotions, and other information relevant to customers or prospective customers. In this way, the ‘marketing’ material is peripheral to the content that users actively seek out – useful, but not intrusive.
If I build it, will they come?
One of the biggest complaints about creating a new platform for users – whether for customers or employees – can be debated via the question, Who will end up using it?
As with any technology, people will only use it when they discover and experience value. After the discovery phase comes validation – OK, great, the community website content answered questions and helped them understand more about using a particular product or service – but what comes next is crucial: diffusion, or spreading the good word about that experience.
The main community webpage for Cisco.
Of course, all companies pin their hopes on word-of-mouth marketing, but online communities need it even more, because the deepest value comes from content that’s written, edited, commented on, liked, and shared by users. By extension, a community needs to not only build momentum but also sustain it for the benefit of all of its members.
Indeed, an active community’s most active content contributors may very well become its loyal customers who are more than happy to share their experiences with others.
Final Thought: Today’s customer would rather find an answer on his or her own, rather than spend time on the phone with the call center. Creating the tools to deliver a unique experience will create legions of happy customers and a marked improvement to the bottom line. Your marketing writers could be the missing link to delivering expert service, delivering efficiency and driving down costs in the process.
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Special Insights from Kneko Burney, CEO of Change3 Enteprises, included.
In Operations Management, best practices will tell you NEVER operate your production resources at full capacity. I know – doesn’t make sense. But, here’s why: when 100% of your resources are used to deliver your orders – it means you cannot make mistakes nor can you do vital activities like maintenance and repairs without stopping the entire production line.
So, what exactly does this have to do with marketing? Well, the same philosophy is true. If you are using sales people to do marketing – guess what: they are not selling. As such, your marketing department should not operate at full capacity.
Why shouldn’t I operate at full capacity?
1. There is no direct correlation between increased production and increased productivity. As with studying all night before an important exam, simply counting the number of hours studied as productivity would be wrong: adding more hours of labor to a project does not necessarily produce an improved result. While the field of economics may point to examples in the manufacturing industry, a marketing organization – with completely different inputs to production – cannot be managed in the same manner.
Simply creating more email campaigns or producing more webinars may signal increased production, but the ROI of each marketing piece may drop, as fewer leads, engagement, or KPIs are recorded. In this case, increased production does not lead to increased productivity.
2. Focus on quality, not quantity. A total commitment to quality is not a new concept. Spearheaded by Japanese industry since the late 1970s, and later giving way to ISO 9000 and Six Sigma methodologies in the 1990s and 2000s, a focus on continuous improvement and a commitment to quality has been empirically shown to
Therefore, an organization, including a marketing team, should instill a total commitment to quality in every task, no matter how large or small.
However, this concept is particularly difficult for today’s senior marketers operating in a complex media landscape with multiple platforms, channels, audiences, and endpoints all seeming to vie for importance and attention. ‘Don’t we have to be where our clients are – everywhere?’ is often a question I am asked. The answer is No, if there do not exist sufficient resources to produce the level of quality needed to meet the demands of a client or prospect.
3. Companies need to create a safe haven for experimentation and creativity -- and mistakes. Entire industries, including technology, media, entertainment, and even pharmaceuticals, have built huge businesses on ‘mistakes’ in production that occurred even though they were never meant to happen in the first place. Such mistakes are later productized and monetized. If a company is operating at full capacity, with restrictions on activities not central to the business at hand, there are no resources left over to experiment and discover the next product that just might become a blockbuster. While Google has long been known to famously allow its employees ’20 percent time,’ or one day a week to pursue side projects (the company has recently sunsetted this policy), time to pursue projects can indeed deliver results to the bottom line.
Final Thought: Not operating at full capacity does not mean a lack of efficiency. Today’s marketing professional may struggle with this concept, but satisfied customers will take notice of the resulting quality. Since all marketing should tie back to revenue, your team will easily be able to measure the results of this strategy.
Inject the human element into your organization and decide what tasks should become more efficient and what others could be discarded.
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We’ve all had boring jobs at one point or another, but companies have quickly realized the importance of harnessing – and profiting from – the creativity of their employees.
Of course, in certain businesses, day-to-day creativity is expected. But in industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals, transportation, and energy, companies are realizing that some of the best ideas can very well emanate from within.
While Google has long been known to famously allow its employees ’20 percent time,’ or one day a week to pursue side projects (the company has recently sunsetted this policy), time allotted for employees to pursue projects can indeed deliver results to the bottom line.
Here are some considerations for jumpstarting your organization’s focus on harvesting new, business-building ideas:
Start online, before going offline. Take it to the community: post an announcement via your company’s online community, and target champions – managers or whole departments – whom you are certain could serve as positive representatives of the initiative. You need not engage the entire company at first either – perhaps just certain groups in the online community first, then gather relevant feedback which you can use to further promote the program. People prefer to see results first before jumping headfirst into uncertain waters.
Create an incentive program for creativity. The prize needs to be more than just an online badge or a trophy given out at the All Hands Meeting at the end of the quarter. If an employee’s idea leads to real business results, a financial incentive will speak volumes of the senior management’s commitment to motivation, morale, support, and the future of the business. Engage the PR department for additional out-of-the-box ways to motivate employees, and how such results can be communicated effectively.
Don’t just talk the talk: show results. New employee programs are often greeted with a yawn. Once launched, continue to communicate the progress of the program via your company’s online community and in small meetings, capturing the lifecycle of an employee’s idea as it becomes a reality. This will incentivize other employees to join in and generate even more ideas.
IBM is another company that is a proud proponent of employee innovation, whether or not such innovations make it out the front door. Each year, at the company’s annual Lotusphere conference (renamed Connect), the most exciting part of the conference – at least for me, as a former industry analyst – was the personal tour I would receive of a handful of ongoing projects developed by researchers at IBM labs in Cambridge, Mass., Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo, and other cities. Always staged in a windowless room far away from the main conference sessions – no cameras or recording devices allowed! – I learned of diverse projects, including one aimed at monitoring employee social media usage and another that seemed to serve as an internal Kickstarter-like crowdfunding campaign platform. I would later learn that the social media usage product, while not a formal IBM offering, was piloted at a few clients for evaluation. Kudos to the IBM researcher who developed it!
Final Thought: Your employees are your best resource for new business. Motivate, inspire, and most importantly, compensate them for delivering creativity and profits. It’s just good business, in addition to good karma.
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Centre for Innovation Studies, Imperial College, London
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/innovationstudies
Articles related to the study of the innovation process and the impact of knowledge creation.
Harvard Business Review’s 10 Must Reads on Innovation
Books on innovation, including articles written by Peter Drucker.
How To Innovate: A Step By Step Guide
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/smallbusiness/how_to_innovate.fsb/
From a reporter for Fortune Small Business, a guide on planning and adopting innovation in an organization.
A common mistake that small companies make is they want to be everything to everyone. Even big companies make this mistake too. The truth is that your business, particularly if you sell some sort of technology offering, will be BEST SUITED for only one particular type or profile of customer.
And, because time and money are limited, the exercise of narrowing your lens to focus on just that type of customer could help you increase the yield of your various lead generation and sales activities.
Why is it important to narrow your focus?
1. To concentrate on your organization's core competencies. Put another way…do what you do best. Passion, creativity, and the willingness to go the extra mile will come through in the product or service – and clients will immediately take notice. The attention to detail, research and best-practice methods will even spark innovation -- leading to countless new products that your organization can consider launching into the market.
What if I lose business? You won't. Instead, you will actually gain business, because you will be demonstrating a commitment to clients in an industry that will regard you as a trusted resource or advisor. If you are concerned that you might lose potential business – perhaps a client in the periphery to your core market – you should instead concentrate on serving the market with the products you know best.
What if I become obsolete? Markets, preferences, customers, and products can all be expected to change at a moment's notice. One big fear of narrowing focus on only one product or audience demographic might be that the product no longer becomes useful or interesting – that it becomes obsolete. You can combat this if you and your organization have been strategic all along. By accurately drawing a product roadmap and being able to accurately predict the direction of your target market, you will be able to predict obsolescence long before it is an issue. And if you have been maintaining a narrow, concentrated focus all along, you will be able to harness both internal and external resources to develop a plan that addresses any product or market shortfalls long before they become an issue.
2. To improve overall communications and messaging. Instead of general messaging, do not be afraid to let your audience know about the specific type of product that you offer, or the specific market that you serve. This is a radical departure from current marketing communications trends but additional rewards will surface in the form of journalists and bloggers who will not only easily find you, but also more easily write about you, as your corporate and product story is much more easy to relate. As such, you will win over a notoriously difficult constituent group – which any business needs to carry forth its brand messaging and communications.
What if the creative gets stifled? If you are feeling that your creative is getting a bit worn out, or that you have said everything you can possibly say, you are not working hard enough. Challenge your marketing team or agency to develop more engaging content, or better yet, crowdsource your messaging: use your Yammer, Chatter, or online community software instance to ask both your internal and external communities for input, advice, and ideas on messaging. Don't forget to gamify the experience, and reward the winner or winning team with something valuable (or fun).
3. To differentiate your organization and its capabilities. Ironically, in an age of 'solution providers' that promise all things to all people, focusing on only one product, category, or industry will set you apart. Just as with becoming memorable to journalists, bloggers, and influencers or your razor-sharp focus, you will become indelible to your clients for delivering a stellar product or service to an audience whom you clearly demonstrate to know very well.
4. To better balance risk. Small companies often over-extend themselves to grab a new, tangential piece of business – rather than focusing attention on core segments OR they become too focused on that one or two really great clients and ignore other opportunities in their bailiwick. The best approach to this is to balance harvesting your core segments, and your best customers, while also diversifying with a choice few new ones. Be sure to give your best customers your fullest resources and attention while you grow – but also be willing to balance your time and resource investment with new customers that might bring greater profits and/or growth. This will be a challenge, but one worth fighting through. The rule of thumb is – if you’ve got more than 50% of your revenues coming from ONE customer, you need to diversify. And, if your resource allocation does not reflect your profit yield per customer (meaning the most profitable customers get the most support, value-add, etc.) then you need to consider how you are serving your customers – this should match up reasonably well. Lastly, if you don’t know the profit yield of each customer – you will probably benefit greatly from better accounting and budgeting practices.
5. To increase productivity and profitability. Because nearly everyone in your organization will be more focused on the products or services that will yield the highest sales with the least number of customer service issues, your company will become more productive and profitable. Knowing what works best will enable you and your company to avoid developing, selling, and servicing products which will not work, making your organization more efficient over time.
Final Thought: Narrowing does not mean limiting. A razor-sharp focus on clients with targeted messaging about the right product will lead to sales. Today's marketing professional may struggle with this concept, but when sales and satisfied customers result, the rest of the industry will take notice. Since all marketing should tie back to revenue, your team will easily be able to measure the results of this strategy.
It's always a tough decision to break away from the pack. Make the tough decision to focus on what your company does best in order to concentrate on favorable outcomes. And, more importantly, you can point your efforts to outcomes that will really matter to the success of the business.
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1. THE GLOBAL INNOVATION 1000: http://goo.gl/AVZk30 How the Top Innovators Keep Winning Booz & Company's annual study of the world's biggest R&D spenders shows why highly innovative companies are able to consistently outperform. Their secret? They're good at the right things, not at everything.
2. The Nine Principles of Branding: http://goo.gl/Y4F4cr Greg Stine identifies 9 fundamental qualities of a good branding program to help companies positively differentiate themselves and their products from that of the competition.
3. Discipline of Market Leaders: Target your Customers, Narrow your Focus, Dominate your Market, by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema: http://goo.gl/VzZwKS From the best-selling book, The Discipline of Market Leaders, research shows that businesses achieve sustained success by using 3 disciplines: operational excellence, product leadership and customer intimacy. Successful companies excel in one of the disciplines and must be satisfactory in the other two.
Running a business large or small requires an enormous investment of time and attention to dozens of details. So how involved should the CEO or business owner be with marketing, communications, and messaging? Is it worth his or her time for the CEO to blog?
In short, the answer is Yes. And there are ways to do it effectively and efficiently without removing his or her managerial responsibilities.
A Credible Source
Perhaps the best reason for a CEO to blog is authenticity and credibility: if the public has the chance to read the words of the leader, the organization can break down barriers of communication and the public can not only learn more but also, via the Comments or sharing features, engage in a one-to-one dialogue with the most senior leader.
What’s Old Is New Again
The idea of a personal letter being written from the CEO and disseminated to a wide audience is nothing new. The CEO is often the byline of the ‘Welcome’ letter in a New Employee Orientation package, and the CEO (or CFO) is the one authoring the Management Discussion and Analysis portion of an Annual Report.
However, for anyone who’s spent time in the PR or HR function of a company, such letters are often ghostwritten, and final signoff from the CEO doesn’t come until much later. If this is widely understood and accepted, does that undermine the credibility of the CEO?
Not necessarily. Single-use letters like the Welcome letter or Annual Report introduction can have long lead times, but a blog’s format requires a much more active messaging format. As such, a reader may fully expect that the CEO receives assistance from a PR team member or designated writer, but by and large, many of the posts will be written directly by the source.
Delegate But Still Oversee
One strategy for the CEO to blog or write personal thoughts is the idea of note-taking, and using technology to ‘ideate’ and capture thoughts as they occur. Communications professionals can provide their CEO or members of senior leadership with tools to capture thoughts in transit – as they often travel – and then take these disparate notes and put them into a more structured format suitable for a blogpost.
Indeed, even recording audio or video clips can be extremely valuable, as the communications or marketing team can transcribe the material – or with permission, use it as part of the blogpost itself, for extra authenticity.
For CEOs involved in a more day-to-day, client-facing capacity – as so many are these days – a video capture can do wonders for communicating with a key prospect, supplier, or industry partner, and can open the doors to more detailed discussions and communications.
For busy or shy CEOs, all it takes is one customer to reveal, ‘I read your blogpost,’ or ‘I saw your video,’ and they will realize the value of the effort.
Perfect Shouldn’t Be the Goal
The search for perfection is what often prevents many people from starting on their social media journey. Luckily, with the dynamic tools of social publishing these days, attempts can be corrected or modified quickly.
Over time, the CEO will discover his or her ‘voice,’ and a willing audience will embrace it.
Final Thought: As businesses of all sizes these days are doing more with less, and with so many customers bored or tired with faceless communications, a continuous stream of real messaging from the CEO can go the extra mile in converting naysayers to believers.
Figure out a combination of tools and strategies that work, and produce an outstanding platform that makes people want to come back for more.
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1. THE 2103 BRANDFOG CEO, SOCIAL MEDIA & LEADERSHIP SURVEY:http://goo.gl/fH8CBi This second annual survey was conducted to better understand C-Suite social media strategy and measure its effect on executive leadership, brand image, and brand trust. The results? Over 80% of respondents believe that that social media is an important communication channel for CEOs to engage with customers and investors.
2. THE SOCIAL CEO:http://goo.gl/6yHKL4 Research firm KRC and public relations firm Weber Shandwick teamed up to study perceptions of CEOs who engage in social media. One interesting finding: 73% of executives with social CEOs search to see what their CEO is posting.
3. RESEARCH FROM CEO.COM: http://goo.gl/CYHRyM After sending his first tweet, Warren Buffett joked, “Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” However, according to this report from CEO.com and Domo, 68% of CEOs have absolutely no presence on any of the major social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus).
Given advancements in productivity software and the often matrixed – and simultaneously overburdened – workforces of today, the roles of both the salesperson and the marketer have united in interesting and unexpected ways.
However, as teams are now working closer together than ever before – and it may often seem that each function is now completing one another’s tasks – strategy, leadership, and execution need to live in their respective areas.
Nowadays, the seeming convergence may appear to inject efficiency into the marketing and sales process, but in order to properly serve an organization’s customer needs, each function should stick to what it does best.
Content: What Started It All
What started the seeming convergence of responsibilities is content: information disseminated by companies in efforts to attract buyers and move them through the marketing funnel.
Before the development of social channels and the interwebs, buyers – mostly of B2B and professional services – could only receive information in the form of a brochure or a few webpages (‘brochureware,’ as it used to be called). Calls from the salesperson would lead to discussions and presentations about products and services. In this model, the salesperson held much more information about his or her company than did the prospect.
The tables have since turned: buyers are savvier and more informed than ever. Via Twitter newsfeeds, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn Groups, SlideShare presentations, eBooks, opt-in emails, and even plain-old Google search, a buyer can discover and learn enough information to make a purchasing decision – often without the need for a salesperson to first explain the benefits one-on-one. According to the December 2013 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey published in DemandGen report, 41% of buyers said they waited longer to initiate contact with B2B vendors than they did a year ago.
As such, many companies are more closely exploring the roles of each, and determining the best way that they can work together in this new marketing content driven paradigm.
Turf Wars, and a Shift in Job Responsibilities
Some sales teams have retooled themselves to better adapt to the process by which prospects discover and learn about a company’s products and services.
While salespeople have always performed their own prospecting, astute sales professionals today have learned to harness LinkedIn and other networks to zero in on the most desirable targets.
Does this mean that salespeople are performing a marketing function, if they use a social media channel to prospect? No, as over 277 million business professionals use LinkedIn on a regular basis, so utilizing the network can hardly be seen as a standalone marketing effort.
And if a marketing associate communicates directly with a prospect – would this constitute selling? No, as doing so would be considered merely a step in the process. The marketing associate communicating with the prospect should quickly inform sales, and hand it off as appropriate.
In short, marketing helps create demand and generate leads; sales closes them. The two should work together to retain the best tactics and strategy for each area.
Adding Value, Incrementally and Cyclically
Sales should not be doing marketing – outside of activities that tie directly to selling functions AND that have been agreed upon with marketing.
Communication is key. Sales teams need to continually let marketing know which messages and channels are resonating the best with customers and prospects; in turn, marketing can use this information to further enhance content which can appeal more strongly to the intended audience.
A communications cycle results, in which each department adds incremental value to the other. Forward-thinking companies continually test and evaluate a process that works optimally, given resources that are available.
Final Thought: While each function should support one another, sales should not be marketing and marketing should not be selling. The two roles need to work together, and strategy and leadership in each area lives in each respective area.
Additionally, marketing departments can expand their capabilities and assist with sales and sales operations, while sales teams can provide a plethora of insights which can drive fresh content creation by marketing.
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1. B2B TECH BUYERS AND CONTENT MARKETING: http://goo.gl/EIB2ol Marketing Charts presents the findings of a B2B technology content survey report, in which over 500 influencers of technology buying decisions revealed their preferences and uses of content assets when evaluating various technology vendors.
2. WHY DO SALES REPS PROGRESS TO MARKETING: http://goo.gl/LDgnmc A Q&A from the Ask.com website on career options for a sales rep.
3. ENDING THE WAR BETWEEN SALES AND MARKETING: http://goo.gl/fpBbU A Harvard Business Review article on why there seems to be friction between sales and marketing departments and how to more seamlessly integrate them.
MCSA. MCSD. CCNA. CFA. FRM. CAIA. PMP. The list goes on for certifications that companies and organizations offer to individuals in the hopes of helping professionals further their careers.
Of course, in return, companies further their mission and messaging through the use of such certifications.
As technologies and processes become increasingly more complex – and as users find themselves without formal training from their employer – many companies, especially those in enterprise software or professional services, have been creating certification programs for their products. The idea of having an army of users certified in a particular program carries innumerable benefits, though the marketplace is crowded with offerings.
Benefits to the User
For several years, there has been much fiery debate about the ‘skills gap’ in the U.S. workforce. Essentially, good people can’t find jobs, while companies complain that they cannot find the right people to fill positions.
As jobs become more skills-based and task-oriented, traditional education offerings run counter to the needs of corporations, especially those in technology and financial services.
Many mid- and even senior-level professionals have begun to rebuild their skillsets and educational profiles by taking courses leading to specific industry certifications. A rundown of benefits include:
…and for the Organization
Organizations realize innumerable benefits of creating and launching a certification program. The first, of course, is revenue: if a company sells a highly-sought-after technology or product, and knows that professionals seeking to become more knowledgeable and marketable would willingly pay to get certified, then a certification program is born.
Microsoft figured this out as early as the mid-1980s, as its software was already being distributed to corporations and governments worldwide. Information technology professionals quickly saw the value of holding a Microsoft designation, as it opened doors to jobs and projects that would have otherwise been impossible to get.
Certifying organizations can create profitable education ecosystems whereby
These are just a handful of the benefits of creating a certification program. Indeed, it includes the idea of building an educational brand.
Measuring Success
Organizations offering the credential have several measures of success, from tracking the number of individuals who demonstrate interest in a credentialing program, to the fee income from test registrations, to the satisfaction rates of professionals who have completed the program.
Some organizations’ professional designation had become so sought-after and recognizable, that they rebrand themselves to be more closely aligned with the credential. In 2004, the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) rebranded itself as the CFA Institute, in part to demonstrate awareness and leadership of its flagship Chartered Financial Analyst professional certification.
Final Thought: Companies wishing to spread their influence can do well by developing and launching certification programs and selling them to professionals seeking to acquire a new credential. In return, professionals can exploit these designations to their advantage by using them as sharp networking tools.
There seem to be a plethora of options for certifications, and both sides need to demonstrate the value.
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Oracle Certification: http://goo.gl/x72Bbo The portal for one of the largest providers of IT training and certification. Oracle has acquired dozens of technology companies and has maintained the majority of these certifications in its portfolio.
Product Certification: http://goo.gl/3Ujhl9 A guest post in Tech Cocktail discusses how certifications can leverage third party professionals to get tasks done.
Consumer Product Saftely Commission: http://goo.gl/udLVxR Though not a certifying organization for professionals, this is an interesting look at what manufacturers must know in order to get their products certified.
How small businesses should use Groupon or LivingSocial
With millions of subscribers worldwide, Groupon (51.8 million) and LivingSocial (70 million) could be great avenues for Small Businesses to find new customers and grow. But, in order for these platforms to really help a business grow profitably, business owners will need have a well-thought out strategy on how to use them and, more importantly, how to monetize the customers that come from these sites.
Groupon and LivingSocial are so attractive to shoppers because they offer substantial discounts -sometimes as much as 90% off goods, services, or entertainment. In fact, these types of sites typically require a significant discount before an offer can be listed. As such, business owners need to be smart about using these types of sites to grow because your listed deals may not deliver much profit (if any at all). However, with some calculated planning and excellent customer relationship management, these platforms could be a great way to find new customers and can be an excellent way to market your business locally.
In short, I see Groupon and LivingSocial as great advertising platforms for small businesses, like the Scottsdale restaurant, Twisted Rose Winery featured below. This type of offer can be highly effective to drive revenue and profits if used as part of a bigger strategy for small and local businesses.
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Have a Clear Set of Objectives
The first step to using these sites successfully is to actually think about the customers you want to attract and more importantly, how you plan to sell them related items/services, as well as how to keep them coming back to your business (even if they don’t get the luxury of a discount). So, start by creating a plan to retain the Grouponers or LivingSocialites that respond to your offer. This could be the difference between a successful campaign or a short-term cash grab. A well-positioned promotional strategy that includes understanding what value-added features your target customer will appreciate will get them to spend a few more dollars when they redeem the deal coupon.
Be Prepared for an Influx of Customers
Before you make such an offer, ensure that you have sufficient inventory and staff to deliver excellent customer service – and if you run out, that you’ve also communicated with customers when they can expect to get your product or service. Set expectations with buyers so that if your offer is very successful, you have time to order extra stock and/or add another person to the staff to handle the expected surge, among other measures. Nothing will diminish your returns and efforts more than a lack of preparedness or miss managed customer expectations.
Negotiate. Negotiate. Negotiate.
Take charge of the process when you negotiate with these sites in order to retain as much of the deal revenue as possible. Do not settle for any number just to get your deal on the site. Do the math and crunch the numbers to figure out what percentage you need to at least break even -- then negotiate to get as close as possible to that percentage. Be vigilant in setting your budget because sales do not always equate to profit. Think of these sites as a means to attract new customers (as opposed to spending money on advertising), and once you’ve attracted them it’s your job to keep them and/or earn more revenue from them with your great products and services. So as you negotiate, take into consider related products, value added services and other ways that you can “upsell” or “cross sell” more of your products to customers that purchase these discounted deals for a single item or service. It is on the upsell and cross sell where you can really drive profit and business growth.
Raise your visibility on Online
Use Groupon or Living Social to connect with potential customers and get some traction for your products or services. One of the great benefits of these sites is their intelligent use of social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to promote their deals – such as is shown below. In turn, this increases your potential for a successful deal and gives you excellent online exposure. As such, be sure your storefront AND website are up to date, match the offer provided online and best reflect your brand message and objectives.
A big congrats to @thesoupergirl, one of our fave local merchants, on your new space in DC! #LocalLove pic.twitter.com/5jwXpcdfNd
— LivingSocial (@LivingSocial) June 19, 2014
Complement your marketing plan
An advantage of adding these promotional sites to your marketing mix is that it's free to feature your business on the sites, but remember they will take a percentage of the coupon transaction upfront. So, don't rely solely on the daily deals to create value for your business -- continue to use your proven methods of advertising and marketing to champion your brand. Manage your company website, leverage the social media platform that will work best for your business (such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn) [insert cross link to related blow] and leverage traditional advertising such as print media, online ads, paid search and other tactics that have worked for your business in the past.
Final Thoughts
Deep discounts will always be attractive to consumers and business owners will always have to give a little more to attract customers, which in the end should spell a win for both parties. If you are considering new avenues of advertising, exposure promotion sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial may be worth a look -- just do your homework before you start wheeling and dealing.
Let change3 help you manage your online presence and digital marketing strategy affordably – contact us today.
In today’s lean economy, executives and managers constantly look to uncover and eliminate costs whenever possible. As every marketing dollar must be accounted for, the decision to send executives to participate in events or conferences – as attendees, speakers, or exhibitors – is often difficult, as many view events as costly and risky, with low or intangible value.
The use of collaboration tools has shown financial planners that participating in live, in-person events could prove wasteful without clearly defined ROI. Why spend on airline tickets and hotel rooms when one could simply participate in a webinar from the comfort of one’s office desk (or home office)? Accounting for time spent out of the office traveling, participation in in-person conferences seems a no-brainer: it’s too expensive and hard to justify ROI.
Yet in today’s dizzying content marketing flurry of blogs, webinars, tweets, screencasts, and other digital media, the in-person event is making a comeback. Last year’s Dreamforce 2013, produced by enterprise software provider Salesforce.com, boasted 130,000 registered attendees, and marketing automation provider Marketo’s annual Marketing Nation Summit, held in April, saw the attendee number cross the 6,000 mark (and even hosted Hillary Clinton as Keynote Speaker).
Clearly, people are going to conferences these days – even for those produced by companies that hope that people spend less time meeting people in person and more time in front of the laptop or tablet.
29 days & counting for final discounted #SocialShakeUp tix! http://t.co/NHEnHkAhsN pic.twitter.com/He3wNJnCPN
— Social Media Today (@socialmedia2day) August 3, 2014
An upcoming social media conference
Companies are finding innovative ways to draw ROI from in-person event attendance. While there is certainly a hard-dollar cost, there are several strategies to maximize the investment, whether a company is sending an executive to speak, exhibiting via a booth in a showcase or tradeshow hall, or simply attending. Let’s have a look.
Track leads
Attendees and those manning a booth are usually expected to bring back pocketfuls of business cards to be uploaded into the CRM database -- which is no surprise. However, for a more complete insight into the cost-per-lead (CPL), the total cost for the company to attend the conference should be added to the lead’s profile, and as the lead moves through the marketing funnel and into a sale, the CPL should be adjusted to reflect this.
Create and re-package materials for demand generation and full-cycle marketing programs
With permission, speakers should be able to publish their presentation, or perhaps slimmed-down versions, on LinkedIn, SlideShare, the company blog, and other sites. Links to this content could be promoted via Twitter, Facebook or a company newsletter. Even attendees can tweet, share, blog, or record a video while attending an event.
In efforts to spread or share the cost of the event participation to other departments, some event costs could be added to the marketing budget for content creation, as ‘byproducts’ of the event are clearly being used for follow-on purposes. This creates a fairer picture of the true cost – and value – of event attendance, so that no single department is left holding the bag.
Place a dollar value on knowledge transfer
After returning from an event, executives are filled with new insights and exclusive industry information. Ask these executives to create summaries or briefs, which could be shared across the department – or even the entire enterprise. As such, and if demonstrated to be highly valuable and mission-critical, some of the costs of the event could be shared with the Training or Knowledge Management departments.
Lower costs by planning, synching up with partners
In today’s matrixed business environments, event participation opportunities can often materialize from several sources, including clients, partners, and vendors. Ask your network if they are attending or participating in any upcoming industry conferences which you feel would be valuable, and seek cost reductions, such as discounted tickets, shared booth space, and the like. While airline tickets and hotel rooms are not free, other costs could be reduced.
What often happens during the conference presentation process / #humor #events RT @phdcomics @giasison pic.twitter.com/H4E4I6LAvL
— Sean Gardner (@2morrowknight) August 3, 2014
A humorous look at planning a conference presentation
When you can’t attend in person, attend virtually
If attendance is impossible, meet others participating in the conference virtually. Follow the conference or session hashtags on Twitter, and view sessions on conference streaming sites like Livestream or UStream, where you can participate in the conversation. Nothing can replace the engagement of an in-person meeting, but you could still have a chance to observe, learn, and network.
Final Thoughts
Companies are re-thinking their event participation strategies – and the value they place on them. As organizations find that they need to be nimble and creative, and engage as many people as possible, they are discovering new value in sending executives to attend, speak, or present at conferences. With careful planning, forging partnerships, and sharing costs across several departments, event participation becomes a very attractive option that could invigorate sales and marketing efforts.
Want Help? Contact our team today to ask a question via the form to the right.
ChangeU: independent study….
What is Content Marketing?
According to Wikipedia, content marketing ‘is any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire customers.’
This catch-all phrase certainly means different things to different marketers, in different companies and in different industries. As such, a community of content marketers and professionals has evolved to address the ever-changing needs of this business process.
A content marketing strategy occurs when a brand, company, or organization utilizes longer-form content – articles, videos, photos, research findings, among other assets – to capture the attention of potential customers – hopefully leading to engagement, and then eventually, sales.
While advertising campaigns are designed to generate awareness, the discipline of content marketing involves a dedicated, focused approach that includes any or all of the following aspects:
Spreading the Love
Discussions of content marketing generally include social media, but there are many other business functions to which content marketing extends. As such, one or more individuals from these departments could take a more active role in a company’s content marketing strategy.
Automating the Process
With the proliferation of Twitter timelines, blogs, Facebook Pages, YouTube channels, and Pinterest boards, marketers are very well aware of the need to constantly and consistently feed ‘the content beast.’
As such, shrewd marketers understand that not all of their content needs to be original. Indeed, marketers have learned that they can capture the interest of their core audience of buyers and influencers by aligning themselves and the brands they represent with the content of others, a process otherwise known as content curation.
Examples of content curation include retweets – merely passing along a tweet which you find interesting, while still identifying the original author. Another example of content curation is finding a YouTube video or SlideShare presentation which you consider interesting, and then embedding it on your website or blog, and including your remarks or commentary. Thanks to embedding technology, this process is legal and ethical, and serves to promote both the content of the original creator as well as your own.
There now exist several content marketing services that include curation tools, that automate this process and introduce efficiency to content marketing efforts.
The Evolution of an Industry
Content marketing is not new. Some clever marketers have been utilizing content marketing practices for at least a century. Recipes and cookbooks featuring branded packaged goods – from Betty Crocker to Martha Stewart – serve as longstanding examples of content marketing. Magazines, eBooks, How-To-Guides, research studies, articles, and even entire courses have served their purpose in performing content marketing for their underlying brands and companies.
ChangeU: For your independent study….
Annual Research: Content Marketing Budgets, Benchmarks and Trends, for both B2B and B2C - http://bit.ly/1uv4tMu
The Content Marketing Institute’s 2015 study of content marketing in both B2B and B2C environments.
Why Your Content Marketing Team Needs A Marketing Technologist - http://cmo.cm/1uv4EaC
A discussion of the technology needs for a full-in content marketing program.
The Social Customer Engagement Index - http://bit.ly/1tZIThy
The results and analysis of a survey of online communities that serve the social customer.
Does it make sense for busy professionals – such as accountants, lawyers, engineers, recruiters, insurance agents and the like – to spend the time and money on digital marketing?
The answer is: absolutely. Though it may often prove difficult to transfer expertise or convey a sense of the working relationship online, professional services firms should definitely consider maintaining a website and engaging in multiple digital marketing and media strategies.
The ability to present thought leadership and increase the likelihood of getting found by prospective clients are proof of the positive results of a robust digital marketing program.
Learning and Leading on LinkedIn
LinkedIn, of course, is the go-to resource for professional networking. The maintenance of a solid, robust profile, as well as a competent, up to date Company Page (see ours here), can help portray expertise to the widest professional network on the Internet. LinkedIn counts over 300 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
LinkedIn can help a professional services firm navigate the digital landscape by allowing the firm and its founders, partners, and employees to iterate – try something and see what kind of response it receives. If a post receives feedback, publish similar posts. If an InMail does not lead to a positive response, change the subject line or level language and try again.
See another example: The LinkedIn Company Page for Frontline Source Group, a Dallas-based staffing agency and recruiting firm.
LinkedIn can be a great way to perform testing of digital strategies, to see what works for the firm. Some of these tactics include, but are not limited to:
• Blogging - using the LinkedIn Publisher feature
• Microblogging – posting updates and measuring engagement, similar to Twitter
• Email – using the InMail feature, to test what messages resonate with prospects
• Paid advertising – testing various paid advertising products, including promoted posts, display or banner ads, and text ads
As with any strategy, the ability to track and measure results is imperative. Professional services firms already do this for their business, and so this would be a natural fit.
The Soapbox
One of the largest concerns with professional services marketing is content: what exactly should be shared or expressed online? What would be considered appropriate – or even legal? Content marketing as a way of avoiding legal or ethical challenges is not fun. Rather, the goal of blogging, messaging, commenting and sharing is to engage readers and hopefully capture the interest of prospects.
The decision to spend time on content marketing and blogging is difficult, as even CEOs and other business leaders are still figuring out the best way to carry out this increasingly important marketing process.But the good news is that as content builds, the site is being optimized for search, and after a few months, the firm and its professionals can enjoy higher discovery, more clickthroughs, and multiple inquiries on the Contact page.
Joining the Conversation – and Connecting Strategies
Thought leadership is what separates one expert from another online, and a highly regarded blog can make all the difference. As individuals consume the Web with more specific intent, users are increasingly typing in longer phrases, questions, and search strings. For instance, users will type a legal question in the Google or Bing search bar. A law firm’s blog that can anticipate and address such expected questions or specific legal terms is sure to get found more quickly. In fact, some professional services firms use Google’s organic keyword search tools to make a decision on paid search – amplifying their visibility and a likelihood of a click and a formal inquiry.
These thought leadership efforts can be boosted by syndicating the content with links published to the practice’s social channels, like Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ - and of course, LinkedIn – and any email newsletters or alerts distributed by the practice. In this way, the digital marketing process is made more efficient, as efforts and results from one strategy or campaign can be carried over to another.
Final Thought: A professional services firm should have a digital presence for several reasons, perhaps starting with an individual’s profile page on LinkedIn as a good way to test the digital marketing waters. Thought leadership drives engagement via several channels, and getting found based on insights and expertise will serve the firm well.
ChangeU: For your independent study…
Small Business on LinkedIn http://smallbusiness.linkedin.com/
LinkedIn’s Small Business Resource Center, with links to sales, marketing, and recruiting solutions using the social network.
McKinsey to Professional Services: “Huge ROI From Social Media” http://bit.ly/1C4fSr7
A blogpost on global consulting firm McKinsey’s view on professional services firms and social media.
B2B Growth in the Digital Age http://pwc.to/1C4fWqW
A series of videos produced by consulting firm PwC on the differences between B2B and B2C marketing.
How can Realtors improve their Digital Presence?
Technology is giving real estate agents easier and more efficient ways to communicate with prospective buyers, as such it’s an ideal platform to create and build a process to generate leads and sell more homes. By taking action and building an online brand you can separate your business from your competitors.
Here are some ways to save you time grow your brand to grow your business.
Make an impression with your website
Claire Jacobs Dream Home Specialist
• Fresh Design: Go a step further than posting photos of available homes, invest in a custom design that will ‘WOW’ home buyers while showcasing your brand and who you are.
• Dynamic: Make sure your design is responsive; the user experience should be seamless and consistent on mobile devices. Buyers may be directed to your website via mobile home buying apps, once there, they will expect the same level of functionality and sophistication experienced on a computer.
• Call-to-Action: An important element on your website is content. When developing content always have a call-to-action in mind. If you ask visitors to do something be specific. Remember to answer the question of “Why, do you want them to call you.” Make it a direct action, such as “Call me for a free home consultation.” or “Sign up for my newsletter for home buying tips.”
• Be active: If you are going to add social media to your website make sure you are active on these sites. Post blogs regularly, update your status, create a presence on each of them.
• Video Customer testimonials: The average user spends 88 % more time on a website. So invite your satisfied home buyers to share their stories by making a video, then upload it to your site. Note: you must make this process very simple for them. Video is powerful medium as it provides a real source, while making visitors feel connected to your brand.
Create New Opportunities
According to a study done by the National Association of Realtors, 92% of people turn to the internet as the first step in the home buying process, making it increasingly important for realtors to provide them with information on the networks they are familiar with.
A savvy realtor understands that this sometimes means going beyond the usual social networking platforms, like Facebook or LinkedIn, to generate leads. Social networking sites like Trulia and Zillow provide comprehensive information about homes, neighborhoods, etc., as well as group potential buyers into targeted and specific communities in which realtors can engage.
Building a profile on industry specific social sites has enormous potential to generate lead by allowing sellers to engage and start discussions with buyers early in the process. This is a simple yet effective way to generate leads, particularly if you are just starting your business or if your marketing budget is limited. Treat these sites just as you do your social media pages, with regard to being consistent and active.
Trulia, Real Estate
Use Social Media to Connect with Prospects
In order to build a sustainable online brand and business you must engage your visitors and potential buyers on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram without being too aggressive or pushy. Use these platforms to gain insights into the needs and expectations of buyers in more personal and casual manner. Some ways to do this are:
• Ask questions: Where they are located? What are your home buying concerns? How is your day going? Start a discussion and ask for feedback.
• Offer something of value: Give them information they can use, such as the latest home loan rates in their area. Give free online home buying seminars, or tips about home repair.
• Be Personable: Use platforms such as Facebook or Instagram to show who you are on a level outside of real estate. Prospective buyer may share a common interests or hobby, which increases the level of connection and trust. Remember, buying a home is a very personal purchase, and people buy property from realtors they trust, like, or respect.
Final Thoughts
Today there are many avenues for real estate agents to generate leads and market themselves, the key to success finding a way to merge all the elements together to build a successful brand. Finally, use these social platforms to nurture communication throughout all the stages of the buying process- before, during, and long after it’s completed.
The construction business is highly competitive, consisting of constant bidding war to win jobs, so it is becoming increasingly important to create an online presence that makes your company stand out among other businesses bidding for jobs. You can position your construction business for success by defining the goal of your marketing plan your as well as your target market. Then develop a digital strategy that best fits your needs, your assets and presents a consistent brand message to this market.
Website
Create a website that provides essential information to prospects that may be doing research before selecting a potential contractor. Find out what is viable for your company and determine what needs to be on the site to keep them there. If your website is designed well it makes a bigger impact on your prospective customer and capture leads.
Here are some essential items to include on your website:
Gallery – Showcase your work with high quality photos of our finished project. A gallery shows your prospects what your company is capable of doing.
Services – Give specific details about the types of services you have to offer and what you specialize in. Link these details back to your gallery to reinforce your expertise.
Testimonials/Press –Nothing speaks to the quality of your work like a testimonial (written or video) from a satisfied customer. Testimonials build trust as well as help sway skeptical customers to take a closer look at your business. Additionally, if your company receives press, share it, as it promotes your business without sounding to ‘salesy’.
Video – Showing your business on job sites is a great way be transparent. Video shows how safely your crew works, what kind of processes you have on the job site, as well as give prospects a firsthand idea of the completed project.
Social Media
Being active on social media can go a long way in developing brand awareness for your construction business. Create profiles to show the public what kind of work your company does, share stories, and connect with potential customers. The key to using social media in your digital strategy is finding the right platform that you can use to your benefit.
Facebook and Twitter – Use these sites to connect and build relationships with other professionals and position yourself as an expert in the construction industry.
Industry specific social – Sites that are geared towards the construction industry like UBuildNet, feature free social tools and resources, as well as allows user to find niche contractors, professionals and prospects in your targeted areas.
LinkedIn – This site is extremely important and a necessary part of your social media strategy because this social media platform attracts decision makers, as well as provides industry news and professional networking.
Pinterest – Post the photos of completed jobs or state-of-the art machinery on your website, then pin that project and link your pin directly to your sites contact page, so capitalize on the immediate interest. This creates an opportunity to pick up more leads and drive traffic to your website.
Leverage Email Marketing
Email is still a highly effective and low cost means of communicating with your core customer base as well as prospects, making it a necessary part of your overall digital strategy. You should take the time to collect current customer and prospects email addresses through your website and social media profiles to build a subscription list compiled of customers that are genuinely interested in your services.
Some key ideas to remember when creating the email marketing element of your digital strategy are:
Keep the list current – Manage your contact lists regularly, so you can respond quickly and efficiently to requests for more information or to unsubscribe.
Subject line – Your window of opportunity to get readers to click open is limited, so make the subject personal, yet impactful.
Call-to-action- Guide your prospects with a strong call-to-action, such as inviting them learn more about your home renovation tips, or other valuable content on your website.
Social Media – Provide links to directly to your social media profiles to email expand your reach and identify potential leads on these networks.
Measure your results – Track your efforts to determine the efficacy of each campaign your send out.
Final Thoughts
If you do the research to understand your target market, you can create a thoughtful plan, one that consists of a combination of online tools and allows your prospects to get to know your business. By using all the digital marketing channels and resources, you increase your opportunities to network, nurture current relationships and build new ones, which translates into more revenue.
ChangeU: for your independent study ...
2014 Construction Marketing Outlook- Survey Results http://bit.ly/1BUA9JO
To further understand current marketing plans and priorities in the construction industry, the Construction Marketing Association conducted a national survey of construction professionals
Be2camp http://bit.ly/1y9J1Or
Social site for people interested in openly sharing how the latest web and mobile applications and web design techniques (Web 2.0 - blogs, Twitter, Wikis, etc) can help build a better, more sustainable built environment - planning, design, construction, occupation and management of buildings, services, landscape, etc.
Still on the fence about content marketing for your company or business? There are certainly some considerations before you take the plunge. Let’s have a look at a few of these.
Total cost: is it really cheaper? Yes! Traditional advertising is expensive and nearly impossible to measure the return. Social and digital publishing technologies – on which content marketing efforts reside – are all about ROI and visibility. Companies and business owners alike can instantly view followers, likes, retweets, comments, page views, and other data. Such feedback is critical to understanding what’s working and what’s not, so decisions can be made. And often the content delivers interest on the part of a potential buyer – a sales lead – furthering the case for content marketing.
The joys of feedback
Instant gratification is at the heart of content marketing. Knowing which content is performing helps us decide which to continue producing – and which to let go. But it’s not just the metrics and measurement of the content that should encourage you to jumpstart a content marketing program. It’s also the feedback from customers, partners, suppliers, and the industry or community in which you do business. Tweets, comments, shares, and other content behaviors will tell you what outsiders – or even insiders, your employees – think of your company. In this manner, content marketing becomes your ad hoc feedback form or survey, constantly providing you the insights into your business that are often difficult to obtain.
The need for processes in place
While content marketing ultimately proves to be less expensive – but so much more valuable – than traditional paid advertising, the costs will diminish in time. It takes time to understand the content marketing process, as well as to train a team of employees and even customers to deliver valuable content. When companies learn about content marketing and the ability to get employees and customers to blog, tweet, and post to social networks on behalf of the company, executives and business owners get excited. Why have marketing and communications be carried out by a select few in a department, when the entire operation or enterprise can be engaged?
Here are the essential first steps to creating a full-on content marketing process:
• Designate the desired content developers – internally or externally – and create some How-To’s or guidebook (Hint: do NOT call it Content Marketing Policy, as this will be sure to turn people away).
• Create a broad list of ideas, keywords, story angles, messages, and other creative assets that will help your content marketers generate quality content.
• Invest in (some are actually free) a publishing platform that makes it easy for content to be drafted, published, and measured.
Being authentic has its risks
Content marketing is not without its risks. When others are sharing their messages about your company or brand, there are bound to be differences in opinion or expression. Some of these may be acceptable to you, but others may not. Content marketing ventures require you to have an appetite for risk in the content that’s created in support of your brand – from a typo in a tweet to a negative review of your business on a consumer ratings blog.
The context surrounding this requires you to:
• Ensure that you have content guidelines and even suggested content.
• Anticipate content with quality or opinion issues.
• Devise a strategy to deal with content that does not meet your standards.
Final Thoughts
While daunting at first, the decision to take the plunge into content marketing will have innumerable benefits. Start small, and scale your content marketing operation over time.
ChangeU: For your independent study….
What is Content Marketing, Really? http://bit.ly/1uNSedk
Blog from HootSuite, one of the largest social publishing and monitoring providers.
How To Rapidly Grow Your Business with Content Marketing http://bit.ly/1BUksrq
A webinar on demand from HubSpot, one of the largest content automation providers.
The Rise of Smart Content Marketing http://slidesha.re/1vw2Z58
A SlideShare presentation on the art and science of content marketing.
One of the biggest obstacles to rolling out a content marketing program usually centers around the big question: what are we going to create?
When the business or entrepreneur suddenly realizes that content marketing requires work – and often a lot of it – the hopes of a full-scale content marketing program begin to soften.
But fear not: with a little bit of planning and intuition, the content marketing program will take off and sustain itself in surprising – and profitable – ways.
This article will explore ways to make things easier for everyone – while not straying from the core goals and intended results of a content marketing program.
Dust Off What You Already Have
Authenticity is the heart of content marketing. Images or videos of your office, workspace, products, and equipment can be made beautiful (thanks to simple editing and design tools of Instagram and even YouTube) and shared with your customers and prospects.
The camera on your smartphone or tablet is good enough for this exercise. Be creative and have fun!
Also, think nostalgia. Any old documents, menus, and photos can be scanned and uploaded to social media channels as a way to share with your customers how far you’ve come. (Are you about to do a website re-design? Save screen shots of your old website and save them for a future ‘look back’ at your company.) Everyone loves nostalgia, and uploading images and documents of what your business looked like just a few years earlier will intrigue your customers – while strengthening the idea that you have survived and plan to continue going strong into the future. How’s that for using content marketing?
Repurpose, Repurpose, Repurpose
Anything creative that’s been developed for your business is ripe for re-use in a content marketing program.
Was your business reviewed by the local newspaper or by a popular online review site? Perfect! Here is what you can do to use that for your content marketing program:
Remember that copying word for word may infringe on copyright issues, so using only part of what’s been published by others keeps things ethical while still providing a teaser into who you are or what your business provides.
Final Thoughts: Content is readily available in the most random of places. Anything related to your business – a review, a photo – can be repurposed and used for content marketing. Creativity begets creativity – have fun and let the content tell your story.
ChangeU: For your independent study….
How To Use Instagram To Promote Your Products http://bit.ly/1DGLPpP
Tips for maximizing Instagram to build an audience of prospects and clients.
Yelp for Business Owners http://bit.ly/1DGSznP
A step by step approach to establishing a presence on the review network.
Nostalgia Marketing: Harnessing the Power of the Past http://bit.ly/1wdt7kQ
From marketing automation provider HubSpot, some reasons behind using memories to market the present.
No doubt, you’ve heard the expression content curation, but perhaps have no idea what it means.
But if you’ve ever retweeted, shared a Facebook post, or used the AddThis or ShareThis widgets to republish blogs or articles you find on the Internet, then you’ve already been engaged in content curation.
Pretty cool, huh? So then why do marketers make such a big deal about content curation? Moreover, how can you more effectively or systematically bring content curation into your marketing mix? Let’s have a look.
What It Is and Why Publishers Are OK with It
Content curation is basically gathering and organizing content you find on the Interwebs. This is content that you find relevant to your business, products, customers, and brand; you then take the next step and repurpose that content on your own social media channels or publishing platforms.
You aren’t stealing the content; instead, you clearly indicate the name or source of that original content when posting, giving attribution where necessary.
The sharing of content was once a source of frustration for publishers in the early days of social media and dynamic publishing, but it has since become a strategy they actually endorse and encourage. The reason: a publisher can get content out there on as many channels as possible.
Publishers benefit from readers, viewers, listeners, and eyeballs. They understand that not everyone might be visiting their websites, reading their Twitterfeed, or watching their YouTube channel. However, if they encourage individual users to share this content – republish links, along with comments and mentions – that content can be shared hundreds or thousands of times through the Interwebs. (Of course, they have software to measure the extent to which this content gets shared.)
Networks like YouTube and Instagram, owned by Facebook, have made sharing easier (and more ethical) by embed codes – in this way, the content isn’t really republished, but still residing on the original channel – and most blogs today have some sort of simple sharing feature that encourages people to share content off the original page.
Why This Benefits You
Besides the benefit to publishers, the benefit is also to you, the entrepreneur:
How To Curate Effectively
Never miss a relevant post again! Curation takes time, patience, and strategy. You want to ensure that you do not miss the most important posts, and you want to share them in a timely manner or else the content may already become old. Here are some tips:
Final Thoughts: Don’t worry about sharing content that aligns with your business – publishers encourage it! However, be sure to add your own personal comments to make the piece relevant to your customers, employees, and brand. If relevant enough, the content can be shared continuously, furthering the value chain and keeping your company top of mind.
ChangeU: For your independent independent study ...
5 Simple Steps to Becoming a Content Curation Rockstar http://bit.ly/1A8jrWc
An eBook from a content curation platform vendor, Curata, on how to find and share content more effectively.
Content Curation: 6 Strategies to Add Value With Your Own Commentary http://bit.ly/1xhkst8
From the Content Marketing Institute, a detailed approach to curation involving commenting and summarizing relevant content appropriately.
How to Speed Up Your Content Curation Process http://bit.ly/1xUTrk0
From Social Media Examiner, some methods to identify relevant content intelligently and quickly.
As Channel Partners, you would have experienced a major shift in the customer engagement model. Your customers are doing their due diligence almost entirely online, long before any sales person enters the picture. The traditional ‘Push’ sales model is losing its effectiveness and your sales persons are in need of different resources to be successful. In this blog, we share what some of our blue-chip vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco and HP, are doing to help you optimize your sales force capability as well as improve profitability in the new sales model.
1. Enabling Your Sales Force through Gamification
Continual learning helps to ensure that your sales force can apply the best technologies to match evolving business requirements. To get ahead of the ‘Game’, many vendors are now using gamification strategies for enablement purposes. This method of enablement allows your sales force to learn and get rewarded in a fun environment while you get visibility of their progress!
For example - Microsoft: For Presales role, play an online Azure game that helps you learn about the solution while also having some competitive fun. There is also an Azure learning path to help you sell Azure to small and medium business (SMB) customers.
2. Building a Profitable Business Hand-in-Hand
Building a Partner Ecosystem Platform for partners to promote their solutions to potential customers and look for like-minded companies to collaborate with, is now a trending vendor’s initiative. Compared to incentives or rebates, this tends to be more sustainable and can generate higher ROI in the long run.
Cisco and Microsoft are both leading in this area, with Cisco Marketplace built for their partners to showcase solutions and find ISVs for collaboration purposes and Microsoft Pinpoint Portal that provides an open commerce platform for partners to market and sell technology and cloud solutions to small and mid-size business customers. Included in this portal is a lead management component, where partners can easily track and qualify pipeline with ease!
3. Engaging the Experts – Working with your Marketing Service Providers
Exclusive Marketing Service Providers have been specially assembled by your vendor to support your marketing execution. By engaging them, it does not only allow you to better focus on building your business strategy but also, enable you to leverage on a talent pool of experts who may have marketed similar solutions and are highly familiar with your vendor’s co-branding requirements. Vendors such as Microsoft have an exhaustive list of marketing service providers that can provide just about any support you need, from building blogs to generating leads through events or telemarketing. To maximize your returns when engaging any one of these providers, it is important that you consider their reach geographically vis-à-vis local capabilities, as well as mine their marketing knowledge for your success.
Keen to uncover more of how you can leverage your vendor’s resources? Download our updated and revised ‘A Partner Co-Marketing Guide for Technology Reseller’ now!
How do your customers find you? The hospitality industry is a huge market with a wealth of competition so regardless of your specialty you need to be doing something that makes your business attractive enough to get people through the door.
Where are your customers?
Some of your customers will physically see your business, others will be referred via their networks and if you are lucky you may engage people via good media coverage. However it is, when you create an exciting digital presence you open up huge opportunities to grow your business.
Why? Because:
• 81% of consumers have searched for a restaurant on a mobile device and 75% say they often choose a restaurant to dine at based on those search results
• 65.4% of hotel bookings are made on home website and 65% of same day hotel reservations are made from a smartphone
If you are not easily found online customers will simply bypass your business – it is important to not just have a presence but one that stands out.
What makes up an exciting online presence?
The good news is that with a bit of creative thinking you can use both paid and free options to build an engaging online presence. Let’s have a look at some of the things you can do:
1. Digital front of house – your website
All digital avenues should lead back to your website so this is where you start. Make sure that it:
• Is easy to navigate to the essential sections like how to make a booking – obvious calls to actions are key;
• Has lots of gorgeous images that show people interacting and loving your services/products/venue – you want people to want to be your customer;
• Includes videos so that users can feel that they are virtually there;
• Has friendly and welcoming content – less is better. Use enticing language rather than great slabs of text that most will give up on after the first couple of sentences;
• Optimize for all devices so the person on the move can easily access critical information.
Examples: http://bit.ly/1z4dfig | http://bel50.com/
2. Social Media aficionado
Don’t make the mistake of getting onto any one of the popular social media sites and simply pushing sales. You do need to create awareness of your brands goods and services BUT make sure you create a network of loyal followers, otherwise anyone that does land on you page can easily drift away.
Try:
• Uploading interesting content that suits the platform – encourage interaction and make sure that you acknowledge comments and use them to start a longer conversation;
• Understanding your demographic and solve their problems BEFORE they mention them in relation to your particular niche;
• Creating giveaways and competitions - they are always popular and perfect for expanding your fan base.
Examples: http://on.fb.me/1CPDkYE | http://bit.ly/16Ot6tx
3. Customers are going to talk
They say that any exposure is good exposure – not true especially in the digital world where news travels fast and your business can be damaged before a customer has even left the premises.
There are two parts to the way people talk about your business:
a. They love you – people have had a great experience at your restaurant, hotel, casino and are raving online in all of the right places. Enough said this is great for business;
b. They hate you – we all make mistakes and sometimes customers don’t have the greatest time, the key thing for you is how you deal with it. They will talk online and potential customers will see negative feedback and make a decision about using your services. Answer quickly and positively and always apologize – even if you don’t think it was your fault. Remember people are watching and this can be crucial to your ongoing business success.
Example: http://bit.ly/1zGsJwv
4. Third party buy in
There is a broad range of third party sites that you can use to list your hospitality business. One of the most popular is Trip Advisor.
Listings are free for accommodation and restaurants and this is seen as the go to site for travelers when they want to find out how good you are – you may already have been reviewed there, always check in case it is bad.
Example: http://bit.ly/179jDha
Final Thoughts
What we have included here is a small selection of options available to you. Create a digital marketing strategy before you get started. If you don’t have the skills, time or personnel a specialist agency can help guide you in the right direction.
A successful digital marketing strategy must communicate your business’s brand, features and overall experience to customers using a combination of tools or an all-in-one digital marketing management platform. More importantly, regardless of which tools you choose, they must be flexible and prepare your business for the constantly change demand of digital marketing.
ChangeU: For your independent study….
Customer Preferences for Online, Social Media, and Mobile Innovations in the Hospitality Industry - http://bit.ly/1FtHJ1o
Hotel Online Reputation Research, Statistics, and Quotes - http://bit.ly/1DezJBZ
Mobile & Online Hotel Spending Soars – Is Your Digital Presence Ready? - http://bit.ly/1FtHN16
The Website Rules That Will Drive Hungry Customers To Your Restaurant - http://onforb.es/1EVdF1j
Content marketing is about delivering value to your audience. When you create content that challenges, solves, informs and entertains, you will discover that people are not only drawn to your business but will help to share your content via their circles of interest and enable you to generate more leads. The key to success is the quality of your online content. Not all content will generate leads. There is a plethora of other businesses out there trying to do the same thing so what you need to do is stand out from that crowd.
To develop leads from great content you need to drive them to engagement where they will interact with you on some level. You need to give people something of value to convince them to give you their contact details so you can follow up with them at a later point.
At Change3 Enterprises we offer free downloads like our ‘Partner Marketing Guide’ – a free resource in exchange for an email address:
You can try:
Stay away from the pushy sales pitch and focus on the value that you can give to people that interact with your brand online.
Online Content Keeps on Giving
There are a range of different ways that you can create your brand voice and if you do it well it will be shared broadly to help grow your business.
Some of the content that you may use:
Connect with Consumers
Keep it interesting and informative, make sure that your content:
Final Thoughts
Always keep focusing your content on the reader, not SEO. For your content to really work for you make sure that it provides value to anyone that reads it and solves their issue or at the very least entertains them. Keep your content interesting and most of all make sure that it stands out, you don’t want to get lost in the crowd.
See some of the best:
ChangeU: For your independent study ...
6 Steps To Turn Your Online Lead Generation Into Lead Nurturing http://bit.ly/1EJc37c
Ways To Generate Leads Online http://bit.ly/1CEl5QT
How To Generate Leads With A Powerful Content Marketing Strategy http://bit.ly/17dRmpi
According to the latest Yahoo’s Diversity Report 2014, women are a significant minority in Yahoo’s overall global workforce. In fact, when it comes to leadership roles, women make up only 23 percent and men compose 77 percent. While the data is disappointing, we are witnessing an increased recognition for female leaders in the channel. For example, CRN Power 100: The Most Powerful Women of the Channel 2014, recognises executives such as Nicole Enright, Avnet Technology Solutions, for enabling Avnet's partners with new capabilities to offer more complete solutions around converged solutions, cloud, mobility; Jennifer Anaya, Ingram Micro, Inc., for having launched the Agency Ingram Micro (AIM) to the IT channel.
In addition, many companies in the channel are now offering career acceleration programs for women. These companies include Avanade’s Accelerator Program, dedicated to help their female employees progress their careers and Microsoft’s Pink Cloud, targeted at training and providing young women with more job opportunities in IT.
As a women in the channel, how do you then leverage the opportunities available and use them for a brighter future? Below are some advice and resources we have put together for you:
Channel is no longer perceived as a ‘boys-club’ industry. Women are stepping into stronger roles in the channel organizations and this is only the beginning of the road to diversity. Thus, embrace your skills and be prepared to be recognized as the next Women of the Channel!
Change3 is a digital marketing and lead generation agency. We provide exceptional results to our clients by ‘delivering happiness daily’ using seasoned professionals in 12 countries. We don’t just produce materials for our clients, we help companies define how to talk to their target market and who they are talking to within the market.
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