Category: Sales & Marketing

The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. Peter Drucker

People fail at marketing for a variety of reasons. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive but here are the most common reasons I encounter:

1. Never been trained in marketing
2. Don’t understand the psychology of marketing
3. Are not consistent in their marketing message
4. Don’t ask for help because they don’t know who to trust
5. Don’t want to do it for themselves
6. Don’t know what works and do not want to spend the money

Let’s look briefly at each reason.

Never Been Trained in Marketing

Many of my clients have not been trained in marketing. They are engineers, cleaning companies, payroll specialists, merchant service providers or insurance specialist. They are experts in their field but not in communicating their value to others. The words they use reflect a lack of clarity in who they are and the value they provide. These small business owners are too close to see clearly their value. Because they are too close and cannot see themselves and their value as others see them, they talk in platitudes: many locations, peace of mind and financial security, without context.

Don’t understand the psychology of marketing

Marketing is nothing more then explaining what you do, why it is important and who should care. Always remember most people take action to avoid pain. Marketing is helping other understand how their life will be better when they buy your product, go to your restaurant, use your services.

Are not consistent in their marketing message

Marketing is about communicating your value proposition consistently. You cannot do a post on Facebook one time and expect to get results. One blog post won’t do it not will sending one postcard. It is about defining the buyers journey and walking with the prospect along the buyer’s journey.

Don’t ask for help because they don’t know who to trust

There are so many people who claim to be marketing experts that do not promote their product or service well. They love social media and expect others to see the same value. I can see why people are concerned about making a bad decision. I am appalled by some of the marketing messages that come across my desk by other marketers who want me to use their services.

Don’t want to do it for themselves

Many people know what to do and do not want to do it themselves. Dan Kennedy said it best, “do not outsource your marketing until you know what works. Otherwise, you are wasting money.” No one knows your business like you do. You may need some help with the message, strategy or tactics but you are the final decision-maker.

Don’t know what works and do not want to spend the money

There are so many choices a small business owner has when marketing his business. Ask yourself this question, “where does of my business come from today?” and do more of that. Don’t look for a social media expert, direct mail expert or SEO expert until you know where you should spend your time. After that continue to add one option until you know that works. Then consider outsourcing.

Article Contributed by Walter Moore

The SEO and SEM business has grown by leaps and bounds from the simple concepts behind online marketing to a tremendously complex set of tasks. There is a whole lot of jargon involved and an even larger list of confusing prerequisites which wards a lot of people off, but it is vital that you start optimizing your business’ presence and reach through targeted SEM. To put it into extremely simple terms which even the least tech-savvy CEOs will be familiar with; there are really only three aspects to the whole process, and these three should be the pillars on which you build every strategy and take every decision. They are Rankings, Revenue, and Reputation. Here’s how you go about Local SEO optimization for your business.

Complying with Guidelines

There are two vital steps to this- the first being determining whether the business is classified as local by Google’s guidelines; the second is to go through these guidelines extensively to ensure that the business isn’t violating them or spamming in any way. These steps are instrumental in protecting the online reputation of the brand and also showing that the business does not deal in spam and black hat tactics. Penalties to rankings are avoided, and you don’t spend funds or time on ineffective and counterproductive practices.

Developing the Website

This is a three-step process. You must first develop a clean, fully functional website which has a proper UX across all users and devices. You can also tune up your existing site to resolve any such issues. Next, develop as much relevant, quality content as you can to set your website apart. Then, you can optimize the site for organic search, local search, and conversions, all at once.

This builds reputation, protects rankings, boosts visibility and also ushers in tremendous results in organic and local search. Each of these steps builds the site’s legacy in the long-term, and hence saves revenue in terms of UX optimizations and time spent in reinventing the wheel to have a functional website.

Reviews

Start off by enforcing and perfecting customer service policies across all divisions of the company. Next, come up with a solid review acquisition strategy across major citation platforms and also for your website. When the reviews start coming in, try to respond to each one. This communication and conflict resolution builds trust with the consumer base and boosts the reputation. Several positive reviews boost rankings too, and revenue gets a great boost thanks to trust-based transactions.

Link-Building

You should look into your website’s pre-existing link strategy for any issues with linking and try to resolve them. The next logical step would be to develop exceptional content which would organically earn you links from genuine, reliable sources. Use local sponsorships, contributions to editorials and other relevant opportunities to build links on reputed sites as well. This association with the best of the best is critical to online reputation management, as it lumps your business with top names and not shoddy practices. This builds rankings over time and pays superb dividends on the initial investment in terms of conversions and traffic from previously untapped sources.

Social and Other Media

Find all the hubs frequented by your target audience and develop a customized social strategy for optimum reach and participation. Put in a genuine effort for sharing and reaching out rather than just selling, and monitor your accounts for any grievances put forward. Also look into alternative media like video and email marketing and development of apps, tools, and widgets. It is understandable if you don’t have the expertise for this, hiring a reliable bulk email marketing services Mumbai firm is absolutely the right thing to do. This boosts reputation, protects rankings and reels in revenue like never before.

Conclusion

It’s surprising that the idea of local SEO and online reputation management is still viewed so skeptically by business owners. While technical jargon does seem daunting at first, entrepreneurial instincts should tell you that this is the next logical step, and not jumping on the bandwagon now will have severe consequences in the future.

Author Bio: Walter Moore is an SEM expert and marketer spearheading a startup in Chennai. He also runs a successful blog revolving around resources on SEO and SMM and reliable references like GingerDomain.com.

Article Contributed by Anoop Chaphekar

Advertising and marketing have come a long way since the first video commercial was made. With new ways to access media, businesses all over the world are maximizing on advertising strategies by using these new media pathways as channels to reach a larger demographic. Business explainer videos are just one of the many effective strategies that gain businesses more traffic and help them generate more leads.

Here are 10 reasons why your business will benefit from an explainer video:

1. They capture the essence of your business

A well made explainer video has the ability to capture the essence of your business and portray it tastefully to the viewer. Whether it is an animated explainer video or live action, it is probably the most effective way to tell your viewers about your business.

2. They are attention grabbers

If you make it interesting enough, anyone visiting your website will be more inclined to watch the complete video and perhaps even share it on social media. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video shows a thousand pictures. While scrolling through a page, words are skimmed over and sometimes even ignored, but a catchy picture on a video will make it impossible to ignore. 

3. They are great conversation starters

With any well known explainer video production company like Toolbox Studio, you can produce a good quality video that will not only tell people about your business but also give them something to think about. Explainer videos are great conversation starters for people with similar interests. 

4. They are better retained by the viewer

Let’s take for example History as a school subject. Reading pages and pages of a boring textbook is probably a less effective way to study than to watch a well made movie/documentary about World War II. Chances are you will remember more details if you watch a 90 minute movie than if you spend 3 days studying the same material from a textbook. The same principle applies here. Viewers will retain more valuable information about your business through a video than if they were to simply read a page of content explaining what your business is about.

5. They increase web traffic

Increased web traffic is a definite by product of adding videos to your web content. Any explainer video company will tell you that if you invest a little bit more and make a superb video, people will watch it and share it which will automatically compel other viewers to visit your website.

6. They have the potential to go viral

A natural consequence of video viewing and sharing, if it is done enough times, is a video going viral. In all honesty, sometimes videos can go viral for absolutely no reason at all. But it does increase your chances if you put some thought and humour into your video. And if it does go viral, you are basically getting free publicity.

7. They add value to your website

Quality videos in combination with quality content (that is relevant to your product/service) is what makes for an iron clad website. From and SEO point of view, websites with videos rank higher in search engine searches (namely Google) than websites with only content on their home page. So why shouldn’t you jump on the opportunity to make your presence known?

8. They show off your personality

Explainer videos are a great opportunity for you to showcase your USPs while at the same time giving the viewers a glimpse of your personality. Whether you have a professional, well organized system or a casual, warm and friendly environment, make sure it comes through in your explainer video. People will be more inclined to choose you as a business if they can relate to you. 

9. They provide a certain clarity to viewers

Often when looking for services online, you find out later than you would like that a provider than you have shortlisted won’t work for you (for whatever reason). Explainer videos provide clarity to viewers about your business and the services you provide right from the get go so that if a viewer feels like you can offer what they want, they can stick around or else move on without wasting any more time. 

10. They are entertaining

Videos are entertaining, this point is irrefutable. What you do with your video is completely your prerogative. But bear in mind that the more relatable and entertaining it is, the more likely your viewers are to share it and take you seriously as a business.

There really is no denying that explainer videos can do a lot of good for your business, especially if you are new and want to make your presence known. So why not give it a shot?

Author Bio: 

Anoop Chaphekar

A visual effects producer based out of Pune, India, Anoop handles VFX and other projects at Toolbox Studio. He has more than 15 years of professional experience in the Animation and Visual Effects industry. Anoop has an educational background in Fine Arts and has wide-spread experience in bidding, resource planning, onset supervision, visual effects, commercials and broadcast design among other things.

Article Contributed by Beata Green

With the increase in the number of mobile devices, their importance grows as well. Just think – the number of mobile devices already outnumbers the amount of people. By 2020, half of the world’s population will have access to the Internet from their mobile devices. This fact urges businesses to implement a mobile strategy and adjust it to their needs. Yet, for a large percentage of companies, mobile strategy implementation is nothing more than just building an app and a mobile version of the website. But today, it’s not about apps, devices and screen sizes. Instead it’s about increasing the accessibility of your brand.

Econsultancy has surveyed that 31% of European companies claim that they have a mobile strategy. But unfortunately, the majority of them do not understand the real meaning of it. To get their mobile strategy off the ground, it’s first of all necessary to figure out what it encompasses and what it actually is.

Mobile Strategy Described

Today’s smartphones are more powerful than computers from just a few years ago. However, this power is mostly used for social media, e-mails, games or web browsing. Building a mobile strategy is about understanding how to use this power to your best advantage. Its goal is to build solutions that help you provide faster and better service. Overall, it’s about building the connecting bridges between you and your customer whenever your business model allows for it.

In other words, a mobile strategy is part of a business strategy. We will outline the components of a successful mobile strategy and what companies should do to make it work:

• Suitable mobile environment

Your actions at this stage:

Depending on your business model, the choice of mobile environment will vary. It explains why building an app is a perfect and cash-generating idea for one company, while a complete disaster for another. Before you decide to develop an app because it sounds like a cool idea, analyse your market, the value you can bring and the ways of monetizing your app. Frequently, building a mobile website and customizing it to popular resolutions is a more reasonable option for your business, considering its budget and priorities.

• A model of interaction with mobile users

Your actions on this stage:

Find the ways your customers wish to hear from you. Tailor your mobile campaigns and ads to your specific audience in order to have interactive dialogues with them. It requires designing campaigns that are suitable for smaller screen sizes and crafting messages that are short and effective. Findings have shown that mobile ads are 5 times more effective than internet ads. Also consider QR code marketing, which helps local businesses make their sales grow by up to 30%. 

• Analysing and understanding the habits of mobile users

Your actions on this stage:

It has been estimated by Pew Research Center that 67% of smartphone owners check their devices for any alerts and messages even if they don’t hear any notifications. Companies should take this into account and use this chance to attract their attention. In this digital era, it’s important to take a very close look at the habits of your customers, their schedule and preferences. Make sure you appear right where they spend most of their time when using their mobile devices – in their e-mail inbox, social media or hit them with app updates, special offers or discounts.

Over 60% of Google searches are related to a specific location. Further analysis shows that companies that launch mobile ads with a specific location have a 20% increase in conversions.

• Analysis of new mobile technologies

Your actions at this stage:

Mobile commerce is growing at an enormous pace. New payment system innovations, security systems and other mobile solutions urge businesses to be up to date with all the inventions they can use for their competitive advantage.

• Engagement analysis

Your actions at this stage:

Mobile strategy metrics are very important from the very early stages. There is nothing worse than investing money in something that doesn’t bring you any results. Even insignificant but gradual results should be tracked for further analysis and strategy enhancement.

If you think that connecting mobile devices to the Internet is not the most major breakthrough in the past 10 years, think again. The mobile revolution is the fastest-growing technology area. It’s expected that by 2017, the market for mobile games will reach a value of $40.9 billion. People are increasingly willing to buy more through their mobile devices. Just look at how much mobile strategies change traditional business strategies:

• Brands have reduced the expenses on call centre servicing and spend more efforts on attracting customers to their mobile apps.
• The market is completely ready for such changes. Over 70% of survey participants claimed that they have already replaced traditional channels with mobile apps.

Final Thoughts

What you should understand is that implementing a mobile strategy is a multi-step and time-consuming process. To compete in the environment of today’s mobile revolution, you definitely need to get it off the ground –  gradually and persistently.

Is your business ready to reach mobile markets? We are curious to know what steps you are planning to take to make it work. Please share your thoughts in the comments.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beata GREEN is Director of HeadChannel Ltd., London based bespoke software development company. She is responsible for overall strategic direction and overseeing the company’s continuing growth, building closer client relationships and maintaining best working practices. She enjoys brisk country walks with her red fox labrador and then relaxing in front of a TV crime drama with a glass of red wine.

Article Contributed by Lee Bierton

Creating a Trade Show Stand Which Works in Harmony with Digital Marketing

Exhibitions and trade shows were once considered to be the pinnacle of face-to-face marketing. Product launches, meetings and most importantly selling were confined to a select few dates on the calendar. Before the digital era, the only way of establishing contacts and creating partnerships without setting up exhibition stands and meeting face-to-face, was by pulling out the phone book and picking up the phone. Now, with the advent of social media and video calls, we hardly have to leave the office to forge new relationships and nurture existing ones. Predictably, marketers have begun to question the legitimacy of such interactions when cheaper and more efficient options exist.

However, major trade shows are continuing to grow and networking in person is still as popular as it has ever been. Why? The reason is simple; there is still great value from conversing face-to-face. Confining interactions to 140 characters or a tightly structured e-mail hardly provide the breathing room for natural relationships to develop. Therefore, rather than competing with digital media; instead, trade show exhibitors are adapting to integrate these tools into comprehensive brand strategies.  The exhibition is no longer just about, ‘sell, sell, sell’, instead they provide the foundations for mutually beneficial relationships to develop.

Social Exhibitions for the Always-Connected Era

The advent of the internet has meant that we can keep in touch with people for decades, whereas in the past, they could simply drop out of memory in a week. In order to survive, exhibitions have had to adapt to attendees who can search and buy online. Event marketers will be increasingly aware when attending a trade show, they are more likely to strike up a conversation with fellow attendees, rather than be targeted by scripted sales pitches throughout the weekend. While social media channels are effective for continuing relations, they can become incredibly tiresome when forging new ones.

The ability to create a positive first impression at exhibitions is one of its core strengths. Social media can be utilised before as well as after the event to build awareness of the brand and any special promotions which are taking place on the day. Furthermore, it can be used to organise meetings throughout the weekend where you get the opportunity to truly interact with the potential client. It’s these face-to-face interactions where long-lasting partnerships can begin to be established. Free from the confines of a keyboard and monitor, the conversations are far more natural, and signals such as body language can reveal more opportunities than you might expect.

Integrating Digital Media to Enhance the Effectiveness of Branding

While exhibitions and trade shows provide the front door for creating and nurturing contacts, it is now necessary to embrace digital tools to build upon these. Depending on the nature of the product or service, sometimes it can be tough to create a lifelike representation of the work being done. The advent of augmented and virtual reality is drastically changing this. Marketers can now provide digital recreations of products and services in action, which immerses the user and provides an interactive experience, rather than reeling off the same generic sales pitch. Previously, videos were effective online and have also been implemented into exhibits, however, virtual reality creates a unique experience, one which currently cannot be conveyed through a computer monitor.

Exhibitions and trade shows have long been associated with high costs which can lead to a poor return on investment. This can certainly be the case when a lack of planning and understanding results in a disappointing performance. However, exhibitors and attendees who have been able to innovate, often with digital tools or competitions, have found great value in what trade shows and exhibitions can offer. We understand that exhibition stands must be unique to stand out against the competition. Over the years, one of the best ways in which this has been achieved is through activities and demonstrations which engage with the user without being obvious that it is a sales pitch at heart.

How to Harness Digital Exhibition Stands to Convert Post-Exhibition

Printed literature and tacky branded products were once the staple for every exhibitor. Although, outlaying a large chunk of the budget on goods which most likely head straight into the bin after the exhibition hardly seems practical nowadays. While a promising connection may be made when speaking at an event, it is important to have the means to follow up on that potential. Despite making a breakthrough in the 5-10 minutes spent speaking to the potential client, it remains crucial to have a way to follow up. Business cards are still a handy tool to have on hand, however there are a variety of digital integration options available to solidify these relationships.

To be precise, tablet computers equip the marketing arsenal with a variety of tools to introduce, illustrate and ultimately convert potential clients. They can be used to obtain contact information, sign individuals to a mailing list, illustrate the product in question or even discover unique information through interesting apps. While a business card may provide you with an e-mail address and a phone number, an interactive app may inform you of other information, such as what they are looking for which can be used to convert following the event.

Tying These Together into an Effective Branding Strategy

One of the hardest parts of exhibiting is creating exhibition stands which engage with the audience. All too often, we see exhibitors with cheap gimmicks or generic competitions which have nothing to do with the product or service they are trying to sell. Those who succeed integrate unique ideas attached to quick and simple activities. Attendees may only have five minutes to hang around, so it is important to get the point across in that window.

Where exhibitions and trade shows continue to have the advantage over the digital world is in access. The number of new users online grows every hour, but there are still many important figures who prefer to conduct business in person. Innovative exhibition stands appeal to these kinds of personalities, thereby creating opportunities which would not have been possible online.

Go Displays are a leading UK manufacturer of bespoke exhibition stands and banner stands. With over 40 years in the industry, we have extensive experience creating innovative stands for businesses both big and small. You can find out more about the service we provide by visiting us online, calling 01733 232000 or by sending an e-mail to sales@go-displays.co.uk.