Category: Sales & Marketing

Article Contributed by Graham Odenyo

Yes, I asked you that question, someone ought to. In today’s social media arena things are evolving at such break neck speeds that only the best can survive the tide. If you witnessed hurricane Katrina on TV, or was actually in it, then you saw what kind of force a mass of water can wield. When a flood is on its way there is no time to play about, you have to find a way to get out of danger and quickly too. In social media, many people are getting caught in disaster like situations and they have no plans or strategies, to use to help them navigate the social media floods.

There is a difference between a well thought out plan, and a laundry list of ideas that were scribbled down on a napkin at the coffee shop during your lunch break when it comes to social media. A good social media marketing plan, covers all aspects of social media, a bad social media marketing plan on the other hand is similar to a laundry list of ideas scribbled on a napkin during the lunch. It simply does not work when you need it to.

What are some laundry list characteristics of a social media marketing plan compared to a well defined social media marketing plan?

1) Dependence on cheap social media software without doing your due diligence simply because you have seen that particular advertisement on numerous occasions, as you were surfing the web on facebook. Be careful, just because you hear great things about some auto posting software, does not mean that that software works well or that it is good for you or your client’s social media campaign.

2) If you are still using the same outdated social media marketing strategies to market your business that is a clue that you do not know what you are doing. Here is a dead give away, if you a reading a social media marketing plan and they are talking about how to take advantage of MySpace, or telling you that all you need to succeed with your social media campaign is face book and twitter, burn that book.

3) If your social media marketing plan cannot accommodate the sales needs of your client, that plan is nothing but a laundry list and not a solid social media marketing plan. Social media marketing is all about customer engagement with a view to achieve brand loyalty eventually. You social media marketing plan should take care of both the needs of the companies sales department as well as the needs of the marketing people.

4) If your social media marketing plan does not identify who the customers advertising demographic is, and is solely dependent on guesswork, that should make you see red flags all over the place. Why, a social media marketing plan that does not have a defined purpose is the same as the blind leading the blind. When you do not know where you are going, all roads will get you there “eventually”. Do not waste your time and money marketing to non buyers. Use data analysis to identify your best prospects and employ tactics you can measure, such as direct marketing.

5) A social media strategy that emphasizes the need to over sharing the information is not a good strategy. You do not need to have people mad at your brand or business so as to generate some negative feedback for your brand. This would qualify as an item that would need to be deleted from that alleged social media marketing plan.

6) A good social media marketing plan accounts for the need to hire qualified professional social media managers to manage your company’s social media accounts. A laundry list however will convince you that your company does not need to hire a social media manager because you can do everything by yourself.

7) Lack of results can be seen when there is no initiative being shown by the social media marketing planner. A social media marketing laundry list, simply tells you to post things on twitter and facebook and wait to get to the promised land. A solid social media marketing plan will encourage you to get out of the office and go to trade shows, film yourself at the trade show and use your social media marketing platforms to distribute your media to numerous people at the same time. Remember that the social media world is a dynamic one, so one needs to stay updated with the latest industry trends.

8) If you ever read something in your social media marketing plan that tells you that there is no such thing, as negative publicity in social media, you need to burn that book immediately. In social media marketing, what you do not know will hurt you. Meaning you or your company should not engage in aggressive overkill promotions, bombarding your customers and prospects. This is a guaranteed way to irritate your audience and get your emails blocked. Respect the people who have’ opted to hear from you by sending  them messages that are relevant to their needs, that is what true customer engagement in social media is all about.

9) A good social media marketing plan will advise you to make sure that you are monitoring your customer’s comments on your social media platforms. Where as a social media marketing laundry list, will not tell you why it is important for your company or brand to pay attention to what is being said about you, respond directly and immediately and move conversations offline whenever there’s a complaint.

About the Author
Graham Odenyo is the Social Media Strategist and Project Manager of a successful Digital Marketing Social Media Mobile App Marketing Agency located in North Carolina. We work with companies to help them create and manage their own customized Global Social Mobile footprint plans for their businesses. We are a full services Social Mobile Marketing firm, offering fully customizable Global Social Mobile Footprint plans, from the conception of Mobile Apps to email marketing, to blogging, search engine optimization and YouTube video optimization keyword domination. For more information please go to >> http://www.affordablemobilemarketing.info

What pricing strategy increases revenue without having to sell lots more of your product or service?

The simple answer is “raise your price”

It’s not wise to raise prices without first doing focused research of market conditions and trends. You need to understand your customers, and how you differentiate yourself within your market, before designing an effective pricing strategy.

The reason you own a business is you to make money, and making money means generating enough revenue from selling your product so you can cover all the costs and make a profit.

Take the time and ask yourself these FIVE KEY questions.

1. Do you understand what sets you apart?

Do you know who your competitors are and what exactly they offer? Why are you and what are you selling that is different? How do you stand out from your competition? You must not only know the answers to these questions; but be able to communicate them convincingly to your customers in order to maximize your pricing power.

2. How accepting is the market of your pricing?

In other words what is the pricing range already established for similar or comparative products and services? This will be a good indicator,(and note I say indicator) as to whether you will be able to price your product or service to make a profit. It’s important to talk to your customers and find out what they are willing to pay.

A small business owner I spoke with recently found out directly from his customers that if he were to provide a warranty on his product installation, he could beat out his competition and command a higher price.

3. What are your customers’ expectations?

Without customers, you won’t sell anything ~ and you will not need a pricing strategy! When deciding on pricing, determine what it is your customer truly wants from your business. What are their expectations? Are they value shoppers; best value for the price, or will they buy only on price. Will they pay more for excellent customer service, will a good buying experience add value to your product?

The same business owner also found out that if his customers had an enjoyable orientation lesson to learn all about the product, this buying experience would set him apart from his competitors who were selling a comparable product!

4. Is there a way to pitch several price points?

Two or three options priced differently will allow customers to feel in control of the buying process, and make comparisons between products. Three price points; expensive, inexpensive & somewhere in the middle will often drive sales to the middle price point, which if a business understands and targets their offering, they can position themselves to take advantage.

A small local art gallery decided to price their art inventory at three price points. They found that the middle price point sold 10 times better than the lower price and the higher price. In addition, their sales overall doubled compared to when they had a random pricing strategy of about 40 different price points!

Caveat: If you try this online, be sure and have different images for the different price points (showing different features and benefits), or you’ll lose credibility, and sales!

5. Should pricing be an on-going initiative?

By being aware of changing markets and changing customer dynamics you can adjust pricing to remain in sync with your customers. Stay current with what your competitors are charging, but by being innovative, offering additional services, designing a great customer experience and getting ongoing feedback from your customers, your pricing strategy will be more influenced by your relationship with your customers, and your ability to sell to them, than be driven strictly by competitive and market analysis.

What I’ve learned working with businesses, collaborating with them to determine the right price, is there is a right price! Include the ingredient of an excellent sales process, get out of the building and talk to your customers, do the analysis on costs and your competition, and then try it out with your customers. If it doesn’t work, do a reality check, make changes and try again. Chances are if you’ve paid attention to the five key questions here, your price will be right!

Seen first on Entrepreneurs Questions as: Do you have the Right Pricing Strategy? 

Article Contributed by Sarah Gordon

Generation Y is a term which is often used to describe those born between 1980 and 1991. This group are the generation of the digital age or the first ‘digital natives’. Generation Y are seen as a powerhouse of potential for the workforce as well as an essential group of consumers. This mobile generation are shaping the future. Following Generation Y is not Generation Z, but Generation C.

Who is Generation C?

Generation C gets its namesake as this generation flourishes on Connection, Community, Creation and Curation. Generation C is not traditional in the sense it is not defined by their age, though are often found to be under 35. Generation C covers all who have embraced technology, shape opinion and lead on thought.

Google describes this generation:

• They are motivated by honesty and integrity.
• They are empowered by technology, living in the moment, always on.
• And they’re proud to give back more than they take on.

Why bother with Generation C?

Generation C are shaping the way we communicate and find information. This audience is highly influential therefore it makes sense for brands to engage with them. Generation C are the ones likely to share your content and engage with your brand. The internet is second nature to this generation and it’s well-known that it’s a powerful marketing tool.

How to market to Generation C

• Allow creativity

Involve them in your campaign; this could be in the form of a competition, social campaign, review or simply asking what they think. This generation are socially active, trendsetters not only will they help to spread your campaign but will revel in the opportunity to get involved and create.

• Go mobile

This generation are the pioneers of the smart phone. It’s not just a means of communication; it’s become a tool for shopping, sharing and finding information. In order to keep them interested it’s important you’ve fully embraced mobile technology. Websites need to be responsive to several devices and provide on-the-go information.

• Get personal

Think beyond using the customer’s name to be more ‘personal’. Generation C are wise to marketing and if you want them to take notice of your e-mail or campaign it needs to be appealing to them. Allow room for customisation and find out what they want. If you miss the mark it’s likely they’ll never notice your campaign.

• Be Social

Social Media can make or break a campaign. To be successful time needs to be dedicated to engaging with your customer base. Generation C aren’t interested in seeing a static page with sales type information. Get creative and involve popular culture to keep them enthused with the brand.

Ultimately to engage with this generation, research is crucial. Dedicated time needs to be set aside to research the latest trends, news stories and viral content. This way you can react and involve the audience in something they want to engage with. Always consider the user first.

Author Bio: Sarah Gordon of BT Business provide advice, business insights, news, case studies and more for small to medium enterprises and start-ups at: insights.bt.com

How do you become incredibly successful in Sales? You get highly organized to the point you are obsessed with it. Being organized means you know where you are going, how you’re getting there and when you plan to do it. Are you organized?

Endless scribbles and note taking mixed in with an “I’ll update the CRM later” attitude and you’ve got a recipe for Sales disaster. The last thing you need is your Sales Team being clueless as to who they’re speaking with or why they are speaking to them.

If you’re a Sales Manager, emphasise the need to be highly organized, even paranoid of failure if it means everyone adopts the need to be organized.

Play out the worst case scenario to the team and see who starts to question or double check their approach, chances are most will but it’ll save a lot of embarrassment and wasted time with the customer.

Here are 12 ways to become highly organized 

#1 Write every little thing down – leave your mind free to concentrate directly on the customer or task in hand.

#2 Clear up your space – remove all the clutter that seems to always be plaguing your workspace (even consider it for phones, laptops etc., as they are also notoriously bad for this).

#3 Everything needs a place – habits form quickly if you stick to routine, this includes putting things in the same place time and time again.

#4 Smart with tasks – check through your written list of what you have coming up, batch things together be it on the basis of similarity of task or location etc.

#5 Plan of action – create this right before you go to bed, on waking up you’ll have a defined set of tasks and you’ll know how you need to go about them.

#6 Bring in support – don’t let your ego take control. If you happen to have a stubborn account to deal with then call in support to guide, advise and ease the task.

#7 Stick to what’s familiar – Trying to break a habit or do something that you’ve never done before is generally frustrating at the beginning (the euphoria of doing so will follow shortly though) so leave this to a slow day or during your free time.

#8 Take on problems – Try and take out the biggest problems first as soon as possible, mundane and boring tasks can be widely outsourced or taken care of during a slower part of the day.

#9 Know everything – Study your accounts, your business, products, competitors, markets, industries so you know everything.

#10 Delegation – Some of us Sales people are hot shots in specific parts of the Sales cycle, using up your time and stressing out on other stages should be minimalized (lead generation etc). Instead find people that are the hot shot of that department and work with them.

#11 Personal lists – Things like time to yourself, food that you eat and how you spend your money should be compiled into a personal list. This is all about not guessing and causing stress, instead you know what you’re doing, how, when and why.

#12 Stop negative thoughts – Sales is a hard career to be in, the emotional battering you get on a daily basis can get incredibly tiring. Instead of thinking that the product sucks, the market doesn’t exist or so on, focus on the past successes and learn from them.

If you study the most successful Sales people within your company and outside of it you’ll generally notice a common theme – they are all incredibly organized and know exactly what they are doing.

Ask them why they are doing it and they’ll never look clueless, instead they’ll have an answer that leads them to the next stage and the next stage and so on.

As a sales manager or leader it’s a duty of yours to remove obstacles that are in the way of your team’s success. The obstacles can range from providing training or simply supporting the team in their efforts. How are you doing it?

Take a moment to read the article on Why Your Sales Will Fail in the perspective as a sales professional.

The article was written to help sales professionals understand where they tend to drop the ball and where they could increase their efforts. This process is a 2 way street and it’s essential that the management team adopts the mind set of helping their teams thrive in any way possible.

Below are some key ways you could be focusing on improving and increasing your sales team effectiveness with a little bit of effort you could end up seeing exponential growth in productivity.

Training

Believe it or not the majority of professionals, not just in sales, appreciate and want further training. It’s a way to grow within the industry but most importantly it’s a way for a professional to progress with their own career.

If you have a fear of employees leaving due to their increase in experience and knowledge then you’re being selfish. The reality is that if you provide your team with the tools to thrive and succeed then it’s unlikely they’ll be looking to leave any time soon.

Training is a cost, sure it is. But the purpose of training sometimes reaches beyond the idea of learning something new. Training can also be seen as a motivational tool giving the attendee some new found knowledge or experience that drives them to work harder and smarter.

If you look at training with a long term view then you’ll realise that the current costs are actually quite small.

Support

The last thing anyone wants is to be stuck on an account that doesn’t seem to be moving down the sales cycle or stuck in a rut of no deals.

This is where the most experienced and knowledgeable person should be made available, but the question is how likely is that to happen?

Referring to the training pointer above, if you think training costs too much then why not offer your personal knowledge to your team? Sometimes your personal experience, time and knowledge is worth more than gold to your team.

When you hire someone new, be it a completely new trainee or an experienced veteran you still need to offer your personal support.

For the trainee it offers an opportunity to fast track with your knowledge and success and for the experience veteran it allows for them to understand processes, actions, ideas and goals without doing guess work.

It’s surprising how few people are willing to offer genuine support to their teams.