Tuesday, October 30, 2012
WHY THE AD INDUSTRY IS IN A TALENT RUT AND A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE
What a great and insightful article from Fast Co. If you don't want to read the whole thing, I've highlighted some key points.
WHY THE AD INDUSTRY IS IN A TALENT RUT AND A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE
BY: ALLISON KENT-SMITH
Allison Kent-Smith says the advertising industry has failed to develop and educate talent. Here, she outlines the training-centric steps agencies can take to build a real digital workforce.
The advertising industry is in transition. This is the most auspicious period in recent history, yet it’s also the most disruptive. An agency either has the right 21st-century talent, or it doesn’t. Employees either understand digital, or they are actively pretending that they do. Agency talent stays far too long or turns over within the predictable 18-month cycle.
The current transitional time has shifted the spotlight from what we know to what we need to know. Tinkering and agile processes are valued. The prototype gets more attention than the brief. Big-idea people are no longer the singular hot commodity. Employees who understand platforms, media, technology, trends, data, and “how to generate and make ideas” are the new model for talent.
It’s no longer just about great ideas. It’s about great ideas that get made.
Understanding technology, embracing new talent, making things and not just imagining things, evolving traditional agency practices, and leveraging new ways of working are redefining 21st-century agencies’ competitive advantage. Yet many agencies remain stuck facing big questions: Where do you start? Where do you invest? The industry struggles to evolve, react, and fully embrace the new rules for retaining (and attracting) the brightest minds.
On the subject of “Gen Flux,” a recent Fast Company article reminds us that “The vast bulk of our institutions--educational, corporate, political–-are not built for flux. Few traditional career tactics train us for an era where the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills.” Or as Alvin Toffler says, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”[ii] For many years, agencies have under-invested in reeducation in the workplace.
We expect talent to leave, and that’s okay. But is it really?
Many agencies share common symptoms. We continue to trade and exchange the same group of digital leadership. Managers invest in a revolving door of the same types of people, who have all-too-familiar titles, but fail to develop the employees who show up each and every day. We continue to highlight acquisitions, awards, senior hires, and big client wins, yet when do we highlight agencies’ practices for employee education?
The advertising industry has failed to develop and educate talent. We now feel the effects of this neglect more than ever.
Walk a few steps down Madison Avenue, from one agency to another, and you’ll hear similar comments: “There’s no vision for digital at the agency,” “I’m faking it [with digital],” “Let’s just hire another social media expert,” “The client would like a top 10 app…in three weeks,” “We always bring in producers at the very last minute,” or “Digital is an agency priority (yet there is not a single UX designer or developer in-house).” Shared confessions across the profession point to serious issues with digital talent, process, and structure that prevent agency evolution.
The money lost on talent attrition, figurehead recruitment, and poorly executed digital projects should shift to the education and development of current employees.
There are a few largely agreed-upon steps that can make an immediate impact. If you’re part of an agency or brand that is stuck, then march into your boss’s office or raise your hand at the next town hall and suggest the following changes. By the way, this will not necessarily make you popular, but it will make you right.
1. PUT UX FIRST
How many UX experts do you have at your agency, and how are they utilized? An agency must have user experience, interaction design, and information architecture front and center. UX experts are not easy to find, but heavy hitters in this area will transform ideas that are impossible to ideas that are reality. A good UX professional solves for both business and user needs. Don’t hire just one UX lead and expect an impact. Ask your established strategy or planning department to “major” in UX and watch what happens.
2. IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Are there just a few digital experts at your agency who act as consultants internally? A couple of digital experts are not going to change an agency. Stop hiring one or two recycled digital leaders and expect to get results. A few individuals will not create sustainable digital change. Think of your pool of experts not as a separate department or a “call in the experts when needed” group. Require that every single employee have working knowledge of digital. Map out the village and invest in them.
3. EMBRACE THE BUILDERS
Does your agency outsource most of your programming? If so, then an integrated understanding of how to build or make an idea remains external. You’re paying your partners to get smarter, but what about your employees? All departments (not just digital producers) need to tap on the shoulder of a developer and ask questions. This is how we learn. These interactions will create a noticeable change in digital understanding.
4. RETHINK TITLES
Are the departments and titles at your agency the same as those at every other agency? Bring in “experts” who are not experts. The industry needs to embrace a new type of talent. Hire a group of high school students, start an agency incubator, begin an academic fellowship program, organize talent by competencies (not title), and ask leaders at the agency to actively teach. Ask your hiring manager or HR person if they have ever hired someone without a title in mind. Nordstrom Innovation Lab provides a great example of a shift in how to think about talent categories and competencies.
5. LAUNCH A SCHOOL
Do you struggle with where to learn more about digital? A lot of agency leaders talk about the value of education, yet very few act on it. Start by establishing an agency school. Design learning experiences and opportunities for employees to teach each other. Invite external industry leaders to teach classes. Set up digital experiments. Take field trips and get out of your office. Create digital installations and foster play. Invite your clients to attend the school. Establish expectations for continual learning and integrate participation into annual reviews.
6. TWO DAYS IS A WEEKEND, NOT A PROGRAM
Is your education budget a conference budget? Going to a single conference or workshop is not going to make a difference in employee digital understanding. Your employees will return a bit more motivated or curious, but will they be more educated? Set aside a budget for learning and call the SXSW and Cannes investment something else entirely. Don’t expect a change in digital understanding after a few days of lectures.
Although traditional practices are still in place and continue to be rewarded, agencies cannot ignore the shifts in tools, thinking, and culture that digital has created. We’ll look back at this transitional time in advertising and realize that successful agencies shaped talent through creative and unconventional approaches.
With these common symptoms of digital neglect across the entire profession, it’s time to move beyond problem-identification stage and courageously invest in guiding and teaching employees.
Go on…fix what you recognize is broken.
ROI and Direct Mail
I think the big take away from this is to further explore ROI, return on investment. All marketing plans are trial and error. But you can't assume or guess at what is working based on vague metrics. You need solid data. Approach it like a science experiment. That means formulate a goal, try multiple approaches, measure the results, make changes, measure the results. Move forward or change your plan based on those results. Track your progress in any possible way and don't spend a marketing dollar without knowing how you will measure the result of that dollar.
B2B Direct Mail: Four Tips for a Healthy ROI
Published on October 25, 2012 by MarketingProfs
In a recent article at Chief Marketer, Beth Negus Viveiros argues that leaving direct mail out of your B2B marketing mix might be a big mistake—even in the digital age. "Done the right way, good old-fashioned direct mail can be a key part of your strategy," she says.
Viveiros interviewed marketers Michele Fitzpatrick and Kevin Kerner to get their insights on incorporating direct mail into a B2B multichannel marketing strategy.
Here are four tips from that discussion:
Make it meaningful. If you're going to add a direct mail component, make it a meaningful part of your multichannel campaign. One of Kerner's clients, for instance, mailed a case for a mobile phone to prospects. When the prospect set up an appointment, the sales person brought the device (loaded with an app showcasing the company's services) to the meeting.
Start with your audience first. Use tried-and-true, customer-centric thinking when creating your campaign. Why would they value this particular mailing? "Channel, offer, product, timing—these are all byproducts of who you are trying to reach," Fitzpatrick explains.
Balance spending with projected ROI. Since direct mail can be costly, it's important to calculate your ideal cost-per-acquisition up front. Remember: With proper targeting, you can mail at a higher cost-per-piece and still reap a higher profit.
Consider going big. Dimensional mail is making a comeback, Kerner says. That's because a unique, chunky mail piece can still break through the clutter and have a high impact. It's a great way to "get a person to respond and pull them online," he notes.
The Po!nt: Don't discount hands-on. Even in the digital age, a targeted direct mail piece can get you noticed. Consider adding it as a dramatic component of your next B2B campaign.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Free Fonts, Icons & More
A free font from generous Behance user studioelastik.com:
Free Icons from Endless Icons:
From 1001 Free Fonts:
Appleberry
Coal Train
From Font Squirrel:
Front Da Font:
Blue Oasis
From 1001 Free Fonts:
Appleberry
Front Da Font:
Blue Oasis
How To Get More Facebook Fans
A common problem. You have gone to all the trouble to create a Facebook fan page, you invited all your friends, you are posting regularly; but your fan number has plateaued. Read this blog about creative ways to increase your following!
10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following
By Andrea Vahl
Published October 23, 2012
Has your Facebook Page growth stalled?
Now is a good time to examine your Facebook activities, cutting out what isn’t working and expanding what works.
Here are ten tips to help grow your Facebook community.
#1: Connect With Other Page Managers
This is a powerful tactic to a make a live connection with other Page admins who have a similar demographic to yours and cross-promote each other.
So if you are an ice cream store with a Facebook Page, make a live connection with the pizza parlor in your neighborhood that draws the same clientele (you may already know the owner of the pizza parlor). Then talk to him or her about doing a little Facebook cross-promotion and share each others posts with your audiences every once in a while.
Joint ventures also help forge these meaningful connections. Host a webinar with another company that has a similar audience. This can be a great way to become visible to their audience.
When you make a meaningful connection, you can cross-promote to each others' audiences.
#2: Share Original Content
Content is still king and when people share your content, your Page name travels with it. Think of new ways you can add original photos as part of your content.
Maybe it’s a screenshot from a hot tip. Or maybe it’s a photo from something happening behind the scenes at your business that you ask people to caption. Or you can add an inspirational or thought-provoking quote to a photo.
Just make sure you are following photo copyright laws. Notice how this photo is also branded with the name of the blog.
Your Facebook Page name and original comments will travel with shared photos.
#3: Tag Your Page From Your Personal Profile
Make sure it’s easy for your friends to like your Page. As we know, Pages are not being seen as much in the news feed, so what is a page owner to do?
I recommend you post about your business occasionally on your Personal Profile. If you tag your Business Page (type “@” and then start typing your Page name until you can select it from the drop-down menu that appears) rather than share the status, people who mouse over your Page name in your post can easily like the Page right from your update.
When you tag your Page, it's easier for people to like it without leaving the news feed.
#4: Link Your Profile to Your Page
This is a very simple thing to do, yet I see so many people skipping this step. If users are searching and finding your Personal Profile on Facebook, you want to make it as easy as possible for users to find your Business Page as well.
When people list where they work and it’s not properly linked to their Facebook Page, a strange “Community Page” is created with that same name and it has a suitcase icon. Then people start liking that Community Page rather than your real Facebook Page.
All you need to do is to delete the Community Page from your Work and Education section in your About area (click Edit in the About section), then add in the correct Facebook Page.
Your profile should be linked to your Facebook Page.
Click your About section on your Profile, then Edit in the Work and Education area.
Start typing the name of your Facebook Page and select your Page from the drop-down menu.
#5: Add Facebook in Your Email Signature
How many emails do you send each day? Again, this is not rocket science—just consider this tip as your gentle reminder to add a link to your Page in your email signature. Many email programs such as Gmail make it easy to customize your email signature with clickable icons.
Get fancy in Gmail by adding clickable icons.
Or you can use WiseStamp to make your email signature stand out.
#6: Comment (Thoughtfully) on Other Pages as Your Page
This is a great way to get more exposure for your Business Page with a target audience. Participate on other Pages where your audience is already having conversations. Find complementary Facebook Pages and like them as your Page, then watch your Page home feed and comment on the posts.
Use Facebook as your business the same way you use it personally: by interacting and having conversations as your Page.
Remember to add to the conversation and authentically build relationships. That will lead to those meaningful connections I mentioned in point #1.
This activity takes time and you may find that you only have 10 minutes a week to do this. But it’s a good habit to get into to get more visibility for your Page.
When you like other Pages as your Page, click Home to see your own Page's news feed and then make comments from time to time on those other Pages.
#7: Run a Contest
Running a contest can be a great way to get new likes on your Business Page. It does cost some money to run a contest, but hopefully you have a marketing budget for your business.
Many of the apps that are available for Facebook contests (and you MUST run a Facebook contest through an app) are not too expensive and are easy to set up yourself.
Running a contest is also a great way to promote your product or service in a fun way. Running a contest with a like-gate on your contest app also gives you the ability to make sure people like your Page before they enter. And it’s a great way to get folks on your email list to come over to your Page to like you and enter your contest. Who’s the winner here? It’s you.
Promote your product and get new likes on Facebook.
#8: Add a QR Code to Your Business Card
How many business cards do you give out? Make it easy for the people you have connected with in person to connect with your Page. Creating a QR code is easy and free at sites like Kaywa and QRStuff.
Use the link for your Facebook Page and you have automatically created a QR code that you can add to the back of your business card.
#9: Advertise Your Page on Facebook
Today there are many options for advertising on Facebook. To get the best value for generating new likes for your Page, I would suggest you use a Sponsored Like Story. This will advertise your Page to friends of your current fans and give social proof in the ad by showcasing that the user’s friend likes your Page.
Sponsored Like Stories can be a bit cheaper to run, but you won’t have any ad copy to help convert people into fans. Hopefully seeing that their friend likes you is a sufficiently compelling reason.
Your Sponsored Like Story will be targeting the friends of your fans, but you can also use the regular Facebook targeting features to narrow the audience to your perfect demographic.
It’s easy to create your ad and limit your budget so you know how well it works before spending an arm and a leg.
Use a Sponsored Like Story as an easy way to get new likes for your Page.
#10: Add a Like Box to Your Website
In the Business Pages I have seen, a Like Box is one of the largest sources of likes for the Page if the website gets good traffic. It’s very easy to add a Like Box—just go to the Facebook Developers site, add the URL of your Facebook Page, configure the settings for how you want your Like Box to appear and click Get Code.
You will now have a choice among HTML5, XFBML, iFrame or URL. For most WordPress sites, you can choose HTML5, XFBML or iFrame for your code. But your WordPress theme may affect your choice. In this case, the easiest thing to do is to paste the code into a text widget on your sidebar.
Use the Facebook Developer site to get your Like Box code.
Finally: Watch what is working.
Know where your likes are coming from and do more of that. Do some tracking by using link shorteners such as bitly to drive traffic to your Facebook Page and see how many clicks you get.
Dive into your Facebook Insights and click on the likes link to see your sources of likes. Many of these you can’t control, but at least you can be informed about your statistics and know what is currently working for you.
10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following
By Andrea Vahl
Published October 23, 2012
Has your Facebook Page growth stalled?
Now is a good time to examine your Facebook activities, cutting out what isn’t working and expanding what works.
Here are ten tips to help grow your Facebook community.
#1: Connect With Other Page Managers
This is a powerful tactic to a make a live connection with other Page admins who have a similar demographic to yours and cross-promote each other.
So if you are an ice cream store with a Facebook Page, make a live connection with the pizza parlor in your neighborhood that draws the same clientele (you may already know the owner of the pizza parlor). Then talk to him or her about doing a little Facebook cross-promotion and share each others posts with your audiences every once in a while.
Joint ventures also help forge these meaningful connections. Host a webinar with another company that has a similar audience. This can be a great way to become visible to their audience.
When you make a meaningful connection, you can cross-promote to each others' audiences.
#2: Share Original Content
Content is still king and when people share your content, your Page name travels with it. Think of new ways you can add original photos as part of your content.
Maybe it’s a screenshot from a hot tip. Or maybe it’s a photo from something happening behind the scenes at your business that you ask people to caption. Or you can add an inspirational or thought-provoking quote to a photo.
Just make sure you are following photo copyright laws. Notice how this photo is also branded with the name of the blog.
Your Facebook Page name and original comments will travel with shared photos.
#3: Tag Your Page From Your Personal Profile
Make sure it’s easy for your friends to like your Page. As we know, Pages are not being seen as much in the news feed, so what is a page owner to do?
I recommend you post about your business occasionally on your Personal Profile. If you tag your Business Page (type “@” and then start typing your Page name until you can select it from the drop-down menu that appears) rather than share the status, people who mouse over your Page name in your post can easily like the Page right from your update.
When you tag your Page, it's easier for people to like it without leaving the news feed.
#4: Link Your Profile to Your Page
This is a very simple thing to do, yet I see so many people skipping this step. If users are searching and finding your Personal Profile on Facebook, you want to make it as easy as possible for users to find your Business Page as well.
When people list where they work and it’s not properly linked to their Facebook Page, a strange “Community Page” is created with that same name and it has a suitcase icon. Then people start liking that Community Page rather than your real Facebook Page.
All you need to do is to delete the Community Page from your Work and Education section in your About area (click Edit in the About section), then add in the correct Facebook Page.
Your profile should be linked to your Facebook Page.
Click your About section on your Profile, then Edit in the Work and Education area.
Start typing the name of your Facebook Page and select your Page from the drop-down menu.
#5: Add Facebook in Your Email Signature
How many emails do you send each day? Again, this is not rocket science—just consider this tip as your gentle reminder to add a link to your Page in your email signature. Many email programs such as Gmail make it easy to customize your email signature with clickable icons.
Get fancy in Gmail by adding clickable icons.
Or you can use WiseStamp to make your email signature stand out.
#6: Comment (Thoughtfully) on Other Pages as Your Page
This is a great way to get more exposure for your Business Page with a target audience. Participate on other Pages where your audience is already having conversations. Find complementary Facebook Pages and like them as your Page, then watch your Page home feed and comment on the posts.
Use Facebook as your business the same way you use it personally: by interacting and having conversations as your Page.
Remember to add to the conversation and authentically build relationships. That will lead to those meaningful connections I mentioned in point #1.
This activity takes time and you may find that you only have 10 minutes a week to do this. But it’s a good habit to get into to get more visibility for your Page.
When you like other Pages as your Page, click Home to see your own Page's news feed and then make comments from time to time on those other Pages.
#7: Run a Contest
Running a contest can be a great way to get new likes on your Business Page. It does cost some money to run a contest, but hopefully you have a marketing budget for your business.
Many of the apps that are available for Facebook contests (and you MUST run a Facebook contest through an app) are not too expensive and are easy to set up yourself.
Running a contest is also a great way to promote your product or service in a fun way. Running a contest with a like-gate on your contest app also gives you the ability to make sure people like your Page before they enter. And it’s a great way to get folks on your email list to come over to your Page to like you and enter your contest. Who’s the winner here? It’s you.
Promote your product and get new likes on Facebook.
#8: Add a QR Code to Your Business Card
How many business cards do you give out? Make it easy for the people you have connected with in person to connect with your Page. Creating a QR code is easy and free at sites like Kaywa and QRStuff.
Use the link for your Facebook Page and you have automatically created a QR code that you can add to the back of your business card.
#9: Advertise Your Page on Facebook
Today there are many options for advertising on Facebook. To get the best value for generating new likes for your Page, I would suggest you use a Sponsored Like Story. This will advertise your Page to friends of your current fans and give social proof in the ad by showcasing that the user’s friend likes your Page.
Sponsored Like Stories can be a bit cheaper to run, but you won’t have any ad copy to help convert people into fans. Hopefully seeing that their friend likes you is a sufficiently compelling reason.
Your Sponsored Like Story will be targeting the friends of your fans, but you can also use the regular Facebook targeting features to narrow the audience to your perfect demographic.
It’s easy to create your ad and limit your budget so you know how well it works before spending an arm and a leg.
Use a Sponsored Like Story as an easy way to get new likes for your Page.
#10: Add a Like Box to Your Website
In the Business Pages I have seen, a Like Box is one of the largest sources of likes for the Page if the website gets good traffic. It’s very easy to add a Like Box—just go to the Facebook Developers site, add the URL of your Facebook Page, configure the settings for how you want your Like Box to appear and click Get Code.
You will now have a choice among HTML5, XFBML, iFrame or URL. For most WordPress sites, you can choose HTML5, XFBML or iFrame for your code. But your WordPress theme may affect your choice. In this case, the easiest thing to do is to paste the code into a text widget on your sidebar.
Use the Facebook Developer site to get your Like Box code.
Finally: Watch what is working.
Know where your likes are coming from and do more of that. Do some tracking by using link shorteners such as bitly to drive traffic to your Facebook Page and see how many clicks you get.
Dive into your Facebook Insights and click on the likes link to see your sources of likes. Many of these you can’t control, but at least you can be informed about your statistics and know what is currently working for you.
Seven Ways to Get Great Customer Testimonials
One of the biggest mistakes we make with our customers is not asking for referrals or testimonials. Consumers are quick to post a negative review when they have a bad experience, but will rarely take the time to post a review when they have a positive experience. Given a little suggestion or incentive we can encourage more positive reviews.
Seven Ways to Get Great Customer Testimonials
by Sue Duris | 13,704 views
Published on October 23, 2012
I recently asked a marketing director about customer testimonials on his company website. He openly said, "The testimonials aren't real, I made them up. Everybody else does it, so why can't we?"
My second thought, after "Two wrongs don't make a right," was "Aren't you in the business of building trust? What does that say about your company?"
A company builds trust in three ways: the way it creates and delivers products, its values, and how it communicates its values into the marketplace.
One thing that's common to all those is putting the customer No. 1; and to do that, having empathy for the customer is vital. Empathy is all about putting yourself in their shoes: What are their pain points? What are their motivators? What do they consider great customer service?
That third point, what customers consider great customer service, is the basis of any great customer testimonials.
Testimonials can be inbound (customers want to provide testimonials, participate in a case study, be a reference, etc.) or outbound (we approach our customer to give that great "thumbs up").
The following are seven ways we, as marketers, can make it easy to get great customer testimonials.
1. Build and deliver great products
Everything starts with having great products. As Seth Godin noted at a recent Art of Marketing conference, "the product must be worth making a remark about."
While you are on your journey to build and deliver great products, do you always keep the customer in mind?
2. Involve customers in your beta-test program
The beta test is a great time to engage current and prospective customers: It's great for prospects because they typically get your product at a reduced rate and get to provide input on how to make the product better. It's great for you because you get to build deeper relationships. In short, it is a great way to get prospective customers in the door.
3. Ensure customers are looped into your feedback mechanism
Offer the feedback channel on your website, surveying customers about current and future product features and functionality, instructing them how to communicate with you, and the like.
Consider creating customer focus groups or even a Customer Council so that your customers can help you choose your direction and the focus of your strategy. I attended a recent CMO panel discussion, and the consensus among the CMOs was that in the future customers will be more directly involved in strategy and product development.
Always take the lead to check in with your customers on how things are going for them. If you don't, and there are issues, customers are more than tech-savvy enough to launch negative reviews of their own.
4. Offer value-adds
Provide your customers newsletters and blogs packed with information, such as techniques and tools to help them use your products more effectively. Explain new features and benefits, and cover news that affects them, as well as ideas to help them be more productive in their jobs. The sky is the limit here.
One caveat is to keep promotions about your company at a minimum: 90% value to your customer and 10% promotion about you is a good guideline.
Not every customer is the same, so consider segmenting your customer base to deliver the information they want to see.
You may want to consider providing your customers with an extranet, where they can log in to engage with you on service activities, view account information, and download thought leadership resources and other items.
Remember: The content you provide is paramount, so keep your customers' pain points and motivators top of mind as you produce thought-provoking information they will thank you for.
5. Offer social options to your customers to engage with you
Engaging and offering value are the two requisites you should keep in mind with social media. If you focus on those two actions, your customers will be coming back for more.
Every point at which you touch your customer online should reference your social media buttons. Interact with customers on your company's Facebook page and LinkedIn groups, ask and answer engaging Q&A questions, including on your company page and your company's Quora page. You get the idea...
Don't stop at social media of likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and Quora. Also consider niche websites like SpiceWorks (IT professionals), Production Hub (film and video production), and others. And don't forget about local search sites like those of Google and Yahoo, City Search, etc.
6. Solicit customer testimonials in a fun way
Have you considered offering a prize for the funniest 30-second customer testimonial video on your YouTube account? Or perhaps soliciting testimonials around an event or holiday, like the Fourth of July or Christmas? Think of creativity and content as your two-pronged attack here. Perhaps the prize could be that you would do a case study on your customer. (I love case studies, because they are a win for both you and your customer.)
7. 'The Ask' becomes stress-free
If you keep your customers' welfare top of mind, "the ask" will seem stress-free. It may even turn out to be fun.
Give your customers options such as a testimonial, case study, reference, or even a quote for an article, press release, or whitepaper. Let your customer be your guide to help you determine which route to take.
Then really think about the intent of the testimonial: What do you want it to say? You'd likely want to position your company and your customer as thought leaders. You want to know that your customer thinks your company or product is good, but you also want to know why and how it is good.
In short, what do you want the message say about you and your customer? Think "forward-looking."
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The New Consumer Decision Journey
It is way past time to throw out the old funnel model of consumer decision making. With the abundance of instantly accessed information on products and services, as well as the relationship cultivating via social media, the process has changed. This is a great infographic and explanation from David Edelman.
Here is a graphic I use all the time to describe the consumer decision journey (CDJ). I like to say that the funnel is dead, because it’s outdated. Today’s consumer takes a much more complex iterative path thru and beyond purchase. The classic funnel shows an ever-narrowing array of decisions and choices until purchase, when in fact the channel-surfing customer today often is expanding the set of choices and decisions after consideration. Just as importantly, treats the post-purchase process with the same level of importance as the pre-purchase journey.
It’s a pretty simple concept really but clients like it because this visual highlights and isolates the most important aspects of the journey.
- Consider: What brands/products do consumers have in mind as they contemplate a purchase?
- Evaluate: Consumers gather information to narrow their choices.
- Buy: Consumers decide on a brand and buy it.
- Post-purchase: Consumers reflect on the buying experience, creating expectations/considerations that will inform a subsequent purchase
- Advocate: Consumers tell others about the product or service they bought.
This visualization of the journey helps focus conversations on where to spend money, where the opportunities are, what sorts of people and processes you need to deliver on them, where you’re weak and your competitors strong. It’s incredible the conversations I’ve had where clients realize they’re over-spending in one stage of the journey or under-spending in another. The CDJ approach helps clarify the issues that are undermining your brand, or where your brand has an opportunity to grow. You can read more about it in this article.
What part of the consumer decision journey is critical to your brand?
Tips for Marketing on Google+
Great tips for Google+ marketing:
5 Tips for Using Google+ to Boost Your Marketing
By Jason Miller
Published October 18, 2012
Are you wondering how to best use Google+ to enhance your marketing?
Google+ is quickly becoming an essential part of any business’s social media strategy.
It boasts a cool 250 million users! And this number is sure to grow very quickly as Google is making a Google+ account mandatory for all Gmail users.
It’s an audience marketers cannot ignore.
Google+ can help people learn about what makes your business tick -- your products, promotions, hours and anything else you want to share.
Google+ also plays a major role in search engine optimization (SEO) by making it easier for marketers to show up in search results—yet another reason to include Google+ in your social media strategy.
Here are five simple ways to give your business an almost immediate boost using Google+.
#1: Include Keywords and Relevant Links on Your About Page
The About page is a fantastic opportunity to give a quick overview of your business.
You can also link back to specific pages and services from this page, directing potential customers to the most important pages on your website.
It’s important to have a balance of marketing-savvy copy that’s also SEO-friendly. So make sure to include information that searchers will want to know about your company.
Include keywords and links relevant to your business on the About page.
Take advantage of the fact that Google+ allows you to use bullets in your description, which makes it simple to create an easy-to-read list of your products and services.
You can also include links to specific pages and a contact form.
Test and track different variations to see what works best for your business.
#2: Connect With Your Whole Audience Using Google+ Events
Google recently announced the Events feature which allows Google+ users to send out customized invitations to anyone regardless of whether they are Google+ users. It syncs beautifully with Google Calendar and shows up automatically when a user confirms for an event.
In addition to sending out invites to webinars, work functions, parties, etc., Google Events can also send out invites for Google+ Hangouts.
This could be the catalyst to get your business on board with Hangouts or increase the awareness and attendance of the events you’re already hosting.
You can use the Event Tool to send invitations for Hangouts as well as other events.
The “Party Mode” feature of Events allows everyone in attendance to instantly upload pictures into the same album using the Google+ mobile app, creating a living, real-time photo journal of a specific time and place. You can then show the photos off in chronological order as a slideshow, all within Google+.
#3: Post Often and Optimize for Best Search Results
Google’s Social Search results are more relevant when they take into account your social connections. That makes it important to include keywords within your posts so that they will show up in your followers’ search results.
Google’s search algorithm includes personalized search results specifically pulled from Google+ activity. The more relevant and content-based your Google+ posts are, the more search results you are likely to show up in.
When a user is signed in to their Google account the search results may highlight relevant content that’s created by or shared by your social connections.
For example, a search for “B2B marketing” shows activity from my connections as most relevant under Google’s Social Search personalized results.
#4: Set Up Google Authorship for SEO Benefits
Google is aggressively using SEO benefits to entice webmasters and bloggers to engage with Google+. Google Authorship is how Google authenticates and will increasingly begin to “trust” you as a quality source of content.
Setting up Google Authorship is simple and straightforward.
You identify yourself to Google through your Google+ profile and then link back to it from your content and vice versa.
Google Authorship is the easiest way to take advantage of the SEO benefits of Google+. Doing so will allow the author’s picture to show up next to his or her blog posts in Google search results, causing higher rankings and click-through rates.
Search results with author images are more trusted and much more likely to get clicks.
The business benefits for setting up Google Authorship will:
- Increase awareness of your overall Google+ profile page
- Add a human element to your content and increase trustworthiness
- Help your content stand out from the crowded search results page
- Improve your chances of showing up in more personalized search results
- Protect the original post’s ranking position as higher than a post that has scraped or syndicated the original content
- Studies have shown that Google Authorship will increase click-through rates
Step 1: Add a link to your Google+ profile on each of your blog posts.
On each of your blog posts, add a link to your Google+ profile with “rel=author” attached to the end of the link URL.
Here’s an example: https://plus.google.com/111498947729292607681?rel=author. It doesn’t matter where on the page you put the link or what the anchor text is (the clickable words in the link). You can even link an image instead of text.
The end result would look like this: “By Jason Miller“.
If you want to insert this link into all of your blog posts automatically, then you can add it to your blog template; for example, in the footer or header (assuming your blog only has one author).
Step 2: Link from your Google+ profile back to your blog.
After you add a link to your Google+ profile on each one of your blog posts, the last step is to link from the opposite direction, from your Google+ profile to your blog. You do this by adding a link to your blog in the “Contributor to” section of your Google+ profile.
Include links to each blog that you contribute content to.
#5: Find Relevant Users and Conversations to Engage With
The number-one rule for success within a community or social platform is to engage in the relevant conversations that are taking place and add value when doing so. The success of your business within Google+ will be a direct result of how you engage from both your personal and business pages.
Here are two great places to find users and conversations to engage with.
Google+ shared circles directory: For your personal page, check out this Google+ shared circles database created by Chris Porter. It’s a fantastic list of Google+ circles based on industry.
Google+ shared circle databases are a great way to find targeted circles to engage.
With one click you can add these shared circles to your personal Google+ circles and have a lively stream of relevant posts and conversations to engage with.
Since your business page cannot circle someone until they circle you, it’s important to build relationships with your personal page and introduce your business page’s content where appropriate.
Take advantage of the rich search functionality of Google+: Search for mentions of your brand and industry-related keywords. Save your searches and they appear on your left sidebar for quick reference.
Regularly search your brand name and top keywords to find mentions and conversations.
Monitor your saved searches daily and respond to mentions, comment on threads and re-share people’s posts.
Even if you have nothing to say, a +1 or a simple “thanks for the mention” or “great post” lets them know that you’re paying attention. Staying top of mind is terribly underrated and these simple gestures will make an impact over time.
Over to You
Following the five steps above will give you and your business a jump-start and a solid foundation to build your overall Google+ strategy upon.
Spending a few minutes a day nurturing your presence will not only boost your Google+ profile, but also increase your business’s overall online presence.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Three Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Tactics to Boost Email Marketing ROI
Three Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Tactics to Boost Email Marketing ROI
Published on October 17, 2012
"It's an old adage," writes Amanda Hinkle in an article at MarketingProfs. "Driving increased sales from your current customers is easier than acquiring new customers."
And yet, it's an old adage many retailers don't heed: In a recent survey, only 37% said they use cross-sell and up-sell programs to boost revenue from existing customers.
If your company belongs to the 63% that don't, here's how to get started:
Take advantage of available data. You already gather an array of information from an array of sources: point-of-sale and transactional systems, Web analytics, email response, and self-reported preferences. Why not put it to profitable use? You could "send an offer for a Blu-ray player to someone who recently bought a TV," explains Hinkle, "or a discount for a spatula to an email subscriber who recently viewed it online while purchasing a new cooking pan."
Deploy the right resources. "You'll likely need to involve data analysts and creative or production staff members, but the right technology can really minimize the level of resources required to set up, trigger, and time cross-sell and up-sell offers," she notes.
Consider when and where to reach out. You can send triggered messages based on customer behavior, or tie offers to a regularly scheduled newsletter. You might also send offers in transactional messages like purchase confirmations or shipping notifications; customers pay close attention to these emails, and cross-sell or up-sell offers are a natural fit.
The Po!nt: Think it over and up. If you're not using your email program to cross-sell and up-sell existing customers, why not try it? You may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
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