Marketing is never a single minded approach. While you may love LinkedIn, others may use Instagram exclusively. Perhaps you are a social media fiend and have accounts on literally every platform imaginable. Does that mean that you purchase a product the first time you see it? Of course not! According to the famous “Rule of Seven”, a person needs to see an ad 7 times before any action is taken. Throwing all your money directly into Facebook ads only will certainly result in failure. Many small businesses fail in this regard, as they believe sending out an email campaign once a month or running one $500 Facebook campaign will be the answer to all their problems. How can we approach our marketing strategy to be efficient without losing our minds on constantly creating content?
Create ANYTHING Content is king in this business. Post updates on anything to keep your prospects engaged. Keep your business on the forefront of their minds by letting them know what is happening with your company, how they can be involved, or simply say hello. Get your team members involved in your social media approach as well. Besides resharing to their own accounts, divide up your time by having each team member post once a week. If you have 15 members on your team, you will still get 3 daily posts, while each person spends minimal time out of their normal work day. Too busy to even do that? Hire a content generation company (such as Mass Marketing Web) to generate content for you. Post on all platforms It would be silly to only post on Facebook Monday, then Twitter Tuesday, LinkedIn Wednesday, Google+ Thursday and Instagram Friday. Post each piece of content on all platforms. You can reach as many people as possible with one piece of content while keeping your hardcore fans engaged. Engage Influencers While everyone desires to be the authority within their respective fields, it takes quite a bit of time and effort to get to this point. Engage with the influencers of your respective fields to get them talking about you. Show the world what makes you special and unique and have that information shared by those that are the kings of that industry. We have strong, customized marketing strategies that go much deeper than this and are based on your industry and needs. Feel free to contact us and we will be happy to put together a strategy that will work for you and can be implemented in house.
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We have all come to know and love the current POTUS Twitter updates, as completely outlandish and generally unprofessional as they are. Granted, he is getting a lot of attention for it, and the media seems to want to show his tweets when they are more ridiculous. In fact, his recent video smack down of CNN aka FNN (Fake News Network) became his most retweeted tweet as of yet. Regardless, this isn’t about Trump and his shenanigans. Is it possible that Trump is revitalizing Twitter? Since his election in November, the amount of monthly active users jumped from Q4 to Q1, while data shows that is has remained mostly stagnant between Q1 ’15 - Q3 ’16. Is it easier to get updated from the White House through @realDonaldTrump than it is through Sean Spicer and WH press briefings? It seems that the media reports more often through Trumps Twitter than recorded audio or speeches, which also provides quicker access for supporters to receive updates than to wait for the media to pick it up. It will be interesting to see where Twitter goes over the next few years. A social media platform that seemed to be on the verge of extinction now seems to have been reinvigorated by the most powerful man in the world. Let’s monitor the Twittersphere and see how MAU’s grow.
In our modern day, the Internet is connecting the world to a plethora of resources. It is easier now than ever to find experts in any field to work with you on an individual project or on a long term basis. Many companies are beginning to utilize outsourcing companies and freelancers in order to lower costs and ensure that the highest quality talent is being provided. Outsourcing your labor saves time and money for companies in quite a few ways.
Your recruitment time is cut down dramatically. You do not have to spend $5,000-$10,000 per acquisition and countless man hours to find the right employee. Your general search for a freelancer for individual projects can take just a few hours. Many companies utilize their outsourced labor for initial projects, then eventually take them on in a larger capacity. This trial period truly saves time and valuable resources that your company can utilize elsewhere. You do not have the overhead costs of an in-house employee. Telephony, insurance, corporate outings, office space, IT and overall seat cost is completely removed. Your outsourced labor will work from another office or from home, saving you, yet again, tens of thousands of dollars per year. Outsourced labor generally just requires a salary, and does not require benefits. Training cost is lowered dramatically. When an individual works as a freelancer, they already have a good knowledge base in the area that they are working in. There are rarely “entry level” freelancers, as they have already been working within their specific field for quite some time. The on-boarding process is shortened dramatically, as the employee only needs to get to know your company and the general tasks that they need to complete. On the job training essentially goes out the window. Freelancers make more money. This might seem counterproductive, but works well for both you and your outsourced employee. Freelancers charge more because they are experts. Additionally, they will generally be more satisfied with the money they are making, reducing your turnover rate. While you may be paying them 75-100% more than an in-house employee, your costs are significantly less than they would be due to the lack of overhead costs. You still end up saving money with generally higher quality talent. What are your thoughts in regards to outsourced labor? Do you feel that this applies to most positions? Have you had personal experience with outsourcing? Email marketing is by far one of the most effective ways to grow your customer base. Although it can be time consuming, the ROI is one of the best when it comes to marketing. While there are always purchased data lists that can be utilized for short term campaigns, these often have low CTR and can get you black listed if you are not careful. Growing an organic email list can be daunting, but the rewards are worth it. Here are a few methods for getting that list to a sizeable amount and converting to new customers in a shorter period of time.
Create a reward system for people to give you referrals. People feel the most comfortable when they are purchasing a product as a referral from a confidant. Everyone has their inner circles which provide proper advice when it comes to life in general, so these are the sources that can allow for an educated purchase and referral. When it comes to your email list, this can be applied quite easily. When someone signs up for your email list, you can allow the option for them to send a link to their friends in order to sign up as well. The key here is incentive. Utilize any type of giveaway for a certain amount of their friends that sign up for your email list as well. If you have a retail product, then include some smaller items for 5 or 10 sign ups, then include more lucrative items with 20-50. For the service industry, include discounts or free consultations based on how many referrals each person provides. Your email list will grow exponentially in a very short time with this method. Utilize social media channels in order to make referrals easy. While sending a link may be annoying for some people, including social media links to share and expand your list is simple. After initial sign ups, it is easy to have a Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ link that allows people to post on your behalf. This can be a fun process for people as well. When others see on social media that there is a possibility for free items or giveaways, then it is easy for them to sign up and share as well. Again, we are looking for a snowball effect. Email your current list. This one seems pretty obvious, but must be stated. Once you start gathering email addresses, email them! Many companies fail in regards to this. It is perfectly acceptable to mail your list 2-4 times a week, as long as you provide content that is relevant and engaging. Many companies resort to emailing once a week, or even only once a month through fear of over engagement or irritating their potential customers. Keep in mind that these people have given you permission to receive emails, which means they want to hear what you have to say. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your audience. If they decide to unsubscribe due to too many emails, then it is possible that they were never a qualified prospect to begin with and had signed up for a multitude of reasons, one of which was not an interest in your company or product. Email your list until every person purchases or unsubscribes. Overall, don’t be afraid to reach out to your potential clients. They made it onto your list for a reason, and your business is generally relevant to them. Make your incentives engaging and enticing, as if you would want to receive them yourself. Keep content heavy and keep them engaged; otherwise, someone else may distract them away from your goals. |
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