Inbound & Digital Marketing Blog

Be Remarkable in 2016

Posted by Clarke Bishop

March 29, 2016

Do you stand out? If you don’t stand out, you blend in. And you do NOT want to blend in.

To succeed in business you need to do something different. You need to be remarkable.

re·mark·a·ble
rəˈmärkəb(ə)l
adjective: remarkable
  1. worthy of attention; striking.
  2. worth making a remark about.

Yes, remarkable means something that’s striking or worth noticing. But, it also means something that’s worth making a remark about—worth talking about.

Very good is bad—it’s still average. Anyone who’s been around for a while is very good. To channel Donald Trump, “Average is for losers.”

Average is for Losers

A few of you are thinking, “Great, I am already remarkable, now what?” Most of you are wondering, “How in the world can I make my company remarkable?” Keep reading, and I’ll answer both questions.

How to be remarkable

Step 1. Who Actually Cares?

No matter what, you can’t be remarkable for everyone. People have different preferences and will respond to different remarkables.

Instead, you have to choose who you want to serve and learn who actually cares. Pull out your Precise Prospect Profile. If you don’t have a prospect profile, make a second resolution to: Create My Precise Prospect Profile in the first quarter of 2016. Need Help? Download the Precise Prospect Profile kit.

Focus on your ideal prospect. They should care passionately about your business. If not, you’ve got a “nice to have” product or service. Work on becoming indispensable.

Before going too far, I’ll go ahead and tell you the bad news. If you want to be remarkable, you’re going to annoy some people. It’s weird, but to have some people love you, you have to accept that some will hate you. Sorry.

It’s not safe or comfortable to be remarkable. It is, however, highly profitable.

Step 2. Deliver a Micro-Remarkable

Here’s a good practice. Do something small that makes a difference. Take an existing customer and create something remarkable.

Choose the customer because they are important to you, have been with you for a long time, or because they represent your ideal customer.

Even better, involve them in the process. Develop some potential remarkables internally. Then, go to the customer, present the remarkables, and ask them to select the best one.

Go further. Ask them to help you expand the potential remarkables list. Deliver on one or all of them if you can. They will eagerly tell their friends.

Delivering micro-remarkables is an excellent practice. Do it on an ongoing basis. You’ll delight your customers and become adept at seeing new remarkables.

Step 3. What Do Customers Hate About Your Company or Industry?

Every industry has accepted practices and ways of doing things. And some customers absolutely hate the way the products or services are delivered.

How many of you feel good about getting an itemized bill from an attorney showing tenths of an hour billed at $400 per hour?

Some of you are thinking, “Yea, I know they hate _____, but it has to be that way because …”  Does it really? Could you do things differently, erase the annoyance, and increase your profits? It takes creativity, but there’s often a way.

Step 4. Edgecrafting

Seth Godin wrote about being remarkable in The Purple Cow. Later on, he coined the phrase, “edgecrafting.”

Remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn't always matter which edge, more that you're at (or beyond) the edge.Seth Godin

You can get an overview of Seth’s ideas by watching his TED video:

Here’s how edgecrafting works. Find the edges of a product, a service, or a problem. Then, explore ways to shift the edge. As Seth points out, push the edge way out to create a competitive advantage.

This work is very specific to each company and market, so it’s hard to provide a great example. To know more, schedule a Remarkability Audit for your company. It’s free, and you’ll get at least one potential remarkable to evaluate.

Edgecrafting Strategy Canvas

Another way to do edgecrafting is to create a strategy canvas positioning diagram. Map the relevant dimensions of a market on a graph like the example below. What happens if you completely eliminate a dimension, or max out a dimension? What if you add something totally new to the mix?

In this example our company (Shown with an Orange Line) is similar to the industry (Blue Line) in dimension 1 and dimension 3. But, our company has reduced dimension 2 and significantly raised dimension 4.

Each dimension is a property of the product or service. Things like price, speed, or quality. Any dimension that matters is fair game.

  • Speed
  • Price
  • Experience
  • Stories
  • Quality or Features
  • Vision
  • Culture
  • Anything different that makes a difference (that matters).

Positioning - Strategy Canvas

 

Step 5. Why Are You in Business?

Look at “why.” Why are you in business? Why do your customers buy your product or service? Why did you start the business? Focus on the emotional reasons that go beyond profits.

At Inbound Team, we’re in business because we can’t stand to see companies struggle due to lack of leads. That's our "why."

Keep it simple. Look at this from a child’s perspective. Imagine that you are explaining what you do to a young child.

What change are you trying to make in your customers? Who do you want your customers to become? What change do you want to make for your customers and for the world?

Be human. Be connected. Be generous. Take a chance. Do something that might not work.

Find an idea where you’re afraid someone will say, “How dare you!” That’s how you’ll know you’re on the right track.

Step 6. Play the Remarkable Game

The remarkable game is great fun and it keeps you in practice. Pay attention as you encounter the world. Notice what works. How could each organization be more remarkable.

Go to a restaurant. What would make your experience more remarkable? What if they knew your name, read your mind, and knew exactly want you wanted to eat? What else could they do that would make your visit remarkable?

What would make your next internal meeting remarkable? How might your company culture be more remarkable?

Step 7. Tell Your Remarkable Story

Once you’re different, make sure to tell the story–get your messages clear and aligned. Does the home page on your website tell the story?

Companies that sell to other businesses often struggle to communicate effectively. A lot of context is required, so the explanation becomes too long and too complex.  

Having a good story is one way to cut through the complexity. Tell a story about one small part of your product or service. It will make prospects curious to hear more.

All stories are invented, and it’s okay to be creative and embellish the details. Human beings love stories and your company is full of stories just waiting to be told. Create your remarkables and find the stories that will help your prospects hear and understand.

You Are Remarkable, But You Aren’t Done Yet

Now you’ve found or invented some great remarkables. Cool, but you aren’t done yet.

Being remarkable is an ongoing practice. Your competitors will steal remarkables where they can (this is also called “progress”). You have to constantly invent new remarkables. Welcome to the 21st century.

Review your remarkables and update your positioning chart regularly—once or twice a year. Keep looking for ways you can change the world.

And keep finding new stories that showcase your remarkables.

Takeaways

  • Be remarkable or invisible—your choice.
  • Being remarkable takes work. It’s some of the hardest work you’ll do in business. Do it anyway!
  • You may have remarkables you are taking for granted. It’s easy to be so close to your company that you can’t see. Get a remarkability audit for help seeing who you really are.
  • Take the challenge and promise to make your company remarkable in 2016.

Remarkability Audit

This is hard. Don’t get stuck. Get a Remarkability Audit, and I’ll help you discover your remarkables.

Get My Remarkability Audit

more

Topics: Small Business Marketing, Inbound Marketing


New Year's Resolution: Be Remarkable in 2016

Posted by Clarke Bishop

December 31, 2015

Will you join me in making a new year's resolution?

I promise to make my company remarkable in 2016.

If not, go cut out your marketing budget. You’ll just be wasting money. Marketing, especially inbound marketing, won’t work well unless you’re remarkable.

re·mark·a·ble
rəˈmärkəb(ə)l
adjective: remarkable
  1. worthy of attention; striking.
  2. worth making a remark about.

Yes, remarkable means something that’s striking or worth noticing. But, it also means something that’s worth making a remark about—worth talking about.

Very good is bad—it’s still average. Anyone who’s been around for a while is very good. To channel Donald Trump, “Average is for losers.”

Average is for Losers

A few of you are thinking, “Great, I am already remarkable, now what?” Most of you are wondering, “How in the world can I make my company remarkable?” Keep reading, and I’ll answer both questions.

How to be remarkable

Step 1. Who Actually Cares?

No matter what, you can’t be remarkable for everyone. People have different preferences and will respond to different remarkables.

Instead, you have to choose who you want to serve and learn who actually cares. Pull out your Precise Prospect Profile. If you don’t have a prospect profile, make a second resolution to: Create My Precise Prospect Profile in the first quarter of 2016. Need Help? Download the Precise Prospect Profile kit.

Focus on your ideal prospect. They should care passionately about your business. If not, you’ve got a “nice to have” product or service. Work on becoming indispensable.

Before going too far, I’ll go ahead and tell you the bad news. If you want to be remarkable, you’re going to annoy some people. It’s weird, but to have some people love you, you have to accept that some will hate you. Sorry.

It’s not safe or comfortable to be remarkable. It is, however, highly profitable.

Step 2. Deliver a Micro-Remarkable

Here’s a good practice. Do something small that makes a difference. Take an existing customer and create something remarkable.

Choose the customer because they are important to you, have been with you for a long time, or because they represent your ideal customer.

Even better, involve them in the process. Develop some potential remarkables internally. Then, go to the customer, present the remarkables, and ask them to select the best one.

Go further. Ask them to help you expand the potential remarkables list. Deliver on one or all of them if you can. They will eagerly tell their friends.

Delivering micro-remarkables is an excellent practice. Do it on an ongoing basis. You’ll delight your customers and become adept at seeing new remarkables.

Step 3. What Do Customers Hate About Your Company or Industry?

Every industry has accepted practices and ways of doing things. And some customers absolutely hate the way the products or services are delivered.

How many of you feel good about getting an itemized bill from an attorney showing tenths of an hour billed at $400 per hour?

Some of you are thinking, “Yea, I know they hate _____, but it has to be that way because …”  Does it really? Could you do things differently, erase the annoyance, and increase your profits? It takes creativity, but there’s often a way.

Step 4. Edgecrafting

Seth Godin wrote about being remarkable in The Purple Cow. Later on, he coined the phrase, “edgecrafting.”

Remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn't always matter which edge, more that you're at (or beyond) the edge.Seth Godin

You can get an overview of Seth’s ideas by watching his TED video:

Here’s how edgecrafting works. Find the edges of a product, a service, or a problem. Then, explore ways to shift the edge. As Seth points out, push the edge way out to create a competitive advantage.

This work is very specific to each company and market, so it’s hard to provide a great example. To know more, schedule a Remarkability Audit for your company. It’s free, and you’ll get at least one potential remarkable to evaluate.

Edgecrafting Strategy Canvas

Another way to do edgecrafting is to create a strategy canvas positioning diagram. Map the relevant dimensions of a market on a graph like the example below. What happens if you completely eliminate a dimension, or max out a dimension? What if you add something totally new to the mix?

In this example our company (Shown with an Orange Line) is similar to the industry (Blue Line) in dimension 1 and dimension 3. But, our company has reduced dimension 2 and significantly raised dimension 4.

Each dimension is a property of the product or service. Things like price, speed, or quality. Any dimension that matters is fair game.

  • Speed
  • Price
  • Experience
  • Stories
  • Quality or Features
  • Vision
  • Culture
  • Anything different that makes a difference (that matters).

Positioning - Strategy Canvas

 

Step 5. Why Are You in Business?

Look at “why.” Why are you in business? Why do your customers buy your product or service? Why did you start the business? Focus on the emotional reasons that go beyond profits.

At Inbound Team, we’re in business because we can’t stand to see companies struggle due to lack of leads. That's our "why."

Keep it simple. Look at this from a child’s perspective. Imagine that you are explaining what you do to a young child.

What change are you trying to make in your customers? Who do you want your customers to become? What change do you want to make for your customers and for the world?

Be human. Be connected. Be generous. Take a chance. Do something that might not work.

Find an idea where you’re afraid someone will say, “How dare you!” That’s how you’ll know you’re on the right track.

Step 6. Play the Remarkable Game

The remarkable game is great fun and it keeps you in practice. Pay attention as you encounter the world. Notice what works. How could each organization be more remarkable.

Go to a restaurant. What would make your experience more remarkable? What if they knew your name, read your mind, and knew exactly want you wanted to eat? What else could they do that would make your visit remarkable?

What would make your next internal meeting remarkable? How might your company culture be more remarkable?

Step 7. Tell Your Remarkable Story

Once you’re different, make sure to tell the story–get your messages clear and aligned. Does the home page on your website tell the story?

Companies that sell to other businesses often struggle to communicate effectively. A lot of context is required, so the explanation becomes too long and too complex.  

Having a good story is one way to cut through the complexity. Tell a story about one small part of your product or service. It will make prospects curious to hear more.

All stories are invented, and it’s okay to be creative and embellish the details. Human beings love stories and your company is full of stories just waiting to be told. Create your remarkables and find the stories that will help your prospects hear and understand.

You Are Remarkable, But You Aren’t Done Yet

Now you’ve found or invented some great remarkables. Cool, but you aren’t done yet.

Being remarkable is an ongoing practice. Your competitors will steal remarkables where they can (this is also called “progress”). You have to constantly invent new remarkables. Welcome to the 21st century.

Review your remarkables and update your positioning chart regularly—once or twice a year. Keep looking for ways you can change the world.

And keep finding new stories that showcase your remarkables.

Takeaways

  • Be remarkable or invisible—your choice.
  • Being remarkable takes work. It’s some of the hardest work you’ll do in business. Do it anyway!
  • You may have remarkables you are taking for granted. It’s easy to be so close to your company that you can’t see. Get a remarkability audit for help seeing who you really are.
  • Take the challenge and promise to make your company remarkable in 2016.

Remarkability Audit

This is hard. Don’t get stuck. Get a Remarkability Audit, and I’ll help you discover your remarkables.

Get My Remarkability Audit

more

Topics: Small Business Marketing, Inbound Marketing


Top Secret for Boosting Your Sales in 2016

Posted by Kami Valdez

December 8, 2015

Most business owners have an ideal customer in mind. But far too many of them only scratch the surface when it comes to describing that person.

They create buyer personas, but they are poorly developed. It is not uncommon for this to be little more than a writing exercise.

This persona gives a general idea of who their ideal customer is, but is far too generic to be of any real use.

Buyer_Persona_Precise_Prospect_Profile.jpg

We work with many small businesses, and most of them know their prospects only at a surface level.

The key is to have very precise targeting and really know your prospects. Knowing your prospects makes finding them and building rapport much easier and faster.

You need a Precise Prospect Profile.

A Precise Prospect Profile describes your ideal prospect completely and clearly—the center of the bullseye. Having the bullseye gives you a target—a place to aim your marketing. It exists to make your marketing effective and have your prospects hear you.

Your Precise Prospect Profile gives you a competitive advantage. Because you know your prospects better than your competitors, you can acquire new customers more efficiently.

You must know your prospects. Start by thinking about the best customers you already have. What are they like?

Consider things like:

  • What characteristics do they share?
    • Are they around the same age
    • Do they have life situations in common like young kids
  • How do they talk about their pains and problems?
  • What questions do they ask?
  • What words do they use? The words matter.
  • What triggers them to buy?
  • Where do they hang out?
  • What else do they care about?

Now you're on your way to developing a Precise Prospect Profile for your ideal customers, but you're not there yet. There are a few more steps. No worries! We'll help walk you through it.

Click Free Download now and we’ll immediately send you our Precise Prospect Profile Kit. It’s everything you need to fully develop your buyer personas, get more leads, and boost your sales.

Precise Prospect Profile Kit

At Inbound Team, we love helping small businesses use digital marketing to grow. If you need help with your Precise Prospect Profile or just want ideas to grow your company, click to get a free Lead Boost Review.

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Topics: Lead Generation, Small Business Marketing, Content Marketing


How To Get Prospects To Listen To Your Marketing

Posted by Kami Valdez

February 18, 2015

shutterstock_158199479

Do you know your clients? Really know your clients? Do you understand what puts them over the moon and what keeps them up at night? Are you listening? Or are you so busy talking about you, that you know nothing about them?

Here’s the truth. No one cares about you. People are only interested in themselves. The only way to get someone to pay attention to you is if you are talking about what interests them!

Knowing your audience is essential for inbound marketing success. Every individual prospect will be different, but there are things they have in common, and you can use these commonalities to create marketing personas that will make your prospects think you are talking directly to them, about them.

Marketing personas should represent your best clients. They give guidance for molding your future products or services. They help with the decision making process of your marketing strategies. They direct your sales and marketing teams in knowing what to say.

Here's a simple three-step guide to help you create a marketing persona:

  1. Identify your ideal client(s). You need to gather the basic facts about them like: What's the size of their company? What industry are they in? Are they a new startup or an established business? Where are they located? Questions like these will help you define who they are.
  2. Know what they like. Identify the things that they actually buy and use or how they spend their money. Based on these facts, you will know what and if they are willing to pay for your products or services.
  3. Find out their drivers. What desired result are they seeking? What problems do they need to have solved? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you understand the wants and needs of your ideal clients so you can speak their language.

These are just a few basic things to remember when creating your marketing personas. Spend some time getting to know your ideal clients better, and you will discover your best prospects will hang on your every word.

If you need some help creating the perfect marketing persona for your business, download our Precise Prospect Profile Worksheet. Or you can always give us a call.

Precise Prospect Profile Kit

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Topics: Lead Generation, Small Business Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing


Tracking Total Number of Orders with HubSync3

Posted by Clarke Bishop

March 19, 2013

Some of you want to track the total number of orders received from each customer. That way you can send special messages or special offers to your best customers.

Order Totals Workflow

  1. Log into HubSpot and go to Contacts -> Workflows.

  2. Click the Create new workflow button, and name the workflow "Completed Purchase HubSync3," or whatever you'd like.

  3. Setup the information to look like the example below.

    The workflow should trigger whenever the form named Completed Purchase (HubSync 3) is submitted.

    When this happens, the total number of orders gets increased by 1.

    You can add more workflow steps if you want. Remember you can only use each form once. hubsync-total-orders
  4. Be sure to click the Save workflow button in the lower right. Also click the button to make the workflow live in the upper right.

  5. VERY IMPORTANT: In the side navigation, click Edit workflow.
    Then, in the next screen, make sure Any time one of the Starting Conditions occurs is selected. Finally, click Save.

    If you forget to do this step, it will only increment the orders once for each contact.

    hubsync3-workflow-sidebar
    hubsync3-workflow-settings

That's it! Now the Total Orders will increment with each new order.

I hope you like the changes. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!

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Topics: Lead Generation, Small Business Marketing, Marketing Automation


Cold Calling Versus Inbound Marketing - Are You a Loser?

Posted by Clarke Bishop

March 15, 2013

Telephone selling is still very important. Still, calling a totally cold, unqualified list is harder and less effective than ever. 

Enjoy the video ...

Please leave a comment on how you are using Inbound Marketing to create warmer leads for your outbound salespeople.

 

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Topics: Lead Generation, Small Business Marketing, Sales & CRM


The Most Common Mistakes that Lead to Entrepreneurial Failure

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

December 16, 2012

inbound_marketing_and_entrepreneurs-resized-600There are many factors that lead to the success of a business, such as social changes, financial status, availability of resources and so forth. But the most crucial thing that can affect your business is your personal perspective and attitude towards work.

Bad habits and bad practices will ultimately contribute to a business’ fallout. Running a business is never that easy - it certainly takes a great amount of determination, intense hard work, a lot of time and of course, a persistent attitude. But sometimes, even having all these traits won’t be enough (and bad luck doesn’t have anything to do with that). Nellie Akalp wrote about the common mistakes entrepreneurs do that that affect their business. Here’s a snapshot of some reasons...


1. They Don’t Have a Passion for Running a Business

Passion is usually not in short supply with entrepreneurs; however, this doesn’t mean that all entrepreneurs have a passion for what’s needed. Many times, people have tremendous passion for their product, service or technology but this doesn’t necessarily translate into a passion for managing a company.

2. They Need to Please

Kindness is a wonderful trait and one that we need more in business today. However, a relentless need to please can be detrimental to an entrepreneur. People with this tendency often overextend themselves in the workplace and bend over backwards for others. In short, it’s hard to achieve your own goals when you’re constantly focused on trying to make everyone else in the room happy.

3. They Can’t Work Without a Playbook

When you run your own business, you call the shots.  You’ll need to be confident making decisions on the fly and setting your own course without any instructions. If these aren’t your strengths right now, you’ll need to learn them pretty fast.

4. They Fear Failure

If you’re scared of failing, you’re probably playing it too safe as an entrepreneur. Fear of failure is one of the strongest forces holding people back from their potential. If you fall into this category, you’ve learned that it’s easier to slide along with the status quo than to take that important first step.

5. They’re Overloaded With Busywork

With all of today’s digital distractions, it’s easier than ever to lose control of one’s schedule and goals. Savvy entrepreneurs know how to stay focused on their priorities in the face of these distractions. They understand how to manage and lead their time, rather than simply react to issues and requests as they come in.

To learn what not to do, I encourage you to read the full article, 7 Reasons Some Entrepreneurs Don't Meet Their Potential.

Your business’ success depends on how you, as an entrepreneur, perceive it. There’s an old adage that says, “Love your job so you don’t have to work for the rest of your life”. If you have enough belief and passion for what you do, success can come your way. Be unrelenting in your efforts concerning your business, in order to rise to the occasion.

What about you? Do you have some of these traits too? What did you do about it? Leave a comment and share it to us!

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Topics: Small Business Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation


Facebook Marketing Tips to Get You Results

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

December 14, 2012

facebook-logo-resized-600

With social media setting the trend for online marketers, you’ll want to make sure you’re part of the game – and not just sitting on the sidelines watching it happen!

Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Pinterest are among the dominate social communities to be participating in, and are great forums for interaction to promote brand awareness and loyalty. Social media sites can also help boost your business’ online presence and search engine ranking to help position your company as a more reliable and customer-focused brand in your industry.

Navigating the choppy waters of online marketing isn’t easy, but following the tried and true success principles that have worked for other businesses will help you be more successful in yours

Facebook has proven to be one of the most active and engaging communities, and – like all social communities – has “rules” to play by. In order for you to achieve a successful social media experience using Facebook, remember these helpful tips:

1. Fill Out Your Business Page Completely

It’s important to complete all the fields for data about your company. Your clients and potential clients will be looking for information such as address, phone numbers, business hours, product information, photos and etc. Make your company details easy to fine, so they don’t have to go looking for it.

2. Don’t Over Post

Post on a regular basis, and post often but be sure not to not overwhelm your followers with too many uninteresting posts. For some companies, this may be once or twice a day. For others, you may have lots of interactions, information, events and activities to post about. If this is the case, you may need to post 10 – 15 times a day.

3. Never Post Boring or Immaterial Content

Just as though you wouldn’t want to read boring or uninteresting content, neither do your followers. Don’t post just for the sake of posting – offer relevant information that educates, empowers and informs. Variety is the spice of life but make sure what you post still reflects what your brand stands for.

4. Make Use Of Facebook Insights

Data and statistics can be very useful when you take time to evaluate and study them. Facebook Insights offers this kind of information for you to analyze how your business page is doing.  Use this information to understand your audience, and to give you analytics that help you better understand your audience and their activity.

5. Take Advantage of Facebook’s Ad Options

Facebook Ads might be a powerful asset to your marketing, but as with any other kind of advertising, planning and testing will be your best allies. These ads will be quite targeted because of the data Facebook collects from us, and can be helpful in your exposure. Before getting started, set a budget that allows you to test various titles, messages, pictures and offers before getting caught up and spending too much.

With over 1 BILLION users, Facebook can certainly be a strong venue to provide education, attract prospects and connect with your clients. There are many more resources available to you inside Facebook, so invest time in this social community to find tools and aplications that work well for your business.

Did I miss anything? What other things would you add to achieve a successful social media marketing campaign through Facebook? Don’t be a stranger, hit us up with your comments or suggestions!

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Topics: Small Business Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Social Media


Marketing Lessons Learned from the World Series

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

November 20, 2012

Marketing is also like any game - you plan the best strategies, execute them the best way you can and keep your goal focused on success. For you to win in any game, you should know your opponents and learn their strengths and weaknesses - as much as you know your own capabilities and liabilities. It’s the same way with marketing. 

inbound_marketing_and_marketing_tips-resized-600

Scott Batchelor, a manager of field marketing at SAS, came up with an interesting analogy comparing marketing with the World Series. He believes that when you test, measure and adjust your marketing campaigns to respond to a constantly changing environment, you can confidently make the changes needed to increase effectiveness. Scott devised three marketing tips inspired by the fall classic.

  1. Build a heat map of your marketing campaigns to analyze where you're hot and where you're not. Focus on the hot! A marketing heat map can help analyze the success of campaign ingredients. Start by listing all the different activities in your marketing lineup, and then establish the criteria for three categories: hot, warm, and cold. Building these criteria, (this can change from industry to industry and category to category), will give you the opportunity to tailor your definition of success.
  2. Don't be predictable. Mix up your campaigns to stay fresh and interesting.  Think of your audience as you construct a marketing campaign. Build toward the end goal—a registration, a click through or a personal contact. Instead of starting from scratch each time you plan something, use one campaign to build on the next. If you zig when they think you'll zag, you'll gain their attention - and you'll be more effective.
  3. Use historical campaign data along with your gut instinct to make decisions. You'll have a lot less indigestion when you use data to back your gut. Marketers tend to create campaigns that are inspired by other campaigns. But determining how effective those new campaigns will be is sometimes akin to throwing darts at a dartboard. We just don't know what the click-through rate, conversion percentage, or registration numbers will be. Sometimes we have to go with our gut because we feel it's the right thing to do.


You can learn more about these tips from his article, “Three Valuable Lessons Marketers Can Learn from the World Series”

Use these tips to make your marketing campaigns better for your company. As with this article, it’s a good idea to take ideas from all different areas of “real life”. The savvy entrepreneur will look at various elements of society, entertainment and other events in their world – and see how they could apply to their business.

When you test, measure and adjust your marketing campaigns to respond to a constantly changing environment, you can confidently make the changes needed to increase effectiveness.

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Topics: Small Business Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation


A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Sites for Your Business

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

November 12, 2012

original-resized-600

With your customers and prospects actively participating in social communities, social media is no doubt one of the best ways to share, educate and promote your business. Social media communities give you an interactive platform to allow your customers to share experiences, and provide you feedback, while allowing you the opportunity to educate, interact and connect with your audience.

Why social media?

Social media gives your business and audience a ground for discussion and forums. One of the benefits of using social media for your business is you can engage with your audience and know what your potential customers and clients like and don’t like about any aspect of your business. Understanding their behaviors and concerns, while being open to their suggestions, is always a great advantage for your company over your competitors. After all, we all know that satisfied customers will spread the word about your business and the experience they had, which will bring in new business from referrals.

Social media encourages brand awareness. Social media communities can also help develop loyalty and establish a secure and stronger relationship between you and your customers or clients. It gives you the opportunity to communicate your brand message and be a resource, establishing your presence as a brand that is reliable, honest and helpful for the community.

What is the best social media site for your business?

Here are the most important and influential social media sites to engage in for your business.

Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site which has now reached over one Billion users. Facebook users create personal profiles, allowing them to connect with friends, family and acquaintances, and to join common-interest groups ---making it easier for you to identify potential customers and clients. Through Facebook pages, you can encourage users to “Like” your page and receive your updates into their news feed while the interaction helps spread the word about your business. Facebook groups allow you to build a network of public or private members where you can share interactions with your members in a forum-like environment.

Twitter offers “micro blogging” that enables users to send and receive short messages up to 140 characters, known as tweets. Twitter has become one of the top 10 most visited websites on the internet and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet”. Twitter allows you to insert links and images that will aid you in communicating your message to your Twitter followers Twitter also offers tools that can help you track traffic and your followers  to help you better understand your followers. This way,  you can make adjustments to your messages and change what isn’t working to different messages that generate a better response.

LinkedIn is the largest social networking site for professionals with over 175 million members. LinkedIn allows you to develop, and interact with a network of people with whom they have some level of relationship. Users build their profiles to showcase work experiences, and demonstrate their levels of ability in ways a resume never will! Recommendations are one of the unique features of LinkedIn that you can take advantage of as a marketer. What better way to promote your business than to be recommended?

Pinterest is a social photo sharing site that allows users to create and manage photos based on themes like events, interests and hobbies. You can feature your business name on your profile, and create links to your “pins” that will direct potential customers and clients to your website. Use great quality and relevant photos in order to catch your audience’s attention.

These are just some of the social media sites you can participate in to help grow your business. Before getting started, you should first do some research in order to familiarize yourself with the community, the rules and features and tools before jumping in.

Photo Credit: stock.xchng

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Topics: Lead Generation, Small Business Marketing, Social Media