Source: B2C
Monday, 31 October 2016
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Thursday, 27 October 2016
86 Percent of Businesses Plan to Hire Part-Timers on Full Time After the Holiday
Source: small business
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
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Sunday, 23 October 2016
Saturday, 22 October 2016
Friday, 21 October 2016
New Airline Baggage Regulations Highlight Importance of Customer Experience (Watch)
Source: small business
Thursday, 20 October 2016
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Monday, 17 October 2016
Calls to Action: Best Practices for Effective CTAs
Call to Action Definition
A call to action (CTA), in terms of marketing, is a command to take a certain course of action through action verbs such as “download now” or sign up now”. Many business owners and marketers are familiar with this call to action definition, but do you know how to create an effective CTA?
Choosing the Right Type of CTA
When creating an effective CTA, you will first want to select the correct type. Consider your goal and the action your website visitor will be taking. Think about the negative space that this CTA will be placed on and then review the types of CTAs below to choose the correct one for you.
Add to cart Buttons
This type of CTA applies to ecommerce sites and usually is found on individual product pages. This button is used to entice customer to purchase the product. Color, design and language should be chosen carefully.
Download Buttons
A download button can be applied to many different purposes on one’s website. This is commonly used to get a visitor to download an eBook or coupon. Make sure that it is clear what the visitor is downloading as some people can be weary of downloading unknown files on their computer.
Start Trial Buttons
Starting a trial is a great way to introduce your potential customer to your product at no risk. This button is typically used on a CTA that explains the benefits of the product and trial.
Learn more Buttons
Learn more buttons are usually placed at the bottom of a teaser. Generally, these buttons are simple but large to lure the user to learn more about the product or service.
Sign up Buttons
Sign up are normally used at a bottom of a form or used to sign up for a service and directs to a form.
Designing a CTA: Size and Color
The ultimate goal of your CTA is to grab attention and direct a user to an action. Design is one of the most important considerations when creating an effective call to action and will need to be planned with careful consideration.
First, you will need to choose the size of your button. You want a button that is balanced with content but still stands out. Make sure that your button is not loo large and overpowering, but also not too small and gets lost in the content. A rule of thumb is to look at your current buttons on the page and increase the size of your CTA by about a third. This will create a proportional button that is not overwhelming.
Next, choose a color that is eye-catching and also cohesive with your brand. Common CTA button colors are green and red and these colors tend to convert better than other colors. Hubspot found in a study, that 21% more people clicked on the red button than the green button. Choose your button color’s carefully as it can significantly affect your conversion rate.
How to Write a Call to Action
Language is extremely powerful and the right call to action phrase can have a huge impact on your conversion rate. Consider “For more information, read our next blog post” or “Click here to learn more.”
Using passive language won’t get you anywhere, so punch up your language to tell the visitor what you want. Your CTA must clearly portray the exact action desired. It is extremely important to use action verbs, bold the statement and keep the phrase short.
Creating urgency is also important when creating your CTA. Make the impression that they must act now and encourage one to make the decision on the spot. Ideally, you want to make the user click immediately without much forethought. Offering an incentive like money saving coupons that expire soon can create this urgency.
Here’s some call to action examples, that you can use:
Download Now!
Sign Up Now!
Buy Now!
When Implementing Your CTA Use Negative Space
Negative space is your friend when placing a call to action button on a page that stands out from the rest of your content. Try to incorporate blank space around the CTA if it is within your content or in a side bar. While you want to take advantage of this negative space make sure that everything is proportionate in order to make sure everything looks cohesive.
Stream’s Kick-Start Step:
- Use red to increase your conversion rate
- Use action verbs that clearly explain the action desired and create urgency
- Place CTA above the fold and take advantage of negative space
Once you have tackled your CTAs, the next step is to create a killer landing page. Build compelling landing pages that engage prospects and drive leads! Download the FREE eBook: Creating Killer Landing Pages below to learn how.
The best way to optimize your conversion is taking the extra time to plan and consider the above CTA best practices. Your CTAs can be a great way to convert your website visitors into leads and with the tips above you are well on your way to creating effective call to actions.
Source: B2C
10 Tools Efficient Sales Teams Use (Free & Almost Free)
The sales world has made great leaps in the last decade when it comes to technology. You can’t win with just a phone line and a notepad anymore. These days, it’s all about efficiency. Trusting other departments are doing their share, the sales team has to blaze through leads while keeping conversations intelligent and relevant. To accomplish this, having the right tools is crucial.
Knowledge Tree
Organizations lose about $2.3 million due to unused and underused marketing content. Sales enablement is definitely an area of sales that needs to be given attention to, especially by sales teams who don’t only desire to perform at their best but want to help their company stay efficient. The inefficiency of unused content is one that hurts the bottom line, and it is also an issue that can be solved by using the right solutions.
Knowledge Tree is a sales enablement solution that provides document management that helps sales reps get easy access to content they need throughout the sales process. Their solution aggregates rich data on content performance which in turn helps content creators prioritize building pieces that are helpful to both reps and prospects.
Cost: Free for Studio (basic). Higher-tier plan prices on request.
Clearbit Connect
Selling with context is critical to sales success. Consultative selling is what works now that customers have the tools to empower themselves and they more informed now more than ever. This brings sales teams to a new paradigm of selling, far removed from the annoying salesman approach of decades ago. Sales reps need to ask what they can give prospects instead of asking what their prospects can give them.
To accomplish this, each conversation must be intentional. To avoid shooting in the dark, sales reps need to do prospect research.
Clearbit Connect helps sales teams do just that. This Chrome extension gives you a sidebar widget inside your email window that gives details about the prospect. These details include the person’s name, photo, title, location, URL, social media accounts, company name, and other details not only about the prospect but about the company they represent. Clearbit Connect gives reps the foundation required in digging up a prospect’s pain points and challenges.
Cost: Free
Google Alerts
In line with selling with context, keeping abreast on the latest about your leads and prospects is the best way to not only smoothen conversations but position yourself as someone trustworthy and truly interested to help.
Setting up Google alerts for the company and the prospect you’re selling to so you receive notifications each time a new webpage mentioning them is indexed by the search engine.
These pages might contain new updates on their company, important changes, and other information that help give you a reason to do a meaningful follow-up as opposed to the generic “just touching base”.
Cost: Free
Join.Me
With today’s sales climate, 95% of conversations between reps and clients happen over the phone and the internet. Having a reliable phone system is one thing–but when holding demos and pitches, sales teams must have a dependable tool to prevent inconsistencies.
A big roadblock in these types of situations is having to ask the person on the other end of the line to download a piece of software before a pitch or demo starts. Join.me is a solution that doesn’t require a download. The speed and simplicity of join.me are what many sales teams enjoy. The screensharing capability of this simple tool is often enough for many inside sales teams, especially those working in SaaS who only have to show how their product works.
Of course, if there’s a need for video conferencing, there’s always Skype and Google Hangouts.
Cost: Free account for up to 10 participants, with unlimited screen sharing and calling. Pro and Business accounts are $20 and $25, respectively.
Tenfold
Reps are 100 times more likely to connect with a lead if they call within 5 minutes compared to 30 minutes. Let that sink in. You are making 100 times more business connections when your reps call within 5 minutes than when you let leads sit and marinate. When you call a lead right away, you hit them at the peak of their interest in your product.
For that reason, auto dialers have been a mainstay in many teams’ sales tool stacks. Tenfold has a dialer functionality that includes a pop-up which provides reps the combined benefit of fast connection and contextual selling. The pop-up includes information on prior conversations, auto-populates fields like social media accounts, and gives you a note-taking feature that allows you to provide context for the next calls.
Cost: Free trial, Pro is $500/mo for 20 users, Teams is $1000/mo for 20 users.
Calendly
Scheduling calls and meeting with prospects and clients could be very frustrating. When you face roadblock after roadblock finding a common time, it’s just productivity and resources down the drain. Of course, the situation is understandable–everyone is busy and it’s tough to match schedules.
There are a lot of scheduling tools out there, but Calendly is one of simplest and easiest to use. Simply add a Calendly link to the emails you send and when the recipient clicks that link, they are directed to a page that shows your available times. This tool helps speed up the sales process, avoiding any kind of doubt settling in before you get to schedule a phone conversation with a prospect.
Cost: Free for basic accounts, $8/user/month for the Premium tier when billed annually.
EDGAR
Researching prospects before the actual call and even throughout the sales process gives reps an edge over the conversation. Not that it’s a competition, but the more you know about the prospect, the better you can communicate with them based on their context and their challenges.
A little-known way to research prospects is by digging through public records readily available on the SEC website. The SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval database provides free access to corporate information. All of it open to the public. You will have access to a company’s record of activities, registration statement, and even financial reports.
Cost: Free
Charlie
Getting information on your prospect or someone you have an appointment with is something executives have the luxury of. They have assistants who collect everything about the person they’re meeting with, and this gives them enough information to have a great conversation and accomplish their goal.
For salespeople, this is not a reality, unless you are a bigshot.
But don’t worry. Charlie is the assistant we all need. This email-based app sends a meeting briefer on the day of your appointment. It aggregates links to social profiles, all recent news on the prospect, shared interests and hobbies, mutual connections, and their latest posts on social media.
Charlie helps reps build rapport with prospects without having to spend a lot of time googling. This is helpful for reps who make tons of calls per day–those who don’t have the time to do deep research on each prospect.
Here’s how Charlie CEO Jorge Sotto describes the app:
“Charlie (charlieapp.com) is the assistant for the rest of us. Before any meeting in your calendar, Charlie compiles one-pagers on the people you meet with so you can walk in prepared to close the deal. Executives and sales people from companies like Salesforce, Box.com, Hubspot, Hootsuite, and more use Charlie every day to save time and make a killer impression on the people they meet with.”
Cost: Free
Bananatag
The more information you have access to, the more empowered you are. Bananatag is an email tracking app that gives you data about your emails that enable you to write better and adjust according to your performance.
Tracking and viewing the analytics of all the emails you send is very easy through Bananatag. You won’t stay in the dark about what happens to your messages after you hit send. Reps can now adjust their tactics based on how prospects respond to their emails. Was the email opened? Opened but not responded to? Bananatag gives you all that information.
Cost: Free for basic, $10 and $20 for Pro and Teams, respectively. Enterprise-level pricing is available upon request.
DocuSign
Those in sales know that it’s very important to get contracts signed and sent fast. DocuSign is an app that makes it easier for prospects to go over contracts, review, and approve them–no matter where they are. For the sales rep, DocuSign gives you access to information like when they opened the contract and when they sign.
DocuSign is all online and keeps their operations secure, giving confidence to both prospect and sales rep that the contract will not only remain confidential, it will also hold water anywhere. It’s all legally binding.
It allows reps to sell smarter and faster; definitely boosting efficiency even toward the closing stage.
Cost: Free trial; $10, $25, and $40 for Personal, Standard and Business Pro, respectively.
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Sales has clearly evolved in recent years. If your team is not updated, you will be left in the dust. These tools help your team work with both speed and quality while keeping all resources in one place.
Source: B2C
Public Speaking & Presenting: Today’s Worst Habit and How to Fix It
When it comes to public speaking and presenting every speaker is concerned about bad habits.
In fact, if you will be attending some form of business presentation this week the one thing you can be certain to see despite the presenters best efforts is a bad habit.
It could be the speaker turning her back to their audience whist reading every word sitting alongside a long list of bullet points. Perhaps it may be the presenter nervously tapping a pen in his hands or clutching and fiddling with his notes. Or it could even be one of those presenters who sways or points to some text on their slide which is so small they say ‘you probably won’t be able to read this so I’ll read it for you.’
Whether it’s the monotone voice, the hands in the pockets or the hair pulling, everything pales into insignificance compared to the most current culprit terrorizing meeting rooms all over the world.
It is the excruciatingly frustrating habit of ending a sentence as though it were a question. You’ll know it when you hear it because every statement sounds like it’s a question when its not a question at all it’s a statement.
The speaker’s intonation rises upwards at the end of each sentence as if they are definitely asking you a question. They aren’t asking you a question at all but you still have to think about it because it really sounds as though they are unsure of what they have just said.
Most speakers can be forgiven for it when it happens once or twice during a speech or presentation but when it continues for 20 minutes it can be painful to listen to.
Many people think its a habit reserved exclusively for the millennial generation and whilst it is prevalent among that group it certainly isn’t isolated to them.
It has become so common place that it’s even been given its own name, it’s called ‘Uptalk’.
Some say it originated in Australia while others insist it came from California and other parts of the world.
Wherever it started it has become a global epidemic in the world or presenting and public speaking.
Unlike the age old common cold however for which a cure still hasn’t been found this phenomenon can be stopped. The common cold of course is something most of us recover fairly quickly from without treatment but ‘Uptalk’ doesn’t leave you until you leave it.
The cost
Those people who repeatedly raise their pitch at the end of a sentence or statement when they are not asking a question are often perceived as uncertain, hesitant and lacking in confidence. Not to mention the fact that they can be annoying to listen to.
Given the fact that it is not a speech impediment we are born with and it is a learned habit it can be unlearned. Taking the time and having the courage to try out the following suggestions will go a long way to helping you to stop ‘Uptalking’.
Trust a friend
Enlist a member of your family, a trusted colleague or a good friend to tell you every time you end a sentence as though it were a question. Get them to not only tell you what you said but ask them to repeat exactly how you said it.
Once you are clear on the statement in question practice repeating it back to them several times without the raised pitch at the end. Keep doing it until they tell you that you have said it without the uplift at the end.
Record yourself
The next time you present at work ask a trusted colleague to record your presentation on their mobile phone and send it to you.
Listen to the recording carefully, openly and objectively. Notice exactly where you are ‘Uptalking’ and how often you do it. Write down all of the statements affected and practice repeating each of these out loud mindfully without the elevated intonation.
Pause and breathe
Create a new habit of pausing momentarily and breathing between each sentence. Spend a little time exaggerating those pauses as an exercise with a friend or colleague and reflect on what you just said for a moment before moving on.
Write them down
Identify some of the common statements you end with ‘Uptalk’ and write them down. Spend few minutes each day reading those statements out loud controlling your intonation.
Take the fine
Please don’t underestimate the cost of this bad habit as it could be costing you your career or even friendships without you knowing. If you really want to break the habit and perhaps even have some fun in the process set up your own penalty system.
All you need to do is agree a small monetary amount which you will allow and encourage everyone you know to impose on you each time you ‘Uptalk’.
At the end of each month see how much you raise and give the money to charity or a good cause.
Image: Courtesy of dreamstime.com
Source: B2C
Keys to Great Content Marketing
You’ve probably figured out from your dismal analytics by now that content marketing requires a lot more than the occasional blog post to get results.
Sure you can go viral with the right blog post, but are you create viral content every time you publish? That’s highly unlikely.
Even if your content doesn’t go viral every time, you need to publish every piece as if it would. That means being at the top of your game each time you create content and having a clear strategy for what you want to achieve.
Here are a few things you can do to ensure you have a great content marketing strategy – not just one that meets the basics:
Create Customer Personas
Who are you writing for?
Your customer, right? But which customer?
Audience research gives you an overall understanding of the customers you are trying to target, but when you are writing content, you need to think about individuals and not your entire demo.
You need to create customer personas to target when writing your content. These personas should be as detailed as possible so that you know the wants, needs and problems of these imaginary customers. You can then make your content as detailed as possible in return, which will create a stronger connection with readers.
Build on Your Brand
Now how well do you know your brand?
Every piece of writing you create will have a “voice,” and it should reflect your own brand persona. If you haven’t defined your brand persona well enough, you won’t have a strong voice.
Every blog post, every social media update, and every email you send should have that voice and should build on your overall branding strategy. Your content should reflect your company’s values, your mission, and your personality. People should have a sense of who wrote the content without even seeing your byline.
That consistency in branding will build customer trust and loyalty over time so that any content you publish will have more impact.
Create a Schedule
Knowing when you will publish will help you plan your posts better.
You won’t look at your blog, think “I haven’t published in a month so I should get something up,” and then scramble to write whatever comes to mind by the end of the day.
Instead, you can create space for short- and long-term posts. You’ll be able to cover news and trending topics, and then you’ll be able to spend time working on more in-depth research or longer content.
You won’t be spending precious mental energy on when to create; you can better plan your time and be a more effective writer instead.
Revisit Your Strategy Regularly
The best content marketing teams meet weekly to discuss their publication strategy and to make tweaks as necessary.
That might mean modifying the publication schedule, or it might mean discussing different topics to cover.
Your team should review what types of content have been working well, including length, topic, format and so on. You should also review what days and times have proven best for publication, what headline strategies get the most clicks, what photos or videos attract the most attention, and so on.
Having these meetings also means maintaining some flexibility. If you become too committed to your strategy, you won’t be able to make the needed changes when your analytics show that it isn’t getting the results you want.
Publish Across Channels
Something you publish on your blog might not perform as well as the same content published on Facebook. Or vice versa.
The success of your content has to do with more than the words themselves. It also includes the time and place where you publish. If your content strategy has not been successful, it may be because you are not matching up the right content with the right channels.
Create content for different channels and in different mediums to see what gets the best results.
For example, you might create a wonderful blog post, but instead of just sharing a link on social media, you create a video that you share on Facebook, an infographic that you share on Pinterest, and a title photo that you send out on Instagram.
You will have to conduct extensive testing to find out what strategies work best for the different channels.
When you use the right content recommendation tools and you follow these other tips to develop the right marketing strategy, you will get much more out of your content. You may not go viral every time, but you will start getting the traffic and the conversions you want.
Source: B2C
12 Digital Marketing Stats To Get You Ready For The 2016 Holiday Push
As the 4th quarter is well underway, many businesses are gearing up for a final push into the holiday shopping season to give their end of the year revenue a boost. For many, it’s the 4th quarter that either makes or breaks the year. 2016 has had its share of economic ups and downs and the fast approaching US election leaves many feeling uncertain of what’s to come. While we could do our best to predict the future, I’m sure we would be way off. Instead, let’s take a look back at some impressive stats from 2015 to get us pumped up for the holiday push.
Digital marketing has changed the way the world does business. Today’s consumers have access to products and services anytime and anywhere. What’s made this form of communication even more powerful is that it gives smaller businesses the ability to reach a larger audience. Digital marketing has really transformed the 4th quarter power shopping day “Black Friday” and even helped create a new shopping day called “Cyber Monday.” Instead of buying ads in the paper, businesses can now use digital media to attract and convert leads for a fraction of the cost. Check out the infographic below to see how digital media help business in 2015 have a record breaking holiday sales season.
Here are the stats:
- The 2015 holiday shopping season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31) was a strong one for US e-commerce retailers with revenue up 12.1% over the same period in 2014. (Source: Custora)
- E-commerce revenue was up 16.2% on Cyber Monday 2015 compared to Cyber Monday 2014, making it the biggest day in US online shopping history. (Source: Custora)
- For the full 2015 holiday weekend (Thanksgiving day through Cyber Monday), revenue growth over 2014 came in strong at 16.4%. (Source:Custora)
- A total of 30.4% of online sales were placed on mobile (phones and tablets) during the 2015 holiday shopping season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31), up from 25.9% of sales in 2014. (Source: Custora)
- The share of transactions made on mobile phones during the 2015 holiday shopping season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31) climbed from 14% in 2014 up to nearly 19.9%% in 2015. (Source: Custora)
- Apple continued to rule the mobile shopping game with 76.9% of orders placed on iOS devices during the 2015 holiday shopping season. (Source:Custora)
- Consumers using Android devices accounted for 22.7% of online transactions over the 2015 holiday shopping season, up slightly from 20.7% in 2014. (Source: Custora)
- Search ruled holiday shopping in 2015, claiming a combined total of 39.2% of orders: organic (free) search with 21.5% and paid search with 17.7%. (Source: Custora)
- E-mail marketing was the leading channel behind search, driving an impressive 20% of online sales during the 2015 holiday shopping season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31). (Source: Custora)
- Social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, etc.) drove only 1.8% of sales during the 2015 holiday shopping season, down slightly from 1.9% of sales in 2014. (Source: Custora)
- Black Friday was “Mobile Friday,” with mobile accounting for 36.1% of orders, up from 30.3% of orders on Black Friday 2014. (Source: Custora)
- The share of orders placed on desktop computers over the 2015 holiday shopping season dropped from 74.2% in 2014 to 69% in 2015.(Source: Custora)
The holiday push is fast approaching so now is the time to start planning. Just going out there and “winging it” won’t produce these results. Old Ben Franklin is still right, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” Know your audience, build a strategy around their needs and pain points and execute that strategy to perfection. In closing, I do have one plea… don’t put Christmas stuff out before Halloween and if you can, wait until after Thanksgiving. Respecting the holidays is something very few businesses do but much of the consuming public really misses (especially me). Have a great “Q4” and good luck this Holiday Season.
Source: B2C
How Offering Weekly Specials Can Increase Your Sales
When I was working in the head office of a major grocery store chain I remember the president asking one of the store managers how sales were going and his response was, “The only thing that sells well are the specials”.
So, if your sales are hurting, have you thought about adopting the grocery store model of offering weekly specials? Now I don’t mean a weekly special across your whole shop, that would defeat the purpose. I mean just a few select products that are “on special” that particular week.
“On special” is little different from something being “on sale”. When something is “on sale”, it makes it sound like it has been permanently reduced in price. Therefore, unless there is a limited stock available, customers still don’t see the urgency to buy, and may wait to see if the price goes down further.
A “special offer” makes it sound like it is just for a limited time and it doesn’t always have to be just a price reduction. It can be a free gift, free shipping, free personalization or a free service.
Some Examples of Weekly Special Offers:
- The Body Shop likes to offer specials such as, “Get any 3 Mini Body Butters for $10 ($18 value)” or “Complimentary Body Butter with your $60+ Purchase”.
- Old Navy likes to offer specials such as, “This Week Only $15 Dresses”
- J. Crew likes to offer specials such as, “30% off all jewelry” (in other words, just a particular shop section is on special).
- Payless Shoes is known for their BOGO special, “Buy One, Get One Half Off” that they only offer every now and then.
Plus, if your customers see that you make a habit of offering weekly specials, like the grocery stores do, they may be more likely to check back with your store more often to see what the special is this week. Offering weekly specials will not only potentially increase your sales, but also your return customer business, so give it a try.
Source: B2C
How Talent Development Stands Apart From Other Retention Strategies
More than two-thirds of HR professionals are struggling to recruit candidates for full-time positions, SHRM’s 2016 report “The New Talent Landscape” found. One clear takeaway: retaining employees is critical for meeting your talent needs.
There are many employee retention strategies out there, but most come with significant drawbacks for employers and provide little or no extra rewards. Take increasing salaries. To impact retention rates at a significant level, you’d need to push up salaries significantly too. This would come at a tremendous financial cost, and the higher salaries wouldn’t do anything to help your employees do their jobs better.
Source: Randstad 2015 Employer Branding Survey
Talent development, however, is an exception. While there are associated costs such as training materials and staff, in addition to providing a big retention boost (a lack of career opportunities is the No. 1 reason employees say they leave an organization), it gives employers several other rewards. A few include:
- Improved employee productivity—employees learn skills that help them with their jobs.
- Improved employee engagement—employees are less likely to feel they are in a rut, or in a dead-end job.
- Improved succession planning—employees are trained in skills that prepare them to succeed at managerial and executive roles (3.6 million baby boomers are expected to retire this year alone.)
It’s no wonder that many companies make talent development a high priority: it makes sense for them and their employees crave it. According to the SHRM survey, 69% of HR professionals said that their organizations had training budgets last year, and 89% reported that their training budgets stayed the same (50%) or increased (39%).
All this said, like most valuable strategies, talent development isn’t easy. Training is a long, complicated process that can be difficult for HR to manage, and it requires significant organizational commitment.
Source: B2C
The Branded Internet of Things
What does constant connectivity mean for marketers?
By now, most of us have heard of the “Internet of Things.” It’s a concept that has the potential to impact how humans live and work, how policy is written, and how technology develops for the foreseeable future.
..But what exactly is it?
Simply put, the Internet of Things is the concept of connectivity between everyday appliances that are now, thanks to nearly universal wifi, networkable. Says Jacob Morgan for Forbes: “This includes everything from cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of. This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig…if it has an on and off switch then chances are it can be a part of the IoT.”
In the wake of this ubiquity, massive implications exist for technology and privacy regulations. So what does this mean for marketers?
Extreme Convenience
Quite simply, constant connectivity increases consumer expectations of convenience. If your product or service and accompanying marketing campaign don’t cater to these new expectations, you may inadvertently eliminate your offerings from the decision-making process altogether. While automation or delivery may not make sense for every brand, some companies have gotten creative in carving out entirely new spaces for themselves within the Internet of Things.
Take Netflix, for example. After having built their entire company model around increased convenience, the streaming giant took the concept one step further and introduced Netflix socks: a pair of DIY socks that detect when the wearer has fallen asleep and pause whatever Netflix program they might be watching. Gimmicky? Sure. Only moderately effective? Yes. Nearly impossible to assemble on your own? Also true. Anyone looking to make the socks will not only need to know how to knit, but must also be proficient in using a soldering iron and have computer programming experience.
While perhaps ultimately impractical, Netflix’s proposed knitting extravaganza and its subsequent internet-dominating publicity success illustrate a perfect storm of innovation, novelty, and real consumer desire made possible by the IoT. The proposed capabilities of a ridiculously overpriced pair of socks ignited the imaginations of consumers and the media alike, tapping into a tangible desire for extreme convenience — because who wants to hit “pause” before dozing off?
Almighty Data & Direct to Consumer Solutions
In today’s world, “any consumer application, any business application, any product with a tag, and any product with connectivity now converges into a wellspring of data that reaches into every corner of our lives,” says Neil Patel for Forbes. In short, data is mushrooming in size and scope. Analysts estimate that by 2020, there will be more than 20 billion connected devices. The data amassed from these devices gives brands and marketers the opportunity to optimize campaigns, products, services, and operations. Perhaps more importantly, customers will be able to provide useful feedback immediately. If a specific product or campaign isn’t living up to expectations, marketers must be prepared to address the problem instantaneously rather than waste time and resources on something that isn’t working.
With such abundant user data and the availability of instantaneous consumer feedback, brands should consider themselves in direct, near constant conversation with their customers. It makes sense, then, to immediately present remedies for anticipated needs. Says Patel: “If your car is connected to the Internet and the brakes are wearing out, wouldn’t it make sense for your car to direct you to a local brake shop? Smart homes, smart cars, and wearable devices are all things that enable marketers to deliver solutions relevant to those things.” Whatever that solution might be for your brand, marketers should be ready to anticipate and address specific problems.
Everything is Marketable
When it comes to the Internet of Things, no area of life, product, nor service is unmarketable. “Currently, the Internet drives much of our everyday behavior,” says Patel. “Since all of our interaction, behavior, and life is interconnected…marketers can reach deeper into our lives to offer us what we want.” The Internet of Things provides endless opportunities for new connections to form between brand and consumer. While some new marketing efforts seem outrageously impractical, others have the potential to effect lasting behavioral change. It’s up to marketers to guide the narrative.
Source: B2C
Comment on 6 Ways to Improve Your Onboarding Process for New Hires by Aira Bongco
I agree about starting slow. It is never a process that you can implement right off the bat. You need to test it out and see how it plays out. From there, you can make some minor adjustments.
Source: small business
Comment on RAP Your Way to More Sales! by Aira Bongco
I thought that it has something to do with music. But then, I saw that it is an acronym. It is a great way to teach something though. It makes it easier to remember.
Source: small business
10 Types of Visual Content On Instagram That Get Shared Like Crazy
Our attention spans are diminishing.
We crave short, sharp bits of content that we can consume in a heartbeat without much thinking or effort.
It’s no surprise then that visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. That’s why social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat continue to grow in popularity. They are visual, and have a unique way of delivering a complex message all within a few seconds.
The more reliant the world becomes on these visual social media platforms, the more pressure there is for digital entrepreneurs like you and I to adapt quickly and find ways to engage our audience. Because engagement is a scarce resource, you now have to earn it.
Some of you may see this as a direct challenge to the way you currently understand social media marketing and engagement. But for others, those of you ready to move fast, it’s a huge opportunity to capture a new and highly engaged group of people.
If you’re ready to take a few risks and diversify your digital strategy, Instagram is a great place to start.
Instagram has over 500 million monthly active users, and it’s growing every day. I like to think of it as the younger, more visual version of Twitter, where engagement is still flourishing (not on the decline).
Using time-saving tools to schedule your Instagram content
Before we take a look at the type of visual content that will get you shares and exposure on Instagram, there is a few things you need to understand about delivering an effective Instagram posting schedule.
Just like any other social media platform, your Instagram audience wants consistency. Consistency in your posting schedule, and consistency in the quality of your content.
The easiest way to create a consistent stream of quality social media content is by using social media scheduling tools.
Until now I found it hard to deliver on these desires, with only a select few social media tools integrating with Instagram and allowing you to pre-set your sharing calendar.
Then I discovered Onlypult.
Onlypult is the perfect tool to accompany your Instagram strategy.
It lets you:
- Post visual content straight to your Instagram account
- Pre-plan a posting schedule that is optimized to increase engagement on Instagram
- Write and remove Instagram comments, right from their interface
- Track important analytics that you can use to improve your strategy
- Bulk upload photos, potentially saving you hours of time
As I said, great visual content is only the starting point for an effective Instagram strategy. You need to be consistently present, day after day, week after week. Onlypult helps you do that without spending your whole life on Instagram.
Ok, so now you’ve got a tool to pre-schedule your Instagram posts… What type of visual content gets shared the most?
Let’s take a closer look.
1. Inspirational quotes
There is something about quotes that get people excited. They give them that warm, fuzzy feeling inside that inspires them to take action and kick start their dreams.
Inspirational quotes are especially good if you operate in the entrepreneurial space like Foundr Magazine.
Here is an example of them using this tactic on Instagram with some great engagement:
2. Human faces
Human faces create a personal connection to your brand and tap into people’s emotions.
In fact, photos showing faces get 38% more likes than photos without faces…
That stat alone should be enough evidence for you to leverage this tactic when trying to boost engagement on your Instagram account.
Coca-Cola have used the “Human Face” tactic in their marketing campaigns for decades, and Instagram is no different:
3. Landscapes and scenery
A well-taken photo of a beautiful scene or landscape is sure to catch the eye of someone scrolling through their Instagram feed.
The good news is that even if your business has very little to do with the outdoors, you can still connect with your customer’s feelings and hobbies in a landscape photo.
Modcloth have done a great job of capturing the essence of this concept in the photo below:
Here is another example of a scenic photo with some impressive engagement, that was posted using Onlypult:
4. Food
Great looking food is something we can all relate to, so it’s no surprise that it is one of the top performers when it comes to visual content on Instagram.
There are even whole accounts dedicated to the art of food, like Beautiful Cuisines who has over 1 million followers:
5. Historical photos
Historical photos create a feeling of nostalgia, helping us reflect on past generations and sparking emotions that are buried deep within our subconscious.
Mike Tyson does a great job of using historical photos to promote his products on Instagram using Onlypult:
The Boss Hunting brand uses this tactic to emotionally transport their audience back in time:
6. User-generated content
When it comes to user-generated content, GoPro is King.
GoPro users essentially do their marketing for them, with amazing photos and videos taken in extreme situations all over the world.
The GoPro team makes the most of it by curating the best of the best on their Instagram account:
7. Animals
Do you ever wonder why jumping cat videos get shared like crazy on just about any social platform?
The world is full of animal lovers, and visual content that taps into that raw emotion can go viral in a heartbeat.
National Geographic have one of the most successful Instagram accounts in the world, and a majority of their most engaged content is of high-quality animal photos. Like this one:
8. Behind-the-scenes
People like to do business with people, not brands.
That’s why it’s more important than ever to create a human connection with your customers. Showing them glimpses of your staff, and the things that go on behind-the-scenes is one really effective way of doing so.
Below is a locker room photo taken by the Golden State Warriors that was shared using Onlypult:
Another example below is of Gap showing off their clothing designers to the world:
9. Real-time trends
They may not have a long shelf life, but jumping onto newsworthy stories or real-time trends can be a great way to boost engagement on Instagram.
For example, #pokemongo has over 7 million Instagram posts…
Here is one user who used that trend to their advantage to get over 6,000 likes and 120+ comments:
10. Video stories
Video is the new black. Facebook has started giving video priority in a user’s newsfeed, Periscope, Vine and Snapchat are gaining massive user numbers, and videos on Instagram attract a lot of attention.
This short video from Birchbox has amassed over 42,000 views, which is quite amazing for an Instagram account that is getting only about 1,500 likes for most of their photos.
Wrap
Instagram presents a growing opportunity for you to engage with your ideal audience.
But there is no perfect way to master an Instagram strategy and tap into the visual senses of today’s social media world.
To make a splash you really need to have a diverse strategy, one that leverages a mix of several of these types of visual content. You also need to maintain consistency with that mix of content. Because without consistency, your engagement will dwindle.
Source: B2C
Are You Obsessing Over Your Front Line Managers?
There are endless discussions about sales people and their performance. Thousands of blog posts with hints, tips, instructions focused on sales people, whether SDR’s or Corporate Account Managers. Hundreds of books, thousands of webinars and training programs all focus on the sales person. Billions are spent every year in training and tools to help make sales people more effective, efficient, and productive.
In some sense, this focus makes sense. It is these front line individuals that produce the results, it’s these people who are accountable for finding and closing deals at a level sufficient to make the business plan.
But what about the people that are accountable on a day to day basis for maximizing their performance? What about the people that make sure we have the right front line sales people in place? Or those people setting the expectations, guiding, coaching and developing people to achieve their goals and objectives? Those people who remove the barriers to performance, helping these front line sales people to do their jobs. What about the people responsible for translating the organizations strategies, goals, and priorities into day to day execution for front line sales people?
The front line sales manager is both the single most difficult and the most important job in sales!
It’s through these individuals that we build our organizations, their capabilities, and drive day to day performance. It’s these individuals that serve as the leadership core for the organization and represent the future top executives in the organization.
Yet, too often, we treat this role as an afterthought.
We pick our best sales people, turning them into managers, without knowing whether they can be great leaders. Their onboarding program consists of a congratulatory email and a request for a forecast update.
Too often, they are unclear about their roles, perhaps they emulate past managers–good or bad, perhaps they just amp up what they did in the past — selling and closing deals. Or they think their jobs are to pour over endless CRM reports and analysis, trying to identify what’s happening and managing from behind a desk. Or they get caught up in endless “important” internal meetings, not spending time with their people. Maybe they’ve heard they should be coaching–but they don’t know how to, confusing directing with coaching.
From the point of view of top sales leadership, the front line managers are the most critical people in the organization. It’s through them and their ability to maximize performance of their people that we achieve our goals and continue to grow business.
But what are you doing for them?
Are you obsessing over them? Are you equipping them with the skills and capabilities critical to their success and their ability to perform? Are you coaching and developing them, so they, in turn, can effectively coach and develop their people? Are you enabling them to reflect your values, culture, strategies and priorities to the rest of the organization?
These front line sales managers are they key leverage points to driving organizational performance. We expect them to obsess on the perfromance of their people, likewise, as top sales leaders, we need to obsess over them! We need to make sure we have the right people in place and enable them to perform at the highest levels possible.
Some thoughts on doing this:
- Make sure you have the best possible people in the role. I didn’t say best sales person in the front line manager role–that’s the mistake too many make. Take the time to build the profile of the ideal front line manager. What are the attidudes, behaviors, skills, competencies, experiences, values and beliefs critical to their success in the organization? Don’t compromise anything in filling these roles with the best possible people. Remember, you aren’t recruting them to sell—that’s the job of the people they lead. Your recruiting them for the ability to lead and maximize the performance of everyone on the team. If you are making multimillion dollar investments in sales people, then the investment you are making in the front line manager is tens of millions. (For help in doing this, get our Sales Competency Model. Also, Sales Maanger Survival Guide Part 4, Chapters 28-34 provides reminders to the recruiting, hiring process.)
- Both in recruiting and onboarding, be clear about their role and responsibilities. Too many newly minted managers don’t know anything other than, “Make your numbers, stay out of trouble.” Make sure they understand their jobs are to get things done through their people, maximizing their performance. Make sure they understand your expectations of how they should develop their people, and your expectations of them in the business. (Part 5, Chapters 35-40 of Sales Manager Survival Guide, provides tips on setting performance expectations.)
- Have an onboarding program specifically focused on them. Don’t throw them into the pool and expect them to perform immediately–even if they have held past leadership roles. Onboarding for sales managers is different from onboarding sales people. Focus on leadership development, help them understand the importance of coaching and how to be effective as a coach. Make sure they understand people development, hiring, managing performance, dealing with problem performers. Make sure they understand the culture, values, strategies and priorities of the organization. Make sure they understand how to get things done within the organization–a lot of their job is getting things done for their people, so they need to know the formal and informal methods of getting things done. Give them a chance to “shadow” you or some of their top performing peers. Let them see what top performance as a front line sales manager looks like. Remember, successfully onboarding them is critical to the performance of the team they lead. (For help doing this, look at Part 1, Chapters 1-8 of the Sales Manager Survival Guide, also look at Chapter 33.)
- Make sure you are coaching and developing them. For some reason, I don’t understand, many leaders think managers don’t need coaching! Managers/leaders at all levels need coaching and development. But this coaching is different from the coaching we provide sales people. Where we tend to coach sales people in deal, pipeline, call, territory, skills, and other areas, coaching front line managers focuses more on the process of leading their teams and developing their people. How are they dealing with poor performers? What are they doing to develop the capabilities of each of their people? How do they more effectively engage and lead their people? Where are they having problems in improving the performance of their people? How are they translating company strategies in to execution? How are they setting performance expectations? What type of example are they setting? How are they developing their people to step up to greater responsibilities? What are they doing to make sure they have a pipeline of good candidates for empty positions? Every once in a while sit in deal, territory, or pipeline reviews to see how well they are coaching their people. Let them lead the reviews, add value where you can, but afterwards, provide them feedback on their effectiveness. On at least an annual basis, make sure they have some formal training on leadership, people management/development, coaching, and business. If your company doesn’t have these programs, send them to a program conducted by a university or one of the outstanding leadership development organizations. (Part 2, particularly Chapters 9-19, of Sales Manager Survival Guide provides great reminders on your own ability to coach.)
- Find them doing things right and recognize that. People are people, regardless of the job level. They appreciate recognition, a brief comment here, a short congratulatory note there are fantastic in building their morale and confidence. If their morale is low, it will be reflected in their work with their people.
- Bring them into strategy discussions, involve them—but cautiously. The front line manager is responsible for translating strategy into day to day execution with their teams. They can’t do this unless they understand the strategy and priorities. Make sure to drill down, so they understand the “why’s,” and the implications. Make sure they contribute their ideas to the strategy and priorities, particularly how it should be executed. They know the day to day challenges their people face and those of the customers. Front line managers often have the best views of what works and doesn’t work. Make sure they own the strategies and priorities so they can be more effective in translating them into execution with their teams. The cautious part is, be careful how much time you take from them in doing this. Too many organizations have endless strategy meetings, discussions, and engage in too much navel gazing. The front line manager’s job is to be out working with their people. Make sure you aren’t robbing them of that time where they have the most impact. (In Sales Manager Survival Guide, Part 8, we start on these discussions and the roles of Front Line Managers in developing/executing strategy)
- Conduct periodic “skip level interviews,” and 360 evaluations. The purpose of these is not to go behind their backs to check on their performance, but to get information and data from their people, peers, and others in the organization so that you can do your job of coaching and developing them.
- Hire the best, keep them and retain them!!!! The data on sales management turnover is horrible, average tenure in the job is 16-18 months! It’s no wonder sales performance is so bad, we don’t have any continuity in leadership and development. Sales people are constantly breaking in and training new leaders, not getting the coaching and development they need. If we are to maximize the performance of our people and our organizations, we have to stop the management revolving door. We have to develop our managers and leaders, so they can continue to develop their teams. Attrition, including sales management attrition, is a leadership problem. Make sure it’s not your problem! (Spend some time re-reading Chapter 34 in Sales Manager Survival Guide)
Yes, our sales people are important, after all they are the people that produce revenue. But even the best need strong leadership. If we are to maximize the performance of our people and organizations, strong front line sales management is critical! As top sales leaders, making sure we have the best and we are doing everything possible to maximize their ability to perform has to be in our top two priorities.
Are you obsessing over the development of your front line sales managers?
Source: B2C
Sunday, 16 October 2016
10 Types of Visual Content On Instagram That Get Shared Like Crazy
Our attention spans are diminishing.
We crave short, sharp bits of content that we can consume in a heartbeat without much thinking or effort.
It’s no surprise then that visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. That’s why social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat continue to grow in popularity. They are visual, and have a unique way of delivering a complex message all within a few seconds.
The more reliant the world becomes on these visual social media platforms, the more pressure there is for digital entrepreneurs like you and I to adapt quickly and find ways to engage our audience. Because engagement is a scarce resource, you now have to earn it.
Some of you may see this as a direct challenge to the way you currently understand social media marketing and engagement. But for others, those of you ready to move fast, it’s a huge opportunity to capture a new and highly engaged group of people.
If you’re ready to take a few risks and diversify your digital strategy, Instagram is a great place to start.
Instagram has over 500 million monthly active users, and it’s growing every day. I like to think of it as the younger, more visual version of Twitter, where engagement is still flourishing (not on the decline).
Using time-saving tools to schedule your Instagram content
Before we take a look at the type of visual content that will get you shares and exposure on Instagram, there is a few things you need to understand about delivering an effective Instagram posting schedule.
Just like any other social media platform, your Instagram audience wants consistency. Consistency in your posting schedule, and consistency in the quality of your content.
The easiest way to create a consistent stream of quality social media content is by using social media scheduling tools.
Until now I found it hard to deliver on these desires, with only a select few social media tools integrating with Instagram and allowing you to pre-set your sharing calendar.
Then I discovered Onlypult.
Onlypult is the perfect tool to accompany your Instagram strategy.
It lets you:
- Post visual content straight to your Instagram account
- Pre-plan a posting schedule that is optimized to increase engagement on Instagram
- Write and remove Instagram comments, right from their interface
- Track important analytics that you can use to improve your strategy
- Bulk upload photos, potentially saving you hours of time
As I said, great visual content is only the starting point for an effective Instagram strategy. You need to be consistently present, day after day, week after week. Onlypult helps you do that without spending your whole life on Instagram.
Ok, so now you’ve got a tool to pre-schedule your Instagram posts… What type of visual content gets shared the most?
Let’s take a closer look.
1. Inspirational quotes
There is something about quotes that get people excited. They give them that warm, fuzzy feeling inside that inspires them to take action and kick start their dreams.
Inspirational quotes are especially good if you operate in the entrepreneurial space like Foundr Magazine.
Here is an example of them using this tactic on Instagram with some great engagement:
2. Human faces
Human faces create a personal connection to your brand and tap into people’s emotions.
In fact, photos showing faces get 38% more likes than photos without faces…
That stat alone should be enough evidence for you to leverage this tactic when trying to boost engagement on your Instagram account.
Coca-Cola have used the “Human Face” tactic in their marketing campaigns for decades, and Instagram is no different:
3. Landscapes and scenery
A well-taken photo of a beautiful scene or landscape is sure to catch the eye of someone scrolling through their Instagram feed.
The good news is that even if your business has very little to do with the outdoors, you can still connect with your customer’s feelings and hobbies in a landscape photo.
Modcloth have done a great job of capturing the essence of this concept in the photo below:
Here is another example of a scenic photo with some impressive engagement, that was posted using Onlypult:
4. Food
Great looking food is something we can all relate to, so it’s no surprise that it is one of the top performers when it comes to visual content on Instagram.
There are even whole accounts dedicated to the art of food, like Beautiful Cuisines who has over 1 million followers:
5. Historical photos
Historical photos create a feeling of nostalgia, helping us reflect on past generations and sparking emotions that are buried deep within our subconscious.
Mike Tyson does a great job of using historical photos to promote his products on Instagram using Onlypult:
The Boss Hunting brand uses this tactic to emotionally transport their audience back in time:
6. User-generated content
When it comes to user-generated content, GoPro is King.
GoPro users essentially do their marketing for them, with amazing photos and videos taken in extreme situations all over the world.
The GoPro team makes the most of it by curating the best of the best on their Instagram account:
7. Animals
Do you ever wonder why jumping cat videos get shared like crazy on just about any social platform?
The world is full of animal lovers, and visual content that taps into that raw emotion can go viral in a heartbeat.
National Geographic have one of the most successful Instagram accounts in the world, and a majority of their most engaged content is of high-quality animal photos. Like this one:
8. Behind-the-scenes
People like to do business with people, not brands.
That’s why it’s more important than ever to create a human connection with your customers. Showing them glimpses of your staff, and the things that go on behind-the-scenes is one really effective way of doing so.
Below is a locker room photo taken by the Golden State Warriors that was shared using Onlypult:
Another example below is of Gap showing off their clothing designers to the world:
9. Real-time trends
They may not have a long shelf life, but jumping onto newsworthy stories or real-time trends can be a great way to boost engagement on Instagram.
For example, #pokemongo has over 7 million Instagram posts…
Here is one user who used that trend to their advantage to get over 6,000 likes and 120+ comments:
10. Video stories
Video is the new black. Facebook has started giving video priority in a user’s newsfeed, Periscope, Vine and Snapchat are gaining massive user numbers, and videos on Instagram attract a lot of attention.
This short video from Birchbox has amassed over 42,000 views, which is quite amazing for an Instagram account that is getting only about 1,500 likes for most of their photos.
Wrap
Instagram presents a growing opportunity for you to engage with your ideal audience.
But there is no perfect way to master an Instagram strategy and tap into the visual senses of today’s social media world.
To make a splash you really need to have a diverse strategy, one that leverages a mix of several of these types of visual content. You also need to maintain consistency with that mix of content. Because without consistency, your engagement will dwindle.
Source: B2C
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