Should I Hire an Inbound Marketer or Partner with a Marketing Agency? Understanding the ROI of Each.

As the old saying goes “anything worth doing is worth doing well” and inbound marketing is certainly no exception to this rule. Ask any marketer and they would most likely agree, inbound is a full-time job. It does not always replace other marketing activities (paid media, events, account-based marketing), but instead it complements these items. Adopting inbound marketing requires planning, execution, and analysis, providing even the savviest marketer a full to-do list.

In most cases, businesses that are just starting with inbound, or who have recently implemented an inbound marketing tool such as HubSpot, have quickly realized that the resources needed are not always there. It is uncommon to find extra hours in the day to devote to new marketing initiatives without taking time and effort away from other items.

In this case, businesses are required to look elsewhere to effectively execute inbound marketing. The two most common options are to hire an inbound marketer internally or to partner with an inbound marketing agency. This can be a difficult decision and most likely each marketer has his or her own opinion. In the end, it is all about results. Inbound is an investment and the focus should be on ROI. It’s important that this work is done correctly from the start as to build optimal momentum. In this article we will discuss both options and provide some additional insight to help make your decision easier.

Hiring an Internal Marketer

The first inclination might be to hire a marketer to join your full-time team. For many executives, keeping marketing completely in-house is a priority. This can be an effective option as you have complete control over the workload of this employee and can adjust as needed. Another important item here is this employee’s familiarity with your business and solutions. With an internal employee, he or she can complete the same new-hire company training that all employees go through, ensuring a high level of understanding of company vision, goals, and products.

Another benefit to hiring an internal employee is the fact that you can allocate his or her time toward additional activities outside of inbound marketing. Although inbound does require much of one’s attention, there are other items that can become necessary and having another employee to allocate toward these needs can be helpful. Finally, internal employees are seen as a long-term investment. Hiring the right addition to your internal team is critical and finding the right person who fits your company’s culture and values can be of huge value.

There are a number of reasons, however, that you may choose not to hire a full-time inbound marketer. The most common reason is cost. We all know that the cost of an employee is not simply the salary, but there are many additional line items that add up. These include benefits, computer or phone, vacation time, etc. Also, keep in mind that you’d probably be looking to hire an experienced marketer, so you will most likely be paying a premium. Additionally, any new hire will have a ramp-up period. Whether he or she is learning about your business, becoming familiar with your product, or even just settling into the new job routine, it is difficult to have them jump in from day 1. From a results perspective, you must factor in these first few months in order to set realistic KPIs and goals.

Finally, one often overlooked detriment to hiring a marketer in-house is that this new employee will not be a jack of all trades. He or she may be an expert marketer, but most likely will not have the expertise in design, web development, or paid search that may be required to yield optimal results. In that case, you might find yourself looking for additional resources and having to hire additional team members or outsource.

Partnering with an Inbound Marketing Agency

Just like the alternative, there are many positive attributes to outsourcing your inbound marketing to a certified agency. Using a directory such as HubSpot’s partner marketplace, you can identify a number of qualified partners and contact them right away. One major benefit is the fact that instead of hiring just one person, you are gaining a team of experts. Although you will have a main strategist on your account, that person is supported by a team of expert developers, designers, paid media managers, and SEO strategists, and has a wealth of knowledge and resources at his or her fingertips. Additionally, this team has expertise across multiple campaigns, industries, and clients. This is extremely valuable as an internal marketer most likely has narrow experience and continues to grow only through your individual campaigns. Working with an agency partner, creative marketing work is being executed daily and one can learn from these efforts and apply best practices and new results toward your work. Instead of learning on the job, there is a ton of experience constantly building up for you to leverage.

Another valuable asset when partnering with an inbound marketing agency is the ability to adapt and be creative on the fly. With a team of inbound marketing experts, your partner can effectively adjust the plan to yield optimal results. This can be seen as they are working to constantly outdo themselves and figure out the best plan of action. Having the ability to pivot as needed and constantly challenge the status quo is important as inbound marketing requires creativity and experimentation. With a team of experts, these changes can be implemented quickly and effectively.

As you can imagine, there are a few alternative items here as well. One thing to consider is the fact that you are not the only client this agency works with. So, unlike hiring an inbound marketer in-house, a partner agency is unable to devote 100 percent of their time and attention to you and your business. That means that they are not always available to talk at the drop of a hat, as opposed to being able to walk over to a colleague’s desk. The best agency partners have open lines of communication with all clients and provide an exceptional level of customer service, so there is rarely any holdup or difficulty in reaching your strategist. Another item to consider is the fact that your partner will not be going through the new hire training that an employee would be. That being said, there is a high caliber of discovery and learning being done during the client onboarding process, however, they may not fully understand the nuances of your business from the start. This may take a bit of time as they interview internal team members and continue to get to know your audience.

As you can see there are a number of factors to consider. Inbound marketing requires a large commitment in order to drive quality results. When deciding whether or not to hire an inbound marketer or partner with an agency, be sure to do your due diligence. Agencies have a number of case studies, references, and client examples for you to look at, all of which reflect their expertise and quality results.

Source: B2C

How Do You Effectively Connect With App Users Via Email?

Admittedly, we’re biased toward mobile engagement, but we realize that the ideal marketing strategy makes the most of every available messaging channel. For many companies, email remains one of their most important touchpoints with customers and we’re always getting asked how marketers can use email to improve their mobile app marketing and vice versa. So, if email is a critical channel to your enterprise marketing strategy, then you’ll want to read on…

Examples

Let’s dive right in and look at a few use cases that will apply to almost every marketing strategy, regardless of size or industry:

#1: First Impressions Are Key

So you’ve built a really cool app and your rank in the app store is rapidly rising, which means people are installing and loving your app. That’s great! The next question is, how are you engaging with these new users?

In most cases, you’ll start by guiding users through their first experiences, showing them how to use your app or surfacing valuable recommendations. In mobile, this is known as onboarding, which is usually done over the course of a user’s first 3-5 sessions. One of the key objectives of onboarding is to make sure that as many users as possible opt in for push notifications, since users who have push enabled are far more active than those who don’t.

The question is, how do you keep engaging those users who get through onboarding and still haven’t enabled push? Our most sophisticated customers have found success in emailing this user group. Here’s how they used Localytics to make it happen.

Goal: Successfully engage new users that have Push disabled

Segmentation

• In Localytics, create an audience of users with 3 – 6 sessions, and push disabled


• Using Localytics’ Audience Export send this audience to your email service provider on a daily basis


• Using your email vendor, create a recurring onboarding email campaign that’s driven by the Localytics’ Audience

Performance Measurement

• Using the Localytics’ Events API, share the result (ex. Opened, Bounced, Unsubscribed) of the email campaign for each recipient


• Use Localytics’ analytics reports (specifically the Usage, Engagement, Retention, and Funnels reports) to analyze these users’ downstream behavior versus those that enabled push during onboarding

Outcome: You can now effectively engage new users that have disabled push and measure the downstream impact. You can even build variations on this example to engage users with push disabled long after they’ve finished onboarding. Send a message as a push for users who can receive it and send the same message as an email for those who have push disabled.

#2: Reward Customer Loyalty

Loyalty program members spend up to 20% more than non-members on average (source), so if you don’t have a customer loyalty program, you’re missing out. For marketers who manage a thriving loyalty program, a major part of a successful program is getting your customers to redeem their points. Here’s how marketers are using Localytics to increase loyalty redemption.

Goal: Increase loyalty reward redemption

Segmentation

• In Localytics, create an audience of users with more than 180 days worth of outstanding loyalty rewards


• Using Localytics Audience Exports send the audience to your email service provider on a weekly basis


• Using your email vendor, create a recurring redemption reminder that’s powered by the Localytics’ Audience

Performance Measurement

• Using the Localytics’ Events API, share the result (ex. Opened, Bounced, Unsubscribed) of the email campaign for each recipient


• Use Localytics’ Analytics and User Insights to analyze these users downstream behavior versus those that haven’t redeemed their rewards or non-loyalty members

Outcome: You can now increase loyalty redemption and measure its impact on mobile engagement. Additionally, you could also use this process to make loyalty-based offers and incentivize other behaviors from your best users.

Closing the Loop on Campaign Performance

In these examples, we are using Localytics to drive targeted email campaigns, so you might be wondering why I also included sending the campaign results back to Localytics. Why not just view those results in your email vendor’s dashboard?

Closing the loop with performance measurement is critical, because it enables data-driven marketers to measure the deeper impact of their efforts, not just the typical ‘click through’ surface metrics. For example, from the onboarding scenario, you could use Localytics’ Analytics to see if users who receive the onboarding email and enable push have a higher retention rate or Lifetime Value (LTV). If so, you can implement additional campaigns that strongly incentivize users to enable push, since you now have evidence that the return on investment is significantly higher.

Start Emailing Your App Users Today

So if you consider yourself a savvy marketer then it’s critical that you implement a closed loop, multi-channel approach to marketing. These are just a couple examples of how you should be using Localytics in conjunction with your email provider. For more examples and assistance integrating Localytics and your email vendor, be sure to contact your Localytics Mobile Engagement Consultant.

Source: B2C

Why You Need to Care for Yourself and How to Do It

The world is not always a happy place. You can look at the news on any given day and see stories about death, crime and abuse. It easy to let it bog you down, especially when you’re in charge of covering such news.

Journalists are nearly guaranteed to cover traumatic events—events that result in death or near death. More than 80 percent of journalists report covering traumatic events as part of their jobs.

Because trauma exposure is almost guaranteed in our profession, it’s important for journalists to practice self-care, before and after this exposure.

Self-care can help journalists buffer the negative emotional impact of trauma exposure and can help them deal with their emotions after the exposure.

And self-care is just a good practice as individuals. We cannot help others if we don’t first care for ourselves.

What self-care consists of really depends on the person. However, here are some methods you may consider for taking care of yourself:

Talk it out

The professional term for this is “debriefing,” but it helps. Talk to a trusted family member, a friend, a significant other, or a coworker. Just putting your concerns, fears and sadness into words helps you feel better.

Write

There is a substantial amount of research showing that writing about your experiences and feelings, specifically journaling, helps you make sense of the happenings. Since writing is something you already know and love as a journalist, it makes sense that writing could be cathartic for you.

Eat well

It’s normal to feel the emotional response to trauma in your body. Trauma can make you physically ill. Eat well and drink plenty of fluids to help avoid this.

Sleep

Sleep commonly is affected by exposure to a traumatic event. It’s difficult to turn off or come down with the adrenaline rush of the event, or you may avoid sleep because you’re afraid of nightmares. You may simply be unable to sleep. On the other side of the spectrum, the desire to sleep much more than normal is a symptom of depression that should be considered. Try to maintain a regular sleep pattern as well as you can following a traumatic event. Tiredness can compound emotions and make you feel even more overwhelmed.

Exercise

We know that exercise releases endorphins that result in positive mood. Stick to your regular exercise routine during traumatic times, even if you have to force it.

Relax

What helps you relax? Whether it is lighting a scented candle, taking a bath, playing with your puppy, or watching a good movie, spend more time doing the things that help you relax.

Engage in a hobby

Hobbies are one of the ways we identify other versions of ourselves, what is known as “self-concepts.” If your strongest self-concept is related to the traumatic experience, it is more difficult for you to compartmentalize. Hobbies like listening to music, dancing, painting, and gaming all add to your self-concepts, helping you become a more well-rounded person and buffering you against trauma symptoms.

Practice your faith

People with strong religious beliefs are more resilient to emotional trauma than those without. If you are a person of faith, after trauma exposure is a natural time for you to cling to and actively practice that faith.

Focus on the positive

When the sheer amount of negativity is getting to you, focus radically on the positive aspects of your life and the world around you. Science shows that focusing on the positive actually increases happiness and makes us view the world in a more positive light. Consider making a list (or a daily list?) of things that make you feel happy.

Surround yourself

Spending time with family and friends is a good way to cope with or buffer negative emotions.

Know your limits

Know yourself well enough to understand when you’re at your limit. Take a break and step away from trauma coverage and things like television or social media that constantly remind you of the negativity in the world.

Seek help

Seek professional help if you continue feeling overwhelmed by the traumatic things happening in your life or in the world. Talking to an unbiased, uninvolved professional can help you feel a lot better.

It doesn’t seem that the world will get any more positive, so you must learn to take care of yourself so you can be the best you possible and help others. Self-care is not selfish, it’s necessary. If you aren’t already practicing daily self-care, consider this post your encouragement to start now.

Source: B2C

Don’t Forget: A Checklist for Your Resume

You’ve slaved away crafting what you think is the perfect resume. It shows how you’ve progressed throughout your career and what you have to offer to your next employer. But before you send it off, it’s time to give it one more once-over to make sure there’s nothing you’ve missed. It’s easy to overlook things when you’ve been working on your resume for a long period of time. Take a break and come to it with fresh eyes, an open mind, and your resume checklist in hand.

Appearance

• Is your resume pleasing to the eye with a good balance of white space?


• Have you used bullet points instead of large blocks of text?


• Is the font easy to read and professional looking?


• Have you incorporated horizontal lines and bolding to break up sections for easier scanning?


• Is formatting consistent throughout?

Contact Information

• Is all of your contact information accurate? Are you sure?


• Do you have a professional email address such as yourname@gmail.com? (Save purpleplatypus@aol.com for personal use.)


• Have you included the easiest number for an employer to reach you?


• Is your name at the top of subsequent pages?

Content

• Do you have a strong summary of qualifications to start that clearly shows who you are and what you have to offer?


• Do you have a list of relevant keywords and competencies?


• Are there metrics to quantify your accomplishments?


• Do your bullet points focus on achievements instead of responsibilities?


• Have you excluded any personal information such as age, marital status, or headshot?


• Does all of the information serve a purpose? (If not, cut the fluff.)


• Are all of your degree, certifications, and licenses included?


• Have you added meaningful volunteer experience or professional development?


• Have you carefully proofed every sentence and word for grammar and spelling mistakes? (And not just relied on spellcheck.)

You want to ensure that your resume is presenting you in a positive, accurate light. Taking the time to carefully review every aspect from format and writing style to content and metrics is essential. The last thing you want to do is lie (even inadvertently) on your resume or turn off employers by having careless mistakes.

Once you’re satisfied with your resume, save it with a purposeful name. Titling it simply “resume” means potentially getting lost in the shuffle. Always include your name and maybe even job. For instance, “Resume.JSmith” or “Resume.JSmith.MarketingSpecialist”.

Source: B2C

Raiders of the Lost Omnichannel Experience

<Warning: This blog contains spoilers for a 36-year-old movie>.

My parents purchased their first VCR in 1984, and one of the first movies they bought on VHS was Raiders of the Lost Ark. I must have watched Indiana Jones do battle with the Nazis a dozen times that first week alone, and three plus decades later I still count it as one of my all-time favorites.

As I got older, however, I noticed a problem with the film that to this day still bugs me, and no, it has nothing to do with the submarine. What I realized, somewhere around my 200^th viewing, is that the final outcome of the movie (Nazis opened ark, ark melted Nazis’ faces) would have been the same had Indiana Jones never even left his classroom.

Think about it, he didn’t stop the Nazis from getting their hands on the ark nor did he stop them from taking the ark back to Berlin, the ark did that all on its own. To extrapolate that thought even further, you could make the case that Indy’s involvement just made matters worse – because there’s a good chance the Nazis would have never found the ark in the first place had he just stayed home (Nazis were digging in the wrong place, Indy dug in the right place, Indy found the ark, Nazis stole the ark)

The reason I’m telling you all this, besides the fact that I love the movie and talk about it every chance I get, is that Indy’s non-impact on the final outcome of the film is eerily similar to an experience I had recently with a prominent omnichannel retailer.

Allow me to explain:

Due to a combination of poor fulfillment, weather delays and me completely forgetting to do what my wife asked me to do, I found myself in a position where I had four hours to find a pair of shoes for my son to wear to a formal event that evening.

Sitting down in front of my computer with credit card in hand, I went to an omnichannel retailer’s website with the intention of making a “Buy Online, Pick Up in Store” purchase. Everything went smoothly at first, I found the shoes I wanted at a store 25 minutes from my house, put them in my cart, entered my billing information and clicked the “Complete Purchase” button.

That’s when the problems started.

Upon finalizing my purchase, the site sent me to a completely blank page. I could see the URL at the top of my browser window but there was no information being displayed, not even a 404 error, so I had no idea if my transaction went through.

After waiting five minutes for an order confirmation email, I contacted customer support via live chat to explain what had happened and see if my order was complete. The live chat agent informed me that there was no record of my transaction and suggested I try again…using Internet Explorer…because their site doesn’t work as well on browsers like Chrome or Safari.

Since this isn’t 2009, I didn’t have IE installed on my computer so I grabbed my phone and hit the company’s mobile site. It wasn’t the smoothest shopping experience I’d had in my life but was able to buy the shoes, after which I received an order confirmation email that explained I would receive a second email within 60-90 minutes notifying me my order was ready for pickup.

About an hour later I received a second email, but rather than saying my shoes were ready it regretfully informed me the item was no longer available, that my money would be refunded, and that I should call their Customer Support team if I needed help choosing an alternate item.

I called the number listed in the email and after a ten minute wait was connected with a very nice customer service rep. I explained my predicament and asked if any other stores in the area had the shoe in the size I needed. He told me he wasn’t sure because he was ecommerce support and only had visibility into distribution center inventory, not store inventory. He suggested I call each individual store and ask. I didn’t have that kind of time, so instead jumped in my car and drove to the store I had originally placed my order with, knowing they didn’t have the shoe I wanted but figuring I’d be able to find a reasonable alternative.

Upon entering the store, I made a bee-line to the kid’s section to start my shopping and the first shoe my eyes settled on was, you guessed it, the exact pair I ordered online. The very pair I was told wasn’t in stock any longer. I asked an associate if they had it in the size I needed, to which he replied: “I’m sure we do, we have a ton of these in stock.” He went into the back and returned two minutes later with the shoes, which I promptly paid for and then left.

At the end of the day, the manner in which I bought the shoes would have been the same, for both me and the retailer, had this transaction taken place the same day my parents brought that VCR home in 1984. The fact the retailer has invested millions in its omnichannel strategy didn’t help either of us at all. In fact, this investment actually made things worse because it made completing my task more difficult and as a result cost them a customer.

So what are the key takeaways here? That Raiders of the Lost Ark is a slightly flawed but nonetheless brilliant movie? Certainly. But from a CX perspective: omnichannel done poorly can be more detrimental to your brand than omnichannel not done at all.

Let’s face it: your customers don’t care why you operate your call centers, stores and ecommerce units seperately, or that the communication process between your mobile app development team and your store or branch network is challenging. All they care about is getting what they need from your business, when they need it, with as little effort as possible. For you, that means delivering an enriching and consistent experience across all channels.

So how do you deliver great omnichannel CX? The first step is both listening and acting on your VoC across channels and touchpoints in a connected and joined up manner. Only then can you find out about, diagnose, size and resolve the issues your customers face when they attempt to give you their money.

Are you guilty of the 10 signs of disconnected customer listening? Check out the OpinionLab strategy guide to find out.

Source: B2C

Content Charisma: How Cool Socks Are Like Content on the Web

The content charisma of colorful footwear

The other day I went to buy some new socks, since mine had holes in them. You might think it’s weird, but that shopping experience inspired this post. (It’s a metaphor – hint, hint). The socks on the rack were like content on the web: tons of choices, but some had more charisma than others. That is, more content charisma (a term I first heard from Laura A. Hernandez).

Charisma is part of personality. So let’s look at yours.

What’s your personality?

• Do you wear black socks, colorful socks or no socks?


• Do you drive a sedan, a minivan, a convertible, or an SUV?

• Do you find humor in life, or take things pretty seriously?


• Would you rather be inside a boardroom or outside in a park?


• Are you more comfortable speaking, writing or reading?


• Do you seek people out or prefer to be alone?

And finally, what do these questions have to do with startup businesses and content marketing?

The answer is that they can influence your content charisma, your content personality.

What is content charisma?

Content charisma is the energy and attractiveness emanating from your website, your blog, your videos, your social posts and the rest of your content.

Your personality as a content marketer colors your content charisma. If you’re flamboyant, the content you create will likely be flamboyant as well. If you’re more conservative by nature, your content will be, too.

That’s all well and good. You are who you are.

But what about your ideal customers? Who are they, and what’s their personality?

Match content charisma to customer personality

In an earlier post I described how to define your ideal customers using personas. That requires a deep understanding of their needs, wants, attitudes and daily challenges — and their personality.

If your ideal customers are all buttoned up, by all means, you should produce content with a straight-laced, no-nonsense appeal.

But if your ideal customers are risk-takers, or looking for change, or yearning to be different, or trendy – you may want to match your content charisma with their more outgoing personality.

In other words, you may want to wear more colorful socks.

When content charisma clashes with personas

If the content you create is conservative, but your ideal customer is anything but, you’ve got “content clash.” This also happens when the reverse is true (flashy content, conservative targets.)

That’s why spending time to develop rich personas is so important. Your goal as a content marketer is to appeal to and help your best prospective customers, no matter what your own personality looks like. Define the personality of your best prospects first, and then develop content to match. Remember, it’s not about you.

Laura Hernandez had this to say: “…to keep themselves on the radar of buyers who are doing most of their purchase research without interacting with a salesperson, companies must make their content compelling, empathetic, and empowering… in other words, charismatic.”

Get help when you need it

So what happens if you wear black socks and your ideal customer prefers colorful stripes?

Get a writer and a designer to help you out. This is one of those times when doing it yourself may not be the best choice.

Writers and designers can take your core educational information and present it with the right content charisma – that is, with a level of panache that matches that of your best target customers.

A content charisma example

What does targeted content charisma look like? Well, I hope you’re looking at an example as you read this article.

My ideal personas are startup owners, entrepreneurs, freelancers and small business marketers. My assumption is that most of these folks are more on the “colorful socks” side of the equation than anywhere else. They’re risk-takers and creative thinkers who want to move ahead in the world under the power of their own ideas, knowledge and initiative.

Accordingly, I’ve purposely tried to craft content that’s uplifting, challenging, colorful, and a bit fun.

I’ve also shared quite a bit about my own background, not to shine the spotlight on myself but because I think my audience might be drawn to personal stories that resonate with their own.

If that matches your personality, then you’re in the right place.

Of course, the jury is still out on whether I’ve got the right content charisma to attract self-starters in the content world. If you’d like to comment on this, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What drew you to read this article, for example?

Time to go shopping

As you start your own content marketing journey, think of it as a shopping trip on behalf of your ideal customers. Will they find colorful socks that trumpet their boldness, or the solid style assurance of conservative black hosiery?

Either way, it’s up to you to radiate the content charisma that will pull them in.

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This article was originally published here.

Source: B2C

Can We Use Parallel Processes to Solve Organizational Problems?

In 1989, Kenwyn Smith published a study entitled “Fix the Women”, describing a consulting situation characterized by fighting between two women in a troubled unit of a state hospital. After assessing the behaviors, the researchers determined the women’s hostility was actually fueled by feelings of competitiveness among the three senior men in the unit.

This is a phenomenon called parallel process thinking: when dynamics of one system are picked up and enacted by another system. In this case, the competitive dynamics of the men in the hospital unit fueled the conflict between these two women.

Consultants don’t always think of the theories associated with the work we do. They become part of us and our work. We talk to people and through years of experience, theories in behavioral science organically drive what we do, how we speak to people, how we solve problems, how we help, and how we advise.

When focusing on results with clients, especially within a limited timeframe, energy is usually spent toward practical application. But this theory is important because it affects everybody. If you can understand parallel process thinking, then it has potential to serve as a guide for better problem-solving.

So let’s examine this idea of parallel processes.

What is Parallel Process Thinking?

Psychologist Clayton Alderfer’s classified parallel processes as part of his Five Laws of the Embedded Intergroup Relations Theory. He theorized that “parallel processes occur when one [team] projects elements of its condition onto the other, and the other absorbs what is projected.” Affected individuals can show either identical or opposite behavior. (The more similarities among the group to begin with, the more likely that the behaviors will be the former; the less similar, the more likely they will be the latter.)

Alderfer’s theory argues that within systems, there is a naturally occurring tendency for parallel changes. He states, “Parallel processes are naturally occurring phenomena. They occur within [individuals/teams] of the same order and across [individuals/teams] of different orders. They include effects on individual psyches, in interpersonal relationships between individuals, between persons and groups, across subgroups within groups, and among groups.”

Indicators of Parallel Processes

There are certain identifiable characteristics of a parallel process in action. Emotional intelligence, and particularly self- and social-awareness are extremely important in recognizing this phenomenon because in order to identify it, you need to access how you’re reacting emotionally and what you are perceiving. Are there distressing emotions popping up out of nowhere? Do you not feel like yourself? Is there a noticeable change in the relationships you have with people, or do you see a shift in the dynamics between people on your team? Is there a new discomfort on account of change in another system? Is there a mirroring struggle between other groups?

You may observe discomfort in many forms with parallel process thinking, including frustration, projection, a feeling of being overwhelmed or a general feeling of instability, and unwarranted changes in moods. But, if you can tap into your social and self-awareness, you will increase your chances of picking out parallel processes at play.

How Can We Benefit From Parallel Process Thinking?

Why are we talking about parallel process? Because it is natural and above all, useful.

The realization and acceptance that your feelings are not always your own is perfectly normal and undoubtedly important. “Parallel processes can be set in motion in many ways,” writes Alderfer, “and once initiated, leave no one immune from their influence.”

If recognized and observed correctly and at the right time, then discomfort associated with this phenomenon can very quickly become advantageous to you and to your organization. We have all heard and, I’m sure, felt transference of emotions at some point. Oftentimes it happens at emotionally charged moments in our lives.

When a parallel process is at play and you know it, you feel it, and this can bring a lot of insight. On an individual level, you can begin having conversations with other people and tracking how many similarities there may be. You can also use yourself as a tool to solve problems if you are in this situation (i.e. if a change is affecting you negatively then there is a high chance that it is affecting others negatively as well).

On an organizational level, parallel processing is data. Smith’s study, “Fixing the Women”, shows that visible behaviors are not always the cause of conflict. In fact, it was really about addressing and fixing the dynamics of a smaller system within the organization: the men in a different department. When these consultants recognized the dynamics at play, they were able to make significant changes in the organization.

If your company is going through major organizational change, you may want to hone in on the patterns of behaviors of those around you as well as your own actions. This heightened awareness of parallel process may very well lead you through your biggest organizational challenges.

Source: B2C

What Lost Spirits Distillery Can Teach Small Businesses About Customer Experience

Visit almost any distillery in the U.S. and you’ll probably see tons of metal tanks and commercial equipment used to age booze in the same way it’s been done for decades. But visit Lost Spirits, a distillery in Los Angeles, and you’ll have a completely different experience.

The inside of the distillery resembles a strange version of an amusement park or Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. There are jungle scenes and dragon heads. There’s even a wooden raft that floats on the plant’s cooling water tank.

Bryan Davis is the co-founder of Lost Spirits. He explained that the distillery was built to include several different imaginary lands to go with the drinks. So when you visit, you can go and sit in a unique environment that the founders envisioned when creating the very drink you’re enjoying.

The business also creates oak aged rum and peated whiskey using new techniques that help the booze to “age” faster. But that’s really only part of the company’s innovative approach.

The Boutique Business Customer Experience Differentiator

For small businesses, Lost Spirits demonstrates how you can get really creative when making experiences for customers. This is especially true when you’re building a boutique type of business only for very specific types of customers. You can create these experiences to be unique compared to anything those customers might have elsewhere. As a result, your customers will be likely to keep coming back again and again — and not just for your products.

Image: Lost Spirits Distillery

This article, "What Lost Spirits Distillery Can Teach Small Businesses About Customer Experience" was first published on Small Business Trends

Source: small business

6 Design Tips to Create an Inspiring Office Space

Do you love your office space? How does the space you work in make you feel?

Chances are, if you aren’t enjoying the space in which you operate your business, your employees don’t enjoy the space either. And if your employees don’t like the space in which they work, it has a direct impact on their productivity and your ability to create a successful business.

Research actually reveals it is important to invest in a strategic, beautiful office design to motivate and inspire your employees. But how do you go about designing an inspiring office space?

How to Create an Inspiring Office Space

According to Cubicle Concepts, a new and used office furniture provider in Chicago, a well-designed office — both in terms of function and aesthetics — can inspire workers and also visitors.

Cubicle Concepts offers six current office design trends and tips for creating an inspiring work space for yourself, your employees and even visitors:

1.  Add More Color

Use office colors strategically because people experience psychological changes when exposed to certain colors. So, for example, red can get employees excited about where they work, while blue and green can communicate feelings of relaxation, hopefulness and calm.

2. Create Designated Lounge Spaces

Designated lounge spaces with comfortable seating and cozy set up like a coffee shop or café allow the body and mind to rest, which improves productivity and focus at work.

3. Use Adaptable Furniture

Look for furniture that is comfortable, can be moved easily and has multiple uses. This type of furniture enables collaboration without sacrificing focus and worker well-being.

4. Allow Use of Co-working Spaces

People who use co-working spaces every day or some days of the week feel like they’re part of a community and see their work as meaningful. This boosts worker productivity and fulfillment.

5. Provide Quiet Zones for Individual Work

Sometimes we need quiet workspaces to do our best work. Offer a quiet zone, ideally with noise levels between 48 and 52 decibels (dB), to facilitate this.

6. Incorporate Plants

Add office plants to improve workspace aesthetics and air quality. Other wellness tips you can use in the office include adding health focused furniture, such as standing desks and stability ball chairs.

Check out the cool infographic below by Cubicle Concepts with more details on how to create an inspiring workplace.

Images: Cubicle Concepts

This article, "6 Design Tips to Create an Inspiring Office Space" was first published on Small Business Trends

Source: small business

How to Brainstorm New Ideas

Having a great business depends on a great business idea—which means you’ll need to find the best ways to brainstorm new ideas.

However, that’s often easier said than done. This is because it can usually be very difficult to concentrate or to get in the right mental space to allow for a great brainstorm. This can be quite difficult with both modern and traditional distractions—smartphones and people.

On the other hand, brainstorming can also be accomplished with other people, which is especially necessary when you’re working on a business idea with your partners.

So let’s look at the best ways you can brainstorm new ideas successfully.

Solve your own problems

When you are starting a business, you are essentially solving a problem that people have. For B2C’s, it’s for consumers; for B2B’s it’s for other businesses, and for B2G’s, it’s governments and related institutions.

While trying to figure out what problems you want to solve, why not start with yourself. Essentially, ask yourself: what problems do I have? If there’s a solution for that problems, try to see if you can present the solution more efficiently and for a better price.

Be aware of the trends

What will be the next big thing for 2017 and beyond? What are the most important emerging trends . If you can get ahead of these trends, you can spot business opportunities before they become big. And when they become big, you’ll have great business.

In order to spot that, you need to know what the current trends are. You also need to know analyst and industry leader opinions on what is soon to come.

Keeping your ear on the business ground will be important when you try to brainstorm new ideas for your business.

What kinds of trends are you seeing? What gaps will it create. From that trend, what are the products or services that will be necessary, and how can you fill that need?

Switch fields

While you probably have most of your comfort, experience and skills in one field, you don’t have to just stick with that. Why not think of business ideas outside of your current field?

Sometimes if you’re too comfortable and familiar with your industry, it can act as a limitation and kill your creativity. What skills do you have, and what industries besides your own can they work in?

For example, if you are a scientist, you don’t have to just stick with research centers and academics. You can go work for L’Oreal, Bose, Nestle, and many other businesses where your talents are needed. With that, you can also start your own company by selling one product (makeup, for example), but using your science experience and skills to make the best makeup products.

Don’t be original, just be better

One thing that many new entrepreneurs do is to try to be original when they come up with new ideas for their businesses. However, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

All you need to do is to be faster, cheaper, and more efficient.

For example, IKEA did not in fact create furniture or collapsible furniture for that matter. It only found a way to do it better. Nor did Apple invent the smartphone.

Do it better and you may just have a great business idea on your hands.

Ask around

If you’re still stuck for great brainstorming fuel, why don’t you go and ask your target audience on social media? You may not know exactly what you want to sell or what service you want to provide, but you might know who you want it to be for.

If you do, or if you have even the tiniest of ideas, ask those people.

If you want to sell electronic services or products, ask people who regularly buy electronics. Sometimes the only way to get great brainstorming ideas is to ask other people.

Mix it up

Lastly, you can do something which can be quite a fun activity: mix and match things that are seemingly different.

Essentially, you are combining disparate things and putting them together in a practical way. You can do this in many ways.

One is to put ideas into a hat and choosing two words at random. Another is to go to the local supermarket and matching products that are across from each other in the aisles.

While you may come up with a lot of crazy ideas—actually, mostly crazy ideas—you might find some gold. Even if you don’t, those ideas could lead you to some ideas that are much more practical.

With these steps, you can come up with some fantastic new ideas. With a great brainstorming session, who knows, you could be the next Airbnb, IKEA or Dollar Shave Club.

Source: B2C

How You Can Benefit From PHP Website Development

Take a look around the web for ways to build a website and you’ll find a slew of platforms, agencies and freelancers in all corners of the globe ready to help you get started. That doesn’t mean it will be easy to choose. “Kid” and “sweet shop” are the words that come to mind.

Years ago, it was like a secret little world. If you wanted a website, you had to get the help of a glasses-wearing geek who did little else other than sit in front of the computer coding all day long. At least, that’s the picture many of us had in mind.

Whether that was true or not, people who wanted an online presence didn’t want to get involved in web programming languages back then because it was much too confusing. And for many, that’s still the case today.

Luckily, you no longer have to worry about web development and all the coding languages that come with it. Just find a website building platform, make a few clicks and you’re good to go.

There’s just one problem

While most platforms offer a quick, easy and convenient way to get online, you may find yourself having to test a few. Before you get to that point, however, you’ll probably spend some time searching for reviews or asking for people’s opinions. Once you’ve found something you like, you’ll usually find that you’re restricted.

Those restrictions often come in the form of not being able to change the layout, limited colour schemes and not being able to transfer your design should you choose to host elsewhere. That’s when you might decide to try an alternative. But the last thing you want is to waste time chopping and changing when you’re busy.

If what you really want is a custom designed website, you’ll have to forget about hoping to find that perfect simple setup web builder. Even if you’re given a reasonable amount of control over the design elements of your site, it will never be full control.

Having a website built from scratch could save you lots of frustration in the long run. Hire a website developer and he will use his web development programming expertise such as PHP, Javascript, ASP and MSSQL to create a bespoke website for you.

Depending on your needs he may suggest that PHP stands out as the best option for your website and there are a few reasons why.

Benefits of PHP development

You might be wondering why you need to know about the benefits of PHP if you’re not the one doing the coding. All you want is a website that works. While it’s not a necessity to know, It makes sense to have an understanding of why your developer might suggest a specific programming language.

You’ll want to make sure that it can match up to how you want your website to function. If you have a specific idea in mind but PHP can’t create it, that’s important information to know. A highly skilled web developer will be able to delve deeper into the ins and outs so you’ll know exactly what to expect.

For now, here are a few benefits:

Open source – which means it can be download and used for free so It won’t be added into the overall cost of the fee charged by your programmer. How’s that for an instant saving?

Fast – It’s efficient and works in most of the major web browsers, whether that be Windows, Linux, MacOS etc.

Embeddable – it can be embedded into HTML so if you have a relatively static website, you can have PHP embedded into the code to make it more dynamic. This would enable you to avoid having to start from scratch.

Trusted – It’s been around for over 20 years, has a user base in the millions and a massive support community. If there are any problems or bugs, it’ll get fixed quickly.

If you want an example or two of the possibilities of having your website powered by this coding language, head over to Facebook or WordPress. They’re two of the biggest examples you’ll ever find.

Overall, when it comes to a website that’s simple to use, secure, has fast loading times and all the functionality you need, the website development process will make it happen, every time.

Source: B2C

How You Can Benefit From PHP Website Development

Take a look around the web for ways to build a website and you’ll find a slew of platforms, agencies and freelancers in all corners of the globe ready to help you get started. That doesn’t mean it will be easy to choose. “Kid” and “sweet shop” are the words that come to mind.

Years ago, it was like a secret little world. If you wanted a website, you had to get the help of a glasses-wearing geek who did little else other than sit in front of the computer coding all day long. At least, that’s the picture many of us had in mind.

Whether that was true or not, people who wanted an online presence didn’t want to get involved in web programming languages back then because it was much too confusing. And for many, that’s still the case today.

Luckily, you no longer have to worry about web development and all the coding languages that come with it. Just find a website building platform, make a few clicks and you’re good to go.

There’s just one problem

While most platforms offer a quick, easy and convenient way to get online, you may find yourself having to test a few. Before you get to that point, however, you’ll probably spend some time searching for reviews or asking for people’s opinions. Once you’ve found something you like, you’ll usually find that you’re restricted.

Those restrictions often come in the form of not being able to change the layout, limited colour schemes and not being able to transfer your design should you choose to host elsewhere. That’s when you might decide to try an alternative. But the last thing you want is to waste time chopping and changing when you’re busy.

If what you really want is a custom designed website, you’ll have to forget about hoping to find that perfect simple setup web builder. Even if you’re given a reasonable amount of control over the design elements of your site, it will never be full control.

Having a website built from scratch could save you lots of frustration in the long run. Hire a website developer and he will use his web development programming expertise such as PHP, Javascript, ASP and MSSQL to create a bespoke website for you.

Depending on your needs he may suggest that PHP stands out as the best option for your website and there are a few reasons why.

Benefits of PHP development

You might be wondering why you need to know about the benefits of PHP if you’re not the one doing the coding. All you want is a website that works. While it’s not a necessity to know, It makes sense to have an understanding of why your developer might suggest a specific programming language.

You’ll want to make sure that it can match up to how you want your website to function. If you have a specific idea in mind but PHP can’t create it, that’s important information to know. A highly skilled web developer will be able to delve deeper into the ins and outs so you’ll know exactly what to expect.

For now, here are a few benefits:

Open source – which means it can be download and used for free so It won’t be added into the overall cost of the fee charged by your programmer. How’s that for an instant saving?

Fast – It’s efficient and works in most of the major web browsers, whether that be Windows, Linux, MacOS etc.

Embeddable – it can be embedded into HTML so if you have a relatively static website, you can have PHP embedded into the code to make it more dynamic. This would enable you to avoid having to start from scratch.

Trusted – It’s been around for over 20 years, has a user base in the millions and a massive support community. If there are any problems or bugs, it’ll get fixed quickly.

If you want an example or two of the possibilities of having your website powered by this coding language, head over to Facebook or WordPress. They’re two of the biggest examples you’ll ever find.

Overall, when it comes to a website that’s simple to use, secure, has fast loading times and all the functionality you need, the website development process will make it happen, every time.

Source: B2C

How Social Media Marketing Stabilize Your Google Ranking

Everyone wants to rank better on Google; no one wants to be on page 2 or 3 in a Google search result. It’s no surprise that this is why you’re reading this article; you want to rank better too. If you’re anything like me, you’re tired of spending a whole lot of money on methods that just don’t seem to work and that’s why your search has to lead you here. With limited resources, you need to know where to focus your efforts to have confidence in getting your rankings up and also stable. It’s quite easy to get confused by the many articles that highlight the importance of Google’s 200 ranking factors (you probably don’t even know all of them yourself).

In a few moments, you’re going to learn about how Google treats content and how that all plays a part in improving your rankings. And the best part is you don’t need to be an expert to take advantage of the information that I’m about to share with you. This information will not only help you to increase your brand awareness but also to increase customer acquisition and boost your products or services.

Where are your customers?

I’ve always gotten the old school advice that if you’re looking for a book then the best place to look is in the library. So if you’re looking to get stable rankings, wouldn’t it be best to first find out where most of your potential customers are hanging out online in order to offer them your services? There are close to 3 billion social media users worldwide, up by 22% this year. That’s approximately a 37% global penetration according to a research done by Social Media Today.

It’s no wonder so many companies are investing in social media customer service strategies training for their employees. But why you might ask?

A study done by Gartner found that “the dissatisfaction stemming from failure to respond via social channels can lead to up to a 15% in churn rate for existing customers”, so while your goal is to gain stable ranking, social media customer service strategies are key to that overall goal. The more satisfied customers you retain then the more they talk about you on social media, the more they talk about you online then the more Google recognizes your brand.

How does Google treat Social Media content and how does this affect your ranking?

Google uses Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to effectively rank pages. SEO is the process of getting traffic from the free or organic search results on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Google’s objective is to always provide the most relevant results to the user’s request; promoting authority pages at the top of its rankings.

The YouTube channel Google Webmasters released a video with Google’s Matt Cutts in 2014. In that video, while Cutts made it very clear that Google does not use social signaling to rank your pages, he did however, state that “Facebook and Twitter pages are treated like any other pages in our web index, and so if something occurs on Twitter or occurs on Facebook and we’re able to crawl it then we can return that in our search results.”

Many SEO and internet marketing experts outline that posting links to your websites on popular social media websites can definitely boost your rankings and grow your business. The links that are posted on a social media account such can be recognized as credible backlinks and thereby influencing page ranks.

How does all of this tie in to give you better rankings?


With almost 3 billion monthly active users on social media, it has become a very powerful tool to drive traffic to your website which will help you to rank well. You can drive traffic to your website via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and others using a simple 4-step system. And the best part is we’re giving those steps to you for FREE!

If you follow these simple steps then you will be able to use the traffic from social media to boost your website statistics, therefore, increasing your Google rank:

1. Create social media accounts that you will use to gain an audience/following


2. Write articles (and social media posts) that offer great content, using keywords and phrases that your potential customers are searching for and post them to your social media accounts.


3. Include social sharing buttons on your website and ask persons to share your content with their friends on social media.


4. Repeat steps 2 & 3

By using your social media profile to post short sentences with a link to your blogs, you will start to generate traffic from your profile to your website for free (especially if your followers share content from your website). But you won’t achieve this by simply posting a link to your website on your profile. You see, when you post a link on your social media, it is flagged with a “nofollow” tag which instructs Google’s search engine bots that the link should not influence the link target’s ranking. But by including keywords in your profile’s bio, headlines, summaries, posts, and links, that your target audience would be likely to use which would actually display your profile in search results.

It’s simple logic. The larger your following on social media is the more it helps Google to measure the authenticity of your users’ click through from social media to your website. After all, you wouldn’t have had a community of followers visiting your website if you were only posting a bunch of sham. Also, the more your posts are shared the more search engines assume that the content is of value. You just need to ensure that those posts contain the keywords that your target audience may be searching for.

Remember that Google’s main objective is to always provide the most relevant results to its users. Therefore, once persons search for those keywords they may come across your profile and the content that you post, some of which includes a link to your website. Those readers who visit your website and love the content will naturally share it on social media thus increasing the authenticity of click through which improves your website statistics that will rank you better on Google.

As your social media community and brand begins to grow, it will help to reinforce your relevance. This will lead to persons reaching out you and commenting on your posts on a daily basis and perhaps asking about your products or services. It will be very important that you learn good social media customer service strategies in order to keep your audience fully engaged and talking about your brand.

That being said, social media can definitely help you to increase your rankings by making posts that engage your users enough that they want to naturally share your content as well. Quality is key.

Source: B2C

Ignoring Engagement On Social Networks Could Be Disastrous For Your Influencer Marketing Campaign!

Likes, comments, and shares are the currency of social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: The higher an influencer’s engagement rates are, the more valuable the influencer is for brands. Forms of engagement such as comments and likes show precisely what users love and what they do not. For companies and brands, engagement rates are an indicator of how successfully an influencer can promote products and whose followers are particularly interactive.

When publishing a post, the ultimate goal is to create a high engagement among the audience. Therefore, the actual posting is only the first step in the process. Encouraging the engagement of other users towards a content piece goes beyond simply putting content out there. Above that, different kinds of engagement are present in social networks, representing various stages of users’ commitment to a channel’s content. In the following, we will break down all forms of engagement that can be measured to evaluate the success of an influencer collaboration.

The term engagement describes the sum of all forms of users’ interactions with a post or a channel, including likes, comments, shares, reposts, and mentions. As described in more detail in a previous blogpost, there are different stages of commitment when it comes to engagement. In general, the more commitment a form of engagement requires, the less it occurs.

Amount of various engagement forms in social networks © InfluencerDB

In the following, we will compare different forms of engagement across Instagram and Facebook.

LIKES

Likes are the simplest form of engagement on social platforms. With a click on Facebook and a double click on Instagram, users can show their appreciation for a post. While Instagram only displays likes as a heart, Facebook launched its new feature Reactions in 2016 on a global level which allows users to choose from several post reactions next to the regular like button.

Facebook Reactions

Likes and reactions are the most used form of post appreciation across every social network. Liking and reacting is applied easily and quickly – therefore, it is a very basic form of engagement that only needs a low level of commitment.

To illustrate likes and reactions, let us have a look at the channels of British blogger Victoria Magrath (@inthefrow). She has 759,269 followers on Instagram and 34,275 page likes on Facebook as of today.

A picture posted by Victoria a few weeks ago received 29,508 likes on Instagram, so almost 4% of her overall followers liked the post. This number describes the Like Follower Ratio of the posting, the mount of likes in relation to the follower number.

Instagram post likes

Regarding her Instagram channel, Victoria received 579,361 post likes altogether during the last four weeks, which equals 18,689 likes per post on average for that time period.

The same piece of content was posted on Facebook the same day and received 770 reactions, which equals 2.2% of her Facebook followers.

For this example, engagement in the form of likes on Facebook is significantly lower than on Instagram.

Facebook post reactions

COMMENTS

Commenting on a post involves a much higher commitment than simply liking a post. The example of influencer Toni Mahfud (@tonimahfud) shows that the number of comments is significantly lower than the amount of likes. This applies for Instagram as well as for Facebook. Toni has 2,810,151 followers on Instagram and 1,068,490 page likes on Facebook as of today.

Of his Instagram followers, 285,410 people (10.2%) liked the picture displayed below, but only 3,753 followers (0.13%) commented on it.

Instagram post comments

During the last four weeks, Toni published six posts on Instagram and received 15,000 comments on these, which equals 2,500 comments per post on average.

On Facebook, the comment rate is even lower. Of his 1,068,490 Facebook page likers, 26,786 liked the said picture/ clicked on a reaction (2.5%), but only 254 left a comment (0.02%).

Similar to the example of @inthefrow, engagement, both likes and comments, is less frequent on Facebook compared to Instagram and comments appear less often than likes.

Facebook post comments

SHARES & REPOSTS

Shares and reposts are basically one and the same: Users pick up a post of someone else and share this post to their own channel.

On Twitter, this concept is called retweet, on Facebook, it is known as share. Both platforms offer buttons that allow users to “copy” a piece of content to their own channel.

Facebook shares

Instagram itself does not offer an own repost option but there are apps available that allow users to repost or regram content pieces nonetheless.

Repost on Instagram via InstaRepost

Another way to repost content is by simply taking a screenshot of the original picture and posting it, mentioning the original publisher in the caption.

Repost on Instagram via screenshot

Reposting or sharing offers benefits for both the original publisher and the person who shares the post. The user who originally posted the content is usually mentioned/ tagged in the repost. This way, users who do not follow the original publisher are made aware of his or her content and might be encouraged to start following that channel. Likewise, the user who reposts can pull the followers of the original publisher to his or her channel since those followers can see when the original publisher is tagged in a repost.

Example of photo tags of the influencer @fit_trio

But be aware that on Instagram, this concept only works if the original publisher is tagged in the picture and not if he or she is only mentioned in the caption. Only in the former case can the followers of the original publisher see that a post of that channel was reposted by someone else. Also, the tagged pictures are only visible in the Instagram app, not via web.

An important factor to keep in mind when reposting is that it is strictly forbidden to simply copy someone else’s content and pretending to own the picture. The share and retweet options on Facebook and Twitter automatically mark the original publisher in the repost. This can be removed when using repost apps for Instagram, though. The platform itself strictly speaks against infringing copyrights and states:

Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share. As always, you own the content you post on Instagram. Remember to post authentic content, and don’t post anything you’ve copied or collected from the Internet that you don’t have the right to post.

MENTIONS

Mentions are tags of other users in one’s caption or in a comment. The tagged user is notified of being mentioned. Tags are a common way to increase attention on social platforms: Users and especially influencers call upon their followers to tag other users in the comments. Thus, those tagged users become aware of the content they are mentioned in and might start to follow the channel. This method is extremely popular for contests and can be an easy way for brands to gain new followers in this context.

gain new followers in this context.

THE TAKEAWAY

By 2015, 53% of Instagram users, 50% of Twitter users and 44% of Facebook users followed brands on the social networks, a study found.

Comparing these platforms, engagement rates are highest on Instagram. The platform shows a ten times higher engagement than Facebook. Facebook and Twitter show rather low levels of engagement. As a platform that relies on visual content, engagement is higher for photos than videos on Instagram. Users seek inspiration on Instagram – a major benefit that leverages engagement to a higher extent than Facebook or Twitter do. Users seem to be more encouraged to engage with a post that is visually appealing rather than a simple text post.

The examples of @inthefrow and @tonimahfud mentioned above show that likes are the most common form of engagement while comments appear less frequently. Shares and mentions are used less often, but mentions or tags, in particular, can be used to raise attention and increase one’s follower group.

_____________________________

Published originally on InfluencerDB | Influencer Marketing For Professionals

Source: B2C

Referrals: The Holy Grail of Marketing

People influence people. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.

– Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook

The goal of referral marketing is simple: To harness the power of authentic word-of-mouth to drive a steady stream of high-quality referrals to your business (and grow revenue as a result). Executing against that goal, however, is a little bit more complicated.

For referral marketing to work, you need to have a few core building blocks in place:

– A quality product that customers love: While referral marketing can generate dramatic results, it all starts with your product. If your customers are continually telling you how much they love it, they’ll probably be willing to do the same thing with their network.

– A captive, engaged audience: If your relationship with customers is mostly transactional (think: buying milk at a convenience store) and your social following is disengaged, referral marketing might not be for you. If, on the other hand, you’ve built up a captive audience of loyal customers, fans, and followers, referral marketing can be incredibly powerful. Engage and incentivize them correctly, and you’ll see a big ROI.

– A process to track, manage, and reward referrals: In order to move away from the traditional ad-hoc approach to referrals, you’ll need to implement processes that automate the repetitive nature of creating, tracking, and rewarding referral campaigns. This is the only way to make referrals a truly scalable source of revenue.

Beyond those building blocks, the core strategies that drive referral marketing aren’t rocket science. In fact, the approaches deployed by brands like Airbnb, Uber, and Google to drive incredible user growth are, for the most part, replicable.

So let’s dive into how to automate and scale referrals. Your brand can easily create a repeatable process to continuously attract new and loyal customers with these 5 simple steps:

1. IDENTIFY: Engage potential brand ambassadors and advocates

Determine the audience you want to engage and segment, starting with your existing customers, web visitors, fans, and other advocates.

2. ENROLL: Engaging contacts by enrolling them in a referral program

Easily enroll all your brand ambassadors in tailored referral campaigns. Take it a step further and drill down your database by segmenting according to specific criteria.

3. TRACK: Custom Links & Codes All for Cross-Device Tracking

Measure and monitor important activities like shares, clicks, referral conversions, and rewards earned and paid out.

4. REWARD: Incentivizing and rewarding ambassadors for referring new customers

Incentivize referrals by offering relevant incentives for your ambassadors, and automating the reward process using cash, credits, or gift cards.

5. OPTIMIZE: Always be improving your program.

Manage all of your ambassadors, monitor key performance indicators, and optimize your referral program to boost brand awareness and drive revenue — in real time.

While referrals do happen organically, they’re never a given — even if a customer loves your products and services. In fact, a Texas Tech University study found that while 83% of customers say they’re willing to provide referrals after a positive brand experience, only 29% actually do. That chasm exists for many reasons, but it’s often exacerbated by a failure to prioritize and manage a truly scalable referral marketing program.

How can your company close that gap?

Watch our recent webinar with Digital Marketer, which explores the basics of referral marketing, the techniques you can use to transform happy customers into revenue-driving brand ambassadors, and the simple steps you can take to ensure your referral program is easy to manage, measure, and scale.

Source: B2C

“Fine” is the F-Bomb of Customer Service

Not long ago I was interviewing Kevin Berk, founder and CEO of ServiceGuru, on Amazing Business Radio. We were talking about the word fine. He commented that it is a four letter that begins with the letter F that you never want to hear from your customer. I then joked that fine is the “F-Bomb” of customer service.

Ask someone how their experience with your company is. If they say, “Fine,” and you dig a little deeper, you may find out things really aren’t so fine.

I Googled the word fine and found that the word is an adjective that means “high quality.” That may be true if you’re talking about a “fine-looking haircut.” However, as just mentioned, that may not always be the case, especially when it comes to business and customer service.

“How’s the food?” “Fine.”

“How’s the service?” “Fine.”

“How’s your experience? “Fine.”

If you owned a restaurant and asked your customer those questions, and their answer was, “Fine,” how would you feel? You would know that there was a problem! You would need to ask a deeper question to understand how the customer really felt.

So, does fine really mean fine? NO!

Consider that the word fine is really an acronym that stands for:

• F: Faking a smile


• I: Insincere response


• N: Never coming back


• E: Emotionless

This all comes together in a bold statement I found while doing Internet research for this article. I found the following phrase on images, posters and funny tee shirts. I laughed out loud …

Fine is not fine! The scale goes Great, Good, Okay, Not Okay, I Hate You, Fine!

So, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but it makes the point. Fine does not always mean fine! In customer service, fine means okay at best – average, trite, mundane and unimpressive. I think you get the idea. If you hear a customer say it is fine, it is time to move into service and relationship recovery mode.

I compare this to the concept of a “satisfied customer.” This is the customer that doesn’t complain, but doesn’t praise you either. This is the customer that will seldom, if ever, refer business to you. This is the customer that may not come back.

But, we thought they were happy. Why? Because they didn’t complain. If they had, we could have made things right. But, that doesn’t mean the experience was great. Maybe things weren’t all that bad. Maybe there was nothing at all to complain about. Maybe things weren’t wrong, but they weren’t really right, either. Maybe they were just … fine.

Source: B2C