buyer persona

Lessons Learned: Buyer Persona Gone Wrong

Before a company can establish a solid marketing plan, it must be aware of the specific target markets or customer profiles it has the best chance to attract to its product or service. Creating a buyer persona is essential to effective attraction marketing.

Market Segmentation

In order to perfect your approach in buyer persona launch, these are some common mistakes to avoid:

  1. Don’t Forget to Focus on the Buyer Decision

The most common mistake marketers make is solely defining a buyer persona by the buyer profile, rather than putting detailed consideration in what is most useful: the buyer decision.

How to fix this:

Aside from using previous data, we recommend using the research questions provided by 5 Rings of Buying Insight™, which incorporates every aspect you need to know about your buyer persona’s decision making process:

  1. Priority initiatives – What causes certain buyers to invest in solutions like yours? What is different about buyers who are satisfied with the status quo?
  2. Success factors – What operational or personal results do your buyers expect to achieve by purchasing this solution?
  3. Perceived barriers – What concerns cause your buyers to believe that your solution or company is not their best option?
  4. Buyer’s journey – Who and what impacts your buyers as they evaluate their options and make a selection?
  5. Decision criteria – Which aspects of competing products, services, solutions, or companies do your buyers perceive as most critical? What do your buyers expect for each?

Ultimate Guide to the Buyer’s Journey- Find out What Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey Entails

  1. Keep Your Research Questions Simple and Sweet

Marketers often stray from insightful target market findings if they use too much detail in their research questions. When conducting research about your buyer persona through surveys or focus groups, avoid questions that are overly personal or technical. This may deviate your campaign away from any productive findings that would help you truly get to know your ideal customer niche.

How to fix this:

When developing questions, it is best to start by establishing what the key problems or questions are that you ultimately want answers for.  You may start with a larger, broader list of questions… however, do not make the mistake of forgetting to shave it down. In the end, all questions should lead to answers that are simple, sweet, and directly related to the problem trying to be solved at hand.

 

  1. Assuming About the Buyer Persona Leads Campaigns Astray

It is important to remember that the most helpful information comes directly from the customers. When researching a potential buyer persona, it is crucial to avoid filling in the blanks, skipping the interview, or assuming anything about the client. A campaign could go in the complete wrong direction if this occurs.

How to fix this:

Rather than making an incorrect assumption based on survey results, in-depth conversations with people can provide the answers you need to bring your brand to the next level. Additionally, a small sample size may lead to incorrect assumptions. Since quality > quantity, and many agencies fixate too much into demographic or other obvious information rather than actually helpful insights, in-depth interviews are again a solution to avoiding this mistake. In order to avoid an over-reliance on anecdotes, always ensure they are backed up by data. You know what they say about assuming… it definitely does not make an accurate buyer persona!

 

  1. Less is More: Master One Buyer Persona First!

It is important to focus on mastering one target market rather than taking on too many to handle. Trying to tackle too many buyer personas at once can overwhelm. This results in a lower quality of target profile insights and vague understanding of individual buyer personas.  Before deciding to take on another buyer persona, it is important to know that this new initiative will bring about sufficient revenue and that your company has the resources necessary to execute.

How to fix this:  

Instead of pondering how many buyer personas to generate, it is important to first focus on establishing how many ways your company needs to market its product or service as the solution for a given buyer persona. Once these are established, it is much easier to gauge if another buyer persona should emerge.

 

  1. One Stock Photo Cannot Fit All

Though stock photos incorporate a creative, personable, and emotion-driven touch to a targeted campaign. However, marketers often forget that one stock photo cannot fit all customers within a buyer persona. Do not make the common mistake of overthinking a stock photo to the point it (mis)leads your campaign into the (wrong) direction.

How to fix this:

In order to solidify your campaign, be sure to start the buyer persona creation process with fleshed out, concrete ideas about who exactly your target market is. Only then should you allow yourself to do the fun part of depicting this persona; stock photos should embellish your envisioned buyer persona- not create it.

More on Buyer Personas:

 

social media trends 1

TikTok Advertising Strategies Are Becoming More Common

Most businesses these days are using at least one or two social media channels to market their brand. However, new social channels emerge every year, many of which are worth your attention. Take TikTok for example. Although initially dismissed by most as another social media platform for teens, more businesses are taking notice. This is because they are beginning to realize that TikTok is attracting more adult users every day. As such, TikTok advertising is well worth considering.

What is TikTok?

TikTok started off as a platform on which users could upload videos of themselves lip-synching to music videos. These videos were no more than 15 seconds long. In a way, they were like a more niche-based version of the now-defunct Vine social platform. As such, it was no surprise that the platform attracted a younger audience. However, older users began taking advantage of TikTok’s audience to showcase themselves in different ways. For example, comedians would upload short videos of stand-up routines. Another example is of skateboarders, who would upload tricks that they landed. Soon, TikTok allowed its users to upload videos up to 60 seconds long.

Who Uses TikTok?

TikTok still has a userbase that leans on the younger side with more than 66 percent of its users under the age of 30. However, if you have a younger target audience, then TikTok is very much worth your time. This is especially true when you consider the fact that more parents are using TikTok on a daily basis (it’s estimated that 41 percent of dads have used TikTok). Not to mention that TikTok currently has over six million users in the U.S. alone.

Video Marketing Ideas: Using Storytelling in Social Media

How Can You Leverage TikTok To Market Your Brand?

If your buyer personas match the target audience of TikTok, then you may be curious as to how you can use the platform to your advantage. The following are just a few effective tactics when it comes to TikTok advertising:

  • User-generated content

TikTok is a great platform for encouraging user-generated content. Instagram is the other social channel where user-generated content is incredibly effective. One of the reasons user-generated content is so successful on both of these channels is because it encourages active audience engagement. Not only will they be engaged with your brand, but they will also generate content that helps promote your brand. In a sense, you’ll be getting free advertising. Users are more likely to participate using TikTok as well due to the platform’s focus on video creation.

  • TikTok challenges

One of the reasons why TikTok’s popularity has exploded over recent years is due to the challenges that users engage in. For example, one type of challenge involves doing a specific dance move or physical challenge (such as taking off your shirt while doing a wall stand). Many of these challenges go viral organically, but businesses have begun creating their own challenges in an effort to engage more users. When creating a challenge, make sure to use a hashtag along with an appropriate title. Doing so ensures that the challenge has a better chance of being found and shared.

  • Influencer marketing

Just like Instagram, TikTok is home to users with enormous followings. As such, you should consider influencer marketing. Influencer marketing involves building a relationship with someone on the platform with a large influence (number of followers). As long as your brand is relevant to them, they will be able to influence their followers’ awareness and feelings about your brand. For example, if you create a challenge, you can get it exposure by having an influencer take part in that challenge. They can also encourage their followers to do the same.

  • TikTok’s advertising platform

Like other social platforms, TikTok does have its own advertising platform that you can use. Some of the options include in-feed videos, brand takeover ads, branded AR content, and more. TikTok can even help assist with your influencer marketing campaign via its customer influence package. Additionally, you will can customize your targeting options using website traffic, ad engagement, app activity, or customer contact data.

Begin Integrating TikTok Advertising As Part Of Your Social Marketing Strategy

Although TikTok has a younger user-base, it is continuing to grow, attracting more and more older users. As such, it’s worth considering TikTok advertising, especially if any of your buyer personas match with TikTok’s current audience.

 

6 Tips for Choosing an Advertising Agency

Marketing your company is a must if you have any hope for success. Unfortunately, marketing your company effectively can be very time-consuming and can require a significant amount of resources. It’s why many businesses choose to outsource to an advertising agency. There are many reputable agencies out there to choose from; however, there are also plenty of agencies that can do more harm than good. To make sure that the money you spend on an agency will actually translate to real results, use the following tips to hire the right advertising agency:

1. Find an Advertising Agency That Focuses on Cultureadvertising agency

There are a lot of different factors that you should consider when comparing advertising agencies. However, one of the most important ones is the cultural fit. Make sure that the agency you hire shares the same core values as your business. A good agency that shares your values will be more collaborative and innovative. You should be able to get some sense of their culture by observing their work environment as well. If people seem active and cheerful at the same time, it’s a good sign.

2. Consider The Agency’s Talent

Arguably as important as an agency’s culture is their talent. Without talent, their culture will only take you so far. You want to work with an agency that isn’t conservative. This means that they’re not always looking to play it safe. You want an agency that’s ambitious and that is constantly looking to improve its abilities. You’ll also want to make sure that they are technologically literate. Speak with their HR team to learn about the types of people they tend to look for and hire. You should also look at their turnover rate. A high turnover rate tends to be an issue. It means that they’re either not hiring the right type of talent or that their talent tends to look elsewhere because the agency is a bad fit.

3. Don’t Rule Out Agencies Based On Location

Don’t limit your search for an advertising agency to your location. Location no longer means that much. After all, you don’t need to have in-person meetings with your agency all that often. In today’s connected world, it’s easy to keep in touch using email, online chat, video conferencing, and by phone. Additionally, it can actually benefit your company to look for an agency that’s outside of your area as it could provide you with an outside perspective. Such a perspective can really help freshen up your marketing efforts. By limiting your search to your location, you’ll limit your access to quality agencies and unique perspectives.

4. Don’t Rely Solely on RFPs

RFPs (requests for proposals) can be quite helpful, but you shouldn’t base your decision solely on an RFP. Many agencies excel at RFPs but only because they are opportunistic. When you review an RFP, speak with the agency’s leadership to get a feel for how passionate they are about the work that they do. Ask them about some of their greatest successes as well as some of their failures. The way an agency talks about their past failures can be very enlightening. After all, you’ll want an agency that is willing to reflect on its failures and learn from them.

5. Don’t Make Low Prices Your Main Priority

If you’re working with a limited advertising budget to begin with, you might be tempted to go with the agency that offers the most affordable rates. However, keep in mind that like with most things, you get what you pay for. If you go with the cheapest agency, it may result in lower quality work. They may even cut corners, which is the last thing you want when it comes to implementing a successful long-term advertising strategy.

6. Look Into Their Track Record

Do a little research into an agency’s past and current clients to get an idea of how effective they are as an advertising agency. If the agency has been around for a while, take note of its long-term clients. Clients that have stuck with them for a long time are a good indication of the agency’s quality and commitment. If an agency has a large turnover when it comes to clients, it’s often a bad sign. Be sure to ask the agency for references that you can contact as well.

Interactive Speaking & Marketing Consulting Experiences

Outsourcing your marketing efforts is generally a good way to save money over the long run and to ensure that you have an experienced team that you can rely on. Unfortunately, not all advertising agencies are reliable or even reputable, for that matter. As such, make sure that you use these six tips to find an advertising agency that will work closely with you to help you achieve your specific marketing goals.

Google ads credit

How the Covid-19 Relief Google Ads Credit Program Works

Google has responded to Covid-19 globally by giving qualified small and medium sized businesses $340 million in free Google ads credit. This includes small and medium sized businesses who advertised with Google Ads directly through Google and/or a digital marketing agency (like Stevens and Tate).

google ads credit

Eligibility and Amount Given:

In order to qualify for the Google Ads Credit Program, a small or medium sized business must have spent money with a Google Ads account in 10 of 12 months in the year 2019, and in January and/or February of the year 2020.

Each eligible customer will receive one ad credit, even if that customer advertises with more than one account. The maximum U.S. Dollars the free ad would be worth is $1,000, and the amount varies by factors including: amount spent on Google Ads in the past, country billing address, and currency.

How to View your Google Ad Credit:

Google Ad credits have launched in Australia, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. There is no application process; the Google ad credits are automatically applied. Additionally, qualified customers cannot transfer, split, or refund their Google ad credits. Qualified accounts will receive a notification email. The applied credit appears on the Google Ads account by clicking “Tools” > “Billing” > “Promotion”. The Google ad amount appears on the “Transactions” page. The free ad credit expires on December 31, 2020.

Helpful Resources for your Business During This Time of Uncertainty:

marketing agency

Things To Consider When Partnering With A Marketing Agency

Does your company need help from a marketing agency? If you’ve never worked with a marketing agency before, it can be overwhelming to decide which one to partner with. Before settling with one, it is important to scope out your options to figure out which one will be the best fit for you and your company.

It is crucial that you choose a marketing agency that shares the same goals as you and wants to do everything they can to help you reach them. You should choose a marketing agency that will have a clear understanding of your company’s goals and objectives. It is key that the marketing agency you partner with shares the same beliefs and values as your company. In order to get a clear understanding of how helpful a marketing agency can be for your company, you need to ask the right questions. Having important conversations early on will help you decide if a marketing agency is right for your business.

Enjoy the article: 6 Reasons to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

These are a few things to consider about a marketing agency before settling with one:

Interview Your Account Managermarketing agency 2

Account managers are important because they are the go-to person the client can count on in the agency. They know everything about their account and make sure the work is being completed. Account managers keep the client’s goals and knowledge in mind. If there is no point person then the client has to educate multiple people on what they are looking for and double check work to make sure it meets their expectations and standards. It is important that you learn who will be managing your account and executing the work. You should feel confident with the experience and expertise of your account manager.

Ask What The First Steps of Work Together Will Look Like

This is a great question to ask a potential marketing agency when deciding if they are right for your company. Asking the agency what the first couple months of working together will entail will tell you what will be done to drive early results. This can give you a deeper insight as to what working with that agency will be like. It can help you better decide if you like what their plan for your company is and if you can see it working in the future. This tactic is beneficial because it can tell you what type of partner they will be. It can show you if the marketing agency has an organized plan for your company’s goals or not.

Question How The Agency Has Helped Past Clients

It is important that you figure out if the agency you’re leaning towards can help your company get the results you want. Try not to focus so much on other companies they have worked with in your industry. This will not help you figure out if the agency has helped their clients reach their goals. You need to voice your company’s struggles and ask how they have helped their clients in the past with similar issues. This will help you get an idea for how they will help your company achieve its major goals. Asking this question helps you learn the marketing agencies track record. Asking them how they responded to other clients with similar issues will give you an idea for how they will assist your company. This can also help you decide if you like their approach.

Partner With an Agency That Shares The Same Values and Beliefs

It is important that you get along on a personal level with the people you are aligning with. Your business and the marketing agency you partner with should have shared values and beliefs. Hiring a marketing agency is like hiring another employee. Companies and employees have shared values and this should carry on into the marketing agency your company hires as well.

It is important that you educate yourself on these tactics before partnering with a marketing agency. Doing your research on your account manager’s years of experience will help you get an idea for how reliable they will be. Discussing company plans for the near future and considering the agencies track record are good to know to get a feel for how the agency will help your business and if you like their approach. Finally, having shared values and beliefs is very important because we all want to get along with our business partners. Using these tactics can give you insight as to if an agency will be beneficial for you to partner with.

Agency

Marketing Strategies In Times of Fear and Uncertainty

In order to have reassured customers, they must first be reassured by your marketing strategies. Unfortunately, there is much uncertainty in the world, and that’s truer now than ever before. It’s no secret that the coronavirus has left many people in a state of fear, anxiety and grief. We know this is a great time to be marketing- but perhaps unsure what is best for every customer during these times. While these concerns are well-founded, it’s important to keep a positive attitude. Your marketing strategies should therefore be about helping your customers keep that positive attitude. Here are a few ways to help them do just that.

Love Your Customers

A great idea is to reach out to every one of your customers. Either that or have your sales and client service teams send personal notes to check in on your customers. Now is the best time to thank them for their support and their business. Do more than just a company email. Ask how they are holding up. It’ll will go a long way in cementing your relationship with your customers.

Reconsider Your Marketing Mix

Another idea to consider pulling any outbound advertising. Shift those funds into content creation. Amplify your best thought leadership and share your articles.

More than likely your annual event schedule is either not happening or is cancelled. Consider how to make it an amazing virtual experience. Bring in experts in your industry to speak to the latest trends. Get your customers to share their success. And create a plan to use all that content and re-purpose it into articles you can share on your website.

Webinars are certainly another great place to start. Setup monthly sessions to stay connected with your prospects. One thing that may be a concern: so many companies are making this shift. Think about how you can be different? Use professional speakers. Conduct an ask-me-anything. Maybe even offer a prospect some free advice or assessments. Long term thinking is exactly what we all need to do right now. Any video content at this point is doing extremely well; as people are home and watching more and more.

Similar Article: What’s Trending In Marketing For May 2019

Be Thoughtful and Intentional

Over the last few months, we have seen business leaders and marketers acting thoughtfully and with intention. Changing business operations to include “social distancing,” mandating that all workers able to work remotely do so, moving as much work online as possible, and limiting the amount of in-person interaction possible. These decisions are all thoughtful and intentional choices that demonstrate concern for individuals.

Marketers should be continuing to be thoughtful and intentional in their marketing strategy efforts. It’s ok to still post blog posts as long as the topics are worthwhile to the audience. It’s ok to send an email newsletter if the content is sensitive to the audience and offering value. Remember that many folks are taking their additional time right now to improve their skill set or expand their knowledge. They are focusing on the future and your content or materials will help to educate them while also letting them take their mind off the uncertainty surrounding them.

Connect with Your Teammarketing strategies2

Get together with your marketing colleagues and brainstorm new ideas. Reach out to your colleagues in the sales organization and find out what needs to be updated. Get time with executives and stakeholders across the company to reset expectations.

Everyone is feeling the same way: worried, anxious, afraid. So reach out and connect with them personally. If you don’t already have one, check into the opportunity for mental health services for your company; make sure everyone is aware of tele-health options for doctors. This may sound like HR stuff, but we’re great communicators in marketing. Let’s help everyone out!

Stay Positive and Optimistic

The most important marketing strategy to keep in mind is this: things will get better. People are still shopping and researching, but maybe just not this paycheck. We need to continue marketing and stay top of mind. Try and find the stories of hope that keep you positive. Think about all the healthcare workers putting their lives at risk to help others. As well as the volunteers who have signed up to offer free mental health support.

In conclusion having these marketing strategies is very important in long- term and short- term for several reasons. That is because, we still have an important job to do. Like those on the front lines of every crisis, we try and help out a little more, in any way we can.

digital marketing tools1

Free Digital Marketing Tools To Cope With COVID-19

During these trying times, we are seeing free and discounted digital marketing tools, being used to support sales and service professionals. This generosity has helped keep marketing teams engaged, support demand generation initiatives, and enable sales and service professionals to better meet the needs of their customers. While this list may not be comprehensive, here are some recommendations for the most valuable digital marketing tools available to sales, marketing, and customer success professionals today.

Slack Software

As you work remotely, communication with team members and work colleagues is a challenge during this time. Fortunately, the slack software application provides what you need to keep tabs with others. This digital tool brings all of your team and interactions together and helps you maintain work efficiency and productivity.

It is one of the best instant messaging apps in the market, and several companies are using it to connect with their team as they work remotely from home.

The software is a virtual office for many because it provides seamless communication between team members, departments, and the entire organization. For instance, when working on a project, you can get instant feedback for individual collaborators or from your team.

Zoom

Another one of the best digital marketing tools out there, would be Zoom. The Zoom app is perhaps the best choice for video conferencing. The reason behind this claim is that anybody can use it anywhere, no matter your location; provided of course that you have internet. The software helps you to start meetings and work together through videos quickly.

It is indeed, one of the most well-received work from home collaboration tool. Why? Because it replicates the face-to-face meetings you frequently had by showing you the facial expressions of others at the conference.

You get to see how everyone reacts to a suggestion or opinion. So, if you’re a digital product seller, with Zoom, you have an easy-to-use digital tool for webinars. It is no wonder that Zoom is one of the top market winners during this coronavirus effects.

Similar Article: 10 Best Digital Marketing Podcasts In 2020

Toggl

Whether you’re a blogger, freelancer, or employee, you need to make the most of the time you have. That is the only way you can be more efficient and productive. So, ask yourself, how are you managing your time to build trust and credibility if you can’t keep up with deadlines? Well don’t worry, the answer to your problems is here: and its name is Toggl

Toggl is a business tool and an easy-to-use time tracking reporting tool that allows you to identify your ideal working hours and stick to it.

Toggl also contains an incredible timesheet calculator that lets you figure out the amount of time you can work daily and keep your sanity. The application software helps you balance your time and monitor your progress. As a result, you can accomplish your endeavors by using one the best time management tools, available. However, this is not the only one. Some alternatives to those who don’t want to use Toggl are, FreshBooks, Hubstaff, DeskTime, Paymo, RescueTime, and Everhour.

Trellodigital marketing tools2

Incredibly flexible, and incredibly easy to use Trello is another great digital marketing tool, to consider using. Trello is a web-based Kanban-style list making application which is a subsidiary of Atlassian, a well-respected software company. It allows you to work with coworkers more collaboratively and get more done as a result.

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. Some of Trello’s primary benefits include:

  • Work With Any Team
  • Information At A Glance
  • Built-In Workflow Automation With Butler

With so many benefits available, it’s easy to see why Trello, has gotten the amount of acclaim that it has.

Google Drive

Every marketer or employer needs a sustainable space to organize and store valuable files. They’ll need a software application that lets you create, store and share documents and data from around the world in one place. For this purpose, Google Drive is among one of the highest recommended options to choose from.

With a single Google account, you can access all Google products, including Drive, Sheets, Docs, Slide, and more. Moreover, it comes with a free 15g storage space, which provides more than enough space to save all of your most important files. For those not comfortable with Google Drive, there are many alternatives to choose from. These include, Dropbox, OneDrive, Sync, Cloud, and Canto DAM.

You can quickly access your documents and files from these digital tools on any device anywhere. Also, by transporting your valuables to a cloud storage system, you are ensuring that you, your team, and all parties get uninterrupted access to all documents in any format. These cloud storage tools also have file-sharing capabilities. It means that you can quickly share files with colleagues and team members from your storage and keep everyone updated.

In conclusion, COVID-19 has forced a lot of people to become remote workers at home. While this new lifestyle has become challenging to navigate, these digital marketing tools, will help ease the burden to everyone involved.

website redesign

How to Implement a Successful Digital Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy

A good word of mouth marketing strategy has always been incredibly effective. It occurs when customers spread positive information about their experience with the company on their behalf. For example, if a customer recommends a product to a friend, that’s a form of word of mouth communication. The reason it’s so effective as a marketing strategy is that people tend to trust the word of other customers over that of a company. As a result, customers can help to build your reputation, increase brand awareness, and even generate leads for you by way of word of mouth.

While some word of mouth marketing is organic, you should encourage it as much as possible. This is especially true in this day and age when word of mouth can spread like wildfire online. With that in mind, the following are six tips to help you implement a successful digital word of mouth marketing strategy:

1. Encourage Customer Reviews

Due to how easy it is to find information online, the majority of customers will research a company before making a purchase. Part of this research entails reading through customer reviews left online. Customers can leave reviews on social media channels, on Google, and on a variety of third party websites that are review focused (such as Yelp or Angie’s List, to name a couple). The more positive reviews you have across platforms, the better your word of mouth will be. As such, encourage customers to leave reviews, not just of their customer experience with your company, but also for the individual products or services that they purchased.

2. Create Customer Testimonialsword of mouth marketing2

Testimonials are similar to reviews but tend to go more in-depth. Customers who are particularly happy with the customer experience are more willing to provide a testimonial. This can be done in the written form or in the form of a video. Video testimonials are particularly effective because people will have an easier time connecting to the customer giving the testimonial on an emotional level. Not to mention that it’s much easier to trust a video testimonial than a written one.

3. Connect With Influencers Online

Influencers are a little different than the traditional consumer. An influencer is someone who often has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. They are considered an authority and are highly trusted, which means that if they promote a certain company’s product, their followers pay attention. Basically, they can help spread a positive word of mouth using a digital loudspeaker. You should look to connect with both macro and micro-influencers, both of which can help improve brand awareness and help spread your message.

Similar Blog Article: The Advantages of Using Public Relations In Your Marketing Strategy

4. Encourage Customer Referrals

Although many customer referrals happen organically, you should encourage them as much as possible. Individual referrals are often incredibly effective. Leads that are referred to you by an existing customer are going to be much easier for you to close since they will already be further down the sales funnel. There are several ways that you can encourage customer referrals. The first way is by simply offering an incentive. Provide customers with a link that they can use to refer another customer (such as a link leading to a service they can sign up for). If someone signs up to your service using that link, you can provide the customer with a discount or free gift as a reward.

Another way to encourage customer referrals is to set up a referral program. This is a more official way to incentivize your existing customers to make referrals. A referral program will make it much easier for customers to make referrals. It will also make it easier for you to monitor your customer referrals and to measure their success.

5. Encourage And Leverage User-Generated Content

User-generated content is content showcasing your brand or products created by your customers. This type of content helps to build trust and showcases the positive aspects of your brand or products. Not to mention that people tend to engage more successfully with user-generated content. All of these elements make user-generated content an effective vehicle for spreading word of mouth. You can encourage user-generated content by simply requesting it on social media or by holding contests. For example, a contest on Instagram for the best picture showcasing how customers used your product.

6. Provide The Best Customer Experience Possible

In the end, none of these digital word of mouth tactics are going to be very effective if you’re not providing a good customer experience in the first place. Customers don’t want to help brands that gave them a poor experience, after all. With that in mind, focus on providing the best customer experience you can and you’ll find that a positive word of mouth will begin to spread organically.

Word of mouth marketing can be a powerful way to increase brand awareness and to generate more leads. Not to mention that a word of mouth marketing strategy is an incredibly cost-effective strategy. Consider using these six tactics to encourage the spread of a positive word of mouth online.

inbound marketing

Inbound Marketing Strategies To Use During The Pandemic

We are well-aware that the coronavirus has economically affected many companies drastically. However, what matters more is what your company is doing to respond to these trying times. With many states following the stay-at-home order, people are at home surfing the web now more than ever. This means there is a greater chance that they will end up on your company’s website. It is vital for your company to take advantage of this pandemic and implement more effective inbound marketing strategies to show consumers that you are still there for them and ready to work.

Have a Clean, Easy-to-Navigate Website

Your company’s website is a sales tool that can be viewed by millions of people around the world at any time of the day. It is crucial that it contains relevant, useful information as well as inbound marketing solutions such as blog articles, informative content, videos, images, and other tactics. This is especially important now, while technology use has increased because of the pandemic. There is a higher chance of someone finding your website. You want your website to provide the right content that will have consumers returning to your site. Your website should be clean, easy to navigate, and tell a story. In order to accomplish this, you must provide quality content.

Post Useful & Informational Content

Content marketing is one of the most important parts of inbound marketing. It grabs the viewers’ attention and makes them want more. It is central that your company posts informative, easy-to-understand content that consumers can use as a reference and keep coming back to.

While we are in this pandemic, content is an essential part of your inbound marketing strategy since your website’s content will be the first thing consumers see. It is key to provide frequent, valuable blog posts and marketing on social media.

It is also important to take into consideration the buyer’s journey. Does your website lead a potential buyer down an easy-to-navigate path to complete a purchase? You need content to educate consumers when they are in the early, middle, and end of their buyer journey. Make sure you provide helpful content that includes information about your product and frequently asked questions to ensure that the potential buyer has all the information they need to feel confident about buying from you.

Enjoy this article: How To Develop A Solid Inbound Marketing Strategy

Market and Engage with Prospects While Social Distancing

Conferences and trade shows are canceled and travel is restricted. It is critical that you know some ways you can still market and engage with prospects:

Online Events:

It is common that marketing teams have a few in-person events they attend in a year such as conferences or trade shows. These events are important to attend because they bring in leads. However, many have been cancelled because of the pandemic. With no in-person events to attend, it is important that your company does not just sit around and wait for the next one. Instead, launch a webinar series. Your consumers and prospects still want information, so give it to them!  You can schedule webinars far in advance so people have time to sign-up. You should continue to use webinars even after the pandemic is over to ensure more leads and sales opportunities.

Engage with Followers on Social Media:

With all the current craziness and ever-changing news, people are constantly checking their social media. Now is the time to post relevant, attention-grabbing content and engage with your followers. Your social media channels should be up to date and provide useful content. Followers should be able to tell that your company frequently uses its social media sites and is keeping up with everything going on. The main goal of using social media is to lead followers back to your company’s website, so make sure to post content that includes a link back to your website.

Using Live Chat:

Since many people are home now, they may expect you to respond to their live chat faster than usual. It is important that you set up a chat to answer quick questions from consumers. Chat tools such as live chat and chat bots bring up upgraded, next-level website experience for consumers. You have to plan and organize the way your chat is set up. You must consider what page it goes on, who receives the live chat questions, etc.

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Micro Influencer Marketing Benefits

Influencer marketing has been growing in popularity over the past few years. The idea is simple: connect with someone who has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of followers on social media. By connecting with an influencer, you in effect obtain access to their audience. As a result, you can significantly boost brand awareness as well as increase your own audience. While many businesses have been scrambling to develop relationships with such influencers, more crafty businesses have been adopting a different strategy: micro-influencer marketing.

What is Micro-Influencer Marketing?

Traditional influencers are individuals who have name recognition within your industry. They have enormous audiences who trust what they say and what they do. When they promote a brand, that brand will get a lot of attention as a result. Micro-influencers don’t usually have as much name recognition. In fact, many of them are not widely known at all. They have audiences that are much smaller. Typically, they will have less than 100,000 followers. In some cases, they may have less than 10,000 followers. Micro-influencers also tend to focus on more niche subject matter as opposed to traditional influencers (or “macro-influencers”).

The Benefits of Micro-Influencer Marketing

micro influencer marketing2At first glance, it might be difficult to see any benefits of targeting micro-influencers instead of macro-influencers. After all, why would you want to target an influencer who seemingly has much less influence? The following are  some of the reasons why micro-influencer marketing can actually be incredibly effective:

Less competition

Most businesses are familiar with influencer marketing. Any business that has decided to invest in influencer marketing is likely going to target individuals with the most influence. This makes sense, as these influencers likely have millions of followers and lots of name recognition. The problem, however, is that all the businesses within your industry are going to be targeting the same couple of influencers. Because micro-influencers are much less well known, it will be much easier to get into contact with them and to develop a relationship with them. Not to mention that most micro-influencers are more niche-oriented, meaning that they will be relevant to fewer businesses in your industry.

Enjoy The Article: The Power Of An Influencer Marketing Strategy: How and Why It Works

Less expensive

Influencers who have millions of followers are going to have tons of suitors lining up to pay them for their influence. This means that getting a macro-influencer to highlight your company in some way is going to cost you a lot of money. Since micro-influencers are less well known within your industry, they are going to be much less expensive.

More relevant audience

Even though micro-influencers have smaller audiences, they are likely going to be much more relevant to your company. This is because micro-influencers are focused on a specific niche. If that niche is related to your offerings, odds are their audience will be your audience. When it comes to macro-influencers, their scope tends to be much broader. This means that your brand may not be relevant to a significant number of their followers. As a result, not only are micro-influencers more affordable, but you’ll be using your money in a more effective way, leading to a higher ROI (return on investment). It’s one of the reasons why conversion rates using micro-influencers tend to be higher as well.

  • More engaged followers – Macro-influencers may have millions of followers, but many of those followers are only following because of the influencer’s name recognition. Because the influencer isn’t niche-oriented, many of their posts may not be relevant to all of their followers. Micro-influencers, on the other hand, tend to have followers who are much more engaged due to their niche focus. Micro-influencer followers often engage on a daily basis, which means that they pay much more attention to what they have to say. They are also more loyal than the followers of a macro-influencer. This means that your message will get across more successfully when relayed by a micro-influencer.

Consider Targeting Micro-Influencers

While you shouldn’t completely give up on macro-influencers (especially if you have the budget required), you may find that targeting micro-influencers will end up being much more effective. Not only do micro-influencers cost less, but you’ll also have a much better chance of reaching and engaging their audience, leading to a higher conversion rate and a higher overall ROI.