Top 10+ Ways to Maximize Your Inbound Marketing Strategy

Six Cost Effective Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Brand

February 21, 2024/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Debbie Szwast

Most companies, from business start-ups to established brands, recognize the importance of marketing. However, some may stray away from marketing tactics because they view them as costly. In reality, many cost-effective marketing strategies require little investment. Here are six of them:

Six Cost Effective Marketing Strategies

1. Blogging

Blogging is among the simplest yet most effective ways you can market. Google’s ranking mechanisms highly rate blogs that are frequently updated with relevant, quality content. According to HubSpot, there is a positive correlation between blogging frequency and visitor traffic. If you can manage I6 or more blog posts a month, you will get you 3.5 times more traffic as compared to blogs that publish 0-4 times in a month. Blogging is inexpensive because you can have your own staff create the content, and hire freelancers if you need extra help.

Read About: How Businesses Can Use a Blog To Strengthen Their Online Marketing Efforts

2. Mailing lists

Mailing lists are also an effective and inexpensive way to generate leads. Email lists can be used to remarket to customers you have already interacted with, as well as market to new contacts. Target your audience effectively by mailing content that offers solutions to the problems they may be facing. Remember to regularly update your contact lists.

3. Online marketing sites

Today, online platforms such as social media and websites are a crucial part of marketing. Depending on your business, different sites can be more effective than others. A site like Yelp allows you to create a profile for visibility and reviews, while TripAdvisor does the same for hotels, restaurants, etc. Mogul is a marketing site specifically designed for female business owners. A safe marketing strategy is to start by using less expensive websites, and then expand to others once you learn the ropes.

4. Calls to action

Once you know what kind of content your target audience is looking for, use calls to action to generate leads and position your company as the solution to their problems. Call To Action Phrases are so important. You can Create CTAs through HubSpot and use action words like “contact us”, “subscribe”, and “download” to get potential clients to click on your CTAs.

5. Press releases

It may take time to obtain the right press contacts, but once you do, press releases can be powerful marketing tools. Press releases are a cheap and reliable way to update your target audience on your successes with clients, and can be written by staff members or clients. Press releases can also be used to announce awards/accolades you have received, launch new products, announce company changes, launch promotions, etc. Overall, press releases will improve your image in the eyes of potential clients.

Also Read: The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Press Release

6. Videos

By 2024, it is estimated that video traffic will drive 82% of of IP traffic this year. Video production can be outsourced to qualified creators with high quality equipment, or you can develop them in-house at a lower cost. Video marketing is well worth the price because videos will increase your brand’s visibility, help you retain existing customers, and engage your target market while driving lead generation.

With these cost-effective marketing strategies, you can attract and convert your target audience without breaking the bank. Employing these tactics should increase your revenue in the long run, so the sooner you get started, the better. We wish you the best of luck!

Email Opening Lines That Actually Work

January 19, 2024/in Articles, Attraction Marketing, Blog, Direct Marketing, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Nicole Wagner

In the digital age, emails have become a primary mode of communication, especially in professional settings. The opening line for email is crucial; it’s the first thing the recipient reads and sets the tone for the rest of your message. A well-crafted opening line can make the difference between your email being read or ignored.

In this blog, we will explore the best opening lines for an email suitable for different contexts, including formal, polite, professional, business, and friendly scenarios.

Formal Email Opening Lines

Formal emails are often used in professional settings where a respectful and serious tone is required. They are ideal when communicating with someone you don’t know well or in situations demanding a high level of professionalism.

Formal Opening Line for Email Examples:

“Dear [Recipient’s Name], I am writing to you regarding…”
“To Whom It May Concern, I wish to express my interest in…”
“Dear [Recipient’s Title and Name], I write to seek your guidance on…”
“Esteemed [Recipient’s Title], I am contacting you in relation to…”
“Respected [Recipient’s Name], I am reaching out regarding our upcoming collaboration…”
“Dear Sir/Madam, I am formally requesting assistance with…”
“To the [Department/Team Name], I wish to submit my proposal for…”

These lines establish a formal tone, showing respect and professionalism, which is crucial in official matters.

Polite Email Opening Lines

Politeness is important in any form of communication, especially in emails. Having polite opening lines help in fostering a positive relationship with the recipient.

Polite Opening Line for Email Examples:

“I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to…”
“Thank you for your attention. I would appreciate your input on…”
“Good day, I hope this email finds you in good health. I wanted to discuss…”
“Hello, I trust you are doing well. May I inquire about…”
“Greetings, I hope you’re having a productive week. I’m writing to ask about…”
“Hi there, I hope you had a great weekend. I’m reaching out because…”
“Dear [Recipient’s Name], I hope this message finds you well. I am eager to hear your thoughts on…”

These lines demonstrate courtesy, enhancing the recipient’s receptiveness to your message.

Learn How to Use Targeted CTAs to Increase Lead Conversion

Professional Email Openings

Professionalism in emails is about being concise and to the point while maintaining a respectful tone. These openings are perfect for day-to-day business communications.

Professional Opening Line for Email Examples:

“Greetings, I would like to discuss…”
“Hello, thank you for your email regarding…”
“Greetings [Recipient’s Name], I am writing to follow up on our last conversation regarding…”
“Hello [Recipient’s Name], I wanted to touch base about quickly…”
“Hi [Recipient’s Name], I’m reaching out to provide an update on…”
“Dear [Recipient’s Name], I have some news regarding our ongoing project…”
“Good morning/afternoon, I want to clarify a few points about our recent meeting…”

These lines are straightforward yet courteous, suitable for regular business interactions.

Opening Sentences for Business Emails

Business emails demand clarity and a direct approach. The opening sentence should immediately convey the email’s purpose.

Opening Sentence Business Email Examples:

“Regarding our upcoming project, I wish to update you on…”
“Following our recent conversation, here is the information you requested…”
“As agreed in our previous discussion, I am sending over the details of…”
“Following up on our recent meeting, I have compiled the report on…”
“In response to your request, here are my recommendations for…”
“I would like to draw your attention to the recent developments in…”
“Pertaining to our last conversation, I have a few updates regarding…”

These lines are clear and direct, indicating the email’s purpose right from the start, which is appreciated in business communications.

Friendly Email Opening Lines

When writing to someone you have a good rapport with, a friendly opening can be engaging—these lines are ideal for less formal, more personal communications.

Friendly Opening Line for Email Examples:

“Hi [Name], I was just thinking about our last meeting and wanted to ask…”
“Hey [Name], hope you’re doing well. I have some ideas to share regarding…”
“Hey [Name], just a quick check-in. How’s everything going with…”
“Hi [Name], I was just reminiscing about our last meeting and thought to follow up on…”
“Hello [Name], I came across something that reminded me of our project. Have you got a minute to discuss?”
“Hi there [Name], hope you’re doing well. Just wanted to share a quick update on…”
“Hey [Name], I was thinking about what you said last time and wanted to explore the idea of…”

Crafting Opening Lines for Different Scenarios

It’s essential to tailor your opening line to the context of your email. The tone and formality should match the purpose of your email and the relationship you have with the recipient.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Email Opening Lines

Avoid overly casual or overly formal language in inappropriate contexts.
Starting an email with an apology can also weaken your position unless it’s necessary.

The Impact of a Well-Chosen Opening Line

The opening line of your email holds significant importance in determining its efficacy. A well-thought-out introduction sets the tone for your message, captures the recipient’s attention, and improves the likelihood of a positive response. The first line is an opportunity to establish a connection with the reader, convey the purpose of your email, and create a favorable impression. Hence, it is crucial to invest time and effort in crafting an opening line that is engaging, relevant, and tailored to your audience. By doing so, you can increase the chances of your email being read and responded to positively.

Lead Nurturing During the Buyer’s Journey

January 11, 2024/in Articles, Directors, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Strategy /by Nicole Wagner

Using Lead Nurturing During the Consideration Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

The consideration stage of your buyer’s journey begins a pivotal series of events for your buyer and your brand. Once your buyer has been made aware of their problem, searched through your content, and become a lead, their true “shopping” experience begins. This is where delivering solutions in an authoritative way will start to differentiate your brand from competitors offering similar products and services.

That differentiation starts with a shift in your marketing towards your potential buyers in the form of lead nurturing: granular, tailored messages focused on the information you’ve gathered through them during the awareness stage. Email marketing and marketing automation are the primary avenues for marketing to your buyers at this point.

What is Lead Nurturing?

Lead Nurturing is a process in marketing and sales to cultivate relationships with potential customers over time. It is providing relevant information to leads at various stages of the buying journey to guide them towards making a purchase decision.

Drip Emails

Drip emails deliver content to your prospective buyers over time. With time being virtually the only factor affecting how and when messages are sent. While customizing in the sense of what content is delivered, it offers very little in the control you have of the content against the information you’ve gathered about you lead over their buying journey.

Drip emails certainly have a place early in the consideration stage for offering further education, keeping your brand present and in front of your potential buyers. They can also be very broad campaigns announcing new products, brand updates, and showcasing the highlights of your company. Drip email marketing and lead generation, however, have a mutual independency on one another for a successful marketing campaign.

Lead Nurturing Campaigns

The goal of lead nurturing as part of your buyer’s consideration process is to deliver the right information at critical points in their journey through your content. The beauty of marketing automation is that you can build the campaigns tailored to your buyer personas and design those automation steps to deliver perfectly timed content.

Through marketing automation, lead generation collects data about your buyer’s behavior and helps guide them through the buying process. The actions your buyers take on your website will trigger certain actions on behalf of your lead nurturing campaign. Attending a webinar, downloading a certain piece of content, or visiting a page a certain number of times can trigger an email.

While drip emails can be effective at points during the consideration stage and certainly keep your brand at the front of your audiences, lead nurturing campaigns are a “smarter” way to go. Lead nurturing is smart in the sense that it leverages the information your inbound marketing software collects about your leads and uses it to tailor the right content to your leads.

Drive Website Conversions Throughout the Buyer’s Journey

Re-marketing

As you probably know, marketing doesn’t necessarily always go according to plan. Sometimes a marketing qualified lead (MQL) who has already dug deep into your content, fallen into a workflow, and even triggered actions based on your lead nurturing campaigns goes cold. This is where some clever re-marketing coupled with lead nurturing can rejuvenate those once-promising leads.

Re-marketing is a multifaceted and very versatile way to bring leads back into your lead nurturing campaigns. We say multifaceted, because various avenues can be used to reinvigorate your buyer’s interest including paid social media promotions, smart CTAs, and smart lists as part of your lead nurturing. While re-marketing may seem like a last resort in your buyer’s journey it’s actually an integral part of how you keep your brand relevant to prospective buyers especially those who may have slipped through the cracks.

Core Difference Between Buyer Journey vs. Customer Journey

The Marriage of Sales and Marketing

No matter what degree of marketing your brand engages in, marketing without sales will not meet the results your company is seeking: ROI. In the inbound world, we call this “smarketing”, and it’s that partnership between your sales force and marketing department that ultimately tips a buyer in your direction. As we have moved down the funnel, hopefully you’ve seen how vital integrating sales with your marketing practices truly is.

Both the consideration stage and decision making stage of your buyer’s journey rely on that smarketing relationship and the symbiosis therein helps make that transition from a simple lead to a sales qualified lead more fluid. In our next article, we’ll discuss how the personal touch from your sales team can help your sales qualified leads turn into actual sales.

7 Organic Growth Business Strategies You Should Adopt

December 27, 2023/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Dan Gartlan

Every company’s goal is to succeed and in order to succeed, it has to grow. A business that doesn’t grow won’t succeed in the long run. There are two ways that your business can grow: organically and inorganically. Inorganic growth is driven by capital; for example, via a merger or acquisition. Organic growth is driven by the resources your company already has, such as your experience, relationships, knowledge, visibility, reputation, and more. For example, expanding the amount of business you do with existing customers or obtaining new customers are forms of organic growth.

As you can imagine, organic growth is essential to your company, especially if you’re in the starting stages of your business. However, there is no right path to achieve organic growth. In fact, you can follow more than one path to achieve organic growth. With that in mind, the following are a few organic business growth strategies that you should consider adopting:

7 Organic Growth Business Strategies

1. Define Your Company’s Niche

When you define a niche, it will make it easier to meet the needs of a specific audience. Not to mention, your competition will be a lot smaller. Cornering that niche can help you increase your market share and drive growth to the point where you can expand your products and services beyond that niche when the time comes.

2. Establish Your Unique Value Proposition

Whether or not you’ve defined a niche, you need to have a unique value proposition. This is what will help you stand out from your competitors. Without a unique value proposition, your products or services will seem generic and customers will be more likely to choose similar products and services from competitors who do have a unique value proposition. When you have a unique value proposition, your market share will most likely begin growing at a steady pace as a result of being able to offer something your competition can’t offer.

3. Don’t Ignore Existing Customers

Your existing customers are an invaluable source of organic growth. Many businesses make the mistake of focusing too much on obtaining new customers to the detriment of keeping their old customers. Don’t just assume that because they are customers that they will continue to purchase your products and services. You need to continue to foster the customer relationships you’ve built. Doing so will help reduce customer churn and build trust and loyalty. This will help to ensure that they not only continue doing business with you, but that they expand the amount of business that they do with you over time.

Enjoy Article: Micro Moments: A New Consumer Behavior in Marketing

4. Focus More On Relationships Than Sales

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is to focus on the sale. Focusing on a sale is a short-term view. Instead, focus on building a relationship with your prospects so that once they do make the purchase, you have a relationship in place that you can continue to foster throughout the future. If you focus too much on the sale, you may also lose prospects due to the fact that you were focused too much on your business instead of their needs.

5. Optimize Your Website For SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is an inbound marketing strategy that will help drive long-term organic growth. When your website is properly optimized for SEO, your pages will be more likely to be indexed by Google and ranked highly (as long as the quality of the content is good). As a result, your pages will appear higher up on Google’s SERP (search engine results page). People who search for the terms you’ve used as keywords when optimizing your website will see your website displayed.

Keeping your site properly optimized will, as a direct result, help to drive organic growth over time. Proper SEO requires a technically sound website, positive social signals, high-quality backlinks, and the use of relevant and competitive keywords, to name a few ranking factors.

6. Develop A Content Marketing Strategy

Your SEO strategy won’t do you much good with content to optimize. Additionally, Google’s ranking factors are all meant to help identify the quality of a webpage’s content. As such, your content marketing strategy needs to revolve around regularly producing high-quality content that’s relevant to your audience and that’s properly optimized for SEO. Part of your content marketing strategy should also focus on the promotion of new content.

7. Establish SMART Goals

You will want to monitor organic growth so that you can make adjustments that help to enable and enhance it. To do this, you will need to establish SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) goals to help you monitor and analyze your marketing and sales efforts.

These are 7 organic business growth strategies that you should consider adopting. By implementing these organic growth strategies, you will help to drive the organic growth of your business over time.

5 Storytelling Techniques You Should Avoid

December 22, 2023/in Articles, Brand Story Telling, Directors, Marketing Strategy, Storybranding /by Dan Gartlan

Storytelling is an integral part of marketing your brand effectively. It allows you to convey your message and your values to your audience, all while making it easy for them to relate and connect to you on a more personal level by capturing their interest and inciting specific emotions. However, storytelling isn’t as easy as you might think it is.

Top 5 Storytelling Techniques You Should Avoid

There are several mistakes that brands commonly make in their attempt to tell a story that can cause your audience to lose interest. The following are five storytelling techniques you should avoid:

1. Making Your Brand The Central Character

One of the biggest mistakes that brands make is to think that the story they’re telling is about them. How is your audience going to relate to such a story? You need to make the story about them instead. Position the customer as the main character. They are the hero on the hero’s journey. As the brand, you should be the mentor that helps the hero overcome their problem.

2. Not Knowing How To Tell a Good Story

There are two essential components of a good story. The first is to have a point. If the story you’re telling doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not going to have much of an impact on the audience. You need to have a primary message that you’re trying to get across or else the audience won’t know what the point of your story is.

The second is pacing. Good pacing is extremely important. If your story is too long, your audience grows disinterested. Keep your storytelling succinct and avoid going on tangents — stay on point.

3. Providing Too Much Information

Many companies have a habit of trying to provide their audience with as much information as possible. Although you want your audience to be as informed as possible, trying to over explain is going to cause your story to become overwhelming. Keep it simple.

4. Only Showcasing Your Successes

Only showcasing how effective your brand is and how well your products or services work isn’t going to come off as very authentic. Don’t be afraid to highlight some of your failures. Tell your audience how you overcame your failures in order to obtain success. Showing this kind of vulnerability is much more authentic and relatable.

5. Not Knowing Who You’re Telling The Story To

To tell your story effectively, you need to know who your audience is. Otherwise, how can you ever present a character and a problem that your audience can relate to? Identify who your audience is before you begin crafting your story.

Storytelling not only allows you to inform your audience about how your business can help solve their problems, it can also help them to relate to your brand on a more emotional level, making engagement easier sometimes called emotional advertising. However, there is an art to storytelling, which means some storytelling techniques work better than others. Make sure to avoid these five storytelling techniques and you’ll be on the right path.

5 Storytelling Techniques You Should Use For Your Marketing Efforts

What’s Trending in Marketing For November 2023

November 30, 2023/in Articles, Consumer Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Trending /by Stevens and Tate

Welcome to our November 2023 edition of “What’s Trending,” where we bring you the most relevant marketing trends and insights. Stay informed and ahead of the game with our curated collection of marketing trends and reports in winter 2023.

Noteworthy Marketing Trends and News

The Guardian view on festive marketing: stop spending like there’s no tomorrow

In 1998, a British newspaper introduced “Black Friday” as a post-Thanksgiving shopping phenomenon in the US. Today, global spending on advertising during the festive season is predicted to reach a record £9.5bn. However, the environmental impact of promoting overconsumption is a growing concern. The Guardian explores the idea of banning or regulating ads to address misleading environmental claims. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is criticized for its lax approach, with only a small fraction of environmental ad complaints investigated. Tightening regulations is proposed as a step toward aligning advertising with the urgent need for climate-conscious practices.

Microsoft Advertising Shares Holiday Season Marketing Playbook

Elf A Selfie Microsoft Advertising provides insights in its Festive Holiday Marketing Playbook to help businesses enhance holiday sales. Key points include understanding the timing of revenue peaks around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, leveraging deal-seeking behaviors among consumers, and capitalizing on search for online and in-store purchases. The National Retail Federation predicts a 3-4% increase in US holiday spending. Advertisers are encouraged to align strategies with the ‘Cyber-5’ period and utilize search for targeted advertising.

Popular cereal gets Bud Light treatment after sneaky marketing campaign

Kid Rock’s anti-Bud Light campaign, sparked by the beer brand’s association with a transgender model, has now shifted to target Kellogg’s-owned Froot Loops in Canada. The cereal faces a boycott after promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion on its boxes, urging kids to practice pronouns. Social media users criticized the move, with some accusing it of “woke indoctrination.” Froot Loops’ digital library, tied to the promotion, offers diverse topics for families. The backlash reflects an ongoing trend of brands facing criticism for perceived political messaging, following controversies like Bud Light’s partnership with a transgender model and Target’s transgender branding frenzy.

Find these articles interesting? You may like: Creating Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Learning Marketing Trends and Ideas

Micro Moments: A New Consumer Behavior in Marketing

Successful businesses understand that consumer behavior in marketing does not stay the same. Consumer behavior changes based on a variety of factors, including new tools and ways of using those tools. The smartphone drastically changed consumer behavior in marketing. This happened somewhat recently, yet people already spend roughly 3.5 hours a day on their phones. The way that a person interacts with their phone is much different than how they interact with TV, magazine ads, or their computer. As a result, marketers must expand the ways in which they engage with consumers in order to continue capturing their attention. Continue to read here.

Essential Website Updates for Senior Living Communities

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, as of 2021, 73% of adults over the age of 65 in the United States use the internet. This number has been steadily increasing over the years, highlighting the importance of a strong online presence for senior-focused businesses. This article will explore key website updates that senior living communities should consider. The goal is to stay relevant and provide the best possible experience for their audience. Continue to read here.

The Brand Loyalty Of Generation X

Consumers like certain brands. They develop a trust that the brand’s products are of the right quality and a good value. That trust, along with other positive emotions, causes consumers to develop brand loyalty, where they tend to buy certain products from particular brands now and into the future. How brand loyalty works depends on many factors, age and status in life being two. It is critical to understand how a particular generation develops brand loyalty. The insights gained by this understanding make marketing to the generation in question much easier. Let’s look at Generation X for example. Continue to read here.

Recent Marketing Trends, Reports, and Updates

2024 B2B Tech Marketing Trends: The Year Of Authenticity

As 2024 approaches, marketing trends point to a shift from traditional content to richer experiences, a return to genuine human interactions amid automation, and a move beyond numerical dominance in analytics. AI’s role may bring humorous hiccups, emphasizing the value of human intuition. Niche specialists are expected to dominate the influencer landscape. Return on investment will extend beyond financial metrics, and marketing strategies will shift away from linear funnels to dynamic customer journeys. Hyper-personalization is seen as a double-edged sword, requiring a balance between relevance and privacy. Success in 2024 involves revisiting core values and creating meaningful connections.

Ogilvy reveals key influencer marketing trends for 2024

The report cites how live streaming across social platforms will continue to be a critical medium. Sixty six percent of brands already report that creator-led content delivers more ROI than traditional ads. Influencers could see revenue opportunities through live streaming over traditional subscription models as more platforms integrate payment schemes.

Predicting the top 5 digital marketing trends for 2024

Over the past year, significant changes occurred in the digital marketing space: the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google finally going to trial, Apple’s iOS 17 introducing more privacy-centric features that upended the tracking status quo, the EU issuing multi-million-dollar fines against Criteo for GDPR violations, streaming TV overtaking linear TV in viewership, the collapse of MediaMath, Amazon’s impending launch of ads on Prime Video, and—finally—Disney and Spectrum agreeing to a revolutionary new model for linear TV programming and the ways that content providers and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) work together. See the top 5 digital marketing predictions.

Read Article: What We Can Learn from Viral Video Marketing & Examples of How It’s been Successful

How To Incorporate Smart Goals Into Marketing Plan Development

November 28, 2023/in Articles, Directors, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Strategy /by Dan Gartlan

Now, most of us have heard about how to develop SMART goals. But, how do you incorporate them into your marketing plan development?

A quick recap: SMART goals are those that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. This format makes it easier to see where you need to go and how to measure your progress. That’s why it’s perfect for your marketing plan development.

Making Your Marketing Plan SMART

Every plan must have at least one objective. In the world of marketing plans, the objectives usually include building demand for a product or service, maintaining current demand or shortening the sales cycle. The actual plan you put together works towards obtaining those objectives.

Setting high objectives sounds great on paper. But, when they are not specific, measurable, attainable, relevant or time bound, they become nothing more than marks on a page.

To avoid making paper goals, your marketing objectives themselves must be SMART. For example, let’s say your objective is to gain a 50% increase in market share in the next 12 months. That is definitely specific and measurable, but may not be attainable due to lack of resources or stiff competition. Relevancy depends on the size of the available market and how fast it is growing or not. Being able to grow that much in 12 months may or may not be possible depending on the market.

5 Smart Goal Examples For Business Development

Incorporate Smart Goals Into Marketing Plan

All of your objectives should be stated in SMART terms. Let’s say you want to increase the number of visitors to the Thingamajig product page on your website.

Specific: To increase the number of visitors to the Thingamajig web page by 25% over last quarter’s total.
Measurable: The total visitors last quarter was 2000, so the goal this quarter is to achieve a total of 2500 or more visitors.
Attainable: Increasing the number of visitors is definitely doable with increased spending in PPC ads and referral incentives for existing customers.
Relevant: The Thingamajig is our most profitable product. Ten percent of visitors to the website ultimately end up placing an order. Increasing the number of visitors to the Thingamajig web page has the potential of increasing the number of orders by 25% or more.
Time-Bound: The goal is to have this achieved by September 30th, so that we are ready to enter the Christmas season with a larger share of the Thingamajig market.

Also Read: SMART Goal Examples That Will Make You a Better Marketer

Going from a general objective to a detailed one is a major change. Here is what just happened:

General objective: “Increasing the number of visitors to the Thingamajig web page”
Detailed objective: “Increasing the number of visitors to the Thingamajig web page by 25%, or 500 more visitors, in the 3rd quarter, in order to generate 25% more orders and to obtain a larger share of the market during the upcoming Christmas season”

Applying SMART goal thinking to our marketing plan development will make all the difference in moving things forward. How can you incorporate it into your next campaign?

DOWNLOAD OUR GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL TRADE SHOW MARKETING

Introducing the 4C Marketing Model and why you should follow it

November 24, 2023/in Articles, Blog, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Mark Beebe

When it comes to marketing models, the 4P marketing model is the most traditional, business-oriented one — and the one you’re most likely familiar with. The 4Ps represent product, price, promotion, and place. For a more customer-oriented model, you may want to follow the 4C marketing model. The 4C marketing model was first proposed by Bob Lauterborn in an article published in Advertising Age in 1990. He saw it as a possible effective alternative. The following is a brief breakdown of the 4C marketing model, which consists of consumer, cost, convenience, and communication.

4Cs of Marketing

Consumer

First, you have to know who your target customers are and what their needs and wants are. The consumer should drive all of your marketing efforts from here on out. Having knowledge about your target audience makes it easier to create a product that fulfills a need in the market. This is where your buyer personas come in. Buyer personas represent your ideal customer and once you understand them, you better understand your target audience. This leads to improved communication with your consumers and gives them the sense that you understand them as well, leading to improved sales. Of course, the product is an important focus in any marketing model, but always remember the value of the consumer.

Cost

In the 4C marketing model, the cost evaluates the cost considerations from the buyer’s perspective. Determining the cost involves performing detailed research into what customers are able and willing to pay. Additionally, do research into the cost of competing products. The research will aid you in figuring out whether selling your product at a cost that customers are willing to pay will be profitable or not. You will also need to take into account the added costs of purchasing your product outside its sticker price. For example, how much customers will need to pay in taxes, shipping costs or transportation costs.

One thing that’s important to keep in mind is that the price point of your product isn’t what necessarily convinces consumers to purchase your product. A low price point won’t always drive sales, after all. In the end, it’s the benefit of your product that will help support its costs.

Communication

Communication refers to how you will engage with your customers. You will want to find ways to engage with your target customers to build confidence in your brand and your product. Customers want to know how buying your product will benefit them and that’s what you need to focus on communicating. You should focus on providing relevant information to customers in order to help them figure out what their problems, needs, or challenges are. This will then allow you to position your product as a potential solution. This requires that you ask your customers questions and listen to what they have to say. Communication is a two-way street after all.

Promoting products is all about saying what you have to say and hoping the customer buys it. Communication is about strengthening your understanding of your customers and building trust in your brand. One of the best ways to do this is through social media.

Convenience

Convenience focuses on how easy it is for customers to purchase your product. You’ll want to identify potential barriers and figure out ways to remove those barriers in order to improve customer convenience. For example, maybe a poor user interface is preventing potential customers from using your e-commerce site. Providing quality customer support to help make the purchasing process easier is also an important facet of improving convenience.

In today’s world, the consumer has more power than ever. As such, your marketing efforts will be more successful if you take a more customer-oriented approach. By understanding the importance and using the 4C marketing model, you’ll have more success targeting customers who are actually interested in what you have to offer. Not to mention that such an approach will help you build long-lasting relationships with your customers.

5 Ways To Improve Your Relationship Marketing Strategy

November 15, 2023/in Articles, Blog, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Dan Gartlan

It may seem obvious, but building a business is a long-term effort. As such, it requires a long-term strategy. You can’t succeed by only making quick sales. You need to build a customer base — it’s the only way to not only grow, but to survive. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses assume that once someone has made a purchase, that customer is part of their “customer base.” This is not how it works — they usually do not become loyal to your brand after one purchase. You need to nurture them past the point of the sale, which is why you need to implement a strong relationship marketing strategy.

What is Relationship Marketing?

What is Relationship Marketing? Relationship marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on building long-term relationships with customers, rather than simply making individual sales.

The Importance of Customer Retention

Keeping your existing customers is essential to your company’s success. As such, it’s important that you continue to build the customer relationships that you’ve established. If you don’t, they’re less likely to feel a sense of loyalty to your brand and will be more likely to jump to a competitor. If that’s not enough of a reason to put some effort into keeping existing customers, consider the following:

Repeat customers spend an average of 67 percent more per purchase than first-time customers.
It can cost up to 25 times as much to close a new customer than to keep an existing customer.
Increasing your customer retention by as little as 5 percent can boost your revenue by as much as 25 to 95 percent.
Existing customers will refer other leads to your business.

As you can see, customer retention is important. The best way to increase customer retention is by implementing an effective relationship marketing strategy.

Similar Article: Improve Your Marketing Strategy By Asking These 4 Questions

How To Improve Your Customer Relationship Marketing Strategy?

The following are a few tips to help you strengthen your relationship marketing strategy for increased customer retention.

1. Improve Your Customer Service

Poor customer service is going to result in a poor customer experience, making customer retention more challenging. Providing good customer service should be the foundation for any relationship marketing strategy. If your customers have questions, concerns, or even complaints, your customer service should be able to engage with them immediately to provide a solution or to provide helpful advice.

Besides making sure your customer service reps are friendly, respectful, and know how to handle every kind of situation, they also need to be easy to reach. There’s nothing more frustrating for a customer than being unable to reach customer service. Make it easy for customers to reach out through multiple channels, including phone, email, text, social media, and a live chat feature on your website. You want to be able to help your customers no matter where they are.

2. Listen To Feedback

Listening to feedback from existing customers can help you improve the customer experience. Doing so will help improve your ability to nurture customer relationships in the future. Not to mention that by showing existing customers that you care about what they think and actually do something with the feedback you collect, you help build trust in your brand. Don’t just listen to complaints when customers have them either — go out of your way to ask for feedback. You can do this by asking for specific feedback on social media or by emailing surveys to customers after they’ve made a purchase.

3. Create Content Targeting Existing Customers

As far as content marketing strategies go, a lot of companies focus solely on attracting and nurturing new leads. Don’t forget about your existing customers! The content you create can still be useful to them if you actually target them. Create content that better informs them about the problems you know they have. Use it to educate them about their purchases so that they can get the most out of them.

How To Develop Content To Build Customer Loyalty

4. Embrace Email Marketing

You should have information about existing customers that you can use to improve how you segment your email lists. This should allow you to email existing customers content that is more relevant to them and to potentially identify relevant cross-selling or up-selling opportunities that you can email to them. Email is a great way to nurture your customers and to keep your brand at the top of their minds.

5. Implement A Loyalty Program

A loyalty program rewards repeat customers. This provides them with an incentive to continue doing business with your company. With a loyalty program, customers are more likely to make additional purchases and are less likely to jump ship to a competitor.

A good relationship marketing strategy is vital when it comes to customer retention. Use these tips to strengthen your relationship marketing strategy so that you can nurture existing customers, increase brand loyalty, and generate more sales as a result.

SEO for Creatives: Optimizing Visual Content for Search

November 14, 2023/in Articles, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, SEO /by Terry Becker

Visual content plays a crucial role in capturing and retaining the attention of online audiences. Whether you’re a photographer, graphic designer, artist, or any other type of creative professional, it’s essential to understand how to optimize your visual content for search engines; also knows as Creative SEO. This not only helps your work get discovered by a wider audience but also establishes your online presence as a creative authority. Below, we’ll explore key strategies for optimizing visual content for SEO.

Creative SEO Strategies Focusing on Images and Videos:

Optimize File Names

Before uploading images or videos, rename the files to include descriptive keywords. For example, instead of a generic filename like “IMG_12345.jpg,” use something like “landscape-painting-by-artist-name.jpg”. This small but effective step can improve your content’s search visibility. Another tip is I like to label files with their purpose at the front of the file names so they stay together when sorting alphabetically, making it easier to locate files. An example is “slider_landscape-painting-by-artist-name.jpg”.

High-Quality Images and Videos

The foundation of any successful visual content is high-quality media. Ensure your images and videos are clear, well-composed, and relevant to your target audience. High-resolution images not only enhance user experience but also signal to search engines that your content is valuable.

Optimize Image and Video Metadata

Metadata refers to the information embedded within your media files. This includes details like title, description, tags, and copyright information. Make sure to include relevant keywords in these fields to improve search engine visibility.

Utilize Image Sitemaps

An image sitemap is a file that provides search engines with information about the images on your website. It helps search engines understand the context and relevance of your visual content. You can generate and submit an image sitemap through tools like Google Search Console.

Alt Text and Descriptions

Alt text (alternative text) provides a textual description of an image or video, which is important for accessibility and SEO. Describe your visual content in a concise and accurate manner, incorporating relevant keywords. Additionally, provide detailed captions or descriptions wherever applicable.

Mobile Optimization

With an increasing number of users browsing on mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure your visual content is optimized for mobile viewing. Use responsive design principles to ensure your images and videos display correctly on various screen sizes.

Want to learn more about mobile optimization? Read this article.

Page Speed and Compression

Fast-loading pages are favored by both users and search engines. Compress your images and videos to reduce file sizes without compromising quality. This can significantly improve page load times, which is a known ranking factor for search engines. You can test your site speed with tools such as GTMetrix.

General Creative SEO Strategies:

Keyword Research

Just like with written content, keyword research is vital for optimizing visual content. Identify relevant keywords and phrases that potential viewers might use to search for your type of creative work. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help you discover popular and relevant keywords.

Sharing your visual content on social media platforms can boost its visibility. When posting, make sure to include relevant captions and hashtags. Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments, can indirectly influence your content’s SEO performance.

Monitor and Analyze Performance

Regularly monitor the performance of your visual content using tools like Google Analytics. Track metrics such as page views, engagement, and conversion rates. This data can provide valuable insights into what works best for your audience.

Optimizing visual content for search engines is a crucial aspect of a successful online presence for creatives. By following these strategies, you can increase the visibility and accessibility of your work to a wider audience. Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, so regularly review and update your visual content to stay competitive in the digital landscape.