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Author: jourden

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LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO MANAGE CUSTOMER CENTRICITY

Taking the knowledge you have gained by evaluating and defining your ideal clients needs (see Creating a Customer Centric Business Model), and determine how to leverage technology to provide the level of service expected in a cost effective way.  There are a lot of choices when it concerns what technologies are worth the effort to implement.  From the implementation of a CRM, Business Blog, Social Media, Distribution Networks, Email Marketing, Website Platforms, etc., there can be a lot of tools to choose from.

How can these technologies improve your ability to manage customer more effectively?

  • Customer relationship management (CRM) software can be used to segment your client base in a way that will allow you to tailor your messaging to relate to their buying behavior.  Properly setting up your CRM and automating custom tailored messaging and campaign tracking will give you the ability interpret the results you achieve in a way that will allow you to replicate the success in a more predictive manor.
  • Business Blogging is just a way to build your website content in a way that is easier to track and follow as a customer interested in what you have to say.  You can categorize and link information in a way that tells a story.  Creating a story that relates to your customer base and flows through multiple pages on your site will increase a prospects willingness to contact you.
  • Social Media is a venue that is most likely being used by your ideal customer base.  Furthermore it is a way to reach your ideal client in a more personal setting in a more personal way.  The key to effectively using social media is to understand the mindset and interests of the participants of each type of social media account.  For example LinkedIn is expected to be used for business purposes but you should further segment its use between business and personal pages on LinkedIn.  Personal LinkedIn pages are for your personal accomplishments, which can be written in a way to sell your companies services.  While company pages should focus on the companies marketing and accomplishments for the same purpose.  Of course relating this messaging to what your ideal prospect wants to hear is the key to success.
  • Distribution Networks can be used to create brand awareness.  Remember when you are reaching out to new networks understand the networks purpose and relate your message to them.  In addition, remember this message could be the first impression you make on the prospect and the link used to get them back to the site should take them to page that continues the story you are telling.
  • Email Marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your client base.  It can be used as a way to improve lead conversion rates and a way to unobtrusively provide current customers with useful information that relate to them.
  • Website Platforms need to be established in a way that tells a great story, captures reader’s interests and entices them to convert and share the information with people they know.  This can be accomplished with appropriately placed Calls to Action, Share It Functionality and tools like live chat.  Making customer interaction and usability is vital to successfully relate to site visitors.
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HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA USEFUL FOR BUSINESSES?

Social media is a platform through which businesses can boost up their profit. Traditional marketing techniques are essential for businesses to flourish offline. But how does a business go about gaining success online? Social media is one of the answers.

Over the past few years, social media has become a vital part of the Internet.  Today social media has become so important that without it the Internet seems incomplete.  Due to social media’s importance, each and every business, regardless of size, should include social media in their online marketing efforts. Social media for a business is considered to be an extension of their brand, which makes social media a powerful tool for online marketing efforts.  There has been a wide range of social media platforms developed, which can make it hard to chose which one is right for your business. These platforms include: blogs, videos, and social networking sites. Each of these mediums, are highly effective for social media marketing.

Promoting a business online has become much easier with the emergence of social media.  Today websites are just the face of the business. In order to develop a genuine online presence it is essential to communicate with your target audience. This is possible with the help of social media, which acts as the voice of a business.  When a business is communicating regularly with their target audience, their credibility increases drastically, which in turn increases revenue for a business. This can all be accomplished through social media.

Social media gives prospective customers a chance to learn and get to know more about a business with little effort on their part.  Interacting with target audiences on a regular basis has proven to build up a customers trust with a business. Every business owner should take advantage of this immense opportunity and use social media for their business.

Social media marketing when done strategically can work wonders for businesses. The right mix of all the social media tools can bring about a notable change in the profit margin.

The tools which are essential for social media marketing are as follows:

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. These have almost become a part of everybody’s daily life. If businesses can make their presence felt in these platforms then success will not be far behind.

Blogs

A website is incomplete if it doesn’t have a blog. A blog represents a business and also keeps visitors returning for up to date credible information.  Providing credible information is enough to turn one-time visitors to reoccurring patrons, which drives traffic and in turn paves the way for lead generation.

  • Social bookmarking

Social bookmarking communities like Reddit, Digg, Stumble Upon, etc are useful in sharing website content which in turn promotes the business. Social media marketing cannot be complete without these social bookmarking sites.

  • Videos

Videos are in great demand nowadays. Their viral effect can greatly increase a businesses profit as well as credibility. Platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, etc are used widely by all the business for their promotion.

Social media for businesses is extremely necessary in this day and age where an online presence matters just as much as an offline presence. Social media marketing helps businesses leave their footprint and extend their brand in the virtual world.

Power On Marketing is committed to delivering their clients profitable results with online marketing solutions. Social media marketing is done by developing and implementing strategies that are tailored to your business’s exact needs.

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SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS

Social networks have become one of the fastest growing outlets for businesses in all industries to extend their brand awareness. It’s safe to say that social mediahas become a HUGE part of the way businesses market their products and services. These social media networks have become a great outlet for businesses to gain insights from target audience’s through comments and backend analytics. Check out our infographic that represents the top five social media do’s and don’ts.

5 dos donts infographic

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BRANDING: THE LIFELINE OF ANY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

For any business, branding can truly affect the level of success you can achieve.  A brand is much more than a pretty logo. It’s what sets you apart from your competition while motivating employees.  Many proven business’ tend to give less attention to branding and focus more on funding and product development. This can be costly; branding is a huge component in building any business. Here are just a few reasons why you should focus more on branding:

GET NOTICED

In a world where most markets are saturated, the best way to stand out from the competition is brand recognition.  The advantage of being the first business to pop into someone’s mind when they are contemplating who to buy a product or service from is astronomical.

INCREASE VALUE

The importance of your company’s brand can be measured in dollars and cents. Having a strong brand ensures you will be top of mind in your target market, which in turn increases market share, sales and public image.  Brands are so valuable that larger organizations will put the value of their brand on their balance sheets.

PROVIDE DIRECTION

A solid brand can do wonders for employee loyalty. When employees have a clear understanding of the common goal, everyone works harder and overall office morale increases. This also lets the public know exactly what the intentions of the business are.

CONSISTENCY

Branding helps keep the overall image of the business consistent across all public outlets.  This, in turn, makes the brand stronger. In order to successfully stay consistent across all mediums, businesses must create a clear identity for what the brand stands for and apply this to all products/services offered.

In the end, your brand should represent a compelling promise to your target market and current customer base that is delivered at every level of the business.

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7 MUST-HAVES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social Media Marketing has been quite the conversation topic recently. To begin any kind of successful venture into social media marketing, you must create a full plan for all possible outcomes.

1. Commitment: We have seen only too many companies start a social media presence, to then not follow through (enough). Social media requires content and curation. It requires responsiveness and interaction. In addition, the organization as a whole needs to be committed to it, not just the marketing department.

2. Strategy: Starting or continuing on social media without a strategy is will probably result in some pretty disastrous things happening (think the MacDonalds #McDStories debacle). A social strategy doesn’t need to be complex, but it needs to articulate what you are doing, and why. It also needs to have reference points you check against to make sure you stay on track.

3. Audience: In the exceptional case where your business doesn’t connect with people, you might not need a social media strategy. But in all other cases – it’s like with all other marketing: Who is your target audience (demographics, psychographics, firmographics)? What are they looking for? What are they afraid of? What do they love? Etc. If you don’t know who your audience is, it’s going to be really difficult to work out where they hang out, what they talk about, and how to engage them.

4. Brand: (We don’t mean your logo.) A brand is how people perceive your business/service/product, internally and externally. Pretending to be something you are not will result in a very public outcry.  When developing your social media plan, think carefully about the brand image you want and need to portray, and stick with it.

5. Metrics: One of my personal favorites. If you are not measuring your effort, you are wasting yours and everyone else’s time. Metrics allow you to set goals, define milestones, and measure how successful you are. The right metrics even allow you to make changes proactively instead of reactively.

6. Policy: Social media will affect your entire organization, and all of your stakeholders. There must be a common understanding of what is acceptable, and what isn’t.  A good policy defines standards for conduct, and holds people accountable for their actions.

7. Crisis Management: You will, at some point, need to manage a social media crisis. A good plan documents standard operating procedures and escalation steps, all the way up to DEFCON1. You want to proactively manage to avoid crisis, and be able to respond quickly when the crisis does arise.

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CONTENT MARKETING VERSUS INBOUND MARKETING

Content marketing has become a much-debated topic among marketers, but there is often quite a bit of confusion around what content marketing exactly is, and how it differentiates itself from online or inbound marketing. Here is an attempt to create some clarity.

CONTENT MARKETING

• Is as old as the written word. It well pre-dates online marketing, as proven by 18th century flyers promoting concerts and other events.

• Focuses on creating relevant and interesting content targeting specific buyer personas

• Is Channel agnostic, meaning it uses all available channels, online, offline and face to face to reach different target audiences.  Examples are blogging and other social media, advertising in trade magazines, and speaking at industry conferences.

• Focuses on all stages of the buying cycle, including lead nurturing, and lead to customer conversion

ONLINE OR INBOUND MARKETING

• Is about getting found online. In other words, online marketing enables your target audience to find you and knock on your door, after which the compelling content you created using your content marketing efforts, gets them through the door.

• Uses online channels only, so SEO, Social Media, Blogging, Websites, PPC…

• Depends on the customer or prospect taking initiative by, for example doing online research on specific products, using Google asking their social media friends for referrals. (as opposed to outbound marketing, which involves brands reaching out to customers).

• Focuses mainly on the initial, lead generating stages of the buying cycle by generating traffic to a website

So in other words, online and content marketing go hand in hand, but they are not the same. They do both require a rigorous discipline around analyzing and adjusting, to maximize results and minimize risk.

Power On Marketing