If you are the owner of a small to mid size company, chances are that in speaking with other business owners or researching marketing opportunities for your business, you’ve come across information telling you to get started with social media. And, the more you read, one of two scenarios happened: you either got jazzed and signed up for all of the platforms they mentioned such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked In, Google +, Quora, Stumble [...]
Archive for marketing strategy
The things good websites do very well
So you’re looking at your website and how you can improve it. The question is where should you begin? We always recommend focusing on three things that good websites do very well. Good websites draw the right kind of traffic to the site It’s important to understand that all traffic is not good traffic. If the visitors you’re attracting do not fit the profile of your buyer, then a high traffic number to your site [...]
Smarter Sales Strategies : importance of an effective elevator pitch
Developing marketing and sales strategies sometimes can get trapped in the details of tactics and platforms. We should use more social media… We need to network and engage buyers… We need to demonstrate our thought leadership… The reality is if your sales strategies don’t connect with your buyer within seconds, it doesn’t matter how cool your campaign video is, your buyer has moved on and is no longer listening. So how can you connect? First [...]
How to use a buyer persona to identify customer needs
While you may not have the resources necessary to compete on a mass-market strategy for your business, you can actually outsmart the competition by changing your paradigms on customer conversion. Instead of focusing on visitors to your site, look to conversion rates, the true measure of revenue generation. After applying some of the strategies below, your business will be able to identify and connect with the ideal buyer persona that visits your website. Identify buyer [...]
Using a marketing strategy template based on the product adoption curve
Bringing a new product to market takes careful planning. Make your next launch easier by using a marketing strategy template that is based on the product adoption curve. The product adoption curve describes how different types of buyers adopt to new products at different rates. Each stage requires brands to use a different approach to message and value that will resonate with what buyer in that stage needs. Innovators | is it different, cutting edge? [...]
Of all the inbound marketing strategies which has the most impact?
I like to talk about the 5 disciplines of inbound marketing and how with a few practical tips businesses can use inbound marketing strategies to build to scale into their business and grow. So what is the number one strategy every business should be leveraging? If you guessed building traffic to your site, or getting ranked on Google you’re wrong. While these are important components of using inbound marketing strategies, traffic alone to your website [...]
Start with why | building an inbound marketing strategy that sells
The internet has changed the way buyers go about researching and making purchases. As little as 5 years ago companies generally held all of the information on their products and how they compared to the competition. These were the days when marketing’s primary job was creating collateral with pretty images, a brand promise, feature and benefit charts that every member of the sales team had in their briefcase. Today, this is just not good enough. [...]
Connecting your marketing plan to your sales process
One of the biggest challenges many companies face is how to effectively connect their marketing plan to their sales process. Too many times the groups operate as totally separate units without finding ways to work together. A few years ago I worked with a head of sales that was a big proponent of a sales process called PPVVC. Developed by sales consultants Sales Performance International, it is a variation of BANT (budget, authority, needs, timing). [...]
A comprehensive marketing strategy template for launching new products
Developing a go to market plan for selling into a new market takes careful planning. If you use a comprehensive marketing strategy template to help organize and coordinate the activities it can make the process smoother. Every company will have some unique needs to manage because of their product, industry or buyer’s need. Still, there are a number of steps that every brand must go through to ensure they communicate effectively with prospects, influencers, and [...]
Integrating lead nurturing into your sales strategies
Most companies see their sales pipeline in a purely straight-line manner. Their entire sales strategies are built around moving their prospects through the process quickly and efficiently to a sale. The typical sales pipeline moves in a linear path from Suspect to Prospect to Lead to Opportunity. If the buyer doesn’t fit within the organization’s criteria for Budget, Authority, Need and Timing (BANT) then the normal sales strategies are to lose early and move onto [...]
3 inbound marketing strategies you should be using
The concept of inbound marketing is a relatively new term, coined by HubSpot’s Brian Halligan in 2005. At the moment, few businesses are taking full advantage of inbound marketing to convert their leads into real sales. However, inbound marketing strategies are especially effective for businesses that deal with longer cycles of research and knowledge-based products. Inbound marketers aren’t looking to buy the public’s attention with paid ads, direct mail or telemarketing. With inbound marketing strategies, [...]
How to build a strategic marketing plan: creating a buyer persona
To build a strategic marketing plan with impact it’s important to start with a few solid understandings. The first is having a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the campaign. What does success look like? How will you measure results? The second is a complete understanding of your target audience. You need to know who your buyer is, what are their motivations, their challenges, and how your brand can help them meet these [...]
An easy to use marketing strategy template
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog on the difference between Strategy and Tactics. Now I thought I’d share an easy to use marketing strategy template that I’ve utilized for several years. I first came across this approach 10 years ago when I was working at the Martin Agency. Located in Richmond, Virginia. Martin was and still is one of the country’s top 5 ad agencies. At the time, Martin used a streamlined strategy [...]
Fear of testing is killing your strategic marketing approach
Companies spend countless hours developing a strategic marketing plan to launch a new product or enter a new market. When it comes time to go live too many don’t build testing into their campaigns. Why not? If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my 15 plus years in marketing it’s that testing is the only way to achieve sustainable success. Even when you have something that has worked for years, times change, environments change, and tastes [...]
3 Principles for a Successful Lead Nurturing Process
Getting more from your marketing efforts is easy if you know how to use a lead nurturing process. Equip yourself with proven strategies and you will not only increase sales but will also turn cold suspects into eager buyers. Think of it like spring planting. If you want a beautiful lawn you need to put down grass seed, fertilize and water. A little effort now will result beautiful results later. Lead nurturing your prospects is [...]
Focusing your project on marketing strategy not tactics
So you’ve been asked to develop a project on marketing strategy for your company. That’s great, but where should you start? You may get some ‘helpful’ suggestions like “social media is hot”. Another favorite is to focus on the hot trend of the moment like “I read about how big Pinterest is getting, we should do that” These could very well be the best channels for you to reach your buyers, but kicking off your [...]
Marketing strategies to increase sales
Developing online marketing strategies to increase sales is central for any business looking to grow. Before you start a new campaign or marketing activity, you need to step back and look at the big picture. What are your objectives? who are your best prospects? what are their needs? Setting goals and objectives before taking action will help you make smarter decisions on what is the right direction for your internet marketing plan. There have been [...]
Social media in an integrated marketing strategy
Social media offers a powerful tool to influence. But to make a real impact, use it within an integrated marketing strategy. I saw an interesting article on Bloomberg.com that talked about the shortcomings of Facebook’s F-commerce. (Gamestop to J.C.Penney Shut Facebook Stores ] Last year there was a lot of news about companies opening storefronts on Facebook. Now several of these retailers have closed them. Brands who have closed their Facebook storefronts included the Gap, J.C [...]
Essential guide to internet marketing
Internet Marketing in today’s business world is essential to establishing a strong base of customers and converting visitors into measurable sales. Whether your business is just getting started with internet marketing or you just want to brush up on the basics, we can give you a few pointers for setting up and implementing a successful internet marketing strategy in 8 basic steps: General words like “marketing” or “business” are too competitive, but if you focus [...]
Social media is more than a few sites and a collection of tools
With so much focus on a few sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and now Google+, marketers are forgetting the point of social media is not the social media websites. The point is social media engagement with customers and potential customers. Your customers are using sites like these and will use many of the next ten social media sites that will pop-up over the coming 18 months because they’re looking for content. They want to [...]
Start with what matters. Why?
A few years ago I saw one of those best and worst lists about most and least admired professions. At the top of the list were professions like Firefighters, Nurses, Police, Pharmacists and Doctors. The bottom of the list was reserved for Stockbrokers, Lawyers, Insurance Salesman and disappointingly Marketing professionals. In fact only one profession was ranked lower – Used Car Salesmen. How come? because too many of us in the business of influencing people spend [...]