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63214440ca12380250d4383329cca8f9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/03/21/eight-qualities-your-next-account-executive-hire-should-possess/ | Eight Qualities Your Next Account Executive Hire Should Possess | Eight Qualities Your Next Account Executive Hire Should Possess
Agency account executives play a critical role in your business operations. Not only are they overseeing deliverables from your junior staff and interns; they're also "managing up" by serving as your clients' main point of contact and relaying those communications to senior management.
With their function being so integral to your agency's inner workings, it's important to be cognizant of what types of personality traits potential AEs express in their interview. Whether they've had prior agency experience or not, it's oftentimes their demeanor and style of work that serve as the best indicators of their future capabilities.
Below, eight agency executives from Forbes Agency Council share what traits and skills they look for when hiring new account executives.
Clockwise from top left: Daryl McCullough, Michael Mogill, Lindsay Mullen, Brandon Stapper, Leila Lewis, Andrew Howlett, Sunny Bonnell, Ayelet Noff, Erin Allsman. All photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Emotional Intelligence
Dozens of top qualities make a great manager, but emotional intelligence is among the most critical, hardest to spot, and even harder to teach. After screening for requisite skills and experience, evaluate for high E.I. It's shared by the best managers who are suited for promotion to leadership. These talented staff will tend to have strongest bonds with clients and the agency. – Daryl McCullough, Citizen Relations
2. Results-Driven
I look for someone who is results-driven and values execution over effort alone. This type of execution-focused mindset is prevalent amongst high performers, is in alignment with our company culture, and ensures our clients get the highest level of service. – Michael Mogill, Crisp Video Group
3. Writing Skills
At Prosper Strategies, we look for individuals who have exceptional writing skills. Writers also bring with them critical thinking skills, attention to detail and a strategic mindset. If you can write, we can teach you the tricks of the trade. How do we find great writers? We have all potential employees take a writing test that allows us to assess their writing abilities and see how they think. – Lindsay Mullen, Prosper Strategies
4. Charisma
Your account executives are your agency's main link to its clientele. The best business in its field can still be sunk by socially awkward account executives. If five minutes after meeting your potential account executive you feel like you've been friends for years, they're probably a good fit. Business methods can be taught; charisma is something people are born with. – Brandon Stapper, 858 Graphics
5. Point of View
Our industry changes daily, and we need to be on the pulse of where it is going. I look for individuals who can articulate an opinion on the future of public relations and a point of view that shows that he or she will bring a combination of experience and creative thinking. – Erin Allsman, Brownstein Group
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
6. Empathy
At Motto, we look for cultural fits with a heavy emphasis on qualities such as empathy. Clients are real people with real brand-related challenges that are important to them. As an account executive, specifically if you're client-facing, you have to manage both the clients and agency needs. When issues arise, empathy allows you to see a problem from multiple angles and find the right solution. – Sunny Bonnell, Motto
7. Understanding of Client Business
We ask our account executives to build relationships of trust with our clients at the highest levels. If they (and by extension, the whole agency) can't understand what their business is trying to accomplish from the top levels down, we will not be successful helping them craft their highest-level strategies or implement the lowest-level tactics. – Andrew Howlett, Rain
8. Loyalty
I'm looking for someone who wants to work with us and stay, not hop around from agency to agency. It is not necessarily an asset to us if your resume reveals that you have been a part of many different firms. Be dedicated and commit yourself. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR
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62e78d62974a18409ce23086fc8d20ef | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/03/22/why-originality-is-a-creatives-greatest-weapon/ | Why Originality Is A Creative's Greatest Weapon | Why Originality Is A Creative's Greatest Weapon
Every day business owners around the world pursue their passions, launch industry-disrupting products, and achieve millions in funding. These events signify the power each of us has to create success, but they also illuminate something much deeper —competition is intense and your product or service alone isn't enough to make a dent in the universe.
In life and in business, you’re presented with opportunities to either fit the mold or break it, to fall in line or buck the status quo. We have but one precious life and you may be born inside the game, but you can choose to play your hand differently.
We claim to value originality, individuality, self-expression and uniqueness, yet many business owners cave to fitting in rather than standing out. There is a serious lack of originality in business and companies are defaulting to what they sell, instead of what they stand for. Your brand and business are an extension of who you are, your history, and your tribe. If you don't believe in your ideas, why should anyone else? As the co-founder of a branding agency that works with startups and global brands, I'm seeing far too many companies telling the exact same story, delivering the exact same message, in the exact same way. Sameness is a prison and we should all do well to break free from it.
It can be argued that originality is nonexistent, or it's all been done before. I couldn’t disagree more. At Motto, we encourage our branding clients to believe that true originality is the ability to approach existing ideas or solve important problems through new eyes and in new ways. Originality is rare. Originality is interesting. Originality is what makes things matter.
You have two options when it comes to your business: fall in line like everyone else or assert your originality. If you want to avoid being the status quo, here are five lessons that will help you defy the ordinary:
Move the world to your vision by being a nonconformist.
There is comfort in conformity. To be an entrepreneur, it often means bucking the status quo and taking an idea you believe in and tirelessly proving its worth to the world. In order to move the world to your vision, having an idea alone isn’t enough. The idea has to be nurtured, shaped and executed. Nonconformists identify a problem and work on a solution that makes things better for the world around them.
Have courage in your creativity.
Whether you’re creating an app or furthering a social mission, creativity is essential to being successful. After all, you’ve dreamed up an idea that will solve a problem and make a profit -- and while there may be many before you, no one will do it the way you’ll do it. When this feels daunting, you should refocus on your most creative ideas and have the courage to propel them forward. Find confidence in the fact that taking risks and showing off your original, creative self is the only way to avoid ending up acting like everyone else.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Sometimes the "how" is more important than the "why."
Sometimes your big audacious vision may seem like crazy talk. As a firm believer in the power of why -- and by helping companies work to uncover their purpose and use it in their branding -- I've found there are indeed some exceptions. Adam Grant, author of Originals, says when asking for help with the seemingly impossible, “Instead of starting with why, start with the how.” We’ve been advised to always start with "why" to explain our greater purpose, but if you have an original idea, your "why" could likely sound crazy to other people. If you can make the "how" seem more attainable, then what you’re working towards might start to sound more realistic.
Ignore your rivals.
From people who undermine you, to those who copy your ideas, people are always going to try to be better than you. It’s important to remember that such actions are a natural part of life. The good news is that your originality is your biggest weapon against those who try to conquer you -- and you should always fight for the right to be yourself. If you learn to be your own comforting guide when the going gets rough, you’ll be well-equipped to handle any unexpected challenge that comes your way.
Have a "reality distortion field."
This was a term coined by Bud Tribble to describe Steve Jobs, his charisma and his innate ability to influence, inspire and persuade others into almost anything. In order to bring your ideas to life, you must first believe in them yourself. It has been said by Malcolm Gladwell that with any great entrepreneur who has an original vision or seemingly impossible idea, that at least once, he or she will be the only person left standing who believes in it. When you distort reality or expand the realm of possibility, you’ll find that others will be drawn to your magnetism and originality, and will be willing to move your ideas forward.
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ef5b313b8d8774b4ff6e8613bbb736df | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/05/06/social-selling-101-five-hacks-to-connect-with-customers-and-grow-your-business/ | Social Selling 101: Five Hacks To Connect With Customers And Grow Your Business | Social Selling 101: Five Hacks To Connect With Customers And Grow Your Business
With Americans now spending more time on Facebook than they do with their own pets, it’s hard for anyone to make it through a day without being requested to "like" a page. With the proliferation of social media comes a sense of FOMO (or the fear of missing out) for most entrepreneurs with regard to dropping the ball on social media sales.
To hit these moving targets, companies need to develop a strategy to capitalize on this brave new frontier. One way to use social media to knock it out of the park is with social selling. It’s a powerful strategy that can help sell your ideas, establish credibility and win new clients.
Social selling is about strengthening your bond with potential buyers, based on authentic empathy and a deep understanding of the fears they face. Conversely, without a strategy, very few social media postings lead to sales. Consumer behavior has evolved alongside social media: no longer are they relying on one channel, i.e. a salesperson. Now, they're proactively seeking out information – everything from reading product reviews, evaluating your services and looking at current clients – before making a decision.
Research is an integral part of the buy cycle, with the average consumer viewing more than 11.4 pieces of content prior to making a purchase. 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. If social selling is implemented correctly, it’s a win-win. Here are five "hacks" to help you leverage the power of social selling:
Have Two-Way Conversations
Talk with your fans instead of to your fans. Posting statements doesn't give them any real motivation to engage with you. You should, however, like, comment and share other people’s posts, as people will begin to take notice when you join the conversation. Show that your motive is to be helpful by never immediately following up with a sales request. Relationship building is easier when your actions aren’t always tied to your own agenda.
We take advantage of our thought leadership exhibited by our blog, sharing solutions to marketing struggles that link back to the blog property. We also engage fans with webinars focused on overcoming these challenges, and even offer free marketing consultations to help get the conversation started.
Keep Your Ear to the Streets
Listen to your prospects' and clients' fears, worries and struggles, and cater your content to help them succeed. Your content should be on-trend and provide actionable takeaways. Rise above your competition by consistently delivering solid content, and you will become their go-to person when purchasing decisions are being considered and made. I work closely with our marketing consultants and hear firsthand from clients and prospects, which allows me to better target our marketing to tap into the trials and tribulations of our customer. Our consultants also give me feedback on the leads they are receiving from our marketing efforts, which allows me to adjust what we are doing to ensure we are reaching ideal prospects, thus shortening our sales cycle.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Deepen Connections
The crux of social sales is about deepening your relationships. People want to work and partner with those they know and can depend on. Today’s always-connected consumer is barraged with thousands of ads per day, yet no one wants to feel sold to. When you build rapport through social sales, you actually make a sincere connection. Forge relationships first, and allow sales transactions to follow.
I have many segmented email lists generated from businesses seeking social media marketing assistance. Every month I send an informational broadcast detailing changes in social selling and new best practices, and I always end by telling my readers they are welcome to contact me for further insights and information.
Go Cross-Channel
The scope of social selling is far greater than a sequence of one-off events. Integrate and standardize all messages across platforms, both online and off. Your message should say, "Here’s the outcome we help people like you accomplish." The star of the show is not you, your company history or the feature of your product/service. Rather, it’s the result you deliver consistently to your happy customers. The synergy created by having your message appear in your prospect's mailbox, inbox and social feed exponentially increases your reach.
We pair all of our direct mail campaigns with Facebook ads. By doing so, we are able to increase the response by upwards of 25%. It takes time for people to get to know you, and remember your name and message. By showing them the same message on multiple platforms, you're building build trust and honesty. Then, and only then, will they be ready and willing to buy from you.
Build a Bridge Between Marketing and Sales
When you treat your fans with mutual respect, you'll become the go-to resource when they need something in your field. You’re leading the pack, and they'll respect your prowess by trusting you to help them solve their needs. It’s the trust earned that leads to cold, hard revenue. We've been able to achieve this by offering free marketing consultations, hosting many marketing webinars, publishing original blog posts, and even giving social assessments of our customers' competitors.
Social selling epitomizes the inevitable marriage between marketing and sales. Understanding the complexities and struggles of both your prospect and sales team will enable you to overcome these challenges. All it takes is implementing social selling into your sales and marketing strategy.
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053084d138502ca9f46b89603a8af545 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/08/15/how-virtual-reality-can-revolutionize-digital-marketing/?sh=269d50b45f5e | How Virtual Reality Can Revolutionize Digital Marketing | How Virtual Reality Can Revolutionize Digital Marketing
Fresh off the best regular season in NBA history, the Golden State Warriors knew they had a strong case for courting coveted free agent and bona fide superstar Kevin Durant to San Francisco this summer.
But in order to truly leverage their star power and championship promise, the sports team needed a way to bring their offer to life: a way to show Durant just how he’d feel stepping onto the court as a Warrior, the ovation he’d receive from the crowd, and the unique opportunity he would have to play with three of the best basketball players in the world.
In a move that comes as little surprise to any tech savvy digital marketer, the Warriors turned to virtual reality: a cutting edge technology poised as the biggest development since the launch of the smartphone. Using VR goggles, representatives for the team showed Durant footage of the Golden Gate Bridge, team practice, and his potential future coach addressing the team in the locker room, according to USA Today.
Virtual reality is not what closed the deal in and of itself, but its role within a successful pitch does point to a lucrative and relatively untapped marketing frontier. If the Warriors sold Durant – a global brand himself – by using virtual reality technology, why can’t other brands do something similar with their audiences?
At my digital marketing firm, we focus on luxury brands and experiential marketing, and leverage VR to develop solutions for hotels to showcase weddings held at their properties. Instead of just touring an empty ballroom or reception venue, a hotel salesperson can show the potential bride and groom a VR video, helping them understand the transformation and what their dream day could actually look like.
The concept extends to many other luxury brands, which base much of their marketing strategies around the concept of storytelling. At the 2015 National Business Aviation Association conference in Las Vegas, for example, Gulfstream was handing out custom VR goggles, allowing potential buyers to tour the inside of a G650. Virtual reality took its high-quality video – which has proven to be the most effective digital medium from an engagement perspective – and raised it with a three-dimensional, immersive experience that vividly captured the essence of its product. Complete with audio narration, it’s the closest a prospective buyer could come to experiencing the reality without actually being in it.
Likewise, imagine the benefit of marketing a luxury car and being able to take digital shoppers on a virtual test drive, promoting a five-star hotel getaway by allowing guests to preview their stay, or selling an action product (like GoPro) and giving a sneak peek into the adventures that lie ahead.
Even the nonprofit sector can benefit, as virtual reality helps tell the stories of the underserved populations the organizations are supporting. For example, in a mission that hits close to home for my team, virtual reality can help empower teachers to integrate visual and performing arts in their classrooms by allowing them to envision dance, theater and music instruction in ways not previously possible. At my agency, we are involved in this cause through our nonprofit foundation, which helps arts education organizations across the U.S. implement strong content that includes virtual reality instruction.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
All of these scenarios have one thing in common: marketers are now able to tap into customers' emotions in an entirely new dimension. And since empathy plays a part in driving conversions, the potential ROI fully justifies what is currently a relatively high price tag for production. Considering virtual reality companies are seemingly launching new innovations every week, associated costs can only be expected to decline over time.
A 2015 study showed that 75% of the Forbes’ World Most Valuable Brands have created some form of virtual or augmented reality experience, a number that has undoubtedly increased over the last few years, and will only continue to do so in the future. Much like the Warriors utilized VR technology to win over Kevin Durant, consider how your brand can use it to capture the hearts and minds of your audience in a way that was never previously thought possible.
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4ab0621ce107d7cf744f490b8bb67067 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/09/06/capitalizing-on-instagrams-new-algorithm/ | Capitalizing On Instagram's New Algorithm | Capitalizing On Instagram's New Algorithm
Almost every business is on Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn . But everyone also needs to be aware of the next power player in the social media market: Instagram.
While most people are familiar with the platform, a few companies are missing out on this huge marketing opportunity. Instagram is one of the fastest growing social channels, recently surpassing 500 million monthly users who post more than 95 million images and videos a day, as the company reported earlier this summer.
Though I'm an advocate of this platform now, I wasn’t that big on Instagram until I saw the numbers. But in just a few months of work, I managed to triple my personal follower base, as well as my brand's, capturing the attention of influencers and customers alike while catapulting my marketing brand into the stratosphere.
However, just as we saw initial momentum building, Instagram began to change things up. The system we were relying so heavily on for ourselves and for our clients was shaken. With some hard work and some hustle, we were able to come out on top once more and I am now able to share what I learned.
Making Sense Of Instagram’s Latest Algorithm
Businesses and brands that rely on followers were thrust into uncertainty with the changes in Instagram’s algorithm, which is aimed at enhancing the user experience. Under the latest algorithm, the classic oldest-to-newest order of content is long gone. Instead, the change brings about an algorithm-driven feed which Instagram says is “ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most.”
But Instagram, owned by Facebook, seems to work in mysterious ways. To put it simply, Instagram has made it harder for your posts to reach your entire following. As much as this may be a setback for businesses and brands that count on that mass exposure, it also presents an opportunity to get in touch with a niche target audience which will consequentially benefit your brand.
Staying Ahead Of The Curve
The new algorithm is almost a direct countermeasure against schemes that target follower count, designed to compel users to desist from the utilization of loop giveaways and fast follower acquisition schemes.
However, there are ways of working within the algorithm to rapidly grow your brand. Here are some of the strategies that helped me build my following:
Engage influencers. Strategically engaging with influencers who will potentially like your profile and represent your brand may assist you in maximizing your reach. Under Instagram’s new algorithm, influencers who are consistently engaging with their audiences will be ranked favorably in user’s feeds. Aligning your brand with these social influencers can help you break through the barrier and indirectly interact with your target audience as well. For example, if you own a coffee shop, you can have an influencer post a photo of him or herself enjoying their morning coffee with the location of your shop geotagged. Several comments will follow mentioning the shop and the best experiences, while others will want to find out more, and even pull up directions to the shop so as to have the experience that the influencer painted. The result is your brand gaining organic followers to your Instagram account, as well as quite a bit of foot traffic to your storefront.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Encourage followers to like and comment. The easiest way to keep your brand on top of the feeds of your audience members is through likes and comments. When people actively engage with your brand, it triggers a user experience signal within the algorithm that will keep your posts showing up in your audience’s feeds. So how do you make sure the content you post gets the engagement you need with the new changes to Instagram? Just like any solid marketing strategy, it’s all about creating an authentic story or experience. Instagram was made for showing off the human side to your brand and giving your followers a behind-the-scenes look into your brand can really boost engagement. When you pair your posts with trending hashtags in your region or industry, you’ll see your engagement numbers skyrocket.
Niche your offers and giveaways. The new algorithm will be responsible for filtering the images and content in order to arrive at the relevant one for every user. If the offers and giveaways you have made to your followers are not specific to their interests, it is highly unlikely that they will be featured or placed on the explore page. In turn, your account will not be ranked as a recommended user, which will result in your posts having fewer viewers. If you have a business that is in the fashion and lifestyle industry, your offers and giveaways should be structured to conform to that specific niche, such as offers of discounted rates as you post photos of trendy clothing. This strategy will give your followers relevant information and the direct offers they are looking for, which will build your brand and reputation. Off-brand posts and offers – like photos of BBQ or a MacBook when your business is in the fashion industry – will rank as a random offer directed at random people, which will result in your followers not seeing the posts anyway.
The Bottom Line
Instagram can be a very powerful marketing tool for businesses if the right strategy is employed. If you want to succeed, you need to change the mindset from collecting massive follower numbers and start really engaging your audience.
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06e281bb9816b0feaf1a7355e6ce72f6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/11/23/the-real-reason-it-feels-tragic-when-your-favorite-brand-sells-out/ | The Real Reason It Feels Tragic When Your Favorite Brand 'Sells Out' | The Real Reason It Feels Tragic When Your Favorite Brand 'Sells Out'
Do you remember when your favorite band “sold out”? That’s the term of disparagement my friends and I used when musicians scored a big record deal and then proceeded to disavow their indie roots. For some, such growth is the measure of success. But to fanboys like me, when a whale ingests a minnow, that’s not a cause for celebration. It’s a sign that the minnow’s glory days are numbered.
Today, the latest victim in this long-running tragicomedy is Dollar Shave Club, which earlier this year was purchased by Unilever. If you’re like me, you first heard of Dollar Shave Club when you saw its brilliantly self-effacing video in 2012. Within 24 hours, the startup had generated 12,000 orders. Four years later, the company does almost a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue and captured 8% of the market.
How did this feat happen? Razors, creams and gels are now cheaper, superior and more convenient to buy than ever before. That’s because, as a TechCrunch writer reported, big brands lack the incentive to innovate that fuels their smaller competitors, especially those that specialize in retail and cater to consumers.
For example, in 42 of the top 54 food categories over the past five years, big brands have lost market share to small brands. From 2009 to 2013, major consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies surrendered 2.3% of the market to the proverbial little guy. What’s triggering this trend? For one, big CPG is plowing its profits into promotion rather than research. Last year, Unilever spent $8 billion hawking its current wares versus $1 billion developing new ones. For a colossus, enriching shareholders is more important than creating products that delight customers.
Hence the opportunity for innovators like Dollar Shave Club. Whereas Unilever and Procter & Gamble have mastered traditional marketing, they struggle in selling directly to consumers. Realizing this, Dollar Shave Club single-mindedly cultivated relationships with men across the country. Loyalty and happiness, rather than their wallets, was prized above all else.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
For Dollar Shave Club, boasting the fanciest technology wasn’t nearly as important as getting into a customer’s bathroom — every month, on autopilot. As a result, as investor Ryan Darnell observed, while Goliaths take to Twitter and Facebook mostly to address customer complaints, Davids like Dollar Shave Club use social media to conduct authentic-seeming conversations with shavers.
No wonder this company commanded a sale price of a cool billion. But for patrons like me, a giant question hangs over the future of our facial hair: Will the virtues that drew people to the quirky upstart in the first place survive submersion into corporate America?
Of course, it’s not just Dollar Shave Club that’s attuned to changes in consumer preferences. Consider the market for craft beer. According to a Business Insider article, “American craft brewers have been the most spectacular economic success story since the Financial Crisis.” Year after year, these businesses have booked double-digit sales gains, including nearly 13% last year.
That kind of growth is hard to ignore for a multinational conglomerate, whose domestic sales have been slumping year after year. For a private-equity firm, that kind of growth is pure catnip. Together, these companies have been binging on brewery buyouts.
But to the home-brewed craft movement, this corporatizing represents nothing less than the decimation of our beloved brews. After all, craft brewers built a thriving niche “by positioning themselves as the underdogs in a war” with Big Beer, as Bloomberg Businessweek puts it.
Consider Goose Island Brewery. Goose began as a single brewpub in Chicago in 1988. Twenty-three years later, it was imbibed by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Ever since to connoisseurs, Goose’s barrel-aging operation, which produces exotic ales in wine casks and bourbon barrels, hasn’t tasted quite the same. Similarly, a year ago, another craft icon — Ballast Point — was guzzled by the maker of Corona and Modelo, Constellation Brands. Among beer enthusiasts, Ballast has an avid following. Ballast’s Sculpin rates a “world class” ranking on the BeerAdvocate website, a popular forum for beer lovers.
Constellation’s press release announcing the deal offers two revealing remarks. On one hand, Ballast’s “grassroots approach to innovation” is praised for “engaging beer lovers and home brewers in the [brewing] process.” On the other hand, Constellation promises that its new trophy wife “remains dedicated to the art of making better-quality craft beer.”
Clichéd boilerplate, right? Not to me. For herein lies the problem at the heart of these takeovers: People drink Ballast Point and Goose Island and subscribe to Dollar Shave Club because we enjoy supporting independent brands. Now, when we reach for a cold one or trim our stubble, we’re bankrolling corporate greed rather than a dream from a local brewer. Meanwhile, we suspect we’re not getting the same McCoy that got us hooked in the first place.
It was recently reported that Uniliever is now in talks to buy another indie success story – Jessica Alba’s baby-care startup, the Honest Company.
Jess, from one entrepreneur to another: Don’t do it. I built my business on the strength of personal relationships. I tell my staff to concentrate on cultivating these connections, and that money will come later. After all, only by perfecting your brand can you raise your revenue.
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ef4e6fbc559f4f8e745d31b2dcb82805 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/11/25/three-intrinsic-branding-lessons-all-startups-should-learn-from-the-store-next-door/ | Three Intrinsic Branding Lessons All Startups Should Learn -- From The Store Next Door | Three Intrinsic Branding Lessons All Startups Should Learn -- From The Store Next Door
As a brand strategist, I mostly work with new businesses on establishing themselves as brands – as quickly and as honestly as possible. With Small Business Saturday coming our way (Nov. 26 -- make sure to show your support), now is the time to analyze how small businesses brand themselves in an organic grassroots manner – and how startups can learn from these businesses that are rooted in localism and fueled by brand advocates.
Our view of what a small business is has changed over the past decade. The financial crisis of 2008 led to uncertainty and unemployment, which led to people crafting and cooking again and, not so coincidentally, preferring local eateries and buying artisanal products. Many of these products were passionately created by people who had just one product and little to no business background. The best (and often only) way for them to market was by talking to their neighbors. At the same time, a new generation was becoming fed up by corporate America.
To gain insight on all matters local, I sought the opinion of a fellow local entrepreneur who is an expert on the subject, DW Ferrell. I met Ferrell locally when we shared the stage as panelists at the California Women's Conference a few years ago, and his name popped in my head automatically when I started thinking about this topic. Ferrell was a retail strategist for major brands and shopping centers before veering in the complete opposite direction. He is co-founder of a social enterprise startup, a campaign community and platform marketplace for local makers and merchants that works to accelerate the local marketplace. Needless to say, he lives and breathes this subject matter.
I translated our lengthy and insightful conversation into three key lessons on how a local mindset can propel your startup into a meaningful and dynamic brand that remains true to itself:
Think Community First
Having the right mindset is key. Most brands have a community manager who, more often than not, turns into a social media PR machine who spends half their time nurturing social followers, and the other half putting out social fires. But that's not the community we're referring to. Successful local businesses are deeply involved with the city and its initiatives, with community events and planning. They want to contribute as much to the community as they are benefiting from it. If startups apply this desire to connect with their followers, share experiences, build upon them and use their shared values for the greater good, their brands will win big.
The next time you make a sale, think about what you can give in return (besides the product). If the customer isn't expecting anything additional, a small unexpected gesture will lead to them seeing you as a friend, and that's the basis of any relationship. When you repeat that step and that thinking, you create a community.
Define Your Vernacular
Just like any brand, a small local business stands for something and has to create meaningful values. These values need to embody the values of not only their customers and clients, but also the community and their contributions to it. "It isn’t enough to follow traditional brand marketing principles that are based on 'push marketing.' Instead, you and the company have to intentionally 'live the story' that embodies the brand's values," Ferrell said during our conversation. As Ferrell asks, “How will you align profit and purpose? How will your model support your mission?”
You have to create your vernacular and define your terms. When you define it and share it publicly with your community, you can ensure that you have the right community, as members will celebrate your values if they share your views. Furthermore, this forces you to hold yourself accountable. You're saying: This is our ideal, our identity. Does it resonate with you? Great. We now need to be true to you, because you are behind us.
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See Your Competition As An Advertisement
Your "biggest" competitor is not your enemy.
This lesson may be a bit tough to swallow, but you are nothing without a supportive network. And when you launch locally, that very network includes your competitors. In the small business world, the local coffee shop supports the other local coffee shop to leverage their unity and create a network that only has one enemy - in this example, Starbucks. If the small ones stick together they generate more word of mouth about each other and hence sales while forming a support system as a side effect.
The only thing that will hold you back from that handshake with your competitor is fear. And as Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Stop fearing; instead, cross-pollinate. "Cross-market" would be the correct term, but let's keep this local and share the love.
So this is what I will be celebrating on Small Business Saturday: A wide array of micro-entrepreneurs offering unique services and artisanal goods, thinking about their communities, defining their values and supporting each other.
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7af3f5dff4722f7dbede8d6125e9a462 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/12/16/why-the-traditional-rules-of-writing-still-matter-5-content-creation-tips/ | Why The Traditional Rules Of Writing Still Matter: 5 Content Creation Tips | Why The Traditional Rules Of Writing Still Matter: 5 Content Creation Tips
Over the past two decades, digital content needs have transformed tremendously. With the switch around the turn of the century towards writing for search engines, the basic principles of writing got lost. People who have never constructed valuable content were suddenly loading their sites with garbage just to drive traffic, which hopefully led to sales.
Regardless of how sloppy they were, these content efforts actually worked – for a bit. But as search engine algorithms have become smarter, content creation strategies require a revised approach. Modern machine learning-based algorithms can quickly find thin and irrelevant content and immediately discredit content accordingly.
The answer to today’s content needs is twofold: First, content must be written well with not only proper spelling and grammar but syntax – a return to traditional form, if you may. Second, the content must fit this form while also abiding by the rules of SEO, which includes a few must-haves, such as keywords based on research, proper headlines containing main keywords and attention-grabbing meta descriptions.
At my company, our content division adheres to traditional writing standards that are tailored for search engines. With that said, here are five content creation tips that every digital market needs to abide by for true success.
Think People First, Optimization Second
When the writing process begins for any type of digital content – whether a blog post about the benefits of a product or the product/service pages themselves – don’t think about writing for search engines. Rather, think about writing for people.
With the billions of digital platforms available, people want quality first. Most can tell a fake immediately and will quickly move onto a competitor. For true quality, write content that solves problems, educates, entertains and above all, adds value.
One technique that my content team at LSEO utilizes when writing is based on the importance of social media. Write content that your target customers would want to share across their social media platforms. If it’s worth it for them, it’s likely worth it for their social media audience, which will naturally spread the word about your brand.
Keywords Are Everything
Creating a targeted keyword list is an absolute must before any writing happens. There are multiple strategies available online for targeted keyword generation, but one can easily generate keywords on a topic-by-topic basis. There are multiple tools available; we rely on SEMRush and Searchmetrics to create the most optimal keyword list.
For example, say you owned a digital marketing firm that offered content creation and you wanted to build a service page on “content creation.” You would use tools to research the term and see things like what kind of monthly volume it has and how competitive it would be to actually rank for that term. These tools also provide longer-tail keywords that relate to your business which may have less volume but would be easier to rank for, such as “digital marketing content” and “content marketing SEO.”
Keyword research also leads to additional ideas for content creation, whether it would be a blog post that supports a service page or an entirely new service itself.
Understand Your Audience
Once you have your keywords and topics, the next vital form of research is understanding your audience. Research all of your top competitors and get a feel for voice and what topics are trending. If they have case studies of their clients, analyze them. Do any type of research possible to find out the demographics of your intended audience and continue to do so as long as you’re in business. Target customer demographics change often, so make sure you’re on top of all research.
Also, know the jargon of your industry, from buzzwords to technical terms, and use them regularly. Just having the jargon of an industry down will help create your authority in the space. Along with authority arrives respect, confidence and trust, which creates strong client relations.
Observe The 30-Second Rule
When you start writing, spend much time crafting your headline and opening paragraph. When creating, abide by the 30-second rule. This rule states that you have a maximum of 30 seconds to sell yourself before selling your product or services, so create the energy needed to move prospective customers along. The less time it takes you to garner their full attention, the quicker you’ll have a customer.
And apply this rule when choosing a lead image that sets off your content.
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The Must-Know Technical Bits
Now onto the technical side of SEO, which for content creation is fairly straightforward. I already mentioned using the 30-second rule for your headline, which in the world of SEO is actually considered a title tag. Regardless, just think of it as a major headline.
This is the main portion that pops up in search engines and helps customers find you. A rule is to make sure your title tag features your main keyword (back to our above example, “content creation” would be a must), is catchy and is not longer than 60 characters. Google, for example, displays up to 60 characters per headline.
The other important part is a meta description, which is the main description of your article that shows up in search engine results and is directly under your title tag. If you captured an audience with a catchy title tag, now’s the time to solidify your marketing message and keep them engaged with a well-executed meta description. These must be short and feature only 160 characters. Remember that a content team should always create the meta descriptions, not others such as SEOs, tech members or those uploading the stories to your website.
Concluding Thoughts
Want content that can convert to sales? Take a strategic approach to ensure you are only producing quality content that speaks to your audience while talking to search engines through keywords and technical elements. These five tips are absolute musts for successful content creation; make sure all of your content going forward addresses the above and watch conversions grow.
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e8b5d1a52d17fac7eee14461e9be3cbb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/12/20/five-important-components-to-build-a-rock-solid-seo-strategy/ | Five Important Components To Build A Rock Solid SEO Strategy | Five Important Components To Build A Rock Solid SEO Strategy
SEO continues to evolve, yet many website owners seem to be stuck in the past with their online marketing and SEO strategies. What worked a few years ago doesn’t work any longer, especially if you’ve been executing short-term tactics instead of long-term strategies.
You used to be able to write keyword-stuffed copy. Blast a few thousand backlinks at it, and you’d rank very well. However, Google has put most spammy strategies to rest with their series of algorithm updates. SEO is more complex now than it’s ever been: It’s not as cut and dry as simply checking items off a checklist. Sadly, most people end up basing their strategies off of outdated or conflicting advice, neither of which will help your business get the results you want.
I have been working in the digital marketing space for over 10 years developing and executing marketing strategies in some of the most competitive niches online. Below, we look into the most important SEO factors that you should focus your online marketing efforts around.
1. Backlinks Are Still Incredibly Important
A number of online authorities have denounced backlinks as being harmful. According to the latest research from Brian Dean of Backlinko, backlinks are quite the opposite: They’re actually one of the most important Google ranking factors.
However, not just any links will do. You need backlinks from relevant and high-quality domains. This means that the days of buying backlinks, producing spun content, submitting it to web 2.0 sites and leaving thousands of spam comments are dead. The best kind of links you can get are contextual links. This means that strategies like guest blogging and networking with high-quality bloggers in your niche are still relevant.
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2. User Experience Determines Rankings
Bounce rate has a lot to do with your rankings. What is bounce rate exactly? It’s the portion of your readers that hit the back button the moment they land on your website. You want this number to be as low as possible. After all, the fewer people that are immediately leaving your site right after they land on it, the higher quality your website must be.
If a lot of people are landing on your website and immediately hitting the back button, then that’s probably a good sign to Google that people don’t like your content. Sites that focus on user experience tend to have a lower bounce rate and a higher dwell time (the total amount of time a user spends on your website).
A good way to improve the user experience on your website is to improve the design of your blog and make your writing more compelling. For example, the first few sentences of your blog post should immediately hook your reader and make them want to read more. Second, the design of your blog should provide a good reading experience for your viewers. This means having things like a large, readable font, minimizing distractions like pop-ups, and including engaging media elements.
3. Longer Content Does Perform Better
The Backlinko study also found that content with higher word counts ranks higher in search engines than shorter posts. In fact, most of the first-page search engine results are populated by pieces of content that are well above 1,500 words. However, this doesn’t mean you should simply “fluff out” your short blog posts. We care about our readers, remember?
As a bonus, longer content is shared more frequently across social media as well. Search engines haven’t officially approved social signals as being a ranking factor, but having more social shares won’t hurt your post. Plus, increased shares across social media means more traffic for your website, which is never a bad thing.
4. Your Site Must Perform With The Best
Do you know how the performance of your site stacks up against the rest? If you don’t, you could be sabotaging your rankings efforts. Google has openly stated that the speed of your site matters for your rankings. We use a site called GT Metrix, which gives us a breakdown of how our site is currently performing, as well as recommendations for how to improve the speed of our site.
If you’re looking for additional ways to speed up your website, try a tool like W3 Total Cache and a CDN like Cloudflare. These tools combined will surely give your site loading speed a boost.
5. You Must Care About Mobile
The mobile market is huge and it’s only going to grow. If you’ve been paying attention to the SEO space at all, then you’ll know that Google released a mobile-friendly algorithm update that’s been deemed "Mobilegeddon.” This algorithm update encourages website owners to improve the mobile experience and performance of their websites. Those don’t update their site to reflect the latest mobile web standards can actually lose their rankings. If you want to see rankings, your site must be mobile friendly.
At the very least, it’s smart to have a responsive website. To further optimize your site for mobile, it’s a good idea to run your site through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. This will show you how your site stacks up and give you recommendations to further improve your site.
SEO now and in the future is all about your readers. Delight them with your in-depth, high-quality content and improve the user experience of your site, and you will be rewarded with better rankings.
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b0dba0d74ebe9373fde9522b99f36d73 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/12/22/how-to-integrate-influencer-marketing-into-your-businesss-digital-marketing-mix/ | How To Integrate Influencer Marketing Into Your Business's Digital Marketing Mix | How To Integrate Influencer Marketing Into Your Business's Digital Marketing Mix
The role of content in digital marketing has progressed into becoming a staple for businesses. But with the rapid rise of content made available on the internet, important information can easily be lost. Through trial and error, I discovered that influencer marketing is one tactic that can help to alleviate this problem.
Influencer outreach, or gaining a relevant audience by working with a blogger to produce content, is a newer strategy in the world of link building for SEO. I've found this method to be highly effective, and it remains a critical component of my campaigns for clients at my digital marketing agency.
Finding the right influencer to collaborate with can be difficult due to the number of requests influencers receive. However, there are ways to improve the likelihood of securing influential bloggers who align with your brand:
Finding Your Match
It is essential to find bloggers whose style matches the content you're creating. In turn, your product will be seen by an audience who is interested in your product, and who listens to a blogger for guidance in which products to choose.
Examples of tools that make finding bloggers easier are GroupHigh, BuzzStream and JustReachOut. After using all three, I found that GroupHigh is my favorite: With a seemingly endless database, GroupHigh can filter bloggers in an array of different areas, creating an organized, easy search functionality. Some of my favorite filters include narrowing down bloggers by their domain authority, number of followers and sponsored posts. Using the tool is as simple as plugging in what keywords you are looking for. You can type in a single keyword or several different keywords to get a more refined search.
BuzzStream and JustReachOut, on the other hand, cost less than half the price of GroupHigh, but you'll be limited in the number of sources you can link to, as well as the number of filters you can apply. However, I would suggest either of these tools to companies just starting influencer outreach.
Reaching Out
While a list of solid leads is essential, your level of influence as a company can be a determining factor in securing an influencer. Starting out, I would only receive a response from one out of every 10 bloggers I contacted.
Outreach attempts should contain the same foundational information, but should also cater to each blogger or publication. Personalizing outreach attempts sparks interest because it makes it about that specific influencer, and feels original and engaging. For instance, you could comment on the influencer’s most recent articles and how their content coincides with your product.
Pithy messages are also the best way to keep a blogger's attention. Yes, you should personalize your message, but do not digress. Time is valuable in the business world, and it certainly will not be wasted on reading a lengthy e-mail. Shoot for around 100-to-175 words in your note.
Make sure to also provide the link to the content you want shared so you can secure a link to that specific page on your site.
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Choosing Content Production
Once an influencer is on board, the most important part is finding the right plan in which to present your content. There are several different formats to choose from, and because each business is different, it is important to pick a plan that suits your company. I have found that these content production strategies have been most successful:
Original Influencer Content: This is by far the most effective strategy I’ve used throughout several campaigns. Here, you could have the influencer create an article geared specifically towards your product.
Collaborated Content: This style integrates ideas from both parties. Throughout my experiences, I have discovered this method ends up taking longer than most due to the number of hands it goes through before a final edition is ready for publication. A popular way to do this is to provide data for an author or bloggers based on your custom research, giving them charts, graphs or special insights.
Content is going to remain a strong presence in digital marketing. In order to compete in your field, introducing an influencer marketing strategy should be taken into consideration. By leveraging tools to your advantage, professionally contacting and securing influencers is a strategy your company can’t overlook when creating content that resonates with your target audience.
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5f7f8806b71a5cbb913d8e24868a4114 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/12/28/setting-the-standard-for-excellent-customer-service-four-technologies-to-employ/ | Setting The Standard For Excellent Customer Service: Four Technologies To Employ | Setting The Standard For Excellent Customer Service: Four Technologies To Employ
Your relationship with customers doesn’t end after they’ve purchased your product or service. In fact, that’s just the beginning of a long-term relationship. What if a customer has a question or complaint and can’t get in touch with you or your team? Do you think they’ll refer you to others or make another purchase in the future?
As a digital marketing consultant, a good portion of my client experiences deal with customer retention as well as customer acquisition – and the bedrock of customer acquisition is customer service. In the 21st century, customers are smarter than ever. They know the difference between good and bad customer service. They expect omnichannel experiences where they can connect with your business via social media, instant chat, email and phone. They want to feel appreciated and have a low tolerance for a lengthy response time. And people will sometimes choose customer service over price and product.
Customer experience isn’t just an additional perk – it’s non-negotiable. That’s when a customer service help desk becomes one of your business's most important assists. The following is an overview of some of the strategies and tools I've used to help meet these client goals, and have had success using:
Help Desks: What They Are (And Why Your Business Needs One)
A help desk is simply a service that provides information and support to customers. Most enterprise-level companies have several help desks to handle various needs. For instance, one desk may take care of tech support, while another responds to shipping inquiries. Other organizations outsource their help desks so they always have someone on call to respond to a customer. For small businesses, however, there may not be the resources or budget available to outsource or have multiple help desks. In this case, you would turn to easy-to-use and affordable help desk software to manage your customer service needs.
Help desks also enable your business to resolve any ongoing issues, work more efficiently and can save both you and your customers time. For example, if you were using a spreadsheet to track customer issues and resolutions, then you’d have to manually enter that information. This method also doesn’t give you the chance to prioritize tickets, while a help desk can do a better job of streamlining and categorizing issues by level of importance.
AI Chatbots And Facebook Messenger Bots
Chatbots are computer programs that conduct conversations through audio or text. These programs are designed to simulate how humans speak to each other, which is why they’ve become major components of customer service or information acquisition. In other words, chatbots can be thought of as AI-powered “representatives” that enable businesses to talk to their customers in a personalized and efficient manner.
Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg pitched chatbots within Facebook Messenger as new apps. And to the delight of users, such as Marketing Land’s Danny Sullivan, the bots worked flawlessly. In fact, Sullivan was able to send Zuckerberg flowers using a Messenger bot in about five minutes.
In the B2C world, Facebook Messenger can be used to manage complaints or questions by integrating chatbots, such as Botsify and ManyChat, with your Facebook account. Both tools can be set up in a matter of minutes and can then handle a variety of tasks, like greeting new subscribers, directing them to additional content such as YouTube videos or blog posts, scheduling content, as well as automatically responding to inquiries from your customers.
Instead of overwhelming a team member with emails, direct messages or phone calls, chatbots can answer most of your customers’ questions or resolve any issues. This makes the process both instant and interactive. A number of companies I consult for have used some of the Facebook Messenger AI tools and have seen immediate results in both retention and new sales.
Password Recovery
Password recovery isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s expensive. According to Gartner, password resets accounted for 20 to 50% of calls to help desks. Furthermore, it estimated that each call to a help desk to help with password recovery costs $70.
In one case study conducted by identity management firm Avatier, password resets cost an organization a staggering $46,500 – or three times as much as the password management software. As password recovery evolves from emails and "mother's maiden names" to biometric factors such as fingerprints and facial recognition, this topic is worth taking notice of.
We’ve found that with implementing automated password recovery features it helps to free up help desk team members to focus on more bottom of funnel customer service and customer retention needs, which at the end of the day help to grow revenue. Password recovery is also beneficial for large internal teams, as the constant requests for new passwords or account login information can also lead to draining internal development team times.
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Email Ticketing
There will always be instances when a customer needs an actual response. Obviously, responding to a flurry of emails throughout the day can be time-consuming. And what happens when customers are emailing you after business hours? Your inbox could be flooded every morning when you open it.
With email ticketing software, you can organize all of your incoming emails, categorize them by topic and assign them to the right team members. You can also prioritize them and receive notifications on the email’s status. Some tools, such as HappyFox, provide metrics like response time and time spent on tickets so that you can continuously improve the process.
Other tools like Freshdesk allow you to share your business hours with your customers when they send you an email. This notifies them that you’re out of the office and will resolve the matter during normal business hours.
As customer service continues to be the golden standard for choosing a business to work with, consider how you can enhance these elements in your own company so you can retain your current customer base -- and attract new ones -- in today's age of smart consumers.
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2e59886c64481992705d3ebfd722c27b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/01/10/five-ways-to-spice-up-your-direct-mail-marketing-in-2017/ | Five Ways To Spice Up Your Direct Mail Marketing In 2017 | Five Ways To Spice Up Your Direct Mail Marketing In 2017
Marketers continue to use direct mail in 2016 because it still leads in ROI. However, traditional direct mail marketing has changed dramatically. InfoTrends did a study on direct mail that found the following statistics: 66% of direct mail is opened, 82% of direct mail is read for a minute or more, 56% of consumers who responded to direct mail went online or visited the physical store, 62% of consumers who responded to direct mail in the past three months made a purchase, and over 84% reported that personalization made them more likely to open a direct mail piece.
For the last 25 years, I have seen many changes in direct mail, from the "send it to everyone" phase to the current hyper-targeted mailers. Direct mail continues to be a great marketing channel. If your direct mail response rate is not as high as you'd like it to be, consider these five ways to spice your next direct mail campaign:
QR codes and PURLs: To make landing page content unique to each person, create personalized QR codes or personalized URLs (PURLs). This landing page content can be changed and updated as needed, creating an easy way to keep people coming back for new content. Make sure that your content is using responsive design since people can use a mobile device or PC. You can use the same landing page for both the QR and the PURL, providing the recipient with the choice of which method they prefer. Augmented reality: Creating a direct mail piece that comes to life and can be manipulated by your prospects and customers is very powerful. You can create a fun user experience without going over your budget when you take the time to plan it out. Look at your idea from your client’s perspective: Is the experience fun and easy to use? (Pokémon Go is a widely recognized and fun example of augmented reality.) How can you create an experience with your direct mail? Our agency crafted an experience by creating an animated cartoon that was launched by scanning the mailer. The cartoon showed people how to use a service and the pitfalls of doing it incorrectly. This campaign was funny and informative at the same time. Whatever you do, don't be boring. Dimensional mail: Grab your potential customers' attention with mail pieces that are not the envelopes or postcards that people are used to getting but ones that have dimension, such as bulky items, boxes or tubes. These have a much higher response rate than the mail pieces you are sending now. Switching from your current format to a dimensional piece is very costly, so before considering doing this you need to know your budget. However, you can expect a lift in response. One of my favorite examples is sending a "message in a bottle" in the mail. This direct mail campaign featured a little plastic bottle with a label on it. Inside was a note on how to buy the company's product. Something like that stands out and gets opened. Endless folds: Create a fun mail piece by taking a normal, folded piece and creating a new look with endless folds. These go beyond touch by requiring people to manipulate the piece, unfolding over and over again to reach the next page. They create an urge to see more by building up people’s curiosity. What will they find on the next fold? Video: Video mailers have a built-in audiovisual player. The video plays after opening the mailer or by pushing a button. With a built-in video screen, people are inclined to instantly watch it. You don’t have to worry about applications or other software; you know that once opened, people will watch it. Since this form of direct mail is relatively new, they can be costly and not affordable for all campaigns. But the costs are starting to come down, so keep an eye on them until you can afford to try them.
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When planning a direct mail campaign, don’t forget that you still need to follow the basic direct mail rules. A good list, a good design and a strong call-to-action are a must in order for your direct mail to be a success. Provide information on how people can use the technology you are including and strong content for them to view. If the content is not well designed, then your effort will have been a waste of time.
There are so many new and fun options to take advantage of. If you want to try something new and not put too big of a dent in your budget, start with the QR Codes/PURLs and the endless folds options -- and make 2017 your most successful marketing year yet.
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9f30dda2bf31622fe9e0672e31c63713 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/01/18/five-reasons-why-it-may-be-time-to-review-your-website-content/?sh=19462c57be41 | Five Reasons Why It May Be Time To Review Your Website Content | Five Reasons Why It May Be Time To Review Your Website Content
A website is living and breathing work that is never finished or complete. Whether your company launched its website two years ago or two days ago, you need to view your company’s website as a continual work in progress.
Companies that ignore their websites and fail to keep their content up-to-date are making a critical business mistake. In many cases, your website will be your clients’ first look at your business so it is critical that your online content creates a powerful first impression.
In our office, we often refer to content as the secret weapon for a website. Yes, your website needs to look great. Yes, it needs to load fast. Yes, it needs to be found in search engines. But after all those steps comes the clincher: content.
In the last few years, we’ve tweaked our web design process to a “content first” approach. We found it was necessary for the designer to see, read and understand the content plan before sketching. The design needs to work for the content, not the other way around.
If you need a push or some motivation to begin the process, below are five key reasons why you should be regularly reviewing and revising the content on your site:
Outdated content is bad for business. The content on your website needs to be accurate and up-to-date. If a visitor discovers incorrect or old information on your site, they are likely to lose confidence in your company and will quickly bounce to another site. When you expand your operations or add new services, the content on your website should showcase this new information. You should also be regularly reviewing your site to identify and remove articles and other postings that are no longer relevant or accurate – failing to do so can harm your credibility.
Clients crave new information. If you want clients and potential clients to return to your website, you need to provide them with new information. If your content is old and stagnant, clients have no reason to return to your site. While you don’t want to stuff your site with useless information and irrelevant articles every hour on the hour, you should strive to add high quality, valuable content on a daily or weekly basis. Fresh and engaging information not only helps to keep your current clients loyal, it can also go a long way in attracting new clients to your business.
Search engines love updates. Search engines look for new and updated sources of information. If your website is static without any newly published content, search engines are far less likely to rank it on page one of search results. When you add fresh, high-quality content to your website, Google and other search engines are more likely to take notice of your site, increasing your chances of higher rankings and increased traffic. Testimonials, case studies, project portfolios and service-related content are great ways to showcase your company’s knowledge, leadership and results. You should also consider adding client-centric content such as FAQs, blogs, articles, webinars and videos.
Content should be focused on client needs and pain points. Because your website is one of your most powerful marketing tools, you need your to content serve your clients. Many companies make the mistake of focusing their online content on themselves rather than on the needs of their customers. Background information that lets your visitors know who you are and what your company is about is certainly important. However, if you want to convert visitors into clients, the content on your site must provide visitors with the information they are seeking. Since your clients’ needs and demands will change over time, you should be regularly updating and adding new, timely and engaging information that answers your clients’ current questions and demonstrates how your company can serve their needs and solve their pain points.
Cutting-edge content stands out from the competition. Let’s face it: Competition is tough on the internet. With more than a billion websites, you need to give users and potential clients a reason to visit your site. One of the best ways to drive traffic is to provide readers with high quality, cutting-edge information. When a visitor lands on your site and sees unique articles, blogs and other postings covering critical news, events or changes in your industry, you are far more likely to stand out from the competition and be recognized as an authority in your field or profession.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
While regularly updating your website content requires time and dedication, outdated and stagnant content can be harmful to your business. Visitors seek valuable and accurate information that serves their current needs. If users discover that your website content is stale and irrelevant, they won’t linger or return.
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47388ec18b38c2691441cc01c3655046 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/01/19/how-scooter-braun-built-one-of-the-most-successful-management-companies-in-the-world/ | How Scooter Braun Built One Of The Most Successful Management Companies In The World | How Scooter Braun Built One Of The Most Successful Management Companies In The World
How do you build a kid singing covers on YouTube into Justin Bieber? How do you take a white rapper buzzing on MySpace and turn him into Asher Roth? How do you turn an interest in party promotion and music marketing into a full-service entertainment, marketing and management company with Usher, one of the biggest pop stars of the past two decades?
To figure out how one of the most successful management companies in the world came to be, I decided to ask Scooter Braun, the man responsible for all of the above.
A talent manager with an unrivaled entrepreneurial drive, Braun has achieved more than enough personal success to warrant recognition separate from the monumental acts he has helped make famous. To name a few, Braun was on the cover of Billboard, as well as one of the top podcasts in the world, School of Greatness with Lewis Howes, and the Time 100 list of Most Influential People. Here's how he did it:
1. You have to be emotionally invested.
When Braun was first starting out, those before him warned not to get too close to artists — that they will walk away or let you down.
Braun very much did the opposite. As he tells it, "I got way too close, because I really do believe that you have to be emotionally invested in order to go all the way, to become successful. I walked into those early scenarios, and still do, having already come to terms within myself the likelihood of my heart being broken. I think caring as much as we do has been our greatest asset, and really allowed us to build such a great company. It might not be conventional, but that's the way I'd rather live my life."
Braun also explained the value of this being the precedent set within the culture of his management company, SB Projects. By being emotionally invested, everyone feels much more attached to their work, and as a result, they care more about its success.
I emotionally invest in my work by being vulnerable and sharing my failures and struggles, in a world where most people only share their successes and accomplishments.
2. Don't be afraid to go your own way.
Scooter's story is unique in that he truly was one of the first to successfully sign a global star off of YouTube. While everyone else saw a kid singing popular covers, Braun saw the next international pop star: Justin Bieber.
"People told me I was nuts when I went to sign an act from YouTube — and now, that's one of the most conventional things you can do as an agent or manager. And back then, when I started interacting with fans on Twitter, people said, 'That's not how you use this. They're supposed to just follow.' But we believed we could do things differently. We saw those tools as venues for artists to express themselves and have authentic conversations with their fans. We wanted to change the game," said Braun.
Like Scooter, don't be afraid to do things the way you believe they can be done. If you see an opportunity, take it. Instead of relying on advice from others, look for your own answers. I listen to just about everyone, but at the end of the day, I only have myself to answer to.
3. Build a world-class network by starting with your peers.
Braun might be a successful entrepreneur today, but things weren't always that way for him. He had to work his way up the ladder, just like everyone else.
His advice for building a powerful network is poignant: "The best way is to build it with your peers. You want to have relationships that, 20 or 30 years from now you can look back and say, 'You know what? Let me make that phone call. We go way back.' That's the kind of network you want."
Back when Braun made the Billboard "30 Under 30" list, he wanted to capitalize on the opportunity. Braun reached out to Billboard and asked them for the contact information of everyone else on the list. He ended up calling a 24-year-old guy in Sweden named Daniel Ek and said, "Hey, we're on the same list. We should know each other." They became friends — and Daniel went on to launch a startup that fundamentally changed the way we consume music: Spotify.
The quickest way to make meaningful connections is to connect on a deeper unique point. Talk about something that 95% of the world does not understand. Instead of talking about the weather and the news, go in deep from the start.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
4. Land clients by sharing in their dream.
Braun's first clients were Asher Roth and Justin Bieber. "At the time, they didn't have anything going on," he said. "No one knew who they were. Justin had a little buzz on YouTube, Asher had a little buzz on Myspace, and I had a little buzz coming out of So So Def Records in Atlanta. But we all bet on each other. Nothing replaces hard work, and we were dedicated to put in the work required in order to succeed. We genuinely believed in each other, and that is, first and foremost, why I get clients today. Because that hard work speaks volumes, and it proves a track record."
For Braun, building a successful company has been all about respecting and honoring the dreams of the artists he works with. He is a firm believer in being part of every artist's journey, and wanting to see them succeed as much as anything else.
Instead of trying to fake a connection with your clients, be more selective on who you work with in the first place.
At the end of the day, the first step is to open your eyes to the amazing people who may already be around you, but don't necessarily have the mainstream success yet. Someone within your small circle may one day be the next big thing.
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f423b235fdfdddd13c8f3a6bfb69a9aa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/01/23/10-unique-ways-to-generate-new-leads/ | 10 Unique Ways To Generate New Leads | 10 Unique Ways To Generate New Leads
Acquiring clients and generating new leads is vital to an agency's growth and stability. While referrals are always a strong way to earn new business, agency executives also incorporate other strategies into their lead generation, whether that's appearances on popular TV shows or pro-bono services. Below, 10 Forbes Agency Council members share how they've creatively and successfully generated new leads.
Clockwise from left: Sara Davis, David Shiffman, Chris Ake, Michael Mothner, Crystal Miller, Laura Cole, Lindsay Mullen, Ayelet Noff, Ahmad Kareh, Leila Lewis. All photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Workshops
We started doing local workshops to help small businesses with their marketing goals. These workshops have allowed us to aggregate large lists of companies, and have gotten them to share our name with their friends. This has been a great lead generation tool. - Sara Davis, Foxtail Marketing
2. Thought Leadership
By contributing to industry publications, we have been able to generate great quality new leads. Most online publications allow guest contributors. It's as simple as writing articles that share your industry knowledge and ideas and submitting them to the publications. - David Shiffman, Brandamos, LLC
3. A YouTube Show And Social Content
We started a YouTube/social media show where we talked everything from sales to marketing. We posted on YouTube and boosted on Facebook using ads manager targeted demographics. This generated about five new clients for us, equaling to over ,000 in one year and put our company on the forefront of marketing in our city. Pick up a camera and start shooting! - Chris Ake, Grand Apps
4. A Cameo On HBO's "Silicon Valley"
It was actually by getting to appear on HBO's "Silicon Valley," where our logo was shown multiple times. Wpromote was featured as the agency that created the (horrible!) "Pipey" character on behalf of Pied Piper. The shows software, tech, media and advertising audience is right in the sweet spot of Wpromote in real life and we saw significant interest generated from that brief appearance. - Michael Mothner, Wpromote
5. Client Referrals At Conferences
Most of our business comes from clients, most of whom attend conferences where they network with their peers (who are our buyers!). We work hard for them, so when they ask what they can do as a "thank you" for our service, we simply ask they share our name and their experiences with other practitioners at while there. And they do! As a result, our clients are actually our best "sales force." - Crystal Miller, Branded Strategies
6. Instagram
Instagram is a solid way to generate new leads successfully. You can use your account to promote products and services in ways that are visually appealing and enticing to clients. It’s also not as saturated with ads as other platforms, so running a paid campaign can bring considerable results. - Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR
7. Community Involvement
Teach classes, volunteer for panels, guest speak at schools, or help a student entrepreneur. Customers and community members are more likely to talk about you and trust you if you demonstrate your knowledge rather than to talk about it. People who trust your "goodwill" will like you, and this acts as a great start to a healthy long-term business relationship. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
8. Word Of Mouth Based On Your Current Client Work
I fully believe that by doing the best job for your clients, new clients will come on their own via word of mouth. We've never needed to advertise because folks have recommended us based on our work. People trust recommendations more than anything else and that's why ironically not focusing on bringing new customers but concentrating on nurturing current ones is the best method to gaining leads. - Ayelet Noff, Blonde 2.0
9. Pro-Bono Programs
Prosper Strategies developed a pro-bono program that nonprofits and social impact companies – our target segment – can apply for to work with our team to develop and implement their PR and marketing strategies. This allows us to do work we're passionate about while getting to know both emerging and established organizations that could be great partners today and in the future. - Lindsay Mullen, Prosper Strategies
10. White Papers
One of the most effective ways that we generate leads is by publishing and promoting thoughtful and timely white papers that provide tips/tools that prospects can implement immediately. For example, we published a white paper on holiday shopping trends for small businesses that includes a Black Friday checklist for them to use to promote their business around the biggest shopping day of the year. - Laura Cole, The Berry Company LLC
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1f83f95ddba725aad6bbbb9e9acc7f5f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/02/the-fastest-way-to-destroy-influencer-marketing-automate-it/ | The Fastest Way To Destroy Influencer Marketing? Automate It | The Fastest Way To Destroy Influencer Marketing? Automate It
"Influencer marketing" has proven to be much more than just a buzz-worthy term in the world of advertising. With brands and companies reporting a $9.60 return on investment for every $1 invested, it is clear that influencer marketing is powerful and here to stay.
Like the cycle of adoption for any successful advertising channel, we working in the field of influencer marketing have begun to see saturation at the tip of the pyramid. Macro-influencers (content creators with followings in the hundreds of thousands and millions) working with large Fortune 500 companies has become a norm, and in fact, the veil of authenticity has already been pierced by those that view the content. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber are far too expensive to engage for a product promotion on their social media profiles, and when you pair that with poor-performing social signals and untargeted audiences, you get a formula that doesn't work.
The maturity of influencer marketing and the rise of the micro-influencer (an influencer with less than 100,000 followers) have been concurrent over the past year. Marketing efforts using micro influencers have resulted in the best balance between reach, engagement and conversions. The increase in popularity surrounding micro-influencers is mostly because of the mutual level of loyalty that they share with their audiences. While the influencers are very picky as to which brands and products they engage with and under what terms, their audiences are aware of their methods and trust them because of it. Influencers of this smaller size seem much more approachable and personable, thus receiving better results from their followers. Micro-influencers are real, relatable people who are not willing to be "bought" but would rather have the quality of products and the experience around working with a brand speak for itself.
Knowing that micro-influencers perform better and are more affordable than macro-influencers, the challenge ahead is clear: How do we make it as easy to work with 10 micro-influencers that have 50,000 followers, as it is to work with one macro-influencer that has 500,000 followers? Well, it's far more complicated than you think.
Searching For A Solution
We need a solution that covers all aspects of influencer marketing effectively. A relationship with an influencer can be broken down into just a few parts:
Discovery: Identifying the right influencer based on following, engagement, industry, "feel/vibe" of their feed, messaging, etc. Connection/Communication: Getting into direct contact with the influencer or their agent. Content Creation: Deciding whether you are going to try to take a hands-on or hands-off approach with their creative direction. Compensation: Figuring out how to pay the influencer with either product, cash, social mentions, etc. Measurement: Understanding the results of the influencers' post, whether it be engagement, web traffic, earned media value or ROI.
Marketing technologist Travis Wright diagnosed influencer marketing in an article with MarTech Today: "Currently, with influencer marketing technology, there isn't one solution that comprehensively covers all areas. From discovery to engagement to tracking and reporting, there are many different solutions, but they don't always fit together."
Solutions that cover different areas of influencer marketing aren't fitting together because they have different philosophies. Companies in this space are valuing automation, customization, human touch points, etc., at different levels. The truth is, influencer marketing is a success because of its organic nature and when you try to completely automate that, you lose the magic.
Want to know the quickest way to destroy this industry? Automate everything. I'm not saying that technologies like artificial intelligence haven't positively impacted influencer marketing (actually, they have immensely), but rather that authenticity is the foundation in which influencer marketing was born and is essential for it to thrive. Successful solutions will have an even mix of automation and required human touch points; doing so will ensure that we do not fall into the rhythm of traditional advertising that has been proven ineffective for millennials and Gen Z.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
The key to a successful influencer marketing campaign lies in the industry's most significant pain point: finding the right fit between an influencer and a brand. Influencers should naturally want to work with you and your brand, regardless of any monetary compensation. A good fit between an influencer and brand is one where a mission, visions, messaging and identities align. By realizing such, you will maintain the authenticity of influencer marketing that makes the practice a success. On top of that, you'll find that your results are far better (because the audience of the influencer aligns with your brand as well) and that your relationship with the influencer will be ongoing. What you'll avoid is your influencers having the same effect on their fans as banner ads do on visitors to websites – "avoid at all costs, this is phony, don't click it!"
What we need next is a solution that scales. While there isn't one platform that is capable of this today, I think one is on its way.
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8f105182395a4d29df2624c0bf853f8d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/10/how-to-achieve-greater-joy-at-work-with-a-craftsman-like-approach/ | How to Achieve Greater Joy At Work With A Craftsman-Like Approach | How to Achieve Greater Joy At Work With A Craftsman-Like Approach
I have a question for you, one I want you to answer honestly: Does your job bring you joy?
You might be tempted to instead ask yourself, “Am I happy?” However, happiness is not the same thing as joy. In his book, Joy, Inc., CEO Richard Sheridan says, “You can be joyful without being happy every moment.” Happiness is a fleeting feeling, whereas joy is a lasting sensation built on a foundation of deep, meaningful ideas such as success, productivity, interest, and engagement.
With that in mind, think again about the question of joy in your job.
Americans spend an average of 47 hours per week at work. Whether we feel energized or burnt out, we keep working. Yet how we feel profoundly influences how we perform. According to a study conducted by The Energy Project in partnership with Harvard Business Review, people’s emotional, physical, mental and spiritual state while at work have direct and profound effects on productivity, engagement and quality of work. And in turn, productivity, engagement, and quality of work affect an employee’s inner state.
If this seems like a self-perpetuating cycle, that’s because it is. The good news is, it’s one we can influence for ourselves. One of the secrets I’ve found for deriving joy from each workday lies in how I perceive and treat what I do every day. It’s the craftsmanship approach.
Understand the difference between work and craft.
If you’ve ever walked through an art show, you’ve seen intricate woodwork, breathtaking photography, sculpted clay, detailed quilts and precision artwork that demonstrate perfected craftsmanship. For the craftsman, the process of perfection is a lifetime labor of love, and it shows. They discuss their work with enthusiasm and joy.
There seems to be a difference between what we consider “work” and what we know to be “craft.” As modern employees, we tend to go from task to task in industrial fashion. We work day-to-day, reserving self-improvement for yearly reviews and occasional training sessions.
The craftsman deliberately creates well thought out, polished works and continually seeks new methods to hone his or her skills. Craftsmen acknowledge mistakes and learn techniques to correct them. Their pride in accomplishment shines through both their achievements and their drive to continue their pursuits.
As professionals, through a simple shift in mindset, we can treat our work as our craft and use each workday as an opportunity for growth. If each of us were to make this shift, we could change the face of business while driving deeper joy into our jobs.
Learn from the greats.
When comedian Steve Martin was 20 years old, he tried and failed in the stand-up circuit. Rather than continuing down a path toward failure, Martin studied, practiced and built himself into a powerhouse comedian. He lived by his own mantra: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” When he reemerged on the comedy scene a decade later, he reached Hollywood A-list status and became a household name.
Steve Martin is a prime example of someone who has honed his craft for success, but the most telling aspect of Martin’s career is that he’s still at it. He tours. He teaches. He acts. He inspires. When asked why he’s still working into his 70s, he said, “The pleasure I get from succeeding still drives me. I like to succeed. And when I say ‘succeeding,’ I don’t mean succeeding in a big way. I enjoy succeeding in a very small way.”
Martin’s vision of success is day-by-day: a single song, a well-acted scene, penning a passage that feels right. But Martin’s success is not accidental, and because he’s spent his entire adult life continually perfecting his craft, he’s created a career that brings him fulfillment, pleasure and joy on a daily basis.
Treat your work as your craft.
Many philosophers have said words akin to “you make your own happiness.” Martin’s example provides a blueprint for building a joy-filled career, day-by-day, by approaching your job as a personal pursuit for excellence, rather than a duty done for the benefit of others.
In other words, if you treat your work like you’re creating a piece of art instead of a deliverable, your focus becomes the process of creation rather than the deadline. Through the creative approach, you’re more apt to accept your own mistakes, learn from them, and apply your best skills. And if your job is a labor of love, you’ll strive to keep learning and improving.
According to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, people who exhibit high achievement motivation tend to be more persistent, tenacious and diligent. As a result, they are better able to handle high-pressure situations and stress, and they also experience considerably more joy from the satisfaction of their own achievements.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Working to perfect my own craft.
In my work as a marketer for the past 25 years, there have been many times when I arrogantly thought I knew everything. Interestingly enough, it was in those times that I felt most disconnected and dissatisfied. When I founded Yeager in 2008, it gave me an opportunity to look more objectively at the types of marketing capabilities I felt confident in offering. It was an eye-opening experience that made me face exactly what I did and did not know about my field.
It was during this time that I first embraced a craftsman-like approach in an effort to hone and perfect the services offered by my agency. Years on, this reimagined approach has provided perspective and opened me to possibilities I might have dismissed before. Treating work as a craft has made Yeager much more agile, allowing us to add capabilities with confidence, while still building on a strong and tested foundation of principles and practices.
When you focus on your own improvement, you will generate better results and become more engaged with your work. Your diligence and self-education will drive you to excellence. As a craftsman of your trade, you will find that whether you’re happy or not in the moment, the underlying current that drives you forward is the satisfying sensation of joy and accomplishment.
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30343fc4a88593a6f849704362c32c7d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/17/the-power-of-an-idea-how-female-founders-can-create-exposure-for-their-brands/ | The Power Of An Idea: How Female Founders Can Create Exposure For Their Brands | The Power Of An Idea: How Female Founders Can Create Exposure For Their Brands
The recent Women’s March on Washington made headlines around the world as it drew millions of protesters to the streets. While serving as an organized demonstration, it also teaches us another valuable lesson: It shows how powerful ideas can be, especially in light of the power of the internet, social media and other modern communication channels.
While everyone was aware of the various protests, what they might not have known is that this movement started with one woman named Teresa Shook. She pushed for a march on Facebook and the idea quickly went viral, drawing the support of organizers from across the country.
This is a powerful example of how one woman can influence millions of people armed only with an idea that matters to her. As a PR professional, I find this inspiring, as well as insightful and full of lessons for our industry. I’ve had the fortune of working with a number of women who work tirelessly every day to tell their stories to the world. This is especially true for female founders and entrepreneurs, who often fight the hardest to promote their brands.
To gain a better understanding of how women can take an idea and share it with the world, I asked several female founders for their insights.
Use Your Unique Voice To Make Your Story Original
Your message will have a much better chance of standing out if sounds authentic – and there is nothing more authentic than being yourself. Both Jessica Naziri, founder of TechSesh.co, and Pooja Sachin Duggal, founder of healthhunt, strive for authenticity in their storytelling.
“My brand is what I bring to the table. It's a unique point of view, the perspective of a female on the latest lifestyle technology, a deeper storytelling and the potential of reaching a more niche audience," Naziri said. "It's the ability to actually influence through authenticity, passion and curation. Every time I send a tweet and even an email, it's branding. Building my brand by sharing my opinion online has never been easier, thanks to ... every [social media platform] out there. Social media has become a major communication channel between me and my audience, as well as different brands that I've had the opportunity to work with.”
Your originality applies to your overall image and brand, too, as Duggal illustrated.
“I think the most important thing for anyone, and especially for women, is to remember to always remain true to yourself and never shy away from what makes you original," she said. "When creating your brand, it’s critical to be able to sum up what you do and what you stand for in a way that is easily identifiable. It’s a lot like courting a romantic interest. I remember for my husband it was my red shoes that stood out in a crowd … By remaining consistent, I walk into each room, meeting and opportunity with my best foot forward, (wearing) the 'red shoes' I need to make sure I stand out.”
Build And Use A Network To Strengthen Your Message
Your message will be much more powerful if you have an established community or network ready to amplify it. Gisele Belliot, founder of Hayo, and Dana Porter, co-founder and CMO of Inception, both use community – either in person or online – to amplify their messages.
“I am a firm believer in the power of community. One of the driving forces in any business is the ability to learn from my peers. Sometimes, brand building comes via social media connections but other times, in my experience, there is a growing network that appreciates in-person coffee chats, lunches and dinner meetings," Belliot said.
"Beyond personal branding, the most important [thing] is to stay aligned with my values, my personality and my day-to-day work. As CEO of a hardware product company, I can be with a manufacturer in the morning, with a VC in the afternoon, and at a tech meetup at night … What creates our brand, essentially, is our ability to stay true to ourselves, love what we do, and always show the room what we do, not tell them.”
And in an era when many of us spend hours every day staring at screens, networking in person is not to be overlooked.
“Beyond the obvious of maintaining your presence on social media and speaking at conferences, I'm all about meeting people," Porter said. "I find that talking to different people and broadening my network not only keeps me knowledgeable and inspires me, but also inevitably helps me maintain my personal brand.”
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Give Your Story A Personal Touch
People are drawn to other people. The stronger the focus is on your personal story, the more captivating your brand's story will be. Whether it's establishing yourself as an authority in your field or improving your social media presence, a personal touch can help garner intrigue.
"The No. 1 thing I did to get exposure for my brand, besides building a website and opening social media channels, is hire a PR agency to get my story in front of a mass audience," said Mona Henoch, founder of ThisIsIsrael.Today. "I also use my Instagram account as a great way to connect with people. Since it's personal and spontaneous, I find it to be a great way to reach people and have that engagement with them. I find that through other social channels like Twitter, it's not as personal."
To encourage others to connect, Ayrin Islam, co-founder of ringID, encourages founders to put themselves at the core of their brands.
"When you have established yourself as a brand, it is a given that people will begin to look up to you with a certain expectation and admiration," she said. "I am constantly working towards opportunities that expand my industry knowledge. The more I can establish myself as a leader in the field and the more I can present myself, the more exposure my brand receives.”
Each of these female founders has leveraged different skills, strategies and experiences to promote their personal and professional brands. While there is a great difference between organizing a protest march and drawing people to a new tech or business platform, the overarching strategy remains the same: Paint a complete picture of your idea and find engaging ways to share it with the world.
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daa49b6f3e009c5f7154ec9ff59ef114 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/22/looking-to-build-brand-awareness-advertise-on-snapchat/ | Looking To Build Brand Awareness? Advertise On Snapchat | Looking To Build Brand Awareness? Advertise On Snapchat
The harsh reality for many companies is that their client bases are aging and they're having a hard time engaging with new audiences. Most of the time, it is because the most efficient channels to communicate with younger generations aren't understood or used by business owners.
One of these overlooked but effective channels is Snapchat, which provides options for you to communicate your value proposition to your client segments. Identifying your value proposition and the specific market you are targeting in a young demographic will make a difference in conversions and sales created on the platform. If you are looking to help your brand awareness, there is opportunity on Snapchat.
Snapchat has a high volume of engaged users.
When you think about that fact that 23% of users on Snapchat are 13 to 17 years old, 37% are from 18 to 24 and 26% are 25 to 34, you are targeting the exact market that will help you renew your customer base. Especially when you know that 54% of these users log in every day to collectively amount to 100 million active daily users and 10 billion videos per day (350% more in 2016 than in 2015).
The adoption rate for Snapchat is very high; it is the second most popular social media platform in America. Awareness for Snapchat has surpassed Pinterest and LinkedIn, with an awareness of 71% with Americans over 12 years of age. To take advantage of all of these engaged users, there are three different options available for you to market with on Snapchat's platform: lenses (or filters), Snapchat advertisements, and geofilters.
1. Lenses: Lenses are superimposed filters on videos and images users will create with their cameras and the facial recognition software in place. The price range for these types of sponsored ads are in a higher range and are negotiated with the Snapchat Ads team. That said, to help you quantify or understand the investment that could be implicated, you should know that some sources indicate that for these types of ads, you can expect a price range of $450,000 to $500,000, depending on the day of the week.
2. Advertisements: Another solution that would be less of an investment is Snapchat ads. These ads are seen by users' choice (the user must click on the ad to see its content), therefore creating better efficiency. They are shown in video, application or web page format.
The price entry in terms of media costs for a Snapchat Ads campaign is about $1,000. This is the entry-level investment, implying this type of investment might not get you the results you're looking for; an investment upwards of $10,000 for this type of campaign, excluding any content production, might get you better results.
3. Sponsored geofilters: This is a lower investment option that could bring some interesting results. The process to create these is really simple. You must target a geographical region that will be touched by your geofilter. Users in this region will be able to use your filter in their content creation (images, videos, etc.). The videos that Snapchat put forth really show that we are aiming a market with lower investment capabilities, but could be really efficient also in a geotargeted marketing strategy.
Again, setting the investment capacities is important. As a rule of thumb, the $5 for 20,000 square feet is what is predicted for this type of ad. Take the time to think about your user's intent. Just pushing your company logo won't work. Remember, you want this to be used and seen by your clients.
Who are these Snapchat options for?
Creating a lens advertisement can get you in touch with most of the platform's daily users. Take, for example, Taco Bell's lens, which reached 224 million users. If you are working on brand awareness and money isn't an issue, especially in launching an unknown brand, this option is good for you.
The ads that are consumed by choice can be interesting in helping you drive specific actions to your users. It will mostly help with brand awareness, but since the user chooses to see this content, efficiency for conversion to sales or other actions is higher in this case than the other options. Since you are investing based on these interactions, you know you are paying for ads that are consumed with intent.
Finally, if you are looking for an economical way of touching people who are geographically close, geofilters are a really good solution. Just keep in mind, this probably won't drive sales directly.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Build personal communication and engage with Snapchat users via bitmojis.
Separate from these three advertising possibilities, another option for connecting with potential consumers is through bitmojis. It is possible for you to create bitmojis (personalized emojis) to push on the Snapchat content you are creating. Since you can create personalized versions of these, you can create emojis that push your brand in your personal communications. These are not for corporate communications with a corporate account; they can be used by employees, staff and brand adopters, though.
How can Snapchat help me engage with a new client base?
There is a high volume of adopters and daily uses that ensure the platform is consistently relevant. Users are more often than not in a mindset of looking for entertainment on the platform. Don't expect that your sales and conversions will be driven in high numbers through Snapchat; use Snapchat in combination with other channels in which the user is in a purchasing mindset. But one thing is for sure: Snapchat will help with your brand awareness and make sure you are "top of mind" for users in their journey to purchase.
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0f1748c2fd7d9dd1fcaedcf63f0f9264 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/23/making-a-big-life-or-business-decision-write-the-press-release-first/ | Making A Big Life Or Business Decision? Write The Press Release First | Making A Big Life Or Business Decision? Write The Press Release First
Over the past three-plus decades, I’ve advised more than 1,000 people on major business, personal and business-personal decisions. My consult has related to acquisitions and mergers, product launches and failures, executive, entertainer and employee career moves, serious health issues and subsequent considerations, relationship starts and stops, and more situations than I can list. Yet in every case, I always advise the same thing: Start by writing the press release.
Growing up, my father’s advice (which I often resisted following) was “get it on paper.” He advocated writing down the pros and cons of any decision in two columns and then prioritizing the items in each until a logical decision could be made. This is still a good starting point for any decision.
However, in this era of the 24/7/365 news cycle, I advocate taking the effort to spell out the “who, what, when, where, why and how” in the form of a press release. This helps decision-making regardless of the circumstances. It works for business, personal and business-personal situations, such as, “If I make this career move, I’ll also have to move my family to a new city, school, etc. Is it worth it?”
How do you come to a decision by thinking about it like a press release? Start by asking yourself some questions regarding the who, what, when, where, why and how. After you have your answers, work to prioritize them using a top-down approach, with the most important part of the message in the first paragraph. This will better prepare you not only to make the right decision but also to help you think through how you will share the news – whether it is with the world-at-large, employees, customers, partners, family or friends. Interestingly, the process may often make you realize that the decision is not the right one at the present time.
To begin, start spelling out your answers to these questions on paper:
Who: Who will be interested in your news? Do you have one audience or many? What: What will each audience want to know about your decision? What are the most important aspects of this choice or move? When: When will this all go into effect? Is the timing crucial and concrete? Where: Where will these changes go into effect? Do they require physical moves? If so, to where – and how/when will that happen? Why: Why are you changing something? Why did you feel a change was necessary? How: How can you position the news so it addresses the concerns of each stakeholder? How will you convince them that this is a sound decision?
You’ll note in the process that many of the answers to these questions are intertwined; that’s par for the course. The point is to streamline your thinking to make sure these points are addressed before your news goes “live” and you’re caught trying to answer questions from a variety of interested and related parties on the fly, which is never the best communication strategy.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
To avoid thinking about all parties involved in any major decision is a mistake you make at your own peril. I’ve seen businesses collapse in days when the corporate decisions they thought were amazing resulted in mass defections of employees. I’ve seen unnecessary divorces occur because one person’s exciting career decision never considered the impact it might have on the career of their spouse. I’ve seen children left feeling abandoned when parents, communities and schools didn’t assess the long-term effects of their decisions. If you’re making a big decision, unless you live in your own private Idaho, someone besides yourself will feel the impact.
Making big work and life decisions is rarely easy. Getting your rationale on paper can make the process considerably easier and perhaps less painful for yourself, your career and all others associated with the process.
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e05e9d139a6aa7b55f7642cc09cd033d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/28/finding-narratives-using-analytics-to-learn-the-stories-behind-your-bounce-rate/?sh=49f446d44006 | Finding Narratives: Using Analytics To Learn The Stories Behind Your Bounce Rate | Finding Narratives: Using Analytics To Learn The Stories Behind Your Bounce Rate
When preparing a report for a client, Google Analytics offer an incredibly agile approach to track user behavior and better understand the way in which individual users are interacting with your content. However, too often, these metrics are viewed in isolation. Without knowing how to understand contextual clues behind each of these metrics, analysis can potentially lead to unnecessary panic, with webmasters and marketers fretting over visits that may not have gone as planned. Below, we look at bounce rate, one important metric that requires context for better understanding, and offer some solutions for how to unpack this data to continually improve your site’s user experience.
What Is Bounce Rate?
Google Analytics used to define bounce rate as “the percentage of single-page visits” to a site. This means that a user could land on your site and immediately reject the site’s content or be presented with major obstacles to a successful user experience. Bounce rate actually accounts for single-page sessions in which the person left your site without interacting with the page.
Summarized in the bullets below, Kissmetrics shared some important insights about bounce rate, including some averages of bounce rate based on the type of site you’re analyzing:
Global average: 40.5% Retail sites: 20-40% bounce Simple landing pages: 70-90% bounce Portals: 10-30% bounce Service sites: 10-30% bounce Content websites: 40-60% bounce Lead generation: 30-50% bounce
What’s important to keep in mind when evaluating user experience is that different types of sites serve different purposes. Bounce rate may indicate that a user only engaged with the site once prior to exiting, but in many cases, that may not be a bad thing.
For instance, blogs and content-driven sites have an average bounce of 40-60%; while this is above the global average of 40.5%, this doesn’t necessarily mean the user’s experience was poor, nor that the site needs to improve. Instead, a high bounce rate could represent a user who engaged with the site by reading a piece of content and then moved on. As Google rightly points out, “users might also leave the site after viewing a single page if they've found the information they need on that one page, and had no need or interest in going to other pages.”
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How To Unpack Bounce Rate For Your Domain
First, it’s critically important to segment your data to see the types of pages that are leading to bounces on your domain. If the pages with a high bounce rate come from blog posts or even landing pages for paid ads, there may be no issues with search. Similarly, by monitoring the marketing channels that are sending you visits, you get a better sense of understanding how users are arriving at your site.
To ensure that bounces on your domain are coming from the pages that you would expect, build segments in Google Analytics that are specific to different types of content. Some suggestions include:
Blog pages: Blogs are often a source of a high bounce rate, so include a segment for URLs that indicate a page is part of your site’s blog. By building this segment, Google Analytics users can toggle between reporting views that show the site with and without blog content to get a better understanding of how users are interacting with pages that should feasibly entice the user to further interaction. Posts that can be quickly read and understood by the user shouldn’t be alarming for the webmaster. PPC landing pages: As illustrated in the data above, these simple landing pages can sometimes have a bounce rate up to 70-90% as users are presented with a concise pitch and call to action, and essentially decide on whether or not they wish to complete that action. If the bulk of your bounces are coming from PPC landing pages, this may give you insight as to whether or not you need to improve your landing pages and calls to action, but it shouldn’t cause unnecessary stress for webmasters if the rest of their site has a pretty solid bounce rate.
Which Channels Are Most Frequently Contributing To A High Bounce Rate?
Another important segment to use in evaluating bounce rate is unpacking which channels are seeing high bounce rates. For example:
Social: As mentioned earlier, if you’re consistently sharing blog posts or using social ads to send viewers to a landing page, you need to understand your bounce rate within the context of your greater social strategy and the type of fans and followers you’re cultivating on social media. If they are visiting the site, consuming your blog post, and returning to their social media feed to comment or share the post, it may result in a bounce, but could actually illustrate a devoted fan! Email: Email campaigns can also result in a high bounce rate. Sharing recent blog posts or special offers with people via email usually pulls the user into the site to perform a specific action. Unpack the actions that each email requests from the user and keep this in mind when evaluating your site’s bounce rate. Direct: Direct traffic usually represents return visitors, but many of these visitors could potentially represent brand loyalists. Use the frequency and recency report to get an idea of how direct traffic users who bounce from the site are interacting with your content. Analytics Ninja, analyzing one site in particular, looked exclusively at visits from direct traffic that bounced from a particular site. What they found was that over 30% of those visits were from users who visited the domain nine or more times, indicating that they routinely visited the site and found value.
Whenever evaluating a site’s performance, high-level metrics like bounce rate need to be approached with the appropriate clues and context in order to provide useful guidance for improving the user’s experience. Be sure to segment your data and review your marketing strategies before panicking about a site’s bounce rate.
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e8e842646fd742df4bde9cf6fdf4f48a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/14/its-no-longer-internet-marketing-without-social-media/ | It's No Longer Internet Marketing Without Social Media | It's No Longer Internet Marketing Without Social Media
In my decade working in digital marketing, I have not seen anything transform the industry more than the rise of social media. It has become a cliché to speak of social media’s power and influence over consumers. Nonetheless, the idea is still lost on quite a number of business owners who fail to see the value in creating or maintaining a solid social media presence.
In many ways, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter hit the online marketing industry like an asteroid slamming into Earth; they kicked up so much dust that it left everyone temporarily blinded and confused as to what to do next. At this point, the dust has settled and the tremendous value that social media brings to even the most modest of digital marketing campaigns is evident. There are many reasons social media is essential for online marketing, but the most important has to do with its incredible ability to help create and cultivate brand trust, build a meaningful web presence, drive traffic and remain cost effective.
People have to trust a brand to a certain degree before they make a purchase. This predates social media and remains true today. Fortunately, social media presents a unique opportunity for companies both large and small to build and maintain customer-brand relationships. Through social media, companies can not only easily communicate any message they desire to their target audiences, but they can also interact with individual customers from around the world in real time. If done correctly, companies can shape the way in which the public perceives their brand, while at the same time facilitating discussions that can establish or solidify their brand’s authority online. Every day that a company shares meaningful content on its various social media platforms is another day the company is steadily strengthening the very foundation of its brand.
The world’s leading search engines are taking content generated from social media very seriously. For example, Google updated its algorithm in 2015 to incorporate content from social media into its search results. This means a business’ social media presence – or lack thereof – may directly affect how relevant they are online. Consequently, it is more important than ever that companies actively support their social media accounts on a consistent basis. The more content a company generates through social media, the more authority its brand can receive in its market.
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I often encounter business owners who tell me that they do not prioritize social media because they feel it has little to do with actually driving potential customers to become paying customers. In the early years of social media, this may have been true, but those days are long gone. Today, it is clear that a strong web presence on social media can drive more traffic to websites than traditional search engines; social media accounts for over 30% of website referral traffic. These numbers can certainly fluctuate, which means that any worthwhile digital marketing campaign must be robust enough to accommodate the major search engines and social media together and not just one or the other.
Perhaps the greatest news of all for small business owners is that social media marketing is cost-effective. For the money spent on a campaign, it is truly mind-blowing how much of a reach social media has with the general population. Its true strength, however, is not simply that it casts a wide net, but that it zeroes in on an industry’s most important customer base with laser precision. Never before have we seen an opening like this to market products and services in such a direct way, and so inexpensively. Social media has leveled the playing field for small and medium-sized businesses. With just a little bit of help, any mom-and-pop shop in America can firmly and effectively establish themselves on social media, reaching their customers in ways they could have only dreamed of a decade ago.
We are at a crossroads where internet marketing campaigns are now inextricably linked to social media. It is no longer a question of whether or not a company should add a social media component to its online marketing operation – and this is a good thing. Proficiency in social media is not another checkmark on a digital marketing to-do list. Rather, it is a wonderful opportunity for small and medium-sized companies to take control of their brand, interact with consumers, entice prospective customers, fix mistakes, learn, grow, improve, and strengthen their position on the internet. In technical terms, this is what we in the industry call a no-brainer.
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293984f8e79365ade2c51796fdb9074f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/17/is-your-seo-company-taking-advantage-of-you/ | Is Your SEO Company Taking Advantage Of You? | Is Your SEO Company Taking Advantage Of You?
I’m sure at some point you’ve received the phone call or email from an unknown contact with some variation of this statement:
“We’ve reviewed your website and you do not show up on the first page on Google for your keywords. Call me today and we can guarantee the top spot.”
I certainly see this all the time, as a founder of my own agency. While many reputable businesses are legitimately doing a great job of helping their clients, there is also a large number of companies that are taking advantage of business owners using questionable practices.
To start at the beginning, search engine optimization — or SEO — is defined as a "process of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the number of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine – such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines."
The most common practices include updates to on-page factors such as:
The mobile-readiness of the website; Updates to the code that make the site easily read by search engines; and A review of the text (content), images and off-page factors, such as incoming links to the site and qualified connections with other trusted websites.
If you are like most businesses today, you are contracting a service to monitor your website and move you up to page one in the rankings. But how do you know if you are working with a qualified firm, or if you've hired a hack? Here are a few of my best practices:
Clearly identify what the company will do for you and what the deliverable will be. Set reasonable timelines and then follow up on them. Ask them to recommend a list of keywords and to explain why these terms were chosen. This will force them to fully understand not only your company, but also your competition. Ask for a plan, or better yet an audit. Has your SEO company identified the primary issues, and do they have a plan for correcting them? Secure a copy of their analysis and strategy. Expect a proposal that includes one-time fixes and ongoing efforts. Be leery of a flat monthly fee for updates, as most projects involve a lot of work up front and considerably less effort as time passes. Require a monthly report. This report should include a detailed explanation of the work that was performed the previous month, and the results of that effort. There should also be a recommendation of what needs to be done next to achieve the desired result and ranking. Demand accessibility. Your SEO team should be available to answer questions and explain the report data.
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Finally, as is true in all aspects of business, you get what you pay for. You will not be able to hire an “expert” at $100 per month and expect they are actually doing anything more than taking your money. If budget is a concern, hire an experienced firm to perform an audit. Instead of paying for ongoing monitoring, review the identified issues and work to fix these items. Skip the long-term contracts and monthly fees.
Ultimately, the best way to protect your company from a bad vendor is to establish clear goals, ask a lot of questions, demand progress reports, check reviews and hold the company accountable — just like you would with any other vendor you hire.
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b32728a156cf6cbe02b357d783e09f9e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/28/15-ways-to-improve-your-websites-branding/?sh=641174863091 | 15 Ways To Improve Your Website's Branding | 15 Ways To Improve Your Website's Branding
Website design is constantly evolving: Dancing hamsters and "under construction" GIFs have long since given way to sleek images and mobile-friendly sites that are optimized for quick understanding and easy sharing. But as options grow, so do the chances of confusing or even scaring away customers.
There are a lot of ways a company can present itself online, depending on how they want to draw attention and how they want to be viewed. However, there are some tricks that are nearly universal. Forbes Agency Council members share how to make web branding more appealing to customers, ranging from customer-service bots to simplifying ways to engage or find content.
Clockwise from left: Andy Etemadi, Jamie Wachlarz, Kristopher Jones, Lee Salisbury, Lisa Allocca, Vinny La Barbera, Nick Bjorn-Slettengren, Ryan Pezzotti, Joey Kercher, Chris Carter, Debbie Williams, Jon Simpson, Kelly Samuel, Nicole Rodrigues, Brett Farmiloe. All photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Look At Your Data
Look at your analytics, install a heat map tool and run diagnostics. When looking for a simple change or improvement, the answer will be in the data. Fix all bugs; if there are JavaScript errors in the Google Chrome console, it is most likely causing errors for your visitors, therefore preventing your visitors from receiving the value you have to offer. - Andy Etemadi, EYEMAGINE
2. Install Customer Service Plugins
Easy customer service plugins, such as 24-hour live chat, go a long way on a website to convert sales. In addition, real-life photos of the product from the community of user-generated content within the site will help earn new users trust and drive acquisition. - Jamie Wachlarz, Krupp Group
3. Use A Customer-Support Bot
Customer support is one the most resource-intensive departments in a company, yet most basic queries can be answered automatically via a customer support bot installed on your website. Installing a virtual agent on your website is not overly technical and will allow you to wow your prospective customers with immediate responses to the most basic questions they may ask about your business. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
4. Look At The Site As A User
Users see what owners don't. A way to shed light to owners is to cut through the noise and give the users three firm things clearly and efficiently: What your service or product does, examples of what you do, and why they should trust your brand. Presenting content that follows the form after function rule will yield the best impact. Don't underestimate the power of visual design as a differentiator. - Lee Salisbury, UnitOneNine
5. Put Contact Information On Every Page
There is nothing more frustrating at having to search a website for contact information or having to click down several levels to find the information. We always put a telephone number in the top right-hand corner of every page. - Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications
6. Focus On Visitors, Not Bragging
So many company websites are centered around why the company or product is great. As a consumer and as a marketer, this is a big turnoff for me. A more effective approach is to communicate to me, as the visitor, how your company or product will benefit me. What value will I get? How will it make my life easier, better or less stressful? Tell me those things in a clear way, and I'm in. - Vinny La Barbera, imFORZA
7. Drop The Scrolling Hero Images
Two changes will do wonders for your brand in 2017. First, get rid of the scrolling hero images; no one clicks on those. There are a lot of studies to prove that and it is now an old-school design element. Also, try to make a section on your website's homepage that states what you do in three easy steps. It is challenging, but simple wins – especially for mobile. - Nick-Bjorn Slettengren, Power Digital Marketing
8. Feature Social Media Channels To Trigger Engagement
If your company has a presence on social media, then your channels should be clearly visible on your website. Displaying social media widgets on your website will allow visitors to see a consistent flow of relevant and personable information about your company and services. This method will not only trigger engagement but hopefully bring in new business. - Ryan Pezzotti, Knowzo
9. Update Your Copyright Date
The most simple thing to change on your website appears on every page of your website: the copyright year. It's often overlooked, but when I see a copyright date going back to 2012, it's a small signal that the brand is outdated and doesn't care about its online presence. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
10. Keep It Simple
Stop making it so hard to navigate to find basic information. Too many bells and whistles, as well as too much copy, are a major turnoff. - Nicole Rodrigues, NRPR Group, LLC
11. Focus On One Major Action
What do you want potential leads to do once they view your website? If a conversion to you is purchasing a product, booking an appointment, signing up for a newsletter, or submitting a contact submission, make it straightforward. Only ask your potential customers to do one major action, otherwise, you will overwhelm them and your bounce rate will be substantially high. Simplify your goals. - Kelly Samuel, Qode Media
12. Don't Make Them Work For It
As a general rule of thumb, you should never make a visitor on your website work to get what they want. Make sure your menu items are clear, not clever. - Jon Simpson, Criterion.B
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13. Talk About Solving Customers' Challenges, Not Your Awards
If your website is all about your company, and why you're "the best" you'll lose visitors' interest right away. Awards, accolades and features mean nothing if the "why" is missing. If your site speaks the language of your customers and prospects, clearly identifying how you can solve their challenges and make their lives better in some way, you will build trust and make connections quickly. - Debbie Williams, SPROUT Content
14. Seamlessly Integrate Video
You should seamlessly integrate video. I'm not talking about putting an embedded YouTube video in the bottom corner of your page. Make moving images front and center in your background header. Keep customers on your website longer, and drive eyeballs to a highly produced "about us" video (60 seconds maximum) to get your story across effectively. Increasing SEO by having customers stay on your page longer is just an added benefit. - Chris Carter, Rep Interactive
15. Use Strong Visuals To Deliver A Strong Brand Message
If a brand wants to make its website more appealing to potential customers, it needs strong visuals, including strong design elements (think fonts and colors) and images that showcase plenty of personality. Try to stay clear of the usual close-up of smiling faces, and choose photos and images that convey the specificity of your brand message. - Joey Kercher, Air Fresh Marketing
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435d8b2e71874b2cfcdb183141c755ff | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/30/why-it-pays-to-not-always-be-right-in-business/ | Why It Pays To Not Always Be 'Right' In Business | Why It Pays To Not Always Be 'Right' In Business
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Several years ago, I decided to challenge my need to be “right.” I was well established in my career, having taken the self-employed, entrepreneurial route. I had a lot of personal conviction; I needed to be self-assured to survive in business, right?
I was also driven by an insecurity that whispered, “You better be right.” Being right seemed to be closely tied to success. Yet the day came when I began to consider that maybe needing to be right was wrong.
It started as an inkling: Insisting on being right might not always be the best strategy for myself, my business or our clients. In addition to self-reflection, situations occurred that made me wonder if being right was a self-constructed roadblock to greater personal and professional potential for success.
For anyone who has achieved some level of power or leadership in their professional career, as well as those seeking to improve their work trajectory, it’s easy to understand how and why we become invested in the faulty thinking of “I’m right, so therefore you must be wrong.” After all, we are in business and our compensation is often based on our ability to make decisions – and they better be the right ones. People are counting on our leadership and expert advice.
Yet the problem with regularly needing to be “right” is that we can hurt ourselves, reduce our ability to learn and possibly lose the chance to make better judgments. Due to fear of reprisal, others may become less willing to offer their suggestions that could save us potential pain and heartache. Insisting on being right means we may not benefit from hearing another’s opinion that might offer insight worthy of careful consideration prior to any decision. At its worst, being right may mean we’re valuing our opinion as something more important than another person and our relationship with them.
Addressing the need to be right did not mean I had to be wrong. Instead, it meant that I had to practice listening more carefully. A quote from a very smart kindergarten teacher became my mantra: “You have two ears so you should listen twice as much as you speak.”
Zipping one’s mouth – and opting not just to listen but also to truly hear what someone is saying – does not come naturally. We are all ego-driven individuals who are wired to fight for our survival. Those of us who are entrepreneurial may have a double dose of ego. Yet my life improved drastically when I decided to regularly practice active listening to assess what was right instead of who.
How does listening improve life? Not needing to have all the answers all the time relieves a lot of stress. It’s great to listen to others and hear their perspectives on any given situation. Often, not only are your ears at work, but it opens your eyes as well. Many times, I realize that although I and others may have heard the same words, we interpreted them quite differently. By listening closely to others, new and valuable potential meanings are discovered behind the same words. This awareness and interaction can trigger subsequent questions and quite possibly prevent circumstances that otherwise could compound into serious errors. There are many very smart people in the world and they can be right, too.
Each of us comes from a different history of experiences that can contribute to decision-making. Active listening teaches us to appreciate how others may process conversations differently than we might, how they percolate their new ideas, and how others can contribute just as much. (Dare I say, often even more?) How humbling and wonderful. Lastly, each relationship gets better, more intimate, more productive and more interesting. Everyone feels more secure and willing to share when being “right” is inclusive. Listening is a win-win for everybody concerned.
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As an agency, our adoption of active thinking improved our work and the value we bring to clients. We’ve each learned to respect our individual contributions that make up our whole advice. As in any advisory business, our clients regularly call seeking guidance. Equally often, for the more serious situations, we’ve all accepted the ego-holding pattern and said: “That’s an interesting question. We will assemble our thoughts. Can we come right back to you with a proposed response?”
Of course, sometimes this isn’t necessary. But at other times, this “take a breath, listen to the thoughts of others, then gather your strategic advice” approach is essential. It makes the difference between being a valuable partner and being an irreplaceable one.
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efa8fab751b0954877cd0dbab62fefc2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/04/25/understanding-five-emotions-that-encourage-us-to-spend/?sh=3035da7b5441 | Understanding Five Emotions That Encourage Us To Spend | Understanding Five Emotions That Encourage Us To Spend
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Emotional triggers drive us to react. Reacting can mean feeling an emotion (happiness, sadness, anger, etc.). It can also mean feeling an emotion, and acting because of that feeling.
For example, you see an item in a store that strongly reminds you of joyful, happy memories from your childhood. You are immediately filled with warmth and nostalgia. Because the item triggered happiness in you, you feel compelled to purchase it.
The item’s designer successfully appealed to your emotions in order to sell their product. The exact same principle can be applied to marketing messages.
Emotional Advertising
The way emotions drive our decisions has roots in our biology. We’re wired to feel before we think, according to Buffer. Feeling certain emotions makes us want to do certain things.
For instance, feeling happiness has overwhelmingly been connected with wanting to share. As The New York Times notes, positive news is shared more often than bad news on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter -- we want to spread that feeling. On the other hand, when fear or surprise is triggered, we may feel the need to hold on to the positive constants in our lives.
When marketing messages trigger our emotions, they motivate us to act in specific ways. This technique is persuasive, which is why it is so reliable. It can convince you to subscribe to an online newsletter, click “Buy Now” from your virtual shopping cart, share a post on social media, or make return visits to a blog.
Making The Connection
Each emotion that we feel is sourced in different areas of the brain. Messages that trigger happiness mainly affect our left prefrontal cortex, according to Psychology Today. Sadness, on the other hand, lights up the right side of the brain, in the corresponding right prefrontal cortex. Sadness also makes the brain produce cortisol, the stress hormone.
Fear and surprise, arguably two sides of the same coin, originate in the part of the brain called the amygdala. Thus, when emotional advertising is effective, it makes our brains light up and respond in the way marketers desire. When it’s not effective, the message may make you feel sad instead of happy, angry instead of surprised, etc.
Five Emotions That Make Us Dig For Our Wallets
Unsurprisingly, there are key emotions involved in purchase-making decisions. These five emotions are the most effective at motivating you to spend your hard-earned cash.
1. Belonging
Everyone likes to feel that they belong. In fact, as social creatures, we are hardwired to seek out belonging, avoid loneliness and even distrust loners. When consumers feel like they belong to a brand, they feel like part of a larger whole.
Cultivate belonging in your customers by engaging with them on social media or creating a community within your brand. You want people to feel that they are part of this community when they use your services or products.
2. Trust
Trust is essential to any relationship, including one between a business and a consumer. In fact, it might just be the most important aspect.
When a consumer trusts you, they know that you’ll do right by them. You keep your promises, especially the ones you make in your marketing messages. Most of all, you’re sincere -- and sincerity can’t be faked.
3. Values
Values help you determine what’s important and what’s not. They are subjective and personal, and guide the choices you make in every aspect of your life.
When you appeal to a consumer’s values, you are telling them that your business is in line with their core beliefs. This can be incredibly persuasive, and can even tie back into belonging.
4. Happiness
Happiness is simple. When something makes us feel happy, we want that feeling to continue. If the simple act of making a particular purchase is enough to inspire happiness in a consumer, then the brand is doing something right.
Happiness is also tied to instant gratification: It’s that feeling you get when you click “purchase.” That rush of excitement and anticipation that often accompanies buying something shiny and new can be addictive for many people.
5. Fear
Fear is a powerful negative emotion. If triggered in the wrong way, it can scare off customers. However, there are nuances of fear that can make purchases incredibly tempting. One has gotten a lot of limelight recently: FOMO, or “fear of missing out.” It’s also about dreading being left out because you lack the knowledge or experience that others have had without you.
As it turns out, FOMO can encourage people to buy into almost anything. We’re constantly in a race to keep up with technology, with our peers on social media, or with our coworkers in the office.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
How To Use Emotional Triggers To Enhance Marketing Messages
Emotional marketing wins over using logic.
According to Impact, advertisers who used emotional messages to appeal to their target audience reported more success than advertisers who relied on logical ad campaigns. The proof is in the pudding: Emotion works.
But how do you utilize emotional triggers to super-charge your ad copy?
Here are a few ideas:
Play to those key emotions. Consider playing into happiness, fear, belonging, trust or values. Use short, simple language. Shorter words are better at appealing to emotions. Longer words may come across as being more rational and intellectual. (For example, “tough” versus “difficult.”) Utilize the word “free.” The word “free” is effective for triggering emotions about value and happiness (the instant gratification that comes from not having to pay for shipping, for instance). However, “free” in the wrong context could send the wrong message (using it copiously on a luxury clothing website, for instance, cheapens the brand).
The Power Of Emotional Advertising
Our emotions are our most powerful motivators. We feel first, think later. As such, this biological emphasis on “gut feelings” is a strong way to pull people to your brand.
Use emotional advertising, and you may find customers who not only connect with your brand, but develop firm loyalty to your business -- what you stand for and what you offer.
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0cedff0c026b3fc3185dce9f1804bb98 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/04/seeking-inspiration-agency-executives-share-sources-of-influence/ | Seeking Inspiration? Agency Executives Share Sources of Influence | Seeking Inspiration? Agency Executives Share Sources of Influence
When it comes to staying inspired, professionals rely on a variety of resources. Many turn to their coworkers and keep an eye on other projects at their company. Many turn to creative outlets, such as travel, for inspiration. And many pay attention to what others in their industry are working on, whether that is individuals directly working in their field or entrepreneurs who inspire risk taking.
Forbes Agency Council members – experts at PR, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies – follow influential bloggers, SEO experts and designers, among others. Below, seven agency professionals share who they recommend others pay attention to this year – and how to find others worth following.
Clockwise from left: David Kley, Brett Farmiloe, Solomon Thimothy, Ali Grant, Diana Wolff, Goran Paunovic, Kristopher Jones. All photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Rand Fiskin A good person to follow for marketing and SEO news is Rand Fishkin. He always has great insight into the current SEO trends. The Whiteboard Friday blog from Moz, Fishkin's company, is also a quick way to digest what is going on in the marketing world. - David Kley, Web Design and Company 2. Noah Kagan Noah Kagan was the first marketing employee at Mint.com, one of the first marketing employees at Facebook, and is now the Chief Sumo at AppSumo. He's a wealth of knowledge about marketing, life and tacos. He just launched a podcast that is full of good information and is definitely a voice worth listening to. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors 3. Jeff Bullas Jeff Bullas, a content marketing influencer and strategist, is the real deal. On his website, he constantly shares content marketing tips and tricks to help businesses and entrepreneurs be visible online and generate sales to succeed. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS 4. PR Couture Our agency loves to follow PR Couture. Their industry insight is fresh and frequent, plus they just launched the Bespoke Communication Awards, which allows for industry professionals to be recognized. - Ali Grant, Be Social 5. Thom Craver Imagine being an SEO for a major media company? Endless content, breaking news, working directly with top journalists. That's why I love following the career of industry influencer Thom Craver, senior SEO analyst for CBS Interactive. Following Thom's Twitter feed provides daily insights into how he's thinking about SEO and helping CBS get ranked at the top of Google. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com 6. Yves Béhar Design is all about agility, and for this reason, Yves Béhar is a designer/entrepreneur that I like to keep an eye on. Founder and principal of fuseproject, Behar focus is across platform from product to brand development. As the designer of commercial products and founder of August, a smart lock company, his focus on sustainability, social good and problem-solving is critical to the market. - Goran Paunovic, ArtVersion Interactive Agency Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 7. Build Your Own List of Influential Superstars It seems like every day there's a new list of "influencers" published. Skip the obvious and go hunting for people you get actual value from. Start by looking at who your marketing idols are following on Twitter, check out their posts, and then look at who they are following. Soon you'll be able to build your own list of superstars that provide you with consistent value. - Diana Wolff, LRG Marketing
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cf7eca34ef8e4f598a7ea46fabec08a8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/10/mapping-the-course-storytelling-and-the-customer-journey/ | Mapping The Course: Storytelling And The Customer Journey | Mapping The Course: Storytelling And The Customer Journey
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Keeping up with the modern consumer’s changing tastes can be a challenge, but business depends on it. Customers are interacting constantly with brands across multiple channels and platforms, with many companies lacking the ability to connect the dots across this landscape. The question becomes: How do we measure, improve and deliver the best possible customer experience while highlighting brand value and promoting conversion?
It may seem as though it’s a wide net to cast, but businesses need to take a step back to see the ten-thousand-foot view, evaluating whether content presented matches the targeted audience’s persona(s). In our experience as a digital agency advising brands on how to connect authentically with their customers, an invaluable tool for this evaluation is the customer journey map.
Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey mapping helps to visualize a customer’s experience from their specific point of view, across all the various touchpoints they have with a brand as they seek to achieve a specific goal leading to conversion. The resulting visualization emphasizes a high level of clarity and transparency, allowing companies to better serve their customer and effectively target its own objectives and goals.
Relevant not only to customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) strategy, marketing teams, designers and strategists across industries -- particularly in the digital environment -- are poised to forge optimized customer relations by implementing and expanding the scope of their organization’s CX initiatives.
In fact, according to a 2016 study, companies saw a 54% greater return on marketing investment with customer journey management versus 16.2% without.
A Traveler’s Perspective
Customers interact with a brand because they connect emotionally and/or need a problem solved. Thriving companies drive this strategic growth by delivering experiences that meet these customer needs, generating relationships that leave customers wanting more.
A successful interaction hinges on the brand meeting these expectations in a meaningful way. Simply put, if this core connection doesn’t exist, customers will go elsewhere. The key is finding an effective tool to formulate and deliver this customer experience. Journey mapping does just that by encouraging stakeholders to consider the customer's needs, wants, emotions and questions, and to create the path to fulfill those needs.
A Compass For The Journey
Whether for a digital experience, product or service, a journey map can take many forms. In designing a website, the goal remains: Help a company effectively key into and address their customers' needs while communicating their brand voice. Tracing the steps that a customer takes in engaging with the experience, journey maps are high level, usually presented in a single layout visual representation, and combine visualization, data and insight.
Dedicated to customer experience innovators and change agents, technology company Oracle is a great place to start. With templates, toolkits and presentation resources compiled by customer experience professionals, DesigningCX illustrates the value and importance of CX initiatives.
Equipped with the tools to identify key interactions a customer has with their brand, no longer are CX initiatives like journey mapping for just customer-centric organizations. Focusing either on the entire experience or optimizing a specific section, journey mapping has become standard practice. The process uncovers clues to a customer’s intrinsic motivation and their expectations of a brand, providing brand teams with the data needed to provide an optimized experience.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Stories That Lead To Conversion
We’ve come to learn the value of visual storytelling in design, but journey mapping lays the groundwork for these creative implementations. Setting the course for the customer experience, journey mapping directs the story from initial impressions through the process of discovery and engagement, ultimately leading to conversions and a sustainable relationship.
Journey maps establish trust with the user, support growth and empathy with the brand and promote strategy-based decision-making within the organization. These actions go beyond simply capturing and representing data in a visual format -- they reveal a story about the customer’s subjective, personal experience.
Don’t Leave Home Without It
From sales to design to content strategy, a customer journey map is a tool that should be included in every brand’s digital strategy. Teams can gain a better understanding of where the user has come from and what they are trying to achieve, helping to identify opportunities that will enhance and differentiate the experience.
Foremost, a journey map puts the the user top of mind for an organization, creating an environment of constant optimization and adaptation, leading to overall growth and customer satisfaction.
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0fada55678f9fdec92c7adba1f0ed996 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/11/game-based-learning-helps-big-pharma-get-ahead/ | Game-Based Learning Helps Big Pharma Get Ahead | Game-Based Learning Helps Big Pharma Get Ahead
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Remember high school chemistry class? Perhaps you’ve blocked most of it out of your memory, but there’s one visual you likely remember: the periodic table of elements.
It remains vivid in my memory, thanks to the unforgettable song, “The Elements,” penned in 1959 by the musical humorist Tom Lehrer. Set to Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance,” I was taught about some of the great elements such as antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and rhenium.
Today, science still requires an engaging approach to education. This is especially true in the healthcare industry, where the stakes are high.
Here, I explore how games are spurring engagement levels (and yielding results) in the healthcare industry.
Sales Representatives
Pharmaceutical sales reps are responsible for persuading doctors to prescribe their company's products. Due to the stiff competition in the market, reps have a limited amount of time to ensure doctors adopt their company's drug over competitors’. From understanding anatomy and learning the product, to communicating its value, pharmaceutical salespeople undergo comprehensive training throughout their career to up their sales game.
E-learning is a primary component of most sales training. Increasingly, companies use games to make their training more fun and effective.
For example, Bayer Pharmaceuticals created Rep Race: The Battle for Office Supremacy, a simulation game to help train its salesforce on the latest and greatest marketing initiatives for Betaseron, a multiple sclerosis product. Rep Race focuses on selling and objection-handling scenarios, effectively breathing new life into the sale. The game provides sales reps with more entertainment than the multiple-choice skills tests that it replaces. It also provides real-time feedback for the trainer and trainee throughout the training process.
Bayer reps report liking the game, and according to Bayer, some have played the game as many as 30 times, a level of engagement that far surpasses what we see with traditional training. The game measures reps’ individual and collective performance and after one year of being in use, Bayer saw a 20% increase in the sales team’s effectiveness among those who played it.
Health Care Professionals
Every pharmaceutical company is focused on improving patient health. A few years ago, Merck & Co. (full disclosure: Merck is a client of our company) looked at how those who are at-risk for HIV are tested, how those who are infected are entered into care, and how those who are in care are encouraged to stay.
Quickly, it became clear to Merck that the bridge from diagnoses to care was broken and that the company could play a major role in fixing it. As a result, they focused their efforts on increasing the availability of training skills related to communication, patient engagement and quality care.
Merck launched Bridge2Care, an online learning platform I helped oversee that combines video-based scenarios with casual games simulations. This five-module program delivers an immersive, educational experience and offers health care professionals points and badges as a reward for proving their mastery of dozens of concepts.
Bridge2Care quickly proved successful with 93% of users reporting that they felt more prepared to understand and engage with their patients after completing the program.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Patients
Adherence to medication is a known problem for those managing chronic illness. However, there is evidence that video games can improve health-related behaviors.
In partnership with Cigna Health Insurance, HopeLab, a nonprofit game developer, distributes Re-Mission to cancer patients in hospitals worldwide. In this game, players control a Roxxi, a nanobot who is injected into the human body to fight cancer and related infections. With the nanobot’s help, players fight off virtual cancer invaders with "weapons" like chemo blasters, radiation guns and antibiotic rockets.
As they proceed, players are tasked with monitoring patient health and reporting any symptoms back to the in-game doctor, Dr. West. They learn how cancer works in their bodies and how treatments work to combat the disease. Players are informed about several treatments, how each one functions and the importance of adherence.
Warding off these virtual invaders educates young patients about how this disease operates in their bodies and how treatments work to fight the cancer. After the game launched, a study was conducted with cancer patients in the United States, Canada and Australia. Players of the game showed a 70% faster acquisition of cancer-related knowledge and a three-fold greater rate of increase in cancer-specific self-efficacy.
The study also demonstrated that patients who played Re-Mission adhered more completely to their prescribed medication regimens.
Between pharmaceutical sales reps, physicians and patients, big pharma is proving that that they’ve got game. Because games inspire, activate and promote training and education, they are gaining momentum and are a powerful tool that’s changing and growing the industry.
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6ad62348ee7c8e93e3c91a418d99a9ca | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/11/six-steps-to-take-before-launching-a-website/ | Six Steps To Take Before Launching A Website | Six Steps To Take Before Launching A Website
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No matter your experience level, launching a website is a stressful, complicated task. After all, any number of things could go wrong, ranging from the small (a misspelled word or broken links) to the large (forgetting to set up proper site redirects).
At Advantix Digital, we created our own checklist to follow best practices before launching a site. This list, created based on our website and digital marketing experience, ensures our clients’ website performance remains strong with a new site launch, with most clients seeing great improvement. While each site may have some different boxes to check before launch, generally speaking, there are a few things to check, no matter the website.
1. Review everything. Take time to review all of the content on your site to make sure everything sounds right and is working correctly. This means everything from proofreading all of your page content and premium content (and then proofreading again) to making sure your videos and images are loading correctly. This is also a good time to review your content strategy to ensure you are targeting your keywords effectively throughout your site.
2. Enable responsive design. Hammer out any design issues to make sure that the site draws the viewer in. Now more than ever, it is important to make sure your website is completely responsive and looks great on all web browsers and across all devices. Test out the site on a laptop, desktop, tablet, and mobile device to make sure it looks how you want it to look.
3. Check functionality. Make sure all details and features are functioning correctly across your site. This may include elements such as lead generation forms, email list signups, comments, and social sharing. Having a function that does not properly work is a great way to turn the user off in a hurry. This can also include internal and external links, as well as optimizing the site speed to make sure it loads as quickly as possible.
4. Prepare analytics. Once your website is launched, you’re going to want to know how it is performing and how you can test various aspects of it. These analytics will allow you to evaluate your site and continually improve it over time as you know what works and what doesn’t work. Do some type of web crawl to make sure that all your analytics programs are correctly accounting for the key data you need.
5. Use proven SEO techniques. If you want people to actually visit your site, some type of SEO work will help make that happen. Use proper search engine optimization techniques, such as having unique page titles and unique meta descriptions in place for the launch. You may also set up some type of link outreach plan, including ideas on how to amplify your launch and help generate buzz that will make it a success.
6. Back up your site. Finally, before launching a site, make sure to prevent any loss of data by setting up site security and regularly backing up your site. This can also help in case of any malware attempts against the site, ensuring that copies of the website are being created and stored regularly. This gives you added peace of mind that you always have a plan in place if something goes wrong.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
There are few more challenging digital tasks than designing and launching a new website, especially when you consider all of the things that can go wrong. However, being prepared and working with experienced web companies who have proper plans and checklists in place can go a long way to making your launch a smooth one.
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463e935610a0635dd1aec34c05d667e3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/18/12-ways-to-improve-communications-between-your-agency-and-your-clients/?sh=41b02ec97e21 | 12 Ways To Improve Communications Between Your Agency And Your Clients | 12 Ways To Improve Communications Between Your Agency And Your Clients
Making sure everyone is on the same page and aware of the same issues or developments requires more than haphazardly sent memos. It requires organization and commitment from both your team and the client you are supporting. You need to know what services the client needs and what their expectations are, as well as what they think of current progress. They need to understand what your team is developing for them, what the timeline looks like, and why some options were chosen while others were avoided.
In short, you need strong communication between the two sides in order to prevent unhappiness. Below, 12 Forbes Agency Council members talk about how they share information and goals, ranging from getting everyone on the same software platform to establishing a habit of less-formal meetings in order to understand where the client is coming from.
Develop a strategy to keep your team and your clients on the same page. All photos courtesy of Forbes Agency Council members.
1. Treat It Like A Relationship And Stay Positive
My colleagues are carefully selected, and they are selected for a reason. These reasons are clearly communicated to my customers, not only to reassure them, but also to spark a good relationship when the first meeting comes up. Similarly, it's a must to eliminate any traces that allow for bad-mouthing customers within your company: Staying positive is key to building relationships. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
2. Standardize Communications Between Your Team And The Clients
I would recommend standardizing communications between your team and the clients. It’s about demonstrating value to the client, as well as showing progress and providing evidence of achieving strategic goals and objectives. You can also use a project management system that gives you the ability to email the client and send that information to the project folder. - Daniel B. Laws, Jr, DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC
3. Hold Weekly Calls
As a digital PR company, we're in touch with clients via email daily. However, no matter how much you communicate via mail, a regular weekly call is a must. Such a call helps to talk transparently about what happened the previous week and what's going to happen the following week. A big issue with mail is that there's no tone, and therefore it's always best to have a voice call on top of all the rest of your digital communication. - Ayelet Noff, Blonde 2.0
4. Embrace Active Listening
Become obsessed with active listening instead of just talking and presenting. Through listening, you can hear what a client’s concerns, pressures and needs are, and that will tell you problems you can solve for the client. Too often, teams want to show off how smart they are on a client call or in a meeting rather than asking great questions and really listening to the answers. - Suzanne Miller, SPM Communications
5. Use A Collaboration Tool
I have never met someone who wants to get yet another email, and our clients are no different. Instead of communicating to a crowded inbox, consider a collaboration tool such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and the soon to be re-launched Google Hangouts. These aren't just for messaging. They have apps that integrate with your document storage for file review and can even auto-send scheduled key performance indicator reports. - Todd Earwood, MoneyPath Marketing
6. Share Details During An Early Meeting
When someone is essentially a "number" or just a "position," it's very easy to not connect in a meaningful way and also to have more negative interactions. Oftentimes in initial meetings, I'll do an exercise where we share something superficial, personal and inter-personal. Superficial is easy; the others are much more difficult but demonstrate the importance of deeper relationships and sharing. - Andrew Howlett, Rain
7. Make Communication A Standard Operating Procedure
We include client communication as a checklist item in our process. Anytime we post a blog on a client's behalf, we'll email them with the keyword we're targeting and a synopsis behind the strategy (as well as the link). When we create email campaigns or design websites, collaboration is a key part of producing great work. Baking communication into an operating procedure is a win-win for everyone. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
8. Give Your Staff The Tools They Need, Then Audit For QA
Make sure you have the right systems, processes and software supporting your staff. It is so easy to get overwhelmed with emails and ad hoc tasks in any service business. Next, ensure that you have a process in place to audit client-staff communications for QA purposes, and make your staff aware that their outbound communications are monitored by management. - Arya Bina, Kobe Digital
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
9. Seek To Understand Where Your Clients Are Coming From
Communication starts with understanding. We encourage and facilitate a lot of time together with clients, such as a work day and dinners, especially at the client's office. When you get a feel for your clients' day-to-day pressures, you know where they are coming from. When you have that context, it makes communication easier. You listen better when you have context for the communication you are receiving. - Randy Hughes, Carmichael Lynch
10. Get Everyone On The Same Platform
We let our clients into our project management tools so they can communicate directly with our team. When everyone uses the same tools, you build real and transparent partnerships with your clients. Be absolutely fanatical and organized around how you collaborate virtually — including shared folders and standardizing file naming mechanisms — so you can focus on "insights" versus "finding that email." - Dan Golden, Be Found Online
11. Mix Up Your Communication Style
Mix in-person brainstorming sessions with the standard formal presentations. Give each department a seat at the table, and bring in all team members that work on the client's account. Build an agenda that fosters collaboration, problem-solving and conversation, as opposed to the agency always presenting to the client. - Zach Morrison, Elite SEM
12. Empower Your Team
Clients have a natural tendency to go to the top of the totem pole. As a leader, the best thing you can do to improve client-team communication is to get out of the way. Empower your team to drive client conversations: Lend them your vote of confidence and support in your own engagement with clients. - Joey Hodges, Demonstrate PR
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8d0bba6e6ca7ddf1a7750620a9bee9a2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/18/appealing-to-the-top-of-the-psychological-hierarchy/ | Appealing To The Top Of The Psychological Hierarchy | Appealing To The Top Of The Psychological Hierarchy
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More and more, marketing is blatantly manipulating – or at best, exploiting – the most basic human psychological weaknesses.
Think of messages like, “But wait, there’s more!” and “You can be special and important!”
These base narcissistic ploys are commonplace and more normalized than ever. But do they work? Sure, maybe for click-bait headlines or late-night infomercials where the transaction is small and impulse is key. When it comes to large investment appeal, though, that’s where things shift.
With this in mind, it makes sense to wonder if there’s any place for psychology left in honest marketing. The short answer is yes, especially when marketing large investment opportunities such as auto or home sales, or even franchise buying. Naturally, the audience is far more engaged, digging deeper through their own research, and strongly considering ROI with a large-scale transaction. Put simply, a more sophisticated marketing approach is necessary.
The approach can come a number of ways, but any marketer worth their weight in salt knows that the top of Maslow’s pyramid – where esteem and self-actualization live – is what they should hone in on when appealing to those considering a life-altering accord.
Appealing To Esteem
Everyone wants to be liked, recognized or celebrated at some point. It feels good to be praised – admit it. Marketers know that and have long sought out ways to appeal to that feeling. For consumer marketers, appealing to feelings of love and belonging comes simply by offering “exclusive content” or “loyalty program inclusion.”
For those folks marketing big purchases like a business opportunity, not so much.
People have owned and operated small businesses for centuries, often becoming staples of their communities and garnering big praise for their economic and sociological impact. But in reality, absent of funding availability, anyone can lease a space, move in and begin operating their mom-and-pop bakery, hardware store or any other concept they conceive. So where’s the status and exclusivity?
In short, exclusivity exists in the way you message the opportunity. Without strategic messaging that speaks to that exclusivity, you’re sunk. Regardless of the deliverable, the copy needs to elaborate your offer in an easy-to-understand way so that the audience knows exactly what it can achieve by committing to it — how they can improve their standing or status — creating exclusivity of ownership and surrounding the opportunity with a certain “status” to excite an investor, buyer, etc.
It’s About Yourself
Getting to the top of the proverbial pyramid means you’re “exemplary.” It’s said that the urge for self-actualization is deeply entrenched and only achieved by those who strive to set their pre-determined pace, whether that’s financially or otherwise. In other words, entrepreneurs.
Let’s send even more praise to the marketers who can actually appeal to this need, especially on the consumer side. This is the hardest need to appeal to because a single product or service doesn’t comprise a whole person’s identity; that’s to say that self-actualization can’t be achieved by owning a certain shoe or jacket.
To truly appeal to this need, it’s about providing a level of motivation that suggests the offering helps achieve the level they seek. The strange reality is that appealing to self-actualization fits perfectly in the proverbial wheelhouse of business opportunity marketers: “Be your own boss!” “Forge your own path!” “Here’s your can’t-miss opportunity.”
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Of course, backing up those default quips with evidenced-based messaging is still a must. A combination of financial and emotional touch points in the messaging does the job, whether that’s discussing a potential for earnings, or highlighting success stories of other business owners to help the audience envision their successes. For example, a youth sports franchise we've worked with consistently mingles earnings potential messaging with impassioned examples of program director triumphs in a family-friendly tone.
More than ever, investing the time and energy to truly understand your audience and what they value is essential. One person’s ability to reach self-actualization is completely different than someone else’s, just as someone’s esteem is heightened by various factors. With that in mind, you too can feel special and important.
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c698bb4fa17bc080a74f27e4d1424795 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/22/11-ways-to-make-your-marketing-emails-stand-out-in-a-cluttered-inbox/ | 11 Ways To Make Your Marketing Emails Stand Out In A Cluttered Inbox | 11 Ways To Make Your Marketing Emails Stand Out In A Cluttered Inbox
Sending out emails about products or services and actually get recipients to open them can be difficult. Basic filters hide unsolicited emails and even those that get through tend to be ignored by users, who are less likely to jump on random messages offering products or services they're not deeply invested in.
But there are a number of techniques that can still draw in potential clients. Strong, personalized subject lines help, as do messages that are focused on anything other than a sales pitch. Sometimes, a simple notice about a non-commercial event can draw eyes to a website or generate a reply.
But what grabs potential clients' interests specifically? And what should you avoid emailing to keep potential clients from sending the message to their trash? Below, 11 Forbes Agency Council members share how your email can stand out in a cluttered inbox.
Make sure your email isn't one that gets immediately sent to the recipent's trash.
1. Make Sure Your Content Can Be Viewed On Multiple Platforms According to Litmus' ”State of Email” (March 2017), 54% of email is now opened on a mobile device. Making sure your emails are built to render well across devices is the best way to grab and keep the attention of your clients and prospects. - Kathy Steele, Red Caffeine Marketing + Technology
2. Mirror Content With Facebook Custom Audiences An under-utilized aspect of Facebook ads is "Custom Audiences." A user can upload their email database to Facebook and then direct messages (ads) to that specific audience. With email open and click rates at an all-time low, users should create messages (ads) that mirror your emails. Seeing the same message in two places (email and Facebook) increases the consumption of that content on both. - Nicholas Kusmich, NicholasKusmich.com 3. Give Them What They Want To compete in today’s overcrowded email inboxes, you must be the one giving users what they want when they want it and need it. Be the first to email them about an important Google update, or be the one reminding them that it’s time to roll their clocks back. The secret to email success? Be first, be brief and be actionable! Anything less will simply not equal success. - Bernadette Coleman, Advice Local 4. Promise Value In The Subject Line – Then Deliver It We have to be cognizant of the fact that today’s consumer can smell a sales pitch from a mile away, and they’re not a fan of the scent. To really maximize your use of the valuable real estate in the subject line, you’ve got to promise the reader that something of value awaits them in the body of your email. And if you want them to open your next email, you actually have to deliver it. - Chapin Herman, Herman-Scheer 5. Ditch The Hard Sell And Sales Talk Ditch the hard sell and sales talk. Don't ask for something from them upfront. Tell them why you are contacting them and how it might be beneficial to them. Be truly helpful, authentic and genuine. - Debbie Williams, SPROUT Content 6. Connect With Your Customer Receiving something personal, direct and meaningful (whether a brand's email or a friend's chat) will stir the endorphins. Brands that speak to their customers' interests, pain points or problems will reach a willing and eager recipient. Blast your customers with irrelevant information and you're sure to see unsubscribes. Grab your customers' attention by knowing them and adding value. - Andy Etemadi, EYEMAGINE 7. Personality Trumps Generic Information We're all searching for a personal connection when it comes to interacting with digital counterparts. Rarely do prospects respond to generic emails. Whenever we're trying to get ahold of someone, it's imperative that they know we're reaching out to them and not everyone. This includes any and all follow-up emails. - Chris Carter, Rep Interactive 8. Use Their First Name In The Subject Line Try using a first name in the email subject line. Example: "Brett, here's why people don't open your emails" instead of "Why people don't open your emails." This extra dose of personalization tends to increase open rates on email campaigns and capture the attention of the recipient as they scroll through their inbox. Just make sure to exclude subscribers without a first name value. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 9. Provide An Incentive If you must use email marketing (which by nature has become very irritating to consumers), offer an incentive, otherwise, it's just more junk. Consider 20% off of a product or service for only those who sign up for the newsletter, or a free trial of a product or service. Give them a reason to keep opening your email blasts. - Kelly Samuel, Qode Media 10. Don’t Send Emails To Multiple Recipients Sending emails to multiple recipients means you're altering the content of the email for a group instead of an individual. Customizing an email is vital for connecting with an individual on a personal level. It's also key to address the individual by name and use a clear subject line. Lastly, I like to start my emails with a personal and intimate understanding of their issue. - Ryan Pezzotti, Knowzo.com 11. Get To The Point A potential client doesn't owe you anything, so don't expect anything from them. Take the time to show them that your email is meant for them, and them specifically. Establish goodwill: Show them respect by cutting through the clutter, by getting to the point, and by defining the next step. If you have supporting data, use it sparingly. Keep it short, show your personality and be professional. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
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7bcc273639ad46000ed256fad6d93c67 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/23/the-future-of-e-commerce-is-play/ | The Future Of E-Commerce Is Play | The Future Of E-Commerce Is Play
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With e-commerce sales projected to nearly triple in 2017, competition for customers in online retail will increase significantly. Companies with the best user and brand experiences will be strongly positioned to beat out their competitors. While most e-commerce companies focus their digital marketing strategy on the basics such as analytics, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, social media marketing, email automation and A/B testing, only a select few have begun experimenting with gaming. Brands ranging from restaurants such as Chipotle (with its Cado Crusher Game) to our client Regency Furniture (with its Furniture Deals platform) have begun experimenting with gaming as a form of digital marketing to attract customers.
As commerce goes online, there will be three main ways that companies can distinguish themselves: price, customer service and interactive experience. As competition online increases, players in the marketplace will respond by attempting to compete on price but this will result in a race to the bottom. Other companies will also focus on providing the premium segment of the market by providing superior customer service across both online and offline platforms. Lastly, some companies will focus on providing customers an engaging interactive experience. E-commerce companies should focus on gaming because it enhances brand engagement, creates a lasting memory, and helps the brand stand out from the crowd and attract new customers.
Here are five simple ways to for companies to use gaming to drive online sales.
1. Create An Engaging User Experience
The key to developing a successful game to drive sales is focusing on creating an engaging user experience. The value of the experience should be primarily to the customer, not necessarily your company. This entails not making the game too fixated on driving sales. Instead, the game should be easy to play with simple rules and a clear reward system.
Cado Crusher, for instance, is a simple web-based mobile responsive game where a user has to match a recipe for guacamole in exchange for free chips and guacamole from Chipotle. The game was a huge success and even though the promotion is over, the game is still up and very popular online. Shortly after the launch of the game, the company that built the game was bought by Salesforce.
2. Offer A Good Incentive
For the game to be successful, it needs to have a good incentive. The prize doesn’t need to be $1 million but it should be something of value. A discount or free item of value is usually good. The prize should have multiple winners so everyone feels that they can win.
3. Collect Only Basic Information
From a digital marketing perspective, gathering as much user data as possible is seen as a benefit. However, when it comes to gaming, it’s important to minimize the number of steps needed for a user to start playing. Try and grab only a user’s name and email. Anything beyond that and user completion rates will suffer.
4. Allow Users to Share Socially
If a user wins, allow them to share their success with friends and family. The game should include the ability to share a canned message via social media and email. If a user loses, add a feature that allows them to invite a friend to play again. We recommend this approach instead of requesting a social share during the game experience because that approach disrupts the overall experience. If the customer likes the game, they will want to share it with their friends. If they want to play it again, they won’t mind sharing it socially to do so.
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5. Market the Game Through All Channels
If the game is hosted on your website, it’s important to market it through all channels. Marketing the game should follow the same process for any other form of digital marketing including paid, owned and earned media. For owned media, be sure to promote the game via your website, email, social media and any other channels that you control.
Next, move on to paid media by using pay-per-click (PPC) platforms to get users that aren’t part of your existing network to play the game. One type of PPC ad is the use of Facebook ads that show during mobile games. This is a great way to find new customers that you might not usually interact with via your digital marketing efforts. Lastly, if the promotion is great, consider doing influencer marketing by targeting segments. At the very least, your game will be of interest to websites that promote discounts and savings, so feel free to reach out to them.
By following these simple principles, you can build out a great game that engages your existing users, attracts new users and drives e-commerce traffic and sales up.
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6735f1d7160fdcf543920360b4e3ee96 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/26/three-reasons-to-dig-deeper-into-the-who-you-are-selling-to/ | Three Reasons To Dig Deeper Into The 'Who' You Are Selling To | Three Reasons To Dig Deeper Into The 'Who' You Are Selling To
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Today’s buyer has all but destroyed conventional marketing practices. They are both savvy and self-educated, and see through even the most carefully crafted sales pitch -- and want nothing to do with it.
B2B buyers, especially in technology, come to the table armed with intelligent questions they want you to answer. If you can’t, or try to give them marketing materials designed for some canned persona that they don’t fit, they'll move on.
Persona development isn’t new for most marketers. However, just like any other group of people, customers’ personalities mature, preferences change and sometimes they just grow up. It’s up to us to determine who is in our market in order to lead them into the waiting arms of our sales teams.
Drilling deeper to keep our personas fresh (and correct) should be part of every marketing team’s recurring strategies.
Here are three critical reasons why your marketing efforts must shift to a who-centric worldview to drive success:
1. Buyers expect you to know what they want, and modern technology enables you to do so.
There's a lot of talk around what a B2B marketing tech stack should look like. It usually comes down to cost, your company’s individual goals and what is realistic to maintain and execute on properly. That being said, the marketing technology industry is growing. Recent studies have shown that annual tech spend is surpassing ad buys.
So, how can new technology help you get to know your customers? There are the solid go-to’s that marketers employ: CRM, marketing automation, analytics, etc. However, there are some very exciting technologies newer to the market to help up-level marketers' efforts.
We're excited to see where the evolution of predictive marketing takes the industry in the next few years. Companies like EverString and Mintigo are empowering marketers with data science to make smarter marketing decisions.
Simply put, predictive can help fill missing gaps in your data to create more effective, highly personalized communications, all based on predicting the customer’s behavior. A recent Forrester and EverString study shows that predictive marketers are 2.9 times more likely than retrospective marketers to have higher revenue growth than the industry average.
Determining your top prospects through data and analytics will help your sales team focus on nurturing leads that are already receptive to your message, increasing the likelihood of sales success.
While you don’t have to invest in every technology under the sun, it’s important to know how technology can help you delve deeper. Make sure you're aware of what is new and available to help your customer relationships become more meaningful.
2. Modern buyers don’t like to be sold to unless they’re already looking for your solution.
The modern B2B buyer already has a minimum of 57% of the information they need before they even engage with your sales team. They don’t want a sales pitch and they don’t want to hear about everything you sell. They want to hear about what you can do to solve their problems.
So, the next logical question is: Do you know what their biggest problems are? Or better yet, do you know if they are still having the same problems as they once were?
Most of the time, when a buyer contacts your sales team, they want to know:
How much will your solution cost me now? How will it save my company both time and money in the future? What makes you different from your competitors?
To win at the sales table, your marketing efforts should provide answers to all of the above, all the way through the buyer’s journey.
It used to be enough to simply craft a set of buyer personas that describe prospects in terms of demographics and characteristics, boday’s B2B buyer isn’t so easily categorized. Hooking the B2B buyer requires you to reframe personas around the problems you aim to solve for the people who are already interested in your type of solution, rather than identifying people who need the solution itself.
From there, you’ll be able to anticipate their hard questions and add value to the sales discussion in terms of differentiation and deep value-add to complete the sales journey and close deals.
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3. Company alignment with the buyer is critical to your success.
When marketing brings data to the table, there is an alignment that results between marketing and two critical groups: sales and product development.
Many times, communication breakdowns between these groups lead to inefficiency and can even have disastrous consequences where there is a lack of centering on exactly what customers want to buy and who the buyer is. In order to continually deliver successful data-driven strategies, your sales, marketing and product teams need to be aligned on buyer personas.
The good and bad news? This effort needs to be driven by marketing.
Marketers are responsible for gathering, analyzing and understanding metrics, measuring against key performance indicators, and continually honing personas and messaging around the problems that your solutions can solve. That information needs to be delivered regularly to your product development team so that they’re producing solutions that deliver on your promises. And your sales team must have a deep understanding of both your solutions and your buyers in order to bridge the two for the highest level of success.
When your company is aligned with both the needs of your buyers and the solutions you provide, your message will ring with authority. Customers will know that they can come to you for answers to their challenges and that they won’t be hit with a canned sales pitch.
At the end of the day, it’s not just your product or solution that matters, but knowing who needs it. When you focus on the right buyers through analytics, analysis and alignment, you create deeper customer relationships and the reputation of a trusted brand that delivers on promises and drives real value for customers.
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2150f7af3182ae4c9d8876b2e5756e98 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/06/27/marketing-automation-five-things-youre-getting-wrong-and-what-to-do-instead/ | Marketing Automation: Five Things You're Getting Wrong (And What To Do Instead) | Marketing Automation: Five Things You're Getting Wrong (And What To Do Instead)
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Marketing is the first step in an efficient business development solution, as it can determine whether you are a good match with a potential client. For a business to be successful, it must find the right clients who will respond positively because you answered their business needs, will provide recurrent business, and help with client acquisition.
When your marketing actions are bringing you a high volume of leads, there are efficient ways of automating these marketing actions. This can be done with automated communication tools and specific software in relation to operations, which can help you work on the right clients in an optimal fashion. That is basically what marketing automation is: automating recurrent actions, segmenting clientele and measuring success in a continuous fashion.
But in order to do it correctly, you should avoid common errors. Here are five common mistakes made by people engaging in marketing automation:
1. You Focus Only On Email
Your first mistake would be to think that your only recurrent marketing actions are related to email communication. It is a good start, and follow-ups with clients should be in your marketing automation strategy. However, you should also work with other channels of communication, including social media and content marketing. If you have some knowledge of who the user is and what content they have visited, you can send them automated notifications, emails or messages on different channels to help them navigate to other types of content that are likely to interest them.
Your clients will be looking at your content and presence throughout the web. Focusing only on email would limit your client acquisition. Use all of the channels available to you.
2. You Forgo Personalization
You need personalization. The worst thing you can do is to send the exact same content to everyone. Your clients need to feel special, and if you send the same exact content to all, you aren't achieving that.
A quick way of personalizing your marketing is to find a way of determining the service or product you offer that each client is interested in, and then streamline the content delivery in accordance with that. You can always drill down even more specifically into your service offerings afterward.
A company offering legal services, for instance, could start by delivering an e-book on legal information for businesses in general. In this e-book, having specific links to content about employment and other services will allow the user to choose a more specific field of interest. If the user chooses to read about employment, you can then go through the same iteration of content to finally reach an even more specific area within that field, discovering that the specific legal service needed by the user could be wrongful dismissal. Knowing the user is looking for this precisely allows you to personalize further communications.
3. You View Every Visitor As A Lead
Not everyone is a good match for your business. Through various strategies, marketing automation will allow you to acquire information about a consumer. This information should help your business development team figure out if you are dealing with a potential lead or not.
If your company offers high-end cleaning services, for example, and someone searched "cheap cleaning services" but somehow reached your site, there is no use to feed this to your business development team (even if you capture their contact information). This is not a qualified lead. Marketing automation should help acquire information about a user and allow you to determine who you should communicate with, and who is (or is not) worth the investment.
4. You Don't Measure Your Actions
Marketing automation will definitely help you save time on recurrent actions or even help you create opportunities you haven't thought about. But you will need to spend some time looking at the results of your marketing automation strategy to pinpoint what is and isn't working. Have you been driving bad leads? Have you been losing leads in the process? You need to find out who, what, where, when and how this is happening and correct the situation. This will ensure that your automation is always optimal and evolving like the market is. Just putting a marketing automation solution in place and declaring the job done is risky.
5. You're Too Aggressive
Automation is easy, especially when you have all the data in hand for your lead qualification. However, you could quickly become too aggressive with your automation. It's kind of like when you are dating: If you call, text or communicate too much or oversell yourself, you're not going to have much success. You might even create a negative reaction and damage your reputation.
Marketing automation is meant to help with creating leads, not scaring them. It is a work of nurturing; be careful with the volume and frequency of content delivered to your users.
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How To Use Marketing Automation Properly
It's easy – you need to start simple. Find the most common recurrent actions you can automate and figure out how to track results. Having a complicated strategy and trying to do everything at once might be too hard. Start small, iterate with successful add-ons and continue from there. Building on efficient and results-driven solutions is much easier than having an elaborate strategy that is hard to optimize through too many KPIs.
In summary, keep it simple, personalized and efficient.
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5cea7ce7639a1c6405b9bd514298c2ee | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/05/b2b-pipeline-marketing-an-account-based-approach-results-in-better-leads-and-sales-team-alignment/ | B2B Pipeline Marketing: An Account-Based Approach Results In Better Leads And Sales Team Alignment | B2B Pipeline Marketing: An Account-Based Approach Results In Better Leads And Sales Team Alignment
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As B2B marketing teams continue working to impact their company’s sales pipeline and revenue in measurable ways, another core marketing technology and buzzword — account-based marketing (ABM) — has become a top priority to understand and embrace. Where is your marketing team on the ABM adoption curve, and what should you do next?
Remember when we all slaved over creating sales collateral — one-pagers, brochures, folders, hard copies of press releases, etc. — and fortified the storage room down the hall that was lined with shelves of matte and glossy paper covered in words and pictures (and dust)? If you do, you’ll also remember how frustrating it was when most of that stuff sat on the shelf because the sales team didn’t find it useful.
It’s not that different these days with the presentation decks we built, the beautiful case studies we packaged or the email templates we so lovingly crafted. Even the leads we generated through events and the website are sitting idle.
That’s because the sales team has always been thinking in terms of key and strategic accounts, companies and logos. Marketing, on the other hand, has always been thinking in terms of leads, people and email addresses.
In the vast majority of cases, the buying decision for any B2B product or service involves more than one person. It involves a buying team or group with different roles, perspectives and opinions. Yet as marketers, we have been engaging with these people one at a time. This is where account-based marketing comes in.
The Shift To ABM Is A Move Closer To Sales
As marketers, we have historically defined a business card, an email address or a phone number as a lead – a single person. So if we persuaded five people in the same buying group to opt in, we counted them as five leads generated.
But it isn’t five leads. It’s one lead. Or possibly not a lead at all, if they’re not at a company we can or should sell to.
Instead, we must work harder to help sales connect with the accounts that we can and should sell to. Sales calls them key accounts and marketing should be targeting the accounts that offer the most value to our organizations in our marketing efforts. At Brainrider we call these accounts "ideal" and "next-best customers" and we go through a profiling exercise with clients to define the common attributes of those key accounts clearly.
What if we filtered our marketing investments like event participation, campaigns and content development through the criteria of garnering meaningful engagement with people in the buying groups at the companies that matter? We might end up reallocating our budget and resources to different, or even fewer, programs with a greater focus on reaching and influencing key accounts.
When you approach pipeline marketing with the goals of attracting, acquiring, linking and qualifying buying groups instead of individuals, you’ll be thinking in lockstep with your sales team (and your sales team will be thinking you’re awesome). And here’s the best news: ABM tools and technology have made it much easier for marketers to think and execute this way.
The Good News: Adopting ABM Is An Evolution, Not A Revolution
New marketing technology products continue to push B2B marketers out of their comfort zone and into new areas of challenge and opportunity. Account-based marketing and advertising tools are one of the hottest examples of this in 2017.
As with marketing automation tools and website content management systems before them, ABM tools have quickly ascended from sandbox status to prime time over the last 24 months. Early adopters have already started using these tools to target digital advertising more precisely, and some marketing organizations have started to overlay account-based marketing strategies onto their entire lead pipeline.
Despite what you may have heard or read over the past year, incorporating a marketing focus on your company’s strategic and/or target accounts doesn’t mean you need to invert your funnel, throw away your marketing automation platform, delete your lead database or cancel everything on your event calendar.
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The Bad News: You Will Deliver Fewer 'Leads'
Don’t worry, it’s not actually bad news.
With an ABM approach, you’ll be focusing on attracting, acquiring, nurturing and qualifying real leads in a smaller marketable universe that's defined by the specific accounts your company wants to sell to. These will be people who are part of the buying groups in key accounts your company can and should be selling to.
You will no longer be in the business of driving as much traffic as possible through your marketing pipeline no matter who those people are. Instead, you’ll be focused on driving as much of the right traffic through your pipeline as possible. No more counting unqualified email addresses, phone numbers or heartbeats as leads.
More of the right people means more of the right leads, and that means higher conversion rates through every stage of your marketing and sales pipeline. An increased focus in your messaging, targeting and offers will result in increased relevance with the people on the other side of your communication efforts. And we know that higher relevance leads to higher engagement.
The key here is preparing your internal stakeholders that some of your historical marketing metrics like traffic, visitors or raw leads captured will be going down because you want them to, and because you’re now focused on quality over quantity.
Is ABM Right For Your Business?
If your marketing team already plans, executes and measures in the context of a marketing and sales pipeline or funnel, an account-based focus is likely a logical next step.
Don’t go head first into buying new technology without a solid plan, though. The real questions to start asking are things like how to structure your team and budget around an ABM approach, how you’re going to measure success, and how to start with a pilot that you can build on. Start small with a sales partner who is willing to test and learn with you, and leverage your early success into a scaled plan that impacts pipeline.
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065376c16e24b0b7e9c779c02b06812d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/05/how-to-determine-the-right-ppc-advertising-budget/ | How To Determine The Right PPC Advertising Budget | How To Determine The Right PPC Advertising Budget
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One of the top questions I hear from clients and prospects is, “How much should our budget be for pay-per-click advertising?”
The answer to identifying the appropriate PPC advertising budget depends on projections, assumptions and math. In this article, I’ll dive into a few of the formulas we use to help companies determine how much to spend on online advertising.
Lead Generation Formula
The core purpose of running paid ads is to achieve a business objective. We use a lead generation equation to help us reach that objective. The equations are simple:
(Revenue / Sales Period) / Average Sale = Number of Customers
Number of Customers / Conversion Rate = Number of Leads
Number of Leads / Conversion Rate on Traffic = Amount of Traffic
Let’s fill in these equations with some real numbers. Let’s say there is a revenue goal of $1 million. There are 12 sales periods per year (recurring monthly revenue) and the average sale per customer is $1,000.
($1 million / 12) / $1,000 = 83.33 customers
To get to $1 million in revenue, you’ll need about 84 customers. Now, let’s assume your sales team closes one out of every five leads, or 20%.
83.33 customers / 20% = 416.66 leads
Assuming a 20% close rate, you’ll need about 417 leads per year. Let’s assume 5% of your paid advertising traffic actually fills out a contact form to qualify as a lead.
416.66 leads / 5% conversion rate = 8,333.33 visits
With a 5% contact form conversion rate, you’ll need about 8,334 website visits to generate 417 leads, which will translate into 84 customers, which will equate to $1 million in revenue.
Of course, that’s if the numbers work out, which leads us to the next step in determining an advertising budget.
Existing Marketing Strategy
Paid advertising is only necessary if other marketing tactics fall short of achieving your revenue objective. Essentially, paid ads can help make up for the shortcomings of search engine optimization, email marketing, social media marketing and other forms of marketing meant to drive leads for your business.
Which marketing assets are currently driving results?
Taking into account how SEO, email, social and other marketing tactics are performing provides a more holistic marketing strategy. For example, if the strategies for SEO, email and social get you to 75% of your revenue objectives, then you’ll know paid advertising needs to account for the remaining 25%. Instead of driving $1 million in revenue, paid advertising can focus on driving $250,000 of revenue.
Competitor Analysis
What are your competitors spending on paid ads? What are their targeted keywords?
You can spy on your competitor's paid advertising activity by using a service like SpyFu or SEMRush. Simply plug in your competitor’s website URL and these services will estimate their Google AdWords activity – including their estimated monthly spend, targeted keywords and ads.
The key here is to analyze at least five competitors to get a good baseline for the average spend in your industry. Make a list of three known competitors. Then, include two competitors who are bidding on your target keyword.
Let’s say competitor one is spending $3,000 per month, competitor two is spending $4,500, competitor three spends $0, competitor four spends $10,000, and competitor five spends $2,000.
Typically we’ll throw out the high and low to average out the remaining three competitors and get a ballpark estimate of what a company should roughly spend on Google AdWords to be competitive in their respective industry. In the example above, averaging out competitor spend estimates a monthly budget of $3,166 would be enough to be competitive.
But would it really, given your business objectives of $1 million in revenue? Let’s do some keyword research to see if search volumes will achieve your revenue results.
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Keyword Research
The question for keyword research is: Do the keywords we’re bidding on have high enough search volume and a low enough cost per click to achieve our business objective and stay within our budget?
There are hundreds of keyword research tools out there but the tool I recommend is Google AdWords because it’s free, reliable and provides estimates in terms of average monthly searches and expected cost per click.
Let’s assume we’re a digital marketing company and we want to advertise for the keyword “digital marketing company.” Google AdWords shows there are approximately 2,400 monthly searches for this keyword at a cost per click of $18.76.
Again, we’ll use a little math to estimate what bidding on this keyword will cost us and how it will help us achieve our business objective. The equation we use looks something like this:
Monthly Keyword Searches X Click-Through Rate = Estimated Monthly Traffic X 12 = Estimated Annual Traffic.
You’ll need to start with an assumption for the click-through rate until you possess actual data. A click-through rate assumption we use is about 5%:
2,400 searches X 5% click through rate = 120 visits per month X 12 months = 1,440 visits per year
The cost of 120 visits at $18.76 per click equals $2,250 per month or about $27,000 per year. The big takeaway here is that 1,440 visits per year put us at approximately 17% of our overall traffic goal. To reach our revenue goal, we need to either add more keywords and increase our paid advertising budget or increase the leads that come in through SEO, email and social media.
Execution
The equations and exercises mentioned above are useful in determining the right advertising budget amount. The last thing that factors into your paid advertising budget is who is going to execute the strategy. Will you hire someone internally, hire an agency, or do it yourself?
Regardless of which direction you decide to go, be sure to measure your efforts relentlessly. Don’t go on autopilot. There are several assumptions in these equations and once you receive real data, be sure to update your math to make sure you’re on the right track to hitting your revenue goals. Then test, measure, revisit and repeat.
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04cbb2a63575c118e5c838e3de7faa24 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/07/how-the-changing-technological-landscape-will-impact-seo/?sh=13cb4b394954 | How The Changing Technological Landscape Will Impact SEO | How The Changing Technological Landscape Will Impact SEO
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The era of link buying, keyword stuffing content and over-optimizing meta tags is over. All previous search engine optimization practices that marked the first decade of the industry’s development were replaced by the rise of content marketing, social media marketing and the switch to mobile search.
Today, RankBrain and changing technologies are slowly altering the SEO landscape. Preparing for the future of SEO should rely on producing evergreen content and adapting to the platforms that your target audience engages with most. Maintaining white-hat SEO practices will build trust with search engines over time and ensure that your website is protected against any future algorithm changes.
SEO experts should not fear the future of SEO. Link building will not die anytime soon and content marketing will only increase in demand, no matter what medium it's served over. With all new technologies (i.e. Google’s AI) people fear that automation will slowly displace their jobs within their industry. As Max McKeown stated, “All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.”
Below are a few changing technologies that will have an impact on SEO.
The Mobile Spike
Five years ago, mobile search was beginning to rise as a major game changer in the search world. We had to start adapting our websites for mobile friendliness and we soon realized that mobile search would rapidly outpace desktop search. This was inappropriately named ‘mobilegeddon.’
By 2020, 80% of adults on earth will own a smartphone. One report from 2016 found that nearly 58% of all U.S. searches were mobile. The substantive volume of mobile searches led Google to create its mobile-first index last year, which is indexed and refreshed more regularly than the desktop index.
Creating a mobile friendly website or responsive design is last year’s news. I believe Google may include accelerated mobile pages (AMPs) into its algorithm in a few years, if awareness grows enough. AMPs are already displayed in a carousel above organic listings and provide nearly instantaneous results, which is great for UX. AMPs are typically used by established brands, so utilizing AMPs early on will help make your content more competitive and gather greater visibility in AMP listings.
Consider switching from a mobile site and developing an app; 86% of mobile consumption is completed over applications. Apple recently built out its own PPC network with Apple Search Ads and its own search engine with Apple Spotlight. Both promise a high ROI and both deliver content that is both highly relevant and of high quality to its customers. In the coming years, Google may be displaced by other search networks and the popularity of apps is only growing.
Voice Search
Google has been serving personalized results for years and the rise of voice search reaffirms the importance of semantic search to Google’s core algorithm. Gartner predicts that by 2020, 30% of searches will be screenless. This presents broad implications for SEO and social media marketing; PPC will most likely be unaffected by this change.
Personal assistants such as Echo, Alexa and Cortana mine for specific answers to spoken searches using Google’s featured snippet box. This will place greater emphasis on content to answer as many questions as possible while researching incredibly relevant keyword-based questions. Unfortunately, many competitors are already sniping featured snippets for both informational queries and branded search terms.
Content creation will have to take syntax and natural speech into account as a result of voice searches. This will place a greater importance on reaching out to real people for topics and questions important to them, which will place less importance on keyword research.
I expect to see voice searches steadily climbing for the next few years, but I do not think its effect on content marketing and SEO will be anything substantial. On the other hand, Google’s Hummingbird and RankBrain have paved the way for semantic search to displace keyword research and interpret search queries based on natural language.
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Virtual Reality
I mention VR because it’s gained increased exposure in the SEO world in the past year. VR may or may not be a fad, but its utility does not apply to every industry vertical. Regardless, the same rules for most visual content production apply to VR.
Create immersive storytelling experiences surrounding your brand and provide avenues for users to engage with your brand. The video game industry has been remarkably successful in this aspect. One interesting aspect of VR revolves around the ability to bring user experiences directly into their home. Optimizing ads and content that can be physically envisioned provides a powerful competitive advantage.
The Silver Lining
The medium may change but the fundamentals always stay in place. Just as print media was taken over by TV and soon digital media, the same rules of writing and demands for content quality persisted. From paper advertisements to social media contests, pull marketing has evolved for years but never truly changed in principle.
Throughout all of these changing technologies, producing consistent, high-quality content remains the best practice to remain relevant and a leading brand in your industry. Whether it’s content displayed in an AMP, pulled from a featured snippet or adapted for VR, search engines will still connect users with the highest quality and most relevant quality to user intent. Fifty years from now, I wouldn't be surprised if the phrase “content is king” still rings true.
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6c3479947b9f23c84b147f6694b4c8e6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/11/in-the-age-of-fake-news-media-relations-still-matters/ | In The Age Of Fake News, Media Relations Still Matters | In The Age Of Fake News, Media Relations Still Matters
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We’ve all seen headlines like these: “Americans’ Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low” and “Most Americans Don’t Think The Media Is Honest.” The deliberate discrediting of our news media – by politicians, celebrities, your eccentric uncle, etc. – has succeeded in eroding Americans’ trust of traditional outlets and has left many people unable to distinguish scoop from scam.
Public relations professionals have every reason to be concerned about the future of our livelihood, which depends on inserting our clients into the news cycle to build credibility, confidence and goodwill. The current era of broken trust in the media, or trust in the wrong sources, has spurred most of us to focus more of our energy and resources on producing proprietary content. Technology, too, has changed the way we approach client campaigns. With more Americans getting their news on social media than ever before, we’ve moved more and more of our content to less traditional online forums.
But in my world, communicating primarily on behalf of financial services, financial technology and corporate clients to executive decision-makers and investors, the value of real news has not diminished. Even if more of this news is consumed online and on mobile devices, the old adage of “consider the source” is more relevant than ever.
A recent Quartz survey of global executives found that the vast majority (89%) notice the source of the links they click, and a whopping 85% said they evaluate the source of a story before sharing it. A full 84% said they are most likely to share long-form articles, the kind of journalism that depends on in-depth research and reliable sources – you know, the kind of sources PR people provide.
Investors, too, still want real news. The majority of affluent investors (54%) “still prefer to get their financial information the old-fashioned way, by reading an article,” according to a study from Spectrem Group.
This isn’t to say that print news is still king, by any means, since most of the executives surveyed by Quartz said they get their news from email newsletters, websites and news apps. But again, it’s the source that counts – and whether it’s a stalwart like The Wall Street Journal or a trusted newcomer like Axios, journalism produced by actual journalists needs to play a substantial role in clients’ external communications campaigns.
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I’ll give you an example of the value of traditional media relations in action. One of my firm’s clients does most of its business through its website, so traffic to that site is of the utmost importance to the internal marketing team. When digital advertising wasn’t driving the quantity or quality of leads they desired, they decided to engage our firm for PR. We’ve generated a number of earned media opportunities that have all contributed to the web traffic initiative, but the standout was a feature in the Financial Times, which not only drove a deluge of clicks but also directly accounted for nearly 500 qualified leads (according to the firm’s analytics, which track the referral source of each click). Long story short, an actual article in the FT, as opposed to paid content or digital ads, provided the eyeballs and the credibility to help this client achieve a measurable business goal.
The reality is that media relations may just be the hardest part of what we as PR people do. Anyone can write a tweet or a blog post, but media relations requires convincing a savvy reporter to buy what you’re selling and turn it into something worth reading (or clicking on). But that’s no reason to write it off in favor of a purely digital or paid content campaign because, again, there’s demonstrable value in positive press.
The stigma of “fake news” may cling to the popular consciousness for several years to come, but sophisticated audiences will continue to hold fast to reliable sources, which will only further demonstrate their value in a growing sea of misinformation. It’s up to us as PR professionals to use all the tools in our arsenal to reach intended constituencies, and from where I sit, traditional media relations still has a significant role to play.
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a25f268bc064ad28c38511f3b955db08 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/14/using-content-strategy-to-cut-through-the-information-clutter/ | Using Content Strategy To Cut Through The Information Clutter | Using Content Strategy To Cut Through The Information Clutter
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The modern news consumer suffers from a 21st century disease that we’ll call information tachyphemia. Its cause? An excessive amount of exposure to messages from broadcast, print and online platforms, whether we are conscious of it or not. The inescapable reality of communications consumption is eye-popping. There is now an advertisement on everything from television shows to online widgets, pop-up ads and paid social media. As a result, the modern news consumer is completely and utterly desensitized.
Now, let’s go back in time a few thousand years. In 1758, Samuel Johnson wrote one of the first articles about advertising. He too was lamenting over the ad clutter, noting that advertisements “are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it has, therefore, become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises and by eloquence.” Of course, since then, the clutter has increased exponentially. But Johnson’s words still resonate.
The phenomenon that was rooted in advertising has sadly now caught up with journalism itself, thanks to the clickbait effect. Extreme simplicity and brevity have impacted news reporting in a major way. Of course, serious journalism is still out there, as are responsible reporters who write or broadcast as many words as needed to tell the story with little concern for brevity. But they are often beholden to generating eyeballs to appease advertisers. With newspaper sales declining since the early 2000's, coupled with the fact that strong headlines are opioids for the masses, the clutter has made its way to every possible corner of the news galaxy.
As a public relations and marketing agency living this new reality every day, our job is to cut through the clutter on two fronts: content and placement.
Creating Valuable Content
The message you deliver should create value for consumers and add to their relationships with a brand. It should also be visually attractive. The Christmas Miracle videos produced by WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, are an excellent example of this. From the Toronto to the Calgary gift carousel, to the 12,000 mini miracles day and Snowflake Soiree for the residents of Fort McMurray, the brand’s holiday “feel good” campaigns showcase its authenticity, something that cannot be faked and speaks to everyone. Those events require detailed logistics planning and much effort. But from a public relations perspective, the reward is immense. As of this date, the real-time giving video has more than 47 million views on YouTube.
Such high numbers are only achievable when a brand’s marketing direction puts the consumers’ interest up front and counts on its good will to send the appropriate message. WestJet managed to find a place in the consumer’s heart, not a given when it comes to the airline industry. Public relations pros need to understand that the consumer can see right through marketing manipulations. And that, to better resonate with their audience, they should adopt a genuine approach that leverages a brand’s core values.
Tailoring Your Message
Whether it is through earned or paid placement, tailor your message to the consumer’s personal interests and specific location. Make sure it's contextually relevant. When Baskin-Robbins gave its 70 stores in Southern California a new look, our agency coordinated with store owners to create as many localized news stories as could be unearthed. Additionally, in celebration of the first day of summer, the agency created an event to benefit the Children’s Hospital in San Diego, involving the Baskin-Robbins stores in the city. All 31 stores engaged in a “31-cent scoop night,” with all proceeds and donations going to the San Diego Children’s Hospital.
The following year, the “31-cent scoop” campaign was adopted as a nation-wide corporate event for all Baskin-Robbins franchisees. Here, context and tailoring were key to its success. The campaign served as an example of how a company that had grown to be a major corporation was able to find its way back to its roots. They reignited interest in the corporate ice cream giant as a “neighborhood ice cream shop” that was more than just a food service location but rather a social location for the neighborhood. The message encouraged consumers to return to a simpler time. Sometimes, cutting through the clutter is easier done through simple, straightforward messages that consumers can easily process.
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Leveraging national days that are pertinent to a brand’s product or service offering also works well. Not only that, it can mean creating a national day when there is none. For instance, our agency formed a partnership with American Public Gardens Association (APGA), and created an annual National Public Gardens Day. We informed our audience of the vital role of that APGA’s more than 500 gardens and arboreta play in promoting environmental stewardship, plant and water conservation and education. On-the-ground agency partners were tapped in five markets to stimulate local interest and support a national media outreach program. On the pre-celebration day, we launched a satellite media tour and a government outreach program. The result was a staggering. The 782 million media impressions promoted ecosystem management and the efficient use of water. Moreover, it gave consumers an experiential way to interact with the various botanical gardens across the country.
Public relations professionals can increase their campaigns’ potential to cut through the clutter exponentially, with campaigns that help attract and endear the consumer directly and, as Johnson put it, magnificence and eloquence.
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95a240b36c1b6b401caf292b4e4efc8e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/25/paradigm-shift-the-evolution-of-podcast-advertising/ | Paradigm Shift: The Evolution Of Podcast Advertising | Paradigm Shift: The Evolution Of Podcast Advertising
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The history of advertising can be traced back thousands of years, but it’s really been over the last century that we’ve seen numerous paradigm shifts within the advertising space. Per Merriam-Webster, the definition of a paradigm shift is “an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way.”
From print to out-of-home, direct mail, radio, TV, digital and finally to mobile, each decade has introduced a new medium that has drastically altered the way advertisers strategize tactics to engage and activate customers. What has resulted is an incredibly complex and delicate ecosystem where advertisers are trying to balance reach, awareness, brand integrity, budget, profitability, revenue growth, measurement and a litany of other complexities that put pressure on them to always make the right decision in a seemingly zero sum game between competitors.
On cue, this decade has produced what we believe to be the advertising latest paradigm shift as we’ve seen the astronomical rise in the medium of podcasting from both a content creation and ad dollars perspective. Podcasts have been around for over 10 years, but it’s really been the last two-to-three years that advertisers have begun to allocate much larger portions of their marketing budgets to the channel, and the production of hosted content has proliferated globally. Ad dollars dedicated to podcasting will swell approximately 85% (compared to last year) to an estimated $220 million, and some individual brands are now spending well over $10 million solely in this channel.
So why the sudden interest from advertisers? Simply put, advertisers have finally figured out that the channel works from both a growth and profitability perspective. But beyond that, there are four main reasons this channel is a very compelling medium to test.
The first, and arguably most important reason that podcast advertising has become so popular, relies upon a foundational tenant of marketing, blocking and tackling. Since show hosts endorse a specific product, they can’t recommend two products in the same category as it would dilute the authenticity and effectiveness of each endorsement. If you watch a football game, you will see three or four competing beer advertisers constantly rotating commercials throughout the game, but when you listen to a podcast, you will only hear one advertiser in any category due to the exclusive nature of the agreement.
“Our clients love podcasts in large part because they can block out their competitors and lock up the show and hosts indefinitely. It’s a huge competitive advantage and a way to truly own an advertising medium,” says Steve Shanks, a partner at my agency, Ad Results Media, where we specialize in audio endorsement campaigns.
Second, is the original and authentic nature of the host’s endorsement. Unlike radio, TV and digital, there is a looser framework around the ad spot guidelines. Although an advertiser may buy a 60-second spot, a host may talk about a brand’s product for three minutes if they feel inclined to do so. Additionally, the endorsement usually comes across as personal, informative and organic based on the fact that each host operates with exclusivity within a given product category and wants to ensure they’re choosing a product or service they truly like. This is incredibly valuable from a brand recall, brand integrity and direct response perspective. It truly an intersection of branded and direct-response advertising while offering a measurability component in a way that other mediums can’t.
Third is the relationship and engagement between the host and their audience. Podcasting is an “opt-in” channel that leverages the “push” and “pull” forces of marketing the same way an email blast would; i.e, a user opts into an email list or podcast (pull) and is “pushed” advertisements from time-to-time. Unlike email though, the hosts of these podcasts are “objective” influencers (not the brands pushing their own messages) and their listeners value their opinions on whatever topic that particular podcast is about – whether it is politics or microbrews. Over time, listeners become intimately familiar with the host, so it’s believable when they talk about how amazing their shaves were with Harry’s razors after years of nicking themselves. It sounds – and is – real to the host and to the listener.
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Finally, there is very limited ad inventory available on podcasts as compared to channels like digital banner ads, search ads or spots on the radio. Most podcasts are about 45 minutes in length and run once a week. There are typically two 15-second ads and two to three 60-second ads during a 45-minute show. This equates to three-to-four minutes solely dedicated to an advertiser’s product or service. By comparison, a 60-minute television show typically has about 13-to-14 minutes of ads per hour, with the commercials (and advertising messages) clustered together.
Any of these reasons on their own are strong enough for an advertiser to test out podcasting, but together, they make this channel an incredibly compelling option for any brand looking to create growth in a profitable, authentic and on-brand manner. This is truly the beginning stages of an advertising paradigm shift: We are only beginning to scratch the surface of a unique medium that has yet to reach a critical mass or saturation point.
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a40a44de0af5b3cd6f45283a53a37335 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/07/27/eight-tips-for-recent-grads-who-want-to-get-jobs-in-marketing/ | Eight Tips For Recent Grads Who Want To Get Jobs In Marketing | Eight Tips For Recent Grads Who Want To Get Jobs In Marketing
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Congratulations, college graduate! You've successfully completed a life goal that has provided you a foundation in marketing communications, taught you critical thinking, and provided you with the confidence you need to go out and build that career you always wanted. However, it's imperative you realize that acquiring your degree was only the first step up the mountain to success.
Our agency works with apprentices, interns and fresh graduates, and we experience amazing talent. Unfortunately, we also witness young folks crash and burn. I'd like to provide some advice that my colleagues and I share with our young professionals. Don't worry, it's not about your social media activity, your tattoos or any millennial stereotype – all of which have no bearing on our employees' success.
Opportunities come through aggressive networking, not resume submissions. In the last decade of my business, I've placed, recommended or hired dozens of marketing graduates. And I've never read one of their resumes. I've researched them online, researched them through my network, reviewed their portfolio of work, tested them or just plain listened to them. Tap into your network – your friends, their parents and everyone else you've met along the way to getting your degree. The best opportunities will always come from your network. Mirror the company you're seeking to work for, from the hours they arrive at the office, to the dress code, to the mediums they communicate on. Impress your potential employer by knowing who they are personally, what you've heard in the news about them, and why specifically you wish to work for them. I don't need bodies to take up my payroll; I want to work alongside people I know care and respect the work we're doing. Write. Write in a journal. Write articles. Write online. Write long-form. Write a book. If you hate writing, do it until you love it. If you love writing, learn how to write amazing content. Every aspect of a marketer's life requires effective communication skills, whether it's writing a press release, a script, a project scope, a proposal, reports or even just writing an email responding to your supervisor. If you don't love writing, choose another career path so you can pay off those student loans. You won't have a future in marketing. Listen. There's nothing more frustrating than looking up to see an employee prepping for their next response instead of listening to what's being said now. Marketing is all about expectations, and if you can't listen, you can't meet the expectations of your employer, your clients or your customers because you are relying on your assumptions rather than the facts that were discussed. Pride should be the key element in every project you deliver. We live in a world where everyone tends to share on social media the happiest moments outside the office – including vacations, expensive meals and family events. While we might have amazing times and meetings at work, very seldom do we snap a photo to share the memory on Instagram or update our Facebook status with it. It's almost as if work has a negative connotation nowadays. If you believe working 50 weeks a year is a means to happiness when you finally get two weeks off, you're going to be a miserable person who spent 96% of your life hating your day. There's nothing more gratifying than completing a job you're proud of, confirming it through your employer's thumbs-up, getting a compliment from a client, and then heading home for the day. Earn the trust of your employer by exceeding the expectations of them, standing out among your peers and being concerned with how the investment in you is paying off for the company. Employees are an investment, so prove to your employer their investment is paying off. Expect less than what you read online about businesses. Articles you read online about "dream companies" can lull you into an illusion of what work will be like. According to the Small Business Administration, there are 28.8 million small businesses employing 56.8 million employees. In fact, 99.7% of all businesses in the United States are small businesses. It takes time and experience to land at one of those top-rated companies; the faster you learn how to do great work, the closer you are to getting that dream job. Remember that employers share their experience with employees with one another. I respect my peers enough to let them know whether they might be making a mistake with their next hire. If you hate your current job and make them help you find the door, don't think it's a coincidence that the next doors keep shutting in your face. Every job you take is an opportunity to leave a great impression.
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Bottom line: If you can't put as much effort into pursuing a great career as you did hunting down Pokemon, don't set high expectations for yourself. Finding great job opportunities is hard work, being successful in your job is hard work, and the harder you work, the faster you'll realize the potential of those seeds that your professors planted in your head that cost you thousands in school loans. Happy hunting!
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a9b1bd6aebddd370c4adc025ccb103eb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/02/how-to-choose-the-right-micro-influencer-for-your-brand/ | How To Choose The Right Micro-Influencer For Your Brand | How To Choose The Right Micro-Influencer For Your Brand
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Influencer marketing is genius. Although we don’t actually know all the personalities we follow on Instagram, it's been shown that average people (like you and me) trust influencers' opinions nearly as much as our friends’ and families' opinions.
Brands use influencers with a large following to promote to very specific audiences that might not be reached any way other than through social media. But what about using influencer marketing for a local hair salon or restaurant? Just because your business is small or specific to a local area doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from using influencers as a marketing tactic.
Micro-influencers are smaller-scale personalities who promote brands. They have between 1,000 to 10,000 followers, share posts that are in partnership with other users/brands, and tag brands that are in the photo (even if it’s not a partnership post). Tagging brands in photos is a sign they may be willing to promote brands on their Instagram page. What's more, a recent study commissioned by Experticity showed that micro-influencers have 22.2 times more conversations than typical users.
Wondering how you can find a micro-influencer in your area? Below are some tips to guide you.
Use hashtags. You can use hashtags to find influencers who are already interested in your product. Search hashtags relevant to your company, product or market on Instagram or Twitter to find the top posts are for that specific hashtag. Conduct research on social channels. Search through your followers to see if any of them have a large following. Choosing an influencer who is already a fan of your product or service makes it easier to persuade them into promoting your brand. Look on Google. You can always resort to Google to search for bloggers in your city. Be very specific in your search. For example, if you own a local juice bar, try searching "health/fitness blogger in Grand Rapids."
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When you’re making a decision on which micro-influencers to use, keep the following factors in mind.
Do they regularly post? Consistency is key when maintaining a social account that is engaging. How often you should post differs between platforms, according to information published by CoSchedule; recommendations for a few platforms are one post per day on Facebook, one or two posts a day on Instagram, and about 15 tweets a day on Twitter.
Do their fans interact with their photos? Check their photos and see if real users are liking and commenting on the photos. Are their fans tagging their friends in the comments? Are users asking about products in the photo? Is the micro-influencer responding to them? It’s important the micro-influencers are engaging with their audience.
Does the influencer's brand match your brand? Let's return to the juice bar example. Using a fitness blogger as your micro-influencer makes sense; a DIY craft blogger does not.
How will you compensate them? Flat payment per post? Free product? Promo codes? If your influencer tells their audience to use a code, the payment could depend on how many of their followers use that code to make a purchase.
Something to keep in mind is if an influencer has not heard of your brand before, you may have to do some convincing or they might deny your proposal altogether. An influencer's credibility relies heavily on what they post, as their social media following is their job (or a lucrative side hustle). No one wants to feel like they’re being sold to, which is why it’s so crucial that it needs to make sense for an influencer to promote your brand.
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8bca60c277a6b2b48a0bfe4cae7b22fe | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/07/gamification-and-game-based-learning-which-is-right-for-your-business/ | Gamification And Game-Based Learning: Which Is Right For Your Business? | Gamification And Game-Based Learning: Which Is Right For Your Business?
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Combining games with employee training is becoming increasingly popular. Studies show how games can help improve employee entertainment, health, motivation and learning and create a better workplace environment. When trying to infuse gameplay into your employee training, there are two valuable approaches worth considering: gamification and game-based learning. Having similar goals, gamification and game-based learning try to enhance and improve the learning experience. However, the two concepts take different approaches and each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Gamification
Gamification takes mechanics from games (points, badges, levels, leaderboards, feedback, rewards, etc.) and encourages people to change behavior in non-game environments. These environments can range from classrooms to company workspaces to people’s homes. Companies often use gamification to increase engagement, brand awareness and loyalty.
Employee of the month programs are a perfect example of gamification in the workplace. People compete to be the best at their job in order to receive employee of the month status. This creates healthy competition and encourages people go above and beyond what is asked of them.
A custom example of gamification is Target's cashier game. The big box store has implemented a game for cashiers to play when checking people out. It depicts red and green feedback based on the timeframe in which a cashier scans each item. After completing a customer checkout, cashiers receive a score on their screen which acts as immediate feedback on how well they are doing.
Game-Based Learning
While gamification takes already established environments and enhances them with game-like mechanics, game-based learning uses storylines, characters, interactive gameplay, feedback and rewards to convey or reinforce learning content, reduce the monotony of lectures and PowerPoints, deliver individual feedback, and make training much more fun.
Merchants is an example of game-based learning. In Merchants, players control a 15th-century merchant whose goal is to create and develop a trading empire. Through this experience, players learn tactics and strategies for negotiations that they can apply in the real world. Players are challenged to negotiate and make agreements with characters to gain wealth and grow their trading empire. The game makes negotiating fun while going over key points of negotiation such as communication, flexibility and information gathering.
Gamification Vs. Game-Based Learning
According to the Entertainment Software Association, there is an average of 1.7 gamers per household and of those gamers, 47% are between 18 and 49 years of age. Both gamification and game-based learning can improve corporate learning objectives if designed correctly. However, if either system is implemented poorly, the players can and will game the system meaning they will play the game only to get what they perceive to be a reward and learn even less than a standard classroom activity.
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Gamification and game-based learning are two words that are often interchanged but have two very different meanings. Gamification is the practice of adding game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts to encourage participation, engagement and loyalty. Game-based learning applies to the concept of introducing games to facilitate and amplify the learning experience. The difference between the two might seem slight but the outcomes provide totally different results. Each approach has its benefits, but before implementing either option, you must define what they want out of the experience in order to pick the right method.
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f2657c127e61b10cd01979a56229a726 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/09/are-marketing-conferences-worth-it/ | Are Marketing Conferences Worth It? | Are Marketing Conferences Worth It?
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The first marketing conference I ever attended outside a city I resided in was Lawyernomics in Seattle, a conference focused solely on marketing and internal operations for law firms. I loved being surrounded by hundreds of lawyers and marketers eager to get an edge for their firms, feverishly typing notes when speakers hinted at the next slide in the presentation really being the “biggest discovery of the year so far.”
Since then I’ve attended plenty of other conferences, including SMX, Ungagged and MozCon. Each time I attend one, there’s typically some dilemma I face that I hope to gain clarity on by the time the conference concludes: How am I going to get my office locations on Google Maps? What’s the easiest way to build hundreds of citations automatically? What systems can I create from some of the most reliable automation software out there?
Marketing conferences accomplish different goals for different people. Business owners, marketing directors, consultants and office managers all find wisdom from unrelated speakers and topics. The best way to answer whether a marketing conference is worth it is to identify a handful of pros and cons that arose from the conferences I have attended and for you to decide how much weight each one carries.
Con: They’re relatively expensive.
I say that conferences are “relatively expensive” because alternative marketing mastermind groups are almost like retreats with a few dozen people and a handful of gurus and experts, and can run in the thousands. And while the conference attempts to cover absolutely everything you need under its roof, like breakfast/lunch and snacks in between, you’ll be footing your own dinner and any lodging for the duration of the conference.
Most conferences I’ve attended have been in the $800 to $1,200 range (and usually after using a promo code). Though much of the information you’ll pick up could be considered “invaluable,” I believe that there are times when conference costs are needlessly inflated. I’ve been to conferences that have had copious high-end snacks and drinks provided around the clock, and one that had an absolutely ridiculous flash mob in the middle of its networking happy hour. I think that some conference organizers promote to the concept of “we’ll have a beautiful venue exclusively to ourselves with unlimited food and drink for three hours” as a further selling point to attract participants.
Con: There’s plenty of self-importance.
Speakers tend to have a bad habit of talking about how great they are. Nearly every other speaker I’ve seen has not been able to simply review marketing case studies and go through their deck. The faults of others’ marketing acumens are often identified to levitate the stature of the speaker. Awards and accomplishments needlessly aggrandize when their presence on the stage is enough to precede them; I personally take it that they’re there for a reason already.
There was a speaker I saw recently who was setting up a potentially interesting story about how she became the head of SEO for a big company, which was in turn squandered by immediately meandering into how she was “the chosen one” to correct all the awful SEO practices that had been in place. Unfortunately, this idea overwhelmed the remainder of the presentation that was supposed to be about using SEO to grow your business.
Con: It's time-consuming if you don’t know what you’re there to see.
To piggyback off the previous point, speakers often deviate from the topic and description that is proposed on the schedule. If the speaker is using funny videos and memes to get a rise out of the audience, it can be a waste of time.
Read about the speakers ahead of time and see if you find their expertise and blogging useful and engaging. Don't sit through absolutely every speaker because it’s a great deal of time to spend on varying degrees of usefulness. Also, it can feel like being in college again, which if you’re like me, having to sit in lecture halls for hours on end was the hardest part of getting a degree.
Pro: Speakers tend to be very timely and relevant.
Speakers have the positive habit of providing information that affects how you market today. Even if they discussed the topic a few months ago somewhere else, it would typically be up-to-date by the time you’re watching them. Conferences are good for getting the latest tactics since speakers are usually the ones always grinding to have the most current data to stay competitive as authorities in their industry. Overall, a conference is a good way to familiarize yourself with the most relevant marketing software and approaches.
Pro: They’re a great excuse to get out of town.
Let’s face it – what’s a better way for your boss to pay for you to have a vacation? Conferences take place in some of the greatest cities – New York, Dallas, Las Vegas (especially), Miami and many more. If you are in need of some time in a new location, you may as well attempt to tie a conference to it.
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Pro: The networking is outstanding.
Without a doubt, my favorite part about attending conferences is that everyone is there to learn, just like you. People are awesome about chatting about their approaches and ideas, interpreting what the speakers divulged, and making excellent and useful contacts. To home in on the most fruitful individuals while you’re there, checking out the social pages for the conference and even starting conversations beforehand may be worth your time. Sometimes you’ll end up learning more from the other people you meet during meals and after-hours events. The organization of like-minded individuals in one spot arguably makes the entire conference worthwhile.
If you haven’t attended an industry conference yet, I suggest trying one. Be sure to find one that perhaps caters to your industry the most or has the most speakers who seem to be interesting based on their notoriety and published works. Nowadays, I may still attend a marketing conference here and there, but I gravitate toward smaller events like workshops and mastermind groups where engagement is optimal, and we can bounce ideas back and forth without any time constraints.
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595df3bb67365a70349bfb8bd957bb51 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/11/sensitivity-is-an-asset-not-a-weakness-in-pr-professionals/ | Sensitivity Is An Asset, Not A Weakness, In PR Professionals | Sensitivity Is An Asset, Not A Weakness, In PR Professionals
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When most of us in public relations began our careers, we were given “the talk.” You know, the one about how we must learn to steel ourselves against the routine and often ruthless rejection from journalists who won’t give us the time of day, or who just don’t have any time in their day to give us. “If you don’t have a thick skin, this job isn’t for you” is a common refrain.
There’s a lot of truth to that notion, and if a “no” from a reporter is enough to knock you off your game, then perhaps PR really isn’t a sustainable long-term career option. However, there is a certain kind of sensitivity that can be a tremendous asset when your job is to communicate on behalf of brands to the general public. Being attuned to what sounds right and feels right can make all the difference between developing resonant, meaningful messages and coming across as completely tone-deaf.
Sensitivity is too often misunderstood as frailty or timidity. But because sensitive people are so clued into the subtleties of life, they’re often the most outspoken when they perceive a problem. When I say sensitivity, I’m not referring to the characteristic that makes people fold at the first sign of critique. Instead, I’m talking about an innate attention to nuance. Sensitive people have an eye for detail, an emotional intuition and a sixth sense for the potential consequences of words and actions.
There’s a name for people with this quality: a highly sensitive person or HSP. Psychologist Elaine Aron, who quite literally wrote the book on such individuals, estimates that HSPs comprise some 15 to 20% of the population. Another psychologist, Sherrie Campbell, asserts that HSPs are “the world’s greatest innovators” and “the people you want running your businesses.”
“Because their thoughts, ideas and experiences tend to be richer and more profound,” she writes, “they are gifted with a greater insight into what makes the human being feel enough to be moved.” That ability is invaluable in PR and in communications more broadly. It’s the spark that ignites winning campaigns and convinces new business prospects to work with you. It’s the thing that made fictional ad man Don Draper win every pitch.
In my own work experience, I’ve had the words “too sensitive” lobbed at me a time or two. Sensitive as I am, there was a time when I perceived it as an insult, a mark of a personal failing. But as I’ve gotten older and more confident, I’ve grown to wear my sensitivity as a badge of honor. It’s the part of my personality that makes me so attuned to clients’ needs. It’s the small voice that says the way we’re presenting survey findings might not sit well with our intended audience, or worse, might invite backlash from certain constituencies. It’s the intuition that something might be going on with an employee that’s keeping her from delivering her best work.
This self-reflection has carried over into my staffing practices. My most valued employees are, of course, those who produce results – but beyond that, when I think about the traits I need as I put together a team, I’m careful to include at least one colleague who has this innate sensitivity. He will be the one to note when a campaign idea feels “off,” or when we’ve staffed a project in a way that puts an undue burden on a particular team member who may not speak up for herself. He will be conscientious in his dealings with clients and journalists, understanding what will catch their ear and what, conversely, will turn them off. He will be the one to notice a popular sentiment on social media and say to the team, “That’s what we need to tap into with our next pitch.”
Again, HSPs are not shrinking violets; they’re the perceptive, intuitive people who notice more and feel more deeply. Like all successful business people, they need to learn to accept and grow from constructive criticism without getting mired in self-doubt. But they’re endowed with the skills to do so because they notice when their efforts are eliciting negative reactions from others, and they’ll find creative ways to tweak their approach and do better next time.
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When you think about your staff, think about those team members who play devil’s advocate rather than go along with the whim of the group. Think about the ones who anticipate unintended consequences and examine the subtleties in language. They’re not just being difficult: These people are your and your clients’ eyes are ears, and they’re the ones who may save you from flubs and even PR crises. Consider putting them in charge of the agency’s – or the client’s – Twitter account.
The corporate world and the PR agency environment in particular have room for many personality types. We need outgoing bulldogs who can get on the phone and sell a pitch within 30 seconds. We need introspective types who can produce brilliant thought leadership articles. And somewhere in that mix, we need to make room for and cultivate the highly sensitive persons who make our work more conscientious, more nuanced and more resonant with the public.
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b3de9f7544d1116e34eba7d1056ed09f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/16/the-magic-of-an-effective-brainstorm/?sh=201b88b55edb | The Magic Of An Effective Brainstorm | The Magic Of An Effective Brainstorm
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When innovation became a key factor in my compensation and my then employer, Johnson & Johnson, tracked the revenue gains I generated, a sage manager warned me that this would be the hardest job of my life. He said that a concern was that nobody could just sit down and generate big ideas, brainstorms never worked, and that I would struggle to achieve the stretch goals that had been set for me. I wasn’t just being asked for one big idea but had to deliver dozens of them, each one global and each one significant in incremental opportunity. They had to be breakthrough and test well with consumers and stakeholders.
He was right about some things – it was one of the hardest jobs in my life. However, he was wrong about brainstorms. Structured correctly, brainstorms generate strong results and I learned fast to ensure that they did. By now, I have planned and led over 200 brainstorms.
Today at Luminations, we run our trademarked Lightning Strike® brainstorms with the benefit of these tenets. They can be a physical get together, sessions that pull cross-functional partners together for an all-day workshop, or they can be done virtually with a virtual whiteboard and Webex.
Here are my top 10 points to power your brainstorms.
Ground everyone in data, information and the hypotheses you already have. Do the necessary background work and be sure to share it in simplified form with those participating in your brainstorm. Lead with this foundational learning to ensure everyone has a similar level of basic knowledge and all can participate. Make the parameters and deliverables crystal clear. Let everyone know upfront what the expectations and goals are. Acknowledge any naysayers or obstacles but move on. If asked, everyone attending should be able to articulate what we want to accomplish in this specific brainstorm. Leverage experts, trained professionals and outside thinkers. There is tremendous value in outside thinking. It is so easy to become insulated and to develop blinders in a category, channel, industry or other areas. Bringing in outsiders helps eliminate this issue. They ask questions and bring examples and precedents from other disciplines. They view a prospective consumer, customer or patient from a different angle. And they bring associative logic. Facilitate with finesse. If possible, use an outside facilitator to enable all team members to step back, participate and keep the ideating on track. The day or discussion should be explicitly choreographed to maximize results. Make the group aware that their presence, when in the room/conference call, is required – this means no electronic distractions. We often collect phones and iPads at the beginning of our sessions and redistribute during break times. Once people get over the uncomfortable feeling of not having their phone at hand, they usually participate with gusto. Develop stimuli and exercises that move the group toward the desired outcomes. Don’t sit still – make sure to plan exercises that get people up and moving. Physically moving around helps stimulate the brain. Use stimuli to advance thinking – photos, ads, quotes, products (not always in the current category) and even toys to keep the hands occupied while thinking. Go in with thought-starters. While we inevitably get the juices flowing, sometimes it takes a little while to get ideas up on the board. Do a pre-planning session for each exercise that enables you to come in with some thought starters. Document, document, document. Lots of valuable ideas will crop up; be sure to capture them all, even if you cannot see right now how they might apply. Discussion, disagreement, questions, concerns and obstacles voiced are also important to document as they may be the genesis of an idea. Keep asking why to get to the insight behind an idea. When we teach insight identification, we gently push students to keep asking why to get to the bottom of the motivation for a decision. Challenging assumptions and probing on behaviors often leads to the underlying drivers, an important facet of any brainstorm. Acknowledge that different participants bring different strengths and leverage them. With any session comes a mix of background, experience, motivation and knowledge. Be sure you understand who will be in the room (or on the call) and think about how best to leverage her skills and background. Deliver a “finished” framework. Don’t let the end of the brainstorm be the end. It’s easy to walk away inspired and energized with no actionable next steps. Be sure to put together an organized summary of themes, key idea platforms and questions for the future. Don’t leave the session without alignment on what the team’s next steps are and who owns which initiative.
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Brainstorming can work as an in-person session, a virtual session facilitated by new technologies that allow sharing of materials and whiteboards, and the process also works to ideate on your own. It can be daunting to sit down with a blank sheet of paper pressuring yourself to generate ideas for new baby products – so don’t. Instead, watch a mom diaper, feed, bathe and get a baby ready for bed. Listen to a caregiver talk about things she wishes were easier. Whenever we think about products for babies we also think about products for pets; after all, the actual consumer cannot articulate his or her wants or needs so the “parent” decides on their behalf. After you’ve steeped yourself in the experience of babies, start to jot down your ideas.
When structured correctly, a properly executed brainstorm can be immensely rewarding. Just be prepared to dive deep into the subject matter, engross yourself in the experience, and let the ideation begin.
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f01441798ebe8a3ade4c56a20c03131b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/17/how-you-can-use-white-papers-to-increase-leads-and-engagement/ | How You Can Use White Papers To Increase Leads And Engagement | How You Can Use White Papers To Increase Leads And Engagement
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White papers are effective lead generation tools because they walk the thin line between education and promotion, positioning your business as a thought leader and solving a problem for potential customers at the same time.
Last year, one of our clients, a growing IT business, asked us to create a white paper to increase their audience engagement and generate more leads. The resulting white paper and associated social media content ended up being one of that company’s most successful campaigns of the year. Here is how we created that effective white paper -- and how you can research, write, design and promote a white paper for your business or clients.
What Is A White Paper?
First things first: A white paper is an in-depth report that focuses on a specific problem and the solution to that problem. It helps you earn trust and build credibility with your target market.
White papers are typically more technical than a blog post or e-book and therefore require more research and time to create than other shorter forms of content. A blog post or e-book may take a few hours or days to write, but a white paper could take a few weeks or months to get from conception to publication. Don’t worry: If you’ve created a white paper that has value to your audience, that extra time will pay off in the form of leads. In almost all instances, you’ll want to ask for readers’ contact information in exchange for your white paper.
Determine Your Topic
For our white paper, we had to consider the fact that IT professionals are less engaged and more reluctant to download offers than many other audiences. They love exciting new solutions, though, so a white paper was an ideal option -- if we could find a topic to grab their attention.
Research is key to every aspect of the white paper creation process, including topic selection. We set out to determine the exact pain points of our client’s target audience so we could write a white paper that introduced a new solution and served a practical purpose.
Determining these pain points should always be the first step. If the resource you’re creating doesn’t solve an actual problem that your audience is facing, you’re wasting effort and time.
The client we were working with on this particular white paper has three major verticals. Our research revealed that all three verticals had a common problem: Office 365 migrations. That was our focus. Your research will help you home in on the right topic.
Plan Your Content
We created a clear outline before we began to write to make sure the white paper was going to provide value and convey the right information. Doing this will help you stay focused on delivering valuable information throughout. You can also use your outline when it comes time to create your table of contents.
Structurally, white papers should introduce the problem, provide well-researched solutions and leave the reader empowered to take the next step. Remember, white papers are more technical, informative and educational in nature than a blog post or e-book. They aren’t meant to be skimmed, so make your content detailed and comprehensive.
When it comes to your title, be clear and concise. Emphasize the value of the white paper. Titles are not the place to get clever; you want people to be able to find your resource in a search engine. Our title, “Making the Move to Microsoft Office 365,” clearly conveyed what the white paper would cover. The subtitle, “Migrating with minimal hassle and maximum reward,” helped explain its benefit.
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Tell, Don’t Sell
You’re not trying to sell anything directly with your white paper. It is a resource that solves a real problem for your target market, not a sales pitch. Once you’ve established your business as one that is truly invested in helping the reader, they will be more likely to buy from you when you are trying to sell something.
For our client’s white paper, we compiled a list of frequently asked questions about the topic from our client’s three target markets. Our technical writer then researched and wrote in-depth answers to those questions in a 12-page document. We used those answers as the basis for our white paper.
Providing answers to questions your target market has about the topic will ensure you’re providing real value. We also included a checklist, a case study and a resource library to maximize the usefulness of the white paper.
What Next?
Once the white paper is written, you’ll need to promote it and integrate it into your marketing campaign. Social sharing, Google AdWords and CTAs on related web pages can all drive traffic to the landing page for your white paper.
Other promotion techniques include blogging, guest blogging on influencers’ sites, email marketing, webinars and conferences. For our client, we added calls-to-action to related blog posts on their site, wrote and delivered email blasts to prospective clients and promoted the white paper on social media to all three verticals. Lastly, we posted targeted ads on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks to these techniques, the social media campaigns we created around this white paper were some of our client’s most successful campaigns of the year at driving new traffic to their site and increasing leads.
Try using the tips we’ve provided here to create white paper success for your clients or business.
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087c1319afb73e4a434ba7c6228cec46 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/21/an-insiders-guide-to-russian-media/ | An Insider's Guide To Russian Media | An Insider's Guide To Russian Media
This is the first article in a regular series about navigating international media.
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The Russians have certainly secured a lot of air time in U.S. media recently, but what does it look like for an American company trying to break into Russian media?
Despite political tensions between our governments, there are several U.S. companies thriving in Russia, and several others looking to establish their names there. As with navigating the media in any foreign country, there are certain nuances and best practices companies need to know before competing with the locals for coverage.
I recently got a crash course in Russian media when I attended the International PR Network’s annual meeting in Moscow. While there, I sat down with PR Partner, one of Moscow’s PR firms, to discuss the Russian media landscape and what it takes to get clients’ stories covered.
There are, surprisingly, a lot of similarities between Russian and American media, including the fact that Russian media prefers stories with a Russian focus rather than an international one. It’s the differences, however, that U.S. companies should familiarize themselves with before attempting to break into Russian media:
The Russian press is not free press (but it’s freer than many Americans assume). Contrary to popular belief, not all Russian media is state-owned. Not even most of it is. There are 80,134 total press outlets and most of them are privately owned. But being private doesn’t entitle them to say whatever they want. The Russian government has imposed limitations on what outlets can legally publish. The good news is that these limitations primarily concern political topics and don’t usually affect business news and articles, nor interfere with most companies’ PR strategies.
Russian journalists are burnt out on meetings, interviews and press conferences. This statement likely describes journalists across the world, but Russian PR firms are inventing creative workarounds to get their clients in front of their increasingly less available media. PR Partner, for instance, recently hosted a “speed dating” event, where 10 business firms met with 10 journalists for five minutes each. In less than the one-hour time frame that a journalist might typically spend speaking with a single company, each journalist got to learn about 10. According to Anna Zagumennaya, the firm's event director, each journalist was interested in at least six of the 10 companies they met with and followed up in detail after the event.
LinkedIn isn’t available in Russia. LinkedIn is blocked in Russia and has been since November 2016, when the company refused to meet Russia’s requirement of storing Russian users’ personal data on servers within the country. One day, LinkedIn worked, the next day it didn’t. While it’s still possible to use VPN and anonymizers to get access to LinkedIn in Russia, Facebook and local social networks continue to be more popular than LinkedIn for networking, so this hasn’t affected Russian PR firms as greatly as a LinkedIn shutdown would in the U.S.
Want a reporter’s contact information? You’ll have to do some digging. In the U.S., we have access to media databases like Cision to give us quick access to information about reporters, including the topics they cover and even their preferred methods of being pitched. In Russia, they don’t have a regularly updated media database, so PR firms must manually create and update their own internal databases over time.
Russian media ratings measure how a brand or person is covered. For Russian PR professionals, getting their B2B business clients into a big-name media outlet is only half the battle. The other half is getting a high media index ranking from Russia’s media indexes. One index in particular, Medialogia, doesn’t just rank a media outlet's influence; it ranks how people and brands are covered in those outlets, on a scale of -1000 to +1000. A high media index ranking is earned if the company, person or brand is mentioned in a positive context, multiple times, in one of the more widely-read outlets. Other factors taken into consideration are the size of the article, whether the subject plays a primary or secondary role in it, the number of reprints of the issue, release date, and, as of January 2017, the article’s social media likes and shares.
Facebook is an appropriate medium for pitching reporters. No one uses Twitter. Facebook serves dual purposes for PR professionals. It’s not just where they get updates from friends and family; it’s also where they research and even pitch journalists. In the U.S., we might add friendly journalists on Facebook, but we certainly don’t pitch them there -- with much luck, anyway. And while Twitter works in Russia, it’s not a popular social networking tool, and, therefore, not a popular PR channel.
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Russian journalists and PR firms are very collaborative in the writing process. Often, rather than sending a pitch about their clients, Russian PR firms will send journalists the complete text of an article they envision about their client. If the journalist likes it, she or he will publish it -- with edits or as is -- under their own byline. The upside is that the PR firm can get all of its client’s talking points in the article. The downside is that there’s no guarantee the journalist will run it. However, Daria Odintsova, PR Partner's development director, emphasized the fact that Russian clients “seek out PR firms for their creative ideas and story angles, not just for facilitating publication of their own news.” This is important in the U.S. as well, but not all companies are savvy enough to proactively seek it out.
Brands watch the news closely for newsjacking opportunities. Brands are always on the lookout for news -- ranging from sensitive political moments (like the leaked Panama Papers) to playful lifestyle trends (like Pokémon) -- that they can use for quick turnaround marketing campaigns. For example, when Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev jokingly said during a press conference that Americanos aren’t politically correct and someone suggested the coffee drink should be renamed the “Rusiano,” local Moscow cafes and even Burger King locations immediately ran campaigns publicizing the new Rusianos on their menus. Not only do these campaigns win with customers, they win brands media coverage.
Ultimately, the things that make Russian media difficult to master also make their media (and PR professionals) stronger than I’d previously realized. For U.S. companies entering Russia, the bigger challenges might be complying with the type of strict privacy regulations that kept LinkedIn out and navigating ever-tightening sanctions.
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f4df197792380a62ddaf41a54e61cfe2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/22/five-costly-mistakes-that-sabotage-a-businesss-local-search-presence-and-how-to-fix-them/ | Five Costly Mistakes That Sabotage A Business's Local Search Presence (And How To Fix Them) | Five Costly Mistakes That Sabotage A Business's Local Search Presence (And How To Fix Them)
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More customers are actively searching for local businesses online than ever before. Google processes over 3.5 billion search queries per day, over half of which take place on mobile devices. That’s a lot of on-the-go mobile shoppers looking for nearby stores. But that traffic is worthless to businesses that fail to optimize their local presence.
Improving your business’ online visibility and placement in search results is one key to attracting more local shoppers to both your website and physical locations. That said, local competition can be fierce. Businesses that want to connect with local consumers online can’t afford to make marketing mistakes that place them at a disadvantage.
Although there’s no perfect formula for dominating local search, there are certain mistakes that you must stop making to keep from sabotaging your own visibility. Today, we’ll examine the most common mistakes and what can be done to remedy them.
Writing Content For Search Engines, Not Local Customers
Done right, content marketing can be a powerful tool for local businesses. Publishing consistent content allows you to tell your brand story and educate consumers about products, news and trends, all while establishing your business as an industry leader.
Quality blog posts also help search engines learn more about your company, which can lead to increased credibility and higher rankings in search results. To be specific, Google loves E-A-T content -- content enriched by the author’s expertise, authority and trustworthiness. Local businesses need to take it a step further and realize content is most effective when it has a bit of local flavor. A local perspective can infuse blog content with personality, make it more relevant to readers, and help the business build a stronger connection with local customers.
Sacrificing Backlink And Citation Quality For Quantity
Gone are the days when those scoring the most backlinks are guaranteed to come out on top. Sure, having lots of citations and backlinks pointing to the business’ website can still be great for SEO, but only if the sources are authoritative and credible.
Businesses that invest in high-quality link-building and submit listings to respectable local directories will see a boost in their online visibility. However, search engines do notice when a site receives most of its traffic from untrustworthy sources, which can result in lower search rankings.
Instead of trying to get as many backlinks as possible, focus on earning high-quality citations from reputable sources. The citations themselves should offer up-to-date information, and the business's name, address and phone number (NAP data) must be consistent across the web.
Here are a few suggestions for improving your web presence through backlinks and citations:
Submit business listings to high-quality local directories Contribute guest posts to authoritative websites Sponsor a local charity event or Little League team Include the website in social media bios for the business
Just remember: Quality is more important than quantity.
Not Taking Full Advantage Of Google My Business
Any business that hasn’t created (or claimed and optimized) a local business listing on Google My Business is missing out on several major benefits. By failing to maintain an up-to-date, optimized Google My Business listing, you're actually making it more difficult for local customers to discover you when searching online.
The better the search giant understands the business, the more likely it is that the business will appear in local search results when shoppers search for nearby stores. For best results, the listing should be detailed and up-to-date, complete with photos, business hours and accurate NAP data. This correctness and completeness allows the business to build trust with Google and consumers, increase online visibility, and ensure the data displayed in search results is 100% accurate.
Turning A Blind Eye To Bad Customer Reviews
Sadly, a negative review isn’t the type of thing that goes away if you ignore it long enough. It is vital to monitor customer reviews -- and to respond in a timely manner if a customer voices dissatisfaction with their experience.
Leaving a bad review to stand without a response does not help the brand and does nothing to remedy the situation. So, rather than sticking your head in the sand when negative reviews show up, you and your team need to address the comments directly.
Attempt to defuse the situation and, if necessary, ask the customer to contact the business privately by email. Additionally, encourage happy customers to leave genuine reviews to ensure local review sites portray the business accurately.
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Not Creating Unique Landing Pages For Each Location
Businesses with more than one physical location have an extra set of rules to follow when it comes to local presence management. With multiple locations come multiple sets of NAP data, along with individual business details specific to each location.
I recommend that a business upgrade its website with a high-quality store locator that generates individual location landing pages. This allows customers to find the closest location without ever leaving the business’s website. Each page should be SEO-optimized, mobile-friendly, have a unique URL and contain relevant, accurate store information, including foolproof driving directions.
According to Search Engine Watch, Placeable’s research reveals that 67% of customers lose faith in a business if they get lost on their way to a store. Plus, doesn’t it just make sense to ensure customers can easily find information about nearby store locations? Details like hours of operation, store address and driving directions should be easy to pin down on the website of a multi-location brand, and the location landing page makes this happen.
As disastrous as these mistakes can be, it’s never too late to learn from the past and improve the future. By being aware of these common errors and putting these solutions into action as soon as possible, businesses can improve their local presence, increase their online visibility, and attract new local customers.
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d5a276e71bcd6b0a95395806db32323a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/23/a-summer-silent-client-doesnt-have-to-equal-lost-revenue/ | A Summer Silent Client Doesn't Have To Equal Lost Revenue | A Summer Silent Client Doesn't Have To Equal Lost Revenue
The only thing worse than losing a client is working with one who stalls. As an agency owner for 20 years, I have seen clients hesitate for every reason imaginable, and I've developed best practices to limit lost resources and keep projects moving.
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Understand How Project Delays Happen
Every stalled situation starts the same way. The client is in panic mode. He needs this project now. You pull strings and work overtime to solve the crisis, but the next time you check in, the client says he needs to hold tight for a day or two. That day turns into a week, then two, and then into months, and all the while you’re waiting and bleeding resources that could be put to better use elsewhere.
Delays cost money to maintain and money to start up again once the client is ready to get back at it. The longer you stay away from a project, the more factors change, and the longer you need to become reacquainted with the work and its objective. When you finally get to finish what you started, you have to shift work away from other projects because (again) this client needs it done immediately.
You don’t want to fire the client -- but you can’t afford to let him dictate your workflow. You can’t send a bill for the time you spend nagging him, so what can you do to keep your stalling clients happy without sacrificing profits in the bargain?
Change The Rules
The fairest way to keep projects moving without angering clients is to change the wording in your contracts to account for periods of dormancy.
Adding fees for reactivation of dormant projects sounds harsh, but in my experience, this strategy is a win-win for the agency. Either the client improves his internal processes to keep the project on track, or you recoup your financial losses in late charges. By setting expectations up front, you can incentivize clients to prioritize your partnership without making them feel trapped in a corner.
An example of appropriate wording and fees looks like this:
A project with no updates or service after three months will be considered dormant. If you elect to continue this project after it becomes dormant, you will be responsible for the following fees:
Recovery fee for archived resources: $500 Service fee for project review and revitalization: $1,000 Renegotiation of new terms if the scope or nature of the project has changed Rush charges to complete project on a new schedule, if applicable
You can adjust the amounts and time limits, but by incorporating this language, you protect your business from indecisive clients and put the onus of the decision back on them.
In a perfect world, you would never have to collect any of these fees. Unfortunately, not every client will abide by your terms, even with penalties attached. When that happens, having this language in your contract will give you the leverage you need to keep the project moving.
Managing the collection or threat of these fees is a delicate task, but they are not designed to weed out the bad clients. These fees are simply compensation for your time, and good clients will understand that. When implemented properly, the possibility of extra charges will reduce the number of clients who abandon projects, which can lead to a massive increase in profits over time.
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Deal With Summer Silence
Sometimes, new language doesn’t address the real problem. During the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, many agencies simply don’t have enough work to stay busy. When that happens, don’t pester clients to come up with new reasons to hire you -- use the extra time wisely.
Two of our clients came up with creative solutions to combat slow summers. One of them implemented Teach Me Tuesdays, spending every Tuesday during the summer on agency-wide education initiatives and providing avenues for team members to teach one another new skills.
Another client noticed that employees saved up their days off for the winter holidays when the agency was slammed but took little time off during the slow summer months. To encourage employees to burn more time in the summer, this agency offered an extra 25% of paid time off for time taken during the summer. Employees can take two days and get a half day free, or take four and leave for a whole week.
Keep Churning
You don’t have to let slow clients dictate how you run your company. By adding new language to your agreements and making the most of your slow summer months, you can keep your business running efficiently without losing valuable revenue.
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9db6d2e224e5c4b5d95ff36bd35d8164 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/01/how-to-use-content-curation-the-right-way/ | How To Use Content Curation The Right Way | How To Use Content Curation The Right Way
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Content curation is one of the most misinterpreted tactics in marketing. Most organizations curate content in some form or another, but very few do it correctly. Before you put time and resources into content curation, be sure it is a fit for your business and develop a clear strategy.
What Content Curation Means
Content curation is a relatively straightforward concept compared to other areas of digital marketing, such as search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising. It is simply sharing content created by other sources. Blog articles are the most common type of curated content, but videos, infographics and images are also naturally shareable. It’s important for business-to-consumer (B2C) brands to understand that social content created by consumers is arguably the most valuable form of curated content because it builds both brand loyalty and social proof simultaneously.
The Big Picture In Content Curation
Taking the time and energy to source content from around the web is a great way to show that you have your thumb on the pulse of your industry. In content curation, it’s not necessarily the content itself that builds the relationship with your audience, but rather the fact that you are becoming their personal news source. You’re making their life easier by bringing curated news to them, which in turn positions you as an industry expert who they can trust. In a 2012 survey by Curata, 85% of marketers who curated content said establishing thought leadership was their primary goal.
The Small Details
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make with content curation is sharing any and every relevant article they find, without giving consideration to how each piece reflects on their brand. Before you share a piece of content, ask yourself:
Is this content well written? Did it come from a credible source? Does it align with your stance on the topic? Are we sure the source is not a direct competitor? Is the topic newsworthy and/or valuable to your audience?
If you can answer, “yes” to all of the above, go for it. If there is a “no” somewhere in there, you might reconsider.
Curation Vs. Creation: Find Your Balance
No content strategy should be skewed 100% toward curation. Your business should find a balance between content you curate and content you create based on your resources, capabilities and goals.
Creating your own content is often more valuable than curating. However, it’s also more costly and time-consuming. For larger organizations or those that require many layers of approvals before content can be shared on behalf of the company, curation often makes the most sense. That said, you should always create some of your own content, even if it’s only a blog post or two per month. Sharing a high volume of curated content with none of your own branded content can eventually have a negative impact if your audience begins to tune out your feed and search for new sources on their own.
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Where To Share
The two main platforms that marketers use to share curated content are email and social media.
Email marketing is an ideal medium for content curation because it is used to keep in touch with your audience, build trust and stay top of mind. Particularly in the business-to-business (B2B) world, many brands find creating a monthly newsletter with articles on trending topics to be an effective and affordable way of investing in email marketing. But again, you should always include some of your own content in that mix.
Social media is where content curation flourishes. The fast pace and bite-sized content that you see on social channels lends itself well to quickly and efficiently sharing other people’s perspectives. The key in social content curation is being able to start a conversation, rather than simply sharing without any interaction. Liking, favoriting, retweeting and commenting are all opportunities to actually connect with your audience. This is absolutely crucial for consumer brands that naturally see more social engagement. Make your customers feel important; repost their pictures, respond to their question, and let their content drive yours.
Whatever you do, please avoid being the brand that posts endless links with nothing more than article titles. Content curation is one of the easiest marketing tactics to get right. It just takes a little extra thought.
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e6f4bc15fac325b7ab78516475d2bd56 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/01/when-designing-your-website-keep-seo-in-mind-and-ask-the-right-questions/ | When Designing Your Website, Keep SEO In Mind And Ask The Right Questions | When Designing Your Website, Keep SEO In Mind And Ask The Right Questions
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So you’ve decided that your company’s website needs a complete overhaul. The design is outdated, it’s not good for the user, and conversions are lagging. On top of that, your Google rankings are not where you think they should be and your organic search engine traffic is suffering.
Therefore, you decide to hire a web design company to solve your problems. This company can bring your site to the next level, and get you a modern user experience which, in the end, will improve your business and its revenue.
At The Ocean Agency, we’ve been working in web design for more than a decade. Since our agency was founded back in 2003, web design has been our main specialty. However, we've become experts in SEO after being acquired by Logical Media Group three years ago.
Having the same company design your website as well as put together an SEO strategy can make the best of both worlds. However, you will want to be careful when hiring a firm to do both your web design and SEO, because many firms will attempt to separate themselves from the competition by showcasing that they are experts in both, when in fact they are only proficient at one.
Always do the proper research and ask the right questions to thoroughly examine your partner agency. For example, you should ask your web design agency about its philosophy, process and how long the project will take. When you’re searching for a website design company, be sure to ask is if they offer SEO services, and if so, what types.
Some companies say they do SEO, when in reality the only SEO they’re doing is installing the Yoast SEO plugin. This is a great SEO tool, but there is much more to SEO.
SEO all starts with keyword research: finding which keywords fit the page you’re looking to optimize. Keyword research doesn’t just include finding random keywords; it’s about finding relevant keywords for your site and getting numerous metrics such as search volume, competition and current ranks.
This is the blueprint for SEO. Once you have this, then comes the process of implementing them into your titles and on-page content. Then, it’s time to look at technical aspects of the website. Do you have a lot of pages that aren’t redirecting? Are there duplicate content issues?
Once this is all completed, the process is far from over. There are always more on-page optimizations to be done and internal linking opportunities to be fixed, not to mention building links and creating quality content in the form of articles and blogs.
The questions a client should be asking their potential SEO agency include what type of data goes into monthly reporting and local SEO optimization, as well as what types of SEO services they offer, such as on-page optimization, link building and conversion rate optimization.
Should you decide to go with the same company to handle both your web design and SEO, there are a number of different benefits. From an SEO’s perspective, the keyword-rich content on a landing page needs to mix with user-friendly content that appeals to the potential customers. A user-friendly internal linking structure is friendly to Google as well. Web design and SEO teams are able to work together to make sure this process goes along smoothly and that both channels work hand in hand for the benefit of the client.
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If there are any potential issues with an SEO recommendation, web design team members are able to speak with SEO consultants to iron out the issue. SEO consultants will also be able to recommend other SEO-friendly aspects of your website, including sitemaps, redirects and a URL structure, and bring it to the web designers for implementation.
In any business, communication is extremely important. A web design team that has in-house SEO is available to communicate effectively with other team members, making the whole website setup process much smoother. Seeing a beautiful new design and rising Google ranks could be what takes your business to the next level.
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891efb16e2787caf1e1e428bfb20000d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/07/digital-marketing-trends-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-multifamily-housing/ | Digital Marketing Trends To Keep An Eye On In Multifamily Housing | Digital Marketing Trends To Keep An Eye On In Multifamily Housing
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It used to be that, in order to be successful, multifamily developers had to target residents where they stood. Whether it was with a billboard or paper advertisements, developers could only advertise one way. But recent technological changes in the digital marketing world have affected how developers appeal to potential residents.
Currently, rising trends in digital marketing that relate to apartment communities and developers include mobile ad blockers, the Internet of Things (IoT), location stories, ephemeral content and crowdfunding. Companies can manage to stay ahead of the competition by embracing the following forms of digital marketing.
Ad Blockers
An ad blocker is a filtering software that modifies or completely removes advertisements from websites, web pages and mobile applications. According to HubSpot, 64% of people who use ad blockers do so because they find ads to be annoying or intrusive. This is bad news for publishers, brands, agencies and ad technology providers, costing them an estimated $35 billion in ad revenue by 2020.
Probably the easiest way for multifamily developers to get around ad blockers would be to pay for sponsored ads, but the cost can quickly add up. John Rampton, the founder of online invoicing company Due, suggests email marketing, memberships and in-app advertising as other ways to survive ad blockers. Email marketing and memberships are similar in that they both use the idea of subscribers to share high-quality content. If someone is subscribing to your content, they’re likely interested in your advertisements. In-app advertisements are also great because, at this time, ad-blockers cannot affect apps. Therefore, you can guarantee your advertising investment will be worth it.
Internet Of Things
These days it's hard to go about your day-to-day life without relying on the internet. This is mostly thanks to the concept of the Internet of Things. The IoT is the connection of everyday objects to the internet and can include anything from computers to appliances like your thermostat.
Marketers have taken advantage of this concept by creating apps or using technology that engages the IoT. As a property manager, focusing on IoT technology when marketing your property is important for keeping competitive. For example, consider internet-enabled home features. By allowing your resident to connect their personal devices to their unit, they are able to control all technological aspects of the unit, such as lighting, fans, temperature and even door locks. With the easy use of the internet today, it is important to stay ahead of the game to appeal to future residents.
Location Stories
Recently, Instagram created a feature where stories tagged at a certain location are combined into one public story. This allows for Instagram users to see what is going on in the area, such as events, weather and who is there. This feature is very similar to Snapchat's “Our Story” feature, which also aggregates stories created in the same location -- yet Instagram also combines stories that incorporate the same hashtag.
Using location story features can be beneficial to multifamily developers. By encouraging resident activity on social media, you can benefit from publicly shared stories of their experiences at your property, available for interested residents to see. For example, hosting a pool party event with giveaways and food can encourage your residents to post stories at the location, showing potential renters all that your property has to offer.
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Ephemeral Content
Ephemeral content is content posted to social media that disappears or is short-lived. Starting with Snapchat back in 2011, Instagram and Facebook have now also stepped onto the ephemeral content bandwagon. This type of content is popular with social media users because the importance of sharing a moment is increasing, but keeping that memory in a photograph isn’t as important. A Shutterfly survey found that more than half of the respondents’ new photos are abandoned on drives and devices after they are taken, reflecting this change in attitude.
If developers want to reach younger audiences, ephemeral content is the way to go. But, when posting, it is important to know the medium. A post created for Facebook is very different from a story created for Snapchat. By researching and observing to understand how younger audiences use these applications, developers and managers will have clear insight on how to shape their content.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the process of funding a business online by raising money through a large pool of investors, friends, family or customers. HubSpot explains crowdfunding as a way to gain support, “not from potential co-owners, but from potential fans.” According to Fundly, the global average success rate for crowdfunding campaigns is 50%.
Crowdfunding is a marketing tool in disguise. Most think of it as an easy way to raise money, but it is also an easy way to market a brand. For example, crowdfunding can save a company time and money on market research. A developer will know whether or not their property is enticing to potential residents depending on how much traffic it receives through crowdfunding. If little traffic is received, the developer knows to change their strategy. However, if a crowdfunding campaign is successful, it can provide an awareness reach and get a property on the map. Qualified leads are also a benefit of a successful crowdfunding campaign, as they evolve from the interested buyers who donated to your campaign.
Applying digital strategies such as IoT, location stories, ephemeral content and crowdfunding will better position your multifamily development to reach its audience in new ways. You will also see greater monetary returns on your strategy and increased publicity for your brand as technology continues to drive the business world.
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7bca7bf81cd07fa0bb68dc877df80183 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/21/six-simple-steps-to-mastering-marketing-automation/ | Six Simple Steps To Mastering Marketing Automation | Six Simple Steps To Mastering Marketing Automation
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Marketing automation isn’t a passing fad. The technology has completely transformed the worlds of marketing and advertising and will continue to do so in the coming years. While big names like Marketo, Oracle Eloqua and Pardot tend to dominate the conversation, there are countless other players in the marketing automation space, and the market is projected to reach $7.63 billion by 2025.
For marketers and agency leaders who want to stay ahead of the competition, the evolution of marketing automation technology will present opportunities that were unimaginable just a few year ago. But diving into it without a plan isn’t smart — it'll lead to more headaches than marketing miracles. Instead, start with a strategy.
The Tool Is Not The Strategy
Lead generation is the top priority for most CMOs that I talk to, so it’s not surprising that marketing automation software has gained such traction within the industry. It has the potential to make lead generation easier and more efficient than ever. But the success of any lead generation tactic has always depended upon the effectiveness of the strategy behind it.
That’s still the case.
In fact, strategy may even be more important now that a sizable part of the marketing process can be automated. Yet many of the clients I work with tend to focus (sometimes obsessively) on specific tools or features they’re missing rather than on how their marketing automation platforms fit within their marketing strategies. I’ve had an agency client try out three different platforms before deciding that each was insufficient when the reality is that any of them would have been fine.
Rather than looking at marketing automation software as a comprehensive marketing solution, we have to view it as just one mechanism for reaching customers. If we can remember that it’s only one piece of our overall strategy, we’ll be best equipped to use it most effectively. With that in mind, here are six steps for getting the most out of an investment in marketing automation.
1. Begin with the end in mind. Today, only 10% of marketers are confident in their ability to execute comprehensive marketing automation programs as part of a larger marketing strategy, per a Forrester study (paywall). That’s not because of the software; it’s because of the strategy. A sound marketing strategy should be anchored by clear goals. Those could include thought leadership, lead generation, gaining website traffic or something else. Without establishing these goals, you won't be able to get anywhere — even with the best marketing automation software.
2. Get specific. Marketing automation isn’t a tactic in and of itself. It’s a mechanism to help you amplify the effectiveness of your marketing tactics, and you should be clear about what those tactics are. Are you going to be sending out newsletters or an email nurture campaign, or are you going to focus on collecting inbound leads by providing access to gated content? Be clear from the beginning, because all of your subsequent decisions will be based on maximizing these tactics.
3. Create the right content. Based on the goals you set and the tactics you want to use, you’ll need to begin developing the assets that will support your marketing automation program. These could include White papers, blog posts, emails, webinars, video or any other form of content, but you’ll want to be sure you have them before they’re needed, or else your efforts will backfire.
4. Shop around. Once you have a detailed plan in place, it’s time to pick the right marketing automation tool for the job. Luckily, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from. Look for the platforms that have the specific tools you need to accomplish the goals you’ve laid out, and compare them with one another. You may be tempted to explore platforms that are loaded with extra features, but unless you have a plan for implementing those in the future, they won’t help you. Stick to what you need.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
5. Narrow down your choices. Once you’ve cut your list of options to two platforms, spend some time testing each of them. Make sure whoever will be responsible for using the tool on a daily basis is able to provide input. Some marketing automation platforms are fairly easy to use, while others seem to require a Ph.D.
6. Allow time for onboarding. Before launching your marketing automation campaign, give your team two or three months to dive into the platform you purchase and figure out how to use it correctly. Even if you find they’re struggling to use it, be patient. It takes a lot of time to master most marketing automation platforms. Stick to the one you choose for at least a year before considering a switch.
If you implement marketing automation correctly, you can expect to see positive results relatively quickly. In fact, in 2015, 64% of marketers surveyed by Regalix said they saw the benefits of a marketing automation program within six months of its implementation. Don’t rush into it, though, especially if you don’t have any previous marketing automation experience. Take the time to build a sound strategy, then master the platform you invest in. The results will inevitably follow.
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087f5ff51c33f3b3f1f46ac6a2288652 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/22/15-ways-your-marketing-firm-can-reach-the-next-tier/ | 15 Ways Your Marketing Firm Can Reach The Next Tier | 15 Ways Your Marketing Firm Can Reach The Next Tier
Establishing your marketing agency took time, guts and a lot of work. Now you’ve got a good staff, a few good clients and occasionally more paperwork than you prefer to deal with. Looking ahead, you can see that your finances are looking solid for the next while, but you’re not as excited about what you’re seeing for growth options. No matter what you try, you’re finding it difficult to gear up past the million-dollar mark.
Part of the process to reaching the next tier is self-marketing: You need to let the public know that you’ve mastered your craft, and are in a position where you can help companies get ahead of their competitors. Finding your niche is another part of that marketing. Knowing the exact needs and challenges particular industries or company types face make you a valuable ally. After all, you’ve seen their problems, and have already discovered what works — and what doesn’t.
While improving your firm’s marketing is a start, it’s only a start. There are a lot of other factors to consider. Below, members from Forbes Agency Council talk about their recommendations for boosting your business, along with why they work. Here are the specifics:
Forbes Agency Council members share success secrets. Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Network And Build A Robust Social Media Network
As a start-up, one must leverage relationships to help forge a sustainable organization. Networking and building a robust social media network are tools that can help maximize exposure for a growing company. Helping others and providing subject-matter advice can go a long way in establishing credibility, which creates strong relationships that can yield successful opportunity.- Matt Anthes, SociallyMined
2. Find The Right Talent For Your Team
Spend time and money on building your brand and pushing new business development from day one. From there, work on curating a pool of talent that you can pull from as you grow. Our biggest hurdle with growth was finding the right talent for our team.- Jordon Meyer, Granular
3. Respect Your Clients And Their Budgets
Treat your clients' budgets as if they were your own. Show clients work they love but never expected to see. And learn something new, every day, and share it.- Justin Daab, Magnani Continuum Marketing
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
4. Seek To Refresh Your Bottom 20% Of Clients
Knowing which clients to nurture and which clients to show the door is vital to sustainable growth. A simple rule of thumb is always be seeking to refresh your bottom 20% of clients, ensuring that the quality of your client list is continually being upgraded, while not being afraid to show some clients the door. It is a courageous act to resign a client, but worthwhile.- Peter Bray, Bray & Co
5. Find A Niche And Own It
The riches are in the niches. This is my second go around at building and scaling an agency. The first agency was heavy on the top line but non-existent on the bottom line. In reflecting on what went wrong, we had a lot of great clients, but every client was in a different niche. This made scalability close to impossible, and inefficiencies part of the daily code. Find a niche and own it.- Michael Tasner, No Joke Marketing
6. Help Your Clients Succeed
Focus on truly understanding your client's core objectives and make those the measure of your success. If you help your clients succeed in their marketplace, then you will succeed in yours.- Peter Ladka, GeekHive
7. Make Sure Teams Have Access To The Right Expertise
If you are not building your processes, you are really not building a company. There is no way for you to scale without them. Once you have those solidified, hire for skill sets, not people, that your company needs to deliver the absolute best to your clients. If you don't have the right skills and expertise on staff, you will not be able to scale.- Jacob Hanson, PR with Panache!, LLC
8. Streamline Your Processes
Focus on systems and processes to help streamline both the back end and front end (client-facing) portions of your company. Having well-defined systems for doing things and delivering your service is what can help you scale your business and become more profitable.- Steven Willi, Rankings.io
9. Never Settle For Right Now
Always evolve. Decide what type of agency you want to be right out of the gates. The power of a can-do attitude will take you further, quicker. Always make sure the agency you are building is the agency you want to be in five years. Never settle for right now. - J.D. Blair, Mad Men Marketing
10. Invest In Tools And Staff
Invest in your staff and technology first. In order to grow a successful agency, you cannot be stretched too thin and you should not operate without advanced toolsets to showcase your digital marketing expertise.- Charles Kim, Executive Digital
11. Focus On Fixing A Problem
One of the most powerful philosophies that I incorporate into how I construct a business or approach a new concept starts with the initial goal: What are we here to do? Create a business simply to make money? Or create a business that removes the pain out of processes and fixes a problem. Fixing a problem is the most effective way build a business. It's the Silicon Valley approach.- Ronaldo Symon, Trend Capital Holdings Inc.
12. Identify Your Core Value
Identify and focus on your organization's core value proposition as soon as possible. Once you do, make sure that every one of your offerings and processes has a direct impact on enhancing your core value proposition. Neglect any new initiatives that do not: Those are distractions. This will ensure that your organization will continue to have a defensible USP, and thus a path to scale.- Eric Dahan, Open Influence
13. Invest In Continued Education
Invest in continued education through mentors, books, conferences, courses and more. Don't be afraid to invest in something to make money so that you can press the fast forward button for your agency. Do this for your top team members as well. Not only does the owner or CEO need to invest in continued education for their own success, but they need to do the same for the leaders in their company.- Mike Arce, Loud Rumor
14. Consistently Deliver On Promises
Do what you say you are going to do. Every time. All the time. Even into overtime. Mid-size to mega agencies start to lose their edge in the details and follow through, so utilize that deficit to your advantage. Deliver consistently and over deliver regularly. Oh, and never, ever miss a deadline.- Faithe Dillman, Marbaloo Marketing
15. Remember: It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint
Take your time. There's always an urgency to grow at the beginning and that can lead to poor quality of your work, which you can't afford as you build the agency's reputation. It's a marathon, not a sprint.- Elliot Schimel, Mission Control Marketing
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7218a231b3d27d43565f16a814631693 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/25/14-benefits-of-account-based-marketing/ | 14 Benefits Of Account-Based Marketing | 14 Benefits Of Account-Based Marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) is making a comeback. With its personalized approach and attention to detail, consumers are benefiting from messages that are tailored just for them. As much as 70% of a B2B marketer’s budget went to ABM in 2016, and this number is expected to grow exponentially this year, according to research conducted by SiriusDecisions.
With ABM anticipated to be a major part of many companies’ marketing strategies this year, several members of Forbes Agency Council weighed in on the advantages of using this marketing approach.
Account-based marketing, or ABM, is growing in popularity. All photos courtesy of individual Forbes Agency Council members.
1. Improved Customer Acquisition Process
ABM is a shiny, new name for an age-old practice: personalization and nurturing of key customers and prospects. ABM lets marketing teams eliminate the poor leads that go nowhere and frustrate their sales colleagues. It also shines a greater spotlight on the process of customer acquisition, making marketing teams stronger in the long run. - Cathy Atkins, Metis Communications
2. An Opportunity To Get Personal
ABM gives marketers the opportunity to create more personalized messaging for specific groups of individuals, as opposed to creating blanket messaging for a large population. When approaching a specific account, it's important to spend as much time and effort creating relevant content which provides value for your prospective customer. - Chris Carter, Rep Interactive
3. Faster Sales Process
Multiple stakeholders are involved in making a final purchase decision. This can often slow down your typical sales and marketing process, but account based marketing allows you to leverage it. ABM is unique in that it gives you the opportunity to specifically nurture your primary decision maker, along with all relevant prospects, in order to facilitate and expedite the sales process. - Caleb Edwards, GreenHouse Agency
4. Clearer Path To ROI
ABM is precise, targeted, personalized and measurable. It provides the highest ROI among B2B marketing tactics and strategies while providing less waste and risk. The approach makes it easier to align sales with marketing for consistent marketing that grows accounts. - Daniel B. Laws, Jr, DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC
5. Cost Efficiency
Marketing directly to accounts your business has targeted as prospects can be extremely cost-efficient. This is particularly true if you are using some of the newer social platforms' tools that enable targeting to specific companies or organizations. For those businesses that know precisely who their most attractive targets are, ABM makes a tremendous amount of sense from a budget perspective. - Diana Wolff, LRG Marketing
6. Efficient Use Of Marketing Resources
ABM structures your marketing efforts on key accounts to drive the most revenue. With such a narrow focus, these initiatives optimize your most valuable resources: time and money. By integrating your sales and marketing efforts, you can focus your marketing team on working directly with sales to target and develop content for key accounts and build a successful communication channel with sales. - Elyse Flynn Meyer, Prism Global Marketing Solutions
7. Shorter Sales Cycles
Through the use of account-based marketing, companies can enjoy a shorter sales cycle. By eliminating unqualified prospects early in the game, company-wide resources are preserved. Sales and marketing teams can focus their energies solely on the accounts that are most likely to convert and provide more specialized/personalized services to those prospects and accounts. - Goran Paunovic, ArtVersion Interactive Agency
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
8. Sales-Marketing Effort Synchronization
Account-based marketing provides for a more targeted and purposeful marketing initiative directly aligned with those of sales. In doing so, both departments keep the other accountable on their specific goals while identifying purpose-driven activities that directly address the unique needs of each account. This is an effective way to ensure that both time and dollars are spent wisely. - Ilissa Miller, IMiller Public Relations
9. Trust-Based Relationships
While clients are looking online for answers to solve a problem or reach a goal, ABM allows you to actively communicate how you can help them by providing quality information online via blogs, whitepapers, videos and social media. Clients are drawn to you for answers and when they find them, they learn to trust you. Once trust is built, a relationship is formed, and this, in turn, leads to sales. - Jessika Phillips, NOW Marketing Group, Inc.
10. Greater Opportunity To Be The Expert
ABM challenges you to think on a more personalized level and get to know your audience, rather than have a broad understanding of a market. By familiarizing yourself with a set audience and their intent, as well as conversion behaviors, you’re building an expertise that may not have existed otherwise. - Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad
11. A Way To Stand Out From The Crowd
Viewing each account as a user group of one enables extensive customization of a marketing approach. This customization enables any company selling a commoditized product or service to differentiate their work in a manner that can't be mimicked by competitors. ABM enables companies to create a direct dialogue around an offer that inherently excludes the rest of the selling competition. - Robbie Wright, Wellington Group Marketing & PR
12. Better Reporting
Although account-based marketing costs more to implement, the main advantage of using ABM is that there are far fewer metrics you’re keeping track of. This makes goal setting and analyzing reports a breeze in comparison to looking at a larger set of data pulling from all different types of accounts. ABM is the way to go when you’re sure of your target audience. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
13. Data-Driven Decisions To Align Sales And Marketing
There’s a lot to like about account-based marketing; it improves communication between sales and marketing teams. Marketing traditionally plays a numbers game while sales just wants a handful of qualified leads they believe will close. ABM provides the framework for sales and marketing to shorten sales cycles and maximize upsell/cross-selling opportunities by identifying key B2B stakeholders. - Jody Resnick, Trighton Interactive
14. The Right Target, The Right Leads
ABM is a revolutionary marketing methodology with a focus on scoring the right leads as opposed to many leads. Why spend half of your team's energy on low-level, low-profit clients, when even one deal with the right kind of lead can account for half your revenue? ABM targets only the accounts most likely to close, therefore the right leads generate more revenue that hundreds of the wrong leads combined. - Tami Joy Schlichter, Ajax Union
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bb0931d0ba7f203a1cfdfe0d7b68a787 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/25/cheaters-never-prosper-not-even-in-social-media/ | Cheaters Never Prosper -- Not Even In Social Media | Cheaters Never Prosper -- Not Even In Social Media
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I remember watching Lance Armstrong storm up a mountain during Stage 13 of the 2003 Tour de France only to get his handlebar caught on a spectator’s jacket and flip over. He untangled himself from the wreck, got back on his bike and ascended that mountain at a pace that seemed out of this world — and it turned out it was.
With nearly 3 billion social media users worldwide – growing at an astonishing rate of more than one million per day – social media influencers have a large megaphone for impacting the world. The top 10 most followed celebrities on Instagram — including Selena Gomez, Beyonce and Cristiano Ronaldo – collectively amass an estimated 954 million followers. That kind of power brings enormous responsibility.
Unfortunately, some folks on social networks have started to game the system for profit, primarily by buying fake accounts. An influencer can easily buy up to 100,000 more followers for a few hundred dollars on Instaboostgram, a small price to pay to significantly increase one’s rate and reel in premium brand sponsors.
With influencer marketing steadily becoming a multi-billion dollar industry, the temptation to cheat is real. It offers entirely new income streams with attractive global brands and lets young entrepreneurs raise their profiles on the world’s largest stage.
But the fallout is already tangible. According to a study of millions of Instagram accounts conducted by my company, Fohr Card, nearly 10 percent of influencers buy followers to inflate their numbers, meaning nearly $80 million could already be wasted in brand dollars this year. If what these early warning signs show is left unchecked, deceptive practices could ruin social media’s promise of becoming a respected and authentic brand activation channel.
Wake Up
No one likes being duped. When the US Anti-Doping Agency published 1,000 pages of damning evidence against Lance Armstrong in 2012, the athlete lost eight sponsors in one day -- including Nike, his longest supporter since 1996.
A recent study reported that as much as 20 percent of total digital ad spend was wasted last year. So advertisers heavily consider follower count as the best gauge for reach. But solely relying on this metric is risky without proper policing, and no one wants to be the brand that partners with a Lance Armstrong.
Luckily, our industry can self-regulate as more sophisticated technologies emerge to tackle tougher problems. By taking on a fervent commitment to preserving influencers’ integrity, we put ourselves in a prime position to rid the category of bad actors before it’s too late. Left unchecked, brands could begin to lose trust in influencers and potentially leave influencer marketing as an engagement channel and allocate their dollars elsewhere.
Here are a few additional solutions:
Raise The Bar
A commitment to authenticity is the first step to fighting fraud. It’s time to weed out the cheats and prop up the real stars who have organically built solid followings over the years through hard work and high-quality content.
The practice of buying fake followers needs to be condemned and stopped by brands, influencers and the agencies that service them. It’s imperative to raise public awareness of deceptive practices now so that stakeholders across the ecosystem know what to look out for and can incrementally address the issues. Dialogue around inauthentic accounts hasn’t gone mainstream but I see it becoming a robust topic in op-eds and conference panels in the future.
Empower Authentic, Business-Minded Influencers
Serious influencers run their blogs and social media accounts as the CEOs of revenue generating businesses. Therefore it’s critical for them to keep a sterling reputation among peers and potential partners and build the most efficient operations possible.
It takes a village to help influencers, and they should be empowered with the right tools and support. This means offering services and technology so they effectively respond to campaign requests, manage their schedules and network of partners, improve how they monitor and verify their follower base, and handle other core activities of their business. Without the proper infrastructure to support their growing business ventures, influencers might feel tempted to cut corners.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Pony Up
As influencer marketing becomes more sophisticated, brands will need to pay premiums for influencers with relevant, authentic followings. For example, a seasoned influencer with sizeable reach (at least 250,000 followers) and valuable target audiences (high-income millennials) can command up to $5,000 per Instagram post. This may sound like a significant chunk of change, but has anyone ever blinked an eye at million-dollar 30-second spots featuring the likes of Serena Williams or Stephen Curry? From my perspective, it's not about having to pay more for an authentic following, it's knowing the money that you are spending is going toward reaching real, engaged people, thus making that a better value.
Digital advertising has adopted premiums for rich media or native executions, behavioral targeting, top-tier media placements and other tactics in return for reach and performance. Pricing models in influencer marketing will equally advance over the next few years to integrate new strategies and that deliver additional value. There’s room for all — but we need to make sure that compensation is commensurate with the value influencers bring.
It wasn’t easy to clean up doping in cycling, but it was necessary. As a result, the sport is better and fairer. The same should be done for influencer marketing today. If cheating is left unchecked, it will collapse people's trust in the industry, and if that happens, money will flow slower or diminish altogether in favor of other emerging channels.
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c29fb08d6404e150468528a31db1bfb5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/25/seven-traits-to-look-for-when-selecting-an-agency/ | Seven Traits To Look For When Selecting An Agency | Seven Traits To Look For When Selecting An Agency
Hiring an agency is a good step for companies or brands: You get the chance to tap into the experience and skill of people who specialize in getting the word out about services like yours in a way that presents you in the best possible light. Picking an agency, though, can be tricky. You need a group that gels well with your culture, understands the audience you’re trying to reach and is on board with the goals you’ve set.
To help you narrow down the field a bit, seven members from Forbes Agency Council have some suggestions on important, but sometimes overlooked, traits you should be looking for in an agency. Traits that include the team’s passion and curiosity, as well as its ability to clearly define success. Here are some specifics:
Members from Forbes Agency Council share how to test for best fit when selecting an agency. Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Establish What You’re Looking For, First
The first step is to figure out what you as a business owner are looking for. There is a big difference between activities and results. Most agencies focus on activities (billable time) versus driving results. Do you need "tasks" done, or do you want your phone ringing off the hook with appointments? Make the decision and communicate it to your agency. - Michael Tasner, No Joke Marketing
2. Make Sure They’re Nimble
In looking for the ideal agency, businesses should place an importance upon the agency's ability to be nimble. Often times, being reactive and straying from the scope are necessary evils to a successful campaign. Agencies who utilize innovative technology solutions possess the tools to micro-target an audience in a more effective and expedient manner, which leads to one's ability to be deft.- Matt Anthes, SociallyMined
3. Look For Firms With Passionate Staff
Find an agency that hires passionate people for every desk. From CEO to junior talent — if passion is in the culture and blood of the organization, then you'll be in good hands when you hire them.-Jordon Meyer, Granular
4. Value Curiosity For The Insights It Brings
Curiosity above all: If an agency isn't insatiably curious about the inner workings of your business and your markets, move on. Any agency can give you a best-practices approach, but only the most curious deliver that unexpected insight that, when revealed, feels like magic.- Justin Daab, Magnani Continuum Marketing
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
5. Establish How Success Is Bilaterally Measured
Culture and capability fit is, of course, vital. Howe, er it astounds me that the question of "how" success is bilaterally measured, prior to engagement, is so often overlooked. Without such measurement, not only will there never becelebratedn, which is a vital part of any agency-client relationship, but there will not be cohesion regarding expectation levels.- Peter Bray, Bray & Co
6. Ensure Your Agency Has Grit
Grit is the most overlooked, and arguably most important, trait in selecting an agency. Clients often look to fall in love with the agency they end up selecting. That's fine; they should. But an agency's ability to constructively work through the changes and challenges that inevitably occur in the after the pitch is what makes for successful work, and a valued client-agency relationship in the end.- Ryan Mason, Closerlook, Inc.
7. Study Organizational Culture: What You See Is What You Get
Organizational culture is the primary mechanism that delivers customer experience. Essentially understand that what the agency's culture is, is what the agency will deliver.- Peter Ladka, GeekHive
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af8d999eb704d3030182ee8c1863665e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/29/baby-boomers-are-selling-their-businesses-to-millennial-entrepreneurs-and-its-a-brilliant-idea/ | Baby Boomers Are Selling Their Businesses To Millennial Entrepreneurs, And It's A Brilliant Idea | Baby Boomers Are Selling Their Businesses To Millennial Entrepreneurs, And It's A Brilliant Idea
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A few months ago, I opened my local newspaper to a complete surprise. My electrician, Gary Thompson, who had built up a well-respected business over 65 years, was shutting everything down and retiring. No one was taking over his business.
Just like Gary’s other customers, I now needed to find a new electrician for my properties. As I was calling up potential vendors, I couldn’t help but think that this could have been an incredible business opportunity for a motivated millennial entrepreneur! To have all of the equipment, the buildings, the name, the licenses – all of those things were right there for the picking at a huge discount.
Gary is not the only one in this position. Experts estimate that millions of baby boomer entrepreneurs will close or sell their business in the next decade. A 2016 survey of small businesses in the United States indicated that 72% of small business owners don’t have an exit plan and 54% intend to leave in 10 years. We have a succession crisis.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. A few months ago, a local furniture store in my town was closing because the owner had worked for 45 years and couldn't find anyone to take over. A young couple found out about the opportunity through Facebook, purchased it and kept its iconic name while revamping the business.
Instead of just letting businesses close down, we need more millennials who can identify these opportunities, buy into them and grow them. These baby boomer businesses often have no debt, loyal customers and tested and proven business models. The person selling the business is also often willing to stay on as an advisor since they spent their entire life building that business. On top of that, you might not even need to go to the bank, as the seller may be the one financing the sale of the business.
All in all, it’s a win-win opportunity: You can hit the ground running as an entrepreneur, and a baby boomer can retire with an ongoing annuity.
But how do you find a baby boomer willing to sell their business when many of these businesses aren’t listed publicly? Here are seven ideas to help you get started.
1. Local Chamber Of Commerce
Bridging the community and businesses, the local Chamber of Commerce offers a wealth of information and contacts. News of any possible sell-off spreads quickly among business circles, especially the local chamber. The chamber will most likely also have local business brokers who you can talk with or will even offer business brokerage services.
2. Local CPAs
By virtue of handling tax returns and financial statements, a chartered professional accountant (CPA) is a trusted advisor to many businesses. As such, a CPA may be aware of a business that's going through a transition, such as a divorce, health issue, change in goals, and so on. Having access to the client’s business information, the accountant can likely provide a fair business evaluation as well. Make sure the CPA has the proper certifications and is able to provide unbiased, impartial advice about the business’s financial condition.
3. Local Real Estate Brokers
The most direct signal of a business for sale is if its real estate is up for sale. Real estate brokers are a good source of leads in this regard. They would be motivated to help you close the sale since that also means they keep receiving a rental payment or get a sales commission. Even better, look for a real estate broker who has business brokering experience so that they can help you assess if the business is a good deal.
4. Local Community Bankers
Building relationships with local banks and mortgage companies, especially community banks, is an excellent way to identify and build a deal flow. Institutions with local control have a vested interest in seeing the community succeed. They can often customize loan terms, accept greater risks and, in the case of a foreclosure, see that failed assets transfer to new investor/owner as quickly as possible. When you have a relationship with your local banker and mortgage company, you can be first in line to buy a distressed asset at a deep discount, fast.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) statistics show that community banks lent 43% of small business loans in 2016. When talking with a local bank, see if they have Small Business Administration (SBA) loans which have a lower down payment.
5. Business Brokers
If buying a business sounds too complicated, work with a professional. Business brokers specialize in facilitating the buying and selling of businesses. Filter based on track record and location. The largest business-for-sale site, BizBuySell.com, has a broker directory that you can use to search for local brokers.
6. Go Directly To The Owner
Before considering a deeper partnership, apprentice or intern under the owner first. This is the best way to get to know the owner and learn more about the owner's goals. In our town, a world-famous pizza maker trained a high school student employee at his pizzeria. At 29 years old, that former employee now owns the business with seller financing.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
7. Craigslist Or eBay
Believe it or not, people also advertise businesses for sale on Craigslist and eBay. While you need to make sure you’re not walking into a scam, there are legitimate businesses that you can buy at a modest price.
To avoid scams, never exchange any money or accept terms without doing due diligence. Start with an on-site inspection, then request access to review any deeds, titles or records proving ownership of unencumbered assets prior to purchase. Most states offer the ability to do a free Uniform Commercial Code check online, which will help you determine if any business or individual has any outstanding leases, liens or unpaid taxes.
Once you confirm that the business is legitimate, that's when you can assess if it’s a worthwhile opportunity. The simple question to ask is: Is it making a profit? If yes, why do the owners want to sell it? If no, why is that the case?
Start Now
Buying successful baby boomer businesses is a great opportunity for millennial entrepreneurs. If you know where to look, there are businesses you can buy in with no money down and potentially generate a revenue immediately with little risk.
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160d304d58b0aecd67dfd14b8ca01c36 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/02/five-simple-skills-you-need-for-a-career-in-digital-marketing/ | Five Simple Skills You Need For A Career In Digital Marketing | Five Simple Skills You Need For A Career In Digital Marketing
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As the CEO of a marketing company actively hiring, I've had to inform many people that they have not been selected for an interview. Every “rejection” email I’ve sent has forced me to identify what it really takes to succeed in digital marketing.
It's been quite the process to figure out what success looks like in digital marketing, as I first had to figure out what success meant for myself. I started my digital marketing career by launching my first WordPress website more than a decade ago. While working as a financial auditor and social media manager, I learned about digital marketing but really refined my skills as a digital marketing freelancer. After getting my freelance site to rank on the first page of Google for the term, "digital marketing company," I ended up hiring people to officially form a company.
Following several hiring and firing experiences, I'm now confident about which skills are necessary for a digital marketing career. Here are those skills.
1. A Passion For Writing
The word "wrote" should consistently reappear on a resume when describing the previous work experiences of a digital marketer: Wrote SEO optimized blog posts. Wrote website copy. Wrote social media status updates. Wrote email campaigns. You get the idea. Digital marketers need to be comfortable writing an SEO optimized blog post, a client recap email and a witty status update.
Action Item: Write “x” number of words each day; the only way to improve your writing skills is to write frequently.
After some practice, showcase your writing skills through a customized cover letter. Only 10% of applications we receive have a cover letter. If you really want to stand out on an application, include a writing sample expressing why you are interested in the company.
2. A Love Of Numbers
Data drives decisions and actions within digital marketing. That's why I look for three common words in the description of previous digital marketing positions: optimize, customize, manage.
Interpreting analytical data enables a digital marketer to optimize an SEO blog post, customize a MailChimp email or manage a Google AdWords campaign. Spreadsheets, percentages and trends are your friends.
Action Item: At a minimum, get familiar with Google Analytics. Get access to an account with data to analyze. If you can’t get access, get certified through Google’s course. Then highlight any love for numbers in your skills, certifications or work experiences on a resume.
3. Communication Skills
There is a clear correlation between communication and success within a digital marketing career. Just look at two of our most important objectives in our digital marketing positions:
• Interface and communicate consistently with clients.
• Ensure marketing message clarity (in other words, target audiences “get” what you’re selling).
If you are a great communicator, you’ll be a great digital marketer.
Action Item: Pick a message and a medium, then communicate through that medium. That’s the formula. The ways to follow that formula to improve communication are endless. Create a Slideshare presentation. Give a speech. Write a post on Medium. Run a marketing campaign. Tweet. Pick up a phone and talk to a business owner. Blind email someone you’ve always wanted to meet. Then apply your communication style and approach to everything you do – including your resume and interview experiences.
4. Creativity
Digital marketing requires you to take a product or service and talk about that product or service in a unique way about 150 times a year (assuming you have three social media posts per week, the average number that we post on behalf of clients). Digital marketers need to look at a product or service and see what others don’t see. For a lack of a better term, you need to be creative.
Action Item: Pick any item and identify 10 different things you can do with that item. Use "duct tape" if you need a starting point. Then look at the company you’d like to work at. Identify three things that are unique about the company. Three things that could be improved. Three things that you could help with. Communicate those learnings to the company to express your creativity.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
5. Time Management
The internet is a distracting place: Email. Notifications. Pop-ups. GIFs. Ads. Managing time to achieve results is critical for a digital marketer.
Action Item: Identify six things you will accomplish each day. Assign a time window to achieve each task. Then accomplish those things without getting distracted. Perfect time management and you’ll get results – whether it be a marketing campaign or launching a digital marketing career.
These skills are simple. But like any skills, they take time to accumulate. Prioritize the perfection of these skills and they'll accelerate your career journey within digital marketing.
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ee11128a1b9ceb6291cc6f29903239d2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/03/why-email-is-the-locomotive-of-digital-marketing/ | Why Email Is The Locomotive Of Digital Marketing | Why Email Is The Locomotive Of Digital Marketing
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Email marketing reminds me a lot of the rail industry. The first railroad was a steam locomotive in Wales over 200 years ago. The automobile did not kill it nor did airline travel. Did they alter how it was used? Absolutely and, in some cases, forced innovation and change in their industry and by its leading players. Today, the rail industry is an increasingly dynamic industry that supports 1.5 million U.S. jobs and contributed almost $274 billion to the U.S. economy in 2014, according to a study from Towson University’s Regional Economic Studies Institute. The rail industry is a cornerstone of how business gets done around the world, yet it operates in a largely unglamorous and behind-the-scenes fashion.
Connecting the dots, email is the engine of digital marketing: toiling behind the scenes, bringing essential information to customers and prospects across the world from brands they are interested in working with. One of the oldest digital channels, email has long had a reputation issue tied to scammers using email for phishing. However, I believe that turned the corner a few years ago and now email is back as one of the most important (if not the most important) weapons in the digital arsenal.
As the CEO of an email marketing agency with almost 20 years of experience in this industry, I have seen it all – including the good, bad and ugly. Let’s look at why email’s star continues to rise and why it will remain the hub of digital marketing.
• Permission still trumps reach. Many marketers have mistakenly looked at email as a media buy or a list. However, the reality is it is your most valuable piece of owned media. These subscribers (some that are likely customers and some that are not) provided permission to be marketed to when they opted into your email program; it doesn’t get much better than individuals inviting you to send them offers and information. Whether your list is 10,000 or 10 million, that inbox is incredibly valuable real estate.
• Email is the ROI king. Email marketing remains the best digital marketing channel for return on investment, according to the Data & Marketing Association’s 2017 study [registration required]. The study also found that email marketing was the top profit generator. This is no surprise to many people who have leveraged email as the jet fuel for their sales.
• Email is the hub of the customer journey. "Customer journey" is a phrase many CMOs are obsessing over. Every transformational enterprise is evaluating the role of digital for its entire buying process, whether you sell school buses or HVAC systems. One common thread to an often-complex roadmap is that email is the hub of both the marketing efforts and the customer’s touchpoints with the brand. Therefore, if your email program is weak, your customer journey will come up short. No matter how sophisticated or well built your customer journey is on the tech stack side, insufficient email integration can cause you significant losses in revenue.
• Mobile makes email omnipresent. According to Litmus, 54% of all email opens are on a mobile device. This should not be news to you, but most email programs are still under-investing in ensuring their emails make it past the typical recipient’s ongoing email. Because consumers are always checking email, the window to get your message read is large. The screen time to engage the end user, however, is tight. It’s important to take full advantage of email’s pervasiveness as a 24/7 marketing channel.
• There’s so much upside. Only 40% of marketers described their program as best in class, according to Ascend2’s 2017 State of Email Marketing report. That means most marketers are leaving a tremendous amount of money on the table. The reality is that you can be average at best — or maybe even below average — and still see dividends from your email even while eroding your relationships with your customers. The message here: You can terrible at email marketing and still see some results, or you can be great at email and see a windfall.
• Inbox innovation is on the rise. This is perhaps the most exciting part of the email industry. As showcased at EiQ (the intelligent email gathering my company developed and manages) email is ripe for innovation and there are too many things to list happening for the first time in the inbox. Tactics, like capturing preferences in the email and enabling transactions without leaving the inbox, are transforming what you can do with an email.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Other low hanging fruit to harvest in the inbox:
• Get new customers. Email’s cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is the lowest of all media types evaluated in the report at $10.32, according to the DMA. Don’t use email exclusively for retention and engagement.
• Automate and scale. Technology allows for many things likely done manually to be automated so that you can scale the program faster. Whether it's blog content fueling newsletters or a progressive welcome series, leave the manual emails behind and move to a program where technology does the heavy lifting and you can optimize and iterate.
• Dynamic vendor ecosystem. The email industry used to be a bit boring and all about the send. Now, it is all about enhancing the inbox experience. Companies like Movable Ink, Persado and BriteVerify are leading the pack with cool new ways to enhance the subscriber experience and stretch your ROI even further.
It’s as exciting as ever to be in the marketing world, but don’t let email be an unsung hero in the corner. Knock down the silos and unleash the power that sits inside the inbox. Your customers and CFO will thank you later.
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d7c6b31b4d13930fdf3f9e4ffd5afd84 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/09/how-graphic-design-is-evolving/?sh=6e34c87c1ff3 | How Graphic Design Is Evolving | How Graphic Design Is Evolving
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Twenty-some years ago, we found ourselves in awe of how computers and the internet changed so many aspects of life. Just when we thought technology had reached its peak, we were also blithely aware that more was going to unfold.
Today we can only look back at the impact the digital revolution made on how we communicate, the way we work, and even the way we socialize. Graphic design is no exception to this change. Technology now plays a major role in the creation of digital work available in many fields. Portfolio design, presentations, signage, logos, websites, animations and even architectural production have all traveled far since the dawn of the digital revolution.
Appreciation In Graphic Design Investment
Gone are the days when graphic design was solely focused on the obvious graphic elements of a product like its packaging and marketing materials. Technology has enabled brands to have more exposure online, allowing businesses to interact with their clients and consumers, which has also allowed us the ability to review and analyze real-time data to measure and see what sources are driving more traffic. We can actually analyze digitally the type of content and graphics that are getting more media impressions, more likes, more saves and, ultimately, are more appealing and converting to an audience.
With the internet as the major source of marketing and exposure, companies have invested so much ion content creation for customer communication, analytics and real-time feedback from consumers. Companies like Ikea and Johnson & Johnson employ the world’s most sophisticated marketing teams to spread their message and gain analytics across digital media globally. For example, according to the Digital Agency Network, Ikea launched a virtual-reality kitchen experience that brings you a life-size virtual IKEA kitchen. The pilot program is aimed at gathering feedback and suggestions from users. This is a great example of how companies are using analytics and customer feedback to improve their content marketing strategies and product offerings.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Content marketing and the evolution of graphic design for digital marketing is continuing to rise. One industry that is seeing the impact of this growth is the hotel industry. It is the amalgamation of creativity, technology and the right graphic and web design tools that made some businesses in the hospitality industry stand out from the rest. On paper, the last two years have been great for the hospitality industry, with digital marketing playing a huge role in generating revenue. Graphic design and quality content are influencing this, as content remains king. Hospitality giants like Virgin Hotels and Marriot are continuing to invest in modern marketing to boost occupancy rates and get heads in beds. Virgin Hotels has seen an uptick in online bookings and is constantly A/B testing the content tiles on its website home page. These hotel brands can effectively generate engagement by presenting eye-catching graphics in online media to gain a competitive edge over others. Today’s hotel sites are no longer solely for contacts and reservations but also serve as a portfolio of the hotel’s interior design and amenities to gain critiques.
The visual power of graphic design is even inspiring companies to combine useful tools for the office. For example, Peerhatch, one of our clients, employs graphic designs to create customizable wall surfaces. With its collection of images that companies and workspaces can customize to fit their own spaces, they are able to create stunning visuals for any work area that lends itself to brainstorming, allowing employees a collaborative environment where all ideas feel welcomed. We have helped Peerhatch develop an effective communications strategy that incorporates modern content marketing campaigns to expand their exposure to its target market.
Connectivity And The Progression Of The Graphic Design Career
Along with the improvement of digital graphics technology, careers in this field have also evolved. Graphic designers are no longer glued to their workstations. With graphic design software now readily available on laptops and mobile phones through apps, it has made it much easier for them to work anywhere in the world, which also makes it easier for companies to outsource talent without having to hire in-house.
In 2016, Adobe made a whopping $5.85 billion compared to its $4.8 billion 2015 revenue. This figure represents what the company earned from its subscriptions that seamlessly connect Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator through its Creative Cloud. Graphic designers can now work anywhere they want and still be connected with their offices. This occasion led to the rise of freelance designers now working in their respective creative spaces anywhere in the world, which some companies have realized is much more cost-efficient than hiring someone in-house. Take Upwork, for instance. This company built its entire existence on the use of creative freelancers where companies, sole proprietors or individuals can source freelance talent by reviewing resumes, portfolios and reviews from clients in a matter of minutes.
It goes without saying that technology and creativity never take on a steady form, so it is inevitable for graphic design to change as we move forward. The rise of content marketing and good design is going to continue to make an impact on businesses' bottom-line revenue. Graphic design will always be a necessary tool for artistic, economic, marketing and architectural expression and will continue to evolve as a result of advances in technology and online mediums.
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0a6559ca8693ae12be30bb3a299ae0b4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/13/four-key-things-you-need-to-understand-about-the-social-economy/ | Four Key Things You Need To Understand About The Social Economy | Four Key Things You Need To Understand About The Social Economy
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Today, the social economy embodies a powerhouse of influence and value for reaching a wide range of potential customers. While companies like Uber and Lyft benefit off of peer-to-peer transactions directly, the social economy doesn’t always mean dollars and cents. And in today’s social-driven world, social influence itself serves as a form of currency.
Understanding the social economy is a necessity for marketing purposes, as younger generations value the opinion of influencers over traditional advertising methods when making purchasing decisions. In fact, a new study found that, when making shopping decisions, customers trust influencers 94% more than family or friends. This shows the growing importance of utilizing several forms of social interaction in marketing strategies.
The power of the social economy continues to grow as technology creates opportunities to connect with millions of people and facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. With that said, there are some ways to utilize the social economy to improve your business or social influence. Here are a few things you must understand:
1. Whether you like it or not, you’re a member of the social economy.
The social economy has existed for as long as people could communicate. There has always been a value to social interaction. However, it’s not always quantifiable in traditional monetary standards. For example, a popular person has a lot of social value stemming from all the connections they have made, not just on social media. They might have established these connections from in-person networking or their presence at an event or social gathering. Social platforms like Facebook or Snapchat help standardize and quantify the social economy, making it easier than ever to measure the value of an individual’s social influence. Nonetheless, you have social influence online and off.
To increase your influence within the social economy, find out why people engage with your social profile and focus on it. Just like any business, you want to understand why people buy your product and what differentiates you from others doing the same thing. Likewise, knowing why people engage in your content will help you craft your social unique selling proposition.
2. There’s a functional currency for the social economy.
Like any economy, the social economy has a currency that all members transact in, often referred to as social currency. How social currency is defined differs significantly based on who you ask. Simply put, social currency equates to the attention you get from others and consists of the number of active social connections you may have at any given time. Attention comes in the form of any social interaction such as views, likes, comments, shares and anything else where another user has invested time engaging with the information you’ve shared. Social media platforms do a fantastic job of quantifying the amount of interaction and influence a particular profile or piece of content has, which ultimately shows its value.
Understanding social currency is key to being able to convert it into real currency. Figure out what drives social currency for you and create a cohesive funnel for converting that into sales or to drive key business KPIs. For example, a finance company can share advice around personal finance, like tips on securing a mortgage or retirement planning. Users engage in that content and the finance company can leverage that engagement to sell its financial services. Effectively, the content is a marketing tool for the company to get users in the door.
3. Content is the driving commodity of the social economy.
As mentioned, social currency is generated when users view or interact with another user. But, to do so, they need something to interact with. From a social media perspective, that something is content. The quality of content, combined with its reach, is what drives interaction. Social media influencers are perfecting this art and making impressive amounts of money in return. You can think of the different types and formats of content as the commodities that drive the social economy.
Create content that people are demanding and enjoy engaging with. Currently, video content is king -- and story content, such as Instagram and Snapchat stories, is a hot topic. Figure out how to use new content forms to tell your story. Don’t be afraid to try new forms of content as they emerge, as doing so before the rest of the market catches up can pay dividends by quickly boosting your growth and fame. Focus on quality content and make your promotional content entertaining. Lastly, always ask yourself if you're giving value to the consumer. Following these steps will ensure that you’re creating shareworthy content and driving social value.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
4. Influencers are the industrialists of the social economy.
"Influencers" and "influencer marketing" have become huge buzzwords in the advertising industry over the past three years. Some thought it was a fad and would pass, but others like myself believe that influencers and influencer marketing is here to stay. Why? Because in the social economy, like any economy, there’s money to be made and competition to accumulate more wealth than others. In this case, influencers are the elite of the social economy. Through the merit of their content, they have accumulated lots of social currency and, like any good investor, leveraged that initial currency to gain more.
Influencers focus on providing content that's in demand, and they control a particular market share of that type of content. Like any business, some influencers concentrate on producing content for a specific target market while others strive to provide content on more general topics. Either way, influencers are the elite of the social economy, and when they advertise, they convert their social currency into actual currency.
In sum, the social economy operates on the same principles of any market and is made up of content creators and content consumers, with many of us being both. The market favors first/early movers who can take advantage of a white space via a differentiated offering with high quality and that constantly addresses the demands of the market.
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de6ef7da3fc139a33f179f9f4161fcb0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/17/15-things-to-keep-in-mind-when-designing-your-marketing-plan-for-the-holidays/ | 15 Things To Keep In Mind When Designing Your Marketing Plan For The Holidays | 15 Things To Keep In Mind When Designing Your Marketing Plan For The Holidays
The holidays are just around the corner, which means so is shopping season. With spending projected to reach $923.15 billion, according to an eMarketer report, getting in on the revenue share is a must for all businesses ahead of the holiday season.
While the holidays are notoriously a “big spend” time of year, marketing to these consumers needs to be strategic, as you are competing with more advertising than usual.
Below, 15 Forbes Agency Council members discuss some of the most important things your brand should keep in mind when planning your marketing campaign during the holiday season. Here is what they had to say:
Plan ahead for the holiday season. All photos courtesy of individual Forbes Agency Council members.
1. Your Campaign Should Reflect Today's Realities
In addition to devastation, the recent hurricanes have also brought with them an opportunity for brands to emerge heroically. This holiday season, advertising needs to be about re-positioning the products and services we all want and need. Don't sell a Mercedes, offer an escape. Don't pitch insurance, sell protection. A cell phone shouldn't be about entertainment, it should be about connectivity. - Anthony Trimino, TRAFFIK
2. Free Shipping Is Essential
In a world dominated by Amazon, it’s incredibly difficult for companies to compete for holiday shopping dollars if they don’t offer free shipping. - Brian Sullivan, Sullivan Branding
3. You Will Likely Be Ignored
Unless you figure out what's valuable to your audience and offer a trade for their attention, you will be completely drowned out in the holiday chaos. Start with what you have that makes your target audience's lives better and do it from their perspective. Your campaign should flow out of that. - Joanne Kim, Marcus Thomas LLC
4. Continual Improvement Is Key
Optimize and enhance your campaigns with data. Avoid major changes, pivots or replatforming efforts right before the holiday season. You want enough runway to be completely stable when the rush of new business hits the checkout page. Look at last year's data and optimize your approach to this year. - Andy Etemadi, EYEMAGINE
5. Emotional Connection Generates Success
Most consumers make decisions based off of emotions. It is important for brands to understand how to create a customer connection, especially for the holidays, since it is a season where friendship, love, happiness and many other emotions are shared. By creating an emotional connection to the brand, success is generated. - Alex Quin, UADV
6. Mobile Transactions Are Constantly On The Rise
Don’t let mobile be an afterthought. Mobile transactions have increased year-over-year and will continue to rise. Stay in front of your audience with smart mobile ad campaigns and make sure your ads deep link so that the experience is easy, streamlined and converts. If your company has a new app, consider adding a loyalty program to drive adoption, and tap into the lucrative mobile market. - Katie Jansen, AppLovin
7. Influencers Create Nag Factor
Brands that want their product to be on Santa's most-requested list must remember that influencers make a huge difference in generating "nag factor." In a cluttered holiday season, shoppers take influencer and media recommendations seriously. Leverage and empower a communications agency influencer team to build influencer buzz and make sure your products are generating lots of buzz and demand. - Daryl McCullough, Citizen Relations
8. Now Is The Time To Show Off Your Personality
For business-to-business brands, this is the time of year to have a little fun, and it's a great opportunity to introduce new technologies, such as augmented reality or virtual reality. If you're going to spend the money on holiday cards or gifts, you might as well create something truly engaging that reminds people who you are. - Sarah Mannone, Trekk
9. Sincerity Is Paramount
The contentious divide in this country is deep and widening daily. Authentic brand communications backed by sincere attempts to heal will resonate in the spirit of the holidays. The key is to tastefully spotlight the humanness that unites us versus the negativity and hate that divide us. - Stephen Rosa, (add)ventures
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10. Image Is Everything
Image is everything. Be sure that your campaign has a variety of original, branded photos that coincide with your marketing campaign. These should be used on various social channels, on your website and in advertising associated with the campaign. - Laura Cole, Vivial
11. Starting Early Is Key
Brands need to know to start early! More than 40% of consumers report starting holiday shopping before Halloween and nearly 40% of women report completing their holiday shopping before Nov. 1. Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the busiest shopping days, consumers are making their purchasing decisions well in advance, and are waiting for the biggest savings on those critical days. - Steve Dinelli, Blackbird Garage
12. Employee Involvement Is A Powerful Factor
It’s important to involve your employees in your holiday marketing campaign from the get-go. Some companies feature their staff in commercials, while others simply encourage their employees to share the campaign on their social networks. However you choose to include your team, don’t ignore the power they have in helping make the campaign successful. - Megan Shroy, Approach Marketing
13. Your Audience Is Looking For Easy
Along with the benefits of your product, let your audience know what's convenient about ordering it, returning it, assembling it, even paying for it. Your holiday campaign will have to compete with a lot of other messages, and it'll run during a hectic time of year. Make purchasing your product more attractive to busy, distracted consumers by showcasing your quick and easy buying process. - Scott Greggory, MadAveGroup
14. You Need To Tell A Cohesive Story
Make sure you are telling a cohesive story starting from consumers’ research phase (September/October), through the purchase phase when they are actually buying gifts (November/December). Sequential messaging strategies are paramount in achieving this and should be considered for any brand’s campaign. - Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad
15. Too Many Emails Hurt Your Brand
Resist the temptation of sending too many emails. Email – because it is perceived as inexpensive, efficient and most importantly, it works – is often over-leveraged during the holidays. Retailers will often send as many three messages a day and while this may drive short-term sales, it likely is hurting your brand in the long run and impacting the lifetime value of your customers. - Simms Jenkins, BrightWave
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c47c0fdfa4746bcd0bb0d5e61a3dfca5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/17/everything-taylor-swift-can-teach-us-about-marketing-in-2017/ | Everything Taylor Swift Can Teach Us About Marketing In 2017 | Everything Taylor Swift Can Teach Us About Marketing In 2017
Taylor Swift is thought leadership’s current hot take. Even with her latest album two months away, every move is a teaching moment for pretty much everything you can think of. According to a variety of writers, she can teach business, show what capitalism can make you do and, as early as 2014, she was teaching master classes in marketing.
So what can the biggest star in music teach marketers about how to reach fans and audiences and how to maximize the sales funnel?
Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 2017 DIRECTV NOW Super Saturday Night Concert at Club Nomadic on February 4, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for DIRECTV)
Step 1: Start with a brand makeover and create a new storyline.
Swift's marketing playbook feels like she's borrowing heavily from the absurd showmanship of professional wrestling. Like WWE’s Vince McMahon's -- part CEO, part evil villain character (the ultimate “jerk boss” persona) -- it is nearly impossible to tell what’s real anymore. Swift's new album is the revenge cosplay of professional wrestling. A tailor-made (pun intended), post-reality TV character in an Instagramable world.
Her power is creating drama that gives fans access to her celebrity feuds with A-listers like Kanye West and Katy Perry, the revolving door of relationships and breakups and her ever-changing group of friends in her inner girl squad. Swift takes aim at every single one of them Micheal Corleone style, with not-so-subtle hints in her lyrics and video -- a true snake in sheep's clothing.
The all-American Swift has essentially turned heel -- she has become the villain. Going to the dark side works just like it did when Hulk Hogan joined NWO. For Hogan that meant turning his back on 15 years of good-guy branding and his fan base to become the ultimate bad guy, reviving his brand once again. Everyone likes to root for the big bad guy, so Swift, like Hogan, can morph from "superhero act to become a conniving, cowardly villain" that fans like even more.
The key for brands – and this might sound crazy – is that you don't always have to be the goody-two-shoes. There are times when you could push the boundary of what people think of your brand, provided they are in on the joke. And they'll like you even more when you make the turn back to the good guy.
Step 2: Unleash the teasers.
To make this turn, everything must change. In an instant, Swift proved that old social content isn’t worth anything when rebranding; without warning, she deleted every post and comment and went completely dark online one day in August.
After clearing her social media sites, Swift relaunched with snake videos, which have millions of views and whipped her fans into a frenzy. Every subsequent post encouraged the chatter of fans, enemies and members of the media explaining that a new album was imminent.
All these pieces ensured that when Taylor’s first single, "Look What You Made Me Do," was finally released in early September, it was able to join the list of summer hits despite not being around for any actual summer listening. It cracked Youtube’s coveted top 20 and the 360,000,000 plus views since August 27 impressively powered it onto the list before the Labor Day cut off.
Brands are already getting into the teaser game, but mostly with teasers for things fans don't always want. Fans want and social channels demand content and there is no better way to get value out of your content than stretching the storytelling out in small pieces. It's like throwing chum in the water.
Step 3: Shock and awe them across mediums all the time.
The end game of the Swift roll-out strategy is like a page out of Little Finger’s playbook on Game of Thrones and the life or death battle for the Iron Throne: “Fight every battle everywhere, always, in your mind. Everyone is your enemy, everyone is your friend. Every possible series of events is happening all at once."
Cut to Swift’s total marketing domination. In recent years, she has forged marketing relationships with brands like Diet Coke, Apple and Keds. But this time, in the weeks since her new single dropped, she brought new meaning to the saying, “look what you made me do.” Her new single has enabled her to sign lucrative deals.
There’s the UPS tie-in where Taylor Swift Delivery roams the streets encouraging fans to take selfies to win prizes. There's the Taylor who can pretty much do any AT&T spot – part of a multi-year deal that apparently includes a 24-hour Taylor Swift channel. To ramp up the distribution, major TV networks are leaning heavily on the new single to promote both ABC’s primetime dramas and College football at ESPN. There are the exclusive album version and magazines at Target, and finally, her own platform, The Swift Life, is an app launching later this year for her fanbase.
To get your message out you have to go beyond the micro-influencers and find the “super social influencer,” a new model of pure media domination that only celebrities like Swift can reach.
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Step 4: Make them pay for it.
Once you’ve whipped your fan base into a complete frenzy, get them to pay for it. That means quantifying your fan base and using the data to squeeze every drop of revenue out of them. Swift likely has an entire data division crunching numbers and slicing and dicing her fans into micro-groups to maximize revenue.
Working with TicketMaster, Swift created the “Taylor Swift TIX powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan” program, connecting the dots between purchases of merchandise and album pre-orders and unlocking a virtual line for concert tickets. Translation: You buy the album and a t-shirt and you get in the "line" for the chance at tickets.
Right on cue, music industry commentator Bob Lefsetz wrote, “It’s almost a Ponzi scheme, but in this case you buy stuff you don’t really want for a chance to get what you do want, tickets, but you can’t get.” For brands, that means connect every item in your purchase funnel so you alone can play winner and losers with your fans.
In 2017, this is how you plan a successful launch. Erase the boundaries between reality and fiction and create a living breathing storyline for fans and enemies to play within.
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233f24a22eb6186178f7333d9bbfe61f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/18/four-overlooked-pr-opportunities-to-generate-a-ton-of-free-publicity/ | Four Overlooked PR Opportunities To Generate A Ton Of Free Publicity | Four Overlooked PR Opportunities To Generate A Ton Of Free Publicity
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Planning to pitch a story on your business to a journalist in your field? You’re certainly not alone, and you may find it difficult to get any responses, especially if you have your sights set on mainstream media coverage.
Public relations people outnumber news reporters five-to-one in the United States, as of 2015. To put this in perspective, PR people only outnumbered reporters by two-to-one in 2000.
What this means is that the average reporter’s inbox has gotten far more crowded, and many receive hundreds of PR pitches per day. As a PR pro turned freelance reporter, I can attest to this phenomenon firsthand. Despite writing primarily about business and PR, I get hundreds of pitches every day on topics ranging from education reform to politics, most of which I never bother to open.
Whether you’re a PR agency looking to boost your own visibility or are going after sought-after media coverage for a client instead of beating your head against the wall, consider these four overlooked PR opportunities. These tactics are less widely used -- and best of all, they’re free.
1. Podcasts And Webinars
There are many popular podcasts and webinars for just about every niche available, and guest starring on one could put your name and business’s name in front of thousands of potential customers. Some podcasts have hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers. Webinars are also a popular way to learn new things, which means they can be just as beneficial to your business.
To get on a podcast or webinar, you’ll need to pitch yourself to hosts in your industry. Understanding how to develop a good pitch is key here. What’s most important is demonstrating to the host how you’d benefit them and their audience as well as building rapport before you reach out. It also helps to mention a previous show or webinar the host has done and weigh in with your thoughts so they can get a feel for your industry expertise.
2. Bylines
Instead of just asking for reporters to write about you, try seeking out opportunities to share your expertise by writing under your own byline. Many sites will allow you to contribute articles and include links to your site either in the article, in your byline or both.
It ends up being a mutually beneficial arrangement: The site gets free content from an expert source and you get your name and your business’s name out there, along with backlinks that can help your search engine optimization (SEO).
The key to winning the byline game is to offer truly valuable content to the editor or site owner instead of just thinking about what’s in it for you. The best bylines are ones that leave the sales pitch at the door and instead offer free, valuable information that pertains to the industry you’re writing about.
Another benefit of contributing content under your own byline is that it positions you as an expert within your industry and helps with branding. Although it’s a good idea to start with sites that are closely related to your industry, don’t be afraid to branch out if the opportunity is there.
For example, let’s say you have an interior design business. You may start by pitching to interior design blogs, but if you found a popular health and wellness blog that you wanted to get on, you could pitch them an article about how a home’s design influences health and productivity.
3. Local Events
It’s so common to connect with people via email and social media that people often forget about the power of in-person meetings. When you meet a reporter or blogger in the flesh, you have an opportunity to build a stronger connection than you could if you were just communicating electronically.
Local events are an excellent way to link up with people in your industry who can help you win the PR game. Find industry events such as tradeshows, fundraisers and seminars in your local area, and you’ll have a great opportunity to network with reporters, bloggers and industry influencers.
The key here is also to avoid the sales pitch, get to know them on a personal level, and weigh in with industry commentary so you can position yourself as an expert. If you do this the right way and follow up with an email after the event, your name will be top of mind next time the influencer or reporter is writing about something in your industry.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
4. Strategic Partnerships/Influencer Marketing
PR isn’t just about getting news coverage anymore. There’s a big social component to it, and depending on who you’re targeting, a social media post that promotes your brand can be far more effective than a press release ever would.
If there’s an influencer on Instagram or Facebook who has plenty of followers in your target audience, they can help you gain more visibility among that demographic.
This is another situation where you’ll need a good pitch to convince an influencer to partner with you. Although the most popular influencers typically charge for promotional posts, there are also those who will promote you for free if you send them your product or those who will consider partnering if you can think of a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The trick to winning influencer marketing comes down to engagement and strategy. Step away from the "what’s in it for me?" mentality and start thinking from a collaborative perspective. Winning pitches present opportunities where everyone wins.
PR opportunities truly are a dime a dozen if you’re in tune and engaged with your industry and willing to step outside the traditional PR box.
Podcasts, webinars and bylines show people that you’re an authority in your industry and can lead to bigger, more noteworthy publicity. Likewise, local events and partnerships allow you to work with others toward building your brand and visibility. Depending on your business and its goals, you may find that one of these options or a combination of them is the best way to go.
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f162af0ae8b0e53a20757efb0957dea0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/24/18-steps-to-take-before-you-launch-a-product-or-service/?sh=251a598219cf | 17 Steps To Take Before You Launch A Product Or Service | 17 Steps To Take Before You Launch A Product Or Service
Have an idea for a new product or service? It's easy to get ahead of yourself, envisioning all the sales, recognition and success that will stem from your offering. But like any other business initiative, a product launch takes time and careful planning – rushing to market without having your ducks in a row is a recipe for disaster.
To help you properly prepare for your launch, 18 members of Forbes Agency Council each provide one important step you should take prior to releasing a new product or service.
Have a new product or service to launch? Check that you're truly prepared first. All photos courtesy of individual Forbes Agency Council members
1. Define Your Target Audience
Understand your target audience. This is critical because the language, channels and information you use to communicate with and appeal to one demographic may not be as effective with another. Clearly defining your target audience gives you direction in your marketing, facilitates more consistency in your messaging and allows you to authentically connect with your customers. - Megan Shroy, Approach Marketing
2. Know How To Reach Your Audience
Understand the target audience and how to reach them effectively, both with the ad and mentally. Get in the mind of your target audience and understand where the best place to reach them is and how they will interpret your ad. Then cater your marketing plan accordingly. - David Kley, Web Design and Company
3. Know The Problem You're Solving
Having a deep understanding of the challenge it's solving and who it is for is crucial. It's surprising how often this is not thoroughly thought through. Always stay focused on your "who" and "why." Test it with your personas, talk to them about it, and know it is something that will fulfill an unmet need first. - Debbie Williams, SPROUT Content
4. Understand The Buying Journey
The buying process forms the foundation of all marketing and sales activities. You need to have an intimate understanding the buyer's pain points, where they get their information and who influences the purchase. Specific events may even trigger a purchase. Customers have different expectations on how they will engage with you depending on where they are in the buying process. - Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications
5. Secure Your Online Identity
In today's world, we have seen numerous cybersquatters try to take advantage of clients who did not secure their domain name, trademark, social media accounts, etc. It is critical to secure all these before launching anywhere. Oftentimes your domain name and other critical marketing vehicles can be held for a very expensive price – and having to get attorneys involved is never cheap! - Duree Ross, Durée & Company
6. Validate Your Product
Make a sale and earn your first dollar as validation to build the product or service – even before it's built. If people won't buy the product or service based on a pitch, they probably won't buy the product or service when it exists. An easy way to do this is to develop a landing page. Run ads. See if anyone clicks the "Buy Now" button. If so, you've got validation. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
7. Know Your Competition And Be Different
We see many "Me Too" brands popping up that want to ride the trend wave and cash in on others fast-growing successes. Instead of following this knee-jerk reaction, look to what makes you different. Figure out your brand differentiators and in some cases recalibrate to fill the void, not follow the trend. With every great brand idea there was a first to market; aim to be the leader and innovate. - Taja Dockendorf, Pulp and Wire
8. Make Sure It Hasn't Been Done Before
Seems like an elemental principle in theory but I am always surprised to see people seeking our help to pursue a "great idea" that has been done before. Research the market for products and services that may be similar to what you're offering. Sometimes your idea may be better, but if it's been done before, we typically discourage our clients from reinventing the wheel. - Ricardo Casas, Fahrenheit Marketing
9. Create A Free Trial Or Demo
Creating a free trial or product demo is a critical stage for any product or service because you want to get as much feedback as possible before the official launch. You also want users to experience it themselves to see how your product or service works. Understanding if your product or service can deliver its expectations in the marketplace can determine its success or failure. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
10. Lay Out A Comprehensive Strategic Plan
Every brand should engage in a deliberate and thorough strategic planning process before launching any product or service. This includes multiple things such as evaluation of the marketplace/competition, SWOT, determining ROI, how to measure success and communications planning. - Brian Sullivan, Sullivan Branding
11. Get Everyone On The Same Page
The entire company should be unified across all channels, whether it's go-to-market, marketing, launch messaging or customer support. Ensuring customers have the best experience possible with your company and its product or solution is critical for long-term success. - Cathy Atkins, Metis Communications
12. Create Brand Voice Guidelines
After you have established a strong brand, you must create guidelines for the brand’s voice and tone. Don’t enter the market without knowing who you are and how you want to interact with the world. Consistency is key for a brand, so you want to set every employee on the team up for success when it comes to broadcasting messages on behalf of the brand. - Chapin Herman, Herman-Scheer
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13. Offer Early Use Incentives
You want to create a buzz around your product before its launch. One of the best ways to do this is to offer discounts for preorders, free first-time uses, and beta participation rewards that entice users to buy upon launch. This is awesome product promotion, too. No one expects a product to be perfect in beta, so test, gather feedback and refine! - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
14. Keep Testing It
Launching a new product or service isn't easy. The one thing every brand should do beforehand is test it; test it until it breaks and then test it some more. Collecting feedback and insight will help you get closer to delivering the experience you intended. And of course, you've also got to get all of your marketing materials together, too! That includes landing pages, social media accounts, etc. - Chi Zhao, Hokku PR
15. Know What You Don't Know
In my experience, many who launch products are good at something but not all things. Before you launch, understand your limitations and either hire or more commonly outsource the skills you need, both immediately and when things start to take off. Rapid success can lead to failure if you haven't thought through this first. You don't want to be solving problems you don't understand on the fly. - Kelli Masilun, Concentric
16. Know Your Story
Understand your story so well that you can tell it to anyone: media, new customers, brands you can co-market with, and more. If you can’t clearly say who you are, what you do, why you do it and what inspired you, you will lose anyone who could help you build it. Great PR people are great translators and storytellers. Use them to ensure your story is being told clearly across every digital channel. - Nicole Rodrigues, NRPR Group, LLC
17. Start Planning The Next Version
Taking a long time to perfect your product before going to market could be the reason it fails. Release it, and start planning the next model. Keep your eyes wide open for consumer feedback. If you make a mistake, own it and make it right. This way, you're not only gaining the customers' loyalty, but you're positioning yourself as an ethical innovator who takes the customers' feedback to heart. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
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1cd306fab923a8e2a29368169a4d69e2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/08/how-to-foster-employee-competition-and-drive-improved-performance/ | How To Foster Employee Competition And Drive Improved Performance | How To Foster Employee Competition And Drive Improved Performance
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Imagine this: You’re a salesperson responsible for more revenue than anyone else in an extremely competitive organization. You’ve worked tirelessly to get to where you are and you’re extremely proud of yourself. However, you walk into work one day only to find out another salesperson has surpassed your numbers and, as a result, is getting the promotion you’ve been eying for months.
How would that make you feel? Jealous? Angry? Surprised? How you react to this situation will ultimately affect your sales numbers. Competition has the potential to bring out the best or worst in us. A study done by the Harvard Business Review found that people have different reactions to competition. Some people get anxious and, as a result, come up with unethical ideas in order to rule out the competition, such as taking credit for a colleague’s work. Others get excited and approach situations with creative solutions to beat the competition, such as finding new processes.
So, this begs the question: How can companies foster competition that creates positive behavior, produces productivity and drives improved performance?
Making The Case For Gamification
Gamification might be the answer. If you’re not familiar with this term, gamification is the use of game mechanics in non-gaming environments. This includes challenges, points, badges, leaderboards, rewards, etc. Gamification allows users to compete without fear of real-life consequences. Simultaneously, it encourages learning and practicing relevant information. When done right, gamification can create a sense of excitement among individuals and boost productivity. Often, the most effective gamification programs focus on success instead of failure.
Shared Sense Of Community
Competition might evoke an image of individual struggle. However, gamification can encourage group play within any community. Rather than pitting individuals against each other, companies can offer games that encourage teamwork, which results in a strong and shared sense of trust among colleagues. A more collaborative environment can help to create a more productive work environment.
For instance, if a company were to offer a generous reward to an entire department if they were able to succeed in their challenge as a team, this would foster a collaborative work environment. Employees would essentially have to work together in order to overcome a challenge and be rewarded.
Companies can also create challenges for individuals that offer a “rejuvenating” system. For example, an application called Health Month encourages users to stay healthy by implementing a points system. Ultimately, the end goal is to stay healthy while also have fun doing it. Each user is given 10 life points every month and the challenge is to have at least one life point left by the end of the month. If the user breaks a rule, they will lose a point. However, users’ friends can heal them in order to get points back. This prevents users from feeling inadequate about their failures and gives them more chances to try again in order to accomplish their goals.
A shared sense of community takes the stress out of competition in achieving goals and opens the door to a more fun and collaborative way to compete while also fueling productivity.
Healthy Competition Between Coworkers
Growing research suggests that people who are happier tend to work harder. "A playful workplace helps draw new talent, relieve stress, increase motivation, and build relationships with co-workers," said Ed Graziano, the founder of Corporate Event Interactive, in an article. He goes on to say, "The strength of games as motivators lies in their ability to tap into our social natures and harness powerful psychological factors -- such as the desire to share, to collaborate, to compete, and to create -- to a playful end." Furthermore, it encourages teamwork and collaboration and brings employees closer, all in the name of healthy competition.
As competitions grow throughout the workplace, so do results. Increased motivation and relationship-building are just two of the many benefits that competition with coworkers creates. A shared sense of community and a safe place to fail together also ensure that your employees will work together to problem solve and find solutions to difficult situations. A little friendly competition that doesn’t create high-stress situations can go a long way to fuel productivity within a department, organization or team.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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e4e028a53a81dfff1c3a00939ea9667e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/13/do-you-really-need-a-tagline/ | Do You Really Need A Tagline? | Do You Really Need A Tagline?
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Memorable taglines have long been defining elements of modern brands. A great tagline communicates brand promise in just a few words, serving as a valuable shorthand for all that the product or service can offer. "Just Do It." "Think Different." These legendary taglines truly define brand essence.
But it’s increasingly common for a brand to go tagline-less, especially in B2B where standing out among competitors that seemingly offer the same product or service requires a nuanced brand identity that often can’t be summed up in a single catchphrase. Think about it: Perhaps a tagline can sell a sneaker, but will it help land a $1 million account?
And considering that it’s no easy task to develop a tagline, it’s important to weigh the value it will bring to your brand. Because if your tagline doesn't communicate your brand differentiators in a meaningful way to a diverse audience, it isn’t worth having one and may even be harmful to your brand.
How do you identify a good tagline, one that truly adds value? Accounting Today’s annual review of taglines is a great resource to see good — and less than good — taglines. The taglines that promote the expected— numbers, strength, firm size — are "table stakes," the must-haves that you need simply to be in the game. But what becomes clear when the focus is on a single industry, as in this review, is that differentiation is critical to a memorable and effective tagline.
Yet even a good tagline may not be able carry the weight of a nuanced value proposition on its own. It may differentiate, but does it tell the whole story? It may be more valuable to leverage a tagline as a "brandline" — an underlying concept that differentiates the brand and helps define its value.
During the research phase of my company’s recent work in legal services for Lathrop Gage, a brand concept emerged from the firm’s unique client relationships: "See Beyond." We began to envision this as the firm’s brandline, a phrase that could serve as a rallying cry for employees and an inspiration for external communications. It wouldn’t be locked up to the logo or required in most brand communications. Rather, "See Beyond" would encapsulate a new way of thinking about and communicating the firm’s value and strength.
During the Lathrop Gage brand launch, senior partners narrated case studies about client successes that illustrated how they saw beyond for their clients to deliver unexpected solutions. Brand ambassadors conducted similar storytelling sessions in their offices and practices, inviting their colleagues to show how their work — with clients as well as with each other — exemplified "beyond."
"Beyond" storytelling has become infused into the firm’s culture. Internal meetings begin with attorneys and staff informally presenting case studies that illustrate how they went beyond. Case studies are written with a standardized beyond rubric. And quarterly Beyond Awards are given to attorneys and staff across the firm who live the brand in their work with clients and colleagues.
Today, the firm looks to the brandline as a north star, helping to define the firm’s purpose and value and establishing brand cohesion across every brand expression.
Landing on a powerful and effective brandline is dependent on many factors and a fairly rigorous process. If your business is considering a brandline, start your exploration with a clear understanding of your brand strategy. You should be able to answer: What is our unique value proposition? What is our purpose, our promise? And what is our brand personality? With the answers to these questions, you’re off to a good start. And an outside perspective can bring some fresh thinking. Often we’re a little too close to our own business and brand strategy to see all of the ways its essence could be conveyed.
The tagline still has a role to play in many successful brands. But for some brands, especially in B2B, going beyond a traditional tagline can provide a valuable tool for inspired — and inspiring — brand expression.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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3849f60ea3d66e688407f69f6284dfd5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/13/four-signs-that-influencer-marketing-is-right-for-your-business/ | Four Signs That Influencer Marketing Is Right For Your Business | Four Signs That Influencer Marketing Is Right For Your Business
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Celebrities and social media influencers can do amazing things for a marketing campaign, especially if you’re trying to reach a broad consumer base. Notable brands like H&M, Coca-Cola and Disney have all embraced influencer marketing after realizing its immense potential, but before you jump in head first, there are a few things you need to understand.
Influencer marketing has quickly become one of the most powerful ways for brands to grow and engage their target audiences. While influencer marketing can be applied to most industries, it is more effective for some businesses than others. Here are four ways to tell if influencer marketing is right for your business.
1. Customers need to trust your brand or product before they buy or try it.
If your product requires the consumer to really trust it, then influencers are a must. Think of something like a supplement. Would you take a new dietary supplement if you had an iota of uncertainty about its safety? Of course not.
When consumers have concerns, they turn to the people they trust and hold in high regard, which makes influencers extremely valuable. Examples of trust-based industries include pharmaceuticals, automotive, parenting and nutrition. Products that require lots of consideration are highly dependent on social validation, and in today’s day and age, influencers are the drivers that shape consumer sentiment, which makes them so valuable for marketing on social media. Even with low-risk items like clothing or fashion products, consumers are wary of purchasing without knowing or trusting the brand or store. Influencers are the remedy to that problem, and engaging with them effectively can go a long way in terms of establishing consumer confidence online.
2. Cool factor, lifestyle or status are all important factors for your brand.
If your product needs to be seen in the right circles or considered cool, then influencer marketing is your best option. For example, take a luxury product like a watch. Being expensive is not enough for it to be considered luxury. The functionality and features of a Rolex watch are very similar to other less expensive products, yet people pay well over $5,000 for a Rolex simply because of its status as a luxury item and the fact that other people recognize its value. Brand equity is a form of goodwill, and there is a reason why goodwill is treated as an asset on a company’s balance sheet, regardless of it not being tangible.
One way to enter those luxury circles is to work with highly regarded influencers or celebrities. This is not a new idea for marketers, however, the way this can be done is new to most and isn’t just for movie stars anymore. Utilizing a variety of social media influencers can help connect you with an engaged audience and elevate your product to the luxury level.
3. Your industry is homogenized, commoditized or very competitive.
In highly homogenized industries, the player that wins is the one that stands out from the pack. Understand that in a homogenized business, most products are seen as a commodity, and therefore the only real point of competition becomes price, which forces sellers to continually lower prices -- and, in turn, profits -- to remain competitive.
One of the ways many companies distinguish themselves and de-commoditize their offerings is by building brand equity. When a company builds brand equity it associates its product with an experience and emotional outcome, which is very difficult to replicate. The aggregate of the various experiences and emotional outcomes forms a “lifestyle” that people buy into. Influencers are cultural leaders that set the cadence and shape the definition of various social lifestyles. Not just anyone will work, but if you find the right influencers for your brand, you’ll be able to set yourself apart from the competition.
4. Marketing is a driver for your business.
Marketing is almost always a yes, especially for any consumer-facing business. For B2B purposes, marketing is still important but growth is often driven by interpersonal relationships, word of mouth and a track record of proven success. For B2C businesses, marketing is imperative, and savvy brands will continue to employ both traditional and modern tactics to reach and engage their target audiences.
Ads are a function of three factors: exposure, frequency and resonance. In the social economy, there is a fourth -- shareability -- also known as the virality or the K-factor. Influencers check the exposure and frequency box, however, they truly excel when it comes to the resonance box. Influencers are trusted and recognizable individuals, and therefore are top players in today’s marketing world. If your product falls into one of these categories, influencer marketing might be the gold mine you’re missing out on.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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67148b211c5614adde731cd33fdb75c6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/21/how-to-develop-a-successful-marketing-strategy-for-a-startup/ | How To Develop A Successful Marketing Strategy For A Startup | How To Develop A Successful Marketing Strategy For A Startup
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No matter how unique its technology or how revolutionary its business model, a startup will have difficulty surviving without a marketing strategy that centers around customer acquisition. Marketing is the vehicle that builds the brand’s image and drives messaging to customers and prospects in a relevant, relatable way, but most importantly, it helps grow the sales pipeline.
Startup founders who might be dubious of marketing’s importance shouldn’t be so fast to write it off: Businesses have seen an “average 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured leads and found dramatic improvements to key conversion stages in the sales process,” according to research by DemandGen Report.
There is no reason for a startup to pause on marketing and the proven opportunity to multiply growth. Whether you’re running an agency taking on its first startup client or a professional making the move to a full-time gig, here are four key steps to jumpstart your marketing strategy:
1. Identify your customers (companies, buyers and users).
Before jumping in, prioritize a deep industry dive. This is by far the most important thing for a marketer to do. Start placing people and companies into categories to better understand your buyers and the different personas that are part of your user community. From there, research the deals you lost to see if there are any commonalities or any missing personas from your customer group. This process is the cornerstone of your marketing plan.
2. Begin to build your unique messaging.
Before kicking off an integrated marketing campaign, it is vital to identify messaging that will move the conversation forward with prospective buyers. Having command of your message ensures a consistent brand voice and will help your offerings better resonate with your customers’ range of needs and desires. If you’re looking for a place to start, pore through market research, sales and customer success feedback — and most importantly, interview your existing customers, as they are your most valuable resource for success. What are your target audience’s biggest challenges, and how do you solve them? What do you offer that’s different than competitors in the space? What keeps your customer up at night? You need these insights across all of your identified personas to understand each customer’s unique industry needs.
Depending on the stage of the startup you are working with, your marketing budget is probably limited. Targeted messaging will make the most of every single dollar by better positioning your solution with prospects. By honing in on what drives prospects’ decisions and how you can set your business apart from competitors, you can ensure your messaging hits home with each and every interaction.
3. Put your plan into motion -- then track, measure and iterate.
Once you identify your audience and messaging, it is time to launch targeted campaigns that will make your startup visible. These campaigns should be multifaceted and map to your buyer personas — maybe you source and market a third-party research paper that includes interviews with your customers, release topical blog posts that address business needs or build a webinar series that features customer evangelists. What is important is that it is not a one-shot campaign but integrated to cover your buyers’ challenges and the journey that they will take — uncovering why your startup has a solution that will fit their company’s needs.
Whether you're a marketing veteran or new to marketing strategy, never be afraid to leverage tactics and ideas that are outside of your comfort zone. Never used video to support your marketing efforts? Now is the time -- 82% of marketers report success with video initiatives. Rethink direct mail, too. With services like Uber, Postmates and global-local business, you can really be creative and brighten someone's day while highlighting your brand. Look to other brands outside of your industry for inspiration and see what they are doing and what you might be able to apply to your audiences.
As you dive into new marketing initiatives, be sure to have success metrics in place to gauge whether the campaign is delivering notable ROI. As you track each campaign, these metrics will allow you to determine whether the process is worth repeating, where some tweaks might be needed or what to totally scrap. As you identify what tactics work where (and with whom), you’ll then be able to iterate what works for continued success.
4. Keep pivoting.
Embrace disruption, embrace change. Many years ago, I realized I could live in my bubble and love all my favorite things, or I could just stay a bit uncomfortable and always try new things. I took the chance on being uncomfortable. I make mistakes all the time, but I learn from them each time, and I have also had some of the most amazing successes that I would never have had without taking risks.
As you begin to optimize your marketing strategy, you can measure both your new tactics and tried and true ones by holding regular check-ins with the sales team. Sync up to see what kind of feedback or pushback sales is hearing from prospects and where you can work to address any concerns. As you have these conversations, pivot your marketing strategy to better align with sales’ goals and challenges. Data supports this synchronicity: Research recently found that well-aligned sales and marketing teams generate 36% higher customer retention and 38% higher sales.
While putting a marketing strategy in place for a brand new startup might seem daunting, these four steps can help you get a plan up and running in no time. Invest time and intelligence in your marketing strategy, and optimize your account-based efforts so every communication aligns with the sales team’s goals and customer pain points. Now, I wish I could tell you that all that’s left is to dive in and watch your marketing plans take off, but nothing changes faster than marketing at a startup — so have fun and always stay agile. Startups = change, change = excitement and excitement fuels passion.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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15dbba2e03071630dbf9c8d4e2db0316 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/21/smarter-hiring-starts-with-social-media-recruiting/ | Smarter Hiring Starts With Social Media Recruiting | Smarter Hiring Starts With Social Media Recruiting
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I’ve said it countless times: Meet your audience on their platform of choice. We’re no stranger to this tactic in the world of PR, digital and social media marketing agencies. You use social media for business strategies, but are you making the most of this cost-effective tool in your hiring process?
How Social Fits Into Your Hiring Plan
At my company, we’ve expanded this theory above and beyond consumer and B2B marketing and into the world of social recruiting. Businesses know that millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, and social recruiting uses digital platforms to meet future employees where they are: online.
A candidate’s digital presence serves to supplement a resume, but that’s just the beginning of how social media can reshape your hiring plan. Social platforms essentially facilitate conversations, be it between individuals or brands and consumers. When qualified candidates are in the final rounds of consideration, social media can serve to show which ones are already contributing to digital conversations.
What To Look For In A Social Profile
Common sense keeps most candidates from posting questionable content on their public profiles, but that’s just the basics. Identifying skilled candidates means recognizing potential. Are they retweeting articles by industry thought leaders? Do they have LinkedIn endorsements for skills that can add to your agency’s capabilities? What type of content are they resharing or interacting with?
A designer’s Instagram may serve as an unofficial portfolio while an account exec’s blog posts may showcase their aptitude for branded content creation. In many cases, personal profiles show a distinct voice, visual identity or overall brand. A sense of awareness is a sign of emotional intelligence, which is on every recruiter’s radar.
While a social media profile doesn’t need to be sterile or professionally branded, it should convey a sense of that candidate’s relationship with social media. Someone who is passionately plugged-in can bring that curiosity and drive to their work. And, on the other hand, for those who display highly negative or concerning behavior on social media, you should be mindful of how they would fit in with your culture.
Make The First Move
Your agency can strategically reach out through social channels for cost-efficient results, from directly engaging with passive candidates via LinkedIn to targeting the ideal applicant with Facebook ads. By customizing an ad’s audience on Facebook or Instagram, you can boost messaging to reach a finite demographic.
For example, if you are using social advertisements to recruit for an entry-level position, your agency can pay to target ads to recent graduates as opposed to an experienced audience or passive candidates. You then effectively spend less while reaching more realistic candidates. By targeting likely candidates online, agencies can stretch ad spend while increasing efficiency.
It’s a unique advantage for both the candidate and the employer to connect organically online. Savvy job seekers know to use their public social media platforms as a tool to share their skills; it’s up to your hiring team to identify these standout candidates.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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9d4946fdd98f8351a8d628ad8a6c467b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/22/15-things-you-should-know-about-location-based-advertising/?sh=5d1f3e071e62 | 15 Things You Should Know About Location-Based Advertising | 15 Things You Should Know About Location-Based Advertising
As the name implies, location-based advertising means creating highly customized and targeted marketing efforts tailored to consumers in a specific place. While it's not a new concept (neighborhood-based direct mail campaigns came about long before the internet age), geo-targeting and GPS-enabled mobile devices have made it easier than ever for brands to learn where their customers are and when to reach out to them for maximum effectiveness.
Modern location-based marketing tactics like text messages and app push notifications triggered by certain actions (entering a store, making a purchase, etc.) can help tremendously in engaging and retaining customers. But you can't just start sending texts to everyone who interacts with your brand: You need to do your homework and implement a carefully-crafted strategy to get the most out of local ad campaigns.
Fifteen members of the Forbes Agency Council offered one key fact all brands should know about location-based advertising before you get started.
Members of the Forbes Agency Council offer their tips on location-based advertising. Images courtesy of FAC members.
1. Local Businesses Can Use It To Compete With Big Brands
Many local businesses often fear that the hurdle is too great when it comes to competing with nationally known brands. What business owners need to understand is that Google has given the advantage to local business owners by engaging in the most immediate of all audiences, which, many times, aren’t reached at a personal level by huge brands. - Charles Kim, Executive Digital
2. It's Highly Personalized And Measurable
Mobile advertising can be dynamic and personalized, based on a consumer's previous shopping behavior, apps downloaded, specific location and even external factors such as weather, sales inventory or sports scores. Further, brands can track exposure to a mobile ad or even a billboard to see whether ads had any impact on store foot-traffic based on a control and exposed group. - Jeff Tan, Dentsu Aegis Network
3. You Need To Know Your Target Audience
Knowing and understanding your ideal customer will be a big help with location-based advertising. You don't want to just throw everything on the wall and see what sticks. Strategize and hone in on who you serve. - Aisha Martin, A. Martin Group
4. It Can Deepen Your Connection With Customers
Think of location-based advertising as an opportunity to deepen your connection with your target audiences. Providing content that is specific to their circumstances shows that you are knowledgeable about where they live and their needs, which can foster trust and help them feel more connected to your business. - Megan Shroy, Approach Marketing
5. It Should Complement Your Other Marketing Strategies
Location-based targeting should be complementary, not a focus. The moment a consumer leaves that location, the message will get lost. It is important to capture audiences, followers and emails from the location-based consumers, and then use that data to push retargeting ads, newsletters and general brand awareness campaigns to increase the ROI on your location-based ad spend. - Omar Jenblat, BusySeed
6. Timing Is Everything
Since location-based advertising is so personalized and tethered to specific audience member locations and behavior, brands can reach people when purchases are accessible and convenient. This greatly increases your brand visibility and you can target audience members who will be more likely to purchase from your business. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
7. It Can Help You Measure Offline Results
Most advertisers focus on how they can use different location tools to target ads, but the real value comes from using beacons, Wi-Fi and store visits in Google to measure and understand the offline effect of digital advertising. Being able to attribute offline results with digital efforts allows brands to build on successes and adjust when the results simply aren’t there. - Dan Golden, Be Found Online
8. You Need A Good Strategy For Tracking Results
The tricky part of any location-based advertising is the ability to align promotion with success measurement. How do you associate a local ad with in-store traffic and, even further, in-store purchases? Coupons help and specific redemption codes are ideal, but depending on your business model, this approach may have a lot of holes (i.e., are you solely dependent on your store clerk's discipline to track a campaign?). - Jon Clark, Fuze SEO, LLC
9. A Call To Action Will Bring Customers In
If you are doing location-based advertising, you need a really solid call to action to drive the user to your store or make the purchase. Don't just advertise something generic, but rather a key difference that will finalize the sale. - Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design
10. You Can Use Multiple Platforms
When it comes to location-based advertising, there's no exclusive platform out there that you have to use. Google AdWords, Facebook, Bing, Instagram, display ads, programmatic online radio, LinkedIn ads and more can all be location-targeted within a one-mile radius or less of your desired location. Use multiple ad platforms to have maximum impact. - Jordon Meyer, Granular
11. Getting Too Personal Will Scare Consumers Away
Location-based advertising is powerful, but also intimidating to many consumers. When using location-based advertising, you should make an effort to draw in prospects without getting too personal or giving them a “Big Brother” feeling. Opt-out options and low-risk offers are a must. - Jon Simpson, Criterion.B
12. It's Reliant On Targeted Consumer Insights
When it comes to location-based advertising, we must acknowledge that the days of generic out-of-home ads and commercials are gone. We've shifted toward a hyperlocal and intimate approach to actually reach consumers in a cluttered landscape. Ultimately, you have to be spot-on with your insights, because your creative and copy for ads are directly generated by the insights of the location's consumers. - Coltrane Curtis, Team Epiphany
13. You Must Consider Context And Intent
Marketers should consider context and intent when thinking through their location-based advertising strategy. While CPG and retail advertising near a shopping mall would generally align with a consumer's mindset, healthcare messaging near a hospital should be approached more carefully. - Nina Hale, Nina Hale, Inc
14. It Should Provide Value Above All Else
Good marketing is useful, contextual and relevant for the audience. Location-based advertising is a great tool that should be wielded thoughtfully with the end result of passing value back to the consumer. It's not enough to just stalk someone online; location-based marketing should still be relevant and ultimately useful. - Shannon Wu, Mr. Progress
15. You Need To Stay Relevant For It To Work
If you can't be relevant locally, then you can't advertise to your target audience. It's also about being there at the right time, being extremely relevant to consumer's needs and to the right group of consumers. Gather some analysis to effectively understand your consumers' behavior. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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ba6471f645849356e8869793b96c13d0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/22/win-the-talent-war-through-student-loan-reimbursement/ | Win The Talent War Through Student Loan Reimbursement | Win The Talent War Through Student Loan Reimbursement
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In 2016, student loan reimbursements were called the trailblazing benefit of 2017. With several young employees in my business, I’ve seen just how heavily these debts weigh on college graduates and even those in their 30s and 40s who continue to pay down massive sums. By packaging loan reimbursement as an employee benefit, companies can offer an eye-catching incentive and stand out to rising talent.
Why Everyone Wants To Be Reimbursed
The prevalence of U.S. student loan debt is no secret. In total, Americans owe $1.45 trillion in student loans. With about 44 million borrowers, that’s about $33,000 for the average graduate, with each graduating class going deeper in the hole than the last one. According to CNBC, carrying this much debt is taking a personal toll on young Americans. Half of them report that finance worries negatively affect their health.
College debt is so common that it has broken the conversational taboo of personal finance. As a man in my 50s, it never would have occurred to me to talk about a debt I owed, but younger generations don’t see a problem. They talk about it in person, on social media and everywhere else young people congregate. When everyone is dealing with it, why keep it a secret?
According to an article from last year, only about 4% of U.S. companies currently offer loan reimbursement programs. By repackaging bonus programs into reimbursement benefits, companies can address a millennial pain point in a way few of their competitors do.
How To Build A Mutually Beneficial Reimbursement Program
Follow these four steps to build a student loan reimbursement program that attracts better prospects without breaking the bank.
1. Make reimbursement a bonus.
Student loan reimbursement programs are secretly bonus programs with one specific use. Although employees can’t take reimbursement funds as tax-free offerings, branding these bonuses as student loan money allows employers to address common talent concerns and stand out from the crowd.
Create incentive programs for employees to earn reimbursement payouts. For example, if an employee completes an extra project — like onboarding new software and training staff — provide a few thousand dollars in loan money for the trouble. Employees will go out of their way to earn the extra cash, helping them pay down debt while improving the company in the process.
Don’t forget your tenured employees, either. Offer loan payment bonuses for positive annual reviews and longevity, increasing the amounts the longer the employee stays at the company.
2. Encourage employees to brag.
Market the program so employees want to brag about the benefit. Not only will this attract new talent, but it will also encourage employees to talk about the great work environment with one another, thereby increasing retention.
Publicize ways to earn reimbursement funds around the office through visual media. Send emails to remind employees to complete reimbursement-eligible projects before annual deadlines. Work with marketing and human resources to get more people engaged with the program.
3. Highlight the program to prospective talent.
Agencies can’t pay as well as corporations, but unusual perks like loan reimbursement help them stand out to prospective hires. Talk to pools of potential candidates about the rising costs of higher education and highlight reimbursement programs as a potential remedy.
Don’t hide this benefit at the bottom of a long list and force candidates to discover it for themselves. Create recruitment collateral aimed at young workers with student loan reimbursement as the star of the pitch. Recent grads will see these bonuses as an opportunity to double dip, earning more money that would otherwise go toward loans anyway.
4. Celebrate as a team.
Everyone talks about debt, which means everyone can appreciate when a fellow debtor manages to escape the system.
That’s why one agency I know confidentially collects the student loan balances of all employees and then makes reducing the sum of the loans a team goal. Not only do team members improve their own situations, but they also get to celebrate their financial accomplishments as a group without having to divulge specific details, which could be too personal for some.
Implement this program or another incentive to encourage employees to pay down debt aggressively. The combination of shared success and reimbursement bonuses will encourage employees to strive for loan payoffs, boosting team unity and cementing the program as a success.
Student loans aren’t going away anytime soon, but by following these steps, companies can limit the negative effects of debt on their employees and score some talented new recruits in the process. Start offering a reimbursement program and join the 4% of companies already standing out from the pack.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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be4f9c319f4cc1d793ad1e1ffc736d3a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/30/technical-seo-the-best-opportunity-for-you-to-add-value-to-your-website-projects/ | Technical SEO: The Best Opportunity For You To Add Value To Your Website Projects | Technical SEO: The Best Opportunity For You To Add Value To Your Website Projects
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Pubcon 2017, the multi-day conference for digital marketers, wrapped up last week in Las Vegas. For those of you who were unable to attend (like me), chasing down recap and reaction articles is the best way to stay on top of the latest insights that you can apply to your digital marketing strategies.
A comment from Gary Illyes, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, caught my attention:
“Next year, there will be two things we want to focus on. The first is structured data. You can expect more applications for structured data, more stuff like jobs, like recipes, like products, etc.”
Google’s emphasis on structured data is not new. However, its continued progress in adding and improving search results pages with rich content should have you asking how your clients’ websites can take advantage of this trend.
Despite the obvious importance of having a strong content strategy to increase organic search visibility, technical and structural improvements to websites unlock massive value for businesses. Shoring up your technical SEO practices will differentiate you from other agencies and enable you to increase the value of your website development projects.
Give Your Client A Website That Includes Advanced Technical SEO
Nearly all project plans for a website build include some level of technical SEO. We want to give our clients the peace of mind that, once their website is launched, it will be warmly welcomed by Google into its search results. However, a lot of web development agencies don’t go much further beyond a sitemap, a robots.txt file and some basic keyword optimization (page titles, meta descriptions, etc.). What else can be done?
Site Speed Optimization
Improving website load times has been one of Google’s biggest SEO initiatives of the last couple years. They continue to roll out new tools, like Test My Site, and features to support the AMP project. Here are several deliverables for you to add to your web development project plans to cover site speed optimization.
Site Speed Testing: Demonstrate that your client’s website loads as quickly, if not more quickly, than their competitors.
Pro Tip: A number of free tools are available to diagnose site speed issues and run unbiased reports for competitive comparison:
• Chrome DevTools Lighthouse
• GTmetrix
• Pingdom Tools
AMP Implementation: The applications for accelerated mobile pages (AMP) are growing. Initially, AMPs made the most sense for content publishers, but now e-commerce retailers and advertisers are adopting the framework and taking advantage of the near-instant page load speed.
Pro Tip: Validate your AMP pages with Google’s AMP testing tool.
Image Optimization: One of the biggest offenders of slow load times is a website’s images. Scale and compress images before uploading them.
Pro Tip: Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool will give you losslessly compressed images to download and re-upload to your website.
A fast website not only benefits SEO but can also improve a site’s conversion rate. The value of having a speedy site experience cannot be understated.
Structured Data Markup
Structured data unlocks opportunities for organic search result visibility that can dramatically improve rankings and click-through rates. Structured data isn’t just for company information -- it has applications across many industries and areas of a website. For example:
• Breadcrumb navigation
• Articles
• Products
• People
• Events
• Recipes
• Job postings
You can offer structured data markup as a means to give your clients’ websites greater visibility through rich content. Here are some deliverables to consider:
Structured Data Assessment: The opportunities to implement structured data vary by industry and business type. Determine the optimal ways to utilize structured data by reviewing search results for key terms.
Pro Tip: Know all of the available search features and decide which ones are relevant to your client.
Schema Markup Generation: Schema markup is a popular form of structured data and it's easier to implement than you think. In fact, there are plenty of free schema markup tools available that will auto-generate the code for you.
Pro Tip: Use the JSON-LD format to implement schema markup in order to keep it as clean and organized as possible.
Structured Data Validation: After the markup is implemented, validate that it is rendering correctly using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
Pro Tip: If you’re not comfortable writing schema markup, Google Search Console has a tool called the Data Highlighter so that even non-techies can implement structured data.
Harness The Value Of Technical SEO
The technical side of SEO has somewhat fallen off in importance in the context of web development, but Google’s mission to organize and optimize the web has created a resurgence in technical optimization opportunities.
As web development agencies, we can build our clients best-in-class websites that take advantage of these SEO opportunities by reintegrating technical optimization into our project plans.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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3f1635f5c85593cace11222de4f1a665 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/11/30/unique-and-meaningful-gift-ideas-for-your-boss-colleague-or-client/ | Unique And Meaningful Gift Ideas For Your Boss, Colleague Or Client | Unique And Meaningful Gift Ideas For Your Boss, Colleague Or Client
The holidays are a time for giving. You no doubt have a long list of people to buy for this holiday season that may include professional relationships. Buying for these individuals can be stress-inducing, as you want to present a meaningful gift that's not over the top or underwhelming.
When getting a gift for a client, colleague or boss, there are some inherent factors to keep in mind. According to The Balance, you don’t need to impress with your gift, as being sincere with a personal gift is always more appreciated. Cash is another no-no — it can be awkward and uncomfortable for the receiver, putting you in a precarious situation.
Because shopping for these professional gifts can be daunting, 15 members of the Forbes Agency Council share the most unique or meaningful gift they’ve received or given to a client, colleague or boss. Here is what they said:
Forbes Agency Council members share their best gift ideas. Images courtesy of FAC members.
1. Fire Starters For Our "Fire Starters"
Our first two clients, who both stayed with us for more than a decade, helped us launch and grow our agency. They were our “fire starters,” and to symbolize their special place in our history, we gave them each a set of long wooden matchsticks in a locally handmade brass matchbox. One of those clients has hired us for several brands over the years and still remarks about the impact the gift made. - Suzanne Miller, SPM Communications
2. UberEATS For Clients
I thought it was brilliant! I was sitting at my desk and the receptionist said, "Your coffee delivery is here." I said, "I didn't order any coffee." I was handed a package with a latte and muffin with a note that said, "I hope you like the coffee! I'd love to talk, please call..." with a phone number. It was signed by so and so with such and such company. Of course, I couldn't resist. I had to call. - Craig Klein, SalesNexus.com
3. Flexible Time Off
It's so simple, but I had a boss that always gave us flexible paid time off during the holidays, which I appreciated so much. Being able to pick my travel dates made travel arrangements easier and put my mind at peace, knowing I could go away and enjoy myself. Then, when January rolled around, I was recharged and ready to go. - Aidan Cole, nTuitive.social
4. Custom Bobblehead Of Myself
I loved receiving a custom bobblehead from dear friends who are also PR colleagues. It had all the same characteristics of me down to the purse, shoes and pink accents. An item I enjoy giving is a beautiful picture frame (in their favorite color) including a special photo of the recipient with his or her family and loved ones. I had a client tell me it was the most special gift they'd ever received. - Duree Ross, Durée & Company.com
5. USB Refrigerators
As a proud Chicago company located in Wrigleyville, we have season tickets to Cubs games. One year, we sent clients a branded USB refrigerator in honor of the Cubs and our hometown. Inside each one was a can of Old Style beer. It may have cost a ton in shipping, but the smile on everyone’s face was worth it! - Dan Golden, Be Found Online
6. Holiday Invitations From Clients
I've had a couple of clients extend Thanksgiving and Christmas invitations. I would initially think the, "Hey, would you like to join my family and I for Thanksgiving/Christmas?" questions were just nice gestures until I would get formal invites in the mail. I've never taken them up on the offers but it's definitely to be considered — even though the foodie in me always wants to say yes! - Aisha Martin, A. Martin Group
7. A Box Of Cured Meats
A few years back, we gave all of our clients a box of cured meats. It was gift wrapped and delicious. Without fail, we received comments back from everyone saying how original and unique of a gift that was. To this day, people are still commenting on the rich flavor of each unique item. - Ricardo Casas, Fahrenheit Marketing
8. Gift Basket From A Former Employee
One of the most meaningful gifts I've received was a gift basket from an employee I fired. He sent me a message reading, "Thank you so much for the opportunity to work with you, I have learned a tremendous amount of skills that I am forever grateful for. Sorry for being so difficult and thank you for sticking with me as long as you did." - Jessica Gonzalez, InCharged
9. A Handwritten Card From The Team
I just celebrated a birthday. Our team gave me a handwritten card with personalized messages. There's no better gift a colleague can receive than appreciation and gratitude. Handwritten cards are a nice way to express gratitude — whether it's for a client, colleague or CEO. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
10. Thank-You Note To Employees' Families
Our employees sacrifice a lot for their career. And so do their families. I wrote a note to one of my employee's two sons, explaining how important their dad was to our company and clients and how much I valued him. I apologized that sometimes his work kept him from doing what he loved most — hanging out with them. I've given him other gifts and perks, but the letter is what he still talks about. - Drew McLellan, Agency Management Institute
11. Trip To Disneyland
In 2010, we decided to move the family back from New York to Los Angeles. I was worried about how the organization would look upon my move, so imagine our surprise when the first thing we saw on arrival in L.A. was a gift basket with lots of goodies and tickets for the whole family to Disneyland — a heartfelt gesture that helped the family look upon all my late nights and travel more kindly. - Benny Thomas, Barrie D'Rozario D'Lorenzo
12. Handmade Teak Wooden Tea Dish
The loveliest gift I've ever gotten was a small, teak wooden tea dish. It was made in the Polynesian islands and hand carved. It came with two teeny wooden spoons to scoop out the tea. I loved it because it was given with me in mind — I love tea and collect it from around the world. It showed that this person paid attention to details, which is so important in life and for a successful career. - Margarita Miranda-Abate, MSLGROUP
13. The Champagne Saber
This year, I have been sending the ultimate experience — the champagne saber — to my clients. The saber itself is a cool enough display item, but the saber is a conduit to multiple emotions. First comes the thrill and rush of slicing the bottle. Next comes the celebratory aspect. Third, it is a life experience, which is unforgettable. Fourth, others in the company want to try it. It's an unforgettable gift. - Loren Baker, Foundation Digital
14. Gift Box With A Personalized Video
We recently received what at first looked like a non-descript gift box from one of our clients. Inside the box were the usual branded "swag" gifts (pens, shirts, hats), but embedded in the lid of the box was a small digital screen which, when the box opened, played a short, personalized video from the company's CEO thanking us for being great partners. It was definitely a unique and memorable gift. - Jeff Grover, BestCompany.com
15. Advice From My Ex-Boss
One the best gifts I ever received was a piece of advice from my ex-boss at Oracle. I was leaving my job to pursue my startup and he said, "It takes many years to build a reputation but it only takes five minutes to ruin it. If you remember this, you will always be successful." This piece of advice has definitely helped me make many critical decisions in life. - Karan Sharma, Kinex Media Inc.
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1767c7b8236daf65b7fa38f686f31c49 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/07/trust-the-pr-theme-of-2018/ | Trust: The PR Theme Of 2018 | Trust: The PR Theme Of 2018
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The PR theme of 2018 will be informed by the tumult of 2017, the year we unearthed all the dirt and eroded all the trust. Where to begin? While Facebook was testifying in Congressional hearings about how a company with Kremlin ties spent $100,000 in ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, the #MeToo campaign was raging in the wake of sexual harassment and abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein and then, it seemed, almost every other white man in power.
Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick was pushed out, VCs faced accusations ranging from putting their hands up female entrepreneurs’ skirts to sexual slavery (OK, that one was 2016, but still). It got so bad that some VCs signed a decency pledge. I wish I was making this stuff up. Meanwhile, Dove put out an ad that appeared to be blatantly racist and President Trump accused both sides of being at fault in the white supremacist march in Charlottesville.
Equifax experienced a massive data breach, Wells Fargo suffered a fake accounts scandal. United Airlines characterized what looked like an assault as a “re-accommodation" of the passenger. Sean Spicer asked the Washington Post for a correction because he said he was not huddling “in” but “among” the bushes before a press conference about the Comey firing. The Department of Education issued tweets with multiple misspellings, and the folks at the National Parks Service (supposedly) created their own social media handles so they could tell the truth, birthing the “alt-” social media movement.
Women marched. Immigrants marched. Scientists marched. I could go on for pages, but you get the idea. We have alternative facts to go along with our fake news. Did a shark really swim down the road in Houston after the hurricane? Did Hillary Clinton really run a child sex ring from a local Washington, D.C., pizza place during the 2016 campaign? No and no.
Trust is uncertain. Ev Williams, Twitter’s co-founder said that tech firms will compete for trust. He’s right about tech, and it goes further than that. Trust is at stake for every single organization in America, which means it will have an impact on every single PR strategy for the coming year.
These will be the factors at play:
Businesses will take more stands. As InkHouse Chief Content Officer Tina Cassidy and I wrote earlier this year, businesses are the new battleground states. Customers, employees and investors are speaking with their values as well as their wallets. While they care about cool features and great customer service, they care more about what matters.
Crisis plans will get overhauls. Response times have shrunk from hours to minutes, and statements have gone from paragraphs to tweets. Truth matters. Authenticity matters. Words matter. And timing is everything. If you wait, you might not be in business much longer.
Data will be required to back up ideas. We’ve been enthusiastic about data storytelling for a long time, and it’s more important than ever. The marketing surveys that can be skewed will undergo more scrutiny as reporters and customers favor the certainty of real data about real customers.
The sales funnel is collapsing. Decisions to buy or to hate are made in seconds, in one click, especially for consumer products. Business-to-business companies still have time to work on the sales funnel to move their customers from awareness to interest, engagement and finally purchase. But those attention spans are waning. We have too many things to scroll through on Facebook and Instagram and, oh look, President Trump is tweeting again. Marketers will need to make a connection, make it fast and make the decision to purchase as mindless as a click.
Validation will come from affiliation and authenticity, not dollars. On social media, we’ve long known that audiences cannot be built organically anymore. The algorithms have prevented it in favor of the ads that produce revenue. This doesn’t mean we should throw earnest and honest strategies out the window. It means that we should find like-minded people and organizations and support one another by sharing content. We should use paid strategies with integrity to amplify honest content with real data, not to trick people into clicking.
PR people have always had a responsibility to tell the truth. We’ve gotten bad reputations as spin doctors and shills, but those strategies never worked in the first place and they sure won’t work in the future. Good PR strategies must be based on real data, real stories and authentic points of view. They have to matter to the real people each organization contains within its orbit. It will be about connection, not convincing. It will be about truth, not alternative facts. It will be about what’s real, not what we imagine might be real in the future. Facts. Proof. Validation. Connection. Amplification.
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0001ff3716d6f843f53fecec68cefdeb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/08/when-will-disruption-happen-in-the-auto-industry/ | When Will Disruption Happen In The Auto Industry? | When Will Disruption Happen In The Auto Industry?
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When will disruption happen?
Facebook did it to media, Uber did it to taxis, Airbnb did it to hotels and Amazon did it to consumer retail, but the world is still waiting for someone to truly disrupt retail automotive.
In my 17 years in the automotive vertical, I have worked for a global manufacturer (Toyota), a large, privately-held retail auto group, and I currently own and run an award-winning automotive marketing firm. For me, my clients and colleagues across the automotive vertical, this topic is now at the forefront of our thoughts and in our forward planning of our businesses because of the enormous implications it may present.
Tesla is trying to disrupt automotive by forgoing a retail dealer network. Beepi, Carvana, Vroom and others have tried or are trying to move the showroom to be completely online (with limited success and significant financial losses for some). And even mega-retailer AutoNation is still trying to get consumers to complete an entire transaction online before taking delivery. Literally, billions of investment dollars are in the market betting (maybe hoping) that customers don’t want to buy in the showroom anymore and would rather do it online. And they have been for almost a decade.
The major questions, then, are: Why hasn’t disruption happened in retail automotive sales yet? And when, if ever, will it happen? The answer is obviously nuanced and multi-pronged, but the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together.
Why hasn’t disruption happened in retail automotive sales yet?
First of all, there are many barriers to disruption, starting with a very strong and powerful retail dealer network for all major automotive brands in the U.S. These dealers have a powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. and in their respective states through national and state-level dealer associations. Car dealerships remain a very profitable venture (maybe that’s why Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway bought 75 dealerships in 2014) and their owners plan on protecting their turf. Frankly, it’s kind of hard to blame them.
Second, buying or leasing a new or used vehicle is not a simple transaction. There are multiple parts of every car deal, including complex financing or leasing terms and agreements available through multiple banks, consumers applying and qualifying for credit, trading in a current vehicle that may or may not need a payoff and after-purchase sale products such as pre-paid maintenance and extended warranties. All of these things require lots of paperwork, due diligence and proper disclosures. Even a customer with perfect credit who knows exactly what they want would have to spend well over an hour filling out online forms to complete a transaction online. Because of these reasons, very few consumers have chosen to go from A to Z online to purchase a new or used vehicle. Even with $150 million in funding, Beepi ultimately failed and is no longer in business.
Despite all of these barriers, though, more companies than ever have a hand in trying to be a part of the evolution and disruption of automotive retailing.
When, if ever, will it happen?
Right now, it's hard to tell. Perhaps there's some benefit in a ride-sharing service where customers pay a monthly subscription to a company that provides access to vehicles. However, Zipcar and others have been doing this for a while in major cities around the country, and it has never really taken off.
What seems like the next step is for more automotive retailers to add plug-ins to their websites. These allow customers to start the buying process online at home and then, when they get to the dealership, a lot of the pre-work is done to significantly reduce time in the showroom. In fact, many dealerships around the country are currently using tools like Roadster, Virtual Deal and MakeMyDeal on their website to accomplish this goal.
In the end, just like with Uber, Facebook and Amazon, the consumer has to take us there. Unless there is a massive change in the way vehicle transactions are structured and regulated, it appears that retail automotive is more likely to evolve than implode. And in my opinion, this is a good thing. Auto dealerships represent some of the biggest employers and taxpayers in local economies all over the country. They also contribute significantly to local communities in both dollars donated to local charities and hours of community service. People gravitated toward Uber, Amazon and Facebook because the majority of people felt it made their lives better.
Nothing I see currently on the horizon appears to do this in a meaningful way in auto. We may have to wait a little longer for retail auto to truly change. We will see.
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a5169048b6bc908340a134f0bbdd241f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/18/how-digital-marketing-will-change-in-2018-15-top-trends/ | How Digital Marketing Will Change In 2018: 15 Top Trends | How Digital Marketing Will Change In 2018: 15 Top Trends
The move into 2018 also comes with a shift in digital marketing. New trends are entering the marketplace and your company needs to pay attention or you may be forced by the wayside. With the need to become more visible and reach more customers, the digital marketing of tomorrow offers advancements in emerging technologies as consumers demand a more integrated experience.
Fifteen members of Forbes Agency Council share what they think will be the major digital marketing trends of 2018. Here is what they had to say:
Forbes Agency Council members offer their best insights. Images courtesy of FAC members.
1. Augmented Reality Integrated Through Social Media As our mobile devices become more powerful and social apps better integrate with AR, brands will use AR to better engage with consumers. For example, using your location, brands could trigger sponsored AR content, which can only be accessed at that spot, at that time. Pokémon Go was the pioneer with this idea, and I feel Instagram and Facebook will soon be integrating this tech into its platforms. - Chris Carter, Rep Interactive
2. Collapse Of The Influencer Market Brands pour millions of dollars into influencers now, but by and large they're either not measuring or not seeing the results they could get from alternative marketing spends. The market will collapse as brands zero in on a few select individuals who drive results or move to organic grassroots promotion, and away from high-cost, middle-tier influencers who drive awareness but little ROI. - Craig Greiwe, Rogers & Cowan
3. True Understanding Of Customer Journey Data-driven marketing is a powerful tool, but how that data translates to the customer journey will be paramount in digital marketing success in 2018. Strive first to use data to know where your consumers will be on every step of their purchasing path, learn what appeals to them, and design your marketing to touch them all along their journey. - Katie Harris, Spot On Solutions
4. More Targeted Ads With Specific Purpose People already have minimal attention spans and get served with so many ads on a daily basis. I think ads will become more singularly purposed in nature, with a very specific goal and goal conversion place in mind, whether it be a mobile or desktop experience. I also think that the mobile ad platforms will show major growth in 2018, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. - David Kley, Web Design and Company
5. Professional Live Video Video will continue to be a trend in 2018 but not just video, professional live video. Every social media platform is jumping into live video and adding new features monthly to their platforms. Live video is a great way to connect with your audience, and the shaky, holding-a-phone-in-your-hand live video won't be acceptable anymore. - Thomas Brodbeck, Site Strategics
6. Conversational User Interfaces Conversational interactions, such as Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana, chatbots and others, will continue to find their place in consumers' daily routines and lives. Conversation is the original user interface. It's extremely natural and will allow for brands to naturally interact with consumers that want information, or to transact, or just to be entertained. - Andrew Howlett, Rain
7. Video Marketing Video is becoming the most popular and influential form of digital content for businesses today and if done right, it can have a very positive impact on your business. As our attention spans decrease, marketers are heavily relying more and more on creating video content to boost search engine rankings, increase engagement and website traffic rates, as an example. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
8. Personalization Along All Stages Of The Sales Funnel Impersonalized email blasts and ads are going the way of the fax machine. Becoming hyper-targeted and focusing on personalizing every interaction is becoming increasingly important. Personalized landing pages should be connected to every one of your advertising campaigns. Attention is a currency, and building a personalized connection with prospects will be critical for digital marketing in 2018. - Twila Grissom, Acorn Digital Strategy
9. Contextual Targeting Strategies In the context of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we can expect that it will be more complicated for ad tech vendors to track user behaviors with cookies. Audience targeting strategies will be progressively replaced by contextual targeting strategies and it will be mandatory for advertisers to understand what each page context is all about, for targeting and brand safety purposes. - Julien Verdier, Adyoulike
10. Cost Per Experiment As A Leading Metric Smart digital marketers will continue to get closer to a true ROI on their work by identifying all the old metrics rolled up into a cost per experiment — those old metrics like CPM (impressions), CPC (clicks), CPL (leads) and even CPP (pixels) the advanced marketers were tracking. With too many channels and even more martech tools to consider, marketers must run experiments and measure outcomes. - Todd Earwood, MoneyPath Marketing
11. Native Advertising Companies seeking to enhance market reach, brand relevance and improve overall engagement can benefit greatly by implementing native advertising into their digital marketing strategy. Engaging with your audience by utilizing native language and your proprietary tools increases the opportunity to expand viral sharing and can lead to developing a more involved relationship with your target market. - Timothy Nichols, ExactDrive, Inc
12. Digital Integrated Into Offline Experiences I believe that in 2018, digital will no longer stand alone as a separate discipline. We will see it become more integrated into real-life experiences and the two will become seamless. We have started to see this in professional sports and arena events where the online experience begins prior to the event and continues during the event. I expect to see marketers experiment with this in 2018. - Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications
13. Voice Marketing Google says that 20% of its mobile queries are voice searches, and that number is only going to increase as consumers get used to asking Alexa, Siri and their smart fridge for insight on what to buy. Marketers need to prepare by creating content that captures these types of searches, and advertising in non-traditional places (like sponsoring smart-fridge recommendations). - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
14. Predictive Algorithms Application programming interfaces are opening for machine-learning algorithms, natural language processing and artificial intelligence. This is enabling any size business to better predict its marketing spend to optimize its overall budget. This is a huge advancement, given that marketers are often biased in their methodologies. - Douglas Karr, DK New Media
15. Different Kind Of Content Marketing With new formats evolving every day and the popularity of video, content marketing is no longer about writing blog posts and listicles. Voice search will alter a lot of content strategies to aim more for featured snippets or present interactive tutorials that can be spoken to people as they complete mundane or complex tasks. Content will be more interactive and integrate with other UI features. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
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2f0b0a936d8882558d37ab70359d62e5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/19/15-tips-to-increase-your-brands-visibility-with-experiential-marketing/ | 15 Tips To Increase Your Brand's Visibility With Experiential Marketing | 15 Tips To Increase Your Brand's Visibility With Experiential Marketing
As you review your marketing strategy for the new year, you may be making a push toward experiential marketing as it can provide more ROI than traditional advertising sources. According to an AdWeek article, experiential marketing can help forge lasting relationships with your customers, increasing the sales cycle over the long haul.
Using experiential marketing to promote your business can offer customers a more pleasurable experience with your product or service, creating a more loyal fanbase in the process. These loyal customers lead to lifelong sales and can increase your company’s revenue into the future.
Below, 15 members of the Forbes Agency Council provide their best tips for brands wanting to invest in experiential marketing. Here is what they recommend:
Members of the Forbes Agency Council offer their best marketing tips. Images courtesy of FAC members.
1. Consider Your Audience Persona
Experiential marketing can be an excellent way to connect with your audience, but it isn't always the best strategy for everyone. Before you dive right into it, consider who you're trying to reach, where they will be receiving information and how best to connect with them. There's often a gap between what you think your audience wants and what they actually want. - Twila Grissom, Acorn Digital Strategy
2. Do Your Own Research Experiential marketing is not a new concept, but the applications and uses of it are. If you are going to sink good marketing money into experiential, then make sure you understand how people want to experience marketing. The idea is to give the consumer enough content so they can picture themselves a part of your brand. Facebook Live, Snapchat ads, 360 and dynamic content are just a few examples. - Omar Jenblat, BusySeed
3. Make It Worth Sharing If you are thinking about investing in experiential marketing, make sure to create strong impressions, interactive experiences and emotional connections between your brand and your consumers. Improving your credibility and influence can give you a great opportunity to showcase why your brand is unique and recognizable. Doing this will lead to people wanting to share your brand. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
4. Put Your Customers First The effects of experiential marketing reach well beyond the experience — the goal is to build brand advocates. For that reason, we need to put the audience first but also keep it on the brand. Having a simple brand message highlighting your competitive advantage could help you stay on target. The experience should be relevant to your audience, memorable, newsworthy and worth sharing. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
5. Take Educated Risks Don't just pull the trigger on experiential marketing endeavors. It's easy to get excited with ideas and concepts, but be sure to think through advantages and pitfalls. Test a small audience and then evaluate their response. Experiential marketing should directly engage consumers, but be genuinely educated about your consumer first so the experience doesn't backfire and damage your brand. - Katie Harris, Spot On Solutions
6. Share Precious Moments If you do invest in experiential marketing, be sure to share user-generated posts and videos you take at a brand-sponsored event to share over social media and on your blog. If your event is truly memorable, people will be much more likely to show up to the next event. It also gives you a chance to humanize your brand and convert brand advocates into loyal brand ambassadors. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
7. Don't Wait To Make Meaningful Connections Experiential marketing has been rapidly growing, and more and more companies are investing. Don't wait to get started, but do wait to launch until you have a clear objective with results you want to achieve. Experiential marketing is extremely successful when brands make meaningful connections and have a clear objective. - Jessica Gonzalez, InCharged
8. Make It Playful As a digital agency that builds custom games to drive digital marketing for our clients, we focus on making the experience as engaging and fun as possible for the end user. Make it clear what the incentives are, add surprise bells and whistles that are slowly uncovered, and allow them to connect with other users. Ultimately, the experience should be built in such a way that it sells itself. - Khuram Zaman, Fifth Tribe
9. Be Bold When it comes to experiential marketing, the only goal is to be remembered. For brands, this means that the concept of the campaign is more important than anything else. To be successful, experiential marketing campaigns need to be built in such a way that it delights, shocks or surprises the end audience first — and then, provide them the tools to share it with the world. Be bold, have fun. - Chi Zhao, Hokku PR
10. Extend The Life And Expand The Audience Experiential marketing can be creative and amazing but limited in utility with a comparatively small audience. No activation should be greenlit without an extensive digital lead in, far-reaching strategy for owned content generation and user-generated content, and a distribution plan to ensure that millions of people have the opportunity to experience the magic. - Craig Greiwe, Rogers & Cowan
11. Design With Instagram In Mind You can design an amazing experience, but if there is not a spot for someone to take an Instagram photo, then it won't be shared online. Look at the Museum of Ice Cream. The full experience is made for Instagram, and that is why it has become so popular. Every person takes Instagram Stories and photos inside and shares with their followers. Now you have to wait months before you can get a ticket. - Nichole Brandt, XOMAD, LLC
12. Use Your Event As A Content Factory There's a lot of moving parts when it comes to experiential marketing. Some of the best campaigns we've seen are the ones that get every drop of juice from the squeeze by creating promotional content before the event and using the event itself as a content factory for post-event distribution. Photos, video and user content are key. The event may only be once, but the content can live on forever. - Chris Carter, Rep Interactive
13. Use Focus Groups To Evaluate Ideas Experiential marketing can be a very successful way to market a brand. One tip to keep in mind when looking into experiential marketing is to develop unique, out-of-the-box ideas, and then conduct focus groups to evaluate how individuals react to each idea. Consider how your audience already interacts with your brand as well as your promotions in order to further predict reactions. - Jeff Grover, BestCompany.com
14. Make It Count Experiential is getting a lot of hype these days. Brands wanting to invest in experiential should consider all aspects of the campaign, including social activations and leveraging influencers. The investment should be largely in the experience itself, rather than in paid media. If the experience and plan are well-executed, then earned media will give the brand a bigger payoff. - Gina Michnowicz, Union+Webster
15. Understand The Universe You Are Creating When creating a brand experience for your fans, the first thing you need to do is understand your story and how it can come to life. Build a brand universe that fans can enter, stay as long as they want and leave anytime they want, without feeling like they've missed something. Make experiential marketing a part of that story. That way, fans can pick up the story from somewhere else later. - Pete Canalichio, Licensing Brands, Inc.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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56d9514bac08a68b2ed6eab9b069c1bf | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/19/the-five-biggest-public-relations-disasters-of-2017-and-what-you-can-learn-from-them/ | The Five Biggest Public Relations Disasters Of 2017 (And What You Can Learn From Them) | The Five Biggest Public Relations Disasters Of 2017 (And What You Can Learn From Them)
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In the business world, the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" doesn't always hold true. Public relations crises can cause all kinds of issues for your business, including decreased sales and damage to your brand.
Several major companies suffered massive PR disasters in 2017. Here are five of the biggest and the lessons they each hold for businesses large and small:
United Re-Accommodates A Passenger
United had multiple negative PR incidents this year, but the worst was undoubtedly when it demanded that an elderly doctor leave its flight due to an overbooking. When he refused, United had security handle it and they violently dragged the man from the plane in full view of everyone's camera phones. United's CEO, Oscar Munoz, made the situation worse by saying he apologized "for having to re-accommodate these customers."
The most important thing to learn here is that if you'd be ashamed for millions of people to see something your company does, you shouldn't do it. And if you need to inconvenience a customer, be willing to negotiate with them instead of forcing it.
Equifax Has A Breach
A security issue with Equifax led to a data breach that impacted over 140 million people. The only reason the breach happened was that Equifax failed to update one of its web application programs, and news of the breach caused its stock to drop 35%.
The Equifax breach demonstrates the importance of cybersecurity and keeping all programs your business uses updated. You should also save as little sensitive customer information as possible.
Dove Whitewashes A Black Woman
Dove caused a stir when it posted a three-second video clip on its Facebook account in which a black woman takes her shirt off and becomes a white woman. Although Dove took the clip down and issued an apology, the damage was done and it received substantial criticism.
There are certain hot-button issues over which businesses should tread carefully, with race being one of them. If an ad seems like it could be offensive to a group of people, it's best to avoid it or do thorough focus group testing first.
Adidas Uses A Poor Choice Of Words
After the 2017 Boston Marathon, Adidas sent an email to participants congratulating them for surviving. Considering there was a bombing at the race in 2013 that led to three deaths and hundreds of injuries, people took to social media about the thoughtless subject line, and the company quickly apologized.
This is an honest mistake, even though you'd think someone in the Adidas marketing department would catch it. Adidas showed how to handle a PR crisis properly by taking responsibility and apologizing immediately, without any excuses.
Uber CEO Yells At A Driver
It was a rough year for the now-former CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick. When an Uber driver got into an argument with Kalanick after giving him a ride, Kalanick yelled at the man and accused him of not taking responsibility. The video quickly went viral, making both Uber and Kalanick look bad.
Even in stressful situations, it's important to stay calm and treat people with respect. It only takes one angry rant to give your brand an unprofessional image.
Most PR disasters are 100% avoidable if you learn from the mistakes of other companies. Should a PR issue come up, it's important to take control of the situation quickly and come up with an appropriate response to whatever happened. In situations where you or someone in your business were truly wrong, it’s always better to admit your mistake than to blame someone else or avoid responsibility. After all, customers appreciate authenticity.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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053c21ccebe41650d5939adb65383812 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/21/elusive-gen-z-how-to-market-to-the-unmarketable/ | Elusive Gen Z: How To Market To The Unmarketable | Elusive Gen Z: How To Market To The Unmarketable
StockSnap StockSnap
Millennials are a thing of the past and marketing to their whims is in every PR professional’s rearview mirror. Gen Z, which our company defines as those born between 1998 and 2016, is stepping out of Gen Y’s shadow with a thud and wielding $44 billion in spending power.
Studies show that these dynamic consumers are quickly proving to be cultural disruptors, meaning those trying to reach this young set must adapt their playbook to Gen Z’s distinctive traits, which we'll dive deeper into below. Tweaking strategies and making these concessions will prove to be a lifeline for many brands. Not only will it ensure companies continue to engage Gen Z (and their spending power) in the present, it will guarantee their relevance in the near future.
We’ve outlined exact strategies and key learnings that have proven successful in reaching this elusive generation.
1. Don’t Conform To The Binary
Gen Z embraces diversity more than any other generation, millennials and Gen X included. For Zers, it’s important to be given the option to identify as non-binary, whether in gender or applied to attitudes surrounding well-established cultural beliefs. They see more options for identification than just their parents’ “male” or “female” checkboxes.
Gen Z doesn’t see status, race or color ,and they strive to be inclusive. According to a survey done by our client Galore, which included insights from over a thousand of its Gen Z-aged readers, the overwhelming majority identify with the statement, “I have friends of many different races” and “I am willing to date people outside of my race.” Their social circles are vast and they pride themselves on this diversity.
2. Give Back And Give Value
In the United States, this demographic has been greatly shaped by watching their parents deal with the Great Recession and the September 11th terrorist attacks. It’s no surprise that their interests include looking after their money and making the world a better place. Brands that have this understanding can leverage the intersection of these two beliefs to create winning products, no matter the merchandise category.
Take booze, for example. Looking ahead to when Gen Z enters the marketplace, our client Viva XXXII has uniquely positioned itself in the spirits arena by satisfying both of those Gen Z cravings: 10% of proceeds go toward helping prevent animal abuse, and their offerings clock in at value price compared to the competitors in the luxury sphere.
Skincare brand philosophy has enjoyed success for many years with an older set. As they look to engage Gen Z, they've developed a one-of-a-kind giveback program that formally established the Hope & Grace Initiative. It represents the first time a major beauty company dedicates a percentage of net sales toward mental health causes. The brand recently activated at the Teen Vogue Summit, a Gen Z playground for cool girls. Teen Vogue assigned six Generation Z-aged "it" girls who acted as ambassadors by capturing exclusive content that showcased the brand's voice and commitment to giving back.
Providing bang for a buck and giving back are strategies that many product categories will employ in their quest to lure in this consumer demo.
3. Do It For The Insta
With Gen Z spending an average of 74% of their free time online, social media presence will be hugely accountable for a brand’s success within this post-millennial generation. These savvy consumers can spot a sponsored post faster than any older adult they know. Creating “Instagramable” moments has become a priority for many public relations professionals and experiential marketing experts.
Creative Director Melissa Andre, whose clients include a who’s who of Gen Z idols like Drake, The Weeknd and DJ Khaled to name a few, is the woman Instagram itself reaches out to in order to make sure its events are "grammable." Her strategy for amplifying a client’s social media footprint is to move beyond events and make her affairs an immersive experience. Success lies in reimagining spaces and providing various vignettes that compel attendees to activate on social media. Vignettes can take the shape of branded walls, photo moments and interactive props.
Even niche retailers are starting to take note and are altering their strategies accordingly. Vallarta Supermarkets is a retail chain that has been servicing a predominantly Latino clientele since 1985. Although it's been around for over three decades, it wasn’t until their 50th store opening in Pasadena that they started paying attention to how a retail environment can influence a shopper's inclination to post about their visit on social media. Opting for social media-friendly signage and making every department an aesthetically pleasing vignette proved to be valuable and has earned them more organic media for their opening than any other of their 50 locations.
4. Be Experiential
NVE, an experiential firm based in Beverly Hills, believes that the right moment will transform someone forever. It continues to hit the nail on the head for its Z-friendly brands like Tinder and Nylon by weaving a narrative between consumer and brand.
Brands looking to infiltrate Gen Z’s unique mindset need to understand that providing experiences will always resonate more than any other marketing tactic for this age group. Gen Zers have been dubbed the “cord cutters of the future.” AdWeek recently delved into the topic of experiential and concluded that as brands experience more consumers cutting cords, using ad blockers or simply tuning out TV spots, CMOs turn to experiential to continue luring in customers. Experiential is very much tied into our third tip of social media, and both key learnings live together in this landscape in harmony. Marketers’ hope is that their activation will be so stirring that their Gen Z target will be moved to report about the experience in their personal social channels. These two elements, experiential and social, offer the perfect marriage for brands looking to move the needle with Gen Z.
As brands grapple with changing consumer habits, they will be keenly focused on Generation Z. This demographic's spending power and sheer size will make brands reinvent themselves over and over again to effectively reach this elusive set.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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94dde388119d3ec8e8a0163a233f84a7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/27/five-traits-to-look-for-in-your-next-digital-marketing-manager/ | Five Traits To Look For In Your Next Digital Marketing Manager | Five Traits To Look For In Your Next Digital Marketing Manager
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Today’s successful digital marketing managers work at the intersection of tried-and-true industry prowess and a tech-savvy understanding of their evolving audience. The market has evolved and, along with it, so have the strategies and the strengths that determine success.
In order to keep up with this ever-changing environment, consider these five skills when you look for your next digital marketing manager.
The Art Of The Pivot
Digital marketing happens in real-time. The ability to quickly and urgently shift gears is invaluable. It’s also a learned skill. Pivoting is a top skill in implementing large-scale digital campaigns. We don’t have the long turnaround of traditional print campaigns. The immediacy of production lead time on creative materials has significantly shifted. At my agency, the majority of our leadership team didn’t arrive with significant agency experience, but they were equipped with the skills and attitude to make high-stakes decisions and quickly and creatively solve problems. Your ideal candidate exemplifies making quick judgments with confidence through demonstrated success.
Digital Literacy
When it comes to digital literacy, if you’re not a native user then you need to be a passionate self-starter -- I’m looking at you, my fellow Gen Xers. Nearly a decade ago, I made a career switch and learned to speak social along the way. I spent my days talking to clients and my nights navigating the earliest iterations of Facebook brand pages. Today there are countless resources to advance digital literacy. Whether your candidates were raised in the digital age or learned later in life, they will need to be comfortable exploring digital platforms and self-aware of the communication intricacies each channel has to offer.
Industry Knowledge
Market knowledge drives decisions and we’re living in a data-driven world. A successful marketer should be able to identify and target a specific type of market segment behavior. In our industry, we can tell which assets are getting the most interaction and with which demographics. Look for candidates who display curiosity and interest in what drives consumers. The best candidate will know what drives your target consumer and how that may change. If they’re coming in from a different specialization, they’ll be able to apply their experience to the new demographic and stay open to learning.
Creative Conceptualizing
Your marketing manager must have the ability to act on a creative vision. This person is responsible for bringing the vision to life for the client and audience. A senior-level candidate should have the ability to zoom out and look at the big picture so they can communicate concepts between the account team and the creative department. Some candidates may be creatively adept, which is an advantage, but experience can also bring savviness in recognizing a specific taste or visual identity. A good candidate can identify a creative need, create an overarching solution, collaborate with teams to successfully execute this vision and measure the results.
An Understanding Of Metrics
Analytics is the starting point for building your marketing strategy. If your candidate doesn’t have direct experience with digital analytics, they should have a basic grasp of knowing how to turn data into results. Maybe your candidate knows the latest trends in email marketing and how they relate to moving the needle and measuring results. Don’t expect candidates to rattle off numbers during interviews unless they have useful metrics from previous experience. Whether they identify as numbers people, it’s vital that they appreciate and understand the invaluable resource of digital marketing metrics.
The digital landscape shifts at such a rapid pace that, above all, you’ll need a strong foundation to build upon. When I’m hiring, I look for potential. Whether you’re interviewing a prodigious recent graduate or an experienced candidate who is making a mid-career shift, these tools will help you identify someone who can add value to your agency.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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6e01f26fcf789fc58cd5b502f7cf5f35 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/28/how-to-optimize-your-public-relations-in-the-digital-age/ | How To Optimize Your Public Relations In The Digital Age | How To Optimize Your Public Relations In The Digital Age
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I’ve heard it a million times: “PR doesn’t work.” And then people break up with their publicist. I get it: Your relationship with your publicist is very important. I mean, they are your voice in the world, after all.
Most of the time when I hear these public relations breakup stories, people start by sharing with me exactly how PR has failed them and how this left them feeling let down. “Well,” I say, “there’s good news and there’s bad news."
The bad news is that the world has changed and PR doesn’t work the same way it used to. No longer can you simply land those coveted national placements and — ta-dah! — your ship has come in and all your dreams come true. We can’t bring back the glory days of VHS either, but don’t worry — like video, PR has evolved.
The good news is that traditional PR still has tremendous value and is important to any campaign. There’s nothing like traditional PR to establish credibility for your product, services or cause. It demonstrates that you have been vetted and have passed the proverbial mustard with the media and, ultimately, it helps you achieve the goals you are committed to fulfilling for your work.
With all the right pieces in place, PR can not only create credibility, it can also create opportunity, opening the doorway to achieving all that you originally hoped for with a PR campaign. So, what are these “right pieces” and how do they make traditional PR effective in the modern world?
Old-School Versus New-School PR
The main difference between old PR success and new PR success lies in the fact that we now must tie in the modern expectations of a great website and a strong social media presence. Let’s start with your website. Yes, PR will undoubtedly drive traffic to your site, but if you don’t have a clear inbound marketing plan, you won’t be able to effectively capture those leads.
Your site needs:
• A professional, updated design
• High-quality images
• Lead-nurturing and capture strategies
• A clear, aligned brand identity
• A powerful call to action
This allows you to nurture the relationships that come your way through both PR and advertising channels. It takes more energy to close a deal with today’s customers because we are bombarded with information overload and more options than we can handle. If your site doesn’t stand out — in a good way, not for its 90s nostalgic charm — then you are losing any credibility that PR may otherwise have generated for you.
The other modern-day must-have is a notable social media presence. PR will land you in the traditional media, but your target audience then wants to connect with you on all the social media channels they love most. If you aren’t making yourself available for meaningful connection on these platforms, you are once again derailing the credibility that PR-generated media coverage has planted for you.
Your social media needs:
• Engaging content
• Engaged followers
• An engagement strategy
• Brand identity alignment
• Post frequency
People connect and share with each other online all day, every day. If you’re not part of the conversation, PR can’t work the way you want it to.
PR Does Work
If you find yourself in a publicist breakup thinking that PR has let you down, consider for a moment that it might not be PR that is failing you. In this day and age, great media coverage only equates to the overall campaign success you want when it is paired with the right web and social elements to complete the picture for your target market. In fact, it’s also these same highly effective web and social elements that help to score ideal media placements in the first place.
PR still works, it just works differently. And while it takes more work than it used to, the rewards of success are multiplied, thanks to the very game-changing technologies that we now must cater to. Do PR right, and your voice will reach millions. Do PR right, and your voice can change the world.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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9321e80744bdc056566af358324b9f58 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/05/12-design-trends-to-integrate-into-your-web-development-and-marketing/ | 12 Design Trends To Integrate Into Your Web Development And Marketing | 12 Design Trends To Integrate Into Your Web Development And Marketing
In the modern world, flawless design and functionality of digital assets – including your website, social media content and marketing materials – is essential to keeping customers engaged. A top-notch product or thoughtful blog post will go ignored and unseen if it's housed on a site with a poor user experience. To that end, it's important for web developers and marketers alike to keep up with the latest trends and consumer expectations. Members of Forbes Agency Council offered their take on popular design trends popping up in this space, and how you can integrate those trends into your branding.
Forbes Agency Council members offer their best tips. Images courtesy of FAC members.
1. Video That Turns Websites Into Channels
Video has been used in website design and development for years, but it's quickly becoming a more prominent component. Why? Storytelling. Your website has 10 seconds to grab a visitor's attention and engage them with your site's content. Video helps you tell your story in an emotional and engaging way. Plus, 65% of people are visual learners; people want to watch, not read. - Mike Lieberman, Square 2 Marketing
2. SEO Landing Pages
Historically, SEO landing pages were large blocks of text, which were meant to satisfy the search algorithms. We are seeing more SEO landing pages with advanced design elements. Now that Google is favoring user experience more, marketers can no longer expect these text-heavy pages to rank. People only read about 20% of a page, so use design elements to choose that 20% and guide the visitor. - Adam Draper, Gladiator Law Marketing
3. Google Fonts
Google fonts are free and open source. They allow you to bring unique typography in over 135 languages to websites. Integrating these fonts into your websites will go beyond bringing out your brand's personality; they will also improve your site's load time and performance. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
4. Mobile-Friendly Design
Mobile technology is revolutionizing the way we do business today. From mobile app strategies to customer preferences favoring mobile commerce, innovation is creating the future of worldwide commerce. For e-commerce websites, responsive mobile designs ensure maximum accessibility to mobile device users while delivering a seamless digital experience. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
5. Buy Buttons
With the expiration of Amazon’s one-click-buy patent, there will be an opportunity for marketers to implement more seamless shopping experiences. The "buy" button and order flow will become even more important in capturing a sale. - Kieley Taylor, GroupM
6. AMP Pages
Whether you're a publisher or local business, your website should have Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). It will assist you in getting more traffic, as AMP pages are rendered first for mobile experiences. - Tom La Vecchia, MBA, X Factor Media
7. Big, Bold Hero Images
We are seeing more companies gravitating toward big, bold design elements including hero images and videos accompanied with geometric typography. Even B2B companies in manufacturing and embedded technologies want a clean but bold design. - Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications
8. Active Chat Sidebars
Live chat and chatbots have entered the market, and the right-bottom corner of a website is becoming a predictive location to place a chat interface. Many tools are actually incorporating ongoing communication records when a sidebar opens up, making it easy for visitors to see who they spoke to last with a history of the conversation. - Douglas Karr, DK New Media
9. Interactive Experiences
Consumers have high expectations. So, be prepared to deliver from the moment someone visits your site all the way through the sales funnel. The experience someone has with your brand should be interactive and provide ways for consumers to engage and connect in a meaningful way. The more demanding and impatient consumers become, the more design will trend toward an experience that sets you apart. - Katie Harris, Spot On Solutions
10. Minimalist Design With Useful Content
The concept of "clean" design has been popular for years, but clean has recently reached new depths, with many sites bordering on minimalism. Sites such as MailChimp and Apple are great examples with ample white space, pops of color and simple fonts. Marketers need to balance beautiful design and useful content for the best results. - Mario Medina, madison/miles media
11. Web Content Accessibility
Thankfully this is finally getting the attention it deserves. Websites have so often ignored users with hearing impairments, vision impairments and other disabilities. If your site isn't compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), prioritize this in your web development queue. An added bonus: Many of these updates, like alt text, will also help your SEO efforts. - Julie Howell, Postali
12. HTML5
It’s taken a while for teams to truly embrace it, but there’s no question that HTML5 has effectively eradicated Flash. It’s powerful enough to make 3-D games work in your browser, play a video with no actual file loaded or just make an incredible interactive web experience. An easy way to integrate this trend might be to create a simple mobile game – something a user can actually engage with. - Michael Africk, inmoji.com
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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a5603dab581a58455cde3d19208b5b66 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/05/five-critical-gen-z-instagram-tricks-that-marketers-are-missing/ | Five Critical Gen Z Instagram Tricks That Marketers Are Missing | Five Critical Gen Z Instagram Tricks That Marketers Are Missing
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To understand the consumer market, you must be part of it. Thinking about your demographic is integral to digital marketing, but there's an added layer to it in terms of advertising on Instagram. You not only need to understand what millennials or Gen Z require but also convey it in a way that's believable. This is very tricky if you're not born after 1990: Millennials are digital natives — they know when you're faking it.
Here are some tips to make your content more digestible to a younger demographic:
1. Craft your persona thoroughly.
Use colloquial language on a platform-by-platform basis. Some platforms prefer more traditional diction or text, such as Facebook. Capitalization on certain platforms can seem informal, such as on Instagram or Tumblr. There's a further step with Instagram, however: Emojis are integral to being relevant on the platform.
Don't use slang that you don't totally understand. If your brand is older or not in touch with your younger demographic, hire someone within that demographic. The aim of creating social platforms for a brand is to craft a complete persona — one that has a distinct sense of humor, age, gender, social class and interests. Once these are defined, it becomes easier to work collaboratively on the brand in a way that is undiluted and interesting.
By defining the ideal consumer for your brand, you can clearly identify what that persona should sound like. This social persona does not need to be the same across all platforms, as often people have different personas depending on the platform. However, there does need to be a sense of continuity between them.
2. Choose an aesthetic strategy that has space to grow.
Recently, Instagram revealed that the four grid was coming. This sent marketers into a frenzy everywhere, specifically those who were taking advantage of Instagram's format to create horizontal images spanning over three photos on a feed.
Instead of waiting for this update to maybe happen (or maybe not) and deal with the consequences afterward, make sure your aesthetic strategy has room for updates. A key example of this: We've started to add a fourth image to rows of three and archive the first image. This allows our clients' current scheme to look cohesive while preparing for an unprompted update, should Instagram choose to implement the four grid.
Another way you can allow your aesthetic strategy to grow is by keeping a color scheme that is relative, not concise. For example, instead of creating all of your images with the exact same background, color scheme and placement, carefully consider all of these elements but also allow for content to flow between colors. If a client is a handbag retailer, chances are that each collection will have a different style and color combination. To keep their feed cohesive, make sure all images are shot with the same type of camera, in similar formats, with a similar variety of props, lighting, etc.
3. Include F.L.U.F.F. content.
If you're using social media as a selling tool, your industry must be visual-centric. There are many businesses that aren't in these industries and use social media for a combination of community management, branding or all three. Regardless of your social media strategy, there must be a consistent flow of F.L.U.F.F. — fun, lighthearted, user-friendly — content for organic campaigns.
If your Instagram feed is constantly flooded with calls to action to purchase products or services, users are going to tire of your content very quickly. To make thumb-stopping content, it has to be relevant to the interests of your targeted demographic. This might be issues that your target demographic frequently find annoying, funny, interesting or otherwise entertaining. Always refer back to your platform persona — content must be well-rounded.
4. Use pods.
Pods — small, private groups of Instagrammers or businesses with similar audiences — are designed to increase Instagram engagement. Ideally, Instagram pods should be vertical specific — for example, fashion, travel, food or automotive, etc. The use of pods can increase the likelihood of being placed on the Explore page, thus working around the non-chronological algorithm update.
5. Break the fourth wall.
Avoiding controversial issues doesn't work on social media as it once did within traditional media. Where dialogue surrounding a particular ad or campaign used to be confined to verbal conversations or news coverage, there is now two-way glass separating the marketer from the audience in the form of the comments section.
It doesn't require a large amount of effort for a customer to reach out to a company and discuss why they didn't like their ads before, so even small issues can (and will) be addressed. Instead of retreating further into bland, safe content, address this head-on. When controversial issues come up, ask your audience how they feel. Instead of ignoring issues altogether, showing empathy and human traits will typically make Gen Z trust you more.
There are, of course, many exceptions to this. For example, issues that are overly controversial, such as politics, can alienate your audience. However, there are many other issues that can be discussed that weren't touched on heavily before in traditional marketing, such as mental health support, women's rights, etc. Breaking the fourth wall can also be as simple as noting the weather outside or asking if anyone has watched a particular movie or TV show.
Creating a comprehensive digital strategy can be tricky for older marketers. It requires extensive research into pop culture and social media trends to rejuvenate older marketing techniques and develop captivating content in order to remain relevant in today's digital marketing space.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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af39887ceb794437fd2e6537c1bf2a3b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/05/website-redesign-best-practices-for-2018/ | Website Redesign Best Practices For 2018 | Website Redesign Best Practices For 2018
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Your website is your always-on digital marketing and salesperson. Research shows that about 60% of the sales process is over before a prospect connects with your sales team. Why? Because prospects are researching online. They want to self-direct their education process. This makes having a well-designed, educational website a must.
Google is expected to release a new mobile-first algorithm update early in 2018, which means your website must be mobile responsive and load fast in order to maintain or get search engine rankings. If you want to succeed in this increasingly competitive environment, refreshing your website is one of the best investments you can make to drive leads and revenue.
Whether you plan to refresh or redo your entire site, these website redesign best practices will help make sure your company’s website redesign project goes smoothly and generates the results you need.
Analyze Your Current Site
An entire website overhaul might be a much larger project than what you need. To know what you need, run a website user testing experience on your site to decide if it warrants a full redesign or if you only need to tweak the design, content or conversion paths. And if the results of testing show that you need a full redesign, use that data as a benchmark against which to test your new design.
An example of an effective user test would be a simple five-second test. You show users your site for 10 seconds and then have them answer these questions about the design:
1. What is the company name?
2. Where would you find pricing information?
3. What is the service or product the site provides?
4. Do you think this site is trustworthy?
The answers will show you if you have strong branding and if your website conveys your unique value proposition and how easy it is to navigate.
Create A New Content Plan
Along with your website redesign, you will want to revisit your content. Survey your customers and gather user data from analytics. Create a plan that tells the story of your company’s current offering and how you help your customers. Then schedule the copywriting milestones to ensure that you have time to review and revise content before turning it over to your developer. Getting everyone on the team on the same page is important. Delaying or missing a deadline can push your website design launch back by days or weeks.
If your plan calls for a content-first website redesign, I recommend finishing the content writing before your visual redesign starts. You want the website redesign to complement your content and display it most efficiently and effectively. This sequence helps the developer know how to lay out the pages in your content management system.
Communicate Early And Often
Establish effective communication between stakeholders, developers and designers as early as possible in your redesign. You can avoid bottlenecks and further work by gathering everyone's expertise and ideas at the beginning.
For example, bring in your designer earlier in the process than you think necessary so they can see your process. Their viewpoint is critical to understand how each step in your plan affects the redesign positively or negatively. Your designer can also help you decide how much of your site can be repurposed.
Building a website that offers the best user experience should be your primary goal. Rely on all involved from the beginning to get the best ideas from a variety of perspectives. More diverse perspectives mean a much better website.
Manage Disruptions
Every project has setbacks, and any project lasting more than a month will uncover unexpected problems. Take into consideration your team's availability and how sickness, vacations and holidays will affect your timeline. Also, technical challenges and business changes will impact your project's deadlines.
Manage these disruptions by tackling issues head-on and finding a way around them. If you have established effective communication with all stakeholders and team members, you can rely on their input to create an alternate plan or eliminate the challenges entirely to stick to your original plan.
Own Your Project
A website redesign is not a side project you can work on in spurts. It should be a priority for everyone involved. As the project owner, when you treat it as a top priority, your team will have fewer issues and a much smoother process.
Consider your website's objective: It is your company's best salesperson. Don't think that first impressions don't count, because visitors are fickle and will click away at the first sign of discord. You want the first impression someone has of your company to be excellent on all accounts.
Owning your project means you are available to your designer and the rest of your team. Follow up on questions they have and stay in touch to make sure everyone is on the same page. You should be able to offer other resources if your team needs help to complete the redesign. It is your responsibility to keep the redesign on plan, on budget and on track for a successful completion.
A successful website redesign can give your marketing a powerful jumpstart for the year if planned and executed correctly. Keep these best practices in mind, keep open communication with everyone involved and make your redesign a priority. Also, keep in mind that new features for your website may need to wait until a future iteration. Websites should be updated continuously to stay abreast of technology and trends. Be flexible enough to accept and roll with the changes.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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6897fb4a7ccc3a4b33935504117bdbeb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/08/keep-up-with-fast-changing-consumer-behaviors-when-to-reassess-your-martech-stack/?sh=3ec885133d70 | Keep Up With Fast-Changing Consumer Behaviors: When To Reassess Your Martech Stack | Keep Up With Fast-Changing Consumer Behaviors: When To Reassess Your Martech Stack
As a marketer, it can be easy to put together a set of tools and processes and stick to them throughout the entire year. If things are running well, there may be no reason to reassess or review your marketing stack. But if your plan starts to veer off course, you may need to take stock of your tools before they become obsolete and are no longer able to keep up with the latest changes in the market.
Having a plan in place to examine what's working and what needs fine-tuning or upgrading can make all the difference in the results you see.
Below, 12 members of the Forbes Agency Council share how often marketers should reassess their marketing stack. Here is what they recommend:
Members of the Forbes Agency Council weigh in. Images courtesy of FAC members.
1. Get The Right Marketing Stack First
Before you assess, you need to build best in class. For service organizations, best in class equals content management system, marketing automation, customer relationship management and social media management. Once this architecture is in place, you should be running deep-dive analyses every six months and then making course corrections based on hard data, not assumptions. - Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
2. At Least Once A Year
Reassessing your martech stack is important to do at least once a year; technologies evolve and so should your processes. You should be able to question if you have the right tool for a particular process. We tend to leave the technologies we have because evaluating new ones is time-consuming. Consider this: There might be another tool that can help you deliver an even greater service. - Martha Madero Gonzalez, GROU Crecimiento Digital
3. As Often As Possible
Always reassess your marketing stack to ensure it aligns with your current goals and needs. It’s essential to understand the technologies you are using and consistently measure the data that comes from them. If your current marketing stack isn’t improving your business, then you need to reassess and figure out how to scale to where you want the future of your company to be. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
4. Continuously
Marketers should constantly be trying new tools. Today, there are so many good integrations that it's worth experimenting to get the perfect set up for whatever that end objective is. Naturally, these objectives change from project to project and client to client, so marketers need to adapt fluidly to fit these changing goals. - Shannon Wu, Mr. Progress
5. Use Two Time Intervals
Evaluating your marketing stack should be done semi-annually with a quarterly glance at what's new. Looking ahead (i.e., out your windshield) to see what could complement or replace your current stack allows you to better assess your semi-annual review. A rearview-only method will cause you to miss opportunities. Keep this cadence to feel confident in what and when to consider stack changes. - Todd Earwood, MoneyPath Marketing
6. Quarterly
The technology is changing so rapidly that I recommend at least a cursory assessment every quarter with a full annual assessment. If you wait, you may miss out on a tool or even an upgrade that can help you meet your objectives. - Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications
7. Every Month
Although it sounds time- and labor-intensive, I recommend companies take a close analysis of their marketing funnels and stacks monthly. Based on experience running millions of dollars in paid ads and building marketing campaigns and funnels for seven- and eight-figure businesses, the more you test, tweak and optimize, the more successful you are. Like anything in life, you get out what you put in. - Rudy Mawer, Rudy Mawer International, LLC
8. Not As Often As You Think
There are hundreds of new technologies every year. Constantly chasing every innovation is a fool's errand. Engage in a mid-year topline review of your stack and the newest technologies to green light pilot programs and make adjustments, but do a comprehensive review just once a year. That will give everyone time to evaluate what works and what doesn't. Stability is as important as innovation. - Craig Greiwe, Rogers & Cowan
9. As Soon As There Is A Dip
Reassess as soon as you see a consistent dip in business. Perhaps the markets have changed, perhaps what once worked no longer does, so be honest with yourself and reassess. If things never seem to dip, still check in from time to time to see if you can improve on what already works. - Aidan Cole, nTuitive.social
10. When Things Are Going Well
Many marketers only look at their marketing stack when things are underperforming. However, by that point, it's often too late. The best time to evaluate your strategy is when things are going well — it allows you to evaluate without stress or urgency. You can catch opportunities before they turn into emergencies, and test new ideas with less risk. - Julie Howell, Postali
11. As Often As The Market Changes
Consumer preferences change fast, so marketers should always be reassessing their marketing stack and asking, “Are we creating the optimal experience for consumers?” For example, with the increase in mobile, call centers need to be accessible via messenger and not just via phone. If you’re only checking occasionally and making small changes, you’ll lack the momentum for significant change. - Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad
12. Don't Fix What's Not Broken
If it's working, don't change it. The trick is to distinguish between shortcomings/problems with the systems you're leveraging currently and the "shiny new thing" syndrome. More tech won't help. Better, more effective and efficient process will. - Craig Klein, SalesNexus.com
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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19655deea47eb6315752adc44edbbff9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/10/how-small-businesses-can-capitalize-on-digital-advertising/ | How Small Businesses Can Capitalize On Digital Advertising | How Small Businesses Can Capitalize On Digital Advertising
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"Reach the right audience at the right time." It’s been marketing’s mantra for over 100 years. And let’s never forget the four Ps: product, place, price and promotion. Isn’t it funny how some things can remain relevant despite decades of evolution?
What has changed, however, is the way in which companies reach potential customers — and for that, we can thank the digital age. Up until recently, marketing efforts have been based on broad demographics — age range, zip code, household income — and companies spent big bucks targeting those demographics. But why waste good money when you can spend that hard-earned cash to target much smaller, but more important, details?
People-based marketing is the new little black dress in the marketing world. And, quite literally, if you sell little black dresses, you can create a digital campaign that only reaches women wanting to buy little black dresses. Then, you can matchback your sales to see how many dress-buying women actually saw your little black dress ads. Sounds expensive, right? Not necessarily.
It's All About The Data
Data is key when working to implement a cross-channel strategy — we’re talking analytics, CRMs, the works. But what about the little guy — the one who saves up for years in hopes of one day funneling some cash toward an advertising campaign? Believe it or not, big data is within reach and budget for nearly any business.
According to SAS, “Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data -- both structured and unstructured ... [that] can be analyzed for insights, leading to better decisions and strategic business moves.”
Small business owners, no matter their budget, can now leverage that data and advertise directly to their consumers without wasting excess money on people who will never convert. It’s as simple as reaching out to a digital marketing agency, where you can begin to discuss your buyers’ journey and drill down your market segments.
Hyper-Segmentation
With the continued growth of digital advertising, reach and attention will get even more fragmented as people feverishly flip between various devices and platforms. Big data helps to break through the distractions that arise from always being plugged in and directs you toward consumers who are interested in what you have to sell. Based on that data, you can then target those interested consumers on the channel or platform that they use the most (mobile, social media, email ... you get the picture).
Your goals?
1. Increase sales or recognition.
2. Build a loyal customer base.
The possibilities are endless, and even better, these types of digital campaigns can be implemented for any business, whether you have a budget of $500 or $500 thousand.
Matchback For Better Attribution
As the saying goes, "The proof is in the pudding." And a good campaign’s matchback details will let you know if you should go with tapioca instead of vanilla.
Matchback is revolutionizing the world of advertising by giving marketers the ability to attribute sales or conversions to specific campaigns. Every impression, click and online event can be tied back to a consumer who was targeted by your campaign, giving you a clear picture of how much your digital advertising attributed to your success.
You can take this concept of matchback one step further, too — into your actual brick-and-mortar business location. Once you have that matchback list, compare it to your in-store transactions. You’ll get an even more accurate picture of ROI and attribution.
Is attaining this level of accuracy easy? The short answer is no. But since $0.56 of every dollar spent in a store is influenced by a digital interaction, you’ll have to hold up your end of the bargain, too.
Get a really amazing POS system that collects customer information upon payment. Can’t afford POS software? Start collecting email addresses. Too shy to ask for that email? Then simply ask how they heard about you. (There’s nothing wrong with an old-school approach every now and then.) If their reply is along the lines of, “Well, I was on my phone/computer and I noticed …” then you know your campaign is on the right track.
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ef2c633d2d9918d618542d614344ea37 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/12/how-fintech-is-targeting-millennials-using-ai-and-machine-learning/ | How Fintech Is Targeting Millennials Using AI And Machine-Learning | How Fintech Is Targeting Millennials Using AI And Machine-Learning
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Over the last several years, millennials have been upending the consumer market as companies scramble to find the best way to attract the world’s first group of digital natives, a wily lot who thrive on innovation, automation and all of the latest tech gadgets.
As more of these young adults enter the workforce and begin investing in their futures, businesses are quickly realizing they will have to change their approach to appeal to this demographic’s unique set of needs and expectations, which are on course to completely disrupt the status quo. In other words, it can’t just be business as usual with the smartphone generation.
While millennials have been saddled with some unflattering labels in recent years, including "narcissistic," "entitled" and "trophy kids," this tech-savvy bunch has also been hailed for being more progressive and open to new ideas than previous generations.
Millennials value transparency as well as convenience. They essentially demand to have a personalized product or service at their fingertips wherever and whenever they need it, according to research that focuses on how banks can reinvent themselves in the millennial age.
These defining characteristics are what companies need to keep in mind if they want to maintain their competitive edge in this climate of lightning-fast technological change. This has never been truer than for fintech, a field I've watched evolve into being more hands-on, user-friendly and fun, thanks to the advanced automation and AI technologies that have been flooding the IT sphere.
Many fintech companies have seized upon a niche opportunity. They understand that traditional banking and investment avenues are being quickly phased out. In fact, 57% of Americans believe that financial institutions will no longer exist in their present form within the next couple of decades. In fact, a lot of big banks have already deployed mobile apps in an effort to keep up with shifting consumer trends, which are rapidly moving toward the complete digitization of the sector. Fintech is taking this approach a step further by essentially replacing (human) financial advisors with robo-advisors that use big data, machine learning and AI to essentially cherry-pick the best investment opportunities for this new generation of investors.
As the CEO of my own mobile app and web development shop, I’ve worked with quite a few fintech startups over the last decade that understand the importance of targeting the needs of this valuable customer base. I’ve been keeping a keen eye on this sector, pleased to see that the market is filling with investment platforms geared toward my generation.
One of the most promising (and innovative) fintech startups to emerge this year, in my opinion, was Grifin. The app seems in line with the millennial mindset: It allows a user to invest their spare change into companies they love by employing machine learning to create customized stock portfolios based on the individual’s unique interests and preferences. The portfolio automatically adapts to keep up with the user’s changing lifestyle, while also replicating the diversification provided by an S&P 500 exchange-traded fund.
Intrigued, I got in touch with Aaron Froug, the company’s co-founder, to get his take on how fintech is zeroing in on millennials.
“Today’s technology provides a gateway for companies to do some pretty amazing things. As well, traditional banking and investment channels aren’t moving fast enough with the industry. They are falling too far behind and are losing their current user base. By the time they adjust, the needs of millennials will already be taken care of by fintech companies,” Froug told me. “There is so much competition in the market that a good product doesn’t just cut it anymore. Companies have to be consumer-focused and make sure they are building a brand that customers want and can be loyal to.”
A 2015 study found that while 71% of millennials would rather go to the dentist than listen to what banks say, they are on course to control some $7 trillion in liquid assets by 2020 and will account for 46% of all income generated in the U.S. by 2025. These are impressive figures, especially if you consider that this generation has crushing student debt that has forced many to put off things like buying a house or starting a family.
Companies like Upstart see millennials as a strategic market segment that it has been successfully able to target. The consumer-lending platform, founded by ex-Googlers, leverages AI and machine learning to price credit and automate the borrowing process.
Jane Penner, the team’s communications director, told me that credit is really hard to build for millennials, which is why Upstart uses non-conventional variables, like employment and education data, to help young people with short credit histories secure a loan.
“Our loan product is not millennial-specific, but the average age of our borrower is 28 — versus mid-40s for our peers — so it's clear our product serves this age group very well,” Penner explained.
AI, machine learning and customer service anytime, anywhere is where the future is headed. Companies hoping to capitalize on consumers’ changing mindsets, with millennials leading the charge, are going to have to fine-tune their approach or jump off the bandwagon. Those that haven’t started automating their services to appease the younger generation’s demands for transparency, convenience and cool, interactive user interfaces have about another year or two to catch up or risk extinction.
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d13af0991ab84ed8dd2378d1c61baf47 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/12/how-to-create-a-learning-environment-people-actually-want-to-be-part-of/ | How To Create A Learning Environment People Actually Want To Be Part Of | How To Create A Learning Environment People Actually Want To Be Part Of
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Learning leaders everywhere: I know this might sting, but unless you hire David Copperfield to do magic tricks in the background as you execute your learning programs, no substantial number of people are going to “magically appear” unless they're actually interested in the topic.
Seems pretty logical, right? You wouldn't go see a non-favorite interview with a non-favorite, non-interesting person. Why waste time or do triple the work in an overpacked, undersupported learning management system spewing non-related materials? Why the call for mandated learning programs for streamlined workforce acumen with lack of or invisible support from the organization itself? Have employees tell you what they want!
Senior leadership — the "numbers people" — see one thing: People are not showing up to your learning program, so you must be doing something wrong. What they don't see are the adverse, sour-faced reactions to continued learning that stem from repeated, traumatic cramming sessions from high school. We've always had to learn and be tested on things we didn't give two nuggets about, and the repercussions limit each learner’s potential.
What you need to focus on is how you can create a learning environment that is partly created by, and belongs to, the workforce. When they see themselves in the learning program, they will participate.
Getting Started
1. Can you survey your workforce to determine what they want to learn?
2. Can you provide learning incentives even if they're outside the normal realm?
3. Do you have Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) within your organization that are willing to teach any of these learning themes?
Imagine, once you've surveyed your teams, that a number of employees wanted to learn how to do awesome magic card tricks, for example. You can implement a potential “learning carrot” for the completion of each segment of the overall learning program where a master magician comes in and blows everyone’s mind.
You have just simultaneously upped the cool factor of the learning program, proven that you listen to your employees and made everyone’s inner child ridiculously happy. How apt will your employees be to continue a learning program after all that jazz?
Many of these learning carrots can be harvested right from your current workforce. So how do we get there?
1. Create a strategic curriculum. Create a high-level curriculum that encompasses what everyone organizationally needs to know. Then, create branches with learning opportunities that are aligned with people's roles specifically. Finally, add the new employee-driven learning events. For example, all of your employees have to understand the value proposition of the company — that's part of the "trunk." But a salesperson needs to understand how the value prop fits into the products they're selling. As an incentive (or "carrot") for completing and excelling in this "branch" learning, they might get to participate in a Shark Tank-like experience as part of the reward.
2. Create shortcuts based on individual engagement. Let your curriculum have “learning loopholes,” where learners can test out of areas where they feel they possess a mastery of the topic, eliminating wasted learning time.
3. Create incentives. Figure out what’s possible in terms of incentives to motivate learners aside from “you have to do this because your boss says so.” Be as creative as your organization will allow. For example, have teams compete for an experience based on who completes the most learning hours. Make this a public opportunity and get everyone's competitive engines running.
4. Create micro-learnings to break learnings down. The less cumbersome a teaching, the better it's received. For example, if you have day-long training courses, revisit them and see if you can create shorter versions or break it into a series. One technique to consider is using e-learning as a baseline for employees, allowing you to get to the good stuff quicker during live training.
5. Don't rush things. Allow for a reasonable amount of time for learning completions. Don’t overwork your workforce. Give employees enough notice to plan their time, allowing them to feel present and less anxious during training.
6. Get support. Get support from management as far up as you need until it's a priority. Have management be the first at taking a crack at your new learning solutions. Your employees will be inspired to know that their boss had to do it first, which will help with adoption.
Capturing ROI
Taking pre- and post-surveys after each of your cornerstone learning solutions is pivotal to the success of your business story.
• Pre-surveys act as a baseline of the learner's confidence on a particular topic. It also serves as an excellent filter. For example, if a pre-survey determines that the needs of an employee do not align with the learning objectives, you can flag that and discuss this with them before they invest a full day in a workshop. This will give you credibility as a learning leader who is committed to creating learning experiences that matter and don't waste time.
• Post-surveys measure course effectiveness. Step out of asking about details that don't matter — you want to know if the learning moved the needle of knowledge and if they'll take action using their newfound expertise.
• Manager surveys are taken by line managers 15-30 days after a course or workshop to determine whether they have seen a shift in behavior and application post-training. This is powerful when aligning your learning to the bottom line. If you can tell the story that because of training, the error rate of X went down 20%, saving $Y to the company, you will be seen as a mythical unicorn in storybooks.
Learning is a culture-changer. It's a workforce accelerator, recruitment target, retention tool and more. Our roles as learning leaders have changed drastically within the past couple of years. To be effective requires you to come out of the caverns of Blooms and Kirkpatrick, learning the business of the business and listen to what people want.
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f3cd9585bcbb33010207a43535e5151b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/19/the-gig-economy-pioneering-the-future/ | The Gig Economy: Pioneering The Future | The Gig Economy: Pioneering The Future
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Two years ago, I decided to do the unthinkable for many Americans — give up my car. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time using ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. One of my favorite ways to get to know my drivers was to ask them a simple question: What do you enjoy most about your job? Their answers almost always revolved around their power to decide when, where and how they want to work. It is this progressive attitude that inspired me to found our company, Social Native. I had a keen eye for the changing labor market, using this as the driving force behind my mission to reimagine how content is created and media is distributed.
Simply put, the modern economy is evolving beyond the constraints of traditional work models. As a society, we are demanding the freedom of flexible work environments. Collectively, we are breaking barriers and smashing limitations, especially when it comes to making a living. The time is ripe for us to champion our own destiny by harnessing the power of the gig economy to spur lasting social change.
Members of the gig economy are those who are not employees of the company that signs their paychecks; rather, they are independent contractors. Critics might argue that self-employment equates to exploitative working practices. However, this is an archaic view of what is becoming a revolutionary form of business. In reality, many contract employees are enjoying a level of autonomy that was once considered too good to be true. Instead of working 9-to-5 for a single employer, they are leveraging their advantages to make earning money more relaxed and enjoyable.
According to a recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute, up to 162 million people in the United States and Europe are involved in some form of independent work. That said, as scary as change is, we need to embrace the gig economy as central to the future of American work. This shift has already begun to turn the age-old advertising industry on its head. The explosion of smartphones has turned everyday consumers into content creators, giving brands seemingly unlimited options outside of the traditional creative agencies and making content available with greater speed and lower costs than anything ever seen.
This begs the question: How do we build a marketplace to foster a sustainable gig economy? Well, the first step is to learn from the notable companies that have embraced the gig economy trend as standard. Case in point: Uber and Airbnb. (Our company is also expanding the gig economy by paying talented consumers to create content for the brands they love.)
These startups began by identifying a service or product in demand. For Uber, it was car rides and for Airbnb, it was a place to stay. These platforms then confronted the classic chicken-and-egg problem when it came to attracting both suppliers and customers.
In order to overcome this adoption challenge, both marketplaces initially focused on tapping into the preexisting, vetted source of supply. For example, Uber’s co-founder, Travis Kalanick, cold-called professional drivers. At Dreamforce, Kalanick shared that he did a Google search for "San Francisco chauffeur" and "San Francisco limousine," then filled out an Excel spreadsheet and started "dialing for dollars." Similarly, the founders of Airbnb scraped Craigslist to find people willing to rent their properties. At our company, we searched Instagram for epic creators producing branded content organically.
These unique approaches for filling industry gaps have reinforced the idea that technology can solve inefficiencies in all supply chains. It’s just a matter of finding creative solutions to reimagine the norm.
After managing the supply side of the equation, it's important to then shift your attention to building the art of demand. To acquire their first customers, Uber and Airbnb each had their own unique marketing strategies. Uber ran promotions at concerts and events, and Airbnb hired professional photographers to take photos of hosts’ apartments.
In the advertising world, brands now have the opportunity to boost demand in the marketplace through user-generated content. This form of advertising is often more creative and authentic since micro-influencers aren’t shackled by the constraints of an agency office or production studio.
In the end, what do companies like Uber and Airbnb have in common? They are doing the heavy lifting that goes into building a marketplace that fuels the evolution of their respective industries. Although the story of the gig economy is still being written, one thing is certain -- these companies are disrupting the system.
The rise of freelancers is redefining how business is done in the 21st century, especially as it relates to marketing. The best way for brands to create personalized and engaging content is to go straight to the source: consumers. In order to maintain their competitive edge, brands cannot be afraid to embed their fans into the framework of their marketing strategies.
Ashton Kutcher, an investor in our company, recognizes this spirit of innovation, which is why he has also invested in Uber and Airbnb. In an interview for his digital media company, A Plus, Kutcher said, “If you want to do something great in the world, there are going to be obstacles and you have to be a person who has ingenuity and sheer willpower to get through those times.”
Thanks to the emergent gig economy, creators have a new source of income, and brands are getting better content for a fraction of the cost previously possible. In today’s social media age, brands that don’t keep up with these evolving times will get lost.
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5fa3313f6ed03b388da09ed307c6726a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/22/be-nice-or-leave-the-pragmatic-case-for-b-corps/ | Be Nice Or Leave: The Pragmatic Case For B-Corps | Be Nice Or Leave: The Pragmatic Case For B-Corps
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The future belongs to those who spot it first.
C-suites are full of leaders who saw a change coming and effectively prepared to take advantage of it. When you’re in the driver’s seat of business -- large or small -- miss one curve and you’re toast.
Consider Sears, once the largest domestic retailer in America with a Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) stock price reaching more than $130 a share and a history of selling just about anything you can think of by mail.
So why aren’t they Amazon, a thriving online retailer?
They missed a curve -- a big one.
These curves often involve changing technology, demographics or zeitgeist: the birth and maturation of the internet, the retirement of baby boomers or the cynical nature of two generations raised in an age where war was constant and the effects of a global recession piled up around them.
Sears’ share price went from more than $130 to less than $4 (as of this writing) in part because they missed just one of these curves. The next curve is a superstorm made of all three, and the companies that can’t see it or aren’t adjusting their sails right now are toast.
A majority of millennials now reject capitalism.
A Harvard University study found that 51% of respondents did not support capitalism. Why would a plurality of 18-29 year-olds feel this way about the most powerful system for the creation of prosperity that humans have ever conceived?
Short answer: they probably don’t. They likely just reject the way they’ve seen it practiced and the use of shareholder-generated wealth as the sole yardstick for success.
Warby Parker, Patagonia and New Belgium Brewing Company are all capitalists and all adored by millennials. And all have leadership teams with goals beyond making enough money to buy a boat big enough to park a smaller boat in. These brands believe in harnessing the power of business to solve the biggest challenges facing the world. And they backed it up by becoming certified B corporations.
B-corps, or benefit corporations, are an organizational form of for-profit companies that are committed to solving social and environmental problems through the power of business. Those that are serious about this commitment can become certified B-corps through the nonprofit B Lab. Applicants must pass a certification process that looks at how the company creates value for non-shareholding stakeholders like employees, the local community and the environment.
Today there are more than 2,350 certified B-corps globally that meet these rigorous standards. Among them are some major brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Dansko, The Honest Company, Cabot Creamery Co-operative, Patagonia, Warby Parker and New Belgium Brewing Company.
The basic principles of this concept are hardly new. John Elkington coined the term “triple bottom line” in 1994 and similar ideas of conscious capitalism date back even further. But while these concepts meant well, they had little in the way of accountability.
B Lab upped the ante to a process that certifies companies that meet the highest of standards in areas including social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability.
This distinction matters. Not just to the causes supported or the corporate vibe, but to the bottom line. And when I spoke to Rob Michalak, global director of social mission at Ben & Jerry's, he explained that he has the data to prove it.
Ben & Jerry's became a certified B-corp in 2012, though it naturally arrived at many of the same principles long before B Lab existed, Michalak said. Their version, called “linked prosperity,” was codified in a 1988 mission statement that included a social mission, economic mission and product mission. These values helped the company grow into a brand Unilever paid $326 million to acquire. Despite being Unilever's owned subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s maintained their mission and their B-corp certification.
For this continued commitment, consumers rewarded Ben & Jerry's with tremendous loyalty. Michalak notes that Ben & Jerry's research shows consumers are two-and-a-half times more loyal to companies that have a social purpose and incorporate values-driven action authentically throughout their business.
While some brands join the movement out of pure altruism, others have taken note that millennials, the largest retail demographic, now have $200 billion in annual buying power and a penchant for rewarding values-driven companies. Nielsen reports that the top five reasons consumers are willing to pay more for a product include: brand trust, a health and wellness focuses, fresh, natural, organic ingredients, a brand known to be environmentally friendly, and brands that are known for social value.
But brands can’t just rely on emotive TV spots to position themselves in the good graces of consumers. Today’s hyper-connected world gives no quarter to hollow claims of sustainability or ethics. If you don’t walk the walk, a curious Redditor or verified Twitter account user will sniff you out and expose you to great fanfare.
This certification isn’t a fit for all. Brands merely looking for modern street cred or for a company-culture quick fix are likely to find the process overly taxing. But for those with B Lab’s core tenants in their DNA, the certification process is a self-audit that can help them find and correct issues before they become public relations nightmares.
We chose to begin the process because B Lab's values matched our own and their polished framework saved us from reinventing the wheel. While it’s unlikely many prospective clients will follow our B-corp certification status, the process gives us clear instructions for navigating the curve that lies ahead.
The process is certainly significant, but so is the distance between Sears and Amazon.
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aaf481307220f1df0457d01267548e0e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/26/how-to-prepare-for-the-mobile-first-world-of-2018/ | How To Prepare For The Mobile-First World Of 2018 | How To Prepare For The Mobile-First World Of 2018
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The past few years have brought us mobile-friendly marketing, and the next few will herald the age of mobile-first marketing. In order to prepare for the transformation, businesses and their digital marketing gurus need to adopt smart strategies that will meet the needs of customers and search engines alike. The goal is not to cope with the new mobile environment, but to conquer it.
Already, most customer interaction takes place on smartphones and tablets. According to a study conducted by Google and the research firm Purchased, people are two times more likely to have a brand experience on a mobile device than they are to interact in person, through the TV or through a computer.
As the digital world braces for Google’s long-anticipated mobile-first index, which seems to be forever on the horizon but never within reach, it’s time to buckle down and craft a mobile-first design strategy before the world shifts beneath your feet. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.
Personalization Shift
Deliver more personalized experiences to gain new customers and hold onto loyal ones.
The days of one-size-fits-all content are over. Now, customers (particularly millennials) expect more personalized service, and mobile devices are the perfect platforms for making it happen.
According to The Boston Consulting Group, companies that have jumped on the personalization bandwagon early have watched their revenues climb two to three times faster than those organizations that stuck with a wholesale approach. And the benefits aren’t limited to short-term gains.
Brands that nail down personalization now will only increase their market share over the next few years. Those who putter in the slow lane will gradually lose out to their savvier competitors as customers get used to customized mobile experiences and demand more of them.
You don’t have to ask how your visitors’ children are doing and greet them each by name, but you should know how long they’ve been customers, what they search for, which products or services they buy and even when they celebrate their birthdays.
Whether you offer special apps for loyal customers or simply track mobile interactions and tailor future offers to past behavior, you can tap into personalization to make the user experience more enjoyable for customers and more profitable for your business.
Focus On Your Local Reach
Use geo-fencing to target potential customers in a specific location.
Local-based companies stand to profit as mobile takes center stage. In the age of instant gratification, people want what they want when they want it, and they use their phones to find it. To put it another way, foot traffic has become mobile traffic.
In this day and age, people may not even look up from their smartphones long enough to see the big, expensive sign that graces the front of your restaurant or boutique. If your brick-and-mortar shop doesn’t pop up in the local search results, you could miss out on countless impromptu visits.
There are many ways to improve your local search rankings. In addition to fine-tuning your SEO strategy, you can use Google and MapQuest’s pinpoint ads, which tie advertisements to specific locations on maps or geofencing technology, which allows business to send app-based ads to people who happen to be nearby at a given time.
The Rise Of Voice
Refine your SEO practices to take advantage of voice search.
When marketers think of optimizing their sites for a mobile-first environment, they usually focus their efforts on a few key mobile-first design principles — load speed (which should be fast), interface (which should be easy to use) and responsive capabilities (which should have been implemented a long time ago) — all of which are essential for survival in the brave new world of mobile devices.
In their rush to stay on top of current trends, however, businesses may be neglecting the future, and that future belongs to voice search. Over 40% of adults and half of teens use voice search every day, and that number will only grow as AI technology helps tech giants parse people’s natural language patterns into searchable keywords and phrases.
While the rise of digital assistants explains much of this trend, mobile devices also play a big role in the voice search revolution. To avoid getting caught by surprise when voice overtakes text as the search method of choice, marketers should start preparing now.
That means focusing more on long-tail keywords, complete phrases and full questions. Instead of choppy terms like “restaurants Denver,” people who use voice search tend to ask their phones, “What are the best restaurants in Denver?”
Here’s To A Mobile-First 2018
In order to thrive in the mobile-first world, you need to rethink your approach to brand awareness and customer satisfaction. Increasingly, that means integrating your digital marketing strategy into your overall marketing strategy by combining mobile apps with in-store interactions, online ads with interactive maps and voice search with local-based SEO. In addition, it means emphasizing mobile-first design over desktop design.
It’s a tall order, but if you take it one step at a time, you’ll have a killer mobile presence before you know it.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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40b4eba80e52dbec97ec2d116fdaccfa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/30/six-digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2018/ | Six Digital Marketing Trends To Watch In 2018 | Six Digital Marketing Trends To Watch In 2018
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'Tis the season to take a look at what worked and didn’t work in your marketing last year. In going through that exercise, I encourage you to test some new tactics for the year ahead. Below are six trends to keep an eye on and how to apply them.
1. 'Mobilfication'
We've heard about mobile for the last few years, but for some crazy reason, many businesses are still not taking action. Stand in line anywhere nowadays and watch what people are doing. I can assure you they have their face buried in their mobile device. Mobile will continue to be a top priority for marketers for years to come.
Put a mobile strategy in place to engage with your prospects and customers. This means creating a mobile website but, depending on your business, mobile elements might include the ability to send text messages to your customers. For example, the restaurant industry can get away with sending texts once a week with specials, whereas a doctors office would be hard-pressed to send something so regularly.
I'd suggest starting off by sending two messages a month, one fun text and one promotional with a call to action. Once you get started, you'll be able to quickly gauge how many messages your audience will respond to.
2. Media Properties
What type of business are you in? Regardless of your answer, I would challenge you to start thinking about your business as a media company. Where do you get most of your information about what's going on in the world? Whether you read your news online or still read a paper copy, the news controls the conversation for the day, week or month.
The best way to control the conversation in front of your prospects and customers is to get in front of them with quality content. Launch one media platform that's 100% focused on providing helpful, authentic content to your end customers. This could mean a podcast, a well-written and thought-out blog or even a livestream video that you film on a weekly basis. The business that produces the best (and most) content will come out on top.
3. Chatbots
Chatbots are all the rage as of late and for great reason. If you're not familiar, think of them as a tool on the other side of a computer that can respond to your customers' questions or comments. Chatbots are used for engagement, customer service issues, general questions and even closing business.
I've been testing them out the last six months and the results have been off-the-charts. The crazy thing is, if you set up the bot correctly, it's very tough to tell if you're talking to an actual person or a bot.
Launch a website or Facebook chatbot to engage with your prospects. Find something fun or engaging to start the conversation, as the prospect needs to initiate the chat. I'm a huge fan of data-driven marketing and have seen open rates exceed 80% or higher with an engaged audience. So, if you send 1,000 messages via your chatbot tool, chances are high that at least 800 people will see your message. Those rates are far superior to email open rates, making this a unique channel not to ignore.
4. Reviews
Organic traffic from SEO continues to be one of the best sources of web traffic for many businesses. While there are a lot of elements involved in ranking, the number of reviews you have is a key factor. Google looks at your Google reviews, Facebook reviews, Yelp reviews and more. Why would Google want to prioritize a business in the search rank that has a one-star rating?
While your reviews are essential for search engine rankings, they can also make or break a sale for you. According to research, half of adults under the age of 50 regularly check online reviews before purchasing a new item. What will they find? I hope a substantial amount of positive reviews that makes the decision easy.
Put together a solid plan for getting reviews for your business. Be careful not to incentivize people (as this is not allowed), but instead have a system for asking for reviews.
5. Video
I expect to see more Facebook Live videos and a rise in web TV. In many surveys out there (like this one), consumers say they much prefer video over text. Video helps tell more compelling stories, gets your point across faster and can improve sales. Video on a landing page or sales page, for example, can help increase conversions by as much as 80%, according to research.
Get started by committing to doing four videos per month. Whether you do a Facebook Live, YouTube video or a video for your website, it doesn’t matter. Get into the habit of producing quality video content for your prospects and customers.
6. Branding Versus Direct Response
Telling your story versus telling people what to do is critical. To paint a more vivid picture, let me provide an example.
Educators Credit Union, a client of ours, hosts dozens of events throughout the year that provides value to their members and portrays their brand to the community. Several times a year, they host a shred day, allowing members to bring their papers to be shredded at no cost. Their team is there to help and makes it a fun, community-based day. There are no fancy calls to action. Instead, they're continuing to keep their name out in the community and telling their story.
Stop focusing all of your attention on the call to action and make sure you're delivering value first, telling your story and portraying your business in the best possible light.
Above, I've provided six trends. Pick one and execute. Ready, set, go!
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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746e982f7fa02f75530d97105cf1d5f8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/02/02/six-easy-ways-to-avoid-entrepreneurial-burnout/?sh=7324ad10252c | Six Easy Ways To Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout | Six Easy Ways To Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout
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Your professional and personal life begin to blur. You hit a creative wall. Your passion begins to falter. Sound familiar? These are all common symptoms of entrepreneurial burnout. Avoiding burnout is essential to your health, wellness, continued growth and success.
There are a number of challenges entrepreneurs experience throughout the course of success and failure: juggling client and talent retention, partner disputes, vendor acquisition issues and more.
Depression and anxiety are familiar burnout symptoms. However, entrepreneurs are speaking out about how our Type-A personalities and passion have led us down the burnout rabbit hole. “Running a startup is like chewing glass and staring into the abyss," said Elon Musk. "After a while, you stop staring, but the glass-chewing never ends.”
Here are some ways to avoid entrepreneurial burnout:
1. Seek Out And Destroy Stress Triggers
Stress is a common side effect of high-intensity business and a symptom of burnout. Identifying the daily and weekly triggers can help you avoid full-blown burnout. To identify these stress triggers, note down when stress arises and the tasks you're doing at that specific moment.
After a few days, look at these stressful moments and ask yourself if these tasks are that important. You can eliminate them by changing the process of how you go about these tasks, delegating them to others and automating parts of the task.
Eliminating stress from your workflow will keep burnout at bay and improve your long-term mental and physical health.
2. Get Rid Of Entrepreneurial Guilt
Entrepreneurs will work from sunrise to sunset without stopping. Food, fun, relationships and other basic, important human needs are normally neglected as a result. It’s not that we don’t want to have fun every so often; it’s the guilt of not working that keeps us disengaged.
One of the best ways to avoid burnout is to schedule time for yourself. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs take breaks and spend time doing something non-work-related. “Ditch any guilt you might feel about stopping work,” said Richard Branson in a blog post. “Make this relaxation time a priority.”
3. Exercise
One of the best ways to battle burnout is to get active. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Scientists have found that regular participation in aerobic exercise has been shown to decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and stabilize mood, improve sleep, and improve self-esteem.”
You certainly don’t need to start training for a marathon. But carving out 30 minutes a day for fitness can help you avoid burnout. Yoga, running, spinning, kickboxing or even a brisk 20-minute walk around the neighborhood can have a positive impact on your daily mood and energy.
4. Meditate
Meditation is a very powerful way to avoid burnout. In fact, a number of highly successful entrepreneurs swear by meditation. Marc Benioff, Bob Stiller, Jeff Weiner and others all meditate to stay sharp and avoid burnout.
Health benefits of meditation include:
• Decreased blood pressure
• Lower heart rate
• Less anxiety
• Decreased stress
Meditation is a fantastic way to avoid burnout because you can do it anywhere at anytime. Gym membership, weights or classes are not needed. You simply sit somewhere, straighten your back and concentrate on each deep inhale and exhale.
There are also a variety of apps and YouTube videos you can employ to guide you in meditation.
5. Restart From The Beginning
Why did you become an entrepreneur? Maybe it was to make your own schedule or be more innovative. Whatever the reason, reminding yourself why you became an entrepreneur in the first place can help you avoid burnout.
If you started your entrepreneurial journey somewhere other than where you live now, think about taking a trip back to where it all began. Visit where you had your first office or even the first startup you invested in.
Take in the sights, smells and visit those favorite haunts, like that bustling coffee shop with free internet you once sat in searching for inspiration during the salad days. Restarting from the beginning could rekindle the spark burnout is trying to bury inside you.
6. Give Back
There's no better way to put your professional life into perspective than philanthropy. Giving back comes in many forms and, to avoid burnout, you should give time rather than money.
Donating money to your favorite charity is wonderful, but it doesn't compare to being in the true philanthropic moment. The main aim is to simply step away from work and truly feel the good you're doing in real-time.
A few unique ways you can give back are:
• Teaching a skill at a junior or community college
• Mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs in your community
• Volunteering to read weekly at a children’s cancer clinic
• Donating your time and supplies to build something in your neighborhood
Philanthropy is powerful for those who receive and for those who give. You get a glimpse into lives other than your own.
There are several ways you can avoid burnout. However, in order to be saved from this common entrepreneurial pitfall, you’ll need to save yourself. Implement a few of the above tactics and see if it helps you get your personal and professional groove back. Do you have a unique way to avoid burnout? Please share it, because we all need more ways to keep our passion, drive and edge.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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f70a99d4ca802edf4e27356b512d5066 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/02/13/five-best-practices-for-b2b-sales-enablement/ | Five Best Practices For B2B Sales Enablement | Five Best Practices For B2B Sales Enablement
Pexels Pexels
Companies have come a long way in terms of getting sales and marketing to play well in the same sandbox. The days of corporate, siloed ownership of prospects and customers are hopefully long gone, as these two departments understand the importance of nurturing from all perspectives to maintain customer engagement and loyalty -- a strategy known as business-to-business sales enablement.
We often find sales and marketing teams working separately for a number of reasons, ranging from siloed technology to different incentive structures, and even channel conflicts. We’ve been able to help them apply a disciplined approach to the entire customer experience that highlights the gaps in the customer journey, the pitfalls of a siloed approach and clear solutions to make the customer management ecosystem run smoothly.
So, how do we get even better at securing these vital customer relationships to drive sales and revenue? Here are five critical best practices that I've identified for B2B sales enablement.
1. Train and coach.
B2B sales enablement is relatively new and reps can benefit from training and coaching to work this new methodology effectively. Sales reps need to be trained in selling skills, of course, but they also need to adopt skills in marketing, product and industry in order to be well-rounded and able to manage in a sales enablement environment. This is definitely not a “set it and forget it” proposition. According to research, 87% of new skills are lost within a month of sales training. So, reinforce training as if your company’s life depends on it -- because it does.
2. Leverage marketing content.
No doubt your marketing team is working hard, daily, to produce relevant content that maps the customer journey. Take advantage of it. Plug in whitepapers, videos, blogs and everything else they’re producing to support every stage of the selling cycle. And here’s another point -- be a trusted partner with your marketing team. Tell them what’s working well and what could use some improvement. Be proactive. Make suggestions on content topics and tools. They want to create materials that will facilitate sales efforts and your partnership with them will be a win-win for everyone.
3. Strategize and execute.
This is where things get real. What is your strategy to meet sales goals for the year? Define it and share it with the sales organization, of course, but also with the entire company. When employees in other departments understand that they have a role in the customer journey, they will be more vested in contributing to the overall sales initiatives. Marketing alignment with sales is crucial, but customer service, accounting and other corporate teams can actively contribute to customer engagement and loyalty.
4. Hire the right people.
This means starting with the best person to lead the sales enablement initiative for your business. Typically this person will have a sales background with skills in marketing, customer service or other disciplines to appreciate the scope of a sales enablement program. This person will be a sales driver but will also lead marketing and sales alignment to fully take advantage of available tools and tactics for the customer journey. They will also drive the onboarding and hiring of sales team members and develop budgets, forecasts and performance reviews.
Building out a sales enablement team becomes more critical the larger your organization becomes. Sales experts recommend launching when the sales team reaches fifty sales reps. Smaller teams may not need a full-blown sales enablement organization but someone should take ownership so the business can take advantage of sales enablement benefits and grow revenue.
5. Embrace technology.
OK, that might seem a bit obvious, but there are many great digital sales tools and apps available that will help facilitate your sales enablement initiative. The right technologies can seriously boost sales efforts because they help with forecasting, goal-setting, training and more. You’ll also want to tap into the same technology that the marketing folks use because they usually have best-of-breed solutions that will support the sales enablement objectives. Above all, implement sales tools that reps can -- and will -- use on a regular basis. The businesses that dedicate the appropriate resources to a measurable and structured sales enablement program are the ones realizing quantifiable improvements in revenue growth.
Today’s conversations with prospects and customers need to map their journey with you, be relevant and deliver the right message at the right time and in the right format. That’s enough to cause anxiety for any sales team. But the creation of a sales enablement organization not only relieves some of that sales pain, it will generate revenue and create customer loyalty that will have positive long-term effects. Just remember that the optimal customer conversations can be supported by partnering with marketing, hiring the right people, training and coaching them and using technology to capitalize on all this momentum.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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6084b2bc420e2c033d2a501283b2bda8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/02/13/social-media-proves-to-boost-employee-engagement/ | Social Media Proves To Boost Employee Engagement | Social Media Proves To Boost Employee Engagement
Pexels Pexels
There’s no doubt that social media has changed human behavior over the past decade. According to research, 81% of Americans have a social media profile, and two hours are spent on social media every day by the average person. While corporations aren’t using LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and the like to engage their employees, many are taking the features that make these social media companies so successful and adding them to their internal communications and learning platforms.
Internal communication and training professionals need to cultivate employee buy-in and engagement for each campaign or course they launch. After all, an inspired workforce often goes hand-in-hand with increased employee morale, productivity and improved customer satisfaction, driving better top- and bottom-line results.
Over the past few years, tens of thousands of brands have adopted turnkey platforms to activate their employees. The following tools highlight how gamification, socialization and rewards platforms are currently being leveraged.
Gamification
While, for most people, work isn’t all fun and games, many companies have turned to gamification tools to boost employee performance, motivation and engagement. The more often companies celebrate their employees, the more engaged they are on the job.
Novartis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, uses gamification to educate employees on its product portfolio and to reinforce company values. From games and challenges to badges and leaderboards, the company has been using gamification for a few years. For three years straight, they have run a program focused on distance-learning for 600 employees around the world, focused on working together on real challenges. Novartis reports a 12% increase in employee satisfaction after the first year of implementation.
There are many products in the gamification space including Badgeville, Bunchball and GamEffective. However, Workplace Arcade is a fairly new company on the scene and is setting itself apart with its Slack-like communication tool that turns employee, department and companywide goals into contests, recognizing and rewarding accomplishments in real time. Companies can set up teams, define scoring metrics, launch challenges, publicize winners and award tangible prizes.
Socialization
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust earned media, like recommendations from their peers, over all other forms of media. This is one of the reasons why Facebook is so successful. One year ago, Facebook launched Workplace to extend its success into the corporate world.
Workplace is a dedicated space for employees to connect, communicate and collaborate on work-related initiatives. Anyone familiar with Facebook features such as Messenger, livestreaming video and trending stories, can jump right in and engage in a similar fashion at the office. While there are other products in the marketplace like Slack, Yammer and G Suite, what makes Workplace so easy is that it has the same features and interface as Facebook, a platform used by over two billion people worldwide. The only difference between Facebook's consumer platform and the corporate platform is that an individual's accounts can't be mixed and that all content in Workplace is owned by the employer.
Volkswagen Ireland, a 125-employee division of the international automaker, actively uses Workplace across multiple passenger and commercial brands. Prior to using Workplace, it reported little collaboration between employees despite everyone working in the same building. Their leadership decided to adopt Workplace and demonstrate from the top down how joining the digital conversation is critical to building the Volkswagen Group of the future. Today, over 95% of their office uses Workplace to communicate and collaborate. Their efficiency is up and emails are down.
Other brands, including Starbucks, Columbia Sportswear and Hello Fresh, all report daily use by over 80% of employees who have been invited to the platform.
Rewards
Peer recognition is a critical building block in any strong company culture. Because in most organizations, management oversees more employees and initiatives than they can effectively handle, recognition often gets overlooked. Recognition is easy to give and great to receive. The hardest part about giving recognition is remembering to do it in real time.
Employee peer recognition can take various forms. Many companies, including Oracle, Pointroll and ZipRecruiter, use Bonusly, a platform for recognition and rewards that aims to improve employee engagement. On average, these companies report north of 80% employee adoption.
Bonusly is a fantastic product but it's not the only one focused on this space. There are dozens of companies, including Recognize, You Earned It and Tap My Back, putting recognition in the hands of those closest to the work. Using any of these platforms, employees can publicly recognize another colleague with praise and meaningful rewards.
Selecting an employee engagement platform can be complicated. However, if you want to improve your employee’s communication, collaboration, incentives, rewards and plenty of user analytics, it's a worthy investment. Determining what product will best serve your company all comes down to identifying your long-term company goals. In the always-connected world we live in today, recognizing employees shouldn't be left to HR — it's crucial to your company's success.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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