E-Commerce Trends for 2014

Fast and Free

If you are involved in any form of e-commerce, you’re feeling the heat to provide your customers with prompt and free or inexpensive delivery services. Heavily influenced by the pressure of the popular Amazon Prime program, online businesses find customer expectations center on getting their orders in as fast and cheaply as possible.

These pressures are forcing many e-commerce players to turn to 3PL firms to control costs and take advantage of automated warehouses and order processing capabilities. In fact, there is a national boom in the construction of modern distribution centers and shipping centers.

Marriage of Inbound and Outbound

Speed is only one trend for e-commerce in 2014. While the early rush to digital marketing found many companies ignoring their traditional and successful marketing techniques, maturing marketing strategies are now including a carefully planned mix of the old and the new. For example, e-commerce companies are now including sales sheets and brochures with each shipment, returning to this tried and true way to pick up incremental revenue.

It only makes sense that a customer buying an electronic device or other items might want to know about cases, chargers, or other accessories that make the product more useful. In fact, offering a time-sensitive offer will result in a solid return and additional sales for many products shipped out the door.

A Global Market

Increasingly, being in e-commerce means participating in the global marketplace. According to research by eMarketer, it is estimated that Asia will become the biggest contributor to B2C e-commerce in 2014, generating $502 billion, or nearly a third, of total e-commerce spending.

This fact means a need to focus on multilingual printed materials, as additional research show customers respond much more favorably to marketing materials professionally prepared in their own language.

A rapidly growing e-commerce marketplace means new challenges and exciting opportunities for 2014.

Why You Need a Multi-Channel Strategy

Marketing in today’s day and age needs to focus on more than just the Internet. While the Internet is a major forum for advertising a business, it’s imperative to look beyond the search engines for marketing opportunities – and this is where many business owners fail. There is still a need for offline marketing, which includes such things as postcards, banners, flyers and direct mail campaigns.

This multi-channel strategy ensures that you tap into all of your target demographics. You may want to target the 18-30 demographic, which spends a significant amount of time on the Internet. However, if you are also targeting the 60+ demographic, you will need to use other channels beyond what is found online.

Additionally, people need to see a business at least three or four times before they have any kind of brand recognition. This means that multiple channels will ensure that you get noticed more often. Someone may see a banner for your business in town, then receive a postcard in the mail, and then locate you online.

By the time a person comes across your ad online, they are then ready to follow the link and be taken to your website. Without using all of the channels, however, people may have been hesitant to do business with you because they hadn’t heard about the business.

Many of the multi-channel strategies that exist are available locally. You need to tap into your own community before you take things to a national or international level. There may be many ways for you to market in your backyard, which is affordable and will get you noticed to the level that is important.

The Internet is one way to market, but it is important to remember that there are still many other ways to market as well.

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Online Marketing

If your business has an online presence, and it should, there are ten simple tips you need to follow to make the most out of your online marketing tactics. Let’s dive right in and take a quick look at them.

Tip #1: Go social

If you don’t have a social media profile, you need to create one. More importantly, you need to post often. Keep in mind that the more social media profiles you have, the better. The most well-known platforms include Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Tip #2: Distribute press releases

Press releases aren’t limited to print publication only. In fact, you can distribute them via social media profiles, your company website and emails.

Tip #3: Write an eBook

An online eBook can help you to appear as a leader in the industry your business is operating in, and once you achieve leadership status, you’ll notice your profit levels soar beyond anything you ever thought imaginable.

Tip #4: Stay engaged

You have to show your customers that you care, and the best way to do this is by staying engaged with them via online platforms.

Tip #5: Outsource content creation

If you’re not a good writer, you’ll definitely want to outsource your content creation. You can even outsource ideas, allowing you to come up with today’s most trending topics in relation to creating content that is relevant to the consumers in your target audience.

Tip #6: Create how-to videos

The best way to sell your products and/or services is to show customers how they can benefit from them. To do this, you need to create how-to videos and distribute them via online sites.

Tip #7: Create and maintain a blog

You need to blog, even if you pay someone else to do it for you. Statistics show that “61 percent of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post.”

Tip #8: Provide incentives

One of the best ways to attract consumers to buy your products and services is by providing them incentives. For example, for every $25 that they spend, you could offer them a $5 gift card for a future purchase.

Tip #9: Keep track of your online reputation

Your online reputation will go a long way in making sure that you make a profit. To keep track of your online reputation, you may want to consider employing a reputation manager.

Tip #10: Be personable

Your customers don’t want you to act as if you are above their level. You need to be personable in all content that you display. And most importantly, always remember to provide contact info. Otherwise, your online efforts will prove to be useless.

Analyzing Your Corporate Social Media Efforts

Analyzing your corporate social media efforts can be a Catch-22. No matter what avenue you use to advance your company’s social presence, quality content is your vehicle. But you cannot design content if you don’t know where your customer is. If you’re posting on Facebook while your customers are on Linked-in, you’re preaching to an empty church. Therefore, the first step in analyzing your corporate social media efforts is knowing your potential customers’ social media haunts.

Where are they? There are several ways to determine if your social messages are taking root. The personal route – make it company policy to ask customers how they learned about you; or the virtual route – use Google Analytics, Clicky, or GoSquared for metrics showing which social media sites are sending the most visitors to your landing pages.

Why are they there? Once you know where your buyers are, you need to know why. Are they seeking information? Entertainment? Do they want to see pictures? Videos? Well then, entertain, inform, snap photos, run video. Grab their attention.

How do you get their attention?. Does your content stand out? After all, no matter how creative or informative your message, no one will get it if it fails to grab their attention. Remember you’re not the only company turning to social media. There’s a lot of competition, and the prize is your customer. Which brings us back to where we started.

Is your content worthy of their attentions? Content is too important to your brand to take a chance on it. Have you assigned the creation of quality content to a competent person or group to take ownership of posting YouTube Videos, Facebook posts, LinkedIn Discussions, Twitter attachments, if not daily, on a defined regular basis?

Remember social media never sleeps. Regular posts attest to the fact that you’re a legitimate company with expertise in your field.

The State of the Print Industry – A Quick Recap

The recession that seems to be getting better but for which many companies are still recovering and/or feeling the effects, impacted the printing industry in numerous ways. Conventional manufacturers, for example, have taken the biggest hit as printers took many steps to try and conserve cash and are now trying to revitalize their businesses. Typically, as noted by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), when the economy recovers, demand for print grows and the industry returns to normal. However, that is no longer the case as companies cannot simply sit back and expect recovery to simply happen.

Those in the printing industry must fully participate in the recovery, value their clients, put an emphasis on competitiveness, and, more importantly, build productivity. This is how the industry will not only survive but thrive in today’s economy. Also, there is now a shift in the industry to digital technology, such as inkjet. The addition of workflow automation and web-to-print becoming increasingly utilized in the printing industry, those companies that don’t adapt or outright ignore change are likely to fall behind.

One of the standards in the industry that will keep traditional printers afloat will be the fact that physical print boasts a security and virus-free nature. Nevertheless, a change toward catering to the client on an individual basis is really the trend that is driving the current industry. Clients now expect streamlined workflow, personalization, and very high quality, especially in light of the incredibly media-rich world.

According to the NAPL printing establishment categories, smaller operations rule the industry with more than 70 percent having 10 or fewer employees. Yet, nearly half of all industry sales come from companies with 100 or more employees. The result: Small companies focus on personalization while large companies focus on bulk printing.

Tricks for Powerful Printed Materials

The real trick when it comes to creating powerful printed material is that it’s not a trick. Not really. There is a bit of a formula to it, though. Once you master this simple formula you’ll be able to create printed material that gets read time and time again. That’s where the real power comes in.

Make it Visually Appealing

Printed material, especially if you’re creating bulletins, brochures, and posters that are supposed to catch the eye of readers, needs to be visually pleasing to the eye. It’s as simple as that. Don’t use bright colors that are difficult to read. Keep it plain and simple and keep the letters big enough (and the font neat enough) that people have no trouble reading what you have to say.

Deliver a Message that Matters

Another important factor for powerful printed material is that it needs to be a message that matters. You need to know who your audience is and make sure you’re delivering a message that’s meaningful and relevant to them. Your audience must come first if you don’t want the message to fall on deaf ears. Make the message matter to your audience and they will be far more receptive to it.

Don’t Bury the Lead

In many cases, people recommend that you wait to the end of the message to make your point. The problem is that audiences have gotten spoiled by the Internet. If they don’t find value in the information quickly, they’re going to miss the point you’re trying to make. Lead with the important information and use the remaining page space to add flavor or lend credibility to the meat and potatoes portion you lead with.

Simple things are the true tricks to creating powerful printed material in the digital age. So many other people are going overboard with printing tactics and techniques and have forgotten the importance of the message above all else.

Connecting Your Direct Mail Piece with Social Media

One fact that everyone can be sure of in today’s society, regardless of the industry they’re in, is that social media is here to stay. About 20 percent of women who are online use Pinterest, 100,000 tweets are sent per minute, and over 1 billion users are registered on Facebook. Now, it’s time to mix the old with the new to create a truly successful marketing campaign.

By combining your direct mail piece with social media, you get a high conversion rate and ROI as well as the addition of more qualified leads, increased traffic to your website and social media sites, and overall added exposure to your business. Plus, you’ll also learn a little more about your customers.

There are a few ways to combine social media and direct mail initiatives.

Add a call-to-action: Many companies are already in the practice of this, but offering incentives like discounts or coupons by simply “liking” your Facebook page can pay off big. It also allows potential customers to see that you want to build a real relationship with them.

Include a QR code: Including a QR code that links people to your YouTube videos or your Facebook page, or any other social media site means instant connection.

Social badges: An easy task but one that’s critical is to add badges to all of the social media sites you are on such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. The only way they’ll know you’re on those sites is if you show them.

Does Your Big Data Deliver Results?

Having big data is sexy and cool, but just sitting around staring at data won’t do much for you (or your company’s bottom line) if it doesn’t actually deliver results. When you’ve got googly eyes for your significant other, is he/she able to bring it? Or do you get the cold shoulder, the claim that he/she is too tired or has a headache?

You’re looking at all your data. Oh yeah, you’ve got the googly eyes. You are in the mood to make some magic. And you just know that if your big data was up to task, you’d be in heaven.

But those googly eyes may just make you so distracted that you’re
Parajumper Jakke failing to see the big picture. And big data is supposed to help you, not distract you. It’s easy to get into the whole “Ooh, shiny!” exhilaration that accompanies having all this data at your fingertips and eyeballs. You want to try this. You want to try that. You want to experiment left and right. But experimenting can be the death knell in your big data relationship. Sure, you don’t want to be “boring” and play it safe. You want to have some fun. But if you try Parajumper Jakke Oslo out a little too much, a little too often, you’re going to kill the mood and misuse your big data. And once you get burned by the big data, it’s easy to get scared off from giving it another try later.

Another issue is if your big data just isn’t up for the task. It’s there. It’s ready (supposedly) to go. But if you don’t have the right software to really warm it up and get things going, then you may just be spinning your wheels. You need the platforms in place to help you get the most out of the information you have. This is not time for a limp noodle and your data is only as good as your analysis and usage. You need the information and you need it in a way that can benefit your business. Make sure to evaluate various tools at your disposal and choose what will fit your needs. Don’t just get blinded by what you hear all the other marketers are using.

In the end, if you look at your big data with a healthy amount of love and adoration, without getting sidetracked by the “shininess” of it all, you can make sure that your big data produces the end results that you want and need. A guaranteed smile on your face with great marketing results.

Big Data: Dating or Committed?

When you’re dating, there is still this sense of the noncommittal. You can say “Yeah, we’re committed.” But, especially early on in a relationship, you can still have your eyes wandering about and making sure that you’re not missing the Next Big Thing.

Data can be like that. When you’re “dating” your Big Data, sure, you’re cozying on up to it. You’re checking it out. It’s new. It’s exciting. Who doesn’t like to look at new data and imagine all the possibilities?

But there comes a time when you have to decide…are you going to make a commitment to this data? Are you willing to make decisions and plan out long term strategies and goals using this data?

Think about that date with the man (or lady) who seemed a little off kilter. You weren’t sure why. You couldn’t put your finger right on it. But after a few dates (maybe more than a few) you just knew. You knew that this person wasn’t for you. Maybe you look at your data and it’s not making sense to you. You can’t quite figure it out. Or it’s just not clicking. And when that happens, you shouldn’t force it. Like any forced relationship, it will fall

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It could be an “It’s me, not you,” scenario. Have another member of the team work with your data. Not every marketer is cut out to be a big data dater or mater. And to force such a situation can possibly wreak havoc on your marketing efforts.

Another team member may look at your big data differently. Different strokes for different folks, right? So if you’re not the right person, don’t assume it’s time to toss the big data out the window. Look for the marketer in your group that might be the right fit. Because there’s somebody out there for everyone.

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And your team member might just click with the big data and know how to work with it.

Once you have the “right fit,” it’s imperative to shoot for long term commitment. If you only dabble and fool around with the big data, you won’t really see any long term benefits from it. And that’s the end goal – creating lasting strategies and basing decisions and goals off of big data analysis. This isn’t about a temporary high or a feel good marketing campaign that brings in a few sales here or there. By committing to the data and developing on-point marketing campaigns, goals and other business decisions, you will find that the cultivated relationship will bloom and business will boom.

Improve the Effectiveness of Your Sales Process

When it comes to the worlds of sales and marketing, there are always items that we can look at to improve our effectiveness.

In marketing, it may be that we want to increase brand awareness and acquire more leads. Or, it could be that we want to do a better job of attracting leads that are more qualified before they are handed off to the sales team.

But when it comes to Sales, one of our goals, that should always be high on our priority list, has to do with our follow-up process.

Here are four tips to help increase the effectiveness of your lead follow-up process:

  1. Do your research: If we want a sales call to go smoothly and turn into a success, we must take the time to learn what we can about each lead before we call them. We don’t need to go overboard — but in today’s world, we can quickly find out key details about most of the people that we may be interacting with. We should look at the data on social networks and in our contact history records. That data can help us to deliver a relevant and compelling message to each lead.
  2. Be ready to get to the point: Are people busier than ever before? While I don’t know the answer to that, I do know that this is true: people have more communication and technology options at their fingertips than ever before! Thus, we must ensure that we can deliver our key message to people in a short period of time. Sales reps should have a catchy “elevator pitch” ready so they can quickly start the follow-up conversation and get it moving down the right path.
  3. Recognize the difference between pushing and being too pushy: While sales does rely on doing what it takes to close deals, it is important not to come off as too aggressive or rude. Nowadays, people are quite apt to air their grievances or complaints about a company on their social networking profiles. If you are outsourcing your sales follow-up needs, or perhaps using someone with limited experience, help them to understand the consequences of their actions during the follow-up process. However, we must strike a balance. We need revenue to survive — and that doesn’t happen simply because we’re nice. We need to find ways to ensure that our prospects understand the importance of looking at our products and/or services.
  4. Be happy and passionate: People like interacting with someone that enjoys what they do. They also will be more willing to listen if they think
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    you truly believe in the product or service that you are selling. The tone and content in our follow-up efforts can certainly leave a big impression on other people when they think about our brand.

These are just a few tips to help improve the sales lead follow-up process.

I hope that you find them helpful!