Tag Archive for: marketing

Add Value to Your Marketing Campaigns with Variable Data

Are you using your customer data to the best of your ability?  Are you not satisfied with your return on investment for all of your direct mail marketing efforts?  Utilizing variable data may be your answer to these frustrations.

By using this particular service, it will help you create more customized marketing campaigns for your customers depending on what information you have about them.  By creating and delivering more customized and personal messages to your audience, you can be sure to see an increase in your marketing response rates!

Here are some of the ways variable data can add more value to your marketing campaigns:

  1. Create personalized messages by using your customer’s name and company in your online and offline marketing campaigns.
  2. Add coupon codes for specific services and promotions.
  3. Use it for the numbering sections for invoices, and cross-promote related products if applicable.
  4. Take advantage of their order history to promote related products to them at a later date.
  5. Utilize their address or location for geographical promotions if you have more than one store.
  6. Add a personalized URL to track who went to the correlating landing page.
  7. Graphics can be different depending on what types of clients you are sending your promotion to.
  8. Just like graphics, text can also be adjusted to help your marketing message relate to your audience more.

As you can see from these examples, you can understand why these tactics will help make your marketing efforts stand out more to your targeted audience.  If you have data that can help you make more specific marketing messages to your audience, take full advantage of it!

If you would like to learn more about how you can start incorporating variable data in your marketing campaigns, give us a call!

Benefits of Repurposing Content

There are very few marketers out in the world that will confess to having “enough time”.

Marketing departments are typically full of ideas and excitement – but they face the same clock as the rest of the world.

Their file cabinet may have marketing strategy documents… their whiteboard full of plans and action items…. and their desks may be covered in sketches.

However, the best intentions in the world do not always mean those projects will see the light of the day. Thus, when you do get a project done, you need to capitalize. Take full advantage of the content that you are pushing to the world.

For example, you may want to launch a campaign that promotes your eNewsletter while getting insights from your customers.  One strategy you can use to accomplish this is by using a landing page that features a quiz.

Respondents can be entered to win a prize after they submit their quiz answers and contact information, but can also be asked if they’d like to subscribe to your eNewsletter.

Yes, there are other ideas for campaigns that would specifically drive newsletter subscriptions. But here, you can take advantage of a campaign that did see the light of the day, and use it to help drive eNewsletter subscriptions.

2 Steps to Successfully Use Targeted Keywords

,

Is it more important to post content frequently or to post content about the right topics? Creating content with targeted keywords and phrases is vital for companies. Below are two important steps to ensure that you can do that successfully.

Identifying the Right Keywords

The first step in identifying the right keywords involves answering the question, “What should I create content about?”

Oftentimes, we look internally for those answers. What do I want to write about? What am I passionate about? While those questions are important, we need to always consider the overall goal. Typically,

Essential well my cialis next day delivery look options makes than only and!

that is to build an audience and to drive traffic to our website.

Thus, we must ensure that the topics that we want to create content about also match up to the interests and passions of our target audience.

At that point, we should find a way to build a list of the words and phrases that are associated to those topics. These items do not need to be stored in a fancy, complex system – you could simply keep them in a document or spreadsheet! But the bottom line is, make the list! Do not rely on yourself to try to remember the words and phrases that you should use when creating content.

Promoting and Sharing the Words and Strategy

The list of keywords must certainly have a big presence within the walls of a marketing department (whether those walls are physical or virtual). But they also should be shared among employees from all departments. Why?

Well, more and more, people from all walks of life and backgrounds are creating profiles on social networks. Perhaps they primarily use their accounts to talk about personal topics. But if they occasionally interact with a customer or prospect on those channels, or if they link to your company’s website, or simply list its name in their bio, they are representing your brand.

By sharing the list, you will be creating opportunities for all employees to build awareness of your company’s products and services.

Oftentimes, there may be an employee that wants to contribute to the online conversation about your business, but they are just not sure what to say. Sharing the list can be the spark that ignites more conversations about the topics that are vital to you and your audience.

6 Ways to Revamp Your Marketing Efforts

If you want to re-ignite your marketing efforts, here are 6 tasks that you can do today that will drive results for your business!

  • Review Your Marketing Plan: Does your company have a marketing plan? If so, that’s a good thing. However, if it has simply been filed away since you created it at the end of last year, that’s not such a good thing! A much better approach is to keep your marketing plan in front of youMB7-224 constantly as the days and weeks go by. It can serve as a force that guides you and keeps you inspired! It can help to make sure that your daily tactics support your goals and objectives. If it’s been a little while since you’ve last looked at this year’s marketing plan, it’s time to print it and review it!
  • Spend Time Connecting and Listening on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn: If you have a profile on those social networks, that’s a great start! But if you primarily only use them to log-in, share some company information (perhaps a blog post, a press release, or some other news about your products and services), then you are truly missing out on some of the major value points social networking efforts can bring. Take at least 30 minutes today to simply use those networks as a listening tool. Read what your customers and prospects are posting there. Use each network’s search form to find out what people are saying about industry trends, conferences, and other news-worthy items. Also, spend some time making sure that you are connected with the right people. Look up some of your recent customers and sales leads, and make a connection!
  • Create a Video and Upload it to YouTube: “Video sells.” Have you heard that expression? If you haven’t used video yet in your sales and marketing efforts, you are missing out.
    225-030 Online video can be one of the most effective ways to reach your audience with compelling messaging about your products and services. Best of all, creating and uploading basic videos can be done quickly and inexpensively nowadays. Give it a try! Sit down in front of one of your company’s posters, banners, or other collateral items. Have someone film you with a smartphone or some sort of handheld device. Then talk for about a minute about one of the major benefits your company can offer… or simply talk about an industry trend. Then, upload the video to YouTube! But also make sure to include keywords and a link to your website in the “Video Description” field.
  • Write a Blog Post with Your Customers’ Needs in Mind: One of the best ways to keep your website fresh and up-to-date is through a blog. Of course, having a blog is not enough. You must make sure that you’re posting content to it on a regular basis. Also, in order for the blog to be effective, the content should address the needs and concerns of your customers. Take 10 minutes today and think about an item that might be on your customers’ minds. Then, write two paragraphs that include some commentary, advice, and/or tips that will help them with that item. Then, post it on the blog to offer instant value to your clients!
  • Analyze Your Website Traffic Reports: How often do you access and read your company’s website traffic reports? Chances are that it may not be enough. Take some time today to login to whatever system you may use for Website Analytics, or pull up the latest report that your marketing agency may have sent you. Read through what’s happening — take a close look at traffic trends (good and bad), keyword usage, sources, goal conversions, and other data points. You will most likely uncover important data points that can help you improve your website marketing efforts in the very near future.
  • Create a QR Code and Add it to Your Printed Materials: Print can still be an effective component in your marketing mix today! However, it often delivers the best results when it’s integrated with other channels, including mobile. QR Codes can make your printed items interactive, they can engage the mobile audience, and they can help you better measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts!

I hope you found these tips helpful, and remember that it is never too late to strengthen your marketing efforts!

Content Marketing Checklist

,

Content marketing is becoming a big player in the marketing world. It is the act of indirectly selling your products and services through educational and informative materials, such as blogs. Blogging is a great first step for those who want to take advantage of the benefits of content marketing. Whether you are new to this strategy or you want to make sure you’re covering all of your bases, take a look at our checklist!

  1. Make sure you have the right tools in place. Your blog should live directly on your website and your website should be on a search engine-optimized platform, such as WordPress!
  2. Determine who will write your posts. This can include you, employees, colleagues, or ghost writers.
  3. Decide how often you will publish a new blog. Consistency is important, whether it is daily, weekly, or even every two weeks.
  4. List out all of the topics you want to write about. Each blog doesn’t have to be high-level and generic, they can be customized to each of your targeted audiences and can
    highlight how your products and services can be used in different ways. Also, see what current news is happening in your audience’s industries, you may be able to use current events to spark interest from your prospects.
  5. Distribute your blog posts through multiple marketing channels. You can share your blog posts through social media, email, or highlight them on your website’s homepage.
  6. Create content in various media forms, it doesn’t always have to be copy-driven. Audio clips, videos, and images can all be great ways to mix up your blog posts and keep everything fresh.

Once you accumulate a number of blog posts, remember that you can repurpose them! Combine a few related posts together to make an eBook, or reformat the content in a different media type.

Blog posts can easily be the fuel to your content marketing strategy, so give it a try today!

3 Ways to Personalize Your Marketing Efforts

Maybe your mother told you when you were growing up that you should treat everyone the same. Well, your mother was wrong…at least when it comes to the world of 1-to-1, or personalized, marketing. No longer are you encouraged to place prospects upon the same level playing field. In fact, with 1-to-1 marketing, you want to embrace the diversity of your prospects and customers. You want to play to those exact differences and incorporate them into your marketing messages in order to get their attention and make them want to work with you!

  1. Identify Your Audience: As with any marketing strategy, you start off by identifying your target market – the people who need your product or service. So you sit down and imagine a target. You imagine finding those people with laser point focus. You know who they are and now you have to get your message across to them. You have to tell them who you are, what you do and how you can help them. Using the 1-to-1 marketing approach, you toss aside the marketing shotgun; this is no time to “pray and spray” your message, hoping that it will be heard and acted upon.
  2. Add Personalization: The idea is that by personalizing your marketing message, you are showing the customer that you know how to serve their specific needs. No customer wants you coming at them with a cookie-cutter approach and a “one-size-fits-all” solution. They want to feel like you know exactly what they need, and that you are the business that can provide it. Thus, your message needs to be current and relevant to that customer.
  3. Stand Out: Your target market receives marketing messages on a daily basis. We all do, in both our personal and professional lives. It becomes second nature to ignore the messages that have little to do with our own needs. The same is true of any business. They all receive mailers, texts, and emails from other businesses, who are using the the same pitches and benefits to make the sale.

In the end, a customer will equate your marketing messages with the type of service they will receive when working with you. If your message is personalized and meets their needs, the prospect will anticipate that working with you will be a breeze. Everyone likes to work with the expectation of receiving terrific customer service and specific solutions.

7 Tactics to Improve Your eNewsletter

eNewsletters are a very valuable tool for reaching out and keeping in contact with your followers and clients. Many benefits can come out of this marketing effort when they are being used correctly, here are some of our favorites.

  • Company news can be shared. eNewsletters can contain all of the top news your business has been generating, important industry trends, or pertinent human resources events. It makes complete sense to have an eNewsletter to send out to your database.
  • Contact lists can grow. Encourage customers to enter their emails on your website in order to get a variety of news and bulletins in a timely manner. Overtime, a few new contacts here and there will become a brand new list of inquiries your sales team can follow up with!
  • Other marketing channels can be promoted. eNewsletter can be highly interactive, especially if you integrate your social media marketing channels. By adding a YouTube video to your that are out there.
  • Your team can be promoted. An eNewsletter is a chance for your company to exhibit some personality and to humanize your brand. Being personable and stepping out from behind the company’s curtain makes your brand more relatable to your readers.
  • Great information can be shared. A lot of valuable content can be shared through eNewsletters. Information such as industry tips, best practices, and case studies can all be ways to help educate your audience and start a conversation with them. Encourage readers to write back with questions and comments!
  • Brand awareness can be built. Design your eNewsletter to match your company’s branding and color scheme, and give it an appealing layout that won’t overwhelm the eyes of your subscribers.
  • Services can be promoted. By utilizing the sidebars or banners of your eNewsletter, you can offer promotions or additional links that you might want to steer subscribers towards. Promoting upcoming webinars, available eBooks, or related services entices readers to visit your website to learn more about that particular topic.

Your eNewsletter is a powerful asset if it is well put-together. It involves your readers and offers them multiple forms of media for them to engage in. Make it so good that your customers can’t wait to get next month’s edition!

4 Ways to Test Your Email Program

It is certainly wise for your company to continue using email efforts in your marketing mix.

However, one of the biggest challenges that marketers face is how to get their target audience to pay attention to their emails.

One of the best ways to improve the success of your efforts (whether you’re measuring by open rates, click-throughs, or a further conversion) is to test and try variations of your content and design.

Here are 4 features that you could try testing in your email program today:

  • Subject Line: If you are sending out an eNewsletter, then you have a prime candidate to try a test with. Measure the effectiveness of an email that simply says “[Company Name Here]‘s Newsletter” versus a Subject Line that describes what is in the article (i.e. “News For You: Direct Marketing Case Study, SEO Tips, and More”).
  • FROM Name: The Display Name that people see in the FROM can play an important role in their decision-making process as to whether to open and take action on an email. Are they familiar with the name? Do they associate that name with an unsolicited sales pitch or with someone who has helped them in the past? Try running a test where you send the email out from the name of someone on your staff (perhaps the CEO, VP of Sales, a Product Manager, etc.) and then measure that against what happens when the FROM displays the name of your company.
  • Image Buttons vs. Text Links: Getting someone to open the email might be the first step. But from there, you need them to take action. Try testing an email that primarily includes text links versus one that incorporates graphical buttons in the call-to-action.
  • The Wording of Your Offer: What would work better on your audience: “Try
    our brand-new product today!” or “Improve Your Business: Get Started with [Product Name Here]”? Run a variation of the key words in your offer and then measure to see what drives the highest number of clicks and conversions.

Email is definitely a marketing channel that shouldn’t be neglected, you just have to be aware of which components you should adjust and track for more success!

Make the Most out of Your Mobile Website

Taking the leap towards a mobile website is a big step. Maximize your investment by including these three essentials components into your new mobile site.

Keep Your Branding Consistent: Your mobile site is another medium that your company can use to engage with potential customers. Keep the same branding and color scheme that your existing website has. This helps with recall and recognition, two critical components of any advertising or marketing strategy.  Visitors will also know right away that they are on the site they’re looking for- yours!

Calls To Action: Much like your desktop website, you want your mobile site to inspire some action from viewers. A mobile site offers the opportunity for commerce and immediate data collection. Give viewers the ability to sign up for newsletters or other initiatives. One great feature is “click to call”.  Display your phone number on your site, and one click dials the number. Now that is instant gratification.

Navigation Ease: A smartphone screen isn’t excessively large, and a lot of us need glasses to read their phones (ahem).  So don’t defeat the purpose of a mobile-optimized website by squeezing tiny text onto a page and adding small buttons and links. Eliminate the need for scrolling and zooming.  Also, think about the type of content you are adding to your mobile website.  Everything should be simplified.  If your website has 3-5 paragraphs on a page, you may want to cut that down to just a few sentences.

How to Use QR Codes in Your Fulfillment Efforts

There are plenty of examples where marketers have put QR Codes on their materials simply because they could. But there also have been a great number of QR Code applications that truly provide value to a customer or prospect, and in return, to the company as well.

Here are three ways that companies could incorporate QR Codes into their fulfillment process:

QR Codes that Point to How-To Guides and Instructions

Thus, one way that companies could reach the emerging mobile audience is to place QR Codes on packages and boxes of the material that they sell and ship.

These QR Codes could point to mobile websites and/or videos that provide step-by-step instructions and online videos that demonstrate how their items should be properly assembled.

QR Codes that Lead to Mobile Surveys and Forms

Social networks have made it easier than ever for people to tell the world if they are happy or not with a company or product. Companies could seek to acquire that information directly as well by putting a QR Code on their packages that lead to mobile website surveys.

These surveys could seek to ask the most important questions that a customer may want to answer — “Are they satisfied? Do they need help? What could be done better?”

This feedback could be provided while the company and its products are absolutely fresh in the customer’s mind… right through their mobile phone.

QR Codes that Make it Easy to Order Additional Materials

When someone needs to order a replacement part or to reorder an entire unit, companies would certainly want to make that an easy process.

This could be done by including a QR Code on packaging that leads to a mobile website. The website could either contain a Form that allows a user to request the item or a response from a sales rep; or it could even include an option for placing an order directly from the phone.

Think of QR Codes as not just an interactive marketing tool, but a mobile customer service representative. These 2D codes can offer extra assistance, gather feedback, and help give your customers more of what they want!