A Complete Guide to Sharing Content Posted on January 8, 2018June 13, 2018 by Allie Wolff If an inbound marketer writes a blog post in the woods and nobody shares it, is it still great content? While undergrad philosophers might debate the question, the answer is actually just “no.” It is not great content. Almost by definition, content is only great if it garners an audience—and the typical way people read content is by sharing it. So you need those shares. You may have written content specifically to be shared, and may be testing different sharing widgets and content strategies, but the fundamental building block to all that is understanding how sharing works across all platforms. The important preface here: there is no universal solution. Social media is a dynamic, vibrant thing. What works for others may not work for you. These are just guidelines, generally true but not always. The best way to refine your social game is by testing out different post types and times and recording the results. Follow your data, and you’ll find results. Facebook I don’t think there’s a small business around that doesn’t have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. While it’s the biggest social platform with nearly 2 billion users, it’s also cracked down notoriously in the last few years on brands, particularly on link posts. That means nurturing a Facebook audience is still a great idea, but Facebook prefers you keep them on their site, not bring them to yours. Video and image posts will almost always perform better than link posts—posts linking out to your content, for example. A good example of an image post—this could have been a link post, but the image will garner more traction. While brands could previously rely on a roughly 10 percent click-through rate on average link posts, that’s diminished to around six percent. One common way around this is to pay Facebook to “boost” your post, which is a rabbit hole in itself that can very easily turn into throwing money away. So how can you maximize your Facebook traction for free? A few tips: Keep your text short (fewer than 50 words is great) Post when no one else is, like early in the morning or late evening Ask questions of your fans and engage them in the comments Embed videos directly instead of posting YouTube links Don’t bother with hashtags; Facebook doesn’t really use them Twitter Brands have found varying levels of success on Twitter—the best have found exactly the right tone, bouncing between funny, human and observational. Twitter is a pithy medium. People will gloss over headlines and shoot straight for the commentary, jokes and jabs. Some say the most active Twitter hours are commuting hours—7 to 9 a.m., 3 to 6 p.m. But really, since tweets have a lifespan of around 10 to 20 minutes, you should be tweeting hourly to foster a relationship. Some Twitter tips: Link posts perform better, though your click-through rate will almost always be lower than your click-through rates on other platforms. Don’t be afraid to include calls to action. Ask questions, host polls and reach out to your community. Be in tune with the latest trending topics, but don’t newsjack them lazily. Retweet and like people whose opinions you appreciate. reddit Ah, reddit, the most unwieldy of social platforms. It’s both a forum for strangers to buy pizza for people in need from across the country, as well as a hideout for some of the internet’s worst personalities. This is a social platform where your “newsfeed” is voted on by so-called redditors. People upvote good content and downvote bad, annoying or spammy content. That said, sharing content to reddit is a great way to increase visibility and see a huge spike in your traffic. Not much of that traffic will necessarily stay after a few days, but redditors remember articles and will repost them from time to time, increasing your visibility and reputation online. The subreddit forum “Shut Up and Take My Money” exclusively promotes awesome products—but it’s all organic, voted on by the community. This platform is a different beast, partly because the interface is not so user-unfriendly, making it unclear for many how to sign up, where to post and what to do. But if you commit, you can find devoted niche communities that may adore your product or brand. To succeed on reddit… Research first. Don’t go in blind; find your communities and post a bit before adding your own content to the mix. Post your content early—links posted before 11 a.m. tend to do better than those posted later on. Don’t be overtly salesy in your comments or titles. Only post when you think the community will really benefit. Posting to reddit can be a challenge because content disliked by the community can be downvoted into oblivion. Post wisely. LinkedIn For all its networking value, LinkedIn has notoriously low engagement rates. People don’t really use it as a platform in the same way people use Facebook, Twitter or reddit. But don’t let that discourage you from jumping in: LinkedIn can still be a valuable tool for building your influence, especially within certain groups. You can and should share your content (link posts are fine here) on your company and/or personal page, as well as any relevant member groups you’re a part of. As with reddit, doing research ahead of time and finding the right niche is critical for success. Mornings are the most popular time to post. Sign up for LinkedIn Pulse to repost your blog content there and reach a wider audience. Don’t just copy and paste your posts into various groups; be distinct and unique, tailoring your message to each one. Hashtags are valuable here. Email One of the most intimate, least-utilized and hardest ways to get people to share is via email. The biggest problem is that there’s no easy or universal way to help people share via email—you can include a button in any sharing widget, but that user has to enable a default email client on their browser. Otherwise, the button simply won’t work. One easy way is to encourage your newsletter subscribers to forward your email blasts onto their friends. Offering referral coupons is a great method for this, and it’s easy to add a bit of extra content in there while you’re at it. This plays into what makes email marketing such a great option: it builds your brand as reputable and trustworthy within real, close-knit communities. But don’t stress too much over email shares: they’re extremely difficult to track, generally offer minimal viral benefit and not ideal for broad content marketing. That said, you don’t want to ignore it, either. In the world of content marketing, any share is a good share.
7 Common Mistakes That Are Destroying Your PPC Ad Conversion Posted on January 5, 2018June 13, 2018 by Jessica Lunk Did you know that for every $92 you spend on acquiring new customers, a measly $1 goes toward actually converting them? That could have a lot to do with the fact that only 8 percent of people pay enough attention to online ads to actually click on them. That means you have a very tiny margin of error. Making a mistake on top of these low odds can make it even more challenging to get conversions. To help you avoid such errors for your own business, here are the top seven to watch for. Forgetting the human factor. One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is developing ads and marketing messages based on a faceless audience rather than the human beings they’re actually targeting. In fact, according to a recent report by Nielson, the biggest influencers of trust in advertising are those factors that resonate with human nature, such as humor, value-oriented and real-life situations. When creating ads, focus on speaking the language of your ideal customer and talk about what matters most to them. Not focusing on copy. Words are very powerful. If you’re not paying enough attention to things like bold headings, clear value propositions and strong, compelling calls to action, you are probably missing out on business as a result. Avoid using business jargon and keep your messages short, clear and easy to understand. Use power verbs that appeal to human emotion and create a sense of urgency whenever possible. If you really struggle in this area, consider hiring a writer who has experience in sales copy. Emphasizing features vs. benefits. You love the many features of your products or services, but to put it bluntly, your audience doesn’t care. What matters to them is what your products or services can do to make their lives better or easier. If you want to capture their attention and get them to convert, you have to appeal to their needs, preferences and pain points and you do this by showcasing the benefits you have to offer. Marketing to your existing audience. If you’re spending a good portion of your marketing budget on social media advertising that targets your existing audience, you probably aren’t going to get much in the way of a return. That’s because most of these people already know you and what you have to offer. Social advertising can be effective if your offers are good enough to entice sharing, but just be careful not to overdo it. Not using social media tools effectively. Social media provides many awesome tools that can help marketers reach and connect with their audiences better, but if you’re not using them properly, things could end up going in the wrong direction. Take, for instance, the time McDonald’s created the hashtag #McDStories with the goal of having customers use it to share nostalgic stories about the brand. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t explain it well enough and people ended up using it as a way to complain about their negative experiences. The lesson? Make sure you totally understand the tools available to you and clearly explain your purpose. Taking social issues lightly. In many instances, jumping on a trending news story can be highly effective for a business. But it has to be done correctly, otherwise you risk having the opposite effect. A good example of this is companies referencing global disasters in their marketing efforts. If not done in the utmost of good taste, this approach leaves many consumers to feel as though brands are taking advantage of a tragedy for perceived marketing goals. Such negative reactions can damage brand reputation and result in a loss of business. Not tracking results. If you’re not properly testing and tracking how your ads are performing, you could very well be wasting money in the process. Marketing and advertising is as much of an art as it is a science. Something as simple as using a different color scheme or changing just one word can mean the difference between a scroll and a click-through. Make sure you are regularly measuring each campaign and don’t be afraid to test new things until you get the results you’re after. Do any of these mistakes sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone, and more importantly, there’s no need to panic. Simply take a step back, reassess your approach and move forward more strategically keeping the above advice in mind. Over time, you will begin to see your advertising results take a turn for the better.
The Top 5 Things Millennials Want in the Workplace Posted on January 4, 2018June 13, 2018 by Allie Wolff What do millennials want from an employer? Love it or hate it, millennials are the future, and they’re the pool from which companies need to select the bright young minds with the latest, in-demand skills. By 2020, 86 million millennials will be in the workplace, representing a 40 percent chunk of the working population, according to Intelligence Group. It pays to understand what the talented people of tomorrow want or ignore their needs at your bottom line’s peril. A Company with a Clear Mission According to Deloitte, seventy-six percent of millennials view business as a source of powerful and positive social impact. Millennial job candidates want to join an organization that sees a social role for itself. Companies with excellent employer brands have specific mission or vision statements. These statements are referential. They encompass the company’s reason for being. Look at some of the companies that have no problem securing applications from the most qualified twenty- and thirty-somethings. They all have mission statements. For example, Google isn’t just a search engine. It’s a company that wants to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Understand your brand values, and use them to draw great candidates. A Collaborative and Innovative Culture Famous advertising exec Bill Bernbach said, “A principle isn’t a principle until it costs you money.” Millennials put their money where their mouth is when it comes to company culture. According to a study by Fidelity, millennials are willing to take a $7,600 pay cut in exchange for moving to a company with a better company culture. It comes as no surprise since we already know that millennials look closely at a company’s values. Well, company culture is often informed by those values. Millennials seek a company culture that values collaboration, innovation, and an investment in professional development and the employee experience. Almost eight grand is a pretty significant chunk of change, so it should demonstrate how serious millennials take this. Promote your company culture by sharing your brand values online, sharing behind-the-scenes footage of your office on social media, and by advertising your opportunities for continued learning and advancement. A Management Team That Is Committed To Employee Success Millennials are not looking for the sitcom experience where a new employee is left to fend for themselves with ambiguous instructions on their first day of work. Rather, this generation judges a company based on how much effort it puts into setting up its new hires for success. According to one survey, employees expect employers to offer the following: 40 percent expect sufficient training 31 percent want goals and expectations to be clearly established 30 percent of millennials want to be given all the information they need to get the job done 26 percent expect reasonable goals and deadlines 23 percent want leaders who are demonstrably invested in their success Simply throwing an employee to the wolves doesn’t suggest to a millennial that you’re a serious, impressive company. Rather, it signals that this is not a place they’d like to stay long-term. A Flexible Work Schedule & Remote Work Opportunities Once upon a time, it was necessary to physically be at the office every day. Now, so much work can be conducted from home with an internet connection. Moreover, employees often do additional work outside of the office because it’s very difficult to remain turned off with so many connected devices. In the eyes of millennials, it’s silly that they can’t work a day from home when they’re informally expected to answer emails on weekends. As a result, today’s talent looks for jobs that offer flexible work schedules. One way companies do this is by offering days out of the week where employees can work from home. So long as you hire carefully and thoughtfully, this should not be a problem. Remote teams have been found to increase productivity, boost employee efficiency, reduce employee turnover, and boost morale. Healthy Work-Life Integration Move over, work-life balance – there’s a new wellness buzz word in town. Technically speaking, the two terms mean the same thing: Finding harmony so that your work is not negatively impacting your life, relationships, and happiness. Companies, especially startups, know that they’ll be asking for a lot of their employees. There’s the expectation that employees will go the extra mile (and most are happy to do so!) but millennials expect a certain level of support in this regard. Initiatives some companies take to allow employees to do this are: Unlimited vacation policies Covered dry cleaning Free lunches (or dinners for late work nights) Demonstration from the management level that it’s okay to leave early for family commitments As you sit down with your human resources team and recruiters and think about how to sell your company to desirable candidates, consider ways to work these millennial wishes into your recruiting strategy.
7 Q1 Initiatives Your Marketing Agency Can Use To Attract New Business Year Round Posted on January 3, 2018August 25, 2022 by Katie Culp It’s a familiar problem for any marketing agency: So much time spent marketing your clients and not enough time marketing yourself. In the hustle and bustle of client conference calls, pitches, and brainstorming, it’s easy to shove the agency’s marketing onto the back burner. But when the work dies down, you’ll be counting on your lead acquisition channels. If you didn’t dedicate any time to developing them, those channels would be depressingly dry. Want to rev up your revenue in 2018? Here’s what you can do in Q1. Produce Compelling Case Studies Being too busy with client work to develop a marketing strategy is a pretty good problem to have. Make that problem part of the solution. Work on a case study outlining your successful projects. Tell a compelling story about how you met a client’s objectives. Include both qualitative and quantitative data about how your agency’s work produced results whether it was in the form of increased sales or added exposure. Release your case study in the new year, promote it on your website and social media channels, and use it to build credibility with potential clients. Arrange Speaking Gigs For Members of Your Agency Conferences are a great way to gain exposure and build authority. Go one step further than attending them. Arrange for your founder or the head of your design team to deliver a speech on what your marketing agency does differently. In this way, your agency reaches a large number of people, your brand benefits from the promotional efforts of the conference organizers, and you have video of the speech to share on your social channels and with current and prospective clients. Send Newsworthy Press Releases to Media Contacts Do you have anything exciting coming up in the New Year? Win any awards? Land a huge brand as a client? Take the time to read about what journalists look for in press releases (and how they choose which emails to even open) and consider whether your agency has a story other people will care about. If you don’t have anything exciting on the calendar, come up with a creative idea for press attention. The holidays offer ample fodder for publicity stunts, and a stunt isn’t inherently bad so long as it’s executed well. You do this work for your clients all the time. Brainstorm ways to put your agency in the news by coming up with an idea that piggybacks on the warm fuzzy feelings of the holidays or the fresh-start ambitions of the New Year. Contribute Editorials to Industry Publications Did your team stumble on an interesting insight while working on a project? Perhaps you tackled a marketing campaign in an innovative way? Maybe there was a challenge your agency faced that you handled brilliantly. Pitch a piece to an industry publication. Even if your desired clients don’t regularly read these, the byline is enough to boost your credibility when they research you. It also boosts your profile to others in the industry, so that you’re considered for industry awards or invited to speak at conferences. Don’t forget to think about popular, yet respected, online publications as well. You might get more reach with a guest post on a widely read blog. Revamp Your Brand Conduct an audit of your brand. Ask yourself if it’s still indicative of the value, vibe, and culture of your marketing agency. Does it represent what you want to convey to potential clients? If it’s the logo you created when you started your agency, perhaps you’ve outgrown it. Produce a (Video or Podcast) Series Think about topics that are useful to your clients and potential clients. Choose the one that’s likely to get the most response and produce a video or podcast series around that topic. We suggest these formats because they’re easy for busy people to absorb. A well-produced, informative, and engaging series can generate leads, increase your exposure, and even lead to press mentions depending on how creative it is. Update Your Testimonials Page Stay on top of your testimonials page. Prospects seek social proof, and they want to see that others worked with you and loved you before they invest their own money. When you’re just starting out, you likely had “friends” as clients who gave you your first testimonials. To give you some traction, those testimonials were likely a bit over the top. It’s time to swap them out for the measured, reassuring feedback from clients whose brand names speak louder than over-enthusiastic praise. Be sure to follow up with clients to get this feedback. If you did a good job, they’ll be happy to provide it – they’ll just be busy. In this case, there’s nothing wrong with giving them some pointers on things you’d like the testimonial to touch on (i.e. process, results, professionalism, creativity) without putting words in their mouth. Prioritize your agency’s future success by taking a proactive approach to its marketing. If necessary, put together an internal marketing team and treat the firm like you would any other client. Get started laying down the foundation for a client-rich 2018.
The Importance of Analyzing Competitor PPC Strategies Posted on January 2, 2018June 13, 2018 by Guest Author A guest blog from Anna Rud, Content Marketer at Serpstat. It’s important to put in extensive background work when it comes to shaping your PPC strategy. It’s equally important to do your research for an SEO strategy, but paid ads take not only your time and effort but also your money. This means you should be gathering exhaustive information about your niche before embarking on creating your strategy. What’s more, neither an SEO expert nor a how-to article can give you as much valuable and specific to your niche information as your competitors can. In this post, I’ll show you how to analyze your competitor’s PPC ads and how those results can help you shape your own strategy. What’s the plan? find your competitors; collect their ads; estimate the completeness and quality of the ads; figure out whether there are extensions; estimate the relevance of the ads; check if landing pages fit the ads; see if the keywords are relevant to the ads; evaluate competitors’ remarketing; check if their ads are displaying on other devices, not only via laptop. Step #1: Preparations First and foremost, you should gather commercial queries your competitors are bidding on. It could be a list of your products, which you are going to promote through PPC advertising. For instance, “social media agency”, “pizza delivery”, “graphic design help”, etc. Create a spreadsheet If you’re doing a thorough data analysis, you must organize the data properly! I suggest creating a Google spreadsheet to collect all information together in one place. Here is my example of such a spreadsheet: The columns may differ depending on your goals and how deep your investigation goes. Step #2: Find your competitors Method #1: Google it The simplest way is to google keywords you chose earlier and explore the paid results. The biggest disadvantage of this method is that Google is connected to your region so you can’t see other regions’ ads. If you want to analyze your niche in full, this tactic won’t do. Method #2: use an SEO tool Tools such as ours, Serpstat, help to find all the ads in your niche by certain keyword for all countries. This method has a disadvantage that you can turn into an advantage: tools can’t gather ads in real time. Serpstat shows data that is available in its database since the last update. It means that you won’t be able to see some of the newest ads. On the other hand though, you are able to see the ads that have been removed up to the time of your search! Another advantage is the ability to see all the ads by the query. In a Google search, you can’t see more than eight ads. In Serpstat you see 986 specifically in the US. Step #3: Collect the ads You can export all data into the spreadsheet automatically or copy it manually. Here is what it should look like: Step #4: Analyze it! Title and text It’s vital to read these ads carefully. Find strong and weak spots of your competitors’ ads by answering these simple questions: What’s most appealing about the ad? Does it promote a brand name? Does it incite trust? Does it address customers’ problems? What is the unique selling proposition? What’s the most appealing about the ad? I like that they pointed the price right in the text of the ad. A customer can understand if it meets his or her expectations without even going to the site. At the same time, no one likes clickbait! If there is only one pizza for $8 when all the others cost twice as much, I wouldn’t write about it in the ads. Most people won’t appreciate it and might consider it a lie. Does it promote a brand name? Yes. They put their name and tagline in the title. Does it incite trust? Yes. The price in the title gives a feeling of clarity and honesty. But I’ll repeat it: walk the walk! Does it address the customers’ problems? A bit. I know, “cheap” and “expensive” are not the same for everyone, but the ad does make it seem that they’ll be cheaper than others. What is the unique selling proposition? The same answer. See, it helps to understand the main goals of this ad, the strategy, and the gaps in the strategy. Do this with 10-20 ads of your most successful competitors, and you’ll be ready to create your own campaign based on competitors’ strategies. Eventually you can take all best ideas from your competitors and avoid making their mistakes. For instance, this one: The USP is great — 50% off is a generous discount, but the phrase “start eating better” may sound a bit insulting to some people. Who says there is something wrong with the food I eat? This ad below is successful because they attached a coupon code just to the ad. It may engage more users. Extensions Using the method of collecting ads, we can check if our niche competitors use extensions and decide if you should try it too. Here we see that both ads have extra links that lead to their products. It’s a good idea to at least test out extensions in your PPC ads. The relevance of the landing page to the ad Landing pages are wildly important to your PPC ads, relevancy score and results. Your landing page choices can make or break your strategy! Here are a few sample landing pages that follow different strategies. This one refers us to a long, daunting registration page. It’s a bad idea. This big form looks a bit scary, and there is no registration via social media. Moreover, I don’t think someone would fill it out without even seeing menu options. Another ad leads us just to the menu. That would be the best option for a landing page in this niche: This one leads to the page where you can get a discount, as was promised. Honesty is always the best policy: (Forgive me if you’re reading this at work, and I’m torturing you with these photos of food.) The biggest mistake is to lead to some strange irrelevant page like this: It just refers you to the site with a different URL. The relevance of the keywords to the ad Serpstat is capable of identifying what keywords your competitor is bidding on in search advertising. The keywords should be relevant to the text of ad and to the landing page. It seems to be an obvious thing, but this ad is bidding on the keyword “pizza delivery seattle” when it leads to the menu with a bunch of other products: It was difficult to find pizza among the other options on the landing page. Remarketing There is no tool for tracking remarketing of the competitors, so you’ll have to do it manually. Just click around the ads of competitors, subscribe to the newsletter or make an order and then cancel it. Then observe for several days, whether they are catching up to you with repeat advertising, and in what format. This way you can find and assess competitors’ remarketing channels, offers, bonuses and discounts. Devices Check if their ads are displaying on other devices, not only laptops. If all your competitors show their advertising on smartphones, you shouldn’t miss this opportunity either. Now that you’ve analyzed your competitors’ strategies in-depth, finish your spreadsheet! Use the spreadsheet data thoughtfully, find the patterns, observe competitors’ mistakes, and adopt their good ideas. All this information can help you to create your own PPC campaign and save your own time and money. AUTHOR BIO Anna Rud is a Content Marketer at Serpstat, a growth-hacking tool for SEO, PPC and Content Marketing. Establishing an active presence on external resources, developing rich and quality content, implementing of brand strategy and many other are her key responsibilities.
A Small Business Owner’s Guide to New Year’s Resolutions Posted on January 1, 2018December 27, 2017 by Jonathan Herrick January 1 is an exciting day for many business owners, as they get set to put brand-new plans for the coming 12 months into action. That could be especially true this year, given that 2017 was such a good year for many firms. In the recent Capital One Growth Index, 60% of small business owners said that current business conditions are good or excellent, and 37% reported being in a better financial position than a year ago, up from 31% from earlier in the year. Nonetheless, we’re in a period of rapid change that makes it a little trickier to plan for the coming year than in the past. Focusing on making high-level resolutions that will truly help your business thrive, rather than to-dos like cleaning out your email inbox, can make a real difference in a period of uncertainty. Here are some factors to consider in your resolutions so you have an amazing year in 2018. Taxes. Most of us would rather not think about taxes, but they’re a fact of life—and a costly one—for many small business owners. Taxes were the top concern for small business owners in the coming year in the Capital One Growth Index, cited by 45%. With tax reform on the table, small business owners may well see a tax cut in 2018, but don’t count on legislative change alone to free the cash you need to reinvest in your business this year. If you don’t have a great accountant who is helping you to plan proactively to make the most of whatever the tax code ends up being, resolve to find a fantastic advisor in 2018. A great accountant is not necessarily the person who charges you the lowest fees on your tax return. It is someone who will help you stay on top of what is going on in the tax code and plan ahead to minimize your tax bite. Although you will have to pay for this advice—accountants are in business, too!—it can be worth many times the fees you pay. Ask other owners in your network now for referrals to someone fantastic. Your books. For many business owners, bookkeeping is a bear. However, if you constantly fall behind on financial record-keeping or your books are always slopping, you’ll never have good visibility into how your business is actually doing or know for sure if your business is meeting key performance indicators. If you don’t have an accountant or bookkeeper to handle bookkeeping for you now, resolve to hire an expert to help you in 2018. Bookkeeping services are generally not expensive, and once you get help, you will wonder how you did without it for so long. Hint: If you need to keep costs down, make sure you automate as much of your bookkeeping as possible. For instance, you can attach your bank records and business credit cards to programs like QuickBooks, so the transactions automatically appear in the software and save hourly work for your bookkeeper. If you’re worried about security, bear in mind you don’t have to give the bookkeeper access to these actual accounts to automate these functions. To find a great bookkeeper, ask around among your network or try a freelance site such as Upwork to find one who is an expert in the program you use, whether that’s QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks or another one. Cash flow. If you’ve ever considered signing up to drive for Uber or Lyft during a cash-flow crunch, you’re not alone. In Capital One’s survey, managing cash flow was a concern for 42% of respondents. Cash flow can be a particularly challenging issue if you have employees and need to make payroll. Many factors can affect your cash-flow: seasonal sales patterns, changing market conditions, and slow-paying customers, to name a few. If you are not doing cash-flow forecasting to get in front of these realities, make 2018 the year you master this aspect of running a business. You’ll sleep a lot better at night if you know where you stand early and can plan ahead. One free tool worth trying is Runway, which is designed to help startups determine how long their cash will last. SCORE offers a variety of free templates for cash-flow planning, as well. Technology. Keeping up with technology was another top concern for small business owners in the Capital One Growth Index, cited by 32%. Given how quickly technology is changing in many industries, even “keeping up” may seem like an ambitious goal—especially if you are a technophobe. Fortunately, there are ways to simplify the process. First, make time to talk regularly with others in your industry about what technologies they are using. For instance, if you notice they send out an email newsletter, ask them what marketing automation software they are using and if they find it easy to use. It could be very useful to you, too. Also ask other small business owners you know to share the number one time-saving technology they are using in their business—whether that is an app to schedule meetings, like ScheduleOnce, one for tracking expenses such as Expensify, or a mobile tool such as Polaris, which lets you edit Microsoft documents on an iPhone or Apple device. Even if you find a single app that saves you two hours a week, that 104 hours a year you have liberated for other pursuits—whether that is doing some deep thinking about your business, spending time with family or working out. We can all use extra time to focus on the things that really add to our quality of life so make 2018 the year you give yourself that gift, every week of the year.
6 Reasons Your Small Business Must Utilize Email Marketing Posted on December 29, 2017June 20, 2018 by Jessica Lunk Forty-two percent. That’s the number of Americans who check their email in the bathroom, according to Adobe. Ninety-one percent say they check their email at work, and 70 percent check their email while watching television, according to that same report. And that’s not even getting into the number of people who check their email while in bed, while on vacation, or even while driving. Here’s some more interesting news: Those coveted millennials are just as obsessed with email. If these stats aren’t enough to convince you that your small business needs to utilize email marketing, here are five more reasons to win you over. People Engage With Email We’re programmed to do something with an email. We’ll read it, skim it, click through it, mark it as spam, or delete it. While those aren’t all desirable options, if you think about it for longer than the time it takes to sigh at the word “spam,” you’ll realize something: An email holds a reader’s attention long enough for them to somehow engage with it. In other words, you have a chance. Unlike social media where people scroll by your posts at mega speed, a recipient will at least read the subject line of your email. You have a shot at convincing them your email is worth reading. That’s the kind of challenge any marketer or copywriter should embrace. Email Offers a Personalized Form of Correspondence Hooray! You did it. You got someone to join your mailing list and agree to receive emails from you. Don’t take it for granted. Email is one step under texts when it comes to personal communication. Subscribers expect great content delivered to their inbox, not lackluster material that makes them check the notification and go, “Urgh, these people again…” If you have nothing of value to say, don’t send anything at all. People don’t unsubscribe because a business contacts them too infrequently. When you do send an email, send an email worth opening. This could be: A promotional offer like a free month when you refer a friend A free tool or resource that makes their life easier An announcement about a new location The launch of a new app The roll-out of a new loyalty program Communicate With Customers In Real Time Forty-nine percent of all emails in the United States are read on a mobile device, according to a study conducted by IBM. Think about the last time you received a notification on your phone – you likely checked it out almost instantly. And this stat by IBM doesn’t take into account the number of people who receive an email, look at the subject line, and decide to open it on their desktop. What this means is that a lot of people notice emails in real time. This means you have a shot at communicating with customers in real time. This is great for creating a sense of urgency if you’re sending out an email blast about a limited time offer. Email Marketing is Measurable Nothing feels worse than spending money and not knowing if it’s worth it. If there’s a slight uptick in business after you put out a newspaper ad, was that thanks to the ad or just a coincidence? Email marketing significantly reduces this ambiguity. To manage an email list, you’ll unavoidably use an email marketing tool and they all come built with tracking tools that let you know how many emails were actually delivered, how many were opened, how long people spent on each email, and whether they linked to your website or bought a product. These sorts of tracking tools let you do the following: Manage your list by eliminating email addresses that bounce back Determine which subject lines work by comparing open rates Experiment with email length/placement of CTAs based on clickthrough rates It’s Cheap! This is what you wanted to hear, right? Honestly, if you figure out your brand voice and what sorts of emails your customers like to receive, you can generate leads at a low cost. The trick is figuring out how to convince customers to subscribe (don’t email people without their permission) and what to send to customers. Reach Many Demographics A person’s email account serves as the gatekeeper to their social media (i.e. Facebook) and online accounts (i.e. banking, shopping). It’s also the legacy online communication tool. This means that everyone from your grandmother to your sixteen-year-old niece has an email address. The moral of the story: If you’re not already using email marketing as part of your marketing mix — it’s time get started. Check out our free email marketing course.
10 Characteristics of Steadfast Leaders Posted on December 28, 2017December 27, 2017 by Jonathan Herrick You instantly know when you’re in the company of a strong leader. They exude a certain quality that makes everyone stop and check themselves to ensure they are representing themselves and their organization in the very best way possible. While leaders can be exceptionally different when compared at face value, there are a number of similar traits which dynamic leaders have in common. Effective Communication Being able to communicate efficiently needs to be at the top of the list. You rarely meet a strong leader who is unable to communicate persuasively. Leaders are quick to inspire and motivate their team through their words, yet on the same token, come across as excellent listeners. They maintain an open door policy so their team has the chance to speak to them whenever they need, and gain feedback if necessary. Confidence Strong leaders are self-assured and prepared for whatever challenges come their way. They are not arrogant, just quietly committed to whatever lies ahead. If they do get nervous, they have learned to hide it well. Good leaders are only too happy to credit their team for the work that has been done. They also know that the success of their team is a reflection of their personal success. Accountability While a leader may be able to relax and let their hair down with their colleagues, they continuously maintain a sense of responsibility for all their actions and that of others. When things are going well, they are quick to praise and encourage. And rather than attach blame to others when things go wrong, they look for a solution to the problem. Determination Strong leaders are determined, and once they commit to something, they are always prepared to see it through until the very end. They don’t give up at the first sign of trouble and aren’t afraid to make smart and calculated risks. They stick it out and do what needs to be done to get back on track. Flexibility and laser-focus are two of their greatest strengths. Consistency Consistency is important – both in a leader’s actions and their expectations of others. A leader cannot constantly be flip-flopping between dual sets of corporate desires and aims. It can be incredibly demoralizing for a team that has worked tirelessly on a project only to be told that the leader has changed their mind and is heading in another direction. Compassion Strong leaders are supportive and generous. Richard Branson is a wonderful example of a leader who is genuinely interested and concerned about the people who work for him. A good leader mentors and leads when the time is right and supports those who are driving the organization forward. They understand that at times their actions speak louder than words. Honesty Honesty is a great trait in any individual but particularly one who holds down a position of power. A team will follow their leader anywhere if they know their actions are motivated by solid ethics and integrity. When a leader acts honestly, their team will follow suit. Inauthentic people will send signals of doubt through the office. Alternatively, when a leader’s words and actions match, the overall confidence of the team will increase. Collaboration Strong leaders are delighted to ask others for help in solving a problem. They understand that everyone has different strengths, and by utilizing them, allows them to be the best leader they can be. They have no intention of hogging any limelight and are always on the lookout for talented members to join their team. They just want to find the best solution using whatever available tools they have to hand. They also aren’t afraid to show their weaknesses and tap into the strengths of others. Organization A great leader knows that a well thought out plan is behind everything they do. They tend to have a solid grasp on the overall picture and can delegate as necessary to get the job done. Also, they are not afraid to pitch in and help and will not ask something of others if they are not willing to do it themselves. They have a clear vision, are extremely passionate, and eager to ensure the team is working as best as they can to achieve the organization’s goals. Forward-Thinking While success is always at the forefront of a leader’s mind, they don’t take unnecessary shortcuts to achieve it. They know that their actions will slowly bring them to their goal without jeopardizing their achievements on the way. They trust their team to do the work without the need to micromanage because direction and expectations were clearly laid out at the outset. Wouldn’t it be great if these traits could be bottled? Bad leaders can do more than destroy a company; they can also inhibit the growth and the accomplishments of their team members. Many of these habits may take practice, but it is worth the time, effort and money in developing the skills of your future leaders. Effective leaders will take your business to the next level, so focus on skill building and leadership training to guarantee the future prosperity of your organization.
6 Tips for Creating an Airtight Privacy Policy Posted on December 27, 2017June 13, 2018 by Erin Posey Laws affecting online business owners differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but one thing is abundantly clear: Everyone with a website who’s collecting information from their visitors needs a privacy policy. You could be a booming e-commerce site featured in Forbes or a blogger sharing interior decorating tips for a small community of friends, family, and fellow design enthusiasts. If you’re collecting data, you’re affecting a visitor’s privacy. Now, modern online marketing relies on visitor and customer data. Bloggers collect email addresses, e-commerce sites store financial transaction details and B2B businesses store email addresses captured from lead magnets. And most people on the internet know websites collect information about them. That said, they want to know what exactly they’re collecting and what they’re using it for. So long as you’re straightforward about your data collection and usage, the tips below should help you write a solid privacy policy. Keep in mind, however, that if your business operates in a regulated industry (i.e. insurance, health care) you may have stricter privacy guidelines and would be well-advised to consult a legal expert. Don’t confuse your readers. When you hear “privacy policy” the words that come to mind are likely “dense,” “complicated,” “legalese.” This is not what you want for your privacy policy. A site visitor should be able to read your policy and leave confident that they know what you’re doing with their information. Write your privacy policy in a clear, straightforward manner. This advice doesn’t just apply to your wording. It applies to your formatting as well. Avoid tiny, poorly spaced text that makes your privacy policy a struggle to read. It implies you have something to hide, which is not what you want your visitors to think. State what information you’ll collect and where you’ll get it from. There’s a tremendous amount of information you can collect, and if you know what to do with it you can gain a competitive advantage. That said, you don’t want your customers to be surprised when they find out you’re also tracking their online browsing habits when they’re logged on to your site when they just thought you were collecting emails. Be transparent. Are you collecting email addresses? Does your website use cookies? Will you keep track of a customer’s buying habits? Outline these activities in your privacy policy, so you aren’t accused of being sneaky. Explicitly state if you share visitor information with third parties. This is probably one of the biggest concerns for internet users. Your audience may trust you, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be thrilled you’re sharing their information with advertisers. The good news is that most online product and content consumers understand the game and they recognize that there’s sometimes a need to share their information with third parties. What they’re not a fan of is perceived sneakiness. Keep your users informed so they retain a sense of agency about their data. Try not to leave it at that though. Share the reasons why you hand their data over to third parties. Is it to facilitate transactions? Improve the customer experience? Show your readers or customers why this data-sharing benefits them. Additionally, let them know what steps you take to protect their information and vet third parties. Provide an option for visitors to opt out of sharing their data. Again, people are largely okay with data usage, but they do want to know they have options. Giving users a say in how their information is used builds trust between you and your community. In fact, when it comes to communications like email newsletters U.S. companies must give subscribers the option to “unsubscribe” from email communications without paying a fee or providing information other than their email address. This is one of the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. Include a note in your privacy policy that says you’ll let visitors know when there’s changes. Stay on top of changes to your data usage. Each time your data collection activities change, update your privacy policy and be sure to shoot an email to all of your members to alert them to the changes. Notice how companies like Twitter or Apple send you an emails with updates and ask you to accept them? Notifying your community of updates fosters a digital community of transparency and also protects your reputation. Don’t copy someone else’s privacy policy word for word. Yes, this is a huge time saver, but it may come back to bite you in the butt and cost you double the hours. This is because every business is different and your data management may not be the same as that other company’s data management, leaving your privacy policy with holes. That said, there’s nothing wrong with using other privacy policies as a guide for how to structure your own. Just make sure your final product reflects the unique considerations of your website. A privacy policy protects your reputation and fosters trust in your online community. Any business that collects information about its online users should take the time to write one.