Technology / Office , , , , , Leave a comment

6 Digital Trends to Make Doing Business Faster and Easier

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Maybe you and I are alike when it comes to technology—-neither in love with tech-based products and services, nor afraid of them. I’ve never played a video game in my life but when fax machines were still a new thing, I bought a (Panasonic) combination phone and fax. You may remember that first wave fax machines required special paper that was sold in rolls. When plain paper fax machines became available, it was a big thing.

When a new product or service brings a significant improvement to my life or business, I’m happy to be an Early Majority Adaptor, in marketing parlance. I do not rush forward with my arms wide open when a big media rollout announces that a flashy new product or service has come to market but before too long, I’ll investigate. Might this new arrival be useful for my life and business? Will it help me to make money, save money, save time, or enable me to do business more efficiently or amplify my impact somehow? Can I afford to buy it? Can I afford not to?

Presented below are six relatively recent technological inventions or developments that are reshaping how we work and live. Nearly everyone on Earth is almost guaranteed to utilize at least four of these six tech- based services, whether or not you realize it. The presence of these resources—-and that is what they are—-will only become more entrenched over time. It’s up to you to be proactive and figure out how to harness the power and tap into benefits that these resources can deliver to you.

  1. Artificial Intelligence

I’ll bet you’ve used a chat bot —-an AI-powered service— when you visited a website and wanted your basic questions answered quickly. No? We’ll, does the keypad on your tablet, desktop, or smartphone have autocorrect typing? I thought so! AI has seeped into so many routine functions that we take for granted.

A common use of artificial intelligence is for what’s called machine learning, algorithms that through repetition appear to “learn” over time. Artificial intelligence is also making inroads into Customer Relations Management (CRM) systems. With the introduction of AI, CRM systems transform into self-updating functions that allow business owners, marketers and accounts payable specialists, for example, to set up AI generated order confirmations, customer birthday greetings, or subscription renewal notices.

Artificial intelligence is also a mechanism for detecting gaps in computer network hacking defenses. AI systems can recognize a cyberattack, as well as other cyberthreats, by monitoring patterns from data input. If a threat is detected, it can backtrack through your data to find the source and help to prevent a future cybersecurity threat.

2. Automation

Routine administrative tasks are unavoidable in most jobs and getting it done is often time-consuming. The practical benefits of intelligent automation companies increasingly enable the automating of many repetitive tasks so they do not require manual input from you or other team members. Today, payroll, invoicing, event registrations and numerous data entry functions are handled by automated services.

Expect more business solutions to be powered by AI for analytics, data protection, security and search algorithms. As a result, many businesses will run leaner as business owners find ways to employ automation.

3. Hybrid workplace

We turned on a dime and responded most efficiently to the reconfigured workplace (and classroom) environment brought about by the coronavirus shutdown. The pandemic proved a virtual workplace is possible.

But also, it has shown that a work-from-home setup is not ideal for everyone. The solution is to design your hybrid workplace to fit the needs of your workers, as directed by their functions and deliverables they produce.

Workflow development specialists will be especially useful for helping hybrid teams, some that may even work across national boundaries, decide how to approach decisions about how the work can be efficiently executed, how to promote good communication and camaraderie and even who should work from home and who should work in the office.

4. Cybersecurity and privacy

As of July 1, 2022, 4.95 billion of the 7.95 billion global population are internet users (source: United Nations). That about 62% of the world is online has all sorts of implications, for better—-more opportunities for communication and exchanging information!—and worse—an urgent need for user data protection, to protect privacy and promote security.

Online business owners should already have encryption security measures in place, to safeguard financial transactions and customer information. Online customers are becoming more concerned about the security of their personal data that by necessity is in the hands of many organizations, including banks, employers, insurance companies, retailers and social media platforms. Freelancers and small business owners are expected to guarantee security measures to protect their customer data just like global enterprise companies.

Data breaches are embarrassing and expensive. They’re bad for business, especially for smaller companies, that don’t have the budget to engineer a reputation rescue executed by a crisis communication marketing team. To ensure the data integrity at your organization enact all of the standard data protection protocols. Verify the security of your cloud-based software systems, cloud data storage service and your online and mobile payment providers. Protect all company internet devices, as well as personal devices, by using two-factor sign-in and strong passwords.

5. 5G

In 2021, I took my sweet time to trade in my 3G smartphone for a 5G smartphone and my cellphone provider was unhappy with me for a while. We’ve been hearing about the 5G revolution for, what, 5 years now? More networks and devices have moved—-more like been pushed—-to 5G in response to increased demand for faster connectivity, but 5G is more than just faster downloads.

Speed of data transmission on all of your mobile devices is a huge plus. Online meetings, streaming movies, listening to music and watching live TV are so much more seamless and satisfying with 5G bandwidth. You may not have noticed, but your phone and tablet are already faster now and they’ll soon become faster still with successive 5G upgrades and rollouts. Expect to see very soon expansions of fast, powerful and more reliable wireless internet service at home and at the office.

5G will also impact your car. Automobiles coming to the market this year will offer 5G capabilities. In the not-too-distant future, expect high-speed cloud connectivity to bring AI powered smart mirrors, super premium audio systems and self-driving trucks and other delivery vehicles—-yikes!

6. Digital payments

We’ve witnessed an expansion of digital payments and related banking options courtesy of the of pandemic shutdown. But the need for secure and fast mobile and online payment systems was already in a slow boil. The steady rise of e-commerce demanded secure online payments. Outdoor festivals, flea markets, farmers markets, art festivals and every imaginable business conference found someone. with a self-published book to sell or motivational videos to buy, enabled by remote payments.

Banks and other consumer financial institutions such as Venmo, Square, Wallet and PayPal, continue to invest more in online solutions for their customers.

  • Online payment channels.
  • Online loan applications and approvals.
  • Cashless payment transactions.
  • Online personal identification.
  • Faster and user-friendly online banking apps

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: “Digital rain” computer code in The Matrix (1999)

Marketing , , , Leave a comment

Analytics Data: Your Content Marketing Navigator

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So, how are you doing with content marketing? Are you seeing the hoped- for results? Do you have it clear in your mind the reasons for launching whatever content marketing activity you do—blog? podcast? behind-the-scenes videos of your team in action?—-beyond some half-formed idea about how everybody’s doing it, it’s probably good for business, so get busy? I don’t want to be judge-y but if that is your reality, I encourage you to tighten up your game.

Whatever content marketing you’re into, it will all go down much better when you think about it in big picture mode. Content marketing starts with figuring out the purpose, what you want it to do, the end result you’d like to achieve. We know it’s about creating business, but you’ll help yourself by being more specific and thinking about how content marketing works.

Content marketing is premised on the soft sell approach, expressed by educating prospective clients about the performance, quality, cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness of your products and services. Supporting that primary message, you may also use this style of marketing to communicate the expertise of you and your team and portray your company as dependable and trustworthy. You might also send out the message that you are socially responsible, practice environmental sustainability (“green”) and believe in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

If you are put off or intimidated by the very thought of thinking this stuff through, I’ve given you a cheat sheet, shown below. Oh, and remember to invite website and social media visitors to dip into your marketing content by writing a good Call-to-Action that entices them to take a chance—do the survey, download the case study, join the webinar, opt-in and get the newsletter.

But the moral of this story is that you are advised to follow, weekly or monthly, certain key metrics that document how prospects interact with or respond to your content. That reported data becomes your recipe and roadmap for content marketing that works. The data also shows you what doesn’t work, by reporting lackluster numbers.

Follow the open rates, shares and likes of your blog or newsletter and discover which topics mean the most to your readers. You’ll also realize the topics readers don’t love, when your open rate tanks. Data is the navigator for your content. Follow it and find the road to achieving your content marketing and sales goals. Explore free and paid data analytics services and register your website and social media accounts to get started: https://bloggingwizard.com/social-media-analytics-and-reporting-tools/

Common content marketing goals:

  • LeadGen—bring potential buyers to your website and social media accounts, from new or established markets
  • Increasing Google EAT ranking—Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness
  • Brand loyalty—-enhance company reputation, build trust, signal dependability, to know you is to love you

Track metrics that matter:

  • Lead metrics—how many leads does your content generate through email opt-ins, call-to-action appeals, or blog and newsletter subscribers?
  • User metrics—how many page views does your content draw? How many downloads, visits, shares and likes does your content receive? Which content format and topics get the most positive responses from readers and viewers, as indicated by high open rates?
  • Sales metrics—how many of the leads that you generate from your content become paying customers? What is your sales conversion rate?
  • Time metrics—how long do viewers spend engaging with your content, where do they stay longest and which pages do they visit?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Crunching the numbers that guided decisions made by the Oakland Athletics baseball team and resulted in big wins. The story was told in Moneyball (2011, directed by Bennett Miller) starring Brad Pitt (l) and Jonah Hill.

Administrative , , , Leave a comment

When to Hire, When to Outsource

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Increased sales and plans for expansion are a happy and exciting time for business owners . But as we discussed in last week’s post the bear market is in the house and caution is highly recommended. Along with confirming that customers will spend the way you need them to, you’ll also need to ramp up your operation in one way or another to meet the increased demand for what you’re selling.

Each of those scenarios requires a different type of staffing strategy—-maybe part-time, maybe full-time; temporary/ seasonal; possibly W2 and on the payroll or maybe 1099NEC Freelancer? There’s also the option to not hire anyone (unless your opening additional locations, for example). To figure that out, you’ll also need to make a realistic assessment of how much more work you can coax out of your current staff, without provoking a mutiny. Below are potential questions to ask yourself plus solutions for increased staffing needs at your growing organization.

Start your decision process by defining what “increased sales” means for your company. Is the plan to add e-commerce to your website so that you can sell products or provide services online? Or have you signed a new client and you’ll provide services on an ongoing basis—- or maybe the work will be completed in 4 months, but will keep you very busy? Maybe this is turning out to be a reality hot summer and the lines at your ice cream shop are halfway down the block? Below are practical questions to ask yourself as you figure out the best staffing solution for your company.

What function needs to be done?

HR, IT, bookkeeping and social media management are services that are often outsourced to a fellow Freelance expert or perhaps to a large company that operates nationally. Your company’s need for one or more specialized skills or labor may be ongoing, but the frequency of need may not require full- time work.

You can hire part-time help, but what kind of working relationship should you enter? Can you afford to make a commitment to pay someone maybe 10 or 20 hours per week, every week, as a W2 employee? Are you confident that your revenue will support the expense?

If it seems reasonable to assume that you’ll have the cash-flow and you have a good relationship with a particular vendor and you’d like to maintain that, then make a salary and time commitment offer. You might propose W2 status to someone who’s worked in your organization as a 1099NEC (who will be very happy to have taxes taken out during every pay period and eliminate at least one source of quarterly tax filing), or hire a newly recruited person.

Do you anticipate short-term or long-term deployment?

Obviously, if you need labor or a skill set—-grant writing, meeting facilitation, website developer, or seasonal help (Christmas rush or summer help?)—-for just a few weeks or months, you hire 1099 NEC workers. The labor or skill set may be mission- critical because a lot is riding on its fulfillment, but you need it only for a special project or defined time.

But if sales at your bakery are up and the line for coffee and muffins is noticeably longer, then you’d be wise to hire one or more W2 employees to shorten the wait time, avoid over- working and frustrating your current employees (which could lead someone to unexpectedly quit and leave you in a bind) and maintain the positive customer experience.

Which costs more–1099NEC or W2?

There are costs and other downsides associated with both outsourcing and hiring permanent employees. Sometimes, calculating the costs, of dollars and other factors, can help you reach the most favorable. or least onerous, decision. Your HR/ payroll and benefits management service (which may be in-house or outsourced) can research the expenses associated with bringing in a W2 employee. A visit to indeed. com or Upwork can let you see the ballpark range of hourly or project Freelancer rates.

The bottom-line cost of hiring a 1099NEC Freelancer will be lower than the cost of hiring a W2 employee, but there are sometimes persuasive reasons to do the latter.

Calculate the time needed to get each choice up and running (onboarded)

The answer to this question has big impact. While you may have the money to hire a W2 employee and even prefer to install a permanent team member into a mission-oriented position, you may realize that hiring an experienced Freelance consultant to do the job will allow you to get things done much faster.

Your Freelancer will be a hired gun who possesses deep expertise, a pro who needs minimal onboarding and training to successfully produce the deliverables. Because your Freelancer probably concentrates his/ her work on just three or four related competencies, the quality of the work and knowledge brought to the table will be deeper and more specific. Going immediately to a Freelancer means you bypass the potentially time-consuming hiring process and obtain the skills or labor you need ASAP.

Do you want a boss-employee relationship?

Working with a permanent (well, more or less) team is a different dance. it’s a longer-,term relationship and it demands a different kind of leadership—more intense. If you enjoy this kind of stuff, you’ll get to help someone grow professionally nurtured by the training opportunities that you provide, through a combination of assignments that you initiate, skills building workshops that you make available and career development pep talks that you give.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: The Stone Breakers (1849) Gustave Courbet (France, June 1819 – December 1877). The painting was destroyed along with 154 other paintings in February 1945, when a transport vehicle moving the art to the castle at Konigstein, near Dresden, Germany was hit by Allied forces (“friendly fire”).

Business Strategy , Leave a comment

10 Strategies for Surviving a Bear Market

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Step right up folks. Welcome to the bear market. Wasn’t this the party you were looking for? Probably not. But the bear market bus has left the station and you have no choice but to hang on for the ride. Get used to it—bear markets are stubborn. The bear market known as the Great Depression technically lasted for 3 years (1929-1932). The Dot.com Bubble bear market lasted 2 years (2000-2002).

However, the negative effects of bear markets—-high unemployment, inflation (higher prices paid for essential items) and downward pressure on business revenue (resulting from lower disposal income that limits discretionary purchases and higher interest rates on business loans)—-usually doubles the real-time negative effects of bear markets on the population.

So what is a bear market anyway? Economists declare a bear market when there are sustained declines of 20% or more in (recent) prices of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and commodities across several market indexes and exchanges —Standard & Poor”s (S&P 500), Moody’s, the New York Stock Exchange (Wall Street) , NASDAQ, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are among the well-known economic benchmark sources. Bear markets usually occur in tandem with a weak economy.

You may notice that stock and other securities prices demonstrate investor confidence and optimism. The high prices typical of a bull market, polar opposite of the bear market, indicate an expectation that big institutional investors are expecting growth and expansion of the economy. But in a bear market, it’s all about avoiding risk and conserving cash.

So, too, for Freelancers. Pulling back and going on the defense is the smartest bear market strategy. Conserve cash by trimming expenses that do not demonstrably contribute to customer acquisition, customer retention and the customer experience. Manage expenses to preserve your cash-flow. If you are able to save money on a regular basis, so much the better, so that you’ll have funds available to cover business and living expenses if revenues take a serious dip,

Be very cautious about plans to grow, expand, or scale your business and remember that business expansion costs money, a resource that is more expensive to obtain during high-interest bear markets. You can go out of business in a blink if you start drinking from the fire hose and expand too much and too fast.

You can run out of money because you can’t bring in customers fast enough to cover operating expenses. You can also be caught off guard by factors outside of your control—-like a pandemic lockdowns, a boat turned sideways in the Suez Canal, another war or assassination—- that deflates your once/ reasonable sales projections.

Furthermore, customer acquisition and retention are usually more difficult to sustain when disposable income drops and potential customers pull back on spending. Still, with the right strategy you might make money, or at least avoid big losses. Below are actions to help you minimize the bite of the bear.

  1. Open a cash reserve account and aim to deposit 5%-10% of weekly net revenues. If you encounter ether an emergency or an opportunity, you will have waiting for you an interest-free line of credit, so to speak, to carry you through an unexpected cash-flow glitch.
  2. If you sell products rather than services, find back-up supply chain resources so that your shelves will remain stocked even if your usual supplier experiences delays. You must have products to sell when customers want to buy.
  3. Be cautious about plans to expand your venture, unless trustworthy research shows the ROI the time and money required.
  4. Cut excess operating (selling, general & administrative) expenses.
  5. Boost AOV (average order value) by bundling products together to increase sales revenue. Make it attractive to buy from you.
  6. Minimize or eliminate perks —-offsite retreats, meals, travel and the like—- unless you’re spending on customer acquisition or productivity-enhancing skills development.
  7. Raise prices in response to the impact of inflation on the rising cost of goods sold, to maintain profit margins.
  8. Consider investing in long-term opportunities or capital improvements that might now be discounted significantly. Who knows, if the financial prospects are good, maybe you can buy out a competitor who has good market share, but doesn’t have the money to overcome the bear market—/and you do.
  9. Focus marketing in the top three performing channels only and drop those that don’t add much to your sales/ mart pipeline.
  10. Use cash-flow and higher operating margins( (obtained by raising prices) to provide the working capital you need. Remember that the interest you pay on borrowed money from your bank is now higher with rising interest rates.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © The New York Times The Bear struts his stuff in the Boston Ballet production of The Nutcracker.

Professional Development , , , , Leave a comment

One Sentence Team Building

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The ability to harness the energy, creativity and productivity derived from group collaboration—-teamwork—-is a defining characteristic of good leadership. The best leaders have learned how to guide and inspire their teams, learned how to both challenge and support them. They know how to rally the team to deliver exceptional results and achieve mission critical goals that move organizations to greatness.

Effective leaders know that becoming a trusted and supportive resource for their teams is fundamental to achieving excellence. The best leaders demonstrate their commitment to the team by enabling the group to deliver results that meet or exceed expectations.. In their interactions with team members, the best leaders may make a simple but profound appeal to their team members with the question , “What can I do to help?”

This innocuous and disarming question is surprisingly powerful. When a leader asks this question, s/he opens the door to a teamwork culture that introduces a mentoring aspect to team building. With this question, the leader offers opportunities for confidence, trust and relationship-building that are often overlooked benefits of team building and often unacknowledged ingredients of a team’s success.

Unfortunately, the trite statements typically made by team leaders to express a willingness to advise team members who may be, at some point during the project assignment, uncertain about how best to proceed, often do not motivate team members to step forward with questions. How many times have you heard leaders insist that their “door is always open?” While no doubt spoken with good intentions, this statement often fails to encourage requests for help. Neither does it invite team member suggestions that may increase productivity or enhance results. Leaders who understand and fully inhabit their responsibility to the team know to be more emphatic in their outreach. They ask how they can help.

Communicate value, drive results

Ask the question during one2one meetings or project update check-ins. You’ll soon realize that knowing they are supported and valued greatly reassures your team members. You’ll be pleased to discover that members of your team will not only be comfortable discussing their questions, but might also share their thoughts on how to improve the results of project deliverables.

“Just ask” statements don’t feel real. A more direct and specific offer of assistance breaks down barriers and creates a safe space where team members can drop their guard. Team leaders may eventually realize that the silence that resulted when a general “just ask” offer didn’t mean that team members would not have welcomed opportunities to talk; it’s more likely that they weren’t sure how to ask for it, or worried that they might look less than smart if they did.

Asking “What can I do to help?” not only benefits team members lucky enough to be asked the question; leaders who are insightful enough to ask also benefit. Choose to extend yourself to your team and you’ll be rewarded with the recognition of the value you bring to your team and, by extension, your client. How powerfully affirming it is when the members of the client teams you expertly lead spread the word about how rewarding it was to work with you. Exceeding expectations and creating a satisfying project experience is everything you aspire to achieve.

Reward initiative

Be aware that more frequently than some realize, there may also be team member or two looking to receive support for contributing an outside-the-box idea to the project. Smart leaders are always willing to hear the ideas that team members would like to share. Some novel ideas may be feasible and others may not, but it’s important to welcome initiative and creativity.

Leaders who habitually refuse to consider unexpected methods or perspectives, who don’t reward a team member’s passion for giving the best of him/herself to the work, will eventually see that suggestions of useful ideas, along with the commitment and focus that created them, will cease. Team members who have no incentive to bring the best of themselves eventually pull back. They resign themselves to operate as mere functionaries, a waste of precious human capital.

By welcoming creativity, curiosity, diligence, attention to detail and basic pride in one’s work, high-functioning team leaders nurture an environment where useful ideas, perhaps unexpected, are allowed to surface and impact productivity and performance for the good.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: The Bad News Bears (1976) starring Walter Matthau (center left) and Tatum O’Neal (#11)

Business Strategy , Leave a comment

How Does Your Garden Grow?

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Sales at your business venture have finally taken off and it looks like you’ve created a winner—-fantastic! Because you’re ambitious, you’re already thinking about how to capitalize on your success. You’re looking to grow because sustainable growth is the key to maintaining a thriving businesses. But let’s slow down for a minute and talk about how you might grow your venture? Business growth has different meanings and one or more paths can be taken to achieve it. What you’ll need to successfully grow your business is the right growth strategy.

As always, big decisions demand careful thought and you’d be wise to analyze the relevant business metrics and also the marketplace in which as you operate as you ponder the kind of growth you should pursue for your organization. The path to growing your business must fit your marketplace conditions, be acceptable to target customers and enable the venture to thrive within its competitive landscape.

Researching the state of your industry, local business conditions and your marketplace are among the steps you’ll take to assess growth possibilities for your venture. Analyzing your customer base and documenting the rate of its expansion over, say, the past 12-24 months is an obviously important step you’ll want to take, as is studying the pace of sales revenue. Information and insights you discover will shape the expectations and goals for growth and allow you to build a timeline and budget for your chosen growth strategy.

Your business growth plan should be attuned to specific areas of growth. For example, your research and analysis may lead you to conclude that revamping a couple of your B2B services could be expected to substantially increase sales revenue derived from a niche market that you have the credibility and resources to enter. Or maybe relationships that you’ve developed in another city will allow you to grow your client list / customer base by expanding to establish a beach head there.

In many ways, your primary task is to figure out why the business is successful. What market conditions exist or what competitive advantage have you created that enabled the business to thrive? The answer to that question will help you decide the growth strategy to follow. The following are strategies that you might pursue to grow your venture.

Market penetration strategy

Continuing to sell your current products and services to a greater number of customers and in that way scale up the volume of sales revenue derived from your current market. A market penetration strategy is a product market strategy where you achieve increased dominance in the market in which you currently operate. The company grows by increasing market share.

Market expansion strategy

Entering a new market where you sell current products and services. A market expansion strategy means you’ll plan to sell current products and services to a new customer demographic because you’ve maxxed out growth potential in the company’s current target customers. Being able to successfully follow a market expansion strategies you’ll first confirm that you have actually topped out on sales in the current configuration of your market.

Next, research potentially viable new markets, evaluate your ability to reach customers in that market and create a plan to launch. Brand development and customer acquisition will be key components in a market expansion growth strategy.

Product expansion

Launching a new product or service to sell in your current market. The ability to achieve growth for some businesses requires that the company needs to introduce a new product or service. Product development, that is, the creation of a new product/service, or the enhancement of an existing product/ service, enables the company to attract new customers and as it retains the existing customer groups.

Diversification

Launching new products or services to sell to a new market. Diversification can be a proactive way to avoid the fallout of an economic downturn. By offering different products and services, a company can lessen the negative impact of a recession. Pivot to survive.

For smaller organizations, what is technically known as horizontal diversification is most useful. The company will add new products or services to its current line. The products or services may be new, but they often have a similarity to the original product/ service. The company diversifies its line with a clever tweak that expands in a desirable way the options to the customer. You may add a refinement or some sort of updated (or pared down) option that appeals to shifting customer priorities and preferences.

Acquisition

Buying out or taking a controlling interest in another company. Acquisitions are usually only a viable growth strategy if you have excellent cash flow and a generous line of credit at the bank, or a group of deep-pocket investors available. If you have access to money, growing your business through an acquisition is the way to go. You can reduce competition by acquiring a direct competitors, for example. You can also obtain proprietary technology that confers to you a significant competitive advantage. Market share and customer share increase because you capture a new customer base.

To my American friends I wish a happy 4th of July! To everyone, thanks for reading,

Kim

Photo: © Kim Clark June 11, 2021. The James P. Kelleher Rose Garden in Boston’s Emerald Necklace

Marketing , , Leave a comment

Get Multi-Channel Marketing Right

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Much has been written in recent years to extol the virtues of multi-channel marketing. Business owners and marketing department leaders are urged to create a consistent, unified message/ story for their company and its products and services and blast that message to a broad range of media outlets and platforms, the better to reach as many target customers and prospects as possible.

That’s excellent advice as I see it, but there’s more for marketers to consider. The noise level in the 21st century marketplace is so overwhelming and calls for clearly defined strategy and execution plans if you expect to achieve the ROI you want. A one-size-fits-all mindset isn’t going to work.

Because storytelling and messaging are the heart and soul of marketing, a more precise and effective method of using multi-channel marketing is needed to fully realize your marketing objectives when communicating with various audiences through multiple marketing channels. To get the most out of your marketing campaigns, define the purpose of the message/ story you’re putting out to your niche audiences and understand the reach of every outlet and platform you intend to use.

For example, recognize that the purpose, message and platforms that are most suitable for PR/ brand promotion will differ somewhat from the promotional strategy you’ll follow when the objective is to drive sales, announce that you’ll speak at the Rotary Club next month, or grow your blog audience. Read on to get useful ideas on how you might approach some typical marketing agendas.

The objective is PR/branding

So you’re trying to persuade a media outlet to mention you in an article? Start by reading few issues or posts, so you’ll get a feel for the topics covered and know who writes articles about your subject of interest. Next, call and email the business editor and pitch your proposed story. Articles must have a story theme that could be of interest to readers. Popular themes, I’ve noticed, are wellness initiatives, participation in a community event that’s sponsored by a popular local charity and green/ environmentally supportive business practices.

Your objective to receive earned media exposure is to build your brand through name recognition and enhance your company reputation by publicizing the good work that you do. I’m sure you understand that singing the praises of your products and services would be the wrong message for this agenda and requires a different emphasis for your marketing message/ story.

The objective is selling

When selling is your focus, the marketing message/ story will speak to decision-makers and key stakeholders, including end-users. Addressing the most common and dramatic pain points for the use of your product or service and emphasizing the most desirable outcomes is a must.

Marketing messages expressed by way of content marketing such as case studies, a workshop you’ve presented, an article you’ve written, or a webinar or podcast in which you appeared can build trust and confidence by letting you showcase your know- how.

The marketing message/ story will paint a picture that helps prospective customers envision how the features and benefits of your product or service can efficiently address their purpose for using what you sell. Testimonials and on- line reviews also speak convincingly to decision-makers in this instance.

The objective is repeat business and referrals

Customer retention and referrals can be enhanced and encouraged when customers feel valued and part of something bigger than themselves—-a community. Social media is tailor- made for this aspect of your multi-channel marketing strategy.

If your customers skew younger, Tik Tok and SnapChat are ideal platforms for posting videos that make a memorable point in just 60 seconds—- a one minute movie! Twitter is great for posting updates, the platform you use to remind your audience that tomorrow at 4:00 PM they should tune in to your webinar or podcast. Facebook and Instagram are great places to tell stories with photos and longer videos. That’s where you give brand fans a behind-the-scenes look at you and your team and let people get to know you a bit.

Your customer retention and referral marketing message/ story will be subtly different from the PR and selling scenarios. Brand enhancement will incorporate your values and social responsibility but will also subtly reinforce the results achieved with your (first-rate and reliable) product or service, after- sale support and customer service, The story presented will be a feel-good, but you’ll want to embed a purpose and a gentle call-to-action. Come back to see us again and tell your friends!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: An auctioneer in action at Sotheby’s in New York City.

Sales Leave a comment

Map Your Customer Journey

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By analyzing your customers’ behavior, Freelancers and other business owners and marketers come to understand their needs, priorities and concerns, a point that’s often noted in these posts, as regular readers know. When those responsible for marketing understand those factors, you are then able to create marketing and sales messages that speak with authority to your intended audience and also broadcast those messages through marketing channels that your typical buyers trust and follow.

Plus, an accurate understanding of customer behavior helps you to anticipate and deliver customer service and other post-sale needs more effectively, giving you a third benefit to take to the bank. The more familiar you become with the behaviors of your typical customers as they engage with your organization, the more business you will do with them.

Several metrics can give reliable insights into customer behavior and it’s a smart idea to examine all aspects that your data tracks. Today, we’ll examine what you’ll learn when you analyze how visitors to your website or social media accounts react to the customer journey you present to them. The point of this exercise is to figure out how to persuade more prospects to become customers.

From the first encounter with your organization, to digging in to research and compare your product or service to the competition and finally to making a decision to give you the sale, or not—-are you answering prospects’ questions or do they lose interest and abandon you? Where in the customer journey are the biggest drop-offs? How might you coax prospective customers to return to your site to research and evaluate your company’s products and services, so that they’ll realize your organization is capable, trustworthy and prepared to deliver solutions that solve problems and achieve goals?

The function we’ll study today is known as mapping the customer journey and it will be instructive. First, break down the steps that customers in decision-making mode will take, the through-line that begins with their first encounter with your organization and all the way to the sale. Every touch-point, or interaction, that happens along the way makes up the customer journey. There is a beginning, middle and end and interesting tidbits of information will be available for prospective customers at every stage.

Next, evaluate the persuasiveness of the information offered. Information at each stage must be chosen strategically, to help prospects trust and recognize the value of what they read, hear and see. You want them to buy, to become customers. Mapping your customer journey reveals how customers engage—or not—-with the content you’ve made available to them, as documented by your website analytics.

BTW, you’ll probably notice that the customer journey closely resembles a sales (or marketing) funnel. First encounters with your company correspond with the top of the funnel (TOFU). Visitors who are increasingly curious about your products or services will stick around to enter the middle stage, the mid-funnel (MOFU), as they venture beyond landing page info. Maybe they’ll read your blog or newsletter, or accept your offer of a free e-book? The most serious prospects, those who are finalizing their choice, are with you until the final stage of the customer journey, which is comparable to the bottom of the funnel (BOFU).

Early stage

As you’d guess, initial encounters with your organization are mostly filled with non-committal window-shoppers. Early stage potential prospects often cast a wide net. They may be in the process of confirming and defining the challenge or problem that must be resolved and they’re usually compiling a list of companies that offer what appears to be the most effective product or service at the best price. Maybe they’ll check you out on social media, too, and read the About Us page on your website.

Early Stage prospects may have discovered your organization through one of your marketing channels, by referral, or maybe in a personal encounter with you when you taught a class or participated in a webinar. Most early stage encounters do not lead to a sale. Some potential customers may not be certain that they’ll commit to a solution in the near term.

Middle stage

Expect window-shoppers to abandon here. This stage is a natural turning point in the customer journey because it’s moving toward commitment. Those who seriously research and evaluate your product or service advance to the Middle Stage of the customer journey because they have a goal or problem in front of them and they have to do something.

These folks are real prospects. They have a good idea of what they want and how they want it. They demonstrate their resolve by remaining on the customer journey, in search of detailed specifics that will rule you in, or out.

That means you have an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the unique, defining attributes of your product or service and communicate where using your offering is especially well-suited. Here is where you can really shine and build credibility and trust and convince prospects that you are The One. Your e-book, podcast or webinar appearance link, and/ or customer reviews can demonstrate your expertise, convey the respect that industry colleagues and customers have for you and build a strong case for your organization.

Final stage

Ideally, the customer journey you present will get you on the short list of companies that might effectively address your prospects’ needs and goals. You either inch closer to the sale and eventually win, or the prospect steps away to pursue another solution. Prospects in the Final Stage of the customer journey will either fish or cut bait, commit to a purchase and become your customer or tell you goodbye (or go silent).

Your task here is to make a very compelling and appealing last ditch pitch to win the sale. A powerful case study could be an effective deal-closer, as could a free upgrade (that costs little to provide) or, perhaps most of all, a personal appeal from you, in a telephone or videoconference call or a face2face meeting. Do whatever seems reasonable to cross the finish line and win your sale.

The moral of this story is, the more you know about the typical challenges and goals of your most frequent customers, the more adept you will become in developing content to communicate that your solutions are effective and your organization is dependable.

Your customer journey doesn’t end once you’ve welcomed and onboarded your new customer! After-sale and other types of customer service are, collectively, the communication that is essential to building and nurturing the best customer relationships. You will be wise to design an experience that encourages still more purchases, plus referrals, positive reviews and good word of mouth advertising.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Hannibal’s map to victory in the 2nd Punic War. Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps in 218 BC was one of the major events of the war and one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in ancient warfare.

Marketing , , , , , Leave a comment

Get Noticed: Tactics to Spotlight Your Brand

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If you’ve been trying to increase the visibility (and in the process, credibility) of your brand and Freelance consulting business, you’ve probably realized that standing out against competitors is difficult to achieve. The noise level in the marketplace is deafening and big fish grab nearly all the PR. But all is not lost. There are a few smart moves that will help us little fish to make a splash. Below are a half-dozen mostly low-cost and often successful marketing tactics that you can consider and maybe enact over the next four quarters.

Get On a “Best of” list

PR pros love the fast pay-off and long-tail benefits that getting added to a “best of” list brings. Every business that’s won a “best-of” award over the last 5 years (or more) shouts it to the rooftops. The citation is placed above the fold on website and social media landing pages.

Investigate local or regional “best of” lists, especially those featured in popular or prestigious publications. Some choose candidates by an open nomination process. Touting your inclusion on a “best of” list is cat nip when promoting any other of your marketing tactics—-speaking at a business or professional associations, teaching a class, appearing as a panel speaker or moderator, becoming a guest blogger or a guest spot in a webinar or podcast.

A “best of” list is a great opportunity to be discovered by people who’ve probably never heard of you and your business. Receiving a “best of” award allows you to reach and attain instant credibility among a whole new group of potential customers. “Best of” list readers customarily browse list categories when they’re looking to do business, from finding the best ice cream parlor to the best five best business blogs in your area.

Now listen to this— if you are a contributor to a particular publication, with your publisher’s or editor’s approval, you can launch your own annual “best of” list! While you’re at it, you can also create an advertising campaign around it and make your editor or publisher twice as happy. Creating a “best of” list has the potential to facilitate building and sustaining relationships with ambitious movers and shakers and greatly expand your influence and credibility.

Enter a business award competition

This tactic has a not insignificant cost of time and money, but it’s often a reasonable avenue to pursue because there are more ways to win than you might think. Sponsoring organizations are typically generous with the number of awards and categories they choose to honor. More awards and more categories are an incentive for business owners and leaders to become contestants because there will be more opportunities to win.

Be advised that as with any marketing campaign, there are expenses involved. You’ll be required to join the sponsoring organization. You must pay the award entry fee for every award category that your company pursues—-best new product launch, business of the year, best workplace, social responsibility award and so on. You must buy one or more tickets to the ceremony (even when it’s virtual). The awards process could represent the entirety of your outfit’s annual marketing budget.

After compiling a draft list of possibilities, check the award entry criteria. It’s likely that candidates must join the organization in order to compete for an award and that will be your first expense. Annual dues may run from a few hundred dollars to $1000 or more, depending on the sponsor. Confirm also when new members will be eligible to compete for an award. Next, investigate other entry facts—-the entry application deadline, the fees and whether candidates must be nominated to compete for the award.

Be a podcast guest

There are dozens of podcasts popping up like wildflowers after a summer rain and every host is on the lookout for smart, savvy and entertaining guests. That can be you!

So how can you make that happen? Keyword search podcasters that cover topics you can address. Listen to a few episodes to get a feel for the host’s interview style, listening audience and guests. Instead of sending an email to make your pitch to the host, devise a personal and impactful appeal by creating a video or audio clip to present your proposal. Tell the host:

  • Topics you’d like to cover
  • Why you think podcast listeners will find the information relevant and the insights and benefits that will be derived
  • Elevator Pitch-style info about you to communicate your credibility—-expertise, experience, noteworthy clients and popularity—- you’ve written a book, your blog has 5000 followers, you’re a contributing writer for a respected publication, you’ve won a business award

Identify podcasts that maintain an online archive of episodes, to increase the long term accessibility of your appearance. As well, you should post the link of your podcast guest appearance on your website landing page and on the landing pages of your social media accounts. Because you’ll have the program link, you’ll add to some impressive, trust-building audio content that you can edit or serve up in its entirety.

Podcasts, whether you are the host or the guest, deliver numerous benefits to your brand and business. On the most basic level, it’s a networking and relationship opportunity for you and your host. As you negotiate your way through scheduling and topic selection, to say nothing of the interview itself, you and your host get to know one another and learn about one another’s capabilities. Potentially, a mutual referral source can ensue.

During the interview, podcast guests speak in depth about the product or service you provide, without becoming sales- y. You also describe the customers you usually sell to or work with and explain what motivates prospects to come to you and present a broad-brush overview of how you provide the solutions your customers need.

Communicate the story well and you’ll establish yourself as an industry expert, a thought leader who’s a cut above competitors. You’ll position yourself as a highly capable and dependable professional. You’ll build both brand awareness and brand trust.

Two final preparation steps for your podcast (or webinar) guest appearance will ensure communications. First, be certain that helpful technical equipment is in hand— you’ll need a decent microphone and headphones so that host, you and audience members can clearly hear one another.

Second, you’ll be expected to promote your guest spot and help your host to do so as well. Four weeks ahead of your appearance, post the podcast notice on your website and social media accounts. Help the host to promote and also introduce you to the listening audience and send a media kit three to six weeks in advance of the show.

Contribute articles

Since 2014, I’ve been a staff writer at Lioness Magazine , an online publication whose primarily female target readers (75%) are entrepreneurs, self- employed professionals and corporate or not-for-profit sector executives. How did I do it?

Starting in about 2012, once a week I posted a business how- to article on a large self- publishing website Ezine Articles. As luck would have it, the co- founder and Managing Editor of Lioness Magazine was using the site as a place to buy good content for the new magazine. There are perhaps 100,000 articles posted in the business category and by some miracle, my articles were discovered. After purchasing several of my articles from Ezine, the Managing Editor contacted me and asked to buy articles directly.

Building a solid online reputation is essential for your business (unless you are very well connected and don’t need it. I know such people). First, when prospective clients search you online, you want them to find good content. You present yourself to prospective clients as an expert and your articles are one persuasive way to back up that claim.

Second, the Google EAT algorithm (expertise, authority, trustworthiness) still impacts our SEO ranking in 2022. When you publish presumably useful, accurate articles on a regular basis, it’s a favorable act in the eyes of powerful opinion maKer Google.

Do you read business publications— local, regional , or national? If not, I recommend that you do. There is sometimes an appeal to recruit aspiring contributors. If you’re a reasonably competent writer, give it a try.

Speak (or moderate) on a panel

Appearing on a panel as either a speaker or moderator is a golden opportunity, a wonderful way to demonstrate your expertise and ability to think on your feet. Appearing on a panel is also a gateway to receiving featured and keynote speaking engagements. Seeking out programs where panel discussions are regularly featured is an excellent marketing strategy.

There is an art to panel discussions, whether you are the moderator or a speaker and if you want to be invited to participate a second time, make sure that you perform well the first time.

Make sure that you know the subject. You’re invited to join the panel to share your deep knowledge and experience and/or your intriguing and compelling perspectives regarding the subject matter. You are there to inform and enlighten the audience.

Donate to a charity auction

Many charitable organizations auction off products and services donated by local businesses to raise money at their annual fundraiser, which in most cases will draw a minimum of 100 supporters. If I might, I’ll apply the surprisingly accurate Pareto’s Principle here, commonly known as the 80/20 Rule, and predict that for every 100 guests at the charity’s fundraiser, 20 will be your prospects.

Much will depend upon your product or service line and B2C goods and services have the advantage. Research the online auction items available at any 501(C)3 fundraiser and get an idea of what bidders find interesting and what Development Directors tend to accept. You may be able to create a special service that you only offer through your charity auction marketing campaigns.

Contact the Development Office after you’ve checked the organization website to learn the approximate date of the next fundraiser and ensure that its mission aligns with your brand and values. If your in-kind donation receives a couple of auction bids, the organization may contact you to donate again next year.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Slim Aarons/ Hulton Archive (1955) Paintings on sale at the Portobello Road Market, London

Administrative Leave a comment

Get the Most Out of Your Meetings

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The ability to run a good meeting signals to others that you are a competent professional and a good leader. An on-point, crisply presented meeting that has the right agenda, invites the right people and results in a list of actionable items, will confer to you great respect, if not admiration. Your meeting facilitation skills can help you win a client, a promotion, or a raise.

Is the meeting necessary?

Before you reserve meeting space and plan the agenda, ask yourself a big question—-might the information or result you’d like to obtain be accessed by way of, say, a 15 minute phone call or a couple of emails? In other words, before you call a meeting, remember that meetings are expensive; they cost time and money. If your objective can be met through e-mail, videoconference call, or even a one-on-one discussion, skip the meeting altogether and conserve valuable resources.

If holding a meeting emerges as the most effective way to share or obtain important information or provide a forum for a group discussion and consensus decision-making then by all means schedule a time, choose a format or place (virtual, in-person, or hybrid), plan an agenda and round up the stakeholders and decision-makers.

Determine objectives

A clear objective will set the tone for the meeting and determine its agenda. The desired outcome(s) should be specific and measurable. If you’re expecting attendees to brainstorm their way to a solution or course of action, ask them to arrive with a list of ideas.

Schedule strategically

Schedule meetings for a day and time when those you want to be in the room are most likely to attend. In most cases, scheduling Monday morning or Friday afternoon meetings is inadvisable. You want meeting participants to be fully present and not overwhelmed with the work week or daydreaming about weekend plans. I’ve learned that it’s helpful to contact the most influential participants on your proposed attendees list and confirm their availability for a potential meeting dates and times.

Invite decision-makers.

The most effective meetings involve stakeholders to ensure that:

1). The decisions made will be accepted and not challenged or voided.

2). Decisions can be made immediately and they’ll be implemented.

As noted above, confirm a couple of potential dates and times to ensure the presence of heavy- hitters who have the power to green-light. If a key decision-maker is unavailable, ask a subordinate to attend. Ideally, this person will be able to speak for their supervisor, and–at the very least–take notes and report back.

Prioritize agenda

To ensure that high priority objectives are met are fully discussed, address the most important issues first. That way, if someone needs to step away or leave the meeting early, you’ll still have accomplished that which is most urgent or time- sensitive.

Stick to the agenda.

The agenda is a roadmap that keeps everyone on topic, guides and maintains the meeting’s pace and flow and in that way enables the full examination and assessments that facilitates good decision-making. It helps it to adjourn on time, with the desired results in hand.

Furthermore, the agenda discourages off-topic conversations that sabotage the attainment of meeting objectives and participants’ time. If an unanticipated topic surfaces and is deemed relevant, the meeting convener should politely but firmly interrupt the conversation and suggest that since the matter is important it deserves another forum, which can be arranged. Alternatively, the topic can taken up at the conclusion of the meeting after the agenda items have been discussed.

Wrap up, follow-up

At the end of the meeting, the meeting convener should remind participants of any decisions and deadlines and clarify any follow-up action required. All meeting participants should understand exactly what is expected of them. Schedule any follow-up meetings immediately. Send meeting minutes to all participants and to stakeholders and decision-makers who were unable to attend (but you’d like to keep them apprised of important actions and decisions).

Thanks for reading,

Kim