Tag Archives: Marketing

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Three Actions To Boost Business Revenue Right Now

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Welcome to Entrepreneur World! Owning and operating a business is an impressive achievement and those who can make it happen deserve a big round of applause. However, not all will be rosy. Becoming the steward of a business entity can be overwhelming and sometimes, even frightening. You are sure to be confronted with enough unanticipated events to make you feel as if only the strategic savvy of Hannibal could help you navigate either the obstacles or opportunities. Launching a business entity that you can build into a sustainable success demands that you figure out and put into motion a series of actions that will enable the enterprise to predictably generate sufficient revenue to become profitable (as you define it). On that note, you will be pleased to know that credible business advice is available to lead you through the obstacles and uncertainty that can block your path to success.

Whether you entertain thoughts of creating a company that will hire numerous employees and produce annual profits of seven figures or more, or your vision of entrepreneurship is a more personal reflection that will employ only you, but will nevertheless consistently generate a robust annual profit, know that there is a dependably effective formula that promotes entrepreneurial success. Trustworthy experts in the theory and practice of business entrepreneurship agree that the following activities are recognized as the pillars of a business entity and in tandem will develop a pathway that leads to a thriving and profitable company:

  • Marketing/ Sales, which can also be called business development, facilitates the introduction of prospective customers who have the money and motive to purchase the products and/or services offered
  • Operations, to facilitate back-office administrative functions and fulfill after-sale expectations; such as quality control, packaging, shipping, customer service and the customer experience
  • Finance, to ensure that there is enough money available to enable business development and operational activities

When aligned, these foundational actions—you recognize them as business strategies—have the capability to cultivate vigorous business growth that drives long-term and sustainable success. In anticipation of purchases, the marketing/sales pillar keeps the business owner focused on getting the service or product in front of the right prospects, articulating the right message to the most promising prospects and strengthening client relationships—actions that drive sales revenue and profit and support business development. Back-office administrative functions that can involve professional development and training for yourself and any employees, along with consistent quality control for products and/or services and after-sale follow-up that supports a memorably pleasant and efficiently delivered customer experience are within the realm of operations. Astute financial management, from appropriate record-keeping and analysis to financial forecasting, ensure that optimal funding of all essential business activities is available.

1.Marketing/ Sales

Marketing and sales, which collectively are the core of business development, positions you to promote consistent revenue growth, develop the dependability and trust that cultivates a strong and appealing brand and also foster beneficial client relationships that inspire repeat business, referrals of new clients and limits churn. Business development sets the stage for business growth by introducing your service and/or product to prospective clients; it is the art of identifying and encouraging sales revenue and related growth opportunities. An important objective of business development is to create a repeatable process that you can use to find new business opportunities and turn them into additional income.

Central to the development of marketing strategies will be market research, which brings data and other insights that show you the environment your product or service will enter. A client demographic info provides, for example, geographic distribution, age range, annual income range, or education level. That information will form the basis of a client persona.

To obtain credible, often actionable, boots-on-the-ground marketing and sales insights, consider investing in social listening so that you can tap into real-time conversations that take place across social media, online forums and review sites like Yelp and Trip Advisor. You can sharpen your marketing strategies and campaigns when you discover what really matters to users of your solutions (and competitors’ solutions). Unlike traditional marketing research, social listening delivers continuous, authentic, in real time user feedback that reveals customer sentiment. You might also get a heads-up on emerging trends and other developments in your industry that help you identify market opportunities. Guided by social listening info, you can refine, adjust, or discontinue certain marketing strategies, as you monitor your closest competitors—and boost the effectiveness of marketing strategies, campaigns and messaging.

The activities discussed above will also inform your development of an efficient and effective method for qualifying leads, communicating with prospects and educating prospective clients to give them the confidence to close deals. This includes implementing a follow-up structure through CRMs, ensuring that no leads fall through the cracks while providing the opportunity for timely follow-ups, which can make or break deal negotiations. Also, identify opportunities to offer additional services by upselling and cross-selling existing clients, unlocking additional revenue streams. getphyllo.com/post/social-listening-strategies-business-impact

2. Operations

While business development, supported by sales and marketing strategies and campaigns, is about obtaining clients, operations is about keeping clients happy once they agree to do business with you. Efficient operations processes ensure that an organization functions seamlessly, delivers a consistently memorable customer experience and maintains the high standards that keep clients coming back.

Operations include everything from client onboarding, employee training, customer service, quality control and compliance. Packaging and shipping don’t exist just to deliver a product or service—these services contribute to the goal of ensuring a pleasantly memorable experience that meets or exceeds their expectations of all of your clients.

Quality control is another critical part of operations. Whether it’s a restaurant ensuring that every meal is prepared to the same standard or a service-based business following strict protocols, consistency is what builds trust and loyalty. Clients return because they know what to expect and familiarity is reassuring.

3. Finance

It’s no surprise that chief among a business leader’s responsibility is protecting the financial health of the entity. One important duty of a business owner is to you maintain good financial records, whose primary purpose is to keep yourself apprised of the financial condition of the business and also steer you into making wise business decisions. Three financial statements—Cash-flow, Profit & Loss (Income) and Balance Sheet will be your guiding star for smart planning. Timely filing of your entity’s quarterly and annual taxes are also necessary to comply with legal requirements.

Fast-track growth

Growth is the goal of every business and there are several pathways to the destination—for example, merger and acquisition, where you, business owner and leader, will negotiate a buy-out payment that could mean you either merge with or acquire another company, or agree to sell your business to another entity and allow your company to be acquired. The buy-out or merger will result in a larger client base, expanded product or service and more plentiful working capital and other financial resources that represent business growth for both parties. The merger or acquisition might result in a new management role for you in the newly configured entity; conversely, you may become “silent” and limit your post-sale commitment to accepting the sale price.

Organic business growth is the most common growth strategy. Freelancers who achieve organic growth typically do so by winning more and/or more lucrative clients. Developing additional services or products to add to your portfolio of offerings is another method of achieving organic growth for single-person Freelance entities and small or medium-sized businesses. Organic growth is a solid business growth strategy that can ultimately position a business entity for long-term future success. 

Thanks for reading,

Kim 

Image: N. Hitchcock Collection. Kaparoko, Papua New Guinea (1962)

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Newsletters Are Back

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Marketing mavens have rediscovered the newsletter. After a period of what could be called benign neglect, when this once standard marketing tool fell out of favor and was sidelined, the reappearance of newsletters represents a long overdue acknowledgement of data-verified performance results. Without question, the newsletter has for several decades been among the most effective promotional and relationship-building resources in a marketer’s arsenal.

Some of you reading now may have once looked forward to receiving a favorite newsletter that was delivered by your postal service. Then, in the early 2000s, your humble newsletter demonstrated its agility and responded to the new technology known as email, and seamlessly adapted from hard-copy to digital format. In fact, it can be successfully argued that the multi-faceted, hard-working newsletter was the original email marketing content. The format has again demonstrated that it is an effective, and therefore valuable, component of well-conceived marketing strategies and campaigns. Marketing thought leaders have joined the cheering section, calling digitally distributed (i.e., email) content marketing as foundational to long-term business growth.

Newsletters by definition are communication tools that facilitate engagement and relationship development with readers—that is, current clients, past clients, prospects and also colleagues and peers who’d like to familiarize themselves with your business—and you. According to a 2026 report published by Newsletter Industry Statistics, 78% of B2B marketers use newsletters to generate leads and 60% say newsletters are their top driver of customer retention—which, BTW, invites repeat business. A well-composed newsletter can showcase your entity, and you, in many ways:

  • A platform for you to tell your brand story
  • Cultivate client relationships, inspire trust in prospects, re-engage past clients
  • Demonstrate your thought leader expertise
  • Nurture brand loyalty
  • Make announcements and updates
  • Present product or service spotlights
  • Generate website traffic and sales

Because your newsletter is capable of influencing more people than you may realize, and in more ways than you might imagine, it is imperative that you make it a good read. You have a story to tell; ensure that the information you share is relevant, timely and compelling. Spice up the text with a splash of appealing visuals that aligns with your narrative, using both still images and (short) video clips. Be sensitive to reader attention spans as you compose your newsletter: three pages, or about 500-600 words, is probably suitable for most but still images will expand the page count. Furthermore, your newsletter (and all of your marketing emails) should adhere to mobile device specs, because 60% will be opened on mobile. As for scheduling your newsletter, monthly is an acceptable frequency known to build and maintain reader engagement.

Make it relevant, visually interesting and personal

Before you commit to producing a newsletter for your Freelance entity, decide what you’d like your newsletter to do for your business? Would you like to increase brand awareness, generate leads, nurture relationships, or boost sales? In most cases it’s all of the above, but it makes sense to know your destination before you set off on a journey.

When you’ve clarified the purpose, you can confidently choose topics for articles and other content that will guide your creation of an effective marketing tool. Your customer relations management data will reveal what your clients want to know and, even better, can segment clients into groups based on relevant distinguishing criteria, such as for-profit or not-for-profit designation, pain points or goals that motivate clients to seek out your solution, purchase history, or frequency. By segmenting your audience, you can then tailor certain elements of your newsletter content to each group and in that way enhance the relevance, personalization, engagement and, ultimately, sales revenue generated. Artificial Intelligence software will optimize the insights provided by your CRM data, that can accurately pinpoint client preferences, priorities, behaviors and challenges. Moreover, AI software such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Ideamap, or Microsoft Copilot, for example, can facilitate the brainstorming and idea generation process and present to you potentially dozens of interesting newsletter topics that would address the focus of your target newsletter reader groups.

According to data reported by Exploding Topics, approximately 72% of newsletter subscribers are motivated by a desire to either stay up-to-date with company happenings or learn about a topic of interest when they choose to subscribe to a newsletter. Surprisingly, when given the option of receiving updates about your brand by way of social media or an email newsletter that slips into their inbox, 90% of readers choose to receive your newsletter.

So there is your mission—identify headline topics that will be segmented by personalized interests and priorities and made available to readers based on what resonates most, as a way to encourage relevance and value that readers will associate with your newsletter, as well as your company. With assistance from your CRM and AI resources, you will learn which topics that a critical mass of readers would like to take a deep-dive exploration into, and also topics for which they’ll be pleased to receive just basic info. Lastly, readers will appreciate quick and visible access to links that announce upcoming events, perhaps some in which you’ll have a featured presence, such as a podcast, webinar, or teaching assignment. Ideally, your newsletter will function as a portal for conversation with your clients and prospects. Make it interactive by including a mix of content that they’ll anticipate reading every month, such as:

  • Links to your blog or other useful articles
  • One deep-dive article
  • Poll or survey
  • Product or service spotlights
  • Call-to-action
  • Special events—your speaking or teaching engagements, participation in charity events

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: courtesy of the Louvre Museum, Paris, France. Muse Reading Greek (Boeotia) circa 435-425 BC

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Rainy Day Strategies to Cushion Financial Uncertainty

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There’s been lots of talk about the U.S. economy over the past year or two and bad news has dominated the narrative. Rounds of lay-offs continue at enterprise companies: Nike announced plans to shed 1,400 jobs in April; Dell cut 10% of its workforce in March (11,000 employees), for the third year in a row; on May 5, the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase announced a planned lay-off of 14% of its staff, or about 700 employees. Even the popular building contractor rating platform Angie’s List announced in January that 350 jobs would be cut this year.

Your one-person Freelance empire may be holding up despite lay-offs and rising gasoline and grocery prices but even those of you who hold the working capital needed to maintain normal business operations, pay living expenses and continue to fund your retirement account may nevertheless have a gut feeling that warns you to spend cautiously and trim expenses to bolster your savings cushion. An analysis of your financial position is how you begin your resiliency campaign.

Assess business financial condition

The road to financial resilience begins with examining the business’ financial position by conducting a cash-flow analysis. The process will reconfirm the sources of your earnings and how much you pay to keep the business rolling. The cash-flow analysis will illustrate how and when revenue streams bring money into the business (receivables) and the timing and costs of operating and other expenses (payables) that take money out of the business. You’ll take the measure of how and from which sources business revenue is derived, as well as your spend for fixed and variable expenses. You’ll also confront the business top line earnings (gross sales) and bottom line (net) earnings. Your mission is to analyze cash-flow over 12 months, and making note of seasonal variations, so that you’ll obtain a big-picture understanding of your entity’s financial rhythms.

The cash-flow analysis invites your business to “tell” you where you’re making money and where you spend perhaps too much and should consider a less-costly alternative. Identifying areas where spending has you leaking cash is especially helpful if local or national economic conditions make clients inclined to limit the billable hours that feed your revenue. Fewer billable hours will magnify those pesky financial gaps and escalate the impact of a cash crunch crisis, should it occur. Ask your accountant or bookkeeper to run the numbers, or contact your local Small Business Association SCORE to make an appointment and obtain some (probably) free and trustworthy business finance management assistance.

Build a budget that reflects financial reality

Kick-off your fat-trimming budget project by reviewing variable and fixed expenses and verifying how each one contributes to maintaining operations, supporting business growth, supporting customer service and the customer experience, or enabling professional development that reinforces your standing as a thought leader and expert in your field. Whatever expenditures do not at least indirectly support the business or your professional position may need to either be funded at a more modest level or eliminated. Developing your revised budgetary focus does not, however, mean that you must slash as many expenses as possible. Your new budgeting approach should be strategic and guided by business goals and economic reality. Here are useful guide posts:

  • Cut expenses that do not support revenue generation, business operations, or the customer experience.
  • Protect spending on marketing and sales functions to encourage revenue, e.g. client acquisition and retention.
  • Build a cash reserve that can float three to six months of business operating expenses.

Use scenario planning to forecast a worse-case possibility and use that perspective to forecast the next 12 – 18 months of operations. What might your finances look like if revenue drops 10%? Next, consider a more disturbing future and forecast the financial challenges you would likely encounter if, heaven forbid, revenue drops by 25%? It doesn’t feel good, but the scenario planning component of your financial defense plan will force you to anticipate how you might manage and inspire you to think of how to cushion those harsh and stressful circumstances with some savvy advance planning. It’s always easier and more effective when difficult decisions are evaluated and potential remedies are devised when you are calm and not in a panic.

Before any storms arrive, remember that your best defense is a good offense. If at all possible, delay major capital purchases, but remind yourself to avoid severely slashing your marketing budget. You may decide to shrink it, but do not lose sight of the power of consistent marketing and its place as one of the three pillars of a healthy business. Companies that maintain their marketing presence during business downturns consistently outperform businesses that sharply limit marketing activities when the recovery arrives.

In fact, refocused marketing strategies and campaigns could surpass the effectiveness of your current, perhaps more costly, activities. Stepping back from certain paid advertisement and instead doubling down on publishing marketing content—which will cost time, that other valuable resource—could yield excellent results. To the best of your ability, and in accordance with what aligns with your business solutions and customer personae and preferences, consider one or more of the following:

  • Invite a client to participate in a written or video case study. It’s a highly persuasive tool that guides prospects to envision how your solution could resolve their challenge or help a mission-critical goal to be reached.
  • Look for opportunities to portray yourself as a thought leader; that could include moderating or appearing on a panel, speaking at a local business or industry conference or other meeting, teaching a credit or noncredit course in a subject that is aligned with the solutions your company provides, or obtaining an invitation to speak in a webinar or podcast.
  • Look for public relations opportunities that will enhance your visibility and strengthen your brand image. If you are teaching or speaking at a venue that’s open to the public, send a press release to a community newspaper or event listing sites. Also, post your speaking or teaching engagement on your website and social media platforms.

Diversify revenue streams

If your Freelance entity offers just one product or service, you are potentially quite vulnerable to the winds of economic instability. A shift in the competitive landscape, or a new tech product, for instance, can threaten your ability to make a living. Especially in a solo earner household, if revenue earning opportunities become scarce, the outcome could be difficult.

You might not see a quick fix for your problem, but you could create one by asking a question. That is, it could be worth your while to ask clients with whom you are currently engaged if they might be interested in expanding the work you do for them? Frame your proposal in a way that illustrates a desirable and tangible competitive advantage that the client’s company would obtain when your expanded work is implemented. Your clients may help you make lemonade of the lemons and provide you with a new income stream that you hadn’t considered. A complementary service that can be delivered as an add-on or upgrade might also inspire a client to envision how you might bring more value to his/her organization. Similarly, tiered pricing that offers a lower cost basic option as well as a higher-priced premium alternative that provides more extensive service, could bring a new revenue source to your organization.

Then again, it may be more feasible to develop an external revenue stream and explore the possibility of a side hustle. You may have noticed that most mentions of side hustles involve an entrepreneurial angle but that does not have to be the case. Traditionally, a side hustle was an under the radar job that wasn’t discussed with your colleagues. Just 10 years ago, a side hustle could have found you plowing snow in winter, clearing out dead leaves in autumn and performing basic yardwork such as weeding, mowing lawns and pruning forsythia and rose bushes in spring and summer.

BTW, independently or traditionally employed workers who take on a side hustle are for the most part not in financial distress. In fact, those who earn $150K annually are more likely to have a side hustle than those who earn $25K – $50K per year. But regardless of your financial circumstances, a side hustle is a way to future proof your financial position and build a cushion against financial uncertainty.

Leverage external financial resources

Grants, SBA loans and alternative lending programs are created to support business leaders as they plan to scale or aim to increase working capital that’s intended to protect viability during difficult business conditions. If rumors of possible economic uncertainty reach your ears, envisioning what a survival plan for your entity might look like is smart thinking. Sooner rather than later, make it a point to research your options, so that you are apprised of eligibility requirements and timelines that will allow you to prepare and survive.

If your business is carrying significant debt, understanding the landscape of small business debt relief options, including what’s available through programs like those outlined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, can be the difference between survival and losing your beloved business. Also, revisit external financing strategies that match your repayment timeline to your cash-flow cycle.

In closing, be aware that economic instability that periodically occurs in your marketplace is not unusual. Every independently employed professional, traditional business owner and even employees will experience financial challenges at least once. Business leaders who consider financial resilience a given for which they consistently prepare, instead of an emergency response that’s cobbled together in a panic not only survive financial fluctuations, but often emerge stronger once “normal” business conditions return.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © New England Coin Exchange Cranston, RI

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Don’t Close the Sale, Educate the Client

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What does it take for you to bring in sales that convert prospects into clients? Perhaps you are a silver-tongued charmer who is capable of successfully “closing” a sale with almost any prospect? Or is the usual outcome of your sales process sort of hit or miss—not a disaster, but no one would wonder if you have a license to print money?

As you’ve done when unraveling other business obstacles, dissecting and analyzing how you sell, meaning that you’ll study the usual trajectory prospects follow when they include your service or product in their buyer journey—from the initial demonstration of the prospect’s interest to the outcome, when the prospect either becomes a client, or moves on to your competitor. Whatever you learn will indicate which of your intentions are not landing and may also direct you to the remedy. Begin with a review of sales basics.

  • Have you identified your ideal client and how to access them?
  • Do you know the usual pain points or goals that motivate prospects to consider your company?
  • Have you priced your offering appropriately?
  • How clear and convincing are you when articulating your unique sales proposition?
  • What’s your sales success rate when you must respond to an objection?
  • Are you able to detect buying signs that tell you when it’s time to ask for the sale (which could mean the prospect must contact the decision team and recommend a yes vote)?

If your analysis reveals that either your USP is vague and falls short of articulating the strengths of your offering, and maybe even leaves you vulnerable to objections that signal questions about its performance, you have a messaging problem. Attempting to defuse objections is not the cure for prospect hesitation; and bringing in a sale is no longer about dropping magic words that you hope will result in converting the prospect into your client. Enabling B2B sales in the post-pandemic ecosystem often requires that you educate prospects by presenting content marketing info that addresses their priorities and concerns and will, brick by brick, demonstrate that your solution is effective and reliable.

You must keep in mind, though, that the B2B sales process has become opaque; prospects developed an appetite for no-contact buying during the pandemic and the habit has become entrenched. Research from Gartner found that B2B buyers prefer a buyer journey that requires little to no contact with sales reps or other vendors (e.g., Freelancers); findings showed that 75% of buyers prefer to have little interaction with sellers. For that reason, B2B buying journeys and decisions are increasingly made without Freelancers or sales reps. If prospects must make contact to explore a question or two when evaluating from whom they might purchase, they hold tight to the self-serve, Do It Yourself mode. “I can handle this,” they say and you have little to no opportunity to influence, or even interact, with your prospect.

If interaction with the Freelancer or sales rep is unavoidable, a short list of “finalist” vendor candidates is typically contacted to schedule a product demonstration or learn the details of implementing and obtaining the service. But by the time you or any other vendor learns that a possible sale is in progress, the sale is already in BOFU, bottom of the sales funnel; too much has transpired to allow you to exert some control and influence over the sale. Any “sale closing spiel” is circumvented as you realize that you’ve stumbled into a decision that’s well underway—-without you. But Gartner research also revealed an upside, if you choose to see it that way—DIY online purchases are far more likely to result in buyer’s remorse.

Closing versus education 

Of course! Unless the prospect is re-ordering a service or product with which there’s been direct experience, it is unwise for prospects to assume they can successfully navigate the ins and outs of the purchase without guidance. They don’t know what they don’t know.

You designed your marketing/sales funnel to facilitate the initial stages of a buyer journey that’s conducted online and in DIY independent mode. Prospects whose level of interest brings them to MOFU and its gated content should feel comfortable to make email contact to identify themselves and request the info they’d like to view. The plan was for the Freelancer to thank the prospect for his/her interest, send the gated content and begin to discreetly monitor and guide the sales process. In so doing, Freelancers could also save any wayward prospects from themselves by being available to answer questions and make recommendations that encourage a successful experience with the product or service.

In fact, Gartner research indicates that those with sales responsibility should provide marketing content that captures the attention of prospects because the info communicates the value of your service or product and facilitates the decision process. The content must be relevant and aligned with the pain point that the prospect must resolve or goal that must be attained. That’s how a well-designed sales/marketing funnel should work.

More than ever, high-pressure sale “closing” tactics are not what typical B2B clients respond to today. The best way to bring in a sale in the current zeitgeist is to present a rational, evidence-backed case that reveals how and why your solution will effectively and efficiently resolve the prospect’s pain point or facilitate achievement of the goal. Rather than dwelling on product or service features and benefits, a strategy that was a given in 20th century selling, the best recipe now for Freelancers to obtain a degree of influence over the sale is to guide the prospect through a discovery process.

  • Diagnose the pain point and discover its origin
  • Document current, or previous, solutions that disappointed
  • Describe what doing business will look like when your solution resolves the pain point or enables the goal to be realized
  • Determine which solution appears to be most capable of producing the prospect’s desired results and outcomes

When a prospect contacts you for information about your solution, and you learn that a serious buyer journey that involves one of your solutions is in progress, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by stepping up and seizing what may be your only opportunity to signal that you understand prospect needs and discuss and send “how-to” content and performance data, which can include one or more of the resources listed below. Your thought leader credibility will yet again prove its usefulness when it supports the value-affirming sales interactions that are most effective with prospects now and are the best option to move the sale forward. Helping prospective buyers feel confident and in control of the purchase decision (e.g., by providing a choice of tailored recommendations based on their input and criteria) builds trust that can enhance the perception of your solution and give you the sale.

  • Case studies and success stories
  • Webinars and podcasts where you are a speaker
  • Blogs, e-books or other articles that you contribute to or author

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Image: © Prague Daily March 2, 2025 The weekly market in Prague’s Lesser Town.

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Sharpen Your Social Media Systems

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A March 25, 2026 verdict by a CA jury held Google and Meta (Facebook) responsible for the mental health difficulties suffered by a woman who since childhood compulsively used social media. The jury awarded $6M to the plaintiff and Meta is responsible for 70% of that amount. Heavy use of social media can lead to unintended consequences, for sure; nevertheless, most US citizens do not feel that social media is a menace to society. Datareportal found that 73% of US adults were active social media users as of October 2025, a response that verifies the often significant benefits that social media can bring to our personal and/or professional lives when it is used with discretion. All of you reading this post know that social media plays an integral role in the business sector, from lead generation to the buyer’s journey to post-sale customer service, positioning it as foundational to effective B2B and B2C sales and marketing.

 Satisfy new algorithms with AEO, GEO and SEO

Artificial intelligence has added more acronyms and abbreviations to the alphabet soup that a Freelance professional must memorize to show that you’re in the game, know what’s up and you’re worthy of receiving a new assignment. To achieve your goal of establishing a robust and respected online presence, you must once again get familiar with new search algorithms and then decide under what circumstances you might be persuaded to introduce new approaches that promise to enhance the search functionality of your sites. The obvious answer is to contact a Freelance colleague to discuss potential benefits for your digital platforms and conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Can you afford to dip into the new technology? Can you afford not to?

  • AEO. Answer Engine Optimization. AEO is meant to get your content selected as the prime answer to specific online queries and not just an alternate answer to what’s best-in-class. Incorporating AEO is meant to help your content be chosen as the best answer in our era of AI-powered overviews and voice assistants that are increasingly in the driver’s seat. AEO visibility is determined by how easily machines can read your content. The function of AEO is not to drive clicks as does SEO, but to become the certified best answer that AI agents showcase in all search engines used to post that query.
  • GEO. Generative Engine Optimization. GEO goes a step further than AEO and optimizes content so that AI-driven search engines and large language models (LLMs) like Perplexity and ChatGPT can understand the content and cite it in answers the search engines receive and generate. GEO structures content so that it’s easy to locate, access and cite. The function of GEO isn’t just to help your answer become the first on a list of responses, but goes farther to become a strategic approach that boosts your visibility, authority and citations in AI-generated responses.
  • SEO. Search Engine Optimization. You already know that SEO helps content attain a higher ranking in traditional online search engines like Bing and Google. SEO is driven primarily by keyword targeting, content quality and technical SEO (e.g., page loading time and mobile-friendliness). The function of SEO is to encourage clicks on your content and drive traffic to your website, et al.
  • Continue SEO techniques to boost social media content visibility. Keyword research, alt text, subtitles and long-tail keywords—think sentences—can all make your social media content more search-friendly. Why abandon what works?
  • Experiment with AEO and GEO. Add to your online content short social posts that directly answer questions known to be frequently asked by prospects and clients. Use question-based as titles for posts and provide clear, plainly stated answers. Maintain a conversational, yet professional voice for your Q & A inspired content (think FAQ frequently asked questions).

Social media is becoming the place for first-party data

As the presence of third-party cookies falls out of favor, brands are turning to social media platforms to access first-party data, which is regarded the most desirable. Additional sources of first-party that can be obtained with clear user consent include opt-in leadgen promotions, newsletter or blog subscriptions, webinar RSVPs and calls-to-action. The appetite for first-party data is driven by the desire brands have for customer information that is provided by the consumer him/herself, thus ensuring that the insights derived from that data are trustworthy and can be confidently used as the foundation of your CRM assumptions, strategies and activities. 

Brands are also turning to social media user comments for market and consumer info when trends and other marketplace developments evolve too quickly for traditional research methods to keep up. Social listening tools like Talkwalker use AI to pull specific brand insights from the vast quantities of data available on social media platforms, in real time. Social listening, another manifestation of that practice, tracks online comments made about your brand, industry and competitors across social media platforms. From an analysis of those comments, a the big picture will emerge of the unfiltered perceptions that your customers, prospects and others have about your brand. Social listening can also capture developing trends that are bubbling up and indicate where opportunities (or risks) that impact your entity are hiding. In short, social listening data can impact all areas of your brand.

Best practices for using social media as a first-party data source

  • Ramp up your social listening capabilities. Talkwalker can help you uncover valuable insights through a few simple AI-guided queries. 
  • Add social listening to your marketing activities. Social listening-derived data has a high probability of discovering marketplace perceptions, trends and developments that might yield potential opportunities for your brand and/or shine a light on possible risks that give you a chance to perhaps dodge a disaster. As noted, social listening has the ability to impact all aspects of your brand.
  • Test social media DM automation and/or gated content campaigns to push leadgen. You can launch a social post and announce publication of white paper, e-book, case study or other gated content resource as you simultaneously use automated DMs to collect leads and obtain first-party data from those who respond to your outreach. 

 How can you optimize social media posts for visibility? How can you adapt to updates in search algorithms?

While Bing and Google are still the go-to sites for online search, social media search is making significant headway as users increasingly conduct online searches on their platforms. Overall, 24% of US adults who use social media also use social media for online search as of April 2024, led by Generation Z (46%) and Millennials (35%). The platforms are keeping up and aggressively courting online search and capabilities are not limited to typing in the search bar. Instagram and TikTok support image and video visual searches and Pinterest Lens enables online visual searches for products by searching from a photo. Facebook supports basic voice search—take that Siri and Alexa!—58.6% of US adults have conducted a voice-activated online search at least once as of 2024. These statistics make clear that social media online search is a growing phenomenon that Freelancers cannot ignore. 2Q2026 is calling you to sharpen your social media systems to ensure that your platforms operate efficiently to give your sites visibility that opens the door to content that attracts viable leads and converts prospects into customers.

  • Content to address the needs of audience sub-groups. First, there are social media frequent followers and most are already buying your services or products–some are repeat customers and some make referrals. A second group is comprised of those who are on a buyer journey. They’ve recently discovered your brand, or they’ve only begun to learn what your company and solutions are all about. It could be that your company was swept into search results thanks to an algorithm update and your content has piqued a prospective buyer’s curiosity. This last group will appreciate product information and content that conveys how and where your solution works best. Include product/service how-tos in your brand story on your social media platforms to demonstrate how your solution delivers results.
  • Customize content for each platform. Because attention spans are short, making it’s more important than ever now. Depending on your business and customers, design content / express your marketing and sales messages to resonate with your audience and have many questions. What speaks to loyal customers and is not the same as what speaks to prospects who are browsing through the site getting to know you better. On all of your social media platforms, include basic information about your product and service because that is the brand story that prospects, especially, would like to see. You need to understand both and create content that speaks to the unique interests and agenda of each group. while both long-term customers and potential customers are interested in your brand story, be aware that those who know your brand well will have a different agenda than those who are learning about your brand and are trying to envision how the experience of working with your company might be.
  • Always have a hook. Catch people’s attention within the first three seconds to show your visitors that your content aligns with their needs and interests.  A focal point, an exciting announcement, an advance look at something new, or an enticing call-to-action can persuade a site visitor to linger and engage.

How should you manage multiple platform identities?

  • Articulate your core identity. Beyond the brand voice developed to resonate with the typical users of each of your platforms, identify the ideal language you’ll use to convey the overall message. Learn to express the core elements of your brand purpose, outcomes and results delivered, as well as the goals and pain points of your prospects. Confirm also how your customers and other followers prefer to engage on each of your platforms. Your LinkedIn and X followers may be more interested in case studies and other data-driven information, while your Facebook and Instagram followers may want to see a video of you discussing why your product or service has helped customers and keeps them coming back. The expression of your brand voice may change across platforms, but be mindful to always stay true to the essence of brand fundamentals.  
  • Map your platform identities to reflect user intent. Use social listening data to learn what users of each of your platforms want from brands that occupy your market niche and shape your content strategy and focus accordingly:
    • On X, you’ll be wise to give a no-nonsense news account using plain language and links to content on your website or other digital sources.
    • On TikTok, you can post create a series of brief, appealing, yet informative explainer videos that convey the use-case for your solution by showcasing one important goal or pain point in each video that your solution can resolve.
    • It’s time to incorporate visual elements into your LinkedIn content! Brainstorm stories you can tell so that you can shoot a 3-5 minute video. You might make an exciting announcement, or share a clip from your guest appearance on a webinar or podcast. LinkedIn data confirms that those who post videos see a 3X growth in followers.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Chinnapong for Adobe Stock

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To Court Your Competitors’ Customers

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Motivating prospective customers to do business with you is the leading function of independent Freelance professionals and business owners. You may not look at it this way, but recognize that your pool of potential customers also includes those who are currently doing business with one of your competitors. Think about it—how many B2B customers are buying within your category of services or products for the first time? Unless your solution is new to the market and not available from others, your customers have been someone else’s customers and every once in a while some of them might decide to look around to see what’s new or a better fit for their needs.

While it’s true that getting your unique selling proposition in front of prospective customers is essential to converting them into paying customers, there are messaging refinements you can make to strengthen your appeal to prospects who are currently active in a competitor’s camp. Some in that cohort might be dissatisfied with the experience they’ve had when using a certain service or product, or maybe the vendor relationship was underwhelming. Others might simply feel a little restless and inclined to look around and find out who else is out there (you!). Here are tactics that will be useful for your outreach to competitors’ customers.

Analyze the competitive landscape

You need to learn who your competitors’ customers are from a demographic standpoint and obtain insight into what motivated them to choose a competitor. Among the information you’ll appreciate understanding are factors that cause competitors’ customers to become one-off users and factors that lead them to become loyal customers—what are the triggers for each cohort? Study the websites and social media platforms of your primary competitors as a way to learn what might matters to competitors’ customers.

Conducting a competitor analysis will help you understand the Unique Sales Proposition (USP) and perceived advantages of products and services offered by your rivals and get a handle on what it could mean to their customers. What persuades their prospects to choose those offerings instead of yours’ and what can you do to make your offerings more appealing to them? How and where your competitors market their services or products, their pricing strategy, payment options, market visibility and brand popularity are certain to be integral to attracting and keeping those customers. By analyzing the strengths and potential weaknesses of competitors and comparing them to the strengths and weaknesses of your organization, you may be able to identify gaps in the market and find ways to promote what it is that rivals’ customers might be persuaded to perceive as a better on your side of the fence.

Identify gaps in the market

Does your competitive analysis reveal incompletely addressed customer needs or preferences? Those factors might crack open a window that lets you pull in a few of your rivals’ customers. Incisive competitive research may lead you to discover that a cohort of competitors’ customers would appreciate a more comprehensive customer service package—maybe after-sale training, for example? Or perhaps, in this era of rising prices, a couple of payment options that you’ve never bothered to promote, could turn the tide in your favor and carry in a few of your competitors’ customers.

Because you will not be able to research the pain points and priorities of your competitors’ customers because it’s almost certain that you cannot access their contact info. Unless someone visits your social media or website and chooses to reveal an email address—you cannot send a survey and hope for a response. So, you’ll have to get creative to learn about the unaddressed needs of your competitors’ customers.

Visit your competitors’ social media accounts and do some social listening by checking out comment sections. There you may learn of pain points or perceived inconveniences that you can address in your marketing messages. You will also be wise to read industry articles and visit the social media platforms of those organizations to read market research published by major market research firms that report on your industry sector.

Get visible

Today’s buyer journey is not like it was even a year or two ago; prospects may not contact vendors until they are well into the buyer journey. Prospects now explore potential vendors for the solutions they need and on their own compare offerings, get an idea of costs and only then will they reach out to two or three candidates to get details and create a shortlist.

Your strategy is to be proactive. Find out where competitors’ customers discover new products or services—do they watch product or service reviews on YouTube? Do they follow industry experts or influencers on Instagram or TikTok? Customers trust brands that meet them where they already are and provide value before the sale even happens. Once you’ve learned who their guiding stars are, establish a presence for your entity in those spaces.

You want to get into organic search results with helpful content that answers questions that are important to prospects and that can include getting out in front of hesitation by addressing common objections. Showcase the outcomes your service or products can produce and how to achieve them. Blog posts, short videos, webinars, or educational product Q & A guides may be effective. The more consistently you show up with the right message, the more likely you will be able to win over your competitor’s customers—as well as finding a few new customers for yourself.

Promote your USPs

Once you understand what differentiates your brand from its competitors, as well as the evolving shopping habits of your target market, you can begin to promote the desirable and unique qualities that make your brand stand out. These might include your prices, delivery time, product availability, convenience, quality, or customer service.

These traits, which are part of the USP, should be consistently promoted across your entire business, including your website, marketing and PR, packaging and customer experience from buyer journey to post-sale. By upholding these values throughout your organization’s customer experience, you can ensure that potential buyers will know why they should switch to your brand.

Nurture brand loyalty

Acquiring new customers is much more expensive than retaining an existing one, as research has shown. Once a customer has made his/her first purchase, it’s essential to encourage repeat visits if you want to see a strong return on your investment. Building these connections will instill consumer trust and brand loyalty, ensuring that you’ve won a customer for life.

Email marketing is a time-tested way to nurture customer loyalty and it is easy to personalize—a feeling that customers value. Brand loyalty starts with how you onboard people. When you acquire a new customer, put yourself in that individual’s seat and envision a customer journey that will resonate. For example, customer’s are inclined to appreciate a discount code but in the immediate aftermath of post-sale, they’ll likely appreciate more a welcome from you that explains who you are, what the customer can expect regarding the initial stages of working together, a request to meet and discuss the product or service purchased, invoicing and payment options. In other words, you can show your value by providing relevant information that also teaches them why they should open your emails. Set the tone early, and they’ll stay engaged longer and that is one of the pathways to loyalty.

Final thoughts

Customers leave brands—your competitors or you—that stop serving their needs. They leave because someone else made it easier to understand, easier to trust, or easier to buy. That can be you.

You may need to set up a marketing complicated funnel. You may not need a sizeable marketing budget. You do need to research and learn the pain points, hot buttons, priorities and emerging next big thing—way of doing business, customer service needs, buyer journey, payment options, or whatever else. You also need to pay attention to customers and prospects consistently, to help yourself make smart improvements and prove your value where it matters most. When you do that, you don’t have to out-shout your competition. You just have to be their obvious choice.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Courtesy of Brimfield Antique Flea Markets. Featuring 5,000 dealers, Brimfield Antique Flea Markets is believed to be the most popular and largest such event in the U.S.

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Specialization and How to Stand Out in Your Market

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Until the latter years of the 20th century, the majority of U.S. physicians were general practitioners who treated all manner of illness, unless one was a surgeon—that would be a general surgeon. Likewise, attorneys were expected to be multi-faceted legal advisers who could adequately represent aspiring homeowners when a property was purchased, counsel plaintiffs or defendants in legal battles that occasionally involved a jury trial, or guide clients as they wrote up a last will and testament. In the 1970s, most likely inspired by research that introduced more effective therapies into medical practice and in the legal sector, federal and state regulations whose purpose was to provide consumer protection that resulted from the increased complexity of national and global economies, distinct subspecialties eventually became the norm in both professions.

Freelance professionals are having a moment now as we respond to the growing phenomenon of specialization that is penetrating nearly every business entity and by necessity influences the way we operate. Most of you recognize that the ability to clearly define—brand—your expertise and the services you provide is a competitive advantage and many of you are probably inclined to rethink how you describe their services—and maybe also rethinking which services should be offered.

Blandly describing oneself as a provider of solutions that, for example, address human resources, IT, accounting/finance, or marketing needs may no longer capture attention. As B2B prospects continue to exercise agency and proactively research the solutions they need and give themselves a head start on finding someone who’s qualified to resolve that need, Freelancers are recognizing that the way to get noticed by a search committee is to leave no doubt that you are the best in the business within your specialty—your skill-set niche—and if your category of expertise is needed, you should be on the short-list for follow-up.

Paring down and focusing skills is already established in the Freelance technology sector, where it is commonplace to narrowly specialize, for example, in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence or machine learning, network administration, or blockchain smart contract development. To claim a specialty within your professional sector is, in fact, to operate within a niche market. You might also discover that it’s easier to stand out in a “small is beautiful” niche, where you only interact with prospects who are interested in your highly focused, expert-level skills.

In an era that favors specialization, owning a versatile skill set loses value. Thought leader opinions indicate that as industries become more complex, deep expertise is more sought-after than competencies that can address a wide range of tasks. Your prospects are less inclined to see advantages in broad-based capabilities; instead, they now see a jack of all trades and master of none. B2B search committees echo the new normal narrative: to manage the complexities of modern business the trend is to hire Freelancers who demonstrate specialized expertise that can be used to deliver specialized solutions. It’s compartmentalizing by another name; but it makes sense to sell your customers the way they want to be sold (as you know).The ultimate validation is that those with niche expertise are often more highly paid.

Clarity and precision

Simplicity makes things understandable, memorable and dependable. Unless you are well-known and connected, operating within the big pond known as the general marketplace for your Freelance sector is almost guaranteed to make you an overlooked little fish who’s surrounded by big fish who gobble up the billable hours and leave you struggling to survive and thrive. Being one of many competent Freelance professionals makes it difficult to stand out when your audience is broad. Prospects who search your service category will likely encounter several other talented Freelancers and may therefore be unable to recognize who can efficiently deliver the best solution.

But when you adjust your business strategy to limit your target market to prospects who seek a specific segment of your expert services—not just HR services, but benefits management or employee compensation, for example—and you confirm that the niche market sector is viable and sustainable, you will receive competitive advantages:

  • Narrowing your marketing strategies to communicate with prospects who have a hyper-specific problem to resolve or goal to achieve can position you as the leading authority in your tightly focused market and greatly reduce competition.
  • Micro-niche businesses facilitate deeper customer relationships that are nurtured through personalized marketing messages that are able to enhance trust, loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.
  • Specializing in a small market segment allows for more efficient resource allocation and improved return on investment re: outcomes (conversion of prospects to customers).

A credible and visible authority

When you focus your specialized expertise and operate within an exclusive niche, the number of your competitors can only decrease, making it easier to position yourself as a respected thought leader and authority. As noted above, you can also expect to be able to increase the amount of your standard billable rate because specialization enhances perceived value to the customer. Moreover, by strategically limiting the number of potential customers, over time you will learn to craft highly specific marketing messages that directly address what matters most to your exclusive group of prospects—and, as noted above, helps you to nurture customer relationships. You’ll “get it” and they’ll know it and they will become your devoted, long-term customers. Your marketing could evolve from “covering all bases” platitudes to spot-on understanding of their challenges, goals and priorities.

Micro-niche growth strategy

Identifying a potentially viable B2B niche skill for your Freelance entity can become a launchpad, not a limitation and enable you to develop and package yourself and your entity yourself as a well-known and respected big fish (in a small, exclusive pond). While some of your colleagues may feel that a large potential customer base holds more opportunities, but that assumption is losing validity. In the B2B sector, attempting to sell to everyone is becoming less effective every year; rather, Freelancers who limit their focus to a select group of prospective customers are winning more contracts and are poised to dominate in revenue generated. Here’s your roadmap to specialization success:

  • Step 1: Dominate the micro-niche. Become the recognized leader in an exclusive sector.
  • Step 2: Move to adjacent niches. Expand your presence to similar groups who have similar problems or goals.
  • Step 3: Expand horizontally. Add new add-on or upgrade services to the core audience.

Closing thought

To achieve your goal of establishing and sustaining a profitable Freelance entity it is necessary to stand out and distinguish yourself as a thought leader, an authority and trusted source who is not just one of many “sound-alike” Freelancers who is trying to survive in a competitive B2B services marketplace. Resist the temptation to chase down every prospect who might be interested in your solutions. Instead, find the confidence to specialize, perhaps by focusing on an underserved customer group that is motivated by an urgent need to find a specialized solution and also has the potential to become a viable market. As the legendary Diana Vreeland (1903-1989), who was the Fashion Editor at Harper’s Bazaar Magazine (1939-1962) and later became Editor-in-Chief at Vogue Magazine (1963 -1971) said, “Elegance is refusal.” Ms. Vreeland understood that trying to be all things to all people is folly.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Yayoi Kusama. Kusama, 2000 courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo

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How Does Influencer Marketing Work for B2B Freelancers?

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Influencer marketing has been white hot for a minute and it’s getting even hotter. A strategy born of user generated content and nurtured by early bloggers soon produced content creators who came to be considered authorities within their niche fields of expertise, developing loyal audiences for their blog content and generating follower communities along the way. Those early pioneers earned reputations and gained recognition for product reviews that showed trustworthy insights and built credibility. The DIY grassroots aura and absence of corporate advertising gave it all the blessing of authenticity. The independent and impartial assessments provided by the bloggers encouraged engagement and audience trust. But this is America so gradually, bloggers with the biggest followings in the scene featured sponsored content on their sites (often disclosed through affiliate links) and next, collaborations with retail outlets and product brands.

The phenomenon was accelerated by the introduction of social media platforms and exploded with the arrival of visually-focused platforms. Images, and especially videos, provided an ideal environment for newly minted marketing influencers to showcase themselves and the brands they represent with exciting visual content. The visually focused platforms caused an inflection point that gave rise to influencer marketing stars who found a lot of work in the B2C sector, in particular fashion, beauty and travel. Bloggers and others who had a flair for creating appealing content plus the ability to connect with and encourage relationships with their audience began to grow significant followings and exert influence over the behavior (aspirations) of prospective and current customers.

The rise of B2B Influencers 

While originally a strategy used by your flashy B2C cousins, competition for billable hours in the B2B sector seems to have stimulated the adoption of influencer marketing in the B2B sector. However, be advised that B2B influencer marketing is not about showcasing services or products. Rather, B2B influencer marketing is about helping you build trust and connect with prospective clients who, if all falls into place, will be more inclined to become your loyal clients. The goal of B2B influencer marketing strategies is to align your organization with recognized and respected industry thought leaders—the influencers— whose industry knowledge, reputation and loyal followers can be leveraged in your target market sectors.

B2B influencers are well-known and respected experts and thought leaders in their field. They’ve acquired impressive knowledge, experience and authority that confers recognized credibility that’s enabled them to build a sizeable, loyal and often activist following. Based on that authority and credibility, effective influencers are able to build trust and enthusiasm for a brand within their community of followers by making endorsements that can stimulate purchases made by decision-makers within the community. Furthermore, a brand endorsement can also result in a significant number of positive reviews posted on social media that creates a word-of-mouth campaign that can spread to the general public and can stimulate still more purchases of the brand’s services or products.

On a national level, you might think of sales training expert Brian Tracy, marketing wizard Neil Patel, professional development guru and author Stephen Covey and leadership and personal development maven Brene Brown as powerful B2B influencers. The best influencers assist brands by providing targeted exposure, building industry credibility, facilitating strategic partnerships and product or service endorsements that, ideally, will substantively enhance brand recognition, reputation and sales. Potential B2B influencer marketing goals for your organization could include:

  • Increased credibility and trust for your brand within your target market
  • Heightened audience engagement with your marketing content
  • Enhanced perceived value of your brand
  • Increased stature and influence of your thought leadership
  • Accelerated rate and quality of leads generated and an enhanced sales conversion rate

Is influencer marketing for you?

Let’s examine how influencer marketing could be useful to B2B Freelance consultants. As usual, your first act will be to assess your client base and refresh your understanding of your target market(s). You must know whom you’d like to influence, what you’d like to achieve and why that achievement will matter. Verifying your target market will enable you to recognize which influencers, marketing tactics and channels can be expected to resonate with your clients and prospects. So that you can begin to recognize the expertise, authority, connections and social media presence your most effective influencer should have, it’s imperative that you clarify the problems and projects that clients and prospects ask you to resolve. As you go through this process, you’ll also get an idea of whether (or not) influencer marketing might be a fit for you.

Identify and investigate influencers in your industry

Take your evaluation process to the next level by investigating the types of content your clients and prospects usually engage with and the platforms that supply it. What types of content do they find relevant, whom do they follow and on which platforms can that content be found? Also, what are the most common questions they’re looking to answer and the problems they want to resolve?

Next, develop a list of influencers you’d like to contact. Your job here is to speak and get to know who you might like to work with. Does this candidate have not only the industry experience and authority that you’d like but does s/he have the connections and clout in your niche to move the needle for you? Essentially, you’ll search for influencers who can help you reach and impact your ideal audience. It’s no help if an influencer has a large community of followers but does not have a prominent presence in your industry and niche. Before you decide who you’d like to follow and follow-up with, verify precisely how your potential influencer can produce what you want, which is probably some combination of upgrading and/or increasing your leadgen, enhancing company brand, encouraging brand loyalty, upgrading and expanding the earned media you receive and, ultimately, impacting purchase decisions that increase your client roster. Keep all that in mind as you look for good potential influencers. Here are common methods you can use to find influencers you can meet and interview.

  • Social media. Many influencers have large followings on social media platforms and it makes sense to start your search there. You’ll want to choose influencers who have a strong presence on the preferred platforms of decision-makers for your service or product. Engage with the content of influencers who seem to have promise for you. You can follow those who look promising and then reach out and initiate contact. This strategy gives you direct access to potential influencers and enables you to build relationships.
    • If Facebook is your preferred platform, use their search function to find influencers. You can also check out industry specific Facebook groups or pages to find B2B potential influencers.
    • Instagram is your gateway to connecting with Millennial generation decision-makers and discovering the influencers they trust. Search the platform for producers of excellent and consistent content and then visit the site profiles of those content producers you find compelling.
    • LinkedIn is the usual suspect for all things B2B, including finding B2B influencers. You can search your industry to find influencers directly. Definitely join and investigate relevant LI groups and watch for influencers within their membership ranks.
  • Networking at industry conferences and events. Attending in-person meetings and conferences provides a unique opportunity to network with professionals and identify potential B2B influencers within your niche. The strategy is effective for discovering and getting to know B2B influencers with whom you can potentially build a mutually beneficial relationship.
    • Attend relevant conferences in your industry.
    • Actively participate in networking sessions.
    • Identify B2B professionals with significant industry influence
    • Establish connections and express interest in collaboration

  • Discover B2B influencers through industry publications, influential blogs and speaking engagements. This strategy lets you evaluate is the credibility of influencers by learning who is featured in respected industry publications, which indicates expertise, authenticity and most likely, influential relationships.
    • Regularly follow industry publications and relevant blogs, with an emphasis on organizations such as chambers of commerce or other well-respected professional societies and business associations. Identify content contributors and speakers who have the industry expertise and reputations that you seek.
    • Familiarize yourself with the content of industry experts that you find promising
    • Reach out to suggest the possibility of collaboration opportunities.

Evaluate B2B influencer industry authority and credibility;

Confirm the authority and credibility of potential B2B influencers within your industry by examining their past collaborations (if possible), content quality, consistency and presence in prestige publications. Your job is to investigate which B2B influencers’ audiences and authority align with your target market and can be useful for you. Refer to your research to develop a candidate shortlist.

Reach out to your follow-up list gauge and request an opportunity to discuss the possibility of an influencer marketing relationship. Enhance your appeal to your intended influencer with a personalized and compelling outreach message that demonstrates your awareness of his/her industry authority, as evidenced by the quality and consistency of his/her published content, speaking engagements and /or professional awards. Express your admiration for their insights and expertise.

If your invitation to talk is accepted, during the conversation inquire about the brands and types of campaigns your would-be influencer has previously collaborated on. If the initial discussion leads to further and more specific talks, request a link to his/her portfolio to verify the success of past collaborations and get a feel for how a collaboration with you might work.

Negotiate terms and collaboration agreements

Clearly define and commit to writing in a signed contract your expectations of the influencer marketing campaigns, the roles and responsibilities of the influencer you’ll partner with and the compensation agreement (monetary amount and due dates) with your selected B2B influencer. Execute this agreement by producing a transparently communicated legal document—a contract.

Keep in mind that a contract is only as good as your ability to enforce it. Help yourself by keeping your wish list and the timeline for its achievement realistic. While discussions and negotiations with your preferred influencer in advance of finalizing the contract, do your best to confirm which items of your wish list outcomes seem possible for your organization as well as the amount of time and other resources that will likely be needed to get you there.

Monitor and measure campaign influencer performance

Monitor the performance of your B2B influencer campaign by tracking the relevant associated key metrics, such as client and prospect engagement, click-through rates and shares, follower growth and expansion, leadgen growth and expansion, brand reach and impressions and sales revenue. In sum, you’ll want to evaluate the campaign ROI outcome and understand the costs associated with your influencer marketing campaign versus the sales revenue that can be attributed to the campaign.

It’s imperative that you obtain an objective and comprehensive assessment of your influencer marketing activities. As with all of your business strategies, obtaining a big-picture performance evaluation is a must-do. Once you learn which strategies and campaigns are effective, and therefore worthy of your investments of money and time, and what failed to live up to your expectations, and might either benefit from an adjustment or maybe should be dropped will, as always, show you the path forward.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © gstockstudio for Freepik

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Revolutionize Your Email Marketing Campaigns

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How many times over the past 10 years have B2B marketing experts declared email marketing dead? Oh, well—sometimes experts project their own feelings onto those whose behaviors they’ve been charged to study and predict. The experts, it seems, and not the customers, were ready to move on but like a cat, email marketing has nine lives. B2B email marketing in 2025 continued to earn the trust of customers and prospects and produced a confidence-boosting performance for marketers. The median B2B open rate reached 36.7%–42.35% , an increase from 34.2% in 2024, according to data from VerifiedEmail.

Email marketing continues to deliver exceptional return on investment of $36–$42 per $1 spent as of 2025, as reported by data published by Los Angeles, CA based VerifiedEmail and outperforming all digital marketing channels by 4–5x. Bold text, eye-catching images, interactive content and an irresistible subject line are how email marketers capture the attention of intended readers.

AI tools optimize performance of an evergreen marketing resource

A 2025 Boston Consulting Group survey of 251 marketing professionals concluded that 33% of survey respondents regularly use generative AI tools and 92% of respondents feel optimistic or very optimistic about the creative potential of GenAI over the next two to three years. GenAI tools like ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI and the AI-powered search engine Perplexity are primarily used to write articles and create images that accompany social media posts. Email marketers are finding inspiration in those capabilities and are off to a good start with AI technology. According to Salesforce research, AI is positioned to greatly enhance the impact of email marketing:

  • Managing campaigns: AI helps marketers understand which elements of an email campaign are effective and which do not resonate.
  • Content creation: GenAI platforms will support the text outline and compose the narrative, as well as edit your copy and also create the images that supply visual context to your marketing message.
  • Brainstorming: Marketers can use AI to jumpstart creativity and elevate the quality of the text you produce and help you to more efficiently produce the irresistible subject lines, eye-catching images and, most importantly, compelling topics that build the audience for marketing emails that deliver your newsletters.
  • Scaling output: AI can speed up completion of the normally time-consuming functions listed above—finding the right subject line, composing newsletter text, producing an image that enhances your text and, icing on the cake, analyzing the performance of your email marketing campaigns.

Getting in, getting noticed, getting opened

The volume of daily emails received by a working adult is often overwhelming and most inboxes are inundated with messages both business and personal. Nevertheless, the response to email marketing remains robust, propelled by the value and trust conveyed in highly targeted, personalized marketing messages that address the needs and priorities of decision-makers.

Still, recipients are inclined to require opt-in permission to control their email deluge. A double opt-in protocol that asks subscribers to both agree to accept your emails and also include another security layer by adding your company email address to his/her trusted contact list, your emails might still be blocked by spam filters. The unintended consequence is that 22% of permissioned email fails to reach subscriber inboxes.

Furthermore, like a determined salmon swimming upstream, reaching subscriber inboxes is only Step One in your marketing email’s journey. Step Two for email marketers is to prepare for how the email will be received and noticed by subscribers. Research indicates that as of 2025, 55% of email is opened on mobile devices, that is, smart phone or tablet. Responsive design is therefore required for your marketing emails. Furthermore, mobile devices allow only a limited view of the email subject line. Just first 40 characters of a subject line are visible on the iPhone email app.

Those 40 characters have a big responsibility. Marketers are advised to be very selective about what those 40 characters communicate to potential readers. Then again, shorter subject lines consistently outperform longer ones. The email marketing experts at Constant Contact point out that that all aspects of your email content—format, text and images—must be considered and optimal email design for different mobile devices may not be uniform.

An intriguing discovery is that including an emoji in the subject line can increase open rate by 56%. Still, a subject line that is considered relevant will likely be the more persuasive strategy for intended readers. Finally, there is the most important ingredient in this recipe and that is email content. The open and click through rates depend on the content delivered in the email. The subscriber has to feel that the subject you’ll cover—whether it’s a special offer, an announcement of some sort, or a hot industry topic—must be relevant and timely.

Email segmentation is the new normal

Email segmentation, along with email marketing automation, has been one of the biggest digital marketing trends over the last few years. Email segmentation has moved from what was considered an “advanced feature” to a capability that basically all email service provider platforms offer because basically all email marketers want to use segmentation in their email marketing campaigns to enhance the ROI.

Recent studies have found that 33% of companies segment their audiences for marketing campaigns and 20% send customer-specific emails. In fact, researchers at VerifiedEmail report a pronounced shift from email volume to email relevance that’s revealed the highest-performing campaigns send fewer emails to more precisely segmented (targeted) audiences and achieve 30% higher open rates and 50% higher click-through rates. These findings suggest that email marketers create customer personae and use data from those profiles to segment audiences and more effectively target the campaign content they will receive. Hyper -personalized marketing content has been shown to produce as much as a six-fold increase in transaction rate. In addition to producing increased sales revenue, the data further suggests that segmentation can boost recipient engagement as well. An industry study by MailChimp found that segmented campaigns lead to an average of 14% greater open rates and 100% greater clickthrough rates. Keep in mind that this happens when fewer, hyper-personalized emails are sent—I’m sure you’ll agree that limiting your marketing emails increases the value of those you do send and works to limit your unsubscribe rate.

Listen up—email marketing experts know that CTR matters more than the email open rate. VerifiedEmail spills the tea and points out that in our privacy-restricted era, CTR represents the most reliable engagement signal—it requires deliberate action rather than passive preview. Top-quartile email campaigns achieve 6%–10% CTR with diligent segmentation and AI- augmented personalization.

Get started by choosing the right email marketing eervice

Many marketers face the same challenge—they want to send marketing emails, grow their customer list and audience, plus automate and segment email campaigns without spending hours on design or technical setup. Furthermore, you may get stuck with the grunt work of performing manual data transfers risk to add list names and profile info if the software you use doesn’t integrate with the software used by your customer relations management service. You might also be limited in the number of marketing emails you can send. Or maybe you’ll eventually become dissatisfied with the generic designs that do not enhance your brand.

In other words, it will be worth your time to investigate and compare ESP software plans to identify the right platform for your needs. The right platform will save time and aggravation. It will simplify your workflow, encourage customer engagement, increase your campaign conversion rate and make your brand memorable in the best ways.

The price range of ESP plans varies significantly, depending on the level of service you’d like to have. There are even free plans that most likely will limit your number of email campaigns per day or month, a low-cost plan that could cost perhaps $5 to $10 per month, with limited campaign sends and size of the contact list, could be a good way for a Freelance professional to get started and access the benefits of email marketing. The average cost of email marketing platforms for up to 500 contacts is around $20 per month. Choosing the best platform won’t be complicated if you focus on the features that matter most. A list of typical services that marketers use is below. Next, you can start your ESP research here with this credible list of recommended email platforms Forbes Magazine in January 2026: 

1. Send volume. Pick a platform with send limits and pricing that match your current and future email marketing plans. Don’t overpay for features you won’t use or hit limits too soon.

2. Easy platform migration. Make sure it’s easy to migrate your customer data from your old system. The less time you spend moving contacts, the sooner you can get back to marketing.

3. Seamless integrations. Look for software that works with your CRM, online store, and even social media. This makes it easier to retarget leads and keep your marketing efforts connected.

4. User-friendly design tools. Choose a platform with drag-and-drop editors and customizable templates. You shouldn’t need a designer or coder to build beautiful emails.

5. Automation & AI. Advanced platforms let you automate email workflows, like sending follow-ups based on opens or clicks. AI can help predict the best times to send emails, write subject lines, or even suggest content.

6. Customization & branding. Free or cheap plans often include the platform’s logo on your emails. Invest in a plan that lets you add your branding, so your business looks professional.

7. Analytics. Basic reports should track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. A/B testing tools can show you what’s working and where to improve.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Getty Images. Burning Blue Email

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Motivation to Climb Your Customer Loyalty Ladder

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You know that customer loyalty is a powerful resource, one that directly impacts business growth by reducing customer acquisition costs and customer churn by generating referrals and increasing your company’s average customer lifetime value (CLV) to grow your customer list and company revenue. Jeffrey Gitomer, a recognized authority on sales and customer loyalty and author of 15 books, has a blunt observation to share with Freelancers and business owners. In his book Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless (1998), Gitomer shares an outrageous truth—if you disappoint a customer even once, s/he will tell 10 people about your faults. On the other hand, when you (merely) satisfy customer needs and expectations, it’s likely that your customer will tell no one—you did your job and so what.

The good news is, when you show some enthusiasm and exceed the customer’s expectations, s/he will usually tell others how wonderful you are. Here’s the lesson—Freelance professionals and other business owners cannot expect to maximize the potential of their business venture by simply showing up to do the job; that won’t move the needle and make a positive impact on reputation (brand) or revenue. You’ve gotta hit the ball out of the park every time, because acting like an order taker, making sure the fries and everything else are in the bag, is not enough.

In his book, Gitomer identifies critical moments in the buyer’s journey that influence whether customers will become your devoted brand advocates, make a one-off purchase and disappear, or remain indifferent and ignore you. By using what Gitomer describes as the customer loyalty ladder, you’ll refine the timing of the marketing and sales messages that you create to persuade prospects to become customers and eventually become repeat customers.The customer loyalty ladder takes it further and shows how to cultivate loyal customers and even brand advocates who become cheerleaders and make referrals, give testimonials in your favor and play a decisive role in the vitality of your customer list. It’s powerful stuff.

Each rung in the ladder represents a different stage in customer loyalty to your brand. It’s no secret that customer loyalty can make or break your company’s long-term success. You may be aware of customer retention statistics that indicate the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%. Gitomer labels the process of moving up the ladder as the customer acquisition journey  Identifying where each customer stands on your customer loyalty ladder enables you to deliver a marketing message tailored to move that customer toward the top.

As you probably guessed, the customer loyalty ladder starts at the bottom with those the author calls suspects; they are not yet, and may never become, an actual prospect. Suspects barely know that you and your enterprise exist. The top rung of the ladder is where your most loyal and valuable customers reside: they’re the highly coveted brand advocates. Gitomer also cautions that in the nebulous middle are those with whom you’ve done business but unfortunately feel that you (or your team) did only what was necessary—nothing more, nothing less—causing this cohort to feel no attachment to your product, service, or organization. These folks may or may not do business with you again.

Stage 1: Suspects

These people know your brand exists and might have some level of awareness as to what you offer, but they’re not ready to make a purchase. They might have seen an ad, visited your website, or checked out your social media—but they have hesitations still. Suspects may potentially have use for your service product, but it’s not a front-burner issue. They are the largest group and they are ruled by inertia or indifference.

Stage 2: Prospects

Members of this cohort have demonstrate interest in your service or product and may have asked for more information. They know your brand exists, they have some awareness of your service or product, but they’re not ready, or able, to make a purchase yet. They’ve most likely have seen an ad, visited your website, or engaged with your social media but they hesitate to proceed. Prospects are weighing their options, and your organization is just one of perhaps several choices in our increasingly competitive B2B marketplace. You may be able to motivate prospects by tempting them with discounts for first-time buyers, free trials, or free access to gated content that they covet. Whatever the case, your goal here is conversion – turning prospects into first-time customers. Look at website traffic, ad engagement and email sign-ups to gauge brand awareness.

Stage 3: First-Time Customers

Needless to say, a customer has done business with you, made at least one purchase. You finally got the customer to take a chance on your brand and it is a relief and validation. But you can’t exhale yet—to be truly successful you’ll need repeat business—that is, customers who return to do more business with you. Over the years, make it a point to calculate the customer lifetime value vs customer acquisition cost of those on your customer list. 

There are a lot of one-off purchases made in the world. Every business owner is delighted to receive that first purchase a welcome a new customer, but there can be no misunderstanding that a viable customer list is not created through a series of one-offs. The first purchase is a critical juncture, when you would be wise to take steps to turn a one-time buyer into one who becomes a loyal advocate over the long term. Your job is to start the process with immediate post- purchase contact. A follow-up email thanking the user, providing value with how-tos while the customer anticipates delivery, or a quick survey to ask the customer to evaluate customer service are all a good first step. 

Examine conversion rates and purchase behavior – how many return for a second order? Make it a permanent part of your post-sale follow-up to touch base with them to see if you missed the mark in any way or if there’s anything you can do to help them make the most of their product. 96% of consumers say customer service influences brand loyalty.

You can also start sending personalized follow-ups with complementary product suggestions, or even go as far as offering incentives for the next purchase (discounts, loyalty program enrollment, etc.).The key takeaway is that a positive first experience can make or break your customer retention efforts. If you fail to act, or if your approach is wrong, you’ll have a much lower chance of encouraging repeat business.

Stage 3: Repeat Customers

A repeat customer is anyone who has done business with your company more than once. These customer see value in your service or product, but it will nevertheless be helpful to remind these customers why they should continue to do business with your organization. This is where you can implement a well-structured loyalty program. Tiered loyalty programs allow customers to earn points or exclusive perks over time.

You can also use data to send personalized recommendations that align with their purchase history. Whatever you do, keep up the attentive customer service. It’s been reported that 61% of customers will jump ship and defect to a competitor after a single poor customer service experience.

Stage 4: Loyal Customers

Loyal customers are deeply connected to your brand and choose you because of you and not just because of the products and services you sell. They have an emotional attachment that guides their purchase habits and they are among your most valuable customers. Don’t just take my word for it—one study found that loyal customers can drive up to 65% of a brand’s revenue, even though they typically make up only a small percentage of total customers.

Without question, it is in your interest to go above and beyond when considering how to reward and thank these customers with ultra-exclusive benefits. Your rewards should free shipping or discounts, for example. Instead, think early access to new services or products that you introduce, behind-the-scenes content, invitation to a launch event and unexpected surprises like handwritten notes all go a long way. Use customer lifetime value (LTV) and engagement metrics to see who keeps coming back. You can even poll them and let them tell you why they come back again and again. Give these customers opportunities to interact with your brand beyond purchases with events or opportunities to offer feedback on new product releases. The priority is to make them feel as if they’re not just another customer, but very special people who are part of the movement.

Stage 5: Brand Advocates

Eventually, your most loyal customers may become motivated to become brand advocates. This top rung in the customer loyalty ladder represents your most powerful customers, those who serve as an organic marketing channel for your brand. These customers actively promote your brand to their friends, family, colleagues, even random people they come across on a daily basis. They leave glowing reviews and share your products on social media, too.

Brand advocates are your most valuable customers not only because their testimonials and cheerleading bring interest, excitement and trust to your service or product that results in customer referrals and maybe some PR too. the enthusiasm of brand advocates also lowers your cost of customer acquisition and drive customer growth naturally.

So, how do you move people up the ladder of customer loyalty into this stage? Continue taking other steps to make customers, especially repeat and loyal customers, feel like VIP insiders. Seek their insights from your brand advocates when making decisions about your service or product; involve them in beta testing new features or entry into a new market, invite them to exclusive VIP-only events. A customer who feels involved and part of your business, while also receiving consistent value, can be an influential promoter of your brand, giving referrals and singing your praises.

Assess your customer list

First, examine your customer list to figure out where you’re struggling the most. Maybe you have a hard time getting customers to take a chance on your brand but once they do, they stick around. You have an acquisition problem. Or, perhaps you get customers to buy once but they never come back to make another purchase. You have a customer retention problem and problem with customer churn. Gitomer recommends that you focus on the following questions:

Analyze your customer retention KPIs and figure out where you have the need to level up your performance. You now know what to look for at each rung of the very useful customer loyalty ladder and understand how the customer acquisition journey along with the customer loyalty ladder can improve your ability to improve the CLV in your customer list. To get you started, Gitomer recommends that you focus on the following questions:

  • How can you convert one-time buyers into repeat customers?
  • What’s the best way to incentivize loyal customers to become brand advocates?
  • Where do you see prospects abandoning the customer acquisition journey and how might you correct, or limit, the problem? fix them?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Depositphotos free image