Tag Archive for: Marketing

9 Tips For Building A Strong Relationship With Your Email Marketing List

Email Marketing Tips - FlySocial Digital BrisbaneFlySocial Digital

Now you know that you need an email list and have started to build one, the next step is to build the relationship that will make the list profitable. In this article, we list 9 tips to help you get that process started.

1. Unsubscribers Are Good.

The only way that you will not get unsubscribes to your list is to never send them emails. Not everyone will like your personality or writing style. Those that don’t, will never follow your recommendations, so it isn’t a great loss when they unsubscribe.

2. Be Yourself

Let your personality come through to your list. People will buy from you because they trust you. Try to be something you are not and it will come through to your list and you will never develop that trust.

3. Be Informative

Make sure that you are supplying quality information to your list. Even if you are presenting a product for sale make sure that you are also supplying information. Create the problem and your product as a solution but also let your subscribers learn something about the topic even if they aren’t interested in the product.

4. Stay On Topic

If your list is about desserts, that should be the topic of your email. Now, don’t send tips on marketing automation to your dessert list or desserts recipes to your marketing tips list. Yes, there may be a few that have interests in both (I am one and have both types of lists), but the person signed up for a specific topic and you are violating that trust you have worked so hard to create if you don’t keep your promise of what you said you’d send them.

5. Limit Content in Emails

Sending multiple items to your list can be extremely confusing to them and never get you the action you are looking to get. Make sure that you have a clear call to action in every email. Never leave your subscriber wondering what you wanted them to do.

6. Always Have a Reason

This tends to go with number 5. Make sure that there is a reason for the email that you sent. If you have a purpose then people will tend to keep reading. If they have no idea what your reason is for your email then they will quickly stop reading all of your emails. There are some great Email automation tools, like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, that allow you to send the right message at the right time, which makes your emails more relevant to your audience.

7. Track What Works

Tracking is the only way you will know which of your emails works and which don’t. Measuring the right KPIs will allow you to improve your emails to your list. Do remember that the only purpose of your email is to create the click through to a sales page. If it does that it is successful whether you sell a product or not. The sale of the product is dependent on the sales page.

8. Use Contact Information

You are building a relationship and that is based on trust. Let people know who you are and how to reach you.

9. Be Responsive

If you receive an email from a subscriber, answer it. That goes a long way to building the trust that is necessary to create a customer. People buy from those that they trust.

These tips will go a long way towards helping you to build the relationships that are necessary to build a profitable list.

by
, ,

How To Do Marketing – 30 Ways To Grow Your Business

It’s a simple question: What is marketing?

The answer, however, isn’t always so obvious. Most business owners I speak to have a very different idea of what marketing really is. For some, it’s simply advertising (in print or online). For others, it’s ​​Social Media, PR or even just ‘word of mouth’.

Everyone’s got a different idea of what marketing means and how to best market their business. Here’s how I put it. 

“Marketing is everything you do to GAIN and RETAIN customers.”

So, when I think of marketing, I think of it as a lot more than just running ads or posting on your Facebook​ page. If you’ve watched some of my videos or visited my marketing blog before, you would have probably already heard me talk about the 3 pillars of business success. 

1. Attract
2. Convert
3. Deliver

In this blog post, I will give you a list of marketing strategies you can do within each of these pillars to grow your business, increase sales and leverage your time better.

Attraction – How to attract more potential customers

Attracting new customers is a crucial element of any business. It’s what fuels business growth and something that many business owners struggle with. Here are ten ways that will help you attract new potential customers continuously. You should be using a combination of these things in your business.

1. Have a great website

Seems obvious, right? The truth is though that many businesses don’t utilise their website enough. In most cases, it’s an online brochure that merely talks about them, when your website can be so much more (here are some examples). There are certain elements every business website needs in order to convert visitors into leads and actual buyers. You can find a checklist of these 17 crucial elements here.

2. Be on Social Media

Again, this seems like an obvious one, however, many business owners don’t explore social media to it’s full potential. When I say be on social, I don’t just mean go create an account for your business on Facebook and Instagram. You need to be active and use these platforms to drive potential customers away from social and back to your website (where you are not competing with cat videos).

The problem with social media is that, if done well, it can be incredibly time-consuming. The answer to this problem is automation. Luckily, these days we have the tools and technology to allow for a hands-off social media strategy that allows us to post as often as we choose to on autopilot. Here’s a complete guide to automating your social media posts so you never have to worry about what to post ever again.

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to engaging with your customers. Don’t dismiss it and use it to your advantage.

3. Run print ads

Even though I’m a digital marketer, I still believe print ads have their place. But it depends on your business, the audience you are trying to attract and what print media you have available in your particular market. The key to making advertising work is to track your success. The key to making advertising work is to track your success. Yes, I just said that twice.

Don’t just have your logo and a little blurb printed in a generic magazine or newspaper. Make sure you have a clear call-to-action (CTA) for readers to follow. Coupons work great in most cases, as they will allow you to track the success of your ads and calculate the exact return on investment.

Know your numbers:

  • How much does the ad cost you?
  • How many leads (i.e. coupons) did you receive as a result?
  • How many of these leads actually purchased?
  • What was the total revenue generated from the ad?

Example:

Say you invest in an ad that costs you $300. Your ad results in 100 enquiries, meaning your cost per lead is $3. If out of these 100 enquiries, 3 people end up buying (3% conversion rate) with a value of $200 per transaction, you generated total sales of $600. That’s a 100% return on your investment.

These numbers will, of course, vary depending on the type of business you’re in. In most cases, even if you just break even, it’s still worth advertising in the long run, as you will be building your list of potential buyers, which is the biggest asset in any business.

4. Run online ads (Google, Facebook, YouTube)

Even though online ads are very similar to print ads, I like to list them separately. The great thing about online ads is that you can be so much more specific with your targeting and only put your ad in front of people that are highly relevant. This will help you reduce ad costs and increase your conversion rates.

Say, you own a beauty salon in Sydney and decide to invest in a print ad in a local magazine. Now you are paying for the number of readers the magazine tells you they reach. However, out of everyone who reads it, only a very small fraction of readers will actually be based in your area. Out of the people in your area, only a fraction will actually be potential customers (not everyone needs a beautician). And out of those potential customers, only a fraction will actually notice your ad and even less will take you up on whatever offer you presented them with.

In comparison, a Facebook ad will allow you to run a much more targeted campaign. Going with the above example of a beauty business, you could choose to only put your ad in front of women between the ages of 30-50, who live in your local area and also have shown an interest in beauty businesses. Even though your audience is now much smaller, it is also a lot more targeted, meaning you will reduce your ad costs significantly and increase your conversion rates.

Again, print and online ads can both be great ways to attract new customers. The important thing is that you track your success and never invest in advertising that can’t be measured. Oh, and did I mention, never invest in advertising that can’t be measured? (you may want to write this one down)

5. Partner with other businesses

Business partnerships – also called joint ventures – are one of the fastest ways to grow your business and are heavily under-utilised. It’s important to understand though that not all business partnerships are worth your time. Try to only focus on businesses that will have a significant impact on your marketing.

I recently helped two of my clients join forces, who are based in the same city. One is a local café with a huge customer database of over 10,000 people; the other is a massage business that had only started out a year earlier. Most massage business owners would go around putting flyers in local cafes and other places, which is incredibly time-consuming and will get you little or no results.

But instead, we wanted to leverage the huge database of people the cafe already had, so we sat down with the owner and explained that we would like to send a complimentary $25 massage voucher to every single customer on their list. And to put the focus on them, we wanted to make it look like it’s coming from them as a gift to their customers. They look good for spoiling their customers and the owner of the massage place was putting her business right under the nose of 10,000 locals.

All we had to do was write one email that went out to 10,000 people. And to take things even further, we even made this email a part of the café’s automated email marketing. That means that the gift card did not only go out to everyone on the list at that time but every future customer will receive it, too!

As a business owner, make sure you value your time and only focus on marketing strategies that have the biggest impact on your bottom line. Business partnerships are one of the best forms of leveraging your time and resources.

6. Write a blog

Ok, this one probably sounds boring to most business owners and, at first, you may not see the value in doing it. Let me try to change the way you look at blogging.

As business owners, we have conversations with customers daily. They ask us questions about our products and services, they voice their worries, hopes and fears. They want to feel heard and we want to show them that we know our stuff. A blog allows you to do all of that at the same time and in a much more leveraged way.

Use short articles to answer your customers’ burning questions, help them to understand what you do and how it will help them in their own life or business. Even with just one good article, you can attract plenty of traffic by sharing it on social media, on other websites, in your email marketing, and even in your ads. Everywhere!

Your customers are already looking for the information they need online, so you might as well be the one giving it to them and position yourself as the expert in your industry.

I like to compare blogging to renting vs. owning real estate. You can pay for traffic each month (renting) or you can provide value on your website that people come back for (owning real estate). Every article you put on your website becomes a timeless asset you can use to generate traffic for years to come.

Tip: Hire a writer to help you come up with and write 12 quality articles to put on your website. Then share these articles on social media each month and link to them in your email marketing. You’ll see your traffic increase significantly (and improve your search engine rankings as a result)!

7. Optimise your website for search engines like Google & Bing (SEO)

Despite what many business owners think, SEO (search engine optimisation) is not dead. Search engines just have gotten a whole lot smarter!

SEO is no longer just about having a bunch of keywords on your website that your customers are searching for. These days, search engines like Google scan your website for a lot more, such as readability, quality of content, how long visitors spend on your site, which pages are shared frequently on social media, the list goes on.

So, how do you take care of all this yourself? Simple. Focus on quality content on your site that people actually want to read, watch and share. That’s why the previous point (blog posts) is so important. Engaging videos are also a great way to connect with your visitors and keep them on your site longer.

There are plenty of resources on how to do great SEO out there. If you have a WordPress website, be sure to install the Yoast SEO plugin to help you optimise each page and article for search engines.

8. Run a competition or giveaway

Giveaways are a great way to reach new potential customers, and they are a lot cheaper to run than other forms of marketing.

The idea of a giveaway is to ask people to enter their details for a chance to win a prize. This is a fast way to build a list. You want to make sure that the prize actually attracts potential customers and not those who are just in for the freebies and who were never going to buy from you.

I see many business owners make the mistake to give away an iPad or similar as a prize. That’s way too generic. Anyone who wants an iPad will enter, which is not what we want. You want to use your give-away specific to your product or service in order to attract the right kind of people.

If you are an accountant who focuses on Xero, for example, don’t give away a free Netflix subscription. Instead, consider the prize to be a free Xero Setup and Consultation to streamline your accounting (valued at $495). That way you are only attracting business owners who would actually be a good fit.

The mistake I see many business owners make ist that they run the giveaway simply for the engagement. But engagement doesn’t equal sales. The whole purpose of a marketing activity like this, especially if you invest the time to set it up properly, is to build a list of qualified leads that you can reach out to afterwards. So don’t stop at the giveaway – think about the offer you can send to all those who entered but didn’t win. This is where you really turn your giveaway into profit.

9. Run a survey or quiz

A quiz or survey is another great way to build a list fast and gain valuable insights about the needs of our customers. You’ll want to come up with a set of questions that helps you improve your product or service and identify what may be missing.

If you don’t have an audience at the moment that you can send your survey too, consider partnering with a business that shares your target market and could also benefit from the data generated. You could incentives the survey, which may help to increase responses but could also result in lower quality leads and dishonest answers from people who just took the survey for the prize.

If you would like to learn more about how to use surveys effectively, I highly recommend reading the book ASK by Ryan Levesque. You can download a free copy here.

10. Send a press release to media outlets

A press release can get you lots of free publicity in major newspapers, magazines and news websites. Once you discover this magical strategy, you’ll never want to pay for print advertising again! How much would a full-page article in a major newspaper be worth to you? Exactly? And it’s so much more powerful and memorable than any ad you paid hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars for.

The key is to have a good story that journalists can pick up and elaborate on. Before you write a press release about a new product you launched or a sale you have going, put yourself in the shoes of a journalist. What would their readers want to read about? Tell stories that are not directly about you, but in which you or your business play a role somehow.

Which story would you rather read?

  1. Local roofing company launches new website and is open for business
  2. Local roofer helps the homeless have a roof over their head for Christmas by handing out free tents

There is no way a journalist would pick up the first headline. Because, frankly, nobody cares. The second story is something they can actually work with. Be strategic about the story you want to tell. The first rule of writing a press release is to NEVER SELL your business or products. Focus on helping the journalists to find the story they are so desperately looking for to hit their quota of articles they need to write each week.

Download my free press release template here to have your press release written in no time.

Conversion – How to turn browsers into buyers

11. Create a lead magnet

If you want to accelerate your email list growth, a lead magnet is your friend. A lead magnet is anything you can offer your subscribers for free in return for signing up. This could be:

  • a discount or value voucher
  • an ebook 
  • a checklist
  • a template or time-saver
  • a helpful video
  • a free trial
  • or anything else of value to your audience.

The key is, it needs to be highly valuable to your ideal target audience and it needs to be free. It should be a first step people can take into the transformation your offer them. 

12. Use email automation to educate and engage with your audience

To this day, email marketing has remained one of the most profitable marketing activities out there. It’s a great way to keep in touch with your audience and create sales opportunities. But let’s be honest… who has time to sit down to send out weekly newsletters anymore? 

That’s where automated email sequences come in handy. Rather than growing your list to send out the occasional email blast, think of email marketing as taking your subscribers on a journey. From the day they join your list, you can map out an entire sequence of emails, each designed with a specific purpose in mind. 

You could include emails that ask questions to learn more about your customers’ needs, showcase your testimonials, answer frequently asked questions, invite them to leave a review, make them aware of other channels you’re on, like social media, and so much more.

This is one of the best ways to leverage your time and frequently engage with potential customers to connect, educate and move them closer to the sale.

13. Use a chatbot to help people find what they are looking for faster

Chatbots have become a lot more common in recent years and they’re a fantastic tool to help you streamline customer enquiries. You can program a chatbot to directly answer specific questions, such as pricing, location, or opening hours, or to direct people to relevant pages on your website for example. 

If someone starts a chat and asks if you have appointments available this week, you could direct them to your booking page where they can check availability and book themselves in, all without the need to interrupt your day.

You can think of a chatbot much like a phone options menu, where when you call are asked to press certain numbers for different types of enquiries. Except a bot allows us to design a much more natural conversation and flow.

Some chatbot software providers I have personally used and love are Chatfuel and ManyChat. Both integrate with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but there are many other tools out there that let you integrate your bot directly with your website and other platforms. 

14. Create a strong offer people can’t refuse

Sometimes, the difference between failure and success in business is the way you structure your offer. Just like McDonald’s did when they went from selling individual items to selling packaged meals. The famous line “would you like fries with that” added billions to their bottom line. 

Could you add something to your offer for added value? 

15. Run retargeting ads

Running ads online is a great way to increase brand awareness and attract new customers. However, it can be difficult to convert an audience at the first point of contact. A retargeting campaign allows us to follow those around that have expressed interest in our business before. Retargeting ads are also a great way to reactivate past clients or target specific segments of your audience.

If you have a webinar funnel, for example, you could show ads only to those who have previously watched your webinar. If you run workshops, you could target only those who have attended a previous workshop of yours. With a little creativity, the possibilities with retargeting ads are endless.

16. Find a way to help more people (when you do that, you will naturally sell more)

Seems like an obvious one, but sometimes simply by shifting our mindset we can create opportunities on a whole new level. 

I like to do a little thought experiment and ask myself what I’d do if I had to help ten times more people than I currently am. 

Could you change your business model and shift from selling 1-to-1 to 1-to-many? Could you offer a DIY option to serve more people at the same time?

Thinking about 10Xing your business can bring up some important questions that will put your business on the path of growth:

  • Where would you find 10 times more customers?
  • Would you have to change your processes to accommodate that growth?
  • Would you have to hire new people to help you?
  • What impact would you have on the world by helping more people?
  • What impact would it have on your personal life?

To get you thinking about these things, I can highly recommend the book “The 10X Rule” by Grant Cardone. It will open your mind up to new possibilities.

17. Run ‘limited time only’ offers

Creating offers that are only available for a limited time can be effective in creating a sense of urgency and temporarily increasing sales. If your business operates in retail or e-commerce, you could purchase a small batch of a new product and promote it as ‘limited time only’ to increase sales over a short period of time. 

It’s also a great way to test the market response to a new product before adding it to your regular offering. A café, for instance, could offer a new product for a limited time to measure its popularity and collect customer feedback. Then, if it performs well, make it part of their regular menu. 

18. Be easy to do business with (I had to add this one)

It always surprises me how difficult some businesses make it to do business with them. As business owners, we should be focused on reducing as much friction as possible. 

Make it easy for customers to pay using their preferred payment method. If it makes the decision for them easier, consider offering a payment plan or AfterPay. 

Make it easy for customers to get in contact with you using their preferred contact method – whether it’s by phone, text message, social media, email, or through a contact form on your website. 

Make the process easy and fun. You’ll be surprised how much impact ‘being easy’ can have on your bottom line. 

19. Get to know your customers better and understand exactly what they REALLY need, want, and do not want

Never assume that what you have to offer (no matter how awesome it is) is what your customers need and want right now. Listen to their needs. Every customer is different and comes to you for a different reason. 

Find out what their underlying motivation is for coming to you and try to meet their unique needs. Listening attentively can go a long way. And if you feel like your offer isn’t a good fit for you, don’t be afraid to let them know. The reality is, most people will respect you more for your honesty than for trying to make the sale at all costs.

Maybe they need something else first?

20. Make sure your website has all the right elements (just a page online won’t cut it)

Many business owners treat their website much like an online brochure. A little blurb about how long they’ve been in business, a contact page, some generic description about their products or services, and maybe a pricing page.

But your website can be so much more than that! Try looking at your website as your piece of real estate online. A well-designed website will:

  • Establish your business as an industry leader
  • Attract new potential customers
  • Capture leads 
  • Book appointments
  • Help sell your services or products
  • Showcase your competence 
  • Educate your audience and answer pre-sale questions
  • Act as a valuable resource 

 

Delivery – Ways to grow your business during and after the sale

21. Provide great customer service

This should be a given, however, it’s astonishing how many businesses neglect this part of their business. Providing excellent service is a great way to build repeat business and increase “word of mouth”. 

When you impress your customers, they are also much more likely to leave a positive review on Facebook or Google, which in turn will result in more organic traffic and a better reputation, helping you stand out from the competition. 

22. Ensure people only buy something they actually need

As a business owner, it’s tempting to try and sell your product or service to anyone coming your way. However, selling to the wrong person can impact your business negatively. Make sure you only sell to people who will genuinely benefit from your product or service.

Similar to the previous point, this will only strengthen relationships with your customers, increase trust, and result in more referrals.

While it may benefit you in the short term, selling to the wrong kind of customers may result in an increase in refunds, mediocre reviews and decreased customer loyalty. 

23. Offer good quality products and services (you want people to rave about it, not complain about it)

24. Overdeliver and exceed your customer’s expectations by offering something extra

25. Follow-up with your customers after the sale to see how they are going

26. Invite customers to leave positive reviews on Facebook, Google, TripAdvisor etc.

27. Add customer testimonials to your website

28. Send a thank-you note after the sale

29. Offer upsells and cross-sells

30. Consider offering a subscription/membership type product

 

This list is far from complete and you could certainly write a book about each point. But I hope that it will spark some ideas for what you can focus on in your business to grow and take it to the next level.

The biggest challenge most business owners face is finding the time to do marketing well. I can say from experience that this is only possible when automating the majority of your marketing processes. To help you do that, I have created a free step-by-step guide on how to completely automate your Social Media posts, as this is often one aspect my clients struggle with the most.

 

To your success,

 

10 Comments/by
, ,

4 Smart (Not So Obvious) Ways To Grow Your Business

In essence, there are only three ways to grow your business. Increase the number of customers, increase the purchase frequency, and increase your average transaction value. However, there are a number of not so obvious ways to increase sales and make your business more profitable. Here are four of them. Ready? Then let’s go!

1. Automate processes to increase efficiency and reduce cost

Today, there are thousands of tools out there to help you automate repetitive business processes. Simply automating a few things can help you significantly reduce wages and free up valuable time. When looking for ways to grow our business, we often overlook areas that don’t directly contribute to your profit. Here are a few things you can automate quickly and easily that could put money back in your pocket.

  • Social Media Posts
  • Invoicing
  • Email Marketing
  • Online Advertising
  • Lead Generation
  • Sales Processes & Follow Up
  • Internal Task Management
  • Review Management

Tools like Zapier and Integromat can help you connect various services and software to make processes even more efficient. 

Some examples:

  • When you have a new lead -> automatically add a contact to a list -> then send a follow-up sequence
  • After a customer makes a purchase for the second time -> send an invitation to review on Facebook
  • When a purchase is made on your website -> automatically create an invoice in Xero

2. Launch a re-targeting ad campaign

Many business owners already use ads to attract new customers and generate new business. However, if you only run direct ads, you are missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers by ignoring this simple strategy. Re-targeting ads are a powerful tool that allows you to show specific ads to people who have already interacted with your content in the past, adding continuity to your customer experience and significantly increasing the chances of turning them into customers.

Se if you can offer them something of value in relation to certain pages or blog posts they have visited on your website. 

Example: A yoga studio might show a re-targeting ad for a free yoga pass to people in their area who have read blog posts on the benefits of yoga on their website. When people see the ad, they can enter their email address to claim the free yoga pass and automatically be subscribed to an evergreen campaign. (See next point)

3. Stop focusing on one-off promotions and develop an “Evergreen” campaign instead

The majority of business owners think of marketing and promotions in terms of one-off activities. It might look something like this:

  • January -> Promotion #1
  • February -> Promotion #2
  • March -> Promotion #3

While this might work well, it also requires you to continuously come up with new promotions, which can be exhausting and feel like you’re always running behind.

Instead, create an “evergreen” funnel that sends new leads or customers a series of pre-designed offers from the moment they join your list. Then keep adding new offers to that sequence. Over time, this strategy allows you to develop a marketing machine that continuously produces sales without ever having to worry about what your next promotion is going to be. You just need to make sure that offers in that sequence are timeless and not seasonal.

All you need is a good email automation tool, like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, and there are many more options available. 

4. Make Partnerships “evergreen”, too

Partnerships and joint ventures with other businesses that complement yours is a powerful strategy. You might have already partnered with another business in the past to run a one-off campaign promoting your products or services. Maybe you’ve asked the other business to hand out vouchers to all their customers.

See if you can turn this strategy into an evergreen campaign, too, like in the previous example. Look for businesses that already have an evergreen funnel and see if they are happy to plug your offer right into it, while you can do the same for them. 

Example: One of my clients owns a massage clinic, while another owns a yoga studio. I got both of them to add an email to their existing evergreen sequences promoting the other business. Now, everyone who receives a massage at the massage clinic also receives a complimentary yoga gift card, and everyone who joins the yoga studio receives a discount voucher for a massage a month later.

There you have it. Four (not so obvious) ways to grow your business over the next few months. All four are “set and forget” strategies that you only have to set up once and will benefit from forever.

 

19 Comments/by
,

3 Things Your Business Needs BEFORE Spending A Single Cent On Ads

The biggest challenge most of my clients face is knowing what to focus on in their marketing. It can be incredibly overwhelming with all the different options and tools out there – social media platforms, advertising platforms (print and digital), search engines, autoresponders, tech tools, productivity tools – the list goes on and on. How do we know what’s right for us, and at the stage, we’re currently in?

The big mistake many business owners make is that they focus on lead generation BEFORE getting their conversions right, only to realise that they’re spending way too much money and time on marketing without getting the results they’re after.

In my 90-Day Marketing Transformation, we follow a clear marketing roadmap to help you focus on your marketing activities in the right order, so you can maximise results while minimising cost and effort. It’s divided into three pillars.

  • ATTRACTION
  • CONVERSION
  • AMPLIFICATION

 The order in which you focus on your marketing activities is crucial. As you will agree, it doesn’t make sense to launch an ad campaign (amplification pillar) before knowing that you can actually convert these people. It would be like increasing the amount of fuel you pour into a car that only has 2 wheels. More fuel won’t make it go any faster unless you have a working vehicle.

The Marketing Roadmap – 3 Ways To Grow Your Business in 2024

First things first. Most business owners would like to jump straight in and throw money at ads (either print or online) before having laid a solid marketing foundation. You wouldn’t start building a house before having a solid plan and foundation to build on. In the same way, you need to address your marketing activities in the right order. Here are 3 things you need to focus on BEFORE spending a single cent on advertising or other costly marketing activities.

1. Create a Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is a tool to help you build a list of potential customers. It’s something of value to your target audience that you can send them for free but in return for their name and email address. This is a crucial part of any marketing strategy and should be the very first thing to decide on, as it gives people a way to connect with your business even before they’re ready to buy. Here are some examples of lead magnets you could use in your business.

  • Free guide or ebook
  • Free video or tutorial
  • Discount code or value voucher
  • Free checklist or time-saving template
  • Free report with information that’s highly relevant to your customers

I – for example – offer a free 17-point website checklist, as that is something most of my clients struggle with. You may also find these free downloads helpful as examples for strategic lead magnets.

2. CRM & Email Automation

Once you decided on your lead magnet, the second step is to choose a CRM (Customer Relationship Management Software) and an email marketing provider that you will use to build your list. Some CRM’s already have email automation built-in. There are loads of options out there, some very basic and some with more advanced marketing automation features that you probably won’t need at the start. The important thing is to just get started.

When starting out, a free service like Mailchimp may suffice (they offer a free plan until you reach a certain number of subscribers). Here are two options that I personally recommend for small businesses and which I have used myself.

Other popular CRM systems include:

3. Map Out Your Customer Journey

Once a potential customer opted in for your free lead magnet, what are the next steps you want them to take? What information will they be looking for before they are ready to become your customer? It’s important not to treat every person as if they are ready to buy from you right now. Instead, focus on building a relationship with them first, so that when they are ready to buy your product or service, your business becomes their natural first choice.

Here’s what that customer journey looks like in one of my other businesses (a yoga studio).

  • Step 1: Claim a FREE Yoga Pass
  • Step 2: Send Introductory Offer
  • Step 3: Upgrade to 10-Class Pass or Membership
  • Step 5: Offer Workshops & Retreats

For most people, it’s too much of a stretch to go from never having tried yoga before to committing to a membership or a yoga retreat. But a free yoga pass will help them get started and move towards that goal.

This is a natural progression that eases people into their journey of becoming long-term customers, slowly moving them from free to higher-priced products. Timing is a crucial element in marketing. Make sure that the messages you send people are relevant to the stage they’re currently in. This can be automated using email automation software (see the previous point) or using a messaging bot.

The key is – always focus on educating and connecting with your customers more than you focus on selling.

8 Comments/by
,

3 Simple Metrics With The Power To Transform Your Business (And How To Track Them)

Today, it’s easier than ever to collect vast amounts of data in our business. There are many low-cost POS (point of sale) systems out there with some fantastic reporting features that you can take advantage of to help you grow your business and make better management decisions.

And if you think data and metrics are boring, I want to encourage you to reconsider. Because once we know what to look for, these numbers can become very exciting!

For small business owners, every dollar counts, which is why it’s so important to track our progress and keep an eye on various metrics. Of course, there are countless metrics we can measure, some more important than others depending on the type of business you are operating.

But let’s keep it simple for now with these three metrics that have the power to completely transform your business. If you know you could do better when it comes to numbers, they will provide a great starting point.

Average Transaction Value (ATV)

The average transaction value (ATV) is pretty self-explanatory. It gives you the average of how much your customers spent per transaction on average. Simply by focusing on increasing our ATV, we can change the entire course of our business. 

How to calculate Average Transaction Value

Simply divide your total sales on any given day by the total number of transactions on the same day.

Example:
$5000 turnover / 100 Transactions = $50 ATV

We can increase our ATV through:

  • Upsells (“Would you like to make that a large?”) and
  • Cross-sells (“Would you like a camera bag to protect your new camera?”

No matter what business you’re in, there is always something extra you can offer your customers. Let’s take the above example and assume we trade for 340 days per year. If we increased our ATV by just 5% (i.e. by $2.50), our daily turnover would go from $5000 to $5250.

Doesn’t sound like much, right? Well, by the end of 340 trading days, we would have increased our turnover by $85,000. Not a bad result with a few upsells. 

What upsells, cross-sells and package deals could you offer in your business?

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

The Customer Lifetime Value indicates how much the average customer is worth to our business over the course of their patronage. It’s a simple metric with big implications and one that’s often overlooked by small business owners.

Knowing the lifetime value of a customer is a crucial part of understanding how much is reasonable to spend on acquiring a new customer. Measuring CLV is also a good way to determine whether your business is taking full advantage of its customer relationships.

In many, if not most cases, it costs less money to increase revenue from existing customers than it does to acquire new ones. Still, most business owners are more focused on acquisition than retention.

How to calculate Customer Lifetime Value

CLV = Average Transaction Value * Customer Frequency * Average Customer Lifespan

Example:
$50 Average Transaction Value * 1 purchase per month * 12 months average retention = $600 CLV

Your CLV will determine how much we can afford to spend on acquiring a new customer and subsequently, which marketing channels make sense for our business.

How much is a customer worth to you? How much do they spend each time? How often do they visit? And how long do they stay your customer? Improving each of these 3 variables will have a huge impact on your bottom line.

Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC)

What does it cost you to acquire a new customer? While the importance of knowing the cost of acquiring a new customer is obvious, surprisingly a lot of business owners don’t pay as much attention to this metric as you’d expect them to. Keeping customer acquisition costs top of mind can benefit your business in numerous ways.

For starters, many companies spend more than they estimate on customer acquisition, and in many cases, they continue to invest in marketing channels that make little sense given the lifetime value of their customers.

How to calculate Cost of Customer Acquisition

CAC = Total Ad Spend / Number of New Customers

Example:
$500 Facebook Ad Spend / 50 New Customers = $10

If our Customer Lifetime Value is $600, it makes sense to spend $10 to acquire a new customer. However, if our CLV would only be $20 we might need to look for a new strategy to acquire new customers or first focus on increasing your Average Transaction Value, Purchase Frequency and Retention Rate.

What metrics have you tracked that have helped you grow your business and make better decisions in your marketing?

11 Comments/by
, ,

Seven Marketing Assumptions That Can Hurt Your Business

In order for your business to succeed, you need a clever marketing strategy. Unfortunately, most companies hold some marketing assumptions that can restrict their ability to promote their services and products in a cutthroat marketplace. The idea of marketing is quite obscure because marketing is the base for various methods of business promotion. Therefore, it is easy to confuse the real purpose of marketing with the concept of it. There are many reasons why companies seem to think marketing is not the right move for them. If you do not work in the profession, marketing can seem expensive and exotic, with creatives whose aim seems to be to throw money at different projects. Marketing is actually crucial to a number of strategic initiatives. If you have growth goals for your business, be it for market expansion, an extension of your product line, or diversification, then you need to have a proper understanding of what marketing can do for you.

7  Common Marketing Assumptions:

Listed below are the assumptions that can restrict the efficiency of your market plan causing you to miss out on sales opportunities.

1. Small Businesses Do Not Require a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan gives you a master plan for how you will introduce your business to the market. It helps you outline your target audience, budget, offers, tactics, channels, and messages. If you do not have a cohesive, integrated plan, you may be wasting your prospects money if not confusing them. Any business, no matter how big or small, should plan its marketing to ensure the best return on investment.

2. Running Ads is the Only Marketing Plan You Need

Even though an advertising campaign can be relevant as a marketing tactic, it is only but a tactic. Ads are just one of the various ways you can convey your message to your target audience. You should have an integrated plan spelling out different tactics and how they will work harmoniously to help you achieve, sales, lead generation, and awareness.

3. You Already Know What Your Customers Think

People similar to your current customers are your ideal prospects so you need to understand the customer completely. You can gain insight on your customers by conducting customer research courtesy of a professional, independent resource.

4. There is No Need to Market to Your Customers

You should never assume that just because you have customers they are yours for the keeping. Your customers need to be reminded constantly of why they should keep buying from you and not your competitors. Promote to your customers and your prospects too.

5. That Marketing Channel is Too Costly for You

Marketers usually make wrong assumptions about the cost of marketing avenues like direct mail or advertising. You should not cross out a channel because you assume it is too costly. Explore all your options intensively and you might discover that you can access channels that you thought were unaffordable.

6. You Do Not Need Social Media

Regardless of what you sell, the one thing you can be sure of is that your competitors, prospects, and customers are using social media actively. If you do not participate, you will be left out of conversations that could be shaping your marketplace.

7. You Need to Cut Your Marketing Budget because Sales are Down

This is one of the marketing assumptions business owners usually do. They say tough times call for tough decisions but cutting your marketing budget should not be one of these tough decisions. Effective marketing may actually help you come out of a slump with your sales so if you do not continue engaging with prospects and customers, one of your competitors will be ready to take your place.

1 Comment/by
, ,

5 Common Reasons Why Your Marketing isn’t Working (And How to Fix It)

Some common reasons why your marketing isn’t working are probably less obvious than you might think. Marketing, when not done right, can easily fail to produce the desired results. Many times, I have seen business owners sit down to come up with their own marketing strategy, only to end up with great disappointment. However, this is all part of being in business. When we fail, we pick ourselves up and go again.

Nevertheless, I have identified a few common mistakes when it comes to marketing and outlined some strategies for how to fix these problems.

Here are 5 common reasons why your marketing isn’t working

 

1. Trying to be everything to everyone

Many businesses fail to send out a clear message that is targeted at their ideal customer (Avatar). Instead they try to keep their message as broad as possible. This approach results in generic messaging that doesn’t work. Instead, be very clear about your purpose, what your product or service is about and who exactly it is for. Identify who your ideal customers are and craft copy that speaks directly to them. The clearer your message and targeting, the better your sales will be.

2. Competing on price

One approach many businesses take when competition moves in is to lower their price. In some industries, this has led to a war on price between competitors leaving little to none for anyone. Rather than lowering your prices, try to find ways to add more value to your customers. This won’t just leave you better off financially, but also position you as the expert amongst your competitors. Ever seen Apple run a sale?

3. Limiting Marketing to Just One Platform

Businesses have to consider more than one marketing platform. Digital marketing offers countless tools to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your campaigns and proactively increase your sales when you choose to. Social media is just one platform. Email marketing is another. Traditional forms of marketing are also worth testing, especially when targeting customers who are yet to embrace the digital era. Muti-channel marketing also allows you to identify where your best customers are coming from and where to spend most of your budget in order to get the best return.

4. Lack of Strategy

Without a strategy, marketing fails. This is one of the most common reasons why your marketing isn’t working. In marketing, strategy is everything. In fact, the right strategy produces stunning, hitherto unimagined results. Develop a marketing plan and stick to it. Test what’s working, repeat what does, discard what doesn’t. Numbers don’t lie.

5. Dead Techniques

Dead marketing techniques kill businesses faster than ever before. Don’t get stuck in the old ways. If it’s not working, change it. Replace it with something that works. Tweak it if necessary. There’s no need of staying loyal to ideas that cost a lot of money yet have nothing to show for all that investment. Even if it once was your best strategy.

Do you currently have a strategy that allows you to get new customers “on tap”? If not, I might be able to help. As an independent marketing consultant, I help business owners in the retail and hospitality industries to design and implement automated marketing strategies that take their business to a whole new level. When you’re ready, let’s have a chat about your business.

 

7 Comments/by
, , ,

6 TED Talks Every Business Owner Should Watch

TED Talks are geared towards spreading ideas using short, powerful talks. The talks last no more than 18 minutes each, are factual and entertaining. Initially, they revolved around Technology, Entertainment, and Design (hence the name TED) when they started out in 1984.

Today, the talks touch on almost all areas of life and business.

As business owners, we can learn a lot from watching many of these talks and gain valuable insights. The good news is, the talks are freely available on TED.com.

TED Talks For Business Owners

Here are my top TED Talks every business owner should watch, in no particular order. Enjoy!

1. Cameron Herold: Let’s Raise Kids To Be Entrepreneurs

Cameron Herold, who founded COO Alliance, gave a TED Talk entitled, “Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs.” In his words, the traditional system of education does not encourage kids to be entrepreneurs. He believes that we should change the system to produce more entrepreneurs.

 

2. Nirmalya Kumar: India’s Invisible Innovation

Nirmalya Kumar’s TED Talk focuses on the link between business and innovation. As most business owners know, running a business successfully requires a good dose of innovation. A business that constantly develops new products and processes has a higher chance of success.

 

3. Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Eight years ago, Simon Sinek gave a TED Talk on the role great leaders play in inspiring action. The lessons from that talk are still relevant today. Company leaders call the shots. CEOs determine the direction a company takes.

A leader determines how successful a company’s digital marketing campaign shall be.

 

4. Regina Hartley: Why The Best Hire Might Not Have The Perfect Resume

What makes Regina Hartley’s TED Talk a must watch for entrepreneurs is the advice she gives on the role of a resume in hiring or not hiring a new employee. Entrepreneurs put too much focus on what is on the resumes.

They forget that the resumes never capture all the important details of a prospective employee.

For example, the resume may not tell an entrepreneur everything the prospective employee did in creating a marketing automation software. A perfect resume may keep us away from one who has overcome great difficulties and challenges to get here.

 

5. Philip Evans: How Data Will Transform Business

The TED Talk Philip Evans gave in 2014 was designed to help businesses understand the role of data. We have to understand the transformational ability that data has in any business. We can no longer ignore analysing the importance of technology and data for running a business.

After all, marketing automation, like all types of technology, depends on data.

 

6. Seth Godin: How To Get Your Ideas To Spread

Seth Godin’s TED Talk was titled “How to get your ideas to spread”. In that talk, we understand the importance of using bizarre ideas in marketing. Good and boring ideas are not always productive. Bizarre ones, on the other hand, capture and retain customer’s attention.

These must-watch business TED Talks are a great start for any entrepreneur who is wanting to learn and grow themselves and their business.

What are your favourite TED talks? Please share the link in the comments below.

 

1 Comment/by
, ,

6 Lessons About Growing Your Business You’ll Learn From Superheroes

Can superheroes really teach you any valuable lessons about growing your business?

The world has been blessed with a stream of several top superheroes over the years. From Wonder Woman to Iron Man, Firestorm, Superman, Spiderman, and Thor, there is a long list of superheroes to choose from. There are many lessons we can learn from your childhood idols

They entertain us. They also help us to understand more about ourselves. They remind us of some wonderful lessons regarding humanity that we may have forgotten due to the pressures of life.

However, superheroes can also teach us some valuable lessons about growing our businesses.

Here are 6 lessons about growing your business you can learn from superheroes

 

1. Staying true to our aspirations and beliefs

We are likely to forget or abandon our aspirations and beliefs from time to time. However, a close look at these superheroes shows us that we don’t have to go down that route. Pursue what is right for the business until the end, even if nobody else has the same belief in it.

2. Take your power seriously

Superheroes have a lot of power. They also have a lot of responsibilities hanging over their shoulders. Remarkably, they show an uncanny ability to use their power well. They take what they do seriously and so should we while running and growing our businesses.

3. Be ready to make difficult decisions

A close look at any superhero shows that they struggle to make decisions. The weigh each decision’s pros and cons. Sometimes they fail and other times they succeed. What they are very good at though is the ability and willingness to make difficult decisions.

Any person who desires to run a business needs to be prepared to make some uncomfortable decisions, too.

More importantly, making difficult decisions helps us to know our values better! We can all learn from this Harvard Business Review article about making tough decisions.

4. Never be afraid of asking for what you want

Anyone who runs a business also does a lot of asking. We ask for information. We ask for data. We ask clients to give us feedback. We ask clients to buy our products and services. Superheroes are never afraid of asking.

Never be afraid to use marketing automation apps to help the business expand.

We can’t grow any business if we are afraid of asking for help or stating what we want.

5. Stay focused on the most important tasks

Superheroes assume a new aura when pursuing specific goals. They allow nothing to distract them. Entrepreneurs also have to develop such an attitude. It’s important that we stay focused on the areas of our businesses that perform exceedingly well while ignoring distractions. This is just one of the lessons about growing your business you can learn from them.

6. Don’t wait until you feel ready, start now

It’s normal for us to wait until we feel ready to do what we ought to do. That may not be an effective way of growing a business. Superheroes never wait until all conditions are perfect to do something. They get up and do whatever is required now.

There’s no perfect time. Do whatever has to be done NOW!

If it’s digital marketing, embark on it right away! I’ll help you. Let’s have a chat to find out where you’re at and what you need to transform your marketing.

What lessons about growing your business have you learned? Let me know in the comments below.

To your success,

References

1 Comment/by
, ,

5 Little Tweaks That’ll Transform Your Digital Marketing

Why would you want to transform your digital marketing? Digital marketing is a super dynamic field. It changes at a meteoric pace. Many businesses struggle to keep up with and adapt to these fast changes. It is important, especially for marketers, to always be on the lookout for the next wave of changes and not settle for old ways of doing business.

Your current strategy may require a few tweaks from time to time to improve the results it offers. A few tweaks rather than a massive overhaul is often all it takes to take your campaign to whole new level. Here is a list of five tweaks worth implementing to transform your digital marketing.

1. Integrating Data Into All Your Marketing Decisions

Stop all digital marketing (and any other form of marketing) that is not data-driven. Business owners who continue marketing while ignoring data stand a high chance of heading into a storm of failure. Any content that you develop devoid of data will not produce the desired results either. Make sure you know exactly how much of your budget you are putting into a campaign and what you get out. Track everything!

2. SEO Should Remain a Priority

You will hear all manner of things regarding SEO. For example, some will tell you it’s dying, if not dead already. Well, you have a choice to make here. Either you believe them or you don’t. We would rather you continue prioritizing SEO though. Learn to prioritize SEO.

SEO isn’t a new concept. It’s critical to developing a highly effective digital marketing strategy. Good SEO helps ensures all your content is getting the attention it deserves. More quality traffic will result in more business.

3. Personalising Your Customer Experience

In many industries today, customers are demonstrating a bias towards companies that offer them personalised experiences. It’s not surprising that our lifestyle and interests often determine the choices we make. A highly intuitive group of marketers is necessary to map out and develop this kind of customer experience. Use tools like email automation, Messenger Marketing and other platforms that allow for action-based communication to create a personalised buying journey for each of your customers.

4. Making The Most of Your Website

Your website, if done well, can be one of the biggest assets in your business. Make sure the content on your website is of high quality, engaging and current, so visitors spend more time engaging with it. Make it easy for people to share your ideas using social sharing tools.

Ensure your website is capable of capturing leads by providing additional value to people who opt-in. Opt-in popups are a great way to capture engaged visitors.

Make your website responsive! In 2018, more than 80% of people visit a website on a mobile device. Failing to have a responsive website will not only result in lost visitors, but in lost business opportunities, too.

5. Improve Your Email Campaigns

A well-designed digital marketing strategy always incorporates email campaigns. Emails are not new tools in marketing. Since we already established that the world has moved on, we also have to change how we carry out our email campaigns.

How To Improve Your Email Campaigns:

  1. provide your customers with more value and content they will actually love
  2. being concise by passing the right message at the right time
  3. making the Calls to Action clear while creating a sense of urgency
  4. be consistent with your sending frequency, tone of voice, design and core message

Embrace segmentation and personalisation when developing your email marketing campaigns.

In fact, marketing automation often results in a drastic improvement of the email campaigns I run for my clients.

What are some tweaks that you have used in the past to improve the results and transform your digital marketing campaigns? Let me know in the comments below!

 

References

1 Comment/by