Rnordman

It seems like everybody is creating content for YouTube these days, and it's a good thing because it's a great source of entertainment . If you're looking to increase the view count on your own videos, these are the best days and hours to post.

Read more...

The average shopper likely thinks Amazon has the lowest prices anywhere on the web. 

That's not always true. In fact, Amazon will tweak its prices many times per hour (equaling millions of individual price changes per day), taking advantage of the psychology of price perception. 

Amazon does this with a clever strategy that makes it seem like it undercuts its competition more often than it does. It offers its biggest discounts on its most popular products, while making profits on less popular ones, according to an analysis by Boomerang Commerce, a dynamic pricing company founded by former Amazon employee Guru Hariharan (we first spotted the analysis thanks to Re/code's Jason Del Rey).

"Amazon may not actually be the lowest-priced seller of a particular product in any given season," the report reads, "But its consistently low prices on the highest viewed and best-selling items drive a perception among consumers that Amazon has the best prices overall – even better than Walmart."

One example Boomerang found was a popular $350 Samsung TV that Amazon price-tested for six months before discounting it to $250 on Black Friday. That price point undercut competitors and Amazon likely sold a bunch of TVs. However, at the same time Amazon discounted the TV, it jacked up the price of a HDMI cable that people would want to buy alongside the TV. Amazon knew the less popular item wouldn't affect price perception like the TV would, so it went with the price increase.

Boomerang also highlighted an example where Amazon priced a best-selling router 20% below Walmart's price, but a less popular model at 29% more expansive than it cost on Walmart:

Popular router:

Less popular router:

Boomerang points out that the idea of the price perception strategy isn't new, but that smaller companies that don't have Amazon's dynamic pricing software can find themselves trying to simply price-match across the board, which isn't as cost effective. Boomerang wants to offer those companies Amazon-like dynamic price optimization. As of now, it has clients like Staples, Sears, and GrouponGoods. 

SEE ALSO: GOOGLE'S $500 MILLION MAN: Meet The 'Weird' Guy Trying To Invent A New Computing Platform

Join the conversation about this story »

Here’s my bonus “Market Leadership for 2015” video looking at Value Leadership.

 
To get access to my best client winning tips by email, sign up below.
Get Free Instant Access »
 
You can catch the previous videos here:

• Thought Leadership
• Relationship Leadership
• Marketing Leadership

Transcript

Hi, it’s Ian here: welcome to the fourth, bonus video in my Market Leadership series.

So far I’ve talked about Thought Leadership, Relationship Leadership and Marketing leadership as being three key drivers to standing out in your market place, attracting clients to you and insulating yourself from price pressure.

This bonus video is about an additional strategy that can help you establish market leadership. One that’s perhaps less intuitive. It’s Value Leadership.

Value Leadership comes in two forms: the value you give to your clients, and the value you get in return – usually in the form of payment.

Being a leader in terms of the value you provide to your clients is the more obvious of the two.

If clients get more value from working with you than with anyone else, then clearly they’re going to want to keep working with you and recommend you to others. It also gives you better case studies and testimonials you can use to help get new clients.

Now obviously it’s accepted good practice to always be on the lookout for ways in which you can add more value to your clients when you’re working with them.

But sometimes we can get obsessed by deliverables and milestones and contracts and it’s important to step back every now and then and think about what our clients are really trying to achieve and how we can help them get more of that.

It’s also important to realise that you’ll naturally be able to deliver more value to some clients than others.

So for example if you provide consulting to help organisations retain their key staff, then you’ll be able to provide more value to an organisation with high staff turnover or where it’s especially difficult and costly to replace key people who leave than an organisation with low turnover and where its easy to find replacements.

They’ll get more from your services, they’ll be more delighted, and of course, they should be prepared to pay you more – especially if you use something like value based pricing.

Now the other side of Value Leadership is the value you get from your clients.

Now I’m not talking here about trying to claw every last penny from your client’s pockets. What I mean is that very often your clients would be very happy to take additional services or products from you and pay you well for them – but you just don’t have them available.

So let’s say you’re a sales trainer and you do live training courses for clients. There’s a limit on the number of courses you can fit into a year, and you clients can only free up their staff for a certain number of live training courses too.

But if you could offer some follow-up training and reinforcement on video or online on an ongoing basis after the live events then that would be great value to your clients because we all know that what you learn on training courses disappears pretty quickly if it’s not reinforced. And it’s something extra clients are often very happy to pay you for.

So instead of having a $10,000 client based purely on your live work you might have a $12,000 client or a $15,000 client because of the added value through the additional services.

Now the importance of that extra value to you isn’t just money in your pocket. That’s nice of course, but there’s something much more important.

Because if that client is now worth $12,000 or $15,000 to you but they’re only worth $10,000 to your competitors who don’t offer the additional services – it means you can afford to invest more than your competitors in terms of time and money in your marketing and sales to win that client.

And you still end up more profitable.

So if you think about it for a moment, that gives you a huge advantage in the marketplace.

If you can target the same clients as your competitors, but you can afford to spend more time and money marketing, building relationships, talking to them, working the decision network and still be as profitable or more profitable than those competitors then you should win a lot more clients simply because you can afford to invest more in winning those clients.

Another simple example: maybe you’re a professional speaker and you do keynotes at client conferences. If you can also do workshops and breakouts at those conferences (or have other team members who do them) – something most clients need to have anyway and would have to find someone to do for them – then you can more than double the income you get per client. And chances are your client would prefer to use you for any workshops anyway.

So again, compared to someone who only does keynotes you can afford to spend much more time with the client building relationships, fully understanding what they need, getting introductions to other people.

So you stand a much better chance of winning that client – all because you can get more value from them. And, of course, you’re also delivering more value to them – the two go hand in hand.

So something to think about for 2015 is your range of products and services.

Not just from the perspective of “if I created a new product would it sell?” But from the perspective of “can I create products and services that complement my current ones and allow me to earn more per client?”. It’s that value per client figure and increasing that that’s vital.

Because at the end of the day the person who gives and gets more value from each client they work with can afford to spend more time and money to win those clients.

And so all other things being equal, they’re far more likely to win them than their competitors who can’t give and get so much value. In other words, they can invest their way to Market Leadership.

So – that’s it for the big Market Leadership strategies for 2015. I hope you found them useful and I especially hope you’re going to put them into action in your own business.

If you want to get more stuff like this, then just subscribe below and I’ll see you again soon

The post Bonus Market Leadership Strategy: Value Leadership appeared first on How To Get Clients: Proven Strategies to Win More Clients.

Last fall, as the school year commenced, I finally had to come to terms with the crappy inkjet printers I’d collected over the years. My 10^th grader had just started a science class that required him to print his journal pages in full color – and I had two color inkjet printers that made that virtually impossible. My Lexmark would only print color and my HP wouldn’t print black ink. Both took forever to print one page and the ink cartridges were ridiculously expensive and seemingly always about to run out. Clearly this situation had to change.

After a few weeks of watching my son struggle to get print quality adequate to get a passing grade, I decided to sit down one Sunday afternoon and solve this problem once and for all. I had always preferred the HP’s interface so I decided that the Lexmark had to go. With that decision made I started HP’s methodical online process to troubleshoot the issue. An hour later, still unsuccessful, I decided to call HP customer service.

HP’s customer service rep was very efficient and friendly. As someone who’s had my fair share of retail jobs, I knew it wasn’t his fault. If only he could see my eye rolls and hear my deep sighs when he walked me through the exact steps I’d already taken the hour before! After another hour of working with the rep with no resolution, I made up my mind that I would never buy another inkjet printer.

Now, the question became, do I buy the LaserJet printer from HP or do I choose another retailer. I’m on the phone with HP so I figured I’d give them a chance to sell me a printer. The rep starts proposing different options and prices, and since I’m online, I promptly went to Amazon.com to see if I could get a better deal. I told him and he promptly started putting together various options to win my business.

Brands Can No Longer Afford to Ignore the End to End Digital Experience

We finally agreed on the specific printer and price I would pay. Then came the shipping and timeline. Again, this was Sunday afternoon and I really didn’t want to go into another school week with my crappy, ink-challenged inkjets. He offered me free two-day shipping and I thought that was a decent deal. By this point I was exhausted, had spent almost three hours on a Sunday trying to resolve this issue and just wanted to buy the printer so I could finally do my laundry and grocery shopping. I go to get my credit card and the first thing he says is:

I’m going to have to put you on hold for a moment.

I need to get my manager, I cannot accept your credit card information.

Yes, I’m about to give HP my money and the rep puts me on hold.

I sit there for about a minute, then had an epiphany. Staples is right around the corner from my home and probably has the exact printer that I want. I went to staples.com, saw that they had the printer I wanted, and hung up on HP. Of course, the rep called me right back, but I screened him with caller ID.

I left right away, walked into my local Staples and bought my new HP Laserjet printer. I had it loaded in my car and was on my way in less than 30 minutes. Problem solved.

So what’s the point? I use this as an object lesson for why brands can no longer afford to ignore the problem of end-to-end digital experience management.  Every one of us has had an experience like this, likely as recently as this past weekend.

Great Products and Optimized Channels are No Longer Enough

HP is a huge company with a ton of smart people. By many measures they’ve done a lot of things right:

1. Their website is very thorough and provides an immense well of information to troubleshoot your own problems; in fact, the troubleshooting steps are nicely integrated with my computer operating system so I didn’t even have to search for help.
2. Their customer service rep was extremely friendly and professional and used a consistent process to troubleshoot issues—imagine if he’d taken me through different steps to come to the same conclusion. That would’ve been even more frustrating.
3. The rep was empowered to make offers and put together solutions that would entice me to buy – HP knows his role is both servicing and selling.
4. HP has great products … I’ve always loved my HP products. I’ve found them superior in design, particularly their user interfaces. They are very easy to set up and use … my HP Laserjet printer is “the bomb” by the way. Fast, quiet, and stellar quality at a reasonable price.

Each of HP’s channels actually operate as they should, and their products are world class. So what’s wrong with that?

Managing the End-to-End Digital Experience is Now Cost of Entry

So what could HP have done differently? Well, there are a ton of things, but here are the top 5 in my view:

1. Quick Access to Customer Browsing History: HP’s rep started the conversation from the standpoint that I had never tried to troubleshoot the problem and went straight to calling them on the phone. He knew who I was based on my product registration and previous warrantee. Why wasn’t he able to pull up my browsing history while we were on the phone to see which pages I’d already viewed? That would’ve taken less than a minute and could’ve saved us both a lot of frustration.
2. Rationalize Pricing Across Distribution Channels: HP’s pricing across its distribution channels is confusing and far from customer friendly. At a minimum, shouldn’t I be able to get a better price from HP for an HP printer than anywhere else? What’s more, shouldn’t HP anticipate that callers to their customer service line who are interested in purchasing a replacement printer have ready access to competitor pricing?
3. Match Competitor Shipping Options: HP’s rep offered me free, two-day shipping. All he had to do is ask me and I would’ve told him that I get one-day shipping for most items through my Amazon Prime membership. The rep needs to be more inquisitive about the competition in order to really make a compelling case to buy from HP.
4. Understand Customer Journeys: I’ll have to confess if you haven’t figured it out: I’m a middle-aged mom. Surely HP has a customer journey map for middle-aged moms of teens who need printers that crank out color pages quickly and with a minimum of fuss and bother! If HP’s rep understood my journey and why I needed to buy a printer, he would’ve understood that the key driver of my decision-making wasn’t cost, but speed. He should’ve proactively offered me one-day shipping, because of who I am.
5. Streamline Selling for Customer Service Reps: Finally, and this is one of the most obvious, HP’s reps need to be empowered to process a transaction. Instead of putting me on hold—which should be the last resort—why not send me a link to a place where I can enter my credit card information. Yes, it may have taken a bit more time, but when a customer is ready to buy, never, ever put a hurdle in front of them.

Having warm leads may make your feel that half the battle is won, and you may be right, but, if you don’t tread carefully with how you handle your warm leads, all of your efforts on acquiring them may all end up for naught.

It’s exactly because of this that it’s important to still make the right marketing and sales decisions so you can turn your warm leads to actual paying customers. If that’s what you’re looking to do, then this guide is definitely what you’re looking for.

Allow me to share with you these 10 insanely effective tips to nurture your warm leads into buying customers.

1.) Provide a sample of your product or service

Some leads just need a bit more push to convert them into buying customers. A sample of your product that can give them a taste of what they can get if they do purchase is a good start.

What better way to show them how much they can benefit from your product than allowing them to sample it, right?

Depending on your product’s quality and your prospect’s needs, they can easily make the decision on whether to buy or not when they’ve already sampled your product.

2.) Create strategic relationships by introducing your lead to another one

Here’s scenario, you have a lead that’s all about construction services that’s looking for someone from the real estate niche to connect with, your business is purely about internet marketing, and you have another lead that’s all about real estate that’s looking for someone whom they can throw their construction needs to.

If you introduce lead 1 to lead 2, they can surely benefit from it – and you too! You’ll help solve both of their problems by doing the introduction. Of course, when you’re a problem solver, they won’t think twice about doing business with you.

If you’re looking for a tool to help you with more leads, you can use aeroleads.com. You simply have to type in the keywords that would best describe the kind of lead that you’re looking for then click “Get data”. At that point, it’ll give you your prospect’s contact info like their email address.

3.) Expound on the benefits of your product to add value on what your leads already know

One of the reasons why warm leads are “warm” is because they already have a slight idea of what your product can do – and they’re open to it.

The emphasis is placed on the word “slight”, because they still don’t know enough about your product to make them buy. Look for ways to tell them about the added benefits of your products, tell them about the testimonials of your existing and previous customers to make them feel secure about it.

4.) Streamline how you manage your warm leads by using online tools

Managing your leads through your online activities can be such a grueling task. I’ve got good news, though; it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right online tools, managing your leads should be a cinch.

You can use tools like inboundio.com. With tools like these, you can run drip marketing campaigns, social media marketing campaigns, and even creating landing pages all in one place. Most of these tools are also very user friendly so you don’t have to worry about not being techy enough.

5.) Make good use of your marketing collaterals

You can’t expect your leads to retain all of the information that you’ve shared with them; nobody has the brain capacity for that. Use all of your marketing collaterals properly and leave them with something they can review over and over again. Having a brochure or sending them a PDF file of what your product can do will constantly help them clarify any other questions that they may have in mind.

6.) Make sure that your product knowledge is spot on

Warm leads that are generated through them proactively connecting with you may be a double edged sword when you start talking to them.

Why is that, you might ask?

Well, the initial concern is that they already know about your product and may be inquiring to compare your product with a competition. If they start asking questions about your product and you don’t know it inside out, you’ll end up looking less capable in their eyes. That of course, can lead to them doubting your credibility and your product’s as well.

7.) Connect with them through various social media platforms

It may come as a pleasant surprise to your leads that you put in the effort to connect with them over social media. It increases your chances of interacting with them as well. Take advantage of the opportunities opened up because of these connections by following up for feedback from leads or bring up their concerns to them.

8.) Be prepared with the possible questions and concerns that your leads might be throwing at you

In most cases, warm leads remain warm because they still have concerns that are left un-answered, if they didn’t, they would have already bought your product. It’s then up to you to answer any of the questions that they might bring up.

At this point, you need to be very confident with how you answer them. Your confidence (or lack of it), will show and that element can make or break the sale.

9.) Make your presence known even when you aren’t in contact with your lead.

Include your contact in your mailing list so you may send them updates about your product or give them additional material for them to read. There are a couple of tools on the internet that can help you with this.

However, if you acquired your leads through methods where they didn’t sign up for your email newsletter, be sure to ask for permission if you want to include them in your email list.

Straight-up sending them your newsletter without first asking for their permission can be quite a turn off for them. You need to make the effort to ensure that your newsletters aren’t viewed as spam. Otherwise, you’ll lose its effectivity, or worse, you’ll end up breaking relationships.

10.) Interact with your leads online especially on topics related to your product or business

They may have status updates on Facebook or twitter that you can chime in on. Be there to answer their questions but not looking too much as a salesman.

This would show them two things, one is that you are concerned about them; another is that you may just have what they need.

What’s next?

If you have additional tips, questions or ideas that you’d like to share on how to nurture leads into buying customers, please do so in the comments section below. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

A few professional scientists have found a sneaky way to cheat their way up the career ladder: They evaluate their own research by pretending to be someone else. Scientists publish their research findings through academic journals, which check the work with independent experts before running with it. This independent checking is called peer review. But journals have retracted dozens […]

Here are seven accessories that will help you take better photos and videos with your smartphone.

It’s nearly two weeks into 2015—how are your resolutions going? Have you even started them yet? If one of your resolutions was to actually start them within two weeks of the New Year then you know that one of the hardest parts of a task is just starting it. Well, new research shows that there might be some ways to help get you going on reaching your 2015 goals.

Researchers from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management found that implementing certain tactics, which manipulate our perception of time, are quite effective, despite being somewhat simplistic.

In one experiment, the researchers asked 295 male farmers in India to set up a bank account and to save a certain amount of money within a six-month period. As an incentive they would also be given extra money. The participants were split into two groups: one group was approached in June with a deadline of December that year; the second group was approached in July with a deadline of January the next year.

The study’s authors found that the farmers in the first group were more likely to set up an account right away, despite both groups having the same amount of time. The researchers say it’s because the first group’s deadline was in the same year as when they got the assignment and therefore it seemed more like the present. When the experiment was conducted on undergraduates and M.B.A. students in North America, the findings were similar.

In a separate experiment, the researchers found that participants were more likely to start working on a task whose deadline fell in the current month rather than in the next month, even though the number of days to finish the task was the same.

Colour also played a role influencing the perception of time and having participants complete an assignment . By organizing a series of calendar days in the same colour, like red, with an assignment occurring on the first “red” day and the deadline scheduled for the last “red” day, people were more likely to complete the task because it made the future deadline seem like the present rather than the future.

So if you’re kicking yourself for not starting on those New Year’s resolutions yet, or disappointed for ditching them altogether so soon into 2015, try these mind tricks, because, well, there’s no time like the present.

MORE:

• Why the day after Labour Day is the perfect time to start a new work habit
• How Hootsuite built a truly cool office (that makes people work harder)
• Why you should allow employees to invent their own job titles

The post How to trick your brain into meeting your deadlines appeared first on Canadian Business.

OTTAWA – One of Canada’s biggest banks says sliding oil prices could turn the federal government’s promised 2015-16 surplus into a deficit.

A report by TD Bank is projecting Ottawa to run a $2.3-billion shortfall next fiscal year rather than the $1.6-billion surplus predicted by the government in November — before oil prices fell further.

The bank also says the government’s $4.3-billion surplus projection for 2016-17 is on track to become a $600-million deficit unless new revenue-generating or cost-cutting measures are introduced.

TD, however, says the deficit estimates are still smaller than the government’s $3-billion reserve set aside for contingencies — which would help keep Ottawa in surplus territory.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised his government will balance the books in 2015-16 despite tumbling oil prices.

The Bank of Canada is scheduled to address the economic impact of falling oil prices in a speech by deputy governor Timothy Lane.

The TD report also says low oil prices will make it difficult for the Conservative government to deliver on two outstanding 2011 campaign pledges: an adult fitness tax credit and doubling the annual contribution limit on tax-free savings accounts.

The post Oil-price collapse to keep Harper government in deficit: TD report appeared first on Canadian Business.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” W. Edwards Deming and Peter Drucker.

When your initiatives are backed by data, they become more predictable, leading to better planning and growth results. While a lot of businesses talk about having a data driven marketing approach, very few talk about how it is done.

There are few exceptions, like the latest session from Sachin Uppal who was in Pune for a day at the Sokrati office to share his thoughts on “How a data driven approach to manage digital business leads to better results”. Sachin, the Marketing Director at RummyCircle.com also backed up his hour long exciting talk with multiple real life case studies from his eight year work experience at the online skill-based gaming site.

Online business and Why have a Data Driven Approach

After the quick round of introductions and by the time Sachin had moved from his agenda slide, the open space at one end of Sokrati’s office was already packed with no signs of Monday blues. Not sure if the team was super excited about the latest funding round, at least the founders were.

With the first few slides focusing on what an online business is and why have a data driven approach, Sachin set the environment for the rest of the evening. Moving ahead, he elaborated on Tools and Techniques, but not before sharing this Dilbert cartoon.

One of the methods that he highly recommended was A/B Testing; it came as a big help during decision making at RummyCircle. Smaller data sample tests along with Regression Analysis and Big Data have also been of help. He explained how he has used them while covering the case studies at a later stage of his presentation.

Before moving to real life case studies, Sachin also touched upon the Business Intelligence structure RummyCircle has at its end. Half an hour into the session and he moved on to explaining the data driven approach via four case studies. A section that most of us were waiting for given the majority of digital natives in the audience.

Case Study 1: Acquisition – Consumer Behavior and Preferences

Before the Tiger Global funding, Sachin’s CEO came up with a thought that he should scale up acquisitions while keeping the cost per acquisition (CPA) low. A tricky situation for a startup that is yet to find base in the market.

To overcome this situation, the approach taken was Full Funnel Optimization (FFO). This meant optimizing media buys to reduce cost, optimizing creatives to improve conversions thereby leading to reduced costs or leads and optimizing the landing page, to increase Click to Visit Rate and Visit to Lead Rates.

For optimizing media buys, RummyCircle opted for micro targeting with structured spends since their belief was that aggregated demographic targeting was leading to increase in CPA. The experiment worked and the CPA’s were down by 10%.

For optimizing creatives, the lesson learnt was that not only simplicity in communication is required but audiences also need a problem that they think is challenging as well as quickly solvable.

The team arrived at this insight after they carried out a simple experiment. “We made two versions of an ad to test if Absolute Simplicity in Interactive Banner works better than Moderate Complexity,” said Sachin. The outcome is shown in the below visual:

The insight for the team was that while Absolute Simplicity drives higher clicks, it doesn’t drive higher conversions as audience needed a challenging but quickly solvable problem.

For optimizing the landing page, Sachin chose A/B testing to start with. “Initially we didn’t have a landing page and user registration to re-market the users. We carried several A/B tests to understand what works and what doesn’t.” He cited an example on how changing text of “Register Now” to “Register Free” increased click rates.

Case Study 2: Product – Design, Pricing and Revenue optimization

Optimizing the Shopping Cart since RummyCircle is real money online game was one of the product challenges. This was again achieved by running multiple A/B tests. One of the tests that Sachin talked was about splitting users entering the funnel into two groups randomly.

Tests showed that giving fewer choices helped player to make quick decisions. Besides the propensity to deposit higher amounts reduces when lower amounts are available. In other words when RummyCircle removed the Rs. 25 group, users opted for Rs 100 deposit rather than quitting the game.

Case Study 3: Retention – Big Data Predictive Analysis

One of the problems that RummyCircle faced was that a significant portion of players did not respond beyond first day even if they had deposits on the site. It was then decided to incentivize players sitting on the fence to return to play.

RummyCircle then performed Predictive Analytics with Data Mining on the customer data and came up with the list of players who are Fence Sitters and Enthusiasts. The fence sitters were then provided a 200% bonus incentive if they return with the offer valid only for a day. The campaign worked and over a period of two months, an ROI of 62% was achieved.

Case Study 4: Risk Management – Case for automation

By the time Sachin landed on the fourth case study, his talk had more than 60 enthusiastic minds listening keenly to him.

He spoke about how automation of processes actually benefits online businesses if it makes customers life easy. RummyCircle believes that it is a skill based game so it should be entertainment. Hence the game has put limits on players early on, so that they don’t lose too much of cash when they are amateurs. Besides to protect players’ and manage risk, RummyCircle follows a KYC process before they increase limit. However, the challenge was that KYC process was slow and customers hesitated to share identity documents.

To meet this challenge, the company decided to increase KYC verified players without a monetary incentive. Instead the company offered a faster service of withdraws for KYC verified players. The Time Series experiment got an increment of 200% verified members.

Another Time Series experiment by RummyCircle was to automate the document uploading process. The result: KYC verified players are now 1200% higher/day and it’s sustaining.

In conclusion, Sachin touched upon future trends, social gaming and how mobile will drive the growth for RummyCircle in 2015. Embedded below is Sachin’s presentation of the evening:

The floor was opened for remaining questions which revolved around social media marketing strategy, the impact of mobile, risk management process and finally why the re-branding from Play Games24x7 Pvt. Ltd. to Rummy Circle.

Sachin answered all of them while being politically correct at times. He informed that email and SEO worked better than Facebook ads and mobile will drive growth even though the infrastructure is a problem in the country. To check bots and other malpractices, the company has intelligent algorithms but certain challenges like breaking the nexus between common rummy players still exist.

By now the clock indicated that it was more than 90 minutes and hence certain questions were left for offline discussion. A round of tea and snacks served by Sokrati called it the end of an insightful event.

Web traffic from social media is quickly catching up to – and by some claims, surpassing – traffic from search engines. This makes both your SEO and SMM strategies integral to reaching your customers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean trying to earn the most shares on every platform. It’s important to understand how social goals support the bigger picture of your marketing plan and then optimize your strategy to reach those benchmarks.

With this in mind, BuzzStream and Fractl recently collaborated to research content strategies and social outcomes. By analyzing 220 websites from high- and low-engagement publishers in 11 verticals, they determined key differences that could improve your digital marketing ROI.

Why a vertical-specific approach matters

Improving the ROI on your digital strategies starts with first understanding the potential of your investment. Content designed to appeal to audiences in the health vertical, for example, will not yield the same reach and volume of shares as content in the news vertical. Barring the variables of a wildly viral story or an unfortunate publication flub that buries an exclusive, the difference in potential reach between these two verticals is a striking 2,115 percent.

As you might expect, although the news vertical attracts 22x the shares of the health vertical, it also attracts a corresponding volume of pitches from content marketers, making it one of the most competitive verticals in which to earn placements. While this distinction is the most extreme of the verticals in our study, it serves to illustrate two important points:

1. Strategists must research and account for the potential of their target vertical in order to set realistic social media benchmarks.
2. The resulting approach to content design and promotion should be scaled appropriately.

To break through the noise and earn placements and social shares in competitive verticals, content must be especially high-quality and bring value to the publishers and audience to which it will be promoted. It may cost more to develop new or unique angles for content, which makes it even more important to identify, invest, and strategize wisely to achieve your goals.

Targeting Outreach to Achieve Social Goals

Evaluating target publishers first involves deciding on your social goals and how they will serve your greater business goals. For example, high-engagement sites can offer the possibility of exposure to a wide audience for your content, but potentially only for a short period of time as a large volume of newer stories arrive and replace older content. Conversely, lower-engagement publishers may not have large social readership but can offer longer exposure to highly segmented niche audiences.

Consider such dynamics as you think about the content you’re designing for each stage of the buying cycle. Assets that best serve the consideration stage (in which consumers typically spend more time comparing data and reviews among a variety of buying options) may benefit from placement with sites that have a dedicated and targeted, if socially smaller, audience.

Content geared towards the awareness stage (designed to increase recognition of needs and association with your brand) may be more strategically placed with higher-engagement publishers. Depending on your strategy, the publishers that best fit your goals may not be the publishers that will earn the most shares – an outcome to consider in your social media benchmark planning.

To determine whether a particular publisher fits with your content goals, evaluate these five factors:

1. Existing coverage of topics related to your campaign
2. Volume of shares its content has recently earned on various social platforms
3. Volume of shares earned for keywords related to your campaign and vertical
4. Total shares averaged for each piece of content
5. The site’s Domain Authority

An analysis of these criteria will help you create a picture of the social shares you could expect to achieve with targeted outreach. But this insight is only half of the picture when it comes to optimizing your digital marketing efforts.

Where (and when) to target customers

If you were to consider Facebook shares as the most meaningful metric of a publisher’s social engagement, you would undeniably be looking at larger numbers than those for nearly every other social network. The social media giant earns an average of 340 percent more shares per week than the other networks, making it impossible to ignore in your social strategy.

However, significant portions – and in some cases, more highly targeted portions – of your potential customer base may be more likely to see and share your content on other platforms. High-engagement food publications are a perfect example: 51 percent of their traffic comes from Pinterest alone. Similarly, 21 percent of high-engagement business publications earn their social shares from LinkedIn, and 31 percent of low-engagement technology publications’ shares are earned from Twitter.

These trends make it essential that content is designed to resonate on the channels on which it is most likely to earn traction. High-quality photos and visualizations are a must for campaigns intended to earn shares on Pinterest, while insightful analyses are more often circulated on LinkedIn. Planning content for success across multiple channels will also ensure that your message isn’t lost in an algorithm change on a single network.One final factor to consider in your content strategy: timing. Our research found that peak sharing times varied among verticals, swinging as widely as 23 percent over the course of 48 hours in the business vertical and 20 percent in the same time frame in the food vertical. Across every vertical we found that weekends were a low point for sharing, but the fact remains that vertical-specific trends in sharing days can make an important difference in the potential shares your content will earn.

The bottom line? A generic search for “best day to promote content” or “which social platform earns most shares” won’t help your digital strategy – unless you take the time to look closely at these questions in relation to the specific audience you want to reach.

Want to see specific trends for each vertical? Download the sharing results for 20 high- and low-engagement publishers – including keywords, influencers, top domains, platforms, and publishing times.

The post Lessons Learned from Conducting Two Monster Audience Surveys appeared first on Copyblogger.

Now more than ever, people have come to expect an optimal browing experience. Mobile has disrupted what this means, bringing forth a number of different types of user has disrupted what this means, bringing forth a number of different types of user experience. Often, this is a good thing. But sometimes, what feels like progress can actually be a step backwards. Many web developers are moving to responsive design websites to consolidate their web strategy, but this decision can be a setback for long-term success.

When determining how to best capture and convert traffic for your brand on every device, it’s important to keep in mind all of your web design options: (1) responsive web design, (2) a mobile website, and (3) a dedicated app.

Responsive design dynamically adapts websites to different screensizes (desktop, tablet smartphones by leveraging one set of code. The advantage of this approach is that the website’s content and features are the same across devices and the user interface adapts automatically. This means that companies can reach their customers across any device without the need of a separate mobile site.

Both mobile websites and apps involve developing a product distinct from your brand’s primary site and instead tailored to mobile dimensions. At face value, this seems like a lot of work, money, and resource for a minimal return. But when we dig deeper, we find that development costs and time to build mobile sites only slightly outweigh those for responsive design.

While responsive sites do offer the simplicity of maintaining a single website, simple isn’t always better. Take, for example, an online travel booking website. A recent Webtrends survey revealed that 41 percent of travelers do their research using a mobile device (smartphone or tablet), but prefer to book with their desktop or laptop (55 percent).

Of those surveyed, 31 percent preferred booking on their desktop because of the small size of the mobile screen.

Given the number of steps involved in an average travel purchase, a simpler site that doesn’t offer horizontal navigation or requires more scrolling may run the risk of alienating its loyal desktop users. It’s important to keep in mind that the features we take for granted in desktop web design can be difficult to reproduce for responsive websites.

Before selecting a mobile solution, it’s essential to dedicate substantial time to really understanding the intent behind your customer’s behavior, rather than the behavior itself. Let’s say only 20% of your monthly visitors access your site with a mobile device. This may indicate that you should dedicate more resources to the larger desktop user base, but it could also indicate that the experience of using your site on mobile is dreadful.

Engagement metrics can guide this decision to a point, but analytics are based on trends and the way consumers are interacting with the product at hand. Why not give them something better? While mobile transactions continue to increase, user behavior also continues to change, and it may not follow the trajectory we expect. What won’t change is the reason your customer loves your brand.

Don’t compromise—optimize. In web design, the best of both worlds is a myth. You may think your responsive site will look pretty good on the new iPhone, not too bad on an Android tablet, and just fine on the desktop. Unfortunately, responsive sites are not device-agnostic, and “just fine” will likely translate to “terrible” or effectively “unusable.” Over the lifetime of your brand, an incrementally higher cost and time investment will result in a far superior experience for your customer—and for you.

Here’s the bottom line: until responsive design makes major advances, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The priority of any website is to give the user what they expect. A single design that contorts itself to fit the device of choice often disrupts the user experience and, therefore, the user. More options in the mobile age doesn’t just mean more types of design—it means when your customer feels frustrated, they can head elsewhere.

It is easy to get lost in social media networking and forget about traditional physical networking.

However, they complement each other and require convergence.

In a previous post, Networking Convergence: When Digital Meets Physical, I shared this definition:

“Networking convergence is a planned process to integrate an individual’s social media and physical networking for the greater benefit of personal branding, job search, and career.”

In this blog post I will provide specific strategies for converging physical networking with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is for Making and Managing Connections.

“Networking on LinkedIn is a lot like riding an elevator at your favorite company ready to make your pitch at the drop of a hello, with hopes that someone important will step on and take you to the top.”

Your first likely impulse for using LinkedIn is to copy/upload the contents of your resume to your LinkedIn profile, then sit back and wait for the magic to happen.

It won’t.

Three important actions are needed, you should: (1) build your LinkedIn profile to the profile strength of an All-Star, (2) social share career relevant content so others will get to know and remember you, and (3) connect your LinkedIn to real life.

A strategy to connect your LinkedIn to real life begins by making connections (part 1), and continues with the managing of your connections (part 2).

How to Connect.

Unlike Twitter and very much like Facebook, LinkedIn is a closed network requiring a two-way connection process.  In other words, connections only occur with mutual consent.

Plus, LinkedIn goes to great lengths to protect the privacy and professionalism of their social network members by: (1) recommending that you only connect with people you know, and (2) providing obstacles and restrictions if others reject your invitations with a “Spam” or a “I don’t know” this person.

While some potential connections are fearless networking LIONs (LinkedIn Open Networkers) and willing to connect with anyone, others are fearful pussy cats and refuse to connect with those they do not know personally.

It is important to look at a potential connection as: (1) a cold connection lead (do not know you; no prior relationship), (2) a warm connection lead (do not know you; with prior relationship and/or mutual career interests), or (3) a hot connection lead (do know you; with prior relationship and/or mutual career interests).  Obviously, your greatest potential for a connection is with the warm and hot leads.

According to LinkedIn, the most common tools for connecting with others include:

1. Invitations.

a. You can send an Invitation to a potential connection when there is a prior relationship/experience (such as: a work colleague, education classmate, or a “we’ve done business together” work client). This requires a shared work or education experience element in your profile [warm or hot connection leads].

b. You can send an Invitation to a potential connection when you have the email of the potential connection. This is particularly relevant for someone you already know (and they know you), just met through physical networking, and/or someone with mutual career interests [warm or hot connection leads].

c. You can send an Invitation to potential connections that you find with a People Search, through People You May Know, or when using LinkedIn Mobile Apps. All you have to do is press the Connect button (may still require an email). These potential connections may know you, may have a prior relationship, or may share mutual career interests with you [cold, warm, or hot connection leads].

Warning: In some instances this Invitation method may allow you to Connect with one click using the default generic invitation rather than the opportunity to write a personalized invitation.  This is okay if it is with someone who definitely knows you. Otherwise, it could result in an “I don’t know” rejection. Thus it is always best to click through to their profile and send a personalized invitation to connect rather accidentally sending a generic invitation.

2. Introductions.

You can get Introduced to a second-degree connection through an existing first-degree connection.  While these potential connections do not know you, they do know and connect with one of your direct contacts and may have mutual career interests [warm connection leads].

3. InMail Messages.

You can use a paid InMail message to request a connection with someone who has no prior relationships/experiences with you, you do not have their email address, or you do not have a direct connection with one of your connections.  In other words, it is someone who could be an important addition to your LinkedIn network, but you have no other way to connect [warm connection leads].

Regardless of which tool or above method is used to make a connection, it is critical to avoid an “I don’t know” rejection by always using a personalized invitation with an opening explaining your recent meeting, the specifics of a prior relationship/experience, or a mutual career interest.  A recent blog post by Careerealism provides some must-use tips for writing your personalized invitation to connect with someone on LinkedIn.

“With LinkedIn connection invitations: personalize rather than generalize.”

13 LinkedIn Connection Strategies.

As is recommended by LinkedIn, you should start by connecting with the people you know.

Based on your current and past career-related work and education relationships, experiences, and career interests, you can easily identify and send personalized invitations to connect on LinkedIn.

Of course, your priorities are those potential connections that are career stakeholders that may have an influence on your personal learning, skills development, personal brand, job search, or career advancement.

Your connections strategies should include:

1. Current Contacts.

Your first effort to find and connect with people you know is through your professional or work email contacts. To quickly find them on LinkedIn, just go to LinkedIn>Connections>Add Connections and import your email contacts into LinkedIn. This should help identify many of the potential connections that you already know (career stakeholders) or do business with (work colleagues, clients, suppliers, etc.).

Advanced Tip: You should be selective with your invites and don’t automatically invite all of your email contacts.  LinkedIn allows only 3,000 invitations initiated in your lifetime, so don’t waste an invitation with your customer service contacts, etc.

Type of connection lead: hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email.

2. Current & Past Work Experiences.

Think about your current and past work (full and part-time), internships (paid and non-paid), and volunteer experiences so you can add these experiences/elements to your LinkedIn profile. Then conduct an Advanced People Search>Company from these shared experiences to find those that know you and connect with them (past and present work colleagues and supervisors; past and present clients). Pay particular attention to those that know you well enough to potentially endorse or recommend you for your career-related skills and qualifications.

However, it is also important to connect with those whom you currently work with so you can learn more about their qualifications, their career history/successes, and their current thinking and interests as illustrated by their social activity.  At the same time, your work connections will learn more specifics about your personal brand, qualifications, and career ambitions.  Often, the best job and career opportunities are found within your own employer through promotions or lateral job changes.

Type of connection lead: hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/colleague, invitation/we’ve done business together.

3. Current & Past Education Experiences.

Next, conduct an Advanced People Search>School to identify those from your educational experiences that know you (past and present classmates and professors). More specifically, search by name to find those who could endorse or recommend you on your LinkedIn profile.

Whether realized or not, your past or present professors play an important role as a career stakeholder.  The professors that know and remember you will relish following your career successes and are often a conduit for new job opportunities coming from local businesses, recruiters, and alumni.  Therefore, it is a beneficial career move to connect and keep your personal brand “top of mind.”

Type of connection lead: hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/classmate, invitation/friend.

4. Friends & Family Referrals.

You should connect with family, friends, and friends of family and friends. If you believe in the theory of “six degrees of separation,” there is good possibility that a family member or friend knows someone who knows someone (and so on) at a targeted company. If you do not share a work or education experience in your LinkedIn profile, then you may need their email in order to connect.

A referral strategy is a powerful tool for the job search. The Muse provides some good advice for enlisting family in your job search.

Type of connection lead: warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/friend, introduction.

5. Alumni Networking.

You should also connect with those in your school’s alumni networks or school’s LinkedIn groups. In some cases, you may find that your school has one or more alumni groups where your mutual educational experiences provide a good reason to connect. For example, my University and my Business School both have alumni groups on LinkedIn.

Since you have already connected with those from your education that you know (#3 above), the purpose of this strategy is to look within your alumni groups for potential career connections in: (1) career targeted companies, (2) those with whom you could learn from with informational interviews or as career mentors, and (3) those on career paths of professional interest. Career Rocketeer provides some excellent advice for networking with alumni.

Type of connection lead: warm.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/classmates, introduction.

6. Career-Focused Groups. 

Next, you should identify other LinkedIn groups with like-minded career interests, join these groups, and seek out potential connections there, too. Look for career-focused groups that are native or exclusive to LinkedIn (such as: Content Marketing Academy or Personal Branding Network), as well as national and local trade and industry membership groups that provide physical opportunities to attend meetings and network (such as: local clubs and professional organizations, trade associations, business and service organizations).

Advanced Tip: Even with the larger and native LinkedIn groups, you can conduct a Member>Search>City within the group to find members that are local.

Type of connection lead: warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/education, introduction, InMail.

7. Local Career-Focused Search.

You should conduct a career-related keyword search with a local filter in LinkedIn. For example, I can go to Advanced People Search using keywords “social media” with a “located in or near” a specific zip code to find which of my current LinkedIn Connections are local, or to find new career-related connections that are local.

Type of connection lead: warm.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/education, introduction, InMail.

8. Career & Industry Influencers.

If familiar with important influencers in your career focus, you should seek them out on LinkedIn, too. These influencers may be those you already follow and learn from on Twitter or Google Plus, popular book authors, speakers, or bloggers in your career focus.

Since fewer people are social sharing on LinkedIn compared to other social media (such as Twitter) and the connection networks are smaller, it is often easier to get noticed and to engage and interact with these influencers on LinkedIn.  Then, if you happen to attend a conference or event where they are speaking, they may just remember you.  Also, if these influencers have 500+ connections, this is a good sign that they are willing to connect with like-minds.

Advanced Tip: As an alternative to connecting, you can choose to Follow your targeted influencer’s social shares and blog posts to add to your personal learning network (PLN).

Type of connection lead: warm.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, introduction, InMail.

9. Career & Industry Conference Attendees. 

If you regularly attend or plan to attend a career focused conference or any conference that your current contacts or potential new contacts may attend, it is important to connect on LinkedIn with them in advance. After registering, you may have an opportunity to obtain a list of speakers and attendees (look on conference website or just ask conference organizers) or there may be a special LinkedIn group for attendees. Since these are career like-minded people, a personal invitation explaining this could result in pre-conference connections.

As you meet others at the conference, exchange business cards and send an invitation to connect when you return to your room in the evening. Brazen Careerist best explains how to network at a conference.

Type of connection lead: warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/education, introduction, InMail.

10. Targeted Potential Employers or Companies. 

Also, identify your targeted companies for potential employment, career interest, or business prospecting, and connect with their career relevant employees (such as: managers and hiring decision makers).

Even if you choose not to connect with them, you can still learn a lot about a company by reviewing their employees’ profiles and social sharing activities. An Advanced People Search can help you to identify any prior relationships, such as education or work.

Advanced Tip: Prior to a job interview or a client meeting, you should connect with those you are expected or scheduled to meet with. Then you can gather advance insight into their background (career path, past work and educational experiences) and career interests (based on their social share activity and group memberships).

Type of connection lead: warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/education, introduction, InMail.

11.Other Social Media Connections.

You should also consider identifying key career-related connections from your other social media networking (such as: Twitter, Google Plus, etc.) and search by their name to find and connect with them. Ideally, you should do this with those whom you have previously engaged/interacted with on social media and are more likely to recognize your name. Give priority to those that are local and offer a greater likelihood of a physical meeting and networking.

Type of connection lead: warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, invitation/friend, introduction, InMail.

12. Those Inviting You to Connect. 

With each connection request received, you should click through to review their profile and recent activity rather than blindly clicking the Accept button.

Just ask yourself these questions: (1) Do I already know this person? (2) Do I want to know this person? (3) Is this person connected with another of my connections? (4) Even if I do not know this person, do we share an education or work experience? (5) Is this person local and with other important local connections? (6) Can I learn from this person’s social sharing activity? (7) Will this person add value to my LinkedIn network and/or career?

Advanced Tip: Beware of potential connections that may only want you for your contact information (such as: phone number, email, direct messaging). If a new connection begins sending unwanted solicitations, over promotes themselves, dominates your Updates stream with excessive posting, or just generally annoys you, then you can simply remove them as a connection.  Poof, they are gone. However, they may have already harvested your contact information to continue annoying you in all the wrong places.

“With LinkedIn connections: scrutinize before you socialize.”

Type of connection lead: cold, warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: no tools needed; just Accept or Decline.

13. Who’s Viewed Your Profile.

Anyone who has viewed your profile is a potential connection worthy of consideration. These may include: (1) those who find you through any of the above connection strategies, (2) social recruiters searching for job candidates, (3) you were recommended by LinkedIn’s People You May Know, or (4) you viewed their profile, so they reciprocated.

If not already a connection, you should evaluate their potential as a connection (see #12 above), and send a personal invitation to those that could add value to your LinkedIn network.

Type of connection lead: cold, warm, hot.

Best tools for connecting: invitation/email, introduction, InMail.

The Take-Away.

The most common use of LinkedIn as a digital resume is never enough for success with personal branding, job search, or career.

Additionally, you should converge your social media networking on LinkedIn with your physical networking.

While the strategic use of LinkedIn for networking convergence begins by connecting with people you know, it should continue with people you want to know, people who know people you want to know, and people you want to learn from.

What are your ideas or convergence strategies for connecting on LinkedIn?

Image credit: by Denny McCorkle

This article originally appeared on Digital Self Marketing Advantage and has been republished with permission.

2014 was the year when marketing budgets soared, with digital accounting for 25% of the marketing budget. ^[1] Compare that to predictions for the next 5 years, when digital will count for more than 75% of marketing budgets worldwide. ^[2] The marketing landscape is changing at a breakneck pace, and it is high time that the modern marketer sits up and takes notice of the tremendous opportunities that new and emerging technology and media have to offer. Here, I look at some of the trends slated to reign during the year 2015 for marketers.

1. Strategizing for the constantly connected consumer: Think about the average consumer today – their lives now revolve around technology; whether it’s to pay the bills online, shop for a new pair of shoes through their tablets or phones, or check out reviews for the restaurant they’ve made reservations at tonight. The marketing blueprint of the future focuses on delivering the right message to the right person, at the right time and also on the right device. Marketing budgets will no longer exclusively focus on a particular kind of media but will move closer towards integrating all channels successfully. This integration will be made possible via mobile, which is currently the missing piece in the overall marketing puzzle.
2. You & your customer are a team: Pull marketing tactics have gradually replaced push marketing, and brands will increasingly be seen less as entities and more as collaborators; the brand wants business, and consumers need relevance and value. The next step that brands will take is to engage in conversations with their consumers, and keep them informed about initiatives taken in their interest. The brand that informs its audience is more likely to be remembered – a good example is a company like Evernote. It always attempts to simplify, educate and inform its users about every update, new product feature or launch that it makes, with interesting use cases and a conversational tone in communication. The modern consumer is always on the lookout for information, consuming it at an incredible pace and so all communication would have to be geared keeping this is mind.
3. A razor-sharp focus on KYC (Know Your Customer): Marketers and brands will start focusing more on customer retention and engagement, a very important factor in determining whether the brand message is effective. A study by Gartner revealed that the marketing expense budget on customer experience in 2014 averaged at 18 per cent, and this is only set to grow further. In addition, permission-based marketing is the next step towards better user experiences. Gone are the days when proactively reaching out to your customer base meant spamming them on all possible channels – with the emergence of mobile, it is now possible to drive consumers to come to you out of choice if you deliver content they’d like. Your customer is the person looking for a coffee shop on their phone, the person reading reviews on the new TV he wants to buy before walking into the store. The immediacy of mobile will be a key factor for marketers to leverage effectively this coming year.
4. Conquering the Goldfish Effect: At present, the average attention span of most people is just 8 seconds – the same as that of a goldfish. This Goldfish Effect has taken hold of today’s consumer, and it’s not surprising, considering that over 270,000 million pieces of content are published every day. Visualize your customer, browsing through their social feeds on their mobile phones. They come across different kinds of content – contextual ads geared at their interests, suggestions for new apps to download, videos and articles, brand messages and a lot more. A marketer’s role will be to crack the code on standing out amongst this kind of immense clutter. Consumers will no longer care about your brand content, advertisements or promotions unless it passes it provides the right context, gets delivered at the right time and adds true value for them. In this respect, content will form the centre of all marketing efforts, and content created with the right connection to your audience to get their attention, will be the core of marketing strategies of the future.
5. Data is the new salt in the marketing mix: 2015 will be the year for CMOs and marketers who truly know the value of measured, data-driven decisions. Data is the new ‘salt’ in the marketing mix – it adds credibility, enables sound decision-making and is the only way to measure the true impact and value of campaigns. The new-age marketer is one that is both technologically intuitive and strong with understanding the market, the consumer and the numbers that matter. Data will be the driving force behind every marketing initiative, to build campaigns that are created not just as a one-off experiment but as a sustained, meaningful and ROI-generating activity that garners results in the long-term.
6. Personalization over globalization: Mobile has brought in an era of personalization: today, marketing communication needs to be built around the consumer rather than the product. An e-commerce company that proactively suggests products based on previous interests, browsing choices and purchases is likely to win over another that just pushes sales, promotions and coupons. Intuitive marketing will drive the personalization wave, with marketers thinking about their consumers as a group with diverse interests. A winning strategy would keep the customer’s interests at the centre, and devise interactive, immersive brand experiences that are relevant to the customer, rather than just ads.
7. Ditch the vanity metrics; focus on actionable data: 2015 will see marketers shifting their focus from vanity metrics like social shares and likes to consumer activity, marketing ROI, consumer feedback, and the consumer intent in every part of the sales funnel. An organization that thrives on data survives. There will be a concerted effort to take decisions based on data, and derive valuable insights from metrics that matter. The difference here is that marketers will develop their own ways of classifying the metrics that count, and these insights will drive crucial marketing decisions.
8. Smarter channel attribution: Every marketer worth his/her salt knows that mobile is important. However, there’s not much clarity about how to make it work. The coming year will demonstrate how vital it is for marketers to analyze various channels, and base their budget allocations on solid facts about what will work for the brand. Mobile will form a significant part of marketing spends, and marketers will have to experiment with strategies to target mobile consumers, which will then help them gain more clarity on channel attribution – the channels that work versus those that need to be re-thought.
9. Stop thinking ‘viral’, start thinking big: The agency brief will have to move beyond ‘thinking viral’ and instead start ‘thinking long-term’. Every campaign idea will fundamentally begin with understanding the objective based on relevant data, measuring and identifying key KPIs to figure out campaign success or failure. Finally, solid conclusions based on the campaign flow will bring in better learning and eventually contribute to ROI as well. The key here is that marketers will gradually move away from focusing just on the campaign, to a broader focus based on the long-term implications for the brand.

Marketing in the coming year is set to see significant change, and it is evident that mobile will be a key area of focus – though with a lot more clarity and a greater willingness to explore the medium to tap its immense potential. These trends will see marketers completely transform their approach to consumers, media channels and the market in 2015.

Are you looking for a few ways to improve your results with LinkedIn? LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools for B2B lead generation and professional networking.

Below we’re sharing an infographic done by Ethos3. They put together 33 top LinkedIn tips for business in 140 characters or less that will help you create impressive profiles and posts.

LinkedIn Tips for Business Infographic

It’s time to get excited about using LinkedIn! Dive into this infographic and then check out our free guide on Leveraging LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation.

LinkedIn Tips for Business Tweetables

Thank you Hubspot for this great list of Tweetable links. Click on the Twitter icon to share. Happy Tweeting!

1. Before a presentation, update your LinkedIn profile; attendees will review it to assess your credibility. — Ethos3
2. Transform a generic link to your website into a call-to-action, especially on company profiles.— Entrepreneur Magazine
3. Create entries for every role you have performed within each job title. It’s okay to have overlapping dates. — Forbes
4. Share high-quality information with your network to create connections that become alliances. — Reid Hoffman
5. The ideal length for LinkedIn long-form posts is 500 to 1,200 words. Tailor length for your audience. — Small Business Trends
6. Skip the “How do you know this person” step. Click “Connect” from search results, instead of profiles. — Sylvan Lane
7. Want another company or user to see your LinkedIn status updates? Use @mentions when you post. — HubSpot
8. Don’t be a wallflower. Your profile is 5x more likely to be viewed if you join and are active in groups. — LinkedIn
9. When introducing yourself, don’t be self-centered. Be generous, genuine and focus on the other person. — Emmie Martin
10. Looking for a new job on LinkedIn? Don’t let your boss know; turn off your activity broadcasts. — Career Outcomes
11. LinkedIn users who update their profiles regularly get more job offers than peers who contact recruiters. — Rimjhim Dey
12. Censor yourself. If you wouldn’t say it in a job interview, don’t say it in a LinkedIn group, or post. — Tech Republic
13. Schedule time to be active on LinkedIn. Review your profile, monitor updates, participate in discussion. — The American Bar Association
14. Evernote and LinkedIn integrate. Organize business cards, LinkedIn info, and networking notes in one place. — Evernote
15. Use your LinkedIn profile as a sales tool. Add a short video about your company to your profile. — Salesforce
16. Add value to LinkedIn groups: Share visual presentations that will interest group members.— Jay Baer
17. Profiles with pictures are 14x more likely to be viewed. Use a professional image with a neutral background. — LinkedIn
18. Avoid profile buzzwords, such as “creative” and “motivated.” Minimize adjectives. Emphasize verbs. — Business Insider
19. Don’t use the automated invitations message: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” — The Daily Muse
20. LinkedIn has found that 20 posts per month can help you reach 60% of your unique audience. — Buffer
21. The best times to post on LinkedIn: Tuesday and Thursdays, between 7am and 9am local time. — Social Media Week
22. Company updates with images have a 98% higher comment rate than updates without images. — LinkedIn
23. Download LinkedIn’s Connected app; it’s designed to simplify professional relationship development. — Jillian D’Onfro
24. You are unique. Prove it. Use a creative headline instead of defaulting to your current job title. — Marketing Sherpa
25. Help recruiters, prospects and potential partners find you; use keywords throughout your LinkedIn profile. — U.S. News
26. Successful LinkedIn content often provides ready-to-use takeaways in a list format. — Andrey Gidaspov
27. Follow Dan Pink’s lead; he reprised a post “3 Tips for TED speakers” for LinkedIn’s publishing platform. — Daniel Pink
28. Endorse people you respect. Send a thank-you message when someone endorses you. — Jeff Bullas
29. List volunteer experience on LinkedIn; 42% of hiring managers value it as much as formal job experience. — LinkedIn
30. LinkedIn groups provide one of the best personal branding opportunities you have with social media. — Forbes
31. Struggling to fill a role in your company? Instead of hiring a recruiter, join LinkedIn’s Recruiter service. — N.Y. Times
32. Share original content: “Content is now viewed 6x more than jobs-related activity on LinkedIn.” — Jason Miller
33. Use visuals; embed SlideShare presentations and infographics into your profile and long-form posts. — Social Media Examiner

Your Favorite LinkedIn Tips

What are your favorite tips from this list? Did you change your profile based on something you learned here? Please share how you applied these tips below.

Hey, thanks for the info. Now what?

If you need any help with content creation, we have tons of free resources to get you over the hump. Please subscribe to this blog to ensure that you never miss an article.

Have questions or comments? Please use the comment form down below. We read and reply to every comment.

If you really enjoyed this post, please help us to spread the word by clicking one of the social media sharing buttons.

Thanks so much!

Many of our readers have heard the Intero team’s philosophy in a speaking engagement, at a workshop or in multiple 1:1 private training sessions. We believe LinkedIn is the most powerful business tool on the market. We believe your presence online is critical to your reputation. We believe that by empowering you to effectively use the tool, LinkedIn can create an abundance of new opportunities for you.

We have shared LinkedIn’s corporate mission with you time and time again: To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.

But, do you know what LinkedIn’s vision is? Do you know what their pie-in-the-sky goal is?

Of the 7 billion people in the world, 3 billion are working. LinkedIn envisions creating the world’s first digital map of the global economy through:

1. Profiles: Each individual of the 3 billion professionals globally
2. Companies: Each employer in the world to be represented
3. Jobs: Each job offered by these companies including full-time, part-time, for-profit and non-profit
4. Skills: Each skill required to obtain those jobs
5. Education: Each resource that would enable members to obtain those skills
6. Updates: Each avenue of knowledge to share via updates, Groups, rich media and the publishing platform

As Jeff Weiner puts it, “We want to allow LinkedIn members to control their economic destiny in the 21^st century.”

Wade Burgess, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Talent Solutions reiterated LinkedIn’s goal to retain profiles for three billion employees worldwide, insisting that the Economic Graph could “change how the world works.”

This is a big deal.

You have already contributed to this vision by having a LinkedIn profile. You can impact it further by making sure your company has a Company Page, making sure the job openings you have are posted on LinkedIn and by updating your LinkedIn Skills to reflect your profession and expertise.

I will admit, when it first rolled out I was not the biggest fan of the LinkedIn Skills & Endorsements section of the LinkedIn profile. Within the first six months, there were over 1 billion endorsements given on LinkedIn. Today: more than 3+ billion endorsements have been given on LinkedIn. However, today I understand the importance of this section. From the impact on the LinkedIn Economic Graph to the opportunity for me to be found more often by incorporating keywords, like Skills, I understand the value this section brings me. So, let’s focus on the LinkedIn Skills section.

We recommend identifying your Skills in a variety of ways:

• Review other professionals who have your same title and scroll down to their LinkedIn Skills & Endorsements section
• Review the 25 Hottest Skills That Got People Hired in 2014 to see which skills pertain to you
• Review your current LinkedIn Skills & Endorsements section to identify skills you can expand upon
• Review your job description and/or performance review documents

Jot down the skills that are relevant to you. Then, go update your LinkedIn profile. Last year, LinkedIn changed the way we edit the Skills & Endorsements section; so, check out this post to make sure you are utilizing its full potential.

Hint: As you begin typing in a skill within your profile, you want to select the options that are pre-populated by LinkedIn because these are the words people are using in their searches.

Let me briefly address the skills you may have in your section that you obviously did not elect to include in the LinkedIn Skills & Endorsements section. For example, are you a salesperson and have no need to include the Microsoft Office skill in your profile and have no idea how it got there to begin with? Here’s the catch: If you do not manually select the skills you want showing in your profile, based on the information in your profile, LinkedIn will assume the skills that may be relevant to you. We see this “mistake” happen all-too-often, especially to professionals who have not built out their LinkedIn profiles completely. The more meat (i.e. keywords and narrative) you can include in your profile and the sections available, the better options you are giving LinkedIn to select from. Eliminate this potential issue altogether by choosing the Skills yourself.

Want more motivation to update your LinkedIn Skills? LinkedIn developed an interactive slide show to chart your next career move. Not on the hunt for a new gig? That’s okay. You can still use this tool to identify more skills. More importantly, the skills people are searching.

LinkedIn is celebrating its 12th birthday this year. They are in it for the long haul. Invest time in it to invest in yourself. I hope you have a clearer understanding of the ripple effect that your Skills and presence on LinkedIn has on a massive scale.

In addition to the links throughout this post, I encourage you to also:

• Follow LinkedIn’s Economic Graph Showcase Page.

• Watch Jeff Weiner’s full presentation on video.

It doesn't take financial wizardry or a winning lottery ticket to increase your net worth. A few smart moves could instantly make you richer.

In his new book, "Money: Master The Game," Tony Robbins shares five core strategies for achieving your financial goals faster.

Any one of them will put more cash on your personal balance sheet, but if you tackle several at once, "you'll be unstoppable," he says.

1. Save more and invest the difference.

Saving is not exactly sexy, but it's a highly effective strategy for growing your net worth. If you find a way to put more money aside and invest it smartly for compound growth, Robbins says you'll dramatically speed up your financial goals.

For those who feel they just can't squeeze any more out of their paychecks, he says it isn't as hard as it seems if you get creative.

For example, by making early principal payments on a traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, you could pay off your home in half the time and spend almost 50% less.

2. Earn more and invest the difference.

One of the fastest ways to have more money is to make more. Robbins says the key to increasing your income is to become more valuable. Ask yourself: Are you in a company, location, and occupation where your skills are in demand? Does your compensation reflect the value you're providing, and is it time to ask for a raise or up your rates? Are there ways you can make additional income outside of your day job? If you commit to earning more, you will find a way, he says. 

3. Reduce your fees and taxes, and invest the difference.

"It's not what you earn that matters, it's what you keep," Robbins says. Investing in high-cost mutual funds vs. low-cost index funds that mimic the performance of the entire stock market can cost you thousands of dollars over decades. He also notes that the average American spends more than half of their income on taxes (income tax, property tax, sales tax, etc.) in their lifetime.

Finding ways to reduce your investing fees and taxes will instantly put more money back in your pocket. One idea: Relocate to one of the seven states in the US — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming — that doesn't have a state income tax.

4. Get better returns.

What's the difference between a 10% return and a 4% return? Robbins asks. A 10% return doubles your investment every 7.2 years, while a 4% return doubles every 18 years.

While many people think the secret to getting big returns is taking big risks, Robbins says highly successful investors look for asymmetric risk-reward, meaning big upside potential with little downside.

For instance, hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones always looks for opportunities where if he risks $1, he thinks he can make $5.

5. Change your lifestyle.

You could make a big lifestyle change and move to a less expensive city or country (think Bali, Fiji, Costa Rica) today, says Robbins. Why wait for retirement? There are smaller lifestyle changes that could help you hold onto your cash, too.

Consider downsizing your house or car, cooking more at home, or getting creative with your budget.

"It's all about being more efficient and more effective with your earnings and your savings," Robbins says. "At the end of the day, the best investment you can make is the one you make in yourself and your lifestyle."

NOW WATCH: 'Shark Tank' Investor Reveals The Worst Mistake People Make When Trying To Get Someone's Attention

 

 

SEE ALSO: Tony Robbins Shatters The 9 Most Common Investing Myths

Join the conversation about this story »

Welcome to Part 2 of my blog series on Going From Good to GREAT. If you haven’t read Part 1:Creating Core Values in the Relationship Economy yet, I recommend that you read it for a little perspective and understanding of our conversation. On the other hand, even if you haven’t read part 1, I’ve written the series so that each article is independent of the other parts. If you have read my first piece, you might want to skip down a little lower to the guts of Part 2. I have include the upper part of my previous post in the beginning of this article as a quick refresher so it might make a little more sense to you, the reader.

What does it require to take your business or personal life from Good to Great?

I have found in my research and experience the same traits that create a great personal life also create a powerful business life. What’s good for you personally is good for your business as both are intimately connected to people. A company is a living, breathing, entity, just as you are, made up of collective parts that create a whole. It exists within a sphere of relationships, just as you are.

From time to time you’ll see articles written by me in my “Good to Great” series. Today’s article is on creating Core Values. I’ve written it from the corporate perspective, however, even if you don’t own or lead a company, you likely work for one, and knowing the information I’m sharing here is a step forward for you to be an even better version of yourself whether you’re the CEO or at the bottom of the organizational chart. The research and ideas listed here can also be used to cultivate awareness which serves to support you in your journey to be a better human being. What I have come to understand in my experience over the past 25 years researching and speaking on personal and business relationships, is that the skills and techniques that make better organizations also make better people.

In today’s world, we are moving into a post-consumer age called the relationship economy. With the widespread use of the internet, instant global communications and most dramatically, social media, we are entering an era defined by two-way relationships between brands and bodies. Today’s consumer wants to be heard, whether it’s to voice a concern to management or request a particular color image on their laptop case. Transactions are being defined by emotions and relationships not just dollars and cents.

According to Forbes Magazine, 78% of consumers say that posts made by companies on social media influence their purchases and an even greater 81% say that posts made by their friends influence their purchasing decisions. This result was from a 2012 survey. One can only imagine with the continued permeation of social media into all aspects of our lives that this number has only increased. Relationships drive purchase decisions. Purchases are the lifeblood of every company.

With this knowledge, how does an enterprise go from Good to Great? We build relationships. True two-way relationships which interact regularly with customers to receive and act on their input. The customers of today are much more savvy then in years past and expect company’s to pay attention to them. They also have instantaneous and much louder methods for voicing their displeasure as well as their support. (Case in point, the recent media exposure regarding Southwest Airlines and a gentleman and his two young daughters that were booted off a flight for the father Tweeting his displeasure about a rude gate agent. Allegedly the gate agent made him de-plane, and insisted that he delete his Tweet on Twitter before being allowed to re-board and fly. Click for the full article here by ABC News.)

With the Relationship Economy in-mind I’ve laid out the 5 V’s of building a Great Enterprise. The 5 V’s are:

1. Values: Create Core Values
2. Vision: Engage an Effective Vision
3. Validate: Validate Your Employees
4. Village: Build a Village Through Relationships
5. Voice: Listen to the Voice of Your Current and Potential Customers.

These 5 V’s: Values, Vision, Validation, Village and Voice, are built around the concept of improving relationships inside and outside of the company. In fact, the 5 V’s are closely based on my RelationShift® model of success and reflect the importance I put on positive, uplifting relationships in both our personal and business lives.

In this article I will speak on concept two: Vision.

What is a Vision? Why is it important? What makes it different from a Mission Statement? These are just some of the many questions people have when I bring up the concept of having a defined Vision.

A Vision is much different from a Mission. A personal or company Mission is the message you share with others which lets them know what you or your company is about. A Vision on the other hand is much more personal, it is strictly for you and other members of your team. The Vision defines what you want your company to be about and where you expect to see it in the future.

Your Vision is the destination in the future that you plan to reach. It is what you, and/or your company can aim for on a daily basis.

Why do you need a Vision? Let me ask another question, why do you need to know your destination on any trip? Without a Vision, your organization is rudderless and unsure where to go.

A Vision is also much different than your corporate strategy. Former CEO and current Leadership Consultant, Michael Hyatt says, “Vision and strategy are both important. But there is a priority to them. Vision always comes first. Always. If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.”

A major problem in today’s business world related to Vision? More than 70% of employees do not know their company Vision.

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “When CEOs Talk Strategy, Is Anyone Listening?” found even in high-performing companies which had “clearly articulated public strategies,” only 29% of employees could correctly identify their company’s strategy out of six choices.

According to international leadership consultants, Kotter International, “For both the individual and the organization, nothing can be more damaging than a confused and cloudy picture of where they want to go or what they want to become; in short, do they know what success looks and/or feels like?”

Your Vision is an opportunity to build relationships in your organization and outside of it. Make a point to ensure everyone on your team understands the group Vision. Be mindful to live your Vision and base at least part of this vision on recognizing the value of relationships, both inside and outside of the company. With this in mind, employees are encouraged to build sustained and deep relationships with your customers, keeping them in the fold for the long term.

A few key’s on creating and maintaining an effective Vision Statement:

1. Start with a Framework. Use your Mission Statement and Core Competencies as a starting point for articulating your Values.

2. Look Ahead. Think farther ahead then just the next one to 3 years. Your Vision Statement should fall somewhere in the 4-8 year time-frame with 5 years being the standard most organizations follow.

3. Make it simple. Some organizations will make an all encompassing statement that is a paragraph or more in length. Avoid this at all costs. Employees have a much better chance to remember and embrace a Vision Statement that is only a sentence or two in length.

4. Revisit your Vision every year or two. With the passage of time, re-evaluate, is the Vision still relevant? Don’t be afraid to update it and keep it current.

I hope you stop by and visit with me next week as I discuss the third V in the 5 V’s of building a Great Enterprise : Validation.

To your success!

Big data is a common term for the collection of data from a company’s internal and external sources which allows marketers to make generalizations and predict upcoming trends in their industry. The concept of “big data” has been around for a very long time, and being able to utilize it properly has become more important then ever in giving companies an edge over their competition. While the sheer amount of data being collected may prove overwhelming at first, by following a few tips in dealing with this massive amount of information, companies can be more successful in their use of big data. (Source)

Set Clear Goals For Data

Having clear goals when it comes to the collection and utilization of big data is the first step towards success. All data which is collected should have a specific direction or defined purpose for its accumulation. Companies should have in mind the type of data they’re looking to collect and have a clear idea of why it’s essential to their industry. Data goals allow for better focus when mining through analytics, and better prepares them to easily discard information that doesn’t apply to them. (Source)

Make Data-Driven Decisions

Collecting big data is only the first step of a complicated, multi-faceted process. While a business may accumulate a mountain of statistics, using that data to drive the direction of a company is vital to successfully using big data. Business leaders should be able to easily use the revelations discovered by data collection to navigate them through legitimate concerns and industry needs. Rather than making important decisions through repetition, instinct, or intuition, companies should always have their course marked by solid, data-proven facts. Data only has value if it can be properly applied to benefit the direction of a company’s mission. (Source)

Have the Proper Resources For Management

One of the largest determinants of success with big data is having the right people, the right equipment, and proper management in order to collect and utilize the information. Data is being generated at impressive speed and having the proper technology to identify, collect, and analyze the information is vital in being able to apply it to a company’s goals. There are continuous improvements being made to data collection software, analytical tools, and security processes of big data.

A company should have proper resources to keep up with the latest technologies and employee people with the right skills in handling this overwhelming amount of sensitive information. Once collected, professional data experts are able to properly filter and remove any data that is not applicable. The remaining data can then be interpreted and analyzed in a way that companies are more easily able to determine what the data means and how to apply it to their future strategies. (Source)

Follow Your Customers

While traditional collection sources are tried and true, recent developments in metrics for social media have offered another platform for big data. A decade ago, data for mobile devices and social spheres didn’t exist. Today, the collection and use of it is becoming vital to the success of high-performing companies. Big data generated by these type of platforms is often rich with customer behavior and contains an overwhelming wealth of volunteered statistics. Collecting big data from social sites can allow companies to better understand the immediate needs of their customers, and properly make real-time adjustments to their products or services.

With big data more important than ever in keeping a competitive edge over their competition, companies are rightfully investing time and resources in to the collection, management, and integration of this information. Being able to predict future trends in an industry has become a clear indicator of success. The utilization of big data has allowed companies to better address customer needs and grow their business among the up-and-coming, digital-reliant generations.

5 Reasons to Hire a Marketing Consultant Even Though You Don’t Want To written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

I’m a marketing consultant, so the title of this post may not appear too shocking, but let me start off with why not to hire a consultant.

Consultants aren’t magicians. Don’t go looking for someone to fix your marketing if your product doesn’t make sense. Don’t expect a consultant to swoop in and get you more clients if you don’t have a methodology that allows you to stand out. And finally, don’t hire a consultant so you can abdicate the all-important role of marketing to an “expert.”

A really good consultant won’t take your money unless they believe they can actually help you and, no matter what you believe your burning need is, you should hire a consultant to help you in the following five areas first and foremost.

You need a real strategy

A good consultant will demand that you spend time building a firm foundation based on strategy before proposing a series of tactics aimed at lifting traffic. Until you find a way to change the context of how your ideal customer views what you do and in effect render the competition irrelevant, you’ll find that your marketing efforts never seem to build momentum.

You need fewer objectives

A good consultant will help you determine your highest payoff work and your most pressing objectives based on where you want to be in a year, in three years, in five years – not next week. And, a good consultant will make sure that the number of priority objectives at any given time stays very, very small.

You have resource gaps

Sometimes in the “do it all yourself” world of small business it’s difficult to spot the areas that require outside help. You may be able to set up your newsletter, add plugins to WordPress and clumsily create header graphics for your social media profiles but is this work actually robbing you from focus on higher payoff work.

Sure, those things above might need to be attended to, but a good consultant will help you stop doing the things that are better handled by others. In fact, they might just help you become the CEO again!

You need to fix your conversion

This might be my favorite. Too many business owners, and sadly some consultants, focus on traffic and likes when the highest priority should be conversion. When you can figure out how to get visitors to your website and prospects that respond to your sales presentation to buy you can build a significant business.

Once you have conversion trending upwards you can buy traffic confident in the fact that you can bank on conversions.

You can’t stay focused

One of the dirty little secrets of consulting is that a part of you simply needs someone to hold you accountable – someone to help you document your goals and objectives and then whack you with some sort of a stick when you wander off into new ideas and social networks, because staying focused seems way too boring.

A part of this is accomplished through nagging and set appointments, but the greatest gains are achieved when your focus starts to produce results. A good consultant will demand metrics tied to objectives and help you process and understand to overarching value you’ll derive by hitting your goals.

Okay, now you can go and check email and play around on Facebook for a bit, but tomorrow it’s back to rocking your marketing plan.

In October of 2014, ANNUITAS published a Benchmark Study regarding B2B Enterprise Demand Generation. One of the key takeaways was that “Marketing departments are struggling to succeed with their Demand Generation.” To be specific, almost 60% of respondents indicated they feel their efforts are not very effective, with less that 3% stating they are very effective.

While many factors contribute to the above statistic, one factor serves as the foundation for so many of the others. So, with a finite amount of resources where should B2B Enterprise marketers focus their efforts for the most impact? On understanding and connecting with your buyer.

Understand Your Buyer and Think Strategically About Demand Generation Programs

The study found “less than half of B2B enterprise organizations use buyer personas as part of their demand generation planning stages. This sheds even more light on the low marks that enterprises give themselves on being effective, but is also a clear indication that many organizations (even if they are in the planning stages) are still not developing buyer-centric demand generation programs which will only continue to limit the success marketers have with these programs.”

Think for a minute on the impact of this; truly effective and strategic demand generation must understand the intended participants. If you don’t know your buyers inside and out, there is little guarantee that your demand generation programs will work in the way you expected. Buyer personas drive your content plan as well as the tactics you choose to engage them and an understanding at what point they become a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) and are ready to speak with sales.

Before you can dictate a content strategy, nurturing logic, or a social media plan you need to know how your buyer consumes content. I know this sounds somewhat trite, but seriously, once you know your customers, program decisions become simple, as all the answers are determined by what supports them.

The ANNUITAS study found almost two-thirds of enterprise organizations running more than 15 demand generation programs each year; indicating that the majority of organizations are still focused tactically on demand generation. What if you could reduce that number and be even more effective? What is the number one way to think strategically about demand generation? Aligning to the buyer.

Understanding your buyer has long-term benefits as well, the ANNUITAS survey also indicated a lack of focus on customer retention, “with only 32% of organizations listing this as a goal. Companies are missing a big revenue generating activity by ignoring customer retention and are also putting a larger burden on new logo acquisition to make up for any attrition.” Customer nurturing programs are another way to put those buyer personas to good use.

So how do you get to know your buyer? Develop data driven insights for each of the personas. Understand their world from beyond your product or service, as this will shape your content marketing plan and engagement strategy. Find out how they buy, understand the entire process as it often begins much earlier that you think. Next, learn how they consume content and what their preferences are regarding communication. Finally be sure to look at your own internal marketing and sales processes, and make sure they’re aligned as well.

Taking the time to reset your Demand Generation Strategy around the buyer in 2015 will have far reaching implications. In the meantime, make sure to download the complete 2014 ANNUITAS B2B Enterprise Demand Generation Survey results and see how your organization measures up to your peers.

Author: Erin Kelley @MsErinKelley VP of Professional Development and Enablement, ANNUITAS

Timing is everything in sales. That is why recognizing trigger events is key to being successful.

Getting this crucial step wrong can mean the difference between closing the deal or being rejected.

In this article, we’ll cover what a trigger event is, why they’re important and provide examples you can apply to your own sales strategy.

Skip to:

• Trigger Event Definition
• Importance of Trigger Events
• Tracking Trigger Events
• Trigger Event Examples

Sometimes called a “buy signal,” a sales trigger event is an action or occurrence that creates a sales opportunity. These could be industry changes, a new funding round announcement, a merger, or a prospect getting a new role.

Broadly speaking, any industry change can be considered a trigger event and indicate a channel for making a sale. That’s why sometimes it’s difficult to know the difference.

Why Trigger Events are Important

Sales is a time-sensitive profession. You only have a small window of opportunity to make a sale so it’s important you take advantage of it when it opens. Think of trigger events as an opportunity to do just that.

If you contact a prospect right after they buy an expensive competitive product, they're not going to bite.

But if you find out they're in the market for a new vendor, you can reach out to your prospect before they begin researching, which ensures your message will be received with much more interest. This presents an optimal opportunity to make a sale.

Tracking Trigger Events

With the myriad of instances that can be considered a trigger event, you may be wondering how to keep up with all of them. Luckily there are a few places you can set up alerts that will help you discover these events as they arrive.

Track sales trigger events with:

• Earnings Calls: Earnings calls are open to the public. These quarterly calls can give salespeople an inside peek at publicly owned companies’ performance and future expectations. You can check the company’s investor relations section on their website for the number.
• SEC Filings: If you sell to publicly traded companies, check out their financial statements that are sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These financial statements can help you determine a company’s financial position and whether or not they can afford to purchase your products or services.
• LinkedIn Alerts: Get a heads up on potential personnel changes with LinkedIn alerts. Set up alerts for when positions at a particular company are open. These can serve as an opening for you to reach out.
• Google Alerts: Google allows you to track whenever certain keywords are mentioned. Set up alerts for prospect names or business names and get notified whenever they are mentioned in news on the web.
• Industry Newsletters: Keeping up with industry news can really pay off. These newsletters are often full of potential trigger events as well as keep you informed about industry changes.
• Social Listening Tools: Social listening tools can notify you if someone is talking about you or your business online. Tools like Buffer and Hootsuite can help you track and get insights from the information pulled.

You'll need to tune into the right channels to detect the sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle shifts that can warm up a cold outreach.

So what do sales trigger events look like? Here are 30 examples of these valuable occurrences and where you can track them.

Sales Trigger Event Examples

1. New Executives

A newly hired member of the C-suite has ample authority and the desire to shake things up. Since they don‘t have established traditions in their new company and are looking to prove their value quickly they’re more open to fresh ideas than most business leaders. It's a perfect time for your pitch.

Track this event with: Google alert for the company name, the company's press releases page, LinkedIn

2. New Job/Role for Current Contact

If a satisfied customer assumes a different position in their company or moves to a new organization, reach out and see if they‘d like to bring your product or service along for the ride. If your offering made them look good in their last role, they’ll be eager to spread the gospel in their new one.

Track this event with: LinkedIn

3. Large Customer Announcement

If your prospect has just landed a significant account, they're about to have a lot more money rolling in. Reach out with a suggestion on how to use some of that cash to their benefit.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page, industry news

4. Company Expansion

A new office location necessitates a glut of new supplies and services. Depending on your product or service, this can be a primary upsell or introduction opportunity.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page

5. Company Relocation

A relocated office is essentially a new office. See above.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page

6. New Product/Service Announcement

By rolling out a new product or service, a company is venturing into uncharted territory. And uncharted territory calls for different types of support -- and potentially new vendors.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page, industry news, social media

7. Competitive Product/Service Announcement

Maybe a competitor beat your prospect to the punch with a new announcement -- or even stole their thunder entirely. You can be sure that if a rival made a bold move, your prospect will be looking to make a bold response. If you can help in that aim, your message will be welcome.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page, industry news, social media

8. Major Competitive Move

This includes any significant activity that falls outside the bounds of a product launch, like a new marketing campaign, piece of advertising, customer win, or leadership change. When one player moves, competitors won't be far behind.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page, industry news, social media

9. Dissatisfaction with Current Vendor

If your prospect is so kind as to announce that their current provider isn't working out, jump on the opportunity. Bear in mind that this could take other forms than a straightforward social media post; look for news articles or legal actions that speak to a souring relationship.

Track this event with: Industry news, social media

10. Bad Quarter

Is the company losing money fast? Do you sell a product or service that could reverse the trend? Introduce yourself.

Track this event with: SEC filings, earnings calls, industry news

11. Good Quarter

Is the company raking in money like crazy? Then they'll be more receptive to projects that could help them continue down the path to success or accelerate their growth. Introduce yourself.

Track this event with: SEC filings, earnings calls, industry news

12. Mergers and Acquisitions

The coming together of two organizations is a golden chance to earn add-on revenue. Spread the use of your product or service, if one party is already a customer, or get an initial foot in the door during a time of new beginnings.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page, industry news

13. Legal Problems

If a company gets penalized for compliance issues, they'll be looking for a product or service that can keep them out of trouble in the future. The salesperson who can swoop in to offer help amidst a disaster will look like a hero.

Track this event with: Industry news

14. Significant Changes in Hiring Velocity

Whether the company is recruiting all the new talent it can get or making massive layoffs, any major shift in hiring can be a worthy trigger event -- depending on what you sell, of course.

Track this event with: Google alerts, industry news, press releases page

15. Major Industry Development

A seismic industry shift will necessitate all in the vertical to take action to capitalize on an opportunity or avoid a risk. If you can help with either goal, reach out quickly.

Track this event with: Industry news

16. New Organizational Strategy/Initiatives

It's hard to get a glance inside a company to see which projects are getting funded and which are being punted to another time or canceled entirely. But if you can glean these insights from a social post or change in social media behavior and position your offering accordingly, buyers will be impressed with your seemingly psychic powers.

Track this event with: Social media, insider correspondence

17. Buyer Opens Your Email

You know when you‘re most top of mind? When a prospect is physically looking at an email you sent. Even though this isn’t so much a trigger event for them as for you, it's still a primary chance to hold their attention while you already have it.

Track this event with: HubSpot Sales

18. New Legislation

When the Affordable Care Act came down, businesses that never previously had to offer health insurance to employees were suddenly mandated to. In order to determine which employees were eligible and which were not, these organizations had to scrutinize the amount of hours employees worked according to very specific rules. And if the company didn't have a sophisticated time tracking system in place? Ouch.

Smart HR technology vendors recognized this opportunity to help companies struggling to implement Obamacare -- and sold a notable amount of new deals in the process. No matter what industry you sell to, it‘s worthwhile to keep a close eye on laws and regulations in case you can be of some aid in your buyers’ time of need.

Track this event with: Industry news

19. Increase in Expenses

Do you sell a product that saves organizations money? Look out for expense curves that rise sharply so you can swoop in to save the day.

Track this event with: SEC filings

20. Change in Price/Availability of Essential Resources/Materials

If a material central to a businesses‘ model suddenly vanishes or becomes cost prohibitive, they’ll be looking for alternate ways to get their hands on it -- or replace it with something else.

Track this event with: Industry news

21. Awards

Recognition within an organization‘s industry or niche feels great. Reach out while they’re riding a high and inform them of how you can help them continue to top their competition -- or even put more distance behind them.

Track this event with: Google alerts, industry news, press releases page

22. Evidence of Interest

If you sell a new kind of car, and a prospect posts an article on Facebook about the benefits of such a vehicle, they're displaying their interest for the whole world to see. Carefully monitor what prospects are posting, sharing, and liking on social networks. And if the topic coincides with what you sell? Pounce on it.

Track this event with: Social media

23. Analyst Report

Every industry has analysts that periodically research and rank companies in their vertical. Once you identify the notable analyst firm(s) in the market you sell to, keep an eye on new research releases. Organizations that rate highly will be looking to capitalize on their status, and organizations that fall to the bottom of the heap will be looking to disrupt the order.

Track this event with: Analyst websites, Google alerts, industry news

24. Entrance Into New Market

New market, new problems to contend with. New problems to contend with, new need, budget, and timeline. The perfect atmosphere for a new sales opportunity.

Track this event with: Google alerts, industry news, press releases page, social media

25. Additional Funding/IPO

Money is scientifically proven to burn holes in pockets. Don't be shy about reaching out to a company that has recently come into some cash to suggest ways to spend it wisely.

Track this event with: Google alerts, industry news, press releases page

26. Event Announcement

Is your prospect putting on a conference, or some other kind of event? If so, they'll need assistance. Offer your help.

Track this event with: Google alerts, press releases page

27. New Critical Positions Created

Don't just pay attention to executive leadership shifts — also watch for new roles that signal new strategies. Keep in mind that people with no predecessors are free to launch their divisions in any way they choose. Get in on the ground floor.

Track this event with: Press releases page, social media

28. Press Coverage

Whether positive or negative, an article from a third-party publication will cast a certain light on a company. Be there to help them double down on a favorable perception or turn around a damaging one.

Track this event with: Google alerts, news

29. Event Custom to Buyer's Industry

Every industry has news that makes huge waves within the category, and registers barely a blip to the rest of the world. Whatever these events are, make sure you're tracking them.

Track this event with: Industry news, social media

Leverage Trigger Events to Make the Sale

Most trigger events aren‘t as obvious as a tweet or LinkedIn post announcing, "I’m looking for a new product for [purpose]. Any thoughts?"

Knowing how to track and identify trigger events will help you capitalize on new opportunities and make your interaction with prospects more relevant to their needs.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in August 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Any strategy lives or dies on the basis of its customer value proposition. There are many typologies relevant to crafting a value proposition, because there are many ways to win customers. But the key issue is always: what is the center-of-gravity in our approach? Do we ultimately compete on the basis of our cost structure (e.g., Ryanair and Wal-Mart) or another basis that increases our target customer’s willingness-to-pay (e.g., Singapore Airlines and Nordstrom)? In other words, will we sell it for more or make it for less — and allocate sales resources accordingly?

Nearly all competitive markets confront firms with this choice. In retailing, there is Wal-Mart, Dollar General, and category killers. But there is also Nordstrom, Louis Vuitton, and many high-end boutiques. In pharmaceuticals, there are blockbuster drugs targeted at mass-markets segments. But there is also Soliris, a drug sold by Alexion to treat certain blood and kidney diseases that afflict relatively few people. Soliris costs $400,000 per patient annually. But insurers pay this price because Soliris is the only safe and effective treatment for these diseases and that price is less than the total cost of alternative treatments. Alexion has grown from $25 million in sales in 2007 to $1.5 billion in 2014.

Sell it for more. Here, your product or service provides better performance on attributes that are important to target customers and for which they are willing to pay a premium. This approach must continually avoid the following pitfalls:

• Meaningless or false differentiation: the points of superiority are unimportant to customers or based on a false presumption of superiority.
• Uneconomic or invisible differentiation: customers are unwilling to pay for additional performance or are unaware of the difference.
• Unsustainable differentiation: the product or service features are imitated over time.

Make it for less. Here, your cost structure allows you to sell and make money at prices that competitors cannot. Realities in many industries typically allow only a few firms to compete successfully in this manner. Once they do, moreover, their scale advantages make it difficult for others to duplicate. To be a viable value proposition, therefore, this approach must avoid these pitfalls:

• Price wars: any cost advantage is lost in price competition and no one extracts value.
• Substitutes: you may have a cost advantage over competitors, but not over substitutes that are available to target customers.
• Cost reductions versus lowest costs: lowering cost doesn’t necessarily mean your cost is lower than competitors and, in any market, there is only one lowest cost competitor. Never confuse these different cost positions.

You must be clear with your people about where your business falls along this spectrum.

If you’re not clear about this, your sales efforts will run into problems. Externally, there will always be someone out there who can beat you on cost and price, or someone else who tailors its operations and sales efforts to the performance and buying criteria of a segment better than you can. Depending upon your value proposition, sales will face different buyers and selling tasks and require different support processes to deliver value.

Internally, important organizational issues flow from the value proposition. Different assets will be needed for the cross-functional activities required for effective selling of a given value proposition. Different metrics are relevant for setting and evaluating sales performance. And basic HR issues are at stake whenever a firm is unclear about its value proposition: salespeople cannot be premium service sellers in the morning and cost hawks in the afternoon. It doesn’t work that way.

Strategy requires choice, clear communication, and coherent performance management practices, not just stirring metaphors, with the people who deal with customers. A moment of truth is the customer value proposition. Clarity about that will help your salespeople (and everyone else) focus more efficiently, qualify customers more effectively, and allow your firm to allocate resources more profitably.

In 2015, the biggest challenge for luxury marketers will be to gain a much better understanding of what customers expect in terms of significantly improved customer experiences. Luxury Shopper

In the 2015 Luxury Multichannel Engagement Index it was noted that “wealthy consumers have come to expect a lot from luxury retailers both online and in stores … they must have top people, both online and offline, in place to deliver superior service and experiences.”

Here then, are the 5 key requirements for luxury brands in meeting the high expectations of these unique consumers.

1. Use human data to drive deep engagement
Findings from 12,000-plus hours of Voice of Customer Research conducted by us for clients including MassMutual, IBM, Norton AntiVirus, QVC, NBC, Microsoft and Songza indicates that consumers have little patience for searching for relevant offers and communications. This is especially true for the luxury segment.

Therefore keep these points in mind so you can engage your customers as individuals and capture their individual human preferences;

• Your customer is a human, not an account number.
• Each person defines “relevant” differently.
• Nurture and educate customers.
• Develop experiences to delight.
• Add competitively differentiating value to engage customers over time.

In keeping with its efforts to provide competitively differentiating shopping experiences for their customers, Nordstrom Inc. acquired Trunk Club a free online stylist service that builds one-on-one relationships between personal stylists and members to understand their individual lifestyles and styling preferences and uses this information to hand select items which are shipped to customers who keep what they like and return the rest for free.

Erik Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct, said, “We want to evolve with customers …This complimentary service is an important and successful volume driver for us that our customers appreciate … What Trunk Club does adds to our service capabilities – we can learn from them about what they call ‘assisted commerce’ so we can continue to meet the evolving needs of customers.”

2. Achieve new levels of personalization
Empower consumers to achieve high levels of personalization based on their specific behavior and actions. Use this information to provide unique information, product selection and experiences that are created solely for them.

Mallzee, a new interactive and intelligent mobile application, allows users to create “style feeds” and set everything from color to brand preferences.

The app sifts through preferred retailers to find items that match their individual style.
Users can also set personal price drop notifications as well as notifications when retailers update their offerings. The app “learns” a user’s personal style as they swipe through products, so the next time they log on, offerings are presented per their preferences.

3. Be everywhere your customers are
Today, luxury consumers are multimedia/multichannel shoppers. Consumers are in store, on their phone or tablet doing research. They are watching television while chatting on social media and they are using apps to define their shopping and entertainment experiences.

To keep up with the demands of these multi-dimensional, multichannel buyers, marketers must develop options that blend individual media channels into one omni-available experience.

Burberry enables shoppers to explore and buy the latest products not only online, but online within the store via shopping assistants armed with iPads who provide suggestions, show new arrivals and check stock levels.

RF tags on in-store products can trigger video screens based on an item that a customer is carrying. And Burberry’s Twitter provides its 3.36 million followers engaging product and shopping information.

4. Empower customers to create their own products and solutions
Allowing consumers to actually create their own product to purchase enables them to literally become a part of the brand.

Enhanced levels of engagement encourage feelings of product ownership and product pride because they allow online buyers to take an active role in the product development process.

NikeiD offers customers the ability to customize their shoes. Buyers can pick the color, pattern, shoelace color, and even have an inspirational message put onto the tongue of the shoe.

Then the new creation can be shared online. According to Brand Channel, NikeiD has seen its online business triple since 2004.

5. Be creative in solving customer needs
What is useful to one group of consumers may not be perceived as useful to another group.

Deep customer knowledge will enable marketers to develop services to solve problems of individual customer segments and therefore drive deeper and sustained loyalty and engagement.

Barneys New York will be launching a niche-based personalized program with stationer Connor that is geared towards its busy, upscale customers.

The Web site and app will enable customers to design cards to be sent digitally via email and social media.

The platform will have event management capabilities for guest lists and tracking of RSVPs.

Barneys chief operating officer Daniella Vitale notes, “This project fills a void and will allow our customer an opportunity to communicate quickly and elegantly.”

Connor co-founder Justin Felber agreed: “This is really a social and sophisticated way to communicate.”

IN SUMMARY, as you prepare for 2015, keep in mind the mandate to create luxury experiences and brand interactions that are deeply and intelligently personalized and based on more than transactional, overlay and inferential data. This will be a critical element for significantly increasing long-term engagement and brand loyalty.

Featured on mobilmarketer.com

This is for the naysayers who think that social media is an alien terrain for B2B organisations. 

This is also for those working within B2B who need to present a case to those higher up that social can work for their company. 

This is also to celebrate the many B2B companies already using social in a way that puts a lot of B2C operations to shame. 

Read more...