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Is your lead magnet working for you?

Sure, you’re getting some opt-ins, but:

• Are the right people opting in (or are you attracting the wrong audience)?
• Are your conversion rates as good as they could or should be?
• Does your lead magnet prepare people for a sale?

When putting together a content marketing strategy, one of the most important things to consider is your lead magnet, and whether or not it’s actually working as hard for your business as you are.

Why a lead magnet is an important part of your content marketing strategy

Let’s back up for just a moment here and remind ourselves why a lead magnet that works — and works well — is so important to your content marketing strategy.

The answer is right there in the name: leads.

For many (if not most) online entrepreneurs, the whole POINT of content marketing is to collect leads. And the way most people do that is by offering a freebie, an ethical bribe, an opt-in offer, a lead magnet, a content upgrade in exchange for the lead’s email address.

This being the case, it’s VITAL that your lead magnet actually attract qualified leads for your business.

I know, that sounds pretty DUH, but I see business all the time that have created lead magnets that have little or nothing to do with their businesses.

Case in point: a woman recently brought a problem to an entrepreneur’s group I belong to, and explained that she had a very popular free email drip course as her lead magnet, but was having a heckuva time converting those leads to her paid course.

The problem? The topics of the free course and the paid course are completely different. In fact, it’s a stretch to even find a connection between the two topics. (They’re two things people want and need — just not very related to one another.)

So she’s generating leads hand over fist — just not for her product.

Ouch.

Other times, it’s not so much the topic but the format that’s the problem. And I’m a perfect example of this!

For years, I offered various BEAUTIFUL, comprehensive ebooks as my lead magnets. I mean, seriously, these things are gorgeously designed and chock full of good information. And I was chugging along, getting around 40 opt-ins a month.

The minute I switched my main opt-ins to be a single-page template (which I created in Google Docs, by the way), I started averaging 100 opt-ins per month.

But I had no idea what was possible for my site until I tested the new lead magnet. If I’d never bothered to test something different, I would have kept plugging along thinking 40 a month was pretty good — and losing 60 leads a month or more!

But now, I’m pivoting the focus of my business, and I realize that I need a new lead magnet. And I thought it might be helpful for me to lay out the process I’m considering for creating a new one.

So how do you know if your lead magnet is working or not? Because clearly even super smart people can get confused and caught in the weeds here.

It’s important to ask yourself a few questions:

1. Who is your lead magnet attracting?

I like to start by figuring out which segment of the audience a lead magnet is speaking to on the customer awareness spectrum.

If you are attracting people in the wrong stages of the spectrum, you may have trouble attracting qualified leads.

If your lead magnet is speaking to people:

• At the Unaware stage — this is the broadest category of people. They might have a problem that you solve, but be unaware of it, may not think it’s urgent to solve, or may not understand that there even IS a solution available. Mostly, these lead magnets speak to the broadest possible subset of your audience. A good example of this is a simple coupon or discount — it appeals to everyone, but doesn’t segment them into groups at all. A quiz can work well at this stage to help new potential customers understand what they need from you (or that they even have a need).
• At the Problem Aware stage — this is usually the best place to meet people when you’re looking to collect leads. They know they have a problem, and they’ve just started looking for a way to solve it. Many times, you’re going to have to “sell” people what they want, and then give them what they need at this stage. For example, a weight loss coach may know that her clients need to fix their metabolism for the long term, but they want short-term results. So she may need to create an opt-in to “lose 2 pounds in a week!” but then convince them to adopt a longer-term strategy. The key to attracting leads at this stage is that you must have a strong way of educating and converting them, bringing them along the awareness spectrum.
• At the Solution Aware stage — this targets people who understand that there is a solution to their problems, and are doing comparison shopping for the best solution for them. A classic example is a free trial, which allows customers to try before they buy. If you’re selling higher-end, or more advanced products and services, you may want to target people at the solution aware stage. This might be where you offer a checklist or audit that is actually your intake questionnaire — and then follow up with an offer to get on a sales call with you.
• At the Aware of You stage — you’re rarely going to be using a lead magnet on people at this stage, although, I suppose technically a referral or affiliate program might be considered a lead magnet at this stage. If someone comes to you by referral, they are at this stage, ready to buy; they just need to be convinced.

So the first step is to identify which stage of the customer awareness spectrum you’re targeting, and whether or not that’s the place you want to be targeting.

A real-world example: My current opt-in (as I write this) is The “Perfect” Blog Post Template. It works pretty well for me. But it’s targeting an unaware audience. They are bloggers (or they wouldn’t want a template…) but they may be unaware of their problems to the point that they can’t define them when asked. Or they define a surface level problem like, “I don’t know what to write about,” which is really a symptom of a bigger problem (no strategy).

Starting at that extreme end of the spectrum, it takes a lot of time and hard work to educate those customers to the point that they will buy something. And the likelihood that they will purchase high-end solutions from me is low.

Instead, I want to target people at the problem aware stage. They’re a little further along on their journey. They understand better that their blogging is linked to their sales, and want a strategy for improving that.

2. What topic will be the most effective?

The next question is, what topic or information should you offer for a lead magnet — that will be most effective for attracting qualified leads?

The trick is to start with what you want to sell and work backwards.

• What problem does your product or service solve?
• What does your client need or need to know right before they become a customer? (And you can keep stepping backward based on the stage customer awareness you want to target.)

Let’s use me as an example again (because I live in my head, so it’s easy!).

I want to sell Strategy Sessions, and I think someone purchasing my book would be a good first step toward working with me. I want to offer my book as a tripwire (an offer on the thank-you page). So I was trying to think what would be a juicy lead magnet that would lead naturally to the offer of the book.

First I thought I might just offer the first chapter of the book, but that didn’t seem right exactly…

Then I asked myself, “What are people thinking before they understand that they need help creating a content marketing strategy?”

I actually was brainstorming this “out loud” in a forum I belong to, and I wrote:

“I guess I need to show them how a strategy, a plan, can make their lives easier. Many, when they get to that point, already FEEL it — that they want a plan or some framework to work within — but don’t know how to get it.

So maybe the opt-in is something that explains the power of having a plan or framework… Or outlines the framework but doesn’t actually show them how to put it together…

What they need BEFORE they book that call is to understand that feeling. They’re feeling a little out of control or overwhelmed or uncertain about their content marketing. So the opt-in needs to address that feeling, rather than the solution (a framework/strategy/plan) to capture those pain-aware and problem-aware people before they are solution aware.”

So this gets me much closer to an effective topic.

3. How will you deliver the information?

Finally, you need to ask yourself, what is the most effective way to deliver this information?

Don’t get caught up in the “bigger is better” fallacy that I got caught in when I was offering gorgeous 40-page ebooks!

A good rule of thumb is to offer something that people can consume and/or take action on in 10 minutes or less.

Surprised?

The idea here is to get people a quick, big win. Although my “Perfect” Blog Template is no longer a good choice for my strategy, it is a good example of something people can download, consume, and take action on almost immediately.

So for me, as I contemplate what my ideal customer needs from me, the question becomes, “What is the VERY SIMPLEST, LEAST COMPLICATED way for me to help them regain a feeling of control?”

Nine times out of 10, lead magnets are too long. They contain too much STUFF. People want to wow their subscribers, so they over deliver. And while I completely understand that urge, it’s not actually helpful to your readers.

Very few people are the personality type that are self-directed enough to go through a huge free resource and put it into action. In fact, I bet you know this, because it’s probably happened to you: You opted in and downloaded something that seemed really juicy, and then… never did anything with it.

Whatever you want to offer, break it down into it’s smallest possible chunks and then offer just the first step. Literally.

For example, one health coach I know of wanted to offer her entire detox plan as an opt-in, but she got much better downloads — and her readers got better results — when she simplified it to a four-page document that showed them how to start a habit of drinking hot lemon water first thing every morning.

Seriously. Just lemon water. And it worked!

If your opt-in is a series, like a challenge or an email drip, do the same thing and break down each day or each challenge into the smallest possible action.

You and your readers will get better results.

International trade is an important part of the US economy.

The US Census Bureau keeps track of state-by-state international trade statistics. Using its data, we looked at the biggest imported good as measured by 2015 dollar value in each state and DC.

SEE ALSO: Here are the fastest growing states in the US

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: NASA just released over 100 images of Pluto — and the footage is breathtaking

Success is not a happy accident. It isn’t something that one day just occurs. Whatever your definition, however you measure it, success is a matter of intentions and action.

Success doesn’t come to those who wait. Those who are passive find themselves hoping, waiting, and wishing that some external force would confer success upon them. But, they wait in vain. Time slips by and, eventually, hope fades. Success cannot be compelled by outside forces. It cannot be wished into existence. It has to come from inside.

There is no way to have success with your feet up watching YouTube videos. Success doesn’t come to those who lean back. It ignores those who coast, and it avoids those who avoid labor. A low capacity for hard work is repellent to success. Success is always auditing your effort. It requires a payment of sweat equity.

Unless you are intentional about what you want, the success you seek doesn’t know how to find you. If you aren’t madly pursuing your version of success, the lack of intention makes you invisible to success. Everyone wants to be more than they are, but without developing themselves and growing big enough, success is a non-starter. Everyone wants to have more, especially more money. Success knows that money only follows one thing, and that thing is hustling to create value worth paying for. Whatever your scorecard, whether it is being more, having more, doing more, or contributing more, success follows your intentions and your actions, and nothing else.

Success, although not a happy accident, is a natural occurrence. When your work tirelessly in pursuit of success, it invariably reveals itself to you. When you pay the price in full, success shows up, as certain as 2 follows 1. When you develop yourself personally and professionally, making the changes necessary to have success, it sprouts from the seeds you’ve planted, without fail.

The post The Hustler’s Playbook: Success Is Not a Happy Accident appeared first on The Sales Blog.

The difference between CIOs who lead and those caught in never-ending reactionary cycles is often a strategic IT plan and integration roadmap. It’s the CIOs who take the time to create and pursue an integration roadmap that has the greatest chance of breaking out of always reacting to IT projects and leading them instead. That’s because the majority of inbound requests center on data, reports or analysis only deliverable by integrating two or more systems together.

Five Ways Integration Roadmaps Are Putting CIOs Back In Control

Based on conversations with CIOs across a variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution, aerospace, financial services, and retailing, five factors emerged that led to creating integration roadmaps and getting in control of IT spending and priorities. I’ve summarized these five factors below:

1. Integration roadmaps are proving to be an effective catalyst for driving purpose-optimized integration strategies, reducing middleware costs in the process. CIOs who create and continually improve their integration roadmaps are prioritizing purpose-optimized integration strategies to more efficiently scale global operations. Creating real-time integration links between SAP and Salesforce is one example of how CIOs are using purpose-driven integration to reduce customer response times for information, improving customer satisfaction in the process. Enabling real-time, bi-directional data updates without requiring complex middleware coding and mapping of data is a challenging task, and innovative startups including enosiX are excelling in this area today.

2. Defining a path for reducing ETL spending and dependence on logs to troubleshoot errors and measure performance.Reducing their dependence on ETL is giving CIOs and their teams much more flexibility in how they manage IT It is also freeing up system analysts to work on new projects instead of troubleshooting integration issues. With no automated error handling or recovery mechanisms, many CIOs are gradually phasing ETL out for more modern integration technologies that eliminate error logs altogether.

3. Investing in the latest technologies that enable business process and application logic is making IT more responsive, helping them break out of a bureaucratic reputation. When I asked CIOs about the best way to increase responsiveness to internal customers, they wanted integration technologies capable of scaling across the back office and selling systems to make them more responsive. By having integration technologies that enable business process and application logic, the time-consuming, and often error-filled, the task of enabling new business processes manually goes away. And, when IT can react faster, their bureaucratic reputation is also on the way out too.

4. Choosing to reduce and eliminate hand-built adapters and connectors from their IT infrastructures to free up support funds and time on urgent IT project needs today. One large-scale industrial equipment manufacturer has a staff of software developers and engineers who do nothing but keep adapters and connectors written in ABAP running across their ERP, Manufacturing Execution Systems, quality management, and supply chain systems. With production centers in the Midwestern US, China, and Europe, the ABAP team is always busy but never innovating. They are just ‘keeping the lights on.’ Having an integration roadmap is going to get this manufacturer out of the situation they are in today, which is draining dollars and time from IT.

5. Move closer to quantifying the value IT delivers by showing how an integration roadmap provides support for cutting maintenance costs, consolidating apps and introducing new platforms. The ROI of IT often hinges on how effective CIOs are at reducing costs and still delivering a median or average level of service. By having a plan in place to attack integration challenges and costs, CIOs can immediately prioritize steps to improve service, reduce costs, and attain department and corporate goals.

Editor’s note: Google Analytics is one of the most critical evaluation tools to aid your web-based content. This back-by-popular-demand post has been updated to continue detailing how to measure up for maximum effect.

How do you measure up when it comes to measuring the impact and value of the content you are publishing?

Fortunately, for most questions you may have about your content’s performance, there’s a way to find the answer – and very often, that answer can be found through Google Analytics.

Chances are you already use this robust tool to track key metrics like website visits, page views, and bounce rates. But Google Analytics can also uncover deeper, more-actionable insights that can paint a clearer picture of the results your content is achieving now and reveal critical opportunities to make improvements – if you know how to track them down and analyze those insights.­

To help you do just that, we created an e-book, How to Apply Analytics Data to Make Better Content Marketing Decisions, based on the top-rated presentation Orbit Media co-founder Andy Crestodina delivered at Content Marketing World 2015. But, as Google is constantly evolving its search products and marketing solutions, we thought it a good idea to revisit our initial discussion, and share more details that may help you gauge and optimize performance more effectively.

Turn data into decisions

As Andy asserts in the e-book, analytics are particularly valuable when used as a decision-support tool – a way of answering your key questions about what’s working, what isn’t, and what actions you should take as a result. To do this, he recommends following a simple, five-step process:

1. Formulate an idea about your content performance.
2. Determine a question you can ask to support this idea.
3. Create the report that will provide the appropriate data to answer that question.
4. Take action based on your analysis of that data.
5. Measure the results of the actions you take against the baseline data you gathered.

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Web analytics are valuable as a decision-support tool, says @crestodina.
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Four reports to rule them all

When using Google Analytics as your data source for this process, there are four categories of reports you can view – each one is the key to understanding certain insights that impact the performance of the content marketing on your website:

1. Audience reports: Understand who your audience members are, what their content interests are, and how they interact with the content you publish.

2. Acquisition reports: Glean insights on the search terms visitors are using to discover your content, and the specific sources of your traffic.

3. Behavior reports: Evaluate the actions of your site visitors, uncover ways to improve their user experience, and optimize the engagement potential of your content.

4. Conversion reports: Determine whether your content is helping your business achieve its marketing goals, and discover which content efforts are achieving the best results.

Take a look at just a few of the questions these four reports can answer, along with some tips Andy offers for analyzing and applying their insights:

Performance by platform

Question: Are mobile visitors less engaged than visitors on other platforms?

Report to generate: Mobile Overview (Audience >> Mobile >> Overview)

The Mobile Overview report shows the number of sessions (visits) from a mobile device. By clicking on the Comparison View button in the options selector, you can clearly see how mobile visitor sessions compare to other platforms in terms of the engagement metric you prefer – such as bounce rates, pages per session, or average session duration.

Sample analysis: If your bounce rates are extremely high among your mobile users, it could mean you need to better optimize your site’s user experience on mobile.

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You may need to better optimize your site’s UX on mobile if bounce rates are high, says @crestodina.
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Suggested actions:

• Create a schedule for regular mobile testing.
• Check the design of your website landing pages to see if they are optimized for mobile visitors.

Social media traffic

Question: Which social network drives the best traffic to the site?

Report to generate: Channel reports (Acquisition >> All Traffic >> Channels, filtered by goal)

When considering traffic from your social networks, the “best” channels are those that convert visitors at a higher rate. You need to view the data that relates to the specific conversion goals. As you can see in the sample report below, LinkedIn had the highest conversion rate of the four most popular social channels.

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The best social network channels are those that convert visitors at a higher rate, says @crestodina.
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Sample analysis: Once you set up your conversion goal in Google Analytics – subscribing to your newsletter, downloading an e-book, completing a lead-gen form, etc. – this report provides data on how successful your content is at meeting that goal.

Suggested action:

• Adjust your content resources to place a greater focus on creating content for the social channels converting at the highest rates.

Blog post engagement

Question: Which of the blog posts are the most engaging to visitors?

Report to generate: All Pages Report (Behavior >> Site Content >> All Pages)

If your site page URLs are categorized by content type (e.g., if the word “blog” appears in the URL of every blog post), you can use the search filter on the All Pages report to view only the data related to your blog posts. Then, click on Comparison View to see relative engagement data for your blog posts.

Suggested actions:

• Use high relative engagement to discover the topics that visitors find most engaging – indicating that you should create more content on those topics.
• Link from high-traffic posts to high-converting posts.

Site navigation pathways

Question: What is the most common path visitors are taking through the site?

Report to generate: Users Flow (Audience >> Users Flow)

Analyzing the flow of traffic through your site can provide insights on whether your visitors are finding what they came for and where they might be diverging from the intended path to conversion.

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Traffic flow can tell if visitors find what they seek or where they diverge from intended path. @crestodina
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When viewing the Users Flow report, you’ll find that green boxes represent site pages, arranged in groupings (e.g., by country, publication year, site category). The pages are labeled as URLs so the page that’s simply marked “/” represents your home page.

(Note: This report can require a bit of explanation if you aren’t familiar with how to find and interpret the data. For a full tutorial on how to create and analyze this report, check out Orbit Media’s post on the topic.)

Clicking on the green box for your home page (or any of the top pages of your site) will give you several options:

• Highlight traffic through the page, which displays the traffic for that page, while still showing other pages
• Explore traffic through the page, which removes traffic data for all other pages
• Group Details, which displays more information on the top pages comprising that group)

From there, you can discover the top path visitors take after arriving on that page, and can determine whether the traffic flow aligns with the navigation path you intend for them to follow

Sample analysis: Any wrong turns on the path could indicate a need to make it easier for visitors to navigate to the content they want most or to highlight your highest value/best-performing content to keep them engaged and motivate them to explore your site in more detail.

Suggested action: If data shows that visitors are failing to make progress along your intended conversion path, you have a few optimization options:

• If visitors are frequently moving from Page A to pages with high drop-off rates, you can clean up Page A and eliminate links to those irrelevant pages.

• Alternately, you can optimize Page A by reconsidering the navigation features, internal links, and calls to action so the desired path is more visually prominent to visitors.

Go forth and analyze

Remember: Tracking and analyzing your performance data is not a one-time task. You need to revisit these reports on a regular basis to ensure that the actions you take are producing positive results and are accounting for new trends and tactics that may impact your content’s performance.

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Tracking & analyzing your performance data is not a one-time task, says @crestodina via @joderama.
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For a more detailed explanation on analyzing and applying the insights found in these reports – as well as the additional performance questions Andy addresses in each of the four categories – download the complete e-book, How to Apply Analytics Data to Make Better Content Marketing Decisions.

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Want more from Andy Crestodina? He’ll be speaking at Content Marketing World this September in Cleveland, Ohio. Use promo code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Simple Tips for Sleuthing Your Site Performance Using Google Analytics appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

Small business is a big deal. It takes passion, determination, and ingenuity. While incredibly rewarding, every entrepreneur has moments when she needs a pick-me-up or inspirational message to help her weather the latest storm.

We’ve compiled a list of 63 business quotes, that cover everything from your purpose in life to work ethic to quotes that speak directly to the life of an entrepreneur. Every quote was made by a notable entrepreneur, business leader or industry expert, so you’re bound to find one that strikes a chord and reinvigorates your entrepreneurial spirit. Take as many of these pearls of wisdom as you need and revisit this page often!

Life

• Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce. – Vivian Komori
• The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams. – Oprah Winfrey
• Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it. – Lou Holtz
• Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. – Alan. W. Watts
• In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on. – Robert Frost
• Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. – John F. Kennedy
• Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner. – Les Brown
• Love your family, work super hard, live your passion. – Gary Vaynerchuk

Work Ethic

• Play by the rules, but be ferocious. – Phil Knight
• Life offers few guarantees, but generally the harder and longer you work, the more likely you will succeed. – William Harley
• Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford
• Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. – H. Jackson Browne
• Never, never, never give up. – Winston Churchill
• Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can – Arthur Ashe
• To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks. – Bill Gates
• If you make a really good product that people want and are willing to pay for, money will come. – Forrest Mars, Sr.
• Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best. – John C. Maxwell
• Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. – John D. Rockefeller
• Opportunities don’t happen. You create them. – Chris Grosser
• If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn
• Be so good they can’t ignore you. – Steve Martin
• I find the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. – Thomas Jefferson
• All progress takes place outside the comfort zone. – Michael John Bobak
• Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. – Truman Capote

Entrepreneurial

• The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. – Vidal Sassoon
• I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. – Steve Jobs
• Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. – Robert Collier
• The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake – you can’t learn anything from being perfect. – Adam Osborne
• If you can dream it, you can do it. – Walt Disney
• Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. – Albert Einstein
• Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dreams become impossible: the fear of failure. – Paulo Coelho
• The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. – Debbie Fields
• Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford
• Never be ashamed! There’s some who will hold it against you, but they are not worth bothering with. – J.K. Rowling
• Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas A. Edison
• Whatever you do, be different – that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out. – Anita Roddick
• Motivation is the catalyzing ingredient for every successful innovation. – Clayton Christensen

Small Business Stats

• About 70% of all small businesses in the U.S. are owned and operated by a single person. – eCapital: 20 Small Business Facts You Might Not Know
• 60% of consumers says it’s important for a small business to have a social media presence. – 2016 Vistaprint Digital Impact Report: Online Identity
• Email, websites, and social media are the top 3 tools for marketing small businesses. – Blue Corona: 29 Small Business Digital Marketing Statistics
• 34% of consumers are unlikely to shop with a business that doesn’t have a website. – 2016 Vistaprint Digital Impact Report: Online Identity
• Small businesses make up 99.7% of all U.S. employers. – U.S. Small Business Administration FAQ, June 2016
• 36% of small business shoppers discover businesses for the first time online. – 2016 Vistaprint Digital Impact Report: Online Identity
• 45% of consumers are unlikely to shop with a business that has a poorly designed website. – 2016 Vistaprint Digital Impact Report: Online Identity
• 75% of small business shoppers say it’s important to read reviews before visiting a business. – 2016 Vistaprint Digital Impact Report: Online Identity
• Nearly 70% of micro businesses market themselves both online and in print. – 2016 Vistaprint Digital Impact Report: Online Identity
• 83% of micro business owners say having an online presence is important for marketing their business.
• Showing appreciation is the way to reinforce the one thing you have that no one else does, namely, an already-solid relationship with your customers. – Steve Strauss
• The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing. Seth Godin
• Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world you are one. – Robert Rose
• Content is fire. Social media is gasoline. – Jay Baer
• Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother to complain. – Marilyn Suttle
• It takes just $325 to start a business in the United States. – eCapital: 20 Small Business Facts You Might Not Know
• The key is, no matter what story you tell, make your buyer the hero. – Chris Brogan
• You never lose in business, either you win or you learn. – Melinda Emerson
• The number of small businesses in the U.S. has gone up 49% since 1982. – The U. S. Small Business Administration
• Word of mouth marketing has always been important. Today, it’s more important than ever because of the power of the internet. – Joe Pulizzi
• Be where the world is going. – Beth Comstock
• Our online words are our emissaries; they tell the world who we are. – Ann Handley
• Businesses are based on relationship and relationships are based on people. – Marcus Lemonis
• When people put their kids to sleep, nobody tells bedtime facts. – Jonah Berger
• Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you. – Tony Hsieh

Feeling motivated? That’s perfect! You can share and tweet some of your favorite quotes from this link. Share the love with your small business community and other entrepreneurs.

How do you spend your day? Strategically thinking or tactically responding? Top-performing salespeople and, for that matter, any successful person knows the value of being able to set their agenda when it comes to how they will spend their time. I watch too many average salespeople spend all day doing nothing but reacting tactically to […]

Leads are only as good as your ability to know how to calculate their value

Lead generation isn’t as popular as other acquisition channels such as Straight Sale, CPC, CPI or CPA.

Why?

Because most people struggle to understand two important things:

1. How to do it properly
2. How to calculate its value

In this article, you’ll learn how to overcome these two obstacles and discover the information helping companies dominate their markets.

 How to do lead generation properly

 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has some excellent advice. He says: “We don’t make money when we sell things. We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions.”

This is the most important thing to master if you want to do lead generation well. You must be customer centric.

Move away from a transactional mindset. Instead, think about repeat, retention-based sales. Doing this dramatically increases the lifetime value of each customer and prospect, and paves the way for consistent profits.

 

So where do you start? The quality of your leads is your biggest priority. Do not think about expanding the quantity of your leads until you’ve taken care of your lead quality.

Rather than buy 10 broken cars in the hope one of them could get you to work, you’d spend the same money on one car you knew worked well. So why buy a thousand broken leads, in the hope one will buy your product or service?

Albert Einstein felt exactly the same way. He had a sign on his office wall. It said: “Not everything that counts can be counted, not everything that can be counted counts.”

In lead generation, you should look at connection and response. This is the only measure of good quality data. The size of your list is irrelevant if it’s full of trash. If your final aim is to sell something – or, even better, to sell many things to the same person – then the quality of the connection is what counts.

By changing to this mindset and repositioning your marketing, your customer starts to welcome your message. You are no longer an unwelcome pest. And best of all, your customer is much more likely to take action.

Use technology to boost the quality of your leads

Technology has transformed the way you can generate leads.

Fraudulent or useless data currently accounts for anywhere between 15 and 40 per cent of online leads. But smart use of technology can cut out lead fraud and significantly reduce your chances of buying a lead you cannot use.

Technology can help in many ways, including setting the specification of each lead you wish to accept. If you only operate in London, why would you pay for the contact details of somebody in Leeds?

Using the best technology allows you to better manage lead generation from start to finish. In fact, it can be a game-changer when the technology also integrates:

• Personalisation
• Smart lead-nurturing
• Distribution
• In-depth reporting
• One-time set up

Do you know your value-per-lead?

Unlike a direct sale or install campaign, the initial dopamine hit of marketing isn’t apparent in lead generation. You need to be smart about how you track the value. Cutting-edge technology helps you do this well.

When you use advanced lead-generation software like Databowl, you can quickly calculate the value of your campaigns.

If you build a marketing funnel and collect 100 leads through your landing page, you can get a good idea of the average value of each lead (dependent on conversion rates). Once you know this information, you can use it to make lead generation work for you.

Knowing your profit-per-lead allows you to adjust your figures when buying leads from media buying or affiliate networks.

And that is where the magic happens.

Most people don’t do this, so by knowing your cost-per-lead you have the advantage. You can then differentiate the angles and funnels you use, allowing you to capture and convert people who might previously have dismissed your offer.

Having hired dozens of business development and sales reps I am always amazed at how many candidates make a crucial mistake in the interviewing process. That is, they make it all about them -- instead of about the hiring manager, and what he or she is looking for in a new hire.

Now, that is not to say that the recruitment process shouldn't be about the candidate. However, it should be about them in the context of the business’ needs and the skills and attributes necessary for the role. Many candidates do not take this context into consideration and make boneheaded mistakes early in the process, all but ending their chances of getting hired.

At this point, you might be wondering, "But how would I know the context of the business' needs? I don't work there yet!" This is where research comes in. You'd be amazed at what you can learn about a company from an hour or two of pre-interview research. But when candidates don't research in advance, it shows.

Here's an example of what I mean. I've interviewed countless candidates that tout the breadth and value of their professional network and emphasize how it will make them a rockstar sales rep. What these candidates fail to realize is that HubSpot depends almost exclusively on inbound leads, where prospects proactively reach out to us, rather than spending our time chasing cold prospects or dialing through our rolodex of contacts. Doing the most basic research on HubSpot would quickly highlight the fact that this type of answer would likely not be well received by a hiring manager.

Doing your research on the company you want to interview with may sound obvious, but from my experience, I can tell you that at least a quarter of candidates do not do this well (or at all), and it is painfully evident.

Beyond some basic Googling and reading the job description (yes, many candidates do not do this, believe it or not), there are a handful of additional things you can do to begin understanding what the hiring manager and company need from a top-notch candidate.

First, make sure you understand the role you are applying for at a high level. Imagine the impression a business development candidate makes on a hiring manager when they cannot answer a question like “What's your conception of the day-to-day life of a business development rep?” A simple search for "business development role and responsibilities" yields results such as What Is a Business Development Representative Anyway?, and 6 Tips To Be a Successful SDR. Read these articles -- and more.

Better than doing some simple web-based research, however, is actually talking to someone currently in the role, or a similar role. Buy them a coffee and pick their brains on what their job is actually like, and what their boss expects of them.

Don’t have any friends that fit the bill? Find someone who is doing the role in the company you want to get into and connect with them on LinkedIn. Ask them for a quick phone conversation or invite them to a quick cup of coffee. This happens much less often than you might imagine, which frankly befuddles me. I can honestly say that every time someone reaches out to a member of my team for research purposes, the sales rep always accepts. Most reps are more than happy to talk about their experience -- after all, who doesn't like to feel like an expert? Furthermore, most times the sales rep will go back to the office and share the person’s profile with their manager. Boom -- you just got on the hiring manager’s radar.

An more underused approach is to actually experience your target company’s sales process from the buyer's side. What better way to observe someone in the role you aspire to land than by watching them in action? Depending on the product or service your target company sells, you might get filtered out of the sales process as a bad fit prospect -- and it's true that there are few things sales reps dislike more than “tire kickers.” Nonetheless, fill out a form, download a piece of content, and see what happens. Getting entered into a nurturing email campaign or receiving an introductory sales call can be extremely valuable and will provide you with insights into your potential employer's sales process.

Finally, don't forget that the best place to learn about the context of the role you want is in the interview process itself. After properly educating yourself with some of the techniques above, ask insightful questions throughout the interview to validate your understanding of what the hiring manager is looking for in a top-notch candidate and clear up any misconceptions you might have walked in with.

It's only at this point that you can make the recruitment process about you. Armed with knowing what the hiring manager is looking for, you can now position yourself as a great fit for the role, and let yourself shine! Best of luck in your job search -- and P.S. we're hiring.

By Mark Schaefer

I’m often asked: “What is the next big thing in marketing?”

This seems like a simple question, but I’m not sure I know any more. I started thinking about this and came up with at least 10 “big things” that will profoundly impact my career, and yours. I first posted this list on Facebook and it provoked some interesting comments. Here’s my take on the next big thing(s), with comments from some marketing friends.

1) The Spawn of Artificial Intelligence

What I mean by “spawn” is that AI is simply the mother technology for so many new innovations. In fact futurist Kevin Kelly stated in his wonderful book The Inevitable that nearly all innovation going forward means adding artificial intelligence to existing products. He thinks it will get to the point where we will be able to plug-in super intelligence to almost any software, service, or daily task.

There are SO many implications of adding computer intelligence to what we do, including the rise of chat bots, business intelligence, image recognition, marketing automation, and algorithmic writing, to name a few!

You may find it strange that I don’t include “Big Data” or the “Internet of Things” in this list of 10 trends. I see AI as the interface, the translator that makes universe of new data points accessible and real for marketers. Big Data won’t be a “thing” very soon. It will simply be the fuel for AI.

In my mind, we will have a Siri-like assistant who will be able to answer questions like: “Why do my sales go up in Delhi every time it rains?” We won’t have to worry about the statistical analysis or the data points in the background. We’ll simply get answers, if we’re smart enough to ask the right questions, and our new robo-marketers will even help with that, too!

2) Virtual reality

While Artificial Intelligence toils silently in the background of our lives, I believe VR is THE game-changer for almost everything we do in marketing. Within three years many people will be wearing some sort of AR headset many hours each day for both work and play. It will replace much of the functionality of smartphones, computers, and televisions … basically any screen we use today.

AI will be the new way we connect, discover, learn, and entertain ourselves. I think the adoption of this technology will be meteoric because it is addictive. But that’s a story for another blog post!

VR will have a more profound impact on the world than the internet. The web will surround us like the air that we breathe.

Instead of fighting over keywords in a never-ending SEO/ad war, the new battleground will be creating the most fun and immersive experiences for our customers. This is our opportunity to invite people out of their filter bubbles and tempt them to spend some time with us and our very intoxicating VR thrill ride. I can see it now: “The Pampers Diaper Experience.” Ha!

3) Wearable tech

Wearable tech turns each of us into mobile data-generating machines. We’re streaming information about our life, bodies, consumption habits, friends, families, travels, relationships and more that will greatly please the Internet overlords.

Of course there is a tremendous upside as well as that stream of data produces goods and services that serve us precisely based on our DNA, our moods, our whims, and the personal needs, wants, and desires that companies will know better than our we know ourselves.

Douglas Karr, founder of the MarTech blog, said this data flow could mean “the death of mass media and rise of targeted, personalized marketing experiences through ABM and similar tools. We’ll see experience-based KPIs and experience analytics beyond simple sentiment and customer satisfaction.”

Marie-Clare Byard adds: “You won’t be going to the doctor’s anymore, you’ll be taking ECG’s with your mobile phone and your mirror will scan you every morning checking out all your vitals. Combined with wearables, technology is predicting illness quicker then humans.”

4) Media revolution

To look at the future of content marketing, we need to observe the bleeding edge of content disruption occurring with traditional media. We’re witnessing a decline in traditional news-gathering and reporting, desperate monetization struggles, a loss of control of the content as it is absorbed by social platforms, a loss of direct relationships to subscribers, and intense innovation in new content forms like interactive graphics/video.

The fragmentation of content channels that occurred with the internet (everyone is a publisher!) is less important now as powerful media gatekeepers re-assemble in the form of Facebook (they determine what we see), Google (they determine what we find), and Amazon/Apple (they determine how it is distributed). Most internet revenue is now generated from subscription models (over advertising) but ironically, most of the actual content creators aren’t benefitting from the gold rush.

5) Distribution revolution

The advent of drones and 3D printing will revolutionize marketing by creating entirely new business models. The goal of marketing is value creation and customer acquisition and perhaps there is no greater impact on this than the revolution in how we deliver products to customers.

Laura Kessler believes this might be the most important trend in business today: “Through new distribution frameworks we will achieve high-speed drone delivery, duplication and replication engineering, that will change everything in business and society well beyond marketing.”

6) Dramatic changes in Martech

I was recently at a conference populated by dozens of marketing technology companies. I became frustrated that none of them seemed to be able to tell me how they were different from anybody else. Any point of differentiation seemed like a wafer-thin veneer of sales babble.

I think there will be a big change in this field in the next few years. There has to be a shakeout/consolidation that will probably be driven by integration with artificial intelligence. We will see exciting new functionality and the automation of many traditional marketing functions which will lead to …

7) Job loss

I don’t want to be your daily downer but I just don’t see how this technology revolution is going to result in a net increase of marketing jobs. Many economists predict massive knowledge worker job loss … and marketers are knowledge workers. Yes, there will be new job categories. But the economists have accounted for that and the future may be turbulent for we, the marketeers.

I think a lot of people are in denial about this, claiming that “we will always need humans to make the decisions.” No. We don’t. Most companies want to eliminate human error by removing human decision-making. This is happening, folks.

This point may receive push-back from my readers, but when I see the amazing stuff coming out of the field of cognitive computing, my reaction is “Dammit. That computer is doing what I do!” It isn’t going to happen overnight but the adoption of these new AI-driven technologies will probably be rapid, at least at large, progressive companies.

Jonathan Payne adds: “We’re about to see such an extreme tech and economic shift that I think is going to catch a lot of people off guard — people assume automation is only a threat to unskilled manufacturing jobs. And more significantly, this is going to require a fundamental psychological shift in our culture that I’m not too convinced most of us are ready to make.”

These job losses, especially at the middle levels, will throw our field into turmoil. What does this mean for careers, skills, and the imperative for personal branding/personal relevance?

8) The new branding imperative

Content is becoming commoditized and this will accelerate once algorithms start writing the blog posts and creating the infographics (which is already happening). We are deep into the first stages of Content Shock and the high level of content competition is weeding out the weakest links. Some companies simply won’t be able to keep up.

In my book The Content Code, I articulated the six possible strategies that can overcome Content Shock and at the top of the list is branding. Creating an emotional connection with customers that encourages them to seek us out amid all that noise is more important than ever.

9) Influence marketing

I just returned from a conference where I facilitated round table discussions among some of the nation’s top CMOs.  It seemed that no matter the topic, the discussion always turned back to influence marketing. We are moving inexorably toward an ad-free world. In that environment, what are we going to have left other than aligning ourselves with the advocacy of trusted internet stars?

This is a topic worth exploring in an entirely separate post (and I will) but I think that a well-executed influence marketing strategy may be a true source of competitive advantage. There are only so many influencers to go around.

Jeremy Bednarski said, “Those who want to take advantage of influence marketing need to do so quickly. There are only so many influencers and only so much content they will be able to endorse. Think of it as content shock specifically for influencers.”

10) The rise of the private networks

About a year ago I wrote a post about a milestone. For the first time in history the number of people active on private networks (like Messenger, WhatsApp and Snapchat) exceeded those using public social media platforms (like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). Social media use is still growing too, but the rise of these private networks represents a profound shift for marketers.

Why is this shift occurring? People are tired of social media scrutiny and bullying. They are concerned about their permanent social footprint. Why not take it behind a firewall and contain your messages to trusted friends? That private environment nurtures more trust, vulnerability and authenticity … perhaps that is what social media was supposed to be in the first place.

The bad news is, all that amazing data we could see on Twitter and Facebook is going dark. The good news is (maybe), Facebook owns Messenger and WhatsApp — will marketers have access to this goldmine of anonymized data some day? Our immediate challenge — how does a company add value in that private environment without being creepy?

So that is a bit of my current thinking. What’s your take on these trends?

Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world.  Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Book links are affiliate links.

Illustration courtesy Flickr CC and Thomas Quine

The post 10 Epic Shifts that are Re-Writing the Rules of Marketing appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Client ghosting and late payments are unfortunate realities for many contractors and freelancers. I’ve experienced this and know freelancers who struggled with late payments of up to $4,000.

One way I prevent a repeat of this ugly situation is by having a contract and using payment reminder email templates. These templates save me time and keep me professional while ensuring clients stay accountable.

Table of Contents

• Why Is Sending a Payment Reminder Email So Painful?
• How to Get Over the Fear of Asking for Payment
• How to Ask for Payment Professionally
• Payment Reminder Email Templates
• Preventing Payment Conflicts

Why Is Sending a Payment Reminder Email So Painful?

Sending a payment reminder email feels like walking on eggshells. It’s awkward, frustrating, and draining. I recall one time I had to send several follow-up emails before getting paid after two weeks. It was brutal!

In today’s inflation-ridden world, waiting for payment isn’t just inconvenient — it’s stressful. My landlord doesn’t care that a client is late for payment. Neither do insurance companies or the subscriptions that hit my account month after month. Chasing down payments, on top of everything else, is infuriating.

For the client I mentioned above, I had to tread carefully. I didn’t want to damage the relationship I worked so hard to build or jeopardize future projects and referrals. This balancing act is one that 59% of freelancers — who are collectively owed $50,000 or more in late payments — know all too well. Defaulting clients force these freelancers to decide between keeping the peace or pushing harder for payment and risk losing them. It’s bizarre!

The worst part isn’t just the money — it’s the mental toll. Each follow-up email is a reminder that time is slipping away. And as the odds of losing the money increase, your anxiety could spike, impacting your ability to deliver superb work on your current projects.

How to Get Over the Fear of Asking for Payment

Asking for a payment can feel intimidating, especially for freelancers and contractors who have less skin in the game. I remember when I was still hustling on a freelance platform. I delivered a project, and the client didn’t pay. To avoid coming off as pushy, I sent professional email reminders.

The response? None.

I had to find the details of this client online and gave him a — surprise-surprise 😁 — call. After getting the payment, I felt relieved. But you know what I learned? The need for a contract.

Once you and a client sign a contract, you deliver the work and the client pays. Getting paid is simply a part of the agreement. This mindset shift lets you view payment requests as business communication, not a confrontation. My contract outlines expectations upfront, so when the time for payment comes, requesting or getting it without asking is a natural next step.

Another way I get over the fear of asking for payment is by detaching my emotions from the situation. I discard thoughts like:

• “I don’t want to lose this client.”
• “What if they think I’m being difficult?”
• “Won’t I appear ungrateful for their business?”

These thoughts should not stop me (or you!) from sending crucial follow-up emails. It’s a business relationship and both parties have to honor their part.

Think about it: Many clients won’t shy from venting their frustration if you miss a deadline or deliver a project that misses the mark. Is this acceptable? 100%. And as the idiom goes, “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.” So if a client can vent, you can as well — provided you stick to professional, polite language.

The bottom line about requesting your payment is that it’s just business; when you see it this way, the fear of asking for your hard-earned money disappears.

How to Ask for Payment Professionally

Being proactive is what gets you paid. Here are seven ways to ask for your payment while keeping communication professional. I recommend considering them in the order I presented since they’re intended to help you escalate payment issues step by step.

1. Start asking early.

Never wait until the due date before sending your invoice.

For instance, once I complete a client's project, I send both the deliverables and my invoice with a polite message.

By setting expectations early, I let the client know that payment is part of the workflow and not an afterthought.

2. Send a reminder a few days before the due date.

There was a certain client I worked with for months and I never thought he'd slip up on paying.

Newsflash: He did.

I don't entirely fault this client because he might have gotten busy, forgot to schedule the payment, or didn’t put a reminder in his calendar.

Reasons like these necessitate a payment reminder email a few days before the due date. This email is a subtle but effective way to nudge clients to prioritize your payment. It also lets them flag potential payment issues before the due date.

3. Send a DM.

Direct messaging (DMs) on LinkedIn or other professional channels might be effective if emailing fails. DMs are most useful when you know the client is active on such platforms.

Always keep the message professional, avoiding a casual or overly informal tone.

4. Try a phone call.

Email reminders may fall on deaf ears and direct messages may not get a response. When this happens, don't conclude that the client is about to ghost you and unleash a tirade of unprofessional communication.

Such a client might be sick, have a pressing family issue, took a pregnant wife to the hospital, or have other personal challenges.

In such situations, a polite phone call lets you clarify the client's challenges so you can know what to do and speed up the payment process.

5. Consider unconventional options.

Emails, DMs, and phone calls are traditional ways of making contact professionally.

If they fail, odds are the client is about to ghost you or may have a serious financial challenge, which is preventing them from paying.

To get your money, you need to be creative and daring while maintaining professionalism.

Jason Thibault, a content distribution specialist, shared a brilliant example of this approach that I like. Notice that as painful as the situation was, Jason refrained from naming the client — that’s professionalism at its finest.

Image Source

6. Revoke access to deliverables.

If you don’t get your payment after applying the above steps, you might need to withdraw the client’s access to the deliverables.

Withholding access to deliverables might prompt swift client action. However, professionally communicate this in one of your reminder emails before taking this step.

Sometimes, you could revoke access and find that the client continues using your work.

If that happens, contact other persons within the company to flag this issue and request for your payment. If there’s no response and you are positive they’ve seen your messages, you’d need to call them out online for a small payment. For a sizeable amount, it’s best to follow the legal route.

7. Try the legal pathway for sizeable amounts.

If the payment is significantly overdue, and the amount is large, consider the legal route.

Before escalating, your final payment reminder email should inform the client that you will take legal action if the invoice remains unpaid after a certain time.

Once the time elapses, you could use a small claims court or get the service of a debt collection agency. Using a lawyer will cost you and debt collection agencies charge 20% or more of the owed amount. As much as possible, I’d avoid going down the legal route and use it as a last resort to avoid losing money.

Payment Reminder Email Templates

Below are eight payment reminder email templates which align with the tips for asking for your payment professionally.

Automating these emails with a free CRM can save time and let you know if the client opens your emails. The challenge is that a client might open your email and not pay. As such, I create reminders in my calendar to follow up if I don’t receive the payment. Once I receive the payment, I stop the automation.

If you need more payment reminder email templates, you can get inspiration from our email templates or use the HubSpot email copy generator.

Payment reminder email template 1: Send after concluding the project.

Email subject line: Project Completed–Invoice [#] Attached

Hi [Client's Name],

I’m excited to let you know that I’ve completed the assigned project. It’s been a pleasure working on [project name], and I hope you’re as happy with the results as I am.

Attached is the invoice for the total amount of [amount]. As per our agreement, the payment is due by [due date]. Please let me know if you have questions, and ‌reach out if you need any help.

Looking forward to working with you again!

Best regards,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 2: Send three days before the due date.

Email subject line: Invoice [#] Due Soon

Hi [Client's Name],

Just a quick reminder that the payment for [project name] is due in three days, on [due date].

If you need the invoice re-sent or have questions, let me know. Thank you so much for attending to this!

Best regards,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 3: Send on the payment due date.

Email subject line: Invoice [#] due today

Hi [Client's Name],

I wanted to remind you that payment for the completed [project name] is due today. I’ve attached the invoice once more‌.

Please let me know once you’ve processed the payment. I’m happy to help if you have questions or require assistance.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 4: One day late.

Email subject line: Invoice [#] overdue by one day

Hi [Client's Name],

I wanted to remind you that payment for [project name] was due yesterday. I’ve reattached the invoice for your reference.

Could you let me know once you’ve processed the payment?

Please reach out if you have questions.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 5: One week overdue.

Email subject line: Friendly Reminder–Invoice [#] Past Due Date

Hi [Client's Name],

I hope you’re doing well! I’m following up on the invoice for [project name], which was due on [due date]. It appears the payment hasn’t been processed yet.

Could you kindly let me know when I can expect the payment? If there has been any issue or delay on your end, reach out and I’ll do my best to assist.

Thank you attending to this!

Best regards,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 6: Two weeks overdue.

Email subject line: Unpaid Invoice [#] is 2 Weeks Overdue

Hi [Client's Name],

I wanted to check in again regarding the outstanding payment for [project name]. The invoice was due on [due date], and it’s now two weeks past due.

I understand things can get busy, so I wanted to kindly ask for an update on when you will process the payment. If there’s anything I can do to facilitate this, please let me know.

Your prompt attention to this would be appreciated.

Best regards,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 7: One month overdue.

Email subject line: Urgent: Payment Overdue–Invoice [#]

Hi [Client's Name],

I hope all is well. I’m writing to remind you that the payment for [project name], due on [due date], is now one month overdue. This is an urgent matter, and I’d appreciate it if you could prioritize this payment.

Please let me know immediately when you will process the payment or if there’s any issue I should know. I’m happy to help resolve this.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Best,

[Email signature]

Payment reminder email template 8: Five weeks overdue.

Email subject line: Final Notice: Invoice [#] Overdue–Immediate Action Required

Hi [Client's Name],

This is my last reminder regarding the payment for [project name], which was due on [due date]. The invoice is now 5 weeks overdue, and I have not received a response or payment.

Please be advised that if I do not receive the payment by [new deadline, e.g., 3 days from now], I will have no choice but to pursue further actions such as legal steps to recover the owed amount.

I strongly encourage you to resolve this matter immediately to avoid any further complications.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Sincerely,

[Email signature]

Preventing Payment Conflicts

It’s better to prevent payment conflicts than to fix them. Someone who learned this the hard way is Lizi Guest, the founder of a PR consultancy.

Lizi Guest is tenacious. I was awestruck when I learned she chased a payment for 12 entire months! According to Lizi, she texted, emailed, and called. Lizi also considered writing off the payment and couldn’t use a lawyer or debt collection agency. I‘m happy for Lizi because she’s hopeful about receiving a full payment. But what’s even more vital are Lizi’s valuable lessons for preventing future payment conflicts.

Image Source

After this experience, Lizi updated her company’s contracts, made sure every variation was in writing, and also now requests deposits from all new clients. Now, Lizi says she trusts her guts when a client might not be the best fit. She also talks to clients often about invoices and offers flexible payment terms in case they have unexpected difficulties.

I think Lizi’s points are great. However, an important consideration is to include a late payment fee in your contract. This will discourage clients from delaying payments since they know they must abide by the contract terms and pay you on time.

With your contracts in tip-top shape — and tips and templates in hand for how to ask for payment professionally — you’re well on your way to a positive invoicing experience.

As streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video become a bigger part of our media diet, it can get annoying to switch between all the interfaces to find your next show or movie to watch.

So when the MightyTV app launched last year, its goal was to make that process enjoyable, by leveraging Tinder’s famous “swipe left or right” interface. You tell MightyTV which services you subscribe to, and then it uses machine learning to feed you titles you might like, getting a better sense of your taste the more you swipe. (You can then add them to a unified watch list.)

The result of the MightyTV experiment is a world where preferences for shows are stripped of interfaces. For instance, Netflix isn’t pushing its originals to the front of the line like it does in its own system.

And over the last few months, that natural experiment has yielded some insightful data about how having great shows and movies compares to a service’s popularity.

Though 94% of MightyTV users are Netflix subscribers, Netflix titles made up only 34% of those on watch lists. Contrast this with Hulu, which only 47% of users had, but made up 23% of watch lists.

Here’s a quick rundown of how each of the services stacked up on watch lists:

• Netflix: 94% of users have the service, and it makes up 34% of watch lists.
• Amazon Prime: 60% of users have, and it makes up 24% of watch lists.
• HBO: 49% of users have, and it makes up 19% of watch lists.
• Hulu: 47% of users have, and it makes up 23% of watch lists.

One big takeaway is that in the MightyTV world, Hulu definitely punches above its weight. This suggests that one main barrier for Hulu isn't having shows and movies people are interested in watching, but rather getting customers onto the service.

Quality matters

Another insight MightyTV gleaned from its data is that bigger doesn't always mean better. While HBO's catalog is small at about 850 titles, it makes up 19% of watch lists. Compare that to Amazon Prime, which has a whopping 10,000 titles on MightyTV, but makes up 24% of watch lists. "The big difference in those numbers tends to be quality," MightyTV cofounder Brian Adams told Business Insider. Almost 80% of HBO's catalog appears on at least one user's watch list, he continued.

Adams also found evidence of the "Netflix effect," or the idea that having previous seasons on streaming services can spur catch-up viewing. With "Mr. Robot," as the second season came out, the first season was made available on Amazon Prime. MightyTV saw a big spike in people adding it to watch lists.

But perhaps the most relevant data point is that many of the titles people put most on MightyTV watch lists are movies. Netflix content boss Ted Sarandos said in December that movies make up about a third of Netflix watching, whereas on MightyTV, seven of the top 10 titles most frequently put on watch lists are movies. That suggests that the problem of finding new titles to watch is more pressing for films than shows. 

This makes intuitive sense: you have to find a new movie every ~2 content hours, whereas with a show you might be locked in for five or more seasons. But it also highlights that streaming movies are an area where technology that helps people more easily discover new titles might provide a lot of value.

Here are the top shows and movies people have added to their MightyTV watch lists:

SEE ALSO: YouTube star PewDiePie rages against media 'attack' following reports of anti-Semitic jokes in his videos

No. 10: "The Big Short"

No. 9: "Interstellar"

No. 8: "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Despite all the buzz, B2B influencer marketing is still a new frontier. True, the concept has been batted around a lot, but the rules and boundaries of this frontier are still being defined — especially in the B2B space!

A just-released study reports that 55% of B2C companies surveyed are running ongoing influencer programs. That compares to only 15% of B2B firms. Clearly, the use of influencer marketing in the B2B space is still evolving.

Yet, 71% of brand marketers surveyed ranked influencer marketing as a highly strategic or strategic marketing category. That augers well for B2B companies’ future use of influencer marketing.

The following chart shows how influencer marketing is an effective means of reaching many marketing goals.

So what’s the holdup?

The Challenges Facing B2B Influencer Marketing

One major challenge can be likened to the chicken and the egg conundrum. It lies in proof. Executives want to see results and progress before they invest more money into influencer marketing. Marketers, however, need more budget and resources before they have tangible results. So which comes first — investment of money or proof of concept?

Another such challenge is oversaturation. People are inundated every day with advertisements and companies vying for their attention. When a trusted influencer that they follow begins to endorse a particular company or product, they begin to question whether it’s an authentic endorsement, or just a sellout for a big payday.

 

How can influencer marketing overcome these challenges? Read on as we discuss what you need to do to keep up with influencer marketing.

How to Embrace the Future of Influencer Marketing

• Create a Dedicated Team Just For Influencers

Effective influencer marketing starts with long-term relationships. Forget short-term campaigns and blog posts… Think bigger. Think team. Instead of using different teams to nurture and execute influencer marketing, use one dedicated influencer relationship team. This team will cultivate and nurture influencer relationships, executing a plan for their use.

Traditionally, influencers have been owned by marketing departments. Yet limiting influencer marketing to one department weakens the effectiveness of this powerful tool. Consider that it can be used to buttress sales, support, and loyalty programs, to name a few. Expanding its role has an added benefit: It helps make the case for executives to invest resources into an influencer program. Remember that It’s not just a piece of a bigger whole. It is its own entity, with the ability to deliver on ROI, market shares, and brand scores.

• Become More Empathetic

Marketing can at times be viewed as intrusive and impersonal. Influencer marketing can help to break that mold, and present a more personal touch to the everyday practice of marketing.

We’re not talking about tired celebrity endorsements. We’re talking about human beings who have developed a community of individuals who follow them for a variety of personal or professional reasons — and who have become their loyal audience.

Influencer marketing is not about using an influencer’s audience to broadcast your message — it needs to go deeper. If you want to be effective, you need to provide real value to both influencers and their audience.

This does not start with an influencer — it starts with you. Before you can market to individuals, you must understand what their values are, and prepare something that will meet those values. This takes time, care, and nurturing, when done correctly.

There is no more B2B or B2C. It’s human to human. Social and marketing need to work together to personalize individual conversations, as well as deliver shared global experiences. –Bryan Kramer

• Keep Up with the Technology

In our technology-driven world, customers have become more informed, empowered, and discerning than ever before. Attention spans have become shorter and more focused. Campaigns of the past have lost their efficacy. And the way people browse and search the internet has evolved. Is your marketing keeping up with these changes?

Embrace these changes. Learn from them. Show that you’re keeping pace with your customers and prospects — if you don’t, you will be left behind. What new platforms are being used to connect with prospects? What new technology is being used to target your marketing approach? Don’t let these changes pass you by.

Use Influencer Relationship Management tools to find influencers, and nurture mutually beneficial relationships with them. These tools can help you see which influencers are right for your industry. Use programs that help you learn more about your customers, their needs and values, and even measure your success throughout the influencer process.

Here are some tools that have proved successful in influencer marketing:

• Traackr
• Right Relevance Pro
• Klout
• Buzzstream
• Onalytics
• GroupHigh

Research and find other tools that will help to advance your efforts in influencer marketing. The technology is there — you just have to use it.

• Align Your Content with Your Influencer Goals

Influencer marketing is not about retaining the person with the most Twitter followers and then sitting back. You need to do your part if this influencer relationship is going to work. It starts with your content. You must craft content that meets your customers’ needs, and make it easily sharable. The key elements for influencers are engaging content and community engagement. Give them eye-catching content that they can present to their followers.

Potential customers look for more than a simple endorsement from an influencer when they make a purchase decision. They want credible content that fills their current needs, and will lead them to make the right decision. Your role in this equation is to create killer content that will fuel your influencer marketing and meet your goals.

 

Influencer Marketing in Action

This may all sound rosy in theory — but what about in practice? A recently released study on influencer marketing analyzed how one company successfully used influencer marketing to spark a digital transformation in its company, and reach new customers.

SAP, a global leader in business applications, had created a rich collection of compelling content, but needed something more. Enter influencer marketing. SAP was able to find 11 influencers that fit its industry and needs, and invited them to participate in SAPPHIRE, its annual user conference, which atttacts 20,000 in-person attendees and 100,000 on-line viewers.

At the conference, these influencers streamed live interviews and other content to their audience — thus extending SAP’s reach, and generating evergreen content for SAP’s future use. 17 percent of the buzz about the event was generated by influencers. This content, and the online conversation it created, provided internal proof to SAP of how effective influencer marketing is, and paved the way for continued success in its global marketing.

How Effective Is It?

Influencer marketing has shown some promising results. An impressive 94% of marketers who use this method say that it has proven effective. On average, for every dollar spent on an influencer marketing program, companies get $6.50 back.

How to Create Your Own Influencer Marketing Program

1. Set Goals — What are the specific goals for your influencer marketing program? Would you like to increase brand awareness? Improve brand advocacy? Manage reputation? Increase sales?
2. Identify Your Key Audience — Whom do you want to reach? What audience will help you reach your goals?
3. Find the Best Influencers — Who is your key audience following on social media? How many followers do these people have?
4. Watch the Influencers — Observe first. What topics do they write about? What do they share? How much do they engage with their audience?
5. Engage with Influencers — Once the observation stage is over, start to build a relationship with these influencers. Share their content. Start conversations with them. Learn more about their interests and goals.
6. Measure Your Results — What metrics would you like to see from your relationship with an influencer? Define these, and keep track of the results.

Key Points to Remember

• Create a dedicated team to manage and nurture influencer relations.
• Empathy for the customer’s journey is key to effective influencer marketing
• Leverage available digital tools to enhance your influencer marketing experience and results.
• Create killer content that your influencers can share, and that their audiences will want to read.

Influencer marketing is far from a stagnant field. It is growing and evolving in ways that we couldn’t have foreseen just a few years ago. It’s essential to stay abreast of these changes if only to reap the many benefits they can bring.

The say that content is king, but to many this has become a vacuous and meaningless sound-bite for the digital age. This has caused some to overlook the importance of content creation, and particularly the technical elements that drive consumer engagement and increased levels of search engine traffic.

Herein lies the issue with content marketing, as while it is playing an increasingly seminal role in promoting brands many lack the awareness or the expertise to leverage this discipline effectively.

In this article, we will therefore look at the importance of leveraging content to market your brand, and share how you can create copy that engages human audiences while getting you higher on Google.

Understand the Types of Content That You Should Publish

Although there is need to create content that appeals to both humans and Google’s constantly changing algorithms, it is fair to say that some tactics enables marketers to meet both of these requirements simultaneously. By understanding the most engaging types of content and publishing these regularly on your blog, for example, you can appeal to a targeted human audience while also creating tangible, online assets that attract inbound links and enhance your search engine ranking.

So what types of content should you prioritise on your website?

In simple terms, content that offers value to human readers is the most valuable from the perspective of brands. Content that includes in-depth data and accurate statistics (that are relevant to your marketplace, of course) provides a relevant case in point, as this creates natural hooks for engaging readers and enables fellow authors to link organically to the page. This is a simple but effective content strategy, and one that has enabled authority sites such as the Office of National Statistics to build a profile with links from more than 22,000 domains.

Interactive content has also become increasingly popular in recent times, with real-time polls providing an extremely effective method of engaging readers directly and encouraging social sharing. Similarly, how-to tutorials (including both text and video) offer a clearly-defined and tangible value proposition to readers, particularly when they relate to the product or service that you are trying to sell.

With these types of content in mind, how should they be put together to enhance the universal appeal of your online proposition? Firstly, you should create a diverse array of valuable content for your blog and website, ensuring that each piece offers tangible value and includes tangible assets that authors can link to naturally.

Secondly, it is worth developing an overarching content creation strategy and calendar for your blog, as this ensures that you are able to plan ahead while maintaining the necessary levels of diversity and engagement. This also allows you to make allowances for future events, as you look to create topical content that can drive social traffic in real-time.

Manage the Technical Elements of Creating Online Content

With a progressive calendar and an open-minded approach to the type of material that you publish, the next step is to ensure that you meet the technical requirements of content creation.

While the most important aspect of your content is that it is valuable and engaging, for example, current trends suggest that it is wise to prioritise longer-form content where possible. There are

various reasons for this, but in simple terms type of in-depth and data rich material is decidedly more effective at engaging readers, driving social traffic and helping to establish your brand as a thought leader in its chosen field.

A study by Backlinko also highlighted a strong correlation between page length and search engine ranking, suggesting that the insight and value offered by content is emerging as an indirect metric that Google uses to appraise online material. More specifically, the average length of content ranking on Google’s first page is estimated at 1,890 words, so there is a clear emphasis being placed on longer-form pieces that strive to engage, inform and educate readers.

On a similar note, readability is also being given increased credence by content marketers, as while this remains an indirect ranking factor it is expected to play an increasingly significant role in appraising web pages over time. It is therefore crucial to optimise this when crafting content for your site, paying attention the visibility, perceptibility and ease with which your posts can be read at speed. In general terms, however, strive to use concise and impactful sentences, while also adopting an active tense and conversational tone to make your material more engaging.

These considerations, along with the optimization of your content through the use of keyword descriptions and meta tags, will help to ensure that you create insightful and readable material that can both engage and boost your online ranking simultaneously.

Choose (and Utilize) Your Keywords Wisely

While everyone knows that keywords have a seminal impact on your search engine ranking (particularly in relation to competitors), they can also influence the way in which your content is perceived by human readers.

After all, the excessive use of branded anchors or exact match keywords usually detracts from the quality of your content, devaluing the impact of your message and transforming your post into a clumsy and unappreciated sales pitch. While this type of overt approach, which prioritized the quantity of keywords and anchors ahead of the quality of the content in question, is extremely ineffective in the modern age and more likely to see your post penalized than boost its ranking.

With this in mind, what should be you key considerations when choosing and utilizing keywords for your content?

In terms of selection, much will depend on the competitiveness of your industry and your place within it. For those who operate in competitive markets that has several, dominant players, however, you may find greater value in long-tail keywords that tend to be more specific and more complex in their nature. The main advantage of these is that they have a relatively low search volume and are therefore easier to rank for, while they can also be cultivated to suit the precise product or service that you are selling.

This also enables you to create new and viable keywords from scratch, which can in turn provide you with a key competitive advantage over your rivals.

When it comes to applying your keywords and using them within your content, it is important to adopt a conservative approach that values the quality and the integrity of the post ahead of anything else. So, only include relevant keywords that fit organically into the content and do not detract from its unique value proposition, as this will ensure that you strike a viable balance that affords your work the best possible chance of success. The same principle applies when linking from specific keywords and phrases, as you must leverage natural anchors that fit within the context of each post.

As my company has grown into a recognized lead generation firm throughout North America and beyond, I’ve noticed an interesting trend: there are a lot of established businesses who make the switch to inbound marketing but treat it like a New Year’s resolution.

That is, they embrace it with bravado for a while, but drift back to their traditional sales and advertising habits once they realize they can’t just set it and forget it. It’s as if they bought into a trend instead of working thoughtfully to improve their company’s lead generation processes.

Oddly enough, newer companies don’t usually suffer from the same problem. Once they embrace inbound marketing and discover all it can do for them around growing business and increasing market share through better relationship-building, they realize it’s a no-brainer.

They want a website that generates leads, to spend less time qualifying prospects, and to refrain from the habit of annoying their potential customers through direct selling, pitching or cold calling.

So I need to ask, why is it that the more established marketers have so much of a challenge maintaining inbound strategies, especially when they have the most to gain? What is it about old-school sales tactics and transaction-based interactions that drag them back into the dark?

Based on my observations of the hundreds of companies I’ve worked with over two decades in the marketing business, and perhaps a bit of speculation, I’d like to share these insights…

1. It’s Human Nature to be Attracted to What’s New and Shiny

Anyone who’s done inbound knows there is a lot of work and strategy involved in coordinating multiple messages, assets and campaigns. Inbound marketers put together some incredibly well-coordinated campaigns that deliver amazing results.

If not truly committed, it might seem a whole lot easier to go back to what they knew. Throwing money at ads is certainly easier than planning, coordinating and deploying an integrated campaign – even though siloed results can be significantly weaker and those who respond are more interested in the deal-of-the-day than they are in becoming loyal customers.

2. They Miss the Rapid-Fire Nature of Traditional Marketing

The one good thing I can say about traditional “outbound” marketing is that it often produces results quite quickly. Announce a half price sale and – boom! – the phone rings. They can tell almost immediately whether the message is resonating or not. It’s called “direct response” for a reason.

For businesspeople who are used to seeing rapid-fire results from their campaigns, I can understand why growing business through inbound marketing can be frustrating.

It takes more time to develop a style, cultivate a message, grow an audience, and get buyers to trust you than it does to get them to buy into a discount. Of course, all of that effort pays you back in spades once the new leads are coming in, but you do have to stick with it.

3. They Think that Ads Are Easier to Track Than Content

It would be conservative to estimate that my team and I generate hundreds of pieces of content per year. We publish blogs and guest posts (like this one), add reports, tools and ebooks to our website, share our thoughts on social media, and even send out the occasional email.

That’s to say nothing of the infographics, interviews, and training materials we produce both for ourselves and with clients. That takes a lot of work.

With web-based ads (we aren’t going to touch on billboards or print ‘impressions’ here – not a good measure), you can track percentages and response rates cleanly – often just because it’s done in a silo.

With content, you build audience cumulatively, over time. The longer you go, the better the results. Side note: because content casts a wider net, be sure to use visitor tracking tools on your site to observe and adjust to their history and visit behaviour patterns.

4. Ditching or Launching Ad Campaigns is Simpler

If you want to change the direction of your ad campaigns, it can be as simple as killing a poorly performing ad and running another.

By contrast, Inbound sales funnels are based on well-thought-out prospect personas (some call them avatars) meaning that you do need to know your audience better and actively watch for signs of success or failure so you can make adjustments that improve ROI.

5. Some People Are Wired to Sell

Not every lead is a good lead. That’s a core philosophy within inbound marketing, and one that can save you a ton of time and money. Some businesses have trouble accepting that fact, though. They are naturally predisposed to want to sell to everyone, regardless of whether it makes sense for the prospect or the company, or where the prospect may be in their discovery process.

Are These Good Reasons to Abandon Inbound Marketing?

You’ll notice something common to each of these situations. They are all valid, if all you are looking at marketing in the short term. In other words, they stress what can be accomplished right now, this instant, without regard for what will be better for the company (not to mention the customer) over time.

To put that realization in a different light, marketers get pulled back to outbound, interruptive efforts because the business leaders and sales teams are impatient.

They know on one level or another that they could get bigger and more consistent results by having customers come to them, but they aren’t willing to stick things out until that happens. So, they play with their inbound sales funnels until it isn’t fun anymore, and then go back to what they know.

Sales targets are ‘this month’.
Marketing targets are ‘this year’.
– Marty Tascona

There’s a reason gyms are packed the first week of January and nearly empty by March.

Fitness isn’t something you do, it’s a new lifestyle you take on. The same thing happens with inbound marketing. It’s not an activity, it’s a new business model.

When you treat it like something to try, you’re setting yourself up for failure. But, when you commit to generating qualified leads online, month after month, you begin a more thoughtful journey that just keeps getting better and better.

If you’re ready to change the course of your company and make marketing easier and more efficient, then you’ll love the opportunities that come with an inbound sales funnel.

If you’re just looking for another gimmick to cross off the list, though, it’s only going to be a matter of time before you slide back to what you think works, or perhaps didn’t work so well in the past.

Is social media part of your marketing strategy?

If it is, you know how hard it can be to keep up with all of the latest news from the different social platforms. Things changing constantly can make it difficult to craft a cohesive social media marketing strategy for your business.

Have no fear – I’ve put together 50 amazing social media marketing ideas, strategies & tips to help you put together a successful social media marketing plan. I’ll cover 10 takeaways each for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Let’s get started!

Facebook

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1. Run Facebook Ads to content

Running Facebook Ads is commonplace for social media marketing now. Oftentimes, however, running these ads straight to products can make them stick out like a sore thumb on a Facebook user’s News Feed. Running ads to content can make them feel more “native” to the Facebook platform. If all goes well, people won’t even notice they’re ads, and before you know it, they’ve visited your website and subscribed to your email list.

2. Run a Photo contest

Use an app like Wishpond to run a contest in a tab on your Facebook page, and prompt your fans to submit photos related to your brand and product. Running a contest is one of the best ways to increase engagement and spread awareness of your Facebook page, all while generating leads for sales and collecting user-generated content that you can use in future marketing campaigns.

3. Run a sweepstakes

Just like running a photo contest, running a sweepstakes is a great way to quickly grow your following and spread brand awareness. Because sweepstakes are so easy to enter, it’s simple to get people interested in your products. Make sure your prize is a product related to your brand, so you can connect with non-winners in the future with the purpose of turning them into sales. Add a “Like this page” popup box to your contest as well, to ensure contest entrants become connected with your brand.

4. Run a Facebook Live campaign

Interacting with your fans in real-time adds a layer of honesty and “realness” to your social media marketing. Running, for example, a live interview to answer fan questions or to preview your newest line of products adds to the fan experience by creating a channel where you can engage your audiences right away, driving interest in your brand.

5. Use videos and photos to preview content

Content marketing is a big marketing strategy for brands everywhere – and social media is a great outlet to share your content. Though you could just link straight to your content, previewing some of the content you’re sharing in a short video or picture (like an infographic) can help to pull viewers in and drive traffic from social channels (like Facebook) to your blog.

6. Post relatable “tag a friend” content

If you’ve been on Facebook recently, chances are memes have been taking your News Feed by storm. You’ll also notice that most of the comments are people tagging friends they think would like the post – kind of the modern-day equivalent to forwarding a chain email to friends. Post a funny, relatable picture that’s relevant to your product or brand and encourage fans to tag their friends – this helps to spread brand awareness without feeling overly promotional.

7. Post coupons on Facebook

Providing value in the form of discounts or coupons on your page keeps current fans interested, and can convince others to interact with and Like your page. Though your regular content can be exciting, remember that your end goal is likely to drive sales – introducing Facebook-only coupons can help to increase social engagement and turn passive Facebook fans into customers. There’s also the added possibility that fans may share the discount with their friends, spreading awareness and raising sales even further.

8. Respond to customers’ concerns

As marketers, we know by now that social media isn’t just a platform we can use as a content megaphone. We’re responsible for using it to create and maintain connections with your customers to strengthen our brand and keep fans around. It’s also happens to be a popular place for customers with complaints to vent their frustrations. Respond to your customers’ complaints and concerns on Facebook. Avoid being defensive – use it to listen to and solve their problems, and you’ll see you can turn a bad situation into a brand-building opportunity.

9. Run “reaction” campaigns

Something Facebook subtly introduced this year was an added array of “reactions” that people could use in place of the standard “Like”, including “love”, “haha”, “angry”, “sad”, and “wow”. Get users engaged by posting an image asking fans to vote for an option using the reaction buttons. For example, a protein bar company might ask fans what their favorite flavor is by saying “press Like for peanut butter or Love for chocolate”. This not only increases engagement, but also helps you gain insight into the minds of your consumers.

10. Post infographics

Though Facebook isn’t usually the best place to post dense or numbers-heavy content, you can circumvent this by creating and posting visually-appealing infographics. Take interesting statistics and turn them into easily-digestible – and shareable – visual content. This is a great way to inform customers about your product and industry in a way that’s not overbearing. Use this tactic sparingly, for information you know your customers will be surprised by or particularly interested in.

Twitter

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11. Schedule your posts with a tool like Buffer

Tweeting constantly is the best way to ensure you remain relevant by increasing the likelihood that you’ll show up on your followers’ Twitter feeds. It also shows people that you’re active on the platform, and allows you to space out your content easily without running into periods of content overload (or drought). Using a tool like Buffer also allows you to track metrics for your links, so you can see which of your Tweets are receiving the most engagement.

12. Use BuzzSumo to curate content relevant to your account

If you like to share content from other places, use a service like BuzzSumo to find content with proven engagement. Use keywords relevant to your brand or product to look for content your followers will enjoy, and share the top posts. Because BuzzSumo has metrics on the most engaging posts for each keyword, it gives you a foolproof way to share content that’s interesting to readers.

13. Reach out to other accounts to share your content

Tools like BuzzSumo (or other analytics platforms) also allow you to identify influencers – people with large followings. If you have a high-value piece of content you want to share with the world, it’s a good practice to reach out to influencers who follow you (or share content like yours) and ask them to give yours a share. More often than not, they’ll be willing to do it, helping to disseminate your content in different social media circles.

14. Host a Twitter round table

Twitter can be a great medium to hold discussions with your social media circles. If it fits your brand, hosting a live chat or round table is an awesome way to learn more about your consumers. Companies like Buffer host weekly chats, with different questions and discussion topics for each chat. These chats are all linked by a hashtag, making it easy for participants to follow along.

15. Create Moments

Twitter recently made their “Moments” feature available to all users, meaning it’s easy to compile a selection of Tweets, photos and videos to create a seamless experience for viewers. If there’s a specific campaign you’re running, take Tweets from your various accounts (and followers if they send you content) to create a Moment that summaries the campaign. Share this Moment with your followers to easily share the entire experience with them.

16. Run a poll

One of Twitter’s less-used features is Twitter Polls. They’re engaging and easy for followers to interact with, meaning running a poll is a good way to drive engagement and start a discussion with your customers. Though the options are endless, some creative uses include letting followers make decisions for you or vote on an item to go on sale. Play around with Polls and see if they have a positive effect on your engagement.

17. Leverage other media when interacting with customers

One of the most common things I see from brands replying to users on Twitter is a tone that’s a bit too customer service-y. Mix it up a bit when interacting with fans on social medias by responding with funny images or GIFs. Not only does this make your brand feel more personable, it also increases the chance that they’ll retweet your Tweet, leading to increased brand awareness.

18. Host a live Q&A

Twitter owns Periscope – arguably the most popular livestreaming app – which means you can embed Periscope streams right in your Twitter feed. Make sure you host your livestreams on Twitter in addition to other platforms like Facebook Live to increase their reach to your other social platforms. Twitter’s feed algorithm also seems to prioritize videos from Periscope, which can help your account out a bit.

19. Share user-generated content

Add some flair to your content strategy by retweeting or re-uploading content that your users have sent to you about your brand or product on your Twitter account. Though it won’t do much in terms of sending traffic to your website or driving sales, it shows that you care about your fans and followers and helps to strengthen your brand.

20. Reply to/engage with fan tweets

One common thread linking the best brands on Twitter is that they take the time to engage with their followers and fans, even if some of them have millions of followers. Though you don’t need to reply to every Tweet you receive, retweeting brand-related content from fans or answering questions from followers is a great way to show your social media audience that you care about what they have to say.

Instagram

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21. Create a partnered post with an influencer

Instagram is the palace of the influencer – its users religiously follow high-profile ‘grammers for inspiration in areas like fashion, food, and lifestyle. Partnering up with an influencer that has a large following in your target market to created a sponsored post is one of the best ways to share your brand and product with new potential customers. Reach out to influencers and send products to those who are interested, so they can share their thoughts with their followers.

22. Host an influencer takeover

Once you’ve cultivated a strong enough relationship with some influencers, you might want to move to the next step: a takeover. Get your chosen influencer to take over your Instagram account, posting pictures as they’re at an event or throughout the course of their day (“a day in the life”). Make sure your influencer teases the takeover on their own profile so their fans follow your brand as well.

23. Run a giveaway with another brand in your industry

We’ve touched on the effect giveaways can have on your social media engagement and brand awareness, and Instagram is another great platform to run contests on. Partner up with a another (non-competing) brand in your industry to offer a prize package of your best products. You can run a few types of contests – I’d recommend a photo contest, to help you collect user-generated content that you can share on your profile in the future.

24. Tag influential accounts in your photos

Tagging big accounts in your Instagram posts (the photo itself, not just the caption) is an effective way to get your account noticed by others. Find high-profile accounts in your industry and tag them directly in your photos. This puts your photo on the feed of photos they’ve been tagged in, increasing the likelihood that someone who doesn’t currently follow you will stumble upon your account. Because you’re only tagging accounts related to yours, people who come across it will be more likely to be interested in your brand.

25. Use an analytics platform

Though Instagram Business accounts get access to some analytics, you might want to consider using a platform like Iconosquare to drill down on your Instagram performance. In addition to helping you manage your content output with scheduling, you can use these analytics platforms to measure follower growth, post engagement, and optimal post timing.

26. Host a livestream on your Instagram Story

Instagram recently made their Live video broadcasting feature available to all users. You might be inclined to ask what sets it apart from Facebook Live or Periscope – the primary difference is that Instagram videos aren’t stored anywhere, meaning your viewers can only watch when you’re truly live. Use Instagram’s live video broadcasting to run quick Q&As or share information on a flash discount – get creative with it and see how your followers respond!

27. Use a monetization platform

If you’ve got an e-commerce shop, consider using a platform like Like2Buy Have2Have.It to make it easier to link your Instagram posts to product pages. Using one of these means you can have a single link in your bio that brings followers to a shoppable replica of your feed. Put a CTA in each of your product posts saying “check out the link in our bio to get [product]!” These platforms also have analytics, helping you measure the effectiveness of your Instagram marketing.

28. Use your Story to promote flash discounts

I love when brands use their Instagram Stories as an extension of their marketing strategy. There are tons of great ways to utilize your Story – one of the best ways is to share “flash” coupon codes with your followers. You can even be creative about it – hide it in the background of a Story post or post a riddle for viewers to solve.

29. Run Instagram ads

Instagram ads are incredibly powerful because they look native – besides the small “Sponsored” text above the image, Instagram ads look just like they’re part of a user’s feed. They’re also great because you can add CTAs to them – so even though they look like photos, you can link them to landing pages, content, and more.

30. Create creative product videos demonstrating your product

With the introduction of longer videos on Instagram, the number of things you can achieve with your Instagram video marketing is through the roof. One great way to leverage video on Instagram is to create a product demonstration video. Show people the best (or the most unique) ways to use your product – these kinds of videos are engaging and helpful to your followers.

Snapchat

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31. Post your Snapcode on your other social platforms

Snapchat is a unique social platform because it’s really not easy for your followers to find you. Make it easy to connect with them on Snapchat by posting your Snapcode (that QR-looking code) on your other social platforms with a CTA like “add us on Snapchat to keep up to date with our latest products!” to drive traffic from other platforms to your Snapchat profile.

32. Preview content in your Story

If creating content (like blog articles or videos) is part of your digital marketing strategy, you can push Snapchat followers towards it and build hype by previewing it on your Snapchat Story. Post a short video or photo of a piece of content to get people interested in it, and post a CTA like “visit [website link] to see the rest!”

33. Buy a Geofilter for company events

One thing that Snapchat has made available to all of its users is its Geofilters feature. Purchasing an On-Demand Geofilter is a great way to spread brand awareness, particularly if you’re hosting a company event or your company is attending another event. Design a filter featuring your brand and encourage attendees to post to their Snapchat Story using the geofilter you’ve created.

34. Partner with an influencer to host a Story takeover

Similar to an Instagram takeover, getting an influencer to take over your Snapchat Story for a day can do a lot to build your following. Get the influencer to post about it on their social platforms in the days leading up to the takeover, so users can make sure to add you before it begins. Because users need to add you to see your Story, you’ll be adding a large amount of users to your Snapchat following that you can market to in the future.

35. Run a Snapchat Q&A

The great thing about Snapchat is it makes it easy for fans to reach the brands they love. Host a Q&A with your followers by asking them to send you Snaps with their questions. Restate these questions on your Story and then answer them in a video featuring your employees. This strengthens the connection between your brand and fans, and is a great way to add unique content to your Snapchat Story.

36. Host a Snapchat contest

Though Snapchat contests don’t do much for your lead-gen efforts, they’re still good in terms of keeping your Snapchat followers engaged and interested in your products. Try running a contest through your Story, asking viewers to Snap you content like drawings or creative selfies with filters. Choose your favorites, repost them on your Story, and reward the winners with products.

37. Give away coupons in exchange for user-generated content

Similar to the previous tip, post a Snap to your Story saying something like “draw us a picture of [brand-related thing] before the end of the day for 20% off your next order!” This helps you collect a wealth of user-generated content that you can use on your other social platforms, and also serves the purpose of helping to persuade followers to become customers.

38. Post behind-the-scenes content

Snapchat is unique because content lasts only a short amount of time and, as a result, you don’t need to worry about them being totally perfect. Use Snapchat as a platform to show off the behind-the-scenes activities at your business, whether that’s daily employee life or a sneak peek at your newest product.

39. Tell a story

Your Snapchat Story is the perfect place to craft a narrative around your product or highlight the people involved with your brand. For example, show what a typical day in the life of one (or more) of your customers might look like, or highlight an employee’s favorite products. It’s a great, human way to promote your brand, and you can add CTAs as well as a coupon code at the end of the day to reward your Snapchat Story viewers.

40. Use Snapchat Spectacles

In case you haven’t heard of Spectacles, they’re Snapchat’s camera-toting sunglasses. They allow you to upload video directly from the glasses to your Snapchat Story – and interestingly, the video Spectacles take is circular, which makes for an interesting viewing experience. Because Spectacles aren’t yet so widespread, take advantage of this by being a first mover and using Spectacles as part of your Snapchat strategy to create unique content.

YouTube

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41. Post consistently

It’s easy to fall off the YouTube train. Post consistently to give new viewers an incentive to subscribe to your channel with the promise of a constant stream of high-value content. Just like other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, it’s important to post on a consistent basis. People won’t be as interested in your channel if they see you only post once every couple of months. Keep the content coming!

42. Add an intro and outro to your videos

Adding an intro to your videos helps to immediately establish the name of your brand to new viewers who may not be familiar with your channel. Having an outro featuring your social handles and links to other videos helps to keep viewers watching through multiple pieces of content. Make use of annotations to make your intro and outro interactive.

43. Use videos to link to content

YouTube videos and content can go hand in hand, depending on the way you use them. If your ultimate goal is to direct viewers to your blog or website, link to your content within your video using annotations or in the video description. Make sure you say something like “check out the link in the description for…” to direct viewers to the content you’d like them to see.

44. Partner with other YouTube personalities

Consider doing a collaboration between your brand and an influential YouTuber with fans who might be interested in your product. Create two videos, one for your channel and one for theirs, and link to each other’s channels in these videos. Get creative with it – for example, if your product is a snack, get your YouTube partner to film themselves trying it for the first time, or making it part of a recipe.

45. Sponsor other YouTubers

Sponsoring big YouTubers in your industry and providing them with a personal coupon code for your store is an awesome way to spread awareness of your brand and increase sales. Though the terms of your partnership are up to you, the most effective sponsorship agreements include having the YouTuber talk about your product for a little while in each of their videos, referencing the discount and coupon code they have. Make sure your brand ambassadors actually like your product – they’ll be more likely to be passionate about promoting your brand if they do.

46. Shape your content strategy around video performance

Something YouTube does quite well is analytics reporting. YouTube analytics tells you which of your videos are doing best, how long viewers are watching, and what the major traffic sources to your videos are, among other things. Use these analytics reports to find out what’s working and what’s not, and shape your content strategy accordingly. Find trends in your successful videos and create more content using ideas from them.

47. Put offers at the end of your videos

Though coupons in your video descriptions are great to drive YouTube traffic to your store, you can go a step further by giving coupons or linking to a discount URL at the end of your videos. Add a CTA at the beginning of your videos like “keep watching to the end for a special offer” – doing this increases the chance that people will actually watch your content, instead of finding the coupon in your description and leaving.

48.Use annotations to link to products and other videos

Use annotations to help make your videos more interactive. When you feature one of your products, use a video annotation to link your viewers to its product page on your ecommerce site. At the end of your videos, include an outro (like I previously mentioned) featuring previews of other videos with links to them. Don’t go overboard – having a video covered in little boxes is sure to annoy your viewers.

49. Instructional videos

Something that’s always been big on YouTube is “how-to” videos. Though there are sites like wikiHow, people like to see things being done – I know that I’ve used YouTube to learn things on more than one occasion. You don’t need to create videos directly about your product; instead, create how-to videos on topics related to your product that you think people would be interested in. This helps generate more views, which you can then direct to your products.

50. Embed videos on other content platforms

If you’re looking to drive more traffic to your YouTube channel, a good strategy is to leverage the traffic you generate on other platforms. When you launch a new video, feature it on your homepage and create a new blog post for it. Share new videos to your social channels like Facebook or Twitter, or upload short previews and link people to the full content.

Conclusion

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There you go – 50 awesome ideas for your social media marketing. I hope these help you with your social strategy! Let me know which tips were your favorites in the comments below.

There is a Chinese proverb that says:

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.

You could say the exact same thing about building your online networks of influence.

The best time to start building a social network that increases your visibility and enhances your reputation as an expert in your field was last year – or better yet, five years ago.

But the next best time is NOW.

Sure, you could also go and buy a bunch of online advertising and force yourself into people’s consciousness. You could pay to rent people’s attention for a short period of time.

But if you want more – if you want to own some of your audience’s attention and grow your online influence and build relationships with people who can have a real, positive impact on your business – you have to earn it.

Whether you own a business or lead one, at some point next year, and the year after that, you’ll look back and realize that NOW was the best time to start.

So what’s stopping you?

“I don’t have the time,” you say.

Excuse me, but in my experience, business leaders make time for what is important – and this is important. Determining priorities and making time for them is what makes you a leader. Every online influencer I know is busy, but they find ways to make time for building their online networks because it’s important to their success.

Many influencers get help from their teams. They invest in building their own skills. Some hire consultants to help them with content, distribution and strategy.

“I don’t have the money to invest,” you think.

Marketing is changing faster than many people and organizations can adapt. Sure, everyone wants to get leads and prospects for their business, but those leads and prospects are driving their own buying journey and doing their own research online. They’re digitally empowered buyers and they’re looking for the best person and/or company to buy from.

There is a community of influencers in every industry market that attracts these empowered buyers and helps them find their way – to the right person, the right company and the right solution for them. Can you afford not to be part of that community?

“I don’t know what to do,” you confess.

Now, we’re talking. Hey, it’s a complicated, fast-changing world. There are so many digital tools out there – it’s hard to know where to start.

Here’s my advice: start with the basics and build from there. Start curating and sharing great content – that’s like your digital heartbeat in social networks. It shows that you’re alive and paying attention. Then, start identifying and reaching out to key online influencers in your industry. Focus on building long-term relationships of value with these influencers, not short-term lead generation. Finally, harness your own thought leadership and insights about your industry and share them.

When you increase your visibility and recognized expertise among online influencers in your industry, this supports your other sales efforts in a variety of ways.

Plant that tree today. It really is the best time to start.

For the last 11 years or so, Spark Capital has found success by investing in some of the hottest consumer technology startups around: Yahoo's Tumblr, Facebook's Oculus, Twitter, and Warby Parker are all Spark investments.

Now, says Spark Capital cofounder and General Partner Bijan Sabet, the firm is starting to turn its attention towards a new target — the rising tide of workplace apps that make work just a little bit more fun.

And Spark had a big victory in this regard just recently: Trello, a beloved work organization app with 19 million users, sold to Aussie software giant Atlassian for $425 million, after raising a relatively modest $10.34 million in venture capital in its lifespan. For Sabet, who sat on Trello's board from its early days, it was a personal victory, too. 

Plus, Spark is also an investor in Slack, the $3.8 billion chat app that recently staked its claim to the Fortune 500-grade software market with Slack Enterprise Grid, a new product intended for larger teams. 

Here's why Sabet thinks there's a huge "acceleration" in the market for startups that have more to do with your work life than your personal life — and why Spark is putting its money where its mouth is after years of having it the other way around.

'Goosebumps'

Historically, Sabet says, Spark's interest has really been in companies that combine cutting-edge technology with good design, because those are the products that people actually enjoy using. So it wasn't exactly that Spark was avoiding business software companies, Sabet says. It's that, historically, it was hard to find any that fit their criteria.

Trello was an early exception, but he says that even popular enterprise software like Salesforce is "not a very inspiring product." When Sabet looked at Salesforce for the first time, he says, "we didn't get goosebumps like we did when we saw Tumblr." 

Furthermore, Sabet says, the way that business software was historically sold created "natural gatekeepers" — the IT department dictated what hardware and software could be used by employees, meaning that there weren't a lot of ways that even the scrappiest startup could compete. 

There wasn't an easy way to try business software before you buy, Sabet says; we may be used to lots of web-based productivity tools having free-to-use services now, but that wasn't always the case.

"You literally had to take a meeting before you could get a trial version," Sabet says.

David vs. Goliath

The thing that changed, Sabet says, is the rise of Apple and the app economy. Suddenly, people were allowed and encouraged to bring iPhones and Android phones to work. And with that latitude came the opportunity for employees to figure out the best tools they need to get stuff done, choosing apps and services "naturally." 

This was "liberating," Sabet says, because it meant that suddenly, those "gatekeepers" were listed. Companies could sell straight to their users, not the IT department. If a small team at a company uses Slack, and their coworkers see them, they're going to want to use Slack, too.

It's the same network effect that powers the growth of social networks like Snapchat or Facebook, Sabet says, and now it's starting to hit the workplace, too. And the really great companies, including Spark portfolio companies Trello and Slack, are the ones who are applying a similar relentless focus on the user.

"We're seeing very creative founders," Sabet says. "They can actually innovate here." 

Indeed, Sabet says, it's a "red flag" when startups come to Spark with a business model that's a little more old-fashioned, with revenue that comes from selling professional services like setup, installation, and training. The companies that he's most interested in are the ones that can grow in that new, direct-to-user kind of way.

And while Slack and Trello found success by focusing on a broad set of office workers, Sabet says that there's room for other companies, like Mark43 — a Spark-funded tool for law enforcement officers — to find similar success in different industries.

As for fears that companies like Microsoft and Amazon could crush these work-focused startups with their own ever-growing rosters of apps and services, well, Sabet isn't worried.

"We're kind of big on David vs. Goliath here," he says.

SEE ALSO: Google is turning a key technology into a weapon in its cloud war with Amazon and Microsoft

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack and Flickr, on two beliefs that have brought him the greatest success in life

If you’re a loyal reader of this blog, you’re probably aware I don’t believe that sales need to slow down just because a market does. Are you noticing your team is consistently producing disappointing results and selling less than perhaps …
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One thing that I’ve noticed recently is that sellers aren’t always good at learning how to pivot. During the qualification stage, we get thrown for a loop sometimes. A prospect or a buyer answers in a way that we weren’t …
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Elon Musk indicated at a recent conference that to some degree, we are already cyborgs. You think of the digital tools that you have, the applications that you have. You can ask a question and instantly get an answer from Google. You already have a digital tertiary layer. I say ‘tertiary’ because you think of the animal brain or the primal brain, and then the cortex, the thinking brain, and then your digital self as the third layer.

Elon feels humans must merge more closely with machine intelligence




Read more »

I ran across a question on the Inside Sales Experts LinkedIn group last week. As luck would have it, I’ve been working our 2017 SaaS AE Metrics & Compensation (due out next month) and have just the perfect dataset. The question read:

Manager Earnings vs. Rep Earnings
 
I think we would all agree that top reps will and can always make more than their sales managers. But where should that line be? Has anyone seen any data that identifies where manager compensation should be relative to their reps?
 
This is one of those questions that causes a gut reaction. I’m sure you’d agree that a “top rep” should outearn their direct manager. But how many top reps? Is true for every #1 rep in every group?

 

Beyond making for fantastic cocktail party conversation, this is an important question.

As anyone with a pulse and open AE headcount can tell you, we’re in a highly-competitive market for top talent. If your compensation plan limits, caps, or otherwise blocks AEs from the potential to outearn their boss, something is wrong. I hope you’ll evaluate your own plans as you read through these findings.

First, two caveats

Number one, exactly 0.0000% of plans have AEs outearning their managers if they miss quota. To outearn, reps must over achieve. Number two, I only know manager on-target earnings, not actual W2. This provides a great starting point, but it assumes the manager earns 100% of variable. No more, no less. I’m not able to factor in manager accelerators for overachievement.

Q1: For plans without accelerators, how many reps will outearn their managers?

Roughly 12% of plans have on-target rep compensation exceeding that of their first line managers. Meaning at 100% of plan, a rep will outearn their boss. I also know that in a given group roughly 67% of reps will hit or exceed quota.
  

At the remaining 88% of companies, at some point of overachievement (in excess of 100% of quota), rep compensation will exceed that of their managers. After a bit of math, I found on average reps needed to achieve 176% of quota to outearn their managers. Fewer than one in ten AEs achieve that level of performance.

If all I knew about your company was that you didn’t use accelerators, I’d estimate that 15% of reps will outearn their managers. That’s roughly the top three overachieving AEs for a group of twenty.

Q2: For plans with accelerators, how many reps will outearn their managers?

From the data, I also know quotas, base commission rates, and multipliers for accelerators. Digging in, I found that:

• 19% of plans have reps outearning when they achieve 100-119% of quota
• It’s 30% for reps achieving 120-139% of quota
• It’s 47% for reps achieving 140-159% of quota
• It’s 72% for reps achieving 160-179% of quota
• 77% of plans have reps outearning when they achieve 180%+ of quota

I had to triple check that last bullet. If a rep is nearly doubling their quota, even factoring in accelerators, roughly one out of four AEs will still earn less than their first-line manager. That’s surprising.

From our sales team grader dataset, I also have frequency distribution for percentage of reps at each tier of achievement. Combing the two, I found that:

An average of 23% of reps outearn their managers under accelerated plans.

Net Net

If I were to ask you: for a group of eight reps, how many should outearn their manager? The top one or two feels about right, no? It turns out that the math (15-23%) backs that up.

Take a look at your comp plans and accelerators. At 125% of plan, would a third of your reps outearn their first-line manager? At 185%, would three out of four?  Plans that rely on accelerators, decelerators, and cliffs are now the norm for SaaS companies.

Hopefully this will give you guidance on where your plan sits on the competitiveness meter.
  

Brands that embrace simplicity are more profitable, have greater customer loyalty and employee engagement.

What does simplicity mean? It means being uncomplicated, free from pretense or guile, easy to understand and without unnecessary embellishments.

Why is this important? According to Siegel+Gale who recently published their seventh annual Global Brand Simplicity Index™ brands that embrace simplicity are simply more profitable than those who don’t!

The most successful consumer-facing brands all share this single characteristic. As defined by Siegal+Gale, simplicity is ‘easy to understand’, ‘transparent and honest’, ‘making customers feel valued’, ‘innovative and fresh’ and ‘useful’. Simple brands make life easy, they make it easy to purchase them, and provide an uncomplicated post-purchase experience that maintains and reinforces the brand customer experience.

Every day we face more choices, technology evolves even faster, and the world around us becomes increasingly unpredictable. But we’re still primitive creatures at heart; we prefer life to be straightforward and undemanding. We want things to function quickly and easily without much effort. When confronted with complex or difficult buying decisions, we revert to our primitive instincts of fight or flight. In this case, flight wins, as we decide it’s far too complicated to be worthwhile and we abandon ship! We want products that require no effort, little thought that work intuitively or with simple guidelines.

In its seventh year, the study is based on an online survey of more than 14,000 respondents across nine countries: US, UK, Germany, Sweden, Mainland China, Japan, India and UAE and Saudi Arabia. Respondents rated 857 brands and 25 industries on their perceived simplicity and how industries and brands make people’s lives simpler or more complex!

The findings are compelling:

• Simplicity earns a premium: 64% of consumers are willing to pay more for simpler experiences.
• Simplicity builds loyalty: 61% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand because it’s simple.
• Simplicity pays: A stock portfolio of the simplest global brands outperforms the major indexes by 433%.
• Simplicity inspires: 62% of employees at simple companies are brand champions compared to a paltry 20% at more complex companies.

If that’s not convincing enough, then here’s some behavioural science — specifically, loss aversion bias. $86 billion is being left on the table when brands don’t simplify!

For the fourth year in a row, Aldi is regarded as the simplest brand. Why? For starters, they have a consistent store layout, a smaller footprint than competitors, and stock less products per category, limiting choice and making it easy to find required products, easy to decide what to buy, and easy to actually buy it. Sounds practical, but they also deliver on their uncomplicated promise of high quality products at affordable prices – what’s not to love about that!

The global bottom 10 is perhaps not that surprising; if you’ve ever been a customer, you know how complex and irritating they all can be:

86 is Budget, 87 is Ryanair, 88 is HSBC, 89 is Hertz, 90 is MetLife, 91 is AVIS, 92, LinkedIn, 93 is Bupa, 94 is Aviva and 95 is Axa for the second year running!

For sure, the majority have complex operating models due to regulations, but they are all wide open for disruption by someone who can figure out how to provide a transparent and straightforward customer experience. As a customer, I say bring it on.

The top three industries that are globally felt to be the most simple are led by internet search at number one, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the number two, internet retail, and number three, retail/grocery.

In the US and UK, respondents were also asked their thoughts on brands regarded to be ‘disrupters’ who have concentrated in simplifying their customers experiences as their raison d’être and point of difference.

The US top three were Dollar Shave Club (bought by Unilever for $1 billion in July last year), GrubHub and Square. The UK top three were OVO Energy, City Mapper and Shazam.

What can you learn from these brands? Ask yourself some hard questions.

1) Can your brand values, proposition and personality be described easily?

2) Does your product make people’s life easier or more complicated?

3) Is it easy for your customers to ask questions or get support?

4) Can you identify, reduce or remove the pain points in your customer’s interaction with you?

5) Are you actually useful to your customers?

This article was originally posted on OgilvyDo.com

Nicola Watts is a freelance strategy and research consultant based in the UK. She has held a variety of commercial roles in the UK, Russia and Canada and was formerly Global Market Research Director at Cadbury.

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, HBS; chair of Strata, Startupfest, Pandemonio, and ResolveTO; Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another: 

• Google Maps: Hyperlapse Around the World - IDEAndo. "I'm almost at the point where I take mapping for granted. I used to have a sense of direction, and print travel instructions. We've had Google Maps for less than 15 years, and today, everyone with a smartphone and a data plan has the kind of geographic intelligence past military commanders could only dream of. One Maps fan decided to celebrate, stitching together thousands of images from Google. The hard part was removing metadata and stabilizing images, as this PetaPixel post explains." (Alistair for Hugh).
• Meeting Earth's most typical person - CBS Evening News. "In an era of tailored marketing and personalization, it turns out that you can learn a lot from averages. National Geographic analyzed the data on human population, and combined nearly 200,000 faces to make a portrait to accompany the person: 'He is Han Chinese so his ethnicity is Han. He is 28 years old. He is Christian. He speaks Mandarin. He does not have a car. He does not have a bank account.' And then--plot twist--CBS News went and found him." (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Rise of the Like Economy - The Ringer. "How the little thumbs up has transformed the world." (Hugh for Alistair).
• Enter Sandman - Iron Horse. "Does Mitch love metal? Hell yeah. Does Mitch love bluegrass? I doubt it. But, love it or hate it, you have to take your hat off to a bluegrass cover of a Metallica classic." (Hugh for Mitch).
• Automation Will Make Us Rethink What a "Job" Really Is - Harvard Business Review. "What value will a 'job' hold if we do, in fact, see the rise of intelligent automation? Famed Futurist (and co-founder of Wired), Kevin Kelly, would call this an inevitable moment. I believe him. With that, our economy is going to change as machines become intelligent. They will learn by experience and improve (with leaps and bounds) over time. These are facts (whether you want to admit it or not). So, what are we all going to do? Don't think that 'being creative' is the answer, either because that too will become automated over time. So, what's a job for?" (Mitch for Alistair).
• A Conversation With Brian Eno About Ambient Music - Pitchfork. "I think that I like the way Brian Eno talks about music and creativity more than I enjoy the music that he creates... and that's saying something (love his stuff!). He is so intellectual and creatively inspiring when he speaks about his work - or the type of music that inspires him. This is a great example of that. If you feel like you might obsess a little too much over the work that you're doing, take a reads of this..." (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Tags: advertising agency alistair croll bit current bit north book a futurists manifesto brand brian eno business blog cbs cbs evening news complete web monitoring digital marketing digital marketing agency digital marketing blog enter sandman facebook gigom google google maps harvard business review harvard business school hugh mcguire human 20 iambic ideando iron horse j walter thompson jwt kevin kelly lean analytics librivox link bait link exchange link sharing managing bandwidth marketing marketing agency marketing blog medium metallica mirum mirum agency mirum agency blog mirum blog mirum canada mirum in canada mitch joel mitchjoel national geographic pandemonio petapixel pitchfork press books resolveto six pixels of separation social media solve for interesting startupfest strata the inevitable the ringer tilt the windmill wired year one labs  wpp

Have you ever considered reaching out to influencers to win more exposure and sales?

If you have not considered it yet, seriously, you should. Why?
Because it is hands down the easiest way to bring new eyes to your work.
All it takes is creating awesome content that provides value to the readers and some basic outreach to bring the influencers on your team. That’s all.

And it’s super effective. Here is a Tomoson study that proves it perfectly.

I honestly never bothered about reaching out to influencers until recently, when one of our blogs on customer service was chosen by Shep Hyken, an influencer in that niche, to be featured on his weekly roundup blog.

And it helped me in gaining some valuable exposure for our blog.

And our product as well, in the form of new signups.

What did I do to get featured? Nothing. It was just the magic of creating valuable content working in my favor.

But it was a rare case that he himself stumbled upon my blog and liked what he read. Most of the time you’ll have to reach out to them and show your awesome content to get it featured. Because, you know, they are busy being influencers.

Other than influencer marketing — the topic which I am focusing on in this blog, there are a ton of other reasons to reach out to someone.

Customer development. Networking. Sales. Press. Recruiting. Partnerships or for some personal purpose, you name it…..
But before reaching out you need a point of contact, which is generally their email address. Even if you have considered implementing influencer marketing in your content marketing strategy before, it can get really difficult to find one, and it consumes a lot of time as well.

Well, actually, it’s not so difficult or time-consuming if you know where to look from.

In this post, I’m going to introduce you to the 3 top-rated chrome plugins that can find ANYONE’s email address without wasting much of your time-

Datanyze Insider

Rated 4.4/5 stars — 134 Ratings.

Users — 41000+

Datanyze insider tells you a lot more than just email addresses. It a completely sales oriented prospect tool. Datanyze is my personal favorite because of it’s highlight feature and also because it is a complete browser extension, not just limited to google chrome. For free, they give you 20 credits and 1 search query eats up 1 credit point.

After downloading the extension, it gives you the ability to fetch email addresses by highlighting any name and their designation. You will just have to right click on the name, click on its icon and it will fetch their email for you. Perfect for fetching email addresses of influencers.

It’s accuracy is what they will have to work on. But don’t worry, there is a bonus tool for checking if the fetched email is correct or not(end of the blog)

Additional features, if you click on it’s icon from the toolbar, it will give you information about the domain’s physical presence, social media presence, contact info and some basic information.

Clearbit Connect

Rated 4.5/5 stars — 577 ratings.

Users — 90,000+

Called as Rapportive on steroids, Clearbit literally lives in your inbox. It is a chrome gmail extension that is renowned for its effectiveness by the likes of techcrunch. The best feature about clearbit is literally its integration with gmail. They give you 40 searches per month for free.

After downloading the extension, you will see it’s icon appear in your gmail account.

It will show up in your gmail like this.

Click the button and put the name of the company you want to search for.
Say, I want to contact an editor of ‘The Huffington Post’ to pitch my awesome article that I wrote specially for them.

And there you go, just in a matter of seconds you have her email. Now you can focus on writing the perfect pitch by clicking on ‘Email Kerstin’, quick ain’t it?

Email Hunter

Rated 4.7/5 stars– 6,037 ratings.

Users — 170,000

Email hunter is the highest rated and most popular email finder out there.
With Email hunter you can find email addresses in bulk by searching for a domain. You’ll just have to enter any company domain in and you’ll instantly get a list of all publicly available email addresses associated with it. Simple as that. And you get 150 searches per month in their free plan.

You can manually go to their site and search for email addresses, they have a easy signup process. After creating my account, I searched for Hubspot.

There you go, 871 email adresses found. All the email addresses of Hubspot employees shows up. The best part about email hunter is that it cites the sources from where they fetched their data.

For a quicker search, just download its chrome extension. After you install it successfully, an orange fox will appear in the toolbar.

The extension works proactively and fetches real-time data as you browse the internet. Since, it searches via domain, it will show you all the email addresses linked to a specific domain. In this case, Hubspot.com

Bonus Tool

If you have an email address, but you’re not 100% sure it’s correct(which will always be the case) head over to Mailtester to see if it’s real. It usually gives a really good indication of whether it’s a valid email address.

But the tool is dependent on how the websites mail servers are set up.

On occasions, mail servers block email verification and it will be highlighted in yellow, in which case, you’re out of luck.

If it returns in red, that means the email doesn’t exist.

Most of the time, however, it’s green, so pop this in your bookmarks, and it’ll save you a bundle of time.

Your Turn

I personally like Datanyze, doesn’t matter how less users or stars it has than its competitors. Try them all and let me know which is your personal favorite in the comments. Would love to hear it from you :)

 

Some may be wondering about the “existential” nature of this title. Some may be thinking, “Well, that’s stupid Dave, it’s our job.” Others might say, “I’m money motivated and it’s a way I can make a lot of money!”

We choose to become sales people for a variety of reasons. For some, it’s the only job we could get coming out of college. For some it is a path to getting rich, though I can think of a lot of other paths to get richer, faster.

This week, I had an amazing experience. I observed two days of training of one of the best performing sales organizations I have ever encountered. These people are not only the top performers in their industry, by virtually every other metric, they are one of the top performing sales organizations in the world.

On the first day, they spent a lot of time discussing, “Why do we sell?” This group sells because they want to have an impact, they want to change the world, they want to make a difference.

Sure, they want to make their numbers, they absolutely want to make a lot of money, but those are by products of their success. Individually, and organizationally, they want to change the world! They do it one customer and one deal at a time.

They focus on what the customer is trying to achieve and how they can help accelerate their customers’ success. They walk away from deals where the customer doesn’t care about their ability to do these things, where all the customer values is price. Just as they invest in their customers’ successes, they expect the customer to invest in their success by enabling profitable deals. Without this, they can no longer afford to provide value.

Everything this sales team talked about was the customer. Yes they loved their products, but their focus was how their products enable the customer achieve their goals. While most sales people focus on their products, forcing the customer to figure it out, these sales people focused on the customer.

Some of you might be wondering, “Well this is a nice story, but that’s not how things really work.” They like every other successful business are intensely goal and revenue oriented. But they realize the secret to doing this is through changing the world. Their record indicates it works–they are one of the top performing companies in their industry, they’ve had over 25 years of profitable growth, leading their industry–few others can make that claim.

So this mission is not some theoretical or idealist goal. It produces hard business results.

I contrast this with many other sales people. Those that are purely driven by making money. Sure, one could do that, but they burn through a lot of customers doing so. They can’t keep going back to the same customers helping them buy more. There are those only focused on the numbers, but somehow, more often failing to achieve the numbers.

Most are too short sighted or self centered to understand the real secret to sustained sales success.

We sell to change the world. We sell to have an impact on the success of our customers, individually and organizationally. We sell to make a difference in each one.

There is nothing incompatible with being viciously focused on these goals, while always making our numbers, helping our company make money and making money ourselves. Those are all outcomes of helping our customers achieve success.

Why do you sell?

Sales isn’t just about closing deals.

One of the most valuable skills a salesperson can learn is to say no to a deal.

Salespeople are regularly tempted with the opportunity to close deals with people who aren’t really qualified to buy from their company. While some more unscrupulous organizations and salespeople might give in to that temptation, the best salespeople recognize this is dangerously shortsighted.

Not only do unfit customers have a much higher risk of being unsuccessful and canceling, but they also are more likely to waste internal resources and give your company a bad reputation.

This is why the most highly effective salespeople ask tough questions early on. They understand that one of the biggest time-wasters is talking to people who aren’t really qualified to buy from them. So instead of trying to force or coerce a deal, they simply disqualify these people and move on.

This isn’t because these salespeople are lazy or impatient, either. Rather, they recognize there are plenty of fish in the sea for them to sell to, and that there’s an “opportunity cost” to spending their time talking to the wrong people instead of those eager and ready to buy from them.

This is the way the best salespeople do it:

1. Define who can (and cannot) buy from you

You can’t effectively disqualify buyers if you don’t know what makes someone qualified to buy from you or not. The best way to start is by mapping out your “best customers” using qualitative and quantitative analysis.

One way to do this is by looking at your CRM data to analyze the “top 20 percent” of your customers, whether that’s defined by account size, lifetime value, or other things, like customer satisfaction. You could even create a report that lets you see which deals had the greatest “velocity,” meaning which ones closed the most revenue the fastest. Do you notice any patterns in terms of company size, who the decision makers were, or other relevant indicators you could use to predict which companies are most likely to be your best customers?

Customer success expert Lincoln Murphy, of Sixteen Ventures, actually recommends starting a list of bad-fit characteristics first, because it’s often easier to spot customers who don’t have a potential for success.

2. Discover who you’re selling to

Where does the person you’re talking to stand within their organization? Are they just gathering research for their boss, or do they have decision-making power? Some helpful questions are: “Who would have to sign off on this in order for us to move forward?” or “How does decision making work at [company x]? Can you walk me through it?”

If you find out you’re not speaking to a decision maker, you should ask for an introduction to one. And if the person you’re talking to won’t give you one, at least attempt to gather enough information about the decision-making process to approach the influencer on your own.

However, sales expert Alice Heiman also adds, “An uncooperative buyer can stall the deal. If they are really interested in moving forward, they will help you understand how their company buys. Being prevented from talking to those who are involved in the decision can be an important sign that things aren’t going to move forward.”

3. Uncover their deeper motivations

You also need to think about what their incentives are for talking with you. Does it seem like they genuinely want to work with you, or are they just gathering information to check off boxes to make procurement happy?

The more you try to dig deeper into their pain points and motivations, the more you will understand what really makes them tick.

If they tell you, “We need to close more deals,” you can probe deeper by responding with questions like, “What are your current numbers, and what have you been doing so far?” or “Why do you think what you’ve been doing so far hasn’t been achieving the results you want?”

4. Probe at their budget and plans

While literally asking a prospective customer how much money they have to spend with you might be a bit crass, there are plenty of ways to figure out their budget without directly asking them. My favorite way to probe at their budget is to ask questions about other topics that would indicate whether funds are tight or ample.

For example, if you’re selling sales software, you can ask them about the size of their sales team, if they’re planning to hire more people in the near future, or other tools they might be using or thinking about using. Answers to any of these questions will give you clues about their budget, along with their overall business health and priorities.

You can always just ask, “Do you have budget for something like this right now?” but I usually won’t do that until I’ve gathered enough information to already know the answer to that question.

5. Play “devil’s advocate”

Sometimes telling people why they should not be doing business with you is actually the best sales strategy. This will help you remove people who are actually not qualified to be your customers, and such honesty can also help build trust and proactively combat potential objections.

While signing customers that are the wrong fit will definitely hurt everyone in your company who has to deal with these customers post-sale, it also hurts your credibility as a salesperson with that customer and their network. It also hurts your customers who trusted you. The best salespeople understand that their reputation is everything, and that their customers are a source of future business and references, even as they move from company to company.

As Lincoln Murphy says: “Saying ‘no’ today doesn’t mean you won’t ever do business with these people, since their potential for a successful business outcome with your company can change over time. Maybe your company will change their offering, or the customer will add the needed resources and expertise to their team in six months, which would actually be a better time to do business with you.”

Being upfront with these people from the start puts you in a position of trust and credibility, so that when they are ready to do business, they’ll choose you as their vendor.

No question is more on the minds of Metro Vancouver homeowners and renters than how and when the region’s housing bubble could burst.

After stratospheric escalation, a punctured bubble would be disaster for hundreds of thousands of over-mortgaged homeowners. Yet it could bring relief to those desperate to get into housing.

Last summer’s B.C. government 15-per-cent tax on foreign buyers and the federal government’s stress test for mortgages have slowed the volume of sales in Metro Vancouver, particularly at the top end.

But, despite suggestions from a few voices in finance and real estate, the city’s bubble is intact: Prices remain at record highs after jumping by 40 to 60 per cent in two years.

Unaffordability continues to be a crisis, especially for the young. No meaningful link exists between the city’s tepid median wages and runaway real estate values.

The conventional wisdom is you can’t be sure you’re in a housing bubble until it bursts. Yet there is little doubt Metro Vancouver is extremely vulnerable to a free fall.

The Swiss Bank UBS rates Metro real estate as the most likely to experience a sudden downward correction of 17 large cities, including London and Hong Kong. And the longer the bubble lasts the harder the crash.

China is key to Metro’s housing future

What is most likely to cause the bubble to rupture?

SFU urban studies professor Wu Qiyan, UBC geographer David Ley and others are most closely watching China, the fast-growing powerhouse of 1.4 billion people.

They make a convincing case that no other factor — including interest rates — is as important, as surveys showing 40 to 60 per cent of China’s wealthy individuals want to emigrate and buy housing in another country.

In 2016 China’s rich injected more than $33 billion into U.S., Australian, British and other global housing markets. We don’t know how much they bought in Canada because, as Ley said, this country ranks among the few “in the civilized world” that doesn’t publish foreign investment data.

Yet it’s clear the West Coast of Canada and the U.S. is the most popular destination for China’s elite, according to the Hurun Report. China is now a “fundamental” of Metro’s housing market, says Ley, author of Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Lifelines.

Even though Metro is small, the Hurun Report shows China’s moneyed class are more attracted to Metro than even large “gateway” cities such as Sydney, London and Singapore.

Metro’s housing market has long been tied to China’s economy. Our real estate prices have gone up and down in tandem with China’s fluctuating economy since the 1990s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.

China’s trans-national citizens are especially drawn to Metro Vancouver, Ley said, for its clean air, climate, trusted universities, relatively short flight times and existence of a Chinese-speaking community that makes up one fifth of the population.

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Given the key role China’s wealth plays in Metro, the question both Wu and Ley ask is: Will the country’s hardline Communist leaders finally succeed in stopping the illicit flight of its capital?

All eyes should be on China’s new edict, which began Jan. 1, say Wu and Ley. Will it be more effective than others? It demands a written pledge that yuan converted into U.S. dollars will not be used to buy property overseas. It also creates a government black list and harsher penalties for violators.

“If China can control the outflow of its currency — and keep it to only $50,000 US per person a year — it would greatly impact the housing market in Metro Vancouver,” said Wu.

“I think this … crackdown will be much more strictly enforced and will be longer lasting,” adds Victor Shih, of the University of California, San Diego, who researches the impact of elite networks in China.

China’s Ministry of Commerce reported this week that Chinese investment in offshore property has fallen sharply since last year. But Chua Han Teng, of Fitch’s BMI Research in Singapore, said “I think the impact (of capital controls) is probably limited.” China’s financial systems are porous and there is still, he said, “a great desire for people to try to bring their money out.”

It’s likely the latest restrictions will mostly make it difficult for middle- and upper-middle-class Chinese to transfer money out, Ley said.

But the problem for Metro Vancouver is that China’s ultra-wealthy, including its billionaires, have probably already transferred much of their money to secret accounts, with the Panama Papers revealing Hong Kong as the most crucial hub for laundering capital to tax havens.

“The most important factor for Metro housing is whether capital keeps coming out of China,” Ley said.

“China has tried to block it before, but each time it keeps coming. As long as that capital keeps coming, I do not anticipate our bubble bursting.”

Interest rates could be secondary factor

Even though Ley puts great weight on China, he adds that rising interest rates could also play a role in a downturn.

British financial analysts, he said, have noted the country has the “cheapest mortgage rates in 300 years.”

They cannot last. “One day we will get cumulative rate increases,” he said, and they will affect overstretched Canadians as well as offshore investors.

Metro residents are among the most leveraged. The Bank of Canada reports hundreds of thousands of Metro households have indebtedness that exceeds their annual incomes by 150 to 450 per cent.

“It’s especially the people in the newer suburbs of Langley, Surrey and the Tri-Cities who are mortgaged up to the hilt,” Ley said.

Even though Metro Vancouver and Toronto residents have experienced housing bubbles that deflated since the 1980s, Ley believes most remain in denial. They haven’t paid attention to just how bad the subprime mortgage crash of 2008 was for Americans.

Millions of Americans not only lost their jobs, but their homes were foreclosed. Ley thinks their sense of betrayal fuelled the rise of populist President Donald Trump.

Ley is also convinced the outrage Metro residents felt over inflated housing prices was the political reason for Premier Christy Clark breaking out of her usual pro-foreign-investment stance and applying the 15-per-cent tax.

An Angus Reid poll revealed 90 per cent of Metro residents supported the move. That included most of those “profiting” on paper from the bubble, whom Ley said worried for the future for their children and grandchildren.

It appears the 15-per-cent tax may have had some impact on China’s elite.

The Hurun index reports China’s wealthy now rank Metro Vancouver sixth, instead of third, as the city they most want to emigrate to and buy dwellings in.

Los Angeles and San Francisco remain in first and second. Vancouver has been replaced by Seattle. New York and Boston fill the fourth and fifth spots.

But the 15-per-cent tax apparently did not puncture the bubble. One Metro Vancouver index reported housing prices began nudging up again in January.

Offshore investors, says Ley, recognize the purchase tax is not permanent. They note Clark has already relaxed the rules, making it possible for non-citizens who pay Canadian taxes to not pay it.

That means, for instance, 170,000 foreign students and non-permanent residents in B.C., more than one third of whom are from China, are again allowed to freely buy luxury or other homes in Metro as proxies for foreigners.

Some speculate the NDP would be tougher than Clark, whose party is politically indebted to the real-estate industry, at restricting offshore capital in order for Metro housing to return to some semblance of affordability.

But neither party has made crystal-clear promises about housing policy. So we won’t really know what will happen until after the May 9 B.C. election.

dtodd@postmedia.com

twitter.com/douglastodd

Blog: http://www.vancouversun.com/douglastodd

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Companies that make themselves rely on internet leads are 100% more profitable than those that don't. Over 15% of all sales on this planet will be transacted through the internet and that number is growing higher every month. 50% of all customers spend more than 75% of their shopping time in research on a website. What does this all mean? You need to know how to convert digital leads.

There are two big mistakes I see people making in this arena:

1.Assumptions: Assuming your lead has not done their homework is a mistake. The internet makes it easy to comparison shop. For you to think they haven't compared is wrong. The good news is that by the time the shopper submits a lead to you, they are most likely ready to have a serious conversation about purchasing. Speed matters otherwise you'll lose their attention. They have information—they may have read product reviews about your product, reviews about your company, or be possibly confused about product offerings, price, and the competition. It's all out there for them.

The great thing about the internet is that people want choices and you get a shot at more perspective buyers. When you receive a lead from an internet buyer, you don't want to treat them like a cold call. You have to know that they know something about the watch they looked at, the bike, the insurance policy—whatever it is they are searching for. A well-informed buyer is a great sales prospect. But by missing the fact that they are educated you can mistreat them.

Never assume they haven't done research. Focus on correcting any misconceptions and to do that you need to know what they know, what they think, what they don't know, what they've looked at and not looked at before you start convincing them of your product or service. Take a moment to ask people if they've looked at other sites and what other information they've collected about it—because you don't want to waste their time talking about what they've already learned.

2.Not Giving Info: A big mistake is to not give the information the lead requests. Nobody wants their questions to be unaddressed and then not be provided with the relevant data—not verbally but where they can see it. People trust what they see not what they hear. That's why they search the internet. They can look, compare, and see. Keep those things in mind with this big mistake. It's extra important to an online buyer because they are informed but also misinformed. They can have data that is just incorrect, we all know there is plenty of false things on the internet.

Always be prepared to answer the specific question that they ask and provide additional information. Think ahead of the buyer because if you answer their one question that doesn't mean you've answered all their questions. Preempt things they are sensitive to, questions like pricing, set up fees, levels of support, other possibilities—the choice above or the choice below.

Look for creative ways to provide general information, photos, and videos. They consume images 60,000 times faster than text or data. Be transparent. Transparency doesn't mean that you have to reduce your price. If you are unable to provide specifics with a customer you're going to lose that customer. Whenever you avoid, ignore, and don't provide, you won't be credible.

People are hitting your website each day. Do you assume things about these leads? Are you giving them the information they need to make an informed decision? For more on how you can sell in this digital age, get on Cardone University today—it's a virtual training platform I created to give you all the tools you need to increase your sales and increase your profits. The internet age is only just beginning and you need to start converting more leads.

Be sure to also check out 10X GrowthCon before it sells out. This will be the biggest event of the year for entrepreneurs, salespeople, and business go-getters!

Be great,

GC

No matter what stage you are in your career, having a strong LinkedIn profile can help you be discovered for new opportunities such as jobs, business leads and mentorship. Building a robust profile is easier than you think. Start with your photo, position, industry and education- this makes it easier for your professional network and recruiters to find you. Make finishing touches by adding your location, skills and a summary. Not sure what to say in your summary? We’re making this simple for...

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