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June 1st, 2020
Communicating With Customers in Difficult Times
When the world is going through tough times, it is critical to know how to communicate by email with your customers to retain current ones and grow new leads. You must figure out the right balance between promoting your product or service and showing empathy and care for your customer. In times like these, it is especially important to understand your customer and their needs. So, what are some good ways to communicate with your customers during tough times? Here are a few things to consider.
First, make sure that you are offering content that is helpful to your customers. For some customers that may be discounts. But others may find free content more valuable, e.g., webinars, E-books, how to articles, etc. Second, be transparent with your customers. Let your customers know, for example, if there are changes to fees or subscriptions coming down the pipe so they aren’t caught off guard. Finally, make sure you are staying relevant to your entire customer base. As the old marketing adage goes, “know thy customer”. Not every customer will be in the same situation during tough times, so don’t use mass emails when you know it won’t apply to all your customer base.
During any difficult time, empathy may be your best marketing tool to help drive new business and retain current customers. If customers feel like you are on their side, they will remember that kindness and return when times are better. To read further thoughts on communicating with your customers during tough times, click here.
First, make sure that you are offering content that is helpful to your customers. For some customers that may be discounts. But others may find free content more valuable, e.g., webinars, E-books, how to articles, etc. Second, be transparent with your customers. Let your customers know, for example, if there are changes to fees or subscriptions coming down the pipe so they aren’t caught off guard. Finally, make sure you are staying relevant to your entire customer base. As the old marketing adage goes, “know thy customer”. Not every customer will be in the same situation during tough times, so don’t use mass emails when you know it won’t apply to all your customer base.
During any difficult time, empathy may be your best marketing tool to help drive new business and retain current customers. If customers feel like you are on their side, they will remember that kindness and return when times are better. To read further thoughts on communicating with your customers during tough times, click here.
June 2nd, 2020
What You Need to Know to Get Started Creating Video Content
If you spend any time on social media or browsing through company websites, you know that video content is an important marketing tool. But you may not realize there is a time consuming process behind those great videos. So what do you need to know to get started creating compelling video content for your business? Here are 8 steps you should consider.
- Strategy: What do you want to communicate in your video? This will help guide every following step.
- Writing: Take the time to write down and elaborate the main ideas you want to get across in your video. Remember, people’s attention spans are short. Make your point as succinctly as possible and move on to the next point.
- Planning: This can be the longest step of the video process. Here you need to think through all the logistics of the video shoot. Who will star in it? Where will you shoot it? Who will shoot it? There are so many details to work through on this step to ensure success.
- Budget: What is your budget for this video? Hiring actors, using more than one camera, hiring a crew, or including music all use a big chunk of your budget. So plan accordingly.
- Scheduling: This step includes booking any cast, crew, equipment, and locations needed for the filming of the video. You should also schedule out your filming day so you know you are getting the content needed in the time allocated.
- Production: Hopefully you have a well thought out schedule that will help production day go smoothly. Don’t forget to include time for the crew to set up and breakdown equipment. This is also the time to get talent and location releases signed for your company's protection.
- Post-production: Who will be editing your film? Will it be done in-house or by the film crew or maybe even a separate editor? Do you have the necessary equipment and programs to edit it in-house? Don’t forget your music and sound design here.
- Publish: Release your video and make it count! Some platforms have size and length restrictions. Don’t forget to take that into consideration.
June 3rd, 2020
6 Lead Generation Tools You Should Be Using
High-quality lead generation is the greatest challenge for any digital marketing campaign. Lead generation tools give your company the information it needs to actually follow up with potential customers. Without high-quality leads that eventually generate closed sales, though, it’s impossible to grow your business. So what lead generation tools should you be using? Here are six to consider.
- Compelling landing pages that convince customers to provide their contact information for follow up. Without relevant content on your landing page, customers are less likely to provide their contact information.
- Webinars are a great way to generate leads. Attendees must provide their contact information to register for webinars, giving you instant access to ways to reach out to them.
- Live chat allows you to give excellent customer support while also gathering relevant contact information at the same time.
- Similar to live chat, chatbots are another automated way to provide excellent customer service while collecting lead information at the same time.
- Lead magnets are valuable content that you provide for free after the customers supplies their contact information. This could include things like white papers, eBooks, or other free products.
- Website popups allow you to collect customer information without them necessarily having to find your landing page. Not everyone comes to your website through your intended landing page. With popups, you can still engage with your potential customer no matter what page they land on.
June 4th, 2020
Which Should You Choose? Webinars or Podcasts?
Are you looking for a new digital marketing tool to better engage with your customers? Maybe you already have a website and social media campaigns going, but you’re looking for more. You might have even already thought of hosting webinars and podcasts but which one should you choose? Here are some pros and cons for each to consider.
According to an Edison Research and Triton Digital study from April 2020, an estimated 155 million podcast listeners live in the US, spanning across all age brackets. They allow customers to listen to you whenever and wherever they want, at home or on the go. And podcasts can continue to generate new leads over the course of months and years as new customers discover it. But there are some drawbacks too. Podcasts don’t allow you to interact with your customers in the same way a webinar does. You also don’t get the same interactive visual content you get on a webinar.
What podcasts are to audio, webinars are to video. Webinars allow your customers to see your product or business, not just hear about it, making it easier to retain information. They also allow you to interact directly with your customers in real time, answering questions and providing further information. Webinars also tend to attract people already somewhat interested in your business, leading to a greater conversion rate of sales. But webinars can require more equipment and time to create, so you need to consider that as well.
So which should you choose? To decide whether a podcast or webinar is right for your business, read more statistics and information about them here.
According to an Edison Research and Triton Digital study from April 2020, an estimated 155 million podcast listeners live in the US, spanning across all age brackets. They allow customers to listen to you whenever and wherever they want, at home or on the go. And podcasts can continue to generate new leads over the course of months and years as new customers discover it. But there are some drawbacks too. Podcasts don’t allow you to interact with your customers in the same way a webinar does. You also don’t get the same interactive visual content you get on a webinar.
What podcasts are to audio, webinars are to video. Webinars allow your customers to see your product or business, not just hear about it, making it easier to retain information. They also allow you to interact directly with your customers in real time, answering questions and providing further information. Webinars also tend to attract people already somewhat interested in your business, leading to a greater conversion rate of sales. But webinars can require more equipment and time to create, so you need to consider that as well.
So which should you choose? To decide whether a podcast or webinar is right for your business, read more statistics and information about them here.
Check out last month's blogs here!