How many of these 5 practical and easy-to-use engagement tools are you already using?
One of the main questions I get asked is about how to more effectively engage in email marketing. The inbox is a very competitive place so you need to stand out, be interesting and be relevant but, although we all know this in theory, the execution often seems to get lost somewhere along the way.
In fact, I still see the majority of campaigns get sent out with very little, or no tailoring of content and I can still sign up to a retail outlet, for example, and give my age, gender and preferences and not see any evidence of this information being used in the campaigns received. This happens in companies big and small and across all industries so, I ask myself, is this because people just don’t know the engagement tools available to them? Do they…
Your buyers want to be guided towards the path of least resistance
Let me ask you a question.
Do you know what part you play in your Buyer’s Journey?
Let’s take the “Journey” part literally: are you the road, the final destination, the map or the signs? Let me tell you what you are: you’re the guide. You’re the one who chooses the road, and you need to make sure that all the things that your travelers may need are there at the moment they need them.
Planning great content, and making it work, is just like that. Besides being interesting and of high quality, your content needs to be timed just right to generate the most impact. It must be in the correct place, at the correct time.
In your Buyer’s Journey, you have a clear goal: to point your prospects in the…
Wow your customers with ingenious and useful personalisation
As 21st-century marketers, part of our job is to always wonder: What do I need to do to create compelling and engaging experiences for customers and clients, with our company? It requires an ever circumspect awareness to know what will not only satisfy customer expectations but “wow” them along your sales funnel.
That answer to that question is changing all the time, particularly with the rapid advancement of technology. One such critical trend to practice and be aware of is customer-centricity, and personalization. Loosely speaking, customer centricity is the principle, and personalization is how you put it into action with your company’s digital presence and relationship to your customers.
In the age of data saturation, we as consumers want our experiences online to be relevant, to be adapted and shaped around our interests. Every major development in how we use the internet, from search engines to…
The Managing Director of Royal Mail's Data Services shares his insights into the true cost of poor-quality customer data.
As more marketers work to improve ROI and address new data regulations, the true costs of poor-quality customer data are about to become clear
New research into the use and management of customer data from Royal Mail Data Services reveals that UK organisations estimate poor-quality customer data is costing them an average of 6% of their annual revenues. So how can marketers and data experts finally clean up their customer data to improve overall operational efficiency and campaign effectiveness and comply with data protection regulations?
Marketers face a data dilemma
Today’s marketers rely on good-quality contact data above all else to ensure the success of a campaign’s performance. Yet despite reporting data quality as having the biggest impact on campaign response and conversion rates,…
Rise above cyclical trends and avoid hopping on bandwagons - Remember the fundamentals of brand strategy instead.
The first two months of the year are done and dusted. Time to roll up your sleeves and get on with another 10 months of chasing the weekly releases of ‘must-have’ marketing fads promising to shatter disruptive technologies and methodologies (as announced as being disruptive the previous weeks).
With so many fads from start-up Davids as well as established marketing Goliaths that promise to help show clients or bosses results, it’s going to be challenging... Just keeping up to date will force you to place marketing tactics before longer-term strategy considerations.
However, before you totally write-off strategic planning, here are five branding strategic thinking tips that can actually help you assess whether the latest ‘big thing’ enhances, or detracts from your core brand messaging, philosophy and delivery.
1- Brand purpose
Beyond obvious platitudes such as, “the purpose of…
Why you need a plan to defend and improve your online reputation
In an online world of viral news articles and social media, your brand’s image is something that can quickly be affected by even the slightest misstep. That’s why protecting your brand’s reputation is more important than you’ll ever realize.
The Significance of Your Online Image
It’s easy for us to forget that the internet is still a relatively new business channel. When we look back on the history of the internet in 25 or 30 years, 2017 will still look very much like the Wild West. Rules are still being developed, concepts are just now being understood, and what works isn’t always clear.
But when you cut through all of the unknowns, it doesn’t take an advanced degree to recognize the importance of maintaining a strong online image. Information spreads fast online and you have to keep up.
The internet gives everyone a…
To succeed with content marketing you have to have a well thought out strategy
Your peers have been telling you for years that you need to invest in content marketing. They tell you it’s the highest returning investment you can make and that your internet presence depends on your company’s ability to leverage high-ranking publishing platforms and specific SEO techniques. Are you ready to listen? If so, you need a plan. This blog will walk you through the basic steps of getting started with your first content marketing campaign.
Grasping the True Value of Content Marketing
As a business owner or marketer, you probably like numbers. So let’s look at the value of content marketing from a quantifiable standpoint. And what better place to start than by seeing what your peers – who are already heavily invested in content marketing – think.
According…
By
02 Mar 2017
Multiple channels has led to a 'siloing' of marketing processes which is detrimental to your brand
As the number of channels used by customers has proliferated, so organisations have felt the pressure to keep in step with their customers. But although the need to adapt to customer preferences is vital, it has become increasingly apparent that many channels are being bolted on with little or no consideration for how they are integrated with the rest of the organisation.
In many cases, there is double trouble, as this sub-optimal channel support is also the action of a department that has decided to bypass the rest of the organisation in a bid to fast-track channel support. This means that we’re not just seeing evidence of the all-too-common operational silos, but are also witnessing channel silos being built on top.
Channel silos can take the form of:
Siloed marketing channels. Customers receive marketing messages across…
How to boost the effectiveness of your content marketing with properly mapped buyer personas
If you want to maximise results from your content marketing strategy, it is essential to map your buyer personas to the buying cycle. This is executed by delivering the right content, to the right people, at the right time.
If your business is B2B, your content marketing strategy is crucial to your success because 64 percent of B2B customers will engage in upwards of five blogs prior to purchase. However, a mere five percent of marketers believe their content marketing strategy is moving in the right direction, according to Top Rank Marketing.
Blogs, videos, ebooks, case studies, and infographics are all invaluable content marketing assets. And you want these content marketing assets represented in each stage of the buying cycle.
To make the absolute most of your content marketing strategy, you need to develop your buyer’s journey. This allows…
Utilize these important trends this year if you have a niche product
Niche businesses usually cater to a relatively small and well-defined market by tapping an unmet demand. For example, Lefty’s store is a good example of niche business as it sells products for left handed people. Other examples of niche businesses include GetOutfitted, YearBook Innovation, and boutique consulting firms which provide consulting services to specific industries. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all examples of niche technology businesses which went on to become mass business later.
Niche businesses need to do focused marketing to become profitable as they serve a small segment of the market. Traditionally, niche marketers have used demand based marketing methods such as Pay-per-click advertising and focused industry events for promoting their products or services. However, advancement…
