What a Difference Four Years Makes

I’ve been in the technology business all my life, so watching the evolution of the Internet has always been a part of my world. I can remember back in the mid 90’s when I couldn’t give a website away. When merchants would ask me, “Why do I need the internet when I have a fax machine already?” Wow, yeah…that happened. But I also remember (quite fondly), when the internet revolution began and we couldn’t sell websites fast enough. Do you think that merchant still uses his fax machine? My kids don’t even know what a fax machine is, but they tell me all the time to “post that on Facebook, Daddy.”

When I went to my first mobile marketing conference in 2008, my attention shifted almost entirely to mobile. It was the wild west, uncharted territory, with abundant opportunities. One thing I learned long ago from my experience in the web business is that a good idea only needs time before it catches on. Mobile is a foregone conclusion — it’s big, and going to get much bigger.

The greatest challenge to mobile has been visibility into the trends. It’s highly fragmented, being pioneered largely by early adopters and tech nerds, so we don’t ‘feel’ the movement in the industry like you would a more consumer-centric shift, like DVD players or iPhones. Nonetheless, the shift is happening; more and more consumers are receiving messages to their mobile devices from local businesses, and more businesses are acknowledging that mobile must be a component of their marketing strategy.

So now what? The opportunity is almost overwhelming…where do we start? By creating a culture of passionate, educated early-adopters who can cultivate a mobile mindset into their communities. USE, SHOW, TEACH… REPEAT. We don’t know exactly where mobile is going, but we know the early adopters should be innovating every step of the way.

7 Elements of Loyalty

Last week, I got to thinking about how easy it is for a merchant to lean on a marketer (you) for their customer loyalty.  As a marketer, is it fair to say that YOU are the reason for their customer’s loyalty? I think not.

Today I will cover 7 Elements of Loyalty that will remain true — no matter what type of system or engagement technology a merchant has in place.

-Only a merchant can make their customer loyal (we just help keep them that way)

The way a merchant treats their customers is going to directly impact the effectiveness of the loyalty system/technology they have in place. The best WE can do is to educate and advise, which comes down to taking the opportunities to teach your merchants and keep them focused on what loyalty really is. Your merchant is solely responsible for their customers’ loyalty, you just help keep them that way.

-Technology does not create loyalty

Technology is just a way of capturing loyalty and leveraging resources to be able to engage loyal customers. Putting a great system in place makes their experience better. It can make them satisfied. But it will not make them loyal. That comes down to the little extras. That comes down to the ways in which an employee smiles when they walk through the door. It’s the way that they’re greeted. It’s the way a problem is resolved. There are more loyal customers created in the moment when there’s a problem than there are in just the day-to-day operations. Technology can’t generate loyalty, but it certainly makes it easier for the customers to express it.

-Loyalty is a function of nature, not habit

Loyalty is about an emotional experience. Jeffrey Gitomer asks, “would you like your spouse to be satisfied or loyal?” This question makes the emotion of loyalty very real for all of us. It puts in perspective the difference between a satisfied customer (one who has nothing to complain about) and a loyal customer (one who has an emotional connection with you).

-Loyalty is given as an emotional reaction to a human experience

Loyalty is most often given as a result of someone earning it. It’s about “wowing” the customer, and having them think, “Wow, that person did something for me. They did something that would cause me to think they care about me, or would invest more in me, or go above and beyond for me.” Which makes them think; where else would they want to be? They’re thinking, “By being loyal to this brand, I’ll get something out of it.” It’s a very selfish emotion, but a very human one.

-Loyalty is earned over time

Loyalty is something that is not bought. We can often buy our customers in the door, we can invest in them, we can leverage our technology and marketing resources, but it’s how they’re treated long term that leads to the relationship building. With the more interactions you have, the more opportunities you have to “wow” them. Loyalty takes a long time to earn, and it doesn’t go by a checklist or timeline. If you have a plan to continually “wow” your customers, then you should be able to expect that. Just putting a system in place won’t instantly buy you loyalty, but it can help you identify how much of it you have.

-Loyalty is often undervalued

A lot of merchants don’t get it, and a lot of customers don’t get it. They don’t realize their loyalty or see the significance in it. Customers are being taught constantly that their loyalty doesn’t matter. It’s about price. It’s about what they get. It’s not about the experience. They’re being taught they can overlook the experience, as long as they get a good deal.  Walmart has pioneered this approach — and done so very successfully, I might add.  For smaller merchants to compete with the Walmarts of the world there MUST be a renewed sense of quality, service and experience to justify a higher price point.

-Loyalty credits can be lost

Loyalty is one of those things where, especially in a change of ownership, can be lost. Relationships are fragile, and with each bad or neutral experience you lose an opportunity to earn customer credits.  Think of it this way, “Customer Credits” are invisible tokens given to merchants with each “WOW” moment.  In the event something doesn’t WOW a customer a token is taken away.  If a merchant is running on negative tokens in the bank, the customers will not return.

What is Your Current Marketing Focus? [Infographic]

As a small business owner, the majority of your marketing and advertising budget should be focused on who: new customers or loyal customers?

Our newest infographic takes a deeper look at this age-old debate and has some surprising facts about loyal customers and your business. You may be leaving money on the table!

Article Source: http://blog.fivestars.com/marketing-focus-infographic/

101 Vital Social Media And Digital Marketing Statistics For (The Rest Of) 2013

As marketing becomes more data-driven, it’s vital to use data to keep up with trends, competitor strategies, and developments in your market. To that end, 94.7% of all marketers love blog posts about marketing statistics.

Okay, that statistic was made up (though probably not far off the mark), but the social media and digital marketing facts and statistics below are real (or at least from generally reliable sources). For example, 93% of marketers use social media for business. But how do marketers and consumers view social media differently? How do top executives use social media? Small businesses? Rapidly growing companies? B2b vendors? What are the best days and times for Facebook updates? What’s the average click-through rate of a link shared on Twitter? What tactic do 92% of SEO professionals view as effective? What percentage of queries on Google each day are new to the world (i.e., won’t show up in keyword research tools)?

Find the answers to these questions and many, many more here in 101 vital social and digital marketing stats for (the rest of) 2013.

Social Media Facts and Statistics

93% of marketers use social media for business. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

Social media has reached middle age(d). The fastest growing segment of social media users is now adults aged 45-54%.

55% of this age group now have a profile on at least one social network. (State of Search)

Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are the most popular social networks with search engine marketers. The second-most popular tier includes YouTube, blogging and LinkedIn. The least popular major networks are Flickr, Tumblr and StumbleUpon. (B2B Infographics)

Marketers aren’t like ordinary people. (A pause here while you absorb the shock of that statement). While 86% of marketing professionals have “liked” at least one brand on Facebook, just 58% of consumers have done so. And the gap is even more dramatic on Twitter, where 61% of marketers but just 12% of consumers follow at least one brand. (Thought Reach)

Furthermore–75% of social media users “object to major companies and platforms using their personal information for commercial purposes.” And just 12% admit to having their purchases influenced by Facebook “Likes” or Google “+1s”. (Relevanza)

How big are these networks? As of January 2013, the five largest social networks based on active monthly users were: Facebook (1 billion), YouTube (800 million) and Google+ (343 million) followed by Twitter and LinkedIn with 200 million active monthly users each. (TECHi)

Social media users are more social than non-social-media-using-internet-users in real life too: social networkers are 18% more likely to work out at a gym or health club, 19% more likely to attend a sporting event, and 26% more likely to give their opinion about politics and current events. (TECHi)

Half of all social media users under age 35 follow their online friends’ product and service recommendations. (TECHi)

Three-fourths of marketers planned to increase strategic efforts on social media and social networking sites this year, with 68% also focusing more on SEO and 63% on blogs. (eMarketer)

One in five married couples met online. But…20% of all divorces are blamed on Facebook. Coincidence? Hmm. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

As universal as business use of social media can seem to be, 26% of companies still block access to social media sites in their workplaces. 31% have no social media policy in place. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

54% of consumers say that “smaller communities have greater influence on a topic than larger ones.” (MarketingProfs)

Social media…to engage or to advertise? Turns out agencies are slightly more likely than in-house marketers (81% vs. 75%) to advertise on social networks, while corporate marketers are significantly more likely to utilize “free” social media tools (89% vs. 71%). (Heidi Cohen)

70% of brand marketers (and 60% of agency professionals) view social media advertising as more valuable for building brand awareness than for driving direct response. (Heidi Cohen)

But–contradicting the statistic above–66% of brand advertisers want to see a measurable sales bump from social media advertising. (Heidi Cohen)

How C-Level Executives Use Social Media

82% of buyers say they trust a company more when its CEO and senior leadership team are active in social media. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

77% of buyers are more likely to buy from a company if its CEO uses social media. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

And yet – 36% of executives say their CEO “either does not care, or cares little, about the company’s reputation in social media.” (Polaris B)

It helps having a woman at the top. Female small business CEOs are 78% more likely to say social media is highly valuable to their firm’s growth (20.8% vs. 11.6%), and 43% less likely to say it isn’t valuable (14.2% vs. 25%). (Marketing Charts)

Email is still the most effective way to reach top executives; 90% say they check their inboxes regularly. 64% use LinkedIn on a regular basis, while 55% say the same for Facebook. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

How the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Companies Use Social Media

Only one-third of the companies in the Inc. 500 say they can adequately determine ROI for the social media spending. (Relevanza)

Yet 35% of marketers say ROI is the most important measure of inbound marketing success. 24% say marketing’s influence on sales and 16% cite conversion rate as the key metrics. (Marketing Charts)

90% of Inc. 500 companies use at least one major social media platform. And 62% say social media is either “somewhat” or “very” necessary to their growth. (Heidi Cohen)

But just 44% of Inc. 500 companies maintain a blog. “This low number is a surprise since blogs drive social media, content marketing and search.” (Heidi Cohen)

While 31% of businesses overall have no social media policy in place (see above), that is true for only 22% of Inc. 500 firms. (Heidi Cohen)

How Small to Midsized Businesses (SMBs) Use Social Media

21% of small businesses plan to increase spending on social media advertising this year. (eMarketer)

92% of small businesses say that social media is an effective marketing technology tool. They are evenly split on the effectiveness of social media for attracting new customers vs. engaging existing customers. (e-Strategy Trends)

A whopping 95% of small businesses view blogging as an effective marketing technology tool–second only to email marketing. 15% say blogging is most effective at engaging existing customers; 11% value it more for attracting new customers; and 69% say blogging is equally effective for both objectives. (e-Strategy Trends)

Facebook Facts and Statistics Obsession? 23% of Facebook users check their accounts five or more times every day. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

But it’s vital for businesses to have a Facebook presence: 80% of Faceook users prefer to connect with brands on Facebook. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

47% of Americans say that Facebook has a greater impact on their purchasing behavior than any other social network. (State of Search)

Facebook = mobile. More than half of all Facebook members have used the social network via a smartphone, and 33% use a phone as their primary means of Facebook access. (State of Search)

67% of b2c marketers have generated leads through Facebook. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

33% of milennial consumers are more likely to buy from a company if it has a Facebook page. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

The best time and day for Facebook postings? Saturdays at noon. To maximize sharing, post to Facebook 3-4 times per week. (Visual.ly)

56% of Facebook users check in at least daily. 7% say they would check a message “during an intimate moment.” Awk-ward. (TECHi)

Half of all mobile web traffic in the U.K. goes to Facebook. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

48% of consumers who follow brands on Facebook do so in order to take advantage of sweepstakes and promotions.

18% follow to complain about a product or service. (MarketingProfs)

67% of the Inc 500 use Facebook, a decline of 7 percentage points from 2011. Facebook “demands dedicated resources” but doesn’t always show a comensurate return. (Heidi Cohen)

While 75% of internet users over age 45 prefer to share information using email, 60% of those under 30 say the same for Facebook. (Relevanza)

LinkedIn Facts and Statistics

97% of business executives have used LinkedIn. (Search Engine Journal)

LinkedIn rules for business owners. Asked which social media tool had the greatest potential to help their firms, 41% of small business owners chose LinkedIn. More CEOs chose LinkedIn than chose Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest combined. (Marketing Charts)

LinkedIn is the “social platform of choice” for companies in the Inc. 500, the index of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. 81% of these firms use LinkedIn, compared to 67% on both Facebook and Twitter. (Relevanza)

80% of LinkedIn users are at least 30 years old. (Relevanza) Twitter Facts and Statistics On Twitter, frequency (and quality) matter: 71% of all tweets are ignored. Just 23% generate a reply. (Search Engine Journal)

Worse, 56% of customer tweets to companies are ignored. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

69% of follows are based on recommendations from friends. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

34% of marketers say they have generated leads using Twitter. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

53% of Twitter users have been using it for less than one year. (State of Search)

50% of Twitter users are more likely to purchase from brands they follow. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

The average click-through rate (CTR) for a link shared on Twitter is about 1.6%, BUT—the average CTR drops as one’s number of Twitter followers increases. Accounts with 50-1,000 followers generate a better-than-6% average CTR; the rate drops to less than 0.5% on average for accounts with 10,000 or more followers. (Bit Rebels)

During the work week, Tuesday has the highest CTR (1.8%) and Friday the lowest (under 1.5%). (Bit Rebels)

During the day, CTRs are highest between 8:00-10:00 am and 4:00-6:00 pm. (Bit Rebels)

When planning timing of tweets, keep in mind that almost half of the U.S. population lives in the eastern time zone, and 80% of Americans live on eastern or central time. (Visual.ly)

Maximum CTR on tweets occurs between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Unless you are particating in a Twitter chat, there’s no point in tweeting more than four times per hour. (Visual.ly)

Nearly 40% of top executives say they check Twitter regularly. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

67% of the Inc 500 use Twitter. Though valuable for content marketing and customer service, it is labor-intensive. (Heidi Cohen)

Pinterest Facts and Statistics

Women still constitute 80% of Pinterest users. (Search Engine Journal)

50% of users are parents. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

80% of pins are repins. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

Pinterest and Tumblr are among the “stickiest” social media sites, each accounting for, on average, 89 minutes of time spent per month per user. That compares to 21 minutes monthly on average spent on Twitter, 17 minutes on LinkedIn, and just three minutes on Google+. (TECHi)

25% of all female internet users in the U.S. use Pinterest–compared to just 5% male web users. (eMarketer)

Google+ Facts and Statistics

Google+ has attracted users, but not engagement. Non-mobile users spend an average of just three minutes per month on the site, and 30% of users who make a public post never make another one. (Search Engine Journal)

40% of marketers use Google+. Two-thirds plan to increase activity there over the coming year. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

This doesn’t count as an official statistic, but in the process of collecting 100+ social media stats and facts, only the two above related specifically to Google+. For whatever that’s worth.

Blogging Facts and Statistics

B2b companies that maintain blogs generate, on average, 67% more leads per month than non-blogging firms. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

57% of marketers have acquired customers via their blogs, and 52% of consumers say blogs have impacted their purchasing decisions. (B2B Infographics)

Just 44% of Inc. 500 companies blog – but that is up from 2011. (Relevanza)

Blogs are rated by consumers as the third-most influential category of sites influencing purchasing behavior (after retail sites and brand sites) – yet they garner just 10% of social media budgets (comnpared to 57% for Facebook). (Pamorama)

Blogs are the fifth-most trustworthy source overall for online information (ahead of Google+, forums, online magazines, brand sites, Twitter and Pinterest). (Pamorama)

86% of “influencers” blog. (Pamorama)

23% of top executives say they read blogs regularly. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

Content Marketing Facts and Statistics

Content marketing works. 70% of marketers say that content marketing has increased their brand awareness; 59% believe it supports sales growth; and 45% say it has reduced their advertising costs. (iMedia Connection)

92% of SEO practitioners say content creation is an effective SEO tactic, and 76% regularly invest in content creation. (B2B Infographics)

Marketers spend most of their time producing blog posts, article and guides, social media updates, e-newletters, and news releases; they spend the least on podcasts, polls and surveys. (B2B Infographics)

While 90% of companies are engaged in some form of content marketing [http://webbiquity.com/book-reviews/book-review-content-rules/], just 36% believe their efforts are highly effective. (Polaris B)

Images are (important!) content too: 94% more total views on average are attracted by content containing compelling images than content without images. Using photos provides a 37% increase in Facebook engagement and 14% increase in news release pageviews. (Heidi Cohen)

B2B Marketing Statistics and Facts

Social matters in b2b. 53% of b2b buyers follow social discussions about vendors they are considering. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

The role of sales has changed. 67% of the typical “b2b buyer’s journey” is now done digitally. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

Google accounts for 90% of search traffic to b2b websites. (MediaPost)

Average conversion rates for different types of b2b web traffic: 1.60% overall; 2.89% for email; 1.04% for referral visits; 1.96% for paid search; 1.80% for branded search; 1.65% for direct visits; 1.45% for non-brand organic search; and 1.22% for social media. (MediaPost)

The biggest challenges for b2b content marketers? 64% struggle to produce enough content, while just over half (52%) find production of “engaging” content a challenge. (imFORZA)

More than 80% of b2b marketers use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to distribute content. 61% use YouTube and 39% Google+. The least popular channels (all with single-digit percentage use) are Foursquare, Instagram, Tumblr and Quora. (Polaris B)

SEO is for traffic, social is for leads? Organic search accounts for, on average, 41% of traffic to SMB b2b websites, but just 27% of leads. Social media, in contrast, supplies just 2% of visits but 5% leads. And email accounts for just 1% of web traffic on average, but 9% of leads. (eMarketer)

Breaking that social traffic down one level, Facebook accounts for 54% of b2b website social media visits, but just 9% of leads; Twitter, on the other hand, provides less than a third of social visits but a whopping 82% of social leads. (Really?) (eMarketer)

SEO Statistics and Facts

Search produces quality traffic. SEO leads have a 14.6% sales close rate on average, compared to 1.7% for outbound leads (e.g., from direct mail or print advertising). (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

Search is the top traffic driver to content-oriented websites, producing on average nearly four times the traffic of social media (41% from search, 11% from social). (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

Another study found an even more dramatic advantage for search, with organic search supplying 40% of all traffic (and Google alone accounting for 36% of visits) to b2b websites, while social media accounted for just 5% of traffic. (Forbes)

Keyword research only goes so far: 16% of daily Google searches, on average, have never been seen before. (War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing)

Remember when Google first started “hiding” the exact keywords used in organic search, and promised this would only affect a small percentage of search traffic? It now hides, on average, keyword data for 41% of all organic searches. (MediaPost)

For b2b websites, on average, the split between branded and non-brand search traffic is 31%/69%. (MediaPost)

6 of 10 organizations plan to increase SEO spending this year. (imFORZA)

One-third of searches are location based. (imFORZA)

71% of marketers say that content marketing has helped inprove their site’s ranking in organic search, and 77% say it has increased website traffic. (iMedia Connection)

Nearly a quarter of U.S. small businesses plan to spend more on their web presence this year–as well they should. As of early 2013, “More than 60% lacked an address on their homepage, and nearly 50% did not provide a contact number…47% were not present on Google Places, and 35% did not have a Bing Local presence.” (eMarketer)

Don’t forget to optimize videos for search. YouTube is the second-largest “search engine” by volume of searches. (WordPress Hosting SEO)

Top brands spend, on average, 19% of their digital marketing budgets on search, vs. 14% on video content and 10% on social media. But the largest share (41%) goes to display advertising. (MarketingProfs)

Mobile Marketing Statistics and Facts

25% of all internet searches last year were made on mobile devices. And 25% of all U.S. internet users are mobile only (includes tablets). (imFORZA)

More than three-quarters (77%) of mobile users use their smartphones and tablets for searching and social networking. (imFORZA)

While mobile marketing is by no means unimportant, it may not justify quite the attention it gets. Marketers have a disorted view of the market because while 90% of marketing professionals own smartphones, but half of consumers do. And while 41% of marketing professionals say they have made a purchase based on information on Facebook, less than a third of consumers with smartphones–and just 12% of consumers without smartphones–have done so. (Thought Reach)

Forget the app, just use email. 33% of consumers say the email is the most effective tool for building loyalty, vs. 26% of marketers. On the other hand, 23% of marketing pros believe that custom apps are most effective at loyalty building; just 7% of consumers agree. (Thought Reach)

Asked how their marketing strategies would change in 2013, the largest percentage of marketers (82%) planned to increase their focus on mobile media. The largest decreases were expected in newspaper and magazine advertising. (eMarketer)

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/social-media/101-vital-social-media-and-digital-marketing-statistics-for-the-rest-of-2013-0573850#iDZAuKzIq9jLy8wP.99

Be An Executioner

No, not the guy who swings an ax to cut off people’s heads! Jeez. I mean, someone who excels at executing projects.

If you’re one of the .000001% of people on this planet that are naturally good at staying focused on your priorities and completing tasks, please ignore this article and go back to whatever it was you were doing. You rule.

For the rest of us, FOCUS is a monumental challenge. I don’t mean being able to sit in a chair for 30 minutes and read a book; I mean the kind of internal fortitude it takes to prioritize, make a decision, then see it through until it’s done.

We use the term, “DONE DONE”, which means — you guessed it — REALLY DONE.

How many projects have you started that get about half done? Or 90% of the way done?

Why do we do this? Because it’s human nature. It doesn’t require a deep psychological analysis, just a quick qualitative assessment of the world around you will reveal it’s a common problem that doesn’t need to come from not being breastfed or striking out in the little league game. It’s just a fact of life.

Accept it, and improve your habits. There is hope!

Yes, there are ways to manage this natural deficiency we all possess. Here are some ideas to help you cope that I’ve learned over the years:

• Learn to say NO. You don’t have to take on every project that sounds good.
• Know what you’ve already said YES to. Use task software, write them down on a notepad, use a gantt chart, whatever. Just know what’s already in progress (this will empower you to say NO to more).
• PRIORITIZE. Know what needs to be done first, and what can wait until later if needed.
• Have a TIMELINE. When can you get your current list done? Set goals and hold yourself accountable.
• LOOK at the timeline! Don’t write it down and forget — make it part of your morning routine to review your current projects and timelines.
• DO IT! Get the work done. Like going to the gym, you just have to get it done. It’s good for you.
• Learn to say NO (yeah, it’s that important).

It may seem like I’ve oversimplified a very complex, expensive and time consuming challenge, but if you can implement the basic steps above you can become an excellent Executioner: which is key to virtually every aspect of your life, especially business.

Making Mobile Work

According to Wikipedia, marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business function for attracting customers.

There are five competing concepts under which organizations can choose to operate their business: the production concept, the product concept, the selling concept, the marketing concept and the holistic marketing concept. Most small/medium sized businesses would focus on the latter – whether they know it or not.

The four components of holistic marketing are: relationship marketing, internal marketing, integrated marketing and socially responsive marketing. The set of engagements necessary for successful marketing management includes capturing marketing insights, connecting with customers, building strong brands, shaping the market offerings, delivering and communicating value, creating long-term growth and developing marketing strategies and plans.

In my assessment I would summarize marketing as the goal of three things:

1. Branding
2. Attraction
3. Engagement

A text database and mobile engagement strategy (once built) can significantly help merchants achieve all of the engagements listed above and be the KEY to effective, affordable marketing.

Most smaller merchants fail at achieving all three of these things because their efforts lack synergy and focus. It’s not realistic on a limited budget for a small business to be able to focus on each element separately, so every dollar spent must accomplish all three. This is a monumental challenge for smaller merchants who are forced to compete against big box brands and online retailers with larger budgets.

SMS Masterminds believes and has proven that proper implementation of a text/loyalty system can be the glue that binds everything together in perfect synergy, maximizing the marketing spend. Of course this is really not new news though… and you might be asking, “if mobile is the solution, why isn’t everyone doing it?”

In Derek Johnson’s article “Small Business SMS Marketing Just Isn’t Practical,” he outlines the fundamental problems with small business text marketing summarized in the bullet points below.

• There has to be a marketing budget
• The rules and regulations surrounding text message marketing have become too complicated
• 90% of SMS marketing success is due to a well-planned strategy
• You can’t track what you can’t measure

He’s right. These are the problems with text marketing and why small businesses fail at it. In order to succeed at a mobile strategy, merchants must first understand what their marketing vision as a whole is and then employ the right person to implement and execute that strategy. With budgets tight, they also need to see results quickly or they simply can’t keep investing in it.

What makes the Masterminds different? Automation and professional oversight. With the installation of the Loyalty Kiosk, database growth is virtually automated and can improve opt-in rates by over 500% that of a traditional text call-to-action. The key to its sustainable success over time is its Automated Engagement feature, which sends “smart” text messages to customers when they are most likely to buy. This process minimizes wasted messages and reduces cost. With over 1,000,000 customers within the network nationally, analytics and effectiveness reports help identify what is working best and merchants are set up with proven strategies and campaigns according to their industry. Managed by a certified Mobile Mastermind, merchants can be assured of proper compliance and oversight at all times.

The industry has proven that mobile works and the SMS Masterminds have proven that even small businesses will have great success when working with the right partners.

Why Does Your Business Need a Customer Database? [Infographic]

If you want to bring your best customers in the door faster, you need a way to communicate with them.

We all know that advertising to potential customers can get really expensive and only increases your bottom line in the short term. However, advertising to your current customers, people who already love your business, is what brings in the extra foot traffic.

Article Source: http://blog.fivestars.com/infographic-business-customer-database/

Loyalty needs to be earned again and again

Marketers talk about their customer loyalty programs as though getting someone to raise their hand and join the loyal crowd is the moment that matters.

Frankly, gaining a customer’s trust through loyalty programs is no different than in “real life,” where it only takes a moment or a misstep to turn loyalty into disappointment. What’s worse is that an unhappy former customer can be a brand’s worst enemy.

Ongoing Process

Just knowing that no program or employee is perfect leaves the chance for losing a customer’s loyalty too high to ignore. Solving that problem involves taking steps to go above and beyond, often called “surprise and delight,” which help to insulate the brand from the effects of the slip-up. Is that being defensive? You bet. It’s a competitive world and your business adversary would love nothing more than to steal your customer’s loyalty in your moment of weakness.

Everyone Has a Program

Surprise and delight isn’t an ethereal notion…it’s a very real practice that you ignore at your own peril. Loyalty programs have become so widespread—almost ubiquitous, that it takes something special to make your program stand out from the crowd. Beyond that, if you’re not considering surprise and delight as a component of customer loyalty management, there’s a good chance a competitor is.

Beyond the competitive nature of loyalty programs, without surprise and delight, yours is likely very transactional in nature. Without cash back, points, or another tangible reward, your customer will just as likely walk away. Loyalty, in many cases, is only points deep.

Know Your Customer

The real challenge of surprise and delight is in knowing your customer well enough to do it right.  Without a unified way to “see” the customer — incorporating past patterns and current context — there’s no way to deliver the right surprise in just the right moment that triggers a positive feeling about the brand.

An airline that delivers a nicely embossed leather luggage tag three days before an overseas trip, a children’s clothing retailer offering an unexpected matching bib free of charge at checkout, or a concert promoter throwing in the parking for the nth concert ticket purchased on a mobile device — these are all examples of surprise and delight that only matter when the timing and familiarity are just right.

Are you ready to start surprising and delighting your customers? It takes a platform approach that blends the right information, historical and current, to make it happen.

Article Source: http://successfulworkplace.com/2013/07/03/loyalty-needs-to-be-earned-again-and-again/

Tradesmen of MONEY MAKING

As great as Kobe is, he can’t take on the other team by himself. Tiger Woods relies on his caddy to give guidance. I have an amazing office of talented people who make me look good. Who do you have?

Having the right team is more integral than you think. It’s about more than having someone to bounce ideas off of or split the workload – it most often comes down to complimentary skillsets. I don’t need 10 Alex’s following me around all day (ugh, that would be terrible for all of us!), I need people who excel at things I do poorly.

On a broad level, most people can be assessed simply: organized or not, detailed or not, creative or not, techy or not, salesy or not.

So, if you want to run a company that requires sales, and you have a product to sell, you’d better find someone good at selling. Seems obvious, right? I can’t tell you how often I see people try to become the thing they have no chance at being good at, while paying the price financially to try to learn it. Sure, tinker around with playing the piano for years, doesn’t really matter – but when in business, time is money, and more often than not tinkering leads to the demise of a well-intentioned business concept.

Small business owners in particular suffer from this dilemma- they make great sandwiches, but lack the skills to run a successful sandwich shop. The TEAM is what fills in the blanks and makes the whole thing work.

When considering small business marketing solutions, I see too many ‘tradesmen’ (someone who excels at a particular craft, like making shoes or sushi) try to “figure out” how to leverage social and mobile marketing to build their business. They set up a Facebook page, run a couple of terrible promotions, get some flyers they designed using MS Word printed on bright pink paper and expect that to somehow make them money. Ugh. Blame it on the economy, right? BS.

The smart ones invest in a team – people who are tradesmen of MONEY MAKING. Those people are good at making money, and probably make a terrible sandwich…a match made in heaven!

The proprietor articulates the vision and goals for the company, and supports his ‘money making team’ to go make him more money. Meanwhile, he makes sure they keep making great sandwiches.

When considering your goals and roadmap to get there, be honest with yourself, realize your strengths and supplement your weaknesses with great people. A recipe for success.

When Things Go WRONG!

It’s happened to all of us. You’re sitting down with a merchant prepared to doing a presentation and the WIFI won’t connect to your kiosk. Or how about this one, you install the the kiosk with your brand new merchant and now they’re calling you to tell you that the kiosk “isn’t working”. What do you do?

I’ve come up with three of my best helpful hints when you go to do a sales pitch to a new merchant.

-Be prepared

Technical issues in the computer world are common and expected.

Start with a few simple steps to troubleshoot over the phone to demonstrate that issues can be handled promptly and in some cases right over the phone.

-Have a back up

Your kiosk will at some point have an issue. Don’t take a space at your merchant’s front desk fighting with it. Bring a backup kiosk and be prepared to swap systems (even temporarily) if needed to help business continue as normal.

-Set expectations

Merchants have all dealt with support issues before with and most understand when things go wrong. Put them at ease and explain what you are going to do to resolve their issue.  Communication is critical in order to keep emotions down when resolving an problem.

Nothing in life is ever perfect, and your merchants will understand that you’re not perfect, either. Don’t be discouraged if something doesn’t go as planned – just make sure you handle it calmly and professionally.