Marketing Archives

What Your Colors are Telling Your Customers? (Content Princess – SEO)

Simultaneously intuitive and complicated, colour choice shows your customers a lot about you. The colours you choose and how you combine them are sending your customers messages, of which you may not be aware.

Color choice

The design of any space sets the tone for the interactions that take place there. This includes everything, even the colour you choose. A few spots of vibrancy are bold and uplifting, while softer colours and shades of white give a sense of space and tranquillity, according to ezibuy.com.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, says that “Paint colour is an expression of your personality,” and this holds true for everything you find yourself designing. According to realsimple.com, colours such as yellow and orange (and all of their many variations) present you as being cheerful and welcoming. Blues, lavenders, and green are associated with nature and give your clients a sense of tranquillity and calmness.

Colours associated with precious gems (think sapphire, topaz, and ruby) say that you are creative, outgoing, and creative. If this is your choice of colour scheme, you send the message that you are skilled at creating intimacy in an imposing space. If neutrals such as beige, ivory, and grey appeal to you, you are presenting yourself as practical and steady.

Color combinations

Use combinations of colours to your advantage. While there are many ways to combine colours when designing something, knowing a few of the fundamental aspects allow you to focus on a particular aspect without overwhelming your guests.

The simplest colour scheme is that of complementary colours. Some examples are combinations of blue and orange, yellow and purple, or red and green. According to freshome.com, using a neutral background with these combinations allows you to draw the eye to a particular aspect of what you’re designing. If you’re looking to accentuate a particular view or piece of art, centre it in these colours! It won’t be missed.

In contrast, you could choose an analogous colour scheme. This allows you to have similar colours throughout the room. Think of a combination of red, orange, and yellow to create a warm, glowing environment. This is a slightly less jarring take on the complementary colour scheme and gives your space a more relaxing feel.

You can also have a monochromatic colour scheme. This would be a combination of black, white, and grey to give your space a sense of calm. What you are looking to achieve in your space determines the colour scheme you choose.

Designing your space

We have barely touched the surface in designing basics. As you can see, even the colour you want is meaningful and conveys a message to your clients. It also serves as the basis of your corporate identity.

Let us help you create the message that you want to send. We create logo designs and presentations, and can even help you build your entire brand if you’d like! Never pre-made and always authentic, we deliver professional designs that sure to catch the eye.

Keywords –

Color

Design

Combination

Space

Scheme

Environment

Sense

Message

Identity

Create

What your brand’s colours say about you (Content Princess – SEO)

First impressions do count!

The ‘primacy and recency’ effect is well-recognized in psychology, this is why first impressions are so important. The very first pieces of information that a person stumbles across when searching for something new are the ones most likely to stay in the memory, and for your brand, this means your logo design is crucial. It’s the thing that people will immediately mentally identify with your business, so make sure you find something that speaks to the people you’re trying to reach out!

According to market research and psychological surveys, 51{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of brands use one colour only. Advertisements in colour are read 42{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} more often than those in black and white, brand recognition increases 80{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} with colour, and up to 90{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of judgments can be based on colour alone.

The associations behind certain colours

Many widely recognizable brands use a consistent colour scheme based on one particular colour as a core part of their brand identity. The colour is carefully chosen to convey a particular message, culture or set of values. Intuitively, you will recognise the connection between colour and image for many of these brands, even if it’s not something you may have thought about consciously. Here are some examples:

The colour red is widely known to be a ‘power colour’ but is also associated with and passion and represents success, which is why companies like Coca-Cola and Virgin use it. Blue represents integrity, trust, and communication, and is used by Samsung and Facebook. Black represents luxury and is often used in more upmarket brands, while yellow represents fun and creativity.

Colour shades and combinations

Colours come in all different shades and can be combined in countless different ways to produce compelling subliminal messages and possibilities. Colour palettes number in the tens of thousands, and knowing which shades to use, and the best colour combination to use in your brand logo can seem like a daunting task!

Certain combinations of colours can bring up powerful feelings or memories in potential customers, according to psychological research and colour theory. Pastel pinks, oranges, mauves, and purples can conjure up imagery of a tropical sunset and feelings of warmth, while a colour palette including mint green, cadet blue, and blue-black is calming and reminiscent of nature and cold mornings.

Choosing the right colour combination for your brand requires a degree of expertise and experience. Every colour represents a set of ideas, and some colours are unsuited to individual businesses while extremely well-suited to others.

Thankfully, this is not a decision that needs to be made on your own. Tailor Brands specialises in quickly finding just the right colour combinations that your brand needs to stand out against the competition really, and our bespoke services have helped hundreds of thousands of users worldwide. We offer our expertise and experience at a very affordable price. Check us out and see what we can do for you to make your brand stand out from the crowd!

LSI Keywords: colours, logo, palette, brand, identity, meaning, corporate colours, best colour combination, represent success, power colour

Content Marketing- The Secret to a Sustained Success

In a world of never-ending possibilities, the battlefor customer acquisitioncan seem more intense than running the business itself. When the same product is offered throughout, how can you, as a seller, stand out and reach the mass of customers?

The Online Generation

You may sell the best products in the market. But what do you sell that your competitors don’t? What do you offer that the customers will want to spend their money on? To establish yourself as a successful business, you must work to embed your name in the hearts of the buyers. They must know that what you sell is authentic and worth the price tag. You must show your customers that you are selling more than just a product.

The evolution of the internet has opened up a new global platform that reaches the customers faster and leaves a lasting impact.

While traditional marketing focuses on Product, Pricing, Placement and Promotion, which are the physical attributes of a commodity, e-Marketing or Content Marketing, gives life to a product. The customer, who is virtually seeing and experiencing the product will know it’s worth and recognize its quality without having to physically see the product.

That is the power of words. They can be compelling without being manipulative if used properly. That idea which sprawled in the online content is the product’s projection which will be planted in the minds of the readers.

When the reader, who is also the customer, can get updates, information and reviews on a product at the comfort of his home, he/she is more likely to be convinced of the authentic value of the product.

How does content marketing affect sales and profitability?

The concept of putting your content out there, right in front of the customer, is what is known as Influencer Marketing. Influencer Marketing, which is the primary attribute in online Content Marketing, has influenced the business and sales in the following ways:

46{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of Indian consumers opt to click and peruse relevant ads while browsing online.
In the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, an escalating growth has been recorded in sales in the UK outlets due to the increase in their content displayed in popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, and Social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. The retail sales have seen an increase of 18{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} apart from the online sales, which has also increased by 13{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616}.
65{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of leading marketing researchers believe that visual content has a higher reach than auditory content.
B2C (Business to Customer) businesses such as retail brands depend 60{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} on Influencer marketing of their content online. 63{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of those retailers have seen an increase in their retail sales due to Content Marketing.
It’s no wonder that 75{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of businesses around the world have resorted to Content Marketing.
45{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of sellers say that blogging online is their #1 marketing strategy.
Mobile browsing, which is the quickest accessible tool in online marketing, is said to create a sustained 72{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} increase in the readability and usage of online content.

The Verdict

Content marketing is a concept that has to be taken seriously. It is a boon for retailers who wish to grow and expand their brand. In this digital age, investing your two primary resources of Time and Cost in Content Marketing will not only decrease your expenditures but will help you make three times more profit than the predicted profit you could get as a result of traditional marketing.

Believe it or not, Content Marketing has been foreseen as a $300 Billion Industry by 2019, which means that it will become twice as bigas what it is today.

Investing in content marketing seems the safe bet and the wise choice, given the benefits you will reap out of it.

Digital Marketing and Mortgages in 2016

Online and digital marketing services are in a grand and exciting flux with things like dynamic marketing becoming more flexible and sophisticated. In the mortgage market, typically skewed towards traditional methods, with banks retaining large parts of the markets, digital presence of mortgage lenders is changing the scenario.

Non-bank and digital mortgage servicing is a hit for a very obvious reason, which is that they are customer-friendly. The tech is often marketed as customer-friendly too, proving that there is a real need.

Unlike banks which are traditionally uncomfortable for those who want to borrow money, digital services can seem like a nonjudgmental space for those looking for the best deal. All the information can be accessed from home or in a comfortable atmosphere.

Some digital mortgage services that are gaining in popularity include:

Digital Application Takers

Digitizing the application process leads to a situation where borrowers can access all the information and track the progress of their mortgage application. The borrower gains power by being able to keep track of the various steps in the digital mortgage process without extra work.

This streamlines the process for lenders as well, since much of the communication happens online, in a traceable way. The discussion and processing can happen almost simultaneously with digital mortgage applications once the borrower has made their decisions.

There is no missing paperwork problem to worry about and with a visible list of required documents; borrowers can handle the document check without issue.

Home Market Research

Want to buy a home? There’s an app for that too!

Apps and online marketplaces for home buying is a huge hit. And why not? You can:

Compare the lists of pros and cons of your favorite places right on the screen.
Customers can ‘window-shop’ for houses or apartments without going to a real estate dealer.
The site may often have listings not available anywhere else
They may help with finding agents or other additional matters. On a site, you can read reviews and select from a lot of options.

Pre-Approval

Pre-approval apps get realtors and loan officers to digitize their process. They promise to remove the repetitive and redundant aspects of the work and promote customer engagement.

Dealing with digital risk mortgage problems becomes easier when the mundane tasks are taken care of by software.

Lenders can see results faster when loan officers can focus on customers who are more serious and engaged. This is also helped by pre-approval websites which promise to help with helping them provide customers what they want.

The other way that mortgages have become digitized is the ‘all in one’ solution method. This is where a digital mortgage marketplace has been built up.

There are quite a few lenders who are now jumping on this bandwagon. Going for an online mortgage can allow for several antiquated systems to be left behind. There are applications where the borrower can directly share their financial information with the mortgage application to remove the hassle of doing and redoing the financial paperwork.

With digital mortgage companies and a streamlined one-stop process, borrowers get approval faster than they could otherwise have hoped and lenders and loan officers can get results faster as well. Finding affordable mortgage solutions is much easier with the digital mortgage services.

LSI Keywords: digital mortgage, Digital mortgage applications, digital mortgage process, digital risk mortgage, online mortgage, digital mortgage companies, digital mortgage services

References:

http://www.pwc.com/us/en/consumer-finance/digital-mortgage-streamlining-borrower-experience.html

http://www.zillow.com/blog/can-mortgage-process-be-digital-191267/

https://www.cml.org.uk/events/digital-innovation-in-the-mortgage-market-395/

Here’s Why Customer Onboarding is More Than Just Customer Acquisition

Customer Acquisition is essentially gaining new customers which involves convincing consumers to buy a company’s products and services.

Customer onboarding is a phrase used to describe the method users go through from the beginning of the journey to becoming a customer and beyond it. While both are interrelated customer onboarding goes a lot further than customer acquisition.

Customer Acquisition

Customer acquisition management points to the methodologies and systems used for handling customer potential and inquiries. Many marketing methods generate them, which need strategy and forethought. The process:

Potential customers are identified through mailing lists and call centres. Consumers and businesses who already use or show an interest in similar products to those of your business are determined.
Companies assess the needs further, using research methods. If the prospect of getting this new customer seems viable, his status is elevated, and he is assigned to a salesperson.
Most customer acquisition programs then involve establishing an association with potential consumers to determine their need and how the offered products relate to those needs.
Staff will attempt to ascertain unstated needs determined by interactions and continuing conversations with the prospects.

Word of Mouth – For Customer Acquisition
Word of Mouth (W.O.M.) continues to be the most successful marketing channel

for acquiring new customers and leads. In a Bright Local survey, 28{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of participants indicated that W.O.M. is the most effective of 12 online and offline channels. The next three most effective were online marketing channels. SEO is the most successful marketing channel according to 1 in 5 respondents. 15{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} cited online local directories and 10{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} email marketing. Word of Mouth is still the most frequently cited expressions in marketing.

Customer Onboarding

Successful customer onboarding results in your customers becoming enthusiastic about your product or service. It gives the consumers useful information and engagement to ensure they get the most from their purchases.

Some advantages are:

Revenue – If your customers are onboard, they will stay with your product or service and continue doing business with you. This will improve total conversions and lessen customer acquisition costs.
Recurrent Business – It’s a considerable loss to lose regular revenue when you have secured a customer. Customers who have gone through a robust “out-boarding” process are more likely to stay with you.

20{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of existing customers can contribute to 80{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of a corporation’s future income (Gartner Group). However, research has shown that most B2B companies allocate only 20{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of promotion efforts towards retaining customers.

Word of Mouth – Your customer’s experience successful outcomes with your product or service and are happy with the quality thereof. They’ll want to speak to their contacts about you.

More than 92{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of consumers base their purchase choices on peer reviews. Word of mouth is promoting, and referrals can direct serious revenue to your business.

Reduced Customer Service Load – Your customers are better educated on gaining success from your product or service. They are less likely to have issues in the early adoption stages.

All Your Teams Can Be Involved in Customer Onboarding

It involves:

Marketing
Customer Service.
Technical Support.
Sales and Account Management.

Customer Onboarding is a more intensive and a longer process than the initial customer acquisition. It also involves all the teams in the business. Digital Customer Onboarding is a top priority for 2017 according to 80{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of 200 attendees in a recent Digital Account Openings webcast.

Primary Keyword: Customer Onboarding.

Secondary Keywords: Customer Acquisition, potential customers, word of mouth, recurrent business, revenue, research methods, future revenue.

Why Is Customer Onboarding More Than Just Customer Acquisition?

More Than Just Expanding A List

Customer on-boarding can be short and sweet or lengthy and involved, depending on your product or service. Upon signing up, their name goes on to a list of others. And doesn’t that feel good – to see your list grow?

But there’s more to gather than just names. What about picking information that could help you plan your business growth? What about information that could inspire or focus your marketing team?

Beyond The Name

Gender-based has come under fire lately, but there is still room to segment customers in this way. Some products are bought more by women, others by men. Most are largely gender neutral.

So, consider asking a gender question to verify your suspicions about who buys your product. But keep in mind this isn’t an easy question. 1&1.com says this best: as you segment your market by gender, you must “see the current social situation and contemporary needs of both sexes.”

It’s worth noting that you would need to see to the needs of those who do not identify male or female. Then you can confidently tweak your marketing to appeal to your target market.

Choosing The Right Medium

Carol Luther of the Houston Chronicle points out that younger customers are more likely to see your marketing message online or on television. Older clients and customers are more likely to see print ads in a newspaper or hear a radio spot. So, gleaning some data about age at onboarding can be very helpful.

Maps And Tracking

Consider asking where your customer is living. The US Census Bureau’s 2016 census data shows that people from rural areas in the US are more likely to own their home. And if a rural person owns their own home they are more likely to hold it free and clear – 44{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} for agricultural homeowners as opposed to 32{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} for their urban counterparts.

This is information that could be helpful to anybody in the construction or mortgage industries. Anybody with a product for older homes might like to know this as well. You can often gather location data during on-boarding by collecting IP addresses eliminating the need for a separate question.

Products Have Personalities Too!

Finding out other personality traits of your customer can help your marketing team modify the product presentation to better match their characteristics. Carol Kinsey Goman writes in Forbes magazine that mirroring has been proven to increase rapport among people.

Babies mirror and mimic their mothers, and we continue to echo our peers and acquantainces throughout our lives to develop relationships.

So, it stands to reason that by simulating our customers’ attitudes and lifestyle choices, a company can foster a closer relationship with its customers. That’s where onboarding comes in.

You’ll need to know those on your list who share these same attitudes as your product so that you can specifically tailor your marketing campaigns accordingly.

Loyalty At Onboarding Isn’t An Oxymoron

Likewise, you’ll want to identify prior or long-term customers. Just because they’re going through the onboarding process doesn’t mean they’ve never done business with you before.

Usually, people analyze sales data about the most recently and most frequent customers. A strategically worded question during on-boarding can increase the number of loyal customers you can identify. Ask prior customers who would like to come back to you!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2011/05/31/the-art-and-science-of-mirroring/#5b6ca1de1318

5 Ways To Get More Customers For Your Startup On A Shoestring Budget?

Sharks of the pond like Flipkart, Paytm and many others were never always the epitomes in the startup hall of fame. They were mere ideas pondered by a visionary mind. The shape that these remarkable startups took later is a result of careful management of resources and planning.

The early stage of a budding startup is crucial. The goals, strategies, planning and coordination need to be in alignment to hit the target.

Starting one’s own venture is often a long-term or even lifetime aspiration, and therefore it is essential to plan the finances efficiently, specifically in the beginning where the risk-return ratio rests more in the former’s side.

So, here are five cheap advertising ideas that one can take to build the consumer empire in a newbie startup.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads

Anyone in the virtual commerce sector is well aware of Google Business Accounts. Both Google and Bing let businesses space to place their ads on their search engines result pages.

As the business, you’re supposed to pay every time someone clicks on your ad and effectively lands on your website. The cost depends on the keyword you place with popular keywords costing more.

For this promotional tactic, SEO optimization of your website content is important. The keywords input by a surfer should easily pick up your website content.

PPC Ads are a flexible method of promoting one’s startup. Newbie startups must start off with lower budgets to experiment and analyze the result.

Content-Centric Email Campaigns

Email-marketing is a useful way of promotion. Every business must have an email list of prospective consumers. People join the list because they want to hear more from you.

Thus, new startups with fewer subscribers should hire free services provided by MailChimp and other similar service providers who offer free services to businesses with less than 2000 subscribers.

The emails also shouldn’t contain bland content. They must be of relevance to hold the attention of the consumer.

Exploring Local Networking Events and Startup Conventions

One of the classic and essential promotional tactics is meeting people.

Attending startup conventions and local events organized to connect peers of the industry is a sure shot way to get more people to know your product.

Collaborations and Guest Posts on Popular Sites

Posting as a guest on a popular niche site and spreading the informational content of your product can help you reach whole new audiences and prospect customer segments.

Collaborating with popular YouTubers or sponsoring a cause that is connected to your target community or venturing with other startups can help you gather popularity for your product.

Customer Testimonials and Reviews

Customers tend to place more faith in a fellow customer than a seller.

A good tip could be to highlight the positive experiences of your old customers on your website to build the trust and confidence in new consumers.

Document the honest testimonials and reviews of the consumers. Highlight the improvements you made to fit the consumers’ needs and expectations.

LSI Keywords – budding startups, newbie startups, promoting your startup, cheap advertising ideas

5 Ways To Get More Customers For Your Start-Up On A Shoe-String Budget

This is for those of you who have just begun, who have embarked upon one of the biggest journeys in life – developing a start-up to point of seeing it flourish.

Even if you are running low on capital, the following approaches can help shape your company’s future if you can handle it all smartly. The basic premise is to let the captive audience know that you have got exactly what it needs.

Make your customers aware by-

Spreading The Word (By Mouth Or By Handouts) – Begin Communication With Your Existing Network

That includes your friends, relatives, or acquaintances to initiate the process of building a rapport. As you become more confident, you can ask your investors to campaign about your fresh venture. Investors are usually well-equipped with deeply inter-connected networks. Just know that they are reaching out to the relevant base.

About 90{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of people respond to a product based on a recommendation. That is a huge percentage, to begin with.

Availing Social Media For Online Advertising

The CEO of a blog named Chargify, Lance Walley had struck up an acquaintance with a motorist via Twitter and eventually with reference, Mark Cuban, the owner of Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, became a leading investor of his blog. This is how you take charge.

Currently, social networking pages offer options for rotational promotions for a minimum fee. If you don’t like investing in hard copies (flyers and handouts I mean), this is what you can opt for.

You could also start blogging your way into the minds of your target network. Your product should stand out of the rut. This is also known as transparency marketing. You could give a complete step-by-step breakdown of your expense-to-remuneration formula just like Buffer. You need not be a professional writer but simply need a comprehensive technical content, just to rub in the point.

Giveaways To Offer

It could be a gift on purchase given away to the first thousand customers. Start-up agencies of software programs swear by the ‘free trial’ approach saving up the better features for the paid version.

Take Kaspersky antivirus for instance: they have free antivirus protection but the internet security and online payment security options they keep for premium software.

But make sure these are limited opportunities. The golden rule of marketing to abide by here is, scarcity raises the demands. To add to that should be the quality of your product. A great deal of credibility of a service is expected of any start-up in this era of fierce competition. If you fail to deliver, the popularity will be short-lived.

Consumable product-based companies swear by the rule of freebies. Discount coupons, first few pieces sold for free— all these motivate the customers to come to you. The buyers must feel rewarded while availing of your offerings. That is the key.

Availing The Host-Beneficiary Partnership With Recognized Businesses

This method is rarely-used but facilitates your income by exposing you to a huge arena of prospects loyal to an ongoing business that has similar targets to yours. This collaborative approach benefits both sides as the host (the larger company) is keen for goodwill uplift while you get your target audience too.

It is not expensive at all. To provide an instance, a famous boutique company struck up such a deal with the famed BMW for a free giveaway of their silk kimonos to loyal customers of a local BMW store.

Over 600 such customers responded positively to this offer leading to the boutique generating a turnover of $240,000. They had spent just $9,600 as the capital. This is a sure-fire way to gain those first 100 customers that you’ve been hoping for.

The key is to know who all to target, have clarity in what you offer and provide value for money for the prospects. In addition, make sure that the customer base is solid and you in no way will tarnish the image of the host entrepreneur.

Cold Emails And Calls

Admit it. You cannot help but go through some of those personalized messages from companies absolutely a stranger to you. More often than not, they seem to cater to your immediate requirements. This is currently a very popular way to intrigue people.

If done correctly, it helps build a personal rapport that could take you a long way ahead in doing business.

These are some of the cheaper ways to make your company heard. The beginning will be a struggle but hang in there, if your efforts are persistent and calculated, even a shoe-string budget cannot halt your company’s progress.

LSI keywords: developing a start-up, low on capital, investors to campaign, Distributing flyers, cold calls, cold emails, rotational promotions, host-beneficiary relationship, free trial, free gift on purchase, build a personal rapport.

6 customer / sales enablement tools you need right now (Content Strategi)

Market and consumer needs are constantly evolving and with it the need to change the sales and marketing approach. Reports from DemandGen indicate that opportunities for sales can increase by 20{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} if prospective leads are nurtured carefully[i].

Organizations at present find that almost 67{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of the sales personnel never meet their targets[ii]&[iii], either due to lack of productivity, proper tools, or the right content.

This is where sales enablement tools come in. They bridge the gap from lead prospecting to closing the sale and help boost revenues and profit.

Empower your sales reps through technology

37{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of sales teams win less than half their potential sales2 leads either due to lack of proper content or persistent follow-ups.

A well-defined sales strategy backed by the right content and presentation can increase your chances of meeting your sales quotas by 33{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616}.

A comprehensive Sales Enablement platform (SEP) serves as an integrated multi-functional system that allows for content management and integrated communications. More importantly, CRM integration and predictive analytics help improve sale pipeline management.

Sales enablement solutions – Arm your teams with the tools to succeed

There is a wide range of sales enablement platforms available in the market today that address the keys issues of marketing and sales automation, Business Intelligence, CRM, and more. Although their core features would be similar, they each have extra features that will fill the gaps to suit your unique business needs.

6 most important features of sales enablement tools that will help grow your client base, increase customer retention and improve sales.

Content Management – Research indicates that 88{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of sales opportunities are missed[iv] because sales teams waste 30{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of their time looking for internal resources and content to share with their potential customers. Furthermore, almost 90{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of the accumulated goes unused according to an IDC survey[v]. Tools such as Microsoft Dynamics, Sales Force Sugar CRM provide the sales teams with real-time data and help the teams deliver the right content at the right time. 95{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of the buyers tend to choose a vendor that provided them with the right content at each stage of the buying process1.

Marketing Automation – A study by the ANNUITAS group indicates that an organization that uses marketing automation to nurture their prospective leads experience a 451{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} increase in qualified leads1. Sales enablement tools such as Mindmatrix or SharpString helps teams identify leads that require immediate attention, the content they require, and provide overall help in personalizing the prospective asset. Real-time prospect tracking can increase customer retention and research by Bain & Company indicates that even a 5{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} increase in customer retention would help boost profits anywhere from 25 {ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} to 95{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616}1.

Sales Management – Forrester Research shows that 25{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} marketers who adopt mature lead management process have better response and follow-up rates1. Customer & sales enablement tools such as the Pipeliner or Sales Seek integrate marketing and sales functions to provide customized sales pipelines with visual intelligence that help close more deals.

Sales Analytics – Studies by Marketing Sherpa indicate that only 25{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of leads are legitimate and require a follow up1. Sales personnel waste almost 50{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of their time on unproductive prospecting. Advanced analytics in sales enablement solutions such as 6Sense, Amacus or Infer[vi] use predictive modelling that prioritize leads and provide intelligence on talking points based on the customer needs.

CRM – According to market research by CSO Insights, Sales reps spend less than 33{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of their time on core selling1. Automating repetitive, mundane tasks would divert more time to nurturing leads and selling products or services. Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, and CRM Next are sales enablement tools that encompass features of cross departmental team collaboration, managing workflows, automating marketing & content generation, and more, to boost productivity and sales.

BI – Business Intelligence tools offer key insight that helps drive better decision-making. Oracle[vii], SharpSpring and Spectate are three organizations that offer BI tools for sales enablement.

With these smart predictive tools, never loose an opportunity again. Let your sales teams be best equipped to handle all customer needs.

Citations

[i] “107 Mind blowing sales statistics that will help you sell smarter” – Scott Tousley

[ii] “10 things every sales manager should know about sales performance” – TAS Group

[iii] “The cost of missing quota” – Janelle

[iv] “Sales execution trends” – Qvidian

[v] “7 Signs you need a sales enablement solution” – Shelley Cernel

[vi] “Top 70 sales enablement tools to boost your business” – Knowledge Tree

[vii] “Top 54 sales enablement tools” – Fergal Glynn

References:

State of Inbound Sales Report [2016] – Hubspot’s 8th Annual report
Sales Enablement plan – Knowledge Tree

Inside Sales Metrics & Comp – The Bridge Group, Inc.

“What is sales enablement? 3 definitions that help tell the story” – Brendan Cournoyer
“Sales Enablement tools grow up, as forrester releases first wave report” – Barry Levine
“10 surprising stats about sales rep performance” – Leslie Ye

“5 ways Sales enablement tool adds value to an account-based selling strategy” – Shelley Cernel
“18 sales enablement software tools to boost productivity & sales” – Twila Grissom

Boost Your Brand Activation Through Effective Brand Communication (Rank Princess – SEO)

Brand Building is essential for the success of any product or service in free market economies. When a new product enters the market, it is virtually unknown. Along with the quality of the product and service, customer engagement is also required to build a broad consumer base.

Marketing and brand communication can go a long way in expanding customer outreach and thereby gain customer loyalty.

Brand Communication refers to a group of activities that shape and influence the opinion of customers towards a company and its products or services. Brand Communication also helps to create an effective brand image.

Brand Activation or brand engagement aims to influence the consumer’s actions and choices through interaction with the brand. Digital Marketing via various social media platforms enables brands to communicate directly with their customers. This is crucial, especially in today’s markets as marketing and brand promotion have become largely customer-based.

Effective brand communication can go a long way in ensuring a positive reaction towards a brand. Brand Communication employs strategies like experimental marketing, promotional marketing and in-house retail marketing for effective brand activation.

Measuring Effective Brand Communication

Using the following criteria, you can easily determine whether your brand communication is encouraging brand activation:

Consumer Network-It is important to reach out to a broad and relevant consumer base to boost brand activation. A good brand communication campaign will have a target audience at the local, regional, national or international level that it seeks to cover.

Strategy and Authenticity-A thorough review of the campaign strategy must be carried out to ascertain whether the proposed brand communication campaign will lead to brand activation while staying to the core values and aims of the brand or company. The information provided to the public must be authentic else it may lead to loss of confidence in the brand.

Investment and Returns-The expected costs, benefits and returns must also be thoroughly evaluated. The returns and benefits will include not only the expected boost in sales, but also the anticipated expansion in the consumer-base, and increase the number of loyal customers and brand followers on social media platforms.

Consumers’ Response- The success of brand communication can be determined through the evaluation of the customers’ response. The campaign must be designed such that it creates interest and tempts its target audience. The consumers must enjoy their interaction with the brand. In this respect, it is not just the sheer volume of response that matters, but also nature. A positive response implies successful brand activation and vice versa.

Creativity and Timing- The interaction with the consumers must be creative, keeping in mind their tastes and preferences. The timing also has to be spot on, the right customer at the right time, in the right place.

Brand Image in the Long Run- Any proposed brand communication campaign has to be undertaken keeping in mind the long-term goals and aims of the brand and company. Brand Activation has to be such that it boosts the image of the brand in the long run.

LSI Keywords: brand building, brand communication, brand activation, customer engagement, widening consumer-base, digital marketing, brand communication via social media, effective brand communication.

Category: Marketing