“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
Whatever the new year brings, we know we’ll achieve our goals with the continuous support of our customers. Happy new year to my forever love!
The EVERWORKS Team wishes our partners, clients, suppliers and everyone a Happy New Year.
The pandemic has forced the traditional holiday office party to go virtual. But things are different this year — now, a variety of workplaces include remote and in-person employees (or a hybrid of both). So here's the challenge — how can you host a fun holiday party that satisfies everyone? What activities can you plan? What logistics are involved? There's certainly a lot to think about, but don't stress.
Planning a virtual holiday party requires plenty of logistics. That's why you should use a spreadsheet to stay organized.
The goal here is to be creative because virtual events might automatically feel "hands-off". There are several online games and activities you can use for your virtual holiday party.
When hosting an in-person event, providing food is typically part of the gig. Why can't this be true of remote holiday parties too?
Holiday parties are usually fun events where everyone can dress up and celebrate. Being remote shouldn't change this — so don't ditch the ugly holiday sweater just yet.
A major obstacle with remote meetings is that it's hard to feel included.
It's the holiday season, people tend to fall into one of two camps:
They might even forget to put up an out-of-office (OOO) email message. If you're anything like I am, you probably fall into team two. That doesn't leave a lot of time to get creative. But if you plan ahead, you might be able to craft some pretty fun personal messages to colleagues and customers.
Also known as "autoresponder emails," out-of-office messages run the gamut. From funny to clever to snarky, this message can both show your personality and let senders know that, well, you’re out of office.
While you can keep it simple, you can also have some fun with it.
Be warned, company culture is also important to note when crafting your email message. Having a too informal voice in an overly formal setting could be inappropriate.
In your away message, you typically include the following:
1. Thanks for your message! I’m currently buried in snow and will get back to you once I’ve defrosted on January 2nd. And if you think I’m lying...
2. Hi there, Sorry I missed you — I’m unable to get to my email right this second. Why? I’m on a backpacking trip, surviving on Spam, really good water, and trail mix. You should see the stars out here. I’ll get back to you when I return to civilization. Or to an area with WiFi. Or to the office on May 10th. Whichever comes first. If you need help right now, email my team at team@example.com.
3. Hi there, You got this email immediately (classic autoresponder behaviour), which means I’m out of the office on vacation. While I hypothetically could reach my email, while I hypothetically do have my phone on hand, and while I hypothetically do have access to WiFi, I’d rather enjoy time with my family. My kids are growing up at the speed of a supersonic jet, and if I blink one more time, they’ll be 35. And I’ll be 73. And I don’t want that. If you still need to reach me, you can email interruptingfamilytime@example.com. Or you can email my assistant at assistant@example.com. They can point you in the right direction. Looking forward to reconnecting once I’m back.
4. Hi, I’m Troy McClure. You might remember me from such out-of-office messages as Avenge My Death if I Don’t Return from DMEXCO and Bye Now, I’m on an Absurdly Long Cycling Trip. I’m here to talk to you about someone you know. Catalina Wong is out of office until September 27. She wanted me to let you know that she’ll get back to you after her return. That’s all for now. Watch for me in the upcoming out-of-office message, It’s Not a Hangover, It’s Food Poisoning — I Swear! And be safe out there.
5. Hey there — I’ve got good and bad news for you. Let’s go with the bad first. The bad news is that I’m out of office. The good news is that I’m out of office and enjoying elotes in Cancún. If you can’t wait for a response, my colleague will be happy to take care of you. Just email them at someone@example.com. I’ll be back on February 7th.
6. "I am currently out of the office and probably chilling on the beach. Enjoy your work week."
7. Hello there, I’m currently out of the office, enjoying some peanuts and Cracker Jacks with my family. Can you guess where I am? That’s okay, you’re busy. If your message is urgent, fear not — we’ll get it addressed. Try doing one of two things: Send me an email at TheresNoCryingInBaseball@example.com. Just kidding. That’s not a real email address. Reach out to my manager at manager@example.com in my absence. I’ll be back in the office on 7/19 and will happily respond then. Have a great weekend!
8. I am on annual leave until dd/mm/yyyy. I will allow each sender one email and if you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until there is only one remaining. Choose wisely. Please note that you have already sent me one email.
9. Hey there, Careful. Holiday revelry and debauchery ahead. Proceed with caution (if you dare). By which I mean to say: I’m on holiday, I’m definitely sunburnt, and I’m sorry I missed your email. Don’t you worry: while I pretend to be Santa in front of my kids, my colleague, Hannah, will cover for me. Just email her at hannah@example.com if you need urgent assistance. Take care, and don’t get too carried away with the sunbathing!
10. Hey there, Thank you so much for your email. I love it already. It’s wrapped so nicely in its charming subject line that I just knew this message was going to be something special. Gifts like these just don’t come around every day. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to return your message. As it’s the holiday season, I’m currently away from the office. When I return, I’ll give your email a good solid read and find that your request is exactly what I needed after all! But until then, I’m going to keep it in the inbox so it doesn’t get damaged and revisit it after the holidays are over. Happy holidays!
The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (Chinese: 復, "Returning").
Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get-togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of tangyuan (湯圓) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion.
The EVERWORKS Team wishes our partners, clients, suppliers and everyone a happy Winter's Solstice.
When it comes to marketing tactics, unfortunately, there are no "Fixed" expiry dates. However, that doesn't mean what worked last year -- or even last week -- will work today. In fact, some of the most popular digital marketing trends have reached the end of their shelf life and are well beyond their expiration dates.
Gone are the days where you can send out emails to a large contact list with no segmentation and personalisation. This will not work anymore moving forward.
With everyone working through their mobiles more and more gone are the days of the long-form PDFs with a lot of text. You should focus more on digital media purposed for the medium which it is being consumed from.
The Internet is saturated with content (there's so much) but it's the quality ones that always stand out.
You should make it easier for the engines to understand how you value a lead and where that lead will sit in the overall marketing lead generation pool.
Initially intended for internal marketing activities, this has shifted to external marketing activities and brands are feeling it as it is not an entirely seamless implementation just yet. Customers are being put off by the inconvenience and hassle to interact with your business.
Learning about web development is kind of like drinking from a fire hose. Google “coding,” and you’ve turned the hose on full blast. This guide serves as a slow drip to get you acquainted with and intrigued by the world of web development. It’s by no means a comprehensive manual.
If your business is reasonably successful, you may come up with many reasons why an effective website isn’t all that relevant for you. Sure, you understand the need to have some web presence, but you might not believe that an effective website is going to make that big of a difference for your particular business — especially if you’re already plenty profitable. What do you think? Do you need a website to run a successful business? This article discusses reasons why having a business website is a wise investment and why you sometimes don’t need a website.
The answer is YES! If you have a business, you should have a website to avoid losing business to competitors that already have one. Furthermore, are you sure you can’t sell your product online? COVID-19 has altered the retail landscape, with millions of shoppers online looking for everything from books to clips to houses to natural gas and more. So while you dither, your competitor has likely seen how effective a website can be for their business. You definitely don’t want to be left behind.
It's good to have a Facebook page, but don't neglect the importance of a website. Below are some of the reasons why Facebook might not be the best solution and should not be used in isolation.
Having a website boosts your credibility, increases your visibility, and improves lead generation. It’s your property; therefore, you have absolute freedom about how you want it to look and what you want to promote. It’s an excellent place to highlight positive reviews and answer any questions potential customers might have about your business.
Anyone can create a company page on Facebook; it’s free and can be done in a jiffy. This low barrier to entry takes away much of the credibility of a business social media page. Customers don’t know who’s behind a Facebook page, where they are, and whether it’s all a scam. On the other hand, creating a business website is not free and indicates that you’re relatively serious about your business. Therefore, a business website makes you look more professional and credible.
An effective website is where you want your audience from different channels to end up. It’s on the website that you’ll inspire action from your potential clients. Your website is like a physical shop—people walk by it until they come in to look at what you offer. So even if they don’t buy something the first time they walk in, they might buy something on subsequent visits.
Without a website, your business is virtually invisible to these people. With COVID-19 pushing the global market even more digital, your business will become invisible to those that matter unless you invest in a website.
Many small business owners don’t see the need to invest in an effective business website. However, they’re currently missing out on an incredible source of revenue.
What your customers say about your business can determine whether others patronize you or not. So while review websites like Yelp are good, your website is the best place for people to get more information about your business. Displaying your best testimonials on your website is an effective way to establish trust and social proof. What is more, publishing your best reviews on your website ensures that third-party review sites don’t minimize the good things people say about your business.
The benefits of updating old blog content are providing a better user experience and increasing SEO opportunities. Website visitors expect quality content. They want to know that your content is fresh and up-to-date. Frequent updates enhance their experience and the quality of your website. These updates also increase opportunities for SEO by driving more traffic to your blog, boosting your rankings, and generating more backlinks.
Leveraging old blog posts and their established place on the web can extend the life of your best content. It is especially beneficial when your content has reached a traffic plateau — a period where your growth rate is stagnant.
Traffic to your post also comes from backlinks. It takes time to acquire backlinks to new content. Alternatively, old content is less likely to receive new backlinks because the information is outdated. Updating old blog posts can help you keep the backlinks your page has already received and acquire new backlinks by reinforcing the value and authority of your content with current information.
Update old content can drive organic traffic to previously successful but declining posts, and boost the ranking of content sitting on page 2 of the SERPs. For blog posts that are not ranking at all due to high-volume keywords and keyword difficulty, consider a complete overhaul to rewrite and restructure the content.
How old is your blog post? Depending on its initial publish date, one of two things could be true. One, you were targeting keywords based on keyword difficulty and search volume at that time. Two, you didn’t have the SEO knowledge to implement keyword research. Search volume indicates how many people are entering a keyword into a search engine. This metric, commonly referred to as Monthly Search Volume (MSV), anticipates how much traffic is available for that keyword. Evaluate search volume with keyword difficulty. Keyword difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to rank on the first page of a SERP for a specific keyword. Neither keyword difficulty nor search volume can solely determine your target keywords.
When it comes to the total share of spending, Gen Z accounts for an estimated five percent in the U.S., according to Afterpay’s 2021 Next Gen Index. However, that number is expected to grow 10% by 2030, as most will be entering the workforce. With every age group, generation Z’s spending habits declined at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the Afterpay report reveals that Gen Z recovered faster than older generations. So what are they doing right now? Well, they’re shopping more online. A 2021 Consumer Culture Report by 5WPR found that Gen Z is now spending 43 minutes more per on online shopping than they did before the COVID-19 outbreak. They (77%) say online shopping allows them to discover products from new or small companies they wouldn’t find in person. Only 38% say they prefer in-store shopping.
Gen Z will occasionally splurge on technological experiences that help them have fun, such as video games. In fact, a 2019 study found that two-thirds of Gen Z men say gaming is a "core component" of who they are. While you might worry that Gen Z isn't worth marketing to because they won't splurge on your products, this age group certainly can be persuaded to make larger purchases that offer fun experiences or improve their daily lives.
But, even though they will invest in higher-priced products, Gen Z will still need thorough convincing before pulling out their wallets. It's incredibly important for brands targeting Gen Z to create content that demonstrates why the age group needs their product, how the product could solve daily boredom or woes, and why it's better than a competitor's.
With this email, you'll want to turn all of the employees at your company into an enthusiastic, well-informed, word-of-mouth marketing team
Share your exciting new product with the world. If you have an established list of loyal contacts in your CRM, create a list of recipients you think would benefit from the product launch email. While you can send out a mass email to all of your contacts, it makes sense to group your contacts together by their lifecycle stage or their interests so that you're prioritizing customers who would be most interested or ready for your new product.
Provide a high-level summary of what the product is, why it was made, and what it does.
List the key features or benefits of this offer. If you have a product demo video, you may want to link to it here.
Leave your contacts with an actionable next step. Do you want them to reply to you with questions? Sign up for a demo? Check out the new product page on your website? Whatever your desired next step is, make it abundantly clear with a link or by bolding the action.
But here's the deal: Unless you're famous, it's really hard to amass a huge following on Instagram without some hard work. Luckily, there are a few things you can do right away to collect at least 1,000 quality followers for your personal or professional Instagram account. It's all about knowing where to invest your time and effort. In this post, we'll discuss a few strategies that will help you gain those followers, from creating a follow-worthy Instagram profile to using contests, to staying true to your brand.
Customize your Instagram profile to make it look good. Tell your potential followers who you are, and give them a reason to follow you.
Just like there should be one (maybe two) people managing your other social media accounts, there should only be one or two people managing your Instagram account. If possible, choose someone with experience on the platform who will "get" it — and be sure they stay updated on all new features Instagram has to offer from Reels to IGTV.
On Instagram, post quality matters. A lot. Your Twitter followers might forgive a few bad tweets, but a bad photo on Instagram is a big no-no.
It's a good idea to have a solid number of great posts up – maybe 15 or so – before you start engaging people and working down this list. That way, when people visit your profile, they'll see a full screen of photos and will know you'll post great content regularly. To start posting on Instagram, download this social media content calendar template first and plan out your posts. It's best to build a backlog of content ready a few days or weeks ahead of the publishing date. This will ensure you always have content during holidays, vacations, and even creative blocks.
Although it's best to have only one or two people manning your account, one or two people can't be everywhere at once taking photos. What about that fun sushi night the engineers had last night? Or the event your head of sales spoke at earlier this week? There's a whole breadth of content you'll want to post to Instagram, and more often than not, one person won't be able to keep track of it all. One solution? Create a system where you can curate photos and content from members of your team.
Google Search Console has a number of tools available to help you appear in the SERPs for the search terms and phrases your target audience is looking for. If you’re the owner of a business or an SEO on your marketing team, Search Console can help you conduct an initial SEO analysis from scratch or update your existing SEO strategy with fresh keywords. Google Search Console monitors, debugs, and optimizes your website — and you don't need to know how to code to benefit from this tool.
Although Google Analytics has a paid version, the free version of the product can help you manage your website’s SEO — this is especially true if you pair Google Analytics with Google Search Console. In doing so, all of your website’s SEO data will be centrally located and compiled, and you can use queries to identify areas for improvement with the keywords and phrases that you want your website and web pages to rank for.
The Free SEO Report Card by UpCity lets you analyze your website to determine how it stacks up against the competition. In exchange for your email address and a few data points, SEO Report Card will serve up a report
Internet Marketing Ninjas is an SEO-focused company with a variety of free tools you can use to compare your website against the competition, optimize web pages for certain keywords, generate meta tags, and increase organic traffic to your website.
Microsoft Bing Webmaster gives you access to many tools that offer insight into your website such as reporting, diagnostic, and SEO tools. The SEO tools that you can use for free have the power to help you analyze your website, manage backlinks, and review keywords to ensure your site is well-optimized for organic search.
A big part of building a strong content strategy is experimenting with new types of content. Your audience may love your podcasts, but that doesn't mean that's the only thing you should create. Fresh content types can expand your reach and attract more, and possibly even better leads. To help you shake up your content balance, here are 10 things you can put behind a landing page to help you collect new leads -- and ways you can optimize your landing page for each type.
Ebooks are a popular type of offer used to generate leads, educate customers and prospects, and gain credibility in your industry. But they can take time to become a reality, so be sure to choose a topic that will help a prospect go from downloading your ebook to having a productive conversation with a member of your sales team.
Your audience may also be excited to fill out a form in exchange for a video course or tutorial. It's up to you whether to produce, shoot, and edit the video in-house or hire a professional. You can hold the course live, or post a recording. Either way, ask participants to share their email address in exchange for the tutorial, so you can send them an email with the video recording that they can access forever.
Trials aren't just limited to things like courses. Sometimes, your prospects will want to try out your product or service before deciding whether they're a good fit. That's a good thing -- you want to grow a base of customers that are convinced and loyal, and that can take a little more work than trying to sell your stuff to everyone who will listen. That's why it can be helpful to provide a free trial of your product or service with no risk, no obligation, and no credit card required -- the only thing the prospect needs to do is fill out a form.
If visitors are ready to learn more about your product or service, make it easy for them to schedule a demo with your team. You can place demo calls-to-action on key pages of your website, including your home page. If visitors are ready to learn more about your product or service, make it easy for them to schedule a demo with your team. You can place demo calls-to-action on key pages of your website, including your home page.
People love contests. They can teach you a lot about your audience while engaging them, growing your reach, driving traffic to your website, and -- drum roll, please -- generating leads. You can run contests on your website, or on pretty much any social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. They can be as simple as you'd like.
Cheat sheets are a type of short, concise offer that someone might bookmark for future reference. Think of them as comprehensive guides to terms, commands, symbols, or other things. They should be formatted for quick reference, which means clear headers and not too much detail. And the more visual, the better.
Checklists are another type of short offer that you could put behind a landing page, which readers can print out or download to their desktops. Include clear headers, a colorful design, and keep copy brief.
An email series is a multi-part series of emails sent to an individual who specifically opted in to receive them. It's different from an email subscription -- it has a finite number of emails sent.
Business blogging not only drives more traffic to your website, it also can become a major source for lead generation down the road. But how do you convert blog readers into leads?
Guides come in many shapes and sizes. There are "ultimate guides," which are long, in-depth, and usually include detailed explanations, screenshots, and step-by-step instructions. Then, there are "simple guides," which are shorter and much more concise. There are also tactical guides, pocket guides, introductory guides and advanced guides. The list goes on.
You know it is important it is to have a marketing strategy — but have you thought about the impact your marketing message can make in it?
Your strategy has to align with your audiences’ needs and interests, and understand the required approach for each channel you use
But how do you bridge the gap between this strategy and the content itself? What you need is a marketing message, and it’s just as important as your overall strategy.
Your marketing message is the ability to craft your marketing message with care, specifically for the audiences you’re trying to reach. It should also address their pain points and present your business as a solution.
Your message is extremely influential in helping you meet your business goals, as it can be the difference between a new acquisition or sending a customer on to your competitor.
Because a marketing message is the words you use to communicate with your audience to convince them to do business with you.
Messaging in marketing is how a brand communicates what customers want to know about your brand. It goes beyond just sharing information about the product or service available; it builds your brand identity through the “why” of your company; its mission, vision, and values.
Nike’s marketing message is “Where All Athletes Belong,” and it speaks to its target audience and lets them know that they have something for everyone —from professional athletes to first-time players.
Chipotle’s marketing message, shown in the image below, reads “Find your plant power.” The brand is speaking directly to those with diverse needs, inviting them to try its expanded menu with plant-based options and letting them know that they recognize the gap in the market for their needs.
Zoom markets to an audience who wants to continue having fulfilling conversations, regardless of their physical location: “Meet OnZoom. A marketplace for immersive experiences.”
Begin creating your marketing message without identifying your target audience. When you know who they are, you’re not marketing to customers you think are interested in you, but rather to those you know are interested in you.
our persona research should tell you about your audience’s pain points and challenges. As a refresher, pain points are issues that affect your target audience’s day-to-day routines, business tasks, or general life desires. These challenges are typically things that your audience is actively seeking solutions for.
When creating your message, present your product or service as a cure for their pain points, and prove it. Continuing with the eco-friendly business example, you can specifically mention that your clothing is locally produced, separating you from the competition that mass produces its goods abroad.
It clearly says why they should do business with you instead of a competitor, and that is precisely the point of a marketing message.
Customers should read your message and find answers to their questions without needing to overanalyze your statements. Prioritize being clear, concise, and easily understood, as you want your words to speak for themselves. To reiterate, get to the point.
Even though your customers are in your industry, you shouldn’t assume that they know or understand the technical jargon related to what you sell. Therefore, it’s important to sound conversational and use familiar and palatable language to most audiences. Your message copy should be simple, straightforward, and not require an industry-specific dictionary.
Have you ever had to hype yourself up to send an email? Because, same. There’s something that feels monumental about sending an email that you don’t always get with other forms of communication. And if you’re a non-native English speaker, that task can seem even more daunting. This article will provide some helpful tips to help you improve the overall quality of your emails, no matter your perspective.
Subject lines can make or break your email’s success. Unfortunately, this is a struggle for most people with the subject lines being the deciding factor on whether someone will open your email or not.
Even if you’re sending emails internally at your company, it still pays to write a great subject line so your recipient has an idea of what to expect. Like any busy person, your teammates receive a ton of emails every day, and would certainly appreciate the extra effort of a descriptive subject line.
Start the email with the right greeting. There are 2 components to it, generally the salutation and the opening sentence.
You can go a long way with just the right salutation. For example in a societal rich country like Malaysia, knowing when to write "Dear [X]" compared to "Hi [X]" will make all of the difference.
Having the salutation done and out of your way. It's time to start your email. It's where the meat is.
This is where you start to build rapport and show that you're not sending a generic email to multiple people.
We spend a lot of time reading emails. And because of this, many people simply scan emails to get the essence of the message and move on to the next.
Emails can be fun. You can add images, GIFs, and colours. However, there’s a way to do it that’s not too jarring or distracting. Do not use several fonts used in the email, different font sizes along with different colours. As a result, the eye doesn’t know where to go and it’s a bit overwhelming. Furthermore, the message gets lost, as your recipient is too distracted by all these elements fighting for their attention. So, as a rule of thumb: Stick to one font. If you want to use a secondary one, use it sparingly. Follow the same rule for colour.
As marketers begin to map out their 2022 marketing plans, it's the perfect time to dust off the crystal ball and predict what will shape the industry over the coming year.
There's certainly a lot to consider — the continuing impact of the global pandemic, the massive shift to digital advertising, and the rise of platforms like TikTok — to name a few. Simply put, what worked for your marketing strategy in the past might not fly in 2022.
As marketers look for innovative ways to engage audiences, video has become an integral part of the conversation. Video advertising uses videos to promote products and services, educate or entertain consumers, and reach new audiences in an engaging way.
Social media advertising serves paid ads to your target audience on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Aside from its reach, it also offers a wealth of opportunities to boost brand awareness, generate and convert leads, and foster customer relationships.
Digital advertising is all about meeting people where they are, and more often than not, they're on their phones. In fact, as of July 2021, 56% of all web traffic came from mobile phones. If we jump back to 2011, this number was just over 6%.
Display advertisements are mostly found along the top or sides of third-party websites. And due to their flashy style and placement, they aren't exactly subtle.
When I think of print advertising, I picture the infamous poster of Rosie the Riveter, recruiting women for defense industries in World War II. While the ad industry has evolved since the 40s, print is still an effective and universally-used medium. It's now migrated to the digital space, encompassing digital magazines, newspapers, and brochures, among others.
Broadcast advertising uses TV and radio to promote products and services. TV ads, in particular, have a broad reach and can provide a more engaging, multi-sensory experience. But, these ads are expensive and the audience may avoid them (by clicking to another channel).
Have you ever seen an advertisement on Instagram that looks exactly like a normal post from someone you’re following? That's one example of native advertising.
Yes, you own or work for a business that sells products or services. However, you are also a consumer. For just a moment, take off your business hat and put on your consumer hat. Every day, you research items from pet shampoo and carpet cleaner in your personal life to CRM systems and social media schedulers for your professional life.
Isn’t it frustrating when you see how many people visit your website and look at a product, and leave without ever making a purchase? You’ve managed to attract them to your business, but what good is paid advertising and a beautiful website if shoppers don’t convert to customers?
Thankfully, marketers have a solution for this. It’s called "retargeting".
Also known as remarketing ads, LinkedIn retargeting ads allow you to reach LinkedIn users who may have previously interacted with your brand in some way (so they have some level of interest), yet they haven’t purchased from you.
You might be wondering how the cookies know how to communicate with LinkedIn. This is done through a piece of code called an Insight Tag that gets installed on your website. The pixel is able to track conversions, website audiences, and website demographics for all your LinkedIn ad campaigns. It then passes this data from your website to LinkedIn, letting it know that you’ve got someone interested who needs to be reminded you exist.
you don’t have to be a tech genius to set up a LinkedIn Retargeting Ad. They’ve made it fairly user-friendly so as long as you have access to your website code, and basic knowledge of how to navigate inside it, this is doable. With good directions (they’re coming, don’t worry), you can be well on your way in a short period of time. If you have access to a website designer who will help you, that’s great too.
You’ll want to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to LinkedIn Retargeting Ads. Follow these best practices to make sure your advertising dollar stretches as far as possible. Refine your ad content over time. If you notice certain pieces of content aren’t resonating with your audience, don’t be afraid to refresh it until you figure out what works. Images and ad copy should reflect the retargeting audience you’re trying to reach. Create multiple ad formats depending on the stage your prospective customers are in. Continue testing formats and use the format that will best move them towards your objectives. Be flexible. You’ll be learning what works and what doesn’t as you go. When you discover something isn’t creating the results you want, change it.
There’s no need to accept lost leads. When someone heads to your website, downloads content, or interacts with your brand in any way, it’s because they are interested in what you offer and how you can help them. Rather than counting them out if they don’t immediately convert, focus some of your advertising dollars on recapturing their attention and gently guiding them back to your company and what you can do for them. You have the solution to their problem — make sure they know it.
It's better to have a plan for what direction you're heading — especially when developing your social media content strategy. Most marketers recognize that social media plays an integral role in an effective inbound marketing strategy. And with so many social networks available to us, it's important to stay organized and have a plan for when and what you're going to share on these platforms.
Has several helpful features that make it easy for social media marketers to build out an effective content calendar. A team might use Google Calendar to track both their editorial and social media calendars to make sure they're aligning posts with new blog content. These calendars can be easily shared with multiple teams to avoid scheduling conflicts and ensure that campaigns are aligned.
Google has several products that can be used together to create quick, seamless workflows. Whether you're publishing dozens of posts per day across multiple platforms, or ramping up one channel for your freelance business, you'll find value in the Google Drive system.
If you want more mileage out of your content calendar, you can turn to an all-in-one content planning and publishing platform such as Loomly. Loomly offers tools beyond content scheduling and management. This tool goes further, providing inspiration and direction to help you create content. It also allows you to manage your content assets, schedule posts, view them as a list or a calendar, and analyze what posts are working vs which ones need work. Loomly's most robust feature set includes a collaboration and approval environment so that teams can submit mockups, provide comments, see version logs, and flag for approval. This can help you streamline processes for efficiency when there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" on a particular project.
Looking for an organizational tool that's highly effective for team collaboration? Try Trello. This platform offers a full calendar view which makes it easy to visualize what content is going out, and when. You're not limited to just one structure, though. Users can customize boards according to their needs. For example, a team could create a board to organize social media posts for a given week, on a specific platform, or post ideas around a topic, such as a campaign or awareness day.
Sprout Social’s social media calendar and publishing tool make it easy for teams or individuals to plan and schedule all of their social posts. You can schedule content to automatically post to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more. You can also tag each social post and add notes to better track and report on your posting strategy and campaigns.
Hootsuite offers a built-in Planner tool to help you create campaigns, identify publishing gaps, and collaborate with your content creation team. Its primary features are in social publishing so that you can release content to your networks in advance, but it also has rich features for collaboration and post approvals. You can even curate content from other sources without logging into your account. Once your content is created, you can preview it with the Composer tool, which displays according to each social network's unique format.
Similar to Hootsuite, Agorapulse offers social publishing tools and a content calendar so that you can manage your social media accounts with ease. This includes scheduling (or rescheduling), queuing, and bulk uploading posts, which is incredibly helpful for teams who use quarterly or monthly content plans.
If you want more from your content calendar than simply knowing when posts go live, StoryChief is the option for you. With StoryChief's smart calendar, you can better strategize and plan your content strategy across channels. It displays much more than your timetable — it also allows you to assign collaborators to tasks and filter them by campaign.
It's good practice to revisit your marketing strategy every year.
And the best way to do this is by putting together an annual marketing plan. This helps you set your marketing on the right course and make your company's business goals a reality.
An annual marketing plan is a high-level plan that guides the direction of your team's campaigns, goals, and growth. Without one, things can get messy -- and it's nearly impossible to put a number on the budget you'll need to secure for the projects, hiring, and outsourcing you'll encounter over the course of a year if you don't have a plan.
This also helps if there are variations to the marketing plan made. Whereby the plan is adjusted depending on your industry and the goals of your marketing team. To make your plan's creation easier, we've put together a list of what to include in your plan and a few different planning templates where you can easily fill in the blanks.
Include the summary of your organisation. Which includes the business name, location of the HQ, and its mission statement.
Segment the various goals of your department. Be careful not to include big-picture company initiatives, which you'd normally find in a business plan. This section of your marketing plan should outline the projects that are specific to marketing. You'll also describe the goals of those projects and how those goals will be measured.
describe how your company should approach the market. What will your business offer your buyer personas that your competitors aren't already offering them? In a full-length marketing plan, this section can contain the "seven Ps of marketing".
Content is a large part of your everyday life. It’s hard to avoid, but why would you want to? Content keeps us informed, answers our questions, entertains us, makes us smile, guides our decisions, and more. Content helps you attract, engage, and delight prospects and customers, bring new visitors to your site, and ultimately, generate revenue for your company. In other words, if you’re not creating content, then you’re behind the curve.
Content creation represents an ultimate inbound marketing opportunity. When you create content, you’re providing useful information to your audience (at no cost) which in turn increases your chances of attracting potential customers to what you intend to offer. Also, great content also contributes to retaining existing customers by encouraging quality engagement.
Even if you have been creating content for some time without any clear direction or you’ve been following a strategy all along, every conscious effort to create content can benefit from a content audit. Even if you did not start out with a clearly defined strategy doesn’t mean that the content you have created prior to this won’t fit into your new strategy. A content audit simply means taking inventory of the work that you’ve already done, then organizing it to fit under your new plan.
The process might involve some re-writing, or it could reveal gaps that need to be filled with content that appeals to your persona and their journey stage.
Always keep the person you're writing for at the forefront of everything you're creating content for. I can't stress enough that you’re creating content for them (not for the whole world). That means you should be crafting content in a format that is most easily and enjoyably consumed by them.
The format you choose might be a blog post, video, Slideshare, graphic, ebook, whitepaper, podcast, or whatever your creative mind can conceive. As long as it serves the person you are writing for, you’ll be in a good space.
What's more, is you don’t actually need to stick to only one format for the content that you create. You should be able to create content — in whatever format — on a consistent cadence. This means, even if a podcast series might be a great marketing tactic, but if you lack the resources (and patience) to stick to it, then a blog might be a better route.
Just to get this definition out of the way digital content creation just simply means that it is the process of choosing the format (usually digital), and then utilizing the right tools to publish and promote your content online. That's it. It's just content creation but done digitally.
Everyone gets caught up in content creation, but forget that creating great content is useless if no one actually sees it. In a perfect world, herds of people would flock to your site every time you published a new post. In reality — especially when you’re just starting out — you’ll need to entice people to consume your content. Hence why content promotion is just as important to your strategy as whatever content you create.
Your promotion plan should be guided by who you are planning to create for and where do they spend their time. Is it online or offline? What time of day do they use a particular platform? How often do they want to see content from you? How do they like to consume content? What email subject lines get them to click? and more.
Content creation is an iterative process that pays off tremendously with your audience (if you have dedicated your content creation for the audience you intend to reach out to). Once you have the content creation process down, you’ll be able to generate creative work that not only delights your audience but also grows your business.
It's important to know the business impact of what you sell. This goes without saying how much more a difference this will make. It shows how your prospective clients decide when choosing your products or services. However, many companies just don't quantify the true value proposition the business delivers through its products or services. And sometimes, quantifying it seems nearly impossible.
There's an argument, however, that if there aren't any metrics to measure the strength of a value proposition, your business is already losing out.
Everyone's been here. For years, many companies focus their resources on jumpstarting new product sales. And during this process, not many have ever quantified what's the value proposition on offer. They're often too busy with new strategies. Trying to find one that would work better than the one before.
But here's the gap. When the going got tough, good hard data was lacking.
Although that may be the case, it didn't stop new clients and did not discourage new prospects to identify that a company was a good fit for their organisation.
We found that good hard data although important does not necessarily mean better sales prospects. And the common factor found was that there were commonalities in the strategies used by various companies to help prospects to feel more confident when engaging in a new product or service:
Start by talking like a businessperson. Rather than giving exact figures or percentages, there's an emphasis in prospecting for new client conversations to go along these lines:
These are value propositions which are extremely attractive to senior sales leaders and it has led to many profitable transactions. These show competency as you've just quoted business terminology to which they can relate.
It isn't easy and sometimes nearly impossible to measure the value of your proposition. If there's a time when specific data is required, you can lean on and off industry statistics.
The idea and perspective of these "outside experts" give you more credibility. For example here are examples:
CSO Insights found that organisations with random or informal approaches to sales coaching had significantly lower quota attainment and win rates.
Consultants do this very often. This can be a great proof of sources for the need for your product or service in the market.
Think about how you might demonstrate your value with your upcoming sales prospects. Don't just talk about how fun your engagement is, but focus on the client's business objectives for lead generation. You should jump in early on. Talk to buyers about what to measure and how your company can do it. Some examples of easy metrics for tracking include:
This helps customers to know if their investment has been worthwhile. These will also lead to future success stories which you can leverage for future prospective sales engagement.
Start now because these efforts will have huge paybacks for you.
The last way to clarify your value proposition is actually relatively easy and right where you least expect it to be. Brainstorm with your colleagues. The collective wisdom and experience of your peers will provide a broader view on the value you are offering to your customer.
It would be good to review marketing materials and think about what ways you can pique their interest and stoke excitement in their hearts.
If you're struggling with the above and still remain stuck, consider setting you and your team's mindset in the following. Keep asking each other, "so what?".
Keep asking "so what?" over and over again. It'll only help you to get much closer to the real value of what you bring to your potential customers.
This is an internal analysis. But beware, it can be dangerous. Don't take it to the letter because no matter what outside validation always takes more precedence. Also, don't just think of your solution in isolation because you're much too close to it to discover what problems or values your company is offering without help.
Disaster struck. After spending hours updating your work. It disappeared after you hit save. In most cases you would jump and reach out quickly to the nearest person you feel might be able to help you and more often than not, the person would reply, "Mmm. That's interesting".
The way your solution expert responds is actually fairly interesting. Most people in similar situations would react with curiosity when something went wrong.
When we're selling, we often react. Instead, you should stop to consider how we might have created that problem instead. And more often than not, the reaction is actually what would make the problem worse.
Think about the last time a sales conversation went bad. How often do you actually stop and say, "Mmm. That's interesting?".
Now think about what could happen if you were actually constantly curious about why your prospects actually reacted the way they did.
If a prospect was rude and just "didn't understand you". Rather than react simply stop and think, "Mmm. That's interesting..."
Whether you're an experienced pro or new to selling, you get better faster by continually questioning and evaluating your results.
You should always maintain your curiosity and you will improve. Pay attention to the times when the conversation was challenging for you. Why you might have lost to a specific competitor?
Make note of things when they both go according to plan or does not. And if it turned out better than you expected, it's important to recognise what's working well too.
Observing your own sales interactions and experimenting with new approaches is the fastest route to driving more sales.
How do you know if your value proposition is weak? An easy telltale sign is that virtually no one responds to your emails or gets back to you on the phone.
One other key indicator is that prospects quickly brush you away with statements such as:
It's already hard to sell after getting through the door, but it's even harder to sell if you can't even get through the door. The top salespeople always quote, "you can inspire buyers to take action unless you focus on what's important to them".
Without the right approach, sales would be downright impossible.
Here's a case study. A large corporation is introducing a new system into the printing market. The place was buzzing because of the extraordinary capabilities it had that far exceeded anything else out there.
They were thinking that with these which printer company wouldn't jump in to order it? But as life would have it, nothing comes easy. Sales stalled after the early adopters have converted over to this new feature.
Here's what some research found:
These were the true value propositions. And these were really strong, as it related and focused on what was important to the customers.
The case study above has shown that one of the best ways to discover the value proposition of your product or service is to actually ask your customers.
When you're struggling with sales, working with a new industry, or talking to different buyers this will be your golden ticket to finding out what value you actually offer.
Beware because this does not apply to all customers. The worst customers to interview are your long-term customers. Because they can't remember the issues and challenges they faced before they switched over to your company.
Choose more recent customers. Because they would know about the difference you've made and share with you exactly how it has impacted their business results.
When you go into these conversations always remember that you are there just to ask questions and to learn. Do not sell under any circumstance, because this would result in future opportunities being lost.
Knowing your value is essential to your sales success. Don't underplay it.
Remember no one wants to buy whatever product or service you offer. They're only interested in what problems they are facing and if you have anything that you can do for them.
The more clearly you can articulate your value proposition, the easier it will be to set up meetings, create momentum and close more deals.
Writing great content is a good starting point, but getting it to be read is another. This is where a good title comes in.
Titles are what helps to sell the content that you spend hours painstakingly creating. Titles are represented in search engines, email, and social media. It comes as no surprise that searching for ways to write and craft titles is on everyone's list as their number 1 concern.
Here are some of the frequent questions that are asked. How long should my headline be? What words should I use? What words should I avoid? Should I optimize it for search or for social or both?
Here's where this article comes in. We've come up with a quick formula that makes this method easily repeatable. This is a valuable resource for our team and it will be a valuable resource for anyone who's just starting out.
Start with an idea / a rough draft. This is your working title. This is a stepping stone for you to come up with your perfect title.
Don't confuse a working title with a topic. Topics are general ideas, and how a writer chooses to tackle the direction of the topic can affect the outcome.
A working title on the other hand is very specific. It serves the purpose of guiding the creation of a single blog post.
A topic covering:
You can come up with the following working titles:
You would have noticed by now that each of these working titles are different, it also shows that none of those titles is perfect. But it does serve as a specific enough guide for your upcoming content.
Accuracy is extremely critical. Don't downplay this. It sets the expectations of what a reader expects to see. Don't do this. Don't overkill and overwrite a claim in your title. Unless, of course, you have evidence for it in your content.
For example, 10 Crazy Solutions That Give you Instant Sales, All Other Sales Methods Fail to Compare. Unless, of course, you really have the suggested 10 crazy solutions, if not you're likely to create more distrust in your brand and organisation than what was initially intended.
One way to be accurate is to add a bracket with the following few words [New Report], [Latest for 2021]. This sets a clear expectation and readers know exactly what they are getting themselves into.
Being accurate does not mean you can't find ways to make your title pop. There's an art to language and you should not be afraid to use it.
There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to how long or short your title should be. All we can suggest is it depends on what your goals are. Knowing your goals will guide how and where your headline would appear.
There are many suggestions as to how title length will have an impact on email / social / search / etc. So it really depends on what your objectives are. A great way to learn what works is to run a few tests to see what works best for the particular audience you are targetting.
5) Try to optimize for both search and social at the same time
It's very hard to optimize one asset for everything. But there's nothing stopping you from being able to deliver for both.
The secret? Focus on keywords you know your audience is already searching for and find what works across different channels.
One great tip is to make sure that your headlines are tweetable. Try keeping it within the 120-130 character range if possible because this leaves so much space for people to include a short comment if they choose to manually retweet and cite you.
Sometimes looking at things too long can lock you into a perspective that is sometimes difficult to break out of. The goal is to get another person to mutually agree on a title for that content that you are publishing. This doesn't need to belong. All you need to make sure is that you have a few ideas on a list for you to discuss things together.
Titles are integral to sales. It leads the person's interest in content to allow for information to be communicated.
