REUTERS: A long list of companies have pulled advertising from Facebook Inc in support of a campaign that called out the social media giant for not doing enough to stop hate speech on its platforms.
The Stop Hate for Profit campaign was started by several US civil rights groups after the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody triggered widespread protests against racial discrimination in the United States.
Following are some of the companies that have decided to support the campaign:
Starbucks Corp
The US coffee chain said it would pause advertising on all social media platforms while it continues discussions internally, with media partners and civil rights organisations.
Unilever Plc
The consumer goods company said it will stop advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States for the rest of the year, citing “divisiveness and hate speech during this polarised election period in the US.”
Adidas AG
The German sportswear giant said it and subsidiary Reebok will pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram globally throughout July.
Walt Disney Co
The media company will slash its advertising spending on Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that the time frame for the pullback was not clear as some brands paused their ad spending for longer stretches.
Coca-Cola Co
The beverage maker will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days, Chief Executive Officer James Quincey said in a statement.
Merck & Co
The drug maker said it was stopping ads on Facebook and Instagram and was monitoring the actions Facebook takes.
Target Corp
The retailer said it was pausing all ads on Facebook and Instagram throughout July and was re-evaluating its plans for the rest of the year.
Ford Motor Co
The No 2 US automaker said it would pause advertising on all social media platforms in the United States for 30 days, adding that it would evaluate such spending in other regions as well.
HP Inc
The computer maker said it was stopping US advertising on Facebook until the platform puts more robust safeguards in place against objectionable content. It added that it was reviewing its social media strategy across all markets and platforms.
Lululemon Athletica Inc
The yogawear maker said it would pause paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Levi Strauss & Co
The denim maker said it and subsidiary Dockers would pause all ads on Facebook and Instagram, calling on the social media company to take actions to stop misinformation and hate speech.
Beiersdorf AG
The Nivea cream maker said it was pausing ads for all its brands on Facebook and Instagram throughout July.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc
Chipotle said it was temporarily pausing paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram starting Jul 1.
Diageo Plc
The world’s largest spirits maker will pause all paid advertising globally on major social media platforms from Jul 1.
Clorox Co
The bleach maker said it will stop advertising spending with Facebook through December.
Verizon Communications Inc
he telecom operator said it was pausing advertising until Facebook creates “an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable”.
The North Face
The outdoor brand, a unit of VF Corp, said it would pull out of all Facebook-owned platforms.
Ben & Jerry’s
The ice-cream maker said it would pause all paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the United States as of Jul 1
Magnolia Pictures
The film distributor and studio became the first Hollywood company to join the movement. The company said in a tweet it would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram, starting immediately, through at least the end of July.
Patagonia
The outdoor apparel brand said it would pull all ads on Facebook and Instagram through at least the end of July.
The marketing world is full of buzzwords: “omnichannel,” “integrated advertising,” “customer journey” … the list goes on and on. I believe “strategy” has become one of those buzzwords. It seems like marketers can’t take a breath without some kind of strategy — for Facebook, influencers, SEO, etc.
Here’s the thing: Strategy is important. However, it’s become a dangerous term to use because different people interpret the word in different ways — and this is a word that should not be open to interpretation. From what I’ve seen, the overuse and misuse of “strategy” has created a web of confusion, which ultimately can be bad for business.
Building a strategy doesn’t have to be an overly complicated concept. In fact, a good strategy (one that’s properly defined and understood) should serve as the foundation for concrete action. With that in mind, here are five tips that can help you move seamlessly from strategy to tactics.
1. Ensure that you have an alignment of language.
Start by making sure that everyone on your team is on the same page when it comes to terminology. Language matters — words have power. If you want your marketing team’s efforts to be unified, then you need to ensure that basic terms like “objective,” “strategy” and “tactics” are used consistently and are associated with clear definitions.
What are the differences between these terms? Let’s break them down:
• An objective is a thing aimed at or sought; in other words, a goal. It’s where you want to go.
• A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve an overall aim. It’s the plan to get you where you want to go.
• A tactic is a carefully planned action to achieve a specific end. It’s a specific action that moves you closer to your destination.
Think of it this way: On a road trip, you have a destination (your objective). You have a route to get there (your strategy). And you take specific actions along the way, like refuelling your vehicle (your tactics). Easy, right?
Unfortunately, many marketers confuse these definitions; in turn, this confusion of language leads to confusion of efforts. As Sun Tzu once said, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
2. Build contextual links between your objectives, strategy and tactics.
With a clear understanding of these terms, the key is to build contextual linkage between the three concepts, working from the top down. Everything starts with clear business objectives. Make sure that you have SMART objectives in place —goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. (And if you don’t have those SMART objectives, it’s time to crack the whip on your leadership team — this is their job, after all.)
Once you have clear objectives to aim for, you can link those objectives to workable strategies, and finally to specific tactics. So your objectives are contextually linked to your strategies, which in turn are contextually linked to your tactics. The beauty of this process is that it eliminates misaligned strategies and tactics from consideration. In other words, if it’s a great idea in a vacuum but doesn’t fit with your overall objectives, then you don’t have to explore it further.
Here’s a real-world application of these principles in the world of retail:
• Objective: Increase handbag sales to single women in London by 25%.
• Strategy: Use Facebook ads to reach the target audience.
• Tactic: Use video and carousel ads to feature close-up images of the handbags.
Everything is contextually linked together, from the high-level objective down to the specific tactic used by the retailer.
3. Use your strategy to drive the choice of tactic (instead of the other way around).
Put simply, don’t get distracted by shiny objects. There is a plethora of innovative marketing tools available today, ranging from “shoppable” posts to retargeting ads to the newest SEO techniques. However, your choice of tactics should always be determined by your strategy. Allowing your strategy to be directed by your tactics is counterproductive and ultimately self-defeating. Don’t reach for the chainsaw when you need a scalpel. Think carefully about which tool would work best for your plan of action, and then use it.
4. Proactively communicate your strategy to drive alignment within your organization.
If objective-driven marketing is the fuel that keeps your company’s engine going, then proactive communication is the oil that keeps the gears lubricated. The fact is that many marketers struggle to clearly communicate their strategy to the broader organization. However, you need to have everyone in your company (or at the very least, all the key stakeholders) on the same page if you want your strategy to succeed.
I’ve found that the best way to communicate your vision to others is to simply use the framework established above. Lead your audience from your objective to your strategy to the specific tactics you are using to accomplish that objective. By doing so, you’ll show how your efforts are contributing to overall business goals, and you’ll be able to justify your preferences for certain tactics over others.
5. Consistently update your strategy to reflect industry/market shifts.
Many marketers don’t realize (or accept) that strategy is not a static concept — it’s dynamic. Industries change; markets shift. You’ll need to consistently audit your strategy and make adjustments that reflect current realities. A strategy isn’t an end state; it’s a framework within which your company can operate, grow and adapt as needed. Think of it like a plot of land for a garden: The location stays the same, but your actions change depending on the season, the kind of plants you grow, etc.
In summary, the key to smarter marketing is alignment. Whether it’s speaking the same language, communicating with leadership, or linking objectives, strategy and tactics together in their proper context, alignment is your friend. By keeping the above tips in mind while developing a new strategy (or adjusting an existing one), you’ll be more likely to set your brand up for success.
Many of my clients who are looking for a customer relationship management system ask me: is there a specific offering that works with Gmail? To answer that question, you have to define what “works” means.
Gmail is really two things. It’s a web-based mail client (or application) that you can use from any device in a stand-alone manner. It’s also, when you subscribe to G Suite, an email server, not unlike Microsoft Exchange, where you can connect other email applications to it, including email applications that come with some CRMs.
There are three types of CRMs that work with Gmail. Some – like Zoho (which my company sells), Sugar, Insightly and GoldMine (which my company also sells) – have their own, built-in email clients that can connect to Gmail’s server to send and receive messages. Others – such as Salesforce – will just quickly integrate with Gmail right out of the box via a plug-in and then synchronize messages back and forth. And then there are a few – like Copper and Streak – that work right inside of Gmail.
In the end we all want the same thing: a simple way to send and receive messages so that all of our email communications are stored in the history for each contact and account in our CRM systems and can be shared (with permissions) with others in our group. That way when a customer or prospect reaches out the team’s got their entire email history at their fingertips.
So what’s the best option for integrating Gmail with your CRM? The first thing you need to do, in order to get the most out of your Gmail integration, without any limitations, is to subscribe to Google’s G Suite of business applications. Once you do that, there are essentially two roads you can take.
Going Inside of Gmail
If you want your CRM system to be imbedded inside of Gmail I recommend looking at either Copper or Streak. These applications “super-charge” your Gmail in-box and give you a Google experience on hyper-drive. They enable you to manage your prospects, leads, customers and pipeline right from inside of Gmail, and assuming you’re a G Suite user, your data will not only be synchronized with your Google contacts and calendar but with most of G Suite’s apps including Slides, Sheets and Meet.
Both Copper and Streak’s most popular versions come with mobile apps that will work on iPhones and Android devices and cost about $50 per month per user. They include workflows, automation and reporting. They also integrate with other popular small business applications like QuickBooks, Xero, HubSpot and MailChimp. Copper has a growing number of implementation partners that can help with your setup and training. Streak has robust capabilities for mass emails. Both applications have been around for a while (Copper, formerly known as ProsperWorks was founded in 2014 and Streak launched in 2011) and both have received mostly positive reviews for their interface and support.
When I speak to clients that use these products I generally get good feedback. However, the biggest limitations I hear is that both applications’ functionality are mostly for lead management and sales pipelines. That’s fine if you’re a small business and need a simple, yet robust sales tool inside of Gmail. But what if you need more? That brings me to the second road you can take.
Integrating With Gmail
Some companies want to use their CRM for more than just lead management or to track sales. My company integrates our CRM with our website. We do quotes. We track service issues and run relatively advanced campaigns from within our CRM, which is Zoho.
However, because Zoho comes with its own built-in email application, we use Gmail as our company’s email server, so our need is less to be inside of Gmail but to integrate with Gmail. Zoho does that well. Although it does integrate with Google’s contacts and calendar, because Zoho isn’t built into Gmail like Copper or Streak, it doesn’t integrate with as many Google applications. Also, we’re forced to use the capabilities of Zoho’s email functionality, including spam filtering, which is not as robust as Gmail’s. But on the other hand we have more features and applications available to us – like accounting, projects and campaigns – as part of Zoho’s business suite than if we were just using Copper and Streak.
As mentioned above, some CRM applications – Salesforce being the most prominent – forgo their own email application and just give their users the ability to quickly integrate with other popular email apps like Outlook and Gmail via a plugin. This way if you want to send or check your email, the application literally calls up a Gmail window and you do the work through there. All messages sent or received will be saved inside of your CRM application. If that capability isn’t available out of the box, it’s likely that you can use a connector like Zapier or Workato, to accomplish this. Google publishes a large list of CRMs and connectors that have integration capabilities on its G Suite Marketplace.
The bottom line is that just because you use Gmail doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get a CRM that’s built into Gmail. That’s nice, as long as you’re willing to work within their limitations. But most, good CRMs today will easily synchronize with Gmail and, although not perfect, the synchronization tends to work well.
Feature Image Credit: (Photo Illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Facebook is one of the two most dominant companies in an $80 billion industry that impacts hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions, in consumer spend. But a huge percentage of that revenue is now at risk, thanks to an obscure privacy move by Apple at the company’s World Wide Developer Conference in June.
The move?
Deprecating a mobile device identifier called the IDFA.
It’s a super-geeky term in a super-geeky industry: mobile advertising. But it represents a sea change in how advertisers and ad networks target ads to consumers. Good targeting leads to relevant advertising and high returns for both the advertiser and the ad network.
Poor targeting? It’s literally worth 50% less by Facebook’s own numbers.
The IDFA is the Identifier for Advertisers, and in every existing version of Apple mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads, it’s visible to ad networks and mobile advertisers. Unless consumers opt out in a little-seen out-of-the-way setting, which only about 30% of iPhone users have bothered to turn off.
Facebook uses the IDFA — and the Android equivalent from Google, GAID — to accumulate data on what billions of people do in apps. Facebook then uses that data to target app install ads (ads that are aimed at getting you to install a new app or game). Because they have so much data via the IDFA, Facebook is likely to be able to find the people who are most likely to install the app and do specific things inside it.
Like register. Or buy something. Or complete a level in a game.
Here’s how Facebook describes the technology, called App Event Optimization:
“Using AEO, you could optimize your ads for an app event such as Achieve Level, so your ads would be shown to people who were likely to download your app and also achieve a new level within the game. You could also optimize for in-app purchases using the Purchase app event in AEO.”
Rather than a global setting for all apps, buried somewhere in an iPhone’s settings, the IDFA will now be set for each app individually.
It will be set by active, required choice by consumers for each app they install, much like GDPR permissions on websites today, and people will choose whether to allow or deny permission to “track you across apps and websites owned by other companies.” Most mobile experts think this will get a 0-20% adoption rate. The high end of that range is probably generous.
The immediate result: tracking what people do in apps will become a lot harder. Probably, in fact, illegal, and likely impossible.
That’s what puts the first few billions of Facebook ad revenue at risk.
Mobile app installs is close to an $80 billion business in 2020, and estimated to hit almost $120 billion within two years. Facebook and Google own about half of the global digital ad industry in general, and are also the two most dominant players in mobile app installs, perennially featuring in the first or second place in industry charts for best performance.
Now here’s where it gets interesting.
As mobile expert Eric Seufert noted today, Facebook published a white paper just a month ago — shortly before Apple’s conference — that says personalized ads are twice as effective as non-personalized:
“We ran a test that constrained delivery to just mobile app install ads for a small portion of Audience Network Traffic, then compared personalized ranking to non-personalized ranking,” the white paper says. “We observed more than a 50% drop in publisher revenue between these two treatments, with no changes made to targeting.”
A 50% drop in return on ad spend might just mean a 50% drop in ad prices you’d be willing to pay.
Facebook generated almost $71 billion in ad revenue last year, and almost all of it was on mobile, where the IDFA and GAID can aid in ad targeting.
Less sophisticated targeting could easily mean less valuable advertising.
SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES
And the IDFA was just the first shoe to drop.
Seufert says that Google is likely to follow suit “within six months,” which would follow a trend. Apple created the IDFA to increase privacy and decrease use of hard-coded unchangeable device identifiers; Google followed suit. Apple killed the third-party cookie on the web with Intelligent Tracking Prevention; Google is following suit with Chrome.
If Google continues the trend and makes GAID opt-in in a similar way (basically designed to guide consumers to opting-out), that’s when the other shoe drops. Then Facebook’s not just out of luck on Apple mobile platforms; it also loses sophisticated tracking capability on Android as well.
That’s additional billions at risk.
Facebook has its software development kit in hundreds of thousands of apps, as I’ve mentioned before. The company could try to use that data source to aid in ad targeting. But it would be tough, because it’s not a given, standard, always-available option. And because based on what I’ve heard via those who have talked to Apple, that would violate a users’ don’t-track-me choice.
Interestingly, killing the GAID would harm Google’s advertising capabilities as well. But as the Android platform owner, Google is more likely to be able to come up with a solution that enables its own ad tracking while harming Facebook’s. Or, at minimum, harms itself less.
(At least, if it’s willing to take the antitrust heat on both sides of the Atlantic.)
This isn’t the first challenge ad networks have faced in targeting. The vast majority of ads used to be delivered with contextual targeting: getting a Wall Street Journal audience in the WSJ, for example. Only with tracking technologies like third-party cookies on the web and IDFA/GAID on mobile were ad networks able to assemble WSJ audiences off-platform, in Candy Crush or on The Enquirer, for instance.
That saved advertisers a lot of money, because ads on the WSJ are more expensive than ads in Candy Crush. But it also cost premium publishers a lot of money. And it cost consumer privacy by requiring tracking technologies.
GDPR, California’s Consumer Privacy Act, a general consumer feeling that tracking has gone too far, and now Apple’s disabling of the IDFA are likely returning us from tracking to more of a contextual model of advertising
And that threatens Facebook revenue, at least in the short term:
“Over the long term, I believe that Facebook will find a path to its current level of ad serving efficiency without needing advertising identifiers,” says Seufert. “But the content of its own white paper underscores very clearly how important personalization is for ad targeting, and IDFA deprecation damages Facebook’s ability to deliver that kind of personalization.”
About $10 billion in Facebook revenue might be at risk in the short term. If its ads lose relevance and therefore return poorly on advertisers’ investments, that $10 billion could turn into $5 billion pretty quickly.
Unless there’s no better game in town, or Facebook finds a way to make contextual targeting as powerful as tracking.
Feature Image Credit: BAREFOOT COMMUNICATIONS ON UNSPLASH
I forecast and analyze trends affecting the mobile ecosystem. I’ve been a journalist, analyst, and corporate executive, and have chronicled the rise of the mobile economy. I built the VB Insight research team at VentureBeat and managed teams creating software for partners like Intel and Disney. In addition, I’ve led technical teams, built social sites and mobile apps, and consulted on mobile, social, and IoT. In 2014, I was named to Folio’s top 100 of the media industry’s “most innovative entrepreneurs and market shaker-uppers.” I live in Vancouver, Canada with my family, where I coach baseball and hockey, though not at the same time.
Being honest and truly helpful is a surefire way to gain your prospect’s trust.
With audiences today being more digitally-savvy and more aware of marketing strategies than ever before, landing a sale is not as easy as it used to be. Potential customers know when they are being sold to and can easily detect if a brand is not honest and genuine.
This is why marketers should embrace authenticity first and foremost and avoid following any run-of-the-mill sales tactics in the hopes that something will stick. To help, these seven entrepreneurs share several unique and effective sales strategies and explain why they have proven to be so successful.
Focus on building trust.
“Build trust,” Peak Support founder and CEO Jonathan Steiman advises. Trust is essential in a sale and one way of achieving that is by showing prospective customers that your company truly understands their business challenges and is more than willing to help.
“Even small clients will meet either with me or the COO as part of the sales process, so they know us, know we’re experts and know we’re accessible,” Steiman explains. “And we introduce them to other key members of our team, all of whom are incredibly experienced experts. We show that we’ll be a great long-term partner.”
Be brutally honest.
A great way of building trust is by being brutally honest with your customers, according to Andrew Schrage, co-owner of Money Crashers Personal Finance. While it may seem off-putting, this kind of honesty is more likely to convince prospects that you are genuinely interested in helping them and aren’t in it only for the paycheck.
“Maybe you invite them to check out the competition before buying from you. Or you might point out a minor yet negative aspect of a product or service so they know exactly what they’re getting if they decide to buy,” Schrage recommends.
Strengthen your intro.
“You have to ask great questions at the start of any sales conversation,” Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc. founder and CEO Nicole Munoz advises, explaining that the right questions can lead to valuable answers showcasing the prospect’s challenges and goals.
“Often the best results to an authentic sales experience are going to occur because the sales agent listens very, very carefully to what the person is saying so they can ultimately sell them the service that they need,” Munoz explains.
Tell a story.
In addition to asking great questions, sales reps should be prepared to tell a good story to draw in their prospects, WPForms co-founder Jared Atchison believes: “People are drawn to stories of hardship and success because it proves to them that their own possibilities are endless.”
According to Atchison, using storytelling to introduce the company’s products and services and how they can help customers is a highly effective sales strategy. “This adds an emotional element because you’re sharing something personal while slipping in sales tactics, which makes them more effective.”
Have helpful content ready.
While not exactly a sales tactic, a good way to make sure your prospect is informed about all your products and services is to have helpful content ready that answers all of their questions, says Kelsey Raymond, co-founder and president of Influence & Co. This also gives sales reps a good opportunity to follow up with their leads.
“Sometimes you don’t have time on the call to go as in depth as you’d like with every answer, so create a few blog posts that answer the most common questions and follow up the sales call by sending an email with the content that allows the prospective client to dig deeper,” Raymond advises.
Limit the options.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, companies should limit the number of available options and solutions for prospects. According to OptinMonster co-founder and president Thomas Griffin, choice can be overwhelming, especially at the start of the relationship.
“As you research prospects, figure out which of your products would be best for them, then only present those in your conversations,” Griffin suggests. “You can sell them the other products later.”
Don’t sell past the close.
“Selling past the close means continuing to talk after your client has agreed to the next step or the sale itself,” says Eric Mathews, founder and CEO of Start Co., explaining that not knowing when to stop your pitch may have the opposite effect on your prospect.
“Basically, you’ve hit your high note for that meeting, but then you fail to wrap up quickly and leave. Instead you start taking more time from your client and speak to things that may or may not be relevant, which introduces doubt and even negative emotions toward you,” Mathews adds. “That kills sales.”
I landed my first sales job in 2001. At that time, I spent the workday in my car, calling on both existing clients and prospects. I was taught to seek out new clients and I wasn’t particular about what businesses I approached. My “sales kit” included piles of marketing collateral espousing the benefits of my product over those of my competitors. I managed to get in front of a lot of people, but they weren’t necessarily the decision makers. At that time, quantity of calls was my goal and I wasn’t often considering targeted calls to ensure the prospect needed my solution. I imagine my hit rate was in the neighbourhood of 25 percent. I was young, energetic, driven—and spinning my wheels.
Technology hasn’t just changed the sales process for the sales rep, it has changed the process for the buyer. And to be successful now, sales reps need to let go of the outdated sales tactics and embrace a new process—led by the buyer. Buyers now have access to a wealth of information via the internet and they’re researching solutions rather than relying on sitting through sales pitches.
The number one problem shared among entrepreneurs today is finding, vetting, hiring, and retaining expertise.
Begin by reframing your view of the sales process. Smart business development professionals are using inbound marketing to attract new clients with rich, targeted content and data. Identifying your ideal customer and delivering engaging content are key. Well-timed information is compelling for buyers in need of solutions and you want to be the one who provides it.
Roughly two-thirds of marketers report content marketing is effective for their business. Where do you begin?
Take a look at your website.
Do you have case studies on your website? Start small and write a piece about a successful client experience. Include words from your client and specific examples of problems your team has solved. Do this well and prospective clients can identify similar opportunities to use your services within their organizations.
Be smart about enhancements and placing content on your website. If you’re not well-versed in website design, this might be a good time to bring in some support. Look at this as an opportunity to create your best impression. Whether your site only needs a little polish, or you have to start over, this is your time to craft your ideal appearance.
Your blog probably needs work, too.
Do you even have a blog? When was the last time you updated it? Are you blogging about relevant topics?
There are many benefits to blogging. Perhaps the most crucial benefit is the opportunity to not only attract new clients but to further engage (read, “repeat buyers”) existing clients. Your blog keeps your company in front of an existing audience, giving you the opportunity to tout new products and services, success stories and business enhancements.
Invest some time in developing a blog schedule and determine your topics ahead of time. Leave room for some lighter content to give readers a peek into your organization’s culture. Elevate a partner business with a post about how your teams collaborate. Create a space where your teammates can write about what’s special about what they do for the organization—it might be a welcome creative outlet for them.
Make yourself follow a routine of publishing posts and it will get easier as you do it more often.
Retool your social media channels.
Are you posting relevant content on each channel or are you in the habit of using the same content no matter the platform? For example, what works on Instagram needs massaging to work on LinkedIn. Take the time to think about your audiences and make content decisions that make sense. It may make sense to choose only one channel for a post, but in doing so, you’re embracing quality over quantity and refining your important message.
Provide resources online.
Again, we’re moving away from traditional sales tactics. Give your audience resources with little to no commitment. You’re not giving away all your expertise for free—you are giving your audience an idea of what they can expect when they work with your team.
Establish yourself as an expert in your field with white papers your visitors can download by simply signing up for your newsletter, and make sure you follow up with a scheduled newsletter.
Collaborate with an expert in a parallel industry and invite your online network to a webinar where you discuss current trends in your markets. Bonus: You get access to the other expert’s network in addition to your own.
Video is another fantastic tool for attracting and keeping customers. You don’t need to be an expert to create videos, but you will need to formulate a list of relevant topics and scripts.
When in doubt, reach out.
You may decide to hire an expert to get started. There are many agencies focusing solely on inbound marketing and working with them can get you set up and keep you moving forward if you employ them to maintain your strategy.
You can also tap your existing network and best clients for insight. What do they look for when researching solutions online? What social media channels do they use regularly? Do they use inbound marketing and has it been successful?
Heraclitus said, “change is the only constant in life.” As you grow in your marketing or sales career, you have to be nimble to succeed. Take the time to research inbound marketing trends and be open to adjusting your role in the journey.
There’s no easy fix to improve your Google search ranking, but you can use these tips to start making improvements.
Your Google search ranking impacts your visibility to your audience and how much engagement you receive. The higher you rank, the higher your chances are of being seen by consumers.
In the modern world of online advertising, however, many brands forgo an organic search strategy in favour of paid ads. But money alone can’t improve your website’s search rank.
These seven tips — along with time, planning and dedication — can help you improve your Google search ranking:
Conduct an audit
The first step to improving your ranking is to conduct an audit and learn about your site’s usage. Use a keyword rank checker to assess your rank on Google. Knowing where you rank allows you and your team to set realistic goals for how to increase your search results. Check your website analytics as well to gauge your audience and their patterns and evaluate where you’d like to improve.
Google’s algorithm is constantly changing, which could also affect your site’s ranking. Poor website structure and information architecture can cause your website to get lost in search results. It also makes it difficult for users to find and use your site. Perform an SEO audit to make sure your site is functioning on every level. Evaluate your site crawl, domain names, KPI, duplicate content and metadata to gain insight on page errors, on-site factors and more to act as a blueprint for your audit.
With mask-wearing compulsory in some parts of Victoria, Roger Hogan suggests that marketers, and governments, should create branded face masks. It would help brands, but it might also just encourage the public to widely wear them.
On the weekend, the Victorian government made face masks compulsory in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire. As the pandemic develops, the same could happen in other states, perhaps across the whole country. But before other governments rush to follow Victoria’s example, it should consider an alternative, or at least complementary, strategy: branded face masks.
If the goal is to protect our health with as little cost as possible to our civil liberties, harnessing the power of marketing, business competition, and consumer choice is likely to be a better option than compulsion.
Even if we take civil liberties out of the equation, there are still reasons to think that a private-sector solution – branded face masks sold by retailers and given away as promotional items – would be more effective and efficient in the medium and long terms. It would certainly be more colourful.
Imagine a street full (to the extent permissible under lockdowns and other restrictions) of faces half-obscured by anonymous strips of fabric. The word ‘dystopia’ comes to mind.
Now picture that same street, where those strips of fabric advertise footy teams, rock bands, celebrities, super heroes… whatever expresses the passions, interests and humanity of the people behind the masks.
I know which one I’d rather walk down, and I suspect most people would feel the same. But creating a private-sector solution for a national public health emergency would require high-level collaboration between Australia’s governments and the marketing industry.
Compulsion has a short shelf life
Clearly, compulsion is necessary right now in Melbourne and Mitchell, and the Andrews government has understandably extended the state of emergency to 16 August. It’s likely, however, that the requirement to wear masks will last well beyond that date.
That’s relevant, because there are reasons to think that a compulsory mask-wearing regime will become less effective and efficient the longer it stays in place.
The most obvious measure of effectiveness would be the compliance rate—and this is where, in my view, the compulsion model becomes risky for governments. Public trust in governments and other institutions had sunk to an all-time low before the COVID-19 outbreak, and the public’s patience has been stretched further by virus-related lockdowns and other restrictions.
It would take only a few incidents of mule-headed refusal to wear a mask and one or two arrests to darken the public mood further, with potentially adverse consequences at the ballot box.
And how efficient is it, from a taxpayer’s point of view, to spend money on enforced mask-wearing when so much is being spent, and so much debt incurred, on measures already in place?
While compulsion might be necessary, and even desirable, in the short term, a private-sector solution could prove effective and efficient over longer periods.
A branded solution
It’s true that most Australians have not become regular mask-wearers since the pandemic began.
As ABC Melbourne Radio noted recently, this is partly for cultural reasons and partly because of mixed messages in the pandemic’s early stages about whether or not masks were proof against COVID-19.
Messaging should no longer be an issue, as informed consensus now favours wearing masks.
Better still, from a marketer’s point of view, designer masks have begun to pique consumer interest, suggesting there is scope to leverage that interest into sales of masks that carry popular brands. On that basis alone, branded face masks – compared to the compulsion model – would be pushing at an open door. There might (might) be a longer-term pay-off if branded face masks prove so popular that people wear them during normal flu season, once the pandemic has run its course. That would be a major behavioural, even cultural, change for Australians.
There would also be a much lower, perhaps very low, cost to government (i.e. the taxpayer) if the private sector, driven by the prospect of profit, finances the initiative.
Harnessing the profit motive to a national public health outcome would require top-level collaboration between governments and the industry. Perhaps a Zoom call between the federal government and, say, the Australian Marketing Institute would be a start.
Scott Morrison, you’re a marketing man—how about it? And all you marketers out there: You and your brand-owning clients could make some money. You’d certainly be doing a lot of public good.
Business relationships are defined in the first 90 seconds. Here’s how to make every second count.
Whether interviewing for a job, meeting a client, or participating in a group event, we often overlook the value of first impressions. Instead of being thoughtful and pragmatic, a lot of people rush their introductions, ignore their physical cues, and gloss over personal details out of nerves or inexperience.
The truth is, we only have one chance for a first impression. And successful people understand just how important this opportunity is.
According to Alexander Todorov, a professor of psychology at Princeton, people trust their first impression and hold onto it for a long time: “Once we have a representation formed, it’s used as a filter. Think someone’s trustworthy right off the bat? You might tell them more. And if you write them off as a negative person, you might complain about them to coworkers.”
With that said, here are a few ways to make sure you leave a lasting first impression and are perceived by others as a positive individual.
Make Eye Contact
When you enter a room or meet someone for the first time, try and make it your goal to remember eye color. It will help you stay engaged and present in the moment. A lot of younger working professionals have a tendency to avoid eye contact after a few seconds, which displays a sense of insecurity and immaturity.
Usually, eye contact is the very first impression you will make when being introduced. It’s an opportunity to establish yourself as a friendly, interested personality.
Project Confident Body Language
Do you sit up straight in a chair or slouch down and gaze into the distance? Do you look to grab a seat at the table or disappear into the back of the room?
These basic somatics offer insight into who you are and how you act in a professional setting. Whether you realize it or not, physical presence helps people make snap judgments about your personality. It could be the difference between someone thinking you are curious and enthusiastic or bored and out of place.
Focus On Your Role, Not Your Title And Tenure
The classic introduction line is, “Hello, I’m Jonah and I work on the marketing team. I have been in this role for a few months and am really excited to work with you.”
How many times have you heard some variation of that line? And guess what, everyone else has heard it or said it before too. Instead, try something along the lines of, “Hello, I’m Jonah and I work on developing the content strategy for our agency and our clients. I am a member of our marketing team.”
It’s a simple shift that still gives your audience an understanding of your title, but provides a little more depth on how you can contribute. It’s also important to remember that your tenure with an organization only matters if it positions you better. I have been with my current company for a few months, so bringing it up to new clients establishes me as green and potentially inexperienced.
Share Relevant Personal And Professional Information
Most people want to know a little more than your name and your role. When speaking for the first time to someone new, you have a chance to really grab their attention. You can add a quick background to your introduction that is relevant or try to find common ground with the person you are speaking too. While I currently live in Washington D.C., I like to bring up that I am from Chicago. This little piece of personal information either sparks further questions or connects me with someone who happens to be from the Midwest.
It doesn’t have to be anything overly revealing- just be creative and attentive as to what may resonate with the person you are speaking to.
Be Authentic
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received was from Sean Conlon, real estate mogul & host of CNBC’s primetime show, ‘The Deed’. In an interview, Sean told said, “Love me or hate me, you’ll remember me”. With Sean, who started his career in the U.S. as a poor Irish immigrant, first impressions meant everything. His philosophy in life is “what you see is what you get”, which speaks volumes to the personality trait that drives his success.
People can usually pick up on inauthenticity, and saying something or agreeing with someone for the sake of it could backfire. In order to make a good first impression that lasts, it’s important to be yourself.
Don’t Forget To Smile
As Ann Demarais, founder of First Impressions, a New York-based coaching and consulting company told Time Magainze, “We sort of scan the world for threats, and facial expressions are really primarily processed. On a very deep level, if someone is frowning or looks threatening, we register that as ‘Watch out.’”
Smiling is an invitation for mutual warmth and appreciation. Not only will it make you seem more approachable, but it eases the tension for everyone else while painting you in a positive light.
Final Thoughts
Introducing yourself is at the core of networking and business relationships. Being able to professionally handle these little interactions with poise and confidence will put you a tier ahead of everyone else.
In the first 90 seconds, most people will make a quick judgment about you. Take advantage of the opportunity and establish yourself as a confident, creative, collaborative team player, or leader. It’s the best way to position yourself for a successful future.
These AI platforms are unleashing the power of social commerce by providing around-the-clock support.
Companies in most industries are struggling. According to LinkedIn’s June 2020 U.S. Recovery Tracker, key factors in the labour market haven’t improved, such as hiring rate, job postings and employer confidence. It’s important for businesses to find opportunities that maintain or grow revenue, as well as operate cost-efficiently given the new normal in U.S. consumer and B2B demand.
However, there are long-term trends that are too disruptive to ignore. A seismic change in consumer behaviour is the growing use of messaging apps for more than sending and receiving texts. Ecommerce and social messaging apps are enabling internet shoppers to send payments, book reservations, watch multimedia and purchase items, among many features. Chatbots are unleashing the power of social and ecommerce by providing customer support 24/7, year-round.
There are a number of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted conversational bots that can help give your enterprise a competitive edge in acquiring sales, automating customer support and saving money. Here are three I personally recommend.
Founded in 2016, veteran strategists at San Diego, California-based School of Bots help marketers and companies acquire sales, automate operations and provide 24/7 customer engagement, largely through chatbots deployed on Facebook Messenger and SMS, with training available for other big messaging platforms. School of Bots’s experts teach proven strategies on platforms with whom they have close partnerships and create custom chatbot marketing systems for startups and consultants alike. An example of such a tailor-made bot might accompany a prospect down the sales funnel and nudge him or her into an eventual transaction.
“This year, more people are using messaging apps than social media platforms, according to eMarketer, and that could indicate a major shift in consumer behavior,” says Kyle Willis, CEO of School of Bots. E-HUB, the company’s chatbot training platform, gives members access to checklists, instructional videos, standard operating procedures and hands-on mentorship. After undergoing training, members are accredited to offer consulting and agency services. Moreover, the platform enables participants to earn certifications, hire qualified bot builders or get hired and connect with fellow members in a virtual coworking space.
School of Bots works with tools such as ManyChat, which provides reach through Facebook and, explains School of Bots cofounder Natasha Takahashi, “has superior capabilities for automation and tracking that allow us to produce maximum ROI.”
Bots can be a partial solution for businesses that have laid off customer-support staff during the recession. Automated bots prevent consumers from visiting competing sites, and therefore help to capture sales opportunities. Moreover, they streamline operations and boost productivity. They can be programmed to answer frequently asked questions, book a meeting with a sales rep, troubleshoot problems and move online shoppers towards checkout.
Drift positions itself as a “conversational marketing platform” to emphasize the revenue-generating features of its bots. The company is a well-known solutions provider that installs chatbots that are able to qualify leads 24/7/365. Drift’s bots are used by large brands such as GrubHub, GitHub, Marketo and Ellie Mae. The tech is also geared more towards B2B sales and enterprise use cases. Drift’s conversational AI can tell when a user is making a statement (instead of asking a question) so that it can recommend certain products and display pricing. Other features include automatically booking meetings, as well as routing conversations to a sales team.
According to a Drift survey published on Salesforce.com, people use bots for these top reasons: 32 percent get an answer to a question; 29 percent get a detailed explanation; 27 percent resolve a problem; and 27 percent receive customer service. Bots give businesses a competitive advantage given today’s consumer preference for interacting with messaging apps. Moreover, a big chunk of mobile users want immediate answers to queries. This automated ability to give real-time engagement ups the ante for every B2B and B2C business.
According to a 2018 Accenture survey, 56 percent of executives say conversational bots are disrupting their sector, and 57 percent say the technology can deliver large returns on investment with minimal effort. AI and machine learning are the most revolutionary innovations of our lifetime, and a bad recession won’t stop the adoption of automated conversational interfaces. These platforms are growing more sophisticated. For example, AI is becoming better at natural language processing (NLP), which enables the tech to have conversational dialogue with humans.
Intercom has been around for nearly a decade and deploys custom bots that engage prospects, route conversations and reduce the need for web forms and emails. The company offers clients a proprietary Business Messenger app that provides automated real-time answers. This messaging software enables Intercom to differentiate itself in the bot marketplace. Mostly B2B users receive data they need to make timely business decisions. That includes dashboard info such as order status, invoice data and educational articles within the messaging app. In a 2018 Bloomberg interview, CEO Eoghan McCabe noted that emails are increasingly ineffective, and that more business professionals and consumers are turning to messaging apps for real-time business communication.
Intercom builds chatbot solutions to help enterprises make purchase decisions, such as by personalizing buying experiences and giving product tours. Access to certain features depends on your monthly subscription. A basic plan includes live chat and outbound messaging while an advanced plan is geared more towards B2B lead generation, automated workflows and reporting tools.
Chatbots are great sales tools that are seeing more use in B2B and B2C, and they provide a competitive edge by enabling companies to offer 24/7 customer support. Because bots are growing in sophistication, they can be programmed to book reservations, set up meetings and other functions without human involvement. They can also be implemented cost-efficiently compared to hiring human personnel. So with all businesses tightening their wallets, now is the time to consider automating the customer experience where you can.
Feature Image Credit: Natali_Mis | Getty Images
By Tom Popomaronis
ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP NETWORK VIP. Executive Vice President of Innovation at Massive Alliance
