6 Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2022 Posted on November 3, 2021November 1, 2021 by Jess Lunk Are you looking ahead and strategizing your marketing plans for 2022? Marketing trends are ever-changing, and the Covid-19 pandemic has thrust the world into a virtual atmosphere. Businesses and consumers alike have learned that you do not need to attend live marketing events at overcrowded expo centers to connect, hold in-person meetings to close deals and earn consumer confidence, or even snail-mail out your marketing tools and information. If you feel like you are lost at sea with all of the new and ever-changing ways to get your brand noticed and gain consumer loyalty, you are not alone. We have compiled six of the most important trends your company should be paying attention to when creating marketing campaigns during the upcoming year. Read on to learn more. 1. Consumer Privacy Protections Will Hold the Spotlight For businesses who target their advertising to consumers based on the little bits of data collected by 3rd party cookies, the cookie jar will soon be empty. As consumers have become more vocal about their demands for privacy protections, Google announced that they will no longer support cookie tracking as of early 2023. This is great news for consumers who wish to keep their internet searches private, but it is bad news to marketing professionals who target paid advertisements based on consumers’ previous internet searches. As an alternative, your business should consider using zero-party data instead, which is data collected by consumers on a voluntary basis. Zero-party data can be collected by asking customers to do activities like fill out surveys or install a plugin on their computer that collects search data in exchange for a gift. Another recent development for the sake of consumer privacy is Apple’s iOS 15 update. If you’ve been keeping up with this, then chances are you’re already prepared and have made a few changes to your email marketing KPIs. However, if you haven’t quite figured out how you’ll track the success of your email marketing, given that email opens are no longer a reliable metric, it won’t hurt to give your email list a good scrubbing. 2. Trusted Brands Will Thrive Brand loyalty is huge because it helps you retain customers, which is an essential component of a growing, thriving business. Consumers are exposed to over 10,000 ads per day, on average, which is daunting, to say the least. We live in the information age where all consumers have to do is a simple Google search, and they’re bombarded with potential solutions to their problems. It’s hard for brands to stick out, but the ones that last are the ones that take connecting with their audience seriously and focus on building trust right out of the gate. But, building trust takes time; it doesn’t happen overnight. So yes, getting in front of your audience is important, but finding a way to lead them back to your site where they can sign up for consistent communication from you is even more important. It’s the best way for you to reach your audience directly and begin building that trust with them. How do you do it? Make sure you use a marketing automation solution that enables you to generate and track leads on your website, create email lists, and send engaging email nurture. Fill that nurture with high-quality, educational content that addresses your audience’s pain points, and they’ll begin to consider you a trusted, reliable resource they can’t live without. 3. Short Videos Will Be King Making its debut in 2020, TikTok is a short video social media platform that has revolutionized how people communicate, share information, and receive daily doses of entertainment. Since its debut, it has racked up a huge following of over one billion users (and counting!). If your company is not already on TikTok, you are officially late to the party. TikTok isn’t necessarily for every brand. However, it isn’t a bad idea to consider adding it to your 2022 marketing plan. There are plenty of ways you can use TikTok for business; you just have to get creative. Create demos of your software using TikTok’s bank of audio samples and songs. Or, use TikTok to introduce people to the team behind the brand so they can see the real people steering the ship. Whatever you do, just make sure you have a strategy and include it in your social media calendar for consistency. TikTok isn’t the only outlet for you to create short-form videos. You can also take to YouTube or Instagram to create engaging video content for your audience. You can even add these videos to your digital ads and blog posts to get the most out of them. 4. Consumers Will Want More Digestible Marketing Content Looking ahead to 2022, your marketing team’s focus should be on creating attractive content that is easy to read and easy to digest. As previously stated, consumers are bombarded with thousands of ads, emails, and newsletters each day, and most go unnoticed due to information overload. Instead of focusing on the quantity of content, focus more on the quality of each piece so that you capture your audience’s attention and entice them to read on and learn more. Make sure your written content is broken up with subheadings and lists. Create infographics so readers can easily pull the most important nuggets, and make sure they have enough visual components and don’t rely too heavily on written words. You want to make sure that if people need to quickly scan your content, they can and still leave learning something valuable. 5. Online Events Will Add Substance to Your Marketing and Sales Strategy Online events have been on the rise for the last few years but have really gained traction since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. These virtual events benefit both the business and the consumer and are likely to become the way of the future. Businesses save time and money as you do not need to have employees physically present to run the event, rent event space, or produce tangible marketing materials. Consumers benefit because they can relax at home while attending the event via Zoom or another video conferencing platform. If you’ve ever hosted a webinar, then you know how great these events can be at generating leads. However, they’re also great for building the trust we mention in point two. By putting a real person front and center to represent your company, you’re humanizing your brand and providing real-time connection and support. That can go a long way, especially in a time when one-on-one interactions aren’t as prominent. Knowing video content is increasingly popular, smart businesses plan out their online events and webinars to become their lead generation marketing assets of the future. By creating evergreen webinars, the content is reusable as lead magnets and by chunking longer videos and presentations into smaller bits for social, the create-once-use-often will amplify the result you will get from your marketing efforts. 6. SEO Will Continue to Drive Sales Since content is literally everywhere, it makes it hard for brands to be seen. The digital ocean is huge, and if you want your audience to cast their reel and hook what you’re putting out, then you need to continue to prioritize your SEO strategy. Having SEO success today goes beyond using keywords in your content and having a backlinking plan in place. Google loves throwing us curveballs, and one of their more recent ones is Core Web Vitals. Core Web Vitals are essentially UX metrics applied to your website that Google takes into consideration in their search ranking signals. So, if you want your SEO strategy to stay on-point, then you need to be taking your site’s UX into consideration. At BenchmarkONE, we strive to make your business run as smoothly as possible, no matter what is going on in your industry and which trends are disrupting it. We have developed a robust set of easy-to-use CRM and marketing tools, so you never have to lose a beat. If you’re interested in checking us out, take a quick tour of our software and sign up for our free plan.
How to Get High-Quality Insights to Enhance Your Blog Content Posted on October 28, 2021October 22, 2021 by Natalie Slyman Want to make your blog content richer, build more internal links, expand your reach, and attract more views? You can achieve all of this and more by gathering key insights from industry experts and thought leaders to include in your blog posts. No matter what you’re writing about, gathering information, statistics, and opinions from experts can make your blog posts much more engaging for readers. Influential experts can also promote your posts and help expand your audience, so you get the most out of every blog post you create. Fortunately, it’s also simple to start gathering insights. Here’s a guide on how to get high-quality insights to enhance your blog content. Why Your Blog Posts Need Expert Insights Imagine that you’re writing a blog post about the best equipment to use in the kitchen. While it might make a list of excellent points and list some attractive products, readers are less likely to be impressed if it’s seen as merely the opinion of a single blogger. Now imagine that you write a similar post that includes opinions from top chefs from around the world. All of a sudden, the information provided would appear more valuable and legitimate since it’s coming from experienced experts. In addition to that, the experts that contributed to the blog post are also likely to promote it via social media. That means that the blog would gain a significant boost in viewership, resulting in an uptick in customer conversions and sales for your business. While you might not get Gordon Ramsay to comment on your article, many experienced chefs and restaurateurs would be happy to give their input. Not to mention the thousands of cooking influencers on YouTube, Instagram, and other social media channels who would give you their thoughts and insights in exchange for promotion. How Much Can Adding Insights Improve Your Blog Posts? While it’s easy to say that adding expert insights to your blog articles will make them more interesting and engaging for readers, it’s not simply anecdotal. Statistics also prove the value of gathering insights for your blog posts. The 2020 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study by Edelman and LinkedIn found that 88% of B2B decision-makers asserted that strong thought leadership content significantly improves a company’s reputation and leads to higher sales. The promotional benefits are also significant. A survey from Twitter showed that 49% of respondents relied on product recommendations from influencers, and 40% purchased something after seeing it promoted by a trusted influencer on Twitter. That means that even getting a popular influencer or blogger to contribute to and promote your blog content can swiftly boost your customer acquisition. Over time, you’ll build strategic partnerships with these people, resulting in further success for your brand and theirs. How to Get High-Quality Insights to Enhance Your Blog Content Various strategies can help you gather high-quality insights from thought leaders for your blog posts. Some methods work better than others, and you might even want to try multiple strategies. One approach is to simply link to existing statistics and opinions from thought leaders. With that said, this is less original, and you’ll be missing out on the promotion you’d get by building partnerships. Contacting industry experts and influencers via email or social media is another great approach. Many would be happy to offer their insight in exchange for a link to their website, blog, or social media pages. You could also send out requests via LinkedIn and Facebook groups, especially in groups related to your industry. The drawback of reaching out to experts yourself is that it can sometimes take time to get a response, and you might not get a wide range of responses. Fortunately, you can use your website and email marketing to gather a wide range of responses. Gathering High-Quality Insights Automatically Creating a page on your website for experts to contribute insights is the best way to enrich your blog content with input from thought leaders. The process is simple. All you have to do is provide the title of your upcoming article and a basic summary of what the article is about. You can then link to a Google Form allowing industry experts to offer their thoughts and opinions. You can even ask for responses via an email newsletter and encourage people to sign up for alerts when new topics are posted. After networking and building a list of industry experts, you can send out requests for the insights you need and get a wide range of responses. As a result, you’ll enrich all of your blog articles with valuable insights from thought leaders. You’ll also build valuable new partnerships and expand your reach as these experts can share your completed articles with their followers. Adding high-quality insights to your blog content will strengthen your brand reputation, your content strategy and help you gain more customers. Additionally, building partnerships with influential thought leaders can help you reach a wider audience, potentially leading to new customers and more revenue.
6 Tools K12 Communicators Should Be Using Posted on October 27, 2021October 27, 2021 by Jess Lunk As a K12 communicator, it’s your job to not only support students, parents, and donors but to support teachers as well. By keeping necessary parties informed of school activities, back-to-school protocols, events, and important news, you’re taking some of the heavy lifting off of your teacher’s plates. But the harsh reality is that your job requires multitasking, and K12 school budgets don’t always have extra resources to allocate towards extra staff and support. I’m sure you’ve found yourself filling the shoes of a graphic designer, writer, editor, and social media strategist (just to name a few). Learning new skills while trying to accomplish your K12 email marketing strategy and manage your school contact list can be pretty daunting. Thankfully the internet has many free and low-cost tools that can help K12 communicators accomplish everything necessary to meet the needs of students, parents, donors, and school staff. Here are a few of our favorites that we recommend looking into: 1. BenchmarkONE K12 Edition BenchmarkONE K12 edition is an email newsletter tool that can help K12 communicators craft a professional-looking email instantly. BenchmarkONE can also be used to grow and manage your contact list so you can increase engagement and meet those oh-so-important fundraising goals. The platform gives you the ability to segment your email lists so you can personalize your message according to your audience, ensuring each message you send meets the specific needs of those it’s going to. Oh, and it’s great for assisting you when you’re pressed for time (which, let’s face it, is always). You can use its K12 marketing automation features to send out emails at optimal times while you’re busy getting other things done. What’s not to love? 2. Grammarly Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant. You can download Grammarly as a browser plug-in and use it for all types of communication: email, messages, documents, projects, or social media. Grammarly will edit your copy and suggest corrections, so your grammar is impeccable each time you communicate with your audience. This tool is wonderful for people who don’t have a personal editor at hand but produce lots of writing that gets seen by large groups of people. You could always use spell check, but Grammarly takes editing one step further by offering sentence rephrasing, so your communication always comes off clear and perfect. 3. Canva Canva is a graphic design platform that you can use to create custom graphics using templates for all types of educational communication purposes: social media, presentations, posters, documents, blog banner images, and more. Canva offers a free subscription to educators that give you access to premium features and tools for collaboration. It also gives you the ability to schedule social media posts in advance and post directly from Canva to your preferred social platform. Canva is a great tool for designing quality images materials without needing a degree in graphic design. You’d be amazed at how wonderful your creations can look, and you’ll have a ton of fun playing around with the possibilities. 4. Questica If you’re still relying on spreadsheets to track your yearly K12 budget, it’s time to move to a more advanced solution. Questica comes with a ton of features that will not only make your life easier but allow your K12 institution to thrive. Their Advanced Calculation Engine gives school districts the power to create complex revenue models, make detailed projections, and break down activity-based costs. With Questica, you won’t have to spend tons of time compiling data, either. Their Report Center breaks down actionable insights so you can spend your time analyzing the data and making better, more informed decisions regarding your budget. 5. School Comms Lab One thing K12 school communicators could use is more resources. After all, that’s why we wrote this blog post. But what’s even better than resources is a resources hub, likeSchool Comms Lab. A membership offers you tons of social media templates, vision board templates, marketing material templates, public relation courses, and design tips that will help keep your branding and messaging fun and engaging. 6. Buffer Social media can be a great place to communicate with students, parents, and school staff. Not to mention, social media is a great way to encourage school advocacy and create engagement among the community. Buffer’s social media publishing tool can help you maintain consistency in your social presence so you can reach your intended audience. The platform gives you the ability to schedule posts in advance on various social media channels. Publishing features aside; Buffer gives you access to data analytic reports so you can track how your social posts are performing, which see the most engagement, and compare month over month. K12 communicators need to be able to get as much done as possible, all while keeping faculty, parents, and other interested parties informed. It’s crucial nothing gets overlooked or neglected, which is why having a robust toolkit is essential. Make sure you check out the six recommended tools above so you can get more done and meet your goals.
6 Customer Service Metrics That Actually Matter Posted on October 21, 2021August 5, 2022 by Erin Posey When it comes to measuring your success with clients, there are a ton of metrics you can use to obtain valuable information on how to better serve them and keep them loyal to your brand. Instead of getting bogged down with an overwhelming whirlwind of statistics and information, consider staying hyper-focused on the metrics that matter most to your company. Here are six customer service metrics you should actually pay attention to and use to gauge real success with your customers. 1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) In a nutshell, customer lifetime value or CLV is a metric that measures the amount of money a customer is projected to spend over the duration of their relationship with your company. This metric analyzes historical purchase information to determine how much revenue you can expect in the future. CLV is one of the most important measurements of success when it comes to the relationship with a customer, as it demonstrates that the services and products you offer are of real value to your customer base. If your company is on target with your customer’s needs, their individual CLV should raise over time. If CLV measurements begin to decline, this means that your company is missing the mark with customers, and it is time to reevaluate your offerings to entice them to come back. 2. Customer Churn Customer churn is the percentage of customers your company loses during a sales quarter. It’s important that your sales team focuses much of their time and energy on keeping this percentage as low as possible. When your customer churn percentages rise, it is time to come up with strategies and incentives to maintain customer loyalty. Determine the reason why your customers opt to stop subscribing for products and services or stop buying from you in an effort to keep them around longer. Just like with employee turnover, customer churn is much more expensive than retaining the customers you already have. Offering special sales and promotions is a low-cost way to provide incentives to your customers so that they stay loyal to your brand. 3. Net Promoter Score (NPS) A Net Promoter Score or NPS is a measure of whether a customer is likely to recommend a business’s products or services to someone else within their own social or professional network. Of all the metrics used to measure the success of a business, this one is probably the most straightforward and easy to analyze. Data used to generate a Net Promoter Score is obtained by reaching out to the customer directly to have them rate your products and services. After a customer purchases a product or service from you, send them a request for feedback and ask them to rate the product or service on a scale from one to ten. The feedback request should also prompt them to write a brief explanation as to why they gave the rating they did. This information can then be pooled from all responses to obtain your company’s total Net Promoter Score. 4. Happiness Scores/Surveys Following up with customers in the form of a customer satisfaction survey is an excellent way to gauge how happy your customer is with an interaction they completed with your company and to analyze whether or not you can expect them to do business with you again in the future. Information from happiness scores/surveys also helps your marketing team analyze the customer lifetime value or CLV and can provide insight on what you need to do to make the customer experience better. Also known as a CSAT Score, the information gleaned from following up with customers after a transaction or service allows you to determine how well your customer service representatives are fulfilling the needs of customers and how they are representing your brand. 5. Revenue Churn Simply put, revenue churn is the amount of revenue lost during a sales period, whether it be analyzed quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. Sustained revenue churn causes companies to go out of business, so it is imperative to identify where losses are occurring and why. Revenue churn is caused by canceled subscriptions, canceled contracts, and loss of sales on specific products. 6. Renewals Whether you are in the business of selling SaaS, physical product subscriptions, newspaper subscriptions, or any other recurring service, renewals are an important metric for measuring the future success of your business. Depending on what you are selling, your customer’s average subscription renewal rate can last anywhere from three months to 30 months. Determine the average renewal rate percentages for each of your product or service subscriptions and strategize ways to keep your customers around longer. Identifying the best ways to measure your overall customer satisfaction will provide you with the right insight to gauge success. And, using tools like marketing automation paired with an all-in-one CRM will allow you to set up reminders and schedule outreach so you can keep your customers happy, engaged, and coming back for more. Take a quick tour of our software to see if it might be a fit, and sign up for our free plan today!
6 Things You Can Do to Better Support Agency Clients Right Now Posted on October 20, 2021August 25, 2022 by Katie Culp Despite all our best hopes for 2021, the pandemic isn’t over, and we’re not sure when it will end. Many businesses have made enormous adjustments over the past 18 months, working hard to equip their employees with the support and technology they need to work remotely, but plenty of companies are still struggling to find their flow in this new world. If your agency’s clients are struggling and you’re not sure how to help, we have some ideas for you. Whether it’s emotional, logistical, or technological, you can be the hero your clients need right now — and build loyalty and appreciation in the process. 6 Ways to Be of Better Service to Your Clients 1. Be There for Them, Even From Afar Don’t underestimate the importance of reminding your clients that they’re on your mind and you’re here to help. Just like any relationship, a client relationship depends on consistent support, whether that comes in the form of regular one-on-one calls or emails, larger-audience webinars, or even a small gift or handwritten card for an extra personal touch. A simple check-in can do a lot for your clients, and sometimes they just need someone to talk to. Make sure they understand that you’re always just a call or email away. 2. Be Proactive and Transparent This golden rule applies in all kinds of circumstances. If you’ve done something wrong, owning up to it quickly and genuinely is a faster route to forgiveness than denial, and if you’ve achieved success, it’s always best to acknowledge those who helped you on your way. In a scenario like our current pandemic environment, issues are cropping up all the time — getting out in front of them and proactively acknowledging and trying to solve them is a great way to remind clients that they matter more than your pride. You’ll show them that there’s another person in their corner, working hard to help them succeed. 3. Make Their Jobs Easier with Technology One of the most immediate ways you can support a struggling client is to offer them a tool like marketing automation. Not only can doing so save them time, but it can also help them generate new leads, effectively nurture those leads, and, through that nurture, increase sales and ROI. If your agency has the capability to offer clients this kind of tool, you’ll be enabling them to increase their customer engagement and improve their bottom line without having to invest time they don’t have to spare. 4. Customize Outreach to Add Value If you’re able to offer your clients a marketing automation tool, then it’s safe to say you’re using one as well. What’s great is that this tool offers value to your clients in more ways than one. Whether it’s an email newsletter or a personal call, make sure that any communications you initiate with your clients are personalized to their specific needs. In the case of email newsletters or other marketing campaigns, your automation tool can help you segment your contact list so you can send the right content to the right lists. The customization process is a snap. 5. Activate Your Listening Skills This goes for feedback — which you should put into action clearly and immediately — and also for client needs. The more you listen to your clients, the better you’ll understand them, and the more equipped you’ll be to help them pursue their objectives. It can be easy to get wrapped up in all the things we need to get done and therefore rush through calls or neglect our inboxes. But by slowing down and being present for each outreach, meeting, or call, you’re showing your agency clients that you’re available to them. You’ll also pick up on key details that can lead to better solutions for their issues or needs. 6. Center the Client’s Needs and Their Successes A client relationship is a partnership, but it’s worth remembering that the client is the hero of this story. You’re here to guide and support them, but the focus should always be on their goals and achievements, both to make them feel special and to reinforce their trust that you have their back. Think about sending a special promo or gift for your clients’ birthdays or anniversaries. Celebrate their milestones (unprompted) which will help them take time to celebrate their successes instead of dwelling on anything negative that may be going on. These are tough times for many businesses, and they’re showing little sign of getting easier. But, like anything in life, business challenges are easier to overcome when you feel supported by the people around you. With these tips, you can be that support for your clients, helping them get through this difficult period with grace — and maybe even a boost to their bottom line.
How to Onboard New Clients the Right Way Posted on October 14, 2021October 7, 2021 by Katie Culp Few things are better than the feeling of signing a new client — but after you celebrate, put that champagne away and make sure you onboard them appropriately. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Start as you mean to go on?” Onboarding is a great example of what this means. If you can be organized enough in your onboarding to begin this new relationship on the right foot, you’ll be on your way to a productive and hopefully long-term partnership. Here are some of our favorite onboarding tips — plus some great tools to streamline the process and keep you organized — to help ensure your new client relationship is successful from day one. Transparency is Key The more information you give your new client about the process, the more cared for they’ll feel and the more confident they’ll be in the value of your services. Similarly, the more you know about the client’s needs and goals, the better positioned you’ll be to add the most value. It can be tempting when you’re faced with a new person you want to impress, to act like you already know everything. But most people are savvy enough to see through that act and will be much more impressed if you’re straight with them about what you don’t know and how you plan to find out. If it’s Important, Put it on the Calendar We make time for what matters, and onboarding meetings are no exception. Make sure you schedule these regularly and set an agenda for each one to ensure that you and the client are always on the same page about their expectations and your plan for meeting them. Sure, meetings aren’t always the most productive, but these onboarding sessions are crucial for setting your new clients up for success. It’s so important for you to prioritize them and make them part of your standard practice, so you know that once a client is assigned, this is essentially the next step in getting your partnership started. Customize Your Content While it might be easier to just have a set of standard content that you give to every new client at the outset, it’s more effective to provide new clients with tailored content that addresses their needs at each stage of the relationship. So, in addition to the initial welcome and set-up content, make sure you’ve prepared information about the various stages of onboarding that you can offer clients as they progress — this will keep you from overwhelming them and give them the opportunity to ask specific questions at each point. Use Automation to Set Your Client Up for Success A marketing automation tool, like BenchmarkONE, is a great way to help your client make major progress fast. Our all-in-one CRM will enable them to track their leads more effectively and understand them better, and email marketing will help them nurture and engage those leads with personalized content. On top of all that, our marketing automation tool makes it easy to create landing pages and online forms to track visitors to their website, which your client can then file in their CRM as leads for future engagement. 7 Project Management Apps for Agencies Everyone could use a little help managing projects and ensuring nothing gets overlooked. Since you’ll want to keep the whole onboarding process organized and not lose track of your progress, make sure you use a project management app. Here are seven industry favorites that could be a good fit for your needs: Asana is especially good for complex teams juggling lots of tasks. Monday.com brings bright colors and tons of features to your workday. Toggle is all about timelines, so it’s great for projects (like onboarding) that have clear deadlines and mile-markers along the way. Trello is like a digital corkboard, with tasks on ‘cards’ that can be moved from column to column as the project progresses. Forecast is all about automation and AI, which cuts down on admin time. CROOW was founded in 2019, so it’s relatively new. Their focus is on providing all the features of Monday or Trello in one app. Basecamp is simple, which means it’s best for collaboration on clear tasks that are easily broken up into smaller to-dos. Signing a new agency client is a huge win; the last thing you want to do is start the new relationship off on a bad foot. To ensure things go smoothly, you need to set the tone early with the right kind of onboarding. Using a marketing automation and CRM tool for your clients will not only help you keep things organized and informed, but you’ll be able to provide them with tons of value that will keep them happy and the partnership strong.
Step-by-Step Guide for Building Nurturing Drip Campaigns that Convert Posted on October 13, 2021October 13, 2021 by Jessica Lunk Every email has a purpose. That purpose, if you’re a digital marketer, should be focused on a single goal, like: Thanks for signing up, have a coupon! Here’s a roundup of what we’ve been up to lately Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy a free holiday marketing ebook! Perhaps nowhere is this philosophy more apparent than in drip campaigns. What Are Email Drip Campaigns? A drip campaign is a series of emails that you can schedule in advance to ‘drip’ into the customer’s inbox at just the right cadence — you can also target them to particular segments to ensure they’re personalized and therefore providing maximum value to your subscribers. For example, let’s say someone fills out a form on your site to download an ebook of yours. Your first email might be a notification that their free ebook has arrived. Your second email might come five days later, asking how they enjoyed the ebook. The third might come a few days after that, asking them to pass on the love by telling their friends about your amazing ebook and urging them to sign up. There are more complex drip campaigns, of course, and they don’t all involve a lead magnet like an ebook. Some use the sales funnel as a guide, with the intent of moving leads to the next stage of their buyer’s journey. Why Use Drip Campaigns? Drip campaigns are essential to an effective inbound marketing strategy and sales approach. Not only do they automate the nurture of new prospects and maintain relationships with customers, but they also get great results: According to Zapier, drip emails can boost click-through rates by 119%. What’s behind this effectiveness? Well, drip campaigns have the benefit of being sent out to people who’ve already shown some interest in your brand — they’ve signed up for your list or purchased something already — which means they’re set up for success. In addition, drip campaigns help keep your brand top-of-mind in an inbox that is already crowded. One email might get lost, but several emails can help create familiarity with your business. Your job is to capitalize on that ripe opportunity by designing and implementing drip campaigns that keep those new subscribers’ attention and lead them toward conversion. Drip Campaign Prep: Definition and Identification Before you can create your drip campaigns, you need to cover two essential points. Definition: What’s Your Campaign For? The most fundamental question is one of purpose. This should be your company’s overarching goal with your entire email marketing agenda: Are you trying to convert new leads? Are you rewarding existing customers? Are you boosting sales in a typically slow season? Are you emailing a new subscriber? Are you nurturing an existing subscriber? Are you upselling an existing customer? You can (and should) have multiple drip campaigns for multiple email groups, depending on who you’re talking to. All of the above scenarios can absolutely coexist, but you have to start with the groundwork of defining your goals upfront. The rest will become a whole lot easier. Identification: Get to the Point Often, when people give you their email address, they expect something in return. A good practice is to give them that thing immediately. If they’re customers at your clothing store, you might draw them in with a coupon code for 25% off their next purchase. That coupon should be the first email those customers receive. The second might be a reminder if they haven’t redeemed it yet, or a thank you note with related products if they have; the third could be a customer service survey with another coupon as a reward. A successful drip campaign needs to only be a few emails long—three to five is the sweet spot. If you don’t have a lot of value, don’t stretch it. There’s nothing more annoying than receiving daily drip emails for a week straight. How to Put Together a Successful Drip Campaign Okay, now it’s time for the good stuff – how to actually put together a drip campaign. We’ll walk you through the entire process, but it’s important to note that a marketing automation tool is essential for pulling this off, preferably one that also comes with a built-in CRM and lead generation tools too. 1. . Capture Leads The first thing you need to do is enroll subscribers into your email marketing, and the best way to do that is to create ways to capture leads on-site. Pop-up forms with sign-up incentives are a great way to do this, as well as landing pages that can be used in your paid ad campaigns. Make sure these landing pages include embedded forms so you can offer a guide, ebook, or demo in exchange for site visitors’ contact information. Make sure all your forms abide by marketing compliance practices and require permission from your subscribers to enroll them in your email marketing. 2. Qualify Leads Once you have a solid list, note some of the important characteristics of each lead, such as their industry, knowledge level, on-site behavior, and anything else you can glean. You’ll want to separate your leads based on various qualifiers so you know which ones are further along in their journey and, therefore, more ready to buy. This will help you spend more time on leads that are more qualified and therefore likely to become customers. 3. Segment Your List Based on these qualifiers, sort your leads into applicable lists so that you can better personalize your email content. The more focused your emails, the better your conversion rate will be. This step will also help you organize and focus your email campaigns. By understanding and labeling your lists, you can create campaigns catered to the specific needs of those within those lists. 4. Create an Email Series for Each Segment This may seem like a lot of work, but if you’ve been creating content regularly, it should be fairly simple. Pull your highest performing content or your most informative blog posts and organize them based on what pain points they help address. Add this content to your campaigns where it makes the most sense, and then take some time to write your emails. These don’t have to be terribly lengthy; they just need to provide value. 5. Cater to Each Segment’s Needs This is important, so we feel it’s crucial to fully address it: make sure that the educational content in your emails fits the needs of the people within each segment. So, if you’re sending a message to a fairly knowledgeable group of leads, don’t fill the email with “101s” or beginner guides. Remember, your CRM should provide you with tons of intel on your leads, so use it to connect the dots between who your subscribers are and the content they crave. 6. Track Behavior You can also set up drip campaigns based on the website activity and email behavior of your subscribers. Map out your campaigns based on different pathways your subscribers take and use a flowchart or mind map maker tool like Diagrams.net or XMind to plan. Here’s an example of a nurture sequence you could create using BenchmarkONE. The industry we’re using here is travel. We included our tag rules capabilities. This allows you to apply specific tags to customers based on actions they take so you can better qualify leads (placing a numeric value on more desired actions) and personalize future outreach. 7. Establish a Frequency for Each Series How far you space out each email within your drip campaign comes down to knowing your subscribers. However, it doesn’t hurt to pull from personal experience, either. How often do you like receiving emails from brands? You don’t want to email your prospects too much, as that could annoy them. But then again, you don’t want to email too infrequently that they forget as to why they’ve enrolled in your email marketing in the first place. You may want to start a sequence by emailing more frequently while you have initial interest, and then decrease frequency over time so you don’t burn out your subscribers. 8. Establish a CTA If you want your emails to convert (and we know you do!), you need to offer subscribers an opportunity to take the next step in the sales funnel. Include a CTA at the end of every email, personalized to each segment’s current position. This could be to download a guide, set up a call with a sales rep, receive a quote, or schedule a demo of your software. 9. Track Results As with any strategy, there may come a time when you need to pivot, and tracking stats like click-through rates and unsubscribe reasons (you can add a questionnaire to your unsubscribe page to get these) can help you figure out what needs to be changed to improve your results. Make sure you’re not just setting and forgetting your email campaigns. Check-in on them regularly to see if they’re doing an adequate job of converting leads to customers or if there are things you need to adjust, like updating content, CTAs, or the number of emails within a series. Are you ready to take on email drip campaigns? We hope this guide has provided you with the information you need to get started off on the right foot. Remember, using a marketing automation tool is crucial, and BenchmarkONE offers plenty of tools to help you track new leads and set up automated campaigns to facilitate adequate nurture. Take a quick tour of our software today and sign up for a free plan to get started!
Social Media Ads: Specs You Need to Know Posted on October 7, 2021October 1, 2021 by Natalie Slyman Have you come up with a great idea for your company’s next paid ad? Before you hit the publish button on your campaign, make sure your ad meets all the right criteria. If you don’t follow the correct specs, your photo or video ad may not reach your intended audience. Imagine you have a deadline for a big campaign and then when you’re about to submit your ad, Facebook or Linkedin denies your post because it’s not the right image size. Read on below for basic ad guidelines for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin. Instagram You might think Instagram is only for posting food photos and selfies, but it’s one of the most popular platforms for online advertising. After all, the social media site has 800 million active users. Here’s a breakdown of the different kinds of Instagram ads and specs for each. Image Ads: These single image ads appear in your feed as you are scrolling. 1080 x 1080px resolution 1:1 aspect ratio 30MB max for image file PNG or JPG file type 125 characters recommended for caption length Video Ads: These are single video ads that appear in your feed as you are scrolling. 1080 x 1080px resolution 4:5 aspect ratio 30GB max for video files 2 minutes max length MP4 or MOV file type 125 characters recommended for caption length Carousel Image Ads: These ads appear in your feed as you are scrolling and contain more than one image. 1080 x 1080px resolution 1:1 aspect ratio 30MB max for each image file PNG or JPG file type 2-10 images allowed per ad Carousel Video Ads: These ads appear in your feed as you are scrolling and contain more than one video. 1080 x 1080px resolution 1:1 aspect ratio 4GB max for each video file 60 seconds max length MP4 or MOV file type 2-10 videos allowed per ad Stories Image Ads: These are image ads that interrupt your stories by popping up in between users’ stories. 1080 x 1080px resolution 9:16 aspect ratio 30MB max for image file PNG or JPG file type 125 characters recommended for caption length Stories Video Ads: These are video ads that interrupt your stories by popping up in between users’ stories. 1080 x 1080px resolution 9:16 aspect ratio 30GB max for video files 2 minutes max length MP4 or MOV file type Sound and captions recommended LinkedIn LinkedIn connects you to a community of 690 million professionals where four out of five members drive business decisions. The platform offers several ad placement options, but they can be pricey, so any mistake you make could cost you double. Here are some ad specs to keep in mind when creating ads for LinkedIn: Image Ads: These are single-image ads that appear in your feed. 1200 x 627px resolution 1.91:1 aspect ratio 5MB max image size PNG or JPG file type 255 max characters. 70 characters max for headline Video Ads: These are single video ads that appear in your feed. 1:1 aspect ratio Between 75 KB and 200 MB max for video files 30 minutes max length MP4 file type Less than 30 frames per second 70 characters max for headline Carousel Ads: These ads appear in your feed as you are scrolling and contain more than one image. 1080 x 1080px resolution 1:1 aspect ratio 10MB max for each image file PNG, JPG, or non-animated GIF file type 2-10 images allowed per ad Facebook Facebook has one of the largest social networks on the internet. When you advertise on the site, you have access to over 2.80 billion active users all over the world. Hot tip: One of the most popular ad formats on Facebook is image ads in the feed. Facebook can boost an existing image post from your feed by turning it into an ad; all you have to do is choose an image on your page that has received significant engagement, likes, comments, or reposts, and promote it to reach a larger audience. Here are some Facebook ad specs to jot down: Image Ads: These are single-image ads that appear in your feed. 1200 x 628px resolution 9:16 – 16:9 aspect ratio 5MB max image size PNG or JPG file type 25 characters max for headline 30 characters max for description Video Ads: These are single video ads that appear in your feed. Highest resolution possible 9:16 – 16:9 aspect ratio 4GB max for video files 240 minutes max length MP4 or MOV file type 25 characters max for headline 30 characters max for description Carousel Image Ads: These ads appear in your feed as you are scrolling and contain more than one image. 1080 x 1080px resolution 1:1 aspect ratio 10MB max for each image file PNG or JPG file type 2-10 images allowed per ad 125 characters max for text 40 characters max for headline Carousel Video Ads: These ads appear in your feed as you are scrolling and contain more than one video. 1080 x 1080px resolution 1:1 aspect ratio 4GB max for each video file 240 minutes max length MP4 or MOV file type 2-10 videos allowed per ad 125 characters max for text 40 characters max for headline Stories Image Ads: These are image ads that interrupt your stories by popping up in between users’ stories. 1080 x 1920px resolution 1:91 – 9:16 aspect ratio PNG or JPG file type Stories Video Ads: These are video ads that interrupt your stories by popping up in between users’ stories. Highest resolution possible 1:91 – 9:16 aspect ratio 4GB max for video files 15 seconds max length MP4 or MOV file type Sound and captions recommended Twitter Twitter is where entertainers, journalists, and everyday people give us their bite-sized opinion on the world. Twitter has 206 million active users on their site, so using Twitter to reach your audience is not a bad idea. Promoted tweets and accounts are two of Twitter’s most popular ad formats, but let’s take a look at a few different Twitter ads and the specs needed for each. Promoted Image Tweet: A single image ad that appears in your feed. 600 – 1200px 1:1 – 2:1 aspect ratio JPG, PNG, and GIF file type 5MB max for GIF files 280 character limit. If you add a link to the post, it shortens your limit by 23 characters. Video Ads: These are single video ads that appear in your feed. 1200 x 1200px 1:1 aspect ratio 1GB max for video files 2 minutes 20 seconds max length MP4 or MOV file type 280 characters max Must have closed captioning or text Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin let advertisers post videos, images, GIFs, and carousel slideshows. It’s up to you to decide what platform will best deliver your message and reach your intended audience. Before you hit send on your big campaign, make sure that your ad follows all the guidelines set by the social media platform. Find out the specific character limit, file format type, and what different types of ad you can run on each site. Otherwise your advertisement may not land right and you could be wasting valuable ad dollars.
How to Put Together a Winning Sales Pitch Posted on October 6, 2021October 6, 2021 by Tricia O'Donnell A sales pitch is a huge part of the selling process. It’s a huge contributor towards sealing the deal, so if you want to impress your prospective new client, it’s important to nail it. Sometimes, you don’t have a lot of time, or the particular prospect you’re pitching to has specific needs they want to be met. It’s crucial for you to be able to get a lot across in a way that’s easy for them to understand. Oh, and you have to wow them. That’s a big one. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the fundamentals of putting together a winning sales pitch, as well as some examples for you to glean from. What is a Sales Pitch A sales pitch is the act of convincing a potential customer to buy into a product or service that the salesperson is selling. A pitch should be brief, informative, and direct. The term “sales pitch” can be a turn-off for people, but it doesn’t have to be. Think of it as a conversation—one where you’re trying to solve a problem for your potential customer. How can your product or service provide a solution for them? How to Create an Effective Sales Pitch The hardest part of starting a sales pitch is getting your customer to give you their valuable time to listen to your pitch. If you sold them on hearing your pitch, you’re already one step ahead. There are three important parts to starting a pitch: Present the problem. What problem does your product or service solve? If your pitch doesn’t help to solve a problem for your customer, your customer won’t be invested in your product. Personalize your pitch. How does your product or service impact your customer? Research their industry or company beforehand so you are prepared to personalize how your product applies to them. Look at your CRM to examine existing customers of yours that are in a similar industry or job position as the person (or persons) you’re pitching to. It can help you uncover some insight that will give you an edge during your presentation. Offer a solution. Why should they buy your product or service over any other one that is already on the market? Present your solution so well that they feel an immediate demand to buy what you’re selling. The Anatomy of a Sales Pitch If you’re going to deliver a pitch that’s effective, you have to break it up piece by piece. Here are the essential components of a sales pitch. Problem: Identify the problem your prospect is experiencing so you can tailor your pitch to their specific clients or industry. Make it as personal as possible. Use Stats: Memorize or include stats to share during your presentation or pitch. Bring visual data that you can show your potential customer to outline the benefits of your product. Value Statement: Have a clear value statement for your business. Does it effectively state your goals and vision? How Your Product Works: Have a quick pitch that explains in a clear, easy way how your product works. Don’t confuse your customer—it could cost you a sale. Proof Points: Give your customer clear examples of how your product is used. If your company has won any awards or achievements, share them. Customer Stories: Share testimonials and case studies with quantifiable proof of how your product or service has helped increase customer sales, growth, or conversion rates (or whatever other metric is being used to determine success). Engaging Questions: Designate time for questions and listen intently. Make sure they can tell you’re engaged and invested in their success. In turn, ask your prospect questions that create dialogue and show you’ve been giving them and their specific needs a lot of thought. Tips to Remember Keep it brief. Practice your pitch beforehand, so you’re prepared to present all the necessary information within a short amount of time. Focus on benefits, not features. Technical details are boring. Think about your product or service’s features and then consider what benefits they offer to a customer. Focus on those in order to tell a compelling story. Connect with your prospect. Is your prospect a mother or father? A student? A small business owner? A frequent traveler? How can your app help those individuals? Does it help them organize their calendar and liaise with people like teachers, daycare workers, and a second parent more easily? Does your app help a student stay on top of their budget? Does it allow a traveler to find not only cheap flights but cheap bus tickets, accommodations, and restaurants as well? You should have several buyer personas for your product and tailor your pitches accordingly. Write an intriguing hook. Don’t let anyone tune you out. Lead with an intriguing hook. Do so by thinking about three things: A common, frustrating problem your customer has What your product/service does differently to solve it Emotional desires/aspirations Ask for what you want. Don’t chicken out at the end. You have to make it clear that you’re looking to book a consultation, schedule a demo, or even put the prospect down for a few orders right then and there. It’s as simple as saying: “I can get you in for a demo as early as tomorrow. What does your week look like?” “Can I put you down for five bottles to start?” “Why don’t you come in for a consultation with Delia on Tuesday? She’s our best trainer and only comes in once a week.” Follow up, follow up, follow up. The art of the follow-up is vastly underrated. A prospect may seem uninterested when in reality, they’re just mulling things over. If you actively continue the conversation, you can answer any questions that have cropped up since the last time you spoke. An interested prospect may want to pursue the relationship or come in for a consultation but never get around to calling you back. Don’t let these opportunities slip through the cracks. Don’t forget to check those emails. When you’re sending your pitches via email (or following up), be sure to spell check and get the person’s name right. A sloppy email leaves the impression that a prospect is one of many, and that is not what good customer relationships are built on. Put time and care into crafting your sales pitches so that you can boost your numbers and treat yourself to a nice vacation at the end of the year!