Freelancers: 5 Tips For Managing Your Sales Pipeline and Getting More Done Posted on July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 by Allie Wolff The most talked-about benefit of freelancing is the joy of being your own boss. The thing that doesn’t get discussed? The “feast or famine” lifestyle that either keeps you running on a hamster wheel to meet deadlines, or biting your nails to find new clients during dry spells. We understand. That’s why we’ve put together this list of tips on how to keep new customers coming in the door while effectively serving your current clients and keeping everyone happy. Before you implement these tips, remember — you’re an expert with a specific skill set, but you’re also a business owner. That means you’ll need to commit time every week to your sales and marketing, regardless of how busy the daily grind is. 1. Work with the best online platforms to match with clients. As Entrepreneur magazine notes, more and more people are embracing the digital nomad lifestyle and working remotely from all corners of the world. You may be one of these nomads yourself. What this means is that the amount of websites and platforms dedicated to connecting clients to freelancers has grown over time as well. Entrepreneur recommends a list ranging from Upwork (which embraces beginners) to sites like Toptal, which screen for only the most seasoned and experienced freelancers. 2. Don’t be afraid to say “no.” Do you have a hard time turning down projects? Many freelancers do. The reality is, however, that not every project is worth your time and effort. When you take on projects that aren’t a good fit for your skills, or that will take more time than you have in your day, you can actually hurt your business. You may be wary of turning down a paying gig or disappointing a client, but remember that they will be that much more disappointed by work that isn’t up to your usual standards, or isn’t completed on time. Develop a list of questions to ask yourself about a job before you take it. We suggest: “Do I have the skills to complete this successfully?” “How long do I think this project will take?” “Do I have the time to complete this project by the deadline?” These questions can help you make a decision that will keep both you and your clients happy. Remember, you can’t say yes to the perfect job if you keep accepting projects that sap your time and energy. 3. Develop a focus and find your niche. As you develop your freelance business, a focus will allow you to market yourself more successfully and match to clients that best fit your skillset. Trying to be all things to all clients will only make your workflow more complicated and tax your ability to move from project to project. Get rid of that scarcity mindset that tells you there aren’t enough clients out there. There are plenty, and you only need a few of the right ones (not a ton of the wrong ones) to have a thriving business. Regarding your niche, if you aren’t sure where you best fit, do some research and check out articles like this one from Forbes that outline some freelance career fields that you may not have considered. 4. Keep Yourself Organized When you freelance, you’re your own boss. You are also your own human resources representative, bookkeeper and marketer. As you follow this career path, you’ll need to wear a lot of hats. This is why there are an increasing number of tools to help you manage your small business. Need help keeping track of your finances? Check out an accounting tool like Xero, which will allow you to do online bookkeeping and have 24/7 support while running your business. Need to do more to stay in contact with both current and potential clients? Consider a CRM and email marketing tool to keep tabs on your contacts and keep your communications looking professional. Working with multiple members of a client’s business, or need a way to keep your pending, current and finished projects organized? Check out a service that will allow you to keep your workflow organized like Trello or Monday. 5. Take breaks. Finally, remember to breathe. Drink a cup of coffee. Take a walk. Pet the dog. If you find that you’re becoming stressed and strung out by sitting at the computer for hours at a time, think about trying the 30-minute method. As Business Insider reports, working in 30-minute increments is one of the best ways to increase productivity. This approach is sometimes called the Pomodoro Technique, (popularized by Italian entrepreneur Francesco Cirillo). The technique recommends 25-minute intervals of pure work, followed by a five-minute break. Cirillo recommends actually setting a timer to keep track of both the work and the break. Get yourself a kitchen timer, set it for 25 minutes and then work intensely and distraction-free. Then when the timer goes off, get up immediately and stretch. Get a drink of water. Step outside. Many find this simple method a huge boost to productivity! We hope that these tips can help you on your entrepreneurial journey. We encourage you to do more research and try many techniques to find what helps you both find the best clients and keep producing great work for all of them. And one final tip. As long as you’re focused on solving your clients’ real problems, you’ll never have trouble keeping your sales pipeline full. Take extra time to implement new tools and update your skill set, and keep your marketing messaging focused on the results you bring your clients. You’re going to crush it!
How to Find and Hire the Right Marketing Agency for Your Small Business Posted on July 19, 2019December 8, 2022 by Jonathan Herrick Back in the good old days, marketing a small business meant putting up a billboard, taking out a few newspaper ads, and trusting that customers would tell each other about their good experiences through word of mouth. Reaching customers seems a lot more complicated today. You have to navigate digital ads, social media platforms, paid search, inbound marketing and all the latest trends. It’s hard to know which areas to focus on your efforts and your hard-earned marketing dollars on. What gets the attention of your customers in the age of digital marketing, anyway? Fortunately, you don’t have to be an expert in marketing to get impressive results for your business. A good marketing agency can make the process easier and take a lot of the unknowns off of your plate. But how do you find the right marketing agency to hire? Set Your Tone Consider the purpose, values and messaging of your business and how you want to convey that. Ask yourself questions like: What attracts customers to your business to begin with? What types of people do you and your team enjoy working with? Do you want advertising that feels innovative or nostalgic? What audience are you looking to target? Whatever your intentions, be sure to have them outlined in advance. Before you even reach out to an agency for an RFP, you need to understand your needs so you can effectively communicate to your agency of choice. Identify Your Goals Think about exactly what you’re hoping to get from your marketing agency. Is it help with newer technology? A new website? An email newsletter? Articulating concrete objectives will help you assemble the best team of experts to serve your needs. Services to consider include: Email campaigns Website building Marketing automation Social media Content marketing Logo creation Paid advertising Direct mail While outlining the deliverables you’re looking for is important, it’s even more critical that you outline what you’re trying to accomplish through these marketing tactics. Building brand awareness on social media or redesigning your logo is great, but how does it positively impact your business? Plan Your Budget Some important decisions to consider are the size of the agency that you’re looking for, and how much you want to spend on your marketing campaign. A large, well-established agency will have experts available for every need and will be able to solve problems quickly. You might find that the results are well worth your initial investment. You might be tempted to go for the biggest and most expensive marketing agency right from the start, but you can get great results from smaller agencies as well. Rather than blow your entire marketing budget on securing the biggest names in advertising, concentrate on strategic and targeted ad campaigns. However, don’t be too stingy. If an agency is priced far below their competition, it could be because they don’t have the expertise you need. Before you write a check to either, take a deep dive into their prior work and even reach out to references to help guide your decision-making. You get what you pay for, as they say. Make a List Beginning a search for agencies might seem overwhelming. How do you even find out which companies are out there? There are a number of places to start your search: Google “marketing agencies” plus the name of your city. Ask friends and colleagues for referrals. Look for websites that list and review agencies, such as Clutch. Check LinkedIn for agencies with good reviews You might not hear back from every agency that you contact, so it’s best to get in touch with a few at a time. Explore Available Services An experienced marketing agency should be able to help your business with a variety of campaigns. They’ll know the latest trends in social media, how to make mobile-friendly webpages, and what kinds of ads are most likely to attract attention. They’ll keep on top of the latest SEO techniques, as well as more organic marketing, and will use a number of tools to keep track of results. You’ll be aware of which strategies are making the most progress, so you can stay ahead of the competition. Consider Staying Local Consider a locally based marketing agency for your small business. It makes sense for large corporations to hire big nationally known marketing agencies, but those also come at a much higher cost, and they may not understand the local culture well enough to market to your target audience. An agency in your community will get that local flavor just right! A local agency also gives you the opportunity to have meetings in person, for the best collaboration of ideas between your two companies. The creativity that can result from mutual brainstorming can lead to amazing breakthrough concepts. Beware of Scammers You might see offers from marketing agencies that seem too good to be true. Listen to your instincts. Some agencies may be advertising services beyond their skill level, or they might even be outright scams. It’s easy for anyone to make a flashy website with impressive claims about their results, but you should research the company’s reviews and ask for examples of satisfied clients to be sure that they can deliver what they promise. Sometimes agencies are worse than just incompetent. Certain multilevel marketing companies promote themselves as experts, but further contact with the company reveals a pyramid scheme. Others engage in click fraud. If something doesn’t seem right, steer clear. Examine the Contract When you think you’ve found the right agency, take the time to carefully read the contract between your two businesses. It should have clear language that specifies exactly what services will be provided to you. A reputable company will offer paid trials or other assurance that you will get what you need, so you know they will help you grow your business. This is just the beginning of the conversation, though. For more ideas about collaborating with marketing agencies, take a look at these resources from BenchmarkONE.
3 Tips for More Creative Email Autoresponders Posted on July 18, 2019 by Jessica Lunk Today’s businesses need to be accessible if they want to get ahead. Engaging with your customers, especially through personalized email, should be a top priority. After all, research by data-marketing firm Epsilon found that 80% of consumers indicate being more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences. If you’re trying to build meaningful relationships with your customers, you’re going to have to engage. If you’re doing customer engagement right, chances are you’ll notice a few major benefits. Among them: more effective lead generation, better retention of existing customers, increased sales, and increased overall customer satisfaction. It can be a lot of work though to maintain high levels of engagement in your emails, especially when you have so many other marketing tasks to take care of. And that’s where email autoresponders come in. Below, we’ll go over the basics of email autoresponders and why they’re such a big value-add. We’ll also give you examples of A+ auto-responses for some of the most common customer requests. Ready? Let’s get to it. What is an email autoresponder? An email autoresponder is a tool that allows you to send automatic replies to customer inquiries. Instead of sending a canned response because you’re strapped for time, autoresponders handle the inflow of requests for you, sending replies that sound hand-typed even if they’re not. Ultimately, the biggest advantage of an email autoresponder is that it gives customers a personalized response (i.e., one that directly responds to their question, instead of just a general inquiry response) without requiring constant personal attention from your team. You can also set up email autoresponders to trigger after a customer completes a certain action, such as signing up for a demo or making a purchase. As for how to actually word these all-important email autoresponder messages, here are three tips for making them shine. Tip #1: Make Sure Your Personality Comes Through The idea is for your autoresponder messages to sound like they were typed by a real person in real time. And to pull off the illusion, you need to make sure that you accurately capture your brand voice. Let’s say you’re running marketing for a dog walking business, and you need an autoresponder message for when a potential client books an initial consult. Which do you think is more effective: “Thank you for your interest. We will get back to you soon to schedule a consultation.” OR “We can’t wait to meet you and your furry friend! Stay tuned and we will be in touch as soon as paws-ible to schedule a meet and greet.” With just a few more words (and in this case a pet-friendly pun, because of course), your message says a lot more about who you are. It also conveys excitement and appreciation — two factors that matter a lot when it comes to building strong relationships with new and existing clients. Tip #2: Deliver On Your Promises Your autoresponder replies should serve distinct purposes. And to that point, they need to offer concrete value to their recipients, usually in the form of providing information or an asset that’s directly related to the behavior that triggered the response in the first place. For example, if you’re sending an autoresponder message in response to someone filling out a form for a free e-book, the message they get in reply should include the e-book link. Think: “Here’s the e-book you asked for — we hope you enjoy it! Link” Not: “Your e-book is on its way soon! Check your email later today so you don’t miss it.” One example has exactly what the customer is looking for. The other one just has words. Make sure your autoresponder messages serve a distinct purpose and aren’t just adding fluff to your customer’s inbox — nobody wants that. Tip #3: Highlight Other Value Assets Use your email autoresponder as a way to draw more eyes to additional brand content and channels. As long as you integrate these assets organically, you can use your autoresponder messages as avenues for building traffic in other areas in addition to building engagement. To illustrate, imagine that you’re marketing chatbot software for ecommerce stores and a potential customer filled out a demo request form on your website. Your autoresponder message could look something like this: “We can’t wait to show you all that we have to offer! Follow this link to sign up for your demo. You’ll probably also like our Guide to Making Chatbots Work For Your Business. Want to learn more about what we do? Check out our blog and give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram.” In just four short sentences you will have driven more traffic to your web content and social media platforms, all while addressing the customer’s most direct needs. It’s time to can those canned responses and get to work with engagement-driving, relationship-building email autoresponders.
How to Automate Your Agency’s Sales Pipeline Posted on July 16, 2019December 1, 2022 by Katie Culp An agency without new clients in the pipeline is an agency that’s on the edge of real trouble. Filling that pipeline, however, can take up a lot of the time that you’d normally spend watching videos of cats on Facebook. Hiring another person to do the work you’re trying to avoid is one way to deal with this problem, but it’s far more cost-effective to automate your sales pipeline. Using automation for portions of your sales pipeline might not be a new concept for your agency. But even if you are already using some sales automation, are you getting the most out of your automated pipeline? Here are a few suggestions for automating your pipeline or expanding your existing automation to maximize your savings and increase your sales. Email Automation Email automation is perhaps the most common form of sales pipeline automation you’ll encounter. It makes sense to automate your sales emails, after all; successful email campaigns require good timing and sometimes can be quite complex depending on how much strategy you put into the campaign. By automating a portion of the email workflow in your sales pipeline, you can: Reduce the amount of time your sales team spends sending and responding to emails Ensure that follow-ups are sent on time, every time Avoid sending emails on days that are less likely to see a positive response Free up time so your sales team can focus on other parts of the sales pipeline Handle newsletter sign-ups and other organic forms of contact without delays caused by human intervention Depending on the automation solution you use, you may be able to set up some advanced features as well. This can be handy if a potential client needs to be handled by a member of the sales team directly or if circumstances arise that fall outside of what your normal automation routine is programmed for. Sales Tracking Though sales tracking is often thought of as more of a boon for retail and consumer-focused companies, there are some definite benefits to using sales tracking automation to aid your agency’s sales team. One of the most convenient ways to use sales tracking automation is to keep track of where potential clients are in the sales process so that on-the-fence clients can be flagged for additional personal attention when needed. Using sales tracking tools can also give you some very powerful insights as to which approaches work in your sales pipeline and where you need to make some tweaks. This lets you follow potential clients through the entire onboarding process and allows you to make changes to increase efficiency as more data becomes available. Lead Sorting Lead generation is an important part of your sales pipeline, and there are automation tools that can help you keep track of which leads show the most promise. Various tools can tag leads based on their origin or other useful metrics, sorting them into categories based on which approaches work best with different types of leads. Customer relationship management (CRM) software like Hatchbuck can take these tagged and sorted leads and make them available to the appropriate email list or members of your sales team. This ensures that your team is working with the potential clients that they’re most likely to convert, letting you put them on the path to sales success from the very moment they enter the system. Smart Automation Tools One big advantage of modern automation software is that many tools use “smart” features rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach that can turn off potential clients. Instead of emails that read like form letters, your automated system can have different messages that it sends out based on the interactions you’ve had with potential clients. These messages can include follow-ups, special offers and even messages to ask if you should stop attempting contact (which can free up members of your sales team when a lead just isn’t working out.) This gives your agency more flexibility without the need for additional work hours, allowing your sales team to dynamically adjust its approach based on the metrics and other feedback it receives from leads. A Personal Touch There’s one thing to keep in mind when dealing with automation: Every potential customer or client that you contact is a unique individual. This is why form letters and other generic correspondence track so poorly—they send the message that you see the client as just another entry in a list. Even with advanced automation, you need to make sure there’s some sort of personal touch to the calls and emails coming from your sales department. Avoid strict scripts and flat form letters, opting instead for personality and the kind of connections that leads crave. Even if you automate almost every step along the sales pipeline, it’s still going to be the men and women of your sales team who close the deal in the end. Automation tools are just there to help them do their jobs more efficiently and free up more time for those personal touches that only they can give.
The 30-Day Guide to Building a Stellar B2B Website Posted on July 15, 2019November 1, 2023 by Allie Wolff What makes for good B2B website design? If you’re a business owner or marketer asking yourself this question, you probably already have a couple of ideas. A good B2B website is intuitive and original. It’s replete with tools that enhance the customer experience. And of course, it’s totally optimized to attract and capture the right web traffic. Knowing what a good B2B website looks like and making it happen are two different things. Especially if you’re just starting out, the prospect of building a successful website (or revamping an existing one) can be quite overwhelming. There’s a lot that you have to consider, and there’s also a lot riding on doing it right. We feel you though, which is why we’ve put together a quick guide to all of the components that your B2B website needs. Follow our advice and you should be able to get a great B2B website up and running in just 30 days—or less! Here’s how. 8 Necessary Components of a B2B Website If your B2B website is going to convert, it needs to have these eight essential elements. A well-thought out infrastructure Functional web designs start on paper. Map out a blueprint for how your website will look before you ever sit down to code or build pages, starting with your homepage and building out each tab. Doing it this way gives you a big picture view of the flow of your site and lets you identify any navigation missteps earlier rather than later. Try to think like a consumer when you’re seeing how all of your pages connect with each other. Does the flow make sense? Is it easy to get where you’re looking to go? Keywords Putting the right keyword on a page doesn’t mean you automatically get to jump to the top of the search engine results page. That being said, a keyword strategy is a necessity if you want to be a strong competitor for all of that traffic. Be organic with how you work keywords into the page (platforms like Google are very adept at seeing through blatant keyword grabs), and be sure to optimize every single page with the right focus, primary, and long-tail phrases so searchers end up on your site, and not on your competitor’s. Accessibility A good B2B website is accessible for all users, not just some of them. Choose color contrasts that make your site easier for those with visual impairments to view, include alt tags on images, caption all videos, and so on. You can learn more about accessible web design for accommodating individuals with disabilities here. Originality You already do everything you can to stand out from the pack, so shouldn’t you do the same with your website? Opt for a brand-centric design instead of a boring neutral template, and personalize all aspects — from language and tone to add-on features — to speak specifically to who you are. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but a strong impression is a lasting one, so put plenty of care into your design. “About Us” page Sure, on-site demos and shopping carts are key, but a good “About Us” page is just as critical. A thorough, well-written “About Us” helps instill trust in your brand, which is a necessity when you’re nurturing leads without the initial benefit of human-to-human interactions. Try to tell a story instead of just outline what you do, and put faces to your brand by including images of each of the key players on your team. Automated technology The more tech you can integrate into your B2B website the better it is for both you and your potential (and current) customers. Innovative tech tools like chatbots, CRM software, and Google Analytics allow you to do deep dives into the data around customer behavior, which in turn lets you provide better customer service and connect with leads about the things they really care about. Social media Your website and your social media pages are all part of one digital strategy, so doesn’t it make sense that they’d be connected in some way? Include shortcuts to your pages, or use add-on tools to stick your live feeds directly onto your site. That way, leads can travel seamlessly between your various digital platforms, plus guiding traffic to one helps guide traffic to the others. Killer content It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, if you want to compete, you have to knock it out of the park with your content. Everything from your general site content to your blog to your downloadable whitepapers needs to be well-written, informative, and targeted to your customer base. With customers having so much choice available to them, even a typo can be costly. Some of these components can be incorporated into your page in less than an hour, while others are going to take a bit more time. But put in the effort and in just 30 days you can have a completely functional B2B website that’s totally optimized to convert. Once you’ve got the foundation down, work on building it up over time, putting in tweaks where needed and adapting as things like SEO algorithms and accessibility requirements change.
The Best Payment Processing Software for SMBs Posted on July 11, 2019December 8, 2022 by Erin Posey When you’re new to developing an eCommerce site—or maybe you’re just a creature of habit—it’s easy to let payment processors be an afterthought. The design, functionality, and content planning that goes into the launch of any successful online enterprise tends to dominate the conversation. Whatever payment processor is recommended by the cart, template, or service you’re utilizing is enough, right? After all, it just needs to take cards. Of course, it’d be nice to think that whatever solution is attached out of the box is best, but we all know that’s too good to be true. The fact is, there are a lot of robust payment processing software options out there. If you’re spending time perfecting your customer experience through every step of the sales pipeline, you’ll want to be sure to end their transaction on a high note. So, what kind of options are out there? Let’s look at the major players and the services they offer. Stripe Stripe has gained quite a huge foothold in the eCommerce world over the past few years. It’s a major processor that integrates easily with WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopify. Stripe’s rise to fame can be largely attributed to its ease of use and flexibility. For beginners, Stripe is simple to connect to most template-based eCommerce sites. Their sign-up process is fast and doesn’t require any complicated approvals. In just minutes, Stripe can be configured to deposit to your bank account. For those with more complicated needs, they offer a customizable Billing API that allows developers to create custom pricing or even subscription models quickly. Who is Stripe for? Stripe has a low barrier of entry and is easy to integrate into all the major platforms. If your processing needs are simple or your website is built in-house, Stripe is a great option. Stripe’s Pricing Stripe utilizes a pay-as-you-go pricing system. They charge 2.9% of your transaction amount, plus 30 cents per card use. Braintree Braintree comes with a trusted brand-name behind it: Paypal. In fact, one element that really sets Braintree above the rest is its ability to process both credit card transactions and Paypal without any special plug-ins. While Apple Pay and Samsung Pay have become strong contenders for alternative payment methods to credit cards, Paypal is still heavily utilized. Speaking of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, Braintree supports them as well. With some minimal setup, customers can use Braintree to checkout using Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, even if you don’t have a mobile app. Finally, Braintree offers a point of sale system as well, which means you can avoid having a second processor for in-store transactions. Who is Braintree for? Braintree integrates easily with most major platforms like Magento and WooCommerce. However, it does not integrate with Shopify. It’s great for retail stores that want to keep the same processor for both in-store and online. Braintree’s Pricing Braintree also utilizes a pay-as-you-go pricing system. They charge 2.9% of your transaction amount, plus 30 cents per card use. Image courtesy of Capterra Chargify Chargify is tailored for companies in the SaaS (software as a service) industry. So, if you create a web or computer app that has a subscription model, Chargify is the perfect solution for you. Not only does Chargify manage the payment processing, but their service also helps manage subscriber relationships. Chargify is easy to set up right out of the box, with no coding required. The subscriptions you can create to offer to your clients are easily customizable and allow benefits like grandfathered pricing, pricing experiments, and negotiated terms. Who is Chargify for? This answer is a little more cut and dry. If you offer subscriptions for your app or software, Chargify is tailormade for your industry. Chargify’s Pricing Pricing is determined by features used. Square Square has become a popular option for point-of-sale credit card transactions over recent years. They’re known for letting even the smallest businesses easily accept credit cards through both their in-store terminals and scanners that plug directly into cell phones. Square also offers online credit card processing. However, it does not integrate with popular eCommerce software. Square’s online processing is a self-contained store with light functionality. Who is Square for? Square is perfect for a small business that takes credit cards in-store and through a limited website. If you only focus on a few key products and don’t need the ability to sort, search, or highly customize your site, Square is a perfect option. Their approval process is simple, and their online stores can be set up by a web design novice. Square’s Pricing Square charges 2.75% of every transaction. Before you settle on the final draft of your eCommerce website, it’s important to get your processing provider squared away. After all, you’ll want to ensure that whomever you choose will not only integrate well with your business but the platform you’ve chosen for your website. With a little research, your eCommerce site will soon be a lean, mean, card-charging machine.
How Top Marketing Agencies Prove ROI to B2B Clients Posted on July 5, 2019December 1, 2022 by Jessica Lunk Showing your clients the return on investment of your service offering is the single most important thing the best marketing agencies do to thrive. Turning your client’s investment into revenue isn’t a magic trick – it’s part art, and part science. But, like a magic show, presentation is everything. Telling a clear story of how your agency is generating success is a simple way to increase investment from your current B2B clients while also attracting new business. If you’re running a marketing agency, calculating ROI may not seem like the most glamorous task, but it’s vital for keeping your business going long term. It doesn’t have to be a difficult, dreaded chore. Check out these tips for measuring and reporting on your B2B client’s investment in your firm. How to Calculate Marketing ROI Let’s get back to the basics for a second and dust off the old business textbook. A simple calculation for marketing ROI is: Gross Profit – Marketing Investment ——————————————- Marketing Investment This generic calculation makes the most sense for clients selling B2C products, like widgets or t-shirts, that are typically one-time transactions. However, if you mainly work with B2B clients you may want to swap out Gross Profit for customer lifetime value. For instance, if your client is a cleaning business that charges a monthly fee, and their average customer stays on for three years, the value of the customer is much greater that their first payment. Setting the Stage for Your Clients The ROI calculation is simple, but marketing campaigns are extremely nuanced and not every activity can be directly attributable to a specific outcome. Brand awareness, for instance, is crucial to filling the funnel with leads. But it can be tough to tie an impression from social media to a sale. That being said, it’s important for your client to understand that an investment in your firm probably isn’t going to pay off the biggest dividends during the first month of your retainer. The programs you build for your client today will lead to more sales this month, next month and next year. The best marketing agencies set the stage for their clients with clear goals for each activity. Then they consistently measure and report on ROI every month, demonstrating increasing value over time. Metrics by Channel Content Marketing & SEO Adding top of the funnel content to your client’s website may not directly impact sales in month one. But over time, it’s going to generate organic traffic and brand awareness for your client. So how do you show that you’re being effective? Measuring an increase in traffic is an important part of the equation. Using data from Google Analytics is a simple (and free) way to show how your SEO and content efforts have gotten more people to your client’s website. At the same time, traffic does not always tell a complete story. So dive a little deeper into activity on your website to see if traffic is converting or not. If traffic is increasing, but your conversion rate is dropping, you’re not attracting the right people, and need to adjust your content strategy. Setting up conversion goals in GA is one way to measure conversions and conversion rate. If you need help, this is a great article on how to create goals in Google Analytics. You can also check in with your marketing automation platform. In Hatchbuck, you can track form submissions and opportunities generated each month to measure the overall effectiveness of your content strategy. With data around your SEO and content marketing efforts, your client can gain confidence that your services are of value and moving their business in the right direction month after month. Paid Ads In addition to improving organic search results through content marketing and SEO, your agency may be charged with generating leads through paid advertising channels. Whether you’re using Bing Ads, Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or a niche advertising program, these platforms typically report well on detailed metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversions by each campaign. While these metrics are crucial for helping you improve ad campaign performance, your client cares less about the minutia and more about how your efforts are driving sales. Reporting on the source of each opportunity can easily show your client which channels are driving leads into their sales pipeline. You can also demonstrate how a mix of these strategies can give an overall lift to the number of opportunities your generating every month. Pro Tip When you create a lead in Hatchbuck from a paid advertising channel, you can automate a follow-up process to ensure that the leads your client has invested in have every chance of converting into a customer. Not only does this help increase ROI for your client, but is an added service you can build into your monthly retainer. Email Marketing For B2C businesses selling to individual consumers, it can be fairly simple to tie email activity to sales…send and email with an offer, get sales from the website, right? However for B2B businesses, the sales process is longer and includes a multitude of touch points through several channels. Typically, there are several email touches before a sale is made. When it’s not practical to tie an email send directly to a sale, reporting on metrics like open rate and click-through rate shows how responsive your client’s audience was to your message, getting them one step closer to a sale. From Hatchbuck’s marketing dashboard, you can quickly see engagement metrics: And pinpoint the email templates that have the most engagement: Campaigns A marketing campaign for your client can include several tactics. For instance, you may have an ad on LinkedIn that is tied to a form. After filling out that form, the lead may receive a series of calls and emails until they are determined to be uninterested, or they convert. By showing how many opportunities your campaigns generate you can continually test to improve your messaging and cadence. In Hatchbuck, you can also see how many deals (or opportunities) that are generated from your campaigns. It’s a simple way to show revenue potential being generated to your clients. New & Redesigned Websites For creative web design agencies, demonstrating ROI might seem almost futile. Afterall, how can you prove ROI months after you’ve launched or redesigned a website? The key is retaining your client long after your one-time project is complete. Not only does your website look amazing, but hopefully you’ve turned it into a lead generation machine for your client. But what happens to website leads once they take action on your client’s website? Many agencies are turning project-based webdesign services into an ongoing retainer with their clients by incorporating email marketing into their service offering. With a marketing automation platform, like Hatchbuck, you can capture leads from your client’s website, and then nurture them on the appropriate email campaign. This greatly boosts the chances that these leads will convert. By adding marketing automation to your client’s website strategy, you’ll also have the tools to report on the leads generated from the website you built. So, each month, you can show how many leads were acquired, how well your email nurturing performed, and how many leads converted to customers for your clients. It’s an extra service offering, but by incorporating email marketing and marketing automation into your web design services, you can turn a web design project into a long-term contract with your client.
4 Tips for Launching Your Own Consulting Business Posted on July 4, 2019July 3, 2019 by Jonathan Herrick The allure of working as a free agent, outside of the confines of a 9-5 is enticing. Imagine: no boss to listen to, and people pay you to hear your expert advice. It sounds like a great gig, doesn’t it? Once established, a consulting business can give you a lot of creative and professional freedom. It’s a huge step to start your own business, so how do you know you’re ready to take the leap? Starting a consulting business, in theory, is quite easy. If you’ve got marketable skills in IT, marketing, design, career counseling, or just about any expertise that you can see demand for, you could start a consulting firm. Of course, to be successful, you’ll need a few skills on top of that: people skills, self-motivation, sales chops, and deep knowledge of your area of expertise will certainly help. At the end of the day, though, the real test is, can you get clients? Once you have your first few clients under your belt, you’ll have a better handle on if you can make a career out of this. In the meantime, let’s talk about a few helpful tips for launching your dream consulting business. 1. Determine your expertise and clients. The most apparent part of creating your consulting firm will be narrowing down on your niche. What type of consultant do you want to be? Make lists of your strengths and knowledge areas so you can narrow down your offerings. While it’s exciting to be a jack-of-all-trades, that’s a hard title to market for consulting. Once you have your knowledge area focused, you can determine your ideal client. Who would benefit from this knowledge? Design a profile of the type of client you’d like to work with. 2. Market yourself as a service that saves money or makes money. In business, most management only cares about one thing: the old, green cha-ching. Money makes the world go ‘round, especially in business. No matter what kind of consultant you are—even a career coach or lifestyle consultant—you’ll want to frame your business in a way that shows you either save or make money. How would you do that? Let’s look at a branding consultant, for example. A branding consultant, helps their customers create a visual, personal brand and story. They do this through helping their clients choose the appropriate logo to convey the type of image and messaging they’d like people to see. A proper image can help your client land new business, get promoted, or get elected in public office. So, even though it doesn’t outwardly appear that a branding consultant could save or make money, they certainly can. All you must do is determine your spin. 3. Build your network and online presence. Connect with local business owners at networking events and tradeshows when possible. Collect business cards, email addresses, or connect on LinkedIn. In the digital space, connect with people related to your ideal client on LinkedIn. Create a professional online presence using social media and use it to share thoughts and writings about categories of services that you offer. Social media is a great way to connect with people on a personal level, but also be sure to create a website and update your Google My Business listings to ensure that casual lookers searching for services like yours have a way to find you. 4. Determine your onboarding process One area that can get a little messy at first is how to onboard a new client. It’s vital that you set the boundaries and expectations of this working relationship right out of the gate and in writing. However, it’s good not to come swinging aggressively with the legalese. Try to determine an onboarding process that is welcoming, friendly, and customer-focused. Before signing your first batch of clients, take time to create some template contracts, proposals, and helpful onboarding documentation like welcome emails and frequently asked questions. When it’s time to sign a customer, be sure to put their needs first (while also ensuring that your business is protected). Listen to their concerns and tailor their contract and proposals to their individual needs. Your onboarding process should be quick, seamless, and painless. Ensure that each customer feels welcomed, heard, and understands your expectations of them, including boundaries, payment dates, work due dates, and if they have any “homework” to make your partnership effective. Starting your own business is an exciting venture. Consulting can be extremely rewarding. After all, you’ll directly help individuals or companies improve and grow. What’s more satisfying than that? Just remember to spend time developing your brand, process, and network before you dive too far into the self-employed deep end. You’ll save yourself a world of headaches with just a little bit of forethought and preparation.
How to Choose a Sales Automation Tool in 3 Simple Steps Posted on July 3, 2019 by Tegan Arnold Some business tasks, like closing a deal, will almost always require a human touch. But many other parts of the process, such as gathering and scoring leads, can be made more efficient through the help of technology. Sales automation tools help by putting tasks like calendar notices and lead nurturing emails into a logical sequence of automatic steps. Software triggers and carries out these steps without the need for human intervention. This saves human workers tremendous time and effort. If, like most businesses, you recognize the value of using a sales automation tool, the next step is choosing which one is right for your needs. This can be challenging, as there are many products on the market claiming to be the best. Here are a few tips for determining which software is best suited for your business. First, figure out what you want to automate. Take a look at the sales processes you currently have in place. Let’s say your normal protocol is to meet prospects at events, exchange business cards, schedule phone calls, send proposals and then close the deal over the phone. In order to add value, the sales automation tool you choose must be able to accommodate that process. If you’re not sure what tasks and processes can be automated, here are a few examples: Qualifying leads based on a set of criteria to prioritize the order in which your sales team should contact them. Nurturing leads through automated content marketing, to keep prospects engaged and build trust. Scheduling follow-up calls at specified intervals. Cross selling to existing customers who’ve bought related products. Emailing renewal notices for services about to expire. Sending reminders to sign proposals and contracts that you’ve sent. Scheduling offers to be sent via email to boost seasonal sales. And this is really just a small sampling of the many sales activities that can be automated. Next, make a list of important features. In addition to the main processes you’d like to automate, you’ll also want to consider what product features you’ll need. For instance, if your team is remote or always on the go, mobile functionality may be extremely beneficial. Likewise, integration with existing tools and platforms, such as your email marketing program, is important. Otherwise you could end up doing a lot of manual legwork, which would defeat the purpose of using sales automation in the first place. Figure out which features are must-haves for your business and then compare each platform against that list of criteria. Finally, test the waters. Once you’ve got your list of automated processes and must-have features, you should be able to narrow down your options to a few contenders. From there, compare those tools to see which one is the best fit for your business needs. Ideally, taking each product for a test drive by scheduling an interactive demo should give you a more comprehensive picture of what each one has to offer and help you make a more informed decision. (To make things even easier, we’ve already done much of the legwork for you. Check out our automation tool comparisons here.) This may seem like a lot of work upfront, especially if you’re busy trying to keep your company afloat, but trust us – a little time invested now will pay off big time down the road. Follow the steps above, and you’ll be maximizing productivity and profitability through automation in no time.