Marketing and Sales Guru

There are 1,000 ways to invest your time every day as an internet marketer, you will never, ever run out of ways that you could improve what you are doing or expand what you are trying to accomplish. There are always more tools, methods, strategies, and avenues to explore than there are minutes in a day to even comprehend them.

Here are the top 4 time wasters I have seen in the internet marketing space:

1. Trying to please everyone who emails you with feedback about your product. Yes, you should “crowd source” and innovate and pay attention to both negative and positive feedback but if you focus too much on tweaking your product or service forever you will miss the next big opportunity coming your way.
2. Believe that more links are always better links. There is a lot that goes into SEO besides quantity of links nowdays to rank well so sit back and try to design your ideal link graph. How can you strategically gain links from the top 100 websites within your industry? Those links are typically worth more than 3,000 links that are from domains outside of your space.
3. Thinking that by throwing money at a problem it will get solved. Cash can serve as a catalyst but it does not create solutions and often by doing things the hard way you learn how to do them efficiently and you see the extra benefits of the approach. This is hard to balance as your websites grow bigger, stronger, and more diverse in their nature but never forget when you started how you ran your whole marketing campaign on a shoestring budget. You can waste a lot of time by waiting for problems to be solved just because you have spent some money on them – like everything else what you invest into something is what you will get out.
4. Moving in too many directions at once. It is tempting to go after every opportunity we see but as a result we don’t do anything very efficiently. This is the #1 time waster in the internet marketing, never be working on more than 5 priorities and always know what your #1 and #2 goals are so you can focus on those first every single day when you start working.

I hope these internet marketing time wasters are things that you and all of us can avoid as often as possible. Cheers.

tags: time management and internet marketing, time management, internet marketing, online marketing, how to invest my time in internet marketing, how to invest my marketing time, internet marketing time savers, how to be more efficient at internet marketing

When working together, marketing and sales can do wonders for a company of any size. For small companies, PR should also be added to the mix, as it helps to create trust and credibility in the eyes of your buyers. Marketing, on the other hand, can also help to do that, but it can do more in terms of advertising. Marketing should be used at all points of the customer experience. Whether the buyer is contemplating buying your product, or is at the check-out, marketing materials should be present.

This consistent presence of marketing materials can be less invasive than advertising, like TV ads. It can also help to remind the customer of your existence when the purchasing time comes. You want to be on their minds and the first one they think of when they need your product or service. Ways to help encourage this include customer quotes, your mission statement, your goals, accomplishments, and your expertise. If you know something about the industry that buyers should know in order to make the best, most well informed decision, share it with them! When it comes time to buy, they will remember that you’ve helped them in the decision making process, and perhaps be more inclined to buy from you.

Another way to remind buyers of your offerings is to use promotional tactics. Depending on your goal, there are a variety of tools you can use, including promotional events, like sponsoring a fundraiser, sponsoring a concert or festival that your target market frequents, etc. You can also use promotional items like reusable totes (if you’re target market is concerned with being environmentally friendly), water bottles, pens, etc. These items are like free advertising for you when they are used, and free items for your customers that they will hopefully use as well. Buyers are big, big fans of free things, but only if they’ll use them. What value does free information or items have if the customer finds them useless?

You can also do things like host a contest, raffle, or other sort of prize drawing. Not only will this help to generate interest in your product, you can also generate leads with the information gathered. Email addresses are vital pieces of information to gather. Though the customer may not want your email, and may simply delete it, it’s hard to ignore something your eyes see if the email is opened. You’ll be reminding them of the raffle, which should increase interest in the email more, and you’ll be reminding them of your company.

The best way to make use of these tactics is to be aware of customer feedback and to offer something more than just a pen. Offer a connection, and way to communicate with you. Use social media to give updates on the contests, to get in touch with people who’ve talked to/about you, and be there. There is nothing more annoying to a customer who’s complaint goes unnoticed because a company is unaware of the things being said about them. This sort of monitoring can help your company to avoid a crisis, and possibly diffuse a potentially bad situation. Negative WOM (word of mouth) can be rather detrimental.

Remember that marketing tactics are not meant to trick customers, but rather generate interest and offer them something of value that will make them glad they made the decision to talk to you, get to know more about your company, and see what you have to offer. This sort of satisfaction in their decision will make them even more likely to stay with you and make the move toward a sale.

Any company can satisfy a customer. Doing the minimal and exerting minimal effort can result in a satisfied customer, but in order to create a loyal customer, something more needs to happen. The entire sale experience needs to be different. It starts with the company, though, and regardless of how a customer acts, the company’s reaction is what makes or breaks the success of the customer’s experience.

Customers who become advocates/evangelists for your brand/company are indispensable; you cannot pay a customer to be an evangelist; they have to become one on their own. You can, however, help to encourage them to become one.  How do you do that? Well, you could:

1. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you want to be treated? How would you like your problem dealt with? Try to emulate that through your service offered.
2. Treat them with respect. Just like #1, how would you want to be treated? Avoid demeaning the customer, and talk to them with empathy, understanding, and with a solution in sight. Even if you’re unable to offer a solution right them, let them know that you’re working on one and that you’re doing something.
3. Go above and beyond. If you don’t normally offer something like what they’re asking for, but you’re able, do so! This can also change things and make the customer more apt to come to you again.
4. Offer something others don’t. Do your competitors offer a refund? No? Then offer one yourselves. Do they offer solutions for unhappy customers? Try doing that if they don’t. Doing something more, offering something more, can make your customers feel special and appreciated.
5. Make the buying (and returning) process painless. Customers have been through a maze of choices, emotions, and decision making once they get to the purchasing stage, so try to make the POS (point of sale) painless and easy. Avoid stipulations, too many options at the end, and be clear about your policies and set the right expectations for their ownership of your product. Setting the right expectations can help to decrease issues in the future, and being clear can help to lower confusion and anger.

Overall, the above things are all efforts to WOW your customer. It’s easy to make them thankful for your service, but to offer them something that they are more than pleased with, feel the need to share with others, and do share with others, is what sets companies apart from one another. A product is easy to duplicate, and any company can replicate the process of another, but to offer excellent customer service, that can’t be faked.

Customers get angry for one reason: their expectations were not met. Whether that be a product not working the way they expected, a sale not being there, or a price being different, a customer can get angry for many reasons that are not the fault of the company. This can make the job of the customer service representative a tough one. Making sure that you set the right expectations clearly and loudly can make the process easier, so be sure to be up-front and clear. If you think you’ve been clear, turn it up a bit and be even more clear.

So, how are you treating your customers? Are you turning them into evangelists?

There is really only one way to ensure your marketing tactics are effective and successful. It’s a rather simply way, yet many people seem to forget this vital component, and continue to do the opposite. They avoid the responsibility and ownership of their creations, and they create things that only damage their brand. I’m talking about copywriting. Your content used in content marketing tactics is what makes or breaks the success of your efforts.

You can have awesome aesthetics, keyword optimization, and all the best product specs, but those alone can’t save you from terrible copy. Customers gauge your intelligence and ability to handle their business through the only way they can: what you write. Online, you are your words, the ones you write and speak (if you do videos). If your content is crappy, unedited, and just submitted without much thought, you can guarantee you’ll ward some potential customers off.

Here are some tips to creating excellent copy:

1. Proofread. This is a simple task companies appear to refuse to do. Reading copy that is sloppy, hard to decipher, and missing words is frustrating, and I often question the competence of the person and company writing that copy. This is not a hard thing to do, so do it! If you need help with your proofreading, hire someone to help you out!
2. Research. Figure out what people want to read about, and write about it for them. More importantly, figure out what your target market likes to read about, and create content targeted at them. This sort of research is pivotal to your success.
3. Offer something of value. In line with #2, you want to offer them something they’re interested in reading. You can also offer them something useful, like tips for solving a problem they’re currently facing.
4. Position yourself as an authority. When you write things well, cover topics that people are searching for and reading about, and offer something that they can actually use, you can greatly increase the chances that someone will come to you when it comes time to buy what you have to offer. If you can give them pointers on how to find or pick out the product you offer, or give them advice on how to use what you offer, they can see you as a more trustworthy and helpful source of information. This trust can then lead to them buying your product.
5. Tell them where to go next. Do you want them to download your eBook, sign up for your newsletter, leave a comment? Ask them to! They’ll be much more likely to do so if you make it clear to them what their next steps are.

Remember that customers are looking for help, looking for interaction, and hoping to be more a part of your company. Make them feel important (because they are), and treat them with respect. There are many more places for customers to get the same product these days, so be sure to appreciate them. Start off with writing something that they can read and process, and then go from there.

Social media is a great tool for any company. It not only helps to reiterate to your customers that you are more than just a company, but it can also help to create lasting relationships and dialogue with your buyers. Smaller companies seem to be hoping on the social media bandwagon faster than larger companies, which can be seen through numbers like this:
Percentage of Companies by Size using Social Media:

• Small businesses – 44%
• Medium businesses – 36%
• Large businesses – 23% (source)

These numbers are perhaps a result of the monetary savings only, but there is much more that social media can do for a company. They include:

1. WOM (word of mouth). Social media can be used as a PR or marketing tactic. When others talk about your company online and can link to you there, you can generate some positive PR and WOM.
2. Crisis management. In line with being able to monitor WOM, you can also respond. You have access to the people who are saying things about you (for the most part) and you can reply to them, even, at times, remedying the situation with solutions and answers they were looking for.
3. Brand Management. Being online makes you more aware of what’s being said about you. You are familiar and comfortable with the applications available to you, and you’re more likely to pay attention to what’s floating around cyberspace (also referred to as WOM).
4. Customer Engagement. Not only can you help to encourage positive WOM, you can interact with the people who are talking about it. Reward them for being your customer! Make them feel important and involved! These are crucial aspects to successful social media use, and you can greatly increase the good will customers can feel for you.

If you do use social media, be sure to measure the results and to keep an eye on things that are going on in different areas online that you may not be involved with. More importantly, however, is to first establish is social media is the right set of tools for you to use. Are your customers online? Can you see the benefits that social media can have for your company? Is everyone else in the company on board? Have you consulted with PR or marketing professionals about this step?

While there are a lot of companies online and partaking in social media, there may be reasons that others are not doing the same thing. If social media use (your tactic) doesn’t fall in line with what you’re trying to accomplish (your objectives), there’s is really little to no reason for you or your company to be using the tool. You will be wasting your time and resources on something that is not working toward a goal you’ve set as a company. Are you using social media because everyone else is? Are your customers even online? Answer these questions before you hop on that bandwagon; there may be a reason some of your competitors haven’t made the leap online either.

Are you using social media?

When looking to increase your revenues, it’s often recommended to go one way or another: find new leads, or lead old ones to repurchase. There doesn’t seem to be a happy medium that consultants or companies can agree upon. Old leads/customers are often sent to the client managers who maintain satisfaction for their customers, but they don’t remain in the sales teams’ hands to try and increase more sales per customer. Then, there’s the alternative, sales teams are the client managers who try to make more sales, but don’t worry about looking elsewhere for new leads.

There is a happy medium that can work for both ends of the spectrum. Here are a few tips to finding the mix that works best for you and your customers:

1. Define your strategies. These are the goals tied to the company’s overall objectives. What is the company aiming to do? Increase sales? Awareness? Sales per customer? Whatever it is, you have to know them before you can move on to step two.
2. Define your tactics. How are you going to reach those goals, meet those objectives? Create an action plan based on your strategies. This way, and only this way, will you be able to create meaningful actions that are related to the company’s objectives.
3. Think creatively. Many companies still do things without realizing or knowing why, and often continue to do them because they either worked in the past or are simply the way they’ve always done things. When doing steps one and two, take into consideration the things you’re already doing, and be willing and able to say, “maybe this isn’t the right way to gain this strategic goal…” Then you can continue to grow.
4. Implement your tactics. This is an important component to being able to see results. Assign responsibilities and put your tactics into place. Also prepare for step 5 by implementing measurement tools, guidelines, and benchmarks.
5. Evaluate. Take a look at the results. From the benchmarks you created previously, you should be able to see if your results were successful or not, based on the criteria already established. This is the only way you can improve future efforts to create an even better plan or course of action next time.

Remember that, though this may be useful here in business development planning and creating sales objectives, this method can and should be used for marketing, advertising, PR, and any other business venture. You need to know your goals (strategies) before you begin acting (tactics).

A large part of marketing success is usually measured in the success rate of media coverage or earned advertising. How does a company get that sort of coverage, though? Well, usually through pitching. Pitching is simply the title given to marketers and PR professionals sending out a “pitch”, which should be a targeted, informative, and relevant piece of literature that allows the media person being pitched to agree that the story is worth covering and featuring in their publication, blog, etc.

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Here are a few tips to pitching:

1. Avoid spamming people. You hate spam, right? Well, so does everyone else. If you think your news is the greatest piece of information that everyone needs to know, it most likely is not. (There are some exceptions, like a cure to cancer, or the abolition of nuclear weapons, but that’s usually dealt with by a PR firm or marketing professional who already has media connections. I digress.) Your news is only important to people who care about it. How do you know who cares about your news, you ask? It’s not that hard to figure out.
2. Do your homework. This is the “finding out who your target market is” step. If you don’t know what your target market is, there are a few steps you should be taking before you ever think of pitching the media. Step 1: Go back to your marketing plan. Don’t have one? Create one.
3. Find their sources of information. Once you’ve determined who your target market is, you can then figure out where they go for news, information, entertainment. What sites, blogs, publications, etc., do they frequent? Not sure? Look at the publications you have in mind to see who they define their target market as. You can probably go so far as to ask them what their target market is, or who they feel is their main consumer. If you’re still at a loss, look at forums, message boards, other bloggers; evaluate what they talk about and see where they go for more of their information.
4. Write a targeted pitch. Just finding the right publication to pitch is not enough. You have to find the right person who writes on your industry and would be interested in your story. Identify them in your pitch, and make it clear that you know what they’re enjoy writing (or simply write) on, and describe why your story would be a good fit. This ensures that what you send is indeed not spam.

Overall, remember to take into consideration their deadlines and time frames. There is no better way to be inconsiderate (and often moved to the trash) than ignoring what their publication calendar looks like (there are editorial calendars for bigger publications that are available to the public; for more information on editorial calendars, check out Public Relations Tools | What is an Editorial Calendar?.) This shows a great lack of respect and indicates that you very much find yourself more important than the person you’re contacting. Try to avoid doing this.

What are some tips you have for pitching? What have your successes been?

Marketing has made the move online. With so many people and customers online for everything from shopping to reading news, you had better have made the move as well. If not, you need to catch up!

Whether you plan to do a small campaign online or a large scale campaign that will last the life of the company, you need to create compelling, interesting, and relevant content for your website, blog, or social networking tools. There are many ways to write content for a website, press release, blog, etc, but here are a few tips to creating content that drives traffic:

1. Write well. This is biggest component of being successful in content marketing and online marketing. If you have nothing good to say and say it poorly, your outlook is a bit bleak. Know how to write to your target market (so, of course, you must first know who that is), and write in a manner that increase interest and also engages. This also means you need to proofread and get feedback.
2. Utilize SEO (search engine optimization) in your copy. This will greatly increase the number of search related traffic, meaning people are finding you based on what they are already looking for online. (I can’t think of a more targeted method to reach people other than advertising.)
3. Use different styles. Use lists (like this one), bold, or italicized text. These can help to draw attention to specific areas on a page, and can also help to make your information more easily consumed.
4. Make calls to action. Tell, or direct, your buyers to the places you want them to go. Where do you want to go on your website next? Do you want them to download your eBook? Make this clear and direct! People also like options, so give them many things to do on your site (but too many; there is a fine line), and offer them the ability to get in touch with you when they have a question, concern, or simply want to engage in conversation with you.

The most important thing to do with your online marketing: be there. Be available, be present, and use social media, websites, blogs, etc., as a method of communicating with your buyers, not simply to. Advertising and marketing methods of the past were very much a way to communicate to buyers, but the changing industry makes it easier, and in turn more important, to have two-way communications with your audiences.

While some companies may think online marketing is not for them, or that PR and marketing are things that only large companies need to worry about, I hope to change your mind. Marketing and PR are vital pieces to your overall puzzle and can make or break your success. Consumers and buyers want to be a part of your company, not simply someone your company sells to, so make them feel involved; they’ll reward you, and you company, for it.

How has marketing changed in your industry? Do you think you need to keep up with the ever-increasing shift to online methods?

Selling and sales results are pretty clear cut: you get what you put into your sales efforts. If your employees are unhappy, or if you do little to sell your product, you’ll likely do just that: sell little of your product.

So, what are the most important aspects to pay attention to when developing your sales plan and sales tactics? Let’s take a look at the 4 P’s of Marketing from a Sales perspective;  they will greatly help you to develop a successful sales plan:

1. Product: Are customers looking to buy what you are offering? Many companies forget to ask this question because they want to create a company, cause, product, or service that they are passionate about. This doesn’t necessarily mean someone else will feel the same way, let alone hundreds or thousands. It also doesn’t guarantee that another company isn’t already offering what you plan to offer, making your product somewhat obsolete.
2. Place: Also attached to the last idea in Product, are you offering your product in a place where people can access it, are willing to go to to obtain your product, or a place that your competition is not offering it? This is a crucial component of your sales success, and needs to be addressed. When it comes down to a product being the same as another product, place can make all the difference and make or break your success.
3. Promotion: Where are you advertising your product? Is your sales team getting enough leads from your marketing efforts? How is your sales team promoting the product when trying to qualify or close a sale with a customer? Advertising and sales promotions should be in line to create a transparent and consistent company.
4. Price: Though the sales team may not have much say in this area, it is also an important aspect to pay attention to. Know how your target buyer feels about price, what your competition is doing with prices for their similar products/services, and know how to improve your pitch in contrast to what your competition is doing.

How are you creating your sales plan? Are you including people from all areas of your business? If you are not, you may consider doing so in order to create a holistic approach to selling. You should also consider including your target buyer; most buyers are more than willing to tell you something about your product or service, and often times there’s a person willing to tell you it for free. Talk to your audience, your target buyer, and the buyers you already have; you may get some enlightening feedback.

Though entering the sales world can be a tough transition from the safety and security of college (or your past job) there are many rewards available to successful sales professionals. That can include things like increased pay, increased/professional training, opportunities for advancement, etc. To elaborate on some of those things, here are 4 items to prepare yourself for when taking on a sales job:

1. Hard work. Sales is tough. Even with the right personality, sales can be a daunting job that takes a lot out of you. Being a successful sales pro means that you’ll have to work hard to overcome fears, take constructive criticism, and move on when things are taken personally. This also means that you’ll have to put in the time and effort to close sales, find new leads, and offer something of value to your customers, which can also be hard more. Moreover, you must work hard to stay moral and ethical, especially when working in an environment that does not condone that sort of workplace.
2. Rewards. As mentioned above, there are great opportunities to a sales professional who does well and works hard, as #1 indicated is important and necessary for a sales position. These rewards have to be earned, however, and things like larger pay than other entry-level jobs involves that hard work to earn things like commissions and bonuses.
3. Training. I include this here and in the rewards mentioned in the first paragraph because it can be something of a reward as well as something is simply another aspect of hard work required to move up in a business. This training will benefit you in the long-run, however, so take advantage of what is being taught to you as a sales professional.
4. Working differently. This can be in a team, on your own, during weird hours, or in an entirely different work environment, like outside of an office or in a warehouse. Be prepared to work together with others as a team as that sort of collaboration is best when it comes to sales. It can also create better relationships and moral throughout a team, so be sure to be a real team player. You may need your teammate’s help in the future, and they may need yours.

The downside to the sales career? You must have the personality and characteristics of a sales professional. While there is a difference between the dreaded “salesman” and the sales professional, both require the ability to be outgoing, indifferent to negative feedback, and unaffected by rejections. Another downside is the fact that while companies definitely look to hire someone with experience, most companies look to hire professionals from their sales teams when it comes to moving someone up to the marketing, advertising, etc., positions. That can make it hard to compete with people who’ve already gone through the sales gauntlet.

Just remember to do your best, take things as they come, and be prepared for the above. Knowing what to expect can greatly increase your chances of success, and knowing up front that sales is not the most enjoyable career path is something that will help you to reach your goals if sales is just the first stop. No matter what, though, be sure to give your all, even if you do not plan to stay in sales. Not all sales professionals have to be the cheesy car-salesman, and if you don’t want to be that person, don’t. Be the salesperson you want to be, and remember that you’re there to help the customer, who is the only reason you have a job in the first place.

What tips do you have for someone looking to enter the sales industry?