If there"s one time of year to kick your email campaign up a notch, it"s over the holidays. Email marketing is a tried-and-true way to advertise upcoming …
Four E-Commerce Mistakes You Need To Avoid This Holiday Season
Posts mit dem Label Need werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label Need werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Four E-Commerce Mistakes You Need To Avoid This Holiday Season
Four E-Commerce Mistakes You Need To Avoid This Holiday Season
Need assistance in building an affiliate marketing website, using
- Posted21 hours ago
- Proposals 8
- Remote
- #954248
Description
Experience Level: Intermediate
Estimated Job duration: less than 1 week
Hello,
I require a person with experience in web development (comfortable using WordPress), to assist/tutor me in building a website for affiliate marketing.
I know how to use the WordPress tools, and already have a WordPress site up and running. Require tutelage customizing the site to be optimized for affiliate marketing.
New Proposal
Clarification Board
- Yesterday
Hi
Interesting project,Shall we discuss the requirements in detail?Lets Discuss on PPH or Skype. Will finalize the bid once we discuss in details.
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Kanita Ali. - Yesterday
Hi John,
Do you have a particular affiliate management plugin in mind that you want training on?
Thanks
Alan
- Yesterday
Hello,
What would be the budget for this job.?
- Yesterday
Hello John,
I have been through your requirement, and would like to discuss more with you regarding same.
Could you please let me know the time convenient to you for further discussion? This would help me to provide you with exact quote and days required for the same.
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
- Yesterday
Hello John,
Can we discuss this project further in detail as i am having 8 + years of experience in this field.
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
- Yesterday
Hi John, Is it possible to have a discussion ?
Thanks
- Yesterday
Can we discuss this project in detail, to make it successful.
Please initiate the message board and i will send you the link of my past work in wordpress.
Looking forward to talk you soon.
Regards
- Yesterday
Hello John
I already done many websites in past, Please share the link the website, So i can review your website. I am available for discussion.
Thanks
Need assistance in building an affiliate marketing website, using
What Merchants Need to Know About Affiliate Fraud
Affiliate marketing has grown from a new tool to a multi-billion dollar industry over the past two decades, and like any relatively new process, it has admirers—including the merchants who are projected to spend $4.5 billion on affiliate marketing in 2016—and critics, who raise concerns about the potential for fraud.
As with ecommerce in general, merchants who prioritize fraud prevention and detection will benefit the most from affiliate marketing relationships, while those who don’t do their research are putting their revenue stream, reputation and banking relationships at risk.
Fortunately for merchants, there are established practices to get affiliate marketing right. Recognizing the forms that affiliate fraud can take, understanding the consequences, and following safety recommendations can reduce the risks.
Many Types of Affiliate Fraud
As with credit card fraud, affiliate fraudsters have developed a number of URLS (“typosquatting”), and outright malware. In the most extreme cases, fraudulent affiliates make purchases with stolen credit card data or lure customers with false product claims.
The Consequences of Affiliate Fraud
Cookie-stuffing and other tricks that allow affiliates to claim credit for transactions they didn’t generate costs merchants money in wasted commission payments. The loss might only amount to a few hundred dollars if the merchant is vigilant and catches the fraud early, but in some cases thieves will get away with millions. Perhaps the most high-profile example involved eBay affiliates who authorities say bilked the company out of up to $35 million.
Commission losses are reason enough to take an aggressive stance against affiliate fraud, but the damage can go much farther. Customers who buy based on false or misleading claims made by scam affiliates are almost certain to file chargeback requests—as are consumers whose stolen card data is used to make commissioned purchases. By that time, of course, the duplicitous affiliate has already received a hefty commission, so the targeted merchant is liable for the lost commission, the lost product or service, and chargeback fees. On top of that, false affiliate promises can wreck a company’s reputation among shoppers, and excessive chargebacks can raise processing rates or even shut down a merchant’s banking relationships altogether.
How Merchants Can Protect Their Affiliate Programs
The single best practice a merchant can follow is to get to know their partners in affiliate marketing. This includes not only outside program managers and network contacts but the affiliates themselves. Merchants can meet prospective affiliates, build lasting relationships, and keep up with the latest developments at industry events like Affiliate Summit and in online forums for merchants and affiliates. Depending upon the size of the business and the resources available for in-house affiliate marketing, merchants should either vet prospective affiliates individually or through a trusted affiliate program manager.
All merchants should take the following steps, as well. Gather, keep and regularly review as much program information as possible, such as IP addresses, referring URLS, and chargeback code data to see if patterns are developing that might indicate affiliate fraud. Some merchants have been able to spot cookie-stuffing schemes early on by reviewing this data daily or even hourly.
Ensure that your payment service provider (PSP) will screen new affiliates and incoming referrals to ensure that they don’t originate from IP addresses that are on suppression lists, to stop fraud before it starts. Create offers that contain fraud-abatement tools to verify and screen incoming traffic.
Regularly visit affiliates online to ensure that they’re presenting the company’s products and services accurately, without language that might mislead customers and lead to chargebacks and reputation damage. Finally, train employees to contact customers if there is a concern about an affiliate-referred transaction, to confirm the legitimacy of the purchase before fulfilling the order.
Managing risk in affiliate programs does take time and vigilance, but the rewards for merchants are a larger pool of prospective customers, more sales, and good relationships with customers, partners, and banks.
Kirsty Tull is marketing manager at BillPro
What Merchants Need to Know About Affiliate Fraud
Even mobile telcos need to step up their mobile marketing: Facebook
SINGAPORE – Just because they built the networks that have helped give mobile phones a starring role in consumer life doesn’t mean telcos are better than anyone else at mobile marketing, according to Facebook.
In fact, telcos in APAC direct more than 90 percent of their marketing spend to traditional channels like TV because it’s “what they’re used to,” Jane Schachtel, global head of technology and mobile strategy at Facebook, told Campaign Asia-Pacific. Meanwhile they spend only 4.5 percent on mobile marketing.
“The very industry responsible for the largest shift in consumer behaviour in recent history should adapt their business to that shift,” Schachtel said.
Facebook has ramped up its efforts to help telco operators in Southeast Asia better engage with mobile consumers. The social platform wants to help APAC telcos own the entire customer journey on mobile.
The main problem facing telcos is not brand awareness, but differentiation in what is often a very “tight market”, said Schachtel.
“To many consumers, their telco has become no more than a SIM card,” she added. “The challenge is to extend the customer relationship beyond just the SIM.”
Instagram now included
In September, Facebook made its advertising platform available in the Asia Pacific region, and since then more brands in the region have signed up to execute campaigns.
For example, Schachtel pointed to a recent effort the company conducted with Dtac in Thailand via Instagram. The branding campaign was centred on bringing “connectivity to life”.
The use of Instagram is a new inclusion to many telcos’ existing activity with Facebook, which has begun to gain momentum in the last year.
For example in Indonesia, Indosat used Facebook to promote its ‘Super Internet’ service.
In less than six weeks, the brand recorded a 19-point lift in ad recall among 25- to 40-year-olds, according to Nielsen’s Brand Effect.
“We gained 26,000 new subscribers thanks to our Facebook activity,” said Prashant Gokarn, chief strategy and planning officer, Indosat. “And unlike other ad platforms, we were able to accurately measure the return on investment.”
Beyond campaigns to the journey
As one of the most popular mobile apps in use in the region, Facebook and Instagram are already mainstay channels in any media plan.
But the company has expanded its pitch to telcos, moving beyond running campaigns on its platform to enabling a more sustained engagement point with consumers.
“We’re offering a way to own and manage their entire customer journey on Facebook,” said Schachtel. “From brand awareness, product launches, subscriber acquisition, upselling, to support and retention.”
She added that telcos in many Southeast Asia countries, including Thailand, aren’t aware of who is on their network.
“With the identity platform that Facebook is, and additional insights on what operator network or what device a user is on, marketers can precisely target the right audience,” said Schachtel.
Combined with the telco’s own data, a robust and dynamic picture of users emerges that can be leveraged to execute initiatives such as identifying when a user is in the market for a new phone or open to additional products.
In addition, telcos can use support apps that open up avenues to re-engage with users post-purchase and become channels for in-app conversions.
“For example, with churn prevention, we can be a telco’s strategic partner in identifying users and delivering programmes that that will build brand loyalty, Schachtel added.
“The customers’ journey is ongoing, evolving, over time, on mobile,” she said. “Telcos can reach them about any of these messages, any time where they are spending their time.”
Asked how many telcos in the region the company is working with, Schachtel said that it works with “most of the major players” in every market to varying extents.
“It’s a matter of understanding and adapting to a mobile-first environment, and many telcos are open about having this conversation,” she added.
Even mobile telcos need to step up their mobile marketing: Facebook
Optimizing Email Marketing for Mobile: 6 Things You Need to Consider
Mobile continues to account for a greater share of email opens. A study from Movable Ink found that in Q1 2015, 67% of all U.S. email opens occurred on a mobile device. This trend will continue, therefore optimizing your email campaigns for mobile is no longer optional.
The staggering growth in mobile usage—and the opportunity it presents for marketers—has prompted many to refer to mobile as “the new inbox.” Mobile has enabled an always-on inbox, as many of us find ourselves regularly checking our email wherever we are. And users have come to expect for the emails they receive to be mobile-friendly. A study from BlueHornet found that when email isn’t mobile-friendly, 80% will delete the email and 30% will unsubscribe.
It’s more than simply being “mobile-friendly” from a technical standpoint (although that is critical – see #1), it’s also thinking about your email design and content from a mobile-first perspective. Here are several mobile-specific things you should consider to ensure your emails are optimized for a mobile audience.
1. Use a responsive or scalable mobile template
Mobile-friendly email templates have come a long way in the past few years, with most of the reputable ESPs and marketing automation platforms providing responsive or scalable mobile frameworks that can be used to create your custom emails. Scalable emails are typically a narrow, single column design that uses large text. They will basically look the same regardless of what device they are viewed on. As with responsive web design, a responsive email template will allow your email to look “normal” on a desktop client, but will adjust the content nicely to a mobile device. Responsive templates will give you more flexibility with your design—allowing you to use multiple columns and optimize for mobile users, while also maintaining the desktop experience.
Recommended for YouWebcast: 5 Essentials Sales Managers Need to Know to Crush your Quarter
If you have a well-established email marketing program, this will likely necessitate the rebuilding of many different email templates, auto responders, triggered emails and lead nurturing campaigns. But don’t let the extra work prevent you from converting! Starting with a mobile-friendly, responsive template is the first (and arguably most critical) step in optimizing your email for mobile.
2. Keep your email short, sweet and to-the-point
Mobile users are often multitasking or on the move; they’re in meetings, sitting at a stop light, standing in line at the store or walking down the hall at work. Email can be deleted ever so quickly on a mobile device, so it’s important to make sure your subject line and main copy are enticing, engaging and to-the-point. Creating short and engaging subject lines is key to bringing in readers and making sure they open your email (note that iPhones only allow 32 characters before cutting off the subject line).
And once they’ve opened your email, be sure it contains quality content with relevant information, a compelling offer and a clear call-to-action. Make your design clean, simple and uncluttered. Don’t succumb to the temptation to cram a lot of text in the email; be concise, use easy-to-read fonts and make it easy on the eyes. If your email contains several sections with a lot of content, create a simple table of contents at the top with anchor links that allows users to easily jump to the portions of the email that they are most interested in.
3. Utilize the preheader
You always want your emails to stand out in the inbox and get opened. The preheader is the short summary text and the first item that follows a subject line when an email is viewed in the inbox. Most people simply include a “view in a browser” link or something similar. You should always include the option for the reader to view the email in a browser, but you might want to consider putting something more important in front of that link. The preheader might be a great place to include a summary of your email’s purpose or a call-to-action, since this will be one of the first things that gets displayed in your reader’s inbox.
4. Make your call-to-action buttons finger-friendly
Speaking of calls-to-action (CTA), a typical adult finger covers 45 pixels when pressed on mobile screen, so create your CTAs with this in mind. Make sure your CTA images are padded to avoid frustrating tap errors. The easier it is to click on a button, the more likely it is your readers actually will. It’s also best to use “bulletproof buttons” for CTAs instead of images. Bulletproof buttons are built using basic HTML and CSS and they’re more efficient than images. Lastly, don’t overlook the way you handle links. Smaller screens can make links unclear especially when they are surrounded by clutter. So set links to stand out and make them easy to tap on using a tag and a contrasting color.
5. Be intentional with your use of images
While images can certainly enhance your emails, try to strike a balance between text and images. Your emails shouldn’t be entirely dependent on images; rather the images should support the text that conveys the message you’re trying to get across. Also, when it comes to using images, the smaller the file sizes the better. Mobile devices typically have slower download speeds than desktop computers, so keeping the image file sizes small can really help with the email downloading quickly and efficiently. It also helps your subscribers be less frustrated and less likely to delete your email before it loads.
6. Test, test and test again
Don’t waste all your hard work optimizing your emails without testing extensively! Testing is a critical step in anything digital, and mobile-optimized emails are no different. After you’ve set up your email, be sure to test it thoroughly on all types of mobile devices, as iPhones and Androids render emails differently. And just like each web browser renders web pages differently, email clients (e.g. Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc.) do as well. Check to make sure that your links work properly, images load quickly and what displays in the preview pane is going to get you an open. And one last check on spelling and to make sure your offer or purpose is clear and compelling won’t hurt either.
With more people viewing emails on mobile devices, you don’t want your email deleted simply because it’s not optimized for mobile users. And more importantly, you want your emails to fulfill their intended purpose—getting opens, click-throughs and ultimately conversions. While there are certainly others, hopefully these considerations will help you make that happen.
Optimizing Email Marketing for Mobile: 6 Things You Need to Consider
TrueShip Drops New Guide Covering 17 Ecommerce Marketing Tips & Tools You Need Now
SCOTTSDALE, AZ –(Marketwired – July 07, 2015) – TrueShip (http://www.TrueShip.com) has just released a brand new guide that reveals 17 ecommerce marketing tips and tools that you need now.
The expansive juggernaut that is the internet rakes in an estimated $1.5 million nearly every 30 seconds. In 2014, over $300bn was hauled in, setting a new annual record for US online sales. Experts are projecting that in 2015, sales will eclipse $345bn, marking the strongest year-over-year growth yet.
With millions of retailers competing in an increasingly crowded online space, a unique approach is necessary to break the mold and make one’s store stand out from the rest of the pack. As the leading provider of ecommerce shipping software, TrueShip routinely issues detailed guides that are designed to help its users earmark successes.
The newest guide by TrueShip delivers 17 ecommerce marketing tips and tools that everyone in this industry should be using, including:
-- Integrated FAQ pages that are self-learning.
-- Providing a multimedia shopping experience.
-- Utilizing multiple selling platforms.
-- Why email marketing is still very much alive.
-- The importance of the live chat option.
-- Donating products to gain blogger coverage.
-- Making checkout as fast and as easy as possible.
-- Cross-promoting products.
-- Cashing in on digital coupons.
-- Announcing sales and events to the press.
-- Price-matching to gain more conversions.
-- The benefits of integrated customer feedback models.
-- Long form content marketing and placement.
-- Social engagement and referral tactics.
-- Finding niche long tail keywords for content outreach.
-- Retargeting bounced users to improve conversions.
-- The value of a strong and automated returns policy.
-- Illustrated infographic of must-know ecommerce facts.
“A business is only as good as the tools that it can use to expand and generate revenue,” explained Michael Lazar, Director of Online Marketing at TrueShip. “In our new guide, we deliver 17 timeless ecommerce marketing tips and tools to help our users improve their conversion funnel.”
You can read TrueShip’s newest guide by visiting: http://www.trueship.com/blog/2015/07/07/17-ecommerce-marketing-tips-tools-you-need-now/#.VZx6YEYY3QI.
About TrueShip
#ShipSmarter — TrueShip is the original architect of multi-carrier ecommerce shipping software. ReadyShipper shipping software integrates into the most widely used shopping carts and online marketplaces. It is an easy-to-use order fulfillment solution designed to save e-retailers time and money.
Start a 14-day trial of ReadyShipper shipping software by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyShipper.
About ReadyReturns
#ReturnsHappen — ReadyReturns is a customer-facing, plug-and-play, self-service online product returns software solution. It integrates into virtually any website without any programming. ReadyReturns lets customers make returns from a website by filling out a simple form and printing the return shipping label. E-retailers set the rules of the returns, including things like return shipping and restocking fees.
Start a 30-day trial of ReadyReturns by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyReturns.
Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT61wv8wud8
Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY7ZCN_9myo
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Press Contact
Michael Lazar
Director of Online Marketing
Tel: (877) 818-7447
Email: support@trueship.com
TrueShip Drops New Guide Covering 17 Ecommerce Marketing Tips & Tools You Need Now
5 Reasons You Need to Be Targeting Mobile Email Users
In recent years, a growing percentage of people have made the transition from desktop to mobile, choosing the latter as their leading digital platform. Web browsing, online shopping and checking emails on mobile have become the norm, especially when all it takes is just a few apps to consume your time with. Mobile has become our “friend”, replacing the same role the desktop filled not too long ago. In order to maintain that friendship, here are a few reasons why it’s important to target mobile users, especially via emails.
- Mail is more popular on mobile. Fact.
According to a study conducted last summer, 52% of Americans prefer surfing on mobile over the traditional desktop platform. The numbers may not come as a surprise, as the importance of mobile in our daily lives increases by the hour, including our emails.
Since 2011, there’s been a tremendous growth for emails on mobile platforms, slowly but steadily replacing the desktop as the preferred choice for opening emails. For the past 4 years, email opening on smartphones and tablets has increased with an astounding 500%. These days, more than 50% open emails on their smartphones rather than desktops. The numbers don’t lie – with the steady growth of email apps and mobile consumption, more people will shift to mobile emails, and that’s where the targeting focus should be.
- MMM = Mail’s Making Money
It’s all about the money, and a recent study shows that mobile is gaining plenty by email clicks. According to Yesmail, an email marketing solutions provider, mobile email revenue has risen in 12% from Q4 2014 to Q1 2015, and the numbers are expected to grow even more as the year winds down.
Recommended for YouWebcast: Answers to the Top 10 Email Marketing Questions
The statistics are even more astonishing, as 45% of email opens have occurred on mobile while 36% were done on desktop, indicating how mobile email has become more popular. However, one head popping question comes to mind – how did mobile email revenue grow when basically emails apps don’t cost a thing?
Social media and messaging apps are usually free of charge, and the same applies to email apps, as mobile users wouldn’t purchase a service they wouldn’t pay for on desktop. Yet, mobile email didn’t earn money miraculously – like any good app or service, it finds ways to make money. It all depends on the users.
- Everything’s become smarter. Even emails.
Mobile users became smarter with time, knowing what suits them right. A top reason for the success of mobile email is the fact that users have a better knowledge of what they’re looking for, especially when it comes to apps. Mobile users wish to save their time while browsing on their smartphones, and checking emails is a time consuming action, especially at work. And as the old saying goes – time is money. Many users have reached the conclusion that if they’re already reading emails on their phones, then why go through all the trouble of viewing their mail accounts when those can be combined? The same users decided to make their email accounts clutter free, using apps like MailWise to keep all their emails in one place. This move may sound trivial, but for many users, this may be equivalent to an epiphany.
![[ File # csp5043548, License # 1665188 ] Licensed through http://www.canstockphoto.com in accordance with the End User License Agreement (http://www.canstockphoto.com/legal.php) (c) Can Stock Photo Inc. / Arsgera](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v6dnftUbRYxU3Hws0Ulqq-gvTqwPYqan7b8F9kr5X8QQqxw540gsYGLRxSrZE-hZcuyfPlx15C9J59WCGLYoqIig5SY7i6WwYORU_4CdRv-V_8m3H2gGDNidqeGh027SBUNuMbboOilpspubgKCiEFchadpuKO_dYFM29AX_7J-6L-gFpjK1_DPDmMi_LuEg=s0-d)
- Making purchases via emails.
When reading emails, many users take the time to go over social and promotional updates, checking out online sales and bargains, along with reading the standard work emails. Then again, the idea of bidding for that item on the eBay app suddenly doesn’t sound too bad. Moreover, in 2014, e-commerce, and online sales have generated an amazing revenue of $304,100,000,000. With the growing use of smartphones and phablets for online shopping, the numbers will keep getting bigger by the end of the decade.
Not only will mobile sales improve and have better conversion rates, as mobile technology and its accompanying devices will enhance rapidly as well. The mobile experience is consistently improving, and each generation of smartphones outdoes its prior. Smartphones have become bigger, better, faster, and more important – becoming a product which is our second nature.
- The ads do work.
An integral part of that nature is to click, stop and shop till we drop. In this case, all done with the touch of our fingers. The same fingers that click on emails will continue to push the “buy” button, generating revenue for retailers, emails and any company or app that does business on mobile.
Mobile users are apparently a great target for advertisers. Contrary to popular belief, mobile ads draw not only clicks, but conversions as well. Although users don’t click on too many mobile ads, it’s still a good way to catch their attention, especially if the ads are located in their email apps. The clicks won’t always lead to a purchase, but they will lead to your product, and that’s a start.
Looking for the perfect experience.
Mobile users have become smart users, as they are always looking for the best experience when browsing on various apps. Mobile companies are aware of that need and work their way to supply that demand, searching for the best ways to improve their products and services. Shopping apps, mobile and desktop alike, aren’t the only apps that will continue their steady improvement – email apps will also be easier to handle, giving a better user experience and a friendlier approach for reading multiple emails and maintaining accounts. Mobile consumers will always look for ways to simplify the experience of online shopping. Their wishes will be granted when email and shopping apps will integrate better, the buying process will become easier, giving users the experience they’re looking for, as well as generating revenue for mobile emails, which function much more than just for reading mail at home or at work.
5 Reasons You Need to Be Targeting Mobile Email Users
4 email landscape updates you need to know
With the news that Salesforce is being pursued by at least one buyer in yet another possible round of consolidation, marketers looking for a new email services provider are facing more interesting questions than they did in the past. Questions regarding who has the best platform, best service, or the lowest CPM are being replaced by questions regarding who is going to be distracted by a merger or how a particular vendor’s business model is potentially going to change over time.
Understanding the tectonic shifts that have been occurring in the enterprise ESP space over the past couple of years — and are continuing today — is essential before beginning any RFP process. So this month we’ll take a very high-level view of the ESP landscape and how certain types of vendors approach the world of email marketing.
What’s up with all these cloud-based email solutions?
Most of the acquisition action over the past couple of years has occurred with cloud-based technology companies buying ESPs to extend their offerings for customers. Adobe acquired Neolane, Salesforce acquired ExactTarget, IBM acquired Silverpop, and finally Oracle acquired Responsys (and Eloqua). Like so many other terms in the marketing technology space, the words “cloud-based” are basically a new way of saying something is software-as-a-service. But those words are crucial in that they reflect how these companies are going to approach their email clients in the future.
Horizontal alignment of a suite of sales, service, and marketing tools is a core strategy of these companies with a focus on the technology side of the solution. Whatever the individual ESPs were before they were acquired, they are now part of larger companies that more often than not rely on a number of various partners to provide the services side of the equation. Don’t misinterpret me here; I’m not saying they are getting out of the services side of things. But it is not their focus because that’s not how technology companies think. Their partners include systems integrators as well as independent email agencies, so you will always be able to get the support you need — but it just might involve another vendor.
What about the MSP email platforms?
Before the cloud company acquisition spree of the past couple of years, back in 2003 and 2004, we saw the first acquisition spree by what are known as marketing services providers (MSPs). Back then saw Epsilon acquire Bigfoot Interactive, Acxiom purchased Digital Impact, Experian bought CheetahMail, and InfoUSA acquired Yesmail. There were other acquisitions at the time, but these were the big four.
MSPs at the time provided database marketing solutions. Because email marketing was becoming more and more data-driven, it seemed like a good fit for all these companies to add ESPs and have more things to sell to their data clients. By and large it was a good fit, as these companies all remain players in the email ecosystem to one degree or another. What sets these companies apart from the cloud-based solutions is their approach to servicing email clients. As a group, they bring a much broader service mentality to the table, with all of them offering a robust array of agency-type services for their clients. And rather than take the horizontal approach of the cloud companies (everything you need with one vendor), the MSPs continue to deploy a more vertical strategy — the data and the tools you need to deploy and analyze marketing campaigns.
What about point solutions?
One of the great things about email marketing is the constant innovation and rejuvenation in the sector. Many of the companies just acquired by the cloud-based companies rose to prominence as independent point solutions after the last round of acquisitions. And we already see a similar pattern today with a new wave of email point solutions, many with a unique approach to solving problems around greater personalization, lowered costs, cloud-based infrastructure, and much more. We reported on several of these in our 2015 Relevancy Ring Buyer’s Guide — companies like Sailthru, MessageGears, Message Systems (old company, new email solution), PostUp, and WhatCounts. They all can handle enterprise clients and are attracting more and more attention from large email marketers.
Multichannel vs. email only?
This is a bit of a trick question since most email platforms today incorporate at least some degree of multichannel capabilities. With some companies it’s through partnerships and easy integrations. With others, it’s native functionality built into the platform. Or it’s a combination. In any case, while currently the use of these multichannel capabilities by email marketers is in its early stages, the longer-term imperative to deploy will grow.
Marketers looking to use data from one channel to drive communications in another, or looking for more-accurate attribution models or even digital media optimization, will look to their email partners to provide the tools and strategies to drive these efforts. So even if you are email-only today, you’ll need to be thinking about tomorrow when it comes to partner selection. At a minimum, you’ll want to ensure that your email engagement data is easy to integrate into broader reporting and analytic tools you might be using.
Chris Marriott is the vice president of services and principal consultant at The Relevancy Group.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
4 email landscape updates you need to know
Need Help to Convince Your Team to Adopt Inbound Marketing?
If you are a business owner, sales or marketing professional you know the struggle of generating new sales when growing a company. We have all been in a place where we need to sign new clients to keep the business growing. This means delivering more leads into the sales funnel and convert them into long lasting customers.
Throughout your research on how to achieve growth you found Inbound Marketing. It seems to be a technique which is no longer guess work, but data driven. You share it with your team, hoping everyone understands how it helps get more traction. And then, a simple reply kills the drive: “We have always sold like this, it works, it is hard work but it works.”
So how do you convince them that it is not only about hard work, but efficient work? How do you bring the message that marketing and sales have changed and that you could achieve more using Inbound Marketing? As with every sales pitch (because this is a sales pitch to them) the best approach is to be prepared with hard facts, data and a simple plan everyone understands.
Build up context
Review your business goals and results
Write down the business goals your company needs to achieve, and use them to make your case. Your management or team work hard to achieve the traction the company needs and they will favor strategic, documented facts and solutions. Lead generation, client conversion and new sales channels are a priority for business growth.
Recommended for YouWebcast: How to Create Content for Human Beings: A B2B Marketing Intervention
Use your sales targets and go back to calculate how sales is performing. The goal is to showcase the current situation and achieve agreement on it, not cast blame or point fingers.
You want to discuss about:
- What tools do you use in your sales efforts? How about marketing efforts?
- What are the business goals? Leads, customers, revenue?
- How much does it cost you to acquire a customer?
- What are your marketing and sales efforts currently focused on?
- Divide your customers based on how they were acquired: cold calling, networking, online marketing.
- How do you find top leads? What is the cost per lead?
- What is the cost of qualifying a lead?
- Do you reach your leads at the right time?
- What is the lead-to-conversion rate?
You want to have numbers ready on: leads generated monthly, leads to customer conversion, time spent on generating new leads, cost of qualifying leads, lead nurturing costs, customer aquisition cost.
Transition to Inbound Numbers
Once you presented the current situation, transition to Inbound Marketing data. The numbers are by now widely available, and can provide a good reference against your current situation. Considering your sales targets and challenges, select the best statistics to make your case. A good way forward is to start with general data and move into specifics. Below a few important stats to consider.
Inbound works for B2B
B2B companies see the same return on investment as B2C companies when it comes to Inbound Marketing. In their annual report, Hubspot shows that the ROI is similar regardless of the type product or service you offer.
A quarter of all B2B Fortune 500 companies are already using marketing automation, along with 76% of the world’s largest SaaS companies, according to Pardot.
Content brings visibility
Creating targeted content supports generating visibility. Blogging is important as it can add up significant traffic advantages. Traffic growth is important especially if content addresses potential customers. According to Hubspot, an average company will see a 45% growth in traffic when increasing total blog articles from 11-20 to 21-50. Remember though that adding more visitors to the website is irrelevant if they are not close to your target market.
Blogs DO generate leads
We know that blogs can generate a high number of leads, but convincing your senior management or team will not be easy. Use Hubspot data that shows B2B companies that blog only 1-2x/month generate 70% more leads than those who don’t blog. Furthermore, companies that increase blogging from 3-5x/month to 6-8x/month almost double their leads.
Your company might already have a blog, but so far no sales results have been achieved by using it. The question you usually receive here is “We have a blog now, how many leads did we generate so far?” There are a few major points you need to consider when answering this question:
- Do we blog regularly? Blogging works if it is maintained frequently and refreshed with relevant topics that address the questions the sales team encounters in the sales process.
- Do we blog about what customers need? Publishing blogs that are not targeted to the Buyer Personas will probably increase traffic, but yield no results.
- Is our blog designed for conversion? Do we use Call-To-Actions? Do you offer content for each step of the Buyer Journey? The blog itself needs to be designed and structured for lead generation. Blog posts are mainly used to generate awareness, and without content for Consideration and Decision stage, the website will not convert visitors into leads.
B2B Decision makers research vendors online
The business world is shifting online, and instead of calling vendors for quotes, decision makers take time to research the possibilities and opportunities available on the market. B2B buyers are 57% through their buying research before first contacting the seller. (Source: Corporate Executive Board).
When looking for a partner or supplier, companies research solutions that could match their needs before connecting with potential suppliers. In large organizations this might be delegated to interns, or juniors, however the decision maker will reach your website if you answer the right questions online and help the researcher do his job thoroughly.
66% of buyers agreed that the winning vendor provided higher-quality content and 63% said the winning vendor’s content was more conducive to building a business case for the purchase. (DemandGen Reports’ 2014 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey)
Increasing lead generation is not only blogging. It requires your team to leverage your website structure as well as social media for improved results. Hubspot identified that companies see a 55% increase in leads from increasing landing pages from 10 to 15 and Demand Gen Report shows that 72% of B2B buyers said they used social media to research the purchase decision in 2014
Marketing Automation supports lead nurturing
Even if you have a healthy lead generation program, you most likely reach to the decision makers at times when it is not convenient for them. They might not be yet at the decision point of a purchase, or they may have just signed with the competition for the next year. Gleanster Research shows that even with a good marketing strategy 50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy.
How do you turn these leads into assets? Lead nurturing is the best solution, and marketing automation is a perfect solution. A good automation strategy can reduce the stress of the marketing and sales team to nurture leads, while increasing efficiency. The Annuitas Group unveiled that businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.
Case studies
Once you set the context and proved the numbers are there, reinforce it with a case study. You can use the Hubspot case study page and filter for companies similar to yours. Providing a success story from your industry helps your team live the situation rather then see if from outside. Make it easy to relate and they will be more likely to support it. You can check case studies also on InfusionSoft, Act-On or Marketo.
Bring tangible benefits on the table
You presented all about lead generation and sales, so focus on small wins to get your team onboard. Results will convince even the most skeptical in your audience, so now focus on how the team can benefit NOW from adopting a marketing platform and using an Inbound Strategy.
Clear data for management
Senior management likes data and results. An Digital Marketing strategy and a marketing tool like Hubspot gives management clear information about the progress and results.
Educated and qualified sales leads
Lost time with unqualified leads is the main reason your sales team is not effective. You can easily spend all your time engaging with new leads without converting clients. This can happen due to many reasons: they are not ready to buy, cannot afford your service, need a separate feature set, require a different service but do not know it yet, etc. Inbound Marketing helps you qualify leads through offering specific value propositions that appeal to those who are able to become customers.
Insights for Sales people
Tracking emails and website activity will return valuable insights on your visitor and lead base. Using a combination of Sidekick for email tracking and Hubspot’s page view notifications you can build up a history of your visitors and understand their needs. Hubspot themselves are very efficient using this approach as they use it to know when you browse Decision Stage content and immediately call you. That is the perfect moment to make a sale.
Present a game plan
Last, present a simple game plan. If you need to convince your team, show them how to reach there step by step. Set a clear and realistic goal, and map out a plan to achieve it with minimum effort and investment.
Build personas & Map the Buyer Journey. Make sure you know who you address. Use people involved in sales and marketing to build up the persona and journey.
Optimize the website and signup for a marketing platform. You may not want to change the website again, but it will save time and money in the long run if you use a marketing platform. A SEO audit will also be needed to focus your website on your desired keywords and improve organic growth.
Commit to regular blogging of minimum 1x per week. This is really the minimum you can do if you want to achieve results within a 3 to 6 months time frame.
Create content for Consideration and Decision stage. Make sure you have a small Expert brief for example, for the consideration stage, and a case study for the decision phase. This will help you qualify prospects and have a complete digital buyer journey.
Use 1-2 social networks to engage with your audience.
Implement a basic subscriber to lead, lead to qualified lead email conversion program. Use a monthly automated newsletter to deliver updates to your email lists and showcase your Consideration and Decision offers.
When you achieve your goals, you have specific numbers to your business that showcase results and ROI. This will be better than any case study or statistics you can find to make the case for implementing a full Inbound approach for YOUR organization.
Commitment is key
Last but not least, remember it takes 3 to 6 months to produce results depending on your target market so commitment and patience is key.
We will shortly release a presentation that you can use as a launch pad for your internal Inboud Marketing sales pitch. Subscribe to our newsletter and we will let you know when it is available.
Need Help to Convince Your Team to Adopt Inbound Marketing?
7 Marketing Skills You Really Need In 2015 And Beyond
Marketing Skills for Marketers of Today and the Future
If you’ve been a marketer for less than a decade, you probably find it downright staggering to consider how marketing’s best practices have changed in the past 10 years. Consumers aren’t using catalogues, radio advertising, direct mail, or trade shows to make decisions any longer – at least, not at nearly the rate they used to. Social media, content marketing, apps, and personalized advertising are in. Data isn’t a mysterious asset closely guarded by the IT department any longer, either. Big data is now a necessary and accessible tool for making marketing and business decisions.
Whether you’re a seasoned marketer, small business owner, or aspiring marketer, we’ve curated an updated list of the skills you need to bring your career into this decade. Better yet, we’ve even uncovered some expert insights on the skills that will serve you best in the years to come. If building relationships and revenue today and tomorrow is what you’re after, read on:
1. Social Media
Social media is still the most popular activity on the web. However, social media in 2015 looks significantly different than it did in 2011, or even in 2013. Facebook once reigned supreme, and it’s still uber popular, with around 56% of adults as members. However, multi-platform use is on the rise. Consumers are now more likely to split their time between Facebook and other platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. Frankly, sharp marketers are starting to do the same.
Between recent changes in Facebook’s algorithm, an increase in paid social advertising, and shifts in consumer behavior, today’s marketers aren’t just focused on how to create a really great Facebook post. They’re savvy researchers, who know how to discover the platforms their customers are using, and build a presence there. Focus less on platform-specific skill sets than the social and authentic aspects of social media marketing; and your campaigns are likely to really shine.
Recommended for YouWebcast: The Art of Community Development: Turning Brand Awareness Into Sales
2. Content Marketing
Several years ago, blogging was a heavy player in marketer’s efforts to see success. Today? Blogging is still a remarkably effective tool, and HubSpot reports there are 31% more bloggerstoday than there were in 2012. However, blogging is just one form of content, and great marketers take a really comprehensive view towards building a content marketing strategy.
Marketers with a passion for content need to be able to write, edit, and articulate concepts well. They should also have a capacity for conceptualizing and creating visual content, creating real-time, relevant stories (news jacking), and taking a cross-platform approach to telling brand stories.
3. Lead Generation
Marketers can’t just focus on driving web traffic or gaining a social media following. The art of lead generation is crucial for exceptional inbound marketing; and it simply can’t be overlooked in today’s highly competitive atmosphere.
What does exceptional lead generation look like in 2015 and beyond? It could encompass eBooks, whitepapers, webinars, or other on-demand resources. It will likely include well-designed landing pages, too. However, the most critical aspect of lead generation is the concept of give and take. You ask your prospects for just enough information that they’re comfortable opting-in to your email list; in exchange, you offer them truly valuable and relevant information.
4. Email Marketing
I’m sorry, but email marketing isn’t dead. Spam and obnoxiously aggressive email marketing campaigns should have died years ago, but truly great email marketing? It’s definitely here to stay. Exact Target reports that nearly half of consumers make at least one purchase per year based on email marketing, and some 56% of marketers plan to increase their email marketing budget in the year to come.
While best practices are likely to continue to change, exceptional email marketing campaigns are always highly informative, personalized, and relevant to the recipients. Developing the ability to intelligently segment a list and target messages accordingly can only serve inbound marketers well.
5. Relationship Building and Networking
Marketers are essentially connectors. Really, they’re in the business of connecting consumers with needed products or service solutions, and their employers with a steady stream of new revenue. For this reason, a marketer’s career will be much more successful if they’re able to build relationships both on and offline.
Marketers need the ability to develop and project a consistent personal and professional brand online, through social media and content marketing. They need the customer service skills to professionally engage with prospects and customers in online forums. Perhaps most importantly, marketers shouldn’t overlook offline events for marketing their brands, which Content Marketing Institute reports are still among one of the most effective marketing methods.
6. Web Technologies and User Experience
97% of consumers look up a product or service online before making their final purchase. There is no changing the fact that a company’s website is their calling card. Do all inbound marketers need the ability to code a beautiful, mobile-responsive website from the ground up? Not really, especially if they’re in a position to outsource their web design to an agency or on-staff IT professional.
However, every marketer needs to understand the difference between good and bad web design, and be able to articulate this difference in a more detailed manner than simply stating “that is one ugly website!” Understand a bit about how the human mind works, and the behavioral psychology principles behind user experience. Know how humans and technology interact, and how this should affect your site’s design, layout, and load times. Keep up to date on best practices, and your brand will never suffer a terrible website.
7. Customer Service
If there was a single aspect of marketing that will never, ever change, it would undoubtedly be customer service. Brands that put people first, such as Whole Foods and Nordstrom, continue to experience growth and high customer satisfaction year over year. The focus on your marketing campaign should be to make your prospects happy, and reward your existing customer base.
Regardless of whether you’ve been marketing for 20 years or you’re just breaking into the field, remember that you are ultimately a customer service professional. As a public-facing member of your enterprise, your primary role is to represent your brand, and ensure high satisfaction with your organization. Every single marketer can benefit from continual attention to their customer service skills – in fact, this applies to every professional, too!
What are some of the skills you think are crucial to inbound marketers in 2015 and beyond? How do you feel they’ve changed over the past several years?
7 Marketing Skills You Really Need In 2015 And Beyond
Abonnieren
Posts (Atom)