Social Media Strategy That Works
Social Media Strategy That Works
When I started out as a Social Media/Marketing Manager I realized right away that you need to be organized to an extent I wasnât prepared for. Winging it only makes things take longer and makes you stress out. As part of the marketing team at @revenue, I have learned some handy strategies for not only laying out campaigns but how to make them take flight.Â
Letâs talk about Campaigns.
Campaigns are a whole different animal from regular social media posts, which are usually one-off posts not pertaining to an ongoing awareness campaign or event. Campaigns are preplanned, precalculated, and usually, a series of social media posts thought through to the maximum extent. A well-thought-through campaign includes the goals of the posts, specific target audience, and message. Campaigns make reviewing the metrics all that easier, too. Helping you track whatâs working and whatâs not. And you know how we love to try it, track it, and change it- especially when it comes to the ever-changing world of social media.
Here are some basic steps to creating an effective social media campaign.Â
- The first part of laying out a social media campaign is to do some deep thinking on the goals and objectives. What is the purpose of the new campaign? What does your client have going on right now that would make a good campaign? Are they offering a workshop or class in a couple of months? Then nowâs the time to get started with planning. They say that youâre 40% closer to reaching your goals when you lay them out and get specific, so try to use SMART goals when creating a new campaign.Â
- The 5 Wâs - When creating a new campaign, you want to make sure you are answering the basic âWsâ of Who, What, When, Where & Whyâs of the campaign. These fundamental 5 Wâs cover all the bases.Â
Why - why are you creating the content? What is your goal? How will this benefit the business?
Who - is your audience? Being as specific here as possible is key.
What - do you want this content to achieve?Â
When - when and how are you going to develop the content, and how long will the campaign run for?Â
Where - are we going to publish, and on what platforms? Remember that each platform has slightly different strategies so make sure you customize your content for each.
- Next, youâre going to want to get very clear on who your audience is, what tone your messaging will take on, and the time frame - including the start and end date of the campaign.Â
- Then you delve into the nitty-gritty, such as what hashtags youâll use to get the campaign the most exposure, and what link and CTA youâll be using. You might be thinking that this is all just a huge waste of time, just post it already, BUT trust me, youâre going to love working this way once you start and youâll never go back.Â
- Each campaign should have its own aesthetic/look. For example, I have a client who does many things, and one of those things is hosting a monthly writers group, where she helps aspiring writers become published authors. For her writer's group, we are using Gifâs instead of branded designs, to stand out and grab her audience's attention in a different way. We arenât using Gifs on any other campaign or other posts on her platforms. Another campaign could be solely focused on client testimonials and should include a branded image with a direct quote or review. Campaigns should vary from each other but always try to stay within brand colors, as you donât want your profiles to be inconsistent in the brand. Itâs best to have an overall cohesive look for your social posts, so following a clear brand guidelines document is always advisable.
6. Last, the best way to track the metrics of any campaign is to have the right software - this alone makes it worth it. At @revenue, we use Sprout Social for our social media publishing as well as their thorough analytics and metrics features. If you have an interest in using Sprout, please reach out to us for a special introduction. Using a platform that provides media tagging and allows you to create & label campaigns is the easiest way to review metrics, such as engagement metrics, to see whatâs resonating with your audience, whatâs not, and where to put your ad dollars.Â
In conclusion, campaigns will make your ad money count. Who wants to throw money at something and see how much sticks? No one.Â
If you need any help with your marketing, sales or branding strategy, give AtRevenue a call.Â
We are happy to help you find a way to make your social media, marketing and sales work for your business.Â
How Narrowing Your Target Audience Will Expand Your Market Share
How Narrowing Your Target Audience Will Expand Your Market Share
When you started your business, your first step was obviously to develop your product or service. Right behind that, you likely started to identify who your target customer is: their age, what they look like, where they live, what they do for a living, their incomeâŚ. When you get to the bottom of this target buyer, they probably pretty closely resemble you and your friends, right?
This isnât uncommon. Often, a buyer persona or a ground-level look at a desired target audience will be pretty flat and lack specificity. Certainly, recognizing basic demographics is helpful, but to enhance your processes and results, you have to get more specific. Your first shot at your target consumer is probably a superficial look at a generalized individual â a look at someone whoâs everyone and no one at the same time â and youâll have a really hard time getting anywhere with this person.
So once youâve landed on âMale, 30-45, married, middle class, interests include DIY projects, lawn care, and pick-up hockey games,â where do you go from there?Â
To properly understand your core demographic, you need to create a âClient Avatarâ. In creating this avatar, youâll define your audience as a series of single individual âcharacters,â who most closely resemble both your most active customers as well as those you wish to attract. The Client Avatar is made up of various pieces of demographic information, and you want to be sure you are as clear and precise as possible. Use these four identifiers to focus in on who youâre looking for.
1. Age
Thinking outside the box when it comes to your buyersâ age ranges can bring you more creative ideas. Consider the Pedialyte phenomenon: a drink that was made for dehydration in young children is often used by adults in the same way sports drinks are. In turn, Pedialyte updated their marketing to speak directly to hungover adults, and they developed new products (think: branded t-shirts and powder packets to mix in with water) to serve this new audience. Consider how you can skip the highly saturated 18-34 market and offer your product or service to a different demographic and the results it could yield. Research your competitors and look into the demographics of people who are seeking products and services similar to yours. This will help you narrow down the âwhyâ of your target age range and the products they look for, and help you speak more intentionally to that audience.
2. Cultural Identifiers
Once you have a solid understanding of your age ranges and what their interests are, you need to take a step back and review additional cultural identifiers that narrow down the picture of an Avatar further. A product can appeal to a range of cultures for different reasons. Consider how your product or service meets the needs of a variety of communities â and how your communication speaks to people, too. Bringing cultural awareness and diversity into your messaging, product, and service will enhance both your efficacy as a brand and your customer experience.
3. Income and Willingness To Purchase
Income is a piece of your target audience puzzle, but you can leverage it even more strategically when you consider a buyerâs willingness to purchase. While you certainly want to do some research on the income levels of the audience you have formed thus far, there are more factors associated with willingness to purchase than their level of income. Motivation is a big factor in making decisions for purchase. If your product truly answers a real need, there will be more reason for your audience to buy. A person with income outside your target may still look into your service if itâs a high-demand product for them. For example, a serious runner may purchase an expensive running shoe that may be outside their means if it affords them the comfort and support they need for their runs. This can be true in a variety of industries; willingness to purchase can outweigh disposable income.
4. What They Actually Like
What does your audience actually like? Are their consumer decisions a result of their actual interests, or are they just things they feel like theyâre supposed to like or consume? Invest in actually identifying your target marketâs interests and wants. These can make a huge difference in how you choose to communicate. Dive deeper into what other brands they purchase, what media outlets they use, and where they shop. Learning these behaviors will help you gain a more well-rounded picture of who your potential buyers are.Â
When brands take risks and expand their perception of who their real audiences are, they can find new ways to engage with those consumers and make sure that none of their potential leads are falling through the cracks. This more detailed personal discovery can lead to more intentional messaging, wider outreach, and more successful results, because when you really look at who your audience is, youâll probably find the missing piece your marketing needs.
An earlier version of this article was previously published on Forbes in August, 2018.
The Importance of Diversifying Your Marketing Strategy
The Importance of Diversifying Your Marketing Strategy
As social media platforms race to optimize their features and algorithms for the best user experienceâand new channels enter the limelight more frequentlyâmany small business owners feel pressured to stay on top of the latest trends. According to Buffer, while 58.8% of marketers claim that social media is âvery importantâ to their marketing strategies, almost 20% are unsure of how to measure that effectiveness. Itâs easy to get distracted by âvanity metrics,â or those that make you sound good, but donât indicate any significant outcomes. Some of these include impressions, âlikes,â shares, comments and followers.
Many times when we meet with new clients, they are preoccupied with improving their social media strategy to the point of neglecting other pieces, such as email, content and SEO. They are right to care about prioritizing social media; in fact, 70% of agencies state social is integral to their packages (Sprout). However, as we have learned a few times over the past two years, relying too much on social media can be disastrous and costly.
Before the world became collectively overwhelmed with social media in 2020, three of the largest networks âwent downâ in history for the longest social media outage ever in March of 2019. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users experienced partial outages for over 14 hours, costing individual small advertisers thousands of dollars in lost business.
2020 brought more social media perils for marketers: after several big brands were called out for tone-deaf messaging, many scaled back or took time to completely re-strategize. After the death of George Floyd, the #BlackoutTuesday movement called for brands to refrain from promoting themselves on social platforms for a single day. But amidst social unrest that stretched on all summer, many brands again decided to tone down their promotions out of respect or to simply avoid backlash. There was even a hot minute where we wondered if the latest app TikTok might be banned in the US market.
Cultivating a diverse foundation has always been a marketing best practice, but these examples show how dangerous it can be to rely on any single tactic more than others. And when all else fails, the assets you have the most control over will be your lifeline.
Marketing Plan Foundations
Foundational assets are those things that you own and have control over, such as your website and email list. While they may not seem as flashy as social media, they are definitely not static, one-off projects either. A regularly updated website and an active email strategy will both grow your audience while keeping them engaged with a stream of valuable content.Â
The slow burn of your content and email distribution activities may seem dull, but they will fuel growth for the long haul.
Email Marketing
In recent years, many have speculated that email is on its way outâor already dead. But every time social media goes into crisis mode, marketing experts start singing the praises of the mighty Inbox. In this article, the author examines the myth of dying email and suggests it is actually evolving, stating that 59% of B2B marketers reported that email was the most effective tactic.
Brand Message First
Whatever tactics you ultimately include in your marketing mix, developing a clear, audience-focused brand message and consistently integrating it across platforms is mission-critical. Most companies invest in a brand strategy in their first year and update it every few years as they grow and evolve.
Branding specialists will develop your brand strategy and guidelines, but all members of your marketing team must be involved to implement them: from visual graphics (i.e., logo, tagline, color palette and typography) to internal and external communication styles (i.e., your voice and the way you communicate "who you are" to your organization and to the outside world).
A solid brand identity is based on a combination of what you want your customers to think about you and what they actually do think. We conduct 360 interviews to get a sense of how our clients are perceived, and we encourage them to listen attentively to different kinds of feedback they receive from their audience: questions and comments during sales calls, social media engagement and reviews, to name a few.
We love shiny new marketing tools as much as the next guy, but without solid branding and foundational assets in place, social media is a risky game. This is the one instance where we advise our clients to âwalk before you run.â
A previous version of this article was published on Forbes.
Email Marketing for a Decision-Fatigued Audience
Email Marketing for a Decision-Fatigued Audience
We have navigated some big shifts in the sales and marketing industry over the past 20 years, but the psychological impact of the pandemic on audiences across industries is like nothing weâve seen before. The ways that people process emotion and make decisions are always evolving, but in March of 2020, the trends we relied on to create effective marketing strategies went out the window. Unless you were in the toilet paper business, there was no telling what messages your audience would respond to.
In those first few weeks of lockdown, we learned a lot about how high stress and limbic fatigue (overworking the area of the brain that regulates emotions) change our thought patterns. âThe new normal,â before we even called it that, was exhaustion and survival mode. As a result, audiences started to show analysis paralysis, heavy rejection of that which is not critical to their day to day needs and a limited ability to absorb what they are reading or experiencing. And though there is a light at the end of the tunnel, this widespread exhaustion will take time to heal from, even after we have a vaccine. Purchasing decisions are primarily emotional, so marketing to these emotionally drained audiences means that your communication needs to change in dramatic ways.Â
The good news is that people are still checking their email, so this continues to be one of the most effective marketing tools in your arsenal. Here are a few quick shifts that you can use in your email strategy that will increase traction with stressed-out, overwhelmed audiences immediately:
1. Video
Our ability to create impactful communication is all in body language and tonality; the specific breakdown is 55% body language, 38% tonality and only 7% words. If you are relying on words alone to get the sale done, you are leaving 93% of your ability to communicate out of the equation. Though we typically think of written messages when we think email, the mention of a video in your subject line will skyrocket open rates. The key is to make it feel personal and intentional. No one wants another commercial, so create video experiences that speak directly to your consumer and what THEIR pains or fears are. Be clear about the action you want them to take, and try to do it in 60 seconds or less.
2. Call to Action
The CTA is a longstanding best practice of marketing, but with the increase in fatigue, the ability to figure out the next best step is even more likely to elude most of your audience. Break things down into very small, actionable steps that have a low barrier to entry. Be crystal clear about what you want them to do and what is on the other side of that action, including how much of their time will need to be invested. Your audience will have a much more positive experience with your brand if they know what to expect and you make good on that promise. After the year weâve had, you can understand why nobody likes surprises anymore.
3. Segmentation
Getting the right message to the right recipient is critical. The more you know about your audience and what their specific motivations are, the more concise and direct you can be. If you don't know a lot about those on your list, send out a survey and let them tell you whatâs important to them. Remember, what you know about your business, services and products means nothingâit's what they know about you and what they need that really counts when it comes to taking action.Â
4. No More Features and Benefits
Many companies will only speak to the shiny happy parts of what they provide, but when people are tired and stressed, what they really want are solutions. Pain, Fear and Gain are the only three things that will get your audience to make a decision to engage, and they go in that order. Speak to the pain and fear that they are experiencing right now long before you talk about the result. This will allow your audience to self-identify and emotionally engage with your content.Â
And last but not least, be AUTHENTIC. In this upside-down world, your audience wants to know that there is someone on the other side of the transaction who is real and invested in solving a problem. No amount of polished pictures or silky smooth sales copy can make that happen. Put your heart where your money is and show them some 'Professional Love.'
Still stumped? We hear you, and weâd love to hear more about the marketing goals youâre working on right now. Take a look at what we can do for you and letâs get in touch.
Benefits of Hiring a Fractional CMO in 2020
Benefits of Hiring a Fractional CMO in 2020
In the unfolding economic crisis of 2020, most business leaders are pushing forward into new territory in one way or another, whether itâs internal restructuring or a complete overhaul of your offerings. Marketing is a high priority to not only survive these relentlessly uncertain times, but also to make sure the work youâre doing now is building towards a more sustainable future for your business. Many early-stage and small businesses are finding that they donât have the marketing leadership in their C-suite to keep up.Â
There are plenty of ways companies end up in this situation: maybe youâve gotten by without a CMO thus far, but other roles are too busy to manage marketing right now, or maybe things are changing fast in your industry and you need an expert with a wider range of experience. Maybe your company is growing faster than you anticipated and you need a marketing leader who can step in and chart the course until you can afford a full-time executive. An agency could do the trick, but you need a dedicated person âon the groundâ with you who can strategize and implement with your team.Â
The short-term, big-commitment marketing leader youâre looking for does exist: meet the fractional CMO. This role is typically brought in to build up or manage your companyâs marketing function on a part-time or short-term basis. From a cost-benefit standpoint, fractional CMO services deliver an incredible amount of value for much less than what an in-house team of their caliber would cost. The average salary for a full-time CMO is $174,573, and they usually have a marketing director or marketing manager working under them to carry out tactical work (earning average salaries of $87,915 and $65,399, respectively). And thatâs before any benefits, payroll taxes or bonuses. All told, hiring a team with all of these roles plus support for digital and social implementation would cost over $400,000 per year in salaries alone. Working with @revenue for fractional CMO services costs about 30% less than thatâaround $280,000. See what we mean by fractional?
Take a look at some of the benefits a CMO offers that you wonât find with a consultant or a typical agency:
Evolves existing strategies and processes
When tried and true marketing channels arenât working like they used to, it might seem like you have to abandon your entire strategy and start from scratch with a new approachâespecially if you see your competitors finding success with new technology, social channels, etc. and you canât keep up. Trusting an agency to make these calls for you can feel like a huge risk, and it is. If you donât know where to start with new channels or how to make the transition without breaking the budget, a fractional CMO will take the time to get to know your existing strategy and make incremental changes to evolve it along with new tools and best practices so you can keep your momentum and your audience as your marketing processes change.Â
Crafts and manages a unified strategy with your team
Maybe youâve tried some new marketing channels and been burned by one-stop solutions that didnât do what they promised. Opening up new avenues for marketing takes an integrated strategy with someone experienced at the helm keeping a close eye on your metrics and making adjustments as you go. It takes a level of communication with your CEO and your team that most consultants and agencies donât have the capacity for, but a fractional CMO is flexible to step in and actively manage your strategy in real-time.
High-level partnership
Speaking of communication, if youâve made a big pivot recently and need to maintain consistency at a big-picture level, a fractional CMO often has the business leadership experience to take part in those C-suite conversations. Lots of companies are finding themselves in need of a high-level manager with the experience to build up a new marketing foundation while sales are lower than usual and they are still smoothing out the operations of a new business model. It can be a challenging time to hire the kind of full-time support you will eventually need, but a fractional CMO will fit the bill until the time is right.
Supports your sales team
Is your sales team struggling to work as a team while client responses are turbulent? Do they have any strategic marketing support, or are they creating their own materials? Often when there isnât a robust marketing department, the onus falls on the sales team to generate, develop and close their own leads. Trying to get by without a dedicated marketing leader is a recipe for sales team burnout. A fractional CMO will find the gaps that are costing you sales and fill them so your salespeople can do what they do best.
A fractional CMO delivers the marketing leadership you need to keep growing your business while you need to keep cost, commitment and risk to a minimum. But the key factor that can really make or break this decision? The relationship you build with your fractional CMO is mission-critical. You have to find someone you trust, who will tell you the hard truths that will make for a better strategy in the end. At @revenue we call this Professional Love, and we insist on loving all of our clients, especially through their most difficult times.
But all good things must come to an end. Your team might absorb the new processes after the initial implementation, or the new revenue you generate might open up room for a full-time marketing executive. It takes about 6 months to see the full ROI from your CMO, but you may decide to work together for several years. Our team is great at documenting processes to hand back to your team whenever youâre ready.Â
Are you as excited as we are about the benefits of a fractional CMO? Get in touch with us and letâs talk about it!
Personal Branding: 4 Rules to help you Rule
Personal Branding: 4 Rules to Help You Rule
Personal branding - the term is everywhere in the marketing world and experts and owners alike are diving headlong into creating a magical personal brand of their very own. As part of a larger strategy, personal brands can be a powerful way to establish expertise and connect with new audiences, but on itâs own a personal brand is not a revenue generator. Turns out, people donât want to give you cash for just being they you-iest of yous! And at the @revenue office, the motto is: if it doesnât help generate revenue, then itâs not for you.
One of the biggest questions you should be asking before you embark on creating a personal brand is: Do I know EXACTLY what I am going to be selling to the leads generated from this? If the answer feels ambiguous take a step back and map out what your offering will be. Even if the answer is products or services from within your current business, what it will take to fulfill them, and where you can create economies of scale to help you make more money in less time? (you get bonus points if it has a Monthly Recurring Revenue stream built into it). Know what success looks like before you start so you have a direction to go, because no matter how many likes, follows or watches you get, you are not going to be happy about the investment you make if it never pays you back.
As an expert, crafting and rolling out a personal brand will give you certain flexibilities that should happen outside of your business brand. Using your personal brand to reach out and create more one on one conversations, put you on stages, and increase your social media reach are all great goals to have. What then becomes important is how you will expect it to turn into income. Typically we will want to see a sales model with a personal brand that includes the following things:
- Paid speaking engagements
- Direct leads for your business
- Digital courses or materials like books, podcasts, etc.
- Advertising dollars for your YouTube Videos and podcasts
- Partnerships that will boost your business
Personal brands also take a long time to take root - this is no quick win. And whatâs worse, is that a back-fire in your personal brand will follow YOU around, not the name on the company. SoâŚ. how can a personal brand backfire? Oh, letâs share some stories, shall we?
1. Itâs not you.
Personal brands are all about authenticity. If your goal in crafting a personal brand to make people think things about you that arenât true. This is where those idiosyncracies will come crawling into the daylight. Allow me to present Exhibit A: the photoshop fail.
2. Itâs all about you.
This sounds contradictory at first, but your personal brand should include your thoughts on other things besides yourself. If every image you post, a comment you make or video you produce is part of a conversation then make sure you are talking to and about the world around you. You will exhaust your audience if every image is a hyper-filtered shot at exposing how fabulous your every moment is.
3. Thatâs right. You tweeted it and it was dumb.
We donât have to reach too far into our consciousness to pull out a news story or two about an ill-timed tweet or tone-deaf message. And thanks to that cool little screen grab gadget it can live forever! If you are combining your personal brand with your private life brand be sure that you know that what you say will reflect on you and could possibly damage your business.Â
4. Repping Products
If you do have a personal brand that lends itself to promoting products, you must ask the question, are they aligned with MY brand? I shudder at the term âinfluencerâ because of how much itâs been abused, but the things you recommend will become part of your reputation. As an expert in your field, you do not need to hashtag every cute cupcake unless your personal brand aligns with supporting that business or eating cupcakes like it is your job. Which it may be - and if that is your real job please call us immediately, we want in.Â
Building a personal brand should be purposeful, strategic and hopefully a lot of fun.
If you want to learn more about building your own brand and how @revenue can help you integrate it into your marketing strategy letâs have that chat. marie@revenue.wp10.staging-site.ioÂ
The difference between a marketing plan and a sales plan
The Difference Between a Marketing Plan and a Sales Plan
Business plans often glaze over sales and marketing very quickly. They want to know what the overall revenue goals are sure but the HOW is grossly underrepresented. Thatâs the problem of setting targets, goals, and dreams without understanding what it will take to get there.
We often find that sales and marketing are still the wild west of strategic planning. They get some top-level attention to help define key principles such as your target audience or your core values, but rarely include any of the actionable items. So how do we blend the strategy and plan to achieve that ultimate goal: more revenue?
Before you make the goals, check to make sure that you are incorporating all of the below:
Your marketing plan should include:
- Your key messaging concepts: What are you going to say that will capture your audienceâs attention? What problem do you solve, what are the motivating factors, why does your customer care Your marketing plan should clearly and concisely be able to articulate your core message.
- The channels you plan to use: Once you know what you are saying, where you will say it is the next step. Each platform, channel, and community might need a different message and a different way of expressing it.
- Your investments (financial, time and frequency): Marketing is going to cost you one way or another, even free channels on social media are becoming more of a pay to play platform. Your marketing plan needs to map out your commitment.
- Your goals and KPIs. For each channel: It is critical that your plan includes clear expectations so you can measure your ROI, make adjustments and improve.
Your sales plan should include:
- Prospecting: where are you going to find new prospects and leads? Where and how are you networking? How does your personal brand show up on social media?
- Strategic Partners: Who are your business friends who send you more business? Â Building and developing great strategic partnerships is not only good business sense, but great for your pipeline.
- Your process. Creating a sales strategy takes careful process mapping. How do leads go through your pipeline? What are the critical steps that need to be taken? How can this process be repeatable across your entire team? If sales are the first ambassador of your brand, it is critical that you have a brand congruous process.
- Your KPIs and goals. You need to track your activity just as much as your results. As a sales professional, you need to put in the calls, work, and effort into finding your leads and building the business. Once you are able to hone in on those key metrics you will be able to calculate how much you make every time you pick up the phone.
Building both your sales and marketing muscles is critical to developing more revenue for your business. To help achieve maximum impact, many businesses are hiring a CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) to ensure both of these departments are achieving their shared goal, reducing processes and investments that arenât paying off and holding the team accountable to growth. If itâs time to see more revenue come in your business we are here to get you there! Contact @revenue today and letâs create a plan for your next milestone.
6 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a CRM
6 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a CRM
Still using Excel to track your networking connections? That might work, to a degree -- but it isnât scalable. You easily lose track of contacts, you miss follow ups and you can do better. Do you dream of a tool that tracks your pipeline, stores all your notes and automatically reminds you to follow up, or even does it for you?
That tool exists. Enter the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system of your dreams.
You might be thinking, âOh, great--another piece of technology to learn.â I hear you--technology is always changing, so itâs hard to keep up. Then, thereâs the risk that picking up a new tool will just add complications, rather than clarity. Let me help you out. Here are six questions to ask yourself. Take the time to answer them, and odds are youâll find the perfect CRM for you.
- What is your digital culture? Take a moment to list the email service, project management software, inbox and other programs youâre using. Are you a Microsoft Brain, or do you get down with Gmail? Tools like Zapier can help make the connections seamless.
- What does your network look like? Make sure that your CRM will allow for different sales pipelines and tagging structure so you can store all of the necessary data. A good CRM will track not just your leads, but your strategic partners, vendors and more. Avoid systems that consider everyone to be a âleadâ.
- What kinds of automation will you be using? Look at what process flows you have. Â Are you automating? Where might there be opportunities to automate? Things like email messages, task assignments, and reminders are critical for lasting CRM success.
- What do you need to track? Priorities vary from sales pro to sales pro. Consider what you truly need to measure and track in the future. Then, check to make sure the CRM youâre considering will accommodate. Things like weighted pipelines and varied sets of activity can help make your choice easy.
- How much time are you willing to dedicate to your CRM? No matter what platform you choose, a CRM is only as good as the information you put into it. If as an owner you arenât the championing your CRM as part of your culture your team will not make it a priority.
- At the end of the day, does this make my business better? Simply put, if the answer is âno,â time to consider another CRM.
Now that you have been able to narrow the field by asking these questions, itâs time to take that new CRM out for a spin. Take advantage of a free trial to see how you like the interface. Once you settle on a perfect match, customize it.
Intimidated by the thought of putting together a sales process, automation, and contact structure? Youâre not alone. It can seem even more daunting than choosing the CRM., Contact @revenue to get started.
What My DiSC Profile Taught Me About Myself
What My DiSC Profile Taught Me About Myself
Recently, I retook my DiSC Profile test. Itâs been over 12 years since my last one and my hopes werenât too high. In the past, profile tests like DiSC have made me curious but also seemed like too much work to apply in real life. I remember the last time I took the assessment, it was only briefly gone over by the trainer. Our group had a laugh at finding out âwho we really wereâ but didnât go much deeper than that. My manager even hid his because he didnât want us to learn how different his behavioral styles were inside and outside of work. In reality, we laughed a bit too much when this test really could have improved our team's communication. Including and especially my managerâs communication challenges!
This time the experience was not the same. To go through the profile was like stepping out of myself and looking back into how âKevinâ behaves. So much of it was dead on the mark it was scary. Granted it wasnât perfect, but having this kind of honest feedback was eye-opening. Feedback is something we crave as growing professionals but rarely get. Here is what happened from looking at my reflection in the DiSC reality mirror.
I changed. After many years of success in sales and digital marketing, starting my own successful digital media company, raising a child and dedicating myself to consistent martial arts - I had changed my behavioral style. While I had thought of myself one way - I had really transformed into another behavioral style. Thinking that I was communicating as a S (Supportive style), which tends to be calm and steady, when really I was more of a D (Dominate style), someone that can be more blunt and to the point. These are totally opposite and I can immediately think of several examples where I got myself into trouble.
I had to let go. Understanding how I thought about myself and how others perceive me was illuminating. Letâs face it, our ego and self-identity is important but when in a sales situation itâs all about the other person. By highlighting where I had some challenges in my communication style, Iâm able to adapt and adjust.
It reminded me of a recent experience when my agency client called me to say the client we were doing work for didnât appreciate my tone in a meeting. In fact, the client was really mad and I was in jeopardy of losing an account. In the meeting, I told a truth about the shortcomings of the clientâs website and acquisition strategy. I thought I had been the supportive âSâ in that meeting - helpful calm and providing good information. In fact, I was a high D, insisting they change their silly ways and stop wasting money. To make matter worse I didnât understand the behavioral styles of the clients - including know what would set them off. I was lucky enough to be able to apologize and my agency client forgave me.
Using the right key to open the right lock. This is the most powerful lesson I learned through DiSC training. We all have different personalities and views of the world. When looking at it through the eyes of DiSC, you are able to identify and understand someone elseâs perspective and communicate to them so they will best receive that information. Letâs face it, the golden rule is dead. You donât need to treat others how you want to be treated but instead how THEY want to be treated.
Remember, there is no ârightâ profile. Instead what is right is the better we understand ourselves and understand each other, the better we communicate and have successful conversations, relationships, and clients. Thatâs why we use a powerful tool called CrystalKnows. It allows us to identify and understand someoneâs DiSC type before we go to a meeting or send that email. With templates customized by personality, powerful insights to help plan your meetings and tools to clarify your communication, CrystalKnows takes our DiSC communication to a whole new level. Start your free trial today.
Setting up your YouTube Channel
Setting Up Your Youtube Channel
Weâve all heard how important it is to create video content that supports your business strategies. There is a ton of overwhelming information out there about what to create and where to post it. Diving into video content creation can be complicated and we want to let you know that there are some simple steps to take that will get you moving in the right direction.
Whether you have an existing YouTube channel or are setting one up for the first time, here are our best practices, tips and steps you can take that will ensure you get the most out of your video producing efforts. We will discuss the optimal setup of your Youtube Channel so you can be found by the estimated 1.8 Billion users who search YouTube monthly. Once you know the steps to take, the process can be relatively easy and fun. So letâs get started!
Beyond this quick blog, there are many tools to help you along the way, namely Google. But remember, you will need to have a Google account to set up and sign in to your YouTube Channel.
Once you have signed into YouTube, you can begin setting up your YouTube channel. As you dive into this process, remember that you want to stay consistent with your YouTube page branding. This means having strong branding on your channel as well as for the videos you post.
When you sign into YouTube, you will be taken to your home page. Â From there you will want to click on your icon in the top right corner and select âMy Channelâ so that you can start customizing the channel settings. The two first items to address are the Channel Icon and The Channel Art Banner, shown below. Here are the steps and places you need to update to make your YouTube page your own and put your best face forward.
- Channel Icon: This is the icon that displays to other users for your videos and comments.
- Use a clean and crisp logo image used in your channel icon.
- The Icon is generally displayed in a circular shape, so make sure that your logo is sized correctly to fit into the circle without aspects of it being cropped out.
- Channel Art Banner: This is the header background image for your page.
- This should be a high-resolution image that is big enough to be seen on HDTVs and Monitors. Many users go to YouTube on their home televisions, gaming consoles and streaming entertainment devices.
- Youtube will scale this image to fit an appropriate screen size depending on what type of device is being used. Preview how the channel art will look on the 3 major devices before finalizing the design:
- Computer
- Mobile
- HDTV
The next item we want to highlight is the Playlist. Playlists are created for recurring content or content that addresses a specific marketing strategy. Creating playlists will help you sort your videos inside your channel. When uploading videos to YouTube, you will be able to select which playlist they should be part of. Think about it like songs on an album, chapters in a book, or collections of art.
- Customize your playlist Privacy settings. Sometimes itâs useful to create private playlists for content that you want to discreetly share with clients or team members. Some companies use this for internal versioning of videos, client reviews or for proposals made for specific sales opportunities. Here is what the different settings mean:
- Private: Only those you invite to view the video can view it (they must have their own Youtube accounts and the maximum number is 50 usernames). Your video will not come up under any search results or your channel list. If you try to share it with someone who wasnât invited, they will not be able to connect to it.
- Unlisted: The video will not come up in search results or on your channel either. Only those who know the link can view it, and you can share the link with anyone, even those who do not have a YouTube account/username.
- Public: Anyone can search for and view your video.
- Ordering: Choose the order of how the videos are presented in your playlist. These options can include ordering them by date added, date published, popularity or a custom order decided by you.
- Embedding: You can choose if you will allow other people to embed your video on their sites and pages. This means they can use your videos on their websites and make the videos more public.
- You can also add rules to automatically add videos that meet specific requirements to your playlists, but this is more for YouTube pages that have a lot of content that are produced and regularly uploaded.
While customizing your channel, note that you are able to view the channel as yourself, new visitors and returning subscribers. Â You should use this option to see how your channel will look for the various visitors as you make updates. Always keep your subscribers and video watching audience top of mind when making changes, update and even creating content.
And donât forget to update the âAboutâ section of your channel so that you provide important details about your company, specifically: why you created the channel, an email to contact you and your business website. A well-written Channel Description can convert visitors into subscribers and including keywords in your Channel Description can help your channelâs YouTube SEO.
Remember that your channel should be created with a purpose, not because someone on the management team wants to have a YouTube account. Take the time to set it up right, so that you can focus on the main reason for having a YouTube channel: Sharing the compelling videos that you create!