Reactive marketing: what is it and why should you do it

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News travels fast, and is easily shared thanks to the increasing role of social media in the lives of consumers and the businesses they engage with. Indeed, there are many advantages to this connectivity beyond the social aspect; people can instantly mark themselves ‘safe’ after natural disasters or violent attacks, and ‘good news’ stories from around the world inspire on a daily basis.

With this greater, and faster, connectivity between news sources, businesses and end consumers, it’s now more crucial that brands use dynamic and agile marketing strategies; adopting a timely, reactive approach. So what is ‘reactive advertising’ and why is it important?

What is reactive advertising?

You’ve seen it before, even if you are less aware of the marketing term: when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced their divorce, Norwegian Air launched a print ad in UK newspapers offering low-cost flights to Los Angeles under the headline ‘Brad is single.’ This – and many stunts like it — fall under the category of ‘reactive advertising.’

Reactive marketing capitalizes on newsworthy events as the inspiration for quick turnaround, and short-lived, ad campaigns. They are not always tongue-in-cheek, as with Norwegian Air; reactive ads are also a solid means for brands and businesses to make clear their stance on politics, culture and ethics. For example, see Patagonia’s response to The Administration’s recent protected lands policy change.

Why businesses should be reactive

The presence of brands and businesses in social media means consumers expect these companies to act more like people, and less like corporations. Investing in reactive marketing is a quick and easy way to do this, along with hiring an expert team of social media managers to control your company’s tone of voice and digital content. If you reach your audience with relevant, topical dialogue, your engagement levels will increase on the whole.

Shifting media spend into smaller-scale, nimble reactive advertising can save you money too; gone are the days of huge annual payouts for marketing campaigns, instead momentary media requires short bursts of activity with lower overheads and less planning time.

If you want to learn about Affiliate Marketing, then check out the The Ultimate Beginner Guide For Affiliates.

How to be reactive

Firstly, you must be crystal clear on your company’s values and ethos. Only then will you be able to react to a news story, in a way that’s advantageous to you commercially — if not, you risk doing damage to your brand perceptions in the public eye. Keep abreast of the latest news stories on a platform such as Worldnewshub.org, and when a conversation comes into public debate that you could chime in on, don’t hesitate to act.

Being reactive is your chance to influence, too. So if you feel strongly about a news event, and wish to inform, enlighten or reeducate your audience on the matter, then you can via a reactive marketing campaign.

Of course, you must sense-check any reactive messages with your board of directors or group of stakeholders; lest you take a misstep. However, in the game of reactive marketing, time truly is of the essence.

How to properly execute an online review management program

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StrategyDriven Customer Relationship Management Article00As a business owner or manager, if you are thinking about assembling an online review management program, you are already on the right path to managing the reputation of your company online. Properly executing an online review management strategy in order to benefit your company takes some critical thought, training, and repetition, but the payoff is ultimately being able to provide potential customers with professional profiles that are truly indicative of the quality service and goods you provide.

Executing on Your Online Review Management Program

If you are looking to make sure the process you’re implementing is successful, you’ll want to make sure that you are constantly checking in with staff and the results to see what’s working and to detect weak areas early on if any exist. We always recommend auditing your current online reviews prior to putting a new plan in place, so that you can set goals appropriately and log progress against the original values.

As you are setting up your review management program, make sure you also appoint a single person (whether this is yourself, a manager, or another staff member) to head this project. By allowing this program to “free float” between staff members, it is more likely to get dropped by the wayside or slip through the cracks when it comes to execution. Similarly, make sure you are scheduling time each week to review progress.

Once your plan is in place, you’ll want to complete the following steps:

Set Expectations

Part of your online review management program is going to consist of setting expectations, or goals. This could mean that you’d like to have 5 new reviews left on your business’s Google My Business profile within two months.

But setting expectations should also mean that you are clearly outlining that you expect staff to treat customers, clients, or patients with a set level of quality care. Similarly, let staff know that you’d like them to ask each customer for a review and to ensure that they specify a designated professional profile, like Google.

These expectations should also be held for yourself; are you asking for reviews and working to ensure that customers have a positive experience? Make sure the expectations surrounding this program are entirely positive and aimed at bettering the company as a whole.

Follow up with Staff

Once your online review management program has been set into action, make sure you’re taking time each week to check in with staff. Ask them what kind of reactions they get from customers after they’re asked to leave a review to see if an alternative method, like using a reputation management software that sends text messages, may work better.

Make sure you’re also asking staff how they feel! Do they feel awkward when asking? Has one staff member developed a great flow of conversation that leads into asking for a review much more seamlessly? These are details that should be shared and accommodated to make sure everyone is successful.

Review the Results

At set intervals, you will want to make sure that you are reviewing the results. By this point, your goals and expectations should be realistic, so seeing one review gained after two weeks of action shouldn’t necessarily be taken as a failure.

Reviewing results monthly and quarterly may be a good way to see trends and manage outcomes by working one-on-one with staff to develop better methods of asking for reviews!

How to improve your business sales in 5 easy steps

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There are so many ways for a business to make their sales these days that it can be all too easy to focus on one area. By neglecting alternative avenues to explore, you could be doing your business some lasting damage by not taking advantage of every sales means at your disposal. Often this is down to becoming set in a daily routine, or finding that your day to day schedule too often takes you away from your key skill area, so it’s important that both you and your sales team are utilizing those areas where you excel. Failure to maximize your sales is the fastest way to lose your customers and your business, here are the easiest methods to concentrate on when working out the best way to increase your sales revenue.

Streamline your internet

With so many customers in the modern age willing and able to buy what they need with a click of a button, it’s never been more important to make sure that you are getting the most out of your online presence. Whether you’re alerting customers to a new product by using your social media page or launching a total rebrand on your website, people need to know what you’re selling and what they can benefit from your product or service. Making certain that your website runs perfectly and without glitches will go a long way to making sure that your conversion rates are as high as you hope, and by interacting with customers on social media, you are able to release information about your brand.

Outsource to save costs

Even if your intention when going into business was to be on the phone all day making sales, you may have found that you’re spending more time organizing office activity and dealing with paperwork than closing a sale. There are a number of ways to tackle to issue of not doing the work that you are best at, from hiring more staff to reducing your working hours, but the current trend of outsourcing is proving popular because it enables you to refocus on your skills. By using companies that specialize in the areas that you aren’t so clued up on, be it your delivery service, your social media management or even your marketing campaigns, using experts benefits you two-fold. You get to go back to what you’re good at, and you also lose the headaches as you let professionals lend a hand.

Don’t give up on potential customers

If someone has expressed an interest in what you’re selling, then chances are that half of the work is done for you. The habit of following up on a long-forgotten potential customer can reap huge rewards no matter what industry you may be in. Email alerts and social media updates are one way of reigniting a potential sale, but a willingness to use those expired listings system is the easiest way to increase your bottom line. The trick to attracting the custom of a dormant or unconvinced customer is to find out why you didn’t make that sale. Once you know the why, you can action plan ways to solve the issue, and you’re not going to be able to do that if you simply accept lost sales as gone forever.

Target your customers

If you want to maximize your sales, then you need to know your customers. You need to know who your product or service is going to appeal to, and then you need to target your advertising so that it has the optimum reach in your targeted demographic. This simple truism is the key to your marketing strategy, and without it, you run the risk of wasting advertising money (and time) on targeting the wrong people. You need to build relationships with customers and use the vast array of tools available to find out what they want. Whether it’s a POS conversation about the longevity of the product, or a social media poll about how your customer base feels about changes to stock, a conversation is the easiest way to retain clients and continue to make sales.

Offer options

Not everyone uses the internet to buy, and not everyone can get to your brick and mortar store. In order to get the most profits, you need to make certain that no matter what your customer needs you are able to provide with minimal fuss. Is your website optimized for sales? Can customers use a variety of options to pay you, be it PayPal, credit card or Bitcoin? If you’re not replying to Facebook comments or answering emails, then you’re losing customers. Too many people use ‘offer options’ as code for ‘offer discounts’, but they can often be counter-productive. Coupons and seasonal specials are far more useful, and, of course, you can never go far wrong with easy upsell items. The best way to offer options is simply to make every stage of the sale as convenient as possible for your customers, whether they’re spending money in-store or on your website.

Once you have learned who your customers are and what they want, you are able to concentrate on finding them exactly what they need. Earning a customer’s trust is beneficial both short, and long-term, and failing to do so is damaging to your profits. As long as you are able to provide an efficient, value for money service, then you can be sure that your customers will remember that, even if they then do need the occasional reminder. Making sales boosts confidence and inspires more sales, so concentrate on your customers, and your business will thrive. Consistent analysis of your sales means and methods will ensure that your company is not left behind by the competition, and a happy customer is a paying customer. Whether you have a sales team to work with or you’re limited to one phone and an online catalog, you should be making full use of your skills and the technological advantages that businesses now have access to.

How To Save Money When Marketing Your Business

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There are many things which can cause concern to small business owners, and budgeting is one of them. It can often be the case that a business owner creates a well thought out and sensible budget for marketing, for example, but due to a variety of factors including a volatile economy, the money set aside for marketing needs using elsewhere. If this happens, it can cause a problem because your marketing will stop, and you won’t have any new customers, meaning you lose even more money. It is a better idea to simply save money when marketing rather than cut your marketing budget altogether. Here are some ideas how.

Use Free Platforms

If you can get your marketing done for free (at least in part) then your marketing budget can remain untouched. One of the best ways to advertise for free is to use social media. Creating business accounts in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and others is free, and although you can boost and promote your posts by paying, if you include relevant, interesting information that potential customers can share easily, then you shouldn’t have to. It’s not just about social media though; why not offer to write a guest post on someone’s blog? You can write something detailed that is useful and place yourself as an expert in your field. You could also sponsor a local sports team. It costs nothing but will put your business details in front of many people at one time.

Simplify Things

If you keep things as simple as possible, your marketing dollars will stretch much further. You can waste a lot of money enhancing and upgrading your advertising, but if it isn’t needed, and if you can bring people to you without it, then don’t spend any more than you need to for the basics. For example, you can buy website packages that include dozens of pages, but before you do this, ask yourself if you need all of those pages, or if a website that has five pages would work for you. If that’s the case, you can buy the cheaper package. If more pages become necessary, you can upgrade later. The same goes for print advertising; you could pay much more for a bigger ad, or one in color, but is it required? Do your research first to get your answer, and only pay for what you need.

Use Inbound Marketing

Inbound leads work out at 62 percent cheaper than traditional marketing methods, and in business that is far too big a percentage to ignore. Inbound marketing is about creating content that brings customers to you, rather than creating advertising that sets out to pull in the customers. If they come ‘of their own free will’ they are already much more likely to spend money with you. This is because there is a feeling that you’re not trying too hard, you’re not ‘pushy’. Inbound marketing can take place in the form of blogging using proper SEO techniques and social media posts. You could even create webinars and workshops. These are all forms of inbound marketing.

Ask For Advice

Asking for advice is a great way to save money when you are marketing your business. If you ask the people, who have already ‘been there and done that’ then you will be able to hear about the mistakes they made, and stop yourself from making them. You will also be able to find out about marketing hacks and shortcuts that really work. Getting it right the first time is an invaluable way to keep your marketing budget looking healthy. Of course, it’s best if this advice is free – if you have to sign up for costly training or seminars to get it, then you may wish to look elsewhere. It all depends on how much value you can place on getting your marketing exactly right.

Do It Yourself

When it comes to saving money, doing things yourself, rather than paying out for someone else to do it, can save a lot of money. However, it’s only a cost-saving exercise if you are able actually to carry out the work well. If you are not confident then hire someone in; it’s better to pay for an expert than try to do it yourself and then have to call that expert after anyway. It will depend to some extent how long the job will take, and how much money it will cost you in time away from the business doing other things to work out whether it will really be a way to cut costs. Sometimes it is just better to pay for expert help.

One Thing At A Time

It can be easy to pay more than you need to if you’re not focusing on one thing at a time. Market research is essential as you will be able to determine who your target audience is, and how best to reach them. It might be through social media, perhaps print advertising, or you might even want to consider TV or radio spots. Once you know what is going to work best for you, you can then focus on that campaign rather than spending a lot of money in many different places when only one or two of them will actually bring you anything in return. It is also a good idea because it means you will gain more experience in the medium you have chosen, so the advertising that you do there will become better and more efficient over time.

Don’t Change

Something that can cost many thousands of dollars and that isn’t required is change. Change is good when it is necessary, but if you have an advertising campaign that is working, that is bringing in customers and revenue, why change it? It costs money to change it, to change the design, to change where and how the advert is used. So keep on using the same ad until new customers are no longer finding it attractive. This is when you need to change, not when it is all still working.

How To Attract Customers And Boost Retail Sales

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Running a business is never easy, but ensuring you make a profit each month is something that business owners can easily lose sleep over. After all, having a business is all about making money, so if you’re in a sales slump and profits are down, your stress levels are definitely going to begin to rise. Even if you haven’t experienced a slump in sales yet, you likely will one day, and probably sooner rather than later, so it is important that you are prepared for when this happens. Luckily, there are many options out there for attracting new customers and boosting sales, so keep reading for some great tips and ideas.

1. Create A Loyalty Programme

Any type of customer is a good type of customer, but, ideally, you want customers that are loyal to you and keep coming back again and again. Obviously, this ensures that you continue to make a profit from the individual customer, which is great, but a loyal customer will also recommend you to family and friends, which means that your business will continue to make bigger profits, and so will continue to grow. In order to gain this loyalty, lots of businesses use loyalty programmes like punch cards to keep customers coming back. Whether it’s a discount or free product, your customer will want the reward that they receive when they fill their punch card, so will keep coming back again and again.

2. Hand Out Coupons

No one ever wants to pay full price for something, so make it so that your customers don’t have to. When you’re trying to attract new customers, hand out coupons to those that look most likely to visit your store. This is a brilliant way to let people know that your business exists, and will also make it that much more probable that you’ll receive a few extra customers looking for a bargain. You could also print a coupon in your local newspaper, or post some through letterboxes near your business. Another great idea that lots of businesses use is sending their customers coupons for their birthday.

3. Clean Up Your Act

You could have the most world-changing product on the face of the earth, but if your store looks uninviting, then no one is going to come in and have a look. To make it look a little better, get outside and clean up any rubbish. You could even look at the earthmoving information here and consider hiring a road sweeper. Also, make sure that all of the windows are sparkling, the paint isn’t chipped or flaky, and you have a great display in the window. The inside of your store should also look clean and tidy, as well as well-lit and easy to navigate.

4. Compete With Competitors

Unfortunately, business is a dog eat dog world, and you will need to be better than and earn more than all of your competitors if you want to continue to grow and be successful for the foreseeable future. Because of this, it’s important to do all you can to neutralise any sort of promotion that your competitors pull out the bag. To do this, when your competitors announce a sale, you should announce one too, just with bigger reductions (only if you can afford it!). This makes it much more likely that your customers will visit your store and spend money, than your competitors.

5. Use Social Media

We are living in a time that is dominated by technology, so, if you aren’t using social media to promote your business, you are seriously missing out. You can use your social media accounts to announce new products, sales, giveaways, and loyalty programmes like the one mentioned above much quicker than you would do any other way. Just be sure that your content is steady, rather than having quiet periods and then announcing a sale, otherwise, your customers will know that you’re only online because you need some extra cash. You can also use your social media to connect with your customers, deal with their queries, and get any feedback they have to offer to improve your service and products.

6. Invest In Advertisement

Any business owner that believes that advertising and marketing are a waste of money isn’t going to be business owners for very long. If you are not obtaining as much as you usually do, and are considering reducing the amount of money you are putting into marketing and advertisement, just stop. Now is the tie that you should be investing more money in advertising, not making cutbacks. Of course, you might not have the cash available to be making television advertisements or anything else that expensive, but newspaper and radio ads, and even billboards can be fairly cost-effective and can bring in a lot of customers.

7. Hold An Event

If you want to boost your sales in a huge way, then a great way to do this is to host some sort of event. You could partner with a local charity and offer a discount for anyone that donates to the worthy cause. This will show that your business has good morals and that you are incredibly community minded, which should increase your sales for long after the event has ended. Depending on what you sell, you could hand out free samples in the days leading up to your event, to generate interest with the locals, and could even send a press release to the media to attract those from further afield.  Of course, you should also use your social media as much as you can during this time, as a means of free advertisement.

A drop in sales is every business owner’s worst nightmare, but it is one that you can wake up from if you take action. The tips above are only some of the great ideas that you could use to boost your sales, so don’t despair if none of them works for you. Every business is different, so you just need to figure out what is right for yours.