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The Best Marketing Strategies for Young Companies

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Marketing Strategies|The Best Marketing Strategies for Young CompaniesYoung companies should have only one thing on their mind: growth. Growth is almost always achieved by getting new customers, and new customers are almost always achieved by reasonable, effective marketing. That’s why marketing is such an essential thing for startups to nail. When looking for funding at any stage, a strong customer base will make the whole process infinitely easier. Here are some strategies your company needs to be considering getting customers at that early stage.

PR

PR can be much cheaper than advertising and is perfect for establishing credibility and getting new potential customers to hear from you. Good PR needs to be creative and involve exploiting the brand niche that you occupy (if you haven’t identified your niche and done solid branding work do so before you do any marketing at all, it’s essential). Take the case of Patrick Finnegan. He was a 17-year-old who wanted to do venture capitalism in New York City, so he went to the PR and marketing company Big Machine Agency. They realized that they could position him as the business face of GEN Z, somebody who was young enough to know about all the youth trends that many consumer companies want to hop on. After spinning this, they paired him up with a celebrity photographer to build a story for him that caught attention in lifestyle and finance blogs.

Email Marketing

This is at the other end of the spectrum to an exciting PR campaign, but email marketing is still essential because it’s still so effective. It allows you to boost customer loyalty and attract customers to your startup for almost no money at all, especially if you’re a good writer. You can gather email addresses from people who visit your website by offering incentives or by directly asking potential customers you meet for their emails. It’s essential to offer more than just free advertising – offer free guides, infographics, content – whatever you think will bring potential or existing customers value. You should also make it easy to unsubscribe, as that way, only those who are genuinely interested in your niche will attend to the emails, becoming more loyal customers, and focusing your marketing efforts.

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Online Content

Start a blog. If you are dealing with customers and 99% of businesses (unless you’re sure they won’t find you online), you need to start a blog or offer some form of content regularly. Bill Gates said it in the 90s – content is king. It’s the reason that most people use the internet if not to look for a solution to a problem. Make sure that those interested in your niche have access to both by making your site as valuable as possible to them. Regularly posting fresh, engaging, and original content is essential for modern SEO, too, as Google is changing its algorithms frequently with the end-goal of delivering valuable content to customers. That means relying on keywords and SEO ‘tricks won’t last you very long and will have an opportunity cost as instead of bothering with those, you could be attracting real readers with good content.

The Top 4 Ways to Level-Up Your Customer Acquisition Game

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Customer Acquisition|The Top 4 Ways to Level-Up Your Customer Acquisition GameAre you trying to build your customer base, create return buyers, and boost your sales? The answer is obviously a resounding yes.

Gaining new customers is easy enough in theory – however, the actual practice can be a bit daunting. We’re going to tell you what you need to know in order to level-up your game when it comes to customer acquisition. Keep reading to learn how you can turn more of your leads into actual conversions, acquire more customers, and boost your profits!

First of All…

Before we go any further, the very first step to level-up your customer acquisition game is to define your target market. Yeah, yeah, we know – you want to sell to anyone and everyone that will buy.

Except for the fact that this isn’t really an ideal way to approach business, marketing, or selling.

You need to take a day (or a week, or a month) to sit down and determine exactly who you’re trying to market to. Include information like your customer’s age, gender, socio-economic status, and where they live. Basically, gather any and all demographic information, regardless of whether you find it immediately important.

This information will help you make the best possible marketing decisions and learn who you’re trying to sell to in order to make offers more appealing to that person. You might realize that the particular market you’ve been trying to sell to isn’t ready for your product; you might also learn about a whole new group of people that you’ve never thought about selling to.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Customer Acquisition|The Top 4 Ways to Level-Up Your Customer Acquisition GameMake it Personal

How many times have you opened an email from an unfamiliar address just because it included your name, the name of a product you just viewed, or a funny joke? The answer is probably more often than you’d like to admit.

You probably even wonder how that company did that – you know, make the email personal and applicable to you, specifically. There’s a decent chance that the company spent far too much money, time, and effort learning exactly how to send those emails and which programs to use to do so.

Yes, there are a lot of companies that offer you the ability to send out mass emails or even segment your subscriber list. They also usually cost an arm and a leg to use or are convoluted and exceedingly difficult to learn.

One of the easiest ways to avoid the high costs and confusion of standard mailing platforms is to use something designed to work with the mailing system you already use: Gmail. Opting to use a mail merge system for Gmail will allow you all of the benefits of a major mailing platform while still keeping the process simple and user-friendly.

When sending out your marketing emails, you’ll want to make them personal as mentioned; also, make them personable. Portraying your message or company as something that is relatable can go a long way toward getting your readers to open your email and follow through with your call to action.

Free Shipping Wins

As a business owner, you already feel the costs of shipping every time they increase and know that those costs are built into the price when a retailer claims that its “free.” As a consumer, you can’t help but buy just a little more in order to get the so-called “free” shipping.

With this said, you can already see that learning how to offer free shipping is a worthwhile task. It makes your customers feel as though they’re receiving a better value, can attract otherwise uninterested leads, and can ultimately boost your sales while encouraging repeat business.

Yes, free shipping can win business and increase sales, but you should learn the best practices in order to avoid losing money instead of making it! You might choose to have a minimum dollar amount on your orders or slightly increase the cost of each item – every industry is a little different in how they can incorporate “free” shipping.

Leverage Technology Use

Regardless of your industry, what you sell, or the service you provide, your business uses some type of spreadsheet software. These spreadsheets are used to keep track of email subscribers, inventory costs, or even payroll.

Believe it or not, Excel can be used for far more than just these simple tasks. You can choose to leverage your use of technology by hiring an Excel expert to help you create the exact algorithms and spreadsheets you need to save money while being more effective and productive.

How does this relate to customer acquisition? It’s simple, really.

When your business is saving time by not having to worry about spreadsheets and the accuracy of them, you can focus your attention on the money-making aspect of your business: the buyers.

Additionally, if you happen to be able to save a ton of money by becoming more productive, accurate, and saving overall costs, you can choose to pass these savings to your customers by offering lower prices. Lower prices will mean a competitive edge and often the potential for higher sales.

Leveling-Up Customer Acquisition: The Game You Can Win

Yes, customer acquisition is easier said than done; it’s also a very doable task when you choose to use the four tips mentioned here. When you take the time to define your target market, send out personal (and personable) email blasts, learn how to (properly) offer free shipping, and use technology to your benefit, you help to ensure a constant flow of new customers as well as repeat business.

It might take a little bit of time to learn how to implement the “cheat codes” to the customer acquisition game but you can rest assured that once you do, your sales will skyrocket, buyers will tell their friends, and your business will increase in value!

What is Transactional Email and How is it Used?

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Transactional Email|What is transactional email and how is it used?What is transactional email and how is it used?

Definition

“A transactional email is an automatic email sent to a single recipient to confirm a transaction or an event.”

Transactional emails have the highest opening rates because they are a direct response to a previous action; the user is somehow already waiting for them. In general, the click-through rates are incredibly high.

Transactional email is a service email that is sent after a user’s action, for example, a welcome message after registering on a website, a reset password confirmation, an auto-responder, a purchase receipt, etc.

Transactional emails are functional, and they are necessary for the normal functioning of your activity. If they are no longer sent, the function they perform ceases to be fulfilled, which can have severe consequences and cause you to lose many customers. Since transactional emails are so good for marketing, it is vital to ensure that they are delivered correctly to recipients and to trace it accurately.

Difference between email marketing and transactional email

Unlike marketing emails (newsletter type), which are sent in mass, transactional emails are sent to a specific recipient to confirm an action or notify them of an event. Typically, transactional emails include order confirmations, invoices, etc.

Types of Transactional Email

Invoices and receipts

Invoices and receipts can be integrated directly into confirmation emails but are sometimes the subject of a dedicated transactional email.

This kind of transactional email is particularly the case for:

  • Services not requiring delivery tracking
  • Subscriptions requiring the sending of an invoice at regular intervals

Tracking control

Your communication after a sale should not stop at the confirmation email. The various order follow-up emails have a crucial role in managing the wait.

You can send an email to notify your customers of the different stages of the order:

  • Order preparation
  • Shipped
  • Arrival order

Order confirmation

Your customer expects the transactional email the most. It is essential if you sell products or services online.
Pledge of seriousness and confidence for your customers; it must fulfil several objectives:

  • Confirm that the order has been taken into account
  • Reassure the customer
  • Send him all the information necessary for follow-up (order reference, access to his account, customer service contact, etc.)
  • Give him an estimate of the delivery time

This email plays a vital reinsurance role, and it often happens that the user has doubts about taking into account his actions, hence the importance of confirmation emails.

For some customers, ordering online is still something unusual and sometimes anxiety-provoking: a particular order confirmation email should reassure them that you are serious.

Password reset

The password reset email allows you to configure a new password via a single link. It is one of the essential transactional emails to set up: without it, your users who have forgotten their password have no way of being able to access their account!

How to set up your transactional emails?

Transactional emails are based on the SMTP protocol and require a specialised solution to ensure constant and reliable deliverability.

Use a dedicated and reliable solution

The best option is to go through a specialised transactional email services to manage your transactional shipments, such as sendgrid transactional email.

Sendgrid indeed offers many advantages compared to transactional emails included in CMS such as Prestashop, Magento, Woocommerce:

  • Real-time monitoring of performance indicators: deliverability, openings, etc.
  • Ability to customise your templates
  • Optimal and instant deliverability

Using the native solutions of most CMSs, you have no way of knowing if your transactional emails have arrived at their destination!

Separate your transactional mailings from your marketing campaigns

It is also essential to choose a solution that allows the routing of transactional emails to be separated from marketing emails.

Transactional emails are a vital point on your site and should not be penalised by the necessarily lower deliverability of your marketing mailings.

A problem in a marketing campaign can quickly lead to a decline in your reputation with email providers. You must, at all costs, avoid this impacting your transactional mailings.

Tips to Improve Your Transactional Emails

Finally, here are some tips to improve your transactional emails:

  • Keep the email concise and very clear. The user already knows what he expects, so be synthetic.
  • Send them a few seconds after the user action.
  • Use the most beautiful and most uncomplicated model to encourage clicks.
  • Place your contact details at the bottom of the page (footer).
  • Always send from an active address, better if authenticated.
  • Pay attention to the subject, and it must indicate the content of the transactional email to make it immediately recognisable in the inbox.

7 Dental Marketing Strategies You Should Be Using in 2020

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, 7 Dental Marketing Strategies You Should Be Using in 2020

With almost 200,000 dentists practicing in America, having the best dental marketing strategies in place is a must.
People have to trust you to allow you to work on their mouths. There are things you can do to become more trustworthy to people, and we are going to talk about some of those.

Continue reading this article as we talk about dental marketing and the strategies you should use to get customers.

1. Optimize Your Google My Business Page

If you aren’t familiar with your Google My Business page, you need to make sure you’ve claimed it. Claiming your Google My Business page is easy.

All you have to do is Google it and follow the simple instructions on how to secure your page and verify your business.

Once you have your GMB page, you’ll be able to fix it up to look like a mini website. This is important because it will show up at the top of the Google pack when people are looking for dentists in your area once you’re starting to rank.

You can add recent photos and even update it like social media.

2. Create a Trustworthy Website

Now that you’re getting attention from the search engines, you need to be sure they are going to a website that commands trust.

When you have a slow website that looks outdated, that doesn’t make people feel like they can trust you. They might even question whether you are out of business or not.

Look at some of the most popular and well-trusted dentists in your area, and see how their websites look. You can model after their design elements and have a designer put something just as high quality together for you.

3. Rank Your Business in the Search Engines (SEO)

One of the best ways to get relevant customer’s attention is through the search engines. Learning SEO, which is also known as search engine optimization, is the way to give your website the best opportunity to appear on the front page of the search engines.

Search engine optimization requires work both on your website as well as off-page factors like building links to your site.

When you want to rank in the search engines, you should choose a relevant keyword for the pages you want to rank. Focus on that main keyword and build around it by using other keywords that are similar around the content.

Finding the right dental keywords for your company is important, so you’ll be able to target people that care about what you have to offer.

4. Keep Your Social Media Pages Active

If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business already, now is the right time to go create one. Having a social media presence is going to get people’s attention and make them see that you are serious about keeping your business active online.

5. Engage Customers With Video Marketing

While people can come to your website and read content about how amazing you are, the best thing you can do is create videos to post on your website. Videos allow people to see who you are and how you operate.

Not only should you be on the website, but you should also feature your workers, and show off the office.

Giving customers a behind the scenes view of your office will put them at ease and make them more likely to call and make an appointment. Video marketing is also another way for people to discover you on sites like YouTube.

6. Submit to Dental Directories

When people are looking for dentists, they might go to a trusted dental directory. You want to make sure that you’re on all of your local directories, so people will continue to see your business name when they are searching.

The more people see your business name, the more likely it is that they are going to do further research to see if you might be the right choice for their dental needs.

Submitting to dental directories is usually free. Depending on the area where you live, some of them might have some fees. Try these directories for a little while, and if they don’t give you the results you want, you can drop them.

7. Use Email Marketing

Email marketing is the best way to stay top of mind with your past customers. They need to come back in to get their teeth checked periodically, but you might need to give them reminders, and the 9 word email strategy is the best way to do this.

Some people might opt-in for your text reminders, but most people are more comfortable with giving out their email addresses for notifications.

You can use email marketing for more than reminders. If they have a birthday, or if there is a holiday coming up, you can use your email blast to wish them a happy holiday.

They know they need to come into the dentist, and just seeing your name might be enough to have them call and set an appointment up.

Implementing the Best Dental Marketing Strategies

Now that you know more about dental marketing strategies, you’ll be able to grow your dental practice. Not having enough customers can cripple your business, but proper marketing can make all the difference.

Do you feel like you need more help with your marketing efforts? Our site is full of articles that can help you as you’re growing your business and working on going to the next level.

Browse our site, find your favorite section for business marketing, drop a bookmark, and come back soon to read more.

Is Cold Calling A Beneficial Way To Drum up Business?

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Cold Calling|Is Cold Calling A Beneficial Way To Drum up Business?Cold calling is a difficult tactic to master when looking to drum up business as it can be seen to may as a harsh way of selling. But for those that have already expressed interest, is it really such a bad idea? With a number of strategies as well as the best times for cold calling, could it be the secret your business needs to drum up sales? In this article, we will be looking into whether or not this is the right way to drum up sales for your business.

Gets Your Business Noticed

Though this is considered outdated by some businesses, the act of cold calling can still be a highly effective way of getting your business noticed. Whether this is with customers or through a long term B2b cold calling strategy, you are getting your name out there to a number of other businesses, providing them with insight into the product or service that you are looking to offer.

Gives A More Personal Touch

Though email marketing and social media are highly efficient ways of drumming up business, there are other options such as cold calling that give a far more personal touch. Though this can generate the initial lead, this can then blossom into more interest and lead to a conversion later on down the line allowing you to develop a relationship between you and the customer. This is beneficial for a sales team as this allows them to take a general interest in a client or business and help to sell them a package that will help them to achieve their long-term goals.

Can Be Used Alongside Social Media Campaigns

Social media campaigns are a great way of drumming up business but using cold calling to contact those that have downloaded an E-book or provided you with their phone number through a website can be the perfect way of drumming up business. Though this will be a challenge depending on the target audience that you are looking to reach, this can be an efficient way of drumming up leads for your business and even acquiring new business later on in the process. Though this is a lengthy process, there is a success rate you gain from cold calls that are yet to be replicated by emails or social media campaigns.

Is Highly Beneficial For Inbound Sales Strategy And Lead Nurturing

Inbound sales strategy is crucial when you have made the first call as you want to be sure you are able to close the sale. Whether this is converting the lead through regular phone calls or you decide to organise a meeting to go over new proposals, this can all lead to your business acquiring new clients. When dealing with b2b clients, it is important to keep this as professional as possible as this is likely to be a long-term investment and even the potential of repeat business for a product or service.

Whether you are looking to use cold calling as a new tactic for your sales team, or you are looking to cut back on the use of this potential outdated sales trick, there are a number of benefits that come along with cold calling.