Inspiring Customer Loyalty in the Service Arena

New customers are considered to be the lifeblood of a business. In recent times, along with efforts towards getting new customers, marketers have been paying a lot of attention to current customers. They have been revamping the concept of customer service. New investments are being made in customer relationship management systems and building of teams for improved communications with customers.

When it’s time for festivities and you’re planning your gift list, there are often some unexpected people who just jump into your mind. They’re not family and they’re not friends. They’re people who make a place in your heart because of the way they treated you.

This is what service is all about. Exceptional service is always appreciated and remembered. It can create long term customer loyalty. The same holds true in the contact center arena.

So what qualities of contact center agents build customer loyalty? We think it boils down to four basic things:

Handling of issues in a customer-friendly way

Such agents make it their business to know the customer base in-depth. They have updated information regarding the latest communication trends and the contact channels that people prefer to use. They are evolving entities who are ready to handle future generations of consumers across various channels.

They are happy to listen to what customers want using channels that customers want. Then they respond in the way customers want them to.

Trying to give a personal touch to all interactions

Agents who manage to add a personal touch without getting too personal always score with customers. They consistently deliver friendly and warm service.

Contact center managers keen to instill such qualities in their agents have distinct systems in place for evaluation. They organize special programs for development of these qualities. Measures are taken to train agents to add a personal touch through multiple-channel communications which include voice interactions, emails, SMS, and chats.

Being naturally gifted

Some contact centers regard new agents as less-skilled members of the corporate workforce. This is certainly not true in all cases – many contact centers require their agents to have a specific level of academic qualification, for example, when a center caters to the health care field.

Contact center managers with a focus on building customer loyalty do not assume that a certificate makes for a good contact center agent. They seek out and recruit superior advocates of customer interaction and take appropriate measures to retain them. They are clear regarding the qualities a “perfect” agent is required to have and look for natural talent during the hiring process.

Going all out to ensure you are satisfied with a product.

Great agents stand behind a company’s product, and do whatever is required to ensure a customer is happy. They want customers to enjoy their experience and keep coming back. Happy customers translate into more business. Instead of simply having the objective of getting a job done, they have the goal of ensuring a remarkable experience for each customer.

In such a setup, various incentives inspire agents to improve their services in a sustained manner.

How to Launch a Successful Career as an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways of making money online. In fact, some highly successful affiliate marketers earn millions of dollars by promoting affiliate products on their websites. However, just like other online money making schemes, affiliate marketing too comes with a learning curve. You can't expect to earn loads of money as soon as you launch your affiliate program.

Getting started as an affiliate marketer is easy, but establishing yourself as a successful affiliate marketer takes time and patience. So, how can you make money as an affiliate? What are the traits that a successful affiliate marketer should have?

Here are 5 tips for launching a highly successful career in affiliate marketing:

1. Choose a niche and work on it

Before you start affiliate marketing, you need to decide what product(s) you want to promote. If you run a website about weight loss, you could consider promoting weight loss products. A blog in the health and fitness niche isn't exactly the right platform to promote electronic gadgets. Although you can promote different kinds of products, sticking with one product or products of the same kind will improve the chances of you landing that first paycheck.

Of course, promoting different products might seem like a safe idea, but as a beginner you are unlikely to have the time or resources to promote all of them. So, before you start choose products in one particular niche and then stick with them.

2. Be willing to experiment

Don't approach affiliate marketing hoping that you will make a lot of money overnight. Don't expect to be a millionaire overnight. Some lucky few might have achieved this. But generally speaking, successful affiliate marketers spend countless hours on their affiliate marketing ventures before they see any success. Remember that the most successful websites and email lists weren't created overnight.

Don't give up on a product just because you aren't making a lot of sales. Try tweaking your sales copy and landing page. Be willing to make lots of experiments and revisions.

3. Stay cordial with the affiliate manager

Build a nice relationship with the affiliate manager. They interact with lots of affiliate marketers on a regular basis, so they know which creative performs best. That said, don't expect the affiliate manager to be available round the clock. They work with numerous people so they may not have the time to answer every one of your queries.  Don't waste their time. Be courteous during your interactions with them. Your affiliate manager wants you to succeed because when you make money, they also make money.

4. Tap into your creativity

Some marketers use Facebook to promote their products but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to do the same. While using popular marketing techniques is never a bad idea, you need to tap into your own creativity and experience as well.

Note that customers develop ad blindness when they are bombarded with the same kind of marketing tactics.

So stand out from the rest by using unique methods. The fact that you are a newbie doesn't necessarily mean that you can't develop marketing strategies that veterans haven't thought about.

5. Get started

Many people who are interested in affiliate marketing spend a lot of time reading all the marketing guides on the planet. While gaining knowledge is absolutely fine, you won't make any money until you start marketing a product. Remember that now is the time to begin. Start that website or ad campaign now itself and reap benefits. If you wait until you are perfectly ready, you will probably never launch your marketing campaign.

 

How to Promote Your Online Business with Facebook Apps

Many businesses are yet to fully leverage Facebook's potential as a marketing tool. Nowadays almost everybody has an account on Facebook and most of these folks log into their account at least once a day. That means any business that has a presence on Facebook gets an opportunity to reach potential customers on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, many businesses still haven’t launched an effective social media campaign. If you feel that your brand is yet to take advantage of the massive popularity of Facebook, the first thing you need to do is to launch a fan page for your business. The next step is to get people to like your pages. Businesses can consider offering discounts or special prizes to users who like their Facebook page. Post regular status updates. Your updates must be engaging enough for people to interact with them.  So for example, if you run a restaurant, you can post updates featuring the day's menus or specials. Of course, these are the most basic things. Building a commendable presence on Facebook takes a great deal of time and effort. Fortunately for us, plenty of apps are now available to make this job easier.

Why do you need Facebook apps?

Facebook apps can be a great way to create engagement with your fans. Apps can be used to promote online sales, incentives, competitions, and more. Since they create engaging content, they make sure that your users interact with your brand.

Small businesses don't have to create their own apps. Instead, they can choose some of the available apps. A successful app can go a long way in establishing and strengthening your social media presence. While selecting apps for your business, choose the ones that are simple, quick, and user-friendly.

Here is a list of some Facebook apps that you can use to promote your business:

If you run a restaurant, you should use Heyo. This Facebook app comes with mobile widgets that allow your customers to redeem gift coupons on their mobile phones.

North Social is another company that builds apps for Facebook. It offers apps for mobile promotions, contests, coupons, sweepstakes, and more. These apps allow businesses to launch limited-time promotions almost every day.

Woobox is another app popular with local retailers. It allows small stores to create and launch contests. The most popular feature of this app is its photo contest feature which allows users to upload their own photos and let other users vote the best. A clothing store can take advantage of this feature by encouraging its fans to post photos wearing their latest clothes for a discount or a prize.

If you offer a professional service, you can use an app like FaceItPages to improve your social media presence. This app creates ads that will only show up to users who might need a service like that.

Whatever may be your business needs, there are plenty of Facebook apps to make your job easier. Since the number of people who interact with your Facebook page is far more important than the number of people who like it, creating customer engagement should be your goal and apps make it possible.

Online Marketing Trends in 2014

No one can deny the profound impact of the Internet on marketing due to the way it facilitates information sharing. We find that today, more businesses prefer publishing their own original content instead of embedding their ads within the content of others. This offers additional benefits like audience growth and product branding.

Looking at these trends, here’s what we think the online marketing scenario in 2014 will be.

1. Content Marketing Will Rule

 

Companies can establish authority and gain consumer trust by regularly creating useful, relevant content using various channels. This allows them to build rapport with demographics and develop a loyal following.

Businesses can use channels like social media, eNewletters and articles on company websites to build their reputations. This trend implies that traditional marketing techniques like radio and television ads are losing their efficacy. It appears more feasible to focus on inbound marketing by creating engaging and valuable content.

2. More Diversity for Social Media Marketing

Previously there weren’t too many social media platforms that businesses could use for marketing campaigns. Today, new sites are coming up all the time and some are quite popular. These offer a plethora of additional options for producing great content using a variety of media.

As a result, businesses are branching out and experimenting with multiple platforms in an attempt to reach out to more customers. Diversification often proves fruitful because it helps build brand equity.

3. Image-Rich Content Will Win

Since consumers almost drown in the deluge of advertisements, they will not look at stuff that’s difficult to digest. The common characteristic of successful blog posts is the strategic placement of pictures to emphasize points. We doubt conventional textual content will ever get completely replaced. But it’s quite clear that the incorporation of images can add value to a marketing campaign.

4. More Will Not Be Better

Today, consumer preference is shifting towards simple marketing messages instead of deeper ones. Users prefer an uncluttered, clean and aesthetically minimal style.

Now innovative marketers are moving away from ads that shout “look at me”. They know that consumers do not like to be overwhelmed by the hype and are toning down their campaigns.

Hyper-connectivity and highly-digitized lives offer too many flashy and complicated sensory inputs and consumers are tired of this. Because of this, the coming year is likely to see simpler marketing strategies do better. Successful strategies will be those that promote products that simplify consumer lives and even just improve customer experience.

5. Content for Mobiles Will Be Mandatory

With the growing usage of tablets and smartphones, companies must create mobile-friendly content. This might involve creating alternate mobile versions of websites or using responsive web designs to give mobile users a positive experience. Without this, customers may move towards competitors who offer this convenience and businesses can face dire consequences.

6. Others

We feel that the effectiveness of ad retargeting is likely to grow. Once users leave a site, the products they saw will be shown again in the ads on different websites. Psychological studies have shown that repeated exposure to brand logos and names creates trust and familiarity.

We also think that social signals and SEO will get further intertwined. Since search engines strive to provide relevant and high quality content, they would give importance to the number of times an article, blog post, or product page is shared.

 

Top Tips to Build Strong Email B2B Relationships

Many B2B businesses rely on email as an important channel for marketing to their customers, both current and prospective. B2B email campaigns communicate and build relationships with prospects, gather important data and help boost marketing ROI. However, building relationships can be difficult. Email provides many opportunities that many companies fail to take advantage of.

An email marketing campaign is an important part of a B2B marketing strategy. Here some tips to build and maintain effective relationships with customers:

Segmentation- When you’re trying to build B2B relationships using email, segmentation is particularly important. For instance, if your company sells software, chances are you'd want to send a different email to a CIO than you would a technical lead responsible for deploying and maintaining your solution. Look at all data, such as who opened the email, how long they spent on the site, and if they downloaded the offer. This will allow you to create strategies in segmentation using behavioral data.

Mix it up- Creating different styles and methods in your email campaigns will enhance their performance. Test things like different delivery times and surveys, to name a few.

Follow up- Following up is essential if you want to build relationships and give potential clients a sneak peek at how you work. If there aren’t follow up emails to queries and complaints, what’s the point of an email strategy? You can get valuable feedback through following up. It also lets prospects know that you want to keep communication active and open.

Be personal- You can be personal in your B2B email correspondence and tailor the emails based on services the potential client has bought in the past. You can also use information such as company size to cater emails to prospective clients. Using inclusive language will make them feel important, and they may do business with you.

Don't simply sell- You want to build B2B relationships versus selling all of the time. Sure, you want to drive sales, but you shouldn’t just sell. You can use email to provide free advice for potential clients or offer help with purchased services. The emails should be informative and interesting, not salesy and stuffy.

Show skills and knowledge- You need to showcase your knowledge and skills with a compelling yet original message. Demonstrate your expertise and appeal to your clients to build relationships.    

The key to B2B relationships via email is to deliver thoughtful messages to potential customers. You need to know who your clients are, what they want or need, and how your products and services can be of use to them.

How to Use Hashtags with Twitter for Marketing

Do you use hashtags in your social media marketing? If not, you should be! Hashtags are part of an effective marketing strategy for businesses, and they fairly simple to use and understand. When utilized correctly, hashtags can be worked into a normal tweet so that it sounds natural and conversational. They can create a buzz about a topic that pertains to your business and reach a community.

What exactly is a hashtag?

According to Twitter, the # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. They allow Twitter users to tag their tweets to provide context or designate them as being part of a particular conversation. As far as marketing goes, hashtags can be part of a campaign by creating a buzz or starting conversation around a certain topic. They can also become trending topics as well.

How do you use hashtags?

You tag things by placing # right in front of the keywords you are using. They can be placed in the beginning, middle, or end of a tweet. All you have to do is decide on the keyword you are targeting and type a pound sign in front of it. The # symbol is a message to others tweeting that you are discussing a certain topic, and if they want to talk about it, they can use the hashtag too. And this is how hashtags become hot topics of conversation!

You can create your own hashtag, but you must make sure that it is as short and understandable. You don’t want to hashtag common words because you won’t be able to get many people to follow them. Hashtags should have the power to get people talking.

Here are some other hashtag tips and suggestions for effective marketing:

·         Hashtags are great for centralizing conversations around live, in-person events or conferences, live webinars, or other marketing campaigns you're running.

·         A hashtag is only useful if people know about it. So to start generating conversations through your hashtag, start adding it your existing resources and channels.

·         If your hashtag is too long, hard to spell, or too complicated, it will defeat the purpose of a hashtag as many people may forget it or not be able to fit it into their tweets.

·         Try to use hashtags on multiple social media channels. You can organize your content and pictures while using hashtags on channels such as Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest.

·         Keep your hashtags short. This way, they will easy to remember. Also, keep in mind that Twitter users can only use a maximum of 140 characters each a tweet, so keep it short and sweet.

The tips above should help you choose memorable hashtags that are unique. Utilizing hashtags in the right way can prove to be part of a very effective social media marketing strategy.

Using Images to Make Sales on Facebook

If you’re using Facebook for sales promotion, we have a few suggestions regarding how you can increase revenues using graphics on Facebook. A lot of ecommerce brands are following these practices to boost sales online:

Why use images?

According to a study, image posts attract 53% more likes as compared to others, get 104% more comments and generate 120% more engagement.

Offer promotion codes for seasonal sales

Whether you’re offering a Thanksgiving discount, a 15% off discount or a Buy 1, Get 1 Free sale, consider the option of creating an interesting graphic to showcase this. An appealing graphic can draw greater attention than regular text.

Make sure you include a promo code because this will help track revenues generated. While posting the image on your Facebook timeline, make use of a clear action call in the post copy so that fans know the exact procedure for completing their purchase.

Offer rewards to fans who tell others

Craft an engaging graphic telling your fans that a special promo code will get unlocked if your image gets a particular number of shares. Since the updates on your page are seen mostly by people who already engage with it, you may want to get greater engagement using a promoted post. This kind of promotion can help increase organic engagement and you will not be required to pay for the promotion of your next offer!

Along with driving revenues, an additional benefit of such promotions is that there’s an increase in fan engagement and brand awareness is built within friends of fans.

Show off product specifications

“If you have it, flaunt it!” This perfectly applies to the arena of Facebook marketing. A Facebook page is an ideal place to showcase the outstanding features of all your products. Design a graphic that’s sure to capture the attention of your fans and highlight product features not visible at first glance. Posting the image with a direct call to action such as a link to your online store will make purchasing easy.

When it’s a brick-and-mortar store, the sales team can speak about the salient features of a product at length before potential customers. Its different online – state-of-the-art graphics should do all the talking and all the selling!

Offer free gifts with purchases

Though offering free gifts with purchases is one of the oldest promotional mantras, it’s still around because of its effectiveness as a revenue-generating tactic. Design an appealing graphic for offering a free gift relevant to your audience. If your fan base is big, use the various Facebook features to ensure that the correct people  know about your offer. Using the appropriate graphics is likely to make your gift offer stand apart.

Make use of countdown promos

Countdown promos keep fans hyper-engaged over extended periods of time. For example, you could design a graphic that shows a 24-hour sale of various popular products from your online store each day for a week. Excited fans are likely to visit your page every day to see the image of the day and you’ll have a boost in revenues for 7 days straight.

Promote a limited-period offer

A worst case scenario in the arena of Facebook promotions is when a fan says, “Oh, I’ll come back tomorrow." When an image promotes an exciting offer for a limited period, it creates a sense of urgency that’s required for immediate driving of sales.

In conclusion, combining the draw of a discount or sale with the power of image posts can result in a substantial increase in online revenues.

The Impact of Mobile on SEO

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We as internet marketers constantly look out for ways we can get the most out of search engines. Search engines in turn constantly look for ways in which they can make their searches fair. So search dynamics are constantly evolving. This is also very relevant in the mobile search scenario. Whether we’re building mobile apps for using websites or trying to optimize mobile websites for SEO, there are lots of things to take into account.

Here are the factors currently influencing mobile SEO:

The Role of Page Speed

Since processor speeds and internet connections of mobile phones aren’t as fast as those of traditional computers, mobile searches are slower. Even if there’s 3G or 4G internet on a phone, the speed cannot measure up to DSL and satellite speeds on computers.

So to get a good search engine ranking, it’s crucial for mobile websites and apps to load quickly. For this, you might want to use fewer images on a mobile website, make use of HTML5, or design a special app for running the site to address speed issues and improve SEO.

Size Is Important

Mobile users generally want information instantly and they tend to use shorter phrases for searching. Also because it’s less convenient to type on a smartphone than a standard computer, search phrases stay short. This indicates that short content that’s keyword rich is important for improved SEO.

Additionally, consider writing smaller text blocks for mobile sites. Mobile users have limited space for reading text and if there’s too much text, they’ll move off. Most of the larger cell phone models are not even one fourth the size of a regular laptop screen.

Local Results Do Better

Typically, people use cell phones to hunt for things close by when they’re moving around. For example, they might need information regarding where they could go for dinner or want to look for coupons of a store they are visiting. This indicates that local results have a greater tendency to show up in the search results of mobile search engines.

To improve mobile SEO, the way to go is the provision of content that’s likely to appeal to an increasing quantum of people who are working with their devices whilst they’re on the go. I agree that it’s difficult to rank well for all locations, but you can carefully zero in on areas that you want to target and optimize keywords accordingly. This will help drive local user traffic to your mobile site.

More Traffic with Social Media

One more important mobile SEO aspect to keep in mind is that people using smartphones are more likely to engage in social media than those who don’t. Studies have shown that mobile users spend much more time on social networks than on search engines. So to improve mobile SEO, stay active on various social media platforms and add social sharing buttons to gain extra traffic.

As user behavior changes, mobile searches are going to keep evolving and it’ll hold us in good stead to adjust our strategies accordingly.