Have you been receiving more complaints lately? Maybe you are finding that the phones aren’t ringing like they used to, or your client base has gone quiet? Maybe it’s because your customer service is on autopilot. It’s not uncommon for any business to become more focused on the production or the current clients they have and to let the day-to-day interaction fall by the wayside, and while not uncommon it can still be deadly for your business if not addressed. In today’s electronic world, face-to-face time has become almost obsolete and therefore even more meaningful when it happens. In addition, it is equally important that you understand that customer service is not just when there is face to face interaction but happens throughout the customer experience. Customer service begins when you receive your first inquiry from a client; how quickly you respond, how much time you spend with the customer on understanding what they need versus you trying to making the sale. It continues in making sure the customer doesn’t have to follow up with you in what is going on, what needs to be done versus you doing the follow up in making sure they don’t sit and wonder and feel the need to make the call. Remember, customer service is just that, serving the customer in such a way that delivers answers and solutions that produces a relationship of reliability and trust. So much so that they can learn to depend on you to not only deliver but that you have their best interest at heart. How do you accomplish this? It starts by being intentional in the way you deliver your customer service. Intentional in how you answer the phone; answer emails, think before you send out an email or provide a solution to the customer. For instance, when communicating make sure you have thought through the entire process before requesting approval. For instance, if you are asking a customer to approve a mailing but don’t have all the costs involved in making a decision you will quickly frustrate the customer by sending out additional emails or making additional phone calls on more information required or have the client see an invoice for more than they anticipated when the job is completed because they weren’t well informed. Great customer service takes ongoing effort and focus and can become part of your business brand if done intentionally. If left unattended, you could find your customer base and your reputation dwindling. Don't wing your customer service! If you are looking for a coach in business, call us today at 812-944-7728 or complete a free quote form!

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Common Content Marketing Mistakes

For many businesses, especially those that have been in business for ten or more years, there sometimes develops a complacency that results in the wrong thinking that you don’t have to do as much or work as hard in getting your name out because everyone knows your name. They know you are here, the same place you have been for the past ten, twenty, or thirty years; right? The answer to that question is No. Just because you have been in existence for a long time doesn’t automatically get you out of continuing to invest in marketing your business. Yet, we see it every day, businesses that gradually invest less and less into their marketing efforts because they are under the false feeling they don’t have to. The fact is that all markets shift year after year, some statistics say as much as 20% per year. Customers move, they move in and they die so our market changes, all the time. What makes it worse, if they do have a website, it hasn’t been updated, and to make matters worse, no programming has been placed on the website that will help, those searching, find you among the clutter on the world wide web. Why is a website important? Because over 85% of all businesses are vetted through the use of the internet before they decide to make the call. So, if your website is not current, and doesn’t give the impression that you know what you are doing or that you even care about what the customer searching thinks then you probably won’t get a call. In addition, what do you know about the customers that are already doing business with you? When did they start doing business with you, what type of service do they use or purchase do they make, and how often? Why do they stay with you? In today’s world, being able to know and understand the profile of your customers is a wealth of information in being able to target those customers to do more business, get referrals from them, and know where more customers are like them. The fact is that while the basic job of brand marketing and positioning your business to be in the top three in brand recognition has not changed nor has the need to continue to invest in marketing; the opportunities to invest have dramatically changed. We are all being bombarded with messages from all different angles, at home, at the workplace; on our desktops, and on our phones it’s constant. Don’t forget what you had to do to get where you are, build your name recognition, and realize the cost if you stop. It doesn’t have to be expensive but it does have to be consistent.

If there has been anything that we have learned in the last few years it is that having a strong, well-programmed website and a well-planned and consistent social media strategy is crucial to surviving unanticipated hard times. In today’s marketing world, marketing efforts begin with a well-developed website and consistent social media effort. In regards to the website, it is not enough just to have a pretty, well-designed site but responsive one (can be viewed on all platforms, iPad and Mobile) but also programmed for success. You can have a well-designed website but it will not perform well if it does not have the programming installed properly to help people find you. How important is your website? Recent research states that over 85% of potential customers have already reviewed your website before they decide to call or email you. How adequate your website is in stating what you do, what makes you unique, and how easy it is to reach out to you will determine if that call is ever made. In addition, we are amazed at how many sites we review that do not have any type of analytics installed, or if they are available, they have never been used. Like any electronic marketing effort today, the availability of analytics helps you to understand and plan better use of your website if it is in the hands of someone that can help or show you how to use it. What about your social media? Social Media is an extended component of your marketing efforts and your website. People can find out more information about you by clicking on your social media via your website as well as your social efforts pointing potential customers back to your website. Like your website, social beings with it tracking information that can help you plan and build stronger content in expanding your audience as well as response. Most importantly, developing a management plan and timetable/calendar to develop content in advance brings consistency to your marketing efforts which is the “magic” in all marketing efforts. As we have experienced in recent years, while traditional media may have been suspended or even canceled, the burden of potential customers has fallen on the business's website and social and either highlighting these types of marketing efforts or showing their weakness. Going forward, the emphasis on having a strong, well-programmed, and developed website will continue to grow in importance along with maintaining a well-thought-out and consistent social media plan. It has become and is the very foundation of any marketing efforts for anyone wanting to be in business. It is the new calling card, and as such, needs to be dealt with in importance and not short-changed if you want your business to have a chance to succeed. While there are extended elements that also need to be considered in both the web positioning using PPC or SEO and allocating more resources to include more video content and boost budgets, we will address that at another time. Have a question? Call the Marketing Company at 812-944-7728.

As social media continues to expand, the number of potential channels also continues to grow leaving customers questioning just what channels work best for them. Much like choosing network television before the addition of cable businesses are faced to needing more knowledge and expertise to successfully get a return on the social efforts. In fact, some social media users have even abandoned their website for search through social. While this may make sense for a few, for most it does not. Today’s social media, while an important selection in your marketing mix is not a one stop solution for all your marketing efforts. To put things in prospective, much like the internet and the push for websites to be responsive for smartphones, statistics still show that the majority of people still access the internet via their desktop. What this means, at least for now, is that social media should be treated as a new part of your marketing mix and therefor treated as any other part of your marketing media. This means it should be considered an active part of your SEO efforts for your web site. It also means that it fit into the rest of your marketing mix in your message and your offerings. Finally, it also means that it should be a part of your marketing plan ad therefor planned out and tracked. I am amazed that while many people I talk to insist on developing an ROI for all of their marketing efforts there has been little effort or accountability in regards to social media. The good thing is that, in most cases, social does provide analytics but someone still needs to pull the reports and track any success, whether that is considered increasing Likes or Followers. For us here at The Marketing Company, increasing the number of Shares is what is most important when managing social media. After all, it is called Social Media Networking so the key work here is networking. That only happens successfully when people share it with their friends. Finally, while social media tends to be viewed as a Free, no cost media offering effective results happen when there is time and effort invested. For instance, while many people to tend to post video or messages as a reaction, planned, well thought out messaging, whether video, picture or text best happens when it is well thought out and planned as part of the overall media mix. That’s why we focus on developing a quarterly calendar for our clients with messages, offers etc that can be approved in advance and then scheduled. Once that quarter is scheduled we begin working on the next quarter providing a consistency to our marketing messages that is coordinated and supporting all our other media efforts. Want to get more out of your social media efforts? Take it more seriously, take time to plan and make sure it is in line and supports all of your other marketing messages in other media. Most importantly, make sure you begin to track your efforts to see that your time and effort is providing a return. Contact us today to get started building your social media and building your brand!

In today’s ever increasing global economy, the importance in developing a strong brand has never been more important. Just think about it, a strong brand, once established and positioned well, can reduce your overall marketing investment. That’s right, reduce it. In almost every client we have worked with over the past thirty-five years, after the first two to three years of intentionally investing in all elements of the brand and revenues continuing to grow there becomes less a need to raising the marketing investment thereby reducing the percentage of gross revenue allocated to marketing; unless you are moving into a new market where your brand is not as well known. In addition, building a strong brand means build something that people can come to trust, rely and find a comfort in purchasing or partnering requiring a lot less strain on the selling (or convincing) process. But make no mistake, developing a strong brand does not just happen; it takes a great deal of effort to begin and a continued effort to make sure that your initial investment is not waisted. In addition, as I have said in previous articles regarding brand development, it relies on a great deal of commitment from the inside. For instance, I have a client, that while we have been working together for over twenty years, I am back with his staff in three locations conducting customer service training; what it is, how it has changed and how to be better at it. This is a business owner that knows that building a brand is intentional and it begins with the people that represent the brand every day; his team. That doesn’t mean they don’t know what to do or aren’t doing t well but that he recognizes he has new people on staff, and that those that have been on staff for awhile need to be reminded as to the importance of this area in maintaining and supporting this element of the brand itself. Building a successful brand also brings value. Our company has always understood that even if the company has no plans in ever selling, it is our job to help them build such a strong brand that if approached the company will get top dollar because of the value it brings to the market. After all, all businesses and industries change so why even think about starting a business that is has no plans in growing in value? So, if you haven’t spent any time developing your brand maybe you should start. If not, ask yourself what are you building? If it is just about making an income, you may find that for the long haul, that wont be enough.

Let’s face it, outsourcing your marketing has been an option for a long time and while some have embraced it, others still want to keep things ‘in-house’ so they can feel in control. If this is you then consider what control may be costing you as well as how you can maintain control when outsourcing. When it comes to your marketing investment, there is a time when bringing someone in full-time makes sense, such as looking at the long term and anticipated growth. But realize, there is a cost in building an internal marketing department. On the one hand, if you hire expertise or someone that can hit the ground running there is a higher cost. This doesn’t just include the space they will require, benefits package, time off and so on. Also, in most cases, the individual you hire will still not be able to perform all the elements needed and will need to seek an outsource to help get the job done. If you hire a person straight out of college, even with a degree, they will not only require all the elements in hiring an experienced person but then they will need time to get up to speed on your product and services; which we have found can take up to eighteen to twenty four months. In another scenario, you may be a marketing director that as taken the business to the next level but in doing so find yourself spending more time in managing what you created than in having time to continue to create; or, it could be you have the ideas, but no help to execute those ideas. So when does it make sense to outsource? First of all, take time to identify what you really need and how long. Developing a specific list of what services you want and what type of relationship you want is the first step n finding and hiring an outsource successfully. Secondly, look for a trusted partner. The outsource you select should have a track record of partnering with other companies or organizations over a period of time. If you see a great deal of short term projects make sure you check out a few of these projects to see if the outsource would be a good fit. Most importantly make sure the outsource you select has your back and will be accountable for the process, start to finish. This means them standing by what they do even when that means they might have to eat some or all of the cost when they make a mistake. Without that type of willingness, there is no partnership. Finally, give it time. Developing a relationship, whether an outsource or in-house, takes time to get to know one another. Of course, if the same problems or mistakes continue to happen you may have no recourse then to stop the relationship. Does outsourcing work? Well, as a small company that is an outsource to many companies in the region, we outsource. We have a number of outsources that we have developed and have been with us for over twenty years and all of it to be able to provide our customers the tested expertise they need and when they need it without having to take additional risks. At the end of the day it still remains to be able to provide what the customer needs when they need it. We have found that our customers don’t really care if we do everything in house, only that we, as their partner, can provide what they need and when they need it as well as knowing that if anything goes wrong, we will stand behind it and fix it. Contact us today and let's get started on perfecting your marketing strategies.