The Top High-Impact Marketing Technologies Influencing B2B in Australia Today

The Top High-Impact Marketing Technologies Influencing B2B in Australia Today

First thing’s first. We all know that marketing tools are essential to business growth. The way B2B marketers see it, no business will ever survive without leveraging new technologies.

The world is getting smaller every day, and that’s because social media has improved the way we communicate. It bridges geographical gaps and allows people to engage in relevant topics. For the B2B industry, new technologies are bringing them closer to their audiences, with each marketing innovation transforming the way they create their messages and distribute them to the right people.

Sure enough, Australian B2B companies are not left out in adopting the most effective marketing tools and software. Cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane where most startups are based are continuously updating their marketing systems to better meet audience demands.

But in which marketing technologies do Australian B2B companies invest? Better yet, what’s the reason they focus on these technologies in the first place?

For that, let’s look at the types of marketing technologies that impact businesses in Australia the most, from building awareness to creating highly effective lead generation campaigns.

Customer Relations Management

A business knows that, when it comes to making informed decisions on the marketing side, it pays to take heed of the behaviours and perceptions of one’s audience. In other words, creating effective marketing campaigns involves knowing what potential customers and using this knowledge to build audience retention.

This is the reason why B2B enterprises across the globe, and not just Australia, invest heavily in customer relations management systems or CRM. For sure, a positive customer experience is important to the bottom line and increases the efficiency of marketing campaigns across the board. For Australian B2B companies, it all boils down to getting the right CRM packages to help with generating high-quality leads and securing more sales conversions.

There are countless CRM brands available that are tailor-fitted for B2B enterprises. To get a step ahead of competitors, businesses will need to acquire a full-stack CRM service complete with accurate analytics tools and audience insights reporting.

Related: Best Practices in Data-Driven Marketing You Wouldn’t Want to Ignore

Software-as-a-Service and Cloud Computing

Software has come a long way, from helping people do their taxes and record retail purchases to helping companies get their message across to their target audiences. The only caveat to this is the fact that businesses need to address big data.

Indeed, handling large volumes of information can get you tangled in a web of confusion. Other than that, you will have to make sure every bit of data is secured in your system, which can get complex, to say the least. Luckily, SaaS allows businesses to maintain a safe and well-protected backup database through cloud computing services.

The technology isn’t new, but recently, more and more businesses in Australia are adopting cloud computing as a way to streamline their data management activities. Because of this, we can expect many more Australian B2B companies to make their move to the cloud.

Related: Bold Predictions for the Tech Industry in Australia 2018

Lead Management Tools

Securing audience data is one thing. Getting audiences to convert is another.

Every business has its own way of defining their sales pipeline. Nonetheless, pipelines should always be optimized to generate higher sales numbers as possible. No matter the number of stages present, it is what you want to do with potential clients that matters the most.

For this, a lead management system can help to Australian companies chart their buyers’ journeys and develop insights that could impact future marketing campaigns. What’s more, these companies can also streamline their lead nurturing activities and reduce marketing costs by regularly performing a database scrub.

So far, this has worked well for a lot of B2B enterprises in Australia. As competition in the B2B industry becomes increasingly tighter, it is vital for companies to improve their lead generation efforts by handling lead data the right away.

Marketing Automation

When it comes to getting a well-rounded marketing campaign, it always helps to adopt a marketing automation platform that could realize the function of the three marketing technologies above.

By automating most of your marketing efforts, you are not only saving yourself time and money managing the many sales opportunities that enter your pipeline. You are also provided a more efficient and faster way to increase sales conversions.

More importantly, having such a system in place can enhance your audience outreach efforts and secure a better position in the Australian B2B industry.

Related: How Marketing Automation Increased My Client’s Appointments in 30 Days

5 B2B Email Marketing Goals that Make or Break Results [VIDEO]

5 B2B Email Marketing Goals that Make or Break Results [VIDEO]

Email remains the Swiss Army knife of B2B Marketing.

It does a lot of things,
and it does them really well.

Email Marketing Goals - plot

But email’s performance is only as good as your goals.

Let’s understand the
5 essential B2B email marketing goals,
and learn why you need to focus on each of them.

#1 Connecting with new prospects

Emails are ideal for starting relationships with potential customers.

They enable personalized touches at scale.

That’s why 13% of B2B leads come from this channel.

Related: Finding the Perfect Balance Between New and Repeat Customers

#2 Nurturing leads and opportunities

Emails play a key role in keeping leads engaged throughout the sales cycle.

They help deliver compelling content at each stage of the sales process.

51% of B2B marketers personalize lead nurturing through email segmentation.

Related: Don’t Just Blast Cold Email Pitches, Nurture and Win Customers [VIDEO]

#3 Automating response to specific triggers

Emails provide a personalized way to automatically respond to lead activity.

They make your entire marketing automation process run smoothly.

B2B marketers who implement email automation boost their sales pipeline by 10%.

#4 Promoting exclusive offers

Emails work well at promoting free trials, discounts, and special offers.

They let you match relevant offers with an interested audience, boosting conversions.

In fact, 66% of online purchases resulted from an email.

Related: Marketing and Transactional Emails: How to Leverage Both [VIDEO]

#5 Closing sales deals and providing post-sale follow-up

Emails can help sales reps close deals and encourage repeat purchase.

By providing reps with an extra layer of touch points, emails shorten the sales process.

Now that you know which goals to focus on, keep in mind that…

a goal without a plan is only a wish.

Finding the Perfect Balance Between New and Repeat Customers

Finding the Perfect Balance Between New and Repeat Customers

Businesses know for a fact that clients are what keep revenues rolling on the regular. After all, the people who buy our products or hire our services are the reasons why we’re in business in the first place.

With that said, multichannel marketing enhances sales by allowing B2B companies to seek out opportunities. But despite the advantages they get from advanced lead generation approaches, these companies will still have to tackle the pressing issue of whether to prioritize new customers or repeat customers.

Bad blood?

The divide has always existed ever since companies began nurturing leads as an essential factor in revenue growth.

Without a doubt, most businesses in the B2B industry prefer to anchor their lead generation strategies on acquiring new prospects, and we can’t call them out for it. Especially if they happen to be Melbourne-based tech startups that are taking the initial steps to grow their brands, focusing more on new business relationships is totally fine. Building a client base from scratch is a difficult thing to pull off anyway.

But if you are already established a firm foothold in your market, you will have to maintain your momentum by generating new clients and making sure to keep existing clients wanting more from you. The aim now is for B2B businesses to find a middle ground between new and repeat customers.

‘The Revenue Mix’

Shauli Rozen, Chief Strategy Officer of Optimove, points out the importance of optimizing the customer revenue mix.

Although much of his points apply directly to the activities of e-commerce, Rozen drives home the point that businesses will have to address the needs of their “old customer base” and strike a perfect balance between new and repeat customers.

Forbes contributor Larry Myler, on the other hand, says that for companies to improve their revenue numbers, they will have to keep existing customers within the sales cycle. This would mean applying the right approaches to attain a perfect balance in the customer revenue mix.

New and Repeat Customers: The way forward

Australian companies should start reviewing their current marketing objectives and determine if they are focusing too much on getting new clients.

By focusing on these approaches, companies can greatly enhance their marketing efforts to generate opportunities and keep their client bases intact.

Emphasize greater reliance on lead nurturing

For B2B relationships to thrive, it is imperative to put an effective lead management system in place. Automated marketing software allows greater scalability in terms of engaging your current clients and ensuring that they are regularly updated on new offers or promos.

In this case, a lead nurturing can streamline your engagement efforts with current brand patrons. It takes a great load off of your team, providing you with ample time to reach out to potential clients elsewhere.

Related: AskCallbox: What makes an effective lead nurturing program?

Incentivize sales teams for a job well done

Incentive schemes provide a motivating factor for pushing your marketing efforts forward. And for this very reason, it is essential to increase the commissions you pay out, not only for each new client generated but also for purchases from repeat customers.

Writing for the American Express Open Forum, Mark Henricks sees the potential of paying high incentives to sales teams as a means to even out the customer revenue mix. Because they are driven to win new clients and win back old ones, sales team can help can help a company realize higher profit margins.

Curating content that matters

If you belong to an industry that constantly engages new innovations, it is essential to build your message around a prevailing issue or development.

We can never really deny the value of content curation as it helps you focus on the most important topics of the day. What’s more, it also helps you with audience retention by enabling messages that existing customers see as relevant. From there, you can prolong the engagement lifecycle all the while stimulating the interest of possible clients.

Related: Dummies Guide for Content Marketing

Create brand communities

To do this, simply create a brand advocacy program that outlines the value it secures for your organization as well as for your current client base. You can then provide incentives or social mentions for every piece of content they share or re-tweet. Not only will you be able to keep a loyal fan club with you, you also leverage their networks to reach out to potential fans!

A B2B Marketer’s Guide to a Fresh Marketing List

A B2B Marketer’s Guide to a Fresh Marketing List

It is important for marketers in the B2B industry to make sure they get the right data to implement their lead generation and appointment setting strategies. The value that a mailing list brings to the bottom line is just too important for companies to ignore.

Still, the challenge of building an email list from scratch forms the most complicated part of B2B marketing on the whole. For companies to stay competitive and generate opportunities, they will have to acquire large volumes of names and contacts using strategies such as landing page opt-in forms and pop-ups.

It’s never easy since you will have to encounter several challenges along the way, and not to mention the long and arduous process of finding the most appropriate decision-makers for your marketing list and have them subscribe to content.

But suppose you finished building a database of prospects ready to be engaged. What now?

Of course, you need to cover the expenses you have incurred in building your list in the first place. The most reasonable action at this point is to leverage your contacts and seek out opportunities for getting better revenue figures.

Here are just some of the steps you might want to apply.

Always refer to your goals

Are you aiming to increase engagement? Is your digital marketing team focused on securing more site conversions than last month?

Specific goals are the key to maximizing a marketing mailing list. They point your campaign towards the right direction and helps you avoid activities not aligned with your overall business strategy.

To start, you can ask yourself what outcomes to expect. This should enable you to build your audience engagement approaches around these expectations and develop a more consistent message.

Segment your audience

Different decision-makers have distinct wants and needs. With that said, it is not really a good idea to assume that everybody on your list has the same mind when it comes to purchasing a certain B2B solution.

Location, organizational positions, company size, and other demographic details influence how a buyer engages with your message, so it is always important to deliver content based on these considerations.

Segmenting your mailing list, in this case, ensures that you tailor to fit your messages to specific needs and expectations. This allows you to maximize your resources and amplify your reach without spending too much time engaging the wrong people with the wrong content.

Related: 13 Reasons Why You Should use Data Profiling and Get Accurate IT Contacts

Personalize your messages

Once you have segmented your mailing list based on the demographics you want to target, you can then craft messages that cater towards the needs of specific groups.

Personalizing your marketing messages for potential clients offers a valuable approach to prolonging the life cycle of your leads and, more importantly, position your brand the way you want your audience to see it.

This would mean doing intensive market research and social listening to get the gist of the most crucial topics in the market and create messages based on these topics.

Related: Quick Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Strategy

Scrub your marketing list regularly

Like it or not, a mailing list is prone to accuracy issues that will interfere with your campaign. Duplicate names and bad addresses, for example, can lead to wasted resources in trying to reach them. What’s more, engaging unresponsive contacts can also affect your sending reputation. Your messages will either bounce back or be diverted to spam folders, making it even harder for you to reach out to other contacts in your list.

For this reason, it is always best to make sure your database is scrubbed regularly to ensure optimum efficiency in your marketing campaign. There are tons of lead management tools available that feature data cleansing options. With such a system in place, your contacts are regularly updated, duplications are eliminated, and improve your deliveries across the board.

Related: How many times should you have your business database cleanse?

Measure your gains

Finally, what makes effective mailing list management is the ability to make sense of the most important analytics.

After all, marketing is a numbers game, and positive numbers mean that your campaign is performing in line with your goals. The only way to find out if you are going the right direction is to set your KPIs and measure your gains. This provides you with a good view of all your marketing efforts, allowing you optimize your campaign even further and anticipate possible issues that you can address.

Related: A Visual Guide to Telemarketing Performance Metrics [INFOGRAPHIC]

30 Must-Know Resources for Your Last-Minute GDPR Preparations

30 Must-Know Resources for Your Last-Minute GDPR Preparations

Those of you of a certain age will recall the great Y2K scare that gripped the world at the turn of the century. Now, as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect in a little over two weeks, many sources are calling it the “Y2K of B2B Marketing.”

But beyond the hype and fanfare, the GDPR is an opportunity for you to improve the way your organization collects, handles, and uses customer/prospect data.

While the GDPR is widely considered to be the most complex piece of legislation the EU has ever produced, it all boils down to making sure that personal data is kept and used in a transparent manner.

That’s why you should be making the final touches to your GDPR preparations by now. This post rounds up the top-rated resources to help you go over your last-minute GDPR checklist. Keep in mind this article only includes marketing tips. At no point should it be taken as legal advice.

GDPR: Prepare, Don’t Panic

In the late 1990s, people feared that the world’s computer systems (and everything that depended on it) would fail when the calendar turned over into January 1, 2000, due to a glaring vulnerability present in most computer architectures at that time.

In response to dire warnings and predictions on the Y2K bug’s possible impact, businesses and governments across the world reviewed and upgraded their IT infrastructures, collectively spending at least $300 billion (in year 2000 dollars) on Y2K fixes.

The new millennium finally arrived with minimal Y2K-related disruptions, except for a few relatively minor incidents (temporary power outages, disconnected phone lines, etc.) in some scattered places across the globe. It looked like a worldwide catastrophe had been averted.

While still being debated until today, some sources argue that it was the frenzied pace of preparations by companies and governments that saved the world. Others, meanwhile, think the entire Y2K problem had been blown out of proportion, and that organizations that geared up for it were simply overreacting.

But despite these opposing views, businesses that took the step toward Y2K-readiness actually got something more from their efforts than just being spared from potential disaster. The Y2K problem forced companies to sort out and streamline all the various overlapping IT components in their organization. In other words, businesses modernized and strengthened their IT systems by trying to fix the Y2K bug.

The same can be said of the GDPR. If you’ve been following nothing but headlines on the topic, it’s easy to get carried away by all the talk of gloom and doom. In reality, although the implementation date draws closer, the GDPR’s exact implications have yet to be determined—a fact which even the European Commission admits.

It doesn’t really matter whether the GDPR’s anticipated impact on marketing turns out to be spot on or overblown. Working toward GDPR compliance will benefit your organization on so many levels, not only in avoiding the steep penalties associated with violations.

GDPR-readiness actually helps you develop more robust and effective data management processes. By setting standards that ensure your data assets are accurate and in order, the GDPR gets your data in the right shape for gleaning useful information and actionable insights.

That’s on top of other organizational benefits like boosting your cybersecurity posture and protecting your company against data breaches and theft.

This is why preparing for GDPR is a step in the right direction.

Some Last-Minute Resources for Your GDPR To-Do List

With just two more weeks left, most businesses are working round the clock to get everything ready before the May 25 deadline. At the current rate that things are going, however, it’s clear that only a few will actually be able to become GDPR-compliant once the law takes effect.

In fact, recent surveys find that between a third to 60% of companies won’t reach GDPR-readiness on time. Even within EU-member states, only a very small number of businesses think they’re prepared or up to speed with the upcoming regulation.

That’s despite having had a two-year window to prepare for the GDPR and thousands upon thousands of materials dedicated to the topic. The road to GDPR compliance still remains as winding as ever with detours and dead ends along the way. It’s no wonder why 89% of companies worldwide admit they’re still confused with key elements of the new law.

Whatever your level of preparation, the May 25 deadline will soon be arriving. As you wrap up or ramp up compliance measures, you need to make sure you’ve got the essentials all covered.

We’ve hand-picked the top resources (articles, whitepapers, infographics, etc.) from trusted sources to help you go over each step of your GDPR compliance to-do list. These are grouped according to the typical items in a GDPR-readiness checklist as follows:

Understanding the Legislation

By now, you probably have a pretty decent grasp of what the GDPR is all about. The GDPR significantly enhances data privacy protection for anyone in the EU (including both citizens and non-citizens) which the law calls “data subjects”, giving people greater control over their personal data while also increasing the duties and responsibilities of organizations that collect or process personal data.

The new law not only impacts businesses directly operating in the EU but also applies to any non-EU company that targets or tracks any individual residing in the EU. In other words, your company is subject to the GDPR if it processes or handles the personal data of EU citizens or residents.

To understand exactly what responsibilities the GDPR imposes and which types of data it aims to protect, you need to be familiar with the GDPR’s legislation. Here’s a list of resources to help you get acquainted with the letter of the GDPR law:

Doing a Data Processing Inventory

The GDPR specifies several reporting requirements, including “records of processing activities” indicated under Article 30. Records of processing activities provide information on how and why personal data is being processed. This report allows you to show regulators your organization is complying with the GDPR.

Unlike traditional data inventory/mapping, a data processing inventory looks at how data moves through each of your business processes, not just account for various data assets or where they’re being stored.

To implement this requirement, you first need to identify and locate all pieces of personal data in your organization and then indicate where they come from, how they’re being processed, and where they’re going.

The following resources offer up some very useful information on carrying out a data processing inventory for GDPR compliance:

Related: How many times should you have your business database cleanse?

Updating Your Opt-In and Privacy Policies

Under Article 6, the GDPR mentions that data subjects must provide consent to the processing of their personal data before you can legally collect their information. Consent requires a positive opt-in (not pre-ticked boxes or any kind of consent by default).

All your opt-in forms must clearly state why you’re collecting the personal info, how you’re going to store and use it, and what you’re going to send. Your marketing database should contain only contacts who have explicitly and clearly provided their consent.

In addition, the GDPR provides rules on giving privacy notices to data subjects, specifically under Articles 12, 13, and 14. You need to thoroughly review your privacy notices and make sure they’re clear, concise, and easy-to-understand.

Several sources cite that making consent and privacy notices GDPR-compliant can be a little tricky. Here are a few useful guides to ensure you take the proper steps:

Rethinking Your Marketing Processes

We’ve already seen some possible ways GDPR can impact your opt-in tactics and list management strategies. In some cases, working toward GDPR compliance may require a substantial rethink of many of your traditional and digital marketing processes.

For example, the new law makes it clear you must obtain positive opt-in (not implied or default opt-in) in order to legally collect personal data, which means some lead capture tactics may potentially run afoul of the GDPR.

Also, you may need to take a look at your website cookie policy and consider providing the option for site visitors to disable cookies before browsing your site.

Another crucial area to recheck for GDPR compliance is your marketing automation platform or CRM. This is most likely where the bulk of personal data resides, so it’s an important item in your data processing inventory.

There are definitely more components in your marketing process that need to be looked into. Check out the following resources to help prepare your marketing strategy for GDPR compliance:

Related: The Australian Digital Marketing Landscape Forecast

Conducting a Cybersecurity Review

Article 32 requires companies to put in place “technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk”, and provides practical guidelines for handling personal data in a secure manner.

The Article further stipulates that in order to securely handle personal information, companies must use the latest available tools, keep only the minimum amount of data possible for performing a task and adjust their security measures to match the risk and impact of a breach.

Violations of Article 32 carry hectic fines of up to €20 million or 4% of your previous financial year’s worldwide revenues (whichever is higher). So, you should complete a comprehensive review of your cybersecurity posture. Here’s a couple of resources to help you do this:

Auditing Third-Party Data

One common question that gets asked a lot in relation to the GDPR is whether the new regulation allows the use of purchased or rented third-party data. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) lays out guidelines for businesses to properly use third-party data once the GDPR takes effect:

Before Buying/Renting:

  • Check if the vendor has provided contacts clear, concise, and accurate privacy notices
  • Did all the contacts in the bought/rented database give consent as defined in the GDPR
  • Make sure that the contacts explicitly allowed their personal data to be shared and indicated in what manner
  • Assess the vendor in terms of reputation, complaints, data collection processes, etc.
  • Require the vendor to put all the above information in writing

After Buying/Renting:

  • Test samples of the data for accuracy and validity
  • Remove unnecessary data; keep only what you need
  • Provide contacts with your own GDPR-compliant privacy notices
  • Ensure that contacts give you explicit and clear consent
  • Give contacts the choice to opt-out

Different sources warn that using third-party data always carries some level of risk. Once you buy or rent third-party data, you need to fully understand your responsibilities and must be ready to handle any complaints or legal actions as a result of using it. Here are a few helpful materials on this subject that you should definitely pay attention to:

Related: 5 Things Australian Companies Should Consider When Buying a Marketing Database

Assigning Data Protection Responsibilities

Under Article 37, the GDPR requires an organization to appoint a data protection officer if it meets any of the following three conditions:

  1. it is a public agency,
  2. it’s engaged in the regular or systematic large-scale monitoring of people, or
  3. it processes sensitive data on a large scale.

A data protection officer (DPO) acts as the “independent advocate” for the proper treatment of data subjects’ personal information in a company, similar to an internal auditor. It’s clear under Article 37 that only specific organizations must designate a DPO, but most experts contend that the language is wide open to interpretation.

So, if you’re still unsure whether your company needs a DPO, the following resources should help you decide:

Getting Professional Help

With nearly 9 in 10 companies still unable to get a good grasp of some GDPR basics, it makes sense that most businesses seek outside help when navigating the uncharted waters of GDPR compliance. The demand for GDPR expertise is so strong, an entire cottage industry has now sprung up around GDPR consulting.

Despite all the valuable resources available out there, we strongly recommend against DIY GDPR compliance. There’s just no substitute for expert opinion on the many legal and technical questions involved. Here’s a couple of guides on finding and getting the right GDPR advisory services:

The Takeaway:  The countdown to the May 25 deadline grows smaller and smaller. As you work toward GDPR readiness, it’s important to look at the new regulation as an opportunity to improve how you manage your data assets. If you move past the FUD, the GDPR looks more like a way to strengthen your core business as a data-driven organization, and less like an expensive mistake waiting to happen.

Niche Marketing: What works best for your industry?

Niche Marketing: What works best for your industry? [GUEST POST]

Niche marketing is a buzzword these days in the marketing industry. Many experts and professionals will tout the merits and usefulness of going niche in your marketing efforts. All of this is for good reason.

Focusing your marketing efforts on a specific niche makes your efforts much more powerful and increases your potential ROI. Going niche is a valuable marketing strategy and should be considered in your business. The following are some ideas about how to use niche marketing successfully in different industries.

Focus on Specific Technologies

Your business likely utilizes unique and specific technologies to serve your customers. You should consider which subset of the market (niche) is best served by these technologies. Then utilize your marketing efforts to explain to this niche market how your technologies help them.

For example in the automotive industry, Ford has created different lines of vehicles with technologies suited to serve specific niches. Another example is how solar companies target customers in areas with tax incentives to install solar panels. Understanding the specific niches that are most-benefited by your technologies is vital to your niche marketing efforts.

Target with Content and Blogs

Content is king in the internet marketing industry. The market consumes more and more information each day as the internet becomes integral to our lives. This represents an opportunity to market to your niche with various content and blogs.

An example of this is in the medical industry where content about the health benefits of certain foods can be explained thoroughly. The medical industry can utilize content marketing to explain the science to its targeted niches. Content and blogs should be a large part of your niche marketing efforts.

Related: Dummies Guide for Content Marketing

Clearly Explain Services and Products

You need to explain what the products and services you offer are in a clear and crisp way. If your customers cannot figure out what you sell, then they will not buy anything from you. This should be intuitive, but many businesses make this critical error.

Clearly and crisply portraying your services and products is also a useful tactic in targeting your niche market. You should focus your service and product descriptions to this niche market specifically. What are their pain points and how do your products and services uniquely address them?

Related: IT and Software: Mastering Product Knowledge Before your First Sales Pitch

Differentiate Product Lines for Customer Niches

One powerful strategy for focusing your niche marketing efforts is to create different product lines for your different customer niches. The more unique you can make a product line to a specific niche, the better this strategy can work for you. Doing this makes your product more valuable because it is made exactly for specific customers.

For example in the insurance industry, different insurances can be created depending on specific characteristics of the prospective customers. Another example of this is watch product lines, which are created and targeted specifically for men or women. Differentiating and targeting niches with your differing product lines can aid your marketing efforts and increase your sales.

Go to Where your Ideal Customers are

The obvious first question in niche marketing is: “Who is your ideal customer?” Then the follow-up question should be: “And where do they hang out?” The answer to the latter question is where you should focus your marketing efforts.

Go to where your prospective customers are and provide value there. These prospective customers then will become accustomed to coming to you for information and answers. This will make them much more likely to become paying customers when they are looking to make a purchase.

Related: Hyperlocal Advertising Works Well in Australia, Here’s Why

Focus on Marketing Mediums your Niche Uses

You need to focus your marketing efforts on mediums and platforms that your target niche already uses. This alone is vital to getting a desirable ROI on your marketing investment. If you try to market on mediums where your niche has little to no presence, then you will likely end up wasting a lot of money.

For example, if you have a product targeted to senior citizens, then advertising on Snapchat is likely a bad idea. Senior citizens are not on Snapchat, and that would be a waste of money. You need to spend time researching which mediums your target niche uses.

Only Create Relevant Content

On your website and social media platforms, you need to focus on only creating relevant content. Your content needs to be in your brand voice and useful to your target niche. Too often businesses create and post content that is off-brand, off-point, and ultimately useless to their marketing efforts.

When you and your team are creating content, you should always be thinking about how your target niche will read and use the content. Your niche should always be first and foremost in your mind with everything you create. This way your content is relevant to your target niche, and they will seek it out.

Related: The Difference with Australia-Specific Content to Generic Ones

Consider Pain Points

Most of the time when people are looking to purchase something, they are trying to solve a pain point in their lives. Pain points are how people evaluate the merits of products and services. Pain points are usually how prospective customers search for content.

You need to consider the pain points of your target niche market, and then shape your products, services, and marketing efforts to addressing them. Think about what problems your target niche is trying to solve, and then provide the solutions to them. This line of thinking will help you to shape your niche marketing efforts.

Targeting a specific niche in your marketing efforts is a powerful strategy. Doing so can create great successes for both large and small businesses. The potential gains in the ROI of marketing efforts by using this strategy should not be ignored.

You should consider implementing or refining your niche marketing strategy for your business. No matter what your industry is, this strategy can be used successfully. Use these ideas to help you formulate your niche marketing strategy and start increasing your sales.

The Australian Digital Marketing Landscape Forecast

The Australian Digital Marketing Landscape Forecast

The digital world never seizes to amaze us with constant technology innovations, but one needs to be competitive enough in order to stay in the curve and leverage on marketing opportunities.

Digital marketing trends employed by most marketers this 2018 are:

  • Artificial Intelligence, which is used to drive customer conversions by interpreting customer’s buying behavior.
  • Live Video, which is widely delivered via social media channels, Voice Search which continues to rise and becoming more popular and potentially taking over text-based algorithms.
  • Micro-Influencers, with Facebook and Instagram, are two of the most cost-effective methods.
  • Privacy Protection, which is a major selling point for a brand’s marketing message.

If 2018 is focusing on social media trends, what’s in store for the marketing populace in 2019? Let us give you a hint on what Australian digital marketing would look like next year.

Smart Speakers

Smart speakers like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod are surging in the consumer technology market, preferred by 65% of smart speakers owners. It is seen to tie up with digital marketing as more online publications embrace voice and publish audio content via these devices.

Internet vs Television

A study shows that in 2019, people will be spending 2.6 hours every day online and 2.7 hours watching tv, while 45 minutes of an average person’s internet browsing time will be spent watching mobile videos, thus predicting companies will spend less money on web ads, web video, and social media.

Social Media Integration With 3rd Parties

Social media companies are expected to deeply integrate their services into third-party applications. These social platforms will start sharing more user data with their audiences and create an even more seamless experience with third-party apps, which could help them retain dominance, acquire more information about users, and provide better services for smaller webs and apps.

Related: Social Media Metrics to Track in 2018

Live Video Will Continue To Grow

Live videos on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram have been making waves since 2016. In fact, 80% of internet users watched more live videos in 2016 than the previous year as more streaming services spawned. The best thing to do is join in the bandwagon as 67% of live viewers say they are more likely to buy an event ticket if they’ve seen a live stream of the similar event online.

Hosting an event soon? Seize the ultimate key to triumph with our latest free ebook. Elevate your game, boost registrations, and skyrocket turnout effortlessly. Get your copy for free.

Video Will Keep Up For Many More Years

Traditional video will keep growing. According to study, a whopping 85% of total internet traffic is expected to account next year. Currently, 54% of internet users watch video on social platforms every month, a number that will continue to grow in the coming years. Also, 65% of ads impressions on Instagram were results of video content and expected to grow in the future.

Chatbots To Become Ordinary Thing

Chatbots are seen to continue to grow and eventually become normal to the consumer’s eye. It’ll become the first place to go for availing retail services like food orders, hotel bookings and choosing mobile plans.

Related: Why Should Live Chat be Part of your Multi-Channel Strategy?

The Rise Of The Social CEOs

According to data from OkToPost, 40% of CEOs were active in social media in 2016. Out of that number, 70% used LinkedIn, and such number is expected to grow as people’s distrust continue to grow, wanting to hear news right from the very source.

How to Handle Early Sales Objections, According to Science [VIDEO]

How to Handle Early Sales Objections, According to Science [VIDEO]

 

Objections pop up anywhere in the sales process.

We know they prevent deals from closing.

But they also stop sales conversations from moving forward.

That’s why you need to handle early sales objections.

With a little help from science,

these obstacles become guideposts.

Related: 4 Ways to Get Past Gatekeepers and Reach Prospects Every Time [VIDEO] 

Objection: “Just send me some info…”

 

How to Respond:

“Sure, I want to make sure I send the right info. Tell me more about…”

Why it Works:

  • This uses the ‘Context Effect’ in psychology.
  • The context surrounding an event affects how it’s perceived.

Related: Australian Prospects Preferred mode of Communicating By Statistics [INFOGRAPHIC]

Objection: “We already work with your competitor.”

 

How to Respond:

“That’s great. What results are you getting?”

Why it Works:

  • This response reverses the direction of change.
  • It’s the best way to overcome status quo bias.

Related: Warning: Don’t let Your Market Competitors Eat you Alive

Objection: “Call me back in 6 months…”

 

How to Respond:

“What are your company’s other priorities right now?”

Why it Works:

  • Prioritizing activities is better than time management.
  • Best-selling author Rory Vaden shows this approach defeats procrastination.

Related: AskCallbox: What makes an effective lead nurturing program?

Objection: “We don’t have any budget right now.”

 

How to Respond:

“That’s okay. I’m not calling to sell you anything today.
But if I could ask you about…”

Why it Works:

  • This response shows empathy.
  • Harvard neuroscience research finds that trust depends on empathy.

Related: Cutting Marketing Spend: When It Works (and When it Doesn’t) [INFOGRAPHIC]

Try these tactics out for yourself
…and take the conversation to the next level.

The Top Five Marketing Channels In Terms of Conversions

The Top Five Marketing Channels In Terms of Conversions

As a B2B marketer, you should know by now that converting leads into clients is a daunting process. But it’s something you just can’t ignore.

There are a lot of good reasons why companies choose to focus more on conversions rather than acquiring higher web traffic. Writing for Bizible, Chris Keller points out how essential conversions are towards the bottom line and towards possible business growth. In contrast to traffic, conversions are more tied up with revenue because obviously higher conversions relate closely to higher sales.

Even if you were able to collect a lot of leads using your landing page, these metrics won’t tell you about the slightest increase in revenue. To put it simply, having a basket full of tomatoes doesn’t necessarily mean you have the best tomatoes.

Conversions on the other hand guarantee more accurate sales numbers. Keller goes on to say that “if you increase traffic but you have a low conversion rate, it does little for your bottom line.” In other words, if you focus too much on quantity, you won’t be able to secure higher revenue. But if you build a strong system for converting leads into sales, you will be able to get relatively better results. Quality right now is king, and if ever you want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s best for you to improve your messaging and your approach to audience engagement.

Apparently, a lot of companies in this industry are figuring out ways to better improve their numbers in terms of conversions. For a multichannel marketing campaign, it’s just a matter of identifying the platforms that are effective in turning warm leads into opportunities faster and without any letup.

And since we are talking about multiple channels, we will have to look at the five strategies that deserve a Best in Lead Conversions Award.

#5 Social Media

Social Media

To start our list off, we have services such as Facebook and Twitter. It might sound outrageous, but there are pretty good reasons why social media got this position in the first place. To go beyond its strengths along the lines of brand-building and direct audience engagement, social media also has its limitations when it comes to giving audiences the right cues. Moreover, anything you post on social media is subject to scrutiny by everybody. So, if you happen to publish content that’s controversial or poorly researched, expect the fallout to land on your bottom line. Conversions then would be the least of your worries.

Related: Social Media Metrics to Track in 2018

#4 Email

Email

Who still uses email? Well, a lot of business executives do, and you can bet your bottom dollar that most of them prefer to learn about a product or service through newsletter subscriptions. But one caveat about email marketing is deliverability and accuracy. When building a marketing list, you need to make sure that certain details are in order. Neglecting this crucial activity would mean putting your email campaign in dire straits. If an inbox detects your emails as spam, then expect your messaging to suffer and with that, your sales conversions.

Related: 40 B2B Sales Email Templates for Every Situation [Free PDF]

#3 Telemarketing

Telemarketing

It might seem like this strategy belongs in a museum, but what most people fail to realize is that cold-calling is still an effective means to set up your pitches and deliver your proposals in a way most B2B clients like: direct and instantaneous. After all, having knowledgeable telemarketers to handle your campaigns can actually drive better results.

Related: Earn Appointments with These Cold Calling Scripts for All Industries

#2 Webinars

Webinars

The most effective means to maintain interest in your product or service is to simply market your brand as an expert. B2B clients, as a case in point, have little understanding of the nature of your product, especially if it’s a piece of IT hardware and software. For this, webinars are basically your best bet if you aim to increase understanding of your products and services.

#1 Testimonials

Testimonials

This ain’t no lie. Apparently, soliciting reviews from current and previous clients can greatly help you win more opportunities for the pipeline. If anything, B2B executives are meticulous and they are keen on the companies or the people they are dealing with. Rather than depend solely on your pitches, you can use client experiences to back you up. Essentially, this will help you build new networks and, ultimately, reach out t new clients.

Related: The 7 Things We Did to Make Our Australian Clients Feel Special

The 8-Step Software Marketing Guide You Need

The 8-Step Software Marketing Guide You Need

I’ve heard a lot of success stories about the software industry and I know that most of them have to fail many times in order to learn how to succeed. As a salesperson for more than 10 years, marketing software is by far the hardest to sell. Not to mention the longest.

If you’re a software company targeting buyers, users, evaluators, purchase influencers, as well as C-level decision makers can be tough. No matter how skilled your programmers are or how good your product is, you might need to develop a thorough marketing strategy to ensure you’re reaching out the right people who actually make a buying decision.

Step 1. Identify your target audience.

Create an Ideal Customer Profile. How? Find out who can benefit from your product. Ask yourself, ‘who are the people that are most likely to buy your software?’ You can also look at your current customers’ characteristics or find out who are the customers of your competitors.

Related: 13 Reasons Why You Should use Data Profiling and Get Accurate IT Contacts

Step 2. Set a SMART goal.

Setting a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely) goals help keep you on track to achieve them.

TIP: Don’t set a goal that is not realistic.

Step 3. Plan and build your multi-channel marketing strategy that works for your audience.

You have to be where your customers are – be it through email, social media, voice, mobile, web, etc. So it is important to know which channels work best for your business and make use of it to your advantage.

How to develop your own multi-channel marketing strategy?

  • Focus on your customers.
  • Be consistent. Be consistent in adding new and informative contents on your website or posting new activities on your social media.
  • Measure your results. Find out which channel has more interaction and focus more on it.

Related: Multi-Channel Marketing Stats Is Bound To Make An Impact [VIDEO]

Step 4. Create SEO landing pages.

Landing pages are a great way to generate traffic and leads from your website.

Related: 5 Easy and Actionable SEO Tips for 2018

Step 5. Write a blog post.

Connect with your audience through blog posts. Create contents that your audience can relate to. Focus on common problems and issues they’ve encountered and provide tips on how to resolve them.

Step 6. Share it on social media.

Reach out to your audience by sharing your contents on your social media accounts and pages.

Related: Social Media Metrics to Track in 2018

Step 7. Automate your lead nurture process.

Software prospects take time to decide when to purchase. The best way to convert a lead is to nurture them until such time that they are ready to discuss about it. Set a scheme when to send an introductory email or call and set a schedule as to when to follow up on your prospects.

Related: AskCallbox: What makes an effective lead nurturing program?

Step 8. Evaluate your results.

Evaluating the result of your efforts allows you to identify which part of your marketing is working and which one isn’t. If you think you failed to achieve your goals, it’s time to create a new marketing strategy.

With the increase in competition within the software industry, you need to maximize your investment in your marketing initiatives and look for strategies that allow you to engage and connect with your prospects on the right channels to increase your ROI. We hope that these steps will you as much as it helped us increase our sales funnel.

5 Email Opening Tips to Conquer Shorter Attention Spans [VIDEO]

5 Email Opening Tips to Conquer Shorter Attention Spans [VIDEO]

Attention spans are getting shorter.
One study claims it’s shorter than a goldfish’s.

But this doesn’t mean people now have fishlike intelligence.
We simply got smarter at spending our attention.

That’s the key to getting your emails opened and read.
You have to show they’re worth people’s attention
… and you only have 8 seconds to do this.

Follow these proven tips to make each crucial second count.

#1 Figure out the best sending schedule

Send times affect email engagement rates.

Research shows mid-morning on weekdays work best.

Tweak your send times based on your own campaign and audience.

Related: Don’t Just Blast Cold Email Pitches, Nurture and Win Customers [VIDEO]

#2 Spend extra effort crafting your subject line

47% of recipients open emails based on subject lines alone.

Good subject lines use recipients’ curiosity and self-interest.

Come up with 2 to 3 subject line ideas and test each one.

#3 Avoid starting with “Hi, my name is…”

Opening lines affect whether your emails get read.

Your email won’t be worth reading if it starts off by talking about you.

Hook your prospects by making the opening about them.

Related: Trial and Error on Email Marketing: How to Get the Best Results (Increase open rates, leads)

#4 Show that you really did your homework

Personalized emails fetch 29% more opens and 41% higher CTRs than generic emails.

But deeper personalization improves conversion by up to 360%.

Open by mentioning a recent trigger event or a shared background.

Related: Make your Emails Impossible to Ignore [Video]

#5 Pay attention to layout and formatting

Recipients spend only 5 seconds scanning an email.

In one glance, your prospect should know what the message is about.

Break the body into smaller chunks and make key items stand out.

But as attention spans continue to dwindle,
this is the best way to email prospects:

Seek respect, not attention.
It lasts longer.

–Z. Abdelnour