The Power of Follow Ups
One of the best ways to create synergy and boost your marketing reach via your partnerships is to share content. Cross posting and guest posting on your clients’ or partners’ blogs and social media platforms increases your reach, generates additional trust and loyalty for your business, and opens doors to more interesting and relevant content.
For example, this month we’re sharing an infographic and guest post about Sales Skills from IRC that talks about the power of following up with your prospects. Check out the article, written by Nicholas Rubright, and the infographic:
The importance of following up with sales prospects is undeniable. Research shows that 80% of sales happen after the fifth interaction. Despite the fact that this approach has proven effective time and again for closing deals, only 44% of salespeople actually make more than one attempt to close a sale.
A key takeaway from this data is that consistency and perseverance are the backbones of any sales strategy. Your ROI will always seem low when you give up too soon, or never try at all!
Research indicates that 40% of your prospects will be at the beginning stages of their buying process, which means they won’t have a clear idea of what product will best suit them. That being said, you can make sales by continuing to show up while the competition has given up.
To ensure maximum success in your sales and marketing strategies, follow the tips provided by this infographic. And be sure to remember this: success in sales isn’t creating the perfect circumstances to close, it’s about being confident and prepared enough to make a sale whenever your prospect is ready.
Accessibility: An Experiential Design Perspective
Website accessibility is an important—and too often overlooked—facet of one’s online brand. Fortunately, the costs for making your web site accessible to all have come down dramatically over the years.
Recently, we successfully piloted our solution with a Sales Renewal client expert in accessibility, design and branding: Image 4, a Brand Marketing Agency with offices in NYC and Manchester NH. Read on to learn what got them excited about our accessibility package.
Home Grown vs. Professional Video – Each Has a Role to Play in Small Business Marketing
Guest Poster: Peter Stassa of Davideo Company, corporate video production specialists.
You probably don’t have an unlimited budget. We get that, neither do we. We understand that while you value the use of video content to build brand awareness and credibility, you still need to stay within your means. So, ask yourself this:
Where is your content going to be seen?
If you’re posting short videos to consumer-driven social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc.) to promote live events or short-term special offers, go right ahead and shoot those yourself. The audience on those platforms is used to seeing a more impromptu, “selfie” style and is less critical of production quality.
But what about the important video content that lives on your website or is being embedded in email campaigns and newsletters? The “about us” videos that explain what your organization does and why you do it? The testimonial stories that are intended to build trust?
You may think: “My phone has a really good camera, I can save money by producing marketing videos in-house instead of hiring an outside company to do it!”
Yes, you can – you can also save money by doing your own dental work with a mirror and a pair of pliers, but it will cost you more in the long run.
For one thing, it takes more than just a good camera. Do you have the other necessary tools and skills to properly record and edit the raw footage so that the end product is worth watching? Do you have the time?
You have to be careful when cutting corners on the production process because home-grown video can backfire on you.
For example, a Brightcove survey of more than 1,200 consumers revealed that the quality of a video has the potential to change the perception viewers have of your brand:
“When consumers are confronted with poor-quality video, they are 62 percent more likely to have a negative perception of the brand that published the video.”
“23 percent of consumers who have been presented with a poor-quality video experience would hesitate to purchase from the brand.”
Sure, the world of B2B and B2C communication has become relatively casual in recent years, and some marketing pundits have been saying that consumers prefer video that is more “spontaneous”, less “flashy”, and thus more “authentic”. But if your camera work is shaky and your image is dark and your audio is hard to hear, your viewer will not stick with it long enough to absorb any of your “authentic” content.
Poor production values are a turn-off. They distract from your message.
Today’s buyers are doing most of their initial research online before they ever get to the point of reaching out for a proposal, which means your odds of getting onto their shortlist depend largely on the quality of the content you post online.
As the saying goes, “you get only one chance to make a first impression” and if the video content on your website, on business-oriented platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, and in your newsletters and email campaigns looks amateurish, it will pale in comparison with the content offered by your competitors… and you won’t be getting those calls.
Effective and engaging video does not have to look like the opening to the Super Bowl, but sticking to the basic best practices of clean production will allow the viewer to focus on your content. For this reason, you should stay away from a “homegrown” video for critical applications and consider working with a professional when your target audience is made up of your core prospects and potential partners and supporters.