Sales Renewal Announces the Launch of SR EasyAuthoring, a Blog Authoring Tool

Sales Renewal enhances WordPress and other blog platforms to make blogging of original and curated content easy and affordable for small businesses

Concord, MA, September 2, 2015 – Sales Renewal continues its commitment to investing in affordable marketing solutions for small businesses with the launch of SR EasyAuthoring , an innovative, integrated blog authoring tool. SR EasyAuthoring was designed for small businesses to help them easily and affordably offer both original and “curated” content in their WordPress-based and other blogs.

“Fresh web content in the form of a business blog can be critical for both search engine optimization and to stay engaged with prospects and clients, ” says Keith Loris, Sales Renewal President and CEO. “But creating original content that resonates with its intended audience on a regular basis can be a full time job, and one that not every small business can afford. With SR EasyAuthoring installed in their blogging platform, the business can easily supplement their original content posts with much less expensive and time-consuming curated content. And unlike comparable solutions that can cost anywhere from $1, 000-$6, 000 per month, EasyAuthoring is available from Sales Renewal for only $130 per month.”

Content curation is the process of finding existing, interesting content online and putting your own spin on it. The world is overflowing with information, so sorting through this content and finding the best bits to enhance with your own take or perspective can be as useful & attractive to visitors as writing original content. Content curation has many of the same benefits as original content blogging:

• informing your audience;
• showcasing your expertise;
• keeping your website content fresh
• contributing to your SEO efforts (but only if done right)

And one major advantage: It is a lot easier to comment on other people’s ideas than it is to come up with your own and then craft it into well written blog post.

3 Different Types of EasyAuthoring Posts

There are three different kinds of posts in SR EasyAuthoring, which are distinguished by the post border color and the text within their action buttons:

Read Original Article: The basic “News” post allows authors to share their insights and commentary on content first published elsewhere. When the reader clicks the button, they are taken to the original article on its publisher’s website, and because the article is not on the business’ site, there is no possible “duplicate content” penalty from search engines.

Read Our Insights: The Insights post allows the business to share deeper, longer insights on content first published elsewhere. When the reader clicks the button, they are taken to a blog post on this website that has an excerpt from the original article, the author’s insight and a link to the original article on its publisher’s website. This type of post has enough original commentary to be considered original content by search engines, and since the page is on the business’ site, it will be indexed by search engines like all the other pages on the site.

Read Blog Post: The Blog post acts like a normal blog: when you click the button you’re taken to a blog post on this site. Again, this original content will be indexed by search engines like all the other pages on your site.

See an example of EasyAuthoring on Sales Renewal’s website, or contact them for more information.

About Sales Renewal Corporation

Sales Renewal offers two growth solutions-the JointSourcing Solution and the Marketing Essential Solution-that help small businesses grow their leads and sales. Both solutions begin by developing a growth plan specific to your business and both provide all the people, expertise and tools needed to implement the plan and grow your sales without you having to pay their full-time cost in salaries, benefits or management time.

SR EasyAuthoring Integrated Blog Tool

Sales Renewal is pleased to announce the launch of SR EasyAuthoring™, an innovative, integrated blog authoring tool. SR EasyAuthoring was designed for small businesses to help them easily offer original and “curated” content in the single blog platform they already have on their websites.

Original + Curated Content

Fresh web content in the form of a business blog can be critical for both search engine optimization and to stay engaged with prospects and clients. But creating original content that resonates with its intended audience on a regular basis can be a full time job, and one that not every business can afford. With EasyAuthoring™ installed on their website, a business can easily supplement their blog’s original content with much less expensive curated content while still supporting their SEO efforts.

“Fresh web content in the form of a business blog can be critical for both search engine optimization and to stay engaged with prospects and clients, ” says Keith Loris, Sales Renewal President and CEO. “But creating original content that resonates with its intended audience on a regular basis can be a full time job, and one that not every small business can afford. With SR EasyAuthoring™ installed in their blogging platform, the business can easily supplement their original content posts with much less expensive and time-consuming curated content. And unlike comparable solutions that can cost anywhere from $1, 000-$6, 000 per month, EasyAuthoring is available from Sales Renewal for only $99 per month (and a $99 installation fee).”

Content curation is the process of finding existing, interesting content online and putting your own spin on it. The world is overflowing with information, so sorting through this content and finding the best bits to enhance with your own take or perspective can be as useful & attractive to visitors as writing original content. Content curation has many of the same benefits as original content blogging:

• informing your audience;
• showcasing your expertise;
• keeping your website content fresh
• contributing to your SEO efforts (but only if done right)

And one major advantage: It is a lot easier to comment on other people’s ideas than it is to come up with your own and then craft it into well written blog post.

Contact Sales Renewal to find out how EasyAuthoring can help you with your content marketing needs.

Jumpstart Your Small Business Marketing with the Marketing Essentials Solution

Marketing today can be challenging for small businesses. With all the techniques and technologies available, figuring out where to start and which tactics to use can be confusing. The streamlined approach of Sales Renewal’s Marketing Essentials Solution™ removes this confusion and provides a tailored mix of the essential marketing and sales-enabling technologies that all businesses need to grow.

Marketing Essentials is a comprehensive, easy-to-adopt six-month solution that first improves a business’s marketing and technology “assets” and then provides the ongoing, active assistance needed to cost effectively grow its leads and sales. The program is ideal for businesses that want to grow by improving their sales and marketing scope and effectiveness but aren’t sure what they ultimately need or how to do it. Smaller firms might find it sufficient, while larger firms can use it as a solid foundation to build upon.

Hands-On, Individualized Training & Expertise vs DIY Marketing

Small businesses often waste precious time and money by going with self-service providers. On the surface, the DIY option can seem like an affordable solution, but with all the other pressures of running a small business, it’s often hard to dedicate the necessary time to benefit from this solution. Unlike do it yourself solutions where you are provided tools but are fundamentally on your own, Marketing Essentials provides tools and weekly coaching sessions that teach, help accelerate through learning curves and provide guided, hands-on experience.

During the initial six-month trial program, Marketing Essentials clients receive weekly coaching sessions that cover content marketing, SEO, email marketing, social media, in-person marketing, and strategic planning. Sales Renewal also provides search advertising and link building, search optimization services through third-party experts.

At the end of the initial six month trial, business owners will better understand what works best for them. At this point, Marketing Essentials clients can: (1) take their newfound expertise and marketing in-house, (2) continue using the Marketing Essentials Solution or (3) upgrade to the custom JointSourcing Solution™ that shares risks and rewards.

Comprehensive Strategic Planning vs Silo Vendors

Marketing Essentials also addresses the issue of “silo” vendors, who will undoubtedly pitch you on precisely the niche expertise they provide, whether that’s the best solution for you or not. Marketing Essentials encompasses a broad, universal mix of marketing tactics and programs and is not biased towards one approach or another. Marketing Essentials customers have a player/coach on their side, working with them and guiding them as they create a strategic plan appropriate for their business and put it into action.

Learn more about Marketing Essentials here, or contact us to find out if Marketing Essentials is right for your business.

Jump Start Your Marketing with Sales Renewal’s Marketing Essentials Solution

Six-Month Program Grows Leads and Sales Through Better Marketing & Sales-Enabling Technology While Providing Hands-On, Personalized Training.

Concord, MA, July 23, 2015 – Sales Renewal, committed to bringing affordable, comprehensive marketing solutions to small business, today announces the immediate availability of the Marketing Essentials Solution . Marketing Essentials is a comprehensive, easy-to-adopt solution that first improves a business’s marketing & technology “assets” and then provides the ongoing, active assistance and expertise needed to cost effectively grow its leads & sales.
Marketing Essentials is ideal for businesses that want to grow by improving their sales and marketing scope and effectiveness but aren’t sure what they ultimately need or how to do it. Smaller firms might find it sufficient, while larger firms can use it as a solid foundation to build upon.
During the initial six-month trial program, Marketing Essentials clients enjoy weekly coaching sessions that cover Web & content marketing, SEO, email marketing, social media, blogging, in-person networking, strategy and management. Sales Renewal also manages the included search advertising and inbound link building (search optimization) services provided by third-party experts.
This makes Marketing Essentials quite different than comparably priced do-it-yourself or self-service solutions where you are provided tools and help pages but are on your own for how best to use them. While Marketing Essentials also includes useful tools its most valuable aspect is the proactive, real-world guidance provided by its weekly coaching sessions that teach, help accelerate through learning curves and provide a knowledgeable sounding board for the inevitable issues that arise. Importantly, it also includes two critical services–advertising and link building–that are best left to the experts.
“Marketing today is challenging for most small businesses, ” says Keith Loris, Sales Renewal President and CEO. “With all the techniques and technologies available, figuring out where to start and which tactics to use can be confusing. That’s why, while Marketing Essentials is growing your leads and sales during the first six months, it also trains you on and allows you to become proficient in a broad, universal mix of marketing tactics and programs that can help every business grow. By the end of the six months, businesses will truly know what works best for them and can make an informed decision about what’s next: (1) take their new found expertise and marketing in-house, (2) continue using the Marketing Essentials Solution or (3) upgrade to the custom JointSourcing Solution that shares risks and rewards.”
About Sales Renewal Corporation
Sales Renewal offers two growth solutions-the JointSourcing Solution and the Marketing Essential Solution -that help small businesses grow their leads and sales. Both solutions begin by developing a growth plan specific to the business and both provide all the people, expertise and tools needed to implement the plan and grow sales without having to pay full-time salaries, benefits or management time. Learn more at www.salesrenewal.com.
Media Contact:
Audrey Trieschman
Sales Renewal Corporation
508-529-4300 ext 104
atrieschman@salesrenewal.com

What Skills to Look for When Hiring or Assembling a Marketing Team

Since our beginning in the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, Sales Renewal has been extolling the importance of hiring a broad and deep team to grow a business' revenue (aka, Marketing). While we understood that there would always be need for brand-focused and creative people, we also understood that the Team would have to expand beyond the boundaries of traditional and digital Marketing to include business analysts, marketing strategists and a fair number of technologists too.

Ready-Fire-Aim Marketing And Why It Will Likely Blow Back On You

Too many businesses today practice Ready-Fire-Aim Marketing:

1. They get some seemingly intelligent, point specific advice from a blog post / newsletter / trade association / colleague / brother-in-law (pick one).
2. They spend little time understanding the advice (who can invest time to think things through when we need leads!) and whether it’s their most critical problem (it was important to this other guy who we know nothing about so it must be important to our business right?)
3. They quickly try to implement the suggestion (who needs experience and expertise when we can read 1 or 2 help pages?)
4. They’re unhappy with the result, so next time some seemingly intelligent advice appears, they’re onto the new fad and start the cycle again.

The truth is that changing human behavior (also known as Marketing) is damn hard and very complex, so to be done well, it requires thoughtful strategies, plans and goals carried out by experienced practitioners who are correctly motivated.

Another problem with this scattershot approach is that marketing’s many different tactics are dependent on each other so to act on one point specific tactic alone is often a recipe for failure. For example, even if you got the best advertising advice in the world from Mr. Adwords himself, if your website is poorly designed or you have no content to offer ad clickers in return for their email address, you are likely going to waste your ad money (i.e., because advertising’s effectiveness depends not just on advertising but on how well it “integrates” with all the other marketing tactics you’re using). So to be effective, your tactics can’t be handled in isolation, you need an integrated, comprehensive approach.

This is made much harder by the recent explosion of sales and marketing tactics, and the vendors that sell them. ChiefMartec.com has reported a doubling of the number of sales & marketing providers in one year, growing to 1, 876 vendors across 43 categories:

So what’s a business owner to do? It’s not like you can call any one of these 1, 876 vendors and ask what they think you should do (because, not surprisingly, the SEO firms will tell you SEO is the solution to all your problems, the ad agencies will say advertising, PR firms, PR and so on).

Instead, you need a firm that’s thinking about it from your perspective (what are your business’ lowest hanging needs) not what tactic they sell (SEO, advertising, PR). And while it’s great to be open to new advice as you encounter it (even from your brother-in-law), and there is a role for “gut instinct”, there is no substitute for having a comprehensive, integrated sales & marketing plan implemented, and continuously improved upon, by a skilled team motivated to grow your sales.

Two Solutions that Prevent Marketing Fails

Sales Renewal’s two growth solutions-the JointSourcing Solution and the Marketing Essential Solution-overcome the challenges that too often cause small business marketing to fail. Both begin by developing a growth plan specific to your business and both provide all the people, expertise and tools needed to implement the plan and grow your sales without you having to pay their full-time cost in salaries, benefits or management time.

And unlike Inbound Marketing firms or single-tactic vendors who have a vested interest in their specific approach, Sales Renewal is a Marketing General Contractor that can deliver all possible marketing strategies & tactics. Sales Renewal’s only bias then is towards the quickest and most cost effective ways to grow your sales.

JointSourcing Solution™ (“joint venture” + “insourcing”) is a comprehensive strategy, marketing and technology solution that insources all the expertise (drawn from across the entire sales & marketing spectrum) in just the right proportions your business needs. This team handles all the day-to-day marketing and technology work that grow leads and sales (and demands so much of your time now), while Sales Renewal shares with you its management, and a portion of the rewards and risks (similar to a joint venture).

Marketing Essentials Solution™ is a easy-to-adopt, guided marketing and technology solution that grows small businesses. It is tailored to your specific business to deliver the essential mix of the marketing tactics & programs and sales-enabling technology that all businesses need to increase leads and sales (and includes online advertising and search engine optimization).

Free Webinar: The Marketing Essentials All Businesses Need to Grow Sales

Sales Renewal is pleased to present a free, live webinar on Tuesday, June 30, at 1pm ET during which attendees learn about the Marketing Essentials – the powerful mix of the marketing strategies, programs and tactics and sales-enabling technology that every business needs to grow its leads and sales. You can register for the webinar here.

The Small Business Revenue Challenge

It can be hard to determine the essential marketing programs and skills you need to cost effectively grow your leads and sales. With so many possibilities, how can you intelligently choose, let alone manage and benchmark them, and still do your regular job?

Worse, you’re bombarded by messages about the latest bandwagon you must jump on and absolute must-dos for marketing your business. And every vendor you ask will try to convince you that their product or service is your salvation.

Cutting through the Clutter

This seminar cuts through the noise and offers an unbiased approach every business can use to quickly start growing their leads. Participants are introduced to the essential marketing programs all businesses need and will learn how to create and deploy a big-picture plan that pulls these different programs together. Smaller firms might find these marketing essentials sufficient for their business, while larger firms will be able to use these essentials as a solid foundation upon which to build or as a checklist to see if they’ve missed something essential.

Learn more about the Webinar or register here. We hope to see you on the 30th!

Omni-Channel Marketing for Your Business

We try to stay away from using buzz words to get our message across, but lately we’ve seen a term emerge that gets to the core of what Sales Renewal is all about. Omni-channel marketing – removing silos, putting the customer front and center, approaching ROI from an integrated perspective – describes a shift in how businesses are trying to maximize performance and consistency across all marketing channels to create a unified experience for their customers.

From Multi- to Omni-Channel Marketing

The concept of omni-channel marketing has come about due to a convergence of technology in the hands of the consumer and the availability of Big Data (sorry, another buzz word) for marketers. Today, prospects and customers have more and more control over how they interact with businesses – from online to in store purchases, from website to email to social media sites, on a smartphone or on a desktop. And businesses have more and more access to data that allows them to connect with prospects and customers with customized messaging, from marketing automation to dynamic website content to SMS messages to social media interactions. And omni-channel marketing is what connects all these experiences together.

The following articles offer more insights about omni-channel marketing:

The Omni-Channel Experience: Marketing Meets Ubiquity (Forbes): The article sums up omni-channel as: “a reflection of the choice that consumers have in how they engage a brand, and therefore is best represented as how brands enable their clients and consumers to use these channels to engage with them.”

The Definition of Omni-Channel Marketing – Plus 7 Tips (Marketo): “We’re moving away from mass, “push”-based marketing, and towards more personalized, 1:1 communication with consumers, through the many channels and on the many devices they use…Unfortunately, when it comes to omni-channel, multi-device marketing, consumers today are way ahead of most marketers.”

Multi-channel vs. Omni-channel Marketing: Is There a Difference, and What Does It Mean to You? (eContent): “More [technology] options mean more opportunities for marketers to connect with and engage their markets. But it also means a great deal more complexity. Keeping interactions consistent across multiple channels and ensuring a seamless experience for consumers is the new challenge.”

If you’re a JointSouring customer, then rest assured we are committed to offering your prospects and customers a unified, “omni-channel” experience. If you’re interested in finding out more, please contact us.

Quick Tip Tuesday: May Marketing and Sales Advice from Across the Web

Each month in our Growth Spurts blog, we publish the the highlights of our Advice from Across the Web page, which features a selection of the best, most actionable sales, marketing and technology advice from experts across the Web. May’s roundup of actionable advice includes tips about targeted email marketing, DIY marketing, analytics vs metrics, and Local SEO.

Targeted Email Marketing: Has your email marketing moved from a batch-and-blast approach to a series of emails that are triggered by customer behavior? Learn why this approach leads to an increase in retention, revenue per email, customer lifetime value, and program ROI.

Do-it-yourself Marketing: You know you have to focus on marketing to grow your business. But if you think you can do it yourself – along with everything else you need to do to run your business – think again. This article describes five reasons why it just makes sense to hire someone to do your marketing, whether you’re a small business or a large corporation.

Analytics vs. Metrics: Where is the difference? While both begin with data collection, metrics – no surprise – is used for measuring effectiveness and for accountability, whereas analytics takes the data and uses it for predictive outcomes, business insights and the like. Read more here.

Local SEO: From identifying local places to look for links and actually picking up the phone to ask them for that link to creating a calendar of local events that might offer good linking opportunities (whether you’re a paid sponsor or not), here are some hands-on tips from Wordtracker to start improving your local SEO.

You can read more tips and updates like these on our News page. And if you don’t want to wait for our monthly roundup, why not subscribe to our News Page directly? You’ll receive a short digest in your inbox every Wednesday of the week’s highlights. It’s a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on.

Marketing ROI without Call Tracking is Like Baseball Stats that Exclude Away Games

In 2010, Sales Renewal began testing trackable phone numbers to more comprehensively capture and benchmark our lead generation results. We now require them for our clients’ sales and marketing programs. If you’re a client, you’re probably very familiar with our “pitch” about adding trackable phone numbers to your sales and marketing programs.
For good reason. The very first time we implemented phone tracking for a client, our trackable leads jumped by 400%! That’s right, this client’s analytics was missing 4 out of every 5 leads our sales and marketing programs were generating. Obviously, this meant that any statistical analysis we did (lead analysis, which programs had the best ROI, etc.) were highly skewed and unrepresentative.
Each client starts with a set of trackable phone numbers for their website and one to use in directories and other non-website, online listings. This allows us to track referral activity in addition to website leads. Other options include toll-free numbers and separate numbers for different marketing campaigns or promotions. The calls to these numbers are integrated with other leads, like webform submits and PPC leads, into our proprietary analytics program, which allows clients to see – in real time – the results.
For a good overview of how a trackable phone system works, we’d also like to point you to a guest post on our site – Call Tracking 101, by our call tracking partner, Mongoose Metrics (now merged with ifbyphone.com). Find out how, by adding call tracking to your set of data tools, you can fill the holes in your data, and gain insights into which online efforts are driving offline calls.
Concerned you aren’t accurately benchmarking your sales and marketing programs and are making improper ROI decisions? Sales Renewal can help. Call 508-529-4300 or contact us today.

Originally published October 2013. Updated January 2015.