Category Archives for "Content Marketing"

0 How Small Businesses Can Find Their Hottest Prospects With Mailchimp Email

Hopefully you’ve read my previous post ‘Dickiebird Hot Tip: A Quick Email Follow Up Technique That Could Land Your Next Big Client’ – otherwise you might find this piece a little too practical.

Here are the practical steps about how to dig into your Mailchimp email list and find your hottest prospects.

Step One

Send your email via Mailchimp – make sure it’s a good one that’s useful and interesting and one that prospects will open. If you haven’t got time to put together a decent email, get in touch and we’ll put you in touch with people who do a great job.

Step Two

You’ll need to check Mailchimp every day after you sent the email to see who’s opening and clicking on your emails. Chances are, it will be a prospect you haven’t heard from for some time.

Action > Check Mailchimp every day

Step Three

By default, Mailchimp opens to your dashboard and looks like the image below.

Action > Click on the blue subscriber number

 
 
Step Four

The screen below will come up. By default it shows you the readers who opened your email the least amount of times.

Action > Click twice on the ‘Opens’ tab at the top of the list

Step Five

Now you have a list of prospective customers who have opened your email the most. You can see the person at the top has opened the email 42 times! The others have opened it at least 10 times.

Step Six

Create an individual follow-up email to your hot prospects in your regular email provider (not Mailchimp and not a group email). This may well open the door to new business. I wouldn’t suggest you start your follow-up with “I see that you opened our email 42 times, clicked three links and forwarded it to 2 people”.

In your follow-up, try something more subtle, such as an email to say “Hi Joan, it looks like you got our latest email about swimming pool fitness. As we haven’t been in touch for a while, have you got any questions about your pool or landscaping project”? We’re only an email away, so please call or email if we can help in any way”. Make sure you have your phone contact details at the bottom of your email.

Action > Send individual email to your people with the most opens

The Fortune Is In The Follow-Up

If your product or service is high value eg. over $2,000 per customer per year, that simple follow-up might net your business $5,000 plus.

In my experience, it’s something worth trying, and at worst, you’re providing customers with more personalised communication – it’s a simple courtesy that most businesses overlook.  

The manual email follow-up method might not be cost effective for everyone – for example, if your product or service is only worth $50 per year. In this case, if you have Marketing Automation in place, you can create a simple rule that follows up with an email like the one above.

You can read more about Marketing Automation in my previous post. Otherwise, get in touch with any questions about setting up professional Marketing Automation for your professional service or software business.

I’d love to know if you’ve tried follow-up email or automation. Let me know about your experiences, successful or otherwise.

0 A Quick Email Follow-Up Tactic That Could Land Your Next Big Client

Most businesses don’t do email marketing like the list above.

What’s wrong with this approach? There is zero follow-up (and we all know the sale is in the follow-up, right)?!

If you’re in the business of business development, you need to check Mailchimp (or your email provider) every day for the first 4-5 days after you send an email to your list. This will allow you to see who’s opening and clicking on your emails. Chances are, it will be a prospect you haven’t heard from for some time.

Want to know more about how to check your email opening in Mailchimp? See our detailed how-to post ‘How Small Businesses Can Find Their Hottest Prospects With Mailchimp Email’ (I’ll update this link within the week).

A follow-up email or phone call will likely open the door to new business. However, I wouldn’t suggest you start the follow-up with “I see that you opened our email 42 times, clicked three links and forwarded it to 2 people” – that’s a sure fire way to sound creepy.

In your follow-up, try something more helpful, such as an email that says:

“Hi Joan, it looks like you got our latest email about swimming pool fitness. As we haven’t been in touch for a while, have you got any questions about your pool or landscaping project”? We’re only an email away, so please call or email if we can help”.

Make sure your follow-up email contains your phone contact details at the bottom of your email, as phone calls generally convert sales better than email.

This manual email follow-up method might not work for everyone – for example, if your product or service is only worth $50 / year. In this case, if you have Marketing Automation in place, you can create a simple rule that follows up as above. Read more about Marketing Automation in my previous post.

If your product or service is high value eg. Greater than $2,000 per customer per year, that simple follow-up might net your business $2,000 plus per year. Email follow-up is definitely something worth trying, and something most businesses overlook.

If you’ve already got email marketing in place with Mailchimp, read our other post on ‘How Small Businesses Can Find Their Hottest Prospects With Mailchimp Email’ (link will be updated).

If you’re looking to get professional email marketing or more advanced Marketing Automation in place, get in touch.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your experiences with email marketing and automation. Have you tried this method? I don’t know of anyone else, at least in New Zealand, that uses this powerful tactic…

0 Dickiebird’s 2016 Prediction: Don’t Miss Our Top 3 Tips On Marketing Automation

Read the full article at: blog.getdrip.com

Online marketing geeks like myself know that email marketing has a remarkable Return on Investment (ROI). Year on year, email consistently outperforms social media channels as a place to build relationships and ‘convert’ people on your email list into paying customers.

There is a long list of reasons why email is the reigning heavyweight champion of ROI. The current debate between email vs. social media is generally agreed – for now at least (clue: they each have their place in the online communication world).

So, what is Marketing Automation and why do we think you’re missing out if you’re not using it?

Wikipedia defines Marketing Automation (MA) as:

“Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks.

As expected, the definition is fairly wide and doesn’t really tell you why it’s so vital for your business.

Now that’s out of the way, let me share my top 3 reasons and features that make Marketing Automation the ‘New Black’:

1. Email Lead Nurture: MA allows you to meet new prospects and actually give them some useful information, pretty much for free once you’ve set it up. Even if members of your email list don’t buy from you right now (or ever), at least you’re building a relationship with trust and authority in your area of expertise.
2. Relevance: MA allows you to ‘tag’ and communicate with leads via email according to actions they’ve taken. For example, if a prospect has visited your life insurance page, you can send them a sequence of emails about ’10 things to consider before you take out a life insurance policy’.
3. Lead scoring: In conjunction with tagging, lead scoring allows you to see how likely it is that a prospect might buy from you. For example, a customer has opened your emails 12 times, forwarded it to their wife, and has visited your life insurance page twice. They would be assigned a high score and it’s highly likely they’re interested in your product or service – you’d be wise to get in touch.

The above are just a handful of examples of the benefits of Marketing Automation via email. Other examples include online advertising in the form of re-marketing or annual reminders for dental clients or insurance renewal clients.

Just make sure you do your research when it comes to Marketing Automation – no-one likes being talked to by a robot. Serving the needs of our clients and customers is the main reason most businesses exist.

If we learn to address those needs, we can embrace Marketing Automation as a powerful ally. It takes a bit of work setting it up, but I promise, you will reap the rewards if it’s done well.

PS: There are some powerful new features in Facebook re-marketing that are beginning to rival email – it’s a complete game-changer, but I’ll leave this for another post…

0 3 Content Marketing Myths That Can Ruin (or make) Your Business Online

Content marketing isn’t nearly as important as doing content marketing correctly, and knowing that it ultimately comes down to the audience and how well they’re targeted.

Read the full article at: searchenginewatch.com

When it comes to online business success, most of us have heard the mantra ‘Content is King’. But is it that simple? Poorly executed Content Marketing has the potential to destroy your credibility online.

Here are 5 myths about Content Marketing:

Myth 1. Content is King: Wrong

Actually, your audience is king! Unless content is read, watched or engaged with and shared, it means nothing to your business.

Produce remarkable content that resonates. Test and measure your content to ensure it gets positive feedback and shares amongst your target audience.

Myth 2. A Culture of Content is Key to Business Success: Wrong

Good content doesn’t take the place of a remarkable business or organisation. To be successful in todays’ transparent business culture, your company needs to have a strong culture beyond the marketing team.

Sometimes your best Content Marketing comes from team members well outside the marketing team.

3. More Content = More Results: Wrong

Certainly, sharing content frequently may help your business come up in Google (for the moment), but to stand out in a noisy background you really need to focus on creating remarkable content that resonates with your customers and is shared on social media.

Conclusion:

Content Marketing represents one of the biggest cultural shifts seen in advertising. In the old days, the businesses that got the most attention were the ones that could yell the loudest.

Increasingly, Google and Facebook are both giving priority to businesses that connect with customers.

The challenge of Content Marketing is to add value, solve customer problems and connect with real people.

0 How SEO Can Change Your Life (online at least) | Dickiebird

Want to understand the essentials of SEO fast? SEO simplified explains what you need to know to optimize your pages and rank higher in search.

Read the full article at: feldmancreative.com

Many of you heard the joke:

Q. ‘Where’s the best place to hide a dead body?’

A: Page 2 of Google.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation is hardly a 5-minute party trick topic. However, it is fundamental to successful marketing online.

I’m assuming you know how vital SEO is, so I’m going to cut to the point and share some hot tips on SEO that stood out from this wonderful article by Barry Feldman:

1. An alternative to Keywords: ‘Long tail search terms’

When planning and preparing page content for your website, you normally need to carefully pick your main keywords. For example, if I sell swimming pools, my main keyword might be ‘swimming pools’. However, there are likely to be thousands of businesses around the world using terms such as ‘swimming pool’.

A better strategy is to use long tail keyword search terms, for example, ‘How much does a swimming pool cost?’

2. Popularity of your links

The popularity of your website is still linked with the number of websites that share your link. Trusted websites link to trusted websites.

Getting good links to your website should be an integral part of your link building strategy. Blogging and responding to posts on relevant online forums is a good way to do this.

Getting links from industry authorities is another way – for example, if you are own a building company, getting a link from the national building association can be seen as an endorsement and will help your site’s SEO.

Remember: SEO is a slow moving beast – it takes time and regular effort to build your ranking. If you need quick results, consider Google Adwords alongside SEO.

3. Three vital tools for SEO

1. Google Adwords Keyword Planner: Vital for working out which keywords are in demand. Tip: If you see high demand and low competition for a keyword, this is a great, but unusual combination.

2. Raven Tools: Raven incorporates measurement of your online marketing, and it also allows you to plan your keyword content.

3. Google Analytics is vital for measuring the success or otherwise of your SEO efforts.

There are many, many articles written on SEO, and I suggest you do further research before diving into a campaign. Also, do have a look at the link to Barry Feldman’s brilliant article above this one.

0 Lesson from Neuroscience To Get Better Results On Your Website – Dickiebird

So, how can you harness this knowledge to your advantage? Let’s look at some of the most notable studies on the subject and how you can apply that directly to your blog.

Read the full article at: blog.kissmetrics.com

Wow, who doesn’t love science for helping us make better decisions about our business website? 

What can we learn from this article about applying Neuroscience to web design:

1. Make Me Stay

You’ve got 5 seconds to make an impression on me. Your website better look nice and easy to navigate. 

2. Headline

A good, clear headline is vital. Ask ‘Is it useful to my audience’? 16-18 words is an ideal number.

3. Be Clear from the Start

Ensure the first few sentences convey exactly why readers should keep reading.

3. Mix it Up

Use a mixture of visual devices:

• Bulleted lists
• Images
• Block-quoted text
• Video

4. White Space

Use space between paragraphs. It helps people retain information and makes a blog post more enjoyable to read.

5. Typography

Don’t use any font under 10 points as this makes it hard to read and people give up.

Summary

Most of this is common sense, but given the number of not so nice blogs and websites I come across, we’ve obviously still got a lot to learn.

Have you seen any great results from making changes like these to your website or blog?

0 Content Marketing is More Powerful Than Advertising – Dickiebird

Why content marketing trumps advertising? People actively avoid advertising. Here is the data and charts to help you craft your content marketing. 7 tips.

Read the full article at: heidicohen.com

Most traditional advertising is a load of hot air, and customers are tired of it.

New Zealanders, especially urban New Zealanders, receive thousands of brand messages every day. That said, how can you make your brand keep top of mind?

Here are 3 key things that have changed advertising:

1. People have greater control over the media / content they choose to consume. 

http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/internet-trends-v1

Implications for business: As a small business, you can’t be everywhere. You must be in your prospect’s inner circle of trust before they begin their journey to purchase. Social media is a great way of building trust well in advance.

2. Customers are savvy.

Most do their research well before most business are even aware they’re looking for a product or service. According to Google, the average shopper checks 10.4 sources of information before making a purchase decision!

B2B or business buyers, are over half way through the buying process before they contact you. 

Implications for business: Provide the information your customers are looking for online. Not everyone will want to contact you to ask for more information.

3. 86% of customers value brands that are useful over those that have interesting advertising. 

Content marketing actively seeks to overcome barriers and objections to the purchase of a product or service. Providing customers with useful information they need means that your brand becomes a trusted source of information.

Key things you can do online to build trust:

1. If you’re not already, get on Social Media. Make your product / service social and irresistible!

2. Use customer testimonials. Photos of testimonial subjects are useful here.

3. Get more product information on your website. It’s the no. 1 most people are looking for.

4. Create how-to information about using your product or service and how it can make their lives easier.

5. Make content readable and enjoyable: Use images, bulleted lists and devices to make your post enjoyable.

Remember, traditional advertising still has it’s place – it’s great for driving people to a piece of content, especially a piece of free downloadable content to grow your email list.

Advertising can be part of your marketing strategy, but in the day and age of Content Marketing, leading the way with helpful and useful information will win in the long run. 

As we say at Dickiebird, simply remember to ‘Be remarkable – cut through the noise online’!

0 My Top Podcasts – Dickiebird

Podcasting is a growing medium and perfect for content marketing. Learn how to use podcasts to engage with your audiences by learning from these top podcasters.

Read the full article at: www.dickiebird.co.nz

I’ve always been a big fan of radio. Why? Because it’s personal and it’s portable. The link above takes you to 50 of the best Podcasts – a great resource!

Podcasts have been huge in our household. Some of my most influential Podcasts are as follows:

Chris Brogan

Owners Mind

Chris teaches us to be at our best in terms of skills and connections. Great for business owners.

John Nastor

Hack the Entrepreneur

John interviews a wide variety of entrepreneurs and gives all manner of tips and inspiration. Great for aspiring tech entrepreneurs.

Pat Flynn

Ask Pat

Pat Flynn is a super likeable guy with a family that had a mission: To create a passive income using online marketing. Great for anyone looking to learn about passive income.

I’d love to know what are your favourite Podcasts? 

0 Incredible Stats About B2B Content Marketing for NZ Businesses

Content marketing has become hugely important to B2B marketers, so much so that 91% now use content marketing to generate demand and fill the top of the funnel…

Read the full article at: www.slideshare.net

Many of these stats are from the USA, however, they’re very relevant to NZ as we often follow the trends. A handful of these statistic really stood out to me:

1. There are Great Opportunities for NZ Businesses on LinkedIn

LinkedIn generates more leads for B2B businesses than Facebook, Twitter, or Blogs on their own.

Yet, only 47% of B2B marketers are active on LinkedIn versus 90% on Facebook.

2. Organic Search Has an 858% Higher Conversion Rate than Paid Ads

Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, whereas outbound / paid ads have a 1.7% closing rate. 

Spot the opportunity: organic search is where it’s at, but it takes time and effort and the rewards aren’t immediate.

3. Brands Relying on Inbound (Content) Marketing Save Over $14 for Every Customer Acquired

Clearly, Content Marketing is more cost effective over time.

4. 55% of Businesses Plan to Increase Their Content Marketing Budget in the Next 12 Months

If your business isn’t considering content marketing, it’s possible that your competitors are considering this fresh approach.

Conclusion:

A great reminder as to how Content Marketing can do wonders for your business.

0 Boost Your Facebook Reach Without Paying For Advertising – Convert With Content

Ahh, Facebook. We love to hate on them don’t we. It’s no surprise by now that Facebook organic reach is on its way out. We feel it on our pages and I’m sure you feel it on your pages too. This topic is so hot that my last post on the subject has been my most popular post on the ConvertWithContent blog thus far. (By the way, thank you for that!)

Read the full article at: www.convertwithcontent.com

We could bemoan ‘the good old days’ of Facebook when business posts reached most of their fans. However, those days are well gone. Without paying to boost posts, your business posts generally reach about 5% of their intended audience.

Here are some tips on how to get better reach with Facebook organically:

1. Use Video

You may have noticed that videos show up in your Facebook feed. That’s no mistake. Facebook are making video a top priority. Video gets more shares and ranks better. Don’t use YouTube videos. Due to a recent change, YouTube videos won’t play in Facebook’s feed and it won’t rank anywhere near as well. Upload to Facebook video for increased exposure.

2. Share More Often

Forget worrying that you will bombard your fans – I guarantee that only a small % of your fans will see your post. People use social media at different times of the day. Post more often and at different times of the day to maximise reach.

3. Acknowledge Your Friends / Fans

You would have likely found that your business page has a small number of people that really care about what your business does. These fans share your posts with their networks. Acknowledge the efforts of your friends / fans and let them know how much you appreciate their efforts and you will be happy with the results.

4. Build up Your Website

Build up your website’s resources and content. Getting people off Facebook and onto your website means they can read your other articles / posts. They can also subscribe to your blog / email list or purchase whatever it is you sell.

5. Re-share Old Content

Many people miss content (see tip no. 2). Just because you have already shared, doesn’t mean you can’t share it again. Try a different headline and see if that gets a better result.

These are just a few tips. And don’t forget, there are times for paying for boosted posts or for Facebook ads. Let me know in the comments if you have any more Facebook tips that work for you.