by: Lois Carter Fay

by: Darvinagency

Social media has established a prominent presence as form of marketing utilized by companies in countless industries worldwide. There are a variety of inherent factors that can prove to substantially increase a company’s brand equity and visibility, or possibly victimize a company’s reputation. The way in which a social media strategy is implemented and monitored can go a long way in determining its overall effectiveness. Today’s market features a wide array of consumers who have certain expectations of brands, products, and services. Discontented and social media savvy consumers are simply awaiting any opportunity to voice their opinions via Twitter, Facebook, and associated social channels. This makes it even more vital for a company to thoroughly research and consider what methods of social media are most appropriate and beneficial to their needs.

There are a number of steps that can be taken in order to avoid the aforementioned social media disasters that occur frequently in today’s online marketplace. The first involves being realistic and properly understanding the relationship between conversations on social networks and other types of customer interactions. The next step includes utilizing a multi-channel strategy for customer sales and service. While social media is quite effective, interactions taking place at brick and mortar locations, on toll-free lines, and during online customer service chats are also very important in providing a comprehensive view of consumers’ opinions. The following step focuses upon viewing your data and evaluating the technology that is currently in place in order to understand consumer behavior and the voice of the customer. The final measure that can be taken to avoid social media disaster is to have a designated employee that specializes in the customer experience delivery chain.

A company that does not currently possess a strong presence in social media does not have to fear making a huge investment in social media. There are a number of low cost options that can be practiced to make that initial leap into the realm of social media marketing. Starting a blog about relevant industry news, trends, or intriguing applications of your product line is an excellent way to embark into the world of social media. Creating a LinkedIn group, Facebook page, Twitter account, a customers-only discussion forum, or a YouTube channel can provide unique opportunities to present and inform users and fans alike of current company highlights and information.

The key to a company’s successful use of social media is all about the results and the ability to properly measure them. Industry analysts are publicizing self-service business intelligence as the so-called “golden child” of 2011. In terms of marketing, one area that could widely benefit from self-service BI is social marketing. There are a number of best-practices that can be employed in order to measure social media effectiveness using BI solutions. Mapping out the ideal marketing process flow that will best transform prospects into quality sales leads is an exceptional starting point. Another practice involves determining the online marketing initiatives and campaigns that will be implemented to attract and engage prospects. Selection of the appropriate outlets to use is quite important in safeguarding the effectiveness of these initiatives.

Each initiative that comprises the marketing plan must then have a pre-established audience profile, outreach, value proposition, and budget that you are willing to spend. The most appropriate set of keywords must then be identified to ensure optimal website content that is designed for those specific keywords. Identifying and adjusting paths on social networks, aligning the website experience with specific landing pages, and setting goals for desired actions are all best-practice techniques in order to ensure continuity. It is also vital to measure all of the initiatives that are being used at a given time to display your activity, outreach, engagement, and outcomes. An even more thorough approach includes tracking all the way through to incremental sales, revenue and gross profit that is derived directly from online marketing. Business intelligence allows insight at the appropriate times during your social media campaigns. It offers the ability to instantly alter campaign focus and direction. Social media marketing can greatly benefit from the use of business intelligence as marketers can produce and exhibit greater value in their social media outreach campaigns.
The Darwin Agency, is a Marketing Company with offices in South Florida. Miami Ad Agencies specialize in developing, executing and advertising campaigns for growing businesses.To know more about Florida Advertising Agencies, please visit http://thedarwinagency.com

The author invites you to visit: http://thedarwinagency.com

by: Peter Lawless

As we embrace the information age, there are more gadgets available to the average sales person, than there were weapons for old age warriors. So does this add a credible advantage to the guy or gal on the road? Early sales reps had their wares and their wits, with which to earn a living, however as technology advances, does all of the constant flow of information actually make today’s well trained professionals any more adept than their medieval counterparts?

This article will give you a lot of food for thought, as to how you can make the most of technology to grow your sales. When these tools lead to shorter hours and higher commission, then mobile technology will have been used as intended.

Was CRM really about customers?

In the 90’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) was the saviour of the world. With this great tool, customers would be treated the same when they interacted with a company regardless of the channel they used. I could look at a the latest bells and whistles microwave on the web, see it was in stock and go down to my local bricks and mortar version of the same shop and pick one up. I mean it was in stock according to the web wasn’t it?

Joe behind the counter would tell me knowingly, that actually that microwave, was not actually on the market yet, and the marketing guys had just got ahead of them selves. All of this as I spied the Joneses from next door walking out with one under the arm! What was more, I actually did not have any money in my account, because jean at the bank had cross sold me the latest critical illness cover, to ensure I could still get paid, even if the intended microwave I wanted to buy blew up in my face!

So why did the reps shun CRM at first?

That was how Joe Public, the humble customer fared with CRM, but did Jimmy Rep on the road feel about CRM. This amazing management tool, to provide nirvana for customers, had actually another great benefit. It meant that rather than spending hours preparing excel spreadsheets for his boss, the sales manger could put all of the onus on Jimmy Rep, who would have to spend hours after each sales call filling in hundreds of meaningless fields, that no-one ever cared about.

And what was more, the filofax in his head, was now no longer his ticket to job hopping pay rises, since the company now owned all of the information about his customers on this database. What was more; they knew where he was, when he tried to sneak off playing golf, and how few sales he really made.

So what did Jimmy Rep do, he did nothing! He forgot to fill in the data, his boss screamed at him, he moved jobs, and started the whole frustrating, non-selling process all over again, albeit on a higher base salary, with still little or no commission!

Quantifiable benefits of Mobile Sales Tools

OK, enough moaning about the terrible life of Jimmy rep, on the other hand, there are immense productivity gains to be had from well employed use of sales tools.

If your CRM system is implemented in a way that ensures its number one intended beneficiary, the customer, is actually the number one beneficiary, then you will truly reap the rewards on its expenditure. We all have heard the maxim that happy customers, will not only buy more from you, they will also refer you to other customers.

First your customers will be served they way they want to be served. The three key areas where they will benefit are as follows;

They will enjoy a consistent and excellent level of service, what ever channel they use to interact with your company.

When they get a visit from either a sales rep or a service engineer, that person will know all about them, and be able to serve them in the best possible manner.

They will only receive marketing communications, about offerings which are suitable to their requirements, needs or wants.

Meanwhile the sales reps will benefit from tools that enable them to be more productive, and thus earn more commission as follows;

By having the support of a CRM system and an appropriate sales methodology, they can ensure that success gets repeated and mistakes eliminated.

Having the ability to use all of the company tools, they do not waste time travelling to the office, and can have all the information at their finger tips, to go straight out to customers. This eliminates wasteful travel time, and gives them more customer face time.

When their company employs inside sales reps, all information, including appointments generated can be passed to the field sales rep in real-time, to keep their commission earning schedule full.

Being able to access the latest company information on the road, ensures that the mobile sales rep, can be fully up to date, enabling them to be their customers source of information, forging stronger bonds, which results in increased sales.

By having access to the company’s ordering systems, while being with a customer, facilitates faster and more accurate ordering of what the customer wants, increasing what the customer can buy.

Conclusion

Driving to Cork in a tractor, is about as smart as using a mini to drag load of hay across a field. Selecting the correct tools, with appropriate training and motivation will yield tangible benefits, by delivering increased sales, higher commission and shorter working hours to a good sales rep.

The Job Advert “carrots” of Laptop, PDA, Mobile phone and car, are essential tools of the trade, when backed up by systems that measure and assist in sales rep productivity. When these tools lead to shorter hours and higher commission, then mobile technology will have been used as intended.

Are you still wondering how technology could give you the competitive edge? Then you need our free sales and marketing assessment. This will show you how you can achieve your goals, and avoid the ignominy of failure.

This article was written by Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales and Marketing – http://www.3r.ie. For previous articles like this, visit 3R’s Articles. Alternatively, subscribe to Success our free monthly Information Bulletin with sales and marketing articles.

by: Tanaka Ara

Here is the basic honest truth: most of the people get into Internet Marketing because they are convinced it is an easy way to earn quick money. Their approach is to make a fast website, put up some advertising and a few affiliate links and then sit back and watch while they earn real cash. There are a large amount of individuals who do this and also earn lots of money on the internet. But what if you want more than some extra or even quick cash (quick cash, naturally being a misnomer)? Can Internet Marketing really be leveraged to produce a worthwhile and long term career?

The quick and dirty answer is that yes, you are able to make Internet Marketing your long term and sustainable career. You only need to take on the project properly. The procedures and programs you use to build something to earn fast money are not all that different than the methods and systems you will use to build long term profits. So what would you do if you need to develop a sustainable career on the internet?

It is very important that the first thing you do, in order to earn long term money online, is accept the fact that you are going to have to do real work. You will have to do actual and real work on a daily basis and you will have days when you feel fantastic about what you do and days when you wish you could find something else to take on. This causes it to be just about like every other occupation that is out there. If you want to produce lasting cash flow by working lots right now and not at all later on then you are going to be in for a rude awakening in a little while. So be ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

There are a few ventures that lend themselves much better to a long term career than others will. Affiliate marketing, to use one example, is a great task for someone who wants to earn money on a part time basis or to supplement your already existent income. Is it truly possible to earn a full time income in this manner? You could if you pick out only the right products and then work like crazy to promote them. A far better approach, nevertheless, is to create your own products or websites and then promote those. This gives you full control over the projects you take on and how you accomplish them. And you will end up more likely to stick with it in the long run. If you want to give a service on the web this works much the same way. Writers, for example, need to create websites for themselves and create portfolios that they can point to as examples of their work.

Finally, perhaps the most significant thing that you need to recognize is that, when you want to build a long term and reliable income on the internet, you need to truly dedicate yourself to your task. You might have fun and feel rewarded by your efforts but first you should tell yourself “yes, I really want to do this.” Making a half hearted effort is not about to get you anywhere.
Second Karier through Internet Marketing make you earn. Call me Senataka write my website Internet Marketing and easy way

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