Category: General

5 Amazing Shopify Apps to Increase Sales (and Profits) Overnight

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date June 10, 2021

Shopify Apps to Increase Sales Overnight

Shopify’s app store has thousands of apps claiming to be the solution to boosting your online sales.

But…

It’s impossible to filter through all these tools, especially when most of them are expensive and bring no value to your store.

Which is why we decided to share this list with you…

In our longstanding expertise, here are the best 5 Shopify apps to boost sales and profits:

1- Klaviyo

For decades, email has proven to be a very effective marketing technique for ecommerce stores. But as your companies grow, managing every aspect of the business can get a lot harder.

That’s why you need Klaviyo.

Klaviyo is an email marketing app that helps you automate email campaigns for your business. It’s the ultimate time and money saver as it helps you create personalized email sequences using pre-built templates depending on your marketing goals.

Some of its key features include:

Post-purchase follow up email sequences
Email personalization
Audience segmentation (based on behavior, location, etc)
Performance reports and data analytics
A/B testing

2- Recart

Cart abandonment is often one of the biggest challenges for online businesses. Imagine moving a target customer all the way to the bottom of the funnel, and then losing them moments before they convert.

Does that sound familiar?

Then Recart is the answer…

Cart abandonment emails are still super effective in recapturing lost leads. However, focusing on other platforms where your audience might be present — such as Facebook and Messenger — is a must.

With features like push notifications, on-site popup messages, and Messenger marketing campaigns, Recart is the best solution to recovering lost leads.

The tool also offers detailed analytic reports to help you optimize your campaigns and focus on improving what’s important.

3- Zipify — OneClickUpsell

It’s hard to sell a single product, let alone multiple items at once. But that’s only true if you’re not using Zipify’s One-Click-Upsell (OCU).

OCU is the go-to solution for promoting matching products in your store to interested customers pre or post-purchase. It’s the best tool to upsell upgrades, add-ons, or accessories to engaged customers.

Moreover:

OneClickUpsell allows you to easily customize your product and subscription pages without the help of a developer. With a few simple tweaks, you can add testimonials or display similar products to encourage your leads to buy more.

As if that’s not enough…

OCU also comes with highly converting email sequences that you can use to retarget customers and boost your sales.

4- Trackify

No matter how great your products, branding, and marketing campaigns are, you’re not going to win unless you target the right audience.

And that’s exactly what Trackify is for…

Trackify is an all-in-one Facebook pixel app that helps store owners reduce ad spend and maximize their results. But what makes it even more interesting are the excellent features that come with it.

For example:

You can easily integrate a pixel with your Shopify store, then create specific tags for different products. Which allows you to run highly targeted ad campaigns on Facebook.

After that, you’ll be able to build and segment different audiences focusing on specific product pages.

Beyond that:

You can integrate Trackify with any Shopify app or theme you’ve installed on your website. Which makes it an excellent option compared to other Facebook pixel apps.

Another thing worth mentioning is the outstanding customer support offered by the company. You can jump on the live chat anytime and get your questions answered within minutes of asking them.

5- Crazyegg

Crazyegg helps you get a visual representation of how users are interacting with your website. You’ll be able to see how visitors scroll on the page, how their mouses move, and which parts they click on.

The two main features of Crazyegg are heatmaps and scroll maps.

For heatmaps, you’ll identify the places your leads click on the most, which are called hotspots in the app. Such data helps you better place important elements or buttons on your sales pages.

Scroll maps, however, show how users are scrolling on the page and how long they spend reading different sections. This feature is best used with long landing pages or sales offers to help you better reorganize your layouts.

Ready to Skyrocket Your Shopify Business?

ChaosMap can help! We’re a team of online sales and advertising experts ready to help you maximize your profits with your E-commerce stores.

Feel free to check out our digital marketing services to learn more. And don’t hesitate to contact us today so we can discuss your project needs.

General Marketing Automation

Top 11 IFTTT Recipes To Completely Automate Essential Daily Social Media Tasks

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 10, 2015

ifttt-recipes-automation-makes-life-easy-social-media

IFTTT is an automation tool set to completely change the way you handle daily social media tasks, and really any workflow for improved productivity.

It’s 2015, and by the feelings of numerous science fiction authors, we hypothetically should be living in a completely automated world by now.

Cellphones now comes with personal assistants, and new applications are empowering users to automate their online media — even between applications.

If This Then That (ifttt) is a new Web-based device that empowers users to make tasks (or “recipes”) that can automate activities on social media networks or applications after an activity occurs on a different social network or application. Some ifttt users utilize the application to automate social media, for example, automatically greeting new followers; others utilize the tool to automatically process tweets they mark as favorite in Evernote. (highly recommended)

If you are new to ifttt, here are 11 IFTT Recipes To Completely Automate Essential Daily Social Media Tasks.

1. Tweet having #fb hashtag to Facebook status with no hashtag

Facebook and Twitter have now empowered elements to make it simple to cross-post either to or from Twitter and Facebook. However, you might not need to post each tweet on Facebook. While a few applications exist to permit you to consequently post certain tweets tagged with #fb to Facebook, you should manually recall to label your tweet with “#fb” to push this tweet to Facebook, and the hashtag will likewise be incorporated into the Facebook post. This ifttt formula permits you to create recipes that automatically push tweets with particular hashtags to Facebook and also remove the hashtag when posted on Facebook.

2. Synching Google+ public posts on Twitter

Are you active on Google+ and Twitter, too? Maintaining an active presence on more than one social networks can be extreme and tedious, however ifttt can make it simpler. This recipe synchronizes your public Google+ posts on Twitter. The recipe will just work if you share your posts publicly, and will restrain the post on Twitter to its 140-character tweet design. However, this formula is a basic approach to automatically share your Google+ posts on Twitter in case you’re short on time or resources

3. Thank #FF

Friday Followers – Follow Friday, or #FF, is a popular way for Twitter users to post their favorite Twitter clients to their own particular followers to urge other users to follow them and find new content. If you have been mentioned in a #FF by another Twitter client, Twitter etiquette urges clients to thank the other client for the consideration. To help automate this procedure, an ifttt recipe empowers clients to consequently thank clients for a #FF

4. Each time you are tagged in a photograph on Facebook, it will be sent to Dropbox

Chances are that your companions harbor a greater number of photographs of you than you have of yourself — particularly on Facebook. If you need to make sure that you get a duplicate of these photographs, particularly from friends who always take years to get a copy they keep promising to send, you can utilize this ifttt formula to automatically send a copy of a photograph you have been tagged in on Facebook right to a your own Dropbox account.

5. #mypermissions Monthly Reminder

This is maybe one of my most loved ifttt recipes, and should be utilized by any individual who has connected themselves to a plenty of applications that continually change permissions (which most do).

This reminder will send you an email once per month to go to mypermissions.org and check what consents you provided for what applications, which may trigger you to deactivate certain applications if you need to.

6. Instagram Photos to Facebook Album

Are you an energetic Instagram user?

With this ifttt recipe, you can ensure that your Facebook friends automatically see the photographs you share through Instagram by sending them to a unique Facebook collection you create only for your Instagram photographs. You’ll obviously need to synchronize your Facebook and Instagram accounts for this recipe to work appropriately.

7. Save all Instagram photographs to Dropbox

If you loved the thought of automatically posting your Instagram photographs to Facebook with that last recipe, you’ll adore the idea of saving all of your Instagram photographs automatically by synchronizing them with Dropbox.

This ifttt formula is easy to set up –by simply providing the path to your Dropbox to which you need to save your Instagram pictures.

8. When Amazon Free Android App of the Day is posted, send me an email

In case you’re an Android user, you likely anticipate the free Android App of the Day.

Presently, rather than physically checking for the free application consistently, you can utilize this ifttt recipe to automatically email you what the Free App of the Day is. The formula utilizes a RSS feed to source the free application, and when another application is posted to the feed, you will get an email.

9. Archive my Foursquare check-in to Google Calendar

This ifttt formula is another of the best, specially for the mobile crowd, and if you like good dining. With this task, you can synchronize your Foursquare check-ins with your Google Calendar to archive where you’ve been and what you’ve done. This can be valuable for the individuals who travel frequently and need to remember what landmarks they visited on their last excursion, or for the individuals who might need to archive critical breakthroughs in relationships or within the families.

It’s likewise a fun recipe if you are a foodie; you can utilize it as a journal of places you have dined. This ifttt formula is easy to utilize and requires no customization to set up.

10. Email me an invite when a new startup is featured @betalist

Need to thoroughly understand the most sizzling new up-and-coming businesses?

You could visit betali.st, or you could utilize this recipe at ifttt to get an email with invites to new companies featured on betalist. This recipe is a specific favorite of LockerGnome communal member Shaun Dunne.

11. Thanking people on Twitter when they mention you or RT

Are you a thankful individual?

With this ifttt recipe, you can demonstrate your appreciation for mentions and RTs on Twitter automatically. The recipe scans for mentions of you on Twitter and permits you to say something to the effect of “Thanks for the mention!” You can obviously, customize your thank you message if you want (and I recommend you do!)

NEED SOME HELP? Contact Us Here and schedule your time.

Tags automation, iftt, ifttt recipes, Social Media, tasks

General Social Media

9 Content Creation Tips For Profitable Social Media (Copy This List)

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 10, 2015

Any social media marketing campaign lives or dies according to the quality of its content.

No matter what you do, if your content does not sparkle, you are not going to get the results that you want.

When you look at the people who seem to dominate social media, you will find that they all have one thing in common: …

…great content (with a plan)

If you are having trouble coming up with such content, you may just need a bit of inspiration.

Give the following tips a try, and see if any of them give you the nudge that you need to get started.

1. Tell Good Stories

Human beings are creatures that love narratives. We love stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that surprise us or tell us something new.

Focus on telling great stories in your content.

Remember, there is always something else to read or watch online, so unless you grab your audience’s attention right away, they are going to click away and go somewhere else.

2. Focus On Strong, Positive Emotions

Content that evokes a strong emotional response from the audience is going to be more successful than content that does not move people. In addition, when marketing your brand, you need to make sure that these emotional responses are positive ones.

The most popular content online tends to be the most emotional, and stories that evoke positive emotions are far more likely to be widely shared and potentially go viral.

Try this tool and see what the top posts are for your industry. Then, test with new headlines and new, updated content that helps and engages your audience.

You’ll see that content with strong emotions and call to action draw visitors in.

3. Get To The Point

No one wants to waste five minutes reading a lengthy introduction just to find out what you have to say.

Keep your content as short and sweet as possible. The more concise your articles are, for instance, the easier it will be for people to absorb your message, and the less likely they will be to get bored and click away.

Say what you have to say within a few sentences.

Keep polishing your pieces until you have boiled them down to the basics.

4. Craft Catchy Headlines

Your headline is the first part of your content that anyone sees, so you need to spend time creating ones that are going to make people want to keep reading.

No matter how amazing your content is, if it has a dull headline, few people are going to bother to click on it.

Make it clear that reading your content will give people valuable information without requiring a lot of effort from them.

5. Use Images And Videos

Online, a picture is really worth a thousand words, or possibly more!

Every article that you write needs to have compelling graphics and videos accompanying it.

Studies have found that even a single image in a post can double the number of times it is shared.

Infographics, how-to videos, and other visual content can dramatically improve the reception of your content.

If you do not feel up to creating your own, hire a graphic artist who is able to make what you need.

6. Post Frequently

If you only post new content on rare occasions, it doesn’t really matter how amazing it is.

If you really want your marketing campaign to take off and give you great results, you need to post new content as frequently as possible. This does not mean spamming people with hundreds of links per day, but it can mean making a dozen or more updates in 24 hours.

The more you post, after all, the more opportunities there are for people to share your content.

Once you post something, keep promoting it as long as possible. You may annoy a few people, but the results you get will be worth it.

7. Be Sure To Give Credit

If you use an article or an image from someone else, be sure to link back to it.

Not only does this increase the amount of traffic those sites get, but it improves your own reputation. Other people will be more likely to link back to you and send traffic in your direction if you have done the same for them.

Retweet people who tweet your content and thank them for doing so.

Follow people who follow you. Leave positive comments on other people’s pages.

8. Use The Data

It is not enough to just post content and send it out into the world.

You also need to take the time to study how each piece does so that you can know what works and what doesn’t.

Which pieces get the best responses? Which ended up being ignored?

By studying all of this data, you can look for patterns that you can then use to improve your content. You may discover that certain topics are much more popular than others, or that some days are better than others.

Many social media tools provide dashboard within them. Tools like Sendible, Hootsuite and Buffer, for example.

9. Give Them A Valuable Takeaway

You need to leave your readers feeling as if they have gained some practical knowledge from your content.

They need some concrete, down to earth advice that they can use right away. Not only does this leave them feeling more satisfied, but it also makes them more likely to go on and share your content with other people.

Creating great content for your social media marketing campaign can take some time.

Give these 9 tips a try and see how well they work for you.

Before long, you will get the results that you want!

NEED SOME HELP? Contact Us Here and schedule your time.

Tags content creation, content creation t, profits, Social Media

Analytics General

6 Essential Reasons To Use Google Tag Manager (Not Pure Google Analytics)

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 9, 2015

reasons to use google tag manager over google analytics

With Google Universal Analytics at long last out of beta, a lot of people are going to be transitioning from the old form of web analytics integration and overall script usage.

PROBLEM: Most sites and clients we come across still use the old Google Analytics code and use stacks of javascript from 3rd party vendors.

BEHOLD: There’s a new and better way to deal with page scripts for tracking and management.

There’s never been a better time to implement the new Google Tag Manager whilst transitioning through the upgrade.

The organization of scripts into one “container” (you simply place the new GTM code inside the <body> tag on your pages) is not only a great step forward, but it will aid in faster loading pages too. If your site is fast you know that your visitors will appreciate it.

The fact that you get centralized management, speed and agility is one thing.

Add to that the company governance and workflow (updates and deployments of sites from development, staging and production) with data accuracy and you have a winning formula.

The new way of using the GTM dashboard for containers, tags, triggers and variables management takes all the pain of script management to a very positive level for your business.

In truth, the improved automation, performance and reduced costs from something as “simple” as migrating from Google Analytics to Google Tag Manager should be obvious. If not, read this post:

Here are 6 Essential Reasons you won’t want to miss for you to transition and use the new Google Tag Manager.

#1 – Flexibility

Google Tag manager is ideal for flexibility. You’ll never have to involve a developer when you wish to tweak or modify a tag (scripts on your pages). This will save you time, money and a lot of headaches.

It allows you to focus on getting your web tracking working fast.

Easy to customize and even easier to achieve the tasks you want to complete. It’s never been easier or more convenient. With more flexibility you’ll find other tasks that you can do to make your site better than ever before.

#2 – Easy Upgrades

While the initial transition may be challenging or even seem daunting, once you’re done with all of the code swapping and maneuvering, you’re done.

It’s that simple.

Google has made it better than ever and they plan to continue improving upon the way they use tag manager and the interface. Meanwhile, you’re on the right path to improving your scripts management.

You can make your changes once and they will flow through to all of your pages. It’s that simple. Why would you want to have to do it more than once? Thanks to Google, you’ll never have to go through each and every individual page to make the changes that you need to have done.

Do it once … “set it and forget it”.

#3 – Acceleration

Since the new tag manager is quick, changes are done on an accelerated level. You won’t have to make a lot of changes to the code for your website. You’ll make your changes and be done with it, once and for all.

No need to revisit the site time and again to ensure that the changes have all gone through.

This will in turn speed up the launch time and ensure that your visitors won’t be wasting their time waiting for a page to load. In turn, this can keep your visitors coming back.

Visitors who find sites that load quickly and efficiently always appreciate it.

#4 – Debugging

Once you implement this, you’ll no longer have to worry about debugging scripts on your site.

Install the Google Tag Assistant as a complement to the debug process in Google Tag Manager.

This frees you up to apply your time to more important tasks such as adding in new and vital content.

Let’s face it, you have key things to do and you won’t need to stress over the website tracking. With debugging already built in, you’re sure to be up and running smoothly and effortlessly before you ever hit the publish button.

Automatic debugging is one of those vital components that helps you to remain on the cutting edge of technology. You’ll never be left to worry about those little glitches that your competitors stress over.

#5 – Versioning

It can be a pain each and every time you publish a new version of your website, or even migrating to another domain.

Google knows how much you need these vital elements so they have gone ahead and archived your former versions for you to refer to or re upload and utilize. If ever you need to “turn back time”, you’ll have it, right at your fingertips. With the click of a button you can simply go back and start over.

By utilizing this you can also organize your tags and keep track of them. This can also help you to find out if a certain tag isn’t doing what you need it to be doing and make the appropriate changes.

#6 – Pre-Built Tags

Thanks to built in tags, you can now select from a pre set list of tags that will help your tracking.

This one step can be vital to successful marketing. If you’ve never done coding before, you’re sure to appreciate the ease of this functionality. You can pick and choose, customize and set it all up simply by answering a few simple questions. If you are a developer, the marketing staff can update scripts directly, only with a quick email to let you know that a script has been applied.

Now — over to you.

It’s time to implement.

I assume you have a Google account already set up.

Just head over to tagmanager.google.com and get started.

As technology continues to move forward, more and more webmasters are making the move to Google Tag Manager. They’re updating their websites and are enjoying more visitors than ever before. It’s the perfect timing and you should make the move.

Now that you know the benefits, you’re sure to want to update your site.

NEED SOME HELP? Contact Us Here and schedule your time.

Watch the Google Tag Manager Video Fundamentals here:

Tags Google Analytics, google tag manager, website tracking

Content Marketing General

11 Compelling Reasons Why You Need Content Marketing In Your Life

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 8, 2015

content marketing reasons for your life and business

There was a time when businesses could simply cobble together a few web pages and boast of building an online presence.

Those times were so simple.

However, Internet has grown tremendously and become so competitive that mere presence on the web is not sufficient to increase business anymore.

You need to market your business, so you can serve prospects & customers better.

Content marketing is the key to online marketing success.

If you still have any doubts, here are 11 compelling reasons why you need content marketing.

1. Build Your Brand

Some businesses still don’t understand the value of investing in their own brand. The business landscape is so competitive that businesses cannot survive by competing on price alone. You need to focus on building your brand to succeed online.

Content marketing allows you to give your company a voice. Content can be in any form. It can be in the form of white papers, e-books, blog posts, infographics and videos among other things. The goal is to let the consumers see your business through the content present online.

2. Free Search Engine Traffic

Search engines love fresh content and when you are going to give them highly useful content on a regular basis, they are going to send loads of traffic your way. However, it is important that the content is of good quality and that the content and keyword themes are relevant, well researched and timely.

Half baked content can potentially harm your brand and your website. Another important thing to note is high quality content will continue to deliver high quality traffic for years to come. This is the magic of “ever-green” content.

3. Get More Customers

Research studies have reported that content marketing can greatly influence decision-making and purchase intent of consumers. In other words, spreading high quality content around the Internet (in the right channels for your market) will allow you to influence buyers during the research phase.

It is estimated that more than 80% of consumers search for information online before making a purchase. Content marketing allows you to be in front of the consumer during the research phase and sell suggestively.

4. Native Advertising

Native advertising is quickly becoming the next big thing. In fact, there are quite a few billion-dollar companies successfully driving traffic through native advertising. High quality content allows you to draw in the target audience using native advertising.

While driving traffic is important, converting them to paying clients is more important. Good quality content on your website will convince the visitors to buy from you. TIP: Test native Facebook videos. Facebook videos are trumping YouTube.

5. Consumers Want Content They Can Trust

While it is true that there is a lot of content online, the truth of the matter is that most of the content leaves a lot to be desired.

Consumers are always looking for useful and in-depth information on products or services they are looking to research and buy. Content marketing done in the right way can help you in gaining trust of customers.

6. Social Media Traffic

Social media cannot be ignored as it has become a big driver of traffic these days. Although the customer journey and purchase intent is different on social media than a user of search engines, you are missing out if you don’t have a social media strategy in place.

Almost everyone has an account on at least one of the many social media sites including:

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube

…and others. Find our where your prospects are hanging out, and build out a presence on those social networks. High quality content that is naturally shared by people on social media has high potential to drive huge amount of traffic to your web properties.

7. Decreasing Attention Span

National Centre for Biotechnology Information (read: https://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/) recently published some statistics about what everyone already knows.

Average attention span has gone down to 8.25 seconds in 2015 as compared to the average attention span of 12 seconds in the year 2000.

In simple terms, high quality content in various forms, spread all over the Internet, can help your business by drawing the attention of consumers who are looking for something interesting.

8. Excellent ROI

One of the main advantages of content marketing is that it offers excellent return on investment when done in the right manner. It makes overwhelming financial sense for small and medium businesses that cannot spend too much money on advertising.

In fact, big brands such as Coca Cola are spending tons of money on content marketing to keep and grow the mindshare.

The cost of attracting visitors to your online properties has been increasing at an astronomical pace. In many markets, businesses are forced to pay upwards of $20 per click. Keep in mind that this is just the cost to attract the customers to your web page and call-to-action (you have one, don’t you?)

The final cost depends on your conversion rate.

On the other hand, the cost of native advertising is extremely low and the content is always there. Content does not vanish from the Internet. It will keep sending you customers for a long time.

9. Consumers Love Free

Everyone likes free things.

If you take a look around, the Internet is filled with freebies. Some of it is in the form of a gift cards or actual physical products but most of the free goodies available on Internet are in the form of digital content. It is also a form of content marketing.

A well-written piece of content has the potential to attract thousands of customers to your web properties and subscribe to your newsletter. It is easier to gain subscribers by giving them free content in the form of informative videos, e-books or white papers. TIP: Make sure to reach out to influencers in your topic. They might be interested in reading your content piece. If done right, they’ll probably share it with their tribe too. Think about their audience and the value it brings.

10. Content Marketing Delivers High-Quality Leads

You can always drive traffic to your website through advertising but the truth is that the quality of leads driven through advertising cannot match the quality of leads through content marketing. In fact, research suggests that content marketing done in the right manner has the potential to convert 30% more organic visitors into sales leads.

Arguably, high quality content attracts high value customers. They keep coming back for more and it is easier to convert them into paying clients.

11. Manage Your Business Reputation

Smart marketers have taken advantage of the social media and other online marketing channels to make their content go viral. There are a number of success stories where a piece of viral content has driven tones of leads and sales for a business. However, it is a double-edged sword.

Negative things about your business (even if totally false) can also potentially go viral which means that it can adversely affect the image of your business in the eyes of the consumer. Content marketing can help you in managing your business reputation if you already have high-quality content all over the Internet.

When consumers search for your business, it is more likely that consumers will find that content and know the truth about your brand instead of looking at your brand from someone else’s perspective.

As your visibility and traffic improves from your content marketing strategies and tactics, make sure to capture the leads:

BONUS: Get the free lead generation guide that will show you how to quickly get more leads from traffic. Includes 2 bonus strategies not found in this post.

Tags content marketing, SEO

General Social Media

6 Smart Social Media Solutions For Professional Services Businesses

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 4, 2015

social-media-professional-services-consultants

In light of the broad reach of social media today, many professional service businesses are seeking to engage in a professional manner in the online community for marketing and informational purposes.

While there are no hard rules on how professional service businesses, such as financial advisors, attorneys, or realtors, must approach social media marketing and information sharing, businesses should always develop appropriate guidelines that not only outline online goals, but also establish a base for professional online conduct.

Here are six smart social media solutions that professional service businesses should include in their social media guidelines and follow precisely to make their online experience with social media sources a success.

1. Providing an honest look at the business

Identifying your particular position and role for the company will not only create a sense of authenticity but also establish credibility among other social media users. Business related information posted must be accurate and verifiable to avoid misinterpretations by prospects. Honesty can go a long way when representing your business in social media and misleading statements or facts are oftentimes easily discerned by others.

2. Practicing common courtesy and respect

When posting in social media forums, ensure that only meaningful, appropriate content will be used. When responding to other posts, comments should always reflect the overall integrity and professionalism of the company. Only respectful, insightful comments will cast a positive light on a business and possibly establish a future relationship between the company and prospects. It is important to always handle disagreements with other users politely and abstain from becoming overly defensive or treat the matter in a way that would reflect negatively on the business.

3. Respecting privacy and confidentiality

Prior to posting business-related content in social media forums, it is imperative to ensure that doing so will not violate privacy or confidentiality rights. Many reports, privileged conversations, or client-related matters are not intended for public sharing and may not be legally disclosed. It is best to use common courtesy and ask permission for publishing any content that may be subject to privacy and confidentiality rights. Any content posted in social media forums will be widely available for viewing by users from all over the world.

4. Capitalizing on expertise

Composing unique content about your business that reflects personal expertise and insight will not only give the posts a natural voice, but may also help build a readership of individuals interested in your individualistic perspectives on business happenings and activities. A great way to employ professional expertise in social media is to create a separate website or a business related Facebook page and to post brief insightful tips or opportunities for free consultations. Industry-specific information, events, statistics, and reports also make for great conversation starters. When posting niche-specific content, always ensure that the general public will be able to understand the information provided by avoiding industry lingo and ask for input.

5. Establishing a personal connection

To help build a positive reputation for your business, try to connect with other social media users by displaying your personality in your posts. Sharing personal thoughts, stories, and background may help other users to connect with you on a more personal level. Many professional services businesses, such as financial planning or real estate, may seem rather intimidating to the general public and being able to see the professional as a real person with similar values and life experiences will help prospective clients relate to you more easily.

6. Employ other media tools to relate information

When looking to provide simple overviews of events, activities, or news pertaining to your business, it may be helpful to make use of other online media tools in conjunction with social media to get the message across. Producing short but professional video clips and creating brief blog post that can be advertised on your social media profile to keep online prospects updated on recent happenings can be a great way to increase online viewership and readership.

Regardless of industry, professional service businesses must take a smart approach to social media use to avoid engaging in online activities that may result in violations to privacy and confidentiality or would cast a negative light on the company. In the end, online social media behavior should always reflect the same professionalism, respectfulness, and common courtesy that the business person would demonstrate in person.

BONUS: Get the free lead generation guide that will show you how to quickly get more leads from traffic. Includes 2 bonus strategies not found in this post.

Tags internet marketing, professional services, Social Media

Branding General

How To Make Your Business Stand Out Immediately (USP Redefined)

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 4, 2015

In tough economic times, businesses are challenged to differentiate themselves. Consumers expectations are higher than ever, so businesses are looking for a technological boost to set them apart from the crowd.

Researched social media strategies, multi-channel content and convenient accessibility can provide businesses with access to untapped potential in their industry. Business decision-makers also are revisiting the fundamentals of competition. While service-based promotion is still the meat that feeds consumer expectations, tailored combination of new and traditional strategies will help your company stand out.

Revisit Your USP

It’s a simple proposition, but businesses often overlook the chance to clearly define their value. A unique selling proposition (USP) promotes a clear, unified message with which to build a marketing strategy. You can’t define the USP of your business without a unique product or service, so use this process to audit whether your business has the unique spark it needs to succeed.

Consider providing a money-back guarantee, which asserts your excellence, or attach dedicated support to each customer. Once you identify a unique focal point, succinctly describe it in a catchy way to grab the attention of potential customers and open the door to carry out your comprehensive pitch. Gaining new business depends on standing out on the marketing front lines, and a USP’s specificity communicates exactly what you can do for a potential costumer.

After finding the unique product or service to provide for your customers, keep your business fresh and new by purchasing any marketing, product or other services with a business credit card. We have found American Express cards are popular with businesses as they have good rewards programs, including cash back on office supplies and gas.

Here’s a quick, easy way to start your USP conversation at your company:

A simple starting point is to state “what you are NOT”.

Then, with a bit more clarity, fill out this statement:

“I/we help ________ do, be have more of _________ SO THAT ____________”

This is a short sentence, but will start to narrow down your focus, and will explain benefits to the USP. That will include your company, services and products.

To help you with this, use this checklist/worksheet USP:

1. Become very clear of who your buyer is.

2. Be clear on what you are selling to this audience.

3. Establish your unique promise – the “promise of the premise”

4. Include something you are “NOT” – possibly “negative”

5. Include a time line for access

6. Finally, add an “or else…” (which could be your AMAZING GUARANTEE!)

Ramp Up Your Online Presence

The Internet is a fast-evolving space for businesses to transact and market. By combining traditional marketing principles with marketing 2.0 strategies, successful business have leveraged online tools to enhance their business models.

While some view Twitter and Facebook as a time wasters, brands have jumped at the chance to engage with consumers. Fifty-three percent of adults follows brands online, according to CBS News.

There is a new set of rules when conveying your message through social media.

The self-serving, “look-at-me” approach is giving way to something that closer resembles a friendship. In modern marketing, content is king so you should focus on producing content that enhances your followers.

A Twitter link to a YouTube video explaining your business provides viewers with substantive information to inform their purchase. In a world where anyone can get published, quality content rises to the top.

As always, the goal is to sell and grow your business. Once you have established a clear USP, make sure you present your message to the right market using the best media. Lead generation becomes crucial.

BONUS: Get the free lead generation guide that will show you how to quickly get more leads from traffic. Includes 2 bonus strategies not found in this post.

Tags branding, checklist, USP

General Social Media

How to Measure Social Media Marketing Success Easily (ROI and Goals)

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date November 4, 2015

Tracking social media is a two-fold approach.

Know this: social media is a ‘media’ (press) darling. Consider how many posts and references show up for social media every hour, everyday.

SEO, or search engine optimization, on the other hand – has been around a lot longer, but doesn’t get as much credit or love these days.

Perhaps our friendly journalists think they are the same? Hope not.

The professionals who understand the difference between user intent, tactics and overall strategies for the two forms of online marketing (drawing the line here), are clear that they both can have solid impact – for really any business.

SEO tends to be easier to track for many (keywords to conversion as an example), social media – not. But, if you cannot answer the “what and the why”, you’re not doing great in either, or you are just getting started.

It’s hard to track real ROI with social media marketing. (Really?)

For most businesses the best sales and marketing campaigns involve forming strong relationships with customers/clientele. It’s because of these relationships that companies can flourish and grow as they build trust and loyalty with their patrons.

As a result, it’s no doubt social media marketing found its way into the business arena. Effective networking is a key factor to implement in order to grow a business; and social media provides that opportunity.

Yet how does a business know if its social media marketing campaign is effective? How can the level of success be measured?

The answer is two-fold.

The first.

This is arguably the most important task to accomplish when deciding how to use social media marketing for your business. Determine your objective(s).

What is it you want to accomplish with your social media marketing efforts?

And, do you know what is going on right now in your marketplace (conversation)?

Whether your business is a PR firm, technology company, recruiting firm, nonprofit organization or a simple ice-cream parlor in a small town, there is something you want/need to accomplish with social media marketing.

It could be as tangible as increased sales and profits or less tangible like getting responses from customers about how to make improvements to your product or service. Or, getting success stories and testimonials to increase your credibility profile.

Maybe your purpose is simply to increase your product’s brand awareness. Whatever your objective is, that will be what is weighed in order to measure your social media marketing success.

Without a clear picture of your objective, the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaign can never truly be measured. We think in terms of baselines to compare with as you grow.

The second.

When you want to measure the ROI on social media marketing efforts, the second option is probably what is most commonly meant when the question is raised. That is (analytics) “tracking”.

With pay per click or sales tracking a business owner has a tangible means of measuring; however, with social media tracking it is much less straightforward and the method depends on the site and approach.

Facebook, for instance, might be measured by the number of confirmed friends and engagement on ads to posts and landing pages;

Twitter might be weighed by the quantity of retweets following a tweet; number of followers acquired in a month;

A Web Forum might look at the quantity and quality of its threads. The list goes on and will continue to grow as the world of social media continues to grow and evolve.

Free tools like Social Mention helps to capture “sentiment” – another metric that can be used for reputation management.

The bottom line is this: measuring the success of social media marketing is subjective, and each business must identify what objective it wants to accomplish. When that aim is being met, the business can say with confidence that its social media marketing campaign is effective and is a success.

Ultimately every business needs to have a plan in place that describes the goals and ROI objectives throughout the entire customer journey – from the first click, last attributed click and via the funnel.

Determine what the lifetime value is of your customer, break them down, and backtrack from there. Your advertising and marketing budget should be evaluated against total Return On Investment over time.

Next, try some tools that can help:

BudUrl, Bitly – track how many times people click on a link you share

Twitter Search – powerful search in real time, advanced search helps to drill down and inject yourself into the conversation as well

Twilert – Google alerts for Twitter – free

Google Analytics – free – ability to track traffic, content, referrers (where traffic came from) and a lot more. Make sure to install Google Tag Manager and set up Event tracking via Triggers.

Lead Generation EBook – Free download to learn the latest insights on how to create leads from social media and advertising overall

NEED SOME HELP? Contact Us Here and schedule your time.

Tags goals, measurement, ROI, Social Media

General online marketing

3 Essential Marketing Lessons from Major League Baseball 2015 Season

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date October 30, 2015

Baseball is the second most popular sport in the United States, second only to football. But it didn’t get that way overnight. Great players, a season format that promotes suspense and great marketing has helped Major League Baseball maintain and expand viewership through generations.

But how does this help your business?

While the Major Leagues might seem so large it doesn’t apply to a small business, there are still marketing lessons you can learn from the MLB.

1. Leadership

In 2015 Rob Manfred was elected as the new MLB Commissioner. Manfred has worked within the MLB since 1987, but when he took over in January, he was faced with an archaic system that had not optimized itself for the current age.

As a newly elected leader, Manfred had the bravery to question how baseball’s viewership had changed in a fast-paced, digital age where people’s interests and attentions flit among subjects, concerns and thoughts.

As a leader in your business, constantly ask these difficult questions: “How are our customers or clients changing, and are we adaptive enough?” And then take action. Manfred didn’t simply ask difficult questions — changes are already on the way.

He has promoted inning changes in less than three minutes and has vocalized concerns about pitchers who loiter on the mound and slow down the game. He has even supported the use of warnings and fines to the worst perpetrators.

These are great examples of how leaders can address issues with swift action. Manfred saw a problem with the MLB’s product and implemented changes to rectify it.

2. Serve Your Customers Better

He has also employed outreach agencies for a more diverse demographic fandom, such as LatinWorks, which has constructed the MLB’s largest-ever Hispanic-centered marketing campaign. In this campaign, Manfred has identified a market that he knows can grow.

Do the same for your small business. Identify the markets and demographics you haven’t reached. What steps can your business take to expand and include this new market? For the MLB, this may mean ads in Spanish and highlights of great Hispanic players.

Video can grab the eye far more easily than still frames. For a locally owned pub, for instance, you could target college students by designating Wednesday or Thursday nights as College Night — drink discounts for those with a student ID.

While these might be two very different examples, they both identify a market and then grow the business in that specified direction.

3. Social Media

Only 18 percent of millennials follow baseball media, states Hannah Kurtz, the Digital Coordinator at Maven Communications, on LinkedIn. That’s the same percentage of people over 65. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the MLB is aware it needs new customers to maintain viewership.

Consumers, but millennials especially, increasingly get their media from mobile devices and the Internet. Social media is where many young people spend their free time.

The MLB has utilized Twitter for real-time news updates that reach a younger audience. Furthermore, many teams give discount codes for tickets and sweepstakes on their Twitter accounts, which promotes engagement and loyalty.

As a small business, you can use social media in a similar way.

Provide exclusive content and contests for those who take interest via the web.

Get more from innovation in your marketing campaigns.

BONUS: Get the free lead generation guide that will show you how to quickly get more leads from traffic. Includes 2 bonus strategies not found in this post.

Tags baseball, lessons, Marketing

General

5 Companies Using Blogs to Target Non-Traditional Audiences

Post author By Jon Rognerud
Post date October 20, 2015

There was a time when bloggers were scorned.

They were viewed as crass, cynical complainers who couldn’t hack it in the real world and instead toiled away the hours typing on a computer in their mom’s basement.

A lot has changed in the past decade, however, and blogging is now a critical component for promoting your organization as a thought leader in the industry, attracting new customers, and staying relevant among your competitors.

Though some companies may not think such an endeavor is for them, there a wide range of businesses you wouldn’t expect to have blogs that are making a name for themselves by catering to non-traditional blog audiences.

There is a lot to learn from them:

1. FreshBooks

Who wants to read about accounting? That could have been the view taken by FreshBooks, but it has instead dedicated itself to churning out wonderful content regularly — and consumers have taken note.

From list-based pieces like “15 Common Habits That Are Interrupting Your Productivity” and a willingness to broach the topics of the day like “SheEO – Driving Change for Female Entrepreneurs,” the company produces stuff people want to read.

2. Apple Rubber

Writing for a technical audience of specialists, like engineers and manufacturers, can be very challenging. But understanding how to use the right topics, tone, and targeting will allow you to reach any group.

Sites like Apple Rubber do a great job of using real-world case studies, industry trend analysis, and myth-busting articles to engage and inform readers. By keeping their content fresh and looking for interesting angles — like “How 3D Printing is Transforming Space Travel” — they are standing out in an industry not known for producing fascinating content.

3. Wegmens

Grocery stores offer a basic service: we have a lot of food, come buy it. But Wegmens has been able to brand itself as a family-friendly part of the community with its blog. The supermarket chain has been in the blogging game for years, and while the aesthetics of its site may feel a bit dated, they offer a down-home vibe that appeals to their customers.

With posts that focus on trendy topics like gluten-free eating, coconut oil, and food safety, they not only brand themselves — they also help give shoppers ideas for what to buy.

4. Caterpillar

The construction-equipment giant is also a titan in the corporate blogging world. Their double-entendre blog title, “On the Level,” fits perfectly for the site’s no-nonsense dedication to practicality.

Consumers who look to Caterpillar want to learn how to make and do things better. So articles like “Utilizing Construction Machines for Farm Work” and “Tips to Develop Proper Fluid Handling and Storage Procedures” align perfectly with the brand.

5. Maersk

As with Caterpillar’s huge equipment, most people don’t conflate the hulking ships of Maersk with the word “blogger.” But the company uses a modern layout style and an array of information articles to turn cargo shippers into readers.

One of its best attributes is how Maersk smartly peppers in information about itself that might be dull on its own alongside timely content about the Ebola outbreak and the future of oil.

Tags audiences, Blogs, brands