Share Of Voice: The Complete Beginner’s Guide

What is share of voice? The term “share of voice” (SOV) is a relatively recent marketing phrase that refers to a company’s share of the market’s voice. In other words, it’s a way to measure how much noise a particular brand is making compared to its competitors.

Share Of Voice: The Complete Beginner’s Guide

It can be used to help businesses understand how they stack up against their rivals and identify growth opportunities. If you’re just starting out in marketing or curious about the share of voice and want to learn more, read on!

Explanation Of Share Of Voice

Share of Voice (SOV) is a marketing metric that allows you to assess your brand’s awareness across various marketing channels. Using this metric, you can determine how effectively your ads, social media mentions, and even website traffic compare to your competitors. As a result, you can determine how significant your online presence is in your niche.

SOV is also a valuable tool for understanding how many shares of the market’s attention your brand receives. It can help you determine whether or not you need to allocate more resources to marketing to increase your visibility. Additionally, SOV can show you which specific channels generate the most awareness for your business and where you should focus on improvement.

Market share and revenue tend to be synonymous with the share of voice, though market share is not the same as SOV.

What is Market Share?

The amount of market share a company has is the proportion of an industry’s sales it controls. This means the ratio of overall industry income that your company has earned by selling its products and services. Large companies have the most market share and compete with smaller enterprises.

Market share only refers to your sales share despite exhibiting a similar concept (calculating your performance compared to your competitors).

How to Calculate Share of Voice

To determine the share of voice, divide your brand’s performance indicators by the total market performance. This might be your social media engagement, website traffic, or advertising clicks. Then, multiply the number you receive by 100 to find your percentage.

For example, if your company has a social media engagement of 50,000 and the total market engagement is 100,000, your share of voice would be 50%.

To find your engagement numbers, you’ll need to become familiar with the data analytics of your social media platforms and website. There are a variety of different tools to help facilitate this process.

Once you have these numbers, it’s easy to calculate your share of voice using this formula: (Brand Performance Indicator / Total Market Performance) x 100 = Share of Voice %.

You’ll need to utilize the data analytic tools of your channels to find the necessary numbers needed to calculate SOV. However, most social media platforms and website analytics will have this data readily available. Once you have it, the calculation is straightforward.

Which Channels Should Be Calculated For SOV?

When calculating the share of voice, it’s important to consider all the channels through which your company is being exposed. This includes advertising and social media, website traffic, and other avenues by which customers might interact with your brand.

The most common channels that are used to calculate SOV are:

  • Advertisement clicks (including online and offline)
  • Social media mentions (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
  • Website traffic (unique visitors, page views, time on site, etc.)

It’s important to measure all of these channels to get a comprehensive view of how much attention your brand is receiving. However, don’t feel overwhelmed. You don’t need to track every possible metric. If you’re just starting out, it’s best to pick the most relevant channel and start there.

How Can You Use Share of Voice?

The share of voice indicates how much attention (or share) you are receiving compared to other businesses in your sector or field. With this information, you’ll be able to understand where more resources should go towards increasing awareness for your brand online through specific channels such as social media or advertising campaigns.

Brand awareness is essential for any business, no matter how small. By tracking your share of voice, you can ensure that your company gets the attention it deserves and makes sure that you’re doing everything possible to reach your target market.

Another benefit of SOV is that it can help you identify new growth opportunities. If your share of voice is low in a particular channel, that might indicate that there’s room for expansion in that area. For example, if your website traffic is down, you might consider increasing your SEO efforts to drive more visitors.

The share of voice can also be used as a benchmarking tool. By tracking how your company’s share of voice changes over time, you can measure the success of your marketing campaigns and understand which channels are most effective at driving awareness for your brand.

Customer Relations and SOV

The share of voice is also helpful for customer relations. By measuring the share of voice, you can understand how satisfied your customers are with what they see online about your brand and how many people are talking about it in positive ways versus negative ones.

This information allows businesses to adjust their strategies accordingly so that more consumers will engage positively on social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook. Additionally, it helps companies avoid bad publicity by identifying potential issues before they get out of control.

SOV Example

Let’s say Bob is a manager at Celebcash, which sells coffee. He wants to know if his company has enough share of voice compared to other similar brands like Elk Coffee or Slammin’ Scones.

To start, he’ll need to calculate the share of voice for each company. For Celebcash, this would include advertisement clicks, social media mentions, and website traffic. Elk Coffee and Slammin’ Scones would only include advertisement clicks and social media mentions because they don’t have websites.

Once he has these numbers, Bob can easily compare these numbers using a graph or percentage calculation. From there, he can decide whether or not to invest more in advertising or social media to increase the share of voice.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s important to understand SOV and optimize your content. Big Bold Thinkers is here to help. Contact us today and let us show you how we can help increase your SOV so that you can dominate your industry.

Drip Email Marketing vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns: Which Should You Use?

If you want your business to boost engagement and drive conversations, it’s no secret that you have to use marketing. Yet, with so many different techniques available, there can be a lot of trial and error at your expense. Luckily, every savvy marketer knows that a bit of market research can go a long way.

Finding out the best way to get in front of your customers will be a win for you. That’s why a lot of companies tend to compare Drip Email Marketing vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns. Which one is better and why should your company use either?

So many businesses have the same questions about email drip marketing and lead nurturing campaigns. We decided to help make it easier to understand which one is right for your company. Here’s everything you need to know about Drip Email Marketing vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns.

What Is Drip Email Marketing?

When you hear a marketer refer to drip email marketing, that usually means a set of pre-written emails or “drips” that will be sent out to current customers and prospects over time. A company can communicate with its customers about product updates, free trial information, and more when using drip email marketing.

What Are Lead Nurturing Campaigns?

Marketers use lead nurturing campaigns as personalized automated messages to help customers along their buyer’s journey. The goal of a lead nurturing campaign is to provide customers with insight that drives a specific action in that journey.

Lead nurturing campaigns are customizable and targeted to nurture a customer until they are ready to buy. They are primarily emails but can be used with any medium, such as social media posts, SMS messages, and video content.

Drip Email Marketing vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns: Which One Is Better?

When it comes to Drip Email Marketing vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns, it’s not a question of which one is better; it depends on the intended goal of the marketing initiative.

If you are trying to guide your customers through the sales funnel until they convert, drip email marketing can be a perfect way to achieve that. If you want customized messages sent to prospective customers based on their activity, it is good to place them in a lead nurturing campaign.

In some cases, your drip email marketing will be a part of your lead nurturing campaigns. For example, a customer comes to your business’s webpage and downloads a whitepaper. You can decide that they need to be in one of your lead nurturing campaigns, and you can use drip email marketing for that.

When to Use Drip Email Marketing

A drip email marketing strategy may be best when you want a timed email message to be delivered to your customers or prospective buyers. If you’ve recently had an event such as a webinar or conference, drip email marketing is a great way to stay top of mind and follow up with your customers.

When to Use Lead Nurturing Campaigns

You want to use lead nurturing campaigns when you have an active inbound marketing strategy in place. It is also a good idea to use lead nurturing campaigns when trying to establish trust and increase brand awareness.

Ready To Power Your Marketing Initiatives?

Understanding Drip Email Marketing vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns can help power your marketing initiatives to become more successful. Yet, using both email drip marketing and lead nurturing campaigns can take your marketing to the next level.

If you are looking for the best way to market your brand, we can help. Contact us today to get started!

How to Easily Incorporate Video into Your Customer Support Strategy

Have you been struggling to find a way to make your customer service more successful? We have the solution for you! Introducing video! Video is an excellent tool that can help increase conversions and improve customer satisfaction. These tips will show you how to incorporate video into your current customer support strategy, so read on to learn more about this easy-to-use and effective marketing technique.

What Is a Customer Support Strategy?

A customer support strategy is a marketing technique that can help improve and maintain your reputation with clients. It also helps to retain current customers while attracting new ones. It is typically a step-by-step plan you have in place for improving how you interact with customers and the interaction metrics linked to those initiatives. It allows you to create better communications, improve customer service, and ultimately increase the rate of success of your brand. A successful customer support strategy must be interactive, consistent, and secure. It must also include the infrastructure and processes you need to hold your customer support operations.

Use Short Videos to Answer Frequently Asked Questions

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in a call-center environment. As a customer service representative, how can you make sure that customers are happy and want to continue their call? By offering quick answers to their questions. If your business is struggling with customer service, think about how you can use short videos to answer frequently asked questions. Since most customer service professionals have little time to spend with each customer, videos allow them to take care of their customers faster and quicker.

  • Post your videos on your company’s YouTube channel.
  • Put a link to the relevant video in the email when customers send inquiries to you via email. This way, they can watch the short video before replying to their message with more information if needed.
  • Include them at every possible customer touchpoint: support desk chat, phone, email, and social media.

This strategy is a surefire way of making sure that customers are satisfied without keeping them on the line for long periods of time.

Resolve Customer Issues with Video Chat

Video chat is a great way for you to resolve customer issues in real-time. Imagine if you could see the person’s face when they’re telling you about their problem, not just hear them over the phone! If your customers are having trouble with an order or want help setting up their account, video chat is a terrific solution. You can get all of your questions answered quickly and easily without any confusion.

Video chat has also become popular among businesses as it provides security by being able to identify who someone is before talking with them on the phone or in person. Video chat is also great for businesses that operate internationally because it allows the customer to see what you’re doing on your end in real-time, which can make them feel more secure and safe from fraud. It also makes things easier on both ends, as there’s no need for support staff to repeat themselves.

Build a Library of Training Videos

If you want your customers to understand how to use your product or service, it needs a training video. Let me show you how to create one in just five minutes with these simple steps:

  1. Record a one-minute introduction about the topic you’ll address in the video.
  2. Explain what will happen in this training on screen.
  3. Show step-by-step instructions for using your product or completing the necessary task.
  4. End with another one-minute recap about what was covered.

Create Customer Onboarding Videos

Creating customer onboarding videos can be a great way to guide customers through the process of setting up their accounts. It’s important for businesses to provide clear instructions and guidance for customers on how they should use your product or service, so they get the most out of it, but the video is an even better option because you are able to show them exactly what they need to do.

In the age of digitalization, where time is more precious than ever before, it’s important for businesses to adopt new strategies to help their customers. Videos are a great way to answer frequently asked questions without having to spend too much time on each call. Have you tried this technique? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments below!

What Makes Us Excited About iOS 14 Update?

Apple has 23.4% of the mobile market. They are renowned for having a higher level of security and for sharing fewer data with third parties.

Continuous updates aim to make the user experience better, as well as improved security features. So what’s all the hype about the iOS 14 update?

Let us break it down for you.

1. A Personalized Home Screen

One of the most fun features we like about the new iOS update is the personalized home screen. You can change what is on the home screen and even personalize the icons for your apps.

You can add widgets such as photos or weather or date and time and style them in the way you like. Have a favorite colour? Then try this – design your home screen using a colour theme or specific design.

Check out the home screen designs on Pinterest for inspiration on what you should try.

There’s another feature called App Library that helps you to organize all your apps. You can send all the apps you don’t want cluttering up your home screen to the library. The apps won’t be deleted, just saved until you want to use them.

2. The iOS 14 Update Has Better Security

The iOS14 has enhanced security features such as limiting the data transferred to third-party apps.

There is a more explicit opportunity for you to opt out of data tracking. This will make it harder for companies to see how you found them and to track your browser activity.

You can check which data websites collect about you by tapping the Aa button in the Safari browser bar. It will give you the option to view a privacy report. This will show all the ad trackers that have been following you around the internet for the past 30 days.

3. You Can Browse In Chrome

If you aren’t a Safari fan, you can now choose which browser links automatically open in. You can set your default as Chrome and never have to deal with Sarafi again!

4. Updates in iMessage

This is another fun one! Memojis have had an update, so you can have even more fun sending animated talking characters with your voice to your friends!

5. Better Camera and Voicenotes

The updated camera app is easier to access; you can quickly open it and shoot. Shot to shot is also new and improved.

There are options to determine the image quality before you shoot it too. For the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, you can choose to shoot in Pro Raw quality. You can determine the image’s exposure before you take it. The updates also allow you to shoot amazing video content.

Sound enhancing technology makes the voice notes app more precise, with better-quality voice memos.

Update and Personalize Your Phone

The iOS 14 update allows you to make your phone more personalized than has ever been possible. Gone are the days when everyone’s home screen looked the same.

We hope you enjoy these new features as much as we do and make your phone work for you and your business.

Using your phone to capture an event? Get in touch for expert advice on curating the perfect event for your business.

Why is Website Translation Important to Global Businesses?

Running an international business requires speaking the language of your target audience. And when it comes to your website, speaking their language can make or break your sales.

You have a new website that you want to promote to a bigger audience or a website ready to go worldwide. Make it available in different languages to stand out from your competitors.

Read on to learn why you need website translation for your global business and how you can use it to attract more customers.

To Attract More International Customers

When your website is available in more languages, it’s accessible to international customers or the other ethnicities in your own country.

The more people can benefit from your services, the more opportunities you have to make a sale. At the same time, websites with content in multiple languages are rare, so word will quickly get around about yours.

To Boost International SEO Rankings

If you’re trying to position your business in the international market, optimizing your website for search engines is an important step.

If you translate and localize the website in the languages of the countries you want to expand to, you’ll boost international SEO rankings.

To Improve Localization

Localization in SEO is crucial if you want to target a specific audience that speaks a certain language. It’s also important if you want to target local areas.

For this to work, your best bet is website translation services to make your website accessible to your target customers. This way, even if someone searches for keywords in their language, your website will show up among the first results.

To Increase Time on Site

When a customer lands on your business website and it’s not in a language they speak, they’ll leave and look for one that is. If you offer your website in different languages, you’ll actually increase time on site.

This is because they’ll be interested to see what else you have to offer and might even decide to become your customers. The better the translation, the more trust you’ll build.

This shows customers you’ve put time, money, and effort into your website. Even more importantly, you’ll show customers you’ve dedicated time and effort to understand their needs.

To Build a Stronger Brand Worldwide

If you’re expanding your business worldwide, translation services for your website are a must in order to get closer to your target customers.

Since your company will be new on the market, you need something to attract customers with. Having a website in several languages will not only make them get to know your business better but also build trust.

Invest in Professional Website Translation To Boost Sales and Attract More Customers

Whether you’re trying to expand internationally or want to be available to a wider audience, website translation is a must if you want to boost sales and build trust with customers.

Ready to give your online presence a makeover? Reach out to Big Bold Thinkers today and let’s explore your digital marketing and SEO options for business growth.

Organize Your Digital Presence

Welcome to week six in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. It’s time to “Organize Your Digital Presence.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first five pieces in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

Week 4: Digital Strategic Planning

Week 5: Empathetic Marketing

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The Internet levels the playing field for businesses. It enables small and medium-sized businesses to compete successfully with large businesses that have more resources and money at their disposal. When you create a solid digital presence that provides great and relevant content for your prospects and customers, backed by great customer service, you will win and prosper. Plus, your customers will love you!

 

The following are seven steps that will help you get your digital presence organized (and effective) from stem to stern…

 

  1. Create (or update) your website. Your website is your 24 hours a day hub with all your “digital roads” leading back to it. Every business needs a website. Besides generating leads and closing sales, your website establishes your expertise and credibility. Plus, it’s an opportunity to tell potential customers what makes you unique and why they should do business with you versus your competition.

    If you already have a business website, it’s a good time to consider ways in which you can improve the effectiveness of your site. Are you using outdated themes and technology? Is it mobile friendly? Does a prospect immediately know that you are the solution to their problem? Is it easy to navigate? Is it visually pleasing? Does it appeal to the clients you are trying to attract? And so on.

    An easy way to increase sales and customer convenience is to add e-commerce functionality to your website. A big benefit of selling a product through your website (other than a greater profit margin) versus selling through an online marketplace is you acquire the customer’s contact information. This gives you the ability to market to them in the future which allows you to build a relationship of trust with them. This is important because repeat customers are nine times more likely to convert than a first-time shopper, according to a report by Adobe.
  2. Create (or update) social media sites. Social media is the least expensive form of marketing and allows you to repurpose your content over multiple channels. A smart social media strategy can quickly increase your brand awareness, boost engagement, generate leads and sales, provide customer service, and drive traffic to your website. It can lead to mentions in the press, plus it is a way for you to “listen” to conversations about your brand. At the very least, your business should be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Beyond that, great things can happen with YouTube, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok. Decide what your goal is with social media, which platforms best attract your target audience, and create a plan to reach them. 
  3. Create Common Branding. Consistent branding across all aspects of your business will mold a positive perception and it will instill trust and loyalty in your customers. Your branding (and messaging) should be uniform across both your digital platforms and your offline marketing efforts.
  4. Embrace an online meeting platform. While video conferencing has never been more popular, even in normal times it’s a way for businesses to save time and cut down on travel costs. Besides talking with your customers face to face, many video conferencing services allow users to share screens, exchange files, communicate using digital whiteboards, and so on. For more information, check out my post, Virtual Meeting 101.
  5. Create an email newsletter. Email is still one of the most popular forms of communication. An email newsletter will keep you top of mind with your prospects and customers. This will increase traffic to your website and help grow your social media community (which, in turn, will increase conversions). An email newsletter is not intrusive. You are providing your customers with useful information, not inundating them with advertising.
  6. Create (or update) your blog. Writing a regular blog post strengthens your relationship with your customers. A blog will also improve your search engine ranking and increase your online traffic as Google loves fresh content. Plus, you can repurpose your blog posts by also featuring them in your email newsletter.
  7. Organize it all in a task-management platform. When you think of the various components of your digital presence, you might feel overwhelmed when thinking about making it all run smoothly. Fortunately, there are programs designed with just this in mind.  We use Asana and it has been a complete game-changer.  More on that to come.  As Asana certified professionals, we can also get you a link to save 10% off of your first year – plus we can help you onboard and train your team.


To get (and keep) a leg up on your competition, a comprehensive well thought out digital strategy is vital. And while a strong digital presence is all about technology, it’s important to remember that marketing is all about engaging your prospects and customers and providing them with the solutions they are looking for in an empathetic way.

 

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Empathetic Marketing

Empathetic marketing generates credibility and trust… and more sales.

Welcome to the fifth article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. This week we are going to practice our “Empathetic Marketing” skills.

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first four pieces in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

Week 4: Digital Strategic Planning

 

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There is an old marketing adage: “people love to buy, but they don’t want to be sold.” How true! So, how do you make it so people “love to buy” from you? Use empathetic marketing.

Empathetic marketing is when you see your products and services, not through a marketer’s eyes, but your customer’s eyes. As humans, we love to laugh, feel joy, and love. We are proud and crave recognition—and we sometimes cry, fear, and doubt. As a marketer, you must interact with your clients in a way that connects with your customer’s emotions and motivation.

This is especially true in this new normal. In all corners of the globe, people are dealing with the same struggle, uncertainty, and fear of the unknown. It has enhanced our need and desire to care for and help each other.   

Marketing with empathy means that you understand your customer’s wants and needs, which generates trust, loyalty, and greater mutual business success. With an empathetic approach, you are always looking for ways to make your customer’s life better.

Here are five ways you can take a more empathetic approach to your marketing…

 

  1. Ask “How does my product make my customer feel?” — People buy on emotion and then justify their decision with facts and logic. Mark Ingwer, in his book Empathetic Marketing, lists the six core emotional needs as 1) control; 2) self-expression; 3) growth; 4) recognition; 5) belonging; and 6) caring. Think about how your product or service makes your prospect feel concerning each point. Think of each step they take, both pre-purchase and post-purchase. Pay attention to their emotional, mental, social, and physical needs and note any obstacles they may come up against along the way. Imagining how someone will feel while using your product will spark creativity and originality within you, which will provide you with new and innovative ideas. 
  2. Do your research — Your goal is to understand what motivates your customers and to clarify what they need from you to make their experience with you more positive. Here are three ways to do customer research: 1) Meet your prospects “virtually face to face” and ask them open-ended questions (“What are the main reasons you chose our product/service?” “How would you describe your experience with us?” “If you could change anything about our product or service what would you change?” etc.); 2) Listen to sales or customer service calls; and 3) Survey customers online. Explain to your customer in advance that you are open to receiving negative feedback from them as it is an opportunity for you to improve.   
  3. Create a customer profile — Start a file on your customer that lists things such as their age, family background, likes, dislikes, household composition, habits, behaviors, emotions, goals, issues, buying history, and so on. This will help you (and your team) have more personal and impactful engagements with your customers.   
  4. Give your customers useful customer-centric content — Help your clients identify and solve problems. Prove your expertise to your customers with content that helps them get clarity as to what they want to accomplish and show them how your concepts can provide a solution. 
  5. Make empathy your lifestyle — Operating with empathy is not just a marketing strategy, it’s a lifestyle. Because to be effective, every communication with your customers must be authentic, honest, and genuine. You must always put your customer’s best interests at heart and seek solutions that will bring benefits to their lives. You must always seek to understand your customers so you can lift them up and make their lives better. You must practice empathy throughout your organization from upper management to your employees and suppliers.


Empathy is your superpower. It gives you credibility, strengthens relationships, and trust—and will turn your prospects into customers and your customers into raving fans. 

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Digital Strategic Planning

Welcome to the fourth article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. It’s time to get into the meat of your, “Digital Strategic Planning.”

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first three pieces in this series:

Week 1: Realign and Get Online
Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences
Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

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Human connection makes the world better. The ability to be real, vulnerable and authentic with each other can make the pain of separation sting a little less. Learning that our pain is, in fact, shared lightens the load on our shoulders. So when we think about our marketing today – the digital shines brightest.

If all marketing is identifying pain points and then relieving them, then digital marketing is paramount when we are apart. So, let’s think about how your humanity and your brand can merge into a new digital plan.

Like any strategy, your digital marketing needs clarity of purpose, measurable KPIs and an executable list of deliverables. What sets it apart from your other marketing initiatives is creative content and engagement. Here’s how to set it up:

  1. What’s the point? Clearly, and with that aforementioned humanity, define the answer to the question, “Why are we going to market?” What pain-points are you going to address with your audience? From there, establish the goals of this marketing strategy. Are we increasing brand awareness? Launching a new product or service? Increasing leads and conversions? Be sure everyone on your team has the same objectives in mind.
  2. Tell a story. People are driven by a narrative, and that’s really hard right now – because so much of the future is uncertain. Create your digital campaigns with this in mind. Communicate a narrative, an experience for your audience. No piece of your digital presence stands alone. Map out a clear beginning, middle and end… and then what story will come after. If you are running multiple campaigns at the same time, like a new product along with brand awareness, consider how they can tie together to provide continuity for your audience.
  3. Engage to be Engaging. Now is the time to highlight the humanity in your brand. Be real. Your content needs to get your audience talking with you and about you. Read this piece from last week to learn more.
  4. Pick your platforms. Where will you tell this story? Will you build out an informative series of blog articles that tie in to posts on social media? Which social platforms? Keep in mind the demographic differences of both your client base and the social media you plan to use. Also remember that some platforms are driven with visuals, like Pinterest and Instagram, while others allow you more copy interaction.
  5. Create a calendar. I strongly recommend using task-management software to integrate your team and work product. Within this platform you should have a marketing calendar that clearly outlines your strategy, the specific executable tasks for each piece as well as the corresponding timeframe to keep work on track. Since things are changing more rapidly than ever before, let’s look at 90 days out at a time.
  6. Monitor and pivot. As you and your team get into this new strategy, plan ahead to monitor analytics, social listening, website traffic, lead generation and conversion rates so that you can accurately measure your success as you go. When things change, be ready to adapt and change along with them so that you and your client remain in sync.

You’re ready to strategize your way to new revenue streams online. Jump in with both feet. I will see you next week to discuss how empathetic marketing gives you a leg up on your competition and a connection with your customers.

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Engage to be Engaging

Welcome to the third article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks, I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. This week I want to look at ways we can “Engage to be Engaging.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first two pieces in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

 

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If content is king, engagement is queen–and we all know the future is female. The best part of digital marketing is the opportunity to build a virtual community around your brand, and what a gift that is when we can’t be together in person.

 

By now, in preparation for our new normal, hopefully you’ve done a thorough realignment and pivoted your messaging. You’ve also spent time developing an online avenue for meetings and events. So now we get to go after the heart of it. Successfully marketing to an audience that we can’t physically be in front of takes more than great copy and media. We have to get our tribe talking about us and with us. Here’s how:

 

  1. Plan and measure. Before you start developing content, decide what engagement means to you. The term is used loosely in marketing to describe a variety of things – from clicks and likes to comments and shares. And beyond that, leads and conversions of those leads to sales. More on that later. For now though, be sure that you know what kind of interaction you want and how you’ll measure its effectiveness.
  2. Blog. Become your brand’s voice and establish yourself as the expert in your field with an engaging blog. Use social listening to understand the pain points of your audience and offer them relief with professional advice that they can act on. Once your blog post is live on your site – share it far and wide. Engage with your audience by asking open-ended questions about the article topic and then respond in the comments when they answer.
  3. Leverage the power of the group. Build your own and join the ones that are already popular with your audience on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Join as both yourself and your company so that you can volley comments from both sides. Now that we are physically separated, online groups are exploding in popularity and, more importantly, immersive engagement. Be a conversation starter. Show your expertise by commenting on the posts of others. This is not a place for a sales pitch, so be human. When people start to see you shine they’ll want to work with you.
  4. Grab attention with digital media. Like any online content, the image that you pair with your copy is paramount. Have a video? Even better. Can you shoot a live video? Do it. The images we use to tell our stories are the initial draw. They’re the carrot at the end of your stick. Make them count.
  5. Invite engagement. While this may sound obvious–the best way to get people to participate in a discussion or conversation is to invite them. Ask questions. Take polls. Make them laugh or stir emotions. Tell stories and ask your audience to comment with similar experiences, struggles or successes. This is where your humanity is your greatest asset–be real and authentic and your audience will respond.

 

You’re ready to jump in and get people talking. Build your audience into a powerhouse of interaction and engagement. Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. 

 

Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

The next step in our journey is digital strategic planning and its place in your new marketing plan. See you next week with an article on how to “Strategize for the New Normal.” Comment below with your thoughts on these ideas and share your successes.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

 

Virtual Meeting and Conferences

Welcome to the second article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. Today we are digging into, “Virtual Meetings and Conferences.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first piece in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

 

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Remember Maslow and his brilliantly simple pyramid illustrating the hierarchy of human needs? Coming in third, only after our physiological and safety requirements, is our need for social love and belonging. We weren’t meant to be solitary beings. Humans thrive and find magic in connection and collaboration. We discover strength, solidarity and meaning through social interaction. 

It’s no wonder we began to gather – and eventually to bring together our social and professional needs in the form of meetings, conferences and tradeshows. These serve to connect us on many levels as professionals, but there’s more to it than that. This is where we meet our tribe. We find a place where we belong and people with whom we relate. This need to connect to other humans is a powerful behavioral motivator.  So, we meet.

 

Then, the world changed…

 

So, we are on this new digital marketing journey together. By now, you’ve got your team meeting setup to realign and get online. The next step is to determine new ways of satisfying this human need to connect at a time when live, in-person meeting is difficult or impossible. 

 

Be brave and bold – your ability to innovate will let you shine like a light in the darkness. 

Here’s how:

 

  1. Meetings. Online meetings aren’t new, but as often happens in a crisis, we are all moving rapidly towards using technology and taking leaps that we’ve been putting off. Checkout our Online Meeting 101 article for the basics plus some important ideas for innovation.
  2. Conferences. Here’s a secret – a conference is just a formal meeting, or a series of them. We use conferences to connect larger groups of like-minded individuals over an extended time period–and yes, they are still going to happen in the digital universe. We just need to get creative.  Here’s how
  3. Tradeshows. Collaboration with our industry peers is crucial for every business. We need to share common struggles and innovative solutions with each other. Tradeshows are a chance to meet the players and experience their brand activations in action. It can still happen online and we can help.
  4. Events and activations. The most powerful way I’ve found to build brand awareness is through direct interaction with our customers. This category may require the most creative thought. Our natural inclination is to just put our heads down and wait, but that’s not going to start building your sales funnels for the new normal. So, Here are some ideas to overcome this unique challenge.

 

So, don’t cancel that event – reinvent it. Gather your people together and be the first to try that new thing. Technology offers incredible solutions to meet our human social needs. Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

The next step in our journey is digital strategic engagement and its place in your new normal. See you next week with an article on how to “Engage to be Engaging.” Comment below with your thoughts on these ideas and share your successes.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema