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!

Pro Tips on How to Use Animation For Marketing

Are you thinking of branching out of your traditional marketing methods? If you are, take a moment to consider animation for marketing.

These colourful and stylistic videos can work as commercials, promotional info-vids, or clips that could go viral. However, you can’t simply write a script and hire animators to make any kind of video. You need to be on the lookout for a few key aspects.

Don’t fret, we’ve got pro tips right here for you. Read our guide on important tips for using animation in marketing:

Tell a Story

Don’t use the animation purely as a means to increase sales. People will notice when your intentions aren’t genuine and that it’s all about the money. Build a narrative that people can get behind.

People love a good story. Boost sales with animation by creating a story people can get attached to. Let them love the characters, the animation style, and the themes of the tale.

Mind the Length

Keep your videos short. Two minutes is the sweet spot for most platforms, especially YouTube. Keep in mind, you can later embed YouTube animations on Facebook or other social media platforms.

Minding the length is important because people browsing the Internet have a lot of distractions to filter. A long video might bore them out or scare them from even checking it out.

Find the Right Style of Animation in Marketing

Don’t forget that there are so many different animation styles. You could aim for something child-friendly or a style reminiscent of modern action cartoons. You could use animation commonly seen in infographic charts and videos or you could a Japanese anime style instead.

Learn to establish your brand by using the right tone and style.

Start using animation for marketing that caters to your target demographic. If most of your consumers are above the age of 50, you might want to use simple animations. If you market to a younger audience, a more slick and stylish animation could do better.

Plot Your Marketing Strategy

Don’t drop an animated video ad simply for the heck of it. Plot your marketing strategy to make sure it fits with the rest of your branding efforts. Take a moment to look at the numbers and plan when you can drop the animation clip and on which platform.

Is your audience more likely to see your new animation video on a Saturday morning or a Friday night? Is it more likely to find success on Facebook or if you spread it on Twitter and Instagram? Check the metrics and plan before you drop the video for people to see.

Follow These Tips for Effective Animation For Marketing

What are you waiting for? Take advantage of effective animation for marketing today. People love a good animated clip but make sure to give it a story, plan your strategy, mind your length, and find the right style.

Of course, you shouldn’t handle such a marketing endeavour on your own. Give us a call and let us help you design the perfect animated clip for marketing!

What is Customer Lifecycle Management?

Do you want to attract and keep good customers for your business?

It’s hard to be successful without a good customer base. Having loyal customers who stick with your company over time is the best way to build a thriving enterprise.

A good customer lifecycle management plan will help you find and retain loyal customers. They will be happy on their customer journey and will praise your efforts.

This article explains how you can use customer lifecycle management to help your company stay successful.

What Is Customer Lifecycle Management?

In a nutshell, here’s the customer lifecycle management definition: it’s the practice of attracting and retaining the right customers for your business.

You want to be sure to advertise to the right target market. In other words, it’s important to avoid trying to get business from people who aren’t likely to stick with your products and services.

To figure out your niche, research other businesses like yours and find out where their customers come from. Also, get to know your industry and the type of clients it is designed to help.

Once you have your niche figured out, the next step is to make contact with prospective customers and have a conversation. Use strategic marketing to tell them how your company can help them achieve their goals. Go above and beyond to wow them, and get them to try out your products and services.

After they take this first step and make a purchase, the next step for you is to foster loyalty. You want them to appreciate what you do for them, and continue to choose your company over your competitors.

Best Practices for Customer Lifecycle Management

It’s important to stay in tune with your customer’s feedback. Ask them what they like on their customer journey and if you can do anything to make it even better.

If an issue arises, fix it immediately. Don’t let them start doubting their decision or your dedication to customer satisfaction.

Many companies use specialized software to help them manage their customer lifecycles. The programs track customer data and help synchronize important information.

This prevents a seemingly overwhelming amount of incoming emails, orders, and other kinds of customer input from slowing down business operations. Efficiency is key to your customer lifecycle management strategy.

Benefits of Customer Lifecycle Management

If you follow these steps, over time your customers will transition from curiosity to full-on enthusiasm about your brand. You’ll know it’s happening when they start referring friends and family to your business.

This is the ultimate goal of good customer lifecycle management. By getting current customers to refer new ones, you will have created “brand ambassadors” who promote your company for you.

Enhance Your Customer Journey

So now you know the importance of establishing good customer lifecycle management, and how it’s done. If you’re ready to enhance your customer journey we can help.

We specialize in marketing, digital marketing, and special events to help you get your brand out there. We understand customer lifecycle management and how to help you incorporate it into your business.

We’d love to meet you and discuss how we can help you succeed. Contact us today!

Accelerate Leads and Sales Today With These Mobile Marketing Tips

By 2025, it’s estimated that almost three-quarters of internet users will access the web solely via their smartphones.

Not only did smartphones give consumers more access to the web, but they changed the digital marketing landscape forever. Because of this, it’s vital that all businesses focus on mobile marketing. If not, you limit your potential growth and overall revenue.

But don’t panic if you’re not familiar with mobile marketing. It’s not hard to master, yet it can change your business fortunes.

In this article, we’ll share some simple but powerful mobile marketing tips. Add these to your digital strategy and see the difference almost instantly.

Read on for more information.

Ensure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

Before you jump straight into creating new digital marketing campaigns, it’s important to cover the basics. It’s vital that your website is mobile-friendly.

Your website is your online shop and needs to be accessible to everyone. And, due to the increase in mobile internet users, search engines have made this a priority.

In fact, Google has admitted that mobile-friendliness is a major ranking factor. So, if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, then you have zero chance of landing the number one spot.

But don’t panic, because it’s an easy fix.

WordPress has lots of mobile-friendly themes, and some are even free. If you don’t use WordPress, then ensure your host offers these types of themes, or hire a web designer to help.

Create a Google My Business Page

Mobile users are different from desktop users in that they want answers quickly. They’re often on the go and don’t have time to read long articles or spend time browsing the web.

They often carry out searches like ‘best Chinese restaurants near me’ or ‘local convenience stores’. After the search, the top results are usually Google My Business listings.

These types of listings show an address, services offered, and even customer reviews. They make it easy for people to find the services they need quickly.

It’s free to set up a Google My Business account and we recommend you do. Not only does it help with SEO, but it’s useful for lead generation marketing.

Start Utilizing Social Media

Most social media engagements come from mobile users, so it’s important you’re active on the platforms.

Start implementing a social media strategy into your marketing campaign. This could be scheduling posts and creating Facebook ads.

Remember, a good tip to get engagement on social media is to ask questions. People love to offer their opinions, so ask for feedback on products and services.

Simple Mobile Marketing Tips You Should Know

We hope you have enjoyed reading our article on mobile marketing tips.

As you can see, there are easy ways to help boost your mobile marketing strategy. By implementing these, you should see an increase in organic traffic and conversions.

Finally, if you want help with mobile marketing, then contact us to see how we can assist.

Optimize Your Campaigns With These Seasonal e-Commerce Trends and Tips

Your latest e-commerce marketing campaign was not the huge success that you had hoped and expected. Still, you were so sure that you’d hit all the right spots to entice your customers and generate more profits! What did you do wrong, exactly?

The answer is often this: you didn’t quite nail the seasonality of your campaign. Meaning, your content might have been great, but it was simply out of sync with what your audience was interested in at that specific time of the year.

In this article, we’ll reveal the most effective and successful seasonal e-commerce trends and tips that will turn your next campaign into a triumph (and sky-rocket your revenues).

Keep an Eye on the Calendar

Are there any holidays coming up? Any special festivities that are local to you and your business? Make sure you keep checking the calendar for any upcoming events that might generate interest in a particular item.

And if you sell that item, then this is the perfect time to build a campaign around it and send it out ASAP. Similarly, when the holiday season approaches, you might also want to offer gift wrapping and gift card options, which are usually very well received during those periods.

You want to strike the iron while it’s hot, as this will enable you to attract more customers and snatch them from the competition.

Become Weather-Savvy

In a similar fashion, you’ll also need to keep your eyes peeled for any weather changes. Of course, this might not be hugely relevant to every single business out there, but big weather disruptions can actually affect more companies and customers than you think.

Try to turn this to your advantage, by offering products or services that are useful for your audience to get through a particularly challenging time, weather-wise.

Keywords Are Your Friend

Another great way to optimize your digital marketing strategy is to perform regular checks on keywords. What are the most searched keywords at the moment, within your niche? Can you incorporate any of them into your digital marketing so that more people become aware of your brand and products?

Keywords are more crucial than you might think, as they can offer you a detailed and up-to-date overview of what your customers are looking for at a specific moment in time. So, start learning how to use them to your advantage.

Get Ready to Conquer the Market With Our Seasonal e-commerce Trends and Tips

With our seasonal e-commerce trends and tips, you are now prepared to turn your next digital marketing campaign into an utter success. If you know exactly what people need now and in the short term, you’ll be able to adapt your strategy so that it addresses those needs, and fulfills them.

Are you keen to learn more about digital marketing? Then you should head over to our website and discover our service portfolio. And if you think we might be able to help with your strategy, simply get in touch with us.

Which Banner Sizes do You Need in 2021?

It’s 2021 and your business needs to be bigger and better than ever to compete. That applies to your banner sizes, too. We’re not talking about physical banners.

Website banners come in all shapes and sizes. Some will grab your customers’ attention much better than others. Find the perfect banner dimensions and size for your company by reading this article.

Various Banner Sizes

Website banners are new physical banners. They can attract and keep a customer’s attention or repel them.

A good choice for many websites is the leaderboard banner. It’s one of the best website headers. The ad formats use images and text alike.

Mobile ads don’t work here. Advertisers adore the leaderboard because it goes well immediately after or before the website header. Since there are more ads in this size, leaderboard ads tend to be better.

Compare these to the large rectangle ads. As you’d expect, these are bigger and more noticeable. They may be too big to fit in the sidebar on some websites.

Putting it in a sidebar where it doesn’t fit could distort the content and thereby harm the user experience. Place a large rectangle ad vertically between paragraphs or other content. Don’t try to fit it into a sidebar.

Now it’s time to go mobile. Large mobile banners work well when shown at the top of a page, beneath the site header. Reduce its impact on user experience by putting it further down the page, throughout the content.

You’ll get a better ad inventory with this format as advertisers make more mobile ads to keep up with the website traffic from mobile devices.

A Banner Year

The banners don’t stop there.

Allow me to introduce you to the Billboard banner. They’re best shown at the top or bottom of a webpage. The Billboard’s placement and size options lend itself to higher-quality ads.

Sometimes, a smaller banner is the answer. The square banner is diminutive but likelier to fit into your website’s design than larger ads. That said, larger ads are generally more noticeable.

You can fit the square almost anywhere. There’s a reduced ad inventory though.

Next, we have a classy portrait ad. It’s considerably longer than other vertical ads. Advertisers use it for retargeting messages and brand-centered advertising.

Put it in your site’s sidebar, although its length can affect the user experience. It’s an effective ad size but you should pay attention to the general ad experience.

The Digital Advertising Experience

Our world has charted an irreversible course toward even more personalized forms of cyber-advertising. We may see holograms and more closely targeted advertising in the near future.

While traditional, physical marketing still has some value, online banners have become essential for any remotely competitive business. You must choose the right banner sizes.

You can’t do that all by yourself. Gain an edge in banner marketing by contacting Big Bold Thinkers today.

Top 30 Ways to Promote Your Business

If you’re a new company, established and struggling to keep with the times, or stuck for ideas, you’ll be surprised how small changes can generate substantial business gains.

Here are 30 different ways you can promote your business to hit your goals.

Promote Your Business for Free

Everyone loves a freebie. Often these are the quickest and easiest ways to generate business. People need to know who you are.

So here are five free methods that won’t touch your budget.

1: Encourage Word of Mouth

2: Volunteer for Charity

3: Make the News

4: Get Yourself Listed On Business Directories

5: Ask Friends and Family for Help

Ideas for a Quick Fix

It isn’t all about saving money. Sometimes it’s a matter of urgency and damage limitation.

A quick fix is always short-term to start. Still, many of these promotional ideas can be applied long-term and used in your promotional material to highlight how your business is growing.

6: Check Your Grammar

7: Hire a PR Agency

8: Conduct a Business Clean-Up Operation

9: Extend Opening Hours

10: Keep Up with Current Affairs

Develop Your Back-End Business

So how can you promote your business this way?

Well, focusing on improving your operations will result in better time management and improve your overall product quality.

11: Outsource Your Website

12: Invest In Quality Software

13: Run Google and Facebook Ads

14: Keep Up with Current Affairs

15: Re-Brand Your Business

Focus On Your Customers

Customers and clients bring you income.

Proactive engagement is the best way to understand your business from the outside. That way, you gain a proper understanding of what it means to become your customer.

16: Encourage Reviews and Feedback

17: Respond to Everyone

18: Give out Thank You Cards

19: Run Promotional Offers for Repeat Customers

20: Offer Recommendations

Focus on Social Media

It’s easy to forget that social media isn’t just about posting pictures of cats. When used correctly, it can be a very effective way of generating business.

Whether you manage this yourself or get someone else to do it, communication is vital to ensure the right message gets across.

21: Start a YouTube Channel

22: Become a LinkedIn Professional

23: Create a Facebook Group for Community Vibes

24: Use Twitter as Your Business Brain

25: Allow Your Ideas to Shine on Pinterest

Wildcard Ideas to Inspire

These last five are here for fun to get your brain thinking. But these might inspire you to develop the idea into something you can put into practice.

How will you change the world?

26: Break a World Record

27: Create a Theme Song

28: Run a Geocaching Event

29: Become a Character in a Video Game

30: Turn an April Fools Idea Into a Reality

Any Promotion is Better Than None

There’s a saying in some industries that bad press is better than no press. Therefore, if you can get the basics right and come up with something unique but relevant, you’ll increase your revenue in no time.

Now you know how to promote your business, so it’s time to get started!

For more top tips on how to market your business, click here for more creative ideas!

5 Steps to Building a Results-Focused Digital Marketing Campaign

How can your business build a digital marketing campaign that focuses on results?

Wasting your budget on a scattergun approach may bring some extra traffic. But if those visitors don’t want what you’re selling they’ll soon leave.

This article gives 5 simple steps to consider when creating your digital marketing strategy.

We ask what is digital marketing? How do you select your target market? What marketing channels should you choose and how do you manage them?

Read on to see how the right digital marketing campaign can grow your audience and boost your business.

What Is a Digital Marketing Campaign?

Digital marketing is a catch-all term used to describe how businesses use technology to promote themselves.

campaign is a marketing effort that drives engagement, traffic, and conversions. It has clear objectives and should have a start and endpoint within a set budget.

The key to creating a good return on investment (ROI) is planning before execution.

Unfortunately, many companies don’t do the necessary research. With that in mind, here are 5 things to consider when asking how to build a digital marketing campaign.

1. Define KPIs and Target Market

Key Performance Indicators or KPIs measure how core business objectives are being met.

For digital marketing campaigns, KPIs could include:

  • Cost per lead acquisition
  • Conversions per site visits
  • Traffic count from organic search

The target market is the group of customers that the campaign aims to reach.

Demographics like age, marital status, gender, etc. narrow the target audience. Matching them with your products or services is a vital step in producing the best ROI.

Target the wrong customer base and the campaign is dead before it begins.

2. Set a Realistic Budget

Estimate your marketing budget before your campaign goes live puts a ceiling cap on spending. So how do you do this?

In our advertising costs blog article we examine average advertising costs for Google and Facebook.

The advice boils down to researching your competition and platform rates. From there you can calculate an average daily spend and multiply that to a monthly or yearly figure.

3. Choose Matching Marketing Channels

Should you choose Google Ads, SEO, social media advertising, or emails as your marketing channel?

The answer lies in your brand type and what you want to achieve.

For example, if you want to reach a younger demographic through social media choose Instagram. Facebook now attracts an older audience with 60% of baby boomers having accounts.

Targeting the right channel will boost your campaign.

4. Research Keywords

All SEO digital marketing campaigns should build on the search phrases or keywords their visitors use to find them.

Discovering the highest keyword volume will determine how ads are formed. Basing a campaign on phrases that are seldom used will result in failure.

Use services like Google’s Keyword Tool to see what your audience searches for. Then shape your marketing on those results.

5. Setup and Manage Marketing Platforms

You have your campaign mapped out but how do you implement it?

Setting up a Google Ads account or email list requires a lot of effort. You also need to learn marketing concepts for each platform. Facebook works differently than YouTube, for example.

Once your campaign is live you must manage it correctly.

That involves analyzing data like traffic and conversions. And tweaking daily budgets and keywords based on changes in competition.

The results are worth it but many businesses don’t have the time or skill to manage their campaigns effectively.

Your Digital Marketing Strategy Needs to Think Big and Bold

Building a results-focused digital marketing campaign takes careful planning.

You need to set the right key performance indicators and choose the correct market. Matching marketing channels and keyword research takes time and expertise. And setting-up and managing each platform is not to be taken lightly.

Big Bold Thinkers offers digital marketing services with targeted results at the core.

Our expert digital team can help create and manage your digital marketing ideas. With a solid foundation in SEO and social media, we can bring traffic to your digital doorstep. Then help convert those visitors into paying customers.

Contact us today to see how a big bold strategy can assist your business.

How Outsourced Marketing Can Boost Your ROI in This New Normal

Remember that saying by American author and speaker, John C. Maxwell, “Teamwork makes the dream work?” It may surprise you to learn that’s only half the quotation.

The rest reads, “But a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.”

It’s not groundbreaking writing, but it does make a vital point that companies need to bear in mind. Especially when it comes to in-house marketing versus hiring a professional outsourced marketing team.

Read on to learn more about how selecting the right to outsource marketing agency can ramp up your ROI.

Why Outsourced Marketing Works

Outsourcing your marketing efforts represents one of the best things that you can do for your business. There are many reasons for this, but let’s outline a few of the most basic.

It takes the pressure off you and your employees. Yet, you’ll still maximise your company’s resources while reaping more significant increases in leads, conversions, etc. You’ll also gain expertise when it comes to strategy, creation, implementation, ongoing monitoring, and more.

Scaling Efforts Rapidly

Working with experienced professionals comes with the ability to scale your marketing efforts rapidly. You’ll also gain access to greater bandwidth. And you’ll enjoy a faster response to revenue contribution demands.

Increasing Marketing Channel Expertise

There are countless channels by which marketers reach customers today. That’s why it can feel so intimidating to attempt DIY marketing.

Working with a few in-house staff members also proves to limit. If they’re not up-to-date on the latest and greatest in integrated marketing services, it can be fatal for your campaigns.

An excellent agency will help you increase your presence on existing and new marketing channels.

Why is this so important? Because the marketing channels that a company chooses to impact how a product or service gets perceived and received by consumers.

Knowing which channels to focus on will help you reach your target demographic where they are. An outsourced marketing agency can assist you in prioritising the channels that make sense for your brand.

Gaining Access to the Right Mix of Talent and Technology

The most reputable marketing agencies invest in top talent and technology. That way, they can better serve their customers, deliver on their campaigns, and make a brand’s marketing strategies to the next level.

An agency will also have the tools to analyse the competition and stay on top of the latest Google algorithm changes. With team members dedicated to integrated marketing trends, you’ll gain a distinct advantage.

Achieving Return on Investment

Many businesses struggle to see a return on their marketing investment.

Why? Because a return may not always be immediately visible in monetary figures. It may also come in the form of increased web traffic, better SEO rankings, reach, and more.

Some brands also struggle to establish achievable, measurable ROI goals and then meet or exceed them. You won’t have this problem when you work with professionals.

An integrated marketing agency can help you establish objectives that make sense and then guarantee you achieve them. How? By putting the best marketing knowledge and tools to work for your brand.

Get the Experts on Your Team

Should you settle for in-house marketing efforts or find an outsourced marketing agency with a proven track record? The answer’s clear. You cannot surpass the expert knowledge you’ll gain from working with an integrated agency.

Agency staff must remain up-to-date with the latest trends. They must continuously educate themselves and react rapidly to the changing marketing landscape. Whether that means an algorithm update, a new marketing channel, or rapid scaling.

Ready to dig deeper? Check out our article on digital marketing executables and key performance indicators (KPIs).