Lead Generation Strategies

closeup man writing arrow up graph increase 53876 14001

This year, and current market conditions are off to a challenging start for a lot of businesses in Canada, so it’s a good time to re-evaluate your marketing strategies. If you haven’t incorporated marketing automation as one of your leading strategies, then you’re certainly not making the most of your budget or time. Email marketing helps you build your brand and get better customers who spend more money with you.

The upside to adopting email marketing can be quite significant. It generates the highest return on investment (ROI) out of the most common digital channels, earning businesses an average of $38 for every dollar invested, according to a VentureBeat Insight study. It also cites that “84% of marketers believe email is important or critically important for customer loyalty.”

According to Grand View Research, the global marketing automation software market is expected to reach $ 7.63 billion by 2025. Automation is clearly the future of marketing. It can turn a lean marketing team into a momentum-driven force to be reckoned with. Given the hypercompetitive environment businesses operate in today, marketing automation can be the driving force for a start-up to compete with larger enterprises.

Email marketing and marketing automation clearly have a place for the modern company looking to grow in a challenging and competitive landscape. The results and case studies are clearly showing the impact it is having on companies that are adopting this technology, but are there strategies that can be implemented in conjunction with the use of the technology tools? Does creativity and execution play a role?

Automated email campaign ideas to engage your prospects.

Before we dive in, let’s not forget that a good marketing automation package may have all the features you need, but the pilot does have a role to play in the ultimate success of a campaign. Knowing your customers, and coming up with engaging content and creative can be the edge you need to go above and beyond.

1. The Lead Magnet — You can send an email to your prospects with the link to a recorded webinar, or video promotion. This will allow your prospects to view the content whenever they want. However, in order to view it, they’ll need to fill out a form to register, generating warm leads in the process.

2. The Welcome Email— The content of the email should introduce your business and how you can solve the problems of your potential customers. It should talk about what exactly they can expect from you. You can also choose to combine the lead magnet email along with this.

3. Content Specific Responses – General thank you email responses are missed opportunities. Segment your leads by opportunity so you can target the right content to your inquiries. For example, you run a music lessons website that offers piano and guitar lessons. Have a page that focuses on each offer so when a lead is generated you know what page it came from and can target the lead with a “12 weeks of piano tips” nurturing campaign.

3. The Testimonial — You can share the story of how one of your customers saw amazing results after using your products or services. Also, don’t forget to mention where your prospects can buy your services or products. These emails can help to establish your credibility.

4. The FAQ Email— Once your prospects know about your offer and your product features, they might have additional questions. Create an email with some of the commonly asked questions and your answers to them. You can include basic questions about your returns and refunds policies or warranty periods.

5. The Complete Offer — In this email, you can pitch your products or services. And if possible, offer a limited time incentive. This can increase the chances of your prospects buying your products.

6. The Final Call — This email serves to remind your prospects that it’s the last chance to grab the lucrative discounts you’re offering.



Some key statistics to consider

·  78% of marketers say automation increases revenue and 75% of brands using automation see an ROI in under 12 months

·  A 250% increase in your reply rates by automating your outreach and follow up emails

·  Using an automation tool can save 80% of your time on content scheduling and workforce management.

Wow. So, Are Companies Finding Success with Marketing Automation?

You betcha!

91% of the most successful users agree marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing.

Let’s dive a little deeper to see why marketing automation is important for marketers and business owners.

1. It Saves Time

You no longer have to go into a tool every morning and schedule your campaigns for the day. Thanks to marketing automation, you can schedule everything you need ahead of time, which will free you up to do other marketing activities.

2. Warm up your prospects so you don’t have to

Let your campaign do the work for you. A good nurturing campaign will gradually entice your prospects with value-added benefits that your company offers. When they are ready to buy they will let you know.

3. Set goals

Once you have your strategy in place, you’ll want to consider how you’ll measure progress and measure the success of your campaign. It’s important to define objectives for different elements of the strategy and to establish some benchmarks. Keep in mind that these should be SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

An example of a SMART goal for marketing automation might be something like this: “Increase leads by 25% and sales conversions via email marketing by 10% by the end of Q2 in 2020.”

In the beginning, you’ll have to estimate your benchmarks and then adjust accordingly once you have some data to work with that will help you better project what realistic goals are around your different marketing automation efforts. Over time, your benchmarks and goals will likely change based on what you’re working to accomplish (and what’s achievable.) This is wise, as a strategy for marketing automation isn’t a “one and done” effort. Instead, it needs to evolve over time according to what works (and what doesn’t.)

4. Optimize your campaign and then optimize some more

Marketing automation can significantly up the number of visitors to your website. However, while elevated traffic is great, it isn’t very useful if visitors do not convert. It’s your responsibility to make sure that your website has what it takes to convince visitors to take action.

Here are a number of strategies you can implement to help optimize your website for higher conversion rates:

·  Ensure fast load times of your pages

·  Use strong call to actions

·  Do A/B testing

·  Include testimonials (video if possible)

·  Target your emails in conjunction with your landing pages

No matter what size your organization is, marketing automation will drive efficiency and productivity from the get-go. Today’s modern marketers are lean marketing machines, and are constantly under pressure to deliver more, do more, spend less, and increase productivity with minimal resources.

Marketing automation helps increase leads, and improve conversions. To learn more please get in touch with us here.

Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business

blog image 1

Unless you are reviving a thriving business from the 1980’s you probably have been doing some digital marketing over the years. Now more than ever having an online presence that drives results is imperative. I am going to cover some key strategies that will help your business succeed whether you have been working your digital marketing skills or not, so let’s get started!

Great solutions start with great questions, and the question I hear most often is “how do I market my business online, advertise on social media, and get ahead of my competitors on Google so that I can start attracting leads and generating more sales .” Of course, I am grouping multiple questions into one sentence, but you get where I am going with the top pain-points most small business owners feel.

Here is a way to get on the right track before I share some strategies for 2020. First, we need to make a plan.

Sounds easy doesn’t it, but guess what, most businesses don’t do this. They know that they need to be marketing online so they get a Google Ads account, write a blog or two, post a message on Facebook, and maybe update some meta tags and keywords because that is important right? Well yes and no. If all these points are part of a strategic marketing plan with defined goals, schedule of activities and budgets then you are on the right path.  

Here are 7 steps to start your plan.

Step 1: Define Your Business

Step 2: Determine Target Audience.

Step 3: Analyze Competitors.

Step 4: Set Goals.

Step 5: Outline Strategies.

Step 6: Set a Budget.

Step 7: Get to Work!

So here are the 5 Internet Marketing Strategies that you should be doing to start.

Focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

 SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines. 

All major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo have primary search results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users.

I’m not going to go through all the facets of proper white hat SEO techniques because that is a course on to its self. But I will tell you that it needs to be the foundation of your digital marketing for 2020, and here is why. FREE TRAFFIC!

Investing in a good SEO strategy will pay the best dividends but it won’t be overnight. But, when it starts working you won’t believe the benefits. The current market conditions call for a strong SEO strategy. For more on SEO see our beginner’s checklist.

So, what should I expect, the answer is 6, 12, 18 and 24. Confused? Here is the general rule I go by. After 6 months you should start to see an uptick in traffic and quantity of leads, after 12 months you should know for sure that the plan is working, after 18 months you start modifying and improving your strategy, and finally, at 24 months you are on cruise control making changes and growing your business.

Paid Advertising

I’m talking about Google Ads and Bing Ads. I believe that Google Ads – Google’s enormously successful pay-per-click (PPC) advertising system – can work for almost any type of business. Bing works just as well but you won’t have the same reach that Google will give you.

But if you’ve never used Google Ads before, and you’re wondering whether it’s worthwhile, this post is for you. Here are the 3 reasons to use Google Ads.

Paid Advertising is measurable

Compared to TV, radio, magazines and even SEO, paid advertising is one of the most measurable channels for calculating ROI. You get a ton of metrics on literally every click and even non-clicks (impressions) for your campaigns. You can pretty quickly determine if your campaigns are sucking or driving your business forward.

Paid Ads are scalable

If you create a Paid Ad campaign that is converting at a profitable rate, you can increase your spending as the clients and profits roll in. This makes paid ads highly effective for businesses that need a lot of leads but are short on time to wait for the SEO campaign to kick in.

Paid ads are faster and easier

Instant results of a paid campaign is instantly rewarding. You can put resources into a Google Ads campaign and start getting impressions and clicks immediately. Because it’s so speedy, it’s also a good way to test whether a given keyword or audience is worth pursing via organic search – if it converts well in Google Ads, you can deduce that it’s worth trying to rank for in SEO and build out your content in that area. 

YouTube and Vlogs

YouTube is often overlooked as a search engine, but it is the second-largest search engine on the planet currently. It is not hard to see why, people can search a topic in YouTube and get thousands of topics that can be watched or listened to while driving (not recommended), taking transit to work (help save the planet) or for tuning out your family like every teenage kid does to their parents. (I know this all too well).

There are lots of ways to create content for this medium and it is getting easier, faster and a lot cheaper to accomplish this.

Social Media and Influencer Marketing

We all know by now the importance of social media, so I won’t spend too much time on why LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and let’s throw Pinterest in to the mix, are great platforms. Sorry Google+, nobody really uses you ☹.

The rest is up to you based on your ability to create quality content for all the channels you are populating. If you are posting for the sake of posting, then the old adage applies  Garbage in Garbage out. Remember content is king.

Now the most important event that can help you grow your audience and client base. You need to connect with a good Influencer who has a large following and a good reputation.

What works in Influencer Marketing

Carefully consider your approach in influencer marketing

Be organized, put together a strategy, plan, and budget, spend time on research

Be patient and be human – people talking to people, not companies talking to companies

When picking an influencer, first make sure their followers were obtained organically.

Testimonials and Customer Experiences

If you are an existing business, there is a good chance you have happy customers. If so great, have you captured any of those stories, on “paper”, social media, video? Are you letting potential customers know how happy and satisfied they could be if they became a customer as well?

I know… your customers are busy, and you don’t want to bother them, but chances are if you make it easy for them to share a testimonial there is a good chance they will.

Thank you for reading our blog, please reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss any topics further.

Think like a customer, not a salesman

customer lifecycle

The most frequent failure I see in people conducting sales functions (after forgetting to ask for the business) is that they seem to think as a salesman rather than a customer.

Why do they need to transform their thinking? Because today (as always) salespeople are in the business of providing solutions to problems, answers to challenges and help with opportunities. How can they do that if they are consumed with questions like “do they have money to spend” and “am I talking to the right level” and even “do they have a need for my product”? This is all great sales management questions and we expect our salespeople to get the answers for us to help us ensure our teams are focused on where the business is most likely to come from. But don’t for a minute believe that this activity is actually selling. As a professional salesperson, we need to ask these questions in support of a professional sales organization managing its resources and spending them wisely, but this is not selling.

What else is not true selling? Another common error I see over and over is the belief of some salespeople that they think that if they have just the right phrase or pitch, this will convince the customer to buy. Coincidentally, this is what makes selling to salespeople so easy – they have already bought into the thought of the perfect pitch so when they hear a good one, they are ready to buy. Preparing for a sales call with phrases, benefits, features and references is all part of normal readiness, so it seems to many that reciting these back to a client is actually convincing them to buy. It’s not.

Customers buy when they are convinced that your product will directly affect their lives in a positive manner. When they can see how their lives will be better, and by how much, then they are preparing to buy. But how did they get to this point? By the salesperson helping them imagine a life that has been made better by the product they are selling.

So how does a salesperson get a customer to imagine a better life with their product? A good start is to think like the customer – imagine yourself into their shoes for a day. What are my (their) everyday, biggest challenges? What’s the magnitude of the impact of the challenge? Is it lost revenues, delayed sales, high costs, employee skills, missed opportunities? Is there a potential match in the features and benefits of my product that might address the challenges? How much can I (they) afford to invest in a possible solution? What risk am I (they) prepared to take in buying a new product or solution? How will my (their) people adopt the new way of doing business? How will my (their) customers accept the new way of doing business? Sometimes it’s as simple as asking the customer direct questions about their business.

If you can think like your customer these questions (and answers) will come to you and allow you to answer any objections that may arise that might prevent a sale. And after that it becomes the salesperson’s task to use their character and personality to win customer trust – people still want to buy from people they like and trust.

Grow your business with increased profits

shoulder shot business man drawing diagrams wall poster 1098 18524

Grow the business by Increasing revenues

This is a great objective for any business, but for SMB this is how we survive. The biggest problem to solve is always more revenue.

We have a few choices: we can charge our current customers more; or we can sell new products or services to existing customers; or we can get more customers. Maybe we should look at all three?

Setting the right price point should be done as part of your competitive strategy – you don’t want to lose customers for price alone. So some analysis of the market is necessary before you decide to gain all your growth from squeezing your current customer base.

On the other hand, selling more, to existing customers and new customers, is completely within your control. Its probably the strongest, most sure path to growth. But it takes time and money and planning.

You could just increase your sales team and task them with increased sales. As long as you can feed them with leads, an increased sales capacity can be very effective. Hiring and ramping of course takes some time.

But while you are looking at the sales team capabilities and capacities, you can also look at lead generation. From a sales-effectiveness point of view, which do you think produces the highest conversions? A list of phone numbers of local prospects? Or a list of email addresses of people who have shown an interest in your product? It’s obvious to us that not only does marketing automation present the opportunity of turning ‘cold calls’ to ‘warm calls’; highly qualified leads that have a need, are investing in a search (indication of a budget) and are open to doing business with you. The highest conversion rate possible can be achieved with highly qualified leads.

There is no question in our minds that marketing automation is the most effective way to generate qualified leads. Instead of placing all your bets on aggressive outbound calling, you use your computers to drive visits to your website, to attract followers on social media, to consume your content (establishing you as an expert in your field) and eventually to contact you for more information. Since you are using computers, your reach is increased significantly. And using a planned ‘nurturing’ process you earn the trust and the start of a relationship with prospects. This ‘inbound’ marketing process is currently recognized as the greatest source of qualified leads to business.

If you have just started using digital marketing, you should see a big change right away. A full campaign to increase your inbound leads can take 3-9 months to see exactly how high the results can be. Gartner reported in 2015 that their survey of companies who have implemented marketing automation showed an across the board increase in revenues of between 30 and 40%! So be patient and stay the course!

Perhaps you are already convinced. It just makes sense to reach more people over the internet and use computers to provide interesting content to earn their attention. But you already have a website. And your secretary already re-posts interesting articles in social media. And you also send emails to prospects from a list you obtain from a marketing firm (anti-spam legislation?). But you don’t see a lot of results.

You are probably doing most of the right things, just not the best way to produce results. You might need some help. Here are 10 points to check to make sure you are making the most of your digital marketing:

·         Your web presence is a direct reflection on your professionalism and if not done well will act as a ‘sales preventer’ rather than a ‘sales driver’. The creative, the content and the overall user experience will impact visitors either positively or negatively, so get it right!
 

·         I know; you setup the keywords when you did your website. But have you reviewed how effective they are? Have you updated them recently? An effective SEO strategy includes regular updates to keywords and monthly analysis of SEO results.
 

·         Every page being viewed on your website should have some compelling ‘call to action’. The concept here is that as soon as a viewer of your web page sees something that interests them, they are presented with a convenient way to ask for more information. Viewers are more likely to engage and not be distracted by other content and fail to act.
 

·         When your website visitors complete a contact card, get back to them as quickly as possible. With the speed of the Internet setting the benchmark, anything that takes longer than minutes is ‘unresponsive’ and opens you to the possibility of the lead ‘going stale’. Responsiveness is easy to maintain with an automated response – an email that basically says: “thanks for the message” and “we’ll get back to you later with what you are looking for”.
 

·         The content in your blog or social media must provide the reader with some value. This is not just a volume of words with your address attributed, but rather a vehicle to provide customer value during the marketing and sales process, earning their business over time. It can be fun, it can be informative or it can be emotive – it just better not be boring!
 

·         Plan your ‘content assets’ and deliver them in a planned nurturing campaign, warming people up over time. Some industries can just offer a great price, ask for the business, close it and move on – most of us however need to earn the business with high visibility and ‘front of mind’ when a buying event occurs.
 

·         Monitor the progress of your campaigns with some feedback as well as the detailed analytics from your software. Be prepared to make changes where needed, but give it enough time to succeed.
 

·         Consider the nurturing campaigns a series of ‘conversations’ with customers and prospects. Don’t just plan to throw stuff out through media channels and expect results. Make sure there is logic to these conversations; that you are providing progressive, relevant value, and; that your customers are enjoying the sales process.
 

·         Make sure the post sales experience is at least as good as the sales process. Existing customers and prospects alike should have similar experiences. There are many surveys reporting that many buying and upsell decisions were made by the sales and post sales experience, so it is well worth investing in making it better.
 

·         Stay the course! Be patient and let the program gain momentum. Sure, review and make changes based on analysis of the data; but don’t stop. The mission is possible if you stay the course.
 

 If the  mind  is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.” – Clausewitz 

Choosing the right CRM Solution is the difference between winning or loosing.

Untitled33

Are the key features you need included? 

Don’t pay more for features you aren’t going to use. Know what you really need, and make sure the platform you select delivers on those. 

  How long is the contract? 

Flexibility comes at a cost. Most providers know that it takes months to see results, so they tend towards a longer commitment than oine month to give them time to show results, knowing that they can and will deliver if given the time to do so. Others prefer offering flexibility for those that are not sure.

  What are the payment terms? 

You shouldn’t have to take out a mortgage to get started. Some vendors require full payment upfront – tying up valuable marketing dollars that could otherwise be spent on execution. Look for a provider that offers month-to-month billing and no long-term contract.

  Are you looking at both the price and the total cost of ownership? 

Don’t be enticed by lower tiers that limit functionality. You’ll want the full power of marketing automation once you get started, and third-party add-ons for specific features add to the total cost. Also, pay attention to the limits. If a lower tier has limits on contacts and sending, think of how often you’ll have overages, especially if your business is in a growth phase. 

  What’s the word on the street? 

There are several great sites where you can go to hear what actual users are saying about the various platforms on the market. These independent review sites, like TrustRadius, MarTech, Capterra and others, allow you to get insights that professional reviewers just don’t have.

  Is it a “specialty” or “all-in-one” platform? 

An all-in-one system provides all the functions you need to market in the digital world, including: CRM, content management system, blogging tool, landing page builder, forms builder, etc. Be wary of a specialty systems that only cover a part of the tasks involved in being a successful digital marketer.

  Are there integrations available to work with the tools you already use? 

Look for a platform with its own ‘ecosystem’ of providers that it integrates with – either natively, through plug-and-play, or using a provider like Zapier or PieSync. This will allow you to seamlessly extend the power of your investment and lower the total cost of ownership. 

  Do the built-in analytics meet your business needs? 

Choose a solution that provides clear, concise reports that show the end-to-end ROI you’re looking for on your marketing and sales efforts. Ask to see a sample and shop it around internally to make sure it’s going to be impactful.

  Can you get up and running quickly? 

Look at the interface. Is it user-friendly? Is there contextual help (e.g. videos, virtual tours, articles) available in case you get stuck? An intuitive platform will save you countless hours both upfront and long-term.

  Is there quality support, both initially and ongoing? 

Some providers hide fees here, so beware. Does the vendor provide comprehensive onboarding to give your team confidence in using the platform? If so, what’s the cost? Is ongoing support unlimited and free, or are there caps and additional costs? And ask if you get a dedicated person you can call when support can’t help. 

  Should you work with an agency or manage this in-house? 

While many platforms are user-friendly, there’s legwork involved in setting up a marketing automation program that produces results. And ongoing efforts are needed to maintain and update your campaigns, add new ones, and produce regular reports. If you can’t allocate someone in-house to lead the charge, consider using a marketing agency that specializes in these services. Ask the marketing automation vendor if they have a network of agency professionals that can help you achieve your goals.

  What’s the long-term outlook for the platform? 

There have been some notable acquisitions in the marketing automation space recently. Be sure you are signing up with a vendor that is committed to your long-term success and is investing in platform innovation, support, and other services.

Click here to schedule a demo of our Smartdesk CRM Solution. If you are looking for a dynamic platform that will grow alongside your business than Smartdesk CRM is the choice for you. 

Accelerate Lead Generation With Engaging Content

content zand marketing

How to use your content to build your funnel and land high-quality leads that convert

The question to pose for this blog is, quality or quantity? I am going to say both!

Why does one have to come at a cost to the other. Content doesn’t just have to be a blog. Content comes through many channels and can be short and sweet or in depth and informative. The goal is to be engaging in everything you do.

First I will outline all the channels to consider and some ideas on what you can post to your blog, social media channels, or to the media.

Post to your blog on your website
– Advantages and benefits to your products or services
– Testimonials
– Case studies
– Relevant news and how it applies to your company
– Discuss industry reports (Gartner, Forresters, etc)
– Highlight your recent successes

Post to a 3rd party blog to gain awareness outside of your circle.
– Same content as above

Post to Social Media daily
– Ads
– Curated content
– Personal success stories
– Inspirational messages
– Link to all your blog articles
– Vlog
– Polls or surveys

Media
– Press releases (Great for SEO)
– Guest podcast (Create your own or guest on someone else’s podcast)
– YouTube channels (reach out to people in your industry who interview and discuss topics related to your industry on YouTube)

Re-targeting Marketing
– Sign-up with Adroll or Google Ads (Have your brand follow your prospects)

With all of these cost-effective methods of getting your word out, quality doesn’t have to be sacrificed for quantity. The only crime you can commit is if your content is boring, over-stated, and lacks real value. If you don’t have the talent or resources, click here to get started with us. Over time the impact can be tremendous to your business.

Project Management Skills

200920 174028

The Skills Every Project Manager Should Have

Everyone manages projects — even if “project manager” isn’t your official title. Whether you’re a marketing manager, website designer or an IT professional, project management is essential to achieving business objectives.

First, let’s get crystal clear on the proper terms and definitions. What is a project? The Project Management Institute defines it as


A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product service or result.


In other words, it’s a temporary initiative that is agreed, planned and executed to achieve a specific goal. Let’s break this down with some terms.

Projects

Projects have a strict expiry date with activities to meet the output of a unique product or service. You can think of it as the output of a project. This output can be a product like a building a new home, a kitchen redesign or service such as improving existing business process. The output, together with the work done to create it, is called project scope.

Time

This refers to a project being a temporary initiative. It is distinct from normal business operations in that it has a predetermined start and end date. Normal day to day activities that don’t necessarily have an end date will usually fall out side of the definition of a measurable item within the scope of a project.

Scope

Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines.

Cost

The final key attribute is cost, which is the resources specifically dedicated to accomplishing the goal in mind. These attributes form the project management triple constraint. Time, scope and cost are dependent on each other. After determining them at the start, if one of them changes, it will trigger a change in one or both of the others.

Project Goals

The project goal refers to achieving a desired outcome (performance goal) at a specific end date (time goal) tracking a series of milestones and tasks to accomplish the goals within a project. Think of goals like apples and bananas, related in a category but not necessarily the same thing.

Identifying the project and getting it going

Now that we have few key terms let’s dive a little deeper. A project must relate to a business strategy. But how are the two connected? And what creates the demand for a project in the first place? There are a few key triggers that will jump start a business into executing a project.

·  There might be a market need

·  There might be a customer need

·  There might be a internal need

This is when your company wants to develop a product or service to address a need or to keep up with the competition. For example, ABC Music School needs to develop new guitar program. But in order to get it done, the school needs to buy guitars, setup a new classroom, hire a new teacher, and plan a marketing budget to attract new students. This all has managed with time and budget constraints.

Also, the demand for a project may arise from the success of a previous project. The guitar program was so successful that ABC Music School is now launching an electric guitar program.

Urgency is a key factor when selecting projects, say a new regulation is imposed, which requires your music school to comply with the latest standards or lose access to government funding. You can bet that the stakeholders of the school will prioritize a project that resolves this first.

This process is referred to as project selection. It’s an essential task for top management. They must select the projects which bring the most value to the company, financial and non-financial. In the eyes of the stakeholders. Projects are investments, with the objective of seeing a worthwhile return for the business.

As you can probably guess, several projects are usually on the go at the same time.

That said, when the stakeholders are presented with possible projects, they often select several of them and add them into a project portfolio. The stakeholders then engage in what is called project portfolio management. This is the process of prioritizing projects and the administration and control of large sets of projects and programs.

Basically, the objective is to achieve the results and combined resources across projects in an optimal way.

Projects are investments, and with any investment, the need to be viable and profitable. Projects can consume large amounts of resources, money, time, effort and attention. So if they’re not aligned with the business strategy, then they’re a massive waste.

Roles of a Project Manager

Project managers play the lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing projects. They are accountable for the entire project scope, project team, resources, and the success or failure of the project. So once we have our project and that project has been selected by the stakeholders as the current initiative, it’s down to one person to make sure that project’s execution is successful.

 

The project manager is the CEO of the project. They will be accountable for the project’s success and for a project to be successful, it needs to accomplish the specific goal of the project within the prior agreed time and budget constraints. Everything needs to fit neatly into the project management triple constraint triangle. In fact, by assuming the project manager position for a project, the project manager implicitly agrees to work within these constraints and still meet the goal.

What if the time-frame and budget are insufficient? A project manager can’t shoot themselves in the foot and take on a project that is unlikely to be successful. Therefore, when the project management triple constraints are put in place, they must be realistic.

Have no fear! You already have the skills to get the job done. But I will list them for everyone else who is reading this blog 🙂

Project Management Skills

Effective project managers need more than technical know-how. The role also requires a number of non-technical skills, and it is these softer skills that often determine whether a project manager — and the project — will be a success.

Project managers should have strength in the following skills in order to be an effective manager: Accountability, leadership, organization, communication, Focus, problem-solving, and adaptability.

The most effective project managers are fully vested in the success of the organization and are able to roll with setback and pivot a project where appropriate. The dynamics of a project inevitably change mid-stream and the skills listed above are what will determine the outcome of the project.

You want to strive to be the Wayne Gretzky of project management by focusing on where the puck is going, not where it is.

Highly effective project managers are:

·  invested in the success of the organization

·  supportive and encouraging other members of the project

·  focused on the positive outcome for all stakeholders

·  of high integrity and accountability

·  fully committed to the success of the project

·  are creative problem solvers

And this is by no means an easy task. And often project managers will be accountable for multiple projects at the same time.

What does it mean to be accountable? The formal definition would be 


to commit to achieve a certain result and then deliver this commitment.


Simple enough, but a lot easier said than done. Let’s shed light on the magnitude of this commitment.

Accountability

Without accountability, there’s no reason to lead a project or be on a project team as you’re doomed for failure. Yet this isn’t nearly as easy to achieve as it might seem. Often, the members of a project team report to a different organizational leader, and so direct authority can be non-existent.

Leadership

Leadership is an obvious skill for anyone in the project management industry, and with good reason: If you can lead, you can deliver. But most importantly, leadership is often what is missing in the project manager’s arsenal of highly developed technical skills. If you’re a project manager, I can guarantee you have felt the need to improve yourself as a leader at some point.

Project managers are accountable not only for their own tasks, but also all the tasks that other parties must work on and complete.

Organization

Every day managers have to schedule tasks, assign and track them, know where the project is at the moment, what resources are on the project, what is to be done next and plenty of other things. And it all should be planned and referred to at any required moment.

So, be sure before taking any project in any sphere, be it construction, IT, event or web development project that you firstly can organize your time, plans and all business goals.

Communication

One of the essential skills for project management is the ability to communicate well — understanding and being understood. Research in this space says, 70–90% of all project time takes communication. No one can plan and manage a project not expressing and sharing ideas, visions and points to others. Moreover, good communication skills of project managers are obligatory as they need to talk to stakeholders, collect their requirements, express own and then deliver them to everyone from a team.

Focus

Throughout the project management process, you might find yourself simultaneously overseeing dozens of workers and tasks to remain on schedule and hit your deadlines on time. While managing concurrent tasks, you must remain focused on hitting the metrics and reaching the overall goals for the project.

Steve Jobs is an excellent example of a relentless leader with total focus on a particular target, despite distractions vying for his attention at every turn.

To ensure the success of Apple, for example, Jobs cut 70% of the product line to focus on the profitable sectors of the company.

His focus on perfecting profitable products and technology ensured Apple could recover from the losses and eventually come to turn a significant profit, year after year.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.

Problem-Solving

Having a structured approach to solving problems always yields positive results. Critical and quick thinking is one of the skills for project managers that want to stay relevant in the fast-paced economy of today. If it takes you a week to come up with the “perfect” solution someone else might have beat you to the punch with a good solution that got the job done.

If you think you don’t have critical thinking or problem-solving skills, no worries! Think of some really good thinkers, problem solvers and people who really excel at what they do, keep them on a short list for a quick impromptu lunch or coffee. Spending just 15 to 30 minutes with a person who has the skills and brain power that can help you might just be the quick solution to a project that gets stuck.

Adaptability

Adaptability is about adjusting with the environment to overcome the challenges that come along with the project. Project managers need to understand that project management is evolving with an alarming rate. If the managers don’t adopt what is necessary, there will be no time to regret later.

In a survey, it was concluded that more than 55% of the projects fail if they don’t evolve with time and adopted the necessities that are required to complete the project successfully.

This is an era of evolution. Things, people, and systems are changing in the blink of an eye. If project managers don’t take this opportunity to learn, unlearn, and relearn, they will face serious consequences in the future.

Developing these skills and this knowledge is not a linear progression, however. Think of these skill-sets as containers, each with a tap above them and connected by tubes. They fill at different speeds and in varying orders, but it’s near impossible to fill only one.

Conclusion

Although there are things like negotiating, risk management, cost management, and effort required to deliver each project, a great project manager will be really strong in some key areas, good in others and “needs work” in some. That is ok, being aware of them is more than half the battle.

Hopefully this blog has shed some light on areas of your life, business or role within a company.

My final point

Work can be stressful and very serious at times. Don’t forget to have fun and keep your team on their toes with good humor. An ability to see the funny side of project management will keep you on an even keel during difficult times. 

To speak with one of our experts please click here. 

Be great today!

How to Use UTM Parameters to Track Campaign Success

utm blog image

First, let’s define what UTM stands for. Urchin Tracking Module

UTM parameters are simply tags you add to a URL — when your link is clicked, the tags are sent back to Google Analytics and tracked. With UTM parameters, you can tag your links to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and identify the best ways to drive more visitors to your website.

So what do UTM parameters look like? Here’s a simple example:

https://www.zandmarketing.ca/contact/

UTMs can be used to see which marketing platforms or campaigns are working best for you, and to track the value of social marketing campaigns. You can also use them on your own site. For example, you could see how well specific blog posts work at converting visitors into customers.

There are five different UTM parameters you can choose from. Let’s quickly go over what they are:

utm_source. The originating website you want to track.

utm_medium. This states whether a link was within an email, paid, social, etc.

utm_campaign. This UTM helps you understand what promotion, offer or specific campaign you want to track.

utm_term. You can use this to track the date & time, or specific keywords that relate to the campaign.

utm_content. Finally, this is used to identify the exact element of your ad or promotion that was clicked. This is often used for optimization purposes.

Benefits of using UTM code

There are many benefits and uses for UTM code, whatever type of marketing activity you are using. This includes:

Marketing channels

You can use UTM parameters to track how well your campaigns are performing across multiple marketing channels.

Testing content effectiveness

Another use of UTM parameters is testing the effectiveness of different campaigns that include the same messages but are being used on different platforms. You can use UTMs to see which channels perform the best.

Tracking key influencers

You can use UTM code to track key influencers or partners in your networks. By preparing a link for each one, you will be able to use the data to work out who is driving the majority of your success.

Blog composition

By giving the links you include in an individual blog post, or newsletter, a different URL, you will be able to see where most people clicked through. This can reveal helpful insights that you may be able to use for the future design of this type of content.

UTM tracking links can be extremely powerful tools for digital marketing managers and social media marketers — you just need to leverage them to their full potential:

Use UTM tracking links whenever you’re running a campaign so that you can accurately track the success and ROI of that campaign

Use UTM tracking links to constantly test new strategies on your social media, paid ads and partner channels to gauge the performance of traffic/engagement/conversions, which social networks and/or profiles to focus your attention and resources on, which campaigns work best with your particular audience and so on.

Click here to contact us for more information.

Categories

AllCase StudiesMarketing TipsSales Strategies

What Is Marketing Automation?

marketing automation

Marketing automation refers to the software that allows you to automate activities and operationalize communications with the goal of managing the repetitive and time-consuming tasks. 

Once you have decided that you need to take full advantage of the digital opportunity for driving leads and sales, the next step becomes obvious – Marketing Automation to grow your business. This is how the world of business is evolving, and growing businesses are discovering they can compete in a bigger arena with tools like SmartDesk.

 Consumer use of digital devices creates opportunities for marketers, but US (and Canadian) companies have been slow to transition from traditional marketing campaigns. – Forrester 

On the other hand, the ultimate statistic on adoption says:

 “ On average 51% of companies are currently using Marketing automation.” The Ultimate Marketing Automation stats”. (2017) Emailmonday 

Why Is Marketing Automation SO Important?

By 2023, investment in marketing automation technology will nearly double from where it’s at now. The adoption of automation technology is increasing at an absolutely astounding rate.

Companies that use marketing automation see more web traffic, more buyers, and spur greater retention and loyalty.

Coupled with personalization engines, marketing automation engages prospects and customers through highly relevant content that, in turn, converts them into loyal customers.

By streamlining this process, you’re able to build personalized, one-to-one connections with a seemingly endless number of customers, at scale.

There are lots of reasons to adopt marketing automation. When coming up with the title for this article, I took some time to reflect on what was the most important and how many I should list. My research on previously published material indicated this was a popular subject, and particularly one that listed over 20 reasons to implement marketing automation. After my own review of my clients’ motivations, my personal perspective and the material available I came to the conclusion that there were at heart seven reasons that would justify to me to spend the time and money to implement this dramatic change to my company.

 “Best-in-Class companies are 67% more likely to use a marketing automation platform – Aberdeen Group  “State of Marketing Automation 2014: Processes that Produce” (2014) 

1. Increase your revenue.

First and foremost, the biggest reason to implement marketing automation is to increase your revenues. The ‘prime directive’ of a business is to make money, so anything that supports this should be considered – an industry surveys report that companies who implemented marketing automation showed up to approximately 40% increased revenues in 18 months! Automation has always been a proven path to growth and profitability in the past, so we can be relatively confident that automating the marketing function would indeed produce some great results.

 “Nearly two thirds of companies surveyed (63%) expect to realize the benefits of their marketing automation system within six months of implementation –  “Marketing Automation Trends Survey” (2016). 

Automate upselling: Your cross-sells, up-sells, and customer follow-ups will be more effective resulting in an increase in your customer lifetime value and average deal size.

Loyalty program: You’ll be able to set up a rewards program that rewards customers and affiliates when they buy more or help promote (resell) your products for you.

Target potential customers across multiple channels. Reach customers in a personalized way across different online and offline channels using email, postcard, text message, tweet, or phone call when they reach certain stages of the customer journey.

Target your marketing activity. The ability to create targeted marketing campaigns is one of the biggest opportunities available to marketers today. Imagine you have 100 prospects receiving a personalized ‘drip’ campaign, nurturing them using approaches of particular interest to them.

2. Reduce your costs.

Next to increasing revenues, you will want to keep as much as possible of that higher number in profit, so anything that saves you money is almost as important to consider. When you consider that some companies report a 25% increase in conversion rates after implementing marketing automation, reflecting the increased effectiveness of the sales team based on higher qualified leads, this becomes a serious, strategic direction.

Taking the guesswork out of lead scoring. Leads are prioritized on a scale of 1-5, and then categorized. Your sales team is never wasting their time on unqualified leads.

Repurpose existing content to nurture leads. Re-deploy existing content with rules for specific content that educates your leads and customers over the customer lifecycle.

3. Improve the customer experience.

So now you are making more money, and with cost savings, you are keeping more in profit, you need to look to the future. You have earned the right to sell to your customers today, but what about tomorrow? Will they continue to honour you with their business? Do they have a reason to?

 “91% of the most successful users agree that marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing across channels – “Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success” (2015) 

In a survey from a couple of years ago, companies reported that over 70% of recent buying decisions were made based on satisfaction with the buying experience. Another report says that you are 60 times more likely to make a sale to an existing customer than a new one. Knowing this, implementing repeatable, responsive processes, that provide value throughout the relationship (pre-purchase as well as post-purchase) becomes the best insurance for a reliable customer base and revenues for tomorrow.

Know exactly when to call. Reach out to qualified leads at the exact moment that they’re thinking about your company by tracking when they visited and what content they viewed.

Create customer-friendly processes: Visualise your customer journey to create processes around them and refine how you target and nurture leads.

Reduce follow uptime. Ensure that every hot lead is immediately followed up by making your sales process more efficient and effective. Reduce the time it takes for a potential lead to become a customer. Many report 75% faster conversions.

Prioritize your leads with lead scoring. Prioritize your leads based on how likely they are to convert or the size of the deal.

Automatically follow-up with leads . The faster you follow up the more likely you are to qualify a lead. And your automated system works 24-7!

4. Improve your Marketing ROI.

So lets recap: you are making more money, keeping a higher percentage of that in profits, and ensured the customers will buy more from you tomorrow. But what is the cost of implementing marketing automation? Can I afford it from cash flow? I would say that if you are currently spending enough to generate your target revenues, marketing automation will save you money. And one of the ways it will save you money is to help you run effective campaigns, and reduce your spend on ineffective marketing efforts.

If you are not meeting your revenue goals and not spending time and money on marketing, then marketing automation is an effective way to get there.

 “63% of companies successful in Marketing Automation plan to increase their Marketing Automation budget. The companies with successful marketing automation programs will invest in further success in the coming year.” “Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success” (2015) 

In a previous article, I discussed the basics of setting an effective marketing budget. Think of your marketing spend as on a dial and as you dial up on the budget, the results go up – the output (sales and revenues) is directly connected to your spend – up to a point that is. Spending beyond a certain point becomes wasteful. You will want to determine your budget based on certain assumptions and then measure the Return on Marketing Investment.

Better reporting: Which campaigns worked? and what type of customer did they worked for? The information enables you to conduct in-depth analysis and have a greater understanding of where you should focus your effort.

Schedule campaigns ahead of time. Stay organized by scheduling your campaigns and social media posts ahead of time. Schedule different posts to different segments of your audience based on your data.

5. Event-triggered emails boosts open, clicks and sales

Research shows that behavioural email marketing at the right time increases conversions and naturally boosts sales in the process. Welcoming a new customer with an automatic email and then follow-on emails nurturing them is a proven method of generating more qualified leads and ultimately driving more sales.

As marketers, we know they can be extremely effective, but research shows, fewer than half of business are using them.

The three most widely utilized features of automation, according to a survey, are lead generation, lead nurturing campaigns, and account-based marketing. Though usually perceived as more important than automation, only 31 percent of respondents said that CRM is more central to their operations than marketing automation. In fact, 51 percent of marketers stated that both are equally important to their organizations.

There were some interesting revelations about marketing automation skills as well. 33 percent of those polled contract outside talent and consulting agencies to use their solutions, compared to the relatively small 13 percent of those who train in-house personnel to manage them. This may be indicative of the fact that automation is often initially perceived to be a trivially easy endeavor. This is backed up by the fact that 70 percent of all those who had not already implemented automation stated that they plan to train and up-skill existing staff to use it in the future.

 50%of small and medium-sized business use their marketing automation software to send email drip campaigns. – Statista 

6. Stay current.

How many times have you heard someone say “yeah, the new system was out of date as soon as it was implemented”? Staying current is not just about technology upgrades; its about keeping up with how your customers choose to communicate. You have to be there today in order to hear about the trends for tomorrow.

Social media campaigns. Marketing automation tools allow you to manage all of your social media campaigns from within one dashboard, and post to multiple accounts in one go.

Listen to what clients are saying about you: your digital presence, how clients feel they are being treated and their satisfaction with your processes and products will be reported somewhere on the internet. By providing a place for feedback and managing this as part pf your social media strategy, you get top use this as another marketing and selling tool.

7. Increase your company value:

At some point in your business life, you will find business valuation an important subject. Whether its seeking financing, funding, investors, shareholder assurance or sale of the business, a higher valuation can make a significant difference to you. In a public company value may be measured in things like share price. When it comes to placing a value on a private company you need to rely on other measures. Aside from revenues, profitability and assets, valuation will depend a lot on perceived sustainability – can we predict that the company will be in business next year and how successful will it be?

Customer retention and average deal size. Two staples of company valuation are the company’s ability to ensure a customer base for tomorrow and also maximize the sales to each customer. Marketing automation helps with customer retention as well as upselling and cross selling, making a positive impact on your value.

Repeatable processes. By automating processes, you are assured a standard level of compliance to your procedures, ensuring sustainability through staff changes, once again supporting your company value.

 “The most important strategic goals of a marketing automation strategy are Increasing lead generation, lead nurturing and sales revenue .” –  “Marketing Automation Trends Survey” (2016). 

As I said at the beginning, there are seven very good reasons why I would (and do) invest in marketing automation. These are company-changing reasons and each by itself might be motivating; combined it becomes an imperative to success. Click here to transform your business and get started today.

Fundamentals of Project Management

201015 114209

Fundamentals of Project Management

In this blog we will take a look at the fundamentals of project management. We look at the key terms project managers use, and look at some of the overall techniques that are used by professionals in this space.

To get started we are going to take a look at 12 project management terms that every project manager should know.

This blog is for people who are looking to take on more responsibilities that have project management requirements. Words like RAG, GANTT and TRIPLE CONSTRAINT are going to be words and terms that roll off your tongue with ease after you read this blog.

RAG STATUS

This one is simple. It stands for RED, AMBER, GREEN. It is a very common term used to determine if something is on or off track. Much like a traffic light, red means something is stopped or stuck and needs immediate attention. Amber means, things are slowing down and a stop might be in the near future, and green means all things are good and on track.


 GANTT CHART

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart used in project management to track projects from start to finish. Simply put, a Gantt chart is a visual view of tasks scheduled over time. Gantt charts are used for planning projects of all sizes and they are a useful way of showing what work is scheduled to be done on a specific day. They also help you view the start and end dates of a project in one simple view.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)

This is one of the first steps in being a project. It is where you break your project into manageable pieces and have some logic around it. Simple things like tasks, time, budget and the people who will be working on it.

TRIPLE CONSTRAINT

The triple constraint is the combination of the three most significant restrictions on any project: scope, time/schedule and cost/budget. The triple constraint is sometimes referred to as the project management triangle or the iron triangle. A change in one factor will invariably affect the other two. In other words, it’s all about trade-offs. As project manager, it’s your job to balance these triple constraints and manage expectations so everyone understands what it takes to achieve project success.

METHODOLOGY

This is the framework used to manage the project. Some of the more common frameworks are Agile, Prince2, PMBOK or a combination of them. At the end of the day these are designed to provide a method that can be applied to a project to provide structure to keep the project on a critical path.

BUSINESS CASE

The business case is usually a document that provides the reason for the project. It is important for the project manager to understand the why of the project and not just the execution. Great project managers will have a deep understanding of the business case in order to execute the project in line with the reason it exists in the first place.

REQUIREMENTS

The requirements of a project are the must-have items that can’t be left out of the completion of a project. For example, the construction of a home has to have hardwood flooring through-out the home. The colour of the hardwood flooring could end up being up to the construction company, unless otherwise specified, but the flooring can not be carpet.

RISKS

 

A project should be able to identify risks that could creep into the project and delay or run the project over budget. Being aware of the possible risks could help the project move along the desired path. If the risks are identifiable, then a good project manager will have prepared for the possible rise of the issue.

ISSUE

Speaking of issues. Issues are the warning sign that the risk to the project might be coming into play. Project managers should listen for the signs of risk and get in front of them quickly. Where there is smoke there is often fire.

MILESTONE

 

A project milestone is a way to observe, measure and monitor the progress and/or performance of a project. Milestones in general exist as intermediate stages that must be fulfilled before reaching a final goal or objective. In terms of their usefulness, milestones can be defined and provide a foundation from which to monitor progress.

STAKEHOLDER

A stakeholder is any person, organization, or group that has a stake in the project. Thus, stakeholders can be internal or external to the business or project. A stakeholder will have a vital interest in the business or project because the end result will have a direct impact on them.

STEERING COMMITTEE

This is a group of people that have been tasked to provide advice, insight and guidance to the project. The committee is there to support the project manager and has a stake in the final outcome of the project.

Get the visibility you need to make the best resource decisions with time-tracking capabilities

Organizations are embracing different ways of working across the business. In order to ensure strategic alignment is maintained, there is an ever-increasing need to understand what work team members are spending their time on, no matter how that work is delivered.

SmartDesk has developed a project management application integrated into a cloud based CRM. Project management teams and sales teams now have the ability to seamlessly connect their accounts for greater transparency and efficiency.

The latest disrupter in the CRM market

Initially a lead management solution with some integrated solutions like websites and blogs, SmartDesk has evolved into a multi-channel marketing hub with over 50 full-service features that come standard with the software. The SmartDeskCRM team worked closely with clients to build out solutions that addressed common pain points. The team at SmartDeskCRM has taken the approach of providing companies with easy bite-sized data points to quickly view the health of your marketing activities and prospects activity. A lot of CRM solutions are offering these metrics but the way SmartDesk has put the dashboards and navigation together makes it a truly unique experience.

 

It’s problematic for companies to become experts in using all of the various digital tools in the marketplace. At the end of the day the goal is the same: make it all work so you can have more leads, more clients, and more sales. SmartDesk gives companies and agencies one application to use for their digital marketing, email marketing, website, leads, blog, and sales, project management, all in one environment.

From the beginning, SmartDesk  had a vision to bring small and medium companies to the global marketplace. For these businesses to survive against the larger chains, they have to be able to compete in the digital marketplace, not just the physical.

Click here to book a demo and get started today.