Visions of 2014 dancing in your head?

 

 

As we put 2013 to bed, visions of the new year dance through our heads!  It's fun to day dream about fantasy vacations, elaborate weddings, and expensive cars.  But actually applying thought to goals can seem overwhelming.  We all want to succeed and do well in business, but somehow, putting a plan together and sending it into action isn't as much fun as envisioning ourselves living the good life.  To live that good life, you've got to have a plan for prosperity, and we've put some tips together, with help from About.com, that will have you meet 2014 head on.

 

1.  Target your audience.  You can't be all things to all people!  

2.   Be different.  If your competitor does it, don't do it.  Stand out from the crowd.

3.   Don't simply hire employees, hire team members. 

4.   Be fast.  Reply to problems as they arise, and show up with what you've promised.

5.   Say thank you. A lot.  Tell your customers and employees how much they mean to you.

6.   Be consistent.  Make sure your customers get top notch service ALL THE TIME.

7.   SMILE!  Your customers choose you because they like you! Celebrate that! 

8.   Become a fanatical optimist!  Your glass is always half full.

9.   Sell soft, never hard.  Solve problems and satisfy wants.  Keep your customer first.

10. Leave your comfort zone.  Never accept that a new technology won't work for you.

 

The coming year holds undiscovered and amazing gifts!  If you're really in, all the way, with your business, nothing can keep you from rising to great new heights in 2014, and beyond!  Set some fabulous goals and decide you won't stop til you achieve them.  Be flexible with your timeline and you won't become discouraged if you need to invest more time to succeed.  Nothing worth having comes easily, so dig in and decide 2014 is your year to shine!

 

 

 

 

Why Make Videos?

 

In this day and age, search engines such as Google are constantly on the lookout for new, interesting material. Short video clips are becoming more and more popular to search engines as of recent. As a result, video promotion should always be a consideration in your marketing budget. Videos should follow these rules:

Show Personality: The video should not be monotone and should grab someone’s attention with an upbeat and relevant tone. It should also involve motion of the camera.

Commit to series: It is crucial to maintain consistency in the delivery of your videos, so as to cultivate a following.

Make Tutorials:  You must educate your audience and show them that you are an expert in the subject-matter. Teach them something that they can use, without giving away all your secrets. Keep them coming back for more!

Be relevant: Address topic that are important to your consumer so that you stay relevant and in the minds of consumers in a positive manner.

Testimonials: People care about the opinions of their peers concerning goods and services. You can expand on this goodwill by creating video testimonials that create an emotional connection between the product or service and the customer.

Please check back soon for some interesting videos posted by SMC Software

How to Use Visual QR Codes to Increase Customer Engagement

How to Use Visual QR Codes to Increase Customer Engagement

Top of Form

 

Bottom of Form

QR Code: "Scan Me."
Customer: "why?"

This image above is known as a QR code. A what? This mobile marketing technology is also showing up everywhere: on billboards, magazines, newspapers, store windows, and even graveyards. Though hundreds of millions of QR Codes are being generated every year, it seems customers are not scanning them as much as marketers were expecting.

The QR code is a computer-generated design and seems to offer no incentive for engagement. The QR Code will lead customers to an online interactive experience; however, for that to happen, the customer must make a decision to interact and scan the code. With a little extra effort, you can build an effective visual QR code campaign that will increase your customer engagement.

Here are a few tips:

·  Create a "Visual QR Code" that people can relate to and be inclined to interact with.

·  Strengthen you brand by empowering your logo with Visual QR Capabilities.

·  Be clear as to what value your Visual QR Code is offering your customers.

·  Make the Visual QR Code part of your design story.

·  Give customers a reason to engage.

·  Build your online community with on location Visual QR Codes

·  Merely put the QR code anywhere but the bottom corners of your ad and you will get 25% more scans!

Proof Is In The Pudding. Mobile Internet Use Is Getting Higher!

It’s true people, and the proof is in the pudding; mobile internet use is higher than ever before and more and more people are simply doing away with bulky laptops and desktop computers in lieu of smart phones and tablets. Take a walk into a busy store and look around. Almost everyone you see will likely have a smart phone, and most carriers are making mobile internet connection easier than ever to access with unlimited data plans.

So, what does all of this mean for businesses? It is time to optimize your website to include mobile services and applications. This basically means that you have two options. First, you can make a website that totally caters to mobile sites or, secondly, you can take a traditional site, and make a mobile version of it. In all, the goal of this lecture is to make sure that you make your sites as mobile friendly as humanly possible. After all, what company doesn’t want to be at the forefront of the next big “thing” and cater to the next generation? Thought so.

Still need more convincing as to why mobile friendly sites are crucial to the future of businesses and marketing? Well, take into account that some of the most common searches on mobile devices are for local businesses. A customer is in the area and searches the name of a local business using his or her smart phone in hopes to find an address, phone number, hours of operation, or a menu related to that business. For the love of everything good, give it to them on a silver platter all wrapped up in a nice mobile friendly site. Furthermore, over 50% of traffic on mobile devices starts with a trip to the search engine.

Thankfully, around 66% of small-business owners are employing mobile devices/solutions as part of their daily operations, according to a recent report from Constant Contact. 73% of these owners say that they use their smart phones or tablets to conduct social media marketing and 71% state that they have used their mobile device to conduct email marketing. When asked about what types of mobile advertising small business owners typically employ, an overwhelming 97% said that they use social media platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Like we said previously, wave of the future, people.

What about the other 34% of you not updating to mobile friendly apps and services? Well, 65% of that remaining number has no plans to update in the future and mainly cite the lack of customer demand and their lack of knowledge about such technology.

In all, it is important to take away that small businesses must make their internet websites as mobile friendly as possible in order to survive the changing times of the future of technology.

B2B Marketing: The Evolution has Begun!

The Most Effective Business to Business (B2B) Tactics

Not surprisingly, email, one of the oldest forms of online communication, still ranks as the most effective marketing tactic for B2Bs (58%). This most likely stems the fact that email has been around longer than other forms of social media and older generations are more familiar with this method of online interaction. B2Bs rank content creation (42%) and lead management (35%) as their second and third most effective tactics. It is said that creating content is geared to the viewer and making sure that they notice it being crucial aspects for any B2B company.

Furthermore, B2Bs are only mildly confident in what social media has to offer (23%). On the other hand, they are much more likely to favor tactics such as blogging and marketing analytics, seeing these are more successful in targeting their desired target population. It is important for each individual company to figure out B2B tactics that coincide with the operation of their company and then implement their findings accordingly.

BRAND LOYALTY versus BRAND EROSION

Making choices can be exhausting – mentally, emotionally, and even physically (no one has time today) – for most consumers. With the proliferation of online services, a consumer’s option has multiplied rapidly, and it’s wearing people out.

Think about your own experience in looking for a gadget.  It’s cumbersome to find the right product, service or brand.  The brands that create an online strategy to earn loyalty in 2013 (and reduce erosion through third party websites) are those that will see their revenues grow.  By showing you’re aligned, and communicating in familiar language through multiple channels, a company will establish a certain trust factor that allows customers to make a rational decision.

In today’s society, online communication and social tactics are pushing consumers to the limit by offering a mundane of information that fills the airwaves. Huh?  Well, airwaves use to be TV and Radio, right?  Although TV and Radio still play integral part of society, the internet is quickly taking over the minds of many.

The best time to build or solidify a brand is during recessionary times.  It’s no secret that the great recession has devastated many families and companies. And while some have recovered, consumers continue to feel the pinch in a variety of ways, leading them to fundamentally alter their brand buying behavior.

Your company’s brand is its greatest asset.  Erosion Will only cost you money, stress and a whole lot more.  To learn more about branding, please click here.

Sales Vs. Marketing: What is SMC doing to help their clients?

Sales vs. Marketing                             (go to www.smcinsights.blogspot.com)

The Sales function is to own specific customer relationships, which is right and proper. Sales can and should represent those customers’ needs and priorities within the organization.  Sales must focus on building specific relationships with specific prospective buying customers.

Marketing must own the customer by developing and sharing insight on what customers, in general, want and care about; especially the specific customers that the company is not yet doing business with.  Marketing is uniquely situated to focus on understanding the potential buyer and using that understanding to guide company initiatives from product development to go-to-market strategy.

 

Fact is, most companies are unable to stay current with the evolving trends pertaining to sales (building relationships) and marketing (establishing channels).  So, SMC wants to fill that need, and therefore has created a Sales and Marketing Department to assist our clients with managing these two very important roles.   

 

 

What does the SMC Blueprint look like?  

SMC’s guidance to sales and marketing include practical tactics for improving the social collaboration and potential of sales and marketing to meet quotas and deliver the best possible experience. SMC will focus on the following initiatives:

1. Maximizing the results of sales and marketing by leveraging technology
2. Adopting dedicated applications to increase sales and marketing effectiveness
3. Using new best practices to maximize use of sales and marketing department

If you are still wondering what all this means, SMC has set up an OSMD (Outsourced Sales and Marketing Department) to help its clients implement proven and innovative strategies that work to increase your profitability and position your brand.  By utilizing our OSMD service, it allows our clients to completely step away (if they so choose of course) from their marketing responsibilities and focus on all other aspects of the operation.

 

There is no long term contract required for these services.  Fees are based on your selection of services.  The illustration below best summarizes today's playing field:

 

 

 

  

 

Social Media: Stop Refusing to Believe the Power of Online Marketing

Simple Multiple Choice Question:

What is your Company's Social Media Marketing Strategy?

A.  Our company does not have a strategy.
B.  Our company has a page but does nothing with it.
C.  Our company will post a message but will not address customer comments.
D.  Our company will post messages and does address customer comments.
E.  Our company is committed to the fastest growing medium.  We post images, we educate our community, we respond to posts in less than an hour, we receive reservations from our Facebook page, and we have a strategy in place for 2013.

If you selected any letter other than "E", please watch this video and then ask yourself "what is our company missing by not having a plan?"

Four Simple Customer Service Lessons

1. People Love People who get Back to Them Quickly

Your customers will be so happy just to know someone responded to their inquiry. The response doesn’t need to be a whole dissertation, just an acknowledgement that someone cares to answer in a timely manner. In the online world, people have become accustomed to sending requests via email thus making it very easy to respond. Make it a point to respond timely or you chance losing a customer.

2. Show and Tell Them; talk is cheaper today than ever before

Nowadays, it’s easier to show people what to do rather than write a long email explaining how to do something. If you really want someone to believe you with hopes getting a response, then provide an easy road map to view.  Most people love visuals while others just don’t like to read.

3. Try to be Everything to Everyone…even though it's not really possible

Remember that people may want you to fix a problem they’re having with your product or service; but just trying to solve the problem will go a long way.  Businesses can’t do what all customers want, but they can sure think about it, and act in caring manner. 

4. Create an FAQ Page

It doesn’t take long to figure out that most customers ask the same questions 95% of the time.  So keep a log of questions and provide direct, yet easy, answers.

In brief, providing great customer service is free. Every company can do great service, but many find themselves getting caught up in complicated processes, old school business practices, and other things that make many others feel lost and in need (of something). In today's world, it is so easy to stand out by doing a few things right. 

Keep It Simple and Smart!

 

SMC expands its marketing and communication services with a new online division

It is true that SMC launched the most powerful online, real-time reservations platform on the planet.  For parking, self storage and automotive detail services, SMC is capable of providing its clients with a proven method to convert "lookers into bookers" 24/7 while tracking revenues through multiple channels.

SMC completes its business model with a new online marketing and communications division. The new division will offer and manage search engine marketing (SEO/PPC/VSEO), email marketing, social media and strategy assistance for those clients who want to strengthen their web presence and increase the efficiency in order to enhance brand awareness and capture new market share.

SMC will showcase its new division during the User Conference, January 15-18, 2013.

EMAIL MARKETING: Best Times for Email Opens and Click-Throughs

Email Marketing for the Holidays.

A recent study on the best times during the day for email opens and click-throughs come from an email marketing software provider (GetReponse) who analyzed 21 million messages sent from US accounts during the first quarter of 2012.  The results are as follows:

•  23.63% of all email opens occur within the first hour after delivery;
• Within the second hour after delivery, the results drop by half; and
• Top engagement times for email are in the mornings, 8 AM to 9 AM both for opens and click-throughs; and in the afternoons, 3 PM to 8 PM for opens, and 3 PM and 4 PM for click-throughs;

For regional and national companies, time zones are a consideration. Companies should keep in mind the following:

•  Local times and work routines around the country; and
• Stagger their mailings in accordance to the points mentioned above

Get ready for the season!  And remember, the "aggregator" websites are preparing to market your customers (via email) so they can sell your customers back to your company and then charge your customer for a reservation fee.   Put a plan in place today to convert aggregator customers to your website.

How Important is BING for SEO?

WE all know that Google is the 'grandaddy' of all online search engines. However, if you believe that everyone searches on Google for information (service, product or brand), you would be somewhat naive with your assumption.

REAL FACTS:  (Marketshare: Google 66.7% - Bing/Yahoo 31%)

1. Not everyone searches on Google. 
2. Bing and Yahoo use their own algorithm to rank pages.
3. The Bing/Yahoo partnership is growing in market share. 

What does this mean to your business?  You should be optimizing for Bing and Yahoo?

Click Here

Bing-specific keyword searches are displaying more accurate results than Google.  Why?

• Domain age. It is said that Bing puts more emphasis on domain age than Google.  In other words,  if your domain has been around for awhile, you have one foot in the door.
• Titles. Bing also puts a greater emphasis on title tags; be sure your title includes your keyword.

NOTE: Because of the partnership between Bing and Yahoo, by optimizing Bing, you are also optimizing Yahoo.  Simply said, Yahoo results are powered by Bing.

If you have not taken the BING IT ON TEST, do it now!  Click Here. 

7 Proven P's for Retaining Customers

Although many businesses and people may believe this posting is full of common sense, I don't think so.  In today's environment, customer retention is just as important as customer acquisition. So what are the 7 P's for retaining customers?

1. People.  One word - Relationships!  If you are able to connect with your customers - online and offline - you are farther ahead of the game than your competition.  You hear all the time "treat people like you want to be treated", hogwash.  Treat people like they are family

2. Product/Service.  Your product/service is your brand; a.k.a. your greatest asset.  Simply take care of it from A (attitude) to Z (zealous).  Customer Service is FREE....so is Great Customer Service.  Have you implemented these 7 traits; smile, eye contact, use customers name, remember customers name, respect of customers time, empathetic to situations and good-byes/have a nice day!  In other words, act like you care every day with every customer.

3. Place.  Let's compare - your home (inside and out) to your business (inside and out).  So what is the difference?  Thirty-three years in the business world and 95% of the companies I worked for, the owner’s house was far cleaner and more organized than the office.  Why is that?  Back to #1, people notice your place too. 

4. Price.  You have to take care of your loyal customers, period.  Do you have to be the lowest in town? No.  Your customers must know that you will separate them from the once-in-awhile customers.  You know, drive up's versus pre-booking in advance.  SMC clients have the ability to strategically make this happen.

5. Promotion.  You know or should know your customer.  If not, this is a different matter. You know what the customer bought from you, how he or she uses your service and where they are from. You can use that information to message customers in a more targeted, appropriate, helpful, and effective way. Don't spam them with the same generic info you send to everyone else. Send them targeted emails and in-context messages.

6. Processes.  You need good processes to monitor and track all channels; website, accounts, social media, etc.  By engaging with your customers, surveying customers for satisfaction, and implementing marketing channel strategies help any business plan and prepare for #7.  

7. Positioning.  Huge for any business.  Assuming many understand the concept of the game Chess - and if you don't, think football - it goes without saying that positioning and precision is critical to take a "knight" for "return a punt for a touchdown".  Positioning players is the difference between winning and losing over the long haul.  Similarly, with the internet, it is all about positioning your brand for success. 

BONUS POINT:  Happy Employees make Customers Happy!  That works in reverse too!!!!!

Bing vs. Google: Do the test!

Who does not like Google outside our Government, Microsoft and Facebook?  Everyone likes Google and the majority uses their search engine to find a product, service, brand and/or information. 

For months I have stated that Bing's search results are more true than Google.  Google became the one, the only simply because of the results presented in a search.  If you asked for plumbers in a a market, the results were plumbers in the market.  It has been my belief that Google is slipping.

Bottom line is, Bing is moving in on Google.  Click here and test your market. 

Marketing is evolving as fast as Technology

Many of us read articles or watch the tube to learn more about evolving technologies.  It is crazy when you think about the big guys launching so many new products throughout the year.  Exciting for some...scary to others for a variety of reasons.

I was asked earlier this year in an interview - "Can you share with me your thoughts on how technology is changing business today?"  

I hemmed and hawed (Read:  Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson) laughing a little and said, "are you kidding me?"  I proceeded with this remark, "People who do not adapt to innovation in the business world will be of no value to most organizations by 2020, if not 2017".  After trading some words about technology, I persuaded the mood over to MARKETING.

Then came the response I was hoping to hear - "So can you elaborate on how marketing and leveraging technology is changing the ways?." 

"Technology is useless without customers.  I have seen and been a part of a few organizations using great technology in the travel industry, but with no plan to capture new customers, these companies are either in the history books or barely surviving."  

I continued with the interview by offering up my humble opinion - "any size organization must leverage their technology with marketing initiatives in order to make significant progress in absorbing market share from their less nimble and formerly formidable competitors."  

To summarize the 30-minute interview, companies who are not tracking (please stop with the clicks to your website on Google Analytics) every marketing dollar are clueless to what an ROI is and stands for.  Just ask any organization how their "social media" is working out for them.  Unless a tracking system is in place, the answer will always be the same - dunno!

  

SMC Software allows its clients to segment real-time data through multiple channels, thus helping you measure which channel is impacting site traffic from your marketing (i.e. social media).

 

SMC Software Introduces SMC INSIGHTS Blog

Welcome to the new SMC INSIGHTS Blog.

This blog is intended to help our business clients stay ahead of the curve with respect to innovative technologies, internet marketing and branding initiatives.  In addition, this blog will serve as a guide to protect our clients against brand erosion, data scraping, trademark infringement and other harmful business practices.  Simply put, SMC is looking out for you! 

We hope you find this blog to be a value-added resource as the internet evolves with both the good, the bad and the ugly.

Mike Harley

President

SMC Software