Emotional intelligence in marketing: become an empath and boost your business

In my daily activities and talking to people around me, I came across the concept of emotional intelligence. I had never really thought about it and how it is actually a great skill for marketers. This post is all about emotional intelligence in marketing and why and how to take it into consideration.

First of all, some definitions

According to the Oxford Dictionary, emotional intelligence is “The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” It has 3 important components, the awareness, the management and the ability to apply emotions in an optimal way when interacting with others. The last part is especially interesting when it comes to marketing because it helps to create a message that really applies to one’s audience and speaks to their hearts.

But what is emotional intelligence concretely? What are some of its specific skills?

Curiosity: about the world but also about other people, especially if strangers. This is because of greater empathy and genuine care about others.

Self-awareness: emotional intelligent people are not only able to understand somebody else’s feelings, they are also great in recognizing their own and usually in a deeper way.

Self-motivation: internal goals, interests and values are what really drives emotional intelligent people, more than external factors such as promotions and rewards.

Empathy: understand other people’s needs and points of view is one of the key aspects of emotional intelligence.

How to develop your emotional intelligence in marketing

If you think you lack at emotional intelligence, there are good news: you can develop it! Here’s how you can do it in marketing.

Empathy with your customers

Put yourself into their shoes, think and understand their preferences and ways. A good starting point is to interpret the data from your marketing automation platforms; what do they say about your customer’s lives? To get even deeper, try to listen to your audience, there are plenty of ways for you to get messages from your audience, such as comments on social media. You can use tools such as Hootsuite to have an overview on hot topics and conversations people might have about your brand on social media.

Address your customers in a personalised way

After you got the insights on your target, it’s time to build a relationship with them. Use messages that apply to them, tell stories that inspire them and speak to their hearts. The better and more personalised conversations you have with your customers, the easier they will convert.

Add value

It’s not just about communicating in the right way, it’s also what you say to them. Adding value before even mentioning the sale will bring you closer to your goal. Because they will understand why they should buy it, what makes it different and special, what problems will it solve for them. You will have created a need in their mind. I think in this sense, it’s also great if you use some storytelling to clearly express your brand’s values. People will love to see that you are trying to make the world better. We will talk more extensively about storytelling in the next paragraph.

Learn from the past and be ambitious

Check the data from your past campaigns. Interpret them and assess what worked and what didn’t. This will help you reshaping your strategy accordingly. And then dare, use your creativity to find new ways to tell a message. Your ambition will help you making a greater impact!

Emotional intelligence and storytelling

As we mentioned before, one of the applications of emotional intelligence is storytelling. This technique is probably one of the most human ones as it has been in use for thousands of years to pass knowledge and memory. An effective storytelling can have very good effects on your audience and if you apply it to marketing, it will help increase your sales. From a scientific point of view this is because it can release some hormones that will make us feel more excited and focused on something. If we are able to induce those positive emotions about our products and brands, people will be keener to convert.

But what does this mean concretely? On this regard, I found a very inspiring TEDx Talk in Stockholm by coach and communication expert David JP Phillips. While talking about the positive effects of storytelling, Phillips makes an experiment with his audience inducing dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin by telling stories.

Dopamine: increases focus, motivation and memory. It is built with suspense, launching a cliff-hanger and through expectations on what will come next. In general, all storytelling creates it per definition as it is a sequence of events and the audience knows there is always something that will come next.

Oxytocin: fosters enhanced generosity, trust and bond, as it makes people feel more human and relaxed. It can be induced in storytelling by creating characters and situations the audience can relate to, making them empathetically connected to that story.

Endorphin: makes people feel more creative, relaxed and focused. It is induced by making people laugh.

To apply this to your marketing strategy, create the stories and consider which hormone they could induce in your audience. Then think at your customers and understand which type of story is better according to the situation or the message you want to convey. For instance, if you want to be perceived as a fun and creative brand, tell a story that makes them laugh, to produce endorphin. If, on the other hand, you want to show a very social responsible and committed brand, try to tell a very emotional story about a situation and character they can relate to. They will feel empathetic as a fair amount of oxytocin is released. Phillips calls this functional storytelling, and it means indexing the stories according to the specific hormone that will be induced and sharing them in the most appropriate occasions.

Do you have questions about emotional intelligence and storytelling? Send me an email at mail@annafranchi.com or leave a comment below!

25/01/201831/01/2018

Digital nomad lifestyle: daily routine in Bali

Pictures of people on a laptop in a swimming people, incredible adventures and beautiful landscapes, the digital nomad lifestyle seems like a dream. But how is it really? What’s the day to day life when you are location independent and completely flexible? I think it’s really great but it’s not an eternal holiday as it seems…

Work is part of the digital nomad lifestyle

We might be very lucky to have a very flexible time, but this doesn’t mean that we’re on holiday. Some may have a passive income, but, unless it consists of shares of a successful business someone else takes care of or rent from a property they own, it all comes with hard work. Even the best affiliate marketers need to spend some time on their campaigns to keep them going. They might be able to do it in a couple of hours per week, but they had to put a lot of effort into it to get to that point.

Like many fellow nomads, I work on my marketing business every day. I can start when I want and take as much time as I want, but at the end of the day I have to deliver something to my clients. It feels really good not to have the pressure of someone checking what I do and knowing that I can do it at my own pace. I try to get everything done during the week, but it may occur that I have to finish something on the weekend. It all depends on how I manage my tasks and working hours.

We often work from co-working spaces, where we can meet new people who share the same experiences and values. We can actually make great friends there and find a community of people who support each other; they’re like co-workers but without being competitive since everyone is working on their own business.

The tech expat life is healthy

An aspect I see I have in common with my fellow tech expats is the healthy lifestyle. Be it Bali and its positive energy, but I see that almost everyone does sports and cares about what they eat and how they live.

Something I noticed and that is probably related to local business activity regulations is that many people go to bed and wake up quite early. Of course, there are opportunities to party, drink and get wasted, but I have the feeling the ones who actually work, would do it less. People want to enjoy the morning hours to practice their sports. I am one of them, first thing I do when I wake up, is to go for a walk on the beach. For me, it’s the best way to kick off my day!

All the people I know here go either surfing or practice yoga or go to the gym. And they all do it regularly. Everyone eats healthy, of course you can find junk food and people do consume it, but it seems like they would do it less than elsewhere. Organic, natural, vegetarian, vegan, raw… the choice is really big and fosters your awareness on your diet. It might sound a little hipster but people here are not just going with the flow and doing what everybody else does, it’s more a conscious choice and preference.

Why so? I think because we have a good work/life balance, which leads us to the next point.

Good work/life balance

I have the feeling we have a very balanced life, in which work is important, but it doesn’t take all our time and energy. First of all, there is no stress here in Bali. Even if the roads are busy and sometimes riding in the traffic is really annoying, it’s never stressful. I think it’s because the positive mind-set of local people has a very strong influence on our daily lives. Maybe this is because people who make such a choice like leaving a corporate job to travel the world are somehow able to let the negative and anxiety go quicker.

In a way, this is a very full life, where people take the time to do what makes them feel good. It’s not unusual to see people leaving the co-working space in the middle of the day to go surfing and come back renewed after a couple of hours. It might seem a waste of time, but I think this is just healthy: you take a break in order to focus more and better once you’re back. I have noticed how my productivity has improved with this lifestyle: I work less hours but I work better.

Another aspect of this full life is the deep and meaningful conversations I have with my peers. Sometimes people ask me what I do with my friends here in Bali. The truth is we don’t do anything special, but we spend quality time. And this makes the huge difference.

Nature is part of our lifestyle

Nature plays a very important role in this general well-being and in our digital nomad lifestyle. This is especially clear in a place like Bali: a tropical island made of mainly small villages. It’s not a completely wild place, but it’s still not a big city with everything.

Riding by the rice fields on your way to work gives you a very calming feeling and you realize that you need so much less in your daily life. A walk on the beach is way more therapeutic than a shopping day as you see how reconnecting with nature makes you more centred. When the weather is fine, people gather on the beach to watch the sunset. It’s a magic moment, in its extreme simplicity. And it can give you so much.

The downside is that sometimes you miss the city, its services and being able to find everything. But Singapore is only a couple of hours by plane and sometimes it’s really nice to be back in the concrete…

As you can see, our flexible schedule is the key to our digital nomad lifestyle. If you’re considering getting into it, I’d recommend to start with becoming location independent.

If you’ve already taken this step, what’s your lifestyle? Do you fit into my description? Leave a comment below, would love to hear from you!

20/01/201820/01/2018

Make your social media audience convert

Do you ever wonder if your business and social media target are not the same? Do you struggle with converting your social media followers into customers?

If you answered “yes” to those questions it is very likely that you are not sure about your social media target and need to define the right one. From my experience, this confusion is quite common and this is why I decided to talk about it to make your social media audience convert.

Your goal is to increase revenue

For some businesses, social media is more a communication channel to raise awareness around a topic or product than a sales tool. In this case, it is ok if the audience is broader than the target clients. However, it is important to keep in mind that what you ultimately want is a successful and sustainable business, which comes with an optimal revenue.

You can have 100k followers on Facebook, but if no one converts, they won’t help you. I once saw a startup having a huge success on social media, but no paying clients at all. There was an obvious gap between the shared content and the products.

If this is also your case, you might have created awareness around a certain field or topic, but you haven’t created it around your brand. If your company is new, it could be worthy considering to pivot the business model and find a way to make revenue out of social media.

The metrics you should care about don’t relate to the quantity of followers but the quality of them:

Comments on each post
Number of people actively interacting
Number of shares
Subscribers to your mailing list
Leads
Sales

If you are not satisfied with them, you have to fill the gap between social media and your target. To do so, you work on both, the content and the target.

Work on your target

Define the target
First of all, you need to define the target. A good start is creating demographic profiles for your actual customers and for your ideal ones. Find out the age, gender, income, location, profession, likes and dislikes etc. If your product appeals to different groups, create a specific profile for each of them. This will help you adapting the content to the specific category you are targeting each time.

Find out where they hang out
The second step is to find out where they hang out, on what social media channels do they spend most time. We can briefly see the major ones:

Facebook
With its over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is definitely the most popular social media platform. It seems to be equally spread out between genders and age groups and that people with higher education and medium to high income use it.

Source OmniCore Agency

YouTube
With its 1.3 billion users per month, YouTube is the second largest network. Men have a preference for YouTube compared to women and that it’s a great platform if you’re targeting younger users, but you have to create a good video with a catchy introduction:

Source Fortune Lords

Instagram
Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform, but it has “only” 800 million monthly active users. It is a good channel if you’re targeting a rather young group and especially female:

Source OmniCore

Twitter
Twitter is losing some ground, however it is still a popular tool that, as of January 1 2018, has 330 million users. If you are targeting middle class from US, Brazil, and Japan.

Source OmniCore

Snapchat
Snapchat is another very fast growing social media, reaching over 300 million active users per month. You can’t miss it if you’re targeting a younger and mostly female audience.

Source OmniCore

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the “most serious” and “professional” social media, the one that fosters professional connections to its over 250 million monthly active users: It is the place to go if your target is educated and has a medium to high salary.

Source OmniCore

Work on the content

Now that you know who and where your target is, you can adapt your content to it. Share something that appeals to them and in a way that is appropriate for the channel. You are among millions of brands on social media, so, you want to deliver value, make your audience happy to see your content because it is great and you don’t spam them with too many posts.

It is usually best to create specific content for each social media platform and not just share the same on multiple platforms.

Facebook
Facebook allows you to write longer posts. Try to write in a compelling way because people like reading informative content. But to grab their attention while they scroll down their feed, it’s best to add a picture or video.

YouTube
Well, YouTube is for videos only. What really is key is the introduction, as people would leave a video they don’t find interesting after 10 seconds. Ads on YouTube are quite annoying; however, they are a great opportunity for marketers because viewers are forced to see them and if they are good, they’ll remember the brand.
Having a good YouTube channel is probably the costliest social media of all, but it is worthy if one is marketing a product whose target is young, predominantly male and a video lover.

Instagram
Instagram is the picture social media par excellence. I think it is really important to think if one’s product or service is suitable for taking many images or not. Keep in mind that if your profile is mostly raising awareness around a topic and not your brand, the best thing that can happen to you is to become an influencer in the field, but it won’t bring you more sales!
If your product or service is suitable for pictures, then it is best to have a plan and use the same filters every time to create a more homogenous and visually appealing profile.
Captions are important to describe the product you are promoting. Make them compelling and explicative, make followers feel the value you are selling. Hashtags are also very important to make more people find you. It’s worthy to do a research and find the best one for your field.

Twitter
With the restriction of only 140 characters, Tweets have to be concise, compelling and straight to the point. To grab more attention, you can share a picture.
You can direct to articles or posts through links. Since also the characters in the link count, it is best to use a tool to shorten it such as bit.ly.
Many Twitter users go there for news, so it is best if your content is informative.

Snapchat
Teenagers on Snapchat post their “stories”, so to target them, you will take pictures, use funny filters, and upload your daily business’ story.
You can also create branded filters, which will only appear in specific locations you define. This makes them great when you are having an event. You only need to design and upload it, while people will be able to add this extra spice to their story at your event.

LinkedIn
The content you share on LinkedIn is more professional, but this doesn’t mean it has to be boring. You can upload pictures, infographics and even videos. So, you can be creative here as well!
People would mainly go on LinkedIn to look for business opportunities or expand their networks. What you can provide them is interesting facts about your company and products or your field. You can show how innovative your brand is and its deep knowledge of the industry.

Social media can boost your sales, but you have to use it in the right way, in order to engage with the right people and make your social media audience convert.

20/12/201720/12/2017

A weekend in West Bali exploring the essence of the island

My life in Bali is just made of incredible experiences and inspiring encounters. Last weekend was one of those times, when my co-working space Dojo Bali organized a trip to West Bali with the Five Pillar Foundation. I didn’t really know what to expect, I only knew that the area was a sort of hidden gem in the island, a place where tourists don’t go and locals still live the traditional way. What I immediately noticed when we got there is the immense beauty and dominance of nature: unlike the other densely populated areas I had seen before, this region of Bali seems more preserved and wild, with palm tree forests everywhere. I definitely had the feeling I was exploring the true essence of the island.

The Five Pillar Foundation supports rural Balinese communities in fulfilling their potential from an economic, social, environmental, educational and cultural point of view. On one hand, they help local entrepreneurs in getting a better exposure to the market, on the other hand, they have a very strong youth educational program to create jobs beyond hospitality and tourism.

They also build an international bridge by organizing trips to rural villages where the visitors can experience the Balinese traditions and values, while inspiring the locals with new business opportunities.

Banjar, community life

Our weekend was a full immersion into local knowledge, traditions and culture. Our guides were Wira, the co-founder of the Five Pillar Foundation, and Ngurah. Both young men are from West Bali and they are committed to preserving the island and its treasures. They told us how Balinese believe there are 3 types of relationship: with other humans, with nature and with the Gods. This is no big surprise for this spiritual, peaceful and respectful society.

But one thing had already caught my attention at the tooth filing ceremony: the importance of community life, or banjar. For centuries, the inhabitants of the island have had a system of mutual help and compassion: in the busiest time of specific harvests the entire village assists the farmers, expecting the same in return when they need it. If a family has a joyful celebration or mourning, everybody joins and supports them. The ones who don’t take part to those activities become outsiders and lose the help from the banjar. It looks to me like a sort of idyllic community life and I hope the Balinese will be able to preserve it despite the modern times.

For what concerns the relationship with nature, we learnt about the Subak, the ancient irrigation system of the island that is still in place and distributes water coming from the mountains equally to all the villages. We also heard about challenges the farmers had to face and are still facing since the introduction of pesticides in the 70’s. The Five Pillar Foundation is also committed to preserve the traditional cultivation methods that are better for our health, as they are organic, and better for the ground, as they have been in place for centuries.

Meeting with inspiring entrepreneurs: between modernity and tradition

One of the highlights of those days was meeting local entrepreneurs that are part of communities the Foundation supports by giving them better exposure to a bigger market. The idea is to promote economic growth and development of the region by fostering the traditional jobs and productions.

It was like being part of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” when we tried to make chocolate bars in a chocolate factory and felt in heaven when a holy coconut oil producer gave each of us a massage. We heard the incredible story of how a very creative mushroom farmer got a message from a God in a dream that inspired him to invent a special water filter made of clay coming from 4 sacred areas of Bali. We tasted snake fruit directly from the trees in a plantation and we ate fresh fish in the most beautiful setting of all, facing a palm tree forest ending in the ocean at sunset.

Those entrepreneurs opened their homes, farms, factories and hearts to us, they told us about how they keep the tradition of their ancestors alive, how they follow natural cycles for their 100% organic, fresh and top quality products. It was really inspiring for me to meet them because they were all doing their jobs with great dignity, courage and humility. They felt so proud of their simple products and looked very happy in their uncomplicated lives. I think we have a lot to learn from them and I would really like to support this kind of projects by offering my time.

A true co-giving experience with the kids of the Five Pillar Foundation

The following day was in the spirit of co-giving: it was our turn to do something for the community. We went to the Five Pillar Foundation headquarter, where they have a recreation centre for the youth. The idea was for us to tell something about our lives, jobs and countries, to inspire approximately 50 kids between 15 and 25 and help them practicing their English. What I found really surprising was that, when asking what did they want to become, most of them said they wanted to get jobs in hotels in Kuta, one of the most touristic towns of the island. They didn’t dream big and didn’t think there could be so much more! This is why I think the Foundation has a very important role in giving them hope and showing them that another life is possible. If all the young people from the region worked in hospitality, there would be no development and all the traditions would get lost.

The kids seemed very excited to meet foreigners and get a different perspective, some of them were really shy and didn’t dare asking questions. Some of them even joined us for lunch and we all enjoyed the afternoon swimming in a river by a snake fruit farm. The atmosphere was so playful and joyful that it was a real shame it had to end.

The art of Canang, or the essence of Bali

We said goodbye to the kids but our day was not over, as we had the incredible opportunity to learn how to prepare the offerings, or Canang. If you have been to Bali, you will have seen that the women put little baskets with flowers, incense and some food in front of every door and crossroad. Those are the offerings they make to protect from the devil. But we learnt there is another type of offering, for the Gods in the temples. It consists of a similar basket made of an interweaved leaf and it only contains flowers and incense. A very nice woman taught us how to create and fill it with the right flowers. It was quite hard to follow her skilled hands when interweaving the leaves, but with some help we made it and we were then able to go to a temple and leave our offerings. We also got the blessing from the priest: holy water and some rice on our head, forehead and throat.

It was incredible because it is very rare that visitors have access to the most authentic spiritual aspects of Bali with the locals. Like when I went to the Kerambitan Palace, I felt very fortunate that I was able to experience such a moment.

During this weekend so many people opened their homes, farms and hearts to us, we felt strong connections most of the foreigners miss when in Bali. But what I think was the most important aspect was that I opened my eyes on the reality of the island. I realized that there can be no development without tourism, but it is also vital to respect and maintain those ancient values that made this place so special. The Five Pillar Foundation has a very important role in building this bridge between local and international and making a sustainable development possible.

To learn more about the Five Pillar Foundation and their activities or if you wish to support them, visit their website.

With the kids of the Five Pillar Foundation

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30/11/201730/11/2017

Do you know your target market?

The first question I ask when someone wants to start a marketing project with me is “do you know your target market”? It is one of the vital aspects to consider when you found a startup because it allows you to create the product accordingly. However, from my experience, some founders do not have a very clear idea about it.

This is why I’m sharing my tips on how to find your target audience.

1. Know the problem you are solving

First of all, think at the problem your product is solving. Does it address a specific group of people? Or is it something more generic that could apply to many categories?

In both cases, in the beginning you have to create an as specific and segmented audience as possible. Focus on just 1 or maximum 2 groups. You will tailor your product and communication to them.

The trick is to always start from small and then scale.

2. Segment your target market

How to segment your market? Make it simple.

If you’re a B2C start from location and demographics such as age and gender. Then also look into some other information such as interests, buying habits and income.

If you’re a B2B, you will want to know what is the type and size of business you are targeting, who is the person you are going to talk to, what is their role and experience.

I think it’s really important to have a very clear idea of that.

3. Get data with surveys

Now that you know which groups you are going to focus on, try to get data about them. What do they like? What is their consumer behaviour? Would they be interested in your product? How can you best approach them?

This is the time for you to create a survey. I would recommend to start with the easiest resource you have: your own network. If your friends are in the target market, send it to them on social media. Reach out to all the people you know and that can be relevant for you. Don’t be afraid to ask to put you in touch with the ones they know. If you are a B2B, send it to your email list of relevant people in the industry.

It might not be the most professional way, but it can always give you an insight on what people need and in a very simple way. You might be very surprised and completely change some aspects of your business.

You can also send out the survey via email if you have a database or do it through LinkedIn. Just look for people in the industry and contact them. This might even help you find new potential customers. In any case, trying does not hurt!

4. Use data from existing products

Are you offering something that is similar or correlated to an already existing product or service? Lucky, you: investigate this market and use its data! It is very likely that their clients will be yours as well.

You can start with a very basic and easy market research: go around and observe people’s behaviour with products that are related to yours. For instance, let’s say you are creating a line of natural organic cosmetics. Go to health shops and spend a lot of time there. Observe the customers, who they are, their behaviours and preferences. Also, look at how they buy, how many items etc. Are they mostly male or females? How old are they? Do they seem to be coming from a specific ethnic group? There is a lot you can find out just by being there, paying attention and taking careful notes.

Once you have those data, apply them to your own business strategy.

5. Find out where they “hang out”

Your market analysis does not only apply for physical places, like in the above example. Since we live in a digital world, to know more about your target you should also find out where they “hang out” virtually. Visit the forums, websites, join the social media communities and groups. Again, observe the people, who are they? How do they behave? Are there specific influencers they follow? Is your target actually there? Or is there another “place” you can look into?

This is very useful information as it will also help you to tailor your message to the communication channel, once you are ready to promote your product.

In general, don’t base anything on assumptions but test as much as possible. And this will also lead us to the next point.

6. Release your MVP and test

Currently, one of the most successful business strategies for startups is the Lean Startup Model. It comes from Eric Ries’ best seller “The Lean Startup”.

The idea is to create a Minimum Viable Product or MVP as soon as possible, in order to test it with real users. This will allow you to get information on what the market needs and wants, from which you will adapt your product. There is no need for you to wait to have something perfect, just get out the roughest idea of your product.

You might realize that some features are not perceived as useful as you thought or, vice-versa, your testers might make you aware of something you didn’t consider and that would be a deal breaker for them. You might even find out that the target you individuated is not as effective as another one.

With all these insights, you will be able to further develop your product according to the market and make sure it is something they want. If you had spent most of your resources to come out with a “perfect” product with all the features, it would be a real pain if you needed to pivot.

These are my tips on how to know your target audience. How did you do with yours? Please leave a comment below, would love to hear from you.

For more information on my marketing strategy service for startup please visit the specific section. If you have questions, please contact me at mail@annafranchi.com

23/11/201723/11/2017

A digital nomad in the Royal Palace of Kerambitan: 2 days in a fairy tale

My digital nomad posts are usually more on general tips than my experiences. But the life I chose sometimes offers incredible adventures I’d have never thought of. This week, I decided to share something more personal, a story that resonates fairy tales or books from past centuries: how I was a guest of a Balinese prince in his Royal Palace for 2 days.

Last month I was visiting a temple in Bali and I felt a little overwhelmed because it was full of people. So, I searched for things to do around that area. I found a quite old blog mentioning an ancient palace in the village of Kerambitan. Since this was the only mention I saw on the internet, I thought it would be the remote and non-touristy place I was looking for and went.

The palace itself was a traditional Balinese construction with courtyards and many small buildings with terraces. Of course, it was bigger and more luxurious than the houses I had seen before. All the doors where open, so I decided to enter. At first, I only found some dogs, who kept burking, but I didn’t get discouraged and continued walking towards the heart of the palace, until I found an old man who was drinking tea with his twin brother. They were happy to see a visitor, welcomed me and invited me for a cup of tea. I was really excited to meet them and hear their stories. They were the princes of the palace, and one of them, Oka, would be the king if the traditional system was still in place.

He told me about his ancestors, especially about the founder of the family and palace. His story was like in fairy tales. Oka also mentioned how his family got expropriated in the 50’s and he had to find a source of income to maintain the palace: he created a play with dances and music from traditional rituals and started organizing royal dinners for international guests to show his drama. He involved the entire village of Kerambitan, like in the past. Since he also covered a representative role for the Balinese government some of the guests of those dinners included Ministers, Presidents and Ambassadors. He actually showed me a wall with pictures of the distinguished guests that have come to the palace.

I was fascinated and really excited to listen to his stories and thought I’d find some friends to organize this dinner. We exchanged contacts and I left.

The following day he called me and had a big surprise: he asked me if I wanted to come on November 8 and 9 to see the tooth filing ceremony that would have taken place in the village. The ceremony itself is an initiation ritual where a Brahmin priest smooths canines and incisors of teenagers. It symbolizes the passage to adulthood and a way to smoothen the savage aspects of the soul. I had no idea what to expect nor what that was but I was really excited to accept this invitation. A night in the palace, the ceremony and me getting the traditional Balinese costume, it sounded like a movie or a fairy tale.

I decided to not read anything about the ritual, I wanted to get there with a completely open mind. Oka only told me that it would have been good if I bought a clock as a present for the kids and their community rooms.

So, I came back to the palace on November 8 in the afternoon. The prince and I got ready and went to the building across the street for the preparation rituals. There were decorations everywhere, mainly flowers and drapes. It was really beautiful. Some of the kids of the ceremony greeted us at the entrance, together with a traditional orchestra playing non-stop. It was a women only orchestra and all the ladies were wearing matching costumes, they looked really good and professional. There was the entire village, people from areas nearby and even from Denpasar, the capital of Bali. It was a big deal, especially because it involved 7 girls and 7 boys. You could see that everybody was wearing their best dress, the women wore beautifully embroidered shirts and skirts, flowers or jewellery even in their hair. I was the only non-local but everybody was really friendly and welcoming. The few ones who spoke English asked me where I was from, what did I do etc. It was really nice and I felt so fortunate to be part of this unique and authentic experience, something that the average visitor does not live in Bali. It was really special.

One of the courtyards had tables and food for the guests. Rice, noodles and a variety of meats and vegetables. I can’t really say what I ate, but it was delicious. The fact that the entire village could come to take part to this seemed very positive to me. I saw people entering with baskets with food and leave them at the entrance. They would collect them when they left and get some snacks in return. It looked like an idyllic community life.

The music and joyful atmosphere went on till late in the night and then the kids had to retire in some rooms especially prepared for them, were they were supposed to mediate and get into the mood. I also went to sleep in my room in the palace. It felt a little surreal, who knows what important guests had been in those places before me, I was in a building full of history and legend.

The following morning the music woke me up at 6am, so I got up and got ready for the ceremony. If the previous night the atmosphere was very festive and relaxed, it was more formal and serious the following day: there was incense everywhere, and sacred chanting. One of the buildings was the holy area where the ritual was performed. The boys and girls were sitting in their beautiful and matching costumes, with jewels and makeup. There were 2 priests, one for the girls and one for the guys. The kids would go one by one and lie on a bed. The Brahmin would put something in their mouths and then file their canine and incisors three times. You could see the excitement in the kids eyes as well as in their families, some mothers were getting really emotional. It was joyful but very solemn.

After the ritual, there was a meal again. I ate so much in those 2 days, but it was delicious and just incredible. Overall I can say it was very intense but unique. It’s the typical story I’ll tell my grandkids and I feel really grateful.

I wanted to share my story just to show an example of what can happen when you are a digital nomad, travel the world and are open to what life brings you. And now to you, what’s the most unusual experience you had in the past months?

16/11/201716/11/2017

Email marketing tips: how to write emails people will actually open and read

You know your newsletter is a big part of your marketing campaign, it is one of your best tools to communicate with your customers and keep them engaged with your brand and product. Email marketing is also the channel with the best ROI. However, you can’t just do anything and expect it to work. Actually, do you struggle with the open rate and feel lucky if it hits 17%? Are you scared your contacts would hit the infamous “mark as read” button when they get your newsletter?

If you answered yes to those last 2 questions, this guide on how to write emails is for you!

Be niche and target your audience

First of all, an email newsletter is part of the overall marketing strategy, so it should be planned in advance and promote the different milestones, product launches, achievements and news of your business. And it should also provide some valuable information. It’s not something that can randomly come out when you need it.

Then, focus on your target audience and write something that appeals to them. You don’t need to create a newsletter for everyone, but just for the ones that matter, your customers. If you carefully choose who is going to get the email and make it relevant to them, you won’t need to segment it. You will have a specific list in a certain niche.

Like we said many times before, quality is better than quantity!

Try to please the people you are sending the email, making it seem like a friend who is casually writing to update them. The secret is, try to make them feel excited about reading your newsletter.

Write good content

It goes without saying, if your content isn’t good and interesting, people won’t be happy to read it. There are certain tools that can automatize the curating process of the newsletter. Don’t use them, because curating means to carefully choose and pick what is good, remove what does not work, refine the text in a methodical and thoughtful way. Only a human brain can do this job. So, read what you’re about to send out and make sure there is no random content a software put together. Of course, you can automatize the tedious procedures, but never have the machines replace you entirely.

First you need a good understanding of what your audience likes and cares about. Then, make the effort and deliver accordingly. You might need to do a lot of research to put together something interesting for them. But it will be worthy, they will be happy to receive your updates.

Don’t forget the context

The context of your newsletter is you writing to your customers to update them on your business, products and provide them with some useful information. So, your tone should be friendly, making your business seam more approachable and closer to their needs. Also, try to be casual and to make your brand’s personality stand out. This way, you will make your communication seem like a conversation between 2 people and not you blasting them.

Don’t just put a list of events or links you recommend, always comment on them, saying why they should read them. Make everything you write relevant to them.

When adding a link, you can also not reveal too much about the content of it, to create expectations and make people want to click on it. Another idea is to put links in the body of your email, incorporating them in the context of what you are saying. It will make it more interesting and sort of gamify the content.

Be like a scientist: test and act accordingly

Your email marketing campaign is an eternal work in progress. You can always do better and you can always learn from your mistakes. When it comes to email marketing campaigns, you should be like a science: experiment and act accordingly.

A great way to see what works and what doesn’t is to do an AB test. Most email marketing software provide this option. You will split your receivers into 2 groups and deliver them slightly different content. You can test one variable at a time, it can be the subject line or something in the content. The reports of the campaign will tell you which option worked best. Next time you will implement the option that had the best results and test another aspect. It will give you a great insight on what your audience likes.

Don’t overdue with the design

The new trends in writing newsletters is to have a very neat design and a good content. You want people to read the email and not just look at how pretty it is.

Don’t overwhelm them with flashy design. It’s better to keep it simple, with a lot white spaces to provide a break from the content.

Put one content block at a time with relevant images between them. It will highlight the single sections and make it easier for readers to skim to the part that most appeals to them.

Personalisation

Every email marketing software offers an option to personalize the email, from putting the greeting at the beginning of your text (“Dear Name”) to customize part of the content in the body. We all like to receive something that looks as if it was written for us personally.

As previously said, the aim of an email marketing campaign is to interact with your customers, offering them valuable content. It’s not just a one-way communication tool. So, make it personal, act like a human being. Always remember to whom you are writing and create something that will appeal to them.

Don’t bombard your readers with your offers, or they will hit the “mark as read” button. Provide them with reasons why they should be excited about your newsletter. Did you know that over 50% of the emails in an average inbox is promotional?

Writing a good email is not a mysterious science. After all, it’s all about caring about your readers and value their time. Make them want to stay in touch with you and they will be happy to read your campaigns!

If you need further help with your email campaigns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mail@annafranchi.com. If you are looking for support for your digital marketing, please check out my services for startups and small businesses

06/11/201706/11/2017

Pro tips you need to know when you move to a new country

02/11/201702/11/2017

10 things you should know when planning your holiday marketing campaign

We just left Halloween behind us, and this means only one thing: it’s time for your holiday marketing campaign. This is that time of the year when you can increase sales and get new customers!

Here are some marketing tips for holiday season to survive the madness and get the best out of it.

The customer journey starts on mobile

As said in the previous post, nowadays many customer journeys start on mobile. And it’s ok to assume the holiday shoppers are not different.

People look at their phone for information on a product and they want to find the most relevant one to their search regardless of the brand providing it. So, try to give them the answer they are looking for and they will be more likely to purchase from you.

Mobile users are also increasingly more impatient. Give them a seamless online experience, especially for what concerns the payment, but also in store. For instance, provide the opportunity to pre-order an item online, so that they can just come and pick it up. You will make them save some time, and they’ll love it.

Look at your past holiday marketing campaigns

Look at your data from the past. Which products sold the most? What got the most engagement? On what dates did you have the biggest sales peaks? This is very valuable information to help you prepare for this year:

Get enough stock of last year’s top sellers
Create campaigns that address that specific need
Adjust your calendar with tactics and promotions according to the business spike days
If you sell online, make sure your website can handle extra traffic on those months

Plan a social media campaign

Social media are key in this season. You should plan your strategy in advance to make sure everything is ready and you can actually focus on customers and sales. However, this doesn’t mean you can just let the campaigns run without ever looking at them

Be creative with compelling and attention grabbing visuals
Don’t forget video
Provide enough information why your product is a season must have
Interact on Facebook groups to show the human side of your business, don’t focus on ads only
Be responsive to people’s questions to show you care about them

Holiday season is also a great opportunity to provide value to your target audience. So, go to the “places” where they “hang out” and comment, offer useful information and, of course, promote your products. Your goal is to grab your fans’ attention, in order to get them do the job for you and save some money on ads.

Plan your email campaign

Your email marketing campaign for the holiday season should obviously be mobile friendly, as many of the customers will read the emails on their phones.

The first step is a compelling subject line that will make people open the email. To stand out you should write something that makes them feel the need to buy immediately or that contains blessings or words of gratitude. If possible, personalize it to deliver a more authentic experience and put funny emoji. If you have a special offer for holiday season, put it up front.

In the body of the email, add a call to action, especially with a “buy now” button that smoothly redirects the readers to your website.

Create holiday coupons, specials and discount codes

Create a coupon or special for the holidays, to attract more people to your store. Make people feel FOMO (fear of missing out). Use a slogan such as “going fast”, “last chance” etc. They will have a further reason not to miss your product!

It’s also good if you create deals:

Make a deal for new clients, to attract them
Create another one for returning customers, to encourage them buying again

This way you make them more loyal to your brand, and they will visit you again, even after the holidays.

Of course, promote those offers on social media and in your email campaign.

Create a product that will be available only during holiday season

Sell a specific product at that time of the year only. People will feel FOMO and will want to buy it, as it will be something exclusive.

If you sell online, create a specific landing page for that offer and optimize your entire website around it. This will give it the right visibility while creating expectations for that unique product.

This message should also be integrated into your social media and email marketing campaigns, to make sure everybody knows about it.

Create an early holiday preview sale in November

Running a sale in November is a smart move for many reasons:

You will get rid of some hard to sell products
Your customers won’t be in the holiday rush
People will buy, even if just for themselves and not feel bad about it
Satisfied customers will come back to you to buy more gifts
You will stand out from competition

You should promote this campaign very heavily, on social media and with your emails. Don’t worry if you feel like you’re exhausting your clients, you’re doing something special and they need to know about it. An idea is to encourage them to spread the word and bring some friends, rewarding them with additional discounts.

Segment your holiday marketing campaign

It’s always easier to get an existing client come back rather than acquiring a new one. Customization can be a very good tool to effectively re-engage your customer base and stand out.

First of all, pick your list of people who purchased in the last 6 months and segment it. It can be based on demographics, purchase preferences, how much they spent etc. Some individuals might fall in different categories, but it’s important to have each one in only one group.

Then, create targeted messages and offers for the different segments and reach out to them on the channel that best suits them.

Quality is better than quantity! You might get to fewer people, but they will be more valuable and more likely to convert.

Don’t forget to measure your results and check them in January. This will help you figuring out what worked and what didn’t and if your segments were accurate. You will replicate this model next year or in other peak seasons, but in a revised and improved way.

Don’t forget about the last-minute shoppers

Your customers are probably as busy as you are before the holidays and some of them will want to buy last minute. Google reports that in 2016 there was a peak on Christmas Eve for searches such as “where to buy”, “shops open on Christmas Day”.

So, make sure you still have enough inventory and, especially, inform your clients about your opening hours during the holidays. Put this information already on the landing page of your website, share it on Facebook and in your email campaign.

Send a post-holiday email

Once the holidays are over, keep your customers engaged. The best way is to send a post holiday email where you thank them for their purchases, but you also inform them about new sales.

You can send this email in early January, wishing them a happy new year and informing them on a limited time offer you made for your loyal customers. They will keep you in mind over the year. It’s also a great way to remind those people who received a coupon from your store to use it.

So, are you ready to rock this holiday season? Check out my services for further support.

29/10/201729/10/2017

Funny facts that make you realize you settled in a new location

Starting in a new location is always hard and requires some time, as you can read in my past post. But after a while, you will finally realize you settled in your new place. I think there are some recurring funny facts that show you have found a new home away from home. I found 5 of those signs, do you know more?

You are actually using the local language more than you thought

The first signal that you settled in your new place comes from the language. If you speak the local one, you will one day find yourself thinking or dreaming in it. The first time it happens makes you feel really powerful and ready to rule the world. If you don’t speak it, you will still pick some expressions and start using them. And the same for your friends, so you almost create a new language with those few words you know.

When I arrived in Chile I hadn’t being practicing Spanish for several years. So, honestly, at first I was very shy showing my language skills and I felt like if I had forgotten everything. It was also quite hard to understand the people because I had studied in Spain and the accent in Chile is very different. But I still remember the morning when I woke up and found myself thinking in Chilean. I also realized this is how I had dreamt that night. It was a great confidence boost and from that point I started speaking only Spanish to all the South Americans.

When in Rome…

You know you now feel at home in a new place when after a certain time, you find yourself acting like the locals. Without even noticing it, something that looked so impossible and far from you, becomes usual and normal. You will just find yourself doing it. This feels weird but in a positive way, as you basically overcame your own limitation.

I learned to ride a scooter here in Bali. At first I was really scared: the traffic is bad, the rules are different, the drivers are crazy and the riders are so reckless. I thought I would only go very slow and respect all the rules like if I was in Europe. But this was only for the first days. It didn’t take me too long to realize I needed to do like the locals in order to survive. So, I now zigzag between the cars and go even on the pavement. Sorry mum, I know you don’t want to hear this!

Sooner or later, you will try to cook local food

After a couple of months in a place, you have adjusted to so many things, that you almost feel like a local. So, you think you are ready to cook some local food. It’s the ultimate sign that you are not a visitor anymore. Unless your friend’s grandmother taught you the tricks of their cuisine, your experiments will miserably fail. No matter how hard you try and how much effort you put, there will always be a little secret you need to know to make it really authentic.

When I was in Miami for my semester abroad, I had friends from all over the world. We wanted to celebrate Thanks Giving with a traditional dinner, since no one had family there. We decided it would be at a friend’s place and we all prepared something. The host was in charge of the turkey, of course, and I helped her because I love cooking. Neither of us had ever made a roasted turkey nor saw anyone doing it, but we thought we would just follow the recipe. Despite our really hard work, the outcome was not as good as expected: it was so dry we could barely eat it…

You buy something local at the supermarket that is actually not what you expected

In the first weeks when you are in a new place, you would go to the supermarket and buy food and brands you know. At least when you eat at home, you want to have something that makes you feel comfortable. But once you feel settled you think it’s time for you to try something new. You walk out the grocery store feeling really cool and can’t wait to try that local food that looked so amazing. What usually happens when you try it, is that you realize you bought something completely different and that what seemed like a dessert, is actually something more similar to a sausage roll…

I wanted to buy very simple crackers here in Bali. I don’t speak Bahasa and found a package that had a writing and a picture that made me think it contained wholegrain crackers. So, I got home, prepared a guacamole and was very happy to eat it with my crackers. Too bad they were cookies with a mix of sugar and some spice on them. Definitely not the best match for my dip! Lesson learned: always translate the writing on a package of a brand you don’t know. No matter how settled in a culture you feel, you’re still a foreigner who doesn’t know everything.

The way you dress changes

When you feel at home in a new location, you also realize the way you dress has changed. According to your packing style, you brought fewer or more of the cloths you would usually wear, but every place has a different unofficial dress code. It doesn’t mean you will completely change your wardrobe, you will just adapt it to where you leave.

For Italian people, for instance, flip flops are just for the beach. You don’t wear them in a city and you especially don’t wear them at work. And I nestle thought I would never use them anywhere else. However, here in Bali everybody wears them all the time. Also, the co-working space I work from, is by the beach and I really like walking there when I take a break. The first days I used my nice shoes and sandals, but they turned out not to be the best option for sandy feet. Plus, the wet season is approaching and it’s raining very heavily almost every day. So, I felt defeated and started using flip flops to go to work. At my biggest surprise. I think this is the sign that I really settled in. When in Rome…