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

emotional intelligence in marketing

 

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!

Make your social media audience convert

social media audience

 

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.

social media audience

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:

social media audience

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:

social media audience

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.

social media audience

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.

social media 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.

Do you know your target market?

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

 

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.

Flower decorations

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.

Prince Oka and I

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? 

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

How to write emails

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.

how to write emails

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

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.

 

holiday marketing campaign

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.

holiday marketing campaign

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.

8 reasons why you should care about having a mobile friendly website

 

A mobile friendly website will benefit you in many ways. You’ve heard it before. However, when you run a startup you and your developing team might be very focused on launching the product, engaging new customers and building up a brand, that you forget about it. Also, when you have a small business that has been running for years, your daily activities are so overwhelming that you don’t think about it.

This is why I wanted to share the 8 reasons why you should optimise your website for mobile.

1. More people access the internet on mobile

In 2016 mobile became the primary internet access device, overtaking the desktop. Google Webmasters say that 94% of people in the USA use their smartphones to search for local information. And the statistics are not much different in the rest of the world. In many developing countries people have a mobile phone before they have a computer.

This means, it’s very likely that your existing customers will go on your website from their smartphones. Also, if you want to attract more visitors, you better offer them a mobile friendly website.

2. People behave differently on mobile

The same people have different behaviours when accessing the internet from their phones than from desktop.

First of all, the reduced size of their screens make them feel more attracted to short videos and images as opposed to text. Think at Instagram, which has based its success on people accessing and sharing images on mobile.

This means that if you care about mobile optimization, you should design a website that prioritizes this type of content.

3. Your sales will increase

Research shows that people tend to spend more money on mobile. Especially on smaller and more frequent purchases. So, if you sell small goodies on your website, it’s really worthy for you to give your users a smooth experience.

Check your website’s speed because people get frustrated and are 5 times more likely to leave a page if it loads in more than 3 seconds. They would also abandon the purchase when the shopping cart is not optimized for mobile.

But even if you don’t sell anything on your website, by giving your users a better experience, they will know you better and be more likely to buy your product or service. For instance, if you are a beauty salon and want people to book their appointments online, make sure you make it easy for them.

mobile friendly website

4. Your SEO ranking will improve

Google has started rewarding mobile optimized websites already a couple of years ago. Its algorithm is able to check mobile responsiveness and penalize the websites that perform poorly.

There is also a very simple reason why a mobile friendly website will help you in your ranking: if you give all those people accessing on mobile a smooth and pleasant experience, they might spend more time on your website. This means that your bouncing rate will decrease. Google will see it as if people were more engaged on your site and, therefore, reward you.

5. People often switch devices

Nowadays, 90% of the customer journeys happen on multiple screens. People might find out about something on their phones, maybe when they are bored on their way to work. They would then go back to complete the purchase or action on another device later. So, it is very likely that your customers will access your website from their phones at a certain point.

Make sure you give them the best possible experience regardless from where they navigate your content.

mobile friendly website

6. Mobile landing pages work differently

A landing page is the first content people access when visiting your website. It’s your one shot to providing a good experience that will make people convert and return to you.

As we said, people behave differently when on mobile and this applies also to your landing page. First of all, phone screens are smaller and require a different design, where users don’t need to zoom or pinch the page. They want to be able to read the entire content smoothly.

Remember to design all the call to action buttons and links with the right size and margins to avoid errors. Also, make sure that your phone numbers are text and not image to allow people making calls directly.

7. Social media traffic happens mostly on mobile

Nowadays, people use their social media mostly on their phones. Certain very popular networks such as Instagram and Snapchat are almost for mobile use only.

So, if you are active on social media, your content will very likely refer to your website. This means that most of your site visitors coming from social media are on their phones.

If your website is not responsive for mobile, you are wasting your money and time on social media. But if you make the effort, you will take full advantage of this incredible tool.

8. A good and optimised mobile website will differentiate your brand

If you didn’t focus all your efforts on creating a mobile website don’t worry, you are not alone. According to a recent survey by Yodle, 52% of small businesses websites are mobile-friendly. In addition, only half of them are actually efficient and good.

This means that statistically some of your competitors might not have thought about it yet. If this is the case, you might have found a new incredible competitive advantage. You can be the one giving a better experience.

I think this is especially true for startups. You are creating a new product that you are introducing to the market, so you have to show the value and create your customer base. With a poor mobile website, you might miss some great opportunities. The effort it took you until now is probably very big, so why wasting it in such small details?

mobile friendly website

So, what can you do now to get a mobile friendly website?

Now that you know why you should care about a mobile responsive website, what can you do?

First of all, run a test to see how your website is performing. Google offers the Mobile Friendly test for free here. They would also give you some tips on how to improve.

After that, if the performance is poor, go and talk to your developer. Do whatever it takes and optimise your website. It’s worth the investment and the effort!

How to create a successful social media strategy focusing on content

social media strategy

 

In the previous articles of the content is king series we talked about writing a good about us page and blogging. Now it’s time to focus on your social media strategy. After all, if you don’t spread the word, how are your customers finding your great content?

So, let’s see the why and what content to share on social media. I think one of the most important thing that you have to keep in mind is to experiment and see what is best for you and your audience. And then just repeat what works. You can also share content that had great engagement multiple times, as you already know your audience likes it.

Why content matters in your social media strategy

What brands usually want to achieve from their social media strategy is more awareness, more website visits and, ultimately, more conversions in general and sales. But sharing something regularly is not enough: it has to be compelling, in order to have people engage with it.

The social media algorithms tend to reward posts that have already some interactions by showing them to more people. So, the more interesting your content is, the more followers will give some sort of feedback on it. The more engagement the post has, the broader the audience who sees it. And, ultimately, the broader the audience, the greater the chance of conversions.

This is why it’s also important to have conversations with fans on social media. So, involve them in your business life, tell stories, ask questions, ask for comments and to answer to surveys. Try to have a dialogue with them and encourage their interaction with you and within the community of followers. This is good not only for your analytics, but also for your image, as it shows the human side of your brand and that you care about you customers’ opinion. It also helps growing your content.

Having a good, informative and useful content is also a sign that you value your fans’ time. They will appreciate your posts and be more likely to share them with their friends. This will make them ultimately respect your business and brand more.

Social media content: some ideas on what you can share

When it comes to what social media content to share you might think that your options are very limited. Well, they are not. There’s a lot you can post to create a page people will interact with. Here are some ideas:

social media strategy

Visuals are more eye-catching and less intimidating than full text posts. Try to capture your followers’ attention when scrolling down the feed with some images, GIFs or videos. Remember, people check their social media when they are bored and are looking for something interesting. This an amazing opportunity for you to provide them with something that entertains them.

To engage your customers and show the human side of your brand, share images or videos related to your routines as well as special occasions. They might be from team building activities, your Christmas party, to introduce new hires, as well as new products. But don’t focus on selling: as we have already discussed for blogging, you are trying to provide value.

Your fans won’t spend too much time reading very long articles. However, if a catchy visual gives them a quick understanding of what the text is about, they might be keener to read or at least skim through it. Their time is limited and they will appreciate you taking it into consideration. An image or video is also a great way to break long paragraphs, making them easier to digest for online readers.

social media strategy

Announce your new blog posts or any other content. But try to be creative, with visuals and compelling descriptions. I also recommend to add a call to action, maybe a question for your fans on how they deal with the subject of your article or ask to comment on it. This helps keeping them engaged and drives traffic to your blog.

social media strategy

Re-sharing your users’ content is a great thing you can do for many reasons. First of all, it shows that you care about them and that you are grateful for their engagement. Secondly, it’s content that is already there without you needing to create it. It’s also free advertising you get and it’s of the most genuine kind, since you didn’t even look for it. Always remember to thank and credit the follower.

social media strategy

Ask your fans to answer a survey on your services/products or a poll on something related to them. As we previously said, it’s a great way to show how much you care about them and your opinion and how much you want them to be part of your decisions. A nice and funny poll is also something your followers might share themselves with their friends, giving you more visibility.

social media strategy

Create a contest. For instance, you can ask people to share a picture of them using your product and to tag you. Whoever gets more likes will win a prize. People can become competitive and you’ll be surprised to see how much engagement it can get. However, this works best if you already have an audience.

social media strategy

Share compelling third party content related to your field. It gives credibility to your business, as you show that you know the big players in your industry. You also want your page to be interesting, informative and useful for your audience. Content that comes from somebody else is great to add value. You are welcome to use it but always credit your source.

social media strategy

You can also post inspirational quotes to make people think and too improve your image. Think about it, when you’re having a bad day, this kind of content can help you feeling better. And if you helped a customer feeling a little better, there are more likely to remember you and visit you page again. For some people, your quote can become a daily or weekly boost.

 

And now to you, what is your social media strategy? What do you like to share? I’m sure I missed some type of social media content… Please leave a comment below to let me know if you know something I didn’t include! Thanks.

How to become a freelancer and find your first clients

become a freelancer

 

In this video I share my experience on how to become a freelancer. For the ones who are tired of their office life and wonder whether they should take the risk and travel the world.

And what about you? How did you fins your first clients? Or if you’re still in the decision process, what is your strategy? Would love to hear from you!

Why starting a blog will be the key to your success

start a blog

 

In the previous article of the content is king series, we discussed about good about us page. Now that you have reformulated your website, you should focus on creating something new. Starting a blog is actually the most cost-effective way to promote yourself online. It will help you building an online audience of followers while avoiding the costs of paid channels.

This time, we will focus on why doing it, what to do and how you should do it.  

Start a blog

Why do you need to start a blog?

If you are a startup or small business, a good marketing strategy is key to your success. However, many people wonder why would you even take the effort of writing. Starting a blog is very time consuming but does not generate direct revenue. This is true, thus there is so much more:

A blog is a place where you find your customers, provide them with valuable information while promoting your brand. Don’t sell your products, but tell something related to them. This really helps building more awareness: your customers and readers will have your company in their minds. It also adds value to their perception of your brand making them want to visit your website more often.

Blog articles are also great original content to share on your social media pages. You know you have to keep your followers engaged posting every day but sometimes you don’t know how to make it more variegated, so use your articles.

Your website will rank higher in the search results if you have a blog. This means that there will be more organic traffic to your website. Why? If you think about it, when you google something, it is very likely that you check the first 3-4 results of the first page, like 95% of people. The higher you are, the better chances you get to be seen. The search engines like fresh content, so they will reward you. However, your content needs to be CICO, as we discuss in the following point.

How to write a small business blog

When it comes to how to write, always remind to be CICO: Compelling, Informative, Correct and Organized.

It is important that you use the right keywords your customers might be looking for. The more you have on your website, the better search engines will rank you. So, when planning to write your posts, think at what your target might search for. There are some tools that will show you if the keyword you chose actually drives traffic. One of them is Key Word Planner. To use it you just need a Google AdWords account, which you probably already have. Key Word Planner will give you insights on how often the key words you choose appear in searches in your target location. The best part is that it’s free.

Remember not to write a text that is a sequence of keywords, but something interesting and factual. Also, don’t forget proper grammar and double checking typos. Write something you would also read through: the more time your visitors spend on your website, the better.

For what concerns timing, of course, the more often the better. In general, you should post at least once a month. Do it regularly and plan it in advance. If you know you don’t have much time for blogging, hire a content writer that will do the job for you. If that’s the case, it’s important that you have ongoing conversations and maybe interviews with this person, in order to make sure the posts are consistent with your style.

It’s always better that your blog is a section of your main website, as you don’t want to create confusion in your audience, but want people to relate to your brand. If you kept it on a different site, you would drive the organic traffic coming from your fresh content there. This would be highly counterproductive for your business goals.

What to write in your small business blog

First of all, remember that you are writing your small business blog for your customers, exactly like your website. You should already know your target, so design the posts for them and what appeals to them. The focus should always be on creating compelling and informative content. If you are in that specific business, you are an expert. Even if your experience doesn’t go back to the 90’s, you know the industry you are working in. You can do this!

A very easy way to start is by telling what, how and, most of all, why you do what you do. People will relate to it and this will keep them more engaged.  If you share your knowledge and experience regularly, you will create a sort of expectation that will make people come and visit your blog for education purposes.

If you have been in business for a certain amount of time, you might always get the same questions. So why don’t you write about them? People are obviously interested in that specific topic. You might also decide to address a certain need you feel like your clientele has. In this case, your product is the solution, so make them realize it, but in a subtle way. Don’t just try to sell it at any cost.

Try to do more in-depth articles to position your blog as an educational, reliable and knowledgeable tool. You will also build trust and relationships with prospect clients, as well as fostering them with the current ones.

Involve your team in the posts. Even if there will always be one person coordinating the blog, having your entire family taking part to it will make your business more human as well as give fresh ideas on the content. Blogging will become a more fun team effort.

It is also good to check your competitors, to find inspiration but also to differentiate yourself. Like in your business strategy, find your unique selling proposition and use it for your posts. Looking at what the competition does is also great for tips about the design and the user experience you want for your blog.

Once you posted your article, share it on social media to tell the world. Also, always promote your posts among your newsletter subscribers. Email marketing is still the marketing tool with the highest ROI, more than SEO and display ads.

 

How do you write your blog posts? Leave a comment, would love to hear from you!