Whether you consider yourself a casual chef–making wholesome family meals like meatloaf and roasted chicken–or a culinary master, there’s something so exciting about trying a new gadget in the kitchen. Maybe you love to bake (check out No. 2) or you’re dying to try your hand at sous-vide cooking (No. 5 is calling your name)–regardless, it’s nice to have a little fun in the kitchen with some new gizmos and gadgets.
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Trudeau Graviti Electric Salt & Pepper Mills, williamsonoma.com, $79.95
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OXO Triple Timer, williamsonoma.com, $19.95
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Dacor Heritage Winestation, dacor.com, $5,299
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Whisk Wiper, amazon.com $19.95
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Anova Precision Cooker 4.0 with Wifi, anovaculinary.com, $159
You want to take your business to the next level and understand that digital marketing strategy is vital to compete and win. But this can be overwhelming and, if poorly executed, can place you further behind the competition. Here are our top five reasons why many companies are wasting money on their digital marketing strategy. But there’s a twist: It’s not about your online execution. Most problems occur before you launch your website, write a blog post or post an image. It begins with your company story.
- 1. You Have an Unclear Story: Great storytelling goes back centuries, and the story has a formula that’s proven and captures our attention every time. There’s a hero who has a problem that they can’t solve on their own. They meet an experienced guide who’s had success solving the hero’s issue that gives the hero a plan. The hero now must act. This either leads to a successful outcome or failure. Regardless of the outcome, we’ll read the 400-page book or stay glued to our seats at the movie theater because the formula of great storytelling is present. It’s easy to understand; we know what the hero wants and will wait two hours to see if they have what it takes. The mistake that companies make is to feature products, services, features or benefits, so there’s no story for your potential customers to connect to on your website, blog or social media posts.
- 2. You’ve Made Your Company the Hero: Your company is never the hero, but always the guide. Your customers are the hero in their own story, so there’s no room for another. They need a guide who has the expertise and experience to solve their problem. Talk less about how great your products and services are and more about understanding what your customer’s challenges are.
- 3. There’s No Clear Plan for Success: You haven’t defined a simple but clear process that your website visitors can understand if they hire you. So they don’t. Your site has too much information that’s difficult to follow, so visitors to your site simply give up. Create a three to five step plan that tells visitors how to get started and what success looks like.
- 4. You Haven’t Raised the Stakes: State what failure looks like. What happens if they don’t act? More stagnation? Decreased profitability? High employee turnover? Make certain that this is clear and potential customers understand the stakes of not hiring you.
- 5. Visitors to Your Site Can’t Understand What You Do and Why it Matters: Let’s face it, we want to tell the world how smart we are and that our product will change everyone’s life. Then we make the mistake of providing every detail of this information on the homepage of our website. Today people scan websites, they don’t read them, so your message must be quick and clear. We solve this issue by utilizing a 6/60/10 process. This simplifies messages above the fold (the first thing people see on your site) so that a 6 or 60-year-old immediately understands what you do, how it improves their lives and how to get started in 10 seconds or less.
Now, when you’re ready to amplify a digital marketing strategy, your audience can quickly understand how your product improves their lives with a plan for success. They’ll quickly realize that you’re Obi-Wan Kenobi to their Luke Skywalker.
For more ways to get the most out of your digital strategy, contact Bernard Lee, [email protected], founder of I-ntellect, i-ntellect.com. At I-ntellect, we’re entrepreneurs with success in multiple sectors and know how tough it can be to grow your company. We leverage 25 years of business experience, combined with best in class digital strategies to take you from a leader to The Leader.
]]>Getting sales and marketing to talk to each other may feel like torture, but it has never been more critical—especially for the more than 5 million mid-market industrial and B2B companies in the U.S.
The digital age and a host of technology developments have exposed four major flaws in traditional B2B marketing practices:
- Lack of coordination between brand, sales/marketing and digital activities.
- Dedication to sales at the expense of marketing.
- The slowness of firms to focus their online voice.
- Failure to recognize that the internet has changed the sales dynamic.
B2B companies are struggling to leverage the internet to sell and grow. They haven’t yet recognized that branding and digital communications have roles supporting their “relationship” style of selling. They have not crisply defined their unique promise of value and are product-driven instead.
Three core marketing functions—brand, sales/marketing and digital communications—don’t work together to build equity, share of mind, customer loyalty, or sales for B2B enterprises. Sometimes, the functions don’t like or talk to each other and in many firms, “sales and marketing” actually just means “sales.”
The internet has made company “walls” ever more transparent; there are few secrets. Your customers actually know all about you—your product benefits and even your prices—before you ever hit their door. So what are you actually selling?
When a company’s brand, its sales force, and its digital activity aren’t in lockstep, customers notice. At best, customers scratch their heads at this lack of coordination; at worst, and more commonly, firms are losing credibility, customer satisfaction and opportunity because they can’t get their act together.
A Forbes Insights article noted that the prevalence of marketing silos means:
- Each silo may have its own brand vision, creating a disjointed experience and message for the customer.
- Team incentives may motivate some team members to exploit and damage the brand in order to boost short-term sales.
- Sales teams are product-focused more than value-focused.
Not listed, but in the mix: Inconsistent customer experience across divisions and functions.
But with the right market data, the marketing function is uniquely positioned to lead the charge for integration to better serve the customer. Forbes pointed out why marketing is primed for a leadership role in integration:
- Marketing brings an outside point of view.
- Marketing can articulate the unique truth of the company and what differentiates it.
- Marketing can communicate the product and value—why products are relevant, identifying segments in the market.
To overcome the silo issue, the report concludes by offering best practices for CMO’s:
- Replace competition and isolation with communication and cooperation.
- Consolidate when necessary.
- Force integration. Set up companywide integrated processes.
There are practical steps to force different thinking and action. First, use research and market data strategically; know the customer better than anyone else. Second, stop planning functionally and start planning via a “customer experience canvass.” What does the customer need to feel, see and hear? How do we “behave the brand?” Who is responsible for delivering that? What are the methods for delivery?
In short, turn the silos sideways. Within this framework, suddenly a lot more people see and fulfill their responsibility to delight the customer/
Nancy Irwin is the Co-Founder of VOCCII, Voccii.com. Bernard Lee is the President of I-ntellect, I-ntellect.com.
]]>I know what you’re thinking: what messenger platform? If you have a Facebook app, you may have noticed that you can no longer send or receive messages directly on the app, but need to download a second Facebook-owned app called Messenger. Just like Facebook, Messenger started out as more of a social utility to connect with high school buddies or, but just like Facebook has transformed into a vital platform for business, so has Messenger—and most of us had no idea.
Our firm uses every social media platform to capture attention for our clients, and Messenger has the potential to be the most powerful attention grabber of them all, providing direct content to potential customers in a manner with which everyone is already comfortable.
Here are the three most important stats about Facebook Messenger:
- 1.9 billion users use Facebook
- 45 billion messages are sent every day on Messenger
- 65 Million businesses use Facebook
As Wayne Gretzky famously stated, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”
The puck is headed to Facebook Messenger.
Here are my Top 5 reasons not to use Facebook Messenger:
1. You Have no Interest in Targeted Data on Potential Customers
Facebook uses up to 2,000 data points that allow them to understand their audience better than our own families. As an advertiser, this information is your bread and butter: demographical and behavioral information. With Messenger, companies can drill down to a customer’s needs in a more insightful and predictable manner and communicate in a manner that connects with them faster.
For example, John in Southpark loves UNC basketball (who doesn’t?). If you’re a golfing outlet, you want to interact with folks like John, who also has Top Golf and Pebble Beach as interests in his profile. Now, you can take your relationship further.
2. You Hate Direct Access to Customers
Who wants to connect with their customers whenever they have something great to say about their company and feel that it’s important to spread the word immediately?
Facebook uses Messenger bots to identify, engage and amplify your company’s message. You control how often you use them. This gives your company more of a heartbeat, and depending on how well you utilize them, it humanizes your organization while promoting your brand.
And, since smartphones are in every pocket and purse in America, your organization’s voice can be heard 24/7/365. But use wisely my friend.
3. You Hate Innovation
I get it—this all sounds like you’d only be annoying potential customers. Like every toy, this too comes with a warning label. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t use it for good. Use it to promote your company vision and promise to consumers. Your commitment to community and service. Give your company a competitive edge and speak to consumers in a way that sets you apart.
The best part about this is? Everyone texts. In a Twitter universe of 140 characters, speed is king. Some companies have begun to use this as their new customer service model. The days of international call centers may be numbered.
4. You Have a Problem with Security and Encryption
Great technology, platform familiarity and consumers have the option to engage or not. And your company is always available when needed if a customer has a need. Everyone loves to be wanted.
5. You Hate Facebook
Just because you may not use the platform, doesn’t mean that your current and future customers don’t. If you were late to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter for business parties, you you still have time to put on your dancing shoes. Messenger will change the way that we communicate with our customers and the price is right. Since we’ve implemented it for clients, response rates and conversions have increased by over 30%.
I’ve given you my top five reasons not to use Facebook Messenger. Here’s one to use it: You can’t afford not to.
Bernard Lee is the President of I-ntellect (i-ntellect.com), a digital marketing, brand strategy and business development agency based in Charlotte. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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If you’ve watched television in the last few months, you’re aware of Amazon Alexa and her competitors that make the vision of a connected home a bit clearer. Technological advancements in areas such as voice control and artificial intelligence are enabling manufacturers of home lighting, climate control systems and home theater equipment to carve out their place in the “connected home.”
However, a recent McKinsey survey of approximately 3,000 households shows that the market is far from saturated and that companies from all industries have a growing opportunity to establish the need for their products and services while integrating with other devices like wearables and smartphones.
So it makes sense that appliance manufacturers would seek a role in this ecosystem. Whether it’s through proprietary mobile apps that take control of appliances out of the kitchen and into the palm of a customer’s hand, or integration with existing technology such as Works with Nest or Amazon Alexa, connected appliances are moving beyond the infancy stage.
What exactly does this mean for consumers? When asked for their ideas about a connected appliance, consumers may think whimsically of Star Trek or The Jetsons. While the first generation of connected appliances can’t deliver a fully automated meal, they are no longer a futuristic idea. Connected appliances are available today and offer meaningful ways to change the customer’s experience.
Jenn-Air is one manufacturer that demonstrates this integration with a connected wall oven that offers remote control via a proprietary app and the ability to interact with the Nest Learning Thermostat. “By working with Nest, we can add peace of mind and comfort to a long list of the connected wall oven’s capabilities and performance features,” says Brian Maynard, director of marketing for Jenn-Air. “The combination of a dedicated, fully featured app and Nest intelligence takes our powerful connected wall oven to a whole new level of innovation.”
As appliances embrace this technology, they will have to address a broader need rather than their traditional product definition while still ensuring that the appliance continues to provide value that goes beyond its connected features.
Says Maynard, “Consumers aren’t asking appliances to cook their meal for them, so at this stage in our connected journey, we win when the customer becomes excited about using the features they already enjoy in a more accessible, frictionless way.”
Other ways that connected appliances are seeking to change the consumer’s experience are through the ability to coordinate service calls with a factory-trained technician and to facilitate the replacement of consumables such as water filters.
]]>Recently several leading Charlotte digital marketing agencies were invited to a Google event. The topic? “Google Tips for Optimizing Your Mobile Strategy.”
A Google employee who specialized in everything mobile was on hand, and what we learned was surprising. The event began with a simple question from our speaker: “Will everyone please unlock your phone and hand it to the person to your left?”
The reaction from everyone in attendance was apprehension at best. We were uncomfortable, and not everyone agreed to participate. What our speaker wanted to demonstrate was the importance of mobile in everything that we do, so much so that we are not willing to hand it to a complete stranger for 15 seconds.
The point? Despite the relevance of our phones in our lives, Google estimates the investment by businesses into desktop is still higher than mobile. But I would have had no problem handing my laptop to the person to my left.
Google has coined a new term: finger traffic. They estimate that we have moved from a foot traffic world to a “finger-traffic” universe.
We are now averaging six hours a day in digital versus one hour five years ago. Everyone’s looking for answers, 24 hours a day and everywhere in the world. Business owners, especially retailers, need to make sure that they hit every touchpoint available. Interesting enough, with all this digital interaction, 92% of retail still occurs in store.
Why?
Because what a customer does before they enter the store has changed. This is occurring across devices and platforms, so there is no single path to purchase. Google believes that 72% of people use phones to do research before purchase and 82% of these people use their mobile device to help them make decisions on purchases while in the store.
We’re living in a new reality where business owners must be present whenever and wherever consumers are searching for information. We must begin thinking in terms of “micro-moments.” This is when users are most open and accepting to brands (old or new) to make a purchase.
In our new reality, consumers don’t care about the store in which they’re making the purchase. What matters most is the store that gets to them first with the best price. Micro-moments are about quick customer decisions. “I want to know.” “I want to go.” “I want to do and I want to buy.”
People are now caring less about brand loyalty (especially millennials), and are instead looking for an immediate solution that fits their need. These micro-moments can make the difference between winners and losers. If your company can anticipate the consumer’s decision and be ready when they’re ready through organic or paid mobile search, you could win the sale and increase your brand awareness.
This anticipation also means that you must be quick. Your website plays an integral role in user experience with a special emphasis on time to load. Google reports that 53% of customers abandon a website that takes over three seconds to load. Last year this number was 40%.
In our new mobile reality, speed can kill your business or bring you to new heights. Don’t cringe the next time someone asks to borrow your phone—they’re just doing research on their next in-store purchase.
Bernard Lee is the President of Charlotte Search Engine Consultants, a digital marketing firm that works with organizations who believe that digital outreach is vital to compete and win. They combine business acumen with digital know-how to deliver measurable growth. For more information visit charlottesearchengineconsultants.com. [email protected]. 704-593-6288.
]]>I’m often asked, “What should we doing when it comes to our online strategy? Should we concentrate on social media, Adwords, SEO, landing pages, YouTube video or all of the above?”
My answer is always the same: “Yes.”
I get the same puzzled look. Then I ask a question. “What would you like to accomplish with your digital marketing strategy?” Far too often I get a different version of the same answer, “I’m not sure.”
Many companies have become successful and maintained sustainable growth without any form of digital marketing, but in the last few years they’ve leveled off. They’re still providing the same great products and service to customers and their experienced sales team is as sharp as ever.
Their decline is a direct result of adaption—or lack thereof. In this new age, how we do business and how we share it with the public has changed forever. (If you are a new or smaller business, you can appear as large as the established companies with the right digital marketing strategy.)
Customers want to know more about the people behind a company. Do you share pictures and videos of your community involvement? What social issues do you stand for? Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and now Snapchat give your company a “heartbeat” and brand identity on a personal, accessible level. A robust and active social media presence is vital in this era of doing business and directly impacts your overall marketing strategy.
If the current customer clicks on your company’s Twitter or Instagram links and there’s little to no activity, they’ll lose interest and assume you have, too. In this new era of business, people want to know what you stand for and then what you sell.
The starting point lies in video. Your smartphone has incredible capabilities and can let your audience in on real-time activities, like your new projects, how your team celebrates success, your new hires, or your new clients. It allows people in. This is part of what your audience and potential clients want to know.
What’s become frustrating for established companies is when they lose market share to new upstarts. How does it happen? These upstarts believe in the power digital marketing.
When we’re brought in to discuss digital marketing strategies with traditional companies seeking the shift to digital, one of my first questions is, “How do you feel about digital marketing?” In many cases I get a shrug, or I don’t believe in it and can’t see the ROI. But in 2017 you cannot ignore social media. If your company sells a product or provides a service, there are over 400 million users (potential customers) each on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat that you could be accessing. Facebook just surpassed 1.8 billion users. It’s not just for fun—this is modern marketing.
The best part about increasing your online presence, especially through advertising on these platforms, is that you can get as detailed as possible. If you build custom cabinets, you can target customers based on very specific demographics. For example, if you want to reach customers in Charlotte you can target SouthPark, Panther fans, homes above $500K, who attended UNC Chapel Hill and who are also dog lovers.
Before you begin your digital marketing strategy, ask the right questions. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to establish or promote your brand, increase sales, increase followers or all of the above? With the right digital marketing strategy, the ROI will follow.
Bernard Lee is the President of Charlotte Search Engine Consultants, CharlotteSearchEngineConsultants.com. They help companies develop digital marketing strategies producing an online voice much larger than their company. He can be contacted at [email protected].
]]>In 2015, Google informed the digital marketing world that they will be expanding the use of “mobile-friendly” as a ranking signal for all languages worldwide and, more importantly, that having a mobile-friendly website will have a significant impact on your website’s Google Search Engine Results.
This was a not-so-subtle warning that if you ignore this algorithm change, you could lose your current ranking as well as the traffic to your website. We were warned that if you ignored this change that your site may not survive the “Mobilepocalypse.”
Many suffered then and I’m certain that there will be countless others that will suffer now if they haven’t made this shift.
In 2016, Google announced that they were going to be boosting the effects of the mobile-friendly algorithm that they launched back on April 21, 2015. Google said the update would happen “beginning in May,” and it “increases the effect of the mobile friendly ranking signal.” They also stated that if you are already mobile-friendly, you don’t have to worry because “you will not be impacted by this update.”
What’s the key phrase in their update?
“Ranking signal.”
It’s subtle and an almost “oh by the way” that if you don’t convert your site it’s not a big deal. But in reality, it’s one of the most important factors to determine where and if your site appears in a Google search engine results pages. Many have stated that the second update will probably roll out slowly, almost imperceptibly, and the sites who have ignored Google’s “suggestion” over the last two years will get crushed.
Why should you care? According to Google’s Mobile Path to Purchase Study:
- 48% of internet research begins on search engines
- 74% searched on mobile using a search engine
- Consumers spend more than 15 hours per week on mobile research
- 93% of people who used mobile to research go on to make a purchase
- 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones to check your site
Mobile has taken over the universe (if you hadn’t noticed). So if, for example, you’re an artist showcasing your new collection via your website, the worst thing you can do is to ignore its mobile friendliness. Here’s the link to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test: search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly.
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