marketing

How Your New Marketing Campaign Could Create Business Chaos (And How To Avoid It)

Leave a Comment / Featured, Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , ,

When it comes to marketing, you don’t want to be a victim of your own success. Done well, marketing can create incredible results — Getting your products, and services in front of a new audience, putting your brand front and center, and generating lots of new business.

That could be a disaster.

Let’s back up a bit…

You see, marketing affects every part of your business — If they’re not ready to handle an influx of new customers and the demand that brings, it can create big problems that damage your brand and reputation. As responsible marketers (and, frankly, lovely people), we want to make sure that doesn’t happen.

So, here’s how to look at all the “operational” bits of your business to make sure they can channel the torrent of new customers!

Your website, eCommerce store, or online presence. Make sure your website can handle the load. You’ll want to double-check response times, even when there’s lots of people on the website. Ensure all your calls to action are super clear, track how your visitors are using your site, and make tweaks and updates to make the sales and conversion funnel easier.

Your sales and onboarding process. Talk to your sales teams, sales call center, and onboarding operations. Make sure everyone knows what’s coming and that you have enough technical capacity and the right number of staff to handle all your calls.

Ensure all your sales staff are properly trained and know all of the processes, incentives, and other information they need to close sales. Find out if your sales department needs more resources. The aim is to deal with all your customers quickly, efficiently, and well, and ensure they don’t have to wait too long on the phone. Because hold music sucks.

Your logistics and distribution[/x_custom_headline][cs_text]If you need to ship products to wholesalers, retailers, or customers, make sure you’ve got the right logistics and distribution in place. Ensure you can pack up and dispatch your products quickly, so there are no delays or problems getting them delivered.

Your customer service area. When you get more sales, you also get more customer service requests. Ensure your customer support center is properly staffed and that you can handle and resolve customer issues quickly. If you’re marketing new products or services, ensure all of your support staff are properly trained on their use and possible problems.

Your software and business processes. Make sure you’ve got good communications and collaboration tools in place across your business. Your teams need to be able to talk to each other efficiently, track customers and actions, and ultimately provide a high level of service to everyone.

That goes for the software, systems, and processes your business relies on. If possible, stress test workflows, handoffs, and other possible bottlenecks so you can identify and resolve issues before they become a big problem.

All of this might seem like a lot of work, just because you’re launching a new marketing campaign, but if it does as well as you hope, you’ll be extremely happy you’ve got the right resources, training, and support in place to create super-happy customers.

How Your New Marketing Campaign Could Create Business Chaos (And How To Avoid It) Read More »

5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Help Grow Your Business

Leave a Comment / Finance, Marketing, Sales, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , ,

The beauty of social media is that it allows us to extend our network far beyond our physical location. We’re no longer limited to the people nearby.

As a business-to-business tool, LinkedIn is unmatched. 450 million of the world’s professionals and business leaders use it to connect, share ideas, and develop business opportunities. According to Content Marketing Institute, LinkedIn is the most effective social network for sales (63% of marketers report positive results).

Fill out your profile, adopt a professional demeanor, and then use these smart LinkedIn strategies to grow your business.

Speak with decision makers. If you have ever cold called a business, you know how frustrating that process can be. You get transferred around a bit, dropped into voicemail, and you’re never sure if you’ve reached someone who can make actual decisions.

Use LinkedIn to find the decision makers of a business. Many people publically display their contact information. If they don’t, ask for them by name when you call the business. This has a much higher chance of putting you in touch with someone who matters to you. If this still doesn’t work, you can always connect with them on LinkedIn itself.

LinkedIn’s search capabilities are more sophisticated than any other social network. You can add filters to your searches such as job role, industry, and company size. This allows you to put together a list of targeted potential business opportunities.

For instance, let’s say you sell payroll software designed for small businesses with less than ten employees, but only in your own state. You only want to speak to the owners of those companies, because there usually isn’t much middle-management at that size. With proper filters, you can search for those people exactly.

Become active on the network. Having a quality profile isn’t enough- although it’s EXTREMELY important! You have to be present on the social network if you expect to derive any value from it. If other users see that you haven’t posted, commented, or shared in a while, they won’t bother making a connection. This could cost you valuable opportunities.

The solution is take your social media presence seriously. Facebook and Pinterest are fun, but make LinkedIn part of your job. Set aside a little bit of time every day (not much, just five or ten minutes) to look for connections, share articles, images and videos you like, and comment on other people’s submissions.

Use groups to meet new people. A group is a collection of people around a common theme. You’ll find groups for just about everything, and multiple groups for each topic. Some are broad; others are specific. Some are public; others require permission. You don’t have be connected with anyone in the group.

Find three to five quality groups with lots of members. It should be a subject that relates to your business and something you know well. Contribute to this group often. Provide as much value as you can without selling. This will establish you as a thought-leader and expert in your field. Eventually people will clamor to connect with you.

Jump on those new leads. People connect on LinkedIn because they know one another professionally or they want to. If you are extended a connection from someone you don’t know, consider it a lead. This new person is seeking to create a relationship, so don’t waste the opportunity.

After accepting the connection, immediately send a private message – or InMail introducing yourself. If you receive a lot of connections, you can use a copy/paste response, but tailor it a bit so you don’t seem aloof. Ask some questions about the connection to find ways they could help grow your business.
Once you put these strategies in place, always remember to provide as much value as you can. Be a helpful person who’s generous with information. Eventually the connections and opportunities will come to you.

Interested in some one-on-one LinkedIn training – Give us a call!

5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Help Grow Your Business Read More »

Lizard brains, values, trust, and the awesomeness of being you

Leave a Comment / Culture, Fun Stuff, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , ,

Starting a business is one of the most awesome things you can do. You’re making something out of nothing, building new products and services that are going to improve people\’s lives, and creating jobs for people who’ll support your vision. It’s like magic — There was nothing before, and now there’s a living, breathing entity, making amazing stuff.

And every part of this comes down to you. Your views, your beliefs, your values, perspectives, influences, hopes, and dreams — All of those things are indelibly stamped on every part of your business. In short, the things that fire you up, that give you passion that you’re awesome at, are the very same things that make your business stand out. And there’s a simple reason for that — Authenticity.

It’s all about our lizard brains. Back in the early stages of our evolution, we relied on our “limbic system,” one of the most primitive parts of our brain to keep us safe. It commanded fight, freeze, or flight, and the deep instincts we used to survive. As we evolved, we sought out social groups for safety and comfort, gravitating towards others who held the same beliefs as us. Those cultural beliefs are a huge part of who we are now.

That lizard brain never went away, and it still drives us today. It’s why we react so strongly to a well-told story, why we’re moved by the smallest things, why we feel an inherent trust around certain types of people. We’re picking up on subtle cues, and seeking out others who think the same way we do. A respected business thinker, Simon Sinek, has built an entire thought system around this called “Start With Why” and it’s got some pretty good ideas.

People make decisions based on emotion as much as they do on information or data. We use “gut instinct” and “intuition” to choose the right direction, and make snap judgements based on little more than a feeling.

That’s why authenticity is so important. People want to do business with others who believe what they believe. So once you know what you believe, once you can inject it into every fiber of your business and your brand, you can create something powerfully deep and compelling.

So, spend some time digging into what you really believe. The reasons that get you up in the morning and light the fire in your belly. Think about how you can change the world, the value of what you do and how it changes people’s lives. Then, find a way to encapsulate that in your messaging and your brand — Show, don’t tell. Demonstrate what you believe, and you’ll create people who will mobilize to your cause. You’ll get your 1,000 true fans, and you’ll keep building something as amazing as you are.

Lizard brains, values, trust, and the awesomeness of being you Read More »

Community outreach — How your bank can make a big impact (and get more customers)

Leave a Comment / Culture, Finance, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , ,

With so much emphasis on online marketing and digital advertising, it’s easy to forget that one of the most powerful ways a bank or credit union can reach people is in the real world. We’re not talking about TV, radio, or print ads (although they can help) — We’re thinking of something a bit more grass roots — Outreach and giving something back, through networking, education, and other activities to help teach people about their financial options.

As a local bank, you thrive when you get out there. It’s a great way to raise awareness, educate customers, help your community, motivate your employees, and let people know you care about them. These events matter because they’re a great way to build trust. By investing your time, effort, and money into community and financial education events, you’re creating powerful change. People get something out of these events, and when they do, they’ll remember it was your bank that helped to make things happen.

Relationships between a bank and its customers can last a lifetime, so creating trust with people is a vital first step to bring them onboard. That starts by sharing something that genuinely useful — Here are some ideas on how you can do that.

Holding free classes, seminars, and forums on money and finance. Generally, people don’t know enough about finance and money to make the best informed decisions. One of the ways to change that is to share easy to understand information and free courses that educate people on how to get the most out of their money, for example:

Encouraging children to save — Aimed at getting young people interested in saving for their future. Showing how powerful compound interest can be over time, and why starting to save now can give you big rewards in the future.

Planning for retirement — Educating people on how important good retirement planning is. Letting them know about their options when it comes to the different retirement plans and funds that are available. Encouraging them to start saving for retirement right now.

Good financial management and budgeting — Teaching people how to use their money wisely, including working out how much you need to live each month, income, expenses, and disposable cash. This can be tied in with saving for the future for life events like getting married, planning for a vacation, having children, buying a house, and making big purchases.

Buying a house — Talking through the process of getting on the housing ladder. Covering deposits, mortgages, moving, and other financial protections you’ll want to have in place.

Protecting yourself and your loved ones — The need for insurance and life assurance. How to manage financial risk and make sure that all the people and things you care about are protected financially.Partner with your local schools, colleges, further education classes and community organizers to create opportunities to teach others.

Professional networking – Get involved with your local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau. Look for other opportunities to network with business owners and executives.

Ask entrepreneurs about any new plans for expansion or other opportunities. Find out about their financing and provide alternative solutions. Provide advice and support, answer questions and let people know about your products and services. These events are a great way to build up your authority and visibility with other local businesses.

Sponsorship is another great way to increase awareness of your bank and brand, while giving back to your community. There are bound to be lots of local opportunities for sponsorship, whether that’s the Little League, the Humane Society, charity drives, or anything else that gives back. Think about how you can enhance your visibility:

  • Have your employees attend the event as advocates.
  • Do branded giveaways of items people want.
  • Setup a booth providing free financial advice.
  • Be a speaker at the event.

In addition to donating money, you can also encourage your employees to donate their time and effort by giving them paid time off for community projects.

These might all seem like simple approaches, but sometimes going ultra-local really is best. Putting some time, effort, and money into community outreach and helping people gets your name out there, which can be great for winning more customers.

Have you attended an event that you thought was really amazing – let us know what it was and what made it stand out to you.

Community outreach — How your bank can make a big impact (and get more customers) Read More »

Urgent Care Centers and Protecting Your Practice’s Bottom Line

Leave a Comment / Healthcare, Marketing, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , ,

When a new urgent care facility opens up around the corner, should you begin to worry about patient retention and reduced profits? Perhaps. Anything that impacts your medical practice’s bottom line could ultimately compromise your patient satisfaction due to reduced staffing, fewer services, reduced hours and more. I’m sure none of this is shocking news – but you do have options.

The appeal of urgent care – If you want to compete effectively, you need to know what makes urgent care centers appealing. Specifically, it’s:

  • Open long hours, so people can go at weekends or after work.
  • No appointment necessary so people can go when they need to.
  • Specialized services – Some urgent care facilities provide highly specialized services like orthopedics.
  • It’s less expensive. Many people view health care services as a commodity – price is the point.

So how do you compete?

Proactively marketing your medical practice differently. We know more than a little about marketing, and when it comes to healthcare, it’s all about standing out, providing a personal touch, being there for your patients, and building trust. In short, it’s all about creating a connection, a compelling reason for them to come to you instead of going to your competition, where they’ll just be treated as a number.

This is about creating an excellent customer journey for your patients. Training your staff to be flexible and accommodating, providing a complete, holistic suite of healthcare services, and being accessible and convenient.

It’s about becoming a bigger part of your patients’ lives, when they’re well in addition to when they’re sick. Marketing can help you do just that – Email, interactive websites, patient portals, referral networks, and more all help to promote your services and encourage patients to trust you.

Will this help retain patients? Not all – but many will see the value in the connection and forgo the convenience and the dollars. If your patient goes to an urgent care facility, ensure you follow up.

You know your patients well, much better than an urgent care facility or similar provider. Use that to your advantage, to build a connection. Ensure your patients know to list you as their PCP or preferred specialists so medical records get routed back to you or your patients know to send you record of those visits.

There will be times patients will go to Urgent Care facilities out of pure convenience when you are closed. Acknowledge the fact and support your patients in their decision but make sure you stay in the loop of their care!

Focus on the positive things your practice does. You do much more than treat the sick. You almost certainly have wellness programs, specialized clinics, great advice on diet, exercise, and lifestyle, counselling services, guidance, and other services you can tailor to every one of your patients. Spend some time thinking about how you can promote those services, and become more than just a place people go when they need help.

Be more accessible and convenient. If a patient is ill, they need help there and then. One big advantage urgent care facilities have is that they can easily deal with walk-ins and are open long hours. Well, two can play at that game! Consider opening for longer and creating “walk in” slots and specialized clinics for your patients. You might also want to make signing up and onboarding patients quicker and easier, so that’s not a barrier to them coming to you.

Taken together, these three things can help you build more trust with your patients, let them know about your full range of services, and be there when they need you. If you get this in place, you’ll be in a much better position to give them the care they need. It’s not such a delicate balancing act now, is it.

Urgent Care Centers and Protecting Your Practice’s Bottom Line Read More »

The Gentle Art of Insurance Referral Marketing

Leave a Comment / Insurance, Marketing, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , ,

There’s a powerful force we instinctively use every day when we make decisions. It’s a force that business marketers want to tap into, because it can create powerful, profound results — And it’s a force you can take advantage of when it comes to selling insurance.

What is that force? One simple word — Trust.

More specifically, building trust by having people recommend your insurance products and services to others. The fancy-schmancy marketing term for this is “Customer advocate led referral marketing” but that’s entirely too much of a mouthful. What you need to know is that encouraging and incentivizing your insurance clients to refer their friends, family, and associates can get you plenty of new business, stat.

So, how do you go about doing just that? Glad you asked…

Learn about your existing customers. The first thing you need to do is to find out all about your existing customers — Who they are, what they do, the things they care about, what they need insurance for, and the lines of business they have with you.

Although you’re aiming to build an emotion (trust), ironically, it’s from cold, hard data you’ll be able to find the people who will speak up for you. Once you know who they are, you can start communicating with and incentivizing them.

Look for long-time clients, those who you solved a messy claims issue for – The ones who drank your proverbial Kool-Aid. They’re the ones who love you and wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere unless the zombie apocalypse forced them to (and even then, who doesn’t need insurance against zombie attacks?)

Provide truly exceptional customer experiences. Trust starts by making your insurance clients feel great — That means providing them with fantastic customer service, getting a deep understanding of their needs, speaking to them as individuals, and having a personal touch.

Maybe that’s sending them a card during the festive season or on their birthday, perhaps it’s notifying them about new insurance options that would give them better coverage or save them money. Essentially, anything that adds value is going to give them the warm fuzzies. And warm fuzzies equal glowing referrals.

Incentivizing your customers. We are all busy people! In the cold, hard world of business, that means you often have to provide strong incentives for people to recommend and refer their friends and family. Now, those incentives are often cash rewards or money off, but you can also offer vouchers and coupons, entry into competitions, specialized insurance, or other unique opportunities.

Sadly, people aren’t going to refer just because they really, really like you (although that definitely helps) — You have to give them a little extra. Big tip here – check with your State Insurance Department on the rules and regulations for your state regarding any type of incentive program. Often you can provide referrals but it can’t be contingent on the sale. So regardless, if there is a sale, the incentive must be rewarded.

Make it easy for them to make a referral. In marketing, friction (making something harder for someone) is always a bad thing. That means if you want to get insurance referrals, you have to make it easy-peasy. How you do that depends on how you want people to refer.

If they’re doing it through social media or email, have a unique referral link they can send to friends. If it’s going to be over the phone, have a special number they can call. Doing it via an online form? Have a specific section where they can enter referrer details. The art here is to not make your customer or prospective customer think too much.

Say Thank You. Lastly, always personally follow up with the people who made a referral and thank them. This is important, not just because they made the effort (and people like to know they’re appreciated) but because it creates positive reinforcement. In other words, the more you thank people, the more positive they’ll feel about your insurance business, and the more they’ll recommend you.

The Gentle Art of Insurance Referral Marketing Read More »

Healthy Technology — How It Helps Healthcare Providers and Customers Thrive

Leave a Comment / Healthcare, Marketing, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , ,

The pace of technological change can leave you breathless, and not because you need to go to the doctor. In fact, as technology makes our lives easier, it’s expanding into every industry — One where it’s having a profound impact is in healthcare.

It’s easy to see why. Faster, better access to medical information, apps that make it easier for a physician to do their job, and giving the patient complete insight into their health is good for everyone. In fact, it’s vital for health providers to start adopting this new technology so they don’t get left behind.

The thing is, it’s all about how technology makes your patients’ lives easier. If you understand and support their healthcare journey through technology, it builds trust with your patients and gives you an edge against your competition.

Getting the skinny on your patients.

It’s vital to have all the latest info on your patients — Medications, lifestyle changes, symptoms, medical history — You name it. Unfortunately, something most of us hate is form filling. That’s why being able to get and record information from your clients electronically makes things much easier.

How the technology helps your patients

  • It’s less frustrating for the customer to provide the information, so they’re happier
  • It’s easy to transfer information between health providers, meaning a complete picture of care.
  • Software can automatically prompt for follow-up questions, so you build a complete picture.
  • You can tend to all your patient’s medical needs, with a holistic approach.

Having healthcare information at your fingertips. Diagnostic tools and information are getting even more portable and user-friendly.

From patient charts and details on a tablet, to wearable diagnostic devices providing real-time data, doctors and patients have access to a wealth of information.

How the technology helps your patients

  • Real time diagnostics means doctors have access to the latest information and can tailor treatment accordingly.
  • Easy access to test results, charts, and treatment plans ensures a complete understanding of patient needs and conditions.
  • This provides a more flexible, reactive, and caring approach to meeting your individual patient’s medical needs.

Sharing all the medical details that matter. It used to be that if you referred someone for an x-ray or other diagnostic test, you’d need to wait for the results to be posted or couriered back to you. With high-speed internet access and software designed to handle the huge amounts of data that medical imaging produces, those waits are becoming a thing of the past.

How the technology helps your patients

  • Find out what’s wrong with your patient much more quickly, resulting in faster, more focused treatments.
  • Easier to share results with other experts so you can get a specialist consult to ensure you’re recommending the right course of action.
  • More confidence from your patient that you have all the details you need to make the right choice for their treatment.

Medical convenience through smartphone apps

It’s not just in person doctor and patient interactions where big changes are happening. There’s a whole host of smartphone apps designed to do everything from reminding a patient to take their meds, to allowing people to remotely consult with a doctor or specialist (telemedicine). These apps are an incredible way to help patients make better decisions and take charge of their health.

How the technology helps your patients

  • They can get an update or text message if a doctor is running late.
  • The convenience of reminders and updates to help them take care of their health needs.
  • Greater access to a wider range of health and medical services.

Stepping into the health portal

Finally, the idea of the patient portal is becoming ever more popular. It’s an online, one stop “body shop” where patients can ask their doctors questions, review test results, book appointments, and get other vital information. It’s the way all practices seem to be going nowadays, and it’s the type of convenience patients love.

How the technology helps your patients

  • They can log in and get updates on their diagnostic tests, treatment and medications.
  • They can easily look up doctor availability and schedule appointments.
  • They can easily ask questions of a doctor.

Of course, with all these technological changes, it’s vital to maintain the human touch. A good bedside manner, a deep understanding of a patient’s needs, and helping them make the best health decisions are vital. A website that shares all your services, gives details on each doctor, and puts your patient’s needs front and center is a great way to show that you care.

Fortunately, with the right technology, that gets even easier.

Healthy Technology — How It Helps Healthcare Providers and Customers Thrive Read More »

Why You Should Be Using Drip Campaigns

Leave a Comment / Marketing, Sales, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , ,

When someone subscribes to your email list, it’s important to capture their newfound interest by making a strong connection. The best marketers use drip campaigns to quickly interact with new fans in a short period of time.

A drip campaign is an automated series of emails sent to your subscribers. The emails are sent on a specific timeline or based on user actions. There’s no denying their effectiveness. The email marketing app Emma found that targeted emails are far more likely to earn clicks than general broadcast emails. In fact, links in drip emails are clicked 119% more often.

Drip campaigns typically begin with a welcome email that reminds the fan how they signed up and what they can expect from you. Further emails can take different shapes depending on your goals. A campaign may introduce your fans to your best content or answer common questions about your product or service. Some campaigns are almost entirely educational, designed to deliver tremendous value to subscribers.

\"Drip

The most common structure of drip campaigns is called lead nurturing: an email course that solves a subscriber’s problem. The fan signs up on your website because he’s interested in the information you promise. They involve five to seven emails with a two-day delay between each. Marketing automation experts at Drip report that lead nurturing creates 50% more customers ready to buy.

Throughout the emails, the campaign offers information that soothes the reader’s pain points. Each email should end with a call to action, usually a link to additional content or offers on your website.

Toward the end of the course, position your product or service as a logical solution to the problem with calls to action that encourage the visitor to sign up. By this point, you should have offered enough value that the reader considers you an expert.

As you begin to craft your email series, use these guidelines.

DO understand your reader. You have to create your copy to solve their problems. First, you have to know what their problems are.

DON’T be sales-y right away. If you hit your fan too hard with sales copy, you’ll turn them off from the experience. You must provide value first.

DO end every email with a call to action. Just because they’re done reading doesn’t mean they’re done engaging. This can be a link to a blog post, a social action (like, share, follow, etc.), or a link to a landing page.

DON’T rush the reader down the buyer’s journey. For instance, content that compares your service to competitors should come after you convince the user they need a service like yours in the first place.

DO move the user into your broadcast list once the drip campaign has completed. Most email marketing applications offer procedures like this.

We\’d love to hear your feedback on drip campaigns – on successes, failures, or even programs that you like or dislike.

Why You Should Be Using Drip Campaigns Read More »

Banks and the social media compliance debate

Leave a Comment / Finance, Marketing, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , ,

We work with several financial institutions, and we know that one of their main concerns is compliance – How do you make sure that what you’re saying in your Facebook or Twitter feeds meets all of the rules, regulations, and guidelines of the financial industry? Compliance can be a headache, but that shouldn’t stop you having a good social media presence.

We’ve got a solution we think you’ll love. Here’s why you should consider adding social media and social selling to your marketing.

The way to make sure your posts are compliant is to be proactive – You need to create and manage a proper editorial calendar and have a solid review process for your content. Run your content calendar, posts, blogs, and social media strategy by your compliance department.

They’ll likely provide some advice on how to phrase your posts, what to add, and what to remove. Make sure the person responsible for your social media profiles has regular conversations and check-ins with your compliance team. That way you can ensure everything your publishing has a seal of approval.

As a local bank or credit union, you’ve built up a great reputation in your area. Targeted marketing is a good way to get noticed and to encourage personal and business customers to come to you, but that’s only half the story. If you want more chances to sell your financial products and services, you need to seek out and act on opportunities — We’ll explore exactly how you can do that.

If you’re a commercial lender, your main purpose is lending money to expanding businesses. In addition to income from loans, you can upsell other products like financial protection, insurance, retirement planning, and more. The question is, how do you find those expanding businesses in the first place?

Fortunately, there’s some good technology, which, combined with some tips and tricks, can help you create some powerful leads for your banking services. In this article we’ll cover three main areas – LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Twitter, and other social media.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

As the largest social network for professionals, LinkedIn is already a strong resource for businesses. Hopefully you’re already making the most of your bank’s LinkedIn presence, but today we’re going to focus on one specific part of the platform, LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator lets you collect together prospects from across all of LinkedIn, whether you’re connected to them yet or not. It has built in algorithms to help you identify potential clients and businesses who might be in need of your bank’s financial products. It helps you understand where people are changing roles, when organizations are launching new initiatives, and how a business posts about any changes.

You can bring all of this information together in one place so you can start having informed, relevant conversations with the people that matter — The decision makers in your target businesses. It helps you put context around these conversations too, building trust with your potential clients. Combine this with insights into your professional network, other’s profiles, and lead recommendations, and it becomes a very powerful tool for finding commercial banking prospects.

Twitter

You might not think of Twitter as a way to find business banking opportunities, but used correctly it can be a great way to connect with potential customers. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:

  1. Follow the Twitter profiles of any businesses and professionals in your target geographical area.
  2. Review your Twitter feed to see what people are sharing — Are they discussing new opportunities, products, services or research?
  3. If they are, engage with them — But here’s the trick — Don’t try to sell them anything. Provide useful financial advice, professional banking support, and insight. The idea is to build up trust.
  4. Once you’ve built up that trust, you can suggest products and services to help them achieve their business goals.

It’s vital that you don’t just promote your banking products and services — That can turn people off very quickly. Instead, you want to spend time building up a good reputation and strengthening your expertise and authority.

Other social media

Finding leads isn’t just limited to Twitter either. Facebook, Instagram, even Pinterest can be good places to find new banking customers, if you know how to look. As with Twitter, start by identifying the people and businesses in your local area and connect with them.

Then, spend some time cultivating relationships — Share genuinely useful financial information and links to your Facebook page or Pinterest board. You’re looking to build a brand focused on financial trust. As you add to that content, you’ll get more visibility and potential customers will start to see you as the “go to people” for advice on their money.

As you can see, these tools can help you rapidly expand your banking market. When you start out actively seeking leads, and engaging with them in the right way, you’ll be able to build trust which will lead to more sales of your financial products and services.

Still feeling a little hesitant on tackling social media? Give us a call – we can set up a training session with you and your banking team.

Banks and the social media compliance debate Read More »

Yes, LinkedIn can be edgy

Leave a Comment / Marketing, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , ,

Man, you are missing out if you haven’t tapped into this… I can’t tell you how many times a day I preach about the power of LinkedIn. If you do sales, are looking for a job, or need to expand your network of business peeps – LinkedIn is where the party is 24/7/365. It is by far the BEST place to prospect for B2B connections – yes, I said the BEST.

Oh…and if you HATE cold calling – like most of us, LinkedIn should be your BFF. I don’t cold call – never have, and never will. Sure it works, it’s a numbers game. You make enough phone calls and knock on enough doors eventually someone will say YES. That YES could take 100 phone calls – which is A LOT of time. Or you could make other people work for you and send you referrals. That’s what I do.

Those of you are still saying – yea, I’m not wasting time online when I could be picking up the phone…

  • 450 Million users are on LinkedIn as of this writing, and every second 2 new users sign up. It’s is the biggest “Chamber of Commerce Networking Party” in the world – sans the cheap wine.
  • It’s like a multi-level marketing company or a giant pyramid. You are at the top but the REAL power is in the base. It’s not who you are connected to – or Linked to – it’s who THEY are connected to
  • Six Degrees of Separation – If you use it correctly, one of your connections will know someone who can introduce you to your #1 prospect. WARM REFERRAL – far better than the COLD CALL

Tips:

  • Use the paid version if you are in Sales Beast Mode – such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator – it’s absolutely worth the money
  • If you own a business – Please, please, please have an active business page and post relevant stuff on there. People do look – they really do.
  • Your LinkedIn profile is by far the MOST important part of your personal digital brand.
  • LinkedIn isn’t a Ronco Rotisserie oven – you don’t set it and forget it. You need to nurture, spend time with, and embrace your LinkedIn account – DAILY.

Companies that get it on LinkedIn…

According to our pals at Hubspot – here are some of the top LinkedIn Pages out there – we tend to agree. (see the full list here)

Coca-Cola – With almost 1 million followers, Coca-Cola notes in the Hubspot article that they get great traffic from their LinkedIn Posts, more so than Facebook, and to some degree Twitter. Hmmmm….If I were a betting woman, I would have said that LinkedIn wouldn’t be as high a traffic driver for them – but they make it work. HOW?

They understand the audience – it’s professional, so they tie in professional business stories into their content for LinkedIn. Posts go back to their website Coca-Cola Journey – check it out! Interesting stuff! To some degree – edgy. The posts aren’t necessarily about soda at all – but about the audience and what they care about.

Hays – They claim to be the #1 Recruiting firm on LinkedIn and they aren’t afraid to shout it from their rooftops! Just like Coca-Cola – they post relevant content that drives traffic back to their blog. High engagement rates prove that what they are writing is exactly what their audience wants to read. It’s actually quite that simple!

We aren’t claiming it’s easy to be one of these top dogs. You have to understand your clients and your prospects before you can attempt to create & curate content that is relevant to them. (BTW – that’s what we help you figure out!)

LinkedIn, for companies, is more than just a place to find good employees, it’s a place to let your brand shine and to engage your clients and to woo your prospects.

Ready to get rolling?

Give us a buzz or use our contact form so we can make LinkedIn an addition to your digital marketing strategy.

Yes, LinkedIn can be edgy Read More »