Archive for Integration & Strategy

Oct
19

7 marketing trends for 2021

Posted by: | Comments Comments Off on 7 marketing trends for 2021

7 marketing trends for 2021

Then new Global Marketing Trends 2021 report from Deloitte Insights is based on two surveys: the first, of almost 2,500 adult consumers in selected countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia; the second, of over 400 C-suite executives, including CMOs, from U.S. global companies.

The main headlines: the interconnection of trust and loyalty, and the importance of brands being able to pivot fast.

A loss of confidence. Particularly striking is the loss of confidence among executives in their ability to influence their peers and make a strategic impact. In the case of CMOs, the percentage of confident executives fell from an already very low 5% last year to 3% this year (for comparison, CEOs saw a fall from 55% to 35%.

Consumers, on the other hand, had a relatively positive perspective on how brands are responding to the current environment: “Almost four in five people could cite a time a brand responded positively to the pandemic
and one in five strongly agreed it led to increased brand loyalty on their part.”

The 7 top trends. The specific top trends identified by the report shared in common, said Deloitte, “breaking out of our often defensive mindsets to more holistically — and authentically — meet human needs.”

  1. Purpose: Flourishing brands will be those that know why they exist and who they are built to serve. “(C)ompanies which know “why” they serve their stakeholders are uniquely positioned to navigate unprecedented change.”
  2. Agility: Successful marketers will be those who invest in agile marketing strategies. The pandemic-triggered recession is not one that will reward retrenchment over imagination and innovation.
  3. Human connections: Making authentic connections is now more important than speed-to-market or efficiency. “It’s the choice between taking a cheaper flight or a safer one; buying clothing with the fastest delivery or from the supplier with the most ethically designed supply chain.”
  4. Trust: Trust arises when what’s promised is what’s delivered. Messaging should be transparent, and delivering on those messages should be consistent and reliable. Also, think about shifting your focus from demographics to values.
  5. Participation: Customer engagement at a deeper level, going beyond passive responses to activities like writing online reviews, givign advice to fellow customers, joining conversations (whether with the brand directly or on social media), and creating content relevant to the brand.
  6. Fusion: This trend recognizes the power of innovative business partnerships. As an example, “ExxonMobil partnered with a global tech company and a local car care brand to create a ‘digitally enabled car maintenance experience.’ A data platform created through the ecosystem enables customers to receive maintenance recommendations and make online reservations to have cars serviced; at the same time, it enables ExxonMobil to not only fuel vehicles but also ensure they are running safely and effectively.”
  7. Talent transformation: Marketing teams need to develop new talent models to differentiate themselves in a rapidly evolving digital environment. “(M)arketers can develop a core team comprising roles that best reflect their competitive advantage. Traditionally, these roles include those responsible for data insights, dynamic content creation, and owned and earned media.” And don’t overlook the flexibility created by the gig economy.

via 7 marketing trends for 2021

 

Comments Comments Off on 7 marketing trends for 2021
Sep
08

7 Tips to Make your Membership Site the Best it Can Be

Posted by: | Comments Comments Off on 7 Tips to Make your Membership Site the Best it Can Be

To make your membership site the best consider how you are going to operate it on a day-to-day basis.  Remember how you start is what your membership will expect from you going forward.  This is where your experience as a member of other membership sites will come in handy.

What do you like and/or dislike? Make of list of the features and benefits you want your membership site to have and then ask yourself “Can I maintain this for a year?” This is what stopped me for a long time, I just didn’t believe I could keep up with what I wanted to do so it took me years to start.  Please don’t follow my example.

The following tips are from my personal experience with my own membership sites and ones where I have just been a member.

Start before you believe you can do it

We all judge ourselves and find ourselves lacking, this is usually what stops us from taking the steps to set up our first membership site. If you have to start simple, you have to start simple there is no shame in that.  There are people out there who are just getting started and your “simple” would be a godsend.

Engage with your members

This is so necessary on many levels! When people first join your membership be sure to send them a “Welcome” email.  You can also create a welcome video and place it on your membership site. Once they are members you want to be sure you are communicating with them on a regular basis. You can use the tools of your choice;

  1. Email
  2. Facebook comments
  3. forum
  4. Q&A
  5. regular calls or
  6. comments
  7. to name a few.

When you engage with your members on a consistent basis it makes it much easier to handle expectations.

Make your site easy to navigate

This is one of my pet peeves, I have left more than one membership program where the information was very poorly organized.  How you organize will depend on the type of content you deliver.  Whether it be audio, video, graphics or text each format presents its own challenges.  Be sure to keep your naming conventions consistent, this means your members will know what they are looking for each time.  Do your very best to use titles containing keywords you believe your members will search for.  If you have a lot of content or are planning to have a lot of content be sure to use categories, this makes any search so much easier!

One little hint, if you provide links to your content be sure to add nonsensical characters somewhere in the URL.  This will prevent people from guessing what the URL of your next lesson will be and finding it without paying.

EXAMPLE: https://BestMembershipSite.com/FacebookL1

and https://BestMembershipSite.com/FacebookL2

Vs

https://BestMembershipSite.com/FacebookL1J4v98

and https://BestMembershipSite.com/FacebookL2K39HG

Study the membership sites you belong to

This is where you can really find your likes and dislikes.  Spend time looking at everything available, click all the links, open all the documents and you also want to conduct a few searches.  Search for something vague and see what happens, do you like it?  Take a look at the comments other members are making.  Are they asking for more features, if so what features?  Are they complaining about something? If so make a note to ensure you don’t make the same mistake. What are they praising or actually using the most?  Take a close look at these as you may want to implement the same feature/function. I am sure you are also a member of a few paid Facebook groups that are treated like memberships sites, look at those too.  Facebook offers lots of different functions, some of which you will be able to apply to your membership site. Find the features you like and use them to make your membership site the best it can be.

 

Test out challenges, events, and or contests

Every group is a little different, what works very well with one does not necessarily work well with others.  I remember the first time I ran a contest with an iPad being the grand prize, I was expecting to get 100’s of new opt-ins and I got 1000’s!  However, there were definitely lots of freebie hunters in there.  In retrospect, it was not the best idea for my market, at least the way I did it wasn’t, but I did learn lots! I participate in lots of events and many of my subscribers are glad I did because they get exposed to tons of new information and different options of how to get things done. Test out what you believe your ideal client would like and find out.

Implement Gamification

Gamification can greatly enhance the involvement of your members. From WikipediaGamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts.” “Gamification can also improve an individual’s ability to comprehend digital content and understand a certain area of study”

When you implement gamification you help your members;

  • Move through all the steps of your training/membership
  • Increase the engagement and hopefully enjoyment for your members
  • Provide prizes and rewards as they move through your process
  • Motivate members to complete all the steps in your process(s)

All of these factors increase your member retention in fact when it’s fun they keep coming back.

Listen to your members, what are they asking for

All your members, the good the bad, and the ugly can contribute and make the membership site an even better place. Members will come up with suggestions and ideas when they know you are open to them, therefore it’s best to take them all under consideration, even the complaints. One of the complaints I received a few years back was about not being able to find what they were looking for. This led me to find better ways to organize the information and make things more obvious from the first moment you join the membership. When you provide your members with what they want rather than what you think they want you will definitely find more engagement and retention.

If you are considering implementing your own membership site I highly recommend the new JVZoo Member platform.

Comments Comments Off on 7 Tips to Make your Membership Site the Best it Can Be

How to Decide What Kind of Membership Site Works for You

My very first “membership site” was built on a platform called Member Champ. (it no longer exists) It was a theme that allowed me to build a membership site around a single product. I had decided I wanted to have a membership site but not one that required me to regularly add content. This was a perfect start for me.

To start a membership site is a big commitment, but there are lots of benefits.  However, time really is of the essence because membership sites have become a very popular way of delivering content while receiving re-occurring revenue. It is always nice to be able to get in ahead of the curve!

Technical Considerations

  • Login forms and front-end registration
  • User Roles
  • Control who sees what
  • Menu management
  • Multiple courses or products
  • Connect to your autoresponder
  • Connect to your payment processor
  • Adding content

Do you have membership site content?

Content can come in many forms, text, video, audio and any combination of the three. When you initially get started with your membership site you will need to have a number of pieces of content before you start promoting.

If you already have a blog and are posting regularly perhaps you could post in a membership site instead.  If you’re already doing all the work it would be nice to be paid for it.  Or you could put the more generic version on your blog and add more detail, maybe even, “how to” within the confines of your membership site. There are other options for content when you build the membership site that works for you 24/7!

Where to find content for your membership

There are many places where you can purchase courses you can brand as your own and/or white label content.

White label refers to a product or service that is purchased by a reseller who rebrands the product or service to give the impression that the new owner created it. White label products are often produced via mass production.

Also, search for Private Label products because you are looking for Private Label Rights. (PLR)

Check out sites like:

Nicheology

Warrior Forum

The PLR Store

Master Resale Rights

When you purchase white label or PLR be sure to read through all of the content carefully.  Make any changes you feel necessary and add your own touch to the content.  There is so much available today it’s pretty easy to find something that would be appropriate for most niches. It does take a little work to find what’s right for you, but it is definitely worth it.

If you are a coach, who delivers recordings of coaching calls to clients and you use something like Instant Teleseminar or FreeConferenceCall you can make it much easier for clients to consume. You can add only their calls to a specific level (levels could be your client’s name) on your membership platform. This allows the client to only sign in once and see all of their recordings in one place that is easy to access and consume.

Remember we still have a large group of people who get confused and frustrated with technology, make it as easy as possible for them.

Of course, you may also have your own digital products to sell and these you would include in your membership site.

What membership sites do you belong to? Think of your current membership and your previous ones.  I’m sure there were things you both liked and disliked about each of them.  Make a note and keep them in mind when you develop your own membership site.

What is your long-term vision

When you initially set up your membership site it is best to have a long-term vision.  It is not necessary to have all the “bells and whistles” set up as this could be expensive, technically challenging and very time-consuming. You want to make sure that whatever software program you initially select is either able to grow or can easily be merged into a bigger and more complicated system.

When I first started with the one product for a one-time investment I went with something super quick and simple.  However I also knew that I wanted to have a membership with a re-occurring investment, so I made sure it would be easy to transfer my content and membership list.

The new membership software I have found is JVZoo Member and so far it has been the quickest to learn, easiest to set up and the least expensive.  Check it out, and if you have any questions please post it in the comments section.

Here are the promised coupon codes;

for $100 off yearly use coupion code “MEMB100”
For $10 off Monthly use coupon code “MEMB10”

Comments (0)
Aug
25

Membership Site Benefits

Posted by: | Comments (0)

Membership Site What is it

A membership site is an electronic place for you to store and distribute your valuable content.  You control access to your content by putting it behind a “gate”.  Once the content is behind the gate only your members or subscribers can access it.  In most cases, this is done using password protection.  You can charge money for your membership site, it can be free or a combination of both.

Remember the days of paying a monthly fee to get a magazine?  In my family, it was Readers Digest.  An electronic membership site performs the same, it provides a select group of people with access to your content.

Benefits of a Membership Site

Loyal Customers

Your customers will have an easier time accessing your content. Make it easy for your customers! When our content is spread all over the web it makes it hard to consume.  One of my favorite benefits of a membership site is that it brings everything you have for the product in one place.  Once you have it all together it’s equally important to set up the flow of your content in a manner that is easy to access and consume. I personally have left memberships simply because the owner made it hard for me to access the information.

Develop Relationships

Make it easy for people to contact you and get their questions answered.  When you are helpful and assist them in consuming the content of your site you help them succeed.  Because we all go back to the people who help us succeed!  Answering questions, being available and encouraging success all contribute to the development of relationships.  I have stayed with one coach for years because he has everything I have ever purchased from him in one spot.  I only have to login once and everything is there.

Value-Focused on Your Niche

It’s easy to add value when you are focused on a highly specialized segment of an audience.  Most importantly, there is a greater chance for success when you cater to a unique niche.  It can also be very cost-effective to focus on a targetable part of the audience.  With the likes of Facebook ads, it can be relatively easy to target a small segment of a very large audience.  For example, if you are a personal development coach for older women you could target one of the many issues that are specific to older women such as sleep, bad bosses, grandchildren, and many more.

A Steady Flow of Income

Charging a fee, large or small for your membership site can work a couple of different ways.  One is you charge a one-time fee, this way you won’t be required to continuously add content.  Number two is to have a monthly fee.  Both of these strategies work, but they definitely require different tasks from you.  If you charge a one-time fee you will either have to create new products for people to buy on a consistent basis or invest your time driving new traffic to your membership site.  Initially do whatever is easiest for you.

Security for Your Valuable Content

Going to all the work of creating a valuable product only to find it available on the internet for free is extremely frustrating.  When you protect your content behind the password protection of a membership site you are decreasing the chances it will be posted for free. You limit your content to those who are willing to pay and find your information valuable. It will not totally stop this from happening, but the majority of people who purchase memberships are honest and trustworthy.

Leverage your expertise

The concept of one to many is not new, the more you leverage and engage your members the more they will get from your membership.  When you first set up a membership site my recommendation is to limit the membership.  With a limited membership, you are able to connect with each of your new members, help them consume the product, and become an advocate for your product(s).  When you add tons of people in at the very beginning you cannot provide the personal service.  Once you have your initial core people in they will help you find the bugs, provide ideas to enhance your product, and even ideas for new products.

Leverage button pointing x10 position with two fingers, blue and grey tones,

Automate It

This is my favorite benefit of a membership site.  It takes a little doing connecting all of the pieces that go together to automate your membership site but it is definitely worth it.  Once you have the site set up it’s a fairly easy task to add more products.  There are a number of tasks you’ll need to complete such as;

  1. Product Development
  2. Sales Pages
  3. Shopping Cart
  4. Autoresponder
  5. and many more

There is lots of software available that will make this job a lot easier!  After lots of research and playing around with different software I discovered one that is simple to use, easy to set up, and less expensive than most others.  JVZoo Membership Platform Take a peek!

Comments (0)

Video is such an integral part of our marketing tool kit, but I just absolutely love the idea of video as a header on my Facebook Page!  Which suggestion do you like the best? Now I just have to figure out what to add to Butterfly Networking. 🙂

Be sure to take a close look at the 6 suggestions in the “6 Effective Elements to Add to Your Social Media Strategy” post.

A solid social media strategy has become an essential in modern business. In short, your strategy defines how your business will use social media to achieve its aims – this includes which platforms you’ll use, your measurable objectives for success and much more.

You may think that your current social media strategy has been working just fine for you, and that there’s no need to change or update it. But social media changes quickly, and so too should your approach be updated in-step.

Here are six newer elements you should consider adding to your strategy, in order to take your social media game to the next level:

Read more: 6 Effective Elements to Add to Your Social Media Strategy via Social Media Today

2018's Biggest Social Media Trends for Business

What are the social media trends this year, anywho, right? Specifically, what are the social media trends for business?

AND, exactly how are your social media strategies going to need to shift?

Want to prepare ahead of time, so you’re not only “keeping up” but rocketing ahead of the competition?

This post will outline 10 of the biggest social media trends we’ll see in social media in the coming year. Use these predictions to plan, prepare and profit from your social media efforts in 2018 and beyond!

Read more: Social Media Trends for Business – What You Need to Know via Kim Garst

7 Ways to Use Social Media to Create Buzz-Worthy Events

It used to be you spent five minutes registering for an event and then showed up on the big day, went to a few workshops, drank two free Coronas, and went home.

Social media changes all of that, enabling events and their planners to have long-term, nuanced, shifting interactions with attendees.

Read more: 7 Ways to Use Social Media to Create Buzz-Worthy Events via Convince and Convert

Comments (0)

Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn: An Unofficial, Step-by-Step Guide to Creating & Implementing Your LinkedIn Brand – Social Networking in a Web 2.0 World (Paperback)

Twitter For Dummies (Paperback)

Facebook Marketing For Dummies (Paperback)