B2B Connection

The temperature is dropping, the leaves are falling, and all the other usual signs of changing seasons are upon us. In short, winter is coming, and the holiday shopping surge is coming along with it. Deloitte’s annual holiday season forecast predicts that retail sales could exceed $1.10 trillion in the 2018 holiday season. Essentially, ecommerce is a key player in this story. It plays an ever-larger role from year to year, with online holiday sales this year expected to rise 22% over 2017’s season. That translates to an expected sum of $134 billion in ecommerce alone. What’s more difficult to know at a glance is the nitty-gritty of how brands and businesses are updating their ecommerce marketing strategies to handle the shopping season on the horizon. In what follows, we’ll try to make these particular signs are little easier to read by tapping into vendors, marketers, brand managers, and other key players on the supply side to see what they expect and how they’re prepping for this year’s holiday blitz. Ecommerce Basics Gone are the days when the corner store where everyone knows your name represented the norm in retail or customer service. Like so many other facets of our […]

Gone are the days of having quick, polite, and ultimately superficial customer interactions. The people have spoken, and what they want is personalization. It’s no longer enough to make sure your agents are hitting target KPIs such as average handle time or average wait time – although these metrics are still important – and call it a day. The customer service industry has realized that customer experience (CX) is king. Enhancing CX is one of the best ways to set your business apart from the rest. It’s likely to reap higher ROI too. As of 2017, 81% of companies surveyed in Dimension Data’s Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report identified customer experience as a key differentiator, and 79% observed the cost-saving effect of investing in CX. However, customer service companies, like contact centers, still have a ways to go in delivering quality customer experiences. In their State of the Connected Consumer report in which they surveyed over 7,000 global customers and buyers, Salesforce identified that 66% of consumers and 65% of business buyers will switch companies if they do not have personalized experiences with companies – or vendors.  A recent CX study also discovered that 58% of customers feel as if […]

”Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – Peter Drucker Having a good company culture relies on a variety of tangible and intangible factors. It is something that needs to be cultivated over time and practiced by managers and employees alike. And in today’s business world it is extremely important and can often be the “make or break” factor for your company. In fact, millennials–who make up around 35% of the US workforce–value company culture over many other things, including money. Additionally, company culture is important as it can have positive effects on your employee retention, engagement, and overall performance. Having good company culture also leads to happier employees, who are proven to be more engaged and perform better–12% more productive to be exact! Now that we’ve discussed the significance of a good company culture, here are 5 helpful tips to promote it in your workplace. Communicate and define your values “Having a clear mission and making sure you know that mission and making sure that mission comes through the company is probably the most important thing you can do for both culture and values.” – Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb According to an employee engagement poll, 1 in 4 employees are “indifferent or […]

Now that it’s 2019, 2018’s digital marketing landscape has seen trends that picked up in 2017 gain even more momentum. Video content, influencer marketing, outreach on social channels, augmented reality, SEO, and data-driven advertising strategies continue to be leading tools of choice for savvy brand-builders.   Predictions can be dicey. If there’s one constant in our technology-saturated times, it’s that the changes keep coming—often in unforeseen ways. We’ve got 2018 behind us, and can now make a few educated guesses about the trajectory of social media marketing in 2019. So saddle up for a tour of current trends and coming attractions. The Natives Are (Still) Social Let’s start with the Great White Whale of recent online marketing trends—the mad dash to master social media marketing. It is important to note that, recent events and marketing tactics have created a sense of distrust among users. This includes everything from privacy data breaches, political “trolls”, and the overuse of #ads on social platforms. Despite the 11 point decline in trust from users, social media still remains a strong contender for marketing. Now, brands are beginning to take a new, more authentic, approach to how they reach consumers. In recent years, social channels like Facebook, […]

If your business is growing, you are most likely doing something right when it comes to marketing. You have your marketing automation and weekly blog posts down, your social media posts are all duly scheduled, and your PPC ads are set in place. But where do you go from there? Soon enough, you may be scraping the bottom of the barrel unless you are willing to invest in cutting-edge marketing tools that can bring your brand deeper into organic marketing. It is time to take your digital marketing to the next level. “Creating content is not enough. Rather, you need advanced strategies rooted in your objectives so that you can engage and persuade today’s social readers.” ~ Neil Patel Instead of investing more money in paid traffic, it’s time to make your content feel more organic for your audience. This article takes a deep dive into two more advanced marketing tools that the most successful brands use to make more intelligent campaign strategies: predictive analytics and A/B testing. Adam Wagner, Chief Strategy Officer at branding and advertising firm Raindrop, doubles down on the importance of finding organic ways to reach your audience. They tend to find warmer leads in your […]

Wrapping your head around the new normal in the marketing industry means working your way through a branching tree of innovations. The long list includes social media outreach; leveraging video with different audiences in different settings; the latest tricks and tools of search engine optimization (SEO); influencer marketing; high-tech business analytics and other data-driven advertising tools; and more. Another item that belongs on our list is affiliate marketing. The term refers to the practice of earning income from marketing someone else’s brand, services, or products on their behalf. If it sounds like a golden ticket to financial success, there’s a good reason for that. It can be a great source of revenue when properly carried out. But, at the same time, the simplicity of the concept can be deceptive. And because the idea lends itself to some easy misunderstandings, a few myths about affiliate marketing have grown up over time. Our job here will be to dispel those myths and lay out a roadmap for success in affiliate marketing based on some simple fundamentals. Keep reading to grab that map. What Is Affiliate Marketing? Put simply, affiliate marketing is the sharing of revenue based on shared marketing efforts. It’s a […]

E-commerce is as much about the experience customers have to interact with your brand’s site as it is about the product and price. There are a lot of options for consumers shopping online. Creating an experience that prioritizes convenience, trust, familiarity, and efficiency is key to running a successful e-commerce business. Whether you are working on creating a new experience from scratch, or you want to revamp your current strategies, we’ve put together twelve ways to create a customer-centric e-commerce experience. 1. Give mobile the respect it deserves People are using their mobile devices to make online purchases more and more. Because of this fact, it’s crucial to make designing your mobile experience a top priority. Your best approach is to build a mobile layout for your website and then adapt it for the desktop experience. If you take the opposite approach, you’ll find yourself having to remove features in order to fit everything into the smaller screen. Another good strategy for creating a smooth mobile shopping experience is to let customers checkout using their social media account. Encourage your users to sign in using their social media credentials, rather than creating a whole new account on your site and manually […]

Whether you are a small business or a Fortune 500 company, hiring is an imperative part of running your business. Unfortunately, finding top talent in today’s job market has become more competitive than ever. Gone are the days of posting a simple job ad and watching great applications roll in. Now, candidates have the upper hand. According to a recent survey, over 40 percent of employees surveyed said they plan on changing jobs in 2018. To keep up, employers will have to adopt new recruiting strategies to attract the best candidates. To help out, we have put together a list of unique ways to find top talent: 1. Use your employees as recruiters. In this highly competitive recruiting market, your employees may be the best place to look to for finding qualified candidates. Your employees are the ones who know what it takes to work for your company, and they want to find someone who would be a great addition to their team. Start by letting your employees know what you are looking for and incentivize if you can. Many businesses offer a referral bonus to thank employees for their help. Using your employees for recruitment may not only lead […]

Change is in the air in the world of print. It’s a cliché—but a true one—that the internet has transformed how we work, relax, date, socialize, consume culture, share news, and most of everything else we do. Something else that’s been redefined by big changes in digital tech is how writers write, publish, and promote their work. One thing that hasn’t changed is that publishing a book first requires writing it. Writing means wrangling with a manuscript, fussing over edits, proofing it, and all the rest. And because even the most polished final draft won’t sell itself, you’ve got to find your readers and get your book into their hands. On the traditional publishing model of yesteryear, writers typically needed an agent to do the promotional work and represent them to publishers. Here’s where things have changed. Today, there is an abundance of digital tools designed to help you spread your ideas and tell your stories. These tools can help you publish your work without traditional support from a publisher and an agent. With the right tools and some patience and determination, you can self-publish your own work, and perhaps even achieve bestseller-grade success. Autonomous publication has enormous potential to […]

Eating out is a tradition as old as time–or at least as old as your grandparents. But technology in the modern restaurant is not. Adoption of new tech in the food and beverage industry has lagged behind other industries. Using software hasn’t traditionally been a part of the typical service industry skill set. F&B business owners may be worried about the cost of the system and training employees, or may not even be aware of what options are out there. There are many SaaS tools today that can help restaurateurs perfect their art, without being too expensive or complicated.  Online, subscription-based software has a lower upfront cost (it’s usually billed monthly). Software vendors understand that easy to learn, user-friendly interfaces and mobile accessibility are a requirement for the restaurant environment. Restaurant management tools are a great place to start when thinking about how to get those plates out of the kitchen fast. They are all-in-one systems that handle administrative tasks like scheduling, inventory, orders, payroll, and point-of-sale (POS) Outside of restaurant management tools, there are a host of tools that can help F&B businesses. Managers need to consider strategy when it comes to online marketing, loyalty programs, menus accounting, staff […]

The complexity of traditional Business Process Management (BPM) platforms has often meant that deployment fails to deliver the value originally anticipated – at least in the short term. In addition to complexity, there are very real obstacles to overcome. This is particularly true in terms of helping employees to see process automation as a way to remove time-consuming manual processes. The danger is that employees may find it difficult to abandon a broken process just because “that is the way it has always been done”. For these reasons, it is essential to build some early quick wins to build confidence and get buy-in. The following list of best practices has been found to greatly increase the likelihood of success of BPM projects. The key is to start small rather than trying to do too much too soon. 1. Plan Baby Steps While the ultimate goal is to have everyone in the organization adopt the BPM tool, you need to start off small. It could be a particular function in your organization. It could even be targeted at a specific workflow inside your department. For example, if you are targeting the human resource function, it is smarter to start with the recruitment […]

When it comes to sleek eye-catching print ads or TV commercials that make you want to dance, Apple has dominated the advertisement game. Their marketing campaigns have proved to be memorable, successful, and always seem to leave songs stuck in your head. These advertisements, however, are merely just the surface of their entire marketing strategy. Their strategy is one that runs deep, highlighting the product itself, not how to purchase it. Lessons to Learn from Apple There are many lessons to be learned from Apple’s unique approach to content and marketing. Their success does not just come from driving sales from direct marketing. In fact, much of their marketing strategy has a focus on customer loyalty, curiosity, and unique experiences. It’s safe to say that any company can learn a lot from Apple’s approach to marketing. Here are 10 lessons to learn from Apple and ways in which you can integrate these practices into your new marketing strategy. Courtesy of: The Website Group   Are you ready to adopt new “Apple-inspired” marketing tactics? Check out TrustRadius reviews for marketing automation software, content marketing software, or even video editing software to find the right tools to build out your new approach […]

As a manager, a call from HR can be one of the most stressful calls you receive if you’re not prepared.  Even though most managers have a better relationship with HR than, say, Michael Scott does, there are still phone calls no one wants to receive from HR.  Let’s look at five such calls, and how you can prepare for situations like these before they happen. 1. “You know Devon – as in Devon who you terminated two weeks ago?  We just got a letter from his attorney.” It’s easy for this kind of news to trigger an emotional response – What is he claiming?  How will I be implicated? – but try to keep your cool and focus on the facts. As you prepare, gather any documentation you have about the reason for termination, from poor performance to disciplinary action. Your HR Leader will require this documentation from you as they work closely with your legal counsel to address the situation. Never speak with the terminated employee or their attorney.  Even if Devon calls you directly, or his lawyer does, do not engage.  Let your HR Leader and your legal counsel speak for you. Don’t make any disparaging remarks about […]

Solid customer relationships are fundamental to your business success. That’s why choosing the best customer relationship management (CRM) solution is necessary. CRM platforms give your business customer-centric tools to harness healthy relationships and drive profit growth. The goal of using a CRM  is to offer a unified face to customers and provide them a great experience every time they interact with you. CRM software helps you find new leads, organize contacts, track and analyze customer interactions, and give you the tools you need to effectively engage with your client base. In 2018, CRM systems are table stakes for a smooth marketing, sales, and customer service operation. But you don’t want to pay for a complex CRM if you don’t have the resources to use it to its full potential. You also don’t want an overly simple CRM to hold you back from getting smarter about customer engagement. If you don’t have a CRM solution yet, or you’re looking to simplify (or upgrade) your current system, it’s time to investigate which options will best suit your business. Salesforce is one of the most well-known CRM solutions. We will take a look at what this software features and why it is popular. […]

In an age where inbound marketing has taken over, it is almost impossible to find a software or influencer who does not have a blog. It’s basically a requirement just to be on the Internet. When blogs abound, it can be difficult to sort through blogs that are merely throwing keywords at you and the gems that can actually inspire an ‘ah-ha’ moment. Some of the best blogs out there can help you grow your business exponentially. The B2B community has a wealth of information on digital marketing, SEO, modern sales techniques, and more. To access this information, we have put together a list of the top 14 blogs you should be following. These blogs offer plenty of useful content that can help you get started or advance your skills in your B2B company. The first 7 are personal and consulting blogs, followed by 7 software companies with blogs dedicated to the B2B space. B2B Personal and Consulting Blogs 1. Neil Patel’s Blog You don’t need to work in digital marketing long before you start hearing about Neil Patel. Neil Patel founded Crazy Egg and Hello Bar and has a reputation for testing everything while producing enough content to prove it. His […]

If you’ve spent any time in business you know about the importance of customer experience as a way to retain customers, reduce churn rates, and attract new customers. Similarly, in recent years top-performing companies have turned that kind of attention inwards. They’ve identified employee experience as a way to retain talent, make employees happy, attract new recruits, and ultimately be better at business. As a result, these top-performing organizations have started to dedicate significant resources to measuring and improving how engaged and happy their employees feel. Below we’ll explore why treating your employees with the same level of care as you do your customers benefits all parties involved. What is Employee Experience? A lot of people believe that employee experience (EX) is synonymous with corporate culture but that’s only part of it. According to author and speaker Jacob Morgan, there are three components that make up employee experience: culture, technological environment, and physical environment. In this trifecta that makes up your employee experience, the culture is defined by the values and everyday actions of everyone in the company; the technological environment is composed of all the internal communication tools your employees use to communicate with each other like (Slack or internal email […]

A powerful HR department is essential for your thriving business.   As businesses shift to become more mobile, agile, and global, more stress is being placed on HR teams. Employees expect an HR team who provides an amazing onboarding process, constant feedback and recognition, and timely attention to their needs. Not only that, but they expect their documents and timesheets to be digital, mobile and self-service. As an HR representative, it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed. Fortunately, this is where modern HR management software comes in. HR management software is no longer just about employee history, timesheets, and payroll. In fact, solutions now include all core HR functions plus talent management and integrations with other business tools. Modern HR management suites are where core HR operations and strategic HR programs converge. The options for equipping your HR department are endless. To help you get started, we take a look at one of the most classic HR providers: Zenefits. After we give you the low-down on this solution, we will explore alternative options available to you as well. Zenefits for HR Zenefits is online software built for the entire HR ecosystem. Since 2003, this platform has evolved to feature HR, […]

It’s a big question and if you find yourself in league with many marketers, one that is important to understand. A recent study conducted by Bizzabo found that 80% of c-suite executives believe that live events are crucial to their organization’s success. In this blog post we’ll walk you the various stages of event marketing and what it means for your brand. What is Event Marketing? Event marketing goes by many different names, including field marketing, experiential marketing, in-person marketing, and live event marketing. Whether it’s a thousand-person customer conference, an intimate VIP dinner for prospects, a street-side donut booth your brand sponsors, an internal company event to rally your team, or a roundtable discussion of an industry–event marketing is harnessing the power of person-to-person experiences to create unforgettable moments that drive business goals. It’s also just so happens to be one of the most effective channels for achieving business goals. Note: While event marketing can be associated with exhibiting or sponsoring an event in addition to hosting your own, we will focus on what it takes to create your own event during this piece. (Still, that’s not to say that many of the same takeaways don’t apply. They definitely […]

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is simple. Businesses pay for ads to appear on search engine results pages, like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Bing, Yahoo and more. Every day, 3.5 billion Google searches take place. People are seeking information on all things, whether it be clothing brands, health products, or food delivery options. No matter your type of business, you need to appear in those top results. That’s where SEM comes in. Your ads are online and easy for potential customers to find. Ad retargeting makes SEM even more effective because it tracks who has visited your site and makes sure they see your ads again. Search Engine Marketing is necessary for your business to grow in today’s competitive climate. Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is one of the most popular choices for SEM and ad retargeting but that does not mean it is the only option. Here we take a dive into Google Ads and its competitors to see how they compare. A Glance at Google Ads Google Ads is one of the biggest pay-per-click online advertising platforms. It has formerly been well-known under its original name, Google AdWords. The platform itself is free to use and only charges businesses […]

The adoption of mobile device usage since 2011 is nothing short of a revolution. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 95% of Americans own a cell phone and 77% own smartphones. This is up from 35% in 2011. As our comfort with cell phones increases, so does our dependency. This past March, Pew reported that 26% of American adults go online “almost constantly” up from 21% in 2015. The vast majority of us (77%) go online daily, with 43% going online several times a day and 8% going online about once a day. Wide mobile adoption crosses multiple demographics. Americans ages 30 to 49 are now as likely as younger adults to use the internet almost constantly. Additionally, the share of “constant” internet users ages 50 to 64 has risen from 12% to 17% since 2015. This widespread adoption of mobile naturally has implications for the way we search for products and services in our professional lives. It also affects how B2B marketers can reach buyers. This constant connectivity provides new opportunities for marketers to connect with B2B buyers who consume and interact with online content at all hours of the day. The Modern B2B Shopper Research from […]