Creative power and Powerful ideas business innovation concept with a red glowing boxing glove shaped as a light bulb representing strong innovative new thinking and competitive imagination.

ARE YOU PREPARING FOR A BUSINESS COMEBACK?

by BlogCommunicationsEdmiston Group
Creative power and Powerful ideas – new thinking and competitive imagination.

When there is a business halt, are you preparing for a strong comeback or sitting paralyzed in the silence? Because business owners are fearful of what is to come next, we often will sit back and do nothing. A business may never return to the way it was and just like the businesses that failed to embrace social media, those that choose to stand still and do nothing will lose.

Savvy business owners are taking this time to think of the future and what new lines of business or target clients they want to reach out to. Should their sales pitch change and if so what would that look like? Will the presentation desk, social media channels or website need updating? How will these changes impact their sales staff and will they need retraining? Could staff training be done remotely while the sales force team is working at home?

Try to work down the line deals. Now is the time to negotiate. If your conference has been canceled, negotiate rates on a tentative date to rebook the conference in the future. Pass along the savings to your customers to relaunch a successful event. Instead of doing nothing, you’ve become a problem solver.

If your fundraiser was postponed, can you create a go-fund-me campaign or an online event? There is so much need, you want to be certain your mission stays top of mind.

Meet your customers where they are. Yoga studios and gyms are providing online classes with instructors via Zoom and staying connected to their tribe through private Facebook groups. Chambers of Commerce are offering free classes on how to use Zoom. Restaurants have shifted from dine-in to take out and brick and mortar stores have opened on-line stores. Think about it. They have provided a solution to our present-day situation that could result in an additional revenue stream in the month’s ahead post COVID-19.

Barbara Corcoran, self-made millionaire, real estate mogul, and ‘Shark Tank’ star believes there is great opportunity in every crisis. She has survived 9/11 as well as other critical times in her business. “But here’s what I’ve learned on all these crises through all the years, Corcoran recently shared on her Business Unusual podcast. When things go south, they come back like gangbusters.”

Are you ready to breathe in and move forward to polish up your business? Let’s chat – give me a call at 724-612-0755 or email [email protected].

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Human Effect

How Human Is Your Business?

by BlogCommunications

Human EffectAre you depending on technology or the human approach to marketing your business?  Content, particularly in the B2B market is often clinical, crammed with facts and technical words.  Although it’s important to share your knowledge, are you connecting with your customers on a human level?

For B2C, it’s just as important to have that human interaction.  Don’t get me wrong – technology has its place in notifying you of upcoming appointments and flash sales, but it’s the human experience that converts to referrals.

Are you giving your customers that personalized experience or are they just a nameless, faceless purchaser?  Your job is to figure out how to differentiate yourself from your competition.  Why do people want to work with you or buy from you?

Givers Gain is the underlying philosophy of BNI. Be open to helping without expecting anything in return. Think about this: A prospect or a business colleague contacts you with a problem they can’t solve. You freely offer advice, which they implement. Soon, they begin to see positive results. They now have proof that your service is worth investing in, so they purchase it, and hopefully recommend it to a friend or give a positive review which others can see.

When meeting with a potential client for the first time, do you ask questions to understand their problem?  Do you take the time to get to know them and their story, or are you already steps ahead “selling them” your solution?  By investing time on the front end, it allows both parties to see if they are a fit for one another.

An integral element of human-to-human H2H marketing is the art of conversation.  The dialog can uncover potential business opportunities you may not have realized existed.  Conversations lead to conversions.  Conversions lead to business growth.

Here is a personal example of H2H experience.

Our long-time insurance agent, as well as his in house support person both retired at the same time.  I always told my agent that he was the only reason we remained with the company.  We had his cell phone and when I needed him – he answered.  Our son also had him for his agent and when he needed someone in his corner for a house claim the agent responded resulting in a positive outcome.  Great H2H experience right?

The agent personally called me and told me of his upcoming retirement.  What we have received since the agent’s retirement was a letter stating whom we were assigned to.  Not a phone call of introduction, only a letter.  We don’t feel special anymore and guess what?  We’ll be shopping our insurance.

At the end of the day, people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.  In business, as well as your personal life are you striving to raise others up to make them feel special?  I challenge you as we begin a new year to spend the time to develop and nurture relationships with your employees and your customers.  Technology has its place, but the humanness of these efforts will shine through.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Man turning knob with different stages of sales process to convert strangers into promoters. Successful inbound marketing campaign concept.

ARE YOU WINNING THE 4TH QUARTER

by ArticlesCommunications
Winning Customers

The Christmas creep is once again upon us and Pumpkin everything is being taken over by early Black Friday sales. Businesses are keying in on how to drive sales, increase consumer interest and create limited-time offers. Where in the mix is Thanksgiving?

If your company is looking to take advantage of seasonal marketing ideas, it’s best to look at some of the biggest brands in your space to see what they do to drive sales and pique consumer interest in your own business. Small businesses can compete by delivering unique products, outstanding customer service and using hashtags in posts that will pop up in social media when consumers are searching.

1. Look for easy seasonal hype
One of the easiest ways to jump into seasonal sales around the holidays is to prepare for and participate in Black Friday sales and holiday shopping days such as Small Business Saturday, which encourages people to shop locally. These days are already ingrained into people’s minds as shopping events, so it’s an easy way to jump on the bandwagon. When plugging into the seasonal sales events be sure to hashtag your social media postings.

We recently worked with a hair salon to help them plan the remainder of the 4th quarter. This included a food drive collection, special pricing on gift cards, bundling of unique products for sale on Small Business Saturday, and posting holiday hours well in advance to ensure clients were able to get their services done. Branded social media images can help increase awareness days and prescheduling posts can save time and eliminate the pressure of last-minute planning.

2. Develop an annual marketing plan
How are you incorporating monthly awareness events and fun days into your social media plan? For example, we worked with a mobile dog groomer and in her social media plan, incorporated “National Cat Day”. Restaurants have “National Taco Day”, “Chocolate Day”, etc. Think about how you can align your business. Did you know in November that it’s Military Family Appreciation Month, Men’s Health Awareness, National Hospice Month, National Literacy Month to name a few? December brings about Cat lovers month, Write a Business Plan Month.

If you are a B to B or a B to C – aligning with some of these causes and adding hashtags will help to increase your brand awareness.

3. Capture Emails and Go from Seasonal to Subscription or stay in touch with news updates
By increasing your email list, you can touch your “fan base” with news, offers, and discounts. Use the list to create a subscription service. For example, restaurants may have a VIP wine club that members pay a fee to belong. What does that get them?  Perhaps access to specialty wines nonmembers can’t experience, wine pairing events, as well as other perks.

If you are a B to B, we utilize a given process to increase your newsletter subscribers. Why is that important? It keeps your company top of mind to supporters and people who you want to do business with. For our construction clients, we share news on new projects, project updates and community involvement.

4. Plan your own seasonal sale
It’s planning ahead to take advantage of one-off discount days. Where I see businesses fall short is they lack the advanced time to promote and plan. Think about your celebration and consider offering this on an annual or quarterly basis.

We work with an eye doctor and they have an annual back to school sale. Every year in August and September they promote this sale. Their customers know it is coming and they are booked solid. They don’t discount prices throughout the year, only at this event.

The holidays may be right around the corner, but by planning ahead, your business can create its unique holiday promotions that will help you increase sales, grow brand awareness and connect with customers. Need help in pulling a plan together? Email us or call 724-612-0755 and ask about our Business Marketing Planning Package.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Emotional-buyers

ARE YOU AN EMOTIONAL BUYER?

by BlogCommunications

Emotional-buyersEmotions drive most of our decisions, and that includes what we purchase. Think about it – when you attend a trade show the smell of freshly baked cookies or popcorn will draw you into an exhibitor’s booth.

What is your company’s purpose in forming a connection with consumers that inspires trust, turns them into a lead, and might even spark a sale? The more brands can humanize their content, the more likely they are to incite an emotion that fosters a relationship between the consumer and brand.

Are you spotlighting your team in either your social media or email marketing campaigns? If you have an e-commerce site – how are you addressing abandoned shopping carts? An abandoned cart email is a gentle reminder, from a business to a customer, about the products added to a shopping cart and ‘abandoned’ there.

Why does this happen?

  • Better Price
  • Customer Distraction
  • Indecision

As business owners, we may not realize how poorly this affects our sales and business. Abandoned carts lead to billions of revenue being lost for online retailers every year.

All is not lost if you take action. Salesforce data shows that 60% of cart abandoners went back and purchased the products after receiving an abandoned shopping cart email. A personalized abandoned cart email reminder shows your potential customers what products they left in their cart and offers them another chance to complete their order.

Here’s one example of something to say in your campaign:

Hi (Customer First Name,)

We noticed you never checked out on (abandon date). Did you forget about your awesome items? We saved them for easy reference. Click here to open your cart. (Cart Link). Here’s a quick summary of your products (Products Cart)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call our customer service team.

A number of businesses also add a “How can we help make your experience better?” questionnaire to show their customers that their feedback matters. This is also a great way to know why the customer abandoned the shopping cart in the first place. If there are issues regarding a given product, the data gives you the information needed to make adjustments.

Create a positive emotion. Pull potential customers right back in with an abandoned email cart campaign and realize an increase in revenue instead of forgotten items left in an online shopping cart.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development, marketing, strategic planning and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Online-Reputation

MANAGING YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION

by BlogCommunications

Online-ReputationAre you helping your customers or selling? When you remember what your customers’ needs are and offer a solution to those needs, you’ll stand apart from the competition. By helping through offering insights and resources you take on a more humanistic approach in how you’re assisting your customers.

As you create content, identify how you can bring in the human element. Outline a case study of how a customer benefited or highlight how a customer can benefit from using your product or services. Your content should find a way to spark friendly conversations between your business and customers.

Social media can play a role in the humanness of your business. Encourage discussion about content on social media, reply to comments, use customers and staff members in your content, and create content about the issues that are most important to your customers. They may be consuming it through a screen, but you can still make them feel something in their hearts with your content. That’s part of the connection they have with you.

When asking people to review you online, you open yourself up to bad reviews, too – and that’s okay. Just remember to respond to every review, in a calm, helpful fashion and seek to turn any poor review into a positive experience. What’s important is that you shouldn’t respond just to acknowledge negative reviews; you should respond to positive reviews, as well. Replying to your reviews will show other future customers that you’re active in your online communications.

Social media has played a role in helping to level the playing field for small business. Most consumers look at online reviews before purchasing a service or product. The Edmiston Group has recently been involved with two separate situations where online reviews were not as favorable. The companies had totally different customer situations that cause the less than favorable review. Here’s the difference in their response:

  • One company didn’t respond to any reviews – a thank you, acknowledgment that they were happy the reviewer liked the service, etc.
  • The 2nd company wrote something for each review they received. Upon receipt of a negative review, they contacted the reviewer via phone, explained the situation as to why something couldn’t happen due to regulations and wrote a response.

So, if your potential customers are coming across your small business online and running away in the opposite direction once they see your lack of endorsements or your lack of engagement, what can you do to turn that around? Online reviews are here to stay. Ask your customers to become raving fans by taking a couple minutes to write a review. Be sure you are monitoring your social media channels and engage.

Set yourself apart from the crowd. Be different by saying “please” and “thank you,” sending a personalized thank you note in their online order, giving a small discount to apologize for a customer service issue and so on. Be customer service focused. Your customers will remember your kindness and may return the favor by leaving you a positive review.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development, marketing, strategic planning and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Use-Your-Email-Marketing-Results-to-Find-Your-Best-Customers

Tips To Find Your Best Customers

by BlogCommunications

Use-Your-Email-Marketing-Results-to-Find-Your-Best-CustomersDo you have loyal fans? Perhaps a family member always shares or likes your social media posts. Maybe you have colleagues who refer you quite often. Third party validation is the best. But did you know that current customers and people that subscribe to your newsletter may be the path to finding your best customer?

Your email subscribers already have expressed interest in the products and services you offer, and many of them are likely opening, reading, and acting on your emails on a consistent basis. Are you really analyzing your email reports to identify the people who are most interested in your business and look for opportunities to strengthen these customer relationships?

 

Here are some tips to analyze your email list data and tap into your best customers:

Opens

  • Who opens your emails the most? These are the people who are most interested in what you have to say and have the potential to become loyal advocates for your business. Look at prior month’s topics to see if your open rate was higher or lower in previous months. Remember – each month will be different.

Click-throughs to product introductions or features

  • Next, review which customers are consistently clicking through to the content you put in your emails. This could be a blog post about a new product or service, a coupon or special offer.
  • There’s a good chance many of these people have already made a purchase or signed up for one of your services, consider reaching out to them with an online survey or a special offer to further that relationship and learn more about what they’re most interested in. If you include links to your website or social media accounts in your email campaigns, your reports will review who clicked on these links.

Coupon redemption

  • Coupons are a great way to look at a measurable action that people can redeem online. This is a great way to identify people who are not only clicking through to learn more, but are actually taking the next step to redeem an offer. Make sure to list an expiration date on your coupon so it doesn’t appear to be open ended. This helps to create a sense of urgency.

Social follows

  • If you’re using email to promote your social channels, look to see who is taking the next step to like your Facebook Page or follow your updates on sites like Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Are you taking the next step to also share your newsletter on your channels as an additional way to reach new followers?

Current customers and business colleagues can be your best brand advocates. By utilizing your email list and doing a little bit of simple analysis, you’ll be on your way to asking these involved, devoted customers to help increase the power of your marketing in no time!

Do you have questions on reporting, or are you interesting in learning how email marketing can be a cost effect way to reach potential customers? Give us a call at 724-612-0755.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long term basis. Core areas of service are business development, marketing, strategic planning and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Customer-Service-Experience

Create a Positive Customer Service Experience

by Communications

Customer-Service-ExperienceYour employees are the conduit between your customers and the cash register.  Customers choose where they spend their money. To make your small business as productive as possible, you need a great team behind you and that includes your employees.

How do you find and keep the right team of employees? Below are some tips for getting the most out of your team.

Boost Happiness Among Hourly Employees

If you want to get the most out of your team, it helps to keep them happy. Even hourly workers tend to get more done and stick around longer if you can provide some little things that make them happier at work. Expressing appreciation and a simple thank you means a lot. It shows employees you truly value them. An employee of the month recognition and a gift card every once in a while doesn’t break the bank and goes a long way toward employee morale.

Learn How to Hire Consultants

Adding to your small business team doesn’t necessarily have to mean hiring hourly employees. You can potentially grow your business by utilizing the help of consultants. These are experts in their field that can help with such things as marketing, social media, bookkeeping and human resource issues. You may not need a full-time employee. Independent consultants are focused and disciplined in their given areas of expertise and hiring the right consultant can help you strategize and grow your business.

Avoid Distractions and Consistently Hit Your Targets

It’s easy to say that you want to get more done in your business. But there are tons of distractions out there that can keep you from reaching your goals and targets. Make sure employees and consultants alike are aware of your goals. Celebrate the small victories when targets are hit.

Create a Sales Page for Your Online Course or Product

If you want your online customers to be able to complete their purchases easily, you need a great sales page. Inform your team of ongoing promotions. For instore promos – create a sales calendar outline the next quarter’s promotion so they know what’s coming up. Your staff will feel empowered and customers will appreciate a “heads up” on a future sale that starts in a few days.

Use Social Listening for Your Business

Social media isn’t just for promoting your business. You can also use it to learn from your customers and followers using social listening. Ask for reviews, monitor your online reputation and respond to any concerns listed by your customers.

Your customers and their purchasing power help to keep your lights on.  Create a WOW experience through stellar customer service. Empower your employees with knowledge and training. Give praise and appreciation for a job well done.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long term basis. Core areas of service are business development, marketing, strategic planning and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business growth.