Tag: small business

Forbes Technology Council — In a world bombarded by advertising messages, it’s become increasingly challenging to capture the attention of consumers. Traditional marketing tactics are often met with skepticism, causing businesses to seek innovative ways to engage their audience organically. Join us on a journey to unlock the secrets of unforgettable marketing, where authenticity and genuine connections reign supreme. Discover how to captivate hearts and minds, leaving a lasting impression that sets your brand apart in a sea of noise. Providing Genuine Value: Inspire, Educate And Empower Step away from the traditional sales pitch and focus on providing genuine value to your audience. Offer insightful content that resonates with their interests and needs. Become a trusted source of information, guiding them through their challenges and empowering them to make informed decisions. By putting their needs first, you establish credibility and build a loyal following that views your brand as a valuable resource. Entertaining Experiences: Spark Emotions And Forge Connections Imagine if your marketing efforts could evoke laughter, bring a tear to the eye or ignite a sense of wonder. By framing your messages within captivating stories, you can create memorable experiences that go beyond mere promotion. Touch the hearts of your audience, make them laugh or inspire them to take action. When marketing becomes an emotional journey, your brand becomes intertwined with their lives, ensuring a lasting connection. Authentic Conversations: Listen, Engage And Inspire Break down the walls between your brand and your customers by actively listening and engaging in meaningful conversations. Embrace social media, forums and comment sections as platforms for dialogue. Respond genuinely to their inquiries, concerns and feedback, showing that their voices matter. By fostering authentic interactions, you build trust and loyalty, transforming customers into brand advocates who will enthusiastically spread the word about your business. The Power Of User-Generated Content: Real Stories, Real Impact Harness the power of your customers’ voices by encouraging them to share their experiences through reviews, testimonials and social media posts. User-generated content adds a layer of authenticity and credibility to your marketing efforts. It demonstrates that real people have benefited from your products or services, creating a sense of trust and making your brand feel more relatable. Let their stories inspire and influence others, amplifying the organic reach of your marketing efforts. Transparency And Integrity: Honesty That Builds Trust In a world of exaggerated claims and empty promises, stand out by embracing transparency and integrity. Acknowledge that you are marketing your products or services, but do so in a way that highlights the genuine benefits for your customers. Avoid hyperbole and misleading tactics, as honesty fosters trust. Consumers appreciate brands that are open and authentic, making them more likely to engage and connect with your message. The Timeless Appeal Of Direct Mail: Cutting Through The Digital Noise While digital methods have their place, don’t overlook the power of traditional marketing methods like direct mail. In a world dominated by email and social media, receiving a physical piece of mail stands out. Personalize your direct mail campaigns to make recipients feel special and valued. Utilize creative designs and compelling copy to capture attention and leave a lasting impression. Direct mail allows you to cut through the digital noise and create a tactile, memorable experience that engages your audience on a deeper level. In a world where traditional marketing approaches often fall flat, the key to success lies in organic engagement that captivates hearts and minds. By implying the tactics mentioned above, you can create a marketing strategy that is engaging, memorable and genuinely connects with your audience. Embrace the power of organic marketing and watch as your brand flourishes in the hearts and minds of consumers. Article by Forbes Technology Council Member and President/CEO/CTO of Our Town America, Michael Plummer Jr. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.  Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Forbes Technology Council — It’s been said that if you are standing still, you are moving backward. This is especially true today. Consumers are more informed and often make purchases based on their values. Plus, the constantly evolving digital age has ushered in a whole new way to reach consumers. If you aren’t considering recent trends and new technologies, you risk losing customers to your competitors. As you plan your marketing strategy for 2023, it is worth thinking about innovative approaches and how adding new tools to your marketing toolbox might impact business. Here’s a look at some of the hottest marketing trends right now and how incorporating one or more of them may help you get the attention you’re looking for. Influencer culture continues to rise. Social media is here to stay, and those businesses that can harness its power can potentially get an edge on their competitors. One way to do this is by using influencers—people who have a large following on sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok—to use your products or services and build a buzz about them. You don’t have to partner with a big-name celebrity for your efforts to pay off. Influencers with a smaller reach are often more valuable to a business if they reach the types of consumers likely to buy your products or service. A reel is worth a thousand words. The increasing popularity of Instagram, YouTube and TikTok shows that the best way to get consumers’ attention is to give them something to look at. Facebook Reels in particular grew by 220 million users between July and October of 2022, and TikTok’s 732 million users are expected to continue growing. People may ignore large blocks of text, but they will pause to watch a video. You can provide more information in less time by using moving graphics or short videos in your social media posts and on your website. Take advantage of user-generated content. When a customer posts an online review of your business or shares something you’ve posted on social media, that’s user-generated content. When someone outside your business praises it, it can carry more weight with customers as opposed to you blowing your own horn. Take advantage of this trend by suggesting customers post pictures of themselves enjoying your product/service on their social media feeds and then link to your business’s own social media. Also, encourage satisfied customers to review your business on sites like Google or Yelp. Email is still an efficient engagement method. Just because it’s been around for a while doesn’t mean that email is not an important part of your digital marketing toolbox. According to research by marketing software developer HubSpot, the average return on investment for email marketing is $36 for every dollar spent. Projections show that by 2025, there will be 4.6 billion daily email users. An email is a way to connect directly to current customers. By personalizing the email based on their past purchases, you have an even better chance of keeping them engaged. Direct mail continues to make an impact. Your 2023 plan shouldn’t rely totally on digital marketing. One of the earliest forms of business-to-consumer marketing, direct mail, will continue to make an impact in 2023. The latest data from the United States Postal Service show that 73% of all households read their mail daily. This tried-and-true method of reaching consumers where they live is even more valuable when combined with the technology available today. It allows you to target specific consumers who are likely to patronize your business. For instance, if you run a school or day care, you can target families with children. Local businesses have been very successful using new-mover marketing campaigns to encourage new residents to become their customers. Combine strategies for an omnichannel approach. Whatever strategies you decide on for your 2023 marketing plan, remember that they need to all work together to present a consistent brand. The first step to this is making sure your branding, audience and goals are clearly defined. Companies that try to be all things to all people sometimes fail to make an impact. Next, communicate the specifics to your marketing team. They must understand exactly what you are trying to do so they can in turn get your message out to the public. When you are laying out your marketing plan, don’t compartmentalize it. If it’s to work properly, it needs to be represented by a circular flow. For instance, your emails and direct mail should send recipients to your social media sites where you’ve shared user-generated content. This way, each campaign reinforces the next, increasing the likelihood that consumers will remember you when it’s time to decide which business to patronize. The bottom line is that your marketing strategy needs to be reviewed regularly to make sure it is growing and changing along with your business. By staying abreast of the latest trends, you will best position your company to catch the attention of the consumers who may one day become your customers. Article by Forbes Technology Council Member and President/CEO/CTO of Our Town America, Michael Plummer Jr. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.  Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Forbes Technology Council — You’ve most likely heard the following expression: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Think for a minute about how this applies to your small business marketing. Relying on the strategies that have served you in the past is not the way to build your business in the future. To stand out from the competition, you shake up the way you do things. In other words, you need to become a disruptor. What is a disruptor? The concept of “disruptive innovation” was introduced in 1997 by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. It describes a creative product or idea, usually by an up-and-coming company with fewer resources, that disrupts an existing market, sometimes even taking it over. Disruptors are most often associated with the fast-moving tech industry. For instance, consider Netflix. It started in the late 1990s as a service that allowed customers to rent DVDs by mail. It was so successful that brick-and-mortar video rental stores couldn’t compete; it eventually put Blockbuster, the largest of them, out of business. Then, Netflix pivoted again; in 2007, it forever changed the way we watched movies when it added a streaming service. Wikipedia is another good example of a disruptor. Dismissed as unreliable when it first started 20 years ago, it has grown into a trusted source, replacing encyclopedias as the go-to research tool. And after more than 200 years in business, Encyclopedia Britannica stopped publishing those heavy volumes. Now, it, too, can be found online. Disruptors focus on solutions, not problems. To create a disruptive mindset, you and your team need to start thinking differently. Instead of focusing on a problem, disruptors brainstorm solutions. Their ideas are likely unconventional—the ones that work often set precedents. Disruptors look at their existing products in a new way. While your company may not have the next big thing that’s going to take the world by storm, you can still disrupt the market by using what you have and presenting it differently. The pandemic has changed consumers’ needs and buying habits and created supply chain issues, forcing some companies to think outside the box. For instance, many fine dining restaurants started offering take-out or delivery for customers who stopped eating in restaurants during the pandemic. And some hotels rented out rooms to remote workers seeking a quiet place to conduct business. Disruptors don’t compare themselves to the competition. Like a jockey on a winning racehorse, you don’t want to keep pace with your competitors; you want to pull out ahead. Yet by consistently measuring yourself against them, you can’t help but wind up with a similar marketing strategy. If you want to be an industry leader, don’t worry about the competition; worry about the customers and find what they really value. Disruptors create new markets for their products. Your potential customer base is most likely much larger than the number of people served by your business combined with those served by your competitors. Instead of fighting for a bigger share of the pie, it’s time to bake a larger pie. To do this, you need to identify potential customers and find ways to meet their needs. New technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning can provide you with valuable data about consumer needs. This will help you identify segments of the market that are ripe for disruption. Disruptors are continually evolving all aspects of their company. To truly be considered a disruptor, it’s not enough to adopt a new mindset. You must also adapt your business model and your company culture. To do this, you need to create an atmosphere where creative, outside-the-box thinkers can thrive. The right people can make all the difference, whether they are new hires or current employees who’ve been trained in this new way of thinking. If you continue to challenge your employees to keep your company ahead of the curve, you will set the pace for the market, and your competitors will be working to keep up with you. Article by Forbes Technology Council Member and President/CEO/CTO of Our Town America, Michael Plummer Jr. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.  Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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