Posts Tagged ‘marketing strategy’

Use Digital Platforms to Drive In-Store Traffic, and Vice Versa

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021

In the modern retail landscape, digital is no longer a threat to the in-store shopping experience. In fact, smart retailers have come to see e-commerce as a tool to boost in-store foot traffic. This represents a new phenomenon called ROPO (research online, purchase offline), where consumers start their shopping journeys online but complete them in-store.

This is a strategy used by 82 percent of consumers, according to Retail Customer Experience. Because of this, experts stress how important it is for retailers to have a strong presence in both physical and digital environments. (more…)

Creating Customer Journey Maps

Saturday, August 29th, 2020

Marketers often speak of the “customer journey.” It’s a concept that describes the various decisions customer make and the interactions they have with a company from the point where they’ve identified a need until the point when they make a purchase—and beyond. A customer journey map is important because it helps marketers visually depict the customer journey and identify areas that may represent barriers or risks of loss. It provides a documented, explicit vision of how customers will interact with your company and is a good tool for sharing with employees to help them understand the journey and the role that they play in engaging and retaining customers. (more…)

Marketing During, and After, the Pandemic

Friday, June 19th, 2020

As businesses slowly begin to open back up, many find themselves doing business far differently than they may have before the pandemic. Safety is top of mind. Not all customers feel comfortable at this point, interacting in person with the businesses they may have frequented without fear in the past. That means for many companies, a combination of in-store/in-person and online or socially distanced interactions. Many are operating on the fly, figuring things out as they go. But now may be an excellent time to take a step back and update, or create, a marketing plan to help you move forward more strategically. 

Here’s some advice for doing just that: (more…)

Does Your Business Really Need a Mobile App?

Wednesday, September 18th, 2019

Have you ever pulled up a company webpage on a smartphone and immediately been asked if you’d rather load the content on the company’s app? It seems like businesses of all sizes have gone app crazy over the last several years. Google Play currently hosts 2.6 million apps and the App Store is not far behind with 2.1 million.

Many small businesses may fear falling behind on this ubiquitous form of customer interaction, but does your company really need to have an app? In an article for Entrepreneur, Thomas Smale discusses several factors to consider when deciding whether or not to spend the time and money to develop a mobile app. (more…)

Keeping Your Awareness and Engagement Efforts Focused

Tuesday, August 13th, 2019

market research, marketing researchWe’ve written before about the sales funnel—the process through which potential customers become aware of, engage with and, hopefully, ultimately become actual customers of your company. The first part of this funnel is typically referred to as “awareness.” This is the stage at which the market—as you’ve defined it—becomes aware of your product or service. They may never be interested in making a purchase or even learning more about you, but they are aware you exist and have entered this first section of your funnel.

At the heart of the sales process is the drive to move potential customers through the funnel from awareness to action—i.e., making a purchase. A lot of resources are put into measuring the losses at each stage of the funnel and figuring out the sources of that attrition and how to reduce it. Unfortunately, a lot of these resources may be wasted. (more…)

That’s Irrational! The Weird Ways Consumers Behave and Why

Thursday, August 1st, 2019

Economic theory has some fundamental assumptions underpinning it. One of the most important is that people behave rationally. In other words, that the decisions we make are designed to fulfill our best interests.

But we know this is not always the case. (more…)

Goby the Trash Fish and Nudge Marketing

Thursday, July 11th, 2019

Behavioral economics is the study of how and why consumers do not always act rationally —rational behavior is one of the fundamental assumptions underlying classical economics. Behavioral economics helps explain things like why consumers make impulse purchases and incorrectly value goods and services. Two of my favorite behavioral economists are Dan Ariely and Steven D. Levitt, authors of Predictably Irrational and Freakonomics, respectively–two books I highly recommend.

Nudge marketing is a key form of behavioral economics. It involves providing subtle “nudges” to guide human behavior in ways that serve marketers’ needs. Here we take a look at some interesting examples of how elements of behavioral economics can be put to work in the field of marketing.

(more…)

Leveraging the Law of Reciprocity

Thursday, June 27th, 2019

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

It’s hard to overstate the value of relationships in business. And, while it’s true for companies of any size, this can be especially crucial for success among small and midsized businesses (SMBs) as well as in the B2B world generally. “As an entrepreneur, you have countless relationships you need to manage on a daily basis,” writes Jennifer Spencer in an article for Entrepreneur. “There are your employees. There are the vendors who provide needed support services to help you run your business. And, of course, there are also your customers.”

  (more…)

Growing a Subscription Model Business

Thursday, June 20th, 2019

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

content marketing, content management, newsjacking, social media, digital marketing, SEO, online marketingWith an up and down history dating back to the 1960s, the software-as-a-service or SaaS model has become the norm in tech-centered industries over the last couple of decades. With a SaaS model, providers of various applications or data storage capabilities allow end-users to remotely access the application or data. This is in contrast to models many of us were familiar with in the 1990s and 2000s where you would purchase an operating system software and install it via CD on a personal computer, for example.

In an article for Entrepreneur, Thomas Smale writes that the SaaS model has moved further and further toward a subscription model and suggests several subscription model-oriented growth strategies. These aren’t strategies only for very large, enterprise organizations. Even the smallest businesses, or solopreneurs, can leverage the subscription model to build sales. (more…)

6 Steps and 6 Weeks to an Effective Content Strategy: Week 6

Tuesday, May 21st, 2019

content marketing, content management, content strategy, strategic marketing, marketing strategically, strategic communicationsJazz is almost ready to implement her content marketing strategy. Just one more important step before she’s ready to go. (more…)