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Creating Mobile-Friendly Email for B2B

Feb 2014/in , , /by

Is your email marketing game up to par in today’s mobile-oriented landscape? For B2B enterprises, email is generally still the preferred means of communication. You use it to maintain contact with current clients, nurture potential leads and identify sales opportunities. As mobile phones take off, email is more important than ever before. However, if you’re not taking mobile devices into account when you create email campaigns, you may be losing your audience.

If your routine is like that of many professionals, you are probably attached to your phone. You check your email while on the subway, waiting in line for coffee and maybe even on your lunch break. Now think about what happens when you get an email that isn’t mobile friendly, or click a link that just never loads. You probably move on from that message pretty quickly and never look back. Once you start looking at it from your customer’s perspective, it quickly becomes clear that you need to think in terms of mobile.

The first thing you should do is switch to a campaign platform that automatically does mobile optimization, or create your own responsive design. This means the email will open with its format intact and won’t require too much maneuvering on the part of the viewer. Now it’s time to start writing.

Subject Line

If you thought subject line space was at a premium before, this is a whole new ballgame. Doing research using customer analytics could help you determine the key buzzwords for your customer’s industry. But use them wisely. According to email marketing platform Constant Contact, you only have about 30 characters. Creating a decent subject line with such limited space is a challenge. One thing to keep in mind is that you should try to come up with a line that actually reflects the content of the email. Think of it as the world’s shortest elevator pitch. Sometimes, posing a question is another good way to get users to open your message.

Snippet Text

Nope, you’re not done yet. Most email providers show a preview of the email after the subject line. Just like the subject line, it shows up immediately. This is prime real estate, so use it to provide consumers with another incentive to open the message. According to digital marketing expert DJ Waldow for Entrepreneur, you need to make sure the first line is something important. It could even be a good spot for a call to action.

Generating email messages that are easy for your customers to read will help you keep them engaged, giving you the opportunity to improve sales productivity.

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Your Secret Superpower: Knowledge is the Key to Building a Relationship with Your Client

Aug 2013/in /by

By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Marketing

Sometimes, you may think that anything is easier than gaining that one picky client’s trust. But, believe it or not, you can do it, because having the right knowledge at the right time is the key to understanding your customers. Yep, it’s a superpower every sales rep can have if they have the right tools and the right attitude.

So, here’s what you need to do: Take a deep look into your customer markets to get a complete picture of what’s going on and how you can help clients, then take that knowledge and build the relationship the old-fashioned way—with some good team-building techniques and a little bit of courage.

Get the Low-Down on Your Customers
Just because customers are in a similar market as another doesn’t mean they have the same needs—so, sorry to say it, but you need to do research on both. The solution that may work for Company A might just need to be tweaked for Company B, or you might have to change your entire strategy—so you need to know that before you delve into the selling process.

According to Salesforce, you need to utilize customer analytics to identify the key factors that are influencing your customer. Do they need a technical focus or a functional one? Salesforce recommended gaining knowledge about the finer points of your client’s market and their share of that market before you start trying to build a relationship.

Focus on Using Your Knowledge for Good, Not Evil
The best superheroes know when to show off their stuff and when to hide it—and they always have other peoples’ needs in mind. Earning your customer’s trust lies in focusing your research and subsequent pitch on their pain points. In a piece for Entrepreneur, Nadia Goodman, an expert on the psychology of entrepreneurship, suggested showing your customers they can trust you through demonstrating you understand their needs and have their best interests at heart.

Roderick Kramer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University, told Goodman that trust develops when you show the customer that you are consistently working to improve their bottom line.

“Trust-building and maintenance take vigilance and sustained effort,” Kramer said. “Once you have it, you can’t rest on your laurels.”

Bring the Client into Your Team
According to Salesforce, you may need to enter uncomfortable territory to build trust—meaning you need to think outside of the box. Sometimes, team-building activities like inviting a customer to the company retreat can go a long way. Take them out to lunch with your manager or the rest of your team. When you show the customer you value their business so much that you’re going to bring them into your team, it can be the boost they need to realize that you can be trusted.

The One Thing You Can’t Forget
However, Salesforce recommended that one thing must be consistent—your behavior. This is where knowledge is your secret power. If you provide exceptional customer service during your first encounter, but drop the ball by not knowing of the big merger between two of their competitors and how it may affect them during your second, their belief in you can falter.

Building a trusting relationship with your customer takes time and consistency. Conducting research into your client and their market isn’t just important—it’s essential if you want to develop that trust. Gathering knowledge about your customer can set you apart from your competitors and gain the confidence of a client.

social media

Develop a Social Media Strategy Specific to Your Customers

Aug 2013/in , , /by

By Daniela Barbosa, Director of Business Development

Simply just being on networking sites isn’t enough anymore—to stay competitive you have to be creative with the content you are putting out there, showcasing your expertise and even creating a new social community. With all of its challenges, social media continues to be one of the most effective ways you can market your company and connect with clients. When your customers are able to interact with your company online, you’ll understand what is currently driving them to purchase a certain product or favor a specific brand. But think beyond just sharing content with your clients—develop an engagement strategy that’s specific to your target consumer and you will begin to see stronger sales.

Be Purpose-Driven
Forbes says that digital marketing campaigns are starting to move toward more purpose-driven content and branding, according to this infographic from We First, a B2B training company. The infographic highlighted that 54% of consumers don’t trust that brands are being genuine. Let that sink in for a minute. Your social media initiative is under customer scrutiny most of the time, and you need to figure out a way to bridge that disconnect and really interact with your customers. A main challenge to achieving this end is that the majority of employees, about 54%, said they didn’t clearly understand their company’s mission and so were unable to effectively communicate with customers online. After you make sure your employees really know what your company is trying to achieve, then you can turn to your customers. One of the key ways the infographic suggested for building customer loyalty online is by showcasing the humanizing aspects of your company, such as charity involvement, or highlighting a strong volunteer culture.

By developing a comprehensive social media strategy around your customers’ needs that all of your employees can follow, you will not only improve worker knowledge, but also ensure everyone is on the same page.

Learn From Entrepreneurs
But how do you make this a reality? Well, understanding your customers is key, but you should also gather some insider secrets from a few innovative professionals who have conducted successful social initiatives.

Entrepreneurs are often better able to think strategically about what they want to accomplish. According to a case study by Entrepreneur magazine, three startups gained strong sales early on by adopting a customer-centric—and, unsurprisingly, innovative—social media strategy.

One of these young professionals, Warby Parker, decided to increase awareness about his New York city-based online eyeglass company’s brand by encouraging clients to share their own stories and content on social media. Warby was able to promote his company by providing customers with the opportunity to try on the eyeglasses before buying, and then asking them to speak about their experience online, like whether they decided to purchase the frames. The strategy was focused on generating positive buzz about the company.

David Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby’s company, told Entrepreneur that the marketing idea was a grassroots-type strategy for the brand.

“Don’t view social media as just another way to push your marketing messaging,” Gilboa said. “Think of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as critical customer service gateways and take the time to respond to each and every customer who reaches out to you there. Each comment, photo and tweet gives you an opening to directly communicate with them on a meaningful, personalized basis that encourages brand loyalty.”

While you don’t have to implement a try-on initiative like Warby, especially if you are selling B2B enterprise solutions, you should make sure you develop a social media plan that focuses on the customer—not just on your company. Doing so can get the rest of your team involved and centered on what should be the primary reason for the campaign—connecting with your clients.
excited

3 Tips for Getting Customers Excited about Your Product

Jul 2013/in /by

By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Marketing

The art of selling a product relies on getting the customer interested in what you have to offer, but many times sales reps get too excited themselves and botch the sale. Making sure your client is first enthusiastic about the product before asking for them to commit is important to closing the deal. In fact, knowing your customers and gathering sales intelligence are both integral aspects to making the product memorable. Customers want to feel they can trust the credibility of their sales rep and that the product will make a difference to their productivity. Here are three things to keep in mind to get clients on board with a product and close the sale:

1. Become a Dependable Source 
In an article for Inc., sales expert Geoffrey James suggested reps ask themselves if their claims about the product are reliable. When you are speaking with a new customer, the first few minutes are important to sowing the seeds of a trustworthy and beneficial relationship. Ensuring each of your claims are credible and showcasing your expertise of the product can help inspire the customer.

This is where gathering market insights is key in the sales process. Assembling reliable testimonials from authoritative sources or speaking to how an expert in the field uses the product can help customers understand that you can back the claims you’re making about the product. This can also help clients be aware that other companies or professionals in the industry believe in the item or service, and they should too.

2. Speak to Results 
Talking about the product’s features is often not enough—you need to be able to show its measurable results.

Gregg Schwartz, a sales and marketing profession, wrote in an article for Young Entrepreneur, an online entrepreneur community, that sales reps can lose a sale by being too evangelical about a product. This can be anything from depicting your product as being the greatest new invention to giving the customer unrealistic expectations about the product. So talk about how the product, service or solution will benefit the company, but be careful not to promise too much.

Entrepreneur also suggested reps bring along market research to the meeting so customers are able to see results firsthand. Allowing clients to read as well as listen to how the solution will help them can be crucial in getting customers energized.

3. Watch Your Wording
Perhaps one of the most important tips is to be cautious about the words you use when speaking to a client. While a document you may bring along uses the word “excited,” saying the word is not going to help the client feel enthusiastic about the product. Employing buzz words, like innovative or guarantee, may alarm rather than inspire. Customers are aware of which words or phrases may be rehearsed, or what Schwartz calls “mental spam.”

Making an effort to avoid overused words can help you be more creative with your sales approach. For example, instead of saying a product is new and improved, speak to its previous limitations and how the latest version is the answer to those challenges. One way to do this is by making a list of words you think may put off the client and stay focused on avoiding them during a meeting. Later on you may notice one or two instances where the word is applicable, but exciting the client is about showing them something they may not have seen before.

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