#SocialMomentum = Laws of Motion

Let's start off by discussing Isaac Newton’s “Three Laws of Motion” but only focus on two in particular (1) Newton’s First Law of Motion & (3) Newton’s Third Law of Motion:

ConnecTheDot & Isaac Newton

First Law of Motion: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

You might be sitting there wondering where we are going to go with this but stick with us because this is going to get really good as you continue reading. Are you ready?

Do you know the difference between a “good” social marketing and an “epic” social marketing? -Motion

First Law of Motion applied to Social Marketing:

You can’t get anything done unless you are constantly moving.  You can’t gain #SocialMomentum by applying the brakes to your social strategy for one day.  If you’re not building your #SocialMomentum, then who is?

We realize that it’s a very tedious process to really commit to building #SocialMomentum to where you need it to be to make money.  However, until you get external forces interacting with your social strategy to keep it in motion, i.e., Tweeting about it, Google +1′ing it, watching and sharing your YouTube videos, etc. your business will remain at rest with your #SocialMomentum. 

The main idea is to eventually get consumers and customers socializing about your social strategy, sharing your content and linking back to your articles.  When you can do this, outside forces are interacting with your site to bring it to the motion that it needs to be at. Until that happens, your social strategy will remain at rest, and the only action that it will get is when you pick it up and run with it.  That is why it’s so important to be able to maintain #SocialMomentum all the times.

Third Law of Motion applied to Social Marketing:

Newton stated, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".  Stop and ponder for a moment and think about what Newton just stated...does that mean if a business shares someone’s post it will create an equal reaction from that person?  Well… probably not right away, but it will create opportunities that you will enjoy in the future.  There is one important aspect of social marketing that you can’t forget:

Share other’s articles more than your own

Try these three actions to get an equal and/or opposite reaction:

1.    When you share other people’s #SocialMomentum consistently you are definitely going to get them to notice you. Getting people to realize that you’re out there is what’s important.

2.     When you share others #SocialMomentum you create a space for a relationship, discussion or a future opportunity with that person.  

3.     When you share other posts you put other people before you…don’t be selfish but play the kids game of show and tell.  Don’t get me wrong, you want your content shared just as much as you are sharing other people’s, but you have to actually build these relationships before consistent sharing comes your way.  Better put like Jerry McGuire stated, “Help me, Help you”!

What do you plan to do?

We would like to hear your opinion on sharing other people’s #SocialMomentum. 

Does it affect your business in any way? We can’t wait to hear about it!

Do you speak your customer's 'Lingo'?

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you just can’t connect with your customer because they perhaps don’t speak the same ‘lingo’ as you do?  It happens all the time and can make a customer feel uneducated and emotionally disconnected.  Don’t fret, you still have time to make a change and fix it. A plethora of business professionals I've had the pleasure speaking to about this subject matter at hand have trouble talking a customer’s lingo as well, all in part because they're conditioned to think in very "balanced" terms when they talk to customers...and especially when it comes to making an offer.

Proposals happen to be a common malpractice where this commonly takes place. However, it's certainly evident in other business practices as well, like on your website.

Not only do most websites, proposals and other marketing material start out by talking about the individuals who created or designed them, rather than the audience they are intended to be written for, the CUSTOMER. The subject matter also tends to utilize a lot of irrational language. Have you ever seen or been a part of this where the subject matter attempts to convince people to buy using facts and logic.  Not that this is wrong, however, is it really the best place to use this material when trying to speak to your customer audience?

What could possibly be wrong with using facts and logic?

Well, more than you might think. It happens to do with how decisions are made in our brains.

Time to turn into ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ for a moment. Did you know that the driving force behind decision-making comes from a part of our brain called the limbic system (see Wikipedia for more information about this)? This is the part of the brain where emotions are processed.

In fact, when your limbic system is damaged, you can become paralyzed with indecision, consequently over miniscule choices like what to wear, what to eat or even what to do. You can weigh all the reasons rationally, yet never be able to actually turn that knowledge into a decision. Scary isn’t it?

Now, what if this happens when you're trying to convince a customer to conduct business with you?

They can have all the facts at their disposal...but if you haven't connected with the ‘emotional’ state for buying, well, let's just assume you have a much better chance at closing the deal if you actually connect with their emotional state of mind and connect with them with ‘points of pain’.

Obviously do want to give your customers good reasons to buy. But you also need to engage them emotionally.

One of the very simple ways you can do this is by taking rational, objective sorts of words, and just replacing them with more emotive ones that connect better with their emotions. Like this:

trademark --> brand

campaign --> promote

construct --> build

implementation --> differentiation

And of course you can also add extra emotional words, while removing some of the rational ones. Words like "powerful" and "successful" and "intense" are quite emotionally laden, whereas words like "purchase" and "propose" are not.

Just doing this can have a huge effect on the emotional impact of your text. It's subtle, and may not seem like it'll do much -- but what you're doing is invoking emotion through careful placement of powerful words.

And again, nowhere is this more vital than in your proposal or your website. That's a key hinge that your entire sales platform rotates around -- so small changes there can produce huge changes overall in the future.

If you need help with this, ConnecTheDot can help just shoot us an email.

Content = Purchase…How to Influence Purchasing Decisions

By this point it is safe to say the customer’s buyer’s journey has changed. Customers do more of their own research, and they engage with more content to support their decision-making. In fact the numbers look something like this:

3 Types Of Content To Illustrate The Customer’s Buying Journey

• 70-90% of the customer buyer’s journey is complete prior to engaging a vendor. (Forrester)
• Customers engage with 11.4 pieces of content prior to making a purchase. (Forrester)
• Customers are 5x more dependent on content than they were 5 years ago. (Nielsen)

The examples above illustrate the three different types of content used to determine which was most impactful in the customer’s buyer’s journey across the three best known stages defined as:

• Brand Familiarity: Expert Content (3rd Party Content which they defined as credible)
• Brand Affinity: Brand Content (from the brand or brand employees)
• Brand Purchase Intent: User-Generated (Reviews such as Amazon)

While all three types of contents showed some uplift for the customer at various points in the customer buying process, expert generated content proved to be the most effective for giving brands improved sentimentality across all three phases of the customer buyer’s journey. 

How These 3 Types Of Content Impact The Customers:

Although the countless technologies and mobile devices available today are smart enough that we can simply tap their surface and pay for goods, 83% of respondents said they go online to research products, but then buy them in-store.

They're doing so for a reason. People want to see and touch what they're buying. They want to experience the product firsthand, whether that means testing an electronic device or trying on a retail garment.

Whether the customer is a practical shopper who weighs the pros and cons before spending money, or a person who is simply enticed by a product she can actually touch... it's all about show versus tell.

That said, images, photography, and multimedia have an immense impact on customers' purchasing behavior because they provide a way for customers to make a visual connection with a product before they buy. And the best part about today's technology is that it enables you to reach a customer with rich visual content anytime, anywhere.

So, how can you use images, photography, and other multimedia content to positively influence customers and build stronger connections with your customer base?

“Content” can do much more than build brand awareness though; it attracts interest, builds trust and ultimately, creates new customers.

To build trust and credibility, you’ve got to forget pushing products in the face of potential customers, thinking first how to create a genuinely useful content experience. 2015 is the year to make your customer’s live easier and help inform them on how to make the right decisions when it comes to buying.

As valuable as the content may seem (especially when you’re giving it away for free), this information is what will keep a customer nurtured until they’re ready to purchase rather than move on the next piece of content. The real trick to making this work is understanding the needs of a customer around the time they’re considering a purchase.

So, people are coming to your website, and that’s great. But how many of them are actually buying something from you?

Chances are it’s less than 1% of your visitor base.

But don’t worry! You can actually influence your visitors to make a purchase.

Start today by contacting ConnecTheDot.

Part 2: Aligning Content To The Customer Journey — A.C.T.

There are three leading phases that your customers will pass through as they prepare to move into the fourth phase, PURCHASE. Knowing what people search for, how they search and what types of actions need to be targeted to inside each of these phases can help you better engage these visitors. During each phase, you can create content that addresses their needs, building your relationship and solidifying a sale, thus providing the customer with an exceptional experience that makes them return.

Phase 1 of the Customer Journey: Awareness

This is when customers gather information and are surround by all forms of adverting and have so many choices to start their process but may or may not know which direction they want or need to move towards. They are just beginning the process of researching products and services that can help them resolve a particular need or desire. 

These customers are most interested in reading content that gives them an informative and engaging exploration of the topic in which they are interested. That is why in-depth articles, blogs, reviews, social media and videos can be excellent types of content for this phase.

Phase 2 of the Customer Journey: Consideration

As people progress to the Consideration Phase, they begin to move from making informational choices into explored actions. They have now interacted with your brand enough that your business becomes a potential viable option in their mind. They are interested in flushing out the leading brands and determining what makes your company worthwhile and unique. 

During this stage your business needs to produce rich content that positions your brand as an industry and thought leader — a business customers can trust when they want help solving their problem. This is where your business needs to establish the differentiation and why your business should be chosen.

Phase 3 of the Customer Journey: Transaction

Customers that move into the Transaction Phase know exactly what they want to find. They did their research during the Consideration Phase so they most likely have a business or brand already in mind.  At this point the consumer already knows the product the want but still need to make the final choice. But, what makes them get chosen? 

For businesses or  brands to be chosen, they need to focus on the experience of the customers for whom it is intended. That means aligning your content to the customer journey and being willing to expand your interaction with visitors beyond the traditional confines of how your business typically operates.

When your business improves your interactions with your customers, you will build your content and establish a more firm foundation of success.

The customer is now ready to take action.  Did the customer chose you?

If your business needs help targeting customers inside A.C.T. please go to ConnecTheDot.

Client Control Has Every Business Tied By A Noose

If you want to provide exceptional experience to your clients every single member in your business needs to comprehend one fundamental principle: the client is the hierarchy, they must be placed first every time. That means the client is in charge, they the standards, establish today, create tomorrow and in one way or another dictates the future.

Experience is the order of the day in our era, and serving clients with excellence will be the core ethos of successful companies in the coming years. Leaders who understand this will see their companies thrive instead of just survive. The dawn of mass competition, clients’ access to up-to-date information and their ability to communicate with each other via social media allows the client to be in command. The migration goes beyond the business paying more attention to client experience: it means aligning everyone and everything in the business on providing more customization, value and unique adaptation to clients quicker.

In this client-centric world, businesses need more than quality products, or optimal customer experience, or proficient processes. Every business needs to serve their clientele through authentic, human-to-human connections that satisfy not only their emotional desires but their real-world wants. Businesses who fully grasp this reality and create a culture of ‘client experience extraordinaire’ will be rewarded with client loyalty and profitability. 

Client Experience Is Every Business Members Focus…No Longer A Department

No matter what business you’re in, there are a plentiful of other businesses that offer consumers pretty much the same product or experiences. If you offer that product along with personal experience that exceeds every client’s expectations, you have a durable competitive advantage—if done properly the cost is minimal but if done improper then you need to hire a company like ConnecTheDot to fix the client experience now. Don’t just take what I write as the example; seek out the research. Studies have found that client experience can be the best way to distinguish a company from its competitors. Clients want to feel valued, unique and wanted. Make client experience part of every member of your businesses job description and the mantra of your entire business strategy. 

What You Except Is What You Get In Return

The most effective way to improve client experience is to set high standards and communicate them with clarity, passion and execution. Every member, from the top member of your business to the newest member, should continuously let everyone know what is expected of them, so there can be no misunderstanding. Most employees strive to be exceptional performers. Unfortunately, they don’t always understand exactly what their job is or how their contribution to the business affects retention, growth and profitability.

You Win Clients One at a Time and Lose Them In Multiples

Many years ago, a mentor of mine said something I have never forgotten: “You have two ears and one mouth, always remember: you gain clients one at a time, and you lose clients in multiples. In order to gain clients and not lose any, focus on serving every single client exceptionally as if it is your one and only client (think of the movie Gerry McGuire). Any client doing business with you for the first time should be treated with the same attention and quality as someone who’s been a regular client for years. 

The power of social media is so strong that one client who has one bad experience with your business can go online and convince thousands of people not to do business with you. That’s one of the reasons clients rule now more than ever; they have the power of the masses. They have the ability to make your business thrive, and they have the ability to make your business sink to survive or maybe even die. Hail to the client!

Based on current trends client experience will be even more crucial to your company’s success in the coming years. In fact, more businesses will spend their traditional advertising dollars in a different way. More money will be spent from 2015 to 2030 to fix a business client experience infrastructure than the business will spend on traditional advertising. Why? Simply because in today’s competitive market where supply is high and demand is even higher, consumers have more choice and less loyalty. End result, it costs more money to acquire new clients so the business must establish key metrics to retain each and every client they have. 

The Circle Of Business Success

In the end, client experience hinges on every member of the business. 

John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, stated, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

 If you want satisfied clients, clients who continuously return to your business and clients who refer your business to the masses, you have to make them the hierarchy of your business.  Place clients at the top and let everything else trickle down. That means providing and allowing every member to have equal control of the client and giving them the confidence, trust, skills, and resources to deliver exceptional client experience. 

Create Tomorrow, Today! ConnecTheDot can help.

Email us or go to our website for more information.

Do you feel like a "valuable" consumer?

Today — I stand and believe I have worked in the business spectrum long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its brand identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as complex and rapidly shifting as I have ever seen it.

www.connecthedot.com

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firms operate and think about making money.  I write this from the view as a consumer dealing with various companies over the years.

It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of a firm’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made companies great and allowed them to earn clients’ trust for hundreds of years.  A time when a handshake was stronger than oak. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. There was a time of loyalty from internal clients (employees) and external clients (consumers) but what happened? Why is there so much client turnover and dissatisfied consumers today? Well, I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually minimal trace of the few organizations that still operate with this style of culture.

Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of being a business consultant for a multi-national Advertising Firm advising thousands of clients across the United States. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, always delivering the “BEST” experience possible…internal and external clients.

How did we get here, why am I writing this? A “CLIENT” cultural shift is needed quickly and those organizations that adapt the quickest will prevail immensely.

Today, many organizations display a culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend external webinars monthly, undertake future studies, attend business conferences, but yet, not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help retain clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them or how do we 'grow our business'. 

It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen several different organizations that I personally dealt with on a consumer buying continuum pose little to no thought towards the end-to-end client experience…simply once the sale was made or the contract was executed…se la vie!

No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals?

Absolutely. Every day, in fact.

It astounds me how little organizations today conceptualize a basic fundamental theory: If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.

These days, the most common question I gather is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their internal business culture about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: How many companies will fix the client experience and become part of the wonderful day-to-day companies to conduct business with, or, how many more will fall victim to the overarching theme of sell now, client later?

When I was a first-year consultant I didn’t know where the bathroom was, or how to tie my shoelaces. I was taught to be concerned with learning the ropes, finding out what about who was the best and how to become better than them, understanding finance, getting to know our clients and what motivated them, learning how they defined success and what we could do to help them get there.

My proudest career moments in life — getting hundreds of clients to become millionaires over the past decade through an exceptional client experience. I just don’t see this happening in the industry as much as we should…change is needed.  Time to step up and adapt!

I hope this can be a wake-up call to all organizations out there. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist.

If you need help retaining your clients reach out to us @ https://connecthedot.com/.

Content/Social Marketing - How Important is it to the success of your bu...

In today's ever evolving digital marketplace, content marketing is becoming one of the most important aspects of a successful digital campaign for a business.
 
Having a company, such as ConnecTheDot, work with your business to create a creative AND THOROUGH content marketing plan can make a significant impact on your business.

In addition to increased revenue, common content marketing goals include:

Brand awareness
Thought leadership
Increasing the number of marketing-qualified and sales-qualified leads
Improving conversion rates
Lowering the cost of customer acquisition
Enhancing customer service
Better customer retention and up-sell

If your business needs help, ConnecTheDot is here to help.

Contact us today at 302.314.3762.