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Tag: Marketing Strategies

  • Worried About Raising Capital in a Recession? Give Your Company The Edge.

    Worried About Raising Capital in a Recession? Give Your Company The Edge.

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Entrepreneurs and founders need to generate capital investment to grow and succeed, yet attracting such investment is daunting in this market. Amidst heavy competition and negative market forces, one frequently underutilized resource provides many companies an edge: effective PR or public relations.

    By generating positive media coverage, PR can create interest in a startup and make it more attractive to potential investors. Emphasize the R in PR to build relationships with key influencers and industry experts who can promote a startup to a broader audience. By using PR effectively, startups can overcome the challenge of declining investment and improve their odds in the current market.

    Start using PR as a strategy to attract investment

    One of the most important — and often overlooked — aspects of PR for startups is its role in attracting investment. A well-executed PR strategy can help raise awareness of your company and generate interest among potential investors. Here are some of the most effective ways to use PR to attract investment:

    1. Highlight your company’s unique selling points

    Beyond the problem you are solving and the solutions you offer, you need to promote what makes your company unique. Star by answering these questions: Why should investors put their money into your business? Why are you succeeding when perhaps others are failing? Make sure these points are clear in your PR.

    Any company, large or small, must clearly understand its unique selling points (USPs). These aspects of your business make you stand out from the competition and attract customers and investors. PR is essential for promoting your USPs and ensuring they are communicated effectively to your target audience. Without PR, your USPs may be lost in the marketplace noise, and you could miss out on vital growth opportunities.

    PR can help you clarify your USPs, identify the most effective channels for reaching your target audience, and craft messages that resonate with them. By promoting your unique selling points, PR can help you to win new customers, partners, and investors.

    Related: How PR Can Attract Investors and Add Value to Your Startup

    2. Use social media wisely

    Social media is an excellent way for startups to connect with potential investors and get their companies noticed. However, it’s essential to be strategic in your use of social media, ensuring that the content is received by different audiences continuously. Use social media to share news about your company’s progress, announcements about new products or services, or articles that showcase your company’s thought leadership. By sharing interesting and valuable content, you can attract the attention of potential investors and get your startup noticed. Always mix things up and keep new audiences engaged by consistently sharing various types of content.

    3. Stay focused and consistent

    Throughout this process, it’s crucial to maintain a high level of consistency and relevancy. Keep your communications clear and concise, and stay focused on continuously putting your startup’s message out. This can be a challenge, especially in the early stages when you’re still trying to figure out what your brand is all about. But it’s crucial to maintain a high level of consistency and relevancy. PR is all about building relationships with the media and the public, so they can become familiar with your startup and what it has to offer. If you’re not consistent, you will have difficulty building those relationships.

    Stay consistent, clearly grasp your brand’s story, and consistently push that story out. To start, narrow the focus to existing relationships and lean on your team, existing investors, and others involved in the startup. Go for faster wins, even if it means blogs and freelance writers first. Reinforce your message with social media content. From there, go for media coverage.

    4. Get media coverage

    Good press can be a powerful tool for attracting investment. High-quality media coverage can help to build trust and credibility with potential investors. This goes beyond just a few press releases, as quality media coverage includes getting articles, videos, and other extended content on your business. PR can be time-consuming and costly, but it is often worth the investment. High-quality media coverage can help to build trust and credibility with potential investors, making them more likely to invest in your business.

    High quality does not always mean an article is published in the largest media outlet. For example, a great story or article can run in a local television affiliate and spread from there. Many founders assume that PR means getting the brand’s story published in an internationally known publication. Sometimes the best way to start using PR is to get noticed locally and build a PR campaign.

    Related: Why You Need A PR Agency and How to Choose One Wisely

    5. Find a dedicated expert PR team to ensure your message is heard

    An experienced PR team can be invaluable in helping you to craft a story that will resonate with investors. They can also use their connections to help get your story in front of the right people. But most importantly, a good PR team can provide honest feedback and constructive criticism. They can help you identify potential weaknesses in your investment pitch and suggest ways to address them.

    Not all PR agencies are created equal. When choosing a PR agency to help with your investment round, look for these essential qualities:

    1. When choosing a PR agency, it’s crucial to find one with significant experience working with startups, preferably with a record of success with investment rounds for other startups. You’ll also want to look for an agency that is calm under pressure and able to adapt quickly to changes. And, of course, it’s essential to find an agency with which you can build a good rapport — after all, you’ll be working closely together.
    2. Second, they should deeply understand the investment process and what matters to investors. Ask for case studies of other startups they ran PR for during an investment round. A PR firm with a deep understanding of the investment process can help you craft a winning message highlighting your company’s strengths and ability to return investment quickly.
    3. Third, they should have a creative and unique approach to generating attention for your company. Yes, press releases are essential and often underutilized. However, a resourceful PR team will find ways to get articles published detailing and validating the purpose of your startup, why it matters, and why it is the right investment opportunity.

    Adam Horlock

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  • 3 Ways to Market to Hispanic Consumers This Holiday Season

    3 Ways to Market to Hispanic Consumers This Holiday Season

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The holiday season is here, and shopping is in full swing. Despite the current state of the economy, shoppers are finding ways to keep the holiday spirit alive by bargain hunting and shifting expenses to allocate more for gifts. According to a study done by Deloitte, “Household finances may be at the weakest level in a decade, but spending stays steady as consumers cut non-essentials to give gifts and socialize.” In addition, after reducing spending efforts in 2021, low-income shoppers plan to spend 25% more this year. Although Americans are adjusting their spending strategies due to inflation, companies need to understand the growing consumer segments and champion them by creating genuine, authentic marketing campaigns that make them feel welcome.

    For the 2022 holiday season, brands should place a greater emphasis on their Hispanic holiday marketing efforts. Why? The Hispanic community is the second-fastest growing minority market in the U.S., rising by 212% or $500 billion since 2000. There are over 60 million Hispanics in the United States, and in 2019, they accounted for over $1.5 trillion in spending power.

    So, here are three ways to properly market to the Hispanic community while potentially creating lifelong customer loyalty:

    Related: U.S. Hispanic Consumers: A Demographic Revolution in the Corporate World

    1. Display your understanding

    It’s important to stress that the Hispanic community is not a monolith, and this community takes great pride in its American culture and the culture of its countries of origin. According to the Pew Research Center, “Black and Hispanic adults were more likely than White adults to say their origins are central to their identity and feel a strong connection to their family’s cultural roots.” Therefore, an organization’s marketing efforts will come across as more genuine if they exhibit an understanding and appreciation for the Hispanic culture.

    While some may think that this holiday season consists only of La Navidad, there are many more days of celebration and reflection besides that, including La Inmaculada Concepción de María, Las Posadas, Nochebuena, Día de los Inocentes, La Noche de Fin de Año, and Día de Los Reyes Magos. Marketers should fully understand what these special days entail so they can better position themselves when advertising to this community.

    A great example of a business that exhibited understanding is Publix. On their website, they posted traditional Latin American holiday recipes and included a link to the ingredients that customers could find in the store.

    2. Incorporate Spanish

    Incorporating Spanish into an organization’s marketing efforts will further solidify the bond between the consumer and the brand. According to the Kantar 2021 U.S. Monitor report, “88% of U.S. Hispanics say they appreciate businesses that speak to them in Spanish, and 87% feel businesses that make a sincere effort to be part of or invest in their communities deserve their loyalty.” With 71% of all Hispanics speaking Spanish at home, either primarily or in combination with English, leveraging Spanish as part of a company’s holiday marketing efforts will allow the organization to forge a deeper connection with its target market.

    A great example of this is Disney Animation Studios. The organization incorporated Spanish words into its holiday message and utilized designs from its award-winning movie, Encanto.

    Related: 6 Reasons Corporate America Misses Out on Trillions of Hispanic Dollars

    3. Focus on building a community

    While marketers may try to push catchy advertisements during this time, the main goal they should strive to achieve is creating a community of lifelong, supportive customers. Building a lifelong relationship takes having a deep understanding of the community, standing with the community in times of crisis and creating opportunities for the community to flourish. A company that has done a fantastic job at this is Target. In their most recent diversity report, Target shared that nearly 30% of their entire team, more than a fifth of their managers, and 10% of their officers are Hispanic/Latino. Target also has a longstanding partnership with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, offers more than 60 Latino-owned and founded brands and invested more than $1.1 billion in Latino-owned suppliers, media, localization efforts and community organizations.

    Regarding their marketing efforts, Target launched a multicultural holiday series called “Welcome To,” where they celebrate various holidays throughout the year by featuring Target customers from those communities. Additionally, in 2021, Target featured Día de Reyes and highlighted how one of its customers celebrated this day with their family.

    Related: 4 Successful Ways Businesses Need to Adapt to a Growing Hispanic Demographic

    Like other communities, the holiday season is a time when the Hispanic community comes together with family and friends, has large spreads/dinners and spends time reflecting on the year ahead. If brands truly want to reach the Hispanic consumer, they need to serve as a partner by supporting the community, celebrating with the community and providing opportunities for the community. Finally, when conducting Hispanic marketing, it’s important to incorporate elements of the Spanish language and overall culture into the campaigns.

    Christine Alexis

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  • How to Book Yourself on a Podcast

    How to Book Yourself on a Podcast

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    By 2023, it is predicted that there will be 465 million active podcast listeners across the globe. That is a lot of attention for business owners of all shapes and entrepreneurs to tap into. With more and more people busy and on the go, it’s no surprise that people are opting for audio-only listening — whether in the car, on a walk, on a plane or while cooking dinner. Podcasts are here to stay, and they’re only just getting started.

    When it comes to business, one of the most critical factors in your growth is the number of people you know, like and trust. Podcasts will help you tick all three of those boxes. If you’re not leveraging them as a part of your marketing, let today be the day that changes.

    You will get more reach and exposure as a direct result of the podcasts, and you can leverage the video content from the episode across your social media channels. One recorded podcast episode can produce a month worth of short-form video content for you. Boost Media Agency specializes in PR and podcast bookings, and here I share the exact strategy that we use to book our clients on podcasts and how you can do the same to get yourself on at least one podcast per week.

    Related: Podcasting is the New College

    1. Build a list

    When it comes to getting booked on podcasts, the best place to start is getting clear on the types of shows where you feel you can first reach the right people and, secondly, add the most value. Ensuring each podcast is aligned with your work will simplify the process. It goes without saying, but if you’re in the hair and beauty space, a finance podcast isn’t going to interview you.

    If you’ve never done podcasts before, start small. Trying to get onto Joe Rogan or Tony Robbins podcast if you’re just starting might dampen your spirits. Try to find podcasts that have between 500-5000 listeners per episode, as these will be your best shot, and build a list of at least 20 podcasts.

    Related: Listen up! 4 Reasons Why Podcasts are One of the Best Life Hacks

    2. Connect with the host directly

    It goes without saying, but podcast hosts get pitched — a lot. If you want to skyrocket the chances of a host booking you, the best place to start is to connect with them on social media. Doing so starts the relationship by giving, which is far more likely to end with the host reciprocating.

    So, take the time to listen to an episode, drop them a friend request or follow, and send them a message telling them that you love their show and that a particular message resonated with you.

    3. Create your pitch

    Crafting a pitch can seem like a daunting task. The best place to start is your talking points. What are 2-3 things that, from your experience, you know better than anyone else? Try to get a little more creative than”Scaling to 6-figures,” — as you’ll sound like everyone else. Lean into your uniqueness and story here, as that will sell the host on having you on their show. Remember to keep your pitch short. Here is a basic framework: Compliment, Story, Value and Call To Action.

    Compliment: Who doesn’t love a compliment? Start with this to ensure the host knows it’s personalized and not a mass pitch. E.g., “Loved your episode with John Smith. The message about growing from within really resonated with me.“

    Story: Your story is what will sell them. Share the unique parts of you and your story in 1-3 sentences.

    Value: Podcast hosts want to hear the value you have to provide. Share your 2-3 unique talking points with them in bullet format.

    Call to action (CTA): You’ll never know if you don’t ask. Ask them if they’d like to have you as a guest. For example: “I’d love to share these insights with your audience. If you think this would be valuable for them, would you be open to scheduling a time?”

    Related: Betting Big and Crafting a Winning Elevator Pitch

    4. Press send and automate the follow-up

    So you’ve got your list, your pitch, so here comes the exciting part. Pressing send! Whether pitching the media, or a podcast, in this case, sending emails can be time-consuming, particularly the follow-up. That being said, there are some great email tools that you can leverage, such as Lemlist or Omni.us, where you can create custom email campaigns with automated follow-up sequences.

    We all know that not every email gets replied to, and often the host won’t reply until the second or third email — and trust me, persistence pays off. Make sure to keep the follow-ups around 3-4 days apart, as no one likes to be bombarded daily. We all get enough emails as it is.

    There’s no doubt that podcasts are a great way to build authority, reach new audiences, and ultimately, grow your brand and bottom line. This 4-step process is all you need to book yourself onto great podcasts regularly.

    Lewis Schenk

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  • How to Build on Your Digital Marketing Momentum in 2023

    How to Build on Your Digital Marketing Momentum in 2023

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I’ve been in the digital marketing game since the AOL days — before even Google and certainly long before Snapchat and TikTok were ever a thing. As I’ve seen the landscape change over the years, I’ve developed some pretty good foresight into where the industry is headed in the future. For the past two decades, my job has been to predict where digital marketing is headed and to get there before my competitors do.

    As a digital marketing entrepreneur, you’ve always got to be looking ahead. Until 2026, the compound annual growth rate of the online marketing industry is 9%. Therefore, you’ve got to think in the long term if you want to succeed in a market that’s getting more crowded every year.

    Now that 2023 is visible on the horizon, let’s go over the top industry trends that I think you’ve got to be on top of if you want to stand out in tomorrow’s digital marketing space:

    Related: 5 Digital Marketing Trends to Know for the Decade

    GPT-4 and the rise of “smart” chatbots

    When Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) was released in 2020 by Silicon Valley-based OpenAI, its capacity to create human-like natural language shocked the world. As the most sophisticated AI language model in the world, GPT-3 is capable of writing convincing poetry, prose and dialogue using just a basic user prompt.

    In 2023, we could see the long-awaited GPT-4 released. Although AI-based language processing has come a long way in recent years, there are still some hiccups. Chatbots that are powered by GPT-3 still don’t pass the Turing test, and many consumers loathe having their support queries handled by a bot.

    With GPT-4 on the horizon, chatbots are about to see a quantum leap in their development. Once chatbots can produce language indistinguishable from humans — with all our emotional nuance and subtle interpretations — chatbots are going to take over. We may even see GPT-4 chatbots replace human support agents altogether. Savvy entrepreneurs will keep their eye on new chatbot developments based on GPT-4 and embrace them when the time comes.

    Hyper-personalization

    In Dale Carnegie’s 1936 classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he wrote that a person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language. He wasn’t wrong. We naturally love to be addressed by name, as doing so is dignifying and a marker of respect.

    Our marketing campaigns should reflect this tendency. Emails and SMS that don’t include your lead’s name are a major no-go. As third-party cookies are being cracked down on in 2022 and likely will continue to be in the future, it’s important to ask for your lead’s name and other identifiable information when they sign up. Cookies are slowly becoming a thing of the past, so collecting personalized user data is something you will have to do increasingly on your own.

    Related: 4 Marketing Personalization Tips for Digital Businesses

    More mobile-first visuals

    Who doesn’t love stunning visual content, such as infographics, reels and informative videos? For many of us, this is how we prefer to learn, rather than through long walls of text (no, the irony here is not lost on me). I suggest ramping up your visual content production if you want to compete in 2023’s information space, and more generally, in a world with increasingly shorter attention spans — currently at about only 8.25 seconds.

    Optimizing your visual content for mobile devices should always be top of mind. Desktop visual production should be an afterthought. These days, the clear majority (nearly 54%) of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and this percentage will increase in 2023. Therefore, I suggest keeping vertical, mobile-friendly visuals at the top of your content schedule.

    Clips, reels and videos

    While we’re on the topic of visuals, we can’t ignore the enormous influence that TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have had on the industry in recent years. With TikTok nearly doubling its monthly users in 2022 to almost two billion, it’s likely that its influence is only going to continue to climb in the year ahead.

    Creating short, vertical video content in the 30-second to 3-minute range is ideal. Long video content has its place on YouTube, but to unlock the true viral potential of your videos, it’s best to shorten them and make them mobile-optimized. The more short vertical videos you produce, the greater the chances of going viral and having your content shared widely.

    Up the interactivity

    Social media marketing should remain at the center of your marketing strategy in 2023. However, our feeds are already flooded with promoted content. Instead of a simple 4×3 image post, create more interactive content that ropes your audience in with a question. For example, I recommend using the following Instagram features in your Story content:

    • Polls

    • “Ask a Question” widgets

    • Quizzes

    • Rating sliders

    There’s something about interacting with a brand that’s much more powerful than simply passively viewing its content. Including interactive Story content in your social media campaigns is a highly effective way to gain engagement and to keep your audience glued to your brand.

    Related: 7 Tools That Make Interactive Content Creation Easy

    Keep the momentum rolling in 2023

    As we head into the new year, let’s not squander all the progress we made in 2022. Instead, let’s keep moving forward by honing in on the digital market trends of tomorrow. Specifically, I recommend keeping a close eye on AI developments such as GPT-4, collecting more precise personalized user data, creating mobile-first content (and especially short video content) and incorporating interactive media into your content strategy.

    If you can stay abreast of these trends in the coming year, you’ll be better positioned than many of your competitors. As the industry continues to balloon year over year, staying on top of these trends will become less of an option and more of a necessity if you want to stay afloat — so, what better time to start than now?

    Amine Rahal

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  • 3 Strategies to Reach Customers in an Economic Downturn

    3 Strategies to Reach Customers in an Economic Downturn

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A recessionary environment can be a make-or-break time for businesses. Some of today’s most successful companies were founded during recessions, such as Google during the dot-com bust of the early 2000s or Uber during the Great Recession of 2008. But for every company that thrives during a recession, there are many more that fail.

    One of the key reasons that some companies succeed while others falter is how they handle their marketing and advertising spend during these difficult times. When a recession hits, businesses are quick to cut marketing budgets as they seek to reduce costs. But this can be a mistake.

    Recessions provide opportunities for businesses to reach customers who may be more price-sensitive and receptive to new offers. Instead of cutting marketing spend, businesses should focus on reallocating their ad budgets to more efficient channels and developing interactive content that will capture the attention of customers who may be spending more time at home. Here are three ways businesses can reach and engage customers despite a market slowdown:

    Related: 6 Recession-Proof Business Marketing Strategies

    1. Develop interactive content

    Customers are spending more time than ever online, so it’s important to develop content that is interactive and engaging. In a recession, ROI becomes even more important, so businesses should focus on creating content that will drive leads and sales.

    Traditional paid advertising can be expensive and is subject to banner blindness, which is when users tune out online ads. Interactive content, such as quizzes, polls and surveys, can be a more effective and cost-efficient way to reach and engage customers.

    Instead of non-consensually slapping users in the face with a commercial message, interactive content allows businesses to provide valuable information or entertainment while also gathering data that can be used to improve marketing campaigns.

    For example, a fashion company might run a style quiz that helps users find the right clothing for their body type. Not only is this quiz interactive and fun, but it also provides the company with valuable data about its customers’ preferences.

    2. Target recession-proof industries

    A recession doesn’t impact all sectors equally. In fact, some industries have seen tremendous growth. The energy industry, for instance, has seen a resurgence as renewed consumer demand and limited oil supply have led to higher prices. Year-to-date, as the S&P500 has fallen by around 15%, the United States Oil ETF is up over 30%.

    Healthcare is another industry that is relatively resilient to economic downturns. As people age, they require more medical care, and government spending on healthcare tends to increase during periods of economic hardship.

    Other so-called “defensive” industries, such as food and beverage, household staples and personal care, also tend to do well during recessions.

    Businesses that target these recession-proof industries can still find success even when the economy is struggling. That isn’t to say that your business needs to be in one of these industries to survive a recession, but it may be worth researching how your product or service can be positioned to appeal to these industries.

    Related: Why You Should Never Skimp on Brand Marketing in a Recession

    3. Focus on ROI-positive marketing channels

    When businesses are cutting costs, they often reduce their marketing spend across the board. But not all marketing channels are created equal. Some, such as paid search and social media advertising, can be very effective in driving leads and sales but can also be expensive.

    Other marketing channels, such as email marketing and content marketing, can be less expensive and just as effective in reaching and engaging customers. In a recession, businesses should focus on allocating their marketing budgets to the channels that will provide the most ROI.

    Email marketing, for example, can be very effective in reaching potential customers who may be interested in your product or service but may not be actively searching for it. And because email is a permission-based channel, you’re more likely to reach people who are receptive to your message.

    Content marketing can also be an effective way to reach and engage customers. By creating high-quality, informative content, businesses can attract customers who are looking for answers to their questions or solutions to their problems.

    In a recessionary environment, it’s more important than ever to focus on ROI-positive marketing channels. By allocating your marketing budget wisely, you can still reach and engage customers despite a slowdown in the economy.

    With the right approach, a recession can be an opportunity for businesses to thrive. By focusing on interactive content, targeting recession-proof industries and allocating your marketing budget to ROI-positive channels, you can weather the economic storm and come out ahead.

    Vlad Gozman

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  • The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding With Marketing Analytics

    The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding With Marketing Analytics

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how to succeed in marketing analytics, as the field is constantly evolving, and the best practices for success are always changing. However, some essential tips can help you get started on the right foot and set you up for success in this exciting and ever-changing field. In this ultimate guide, we’ll define marketing analytics, review the different types of marketing analytics, discuss how to use marketing analytics to improve your business, explain what data/tools you need to succeed, and ultimately, learn how to use marketing analytics effectively.

    So, what is marketing analytics? The process consists of measuring, managing and analyzing marketing performance to optimize marketing campaigns and improve ROI. Marketing analytics can track any marketing metric, including brand awareness, website traffic, conversion rates, lead generation and sales. To succeed in marketing analytics, you must have a strong understanding of data analysis and interpretation. You also need to be able to use data-driven insights to improve your marketing strategy.

    Related: 5 of the Easiest Ways to Make Data an Integral Part of Your Business’ Digital Marketing

    The different types of marketing analytics

    There are many different types of marketing analytics, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Here is a brief overview of some of the most commonly used types:

    1. Descriptive analytics: This type of analytics focuses on understanding what has happened in the past. It can be used to identify trends and patterns and to understand why certain events occurred. However, it cannot be used to predict future events.

    2. Predictive analytics: This type of analytics uses past data to predict future events. It can identify potential risks and opportunities and decide where to allocate resources.

    3. Prescriptive analytics: This type of analytics goes beyond prediction and prescribes actions that should be taken to achieve specific goals. It can be used to optimize marketing campaigns and automate decision-making processes.

    4. Social media analytics: This type of analytics analyzes social media data to understand customer sentiment and behavior. It can be used to improve customer service and to create targeted marketing campaigns.

    5. Web analytics: This type of analytics analyzes website data to understand how users interact. It can be used to improve website design and to identify which marketing campaigns are most effective.

    How to use marketing analytics to improve your business

    Marketing analytics can help you understand how your customers respond to your marketing campaigns and identify areas where you need to adjust your strategy. It can also help you track the progress of your marketing efforts over time to see whether they’re achieving their goals. There are a few things that you need to take into account when using marketing analytics:

    • It’s best to understand your customers’ needs and wants clearly.

    • You need to know what kind of message will most likely reach them and why.

    • You’ll want to track which elements of your campaign are working best and which ones aren’t.

    • You need to determine what changes (if any) you should make to improve results.

    • You need to be able to act on the findings promptly so that you don’t lose momentum or hit a plateau in your campaign.

    Overall, marketing analytics is essential for any business looking to improve its performance. Using this information, you can better target your marketing campaigns and boost sales figures accordingly.

    Related: 5 Analytics Tools to Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy

    Types of data you need to track in order to succeed with marketing analytics

    Before you can start tracking your marketing data, you need to know what kind of data you need to collect. There are a few different types of data that are essential for effective marketing analytics:

    • Demographic data: This includes information about your customers’ age, sex, income, etc. Understanding your target audience and creating tailored campaigns that appeal to them is essential.

    • Qualitative data: Qualitative research captures user feedback and opinion to better understand customer attitudes and preferences. This information is especially useful in creating new products or services.

    • Quantitative data: Quantitative research measures the performance of your campaigns using numerical measurements like clicks or conversions. This information can improve your campaigns and help you make informed decisions about the best ones.

    You can track this data in several ways, but the most reliable method is using a tool like Google Analytics or Mixpanel. These tools allow you to easily collect and store all your data in one place to access it whenever you need it.

    The tools and software that can help you achieve your goals with marketing analytics

    If you’re new to marketing analytics, the first step is to determine your needs. Are you looking for insights into how your campaigns are performing? Do you want to track customer behavior over time? Are you looking for ways to optimize your content or advertising? Once you know what you need, the next step is to find the right tool or software for the job. There are several different options available, and choosing the one that will fit your specific needs is essential.

    Some popular marketing analytics tools include reporting tools like Google Analytics and ClickStream, web tracking tools like CrazyEgg, social media analysis platforms like Mixpanel and email tracking tools like GetResponse. There’s also a wealth of software specifically designed for marketing professionals, such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot CRM. However, it’s important to note that not all of these programs are perfect for every business; testing out different options is essential to see which one suits your needs best.

    Related: To Better Understand Your Users, Learn About These 4 Categories of Marketing Analytics Tools

    Tips for using marketing analytics effectively

    Here are a few tips for using marketing analytics effectively:

    • Measure everything: Start by measuring the most important things to you, and then add more metrics as you realize how valuable they are. By tracking multiple channels and data points, you’ll get a complete picture of how your campaigns are performing.

    • Use data visualization tools: Seeing data in a way that’s easy to understand will help you make better decisions about where to focus your efforts. Some popular data visualization tools include Tableau Public and Google Sheets.

    • Compare and contrast results: Once you’ve gathered some data, it’s essential to compare it against previous versions of the same campaign or product. This will help you identify any changes or improvements you may have made and areas where further improvement is needed.

    • Don’t be afraid to experiment: If a marketing strategy isn’t working as intended, don’t be scared to try something new. However, ensure that you test the new approach in a limited way to monitor its performance closely.

    Marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a business, and if done right, can lead to exponential growth for your business. Once you better understand the field and its needs, you can put your best foot forward and optimize marketing campaigns to boost ROI.

    Piyanka Jain

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  • How to Increase Your Sales by Analyzing Your Marketing Funnel

    How to Increase Your Sales by Analyzing Your Marketing Funnel

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Your marketing funnel is the process that your potential customers go through as they move from awareness of your product or service to purchase. The funnel narrows at each stage, from the many people who are aware of your brand to the few who actually buy from you. Understanding your marketing funnel is essential to improving results and driving conversions.

    Let’s say you’re trying to increase sales. You need to understand how your marketing funnel works so you can make changes that will lead to more sales. Here are four steps you can take to analyze your marketing funnel and improve results:

    1. Define your marketing funnel stages

    2. Set conversion goals for each stage

    3. Identify bottlenecks in your funnel

    4. Test and experiment to improve results

    Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps so you can use them in your own business:

    Related: How to Generate Interest at Every Stage of the Marketing Funnel

    1. Define your marketing funnel stages

    The first step is to define the stages of your marketing funnel. This will vary depending on your business, but most funnels include the following stages:

    • Awareness: Potential customers become aware of your product or service.

    • Interest: Potential customers are interested in your product or service and want to learn more.

    • Consideration: Potential customers are considering your product or service and comparing it to other options.

    • Purchase: Potential customers buy your product or service.

    • Loyalty/advocacy: Customers who buy your product or service become brand advocates and promote your business to others.

    There are other variations of this model, but this is a good place to start. Once you’ve defined the stages of your funnel, you can move on to step two.

    2. Set conversion goals for each stage

    The second step is to set conversion goals for each stage of the marketing funnel. These goals should be realistic and achievable based on historical data and current circumstances. For example, if you know that 2% of people who are aware of your brand eventually buy from you, then you can set a goal of increasing that number to 3%. Once you’ve set conversion goals for each stage, you can move on to step three.

    3. Identify bottlenecks in your funnel

    The third step is to identify any bottlenecks in your marketing funnel that are preventing potential customers from moving on to the next stage of the funnel. Common bottlenecks include:

    Lack of awareness: Potential customers are not aware of your product or service because they haven’t been exposed to your marketing messages.

    Solution: Increase advertising, and create more compelling content that speaks directly to your target audience’s needs.

    Lack of interest: Potential customers are not interested in your product or service because it doesn’t solve their problems or meet their needs.

    Solution: Review your messaging and positioning to make sure you’re speaking directly to the needs of your target audience.

    Lack of consideration: Potential customers are not considering your product or service because they don’t know enough about it.

    Solution: Create more content that educates potential customers about the features and benefits of your product or service.

    Lack of purchase: Potential customers are not buying your product or service because they don’t see the value in it.

    Solution: Review pricing, packaging and positioning; consider offering discounts or other incentives; adjust messaging accordingly.

    4. Test and experiment to improve results

    The final step is to test different messages, offers, channels, etc., to see what leads potential customers down the path to purchase. Try different tactics and track results so you can continue doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t work. Remember, it’s important always to be testing and experimenting so you can continue improving results.

    Related: How to Create a Marketing Funnel That Will Increase Sales and Profits

    By taking these four steps, you can gain a better understanding of how your marketing funnel works and make changes that will lead to more sales. Of course, by taking these four steps regularly — perhaps quarterly — you can ensure that any changes made throughout the year actually have an impact on ROI come budget time.

    Jacinda Santora

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  • 3 Tactics to Advance Your Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

    3 Tactics to Advance Your Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Personalization is no longer an optional business strategy: 71% of consumers expect personalized experiences with brands, and even more express frustration with businesses that miss the mark. But it’s not enough to just personalize the message — you must also tailor the delivery to the consumer’s channel of choice.

    Gone are the days when brands could broadcast through a single platform. Today, the omnichannel customer experience reigns supreme, and that means the consumer is in the driver’s seat. Omnichannel marketing is the seamless integration of branding, personalized messaging and online and offline touchpoints that create a more profound customer experience.

    Douglas Wilber

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  • How Your Brand Can Thrive Online With Diversified Content

    How Your Brand Can Thrive Online With Diversified Content

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Keeping your audience entertained in the golden age of multi-platform media has become critical to online success. To accomplish this, you must learn to switch up your branded content and experiment on new and different platforms.

    Why should you change up your branded content? Having a diverse content strategy is critical in today’s oversaturated, competitive and ever-changing marketing environment. If your marketing strategy heavily relies on branded content, you must ensure that it is diverse in terms of how, when and where it is shared. You risk losing audience interest and engagement if you use the same content and formats across all platforms.

    Only by stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning to take calculated risks will your brand’s content thrive. Otherwise, by not embracing content diversification and investing in new platforms, you are passing up opportunities to engage your audience on their terms.

    Related: How to Know If You’re Producing Quality Content

    How to change up your branded content?

    While adhering to your core values, your content strategy must evolve to meet the specific needs of each platform and its users. When doing so, always be open to new information and consider how it may affect your target audience. Being adaptable will allow you to fine-tune your strategy and grow as a content creator, marketer and business.

    Flexibility in your brand’s content creation does not have to be difficult. However, proper research is required for success. This is why there is one key action all brands must take before creating new branded content: Study new platforms.

    Why study new platforms?

    Simply put, users’ interests and behaviors differ across social media platforms due to each platform’s “zeitgeist.” For instance:

    Understanding the inner workings of various platforms is essential if you want to create tailored content. This new information will significantly impact how you approach content development and expansion.

    Brands should learn why users engage with specific platforms. This will allow them to tailor their new content to those audiences and interact with them in ways they respond to and feel comfortable with. If you don’t spend time researching who your post might reach, you risk appearing uninformed. That is why you should always stay up to date on new developments in content marketing.

    Related: The Business of Harnessing the Power of Social Media

    Going beyond text and image platforms

    In our modern era, there are more than text and image platforms to consider, namely: the metaverse. Although the metaverse is not a single platform, it has many touchpoints with various audience types.

    For example, Polar, TheSoul Publishing’s first “digital popstar,” was created as part of our efforts to further grow our audience. In July, she performed a live concert in the metaverse via Avakin Life. Over 2.2 million users spent over 100,000 hours watching Polar perform as one of the festival’s headlining acts at the Solar Sounds Festival.

    Avakin Life and other metaverse worlds focus on live performance, so fans “show up” and participate in the communal experience. This means that the content brands create for the metaverse must be tailored to the typical users of these platforms.

    TheSoul recognized this and ensured Polar was reaching different audiences in the right way:

    • Because the audience on YouTube is most interested in music, we created music videos to engage them directly. It worked, as her debut single, “Close To You,” has been viewed over eight million times.

    • On TikTok, Polar fills a similar niche, though it also emphasizes dance videos that can be easily shared and recreated. She has seen massive success on the platform, with more than 1.6 million followers.

    • On Instagram, Polar’s newest platform, her posts are more personal and geared toward lifestyle content. She has yet to build a huge following on the platform, so her creative team continues to tinker and experiment to find her audience there.

    Related: 7 Ways Your Brand Can Thrive in the Metaverse

    The common thread

    Audiences across platforms now expect brands to be a natural extension of their online experiences rather than something they must actively seek out. Instead of having a bland profile that only posts about internal news, brands must learn to become “users” of each platform.

    The principles of adaptability, innovation and consistent messaging form the foundation of this common thread:

    1. Consistent messaging: To provide this integrated experience, brands must maintain a consistent brand image and message throughout their workplace policies, procedures and values.

    2. Innovation: Thanks to the huge amounts of content created every single day, the world of social media is saturated. As a result, brands must constantly look for exciting and innovative ways to reach and engage their audiences in our interconnected world. We do this by continuously experimenting with a wide range of cutting-edge technologies, such as making virtual reality experiences and developing content in the metaverse.

    3. Adaptability: All content producers and marketing departments must be willing to experiment with new mediums and methods. From garden-themed shorts on our TikTok channel to in-depth documentaries on our YouTube channel, we’ve been embracing content diversification for years.

    Overall, it’s critical to understand each platform’s unique functions. Then you can tailor your branded content to fit in with its surroundings and appeal to its specific audiences. Continue researching and studying platforms, both new and old. This allows you to fine-tune your strategy and, as a result, grow as a content creator and as a brand.

    Patrik Wilkens

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  • 2 Keys to Gain Brand Awareness With Modern PR

    2 Keys to Gain Brand Awareness With Modern PR

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Thirty years ago, if you were a fly in a traditional PR agency back in the ’90s, you would see marketers shipping copies to television outlets, radio stations, magazines and newspapers to build their client’s brand. Back then, brand awareness was measured by the number of audiences these traditional publications and media outlets have, satisfying clients and providing PR agencies with solid industry authority for delivering the work.

    The ultimate goal was to be on The New York Times to get maximum brand awareness. It was the titan of all publications that put companies on the map. If they feature you, you’ve made it. Your startup has officially skyrocketed.

    Along came social media, and nothing was ever the same again. As the age of digitalization advances, modern PR emerges as the next best thing for companies to get brand recognition. From social media, blogs, email marketing, SEO to PPC, the list of platforms that companies target is now immeasurable, and the opportunities presented in these touchpoints are massive.

    Forward-thinking PR agencies understand the importance of dominating digital press with media coverage and not just solely focusing on one particular giant. And as digital PR continues to evolve, infinite opportunities are constantly presented for marketers to seize and take advantage of. To put it into perspective, here are the two fundamental bases of modern PR:

    Related: The Changed Face of The Modern PR Industry

    Covering all touchpoints

    In today’s digital media landscape, CEOs, leaders and marketers understand that quantity is just as important as perceived quality. Hence, the number of press mentions you get is just as significant, if not more, than just getting one feature in a leading publication. Simply put, modern PR’s digital-first approach leaves no stone unturned, treating each opportunity as vital.

    The art of engagement is the main difference between traditional and modern PR. It completely revolutionized the communication game between brands and publications. From just a handful of distribution outlets, companies today face a multitude of channels where opportunities for brand awareness are rich. While some touchpoints are more valuable than others, each plays an integral role in building and positioning a brand. Hence, it is no longer enough to get one article a month, regardless of how influential the publication is. The more touchpoints covered, the more effective the brand awareness strategy is.

    It all starts with solid, relevant and insightful content. In publishing an article, every PR’s main goal is to hit the right audience and influence them to take action. This includes:

    • Clicking on the digital content

    • Entering the conversion funnel

    • Watching the brand’s video content

    • Clicking on a relevant link via organic SEO

    • Social media engagement

    • Clicking on an affiliate link

    Related: 5 Ways To Tune Into The Modern PR Mindset

    Providing value through benefit-driven content

    Make no mistake: Just because modern PR recognizes the equality of quantity and quality doesn’t mean a company can get away with poorly-executed content. At the end of the day, it’s about how good your content is. Keep in mind that the avalanche of information that’s being fed to consumers from a wide range of channels can be overwhelming. Therefore, it makes them filter these articles based on what’s important to them. And during this process, you do not want to be the noise that consumers cancel out.

    Think of it as if you’re looking for a new smart TV. You search on Google for the latest product, and you’re presented with a variety of choices. Consumers who don’t have the time of the day will most likely stick to page 1 of the search results and only click a few links that they think provide the most valuable information based on the title and the meta description. Cut to reading the actual article — they will only select one or two pieces of content that they think informs them the best. From product specs to desired benefits, they immediately zone into the ones that offer them what they search for. It’s a constant process of elimination until they bump into the best one.

    It’s the same with delivering valuable content to build a brand. You use the right keywords for an optimal SEO; you ensure that the title leads them to the solution they need; you deliver the content that promotes the benefits they can get; and most importantly, you answer their implied question of “why do I need this?”

    Keep in mind to always focus on the consumers. Let them know what benefits they can reap from these products or services. Give them the value they need, and when in doubt, put yourself in their shoes and think about the kind of information that helps you the most. Ultimately, modern PR is a high-wire act of finding the right balance between hitting as many touchpoints as you can and providing valuable content. If you nail these two bases, your brand will thrive in today’s digital landscape.

    Omri Hurwitz

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  • Find Success With This Unconventional Business Model

    Find Success With This Unconventional Business Model

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    People coming into the workforce today want to do things differently, and it’s critical that, as employers of multiple generations, we figure out how to support each one quickly. The newer generations want more autonomy, and the reality is that entrepreneurial people exist at every level of every sized company. Still, traditional bureaucracies hold them back until they rise to a position of influence.

    When structuring an organization — either incorporating another company or entering into a startup and setting out to structure from square one — you have more options than the traditional top-down structure. In our experience, there are better ways of organization that bring out each individual’s full potential and drive company growth. But fair warning: This model is more than just shuffling seats — it’s a total redesign of the bus.

    Related: How an Adhocracy Stimulates Entrepreneurial Growth

    Adhocracy as we see it

    As opposed to a traditional, bureaucratic business model, adhocracy is a flexible and adaptable organizational structure where groups form when necessary for a particular purpose. The ad hoc, problem-solving work groups of adhocracy, create a business environment more conducive to innovation.

    In our “adhocracy,” non-hierarchical business units run independently with their portfolio of clients, but at the end of the day, they are still part of our organization. Within each business unit, there are specific leadership roles: Our “executive squads” — an operational person, a finance person, a technical person and a business development person. No different than a C-suite, each one brings their expertise to be part of a collaborative leadership team to support a business unit. And we mean support — this is not an old-school top-down structure.

    Our business units, named after constellations, are all supported by a platform: “Hubble” — the ecosystem’s brain. If I wanted to bring a technical squad to a business unit’s team, we could use Hubble to identify the right people, their location, time zone and rates. We can also use it to seek out particular expertise for a new project or to move someone to a team that needs it.

    Related: 5 Tips to Consider When Designing (or Redesigning) Your Organizational Structure

    Encourage agency and entrepreneurship

    The adhocracy model emphasizes leadership — encouraging it from more people at different levels throughout the company. The ability to break things down and reassemble provides organizational fluidity. Teams can identify problems to solve and take action quickly, accomplishing more and bigger efficiency.

    Each business unit has the autonomy to design what they’re leading and how they want to run it. They control their growth to fit the project needs, which benefits the greater company growth. They see how their efforts can positively impact the company, which creates a greater sense of ownership, camaraderie and ultimately, less turnover. It also drives healthy competition: Who will grow bigger or better in pursuing our goals? When more people feel empowered to try and make a difference, more will rise to the occasion and try.

    Related: Establishing The Structure For Organizational Growth

    Take our advice

    This model allows everyone to step up, be leaders and drive their unit and company growth. People can broaden their experience within one company, making them more likely to stay than look for other opportunities elsewhere. The products we build for our clients make them better and make us better. We hold no one back.

    But this is not a model for an organization looking to stand still; you must have the following recipe to make it work.

    1) Have an appetite for radical change

    To foster the company-wide shift in mindset required to drive this model to success, it takes a strong group of believers at the C-suite level to go all in on a radical shift from a typical organizational structure. It can’t be achieved by teams alone. At our company, we shifted from an organization passing down directives to allowing individual business units to operate in service to their clients. We even encourage our clients to make this shift when restructuring because we see how it could benefit them, but they realize it requires radical change.

    2) Find the right people and rethink their roles.

    From within the organization, find back office people capable of this mindset shift and position them to enable these teams. Our executive squads make things happen at our company, so the rest of us support what they need. My role in HR shifted to being more proactive and engaging with these leadership teams as strategic growth partners. Be on the lookout for people with the natural ability to think like a leader, solve complex problems and seek out opportunities to learn.

    3) Stay flexible.

    Changes often happen: merging, joining, shifting, expanding portfolios and exploring new industries. Teams can grow to scale to the size they need to take on any project. We’ve had business units split. We have had business units join. We have had business units give birth to baby business units. We embrace the fluidity — if it makes sense for the executive squad, we’re all in favor.

    4) Beware the threat of silos

    These business units can grow large at a certain point, making it harder to prevent silos. A siloed company cuts off fluid cross-communication needed to support a healthy adhocracy model, so we must be careful about not letting them form. If you follow the Dunbar Theory, then 300 is a critical number. If you go bigger, getting more siloed becomes inevitable. Consider these numbers to set a cap on the size for individual groups but leave them the flexibility to form alliances and grow.

    At my company, we devour new books on great business theory, absorb it and run with what seems most likely to work for us. It keeps us evolving all the time. If a better, more proven way of structuring exists, we would look at it critically and see if it might be worthwhile. In most cases, change will happen regardless, so we may as well anticipate it. For now, this model puts us in the best position to do just that.

    Related: To Break Down Silos, Build in Cross-Communication

    Victoria Maitland

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  • How Small Businesses are Preparing Their Marketing Strategies for a Recession

    How Small Businesses are Preparing Their Marketing Strategies for a Recession

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    All of the talk of a recession is forcing small business owners to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. To understand how small businesses are preparing, I contacted several marketing agencies that specialize in working with entrepreneurs to grow and scale. Preparing for a downhill period of time is like cross-country skiing. You have to be prepared to weather the storm. To help, I’ve combined their feedback with the marketing strategies we’re deploying in our company to be prepared for whatever the future may hold.

    There will not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Your approach will depend on your current situation and the level of marketing you have deployed. In the larger end of the small business market, you will have a full marketing team and various agencies supporting your business. And at the smaller end of the spectrum, you may have a single marketing manager. Evaluate each of these strategies for how they will apply to your business and right-size them for your approach.

    Related: 6 Proven Business Marketing Strategies to Grow During a Recession

    Create trigger points for shifts in marketing spend

    If there is a recession, we can expect revenues to decline. If that happens, what will happen to marketing spend? It’s best to plan these decisions ahead of time when you aren’t under the stress of the moment. Where will you decrease spend? Where will you increase spend? What metrics will you use to measure the success or failure of initiatives? What is your target cost per lead? What’s your target cost per new customer? These are all questions entrepreneurs are asking themselves and their marketing teams right now.

    We’re working on establishing baselines. It’s like building a plane while we’re flying. We’re seeing some categories like advertising and email declining since the Apple iOs15 update, and it’s hard to know when we’ll reach the floor. Meanwhile, we’re seeing others like thought leadership, influencer marketing and podcasting increasing, and we’re not sure when we’ll hit the ceiling. The key is to stay on top of the marketing mix and put in accountability to understand what is truly driving the needle we need to be moving. A rounded-out strategy will consider new account marketing, customer marketing and partner marketing for a holistic strategy.

    Invest in the brand and messaging to stay ahead of the competition

    Companies are doubling down on standing out from the crowd. Bob Gillespie, founder of Propr Digital said his clients are moving towards differentiating through powerful branding and messaging. “Brands are looking to stand out. And once they do, they want that differentiation to scale. We’re finding companies are investing in their corporate brand and message on the front end and then carrying it through all of their campaigns in order to create stronger brand awareness in a more competitive marketing environment.”

    This is something we chose to do during the pandemic. We knew the market was shifting, and we couldn’t compete on size as a small business. So, we knew we had to stand out and make every interaction count. We hired a brand agency to come in. They turned our brand on its head and came back with something that truly sets us apart in the market. Then we hired a messaging agency to come in and align our sales messaging. Now, we’re focused on making an impact and being memorable at every touchpoint.

    Related: How Small Businesses Can Survive and Thrive in a Recession

    Be strategic about advertising spend and its purpose

    If revenues decline, most companies will decrease their advertising spend. Steve Krakower from Harbor Marketing Agency says, “This will make it more challenging to scale.” He recommends you ask yourself, “How do you acquire customers more efficiently? Focus on Return on Ad spend as your one big metric, and reset expectations. Growth might be slower. The days of putting $1 into Facebook and getting $5 out are on their way out. So, what we are trying to do is focus on brand building. We’re putting out a lot of content to build a community around brands and businesses. Then we’re supplementing that brand advertising with direct response advertising. It takes more sweat equity to get results than it did five years ago, and in today’s market, brand building isn’t optional.”

    He also recommends that you “are smart about your spend. You don’t have to outpace the recession. You may not be as aggressive. You have to make sure you can weather the storm while positioning to scale after.”

    Combine forces to amplify resources

    This is not a time to go it alone. Positioning yourself as part of a “full suite” implies better value; people assume the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Brian Taylor from Goldiata Creative says, “Align yourself with other recession-proof businesses. Look for industries that will have less of an impact during a recession like government, healthcare and consumer goods.”

    We made a strategic shift to align with specific partners in our go-to-market strategy. We realized that with a small marketing team of three, we couldn’t boil the ocean. We had to focus and take advantage of the marketing teams of our partners if we were going to make an impact. This has enabled us to align our sales teams on a joint account-based marketing strategy, leverage content marketing resources across both brands and increase the amount of lead volume sent to sales. That’s a win-win. We’re in a market where we recognized we’re stronger together. Our partners have marketing teams that are more than triple our size. Why would we try to go it alone when we could be creating joint content and running joint promotions that maximize the reach of both of our brands? We have a powerful combined story to tell, so let’s tell it.

    Related: Why You Should Never Skimp on Brand Marketing in a Recession

    Offer more social proof to increase loyalty

    In a down market, everyone’s reputation is on the line. And that means that every decision matters. Joe Dominick, partner at Gauge Media and owner of a small IT firm says, “In a down market, be prepared to offer more social proof. You want case studies and testimonials that will reassure people that the money they are about to spend won’t be regretted. It’s not about loyalty, it’s about reducing prospect fear and uncertainty. Reputation matters. And theirs is on the line as much as yours.”

    We’ve invested heavily in case studies as part of our content strategy, understanding this will become more and more useful as time goes on, regardless of whether or not there is a recession. Social proof always matters. Look at how you can tell the story of your customers, and make them the hero. Your success is their success, and the more you can put them at the center of your marketing strategy, the better. Even in industries where you can’t publish the customer’s name, you can still publish it with the type of company and industry it served and anonymize it. The idea that we can’t share our successes simply isn’t true. There’s a creative way to tell every story.

    Entrepreneurs understand that we need to be thinking ahead and start making strategic shifts to prepare for a once again, unknown future. How you handle your marketing strategy could make or break your business. It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to slash marketing budgets in a recession and rely solely on the sales channel. This is a strategy for failure as you need both to remain competitive. If you disappear from the market and expect people to remember who you are, you’ll be disappointed. We live in an out-of-sight, out-of-mind culture. People will forget your business. And small businesses will need to find a way to do both to stay competitive. They’ll need to be smart about it. The reality is that we won’t be able to do everything. Thinking about where to strategically focus now will help right-size the workload so you can scale up or down as needed. Every down market presents great opportunities for small businesses to grow.

    Nichole Kelly

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  • The Pros and Cons of Your Brand Using Affiliate Links

    The Pros and Cons of Your Brand Using Affiliate Links

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In today’s world of digital publications, online shopping and influencer recommendations, more media outlets are turning to affiliate marketing programs to make easy money. Essentially, these programs partner with editors and media outlets to promote your products in exchange for a percentage of commission. The affiliate program, and the outlets that partner with them, get a piece of the profits from purchases made through their links — in turn, your brand gets in front of bigger audiences.

    On top of being a helpful sales tool for some companies, we’re also starting to see more and more top-tier media outlets that only recommend brands with affiliate links. Brands that don’t have them may miss out on some great coverage opportunities.

    There are tons of programs to choose from, and you can expect them to take anywhere from 5% to as much as 30% of sales. Programs like Amazon, CJ Affiliate, GiddyUp and so many others can help your company get into high-performing articles in popular publications. So, the question is: to affiliate or not to affiliate?

    Before you make a decision, it’s important to review the facts. To help you know if this move is right for your company, let’s talk about the pros and cons of signing up for affiliate links:

    Related: An Affiliate-Marketing Program Might Be the Perfect Move

    Pros

    The most noteworthy benefit of affiliate marketing is the increased press coverage, which hopefully results in higher sales. As a PR firm, we see our clients’ opportunities increase significantly when they work with an affiliate program since outlets are much more incentivized to include them. It is an especially helpful advantage for brands in more competitive industries such as beauty, fashion and tech — where just a few great press placements can truly make or break your year.

    Another benefit of affiliate marketing is that the coverage received is considered an earned media placement, which holds much more value in the eyes of consumers. Affiliate link articles are less conspicuous than traditional paid ads and appeal to viewers seeking authentic, trustworthy recommendations.

    As experts in the communications field, we know that authenticity matters to audiences, with statistics consistently placing it high on the list of consumer values. One recent study showed that 88% of respondents desire to support brands that appear authentic in their marketing efforts. A well-crafted affiliate article reviewing and recommending your products just may be the perfect strategy to resonate with those buyers.

    Affiliate programs provide great opportunities for marketing, brand awareness and potential sales. Before deciding if they are the right step for your brand, let’s review some of the downsides to keep in mind.

    Related: A Step-by-Step Guide to Your First Affiliate Marketing Campaign

    Cons

    Before joining an affiliate program, consider whether or not your brand’s profit margins will comfortably allow for the percentage of commission to be paid. The sweet spot for affiliate marketing seems to be midsize-to-large companies that benefit from the press coverage and can afford the cost of it. Small brands need to take a look at their books and review all options when it comes to marketing strategies.

    Consider working with an external agency that has the expertise to decipher if an affiliate program is a good fit for your brand. Our clients often ask us if affiliate marketing is right for them, and the truth is, it varies on a case-to-case basis.

    In addition to knowing what your brand needs, an agency can help you review the various affiliate program parties and the differences in percentage commissions they take. For companies that are short on staff members, navigating the market for the best-fitting affiliate partnership, setting the account up, and monitoring the program can be too heavy of a lift. Don’t be afraid to ask the experts to step in.

    If you’re unsure if your company can afford the cost and labor of managing an affiliate program, consult with an agency or public relations expert to learn more about your options. The right partnership just might offer the press coverage (and revenue) you’ve been looking for.

    Bryanne DeGoede

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  • What Not to Do When Marketing a Web3 Product

    What Not to Do When Marketing a Web3 Product

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Despite being a disruptor to the old order of web apps in principle, Web3 success still relies a lot on traditional marketing. The word about these products needs to get out somehow, and the only way they can get out is through marketing.

    To an extent, this means that a product lives and dies on the strength of its marketing. It does not matter how innovative or genius a product is: if word about it does not get to the people who need it, it will die in ignominy. Perhaps if the idea behind the product is genius enough, someone else will inevitably pick up the idea and market it better.

    We have seen that happen many times in tech history, and there is no doubt that it could also happen today. Myspace, for example, lost to Facebook for a lot of reasons. But one of the reasons was that Myspace was not getting into the consciousness of people fast enough. Of course, Myspace eventually tried to fight that, but they eventually lost. They did all the wrong things marketing-wise, and their loss was almost inevitable.

    The same goes for Web3 products. It is easy, and perhaps true, to say that Web3 is the future. But what’s not easy to say is what products will dominate that future. Friendster and Myspace were all first movers in Web2, but all of them died before Web2 became the future. This goes to show that it’s really not about first movers, instead, it’s about the ones who survive. That is why it is important to learn from the marketing failures that riddle failed products and avoid doing them.

    Related: If You Have No Clue What Web3 Is, You’re Not Alone. Here’s a Breakdown of the Future of the Internet.

    Don’t experiment too much

    Many marketers fall into the trap of experimenting too much with Web3 marketing. They fall into this trap because they assume that since Web3 is somewhat experimental and new, Web3 marketing should be the same — but that’s not true. There is no reason why the marketing of a product should model the product itself. Aside from that, there is little reason to disrupt marketing itself. Traditional marketing works, and it works well.

    Even if you are going to have a policy of disrupting marketing, as it were, it is important to do this with the aid of research. A lot of the Web3 products coming online these days are startups, which means they could be living on borrowed time. It is unwise to experiment with the future of those fledgling products by just throwing whatever at it and hoping something new and radical sticks. It’ll probably fail and may lead to the death of the company.

    Don’t use influencers first

    Influencer marketing works — that’s probably the first thing you should know. If you want a critical mass of people to sign up or purchase your NFTs or tokens quickly, then it’s probably smart to get an influencer to market for you. But here is the thing; influencer marketing is 100% a grenade. Suppose you know how to use a grenade, good for you. However, if you don’t know how to use it and try to use it, you may end up blowing yourself up. 2020 and 2021 saw the rise of Web3 products using influencers to scale. But do they work? ‘Or did they eventually blow up?

    Well, according to a Visual Objects survey, not really. Most people are starting to realize that influencer marketing is inauthentic. This is an especially important thing to note if what you are selling, in essence, is risk and profit. People do not listen to people without skin in the game when it comes to taking risks. They understand that influencers do not have skin in the game, and are then less inclined to take advice from them.

    Here is the thing, Web3 influencing is a dying market. Shortly, scandals like the Kardashian fiasco will cause governments to clamp down on influencer marketing. That is why product leads and heads of marketing must be very careful before choosing to step into the river of influencer marketing. It is a tool that works, but it is a tool that must be used carefully. If not, it can cause more harm than good.

    Related: How to Prepare Your Brand for Web 3.0 Marketing

    Don’t overspend

    One of the biggest mistakes you can make in marketing is assuming that a huge marketing budget means effective marketing. Many times, companies spend a chunk of their budget on symbolic but ineffective ads, such as huge billboards or an ad slot during the Superbowl. But spending big in itself does not guarantee success — grassroots efforts that reach out to your market directly can be more effective than a billboard in every airport.

    Don’t be too shy to ask for help

    Web3 founders are fond of doing everything themselves. From raising money to running the day-to-day business, they have a lot on their plate.

    This spills over to marketing and public relations, too — but marketing isn’t as easy as it might seem. When projects and even celebrities and influencers post something on social media, a lot of time and effort went on behind the scenes to make sure the post read exactly the way it needed to be read as far as messaging, content, SEO and target audience.

    There is a lot that goes into this, which is why marketers get paid big money. It helps to hire a marketer part-time just to see what they do, or even vet a few agencies to see what they offer.

    Sometimes, it’s as easy as being pointed in the right direction. Don’t waste anyone’s time, but take a closer look at the nuts and bolts of things. What are the individual components that may even be involved? What do you need to learn about? Does the marketing agency offer SEO? Well, now you know that’s something you need. Go research it or you can schedule a consultation with a marketing team — $300 may seem like a lot of money to pay for an hour or two of education, but that’s all it really takes for a workable strategy to form.

    I often brainstorm 90% of my marketing plans on the very first call with my clients. We’ve done it over and over again, and we can see how your product fits into the audience as easily as you can see how your product fits into the market. The point is to find some way to get a second opinion, and you’re well on your way.

    Kurt Ivy

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  • What is Disruptive Marketing and Why is it Crucial for Success?

    What is Disruptive Marketing and Why is it Crucial for Success?

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As marketers, we are always trying to stand out from the crowd. Enter: disruptive marketing.

    Think back to 20 years ago when Steve Jobs said that iPhones would replace computers. People didn’t believe him at the time, but I bet you are either reading this article on your phone or your phone is at least next to you. Steve Jobs’ claim is a perfect example of disruptive marketing.

    I’m not a fan of buzzwords, but I am a fan of disruptive marketing. So much so that I recently came on board a disruptive marketing agency, Overit, as the Senior Marketing Director. Part of my role involves being a disruptor in the marketing industry, and with this article, I aim to help you become a disruptor. As disruptors, we need to be cutting-edge and unafraid so let’s explore how to do just that.

    What exactly is disruptive marketing?

    While innovative, disruptive marketing is also strategic. It goes against the status quo of traditional marketing tactics and reaches your target audience in new and creative ways. Disruptive marketing resonates with your current customers and unlocks new audiences.

    FYI, this marketing strategy is only for risk-takers. However, it’s an excellent opportunity to grow your brand rather quickly. It is not just about being unique to get attention; disruptive marketing should be paired with data and strategy — just like any other marketing technique.

    To put it simply, disruptive marketing is the process of using new and original marketing strategies to reach your target consumers in a way that your competitors are not.

    This type of marketing allows for a lot of creativity and, like all marketing strategies, can continually be refined by the data you collect from your efforts. This data is important because disruptive marketing involves experimenting, and some tactics will work while others won’t.

    Disruptive marketing pushes boundaries and creates new norms. Strategies we have in our marketing toolboxes were once disruptive. Take influencer marketing for example, it once was a foreign way to get authentic brand recommendations, and now it’s a strategy that many brands implement.

    If you want to be a disruptor, you can’t be afraid to fail. However, this type of marketing has the chance of going viral. Are you a risk-taker like me?

    Why should my marketing be disruptive?

    The modern-day consumer is quite intelligent. They know when they’re being “marketed” and are sick of the traditional advertising norms. Disruptive marketing involves you doing something unique to allow you to stand out in an over-saturated industry.

    Consumers value innovation. In fact, they expect it. There is a sea of repetitive marketing trends out there, and your target audience craves something different. This type of marketing makes your products or services stay top-of-mind by being unique and memorable.

    The top 10 disruptive marketing tips

    Have I convinced you to be a disruptor yet? If so, I’ve streamlined the top 10 tips I use in my disruptive marketing efforts. Write them out on a sticky note and post them on your monitor so you can always remind yourself how to be disruptive.

    • Stay up to date with social media trends and success stories
    • A/B test different strategies
    • Capture data and implement the insights you glean from it
    • Consult your buyer personas to ensure you’re reaching your target audience
    • Challenge current marketing assumptions and do the opposite
    • Speak to consumer pain points
    • Embrace technology
    • Follow disruptive thought leaders for inspiration
    • Be unusual but not bizarre
    • Implement storytelling best practices

    Examples of disruptive marketing

    Uber appalled people when they announced that they came out with an app in which people essentially get into a stranger’s car. Today, there are competing apps, and “ubering” is part of our English language.

    Bitcoin is the world’s largest bank but has no actual cash. That didn’t stop them. They kept promoting their values and honed in on target consumers who don’t trust traditional banks, and now look at how far they’ve come.

    Dollar Shave Club came out with its first commercial in 2011 and flipped the entire razor industry on its head. They studied what consumers were looking for, addressed those pain points in a brand new way, and the rest is history.

    REI took a risk and set itself apart from other brands vying for consumers to spend money on Black Friday. In 2015, they started #OptOutside and discouraged consumers from shopping at their store on the biggest consumer spending day of the year. Many consumers actually respected this stance, which clearly didn’t hurt business because REI still encourages consumers to opt outside on Black Friday.

    In 2015, HBO released their HBO Go app. Instead of pushing typical pain points like watching HBO from anywhere, they released a commercial of a family watching awkward HBO shows together. They then showed how the family went to different rooms in the house to avoid awkward viewing. They thought outside the box, and it worked.

    Air Wick implemented disruptive marketing with their Scent Decorator quiz. They invite consumers to take quizzes to find the perfect home scents. Typically, people want actually to smell something before purchasing, but Air Wick found a way around that, and they did it successfully.

    A balance between traditional and disruptive

    Disruptive marketing creates quick impact and brand awareness. However, this strategy doesn’t mean you throw traditional marketing out the door.

    There is a balance between holding onto traditional marketing that works and using your tried and true strategies to power your disruptive efforts.

    Like traditional marketing, when implementing disruptive marketing, look at things like the consumer’s journey, pain points, value propositions, etc., when allocating your time and budget for 2023.

    Final thoughts: How to be disruptive with your content

    So much of modern-day marketing is content-driven. Naturally, some of your disruptive marketing efforts will be rooted in content. After all, 91% of brands use content marketing, bringing in 6 times as many leads as traditional marketing at 62% of the cost.

    A great place to start with disruptive marketing is through your content.

    User Generated Content is popular and effective. Consider challenging your audience to post content about your brand with a theme that gets people’s attention. You can then promote your UGC using marketing strategies that you already use.

    The beauty of content creation is that it allows you to experiment with disruptive marketing. Look at your competitors’ typical blog posts and publish the opposite. Be bold. Be experimental.

    Same with the content you put on social media. Do something risky and measure the results against your other social posts.

    You don’t have to re-work your entire marketing strategy, you just need to not be afraid to be different and think outside the box.

    Kristen Matthews

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  • 6 Pitfalls of Common Customer Communication Tactics

    6 Pitfalls of Common Customer Communication Tactics

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Most people running a business are well aware that customer communication is critical to success, but that’s only partially correct: It’s only successful when executed in a way that not only engages customers but builds meaningful relationships. In fact, 54% of customers think companies need to do a better job with their approach to relationship-building, according to global research findings from Salesforce.

    Today, there are a multitude of ways to communicate with customers, and within this digital age, it’s an ever-changing field with a diverse array of means to reach out and communicate directly. It can become overwhelming for businesses trying to pinpoint which channel is best to not only reach customers but to generate loyalty — since it goes back to the Pareto Principle (or 80/20 rule): That loyal 20% of customers drives 80% of your revenue.

    While this process can be difficult, it’s something each business needs to embark on when looking to grow and be successful. Especially when considering that two-thirds of the difference between brand profits were based on consumer engagement, with businesses at the higher end of customer engagement receiving higher percentages of profits, according to a report from Hall and Partners.

    Each communications channel has value and is well suited for a specific purpose, but each also has weaknesses. It’s helpful to look at the best use of the various channels to enhance customer communications but to also understand the pitfalls of these individual channels and how to mitigate the risk through best practices, as well as supporting technologies.

    Let’s break down the six most popular and effective ways to keep in constant contact with your customers and what the limitations are:

    Related: Why Customer Communication Makes a Difference During Inflation

    1. Intense competition on social media

    Ninety percent of customers are more loyal to brands they follow on social media, according to a recent report by Sprout Social. Why? Because customers want relationships with brands, and social media platforms provide a means for customers to know what a brand is doing any day of the week at any time, and most importantly, based on the consumer’s schedule. While social media platforms are constantly evolving, the one challenge is the competition for placement. Consumers are inundated with a deluge of content, and the fact that the platforms have algorithms to pick what content they can display means that, organically, only 2% of your followers will see what you post on their timeline. Thus, social media platforms are very powerful, but only if the customer either “goes” to your page or is somehow driven to your site.

    2. Difficulty driving traffic to your website

    Websites have long been the common method for publishing content, business hours, company information and much more. Providers like Google constantly scour the web, building huge indices of the information they find on a website. However, much like social media, websites are great if the customer comes “looking” for your information — but websites have no way of actively getting information into your customer’s hands. The challenge is navigating search engine optimization and an array of tactics to drive traffic to your site. The second challenge with a website is that the information is often stale for multiple reasons. The most obvious one is that the individual operator is not a website developer. And there is cost and the time spent to keep the site current — especially for very time-sensitive information, like a band schedule or this week’s happy hour specials.

    Related: 19 Experts Explain Why Your Website Isn’t Bringing in Customers

    3. The many challenges of email marketing

    Email is an age-old communications method. One of the benefits of email is that it creates a reference that people can revisit (for example, a coupon delivered via email that can be pulled up on a phone). The challenges are the sheer volume of emails, the timeliness of “seeing” the emails, and spam filtering. Also, inbox space is limited, messages need to be brief, and delivery and compliance are very non-deterministic. Even with a successful email model, the question is how do you acquire the email addresses of your valuable customers? These aren’t always easy or inexpensive to procure and often require depending on a third-party resource.

    4. Character limits with SMS marketing

    The primary benefits of SMS marketing are that it’s delivered quickly and promotes interaction. It also has a much higher open rate than email. In fact, 98% of text messages are opened within 5 minutes. However, the messages are very short, at only 160 characters, which limits the robustness of communication. This can leave a customer feeling detached from your business and impacts the personalization of your communications. And the phone numbers for SMS must be procured — so building a customer database takes time.

    Related: 5 Ways to Use Texting to Grow Your Sales and Marketing

    5. Digital signage lacks personalization

    Digital signage provides a means to inform customers in brick-and-mortar establishments. It can communicate specials, upsell items, provide QR codes to follow, share social posts, and it can even serve as a digital menu board. While digital signage is certainly beneficial, it’s not advantageous as a stand-alone tactic. Customer loyalty requires personalized, ongoing relationship building, so digital signage works better as an enhancement as opposed to a tactic of its own.

    6. Cost and time of podcasts

    A podcast provides the opportunity for robust, personalized content and no time or length restrictions. The biggest challenge with a podcast is growing an audience in addition to the time spent planning, recording, producing and marketing the podcast. Although a podcast does boost brand loyalty, due to the amount of money and labor it requires, it’s not always the best fit.

    With these six different methods of communicating with customers, each has unique benefits. But generating customer loyalty, and ultimately more revenue, can best be achieved by not just one of these methods, but multiple integrated tactics, to achieve the best results.

    Related: Why You Should Use Blogs and Podcasts to Market Your Business

    How integrated marketing technology works

    Here’s an example: Charlie & Jake’s Brewhouse needed to fill their dining room and boost sales on Sunday afternoons. By capturing customer information via a free WiFi hotspot, they collected phone numbers and sent a text message out at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday offering a free brewhouse pretzel with beer mustard that day. Customers merely had to text the reply “PRETZEL” to redeem it. The result was a busy dining room within hours of opening. It was real-time marketing, with real-time results by integrating WiFi with SMS.

    However, this can be taken a step further. Once owned customer data is collected, it can also be integrated with social media, email marketing and digital signage. SMS can be used to send a message with a one-click link to follow your business on social media, or it can provide a link to your event on Facebook. By integrating WiFi technology with different forms of communication, businesses can not only provide hyper-targeted and more personalized messaging, but communication that is provided to the right people at the right time and in the right place.

    In short, there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong form of communication when building customer relationships — it’s about utilizing multiple forms of communication that all work together for a purpose.

    Stephen Gould

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  • Strategies to Optimize Returns in Franchise Digital Marketing

    Strategies to Optimize Returns in Franchise Digital Marketing

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Return on Investment (ROI). It’s what every brand wants from its franchise digital marketing dollar — money that’s often begrudgingly spent even though most brand leaders know they need to budget for it. Still, doing so isn’t like allocating money for research and development or human resources, where cost can be more easily measured against return. Now more than ever, digital marketing is a nuanced tool that can add tremendous value to a brand name.

    For the same reason, it can leave investors feeling like they aren’t getting their money’s worth. So, how do you measure its value? What criteria do you use, and how focused should you be in determining your franchise’s digital marketing ROI? Well, a lot depends on, well, a lot.

    The right partnership

    Getting a good read on your franchise marketing ROI should always start with establishing a clear and consistent baseline against which it can be measured. It should account for external factors that may impact a campaign’s success, like weather, seasonal trends, economic pressures (think pandemic) and more. Perhaps most importantly, it should consider the skill and experience of the person or the team doing its monitoring and measuring.

    These days, most consumers take their time before purchasing, partly because there are many ways that decisions can be influenced. The digital landscape is increasingly fragmented, and the buyer’s journey doesn’t always start at A and end at Z. A buyer’s digital experience is virtually limitless, which is why it’s essential that your team measures ROI holistically, not just channel — or platform-specifically — and that means it’s essential to partner with marketers who can see the big picture and help you see it, too.

    Related: The Importance of Seeing the Big Picture

    Think about it: we all rely on the advice of experts — accountants, plumbers, lawyers — and you should seek out a digital marketer with the same intention as a doctor or mechanic, as someone who can help you understand a complex scenario and guide you through choices. Good franchise digital marketing integrates many efforts — content, paid advertising, social media, SEO, and more — and experienced franchise digital marketers know that ROI should be measured using a predetermined set of key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics that reflect your objectives. Common franchise development KPIs include cost per lead, click-through rate, organic traffic and more. An experienced franchise digital marketer can help you determine which KPIs are best to focus on, given your brand’s history and goals.

    Emerging vs. established brands

    Identifying what KPIs to focus on as a franchisor will very much depend on whether your brand is an emerging one — new to the industry with a lot to prove — or an established one with a reputation, one that’s either served you well or hasn’t (and here’s where reputation management is critical. An experienced digital marketing agency can help you with that, too!). All franchisors measure success by the number of franchises they sell each year. Still, an emerging brand may have other criteria they’ll use in addition to sales, like whether or not they’ve articulated their story and purpose effectively, whether they’ve reached the best and broadest audience possible, and how clearly they’ve outlined their value against that of the competition. This will mean adopting a long-view marketing strategy that may take more time to measure.

    Related: Can’t Rush a Good Thing: Effective Franchise Digital Marketing Takes Time

    Conversely, an established brand with a good reputation will likely have very different goals that are a subset of the ultimate goal, which is to sell franchises. They may want to reach new personas, like multi-unit owners or veterans, the market for a specific territory or region, or focus on a particular competitive advantage. These goals are more precise and, therefore, may be more easily measured; they might also be more quickly realized because marketing strategies can be highly tailored to meet them. For brands suffering from poor reputation management or a history of dissatisfied customers, marketing efforts will take on a completely different tone and objective, one that looks to reestablish trust and reiterate worth, neither of which can happen overnight.

    The lifetime value of your brand

    As someone who’s been in the franchise marketing sphere for a decade, it’s my experience that whether you’re a franchisor or a franchisee, ultimately, the real return on investment depends on how you view your marketing dollar in the first place: is it an expense meant to deliver results quickly, or an investment, one made for long-term growth? You’d be wise to approach it from the latter perspective.

    All your marketing efforts should add to your brand’s equity or its lifetime value — the place it has in the hearts and minds of consumers and the public, people who include potential franchisees — and that almost always takes time to establish. Most investors want to align with brands they can believe in and trust, in other words, brands that have worth beyond what can be measured by KPIs and ROIs. A brand’s worth is built over time — often years — through creating awareness, articulating culture and values, delivering on promises, and encouraging loyalty; again, this means taking a long-view approach to your marketing strategies and determining ROI.

    Related: How to Vet Franchisors and Predict Your ROI on a Franchise Business

    Taking a long view is especially important in franchising because it’s set up to reward patience financially. Hefty one-time franchise fees paid by new investors and ongoing monthly royalties (typically 5-8% of gross sales and the real bread and butter of a franchise brand) can add up and contribute tremendously to brand value. Every franchise that is sold adds to a brand’s inherent worth, and that growth can only happen if you commit your marketing dollars to work over time. Franchisees, too, should view their local marketing efforts as an investment in their presumably long future, one that’s meant to slowly and steadily grow their presence and value.

    In the end, ROI should always be gauged against the cost of not creating a budget for regular and comprehensive digital marketing. Your brand doesn’t exist in a vacuum and can’t grow unless you do what others want: believe and invest in it.

    Stephen Galligan

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  • Why Influencers Are the Perfect Marketing Strategy For Your Brand

    Why Influencers Are the Perfect Marketing Strategy For Your Brand

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    At least 93 percent of marketers have included influencer marketing in their brand strategy. Additionally, In 2020, the average number of social media accounts for a millennial or Gen Z-er was 8.4 personal accounts, which means that it’s more important than ever for brands to embrace a cross-channel marketing approach to stay competitive. The influencer marketing industry is projected to reach $16.4 billion by the end of 2022.

    Successfully connecting influencers and brands requires a specific list of criteria. When we hit upon the “perfect” influencer relationship, both the creator and the brands benefit tremendously.

    It’s not always easy to find the right influencers for your brand. Still, these are a few of the key things we look for when establishing brand-influencer relationships at ConvertSocial, after analyzing our own experience with more than 20,000 influencers.

    1. They’re from an industry-relevant niche

    It doesn’t matter how high their follower count is or how viral their content goes; if an influencer isn’t relevant to a brand’s sphere, the relationship won’t be a great fit.

    Creators within a specific niche of your industry tend to have a much more significant impact on the brands they work with because their audience, content and reputation are all built on a targeted passion. This means that content is more targeted, and every campaign is more impactful.

    Related: What to Know About Influencer Marketing in 2022

    2. Their voice and personal brand resonate with the company’s image and values

    Remember that the influencers you choose are extensions of your brand. They are ambassadors of your core values and mission, so your company should only choose creators with similar values. Smaller-scale influencers who feel accessible to your audience and champion the same causes as your brand are the perfect ambassadors to maximize your company’s ROI.

    In addition, it’s important to remember that new influencer categories are cropping up as the industry expands. No matter the brand niche, there are now influencers who are gaining a following in that sphere. From “finfluencers” (financial influencers) to “skinfluencers” (skincare influencers), there’s a creator for every niche, so hold out for the ones that resonate best with your brand.

    3. They’re charismatic, trustworthy and know how to build emotional connections

    Creators should have that “something extra” that makes them unique and able to establish a genuine emotional connection with their followers. When an influencer has charisma and empathy, it converts to the kind of loyalty and trust that will keep the audience coming back again and again.

    Many brands are turning to micro-influencers (those with 10,000-100,000 followers) because they tend to have an aura of authenticity and credibility that differs from celebrities and macro influencers. They tend to feel more relatable and attainable, so followers feel they have a certain level of authority in their niche.

    Related: Overcoming Language Barriers, Regional Influencer Marketing Boosts Brand Growth Exponentially

    4. They can proactively produce balanced content that sells

    It’s essential that creators aren’t advertising in every post. We usually aim for a goal of no more than 15 percent of sales-type content per influencer. This goal is based on thousands of in-depth interviews conducted with creators, which works well for us.

    Influencers should be excited about creating quality content around your brand. The best ones will have natural selling skills that allow them to introduce the benefits of your product in a way that feels like a friend sharing their knowledge about something they love.

    It’s often best to have a collaborative conversation about ad campaigns so that you and your influencer partner can craft highly relevant content to their audience and effectively introduce your product in the best possible light.

    Related: 7 Steps to Becoming a Seven-Figure Influencer in Your Niche

    Three more considerations when choosing influencers

    First, remember that a high follower count is not the most critical metric. Creators demonstrating high levels of community engagement will be far more likely to have a higher ROI. Ask creators for their engagement statistics (e.g., likes, comments, shares, clicks, story polls, etc.), and double-check their numbers. It’s usually a red flag if an influencer hesitates to share their statistics with you.

    Second, expertise and relevant experience can be huge boosters. The more authority an influencer has in their niche, the easier it is to convert that into audience trust and loyalty to your brand. For example, a fitness influencer who is a registered dietitian or physical therapist has a higher level of authority than someone who has been going to the gym for a few years.

    Third, cross-platform content creation has a significant impact on revenues. An influencer having accounts on multiple platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or YouTube drastically increases revenues. For instance, our ConvertSocial statistics confirmed that a creator with 2-3 social media accounts could bring in up to three times more revenue than a creator with only one account. Four or more accounts increase revenues tenfold!

    Leverage the influencer community to your advantage

    Statistics show that influencer marketing ROIs are up to 11 times greater than banner ads, and 92 percent of consumers trust online word-of-mouth recommendations over other ad formats.

    The influencer marketing channel is growing extremely fast and shows no signs of slowing down. This means that now is the best time to jump on the trend and capitalize on the success that partnering with the perfect influencer can bring.

    Ksana Liapkova

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  • 9 Ways Memes Can Change Your Business

    9 Ways Memes Can Change Your Business

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The so-called “creator economy” spans a hugely diverse field with products including dance videos on TikTok, crocheted doilies on Etsy and eye-popping memes on iFunny. It is becoming a formidable force. In 2021 alone, the creator economy raised a record $1.3 billion in funding, underscoring the investment community’s vote of confidence in its future. Fast forward to 2022, and memes are clearly no longer just for laughs.

    The sector’s trailblazers — behemoths like Meta and more specialized entertainment tech players like FunCorp, whose team I was privileged to join in 2021 — were fortunate to be at the forefront of many industry changes, including the explosion of memes into pop culture.

    Related: The Secret to Building Brand Devotion is Not a Loyalty Program. Here’s What Customer’s Really Want.

    Innovative players across industries are harnessing their power to build communities and inspire strong sentiment around their brand for the benefit of the business. Here are some exciting new ways in which memes can help you achieve your strategic objectives, both as they relate to your customers and your teams:

    1. Reach a younger audience. Memes don’t have a target age, but if you are keen to grab a larger part of the younger demographic, they might be the most effective medium of short-form communication. Approximately 54% of Gen-Zs, 41% of Millennials, and 21% of Gen-Xers look for new memes every day, according to GlobalWebIndex data, while 75% of users aged 13-36 regularly share memes. Considering these stats, using memes to help your corporate messages reach younger customers and potential partners seems like a no-brainer.
    2. Mount a low-cost marketing campaign. When done right, a meme that takes a limited budget to create can leverage the power of social media to go viral, which means your meme marketing campaign has the potential to go viral as well. Companies across sectors, from grocery delivery players to luxury retailers, are already using this to their advantage, with Gucci‘s meme-based ad campaign “#TFWGucci” (“That Feeling When Gucci”) representing one of the company’s highest engaging ad campaign, generating over 21,000 comments and 2 million likes. Apps like Yepp have built-in editing tools that simplify meme creation, even for a novice, helping take the art of meme-making into the mainstream.
    3. Increase engagement with your social media page. If you enjoy memes, you know the internet gets flooded with clever takes on trending news. You can keep track of popular memes and share the ones that are topical and well-aligned with your corporate image to fuel greater engagement with your audience online. A recent research report highlighted the benefits of this strategy, revealing that while millennials generally eschew commercial and sponsored content, 84% of them are influenced by user-generated content, including memes on company pages.
    4. Help your brand stand out. Given the short-form nature of meme content and its punchy messaging style and visuals, memes can stay in your memory long after you’ve clicked on them. There is a way to leverage this by incorporating memes into your branding, ensuring better brand recall than other communication formats. It’s a crowded space, and memes help break through the wall of indifference and capture consumer attention. One company nailing this is Barkbox, a company selling dog toy subscription boxes. Barkbox has racked up an impressive 1.8 million followers on its Instagram page by almost exclusively sharing memes. It now surpasses the follower count of the country’s largest pet retailer — PetSmart — by a cool 1 million people.
    5. Build brand loyalty. While traditional marketing may alienate some consumers by being overly aspirational (think beach body ads, reels for the latest diet supplements), memes tend to unite people by reminding them that they are not alone in their thoughts and feelings. In doing so, memes become a powerful tool for community-building, helping foster a sense of belonging among consumers that translates into brand loyalty.
    6. Align your onboarding with your workplace culture. Starting a new job can be a daunting experience, and deciphering the work culture at your new office can be difficult. If you pride yourself on fostering a unique working environment far from the stuffy, hierarchical offices of the past, then using memes to welcome new employees might be a good way to highlight this. Memes, when chosen appropriately, can help your new team members understand the new workplace better and easily fit into it.
    7. Encourage team building. Memes have the power to inspire strong feelings, which laugh-out-loud content tends to do. While memes are most often used for external marketing in business, corporate culture gurus are now also looking to memes, seeking more ways to unite and inspire employees. Creating work channels for sharing your favorite memes or holding corporate competitions for the best meme created by employees on a particular topic of relevance can be an unusual and fun way to encourage team building. And they can certainly help spice up a presentation when used effectively.
    8. Spice up internal communications. Deploying a mix of topical memes in internal communications can help you drive your key points home and even inject some fun into the driest of topics. It is great to hear the crowd break down into genuine laughter during an internal new product presentation or a weekly team meeting, and memes are a quick and simple way to achieve this, inserting a bit of fun into the everyday. Thinking beyond internal comms, corporate and investor presentations might benefit from memes in the same way as well.
    9. Help break up monotonous tasks. Not every job can always be exciting, as monotonous tasks are often a necessary part of a job and cannot be avoided. At the same time, feeling engaged is a key component of employee satisfaction and retention. Consider making small changes for big impacts, like inserting a “meme of the day” into your team’s workflow or even ask the team to suggest their own suitable memes for a bit of fun and to encourage social interactions to help break up the monotony of some tedious tasks that cannot be cut from the work routine.

    Related: How to Use Memes To Transform Your Marketing Strategy

    Max Kraynov

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