My Blog My Blog

3 Reasons So Many Business Strategies Fail (And How To Succeed), According to the Strategy Hacker

Business Growth
/by
3 Reasons So Many Business Strategies Fail (And How To Succeed), According to the Strategy Hacker Do you remember when you were introduced to long-division in grade school? You found yourself needing multiple steps to solve a single problem. It probably seemed like a very daunting and impossible task before your math teacher showed you a hack that broke down your seemingly endless series of steps into only a few. The same can be said about business. Initially, we all have to go through "long-division" level processes, procedures, and series of daily tasks. These might include entering a new marketplace, testing out new messaging and branding, pushing for new profit margins, or onboarding new clients. But we can convert the long-division within our business into short-division, making our efforts much simpler and more manageable. How, you may ask? Through the power of strategy. I've had plenty of experience helping companies scale — in fact, I've launched over 35 brands and generated over $175 million in revenue for clients worldwide, and I currently host the Webby-nominated top 100 marketing podcast iDigress, which provides actionable insights to help businesses grow. Here, I'm going to walk you through the three reasons many business strategies fail — and how you can succeed. Why do so many business strategies fail? When you have the right business strategy or series of strategies in place working for you, it will have you screaming "I have the power" like He-Man. But if everyone supposedly has a...

The AI Advantage: Three Ways to Supercharge Lead Generation, According to ZoomInfo

Artificial Intelligence
/by
The AI Advantage: Three Ways to Supercharge Lead Generation, According to ZoomInfo Marketing is about reaching people. But far too often, marketers spend their time performing repetitive, robotic tasks that could be better handled by software. Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to substantially change this. According to research from McKinsey, the marketing and sales sectors have the largest possible benefit from implementing AI-based solutions in the coming years, with up to $2.6 trillion in increased value. Here are three ways modern marketers are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to create more effective lead generation strategies and get them back to what they do best: Connecting with people. How to Leverage AI for Lead Generation Artificial intelligence makes marketers more efficient by shortening the time it takes to move from research to outreach. AI tools can be trained to spot patterns and draw conclusions that might otherwise need a human expert to spotlight. 1. Create Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) that match your biggest wins. When your sales team wins a deal, the next logical move is to go after similar accounts. But replicating that ideal customer and tracking down best-fit, lookalike prospects can be a slog. AI software can dramatically speed up this process by analyzing closed-won (and closed-lost) opportunities and generating a profile that can be matched against your contact database for strong lookalikes. For example, say your sales team just closed on a medium-sized business in the SaaS industry that has 50+ salespeople, uses Salesforce, and is...

How Neuromarketing Can Revolutionize the Marketing Industry [+Examples]

Psychology
/by
How Neuromarketing Can Revolutionize the Marketing Industry Traditional metrics (like clicks, shares, and scroll times) can tell you a lot about campaign performance, but they can’t measure how customers feel about your brand. That’s where neuromarketing comes in. As a supplement to more standard marketing performance metrics, neuromarketing can help you analyze the emotional response to your campaigns. Neuromarketing tells us what colors, pictures, music, or messages resonate the most with audiences. Your team can use this data to identify customers’ ad preferences. Take a deep dive into how neuromarketing works for popular brands. Let’s turn to P&G for a real-world example of neuromarketing at work. In partnership with marketing firm Dentsu Data Labs, P&G designed an experiment to find mobile ads that emotionally resonated with their audience. During testing, the company worked with Sticky, a webcam eye-tracking tool by Tobii Pro, to measure engagement of on-the-go users. What they found was intriguing — the time spent watching video ads on social media was not equal to the time they spent focusing on the ads. Social platforms’ impressions and watch rates did not correlate with real customers’ engagement. Moreover, Sticky detected which video ad details triggered a desire to interact with the brand. Eye tracking data became actionable insights, highlighting content P&G should change to retain audience attention. The big takeaway: Knowing what the brain actually resonates with is more important than knowing what people say they like or how much time they spend watching ads....

Drip Marketing: Everything You Need to Know [+ 3 Examples]

Marketing Strategy
/by
Drip Marketing: Everything You Need to Know Consumers in every market are constantly receiving a barrage of texts, emails, and ads from different companies trying to get their attention — so how can your brand stand out and stay top-of-mind? One way is via drip marketing. Drip marketing helps marketers maintain constant contact with both current and prospective customers by constantly reminding them of available products, services, and special offers. But what is drip marketing, and how can it benefit your business? Here's all you need to know plus a few examples. In the early days of drip marketing, paper mail and flyers were mailed to recipients on a marketing list or after they made initial contact with the business. Of course, as marketing adapted to the digital age, drip marketing in the form of social media and email marketing became more popular. Now you know what drip marketing is, but how does it work? Furthermore, how can you company use it to its advantage? Here's what you need to know. How does drip marketing work? The way drip marketing works depends on the medium being used. The three most common mediums are email, social media, and direct mail. Email Drip Marketing Email drip marketing typically begins with an online form a prospect or customer fills out. Once the form is completed, that person is entered into an autoresponder program that will send automated emails from that point forward. The emails can be personalized with the...

10 Tried-and-True Tips for Sales and Marketing Alignment

Marketing Alignment with Sales
/by
10 Tried-and-True Tips for Sales and Marketing Alignment The bigger your sales and marketing teams get, the harder it is to align these efforts. Often called “smarketing”, sales and marketing alignment is critical to ensure that these departments are working in tandem to target the right customer base, create more conversions, and drive more sales. Not sure how to get started? Check out these tried-and-true best practices for integrating your sales and marketing teams. Smarketing By the Numbers Companies face a hard truth. No matter how great their sales and marketing efforts, between 10 and 15 percent of leads become conversions. As a result, businesses face a dual challenge: Reaching as many potential customers as possible and getting the highest number of those reached to take action and make purchases. Without effective alignment between sales and marketing, this is like shooting in the dark — even as marketing generates potential leads, sales can’t capitalize because both teams have different priorities. The result is that even 10 percent becomes a tough number to hit. But don’t just take our word for it. Recent survey data found that organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing teams saw 27 percent faster profit growth, and 36 percent higher customer retention. What’s more, 56 percent of these companies met revenue goals and 19 percent exceeded them. When it comes to conversions, meanwhile, leads nurtured by a company with strong marketing-sales alignment spent 47 percent more than those left to make purchases on their...

Target Audience: How to Find Yours [+ 5 Campaign Examples]

Buyer Persona
/by
Target Audience: How to Find Yours Have you ever seen a product, service, or marketing ad and thought, "Who in the world is this for?" We've all seen marketing campaigns that have fallen flat because they didn't connect with their target audience, or it was unclear who the target audience was. Understanding target audiences is key to the success of any marketing campaign because consumers will feel as if they connect with your brand. If you're unsure how to find your target audience, here's what you need to know. What is a target audience? Target Market Vs. Target Audience Types of Target Audience How to Find Your Target Audience Target Audience Examples They are also used to define the buyer persona of a business, as well. Buyer personas are a representative overview of a business's ideal customer drawn from data that makes up a target audience. Some of these demographics and behavior areas are: Location Age Gender Employment Income This information helps understand the customer and how they make purchase decisions. Targeting a specific audience will help your campaigns reach the correct people who will relate most to your company's message and products. Always make sure to understand the difference between target audience and target market. While similar, their difference is critical for marketers. Essentially, you can describe your target market by finding your target audience....

15 Best Motivational Podcasts You Need to Hear

Uncategorized
/by
15 Best Motivational Podcasts You Need to Hear We've all had days when we've needed a little extra motivation, but when you're always on the go, it can be challenging to take time and find the inspiration you need. Fortunately, I've put together a list of 15 of the best motivational podcasts you can listen to anytime you need affirmations, advice, or words of wisdom. Best Motivation Podcasts Too Smart for This The Science of Success The Happiness Lab Tiny Leaps, Big Changes How to Fail with Elizabeth Day Best Motivational Podcasts on Spotify 6. Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations 7. The One You Feed 8. Black Girl in Om 9. Food Psych 10. Beyond the To-Do List Best Motivational Podcasts for Women 11. Redefining Ambition12. Therapy for Black Girls13. Side Hustle Pro14. The Self Love Fix15. Our Body Politic Best Motivational Podcasts Here are some of the best motivational podcasts covering topics like career advancement, mental health, wellness, and personal development: 1. Too Smart for This Hosted by content creator and full-time YouTube Content Strategist Alexis Barber, Too Smart for This is a podcast aimed at helping women entrepreneurs hone their craft and map out their unique career paths. The podcast features candid interviews with women in various industries and gives valuable advice on how young women can enter the world of entrepreneurship. What We Like: At 23 years old, Barber does an excellent job of providing actionable advice in a way that is...

How to Monetize Instagram Reels With Reels Play Bonus

Creator Economy
/by
How to Monetize Instagram Reels With Reels Play Bonus An Instagram Reel is a video creators make to share creative and unique content with their audiences. These videos can be up to 90 seconds long and are similar to TikTok videos. Since its introduction in 2020, Instagram has added more and more Reels features for creators to take advantage of. Most recently, it has added the Reels Play Bonus, where creators can make money per Reels view. Read on to learn more about it. Table of Contents: What is Instagram Reels Play Bonus? Who is eligible for the Instagram Reels Play Bonus? How does the Reels Play Bonus work? How much money can you make from the Reels Bonus? What is Instagram Reels Play Bonus? Instagram Reels Play Bonus allows creators to earn money based on the number of plays a Reel gets. The feature is part of Instagram’s commitment to investing 1 billion in creators. Who is eligible for the Instagram Reels Play Bonus? According to Instagram, the Play Bonus is currently invite-only and exclusive to the U.S., but it could potentially expand globally throughout 2022. Eligible creators also must:  Have less than 1 million followers, Have a professional Instagram account, Follow Instagram’s Partner Monetization Policies. How does the Reels Play Bonus work? When you’re invited to the program, you need to opt in to begin earning money for plays. The process involves similar requirements to...