My Blog My Blog

27 Truly Inspiring Company Vision and Mission Statement Examples

Brand Slogans
/by
27 Truly Inspiring Company Vision and Mission Statement Examples Think about those brands you purchase from over and over, even when there are cheaper options out there. Why do you choose the ones you choose? Do you usually fly on a particular airline? Do you buy your coffee from the same place every morning? Do you recommend a specific restaurant whenever out-of-towners ask for suggestions? Well, there's a good reason for it. The reason we stay loyal to brands is because of their values. The best brands combine physical, emotional, and logical elements into one exceptional customer (and employee) experience that you value as much as they do. When your brand successfully creates a connection with customers and employees, many of them stay loyal to you for life. This helps you increase your overall profitability while building a solid foundation of brand promoters. But, achieving that connection is no easy task. The companies that succeed are ones that stay true to their core values and create a brand that employees and customers are proud to associate with. That's where company mission and vision statements come in to play. In this article we’ll explain what makes them different, and provide you with examples of vision and mission statements from growing companies. If you’re in a bit of a time-crunch, use this table of contents to find exactly what you’re looking for. What is a mission statement? A mission statement is an action-oriented statement, declaring the...

How Conversion Funnels Create a Better Customer Journey + How to Optimize Yours

The Buyer's Journey
/by
How Conversion Funnels Create a Better Customer Journey + How to Optimize Yours Conversion funnels are a fundamental concept in sales. Personally, I like to visualize the funnel as that big scary slide you wanted to try as a kid. You saw your friends whizzing down, which sparked your interest. You watched how much fun they were having, doing your research. And then the benefits of having fun outweighed your fear, so you climbed up and flew down. Customers take a similar journey through your company's conversion funnel when evaluating whether or not to buy from you. You have to pique their interest, build trust, and encourage them to take action. While the customer journey is more complex than my slide analogy, understanding how conversion funnels work can improve this flow. It can help you optimize your funnel, attract more leads, convert them to customers, and boost your bottom line. But all that requires reducing as much friction as possible. (Think: sliding down with slippery clothes instead of bare skin). In this post, I'll explain what conversion funnels are and how they impact your customer journey. Then, you'll learn how to optimize your funnel to increase the number of people who make it to your conversion point at the bottom. All leads begin at the top of the funnel. As they learn more about your business, they move down and get closer to purchasing your product or service. This conversion process is called a funnel because companies often...

16 Free Project Management Software Options to Keep Your Team On Track

Productivity Apps
/by
16 Free Project Management Software Options to Keep Your Team On Track 92% of U.S. workers feel that they could collaborate better with their colleagues. Managing multiple projects at once, delegating tasks, and collaborating across teams is difficult on a good day — but can become downright impossible when unforeseen obstacles get in the way. The data proves that project management is no walk in the park for most of us. When that impacts the business, it becomes an even bigger problem. Miscommunication and inefficiencies in your project management process can lead to confusing and stressful experiences for your employees. It can hinder your company's ability to satisfy your clients' needs or hit end-of-year goals. Fortunately, there are plenty of free project management apps to keep your team on track without breaking the bank. In a free project management tool, you’ll typically be able to create various projects, come-up with to-do lists, assign tasks to team members, and track a project’s progress until completion. Paid project management tools offer more storage, more projects, and more seats for the team. But for small teams, a free project management tool will do the trick. The low buy-in makes it a natural choice. With free project management software, your team can collaborate much better, reducing the risk of miscommunications and keeping everyone up to speed on team-wide projects. It’s also helpful for individual team members. They can use it to boost their productivity and ensure they’re on track. To streamline your...

The Catchiest Webinar Titles We’ve Seen, Plus How to Make Your Own

Webinars
/by
The Catchiest Webinar Titles We've Seen, Plus How to Make Your Own Webinar titles are a lot like blog post titles – they have to catch your eye, yet provide enough context to make you click. Titles can't be too short or too long. And because webinars are meant to inform or educate viewers, it's best to let people know what they'll get from handing over an hour of their time. With 42% of marketers planning to host or join a webinar this year, there's no better time to work these online events into your marketing strategy. That's because webinars are one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience. In 2020, a whopping 91% of webinar marketers said their events were a success. While webinars may not be as sexy as social media campaigns or the latest members-only app, they're key to marketing in an increasingly remote world. Some companies have no plans to return to the office. Others have begun to adopt a hybrid model that combines remote and office work. Webinars are great for both models because updating knowledge and learning can be done remotely without losing productivity. The downside: competition. Businesses replacing live events with virtual meetings and conferences are saturating the market. The digital hosting platform ON24 reported a 167% increase in webinar activities from April 219 to April 2020. Coming up with an amazing webinar title is an important step in standing out, attracting leads, and engaging customers. So let's walk through...

The Step-by-Step Guide to Instagram Live [+ Influencer-Approved Tips]

Instagram Marketing
/by
The Step-by-Step Guide to Instagram Live There are plenty of benefits for businesses to post Live videos on Instagram. For one, people love watching live videos. The content can feel more authentic and natural than it would if it had been pre-recorded — just consider how addicting Saturday Night Live can be, particularly if the actors make mistakes or break character. Additionally, 82% of people prefer live video from a brand over standard social media posts. You might consider using Instagram's Live feature to host live Q&A's with industry leaders, stream entire virtual events, or host live product tutorials from social media influencers. If you've never posted a live video on Instagram, you're in luck. Here, we'll dive into how you can go live on Instagram in five easy steps — plus, take a look at Instagram influencers' favorite tips for creating Instagram Live content. Table of Contents Influencer-Backed Tips When Using Instagram Live How to Go Live on Instagram How to Share or Save Your Instagram Live Video Instagram Live Features Influencer-Backed Tips When Using Instagram Live Before we dive into how you can go live on Instagram, let's explore a few tips from various influencers that you'll want to follow when testing out Instagram Live for the first time.  1. Mary Jelkovsky (@maryscupofteaa, 281K followers) says it's a good opportunity to showcase a more authentic side to you or your brand.  "Instagram Live is a great way for your...

5 Lessons We Learned from These Famous Rebrands

Branding
/by
5 Lessons We Learned from These Famous Rebrands It can be difficult (if not impossible) to create a brand that remains fresh, relevant, and inspiring years — or even decades — post-creation. Just consider Dunkin' Donuts: the brand, first established in 1973, recently shifted its focus to coffee — and, to demonstrate the shift, dropped the 'Donuts' in the name. The rebrand makes sense. Dunkin's consumers' preferences, tastes, and style have likely changed quite a bit in the roughly 50 years since the first Dunkin' was introduced. Dunkin' needed a rebrand to ensure its business could grow with its consumers, or risk falling behind. A rebrand can successfully re-establish your brand in an industry, help expand your product offerings, or attract new consumers. But it's not as simple as copying-and-pasting a fresh logo onto your homepage. A good rebrand demands redefining your company's vision and values, re-establishing your brand's audience, and rebuilding your brand identity from the ground up. Fortunately, if your business is considering a rebrand, you're in luck. Here, we've compiled five successful examples of rebrands to help inspire your own efforts. Use these examples to kickstart your own rebrand in 2021. Five Successful Examples of Rebrands 1. Petco In October 2020, Petco released an announcement declaring it would no longer sell electronic "shock" collars. The announcement was used to highlight the company's rebranding efforts — the pet store, which is over 50 years old, was officially rebranding itself as a health and wellness company for pets. The pet...

What Editors Want from Guest Contributors in 2021 [New Data]

Content Creation
/by
What Editors Want from Guest Contributors in 2021 Few industries escaped 2020 unchanged, and digital media was no different. At Influence & Co., our proprietary content marketing software and our process of working with hundreds of contributors, editors, and journalists offered us courtside seats to watch the industry evolve — and we compiled our most relevant digital media research for marketers and content creators into our latest "State of Digital Media" report. Wondering how to make guest posts stand out? Our third digital media survey combines the opinions of experts with our own exhaustive content analysis, and the result is a tool that can be used to hone your content in order to gain more success in 2021. One of the biggest findings? Guest-contributed content isn't going anywhere. In fact, 93% of editors see themselves publishing the same number of guest posts or even more this year. An increase in guest-contributed content is good news for prospective contributors. But just because more guest post slots are becoming available doesn't mean guest contributors can afford to send lackluster pitches. Publication editors haven't lowered their standards and aren't likely to, so read on to find out what publications want so you can give your pitches the best shot at hitting the mark and achieving acceptance. (Note: All of the following statistics are taken from our 2021 State of Digital Media report.) How to Make Guest Posts Stand Out The publication editors we surveyed receive pitches day in and day out. Although they might sometimes...

What Does HTTP Error 503 (Service Unavailable) Mean & How To Fix It?

Technical SEO
/by
What Does HTTP Error 503 (Service Unavailable) Mean & How To Fix It? Imagine someone searches for a topic and finds your website on page one of Google. When they click through to your website, though, their eyes land on a bland webpage that says "Service Unavailable". What do you think they'll do when they find your website on Google again? Odds are, they'll skip over it and click on the next link. If visitors are looking for answers and you're promising them those answers, but you can't deliver because something's wrong with your website, they'll lose trust in your brand. Unfortunately, if your website experiences a 503 Service Unavailable Error, there's no silver bullet solution. You have to investigate what's actually causing the issue, because even though these types of errors indicate what happened to your website, they don't tell you why it happened. To help you fix your 503 Service Unavailable Error and avoid losing potential customers, check out our guide on what exactly the issue is and its most common solutions. When your website is experiencing a 503 Service Unavailable Error, your site's visitors will land on an error page. Fortunately, there are five common solutions for troubleshooting most 503 Service Unavailable Errors. 1. Restart your server. Sometimes, there will be congestion in the server chain that hosts your website. One of the most effective ways to open up and refresh it is to simply restart your web server. If your website is hosted on...

What Is Last Click Attribution and How to Use It

Marketing Operations
/by
What Is Last Click Attribution and How to Use It For your team’s marketing efforts to be effective, you need to know which marketing channels and touchpoints are resonating with your audience most — you must understand which channels and touchpoints are so successful at whatever it is they do that they make leads want to convert. Last click attribution can help you with this — it assists in identifying which marketing touchpoint prompted a conversion in the final part of the buyer's journey. Last Click Attribution Model In this blog post, we’ll cover all things last click attribution including how it’s defined, what makes it unique, how your marketing team can use it, and more. Pros and Cons of Last Click Attribution Last click attribution is helpful if you want to know which of your marketing channels and touchpoints have the most influence in the final stage of the buyer’s journey. While this is helpful information, it doesn’t account for the numerous other channels and touchpoints that impacted a customer from the very start of the buyer’s journey. This is important to note since there are a variety of touchpoints, across numerous channels, that impact a lead throughout the buyer's journey — which is why most marketers today refrain from only using last click attribution. Rather, they'll use multi-touch attribution or include last-click as part of their other marketing attribution efforts. For instance, say a lead received an email from your email campaign, clicked through to...

How to Map Your Ecommerce Customer Journey [Template Included]

Ecommerce
/by
How to Map Your Ecommerce Customer Journey We've talked a lot about the customer journey -- how it impacts sales, service, and marketers. But one segment that feels a little different is the ecommerce customer journey. The customer journey is different from service based companies, because it can be much quicker (buying from Amazon or an Instagram ad). However, if you work at an ecommerce company, it's important to understand the customer journey: all the touch points and stages. Below, let's learn how to map your ecommerce company's customer journey. Plus, you can download some templates to help you get started. Touch points can include when someone sees a social media ad, when a friend tags them in a post online, when they come across your website, when they read a blog of yours, when your product shows up on Google, when they search on Amazon, etc. The journey from when they first come in contact with you to when they purchase your product to if they reach out for a return is included in the ecommerce customer journey. Writing down these touch points might make you realize that the journey on your website isn't ideal. If that happens, you can look for solutions to help you, like WooCommerce (a Wordpress plug in). Now, let's explore the various stages of the ecommerce journey. 1. Awareness The first stage of the ecommerce customer journey is awareness. During this stage, a potential customer is experiencing a problem and...