Customer survey during lockdown
Continuing our series on lockdown marketing tips – how about doing a survey of your customers?
- One goal
- Few questions
- Allow freeform answers as well as picklists
- Make a valuable offer at the end.
Analysis of CEO message to customers
Writing tone of voice aligned with brand values is a powerful marketing tool.
This email is so powerful because the structure of this message is aligned to brand values
- open Reminder of their mission
- Then acknowledge pain
- New tools that support their community
- Sign off with a humble acknowledgement
The full text
Dear SoundCloud Creators,
Since our founding, SoundCloud’s mission has been to give people the power to share, connect and grow through music.
As the coronavirus crisis has unfolded, we’ve seen a global outpouring of tracks on SoundCloud — with a 50% surge in creators uploading in the past month alone. But behind this creative response, we know there continues to be financial loss and uncertainty for our creator community.
Last week we rolled out our first wave of creator support — our partnership with Twitch, 50% off SoundCloud Pro Unlimited, a resource guide and weekly creator office hours with our artist relations team — to help with the impact some of you are facing. This felt like a good start, but we want to do more for the long term.
Today, we’re accelerating a series of new initiatives and over $15M in direct investment to support creators on SoundCloud during this difficult time.
- New direct fan-support button for all creators.
We’ve created a simple button for your SoundCloud profile to connect your preferred way to receive direct fan support including Kickstarter, Patreon, Bandcamp, Paypal and more. Learn how to get this live on your profile right now. - $5M in free promotional support for all creators to drive more plays on SoundCloud.
For the rest of 2020, we’re giving away all of our Promote on SoundCloud inventory. Tag your SoundCloud uploads #GetMorePlays and our editorial team will select up to 5 artists per week to feature with promotion. More details to come soon on our blog. - Immediate launch of Repost by SoundCloud, a new marketing and distribution service.
Independent artists who want to take their career to the next level can now access professional marketing and monetization services plus industry-leading distribution features. Repost by SoundCloud is available to everyone, no play count thresholds. Learn more here. - $10M artist accelerator program to support independent creators’ career growth.
We are committing $10M to help fuel the careers of independent artists upstreamed from Repost by SoundCloud into our artist services offering, Repost Select. Apply here.
We understand our efforts here are no match for the care providers on the frontlines of this global crisis. But we will continue to look for ways to support our global SoundCloud community, so you can keep sharing music we can all turn to in these challenging times, and long into the future.
Kerry
Rush into eCommerce during Lockdown
Today’s first quick marketing tip is about Competitor analysis – find out what your competitors are doing to market at this time
Open a search window and type your brand name vs.
Wait and see what auto complete suggests.
Then do it again for the suggested name. I did the Warehouse vs and it suggested Kmart. Then I did Kmart vs…
Set up your online shop
Getting online for ecommerce is happening for many brands due to the lockdown.
Ensure that your proposal suits your current need, the speed you need to roll it out and the ability of your marketing team to execute.
The video explains why.
How to write a good Covid-19 email
There are 3 types of message – two are a waste of time and effort.
- Focus appropriately.
- Give clear messages.
- Understand the customer’s point of view.
- Be practical.
Help others to stay within the Government’s Level 4 guidelines.
Subscribe to get these short update videos in YouTube or LinkedIn and please pass them to folks who need help.
Crisis Communications Rule of 3
What can brands say to their customers now it’s clear that business as not-normal will continue?
– two content messaging ideas are in the video
3 rules for crisis communications
- 100% transparency
- Write with compassion
- Be clear, accurate and concise about tough decisions
Copywriting to shorten marketing messages
Our team brings you the news about our economy that requires intensive investigation, providing an important resource for Kiwis who want to make well-informed financial decisions. Your contribution fuels our capacity to provide independent reporting & analysis, while also keeping our site open for comments & community engagement.
A case study – the client supplied the text at the top.
It was from a popup on their website. But the display required the prospect to scroll to read it all.
I re-wrote the copy into two versions so they did not have the scroll bar appear and also to give a slightly different emphasis on the messaging.
Rewrite copy version 1
Our reputation is built on expert news reporting on the NZ economy. We are an important resource for Kiwis making well-
The chosen version published.
informed financial decisions. By paying to support us, you’re ensuring we continue to be an independent, powerful media site where our analysis and your commentary builds a robust community of interest.
Notes:
- Shortening New Zealand to NZ is not my preferred way of writing, but suits this situation.
- The focus on expert news is secondary to the informed financial decisions
- Strong adjectives and a clear expectation of what the outcome will be
Rewrite copy version 2
We specialise in news about the NZ economy which takes intensive investigation and journalist resource. Our reputation is built on helping Kiwis make well-informed financial decisions. Your support means we can continue independent reporting, expert analysis, and enables moderated commenting on the website.
Notes:
- The focus is on the quality of journalism comes first
- The reader’s desire for decision-making secondary (at this time of Covid19 – most are reading news pages)
- Many like the ability to comment. Many news sites have withdrawn this feature.
SEO for online retail
I’m doing quick updates on daily topics. Let me know what is helpful for you.
Business rules for ERP
A challenge for a retail website selling B2B. Where and how to update SEO – should it be in ERP or should it be on the site? How to set rules?
Sales and marketing CRM alignment
The old chestnut about “sales-ready leads” versus “marketing qualified leads” never ends – it just mutates like a virus.
I went to a presentation of a sales research project last week and their survey and report were interesting.
If you work in marketing or new business development and are starting to use ABM, take a read – the link is at the bottom.
Results of 2020 sales leader survey
Key 2020 Sales takeaways
- Three quarters of survey respondents use a CRM
- 39% of sales teams are using a different CRM from the rest of the firm
- 35% monitor website engagement
- One thing the sales team thinks they can do better – Business Development
My interpretation of this is:
- Absolutely stunning. Why are firms not using a CRM? FFS it’s 2020 folks! Even small firms can afford one.
- Why is a CRM not deployed? Are you expecting the sales team to initiate this tech project – because they won’t.
- Using a different CRM from the rest of the firm is astonishing. Do the IT department not check why the firm and the sales team are using different software? Siloed data is a giant challenge and this creates and reinforces this problem.
- Glad that a third of sales people realise customers go to websites FIRST before contacting sales.
- The “wait and see” for disruptive technology reinforces my view of the static nature of sales compared to marketing.
- Take the lead, marketing folks, and draw the sales function along with you for the ride to integrating your work.
- Business development is the interface between sales and marketing. If this is ONE thing your firm can do better – marketers initiate the project. Sales are gagging for it.
- CRM and website marketing are not “disruptive technologies” any more. They are BAU. Get used to it.
Here’s the report – it is on page 10.
Tips for manufacturers to grow client base
My company provides mechanical designs and manufacturers and supplies products to a few companies in both the US and Europe. How do I increase my customers?
This is a typical “opening” question that I get asked when starting a new engagement with clients. B2B marketing needs to be closely integrated with the new business and new client acquisition process to be effective.
For a public question and answer, I gave some straightforward answers. The detail of how to apply these, is where my expertise will help you get it right first time.
Planning B2B sales and marketing plan
Step one for B2B sales
- Ask your existing client/s for referrals. If they were happy with the work that you did, they should be happy to help. If you feel the need, offer them a X%/$X discount on the next project for every client they refer. This is ‘win-win-win’ situation because you get more clients, they get a discount, and they use your services again.
- Ask your existing clients for a written recommendation & permission to use their logo on your website. Publish them both on your website. This will help increase the conversion rate on your website. If you feel the need, you can offer them a link to their website which will be good for both of your SEO rankings – so another win-win.
- Publish as much (relevant and quality) content as possible on your website (about the projects you’ve done, potential projects, your fields of expertise, etc. Obviously, you need to have a professional and trustworthy looking website. I can explain how the articles need to be done.
- Create a free ‘get a quote tool’ – many customers check online to get an estimate of how much the project will cost. If you have an automatic online tool, this can attract a lot of customers. I have personally used such a tool and I was very impressed.
- Partner with organisations/companies that work with your target clients – for example: I work with lots of entrepreneurs and many of them ask me for referrals to various types of service providers, including programming companies. These companies give me a small percentage of the profits they make from my referrals (of course I only refer to companies which I know and trust as my reputation is worth more than the referral fee).
Step 2 tactics for more sophisticated marketers
In Europe, there are a number of partnership sites for B2B. You could use these sites to post your offer or search for other offers and hopefully make a match.
Another approach is considering hiring local distributors who specialise in your industry. The advantage here is local distributors will already have a strong network to promote your products/services. Furthermore, local distributors would have thorough understanding of the local market, language, and business culture to close deals.
Go talk to your current customers. Ask them why they do business with you. They may, and most likely will, tell you something different than you’re saying to new prospects. Listen to what your current customers are saying and use their messaging to talk to the market. Ask them if they know other companies that could use what you have,
Go and join the professional trade bodies who represent the industries for your existing clients. Ask your existing clients what these are. Once you are a member, you will be able to see a membership list of other organisations who are also members
Plan outbound marketing to approach these companies and see if they want to also work with you.
Consider visiting the annual conferences and trade shows which these professional bodies run because you will then meet in person with prospects. Many people find it easier to sell their expertise face to face. You could consider doing a trade show stand as well where you can display your past work and the logos of your clients. This builds trust and can start discussions.,
B2B sales and marketing work together
In summary – you need to learn the process of B2B new business, you need a strategy for your new business development and then you need a regular tactical execution process to deliver the new business programme.
You may choose to hire an external advisor to help write the strategy, you could get an in-house salesperson to deliver the tactical execution as well, depending on the size of your contracts and how many you need to get in order to pay for their salary plus commission to make it worthwhile for the business.