Marketing and HR Can Now Join Forces Thanks to Tech

25 May, 2015/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

More and more businesses are beginning to see the benefit in strengthening the connection between their

Marketing and HR combine
Photo credit: Actionhrm.com

marketing and human resources departments. When technology is used in combining the resources of HR and marketing, it can certainly have a positive impact on both departments. Technology ensures that everyone in the same company has access to the same information, which can make it easier to build brand loyalty. Trust in a company is increased when potential customers see a genuine commitment in its personnel.

Consumers desire products that they can perceive as being aligned with their own self-image or that fit in with an idealistic lifestyle. The same emotional needs and motivations apply to employees too, especially those who identify themselves with a particular culture or set of values.

Technology is used in marketing to build brand loyalty through strategies that bring in better results. When marketing strategies are combined with HR, the result is greater employee loyalty through higher expectations and more engagement with the brand.

When marketing and HR join forces, thanks to tech, the value of the brand is enhanced from a customer’s point of view and this has an obvious impact on sales.

Technology allows HR teams to focus on strategic tasks

HR software systems allow close analysis of employee performance. This means that an employee’s future prospects depend less on having the right skills and formal qualifications and more on their level of engagement with company values and branding.

HR can carry out analysis of job candidates in the same way that the marketing department identifies and targets potential customers. This effectively rules out anyone being employed that are likely start complaining. If the wrong sort of people are hired, the potential is always there that they will do harm to the brand by using social networks or suchlike to voice their complaints.

When HR can focus on recruiting people who want a more meaningful career, company employees stay loyal to the brand and act as ambassadors. They post positive messages about their job and show pride in what they do.

Together marketing and HR can build better strategies

The same type of analytical data that is used by HR to identify the potential of an employee can be applied in marketing to assess the relevant aspects of a potential consumer.

Tracking software used in HR gives all employees access to their own data. The marketing department can use feedback from individual employees in combination with analytics to see exactly how well their strategies are working in real terms. The team can then make decisions about refinements that will increase sales through better marketing strategies in future.

Greater benefits for business

Before the digital age, a marketing department was primarily concerned with working to a budget, and its main focus was on products and consumer demands. HR was not involved in any of those aspects and was only concerned with company employees. In the modern world employees expect to be treated more like consumers and the functions of these two departments should become more closely linked through technology. As a result there will be some obvious improvements in both departments.

Marketing departments develop strategies that match the company’s values. They establish a brand and reinforce the company mission. The same sort of technology used in marketing can help HR to recruit sales staff that have a similar philosophy. With the input of data from HR and the marketing department, the workforce is better prepared to get the right message across to potential customers.

Anniversary marketing campaign ideas

14 May, 2015/0 Comments/in B2C, Case Studies, Direct Marketing, Email, Lead Generation, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca Caroe

Linda Horton from Bermuda makes amazing Bermudan Black Rum Cakes and is planning a 30th

Horton’s Bermudan Black Rum Cake

Anniversary Marketing event. Here’s what we recommended

Create a special cake (unique box, big plus small cake in one box, different sizes, multi-buy)
Use your database of past customers and create a mailing campaign
Create a landing page on your website “30th Anniversary” – on the page talk about the history of the company and tell them there will be a contest every week during July and you’re planing a special cake edition. As each email gets sent out, edit the page to include more and more information

Send messages as follows

1 month in advance (1 June) telling them to expect something special at the anniversary.
2 weeks later tell them what it will be and say you’re taking advance orders at a special discounted price for 1 week only. [This is useful because you then know the volume you need to bake.]
1 week after – send an email saying you will raise the price to the normal price on the website in 1 day [this will drive more sales].
On 1 July start the contest on Facebook and also run it on the website. Include a simple entry form so you get their email addresses.

On 8 July announce the winner of the first week on Facebook and the website page. Also email every person who entered and did not win offering them a special price on a cake and encouraging them to enter again.
Repeat each week till the end of July.

If you want to boost contest entries you can do Facebook advertising to send people to your landing page.

I am really looking forward to the cake Linda’s sending over for the team… morning coffee will never be the same again!

Email Campaign Case Study: Space Saver Rowing Systems

30 April, 2015/0 Comments/in B2C, Email, Marketing /by Creative Agency Secrets Team

Email campaigns are one of our specialties. One campaign we ran recently with Space Saver Rowing Systems launched their product, Wraptor Balance, exposed to a core group of potential customers.

Step 1: initial context

Our first email blast was designed as an introduction to the product.

It had a simple design and asked all the major questions to illustrate how having this product can solve issues the customer has with beginner rowers.

Following the opening paragraph was a list of ways the product solved the issue. This, accompanied by specifications, images and customer quotes, gave the product a well-rounded and positive image.

The email ends with a firm call to action dominating the bottom of the email – a risk-free trial of the product – as well as a warm farewell from the client.

Topping it off, we used a post script. P.S. statements are one of the most-read statements in emails! They firmly guided readers to the product landing page and reminded them to act on the call to action.

As you can see, the results were solid with a 40% open rate and 10% click through rate. The success however, came in reply emails requesting trials which lead to sales for our client:

Step 2: follow up

One of the greatest assets to a successful campaign is the follow up email. Not only does it feel personal, it also allowed a specific offer to be made for a no-risk trial of the product.

The analytics show a smaller number clicking through, but the client got trial requests and sold product off the campaign so it more than paid for itself.

My internship at Creative Agency Secrets – by Amanda Wikström

22 April, 2015/0 Comments/in Case Studies, Marketing /by Creative Agency Secrets Team

My name is Amanda Wikström and I’m a marketing student from Sweden. I have had the pleasure to work with Rebecca and the Creative Agency Secrets team for the last two and a half months. My internship has been a part of my education to get “real” marketing experience and the opportunity to test my knowledge in real life.

I feel that I have learned a lot, more the last few months at CAS than during the past three years in the University! The University has taught me the theory of marketing and economics but here at Creative Agency Secrets I have had the opportunity to experience how a marketing agency is working in real life.

What I have learnt at Creative Agency Secrets

Blogging – I have been written my own blog about my internship. But the major blogging experience have I earned by coordinate clients blog calendars, I have written, researched, read, scheduled and planned for upcoming blog posts. I have learned how to create interesting content and how to use SEO to get it noticed by readers.
Social media – I have learned the importance with keeping up with social media and how and when to publish posts. I have also learned the theory behind the social media and how you can coordinate and connect your different social media channels with each other.
Google Analytics – I have learned how keeping track of your analytics can increase your business and help you develop new opportunities for the future. By tracking the traffic on your website you can take advantage of your market situation and change your behaviour on the website to suit your customers’ needs.
Client meetings – I have handled clients of my own, which has been scary, but at the same time very fun and educating. I have learned how important it is to always plan and be prepared for meetings. To get the opportunity to handle the clients by myself has giving me a lot more confidence and I have enjoyed it a lot.
New Marketing tools – I have been introduced to a bunch of great marketing tools that I have started to learn more about. I have learned how to set up accounts for clients and how to run them. The major marketing tools I used were WordPress, Mailchimp, FeedBlitz, Google Analytics and Teamwork to name a few.
The Importance of Researching – I have got experience and knowledge on how to research effectively and the importance of always be up to date on the latest research.
Website development – I have been introduced to different website CMSs and learned the basics about how to run them, upload content and link between different pages. As well as use SEO to get the website noticed.
Email marketing – I have learned the basics with e-mail marketing, what to think about when writing and sending e-mails to customers, how to set up accounts and create email templates.
Graphic design – From my colleague Theo Martin I have learned the basics of editing photos and text that can be used in blogs and on social media.

A Big Thanks!

I want to thank all the wonderful people in the Creative Agency Secret team whom I had have the pleasure to meet. But I’ll like to send a special thanks to Rebecca who has been a great teacher/mentor and a huge inspiration!

Now I’m going back to Sweden for my graduation and hopefully find a marketing job that is as interesting and fun as this experience has been. I’ll wish the team at Creative Agency Secrets and the BizDojo all the best of luck in the future, lovely to meet you all!

Cheers,

Amanda Wikström

Why accountants teach clients how to switch firms

21 April, 2015/0 Comments/in B2B, Case Studies, Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

I came across a curious slide deck recently called “How to Switch Accountants” published by an accounting firm. Now why would a firm choose to tell their clients how to move to another service provider?

Thinking more deeply it was immediately clear – this firm was using sophisticated psychology in its marketing. Let me explain

When you’re dating, how do you find good dates?

Think back to when you were actively seeking a life partner. Remember all those conversations with friends when you groaned “All the good looking ones are already with a partner”? or “I just get hit on by the ones I don’t like!”. And of course, once you had found a partner, it seemed that the reverse was true!

Well the same applies to businesses who are courting new clients – those who seem to be desperate and will “go out” with any prospect only attract the ugly ones – yet those who exhibit the reverse characteristics seem to magnetically attract great new clients.

That was what this firm was doing.

Attracting great new clients by showing such confidence by telling their existing clients how to leave. The clients CAN check out other providers, but the firm is so sure that they won’t like what is on offer elsewhere, that they either won’t try leaving or will come back fast.

The slide deck also includes a comprehensive list of questions to ask your new accountant under headings like

Determining they are who they say they are
Meeting your needs now and in the future
Valuing your business – will they stick with you
Staying current

Hats off to Alliott Accountants for having the confidence to publish this marketing tool How To Successfully Switch Accountants.

What can your firm do?

You may not feel ready to publish a similar document. But here are 3 things you can do now to check your own firm’s perception by prospective clients:

Get a friend to ‘mystery shop’ your firm – ring up and see what happens when they say they’re looking to switch accountants. Better still, call at 5.05 pm on a Friday.
Review all the marketing literature you have and see whether it accurately portrays your firm’s services, people, skills and areas of expertise
Do a client survey to see what (un-prompted) actual clients say they think your firm is good at. And does it match 2 above? Also do this to people who stop using your firm so you find out why they switched.

Need accountancy marketing help?

Creative Agency Secrets are experts in accountancy firm marketing. We can tutor you and teach you what to do if you want to do the marketing yourself. Or we can do the firm’s marketing for you.

Learn more and join our free Accountants Marketing Newsletter

How do you know that your business website is performing?

20 April, 2015/0 Comments/in B2B, B2C, Blogging, Conferences / Exhibitions, Content Marketing, Digital media, Marketing, Marketing ideas, Social Media /by Rebecca Caroe

Business websites are no longer a ‘set-and-forget’ business asset. Any website which you haven’t touched for months or years is depreciating faster than melting ice cream in summer. It is not helping your business.

The race to perform on Google was thought to be an un-winnable chase for small businesses who don’t have huge marketing promotion budgets.

That is no longer true.

All businesses run on Key Performance Indicators and so today I am going to run through a few important measurements that you can use to see if your website is performing well.

Going Web Mobile

The first one – and the most important is mobility. Google has announced that it will be including mobile-friendliness as part of its algorithm from 21st April.
Test your website here

If your website fails the test – get in touch with your developers and build a mobile friendly website.

Machine readers for key words

The second one is a quick test to see how a “machine” reads the words on your website. We all know Google, Bing and Yahoo are search engines. What we forget is that engines aren’t human. When machines read web pages they find different emphases than we humans do.

Here’s a test you can do – take the words from your website home page and paste them into the Open Calais Viewer Click ‘submit’ and then they tell you which words and phrases a machine thinks are important in what you’ve written. If those words are not the most important key words for your website – re-write them until they align.

Clever humans have written another machine reader which also shows sentiment analysis – what subtle messages are communicated using the tone of voice and context of your home page texts. Take the same words and paste them into Alchemi API Language . The keywords tab on the left is colour coded to show positive (green), negative (red) and neutral (grey) sentiment. The size of the squares shows the perceived importance of each phrase.

Expert copywriting for the web combines both human and machine reading – it’s very worthwhile getting these right. Creative Agency Secrets are copywriting experts.

If you can write clearly about what you do, show off pictures and short articles and work with social media, email marketing and old-fashioned direct mail then your business can stand out.

Get local

Did you know that Google, as the premier search engine, is getting increasingly local? You do not have to compete with a huge national firm who does the same thing as you. It’s easy now just to set your search horizon to the local geography that you serve.

Let me prove it to you. Open up a search engine (Google, Yahoo Search or Bing) and search for “Your business name” and “Your suburb”. Do you show up? Probably yes.

Now change the search to “Your business type/profession” and “Your suburb”. Same answers? Or not?

Narrowing the search terms you show up for allows local businesses to shine as beacons to the local prospective customers they want to work with. And for New Zealand business owners, this is a godsend. Google’s Webmaster Tools are free supports that allow you to register your physical location with them so you can include a Google Map with a red pin at your location. Then customers can easily find your premises and load directions into their mobile phone maps for driving directions.

The hard part of web marketing

There was always going to be a “BUT” in this article…. well here it is.

You cannot get the search results you want with a static website that hasn’t been updated or changed for months.

This means that business owners need to learn how to rub and maintain their websites, just like driving a car – this means acquiring a knowledge of how to present your business to its best advantage, how to show off your skills, how to find the right audience and encourage them to come to your website – not just once but over and over.

In short, you need to learn how to Drive Your Website.

We are running training during May 2015 in 5 cities in NZ to teach you how to do this. Blogging Concentrated NZ starts on May 1st in Auckland and ends in Christchurch on May 9th.

Helpful Tips to Select the Right Phone Answering Service

3 April, 2015/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

Regardless of what type of business you run, or what industry you operate in, there’s no question that customer service is a big part of your day-to-day affairs. With the ongoing, 24/7 cycle of email, text, and social media, there’s no reason not to get back to customers who contact you in a timely manner. To stand out and find success, you need to not only be available but also responsive. You also need to get back to your customers as quickly as you can.

One of the best ways to ensure that your customers aren’t having to wait too long is by hiring a live phone answering service. Some things to consider before doing this, though, can be found here.

Find a Service That Fits with Your Business Culture

One of the first things to consider when selecting an answering service for your business is if they fit with your culture. Many times, the answering service will be the first interaction your customer has with your business. Think about the expectations you are setting and if the answering service will be able to provide the level of care needed.

Do you want reps who are more informal or formal? What happens when they must put the customer on hold? All aspects of the call, from how the caller is greeted to the hold music that plays will say a lot about your business. Remember, the devil is in the details.

Industry Experience

Does the answering service that you have opted to use have industry experience? If so, you will likely be able to “hit the ground running.” In fact, you won’t have to spend too much time trying to bring them up to speed. In fact, answering services with industry experience may be able to provide you with some best practice suggestions based on the experience they have had in the past.

Is 24/7 Service Needed?

There are some answering services that offer around the clock services, while others don’t. You have to figure out if this is something you need and then find an answering service that supports your needs.

If you want to ensure there is always someone available to answer your business phones, then hiring an answering service is a smart move. Be sure to keep the considerations here in mind to find the service provider that will be able to suit your needs, regardless of what they are. Being informed is the best way to make any business decision.

Improve The Way Your Website Appears On Google

2 April, 2015/0 Comments/in B2B, B2C, Content Marketing, Digital media, Marketing ideas /by Creative Agency Secrets Team

We’re often asked by clients when we begin working with them to increase their Google presence. So what’s the easiest way to do this?

Simply put – you need to help Google to help you.

Follow the steps below to increase the size of your “Online Real Estate”.

Map/Contact Details (The Red Boxes)

The easiest thing to do add to your “property portfolio” is create a Google+ Page for your business. Go to http://www.google.co.nz/business/ and register your business. Chances are, Google has already added your site to their index and simply wants you to verify the information before it displays it as it does in the red boxes.

After locating your business (and verifying if need be) you’ll be greeted with your Business Google+ Dashboard. It’s here you can add phone numbers, office hours, address and map location.

Sitelinks (The Yellow Box)

Most sites don’t have what is known as “Sitelinks” when you search for their business. These are drawn from Google’s index of your website and are based on what Google thinks are the most important pages on your site. Sometimes you and Google disagree on this!

Getting The Sitelinks

Enabling Google to index your site and enable Sitelinks is simple – submit an effective Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools and ensuring your robots.txt file isn’t blocking the pages you want as Sitelinks.

These steps assume you’ve already verified your site on Google Webmaster Tools (click here if you haven’t)

Generate a sitemap.xml file (using either a sitemap plugin or a generator such as http://www.web-site-map.com/).
Upload your sitemap to your site’s root folder (the URL will most likely be www.yourcompanyname.com/sitemap.xml).
On your Webmaster Tools home page, select your site.
In the left sidebar, click Crawl and then Sitemaps.
Click the Add/Test Sitemap button in the top right.
Complete your sitemap.xml URL into the text box that appears.
Click Submit Sitemap.

Checking Your Robots.Txt File

Still in Webmaster tools, under Crawl, click robots.txt Tester.
At the bottom of the page, enter the URLs you want to be sitelinks and ensure Googlebot is “Allowed” to index them.

Choose Which Pages Are Linked

Although most of your site hierarchy is decided in the Sitemap (Google “page priority levels” if you’re not sure), how Google deals with multiple pages with the same Priority Level is purely random.

Therefore to make sure the ones you want to appear appear you have to “demote” certain pages from appearing. On the left menu under “Search Appearance” you’ll find “Sitelinks”. On this page you’ll be able to enter in the URLs of the pages you don’t want to be used as Sitelinks on your Google search results.

*Don’t forget to shorten the metadata description on the pages that are Sitelinks – most SEO guides suggest 160 characters or fewer – however for best results we try to use 90 (that way Google won’t shorten your description, cutting out important information).

Of course, if you’ve got any questions about setting these up or other best practices do please leave us a comment or Contact Us – we’re always happy to help!

Google Analytics Keyword “Not Provided” Workaround

30 March, 2015/0 Comments/in B2B, B2C, Data, Marketing, Metrics /by Creative Agency Secrets Team

Anonymous website browsing means it’s harder to track key word searches. This article will show you how to find what keywords visitors search to find your site and the removes impact of the “Not Provided” keyword results in Google Analytics. This workaround will import results from Google Webmaster Tools to Google Analytics.

Inside your Google Analytics you can see which search terms prospects are using to find your website. Acquisition -> Keywords -> Organic.

However with the rise of anonymous browsing, this means that Google Analytics can no longer track keyword searches as easily and so an increasing number of searches are now being displayed as “(Not provided)”.

This situation is getting worse month by month as we track the analytics for our website and those of our clients.

A Workaround For Keyword Searches

Although not a perfect replacement, Creative Agency Secrets has found a work-around which can give you a good indication of what search words and phrases your website is showing up for and which are drawing visitors.

It involves Google Webmaster Tools. You have to set this up for your website. Read more