Tag Archives: business growth

Relentless Pursuit of the HIGHEST Performance

Competitive pressure in social media marketing will only grow.  Companies which win at marketing are the ones who continually stay at the top of their games. 

What does it take to stay on top?  This article addresses three key areas of focus that are needed to continually maintain high performance over time. 

First, let’s take an analogy in sports.  There is only one gold medal.  While business occasionally offers prizes for second and third place – ie., profitability – there is always a long tail of competing entities which are, let’s face it, not very competitive.  Elite athletes must consistently optimize all elements of their training in preparation for the big game.  Strength, coordination, endurance, skills and even mindset are all key aspects of a winning performance.  Top athletes are not only the most well-prepared, but they are the most agile when it comes to applying their skills and strength to a diverse set of environmental factors and doing so in a way that continually outperforms whatever technology or training methods that their opponents implement. 

Even the smallest of wins can make a recurring champion.  When it comes to business, the smallest of differences – often times that extra 1% or 2% of effort – can put you over the top of the competition – a standing which leverages itself dramatically in sales and ensuing profitability.  There is no room for casual observers.  Competition is tough, rigorous and perpetual.

Getting a social media strategy up-and-running is a good start.  Having a replicable and consistent process in place is the next level of performance.  Top performance, however, requires a holistic mindset towards accelerating performance, bringing together a sophisticated strategy which leverages individual strengths of multiple channels of communication (ie., of different social media platforms).  The development of a winning system is a process that is unique to each business situation, but some commonalities across the board offer guidance.

A recent study by Strategy& showed that when it comes to top performers versus the average company, there is on average a 13x difference in profitability and growth.  In other words, putting yourself in the very top performance category can generate a substantial premium on your business and its success. 

With that in mind, the social media marketing efforts of your business must focus on 3 key strategic areas.

Invest in what matters

Making the right investment into high-return outcomes is key, and that is more than just an obvious observation.  Optimizing your outcome requires rigorous tracking of data to identify successful campaigns, so they can be effectively replicated.

The reason this process is critical is not because of the direct result of any specific marketing or promotional efforts, but because these efforts, when brought together as part of a comprehensive strategy, multiply against not only themselves, but also against each other.  Increasing “likes” increases views which increases click-throughs which increases your closing rate.  All performance areas work together and complement each other.  It’s the difference of 5% month-on-month growth in your audience, versus 5% x 5% growth in likes, and another 5% growth in ranking… and so on. 

How do you know what matters?  Know the data. 

Invest in process

When you know the data, you can raise your system to a higher level by implementing processes which repeat successful performance. 

Making good business processes is as much about thinking of the best way forward as it is developing an approach to reducing barriers.  Every plan has a glitch.  Every pursuit runs into trouble along the way.  Getting around obstacles is as much a skill as learning to do the basic work. 

Optimal processes are a result of a systematic combination of the business operations, technology and cadence/repetition.  Each area reinforces and leverages the other.  Effective implementation of continual process improvements comes about as a result of innovation and flexibility, which then leads to faster growth and quicker customer conversions. 

Two areas of focus will facilitate process optimization:

  1. Develop a high-productivity ecosystem – Start with identifying the tools you need to optimize your strategy.  There is an app for everything.  Finding the right app and assessing different options takes time, but the benefit is greater efficiency and effectiveness.  Where you have a process that you must implement which makes a clear and noticable difference in your bottom line, focus on reducing the manual and administrative input as much as possible, and equally importantly, reducing transaction costs.  You will not lead the pack in any journey you undertake on your own.  Let the technology do the work for you, and take the time to apply this advantage.
  2. Build relationships with strategic partners and suppliers – Focus on outsourcing those areas which are repetitive and easily replicable.  Keep your internal focus on your core strengths, and direct your energy to the areas which best differentiate your business and your corresponding marketing efforts.  Letting external support services serve in non-core busines areas can help to fill in areas of missing expertise, and at the same time can save time and expense required to build and enhance your internal capabilities.

Invest in capabilities

More than just using apps, but continually develop skills, and invest in your team’s skills.  Good skills development is like a snowball rolling down the mountain.  It starts the size of a pebble and develops into an unstoppable force.  Reach out to the right communities, and establish a bond with the audience of like-minded individuals.  Recruit a team from those who already have a passion for the work that you do.  With the foundation of a good passion, a mountain of skills can be developed over time.

Lead by example.  Companies which outpace their rivals are continually taking onboard new knowledge, skills and technologies.  It is an endless cycle of learning and implementing, but it is the springboard of innovation.  Every growing business is both at the mercy of and thrives in the endless cycle of transformation.  Some businesses learn and innovate better than others, and the ones who can move into this cycle systematically are the ones with the greatest momentum behind them. 

In conclusion

Successful social media campaigns are not a result of whimsical inspiration.  They are the result of continually-focused efforts which build on previous effort.  In this way, highest-performing results are not created, but rather, they are extended out of the intensive activities that have already been made. 

The hardest part of the cycle to achieve is the starting point.  How will you get your business on the virtuous cycle of success?

Six ways to dial up marketing in 2020 (without breaking the bank)

The new year is upon us and so are many fantastic opportunities.  To turn these opportunities into reality will require the same consistent, thorough and robust online marketing efforts as before, and at the same time, businesses will need to continue innovation in messaging and sales pipeline strategy.  The effectiveness of new marketing strategies from 2018 and 2019 will begin to fade as clever new approaches start to take over. 

Our approach at Content Savants is to continuously innovate online marketing while building – step by step with proven effectiveness – on tried and true methods that have made sustainable business growth possible for ourselves (including our internal products and services) and our clients.

Trends

First off, there are some key trends in areas that are near and dear to our hearts that we will briefly mention.  These trends are in four key areas, which are areas that Content Savants specializes in regarding our customers and helping them to achieve their business goals. 

  • Content Style:  the first category is content.  It is in our name!  While some businesses which focus on specialty advisory or traditional services such as audit and advisory may continue with their persona of formality and traditionalism – which is what clients tent to expect from these types of companies, most other businesses will do best to follow a more conversational style and approach to messaging.  This style can be applied to imaging (imagine people in relaxed settings with non-staged scenes), short-form descriptions, headers and bylines, as well as long-form descriptive text.  Vocabulary should remain within a list of 2,000 commonly-used words, and verbiage written to replicate a conversational tone, of the type that a business people would have at a coffee shop, but not at a formal dinner or conference.
  • Content Substance:  flowery language and scare tactics popular with so many sales funnel developers will not be enough.  In continuation of long term trends, as information becomes more easily and readily available, consumers will continue to expect specific examples and data to back up assertions.  That is why the research portion of your online messaging development will be ever more crucial in the coming years.  2020 will be a great chance to get ahead of the curve without significant expense in custom-tailored research requests. 
  • Content Types:  video content will continue to grow, as will the online platforms which enable video content creation.  Facebook has already launched their Video Creation Kit, which enables advertisers to create “mobile-first” video ads which draw upon images already uploaded into your Facebook account.  We have seen Facebook do similar types of automated video production in the form of commemorative and anniversary videos.  With the Video Creation Kit, users can choose templates for basic customization and to adapt the advert according to your end goals, such as selling products or building brand value through unique messaging or stories.  These can then be applied use in both Facebook or Instagram ads.
  • Leveraging Content:  along with a rise in competitive efforts needed to push ahead of your competition, a key priority for 2020 should be to leverage your existing content into other channels.  By this, we mean going beyond just online marketing opportunities, but also making sure that your business gets the broad range of exposure that will be critical to giving your business an added advantage.  Print more business cards, attend more conferences, and get out there in a way that uses the content assets you have already generated.  Here, we’re speaking involvement in speaking engagements, making guest posts on popular forums, and obtaining media coverage for your expertise.  Use what you have and leverage that to the max!

These are just a few of the many developments that are shaping up to make 2020 an amazing year for online and social media marketing.  These were selected based on their importance to small and medium-sized businesses, with a prioritization based on areas where Content Savants can be of direct service. 

Six dial-up strategies

Now, as promised in the header, here are six actionable steps your business can begin to take right now, which can help boost your online presence and convert viewers to customers. 

  1. Use your email lists:  have you asked customers to join your email list?  Aside from the advertising funnel strategy, it is amazing how many businesses fail to take advantage of information they already have right in front of them.  Email is still an extremely powerful means of communicating directly with customers.  The key here is to offer them value.  Customers see commercial email and will automatically assume it is junk.  Or they see a newsletter and automatically assume that it will have no relevance.  Why do they make these assumptions?  Because that is what we have all come to learn and expect from the rash of absolute junk that comes to our in-boxes.  Rather than promoting your business, give your customers real information that they can use, and write it in a way that sticks in their minds.
  2. Up your blogging game:  is your business a once-per-week blogger?  (Even us, we try to be, but customers come first!  …and lately we’ve been very busy – but that’s NO EXCUSE, not for us, not for you or for anyone).  Time to ante up and increase your messaging.  Let customers know that you are serious about building a relationship with them, increase their trust in your brand, and let them know that you are an ACTIVE business.  One more blog per week goes a long way.
  3. Entice interaction:  a quick and simple step you can take now is to ask your customers about their experience with your product or services, either through a photo or a short paragraph.  Encourage their participation through a reward for the best entry, and posting that (and all of them) online.  This approach gives them value and helps to build your own set of testimonials, while creating a fun and interactive engagement.
  4. Speak to customers directly:  while you’re at it, combining this step with the previous one can enable you to receive vital feedback on your business activities directly from your most valued customers.  Choose a handful of customers (as your time allows) and get them on the phone.  You can tell them you are the owner, tell them how valuable their business is, and ask if they can answer a few survey questions – or just start asking them some basic questions about their experience.  The most important part here is, among those who are positive with you, ask them kindly to post a (honest) review.  A kind, personal request can stretch miles beyond an email reminder in terms of getting their attention and earning their active support of your business.
  5. Expand your business:  of course that is always the objective.  In this context, while you’re working on steps 3 and 4, go ahead and take the next baby step in the conversation and ask them for a referral.  While not all businesses offer products which lend themselves to referrals (you can think of your own examples), you can at least solicit their idea about the type of customers they think that you should be targeting.  Some people will respond by saying “well, I don’t know it’s not my business,” but if you have already developed a positive rapport, take advantage of the fact that people love to give advice and to be an expert.  They have already bought into your service or product, so they must know something about who is your best target.  At the very least, from this type of question, if they respond by giving you a profile of someone that does not match their own profile (as in, “someone else would be more interested in this product than I am”), that can give you a new perspective on what your selling, who your selling it too, and what value customers are getting from your offer.
  6. Annual review:  take a couple hours and write down successful efforts and lessons learned from the past year.  So often it is easy to forget an idea that we thought about pursuing and then got distracted, or a mistake that lent itself to some important lessons, or otherwise small but important goals that got lost in the shuffle.  Take some time to reflect on the past year, identify some opportunities that may have fallen through the cracks, and put those back on the list for 2020.

Have a great year in 2020 and look forward to working with you to make your business ambitions a success!