by Fronetics | Mar 4, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Innovation is a powerful way to drive growth. However, traditional approaches taken by companies to develop innovative products and services are increasingly being found to be unsuccessful in creating growth. The traditional siloed approach to R&D is too insular for today’s rapidly changing economic environment. Moreover a top-down approach to R&D no longer works given our consumer driven marketplace, and the instant gratification consumers now demand. How then can your company successfully develop new products and services? How can your company innovate faster? How can your company innovate better? Harness social media as an innovation engine.
According to a March 2014 report by eBizMBA Facebook has an estimated 900 million unique users each month. Twitter has an estimated 310 million unique users each month and LinkedIn sees an estimated 250 million users monthly. Conversations are taking place on these social networks about companies and about specific products and services. These conversations can provide your company with a wealth of information and can be a source of innovation – innovation that can drive growth.
You can leverage social media an as innovation engine by monitoring the conversations taking place about your company and your products and services. What are customers saying? What do customers like? What do they dislike? Are there questions that are repeatedly being asked by customers about your company and/or a specific product or service you offer? Don’t dismiss feedback provided by customers via social media; embrace it and its honesty. Learn from the feedback provided. Engage with customers to learn more. Use the intelligence that you gain from social media to fuel innovation.
Turn to social media to learn about creative ways customers are using your products. Ikea products are constantly being “hacked” or used in ways that the company had not intended. Learning “off-label” uses for your products can help you to identify needs within the marketplace, new marketing opportunities for your products, and can generally get your creative juices flowing.
Look at social media to identify trends. Is there a way that your company can take advantage of specific trends? Can you introduce a new product or service? Can you re-purpose a product or service to meet the demands of a specific trend? Even more basic, if you already have a product or service that is trendy, make people aware that you have what they want. How to do this? One way is to engage with them on social media.
In addition to monitoring conversations focused on your company, monitor conversations that are taking place about your competitors. What are customers saying about your competitor and their products and services? What do customers like about your competitor’s products? What do they not like? Are your customers using your competitors products in an off-label way? All of this information can be used to fuel innovative for your company.
David Burkus, founder of LDRLB and assistant professor of management at Oral Roberts University, wrote that “in most organizations, innovation isn’t hampered by a lack of ideas, but rather a lack of noticing the good ideas already there.” The conversations taking place via social media offer a wealth of good ideas. Your company can capitalize on the information and intelligence provided, or you can ignore it. If you choose the former you can turn social media into an innovation engine for your company – one that will help your company grow not in spite of, but because of the current environment and customer demands.
A version of this post was previously posted on DC Velocity.
by Fronetics | Feb 25, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Twitter is one of the more powerful platforms to influence consumers and grow a business. Is your business on Twitter? If not, here are three reasons why your business should be on Twitter:
1. Be Found
When business consumers are searching for products and services, they typically start online. According to a recent study by Pardot, 72 percent of B2B buyers begin their research with Google. Other starting points for research: personal networks (15.58%), Yahoo (5.53%), Bing (2.76%), LinkedIn (2.51%) and social networks (2.01%).
Having a strong presence on Twitter- which has nearly a billion users – will significantly increase your business’ search engine rank and increase visibility. Why is this important? If you don’t rank well you won’t be found – 75 percent of users don’t scroll past the first page of search results.
2. Provide Customer Service – In Real Time
Twitter is an increasingly effective way to provide customer service – and a channel to which many consumers are turning. Your customers may run into issues with your product or service and not have the opportunity to simply make a phone call to a call center or customer service center to take care of this issue. Furthermore, in this day and age, people are using mobile devices more often for their business needs, and Twitter – being a primarily mobile social media network – provides an excellent outlet for customer service representatives to help customers in need. Customer service representatives can communicate more effectively and execute troubleshooting techniques with Twitter than with most other platforms due to the ease of accessibility.
The number of companies handling more than 25 percent customer service inquires via social media has increased from nine percent (2012) to 18 percent (18 percent). Even as more consumers are turning to social media for customer service, many companies are falling flat with respect to providing quality customer service. Only 36 percent of consumers report that their customer service inquiry was dealt with efficiently and effectively. This an opportunity for companies who can/do provide excellent and timely customer service via social media – a J.D. Power and Associates study found that 87 percent of consumers reported that their online social interaction with the company positively impacted the likelihood that they’d purchase from the brand, and that the responsiveness of the service representatives were a key of that satisfaction.
3. Keep an Eye Your Competitors
Since Twitter is a public platform, it enables you to see what your competitors are doing. When performing an industry or business related search, Twitter can provide valuable insights into what kind of information and services your competitors are providing for their customers as well as help you keep an eye on significant achievements – and sometimes, failures – that your competitors will experience, helping you to make important decisions.
This post previously appeared on DC Velocity.
by Fronetics | Feb 25, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Twitter is one of the more powerful platforms to influence consumers and grow a business. Is your business on Twitter? If not, here are three reasons why your business should be on Twitter:
1. Be Found
When business consumers are searching for products and services, they typically start online. According to a recent study by Pardot, 72 percent of B2B buyers begin their research with Google. Other starting points for research: personal networks (15.58%), Yahoo (5.53%), Bing (2.76%), LinkedIn (2.51%) and social networks (2.01%).
Having a strong presence on Twitter- which has nearly a billion users – will significantly increase your business’ search engine rank and increase visibility. Why is this important? If you don’t rank well you won’t be found – 75 percent of users don’t scroll past the first page of search results.
2. Provide Customer Service – In Real Time
Twitter is an increasingly effective way to provide customer service – and a channel to which many consumers are turning. Your customers may run into issues with your product or service and not have the opportunity to simply make a phone call to a call center or customer service center to take care of this issue. Furthermore, in this day and age, people are using mobile devices more often for their business needs, and Twitter – being a primarily mobile social media network – provides an excellent outlet for customer service representatives to help customers in need. Customer service representatives can communicate more effectively and execute troubleshooting techniques with Twitter than with most other platforms due to the ease of accessibility.
The number of companies handling more than 25 percent customer service inquires via social media has increased from nine percent (2012) to 18 percent (18 percent). Even as more consumers are turning to social media for customer service, many companies are falling flat with respect to providing quality customer service. Only 36 percent of consumers report that their customer service inquiry was dealt with efficiently and effectively. This an opportunity for companies who can/do provide excellent and timely customer service via social media – a J.D. Power and Associates study found that 87 percent of consumers reported that their online social interaction with the company positively impacted the likelihood that they’d purchase from the brand, and that the responsiveness of the service representatives were a key of that satisfaction.
3. Keep an Eye Your Competitors
Since Twitter is a public platform, it enables you to see what your competitors are doing. When performing an industry or business related search, Twitter can provide valuable insights into what kind of information and services your competitors are providing for their customers as well as help you keep an eye on significant achievements – and sometimes, failures – that your competitors will experience, helping you to make important decisions.
This post previously appeared on DC Velocity.
by Fronetics | Feb 13, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Despite the considerable amount of attention paid to demand generation, many companies (including some companies actively employing a demand generation strategy) do not have a clear understanding of what demand generation actually is.
When asked to define demand generation, a common response is: the generation of demand. Another common response: a marketing strategy. An honest response: I don’t know; what the heck is demand generation?
Demand generation is the creation of awareness and excitement about your company and your products and services. Demand generation is not a one-off; rather it is a continuous process of engaging and nurturing both current and future customers. Demand generation helps you attract new customers and engage (or re-engage) current customers. Demand generation grows your business.
Components of a demand generation strategy include: blogs, social media, podcasts, video, newsletters, email, white papers, and case studies. These components work together. They position your company as a thought leader, expert, and influencer in your industry. They build trust. Importantly, they drive engagement and communication. The foundation of demand generation is the creation and sustaining of relationships between your company and your customers – current and future.
According to DemandGen, 90 percent of business buyers say when they’re ready to buy, they’ll find you. How will they find you? When B2B buyers were asked to rank where they turn to find a new solution, 46 percent listed a “web search” as their first source for information. The leading choice for both the second and third ranked sources was vendor web sites.
With respect to social media, DemandGen found that blogs are considered to be the social media channel with the biggest impact on the researching process (46 percent). LinkedIn was also found to be a place where buyers turned to conduct research (41 percent).
The survey also found that content had a significant impact on the decision to buy. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said “a vendor’s content had a significant impact on their buying decision,” and 34 of respondents “strongly agreed that the winning vendors provided a better mix of content to guide them through each stage of the researching and decision-making process.”
What is the take away? The take away is that a company with a strong presence and a demand generation strategy is more likely to be successful than a company who does not have a strong presence or a demand generation strategy.
What is the different between a successful demand generation strategy and one that falls flat? A successful strategy incorporates communication, engagement, and quality content. Furthermore, a successful demand generation strategy is built upon an understanding of customer needs and interests –real, not perceived.
At Fronetics we work with our clients to design and implement a demand generation strategy that is right for them – for their company and for their customers. We know how to create awareness and excitement about our clients’ companies and their products and services. We also know how to help our clients engage with and nurture their customers.
Through our demand generation service, Engage, we help companies acquire new customers and grow their businesses by penetrating new markets and deepening their presence and impact in existing markets. If you are interested in learning more about Engage and about creating a successful demand generation strategy, we’d love to talk with you.
by Fronetics | Feb 13, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Despite the considerable amount of attention paid to demand generation, many companies (including some companies actively employing a demand generation strategy) do not have a clear understanding of what demand generation actually is.
When asked to define demand generation, a common response is: the generation of demand. Another common response: a marketing strategy. An honest response: I don’t know; what the heck is demand generation?
Demand generation is the creation of awareness and excitement about your company and your products and services. Demand generation is not a one-off; rather it is a continuous process of engaging and nurturing both current and future customers. Demand generation helps you attract new customers and engage (or re-engage) current customers. Demand generation grows your business.
Components of a demand generation strategy include: blogs, social media, podcasts, video, newsletters, email, white papers, and case studies. These components work together. They position your company as a thought leader, expert, and influencer in your industry. They build trust. Importantly, they drive engagement and communication. The foundation of demand generation is the creation and sustaining of relationships between your company and your customers – current and future.
According to DemandGen, 90 percent of business buyers say when they’re ready to buy, they’ll find you. How will they find you? When B2B buyers were asked to rank where they turn to find a new solution, 46 percent listed a “web search” as their first source for information. The leading choice for both the second and third ranked sources was vendor web sites.
With respect to social media, DemandGen found that blogs are considered to be the social media channel with the biggest impact on the researching process (46 percent). LinkedIn was also found to be a place where buyers turned to conduct research (41 percent).
The survey also found that content had a significant impact on the decision to buy. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said “a vendor’s content had a significant impact on their buying decision,” and 34 of respondents “strongly agreed that the winning vendors provided a better mix of content to guide them through each stage of the researching and decision-making process.”
What is the take away? The take away is that a company with a strong presence and a demand generation strategy is more likely to be successful than a company who does not have a strong presence or a demand generation strategy.
What is the different between a successful demand generation strategy and one that falls flat? A successful strategy incorporates communication, engagement, and quality content. Furthermore, a successful demand generation strategy is built upon an understanding of customer needs and interests –real, not perceived.
At Fronetics we work with our clients to design and implement a demand generation strategy that is right for them – for their company and for their customers. We know how to create awareness and excitement about our clients’ companies and their products and services. We also know how to help our clients engage with and nurture their customers.
Through our demand generation service, Engage, we help companies acquire new customers and grow their businesses by penetrating new markets and deepening their presence and impact in existing markets. If you are interested in learning more about Engage and about creating a successful demand generation strategy, we’d love to talk with you.
