by Fronetics | Feb 10, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
This article was originally published on DC Velocity.
A recent study conducted by the Corporate Executive Board’s (CEB) Marketing Leadership Council found that the average customer progresses nearly 60 percent of the way through the purchase decision-making process before engaging with a sales rep.
Where are customers looking for and finding information? Customers are turning to the internet and social media. If they are looking for your company – what are they finding? A key finding of the CEB study was: “companies that fail to ‘show up strong’ in this context are underserving potential customers and are at risk of losing mindshare and, ultimately, sales opportunities.” This is largely due to when customers tend to buy. Specifically, 80 to 90 percent of prospects who first engage with a company are not ready to buy. Forty percent of these prospects will be ready to buy within a year and 80 to 90 percent will be ready to buy within two years.
Improving your company’s visibility can be achieved by establishing a presence and by optimizing your presence. This is inclusive of launching a company blog, participating in social media, creating YouTube videos focused on your company’s products and services, and ensuring that your website is easily navigable and provides both current and potential customers with the information and services they need.
There are several tactics that can be used to increase visibility and help with measurement efforts include leveraging multiple digital platforms, regular analytics reporting, mobile optimization and content curation – a more recent trend which marketers and business owners have found as an effective method by which to establish online influence.
Both Kinaxis and SJF Material Handling Equipment have invested in becoming visible and both have seen positive results.
Kinaxis, a supply chain management company, launched an online social media campaign with the objective of doubling leads and web traffic numbers. The campaign included two online comedy series (Suitemates and The Late Late Supply Chain Show) and the launch of the company’s 21st Century Supply Chain Blog. The campaign was successful – traffic increased by 2.7 times and leads increased by 3.2 times.
SJF Material Handling Equipment the largest stocking distributor of new and used material handling equipment in the United States, has a strong presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. The company reports that nearly 20 percent of their website traffic is driven by social media. Stafford Sterner, President, notes “If you’re trying to reach out to totally new markets, then you might want to do Facebook and Twitter. If you’re comfortable building that relationship with people or companies you’re close to, then it’s LinkedIn.”
Being visible is an essential part of any business strategy. Take the time to make your company visible.
by Fronetics | Feb 3, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
Getting 10,000 hits a week on your website may be huge accomplishment for your business (and it is), but if at the end of the week none of those hits turn into a lead how do you measure your business’ success?
Knowing which metrics you need to be paying attention to is a crucial task for your marketing team. Whether you’re using Google Analytics or another custom web application, the data that you can learn about your customers – based on their actions online – is priceless. This data will help you create the kind of content that will convert your website visitors into customers, all in good time, of course.
Here are five metrics you should be looking for and measuring in 2014:
1. Customer Engagement
How do your customers interact with the content you digitally share? Do your customers frequently engage with your company’s LinkedIn page, respond to or retweet your tweets, or comment on your blog? If the answer is yes, you have a high level of customer engagement. It’s important to stay engaged with your customers (and potential ones) through these different types of media. The more your customers are engaging with you, the better.
Ignoring negative feedback on your Facebook page, Twitter or blog can be greatly detrimental to your engagement, however. Use these platforms as a customer service tool in order to leverage them to take full advantage of the power of your channels.
2. Conversions
Driving a high volume of traffic to your site is a great way to improve your SEO ranking, build brand awareness, and most importantly, sell your product. Create a definitive way to measure your website analytics and traffic in order to track conversions from your website. If you’re not seeing as many conversions, you may need to take a step back and reevaluate your website. Keep in mind that 55 percent of customers commit to a company because of the ability to find the information or help they need. Are there calls to action on your homepage? Is there easy to find content for consumers to download? And most importantly – how prominent are these calls to action for the untrained eye of your customer to locate?
3. Profit vs Revenue
Many companies generate a significant amount of revenue over the course of a fiscal year but still find themselves coming up short and often times operating at a loss. Expenses over the course of a year may outweigh the actual net profit the company earns. Throwing money at improperly used marketing tools and signing contracts can ultimately be a waste of money. Measure the ROI of these tools to make better buying decisions and save some money.
4. Customer Satisfaction
While this may be a difficult metric to gauge, there are several ways to measure customer satisfaction, both organically and through paid tools. Customer satisfaction is also one of the most important metrics businesses need to consider in order to promote a successful business. Create surveys for customers to provide qualitative and quantitative feedback. Follow product reviews and utilize your social media channels to keep an on what your customers are saying. The value of this type of data is priceless and will help your business plan for future product launches and train customer service representatives.
5. Returning Customers
The success of your business lies on the shoulders of your customers. If your customers are happy, they will keep coming back for more. But how do you ensure that your customers remain in your sales funnel until they are ready to make a purchasing decision again? Keep in touch with them! Send special offers, newsletters and create and distribute content that will keep your customers informed about your products and your industry in order to maintain a level of engagement with them, even when they are not interested in buying something. Businesses with a high number of returning customers will ultimately experience success and growth.
by Fronetics | Feb 3, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
Getting 10,000 hits a week on your website may be huge accomplishment for your business (and it is), but if at the end of the week none of those hits turn into a lead how do you measure your business’ success?
Knowing which metrics you need to be paying attention to is a crucial task for your marketing team. Whether you’re using Google Analytics or another custom web application, the data that you can learn about your customers – based on their actions online – is priceless. This data will help you create the kind of content that will convert your website visitors into customers, all in good time, of course.
Here are five metrics you should be looking for and measuring in 2014:
1. Customer Engagement
How do your customers interact with the content you digitally share? Do your customers frequently engage with your company’s LinkedIn page, respond to or retweet your tweets, or comment on your blog? If the answer is yes, you have a high level of customer engagement. It’s important to stay engaged with your customers (and potential ones) through these different types of media. The more your customers are engaging with you, the better.
Ignoring negative feedback on your Facebook page, Twitter or blog can be greatly detrimental to your engagement, however. Use these platforms as a customer service tool in order to leverage them to take full advantage of the power of your channels.
2. Conversions
Driving a high volume of traffic to your site is a great way to improve your SEO ranking, build brand awareness, and most importantly, sell your product. Create a definitive way to measure your website analytics and traffic in order to track conversions from your website. If you’re not seeing as many conversions, you may need to take a step back and reevaluate your website. Keep in mind that 55 percent of customers commit to a company because of the ability to find the information or help they need. Are there calls to action on your homepage? Is there easy to find content for consumers to download? And most importantly – how prominent are these calls to action for the untrained eye of your customer to locate?
3. Profit vs Revenue
Many companies generate a significant amount of revenue over the course of a fiscal year but still find themselves coming up short and often times operating at a loss. Expenses over the course of a year may outweigh the actual net profit the company earns. Throwing money at improperly used marketing tools and signing contracts can ultimately be a waste of money. Measure the ROI of these tools to make better buying decisions and save some money.
4. Customer Satisfaction
While this may be a difficult metric to gauge, there are several ways to measure customer satisfaction, both organically and through paid tools. Customer satisfaction is also one of the most important metrics businesses need to consider in order to promote a successful business. Create surveys for customers to provide qualitative and quantitative feedback. Follow product reviews and utilize your social media channels to keep an on what your customers are saying. The value of this type of data is priceless and will help your business plan for future product launches and train customer service representatives.
5. Returning Customers
The success of your business lies on the shoulders of your customers. If your customers are happy, they will keep coming back for more. But how do you ensure that your customers remain in your sales funnel until they are ready to make a purchasing decision again? Keep in touch with them! Send special offers, newsletters and create and distribute content that will keep your customers informed about your products and your industry in order to maintain a level of engagement with them, even when they are not interested in buying something. Businesses with a high number of returning customers will ultimately experience success and growth.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 21, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Strategy, Supply Chain
This post was originally published on EBN.
Summer is over, fall has arrived, and winter is right around the corner. As the days grow shorter and colder, don’t let inertia take over. Instead, put your packaging on a diet.
Here are three reasons why a packaging slim down will improve the health of your company’s supply chain and the world:
1. You can save money. By reducing the amount of packing you use for a product and/or by using right-size packaging, you can reduce transportation costs and materials costs.
For example, the packaging used for Apple’s iPhone 5 is 28 percent smaller than the packaging that was used for the original iPhone. The reduction in the size of the packaging translates into being able to fit 60 percent more iPhones on each shipping pallet. Apple points out that this saves the company one 747 flight for every 416,667 units they ship.
Poland Spring provides another example. Poland Spring has reduced the amount of resin that goes into the making of their bottles by a significant amount — from 14.6 grams of resin per bottle in 2005 to 9.2 grams of resin per bottle in 2012. Not only is the bottle 40 percent lighter (read: reduced transportation cost), the company also saves a sizeable amount of money each year in materials. In a recent Slate.com article Kim Jeffery, CEO of Nestle Waters North America (Poland Spring’s parent company), is quoted as saying:
You can’t be a public company and ask shareholders to bear the burden of higher costs just so you can be green. It has to be consistent with creating shareholder value. There needs to be a return on these investments. So, for example, when you use 200 million fewer pounds of resin a year, at 90 cents a pound, that’s a huge savings.
By my calculations, that’s a savings of $180 million annually.
2. It is better for the environment. Putting your packaging on a diet can reduce the amount of waste, CO2 emissions, deforestation, water use, water contamination, and hazardous material use.
In a September 2013 Packaging Digest article, Ron Sasine, senior director of packaging for private brands for Walmart, wrote that as a result of the company’s efforts to reduce packaging it was “able to reduce the overall greenhouse gas impact of our packaging by an average of 9.8 percent in our Walmart U.S. stores, 9.1 percent in our Sam’s Clubs in the U.S. and 16 percent in our Walmart Canada stores.”
3. It makes your customers happy. A 2012 survey conducted by Packaging World and DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers found that the primary focus of the packaging world over the next 10 years will shift from cost to sustainability. Specifically, the report found that 45 percent of those surveyed believe that perceived “greenness” will be important to consumers.
Additionally, a 2012 study released by Perception Research Services reported that in 2011 significantly more shoppers were more likely to choose environmentally friendly packaging than in 2010 (36 percent versus 28 percent), and that half of shoppers surveyed were willing to pay for environmentally friendly packaging.
Tell us your thoughts on packaging trends in the electronics industry. What’s important to you and your customers?
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 21, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Strategy, Supply Chain
This post was originally published on EBN.
Summer is over, fall has arrived, and winter is right around the corner. As the days grow shorter and colder, don’t let inertia take over. Instead, put your packaging on a diet.
Here are three reasons why a packaging slim down will improve the health of your company’s supply chain and the world:
1. You can save money. By reducing the amount of packing you use for a product and/or by using right-size packaging, you can reduce transportation costs and materials costs.
For example, the packaging used for Apple’s iPhone 5 is 28 percent smaller than the packaging that was used for the original iPhone. The reduction in the size of the packaging translates into being able to fit 60 percent more iPhones on each shipping pallet. Apple points out that this saves the company one 747 flight for every 416,667 units they ship.
Poland Spring provides another example. Poland Spring has reduced the amount of resin that goes into the making of their bottles by a significant amount — from 14.6 grams of resin per bottle in 2005 to 9.2 grams of resin per bottle in 2012. Not only is the bottle 40 percent lighter (read: reduced transportation cost), the company also saves a sizeable amount of money each year in materials. In a recent Slate.com article Kim Jeffery, CEO of Nestle Waters North America (Poland Spring’s parent company), is quoted as saying:
You can’t be a public company and ask shareholders to bear the burden of higher costs just so you can be green. It has to be consistent with creating shareholder value. There needs to be a return on these investments. So, for example, when you use 200 million fewer pounds of resin a year, at 90 cents a pound, that’s a huge savings.
By my calculations, that’s a savings of $180 million annually.
2. It is better for the environment. Putting your packaging on a diet can reduce the amount of waste, CO2 emissions, deforestation, water use, water contamination, and hazardous material use.
In a September 2013 Packaging Digest article, Ron Sasine, senior director of packaging for private brands for Walmart, wrote that as a result of the company’s efforts to reduce packaging it was “able to reduce the overall greenhouse gas impact of our packaging by an average of 9.8 percent in our Walmart U.S. stores, 9.1 percent in our Sam’s Clubs in the U.S. and 16 percent in our Walmart Canada stores.”
3. It makes your customers happy. A 2012 survey conducted by Packaging World and DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers found that the primary focus of the packaging world over the next 10 years will shift from cost to sustainability. Specifically, the report found that 45 percent of those surveyed believe that perceived “greenness” will be important to consumers.
Additionally, a 2012 study released by Perception Research Services reported that in 2011 significantly more shoppers were more likely to choose environmentally friendly packaging than in 2010 (36 percent versus 28 percent), and that half of shoppers surveyed were willing to pay for environmentally friendly packaging.
Tell us your thoughts on packaging trends in the electronics industry. What’s important to you and your customers?
