Black Friday and Cyber Monday – two of the busiest days in a small business owner's calendar - are just around the corner. According to Practical Commerce, last year alone, US shoppers spent a whopping $9 billion on Black Friday, up 21.6% from 2019. Adobe says total spending globally on that single day was an incredible $62.2 billion.
This year likely won’t be any different, with some experts predicting sales in the US to exceed $17 billion. Globally, Black Friday sales could surpass $100 billion for the first time.
If you want to improve on last year’s returns and potentially break your Black Friday sales record, the time to begin preparing is now. Here’s why;
A common mistake small businesses make is attempting to sell everything at once. Every well-run business knows what products to sell and when. Therefore, you should select the products you want to promote the most on D-Day and schedule start dates and sale prices in advance.
Starting early allows you to test-run all these activities. In addition, it allows you to alert the customers of your leading Black Friday offers. You can give them a hint of sale prices and start building anticipation. If you don’t do this early, no one will have you in mind heading into Black Friday.
Starting early also gives you enough time to hypothesize what could go wrong and brainstorm solutions. For instance, what if the supplier doesn’t deliver items on time? What happens if the shipping company gets too busy with holiday demands? Remember that you may also run out of stock if demand is unexpectedly high.
The only way to prepare for these possibilities is to start thinking of solutions now. List down everything that could go wrong and draw up contingency plans, so you’re not scrambling to troubleshoot them on Black Friday.
Massive traffic on this Small Business Weekend can substantially slow down site speeds. Sometimes websites even crash when a certain traffic threshold is exceeded. If this happens, you’d miss out on valuable sales as well as put off future customers.
Starting now allows you to test your site to ensure it can withstand a substantial spike in traffic. You may even need to expand the available bandwidth to manage the traffic. It also gives you the chance to fix any bugs that may hamper customer experience.
Advertisement campaigns are invaluable during the holiday season. But, they can also set you up for failure if you don’t get it right early. For instance, you may forget to set up tracking, thus miss out on important metrics. You may also mix up keywords.
Starting now is the only way to make sure everything is in order when the day arrives. Take this time to set up your ads and the entire campaign properly. Then, test everything and fix any issues before sending it out.
The rate of cart abandonment on Black Friday is extremely high. Last year, it sat around 74%, and it’s been higher in previous years. The worst part is that the primary reasons for cart abandonment are often complex and even confusing.
Starting preparations now allows you to find out and fix any issues that may lead to cart abandonment. You can also test-run various activities to uncover and fix issues. If you wait until October, it could be too late.
This year’s Black Friday is set for 26th November 2021, while Cyber Monday will occur on 29th November 2021. So, it’s really not that far away! Get started on your marketing campaigns today and get ahead of your competition.
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Small businesses should always be looking to find opportunities to stay ahead of the competitive market and reach their potential customers where they are. With the currently reduced dependence on physical options, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses are moving online. However, with this increased reliance on digital landscapes, digital marketing channels provide an opportunity that small businesses should leverage. That said, below are some digital marketing tips for small businesses.
With in-person and physical communication opportunities becoming limited, small businesses should appreciate the use of social media platforms to reach prospects and customers. Over time, social media has grown to be a key digital marketing strategy for most businesses. Social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, provide endless opportunities of connecting with a new audience.
However, to guarantee success, developing a well-thought-out social media strategy is important. Small businesses can leverage platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to showcase customer testimonials. These platforms also encourage customer engagement, communication and promote brand exposure. Make sure you leverage advertising on social media as well, and find out more about a cookieless advertising solution that can increase revenues by between 20-30%.
While some marketing experts argue that email marketing has become outdated, many businesses still see significant engagement. Small businesses can leverage the power of email marketing to boost personal connections with clients. In fact, HubSpot analytics found out that email marketing is indeed effective in amplifying customer retention. Another study found that 60 percent of participants believe that marketing emails influence their purchase behavior.
Email marketing is key in customer retention, especially as it provides a space to customize and personalize your marketing. The benefits of email marketing go beyond email inboxes. This digital marketing strategy is great for businesses looking to expand their reach and influence.
Showing your face to clients through video is possibly the best way to maintain personal connections with your clients in the current era of social distancing. With more than 5 billion videos being watched daily on YouTube and 40minute average viewing sessions, video marketing can be an effective strategy.
Fortunately, with current technological advancements, creating videos is easy. You don’t need heavy equipment or professionals to shoot the footage. Smartphones with quality cameras make it easy to shoot and share your videos instantly. However, you should ensure that your marketing videos are authentic. Most viewers are savvy enough to note suspicious slick or overly curated videos that shout “marketing.”
Live videos are also increasingly becoming popular on social platforms. For instance, Live Facebook videos have engagement rates of 4.3% compared to 2.2% from non-live videos. That said, adding video to your digital marketing strategy leads to positive engagement. Besides, people are currently spending even more time on video-apps, such as TikTok.
Creating an online presence is completely separate from maintaining an online presence. Live chats on websites are one of the best ways that small businesses can maintain their online presence. Customers have varying schedules, with some working partially, full-time, or engaging with day-to-day activities. Therefore, customers have varying shopping times depending on their schedules.
Since you personally can’t be active throughout to manage your business and respond to clients’ concerns, live chat services come in handy. Live chat’s benefits are evident, with 51% of clients insisting on the benefits of live chats and 92% feeling satisfied after using live chats. Besides providing support, live chats are also effective sales tools for prospects who otherwise would leave your site without a trace.
According to WebFX ‘94% of first impressions relate to your site’s web design.’ It’s important to ensure that your website is visually appealing. Here are a few tips to help:
A good marketing strategy is just as important as quality products and services for business growth. Digital marketing strategies are especially beneficial for small businesses with limited marketing budgets. Besides the tips mentioned above, businesses can also consider improving Google listings, improving local SEO, and expanding website marketing.
Looking for help? Tired and believing there has got to be a better way?
Let's talk about your business. With over a decade of experience leading companies and transforming lives, and a Master's degree in Org. Development and Leadership, Mike can help you find the best way forward!
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There are various components that make up digital marketing and various things it can do for a business. For instance, digital marketers can increase organic traffic and visibility through Search Engine Optimization, build brand presence in social media, save time with marketing automation, and more. However, with advancing technology, digital marketing components must keep evolving to fit new technologies. With this, every digital marketing agency must stay up to date with the trends because technology is fast pacing.
Constantly updated Facebook and Google algorithms also require that you regularly work on your digital marketing strategies. With this, what worked last year may not work in the coming years. That said, below are the top digital marketing trends for the coming year.
Google and other search engines are at the core of digital marketing. Normally, potential customers would enter their search query and click on a link that provides the necessary information. However, recent developments now show some search results in a paragraph at the top of the results page. Such featured snippets occur at position zero of the search engine results and often provide key information and images that customers might be looking for.
While this is good for customers, it can be frustrating for digital marketers looking to attract visitors and generate traffic into their websites. This is because Google is providing all the answers to potential traffic and customers on its first page. However, this doesn’t mean all is lost. Your website can perform better if the search engine uses your website to provide such snippets.
To achieve this, you should provide information in the snippets that will draw the readers’ attention and possibly click on your website’s link to get more information. The key lies in updating page titles to show what searchers will get on your website, use schema markup to boost your content, and create how-to articles that are accurate.
Local brick and mortar businesses that provide services will benefit significantly from Google My Business Listings. Registering with Google My Business Listings helps establish your operational location and shows searches near your area. At a glance, potential customers can identify your exact location, business hours, address, ratings, and reviews.
With advancing technology, you may no longer have to type your search queries into search engines. Google Lens and Pinterest Lens, which use your camera to take photos, have made this possible. You can simply upload the image of what you want, and Google will provide relevant information. For instance, uploading a landmark elicits historical information while a plant gives the name, species, and other relevant data. Similarly, uploading a product gives information about the product, including the price and where you can buy it.
To take advantage of visual search, digital marketers should upload high-quality photos with descriptive keywords in their online inventories. You can also consider expanding your digital marketing strategies to Pinterest, in case potential customers search with Pinterest. That aside, make use of an image sitemap that increases chances of the image being discovered by search engines, include alternative texts for images, and include descriptive filenames in your photos.
Over time, the use of Artificial intelligence has increasingly been absorbed by various businesses and marketing processes. By leveraging artificial intelligence, businesses can maximize their marketing abilities. From evaluating the effectiveness of marketing strategies to analyzing customer data, and tracking leads and sales. AI also helps to predict market behaviors and ease complex tasks. Despite the current heavy influence, AI’s effects in marketing are on the rise, with an anticipated 53 percent growth in 2021.
The digital marketing sphere is constantly changing, and as such, getting to know some of the expected trends before developing your 2021 digital marketing strategy is important. Use the above trends to begin building your digital marketing plan.
Looking for help? Tired and believing there has got to be a better way?
Let's talk about your business. With over a decade of experience leading companies and transforming lives, and a Master's degree in Org. Development and Leadership, Mike can help you find the best way forward!
Subscribe to receive my latest business tips and tactics in your inbox.
What is it about optimizing your online sales funnel that seems so nebulous and challenging for marketers today?
Not even sure what I mean when I say, "Online sales funnel"?
Then you're in the right spot. Stay tuned to learn about it from an expert!
In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I interview online sale funnel specialist Jeremy Reeves.
Jeremy is one of the top sales funnel experts in the world today. He’s trusted to build funnels for Crazyegg.com computer products and dozens of other Inc. 500 companies. Jeremy hails from Pennsylvania and is busy online all the time with sales funnel products for copy writing, coaching, and providing direct services. I’m excited to dive into the details of powerful sales funnels today!
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Jeremy started as a copywriter. Copy is important in sales funnels!
Writing:
He uses writing as a strategic tool that help clients sell better. He emphasizes his key to writing as always something that should bring value to his customers. To be successful on this, one needs to focus who is the customer.
People:
Jeremy has a degree in Psychology. He was able to use this background to help him know with ease how people feel, what people think and what resonates on the customer's level of emotional feeling... like what are their frustrations, etc. Out of these, he then comes up with ways to help them.
Sales Funnels are a means of sequentially walking your soon-to-be customers through a strategic, automated process in your marketing t. Jeremy creates and pulls copy writing content and puts it into automatic sequences: email, rewriting on website or an automatic webinar. Together,these are his strategic mix.
Why is a Sales funnel important to websites today?
More Sales. A Sales funnel comes down to timing. It doesn't work in an instant. Most people are not ready to buy at the first moment of introduction.
It is a step by step process of building relationship with your customers by letting them know about you in the process, and winning their trust before they do business with you. Sharing with them personal stories, making them see that you understand their frustrations and that you can relate to them.
Follow up is important!
As you help them with their concerns, as a way of giving them value, you can share to them mini parts of your successes and show them how and why what you are doing works - Here you can already insert little pitch of sales into them. Let them see what makes you better than your competitors and why you are the right person they need to solve their problem.
Pat has a 7-figure Personal Training business. He was selling 3 uniquely different products to his audiences. Jeremy's solution was to segment his email list based on unique factors.
Dustin - The method used was to direct Facebook ads to a landing page, leading to a webinar, for this network marketing business. They offered a free bonus webinar, a 2k training course, phone and sales support. He only has to pay $7 per leads, but averages a $57 return on each!
Melissa - She was doing lots of launches per year, making in labor intensive and tiresome. Jeremy did worked with her to create an automated webinar system that runs traffic to it earning $1,300 a day without Melissa talking to anybody about anything. Awesomeness!
Listen to the full stories of each!
People tend to wait for too long to launch. Don't wait for the perfect time and perfect things before moving or starting something. Nothing gets done with that! Get to 80% and launch.
Know your audience! You can't "scatter shot." You need to know who you are reaching and how you can best connect on a emotional level with them. One also needs to answer the question: How can I prove to them that I am the best choice for them? Be aware of these things while you're looking for Sales Funnels.
5. What are some “Growth Hack” tips you might be able to share that can help our audience?
There are different structures for different types of Sales Funnels. Different factors and steps depending on what kind of product you are selling. Jeremy usually does Mind Mapping of a sales funnel when working with a client on a plan. Drawing it out visualizes the process and end-game.
Remember....The Customer is the main epicenter of your business. Anything you will do needs to revolve around them. You need to understand your customers. Make sure that what you know about your customers is being expressed and articulated in your copy.
Freedom offer concept - Consider a way to give your clients 5x or 10x the quality of your service than your highest listed price. Yes, go big! How can you offer a exclusive, elevated Freedom Offer premium version of your product or service? You only need 1-3 to act on this to really launch your business forward.
What is your market positioning? Maybe you're on the low end of cost, middle or high classification. Improve your positioning! Know where you stand in the market. The most critical position to be in is to be in the Middle group. Since all types of competition is here, you need to stand out and know what's different about you.
Next, understand your types of customers. Do analysis. Who is giving me revenues for the least amount of stress? Doing Segmentation will help you identify this and eventually gives you the most accurate marketing strategy you can offer your client knowing where they are coming from, where they stand, and where they want their business to go.
All this and more in this podcast episode!
So what’s your key takeaway from this? What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?
Share below!
Help Spread the Word!
Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.
If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!
Thank you so much for your support!
I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.
That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!
Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.
Lead capture tactics - one of the most important and biggest gaps on websites today!
Most website do not have clearly defined ways to capture leads on their website. A "contact us" form is not a lead capture tactic!
Lead capture must be part of an integrated online strategy.
In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I dive into the details on lead capture tactics as they flow within an overall digital marketing marketing strategy.
Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.
Leads are the lifeblood of business. With the amount of time that people spend online each day, it's imperative that a business have a strategy online for growing leads. We've talked before about the Digital Marketing Funnel (image below) and past episodes have focused on the Attraction and Engagement strategies within the funnel. This episode we dive into Lead Capture. The why, the how, the nuts and bolts to help you up your game online!
Did you know it takes on average 7 points of contact before a sale occurs? Why is that?
A few are ready to buy right away but most are not. Particularly if you are marketing to them, they were not in "search mode" but were open in "learn mode" to know more about you. That's an initial introduction but trust and brand recognition has not been established.
Many are in "research mode".
A few are mildly interested but not yet near a point of trusting you.
This is where lead capture comes in!
Somehow they came to your website, whether via a post on Facebook or Twitter, or a Google Search. With stats showing somewhere in the range of 65-80% of visitors never returning to a website, it's time right then to try and move them into your funnel with a soft lead capture method.
A "soft lead capture" is the key for growing leads while visitors are on your website. Some call it a "Call to Action", "UVP" (Unique Value Proposition) or a "MVP" (Motivating Value Proposition), the key is offering something of value...something that is enough of interest that the user is willing to give you their name and email address (or phone for texting) in exchange for it. It is not your product or service!
It is "soft" because it does not require much to get...name and email is all...and it is not your full product or service, but it something of value that is connected to your business that is of such value that it is enticing for visitors to want. Here are some keys...
So back to my original point. Most businesses are not using lead capture on their websites. Their "Contact Us" page IS NOT a lead capture tool. You often need a distinct landing page to send users to or you need a tool that engages the user (pop-up or widget) on the site pages.
Yes, pop-ups work! They may seem annoying but they do work. Check out this data set on pop-ups performing for more information. Would a 1375% increase in sign-ups intrigue you? How about the fact that a sidebar sign-up performed at .4% sign-ups while a pop-up on the same site converted at 5.5%?
You need to use tools! One tool I can recommend (disclaimer... I'm a co-founder) is Waftio.
Tools like waftio let you easily add a lead capture pop-up or widget to your website. It can even be used as a landing page on your site or as a standalone web landing page.
Configure the options for how it appears, how often it appears, and sync sign-ups with many email marketing services. There's no excuse NOT to use soft lead capture tactics on your website when Waftio is around!
ACTION ITEM: It's time to evaluate the lead capture on your website! Is it part of a cohesive strategy? Is it soft? Does it offer value?
So what’s your key takeaway from this? What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?
Share below!
Help Spread the Word!
Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.
If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!
Thank you so much for your support!
I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.
That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!
Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.
