Engagement Matters Blog

Getting on the right app track

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:57:00 GMT

If you're wanting to ride the web app tidal wave and have considered some ways of making money from an app, it is time to recognise and negate some of the more obvious reasons why web apps can fail so you can make sure yours is successful.

Six tips to make sure you're on the right app track

Differentiate your app
There are a multitude of web apps out there. Users are becoming choosier and are tending more and more to only use software that personally benefits them every step of the way.

Make sure you tick this box. Clearly understand what it is you are offering to which target market and differentiate it from what is already out there.
Don't try to do too much
If an app claims to be able to solve a multitude of problems, chances are it does a half baked job of all of them (a-la "Jack of all trades Master of none").

Don’t fall into the trap of claiming to be able to solve the problems of the world. You are much better off focussing on one problem and offering users a tangible solution that works.
Be flexible to your users wants
Don’t expect users to come running to your exciting new app. Actually, quite the opposite is more likely! Users have an overwhelming choice on their hands when it comes to web apps. It is vital that you have a good understanding of your target users and keep your approach flexible so you can tweak your app to meet their evolving wants.

Consider incorporating a feedback mechanism in your app, so your users can contact you with comments on your offering which you can use to make your app more useful and appealing. Others will be doing this so make sure you are not left behind your competition.
Make sure you sell your web app the right way
To compete with the huge amount of web apps out there you will need a savvy marketing campaign to show users that your app will meet their needs.

Consider differentiating your app from the pack by relating the benefits it will provide your user to a bigger picture.
A small barrier to entry can minimise problem users
While offering a web app with absolutely no barrier to entry can quickly result in a large user base you need to consider whether you necessarily want all these users.

If there is no barrier to use you may attract some unsavoury characters. This can be easily negated however, through having a small, but real barrier to entry. For example asking users to reveal their identity will immediately sieve some potential problems from the pack.
Improve people’s lives – then worry about the money
While earning from your web app may well be your ultimate goal, make sure you don’t make short term monetary decisions which could damage the longevity of your app.

To safeguard your reputation and your users’ loyalty you need to offer on-going solutions.

Interestingly, charging users a nominal fee for your web app can help you develop a deeper relationship with them, but only if you are offering them something they can see value in. Their investment in your app will probably mean they will spend more time using it with an ultimate interest in its survival, while you benefit from the revenue.

The Upshot

If you approach the development of a web app with a good understanding of the competition out there and the risks involved you have a greater chance of creating an app that will survive and actually make you money.

Be realistic as to the difficulties you will face and follow a few of the simple steps above to make sure your app is successful.

To app or not to app? That is the question

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:58:00 GMT

Regardless of whether you have kept abreast of the latest web app trend there is no doubting their influence. The problem is there are a whole lot of completely useless apps out there. So if your objective is to make money out of an app how do you go about it and how can you make consumers see that your app is not just one of the pack?

What is a web app?

A web app is simply a web application which combines the power of the internet with the multi-touch technology of smart phones and tablets.

Users can browse a constantly growing list of over 1,700 web apps before choosing which may be useful for them and installing it either for free or a given price. You then have access to that application at the touch of a screen.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Problem is, with such a huge and ever increasing range of web apps on offer, how do you know that what you’re installing is useful?

For example, an app for a marketing magazine, which can be downloaded at a price, sounds great. One would assume that at the very least it would give the user access to some useful articles. Unfortunately though, it offers no option for ‘testing’ the app and seeing what it offers, making you pay before you have any idea what you are getting. Understandably potential users may be hesitant to buy before they try.

Conversely, an app offering baby games not only provides the user with access to some free trial games, but offers the option of upgrading through payment to the premium version and accessing even more. The ability to ‘test drive’ the app gives users a chance to see whether it will work for them.

How to make money from an app

If your objective is to make money from a web app then you need to be able to differentiate your app and offer users something of value so they will be happy to pay for it. The question is – how to do this with such a mass of web applications available.

Make sure it's a ‘real’ app: It is important to make sure it is a real app and not just an advertisement for your business which can actually do more harm than good. Remember, you need to offer potential users something of value for them.
Offer a ‘cut down’ version: Through offering a ‘free’ trial you have the ability to get users hooked on your app, as with the baby games example above. Research has shown however, that if you offer a ‘free’ trial or limited use, then the vast majority of users (it has been claimed the industry average is about 98-99%) will use the free version with a minority paying for the upgraded edition.

Therefore, be careful not to fall into the trap of overestimating the number of paying users you will get. If you estimate for example, that you will get 1,000 users in the first few months then work out how much money you will bring in if you get 2% paying for an upgraded version. Based on this information you will need to create a cashflow spreadsheet in order to determine if your web app is financially viable.
Offer a ‘preview’ of additional tools or services that the upgrade will provide: In order to increase the proportion of users that will pay for an upgraded version of your web app make sure you offer a ‘preview’ of additional tools and benefits that they will receive with an upgrade.
Minimise risk: Minimise risk involved in launching a web app through, if possible building it as a ‘side project’ to your paying work so you are not solely relying on this money and any revenue is a bonus.
Test yourself: A great test of whether your web app will make money is the credit card test. Ask yourself honestly whether you would be prepared to take out your credit card and pay for the service you have developed. Understand your target market and put yourself in their shoes.
Do your research: Understand what other web apps are out there and potential competition to your concept. How will you differentiate yours? Do you have marketing channels in place?

The Upshot

Web apps can be a useful string to your business bow but can also fail dismally or be lost in the multitude of apps already out there. The key is to differentiate your app from the pack and make sure you are offering potential users something of value. The six points above offer some handy hints and tips to consider when trying to make money from your web app.

Stay tuned for our next blog: Getting on the right app track (or avoiding creating an app that fails).

Plan to Succeed

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:53:00 GMT

More than 80% of businesses fail in the first 5 years, a large part of this failure is attributed to lack of planning - never was a more accurate saying than Alan Lakein's "failing to plan is planning to fail".

A strategic business plan is a pre-requisite of running a business, providing the essential focus and clarity that all successful businesses have.

Going through the business planning process provides a realistic view of your business’ objectives, your expectations and the pathway for a sustainable and successful business.

Generally a business plan is the compilation of a number of smaller plans including management, marketing, operational, financial and action. To be strategic the plan must also be long-term (think 3 years plus).

If you get it right, a business plan will also provide a way of determining the probability of success of the business into the future and will become a means by which to measure progress.

Benefits of planning for the future of your business

Sound strategic direction and business analysis provided through a business plan:

Presents clear goals and objectives with the direction on how they will be achieved.
Concentrates effort and investment on important business decisions.
Reveals whether it is possible to meet future needs and goals.
Assists in negotiating finance at competitive rates.
Provides goals and direction for the manager to help improve profitability.
Provides a clear physical and financial position of the business defining seasonal and market opportunities and hence efficient decision making.
Builds the confidence to consider new options and predict and plan for more difficult periods.
Helps to clearly communicate the nature and direction of the business when more than one person is involved in its ownership and/or management.

So, what's in a plan?

Through addressing the areas outlined below you can be sure that the major topics important in the business planning process are covered.

Analyse the current situation

This is an important component of the business planning process. You should be able to step back from your business and given an honest, objective account of how your business is currently tracking including, for example:

Financial position
Market share
Product/Service offering
Target market, their demands and requirements
Competitor analysis
Your competitive advantage

A SWOT analysis can be useful in this section. See our SWOT Rot blog to ensure you are on the right track.

Develop your objectives

Vision/Mission: One sentence detailing what you want the business to be.
Objectives: What do you want to achieve in the period covered by the plan.

Write the plans (plural)

A real business plan is actually made up of small plans:

Management plan

Includes information on current and required management capabilities and business structure (including legal entity and associated considerations such as taxes, laws and licenses).

Operational plan

This plan should examine whether current operational systems are sufficient for the present and projected needs of the business, including such issues as suppliers, premises, equipment, IT, personnel, systems and procedures.

Marketing plan

Essentially your marketing plan should examine whether you are meeting the needs and wants of your target market and how this could be improved going forward.

Financial plan

Your financial plan needs to address the financial concerns of your business now and in the future including such details as capital needs, finance, cash flow, tax, budgets etc.

Action Plan

This should explain the major decision points and timescale responsibilities, actions and priorities necessary to progress the business plan. Keep the action plan a living document and update it as situations or circumstances change.

The upshot

A business plan provides clarity and focus for your business. Through analysing your current situation, developing your objectives and including your management, operational, marketing, financial and action plans you can be confident you are addressing all necessary business components to maximise the sustainability and success of your business into the future.

Remember that failing to plan is as good as planning to fail, so view the time spent on compiling a comprehensive business plan as some insurance for the future sustainability of your business.

SWOT ROT!

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:52:00 GMT

SWOT analyses are often bandied around the office as though they provide all the answers to the business’ greatest dilemmas. In actual fact a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is as good as useless unless compiled with a few basic principles in mind.

Most importantly it is vital that you don’t view a SWOT as your strategic plan. Certainly it should be a component of your strategic plan and can be useful in a business plan, but it is not the final plan. So, what is a SWOT and if you are going to produce one, how do you make it useful?

What’s in a SWOT?

"Technically", a SWOT analysis is a subjective assessment of data which is organised into a logical order that helps understanding, presentation, discussion and decision making. It is essentially an extension of the good old pros and cons list.

The SW of the SWOT

Generally in business and marketing the strength and weakness components of a SWOT refer to the internal environment, the situation within the business. These may include factors relating to products, pricing, costs, profitability, performance, quality, people, skills, reputation, processes etc and are factors that tend to be in the present.

THE OT of the SWOT

Conversely opportunities and threats are generally drawn from the external environment, the situation outside the business. These may include factors relating to markets, sectors, audience, seasonality, trends, competition, politics, economics, environment, society/ culture, technology (or PEST), etc. These factors tend to be in the future.

If your SWOT is not restricted to business and marketing the categorisation of internal and external factors can prove limiting, so a more open interpretation can be helpful, especially when considering opportunities and threats.

Simple rules for compiling a successful SWOT

Be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of your business.
SWOT analyses should consider present and future factors (to be strategic it really should consider 3 years +).
Ensure all points are specific.
Apply SWOT as a comparison to your competition.
Consider the ramifications of any WOTs.
Consider SWs from your customers’ perspectives (this then becomes a CO-SWOT or a customer oriented SWOT).

Critical success factors

Critical success factors provide the "so what" when you look at a SWOT analysis.

Consideration of critical success factors are often overlooked but are, in fact, the most important component of a SWOT analysis. Without due consideration of these factors your SWOT is essentially as good as a pros and cons list and about as useful (read = useless).

Critical success factors are those factors that are important - critical - or required in order to:

Minimise or eliminate weaknesses
Match and leverage strengths to take advantage of opportunities
Convert weaknesses into strengths

After developing a SWOT you need to consider each item and work through the process of minimising, eliminating, matching, leveraging and converting.

As an example: Matching can help identify competitive advantages by matching the strengths to opportunities. Then, through leveraging strengths, you can exploit your opportunities.

Converting is to apply conversion strategies to convert weaknesses or threats into strengths or opportunities. If you are unable to convert your threats or weaknesses then you should try to minimise or avoid them.

The upshot

A SWOT analysis can be an extremely useful tool and can be integral in your business’ strategic plan but it is important that you use this tool appropriately. A SWOT without critical success factors is as good as useless.

Remember to always work through the process of leveraging your strengths to exploit your opportunities and use matching and conversion strategies to convert, eliminate or minimise weaknesses and threats.

Eight tips for Search Engine Optimisation

Wed, 11 May 2011 04:15:00 GMT

Search engines can be perplexing beasts, but by following a few key tips for search engine optimisation you can make sure that you maximise your chances of being at the top of their rankings.

1. Keyword selection:

Once you have an understanding of your target audience you should be able to identify the key words and phrases that they would use if they were searching for an offering such as yours.

After you have identified these words make sure you use them throughout the content on your website BUT, don't over do it - "keyword stuffing" will only see your site sent to the bottom of the search results.

2. Titles:

From the top of your browser, to the tags of your pictures, titles tell search engines just what your website is all about. It is important that you utilise your keywords in your page titles, alt tags in images and title tags in links and as much as possible elsewhere.

3. Content headings:

Making sure your content headings include those keywords you identified will help your rankings but only if you use CSS heading tags to identify them (h1, h2, h3 etc). If you're site isn't built in CSS, find a reputable web developer that understands search optimisation (and usability) and have it recoded.

4. Navigation:

Keep in mind that search engines can’t read pictures. For this reason, make sure that your navigation bar is text, not image, based. Using those key words you previously identified in your navigation will also help your rankings.

In addition make sure you structure your site well as this is reflected in your URLs. Use folders to separate sections of the site and name your pages and folders based on your targeted keywords.

5. Site map:

Make it as easy as possible for search engines to navigate through your website. Include your site map on your website. Believe it or not but this will also contribute to search engine optimisation.

6. Regular updates:

Content is king - keep it fresh, keep it new. Search engines like to see websites that are active and are regularly updated, not to mention that an out-of-date website reflects badly on your business.

7. Incoming links:

The more people point to you, the more important you appear to search engines which means the higher up the list you will go. Consider ways you can encourage other websites to point to you.

Don't get sucked into exchanging links with unrelated or less than reputable sites however - this is a 'black' side of site optimisation that does nothing for your business credibility or your search rankings.

8. Meta data:

These days it is generally accepted that meta data doesn't help your search engine rankings. Despite this though, some of the meta data does appear when your site is listed by a search engine so it is still good practice to include title, description, and keyword meta data.

The upshot

If you have gone to the trouble of developing a website, you may as well maximise your chances of being at the top of the search engine rankings. Keep these tips in mind while you are planning, building and running your website and your website has a good chance of ranking well on search engines.

How to write an engaging case study: PART 2

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:21:00 GMT

As we outlined in our last post, there are a few best practices that can be followed when writing a case study that mean the difference between creating an effective and engaging article, or a throw away.

Remember to consider these best practices, together with the key sections below, to make sure your case studies are worth the time and effort you put into them.

Key sections applicable to almost all case studies

As with everything, there are exceptions to this rule, however if you use the key sections below as a guide and a writing sequence you can be sure all necessary facts will be included in your case study.

Key sections should cover:

Customer and problem
Analysis of alternatives – the journey
Recommended solution
Implementation
Results
Summary and close

1) Customer and problem

In the lead paragraph focus on your customer, not on your product or company. Remember you are writing from the reader’s perspective. Gain attention with an interesting lead.
Focus on the ‘pain points’ for the customer, including details on the impact of the problem to the customer’s business. If possible use a quotation from the customer.
Discuss the causes of the problem. What led to it and what the ‘symptoms’ were.
If relevant you can describe how the problem affected the goals and objectives of the organisation and which levels of the organisation were most impacted.

2) Analysis of alternatives - the journey

Discuss the approach that the customer underwent in evaluating potential solutions. This is another area where it is important for the target audience to relate to the case study subject.
Mention a few alternative solutions or options that were considered and why yours was chosen. (Remember a solution does not need to be a competitor. Maintaining the status quo may be an option).
How did the customer find out about you?
Briefly communicate the structure / funding / project plan / environment the solution had to fit within.
Clearly explain why your offer is the best alternative from the customer’s perspective.

3) Recommended solution

Provide the business case that was used by the customer to select your solution. Again, this is an important stage that the target audience must be able to relate to. You can touch on why your solution stood out from the competing approaches.
Include any custom changes that needed to be made to make your solution fit the environment. This can illustrate flexibility and great customer service.

4) Implementation

Here is your chance to explain any specific challenges that arose during the implementation of the solution. Explain how you solved these issues and what the outcome was. Remember to write this from the reader’s perspective so they can personally relate to the situation. Prospective customers will also appreciate humility from you.
Suggest any tips that could help others who are involved in this process. Potential customers can gain value from learning what to avoid.
Discuss the specifics of how the implementation occurred. This will enable the reader to relate the solution to their particular case. How long did it take? How did you exceed the customer’s expectations?

5) Results

Demonstrate how your product / service provided a solution for the problem your case study subject was faced with. Be sure to describe the results in quantified, measurable terms.
Provide a brief summary of the benefits that your solution has resulted in. If applicable document them from each key stakeholders’ perspective.
Use hard facts and figures to show how your offering solved the customer’s problem. It is good, where possible, to illustrate how the solution:
- increased market share;
- decreased expenditure;
- increased revenue;
- improved productivity; and
- improved the organisation’s operations overall.
Bullet points can help get a punchy message across.
Include a customer quote. Keep it short and relevant to the topic of the case study.

6) Summary and close

Summarise the case study: Problem, action, outcome. Providing a few key points at the end of a case study will leave the reader with a take home message they will remember.
Remember to include a call to action such as contacting you.

The Upshot

Now you have the foundation for creating effective and engaging case studies. Of course, sometimes it's not always possible to include every detail we have listed, however, if you try to cover off as many of these points as possible, you will end up with case studies that your target audience can relate to. As a result they will better understand how your offering can help solve their problem.

To help you develop engaging case studies, download our case study tip sheet and keep it handy.

How to write an engaging case study: PART 1

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:14:00 GMT

I am sure you have had similar experiences to me in reading case studies – often you read the first few paragraphs only to toss the article aside, unable to identify with the issue, see any relevance or interest in the article, or find it nothing more than a company’s hyped up sales pitch.

On the other hand there are those case studies that grab you from the first sentence and draw you in. By the end of the article you have related the situation to your own and are running over potential solutions in your head.

If you are charged with writing case studies, it is obviously pretty important that they fall into the second category or you may not have your job for long! Let’s look at how you can make your case studies more effective.

This is part one of a two part blog post in which we'll look at writing an effective case study and provide some handy best practices you can follow.

For a start, an effective case study is written from the reader’s perspective, not from your company’s.

A case study must use hard facts and clearly define:

The problem the customer was trying to address
How they addressed the problem
What the results to the problem were

Best practices in case study development

Generally there are a few best practices that can make the difference between creating an engaging and effective case study or one that warrants only a cursory glance. Remember to consider these as you begin to compile your case study:

Make sure you understand your target audience (see our previous blog post: If you wish to persuade me… speak my words) and then ensure your case study is focussed on an issue that has a significant impact on them. What are the problems that your solution solves?
Support your case study with hard numbers and facts. Where applicable use charts, figures, tables or statistics to enhance credibility, but be careful not to overload with these.
Avoid technical jargon or proprietary terms, remember you are writing this from the reader’s perspective, not your company's.
Insert names, titles and quotes from customers or partners involved. This will help to personalise the article and lend credibility.
Where possible and relevant be sure to include the expected and achieved return on investment or pay off, benefit etc. This will provide the reader with a carrot, so-to-speak, and may encourage them to contact you.

Consideration of these best practices will help ensure you are on the right track to creating an effective and engaging case study that not only draws in your target audience, but encourages them to contact you to provide solutions to their problems.

Next post we'll provide you with a break down of key sections you should focus on and wrap it up in a downloadable 'cheat sheet' you can keep on hand...

Persuade = think - feel - speak: PART 2

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:16:00 GMT

Last blog we began dissecting Julius Marcus Cicero’s quote "If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings and speak my words".

We have examined the first two components of this: "If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts". Now we need to understand how feeling my feelings and speaking my words can mean the difference between success or failure of your marketing and communication strategy.

...feel my feelings...

Feeling your target audiences feelings is an extension of thinking their thoughts.

It is the next step, the reaction, to the thoughts that your audience will have to your persuasion (or marketing).

As with thinking your audiences’ thoughts, it is important to try to develop empathy for their feelings before you embark on your marketing and communication campaign. Extrapolate the studies you have done in thinking their thoughts to gauge an understanding of the reactions and feelings these thoughts will create and just what effect this will have on your marketing efforts.

Try to develop an understanding of your target audiences:

Probable responses to your persuasive element:
You know what you want them to do, but things don't always go to plan. What sort of actions and reactions might your target audience take towards your persuasive arguments? What does that mean for your objectives?
Reaction to the way in which your message is presented:
It is important to carefully consider the tone and style of your message and the ultimate ‘feel’ it will present and hence the feeling it will create with your target audience. You will need to get a real understanding of your audiences’ thoughts and feelings in order to appropriately pitch your message.
Feeling of satisfaction when your offering meets their need:
If you gain an understanding of the satisfaction that your target audience will feel when their needs are met you can directly incorporate it into your marketing message. This will enable the audience to relate the solution to their particular situation.

As with thinking their thoughts, you need to get out there and live and breathe your target audience for enough time that you develop empathy for their thoughts and feelings.

Delve into their world and study them to the point of predicting their reactions and feelings to what you intend to tell them. This will allow you to develop a meaningful and ultimately successful campaign.

...speak my words.

This is where your ability to truly understand your target audience comes into play.

It is at this point that the effort you have made to "think my thoughts" and "feel my feelings" really shows. If you do not truly understand your audience, you will not understand the words they are receptive to and therefore you won't hit those buttons.

Have you ever noticed how politicians change their language and approach depending on who they're talking to? They soften their message for mothers or families and 'corporatise' their message for businesses.

This is because they understand the importance of speaking the words of the people they're endeavouring to engage with, persuade and influence.

If you're a scientific research organisation and you want your findings adopted by non-scientific people, there's no point talking about the scientific specifics involved. You need to discuss the:
- practical application;
- what it means to your audience;
- how they can adopt it; and
- what the benefits will be.
Likewise if you're a tech company selling technical products to non-technical people, don't talk about the advanced features such as your GHz or CPU performance. Rather, talk about how much faster your product is which means your audience can get things done more quickly.

Remember, this is where your understanding of your target audience is really apparent. If you haven’t taken the time and effort to think their thoughts and feel their feelings, then you have little hope of speaking their words and hence gaining that vital connection and result.

The upshot

In marketing and communications you can't separate out any one component from Marcus Julius Cicero's quote and just focus on that one in isolation... it's a package deal:

"If you wish to persuade me,
you must think my thoughts,
feel my feelings, and
speak my words".

Spend time on all components and you are much more likely to be successful in your marketing and communication endeavours.

Persuade = think - feel - speak: PART 1

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:17:00 GMT

Marcus Julius Cicero once said "If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings and speak my words".

Regardless of whether you like it, marketing and communication is about persuasion, so this quotation is particularly relevant.

Over the next couple of blog posts we’ll examine each component of this quote and what it means for your marketing and communication activities.

If you wish to persuade me...

Some people argue that marketing and communication is not about persuasion, others may say it's about manipulation, some may think it's just the colouring-in club.

At the end of the day though, if you are marketing something to someone, you are in fact trying to persuade them that you can offer the best solution for their 'need'.

Their 'need' could be to purchase a product or service... therefore you are persuading them to purchase your product over another.
Their 'need' could be to change a business practice... therefore you are persuading them to change their behaviour in favour of what you're recommending.

Merriam-Webster actually defines persuading as "to move by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action"... sound familiar?

So now we have ascertained that:

marketing and communications = persuasion

we need to consider what this means for your marketing and communication activities.

To be successful in the game of persuasion (that is, your job as a marketer) you need to consider:

What you want your target audience to do, specifically; and
What motivates your target audience.

Once you have this in hand you then need to determine an effective "argument, entreaty or expostulation" that will persuade your target audience to take the course of action you desire.

...you must think my thoughts...

Basically this means you need to put yourself in your target audiences’ shoes and gain a real understanding for their:

Attitudes, beliefs and alternative options: If you're going to change and persuade them that you, instead of their alternative option, can best meet their needs, you need to understand these and pitch your campaign accordingly.
Influences they are most open to: This involves identifying which buttons you can push to get the desired result. (For more information on this you can read Robert B. Cialdini's book Influence: Science and Practice which presents a range of principles of persuasion, or influence. For example, people return favours - this is the law of reciprocity).

The communication channels they prefer: Not everyone likes being communicated with in the same manner. Even within a target audience there may be variations. It's important to understand which channel, such as web, email, radio, television etc., your target audience pays attention to. Remember there are more persuasive channels than the standard 'mass media.' You also need to consider who influences the thoughts of your target audience (neighbours, their agent, accountant etc.). These influencers are a powerful channel in their own right and often overlooked.

This isn't about making a token effort to understand your target audience. You need to live and breathe them - walk in their shoes for a time.

It is no use applying your own beliefs to a target audience and it is equally important not to impart inherent assumptions about their thoughts. Most importantly, never make sweeping generalisations about your audience.

So, the best way to "think my thoughts"?

Get out there among your target audience and study them. Focus groups, interviews, seminars, usability tests - even just talking to them - all help us get inside the target audiences head and will often challenge our beliefs of their beliefs. Test your beliefs or assumptions about the audience with them.

Remember, you are a sample of one and are most often not the target audience.

The upshot

If you want your marketing to be successful then you really need to understand your target audience to the point of thinking their thoughts. Next post we’ll look at how you can take this further so you can develop the empathy to feel your target audience’s feelings and speak their words. This will ensure your marketing and communication activity really does persuade them.

Testimonials - How to get them, what to do with them

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:31:00 GMT

Yes, yes, we haven't posted a blog for some time. As I have said in previous posts, social media represents a time commitment and you have to weight up what else you could be doing with that time (like servicing clients!).

Today's blog post is about testimonials. Testimonials are an excellent way to promote your offering without really doing it yourself. They give you credibility because they are a third-party endorsement.

We recommend to clients that they seek testimonials wherever possible; however, we do encounter a few common questions when we make the recommendation:

How do you get a testimonial?
How do you get the client to say what you want?
What do you do with the testimonial once you have it?

How do you get a testimonial?

Easy; you ask for one. Develop the habit of always asking for a testimonial, as testimonials can be obtained for just about anything:

If you are a non-government organisation or service provider, you could ask a stakeholder to provide a testimonial relating to some program you offer or a service you provide that you want others to become involved with.
If you are a commercial organisation you could ask a client or customer to provide a testimonial about their experience with your product or service.
If you run an event you could include an evaluation form and ask "May we use your name and comments in our promotional materials?" Have a space for them to check yes or no.

Don't be reluctant to ask for a testimonial. If your client is not willing to provide a testimonial that will be used publically, they may be willing to act as a private referee.

How do you get the client to say what you want?

If you want the testimonial to be specific then, when you ask for a testimonial, you need to be specific about what you're looking for. You should outline:

How the testimonial will be used
The word limit
What specifically you would like the testimonial to focus on
If you would like them to include their details (name, title, company etc)

We've often found that when our clients ask their clients for a testimonial, their client then asks them for assistance in writing one.

We've put together a tip sheet that can be passed onto the person writing the testimonial. Feel free to download the tip sheet and pass it around.

What do you do with the testimonial once you have it?

Getting a testimonial is all very well, but just like a strategic plan, it won't help you if it just sits in a file or on a shelf somewhere.

You have to use it.

You can use the full testimonial or a select quote from it in many ways, including:

In advertisements
On your website
In presentations
In collateral such as brochures, white papers etc
In any kits such as media kits, sales kits, event registration kits etc
In articles or media releases

Don't be limited in how you use them, the point is USE THEM.

The Upshot

People expect you to say wonderful things about your company or offering - but they don't necessarily always believe you. Testimonials provide you with a much more powerful and credible 'story'. Always ask for a testimonial and use them anyway you can.

Download our "How to write a testimonial" tip sheet

Looking for examples?

Make your PDFs really work - Make them social media friendly

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:49:00 GMT

With social media playing such a growing role in the marketing and communications mix of many businesses, it's surprising how few people take a few extra steps to optimise their PDF documents for social media.

You may ask "why bother?". Well, the reason is to increase your readership (and thereby increase exposure to your brand or message).

Regardless of what your document is, for example: Research findings, a white paper, brochure, case study or best practice guide, ensuring the document is "social media friendly" is quick and painless and can prove useful.

Why create social media friendly PDFs?

Simply put, creating social media friendly PDFs:

Prompts readers to share documents;
Makes it easy for readers to share your documents with others; and
Allows you to track the sharing of your documents.

It's also a great way to incorporate social media into material you're already producing and can make stepping into social media fairly easy if you're just starting out.

Tips for social media friendly PDFs

So, it sounds like a good idea but how do you do it? Here are a few tips (you can also download our tip sheet for examples):

Don’t write the full link as content. Instead include an icon and/or short descriptor (eg “Tweet this”) and make the descriptor the link.

Make it easy to share by pre-populating fields such as email, Tweets etc.

Make the link launch the right application (with pre-populated information).
Use a link shortening service to track links – for example shorten the link in bit.ly and then you can track the pass along readership of your PDF.
If you use Google Analytics make use of the URL building tool to add tags to the link for thorough tracking.
Keep a quick guide or reference handy of social media links (feel free to download ours).

The Upshot

You generally go to a lot of effort to create PDFs and with a little extra effort you can easily embed social media sharing options to increase your readership.

For more information, download our tip sheet of social media links and start creating social media friendly PDFs today.

Quick tips for using social media in B2B engagement

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:42:00 GMT

In recent posts we've covered what you should consider before jumping on the social media bandwagon in a business to business context. If you’ve decided to take the leap into social media and have worked through a proper strategy and approach then here are a few tips that may help you soar.

Social media tips

For many channels (like Twitter) you only have a few characters or seconds to get your message through. Make your message direct, succinct and relevant to your audience.

It is not a soapbox nor a propaganda machine. Don’t make your message 'blah blah blah' content. Your content must be truly relevant and valuable to your audience. A recent appointment of a staff member may not be that interesting to your followers.

It’s real-time; avoid making mistakes – think carefully before you respond to feedback and criticism... You will be virtually slaughtered if you offend the audience (have a look at the well known United Breaks Guitar video on You Tube).

Don’t try to take on too much too soon. Start out small, for example with a regular blog posting to position you as a thought leader. You can re-purpose your main content on the blog and post to other channels (such as Twitter). This way, you don’t have to create new content for every social media site.

Jeff Bullas writes an excellent post about why you should blog before you tweet.

Remember, if you are using social media sites for your business, don’t muddy this with personal posts. Your prospects, customers or stakeholders probably don’t want to hear that you’re off to have a coffee and thinking of quitting your job. Likewise, your friends probably don’t want to hear about your latest company offer. If you have personal social networking accounts, keep them separate from your business accounts.

If you do use social media for business, you need to have an internal policy for your staff, some of whom no doubt have personal social networking sites. They need to appreciate that whatever they say about your company personally, reflects on you professionally. Some may argue that this goes against the grain of social media, but business is business.
Don’t take a big stick approach to your internal social media policy; however, you do need to ensure that your staff appreciate that people reading their posts don’t distinguish between them personally and the organisation. It’s just the same as if your staff went to a real life business networking event, drank too much and mouthed off in front of a crowd (although it’s worse because online, things spread faster).

Have a policy for responding to criticism. What are you going to do when you come across a posting that does virtually slaughter you? Again, think carefully. A defensive approach will probably compound the problem and your issue will spread through the online community like a bush fire. You’ll be virtually lambasted. Social media sites are active communities, to live in that community you need to get on with everyone and try not to alienate people.

The upshot

Social media may be hot right now but it may also not be for every business. You need to carefully consider the commitment required and balance this with planning and implementation. Make sure you don’t muddy your social media business activities with your personal social media activities or that of your staff. Be prepared to live in the online community and avoid soapboxing or using a big stick.

Making social media work in a B2B context

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:53:00 GMT

In our previous post we discussed the pros and cons of social media in your business-to-business engagement and marketing plan.

If your organisation considers that the pros outweigh the cons, it’s still not a good idea to jump straight on the bandwagon and start furiously posting or tweeting information.

Given the time and monetary commitment you’re going to make, it makes sense to spend some time planning your approach first. Work out what your purpose in social media is, who are you trying to appeal to and what you will focus on. Build a strategy and plan, then jump on the bandwagon.

Here are a just few ways we are seeing social media work for businesses engaging with other businesses:

To engage with current customers or stakeholders

This is particularly useful for technology companies. Through social media, technology companies can keep their current customers updated about potential outages, bugs or planned updates. For example, every time they release a new patch, they can tweet about it and link to the technical information on their site.

In addition, they can create virtual user groups via LinkedIn and monitor the group for potential problems, suggest new features and let them know about updates.

Social media can also be effective in crisis management. If something occurs in your industry, you can keep your stakeholders (and the public) up-to-date and informed. This also allows you to maintain a two way conversation with those affected. Don’t forget your sceptics can also access this information and seek to subvert your activities.

Membership organisations can also use social media to alert their business members to new services, offers, programs or events and use it to solicit feedback.

To engage with prospects

A key area that social media can assist in engaging with prospects is from a content marketing perspective. That is; generating content that engages with your audience, positions you as a thought leader in their minds and, therefore, encourages them to select your offering.

Content marketing has long been the focus for business-to-business IT companies. It’s not new and it is certainly not just the domain of IT companies. Any business seeking to engage with another business can use content marketing. What is new however is the way social media can supplement what you are already doing.

For example, you develop a white paper (or article, media release, blog, issues paper, technical paper, an event, research report etc). You plan to email this to a relevant segment of your database and make it available on a syndication portal. You could also tweet about the new paper and provide a shorted link to the paper on your website.

You could then hold a webinar on the same topic as the paper, record the webinar and publish this via YouTube. In doing so you have again created something you can tweet about, upload on LinkedIn etc.

If you are attending an event, let people know via Twitter. Some events even have Twitter accounts so you can follow them and retweet their postings.

One use of social media we are seeing is embedding links within a PDF. You can embed links that allow people to share your content via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc. Proteus B2B has written more on this subject and has a working example.

The upshot

There are a number of ways social media can be added to your current marketing activities. Because of the diverse nature of social media and the number of options it pays to critically analyse what you are trying to achieve, who you are targeting, what you will be providing and the frequency you will provide it.

In further posts we'll cover off what a social media strategy should include, along with tips for using social media in a business-to-business context.

Further resources

There is a wealth of information available on social media and, while much of it is business-to-consumer focused, if you dig around you will find some business-to-business references. Outlined below are a few we particularly like:

McDonald's social media marketing strategy

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:30:00 GMT

The global market leader for fast food recently shared its view on social media marketing. The presentation made its way onto Slideshare. Even though this is business-to-consumer, it makes for interesting viewing.

What makes this presentation interesting is the second-last slide - McDonald's key learnings from social media. Regardless of the market you are in, they are all relevant points to consider in any social media strategy and reiterate aspects of our recent post: To social media or not to social media.

McDonald's key learnings from social media:

Ask yourself…”How can we actively engage” vs “Should we engage?”

Walk before running…Develop the right strategy for your brand vs leaping into tactical activation

Collaborate…Social media has potential for a number of different departments within a company

Be flexible/nimble…Some new trend that has the potential to impact your brand is always around the corner

Be open to feedback…Everyone has an opinion about your brand, products, services so be open and willing to listen

To social media, or not to social media

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:02:00 GMT

Excuse the nonsensical heading but every time I think of social media Shakespeare’s “To be, or not to be” pops into my head.

Social media is one of the hottest topics right now. Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, not to mention blogs, forums and other vehicles, are all gaining the attention of businesses.

Personally, I am a social media sceptic but my views are balanced by some in our company that can see potential. Regardless where we as a company stand on social media, we all admit that it warrants consideration in any business-to-business engagement plan.

This consideration does, however, have to be measured. Instead of just jumping in and saying “Yes, let’s get some social media activity going”, companies need to stand back and determine if social media really is right for them or if they are just jumping off the cliff because everyone else is – lemmings spring to mind.

A considered and planned approach to social media is important for three reasons:

Social media represents a time commitment
Social media represents a monetary commitment
Social media may not resonate with your audience

Social media represents a time commitment

You need to dedicate yourself (or someone) to creating content regularly. Nothing looks worse than a Twitter profile with one tweet saying “test” that was posted 6 months ago.

You also need to dedicate time to monitoring social media sites to look for useful content that you can repurpose (for example, “re-tweeting” someone else’s post that is relevant to your audience but non-competitive).

Finally, you need to commit time to respond to postings or content you find that mentions you, your product or your company.

Social media represents a monetary commitment

Even if you handle social media in-house, you still must count what we call the “opportunity lost” of undertaking social media activities (we like the finality of “opportunity lost” over “opportunity cost”).

This means, you need to think about all of the other things you could spend time (ergo: money) on and the value they would provide compared with social media.

Most marketing and communications teams nowadays are running lean and mean – either in manpower or budget. This means that if you add something to your marketing mix, you typically have to give something up (unless you secure more recourses or outsource the function).

You need to assess the value social media could provide against the value an alternative activity could provide. This assessment needs to include time and costs.

Even if you manage social media internally, it still comes with a price. Throw into the mix the price you will pay if you outsource this function (this isn’t a novel concept; rather it’s similar to outsourcing your media relations).

Joe Pulizzi from Junta42 suggests a budget of $10,000-$30,000 per year just for blogging. Add Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube to this and no doubt you could get to $50,000 quite quickly, depending on frequency of course.

In another post, Pulizzi also suggests a formula for how frequently you should be generating content in a variety of formats. We don’t necessarily feel this formula or the costs are right for everyone, but it is an eye opener (and exhausting just to read).

Social media may not resonate with your audience

Even if you decide you can afford the time and money to undertake social media activities, your audience may not actually be receptive to it.

Now, social media purists will argue that all audiences are tuned in and if they’re not, they soon will be so by getting in now, you’re positing yourself as a front runner.

Well I don’t think so. This philosophy is all very well if you don’t have anything better to do with your time and money but I’m pretty sure most of us in business don’t have that luxury.

We often see companies pursuing social media when it just doesn’t make sense from their audience’s perspective. They’ve been caught up in the hype and are jumping off the cliff because all the other lemmings are.

The reality is that some audiences just aren’t using social media. No, they really aren’t.

It’s like the existential question “If a tree falls in a deserted woods does it make a noise?” If your audience isn’t using social media why would you spend your time creating content for them?

It reminds me of the old “Build it and they will come” mentality from the dot com boom, we all know how that played out. If your audience isn’t using social media a big question has to be – why should you?

The upshot

Social media may be hot right now but it may also not be for every business. You need to carefully consider if your audience is ready for social media and the commitment required and balance this with planning and implementation.

In the next post I will cover how we are seeing social media work in a business-to-business context. I’ll also share some tips for using social media in your business.

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Key sections applicable to almost all case studies

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Persuade = think - feel - speak: PART 2

...feel my feelings...

...speak my words.

The upshot

Persuade = think - feel - speak: PART 1

If you wish to persuade me...

...you must think my thoughts...

The upshot

Testimonials - How to get them, what to do with them

How do you get a testimonial?

How do you get the client to say what you want?

What do you do with the testimonial once you have it?

The Upshot

Looking for examples?

Make your PDFs really work - Make them social media friendly

Why create social media friendly PDFs?

Tips for social media friendly PDFs

The Upshot

Quick tips for using social media in B2B engagement

Social media tips

The upshot

Making social media work in a B2B context

To engage with current customers or stakeholders

To engage with prospects

The upshot

Further resources

McDonald's social media marketing strategy

McDonald's key learnings from social media:

To social media, or not to social media

The upshot