Dan Galante

When Brand awareness and Sales are low for brands, it is tempting to start using social media and blogging to solve the issue. At first this sounds like a great idea, but without a well thought out plan, Brands will fail and damage the credibility they have built.

CEO’s & CMO’s Looking to increase Sales? Here’s How

from

Dan Galante CMO

Prior to using social media and blogs, Brands have to examine what they want their Brand to mean.

Market Research

and

Buyer Personas

need to examined and updated.

image via smartdraw.com

Everything from digital assets, Sales/Marketing collateral effectiveness, product messaging and the logo needs to be examined. It is important to have a clear consensus and consistency on your brand voice. Brands need to ask their customers what the brand means to them as well. Once this analysis is completed, the brand vision needs to be compared to the way customers see it. Brands should make changes to align the customer vision to the Brand vision.

Previously, I have written two articles 10 Ways to Grow your Audience and Build a Customer base and Social Media 101.

Digital Marketing/Content Marketing/Social Media Marketing 360

from

Dan Galante CMO

This serves a time line to executing that plan.

1. Twitter

Within 30 days

Create a handle that matches the company name

Start sharing articles they create and from outside industry sources to engage the followers and start to build reciprocal relationships                          

Share related follower content

Within 60 days

Host Twitter chats on industry related topics

Within 90 days

 Use Periscope to shoot live videos

1. LinkedIn

Within 30 days

Start using the LinkedIn publishing platform to publish content

Use this content to connect with and identify with prospects and customers

Share LinkedIn content on company page

Promote company page to gain more followers

Provide product offerings on the company page

Create a user group and invite current and prospective customers to join

Within 90 days

Use this group to take the discussion offline and have events

2. Facebook

Promote company page to gain more followers

Provide the types of software integrates with on the company page

Create a user group and invite current and prospective customers to join

Within 90 days

Use this group to take the discussion offline and have events

Use Facebook live to host chats

3. Pinterest/Instagram

Within 60 days

Use Visuals to engage with potential customers

4. Blog Content Creation

Within 30 days

Search Google trends for key terms around industry to build a niche audience

Create content around these terms to build up authority in the search engines

5. Website suggestions

Take ownership of the brand Handle the creation and updates of websites internally

Place a menu for the blog at the top of the site menu so it is easier to find

Have an in the news section visible on the navigation

Do not include company name in the title of articles

Make content easy to share by placing share buttons on each of content

Create calls to action on social channels encouraging email sign up for blog

 6. YouTube

       Within 30 days

            Place share button for YouTube on website, upload webinar content to YouTube

           Within 90+ days

           Have a video podcast with guest speakers on industry topics to build up subscribers on YouTube

7. Improving a Talent Brand

image via https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2012/10/new-employer-brand-research

Build a Presence on other Social Media channels many overlook

1. SlideShare

Content Curation

Within 30 days

Repurpose blog posts into presentations on SlideShare to cater to different types of learners

Use SEO tags to get found in the right places

2. Share content to Google+

 Within 30 days

 Build out a company page share tips and insights around customer

Blogging

  1. Tumblr/WordPress/Medium

   WithIn 30 days

   Publish content on Tumblr/WordPress/Medium

     Obtain domain name for each

Email Marketing

Ongoing

Use blog to build up a subscriber list

Share links to blog content, webinars, offers etc… in email

Get opt in during purchase of product and during demos

Make sure blog has a place for people to subscribe along with social followers

6. Analytics

Ongoing

Use analytics data from, website and social networks and email campaign to measure engagement, examine traffic sources and make decisions on strategy going forward

7. Event Marketing

90+ days

Use Social Media to organize and promote events to the get product in front of industry

Attend industry tradeshows

After all organic Marketing is maximized

Paid Options

1. LinkedIn

Use content we create and advertise using the sponsored story feature targeting prospects and customers

KPI: For Brand Awareness choose the Impressions option

KPI: For Conversions choose the PPC option

Create a display ad driving people to the site

2. SlideShare

Create a lead generation form to capture the email addresses of people viewing content

3. Twitter

Create display ad that drives people to the site

KPI: For Brand Awareness choose the Impressions option

KPI: For Conversions choose the PPC option

4. Google/YouTube

Create visual display ads to drive traffic to website

ie Google Display network, Adwords, Bing Ads

Sponsor webinar and YouTube video content

How have you increase Brand Awareness and Sales Enablement? Comment and share below.

About the Author

Dan is passionate about using Marketing to help businesses drive sales. HubSpot Certified in Inbound Marketing, Dan has worked on various marketing assignments including Start Ups, a Political Campaign & a Digital Marketing Conference.

Prior to teaching, Dan served customers as an Outside Sales & Marketing Rep in NYC. In this role, he taught & trained Dentists on the company’s products & services using a consultative selling approach combined with direct marketing. He also supported the company’s marketing efforts at industry trade shows.

He writes & publishes a business blog on the topics of Sales, Marketing & Social Media entitled Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today; which has grown to over 17,000 followers on LinkedIn & over 13,000 on WordPress.

Dan is seeking a full-time marketing role in Direct, Inbound, Digital, Content & Social Media Marketing. He is willing to be a CMO to create and build out the Marketing function of your organization if it does not exist. If your company is hiring for roles in these areas, contact him directly via a free LinkedIn Message or email him at Dan@DanGalante.com to set up interviews.

Social Networks are places where people congregate; making them great sources of Market Research and Revenue. As a result, Social networks are looking for new revenue streams. The latest revenue channel for them is E-commerce.

Facebook is partnering with Shopify to launch Facebook shops. The social network is the latest to get in on the E-Commerce business.

Last year at SMX East, Google and YouTube shared how they are allowing people to shop online for products. Google also shared people’s buying behavior. I have included parts of the article below.

In Google’s Keynote, I learned how businesses can get an edge during the holidays. I also learned of Google’s plan to use Google Images and YouTube for E-Commerce. Google is also allowing businesses to use location-based Ads in Google Maps.

The key insights of the presentation were:

1. According to Google most shopping visits start online.

2. When diners search for a great place to eat the searches are probably happening on a smartphone.

3. When people are online in cars, more than half of them are searching for information on a mobile device making localization and targeting important.

4. 2/3’s of shoppers say that online video has given them insight and inspiration to make purchases.

5. Shoppers use at least 3 channels or more when shopping.

6. Brands need to provide an omnichannel channel experience all year, especially during the holidays.

7. Sales are happening online and offline. As a result of this shift, Brands need to serve customers on the channels of their choice.

Would you shop on a Social Network? Share your thoughts.

I surveyed my audience on LinkedIn about their holiday spending intent, method of purchase, types of purchase, and sentiment in the U.S. Consumer spending is always top of mind for marketers, sellers, and retailers. With inflation on the rise, consumers spend differently than when inflation is low.

I asked my audience four questions.

1. How has inflation impacted your holiday spending?
2. Which types of holiday gifts are you buying?
3. How did you buy your holiday gifts this season?
4. Did you use shoppable ads to make a purchase?

Below you can find the results of each survey question.

1.How has inflation impacted your holiday spending?

As you can see, 60% percent said they spent less during this holiday season. Consumers must see value in what they are buying. Brands need to create memorable experiences for consumers with their offerings.

2. Which types of holiday gifts are you buying?

This survey was split across different categories. Gift cards were top at 33 % percent of those surveyed saying they were buying gift cards and giving cash as a gift. Experiences and electronics were tied at 25 %. Media was in the lowest category at 17%. Across all of these categories, there are opportunities for brands to sell to consumers.

3. How did you buy your holiday gifts this season?

Based on the survey, 56% percent of consumers said they started their customer journey online; including purchases on a mobile device. Brands need to make an e-commerce experience seamless for customers. Most big box stores are creating an omnichannel buying experience; 31% percent of those surveyed stated that they made purchases online and in-store. Small businesses only received 11 %, followed by only in-store buying at 2%.

These findings suggest that small businesses need to create an e-commerce store to create an omnichannel experience for consumers, catering not just to what they want to buy but how they purchase. Small businesses need to show up where consumers make purchases.

4. Did you use shoppable ads to make a purchase?

75% of those surveyed said that they did not use a shoppable ad to make a purchase. Since late 2019, shoppable increased. Consumers can buy products directly from ads on search engines and many social media sites. This will shorten the customer journey.

Based on my research, my finding suggests:

1. Inflation has dampened consumer spending during the holiday season.

2. Brands need to provide value to consumers creating memorable experiences.

3. Businesses should serve consumers on the channels where they make purchases.

4. How consumers buy will continue to evolve.

5. With Shoppable Ads on the rise, the customer journey will be shorter. More purchases will occur during the time consumers search for products.

It will be interesting to see the consumer sentiment and the price of goods with the release of the CPI and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey due to be released this week.

How did inflation impact your spending during the holiday season? Share your thoughts.

If you want to share your opinion but didn’t get the chance to vote, answer these questions in the comments.

1. How has inflation impacted your holiday spending?
2. Which types of holiday gifts are you buying?
3. How did you buy your holiday gifts this season?
4. Did you use shoppable ads to make a purchase?

Additional places to find my content and blog

WordPress: https://dangalante.me/

Tumblr: http://www.askdangalante.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/DanGalante

Medium https://medium.com/@DanGalante

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/trendsettingsm

Anchor https://anchor.fm/dangalante

About Me

I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation, and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.

As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference.

I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, and SEM.

Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.

I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today a blog covering industry events and trends.

I’m seeking a full-time role in

Inbound Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Product Marketing, CI, Demand Generation, Social Media Marketing,

Sales Enablement, Enablement, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Employer Branding, and Recruitment Marketing.

Open on title, industry, company, location, and level. Reach out on LinkedIn or at dan@dangalante.com to start a conversation.