We want to get off to a great start in 2019 and we began with something we are very passionate about:
Surrounding ourselves with the best of the best in the marketing, sales, and leadership so we can work smart.
We asked several experts to weigh in on what 2019 has in store to help your business grow by sharing their tips and predictions.
Our promise to all our colleagues, clients, fans and family is to deliver the best content we can create to help you grow your business.
For us, it starts with prioritizing our goals, writing it on the wall, getting our team on board with our vision, mission, and outcomes for the week, month, and quarter as well as following these rules each and every day:
1) If it is not getting us closer to our goal, don’t do it.
2) Learn and share with your teammates.
3) Deliver more value to clients than expected.
4) Communicate so everyone is always on the same page.
Then we move to accomplish micro-steps to reach the goal.
But we aren’t here just to get ourselves off to a great start in 2019. We want you to have one as well.
Dennis Yu – Blitzmetrics2019 is the shift from tools to systems, from a software-dominated model to a people-focused one.
Driving sales in digital marketing had been about chatbots, ways to trick Google, the Facebook algorithm, marketing automation tools, and a myriad of “hacks”.
But now Google and Facebook’s algorithms are getting smarter– and together they have a 73% duopoly share of the paid digital market. These are two feed-driven networks that can tell whether a marketer is actually delighting the audience or just using automation and trickery.
That said, winning in 2019 is about collecting authentic videos from customers, partners, and employees– putting them into a system that connects all your channels, measuring results via Facebook’s new analytics and the revamped suite of Google tools, and understanding how to amplify content between channels.
While tools are still important (anyone can buy a tool), what’s harder to follow is having smart sequences of content, generating believable reviews and putting out interesting and educational content. That means you must bring video strategy in-house–not dependent upon freelancers, and not having video be the role of one person part-time. If you’re not producing video in a format that consumers themselves produce (short, vertical cell-phone videos, not cinema-quality productions), you will be left behind.
Jim Cathcart – Cathcart.comKeep your numbers: the Metrics of selling start with making new contacts. Everything else is driven by that. Until that happens, everything else is just “intentions” and the road to ruin is paved with those.
Plan to measure every day the number of new sales contacts you are making. Track your progress, all year long. Then measure the number of times each day that you asked someone to buy from you.
All other sales metrics pale next to these two.
Getting people to make calls isn’t enough. They need to make good calls on good prospects and ask them to buy. Help your team target the right people for the right reason and measure what you expect from them. Winners always know the score. Teach your people to keep their own numbers and share them with you every week. What’s measured gets done. Accept no flowery descriptions of how they got readier to sell. Just measure the real sales actions, constantly.
A million hits on Social Media with no sales is still a failure. It’s not about activity, it’s about impact.
If a “bot” is doing your marketing then the “bot” is the only one making money. Don’t just pay others. Get yourself paid by making real, person to person, live, real-time sales contacts.
Robin Alex – Innovate FastIn 2019, there will be a shift in with demand generation advertisers in their delivery process. The complexity of advertising has gotten a lot easier by Facebook, Instagram and Google so that they can acquire more businesses advertising on their platforms. Agencies will need to shift to focusing more in lead management and handling to provide growth for their clients. With the economy potentially shifting, advertising budgets are going to go down. Businesses are going to have tighter budgets to deal with, so agencies have to be even more effective.
In order to provide better service as an agency, the focus needs to be on conversion. Using tools such as HighLevel and open communication with their clients to effectively manage the leads, as well as follow the internal business flow of lead management will be key to 2019.
From a Leadership perspective, agencies need to step up and really look at their customer’s inner business processes. Generating Leads and traffic is going to be pointless if a business does not know how to manage it. Retention is the name of the game, and if the agency doesn’t have the processes in house to build around retention, they are going to lose their client!
Matt Plapp – ROI Engine2019 is upon us and my 2 tips cover something that’s not new but has a twist, but no many do it and the other is a necessary item for 2019.
1st – LIVE Content is king and always has been. Every year I talk to marketing professionals and business owners and I tell them the same thing, get your phone out and start creating content. Video is the easiest and best way to find an audience and nurture them. The issue most people have is they make video to difficult. They want to record it all, edit it and make it way too pretty. This takes time and makes it impossible to pump out high volumes of content. You MUST become comfortable with the uncomfortable, videos that aren’t perfect. What’s even better about doing live videos outside of the speed is that it forces you to become great on camera.
2nd – AUTOMATION – You need to learn Zapier and figure out how to automate everything you can. One of the best zaps I built in 2018 was a Zap that allowed me to update my WordPress website and LinkedIn after I uploaded a video to my YouTube Channel. This simple Zap allowed me to quickly update 3 of my media outlets with 1 upload. Automation is not only key for you and your agency, but for your clients and their marketing. By understanding automation, you are many steps ahead of most marketers and WAY ahead of all business owners. Automation gives you the ability to create many solutions for companies in any vertical.
David Tash – Tash AdvertisingMy tip would be to think big but act small.
The same time it takes for you to make $10,000 is the same time it takes to make $100,000.
But to achieve big goals we gotta go about it one day/one moment at a time.
Ask yourself, what do I need to do today to be on track to hit my 2019 goal?
Then do it! Reverse engineer from your goal and break it down into small achievable steps.
Great things come from small consistent habits.
Tash Out
Justin Abbate – Custom CreativesHow often do you give away your name and email address? Or your phone number? If you are like most consumers (and me!) in 2019, your answer is probably “rarely.” When you do, it’s only to people you know, like, and trust enough to not abuse that information. The same is true for online marketing.
When you do, it’s only to people you know, like, and trust enough to not abuse that information.
Times have changed. This isn’t 5-10 years ago where you can just put up an opt-in form, send traffic, and get leads all day and night…for cheap. It’s becoming more and more difficult and extremely expensive.
Are you going to randomly go up to someone at a networking event and jump immediately to your sale without building any sort of rapport or relationship? No. Because if you do, you are going to blow it with that contact. This is especially true when if you are selling a product or service that is $1000 or more.
So what is the fix? Build engaged and warm audiences through remarketing. You must lead with value, ask for nothing in return, and retarget those that show interest in your product or service across all ad platforms and social networks.
Back to our networking event example…what if instead you went up to a prospect, listened for their pain, and offered them a solution on the spot at no cost? Chances are you are going to get that prospect to know, like, and trust you. From there, it’s on you to continue nurturing the relationship until she or he is ready to buy with your email sequences, newsletters, blogs, messenger bot, etc.
2019 is going to be a great year for omnipresence. People’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter every year. With omnipresence marketing, you are essentially coming at them from every angle. Hit them with Google display ads, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and direct mail. Yes, I said it, direct mail. Technology has advanced so much, we can now track AND monetize direct mail. Marketing is like financial investing.
If you put all your money into the housing market and it crashes… again… you just lost everything. If you invest a little into the housing market, a little into oil, a little into bonds, and a little into stocks, you’re not out of the game if the housing market tanks. Just like marketing, invest in all avenues and you will be set. Multi-channel marketing is DOPE!
David Carroll – Dope Marketing & A Type DataDirect Mail vs EDDM: What’s the difference?
When choosing a way to send traditional mail to your customers, you have 2 options: 1) Direct Mail and 2) Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM)
Direct Mail and EDDM both have their benefits, but to choose which mailing is best for you business, let’s review some of the pros and cons of each type of mailing and some example use cases for both Direct Mail and EDDM.
Traditional Direct Mail lets you target people specifically chosen from a mailing list to receive your Mail Piece. With the ability to use whatever mailing list you choose, you have the option to target people based off things like; Income, FICO Score, Marital Status, Value of home, or hundreds of different options to target your “perfect” customer or prospect. Example: You want to target affluent homeowners in Minneapolis that make over $75,000 per year and have 2 children. This is a list that you can purchase and use in your Direct Mail Campaigns to ONLY specific people on your list.
Every Door Direct Mail(EDDM) on the other hand targets customers based on USPS postal carrier routes. EDDM uses “saturation” mailing, meaning that EVERY home, apartment and/or business on the carrier route will receive your postcard or letter. Example: You’re targeting an affluent area of town BUT there is an apartment building on the carrier route with 400 units. Along with the affluent homeowners you’re targeting, the 400 people living in the apartment building will also receive your mail piece.
Direct mail can be used to send a mail piece to your current list of customers OR a prospect list of customers that you want to educate about your business or services. Most local businesses send 1 postcard per month to their current customer base, along with additional campaigns for individual promotions or seasonal deals like “$99 Off First Time Teeth Whitening” at a Dental Office.
EDDM is great for getting the maximum amount of mail out to a general targeted area. If you own a Lawn Care Business and have an existing customer base in a certain area of town, EDDM can be a great way to generate more customers in that general area by running a campaign to the carrier routes where your business already has customers.
One of the biggest differences between Direct Mail and EDDM is the cost of postage. Just like your car needs gas to get you where you are going, your mail pieces need postage to be delivered. Direct Mail postage rates are going to be more expensive than EDDM. Postage rates on EDDM are cheaper because the post office has to do less work sorting and distributing the mail. Postage on a Direct Mail campaign can range from $0.35 – $ 0.55; depending on the size of the piece you mail and the rate of postage (Standard vs First Class). EDDM Postage is a standard rate of $.19 per piece, making the total postage about half the cost on an EDDM campaign vs a Direct Mail Campaign
In summary, consider using EDDM if you want to target an area, regardless of household income, targeting and other demographics. EDDM is very cost-effective especially for businesses that provide universally needed services to the neighborhood. Consider using the traditional direct mail approach if you want to target a specific list of prospects for your direct mail campaign.
Rahul Alim – Custom CreativesCreate an unstoppable follow-up machine with your database of prospects, clients, and connections by automating some key tasks:
1) Emails
2) Text Messages
3) Voice Broadcasts
4) Call Tracking
5) Pipeline Tracking
I call this “Do not leak leads!”
Here’s how it works…
A lead enters your website or landing page. They fill in your website form with their name, email and cell phone. Here’s where the magic takes place.
Most sales happen AFTER the 6th touchpoint which is why this is critical to help you sell more to help more people and make a bigger impact on the World.
Once the form is completed, the information is passed to our CRM software where we send a text message to your lead from you letting them know what to do and when to do it. This can be an action like claiming a limited time offer, joining a live video you are doing on Facebook or anything your heart desires.
Next, an email also is distributed with your pre-written content to tell them why you help solve their problems.
Followed by a pre-recorded voicemail delivered right to their cell phone with a callback number that gets tracked and recorded so you can audit your sales calls and improve your process all the time.
We call this the follow-up machine. This will help any business scale and grow faster by leveraging technology rather and stop the big leak of leads or untimely follow-ups. Make life easier and profit faster by having a follow-up machine in place for your business ASAP.
Make Your Brand Famous. Retargeting, also know as Remarketing, is a process in which you engage interested visitors with ads driving them back to your website or landing page to take your desired action!
You work extremely hard to get a visitor to your website, social media page, video, etc. Don’t let them go when they got so close to choosing you over your competition.
This is simple, smart and can only increase your branding and profit to the most engaged people – the ones that have already expressed interest in YOU!
Want to see the follow-up machine in action? Opt-in on our landing page and see how it works!
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