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Guest post by Jonathon Morgan, CEO at Yonder  The Information Age has ushered in a golden era of interconnectivity. Astute observers of this phenomenon are aware that the new reality is both a blessing and a curse. The most creative and innovative brands have been strategic about using the internet as a platform to create community and meaningfully connect with their audience.  At the same time, this interconnectivity means that all types of information — true, false, helpful, and harmful — can spread in the blink of an eye. According to a 2021 report by Visual Objects, 67 percent of consumers try to understand a company’s online presence before even considering the brand, further proving the importance of ensuring the most accurate information is being shared across the web. For communications teams, this challenge presents a tremendous opportunity to step up and lead their businesses as the first responders in mitigating brand risk.   Communications professionals are on the front lines of protecting brand integrity Communications professionals are typically the first to see when a viral narrative is emerging. Perhaps your brand is suddenly trending, a spokesperson for your company is being targeted online, or your brand is being boycotted, as seen when Coca-Cola held a stance against the Georgia Voter Law earlier this year.  The first step is to identify the origin of these online conversations. Because strategic communications teams typically serve horizontally across organizations, they are uniquely positioned to work cross-functionally and coordinate a response in the event of a crisis. However, “crisis” is the keyword here: It may not be worth your time and your company resources to overreact when something about your brand goes viral online. Social intelligence tools can play an unprecedented role here. First and foremost, effective social intelligence tools can determine whether these online conversations are authentic or inauthentic. Modern marketing and communications teams are adopting social intelligence tools in order to know what’s coming day-to-day, make strategic daily decisions that mitigate risk, and stay in control of their brand’s image. Why do viral incidents still catch brands off-guard? Unfortunately, it’s still very common to see these incidents catch communications teams off guard. This is because most teams only have traditional social monitoring and listening tools in place. While these systems tune into keywords, trends, and hashtags on mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter, they have a huge blindspot: they can’t monitor fringe channels online. Remember when QAnon conspiracy theorists targeted Wayfair, claiming that the company was trafficking children through their website? Although this claim was blatantly false, this faction knew that using a well-known brand as a vehicle to spread disinformation would garner more attention for their conspiracy. And it worked: What started out as a single Tweet quickly turned into mass media headlines and primetime coverage. Online chatter that appears to come out of nowhere can shape a brand’s reputation and bottom line in a matter of days or even hours. Another way that brands get caught off guard is when factions troll their company executives, employees, and other spokespeople. Factions are often able to get an off-the-cuff reaction out of them, further spreading their agenda through this opportunistic publicity. Most brands have executives, board members, and spokespeople that have established some political affiliations, either through communicating their stance on hotbed issues online, through charitable giving, or through their informal relationships with organizations.  And who could forget how the “WallStreetBets” subreddit boosted GameStop’s shares in defiance of all market norms, eventually costing hedge funds billions of dollars? The most influential internet factions are experts at tapping into the infrastructure of private forums and chat rooms to rapidly spread their message. How to make your brand less vulnerable to viral stories online With a social intelligence tool, your brand can determine where a viral event was initiated, who started it, and who is amplifying it. Traditional social analytics tools are not capable of answering these critical questions. Once your brand’s marketing or communications team understands the motivations of the online faction responsible for starting a petition, spreading a hashtag, or otherwise sharing some kind of viral message, they can determine what sort of impact their actions online could have on the narrative and your brand’s integrity Based on the faction’s historical track record, your team can assess the likely trajectory of the narrative: Will it spread to channels or audiences that matter to your brand? If the viral narrative is authentic, it’s imperative that you take action. Inauthentic conversations are spread via bots, low-quality accounts, and other methods for making a few voices sound much louder online. But even an inauthentic narrative that’s being manipulated to appear authentic can be a threat to your brand’s reputation and valuation.  At times, addressing the narrative can further incite it. Social intelligence platforms can provide your brand with insights that can help decide whether or not to take action by activating your leadership and communication team. For example, Yonder can monitor the source of the information and other non-mainstream channels (think: 4chan, Gab, and Parler) in case the narrative takes a turn that would represent a crisis for your brand. Social intelligence can empower your strategic communications team to completely avoid these incidents. If an incident has already occurred, using these same social intelligence tools can provide data-backed answers and a plan. With these tools, communications teams can provide insights and data that are relevant across many different company functions, including public relations and analytics.  Incorporating social intelligence tools into your communications strategy can also monitor emerging narratives around high-level issues that impact your industry, making sure you don’t get caught in the crosshairs of advocacy groups that are instigating petitions and boycotts.  It has been clear for some time that managing these communications crises is a high-level process, not a one-time effort. Brands that are doing the work now to preemptively prepare for viral online stories will be less vulnerable than those that try to default to their gut instinct.Jonathon Morgan is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Yonder. Prior to Yonder, he published research about extremist groups manipulating social media with the Brookings Institution, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post, presented at NATO’s Center of Excellence for Defense Against Terrorism, the United States Institute for Peace, and the African Union. Mogan also served as an adviser to the US State Department, developing strategies for digital counter-terrorism. He regularly provides commentary about online disinformation for publications such as New York Times, NBC, NPR, and Wired.1.

Guest Post by Nick Hill What exactly is an online brand community and why do you need one?  First, let's start with some definitions. To begin, what's an online community? Put simply, it's a site where a group of people who have a common purpose interact with each other online to share knowledge, build solutions, and get help. There are countless familiar examples: Reddit, Yelp, Facebook Groups, or even threads on a company's Twitter.  While many of these forums host vibrant communities, they can also be fragmented experiences, rife with information accuracy issues, data privacy challenges, toxicity, and abuse. And many rely on volunteer moderation.  For a company, investing in its own online community — or an online community that is owned and managed as a brand’s own digital property — solves these issues for their customers and grants them unparalleled access to customer experience data that can unlock phenomenal growth. Outstanding examples include the Spotify Community, lululemon’s Sweat Collective, and Sephora’s Beauty INSIDER Community.  By creating a brand-owned community, you bring together people from all walks of life (customers, partners, experts), who share a set of common goals but don’t know each other. Here, they can safely interact and build relationships around a shared hobby, profession, cause, or brand — like yours. Now you have a place where customers are more than just likes or followers, they are contributing members to your community and part of your brand.  Starting an online branded community can sound like a daunting task. It certainly requires participation from many areas of a business — from the development work and strategy to employing the community moderators who will monitor it. However, when you take a deeper look into some of the many benefits of a branded community, the goal becomes obvious.   Benefits of online branded communities Valuable customer insight Communities can be an excellent source of data for your company. Let’s say you have a huge product update, but on the day it rolls out, it comes to light that a certain aspect of it is causing extreme confusion for customers. This was the case for one of our customers who released a mobile device software update to tens of millions of customers globally. In East Asia's morning hours, several early users found a major bug in the update and posted it in the brand’s community. With engineers engaging in the community, they could quickly pause the rollout of the update before the rest of the world woke up. This resulted in only a few thousand people encountering a negative experience, instead of millions.  You can also set up your community to help you avoid this altogether. If you have an established community, chances are you have a few users who are already active brand advocates. Use those people as a test group before you officially roll out your update, new product, or service. They are some of the best resources to understanding where the snags might be and what is important within the community. Not only do these interactions provide valuable insights, but they make sure your customers know how much you value them and their opinions. When your customers feel appreciated and heard they are more likely to stay loyal to your brand. Better customer service  Another major benefit to having an active brand-owned community is that it can better your overall customer experience, including the ability to foster customer self-service and peer-to-peer connections.  The demand for self-service is increasing among all audiences. When people ask and answer questions in a community, those conversations are recorded for everyone to find in the future. Furthermore, peer-led conversations offer a more positive experience than being on hold with a customer service agent, and it also helps people feel more connected.  It's not just the people who ask questions that improve the experience. Answering questions also fulfills people's intrinsic motivation to help fellow humans. By fostering peer-to-peer collaboration, a branded community allows your customers to feel like they're more than a digital transaction. These interactions strengthen the connection within your community and allow you to build more human relationships with customers, leading to a positive customer experience. Financial benefits  Communities can actually save you money. The more questions that get resolved in your community, the less time your customer service agents have to spend answering the same questions. This is usually called “call deflection” or “prevention,” and there is a helpful model to help you calculate the value easily.  The self-service customer care model offered by a brand-owned community allows you to strike the balance between being helpful and not spending valuable human resources answering repetitive questions. In other words, when the answers to simple problems and questions are housed in your online community, customer service agents can focus on more complex queries. Not to mention, your employees will likely thank you for reducing the stress that comes with these types of redundant interactions.  As an added benefit, the knowledge shared in an online brand community supports other customer service platforms, providing a resource for customers reaching out via social or a brand's contact center. The reusable, living knowledge base of the community improves other customer care initiatives to expand on its direct financial benefits. For example, SAS, a leader in business analytics software and services, utilizes its branded community for global customer care as well as engagement. In a 12-month period, 74 percent of customers using the SAS Community were able to find the answers they needed, powering an estimated $7 million in cost savings to their tech support team.  In addition, the average brand community sees about 70 percent to 85 percent of traffic coming from public search queries. This means these people are coming to your site organically and getting questions answered there instead of submitting support tickets, sending emails, or getting frustrated with long response times or lack of information and going to a competitor’s site.  How to establish a successful branded community  Now that we’ve covered the major benefits of having an online branded community, let’s talk about what makes one successful. Measurement and value — Establish a shared value statement between your community members and the brand. Focus on the metrics that effectively tell that story, like traffic, content, members, liveliness, interaction, and responsiveness. Promotion — Communities require awareness on the part of your potential customers. Ultimately, SEO will drive a significant amount of traffic to the community but embedding community on your .com and promotion via email and social sets you off on the right foot. Structure — Your community needs to be structured in a way that invites participation. This extends to an architectural structure, like making sure your community is mobile-friendly, as well as to topical structure. You want people to discuss the topics that matter. Motivation — All successful communities bring into alignment their members' reasons for participation with a rewards and recognition program that highlights and amplifies their contribution. In fact, if you encourage and showcase your ‘superusers’ (significantly active community members), they can become one of your greatest assets — from testing opportunities to resourceful community content that helps other members and customer service reps be more successful. Take Microsoft, as an example, which has one of the world’s largest superuser programs. Because of their engaged MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals), 65 percent of forum questions are resolved through peer responses. What’s more, Microsoft’s community has also resulted in over $1 million in support costs savings each month. Many of these MVPs also leverage the community to grow their own businesses and networks, which helps further Microsoft's impact around the world. Moderation — Communities do require care and feeding. Part of that is ensuring all members have a safe and respectful environment to talk to one another in. While there are plenty of other important community features to consider, I highly recommend considering these five areas when strategizing how to build your community properly.  Creating your community  It might seem like a heavy lift at first, but ultimately, an online branded community brings a lot of benefits to a business. From creating peer-to-peer collaboration and valuable relationships to cost savings, a community improves customer experience on all fronts. If you are excited to get started on creating your online community, the first thing you should do is find an appropriate partner to help build it out. Then, I suggest perusing some well-established company communities for inspiration, so you can host your own successful community to help create customers for life. Nick Hill is General Manager of Khoros Communities where he focuses on helping companies leverage their community to grow their business. Nick started his career in Communities when he joined Jive Software as a Software Engineer. He developed the first version of the Jive Platform with a few engineers and helped grow the company from a startup to a publicly-traded company. Nick’s passion for creating quality products comes from working in leadership across Engineering, Design, and Product Management.

Guest Post by Vincent Sevilla Few anticipated this global pandemic to affect our modern world at such scale. No fewer than 212 countries have been affected. Now, thousands of people are stuck at home, fearing the virus, with almost all schools closed, and countless businesses halting their operations.  COVID-19 has affected businesses in many ways. As entire cities and countries impose strict rules on quarantine and social distancing, many companies had to close down temporarily, while some operate with limited capacity and staff. Shipping and deliveries are paused or delayed and goods are stranded in warehouses or ports, resulting in order cancellations and loss of customer confidence. Travel, hospitality, and food service industries are also impacted in an unprecedented way. Millions of Americans have filed for unemployment benefits as most small businesses are left with no choice but to lay off some of their employees or even shut down. Not all businesses have enough cash reserves to withstand this crisis, after all.   As a business owner, it’s understandable that you are worried. However, you should also know that it’s not a hopeless situation. There are a number of things that you can do to not only keep your business afloat during this pandemic, but to make it thrive even.  1. Care about self-care You may not be able to control what’s going on around the world but there are things that you have control over, like your physical and mental health. By taking care of yourself and working on having a clearer mind, you’ll be able to come up with creative solutions for what your business is going through right now.  2. Consider paid ads (they're really cheap right now!)  There is a substantial decrease in the cost per click as there aren’t many small businesses placing ads. Because ad networks earn by using an auction system and there isn’t much competition right now, ads are cheaper. As a result, return on investment of paid ads increases during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you haven’t had any paid ads yet, now is the time to give it some thought.  3. Let your metrics guide you  Entrepreneurs are often sp busy taking care of what’s currently going on in their small businesses that they hardly find time to check their metrics. Even if checking your metrics is part of your daily routine, you might not have been able to take a really good look at the whole picture. But now that things have slowed down, you have the opportunity to make monthly comparisons to see what the trends are and how you can improve conversion rates, click-through rates, customer retention rates, and ultimately, your sales revenue.  4. Transform yourself into a project manager  Before the pandemic changed the way you needed to run your business, you were probably used to addressing tasks at work as they come. While this may work for you, you might also want to reassess the way you do things and approach tasks in a more organized way.  You can make a task list based on level of importance and come up with detailed plans that include time frames for each task that you aim to accomplish while working from home. Don’t forget to keep track of your progress so you’ll always know where you are. 5. Provide educational resources Depending on your industry, you might want to consider offering some educational training courses. You can approach this in two ways. You can sell your own courses at a discounted price to people who are looking for ways to improve specific skills or to prepare for a new job. With workers losing jobs everywhere, people are seeking new opportunities. You can help them with that.  You might also want to provide your employees with relevant educational-based training so their work performance could be improved. This could help improve their chances at getting promoted in the future.  6. Provide special promos and offers You want to get more sales but at the same time you want to help your customers who are also affected by this pandemic. By offering your products at discounted prices, or perks like free shipping, free access to otherwise premium services, not only will you be making sure that your customers will continue to support your business but that you are also showing them that you care about them.  7. Master search engine optimization (SEO)  Professionals who offer SEO services for small businesses can really help your brand become more visible online. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn what you need to know about SEO. It wouldn’t hurt to familiarize yourself on SEO strategies, know where most of your traffic comes from, what platforms perform well for you, and what you can do to make sure you are ahead in the game.  8. Up your social media game  Given the situation right now, you can expect that more people are spending hours of their time on social media. Therefore, that’s where you should be, too! Reach as many potential customers as you can via the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but don’t miss out on what platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube can bring. Stay tuned to what your target market is paying attention to right now and what their needs are. Then aim to meet those needs.  Don’t just focus on posting more frequently but also on posting what’s relevant to your audience. Stay true to your brand and take the opportunity to show everyone what your company is really about. While making purchases might not be at the top of their priority list right now, by being visible and by reaching out to your audience, you can be sure that you will be on their mind when they do decide to make a purchase. 9. Take your productivity to a new level You might not be used to working from home and having your team working remotely, too. It could be challenging to adapt to this new work environment but thankfully you are living in a time when there is an abundance of helpful tools that you can use to make sure you and your staff stay productive. Some of these tools include Slack, Trello, Timeclick, Evernote, and Google Drive, among others. Look at your current process and identify areas that can be improved by using these tools. Of course, you also need to condition yourself and have a positive mindset. Be disciplined. If you need to work certain hours, focus on just work during that period and don’t be distracted. Commit to your goals and don’t forget to reward yourself when you finish your tasks.  10. Try artisanal marketing Artisanal marketing means adding that personal touch to your marketing approach. You might wonder how you can do that with digital marketing, right? For one, stop using stock photos for your blogs. Find that voice that really represents your brand and use it consistently. Don’t rely on bots when it comes to communicating with your customers and make sure contact is made personal. By doing these things, your customers will see how invested you are in your brand and how much you value your customers, too.  11. Strengthen your content marketing plan  Many businesses still take content marketing lightly — just writing and posting articles on topics that they deem interesting or what they believe their audience would like. But should that be the extent of your content marketing? Your answer should be “no.”  You should have a solid content marketing campaign plan in place. Have specific goals for the next three to six months. Know your audience and what keywords they search for so you’ll know what information you need to provide them. Design your content wisely as design elements play a big role in a content’s readability and shareability. Lastly, implement a strict schedule for your content creation and stick to it. When you strengthen your content marketing, you’ll be able to establish yourself as an authority in your industry, reach more people, and get more leads. 12. Breathe new life into your landing pages Your landing pages play a big role in turning web traffic into leads and even loyal customers. So if you haven’t been paying attention to your website’s landing pages, it’s time to breathe new life into them. How do you do that? Check if your landing pages are still enticing and relevant. Chances are, the content and design need an update. Make sure that your landing page’s voice and mood is consistent with the ad that redirected them to that page, the entire website, and the brand itself. Don’t try to add too much to your landing page or try to incorporate multiple conversion points that will appear too pushy or confusing to your audience.  You can get through this  The world is experiencing not only a health crisis but an economic one as well. While it’s true that the need for social distancing can affect your business greatly, it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Take this opportunity to clear your mind, take creative steps, and make use of all the resources available to you, and build up your online marketing strategy to ensure that you and your business will get through this pandemic even stronger than before.  Vincent Sevilla is a professional web designer and inbound strategist for HostingFacts. His goal? To innovate ideas, create good art, and to travel to all the best places in the Philippines. You can follow him on Twitter.

Guest Post by Angela Ash When building a brand, choosing the right image to go with it is an absolute must. For an image to be powerful and memorable, it must showcase your business’s story and promise. It is a well-known fact that visuals help people recognize and memorize things — that’s why they’re called visuals to begin with, right? And from our earliest days, we learn things by connecting them to appropriate visuals. Because of this, marketing strategies have evolved to incorporate aggressive visual campaigns. When thinking about your business’s future prospects, it is therefore necessary to brainstorm your visuals. What is a visual brand identity? First of all, visuals don’t begin and end with a logo. To be sure, a memorable logo is tremendously important, but it is by no means the only piece of the larger picture you need to come up with to create your brand’s visual identity. Proper visuals, as mentioned above, resonate with your brand’s identity and business culture and are, in that regard, way more than just nicely arranged shapes and colors. It is crucial to connect the dots and design appropriate visuals that will be easily connected with your brand. Each visual is an element that tells the story of your brand and is easily associated with it. The most common visuals contributing to a brand’s identity include the following: A logo Typography Image and composition styles Recognizable color patterns Branding and visual recognition As is the case with the success of so many factors when it comes to building a brand, visuals need to resonate with your audience. In order for them to do exactly that, you’ll need to define and get to know your audience well. Your brand’s visuals should appear attractive to your audience. They also need to be unique, memorable, and consistent. Only with the combination of these three factors can a visual be considered successful. Consistency, especially, is a crucial factor, as changing a brand’s style will only serve to confuse the audience, even if the design is more appealing. Examples of memorable visual brand identities Although it holds true that large businesses can allocate more substantial funds to brainstorm their visual identity, smaller businesses do not necessarily have to lag behind. Ultimately, all a brand needs in order to create memorable visuals is imagination. A simple freelance platform research will get you enough professional designers working for affordable prices to last you a lifetime. That being said, the saying “the sky's the limit” is only too accurate. Let's see some successful examples from companies both large and small: Oreo has chosen a bluish design consistent with their message. Can you imagine family-friendly cookies in black and fluorescent green? The collage appeared on Facebook and is consistent with the brand’s visual strategy. Next , Pixar is a great example of how banners can tell a story. This particular screenshot is from the brand’s Twitter page. As you can see, it tells a story at a glance by highlighting the studio’s latest release. Naturally, a new banner will pop up every time there is a new release. Finally, the visuals king: Coca-Cola! The brand has built its whole success strategy on visual marketing. Their posts are widely recognizable and always feature a detail in red — just like the namesake drink. Coca-Cola’s logo is the world’s most recognizable logo, closely followed by Apple. The distinction is, however, clear. The first brand has been around for a couple of decades longer than the latter, so it's had more time to establish its visual identity. As far as logos go, there is some wisdom to be learned from the leaders in the field. For example, a bright red color is known to trigger impulse purchases, according to a study undertaken by Strategic Factory. A color palette is sometimes more important than the logo itself. A great example of this is Marvel, which, let’s face it, doesn’t really top the list of most eye-catching logos out there. Another successful brand that goes for simplicity coupled with a red color scheme is Pinterest. Need we go on? Memorable shapes and colors Merely a glance will tell you how all these brands have become easily recognizable by relying on a consistent color strategy and typography. Going deeper than that, you will notice that they are also consistent in the tone and message they present. The combination of all these factors does wonders for a brand’s success, so take your time defining your visual strategy. First, you’ll need a memorable logo. Logos are omnipresent: they’ll appear on your homepage and social media profiles, in all emails you send and on all your products. Because of that, they are worth the pain of coming up with the ideal one (settle for nothing less!). Next, you will need a consistent color palette. Of course, colors may change during specific campaigns, notably those strongly related to certain color schemes (such as is, e.g., Halloween or Valentine’s Day). Remember that the color palette of your choice should reflect your brand’s message. Again, you may use the examples from above to make some general deductions. Oreo sells food, and not just any food — cookies! Taco Bell, by contrast, goes for a completely different set of colors (see below). The choice may appear a bit more aggressive, but the message is just as clear. After all, they sell Mexican food. What is the first association with Mexican food? Spicy, we’d say. Choosing typography Finally, there’s the proper font to consider. Not only does it have to be consistent with the message and imagery you wish to get across, but it also needs to remain consistent over time. Let’s consider Coca-Cola again. The company's logo has changed time and time again and has yet remained as recognizable as it was in the brand’s beginnings. Source: Turbologo.com Why? The single most important thing about typography is that it needs to match both your brand personality and the audience’s perception of your brand. Only by combining all these elements will you be able to come up with the best visual strategy for your brand. As you can see, visuals are so much more than just a temporary way to attract the attention of your audience. They speak a success story and reflect on your business promise. Because of that, take your time to ask yourself what kind of message you really want to send and what kind of imagery will best illustrate it. Once you know the answer to that question, your visuals are certain to become memorable, easily recognizable, and loved by your audience. Angela Ash is a professional content writer and editor, with a myriad of experience in all forms of content management, SEO, proofreading, outreach, and social media. She currently works with Flow SEO, a boutique agency founded by Viola Eva, which offers in-depth SEO analysis, custom SEO strategies, and implementation. Disclaimer: This article is not an indication that Best Company is affiliated with any of the companies whose logos are displayed.

Guest Post by Gabby Miele Salespeople sometimes get a bad rap. Sometimes the word salesperson conjures an image of an unauthentic person who tells you what you want to hear instead of the truth.  Some say that salespeople are pushy and disingenuous. Some companies’ business plans are based upon the idea that customers don’t like salespeople, so they try to disguise their sales teams as “technical experts” who will help you choose the right product for your situation. If you are a salesperson, you have probably faced resistance from customers. Customers may put their guard up around you because they don’t want to be tricked into buying something they don’t want or need As a sales professional, how do you counteract these negative stereotypes and still perform the job that your company hired you to do? Here are some tips on how to win your audience on your next sales call. Quit talking The best salespeople aren’t those with the gift of gab. Instead, the best salespeople are good listeners. They listen as their clients talk about their business. They pay attention to the problems companies are facing and ask pointed follow-up questions to verify that they understand. They say phrases like, “so if I understand correctly . . .” or “I hear that your main issue is . . .” Good salespeople aren’t afraid of silence during a conversation, either. Sometimes a customer is more likely to open up during those moments and share their biggest concerns. Understand your client’s needs Again, part of how to win an audience is understanding a client’s needs. This can be completed by listening to them as they talk about their struggles, but it can also come by research that you conduct before the meeting even begins.  For example, if you are talking with a team of real estate agents, you need to understand how important it is that they are able to communicate quickly with clients. You also need to know how competitive the industry is — especially since websites like Zillow entered the scene.  Use account-based marketing to find the right contacts If you sell farm equipment, you wouldn’t visit law firms on Michigan Avenue to see if they are in the market for a new tractor. This would be preposterous, but similar techniques are used in sales every day.  Marketing teams and salespeople think that by throwing a wide net over a vast area that they will be lucky enough to find a few clients who need their company’s product or service. But if you can use technology to narrow down your list of potential clients into a manageable number. Then you can use account-based marketing to create an experience with those clients that they will remember. For example, what if you were able to provide individual, interactive communication to everyone who visits your website? What could that kind of service do for your sales numbers? Know your product better than the back of your hand Consider thinking of yourself as a product specialist rather than a salesperson. Whether or not it is part of your formal training, spend your own time learning the particulars of all the products in your portfolio. Think about what questions you would ask a salesperson of your product, and find answers to those questions. Spend time researching your competitors as well. Find out what makes their products or services better or worse.  Being able to answer customers' questions quickly tells your potential client that you care about their time. You won’t waste it by trying to find out information that you should already know. We have all experienced frustrating interactions with inept salespeople. Whether its the dishwasher salesperson who answers, “They’re all pretty good,” to the question “What is the most highly rated machine?” Or maybe it’s the copy machine salesperson who doesn’t know the cost of a service call. It’s excruciating dealing with people who don’t know their company’s products or services. No matter what you sell, know your product better than you know the back of your hand. End each meeting with a call to action A good salesperson is subtle when suggesting a call to action. He or she may ask whether Tuesday or Wednesday would be better to schedule your next appointment. Or they may speak as if there is an implied sale. This age-old sales technique is important to keep the conversation between you and your client flowing.  Don’t be arrogant or condescending Unfortunately, some people put off an arrogant vibe without even realizing it. This may come from subtle signs when answering questions or rushing to answer a question before the other person finishes speaking.  Be aware of your mannerisms and how they make other people feel. Are you ready to tackle your next quota? Use some of these techniques to improve your interaction with potential clients and watch your number soar! Gabby Miele is an Outreach Analyst and Content Manager in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Guest Post by Lilly Miller Not every successful business strives towards expanding to a foreign market — maintaining a dominant position in a domestic market is not easy but it's less difficult because you’ve picked up some tips and tricks along the way. However, those who dare to dream bigger often find themselves drawn to foreign markets and new prospects because going global is the ultimate goal for many business owners. This is why every undertaking towards a foreign market needs to be cautiously taken and skillfully managed to avoid the domino effect and ruining your other projects. With that in mind, here is a short guide to help you prepare for expanding your business to foreign markets successfully.  Research, research, research Although courage is a praise-worthy characteristic in an entrepreneur, when aiming at something significant, such as to push through a foreign market, it needs to go hand in hand with proper preparation: that is, research. Diving into such a venture headfirst is tantamount to self-destruction in the business sense because you cannot follow your gut when you don’t know the market. If you wish to prepare thoroughly, you need to learn about the current state on that market regarding competition so that you know what you are up against. Since it would be best to learn from other people’s mistakes instead of your own, you may also look into some ideas and practices that have been unsuccessful for them in the past, so you know that they don’t work for that market. The end goal is to gain a competitive advantage over business rivals.  Do everything by the book In the early stages of your research, you may discover that your target market has some legal requirements that you haven’t counted on. You set your eyes on an exotic market that looks promising, such as Indonesia, for instance, and although you know that such an endeavor can be lucrative, you soon learn that a foreigner cannot personally own land there.  Although your entrepreneurial spirit will quickly scan the options on how to acquire land and property in this new market, you need to double-check every action taken to ensure that you won’t experience legal issues or lose your investment to fraudulent individuals. This is why investment companies, such as Invest Islands, are your best choice, because they have extensive knowledge on the local market (in this case, Indonesia), ownership structure, as well as rights and obligations that apply to you as a foreign investor. This will help you find the optimal solution and gain peace of mind.  Prepare your budget  Your strategies, head, and heart might be there, but is your budget ready? The last thing you want to do is start a venture in a foreign market and along the way realize that you don’t have the necessary funds. Such negligence may not only result in the loss of the budget you invested in the new undertaking but it might also shake things up at home because news about your unwise business decisions can travel quickly.  If you assess that your current budget might not cover everything, it is best to obtain the necessary means in advance than to risk failure because of an untimely reaction. Although many entrepreneurs go straight to the traditional source, that is, banks, if you do some research into companies that offer business loans, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by their versatility: some don’t ask for a collateral, some take but a few minutes to apply for, while some boast high maximum loan amounts. Be open for change A German company would, for instance, find the Asian market to be worlds apart from their own. Depending on your domestic market and how far you wish to venture, you might experience the same but even if the market in question is to a certain degree similar to your domestic, you might still need to change some things.  The trick is in knowing how to adapt your message so that it hits close to home even on foreign soil and to be able to do that, you need to get to know your new target audience. Even if it is a neighboring country and the language might be similar, some changes would be necessary to make the message and your brand more appealing. These changes encompass both the content and the visuals which need to be adapted based on the preferences of your audience. In that way, you stand a greater chance of success in that market.  Final thoughts If done strategically and cautiously, expanding your business to foreign markets can bring a lot of interesting prospects, business contacts, and substantial revenue. Modern technology and the internet have allowed us insight into other markets and financial possibilities, and it is up to us to find the best manner to use those pieces of information.  Naturally, not all businesses should opt for going global, especially if they are not ready to take such a step but for those who have such aspirations, it is of the utmost importance to prepare well before taking that leap. They need to research the new market in detail as well as their local laws and regulations while obtaining the necessary budget should also be a priority. Now that you’ve informed yourself, it is time to act! Lilly Miller is a Sydney-based graphic designer and a passionate writer. She loves everything about home decor, art history, and baking. Miller shares a home with two loving dogs and a gecko named Rodney. You can find her hanging out on Twitter.

Guest Post by Jessica Huhn When was the last time you had an amazing experience that you just had to tell your friends about? Did you talk to your closest friend about a breathtaking vacation destination? Post a picture of a restaurant’s mouth-watering food on social media? Share a glowing review of a new local business? These are all examples of word-of-mouth marketing, so you’ve likely engaged in this technique multiple times without even thinking about it. Why not take advantage of word-of-mouth for your brand? Whenever customers positively share your brand with their friends, family, or peers, that counts as word-of-mouth marketing. Happy customers will spread the word about your products to their friends, online or offline. Their recommendations will likely convince these friends to become your new customers, because their peers trust their word. And the best part? Word-of-mouth marketing is organic, and can be totally free. You’ll want to take advantage of word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth happens spontaneously, so it can be hard to predict or control. However, things aren’t out of your company’s hands. Your brand can take steps to motivate people to talk about your brand, products, or services. Read on for tips on increasing word-of-mouth about your brand, and why this buzz is so incredibly important. Word-of-mouth is all about trust and credibility. People trust other people and the experiences they have to report, far more than they trust messages that come directly from your brand. A person who recommends your product knows that they’re putting their credibility on the line, so they will only recommend you if they truly love your products. And the person who’s listening or reading trusts that their peer isn’t misleading them, so when they hear from a friend or other consumer who has already used your product or service, someone is more likely to buy. Statistics have proven that people trust their friends, family and peers more than they trust advertisements. 83% of customers say that word-of-mouth recommendations from people they trust make them more likely to purchase a product or service. 92% of consumers trust word-of-mouth more than traditional ads. The fact that so many consumers prefer suggestions from their friends and peers proves that word-of-mouth is the most valuable source of marketing. Plus, word-of-mouth doesn’t stop after just one interaction. Instead, one person will tell another, and that person will share with someone else. Then that person will continue the chain and spread the word further — the cycle goes on and on! Now that you know just how valuable word-of-mouth marketing can be, let’s check out some strategies your brand can use to get people talking: 1. Provide exceptional products and customer service First thing’s first — people will only recommend your brand if they think you’re worth talking about. Make sure your product or service is top-notch and offers true value to your customers. If your product fulfills a unique need, solves a problem in an intuitive way, or surprises your customers with its quality, even better — you’ve already got a leg up when it comes to word-of-mouth. For example, Under Armour drove initial word-of-mouth through features that no other athletic apparel brand had considered; the apparel is made from microfibers that keep athletes cool and dry, and stay light, no matter how much they sweat. You’ll also need to deliver A+ customer service. Offer value through your overall brand experience. Carefully and attentively meet all your customers’ needs. Everyone remembers an experience and will often pay for it because of the value. Come through with gestures that go above and beyond. For example, if you have a brick-and-mortar store, offer free refreshments for your customers, or have a system to carry customers’ purchases to their cars. If you have an online store, consider surprising customers with small gifts or handwritten notes of appreciation in their packages, or with free upgrades to their shipping. Listen to your customers’ feedback, both about what you’re doing well and what you could improve. When possible, implement this feedback, and let your customers know you listened. Develop solid relationships with your customers — don’t just forget about them after you make a sale. Support them at all stages after their purchase. Make sure they know how to reach you if they have any questions or concerns. If customers have any pain points, work to resolve them quickly and professionally. Often, this turns things around when customers have doubts about you. And periodically check in yourself, to see if your customers have any inquiries or struggles. This is especially important if you offer a service, such as software. 2. Encourage customer reviews Your potential customers value personal experience more than any other source of information. They’re turning to trustworthy review sites to see what others have to say about the brands they’re considering. So, when existing customers put in a good word for you, through positive reviews, this benefits your business greatly. A customer review of autopom!, as showcased on the Best Company Twitter page The secret to getting more positive reviews is simple: just ask! But be sure to ask the right people at the right time. The real key is to find the “sweet spot” when your customers are happiest. Ask for a review at these ideal times: Immediately after a customer has made a purchase Right after a customer has given you direct positive feedback If possible, ask in-person, after you’ve delivered a top-notch experience Ask for reviews from these types of customers: Customers who have just made repeat purchases. Or, if you offer a service, customers who have paid for your service for the longest consecutive amounts of time. Customers who share that they’re most likely to recommend you. Run a Net Promoter score survey (NPS survey) to determine which of your customers are most likely to recommend you. Then, reach out directly to ask them for a review. Customers who have left unprompted positive feedback on your social media account. And make sure it’s easy for customers to leave reviews, whether you’ve asked them to or not. Set up business accounts on Yelp, Google My Business, and other popular review sites, as well as major review sites for your niche. Provide links to review sites on your website, as well as in newsletters and promotional emails. Include a CTA button that says “Leave us a review.” 3. Leverage social media Most modern word-of-mouth marketing happens on social media because it’s the easiest way to communicate with friends. It’s only natural for people to share brands and products on social networks, usually with all of their online friends at once. Plus, this information can quickly spread to friends of friends, if those friends decide to share further. So, a single social share can reach hundreds, or even thousands, of potential customers. Use these strategies to effectively increase your word-of-mouth on social media: Create a viral campaign that people can’t help but share Most marketers dream of having a campaign that goes viral. Even though you can’t control when content goes viral on social media, you can carefully set up a campaign aimed at sparking virality using these tips: Know your audience and the content they’re looking for. Are you targeting college students? Businesspeople? Parents? Another group? Do they want to be informed? Entertained? Inspired? Or do they want something else? Plan a clear message, so your audience has no doubt what your campaign’s about — and so it’s much easier to share. Include a compelling visual element (image or video) to draw your audience in. Make sure it fits with your brand values. Through its masterful animation, Chipotle’s video “The Scarecrow” promoted buying locally sourced food, tying in perfectly with the Chipotle philosophy. The video only featured the Chipotle logo at the very end, so the content felt less like an ad and more like art. Encourage and repurpose user-generated content Be sure to take advantage of user-generated content — reviews, branded images and videos, and other social media posts created by your customers. Ask for user-generated content through a contest, campaign, or feature. Incentivize sharing by holding a contest with an enticing prize for the winner, or by reposting the best content (with permission) on your brand’s social media pages. Create a branded “challenge” where fans are encouraged to complete a certain task with an associated hashtag to prompt sharing. Even if people don’t participate directly, they’ll tag their friends if they like what they see. You might frame the “challenge” around charitable giving, like the TOMS “One Day Without Shoes.” For this challenge, every barefoot picture posted with the hashtag #withoutshoes in a given period resulted in a donation of a pair of TOMS to a child in need. Post glowing customer reviews on social media. Respond to customer comments and questions in a creative way, like Old Spice did with their “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” video series. Enlist the help of advocates Think about recruiting influencers or ambassadors through a brand ambassador program. These advocates agree to promote your brand in their own authentic voice on their own social media accounts because they love your brand and think it will resonate with their audience. They don’t necessarily have large numbers of followers, but they hold solid sway over the followers they have. Both influencers and brand ambassadors have some sort of authority in your niche or among members of your audience, so it’s easy for people to trust them. But, you’ll want to choose your advocates carefully; there are major differences between influencers and ambassadors. Length of promotion — Influencers promote your brand in the short term; ambassadors promote you in the long term. Show vs. tell — Influencers focus on showing how they authentically use your brand, using social media. Meanwhile, ambassadors tell others why they love your brand online and offline (they also spread the word about your brand at events and through networking). Payment — Influencers always expect compensation, while brand ambassadors are often more than happy to promote you without compensation. Relationship with your brand — If you want an influencer to promote your product, you’ll send them a message and product samples. This “ask” could be their first exposure to the product. In contrast, ambassadors have an established history of loving your brand. They’ve likely shared your product before, without prompting. 4. Tap into triggers Think about what your customers like, need, and do, and strive to tie your brand in as a regular part of their routine. If you associate your brand with your customers’ existing habits, needs, and hobbies, this will make it easy to remember you, and thus talk about you. Emotional triggers also prompt sharing. If you can create some sort of emotion through your branding and content, you are likely to get someone to share their experience with others. People share what makes them happy, sad, hopeful or fearful, and what they think is funny or inspiring because their emotions lead them to. Emotional sharing often goes hand-in-hand with social media sharing and virality. Here are two prime examples: Red Bull — The brand knows how to surprise people with extreme stunts and events that generate plenty of buzz. From a motorcycle backflip over London’s Tower Bridge to the famous Flugtag flying machine competition, Red Bull experiences always get people’s adrenaline pumping and hearts pounding. Followers can’t help but talk about the rush Red Bull delivers. Wendy’s — Their on-point Twitter feed has gone viral multiple times, for their roasts, their famous “Nuggs for Carter” response, and other on-point pop culture references. Wendy’s knows how to make people smile and laugh with content their followers share naturally. Exclusivity is another big trigger. If people feel like they have insider information about something amazing, they want to let other people in on the secret, so these peers can also benefit. In-N-Out’s “not-so-secret” Secret Menu is a prime example of how exclusivity lets the word travel fast. 5. Start a referral program Referral programs are a great way to encourage customers to spread the word about your brand. These programs formalize word-of-mouth, simplify the sharing process, and reward customers with incentives for sharing your brand with their friends. They give your brand some control in generating trusted recommendations from existing customers. And referral programs work: According to Nielsen, your potential customers are four times more likely to purchase from you after a friend refers them. If you decide to start a referral program, following these tips will help you maximize the word-of-mouth that your referral program generates: Make sharing simple Referral programs make word-of-mouth marketing easier for all involved. The sooner your customers understand what you want them to do and how, the sooner they’ll spread the word to their friends. Your referral program description must be streamlined and easy-to-understand, not cluttered. Make sure customers can find your referral program, and share with their friends, in as few clicks or taps as possible. Anyone should be able to find your referral program easily on your website’s homepage, regardless of whether they’ve purchased from you before. Some people might share before buying because they think the product is valuable to them or their friends. Include multiple sharing options, such as email, social media, and text. Let customers copy and paste a unique referral link directly. This way, each customer can share the link however they want based on what’s most convenient for them. Give customers a reason to share Referral programs must give customers a reason to share your products with their friends — and referral incentives offer the most effective reason to share. Choose the incentives that will best motivate your customers and that make the most sense for your brand. You can choose from discounts, cash, credits, free products, branded swag, or other rewards. Consider cumulative incentives — the ones that give credits, free products, or discount coupons to your customers every time they successfully refer a friend. And don’t forget about dual-sided incentives. These incentives reward both the person making the referral and the friend(s) they shared your brand with. Company-focused incentives (like credits and discounts) motivate customers while providing added benefits for your brand. They encourage customers to keep your brand top-of-mind, and promote continued customer loyalty. Make sure that your referral program’s call-to-action clearly advertises the incentives you offer. Target existing customers Your satisfied existing customers provide a strong testimonial to others about why they should purchase from you. So, your referral program must be especially easy for existing customers to find. Consider programming referral banners and pop-ups to appear more prominently for returning site visitors. You might enable referral programs for a visitor only after they’re signed into a brand account, or after they’ve entered their email to sign up for your email list. Think about including referral program info in your emails to existing customers, including transactional emails. Integrate social media Your referral program should seamlessly integrate with social media, where your customers naturally do the most sharing with larger groups. Let customers instantly share a referral link via Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media channels. Supply a prewritten message to simplify social sharing. Make sure it sounds conversational (it’s coming from your customer, after all). But also let users personalize the message that they post, if they wish, so it sounds authentic. Your referral program must be mobile-friendly, because most people access social media (and shop) via mobile devices. Wrapping things up Even though word-of-mouth marketing can be hard to control, there are so many ways for your brand to be proactive in encouraging your customers to spread the word. Now that you know five ways that you can increase your word-of-mouth, it’s time to apply these tips and tricks, and start harnessing your customers’ trusted recommendations. Jessica Huhn is a marketing content writer at Referral Rock, where they believe that every business has the potential to increase their word-of-mouth marketing. When Jessica is not writing, there is a good chance that she is singing, arranging songs, or sharing and enjoying content on social media.

Guest Post by Matt Shealy Entrepreneurs and small business owners know that having a business can take time to grow. You need resources to help cover start-up costs and overhead. But, as your business grows and expands, you should think about getting an 800 number. From increasing your level of professionalism to improving your brand, here are five reasons to set up an 800 number for your business: 1. It increases your level of professionalism Starting small is how some businesses begin. But, that doesn't mean you have to stay small. Some business owners use their landline or their smartphone for their business calls. But, this isn't always the best way for customers to reach you. Reasons why you shouldn't use your landline or smartphone: After-hours calls would go into your personal voicemail There's no way to track calls You can't record calls (for compliance and training purposes) You can't gauge caller data Toll-free business numbers start with common prefixes like 800 or 866. About 22 percent of small businesses use toll-free numbers, and you should consider it. Why? Your toll-free number is like having a domain name for your website. It's unique to your business and you don't need to change it. 2. Customers can reach you without being charged for long-distance When customers can reach you at a toll-free number, it can open the lines of communication. They know they don't have to pay for a long-distance call. This is especially helpful for customers in remote areas that might be using a landline to reach your business. It's also helpful if you use voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phones. With VoIP phone service, you can use your 800 number as your primary work number and route calls to your employees based on their extensions. You can even route calls remotely to employees working out of the office or traveling. 3. You can improve your brand Think of 1-800-FLOWERS, 1-800 GOT Got Pain, or 1-800-GoFedEX. These are all vanity or custom 800 numbers. They are popular and can raise your brand equity. These types of 800 numbers include the following benefits: A custom 800 number is easy for customers to remember. Your customers can readily share your contact number with others. Customers don't have to look up your number online or search for your business card. 4. It's easier for your business to scale, and you'll save money Having an 800 number in place means you won't have to discard all your stationery products that have your landline or smartphone number listed. It may have been fine to list your smartphone initially, but as you hire staff and expand your locations, you'll need a professional phone number. It's also easier for you to expand your sales and marketing. Here's an example: Let's say you have an 800 number set up through VoIP service. Your 800 number and site details can be used across multiple sales channels to help customers reach you on any channel they choose (voice, text, email). You can also use your VoIP phone service to forward calls to the marketing department or sales department, all from one primary 800 number. 5. You can work anywhere without customers knowing your location When you have an 800 number, you can create a national presence. You can work anywhere and customers will assume you're a bigger business or brand. If you have a number local to your area, customers might assume you're only a local business. An 800 number gives the impression that your business has a global presence. So, even if you're still in the startup stages, your customers won't know. Scale your business professionally An 800 number is convenient, and it can help you grow your business. It's also professional and when you use it with VoIP phone service, it's easier to track caller data and improve your brand. Talk with your phone provider about setting up an 800 number for your business. Matt Shealy is the President of ChamberofCommerce.com. Chamber specializes in helping small businesses grow their business on the web while facilitating the connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Guest Post by Megan Mosley Customers are the life of any business. Therefore, achieving a healthy customer base is key. Along with retaining current customers, many businesses find that generating new business is one of their biggest concerns.Before we talk about tips for increasing your customer base, let’s quickly expand on what we’re talking about. We’re simply talking about lead generation.In its simplest form, lead generation quite literally means the process for obtaining new leads (or a person/business you want to convert to a customer). Inbound and outbound marketing are typically used to create interest in the business or product. Recently, it seems that lead generation depends more on inbound marketing practices that help convert leads into customers in their own time than outbound methods which can seem more gimmicky. So, how can you expand your customer base to ensure a steady stream of customers? 1. Keep your business profiles and website current This sounds like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many businesses fail to update their business profiles online. It may not seem like a big deal, but this can hinder your business, significantly. When people look up your business or use keywords to locate a product like the one you offer, they expect to find current information. If your business hours, location, phone number, etc. have changed, this should be updated immediately. If potential leads can’t contact you or have to do more than just a quick search, they will move on without hesitation. Up to date and accurate profile information makes it easy for leads to do business with you. 2. Be available Along with accurate information, people expect you to be available. This doesn’t mean you have to be present 24 hours a day, but rather give people options for reaching out to you. Fortunately, chatbots, social media, email, phone all make it possible for people to contact you even when you’re off duty. Making yourself accessible leaves communication channels open so people can contact you on their time and via their preferred method. 3. Provide exceptional customer service This is the root of all good. You may be thinking, customer service is great for keeping existing customers satisfied, but how can that get leads through the door? Your customer service is what will land you reviews, referrals, and good word of mouth, all of which help gain the attention of prospects. It’s up to you to find the right team to deliver. You have to be nice, attentive, and provide a good overall experience. Even in niche markets, you will have competitors; it’s not just your product that is going to get people to choose you. According to Gartner, 64 percent of people find customer experience more important than price. Numerous customer service statistics prove its importance. So if you want to expand your customer base, you may want to set a good customer service strategy in place. 4. Use email marketing Sharing insightful information can increase your customer base. You can share your knowledge with others via email marketing. In fact, there are a ton of ways to use email to get leads. You may offer a newsletter of all your latest content, or even an ecourse.By getting people to sign up for your email campaigns, even if they have never purchased your product, you have the ability to convert them down the line. Why? Because you’re establishing yourself within your niche, and building your relationship with them. 5. Ask for customer feedback and reviews One of the important things you should do is get customer feedback. This is often neglected or overlooked, but it is really one of the best ways to get more customers. A review can be the deciding factor in whether a customer chooses you or not. People rely on review sites, and if your business has reviews and your competitor doesn’t, you’ll likely find that more people will trust you and therefore choose you. A Zendesk survey found the influence of positive reviews to be quite significant for business. Of the respondents, 90 percent mentioned that positive reviews had an influence in their buying decision. interestingly, 86 percent of the respondents said the same for negative reviews.If you’re not getting reviews, take some time to reflect on why. 6. Market your content No matter what kind of business you have, content can draw people in. Whether you’re a lawn service giving tips and tricks for caring for a lawn, or an eCommerce clothing store providing style ideas. People may find you by first getting a hold of your content. Blogs, whitepapers, webinars, infographics, etc make you shareable too. Why? You’re able to share real advice which can be great for stepping up your social media profiles. Plus, a customer might be more willing to share content of yours when referring you to others. Content marketing can help you increase your brand awareness. You will have the potential to bring in new leads and ultimately increase your customer base. 7. Automate your marketing  Most businesses are turning to automation to eliminate tedious tasks and to streamline their processes. Plus, they have seen an increase in lead quantity quality, so it’s a win all around. In fact, as mentioned by Hubspot, those who use marketing automation tools have experienced a 451 percent increase in nurturing qualified leads. With that increase, it’s pretty clear to see why automation has been an essential tool in building a customer base. Besides making life easier on the business, it also improves efficiency, whether that means outreach, data management, or even product delivery. 8. Consider using referral marketing A referral is a huge compliment, and a great way for you to increase your customer base. Many businesses use referral marketing because it helps them produce quality leads, meaning ones that are likely to convert. But why is that? Well, it’s simple. Referral programs work because they rely on a level of trust. Information, businesses, and products shared by a friend are trusted more than any ad you can put out yourself, which is why you need a referral program. Nielsen has found that around 92 percent of people from various markets are more inclined to believe people from their own social circles. This is because people do not want to mislead friends, as that can affect their reputation. Referral marketing taps into the world of word of mouth marketing. As a business you are using your customers to reach new circles of people that you may not have been able to reach otherwise. The bottom line As you can see, there are a variety of ways you can increase your customer base. You may want to test out a few, or maybe even all of them. We will say that having updated business profiles, making yourself available, and providing good customer service are a few that you should implement no matter where you are in your business journey. Those are just good practices to have that will naturally result in increased customers.Megan Mosley is a Marketing Specialist at Referral Rock, a referral marketing software, who believes every business has the potential to increase its word of mouth. When she’s not working, she enjoys sipping on coffee and hanging out with her dog, Mollie.

Guest Post by Lauren Wiseman The modern consumer doesn’t buy out of necessity alone, and brands can no longer use pricing as their main selling point to attract a loyal client. Even companies that sell physical goods can no longer rely on dry facts when presenting their unique offer to a certain audience. Every brand, product and service-based, needs to sell values and promises first and foremost. A car is no longer just a vehicle, but your reliable companion on a road-trip adventure. In a similar sense, a plumber is no longer just a handyman, but an expert who will improve the function of your home. If you are looking for viable ways to market your service-based business and help your customers understand what makes you unique in a sea of similar offers, then look no further than the following tactics. They are designed to help you make the most of your brand’s authenticity and turn even the simplest of services into experiences modern consumers will love. Define your uniqueness In this day and age, you cannot afford to be just another New York chef or one of many fitness trainers in Melbourne. It’s all about finding, refining, and presenting that special something that makes you memorable and unique in the eyes of your target audience. Without that “edge”, you cannot expect your customers to perceive your particular skill as unique – simply because it truly isn’t. Every market has subcategories and specific “gaps” for that spot your brand should fill. In the pursuit of uniqueness and the best way to express it, you should conduct thorough research of both the market and your competitors. Mimicking their offers will get you nowhere, but you can learn from them and tailor your own offers to target your customers better. Craft a flawless digital presence Even with an incredible team of experts under your wing and an impeccable service record backed up by hard-earned credentials, the world will never know your true value if you stay in the shadows of the brick-and-mortar past. Simply put, you need to translate that wonderful service of yours into the digital realm in order for your customers to be able to relate to your business and fully appreciate your services. For instance, even something as simple as professional bus hire in Sydney can be transformed into an experience that will be worth your while with the help of the right digital approach, such as transparency and ease of navigation. If you make your offers clear with the use of imagery, pair it with rich, descriptive language, and pack it all into a seamless, intuitive presentation, you can rest assured that even the most mundane services can become alluring. Rely on reviews and feedback After you’ve built a fine digital presence, remember that your audience will only be able to trust you if others have given you their trust and you haven’t failed them. Asking for feedback on a regular basis is essential because you can learn from customer comments and improve. Make sure that your business is not only registered on all relevant business directories but that you enable feedback and reviews wherever possible. Of course, use them as a part of your own website as well, so that clients can see quotes almost as soon as they visit. Regular surveys can also help you reveal any gaps in what you do and provide you with invaluable insights as to how you can attract more clients in the future. Connect via social networks Selling physical goods comes with the perk of using alluring images, whereas many services are more abstract, and it can be difficult to give them a visual identity your audience can relate to. However, as a living entity, your brand can come to life even more through social networks. From  interactive contests and engaging comments to discount offers and handling customer service queries via social networks, you can use these platforms to increase visibility as well as brand awareness. Social networks are also perfect for establishing a more personal, one-on-one connection, which is vital when you respond to criticism and when you share positive reviews. These modern communication options are essential for service-based businesses to get traction online. Deliver awesome content Finally, producing content that is inspiring as well as useful is one of those strong points for service-based business models. This is that portion of your digital existence where you don’t aim to sell, but to provide value in the form of solutions, how-tos, educational infographics and video guides. These serve to tell a story, as well as build your company’s reputation. Content is your best possible outlet for establishing authority and making sure your brand will be perceived as a reliable source of information, which will, in turn, increase your chances of winning your audience’s trust. Not to mention the likes, shares, comments, and other reactions your content can inspire. Marketing a service-based business will always pose a challenge. However, if you take these tips to heart, your company can stand the test of time and build a reputation of excellence in your industry.