How the New Evernote App Can Benefit Your Business

Evernote is a great app to help you remember important information, keep track of appointments and other reminders. However, Evernote is more than just an app for personal usage; it can also help businesses and organizations maximize their efficiency. Here are some of the wonderful features and how they work for businesses:

Use It Everywhere

One of the most important features of Evernote is its ability for use on all devices. Write notes from your desktop or laptop at the office and access them on your smartphone while out with a client with ease and convenience. Fortunately, Evernote is compatible with both Mac and PC operating systems, allowing for an even broader base of users and further functionality.

 Image Courtesy of Mike Atherton of Flickr.com

Keep Your Notes Organized

Many times, people create numerous notes on a project or client that they need to keep long-term. Instead of trying to sort through a mass of paper or locate a random file on the computer, you can create and store those notes in Evernote. Separate each client or project into its own Notebook to help you stay organized and quickly retrieve the information you want.

You can take it a step further and organize your notebooks into what is called a Stack. Say you want to create a list of customers, you could put each one in their own notebook and put all of the notebooks for one sales representative in a stack. The sales rep would leave notes about, contacting the potential customer as well as when an order is placed.

Make It Easy to Find

By giving your notes Tags, you can make it easy to find the information when you do a search. Search by client name, project type, or various other options based on the tags you use. Not only can you use this when you write notes, but it is also helpful when you embed non-written content. One of the most important benefits of Evernote is that you can include PDFs, webpages, images, even audio: whatever format your media is in, Evernote more than likely supports it.

Collaborate

One of the main requirements of any app designed for businesses is that you can share your information with others, whether employees, vendors, or even customers. First, it is important to note that once you download the application to your device, you will have immediate access to all of your notes. In addition, Evernote automatically synchronizes your data every 30 minutes so that everything is updated.

You can also select certain notebooks to share with others, as Premium members can even allow others to edit their notes. For the basic membership, it is a read-only version.

Other Features

While Evernote is not a mainstream inventory control system, online retail sites like Shopify or even pop up stores can keep track of their various products with this app. Use it for basic pricing and even add photos of your most popular items to create a handy portfolio.

Image Courtesy of Flickr.com

Want to give someone access to information from an email? Simply email it to Evernote and it will become a note. Need to keep receipts for business? Just scan it or take a photo of the receipt and save it to your Evernote account. You can also follow this procedure for business cards you receive from seminars and networking events.

Evernote is a great way for small businesses and brand new companies alike to stay organized without spending a lot of money on fancy software programs. It’s simple and user-friendly while providing many of the basic functions a business person would need to thrive and succeed!

Camille How To Make It in the Blogging WorldCamille McClane is a blogger and web entrepreneur who enjoys writing on social media, online marketing and blogging trends. She hopes you enjoy this article and wishes you nothing but success in your online business endeavors! Connect with Camille  here on Google+ or Facebook.

 

 

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5 Jobs for Tomorrow’s Customer Service Team

brand image, Customer Loyalty, how to generate business, How to Increase Backlinks, Original ContentLast summer, I wrote an article for InBlurbs called “5 Jobs for Tomorrow’s Marketing Team” that explored how trends in marketing will affect recruiting and staffing in the future. The post received so much feedback, we decided to revisit the idea this year through the customer service lens.

I rallied some of the biggest names in staffing to help me come up with roles they see in emerging in the future support organization. Experts from Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, SimplyHired and other staffing sites chimed into the conversation. The biggest change affecting these roles they see involves the shift in how customers contact a company. Forrester released a report earlier this showing customers increasing usage of communities by as much as 25 percent, live chat by 24 percent and self-service by 12 percent. Additionally, customers are increasing their use of social customer service and mobile, which will require new talent and technologies.

So without further adieu, here’s five roles we see becoming part of the customer service team of the future:

Self-Service Content Strategist

The individual in this role would continually mine for popular topics in call center notes, as well as review Web analytics data to assess which articles in the self-service community garner the most traffic. At the same time, they would also moderate content created by the customer community and facilitate the sharing of this user-generated material. Their goals would be two-fold:

  • Deflect tickets from the call center by encouraging more customers to resolve problems on their own with self-service options; and,
  • Drive customer retention and return purchases by creating a loyal community of brand advocates.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) Developer

The person in this role would help ensure the right answer is found no matter how or where the question is asked–whether it’s typed in a search box on a webpage, in a chat session, or spoken to an interactive voice response (IVR) system. This requires sophisticated algorithms that can process natural language to find the answer.

While most companies will deploy off-the-shelf or open-source NLP technology, the NLP Developer will need to make substantial configurations to apply it to their company’s specific use cases and content. I see this role as important for making the most of your content. All the effort creating it is meaningless if the customer can’t find it–fast.

Social Service Success Coordinator

The Social Service Coordinator would ensure social customer service efficiency, while keeping an eye out for opportunities to market support interactions. In order to respond effectively, companies have to use social listening technology. This person would work to refine keyword identifiers that tell these systems what signals a customer service message.

If the contact center suddenly gets an influx of calls about a particular product, for example, the coordinator would want to start listening for combinations of that word and “help,” “broken,” “angry” and so on. If a Twitter user responded with a glowing “thank you, I will tell my friends!” that person might handoff the interaction to marketing for promotional uses.

Mobile Customer Service App Manager

The Mobile Customer Service App Manager would act much like a product manager exclusively for the customer service mobile application. They would work with internal or external developers to optimize the user experience for all of the company’s customers.

If analytics showed one feature is used more than another, for example, they might try featuring it more prominently on the app home screen. Or maybe they’d work with the NLP Developer to refine speech recognition for that function. Optimizing content in this way can increase customer satisfaction as much as 60 percent, one report showed.

Virtual Call Center Director

The individual in this role would oversee the virtual call center — a network of customer service agents that work off-site (typically from home). This person would decide when and how to interact with these individuals, monitor their performance, and adjust the size of the team as needed. During peak communication cycles, for example, the Virtual CSR Manager might increase the number of agents on duty.

The Virtual Call Center Director would also consistently comb through key performance metrics to identify weak spots. If they noticed one remote agent lagging behind their cohorts, they could start monitoring calls and provide additional training.

These are just a few of the potential job titles our experts see emerging in the future. What changes do you see? What’s missing from this list? Join the conversation by commenting here.

 

About the author:

Ashley Furness The Debate Results: Will Technology Kill the Call Center? Ashley Verrill is a Market Analyst for research firm Software Advice. Her professional experience spans journalism, sales, advertising and SEO marketing. She’s a seasoned writer having produced copy for business journals, a sports magazine, daily deals advertising and industry blogs. She can be contacted at ashleyverrill[@]softwareadvice.com, or by calling 512-582-2314. LinkedInTwitterGoogle +
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VMAIL is the new EMAIL

VMail is the new Email

video, video email, video marketing, video communications,vmail,Extraordinary results can be achieved using this technology. Video Email can change the world and the way we communicate Vmail by Vmail !

Facts :

  • – Google loves Video !
  • – Cisco  predict –
    • There will be a 10 fold increase in the use of Video over the next 5 years
    • By 2015, there will be nearly 3 Billion Internet users – more than 40% of the world’s projected population
    • Internet Video traffic is now 40% of the consumer internet
  • – People retain 10% of what they hear, but 50% of what they see
  • – Video is the single, most effective form of communication
  • – Companies continue to look for additional creative marketing platforms
  • – ‘Old school’ marketing is no longer effective
  • – People spend 8 seconds reading a static text email, but retain 85% of what they see in a Video
  • – Static text emails are easy to ignore, and at their best give a customer only the vaguest notion of what your business really values. People simply don’t have the time today to read screeds of text and barely get past the third line, before deleting, without ever grasping the gist of the message that is trying to be conveyed.

 

Practical research has been able to demonstrate the power of video over other forms of communication:

1.  ‘Video email marketing reaps 280 percent higher returns than direct mail.’ – Gartner Research
2.   ‘63.9% of 5,000 people watched a video sent via email to completion. The average email viewer will only spend 8 seconds reading an email’ – Marketing Vox
3. ‘Good service is not enough. A customer who is ’emotionally connected’ to your place of business is likely to spend 46% more money than a customer who is merely ‘satisfied’, but not emotionally bonded.’ – Gallup Survey
4. Increased market interest. According to an August 2011 Forrester Research survey: 50% of interactive marketers believed that marketing’s effectiveness will increase with online video over the next 3 years; while 43% said it would with E-mail marketing.
5. Increased clicks. According to David Daniels, former VP and Principal Analyst for Forrester Research, “Video in email can increase click-through rates as much as 2x-3x.”
6. According to a video email case study by Holland America Lines, in-email video produced a 2x higher CTR versus a static image, and 2x higher CTR than their average campaign.”

 

So what is a Vmail ?

Video Email is simple to use, online, browser based technology, which enables you to create your own personal Vmails.  No software downloads are necessary. Bandwidth is not compromised, as the VMail opens on the Internet. Vmail allows full integration with your social networks to share on Youtube or Facebook, etc.

 

 

Creating a VMail

  • 1. Use your Webcam to record your message or upload a video from your computer, IPhone, Android or any Smartphone.
  • 2. Incorporate marketing Videos or something from You Tube.
  • 3. Use the Templatefeature –
    • Create your own personal template, using your own art or photos, or
    • Choose a template from 100’s of designs available
  • 4. The system automatically adds your contact information.
  • 5. You can also add images, such as printable coupons or hyperlinks to other websites.
  • 6. Use the Contact Managerto manage all your contacts –
    • Import all your contacts from your phone, email and computer into one spot.
    • Organize your Contacts alphabetically or in Groups.
    • Select and send to any number of your contacts using the Contact Manager.
  • 7. Use the campaign scheduling feature to send right away, or set the day and time that you’d like it to go out.

 

Why use Vmail ?

Video Email :

  • – Is different
  • – More powerful
  • – More effective
  • – Is creative
  • – Seeing is Believing
  • – Has more impact
  • – Grabs the customer’s attention
  • – Enables you to literally look into your contact’s eyes and develop a relationship with that person, engaging them on a level that is simply not possible with a static text email.
  • – Enables your voice to resonate on a subliminal level.
  • – Will replace static text emails, which are easy to ignore, and at their best, give a customer only the vaguest notion of what your business really values

 

Infographic: Video EMail

video, video email, video marketing, video communications,vmail,

 

 

Vmail USES are endless e.g. :

  1. All aspects of Business
  2. Product launches
  3. Product or Service info
  4. CV’s
  5. Training/Skiling
  6. Teaching
  7. Invitations
  8. Vacations
  9. Special events
  10. Weddings
  11. Anniversaries
  12. Responses
  13. Birthdays
  14. Announcements

 

1cdc3d1 Marketing with VIDEO CONFERENCING  / WEBINARSHeather de Wit considers herself to be an ‘out of the box’ thinker and is happy to share her knowledge on the merits of utilising Video Email and Conferencing/Webinars. Her experience as a sole Entrepreneur for over 20 years spans marketing, advertising and PR.  She enjoys creative writing, singing at functions and is a self-taught artist.

 

Get in touch with heather :

 

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Marketing with VIDEO CONFERENCING / WEBINARS

video, video conferencing, webinars, video meeting, web meetings, virtual meetings, web event, This technology can change the world !

Facts :

· Google loves Video !

· Cisco predict there will be a 10 fold increase in the use of Video Conferencing/Webinars over the next 5 years

· Internet Video traffic is now 40% of consumer internet

· People retain 10% of what they hear, but 50% of what they see

· Video is the single, most effective form of communication

· Companies continue to look for additional creative marketing platforms

· ‘Old school’ marketing is no longer effective

What is a Video Conference / Webinar ?

Called by many names a Video Conference, a Video Meeting or a Webinar – all meaning the same thing. It is an highly effective, browser based, simple to use virtual Video Meeting Room, where, at the click of a button with a link, you are able to host large or small online meetings with people locally or globally, to connect, communicate and collaborate.

Access to online meetings is now available on most ‘smart phones’.

Some are saying it is the ‘new’ business card.

Many have not yet fully embraced or grasped the power of this technology, perhaps for fear of losing ‘the personal’ touch or the ‘face to face’ meeting scenario. However, we cannot stop progress and this is where things are headed if you want to see it.

‘Going green’ is what the world is advocating and what better way to save on time, energy, airfares, hotel accommodation, increase productivity and ultimately save money, than by hosting meetings, trainings, launches etc online.

This could be perceived as an adjunct marketing platform, or an additional marketing tool to what you already have in place.

The marketplace has become global and this technology enables you to go global with ease.

General features –

· Attract and drive more people to your business

· Share Powerpoint presentations

· Share ideas

· Share Videos

· Show websites

· Share photos

· Review contracts or documents in a safe and secure environment

· Share your desktop

· Use the white boarding feature, with interactive tools, like drawing and highlighting, to make it simpler for your attendees to collaborate with you.

Creative Uses :

· WEBINAR SERIES

Develop a series of Webinars over a number of weeks, with content relevant to your clients or prospects. In this space, you can educate and demonstrate the value of your products or services. Guest specialist speakers always add value.

· ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEW PRODUCTS or CAMPAIGNS

Invite your media contacts, industry analysts, clients and prospects. Elevate the level of conversation by inviting specialists in your audience to answer questions and provide input.

· GUEST SPEAKERS

People perceive you differently when they know where you are coming from – eg, reducing your carbon footprint. Attract people ‘through the back door’ by hosting a Video Conference, selecting a relevant and current ’green’ subject matter, with the added attraction of a guest speaker, who should be a well-known expert or specialist in that particular field. Your guest speaker will, in their own right, easily attract a large audience – Everyone benefits.

· BOOK LAUNCHES

A book tour can be very costly. Authors can save a fortune by hosting a virtual book tour. This can be co-marketed with e-commerce book companies, online communities and off-line bookstores, that want to drive traffic to their stores and sites.

· The ARTS

For Movie/TV/Radio/Theatre/Music/Dance Promotions, use Webinars to reach large groups of people to interview actors, singers, dancers, poets, playwrights, producers, choreographers, directors etc. These web events can be conducted with the media, through relevant websites, e-commerce sites, TV, newspaper or magazine, radio web sites.

· ART EXHIBITIONS

Artists across all art form mediums, can use Video Conferencing to go global, communicate and show their art to the world. They could even stream a pre-recorded video on a virtual tour of their art from their own studio or gallery. Inviting a well known art expert as a guest speaker, who in their own rights, will attract numbers to the web event, would be an added bonus.

· MEDIA INTERVIEWS

To better assist journalists with their stories, invite reporters or editors to an online web interview to discuss issues, show products, present information and data.

· MARKET RESEARCH

Focus groups can view and research products through audio, chat or text-based questions. Polls and online surveys are also a popular feature in these focus groups and are available features with this technology.

· SPECIAL EVENTS/TRADE SHOWS/EXHIBITIONS

Create a virtual show in a Video Meeting Room, where different companies can participate in interactive sessions, with people interested in learning more about your company’s products and services. Due to budget and time constraints, people cannot always travel far distances to attend an event. CUSTOMER SERVICE

Give E-Commerce customers live assistance when choosing products. Invite them to a product knowledge session. The Video Meeting Room can feature a live individual or be a pre-recorded session.

• CUSTOMER SERVICE

Give E-Commerce customers live assistance when choosing products. Invite them to a product knowledge session. The Video Meeting Room can feature a live individual or be a pre-recorded session.

· DEMONSTRATING PRODUCTS

Web conferencing is a great way to demonstrate the uses of products.

· EDITING on the fly

Edit on the fly in a safe and secure environment, with people from different geographic regions. Everyone can view the same document simultaneously, so edits can be made quickly and efficiently, without costly delays.

· Editing WEB SITES

This is a highly efficient way to review web pages with a group of people.

· SKILLING, TRAINING

Webinars are becoming increasingly popular and convenient as a training tool.

· RECRUITMENT

Companies can easily go global and hire the best from anywhere in the world, using Video Conferencing as an interviewing tool, inviting prospective employees to interact and collaborate. Here they can upload their resumes and review same with them, together with others, who are part of the hiring process, but are located in other regions.

· CONTACT US

Video Meeting Rooms can be used as a ‘Contact Us’ feature. People can request an instant meeting to talk with you and learn more about what you do.

· INVESTOR RELATIONS

Invite analysts, media and shareholders to a Web Conference for quarterly reviews, announcements and appointments.

· COMMUNITY

A great tool for Community forums and groups to connect, collaborate and communicate on :

o Community issues, problems

o Neighbourhood watches can have a better handle on crime and policing

· COMPANY STAFF, COMMITTEE, SALES or BOARD MEETINGS

More and more businesses are seeing the value of using this technology to communicate and collaborate with employees and management nationally or globally on a more regular basis, saving time, energy, travel, communication bills, accommodation bills, etc, increasing productivity and ultimately saving money.

· DISTANCE EDUCATION

More and more institutions are embracing this technology for :

o Distance learning

o Extra mural classes moderated by Teachers

o Students can ‘study together’ without ‘being together’

o School board meetings

o Teacher training

o Academic contests e.g. debates, with other institutions

· CHURCHES, NGO’s (Charities), CLUBS

Institutions using Webinars can :

o Interact with members and constituents

o Conduct remote study with exchange groups

o Conduct Church meetings

o Conduct Board or Committee meetings

o Host Fundraising campaigns

o Host Planning sessions

o Host Remote counselling

 

Infographic: Video Conferencing

video, video conferencing, webinars, video meeting, web meetings, virtual meetings, web event,

Heather de Wit considers herself to be an ‘out of the box’ thinker and is happy to share her knowledge on the merits of utilising Video Email and Conferencing/Webinars. Her experience as a sole Entrepreneur for over 20 years spans marketing, advertising and PR.  She enjoys creative writing, singing at functions and is a self-taught artist.

 

Get in touch with heather :

 

b2b marketing articles,b2b marketing solutions,b2b marketing plan template

5 Jobs for Tomorrow’s Marketing Team

marketing employment, marketing predictions, future of marketingIf you want to see the future of marketing, just take a look at recent job postings. Recruiters increasingly request such new generation skills as SEO, analytics, mobile, social media and content in lieu of mass media and direct mail acumen, for example.

At the same time, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects marketing payrolls to swell by at least 13 percent between 2010 and 2020. So what does this shift in desired skills mean for the industry? What new positions to experts expect will be created during that time period? This week, I asked more than 30 marketing and recruiting specialists what they see in the industry’s employment future.

Here are five of the most common new roles they envision.

“The industry needs to emulate, then stimulate, consumers’ nonlinear, multi-screen, in-control purchase behavior,” Protagonist Partner Tom Cotton said.

1. Cotton and others I interviewed see companies recruiting a Marketing Integration Planner in the future, or someone that would identify ways to deliver a single marketing message, campaign or branding effort across multiple digital channels. For example, using a pay-per-click advertising campaign to promote a viral video, or using SEO keyword analysis to help craft a press release.

Marketing consultant Jocelyn Saurini said “people don’t call directly in from an infomercial or click a banner and immediately buy items.” Instead, they search for reviews, interact with brands on social media and pay attention to trending topics in the industry. So marketing teams need to make sure they utilize every channel at once with a unified message.

2. Other experts I interviewed introduced this idea of a Crowdsourcing Specialist. This plays into the idea that companies can no longer dictate their brand identity to the customer. They need someone–in this case the Crowdsourcer–to monitor conversations happening on the Web about the brand and develop messaging that responds to customers’ voiced expectations.

That person would also use the crowd to promote and send out calls to action, such as inviting customers to compete to create the best video about the brand, and perhaps tying the theme to something trending on Twitter.

3. Marketing automation, browser history, on-demand advertising, Google analytics and other data gathering tools have armed marketers with more return on investment resources than ever before. For this reason, companies will look to one expert, a Vice President of Marketing Data Analytics possibly, to decide when, why and how marketing data should be tracked. Their goals would be to improve marketing performance and predictive modeling, and continually refine the company’s definition of the ideal customer.

This information would be shared with brand and campaign strategists who design promotions.

4. Also as a result of new data, companies have increasingly moved their marketing budget strategy from quarterly allotments for print, direct mail and media advertising to constantly-shifting spending from one channel to another. This could develop into a ROI and Marketing Budget Officer position, experts said. This person would constantly track ROI from all promotion channels and adjust spending based on those results.

5. “The idea is to get marketing tactics out there quickly, track results, then continue with ones that work and dump ones that don’t,” says crowdSPRING co-founder Mike Samson. “The idea is to try a bunch of things and learn through constant trial and error.”

6. Finally, content creation is likely one of the fasted growing skills in marketing teams today. Every expert I interviewed mentioned companies wanting to hone their content strategy. Eventually, this might be led by one Content Marketing Manager or Officer that would plan websites, blog, video, infographic, webinars, social media and other content vehicle development. The individual would decide how that content would be promoted and cross-promoted, then track its performance.

Three Ships Media CEO and founder Zach Clayton described it this way: “the people who are able to create a lot of value in the marketing organization of the future think in terms of content, not channels, and in terms of insight, not data.”

Research for this article as provided by softwareadvice.com/crm.

Photo courtesy of Victor1558.

About the author:

marketing employment, marketing predictions, future of marketingAshley Furness is a Market Analyst for research firm Software Advice. Her professional experience spans journalism, sales, advertising and SEO marketing. She’s a seasoned writer having produced copy for business journals, a sports magazine, daily deals advertising and industry blogs. She can be contacted at Ashleyfurness[@]softwareadvice.com, or by calling 512-582-2314512-582-2314. LinkedInTwitterGoogle +

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How to reach B2B Executives? Get mobile!

mobile marketingNew studies of Google and Compete found out that that 28% of US B2B C-level executives used mobile devices to research business purchases.

By the growing use and demand of mobile apps companies also become more dependent of them. Popular services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yelp, Foursquare, Groupon and other are using apps to stay in touch with their audience.

A new way of search has emerged where B2B executives to look out to find future business partners the more efficient way. Mobile devices have spread around the world and statistics show that about 260 million devices are in use actually and this number will grow by 2014 to more than one billion.

The peace of mobile use among B2B executives is much higher compared to consumers, as they are always looking for ways to do their purchasing process easier and cost efficient.

When B2B executives are on their mobile device they do not go to the web browser to research for products and services your business also as to offer!

According to research data from Oracle and Endeca, from November 2011 one-quarter of B2B ecommerce professionals worldwide agreed that mobile is one of the most influential to get in touch with their customers.

By taking into account the complete penetration of mobile devices among B2B marketers, it is logic they use these devices for their purchase decision making process. They use these mobile devices during their purchasing process to save time.

The trend shows that search engine search traffic will decrease and companies who are active on mobile devices, social media and location based services will get an increase of traffic as B2B executives use them preferable.

Here is a great opportunity for businesses to get in touch with these B2B executives to establish a relationship which can help to make business together. Companies should establishing a mobile web presence and optimizing their communication to reach those B2B executives.

 

Infographic: Mobile Marketing

mobile-marketing-infographic

If you are not active in mobile marketing than you miss a large opportunity to make B2B executives aware of your company. Take action before your competitor does.

 

What can you do to get in touch with B2B executives the mobile way?

1st Register with all important location based services like Yelp, Foursquare, Neer, Loopt and SCVNGR. Engage here with your audience, build and customize these digital outposts.

2nd Be active in social media sites like Facebook, Linked, Twitter and others important to your audience.

3rd Jump start your mobile marketing the smart way. Collect the mobile phone numbers from your customers. Establish a database where you store all important information about them to later have the ability to custom tailor personalized messages to reach them the right and human way. Look out for a two SMS marketing software which enables you to do and to control your messages.

4th Optimize your website be reachable in mobile devices and give those interested B2B executives the opportunity to get with in touch quick.

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Get your Share of the 123% Growth in Mobile Purchasing

Or How Mobile Devices will Make 90% of Your SEO Efforts Obsolete in the Future

mobile-purchasingIn the past it has been important for a business to have good SEO in place to get found on the search engines through their target audience. Businesses optimized their websites and published content with keywords on a frequent basis.

In the last years content marketing has emerged and a new era began on how to manage it to get found from customers who research on search engines and than in social media. At this time buyer persona content creation is a must for businesses to increase their chances to get found on the web.

Companies need to spend enough diligence to identify their buyer personas because of to reach their lead generation goals. Smart content marketing is a critical factor to attract the right buyer personas to a company website and convert them to leads and during a lead nurturing process to revenue!

But a new way of search has emerged where some of these tactics above does not fit anymore. Mobile devices have spread around the world and statistics show that about 260 million devices are in use actually and this number will grow by 2014 to more than one billion.

When people are on their mobile device they do not go to the web browser to research for a restaurant or retail store.

They rely on their mobile apps from Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other which give them information instantly and also location based information where how to hit a great location. Also in the B2B sector more CEOs are researching for products and services on their IPads, IPhone; Blackberry and Android. This trend is increasingly growing.

Search traffic will decrease and companies who are active on location based services will get an increase of traffic as people use them preferable.

Consumer Trend in Mobile Purchases

2009-2010, % of consumers making 1 or more m-purchase

Source: Oracle / ATG

mobile-purchase-trend

What does it mean for businesses?

For a business this means to get engaged on those social networks and services which already are very popular and have mobile apps active. This is the way to get and most important to stay in front of the future customers.

Infographic: Mobile Warming

MCOMMERCE

Marketing takeaway to profit from this increasing mobile trend:

  • 1. Optimize your website to be accessible from mobile devices
  • 2. Sart to collect mobile phone numbers to enable your mobile marketing through personalized SMS
  • 3. Adjust your email marketing and the email messages to be easy readable from mobile devices
  • 4. Build your digital outposts and get engaged in social media, in location based services and rating sites
  • 5. Develop your own mobile app to stay in touch with your audience directly

 

With this above activities you can significantly improve your visibility on mobile devices and attract more future customers to your business.

What do you think? Are you actually active to reach your target audience on their mobile devices?

 

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5 Ways to get Customers Inbound in 2012 through Mobile Marketing

mobile marketingMobile is on the rise. The evolution of technology which companies like Apple and Google have powered has produced new experiences how people find products and services.

People surf from their mobile devices like smart phones and tablets about three hours a day compared with one hour from their desktop PC.

People are connected on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare and other location based services that show them best locations in their area. They rate, check in and check out of their popular locations. There are apps available who show you how to mix a cool cocktail and which houses are for sale in a street.

The things have developed to a new level of communication. This leads to the question when people have their apps activated and are on them, will they additionally take the effort to open a web browser to research? More likely they will not.

The trend shows that search engine search traffic will decrease and companies who are active on location based services will get an increase of traffic as people use them preferable.

 

Infographic: Local Mobile Search

Local Mobile Search, mobile marketing, mobile lead generation

 

For a business this means to get engaged on those social networks and services which already are very popular and have mobile apps active. This is the way to get in front of the future customers. 

 

Infographic: Mobile Marketing

mobile-marketing-infographic

Some tips how to profit from the increasing mobile trend:

  • 1. Optimize your website to be accessible from mobile devices.
  • 2. Also a business should start to collect mobile phone numbers to enable their mobile marketing.
  • 3. Adjust the email marketing and the email messages to be easy readable from mobile devices is also a good strategy.
  • 4. Build your digital outpost and get engaged in social media, in location based services and rating sites.
  • 5. Develop your own mobile app to stay in touch with your audience directly.

 

Summary: With this above activities you can significantly improve your visibility in 2012 and attract more future customers to your business.

—What do you think about mobile marketing, did I miss anything?

 

Further resources:

 

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SEO goes mobile and you should embrace this trend of location based marketing

The use of mobile devices is increasingly growing. Tablets and smart phones have become state of the art technology around the globe. People are consuming video, audio, social media, games, news, books and periodicals on the run.

By the growing use and demand of mobile apps people become more dependent of them. Popular services like Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Groupon and other are using apps to stay in touch with their audience.

As their audience is actively using their apps when they are on the road the chance decrease that they separately open their browser to research on Google for products or serivces. They will use their location based services and the recently activated apps to discover, products, services, locations, deals and things they are interested in.

People are about three hours online on their mobile devices compared with one hour from their pc.

The more people research this way, the more the search engine research will decrease.

This trend is creating a growing demand for businesses to be visible in these services and their apps as well. Also to think about to produce own mobile apps to be and to stay connected to their audience.

What can a business do to participate from I call it “Mobile SEO”?

1st Register with all important location based services like Yelp, Foursquare, Neer, Loopt and SCVNGR. Engage here with your audience, build and customize these digital outposts.

2nd Be active in social media sites like Facebook, Linked, Twitter and others important to your audience.

3rd Jump start your mobile marketing the smart way. Collect the mobile phone numbers from your customers. Establish a database where you store all important information about them to later have the ability to custom tailor personalized messages to reach them the right and human way. Look out for a two SMS marketing software which enables you to do and to control your messages.


4th Get even smarter and develop your own mobile app for your audience. To get ideas look through the industries and get inspired how others have done it.

Infographic: Mobile Marketing

mobile-marketing-infographic

—-Tell me, does this also work for you?

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15 Ways to SMART Mobile Inbound Marketing for Restaurants

mobile restaurant marketing, sms marketing, local marketingThere are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 4.5 billion Own a mobile phone.

Gartner Group predicts, that by 2013 the number one way people will access the internet will be through their mobile devices.

70% of all mobile searches are acted upon within an hour vs. 30% of all traditional searches.

With mobile marketing you deliver your message directly to your customer. It’s like you spoken directly to him and he listen carefully what you say.

There is no question, if you are not active mobile than you miss large opportunities to make customers aware of your business. Take action before your competitor does.

Infographic: How Online Marketing Drives Offline Success

 

local marketing for restaurants

 

Domino’s iPad App: Makes & Delivers Custom Pizza

Starbucks Cup Magic

 

Custom iPhone Application for Restaurants

 

Presentation: Mobile Trends and Strategies

 

Infographic: Dining and Restaurant Reservation Trends

restaurant mobile marketing, restaurant apps

15 things you can do to empower mobile restaurant marketing:

  • 1. First of all, claim your business in the appropriate social media platforms and location-based applications.
  • 2. Mobilize your website and start using mobile media for your business.
  • 3. Start collecting mobile phone numbers from your customers and organize them in a database so you later send personalized SMS to them, to inform them about specials and news.
  • 4. Use QR Codes for promotions.
  • 5. Reward your first-time visitors
  • 6. Change deals often to stay attractive.
  • 7. Promote group check-ins. The more in a group, the better the deal
  • 8. Interact with customers. Make them accomplish a small task (Origami napkin) to redeem
  • 9. Promote to those checking-in nearby
  • 10. Encourage interactivity
  • 11. Keep yourself updated about mobile media and trends.
  • 12. Design a Smart Phone app for your business. (like the one from Starbucks or Domino’s)
  • 13. Run a mobile ad campaign
  • 14. Measure your results
  • 15. Improve what you do and repeat.

 

—What do you think?

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22 Percent of your future clients research through mobile devices

local-mobile-marketingWith the growing mobile market more people research from their mobile devices to find products and services. Nearly 60% of the world has access to a mobile phone.

So you need to have a mobile strategy. Not only to be accessible mobile but to attract mobile users to your brand with an app for example. The mobile devices have become the most personal marketing platform today.

On a mobile device you can reach your customers anywhere.

ComScore reports (2010) that about 31, 4% of those users download applications for their mobile device and 21,8% access social media sites through their mobile devices.

AdMob reported (July 2010) that those mobile device users spend more than 30 minutes on apps daily. Those users engage two times more than web users (Facebook).

What can you do to make the mobile trend work for your business?

First off all, every action you take you should keep your target audience in mind and to benefit them with your doings.

For example if you are a retail store or a chain you could use an app to keep your audience updated about specials and offers. To get them engaged with you and downloading your app you could offer exclusive specials for your app users. This would ensure that your audience is regularly using the app because it offers them great advantages.

Watch this Video: Starbucks Holiday Cups Come to Life With Augmented Reality App

You should also consider do your website as a mobile version to make it easier for your audience to browse though to see what you have to offer.

The easier you design the access to your business the better for your revenue.

Mobile marketing will grow and the more companies discover this opportunity the harder it will become for businesses to get their app placed to their audience.

Mobile apps and a mobile optimized web presence are done today in a reasonable time and for reasonable budget. You do not need to give an arm and a leg to step into mobile marketing.

If you are not sure what kind of app you could offer to your audience than research what kind of problem you could solve to help your audience. As you identify a major problem which you could solve with an app than sit down and draw a blueprint on a paper, the old fashioned way.

As next step look out for qualified help for development and marketing to help you to make your now mobile strategy successful.

You should start today and use this growing trend to save your position before a competitor overtakes you.

Some tasks you can do to jumpstart your mobile marketing:

  • A. Collect the mobile numbers of your customers.
  • B. Build a mobile app.
  • C. Lead them to your mobile site.
  • D. Deliver RELEVANT offers.

 

Mobile Marketing Infographic

mobile-marketing-infographic

–How about you, do you have a mobile strategy in place already? I am looking forward to your comment.

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How to gain a competitive position for B2B with Mobile accessibility

mobile marketingMashable reported that LinkedIn has about 131 million users and that 13% of them access LinkedIn through mobile devices.

LinkedIn is the largest professional social network worldwide and has grown for about 63% compared with the last year.

An increasing number of professionals B2B are researching through their mobile devices. The mobile activity is increasing in B2B.

Millennial Media found out that Smartphone’s are responsible for 68% of website impressions. Also Millennial Media found out that mobile-social action Mix Up 39% month over month.

mobile marketing

Studies show that people surf on websites for about three hours from their mobile devices compared with one hour from their personal computer. Studies also show that actually about 260 million mobile devices are in use globally and this number is growing in a strong pace.

mobile website optimization

There is no question that growth in the B2C sector is much higher than in B2B. But keep in mind; consumers are also employed in companies can also be future B2B client. But only when you give the opportunity to know you and your company, means to offer a way to access your company information from a mobile device.

Now the question occurs how companies who are B2B oriented embrace these facts and how they plan to tune their marketing to stay competitive by simply being accessible through mobile devices, being accessible mobile for actual and future customers who research from their mobile devices for products and services your business also has to offer?

There are several indicators to keep an eye on the mobile marketing way.

  • 1. The mobile marketing spending is increasing.
  • 2. Smartphone’s have become state of the art and are dominating the mobile world.
  • 3. Tablet pc demand is also increasing.
  • 4. Mobile website optimization becomes more important.
  • 5. Location based mobile marketing has become a powerful way to connect with customers.
  • 6. Customers demand accessibility of information’s when they want and where they want.

 

Mobile usage is increasing and marketers must understand how their target audience is researching for information on the web. And they should create content to meet the needs of consumers which research the mobile way

Some stats:

  • – It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. It takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message. (Source: CTIA.org)
  • – There are more mobile phones on the planet than there are TVs. (Source: Jupiter)

 

Infographic: Mobile Marketing B2B

mobile web, mobile marketing, mobile websites

— How do you deal with the increasing damand of customers to access your website on mobile devices? I am looking forward to your comment.

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