Customer Development Articles

Lights, Camera, Action! How to Plan a Video Shoot

By No Responses

When you think about social media and content marketing strategies, it’s likely that tweets, case studies, blogs, Facebook pages, and industry article creation come to mind pretty quickly. But what about video? It certainly fits into the realm of the content marketing revolution. In fact, it’s quickly become one of the most powerful tools for reaching and interacting with customers. One particularly interesting recent case involves Old Spice and its “Old Spice Guy” character. As Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi points out on his blog, at one point this summer, Old Spice’s YouTube channel was the most visited in…

7 Reasons to Consider Outsourcing Your Customer Service

Via Service Untitled on No Responses

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Reducing staff (and therefore costs) and utilizing the latest technology are only two reasons why you should consider outsourcing your customer service team. Here’s a glimpse at why: “Outsourcing sets a company free of paying for employee incentives, training, hiring, and providing expensive employee benefits such as health insurance, pension planning, and vacation pay.” Also: “Outsourced customer centers have the latest and best [technology] which would be a tremendous expense to a company.” No matter how many benefits you attach to outsourcing customer support, it will always be a contentious issue, both…

Make Your Customer Service Wow-Worthy

Via Service Untitled on No Responses

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What makes for great customer service? The kind that turns heads and drops jaws? “It starts with [your customer service team's] knowledge of their product and the initial impression they impart upon us at that very first encounter. Yes, the initial impression is that of a person who is positive and believes in himself. He is engaging, motivated, pleasant, and practiced in his profession.” Service Untitled has several other suggestions on how to shape your team to maximize customer satisfaction, including: Preparation Great communication skills Encouraging, friendly body language Some of SU’s…

The Sales Pipeline and How to Manage It

Via Inc. on No Responses

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What’s a sales pipeline? Inc. explains: “Simply put, your sales pipeline is the amount of business you attempt to close in a given month, quarter, or year. [A sales quota, if you will.] It is usually presented as a spreadsheet that tracks all of the business your sales force has pursued in the form of requests for proposal.” As the pipeline grows, you can begin to forecast sales with greater accuracy. Your sales teams (and by association, your management team) will get increased confidence and be able to plan accurately for…

How to Become a Prolific Blogger

Via Chris Brogan on No Responses

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James Patterson writes a new book every couple of months, setting the standard for prolific authors. And while you probably think you don’t have time to crank out content at a feverish pace, you can, with a little encouragement, become a prolific corporate blogger without breaking (much of) a sweat. Blogging is vital to your company’s marketing strategy … but where can you get some help? Chris Brogan has a few pointers, the best of which is about the mechanics of blogging regularly. “I keep little text edit files open all over the…

The Two Heads of Social Media

Via Content Marketing Institute on No Responses

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According to the Content Marketing Institute, there are two different content marketing strategies to pick when using social media: conversation- and content-oriented. Conversation-oriented: If your aim is to build relationships with your customers, conversation-oriented social networking is great for: Image-building Real-time customer support Reputation management The problem is that success is measured by conversations, connections and estimates of intent. Estimates don’t deliver metrics. Content-oriented: This is, of course, about the amount and quality of content you push onto the web. This approach, recommended by the article’s author, means: “Visitors, visits and…

CEO’s Guide for Hiring an Outbound Prospecting Manager

By No Responses

This is a part of a series that was cre­at­ed to help you get the prac­tice of out­bound prospect­ing built into your com­pany.  This series will walk through the process, nec­es­sary roles, in addi­tion to guides for each role to help your com­pany get started quickly. In order to have an effective outbounding team, as the CEO, you must hire an effective manager. The manager must possess integrity and be disciplined, enthusiastic, and self-directed. In addition, this person must be a true sales professional – an individual with a strong ability to communicate and a desire to be successful financially.…

Tips to Revamp Your Writing Today

Via Copyblogger on No Responses

Online, there is a cold war going on between blogs over content marketing.

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Everybody thinks their content is unique, bold and infinitely superior to the competition. Many people believe themselves to be a part of this upper echelon of content creators, but few truly reside here. What separates websites in terms of content is practice. Those that work on their writing end up having the improvements to show for it. If you’re serious about gaining a competitive advantage, that’s just what you do. But there are ways to see immediate improvements, too.…

Becoming a Content Marketing Master

Via Freelance Copywriters on No Responses

Quality will always usurp quantity when it comes to your content marketing strategy.

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If your master plan involves producing as much content as you can over the shortest time span possible, you’re ignoring the ever-critical quality factor. Furthermore, you should have a solidified plan for what you want to do with your content. How do you want to promote it? What is your desired end result? How are you gauging success? These questions and others like them should be your most pressing concerns when launching a content marketing campaign. Here’s how…

How to Utilize Internal Marketing as a Go-To-Market Strategy

Via Marketing Interactions on No Responses

There’s plenty of uncertainty involving some marketing strategies.

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How will they play out, what will they take and where will they take the company? All of these are valid questions. But internal marketing presents a unique possibility. It will yield quantifiable, positive results. It typifies the low-risk approach. And as a go-to-market strategy, it really can’t hurt to employ such an approach. Keeping your employees well-informed about your operation, externally and internally, is simply a terrific idea. You’ll be able to keep them aligned with your best practices process. You’ll also…