Let’s quickly explain first what CRM is

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It’s an app that helps you manage all interactions with your existing and potential customers. CRM assists all types of organizations and businesses in improving customer relations. At the same time, you can streamline all processes involved to increase sales, customer service, and revenue.

What can CRM do for your business?

CRM provides you with a central platform to store customer data, explore and record customer interactions, and share this information with your team whenever needed.

CRM gives you valuable knowledge of your customers’ interactions and helps you adjust your business operations to guarantee the best possible service for your customers.

The Top 4 CRMs Compared

Pipedrive CRM vs. HubSpot CRM vs. Zoho CRM vs. Monday CRM.

All CRM systems integrate sales activities, giving you the potential to increase your revenue while facilitating teamwork and saving you time on repetitive tasks.

How to pick the right one?

Below, you can review all the information compiled and choose the CRM that meets your needs and business requirements. We hope our Pipedrive vs. HubSpot CRM vs. Zoho CRM vs. Monday.com comparison will help you.

Pipedrive CRM

Pipedrive CRM is software designed by salespeople. Who knows better than salespeople to help you grow your business? It assists in running your business and finalizing deals even with the most demanding customer.

It is available in several languages, which allows you to expand globally and close deals with all major world currencies. The languages include English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. It is used worldwide, in Europe, Asia, Australia, South and Latin America, Canada, the USA, the Middle East, and Africa.

But don’t let that frighten you PipeDrive CRM is user-friendly software. Sell more with less work. Increase your deals with a drag ‘n drop sales pipeline.  Stay informed at all times, with a spreadsheet with all your customer data. So you can easily follow up, add new opportunities and get reminders. PipeDrive breaks down big projects into simple steps. That facilitates you to achieve your goals. Real-time reports compile all relevant data to use and boost your sales. You get complete customer data, interaction, demographics, and contacts.  It simplifies the tracking process and collects valuable information.  So, you can set new goals to generate new customers to meet new demands.

Pipedrive allows you to customize almost everything in your CRM.

Pipedrive offers user mobility to manage business no matter where you are through its mobile applications.

More than 275 Pipedrive integrations and apps can help your sales productivity with just a single click. With the right set of tools, you can exploit the benefits of Pipedrive. The integrations include:

• Asana
• PandaDoc
• Ecquire
• Google Apps
• Drip
• MailChimp
• Microsoft Outlook
• Niftyquoter
• SnapAddy
• QuickBooks
• SyncQ
• Yesware
• Zapier
• Talkdesk
• Leadfeeder

Pipedrive features reduce human error by automating data entry. So, boost your performance with customized tips and reduce repetitive organizational tasks.

• Caller
• Products
• Email Sync
• Smart Docs
• Workflow Automation
• Scheduler
• Track communications
• Sales Automation
• Privacy and security
• Mobile apps
• Multi-Language
• Full Customization
• File attachments
• Customization
• Contact Management
• Activity Calendar
• Contact maps
• Analytics
• Customer engagement
• Social accounts and contacts

Customer Support: 24/7, email and live support, webinars, community chats.

Pricing: Choice of plans available. 14-day free trial for all.   Prices start from 12.50$/mo. to 99.00$ /mo. billed annually.  Monthly or annually with a 17% reduction.

Essential: Simple sales process set up

Advanced: Easy-to-use email and automation

Professional: Everything necessary to boost performance and revenue

Enterprise: Unlimited customization and excellent support

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM meets the needs of all SMB. It provides for all the business requirements and eliminates tedious manual work. HubSpot offers unlimited free user access to reporting, results, and more. Most important, you don’t pay for extra costs as your business expands.  With HubSpot, you pay for contacts you market to via email or ads. HubSpot CRM is easy to use, no technical skills are required, so it’s the best CRM tool for start-ups.

Apart from English, HubSpot supports most spoken languages: French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish. That makes it versatile in Europe, Asia, Australia, the USA, Canada, South and Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

For better results, include HubSpot Marketing to increase revenue, create customized content, monitor your audience and potential customers’ engagement.

HubSpot is free-forever CRM software with all the solutions you may need. You can handle up to 1,000,000 contacts, users, and storage with no time limit, all of it for free. Hubspot is 100% free and can be applied no matter where you are. It meets the needs of all SMB and   B2B and B2C businesses and many more various organizations.

It is a powerful, integrated, easy-to-use system that leads to better customer experiences and business growth. With just a few clicks, connect your tools and apps. There are several integrations available to simplify your work:

The HubSpot Integrations to add to your tools

• MailChimp
• Drift
• PandaDoc
• Proposify
• Seventh Sense
• EventBrite
• DataBox
• Wistia
• Trello
• SalesForce
• Forminator
• Zapier

HubSpot’ CRM is compliant and easy to use with powerful features; incorporate them for the best outcome. HubSpot can help you run your business with mere simplicity for better organizing and growth.

HubSpot Features include:

• Reporting dashboard
• Company insights
• Deal tracking
• Pipeline management
• Advanced CRM functionality
• Sales automation
• Sales engagement tools
• Lead generation
• Marketing automation
• Multi-touch revenue attribution
• Task tracking and Planning
• Drag-and-drop editor
• SEO recommendations
• Website themes
• Social media integration
• Lead timelines
• Email monitoring
• Email integration
• Email archiving
• Content management
• Contact database
• Contact history
• Recurring tasks
• Task scheduling
• CRM integration
• Call monitoring
• Prospect database
• Two-way data sync
• Programmable automation
• Data quality tools

Support: Support options based on your plan: Knowledge Base, Community, Chat, and Phone

Pricing: Free CRM, Marketing, Sales, Service, and Operations tools.

Free access

The packages starts from $45 a month.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM helps businesses of all sizes to maintain a high standard of customer relations with its enriched software. An abundance of features increases customer contact with various means, such as phone, live chat, email, and social media. You can follow your customer engagement and grasp opportunities for interaction.  Zoho CRM  records social network users and tags them as potential clients, and adds them to the system as contacts.

So, you can easily follow up custom data and exploit possibilities and customer interaction. Pre-built and customizable KPIs allow you to keep track of your team’s performance and interfere whenever necessary. So, you can be sure that all your customers are well-attended.

Bring more deals to closure with Zoho CRM automatization and marketing features.

The software serves a wide range of industries, countries, and sizes of companies.  Zoho CRM is available in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, the UK, and the USA. Also, it supports most major languages: English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish

The software lets you automate sales tasks and turn visitors into buyers.  It helps you run global sales teams and increase your customers with just a few clicks.

All the features you need to increase leads, sales, and monitor sales are here:

Zoho features to support your progress include:

• Sales Force Automation
• Process Management
• Sales Organization
• Analytics
• Sales Enablement
• Performance Management
• Predictive Sales
• Customization
• Marketing Automation
• Team Collaboration
• Remote work
• Mobile apps
• AIBI Remote Work

Add any of Zoho CRM’s integrations to improve contacts, increase custom data monetize prospects, and customer interaction.

• Asana
• Calendar
• Google Drive
• Lucidchart
• Pingdom
• Trello
• Appear. in
• RSS Feed
• Incoming Webhook
• Outgoing Webhook
• Zapier
• WordPress
• Hubspot
• Gmail
• Slack
• Twitter

Support: Help Desk, Tickets, Knowledge base, Cases, Webinars, Video training

Pricing:

• Flexible free trial, Cancel or switch plans anytime.
• Billed monthly or annually and save 34%
• Prices range from Standard 14$
• Professional 23$
• Enterprise 40$ (most popular)
• Ultimate 52$

monday.com

monday.com is software that facilitates business owners to manage their company from a single platform. This platform can collect all your data. You have everything you need in one single platform. Oversee your contacts and documents, and manage your tasks without unnecessary complexity among many tools. Work anytime, anywhere, always remain connected and updated, so you can work efficiently with your team and respond promptly to crucial issues when they happen. Customize your workflow and keep up with your business progress with ease and flexibility.

Everything you need at a glance to make fast decisions and grab all opportunities as they come. monday.com is a simple and easy software to automate all repetitive tasks with a few clicks and eliminate human error.  Give yourself more time to focus on what matters. Manage all interactions, emails, contact info, and related documents in one well-organized platform.

Take advantage of its features to bring better results and revenue to your business.

Features:

• Lead management
• Sales pipeline
• monday.com on mobile
• monday.com Work OS
• Pipeline management
• Customer tracking
• Marketing operations
• Customizable dashboards
• Workflow automation
• Contact management
• Customer projects
• Team tasks & projects
• Project management
• Creative design
• Software development
• Task management
• HR and recruitment
• Flexible drag-and-drop interface
• Custom automation
• Powerful integrations
• Industry-specific templates
• CRM cluster Thumbnail
• Sales and CRM-specific alerts to stay ahead of the game.
• 200+ workflows

Integrate with your existing tools in a few clicks:

Connect your CRM with the tools you already use

• Outlook
• Microsoft Teams
• Dropbox
• Slack
• Zoom
• Google Calendar
• Google Drive
• Excel
• Gmail
• OneDrive
• Zapier
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Salesforce
• Zendesk
• Copper
• Shopify
• Twilio
• Stripe
• Woocommerce
• Pipedrive

Support:

• 24/7 customer support and self-learning tools.
• Knowledge base.
• Daily webinars.
• Community

Pricing: 14-day free trial / No credit card needed

Plans starts from $24 per month for 3 users, billed annually

• Billed monthly or annually and save 18%
• Individual is free forever
• Basic 8$/mo.
• Standard 10$ (most popular)
• Pro 16$
• Enterprise need to contact

All the above systems are of high standards but differ in some aspects, such as the features, pricing, integrations, etc.

After studying each system in-depth system, choose the one that meets your business needs and requirements. Don’t hesitate to start a CRM system to eliminate human error and save time from repetitive tasks. Don’t waste more time.  Decide today and accelerate your business.

>>Graphics provided by Crazy Egg

Intelligent Automation Apps and Tools

Using an intelligent automation app and tool is one of the most effective ways to automate your processes and workflows for optimal efficiency and productivity. These tools can help you streamline manual processes, eliminate redundancies, and reduce the risk of human error. As your organization grows, this is a good option to consider to scale your business operations and help you maintain a competitive edge.

Boosting Operational Efficiency

Advanced process intelligence solutions can help improve operational efficiency by providing insights into your existing processes and workflows. By analyzing data from various sources, these solutions can identify inefficiencies in your operations and provide recommendations for improvement. This can help you optimize your processes and reduce costs while increasing productivity.

Managing Projects Effectively

To effectively manage projects related to advanced process intelligence solutions, it’s important to first determine what problem needs to be addressed, what a successful outcome looks like, and who is the best employee to handle the project. Clear communication and collaboration among all stakeholders are crucial to ensure that the project is executed efficiently and effectively.

Reducing the Chance of Human Mistakes

One of the most significant advantages of advanced process intelligence solutions is that they help eliminate the risk of human error. By automating manual processes, you can reduce the margin of error, which can save time and money and improve overall accuracy. This is particularly important in industries where even the smallest mistake can have significant consequences.

Making Data-Driven Decisions Possible

Advanced process intelligence solutions can enable data-driven decision-making by providing real-time insights into your operations. By analyzing data from various sources, these solutions can help you identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement. This can help you make more informed decisions and improve your overall business performance.

Real-Time Performance Inspection

Advanced process intelligence solutions can help with real-time performance monitoring by providing insights into the performance of your operations in real time. This can help you identify issues as they arise and take immediate action to resolve them. Real-time monitoring is also essential for identifying trends and patterns that can help you optimize your operations for maximum efficiency.

Adapting Swiftly to Market Shifts

Finally, advanced process intelligence solutions can help businesses quickly respond to changing market dynamics. By providing real-time insights into your operations, these solutions can help you identify changes in demand, market trends, and customer behavior. This can help you adjust your operations accordingly and stay ahead of the competition.

Advanced process intelligence solutions offer numerous benefits for businesses looking to reduce time and cost while improving operational efficiency. By using intelligent automation apps and tools, improving project management, eliminating the risk of human error, and more, businesses can optimize their operations for maximum productivity and profitability. Whether you’re a small business owner or a large enterprise, advanced process intelligence solutions are an essential tool for success in today’s fast-paced business environment.

With 12 years of experience, AtalosWeb Digital Marketing Agency is here to help you achieve your goals. Call 917-675-3246.

Whatever your business type is, YouTube’s popularity can no longer be overlooked by digital marketers. But high popularity means high competition.  So how can you draw more attention?  How can you entice more subscribers? All you need is a good strategic plan.

Why Include YouTube in your Marketing Strategy?

YouTube helps you increase your viewers and engage your existing ones. Reach out to new viewers searching for information relevant to your product or service.  A majority of consumers have discovered new products,  others want to see more video content from the product they are interested in, before making their purchase.  Businesses providing such videos are more than satisfied with the ROI as a result of their video.

YouTube also helps your customers to know more about you and not just your product. That increases engagement and subscribers even if they are not ready to buy your product at that particular time.

Step 1 – Make your Channel Unique.  Think Outside the Box. 

If you already have your YouTube channel, take a close look at it. It may be time to refresh it. Delete any old, outdated, badly-produced videos. Keeping them may do more harm than good to your product and channel.

Sο, what is it you want to tell your potential subscribers? Before starting you must know what your target is. What will the purpose of your videos be?  Introduce a new product? Provide information on given products? How to or DIY  guide?  News about your business, or your projects and potentials?

Plan your strategy and focus on your goals, and target audience to grow your channel’s subscribers.  Focus on what will make your channel unique. Think of yourself as a potential subscriber. What you like to watch,  why?  What will make you click the “Subscribe” button?

Research before you start. What do your competitors show? What videos get the most subscribers?   Study what makes some videos more successful than others.  What elements they include.  Then get down and create your video, implementing but not copying the most captivating features.  The trick is to elicit your audience’s interest and curiosity to watch more. But remember it is the quality people share in various ways online which in turn will bring more subscribers.

Step 2 – Manage your Time

Creating a good quality video and keeping it consistent, requires time and effort. It’s a time-consuming process therefore, the whole process must be considered in your weekly workload. Consistency is crucial to keep your subscribers. If you do not update your channel or you post many videos one week and nothing over some time,your subscribers will not stay. Being consistent will keep your current subscribers and will bring in more. So, you need to upload videos regularly.

Step 3 – Be Creative and Stay Focused

Stay focused on quality and not the quantity of content. Quality is always affordable whatever the cost is because good quality videos will bring you revenue.

Be creative when you plan your script. You must know the end before you start shooting your video. Write it, read it, repeat several times. Remember you need to convey your message most powerfully and convincingly. 

Be well-equipped although you may not want to start spending before earning. There are quite a few no-cost techniques to follow for the best results. Of course, you will need more than just your camera and a tripod. Depending on the location of your shooting, you may need lights.  To improve your lighting without spending try filming during daylight hours, natural light makes a big difference. For better sound, a good external microphone will do but try recording in a room that has no echo, so avoid bare floors and walls.  And don’t forget your background, keep it consistent because it gives continuity between your videos.

Step 4 – Don’t Let a Second Get Wasted

The first 10 seconds of your video must be most captivating. Forget the long, boring introductions.  Make your statement, on the spot. Statistics have revealed that viewers will not watch beyond the first few seconds if they don’t see/hear what they expect right there and then.

Have more 5-minute videos instead of a long ones. Again, it is argued that online video viewers have a short attention span.  Despite how complicated your product or service is your video must be short.

So, if you need more time create more short and easy videos. Group a set of videos into a  playlist. This provides viewers with more information about your channel, and they can watch without searching for the next video. 

Your viewers can see that you offer quality and well-organized content and they will want to stay on your channel and subscribe.

Once you have created the best gripping content, you can get more subscribers. Use channel trailers, they are short (30-60 seconds) and play automatically.  They give your viewers a reason to stay. It should also give a motivating and impressive call-to-action so your viewer has a good reason to subscribe.

Step 5 – How Important is a Powerful CTA

Include an impactful Call-to-Action (CTA).  It gives your viewers a reason to return to your channel through a CTA .  Do not get intimidated, it is not complicated and YouTube has done all the work for you, to facilitate adding end screens and cards into your videos.

An end screen is exactly the end screen of your video where a CTA will appear. It encourages your viewers to subscribe, takes them to your next video, or even better takes them to your website.

Step 6 – Promote your Videos on your Channel

Promoting your next video on your End Screen, the more your audience watches, the more will subscribe.

End cards can also appear on your video during the last 20 seconds. They can point your viewers to your website, your next video or playlist, promote your channel or track your audience.

Add a watermark to your video but don’t use your logo, use the “Subscribe” button.  It gets viewers to subscribe to your channel while in your video.

Step 7 – Why you Need Consistent Thumbnails

Your video thumbnail is your video’s first impression. The first thing a viewer sees, a still image, the “cover” of your video.  So you realize its importance. It determines if the viewer is going to watch or not the video.  You may use a version of your logo. Use the same font, colors, and frame. Your audience must recognize it every time they see it.

Step 8 – How to Keep Your Subscribers Engaged

The easiest and most effective way to do this is by replying to their comments. The viewers appreciate the time you take to reply. They are more likely to interact readily and subscribe. Even a “heart” on their comment makes a big difference over the competition.

Promote your channel to online social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. Find the ideal time to post your video, and introduce your product or service.  Motivate them and give them an incentive to subscribe to your channel. People love free offers, a “gift”, a free trial, a free eBook anything handy or useful is appreciated, especially nowadays. Create a contest that will require participants to like your post, comment, follow your page, and subscribe to your YouTube channel.

Step 9 – How to Optimize your YouTube Channel

You don’t want all your work to go to waste.  It is crucial people can find your videos easily.  Your videos must rank high in search engine results so that they are visible to people searching related topics onYouTube. 

How to achieve the best results for YouTube optimization?  Create targeted titles. Do your keyword research and find out what words or terms people use when searching. Your video title must be capturing, indicating what the video is all about.  Also, keep your title short (preferably up to 40 characters). 

Consider the option of adding a transcript to your videos. A video transcript increases accessibility, it is seen as a page copy, and having more text for your video you gain additional searches.

Meta tags can also help with your keywords, and make them more accessible.  Check what Meta tags are being used, and use the most appropriate for your video.

Step 10 – Aim for No-Cost Advertising

Use the most effective keywords in your channel description to rank high in YouTube. Promote your YouTube channel among your current audience.  Share your YouTube channel with your customers and business partners in your company’s newsletter, in your blogs, or even create a video page on your website.

The bottom line is the more subscribers you have the more audience you can reach.  It is the YouTube algorithm that decides what a majority of people watch.  So the more audience the more subscribers you get.  Knowing the right time to upload, getting the edge over the competition builds brand trust. Stay connected with your audience. Update your channel.  Include your videos on your website. It is a worthwhile marketing strategy.

Need to increase YouTube video views and subscribers quickly?

If that’s the case, then YouTube ads are the best way to go. Cost depends on many factors, and you can always use Google Ads platform to promote your videos and your Channel. If you are seriously thinking about promoting your YouTube channel through Google Ads, let AtalosWeb send you a quote!

Even if the products fulfill their needs, it is up to the marketers to convey the right message effectively. An essential feature to include in your Digital Marketing strategy is Brand Trust.

Why is so important to build your brand?

Brand trust is an indication of your customers’ reliance on your business.  During such a pivotal time, consumers are confined in their homes, spending more time on the Internet, and they are overwhelmed with online content.

Brand Trust is going through a crisis too.  As more corporate scandals come to the surface, it’s inevitable to observe consumer trust plummet. Consumers are more baffled than ever, with all their online search. They have difficulty distinguishing what is real and what is fake.

Building brand trust is vital to retain your customers and draw more consumers.

1. Create Value Proposition

First and foremost, create your value proposition because it is the foundation of your brand trust.  This is nothing more than the reasons why customers should choose your product.

It is an assertion that clarifies and explains why your products or services are better than your competitors’.  You should clarify your brand’s competence, economic, and social values.

Indicate the benefits consumers will enjoy when they buy your product or service.  Why are these benefits important to your customers? 

Acknowledge your customer’s problem and explain how your product can help.  Emphasize your brand’s competency to realize and deliver what it promises.

Your value proposition is the first impression you give your customers.  It is time worth spending on the creation and effectiveness of your value proposition.

2. Use customer data effectively

Consumer behavior has changed drastically due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the series of lockdowns. More consumers are spending less money but are making more purchases online.

The increase in Social Media engagement has brought about the need for Social Media marketing.  People spend more time on Social Media and that facilitates your communication with your customers. Stay connected with them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

This new tendency enables digital marketers to track consumer needs easily. Check and update your data regularly to understand shifts in consumers’ shopping habits, and use this information for your marketing strategy.

3. Keep your customers engaged in their preferred channels

Use your feedback effectively, and use information that is both valuable and relevant to your customers and new ones.  Offer your customers the personalized attention they need.

Draw more traffic to your website or social media pages with quality content. Make your content detailed, and engaging.

Let your customers know that their demands and needs are your priority. This in return will bring more positive online reviews and ratings that will help you build online trust.

In the long-run happy customers will reward you, with their loyalty. They will purchase more products even if they are more costly and recommend you to others.

4. How can quality content build brand trust?

A familiar brand is no longer enough for a business to grow. Today’s new consumers are different. They research the brand before they make their purchase. They look for brand trust rather than the brand itself, and the price is not always an issue. They want a goodreason to trust your brand before spending their money.

The content needs to be influential. Quality content considers your customers’ needs, offers them suggestions and solutions to their problems. It sets your leadership as a reliable and dependable source.

The purpose of the content is to help and inform the customer, not to promote your product. This is what consumers want totrust and buy your product.

Consumers, nowadays, want to know who is behind the brand, where their money goes. Consumers should identify with you through your content. So keep your tone and style consistent.

5. Why you need to create brand trust through consistency to keep your customers

Consistency helps build brand awareness and recognition, as consumers can recognize your brand easily.It is how you deliver messages about values, brand promise, customer experience, and brand unique elements.

Brand consistency ensures that your brand is easily recognizable on all marketing channels and touchpoints. When the brand is consistent and recognizable it gives customers a feeling of reliability.

Studies have shown that the majority of purchasing decisions are rather emotional not practical.  Marketers knowing that so they sell the “feeling” not the product and give consumers what they expect and will enjoy.  So what you sell is the “feeling” of comfort, trust, recognition.

6. Increase User-Generated-Content (UGC) for proof of your brand trust

Today’s customers are eager to express their enthusiasm or discontent about brands online. So, UGC is rendered to be real and truthful.

Such content, (images, reviews, posts on social media, videos, etc) is the work of “the next-door-consumer”, and it is available online for everyone to see. So, it is clear evidence of your brand’s trust and enhances your credibility.

Customers believe that content shared online by everyday consumers is more trustworthy. So, this is the best way to build brand trust.

7. Use reliable links to reach more audience

To increase your customers, and reach out beyond your brand property, let other sources promote your brand too. Working together with other reputable brands, relevant to yours will contribute to your brand trust.

Boost your communication with more audience using links. However, your links should lead to a reputable website. Use them in your blog posts and social media. But use branded links, so followers know what they are clicking on. 

Make sure you keep your customers protected from spam and phishing sites. Increasing their trust increases click-through rates.

8. Brand accountability

Today’s situation has incited consumers’ awareness over social issues. It is expected marketers do likewise. Let your customers know about your contribution to a better tomorrow.

Participating in environmental issues, sponsoring, fundraising events for a good cause will boost your brand trust.

9. Manage Feedback

Online ratings and reviews play a significant role in your brand trust and reputation. Consumers are easily convinced with what they see online. Negative reviews, below a 4-star rating, will dissuade your customers from your brand.

However, negative feedback and reviews will occur. Respond promptly,and give them the opportunity, and motivation to trust your brand. Find ways to improve their experience.

Online reviews have a direct impact on your brand reputation and it is up to your ability to enhance your brand trust.Your response can bring back dissatisfied customers along with new ones.

10. Is your brand authentic?

As people say, “it’s too good to be true” is hard to believe. Authenticity is a key element to trust. Your brand needs to be real and organic, not perfect.

Your customers need to relate to your brand. Why should a consumer choose your brand? What differentiates it?  What is the origin of your brand?  How, when, why was it created?

Consumers want to know how your brand developed before it reached their home. 

 Ask your customers about their experience with your brand, even if it’s negative, accept it, and respond honestly to inquiries online.

What is your brand’s impact on today’s society?

The resilience that sets you apart from the standardand your strong desire to use strategies that will benefit your customers – and not only your business – is what makes you more genial, and trustworthy.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers feel insecure and more vulnerable than in the past. Show them your availability and reliability, don’t boast about your strengths, and don’t hide your weaknesses.Don’t hesitate to differentiate, and give your customers the priority and the respect they deserve.

Your Brand Trust should project your customers’ prospects. For consumers today trusting a brand is far more important than ever before.

While the virus raised uncertainties regarding health, social life, economic stability, and employment, it also led to social shifts. A new lifestyle has emerged, such as working remotely, spending more time indoors, e-learning, increased care on health and hygiene, and social distancing. 

People are left jobless with no or limited sources of income. While companies small and big are shutting down, manufacturers have put some of their processes on hold.  Even government organizations limited their work as a preventive measure against Covid-19 spreading. While the general economy is suffering, there is a noticeable increase in online purchases, more social media engagement, and of course online content.

What changes occurred in Digital Marketing?

Minor businesses closed or stopped their Digital Marketing for health concerns, and to stop the spread of Covid-19. Retailers and shoppers alike had to remodel overnight to a new digital reality. Consequently, they experienced a drop in online traffic, sales, engagement, and conversion rates. But Digital Marketing must go on to prevent the worse scenario. Remote work, working from home was a solution for everyone involved in Digital Marketing.

Moreover, consumers shifted towards digital platforms and content, so marketers can now connect with their customers digitally more than ever before. Although customers have discovered advantages to shopping online, they claim the online experience has its weaknesses. 

The increased use of social media and digital content has provided plenty of growth opportunities. This also initiated marketers to act more socially responsible when putting into effect their Digital Marketing strategies.

How Consumers’ trends have changed

Digital marketers are facing a ‘new consumer’ today. During the Covid-19 lockdown, people do not buy much, either because they need less or they cannot afford more.  Buying habits have changed drastically.  

Consumers are turning to online shopping for products they normally bought in stores.  But as some markets are closed, there is a shortage in some necessities while in others costs have increased tremendously. 

Yet, this shift provided online retailers better returns on their online ads, boosting online marketing expenditures.  Even companies that were not selling products online, resolved to Digital Marketing to remain in business.

Why is the Digital Marketing more resilient to Covid?

Digital Marketing offers marketing channels that are entirely online and therefore resistant to Covid-19 and lockdown consequences.  Furthermore, customers leave their digital data ‘footprint’ that enables storing, tracking, and capitalizing on every opportunity.

 Exploiting the opportunity at hand, digital marketers draw more traffic to their website or social media pages, engage their target audiences, and convert them to leads and sales.

Digital Marketing takes a new direction

Digital Marketing has shifted to different directions as there is a different market to serve. Customers are spending more time researching products and services online, but they feel disconnected, and complain about the service. So, marketers must manage their online reputations effectively. In today’s digital marketing, customer service is of utmost importance.  

When customers feel neglected or forgotten, they leave. Getting customers back after the lockdown is over won’t be easy.  To ensure customers’ satisfaction with your products and services you need to encourage engagement with customers during this crucial period. 

To reach out to top customers and respond to an influx of inbound calls, many companies set up virtual contact centers, chatbots giving instant and precise answers to questions and keep the customers satisfied.

More incoming traffic from social networks

Due to continuous lockdowns, work from home is the new normal and people may have more free time as they do not commute to work, and not being able to socialize freely they spend more time on social media. This has allowed digital marketers to benefit and better connect with their customers through various Social Media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin just to mention a few. 

As the number of users increases, companies, influential brands, even tech enterprises produce more content to market, for the users to consume. The increase in social media engagement and digital content has provided marketers plenty of opportunities to capitalize on.  

Digital entrepreneurs took to various social media platforms, and offer free services, free trials, or provide engaging and entertaining content to draw more audiences.  This also urged marketers to respond sensibly and more responsible when putting into effect their digital marketing strategies

A social network is not only a marketing channel but it helps build a good rapport with consumers, it raises your awareness of their needs, comments, and indications.  Digital marketers use social networks to show how they provide for the wellbeing of their communities during the pandemic. Social media has gained ground in strengthening and encouraging Digital Marketing.

COVID-19 has revealed drawbacks in digital sales-readiness.

However, the flow in the digital market is not evenly distributed.  Some basic household goods have shown an amazing increase contrary to items such as appliances, clothing, and cars.

Some companies are bombarded with more orders than they can handle such as groceries, household goods, toys, pet supplies, pharmacy, and general commodities, while others lack orders and interactions, like in hospitality, furniture, luxury, appliances, and hospitality.  Shopping trends have changed like never before.  Customers now use a variety of digital market channels, and they are overwhelmed with information through Search engines, and Social Media feeds.  Consumers are encouraged to buy products beyond the brand’s properties.  Therefore digital marketing demands a different approach.

Are you ready to adjust?

If you are ready for changes in your digital marketing strategy, you can and will adapt to an unprecedented situation. A comprehensive strategy for your business will bring positive results as long as it is flexible enough to face any unforeseen events. 

Your marketing strategy must consider your customers, your product demand, and of course your website traffic. And remember, you can increase customer engagement through your local interaction.  

During this crisis, having new and regularly updated data is more important than ever. Building data awareness helps form upright decisions during COVID-19.

Entering a Brave New Digital World

While people work from home, glued to their screens during lockdowns, traffic and search volume have surged, so those taking advantage of these low cost-per-click (CPC) rates benefitted from a much higher return on investment (ROL) than before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Cost-per-click (CPC) seems to be more resilient for marketers during the Covid-19 lockdown. There are fewer ads on marketing channels like Google Ads, Twitter Ads, and Facebook Ads because the supply of goods is limited.  The cost of paid ads has diminished giving an advantage for digital marketers to gain exposure, increase traffic and sales.

The Covid-19 lockdown period also saw a surge in demand for Over-The-Top Content Hubs such a Netflix and Amazon Prime. This provides the Digital Marketer with an opportunity to promote and market products and services to a new audience.

Time to “reset” for the Post-Covid era

Businesses operate in a new environment, enabling remote work for employees, and discovering new ways of communicating with customers.  Companies that have successfully overcome the obstacles can develop and grow to a more digital, active company and ready to face the ‘New Normal’ post-crisis.  

When people get back to their normal lifestyles and routines, the marketers must retain the quantity and quality web traffic on their websites and landing pages. 

During this Covid-19 crisis, companies struggle to remain stable and prepare for their re-opening and emerge from this crisis with the least damage possible. Maintaining stability is a challenge during such a pivotal time for our society.

What sort of long-term impact do you think the pandemic will bring?

Covid-19 has led the way for further development of Digital Marketing activities.  A new reality has come to stay. Business owners are urged to reconsider their strategies, including their marketing channels.  In the light of what is happening, digital marketing needs to transition and implement new digital tools to leverage technology and remain sustainable. 

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has overturned the projections of every business digital or not. There’s a technological revolution happening and how companies maneuver will make all the difference.

A buyer persona is also known as a customer persona or marketing persona. It is crucial to determine the right buyer persona to engage the most appropriate customers in your website.   An ideal persona is the perfect description of anyone who represents your target audience. Of course, it is not a real person, just an imaginary fictional character who bears most features of your customers.

A buyer persona does not carry the characteristics of one individual, but a mixture of features that reflect the mainstream of your customers or potential customers.  Therefore, in some cases, it may be necessary to create multiple personas to cover the most diverse customers’ profiles.

Personas represent real people with a background, culture, and goals. They are your various target customers in need of your product.  

Why you need a buyer persona

Regardless of your business type, whether it’s a small business, a start-up, small-to-midsize business (SMB), or an enterprise, you need to create a buyer, marketing, or audience persona.  Your buyer persona is your foundation to support your business and allow it to expand and grow.

Having your buyer persona in mind every time you consider a new marketing strategy or campaign is helpful.  You will reach better decisions that will satisfy the needs and demands of your customers.  Planning your approach around your buyer persona will achieve a good relation with your customers, which in turn, will increase your sales and customer trust and loyalty.

Your buyer persona will help you: pick the right message for your target audience, reach out for them and keep them engaged on your website, communicate more effectively on social media. Help you realize how customers use your website and what they expect to gain.

Your buyer persona will also help you avoid some pitfalls. For example, not to waste time and money on trying to attract the wrong customers who cannot afford, nor need your product or service. You can be more competitive if you focus on a specific target group. Decide how to best design your website and where to spend your money.

Your persona should be designed on data accumulated from user research, web analytics, and real customer interviews so that you can make more sound marketing decisions.

How to create the ideal buyer persona

 The more time and effort you invest in your creation the more benefits for you. It requires good organization and social skills.

•  Set out with thorough research.

Depending on the product or service you sell, it is important to know who your main customers are.  Are you addressing the general public or a specific group? Who are your users?  Why they choose your product?

Collect information about your customers or potential customers.  You should include: age, location, interests, education, and social status, spending power, specific needs, decision makers are just a few points to consider.  The information you need depends on what you sell and how you want to sell it. What motivates users to engage in your website? Find out how long they engage in your website, how often they log in, how they use your product/service.  Even the software or devise they use may be of some significance.

The information may be retrieved from your customer database, social media, and communities they use. There are tools available to let you know where your customers spend their time online and allow you to contact them.  So, you can reach out to them through activities or promote your campaign there.

Study the data you collected, and look for various tendencies.  Find who your best customers are in terms of revenue.  Using this information you know who your target audience is.

•  Know your competitors

To engage more customers, you need to draw them away from your competitors. Use available tools that will provide you with the information you need.

•  Seek to find what holds your customers back

It is crucial to know what potential customers and/or competitors have to say about your products or services.  It is important to find out how they feel about your products, what they like or what does not meet their satisfaction.

Your customer service can provide you with such information as they handle the questions and various obstacles. They know what exactly your customers expect from your products or services. Actual quotes can help you create a more realistic buyer persona. 

Another way of approach is to have customer interviews. It is crucial to have questions well-thought-out, concerning your product or service and the goals you wish to achieve. Reach out to your customers either by phone or email. Allow them to express their opinion about your product or service. Getting feedback from your customers will help you realize what customers expect from you.

• Offer better customer assistance

Once you become more acquainted with your customers, you know their needs and expectations.  Then you should focus on your customers’ satisfaction. Look at your products and services from your customers’ perspective. People buy your product to serve their purpose. Understanding the reason for their purchase your buyer persona will help you see what you actually offer.

Include your new customers as well. What was the reason they switched over to your product?  Understand their priorities and how they assess the value of it. You can focus on what people value most about your product, which in some cases it might not be what you considered important.

You know your products and services like the back of your hand. Now it’s time to realize how to make everything easier and more convenient for your target customer.  Accept negative feedback just as well. Know the reasons why they stopped or never used your product. You can create a more effective strategy to engage or even win back dissatisfied customers and increase conversion rates. 

• Time to be creative

Look at all your data you have compiled.  Write down similar characteristics under the same category. Use a spreadsheet to record your findings, it simplifies your work. Now you have a good picture of who your target customers are. You have the pieces of the puzzle for your exclusive buyer persona. Isolate a basic customer group. Turn this imaginary pool of individualities into a persona you can relate with.

Do not try to cut it short. Do not make up your buyer persona by just guessing what it may be like based on some data. The right buyer persona is your best customer.

Be creative make your buyer persona seem real. Give your persona identification, a family, a home, a ‘life’.  Once this character takes shape, gets a name, has hobbies and interests, then everything falls into place making it so much easier for you to understand the demands and buying habits of your target audience. You may even give your persona a face, a figure, using images available online.

 In other words, create your make-believe customer.  Doing so enables you to be more creative and productive in your marketing strategy.  It may even be necessary to create more than one buyer persona, as your products or services aim at different people and have different purposes.

An ideal buyer persona must be a representative customer. Of course not all your customers will be a perfect match. But next time you check your customer data before making a decision, you will not be looking at figures and graphs. The data in front of you will have a personality you can identify with.

How a buyer persona can help

Having the ideal buyer persona in mind, you can build new more effective strategies. Your persona determines your course of action and leads to an increase in your sales and customer trust. It will bring positive results and reward you for your effort.

Let everyone know your buyer persona

It is important for people in your business who will use your persona to have the necessary description and information. Explain how your buyer persona can be of use, your approach, give customer examples. 

Why not create an image/illustration for your personas. Display them in places where decisions are made, after all a buyer persona is an imaginary depiction of the real target audience.

Conclusion

To drive more customers to your website, you need the right messages and marketing strategy to reach each one of them.  Buying personas are your tools to achieve your goals.  Invest time, effort, and money to carry out thorough research to create personas designed on real customer awareness. Your buying persona provides you all you need to know for better marketing and product promotion. It is not as difficult as it may seem to create the best buyer persona for your business.  Do not hesitate to ask professional assistance for your creation.

The internet

Due to social media’s ability to raise brand recognition and sales, startups may leverage it as a secondary source of income. In addition, many major international companies utilize social media as their primary company promotion. For instance, the client employed Facebook advertising campaigns to introduce a new cosmetics line in 20 countries. As a result, recall of its advertisements increased by 13 points, while add-to-cart rates increased by 36 points.

Startups need social media because it allows them to interact with millions of individuals across the globe. They may also get insight into client demands, which can be used to create efficient growth plans.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for startups since it may increase revenues. Because it requires an in-depth understanding of the niche, professional knowledge of the issue, and using the “correct words,” SEO-proofing material is essential for startups. In addition, a more excellent understanding of the audience aids in creating a better keyword set, a phrase used in SEO.

Startups with an effective SEO strategy may get a high rating on search engine result pages. Additionally, it could result in more leads and higher earnings. Of course, a startup’s debut is complex. There are, however, a few SEO pointers that help you begin going in the correct direction.

Content promotion

Create content for your audience, no matter whether you’re a small company owner or a tech startup. You must produce and distribute three pieces of content at least once every week. A content manager or content creator may be necessary for you to recruit. You must make sure that the material you produce is current and consistent. Additionally, you must teach your employees how to create content for your target audience.

Writing about a specialized subject that no one else in your sector is tackling is an effective strategy for setting your startup apart from the major competitors. By doing this, you may lower the level of competition and establish your authority in the market. Additionally, this will make your brand more noticeable on the market. For example, you may blog about local subjects if you own a local startup.

Branding

Building a solid brand identity is crucial for companies to stand out. A strong brand will represent the business’ strategies and core principles and set it apart from other companies in its industry. Startups should utilize their brand identity to emphasize their personality and critical principles and provide solutions to the issues their target market faces. In addition, they may provide material that aids in addressing these problems, which will help promote their brand and raise customer knowledge of it.

Additionally, startups should build a website that will act as the hub of their digital marketing initiatives. The website can be simple, but it must appropriately represent the business’s brand. For instance, the company’s objectives and goals should be evident on the site.

Website

Online business owners require a lot of internet traffic to succeed. Therefore, they may utilize search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to make their websites more visible and attract natural visitors. To reach a larger audience, businesses may also employ pay-per-click marketing. Whatever method is selected, it’s critical to concentrate on producing material that will draw in new readers and grow a following.

Startups should invest in digital marketing since it helps them interact with consumers. They may also utilize analytics to create their marketing strategy and examine the traffic on their website.

Your company’s “front door” is its website.

Your website is the “front door” to your company in B2B marketing. It is where prospective customers, partners, and workers may discover more about your company. It ought to complement the exterior and interior design of your business. Visitors may go to a competitor’s website if yours loads slowly or takes a while to react to their queries. The amount of time visitors spend on your website grows with its speed. It also conveys

Google will confirm the legitimacy of your website and improve its rating.

Your website is your brand’s “front door” in terms of web design. It should give visitors a feel of your company and make it simple for them to acquire the necessary information. You should also consider the kind of visitors you anticipate seeing on your website. Depending on your industry, you can be looking for customers, prospective workers, investors, prospects for acquisition, and the media.

The playing field will be levelled between you and your rivals.

A crucial component of every contemporary firm in digital marketing. Your web presence and your visibility to your target market are strengthened. It raises consumer awareness of brands. Without it, your company would struggle to compete with established companies. Digital marketing will thus level the playing field and aid in the development of your firm.

Any business’s primary goal is to produce income and profits. And for startups, in particular, this is true. Through a digital marketing campaign, you may draw clients to your company and encourage them to acquire your goods or services.