Building The Ultimate Marketing Engine

Building The Ultimate Marketing Engine written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch and Douglas Burdett

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, we’re doing things a little differently. Douglas Burdett takes on the role of guest host and interviews me about my new book launching Sept. 21, 2021 — The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. Douglas is the host of the Marketing Book Podcast where each week he interviews authors of best-selling marketing and sales books.

Key Takeaway:

What is the Ultimate Marketing Engine? It is a successful customer. Almost every other marketing book (including a couple I’ve written) gets this idea terribly wrong. 

My new book The Ultimate Marketing Engine details the evolution of my thinking around marketing over the last ten years and contains nothing but real-world ideas gathered from working with business owners and consultants every single day.

And in the book, I take you on a marketing journey. But we won’t travel the same old road you have been down before. Rather, I plan to push you to think about marketing from an entirely new point of view that allows you to create ridiculously consistent growth.

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, Douglas Burdett takes on the role of guest host and digs into concepts from my new book starting with how this book is different from the many marketing books out there, viewing customers as members, moving away from the traditional marketing funnel, creating a customer success track, and so much more.

Questions Douglas Burdett asks John Jantsch:

• [5:41] Can you talk about the resources and the course and any other bonuses folks get along with The Ultimate Marketing Engine?
• [10:46] What new ground does The Ultimate Marketing Engine cover that makes it different from the other 350 other books that have been featured on the Marketing Book Podcast, for instance?
• [13:07] Let’s unpack one of the biggest concepts from the book which is this idea of viewing customers as members — and full disclosure this isn’t like a Costco membership or software as a service.
• [15:54] How does the marketing hourglass concept help a company to think differently than the traditional marketing funnel?
• [19:39] What is a customer success track, what could a company do to begin one, and can you sketch out what that customer success track would look like?
• [25:55] What does the top 20% actually mean? And is the issue that companies just want more customers or do they not think through who the top 20% of their customers are?
• [30:59] You cover referrals really heavily in the book. Can you talk about the importance of referrals having a referral system? And can you also tie that in with yet another new idea from your book about helping your customers build a whole ecosystem?
• [37:15] Explain what you mean when you say: “People don’t actually want what we’re selling.”
• [39:27] So towards the very end of the book, the very first line is: Is your website is the hub of your marketing engine? If it’s that important, why is it in chapter nine out of 10?
• [40:46] Tell people where they can get access to all of the resources from the book and the course.

More About The Ultimate Marketing Engine:

• Get access to the Companion Course
• Get yourself a copy of the new book
• Learn more about The Ultimate Marketing Engine: Five Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth

More About Douglas Burdett:

• The Marketing Book Podcast

More About The Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network:

• Check it out here.

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/building-the-ultimate-marketing-engine/

The post Building The Ultimate Marketing Engine appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/building-the-ultimate-marketing-engine/

The Impact of Social Media on Lawsuits

From the way people connect with one another to finding new products and staying updated on recent events, social media has impacted nearly every facet of daily life. Some of that has been for the better while other aspects seem to be for the worst.

There’s no denying that misinformation runs more rampant, for instance, just like there’s no denying the increased ability to spread awareness about prevalent issues. One less-thought-of impact is the law. Specifically, how social media affects lawsuits. Here’s what you need to know.

A Real Life Example

Social media and cars typically go together in the form of photos or videos, but this case deals with Lemon Law. If you’re unfamiliar with what Lemon Laws are, check out the website for Conn Law in San Francisco for a rundown.

In this instance, someone had purchased a Kia that ended up having a serious issue shifting gears. Being a major problem, they took it into a shop for repairs but no one could seem to fix the defect. So, they hired an attorney and filed a Lemon Law claim.

If the court acknowledged the claim, Kia would either have to replace the car with an identical one or refund the full purchase price of the vehicle plus legal fees. The case was so simple that it would have been an easy victory, but the owner of the car did something to ruin the entire claim.

He was a teenager, his parents had bought him the car, and he decided to have a little fun with it before the case went to court. He took it to a racetrack, videotaped the races, and posted the videos on Facebook. You can probably imagine the damage he did to the Kia since the gears wouldn’t shift properly.

With the video up for all the world to see, Kia’s defense team made quick work of blaming the teen. They used the video as evidence to show it was the teen’s fault, not theirs, that the car had issues. In the end, Kia won the case because a few social media posts.

The Moral of the Story

That’s just one real life example from Virginia that happens to deal with a Lemon Law case, but what you chose to share on social media holds the potential to impact just about any legal case you can think of. While cat memes don’t pose a threat, personal statements along with photos or videos could.

Prosecutors rely on digital evidence in harassment cases, custody battles will take photos showing the condition of your home or how you take care of your children into consideration, and DUI prosecutors have field days using photos of people drinking against them.

This isn’t meant to scare you, of course, just to ask you to think twice about what you share online. You never know what kind of lawsuit you might find yourself apart of in the future and what seemingly harmless posts and attorney might try to use against you.

The post The Impact of Social Media on Lawsuits appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/the-impact-of-social-media-on-lawsuits/

The post The Impact of Social Media on Lawsuits appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/the-impact-of-social-media-on-lawsuits/

Weekend Favs September 18

Weekend Favs September 18 written by Karen Cutler read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

• Workona – Organize all the docs, tasks & notes for your next team project.
• TaskAbleHQ – A Smart To-Do List, Taskable Is a Productivity Tool That Will Save You Time So You Can Stay On Track.
• PrimoStats – You Write The Content. We’ll Add The Credibility. Save Time Researching Spend less time sifting through multiple pages on Google.

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/weekend-favs-september-18/

The post Weekend Favs September 18 appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/weekend-favs-september-18/

6 Best Ways to Improve Ecommerce UX

If you are running an ecommerce business, then you know that bringing traffic to your online store and increasing conversion rate is not as simple as most people think.

It takes more than your website design to improve user experience (UX) on your ecommerce store. 

UX is all about having the right component on your website that will enable visitors to navigate your website easily and complete their goals more efficiently. You must optimize every site element with the customer in mind, right from the structure, landing pages, and other elements.

Do you want to learn more about improving ecommerce UX? Well, in this article we investigate five different ways to improve UX for your site and make those sales this year.

1. Respond to customers on social platforms 

How you interact with your customers is one of the most important aspects of your business. You want to ensure that your customers can give you the feedback you need to improve your brand.

Therefore, you should improve how you communicate with your customers through the customer care desk and, most importantly, social media.

You can have social media links and buttons on your website to encourage visitors to follow your brand on social media. Ask your customer to connect with you on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

When customers comment and ask questions about your brand on social media, you should try as much as you can to respond. This is one way of showing customers that you care.

It can also help with establishing social proof for your audience and marketing your brand on social media. You can learn about social media advertising to improve your outreach and sales.

2. Create trust with your customers

You can gain trust from most of your visitors and customers when you have a more transparent website. 

That means your website should have more information about your product details, about the company, company policies, and shipping information. You can even opt for value added warehouse services to reduce shipping costs and increase trust.

When you establish a more transparent website, you make your customers believe in your brand and remain more confident to purchase from your store. You should strive to avail customers all the information they need to make buying decisions whenever they log in to your ecommerce store.

When you create trust and ensure transparency in your site, you improve the user experience.

Here are other ways to create trust with your online store:

• Tell a story: When you tell customers how your journey has been, you can easily win their hearts. Your audience can view you beyond the product you are offering and understand where you are coming from.
• Know your target customers: You should know who you are offering the product and service to. Start by researching your customers’ pain points and look forward to addressing them on every product and service you offer. You can use an AI-powered chatbot to connect with your customers in a friendly and familiar way. Answer bots can assist prospects during their buying journey and make the task of a live chat assistant easier. 
• Share honest customer reviews: You can also share honest reviews on your site to make customers trust you. Don’t hesitate to publish negative and positive reviews about your products. Most customers need those reviews to make a buying decision when shopping online.
• Share video testimonials: There is no better way to engage with customers and convince them than using video testimonials. Create and share video testimonials with your visitors. You can invite brand ambassadors and influencers to create videos you can publish on your website. This will make customers believe in what you have to offer them.

Other ways to make visitors trust your brand are to build a reputation in the marketplace and offer excellent customer care service. Always ensure your customer care desk responds to customer inquiries on time.

3. Make your website mobile responsive 

Most people accessing your online store are probably doing that on their mobile phones. Over 3.5 billion people are using their mobile phones to gain access to the internet. This data shows that it is vital to make your website mobile responsive to drive more traffic.

Today, most online businesses have launched a mobile app that customers can install on their phones and access their services.

Another fact you should know is that most of your visitors are likely to abandon carts or tasks if they realize your website is taking minutes to load. Yes, when it takes a minute for your ecommerce website to load, a visitor is five times more likely to bounce. If you want to minimize bounce rate, you should optimize your website for mobile. Here is what to do:

• Build a mobile-friendly website
• Include plugins on your website to make your website responsive and ensure users a seamless experience
• Keep the website design simple
• Use a large font size for every content you publish on your site
• Turn the autocorrect to forms
• Ditch all the text-blocking ads and pop-ups on your website
• Make the size of the buttons large enough to be noticeable on the site
• Make it easier for customers to find important information on your site

4. Maximize website loading speed 

Most people visiting your website are busy and have a shorter attention span. That means if your website takes longer to load, they are more likely to opt-out. 

Customers expect a rapid response when they visit your website. They will abandon a website that takes a long time to open. You can get in touch with an online marketing consultant to improve your site SEO and page speed.

Your customers expect you to provide a faster and smoother shopping experience. Therefore, you are at risk of losing your customers if your website takes longer to upload. In fact, a second delay in loading time reduces customer satisfaction by 16%. It can also result in a 7% decrease in customer conversion rate.

If you want your website to load faster, you should:

• Use third-party tools like Gzip that can compress large CSS and HTML files on your site
• Optimize your image sizes: You can reduce images sizes to the recommended size using online image editors like Canva and Pixlr.
• Reduce the number of redirects on your site
• Improve server response time.
• Remove render-blocking JavaScript
• Leverage browser caching
• Use tools like Pingdom and SEMrush to test your speed
• Use Content Delivery Network (CDN)

5. Focus on a simple and secure checkout process

Another way to boost user experience on your site is by implementing a simple and secure checkout process for your customers.  

Checkout time is how long it takes your business to seal the deal. That means, when a customer finds a product or service they want to buy, it should take the shortest time possible to seal the deal.

Streamline the checkout process as much as you can to improve UX. If you have a complicated checkout process, most of your customers are likely to leave your store.

Additionally, you should provide a more secure ecommerce environment where most visitors don’t have to doubt your site. For example, you can publish the SSL certificate at the bottom of your website to give your customers some assurance that any information they share on your site is kept confidential. Choose to include plugins that can secure your website.

You can consider the following points if you want to boost the customer checkout process:

• Only ask customers for their payment information at the end of the process
• Add Google Autofill on your site to reduce the time it takes your customers to fill forms
• Embrace a mobile-friendly design
• Give your customers that option to buy a product immediately or continue shopping
• Always remind a customer that they have added another product to the cart
• Add more checkout buttons on your website
• Make the checkout process as secure as possible

6. Reward your customers 

When you reward customers for their actions, they are more likely to do it again. That is how the human mind is designed. Customers will always flock where they are appreciated for the efforts they make.

So, it is that simple. Always reward your customers as soon as they complete a conversion action. You can do this by:

• Giving gift cards to frequent customers
• Awarding customers reward points for every product they purchase
• Offer gift coupons on your site
• Give shopping discounts
• Earn reward points on sign-ups
• Launch a referral program and reward customers who refer others to your store

Final Thoughts

Yes, there are a lot of ways to improve the user experience on your website. Ideally, when visitors get the best experience on your site, they can stay there for long, and this increases your conversion rate.

As a business, you should focus on implementing the tips shared in this article to boost UX and increase your sales in the end. These simple solutions will boost your financial gains as an online business. You can learn more tips on how to improve your ecommerce and stay ahead of the competition.

The post 6 Best Ways to Improve Ecommerce UX appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/6-best-ways-to-improve-ecommerce-ux/

The post 6 Best Ways to Improve Ecommerce UX appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/6-best-ways-to-improve-ecommerce-ux/

Dive Into Social Media To Augment Your Keyword Research

Take a close look at the various aspects of keyword research. You will find that it focuses a lot on the online behavioral traits of the target audience and uses information about the audience demographics, what they do, where they go, who they like, and what type of content they prefer. Usually, the domain of keyword research is within the boundaries of SEO. But times are changing, and you can expand the scope of keyword research by digging into social media, explains an expert at an SEO company in India. 

There is enough reason to turn to social media for conducting keyword research. A person spends three hours per day on social media on average, making it a treasure trove of information about users who share a lot of information about their online behavior across the platforms. 

This article will highlight how you can dig into the social media landscape to unearth keywords that you can use for SEO in your content and target PPC ads.

Delve deep inside the Twitter search functionality

Twitter is different from other social media platforms because it always presents fresh content based in real-time, and you will never find any outdated content.   Twitter does not preserve any content for several days as it presents content chronologically which automatically pushes back old content out of sight. Twitter is always in the present that makes it ideal for finding time sensitive keywords. Tap on the ‘explore’ section to look at interesting topics. 

Among several options, pay attention to the topics under ‘trending’ and ‘for you.’ You will discover topics relevant to your area and industry. However, this technique is effective only for those active on Twitter as they can access a vast inventory of long-tail keywords and topic ideas for use in the SEO campaign.

Use the ‘Auto complete’ search functionality of YouTube

To get the most from YouTube for bolstering your keyword research, you must look beyond its recreational aspects and focus on its search engine capabilities. Remember that YouTube is just behind in popularity among search engines.  It is an excellent place to discover related keywords by typing the primary keyword in the search bar. Indeed, all the keywords that surface against the search query might not be useful, but you can scan the list and be pleasantly surprised to discover some keywords that you did not encounter when searching at other places.

 Get a glimpse of the audience behavior by using the options of Facebook Ad targeting

While you might be confident of knowing enough about your target audience because of your extensive research within the SEO domain, the fact is that you do not know the complete picture, but Facebook knows every bit of it. Since people share a lot of personal information on social media, you can see a lot about their behavioral traits that provide valuable insights that you can use to reach out to them through your SEO campaign. All data that Facebook collects for ad targeting can be helpful for your keyword research. You can gather information about age, gender, location, interests, languages, relationship status, where they work, and their education level. Mining into the data available from Facebook groups will give you more options of keywords and topics that the target audience would find interesting. 

Instagram hashtags can help to discover relevant content

 Many social media platforms have transformed into search engines, and Instagram is no exception. What began as a photo sharing platform is now one of the most attractive platforms for marketing and branding. No other social media platforms are as business-friendly as Instagram. It provides enormous opportunities to discover new content and topics by searching for preferred keywords and then looking at the hashtags users use in their posts.

 On browsing the list of hashtags that show up against the target keywords, you can collect a good number of long-tail keywords and related keywords for use in PPC campaigns, SEO campaigns, and even for developing content. Use the auto complete feature of keyword research to view other topics that users take an interest in. Once you have the list of hashtags, it is up to you to make the best use of it for SEO or other digital marketing campaigns.

 Have a close look at the search trends on Pinterest

The way you look at some object helps to develop your perception and understanding of it. The most classic example is that of a partly filled glass of water, which some consider half full while others consider half empty. The same applies to social media platforms. Pinterest is not just for sharing bucket lists of travel and burrito recipes. There are more ways to explore the platform to reinforce your keyword research.    Being a search engine, Pinterest presents results that include content that users are most likely to take an interest in and engage with. For example, if you type ‘keyword research’ in the search bar, it will present a long list of content that includes topics like how to use free tools, analyze keywords, and conduct research to generate organic traffic. For generating more ideas, use the autocomplete option.

Pay attention to LinkedIn influencers

The high engagement level of LinkedIn is fast turning it into a favorite for marketers who want to reach out to the vast user base of 722 million. LinkedIn is the home to high-performing professionals, and marketers can gain a lot of mileage in sales and marketing, especially in the B2B segment. 

To use LinkedIn for keyword research, it is best to follow influencers closely on the platform and pay attention to their views and opinions. Search for a keyword followed by selecting people to identify influencers and then view their activities by clicking on the ‘see all activity in their profile. You can view all posts they shared in the past 90 days. 

The hashtags and content ideas you gather in the process are your most significant gain. It will help streamline your campaign.  

Author Bio:  Lalit Sharma is the founder and CEO of Ranking By SEO, a leading SEO company in India. He has been working in the SEO industry since 2005. He can be seen contributing to SEMrush, SocialMediaToday, and Entrepreneur etc. Connect with him on Twitter.

The post Dive Into Social Media To Augment Your Keyword Research appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/advertising/dive-into-social-media-to-augment-your-keyword-research-2/

The post Dive Into Social Media To Augment Your Keyword Research appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/dive-into-social-media-to-augment-your-keyword-research-2/

Dive Into Social Media To Augment Your Keyword Research

Take a close look at the various aspects of keyword research. You will find that it focuses a lot on the online behavioral traits of the target audience and uses information about the audience demographics, what they do, where they go, who they like, and what type of content they prefer. Usually, the domain of keyword research is within the boundaries of SEO. But times are changing, and you can expand the scope of keyword research by digging into social media, explains an expert at an SEO company in India. 

There is enough reason to turn to social media for conducting keyword research. A person spends three hours per day on social media on average, making it a treasure trove of information about users who share a lot of information about their online behavior across the platforms. 

This article will highlight how you can dig into the social media landscape to unearth keywords that you can use for SEO in your content and target PPC ads.

Delve deep inside the Twitter search functionality

Twitter is different from other social media platforms because it always presents fresh content based in real-time, and you will never find any outdated content.   Twitter does not preserve any content for several days as it presents content chronologically which automatically pushes back old content out of sight. Twitter is always in the present that makes it ideal for finding time sensitive keywords. Tap on the ‘explore’ section to look at interesting topics. 

Among several options, pay attention to the topics under ‘trending’ and ‘for you.’ You will discover topics relevant to your area and industry. However, this technique is effective only for those active on Twitter as they can access a vast inventory of long-tail keywords and topic ideas for use in the SEO campaign.

Use the ‘Auto complete’ search functionality of YouTube

To get the most from YouTube for bolstering your keyword research, you must look beyond its recreational aspects and focus on its search engine capabilities. Remember that YouTube is just behind in popularity among search engines.  It is an excellent place to discover related keywords by typing the primary keyword in the search bar. Indeed, all the keywords that surface against the search query might not be useful, but you can scan the list and be pleasantly surprised to discover some keywords that you did not encounter when searching at other places.

 Get a glimpse of the audience behavior by using the options of Facebook Ad targeting

While you might be confident of knowing enough about your target audience because of your extensive research within the SEO domain, the fact is that you do not know the complete picture, but Facebook knows every bit of it. Since people share a lot of personal information on social media, you can see a lot about their behavioral traits that provide valuable insights that you can use to reach out to them through your SEO campaign. All data that Facebook collects for ad targeting can be helpful for your keyword research. You can gather information about age, gender, location, interests, languages, relationship status, where they work, and their education level. Mining into the data available from Facebook groups will give you more options of keywords and topics that the target audience would find interesting. 

Instagram hashtags can help to discover relevant content

 Many social media platforms have transformed into search engines, and Instagram is no exception. What began as a photo sharing platform is now one of the most attractive platforms for marketing and branding. No other social media platforms are as business-friendly as Instagram. It provides enormous opportunities to discover new content and topics by searching for preferred keywords and then looking at the hashtags users use in their posts.

 On browsing the list of hashtags that show up against the target keywords, you can collect a good number of long-tail keywords and related keywords for use in PPC campaigns, SEO campaigns, and even for developing content. Use the auto complete feature of keyword research to view other topics that users take an interest in. Once you have the list of hashtags, it is up to you to make the best use of it for SEO or other digital marketing campaigns.

 Have a close look at the search trends on Pinterest

The way you look at some object helps to develop your perception and understanding of it. The most classic example is that of a partly filled glass of water, which some consider half full while others consider half empty. The same applies to social media platforms. Pinterest is not just for sharing bucket lists of travel and burrito recipes. There are more ways to explore the platform to reinforce your keyword research.    Being a search engine, Pinterest presents results that include content that users are most likely to take an interest in and engage with. For example, if you type ‘keyword research’ in the search bar, it will present a long list of content that includes topics like how to use free tools, analyze keywords, and conduct research to generate organic traffic. For generating more ideas, use the autocomplete option.

Pay attention to LinkedIn influencers

The high engagement level of LinkedIn is fast turning it into a favorite for marketers who want to reach out to the vast user base of 722 million. LinkedIn is the home to high-performing professionals, and marketers can gain a lot of mileage in sales and marketing, especially in the B2B segment. 

To use LinkedIn for keyword research, it is best to follow influencers closely on the platform and pay attention to their views and opinions. Search for a keyword followed by selecting people to identify influencers and then view their activities by clicking on the ‘see all activity in their profile. You can view all posts they shared in the past 90 days. 

The hashtags and content ideas you gather in the process are your most significant gain. It will help streamline your campaign.  Author Bio:  Lalit Sharma is the founder and CEO of Ranking By SEO, a leading SEO company in India. He has been working in the SEO industry since 2005. He can be seen contributing to SEMrush, SocialMediaToday, and Entrepreneur etc. Connect with him on Twitter.

The post Dive Into Social Media To Augment Your Keyword Research appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-research-2/dive-into-social-media-to-augment-your-keyword-research/

The post Dive Into Social Media To Augment Your Keyword Research appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/dive-into-social-media-to-augment-your-keyword-research/

The Power of Premium Domain Names

For those of you that haven’t heard of the profession before, domaining is big business. The buying and selling of domain names continues to rise as digital and websites are quickly becoming the new real estate as so much of the physical world is in jeopardy with ongoing concerns of the global pandemic. Premium domain names can really give your business a head start when it comes to search volume and brand recognition. Buying an existing domain means you don’t have to start from scratch, which can save you time.

How did we get here? The first domain name – symbolics.com was registered all the way back in 1985! By 1988, ICANN was founded to manage critical names and numbers for DNS. The .com domain name extension, while not the only extension, continues to be the most valuable and recognizable.

How much do some premium domains fetch in the open market, you may wonder? In 2019, there was a notable premium domain name – voice.com – that sold for a whopping $30 million. If you have an existing business, make sure someone doesn’t get your domain before you do. Elon Musk had to shell out $11 million to get tesla.com.

There is even more brand value when it comes to purchasing vanity phone numbers to go along with premium domain names. Customers often remember phone numbers with phrases in advertisements and when it’s time for them to call you up for your services.

Learn more about the power of a premium domain name along with vanity phone numbers in the visual deep dive below:

Source: SBALoan.com

The post The Power of Premium Domain Names appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/infographic/premium-domain-name/

The post The Power of Premium Domain Names appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/the-power-of-premium-domain-names/