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3 Ways to Turn Prospects into Paying Customers

3-ways-to-turn-prospects-into-paying-customersIn the B2B world, one of the marketer’s primary goals is to generate new leads. Most businesses have no trouble acquiring leads. The problem is, many of them fail to realize another important component of the sales funnel – lead conversion.

There is no point in generating leads if you can’t convert those leads into customers. After all, that’s how your business thrives and succeeds. Make sure you implement these strategies to prevent prospects from slipping through your fingers.

Quick follow-up

Time is of the essence in the business world. The speed at which your sales team follows up on the lead is important. Make sure that you follow up within 24 hours or all your efforts will be put to waste. Call them or just send a follow up e-mail. Offer to answer any questions that they might have. Sometimes, this is enough to get them into purchase mode.

People lose interest faster than you may think. As such, a quick follow up is recommended. If your sales team aren’t fast enough, they will move on to your competitors. Don’t let them wait.

Herd mentality

People are often influenced by the behavior of the people around them. This includes their buying behavior.

If you want a consumer to buy a particular product, you can use this to your advantage. Let them know how many people have bought your product in the last few weeks. This simple strategy can help boost your sales. If they see other people jumping on the bandwagon, they are likely to do the same.

Qualify leads

Not everyone who visits your site is interested in what you have to offer.  As such, it is important to determine which leads are worth your effort.

Qualifying leads can mean the difference between wasting lots of time and energy and landing a new, juicy business. You want to make sure you’re selling to right people. Check to see if they fit your buyer profile and their activities on your site before passing them off to sales.

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Social Media Myths That Cripple Marketing Campaigns

As a start-up business, you are probably working on a limited capital. You’re trying to do everything yourself because you still can’t afford to hire people for your marketing campaign. It’s no wonder you chose to introduce your brand and reach out to your target audience through social media.

Social media is a powerful tool for business owners, especially for start-up entrepreneurs. In fact, it has grown in popularity over the past decade and has contributed to the success of several businesses all over the world. However, there are a number of myths floating around. These myths can ruin your chance of selling to your target audience.

Let’s put these social media myths to rest.

You need to be on every social networking site

Maintaining a social media account takes time and effort. There’s no point in opening an account on Instagram if your target audience isn’t there. What you want to do is to determine where your audience, and focus your efforts on those platforms.

Blogging is a waste of time

With so much information on the internet right now, some of you may think that creating a blog won’t help you reach your bottom line. But the truth is, a business blog is a great way to capture the attention of your target audience.

Make sure that you supply them with interesting and informative blogs, and they’ll surely be coming back for more. Give them tips and share your knowledge with your audience. Eventually, people will see you as an industry expert.

You need to be online 24/7 to be successful

While regular posting and fast response is important, you don’t need to monitor your social media accounts 24/7 just to build a strong social media presence. We understand that you’re busy, but please make sure that you have at least one social media post per day. Post less than that and your fans and followers will eventually forget about you.

Your social media accounts can replace your website

Although it’s easier to reach out and engage with your potential and current customers on social media, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t update your website from time to time.

Write blogs, provide updates about your recent projects, and then share them on social media. Use it to attract your audience. Encourage people to share your post or voice out their opinions. Because these social media posts are linked to your website, it can help drive traffic to your website. Remember, the more professional your website is, the more advantages you can gain.

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Reasons Why Your Facebook Ads Aren’t Converting

reasons-why-your-facebook-ads-arent-convertingFacebook ads are one of the most popular options among small business owners who are new to online marketing. After all, Facebook is one of the biggest social networking channels available, with about 1.6 billion active users.

Believing that Facebook would help them reach their target audience, business owners would spend hours optimizing their Facebook ads and spend a sizeable budget for their ads. However, many of them end up getting frustrated because they’re not getting the results they hoped for.

Are your Facebook ads producing mediocre results? Take a closer look at your Facebook ad campaign to make sure you’re not falling prey to these mistakes.

Poor ad copy

When creating an ad, your goal is to convince people to perform the action you want them to do or to buy your product. Don’t expect your ad to perform if it is confusing, badly written or if it includes wrong spelling and bad grammar. Make it a habit to review you content before publishing it.

Your target audience is not properly defined

In order to get results, you need to target a specific group of people who’ll be interested to see your ad. Next time you run a Facebook ad, make sure you set the location and demographic like age and gender. This way, you can be sure that you’re putting ads in front of prospective customers who will be clicking your ads, and not wasting your money on people who might care.

No call-to-action

There are a few reasons why people may not be converting. One of them is due to the lack of call-to-action in your ad copy. Make sure you include a clear call-to-action so that people are directed to click on your link.

Your offer lacks value

With countless companies pushing ads across multiple channels, the digital marketing landscape has been saturated. As a result, users learn to scroll through ads that do not offer enough value to them. Most users will only click through the ad is worth their time to do so.

To get more clicks on your ad, you need to get to know your target audience and determine what they value. You have to offer something that would make them think it’s worth their time. A free e-book, a superior product, knowledge, a great sale or entertainment will make them want to click your ad.

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Tips for Creating a Powerful LinkedIn Profile

Creating a Powerful LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is the biggest social network for professionals. Statistics show that 2 people join LinkedIn every second. Many of them are looking to supercharge their career or business. Now, do you realize how many people you are up against?

Whether you’re networking, generating leads or job hunting, having an eye-catching professional profile on LinkedIn will increase the odds of potential clients, partners or employers getting in touch with you.

In this blog post, we have put together some tips that will help you amp up your profile. Use these tips to create a powerful LinkedIn profile that will get you noticed.

Have the right profile picture

Your profile photo is one of the most important parts of your profile. Why? It’s because people base their first impression on the photo they see on your profile.

Studies show that you’ll get 14 times more views than the competition if you have a great profile picture. Remember that LinkedIn caters to professionals, so choose a simple, professional shot. Reserve those selfies for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Make your headline standout

At the top of your profile, you are given 120 characters to tell the world what exactly it is that you do. Rather than just putting your job title, you want to use that space to showcase your specialty and value proposition. This is especially beneficial if you’re looking for jobs.

Create a killer summary

Your LinkedIn summary should be impressive, engaging and interesting to your reader. This is where you sell yourself and showcase your accomplishments. This is your chance to show the world how good you are and that you deserve their attention.

Include keywords

Optimize your profile by incorporating keywords that people are using to find someone like you. Place them in various sections of your profile such as the job title, headline, summary and specialties. This will ensure that you’ll get found by your target audience and your profile will perform well in search engines.

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New Webinar: What’s all the buzz about with Twitter?

Learn How to Use Twitter for Your Business

With over 500 MILLION tweets being sent each day, it is important you know how to use Twitter correctly so you see a return on your investment!
In this webinar, we will review the components of a profile and talk about images, tips, and tools to manage your Twitter profile!  RSVP today!

In this webinar, you will learn how to properly use Twitter for your business and WHY it is SO important! 

Join Amber Irwin, CEO on September 27th
3:30 MST for this FREE webinar!

When:
September 27th, 2016
Where:
Free Webinar – Details provided to RSVP’s
 Time:
3:30-4:15pm MST

Anyone with a computer and internet connection has the ability to manage a social media account. When done right, businesses can see huge boosts in brand recognition and sales. If managed poorly, social media can be the downfall of your business.

The BIMS Team prides itself on keeping on top of the best practices of digital marketing and Amber is excited to empower you to feel confident in showing you how to use Twitter for your business!

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Creative Ways to Repurpose Content into Something New

Creative Ways to Repurpose Content into Something New

Many of you have probably spent a lot of time creating those high quality blog posts. Despite the effort, most of your blog posts are aging like milk, not wine. Now, no one is interested in them because it has been years since you published them. The good news is that you can make your old content valuable and relevant through the process of re-purposing. The key is to spice up each piece of content and making it a bit different than the last.

Repurposing content can be beneficial for your business. It’s a second chance at content promotion. People who weren’t able to read your post will have a chance to read about it. It also ensures that great content is never forgotten. Ultimately, reformatting your content helps you reach a new audience.

In this blog post, we have listed 3 different ways to repurpose old content. Read on and we’ll breathe new life into your existing content.

Write an ebook

One of the best ways to repurpose old content is by turning it into an ebook. While writing an ebook requires a great deal of effort, they are often considered as high-value pieces. There are dozens of tools that can help you design and publish your ebook. Papyrus, for instance, can help you create a beautiful cover page within a few minutes.

You can either distribute it on the Amazon Kindle Store or as a free giveaway for those who would subscribe to your newsletters.

Create a video  

Online videos continue to grow in popularity with web users. A lot of people prefer watching a one-minute video than to read a 1,000 world blog post. Contents that you have previously published to your site can be a great jumping off point for a larger discussion. This allows you to open up a whole new way to connect with others, especially for your audience who prefers content they don’t have to read. You can post your videos on Youtube or Vimeo for maximum exposure.

Create an infographic

People love visual content. You can repurpose your content as an infographic and then share it on social media. Take boring information like statistics or raw data and turn it into an infographic. This is effective because it provides a fun and creative way to present complex information quickly and clearly.

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Why Social Media Is Important for Businesses

Why Social Media is Important for Business Over the last decade, social media has helped a lot of entrepreneurs grow their company. In fact, it is now considered as one of the most powerful digital marketing tools for businesses. 92% of business owners reported that social media has played a big role in their business’ success.

Here’s a look at the top benefits of social media for businesses.

Brand recognition

Because social media is used by more than 2/3 of the population, this is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to introduce your brand to your target audience.

If used correctly, social media can help you build a strong social media presence and connect with your current and prospective customers. We can guarantee, it is worth the time and effort.

Save money

For small businesses that are looking to spread the word about their brand and promote their products without having to spend a lot of money, social media is your best option.

Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn allow you to share content to your fans and potential customers absolutely free.

Increased traffic

Sharing relevant and informative content on social media can help you generate leads. Here, you are not only limiting your content to people who are already familiar with your brand. Rather, your goal is attract people who may be interested in what you have to offer and encourage them to visit your website. Make sure you supply them with interesting content, so they’ll keep coming back.

Improved customer service

We all know that businesses have a dedicated customer service department that consumers can reach via phone and email. But because most people want a quick response, they still choose to connect with businesses through social media.

Here, you can see question, comments and complains instantaneously. Plus, answering questions and settling complains publicly adds a level of transparency to your business. Remember, all eyes are on you, so make sure you handle issues professionally, politely and in a timely manner.

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How to Build a Social Media Following

How to Build a Social Media Following

Most business use social media to generate leads. But in order to make social media marketing work, you’ll need to have an audience. This means having some fans and followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media channels.

The number of fans and followers you have will give you an idea how big of an impact your message make. However, growing a social following can be quite frustrating, especially if you’re running a start-up business. But how do you build a social media following?

Here are some tips on how to get more followers on any social media channel.

Choose the right channels

One of the most important things you need to do is to decide which platforms are going to be right for your content. Twitter is an instantaneous outlet. LinkedIn favors professional content. Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook are more visual mediums.

Also, determine which social media networks your target audience use the most. There is nothing more frustrating than spending your time and resources, only to find out that you weren’t able to reach your target audience.

Interact with other users

Interact with your fans and follows on a regular basis. You can ask questions, answer questions, share some of their posts or encourage people to share yours. Also, take the opportunity to get involved in conversations. This will help you stay connected with your audience and not miss out on anything important.

Offer something unique

This is probably the most important thing you can do to acquire more fans and followers. Some people would post links to their work and promote their products in an attempt to get people to visit their site. But social media isn’t the place to advertise your products or services.

In order to capture the attention of your target audience, you need to make sure that you provide them with contents that are fresh, interesting and entertaining. Adding a picture to your posts can also make your posts standout and encourage people to follow you.

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4 Ways to Use Twitter for Business and Marketing

4 Ways to Use Twitter for Business and Marketing

Business of all sizes use Twitter for a variety of reasons – provide information, interact with their followers, promote their products and services, generate leads and monitor conversations about their company.

Maintaining an effective Twitter presence can be a powerful part of your marketing strategy. Despite its growing relevance, a lot of small businesses are still not using Twitter to its full potential.

In this blog post, we’ll teach you how to turn 140 characters into online marketing gold. Read on for some useful tips on how to use this popular social media platform for business and marketing.

Engage in two-way conversations

Twitter is a great platform to reach your audience. As a business owner, your goal for using social media is to build a community around your brand and to foster relationships.

Don’t go overboard with promoting your business. If you do so, people will stop following you. Keep an eye out for particular issues you could help with. Join the conversation and feel free to give some tips and advice.

Retweet

The last thing you want is to bombard people with tweets about your business. It is worthwhile to retweet particular tweets from other users that you find particularly useful or interesting. Sometimes, this encourages people to follow you. Plus, retweeting shows your followers that you’re also willing to share tips and advice, and you’re not just about flogging your products and services.

Customer service

80% of customer service interactions take place in social media. In fact, a lot of people post complaints and product queries on Twitter. Twitter is a great tool for customer service because it allows you to resolve issues in real time. Be sure to respond in a polite and professional manner. Don’t forget to thank the customer publicly once the problem is resolved.

Make twitter a daily activity

Social media marketing success does not happen overnight. You need to spend time posting updates, responding to DMs, thanking new followers, following new accounts, liking and re-tweeting other content and responding to other users.

Because twitter moves so quickly, it is not something you can handle whenever you have the time. Daily postings and engagement is important. Otherwise, people will forget about you.

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