Tag Archives: clients

The Power of an Automated Marketing and Sales Funnel

Wouldn’t it be great if your marketing and sales could run on autopilot?

Well with an automated sales funnel, they can! After an initial set-up, you can sit back, relax, and focus your attention on other marketing tasks.

An automated marketing and sales funnel allows you to work smarter, not harder. It can skyrocket your efficiency and effectiveness. If you aren’t using one already, it’s about time you hop aboard this train to growth!

The Sales Funnel

You’ve probably heard this phrase before. Many, many, many times I imagine. Let’s quickly debrief anyway.

A sales funnel is the journey people go through from first discovering your company to paying money for your goods/services. The stages go:

People become aware of your brand
People become interested in your brand
People have desire for what your brand offers
People take action (buying a product/service)

Not everyone makes it through every stage. That is why it’s a funnel – it’s largest at the top and becomes narrower as it goes down. As a marketer, your goal is to move as many people as possible through the funnel.

Automating the Funnel

Automation, when done well, can be a marketer’s best friend. First of all, it saves you an immense amount of time. Instead of you sitting down to individually send an email to people at each stage of the funnel, these emails can be sent automatically.

Second of all, it can improve your targeting efforts without any extra efforts on your end. For example, someone who opts-in to your social media newsletter gets a follow-up email offering them a discount for your social media services. Someone who opts-in to your business management newsletter gets a follow-up email offering them a discount for your upcoming leadership webinar. These targeted pitches can happen automatically.

How to Create Your Automated Email Funnel

The most common way to automate your marketing and sales funnel is with your email.

Creating awareness: Here you are hoping to stir up awareness of your brand. Many marketers will offer a free downloadable piece of content in exchange for someone’s email. Think case studies, guides, and other similar substantial pieces of content. The focus here is to get your company name in their memory and associate yourself within the industry. Nothing sales-y at all, yet!
Creating interest: Now you’ve gotten their email. Here you are hoping to keep their attention (since that “unsubscribe button” is all too easy to press). Send a follow-up email to those who subscribed giving them more helpful information. Nothing sales-y here either! The goal is to intrigue your audience about your brand by showing you know your stuff. Send an email with a round-up of useful articles on the given topic. Share valuable resources. Prove that your emails (and your company) offer value.
Creating desire: Now you’ve got a group of people who stayed on your email list. By now, you’ve sent a few useful emails. They are still intrigued by your company. Now you can start slipping in the sales-y content. Show off what your brand can do. Maybe it’s an email with testimonials of a product. Maybe it’s case studies of how companies benefited from your service. Draw a connection between your customer’s problem and your product/service as a solution.
Creating action. Now that you got your customers desiring your product/service, you can prompt action. Send an email that provides a discount for first time customers. Direct them to the sales page. Funnel those potential customers into becoming purchasing customers.

This process can be a highly effective one at generating more leads and more sales. You will need specialized tools to accomplish this (MailChimp is a common one). Look through different service options to find the best ones for your company. The key here is finding something that offers effective automation. You want a service allowing for targeted funnel creation (such as one path for first time customers and another path for repeat customers).

It’ll take some time at first to situate your funnel. But once you do, you can reap the rewards of automation! If you want help setting up your funnel, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We specialize in sales funnel services that can get your marketing thriving. Contact us today to find out more!

Why a Social Media Marketing Funnel is crucial for your Business

Your social media strategy is probably incomplete. Too many marketers create a plan designed to create a thriving social media presence with lots of followers and likes…and stop there.

Wait, isn’t that the point of social media marketing?

Not completely. It’s all well and good to have an active company social media presence. But a social media presence that is all buzz and no buying is a bust. The missing component for many marketers is a social media marketing funnel.

What the Funnel Is

The “sales funnel” is a buzzword in marketing, one that is thrown about so much it often loses its meaning. So let’s take a second to define it.

A sales funnel is the process where someone goes through the following steps:

Becoming aware of your brand
Becoming interested in your brand
Having desire for what your brand offers
Taking an action in accordance with your brand (such as buying your product/service)

The goal of course is to move as many people through the funnel as possible. In the perfect world, everyone who becomes aware of your brand eventually takes action.

But of course, that perfect world doesn’t exist. That’s why it’s a funnel – it’s largest at the top where people become aware of your brand. Fewer people eventually become interested. Fewer have desire. And fewer end up making that purchase.

Crucial action taken by you can help move along more people through your funnel.

Why You Need a Specific Social Media Sales Funnel

Social media is a unique beast. The tactics used here are not ones you would use in email marketing or when setting up a booth at an expo. This unique beast calls for a unique, tailored sales funnel.

When you create a social media sales funnel, you supercharge your social media marketing. No longer is it simply about growth. After all, growth can be overrated if that growth never leads to anything. It’s great to have 1,000 followers on your Facebook page, but what is that worth if none of them ever spend a dollar on your company?

When you use a social media sales funnel, you shift the focus. You keep that end point (making that moolah) in mind. This helps inform the work you do, making it more effective and strategic. It takes some effort. But it’s worth it.

How to Create a Social Media Sales Funnel

Building an effective social media sales funnel requires strategy at every stage of the customer journey. The first step is to generate that awareness by being where your target audience is. Take some time to identify which channels your target audience is and how to run yours effectively. All too often, marketers spread themselves too thin. It’s far better to be on two channels (but doing them right) than on five channels half-heartedly.

Once you know which channels to be on, you can work on generating that awareness. Facebook ads, for example, can help potential customers discover your page. When applicable, tag other organizations in your posts to help your posts show up on their followers’ pages. Cross promote your social channels through strategies like including the social links in your email signatures or newsletters.

The next stage is getting people interested in your brand. Create engaging posts that capture their attention (video can be a great tool for this). Showcase how you meet their needs. Push out relevant non-salesy content. Persuade them that your content is worth their precious time. Don’t make sales here yet, simply display your value.

The third stage is generating that desire for your brand’s services/products. Create posts that show exactly how you meet a given need. Promote an upcoming training event. Use your channels to push out the message that your company solves their problem.

The fourth stage is prompting that final action (usually a sale!). Make this as simple for customers as possible. Some platforms, like Pinterest, allow you to make posts that direct customers directly to the shopping cart for a given product.

Not all the sales in your social media funnel will happen directly through social media, whether it be a sale in the platform itself or clicking a link in the post itself. But social media can be a great tool getting customers to the other three stages of the funnel.

Take some time to establish tangible action steps you can take to nudge customers to each new stage of the funnel. This will help your marketing efforts be tailored and targeted, rather than focusing simply on building a presence and hoping it leads to sales down the road.

A social media marketing sales funnel is a crucial aspect of your social media marketing. If you want some assistance creating and improving yours, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We offer sales funnel services to help grow your business. Check them out today!

6 LinkedIn Secrets to Help You Gain More Exposure…and Clients

LinkedIn is a valuable, but often overlooked, resource. With minimal effort, you can drastically improve your profile exposure. Take advantage of these LinkedIn secrets to increase your profile views.

Make your profile rich with keywords. When the keywords on your profile and the keywords individuals are searching match, you rank higher in the search and gain more exposure. It is important to integrate quality keywords throughout your profile, but be sure you avoid too many keywords (which can make your profile a dry read). You really want to think about what your audience is looking for and write for that. Answer those questions, and use those words. Utilize a few strategies to establish the best keywords for you. First, brainstorm words and phrases likely to be searched by the individuals you want viewing your profile. Second, read through profiles of leaders in your target markets to find common keywords they use. Third, examine keywords used in job postings by your target employers. Integrate these keywords throughout your profile, from your specialties section to your link descriptions.
Promote your LinkedIn profile elsewhere. Include a link to your profile on your Twitter account, Facebook account, Google+ account, your website, your email signature, and your business cards. Make sure people can easily find you on LinkedIn.
Take advantage of the reciprocation principle. Psychology research shows we have a strong internal desire to reciprocate. It is a survival mechanism for our species (I can help you by sharing food, protecting you, etc. without worrying I am losing because I know you will return the favor). It’s also a great way to get recommendations and endorsements. Spend some time filling these gems out for others, and soon your profile will be filled with them too.
Interact often in groups. Actively participate in group discussions relevant to your industry. Before you post, however, familiarize yourself with the group’s tone. Get a feel for the posting style (is it formal or casual?), structure of successful posts (do they tend to be questions or pieces of advice?), and length of posts and responses (are they usually short, medium, or long?). Getting a sense of the group’s dynamic will help you better craft responses, and in turn, see better engagement from group members. Find a few key groups in your industry and begin interacting regularly. Your regular contribution can turn into group members viewing your profile.
Publish articles regularly. Posts are connected to your profile, making it easy for those who read your posts to view your profile. It’s a simple way to get more eyes on your profile. You can also share posts in your LinkedIn groups as an easy way to offer something of value to the group. Posts don’t need to be long to be of value to your audience, and you can always rework posts from your website. For more insight into the benefits of blog publishing, and tips on generating ideas, check out our blog post.
Post status updates regularly. Share industry-related articles, ask an insightful question, anything to keep your LinkedIn page active and providing value to its viewers.

LinkedIn is a valuable social media tool, both for the employee and the business he/she works for. If you want to improve your LinkedIn marketing, but need assistance, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We’d love to help with this or any aspect of small business building. Just reach out with an email or phone call today!

3 Step Recipe to Building a Kick Ass Team That Matches your Core Values

Think of your ideal virtual business like a delicious brownie. You’ll need the right amount of different but complementary ingredients like flour and chocolate. These are the positions and skill sets of your employees. You’ll need the right cooking process, like the stirring and heating; these are the actions taken by you and your employees. And you’ll need a good recipe to guide you to the end result; this is an articulation of your core values for your organization to uphold. When the ingredients and process match the recipe, you get a delectable brownie. When your employees and their actions match your values, you get team authenticity and trust.

Why is cohesion of core values so important? First imagine what happens when conflicting values are at play. Employees who value efficiency over relationship building won’t engage authentically when a boss encourages small talk among the team. A company that values timeliness will encounter conflict with an employee who sees deadlines as suggestions. Employees utilizing different values when handling customer service issues will undermine company consistency, which will negatively impacts the company brand.

These issues can become even more common and even more impactful with a virtual team, which by its nature works apart as much as it works together. While employees collaborate on projects, the majority of the work and communication occurs online. A need for consistency and cohesion is stronger when employees are scattered across the earth.

Now imagine what happens when employees are in sync with the organization’s values. Everything becomes easier! There’s no conflict over clashing values. Employees all prioritize the same values when making decisions, creating cohesion and unity among the team. The common understanding of the organization’s values helps build a consistent brand. The end result? The delicious brownie.

So how do you get this delicious brownie? You need a recipe, the ingredients, and the process.

Step 1: Articulate Your Core Values

This is the writing the recipe stage, where you’re figuring out what you want the end result to look like. Explicitly stating the core values is the guiding direction to the authenticity and trust in a team, just like writing baking steps is the guiding direction to a delectable brownie.

For some inspiration, check out these core values from big organizations.

Starbucks “Contribute positively to our communities and our environment”
Procter and Gamble “We have a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo”
Quicken Loans “Responding with a sense of urgency is the ante to play”
Wells Fargo “Exceed the expectations of internal and external customers-surprise and delight them”
Zappos “Embrace and drive change”
Google “It’s best to do one thing really really well”

Step 2: Find Team Members With Those Core Values

This is the ingredient gathering stage. Hire individuals who embody your core values. Granted it’s tough to know from an interview whether someone holds the same values. But there are some ways to find out. Question their references and ask for specific examples of values at play. In the interview ask the individual to articulate their top three values. Describe a scenario where values are at play, and see which the interviewee prioritizes.

Step 3: Establish and Reinforce Those Core Values

This is the stirring, mixing, pouring, and heating of the brownie batter stage. Here are several steps you can take to reinforce values in your organization:

Articulate in writing the organization’s core values and distribute to employees. Write out the top values and provide examples of them at play. If your company values time with family, for example, write out how employees should not hesitate requesting a day off to care for sick child.
Model the values you want your employees to adopt. Be sure to showcase through your own actions the core values. Whenever possible, explain the thought process behind your decisions. For example, saying reliability is a key aspect of our customer service so disciplinary action will be in place if too many deadlines are missed.
Be intentional with communication. When we lose nonverbals (like tone and posture) in online communication, we attribute more meaning to the nonverbals we are left with (like emoticons, punctuation, and phrasing). If you want to create a more relaxed atmosphere, throw in smiley faces to the emails. If you want a more professional atmosphere, keep conversation concise and formal. Let these expectations be known.
Focus on the process, not just the results. Bosses who narrowly focus on results don’t care how it gets done, just that it does get done. Employees internalize this mentality and will often lose sight of company values (learning and improving one’s work, positive collaboration with team members, etc.) while they work for the results. As much as possible, reinforce values in your employees’ process.
Praise examples of employees’ modeling the values. If you value timeliness and an employee consistently turns in work on or before the deadline, reference this work ethic in an employee of the month dedication or a “gold star” email.

A virtual team is a great opportunity to run a business with more efficiency and employee freedom, but it does come with challenges. We can enable you to tackle those hurdles through our many services, from online business management strategy and implementation to administrative services. Give a call or shoot us an email today!

9 Ways to Deal with Challenging Clients

When you work in the world of online business, dealing with difficult clients comes with the territory. While it can be incredibly frustrating interacting with these individuals, there are some simple proactive and reactive tactics you can use to make things easier on all parties involved.

Proactive Tactics

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure right? Try these ideas to help prevent possible situations before they develop.

Create guidelines about communication. One source of conflict is differing expectations about communication, like the client who expects you to respond at odd hours, weekends, or holidays. Sure that’s a reasonable request when dealing with
crisis communication, but not when it’s dealing with subjects that can wait until traditional work hours. In your initial meetings with clients, provide clear “office hours” that they can expect to be able to reach you. This helps ensure all parties involved are on the same page for what’s reasonable to expect when it comes to communication.
Make clients articulate what they expect from you. This can create an open dialect in case there are any clarifications that need made. Conflict can arise when clients claim your finalized work isn’t what they wanted, or when clients demand you deliver more than the scope of your original agreement. Get clients to explicitly state in as much detail as possible what they are envisioning for the project to minimize the possibilities of expectations not being met. Some clients struggle with expressing what they want, and asking them to express what they wouldn’t want can be a helpful exercise to help them better communicate their expectations.
Provide clear timelines. As much as you can, from the beginning, give clients a timeline of the project with checkpoints along the way. Letting clients know upfront how long they can expect a project to take can help prevent clients expecting unreasonable deadlines to be met, and it provides them with peace of mind that you can gauge how long components of the project will take.
Keep careful records. Hopefully you won’t ever need to refer back to them with your client, but easy access to contracts, client emails, and the like will be important in case there is a disagreement on logistical details, such as fees or what you agreed to do for them.
Provide reports to your clients. These can be weekly, monthly, or quarterly depending on the project or client. The report serves as a detailed summary of what you’ve accomplished and what your plans moving forward in the project are, which again provides peace of mind to your client while continually showing all the value you provide.

Reactive Tactics

Alright so now your client is upset. Here are some tips to diffuse the situation.

Make the client feel listened to. Just like in romantic relationships, sometimes it’s less about being right and more about protecting the relationship. Even if your client is overreacting, make sure they walk away from the conversation feeling
heard. You can use phrases like, “I’m sorry you feel that way, that must be frustrating,” or “I can see why that would upset you” to show you empathize with them. After they explain their viewpoint, articulate back to them what you think their viewpoint is to showcase you understand their perspective.
Steer clients toward specifics. When clients get upset, they often start using sweeping statements such as, “it’s always causing me problems” or “it’s never ready when I need it.” Gently encourage clients to articulate the specific problem to help move the focus away from the “always” and “nevers” and to the problem at hand. Then articulate a specific solution and ask them if it addresses his or her concerns.
Distinguish between a situational conflict and personality clash. Sometimes the problem is not an external scenario you can solve. Some people just butt heads. If it’s possible to switch the client to another staff member, consider giving the client to them. You can ask the client who they would rather work with to let them feel like they have control of the situation. This can be hard, but sometimes it is best. Don’t take it personally. Really, not everyone can get along.
Remember cutting ties is an option. Hopefully it will never need to come to this, but in some cases, it is warranted. You have to weigh the benefits of the client against
the stress, emotional exhaustion, time, and so that it takes to deal with a difficult client. If you’ve tried a variety of approaches and nothing works, you can rest easy knowing you did everything you could to make it work but it wasn’t meant to be. Let the relationship go and focus your energy where it should go: the clients who are willing to work with you!

Dealing with difficult clients can be a challenge. If you need help with client communication, or any aspect of online business building, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! Just give us a call or send us an email.

9 Brain Foods That Will Improve Your Productivity at Work

Did you know that the foods you eat could have a significant impact on your brain and motivation? Eating the right foods throughout the day can increase brainpower, motivation and overall productivity by 20%. I know it may not seem like much, but it is a significant increase! If you’ve noticed you’ve been a little more sluggish at work lately, consider adding these superfoods to your daily diet. I’ve also included a couple simple recipes that combines these super foods together!

Eggs

Eggs are one of the best nutritional foods you can eat. Eggs are high in choline, which is a nutrient that studies have shown to improve memory. Eggs sell a variety of vitamins but most notably B5 and B12. These vitamins release energy from food and assist with brain nervous system function. Eggs also have vitamin A which plays a critical role in maintaining healthy vision, neurological function, healthy skin, and more.

As if eggs couldn’t seem more nutritionally rich, they are an excellent source of protein that can help sustain energy levels and stave off hunger throughout the day.

Greek Yogurt

All yogurts are excellent sources of calcium, potassium, protein, zinc, and vitamins B6 and B12. However Greek yogurt contains probiotic cultures and is lower in lactose and has twice the protein content of regular yogurts. Additionally, in a small study, researchers at UCLA found that eating probiotic yogurt twice a day can reduce activity in the part of your brain that registers pain and emotion. Scientists have also begun to draw links between consuming probiotics and thinking fewer sad thoughts

Salmon

Fatty fishes are excellent for promoting productivity! Salmon, however, is the best of them all. Salmon has high omega-3 fatty acids content, which is useful for improving memory and mental performance. These fatty acids can help depression and fatigue, which can both inhibit productivity immensely. Fish has also been proven to improve concentration and your overall mood. Other fatty fish include trout, mackerel, herring, sardines, pilchards, and kipper. Although eating freshly prepared fish is the best method, a fish oil supplement can be taken to achieve a similar result.

Raw Almonds

Raw almonds are among the healthiest of tree nuts. Almonds rank highest in protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin E, riboflavin and niacin content. The fiber, protein and fat content of almonds means it only takes a handful to keep you feeling full and satisfied to hold you over until lunch time! Why raw almonds? Both raw and roasted almonds pack a high dose of nutrients and minerals. However, raw almonds have more naturally occurring beneficial fats—which are lost in the roasting process.

Avocado

Avocados are a natural stimulant for promoting blood flow. Consistent blood flow through your heart and brain fires up your brain cells. This is another healthy, fiber packed fat that improves your overall focus. The best part? There’s so many delicious ways to prepare an avocado but their buttery flavor is amazing on their own!

Blueberries

Antioxidant-rich foods are exceptional for increasing memory. Not only will blueberries help your brain function in the workplace today, it will help to prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in the future. The antioxidants in blueberries stimulate the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain – and keeps the mind fresh. Generally, the darker the berry is, the higher antioxidant property it contains, which means more productivity-boosting ingredients.

Matcha Green Tea

Green tea is a natural energy enhancer and it comes without the negative side effects of other energy sources, such as the caffeine crash you get from coffee or energy drinks. However, the best (and more delicious) way to consume green tea is Matcha. Matcha is unique because it’s the entire leaf ground into a fine powder then made into a creamy tea, whereas other teas the leaves are steeped in hot water. By consuming the leaf as a whole, it provides fiber and polyphenols, a family of powerful antioxidants. It’s also a lot tastier—green tea ice cream is made from Matcha and if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.

Bananas

Glucose turns into energy, and bananas are some of the best resources for that energy-inducing ingredient. A single banana holds the daily amount of glucose your body needs, and it’s a much healthier way to get it than excessive carbs and cane sugars. Bananas are also filling, which means that you’ll be able to focus better between meals if you snack on this rather than something else. Bananas are also a great source of potassium which helps blood pressure, anxiety and stress and helps to enhance muscle strength, metabolism, water balance, electrolytic functions, and nervous system.

Water

Finally, water. Now I know this isn’t a food, but it is important to mention that the amount of water intake significantly influences your health and productivity. Our body is made up of over 70% water and throughout the day, the water in our body slowly depletes. If you don’t drink enough water to replenish the lost liquid, your brain and other functions suffer the consequences. By devoting the energy to ensure you are drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day will give your brain the fuel it needs to be more focused and think more clearly.

Give these foods a go and see if you have noticed an improvement in your productivity. I certainly have! Below are links to a couple of my favorite recipes that combine several of these foods and are super easy to make!

Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, blueberries, and granola (I prefer sliced or slivered almonds)

Avocado toast with sunny side up egg

The Dirty Truths Nobody Told You About Hosting a Virtual Summit

All this talk about hosting a virtual summit has you excited. What you don’t know are the dirty truths most people fail to mention. If you dive into a virtual summit without being prepared, you will end up in over your head. Virtual Summits take months of planning and organizing to successfully execute. I can’t stress enough that you won’t be able to complete a virtual summit by yourself. You will drive yourself crazy without some additional support!

Here are a few areas that we know from experience it is great to bring in another set of eyes on.

#1 Test Equipment in Advance

This seems like a no-brainer but as a small business owner, it’s easy to put the equipment aside, forget about it and worry about all the other things on your to-do list. Then when push comes to shove, you set up last minute only to find out– %$#@! Technical difficulties! Please get your video, microphone, and programs all set-up well in advance and practice using them with friends and coworkers! That way if you come across any issues you can call over your techie friends to help you set it up and you’ll know how everything works before the big day comes. It is best to make sure you are super confident in the technology. You don’t want technology to be a stressor when you are trying to rock it!

#2 Customer Support

Summits aren’t an evening task. They take time. You will be out of office for a good period of time so who is going to hold down the fort and answer to those emails while you’re away? What all the offers or details you are selling? The people trying to connect but are having trouble? Someone needs to be on call for customer support. Your people want answers! Have help with your customer service, and make sure that person is in the loop of the product/service so they can best help your audience. Your customer support team is the first touch to the business. Make it great! Be sure to plan for this well in advance so you can relax during your summit and not worry whether your business will still be there when you get back!

#3 Design/Marketing Campaign & Promotion

Let’s face it, you’re not a jack of all trades, and you are definitely not a designer! Designing and digital marketing are really in-depth processes, and when they are done right, it is very successful! Leave this to the pros to help promote your virtual summit. This will be the face of your summit and you want to look professional and have eye-catching branding and design.

#4 Website & eCommerce

You will be busy planning content for your upcoming interviews and you’re not about to dive into all that code jumble! It is important that your summit/membership website and ecommerce for both are all set up and running correctly well in advance. Find a developer who can support you and execute this correctly. The last thing you need is frustrated customers who can’t buy your All-Access Pass which means lost revenue for you!

#5 Schedule Planning and Organizer

Different States, Countries, and Time zones – Oh my! The number of guests you will be interviewing during your summit may be shocking. Four to Five speakers will not suffice. Expect to be interviewing around 25-30 people in your industry. Trying to schedule and plan interviews with this number of people from all around the world is no task for you! Let someone else take this lead and set up these meetings for you.

#6 The Aftermath

Congrats you successfully made it through your summit, which means you get to jump right back into your normal routine. WRONG! You still need to consider sending out thank you notes to all the speakers and make sure your all-access pass members have sufficient customer support. Did they get their log-in information? Can they log-in? Can they access the content? This is where a customer support specialist will aid you otherwise you will lose your mind trying to answer all the tickets. Not to mention the thank-you letters…that’s 30 letters you need to write! Maybe that is best handed off to an assistant who can help execute those letters.

Whew! Exhausted yet? This is what I am saying, you need to enlist help to make sure the overall summit is outstanding and you look amazing. Make sure you have the right team in place to manage that-you can always contact us at Alpine Small Business Solutions.

5 Ways A Virtual Summit Can Increase Your Income in 90 Days or Less

Your small business has been going great: steady income, returning clients, your email list is now considerable, you have an interactive and large social media following. Great! However, in the last few months you noticed a decrease in growth. You’re not losing, but you’re not gaining either. Everything was growing rapidly. So, what gives?

It’s not uncommon for businesses to hit a plateau. The good news is, there’s a few things you can do to get out of this rut! One of the best ways I’ve found is to host a virtual summit. If you don’t know what a virtual summit is, it’s essentially an online conference. The host is the one who organizes and brings experts together for interviews. The catch, however, is that the summit is only broadcasted for a certain period for online attendees to watch and learn from.

Live streaming and limited-time broadcasting is a great tool to add to your marketing tool box. The limited aspect of these brings urgency amongst your potential attendees which make them more likely to act on it. Television has been using this tactic for ages! How often have you heard someone say, “I have to be home by 8pm to catch the season finale of -insert tv show here-!”

Here’s five ways you can use a virtual summit to increase your income in under 90 days!

#1 All-Access Pass

An all-access pass is to your virtual summit as Netflix is to tv shows. This is the most popular way you can increase your revenue via virtual summits. Some people will not able to attend your virtual summit during your limited broadcasting event due to a busy schedule, sickness, or anything else life throws their way. However, these customers still crave the information!

Free ticket holders can view the broadcast for a limited time, which in turn peaks interest in an all-access pass, which is a membership area containing all the video content, so that they do not miss a single interview! Another tip is to use price-increases for all-access passes. By increasing the price when your summit starts and when it ends, you can encourage more people to buy.

To further increase urgency and to encourage purchases, you can try offering a limited quantity of all-access passes.

#2 Order Add-Ons

An order add-on is an offer asking the customer if they would like to add an item to their cart prior to check-out. Another wonderful way to increase your income with virtual summits are add-ons. This can be a product you already have that is relevant to their interests, or a product exclusive to the virtual summit. You might want to consider offering a small discount for orders over a specified dollar amount to encourage order add-ons!

#3 Sponsorships

In essence, your virtual summit is an event. This is an amazing opportunity for companies to financially support you in exchange for publicity. There’s a few ways in which you can implement this, either by displaying their logo on your home page or making mention during your interviews.

#4 Physical Products

I can’t express enough how important branding is! Branding your virtual summit and producing and selling items like t-shirts, pens, hats, or other merchandise will help build brand awareness for both your business and virtual summit. Loyal customers will be happy to rock your swag which doubles as free advertisement!

#5 New Product/Service

After your summit is done broadcasting, you will have a shiny, new, email list of followers! They will be enthusiastic to learn more about your topic and seek more of the content you offer. This is absolutely a great opportunity to influence this email list and launch a new product or service for them. A great idea is to create your virtual summit around new products or services you wish to incorporate so that you continue to build interest and grow your audience!

Ready to try a summit? Give us a call and we will be happy to help.

A Case for Marketing with Promotional Products

In today’s fast paced digital world, the best form of advertising is online and social media right?

Wrong.

In many cases, you are better off marketing with promotional products. You know, those pens/bags/shirts/mugs/other random assortment of items branded with a company’s name and logo.

Sure, you may roll your eyes a bit when you get a pen from your dentist. Gee thanks I’ve always wanted a dentist pen. But you still own the pen don’t you? And you still see that dentist don’t you?

The promotional products industry is valued to be more than $21 billion for one clear reason: it works.

There are a number of reasons why your small business can benefit from marketing with promotional products.

More Bang for Your Buck

The cost per impression tends to be among the lowest for promotional products compared to other methods of advertising.

The breakdown goes:

Newspapers: 3.2¢

Prime-time TV: 2.5¢

Targeted mobile: 1¢

Internet: .7¢

Promotional product: .7¢

For highly cost effective marketing, go with Internet or promotional products. But as the following reasons show, promotional products often edge out Internet in other arenas.

Customers View Promotional Products Highest

When ranking different forms of advertising, consumers rank promotional products as the most highly regarded form. Internet advertising came in sixth and mobile advertising came in seventh. Put your money where the consumer trust is.

Customer Generation

Promotional products help at every stage of customer generation.

For raising awareness among the target audience, promotional products lead to 22% more referrals and 14% more leads. Promotional products also help increase response rates to direct mail marketing by 50%.

Promotional products create a favorable view of the company in 76% of people.

For turning leads into customers, promotional products turn 52% of people into customers.

Promotional products help you reach your target audience, woo your target audience, and convert your target audience into customers.

Customers Better Remember Your Company

Consumers remember your company better when it shows up as a promotional product over other forms of advertising.

They say 76.1% of consumers can remember the company name off of a promotional item given to them in past year. Only 53% could remember from a TV or print ad they saw in the last month. A mere 27% could recall from an online ad.

There are a few possible explanations for this discrepancy. Customers are blasted with online ads every day, so they learn to tune them out (or install ad blocker). Customers are not bombarded with promotional products daily, so the ad stands out.

Promotional products also lead to repeat exposure, while an online, TV, or print ad does not. There, the customer sees the ad once. With a promotional product, they can see it multiple times. About 73% of consumers used the promotional product in the last week and 45.2% used it at least once a day. And 58% of consumers keep the promotional product from between one year to four years. That’s a lot of exposure, helping customers better remember your company.

A Case for Promotional Products

Choosing the right advertising medium for your company is a never ending quest. Various factors affect the “best” option at this given moment: the budget, the campaign project, the target audience, etc.

Promotional products are unfortunately often overlooked as a solution in today’s electronic world, but they should not be. Promotional products may be exactly what you need for marketing your company! That simple pen/bag/shirt/mug/other random item could be the ticket to capturing the attention (and the payment) of your target audience.

If you want assistance implementing a promotional product marketing campaign, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! Just give us a call or shoot us an email to get started.