How to Write a Great Email Signature

by Jack Smith | Jun 7, 2021 | Blog Post, Digital Marketing, Digital Publishing, Email, Email Marketing, Marketing

How to Write a Great Email Signature

Is your email signature sending the right message?

While it might seem like a small detail, your email signature reflects on both you and your brand — and it’s important to get it right. Doing so lends more authority to your outreach, and it can also have a major effect on your email response rates.

Here’s what you need to know about acing your sign-off, including some essential do’s and don’ts.

Why Your Email Signature Matters
There are a number of benefits to hitting the sweet spot with your email signature:

It tells recipients exactly who you are.
It further establishes brand identity.
It provides recipients with necessary contact information.
It provides your email with more authority.

From cold prospecting emails to brand newsletters, including a well thought-out signature is key to contact recognition, as well as to creating emails that convert.

Email Signature Do’s and Don’ts
Take the guesswork out of a great signature by following these do’s and don’ts.

Do link to your website. This gives recipients an easy way to connect your name to your brand.
Don’t forget the basics. Even the fanciest of signatures still need to include your name, job title, and a way to get in touch. A headshot can be a great addition too.
Do include links to social. Give your recipients a fast way to follow up — or give you a follow — on your social media pages.
Don’t use emojis (in most cases). An emoji may come off a bit too unprofessional, especially in certain industries.

Design and Topography Ideas
You’ve got lots of options when it comes to design. Here are some great examples to get you inspired:

Do’s and Don’ts of SMS Marketing

by Jack Smith | Apr 20, 2021 | blog, Digital Marketing, Marketing, SMS Marketing, Text Marketing

Reach Your Customers With Text Messaging

Is your business making good use of SMS marketing?

Text messages can be a great tool for brands. Done right, they’re a fast and direct way to stay connected with your audience, share promotions and collect data on consumer preferences. Done wrong though, they can come off as overly pushy — or worse, even a little bit off-putting.

To help you find the balance, here are the do’s and don’ts of SMS marketing you need to know:

DO require opt-in and consent.
Just because customers give you their phone number doesn’t mean they’re providing consent for marketing texts. Require a direct opt-in so that your customers are more engaged (and happier to hear from you).

DON’T text just to text.
While SMS marketing is ideal for brand awareness, it’s not just for saying “hey” and checking in. There should be a reason behind every text you send, such as announcing a sale or sharing a discount code.

DO allow replies.
If your customer has a question or comment in response to your text, make sure there’s a method for responding. A marketing automation platform will help you do this and will ensure you can easily monitor incoming and outgoing messages.

DON’T overdo it.
Texting too often is pretty much a guaranteed way to get people to unsubscribe. Measure out your frequency and work on finding that sweet spot between texting too often and not enough. (Hint: Look at your engagement rates; if they’re going down, it might be due to your frequency one way or the other.)

Conclusion.
SMS marketing can look spammy and has to be done both carefully and legally. In all, it has come a long way over the past several years. The good news is that people are using their smartphones more than ever before. SMS is an efficient way to directly communicate with customers, once they op-in to your updates and special offers to increase sales. Netflix and Redbox do a great job using SMS marketing. Why not your business?

Need more SMS marketing advice? Get in touch and we can help.

4 Secrets to a Great Landing Page

by Jack Smith | Mar 1, 2021 | blog, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Responsive Website Design

Landing pages have one goal: convert. Done right, they can be a huge driver of lead generation for your brand. But landing pages that are poorly executed don’t have much to offer — for you or your audience.

Whether you’re creating a new landing page from scratch or are looking to improve an existing one, here are four tips to help you knock it out of the park.

1. Ace Your Headline

A great headline sets the tone for what does (or doesn’t) happen next. Keep it concise and on-brand, and make sure that it accurately conveys what the user will find on the page — such as a gated asset, special promotion or webinar access.

2. Use Simple but Attractive Design Elements

There are a lot of places where your brand can show off its graphic design skills, but with landing pages, simpler is usually better. Use your landing page design to reinforce your brand identity but avoid making it overcomplicated.

3. Write Clear Copy

Your landing page copy should be clear and concise, describing the features and benefits behind its purpose. Keep it skimmable, using creative formatting to highlight your key points.

4. Have a Strong CTA

The primary intent of a landing page is to drive action. Instead of leaving visitors to figure out what you want them to do, create a strong CTA that’s easy to spot. This can make or break your conversion rates, so consider A/B testing CTA language and placement to get it right.

Want more landing page advice? Get in touch and we can help.

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Six (6) Reasons Why You Should Have Google Reviews Embedded Into Your Existing or New Website

by Jack Smith | Feb 11, 2021 | blog, Digital Marketing, Marketing

Google Reviews is a great tool for any business wanting to expand its potential customers. It can give a big credibility score to a brand without the need to spend much time and money. In these recent times where everything is digital, you need to step up your game if you want to advance your business. Maximizing the use of Google reviews by having them embedded into your website gives your business a huge advantage over your competitors. The power of positive reviews, particularly in today’s online world, is smart. That is why your business will need a good strategy on how to best utilize Google reviews to help drive more success your way. This article focuses on the six (6) reasons why you should utilize Google Reviews to better promote your business, with one new and exciting option of having LIVE Google Reviews embedded into your existing or future website.

Here are Top Reasons Why You Need Google Reviews Now:

1. Customer Trust

With the changing consumer behavior nowadays, people are more concerned with transparency when it comes to business. Consumers tend to associate transparency with the accessibility of information by any given business. Some of them conduct thorough research about the company or business before deciding to buy their products or service.

According to recent studies, around 88% of consumers read reviews in order to determine the quality and credibility of a given business. A big chunk of this research is mostly done through Google reviews. Recent surveys also imply that 72% of consumers assert that positive reviews make them trust the business more. Thus making a great opportunity for businesses to achieve a competitive advantage over competitors through Google reviews.

2. Transparency

If you respond to Google reviews, you are also telling your consumers in a way that you want to stay transparent. Maintaining transparency in your business is essential especially with the rampant privacy issues surfacing over the years. Without transparency, you will not be able to establish trust with your customers and brand loyalty. Aside from that, transparent and honest reviews will allow your business to offer peace of mind to your consumers. Staying open and transparent offers social proof that your business is indeed trustworthy.

3. Search Engine Optimization and Online Exposure

In the online world, search engine optimization (SEO) is a vital tool if you want to step up your digital marketing strategy. People online use Google to search for answers every day. In order to be visible to your potential customers, you need to optimize your content in order to gain a higher rank on search engines. If you rank high, Google tells the consumers that you are a trusted source.

When it comes to Google reviews, using this tool can increase your SEO. Google has a complex search algorithm. Though this is the case, Google reviews have a great impact on Google Search. Around 9% of its search algorithm is directed by review signals similar to those with Google reviews. These signals are mostly focused on the number of reviews (quantity), the speed you receive reviews (velocity), and various sources your reviews come from (diversity). It can help your business rank higher over competitors on the search page. We have noticed that client sites that have been embedded with their Google Reviews have experienced a nice bump in their search rankings.

4. Brand Awareness & Recognition

When your local SEO improves, you are also expanding your online exposure. The longer time people see your business name, the more likely they will recognize and remember your business. Improving your brand awareness can help you remain on top of the customers’ minds. If you have a limited budget for your marketing and advertising campaigns, a Google review is a great resource. If you encourage your customer to leave reviews, you can increase your brand awareness and you will be able to keep up with your competitors.

5. Website Traffic

Having Google reviews can likely increase the number of visitors to your website. Leading someone to click on your link through a search engine will help you increase your website traffic. This will tell Google that you are a credible and relevant source, thus improving your SEO ranking. When you increase your Google review, you are also improving your click-through rate. These Google reviews can help you increase your website clicks. As a result, you are able to encourage more people to visit and explore your website and help them learn more about your business.

Aside from that, you can also use Google Reviews as additional social proof for your website by embedding them on your site. These Google reviews are actual reviews from your Google My Business page so no need to update them since it’s fully automated.

It’s a simple yet powerful way of getting customers to trust your brand the moment they open your website and learn more about what you do and how you do it.

6. Return on Investment (ROI)

Most people buy products and services from businesses they trust. If they are searching from brands they have never heard of before, the tendency is that they will look for legit and valid reviews. They tend to read online reviews from verified customers and purchasers in order to determine if the product or service is indeed worth every penny. When a potential customer clicks to your website, they will be able to see what your business can offer. They will be enticed to buy and avail of such service.

Another advantage of Google reviews is that it can increase conversions. When customers find you as a top-rated business, they will be inclined to trust you and as a result, they will be enticed to buy from you. Since you did not spend expensive campaigns nor advertising, you will then improve your return on investment (ROI) with that purchase. Embedding your Google Reviews on your site is a one-time fee.

Final Thoughts

In summary, Google reviews can certainly improve three key areas of your business. These are brand awareness and trust, search engine optimization, and feedback. Using Google reviews is a great way to help your business step up, especially in the online world we live in. Google reviews come with excellent advantages that you can use. Missing out on this resource can be a drawback since your competitors may be using this one too. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, then boost your awareness, website traffic, and sales with an active and consistent Google Reviews marketing program.

Smith Marketing, utilizing special software, can embed LIVE Google Reviews into your website, whether on an existing page or on a new reviews web page. This one-time service fee will publish your actual Google Reviews on your website. It’s also auto-updating, so immediately after a new review is published on Google, it will show up on your site. The software also gives you the ability to show only 4 and 5-star reviews if you prefer. Contact Smith Marketing for more details and pricing on this unique marketing opportunity.

5 Ways To Help Bounce Back From The Pandemic

by Jack Smith | Jan 11, 2021 | blog, Digital Marketing, Marketing

The year 2020 was like nothing that we’ve experienced in our lifetime. It was a year of economic collapse and all industries were affected by it. Businesses were closing down, travel restrictions were imposed, and the spending habits of consumers totally changed.

But pharmaceutical companies have started developing vaccines just a few months after the pandemic broke out so we can expect that towards the end of 2021, the vaccines would be fully distributed to all Americans and that the economy will be bouncing back.

However, the damage has been done and it’s not that easy for businesses to just get back into the market after months of economic collapse. We’ve listed down some helpful tips on how to help your business bounce back from the pandemic.

1. Adopt Remote Working

The pandemic has forced a lot of companies to allow their employees to have a “work at home” setup in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines. The result was that it gave companies some breathing room to operate at a minimal level just to keep the entire business alive until everything goes back to normal.

However, what most companies don’t know is that remote working actually helps increase efficiency and productivity. Even before the pandemic, remote working has already been adopted by most businesses especially in the digital marketing industry.

It’s already a tried and tested work setup so it’s just about time that businesses catch up to it. What remote working does is that it lessens operational costs such as rent or bills since your employees would be working at home.

Now, if you had some expansion plans before the pandemic took over, you might need to go back to the drawing board and apply a “work from home” setup for your business. Also, there are productivity benefits that come with it too! According to a recent study, remote employees actually work 1.4 more days per month compared to regular office employees. It’s because employees can work around the clock to get tasks done and they’re not constrained to set work hours.

2. Stick To Repeat Customers

You’ve probably lost a lot of customers during the crisis and now you’re itching to gain more customers to bring the sales back up again. However, now is not the best time to go hunting for new customers because you’d have to set up a new sales funnel all over again – which is pretty expensive.

Why not focus on existing customers? Go after customers who have already come across your product at least a few times. For example, if you’re running Facebook Ads, you can retarget audiences who have already seen your past videos before. Now, if you’re running a physical store, why not create a promotion for existing customers like discounts and sales to encourage repeat purchases.

Another great idea would be setting up a customer loyalty program. All big and small businesses do it so you should too. It can be as simple as a loyalty card where you provide incentives to customers for every purchase they make.

3. Provide More Employee Benefits

2021 is the best time to scale your business and if you have plans to do it, it’s important to consider that you’d need more employees to help you operate your business. But you need to consider these questions first – What sets you apart from other employers? What will make your employees stay with your company? What makes you an attractive employer to job seekers?

Obviously, higher salaries would be the answer but since you’re slowly bouncing back from a pandemic, it’s not really a good financial decision to do it. The most cost-effective way of providing incentives is by introducing employee benefits such as health insurance, housing loans, paid vacation, and more. Reward and recognition programs are also helpful because it motivates employees to reach a certain level of performance.

Sometimes, the best talents in the market aren’t really after high salaries, what they’re after is flexibility, security, and a good working atmosphere. Just make sure that you’re sticking to a certain budget when you do offer these benefits.

4. Digitalization

During the pandemic, there were some sectors that experienced positive growth such as the healthcare and e-commerce industry. However, there were also some that experienced negative growth such as the travel, dining, and hospitality industry.

Now, if your business is a part of the industries that were affected negatively, you can still bounce back! What you need to do is to digitize and diversify your products and services.

What do we mean by that? For example, if you’re in the food industry and you can’t fill up your restaurants because of social distancing guidelines, why not take the food to your customers? A lot of consumers are dying to eat out but they’re just trying to avoid going out because of the fear of getting infected by the coronavirus. As a business owner, you can digitize your business by partnering with various food delivery apps.

Also, if you own a physical store, why not put up an e-commerce store instead? You don’t need to put up a website but you can start selling your products on online shopping apps like Amazon.

5. Position Your Brand

It’s important for businesses to position their brand in the post-pandemic world. It means that your consumers should know the role your business plays in the market. Remember that buying habits have changed, the landscape of the economy has changed, and it’s going to take years before everything goes back to the way it used to be.

A great example for this would be the fashion industry. Now, people won’t be buying clothes anytime soon because their priorities are focused on essentials at the moment. Does this mean that the fashion industry is dead? No!

What they can do is they can add facemasks and other protective wear to their product line to meet the demands of pandemic related products. This helps the brand position itself in this post-pandemic market.

5 Ways To Assure & Keep Your Customers During The Pandemic

by Jack Smith | Sep 28, 2020 | Marketing

In business, there’s a universal rule that retaining an existing customer is 5 times cheaper than acquiring a new one. This rule is even more relevant today, especially that we are in a national pandemic.

Businesses must focus all of their efforts on customer retention because the market has drastically changed since the pandemic hit. Most consumers have pulled back on their spending and are carefully reviewing where to spend their money.

This makes it very difficult and expensive to acquire new customers so it’s a must to prioritize existing customers who already know and trust your brand.

We’ve listed 10 ways on how to assure and keep your clients so you can keep your business up and running during this pandemic.

1. Evaluate Your Strategy And Adjust The Way You Communicate

If your customer base is not that large, it’s always a good idea to talk to your clients one-on-one. This way, you get to ask them directly what they want and what they can expect from you.

However, if you run a restaurant or an online store, one-on-one conversations might not be the best idea since it’s very time-consuming. What you can do is to conduct polls and surveys on social media to get a surface level idea of what you need to do. Customers are very vocal in voicing out their concerns on social media so it’s a great tool to receive feedback.

Always put the needs of your clients first and avoid the “business as usual” mindset. Adjust and modify your strategy depending on the current market trend.

You should also add a “personal touch” when you convey your message to your clients. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic so be sensitive to the words you say and always show compassion.

Some ways of doing these are sending personalized emails/letters to your clients or even doing one-on-one phone calls with them.

You need to avoid using the pandemic as a way to make money. Stop using terms like “Coronavirus Sale” or “Pandemic Sale.”

2. Go Digital With Your Business

Despite the pandemic, you should still offer your products or services to your clients even if your business focuses on selling physical products or services. Modifying your business strategy may mean that you might need to make use of digital technology.

For example, if you have a restaurant, there’s no way that you can operate at full capacity anytime soon. If you want to keep sales coming in, you can partner with delivery apps like UberEats, DoorDash, or Grubhub and have your food sent straight to your customers’ doorsteps.

But what about services? Should you stop offering them because of social distancing guidelines?

Well, you can still offer your services by doing tutorials or virtual meetups with the use of video conferencing apps. Let’s say you own a plumbing and you can’t go door-to-door

fixing people’s water systems. What you can do is you can offer your services virtually by teaching your clients how to fix the damages through video chat.

Sure, it’s quite difficult to imagine teaching someone how to do plumbing online but we are in drastic times so we need drastic measures.

3. Educate & Inform Your Clients Through Content

Creating educational videos or tutorials for your client will build brand loyalty and trust. Now’s the time to create informative content for clients since most of them are just staying at home and probably binge-watching movies.

Some examples of informative content are webinars, podcasts, and video tutorials. If you’re a make-up artist, you can start creating a vlog and do make-up tutorials as of the moment just to stay relevant to your clientele.

Once the pandemic is over, they’ll most likely get your services because you’ll be the first person that will pop into their head if they need make-up services.

4. Help Your Employees/Salespeople Manage Their Customers

Sometimes business owners tend to focus on customers alone and forget about their employees. Always remember that your employees are an extension of you and your business. Everything that they do will reflect the company’s image.

Now, it’s important to assist your employees with the struggles that they are facing since not all of them can keep up with the pressure that this pandemic brings.

As a business owner, you need to set the tone for everybody and be their beacon of light. Provide emotional or even temporal support for your employees because when all of this is over, they will return the favor and work as twice as hard for the company.

5. Offer Incentives To Existing Clients

You should take care of your loyal customers because they will keep your business alive. One way of doing that is to provide incentives for their purchases.

You can offer discounts, gift cards, or even free trials as a sign of appreciation. Loyalty programs are also very helpful since they encourage customers to continuously patronize your business.

Also, referral programs are very useful. If you’ve heard about AirBnB, they have this referral program where users get cash credits for every person they refer to Airbnb.

Conclusion

As the entire world is adjusting to the “new normal”, you should also adjust your strategy when interacting with clients. The key is to show empathy with clients in all you do so they know that you’re genuine to their meeting their needs during this pandemic. The result will be you and your business being viewed as trustworthy, caring and relatable, which will strengthen your customer relationships for many years to come.

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