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July 2023
How My Multimillion- Dollar a Year, New Customer- Getting Marketing Machine Was DESTROYED!
L ast month, I told you it’s time to check in on your company’s systems, processes, nurture campaigns, and lead acquisition strategies. I said I was focusing on those things, too. But to be totally honest, there’s something I didn’t tell you: the reason why Newsletter Pro still has more work to do in those areas.
We did resolve that legal fight but not until October 2022. I was
able to keep 50-50 custody and kept my boys safe. As I started working my way back into the daily operations of Newsletter Pro at the end of 2022, I was happy to find most areas of the company were running well. But as anyone who has stepped away from their company can relate to, I came back to a few challenges. While I was gone, my marketing team was replaced with new team members, and they gutted virtually everything that had been built over the previous 11 years. The marketing machine I’d created was gone. This is a system that saw the company go from no revenue to eight figures in 10 years. Our previous worst year still had over 20% year-over-year growth. I’m going to be very transparent in this process of rebuilding my marketing systems and processes because I believe I can help you make your business better and hopefully avoid some of the challenges I’ve run into. I’m even going to create a training and take you behind the scenes to show you not only what I’m changing but Continued on Page 2 ...
Now I’m ready to share the messy truth.
Here it is: For a period of time, I had to step away from the day-to-day tasks of running Newsletter Pro. I was still making the big decisions, but I was also dealing with some crazy personal stuff that took up a lot of my attention. I haven’t spoken publicly about my crazy personal stuff, but I finalized my divorce in January 2020 — and unfortunately, it turned into an attempt to turn me into an every other weekend dad during the same week COVID-19 closed down the country. So, I decided to step away from Newsletter Pro and focus on taking care of my family. If you know me personally or have been reading this newsletter for a while, you know that as much as I love business, entrepreneurship, and growing companies, that love pales in comparison to how much I love my boys. I would do anything for them. I’d even give up everything to protect my boys.
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expert or claim to be as they tell you about all of their years of experience in the industry, and you agree to the changes. As the newbie dismantles the very marketing that helped build and sustain your business and installs “new,” aka “unproven,” campaigns, the business suffers. Everyone talks about how the economy is slow, or this is just seasonal as more and more gets canceled, updated, gutted, and replaced. The newbie points to the money you’re “saving” as proof they are doing a good job until you finally realize they just screwed you. By the time you lose faith and the “savings” they made you months ago can’t continue to prove their worth, you fire them, but the damage is done. This happens every day. I was well aware of this, and due to my attention being on protecting my kiddos, I missed it in my own company. A major red flag for me has always been a marketing person who wants to change or update marketing that is working. If they want to make changes to marketing, it should be split- tested first; anything else shows signs of an inexperienced marketing person or company. When you find yourself with a marketing firm or employee who wants to make changes without split testing, you have to say no, and this should at least be your first red flag that they are clueless and may need to be fired and replaced with someone who knows what they are doing. I know that can seem harsh, but when hundreds, thousands, millions, or even tens of millions are on the line, you don’t take chances that you’ve discovered the one unicorn in all the land. - Shaun
also why and the results that come from those changes. This complimentary training will be better than training that others charge thousands of dollars for — guaranteed. If you want to be notified in the coming weeks when these live trainings will begin, go to Info.NewsletterPro.com/free-training or scan the QR code at the bottom of the page to register. If you’re not looking to step away from your business anytime soon, you may be tempted to ignore this article, my emails, and even the free training.
That would be a mistake for two reasons. Let me explain.
I’ll start with the easy reason. The marketing training I’m going to give can easily add six or seven figures in sales to your business. I know it will add seven figures to Newsletter Pro in the next 12 months. The marketing machine I’d created was gone. “ The second reason, arguably the most important, has nothing to do with stepping away from your company and everything to do with delegation. Over the last 10 years, I’ve watched countless entrepreneurs hire an outside marketing firm or new internal VP/director/ manager of marketing and have been privy to many of the details after these new hires or firms dismantle the very systems, processes, campaigns, and tactics that built the company. This is exactly what happened to me. The newbie comes in and wants to prove themselves, so they start to make changes — many times before the newbie even understands how everything works. Of course, you want to support the newbie. You hired them because they are an
P.S.
If you want to join me for a master class in marketing small businesses, I will take you behind the scenes and
share everything I’m doing to roll back and rebuild a marketing machine that generates millions of dollars in new sales each year. I guarantee no matter what
industry you’re in, you’ll walk away with ideas you can use. This is going to be a multi-part complimentary training you won’t want to miss. Just scan the QR code here or go to Info.NewsletterPro.com/free-training.
P.P.S. If you have any questions, give us a call at 208.297.5700.
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UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: THE KEY TO SATISFIED CUSTOMERS AND ORGANIC GROWTH
No company should underestimate the
how much effort was needed from them to complete the purchase. If you find these shoppers need to put in too much work, it’s time to start rethinking how to make the process easier. 4. Prioritize responsiveness. If your customer runs into an issue and has to wait days for a response, they likely won’t return anytime soon. Always have your team ready to respond promptly with a helpful solution that ensures customers are satisfied. Responsiveness also applies to how fast you can deliver your product or service. Never leave them waiting for too long! 5. Anticipate and solve problems. Be proactive. When you put extra effort into discovering the solutions to possible problems, your customers will find their experience less stressful and all the more seamless. If you notice a continuing issue among your customers, create a standard explanation you can provide to each customer so there will be no need to contact customer support. This can include updated instructional guides, improved product functionality, etc. 6. Embrace continuous improvement. Ultimately, you never want to settle. Customer expectations are constantly changing, and your company should strive to meet those requirements as they evolve. There’s always room for improvement, no matter how great your customer experience may be. Always look for new customer needs or pain points, and adapt as needed. Your customers’ experience is a make-or-break factor for your business. By focusing on the six pillars of customer service — making them feel valued, understanding their needs, simplifying the buying process, prioritizing responsiveness, preemptively solving problems, and continuously seeking improvements — you can exceed customer expectations and foster loyalty. Remember, exceptional customer service not only influences repeat business but also drives positive word-of-mouth referrals. Invest in enhancing your customer experience, and watch your business thrive as your customers become your greatest advocates.
power of exceptional customer experience. Even
a business offering a groundbreaking product or service can quickly crash due to poor customer service. Customer standards continue to evolve regularly, and it’s crucial that your business not only meets customer expectations but also exceeds them. It’s no easy feat, but it is undoubtedly a worthwhile measure to build both customer loyalty and profits. If you’re putting everything you have into creating a great product, the last thing you want is to lose your clients due to poor customer experience. With the right strategies, you can wow them with your product quality AND keep them with exceptional service! Here are six pillars of customer service identified by B2B International that both B2B and B2C businesses can use to do just that. 1. Make customers feel valued. When customers feel a brand is committed to assisting them and see the extra effort taken, they’re more likely to offer repeat business. You can only achieve this accomplishment if your entire company is committed to customer satisfaction. Dedicate each team member to creating a positive customer experience, regardless of position. For example, ask your client-facing team members to enhance their compassionate conversation skills and have your marketing team research consumer psychology to better create effective marketing. Every person can be a factor in the customer experience! 2. Understand customers’ needs. Learn your customers’ pain points. What are their most frequent struggles? What do they want from your business? What problems can you solve for them? Think about these things on a personal level. Then, don’t just explain how your product or service works — explain how it can benefit their daily life, long-term goals, or overall health. Discover their needs, and you’ll understand exactly how to satisfy them. 3. Streamline the buying process. Another critical factor in enhancing customer experience is to make the purchasing process as seamless as possible. No one will spend their money when a business makes it a hassle just to buy from them. Provide a survey for each customer and ask
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Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy: Unleash the Power of Influencers to Drive Business Growth!
favorite podcaster, a local celebrity, or a binge- worthy writer. It’s up to you to dig into the common denominator that ties your audience together and who they will trust. While some software can do the heavy lifting and find who’s influencing your targeted audience, you can just ask them yourself. You can try sharing an online poll of various influencers and ask who they trust and connect with the most. Straightforward, this tactic can help you narrow down your choices for who to select in your influencer marketing. Check for engagement across the influencer’s social channels to ensure the influencer can produce traffic and results. Choose influencers carefully. Not every influential person is the right influencer for your specific business and goals. Do they align with your business’s values? Are they in a similar field? Do their followers actually coincide with your targeted audience? These are all questions you need to consider when searching for potential influencers. A bad match can lead to a failed marketing campaign that either never reached your intended audience at all or just left them confused. Don’t simply go for a top-followed influencer, as they might not even have the right influence to persuade your customers. Instead, find someone who’s an expert in the field or a trusted voice in the community. A vital factor to keep in mind is that your local business doesn’t necessarily need the national influence of a top creator. If you’re looking for local clients, search for local influencers or businesses willing to partner with you and introduce your business to new leads. Look beyond social media stars.
When you think about influencers, you probably imagine Instagram models selling protein powder or YouTubers promoting meal services. While B2C influencer marketing bombards us daily, B2B influencer marketing continues to thrive in the shadows. If you’re questioning the effectiveness of influencer marketing in B2B, then you probably won’t believe us when we say that it is equally effective for both industries! Word-of-mouth and relationship marketing are two of the most successful forms of marketing for any small business. When you can tap into the relationships that have been built by others, it can lead to a significant number of potential new leads and clients. If you want to try influencer marketing to grow your business, there are a few factors to consider. Discover who your audience trusts. Your influencer marketing strategy is only as strong as the relationship between your influencer and your audience. This isn’t the time to be throwing darts in the dark. Do your research and find out who your audience already trusts. This can be a person they follow on Twitter, their
As we said earlier, business writers and podcasters are major influencers you can tap into to generate word-
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of-mouth traffic. Other key people to look for are researchers, thinkers, and general leaders in similar fields. If you search for social media influencers alone, you’ll be missing out on major voices who might have an even greater impact on your customers. Ensure they’re educated about your business. Once you finally pinpoint who you will partner with, it’s time to ensure they are fully knowledgeable about the goals of the campaign and how the influencers fit into the overall marketing campaign. Don’t simply tell them everything about your company; instead, let the influencers share with you who their audience is, and once you have determined there is a fit, then you can share more about your company in detail. The influencers should understand your customer demographics, company culture, history, goals, and the product(s) being promoted, at a minimum. If an influencer is dedicated to the partnership, they understand that the more they know about your business, the better the marketing campaign will go since they can express themselves authentically. Before they can accomplish this, you both need to be on the same page about for whom this content is intended. Clearly discuss who the target audience is and how the content can be customized toward these specific viewers. Let them be creative.
are their own or are being read from a script. Allow your influencer to express themselves and create unique content while ensuring it still aligns with your business goals. When they can get creative, they won’t be the only ones engaged — so will their audience. Give them all the information they need, then let them be the ones who pitch content concepts to you. When it comes to figuring out the price for the campaign, you’ll want to get a copy of the rate card of each influencer you’re considering. Review their rate card. Rate cards (aka rate sheets) entail an influencer’s services and fees, such as price per post, preferred platforms, number of followers, etc. It’s important that you understand their terms and requirements for this partnership. You also need to make sure you understand how you can use or reuse the content and for what length of time. Remember, these prices are negotiable in most cases. Even if they won’t move on price, almost everyone will move on “extras” to help get the deal done. If you want a benefit that isn’t listed on the rate card, simply ask. Just make sure you get all the details laid out in the contract, including any bonuses you negotiate. These are just the most significant elements to remember when mapping out your influencer marketing strategy. While it might seem time-consuming, the reward could be more significant than you imagine. We all want to buy from companies trusted by those we respect most. Make the most of this, and let your potential clients be impeccably influenced!
If your selected influencer has a strong connection with their followers, these fans will likely know when their words
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Despite signs that a recession is imminent, the job market is tight. In May, the unemployment rate was just 3.7%, much lower than the 10.6% rate at the height of the Great Recession. That margin means finding and keeping great employees is challenging — but it isn’t impossible. In fact, it’s pretty easy when you go about it the right way. The Media’s Hiring Myth Scroll through Entrepreneur.com, and you’ll quickly find several headlines explaining that the “solution” to your hiring woes is “better benefits.” Reporters insist that paying through the nose for perks like matched 401(k)s, employer-covered health care, and mandatory paid time off will magically solve your employee problems. But that just isn’t true. In fact, investing in pricey benefits to win over employees is like buying your kids expensive presents to make them love you — it’s throwing money at a problem without actually trying to solve it. You might get a smile, but you won’t win their hearts. Fortunately, there’s a more effective solution. Benefits are just one aspect of attracting and retaining talent for small businesses. Even with an outstanding benefits package, it’s possible to hire the wrong people and end up with dissatisfied employees. To maximize your chances of hiring the right talent and keeping your best team members, it’s crucial to have three essential components clearly defined both during the hiring process and for existing employees. • Clear job descriptions: If you bring someone on board with a vague job description, don’t be surprised if they leave the moment an unexpected task lands on their to-do list. To attract and retain exceptional workers, it’s vital to provide crystal-clear expectations regarding the type and volume of work you expect them to handle. • Goals tied to key performance indicators (KPIs): To retain a team of ambitious high achievers, it’s crucial to communicate specific performance targets. During the hiring process, clearly explain the KPIs used to measure success and the milestones that employees Mastering the Art of Talent Acquisition: Moving Beyond Benefits to Win the Best Candidates
are expected to reach. This alignment will help ensure everyone is on the same page. • Optimal and fulfilling workloads: Avoid hiring a full-time employee when you only have enough work to justify a part- time position. Otherwise, you risk ending up with either an outstanding employee who becomes bored or an unmotivated one who quits as soon as the workload intensifies. Instead, hire when you have sufficient tasks to keep your new hire engaged and productive. In the job market, relying solely on lavish benefits is not the ultimate solution to finding and retaining great employees. The key lies in the strategic implementation of clear job descriptions, goals tied to performance indicators, and optimal workloads. By defining these essential components, small businesses can attract the right talent and create a thriving team. So, instead of following media-driven hiring fixes, seek advice from experienced business owners who have proven strategies that work. Together, let’s navigate the hiring landscape with knowledge, clarity, and actionable insights.
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The 5-Minute Rule: Accelerate Lead Conversion and Nurture Stronger Relationships When a lead contacts you requesting more information about your business, how long should you wait to follow up with them? While the rule of thumb is no later than one business day, if you use the 5-Minute Rule, you could speak to more leads and nurture stronger relationships with them. The 5-Minute Rule in Action If you receive a lead and reach out to them within five minutes, you’re 21 times more likely to contact them than if you had waited 30 minutes to respond. Additionally, you’ll be able to convert your leads 22 times more often if you use the 5-Minute Rule. Measuring Your Calls About 65% of businesses get their highest-quality leads through phone calls. If that’s true for you, it’s essential you call those potential customers back in a timely manner. If you do, you will do better than most of your competitors! Around 63% of businesses fail to respond to leads in one hour, and 24% fail to respond in one day. The longer you wait, the more likely your leads will lose interest. That said, the 5-Minute Rule isn’t realistic for every business. If you run a small company, you may not be able to afford to hire someone to wait for leads and follow up immediately. If that’s the case, consider implementing automation in your lead nurture strategy to enhance the experience your leads and customers will have. Ultimately, remember that time is of the essence — you should attempt to reach out to your leads as soon as possible for your business. The longer the delay, the lower your odds of conversion are. Use your time wisely!
Take Control of Your Remote Team’s Efficiency and Budget With Harvest’s Time-Tracking Solution If you’re regularly out of the office on business or have employees working from home, it’s challenging to keep an eye on all of the different projects and tasks your company tackles. You’re probably constantly distracted by questions like: • Is my team really working efficiently? • Are they on track to meet their deadlines? • Are they about to go over budget? There’s no way to quickly find answers when your employees log their work on paper or 100 different Google spreadsheets. Fortunately, they don’t have to do that in 2023. You can easily check in and hold your team accountable with a time-tracking software like Harvest. Harvest makes it simple for your employees to track the time they spend on different tasks, and it gathers all that data in one place for you. Even better, the software generates “instant reports” to keep you and your managers updated on the billable hours you’ve invested; the money you’re spending on supplies, travel costs, and more; and how much capacity your team has to take on more work. When one of your marketing projects reaches the budget you set, Harvest will immediately send you an alert! If you use QuickBooks or Xero, Harvest can also integrate with them to send invoices to your clients based on its tracked time. Doing this only takes two clicks, and your clients can pay you quickly and easily through the invoice. Harvest will even mesh with your other communication, customer relationship management (CRM), payment processing, and project management tools. For example, it can fit seamlessly into your existing workflows if you use Asana, Slack, Trello, Teamwork, Stripe, or BaseCamp. You can access Harvest at any time from your desktop, laptop, or cellphone. For small-business owners, one of the best things about Harvest is that it’s designed to scale with you. You can use the software for free to manage two projects or add unlimited team members and projects for just $10.80 per seat per month. To learn more about the problems Harvest can solve and try a 30-day free trial, visit GetHarvest.com.
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From Our Blog
The Eternal Value of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Every year, marketers have an increasing number of tools at their disposal. The list of options is nearly infinite: social media, content marketing, influencer marketing, and many more. All of these strategies are valuable, and the best marketing plans are multifaceted. In your rush to stay on top of the latest trends, however, don’t forget the eternal power of the oldest type of marketing: word-of-mouth marketing. The Value of Word-of-Mouth Marketing Why does word-of-mouth marketing continue to work so well? The answer is pretty simple: People believe their friends and family. In fact, a Nielsen study found that consumers put more stock in referrals from trusted sources than any other type of marketing. Across all regions of the world, “recommendations from people I know” ranked highest in terms of trusted marketing. The trend is the same across all age groups, including the millennials whom companies covet most. The days of being the only tailor in town are long gone. Consumers have plenty of options to find what they are looking for. These days, if you want to attract new customers, you need your current ones to be avid fans of your company. People share the brands they like on Facebook, and when they find something they love, it’s only natural they’d want to share it with their friends. If you aren’t taking advantage of this sharing, you’re missing a key page from your marketing playbook. And word-of-mouth marketing isn’t just talk — it can be broken down further into organic and paid word-of-mouth marketing. Organic Word-of-Mouth Marketing Organic word-of-mouth marketing is when happy customers naturally want to share a great new product or service with their friends and family, so they tell them about your fantastic brand. This type of marketing occurs
unprompted and is never a result of a monetary incentive — just a job well done! This type of natural word-of-mouth marketing can happen either in person or online through reviews, social media shoutouts, and text messaging. Paid Word-of-Mouth Marketing This type of word-of-mouth marketing is the opposite of organic in that a company generates it on purpose. It can be done by paying an influencer to share your product on their social media page or by offering customers a coupon, discount, or free item to bring in new customers to your company. This causes people to talk about your brand not so much for a job well done, but because you’re offering some sort of perk other businesses aren’t, which is attractive to current and potential customers. The Business Perks of Word-of-Mouth Marketing In the most straightforward sense, word-of-mouth marketing is great for any company because if it’s generated organically, it’s free. By doing what you do best, happy customers will recruit their friends and family to your business, which is always better for your bottom line. But besides its affordability, word-of-mouth marketing comes with other perks that will benefit your business.
Want the rest of the story? Read more on our blog! NewsletterPro.com/blog
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