Category: marketing

The New Global Privacy Control – Internet Wide Consumer Privacy Protection

Source: https://globalprivacycontrol.org

Today privacy is a major concern due to the stolen data debacles of Cambridge Analytica.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) just launched the Global Privacy Standard to help protect consumer privacy rights across the entire internet.

The ISO is an international standard-setting body made of representatives from various national standards organizations and it's headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Founded in the 1920s, the ISO has 164 national members from all over the globe, as this map of voting members of the ISO depicts:

There are many precedents for why taking a more active stance on protecting user data is taking center stage now. Violating consumer privacy rights has legal and financial consequences.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook a stunning $5 billion in the same week that it fined Equifax $575 million due to these companies deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information.

If you've ever run Facebook ads targeting consumers in England you've encountered warnings and had to agree to new terms.

As discussed in my blog about the Limited Data Use policy (LDU) for advertising in California, new laws have been passed in the US and the UK govern when and how companies can use your data.

Many businesses have started integrating privacy into their unique selling propositions like search engine provider DuckDuckGo.

Facebook still has to submit quarterly certifications that the company is in compliance with the privacy program mandated by the FTC’s new 20-year settlement order.

Social media companies are under a new level of scrutiny for how they capture data from users and use it in retargeting ad campaigns.

That's not to say social media marketing is going away anytime soon.

(Check out the last blog about top tips for how to use Instagram Reels for your business).

A coalition of tech companies, activist groups and publishers, which include Mozilla, DuckDuckGo and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are supporting a new standard to allow internet users set their privacy settings for the entire web.

The Global Privacy Control, gives users a single setting in their browsers or through browser extensions instructing every website they visit not to sell or share their data.

This privacy control is already supported by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Financial Times. It's also backed by Automattic, which manages the blogging sites of Tumblr and wordpress.com.

While it's going to take some time to implement on this level,Peter Dolanjski, director of product at DuckDuckGo and other supporters of the privacy control think that this may offer legal protection for consumers whose data was sold without their permission going forward.

This is because using the Global Privacy Control, under the California Consumer Privacy Act, can potentially let users send a legally binding request to website owners to not sell their data.

Additionally, the privacy control setting may also be enforceable under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.

The ISO backers of the standard are making plans to communicate with European privacy regulators on the exact details of how that would work, according to Dolanjski.

Back in the day, Do Not Track offered a false sense of hope to consumers that they wouldn't be tracked across the web after clicking on one ad.

Do Not Track was a browser setting that was created after the FTC's 2003 Do Not Call registry launched.

But in reality Do Not Track may help ad networks “fingerprint” a browser, a technique used by tracking systems to kill ad blockers by identifying unique characteristics in a user’s browser configuration.

The Global Privacy Standard shows more promise for consumers to have a sweeping internet-wide protection of privacy and possibly with legally enforced support.

What's never mentioned in public forums, Senate meetings with heads of big tech, and publicized discussions about consumer privacy, is the impact of these new regulations on advertising companies.

While it is important to protect consumer privacy, the power of retargeting to sell products is huge. When it's done accurately, I don't mind being retargeted with ads that match my interests.

Marketers have families too. They support their families through running successful ad campaigns.

Being a marketer or owning a company with a social media marketing team doesn't automatically equal bad business ethics or stealing data.

Not every ad campaign that's run is based off of an illicit thieving of personal data. A lot of the hostile encounters between consumers and ad companies come from a simple lack of understanding for how ads work.

If you have any doubt of that, simply look at Mark Zuckerberg explaining the internet to Congress:

It isn't widely known what cookies are, how they are used, and how you can opt out of being tracked.

Simply using an internet browser you don't log into social media with or your email with for google searches can help you filter which ads you're retargeted with.

I know many marketers whether they run Chat bot marketing firms, or social media agencies or train people how to become a marketer who have a heart of gold.

When I took a course by Amy Porterfield I was surprised at her kindness and human approach. Some of the best people I know are heart-based marketers that also want to impact the world in a positive way.

At the same time, there are plenty of 'used-car-salesmen' vibe sales people who really don't care how they affect the world and use unethical methods of getting consumer data and targeting them with ads.

Overall, I still think it's worth asking:

"How do these new regulations, and settings affect the ad industry negatively? To what extent?"

"How many people who are now forced to move online due to covid regulations are going to have trouble making their rent or paying their bills due to more restrictions on advertising?"

These are valid questions to ask when an existing industry is turned on its head due to the mistakes of major players like Facebook, for not protecting massive amounts of users' privacy.

If we look at the last presidential election in 2016, and consider the impact of the Russian hackers with fake Facebook profiles, disinformation that influenced the election results, hate mongering to destabilize America and pit people of different races against each other - it's clear there needs to be oversight here.

There needs to be assurances and triple checks on not just consumer data, but the security of social media sites with large echo chambers of influence.

One of the biggest causes of some of the negative aspects of today’s internet experience is from filter bubbles and misinformation to discrimination based on people’s behavior and perceived demographics.

Which, just to say it plainly, is social media sites' algorithms saying essentially, "Oh you seem like you're saying some racist things, here are more racists who agree with you we'll show you on the News Feed to keep you more engaged and spend a longer amount of time on our website."

The draw back of this is that people just get a confirmation bias on steroids without being exposed to equally valid opposing views on the same topic.

“It’s all traced back to the same behavioral data profiles,” says Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo.

On one hand, we definitely need to re-tool how everyday people are fed the same type of info on social media and definitely not steal data from consumers who have opted out.

On the other hand, we also would benefit from taking into account where the balance is for restrictions on advertising and keeping the industry from suffering the same sort of economic depression that hit so many businesses after covid regulations went into play.

What is your opinion about consumer privacy rights? Do you think we should also consider the ability of advertisers to make a living when creating new restrictions on running ads?

. . .

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Direct Mail Makes A Comeback in 2020

Direct Mail is making a comeback! When was the last time you got a hand written letter from a friend or family member? Probably a while. But you still get those oil change coupons right?

You don't need a mindset changing Haiku to see the facts told by data:

US Postal Service reports that around 77 billion pieces of mail are made and sent each year. The result? 28 percent higher sales for companies who send mailers like catalogs and offers.

Ever get an Ikea catalogue in the mail with colorful pictures and designs? Even I can't resist looking through it.

USPS held another study which surprisingly found that while mobile marketers are spending $247 billion by the end of 2020, direct mail marketing offers a higher return for a much much smaller investment.

What are the numbers?

Well, direct mail campaigns expect on average $2,095 in sales for every $167 spent. For those not great at math, that's a return of 1,300 %!!

That's a bit more than just, "Will this ad double my ROI?"

There are some important deets to consider here. One is that direct mail isn't just about emotions, although that’s an important element of branding.

It's about taking action, reaching your audience, directly in a way that convinces them to act. Really, when you consider the big picture, direct mail is just another aspect of content marketing.

Online ads often get skipped over, it's much harder to ignore physical mail.People open mail faster - as soon as they get it often - than other mediums so there's that benefit.

The Millennial factor - as a Millennial I can speak to this as well, we love the 90s, and much of that old school feel. There is something about direct mail that inspires nostalgia.

With COVID city wide shut downs globally, people are just at home more anyways. And they are looking for new things to do. Direct mail is making old new again.

These days there is a lot more customization so using cookie data and more, direct mail campaigns can be segmented just like you would an ad on Facebook, and offer a more personalized experience to convert even higher.

Also there are very few advertisers using this method to reach customers - it isn't at all saturated, so there's that as well.

For more tips read Neil Patel's blog post on direct mail here.

What was the last letter you remember receiving? Or mailed ad that you liked? How will you use this strategy for your business?

. . .

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Customer Service with Gender and Racial equality

In my last blog we discussed the beautiful art of Guerrilla Marketing (really interesting read), but today let's shift to customer service. Specifically customer service with gender and racial equality in mind.

"Woah. Deep topic bro. You sure about that?"

2020 has seen a pandemic make businesses lose trillions of dollars, black lives matters protest take over cities across the nation and we have a presidential election while on lock down.

Yes, it matters right now, more than ever. Many businesses use outdated language and terms and conditions, not to mention how managers are trained as well as customer service reps.

Did you know in certain leases, it still says you can't sell a house to a black person or a Jewish person? True fact as CNN reports here.

But your business doesn't have to be real estate to lose business because you're using outdated terms that may be prejudiced. You could be in any industry that hasn't keep tabs on how society has changed.

It always starts with the top down - the CEO and/or founder of the company sets the rules and regs in place that has a trickle down effect for how company morale is shaped.

As discussed in the break down of management strategies blog management philosophy in business hasn't changed since the 1800s - yet the world has changed dramatically.

While affirmative action and diversity hires are huge topics deserving of their own articles, it is telling us that there were huge gaps in how business and education operated and how we really live today.

How important is having customer service that considers gender and racial equality to your business?

As entrepreneurs, our ability to pivot and adapt to changing situations is how we continue to not just survive, but thrive, even in uncertain times.

While doing market research for a new eCom business I'm launching, I came across Marshall's Facebook Page and it appears their customer service could use some tweaks.

I don't know how you can mess up more blatantly than this for customer service. By Americanizing an Arabic name into "Vicki" (when it was even spelled out right above Marshall's response) it was clear that customer service wasn't a priority.

Or even basic awareness. Most likely it was a response done by an underpaid employee who didn't have much motivation to even pay attention because he or she wasn't making enough money and didn't have training worth a salt.

As businesses move into digital and online storefronts only due to the pandemic, more sensitivity training is needed. Or just less bullshit. We have to realize just like texting, words don't convey tone.

This means for customer service, chatbots, live human chats, social media, websites, email outreach and more businesses will benefit from analyzing how their tone comes across to multiple perceptions.

Companies need to be aware if the public's perception of their business doesn't support racial and gender equality.

Regardless of your personal view points (which I hope allow everyone the same level of humanity), it is also about profit margins. Your business will lose money if you're still in the 1800s and the rest of the world has left you behind with 3D printers, air touch technology and social emotional awareness.

Are there any changes or focuses you are making with your business that are new in light of what's been happening in 2020? Comment below!

. . .

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I worked at FB for years and offer FB Policy Consulting here

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The Art of Guerrilla Marketing

Credit: Diana Parkhouse

Guerrilla Marketing is the ability to turn heads without an extremely large budget. According to Lexico Guerrilla Marketing is defined as:

Innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product.

It isn't what you'll learn about in a class on marketing from your community college or four year university. The key word here is unconventional.

PayPal Got Played By We Pay @ Their Own Conference

Have you ever heard of PayPal freezing a business's money randomly?

It happens. A lot. CNN Business descriptively states:

While it's supposed to be a measure to protect users against fraud, more often than not it has hurt businesses finances a lot. One person was raising money for cancer treatment when PayPal froze his account. Do a simple google search for 'PayPal froze my money' and you'll find thousands of results:

Pay processors and the drama they sometimes cause for entrepreneurs deserves a whole blog unto itself, but going back to Guerrilla Marketing, there are new competitors to PayPal every year. One refused to stay quiet.

One of my favorite examples of Guerrilla Marketing is when the payment processor We Pay dropped a 600 pound block of ice, with hundreds of dollars in it at PayPal's developer conference, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The message was clear:

“PayPal freezes your accounts” and that you should “unfreeze your money”… by switching to WePay.

Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/26/wepay-ice-paypal/

According to Hubspot this increased revenue for We Pay significantly:

• Conversions on landing page 3x higher
• 300% increase in weekly traffic
• 225% increase in signups

But Guerrilla Marketing isn't just pulling pranks it's being prepared for increased traffic and having a framework set up ahead of time to benefit from it. We Pay's achieved this by having a dedicated landing page for its stunt.

The WePay team had prepared in advance for a peak in engagement. They were ready for more emails, calls, and tweets than normal. And they had fun with it, documenting everything with pictures.

Carrie Remake Telekinesis in NYC Coffee Shop Stunt

In 2013, a marketing stunt to promote the remake of Carrie, a horror film from the Steven King book of the same name, pushed Guerrilla Marketing to a new level. A crazy telekinesis stunt was pulled on unsuspecting New Yorkers just trying to get a cup of coffee:

Needless to say, it was effective in getting the word out about the upcoming October 2013 film. While it could be argued that this ploy didn't perfectly fit the definition of being cost-effective

-I mean staging a telekinetic action scene in real life is rather elaborate-

I say it still counts as Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla Marketing stunts are risqué, highly visible, and attention-grabbing - all of which the Carrie NYC coffee shop captured. Hard to top that!

Carrie Foursquare's SXSW Tactic Added 100K New Users

On the balling-on-a-budget level, the company Foursquare, which popularized the concept of real-time location-sharing and checking-in, played an actual game of Four Square at SXSW in Austin, Texas in front of the convention hall.

Credit: https://www.zdnet.com/article/playing-four-square-with-foursquare-at-sxsw-2010/

The game drew 1000s of walk-up participants, said Dennis Crowley, CEO of the firm. While the company co-hosted a party Monday night, Crowley said, its SXSW presence didn’t include other bells and whistles like signage or a booth in the hall. It largely hinged on “a box of chalk and two rubber balls,” he said.

“We played all day long, and there was always a waiting line,” Crowley said. “We were handing out tee shirts, buttons, and stickers. Anytime someone didn’t know what Foursquare was, we helped them find it on their phone. We helped get them up and running and using it.”

Foursquare benefited from an additional 100,000 checkins that Saturday they played the four square game at SXSW on. Ever wonder why you see an ad for a store after walking by the store?

Since 2014, Foursquare launched Pilgrim, a piece of code that passively tracks where your phone goes using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and GSM to identify the coffee shop or park or Thai restaurant you’re visiting, then feeds that data to its partner apps to send you a 10 percent off coupon if you leave a review for the restaurant.

Today, Pilgrim and the company’s Places API are an integral part of tens of thousands of apps, sites, and interfaces. As Foursquare’s website says, “If it tells you where, it's probably built on Foursquare.”

While there are privacy concerns using Foursquare and it's technology, that game of four square they played was a great example of low cost Guerrilla Marketing.

If you want to use Guerrilla Marketing for your business here are a few tips:

• Keep your strategy fun, simple, and witty.
• Physically travel to the influencers in your target communities.
• Engage influential bloggers through mutual plugging.
• Flatter your audience. Always make them look good.
• Make social phenomena the core of your campaign.
• Be outrageous.
• Dare your audience to test your services
• Create a viral video that is humorous and pokes fun at yourself.
• Leverage existing communities, events and platforms.
• Impress people who can grow your business thru their audience.
• Create controversy by challenging your competitors. Credit.

How can you use this strategy in your business? Have you seen Guerrilla Marketing happen in real life, or have a favorite example yourself? Comment below!

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

Does Facebook Only Promote Sad Reacts? No – It Goes Deeper

The content that you see on social media, or Facebook at least, is not as random as you may think it is. The Facebook algorithm is how Facebook decides which posts users see, and in what order, every time they check their newsfeeds.

Credit: Hootsuite.com

In the early days, when the Facebook algorithm was born, in 2009, posts were sorted based on popularity.
But, after more time passed, Facebook decided to just do what ever they could to keep Facebook users on the platform. The reasoning is that the more time Facebook users are on Facebook, the more they can be advertised to.

Right now there is a lot of negativity on Facebook. There are positive posts too but many news articles state that negative talking points are organically being supported more than positive by the Facebook algorithm.

While Facebook is free to use, Mark Zuckerberg pays the bills through advertisers paying him ad money to run advertisements on the platform.

The more time people spent on Facebook, the more money goes to the shareholders of Facebook.

Facebook's Shareholders

Mark Zuckerberg, with a net worth of $54.7 Billion dollars according to Forbes, holds over 400 million shares of Facebook, comprising a market value of around $82.2 billion.

The Vanguard Group Inc., an investment management company, holds approximately 184.0 million shares of Facebook with a combined market value of about $37.7 billion.

BlackRock an asset and investment management firm, holds about 158.2 million shares of Facebook with a combined market value of $32.3 billion.

FMR LLC, a financial services company holds approximately 123.6 million shares of Facebook with a combined market value of $26.1 billion.

T. Rowe Price is an investment management company offering portfolio management, equities, fixed income, asset allocation, and holds about 107.8 million shares of Facebook totaling a combined market value of $22.1 billion. Source: Investopedia

Facebook Algorithm Changed to Prioritize Friends & Fam

Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2018 that going forward, one of the biggest changes with Facebook was that the algorithm would be modified to prioritize friends and family posts instead of just advertisers' posts.

However, that's not what happened. Instead of seeing more communities of friends and families created, studies revealed that over 50% of increased engagement was paired with increased divisiveness, outrage and angry reactions.

At the same time, the way the Facebook algorithm prioritized content ended up supporting fringe posts on fake news from scam artists and spammers who knew how to work the engagement algorithm.

If It Bleeds It Reads

Journalism, in the news media has always had a slant for things that are negative. Despite the fact that there are also more positive topics that are newsworthy -- these are often ignored to prioritize the shock and awe and graphic violence stories.

So much so, there is even a catch-phrase that journalists use: “If it bleeds it reads.”

In a sense, Facebook has just allowed itself to become prey to the same ideology with one big predator creating the most amount of unhappy feelings in millions of people’s lives as they scroll the newsfeed: Fox News.

“Angry” is the top reaction when it comes to political content, though not other types of content. Fox News hired social media managers who knew how to bleed the hearts of millions through divisive negative stories on Facebook:

Credit: newswhip.com

It's clear Faux News knows exactly what they are doing, and do it well. Creating content that is negative and hateful will get more reactions, with a consistent narrative, posting schedule and relentless factory of discontented posts.

That's not the entire story though. There are plenty of other stories and posts that have gotten a high number of reactions that are positive. Posts about babies, pets, and baking cookies also have gotten incredible amounts of reach.

Over 2 MILLION engagements were drawn to the So Yummy Facebook Page's post on 12 cookie decorating hacks:

Credit: newswhip.com

So while many decry Facebook as having the intention of hurting people's feelings and spreading discontent, this isn't reality. Reality isn't one single narrative. When you subscribe to only one way of thinking you miss out on what's happening in the periphery.

The reality is, Facebook is a tool, and if bad characters spend more time on learning how to use this tool and get more adept at distributing content with higher engagement - they will dominate the Facebook Newsfeed.

Credit: Anthony Quintano

What's curious is how many people seem to miss out on the fact that reactions such as the laugh react and love react, if prioritized in high numbers also drive just as much engagement on Facebook.

The narrative that keeps getting repeated is that Facebook is only supporting negative content, when studies by NewsWhip for instance, show this simply isn't true.

NYU professor Scott Galloway, who is known for his outspoken views on Facebook - and someone whose perspective I value - has also missed this essential fact as well in a recent interview with Fast Company:

"What these companies [eg Facebook] have done is created a business model where the most incendiary, upsetting, controversial, and oftentimes false and damaging things get more oxygen than they deserve because we are a tribal species and when people say things that are upsetting we tend to engage. Engagement equals enrichment. The more rage equals the more clicks equals the more Nissan ads. So these algorithms have figured out that if you promote the flawed junk science of anti-vaxxers, it increases shareholder value. There is a population of people out there that believe vaccinations are bad, and they should be heard. But they should not dominate health news so that you start getting these stories from your friends on Facebook. It starts adding legitimacy, and then there’s a trend around anti-vaccination, and more two- and three-year-old boys and girls have their limbs amputated because of an outbreak of measles which we thought we had conquered 30 or 40 years ago."

While there is definitely a lot of truth to what Galloway speaks of, as far as accountability, fact-checking, anti-trust laws not being enforced on big tech companies like Facebook & Google - he misses the point that there is more than one narrative here.

Positive stories get distribution and crazy amounts of reactions too - just share a photo or video of a puppy and see how many reactions and likes it gets. But - as stated before, when companies who want to use negativity to drive reactions put their posting in overdrive, it will definitely also create massive social media engagement.

One headline I've read recently said,

"Facebook Prioritizes What Makes You ‘Sad’ Or ‘Angry’ Over What You ‘Like’"

and yet this is false - as reactions aside from the likes, also include the wow, laugh, love and new Care react - not just sad or angry.

Later on in the article the author says:

"...all reactions are weighted the same, which means the News Feed prioritizes things you “love” equally to things that make you “angry” or “sad.”"

But the headline stated only the negative emotions.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is an example of cherry-picking info to frame a story to support a bias. A pre-existing narrative being told instead of examining the data and seeing the full picture. How you use a tool determines the emotional outcome.

What's even more disturbing is how willing the public is to accept a pre-framed narrative without investigating it, reactions become almost robotic. (Read Great Leaders Don't Create Robots for more tips on leadership).

Ironically, a lot of the trite dialogue on social media, could have been written by a computer algorithm as it's one person trading talking points they didn't think up, or research themselves with another who is doing the same thing.

People don't study anything that doesn't already confirm their existing bias, and look for things on Facebook to support this rather than research their own beliefs.

It would be great to see folks get informed beyond the 3 primary outdated emotionally charged talking points on posts shared without even googling origins of the info and fact checking with multiple sources.

Forgive me, perhaps I am biased about people who are biased, as I worked at a college instructing students on how to cross reference primary and secondary sources. Authenticating data sources is important before becoming emotionally invested in what you think is the absolute truth. But back to Facebook.

It seems like there is a lot of opportunity right now to prey upon people's fears on social media, but there are just as many opportunities to encourage hope, trust and faith that things will get better.

I've seen posts celebrating the bravery of health care workers get amazing distribution, positive reactions and countless likes.

Don't fall victim to a one-story narrative, examine all sides, cross reference sources to make sure you aren't being fed a one dimensional version of a 5 dimensional reality.

I encourage individual Facebook users, as well as companies and entrepreneurs, to use the tools we have wisely. To do our best to create networks that support authenticity, mutual respect and a narrative that promotes sustainable social networks.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

The Power of Tribes

Credit: Joel Mott

We live in challenging times right now. Police brutality has led to business closures from storefronts near protest marches, COVID19 panic buying has led to food and toilet paper shortages and many college graduates, like myself, were stripped of the gift that walking across college stages in grad regalia gives our hearts and souls.

Would be memories never created due to the bizarre pausing of normal life, as we all wait, breathless, for the next thing to happen, hoping paradoxically for things to return to normal.

Business right now is also juxtaposed with innovation opportunities but strained to maintain existing product lines above margin.

Steve Jobs' iconic slogan for Apple, "Think Different," really applies to all verticals still attempting to run a company in these challenging times.

How to Challenge the Status Quo Correctly

Companies that defeat the status quo often succeed where many fail. Whenever the state of affairs is changing, it gives one a chance to be remarkable.

However, many grains of sand make up a beach. Microinfluencers are forgotten by heads of marketing as they push out more cold audience targeted ads.

When you challenge the status quo and can follow through with incredible products or services so unlike what's already out there you start to build a cult following & the story of your business changes.

This following is what makes the difference when you actually are

"Thinking Different."

Quality always beats out quantity. A highly engaged group of followers will recruit more people to join your tribe. They'll take the lead creating micro leaders to step up to the plate and push the envelope.

Nature Abhors A Vacuum

The problem is, there is such a large amount of people that have convinced themselves that it's best to do nothing. That's part of the reason why we see Black Lives Matter protests striking a chord globally. The sleeping masses have woken up and see doing nothing isn't enough now.

To build a business, you need to build a brand. To build a brand you need to build a following. To build a following you need to think differently than the other millions of brands out there saying,

"Buy my stuff, buy my stuff."

Nature abhors a vacuum. A vacuum exists when many who think alike, share pain points your product or service can solve but see no leadership to guide them forward.

Leaders find out how to enter these vacuums and generate momentum. They create the ripple effects the world feels later, after critical mass is reached.

This type of movement generates another type of momentum: the speed of shared trust, the pace of belonging, the transformation of individuals into a tribe.

Be Congruent Inside & Out

Distinguishing your customers from other brands and their clients takes some work. You need to develop your own rituals unique to your company's vision.

Don't be afraid to be a little eccentric. As long as it isn't forced. Jobs was probably very socially awkward but with a genius for aesthetic design.

The funkiness of having all MacBooks after a certain period, come with Garageband, a program to create music, really helped solidify Apple's tribe from competitors.

When you're feeling stuck, think about rituals you enjoy. Contemplate how to integrate these with your tribe. What are things you enjoy, hobbies-wise?

Take a moment to see if you can repurpose some of these activities into a ritual for your company. You may see there are areas you can still rise to challenge the status quo and become remarkable.

. . .

Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

How To Measure Better Company Metrics

startup blog, startup blog, startup blog

Credit:Luke Chesser

It is easy to get caught up in measuring metrics at a company as a way to gauge success but the data is often not organized in a manner that allows a business to consistently forecast which tactics will be successful.

When you start up a new business, it's exciting to have data that you can parse to see which split test is successful, whether this is in advertising creatives, ad copy or product designs.

But, it's often taken for granted just how complex and layered this process is because it isn't just about delivering a satisfying product but a complete experience that makes buying from your company stand out from the competition.

Distinguishing Your Company From Others

Even the limitations of your product or service can be used as part of the unique selling mechanism. Take for example Twitter's 280 characters limit for tweets & calling a post a "tweet." (See last week's blog on the war between Trump and Twitter)

There are so many levels of a pain point your product or service solves, that it takes a very nuanced approach to address the gap filled. This means that just basing definitions of success on quantitative data will miss the elephant in the room, the customer's:

Credit: Sarah Kilian

Why a person buys your product or service is not always something so granular that it can be put on a spread sheet. This why can change at different times of the day, year or with a set of personal experiences of infinite variety.

Facebook's Metrics Fail to Measure Actual Data

When I worked at Facebook in the ads department we had scores that rated us on how effective we were at our jobs. The number one score was Customer Sat, for Customer satisfaction. The C-Sat scores determined the stability of vendor contractors that staffed for Facebook as well.

However, there was a huge hole in universally rating everyone, for every type of customer, based on one, very black and white metric. The amount of money a person had to spend on ads often was a big trigger on whether or not they were satisfied with the support from the ads department.

If you were too broke to spend enough money to both A/B test and retarget (or even understood what retargeting is) then it didn't matter how many help center articles you read --you'd be unhappy. It wasn't an accurate measure of job performance.

We didn't have conversations with management on understanding why customers chose Facebook over other social media platforms to advertise on.Or how Facebook products or services helped make progress in people's lives & which circumstances they were trying to make progress in.

How to Discover Multileveled Pain Points

Many organizations completely miss defining what the real reason is that customers hire them, and easily fall into the common trap of a one-size-fits-all solution that never solves the problem.

Diving deeper than the surface level metrics opens up new possibilities for growth hacking and innovating company structure, both B2B and B2C.

Taking the time to investigate a customer's multileveled why for consuming your business's offering helps uncover the real reason they buy. Before Volvo messed up their brand image, people didn't buy Volvos to get from A to B or for a flashy look. They bought Volvos to feel safe.

The Secret to True Innovation

One thing you'll discover when going beyond quantitative metrics is the reason why your customer does not purchase. This is often an even more important area to focus on.

If there isn't a product or service that fits a customer's needs, they'll choose not to buy anything rather than settle for a less-than-perfect solution.

Customizing a product or service to fill this need is where many entrepreneurs have made billions of dollars. If you've looked at a niche and felt like you don't have any room to compete because it's over saturated that's a big sign that you probably haven't defined your client avatar's Why well enough.

It's a whole range of experiences that create the need that you're solving. This goes far beyond the basic demographic information of age, gender, location and interests.

When you captivate the story of every day consumers in that split second of struggling to move forward and being stopped by not having what they need - this is the real gold.

Workarounds Offer Insight Into Product Development

Finding out what things your customer base is substituting for what they really want is another opportunity to growth hack. If they have a work around that's pretty "meh" because what they want isn't available you can become very successful by solving that trade off.

Start paying closer attention to the workarounds you use in your own life to get things done, digitally and physically. Being both the consumer and the entrepreneur at the same time can yield new insights because of the way you can think outside the box than just quietly suffering wishing for something better.

Take note of both your own circumstances, and social-emotional depths when faced with something you can't solve perfectly. Observe other people's buying habits and workarounds and discover if consumers are repurposing something it isn't intended for.

This will signal a new gap your product or service can fill. It's a story that mere metrics won't tell you about. This type of market research reveals the nature of pain points in a way that offers you a chance to stand out in solving them.

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Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

5 Steps On How To Overcome Sales Objections

Every business has to overcome sales objections, spoken and unspoken, to grow and prosper.

Whether your company is B2C or B2B, the sales process of client acquisition will always involve initial objections before purchase.

There are certain tactics that work across the board, in most verticals, so today we'll go over how to overcome sales objections to get the sale.

Anticipate Objections

It sounds simple, and isn't impossible to do, yet it isn't always common to hear a company be the first to say your objections. It's incredible effective when you do this, saying something like:

"I know you're probably thinking, this is way too expensive, but honestly can you put a price on happiness?"

By calling attention to a topic that many customers want to avoid, which is their reason to object to buying, you start to overcome objections before they happen.

Anticipating objections means taking the initiative, and calling out objections as you sense them. There are the standard objections, and also new ones specific to your prospect and this particular selling circumstance.

How can you sense which objections are hidden beneath the surface but aren't being aired out? By changing the nature of how you're listening to your prospect.

Always Active Listen

Many people, regardless of trying to make a sale, will listen only to wait for their turn to talk. This won't get you the sale. Listen with the intent of understanding. This builds trust with your potential client, and allows you to hear the 2nd reason behind a no.

The first reason is the surface level 'no' which doesn't have the emotional triggers that the real reason for the no has. The real objections are rooted in emotion, and association.

When truly listening to understand, there is more data to draw from. You start to get the feel for what isn't being said, as well as what is being said.

This creates an opportunity to anticipate their objections and have a solution ready to go in your response.

Respond

Your response should validate the type of concern that the prospect has, even if it’s that your competitor offers a better deal.

Even if it’s the latter by using curiosity, not defensiveness, you’ll be able to fully explore what is that the prospect likes better about the competition.

Many times it’s just a matter of sticking with what they already know and not wanting to risk an unknown.

In other cases, by asking questions with a true active listening approach, you’ll find that the customer isn’t as sure about their decision to go with the competitor.

You’ll unearth new pain points about the business they currently use, and can position your reply to show your company
connects those gaps.

And if it doesn’t, you’ll also be in a great position to use this as market research and tweak your own business model to offer what your competitors don’t offer but your customers / their customers want.

This is a high leverage position to be in.

With my clients, who are tired of getting Facebook ads disapproved without a solid answer from Facebook as to what part of their ad triggered the disapproval - I offer something no other competitor can offer:

Insight into why Facebook makes certain decisions, and the exact words, copy, in ads and landing pages, that caused the ad to get flagged as well as what ad copy would be approved instead.

This enables me to acknowledge gaps in the market, identify objections, and overcome them ahead of time by offering a solution Facebook doesn't offer - a clear explanation of what caused an ad to be disapproved and guidance on getting it approved.

(Does your agency need a FB Policy Expert? Schedule a free discovery call here)

Confirm - Check for Understanding

After discussing their objections, and how your company overcomes them, touch base to make sure you’re on the same page.

In schools, this is called a “Check for understanding” where a teacher double checks the class understands the material thus far, before moving on to new topics.

This is very similar, you’re the teacher, with the secret knowledge, and your prospect is the student, yearning to learn, even if they don’t know what is possible to learn.

Look for the confirmation, by paraphrasing their objections, summarizing your response and defeating of the objections, and ask if that sounds right.

Budget concerns - If they are objecting due to you haven’t built enough value first. It means you need to build more value.

I need to talk to my husband - We’ve all heard this one, or a version of it. Make sure that you aren’t playing a game of telephone and get the decision maker (DM) on the phone, or in the meeting before going for the close.

I’m too busy right now - Emphasize the fear of missing out, either a quantity scarcity, or a special price scarcity as the price will go up after tomorrow, or for a mastermind group, there are only a few spots left approach works well.

I need to think about it - This is a question of credibility, trust, and the value that’s been built (or hasn’t been built) about the product or service.

Price

If a prospective customer says your service is too much, it’s to your advantage to know what the competition is offering.

The difference in cost can be overcome with the unique selling mechanism your company has, that’s part of the brand slogan, ideally.

“You get what you pay for, and you look like someone who appreciates a quality product.”

This approach shifts from “It’s too expensive” to “Am I really giving myself the [royal] treatment I deserve?”

Conclusion - Know Your S#%t

Ultimately the better you know a product the better you can sell it.

The real secret is not only knowing your product, but also being well versed in:

▶ Your product/service's unique selling mechanism
▶ The market your business is in
▶ Your competition

The more you can speak on why your product or service specifically stands out - the more this confidence and expertise effortlessly translates to the customer who will mirror your energy.

If you’ve done the research and speak confidently based on knowledge, statistics, and results this will motivate your prospects to buy from you more than anything else.

. . .
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Check out my Medium page here
Is Facebook not explaining why the disapproved an ad?
I worked at FB for years and offer FB Policy Consulting here
Available for freelance writing and guest posting on your blog: [email protected]

5 Steps for Designing a Successful Chatbot Flow

Chatbot marketing is one of the newest trends to gain a foothold in the marketing world and there's a reason why: chatbots work.

When you can automate basic questions that most customers always ask, it saves time and money. If you're paying someone to design a chatbot, you'll want to direct them to create a flow that works for your website.

Or perhaps you're creating the chatbot yourself, either way, here is a quick tip on chatbot design:

Option 1 - The Opt In

If someone sees your ads, lands on your website and your messenger bot pops up, the first step is to give them 3 options for what action you want to funnel them to.

Don't make it open give them a path to take. If they are just browsing your chatbot can show a few resources your website offers and encourage them to opt in to your email list to get a lead magnet.

Option 2 - Learn More

The 2nd option could be "I'd like to learn more about your products, or services" and from there you send this potential customer to another sequence that offers them a chance to check out your latest products and services.

Option 3 - Book A Call

The 3rd one is perhaps they are looking for a case study or something specific from one of your services. And get them to book a call with your sales agent, or opt in for an email list, or provide their phone number to get updates.

4. Text Opt In Copy That Converts

"John?"

First name question mark? Is a great way to get people to respond if they opted in to your text alerts from your chatbot.

You can have a simple intro, after they reply to the first name question mark text of:

"Hey this is Thomas from [company name's] and wanted to see if you have any other questions."

And then your sales agents can close them on the phone.

5. Chatbot Flow

Once your potential customer has opted in, you want to have value-based content that solves their problems. When your content delivery includes value packed nuggets without any heavy sales pitches but gentle reminders of your services or products along the way it's a great way to increase conversions.

By providing value first, you gain more trust, and market authority that will boost conversions when your services are interwoven into the educational content they get for free.

You want to be careful with text messages because people will get annoyed if you send them too many texts. Web based alerts you can do more often without risking burn out.
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