Creating Better Results with Custom Reports

Header image for SharpSpring information on PROSAR website.

You’ve no doubt heard axioms such as “measure what matters” and “how can you improve it if you don’t measure it.” These are true, we instinctively know this. But how do you measure what matters, and can you get it in a convenient, easy-to-understand format? Custom reports is the answer.

SharpSpring has done all the heavy lifting to make it easy to measure important criteria, automatically put them in user-friendly reports, even schedule them to automatically configure and email to key team members. This article provides an overview of SharpSpring’s customizable reporting function.

 

Building Better Reports

 

Though SharpSpring provides different types of sales and CRM reports, you may want to generate reports that show information from many different sources. You can create a customized report that shows only the information that you want. These reports are designed to give you all the information you need to measure your current sales performance — and to forecast performance for the future.

gif showing how to drag and drop widgets for SharpSpring report builder.Widgets are the main component of the Custom Report feature. These widgets provide an at-a-glance view of different types of data. You can configure your reports to show data with any combination of these different widgets. Statistic widgets are small, all other widget types are large. A row of widgets in the report canvas can fit a maximum of six small widgets or two large widgets.

 

By default, widgets will display data with as much information as possible. This might be beneficial for reports that look at the larger picture, but your reports will most likely need to focus only on a certain amount of information. You can use report filters to display only the data that you want.

 

You can export a report as a PDF file, and export data from individual widgets .csv files. Customized reports can also be shared through Cloud Dashboards, which are preset displays that are broadcasted to external monitors or televisions. Shared reports can be accessed via URLs that are unique for each individual report.

Once a customized report has been configured and saved, it can be scheduled to be sent via email. Scheduled reports will be sent to email recipients as a .PDF attachment.

Gif showing how to schedule a custom report to email to team.

 

Segmented by category below, there are many criteria and objectives that you can track and measure with SharpSpring’s customizable reports.

Campaign Widgets

Open Opportunities, Opportunities Created, Sales Lost, Total Leads Qualified, Activity by Campaign, Activity by Channel, Campaigns with Open Opportunities, Clicks by Campaign, Clicks by Channel, Contacts by Primary Campaign, Conversion Funnel, Top 10 Campaigns with Won Opportunities, Top 10 Campaigns by Revenue

 

Chatbot Widgets

Total Chats with Anonymous Leads, Total Chats with Contacts, Total Contacts Created, Total Conversions, Total Form Fills Influenced by Bot, Total Revenue Influenced by Bot, Bot Action Breakdown, Contacts Created Per Bot, Opportunities Created from New Leads Generated by Bot, Total Chats Per Page, Total Chats Per Page with Known Leads, Total Chats Over Time Per Bot

 

Contact Widgets

Contacts Added by Lead Status, Contacts by Lead Status, Contacts Added

 

Email Widgets

Average Email Clicks per Day, Average Email Conversion Rate, Sales Influenced by Email, Revenue by Email, Top 10 Emails by Conversion Rate, Unique Email Opens

 

Form Widgets

Average Form Submissions per Day, Sales Influenced by Form, Total Form Submissions, Revenue by Form, Unique Contacts Submitted a Form

 

Media Centre Widgets

Average Media Views per Day, Unique Media Views by Media, Total Media Views, Influenced by Media, Revenue by Media, Top 10 Media by Views, Unique Media Views

 

Opportunity Widgets

Total Revenue, Total Sales, Expected Value by Close Date and Deal Stage, Expected Value by Deal Stage, Revenue by Close Date and Owner, Revenue by Owner

 

Task Widgets

Completed Late Tasks by User, Completed On-Time Tasks by User, Completed On-Time Tasks by User, Total Completed Tasks by User, Total Completed Tasks by User, Tasks Completed, Tasks Due, Open Tasks, Overdue Tasks, Task Activity Report, Task Completion Rate by User, Task Completion Rate, Tasks Completed Late or Rescheduled, Tasks Completed on Time, Total Open Tasks by User, Total Open Tasks by User

 

Article written by Jake Crown at SharpSpring.

PROSAR Inbound Inc. is a SharpSpring Partner.

 

CTA graphic promoting free download of Marketing Automation Playbook PDF file.

Improving Customer Communications with Video Calls

Header image for SharpSpring information on PROSAR website.

Although nothing beats meeting with people to fully communicate, understand each other, and form well-rounded impressions. Communicating via email and text is efficient and can be very effective once a relationship is established. Phone calls are much better at discussing complex issues and getting to know a person, while video calls provide the benefit of voice, facial expression, as well as shared screens and group presentations.

Communication has always been the key to marketing and sales. Now, and for the foreseeable future, video calls have never been more important. Here are some tips for making effective and professional use of video calls.

 

Making Good Video Calls

Since we’re all spending more time in virtual meetings, consider these tips for good video calls:

  • Look Professional: If it’s a business call, show respect for the other participants, your company and yourself — dress accordingly for your business and role. Video calls from home can be a little more relaxed, but you still want to be seen as competent and professional so hygiene, grooming and pants are strongly recommended.
  • Be Prepared: Keeping people’s attention can be more difficult online so don’t create downtime or lags searching for information or trying to remember what you wanted to say. Have all resources close at hand and ready, make notes beforehand and include your goals for the meeting to keep you on track content-wise and strategically.
  • Set the Scene: A cluttered or discordant background make it difficult to focus on you; it may also make it difficult to take you seriously. A plain background is your best backdrop. Good lighting is critical, but from the front not back. Avoid lights and windows behind you.
  • Watch the Time: The informal nature of a video call versus an in-person meeting can foster long, boring affairs. Be mindful of the time and what is being accomplished. Keep to the agenda schedule for your input and move others along if you are the chair.
  • Watch your Mouth: Video calls are often recorded, so think twice before you speak.
  • Take Notes: Just as you would in a regular meeting, take notes to remember key points and action items that involve you. Ensure your notes are in sync with the meeting minutes.

Making Good Video Calls with SharpSpring

SharpSpring has complemented its Sales Optimizer with in-application video calling. It makes it easy to connect with others on their laptop or desktop. Recipients don’t need to use SharpSpring and there is no software to download. Their browser will ask permission to use their laptop’s mic and speaker and that’s it… you’re face-to-face creating relationships and opportunities.

Getting connected for online meetings and meaningful conversations is simple. Reach out to leads in your SharpSpring CRM with the click of a button, invite anyone via email, even invite people to video calls already in progress. Easily contact team members by clicking Video Call in the top toolbar.

Animated gif showing how easy it is to create a video call from SharpSpring.

 

SharpSpring Video Call Features

A full complement of video call features will help you succeed online:

Table of SharpSpring video call features.

 

CTA graphic promoting free download of Marketing Automation Playbook PDF file.

3 Ways to Improve Your Website

Keyboard with "time t Update" key for PROSAR website improvement blog

In addition to regular content additions to keep your website fresh and a maintenance program to ensure that your website is technically up-to-date and secure. Here are three things you can do to leverage your website more effectively:

Marketers learn that Features explain what something does, while Benefits describe why it matters to the user. Then they can internalize and personalize material, making them more likely to act on your information.

Regardless of what your organization does, you’re selling something: products, services, memberships, ideas, etc. — there is a persuasive purpose for your website. Making your content meaningful to the user and helping them visualize how it makes their life better or easier, will have greater impact. Take advantage of your website to effectively position your organization and its message with persuasive and contextualized content. [Read more: 5 Reasons to Use Content Marketing]

Content Audit

Do you know what content you have and how it fits into your overall marketing and sales goals? Don’t worry, most companies don’t. (This blog will help you get started: Own Your Content)

Having content is good, but in order for it to be strategic it needs to fit into a plan. The plan determines what you need, the audit reveals what you have, you determine how it fits into the overall strategy and what other pieces you need to fill the holes. To make this manageable, we use a spreadsheet with columns for:

  • Source (web page, blog, whitepaper, infographic, etc.)
  • Topic
  • Name/Title
  • Funnel (does it fit top, middle or low in the info/sales cycle)
  • Workflow (what workflow or campaign is it part of)
  • Usability (our own scale on how useful/effective it is for our audience)
  • CTA (is there a relevant/custom call-to-action/ad in the content

 Improving SEO and AODA

Keywords are still important, but keyword stuffing will cost you. Google’s keen sense of good online content can sniff out the junk to determine what is truly a good resource with many layers and forms of relevant content. Meta data is still important as it is used in your search displays, so word your page titles and descriptions carefully, to engage potential readers as they search the web. Check out our 5-Minute SEO Check You Can Do Yourself.

For several years, Ontario has been rolling out the web applications of AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act), a set of guidelines to make Ontario more accessible for people with disabilities. Websites are now judged on whether they adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, AA compliance (except for live audio and video). The timeline for when compliance is required can be found on Ontario’s AODA page. In addition to being complaint, making your website accessible according to WCAG opens your website to a wider variety of potential prospects, improves SEO results and earns goodwill among clients. Check out our article on freindly user-content as a starting point.

Marketing Automation

Often referred to as Inbound Marketing, automated marketing enables a series of tasks to be automatically completed when triggered. For example, a client clicks on an e-newsletter link to your “Our Widgits” web page, and visits a specific new widget page three more times in a week. That shows some obvious interest, so your website may automatically send an email to the client with more information on that specific widgit, additional shipping information and a link to your delivery schedule. If your client clicks on the delivery link, another more informative email could be sent, and the appropriate sales rep sent a prompt to call said client immediately. II the client doesn’t click on the delivery link, then a different email with other information and an incentive might be appropriate, or links to relevant blog articles, or references from other clients who have ordered that widgit…

Point being, strategic tasks can be set up to happen automatically, accommodating for the receiver’s actions and sending the right information at the right time. It allows you to look after prospects’ and clients’ needs efficiently and effectively.

Use of dynamic content, presenting different content on a page for different buyer personas, further nurtures leads, and extensive tracking and reporting provides insight and intelligence to make the user-experience as rewarding as possible.

There is much that your website could be doing to better communicate and engage with your audience. Start taking some steps to leverage its potential.

A Brief Overview to Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation blog article on prosar.com - person pointing at backlit icons

Marketing automation, or inbound marketing, started taking hold about a decade ago and brought about a paradigm shift in how companies approach their target markets. It leverages the power of digital tools and online communication, and consumers’ growing appetite for information. It respects consumers’ greater control over the selling-buying process. And, rather than the traditional broadcast methods of pushing your message out to a general audience, inbound strategy attracts a receptive audience, nurtures a trusting relationship, and secures a loyal client. Here’s a brief marketing automation overview to help put it in perspective for you.

What started quite simply with the notion of attract traffic, nurture interest, convert leads has become more comprehensive and complex. Dynamic-based content allows you to create customized emails, web pages and forms for targeted market segments (personas) and even individuals. Tracking, reporting and analytics now play an important role in testing, measuring and improving deployment of the tactics. And the tools used to manage the process have become more sophisticated and powerful.

This greater complexity speaks to the larger role that marketing automation now plays and great potential that comes with it. It underlines the importance of developing a strategy and detailed planning to ensure your budget and efforts are directly wisely.

The Marketing Automation Process

The basic premise behind marketing automation is much like dating — make yourself known and attractive to those who are looking for what you have to offer. Once you have their attention, you work at proving your value with information and insight via content on your website and downloads. A progression of content and engagement keeps your prospect interested until you successfully build the case that they should purchase form you.

The starting point is to create an informative and inviting online environment, and downloadable content, that serves as a resource for those seeking your service or product. (Content generation is an important component, read Does Your Content Go the Distance? for some helpful tips) When their online searches (often aided by AdWords, social media and email campaigns) bring them to your website, the wealth of strategically written and presented information, calls-to-action (CTAs), landing pages, forms and automated workflows lead them through your marketing funnel, and hopefully to a purchase. The process can take months with many visits, email campaigns, information downloads and even phone calls.

A bonus is that these same tactics are then used to nurture an ongoing relationship. The intention is not simply to make the initial sale, but to cultivate an ongoing loyal customer. The marketing and sales processes can more easily be aligned and integrated to work seamlessly together forming a continuum of customer care.

Tactics Used in Marketing Automation

The primary objective is to convince your prospects that they should choose your organization. Educating your target market helps them appreciate your knowledge and understanding of their needs. Tools, tips and tidbits of information, either as blog articles, whitepapers, branded information pieces, apps, etc. provide evidence to your knowledge and understanding.

Marketing automation tactics include developing strategic content, social media promotion, focused SEO, targeted paid advertising (AdWords and online banners), creation of engaging, customized landing pages and emails, special offers promoted by effective CTAs, scheduled phone calls, chats or online presentations, and a structured plan that integrates all components to work together in an automated workflow. Tracking and analysis enables measurement at several different stages so that tactics and campaigns can be measured and tweaked for ongoing improvement.

If some of these tasks and terms are new to you, download the Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation Terminology. A comprehensive PDF that explains all the lexicon.

You don’t need to employ all these tactics, but like any campaign with many moving parts, they are complementary and often prove to be more effective when used together. Whatever tactics you chose to implement, they need to be coordinated properly and consistent.

Marketing automation is a process. It takes time to create the content and components, and typically requires several months of applied and integrated effort before you start to see results. Once you have the system working, ongoing effort, trial and tweaking is necessary for ongoing success. Marketing automation improves sales and customer satisfaction, but it’s not a magic formula for instant success.

The Evolution of Smart Marketing

Developing a personalized dialogue to strengthen and maintain a feedback loop, repeat purchases and referrals is smart. Marketing automation simply uses modern tools and best practices to do what good businesses have always done: work strategically to attract prospects, demonstrate your knowledge for your product/service, listen to and look after your consumers.

CTA graphic with link to download the Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation Terminology PDF

 

SharpSpring Makes it Easier to Close Sales with its New Meetings App

Header image for SharpSpring information on PROSAR website.

Booking meetings is the name of the game in sales. To help you excel at booking appointments and converting prospects to clients, SharpSpring has gone a few steps further than apps that automate the appointment booking process. It has created a fully automated process of triggered emails, tasks, notifications, follow-up and integrated it with their comprehensive marketing automation solution.

 

Creating and Sharing Meetings with SharpSpring Meetings

Invite clients and prospects to book a meeting with you in a professional, seamless and automated fashion. Use a text link (perhaps in your email signature with screenshot of SharpSpring Meeting app - adding book appointment button to email“Book a consultation now!”) or a button — either are easily created within the app. You can place the text link/button in an email, on your website or a landing page, wherever you want people to connect online and automatically book a meeting with you.

In addition, you can share meetings that you have created. Each share meeting link is unique to a specific meeting. Just like the initial meeting booking links, meetings can be shared via emails, websites and landing pages.

There is no limit to the number of users. A sales team of 2, 4 or 42 can have profiles for all staff, each with their own settings and personalized links to book meetings.

 

Customize Meeting App Settings

screenshot of SharpSpring Meeting app - Booking a Meeting

Set in advance the dates and times you are available, when and how you are notified of booked meetings, and which calendars are synced with your booked meetings. These settings can be modified at any time.

 

Sales managers can be notified and view all activity, monitoring follow-up, results and prospect nurturing.

You can even customize which domains the meetings are set to, as well as the color for meeting calendars.

And, big bonus, the SharpSpring Meetings app is completely free with the SharpSpring Marketing Automation subscription. To learn more about SharpSpring and their Meetings app, contact PROSAR today.

Learn more about marketing automation and its effect on email best practices in our article The New Email Paradigm: Do More with Less

 

PROSAR Inbound Inc. is a SharpSpring Partner.

CTA graphic with link to download the Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation Terminology PDF

SharpSpring’s New Sales Optimizer

Header image for SharpSpring information on PROSAR website.

Sales managers are responsible for creating and implementing a sales process that consistently delivers results. But how do you outline what actions your team should take to close the deal, and when? More importantly, how do you streamline and control the process? SharpSpring has the answer!

SharpSpring Sales Optimizer ensures every salesperson follows best practices for conversion by automatically creating tasks and actions that move opportunities through the pipeline. This suite of tools is designed to give you control over both the cadence and quality of sales communication in ways never before possible.

Comprehensive Workflow Tool that Triggers Notifications, Tasks and Actions

Getting rid of those headaches starts with designing your ideal sales process in the visual workflow builder, a tool that empowers you to easily outline every step your team needs to take, from opportunity creation to a closed-won sale.

Your sales team now has access to the same powerful automation tools the marketing team uses, so they can convert those hard-earned leads to sales.

Workflows not only allow you to delegate how and when tasks are executed, but you can also automate actions like creating an opportunity and moving a deal to a new pipeline stage. Automatically generate new opportunities based on a hot lead’s engagement with your content, or move an opportunity to a new pipeline stage after they submit a signed contract. Allow automation to fill in the gaps and keep leads engaged without a second thought.

This enables your team to spend less time on the admin work involved in pipeline management so they can focus on what really matters – winning deals.

Manage Your Message with SharpSpring Sales Optimizer

Now that you’ve painted your horizon in an opportunity workflow, it’s time to add the little details that really seal the deal. When assigning actions in your workflow, you can easily control what emails and media center assets your salesperson sends out. With every auto-assigned sales task, you can link the specific email template they should send and any content assets relevant to that stage in the buyer’s journey. This makes it easy to align sales communication with the marketing team’s content strategy, so you have ultimate control over the message you want to convey.

Sales Optimizer Task ManagerDon’t worry, there’s still room for your salesperson to add their own flair – after all, you can’t automate a personal connection. From the Task Manager, the salesperson will have the option to send a Smart Mail template as-is or go into the email editor and customize it for a particular lead.

Streamline Task Management Through Entire Marketing – Sales Process

Having a more personal touch in your messaging is important for one-to-one engagement, but manually creating these repetitive phone and email tasks leaves too much room for human error. One missed follow-up email or phone call, and a sales-ready opportunity could fall through the cracks. With Sales Optimizer, rest assured that all your leads and opportunities are properly managed with the exact cadence you’ve laid out.


Follow-up tasks are auto-generated and flow seamlessly into every salesperson’s Task Manager. Even better, when leads engage with your website, their tasks float to the top of the list so your team can reach out just in time while your brand is top of mind. Sales Optimizer turns your website into a two-way communicator that’s patched in directly with your sales team, making prioritization easy and effective.

Capitalize on Hot Lead Engagement

Prioritizing who to reach out to is now easier than ever from the Activity Feed with instant visibility into which leads have automated tasks associated with them. Lead owners are able to see which leads are currently engaging and what they are engaging with, so they can respond accordingly.

If a lead opens an email or engages with your social media, this not only shows up in real-time on the Activity Feed, but it’s also highlighted when the lead owner has a follow-up task. This way it’s easy to time your sales follow-up at pivotal moments in the buyer’s journey.

Keep Your Team Accountable

Powerful new automation features sound great, but how do you make sure everything is going according to plan? Keep your team on track with detailed task reports that provide insight into which automated tasks are being completed or rescheduled during a given time.

Sales Optimizer Task Report

Instantly see if your sales rep sent an email when you assigned a phone call, for example, so you can make sure everyone follows the correct process. You can also identify any holes in your sales plan based on the outcome of automated tasks. Are deals closing on target?

Close More Deals With SharpSpring’s Sales Optimizer

Designing, implementing and fine-tuning your sales process can be a difficult feat. Make it easier – and more effective – with Sales Optimizer. To see exactly how the power of automation can benefit your bottom line, contact PROSAR today.

There is an endless supply of shiny new apps to help you manage your business and grow sales. Some are awesome, many are horrible, many are good, but not optimal for your business. Read our blog on Choosing New Tech Solutions for Business Growth — 5 Things Not To Do.

 

Article written by Nicholas Mangold, Product Marketing Specialist at SharpSpring.

PROSAR Inbound Inc. is a SharpSpring Partner.

CTA graphic with link to download the Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation Terminology PDF

3 Ways to Activate Your Website

Business person using laptop with icons of website, email, customer, data, marketing automation for PROSAR blog

It’s common practice to check out a company’s website before deciding to use their product or service. We all do it; either to learn specific information about the product/service, gain further insight into its use, or simply to feel more comfortable with the company before making a purchase or commitment. This is true for both B2C and B2B, online and in-store purchases, packaged goods and professional services.

Understandably, companies are doing their best to create websites that engage with targeted audiences. Savvy organizations are:

  • Presenting what they do in a stylish and easy to navigate manner.
  • Making their website easy to use on tablets and smartphones.
  • Ensuring their website is accessible for people with disabilities (a legal requirement for some organizations).
  • Incorporating meta information and strategically worded content to build a solid foundation for SEO.
  • Engaging readers with relevant and interesting information.
  • Positioning their brand with messaging and imagery for greater impact.

So, let’s assume you’ve done all the above and have a good looking, informative website that provides a good user-experience on any device. Good for you… however, you can do more. If you expect your website to play an active role in your marketing, it needs to go beyond passively presenting and further engage your audience.

Here are three areas where your website can play a more active role in increasing awareness, improving your message and brand, and facilitating growth. Note that PROSAR is a SharpSpring Partner, so naturally we recommend SharpSpring as a cost-efficient and comprehensive marketing automation solution, but there are many good automated marketing platforms such as HubSpot, Pardot, Marketo, etc.; and software specifically for email such as MailChimp.

 

Automated Emails

Going beyond an auto-reply email greeting when someone completes a form, your website can assist in nurturing relationships and prompting conversations when people have indicated an interest.

In their pre-purchase research, consumers may visit several websites looking for something specific or simply wanting to feel comfortable before they commit. Most consumers don’t announce that they are ready to buy, but they do provide signals. Wouldn’t it be ideal if your website could help identify those potential customers and reach out to them?

  • When a known user returns to your website within 24 hours or visits specific pages, a personalized and customized email could automatically be sent them. Perhaps providing details on the products they were looking at, informing them of an incentive (price, warranty, added value, etc.), suggesting an appointment, call or chat to answer questions… there are many ways to engage and determine how you can help them.
  • When someone downloads a resource from your website it can trigger a scheduled series of personalized and tailored emails with tips, related products/services, articles of interest, other relevant resources.
  • On an e-commerce website, an abandoned shopping cart or product comparisons could trigger a series of emails designed to provide information and insight, or bundling cost advantages on the specific products.

Workflows are series of emails crafted in advance and triggered by prospects’ specific behaviours. The flowchart can be as simple or complicated as you wish, with every if-this-then-that sequence of decisions triggering different emails. The prospects’ actions control what emails are sent to help them with their purchase decision.

Notifications should be added to the workflow so that marketing and sales staff can be alerted when and how a prospect would like information or assistance. Notifications can even alert when a prospect is on the website browsing.

Automated emails are not an excuse to force your information on unwilling recipients; the objective is to provide information to those who are seeking it. Harassment is not good business, the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) imposes strict and sensible regulations on how a company can engage with people via email, you can read more about CASL here.

 

Dynamic Content
On your website, as in your daily life, what you say and how you say it matters. When we speak, we typically cater our words to the audience we are addressing. Most websites are static in nature (ours included these days!). They are filled with relevant, but generic content. Many larger companies have people dedicated to their website and social media accounts, so content can be updated, making it more relevant and topical. However, it is typically focused on a single targeted audience, or worded to address as large a segment of the public as possible.

Personas are being used more and more by organizations to better understand and target specific audience segments. SharpSpring tools enable different versions of emails and website pages so that headlines, text and images can be customized for specific audience segments. When the website identifies a user, it will present the content that relates to that persona. One of the underlining benefits of marketing automation is the ability to target your ideal customer personas and treat them as individuals.

Dynamic content facilitates more appropriate and persuasive communication with targeted audience segments. It also improves SEO by tailoring versions of your content with specific search terms. Such strategically worded content impacts being found online, effectively presenting your message, and converting leads to customers.

 

Conversion Process

Combining personas, dynamic content, workflows and email campaigns with tracking, lead scoring and a full CRM tool (Client Relationship Management) provides a platform to nurture and convert prospects. This complete package is how things come together to more effectively (and efficiently) manage prospects and customers. By tracking user behaviour and notifying marketing and sales staff, your website plays an important role in supporting your customers and identifying prospects.

Marketers can identify trends and create customized content and workflows (emails and landing pages) to address them. Salespeople are notified of potential interest and reminded of customers who have not been active, triggering workflows to engage and retain lapsed customers.

Your website can be more than a 24/7 online brochure. It can be actively participate in the marketing and sales process by attracting, engaging and converting leads, as well as maintaining existing customers. Unlike social media, your website is a stable hub that you control. It is an ideal resource to go beyond passive information presentation and effectively engage with your targeted audiences.

 

CTA to download Email Best Practices

Choosing New Tech Solutions for Business Growth — 5 Things Not To Do

Illustration depicting an effective workplace. for business growth.

Whether you have been in the workforce for three years or 30, you’ve probably had to adapt and adopt new ways of doing things. Our digital work environment provides new solutions, platforms, apps and hacks at a dizzying pace. For some it is the only reality they know, for others, myself included, it has fostered paradigm shifts in how the office works.

When I first started my career in marketing, the internet and cell phones were not yet in public use. Staying in touch with clients required letters, telephone calls and in-person meetings. Client-centric service was a priority then, as it is now, albeit the expectations were lower. If a client reached out with a non-urgent issue, you typically had a day or two before they worried about a response. Technology has narrowed that grace period to minutes, however it has also provided much more expedient means to stay in contact with your clients.

Here are a few other examples of how technology has impacted sales and marketing:

  • Brand was just as important in those days, though it was typically referred to as reputation or image. Without the immediateness, pervasiveness and expansive reach of the internet and social media, your reputation was a more stable and manageable asset. Easier to manage, but much more limited in its effect — our digitally connected society has given an exponential boost to the effect of brand.
  • Prospecting has always been a factor of numbers. The saying was that the “more doors you knocked on the more sales you could make.” Now, door-knocking has been replaced by emails, tweets, blogs, websites and other online content. The intention being to attract and entice prospects interest via Google search results and strategically designed websites with automated workflows.
  • Referrals have always been a valuable means of growing your business, and the internet has ramped that up with many forms of online endorsement. Being “liked’ has become a major preoccupation for many companies.

As these examples illustrate, the objectives or destinations haven’t changed. As a guiding imperative the overall strategy remains consistent, although the tactics we use have transformed dramatically. Marketers today need to be adaptive and willing to adopt successful techniques.

Learning to work with a new project management platforms, client relationship management cloud apps, marketing automation solutions, etc. can be difficult for individuals and disruptive for organizations. Choosing the right solution makes for a smoother implementation and successful adoption much more likely. With the objective of successful integration and business growth, here are five things to be wary of when considering a new software solution:

  1. Don’t let the solutions dictate what you need

Before you start searching for solutions, consider what you need. Detail the problem or issue you are trying to solve. You may revise this outline as you start looking at potential solutions, but you should have a definite understanding of what you want solved before looking for the solution.

  1. Don’t ignore internal factors

In your basic outline of what you need, consider your processes, organizational structure and culture, staff that would be involved, etc. These will directly affect how successfully the new solution will be implemented, which directly affects your implementation cost and the effectiveness of your solution. Be careful to choose a solution that will work as harmoniously as possible with all factors.

  1. Don’t be fooled by the newest or coolest

We all like a shiny new toy, but look beyond the glitz to see how well it fits. If you find yourself thinking “that is so cool” rather than “that is so efficient/effective” you should consider your initial needs.

  1. There is no free lunch

That is to say, everything has a cost. If the solution doesn’t meet all of your needs, there is either an opportunity cost, or you’ll use more staff time completing the tasks, or you’ll need to invest in additional solutions. Measure all options comprehensively, including internal and external costs.

Similarly, don’t be misled by a free or basic version of a solution. Many solutions offer a discounted version, or freemium, to attract new clients. Consider what you truly need — now and in the near future. If the discounted version won’t meet your needs, then use the premium cost make your decision.

  1. Don’t focus on the cheapest

Much like the potentially beguiling free option, cheap solutions shouldn’t be seen with blinders on either. Consider all relevant costs beyond the direct expense. Often a solution is cheap because that is truly its value. It isn’t technically robust or reliable, it doesn’t sync or work well with other software you use, it provides limited support, etc.

If you have limited needs or a very tight budget, a cheaper solution may be the right fit. Just be sure to consider overall value, not simply cost.

Growing your organization and meeting your clients’ needs requires that you keep pace with innovation, and that you find effective and efficient ways to do so. Don’t let the myriad new solutions confuse you or deter you from your objective. Technology speeding along has dramatically changed our means of getting there; as you continue to shift gears with new and improved ways to brand, prospect and refer — embrace change, cautiously.

 

Click to download Email Best Practices Whitepaper

I Have a Website, Why Do I Need Branding?

PROSAR blog image - the word brand shown on a sticker sheet.

This is a question asked by many small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners looking to grow their businesses. It’s a question we expect and we’re happy to discuss. Branding is an essential part of a marketing strategy, which is where it all should begin.

 

Branding Defined

What is my brand? is often the next question. Fair enough, many SME leaders are a little fuzzy on the specifics. Branding used to be defined as a name, symbol or design that identifies a product or a company and distinguishes it from others. However, branding has always been more than a logo or a catchy name. It transcends an impressive business card, updated website, and even a popular Facebook page. Branding is an expression of the value your organization delivers and the experience of dealing with you. It is the essence of your organization personified.

If that hasn’t completely clarified branding for you, the main take-away is that branding is the over-riding influence on everything your organization does. It should guide every touchpoint: it is the look ‘n’ feel of your ads and marketing collateral, the words and tone used in all communications, the way your staff deal with people in-person, over the phone and online, the atmosphere and feeling in your videos…

Branding incorporates science and art to convey the experiential — like a corporate deity it is omnipresent. So, it’s understandable that the concept is a little fuzzy for many, however it is important to take the time to clarify and structure your brand. Effective branding allows you to communicate that value in a unique way, integrated within everything you do.

 

What About My Mission Statement?

If branding is about expressing who you are and the value you provide, what about my mission statement… that we worked so hard on writing? Valid question, and good for you for having a mission statement.

Mission statements are important internal documents to guide decision-making and externally to inform the public as to your collective belief system and corporate raison d’être. Unfortunately, they often tend to be filled with unclear corporate-speak and declarations on how great a company is; neither of which is much good internally or externally. Focusing on simply communicating why your organization exists can help in writing a succinct and clear mission statement.

Both your mission statement and your brand are borne out of what you do and why you do it. Your mission statement is the down-to-earth description of what you do, and your brand is the face and implementation. It probably goes without saying that your branding strategy should reflect your mission statement, and your mission statement should reflect your branding. As such there are a subtle, yet pervasive, means of underlining your reason for being in business. (Check out How A Mission Statement Improves Your SEO)

 

How Does my Brand Affect my Website?

How does this relate to my website? One of the great things about having an effective brand is that it delivers a standard of messaging consistency. So, brand directs all collateral and communication, including your website. Brand covers visual and communicative tone that your entire organization can get behind. (In fact, effective brands are worn with pride by its employees, it has a rallying effect that keeps everyone singing the same song.)

Many companies approach a website as a technical project, when it is actually a communications and marketing project that involves technical ability. Equally important to the programming are the design and writing. A website, in all of its modern digital glory, provides several means to convey the essence of your organization: visual, aural and interaction strengthen your message. As such, it is an opportunity to fully introduce your organization, engage and nurture relationships.

There is an implied promise behind a brand that what you do as an organization will be consistent in quality, service delivery and in-keeping with your corporate ethics and beliefs. Today’s reality is that most people who interact with you will visit your website. It is therefore critical that your website effectively convey your brand and support a trusting relationship.