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B2B Marketing Trends to Leverage in 2021

J.C. Granger July 6, 2021

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was a tumultuous year for many businesses. B2B companies that thrived during this challenging time often were able to do so by implementing unique digital and technology-driven marketing strategies. These strategies allowed businesses to stay connected with a broad audience, and are continuing to take the lead in 2021.

From creating a podcast that furthers your brand to using artificial intelligence, the following are the top B2B marketing strategies to implement into your marketing efforts. Marketing is changing more than ever before, and staying on top of these latest trends helps you execute strategic decisions as you stay ahead of your competitors.

Why Following B2B Marketing Trends Matters

Although some of the trends on this list have already been making a steady upward rise over the last several years, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated many marketing changes. Traditional marketing strategies, such as cold calling and large-scale email blast campaigns, were already taking a backseat and in 2020 fell even more out of favor with consumers.

On top of this, with more consumers relying on e-commerce, digital strategies and tools are more important than ever to capture the attention of your target audience. Due to this, adapting current trends and understanding today’s top strategies are a necessity for B2B businesses. Identifying trends helps your business stay on top of the competition as you enhance your marketing strategies.

For example, two of the trends that are anticipated to continue into 2021 and beyond are the use of artificial intelligence to enhance customer experience, and the use of social media to connect with a worldwide audience. After the pandemic, nearly every industry will experience a lot of change and it’s essential, more than ever, to stay on top of the marketing trends that are impacting B2B organizations.

AI Tools

Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest B2B marketing trends because it allows B2B marketers to quickly decipher data and receive key insights on how well their marketing efforts are truly performing. Gathering this data and analyzing it for future improvement is one of the most important aspects to marketing success; AI reduces the effort and time required.

Another important aspect to AI is that it provides essential insight on customers and how to fulfill their needs. This is especially useful for marketing efforts that are time-sensitive. Often in marketing, it’s all about delivering the right engagement to customers at the right time. B2B marketers use AI tools to save time, execute personalized campaigns at the right time, and resolve customers’ needs right away.

Common AI Tools in B2B Marketing

AI has especially impacted B2B businesses by providing engaging and automatic tools. These tools streamline routine tasks, gain better customer insight, and achieve faster analysis.

This has led to a profound change in the way marketing efforts are conducted, as it frees up employees’ time to focus on other tasks and allows them to implement successful strategies. Routine tasks such as analysis and customer service can be accomplished through AI tools such as:

Chatbots, which provide quicker replies, enhanced services, and 24/7 attention to customers. Customers are able to get fast, simple replies to their questions and have their needs attended to right away.

Search engine results page (SERPs) analysis, which helps B2B marketers understand what their audience is looking for, especially in terms of content. AI analyzes SERPs quickly to provide guidance on improving SEO. This bit of insight helps companies scale up their content to rank in top spots on results pages.

Predictive models that estimate the best email frequency and send time for each subscriber on an email list. This drives email engagement and achieves higher open rates.

Algorithms that enhance traditional A/B tests to test more than two variables at once and quickly identify the top-performing factors on websites, emails, and more.

Content tools that compare articles on the same topic to determine which content is necessary for a business’s website. These tools are also highly useful in identifying keywords to target.

Ecommerce tools that analyze consumer behavior to predict which products people prefer, key topics that customers are concerned with, and more.

Automation and Integration

B2B marketing strategies often involve the same repetitive actions, such as posting on social media and sending emails to a subscriber list. These marketing activities can be automated at almost every stage, from content creation to the analysis of how well an email campaign performed. Not only does automation make these tasks easier, but it can also improve customer experience overall.

There are a variety of marketing automation tools available, including platforms and plugins, that make marketing outreach more efficient than it’s ever been before. Different marketing activities can also be seamlessly integrated into automation systems, which are used by almost half of B2B brands.

Ideally, automation combines software with strategy to provide personalized content that helps convert leads. If you have a system in place to generate new leads, automation provides sophisticated tools for nurturing these leads into long-term customers. It’s an essential trend to leverage in 2021, as it streamlines marketing tasks and makes your strategies more efficiently executed.

Automation Technologies B2B Organizations Use

There’s a wide variety of automation software that B2B organizations use, but some of the most common ones include:

Analytics tools such as dashboards and web analytics
Content optimization
Content collaboration and workflow
Content management systems (CMS)
Customer relationship management systems (CRM)
Email marketing software
Social media publishing and analytics

Email Personalization

Email is still a strong channel for B2B marketing. One of the best ways to leverage email marketing for your business is to create engaging, personalized content that grabs attention and generates higher open rates; the more your emails are opened, the more effective they are for generating revenue.

Email personalization has been shown to increase open rates; even personalizing a subject line can boost open rates by over 25%. With tailor-made, highly relevant content that is sent at the right time to the right person, you can leverage your email subscriber list as much as possible.

The point of personalization is to make people feel as if your brand is speaking to them, and to them only. Achieving this personalization for the hundreds of subscribers on your email list is where automation and AI tools come in. Many tools on the market simplify segmentation, messaging, and outreach.

This means personalization is easier and more quickly accomplished than ever, and the days of email blasting with low open rates are over. Now, companies can better measure the performance of their email campaigns and establish a trustworthy connection with their audiences.

How to Personalize Marketing Emails

You can personalize email campaigns by trying out some of these strategies:

Segmenting your subscriber list and sending specific emails to a certain number of people instead of everyone. Segmenting can be based on a variety of factors, including demographic data such as age and location, as well as purchase history.
Crafting engaging email subject lines that connect with your reader’s specific interests or preferences. Subject lines are the key to getting your emails opened in the first place.
Including the subscriber’s name in the subject line or email content.
Determining the best time of day to send emails to segments of your audience. In most cases for B2B, emails should be sent during typical business hours.

Need help creating an email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in running B2B email campaigns. Using time-tested methods, our team of email experts creates campaigns that grow your email list and increase conversions. Interested in learning more? Check out their Email Marketing Service now.

Podcasting

Although podcasting may not be at the forefront of a lot of marketer’s minds, especially in B2B, podcasting is emerging as an effective way to connect with your audience. In fact, podcasts are one of the biggest marketing trends, as they provide an opportunity to create even more content and engage with customers on yet another level.

If you’re looking to connect with auditory audiences who are constantly on the move, podcasts are a great option to take your content on the go and make deeper connections with a broader audience. Podcasts also tend to be more informal and present a different type of engagement, so some people may be more receptive toward listening to your podcast rather than more traditional marketing efforts.

The popularity of podcasting, in general, has been on the rise; there are currently 850,000 active podcasts and almost ⅓ of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a month. Although podcasts have been around for a while, the upward trend makes this an excellent time to create auditory content.

To add podcasting to your B2B marketing efforts, you can:

Produce your own podcast.
Network with podcast hosts to become a featured guest on other shows.
Invest in advertisements that will air during podcast shows to promote your brand.
Connect with a podcast booking service that will help match you to podcast opportunities.

Using LinkedIn for B2B Marketing

LinkedIn is one of the few social media platforms that was designed for professional networking and made for both individuals and businesses. It’s one of the best channels available for social media marketing and lead nurturing, so it’s an important B2B marketing trend to stay on top of.

Many businesses use LinkedIn to generate leads, post content and grow connections within their industry. With millions of members, LinkedIn is an ideal place for B2B marketers. Its relevance especially grew in 2020 due to the pandemic, when in-person events were replaced with webinars and online networking events.

Since the pandemic accelerated a few changes that were already in the making, LinkedIn is likely going to stay strong as a networking platform. With more people working from home and more professional online events than before, LinkedIn will continue to experience an increase in users and content creation, all with the central purpose of connecting professionals from around the world.

There are two tools that especially help B2B businesses leverage their presence on LinkedIn: LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, and the platform’s Publishing tool.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn uniquely provides its LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a version of the platform that goes beyond what their Premium version offers, as it was designed specifically for sales professionals. The Sales Navigator makes it easier than ever for B2B marketers to organically discover and nurture leads. On top of that, LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides you with benefits such as connections to out-of-network professionals, sales insights, and advanced searches.

LinkedIn Publishing

LinkedIn has its own publishing tool that further expands your connection with customers and increases your brand’s authority. By publishing professional content that adds value for your audience, you can enhance your company’s professional identity and outreach on the platform. LinkedIn Publishing is one of the often-forgotten tools to LinkedIn that can be invaluable to B2B marketers who are looking for further ways to expand their marketing efforts.

Immersive Digital Experiences

More than ever, businesses need to prioritize digital environments and offer the modern customer experience that all buyers will be looking for. Even in the B2B market, buyers demand convenience, speed, efficiency, and technology that is up-to-date. They want to resolve their needs as soon as possible, whether they’re searching for content, a key piece of information, or a specific product.

Your B2B marketing strategies need to provide an engaging, interactive customer experience that delivers quickly. This focus on speed and digital efficiency is largely influenced by demographics; most B2B buyers are millennials. Digital interaction is a large part of their purchasing habits and lifestyles.

Because of this demographic influence, B2B businesses need to:

Go beyond traditional marketing strategies like email and webinars. Instead, incorporate interactive elements into your marketing campaigns to capture your millennial audience’s attention. Use elements such as breakout sessions, polls, games, and surveys.
Employ fast protocols to resolve problems such as customer experience or issues with certain products.
Quickly address negative reviews or commentary on review platforms such as social media. A negative online presence leads to fewer leads and may damage your business’s reputation. Successful companies acknowledge comments on social media and respond to both positive and negative reviews.
Ensure that websites and applications are mobile-friendly and provide a positive user experience. It also shouldn’t be difficult to find information about your company online. If it takes too long to find information or your website takes too long to load, a frustrated B2B buyer will turn elsewhere.

B2C companies have dealt with many of these aspects for years. However, a positive and engaging digital experience is becoming more important for B2B brands as well.

Repurposing Content

Another trend that many B2B companies are taking on is repurposing long-form content. Evergreen content, guides, and in-depth articles are ideal pieces that can be repurposed for continuous optimization.

While many businesses have made small adjustments to their long-form content so it continues to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs), you can also break that content into smaller parts and post the re-organized content on marketing channels other than your website. Some of the best examples are repurposing content for LinkedIn and social media posts.

To repurpose content, you can:

Split the long-form content into a series of posts.
Take key points of an initial in-depth article and turn them into a poll or survey.
Create an infographic to present the main information of the piece in a fresh way.

By utilizing your different distribution channels, you can take the content that is foundational for your brand and repurpose it so even more people are able to see or interact with the information. This is a great strategy that gets more eyes on valuable content. Just keep in mind that repurposing is most ideal for content that is considered to be evergreen.

Leverage B2B Marketing Strategies for Your Business

As technology advances each year and consumers change their spending habits, it’s essential to stay on top of the latest marketing trends so your business remains a leader in your industry. The 2020 pandemic especially made an impact on purchasing habits and in some cases enhanced changes that were already set into motion. Staying on top of emerging trends and keeping a creative, open mind will help you establish a successful B2B marketing strategy.

While you can try out each of the trends listed above one at a time, they work best in tandem with your overall marketing plan. When you use every tool at your disposal, you can stay ahead of the competition. 2021 will be full of experimentation and change, but implementing this year’s trends will help focus your business’s marketing efforts.

Want to learn more about B2B marketing trends and how you can leverage them for your business? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in B2B marketing and can help you establish a successful marketing strategy that incorporates these newest trends to convert leads.

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CEO & Author J.C. Granger Releases Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success

J.C. Granger September 25, 2020

Successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common: strong leadership skills. Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success, co-authored by our CEO and author J.C. Granger and entrepreneur Adam Torres, explores leadership through the lens of a variety of industries.

Find Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success here.

The Story Behind The Book

In March of 2020, J.C. appeared on the Mission Matters Marketing podcast, hosted by Adam. After a riveting conversation on “Doubling Down” and marketing priorities during COVID-19, Granger and Torres thought they’d make an excellent team.

As co-authors, J.C. Granger and Adam Torres share their unique experiences and perspectives with readers. Additionally, 18 other professionals from numerous industries share their expertise, making this book a treasure trove of knowledge for all entrepreneurs. If you want to grow as a leader, this book is a must-have!

On Leadership: From Author J.C. Granger

Great leaders are formed through failure and success. Learning from those mistakes and wins is what creates great leaders. As business models, technology, and best practices change, leadership must evolve as well.

J.C. Granger, who has decades of marketing experience, has seen the concept and role of “leadership” change first-hand. In writing this book, Granger seeks to share his deep knowledge, passion, and help readers understand what makes a leader flourish.

In addition to authoring the introduction, Granger has a special chapter on “Crisis Marketing.” Of the chapter, he says, “I discuss how your business can survive and even thrive in the midst of any crisis […] if you change your mindset and think about it in a more child-like, simple, and logical manner, you can not only survive the war…you can win it unconditionally.”

Only a few days after publication, readers are already finding the book useful. One review reads:

“I got at least one actionable idea from every single chapter by a different entrepreneur on a different topic. My ROI on the book purchase will be 1,000X!”

Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success

Ready to unlock your leadership skills, grow your business, and find tangible takeaways for business growth?

Through inspiring stories, you’ll discover:

How patient care and technology meet in the medical field.
How digital transformation is imperative for companies.
What creating your dream retirement looks like.
How to create a result-driven culture in your company.
How to pivot your marketing to survive crisis situations.
Why cohesion is more important than engagement in an organization.
And much more!

No matter your industry or prior experience, this book contains critical ground-breaking knowledge that all entrepreneurs can utilize and implement.

Author J.C. Granger says, “…remember, don’t just consume the expertise in this book. Put it into action. Ideas are cheap – execution is everything.”

Ready to Develop Your Leadership Skills?

If you’re ready to expand your knowledge and further develop critical leadership skills, it’s time to put Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success onto your bookshelf. Author J.C. Granger, Infinity Marketing Group’s CEO, is here to help you reach new heights.

Find Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success here.

Building My Legacy Podcast: J.C. Granger Discusses Successful Lead Generation

J.C. Granger June 15, 2020

Our CEO, J.C. Granger, joins host Lois Sonstegard, Ph.D on the Building My Legacy podcast. The podcast, which focuses on leadership, results-driven practices, and showcases emerging leaders, asked J.C. to discuss lead generation on their newest episode.

Building My Legacy, Episode 41

Listen to the full episode if you want to learn more about…

How to Invest your Marketing Budget During a Pandemic
Why Long-Term Focus Should be on Marketing Infrastructure
Networker vs. Spammer
Automation Tools our CEO Recommends
How Understanding People Makes You a Better Marketer

Many Companies are Not Optimizing Their Marketing Campaigns

Many companies have excellent websites and a marketing strategy, but they’re failing in one major area. You can run dozens of campaigns and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, but if your campaigns aren’t optimized, how can you learn which campaigns are generating the most leads or revenue?

Set Up Ad Tracking

Let’s say you’re spending $10,000 a month on ads. If you don’t know which ads are generating form fills however, your future ads budgets won’t be optimized. Why waste money on ads that aren’t converting?

Building infrastructure is essential. Now, imagine that your ad tracking codes are optimized. The tracking data may reveal that 85% of your leads are coming from one ad. With this information, you can focus your budget based on the high-ROI ads in the future.

Making simple tweaks streamlines your lead generation. Not only will your marketing budget be better spent, but you’ll make more money in revenue. It’s a win-win.

Optimize Email Subject Lines

Email marketing drives revenue for so many kinds of businesses. Many companies are content with their email campaigns because they result in revenue. With a few changes, however, that revenue could DOUBLE.

Let’s say you send out an email, and it results in $1,000 in sales. That’s great, but changing just the subject line can be the difference between $1,000 and $2,000 in revenue from a single email. If you begin split testing subject lines, you’d be amazed by how much more successful your email campaigns will be. If your open rate doubles, in theory, your sales will double as well.

This just goes to show that the details matter. Paying attention to them can make you money.

Marketing During a Pandemic

During a pandemic, focus on the near-term. Survival is everything for companies. Based on your industry, there are tangible ways to allocate your marketing budgets during a pandemic.

If you’re spending money on SEO right now, stop. Search engine optimization is a long-game marketing strategy.

The only exception is if your paid ads are limited. This happens for companies in the cannabis and CBD spheres. For these types of businesses, we recommend shifting SEO budgets to email marketing. More specifically, we recommend using a tool called Mail Click Convert, which allows you to purchase and clean existing email lists. Once cleaned, you can ramp up your email marketing efforts, which have generally high conversion rates when optimized.

If you’re in an industry that can do paid ads, these have quick returns during a pandemic; the ability to target specific audiences, and measure Cost-Per-Click is incredibly valuable. Right now, many B2B companies are having huge success on LinkedIn as well.

Make Work Easier: Automations We Recommend

Automation can be tricky. While saving time on everything is tempting, some platforms will “punish” you for using certain plugins (like LinkedIn). Some automation tools, however, make work easier. At Infinity Marketing Group, there are a few tools we use to save time.

For example, Gusto is great for running payroll and saves our leadership team a lot of time. Gusto also integrates if you offer benefits to your employees as well. Having everything in one place is not only useful for your leadership team, but also for your employees.

Trainual is also an excellent tool. If during this pandemic you’ve had to let go of a W2 employee, and have had to hire a contractor, Trainual makes onboarding efficient; you can upload educational videos, quizzes, and even see training progress. With this automation tool, onboarding is simplified.

Time is valuable during a pandemic and some automation tools cut-down on time-consuming processes. Even if you just save one hour a month, turning to technology is worth it.

Digital Solutions by Infinity Marketing Group

Infinity Marketing Group provides B2B tech companies with digital marketing strategies that generate leads. Over the last 9 years, our experts have generated millions of dollars in ROI for our clients. If you’re looking to ramp up your marketing efforts or start from scratch, Infinity Marketing Group can help your company grow.

If you want to talk more about anything you heard on the Building My Legacy podcast or learn more about the digital marketing services we offer, call us at (303) 834-7344 or email us at info@infinitymgroup.com

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“Doubling Down” A Discussion with Mission Matters Marketing Podcast

J.C. Granger April 8, 2020

“Mission Matters Marketing” with Adam Torres recently spoke with J.C. Granger talks about how the COVID-19 is the perfect time to consider growing your business. Adam Torres is Co-Founder of Mission Matters Media, a media and publishing company dedicated to the needs of business owners, entrepreneurs and executives. Adam is an international speaker, author of multiple books and host of the Mission Matters series of podcasts.

Now is the time to “Double Down” on your marketing and sales effort by stepping up your game and not letting fear get the better of you.

Our very own J.C. Granger, CEO of Infinity Marketing group, recently discussed why it’s important to increase your marketing efforts during times of a crisis to propel a business forward. IMG has been in business for 9 years, specializing in B2B technology companies. We’ve learned plenty of lessons from the beginning of our agency. Having thrived through the recessions in the past, we’ve found ways to become stronger than ever before by “doubling down”.

Mission Matters Marketing: What does it mean to double down?

You and your company have no other choice but to survive during this pandemic. Infinity Marketing Group looks at committing your company’s strategy and upping your course of action in order to prove that you are the strongest, most reliable and knowledgeable in your business and are here to help with your company’s strategy. Every business will need to thrive in the tech industry, which may mean making a huge pivot in your overall marketing strategy.

We create resources for companies that offer help to those that are in need of technology updates and places to get trusted information. Companies are searching for solutions, efforts should turn to reaching out for prospects. Fulfilling tech demands that are needed and fulfilling your customer’s needs online in a tech environment. Many businesses may consider pivoting who they are reaching out to in order to continue thriving and meet the community’s needs.

Software that makes an impact for people, helping their companies and their people get through tough times right now. If you are in the industry that helps people and your company thrives because of your service, now is the time to push out your information, seek out prospects and start with putting your best foot forward. Go above and beyond. Build your credibility. Prove it with testimonials and stories.

Now is not the time to stop advertising and marketing. Do not let uncertainty hold you back from putting your company out there, it could be the next success story on the other side of our crisis.

Prove your loyalty and experience.

Value helping people with full-service.

Doubling Down with Infinity Marketing Group

We will help deliver marketing products to encourage business growth during this period specializing in:

We will design your marketing plan with your business in mind. There is no “one size fits all” strategy. Every digital marketing strategy is designed with the goal of self-sustainability in mind. Now is the time to double-down, building up your list of prospects and proving your credibility in your field.

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Smarketing: Strengthening the relationship between sales and marketing

J.C. Granger August 2, 2019

As with any kind of relationship, communication and teamwork are the major keys to success. In the world of sales and marketing, this is no exception. Historically, the two teams did not work well together despite sharing the same goal, which is to drive revenue. However, through the ups and downs of their sometimes combative and competitive relationship, sales and marketing can now work together successfully if they follow the four major rules of “Smarketing.”

According to Hubspot, the term Smarketing is “the alignment between your sales and marketing teams created through frequent and direct communication.” With the ever-changing landscape of digital tools and enhancements, it’s time that SaaS companies begin to embrace the concept of Smarketing in order to generate the strongest results.

Here are four rules of Smarketing guaranteed to strengthen the relationship between sales and marketing for your SaaS company.

1) Communication is Key

Life and relationship coach Tony Robbins, states that communication in relationships, at its core, is about connecting and using your verbal, written and physical skills to fulfill your partner’s needs. This definition remains the same in Smarketing. In Smarketing, communicating between the two teams will create an equal playing field, provide more visibility into results, allow for clear insights into operational systems, and will continually refine the processes of sales and marketing.

To maintain open communication, start to implement monthly Smarketing meetings.

2) Share a Common Message and Goal

Successful partners should always be speaking the same language in relationships. Regardless of how different sales and marketing teams may operate, they should learn to get on the same page as well. Whether this applies to the key messages of your products and services, the end goal of your business strategies, or both, it is critical that both teams are aware of the defined messages and goals. Being in agreement with these core pieces will allow each team to support the others’ efforts.

Additionally, defining the shared message and goal will ensure no overlap in work and key functions. Constant communication between the two teams will lead to the utmost productivity and efficiencies in producing strategies and uncovering results.

3) Implement Open Data

Like most relationships, open and honest communication is essential. Similar to sharing the common message and goal, Sales and Marketing must be sharing their data and results as well. Understanding the key metrics and results of both team’s efforts will allow the teams to make adjustments to their strategies if needed and ultimately help drive success for your SaaS company.

For example, when the sales team shares the number of monthly sales and their sources, the marketing team can leverage this information to identify channels and audiences for lead generation campaigns. On the flip side, if Marketing shares geographical data based on engagement from social, the sales team can narrow down their strategies in the most popular locations.

4) Celebrate Success Together

To build strong relationship morale, both Sales and Marketing should be celebrating each other’s success hand-in-hand. Whether the conversions come from a highly defined digital campaign or a strong sales meeting, it is important to celebrate both wins from both teams. Management can help facilitate shared celebrations and jumpstarting organizational alignment through defining compensation based on shared marketing and sales goals.

When these rules are followed and encouraged by both teams and management, your SaaS business will begin to thrive. According to a study by Aberdeen Group, companies that utilize Smarketing strategies in their goals see a 65% increase in top-line revenue over those who don’t. With that number alone, why wouldn’t you consider Smarketing for your SaaS company?

J.C. Granger is the CEO of Infinity Marketing Group. Infinity Marketing Group is an inbound marketing agency headquartered in Denver, Colorado that specializes in helping SaaS companies achieve their lead generation goals.

Connect with J.C. on LinkedIn and download his free eBook, “3 Essentials of Inbound Marketing”.

Must-Have Tech That Small Businesses Need

J.C. Granger July 26, 2019

My father once told me to “find a good mechanic and a good woman and keep them both forever.” This can easily be applied to software and technology as well. Since starting my small business, I’ve constantly been on the search for software that will make my life easier and can help me solve problems for my business, that won’t drown my wallet. Read below for the three software small businesses should absolutely be using.

Online Training Systems: When you’re a small business owner, you hit the gender-neutral glass ceiling of how much you do in 24 hours fast. And the last thing you want to spend time on is onboarding and training new employees. That’s why I use the automated training software, Trainual.

This is the ultimate training and onboarding tool and has been a complete game-changer for my company. Trainual allows me to add a new employee, assign them training processes (whether it is for internal processes or client communication) then alerts me when they are done. The best part? My employees aren’t training as they go anymore, they are trained before they go.

Project Management Tools: Project management software is some of the best money you can spend as a small business owner. I use Basecamp3. What sets Basecamp3 apart from other project management tools, is that it allows me to work with clients and my team – all on the record in one place — with fewer emails, meetings, and busy-work.

So, let me explain.

When not using project management software, it is more likely something is going to fall through the cracks. Whether someone doesn’t hit reply all on an email or a task goes unfulfilled for a client, the client isn’t going to be happy. When a client isn’t happy, the client cancels. When the client cancels, you lose money. Using a project management tool like Basecamp3 saves you from making small mistakes with the internal and external communication features – and ultimately saves you money, headaches, and stress from keeping everything on your email.

Online Billing Systems: One of the most important decisions you can make as a small business owner is what kind of invoice and billing system you implement. Starting out, I did tons of research and found that most billing systems, from PayPal to QuickBooks, charge the same 3% fee for every transaction.

That fee may not sound like a lot but do the math after a full year and you will feel your pockets start to burn a bit. Instead of using a system charging up to 3% for transactional fees, I use ChargeOver.com. ChargeOver.com allows users to import your own merchant processing system and has an easy-to-use automated billing feature. So now, I am paying only 1.5% for everything transaction. My advice: do your research on online billing systems. It could save you a lot more money to put towards your marketing funds or office space, or maybe even just more happy hours during the week!

Connect with J.C. on LinkedIn and download his free eBook, “3 Essentials of Inbound Marketing”.

Let’s Get Personal: How Content Personalization is Changing in 2019

J.C. Granger June 17, 2019

Have you ever talked about a product, but never searched for it online, then later received an ad for it? There’s a reason for that. According to Evergage.com, 92% of marketers are using your personal information to customize their marketing strategies according to your behaviors and preferences. With help from Google Analytics and CRM platforms, marketers can easily identify key insights about their customer database. Everything from age and location to the products and services you book online is being recorded to provide customers with the ultimate personalized experience.

You might be thinking: “I already know this.” For years, marketers have used attainable information of their customers to target them with emails, social media ads, and website landing pages. But in 2019, marketers are using this information and more in ways that have never been done before, to provide their customers with unique and tailored online campaigns. Read below to find out how marketing personalization is changing the way brands are connecting to their customers online.

AI-Driven Personalization

In the Digital Age, computers may be decreasing in size, but their power and popularity are increasing at a rapid rate. Good-bye to the days of marketers segmenting email lists by hand and adding personal touches to content themselves. Now, machines comb through their customer database and implement AI-featured algorithms to find the best techniques to segment and personalize their database.

In 2019, we can expect to see much more personalized product recommendations, individualized incentive programs, predictive content modeling and automation in marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. Companies can stay ahead of this trend by investing in AI technology solutions in email marketing, chatbots, and programmatic advertising.

Voice-Activated Searches

With Amazon’s Alexa to the Google Home and now even Facebook’s Portal, virtual assistants are popping up in homes everywhere. According to TechCrunch.com, 2018 reached an all-time high, with close to 41 percent of U.S. consumers now owning one, up 54 percent from 2017 alone. The cloud-based smart speakers are being used for music, online searches, streaming videos, and even playing Jeopardy. And if you’re ever wondering if these machines are listening to you, you might not be wrong. While the machines start listening based on “trigger words”, they are still recording your requests and conversations once “triggered.”

So what does this mean for marketing? Marketers are making their products and services easier to search, buy, or use with voice-activated commands. They’re using this information to help create a language that you use and to make the most engaging experiences possible on voice-activated smart speakers. Although these smart speakers do not run paid advertising now, brands have found ways to ensure their brand is mentioned first in specific searches. With voice-activated marketing not going away any time soon, it is important that brands start looking into how to optimize their brand with smart-device speakers.

Facial Recognition Marketing

The new facial recognition capabilities of the latest smartphones are putting customers front and center in marketing campaigns. With the growing popularity of facial mapping and augmented reality features, marketers are now testing and creating immersive marketing experiences for their customers. For example, cosmetic companies like Sephora and Orly are releasing apps that give their users virtual makeovers with their products and Nike launched a campaign that allowed users to control the movement of virtual shoes with their facial expressions.

Not only do facial recognition features allow marketers to experiment with more innovative campaigns, but these features are providing tons of insight into their customers. Mood detection and facial expressions can provide data on how the customer reacts to products or campaigns, which can be applied to more customized advertisements that will perfectly fit the emotions, interests, and preferences of their audience.

With all of the new and innovative trends in data personalization, 2019 is expected to have some killer campaigns that will feature voice, facial recognition and more. To keep up with customer expectations, brands need to look into campaigns that are providing more intimate and personalized online experiences. How are you going to stand out with your marketing campaigns in 2019?

Connect with J.C. on LinkedIn and download his free eBook, “3 Essentials of Inbound Marketing”.

Call-to-action buttons that DARE you to “Click Here!”

J.C. Granger February 27, 2018

Guys, it’s almost 2018. If you’re not incorporating a strong call-to-action (CTA) on your website or e-mail blast – you’re missing out! Just as Netflix leads to chill, CTAs are a direct path to conversions and revenue—and who doesn’t love a little ROI? (Hint: Everybody loves ROI, especially your boss).

3 Astonishingly “Simpler” Steps to Choosing A Company Name

J.C. Granger February 27, 2018

Today I helped an aspiring entrepreneur come up with the name of her new company.

She showed me a picture of a massive white board that she had brained stormed on and still couldn’t come up with a company name she liked.

Me: “Let’s do a quick exercise. We’re going to come up with 3 words that best describe what you want to offer and I bet when we’re done a name will emerge. First question, who is your target market?”

How Your Brand Can Drive New Revenue Through Immersive Augmented Reality Experiences

J.C. Granger February 27, 2018

Most people know about AR (augmented reality) as a gaming/entertainment engine that Pokemon Go has brought the concept to the attention of mainstream consumers. But what if AR went much deeper than an immersive source of entertainment? Augmented reality has shown promise of innovation in a number of industries and as we begin to really see the concept develop into a fully realized technology that could disrupt the way we experience life – it’s time to consider how to use it to give your brand a competitive edge.

5 Ways to Build a Lead Generating Website

J.C. Granger February 27, 2018

How to Build a Lead-Generating Website

Many businesses are so eager to get a website up and running, they don’t invest the time needed to build a solid marketing strategy as the foundation. First things first—topline goals should always be discussed before diving into any backend details or design; your website should align with overarching company goals. When it comes to effective lead generation, there are many layers to consider. We’ve laid a few of them out for you below:

Why Your Marketing Leader Will Fail

J.C. Granger February 27, 2018

Once upon a time, a marketing leader was hired to boost sales for a company. The company paid this person well. However, they did not supply the marketer with any of the digital tools needed to succeed, or the necessary support team across development, design, and support, since they invested all their budget in the marketer’s salary. While this marketing leader was a great team-builder and organizer, like most marketers, he wasn’t an expert in every niche of marketing strategy or implementation.