A Case Study in Customer Delight and Brand Loyalty

Posted by Isabel Miranda-Drone

Dec 29

A Case Study in Customer Delight and Brand Loyalty

We previously took a look at the importance of integrating CRM into the entire Inbound Methodology and ways that can we delight customers.  Now we are going to dive into a real-life case of using delight to build brand loyalty and drive revenue.

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Topic Categories: Brand Awareness

Beyond the Sale: 4 Ways to Create Delight

Posted by Isabel Miranda-Drone

Dec 29

Generally, companies face high churn and attrition due to their inability to form high-value relationship with customers.  However, in today’s digital world, prospects and customers transmit thousands of indicators about what is important to them via tweets, posts, comments, reviews, and more.  Finding insightful nuggets in all this data is central to establish deep relationships with customers.  Aggregating all the information in one centralized system that allows more targeted, contextualized, and personalized interactions throughout every touchpoint makes this more possible.  I discussed this previously in “Building Brand Loyalty: Expanding CRM to Create a Delightful Customer Experience.” 

It is also important to cultivate a community of loyal customers and fans.  This group is the most valuable because they provide valuable input and serve as advocates to others.  We all know how important it is to build trust but most firms struggle with doing so. Customer do not typically trust brands but instead go to their peers for guidance. But if companies can build trust amongst a small group of customers, these individuals then bring in new prospects via word-of-mouth.

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Topic Categories: inbound marketing

Building Brand Loyalty

Posted by Isabel Miranda-Drone

Dec 29

Expanding CRM to Create a Delightful Customer Experience

The overall goal of any company is to increase revenue through growing the customer base or by selling more to the existing customers.  You may have heard discussions around organizations creating a customer-centric culture.  Then you have CRM, CX, CEM, CLTV and more alphabet soup that just seems to confuse and complicate the process.  But how can firms truly build loyal customers that promote products and services?  

The CRM Issue

CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management” but it tends to solely focus on tools and tactics that help convert leads to a sale.  Although these tools are often essential, they tend to be narrowly focused on closing deals instead of truly developing lasting relationships with individuals.  Attempting to build a customer focused culture requires that CRM be taken out of its box as a sales transaction technology.  CRM must be woven throughout the entire customer experience and the various business operations.  Today’s customers are demanding more personalized human experiences and those companies that get it right are rewarded with brand enthusiasts that promote products and services on your behalf.  

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Topic Categories: Brand Awareness

S.M.A.R.T Goals for Social Media in the 21st Century

Posted by Hannah Hudson

Dec 22

A common mistake made by inexperienced social media users is pushing out content without a formal plan or established metrics and detailed goals.  Social media is often seen as an easy way to reach masses when in reality it takes planning and continuous research in order to effectively reach a target market.  In today's age, social media use is wide-spread so it is becoming more and more important to focus on effectively using social media in a way that differentiates you from the sea of other content. There is a lot of room for error, so let’s be S.M.A.R.T about it!

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Topic Categories: inbound marketing

6 Surefire Ways To Maintain Privacy when Online Shopping

Posted by Kevin Hayes

Dec 19

6 Surefire Ways To Maintain Privacy when Online Shopping

Keeping Yourself Private

I admit it: I absolutely love online shopping.  In my mind, it is infinitely easier to search for and buy gifts for my friends and family without even getting out of my bed – especially around the Christmas holiday season!  While this has the benefit of not dealing with long lines, traffic jams, and gigantic masses of humanity, there is one risk I have to watch out for: my own online privacy. 

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Topic Categories: Privacy

3 Ways to Improve Your Instagram Presence

Posted by Rachel Plafchan

Dec 15

If you aren’t already on Instagram, there’s a good chance you should be.  Instagram, initially released in 2010, is a “mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service” (Wikipedia) which allows users to connect through “likes”, comments, and content sharing.  Instagram offers an excellent way for brands to connect with users, promote their brand, and bring in new customers. (Instagram Image from Freepik)

Check out these Instagram statistics from Hootsuite if you’re not convinced.  As of November, 2016 there are over 500 million monthly active users on Instagram.  Over 40 billion photos have been shared by its members, approximately 95 million a day.  80% of Instagram users are located outside of the US, but Americans are in on it too – 31% of American females and 24% of men are using the mobile based social sharing application.  If you think that Instagram is a good fit for your brand, or maybe you are already on Instagram but not seeing the results you wish, read on to find out how you can increase your reach and potential on the application.

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Topic Categories: social media

6 Reasons Why Inbound Is Best

Posted by Isabel Miranda-Drone

Dec 12

Students Should Know IIT

6 Reasons Why Inbound is Better than Traditional Marketing

While a marketing degree will afford students an understanding of marketing fundamentals, channel strategies, consumer behavior, brand management, and marketing research, digital/internet tactics are left out.  They are simply mentioned as a trend without much real depth into its various components.  Despite this, many of us will agree that there is a real digital transformation taking place that drastically impacts how business is conducted.  The Accenture forecasted the digital evolution to add $1.36 trillion to the economy by 2020 per the Digital Marketing Institute’s “Missing the Mark” Report.  It obviously also affects companies’ marketing strategies but without the appropriate teaching for students, how will they be prepared for today’s marketing environment?

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Topic Categories: Inbound Information Technology

How to Create IT Security Training that Doesn't Suck

Posted by Kevin Hayes

Dec 8

We Need to be Trained Better

If you ask any IT professional about the onslaught of recent cyber attacks and hacks, you will eventually get to the part where you learn what's causing it all.  While Russian hackers and overweight basement dwellers will be probably be brought up, what you might not hear is that these attacks succeed due to poor computer security practices by people like you and me.  Both the Target data breach and the 2016 DNC Email hack happened because somebody simply clicked on an email link without thinking - scary stuff!

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Topic Categories: Security

Why You Should Be Using Instagram

Posted by Madeline Robson

Dec 5

Why You Should Be Using Instagram Stories for Business

Social media is rapidly growing, with users of all ages communicating every single day directly through a variety of social media platforms.  The evolution of social media over the past two decades has been a fascinating one.  Flashback to the early 2000s, when AOL Instant Messenger quickly was a primary communication tool for teens and young adolescents everywhere.  Many parents were skeptical of this early form of social media, adamantly warning their Generation Y children about the dangers of the internet and talking to strangers.  

Social media is everywhere!

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Topic Categories: social media

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for a Video Strategy

Posted by Madeline Robson

Dec 1

Implementing a Video Marketing Strategy

We keep hearing it everywhere we go – in the classroom, at conferences, in meetings – video is the future of marketing.  The reality is, video isn’t the future of marketing – video is NOW.  Video marketing, especially through platforms like Facebook and YouTube, provides consumers with a quick overview of a product or service, allowing them to get the information they need in mere seconds.  Many Millennials and Gen Ys have expressed video as being a primary source to obtain information, with 30% of consumers aged 18-24 consuming over four hours of YouTube content a week!

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Topic Categories: Video Marketing Strategy

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