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Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

Link to ShoeMoney

No better time than to give thanks!

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 09:59 AM PST

I love the simple tradition of Thanksgiving — giving thanks. We can give thanks any day of the year, but as crazy as life is, it's good that we have the one day a year to actively think about what we are lucky to have.

First off, I'm thankful to live in this country. No country is perfect, but the U.S. is pretty great. Among many blessings, we're lucky not to experience war on our land. Again, you can turn on the news any day of the year and feel thankful that we are not experiencing some of the terror other countries are.

As far as my life goes, I'm most thankful for my family. I have an amazing wife who is strong and can keep up with me all while being a great mother. When my life was looking down more than a decade ago, J motivated me to get up and go. Since my marriage and having two beautiful daughters, life has continued to look up. I'm thankful for my two kiddos. Any parent understands — it's crazy how fast they grow up and smart they are!

I'm also thankful for my fans. You guys have also kept me up and going and motivated for the next thing. It's so cool to have a relationship with a wide base of people. It's so much fun sharing things with each other — what's working in the internet marketing field and what's not. Who's successful and who's not and why.

I wouldn't have fans without my success, which I am extremely thankful for. It's taken a lot of hard work to get to where I am. And the hard work never ends. (I'm glad that I have that work ethic in me. I'm always ready for the next thing.) But I'm really thankful for the opportunities I've been given to be able to get to this point. Sure, there's been mistakes along the way. But those mistakes have taught me lots of lessons, so I guess I'm thankful for them, too!

I'm thankful for being able to publish my book and that people are reading and buying it. I'm thankful for publicity of my website and of me as a successful entrepreneur. I'm thankful to be at it again with the ShoeMoney Show after a 5-year hiatus. And I'm thankful to be doing all of this work during the time era that public-use internet basically started. It's been a cool journey growing with the changing field.
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ProBlogger: Man Vs. Machine: Get Better Sales by Keeping Marketing Automation Human

ProBlogger: Man Vs. Machine: Get Better Sales by Keeping Marketing Automation Human

Link to @ProBlogger

Man Vs. Machine: Get Better Sales by Keeping Marketing Automation Human

Posted: 26 Nov 2014 07:56 AM PST

Image via Flickr user Peyri Herrera

Image via Flickr user Peyri Herrera

This is a guest contribution from Veronica Taylor.

Marketing automation without a human element is just a robot on autopilot. Before, during and after each automated campaign it is essential for real people to plan, edit and review. When campaigns aren’t working, they need to be tested and updated. Most people think of marketing automation as efficient yet impersonal. When used correctly, however, most automated marketing solutions now provide the possibility for highly targeted messages based on each customer’s personal interests, preferences and history. Here are a few tips for making your automated campaigns efficient and dynamic while also building stronger connections with your customers.

Have a Specific Goal

For each campaign you create, it is essential to know what you are trying to accomplish. Are you seeking more new signups? Trying to get leads to download your whitepaper? Simply raising awareness about your business or an upcoming event? If you have automated messages going out to customers but you don’t have a clear idea of what results you are trying to measure, you will not know if the campaign was successful. You won’t know which messages were effective and which ones need to be changed. If you are not measuring the response to your messages, you are not listening to your customers. The automated campaign will continue to run robotically, with no edits or improvements. Know what you are trying to achieve. If it’s not working, update it.

Survey and Track Customers

The best way to give marketing automation a personal touch is to use it to its full potential. Marketing automation now has the capability to track and store each individual customer’s preferences, history, important dates, interests, personal information and much more. With this wealth of data, it is possible to automatically create highly personally targeted campaigns for each customer. This way, the customer receives information that is directly relevant to them, making the experience much more personal. You can send out automated appointment date reminders, bill payment notifications, birthday messages, personalized promotions and so on. This type of personalized messaging builds stronger connections and reduces customer churn. When you want to update your customer information in order to provide even better targeted messages, survey customers to learn more and keep information up to date.

Know When to Write a Personal Message

Sometimes automation just isn’t appropriate. There are many instances in business where it is essential to take the time to manually write a message or a response to a customer. In these cases, a prompt message sent by a real person has a much greater impact than an automated message ever could. These are just a few examples: when a customer makes a very large purchase and you want to thank them with a special discount or free product/service, when a customer has been with you for years and you want to show your appreciation, when a customer takes the time to write to you with feedback, questions or comments, when you make a mistake with a customer’s bill, purchase or account, when a customer has a complaint, and when you have time to make personal comments on social media (automated social media management saves oodles of time, but you absolutely need real posts or tweets thrown in).

Review and Analyze

As mentioned before, if you don’t keep track of how customers are responding to your automated messages you are simply letting a robot control your marketing, which is going to show in your sales. Real people are essential to a marketing strategy because they try different things when they see something isn’t working as well as they had hoped. One of the greatest advantages humans have over machines is that they take chances and make mistakes rather than doing the same thing over and over again. The best way to increase revenue, boost customer life span and attract new customers is to listen to what your customers want. Automated marketing solutions provide you with all the data you will ever want. Keep a close eye on your reports, open rates, unsubscribes and other data. Review your campaign data after each campaign you send. Learn what customers respond to, learn what they don’t want and learn how to react positively when you need to make a change.

To summarize:

Your marketing is ultimately in your hands. Marketing automation makes it possible for businesses to save time and money, reduce the daily effort their staff has to put in and connect more effectively with their customers. Marketing automation is a powerful tool, but like any other tool it needs a skilled operator to make it work.

Veronica Taylor, Assistant Marketing Manager at SimplyCast, enjoys writing about small business marketing, improving communication strategies, social media trends and more.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
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Man Vs. Machine: Get Better Sales by Keeping Marketing Automation Human
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