Do These 3 Things and Not These 3 Things with Your Marketing Clients

Take is from us, just from experience, there are certain things you should strongly consider doing with you clients in order to keep them happy and the projects coming your way. Of course, with each practice you should do, there are equal numbers of practices you shouldn’t participate in; let’s take a look:

Do These 3 Things:

1. Sell Solutions, Not Products and Services

If all you have in your sales conversations are products and services, your conversations and the campaigns are missing something — your empathy and recommendations. If every camoaign was as easy as picking a ‘package’, we’d all have the same results; we know that isn’t true. Like any kind of specialist, we know more than the average business person about properly strategizing and running a successful campaign depends on that. A transmission specialist knows more than me about fixing your car’s transmission, and that mechanic is going to understand car repair more than you and I ever will. With every option, we should also be giving a recommendation backed by logic and data.

2. Treat Your Clients As Unique Cases: Don’t Generalize

Each client is different and unique onto themselves. Seems like a no-brainer, but we see agencies treating all their clients and prospects as the same. This sentiment isn’t exactly breaking news, but I’ve seen many account managers treat all clients in the same manner. Be sure to tailor your conversations and deliverables to their exact needs and goals, but make sure you find out from each one of them ‘exactly’ what they need from you should they choose to work with your agency. This way, should you treat them and give them what they need ‘exactly’, there’s little room for them to feel like just another client.

3. Protect Your Work But Be Transparent In Times of Difficulty

Every so often, not on purpose, bu every so often you’ll accidentally ‘drop the ball’. It’s okay, it happens to every agency and every marketer. You’re only human. It’s important to own up to it, be honest, be transparent; however, if the issue is on the side of the client, be sure to defend your work, but don’t get into the habit of perseverating and/or constantly looking for errors with each next step.

Don’t Do These 3 Things:

1a. Avoid ‘promising the world’

At the end of the day, your job is to help the business owner solve a problem; via digital marketing solutions. But, that means you are the expert – don’t agree to everything the business owner says he/she wants. Even when it comes to timelines — if the client is ultra-late on getting you the assets you need for a project, reset the expectations; timelines are delicate, change them according to how ti best fits your production of the project and the eventual successes.

2b. Don’t let the client prioritize themselves against your other clients

The ole ‘I pay you a lot of money and you should be honored to work with me’ excuse to move other clients to the bottom of the list isn’t uncommon. In fact, what you should do, instead, is protect your integrity and explain to the client that your entire roster spends hard-earned money with you and that you treat them all with respect and equal importance.

3c. Don’t let a potential client walk if they don’t have the full budget

First, if you’re a graduate of our program you know you’re equipped to finance the campaigns; however, in some cases that won’t work out. Instead of saying goodbye to your potential client, offer to do a smaller job as proof of concept; more than likely, with good results and a good experience, the client’s wallet will open up and you just might discover the budget was there . all along.

Our Marketing Director, Joe Schaefer, is being interviewed by CourseMagnet on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

The interview will be in the form of a video discussion about the industry. Stay tuned for a link to the final video.

About CourseMagnet:

Most sales teams have access to less than 2% of their website visitors. CourseMagnet gives +41% more qualified leads. They come with the best way/time to contact & their likelihood to purchase. Get a short-cut to more qualified prospects while sticking to your existing workflow. The setup is fast and simple in less than 3 minutes. No complicated software to learn to get started.

Through our Support Team, we offer comprehensive ongoing support and continuing education to our graduates. We want our graduates to have access to the latest marketing strategies so they can experience continued growth and success in a very fluid and dynamic industry.

Our 5-day in-person training is simply the beginning.

Whether you need help with a concept on your first day of running your business, or down the road, our dedicated support team will be there for you.

Our graduates enjoy one-on-one support and mentorship after training. Our support team essentially becomes an extension of your business. Whether it’s a simple email or an in-depth conversation, our support staff will be there to help with any needs your business might have. Additionally, the training and education does not stop after your initial 5-day training.

Springboard has a great post that delves deeply into the need and the huge benefits for having a mentor as a marketer. And, that’s another way to think of our Support Team – as your built-in mentor(s).

Springboard’s post states:

“Few people would argue against the benefits of mentorship or coaching; show me any successful athlete, artist, business person, or lion tamer and most are quick to point out the mentors and coaches who were responsible for developing them. ”

The author, Geoff Roberts, lists the following reasons mentorship in marketing matters:

1. “…the skills needed to deal with this rapid change can only be learned through experience and can be greatly accelerated with the help of mentors who have been there themselves.” (referencing the rapid changes in digital marketing, specifically keyword research)

2. “…with the rise of digital marketing, there’s less ambiguity than ever before. Marketers can now embrace the data left by digital interactions to prove the impact of their campaigns.”

Have a mentor of your own? Want to learn more about our Support Team?

Instead of reading about our experiences with humor in marketing, let’s look at some other industry pros and what they’ve said about this all-too-important and often over-looked digital marketing approach:

Bryan Kramer has a great post on this subject and he kicks it off with important stats:

“According to a recent marketing study by the textbook rental service Chegg, almost 80 % of college-age kids remembers ads that make them laugh. And this phenomenon is not limited to just millennials, as Nielsen recently ranked some of the most memorable Super Bowls in the past four years.” See Bryan’s post right here.

Steve Olenski’s post in Forbes reminds us that:

“Humor breaks down walls, shows personality a.k.a. shows a brand’s human side.”

Emily Gaudette references Dr. James Barry, a humorist, professor at Nova Southeastern University by writing:

“Barry told me that infusing content with humor has a lot of potential for B2C and B2B companies alike, provided that they avoid re-inventing the wheel. “Seriously, humor works very well in B2B spaces,” he said. “As long as the creator knows exactly what type of humor strategy they’re using. Why wouldn’t CEOs want to be entertained? They’re just like anyone else.””

See the above post on Contently.

Do we practice what we preach? Well, we try! We have a handful of humor-based videos that promote our digital marketing training program that we would love to get your feedback on — check them out below:

Be Your Own Boss – Digital Marketing Training Classes

Digital Marketing Training – Be Your Own Boss (Isn’t It Time?)

Digital Marketing Training – Don’t Be Ned

Well, did we at least make you chuckle? Break a smile? How will you use humor in your marketing efforts?

Meet Jim, one of our graduates. Jim came through training in August 2019 and is hitting the ground running.

Jim flew in from the mid-west to spend a week with our team during training. Here, in the video below, Jim discusses his experiences and how impressed he was with what we delivered in 5 days. We’re looking forward to working with Jim each day moving forward.

Now that you’ve listened to Jim’s experiences with Digital Marketing Training Group, head over to our Reviews page and see more grads speak to their successes having come through our training.

According to Hubspot and many of their sources, search engine optimization as a means of driving inbound visitors is just as valuable today as ever.

Below are 3 undeniable statistics that point to Organic SEO being a necessary tool in the overall marketing toolbox for marketers, but more importantly for businesses that have a presence online.

ONE

TWO

70-80% of search engine users are only focusing on the organic results. (MarTech, 2018) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

THREE

Organic SEO is about 5.66 times better than paid search ads. (New Media Campaigns, 2018) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

It’s no secret that video and video consumption is huge. The vast number of minutes of video being uploaded daily is astounding — and for good reason: people watch more video today than even 3 years ago.

And, with social media platforms inching more and more towards video content as a main feature (think Facebook and Instagram), it’s clear that the video ‘trend’ is not simply a trend, rather, it’s roaring towards a necessity for successful brands today.

We came across this Infographic from Hyperfine Media that puts the important stats into one simple to digest format. Check it out:

31 Must-Know Video Marketing Stats

‘

In case you haven’t seen it yet, we recently produced a promo video highlighting our Support Team. The team, consisting of 2 lead point people, helps manage the flow of incoming questions and needs from our past attendees (our ‘grads’).

We here at Digital Marketing Training Group pride ourselves (and our program) on the fact that our attendees don’t have have to invest any more capital into getting the support and help they need for the life of their business.

Without further adieu, here is our Support Team video:

STEP FOUR: YOUR IDENTITY SYSTEM

The ‘identity system’ for your brand is the image you’re conveying to your customers. Mostly, it entails the visual design elements that you use consistently in all of your marketing to convey your brand message. The logo is one of them and arguably the most important, but there are others to consider as well.

These visual elements are used in:

• Marketing materials including books, pamphlets, flyers, websites, etc.
• Products and packaging
• Signs
• Communications such as email newsletters
• Clothing worn by employees, if applicable
• Stationery or any other office supplies you use

In other words, these visual elements should be included in everything your company does wherever possible. You may also include audio, such as a jingle or a tone like the Windows startup sound, a smell, touch or anything else that can communicate your brand.

Test each of these visual elements against your unique proposition and the promise your brand makes to your customers. Ask yourself whether they convey the message you want people to get when they encounter them. Your intuition can tell you if something is off, but it’s also good to ask colleagues and test your market. Again, you can get ideas from your competitors or brands you know and use.

The same basic guidelines apply to all of your branding design elements. Keep them simple and relevant. Make sure they communicate immediately with your market.

Wrapping Up Our 4-Part Series on Branding

You now understand the basics of branding and have a step-by-step guide to defining your brand and the design elements that will get it recognized.

Remember that branding is not simple. A good brand, logo, and identity take a great deal of time experimenting and refining your ideas until they’re perfect.

But this is no small consideration. Brand is everything. Devote the time and resources you need to creating a brand that’s powerful and effective.

Did You Miss It?

Part 1: Designing Your Brand
Part 2: Designing Your Brand Pt 2
Part 3: Designing Your Brand Pt 3

STEP THREE: DESIGN & DEFINE YOUR LOGO

There are many ways you’ll communicate your brand to your customers, but one of the most powerful and important is your logo. Your logo is your calling card. It’s instantly recognizable and as soon as someone sees it, they make the connection to your brand.

A good place to start in creating your own logo is to consider some of the logos you’re most familiar with. Brainstorm recognizable logos, as well as the logos of brands you regularly use. Consider which you like and don’t like, and which are most effective at communicating to you.
Logos come in all shapes and sizes and there are no strict guidelines per se, but here are a few considerations.

Three Types of Logos

There are three kinds of logos: text logos, image logos, and abstract image logos. Some logos mix all three of these types.

A text logo is simple and just presents the name of the company or a letter associated with it. Think of Google’s simple lettering. Most companies use their name as a logo. Very recognizable brands like Apple or Starbucks can get away with using no text.

Image logos show an image related to the company. Examples are McDonalds’ golden arches and the apple that is Apple’s logo. Starbucks’ logo is a stretch but still related: Seattle, the hometown of the company, is a seaport and the logo is a siren beckoning sailors.

An abstract symbol is something like Nike’s swoosh. It doesn’t say the company’s name or show an image related to the company, but somehow the movement of the swoosh communicates the brand’s message.

Logo Colors

The first thing to consider with colors is that most good, recognizable logos use only one or two colors. Simplicity is best.

The most used colors in brand logos are red, blue, and black or greyscale. However, many companies use other colors as well.

Colors need to be considered carefully because each color sparks certain associations in the mind. You want your logo’s colors to spark the associations you want to make and not something else.

Here’s a rundown on what, generally speaking, common colors mean to people:

Blue: Dependability, strength, calm.
Red: Attention-grabbing, energetic.
Green: Security, reliability, honesty, nature.
Pink, Yellow, and Orange: Excitement, youth, energy.
Brown: Dependable, simple, honest.
Black: Cool, sleek, high-tech.
White: Simple, pure.

Clean and Functional

Simple logos are best. Your logo should present a single image or word without any needless special effects that can distract from your message.

In addition to being clean, your logo also needs to be functional. What this means is that it’s easy to reproduce. Even if you use colors, it should look good in black and white because it won’t always be reproduced in color. Also make sure that your logo looks good whether big or small.
Invest the time, energy, money, and other resources in making the best logo possible. Your logo is extremely important for your branding and too many companies fail to put in the required effort.

Did You Miss It?

Part 1: Designing Your Brand
Part 2: Designing Your Brand Pt 2