FYI

What to do When Business is SLOW

Tamara Behun — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 14:09:58 +0000

Why is Business Slow Right Now?
Your sales department can be experiencing slow business for a variety of reasons. Some of these factors can be weathered through, and some require more inventive solutions. If you can predict the periods of slow business, you can prepare accordingly. However, even if you can’t predict when you’ll experience slow business, you can use the list below to help scale your sales process.

What do you do when business is slow?
It sounds counterproductive, but slow business can be a good thing for your team. When you’re experiencing slow business, it frees up your time to address weaknesses and focus on prospecting and connecting with potential leads. Here are several ways to innovate your strategy when business is slow:

Analyze your CRM-During periods of slow business, you can analyze the contacts in your CRM and examine the performance of your sales team.
Review your marketing and sales-If your marketing efforts are not helping you achieve your sales goals, it’s time to review your message and update it to improve your strategy and approach.

Focus on upselling and/or cross-selling- More than a quarter of sales professionals say existing customers took priority over finding new ones in 2022. This underlines a common truth in sales: a customer’s revenue potential doesn’t end at the initial point of sale.

Work on professional development-Professional development will help your reps grow, develop, and be more active, engaged, and productive in their roles. This can set your team up for long-term success and happiness and increased revenue.

Perform a competitive analysis-When business is slow, you can perform a sales competitive analysis so your salespeople can better position your product during their sales calls. A sales competitive analysis helps your reps learn how your product compares to competitors.

Brainstorm new products or services-Sales reps have the best pulse on what’s happening with customers. In their conversations, they organically uncover gaps in your services and offerings. During periods of slow business, utilize your sales reps and ask them to brainstorm ideas for your product team. What products or services are missing from your offerings? How can your product team improve your existing products?

Conduct customer reviews-During periods of slow business, spend time learning about your customers. Conduct customer interviews and reviews and re-engage with your audience. This can do two things: help your sales rep understand your buyer persona and help you collect valuable customer input.

Set goals-Sales reps typically operate on a monthly quota or sales goal. However, these aren’t the only goals they should have. During periods of slow business, develop other goals like adding incentives, increasing your prospecting, improving your follow-up, and getting more organized.

Need more help with your marketing goals? CLICK HERE to check out our RESOURCES page for valuable information to help with your marketing efforts.

Are You Ready for Fall Marketing?

Tamara Behun — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:38:53 +0000

It’s always a good idea to keep your website fresh and updated! That’s why I look for any reason to add some new images and content that will make your site stand out! Here are a couple great ideas:

Update your Website with Fall Themes
One of the simplest ways to promote your business during Fall is upgrading your website with Autumn themes.

Fall Advertising with Irresistible Deals
Irresistible deals are to consumers what candy is to Halloween. We just can’t get enough. To attract customers with irresistible deals, keep your promos relevant.

Send a Fall newsletter Campaign
Keeping up with your target audience by email is a classic lead nurturing technique. So why not implement it into your Fall marketing tactics?
To create a Fall newsletter that converts, consider planning out a series of Autumn-themed emails with a core purpose, value, and call-to-action.

Offer Back-to-School Deals
Offering back-to-school deals is an easy way to promote your business.

Post a Blog that has Content Related to Fall
Posting fall-related content that ties into your business is a strategic way to take advantage of the season while still achieving your objectives.

Join In On the Halloween Fun
Don’t forget about Halloween! Consider planning a Halloween content series and marketing it on your social media channels, in Facebook groups, and on your website. You can also add it into your email newsletters.

Reach out to Areca Marketing, LLC for any new fall or seasonal ideas to spruce your marketing efforts!

Generating Leads with QR Codes

Tamara Behun — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:39:51 +0000

QR codes are one of the easiest tools to get started with. You’re probably already familiar with QR codes, but if not, they’re the square barcodes like the one in the image above that are being used by companies to drive prospects to their websites.

I took a deep dive into the most important mobile tools for small- to mid-sized businesses. There are plenty to choose from, but we’re going to focus on the most effective QR code uses to grow your business.

1. Create a Landing Page
First and foremost, you’ll need to create a mobile-optimized landing page. That means a landing page that is designed to be viewed on a smartphone screen. Keep things simple – for example, on a mobile landing page, forms should be kept to a few fields only. Most people don’t have the patience to fill out lengthy forms from a smartphone.

2. Create Your QR Code
Once you’ve created your landing page, copy the URL into a QR code generator. There are plenty of QR code generators on the web, so just do a search for one. Paste your landing page URL into the QR code generator and, like magic, your QR code will be generated on the spot. This QR code is unique to you, so nobody in the world has another one just like it.

3. Add Your QR Code to Your Promotional Materials
Grab your QR code from the generator. On a PC, that means right-clicking it and saving it to your computer. (On a Mac, you can drag and drop.) Now that you have the QR code handy, add it to your promotional materials. That includes any printed materials or websites that are going to be part of the promotion.

4. Get the Word Out
There’s no point in launching a QR Code promotion if you’re not going to let the world know about it. So broadcast your message using your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or any of the other social media tools at your disposal. The key part at this stage of the game is to let as many people know about the promotion as possible.

5. Stretch Out the Promotion
For a promotion, we want as many people as possible to participate, so we upload a new QR code each day for several weeks. That way, our audience builds, and we’re able to create as much buzz around the promotion as possible.

There’s no real mystery to using QR codes to grow your business. All you have to do is generate the code, and drop it into your promotion. Be sure you test the campaign before you go public with it – people who scan your code expect things to work relatively smoothly the first time out of the gate. But other than that, running a QR code promotion is a snap.

A key point to remember about QR codes is that they’re simply a mechanism to engage prospects and customers. In other words, they’re not the end-game, so it’s up to you to figure out how to use them to capture the visitors you drive to your website as leads using landing pages.

Once your strategy is in place, using QR codes to grow your business is relatively simple. All you have to do is generate the code, and drop it into your promotion. Be sure you test the campaign before you go public with it — people who scan your code expect things to work relatively smoothly the first time out of the gate. Give them an experience that delights them and keeps them coming back for more.

For more information on QR Codes, click the link to download our report from our Resources page called
HOW DO QR CODES WORK!

Using Emojis in Social Media Marketing

Tamara Behun — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 15:01:27 +0000

We do it every day! A few times a day! Maybe even more…

It’s how we express our feelings and our mood…Emojis are another form of communication. But, is it a good idea to use them in your business communication?

Here is an Infographic that helps you to decide when and where to use Emojis in your brand communication.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/using-emojis-in-social-media-marketing-infographic/573673/

How to Give a Presentation Like a Pro

Tamara Behun — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 14:35:54 +0000

It’s hard enough to speak in public, but what if you’re not sure your presentation is good enough? Or what if the presentation is great, but you lack the ability to convey your information?

Here is an article for you!

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/346399

Trends and Strategies Shaping Social Media Marketing in 2020

Tamara Behun — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:18:50 +0000

Here it is, 2020, and you know as well as I do that Social Media is King and we are at it’s mercy! So what if I could tell you that I have some answers for 2 very important questions? They are…

What popular social media marketing trends do you expect will impact your business in 2020?
What are best practices for improving engagement and brand awareness in 2020?

Well, check out this blog from the first #SMTLive Twitter chat of 2020 and you will get your answers!

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/trends-and-strategies-shaping-social-media-marketing-in-2020-smtlive-reca/571233/

Social Media Acronyms and Abbreviations

Tamara Behun — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 15:50:49 +0000

Social media acronyms are the airport codes of the Internet. You need to know them to get where you’re going, and you usually have to pick them up on the fly.

We’ve all experienced that awkward moment when we have no idea what coded language people are talking. Worse is when you get it wrong. Every office employs someone who thinks WTF stands for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

So here is an article from Hootsuite to help you “crack the code”!

https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-acronyms-marketers-know/