Category Archives: Marketing Communication

3 Business Audits to Save Money Now

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As a business owner, it is always important to be reinvesting the company’s profits back into the business. Having extra cash on hand to take advantage of opportunities when they are arise often makes the difference in this economy.

But how do you squeeze more out of your business activities and boost the health of your bottom line? By eliminating waste. Usually inefficiencies are the “silent killer” of profit margins. By examining your operations and examining how much you are paying for your business services, you can take action to start generating extra profit to be reinvested into the company and give you an extra edge over the competition.

Below are three ways to cut waste and start generating extra money from your business today.

Operational Audit

In operations management, the term throughput refers to the total amount of time it takes the business to complete one customer transaction or request. To complete this audit, track 10 customers from start to finish, as their request or transaction makes it’s way through the various departments in your company. Odds are that there is a disconnect in communication somewhere that’s causing employees to spend extra time on things. This may be because things are being done by hand or there is not a clearly defined process. Identifying ways to increase efficiency means that you can reduce backlog and spend less money on wages to help more customers.

Customer Retention Audit

The cost to acquire a customer is often 3x more than it is to retain a customer. Often, it is cheaper to simply make sure that your customers are happy and want to stay with you. The following are some questions to ask at the beginning of this audit:

  • How many return customers do I have?
  • How many times do they return?
  • Why do they decide to return?
  • How many customers do not return?
  • Why do they decide to not return?

Finding the answers to the questions will open up a lot of modes of action to convert more customers into return customers and make better use of your marketing dollars.

Business Services Audit

How much are you paying for your accounting system? Your customer service system? Often making a list of all your service providers and listing their competitors’ products is a useful way to see if you can accomplish the same objectives with less money. What about telecom services? This is certainly possible – but it can be complicated. Getting the right telecom set up is more than just picking a carrier –  it also involves your geography and the architecture of your building. In this case, it is better to not go it alone. Working with a trusted telecom agent ensures that the best technology meets the needs of your business operations and your budget. Working with a telecom agent has another advantage in that you can be up to date with cost saving technologies as they become available.

There are many simple and creative ways to improve your business’s bottom line and increase your competitiveness in the marketplace. If you are looking to examine your current telecom offering as part of your business services audit please do not hesitate to contact us at (877) 629-3373 for a free assessment and recommendation to save your company money.

Stop Looking for Social Media Quick Hits

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In today’s 24-hour news media machine, we are constantly bombarded by stories of overnight success and viral videos that garner national attention. It is easy to think that “going viral” is a simple task and that anyone can do it: all you need to do is sign up for a twitter account and click “submit.”

Unfortunately, this is not how the world works and it can be discouraging for business owners who are not seeing any results immediately. To combat this let down, business managers should remember that using social media as part of your marketing toolbox is more like saving for retirement than hitting the lottery. Social media is not the silver bullet of marketing. It will not cure cancer and it certainly can’t help you if you aren’t very good at marketing in the first place.

The trick is to be patient and find your own strategy that works for you. This often involves trying on social media marketing strategies that work for other and discarding them after some time. Given the amount sheer volume of content being posted on the internet every day, it takes time for the search engines – and even your – customers to find you.

In short, you wouldn’t tell your sales people to stop calling prospects simply because they got told “no” on the first call – the same goes for social media marketing.

Telecommunications: Your biggest investment

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A phone system is a phone system, right? It’s easy to think that because telecommunications technology is now commonplace, that any old solution will do. Well, you’d be surprised to hear that there are a number of reasons why telecommunications, and it’s sub-group – internet solutions, matters more to small business than ever before.

In this post we cover some of the top reasons why it is important for small business managers to work with an independent telelcom agent for all their telecommunications needs.

  1. People still like talking to businesses on the phone - as we pointed out, there’s a lot that online marketing and sales can work in tandem with each other. But at the end of the day, people will pick up the phone and call when they are very close to making a decision to buy. Making sure that your phone lines are working properly and that sales calls are going to the sales team and not the warehouse or operations team means that you have a better chance of closing a sale the moment the opportunity arises.
  2. More of your business is online - whether you like it or not, most tools available to business managers require an internet connection of some sort. Let’s not forget the most important business asset: your data. Whether it be your customer contact data or your sales and accounting data – you don’t realize how valuable access to all that information is until you can’t get to it, or worse – it is gone forever.
  3. We’re business people too - we see things from your perspective and can spend the time to come up with a solution that’s going to work best for you. We aren’t forced to offer only a single solution like our sales counterparts at the big telecom firms. We can make sure that you achieve all your business objectives and meet your budget.
  4. Our customer service is better - Have you had a really important problem that took forever to resolve because every time you talked to the company, you got a different customer service agent and needed to spend a lot of time repeating yourself? With an independent telecommunications agent like RDM Communications, we know your system and your business intimately, so we can diagnose problems faster and ensure that the solutions are right for your business.

There are countless advantages to using an independent telecom agent over a large corporation. With technology updating so rapidly these days, business managers need resources like RDM Communications to stay on top of these changes so they don’t have to. If you are interested in hearing more about what we can do for you and your business, feel free to look at our Products and Services section or pick up the phone call 1.877.629.3373.

Questions To Ask Before Starting A Marketing Campaign

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Asking the “right” questions will greatly improve your odds when it comes to any endeavor. When it comes to marketing, having the right answers will mean more clients at a lower cost to you. Here are 5 questions that will maximize your marketing efforts and dollars:

1. Who are your ideal clients? Most business professionals have a very vague or far too general idea of who their “best” clients really are. If you know where to find these clients and understand their characteristics (demographics, psychographics, affinities, etc.), then you can develop targeted programs which will increase sales more effectively.

2. How do your ideal clients respond to certain words, statements, or ideas? Doing a little research by spending time with your ideal clients, either online or in person, will give you an idea of how to interact with them. Use this knowledge in your written materials, your presentations, and whenever you speak with them.

3. How much information will your prospects actually read? Some people prefer short articles with 5-10 tips and others prefer longer reports. It may depend on their level of education, job, and time constraints. Knowing this information will allow you to tailor your marketing materials to your ideal client’s specifications.

4. What are the biggest challenges faced by your clients and potential clients, and do you have the solutions they need? You can’t connect with your prospects without knowing what they need and how you can help them. Make sure that you are addressing what they want and not what you think they want!

5. What is the best way to reach your ideal clients? If they belong to organizations, join the same groups and use your mutual membership as the foundation for a relationship. Some clients may prefer to network online via social networking sites. If so, ensuring that you have a presence on these sites and that you are an active participant will be a better investment of time and energy.

Asking these 5 questions will provide important answers that will ultimately help you determine which marketing strategies are best for growing your business.

5 Ways To Improve Your Company’s Website

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Today, a company’s online presence is often as important as any brick-and-mortar storefront. But many small businesses still stumble when it comes to designing their company websites, and their image can suffer in the process.

Here are some tips to help small businesses improve their web presence while avoiding some of the most common pitfalls:

1. Keep it lively. In addition to keeping the language of your website concise, consider writing with a sense of personality. A conversational tone can make visitors feel more comfortable and willing to take interest in whatever it is you’re selling or promoting.

2. Avoid atypical fonts. Although it is vital to catch the viewer’s attention right away, don’t rely on strange or trendy fonts to do so. Stick with a standard set of fonts and let the professionalism and content of your website do all the attention-getting.

3. Stay current. To prevent your website from seeming out of touch with modern online technology, consider featuring streaming video.

4. Add a blog. Blogs serve multiple purposes. First, they add content pages to your website that should feature keywords. This is a double bonus as more pages and relevant keywords help with SEO. In addition, fresh, relevant content helps to portray your company as a thought leader. Finally, it provides another means to keep your company in front of your prospects and clients.

5. Use your own photos. In an “About Us” section, include real pictures of the people who work for your business. Stock photography can give your website a canned appearance, whereas photographs of your personnel can add a genuine touch.

How To Improve Website Performance

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Some companies improve Web site traffic and search engine marketing by relying on internal brainstorming sessions, intuition and sometimes even the latest fad. A few don’t bother making changes at all.

Truth is, the only reliable method of building a strong online presence is using web analytics to evaluate traffic. Not everyone is aware of the technical advances in web analytics offered by industry leaders such as ClickTracks, Google™ Analytics and Omniture. Your search engine marketing partner can tap into these resources and take the mystery out of web marketing. Using these web analytic tools, here are 10 ways it can help you transform a good website into a great one.

1. What’s working? Knowing what’s right is just as important as knowing what’s wrong. Web analytics tracks how long a visitor stays on a web page. When visitors linger, it’s a good indication they like what they see.

2. What’s not working? By contrast, when users leave in a hurry, it means something is wrong. When users beat a hasty retreat from a landing page or order form, immediate action is needed.

3. Identify contact/order page problems. Interpreting user behavior on these pages often reveals an overlong or overly complex format that drives traffic away.

4. Identify programming glitches. Quick departure from a Web page may also stem from a technical problem that can be fixed easily — if it is recognized.

5. Build better navigation. Web analytics tracks not only user behavior on distinct pages, but behavior around the site. When companies understand how frequently, for how long and in what order pages are viewed, they can reshape site navigation to lead users directly where they want to go.

6. Streamline existing navigation. Even when overall navigation is strong, Web analytics identifies the occasional “weak link” that causes otherwise inexplicable page exiting. A simple tweak might lead to happier users and new business.

7. Learn what your customers want. By tracking internal site search terms, companies learn what users really want out of the site. This, in turn, points the way to stronger, more relevant, more action-triggering content.

8. Enhance pay-per-click, or PPC, campaigns. By analyzing keyword behavior, click-through rates and conversion rates, firms continuously improve existing programs. There is no other way.

9. Craft effective new PPC campaigns. Assessing different keywords, messages and landing pages with traditional A-B split testing takes the guesswork out of launching a new program.

10. Monitor new and existing customers. If there are two things every company wants to track, it’s new business and customer retention. Today’s sophisticated Web analytics tools distinguish between what new and current customers do— and don’t do — when visiting and ordering.

Leadership: Convert Flaws into Strengths

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A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect. The perfect pot always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house. The cracked pot arrived only half full.

For two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, the broken pot spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without your being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.

The moral of this story: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You just have to take each person for what she or he is, and look for the good in them.