Kabbage: Digital & Online Presence

Digital & Online Presence| Your guide to mastering digital “Embrace what you don’t know, marketing. especially in the beginning, because what you don’t know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.” Presented by: Sara Blakely founder, SPANX

Table of Contents The very best place to start. Digital & Online Presence Audience Development Content Creation (cont.) Customer Service & Social Landing Pages Reputation Management Partnerships Partner Content Website Platforms Push Notifications F.A.Q Social Media Customization Content Newsletters Scheduling Digital Marketing Platforms Social Media Analytics Suggested Platforms Review Platforms Salesforce Yelp! Content Creation MailChimp Google Reviews Content Types Constant Contact Responses Blogs Active Campaign Emails Klaviyo Newsletters Hubspot Social Media Additional Considerations

Digital & Online Presence| “A good marketer can empathize with their audience and can Audience Development therefore understand what topics Social Media they should create content on, what tone of voice to use, and what Content Creation channels to promote the content in.” Digital Marketing Platforms Pawan Deshpande Customer Service & CEO, Curata Reputation Management

Audience Development Find, reach and nurture your audience. To grow your business, “There may be customers without start with your audience. brands, but there are no brands So, you’ve started a business. Perhaps you’re selling without customers.” — Anonymous vintage jewelry online, providing your neighborhood with the best dining experience in town or inviting Define your audience customers into your very own bed and breakfast. Did you know that Popular Woodworking has over No matter what you do, your business has a distinct 28,000 followers on Twitter? The world is full of people purpose. Guess what? Finding that purpose is the with unique hobbies and niche interests. That means hardest—and the most important—part of running a no matter how specialized your product or service business. Give yourself some credit, and prepare for is, you have an audience waiting for your offerings. the fun part: sharing your offerings with your audience. To pinpoint your audience, ask yourself a few key Within this step, you’ll need to define, target and questions about your customer’s demographics, engage your audience. Let’s get started. psychographics and behavior.

Audience Development Find, reach and nurture your audience. Demographics: First, come up with a list of common keywords for your 1. What age are most of my customers? brand. Then, follow Google’s guidelines to create text 2. What gender are most of my customers? ads that include those keywords. Be sure to keep the 3. What is the profession or income level of my language natural—otherwise your carefully crafted ads customers? may end up ignored. Psychographics: 1. What are my customers most interested in? Aside from Google Ads, it’s also important to include 2. What do my customers find value in? SEO keywords throughout your website. This should 3. What makes my customers unique? help customers find your content, while giving them Behavioral: helpful information about what sets your business aside 1. What are my customers’ shopping patterns? from the rest. 2. How do my customers find my business? 3. What sites, social channels or blogs do my Start the conversation customers visit? Your audience is never just in one place. They’re on Google, but they’re also on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reach your audience Pinterest and Instagram. Find out which channels Now that you know who your audience is, it’s time to are best for your brand by identifying which your reach them. One way to start is by creating Google Ads customers use most frequently. Then, create social to help your audience find your offerings. profiles as well as regular, engaging content.

Audience Development Find, reach and nurture your audience. Once you make your profiles, communicate with your As well, you can explain that this is a mutually beneficial audience. Ask questions, respond to comments, repost partnership—as your audience grows, so will your your favorite user-generated content and continue to influencers’. keep the conversation rolling. Recommendations from earned media, Create buzz around your brand friends and family Believe it or not, you’re not the only one who can bring in your audience. To grow your audience more, ask yourself who else your customers would like to hear from. For example, if you sell produce at the local Recommendations farmer’s market, consider partnering with a popular from brands chef as an influencer. Then, have them post recipes or other content around your fresh fruits and veggies. According to Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people over brands. Article by Marisa Working with influencers, partner brands and publishers Grimes 04/10/2012. Read more here. can grow your audience and your business. So how can you convince these influencers to work with you? With all these tips, you’re basically an audience You may want to give them products or services for free development expert. That wasn’t so bad, was it? in return for honest content. We knew you’d be a natural.

Audience Development Find, reach and nurture your audience. Top tip To reach your audience, start by defining your audience through demographic, psychographic and behavioral information. Now that you’ve tackled audience development, find out how you can make the most of social media in our next section.

Digital & Online Presence| “People don’t want to be marketed at in the social channel. This is where Audience Development they want to talk to each other, and Social Media brands are there by invitation. They Content Creation have to be a great guest at the table.” Digital Marketing Platforms Veronica Fielding CEO, Digital Brand Expressions Customer Service & Reputation Management

Social Media Connect with your audience online. Your customers are nailing social media. Are you? In the modern world, everything and everybody are Choose your channels on social media. From Facebook to Twitter to YouTube, Unless you have a full marketing team, you probably your customers are spending quality time connecting shouldn’t dive head-first into Twitter, Facebook, with friends and family—but they’re also connecting with Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat brands. They’re learning about products and services, and Periscope. Chances are you’re already busy—so asking questions, giving feedback and identifying with it’s important to only pick channels that you’ll be able brands that share like-values. Social media is an enormous to properly manage. You should post regularly to any opportunity to grow and nurture your audience. By channels you run, so make sure you’re not biting off picking the right channels, creating valuable content, more than you can chew. After all, it’s better to be scheduling posts ahead of time and studying analytics, absent on a channel than to abandon fans and followers you can benefit your audience and your brand. Ready? who look to you for fresh, interesting content.

Social Media Connect with your audience online. “We need to create a business strategy for Create content for your audience our content. That means saying no to too Different channels call for different content. Let’s take a many channels and content types...” look at what you could post on different channels. — Joe Pulizzi, Founder, Facebook is best for culture and community- Content Marketing Institute focused content, like photos of your café’s baristas having a latte art contest. Think about which channels your audience spends the most time on. If you own a restaurant, you may Twitter is ideal for shared interests, like a list of want to go with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If new artists your music magazine recommends you specialize in craft supplies, add Pinterest Propel for hip-hop lovers. to the mix for promoted DIY content. Do you sell quirky t-shirts to millennials? Go for channels that Pinterest is all about DIY ideas—so go here or appeal to younger audiences like Snapchat. Do you Pinterest Propel to share your subscription own an accounting firm? Reach out to professionals grocery service’s favorite pizza toppings. on LinkedIn. Prioritize the channels you’d like to run, then make sure finding them is easy. One way to Curious where to post in-the-moment content do this is by including clickable social icons on your like videos of your gym’s morning routine? Try website to any channels you use. Snapchat or Periscope.

Social Media Connect with your audience online. For visual content like puppies from your dog learn more about what they’re interested in. This is a grooming service, pick Instagram. great way to find out what else you could do to improve your relationship with your audience. Want to share your recruiting firm’s hiring tips? Look no further than LinkedIn. 40 million Have videos about how to use your new tech small business owners have active accounts on Facebook tool? Share those on YouTube. Posting the right content on the right channels will help you make the most of your social presence. But Don’t rely on spur-of-the-moment posts you shouldn’t stop there. This is the chance to turn If you post whenever you have the time, you might one-time customers into life-long loyalists. When just find yourself dropping off the grid for weeks at a someone asks you a question, respond in a timely time. This doesn’t fly in the fast-paced world of social manner. When someone tells you how much they love media. To keep yourself accountable for regular social your products, take the time to thank them. If someone posts, create a social content calendar that breaks posts a message that aligns with your brand values, down everything you’ll post for the month. Go ahead repost it while crediting the original source. For more and write the posts, then pick a date and a time to post engagement, ask your fans questions or create polls to to your channels. This is also the place to include any

Social Media Connect with your audience online. advertising dollars you’d like to use toward social posts. Here are some important things to look out for when You can then use a platform like Hubspot to schedule reviewing analytics: the posts ahead of time, so they’ll automatically appear Conversions: on your channels. If you decide to post spur-of-the- how many times your audience responded to your moment, that’s fine—just make sure it’s in addition to your call-to-action pre-planned content. Also, remember to regularly check your channels for posts that you’d like to respond to. Engagement: number of times someone interacted with your post Keep track of your progress (liked, shared, commented, etc.) Once you’ve posted to your channels, it’s time to monitor your progress. By taking advantage of Reach: helpful third-party platforms like Hubspot, you can size of audience who could potentially see your see everything from the number of interactions posts your channels see to the amount of traffic driving Impressions: to your website. size of audience who saw your post HINT: You’ll learn more about Hubspot (and Audience growth rate: other platforms like it) in our upcoming chapter how much your social audience has increased about digital marketing platforms. (or decreased)

Social Media Connect with your audience online. Visits vs unique visits: comparison of frequent visitors versus new visitors Bounce rate: number of people who left your website without exploring “The more you engage with Referral traffic customers, the clearer things become number of website visits from your social channels and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing. ” Influence: a score showing your estimated potential influence — John Russell over your audience President, Harley Davidson shop now With these new skills under your belt, you’ll be sure to grow your social presence (and your business).

Social Media Connect with your audience online. Top tip Pick social channels that appeal to your audience, then post regularly to keep your followers and fans engaged and loyal. By now, you should feel pretty great about your social media skills. You’re all set to create social accounts, create a social content calendar, schedule posts and measure your growth. In our next section, you’ll learn about content creation for everything from blogs to newsletters!

Digital & Online Presence| “Visual content, more creative storytelling, and interactive content Audience Development contribute to experiences that Social Media inform and create an emotional Content Creation connection with buyers.” Digital Marketing Platforms Lee Odden CEO, TopRank Marketing Customer Service & Reputation Management

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. It’s not all about products and services—it’s about Begin with a helpful blog your content. According to a survey by Jadite Inc., small businesses Whether you own a yoga studio or a spa, you know that engage their customers through a blog get a that running a successful business means giving whopping 126% more lead growth than non-blogging your customers great value. But value isn’t just what businesses. you can give your customers when they’re in your presence. While complimentary tea, relaxing music and free samples are all great additions to your businesses services, you can benefit customers even more. businesses with blogs without blogs How? By creating content that gives your customers a reason to stay loyal to your brand.

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. Not only are blogs valuable to you, they’re also valuable to First, potential customers who come across the blog your customers and potential customers. will likely choose this studio over other options (i.e., the studio without a blog) because the studio has already Common blogpost themes given them value through helpful content. Second, • News & Happenings existing customers who are in-between sessions will • Thought Leadership be able to continue their journey through the studio’s & Discussion blog—causing them to be even more loyal, while sharing • Sales & Events these posts with friends and family. The blogging yoga studio will likely grow, while nurturing their customers Let’s picture two businesses: a yoga studio with a blog, and and enticing potential customers. a yoga studio without a blog. At first glance, these studios look very similar. They both see customers regularly, Give your customers something to look develop meaningful relationships and help customers forward to better their lives through exercise and Zen mindsets. But Like blogs, we recommend using newsletters to give the studio with a blog goes even further. It posts about even more value to your customers. But wait, what’s breathing practices, where to find quality yoga gear, post- the difference between blogs and newsletters? Well, workout smoothie recipes and aromatherapy blends for while the two mediums are quite similar, there is one relaxation. That means two things. difference that should be considered. Blogs are written for customers and potential customers. Because of

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. this, blogs should be written toward a larger, more posted on your social channels and told customers general audience. Newsletters, however, are for your to spread the word. But you’re still not quite seeing inner circle: customers who care enough to subscribe the results you expected. What do you do? One way to your content. Write these newsletters in a more you could bring in more business is through a drip personal voice, and feel free to speak to this community campaign, or a set of emails that are sent automatically about more niche topics. Just make sure you give your according to a specific schedule. subscribers the option to unsubscribe to comply with legal requirements! You could start by sending everyone in your email list “Content marketing is like a first date. an introduction to the special. A week later, you might send two different emails: one to those who opened If all you do is talk about yourself, the last email, and one to those who didn’t. Perhaps there won’t be a second date. you send those who opened the email tips about how ” — David Beebe to maximize massages by staying hydrated and being Marriott International prepared to chat about tense areas that need extra TLC. Encourage your customers through What will you send those who didn’t open the email? email A reminder that the special is ending and to hurry in Let’s say your spa is running a special: free facial with before it does. You can then continue this with future an hour massage. You’ve taped posters on the walls, emails to engage multiple segments of your audience.

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. Stick to your social channels In the last section, we went over the importance of staying A landing page, or a standalone page that includes a active on social media. This is hugely important when it simple form for users to fill out. Landing pages give comes to creating content for your audience. you a space to speak strictly about your campaign So, what can you post on social media? Consider a in a basic layout, while gathering information about combination of photos, videos, brand messages, links customers and potential customers. These pages to relevant third-party articles, polls, questions and should be concise, straightforward and simple—driving testimonials. To increase the impact of your blogposts, users to an obvious call-to-action. you should also drive fans to new posts as they’re created. As well, you could encourage your audience to sign up for Landing page must-haves: your newsletter or follow you on any other channels you run. By cross-promoting your content, you can reap even simple layout more rewards (while rewarding your audience too). Put your ad campaigns in the spotlight If your business is running an ad campaign, you should promote it through your newsletter, blog and social Imagine your yoga studio is partnering with a spa to channels—but you should also create a space where the treat customers for staying active. You want information campaign can live. What is this space? about those who are interested, so you can grow

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. your audience and continue to market to prospective customers. So, what’s your CTA? Sign up for the spa day “Treating influencers as an extension event. It’s simple. You send out a drip campaign, driving of your company rather than a your audience to the landing page. Here, you should gather their basic information for the sign-up, and distribution channel will result in measure performance through your marketing platform a more impactful experience for (don’t worry, there’s more to come on this later). influencers and consumers alike. ” Look to like-minded creators your — Emily Garvey audience trusts Director of Strategy, Rokkan In our audience development section, we touched on the value of partnering with influencers and like-minded Another way to stretch your content is by creating brands to promote your business. These partners advertorials with publications your audience follows can create unique, insightful content that gives your already. For example, your yoga studio may want to customers helpful information as well as another reason work with Yoga Magazine to create content that benefits to choose your business. all parties. An example? You could write an article with your top 15 tips to help beginners stick to practice. Not Influencers can create blogposts, video reviews and only would the publication promote it, you’d be able social posts about your offerings—but it’s important to share it on your website, social channels, blog and that they disclose your relationship for transparency. newsletter. Win-win-win.

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. Create content that’s fresh and unique When it comes to creating content, the bottom line is Avoid posting unnecessary content. If you’re posting for keep your audience engaged. Think carefully about the sake of posting, it’s time to reconsider what you’d what is most valuable to them, and be creative. Here like to share with your audience. Everything you post are several types of content you could use to appeal should have a purpose—plain and simple. to your audience across channels: • How-to guides • Testimonials “The reason we struggle with content • Photos • Polls marketing is because we haven’t • Videos • Questions started with ‘Why?’. Customers don’t • Brand messages • Lists • Case studies • Contests care about your vanity metrics. Ask them, ‘How can I help?’ ” Don’t overwhelm your audience There’s so much you can do to give your audience — Kristina Halvorson helpful, valuable content. But if there’s one thing CEO and Founder, Brain Traffic worse than not giving your audience enough content, it’s giving them too much content.

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. One piece of content you may want to avoid is push notifications. Push notifications should only be sent to tell users about necessary updates. For example, airlines send their customers push notifications when their flights are delayed. However, push notifications should never be 200 used for advertisements through system level million notifications. Instead of giving your customers added value, it’ll likely only give them added people now use frustrations. Save your communication for content ad-blockers that engages, informs and helps your audience. By giving your customers helpful content, you can pave the way to even more loyal customers. Look out, world.

Content Creation Create attention-grabbing content for your brand. Top tip Create content that engages your audience, and you will in turn create content that grows your business. Now that you’re ready to create invaluable content for your audience, start looking forward to learning about our favorite digital marketing platforms in our next section.

Digital & Online Presence| “We have technology, finally, that for the first time in human history Audience Development allows people to really maintain Social Media rich connections with much larger Content Creation numbers of people. ” Digital Marketing Platforms Pierre Omidyar Founder, eBay Customer Service & Reputation Management

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Simplify your marketing and measuring performance? With the right marketing needs with the right platform, you can save time and reap more rewards. platform. Take a look at our favorite tools. As a business owner, there’s a lot on your shoulders. First, you have to source (or create) a valuable product Salesforce or service. Second, you have to provide these products With Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud, you can build and and services to your customers in a simple, timely manage email campaigns, reach your customers via manner. Third, you have to stay on top of transactions mobile messaging, engage customers over social between you, your customers and your vendors. channels, manage ads online, create landing pages, Between stocking up on necessary supplies, paying track visitor behavior, deliver personalized web content rent and hiring employees, your to-do list never quite and create cross-channel journeys for customers. Plus, comes to an end. So how do you pencil in tasks like you can access the platform through your computer or creating and scheduling emails, posting social content smart phone.

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Let’s take a closer look at Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud email capabilities. With this platform, you can use drag-and-drop content tools to create custom emails for your audience. Through this tool, you can also create automatic messages for your customers Consider here, using for different stages throughout your email campaign. a screen grab of the For added value, Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud also allows you to A/B test emails—or test two different general interface email variations to see which will perform better—while tracking and optimizing your campaigns. Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud social capabilities are also impressive. Through social listening tools, you can keep an eye on conversations about your brand, trending topics and more. As well, you can plan, publish and track social posts simply for full-circle campaigns. Another perk is the ability to respond to customers quickly by monitoring owned channels, EXPLORE SALESFORCE organizing conversations and labeling posts.

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. MailChimp We bet you’ve heard the name “MailChimp” before— and with good reason. Not only does MailChimp have an intuitive user experience for users of all skillsets, it can be used for Fortune 500 companies and is affordable for businesses of all sizes. What kind of marketing needs can you accomplish with MailChimp? MailChimp allows you to easily design or choose email templates, automate and track emails, monitor performance, create ads, target your audience, post social content across channels and more. Also, MailChimp connects seamlessly to your online store. Utilizing MailChimp’s ecommerce integrations, you can create targeted ad campaigns, automate follow-up messages and even notify your audience when items are back in stock. You can then see reports EXPLORE MAILCHIMP that show how much your customer base has grown and how close you are to reaching financial goals.

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Constant Contact Constant Contact allows you to create and edit email you can take advantage of phone support for additional templates, deliver and track emails, share emails help. If you’re often overwhelmed by marketing tasks, via your social channels, run and track Facebook this platform may be right for you. promotions, easily manage contact lists and set automatic emails for instances like customer birthdays. It also easily integrates with platforms like Facebook, LeadPages, PayPal and WordPress. One reason small businesses choose Constant Contact is because this platform comes with a myriad of resources to make the most of their services. From FAQs to video tutorials to webinars, Constant Contact allows you to grow your skills without leaving your home (or, more likely, your business space). On top of their helpful resources, Constant Contact is known for their superior customer service. Along with EXPLORE CONSTANT CONTACT live chat support with Constant Contact representatives,

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Active Campaign With Active Campaign, you can automatically send As well, Active Campaign integrates with apps emails using drag-and-drop custom templates, take a like Shopify, WooCommerce, Unbounce, Zendesk, close look at customer insight, measure performance BigCommerce and Zoom. and organize your data. Through Active Campaign’s email marketing tools, you can also send personalized messages based on what your customers are interacting most with on your website or in their inbox. Active Campaign offers insights and detailed reports, so you can find out what to continue and what to change within your campaigns. By maximizing your marketing efforts, you can take your business to the next level simply. Why do small business owners pick Active Campaign? It’s extremely easy to navigate, has great value at an affordable price and includes helpful customer EXPLORE ACTIVE CAMPAIGN service options.

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Klaviyo When you use Klaviyo, you can take advantage of With these emails, you can keep in touch with your helpful ROI-based reports, simple Facebook advertising, audience while giving them a personal experience. responsive and customizable email templates as well as simple integrations. Klaviyo also allows you to automatically send emails with pre-built flows, target your audience through behavior and browsing, A/B test emails and track how your audience uses your website. If you’re interested in seeing all your data, Klaviyo is a great option. It syncs all your data and puts it in one place, so you can see everything you need to improve your business without jumping around. Klaviyo’s biggest perk is that it makes ecommerce simple. Klaviyo allows you to send automatic emails for topics like abandoned shopping carts, recommended products, order follow-ups, welcome emails and more. EXPLORE KLAVIYO

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Hubspot Hubspot includes everything you need for marketing all in one platform—from tools to build and modify websites, landing pages and emails to real-time SEO recommendations to A/B testing. With Hubspot, you can easily manage your blogs, Consider here, using landing pages, emails, social accounts and website. a screen grab of the This platform also gives you insight into your general interface marketing pieces to see where you may want to make improvements. You can also track ROI of your social ads for even more value. While you can integrate Hubspot with platforms like Gmail, Outlook and Salesforce, it’s seen as an all-in-one solution for marketing needs. It is also a great choice for anyone without coding practice, or anyone who looks to review resources to boost their experience. EXPLORE HUBSPOT

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Before you pick a platform Which platform do we recommend for you? Whichever MailChimp has one you feel the most comfortable with. Take some time 1.2 million to explore these platforms, taking a close look at your users in 158 countries unique needs. Consider factors like price, customer service, resources and, of course, capabilities. All businesses run differently, and you don’t always need Salesforce has the same tools as your neighboring business. 150k customers “If you use standard research methods you will have the same insights as everyone else. Over ” 100k — David Nichols, people use Active Campaign Managing Partner, Brandgym We believe all these platforms can help you grow your Now that you know the basics of our favorite platforms, business and achieve your marketing needs. It’s just a you’re more prepared to simplify your workload and matter of how you’d like to achieve them! make the most of marketing.

Digital Marketing Platforms Pick your marketing platform with confidence. Top tip As you decide on a digital marketing platform, consider the following factors: capabilities, price, customer service, resources, integrations and ease of use. You’re almost ready to pick the perfect platform and up your marketing game. What’s next for you? In our next section, we’ll tell you all about customer service and reputation management.

Digital & Online Presence| “Customer Service shouldn’t be a Audience Development department; it should be the entire Social Media company.” Content Creation Tony Hsieh CEO, Zappos Digital Marketing Platforms Customer Service & Reputation Management

Customer Service & Reputation Management Meet your customers’ needs—before they ask. Bring your great customer service online. Start where your customers do: your As a business owner, you’re no stranger to customer website service. You go above and beyond for your customers, Your website can make all the difference in a sale, and whether you’re helping them choose the perfect even in a customer relationship. Oftentimes, this is product or searching for answers to unexpected where your customers will begin their journey with your questions. As you know, great service sets you aside brand—whether you own a vegan juice bar or a second- from other businesses. It shows you’re trustworthy, hand boutique. So what happens when a customer has personable and helpful. But what about your customer a question about food allergies or size conversions, service online? From your social accounts to your but can’t figure out where to ask it? Take a moment to website, there’s always an opportunity to share visit your website. Now, imagine you’re the customer in proactive service with your audience. Here’s how. question. What do you do?

Customer Service & Reputation Management Meet your customers’ needs—before they ask. First, you’ll likely look for an FAQ or contact page. What if you don’t have an FAQ page? Are these pages easy to find? If not, it’s time to An FAQ page can be a huge help to customers, and make an update or two. Your customers have a remarkable time-saver for you. Think about what limited time (and limited attention spans) when customers ask you most often. Then, answer them browsing your website. If your pages are buried, in straightforward language. This page should be you might just miss out on a sale. prominent on your site, and updated regularly with new questions. If you’re unsure whether your website’s user experience is simple enough, ask someone An FAQ page is also a great place to show off your who has never seen your site to complete a few brand’s benefits. Do you strictly sell locally-made tasks. These tasks could include answering basic products? Include the question “Where are your questions through your FAQ page, sending you a products made?” with an explanation about why you message and connecting with you on social media. believe in supporting local sellers. Does your tech store See how fast these tasks can be completed, and have impressive warranties? Ask “What happens if my adjust your website accordingly. laptop breaks?” Think about what you’d like customers % to know about your brand, then frame those benefits 70 into simple questions and answers. of buying experiences are based on the customer service

Customer Service & Reputation Management Meet your customers’ needs—before they ask. If you want to keep customers, keep it personal Everyone wants to feel special, including your “What helps people helps business.” customers. It’s one of the reasons your regulars keep coming back—when they do, you treat them — Leo Burnett differently. You remember their orders, you have longer “The Father of Advertising” conversations, you might even call them by name. But how can you bring this personal service online, and share it with everyone? Ask yourself how else you can personalize your customers’ experiences One simple way to do this is through your voice. It helps to sound natural, human and personal. It also helps to Do you sell custom artwork online? When someone give your customers reminders that you care. When makes a purchase, consider recommending similar someone sends you a message on your “contact us” paintings or pottery. You may also want to check in page, send them a message thanking them for reaching with your customers to see how they like their orders out along with a timeframe of how long it’ll take you by giving them the opportunity to leave a review. to get back to them. This can be set up automatically Not only does this make your customers feel included, through platforms like WordPress, so you can always it gives you testimonials that can be used you promote send timely messages. your business.

Customer Service & Reputation Management Meet your customers’ needs—before they ask. Keep the helpful content coming Because of this, we recommend taking some time You don’t have to wait for a question to answer it. each day to respond to customers’ questions and Instead, think about ways that you can give your comments on your social channels—along with your customers more value. An easy way to do this is through pre-planned social content. weekly or monthly newsletters. Give your customers the microphone If you own an auto repair shop, you may want to send newsletters with topics like “10 signs your car needs a Once you build helpful content, you’ll also build trust check-up.” If you own a steakhouse, your email could with your audiences. But there’s nobody people trust include grill tips or upcoming specials. Do you sell more than other people just like them. Because of party favors? Send party ideas focused around different this, your audience wants to hear from each other too. holidays. Get creative, have some fun and consider While it can be intimidating, we recommend what you’d like to know as a customer. becoming active on review platforms like Yelp and Google. Once you’ve set up accounts, monitor them Stay in touch through social channels regularly to see what your customers are saying. You As we discussed a couple sections ago, connecting with should also encourage reviews by posting the links to your customers through social media is invaluable to these accounts on your social channels, website your business. or newsletters.

Customer Service & Reputation Management Meet your customers’ needs—before they ask. Keep your brand’s reputation strong You’re a hardworking business owner who clearly looks Your customers know just how great your business is, for new ways to give back to your customers. But like and they’ll continue to praise you on review platforms, any business owner, you’re bound to see a negative social channels and in conversations with family comment every once in a while. When this happens, and friends. take a moment to carefully think about your response. Instead of becoming defensive, put yourself in the “Being on par in terms of price and customer’s shoes. Perhaps the product that shipped quality only gets you into the game. late was intended to be a special gift for a loved one. Service wins the game. ” Maybe the incorrect food order included an ingredient the customer is allergic to. Offer a way to help, and — Tony Allesandra show that you care. Author and Entrepreneur Of course, not all negative comments are alike— Oftentimes, having great service means having a great and as you know, the customer isn’t always right. If brand (and vice versa). By combining these lessons with you’ve received a negative comment that may violate your already great customer service, you’ll go far. guidelines, consider following steps to dispute the comment. Keep your head up, and don’t let negative comments get to you.

Customer Service & Reputation Management Meet your customers’ needs—before they ask. Top tip Treat your customers with respect, and they’ll help you take your business even further. Look at that, you’re all ready to give your customers amazing service online. With everything you’ve learned about digital marketing, we bet you’ll be able to boost your business and create even more value for your customers. If there were ever a time to reward yourself, it’s now!

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