If you want to engage your customer base in a way that deeply resonates with their needs, you need to communicate a story well. One of the best ways to do story-based marketing is through the Storybrand system. The folks developed the system around seven fundamental principles that make marketing a clear, intuitive, and organic process. Storybrand marketing is a customer-focused marketing technique that you can apply to just about any business model. If you’re interested in creating a compelling brand story that engages with your target market, read on for seven essential steps to get started.
The 7 Steps to Create a Storybrand to Ensure Marketing that Works:
1. Start With The Customer:
Every good story starts with a central character. A lot of businesses feel that they need to be the central character in their account. In reality, the customer should be the center of the story. This restructuring allows them to place themselves within the narrative you are trying to create.
2. Identify A Problem:
According to Donald Miller, every good story has a problem or conflict. This problem that you identify is the central need that your customer faces. This need is the exact problem that you can solve for your customer – and it is often what defines your value as a company.
3. Identify Yourself as The Guide:
This is where you come in. You are the guide in the story who has the ability to lead your customer through the murky confusion of their problem and can guide them to the solution. Speaking of guides, a storybrand certified guide can help accomplish all the steps on this list professionally. Make sure that you, as the company, are clearly the solution to your customer’s unique problem.
4. Have A Plan:
You need to identify yourself as an expert. You have a unique solution to your customer’s issue. This is especially critical for any business-to-business model. You need to explicitly communicate the expertise that you have built over a long period of time.
5. Have a Clear Call to Action:
Now that you have clearly identified the hero in the story (your customer) and the solution to their problem (you), there should be a clear call to action present. It doesn’t need to be pushy — just compelling. Remember, the story should do most of the work for you. A storybrand certified guide can help you toe the line of compelling and overzealous.
6. Define Success or Failure:
The narrative that you craft should make it abundantly clear that if the customer follows the instructions given to him by the guide, they will achieve success. If they choose not to accept the guide’s help, they will run into the same problems that they have been facing.
7. Failure:
Failure shouldn’t be the centerpiece of your story, but it should serve as a vehicle of helpful tension for your story. Make sure that the customer understands the possibility of failure if they choose to not engage with your product or service, as well as the benefit of using your company.
Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.
There are things at work that employees want to get and things that employees want to achieve at work, but they keep thinking that it is hard. However, there is something that employees can use to get the things that they want, and that is through strategic negotiation.
Negotiating is one of the things that people seriously don’t like. Whether it is a confrontation or mindset that they are people that don't deserve to win, there are a lot of people who avoid any situations which require negotiation. However, strategic negotiation doesn’t have to be always like that.
Negotiation can be helpful to achieve the things that you want. Here are the things that you can do to utilize strategic negotiation in getting something at work successfully.
Always Prepare
When entering a negotiation without a proper plan, strategy and preparation can already conclude your defeat. Always prepare for the battle. Start with yourself. Ensure that you are apparent on the things that you want. Conducting research is important. It can be helpful to understand their needs, as well as their weaknesses and strengths. Ask for your manager or co-employees for some help and opinions.
Take Your Time
Instant approval for any request at work can tend to be lousy. Some managers do not enjoy negotiating and want to get done with it as soon as possible. It is understandable. However, it is important to take time on asking for something. Just like SEO experts in NYC who take their job seriously, It’s much better when you don’t rush things.
Negotiating Process is Continual, Not an Individual Event
Excellent negotiating results are just an outcome of a healthy relationship with the involved party. It is necessary to cultivate a relationship ahead of time. For the same reason, it is important that you constantly look for opportunities that will grow your relationship with the management. There are cases that even before having any discussions, managers determine the outcome already.
Find the Bargaining Chip
In addition to taking advantage of someone’s weaknesses, focus on taking extreme advantage of your strengths. It is essential to establish a firm foundation while negotiating. You can also demonstrate your expertise and knowledge about things.
However, make sure that the skills that you’ll show will have a substantial impact on the thing or position that you need. It can determine a good result especially if the managers see that you deserve it.
You are already establishing your credibility at work. It is challenging playing catch-up while negotiating, so it is better to take the initiative and guide the process in the direction that will favor you.
Don’t Tag Your Ego Along
Employees who attain success in getting the things that they want don’t usually show that they care about the result. However, it is their strategy to make the other side feel that it is okay to reject them, just as long as they tried.
Timing is Everything
Timing is everything, so it is important to pay attention to it. Timing is key in any negotiation. It is important to know what to ask, but you also need to be sensitive when to ask for it. There are times that you can go forward, and there also times that you need to wait.
It is best to look for the best time before pressing for the thing that you want. However, watch out of pushing things too hard, because it may pollute a long-term relationship with you boss.
Go For a Win-Win Solution
Throughout the negotiation, always try to determine things that are acceptable for the management. It can be a mixture of various things that aren’t necessarily everything that you wanted. It is important that you understand the management or your supervisor's priorities, like how you also understand your priorities.
So it is better to think of the things that you would do if you were in their position. When constructing a negotiations or requests to your boss, it is okay to attempt in satisfying some of the company's priorities but make sure that it doesn’t weaken your position.
Always be ready to give up some things in exchange for the things that you want. It is smart if you know your limits, and how far are you willing to go just to get the deal.
Stick To Your Principles
As an individual and employee, you will have your set of values and principles that you don’t want to compromise. If you see that the negotiations will break some of those principles, then it can be something that you can throw away.
Getting What You Want
You can compare successful negotiation to a chess game. It requires different things like awareness, creativity, timing, and anticipation of your opponent’s next move. When using negotiation to get something from work, it is important to anticipate that your boss might have something up their sleeve to rebut and say no to your request. Your moves must be progressive so that you can expect the same from your boss.
While creating the plot of the strategy, it is important that you anticipate the end game. Also, you need to be ready for the outcome. After getting the job done, and getting what you want, it is appropriate to end the negotiation with a handshake.
Takeaway
As an employee, some requests and promotions seem too hard to attain. Negotiations can be helpful for employees to have an approval on the requests and promotions that they are aiming. With proper planning and an in-depth strategic negotiation, you can easily achieve it. The things listed above are the things that can help you get what you want at work.
Marketing is an integral part of any business. It is the bridge that connects consumers to products. You want consumers to purchase from you and trust your company as a business owner. So, you can undermine the value of good publicity for your company.
Globally, companies are willing to spend trillions of dollars to work on their marketing plan, including working on witty commercials, socially aware campaigns, and even constructing a user-friendly website convenient for consumers. Therefore, digitalization in marketing is no less than an asset for any flourishing business.
This digitization brings profitability and visibility and helps your business grow in exchange for minimal effort. But the perks of going online don’t end here. Buckle up and learn more about the advantages digitalization in marketing has brought.
5 Noticeable Benefits of Digitalization in Marketing
1. Accessible Digital Tools
There was a time when putting up an advertisement was tedious. You had to make several stops along the way to find a reliable advertising company, think of a catchy billboard sign, and negotiate a price.
This task was also risky since you get one shot to run a proper advertisement in exchange for a handsome price. In addition, if your commercial contained a mistake or a typing error, it would cost an additional fee to get that corrected.
However, in the age of digitization, you no longer have to deal with this to spread the word about your business. Platforms like the DigitalSupermarket have all the digitalization in marketing packages you need to create and manage great online advertisements.
So whether you’re looking for ways to upgrade your SEO, build your content, or need a nifty tool to make your company popular in social spaces, you can find them here. By browsing through the different prices, you can match with a platform that goes nicely with your budget and get to work right away.
2. Saves You Money
As a business, you want to save every penny running your business. That is because maintaining a company is expensive. To have a flexible budget, you need some cash in hand. Therefore by relying on types of digital marketing, you get an opportunity to save money by choosing cost-effective ads.
For instance, while opting for a pay-per-click advertisement, you can choose from spending less than $500 or staying within $1,000 to determine the number of ads you need and how frequently they should target consumers.
Alternatively, social media marketing also offers minimal costs. You may need to spend a small amount to use applications to schedule your posts online and create a social media campaign, but you don’t need to break the bank.
By going on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, you can quickly post content about your company and display products by going on Instagram live or Twitter to tweet more about your business by sharing relatable hashtags.
Saving money allows you to spread your wings, continue posting quality content, and use your money to work on other projects. So now you’re no longer obliged to spend thousands of dollars to make your company visible and expand.
Related guide: Importance of Storytelling in Social Media Marketing
3. Let’s You Cultivate Consumer Trust
A customer trusts any company based on two factors. One is that the business produces quality goods, and two, the company makes an effort to connect with them.
Your culturally sensitive ads will work only for a short time if you only produce conventional ads but don’t bother keeping in touch with your consumers. You need to make customers feel important and feel as if they’re essential to your business.
Therefore, through marketing techniques like personalized emails and introducing loyalty points, you can build an understanding with your client.
Digital marketing analysis also allows you to check on your consumer’s habits, so when you’re curating an email for them, you know what their favorite products are and reference them in the mail. This makes the email relatable and shows the customer how much you care about their choices instead of sending a generic happy holiday greeting card.
Try to put consumers with similar purchasing habits into one subscriber list to generate leads and offer the same seasonal discounts. Loyalty cards are another great way to ensure you’re keeping tabs on your clients.
By asking your consumer base to subscribe to your business and provide their details, you can create unique digital cards which redeem loyalty points. With every purchase, a consumer gets points which should give them access to gifts, free samples, and deals encouraging them to buy from you more.
4. Allows You To Compete On A Wide Scale
Whether you’re a small business or a large booming industry, you can compete with anyone, anytime, by using digital marketing. Online spaces work differently.
To gain an edge over your competitor, you need to know how to make content, build SEO, make sure your website is easy to follow, and follow hot trends. These include creating a tik to video or donating to social causes.
When you’re online, the size of your office, number of employees, and duration of your business are meaningless. It all falls to where you rank on the search engine results, the consumers you attract, and how smart you are in utilizing keywords in your content.
Once you manage your business online, you can quickly build a reputation and even earn a high net worth. Therefore, get used to digital marketing if you’re trying to make a name for yourself without going overboard with spending an exuberant amount.
Related guide: What Is The Future Of Digital Marketing In Regards To Shaping Up Small And Large Businesses?
5. Your Progress Is Measurable
Tracking how well you did with your marketing campaign is imperative since you want to know whether you got a high turnover rate or not. Unlike traditional billboards, where you can’t track the number of views, digital marketing comes with metrics.
Tools like google analytics provide you with an optimal breakdown of your marketing tactic. For example, you can see the number of comments, likes, shares, and even purchases your business got. This can help you make a graph and deduce what marketing tactics benefit you every year and what month always gets you new leads.
For instance, you may notice that your products sell well during the holidays, and your social media posts also get shared more around the same time. So you can study what aspects of your campaign spoke to consumers around that period.
As a result, you will have a better idea of what you need to do for your company. When you learn about the return on investment your campaigns generated, it helps you map out new plans, work on your SEO, and discard methods that don’t yield results, saving you more money. You flourish when you’re no longer in the dark about how well you’re doing as a business.
Final Thoughts
Digitalization in marketing has taken the world of business by storm. It has brought benefits that traditional marketing can no longer compete with. By going online, you can find your consumers, get their trust, become visible, get ahead of your competition with no fear and ultimately gauge where your business stands.
There is nothing better than enabling your organization to find a stable footing in the marketing sector as a business owner. In addition, digitalization in marketing also pulls back costs. It helps you design a budget that prevents your company funds from getting drained. So instead of spending thousands of dollars on marketing with a few hundred bucks or at most less than $5,000, you have a strong campaign ready for launch.
Read Also:
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Benefits of Having a Strong Digital Marketing Program
Online shopping has changed the way people shop. The popularity of the online shopping portals makes two things clear. First, people like the convenience that online shopping provides them. Being able to shop for anything and everything at their own convenient time and from the comfort of their homes or offices is a great plus point for shoppers across the world. Second, with the increase of online shoppers, the number of e-commerce websites is also increasing. This is leading to aggressive competition in the arena of online marketing. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into the picture. SEO can help e-commerce business owners to beat the competition and keep attracting targeted visitors to their website. Here are 8 key SEO strategies that can help e-commerce websites to gain success:
1. Provide unique and impressive product descriptions :
An e-commerce site is all about products and their sales. As such, product descriptions are vital for such sites. Since e-commerce sites have to deal with a huge number of products, sometimes they may tend to use the descriptions provided by the manufacturers for the products. Or, they may want to repeat the same description for similar products. But that is a wrong strategy and must be avoided.
You need to come up with a unique product description for each item you are selling on your website. Though it’s a lot of work to write unique descriptions for each product, this strategy is sure to bring in the desired results.
2. Ensure easy navigation of your website :
Make sure that your e-commerce website is easily navigable. This strategy is important not just for improving your site’s search engine rankings, but also to offer a smooth shopping experience to your customers. Create categories to organize your products and make them easily searchable. Ensure that your sitemap is easy to follow.
Also, the design of your website must be clutter-free so that your customers can continue with their shopping without feeling irritated. Place your menus in a way so that your customers can access them easily, regardless of where they are on the site.
3. Optimize the loading time of your website :
Your e-commerce website is likely to have a large number of images for the products you are selling. These images can slow down your site. Ensure to optimize the load times of your website by reducing the image sizes.
High-quality images are essential for any e-commerce website. But if they slow down your website, it can impact your SEO in a bad way. So, it’s better to include images with small sizes and have a feature that allows your customers to zoom in on the images to see an enlarged version. This will enable you to provide your customers with quality images without affecting the load speed of your website.
4. Go for internal linking of your pages :
Internal linking is an essential aspect of SEO. Even Google prefers sites that opt for internal linking in an effective manner. Your objective must be to ensure that your customers can reach your various product pages within your site with as little clicking as possible.
One way to do this is to link every page to other relevant pages within your website. This will also help your site visitors to navigate to similar products in an easy manner and give you a chance to convert them into customers. If you want to know more about customer conversion, you can check out The Ultimate Guide to E-commerce Conversion Funnel Optimization.
5. Make sure that your site is optimized for mobile :
Today more and more people are using their mobile phones to do their shopping at various online stores. This makes it essential for you to optimize your e-commerce website for mobile. By doing so, you will be providing a smooth mobile shopping experience for your users. So, either go for a responsive design for your site or create an interactive mobile application to draw in the advantage of such customers. Ultimately, your objective is to attract more customers and ensure more sales for your website and this is a good strategy to achieve your aim.
6. Assure user security on your website :
User security is one point that needs extra attention in case of e-commerce websites. Having HTTPS encryption for user security on your website is a great way to go about this task. HTTPS encryption ensures that your customers will have an added layer of security when shopping on your website. This will diminish any doubts they may have regarding user security on your site. Also, HTTPS encryption will help Google to mark your site as secured and increase the chances of your site’s ranking on the search engine pages.
7. Include social media sharing buttons on your product pages :
The reach of social media is undeniable. It can take just a few minutes for an image or a piece of information to attract the attention of thousands of users on social media. Incorporate social media sharing buttons on your product pages so that your users may share information and images of the product on the social media platforms. On one hand, this will increase the reach of your products and attract the interest of relevant customers. On the other hand, it will be good practice for SEO as well. This is because Google may perceive the social signals as an indication of authority.
8. Check your website and pages for errors :
For an e-commerce site, it’s not unusual to grow at an incredible speed and have a large number of pages within a short time. But such growth also increases the prospect of having errors on your e-commerce website. It’s not feasible to hinder the growth of your site. So, the next best thing to do is to make sure that your website remains free of errors. Carry out regular checks to ensure that none of the permalinks on your site generates 404 errors. Also, check that the links to external sources or content are in a functional state.
Read More :
9 Ways To Use Pinterest To Promote Your E-Commerce Store
5 Most Common Challenges Faced Bye Commerce Businesses Today
How To Get Product Ideas For Your E-commerce Business
