Inbound Marketing

This new marketing term was set up by Hubspot and mainly talks about how to set up your brand’s online presence. Not just that, high-level inbound marketing teaches you to attract the right customers, retain them and take care of them in a way that makes them refer you to other people. The difference between digital marketing and inbound marketing is that digital marketing talks about what you do online to promote businesses and brands while inbound marketing is about how you attract the right people for your business and attract more of those kinds of people. A good example of inbound marketing is knowing the right kind of content to post, depending on your audience and being a subject matter expert on that topic. People like seeing and hearing about problems that are fixed. For example, you could either write or talk about the importance of a secure website in a video or blog. The important thing to remember is that your audience or your market wants to be a part of that journey with you, they want to feel like they are involved in your business by asking them for their opinion or take on different things. Nowadays, customers don’t merely want to buy from you. They want to be involved in the story of your brand.

What about a CRM?

A CRM, for those of you who still may not know, is a central place where you can keep all your customer data in one place. Sure, a spreadsheet works, but ten a CRM just does so much more in more automated ways. What we love most about CRMs is that it allows you to put notes earmarked for every single customer. And that note could come in really handy in the sense that despite having last called a customer months and months ago, when you dial their number, the note you made months ago automatically just pops up and that allows you to build a relationship with them. For example, you call a customer that you haven't spoken to in months, and your note that says “Having a baby in 3 months” pops up automatically. Imagine how your customer would feel hearing your congratulations on their new baby? They’re probably going to think you have the memory of an elephant, but what they don’t know is that that’s the CRFM doing the work for you. With customer data this important, don’t rely on pen and paper this time, a lot of information can be dropped and lost. Remember, lost information means lost leads. Lost leads, means lost sales. But hey, don’t get us wrong. A CRM isn’t a self-setting up tool. Just like your business, it needs a lot of setting up, it’s not a magic carpet that flies on its own. You have done a lot of tweaks and fixes before it can work optimally for your business.

Branded Interiors

Ask yourself this; How do people feel when they’re “in” your brand? How does your brand make you feel? Some time ago, we got a chance to walk into an office that sold pool chemicals. Sure their sales were good, but their physical office made no impression whatsoever. It was like walking into an empty spare room, except that there were boxes and boxes of pool chemicals stacked on the floor. Sure, people like the minimalist approach nowadays but at least, give your market something to walk away with. Hang photos that matter to you.

Using art that is significant to your brand allows people to have that takeaway for your brand and make them remember you when they walk out of that office. Other than giving your customers a takeaway, keeping your physical office spruced up also promotes an awesome spirit of collaboration between your team members. Walls with art, some colour on your office decor initiates and stimulates cognition-making your team ready to contribute their ideas and make each brainstorming session full of takeaways! It’s worth a try!