Happy Bonifacio Day

Affinity Express wishes all its team members in the Philippines a Happy Bonifacio Day.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

Multi-Platform Marketing Strategies to Maximize Thanksgiving Sales

This year will be the shortest online shopping season with only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. By comparison, there were six more days to shop in 2012. However, National Retail Federation expects sales in the months of November and December to marginally increase 3.9 percent to $602.1 billion, over 2012’s actual 3.5 percent holiday season sales growth. The forecast is higher than the 10-year average holiday sales growth of 3.3 percent.

Due to the short holiday season and evolving shopping habits, marketing efforts of businesses will be fiercer and will involve mobile and social media. Shoppers will be incentivized with more shopping hours on Thanksgiving Day and amazing deals available on multiple shopping channels.

Print governed by Thanksgiving ads:

This singular day marks the beginning of holiday period and can be marked as the most significant revenue event for all the industries for the entire year. It is, in fact, so important that newspapers across the country have special expanded distribution of their publications that week and Thanksgiving Day circulation is the largest circulation day of the year. A large number of consumers turn to local newspapers and advertising pre-print inserts for information on the best deals.

As shared by IBISWorld, more than two-thirds of Thanksgiving revenues come from spending on food and drink for family gatherings and festivities; this category is expected to increase 5.1 percent from last year. Celebrating the year-end holidays with loved ones remains an important tradition for many Americans, so spending on consumables is not expected to suffer much, despite poor confidence.

87.8 percent of US households are expected to celebrate Thanksgiving by having families and relatives gathered around the turkey this year. The average household will spend $52.75 on Thanksgiving dinner and $31.23 on turkey alone. Other, more discretionary expenses such as greeting cards, gifts and decorations are not anticipated to grow much this year, increasing only 0.7 percent over 2012 figures.

A few years back, NAA (Newspaper Association of America) ran this ad to remind the readers how newspapers play a big role in making special occasions even more special.

Online sales expected to rise:

The late start of holiday season this year will result in a surge in online sales growth on Thanksgiving. According to a report by Adobe, “Pent-up consumer demand will translate into strong year-over-year online sales growth on Thanksgiving, which is expected to break into the “billion-dollar-day” club with online sales up 21 percent to $1.1B. Although many retailers have announced that they will be open, very few families come out to shop as they prefer to stay home and spend time with relatives on Thanksgiving, but they surely don’t want to miss out on the deals. This makes Thanksgiving a natural online sales day for couch surfing mobile users to get a jump on their shopping. Brick-and-click retailers will benefit most from online shopping that day as they receive the lion’s share of online spend early in the season.”

Many stores and retail stores use online ads to serve as ready-to-use coupons for their customers. So, viewers can just print these ads and redeem them to avail discounts in the stores or ordering online.

Another online shopping trend that is quickly becoming the preferred option is referred to as “ship to store,” “click and pickup,” and “click-to-brick,” which allows customers to shop at their leisure on their computers, and pick up their purchases in a physical store at their convenience. This saves online shoppers both shipping time and shipping charges.

Most stores open on Thanksgiving:

As shopping appetites of young consumers grow, more and more retailers are planning to keep their stores open on Thanksgiving. Chief Industry Analyst Marshal Cohen of NPD Group says, “Online retailers had Thanksgiving all to themselves so now brick-and-mortar retailers are going to make their sales days Tuesday and Wednesday” of Thanksgiving week.

More than 100 Simon Malls will open at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Last year, none of its malls opened that early. Target, JC Penney, Macy’s, and Kohl’s are each opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Gap Inc. will have approximately 1,300 stores across its brands open at various hours on Thanksgiving Day. The list also includes brands like Kmart, Walmart and Best Buy, who say they’re merely responding to consumers who would be shopping online if they didn’t have the option to hit the stores.

In this ad, Kohl’s announces their Thanksgiving store timing along with some cool discounts and offers.

Use social media to attract potential shoppers:

Social media is a parallel universe of shoppers waiting to be tapped. Advertisers need to know which customers they want to target, design the right marketing strategy, push their ads to the right place, and use the right metrics to capture ROI. The 3 tips that help in successfully utilizing this media are:

• Preparing in advance by tracking social media sites most visited by your target audiences
• Planning your campaigns to go live at the right time, thereby, capturing your prospects’ attention
• Being patient and persistent  in your social media efforts while trying varied approaches, testing variations in landing pages and constantly keeping an eye on the latest trends in the market

According to a blog post by Nanigans, Inc., A comparison of ads placed in October, November and December 2012, showed that Facebook ads placed one to three weeks before Thanksgiving attracted customers who delivered the highest ROI over time — loyal customers with consistent purchasing throughout Q4 and beyond who yielded the highest ROI contributed by lifetime revenue return.

Many businesses are using Facebook as an additional sales vehicle sharing their best deals and promotions.

Mobile and multiscreen shopping to rise:

As part of IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark revealed the following trends for Thanksgiving 2012:

• Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales on Thanksgiving grew by 17.4 percent followed by Black Friday where sales increased 20.7 percent over last year.
• Mobile Shopping: Mobile purchases soared with 24 percent of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011. Mobile sales exceeded 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.
• The iPad Factor: The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smart phone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping. This was followed by iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent. The iPad dominated tablet traffic at 88.3 percent followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook at 3.1 percent, Amazon Kindle at 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.
• Multiscreen Shopping: Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Overall 58 percent of consumers used smartphones compared to 41 percent who used tablets to surf for bargains on Black Friday.

Since many businesses are focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you could consider an aggressive sale on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. While many families are busy planning their Thanksgiving meals, there are many who are starting to look for deals on their smartphones. So, this could be a good time to present them with an offer they can’t resist without waiting until Thursday or Friday. The promotion needs to be aggressive and crisp: “3 day sale” or “Save 25% if you order before Thanksgiving” to register instant responses.

“Mobile strategy also needs to consider the physical factors of the shopper. Whether they are in-store, at home or on the go, the consumer will have different experience values in each of these situations, and the mobile presence must take this into consideration to create the optimal experience.” says Derek Bonney, Managing Director of Manifest Digital.

Send emails more aggressively:

During the holiday shopping frenzy, sometimes the stores that win most customers are the ones that stay top of mind and influence buying decisions. It pays to increase your email frequency and volume during the holidays that is proportionate to the increase in your sales volumes. So, a 20 percent expected increase in sales volumes should drive you to send at least 20 percent more emails during this time. Make sure your email are optimized for mobile and assist shoppers to reach far down the purchasing path as possible. Buyers are looking for best possible deals and sales this time of year. Make sure your offers are compelling enough to draw visitors. It’s good to keep an eye on the type and frequency of competitors’ emails. Above all, take time to thank your loyal customers and offer a special holiday greeting. You could give it a personal touch by sharing pictures of your team members working behind the screens or the community service initiatives undertaken by your company.

How are you employing different media vehicles to attract buyers this Thanksgiving?

Video for Small Business Marketing: Costs and Tools

Video is a powerful way to increase the visibility of your company and gain new customers. It is the fastest-growing segment of the internet and more than half of all web traffic is now video because people prefer viewing this kind of content to reading text online. In terms of numbers, there are 13 million Vine users on Twitter, social video platform Vimeo announced 14 million members, YouTube has a viewership in the billions and it is the second most used search engine. In fact, more than four billion hours of video are viewed each month.

But using video to promote your business is difficult, time consuming and expensive, right? Wrong! Video marketing is possible for every budget. You can improve your Google rank, turn your visitors into customers and increase the amount of sales from your marketing spend.

Type of Content

Because videos grab attention, people are more likely to click on them than to read text. Furthermore, they are more likely to share video on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon and other social channels, leading to more views and potentially more revenue. The type of content that works well in video format is:

• A physical product or service so it can be shown or demonstrated. This allows you to illustrate benefits and skills. Video is especially effective if you have an interesting or novel product.
• Instructions on how to use or do something. These videos let customers make an immediate connection and see how your product helps them.
• Creative or funny topics. When you make viewers smile or laugh, it is more likely the association with your brand will be positive.
• More detail on a news story with statistics and information. If you add your own spin or angle, you build authority and credibility.
• Coverage of live events. This is a way to make your company more relevant.

But instead of creating video commercials, you should concentrate on providing value. For example, if you are a restaurant, think about sharing cooking tips or bringing signature recipes to life. This is a great way to educate your prospects and customers. You can also show a different side of your business, such as how products are made, how team members are trained or special features of stores. Testimonials are also more compelling in video format.

Tips

1. Focus on viewer needs. The best way to approach your videos is to consider your target audience, the main features that will interest them or questions they need answered, and the most effective way to convey that information.
2. Keep videos brief. The ideal length for a video is under four minutes. You have about 50 seconds to capture viewers before they are likely to skip a video. If you have an involved, detailed topic, consider a series of videos as an alternative to long and in-depth content.
3. Show your personality. Videos should spotlight your company’s culture and personality in a genuine way.
4. Tell a story. There should be a narrative curve to your videos, including climaxes and resolutions, even if you are selling products.
5. Use hotspots. Embed links to additional content, quizzes, contests or other interactive features for viewers. Just be careful not to overload your videos with these.
6. Choose your cover image wisely. No one will click on videos to watch if the images are boring or blurry.
7. Choose your video style and music carefully. Typically, upbeat music works best.
8. Add a call-to-action button. You message should be simple and direct.
9. Analyze what works and doesn’t work. Google Analytics, Salesforce and Optimizely highlight where in videos people stop watching, which sections are most effective eliciting responses and when people share videos.

Costs

According to the 2013 Advertisers Survey from placemedia (commissioned from uSAMP), when it comes to small businesses, 95 percent of advertising executives felt that video advertisements on cable or broadcast TV are highly effective, with 66 percent of the respondents stating they introduce products to people in the surrounding areas. Nearly half said video advertisements on cable or television make small businesses look as big as national brands, followed by 36 percent who said these advertisements provide a local call to action.

However, 97% of respondents believe the reasons keeping small businesses from buying video ads for broadcast or cable include cost (89 percent) and that videos are too difficult to produce (42 percent).

But it is now possible for small companies to create video that looks and sounds as great as what major brands produced for millions of dollars just a few years ago. High-quality cameras cost just a few hundred dollars and there are many free tools. You can use photos and screen captures of your website along with simple transitions to give your video an animated look. Depending on the effect you want, you can also use low-cost options for editing software, voice overs and hosting (see next section on tools).

If you don’t want to produce videos yourself, there are services available through publishers, local media and specialty providers at a range of costs. For example, your local cable TV station may produce videos for an additional fee if you buy air time. This article provides some good perspective on what you can expect to spend, depending on your requirements.

Tools

• YouTube. Take advantage of free uploading, extended video length options and powerful editing tools. By adding a keyword rich title and description, along with tags associated with the video content, videos can rank high in search results. An added benefit of YouTube videos is that Facebook converts them to they play inline right in the Facebook News Feed, so people are not getting bounced somewhere else to view. Videos can be embedded into websites and shared on other social media with YouTube tools. This is how to embed a YouTube video montage.
• Facebook Video. Facebook allows videos to play in the News Feed, offers free video hosting space and has easy social sharing tools. Videos can be embedded on websites and blogs. Plus, videos can drive high volumes of Likes, comments and shares to extend the reach and visibility of your company.
• Instagram. This mobile app has features for quick and easy video creation and sharing, offering up to 15 seconds of video recording on mobile devices, social media sharing and more. You can create videos anytime and anywhere because you use your mobile phone. The videos can be embedded on websites.
• Vine. This is another mobile app, which enables you to introduce products and demonstrate them. Videos are six seconds and automatically loop. This can be used to show your company culture, event excerpts, testimonials and more. Videos can be embedded on websites and shared on other social media.
• GoAnimate. This tool offers numerous templates, characters, backgrounds and music tracks. You can add special effects and the videos are hosted for you. Not only is it easy to learn to use GoAnimate, there is one-click publishing to YouTube. Pricing starts at $25 per month (billed annually).
• Animoto. Get high-quality background and motion formats. You can also drop in video and still images, select music from the library and produce professional videos. There is a free plan and a pro level for $39 per month.
• Screencast. Many companies use Screencast for tutorials and software demos because this simple format lets you create videos by taking screen shots and adding voice-overs. A free account provides 2 GB of storage and 2 GB monthly bandwidth.
• Camtasia. This screencasting tool lets you capture the action on your computer and will record your voice narration if you want. This can be helpful when you want to demonstrate software, share slides, or use photos or camera video. Rather than provide long manuals, conduct telephone training or host expensive in-person demonstrations, you can cost-effectively employ video. Camtasia enables you to edit the videos for polished final footage. You can also use themes, graphics, clickable links and other elements. It also integrates with YouTube for one-step uploads. The license is $299, but there is a free trial to test it out.
• Bravo. You can conveniently let customers record, review and send their videos to you. Then you approve and place them on your website, blog, YouTube or other channels. The starter plan is $24 per month and a free trial is available.
• VoiceBunny. You can get professional voice overs in a few ways. 1) Search the database of choices and book talent directly. 2) Post a casting call and evaluate the responses. 3) Let the system match you with an appropriate professional. A wide variety of voices and accents in more than 50 languages are available. Rates start from $.04 per minute and pricing is provided upfront.
• Wistia. You can host your video and customize it with social sharing buttons and clickable calls to actions. You can also collect viewers’ emails to add to your database. Flash and HTML5 versions are encoded automatically at multiple resolutions. The videos are Twitter-friendly and can be played within a tweet. The analytics package includes a heat map for every view, showing when individuals watched videos, what parts were skipped or repeated and what they previously viewed. There are a variety of packages including a basic free plan that includes hosting for up to three videos.

Here is some additional data to consider. EMarketer found that 64 percent of survey respondents said they planned to use more video content in marketing. ComScore found that people who view videos online are 64 percent more likely to complete purchases than other visitors. Stacksandstacks.com found that customers who viewed product videos were 144% more likely to add products to their carts than those who didn’t watch. Zappos discovered that products with videos outsell those without videos by 35 percent. As Forrester Research notes, “One minute of video is worth up to 1.8 million words.”

The final words of advice to small businesses: keep your videos short, engaging, searchable and sharable.

Are you inspired to start using video to market your company? What type of video content do you think would best engage customers and drive revenue?

How Small Businesses Can Use Big Data

“Big data” is targeted information that helps business managers and executives create specific marketing strategies. The insights enable them to plan the direction and goals for their companies and, by assimilating and processing the data, reaching potential consumers more effectively.

Here are four key benefits of using big data:

Many think Big data is useful or accessible only to large businesses and multinational conglomerates. In reality, it is a relative term and can be valuable to small businesses ranging from mom-and-pop shops to start-ups to local entrepreneurs. Mark Troester, global product marketing manager of SAS, shares this simple definition for big data: when volume, velocity and variety of data exceed an organization’s storage or computing capacity for accurate and timely decision making.

B2B Sales Proposals that Increase Revenue

Sales proposals vary based on your industry, solutions and prospects and can be extremely brief or thousands of pages. Good proposals have to meet several objectives. They answer customers’ questions, address hot buttons and issues and provide clear solutions for each. For prospects, they make it easy to decide, explain to others why your company is the best choice and articulate the benefits they will enjoy from your partnership. And for your company, proposals establish your credibility, understanding and focus on the customer.

Here are some tips for marketers on developing or enhancing a proposal template for your company. Keep in mind that, although it helps to have a template, every document must be customized.

Preparation

The basis for strong proposals is preparation. If you don’t have a solid foundation from meetings with prospects, you won’t know what is important to them. Prospects have to know that they have been heard, whether information was provided in requests for proposals or verbally. Sue Barrett suggests that, whenever possible, salespeople ask clear questions (versus leading ones) to get to the heart of issues, priorities and needs. They should take detailed notes. And if they can quote exact words, it demonstrates that they have really listened to prospects.

Before leaving meetings, sales should verify they understand what prospects want. Setting expectations about what they are going to do in terms of timelines, proposal preparation, follow-up and so on is critical.

Put the prospects’ priorities first in the proposal. You should not begin with a bunch of details about your company. Until you establish you understand the goals and pain points, no one will care about your expertise, capabilities, features, etc.

With the help of sales, collaborate with customers to build proposals that include all the information they require. You should also help them address the questions the rest of the decision-making team will have. Successful proposals must be easy to elevate for the contacts to streamline the approval process.

Organization

There are two options to organizing your documents:

1. The way the prospects requested
2. In order of importance to the prospects

The reality is that if prospects can’t find the information they need, they won’t spend the time to look for it. If the proposals are more complex and have multiple sections, set up response matrices. These are tables that detail how your documents address specific requirements and requests. You indicate where in the proposals answers are provided for each question. This is a helpful tool to those evaluating different options during the review process.

Proposal Contents

• Executive summary. Some decision makers might read this section only, so hone in on their interests and desired results. If customers read nothing else, they should be sold by this section.
• Requirements summary. These can be lifted from a request for information/quotation/proposal or a summary of what sales has heard from the account contacts.
• Solution overview. Provide specific details about your recommended solution and how it will work for the prospects. Be sure to explain what makes your solution unique in the market.
• Materials, equipment and personnel. Address how the solution fit into the prospects’ environments. Talk about the components and the interfaces. Illustrate what is not working today and how it will be fixed. At Affinity Express, our clients are always concerned about business continuity. We are part of their revenue streams and any service interruption impacts their bottom lines. As a result, we explain in our proposals how we have redundant operations and data centers. Fortunately, we don’t know of any competitors with multiple locations in different geographies so this also differentiates us.
• Quality standards. Explain how you measure and assure quality in the products and services you provide.
• Costs. It can be effective to include a range of investments and options. Try to go beyond stating costs to illustrate value. Capture the reasons for making an investment.
• Benefits. Include detail on how they will be measured, assumptions and key project activities to realize the results.
  • Hard benefits. Projected positive financial outcomes, such as cost savings, cash inflow and increased profits. Provide ranges and identify who helped frame and validate those ranges.
  • Soft benefits (non-financial terms). Improved customer satisfaction, reduced risk, improved branding, and improved service delivery are all desirable despite the difficulty of assigning financial values.
  • Stakeholder value. Discuss how the features and advantages will result in benefits for different stakeholders.
  • Business case for investment. Provide the background and numbers around costs, benefits, impact and timing. Cite the prospects’ buying vision for your solution.
• Implementation plan. Jeanne Buchanan recommends that you explain how you will implement, how long it will take and what resources you need. Include staff training, product testing and any other components that show value you bring with the solution. This is another area where Affinity Express spends time to paint a picture for  prospects. We have to show which team members will spend time onsite with clients to train and transition them to our marketing production and media solutions. To do this, we use a calendar chart, a table with milestones and a list of next steps in our proposals.
• Timing. Provide schedules linking the major cost elements and showing significant external influences that could affect the schedules. Indicate how long each option will be fully operational and deliver the planned benefits. Incorporate reasons to buy now so that you build urgency.
• Terms and conditions. If necessary for your industry, include governance guidelines such as milestones or key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess progress.
• Company advantages. Talk about why prospects should choose your company. Detail your credentials and provide references. If you can discuss what sets your company apart in terms of how it also serves prospects, that’s even better.

Additional Tips

• Limit paragraph length.
• Use 10- to 12-point font sizes for readability.
• Use section headings as theme statements. This helps “skimmers” to easily scan the documents, as well as reinforces major themes you are advancing.
• Define all terms and avoid jargon and acronyms.
• Incorporate visuals. Lists, charts, graphics, photographs, diagrams and sketches all make important points in small spaces. Include captions and ensure readers can understand the messages for each within ten seconds.
• Allow white space.
• Cite the customer’s name throughout and much more frequently than your company name.
• Mention your customer before you mention your business in each paragraph.
• Dedicate more space to benefits than your solution’s features.

Spending time onto develop and improve your proposal template will not only enable you to respond quickly and efficiently with a custom document for each new opportunity, it will increase your revenue. The best advice of all is to write a proposal that satisfies your prospects’ needs, not one that sells your services.

What other elements do you recommend B2B companies include in their proposals?

Emerging Online Marketing Strategies for 2014

As 2013 comes to an end, marketers are thinking about trends and strategies that have made an impact and show potential for the coming year. We followed some global marketing gurus online to get insights on the approaches that are going to be important in 2014.

These are the suggestions for the future:

Focus on “social” as the new marketing mantra

There is a shift in the way marketers are achieving their goals. According to the 2013 CMO Survey, there has been 28% increase in emphasis on diversification strategies, the most important of which is organic growth. This explains the expanded focus on social media. Organic growth requires wide, viral reach and few other marketing techniques offer it to the same degree as social.
Kohl’s Facebook page skyrocketed to well over a million fans with their promotional campaign asking them to vote for schools to give out $10 million in charity.

Veterans Day

Affinity Express honors the bravery and courage of all who served.

Essential Traits for Successful Marketers

At a party I attended recently, I had a chance to speak to some marketing folks who had ten or fewer years of experience. They were very passionate about their jobs and we had an interesting discussion about the qualities needed to market today versus in the past. Since then, I started asking colleagues for more opinions.

The overarching message is that buyers today have different expectations. Changing behavior means we need to adapt how we market. The way we engage customers and build relationships has become more complex and we have to think differently in an unpredictable marketing environment and business world.

That’s why it is no surprise that a Forrester report revealed 97% of today’s marketers are doing things they have never done before. We have to serve as agents of change. This means being open to new skills, understanding how to collaborate and bringing original insights to the table.

Would your colleagues use these words to describe you?

• Agile. Social media might be one reason why agility has become so crucial. Brands have spent recent years figuring out how to react to Twitter and Facebook and many have gotten a handle on what works, in terms of the type of content to produce and share. The ability to react quickly on social channels is important, whether to cut off something negative or to encourage interaction and engagement. But agility can be applied to all of marketing (and it will be amplified by social media).

When the power went out in the Superdome during the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, Oreo capitalized and tweeted: “You can still dunk in the dark”. This was retweeted 10,000 within an hour. While the television commercial for Oreo cost millions to develop, the graphic and tweet was designed, captioned and approved within minutes because the company’s agency (360i) was gathered in a war room during the game.

• Technically-savvy. New technologies, tactics and methods are introduced faster than we can adopt them. Marketers must be willing to learn every day about digital tools that improve their understanding, analysis and effectiveness. We also have to understand emerging technology and applications to spot potential business opportunities and threats. This requires paying attention to developments as they happen, doing the research and applying what makes sense for your business. Instead of “best practices,” think of “next practices”.

Building Stronger Brands by Serving Communities

These days, business leaders are going beyond building revenue and profits to also contribute to social causes. Impact investing and double bottom lines are emerging terms related to companies having measurable social and environmental impact in their communities. The possibilities for initiatives are endless, from hunger to affordable education to disaster relief. Best of all, both the communities and companies win.

Here are seven ways social activities positively affect businesses’ bottom lines.

1. Enhance customer loyalty:

With the social media boom, businesses are using new ways to communicate and engage people around their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. Customers choose your business over your competitors when they feel your company is trustworthy. It takes time to build the kind of loyalty that affects people’s decisions of who they buy.

Warby Parker has launched a “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program. For each purchase made, glasses are given to someone in need. The eye glass company has donated more than 150,000 pairs to date and earned thousands of fans (and customers) in the process.

Field data collected from 3,000 grocery shoppers by Ad Age shows that work by companies to benefit their employees and communities increases customers’ favorable opinions. According to the study, if retailers improve consumers’ perception of their fair treatment of employees by one point on a five-point scale, the resulting increase in share of wallet is approximately 1.7 percentage points. The gain from a similar improvement in local sourcing is even more pronounced at more than 2 percentage points. These numbers appear small, but they represent a sales lift of ten to 15 percent for the average retailer.

2. Improve business appeal:

The Reputation Institute’s 2011 “Pulse Survey” indicates that CSR is responsible for more than 40% of a company’s reputation. Ricoh builds trust and enhances attractiveness to prospective customers through action plans focused on the four key areas specified in their CSR charter: integrity in corporate activities, harmony with the environment, respect for people and harmony with society.

3. Share content that inspires others:

Most companies struggle to get people’s attention. Marketers plan extensive campaigns but the pull of genuine efforts for good causes are better than the most innovative promotions. Customers are smart enough to determine sincerity and will support companies with integrity whole-heartedly online and offline. One example of eco-minded advertising was Patagonia’s brilliant “Don’t Buy This Jacket” messaging. Its initiative asks customers to pledge to only buy what they need and instead repair, reuse and recycle their clothing.

4. Involve your team:

Include members of your staff in planning, organizing and implementing CSR plans. Ask them to vote for the cause that they would like to support. It’s now common for businesses to dedicate special days where team members do hands-on work with charities. This not only builds teamwork but enhances companies’ reputations more than monetary donations.
Affinity Express regularly conducts on-the-job training for college students to help build their careers in the graphics field. Our team members participate and share their experiences to mentor these young people.

6. Motivate employees:

Team members now want more from their employers than paychecks. They want pride and fulfilment from their work and companies whose values match their own. A Hewitt Associates study looked at 230 workplaces with more than 100,000 employees and found that the more a company actively pursues environmental and social efforts, the more engaged are its employees. In a survey by the nonprofit Net Impact, 53 percent of workers said that “a job where I can make an impact” was important to their happiness and 72 percent of students about to enter the workforce agreed. Most would even take a pay cut to achieve this goal.

6. Create relationships:

While working for community initiatives, you connect with many businesses. These interactions are very different from regular sales pitches and can build deep, long-standing relationships. When people come to know you through community service interactions, they also view your commitment and passion. You develop a rapport rooted in respect and trust while working together on projects which often leads to positive referrals in business.

7. Help to develop a city:

For businesses that depend on communities to sell their products and services as well as provide workforces, involvement in CSR activities is an integral role for management. Any activities that improve the way of life locally impacts the job market, as more and more talented people are motivated to stay instead of moving to other places with more opportunities. This impacts the economic and business health of the city.

The key is to incorporate CSR into the way you do business and your consumers’ experiences with your brand to make sure initiatives and messages resonate with them.

How have you applied CSR in your approach to business and its returns?

Happy Diwali

Affinity Express wishes you all a bright and joy-filled Diwali.

Twitter: Who Small Business Marketers Should Follow

Because I heard of several interesting new people on Twitter, I decided it was time to update my account and who I follow. In the spirit of Kriti’s last blog post, I thought I would write about it for the Affinity Express blog. If you are not using this channel already, consider these Twitter statistics.

• 33% of people on Twitter follow a brand (46,200,000 people).
• 663% more people are requesting business recommendations in only the past two years.
• 77% of online shoppers use reviews to make purchase decisions.
• 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands they follow on Twitter.
• 79% of Twitter users are more likely to recommend brands they follow.

Because Twitter offers opportunities for marketers to answer questions from their customers, generate leads and position their businesses as an authority, dive in if you haven’t already!

Signing up for Twitter is just the first step in using this social media channel properly. The second step is deciding what you want from it as a small business marketer. While many tap Twitter for entertainment, celebrity news and other purposes, I am exclusively focused on getting marketing industry updates, trends and information. This is how you can build the list of who to follow if you have the same objective for Twitter as me.