Digital Channels MARKET REPORT
“If you are relatively new to the channel or are a quiet presence currently, then use content generation as a
means of establishing yourself as an industry thought leader.” Paul Richens, Managing Director, Tricca
© spainter_vfx-stock.adobe.com
Cherie Howlett, Marketing
Director of Jola
be one of the rst steps in your
lead generation strategy.If you
are relatively new to the channel
or are a quiet presence currently,
then use content generation as
a means of establishing yourself
as an industry thought leader.
Regularly posting blogs, articles
and news on topics or pain
points that your product or
service solves can help you build
an audience. e next step up is
to create downloadable guides
on topics which allow you to
demonstrate your own and your
businesses capabilities. A good
looking and well written guide
can have an extended shelf life
which can be recycled and used
on a continual basis.”
Will Morey, Marketing
Director at Pragma said
“Over the years, we’ve seen
digital channels become one
TIPS FOR SOCIAL SUCCESS – WILL MOREY, MARKETING DIRECTOR, PRAGMA
Know your audience, we’ve gone beyond profi les and personas to get to really know our partners and
prospects. We’ve spoken to them on a more personal level to get a better understanding of everything
from their pain-points and business goals through to the publications they read and their hobbies. With this
information, we have been able to create content and run campaigns that truly resonate with them.
Set clear goals and KPIs, knowing what needs to be achieved and what success looks like has helped us up
our game on social media. We have clearly defi ned goals for brand building and revenue growth through social
channels. We also have a set of pre-agreed KPIs based on previous successes and industry benchmarks to
help steer our campaigns in the right direction.
Be picky, while there is a myriad of social channels out there, we focus on the ones that most of our
prospects and customers use. Sure, we maintain our presence across a range of social channels, but we put
more emphasis on the ones that are more conducive to business.
Adopt a structured approach, our social strategy is complemented with an editorial calendar that helps us
keep on top of what’s important.
Flexibility, we know that buyer behaviour changes at a rapid pace and we’ve allowed for a great deal of
fl exibility so that we can refi ne our campaigns regularly to remain relevant and fresh.
of the biggest sources
of lead generation for
our business. e fact
that we can run highly
targeted campaigns,
collect information,
track behaviour and run
nurturing campaigns
across a range of digital
touchpoints have not only
helped us capture good
leads, but have also helped
us qualify them as well. As
a result, digital channels get
the same level of prominence
as our more traditional lead
generation activities.”
Cherie Howlett, Marketing
Director of Jola commented
“Social channels, like LinkedIn,
are great networking tools,
especially when integrated into
a marketing strategy, bringing
e ective traditional and digital
channels together. We encourage
resellers to research the market,
identify prospects, attract,
engage and measure results.
What I like about LinkedIn is
the ability to research companies
and individuals, to build up a
better picture of their business.
e richer the information to
hand, the more targeted the
messaging and the more e ective
the campaign can become.”
Dealing with bad online
reviews
Customer feedback via online
reviews can now make or
break a business if they aren’t
managed properly. Websites
like Trustpilot, Google reviews,
or any number of social media
platforms allow customers to
voice their grumbles or even
congratulate you on a job well
done.
Will Morey commented,
“Online reviews are of
paramount importance to any
business. We go to great pains
to build brand reputation, build
trust and paint our brands in
a positive light. All that e ort
could go down the drain if you
don’t have an e ective review
management process in place.
“We proactively invite our
partners and prospects to review
us across online channels. Our
customer service team has been
given the autonomy to deal with
complaints or negative reviews
swiftly to restore normalcy as
soon as possible. We recognise
that while negative reviews
could be a result of lapses or
miscommunication, how well
you deal with them can very well
spell the di erence between a lost
customer and a satis ed one.”
Richens added “Reading
reviews are a crucial part of the
purchase making decision – so
of course online reviews matter.
Consumers use reviews left
by other consumers as part of
their pre-purchase research,
and while bad reviews can have
serious e ects on your sales, over
80% of people say that positive
reviews encourage them to
buy products. And it’s not just
purchases decisions that reviews
in uence – they can have major
implications for your search
engine ranking, which means
managing your online reviews is
crucial for your SEO strategy.
“If you want to manage
online reviews of your business,
you need to know where they
are being written and encourage
customers to review your
business/products by pointing
to these sites on your webpages,
or by asking satis ed customers
for their feedback. ere are
plenty of review sites out there
(TrustPilot, Google, Facebook)
where customers can provide
their feedback, but you rst need
to decide which ones you would
like to appear on. is will help
you monitor and manage your
reviews as you know exactly
where to look, and many of these
sites have a noti cation function
that alerts you when you have a
new review.”
Elizabeth Sparrow, MD of
Blabbermouth Marketing said,
“Bad online reviews can and
will cost you sales. Review sites
should be constantly monitored
and all reviews responded to,
good or bad. Positive reviews for
your company can be driven by
simply asking people to leave a
review. Create an email template
for customer-facing sta to send
to customers immediately after
they have spoken to them that
includes a link to the relevant
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