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7 Trends Every Growth Marketer Needs to Know in 2020

It’s no secret that growing a business and finding new customers are hard work. 61% of businesses point to lead generation as the biggest challenge they face. But the rules of lead generation are changing. Consumers are wary of being “sold” to. So marketers have to get creative in order to bypass consumer advertising fatigue […]

It’s no secret that growing a business and finding new customers are hard work. 61% of businesses point to lead generation as the biggest challenge they face.

But the rules of lead generation are changing. Consumers are wary of being “sold” to. So marketers have to get creative in order to bypass consumer advertising fatigue to drive revenue.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, trends change at such a rapid pace that keeping up with those changes becomes a challenge in itself.

2020 will undoubtedly be no different. Not only is this a brand new year, but also the start of a new decade. 

So as you look to drive more traffic to your website and convert more leads for 2020, be mindful of these trends. 

1. Chatbots are here to stay.

Love them or hate them, chatbots can be quite effective in turning anonymous traffic into a captured (even qualified) lead.

Brands using chatbots as part of their conversion strategy have seen an increase in visitor-to-lead conversion rates by up to 10%.

But how do you integrate a chatbot in such a way that isn’t annoying to customers?

One way companies have found success is through the use of rule-based chat automation. Disverse, for example, uses a rule-based chatbot to help customers understand its offering and get answers quickly.

Instead of sending their visitors to a landing page in hopes that they will convert, their visitors are directed to a full-page chatroom. 

The chatbot’s replies are straightforward and written in a way that we would message a friend or colleague. The visitors can go as deep as they want into the conversation with the chatbot to learn more about the company’s product offering. This guided approach makes it easier for customers to determine if the brand is the right fit for their needs.

2. The demand for voice-driven interfaces will increase.

The number of people using voice-driven assistants like Siri and Alexa is growing at a rapid pace. A recent study done by Juniper Research projects that the number of people using voice-driven interfaces will skyrocket to an outstanding 1000% in five short years. 

Also, voice is no longer being used just for online search. Voice-driven interfaces are now being used practically everywhere, from turning on your speakers to taking down notes during a meeting.

Even the way businesses capture and nurture leads are being transformed. Instead of the traditional marketing and sales process that looks something like this:

Businesses are now beginning to shift towards using conversational marketing strategies using real-time messaging and chatbots to reduce response times with potential leads and progress through their sales process.

How quickly you respond to your leads is crucial because your chances of connecting with your site’s visitor and converting them into a lead are 10x lower if you get back to them after 5 minutes. 

Account-based marketing platform provider, DemandBase, is one company already reaping the benefits of using chatbots to generate leads.

By replacing their lead forms with a chatbot, DemandBase converted 33% of their visitors that engaged with their chatbot into leads. At the same time, DemandBase generated 150x more qualified leads compared to when they were using traditional lead forms.

Right now, visitors engaging with these chatbots have to type in their responses. But with the way how voice technology is progressing, businesses would be able to generate leads with the help of voice-enabled chatbots.

Voice-enabled chatbots work very much like traditional text-based chatbots, with the main difference being how your customers and the chatbot communicates. Instead of typing your question, you say it to the chatbot.  

As a result, your visitors will not only receive a prompt response that can shorten your sales cycle, but they’ll also have a more enjoyable user experience.

Manipal University in India generated 9.5x more leads on their website while reducing their cost per conversion to just 4.5% with the help of a voice-enabled chatbot named Al Timey.

Developed by Triny.io, the chatbot welcomes prospective students as soon as they arrive at the University’s website, walks through the admission process, and collects their email to send them additional information.  

3. Personalization is the new conversion rate optimization.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) isn’t the most attractive lead generation strategy in this list of trends. However, if you want to get more leads for your business, this is one trend you must consider.

The reason is simple: CRO can boost your ROI by up to 223% while reducing your Cost Per Acquisition by as much as 50%—even if your site traffic volume stays the same.

What’s one key to successfully improving conversion rate optimization?

Personalization.

Consumers today not only expect that you can anticipate their wants and needs, but they also want to be treated as unique individuals. Each time that they visit a landing page, they ask a straightforward question: “What’s in it for me?”

It’s imperative to ensure your content answers the following questions:

  • What do you do?
  • Why should I care?
  • How do I believe you?
  • Where do I begin?

Taking personalization a step further, now, and leverage your visitors’ behavioral patterns on your website, particularly when it comes to the blog posts and articles they read. 

For example, if someone reads these following articles on the Growth Marketing Conference website: 

It’s possible that this visitor is someone who is planning to start (or has already begun) building a startup, and is looking into using Growth Marketing techniques to launch and scale quickly.

Using a tool like BrightInfo allows you to gather data about the topics that interest each of your visitors and then recommend related offers and resources.

It’s this technique that helped cybersecurity company BitSight increase the leads they generated by 100%.

4. A growing emphasis on audience-centric storytelling.

Brand storytelling has proven as an effective marketing strategy for two reasons.

First, we all love a good story. It’s an entertaining way for us to learn something new. Storytelling was how human beings learned and passed on knowledge from one generation to the next long before the internet, or even writing was even invented.

Second, brand storytelling allows you to connect with your potential customers at a personal and emotional level. Being able to connect with your customers at this level is crucial because it’s your customer’s emotions that drive them to buy, especially when they know that purchasing a product or service will prevent them from losing or missing out on something. Psychologists coin this as loss aversion.

However, brand storytelling is expected to make way for audience-centric storytelling because it’s far more compelling than brand storytelling.

As its name suggests, audience-centric storytelling is a story told from the perspective of a customer. 

The reason why this type of storytelling is so compelling is that it blends both the power of storytelling and social proof. Both of which your customers consider as important factors when they make a buying decision.

Airbnb is one of the forerunners to this lead generation tactic through its “Stories from the Airbnb Community” platform, where they regularly publish stories shared by their customers about their experiences as Airbnb hosts.

By sharing these stories, Airbnb achieves three things:

  • The stories serve as social proof of how becoming an Airbnb host can be a lucrative source of income. In a paid ad space, there’s a great opportunity for lead generation.
  • By sharing the stories of these hosts, Airbnb is also promoting these hosts to their Airbnb customers looking for accommodations that fit their budgets and needs.
  • The stories shared by the Airbnb hosts focus on how becoming an Airbnb host help these people live out their dreams, which is something people desire.

When combined, these three factors help Airbnb encourage more people to either sign up to become an Airbnb host or learn more about becoming one. 

5. The rise of interactive content.

Interactive content isn’t new. However, it’s making a comeback as a high-converting lead magnet businesses are using on their landing pages. 81% of marketers point out that the reason is that it does a far better job in capturing their target audience’s attention compared to other content types. 

More importantly, interactive content rakes in a higher lead capture rate than static content.

Quizzes like those you find on Buzzfeed, deliver an average lead capture rate of 33.6%. 

Meanwhile, calculators like this advertising budget calculator from Outgrow are 51% more effective in generating leads in the Consideration Stage of your marketing funnel.

The reason why interactive content works so well is that it provides an entertaining way to get information that’s helpful and valuable for your visitors. To access that information, potential customers are required to divulge contact info.

And this sort of content can be useful at all stages of your marketing funnel.

6. Micro-content is back with a vengeance.

From 15-second Instagram Stories to 5-second ads on YouTube and 140 tweets, more and more brands are now reverting to using publishing micro-content on social media as a way to generate leads.

Much of this lies in the extremely short attention people have when they’re online. On average, businesses have only eight short seconds to capture their audience’s attention.

The key to successfully using this as part of your 2020 marketing strategy is in its frequency. A study by Buffer revealed that posting up to seven stories on Instagram would deliver the best results.

That may sound like a lot of micro-content to publish. But this is precisely the strategy that Gary Vaynerchuk used in his Reverse Pyramid model for him to grow his following and generate leads for his companies and his clients.

The way how his Reverse Pyramid model works is very similar to the Topic Cluster model that many marketers are now using to generate leads and improve their search rankings.

Here’s what the Reverse Pyramid model looks like: 

The Reverse Pyramid model starts by creating a piece of long-form content. Usually, the long-form content is a Pillar Article with a call-to-action to download a printable version. After all, studies have shown that long-form content ranks better on Google.

Next, you will take sections from the Pillar Article and then use these to create your micro-content that you will publish across your social media channels. 

For example, you can create quote cards featuring one single tip from the Pillar Article and publishing it on Instagram or Facebook either on your feed, as a story, or both.

Another piece of micro-content you can share is quoting a statistic you included in your Pillar Article on Twitter.

You can also create a LinkedIn article about some of the insights you shared on the Pillar Article.

All of these pieces of the micro-content you create all link back to your Pillar article where the conversion from visitor to lead will take place.

7. Sales and marketing team alignment will prove more vital for B2B lead generation.

Just like their B2C counterparts, B2B businesses are expected to provide their client accounts with personalized content and user experience.

That’s why it’s not enough for your marketing team to hand over leads that they considered as market qualified to your sales team. They need to work together by having their goals, objectives, and qualifications aligned with each other.

That said, allow your sales team to take a more active role during the planning stage of your lead generation campaigns and other marketing strategies. This step is critical since the B2B buying process is extremely complex.

Since they’re the ones in charge of closing the deals for you, they’ll be in the best position to tell your marketing team the bottlenecks and objections they encounter that keep them from converting a lead to a customer.

Your marketing team can then take these pieces of information and create the necessary content to overcome these, increasing your lead-to-customer conversion rates.

The best time to prepare for the lead generation trends in 2020 is now.

Are there any other 2020 trends you know that’s not included in the list? If so, feel free to email us at info@growthmarketingconf.com

Editor: Kimberly Barnes, Growth Marketing Conference

How to Supercharge Growth Marketing by Strengthening Your Brand

As the CEO of a branding agency, I’m often asked about the ROI of branding. “What are the real-world business benefits of investing in my brand?” clients wonder. “How is branding going to positively impact my bottom line?” I’ve written extensively on this subject, but one of the biggest takeaways is that a strong brand […]

As the CEO of a branding agency, I’m often asked about the ROI of branding. “What are the real-world business benefits of investing in my brand?” clients wonder. “How is branding going to positively impact my bottom line?”

I’ve written extensively on this subject, but one of the biggest takeaways is that a strong brand makes your marketing initiatives exponentially more efficient and effective, yielding compounded returns over a longer period of time.

The inclination to put too much stock in short-term marketing activations at the cost of long-term brand-building is a trend that’s put the sustainability of more than a few major brands in jeopardy. More on that later.

But exactly how can a strong brand impact your marketing? To answer this question, it’s best to start at the beginning. The difference between branding and marketing is something not everyone understands. Even fewer could clearly explain the distinction if you put them on the spot.

So, what do we mean when we talk about branding and marketing? Let’s start with some practical definitions.

Branding vs. Marketing: What’s the Difference?

Every industry expert worth his or her salt has taken a stab at defining branding at some point in their career. The fact that no two answers are ever quite the same says something about the discipline itself. Here are a handful of worthy attempts at defining brands and branding that I’ve come across over the years:

“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or company. A brand is not what you say it is– it’s what they say it is.” – Marty Neumeier

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” – Jeff Bezos

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” – Seth Godin

“Brand is the promise, the big idea, the expectations that reside in each customer’s mind about a product, service or company. Branding is about making an emotional connection.” – Alina Wheeler

“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.” – Steve Forbes

At my agency, we define brands as perceptions. Your brand is how your company is perceived by those who experience it. Specifically, they are the perceptions of your employees, your investors, your board, the media, and, perhaps most importantly, your customers. Branding, then, is the act of shaping these perceptions.

As a general rule, definitions of marketing tend not to be as esoteric as those of branding. People are more likely to have a working understanding of marketing simply because it is more practically defined.

“Marketing refers to activities undertaken by a company to promote the buying or selling of a product or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses.” – Investopedia

“Marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company’s product or service.” – HubSpot

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” – American Marketing Association

Marketing, then, is ultimately about promotion. It often leverages insights from research to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of promotional efforts whose ultimate goal is the sale of a product or service. As Business Dictionary puts it, marketing is “based on thinking about a business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction.”

How to Build a Rock-Solid Brand Framework

The reason investing in branding is so important is that a strong brand will always translate into more efficient and effective marketing. Branding ensures a consistent, cohesive, overarching brand narrative that ties each of your marketing touchpoints together.

The value of consistency when it comes to branding and marketing cannot be overstated. Consistency leads to familiarity and familiarity leads to the most ultimate goal of branding and marketing: brand loyalty.

So, in order to get the most out of your marketing, you need a strong brand. But how do you build a strong brand? With a rock-solid brand framework.

Building a rock-solid brand framework starts from the inside out: 

At the center is your Brand Compass, which includes core messaging components like your Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values. It’s important to think critically about this foundational messaging, and know which questions to ask when creating them:

  • Purpose: Why does your company exist beyond making a profit?
  • Vision: What is the ideal world your brand hopes to bring about?
  • Mission: How do you plan to achieve your Vision? What are you going do to? How are you going to do it? Whom are you doing it for?
  • Values: What are the underlying principles and ethics shared by your team?

The next layer is your brand’s Positioning, which includes differentiating statements like your Value Propositions, Competitive Advantage, and Brand Promise. Again, the definition of each of these concepts starts with a question:

  • Value Propositions: What are the areas of value your brand purports to offer those it serves? What are the needs and challenges of your target audiences and how do you plan to address them?
  • Competitive Advantage: What does your company do better than any of your competitors?
  • Brand Promise: What is the solemn pledge you make to your customers?

The third layer is your brand’s Personality, which is the set of human characteristics expressed by your brand. Personality is defined by adjectives such as “trustworthy,” “intelligent,” or “fun” that are critical for designers, copywriters, and other creatives to understand when bringing your brand to life. We typically have our clients brainstorm dozens of ideas before narrowing them down to four defining attributes. These attributes answer questions like:

  • How would you describe your brand if it were a person?
  • How would you want a user to describe your ideal website experience?
  • How does your brand look, sound, and act when it engages with the world?

Next up is your brand’s Name, which should relate to your audience on a deep and personal level. Naming extends from your company name to your products and services as well. Naming or renaming a company, product, or service is an in-depth process that starts with extensive competitive research and ends with rigorous trademark screening. The brainstorming that happens in between can be an arduous task. With that in mind, is a rename right for your brand? If the answer to any of the following questions is “yes,” you should probably explore a rename:

  • Are you being legally compelled to change your name?
  • Have you outgrown your current name?
  • Is your name failing to stand out?
  • Are you facing an unforeseen PR disaster?
  • Have you expanded beyond your current name’s geography?

After your name comes your brand’s visual Identity, which is its face to the world. It includes your logo, color palette, photography, and more. As the cornerstone of your visual identity, your logo should embody a few key criteria:

  • It is aesthetically simple. The best logos are uncomplicated, easy to visually process, and even easier to remember.
  • It is authentic. It’s true to the elements of your Brand Compass, it’s born from the elements of your Positioning, and it embodies the attributes of your Personality.
  • It is a single idea. A logo shouldn’t be expected to embody much more than a singular, central idea. The more ideas you try to pack into a logo, the more confusing it becomes.

Finally, story is the verbal language of your brand. It’s expressed in the voice and messaging that brings your brand narrative to life. The words that make up your brand story should convincingly convey:

  • who you are (your Brand Compass),
  • what you offer (your Value Propositions),
  • what sets you apart from your competition (Your Positioning),
  • …all in a way that fosters a meaningful relationship with your customer.

It’s critical to define the above components of your brand framework before you spend the time and money it takes to create the outermost layer of your brand experience: your various marketing touchpoints (website, collateral, signage, advertising, etc.)

In a world saturated with marketing, it’s the meaningful messages that cut through the noise. Branding invests your marketing with layers of meaning tied to the authentic essence of your company. By understanding who you are as a company and why you do what you do, you can develop marketing initiatives that resonate with customers on a deep and lasting level.

A solid brand framework gives you the foundation to tell stories that customers actually want to hear—stories they want to incorporate into their own identities. Branding gives you the tools to create marketing that is often more meaningful than the products or services it aims to sell.

How to Leverage a Strong Brand for Better Marketing

Once you’ve strengthened your brand, the next step is to leverage that brand with effective marketing.

Branding is the foundation on which good marketing is built, but without marketing, even the best brand is a fallen tree in the forest with no one around to hear it.

The functional relationship between your branding and marketing is dynamic and ongoing. Here are 5 of the most important things to keep in mind, when leveraging your brand in your marketing efforts:

1. Branding defines trajectory. Marketing defines tactics.

There’s an analogy that’s often used when talking about how hard it is to change a large system: “It’s like trying to turn an ocean liner on a dime.” Because your brand encompasses every product, service, employee, and touchpoint your company has to offer, branding has to think in ocean-liner terms.

Branding isn’t concerned with the whims of the market because a brand is too big a ship to try and turn on every trend. Marketing, in contrast, is dynamic and nimble, always at the ready to capitalize on shifting tides.

2. Branding is the reason someone buys. Marketing is the reason someone thought of buying.

Marketing is continually in the customer’s ear, urging them to buy (or take a specific action on the road to buying). Branding is what gives them the confidence to make the final click. Marketing delivers your message to the world; branding is what remains after the messenger has swept through town.

Branding is the lasting impression in a customer’s mind, which is why a strong brand makes marketing all the more effective. Branding is the meaning behind the message, the promise delivered.

3. Branding builds loyalty. Marketing generates response.

Marketing is designed to elicit a reaction. Look, listen, try, drink, eat, go, buy. Its purpose is to convince an audience to act in a certain way.

Branding, on the other hand, is designed to engender a connection. Its goal is to position a company so that its customers identify with it on a deep and lasting level. Marketing gets you to buy your first used Subaru at the age of 18. Branding is what gets you to continue buying Subarus for the rest of your life.

4. Branding is macro. Marketing is micro.

Entrepreneur, author, and activist Dan Pallotta once said, “Brand is everything, and everything is brand.” It might sound like a lofty assertion, but it’s true. Branding is a big-picture discipline because your brand encompasses everything within your organization—every last employee, webpage, service vehicle, flyer, and refrigerator magnet.

If your company was a tree, branding decisions would be made at a root level and affect each and every branch, tendril, stem, and leaf. Marketing initiatives often involve multiple branches, but rarely extend to the roots themselves.

5. Branding creates value. Marketing extracts value.

Branding is long term. It generates the equity your company has in the minds of its most loyal customers. That equity is generated over years of experiences those customers have with your brand. They grow to trust your brand and see themselves within it. That’s the value that branding creates.

Marketing is what keeps your brand front of mind when those customers go to make a purchasing decision. It makes sure that the value you’ve created for is cashed in on at the register.

Branding gives customers the knowledge of what you stand for, the understanding to determine whether they like your company, and the insight to decide if they’d like to do business with you.

At the end of the day, marketing promotes and branding reinforces. Marketing is ideal for drumming up short-term leads and sales, but only branding can enhance long-term reputation and strengthen customer loyalty.

How to Strike the Right Balance Between Branding and Marketing

Once you’ve understood the difference between branding and marketing, how to build a strong brand, and how your branding and marketing work together, the question becomes “How much should you invest in branding versus marketing to maximize the impact and effectiveness of both?”

The unfortunate reality is that most businesses spend far too little on their brand, choosing instead to allocate the majority of their marketing budget on short-term marketing activations. There’s even a term for it. Coined by industry experts, “short-termism” describes the increasingly common phenomenon where business owners place outsized value on short-term marketing. Short-termism stems from the misguided assumption that short-term growth automatically leads to long-term growth.

The reality is short-term marketing tactics often stand in direct opposition to sustained, long-term growth. Short-term marketing activation is centered on behavioral prompts that urge customers to buy now. By their very nature, these initiatives—typically deals, offers, news or seasonal messaging—are easily forgotten. Facts, after all, are never as memorable as feelings.

Because they’re not memorable, short-term marketing activations rarely have lasting influence on future purchasing decisions. They don’t accrue brand equity in the minds of customers and, as such, require frequent reminders. It’s a highly inefficient approach that requires continual re-delivery of the same message and does nothing to make future sales targets any easier to reach.  

By comparison, brand-building is a long-term approach fostering mental brand equity that primes customers to choose your brand. Winner of the Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics, Daniel Kahneman showed that our behavior is most readily influenced by triggers to the part of our brain driven by feelings. The overwhelming majority of our decisions are based on what feels right, not what makes the most rational sense.

We choose brands based on the positive feelings they elicit. We simply believe the brands we like are better than brands we don’t. Branding is designed to appeal directly to customers’ feelings, reinforcing these positive associations over the course of long-term relationships.

It takes time to build the type of positive associations that are the result of brand-building. It’s no surprise, then, that business owners who are hyper-focused on short-term returns often fail to appreciate the value of a strong brand.

The reality is that the memory structures that are created by sustained, long-term brand-building are immensely durable, and only strengthen over time if invested in. 

So, how much should you be investing in branding? The solution isn’t to divert all of your marketing spend into long-term initiatives, after all. As we’ve seen, branding is highly dependent on marketing to realize its full potential. The goal is to find the right balance between short-term marketing and long-term brand-building.

Studies have shown that the ideal ratio of budget allocation is typically around 60% for branding and 40% for marketing.

This ratio varies depending on the type and circumstance of your brand and market landscape. Financial services industries, where consumers are relatively less confident, often require ratios closer to 70:30 branding:marketing.

In industries like travel and food service, where products and services are highly perishable, the ideal ratio of investment shifts to 50:50 branding:marketing. The median, rule-of-thumb target should generally be close to 60:40, though. Diverging too far from this ratio hampers your brand’s ability to accumulate the necessary brand equity for future sales growth.

The Takeaway

One of the most surefire ways to supercharge your marketing is by investing in your brand. That’s because branding and marketing are highly dependent and interconnected. A strong brand is the foundation on which consistent, compelling marketing is built. Well-defined branding makes each and every one of your marketing initiatives more efficient and effective, positively impacting your bottom line for years to come.

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Miss Global Growth Marketing Conference

If there’s one marketing conference you must attend before the year is out, it’s Global Growth Marketing Conference (GMC) 2019.  Why? But ask yourself, how many conferences have the potential to impact your bottom line directly? That’s what growth marketing is about. IBM Growth Strategist Jason Barbato and former GMC speaker said, “[Growth marketing is […]

If there’s one marketing conference you must attend before the year is out, it’s Global Growth Marketing Conference (GMC) 2019. 

Why?

But ask yourself, how many conferences have the potential to impact your bottom line directly?

That’s what growth marketing is about.

IBM Growth Strategist Jason Barbato and former GMC speaker said, “[Growth marketing is about] doing things that can result in explosive growth for your business, that is the underlying theme. That’s what makes it different from traditional marketing is that you’re informing something that’s intended to drive growth, not just drive numbers.”

So if you’re keen to unearth frameworks specifically designed to grow your startup, your enterprise, your agency or your small business, then get yourself to San Francisco for this December 10 – 11 event.

Not convinced yet? 

Here are our top five reasons you don’t want to miss Global Growth Marketing Conference 2019.

1. Glean From Trendsetters Making Big Growth Curves

Slack, Lyft, Airbnb, Pinterest, Postmates, Robinhood, Poshmark, Uber…all went public in 2019. 

Wouldn’t it be great to just get inside their growth leaders’ heads and learn the marketing strategies and tactics that brought them from humble dorm-room beginnings to trading-room-floor success?

Yeah, we thought so, too.

So this year’s conference features industry-leading speakers who represent some of the most recognizable brands in the world, including Google, Microsoft, and these recently-public organizations:

  • Zoom | Hilary Headlee, Head of Global Sales Ops & Enablement
  • Postmates | George Revutsky, VP of Growth
  • Uber | Ali Wiezbowski, Head of Driver Engagement, Product Marketing

I mean, what better way to obtain hyper-growth strategies than from global trendsetters making it happen day in and day out?

Kady Srinivasan, Global Head of Digital Marketing at Dropbox, said this about GMC, “it’s always a good thing to learn from other people who are doing it and who are also evolving in the field. The technology landscape is changing so quickly, so I find so much value every single time I attend one of [GMC’s] conferences, speak at them, or go to [GMC’s] networking events.”

See our growing roster of handpicked growth marketing tacticians and thought leaders here.

2. Get Narrowly Focused with Vertical-Specific Content

If you’ve been to GMC in the past, then you’re familiar with our B2B and main stage tracks that are jam-packed with immediately actionable takeaways for your business. 

There, our speakers will present on a range of topics including growth process and experimentation, product marketing and management, and onboarding and engagement.

This year, we’ve expanded our offering to include vertical-specific tracks that make for an even more well-balanced program. Those tracks are:

  • eCommerce
  • Data & Analytics
  • Marketplace Growth
  • FinTech Growth
  • HealthCare Growth
  • Mobile App Growth
  • SaaS Growth
  • Emerging Channels

So in addition to the main-stage program, you’ll be able to choose that path that best fits your industry and niche.

3. Harness the Power of Targeted Networking

Networking at conferences can sometimes be hit or miss. And that can be quite a bummer for many attendees, as networking has been rated one of the top three reasons for attending in the first place.

That’s why we’ve made connecting with your peers faster and simpler with the support of Brella. 

Once you know who (or the kind of person or business) you want to talk, use the Brella app to request and then schedule a time to meet up while you’re on site.

Want to exchange ideas? Broach a partnership? Get one-on-one time with speakers? This tool is how you get it done.

4. Maintain Momentum with Post-Event Training

Fair warning: you’re going to need a little time after the conference to go through your notes and take it all in. But what happens once you’re back in the office and to your regular day-to-day tasks?

Keep learning and challenging yourself with access our on-demand library containing more than 200 training modules available right at your fingertips.

This free ongoing training and webinars designed to keep you at the top of your game are available to every attendee and provided by our conference partners.

5. Elevate with Like-Minded Professionals

We also offer Global GMC attendees paid access to our exclusive online membership community. Filled with hundreds of senior- and executive-level marketers, you’ll be able to…

  • take advantage of exclusive partner and trial offers (free or deeply discounted)
  • gain access to free consults to help you when you’re stuck, and 
  • connect with conference alumni and speakers on an ongoing basis to collaborate and learn about new industry trends

Global Growth Marketing Conference 2019 will be what everyone is talking about all 2020. Grab tickets for you and your team today; your bottom line will thank you.

Got questions about the conference? Chat with us on our website or email our team directly.

Not sure where to stay for GMC 2019?

Good news! Our team has secured a special rate for Global Growth Marketing Conference 2019 (GMC Conference) attendees at the historic, luxury, 5-star Fairmont San Francisco Hotel. Your spacious room with a courtyard view will cost you only $349 per night for a 3-night stay (December 9-11).

Centrally located, this luxury San Francisco hotel is a short cable car trip from the bustling Downtown, Financial District, Union Square and Fisherman’s Wharf. In fact, Fairmont San Francisco is the only spot in the City where each of the cable car lines meet. 

With its numerous hills and spectacular bay, San Francisco welcomes you with natural beauty, vibrant neighborhoods, and contagious energy. From the trendy Mission District to the historic Castro, from bustling Union Square to enduring Chinatown, the dynamic City by the Bay thrives on diversity. From San Francisco’s hot arts scene, tempting boutiques, parks perfect for outdoor activities, and all the authentically local restaurants & cocktail bars, it’s the ultimate destination.


How Marketers create Infographics

For a long time, creating infographics has been all the rage. Launching a new product? Create an infographic about it. Want to get press coverage? Create an infographic. Trying to get inbound links? Create an infographic. It’s like that analogy: When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. Marketers […]

For a long time, creating infographics has been all the rage. Launching a new product? Create an infographic about it. Want to get press coverage? Create an infographic. Trying to get inbound links? Create an infographic. It’s like that analogy: When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

Marketers are churning out infographics left and right to capture people’s attention in our increasingly visual and busy world. And there are lots of free resources out there to help you create infographics, such as Venngage or Canva— all you need to do is plug in some data and voila, an infographic … right?

Not quite. With this hammer/nail mentality, it’s easy to spend time creating something that’s not quite up to snuff. If you’re mainly concerned with just having an infographic, you could end up with something that gets lost in the sauce — not something people will be excited to read and share.

To make sure you’re putting your best infographic foot forward, read on. We’ll highlight the top mistakes people tend to make with their infographics and give you tips for steering clear of them yourself — because if you’re going to go for the nail, you might as well know how to use the hammer properly.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the worst types of mistakes we’ve seen (and even committed ourselves) in infographics.

1) The Title’s Wordy

This is probably my biggest pet peeve of them all (which is why it’s first on the list). Unlike design, crafting great titles should be in any content creator’s wheelhouse. It’s something all content creators do, whether they create infographics or not. In a world where everyone has very limited attention for content, a great title could be the difference between your infographic being successful … or not.

So if your title is wordy or unappealing, spruce it up. Keep it short, punchy, and compelling, yet descriptive of what’s inside. Need help? Check out this blog post for tips on writing great titles.

2) There’s No Compelling Narrative

Infographics shouldn’t just be a jumble of stats and facts with icons and graphs next to them. Like any other piece of content you create, it should tell some sort of story. Even if all you have are 10 stats for your infographic meat, there should be some flow between them that speaks to a larger trend.

Having a compelling narrative means that your infographic should have a beginning, middle, and end — just like a blog post. The beginning is usually a sentence or two of introduction. The middle is the meat of the story — it has a few themes with supporting details for each. The end wraps it all up for the reader and usually includes the sources for the infographic. People should be able to skim the infographic and walk away with a clear message.

Want an example of a great infographic with a narrative? Check this one out.

If you’re struggling to develop a narrative in your infographic, put together an outline first. Remove and reorganize the bullet points until it makes sense, then translate your outline to the infographic format. If you’re using an infographic template, the translation should be fairly easy — you can just plug the bullet points for each section into the template and then customize the graphics to support the bullet points.

3) The Data’s Outdated

Each industry is different — some move much faster than others. So if you’re building an infographic with data from several years ago, chances are it’s outdated or maybe even wrong. If you want your infographic to get shared and bring long-term, evergreen traffic to your website, you want to keep the data as current as possible.

Each industry moves at its own pace, so what “dated” means changes depending on the industry you’re in. That being said, if you’re creating content for that industry, you should have an idea of what’s in vogue now and what isn’t. If you’re unsure, do some Googling to see if there are more current data on it.

4) The Text Is Tiny

One of the hardest things about designing infographics is you have to make them easy-to-read at any size. Even if they’re only a few hundred pixels wide, people should be able to read and scan the infographic without enlarging it.

So treat your infographic like you would a PowerPoint presentation — keep your font sizes large enough that anyone can read the text on your infographic on any device they choose. People will be accessing your infographic on many different screen sizes, and your infographic should be readable on all of them.

5) No One Knows It’s Yours

After you spend all that time outlining, writing, editing, designing, and optimizing your infographic, you want to get the credit your company deserves. When people share your infographic on a social network of choice, you want people to know your company created it, even if the sharer didn’t mention you.

The easiest way to prevent that is to include your company logo or URL in the infographic. It doesn’t prevent people from incorrectly sharing/attributing the infographic, but it will help ensure people know your company created it — which could bring them one tiny bit closer to visiting your website, converting on a form, and becoming a customer. (Every little bit counts!)

6) It Only Lives on Your Website

Though you want people to recognize you created the infographic, you don’t want to discourage people from sharing it with their network. Chances are, your infographic is meant to get you exposure … so you’ve got to get people to share your content if you want to accomplish that goal.

So make sure you have the infographic primed to be shared. Add an easy embed code and add tweet/pin buttons next to the infographic. If you’re promoting the infographic in a blog post, add some “tweetable takeaways” in the comments, complete with “Click to Tweet” links. Basically, any way you can remind people in a non-spammy way to share the infographic — do it.

Also, make sure you’re distributing the infographic to the right networks. If you have a SlideShare account, for example, upload your infographic there. Since not a lot of people use SlideShare for infographics, you’ll have a better chance of getting noticed — and you’ll improve your chances even more if you avoid the rest of these mistakes, too.

Want to make a kick-ass infographic? Make sure you’re starting off on the right foot by downloading these five PowerPoint infographic templates.

Account-Based (Strategy) Marketing: How to Master the Post-Sales Cycle

Any B2B marketer worth their salt understands the power of account-based marketing (ABM). It’s been widely adopted due to its proven success rate throughout the B2B industry. But there’s a movement taking place, as marketers jump on the ABM train due to the expected ROI and pace of excitement. But, any good ABM program has […]

Any B2B marketer worth their salt understands the power of account-based marketing (ABM). It’s been widely adopted due to its proven success rate throughout the B2B industry. But there’s a movement taking place, as marketers jump on the ABM train due to the expected ROI and pace of excitement. But, any good ABM program has to start with a strategic lens – and end with one.  Lately, this seems to be lacking as sales and marketing silo their goals rather than unify them.

A full 87 percent of B2B marketers now agree that ABM delivers higher ROI compared to other marketing efforts. And 92 percent consider ABM “extremely” or “very” important to their marketing efforts.

What is Account-Based (Strategy) Marketing

Account-based marketing is a strategic B2B approach that is concentrated on a set of clearly defined target accounts. These accounts are identified as the most important prospects for a business. Sales leads the conversation – but marketing puts the magic in the program.

So, how does your brand get from strategy to implementation, action and results? Follow the step-by step-guide below so that your marketing team can achieve results with a post-sale, FULL-cycle ABM strategy. You’ll learn what to do even after you’ve closed the deal on your target ABM accounts. As a result, your brand will acquire and retain your ideal customer base, while achieving optimum revenue goals.

Not sure if ABM is right for your B2B company? Before continuing with this step-by-step program, we recommend completing the below checklist:

Step 1: Focusing on the Right Targets

The Rs to Success: Research, ROI and Return on Relationship.

Dare to be specific. Don’t think of hypothetical personas. Do your due diligence. Drill down to get to know the target companies, even the exact individuals who make the purchasing decisions. You can identify target accounts with fit, using predictive marketing (look-a-like and propensity models to identify accounts); intent, looking at in-market activity across the web by topic; and behaviors, by tracking activity such as understanding who is coming to your site or engaging with your brand.

As you develop your ABM strategy, assess what your ideal customer profile looks like and don’t waste effort on prospective accounts that will not give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Additionally, focus on the longevity of your relationship of that targeted account and those that will eventually become advocates for your brand. Building long-term relationships can result in a strong ‘Voice of the Customer’ program, an increase in brand advocates, strong referrals and an overall high RoR (Return on Relationship).

Step 2: Integrating Your Teams

Align. Communicate. Collaborate.

Building that relationship for the long run “takes a village.” Align each of your departments – sales, marketing, customer relations and/or support.

Sales + Marketing + Customer Relations = Brand Advocates

Set your teams up for success by identifying the right roles and resources to get you started.

From a tactical, day-to-day standpoint, your team should have someone that’s going to review and segment historical data; identify customer profiles; review and update account data on a regular basis; and implement CRM tools, updates and processes.

From a more high-level standpoint your team needs someone to strategize, run point between sales and marketing; educate teams on customer awareness, engagement and acceleration; CX; best practices and lessons learned.

However, the most meaningful role – and often the most forgotten – is the one that maintains, monitors and reports on the ABM accounts post-sale. How satisfied is that account? Are they continuing to be nurtured? Given the right content at the right time? Have they been adopting new services or products? This role and resource for your ABM team will be critical to the overall success rate and longevity of this program.

Carrying over the enthusiasm and commitment of the sales cycle into the hard work of managing the client account and providing an exceptional customer experience ignites the power of account-based marketing well beyond the sale.

Find common goals, strategy and metrics across your organization. Making sure everyone is on the same page (and has the same expectations) is critical when taking next steps towards a named account strategy. Step 6 will dig in even further on how to align and define these key metrics and goals between each department. For now, your integrated teams should be focusing on roles and resources needed within your organization, the strategy, how to communicate with each other and at what customer “trigger points” are you passing off in terms of CX, relationship-building and nurturing. Sales pass to marketing, marketing to customer success, back to sales for the upsell (think: land and expand). Any lack of communication in this daisy-chain will throw ABM efforts out the window.

Not sure if your team has the right skill sets available for ABM success? Consider tapping an integrated agency to backfill your in-house efforts. Public relations, content marketing, social media and influencer marketing all play a role in ABM content strategy. If you don’t have all the pieces in place, don’t delay bringing the right talent to the table through outsourcing.

Step 3: Implement an ABM Content Strategy

Personalize. Map Content Pre, During and Post Sales.

The power of ABM is not only targeting those relevant accounts, but also building highly personalized messaging. Your content and engagement strategies are critical. By appealing to the emotional needs of your audience, you can develop highly tailored, actionable and authentic content. Then map that content to account-based stages.

A successful strategy requires an integrated approach. Owned, earned, shared and paid media all work together and support each other – driving one consistent message while effectively aligning resources that drive action and outcomes for your ABM efforts. It’s important to understand the power of integration. People will drive that connection and personalization will fuel the engagements.

Consider the customer journey through the ABM process. A pre-sales social media post targeted a particular organization. A guest blog from a prospect during the pre-sales cycle. A request for a case study from a client after a successful campaign. Use these touchpoints to build relationships.

Pre-Sales ABM Content

47 percent of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep (Demand Gen Report).

This is your brand’s time to shine. You’re looking to turn the data and information that you’ve previously gathered into helpful and (internally) shareworthy content for that prospect. Your targeted accounts won’t be able to find this type of information elsewhere – setting your brand apart from its competitors. This kind of thoughtful personalization might take time, but the results will take you into the sales cycle of this journey.

During-Sales ABM Content

Now that you’ve made the sale, there’s no time to waste when it comes to building that customer relationship. First impressions will make or break your brand’s reputation and customer experience. On the flipside, don’t overload your new accounts with content. Assess, prioritize and acknowledge their pain points as a first step. This should be information that’s fresh and documented from the sales team. Marketing can leverage that to build out helpful content that guides them towards an easy transition into using your product or service. If you’re not sure what kind of content would be most valuable for your new customers – go back and do your research. Investigate what they’ve been sharing and discussing on their channels, ask questions or simply send a quick survey.

Post-Sales ABM Content

Solid content marketing is imperative here – how do you create a detailed content program that keeps customers engaged, highlights loyalty and brings out customer voices? Foster a long-term customer relationship with a full content experience. Use case studies, customer spotlights, Q&As, and customer reviews. Continuously appeal to customer emotions and roadblocks. It’s a two-way feedback loop – ask your customers how you can improve.

Make your content easily accessible and digestible so that they’ll come back for more. Strive to be that go-to resource and thought leader for your post-sale ABM accounts.

Whether the account is a warm lead or an about-to-be-signed new account, mapping out content journeys for each will continue to move them through the sales funnel towards success.

Use the below checklist so that you can tackle each customer stage of your content mapping journey:

Step 4: Apply Complimentary Content Distribution Techniques

Touchpoints Beyond ABM.

Did you know that earning a new customer is between 5 to 25x more expensive than retaining current ones? And the average customer spends 67 percent more between months 31 and 36 with a business than they do from months 0-6? This makes any extra effort to retain your ABM acquired customers all the more important.

Build longevity by continuing to reach out using personalized, targeted touchpoints.

Include different channels of communication – social media, emails, surveys, invitations to private events, etc. Do whatever it takes to improve the customer experience, differentiate your company from the rest and keep clients from straying.

Monitor, listen and engage with your post-sale ABM customers. Celebrate their successes, engage with them on industry trends, collaborate on campaigns, speaking opportunities and the like – all while keeping their primary objectives and goals at the center of any outreach.

Focusing on the accounts you have in the pipeline is useless if you can’t keep the ones in hand happy.

Only 31 percent of marketers are personalizing campaigns and only 21 percent are focused on customer experience (PAN Communications & Holmes Report).

Step 5: Defining Success Beyond the Sale

Revenue. Retention. Reputation. Referrals.

How do you define success beyond the sale? Ask yourself the following three questions:

  1. Are you retaining those customers?
  2. Are you building brand advocates with a Voice of the Customer program?
  3. Have you mastered the upselling process?

Voice of the Customer

Loyal customers are 5x as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, 4x as likely to refer, and 7x as likely to try a new offering.

Retaining and building brand advocates is the goal. Developing a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program to create great customer experiences will move you towards that goal. A VoC program should be embedded within your post-sales cycle ABM strategy and a way for you to determine the success rate of these programs as outlined below.

Your brand’s VoC program should include customers that encapsulate and align with your brand’s core values. These customers are going to be the drivers when it comes to reaching prospects under similar personas, so you’ll want them to be the best brand advocates that you have. Leverage this relationship even further by capturing the tone and preferences of your ABM accounts. It should show them that their feedback and opinions truly matter.

As you continue to build out your VoC program tied alongside your ABM strategy, don’t forget to document everything that you’ve learned. Update your personas and targets to include new communication channels, unresolved customer pain points, disrupting industry stats, lessons learned, customer quotes and testimonials. Your team should have a knowledge bank that will guide and lead your ABM efforts into future success stories.

Remember the 4 R’s for defining the success of a VoC program:

  1. Revenue: Land and expand.
  2. Retention: Making customers feel important and becoming an extension of their team.
  3. Reputation: Word of mouth is key here even if it doesn’t lead to a referral right away. Ask for testimonials and quotes in the interim.
  4. Referrals: Business connections can go a long way, especially if a previous customer has just jumped ship to another company, they’re likely to recommend your agency to that new company.

The 4 Rs should translate into a platform sales, marketing and other key stakeholders can point to for validation. This will help drive new business and revenue for your organization.

Step 6: Measuring ABM Throughout the Customer Journey

What is the coin of the realm in your business?

  • New business revenue generated
  • Increasing revenue per account
  • Upselling existing accounts to a premium product or service
  • Finding efficiencies to increase net revenue
  • Superior customer experiences

Before getting started on KPIs, ensure sales and marketing teams agree on specific lead scoring and hand-off rules. ABM KPIs are different than your standard marketing metrics. Track impact and influence, time spent, and quality over quantity. Before someone spends money with you, they’ll spend time with you.

It’s about accounts, not leads. Ensure that you and your teams have the tools they need to manage and track the customer experience. Assess your martech stack and identify what you may be missing when it comes to KPIs and metrics.

Your ABM metrics should ladder up to the rest of your marketing KPIs. Track not just generic measurements but also get to true ROI (Return on Investment — or Return on Impact). Take a dual approach to your analytics. This means aligning those marketing KPIs with topline business goals. Think of measurement as a continuum, starting with your organization’s big picture revenue goals and drilling down to the granular, tactical results.

Conclusion

Success beyond the ABM sale requires bringing VoC, content and integrated teams together so that you end up with loyal, long-term happy customers. Happy customers lead to higher retention rates, a better brand image, and references; all of which fuel the bottom line, growth.

Facebook Messenger Marketing and Chatbots

Facebook Messenger Marketing and Chatbots What It Is, Why You Need It, And How to Win Most marketers know that chatbots are a trendy, much-talked-about marketing tactic. And it’s also fairly obvious that Facebook Messenger marketing has massive potential. But few marketers know the explosive potential of combining the two. And even if they do […]

Facebook Messenger Marketing and Chatbots

What It Is, Why You Need It, And How to Win

Most marketers know that chatbots are a trendy, much-talked-about marketing tactic. And it’s also fairly obvious that Facebook Messenger marketing has massive potential.

But few marketers know the explosive potential of combining the two. And even if they do know about it, they don’t realize just how easy it is.

In this article, I’ll explain what they are, why they’re awesome, what they look like, and how to start using them. (With MobileMonkey, it’s so easy.)

Let’s do this.

Facebook Messenger Marketing and Chatbots Explained

Let’s cover the basics.

Facebook Messenger marketing — what is it?

Chatbots — what are they?

And what happens when they get together and have babies?

Facebook Messenger marketing is simple. It’s using Messenger to connect with your potential customers.

Just like you use Messenger to schedule hamburgers with Krišs, you can use Facebook Messenger to reel in customers.

It’s marketing. On Messenger.

That’s it.

And that’s where chatbots come in.

You see, messaging people onesie-twosie is like having forty-three full-time jobs. There are so many people to message, so many questions to respond to, and so many different tasks that a new marketing channel like Messenger requires.

You can hire the entire population of North Dakota to do all that for you, or you can….

Make a Facebook Messenger chatbot.

And that brings me to the second question — what the heck is a chatbot?

This is breaking news to probably no one, but chatbots have been the trendy darling of marketers for the last, oh, three years or so.

Chatbots are programs that can facilitate conversations with humans, as well as perform tasks like scheduling, downloading files, segmenting users, and a whole bunch of other stuff. (More on that later.)

And what about Facebook Messenger marketing plus chatbots?

That’s where things get really good.

Facebook Messenger chatbots have been gaining ground as the most powerful tools in the chatbot world, because, well, Facebook.

And, because, well, really insanely powerful.

Let’s talk about that enormous marketing power.

Facebook Messenger Marketing with Chatbots Has Enormous Marketing Power

Okay, let’s get something out of the way.

Maybe you don’t code.

You majored in Ancient Near Eastern Religions, and somehow landed a job in marketing, and are kicking yourself because you can’t tell a Java from a Python.

And that’s totally okay.

You do not need to code in order to make a Facebook Messenger chatbot.

Look at this. Do you see any code on this page?

Not even data = raw_input is there!

That screenshot is the dialogue builder of MobileMonkey. If you can read and click, you can make a Facebook Messenger chatbot dialogue.

So, now that you’ve breathed a sigh of relief, let me tell you a few things about Facebook Messenger chatbots.

First off, chatbots as a whole are on the rise.

The data backs up my prediction that chatbots are the number one growth marketing channel for the next five years, and probably even the next decade.

Look at these gigantic circles.

Look at the light blue circle — Facebook Messenger. It has 1.3 billion monthly active users.

And, lest you think you’re missing out the WhatsApp and Instagram users of the world, don’t despair. All those messaging platforms, owned by Facebook, will be merged by the end of 2019 or early 2020.

In other words, by tapping into Messenger marketing, you have the potential to reach vast numbers of people.

And those numbers are just growing, growing, growing.

But let’s set aside the issue of massive audiences. You’re not trying to reach the world. You’re just trying to reach a reasonable number of interested people.

So, let’s talk about the numbers that really matter shall we?

What kind of numbers? Open rates, clickthroughs, conversions, that kind of stuff.

Compared to boring old Facebook display ads, Facebook Messenger messages convert at least five times better.

Mobile ad conversion rates hover around 1-2%

That kind of sucks.

What about Messenger conversion rates? Let’s just say it demolishes this pitiful level of conversion rates. Most Messenger campaigns have 80%+ open rates and 40%+ response rates in the first sixty minutes.

What about when compared to email marketing? How does Messenger marketing stack up?

It’s no contest.

Please look away if you’re easily embarrassed.

In one study, a simple Messenger broadcast netted an 80% open rate and 13% click rate, absolutely gutting the email control.

If you’re the kind of person who’s always asking how much does it cost? let me show you this:

This screenshot shows you that I spent $4.51 for each lead during one of my recent Facebook ad campaigns.

But this was no ordinary ad campaign. This was a Click to Messenger campaign, using Facebook Messenger as the conversion channel.

With my traditional Facebook ads, I had been throwing away $150 to $250 per lead! When I switched to a Click to Messenger ad, I slashed those numbers to a fraction of the original cost.

My point is this. Facebook Messenger marketing with chatbots will drastically reduce your ad spend.

There’s even better news. Most Facebook Messenger marketing tactics, including many remarketing techniques, are totally free.

Let me give you some more goodies when it comes to Facebook Messenger marketing. All of this stuff is powered by chatbots.

  • Every new Messenger contact is a lead for life.
  • You get detailed intel on each lead that you capture.
  • Chatbots, especially when you use a Facebook Messenger widget on your website, exponentially grow your contact list.
  • Chatbots run Q&A requests
  • Messenger chatbots integrate across devices and platforms, and the message thread is permanent (unlike some website chatbots)
  • Live operators can take over a chat at any time that the customer wants

Leaving aside all this cool and compelling stuff, think about the very nature of Facebook Messenger marketing.

It’s a conversation. An experience. A journey of interactivity.

It’s not the old-fashioned LOOK-HERE-CLICK-THIS-READ-THIS-LIKE-THIS bullhorn marketing methods.

No. Instead, you create conversational flows in Messenger marketing.

Users can ask questions, download stuff, set appointments, check a status, access a menu, and request a live person.

A simple flow like this can drive insane levels of conversions

Want to see a Messenger chatbot in real life?

You can play around with any of these live chatbots. The link opens up Messenger, and you’ll be able to try out the functionality of each one.

All of these chatbots are available as templates in MobileMonkey. You can, of course, easily customized them in MobileMonkey’s chatbot builder. It’s so easy.

Now, Here’s How to Start Using Facebook Messenger Marketing.

(Yes, I even have 3 easy steps!)

Launching a new marketing channel feels intimidating.

What? We’re going to start using chatbots? Hire someone, quick!

Before you go rushing off to HR to hire a chatbot-building specialist, take some time, carve out thirty minutes, and do the following.

1. Make sure you have a Facebook business page.

Surely you have one, right?

This is what MobileMonkey’s Facebook page looks like.

If not, make one. You’re going to need a Facebook business page to do Facebook Messenger marketing.

So far, pretty easy.

2. Next, pick a chatbot builder.

I’ll completely level with you.

Choose MobileMonkey.

Yes, I founded the business, so I have a vested interest in steering you that way.

But listen.

I’ve also spent way too much time studying and outdoing the competition. The product that my rockstar team of developers and engineers have created is peerless in the chatbot platform community.

Here’s why:

  • It’s free. If you want to upgrade to get advanced features, it’s only $19/month.
  • It’s really easy to use.
  • Suitable for one-person businesses to enterprise corporations.
  • Cloud-based app with a simple drag-and-drop interface.
  • Ultra-powerful tools like chat blasting, messenger ads, custom landing pages, live chat takeover, and other unicorn methods.
  • Did I mention it’s free?

Pick MobileMonkey. That is all.

That was easy.

3. Make a chatbot.

Hold up. We’re already here? Like, just build one?

Surely, it’s more complicated than that, Larry!

Like I said, this is so freaking easy!

From your shiny new MobileMonkey account, enter the chatbot builder — a big green happy button in the middle of the screen.

The chatbot builder is where all the magic happens.

On the next screen, you’ll probably want to start by creating a dialogue.

Your first dialogue, most likely a welcome dialogue, is structurally ready for you to customize.

Seriously, within thirty minutes, you can have an up-and-running chatbot on your Facebook Business page.

Keep in mind that you’ll probably want to do a little reading and maybe some training as you go. Growth Marketing Conference sponsored the first ever Facebook Messenger and Chatbot Marketing summit, which is a great place for some intense immersion learning.

But nothing substitutes for in-the-trenches chatbot building. Besides, it’s fun.

6 SEO Growth Levers for Higher SERP Rankings; Growth Marketing Conference Summary

Tom Casano is the founder of Sure Oak, one of the fastest-growing SEO agencies in NYC. They’ve grown clients’ organic traffic by up to 500%. Google conducts 3.5B searches every day — SEO is still one of the strongest long-term growth strategies. Anyone can start here and become an SEO expert. HOW TO: Bring cutting-edge SEO tactics […]

Tom Casano is the founder of Sure Oak, one of the fastest-growing SEO agencies in NYC. They’ve grown clients’ organic traffic by up to 500%.

Google conducts 3.5B searches every day — SEO is still one of the strongest long-term growth strategies. Anyone can start here and become an SEO expert.

HOW TO: Bring cutting-edge SEO tactics to your website to spur more conversions

1. Keyword research: find 2-10K keywords related to your company and divide them into topic “clusters”

Clusters are groups of similar content surrounding the pillars of your business, connected by internal links. Group hundreds of keywords in different clusters to establish authority on each topic.

Find keywords related to your main cluster content →

Google Search Console

And research how competitors are ranking for similar keywords →

SEMrush

2. On-page optimizations: rewrite URL slugs, header tags, and title tags; internally link related articles and check keyword density

Tags carry a lot of weight with Google; ensure they match the content of the page so searchers aren’t misled. Internal linking also helps guide web crawlers, strengthening authority on groups of related keywords.

Check your keyword/phrase frequency to ensure you’re continuously mentioning keywords →

WriteWords

3. Content: create long-form content on evergreen topics — at least one per cluster

Long-form consistently ranks higher than short. Hack: If you have several short articles on the same topic, combine them into one long-form version. Compile the articles on the highest ranking URL and open with a short summary for visitors looking for quick answers.

Find the highest ranking URL to reorganize the article on →

Ahrefs

4. Link building: secure links by creating exciting content and fostering relationships with thought leaders

Links are the most heavily-weighted ranking criteria. Create content that others in your industry care about to land on podcasts or feature in their articles.

Once you have the content, search for link opportunities here →

Moz

5. Satisfy user intent: provide answers to questions with specific keywords so you don’t lose ranking

Google’s goal is to help users answer questions. If they bounce quickly back to the search results page Google knows you didn’t provide the answer, and your future ranking will reflect that.

Learn where you’re losing visitors with click heatmaps and screen recordings →

Hotjar*

6. User experience: small sites should focus on content, larger sites need to start incorporating technical SEO

Larger sites could be losing visitors due to sloppy reroutes and non-existent pages that still rank — time to clean it up.

Conduct a full site audit and find broken links →

Screaming Frog SEO

Tools with an asterisk are recommended, not sponsored or affiliated, by the EventNotes author. Tools without an asterisk were suggested by the speaker.
View all Growth Marketing Conference EventNotes

8 Steps To Master Pre-Launch User Acquisition; Growth Marketing Conference Summary

Roy Morejon is the president and co-founder of Enventys. Enventys has launched over 800 products, raised $165 million in capital for clients, and even gotten 16 clients onto Shark Tank. Over 30,000 consumer products are launched each year, but 95% of them fail. Pre-launch user acquisition can be the distinguishing factor between a wild success […]

Roy Morejon is the president and co-founder of Enventys. Enventys has launched over 800 products, raised $165 million in capital for clients, and even gotten 16 clients onto Shark Tank.

Over 30,000 consumer products are launched each year, but 95% of them fail. Pre-launch user acquisition can be the distinguishing factor between a wild success and a total flop.

HOW TO: Prepare a successful product launch through user research & acquisition

1. Brainstorm all audiences that could potentially fit your product, then start honing in on targets

You don’t want to waste money on an audience that ultimately won’t convert. In groups of 20-50 audiences, zero in on your ideal demographics (age, gender, location) and personas (lifestyle, likes, and needs).

Set up Facebook Lead Ads to start collecting leads →

Facebook Lead Ads

2. Test 2-3 FB ads per target audience — a generic baseline ad, plus 1-2 ads built for their unique interests

Remember it’s just research, don’t spend more than $5-10 per day per audience. Test discount ads vs. contest ads, as well as different copy, images, and videos. After 72 hours, take the best ad of the 3, create 2 spin-off variations and retest to see if you can drive CPL even lower.

Here’s the step-by-step to making a spin-off creative →

Facebook Ad Creative

If you run out of ideas, go to competitors’ business pages and look at the ads they’re using →

 

3. Funnel FB leads into an email drip campaign to keep them engaged until the launch

Create a welcome email to follow up with new leads immediately, then send them 1 email per week until launch. The whole point is engagement — center your copy entirely around your CTA.  

Automate your drip campaign with an email service — automated emails get 119% higher click rates than regular emails →

Mailchimp

Use this Facebook Lead Ads-Mailchimp integration to move your leads over →

Lead Ads + Mailchimp Zap

 

4. Link your email CTA to a product landing page to increase the likelihood of lead conversions

Your landing page should have: 1) a compelling headline, 2) a clear, bright, above-the-fold CTA, 3) a mechanism to gather customer data for future remarketing, and 4) copy, photos, or a short video that showcases your product and compels leads to click the CTA.

Build a customized landing page in minutes →

Instapage*

 

5. Embed a contest app in your landing page CTA to maximize customer engagement and go viral

Enventys collects between 1000-1500 additional emails per product with contest apps, and found contest leads to be 1.6X more valuable than Facebook leads post-launch.

Contest apps incentivize users to share your product and have built-in notifications to keep them engaged →

Woobox*

 

6. Track critical KPIs throughout the pre-launch so you know what’s working

The key KPIs you’ll want to follow are 1) Customer acquisition costs, 2) Rate of customer acquisition, and 3) Conversion Rate

View your essential marketing KPIs across time on this customizable dashboard →

SimpleKPI Marketing Template*

 

7. Use FB Messenger chatbots as an additional touchpoint to drive further engagement

Facebook found that 64% of people choose direct messaging over picking up the phone or sending an email, and 53% of people are more likely to shop with a business they can message.

The average chatbot open rate is 94%; use this opportunity to improve the leads’ experience and boost conversions at launch →

MobileMonkey*

8. On the launch date, blast your email & Messenger lists with a buy or pre-order offer and publish your winning ads

Segment out key audiences to target, including interest-based audiences that performed well in pre-launch, customers that bought similar products in the past, and lookalike FB audiences.

Enventys found that segmented customer lists convert 6X better than purely interest-based lists; compile all your customer data in a single place to build out your segments →

Segment*

 

Tools with an asterisk are recommended, not sponsored or affiliated, by the EventNotes author. Tools without an asterisk were suggested by the speaker.
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Growth Marketing Conference 2019

5 Steps to Achieve Google-Like Business Growth; Growth Marketing Conference Summary

Ken Rudin is the head of user growth at Google and runs their central growth team. Enough said. Simply building a great product isn’t enough to guarantee success — 80% of new products fail. Google uses the scientific method to ensure that their new products succeed, do you?   HOW TO: Use Google’s secret scientific […]

Ken Rudin is the head of user growth at Google and runs their central growth team. Enough said.

Simply building a great product isn’t enough to guarantee success — 80% of new products fail. Google uses the scientific method to ensure that their new products succeed, do you?

 

HOW TO: Use Google’s secret scientific formula to spur product & user growth

1. Observe: Identify the single “north star” metric that best measures user growth

To know if your efforts are actually working, you need to have ONE metric that tracks how well you’re growing. For example, YouTube’s north star metric is Total Watch Time (the total time spent watching videos).

Your north star needs to deliver value to your users, not just to you. Analyze user behavior to understand what core value you provide. EventNotes recommends →

Amplitude*

2. Hypothesize: Pinpoint the key growth levers that drive users to your product

Growth levers are the components driving user growth — when you pull them, they move your north star metric. Identify the acquisition, onboarding, engagement and retention levers that have the highest impact on your north star metric.

Adapt Google’s growth model to your company. For example, if your north star metric is Daily Active Users, then you might break it down into growth levers like this  →

Compile all your user data in one place to find your key growth levers. EventNotes recommends →

DataHero*

3. Experiment: Choose a growth lever you want to move, then run multiple split test experiments to determine the best ways to move that lever and drive growth.

The two primary ways to move your growth levers are sales & marketing tactics, as well as by optimizing the product itself. Say you have a landing page that drives users to your platform — first split test 3 different CTAs, then test 3 headlines, then 3 graphics…test, test, and keep testing until you find the combination that yields the most growth.

Optimize your winning growth strategies through rigorous A/B testing and AI assistance. EventNotes recommends →

Unbounce*

4. Encourage users to act on a growth lever by displaying it as a multi-step process and giving them an end goal to hit

Whether it’s buying, onboarding, or mastering the product, make it a step-by-step process and show users where they are in the journey. The closer people get to a goal, the more motivated they are to reach it.

Google increased the number of advertisers running 3+ ads by more than 20% with this simple visual display →

Monitor visitors in real time to track their progress and see where you need to boost motivation. EventNotes recommends →

Google Analytics*

5. Drive user action by appealing to their emotions, not their logic

Users make decisions based on emotion, then justify them with logic afterwards. To boost growth and retention, find ways to appeal to users’ hearts, not just their heads..

Google split tested an offer to recapture lost Ads users. An appeal to the positive emotion associated with business growth generated 80% more spending than offering them a $100 ad credit →

Find more examples of how to appeal to emotion and win back users in emails. EventNotes recommends →

Reallygoodemails.com*

 

Tools with an asterisk are recommended, not sponsored or affiliated, by the EventNotes author. Tools without an asterisk were suggested by the speaker.
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Register for Growth Marketing Conference 2019

 

6 Product-Led Growth Tactics; Growth Marketing Conference Summary

Ashley Murphy, formerly the director of growth at OpenView Venture Partners, a VC firm that invests solely in B2B expansion-stage software companies. The firm was an early investor in Calendly, Datadog, and Expensify and they believe product-led growth companies are leading the way. B2B companies that focus on user delight are valued at a 2X […]

Ashley Murphy, formerly the director of growth at OpenView Venture Partners, a VC firm that invests solely in B2B expansion-stage software companies. The firm was an early investor in Calendly, Datadog, and Expensify and they believe product-led growth companies are leading the way.

B2B companies that focus on user delight are valued at a 2X premium compared to other SaaS businesses. Why? Because products that users love attract more attention and sell themselves.

 

HOW TO: Make product usage the primary driver of user acquisition, retention, and expansion

1. Start by making a product that only does 1 thing, but does it extremely well

Deliver immediate value by solving a common pain point, make it incredibly easy to use, and remove any non-critical bells and whistles that distract users from the key function.

Develop your top buyer personas to identify their pain points →

HubSpot Make My Persona Tool*

 

2. Offer multiple pricing levels, including a free trial, to collect more user data

Some users may never turn into paying customers but you can still use their data to improve your product and land bigger buyers. A free trial is practically industry standard now anyway.

Take advantage of the data you’re accruing by compiling it into a single location →

Databox*

 

3. If a free trial isn’t an option, consider a pay-as-you-go version so users can still try your product without a huge commitment

At larger enterprises, executives may not budge on free trials, so you’ll have to get creative. This tactic can generate some revenue while still allowing users to test your product before jumping in.

Test how far behind your company is in product-led growth and learn how to catch up →

ProductLed Growth Maturity Calculator

 

4. Your product is a marketing channel — engage with a handful of excited users and they’ll share it with others

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised $100M in 30 days with this viral tactic. Even if many of your users stick to the free version, they will tell others about it — free WOM advertising!

Calendly gets free users to market to their own networks with this simple CTA →

 

5. Monitor site visitor behavior, then redesign your site to favor B2B customers

If lots of B2B visitors are leaving your site without a download/purchase, you’re probably not positioning your product correctly — redesign and retest.

Quickly find B2B visitors through their IP address →

Clearbit Reveal*

Watch users interact with your site to spot patterns — pay special attention to where leads are dropping off →

Lucky Orange*

 

6. Empower self-service, but layer in human sales efforts to accelerate growth

If you notice a drop-off at any stage of the buyer journey, connect them with an expert on the sales team. Not only can sales answer any questions, but they can also begin to upsell.

Chat is a great way to be instantly available. Lucky Orange has a chat feature if you decide to try that tool, or you can use this standalone chat →

Intercom*

 

Tools with an asterisk are recommended, not sponsored or affiliated, by the EventNotes author. Tools without an asterisk were suggested by the speaker.
View all Growth Marketing Conference EventNotes
Learn more at Global Growth Marketing Conference 2019

Growth Marketing Conference 2019

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