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Making the Most of Inbound Marketing

Marketing, as an entity, has been around for a very long time. However, the approaches to marketing have not changed but they have been enhanced by the addition of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing, unlike traditional marketing, allows your clients and prospective clients to come to you as opposed to you having to go after your clients and prospective clients in traditional marketing.People are clever
In the past, as a marketer, you would have spent a great deal of money on marketing your brand. The payback for that was that your target audience actually paid attention to your marketing materials. However, eventually, people became more sophisticated and found ways to block your marketing efforts. If you bought ads in newspapers, magazines, etc., the other person could simply not read it. If you bought ads on TV, they could change the channel. If you advertised over the phone, the other person could just hang up.Inbound marketing is a great new approach to marketing
Eventually, inbound marketing was born. Not only is inbound marketing a different approach but it also allows you greater possibilities of succeeding because not only does your client or prospect come to you but that person has chosen to do so willingly. That means that the person is prequalified and he or she would be more than willing to connect with you. The challenges that you always faced in the past when it came to marketing results are less challenging because of inbound marketing. They get to decide if and when they go with you.How does inbound marketing work?
As was stated previously, inbound marketing only works if the other person opts into what you want them to do. At the very least, that will be basic contact information. In some cases, it will be more than that. However, it is not as simple as the person becoming aware of your existence online and then immediately deciding to connect with you and to cultivate a relationship.With inbound marketing, it takes time to build the relationship and to trust each other and for your to become credible in the other person’s eyes. It is important that you understand that even though it may feel like a slow process to you, it is actually an extremely effective process and will worth exploring. Inbound marketing works effectively for many different businesses.The way that it works is that you consistently post top-quality, educational, valuable content and the other person gets to know you and your business through your content. At some point in the near future, that person will want to deepen the connection that he or she has with you and you will begin to interact with each other. With any luck, you start to do that regularly. Before you know it, you have built a solid, meaningful, mutually beneficial relationship that will exist for a very long time.At this point, you may be wondering how to get started using a strategy that includes inbound marketing.
Establish your content marketing strategy: Content is king! That cannot be emphasized enough. Before you do any writing at all, you need to establish your content strategy. It is that strategy (or roadmap) that will keep your content flowing and will hopefully help you to avoid any roadblocks in the way of your writing productivity. Your strategy should contain detailed information about your target audience members, including their wants and needs. Those details will guide you to customize your writing appropriately. Your first objective is to solve the other person’s problem(s). You need to write content that resonates with the other person and that helps you to establish an emotional connection.
Build your communities: Assuming that you have created a strong repository of top-quality content, the next thing that you will need to ensure is that your online social communities are in order. The reason for that is so that you have places to share your content. Of course, that means that wherever you post your content, it will elicit positive results. It is recommended that you choose quality over quantity when it comes to your online social connections. However, you should still have a significant number of connections. You should present your content in ways that appeal to your target audience, including words on relevant, compelling topics, graphics, videos, etc.
Leverage forms: Once you have gotten the attention of prospects, you will want to deepen the connection. A great vehicle for that is to use a form. You will want to encourage your online connections to complete a form with contact information and other pieces of valuable information that you need. The way that you can accomplish that is by providing a link to your landing page that contains a form (or a link to a form). The landing page will provide additional content that your prospects will find useful.
Grow your relationships: Relationships need tender loving care. That is true of personal as well as professional relationships. If you want to make the relationship solid and enduring, you will need to put forth some effort to make that happen. It is not necessarily correct to assume that the minute you connect with the other person, you will become besties! It takes time and effort to develop true relationships. In many cases, the more effort you put into the relationship, the stronger that relationship will become. Always remember that your first objective is to solve the other person’s problem(s). If you can satisfy his or her needs, yours will be met as well.
Conclusion
Inbound marketing is an extremely effective approach in business. Inbound marketing provides you with the opportunity to establish solid, meaningful, enduring relationships. Those relationships will benefit everyone involved. Your online connections exist for you because they want to, not because they have to. Your business will potentially grow at an increased rate and the relationships that you establish will last.

2 Steps to Get Your Managers to Live Your Brand

Your brand is a direct reflection of your core business. It is a presentation of your value to the beholder. Can you ensure it’s being represented correctly in the field by your managers? If it is not, imagine the confusion and lack of controlled experiences when customers come face-to-face with any part of your organization.It is up to you to determine your brand. If you do not, your customers will determine it for you. Their perceptions relate to your brand performance and therefore, your company’s profitability.People interact in a number of different ways with your business. That is where opportunities exist to set expectations and present your brand promise appropriately. We’ll start with the obvious management channels provided in a very simplified fashion:Internal Brand Management. Let me ask you a few questions first.Have you actively drawn out your brand’s attributes and set its future course?Did you clearly and concisely communicate it to your entire organization?Can you honestly say that each and every person who works for you lives and breathes your brand?Your identity shouldn’t be fabricated from a bunch of catch phrases you cannot deliver on. If your staff doesn’t understand or believe in it, neither will your customers. Your people need to not only be armed appropriately to put your brand into practice they also have to feel like an important part of the brand itself and identify with it personally in a way that impacts their delivery of it professionally. If they themselves are inspired, that emotion will pass on to the customers, strengthening brand engagement.When your entire organization takes ownership and responsibility of the brand, what emerges is an undeniably rich community of ambassadors you can trust. To take this further, your management team needs to be your brand champions. The difference is that they must act as your organization’s role models. Leadership by example is a powerful lever. Your authenticity and commitment will put you miles above the rest to build brand equity. Without solid allegiance you won’t get very far.Step 1 Brand Performance CatalystSet Core Values and Behavioral Standards that support your brand. Infuse your corporate structure and systems with your brand. Write it down and reinforce it at every turn with your managers through hiring practices, performance criteria, continued guidance, reward programs, and monitoring. Establish brand alignment, audit it regularly and nurture it constantly.External Brand Management. More thoughts to set the stage.What is your customer’s perception around your brand and is it what you want?Do you know if each time your customers talk to your company or walk into a location they will have the same experience?Are you attracting the right customers who will get the most value out of your brand?Brand promises must be widely understood and consistently delivered and aligned across both internal and external communications. Companies should go beyond standard acquisition strategies to attract and retain your “ideal” customer target market; not just any prospect. Servicing anyone correctly is not an inexpensive proposition-make your touches count.Customers are bombarded with messages and varying location experiences. To have impact, one should make every effort to stand out in every way. Integrate and connect your brand strategies using various channels and smart messaging brought to the market both visibly and audibly. Enable and breed brand advocacy by expressing your value virally through social media and establish a loyal community around it.At the end of the day, customer experience trumps all. That is why your manager’s role dictates your brand’s performance. By focusing on the manager, you turn the intangible into the tangible and that is when your brand becomes a powerful asset that has definable equity.Step 2 Brand Performance CatalystConnect every dot. State it. Sell it. Live it. At each point a customer comes into contact with your brand make sure your managers establish expectations and meet them head on. Pre-determine your touch strategy to ensure this can be done with impact. Put the appropriate tools in their hands to enhance brand performance. Outline the initiatives but take them further and break them down into tactical actions that directly focus on building the brand.To reinforce some of the core beliefs presented as a resource to support your brand performance efforts, refer back and share the following:Marketing is the care taker of your brand. Reflects the controlled brand exposure both in message and visual presentation.Employees bring your brand to life. When a customer interacts with an organization’s staff at any level, in any way.Experience cannot be argued. Ultimately, your brand is defined by the consistent experience brought to the market by the two items above.Be the captain of your ship and choose your brand destiny. Time passes quickly and every moment you wait takes you further off course. Meanwhile, corrective actions only become more costly, and most importantly you are passing customers by. Remember: bring your managers to the forefront of your thoughts, as they are the catalyst when it comes to your brand’s performance.

Property Managers Keep Landlords and Tenants Happy

Property managers serve as a cushion between renters and the property owners. They are responsible for managing both commercial and residential rental property and their main duty is to find and evaluate renters, repair rental property, collect rents, and handle evictions. Other duties of property managers include advertising properties, setting rent rates and the collection of rent, payment of taxes, and liaising between insurance agencies and contractors.If you own rental property you will want to get the best return from your investment, and thus it would be a wise move to use the services of a property manager, however, you will need to do your homework. Finding the best property manager that suits you and your rental property needs to be approached carefully, and before you make a decision you will have to weigh-up several factors.To ensure that you get someone who will adequately serve your needs, here are some qualities to look for:Effective maintenance to protect your propertyAs a landlord you always need take a close look at how a preferred property management company maintenance plan operates and ensure that they are proven and effective with a trustworthy, reliable and cost-effective maintenance crew.To ensure that both tenants and landlords are happy, effective and speedy maintenance or repairs are imperative in order to keep the tenants satisfied and to protect the owner’s property.Good CommunicationThis is a skill that everyone in business needs and property managers need to excel at as they are dealing with many different people on a daily basis. They have to be able to identify any issues and be able to quickly provide updates to landlords concerning tenants and other related details.Knowledge of market rates and financial accountabilityYour preferred property manager should be up to date with current market trends and rental rates so that when they are making valuations and setting rentals they can bring the best possible return on investment to the rental property owner.They need to be able to provide reliable and accurate account information on payments and leases.When hiring a property manager you will enter into a legal contract and pay a fee for their services. This is usually absorbed by the rental fee and each company will have their own policy, but generally it is a percentage of the gross monthly rent.All records of rent and other financial transactions must be meticulous and readily available to property owners on request. Most property management companies have automated software that is updated daily ensuring that their records are always current.When looking for someone to manage your property it is a good idea to have a look at some of the reviews and testimonials from other tenants and landlords.Look at their legal expertise as often there will be issues arising between the tenant and landlord that cannot be resolved among themselves. Your manager should be able to resolve minor issues, but more difficult cases will have to be taken to a disputes hearing and you will want to be able to get legal advice from your property manager.In summary, before you decide on the best people to take care of your investment you will want to compare the services of each company. If they have a large portfolio of tenants and landlords that is a good sign that they are experienced.Some of the very basic requirements to ensure your investment is in good hands would be:

Do they offer 24-hour customer services for urgent repairs?

Do they have adequate knowledge of the current rental market

Are they operating a fully automated computer system for reporting and recording information?

Are regular property inspections carried out and the owners notified of any problems?
When you find the best property management company with appropriate resources, you can be confident that your asset is in safe hands knowing they will adhere to the regulations and guidelines set down for rental properties.

How to Use WordPress to Start a Legitimate Home Based Business Online

The internet has become the ultimate place to do business with people from around the world with so many opportunities for communication and business available at a single click of a button. An ordinary person such as yourself is actually capable of setting up an online business, selling products and services online, and of course earning profit without needing to leave the house for work 8 hours a day. The only thing that’s stopping the success of earning money online is the uncertainty and lack of knowledge on how to be able to do this.Yes, people are actually unsure about how they should start their online businesses. They are given the fundamental knowledge, which is setting up a website and putting up their products online, but the steps and the cost-efficient ways on how to do so are explained in very vague and sometimes intimidating methods. So-called “gurus” of online marketing would tell you that you have to learn very technical tricks and techniques when setting up a business and promoting it online, giving you steps that are so complicated that you just want to drop the whole idea and go back to working day and night from Monday to Friday.This doesn’t have to be the case. You can easily set up your blog or your website using open source software or platform and you can build it by adding features, new content, and the like without having to spend a hundred dollars a month. One of these software is WordPress and with the right tips and knowledge on how to set up a business through this platform, you’ll be able to create a website that looks nothing like a blog on WordPress but is just as easy to use and fun to work with. What’s more, it’ll be just as easy to advertise and market your website that you’ll be earning profit in the same span of time as regular website owners as well.Where can you find resources that’ll teach you how to use WordPress to set up your legitimate home based business online? There are hundreds of home study courses that cater to beginners and newbie online entrepreneurs who are just starting out and who want to build their websites in the most cost-efficient way as possible. You need to find a WordPress tutorial course that uses simple yet understandable language in teaching the basic techniques and steps on how to set up a website, how to install plug-ins and niche templates, how to promote and advertise your website and products, and of course how to earn significant profit online after investing only $6 – $10 a month.The only thing that might be of particular difficulty is actually finding the product itself. Start searching now for the best WordPress course online and you’re on your way to success in no time. Make sure that you choose the course that speaks your language, that has everything you need to learn how to use the WordPress platform for your business, and how to make money out of it.