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How to Boost Experiential Marketing Campaigns with Content

Posted: 20 Dec 2019 01:00 PM PST

Experiential marketing aims to engage audiences with tactile and immersive experiences in real life. People can interact with your brand to get a more profound and meaningful understanding of what you do. 

You're not just displaying a product. You're demonstrating what your product and business feels like in people's lives. It's about making your brand seem more 'real' and relatable to people.

Experiential marketing usually takes place in the form of events like trade shows and conferences. It can also appear as product testing and demonstrations, popup stores and celebrity interactions. There are many different ways your business can create an experiential marketing campaign.

It's important to remember that it's not a one-way means of communication with your audience. People are not passive recipients of information; they are active participants. 

You can create tangible experiences that build an impression on consumers. There are many benefits of leveraging experiential marketing.

  • Experiential marketing can create a lasting relationship between customers and a brand

  • It can boost brand memorability

  • You can collect vital live data about your audience and get on-the-spot feedback

  • Experiential marketing can increase engagement on social media

  • It can lead to brand loyalty

  • You can use it to educate people about your product

It's clear that experiential marketing can boost your business' growth in many ways. In one study, it was found that 65% of consumers gained a better understanding of a product from real-life experience. Product testing and demonstrations work better than commercials and other marketing methods. Giving your audience the ability to feel what your product does has a greater impact than just showing them.

Experiential marketing needs to bolstered by solid content marketing practices. Content can help drive awareness and give people steps to follow after the event. Let's look at ways you can apply content to boost experiential marketing.

How to use content to boost experiential marketing

There are many helpful ways you can apply content marketing strategies to experiential marketing. There are opportunities for you to use content to engage with people and boost traffic to your site. 

Encourage user-generated content

An engaging experiential event can create intense feelings of excitement in users. They'll be keen to share what they're seeing and doing with their peers.

You can encourage people to share their experiences on different social media platforms. Create a hashtag beforehand, ask people to use it and check in to your event. 

You can encourage people to post content by engaging with their content. Share, like and comment on their posts in real-time. Another way is to incentivize people by asking them to share content and write reviews. You can offer one person a discount or a unique experience as a reward. 

Having a hashtag can create a unified way for content to appear on social media and other places. With enough traction, your hashtag can become a trend and take off on social media. 

Content shared by peers is more trusted than branded content. Peer-developed content creates social proof and gets people to trust a company more. 

Getting user-generated is useful in many ways. You can use it to get more traffic without having to create new content. It can build your brand's reputation. Social media content by your users will improve your brand's visibility online. 

Work with influencers

Influencers play a powerful role in influencing how people think about a brand or product. Today, your audience does a great deal of research before finalizing on buying a product. They often look to influencers and their reviews to help them decide.

There are influencers in every field, and people respect them for their honest opinions. You can work with influencers by making them a part of your experiential campaign. Collaborate with influencers to create content in the form of blogs, videos, live-streams and social media posts.

In this way, influencers play a role in helping more people learn about your business. Your experiential marketing campaign also becomes more popular, getting you more engagement.

Prepare content for before, during and after your event

It would help if you prepared for your experiential marketing campaigns by having a stream of content ready ahead of time. Your pre-event content should inform people about what's coming up and build anticipation. You can create social media posts, email blasts and popups on your site about the upcoming campaign. Create content that's compelling by using power words that build emotions like excitement. 

It's also essential to have content pushed out during your campaign. This can happen through live-streams and on social media. Ensure that you're posting on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms where your audience is active. 

When your experiential marketing campaign is over, you can still use its momentum to get more brand attention. 

Give your audience an action to take after the event. You can provide them with speaker videos, white papers, statistics, and other content on your site. Ask your audience to access exclusive content by subscribing to your membership site. You can also create surveys and polls and get post-event information. Such user-generated content gives you insights into the success of your campaign.

Make sure that you cover your experiential campaign in detail on your site after the information. You can also try to get PR and news coverage. 

Work with the media

Business-driven experiential events can be newsworthy when they aren't overtly promotional. It's a good idea to get media coverage for your experiential campaign by reaching out to journalists and news publications. 

You can do this by sending email pitches before your campaign starts. Offer exclusive opportunities for content to the media. For example, interviews with the audience, speakers, or your business's leadership. It's vital to work on getting media attention ahead of time so that you get timely coverage. 

Focus on video content

You probably know that video content s the most engaging type of content you can produce. You can take footage of your event and share it later. You can also live-stream your experiential marketing campaign. 

There are different sources of videos that you can use. Your audience is an excellent source of authentic videos. Look for publicly shared videos of your campaign. You can also create a 'behind-the-scenes' video that showcases what happened during the campaign. 

Live-streaming is also a convenient video format that can get more viewers. There are several platforms that let you create live-streams. Use YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. Live-streaming is popular and makes people feel like they're part of the experience. Encourage people to take videos, pictures and photos and share them.

It's a good idea to make more people aware of your live-stream, make sure that you send an email marketing blast to your email list. 

Repurpose content

You can leverage an experiential campaign to create content for the future. You can create different types of content - videos, blog posts, images, and use the hashtag #throwbackthursdays from time to time. 

Repurposing content is a great strategy since you'll reach people who haven't seen your content yet. It's also a type of historical proof of your campaign, which will leave your audience with a positive impression. 

Drive audience experiences with content

Content plays a crucial role in building awareness for your experiential marketing campaigns. Try to apply the different strategies together to create the most impact for your marketing efforts. 

You'll be able to get more attention, more engagement, and longer-lasting connections. 

 

15 B2B Business Ideas for 2020

Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:00 AM PST

If you want to be a profitable start-up in 2020, you should provide services to other businesses as a business-to-business (B2B) company.  While service businesses are relatively easy to start, many entrepreneurs shy away from them, preferring to promote a product. Let's highlight 15 B2B services that you can provide in your start-up in 2020.

1. Business consultant/business coach

If you have had success creating, starting, running and growing a business, you should consider being a business consultant or business coach. You would give other entrepreneurs the benefit of your expertise. You could answer questions they have as a start-up. You could provide key advice. You also could help them avoid the mistakes you have encountered. You'll find it very fulfilling to give guidance and advice to other entrepreneurs. Business consultants provide advice that you don't have to accept, but business coaches hold their clients accountable to implement those changes into their business.

2. Analytics for small businesses

If you have experience and knowledge about the metrics of running a business, you should consider providing analytical services to business owners. They need to understand their budgets, benefits of spending money in some locations and disadvantages to spending money on other parts of the business. Analytics provide these data points, but entrepreneurs often don't understand how to get them or use them. You could help other small businesses raise their venture capital and grow their business.

3. Researching services

Entrepreneurs aren't always willing or have the time to conduct their own research and feasibility studies for their business ideas. You could offer this service to them. Through research and feasibility studies, you will examine different aspects of the idea. Studies are needed on marketing, the technology uses, research and development and automation. When you present the results of the studies to the client, you would provide them with valuable information they need to be able to succeed.

4. Writing services

Entrepreneurs need writers for a number of processes. They need writers to create a business plan, write content in their marketing and write for a blog or social media. Entrepreneurs often don't know how to create content effectively and don't want to take the time to learn how to create content in the correct way. Every business needs well-written content and business plans to move the company in the way they should. When entrepreneurs hire your writing business, you will help them focus on what they need to make investors come on board the business venture. The content also will help the company become well-known and the first choice of someone to use. Companies also want writers to create press releases to send to media and other public relations work.

5. Investing in business opportunities

You could be a company that invests in other companies. You would provide the service to research business opportunities and trends in an industry. When you see a trend that might result in a growing need for a new idea, you could plan to invest in companies that are at the forefront of that new idea. You also could provide the services yourself. 

6. Marketing 

You can help small and medium-sized businesses build their own brand and maximize their awareness to their target audience. You would provide the marketing expertise to help build brand awareness. Marketing is a large group of services. You could pick one piece of the marketing plan, such as writing content or social media, or you could become a marketing consultant or manager where you provide all of it. 

7. Graphic design

Like writing services, all companies need artists. These are designers who will create a unique logo to help you be different among so many competitors. Artists also provide pictures for social media sites and designs for t-shirts or promotional products. They create brochures. They can critique your website for visual problems and fix them. They can provide entrepreneurs advice on other visuals that make the company have a brand. The right logo and other visuals are what will propel entrepreneurs from the obscure to top of minds.

8. Social media consultant

As mentioned previously, entrepreneurs need to have a digital presence and be able to market their brand. Some companies focus solely on social media marketing while others do all marketing. Regardless, if you want to provide services to small business owners, you could offer social media services such as social media coaching. You could coach and advise small business owners on what they need to do, or you could do it for them. You have to understand which sites are beneficial for your client and which are not. You have to know what to post and when. You have to understand brand awareness. 

9. Employee recruitment services

Human resources management is now a function of outsourcing. Previously, human resources was a function within a company, but many small business owners are hiring firms that provide these services outside the company. It is saving them in the long run and providing a much-needed job function. If you have human resource expertise and understand healthcare rules and employment laws, you could provide these services to companies. You also could offer advice on health insurance plans, workman's compensation laws, Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, payroll and employee benefits. You also could provide assistance in hiring employees.

10. Bookkeeping services

Businesses are often looking for someone to take over the responsibility and tediousness of bookkeeping. If you have a background in bookkeeping, this could be a profitable business opportunity. While bookkeeping and accounting might sound similar, they are not. Usually, bookkeepers work with accountants to make sure entrepreneurs' books are in order for the Internal Revenue Service and state officials. Bookkeepers also do the daily number-crunching while accountants plan.

11. Venture capital brokerage

As a venture capital broker, your job would be to link start-up businesses with venture capitalists. You are finding the money and the company that needs the money. You have to research the venture capitalists because not all capitalists provide funds in all fields. Therefore, you are saving the entrepreneur time and money by finding the right fit. The entrepreneur can target only those who provide funding in your client's industry. And, you save the venture capitalist's time by bringing the idea to them. When you act as a middleman, you are helping both companies. The entrepreneur succeeds, and the venture capitalists reap the benefits of that success. 

12. Printing services

Even though everything is online, entrepreneurs need printing companies.  Printers will create postcards, rack cards and information handouts that are necessary to every business. Although printing service may seem a common business, most are franchised and easily entered. They have good margins and require not much additional training. If you have expertise in publishing layout and design, this would be a good business to a business avenue for you. Companies offer printing services for catalogs, posters, brochures, flyers and business cards. If you could add direct mail or another mailing service you are even more likely to succeed. Mailboxes and street addresses are another way printers, service entrepreneurs.

13. Event management

Expos, summits, and trade shows are often ideal opportunities to get a small- or medium-sized business's brand in front of a key audience. The downside is that the travel, setup and the time it takes to man the booth frighten businesses away from doing those events. Even if you plan a small local event, the client will have headaches he or she doesn't want. Therefore, you could provide the entrepreneurs with this service. As an event manager, you could help businesses package, tailor and present their products or services at these events. This will increase their exposure because you will be able to get their brand in front of more people by doing the event circuit for them than if they tried to do one or two events on their own. You would handle the invitations, logistics, advertising and problem-solving during the event.

14. Legal services/legal consultant

Most small business owners and entrepreneurs need the advice of business lawyers. If you have gone to law school and passed the bar exam, you could offer business law. Many lawyers become prosecutors, public defenders, personal injury lawyers or corporate lawyers, but a real need is in law for small businesses. These are the lawyers who write contracts, evaluate contracts, advise on issues that might affect small business owners, read leases and explain business opportunities legalese. There are also legal consultants. These are the ones who understand the law and can offer advice with the caveat that any action must be taken by a licensed attorney. 

15. Information technology services

The other area that most entrepreneurs lack is information technology. All businesses need help with their computers, tablets, laptops, smartphones, networks, and printers. They need software and hardware support. If you could offer either or both of these services, you will help entrepreneurs be able to not worry about downtime and problems with their equipment. Many services are presented as software-as-a-service or hardware-as-a-service and are available digitally. Therefore, you could provide the service without needing a lot of space.

Key Data and Analytics Small Businesses Need to Manage Finances and Drive Growth

Posted: 20 Dec 2019 07:00 AM PST

Savvy entrepreneurs know that the most efficient way to expand their business and become more profitable is to be adept at balancing a focus on the present with a strategic eye on potential problems and opportunities around the corner.

Accomplishing this is impossible without a thorough, real-time grasp of your company's financial situation. However, ensuring that you stay ahead of the competition and common pitfalls that could trip you up requires more than an understanding of what's driving your profits and losses from one day to the next.

These days, building a well-informed, strategic view of your company is all about using analytics to leverage the breadth of data your company generates to extract useful insights for managing your business more effectively.

Small business, big data

If you're like most small business owners, you're likely using accounting software to manage your books. Perhaps you're taking a less hands-on approach and relying on online banking features. Or you leave it to a bookkeeper or other financial professional to keep tabs for you and stay on top of invoicing, payroll and other accounting tasks.

This may keep your business running day to day, but it falls well short of what you could be doing to manage your firm more efficiently and strategically.

Let's face it, relying on standard spreadsheet software often means spending a lot of time inputting entries manually, which can lead to errors. And traditional accounting software on its own just isn't a very good tool for providing insight into what's really important for your business: what comes next.

Financial data analytics can help you get a clearer picture of your company's operations now, while giving you insights about where your business is going.

Using analytics to make decisions

Mining the trove of financial data your firm generates daily can yield useful information for managing your business more effectively. It can help you determine which of your products or services are most profitable, whether your marketing costs are delivering enough of a return and when is the right time to secure financing in order to seize opportunities to take your business to the next level.

Want to gauge the best way to fine tune the rollout of your next new product? Crunching past sales data can help you forecast the percentage of your existing customer base that will be there on the first day to snap up your new offering.

Another helpful way to use analytics, especially at the beginning of the year, is for projecting your businesses' annual sales and profitability. Let's say your sales in the first quarter are $30,000, suggesting your business is on track for annual revenue of $120,000. Knowing this and the variables that historically affect your run rate can help you assess whether you're on track to hit your sales goals or falling behind.

Data analytics can also be invaluable for managing other aspects of your business, such as workforce needs. Using a system that combines tracking for employee hours worked, payroll and sales can help you gain insight into whether you need to ramp up hiring to keep up with a surge in demand or cut back on hours during periods when it looks like sales are likely to ebb.

Online lending companies have been among the early adopters of business data analytics, using it to broaden the scope of their credit risk assessments when weighing whether or not to approve small businesses for a loan.

This reliance on data analytics has helped power the alternative business loan market's growth in recent years, making alternative lenders more likely to approve loans for small businesses, many of which are often turned down by traditional banks that employ a narrower approach to credit risk assessment.

Short-term and strategic applications of financial data analytics

Applying analytics to your financial data enables you to optimize your business and keeps you focused on how much progress you're making toward your performance goals, whether they're in the next quarter or over the next five years.

You can make faster and more informed decisions in the short term, such as whether to quickly shift employee and financial resources to speed a product or service to market.

Data analysis also can help you navigate more long-term, strategic decisions, such as how to best plan a break with a long-term supplier in order to transition to a more efficient source within 18 months without causing any significant disruptions to your business.

Making better decisions using financial data analytics doesn't just make you more agile when it comes to logistics, it can also inform your strategy across other key areas of your business, including labor, marketing and customer acquisition and retention.

Of course, having a full-time data analytics person in your employ is an ideal approach. As a small business owner you may not be able to afford such a hire, but that shouldn't stop you.

There are analytics applications that can do some of the heavy lifting, automatically pulling your financial data and generating an array of user-friendly performance metrics and projections about your business.

You can also hire an expert to lend a hand on a contract basis during key decision-making moments. FINSYNC's concierge service matches you with a virtual analyst who can help you track the most valuable financial metrics for your business to build projections that translate into more profitable decisions.

An integrated system is key

It's hard to overestimate the value of having accurate, timely information on your business operations that goes beyond surface-level tracking. The best way to accomplish that while also setting the stage for data mining and analysis is to link your business' key accounting and back-office functions as part of a software-driven, integrated system.

Fintech applications make it easy to combine all your business' financial operations, including payments, payroll and invoicing.

Beyond generating a uniform database primed for analytics, an integrated system like FINSYNC's accounting platform connects all of your small business financial transactions in one place automatically. That reduces the time and expense needed to work on and update separate systems.

An integrated back-office system also enables you to automate various tasks, including invoicing clients and processing payroll.

The automation approach can be used to track the hours that employees work every week. This data not only makes it easy to cut paychecks that are in compliance with tax withholding requirements, it also becomes another source of rich data for divining potential business intelligence.

In addition to streamlining your financial data tracking, integrating your accounts provides a comprehensive view of your cash flow, which is essential to keeping your business running smoothly and profitably.

Such an approach lends itself to more accurate and timely cash flow analysis and projections, which enable you to plan ahead to ensure you're well-financed for a big investment, expansion into a new market or on track to reduce your debt load.

By syncing your financial accounts, you're paving the way for fruitful data mining and analysis.

Using data analytics to gauge performance and guide strategic decisions isn't just for big corporations anymore. These days, small businesses can also become data-driven and bolster their competitiveness and profitability along the way.

You may be a small business now, but big data and all its powerful applications are well within your reach.
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