Tag Archives: Marketing

3 Ways a Tripwire and a Marketing Funnel Work Together for Optimal Conversion

A marketing funnel is great. A tripwire is great. Using them together, however, will supercharge your conversion rates.

Ready? Let’s get started.

What a Marketing Funnel Is

A marketing funnel is the process where people go from just discovering your brand to buying your goods and services. The stages are

Gaining awareness of your brand
Gaining interest in your brand
Gaining desire for what your brand offers
Taking action (buying a product/service)

Marketers use tools to nurture leads along each stage of the funnel. Visitors to your site can give their email in exchange for a free downloadable guide (gaining awareness). A follow-up email gives them a curated list of relevant blog articles on the site (gaining interest). A follow-up email to that gives them a case study showing the benefits of your products/services (gaining desire). A follow-up email to that gives them a coupon to buy your products/services (taking action).

Marketing efforts should be done to coax people along this funnel. After all, if you aren’t driving sales eventually what is the purpose of your marketing?

What a Tripwire Is

A tripwire is a strategic way to get people to enter into your funnel. You present a potential customer with an appealing low-risk and low-cost offer. Think of those e-books sold for $1 or a marketing course sold for $10. The deal is too good to pass up!

Tripwires play off of human psychology. We have an inherent need to view our behavior as consistent. If we agree to a small request, we are much more likely to agree to a larger similar request (think about when you find yourself agreeing to help a friend move after agreeing to give him a ride the other day).

When customers make a small purchase with us, they become significantly more likely to make a larger purchase with us. In fact, many companies actually offer tripwires where they lose money initially. They know they will gain it back soon with larger purchases.

Using a Tripwire and Marketing Funnel Together

These two marketing tactics work hand-in-hand in a circular relationship.

A marketing funnel directs to the tripwire. Before a customer can act on the trip wire, they need to know it exists. Insert the marketing funnel! You can use the marketing funnel to direct people to the end action: acting on the trip wire. Social media, blog posts, emails can all give that push towards buying the trip wire. Not everyone will make it from gaining awareness to making that purchase. But strategic marketing can help get more people to that purchasing point.
A tripwire directs people to the marketing funnel. It’s like there are two marketing funnels. A small one designed to get the tripwire bought. Then a larger one designed to get those big purchases where your income comes from. A tripwire can be the first stage of the marketing funnel: awareness. Maybe the customer knew nothing of your brand. But they say your discount Udemy course (the tripwire). After purchasing the course, they became aware of your brand. Then they received targeted emails providing valuable content (generating that interest). Then they received more targeted emails describing your products/services (generating that desire) before being prompted to act (generating that action). This customer went through your marketing funnel because of your tripwire.
A tripwire increases the chances of purchases. Remember the main benefit of a tripwire? It increases the chances of people making larger purchases with your organization. A tripwire does more than guide people to your marketing funnel. It increases the chances they make it to the final stage of the funnel!

Creating tripwires and marketing funnels are an important part of your sales strategy. But they can be a bit tricky for novices to create. That’s where Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We provide sales funnel services using the tripwire and marketing funnel to effectively increase your conversion rates. Give us a call or shoot us an email to chat about your options today!

The Power of an Automated Marketing and Sales Funnel

Wouldn’t it be great if your marketing and sales could run on autopilot?

Well with an automated sales funnel, they can! After an initial set-up, you can sit back, relax, and focus your attention on other marketing tasks.

An automated marketing and sales funnel allows you to work smarter, not harder. It can skyrocket your efficiency and effectiveness. If you aren’t using one already, it’s about time you hop aboard this train to growth!

The Sales Funnel

You’ve probably heard this phrase before. Many, many, many times I imagine. Let’s quickly debrief anyway.

A sales funnel is the journey people go through from first discovering your company to paying money for your goods/services. The stages go:

People become aware of your brand
People become interested in your brand
People have desire for what your brand offers
People take action (buying a product/service)

Not everyone makes it through every stage. That is why it’s a funnel – it’s largest at the top and becomes narrower as it goes down. As a marketer, your goal is to move as many people as possible through the funnel.

Automating the Funnel

Automation, when done well, can be a marketer’s best friend. First of all, it saves you an immense amount of time. Instead of you sitting down to individually send an email to people at each stage of the funnel, these emails can be sent automatically.

Second of all, it can improve your targeting efforts without any extra efforts on your end. For example, someone who opts-in to your social media newsletter gets a follow-up email offering them a discount for your social media services. Someone who opts-in to your business management newsletter gets a follow-up email offering them a discount for your upcoming leadership webinar. These targeted pitches can happen automatically.

How to Create Your Automated Email Funnel

The most common way to automate your marketing and sales funnel is with your email.

Creating awareness: Here you are hoping to stir up awareness of your brand. Many marketers will offer a free downloadable piece of content in exchange for someone’s email. Think case studies, guides, and other similar substantial pieces of content. The focus here is to get your company name in their memory and associate yourself within the industry. Nothing sales-y at all, yet!
Creating interest: Now you’ve gotten their email. Here you are hoping to keep their attention (since that “unsubscribe button” is all too easy to press). Send a follow-up email to those who subscribed giving them more helpful information. Nothing sales-y here either! The goal is to intrigue your audience about your brand by showing you know your stuff. Send an email with a round-up of useful articles on the given topic. Share valuable resources. Prove that your emails (and your company) offer value.
Creating desire: Now you’ve got a group of people who stayed on your email list. By now, you’ve sent a few useful emails. They are still intrigued by your company. Now you can start slipping in the sales-y content. Show off what your brand can do. Maybe it’s an email with testimonials of a product. Maybe it’s case studies of how companies benefited from your service. Draw a connection between your customer’s problem and your product/service as a solution.
Creating action. Now that you got your customers desiring your product/service, you can prompt action. Send an email that provides a discount for first time customers. Direct them to the sales page. Funnel those potential customers into becoming purchasing customers.

This process can be a highly effective one at generating more leads and more sales. You will need specialized tools to accomplish this (MailChimp is a common one). Look through different service options to find the best ones for your company. The key here is finding something that offers effective automation. You want a service allowing for targeted funnel creation (such as one path for first time customers and another path for repeat customers).

It’ll take some time at first to situate your funnel. But once you do, you can reap the rewards of automation! If you want help setting up your funnel, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We specialize in sales funnel services that can get your marketing thriving. Contact us today to find out more!

Why a Social Media Marketing Funnel is crucial for your Business

Your social media strategy is probably incomplete. Too many marketers create a plan designed to create a thriving social media presence with lots of followers and likes…and stop there.

Wait, isn’t that the point of social media marketing?

Not completely. It’s all well and good to have an active company social media presence. But a social media presence that is all buzz and no buying is a bust. The missing component for many marketers is a social media marketing funnel.

What the Funnel Is

The “sales funnel” is a buzzword in marketing, one that is thrown about so much it often loses its meaning. So let’s take a second to define it.

A sales funnel is the process where someone goes through the following steps:

Becoming aware of your brand
Becoming interested in your brand
Having desire for what your brand offers
Taking an action in accordance with your brand (such as buying your product/service)

The goal of course is to move as many people through the funnel as possible. In the perfect world, everyone who becomes aware of your brand eventually takes action.

But of course, that perfect world doesn’t exist. That’s why it’s a funnel – it’s largest at the top where people become aware of your brand. Fewer people eventually become interested. Fewer have desire. And fewer end up making that purchase.

Crucial action taken by you can help move along more people through your funnel.

Why You Need a Specific Social Media Sales Funnel

Social media is a unique beast. The tactics used here are not ones you would use in email marketing or when setting up a booth at an expo. This unique beast calls for a unique, tailored sales funnel.

When you create a social media sales funnel, you supercharge your social media marketing. No longer is it simply about growth. After all, growth can be overrated if that growth never leads to anything. It’s great to have 1,000 followers on your Facebook page, but what is that worth if none of them ever spend a dollar on your company?

When you use a social media sales funnel, you shift the focus. You keep that end point (making that moolah) in mind. This helps inform the work you do, making it more effective and strategic. It takes some effort. But it’s worth it.

How to Create a Social Media Sales Funnel

Building an effective social media sales funnel requires strategy at every stage of the customer journey. The first step is to generate that awareness by being where your target audience is. Take some time to identify which channels your target audience is and how to run yours effectively. All too often, marketers spread themselves too thin. It’s far better to be on two channels (but doing them right) than on five channels half-heartedly.

Once you know which channels to be on, you can work on generating that awareness. Facebook ads, for example, can help potential customers discover your page. When applicable, tag other organizations in your posts to help your posts show up on their followers’ pages. Cross promote your social channels through strategies like including the social links in your email signatures or newsletters.

The next stage is getting people interested in your brand. Create engaging posts that capture their attention (video can be a great tool for this). Showcase how you meet their needs. Push out relevant non-salesy content. Persuade them that your content is worth their precious time. Don’t make sales here yet, simply display your value.

The third stage is generating that desire for your brand’s services/products. Create posts that show exactly how you meet a given need. Promote an upcoming training event. Use your channels to push out the message that your company solves their problem.

The fourth stage is prompting that final action (usually a sale!). Make this as simple for customers as possible. Some platforms, like Pinterest, allow you to make posts that direct customers directly to the shopping cart for a given product.

Not all the sales in your social media funnel will happen directly through social media, whether it be a sale in the platform itself or clicking a link in the post itself. But social media can be a great tool getting customers to the other three stages of the funnel.

Take some time to establish tangible action steps you can take to nudge customers to each new stage of the funnel. This will help your marketing efforts be tailored and targeted, rather than focusing simply on building a presence and hoping it leads to sales down the road.

A social media marketing sales funnel is a crucial aspect of your social media marketing. If you want some assistance creating and improving yours, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We offer sales funnel services to help grow your business. Check them out today!

The Dirty Truths Nobody Told You About Hosting a Virtual Summit

All this talk about hosting a virtual summit has you excited. What you don’t know are the dirty truths most people fail to mention. If you dive into a virtual summit without being prepared, you will end up in over your head. Virtual Summits take months of planning and organizing to successfully execute. I can’t stress enough that you won’t be able to complete a virtual summit by yourself. You will drive yourself crazy without some additional support!

Here are a few areas that we know from experience it is great to bring in another set of eyes on.

#1 Test Equipment in Advance

This seems like a no-brainer but as a small business owner, it’s easy to put the equipment aside, forget about it and worry about all the other things on your to-do list. Then when push comes to shove, you set up last minute only to find out– %$#@! Technical difficulties! Please get your video, microphone, and programs all set-up well in advance and practice using them with friends and coworkers! That way if you come across any issues you can call over your techie friends to help you set it up and you’ll know how everything works before the big day comes. It is best to make sure you are super confident in the technology. You don’t want technology to be a stressor when you are trying to rock it!

#2 Customer Support

Summits aren’t an evening task. They take time. You will be out of office for a good period of time so who is going to hold down the fort and answer to those emails while you’re away? What all the offers or details you are selling? The people trying to connect but are having trouble? Someone needs to be on call for customer support. Your people want answers! Have help with your customer service, and make sure that person is in the loop of the product/service so they can best help your audience. Your customer support team is the first touch to the business. Make it great! Be sure to plan for this well in advance so you can relax during your summit and not worry whether your business will still be there when you get back!

#3 Design/Marketing Campaign & Promotion

Let’s face it, you’re not a jack of all trades, and you are definitely not a designer! Designing and digital marketing are really in-depth processes, and when they are done right, it is very successful! Leave this to the pros to help promote your virtual summit. This will be the face of your summit and you want to look professional and have eye-catching branding and design.

#4 Website & eCommerce

You will be busy planning content for your upcoming interviews and you’re not about to dive into all that code jumble! It is important that your summit/membership website and ecommerce for both are all set up and running correctly well in advance. Find a developer who can support you and execute this correctly. The last thing you need is frustrated customers who can’t buy your All-Access Pass which means lost revenue for you!

#5 Schedule Planning and Organizer

Different States, Countries, and Time zones – Oh my! The number of guests you will be interviewing during your summit may be shocking. Four to Five speakers will not suffice. Expect to be interviewing around 25-30 people in your industry. Trying to schedule and plan interviews with this number of people from all around the world is no task for you! Let someone else take this lead and set up these meetings for you.

#6 The Aftermath

Congrats you successfully made it through your summit, which means you get to jump right back into your normal routine. WRONG! You still need to consider sending out thank you notes to all the speakers and make sure your all-access pass members have sufficient customer support. Did they get their log-in information? Can they log-in? Can they access the content? This is where a customer support specialist will aid you otherwise you will lose your mind trying to answer all the tickets. Not to mention the thank-you letters…that’s 30 letters you need to write! Maybe that is best handed off to an assistant who can help execute those letters.

Whew! Exhausted yet? This is what I am saying, you need to enlist help to make sure the overall summit is outstanding and you look amazing. Make sure you have the right team in place to manage that-you can always contact us at Alpine Small Business Solutions.

7 Essential Tools You Need to Launch a Virtual Summit

Now that you are convinced why a virtual summit is a great idea for your business, here is a rundown of the tools you will need. Running a virtual summit doesn’t need to be expensive, but keep in mind the outcome will be equal to what you put into it. You don’t need to buy a professional several-thousand-dollar video and microphone set-up, but you don’t want to buy a $20 one either. Let’s meet somewhere in the middle and here’s a few of our favorites:

#1 Webcam

Unlike podcasts, a virtual summit requires a webcam. High quality helps to engage and keep your viewers interested. While most laptops, desktops and phones do have a webcam built in, they are usually not the best quality. Some smart phones do have a great camera, but lack in microphone quality. Besides, it’s much easier to manage broadcasting when you have a set-up at your computer station. Trying to do it all mobile proves to be a challenge.

You do not want to purchase a webcam that is less than 1080P since most services like YouTube often compress your videos. You can combat this by starting out by recording at higher quality.

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 is a great middle-of-the-road USB option! It has a 73% 5-star rating on Amazon with a substantial amount of written customer reviews, which make this camera a very promising one. It offers widescreen video calling, automatic low-light correction, and works on all computers.

#2 Microphone

Webcams almost always come with a built-in microphone, but again the quality will never be as good than if you invest in a separate USB microphone. A microphone is just as important as your video; what good is a virtual summit if nobody can understand a word you are saying? You do not need to dive into professional recording equipment for this. Just look for a microphone that is recommended for podcasts and gaming with noise cancellation.

The CAD GXL2400 US Microphone is a great option that won’t break the bank. It promises to produce studio-quality output and a shock mount that will allow for it to sit at a comfortable height at your desk. It has 4/5-star review with great customer reviews and the best part is it’s only $30!

#3 Video Recording Software

You need software that allows you to see, hear and interview your guest speakers. You have two ways you can approach a virtual seminar:

If you want to do live broadcasting, I recommend using YouTube.

If you want to record the interview so you can broadcast at a later time, we highly recommend Zoom. It’s a web-based webinar program that’s free for up to 2 attendees.

#4 Video Editing Software

It doesn’t matter what video editing software you use. It is up to you to use whatever tool you feel most comfortable working in. There are complex video editing software costs hundreds of dollars, but there are many free options as well. If you have a Mac computer your computer already comes with iMovie which is simple and easy to edit your videos. Another great option is Camtasia where you can create a screencast, add callouts, and more. You can even edit your videos inside of YouTube for free!

#5 Video Host

YouTube is the largest video hosting platform out there. It’s great if you want to broadcast live or later date. Vimeo is another good choice. Both work great and both can embed the video on your own website or create an easily shareable link.

#6 eCommerce & Membership Site

Shopify is hands-down the best ecommerce plugin for your website. Eventbrite is another option to sell tickets for your event if you don’t sell or plan to sell products from your website. Both are secure and easy to use.

You might have to get creative in how you sell your all-access pass because your customers will need a way to log-in to the membership site. An example could include adding these customers to a separate mailing list and giving them a log-in and password to the membership site. This same mailing list could be used to market a new product/service as mentioned in the last article.

Shopify is good if you want to do implement order add-ons or physical products supporting your virtual summit and brand like t-shirts, hats, pens, etc.

However, Eventbrite is free and extremely user friendly. You can link it to social media and has several different customization options such as making it a public or private, set a limited quantity of tickets available, reserved seating, free/paid/donation ticket, and more!

#7 Backdrop

This is optional, but you want to consider a backdrop for your recording area so you look professional. This could be something as simple as a plain sheet or blanket pinned up on your wall. If you opt-out of a backdrop be aware of potential distractions or items in the background of your video.

There you have it…all the basics without breaking the bank. If you need more help in setting all this up or tips from our pro, contact us at Alpine Small Business Solutions today!

5 Ways A Virtual Summit Can Increase Your Income in 90 Days or Less

Your small business has been going great: steady income, returning clients, your email list is now considerable, you have an interactive and large social media following. Great! However, in the last few months you noticed a decrease in growth. You’re not losing, but you’re not gaining either. Everything was growing rapidly. So, what gives?

It’s not uncommon for businesses to hit a plateau. The good news is, there’s a few things you can do to get out of this rut! One of the best ways I’ve found is to host a virtual summit. If you don’t know what a virtual summit is, it’s essentially an online conference. The host is the one who organizes and brings experts together for interviews. The catch, however, is that the summit is only broadcasted for a certain period for online attendees to watch and learn from.

Live streaming and limited-time broadcasting is a great tool to add to your marketing tool box. The limited aspect of these brings urgency amongst your potential attendees which make them more likely to act on it. Television has been using this tactic for ages! How often have you heard someone say, “I have to be home by 8pm to catch the season finale of -insert tv show here-!”

Here’s five ways you can use a virtual summit to increase your income in under 90 days!

#1 All-Access Pass

An all-access pass is to your virtual summit as Netflix is to tv shows. This is the most popular way you can increase your revenue via virtual summits. Some people will not able to attend your virtual summit during your limited broadcasting event due to a busy schedule, sickness, or anything else life throws their way. However, these customers still crave the information!

Free ticket holders can view the broadcast for a limited time, which in turn peaks interest in an all-access pass, which is a membership area containing all the video content, so that they do not miss a single interview! Another tip is to use price-increases for all-access passes. By increasing the price when your summit starts and when it ends, you can encourage more people to buy.

To further increase urgency and to encourage purchases, you can try offering a limited quantity of all-access passes.

#2 Order Add-Ons

An order add-on is an offer asking the customer if they would like to add an item to their cart prior to check-out. Another wonderful way to increase your income with virtual summits are add-ons. This can be a product you already have that is relevant to their interests, or a product exclusive to the virtual summit. You might want to consider offering a small discount for orders over a specified dollar amount to encourage order add-ons!

#3 Sponsorships

In essence, your virtual summit is an event. This is an amazing opportunity for companies to financially support you in exchange for publicity. There’s a few ways in which you can implement this, either by displaying their logo on your home page or making mention during your interviews.

#4 Physical Products

I can’t express enough how important branding is! Branding your virtual summit and producing and selling items like t-shirts, pens, hats, or other merchandise will help build brand awareness for both your business and virtual summit. Loyal customers will be happy to rock your swag which doubles as free advertisement!

#5 New Product/Service

After your summit is done broadcasting, you will have a shiny, new, email list of followers! They will be enthusiastic to learn more about your topic and seek more of the content you offer. This is absolutely a great opportunity to influence this email list and launch a new product or service for them. A great idea is to create your virtual summit around new products or services you wish to incorporate so that you continue to build interest and grow your audience!

Ready to try a summit? Give us a call and we will be happy to help.

A Case for Marketing with Promotional Products

In today’s fast paced digital world, the best form of advertising is online and social media right?

Wrong.

In many cases, you are better off marketing with promotional products. You know, those pens/bags/shirts/mugs/other random assortment of items branded with a company’s name and logo.

Sure, you may roll your eyes a bit when you get a pen from your dentist. Gee thanks I’ve always wanted a dentist pen. But you still own the pen don’t you? And you still see that dentist don’t you?

The promotional products industry is valued to be more than $21 billion for one clear reason: it works.

There are a number of reasons why your small business can benefit from marketing with promotional products.

More Bang for Your Buck

The cost per impression tends to be among the lowest for promotional products compared to other methods of advertising.

The breakdown goes:

Newspapers: 3.2¢

Prime-time TV: 2.5¢

Targeted mobile: 1¢

Internet: .7¢

Promotional product: .7¢

For highly cost effective marketing, go with Internet or promotional products. But as the following reasons show, promotional products often edge out Internet in other arenas.

Customers View Promotional Products Highest

When ranking different forms of advertising, consumers rank promotional products as the most highly regarded form. Internet advertising came in sixth and mobile advertising came in seventh. Put your money where the consumer trust is.

Customer Generation

Promotional products help at every stage of customer generation.

For raising awareness among the target audience, promotional products lead to 22% more referrals and 14% more leads. Promotional products also help increase response rates to direct mail marketing by 50%.

Promotional products create a favorable view of the company in 76% of people.

For turning leads into customers, promotional products turn 52% of people into customers.

Promotional products help you reach your target audience, woo your target audience, and convert your target audience into customers.

Customers Better Remember Your Company

Consumers remember your company better when it shows up as a promotional product over other forms of advertising.

They say 76.1% of consumers can remember the company name off of a promotional item given to them in past year. Only 53% could remember from a TV or print ad they saw in the last month. A mere 27% could recall from an online ad.

There are a few possible explanations for this discrepancy. Customers are blasted with online ads every day, so they learn to tune them out (or install ad blocker). Customers are not bombarded with promotional products daily, so the ad stands out.

Promotional products also lead to repeat exposure, while an online, TV, or print ad does not. There, the customer sees the ad once. With a promotional product, they can see it multiple times. About 73% of consumers used the promotional product in the last week and 45.2% used it at least once a day. And 58% of consumers keep the promotional product from between one year to four years. That’s a lot of exposure, helping customers better remember your company.

A Case for Promotional Products

Choosing the right advertising medium for your company is a never ending quest. Various factors affect the “best” option at this given moment: the budget, the campaign project, the target audience, etc.

Promotional products are unfortunately often overlooked as a solution in today’s electronic world, but they should not be. Promotional products may be exactly what you need for marketing your company! That simple pen/bag/shirt/mug/other random item could be the ticket to capturing the attention (and the payment) of your target audience.

If you want assistance implementing a promotional product marketing campaign, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! Just give us a call or shoot us an email to get started.

What is Blog Bookmarking & the 20 Sites You Should Be Posting Your Blog to…for Free

In most cases the whole reason you have gotten into blogging is to share information about your dog, your business, your mandolin picking progression, your health and weight loss or the experiences that have shaped and shifted your life. You have also likely learned that blogging will help you gain visibility and traffic to your website and is a necessary step in increasing your SEO. That is all well and fine, but how are you going to achieve the traffic and visibility to your content. Unless you are a SEO ninja or have a super sweet SEO team backing you, you likely have to take things into your own hands and learn the ropes. The question most people want to know is HOW?

The answer is easy! Harness the power of Social Media & Social Bookmarking. With a few strokes of the keys and clicks of the mouse YOU, my friend, can make some serious magic happen! Within minutes of submitting your blog to various social media outlets, social bookmarking and directory sites you are instantaneously and automatically connected to thousands of other like minded folks all over the world. Which means that traffic and visibility to your blog and website is happening all the time even when you are sleeping, showering or shaving! How flipping cool is that, right?

If you want to brush up and learn more about social bookmarking check out the wiki page.

There are hundreds of social media and social bookmarking sites out there. Some fail, some suck, but the bottom line is that there are way too many for me to list here. I have been doing this for a long time and with endless hours of trial and error, I have finally come up with a dream list of 20 Social sites that you SHOULD be posting all your blogs to. The best part is they are all FREE to submit to.

If you have a site that you post to and love and don’t see it in my list below, feel free to hook me up with the details. Post in the comment string below or send me an email. I would love to check it out.

Don’t have time? Does all this info makes you dizzy? No problem, we got ya covered. Contact us, today and let Alpine Small Business Solutions take care of all your social media and social blog bookmarking for you.

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