Notes from 12HoursOfTech

By: | Category: CRM

On Friday June 11th, Net at Work sponsored the 12HoursOfTech conference as part of NY Internet Week. The event was produced by SmallBizTechnology and was targeted at providing small and medium size business (SMB) with insight and actionable information about how to effectively use technology.

Here are some valuable highlights from the day’s presentations:

  • Amazon.com style selling
    • Personalized selling (like Amazon.com) is driven by understanding customers
    • Amazon turned a market place into a community by being obsessive about their customers
    • The difference between a great organization and an average one – Great organization find a way to say YES to their customers
    • If an interaction is not recorded it is not strategic – ever interaction needs to be stored
    • CRM is the system of record for customer interaction
    • CRM must be a “way of life” for a company
    • Don’t just collect customer feedback and ideas – Act on them
    • CRM implementations are never complete – they need to evolve as businesses mature and change
    • Obsess about customers. Empower employees. Be diligent about understand changes
    • Concentrate on core competencies and engage experts, when needed
  • Online/Social Media/eMail Marketing
    • Build credibility with your community before problems occur
    • Authenticity is a key to trust
    • Marketing has changed from yelling at potential customers to listening to and participating in a community
    • God gave you two ears, one mouth – listen twice as much as you talk
    • Create, distribute, share, & comment on content with real value
    • Always give more than you ask in return
    • While search ranking (SEO) is important it is not the key factor, especially if you don’t reach the right prospects
    • Schedule and coordinate marketing efforts across all channels – get maximum exposure with minimum intrusion
    • Create a publishing calendar for social media marketing
    • In eMail marketing subject line is the most important part of the message
    • Break your eMail message into short segments of copy
    • Buttons instead of text – increases response by average of 6%
    • Add eMail opt in to your Facebook community page
    • Use “We’ve missed you” eMails to reconnect with customers
    • Know the source of people on your eMail lists – target them with different campaigns
  • SMS (Text Message) Marketing
    • There were 1.5 Trillion Text Message sent in the US last year
    • “Short Codes” are 5-6 character numbers that are standard addresses across all carriers
    • Mobile Display Ads are less effective than Browser Banner Ads – hence have lower costs (CPM)
    • Permission is critical to success with SMS Marketing
    • Effective Mobile Marketing tactics include; Coupons, Reminders, Event Alerts, Polling, & Contests
    • Make sure to add Mobile Marketing Call to Action (text XXXX to 9999 to receive valuable offers) to all marketing communications
    • Case studies show real ROI for SMS Marketing – $15 text blasts resulted in +$1,000 in revenue
  • Online Reputation Management
    • 90% of people trust recommendations from people they know
    • 70% of people trust recommendations from people they don’t know
    • 67% of people buy more if you have customer product reviews on your site
    • Make it easy to collect, respond to, and showcase customer feedback
    • Don’t be afraid of negative feedback
    • Most often people post negative to get problems resolved
    • 90% of negative reviews can be turned around
    • Be the first to address mistakes and comments – customers appreciate engagement
    • Use customers as competitive weapons
    • Franchises can benefit from centralized control over customer review responses
  • Online Video Production
    • Length of average online video = 4 minutes
    • Be sure your videographer is insured
    • Be aware of building/business restrictions on filming at a location
    • Post a waver/disclaimer when filming at an event
    • Make sure that standard release forms are used in interviews
    • Make sure that any music is cleared and royalty free or licensed
    • Stay focused and “on-message”
  • Local Search
    • Business owners can create a free account at biz.yelp.com
    • Placements in local search often fail because they focus too much on image and not on content

You can find the agenda for the event here: http://www.12hoursoftech.com/agenda.php