3 Key Points to Know When Using Social Media

Social media marketing is all the rage these days. The barrier to entry is extremely low (no money required–just create a free account!), so it seems like a straightforward win for your company.

Because it’s so easy to get started, few people think through their social media strategy and whether it’s really helping them. Here are three things to know before you start using social media for your business.

1. It’s Hard to Measure
While some highly focused social media campaigns have measurable ROI, the vast majority are investments in relationship building. And when those investments pay off, it will be difficult to draw a line back to social media.

2. It Isn’t Free
While Facebook doesn’t demand any money to create an account, don’t fall into the trap of thinking it doesn’t cost you anything. The time spent maintaining your social media accounts is time that isn’t spent on your other, measurable marketing efforts.

3. It’s About Your Brand
When your competitors’ products are available online with the click of a button, your brand is what differentiates you. If you have a vibrant social media presence where you take the time to interact with your customers, your company will stand out.

At the end of the day, social media is meant to build trust. And while it’s hard to measure, being trusted is the biggest prerequisite to customers buying what you’re selling. So, while social media may not be for all businesses, many companies have found success in putting these tools in their marketing mix.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

Going Above and Beyond…..Aim To Surprise Your Customer!

Imagine having to put together a list of your company’s values. What are a few things that differentiate your company and services? In fact, get out a piece of paper. Write down five different areas in which your company strives for excellence.

Got them? Great! Take a look at your list. Is customer service one of your top five?

If it is, you’re not alone. A study by Bain & Company found that 80% of companies believe they deliver a “superior experience” for their customers. Unfortunately, the same study revealed only 8% of those companies’ customers would say the same thing about the companies. Why the disconnect?

What Makes Customer Service Excellent?
Here’s why many companies overestimate how great their customer service is: they aren’t talking about the same thing customers are talking about when they say “customer service.”

Many companies pay lip service to the idea of excellent customer service. But their customer service consists of things like making sure a package arrives at the promised time. They answer their phones promptly to help customers. Their prices are fair and their phone operators are pleasant. If you walk into their building, the front desk staff smiles at you.

But that’s not what today’s customers consider good customer service. That’s the bare minimum. That’s expected.

Aim to Surprise Your Customers
Want to have great customer service? Surprise your customer.

Get them to say, “wow.” When something negative happens that isn’t your company’s fault, be generous and fix it. When someone posts a complaint on Twitter about your brand, refund his or her purchase—even if they didn’t try to bring it to your attention.

Good customer service isn’t about the basics—it’s going above and beyond and making your customer surprised. It’s making the customer feel right even when they aren’t—and when you don’t really need to.

Good customer service isn’t just a smile. You should aim to surprise the most irate customer with your generosity.

And pretty soon, the irate customers dwindle, and you’re left with satisfied customers—customers who trust you, and don’t feel like they need to complain. Customers who tell their friends about the cool thing you did to help them even though you didn’t need to.

Good customer service is about surprising your customers every day. If you’re aiming for excellence, aim to surprise.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

On Target With 3 Social Media Improvements!

The great thing about social media is that it’s always evolving, and most of the time it’s for the betterment of your marketing strategy. These changes (some simple, some BIG) will help you reach out to customers in the social media world more effectively.

We’ve got the simple changes, the upgrades and the just plain complicated (in simplified form, just for you). See what’s new in the world of social media that can help you today.

The Complicated—Facebook Home
Let’s start with the complicated. You’re probably thinking, “Facebook, Huh?” It’s okay, we’re wondering the same thing. Is it a phone? Nope. Is it an operating system? Try again. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook Home is an application that turns android phones into a Facebook phone.

So what exactly does that mean?

It means people with the application will see Facebook news front and center without ever having to open an application. Facebook’s Chat will always be on so people can communicate with users that way. Plus, notifications from other social media sites will take a backseat to Facebook.

For you, it means your current social media presence should be evaluated. If you don’t have much emphasis on Facebook currently, it may be worth looking into increased emphasis.

The Simple—Facebook Direct Comments
It’s time to get personal—or at least more personal than you’ve been on Facebook. A simple and much needed upgrade to your Facebook profile now allows users to make a direct reply to a fan who has made a comment on your wall, photo or status.

In the past one of your fans could post a question or statement that needs a reply, but tons of people commented after it before you could respond. Now you can simply click ‘reply’ to that particular comment and the person will be notified. Facebook then puts your reply next to the original statement or question.

The change means better customer service and an easier way to connect with fans. Kudos to Facebook for implementing a change to make marketers lives easier.

The Upgrade—LinkedIn Mentions
At last, what Twitter and Facebook have already done we can now do with LinkedIn. The professional networking social media site has included direct mentions in its updates. If you have an article you know one of your clients would love or want them to see your post, simply type your connection’s name and select their profile. They’ll then be notified that you have content or a message just for them.

Use it to make sure you’re targeting the right people with your content, and ensuring that they see it. Again, the upgrade gives you the opportunity seek out specific people and make them feel special.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

Whether You Know It Or Not….You Market Your Business Everyday

When we think about our businesses, we tend to think of marketing as just one department among our neatly segmented workplace.

But marketing isn’t some abstract thing you relegate to the writers and advertising dorks. Pretty much everything you do as a business is part of the greater marketing process.

Don’t believe it? Let us break down the various ways you’re marketing, every day–whether you realize it or not.

Your Customer Service
Every time you answer the phone, you get to decide what message you’re going to send to the person on the other line. Your decision is marketing: you’re forming the way your customer experiences your company.

Your interaction with that customer is one in a chain of experiences that creates a lasting impression: one that stays with that customer, and more often than not, is shared with someone else. The way you respond to complaints when your service goes offline is marketing. If you ever decide to say, “I’m sorry, but that’s against our policy,” you’ve just sent a very potent marketing message.

Your Human Resources
When you craft a work environment where you value employees, cater their job description to their strengths and listen to them when they grouse, you’re marketing. You’re telling those employees something about your business, and about what you value. You’re saying something about your services. You’re marketing.

If you don’t replace your employees’ outdated equipment or refuse to give them the tools they need to do their job well, you’re marketing. Do you think the outside world doesn’t hear about how you treat the people closest to you? Do you think your employees don’t market you to future job candidates, based on how you treat them? Every HR decision you make is marketing.

Your Product
Your product might be the ultimate marketing message. Think pricing. The way an item is priced is marketing, plain and simple. A person assumes different things about a cheap, plastic bottle of vodka than an expensive glass one with an intricately designed label–even if they contain the exact same liquid.

How is your product delivered? Where is it delivered? What’s the experience like? Was it easy to use? What extras did you offer? What did your product say about your company? The way these questions are answered determines what the market will say about you, and what your customers will tell their friends.

Finally, to paraphrase Dr. Phil: “We teach others how to treat us.”

Every day your business operates, you’re teaching the market how to treat you. Make smart decisions, because whether you like it or not, you’re marketing your business every day.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

3 Effective Tactics to Help You “Connect to People”

Networking is such a valuable skill because it allows you to create new bridges. And it IS a skill–meaning it can be practiced and learned like anything else. You don’t have to be a born extravert to network well.

Networking allows you to reach new connections, which in turn will connect you with their own contacts, expanding your reach far more quickly than you could on your own. You can use networking to market your business or even yourself.

In other words, while it’s about who you know, it’s also about who OTHER people know, because those people might open you up to a whole new audience and new sales opportunities.

Here are three tactics to get your networking game into gear:

1. Get off your couch and into the real world. If you’re browsing on Twitter, Facebook, or sending out cold emails, it’s no wonder why doors aren’t opening for you. You’ve got to play the game. And sometimes, that means getting off your butt and actually meeting people.

Be proactive. Contact someone and ask him or her out for a 10-minute coffee break. Don’t expect a VIP to invest time in you unless you have an existing connection. Who do you know who knows this person and could introduce you? What networking events would host valuable networking contacts? And if you’re at one of those events, talk to people. Networking–and all human connection–is about initiative. If you don’t put yourself out there and say hello, no one else can do it for you.

2. Offer your contacts value, instead of just expecting value from them. The idea of networking makes people feel uncomfortable because we associate it with awkward, self-interested sales people working a room and handing out their business cards. Real networking isn’t about getting–it’s about mutual giving.

Networking done right is a two way street, where both parties work to make a human connection that provides reciprocal value. So for every networking interaction, ask yourself, how can I provide value to this person?

Figure out how you can help them before you interact: Can you be already known for leaving insightful comments on their blog? Can you offer them a unique solution to a problem? Could you help them find a valuable contact? Maybe they’d like the satisfaction of having someone to mentor–someone who listens to them and actually shows them a way they’ve applied their advice.

3. Respect those you’re networking with. If they are a valuable contact, treat them that way. Many who take the initiative to meet up with high-level VIPs know that it’s not enough to contact them. You have to make it easy for them to reply, because they are incredibly busy. By definition, if someone’s valuable enough for you to go out of the way to connect to, his or her time is more valuable than yours. Position your conversations with that fact in mind.

If you’re emailing to get in touch with someone, make answering the email as easy as saying “Yes.” So if you’re proposing a meet-up, make your intentions clear immediately and provide a specific time and location (letting them know you’re willing to be flexible). If you’re setting a meeting in person, don’t ramble. If you’re trying to learn from someone, understand how to ask good questions and allow your contact to talk more than you.

At the end of the day, networking is about two people offering one another mutual value. There’s nothing sleazy about building relationships with someone who is interested in the same things as you and would benefit from the relationship, too. Just learn how to offer value to another person, and soon you’ll have a stronger business and be able to reach more people than ever.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.