Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Results-driven digital marketing agency Birmingham UK specialised in SEO, PPC & CRO services, helping businesses to be Successful Online. ​ https://preview.redd.it/bd5mibzq0xn81.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=8bf0e09f3a68749d908c261c03a201bafe48ce16 submitted by /u/External-Island-7792 [link] [comments]

Making sense of email marketing terms can sometimes feel like you’re trying to learn a new language, and it’s normal to feel lost. But intense as the jargon is, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the basics. Some terms have legal implications that are crucial to be aware of, while others represent trends…
The post The Email Marketing Terms You Need to Know appeared first on Benchmark Email.

Hey guys, we made a startup on creating website news letters to give users a way to follow up on their customers. With easy UI and customization features, you can edit and design your own modal. It would be nice if you guys can try it out and give us some feedback with any tips on improvement. Thanks for your time. F1_Mail submitted by /u/PRINXELLC [link] [comments]

It can be difficult to find the ideal candidate for a specific position — in fact, in 2021, 69% of companies have reported talent shortages and difficulty hiring – a 15-year high.
Regardless of the state of the economy and your talent pool, to succeed long-term, your business should be able to hire and retain the best, most talented employees.

But hiring can be a daunting task, which is why you need a talent acquisition strategy.

To succeed long-term, it’s critical you attract and retain talented employees regardless of vacant roles. Talent acquisition can help you do this, while solving for long-term organizational needs.

Now that you understand what talent acquisition is and how it differs from recruitment, let’s dive into the most effective talent acquisition strategies.

Here are eleven critical talent acquisition strategies to ensure you’re finding the best people.
1. Align with your business goals.
Consider your business goals for the next one to five years, and use those objectives to tailor your acquisition strategy to meet those needs. While recruitment tends to focus on filling vacancies within departments, talent acquisition is more about considering how your company is going to expand long term and then finding employees who can help take you there.
For instance, are you planning on expanding into Latin America? If so, perhaps your HR department should focus on attracting candidates with international or regional experience. Or, maybe you’re planning on creating a new product, in which case, your HR efforts should focus on attracting talented software developers and coders.
Certain roles might not even exist yet, but you’ll want to consider what type of talent you’ll need to hit your business’s long-term goals. Remember, investing in the right candidates will pay off for your company, long-term.
2. Use data and marketing to create better acquisition material.
You wouldn’t create a marketing campaign without data, so why should you recruit without it?
Talent acquisition should be treated with just as much importance as any of your marketing campaigns. Convincing people to join your company is just as necessary as incentivizing people to buy your products.
There are plenty of different opportunities to use data to strengthen your talent acquisition strategy. For instance, you might use data to figure out where your top talent came from, and use that information to focus your talent acquisition efforts on certain academic programs or professional networking sites.
Additionally, your HR team should partner with your marketing department to refine job descriptions, career pages, emails, and more.
Using data, you can figure out if certain questions are deterring candidates from filling out job applications, and eliminate those questions. Alternatively, perhaps you’ll find adding images or videos to highlight company culture incentivizes more candidates to fill out job forms. Or, maybe more candidates apply for a job with description A over description B.
By using analytics and data, you’re able to ensure your job descriptions and career pages aren’t deterring qualified people from applying.
Bullhorn is designed to tackle some of the biggest tasks of talent acquisition: recruiting candidates, and sorting through the job pool. Their software was created to streamline applicant tracking systems and improve profitability for any size business.
3. Expand outreach strategies.
To find better talent, you’ll need to expand your sourcing strategies. Different skill sets require different methods of outreach. You’ll find your best marketers in a different place than your best programmers, so you’ll want to diversify your sourcing approach.
Rather than spending all your time on LinkedIn, consider other specialized job boards, academic programs, or networking events where you might find a specific group of talented professionals. For instance, SmartRecruiter is a CRM that is developed for recruiting candidates and coordinating calendars for potential new hires.
It’s critical you identify where you can find the vast majority of your top talent, whether that be professional events, conferences, online forums, or social networks. Then, focus on strengthening relationships and networking with the right people — not only will you grow your pool of potential hires, but you’ll also grow brand awareness for your company, which will help you attract talent in the future, as well.
4. Build your company brand.
Millions of millennials and older Generation Z candidates make up the current job force. This group of potential employees came of age with the internet and social media. In researching your business, these individuals look at social media accounts, websites, and job boards to understand your work culture.
When looking into your company, candidates will have questions. What is the workplace atmosphere? Do their employees look happy? Is there potential for growth? Leverage your current employees and capitalize on the instant broadcast capabilities of your website and social media. Post images and videos of your employees at work. Encourage employees to interact with your company on its platforms. Congratulate employees on internal promotions.
Note the focus on employees. A company that focuses on the well-being of its staff is a place where people will strive to work. Building your company identity to reflect a positive, expanding environment can be an effective tool in your talent acquisition strategy.
5. Emphasize the company’s corporate social responsibilities.
Companies have taken a step back from policies that only benefit them. Your company needs to focus on pursuing its goals while benefiting others. Your company’s corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are a considerable tool for attracting top candidates aligned with your organization’s values and beliefs.
Corporate social responsibilities lead to the betterment of your brand image, workplace culture, and general society. For example, while Ben & Jerry’s is known for its collection of ice cream flavors, the brand also stands out for its long-standing commitment to social responsibilities. Since 1985, Ben & Jerry’s has donated 7.5% of its pretax earnings to social causes like Greenpeace and Vietnam Veterans of America. Since then, the company has supported voting rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. With a menu item dedicated to its values on the landing page of its website, the ice cream company emphasizes the importance of its CSR.
On the career landing page for your company, your CSR should be immediately noticeable through images and videos throughout the page. If your company focuses on diversity and inclusivity, demonstrate that. If your company stands behind sustainability, illustrate that through your content. Employees rarely want to work for a company that contradicts their values and beliefs. Use your corporate social responsibilities to attract like-minded candidates who will be passionate about working for your business.
6. Increase budget for the DE&I department.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical for creating a successful talent acquisition strategy — in fact, Dan Schawbel a best-selling author and managing partner of a New York City-based HR research and advisory firm says “This year, 70 percent of job seekers said they want to work for a company that demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The face of the workforce has changed drastically in the last fifty years. In 2022, there are more women and minorities applying for jobs, and as stated by Schawbel, the majority of job seekers want to see this reflected in a company.
DE&I training is imperative and demonstrates that your company is willing to stay current and relevant with changing times. To see an ROI on your investment in training, prioritize retention. During the job application process, continue to eliminate biases in resume reviewing. Ways to remove biases include removing names and photos when sourcing candidates, making applications and resumes anonymous before review, and creating a diverse hiring team.
7. Offer updated work options.
The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the American work model. Talent acquisition specialists adapt their work models to conduct online onboarding versus meeting candidates face-to-face. As the workforce evolves with more technological advances, workers will strive for more work/life balance.
A professional at Goldman Sachs posted a question on the finance message board of Blind, an anonymous professional network. They asked, “Would you rather make $30k more switching to a new job that requires you to work in the office, or would you rather keep your current salary but WFH anywhere after covid?” The network found that 64% of professionals prefer to permanently work from home over a $30K compensation increase. Other professional groups who favored permanent work from home over a compensation increase include Airbnb (71%), Lyft (81%), Twitter (89%), and Zillow Group (100%).
Employees want to work from home. Remote work models lead to higher productivity. On average, workers are 13% more productive when working from home. As technology continues to advance, your company needs to adjust and consider incorporating remote or hybrid work models while also cutting costs in outdated recruitment techniques to funnel the money into talent acquisition software.
8. Design a competitive and comprehensive benefits plan.
When it comes to compensation packages, employees may be willing to accept a lower salary if balanced by comprehensive health benefits e.g. medical, vision, and dental. Employees want good health benefits, and that includes mental health.
Life inside the workplace is not all that matters in talent acquisition. Consider what happens in an employee’s life outside the business. Does your business model allow for a healthy work/life balance? Are your employees able to receive sufficient healthcare? What kind of retirement or investment opportunities do you offer? Potential candidates will ask these questions about your company. It is necessary to provide the answers with a comprehensive benefits plan.
9. Promote internal diversity.
Many industries are dominated by men leading to women feeling underrepresented within the company’s culture. While the number of women in the workforce has increased significantly over the last few decades, men still hold most positions of power. There is also a racial disparity in corporate America. When HR departments create internal coalitions to rally morale, it increases diversity and inclusion efforts from inside the workforce. To build a diverse and inclusive culture, your company needs to give a voice to people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Diversity should be a company-wide model; however, it begins at the top. Educate yourself on various cultural traditions and backgrounds. Create a workplace where different perspectives are valued and voiced. Employees tend to follow the example of their boss or manager, and setting this example can span internal diversity across your company.
10. Partner with local universities to build an applicant pool.
To build a pipeline of potential candidates, companies partner with educational institutions. It helps establish a relationship between students and future employers.
Take IBM, for example. The technology corporation has partnered with The University of Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Florida State University to provide access to its systems for teaching and research. IBM has also planned joint-research collaborations with Duke University and Harvard University.
Instead of waiting for interested candidates to come across the company, IBM has started cultivating relationships with potential applicants. This strategy attracts candidates after graduation and boosts company retention.
11. Add other incentives.
Large to mid-size corporations use eye-catching bonuses and employee benefits to compete in a global market to attract top talent within the industry, but financial incentives aren’t the only things that matter.
When talented candidates are comparing companies, they’re going to consider values, culture, and work-life balance, too. By cultivating an impressive employer brand, you’ll attract better talent and find more long-term success.
To succeed with talent acquisition, consider how you can reframe your branding to focus on the best aspects of your company’s values and culture. You might mention your flexible remote policy and other work-life balance perks, or your company’s emphasis on growth opportunities.
It’s important to broadcast these unique attributes through employee review sites like Glassdoor, as well as your “About Us” page on your company website. When highly qualified people are contemplating your company over your competitors, it just might be those reviews that end up convincing them.
A Talent Acquisition Strategy to Find Top Talent
Your pursuit of top talent shouldn’t solely rely on traditional, short-term recruitment strategies like sending LinkedIn messages or attending job fairs. To ensure top talent acquisition and retention, you’ll need to devise a strategic long-term talent acquisition plan.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Your customers are consuming messages in more ways than ever before — online, in publications, on TV, the radio, and on their phones — to name a few.

For companies hoping to reach their audiences across multiple channels, engaging in media planning is a must. However, it’s almost impossible to pull off without media planning tools that give you insight into your efforts.
To help you with your media planning efforts, we’ve compiled a list of the essential media planning tools, templates, and software to use this year.
Your customers are consuming messages in more ways than ever before — online, in publications, on TV, the radio, and on their phones…to name a few.
1. HubSpot Media Planning Template [Featured Resource]

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HubSpot’s paid media template will help you keep track of how much you’re spending on paid media, where your messages have gone out, and how much attributable revenue has been generated from each source.
You’ll also gain access to charts that automatically adjust when you add your spend and ROI. This resource is free — click here to get your copy now.
What we like: This template lets you compile data from your media buying efforts on a monthly basis. With it, you can determine which paid media channel works best for your company and yields the best results for your bottom line.
2. Bionic Media Planning Software
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Bionic prides itself on its media plans, flowcharts, RFPs and IOs, trafficking, reporting, and client dashboards.
It has an average of 3.1 software updates on a monthly basis, meaning agencies using the software are provided with up-to-date planning tools to run and organize their campaigns.
What we like: Unlike other tools, Bionic is cloud-based — meaning you’ll be up and running in minutes. You also get unlimited training, support, and data backups at no extra cost.
3. Kantar SRDS Media Planning Platform
The most valuable resource for media planners is data. To feel confident promoting media on a specific platform, media planners need to know who is on each channel, in addition to understanding their target audience.
What we like: SRDS gives media planners access to extensive datasets on audience statistics and demographics so media planners can choose the right platform, message, and audience to target.
4. Media Plan HQ

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Not a fan of spreadsheets? No problem. Media Plan HQ’s got you covered. The tool tracks dates, placements, and budgets in real-time over an organized interface without having to deal with Excel. The tool is also collaborative, allowing you to work alongside your team members without the headaches caused by back-and-forth emails.
What we like: This tool gets a gold star for its collaboration capabilities. You can work alongside your team members (or share your plan with stakeholders) without the headaches caused by back-and-forth emails.
5. BluHorn

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Promising easy media planning and buying, BluHorn integrates with Nielsen and Comscore to provide users with instant access to data-rich insights. The tool is rich with useful features, such as post-buy, a vendor database, and data filters.
What we like: BluHorn is integration-rich. Connect with Nielsen & Comscore for easy planning; Google Analytics and Facebook for better tracking; and programmatic for seamless digital buying. And here’s the icing on the cake — BluHorn also integrates into Amazon AWS.
6. Quantcast
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Quantcast is an audience insights tool with data from 100 million websites. Quantcast uses AI so users can “better predict and influence [their] desired audience,” which is especially useful in an era where consumers are showered with ads wherever they go.
What we like: If you’re looking to dig into your audience’s behavior, look no further. Quantcast provides real-time insights into your ad campaigns, empowering you to better understand your audience and drive results.
7. Basis Technologies
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Rated the #1 demand-side platform on G2 Crowd, Basis “addresses your direct, programmatic, search & social through a single interface.”
The software gives users access to 9,000 vendors and 11,000 publishers and informs them with more than 180 unique data points. It also contains a messaging tool for seamless team communication.
What we like: Running multiple ad campaigns can sometimes feel like an unorchestrated chaos. But with Basis, you can integrate all your advertising (including programmatic, direct, search, and social) in one central location.
8. Comscore
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Comscore is an essential tool for “planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms.” Best known for providing data for digital platforms, film, and television, Comscore provides audience measurement metrics for companies looking to promote their products on a visual medium.
What we like: With Comscore, you can access data to determine the true impact of your media plan. Then, you can optimize your plan across a variety of media and screens in one place.
9. Nielsen
A household name, Nielsen is synonymous with audience measurement. Known mostly for TV viewership metrics, Nielsen’s global strategy also provides users with metrics for podcasts, streaming services, and social media. This gives users an all-encompassing view of where their audience is. It’s no wonder media planners and sellers have relied on Nielsen for nearly a century.
Fun Fact: Nielsen is considered to be the first company to offer market research and is responsible for the term “market share.”
What we like: Along with advanced audience segmentation, Nielsen also provides competitive intelligence that paints a complete picture of the media landscape — which helps you identify ways to differentiate your brand from competitors.
10. HubSpot Social Media Software

Looking to keep things just to a social media audience? HubSpot’s Social Media Software allows for easy publishing and audience analysis for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram on a single platform.
Plus, you can measure how your audience converts from social media in your CRM on their journey to becoming a customer.
What we like: Are you constantly refreshing your social media to monitor interactions? With this tool, all your social media interactions link back to your CRM — which saves you time and effort.
11. Scarborough from Nielsen
Another appearance from Nielsen on this list, Scarborough is a media planning tool for companies looking to get more local, hyper-focused audience insights. This tool is great for region-specific messaging or promotion and can facilitate a more systematic rollout of the word you want to spread.
What we like: With this tool, you can profile consumers beyond standard demographics — such as their lifestyle, shopping behaviors, and media consumption. You can also narrow in on specific audience segments, like sports betters or streamers.
12. MRI-Simmons
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Marketed as “The Essential Consumer Truth Set,” MRI-Simmons provides both national and regional focus studies to those looking to learn more about their audience and plan media more effectively. Its clientele includes companies spanning multiple industries like Dell, Spotify, Coca-Cola, and Men’s Warehouse — which makes sense, given the massive amount of segmentations available to users.
What we like: As I mentioned above, MRI-Simmons is a powerful tool for segmentation. Why is this important? With segmentation, marketers can identify new audience trends to anticipate their behavior, attitudes and preferences and reach them in the most effective way.
Bonus Resource: HubSpot Academy’s Paid Media Course
HubSpot Academy’s course on How to Build a Paid Media Strategy is the perfect introduction to media planning. Whether you have a generous budget or none at all, this course provides marketers with the fundamentals of developing a paid media strategy, utilizing media throughout the buyer’s journey, and finding the ROI of your efforts. Click here to take the free course.
Media planning is an essential task for marketers. But doing it alone, or with disconnected software, will make it unnecessarily difficult. That’s why it’s important to look at the available tools and use ones that make sense for your goals.

When was the last time a business fully addressed your wants and needs as a customer? For me, it was around the holidays, while searching for the perfect gift to give a friend who is a huge fan of the video game series “The Legend of Zelda.”

My online search for the right gift led me to STL Ocarina, a company that sells ocarinas — the musical wind instruments that have been around for thousands of years and a staple item in the Legend of Zelda series. Clearly, the company knew many of its customers were like me — either fans of the games or shopping for fans of the games — so it made finding Zelda-themed ocarinas on its website simple.
Just hover over the tab that says “Our Ocarinas,” and the first category to pop up under the tab says “For Legend of Zelda Fans.” From there, I was taken to a page displaying their Zelda-themed ocarinas and the option to include a songbook of the game’s music.
After purchasing the ocarina and songbook, I remembered my friend doesn’t know how to play the ocarina and the songbook may not have tips for beginners. Luckily, STL Ocarina’s confirmation email included a YouTube instructional video and links to online resources that will help him get started.
STL Ocarina serves as a great example of what customer-centric marketing looks like. During the few minutes I was on the company’s website, every touchpoint of my buyer journey was valuable, from landing on the website to browsing for the right gift to making a purchase.
Months later, I’m still recommending the website to friends who want Legend of Zelda merchandise or are simply looking for a new hobby to pick up.
In order for your company to turn customers into advocates, the same way I advocate for STL Ocarina, it’s important to add value to every part of the customer’s journey and to address their needs. A way to accomplish this is to create a solid customer-centric marketing strategy.

Customer-centric marketing ensures your customers are satisfied with their products or service enough to remain loyal and to tell others to become customers as well. To implement customer-centric marketing for your business, first ask yourself:

How are customers connecting with your business? Is it via social media, the website, email, phone, or something else?
Is there value being offered in each of these channels?
What can be done to improve the customer’s experience at every touchpoint?

Customer-Centric Marketing Examples
Many companies have taken a customer-centric approach to their marketing strategy and have achieved great success. These companies include:
1. Starbucks

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One of the most well-known successful customer-centric marketing strategies comes from Starbucks with its Starbucks Reward Loyalty Program. This program offers a variety of perks, including exclusive discounts, free refills on brewed coffee, and free drinks for customers on their birthday. However, one of the program’s standout services is that it gives customers the ability to order and pay ahead of arriving at the restaurant.
This means customers who are pressed for time can schedule their items for pickup, thus avoiding long lines and inconsistent wait times.
According to Forbes, Starbucks attributed 40% of its total sales in 2019 to its rewards program. Forbes also reported users of the Loyalty Program’s app were 5.6 times more likely to visit a Starbucks every day.
2. Nordstrom
Luxury department store chain Nordstrom sought to improve its service and product discovery by creating a more streamlined and personalized shopping experience. The company achieved this by implementing its Nordstrom Analytical Platform. The platform consists of AI models that handle tasks such as inventory control and fulfillment, and routes orders to the nearest store.
The company also created fashion maps in which the AI uses natural language conversations, combined with images and information gathered from social media to predict customer preferences. Thanks to AI, the Nordstrom Analytical Platform offers personalized products and selections for customers via its Looks feature, storyboards, and more.
3. Bacardi
Back in 2019, Bacardi wanted to get potential customers in the UK and Germany excited about the brand’s new single-malt whiskies. Understanding drinkers in that demographic often have a taste for luxury, Bacardi teamed up with Amazon to create a live whisky tasting customers can enjoy from the comfort of their home.
The spirits company created its Single Malt Discovery Collection, which was made up of three whiskies exclusively for tasting. Customers in the UK and Germany could purchase the collection from Amazon and, in turn, receive access to the live streamed tasting. During the live stream, customers were able to ask questions to the host via a custom landing page on Amazon. More than 500 questions were asked and Bacardi saw an increase in sales on Amazon.
Tips for Creating a Strong Customer Centric Marketing Strategy
Crafting a customer-centric marketing strategy for the first time can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s how to get started:
1. Get Leadership Involved
To help ensure the success of any new strategy, it’s important to get the support and enthusiasm of senior leadership. If senior leaders prioritize customers at every channel and interaction, it will encourage others in the organization to do the same. You can get leadership on board by hosting regularly scheduled meetings to educate leadership on customer-centric marketing, discuss upcoming campaigns, and brainstorm creative ways to promote the brand.
2. Learn About Your Customers
Gain a better understanding of your customers by doing some of the following:

Conduct surveys asking customers about the quality of the service/product, the company’s strong points, where it can improve, and how they most interact with the brand.
Have one-on-one interviews with current and former customers asking about their experience with the company, why they choose to remain loyal, or why they left. You can also ask former customers what changes would have made them stay.
Use data gathered from analytics tools to track customer behavior.
Monitor social media and/or enable Google Alerts so that you can see what people are saying about your business online. For example, if customers often take to Twitter to complain about how difficult it is to navigate your website, that could be a sign to update the site. You can also gauge the type of content your customers like to see on social media. Perhaps on TikTok you notice followers enjoy behind-the-scenes videos, while customers on Twitter enjoy having their questions answered or reading important announcements.
Read through customer emails and monitor calls to see how customers are interacting with your company.

3. Add Value to Every Customer Interaction
Customers, or potential customers, can be at any stage of their journey with your company, which is why it’s important to create appeal at every touchpoint. Whether they interact with your organization via social media, are calling to get help with a problem, or they are at the end stage of purchasing a product/service, every part of the buyer’s cycle should spark engagement and joy.
Nordstrom offering personalized products/services based on the customer’s behavior, and Starbucks creating a system that allows customers to get their needs met quickly and efficiently are great examples of adding value at different customer interactions. Same can be said for Bacardi’s virtual, at-home whisky tasting. The one thing that all of these actions have in common is that they make the customer experience fun, engaging, and simple.
4. The Value of Customer-Centric Marketing
As technology continues to change the way people interact with brands and businesses, the customer journey has become less linear. To keep up with the ever-evolving journey, companies must adopt a customer centric marketing approach to build stronger relationships that will turn your customers into some of its strongest advocates.