How Can Artificial Intelligence Affect Your Job In 2018
The job market is changing like crazy, especially given how quickly technology is growing and improving. This is even more true of artificial intelligence that is now being used or plans to be used in most businesses in 2018.
There are the employees who are extremely excited about the changes and working with an artificial intelligence company to build up the company and improve their jobs. However, a lot of people are hesitant about what the new technology will do to their jobs. Here are some ways you can expect artificial intelligence to affect a job in 2018.
Working alongside the technology
In 2018, as more businesses adapt to working with AI, companies will expect employees to learn how to work alongside the technology. At this point, most artificial intelligence technology enhances a job experience rather than replacing it entirely. You might be nervous about learning how to handle new computer equipment, but once you have it down, it will make your job so much easier.
AI has the ability to analyze data and give you real time results and recommendations, which helps employees avoid busy work in order to focus more on creative solutions. It can also work very well in a customer service atmosphere. AI Chatbot can respond to questions from customers that are repetitive allowing agents to focus on problems that take more creative thinking. It can listen in to customer service calls and punch out recommendations based on the customer and the conversation on what a person should say next. A marketing department can use artificial intelligence to increase personalization with customers. This type of technology will remove a lot of the busy work from the day making it easier for employees to destress and work on doing their job instead of filling out paperwork and reports.
Even high-level executives will need to learn to work with artificial intelligence this year, as it can help produce reports and give answers to help with high level decision making. It is not a technology that can only be used in specific departments but rather a company-wide change that will improve the overall business.
What about job creation?
A lot of people are worried that jobs are going to be replaced by the new artificial intelligence technology as it becomes more advanced and capable. We’ve already seen many restaurants and retail stores trying to incorporate more self checkout and kiosks to work with instead of people. And while it’s true that artificial intelligence will be able to easily replace a lot of repetitive jobs, it will also help create many jobs. There will be a demand for more highly trained individuals to program and work with the artificial intelligence as well as new careers we can’t even think of yet. There will be new skills required to work with the technology. More jobs will be created in an industry we haven’t really explored much of yet, which means that even though people are nervous about losing jobs, AI will likely create more jobs than it takes.
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Tags: artificial intelligence, 2018 artificial intelligence, ai jobs, artificial intelligence company
Training Skills for Customer Service
Having a hard working, strong customer service department is extremely valuable to any business. Businesses with the best customer service are the best at retaining customers and building long lasting relationships. But training a team of employees is often more valuable than just making sure you have the right people. Here are some tips to follow when determining what training skills your customer service agents need.Technology use
A good customer service agent will be working with technology in many capacities, whether that be through phone calls, texting, emails, chat, or even social media conversations. Of course, a lot of this can be handled automatically with an artificial intelligence company, but the employees still need to know how to work with the technology to produce the best results. Don’t just put the best technology in place; give your employees the proper training on how to use it efficiently.
Writing skills
If one of your agents isn’t great with writing but can strike up a great conversation, that’s great! Put them on the phones. For everyone else, learning the proper writing skills is extremely important to helping customers. Your employees need to be able to have a conversation through text that feels just as warm and friendly as speaking on the phone. Teach them different keywords to use through the conversation that are positive. Teach them to take a minute to gather themselves before typing a response if they are upset.
Another important writing skill is instructional writing. Customer service agents need to be able to clearly send a set of instructions to customers in order to fix a problem. One of the main jobs of customer service is to fix problems, so they need to be able to find a solution and, if the agent can’t fix it themselves, send instructions to the customer on what to do.
Take time to think
A normal part of any conversation is to make assumptions. And while many people say you should never assume, the truth is that you must make assumptions in order to properly address customer concerns. Try to consider not only what you are thinking and assuming about them but also what they may be assuming about you.They might assume you will be unhelpful as a customer service agent or maybe they assume you’ll be great because they’ve had positive interactions in the past. The same goes for your employee’s assumption of them. Are they automatically assuming it will go well or that it will go poorly? This will significantly affect the outcome of the conversation. The further into the conversation they go, the easier it will be to determine exactly what they are thinking and how to best respond to that.
Overall, training customers on how to use the right technology to work with customers and how to interact with them properly will make a huge difference to whether or not customers leave happy. The right training will go a long way.
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Source: customerthink.com/the-new-skills-needed-for-superior-customer-service/
Tags:artificial intelligence company, ai customer service, customer service, customer service texting
Marketing by Generation: Tips to Follow
Generation Z
Sometimes called post-millennial, the founders, iGen, or even Plurals, this generation has yet to have a nickname stick with them. It is typically anyone born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s making this the newest generation of adults and the newest customers to focus marketing efforts. Gen Z grew up with technology at their fingertips, meaning they are able to easily use technology devices. This is the generation that expects to find your company online and easily navigate information. They want to know you are doing something good with the money they give you, so missions and goals to make the world a better place are extremely important to them. Focus efforts on online marketing and communication in order to best reach them.
Millennials
Most people who are considered of the “Millennial” generation were born between the early 1980s and the mid 1990s. This group was the defining generation that completely changed everything with the use of technology.
Smartphones and the Internet really began being popular and important in their teen and college years making them technology based, though not as much so as Generation Z. It was also the generation that went through the Great Recession during their early careers making them a generation of entrepreneurs trying to start their own businesses. This makes them loyal to small businesses and communities, so marketing locally is a good method to use with them.
Millennials also spend a lot of time on social media, so social media marketing is a great place to be. This was the first generation that backed off a bit from loyalty towards companies, but as they’ve aged, their loyalty towards businesses has become more solidified again. If you are able to get their loyalty, you won’t be sorry. Rewards programs are popular, and make sure your customer service is up to speed, so they always feel like you care about them.
Generation X
Generation X typically describes anyone born between the 1960s and the 1980s. This is the generation with families and full time jobs to worry about. Any kind of coupon or discount is more likely to bring them in to your store. Many of them have social media accounts but aren’t active users, which means marketing by text or email is going to be more effective than trying to focus on social media advertising. They are also in the throes of parenthood, so marketing in a way that brings the whole family togethers is going to be successful.
Baby Boomers - And the rest
The baby boomers were born between the 1940s and 1960s, though they are typically thrown in with the silent generation too when it comes to marketing strategy. Direct interaction is the best method of marketing to this generation since many of them don’t spend a lot of time on the Internet or on social media platforms. A direct text, phone call, or even letter in the mail might be enough to get them in store. Loyalty is also very important to this group of people. If they know you have worked for them in the past, you’ll get a good turnout in the future. This generation grew up when the economy was good and had nicer things in life. They want the same in their retirement years, so cost isn’t necessarily an issue. It can be hard to get them away from a brand they already love, but if you do, you’ll have a customer for life.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: tcbusinessnews.com/marketing-to-grandpa-and-everyone-else/
Tags:machine learning, generation marketing, marketing gen x, marketing gen z, marketing millennials
6 Tips for Marketing on Pinterest
1. Machine learning and automation
One of the best ways to market on Pinterest, and really any type of social media platform for that matter, is through the use of machine learning and automation. With the help of a machine learning startup, you can get set up to have a computer analyze all the data from your Pinterest pins and give recommendations on better pins to post and how to post them. Machine learning takes all the information about what pins have been viewed and how many people have posted those pins in order to determine how effective every post on Pinterest is for your business. It will analyze conversion rates per pin to tell you which pins are working and which ones aren’t. In
fact, you can even have automation setup, so you don’t have to do hardly anything on your site. Marketing automation is the next big thing in marketing and is going to become the new normal in 2018.
2. Using ads
Another way to easily market on Pinterest is to simply pay for ads. When users are scrolling through the social media site, the ads are technically marked, but it is hard to see unless you are looking for it. They will assume pretty much everything in their feed is just repins from friends and will look at it if they are interested regardless of whether or not it is a paid for ad.
3. Focus on being inspiration
Some people use Pinterest as a way of finding things they really want or need in their lives. Most, however, use it as a point of inspiration. How-to guides and inspirational places or clothes are some of the most popular posts on the site. While most people recognize there is no perfect lifestyle, the goal of their Pinterest boards is to find inspiration in the lifestyles of others to hopefully start heading in that direction.
4. Recipes are golden
If there’s one thing customers identify with super well it is recipes. Everyone needs to eat, and people are constantly on the search for recipes that look and taste good. On Pinterest, there is even a feature where customers can share their experiences with that recipe to help other users know if it is worth their time, so make sure it really delicious. While it may not work for every business, posting recipes and how-to food prep guides will definitely get you some pins and bring people to your site.
5. Video ad content
A somewhat new feature on Pinterest is the ability to do video ads rolled out in 2016. People like it because Pinterest auto plays video content, so customers will definitely see it. People latch on to video content like crazy right now, but they will only ever stick around if you catch their attention in the first few seconds.
Jump right into the point of the video instead of having long introductions because people want to quickly see what you are advertising to them. It is a creative way to reach customers and a way in which they want to be reached.
6. Cheap and easy activities
Another thing people use Pinterest for is getting ideas for things to do, whether they are doing it with their kids or planning a family activity. Posting activities and how-to guides for doing those activities will get the attention of customers and help them develop interest in the products you have to offer to help with those activities.
Using Pinterest to advertise, while often overlooked as a marketing method, can be extremely effective if done right. Just be sure to check the data to see what is and is not working, so you can create better pins that your audience will love.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/12/22/how-your-marketing-team-should-be-advertising-on-pinterest/#7a9109b850b8
Tags:machine learning startup, pinterest marketing, pinterest marekting tips, tips marketing, social media marketing
Six Ways to Drive More Web Traffic To Your Mobile Website
Video on the landing page
The thought of producing a video for your brand is enough to make any small business owner shudder. That’s because many business owners are still stuck in the mindset of the previous generation--that video advertising must be of high production value to be worth doing. But thanks to the popularity of video sharing platforms like Youtube and the prevalence of video content on social media sites, today’s consumers are more accustomed to the idea of amateur quality video content. Don’t worry about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to rent expensive audio/visual equipment, and don’t stress about hiring a professional video editor or commercial director. A simple camcorder or smartphone camera with a built-in mic can do the trick. What’s most important is that your video content be authentic and reflective of your brand’s message. Landing pages with video content are much more likely to get visitors to stay on your site and click onto other pages see more.
Links on social media
Social media and your mobile site should go hand-in-hand. That’s because social media platforms are almost exclusively accessed via mobile device in today’s world. So it stands to reason that social media is an especially important channel for driving mobile web traffic. Including the occasional link to your website in social media posts is sure to boost your mobile web traffic.
Influencer marketing
Social media has given birth to a new time of marketer: the niche influencer. Using a trusted voice like a celebrity to give your brand credibility with customers is not a new strategy. But thanks to social media, anyone with a blog or a Youtube channel can be such an influencer. No matter how niche your industry, there are key influencers that have the attention of your target audience already. Forming relationship with these influencers will ensure that they’re helping to drive web traffic to your mobile site.
Mobile-focused SEO
SEO efforts that are effective for a traditional desktop website won’t necessarily carry over to SEO for a mobile site. That’s because people word their search queries differently when they’re using a mobile device as opposed to a desktop or laptop computer. For instance, mobile search is more likely to contain the name of the city in the search string and searches are more likely to contain long-tail keywords than single keyword searches. Something as simple as rethinking your approach to SEO can have dramatic results on your mobile web traffic.
Mobile optimization
Just as you’ll want to optimize your SEO efforts for mobile devices, you’ll want the website itself to be optimized for mobile. Since mobile users are less patient when it comes to waiting for a webpage to load, you’ll want to do all you can to trim down load times. You’ll also want to use responsive design or a dedicated mobile site so that mobile visitors will be able to easily navigate your page without having to pinch and zoom to try and read tiny text meant for a much larger screen.
SMS marketing
Social media isn’t the only mobile-focused channel that can help drive web traffic. If increased mobile web traffic is your goal then using SMS to link consumers to your website is a surefire way to do it because you can be assured that every recipient is on a mobile device in the first place. Just make sure when including links in your text messages to use a URL shortener so that you’re not wasting valuable space. When it comes to text messages every single character counts.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: business.com/articles/four-digital-marketing-tips-to-drive-traffic/
Tags: mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips, SMS marketing, text message marketing, business texting
5 Ways to Optimize for Voice Search
The way people search for information on the internet has changed drastically over the years. It used to be people would type specific keywords related to the topic they were interested in. Then, it evolved into typing questions into the search bar. Now, it is evolving into voice search questions. With more people getting personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and others, voice search is increasing quickly. Last year, 20 percent of searches came from voice search, and that number is expected to jump to over half of all searches by 2020. Here are 5 ways you can optimize your content for voice search in preparation.1. Get tips from machine learning
Machine learning is the ability for a computer to absorb and analyze large amounts of information. The information is then processed to provide recommendations based on the information to help you determine what type of information your audience needs and wants. A machine learning company comes in and gets it set up and helps show your company how to use it most effectively.
2. Question and answer formats
When people use voice searches, they are typically asking quick questions, and they want a fast answer. That is why companies looking to optimize for voice search need to focus on a question and answer format in their content. Make the heading a question, and give a quick and concise answer under it. This will give search engines the ability to find the exact answers to questions that customers may be looking to find.
3. Longer keywords - get more specific
If people are asking questions instead of typing them, they are more likely to get more specific in their searches. Rather than just typing “house cleaner near me,” they might ask, “What is the best house cleaner near me who uses all natural products?” This gives your company an opportunity to get more specific with the longer keyword phrases you use in order to be found. Businesses are able to get more specific with what their company offers in those search terms.
4. Give as much info as possible
If someone is looking for a business like yours, they need to be able to find you by getting as much information as possible. Your location, reviews, company contact information; this is all information people will be searching for that needs to be quickly accessible and something a voice assistant would be able to easily rehash.
5. Focus on easily repeated content
While many people use voice search and then proceed to look at the results, more people are relying on virtual assistants to repeat that information out loud to them, so they never have to look at the site themselves. It is the main reason why people love having personal assistants in their homes. Everything you are optimizing for voice search should be quick and easy for a virtual assistant to repeat as an answer to a question.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: business2community.com/content-marketing/voice-search-changes-content-marketing-
01962482#b8mTDtxEQTvo2d5x.97
Tags:optimize voice search, voice search optimization, machine learning company, machine learning voice search, marketing voice search
Email Marketing vs. SMS Marketing by the Numbers
Email and SMS are two of the most important marketing tools that marketers have at their disposal. But which one is better? Here’s a look at the numbers.
By volume
If you determine success by the total number of messages being sent then email wins by a landslide. Every year 74 trillion (yes, trillion!) emails are sent compared to just 8 trillion text messages. That amounts to 269 billion emails per day and 2.4 million emails sent per second vs 22 billion texts sent per day and more than a quarter of a million sent every second.
Email’s strength may also be its weakness. While the average office worker receives 121 emails a day, the average millennial receives just 67 text messages a day. Add that to the fact that approximately half of all emails are spam and the sheer volume of emails can be seen as a downside to the channel.
By open rate
If you determine success by the percentage of messages that are opened by the recipient then SMS wins by a landslide. The SMS open rate is 98% compared to just 20% for email. The response rate for SMS is 45% compared to just 6% for email. The average response time for SMS is 60 times faster than the average response time for email (just 90 seconds for SMS compared to 90 minutes for email). An estimated 95% of text messages are read within the first three minutes.
Which should you choose? Why not both?
The question of which channel is “better” is kind of irrelevant in the end, because there’s no rule stating you can only use one. Both channels are extremely cost effective compared to most other marketing channels so there’s no reason you can’t fit both in the budget. Furthermore, each channel is good for different things. Survey respondents say they prefer SMS for time-sensitive communications such as flash sales, appointment reminders, fraud and service outage alerts, and order/shipping notifications.
With email, you can get away with sending messages more frequently whereas people may tire of getting daily text messages and may begin to treat text messages from your brand like they do spam in their email inbox.
Each helps the other
SMS can be a great way to build your email subscriber list and email can be a great way to build your SMS subscriber list. If you’re occasionally sending exclusive offers to just one channel, then customers have to be subscribed to both if they want to be notified of all the deals. You can use SMS for shorter, time sensitive communications and email for newsletters and other longer communications that aren’t necessarily time sensitive.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: marketingprofs.com/chirp/2017/33045/email-vs-sms-battle-of-the-heavyweights-infographic
Tags: SMS marketing, text message marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips
Artificial Intelligence: An Aid in Marketing
With advanced technology becoming increasingly less expensive and more capable, artificial intelligence is no longer just a convenience in the workplace; it is now a necessity. It is the hot thing right now. Every business is finding ways to incorporate it into their work environment. One such way is through the way we are marketing. It may come as a surprise that AI can actually work extremely well in a marketing environment. Here are a couple of advantages to working with an artificial intelligence company and getting it set up for your marketing department.More time for real employees
If you have technology taking over all your most mundane tasks such as sending emails, communicating with customers, and running statistic reports, you can save your real employees for more complex thinking situations. Your advertising team will end up getting more information to use in making decisions while also having more time in their day to actually think about and come up with marketing plans. More time for humans means more creativity and better work.
AI becoming more normal for consumers
As more AI is being used in communicating through customers, whether through text, email, social media, and chats, consumers are getting more used to it. Rather than searching out specific companies or products that they want, they much prefer to be advertising that is specific to their particular situation. At first, we saw some resistance from people who were worried about their privacy, but the more people have had AI determining their advertising, the more they are used to it and happy with the results.
In turn, you are able to advertise to specific customers at specific times and with specific needs. Instead of having to send one piece of advertising out to all customers hoping it will reach them all in the same way, you can advertise to each one differently. A family advertisement is sent to families while dog lovers get one directed towards them. It is more effective for your company, and the customer prefers it too.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: forbes.com/sites/andrewstephen/2017/10/30/ai-is-changing-marketing-as-we-know-it-and-thats-a-good-thing/#7ca46138dc40
Tags:artificial intelligence company, ai company, ai marketing, artificial intelligence marketing, marketing tips
The Current State of Chatbots and Why Now is the Time to Invest in Them
Much of the artificial intelligence research being done today is purely academic. But in at least one area, we’re seeing an intersection between artificial intelligence research and real life. Consumer-facing chatbots are computer programs developed by companies to converse with their customers for any number of reasons. There are shopping assistant chatbots, financial planning chatbots, personal coach chatbots, customer service chatbots, and many other kinds of consumer-facing chatbots and 2017 seems to be their big year.Chatbots have a lot to offer businesses who invest in them. They can provide customers with 24/7 support without the high cost associated with maintaining a 24/7 support team. For businesses on the fence about chatbots, here are a few good things to know.
Two kinds of chatbots
There are essentially two different kinds of chatbots. One operates on a rules engine while the other uses machine learning and natural language processing. Rules engine chatbots are not so very different from the automated phone answering systems that have been around for years. They are programmed to recognize a number of preset commands and questions and to respond from a bank of prewritten responses. Rules engine chatbots are easier and less expensive to program but they’re also more limited in what they can offer for brands and customers. They work best in highly regulated industries where customers will mostly be using the chatbot for a limited number of functions.
More advanced chatbots use subsets of artificial intelligence such as natural language processing and machine learning. Through natural language processing, chatbots can understand more open-ended queries even if they haven’t been specifically programmed to recognize those specific queries. Through machine learning, chatbots can improve the more interactions they have with customers as they learn to recognize patterns and incorporate information gained from past failures. These are more expensive and difficult to create but they also have a lot
more to offer.
Which kind of chatbot you develop for your brand will depend on your particular circumstances and goals. Many choose to start with simpler rules engine chatbots before investing in more advanced AI chatbots.
Do they really work?
Many business owners wonder if chatbots live up to all they hype--and there has been a lot of hype surrounding chatbots. The answer is both yes and no. The artificial intelligence necessary to create a program that can really think and converse like a human simply doesn’t exist yet and there are drawbacks to using chatbots. For one, they will make more mistakes than humans. For whatever reason, the simplest questions can sometimes throw off a chatbot and can result in an inappropriate response. Furthermore, some people are just hesitant about the whole idea of conversing with chatbots in large part thanks to negative portrayals of AI in pop culture.
On the other hand, discounting chatbots because humans can differentiate between them and real humans is a lot like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Chatbots are expected to save businesses more than $8 billion this year alone and many customers will appreciate the option to avoid waiting on hold on the phone by speaking to a chatbot instead.
Why now is the time to invest
Chatbot technology is far enough along to have become affordable and practical for the average small business and the growing popularity of open-source chatbot projects and chatbot building software has made it easier than ever for businesses to design one without spending a fortune. On the other hand, it’s still new enough to be novel and innovative and give brands a head start over ones that are still stuck on the fence.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: businessnewsdaily.com/10295-chatbot-ai-customer-service.html
Tags:chatbots, ai chatbots, chatbot ai, natural language processing, machine learning
The Many Uses of Chatbots
Chatbots are one of the most underutilized pieces of technology out there. You can do so many things with them, yet few businesses are actually using them on a regular basis. By using a chatbot, you can reduce wasted time in the office and increase productivity among your employees. Let a computer do all the mundane stuff, so the humans can focus on the most complex tasks. Using chatbots can be as simple as talking to an artificial intelligence company to get set up and ready to go. In case you needed a few ideas, here are some of the many uses of chatbots.1. Personal Assistant
One of the most easily recognizable ways a chatbot can help your business is through acting as a personal assistant. Most people don’t even realize that Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are chatbots that can organize your calendar, prepare meetings, read recipes, and much more. It’s amazing how much a personal assistant can really do for your business, as it allows people to more easily schedule meetings, ask questions relevant to work, collect performance reviews, and even send information to everyone that needs it.
2. Customer Service Chat
You probably don’t even realize that most businesses that allow you to chat a representative use Chatbots for much of that conversation. Only when the conversation becomes too complex does it actually go to a live customer service agent to resolve the issue. It is the reason why most businesses are able to have 24/7 hours for customers service now. Whenever one of those little chat boxes shows up while you are browsing a web page to try and communicate with you, you can bet that’s a chatbot.
3. Meeting scheduler
It takes 17 minutes on average to schedule a meeting between sending out invitations, checking all the calendars, etc. What if a chatbot could do that for you? The chatbot could even be responsible for collecting all the data needed for each meeting and providing it to you and everyone else at the meeting. What an amazing time saver in the office!
4. Bots with specific purposes v.s. Informational
When creating a bot, you can choose one that is purely information, similar to a personal assistant that provides
you with information whenever you need it. However, you can also create bots with specific purposes in mind. It’s always better for someone to be really good at one thing instead of just being okay at everything. This same logic applies to a bot. If your goal is to make it good at everything, you may have less success in the area where you actually need it than if you focus solely on that area. For example, if you need your bot to help you prepare meals, then it would be better to focus on the ability to break down, read, and explain recipe instructions.
5. Humanize bots
The most important thing to remember when getting a chatbot ready and preparing for your business is that while chatbots are helpful because they are computers, nobody really wants to interact with a computer. If you can make the chatbot feel like part of the team, then everyone in the office can feel comfortable with it and will be more willing to use the chatbot on a regular basis.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: techwireasia.com/2017/10/chatbots-will-revolutionize-customer-service-heres-make-use/
Tags:artificial intelligence company, ai company, chatbot company, business chatbot, use chatbots
Six Steps to Creating an Effective Content Marketing Plan
It’s estimated that close to 40% of businesses who participate in content marketing don’t have any kind of content strategy. It goes without saying that content marketing efforts are more likely to be successful when there’s a strategy governing the decision making. Fortunately, creating a content marketing plan is a relatively easy task. Here are six steps.Really get to know your target audience
At the heart of any content marketing plan is your audience. You have to know who they are, and not just a rough idea. You cannot know enough about them. What motivates them? What are their media consumption habits? What are their hobbies and interests? You should also create buyer personas where you try to create in as much detail as possible, a description of your ideal customer. It may be helpful to read industry analyst reports or use analytics tools like Facebook’s Audience Insights. You should have a solid understanding of what drives them to purchase the kinds of products or services your company offers and what they expect to get out of those products or services. Which factors are most likely to impact their purchasing decision as they research those products or services? What causes them to go with a competitor’s product or service instead of yours?
Determine the channels you need to target
Now that you have a solid understanding of who you’re trying to reach with your content marketing efforts, you can take the next step and think about the channels you’ll need to use to reach that audience. If your audience is the 65 and up crowd, Facebook is going to be a better social media platform than Instagram. If your audience is millennials or Gen Z, SMS, not email is going to be the text-based channel of choice. Even more important, think about which channels they turn to to learn more about the kinds of products or services that you offer.
There are so many potential channels for publishing content and you can’t afford to target them all (and even if you could you would lessen the effectiveness of each). It’s better to carefully target a few select channels that are the most important considering your audience and work to master those.
Decide on what kinds of content to offer
With an understanding of your audience and the platforms you’re going to target, which content formats are going to be the most effective? Platforms like LinkedIn and business-oriented publications like Forbes or the Wall Street Journal are probably going to require more in-depth articles and white papers. YouTube will require a less informal approach. SMS and twitter are limited by the total number of characters so any content disseminated this way will need to be very concise.
Focus on addressing needs
It’s very important to remember than content marketing is not about self-promotion. You shouldn’t be asking them to buy from you. Instead, you should be solving a problem or addressing a need. That need might be a good laugh and a YouTube video may be the perfect solution. The problem might be a question they can’t find a satisfactory answer to and a blog article that address the question in depth is what resolves that issue for them. If your content is valuable to consumers, they’ll keep seeking it out, they’ll becoming followers, fans, and eventually customers without you having to ask.
Decide how you’ll measure effectiveness
Depending on the channels you’re using and what your specific aims are with content marketing, you’ll have to select which analytics tools you’ll rely on to measure effectiveness. If you’re not paying attention to the right performance indicators, you’ll have a hard time determining which aspects of your content strategy are working, and which aspects need to be rethought.
Create a content calendar
Consistency is key in content marketing. If you’re publishing new content very regularly, it will make it easier for followers to see you as dependable. A content calendar helps you visualize your strategy by outlining what kinds of content about which subjects will be published through which channels on which days.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: entrepreneur.com/article/298090#
Tags:content marketing, SMS marketing, micro content marketing, text message marketing, content marketing tips
Four Benefits of SMS Marketing
Immediacy
Consider this incredible statistic: 90% of all text messages are read within three minutes of being sent. That can’t be said about any other marketing channel. About 80% of emails are deleted unread, and for the 20% that are opened, less than 10% of those will be opened within an hour of being received. How about a mobile channel like push notifications from a mobile app. Less than half of people will agree to receive push notifications from the app in the first place. Of those that do receive push notifications, they ignore 90% of them.
To understand the incredible open rate and average time between message sent and message read, look no further than how text messages work. Unless recipients’ phones are on silent, there will be an audible or tactile notification that’s hard to ignore. With most phones, this notification will repeat several more times until the text message is opened. There’s no better way to send time sensitive information than through SMS.
Intimacy
There’s a great deal more trust in giving out your cell phone number than your email address. Unwanted emails are easily ignored or sent in bulk to the spam folder either by the user or by spam filters. People are a lot more selective about who they give their phone number to. It’s usually reserved for friends and family and perhaps a few professional contacts. When businesses are granted permission to send texts directly to a customer’s cell phone, it’s a big deal. All of this means two things: it’s harder to gain access to customers through this channel but there’s much to gain when you are able to gain access to it.
Loyalty
SMS marketing is a very regulated channel. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) sets forth strict guidelines for businesses sending text messages to customers. While this presents mobile marketers with a challenge, it also means that the audience for this particular channel are going to be very loyal. Every time you send out a text message to your SMS subscribers, every single recipient will have given you their phone number and permission to send them texts. And every recipient will have refrained from opting out, when all it takes is replying to a text with a single word: “stop.”
Simplicity
Crafting a text message to send out via SMS is far easier than writing and shooting a TV or radio commercial. It’s easier than designing a print ad or publishing a blog article. Text messages have a 160 character limit. It’s this simplicity that makes it so effective. A one- or two-sentence text concisely worded and complete with a direct call-to-action is all it takes to drive results. Getting started with SMS marketing is also a breeze.
It’s just a matter of choosing a bulk SMS provider, registering a shortcode for your business, and selecting the keyword that customers will need to text to opt-in. Finally, just advertise the keyword and shortcode in-store and across other channels to start building your SMS subscriber list.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: augustafreepress.com/benefits-sms-marketing-business/
Tags:SMS marketing, text message marketing, business texting, mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips
Seven Elements Every Inbound Marketing Campaign Needs
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Long gone are the days of flipping through phonebooks to find local businesses. Search engines are the new gatekeepers in the world of business and your success will directly correlate to how far up or down the search results page your business is. It should be every company’s goal to be at the very top of the search results page. One option is to target specific keywords and pay to make sure your website is listed in the sponsored search results at the very top. But the most important way is to have a solid understanding of how these search engines’ algorithms work to prioritize certain websites over others so that you can increase the odds of being at the top of the list.
Social Media presence
After search engines like Google, social media platforms are the next place people go to find local businesses. Social media is no longer just for friends and family to stay connected. It’s a great way for businesses to stay in the public eye and interact with customers on a daily basis. You need to make it easy for customers to find you across all of the relevant social media platforms.
Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing
Though PPC could be considered outbound marketing since you’re paying to place ads, it has some overlap with inbound marketing since you’re usually trying to place those ads on influencer blogs where your ideal customers are already looking for info relating to your business’s industry.
Excellent landing pages
Whether they’re clicking on a link in an email or text message, clicking on a link from an affiliate site, or finding you on Google, when they click on that link to get on your website, the landing page needs to keep them from leaving. A good landing page will be rather minimalistic usually containing just one key call to action that you need to get them started on the path to eventually purchase and become a customer.
A good content strategy
A good content strategy is at the heart of an inbound marketing campaign because it’s where you’re offering value to your potential customers and asking for nothing in return. The goal of content marketing is to take the time to produce high quality, relevant, and valuable content that people will want to seek out and see more of in the future. You want people to subscribe to your blog and newsletters, and to go to you when they want an opinion from good authority about a given subject.
Email marketing
Through email marketing, businesses can compile a database of loyal customers who have given their permission to receive regular correspondence with a business. It’s a great alternative to printed mailers and newsletters and can be a great content marketing channel and coupon distribution method.
SMS (text message) marketing
Like email marketing, text message marketing (or SMS marketing) allows businesses to build up a loyal customer base. While it’s more expensive per message than email, it’s also much more effective because of the significantly higher open and click-through rates. SMS can be used to distribute mobile coupons as well as micro content, order status updates, appointment reminders, and any time sensitive information that a business might want to communicate with their most loyal customers.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/09/13/six-key-elements-of-an-effective-inbound-marketing-strategy/#131bdc88326f
Tags:mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips, text message marketing, SMS marketing, social media marketing, content marketing
How to Create the Perfect Landing Page: Six Tips
You’ve already built a loyal fan base through an SMS campaign. You’ve got a perfectly crafted text message complete with a link to your new website and you’re ready to send it to your mobile subscribers. It’s the ideal channel for driving web traffic since SMS boasts a 36% click-through rate (roughly ten times better than the click-through rate for email). But there is still one thing you need to take care of. You need to make sure that the landing page on your website is ready for all the mobile web traffic you’ll be getting. A poorly designed landing page won’t get you the conversion rate you’re hoping for so consider the following six tips for creating the perfect landing page.Blazing fast load times
Load times have a huge impact on bounce rate (the percentage of people who leave your page without clicking on anything after they arrive there). How fast your page loads is important for all website visitors but especially your mobile ones since they have less patience than their non-mobile counterparts. Since this is an SMS campaign you’re running, everyone reaching this landing page is a mobile visitor. There are several things you can do to
keep load times as short as possible to minimize the chance of visitors giving up before the page loads.
Mobile friendly design
Mobile friendly websites aren’t just traditional websites scaled down for smaller screens. The way information is displayed and the ease of navigation have to be completely different. The cheaper option is a responsive design layout which most website building platforms already use. This allows your website to adapt according to the device being used to access it. An even better option, though, if you can afford it, is a dedicated mobile version of your site that is designed top to bottom for mobile users. Either option is better than sending mobile users to a desktop website they can’t read or navigate easily.
Make use of heatmaps
Heatmaps are an analytics tool that help you track the mouse cursor or finger on your landing page. Since website visitors’ eyes typically follow their cursor (or finger), heatmaps tell you where visitors are spending most of their time looking. We already know that website visitors’ eyes typically follow an “E” shape. They scan the title at the top of the page, then skim down the left margin until they find a line that’s interesting, which they’ll skim across, then down, then across, etc… But heatmaps can tell you more specifically if they’re looking in the place you want them to look. If there eyes aren’t finding their way to your call to action easily, it can
tell you what elements of your landing page might be distracting.
Don’t ask for too much
Your call to action, whatever it is, shouldn’t ask too much of your site visitors. The more you ask, the less likely they are to do it. Get them to do one very simple task, like, enter their birthdate or email address and leave it at that. You’ll get a much better response this way.
Use visuals wisely
Mobile users are unlikely to read huge chunks of copy on a webpage. Your page will need some kind of visual elements whether it’s an infographic, an embedded video, an image, an interactive map or slideshow, or something else. Ask yourself if you’re throwing in the visual element just to have one or if it’s something that really complements the text on the page. Your landing page needs visual elements, but they also need to contribute something beyond just checking a box.
Include one or two testimonials
The landing page is an ideal spot for testimonials even if you have a page dedicated to them elsewhere on your website. Including just one or two, especially if they’re video testimonials can sway website visitors more than just about anything else since they see other real-life people sharing their positive experience with your brand.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: business2community.com/digital-marketing/5-tips-improve-conversion-rate-landing-page-01906794#D7xjSBfcbwU25lbl.97
Tags:mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips, SMS marketing, text message marketing, mobile friendly web design
Should You Believe the Hype Surrounding Chatbots?
On the other hand, there are also many who claim chatbots are just a hot trend that will eventually go away and not worth investing in. The truth is somewhere in between these two extremes. Chatbots can benefit your business and are certainly worth looking into but you need to have an understanding of what they can and can’t do because they can only benefit your brand if you’re using them in the right ways.
Think complementary and not replacement
Chatbots can’t replace your customer service team or your secretaries because they can’t do everything that humans can do. On the other hand, there are some tasks that chatbots are better equipped to handle.
Chatbots are ideal for automating the more simple and mundane tasks that customer support staff and secretaries are usually asked to handle. Find ways to help chatbots reduce the workload of your employees rather than trying to reduce payroll by eliminating positions.
Things your chatbot can do
The best chatbots are ones that are programmed to handle a predetermined set of very specific tasks. This allows you to better focus on programming a chatbot that can effectively handle those tasks. First time chatbot developers that try to do too much with their chatbots end up with a chatbot that is easily confused and very unhelpful. Leave the advanced AI bot development to tech giants and let your chatbot stick to handling simple tasks. Examples include:
- answering simple questions. Reach out to your customer support team to find out which questions they’re always being asked then use some simple natural language processing to program a chatbot to recognize when these questions are being asked and program them to respond with the appropriate answers to these questions.
- Routing customers to the right people. If your customer support team consists of different specialties a chatbot can reduce the number of transfers that customers have to go to to get to the person who can best help them. By asking questions to understand the nature of a customer’s problem, chatbots can more accurately connect customers to the right people in your company.
- Admit failure. This last one is important, a good chatbot should be able to recognize when it’s usefulness has come to an end. There will be customer interactions with your bot that aren’t successfully resolved. Your chatbot needs to be able to recognize that point in the conversation and have a way out otherwise it will get stuck in an endless loop of unhelpfulness that will only frustrate the customer.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/feature/AI-chatbots-can-provide-business-value-when-used-wisely
Tags:chatbots, customer service chatbots, ai chatbots, chatbot ai, mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips
4 Customer Service Tips to Learn from Elon Musk
Elon Musk, CEO at Tesla, has spent the better part of his weekend showing customers that they are important to him and the Tesla brand. When customers tweeted him asking questions about their electric vehicles, he took it upon himself to reply to them individually showing them that they are important and worth Musk’s time. What can we learn from this? Here are 4 customer service tips you can learn from Elon Musk this weekend.
1. No customer is too small
No matter who you are or how important you appear to be on paper, Tesla wants to make sure you are being taken care of. Anyone can tweet asking a question about their vehicle and will get an answer. One man asked Musk about adding the ability to program their vehicle to specific preferences, to which Musk responded that they would add a patch and roll out that specific feature as soon as possible.
As a business, you need to ensure your customer are feeling important too. By social media interactions such as this one and even everyday business texting interactions, you can show that every customer is important and you care about their needs.
2. Customers should feel part of the conversation
When a customer reached out via Twitter to Elon Musk asking about better ways to switch the driver preference, Musk quickly responded that every vehicle should adjust the preferences based on whoever is standing closest to the driver’s door. An interesting concept for sure and one that will likely be considered in future Tesla models. Customers are able to feel a part of the conversation and like their voice is being heard when the CEO of the company validates their idea like that.
While most CEOs don’t have time to spend tweeting all their customers, there are many ways you can get yours more involved in the conversation and allow them the ability to feel like they are a part of the company. A person who is more invested in the business will feel a sense of loyalty.
3. Validate customer concerns
When a customer told Elon Musk he messed up with the headrests and that an automatic adjustment should be a basic feature, Musk simply agreed that it was “a foolish oversight.” Rather than defend the company or try and argue against the customer, Musk made sure the customer felt as if they were validated and they were right in their opinions. Your business shouldn’t be as worried about pride as much as making sure the customer's opinions are validated. It’s too easy for things to spin out of control, especially with social media and the Internet. So take time to listen to your customers and validate what they have to say.
4. Bring the CEOs off their pedestals
It is hard to find a CEO that is so laid back and interested in his or her customers that they are willing to chill with their customers. But the truth is that a relatable CEO is going to be extremely valuable to keeping both customers and employees happy. In fact, one way to really make your business relatable to the everyday person and boost your customer service experience is to make sure all employees are relatable to their customers. Don’t ever think you are too good for someone you are working with or you might get a little Pretty Woman action thrown in your face.
Tesla Customer Service Shows
Consumer Reports has given Tesla a Best In Class rating for customer satisfaction, which means you can tell that the client base is happy with not only the product but the way they are being treated by the employees at the business. Simple tips like these can help you improve the way you interact with customers just like Elon Musk.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: thenextweb.com/distract/2017/08/22/elon-musk-taps-his-inner-customer-service-rep-on-twitter/#.tnw_PelLKYu3
Tags:business texting, customer service texting, customer service tips, elon musk customer service, tesla customer service
Five Digital Marketing Mistakes a Surprising Number of Companies are Still Making
In today’s fast-paced, high-tech world, it’s a wonder that there are any companies left who don’t really understand digital marketing. The truth is they won’t be around much longer. The last hold-outs are usually industries with an older target demographic who haven’t embraced digital channels. But with each year, that older generation is growing more tech savvy and soon, even these industries won’t last without a good digital marketing strategy. Here are five
mistakes that many companies are still making in regards to digital marketing.
No digital marketing
Okay, so the obvious mistake is not doing digital marketing at all. These companies are relying on billboards and print ads and mailers to drive sales and stay in contact with customers. Here’s why that’s a problem. More than half of all transactions are done beginning to end online with zero vendor interaction. The average transaction will look something like this: customer realizes a need for product, customer opens up a browser and runs a search for that product, customer finds it at a good price and reads some reviews, the customer finally enters credit card data and shipping address and completes transaction. No talking on the phone, no visiting a store or talking to a salesperson. This is the new buyer’s journey and brands that don’t understand it and can’t adapt are losing out on a lot of business.
No social media
At the very least, your business needs a Facebook page and perhaps some other social media profiles depending on your target audience. You can bet your customers are on social media even if you’re not and they will do a lot of the work for you by liking, commenting on, and sharing the content you post there.
No SMS
Short message service, (SMS, or texting as it’s more commonly known) should be the foundation for any mobile strategy since it’s one of the least expensive and most effective. Your customers’ preferred method of communication is texting so come to them instead of trying to make them come to you.
No mobile-friendly web design
Since more than half of all web traffic originates from mobile devices, more than half of all potential customers will find your website on a smartphone or tablet. If the website is displaying as it would on a desktop, they’ll barely be able to read anything and will probably give up in frustration long before they can find what they came looking for.
Too much self-promotion
Strategies that work on other channels can’t just be brought over to mobile since mobile consumers behave differently and typically have less patience. The messages you’re sending can’t always be gratuitous self-promotion. If every text or social media post or blog article is an attempt to push products on customers, they’ll tire of it quickly. Use digital marketing channels to build rapport and interact, not just make sales.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: commercialintegrator.com/blogs/10-digital-marketing-mistakes-every-integrator-makes/
Tags:mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips, sms marketing, text message marketing, business texting
A Closer Look at the Evolution of Chatbots
ELIZA: The first chatbot
The first computer program that could be termed a chatbot was ELIZA. ELIZA was created by MIT professor, Joseph Weizenbaum to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between man and machine. Ironically, ELIZA ended up demonstrating the exact opposite. Though ELIZA was fed scripts in order to “learn” how to form intelligent responses to statements or questions, ELIZA was not communicating from actual intelligence. Despite Weizenbaum’s insistence that ELIZA was not intelligent, the people who spoke with the computer program came to believe it was and often attributed emotions to the program.
Mobile digital assistants
Today’s mobile digital assistants like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa are simply advanced versions of ELIZA. Like ELIZA, these digital assistants can simulate human intelligence and can even come across as having personality and emotions but they are only selecting set responses drawn from information stored online or within mobile applications. They are also programmed to give a number of humorous responses to questions that their developers predicted they would be asked by curious users. Like ELIZA, they are not truly intelligent.
Task-specific bots
We are now living in a time when the popularity of chatbots is exploding. The majority of chatbots being deployed across messaging platforms today are more advanced in some ways, and less advanced in others as compared to earlier chatbots. Today’s chatbots are more specialized to do a specific task such as booking travel, making dinner reservations, ordering pizza, or managing a person’s calendar.
Chatbots as digital friends
As artificial intelligence researchers discover the secrets of machine learning, natural language processing, and machine learning, they will be able to create more incredible chatbots that are capable of learning and developing intelligence. These chatbots of the future may be capable of building rapport with humans even forming emotional bonds. Businesses that can develop and use such tools will have a huge step up when it comes
to customer service and all other business-customer interactions.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: entrepreneur.com/article/293439
Tags:chatbots, AI chatbots, chatbot AI, customer service chatbots, mobile marketing
Three Ways To Build Your Brand With Mobile
In 2016, smartphone’s market penetration finally surpassed 80%. That means more than 80% of mobile phone users are using a smartphone as opposed to a more traditional mobile phone. Gone are the days where talking on the phone was the primary use of phones. The vast majority of time spent on smartphones is spent within applications.
In fact, Americans now spend more time using mobile apps than watching television--more than five hours a day on average. Mobile social media use, TV/entertainment, mobile gaming, and texting all surpass talking on the phone as well. Because of this trend, businesses are starting to put more and more of their marketing budget into mobile and that trend is continuing into 2017. If you’re not focusing on mobile yet, you need to be. Here are three ways you can build your brand through mobile.
Create a mobile app (maybe)
It’s already been established that mobile apps dominate mobile phone usage. Developing a mobile app can be a great way to establish your brand on mobile. But you shouldn’t do it just to do it. The majority of apps are downloaded and used once or twice, then never again. Experience has shown that the apps that stick around and that people continue to use after downloading are the ones that offer real utility. Don’t spend valuable marketing budget money developing a gimmicky app that offers no real value to your customers. So while a mobile app can be a great way to build your brand on mobile, it’s not essential and there are a number of other ways that are probably more cost effective.
Get seen in existing apps
Whether or not you want to develop your own app for your business, you can still capitalize on all the time people are spending in mobile apps. Though Facebook and Youtube aren’t exclusively mobile platforms, they are increasingly being accessed via mobile device more than desktops or laptops. Creating and maintaining an effective Facebook page and Youtube channel where you’re regularly posting and sharing content are going to help establish mobile presence since those platforms are so inseparably connected to mobile. Things like infographics, short videos, and live streaming will get you noticed.
Use SMS
Short message service (SMS), or texting as it’s more commonly known is a great introduction into the world of mobile marketing because it’s one of the least expensive forms of mobile marketing and it’s also easier than developing a mobile app or managing a Facebook page or Youtube channel. Through a bulk SMS marketing service, you can automate the process of obtaining permissions and managing a database of numbers. You can craft your message and then set a time for it to go out and then stop worrying about it. Best of all SMS, is something that works on regular cell phones in addition to smartphones.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: huffingtonpost.com/entry/3-mobile-branding-tips-for-your-business-to-consider_us_59569dc6e4b0c85b96c66174
Tags:mobile marketing, mobile marketing tips, mobile marketing strategy, SMS marketing, text message marketing
Five Ways Restaurant Owners can Use SMS to Grow Their Business
Opening a restaurant is one of the most popular and challenging forms of entrepreneurship. In fact, it’s popularity is one of the reasons it’s so challenging. Restaurant ownership is a crowded marketplace and it can sometimes seem impossible to stand out when there are already so many restaurants offering every kind of cuisine you can imagine. Developing brand identity and finding something unique to offer is critical if you want your restaurant to thrive. Another good strategy to keeping your restaurant successful is to take advantage of the SMS marketing channel. Here are five ways a restaurant can do this.
Send special offers
Probably the most popular use for SMS marketing is sending mobile coupons or other deals to customers. This can be a great way to get more people through the doors during slower times if you do it right. The offer needs to be good enough to incentivize but not so good it will put you out of business if everyone comes to redeem it either.
Send reservation reminders
Missed reservations can really hurt your restaurant’s bottom line. Since 98% of text messages are opened (and 90% of those within minutes of being received) there’s no better way to send a reservation reminder that the recipient is going to see. Best of all, these SMS reservation reminders enable recipients to add the reservation to their calendar app by clicking on the date and time included in your text. This way they can get reminded again by their phone when the time of their reservation is near.
Create an SMS loyalty program
Just as punch-cards reward frequent customers with every ten visits, an SMS loyalty program can reward your frequent customers with exclusive offers that no one else can get. Make sure that at least a portion of the text messages you’re sending are exclusive to those who’ve opted in to receive your texts. If anyone can get the deal regardless of whether they’ve opted-in, then there’s less incentive to do so.
Make table reservations easy
Text messaging is the preferred method of communication for younger generations who are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with calling up a place of business, including your restaurant. You can deploy a chatbot via SMS that allows customers to make a table reservation by simply sending a text to your chatbot. The easier you make it for customers to make a reservation, the more reservations you’ll get.
Gather feedback
Many receipts nowadays have instructions for going to a website to offer feedback in return for some deal during a future visit. These tend to be ineffective because it involves too much work for the customer. A better way is to send a text (if they’ve opted in) a day or so after their visit to your restaurant asking them to participate in a very short survey (three or four questions tops). Since you initiate the survey and they know up front it’s short and they get something in return, you’re going to get more feedback which you can then use to improve your restaurant.
Mobile Technology News brought to you by biztexter.com
Source: modernrestaurantmanagement.com/how-restaurants-can-benefit-from-sms/
Tags:SMS marketing, text message marketing, business texting, SMS marketing tips, text message marketing tips