If building a referral program sounds very complicated, particularly if you’re not a web developer and have no talent for online marketing, maybe this post will be helpful. Fortunately, there are a number of tools that already exist on the market for taking the complicated and making it intuitive:
GetAmbassador.com – One of the most popular and well-reviewed tools for referral programs online, Ambassador makes enrolling, tracking, and rewarding all easy to manage from a single, simple dashboard. You’ll particularly like the intuitive analytics that show you exactly where you’re having the most success.
Referral Rock – Here you can create, track, and expand upon referral programs to boost word-of-mouth sales. There are plenty of options here, including creating referral rewards, customizing the “friend offer,” and links to help you share information about your referral program on social media.
WishPond.com – If you’re looking for more social media engagement, WishPond helps you create landing pages, contests, promotions, and automation for leading platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Extole.com – Easy, simple, and intuitive—the exact kind of program you want if your focus is to make the process as navigable for your customer as possible.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/how-to-build-a-referral-program.png4811024Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-04-06 23:06:482017-10-07 12:32:10How to Build a Referral Program – Part 3 – Tools to Make a Referral Program a Reality
Happy World Backup Day! This is probably not your favorite made up holiday, but it is still an important one. How’s your backup system? Would you know what to do if your computer croaked right now?
Remember also that your backups are only as good as your ability to restore your data from them, so today is a fine day to test your backups as well.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/happy-world-backup-day.jpg11251500Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-31 19:56:572017-10-20 14:10:59Happy World Back-up Day
I was reading a post by Steve Gibson about recent attempts to hack Apple’s iMessage (apparently successful), when I spotted the acronym TL;DR. While the Security Now podcast and Steve Gibson’s site makes for some very high quality reading, I thought a short post about technology acronyms might be useful. If you know what tl;dr means, just go ahead and skip this post.
TL;DR: Too long; didn’t read
What It Means: Said whenever a nerd makes a post that is too long to bother reading.
“The TL;DR of the research study is….”
AMA: Ask Me Anything
What It Means: Ask Me Anything is a series started on Reddit, where an authority on a subject fields open questions. It is now used more widely on the Internet, with any sort of public Q&A being termed an AMA.
Bae: Babe / Before Anyone Else
What It Means: Urban Dictionary says Bae is a Danish word for poop. Unfortunately, the Internet thinks it’s a term of endearment: either an acronym for “before anyone else” or a shortening of “babe”. Soon enough, pop stars Pharrell and Miley Cyrus turned it into a song, “Come get it, bae.” Sorry Danes, this is what the word means, now and forever. The good news is that most of the Internet also treats it as a term of mockery in memes and captions for images, so you can feel free to use it to be sassy. If you’re interested, Esquire has a detailed piece on the rise of bae.
DAE: Does Anyone Else?
What It Means: DAE is generally a prefix for a question, where the person asking wants to know if they are not alone in whatever they are experiencing. It’s huge on Reddit, niche forums, and discussion groups, but is not used as regularly elsewhere on the Internet.
DM: Direct Message
What It Means: Twitter’s Direct Message feature lets you send private messages to your friends, or receive private messages from anyone. It’s especially useful for sharing information you don’t want to post in public, like your phone number or address. “DM” is slowly becoming the default way of telling someone to message you privately, much like “PM” in the past for personal message/private message.
ELI5: Explain Like I’m 5
What It Means: When someone gives a complex explanation for an event and you need them to dumb it down for you, ask them to “explain it like I’m 5 years old”, or ELI5. Most often, it’s used to explain science or technology in layman’s terms. Big on Reddit and discussion forums, not so big on other forms.
FTFY: Fixed That For You
What It Means: This particular phrase is used in two ways. The first is literal, where if you say something that has an obvious unintentional mistake, another person on the Internet corrects it for you, adding, “FTFY.” The other way is sarcastic.
Facepalm: Short for “Ugh, idiot.”
What It Means: When someone does something stupid, instinctively, your palm hits your own face or forehead. That entire series of action is now reduced to a single word: facepalm. It can be used to convey dismay, disappointment, ridicule, or disapproval.
Headdesk: Supreme frustration
What It Means: Headdesk is the extreme facepalm. When someone says or does something monumentally idiotic, you hit your head on the desk to convey your utter loss of faith in humanity. As you flail for hope, take solace in the knowledge that at least you can express your feelings in one succinct word.
HIFW: How I Felt When
What It Means: This is another acronym that reduces the number of characters you type, giving you more space to say what you want in the 140-character limitation of Twitter. Typically, HIFW is paired with an image, video, or a hilarious reaction GIF when words aren’t enough.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
What It Means: One of the few times the Internet tries to be polite, ICYMI is just a precaution when you aren’t sure if other people already know about something, or when you are repeating something you have said before. It’s a way of saying, “You might have already seen this, but if not, here you go.”
IRL: In Real Life
What It Means: The Internet is the virtual life. People often have a whole second persona online, or keep their real life neatly separated from their online life. If you want to talk about something in your real life, the qualifier “IRL” is enough to let people know. Just remember, the Internet can aid in real-life interactions.
JSYK: Just So You Know
What It Means: FYI, if you still use “FYI” to be sassy when schooling someone, you’re old. JSYK is the new FYI, so get with it. End of.
NSFW: Not Safe For Work
What It Means: If you’re at the office, you don’t want to open a link that has nudity, graphic language, or anything offensive. If the link says “NSFW”, then it’s not safe to open in an environment where someone might see it and be offended.
TBT: Throwback Thursday
What It Means: When you want to post an old photo, hold off till Thursday and tag it with #ThrowbackThursday or #TBT. It’s a sure-fire way to get more likes and comments on Instagram. While TBT is used more on Instagram than anywhere else, it has become a central part of the Internet’s lexicon and is used everywhere.
YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary
What It Means: In a similar situation or with a product, your experience might not be the same as someone else’s experience. The Internet has decided to make it easy to say that with “YMMV”.
YOLO: You Only Live Once
What It Means: YOLO is a justification for doing something that you probably shouldn’t be doing, but want to do it anyway. It’s also used ironically as commentary on someone else doing something idiotic.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/tldr.jpg11251500Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-31 19:51:452016-10-04 14:39:40Technology Acronyms – If You Know What tl;dr means, just skip this post.
5 tips to use Calls To Action (CTAs) effectively in your email marketing
Here are five tips to use Calls To Action (CTAs) effectively in your next email campaign.
1. Number of calls to action
How many calls to action should you have in one email? It might seem like more CTAs give subscribers more options, which means increased engagement with your brand. But that’s not always how it works.
If your email has too many calls to action, subscribers can get overwhelmed. Make the choice simple by providing one call to action and if you must have more than that, give your secondary CTA a different weight by making it a different color or placement.
2. Calls to action placement
Where’s the best place to put a call to action? There’s a lot of debate on this one. Some email marketing experts say your call to action should be “above the fold,” which means subscribers should see the call to action without scrolling down. Others say placing the call to action at the bottom of an email makes the most sense.
They’re both right. To figure out which one is right for your email, use common sense. If a subscriber can quickly understand the purpose of your email, placing a call to action above the fold makes sense. However, if your offer requires some explanation, put the call to action at the end of the email.
In the example below from Birchbox, the call to action is placed at the end of the email because the offer requires some explanation:
3. Call to action design
Your call to action should stand out. That means you should make a few design decisions that encourage subscribers to click. Here’s a list to consider:
Create a button
You can still include hyperlinked text in your message, but don’t use it as the sole call to action. Create a call to action button. Using a button rather than a hyperlink can increase conversion rates by as much as 28%.
Pick a unique color
Make the email call to action a color that’s not used, or rarely used, in your email so it stands out. Take a look at the email from De Beers. Notice the light blue color used for the call to action.
Size matters
Make sure the button looks right size-wise in your email. Preview your email after it’s designed to make sure the call to action fits with your overall presentation.
Use white space to your advantage
Don’t feel the need to clutter the area around your call to action, leaving white space near it draws the eye. Take a look at the white space around the “Register Now” call to action used in an email by SXSW:
4. Call to action copy
Don’t underestimate the importance of word choice in your call to action. The words in your call to action provide the necessary direction for subscribers to follow through with an action. Use these tips to get your wording right:
Use action-inducing words
You want subscribers to act fast, so make sure your word choice reflects that. Use action words like “shop,” “book,” and “order.” Tack on an urgent word to encourage instant action like “now” or “today.” Consult this great list of 80+ marketing words for more choices to use in your email marketing campaigns.
Keep it short
Your call to action should be short and to the point. Notice that most of the call to actions in our master list above are about 2-4 words long. That’s what you should aim for.
Be relatable
More and more calls to action contain “I” or “me” in the copy. You’ll notice several examples in our list like, “Yes! I want a free upgrade” or “Count me in!” Using language like this makes a call to action more relatable and encourages subscribers to click.
5. Test your CTA
A small change in your call to action can make a big difference. You might not expect higher click-through rates as a result of moving your call to action above the fold, or changing the color, but it happens all the time. That’s why testing is important.
You can test every aspect of your call to action. From placement to copy, you can test various aspects and let your audience’s response decide what’s best.
Of course, you only want to test one thing at a time or you won’t know which change makes a difference. For example, if you want to test call to action copy, one group of subscribers gets an email with “Shop Now” as the call to action copy and the other group gets an email with “Shop our Spring Collection” as the call to action copy. The test focuses on one thing: the text. Use the data to make the best choice.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/call-to-action.jpg16001200Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-31 19:27:112017-10-13 17:31:18How to use Calls to Actions Effectively in Email Marketing
When you create an email marketing campaign, the most important components are the calls to action or CTA. Calls to action grab a subscriber’s attention and encourage him or her to act.
For this action-packed post, we’ve curated calls to action, broken out by category to help you use calls to action effectively in your email marketing campaigns.
Calls to Action That Get Clicked
Calls To Action that encourage a purchase
Shop now
Shop our fall collection
Shop now. Get 50% off.
Shop our best sellers
Act now
Save today
Buy now
Buy now. Pay later.
Buy it today
Yes! I want one.
Order now
Repeat your order
Claim your coupon
Reveal my mystery coupon
Start saving today
Don’t delay. Save now.
See your hand-selected deals
Get 50% off now
Shop for the clothes you want
Get the style you want
Get your winter wardrobe
Get free shipping
Free gift with purchase
Calls To Action for content
Learn more
Read more
Curious? Read on
Download the eBook
Download now
Keep reading
Read the full story
Get the app
Calls To Action for video
Watch now
See the crazy video
Hear from our CEO
Hear her story
See the difference you make
Calls To Action for events
Reserve your seat
Register now
Book your tickets
I’m coming!
I’ll be there!
Count me in!
Book now for early bird prices
Sign me up
Save me a spot
Register for our webinar
Calls To Action for service-based businesses
Book your next appointment
Start your free trial
Upgrade now
Yes! I want a free upgrade.
Make me a VIP
Sign up and save
Calls To Action that focus on results
Find out how
Start today
See how your business benefits
Get results now
Start now. Get results.
I’m ready to see a change
Calls To Action that collect feedback
Complete our 5-minute survey
Take a survey
Leave a review
Give us your feedback
Let us know how we did
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/email.jpg11251500Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-31 19:19:572017-10-23 19:34:53Calls to action to use in your email marketing campaigns
Free images for blogs are important as the owners don’t usually make a lot of income form their sites. However free images are also needed by marketers working for businesses to lower production costs.
It is common knowledge that the restaurant industry is extremely competitive. Although food is in constant demand, many cities are over-saturated with restaurants and – as a result – there are more tables than customers. Consequently, many restaurants suffer losses and many go out of business within a few months. To succeed, restaurant owners have to serve the best food with the best service and also constantly spread the word about how great they are. Marketing is crucial to their success. In this digital era, business owners are doing their marketing online since it is fast, interactive, and cost-effective. If you’re a restaurateur and you want to be a step ahead of your competition, you need a checklist of internet marketing tips to attract more customers and keep your business flourishing.
1. Build a website for your restaurant business.
A beautiful, mobile responsive, and user-friendly website will help you showcase your irresistible menu, amazing place, and great service online. It will also serve as your restaurant’s main presence online where your customers can find you, contact you, make reservations, and get interesting content related to food and dining that they can share with their friends on the Internet or social media.
Having a website will also let you register your own domain name, and create customized emails to establish, protect, and promote your brand online.
2. Blog about your amazing restaurant.
Spread the great news about your restaurant—its food, place, price, people, and customers—through blogging. If you’re using WordPress to power your website, you can also make a blog within it. Blogging can give your restaurant business a boost because it helps you:
Share the wonderful stories, images, info graphics, videos and other content about your restaurant.
Increase your brand’s visibility on search engines by creating and publishing more blog posts or content that search engines love to index.
Enhance your brand’s virility on social networks by creating shareable blog posts or content that people can share on their social media channels.
Establish yourself and your staff as experts in the restaurant industry by writing and blogging expert tips, guides, advice, and articles related to food and dining.
Inspire your blog’s readers and be a thought leader who can influence the world.
3. Get your content ready.
Content is king when it comes to internet marketing. Start creating and collecting awesome content to share with your target customers.
Interesting articles and stories about your restaurant, food, staff, and featured customers.
Useful guides, tips, and advice related to food, dining, wines, coffee, and other things that will help your existing and future customers.
Captivating photos of your restaurant, food, and the amazing people behind it.
Interesting videos to highlight the great experience your restaurant offers to customers.
4. Build a Facebook business page.
Creating a Facebook business page is free. To ensure that your customers will find your place, create a local business page so that your map location will be easily searched by potential customers. A Facebook Page is your gateway to Facebook marketing and promoting your restaurant in the largest social network on the planet.
If your restaurant doesn’t have a Facebook Page yet, create now with the following simple steps:
Create a personal Facebook account
Go to Facebook.com/pages/create
Click to choose a Page category
Select a more specific category from the dropdown menu and fill out the required information
Click Get Started and follow the on-screen instructions
After creating a Facebook Page, you can already:
Upload a logo and an appetizing cover photo to attract food lovers.
Complete your about page, description, location, and contact address.
Post interesting photos, videos, links, and other content to increase engagement (likes, shares, and comments).
People love to take selfies everywhere and instantly share them with their friends and even with the world. Instagram makes it possible for everyone to take pictures and instantly upload to social media using smartphones and Internet. If your restaurant, coffee shop, or bar doesn’t have an Instagram Page, you’re missing a lot of opportunities to promote your brand to potential customers.
6. Use Pinterest to promote your brand.
Mouth-watering food photos are best utilized in marketing using Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media network based mostly on images. It also gives people the ability to pin richer media like infographics and videos. The image-based social network can also pin or publish photos and videos from your website and blog to generate more traffic and attract more customers.
7. Create a Google Account.
Google has a lot of products that are very useful for marketers. YouTube, Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, AdWords, Google Drive, you name it. By creating a single Google account, you will have the power to create a Google Plus Page, YouTube Channel, Google Analytics account, Google Webmaster’s Tool account, and Google AdWords account among others. It also lets you verify the address and location of your restaurant on Google Maps/Places and claim your brand’s unique URL or username.
Furthermore, YouTube can’t be ignored by business owners and marketers. It has already transformed ordinary people into stars. Hence, if you want your business to be the next YouTube sensation, create a YouTube Channel for your restaurant and share amazing videos about your place, food, people, and their great experiences. You can also upload videos showing testimonials from your delighted customers.
8. Boost your brand using Twitter.
Twitter is the social platform for people who want to know what’s happening in the world or in a specific location right now. The microblogging platform has already evolved from letting its users tweet 140-character text messages to sharing images, videos, and other rich media using Twitter Cards. Twitter is also a mobile platform, thus, giving everyone with a smartphone the power to instantly share their stories with the world, which may include their experiences, photos, and videos with their favorite food and restaurants.
With Twitter, you can share delightful photos of your products to attract customers. You can also use hashtags to encourage a trend and tweet links to drive more traffic to your website or blog. Twitter also lets you promote your tweets through Twitter Ads to geographically targeted audience to reach your target customers and increase sales.
9. List your restaurant on local business directories.
To increase your brand’s visibility on the Internet, claim your business listing on popular online directories, such as Google Places, Bing Places, Yahoo Local Listing, Yelp, Foursquare, YellowPages.com, Local.com, TripAdvisor.com or the top directories in your own country. Claiming your business listing gives you the ability to update your listing with the right information, so that your potential customers will find it easily and smoothly. It also increases your restaurant’s search engine visibility and ranking since Google usually shows search results from high-authority local directories.
10. Improve your conversion by maximizing calls-to action.
Visitors may come to your website, blog, and social media pages. If you’re not guiding them what to do next, you might be losing income opportunities. Increase your sales by improving your call-to actions. For instance, on your Facebook Page, utilize Facebook’s menu features for Local Businesses and Restaurant/Café. To add a menu to your Page, simply do the following simple steps:
11. Invite food bloggers – Get people to help spread the word.
Bloggers are online influencers and could help spread great news about your restaurant. Their blog posts rule the search engines, social media, and even the mobile world. If you own a restaurant, bar, or café, connect and make friends with influential bloggers in the travel, food, and lifestyle niches. Invite them to come to your place, experience your food and service, and blog about them. Travel bloggers usually own a DSLR camera for taking beautiful photos about their experiences. Hence, prepare to charm their audience with your delightful dishes.
12. Invest in targeted paid ads.
If you can spend money on traditional advertising such as TV commercials, radio advertising, and print ads, invest in paid digital marketing. Paid online advertising services include Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, Instagram Ads and sponsored posts on food and travel blogs. Running online ads like Facebook Ads is a must for restaurant and café owners to increase brand awareness and reach more target customers.
Facebook Ads lets you choose various objectives for your campaign, such as sending people to your website, promoting your Page to get more fans, and boosting your posts to get more engagements.
13. Run contests to reward your customers.
Gamification rewards your existing and future customers, and encourage them to be loyal to your business. You can run contests on Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms as they are easier to manage. For example, you can start a “selfie with your favorite dish” contest to convince your customers to publish their photos and moments with your restaurant on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Here’s a guide from Social Media Examiner about running an Instagram contest in four easy steps.
14. Timing your online marketing campaign.
Timing is key in every successful marketing campaign. When it comes to enticing people with foods or beverages, it’s common sense to do it when they’re hungry or thirsty. So what’s the best time to display your restaurant’s mouth-watering pictures, videos, posts, and ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other media? It depends on what you serve (breakfast, lunch, snacks or dinner), who your target customers are, and where they are. The best time to post on social media could be different for each type of industry, thus, I advise that you create experiments to determine the perfect time for your business.
You can use Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your social media posts.
15. Send email newsletter and greetings.
Make your customers feel special by sending them email greetings on their birthday. This is a simple way to remind your customers that you remember their big day. To get the emails of your customers, you can do it online by asking them to sign-up for a free membership at your website while requesting them to fill up their information like their name, email, and birthday. You can also ask them right at your restaurant or café. Of course, give some valuable rewards so they can be encouraged to sign-up with your website or fill up a customer information form at your place. Furthermore, don’t forget to respect their privacy.
16. Manage your online reputation.
Give your restaurant or café a likable brand or identity online and off. Prevent bad mentions about your business by establishing and implementing quality control policies. Detect search and social mentions about your brand using tools, like Google Alerts and Social Mention. Respond to your brand’s criticisms in a humble, polite, and proactive way. Maintain your good online reputation by rewarding your loyal customers and continuing to train your staff. For more ORM tips, read our 22 tips to managing your brand’s online reputation.
17. Know your competition.
Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, said the following:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
In other words, you have to understand both your competitors and your own business.
Identifying your competitors online can be done by simply using Google search engine and Facebook search graph.
Google will show the restaurants in your area that are getting first page ranking in its search results.
The top results in Google when I search for restaurants in my city:
(Google’s first page when searching restaurants in Washington, D.C.)
You may also use Yelp to identify competitors.
The top results displayed by Yelp when I search for the restaurants in my city:
After identifying your competitors, you can observe and audit their websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Instagram pages, and other social pages, as well as how they interact with people and customers. For more comprehensive and advanced discussion on how to use competitive auditing and outsmart your competitors, read this article by Neil Patel.
Final thoughts
In this digital era, owners, managers and marketers of restaurants, bars and cafés should harness the power of digital marketing to build up their brands, earn loyal customers, win their competition, and make their business more profitable and sustainable. But before unleashing your digital marketing strategies and tactics, remember that your online marketing success will greatly depend on your actual products and services – and how you really make your customers happy when they visit your place.
No matter how good your online marketing campaigns are, if your customers are not satisfied with your food, place, people and services, your business will hardly meet success. Therefore, to have a holistic and long-lasting online marketing success, do your best to give your customers the greatest experience.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/internet-marketing-tips-for-restaurant-owners.png8241024Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-31 18:57:522017-10-23 16:13:51Internet Marketing Tips For Restaurant Owners
In the first post – How to Build a Referral Program – Part 1 – I discussed the reasons why you should create a referral program and described what you should and shouldn’t do to be successful. In this post, I am going to give you a few examples of online referral programs.
Examples of Great Online Referral Programs
Dropbox – Dropbox built their empire out of their referral program. Dropbox gives you and your friends an extra 500MB of storage space for each referral, up to 16GB.
This is a legendary referral program: Dropbox’s refer-a-friend feature permanently increased signups by 60%, with users sending 2.8 million direct referral invites by April 2010.
Why Dropbox’s referral program was so effective:
Prior to the referral program, Dropbox was using SEM (search engine marketing) and affiliate marketing, with a CPA (cost per acquisition) of $288-$388!
But the math didn’t work; their product was $99/year.
Inspired by PayPal, they added a double-sided referral program, where both referrer and their friend get rewarded
The referral rewards were extra storage space, something that was key to usage and enjoyment of their product
PayPal’s Referral Program literally gave users (and their friends) cash.
This program ended in 2003, but referrals helped PayPal achieve 7 to 10% daily growth, catapulting their user base to over 100 million members.
According to David Sacks, original COO of Paypal, Paypal used to literally pay people to invite their friends.
It turned out to yield better marketing ROI than traditional marketing channels.
Airbnb will give you $100 for every friend you invite.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/how-to-build-a-referral-program4.png460375Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-18 14:30:322017-10-19 19:34:51How to Build a Referral Program – Part 2
Many of us get most of our business referrals through word-of-mouth advertising. But what we usually miss is the idea that word-of-mouth advertising isn’t something that always has to happen completely organically. With a little strategy, you can encourage customers and clients to spread the good word about your business.
If you create a successful referral program, you can track brand advocates, incentivize happy customers to promote your product, and increase customer acquisition and retention.
But how do you do this? How do you take an idea like “word of mouth” and turn it into a successful, manageable program that includes dashboards, analytics, and results? This post, will explore how and why you should build a referral program for your business.
What are the specific benefits of a referral program?
The leads you acquire will trust you more.
The leads you acquire are more likely to hire you.
The leads you acquire are more likely to remain loyal customers.
Loyal customers are more likely to refer you to new leads.
How to Set Up a Referral Program for your Business
The first step in setting up a referral program is to decide on your offer. Referral programs are all about rewarding (giving) in exchange for referrals. You have to come up with an offer that works with your brand. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What are they looking for? What kind of incentive will actually motivate them to show off your product to a friend or confidant? Some businesses create contests, while others simply announce that if customers refer a friend, they get a flat payment.
Create a System That Puts Your Customer In Charge
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my business it’s this – never make things difficult for your customers. Or at the very least – always try your best to make things easy for your customers. That’s also true for referrals. Your goal is to make the process of referring new customers and earning their rewards as easy as possible.
For now, focus on these two concepts to put your customers in charge:
Social Sharing: You want to make sure your referral program is shareable. If you’ve created a substantial incentive for your customers, you’ll give them reason to spread the word. Make sure that your referral tool makes it easy for them to share. Stitch Fix makes it easy for customers to refer their friends by including a social sharing widget right in the dashboard.
Seamless Integration: Don’t make your customer jump through hoops. Even your most loyal customers won’t want to participate if they sign up for your referral program and then find out there are three more steps they have to complete before collecting their referral reward.
Promote Your Program
Unfortunately life and business isn’t really like the movie Field of Dreams. You have to do more than just create a referral program. Like the product itself, you have to get the word out before you can expect anyone to participate. One of the most common ways to do this is through triggered or time-based email campaigns. A few days after someone makes a purchase, you can encourage them to share a referral link to give them and a friend further discounts.
The tools recommended in the next post on referral marketing will feature some ways to do this, including creating contests through social media, posting directly to social media, or creating emails so you can announce to your list that the referral program is in place.
Make sure to integrate your referral program with new purchases of your product or service. I recommend including a mention of the referral program on your post-purchase confirmation page. This is an ideal time to capture your customer when they’re feeling good about their purchase and want to spread the word.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/how-to-build-a-referral-program2.png231600Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-18 14:00:392017-10-07 12:32:30How to Build a Referral Program – Part 1
It’s no secret that cyber attacks are becoming more increasingly sophisticated, stealthy, and, as a result, commonplace. We have seen high profile security breaches at Target, JP Morgan, Home Depot, and the US Government. Attackers can infiltrate practically any “secure” environment and maneuver undetected for months at a time while they scope out the best practice (for them) for a cyber attack. So the question for us is – how do we stay ahead of cyber criminals?
This is ultimately a cat and mouse game and it’s clear that the cyber criminals play the cat in this game. As cyber attackers become increasingly aware of cyber security measures, both large and small organizations must be on the defense and continuously learn about potential warning signs. Here are a few helpful tips to help you stay ahead of cyber attacks and reduce the risk of data breaches.
Constant Change
There’s one thing that cyber criminals and the rest of us have in common – none of us like change. We want to keep systems and processes static because it makes life and work easier. Attackers love static systems and processes because it makes it easier for them to study their subjects, learn the ins and outs, and figure out exactly how they can compromise your data. If you want to make it difficult for sophisticated cyber attackers, create a culture that thrives on change.
Monitor for Usage of Irrelevant Information
Cyber criminals do their homework before launching an attack. Sometimes their data is misinformed or incomplete. You should monitor for activity that doesn’t make sense for your organization.
A typical example of an irrelevant information scenario is the “former employee” situation. In this case, an attacker targets a specific user from your list of employees, not knowing that the person no longer works for your organization. Because the employee no longer works for you, that employee should not be taking actions within the company’s network and the network shouldn’t be contacting them. Spotting this suspicious activity can help you prevent data breaches.
Avoid Alarm Fatigue
Security appliances are more sensitive than ever to better detect potential threats, but the sharp increase in alerts leaves security teams running ragged.
It is impossible to launch a full-scale investigation every time your security appliances send a notification. Instead, you must monitor your organization for signs of alarm fatigue and resolve them as soon as possible. If you stop monitoring for serious notifications, you are sure to miss the real issues as they come up.
Invest in Cyber Security Education
Did you know that human error is the leading cause of data loss? Cyber security training and education teaches employees the importance of changing passwords and monitoring for suspicious activity to cut down on the amount of human errors.
One major part of training employees for better cyber security is preparing them for phishing schemes. In Phishing attacks, cyber criminals often send out seemingly legitimate emails, mimicking companies like PayPal or eBay in an attempt to lure readers to click on a fake link. While the link seems real and the landing page is set up with real logos, the site is built to filter sensitive data to cyber criminals. The email might mention an issue with the user’s account and lead them to a site that requests PIN numbers, credit card data and more. These can be tough to spot, but there are warnings to look out for.
All of the security solutions in the world can’t protect your network if your workforce is willingly (but unknowingly) giving cyber criminals access to it. Creating a truly secure workforce requires ongoing education and training.
https://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/computer-hacker-and-cyber-crime.jpg13332000Gabriel Seidenhttps://connect4consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Connect4Consulting_LO_FF_transparent1.pngGabriel Seiden2016-03-10 16:23:392020-02-28 20:54:07How to stay ahead of cyber criminals
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