Download our template to help you build a supplier briefing that will ensure you seek out the right support.
Photo credit: CC BY Markus Spiske / raumrot.com, published unchanged
Your guide to confident, fret-free insourcing
Whatever support you decide to bring in to your fold, you want to feel confident in the decisions you’ve made to get you there and in the results they help you deliver. Your Allies’s “How2 ebook: 7 steps to confident, fret-free insourcing” is a simple guide walking you through this process, taking you from objective-setting right through to reviewing and working out how to best spend the extra time this extra set of hands has freed up. Set yourself up for a positive insourcing experience by reading up on the following steps:
STEP 1: Know what you want and develop a watertight brief
STEP 2: Be clear about your budget and timeframe
STEP 3: Know who you’re looking for
STEP 4: Immerse them in your world
STEP 5: Set crystal clear expectations
STEP 6: Tie them in
STEP 7: Seize the day and keep an open mind
Photo credit: CC BY Markus Spiske / raumrot.com, published unchanged
Marketing trend no. 1: now get social – from testing the water to taking the plunge
According to an Econsultancy report only 8% of marketers surveyed could attribute ROI for all their social media investments as of Oct 2011. Still a 2011 MarketingSherpa study shows that the majority of marketers have realised that they have to “get social”. 4
For a good reason. Social connections have a greater influence on purchase habits than ever before. But the trust within the online community will only be extended to the brand if truly understood and properly incorporated into brand communication. The brand needs to gain a deep understanding of its place in consumers’ lives by following conversations and looking at content created by the online community. 6
There is an element of the social web which cannot be measured, the human element of interaction it’s brought back into marketing communication. As self-trained wine and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk says “What is the ROI of your mother?” 11 Many marketers have realised that treating people as automatons existing to consume no longer works. Just as much as the simple fact that “for companies that wish to preserve or improve their rankings, social marketing activities will no longer be optional; in 2012, they will be a necessary element of traffic-driving success.” 8
Take action: Improve your social media metrics to track ROI where sensible and feasible but also let go of the need to prove it on every interaction! Rather become a real part of the social web by listening, sharing, collaborating. You should get to a stage where you feel comfortable about every employee acting as a brand ambassador true to the cultural values of your company. 5
Behaviour matters: As marketing trends evolve and shift so too do those marketing behaviours which allow marketers to leverage them. Based on our research, here’s why authenticity and engagement are important in relation to this key trend.
SOURCES: