You've likely come across the tern sales funnel, have you every wondered what it means?  Don't worry you're not the only one.  A sales funnel refers to the progression of steps that customers take from discovering your business and products to making the final purchase.

Here's an example
Let's say you have a brick and mortar store.  many potential customers will pass the door, but a percentage of them will decide to walk in.  Of those that walk in, a percentage of these will see products that they like and decided to have a look at them.  A percentage of those who decided to view the products will pick those that they like and proceed to the checkout, where they will make a purchase.  The steps customers take the buy will be similar, more or less, whether you run a brick and mortar store or an online store.

Why is understanding the Sales Funnel so Important?
Understanding the sales funnel helps you know what potential customers thin when they are at different stages of the sales funnel.  Why is this so important?  Because now you can develop marketing strategies geared towards pushing the customers towards the next stage until they finally make a purchase.  This also means developing personalised messages tailored towards a client based on which stage they are in.

The Stages of the Sales Funnel
When prospects first hear of your business, products or services they will go through several stages of decision making until they can finally make a purchase.  Granted, the process may not be the same for every customer.  However, they will make their choice sooner or later based on their interest.  There are 4 main stages of the sales funnel.

The Awareness Stage
Here customers are just learning about the products and services you offer.  This can be through social media ads or various other marketing campaigns that  your business runs.  I'll be honest with you, the number of leads who move down the sales funnel will depend on how effective your marketing efforts are.  Sometimes customers go straight to buying a product or service but most times you will need to woo the customer at the awareness stage to encourage them through the next stages.

The Interest Stage
Now that customers are aware of your products or services, they will then enter the interest stage.  Here they will make competitive research comparisons and weigh the options available to them.  This is where you offer your customers valuable content and information, you are established as an expert in the minds of the customers and establish brand trust.  A customer can sit at this interest stage for some time.

The Decision Stage
At this stage in the buying process, the customer is ready to make a purchase.  Keep in mind they could be interested in a competitors product or service al well.  This is where you might offer deals, discount codes or promotions.  The goal is to make your products and services so attractive that customers can't wait to purchase them.

The Action Stage
The customer finally buys your product.  It may be the final step in the sales funnel, however it doesn't mean it's over.  Make sure you have a customer retention strategy in place for them to keep coming back for more.

Final Thoughts
Understanding which stage of the sales funnel a customer is in allows you to know exactly what is going on in their minds.  This in turn make it possible for you to send marketing messages that are more personalised and Tailored to the individual client.  This results in more leads going through the sales funnel.

Altitude Business Solutions are committed to helping Small Business Owners navigate their way through growing their business. Helping them assess where there are issues and providing the recourses and contacts to give Altitude to their business. We offer online training, Social Media Services & Website Services.  

There was a time in the past when people thought it was only a matter of time before content marketing would lose it's place in the modern digital business space.  A few years down the track and the reality is that content marketing is alive and well & continues to be a driving for small business sales.

This doesn't mean that things have changed, the truth is that content marketing has evolved to accommodate the new challenges faced by modern businesses.

As the years go by, business have had to deal with changing marketing conditions and consumer preferences.  Covid-19 sped up the process of online purchasing and communication significantly as consumers realised that being locked down in their homes they had to move to a more digital presence.  This meant they were spending more time online than ever before and so their behavours changed.

More Use of Video
From 2017 to 2021, users increased the average time spent on watching video from 20% to 80%.  That means in 2022 video is taking center stage in a big way and is not the main form of content uploaded by businesses each day.

Multimedia has reached an all-time high
The use of multimedia which includes both video and images, continues to rise.  As a result, the attention span of customers has dropped significantly.  Consequently, marketers have been forced to find ingenious ways to use multimedia to grab and retain customer attention.

Clever SEO Techniques
SEO grew from 64% in 2020 to 69% in 2021.  Marketers are now creating personalized experiences for online shoppers with the help of SEO.  The goal is to create content that offers value but is also different from wha the competition is offering.

Personalized Content
Marketers are now creating content that speaks to the user.  This means investing time and resources in learning about the customer's desires, wants and needs and creating content around this.  As a result, content marketing is geared towards attracting a more loyal clientele. 

Creating Value of the Quantity
As more customers shifted their time and shopping online, they were exposed to more content.  There was a need to shift from offering more content to offering something unique.  Churning out more and more content doesn't mean anything if you are not offering your customers value.  The best content, therefore, should be able to provide solutions to customer problems.

Repurposed content
content marketing is not seeing more repurposed content.  This is where marketers have already created valuable content and they share it across multiple platforms in multiple different formats.  A good example would be this blog post.  We created a blog post, a youtube video, a podcast and 8 social media posts just of this one piece of information for our clients.

Final Thoughts
Content Marketing is not dead but has definitely evolved in response to new business challenges.  By keeping up to date with content marketing trends you can stay ahead of the curve and help your business stay relevant now and in to the future.

Altitude Business Solutions are committed to helping Small Business Owners navigate their way through growing their business. Helping them assess where there are issues and providing the recourses and contacts to give Altitude to their business. We offer online training, Social Media Services & Website Services.  

​First Published April 2022​

Many people are under the idea that email marketing is dead. It is only understandable considering the number of emails that you ignore, delete, and mark as spam if you hold this notion.
That said, there is also a select number of emails that you are happy to engage with.
With that in mind, it begins to make sense that you can still use email for business in today.
All you need is to learn the tricks that can help recipients view your email as an important email and want to engage with it.
Creating engaging experiencesIt is likely that if you plan on using email marketing, you have a call to action on your website. Something like, “Subscribe to our weekly newsletter”.
However, have you taken the time to think about the type of experience your subscribers get when they click on your call to action?
Let see this in the context of buying a product.
Always try and win back a customer who went through the buying process but abandoned the cart.
Here you can set a trigger to send an email to prompt them to revisit the website and complete their purchase.
One thing to keep in mind is that while new and prospective customers are always a good thing, it is the returning customers that will impact the business’s bottom line the most.
Focus on customer relationsOptimizing and personalizing your email marketing campaigns should be a priority.
Personalizing allows your business to engage with customers in a far more meaningful way.
A straightforward way to drive this point home is instead of an email starting with hey, or hello, you can choose to start with the reader's name.
A/B testing - the importanceWe cannot overemphasize the importance of A/B testing when it comes to email marketing campaigns.
Through analyzing previous customer data, you will know precisely what your customers respond to and use this information in your next campaign.
Did you know that as soon as you receive an email, your habits are being evaluated and analyzed through it?
Some of the information that you can find out is:
●      Does the subject line affect your email response, or are you better off with emojis
●      What happens when you increase the number of images? Do you get more responses or fewer responses?
●      What time of the day do you get the most emails?  
With A/B testing, you may find that your hypothesis fails. However, you should never look at it this way.
Instead, view this as an opportunity to learn something from it.
Let’s say the majority of your customers read their emails on their mobile phones.
You may start to realize that if you increase copy that the click-through rates go significantly low.
Now you know what you shouldn’t do next time.
Speaking of mobile phonesOver 70% of people would rather read their emails via their mobile apps than on the desktop.
It makes sense, therefore, to ensure that your email marketing campaigns are optimized for mobile.
People now decide on whether or not to proceed with a purchase within seconds.
This means that you can quickly lose a customer if they don’t like what they see on their emails.
Final WordWhile it is easy to think that email marketing is dead, the truth is that it is still alive and well in 2021… If you use it right!
The fact that most businesses are looking away from email marketing means that your business can look towards revitalizing this way of marketing your brand.
Done the right way can help improve your company’s bottom line, so definitely, don’t take it off the scope!
Now with this in mind, let’s move on to part 2 of this article series, where we will give you actionable tips and tricks to take massive action on your email marketing and use it to scale your business.
 
Ready? Steady. GO!
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​Altitude Business Solutions are committed to helping Small Business Owners navigate their way through growing their business. Helping them assess where there are issues and providing the recourses and contacts to give Altitude to their business. We offer online training, Social Media Services & Website Services.  Subscribe to our social media channels to be alerted of new content.

First published December 2021

For many businesses, marketing and sales are often used interchangeably. The reality, however, is that these are two distinct disciplines.
Marketing refers to all actions taken by a business to promote its products and brand. This will also include advertising and research.
On the other hand, sales refer to the action of exchanging money for business products or services.
But which between the two disciplines is more important?
Well, businesses will often mainly focus on sales as, without it, there is no cash flow.
But the truth is that without a steady flow of leads, your business will struggle to make sales.
That is to say that you shouldn’t choose between marketing and sales, but instead, aim for the optimal utilization of both.
Sales is a more direct optionAs a business manager, it is easy to fall into the trap of trying to make as many sales as possible to stay afloat.
Unlike sales which is mainly centered around one action, marketing requires you to understand your target niche and audience, their needs and create ads that are tailored specifically to your niche.
There are multiple actions needed to create a successful marketing campaign.
You will need to focus a significant amount of time and resources on branding, pricing, generating leads, creating demand, and creating a marketing strategy.
That said, the great thing with marketing is that you have the opportunity to create an impact in the lives of your buyers by helping to solve their problems.
The results are much more long-lasting and can help solidify your business brand in the minds of your customers.
Both sales and marketing should never be viewed as separate disciplines that can operate independently.
Instead, they should and must work together.
Start with MarketingSuccessful marketing requires time and resource investment. This can place strain on a small business’s capital.
This may also explain why small businesses tend to overlook marketing and focus on sales.
However, marketing is an investment into the future. By taking the time to learn what your customers want, you can make improvements to your products and services to suit their needs.
You can create tailor-made ads that specifically appeal to your target audience.
This makes customers feel like your business exists to serve their needs.
As a result, this will build your business brand and solidify it in the minds of potential customers.
Not only does your business stand a chance to get new clients, but it also gets to keep these clients.
Sales, on the other hand, is what comes after marketing.
It should be viewed as the result of your marketing strategy and efforts.
It is the cream to the cake. Marketing helps generate a steady flow of leads who can subsequently be sent through the sales funnel.
A security measure for the futureThat is what marketing is—security for your business. Marketing allows your business to get a steady flow of leads.
These leads can help cushion your business during tough times, so you don’t have to worry about staying afloat.
This is more than can be said for businesses that mainly focus on moving their products.
What’s more, your business now has the option of loading clients that are bad business without having to worry about any significant impact this would have on your business.
Simply put, you have options.
Final ThoughtsWith marketing, you create a hedge against any uncertain times ahead.
Your business is secure in knowing that it has a steady flow of leads and can turn these into repeat customers.
That said, marketing and sales go hand in hand and are not to be approached as separate disciplines.
We URGE you to learn more about marketing, sales and how you can marry the two to create the ultimate flow of paying leads for your business.
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​Altitude Business Solutions are committed to helping Small Business Owners navigate their way through growing their business. Helping them assess where there are issues and providing the recourses and contacts to give Altitude to their business. We offer online training, Social Media Services & Website Services.  Subscribe to our social media channels to be alerted of new content.

1. It can be a low-cost promotion strategy.  While Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are an option, it is certainly possible to promote your website, business and offers online without spending a penny.
2. You can reach a Global Market.  With online marketing, you aren't stuck in your own neighbourhood.  A wider audience may give you a greater chance of running a successful business.
3. Reach your target audience quickly and easily.  Paid advertisements are an option, and your results can be immediate.  With time and an optimised website, you can reach new prospects continuously by ranking at the top of the search engines.
4. Collect Payments easily.  If you enable e-commerce on your website, you'll be able to collect payments from your customers quickly and easily.
5. Market your offers 24/7.  If you've created a website or established a social media presence, this will be available at all times.  It won't close like a physical store would.
6. Trackable, measurable results.  You can sign up for analytics tools that allow you to track your campaigns, so you can see how effective they've been. 
7. Build customer loyalty.  When you engage with your online audience on social media or your website, answer questions and be open with them about what you can offer, then you'll build trust.  This will increase your sales
8. Build your influence, or social currency.  When you share content online that resonates with your audience, they are likely to share it.  With each share, you increase the reach of your campaign, which increases your audience and potential customers.
9. Better conversion rates.  With a website you are only a click or two away from making a sale.  Offline, a customer would have to make a phone call or physically go to a store to purchase.

So as you can see online marketing is generally easier, quicker, and more efficient than offline marketing.  Plus you can advertise online for FREE.

Altitude Business Solutions are committed to helping Small Business Owners navigate their way through growing their business. Helping them assess where there are issues and providing the recourses and contacts to give Altitude to their business. We offer online training, Social Media Services & Website Services.

With online marketing, there’s a debate raging among experts over which strategy is best to grow your business.  Let’s start by ensuring your understand the difference between the two.
 
Social media marketing: Social media marketing is about building relationships and brand awareness while engaging with your audience on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
 
Search engine optimization (SEO): is about showing up in Google search results for your audience's search queries.

Would SEO or social media marketing be the better option?
 
Often, businesses will hire an SEO expert or agency to increase their visibility in the search engines without even thinking about social media and the traffic that it can bring to their business.
 
Similarly, there are those who focus their attention entirely on building a social media following without spending any time on SEO.
 
Let’s compare both strategies to see which option is best.

​Targeting an Audience 
To bring in relevant traffic and sales, it’s important to be able to target a specific audience. It is definitely easier to target an appropriate audience on social media platforms.