CRM and The Ecosystem – External Collaboration System Coexistence

Companies using CRM and MA systems to engage in ecosystem collaboration have not been able to achieve the desired target as these are customer-centric sales and marketing tools. Deploying a PRM system, though a good compromise, has not produced the desired results since the technology is outdated.

An ecosystem collaboration solution effectively replaces PRM systems as they match all the facilities offered by the PRM in addition to meeting   numerous other contemporary requirements for peer-to-peer and community collaboration and multi-channel communication, using social media, messaging, and mobile communication channels.

CRM and The Ecosystem - External Collaboration System Coexistence

PRM is far behind technologically to meet these modern requirements of an organization and has limited communication capabilities in the modern sense, which are evolving by the day.…

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5 Steps To Fixing Negative Reviews In Google Places aka Google Plus Local

Every business loves targeted, organic traffic from the search engines. Your potential clients eagerly punch in those buying keywords to actively seek your business and make their next purchase.

5 Steps To Fixing Negative Reviews In Google Places aka Google Plus Local

Positive reviews from sites such as Yelp, Foursquare and especially Google Places (aka Google Plus Local) not only further boost your search engine rankings, they also provide customers with the confidence they need to get out their credit cards.

So what happens when the money you so wisely invested in SEO has your client scared off by a negative review appearing in the search results? No company will have 100% positive reviews 100% of the time.…

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How To Avoid Brand Resentment In Your Email Marketing Strategy

How To Avoid Brand Resentment In Your Email Marketing Strategy

Email marketing is a necessary component of a marketing strategy, but some customers may view it as a necessary evil instead. Tools such as the ones provided by Vocus can insure that your campaigns are a success. The success of sharing news, products and opportunities with customers can be eclipsed by email burnout or customer resentment of unnecessary emails.

Try these five tips to ensure that your marketing emails reach their recipients and don’t cause resentment.

1. Use technology to build a gap between your company and the customers – From an online purchase to a social share, every action your customers take can be aggregated and analyzed.…

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How to Attract More Customers With Visual Appeal

How to Attract More Customers With Visual Appeal

Before you can impress customers with your stellar service and  range of products, you first need to attract them enough to walk through the door. Once they’re inside, it’s vital to keep them equally interested so that they don’t turn around and walk out right away.

The design of both your exterior and interior can make an immeasurable difference in the amount of foot traffic you see and the volume of your sales. From the color scheme to the way you set up product displays, your visual appeal will help you win the favor of customers.

Here are some tips for how to improve the look of your storefront or other retail space.

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It’s Time to Get Competitive! Facebook Contests May Lead to More Customers

As a business owner, you may be updating your Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn pages on a daily basis. However, there comes a point where the addition of fans and followers begins to slow down and eventually may come to a halt.

How can you jump start a following? All it may take is a little creativity, innovation, and motivation. Are you leveraging contests to gain more leads and customers? You should be!

It's Time to Get Competitive! Facebook Contests May Lead to More Customers

According to a study by  AllFacebook, 30% of people have participated in contests or promotion via Facebook. The best news about this is that this number continues to grow.…

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Top Tracking Tools to Monitor Your Online Marketing Efforts

Putting up an online store can be one of the best business decisions made in this digital age, considering the ever-increasing number of people willing to buy products and services over the Internet. However, having an e-commerce website isn’t enough, as it doesn’t guarantee an increase in sales without the proper marketing strategy in place to drive more people to the site.

Top Tracking Tools to Monitor Your Online Marketing Efforts

To build a winning strategy, a business needs to have a good foundation based on hard numbers about their target audience’s engagement with them. This is why tracking online traffic is necessary. Thankfully, there are a couple of great tools that can be utilized to do just that and more.…

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Why Guest Posting Is The Best Way To Link Build And How It Can Be Achieved

We are all very familiar with guest posting, it’s a method we use to build natural links to our websites. This method is currently the most popular and viable way to attain healthy links to your site.

One primary reason for guest posting being so effective is that it gives you the ability to post content written by you on a high quality blog chosen by you. This niche blog sends all the right signals to Google and in turn carries a link directly to your site which will give your website much higher quality links.

Why Guest Posting Is The Best Way To Link Build And How It Can Be Achieved

However, guest posting is not as simple as it sounds.…

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It’s Who You Know: Are You An Efficient Networker?

It's Who You Know: Are You An Efficient Networker?

Networking is easy. Just get out there and meet some people! Yeah right.

Networking is an essential part of business whether you’re looking for a job or just trying to beef up your contacts list and unfortunately, many people are doing it wrong. If you’re not networking efficiently you’re simply wasting your time and spinning your wheels.

Here are a few tips for ensuring you’re getting the most out of your networking efforts.

Do you have an objective? – The number one networking mistake is to go into it without an objective. Are you looking for a job? Do you need more business contacts?…

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What Is Great Customer Service and How Can It Help Your Small Business?

What Is Great Customer Service and How Can It Help Your Small Business?

By definition, customer service is what you offer an individual before, during and after a transaction. While this concept seems simple enough, truly exceptional customer service is getting harder to find. Why? Perhaps it’s because stellar customer service is an experience that not only gets customers from point A to point B, but enhances the overall level of customer satisfaction – an idea that can seem mind-boggling to some.

If you ask any virtual receptionist, however, she’ll tell you that offering quality customer service is no harder or more time-consuming than what you already do. The difference is that the personal connection you make with prospective customers adds value to your brand.…

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How SMBs Can Profile Their Typical Customer

How SMBs Can Profile Their Typical Customer

Many marketing plans fail because they try to attract everyone and don’t focus on anyone. These faulty plans result in companies selling products that customers don’t want. Thing is, most customers aren’t even at the center of the feedback loop. Even worse, most customers will tell you what they want, if you would just ask.

Making the sketch

Start by surveying your existing client base (no matter how small) to understand future buyers better. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t have to be a costly process. There are free tools such as Google Docs and MailChimp that let you create a survey and distribute it easily and affordably.…

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