How CRM Analytics Work

 

Preamble

• CRM analytics tells you whether or not your customers are reached by the sales and customer service team and provides you a better understanding of your customers

• They enable you to understand the behaviors of your customers and the success rate of your campaign(s)

• They provide an indication of the success rate of the business. 

This articles was created for any business owner or potential business owner that wants to know how CRM analytics work:  

Meaning of CRM analytics

CRM provides the data that explains the performance of your company and the effectiveness of the customer service. It also gives excellent data on the behavior of your customer so as to facilitate decision making. 

In practice, CRM software is used to get the CRM analytics and make all the processes of data collection easy and effective. 

Importance of CRM analysis

According to renowned entrepreneur and business advisor Alan Safahi, the main benefits of CRM analytics are to make appropriate decisions in regards to your customers and make changes in the area of customer service appropriately. This can be achieved through:

• Evaluation of customer service: CRM analytics will tell you more about the performance of your customer service. The figures will guide you on how to do that and the right direction to channel it.

• Precise data on the customer: Irrespective of what you will be using your customer data for, CRM analytics will provide you with accurate data. 

• Proficient lead generation: CRM analytics will better outline the efforts leading to sales. It enables you to choose the areas to improve on that are leading to sales and to avoid efforts on the areas that are leading to double sales. 

Types of CRM analytics to track

Alan Safahi believes that, although there are many variables that CRM analytics measure, these are the most important ones:

Before sale CRM analytics

Of course, your customers buy from you only after they have learnt about your product. This means that most of the interactions occur even before sales.

• New leads: The marketing department may likely spend lots of energy sending proposals or calling the prospective customers, therefore tracking such activities will be worthwhile to see which of them leads to a purchase. 

• Prospects: Check the activities of your sales team with the prospects. 

• Website engagement: Most of the CRM programs will tell you who visited the website and the activities they performed. These are great data to use to make an informed decision. 

After-sale CRM analytics

• If you have impressed them and they are buying from you, there is no assurance they will continue to buy. It becomes necessary to get some after-sale information. 

• Problem tracking: Have proper documentation of what your customers said about your product. If they raised any problem, solve them and this will keep them coming back. 

• Additional purchases: if you sell them products and they buy some others from you, then it’s an indication that of product correlation that may come in handy for future marketing efforts 

Other Data to Analyze are: 

• Purchasing patterns
• Segmentation
• Spending
• General project management

Verdicts:

CRM analytics is an efficient strategy to ensure the prosperity of business. It gives reliable data on the success of several efforts and the possible changes and directions to channel them. 

Originally Posted: https://alansafahi.com/how-crm-analytics-work/

Guide to Better Online Reputation Management

When it comes to online reputation management, people have different opinions. Some think it’s just about what is being said about you on social media while others think it’s just a matter of public relations. And there is the group that doesn’t know what it means and the impact it has on businesses if it’s not put into consideration.

This guide by SEO and ORM expert Alan Safahi will help you better manage your and your company’s online reputation management. 

Be Conscious of what is being said About you Online

You have to be up to date about almost everything being said about your business online- questions, reports and people’s reviews, either good or bad.  This should be the first mechanism to put in place so as to know when there is an imminent threat to your online reputation.

React to Criticism and complaints politely and professionally

“When you are criticized or when a complaint is made, reply to them in a very polite and professional manner,” says Alan Safahi.  “This not only de-escalates the situation but also sends a signal to the public that you are concerned about what your customers feel about your brand and are willing to improve on ways to serve them”.

Learn from past mistakes

Issues that have been addressed before should not pop up again.  You have to make sure that mistakes are not repeated or else people start to think you don’t have proper policies and procedures in place which is bad for business. Customers love brands that are progressive and are always evolving for the better.

Work on the points your critics make 

This might not go well with a lot of brands, but then in order to project a good online reputation you have to be able to entertain constructive criticism and work on them to better your brand even if it’s difficult. There should always be room for growth.

Go after people who spread false information about your brand

There are a lot of detractors on the internet nowadays spreading different kinds of untrue information and fake news. Any time this is spotted it is best if you meet them head on. Call them out and threaten them with legal action if possible. Make them understand that you are against any form of fake news and misinformation, which sends strong warnings to anyone or any group that might want to do that in the future.

Lastly Alan safahi believes that nobody can do it all by themselves. It’s good to ask for help if you sense that you are not holding up your online reputation management well. Meet professionals, ask them for advice and if you are capable of employing a professional, then that’s even better. A lot of brands think online reputation management is not important and oftentimes they just do little or nothing about it, hoping that the negative post or news go away on their own.

Times are changing and the world is a global village now and everything stays online forever. It’s not wise to totally ignore how your band perceived online.

Originally Posted: https://www.allperfectstories.com/better-online-reputation-management

Dos and Don’ts of ORM

Online reputation management (ORM) is the process of putting strategies in place that influence the perception and reputation of a brand or company in their online presence.

It must be noted that ORM services are not inexpensive as experts need to be employed to carry out these services. In this post, digital marketing, and SEO/ORM expert, Alan safahi, will discuss some of the Do’s and Don’ts of online reputation management.

Don’t Procrastinate

Don’t wait till you get bad reviews before you start practicing online reputation management. Business owners sometimes don’t see the need for ORM until they have a bad review online which is not a good idea. “ORM should be considered from the very outset of any business in order to create a solid foundation to the reputation of the business,” says Alan Safahi.  When a  business has a good foundation in ORM, it can better handle bad news and help reduce any lasting damages to its reputation.

Do respond to customer reviews 

It might seem exhausting to reply to customer reviews, but it’s a very important part of ORM and it should not be left out.

When replying to customer reviews, you must do it professionally and politely, resisting the urge to use harsh words or assigning blames.

Don’t employ inexperienced ORM personnel

Business owners might be tempted to employ personnel or agencies with little or no ORM experience because of the low budget they have provided for ORM.  This is not an area for cost-cutting since an experienced ORM team can do a lot of damage to your business.  It is highly recommended that you use only proven, experienced ORM experts for this sensitive position.

Do report any review that seems fake or wrong

As much as you should reply to customer reviews with utmost urgency and expedience, Alan Safahi recommends that you promptly report reviews that look unreal or fake.  Google sometimes takes down such reports, which is good news, but it might take a while so be diligent in reporting these fake reviews..

Do Periodic Checks

If you don’t care to find out what people are saying or what people think about your brand, then there is no point for ORM to be practiced. Make sure you keep yourself posted about the news and conversations going around about your business, so you know when your reputation is under attack.

Don’t sideline your customer service 

“A brand or a company’s good customer service makes online reputation management very easy and influences the reputation of the brand in a good way” according to Alan Safahi.

A lot of unnecessary tantrums can be avoided with good customer service. Business owners are advised to make sure their customer service is on point so as to maintain a good online reputation.

Do create quality contents on your page

When the contents of your company page actually speak to the customer and answer their questions, it gives the customer a feeling that your business is genuine and purpose-driven. Fluff and irrelevant content can be a very bad signal and is not good for ORM.

Originally Posted: https://www.allperfectstories.com/dos-donts-of-orm/

Dos and Don’ts of SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy used to help websites rank high on search engine results pages. 

SEO is a means used by a lot of digital marketers and has proven quite efficient in helping websites to be found easily when contents related to the keywords are searched. 

SEO is also a major part of internet marketing which makes it an essential part of most websites. 

This post by Alan safahi will be highlighting a few Dos and Don’ts of SEOs which helps online digital marketers achieve better SEO results.

Don’t Panic

SEO strategies take time to prove effective and show results.  It is important to be patient and not panic if your ranking is not getting higher results in the beginning.

I know you want results quickly and you might panic and want to unnecessarily stuff your contents with keywords which actually works against you due to the algorithms used by Search Engines.

Do Add Meta Tags

Meta descriptions and tags help to summarize the content of the web page to get the attention of readers when they are conducting a search, so make sure your keywords are present in the Meta descriptions.

Do Use keywords

Make sure you use keywords that are relevant to the contents on the page, and use them in places where they will fit in naturally so as not to destroy the flow of the contents of the page.  Using keywords where they are not necessary will make the page lose its originality and purpose, thus rank lower in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). 

Don’t Abuse Keywords

Digital marketer and SEO expert, Alan Safahi, recommends that you only use specific keywords for pages where they fit in and are necessary in order to prevent your pages from competing against each other for ranks.

Do Use Social Media

Having a social media presence is also very important when it comes to SEO. It allows you the luxury of knowing the trends going round, and it influences the contents you provide on your page in a way. 

Don’t Ignore Reviews

Alan Safahi recommends that you respond to all reviews, good or bad, promptly so as to show that you are active and ready to provide the best services. 

Do Consult with an SEO Expert

When you wish to make significant changes to your website, make sure you consult a SEO expert to help you strategize and put necessary measures in place to drive your webpage ranking up. Making these changes without the help of a professional will do more harm than good, according to Alan Safahi. 

Originally Posted: https://alansafahi.com/dos-and-donts-of-seo/

Lifestyle Startup Founder

 Starting anything at all is not an easy task, it gets even more difficult when you’re starting a business which is an endeavour that takes a lot from the startup founder. 

A few things are expected to change such as routines, schedules amongst others. Many startup founders do not realize early in their journey how much their new business is going to affect their lives and they are often not prepared for such changes. There are therefore a few things startup founders could learn to improve their lifestyle.

One of the most important things an entrepreneur should learn very fast is time management. More than anything, you would have to spend more time working than you probably have been accustomed to. If that is going to be the case for the next few years, you should be getting prepared for some lifestyle changes.

The first thing you should learn as an entrepreneur is that you could be working round the clock. Many entrepreneurs find out that they are working almost throughout the day. A new idea could pop up in your mind at 2am and it could be 6am before you turn off the lights again. You have to get prepared for more work. You should study the experiences of other entrepreneurs such as Alan Safahi, a six time startup founder to understand what you are up against. 

For a startup founder, learning how to say no could be a life-saving skill. You have to realize that you cannot attend every function, you cannot be at every brunch, you cannot attend every meeting. These meetings are indeed sometimes, very crucial for networking and of course, business growth. That is why you should be able to determine which ones require your physical appearance more than the others. If not, you would find yourself socializing more than you are actually working, which of course, is bad for business.

On the other hand, you could learn to delegate if you can. If you already have team members or a partner, it would be such a great idea to learn how to transfer some of the work or outings that do not necessarily require your personal touch to them. 

You should also know that stress is likely to set in and you definitely should avoid that as much as you can. Stress is bad for business. Sooner or later, it would start to take its toll on your effectiveness at work. 

A startup founder should learn to be part of a community. There is no need to isolate yourself or your business from other people who are also entrepreneurs. There is so much to be learnt from a community of startup founders who have gone through what you are going through now or even have the same experiences as you at the moment. Apart from experiences, startup founders can access funds when they are part of a community. 

If only for encouragement, apart from the network, being part of a community is good for an entrepreneur. You can join communities where you can learn from business experts like Alan Safahi.

Also, as startup founders, trying to nurture a new business, there is often the huge temptation of neglecting some other areas of life. Learn to fight that temptation as hard as you can. Connect with the people in your life and do not cease to enjoy life itself. 

Finally, you must be prepared to not get paid for a long time. “To a startup, cash is like oxygen” says Alan Safahi.  “You have to be very diligent with your expenditures including but not limited to what you pay yourself and your co-founders and early employees”.  

Most startups run out of cash and fail while trying to achieve product / market fit.  It usually takes 3x as much time and costs 3x as much as expected so it is very important for startup founders to conserve cash as much as possible.  

This bootstrapping period could last anywhere from 2-3 years so preparing ahead of time and lowering your personal overhead and financial commitments can make this period a lot less stressful.

Originally Posted: https://alansafahi.com/lifestyle-startup-founder/

SEO Versus PPC

 To website owners, visibility is as important as content itself. Similarly, for business owners, “the success of the business may hang solely on its site’s visibility.’ according to 6X startup founder Alan Safahi.  Therefore, it is not out of place to find that website owners put a lot of work into getting their pages seen. 

Two paramount ways of achieving visibility are Search Engine Optimization SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a subset of which is Pay-per-click (PPC). What should inform an owner’s choice and why is one option better than the other?

More than anything, the goal of your marketing should decide the strategy you choose. Would you like people to see this now and fast or would you rather build a stable audience for a long while? If your contents have to be out there quickly, you should be considering PPC. On the other hand, if you would rather build a steady audience, SEO is your best bet. 

Is one truly better than the other? Here are a few pros for SEO.

1. The cost

It would be wrong to make you believe that choosing SEO will relieve you of all forms of cost. Although the costs you incur here are not statutory, if you would engage SEO effectively, it will not come cheaply. However, in comparison to PPC, SEO is more cost effective both in the short and long haul.

2. Credibility

Search engine optimization strategies are structured in such a way that they put you to work. While that may sound like a disadvantage, it really isn’t. Consider strategies such as quality content and inbound links which require some work to make happen. The good news is that these SEO strategies also bring your website the luxury of credibility because they help to create trust in the mind of users.

3. Sustainability

SEO strategies can be sustained over time and the results that they yield are equally long term in nature. SEO expert, Alan Safahi believes that the results you get through SEO strategies last for a longer period of time. “The rankings on search results may not happen immediately, but once they do, your page may remain there for a very long time which in the end, is really good for your webpage” says Alan Safahi. As earlier pointed out, your goals would determine if sustainability in the long haul is a better deal for you. 

One major downside that you should bear in mind as you decide whether SEO strategies are best for you is their lack of speed. SEO strategies do not yield immediate results. In fact, if you wish to gain anything from SEO, you need to be consistent in your efforts over time. 

Pay-per-click 

Using this strategy, you go all out to engage paid advertising for your webpage. Here, you should expect to incur some costs. 

A major advantage of PPC is speed. The results of paid advertising are almost immediate. According to Alan Safahi, once you make payments, you can expect your results as soon as possible. For as long as your contract lasts, your page would continue to rank high in search results. 

However, the downside to this is that your rankings remain for only as long as your contract stands. This may turn out to be a disadvantage if long term results are needed. The results created through paid advertising are quite difficult to sustain, says Alan Safahi. 

PPC is awesome for brand visibility. If you need to get your page out there fast, you should be considering Pay-per-click. It removes your page from the usual long queue experienced using SEO and puts your page right on top where your audience is bound to locate it easily. 

Originally Posted: https://www.allperfectstories.com/seo-versus-ppc/

Job Opportunities and Career in Digital Marketing and SEO

Technology has a significant impact in all aspects of our lives. With technological advancements come various changes, in world view, lifestyle, human relationships, certain societal values and of course, career focus.

Technology has taught individuals that work space can be created without physical contacts. As unemployment grows in various economies of the world, technology continues to be an easy way out.

Digital marketing and SEO are the latest gold mines created by technology. Here are some amazing job opportunities and careers that you can explore in digital marketing, following the example of marketing gurus like Alan Safahi, who have built successful careers in digital marketing.

1. Content Developers:

If you love to write, this may turn out to be a very enjoyable career for you. As a content developer, your job would require that you understand a company's objectives, their prospective customers and then produce contents that can easily gain and maintain the attention of that audience. You would have to constantly engage your audience, keeping in mind that they are prospective customers. Your discussions should be on topics that are relevant to the company's products or services. Two skills are of utmost importance here; writing skills as well as Search Engine Optimization.

2. SEM Specialist:

A company that needs constant traffic on their site would definitely need a search engine marketing specialist. The main duty of an SEM specialist is to improve traffic on the website. Site visibility is the major reason a company would hire an SEM specialist. This job can be done based on a freelance contract. This is an excellent job opportunity for individuals who would like to explore their chances with different companies. A good knowledge of SEO and SEM strategies is needed to excel in this career.

3. User Experience Designer:

This is quite an interesting job opportunity. It combines both technological prowess and a firm knowledge of human psychology. It is the responsibility of this person to ensure that users have a pleasurable experience as they try to access the company's site and while they are browsing through the site. You have to make sure the site is easy to navigate, the use of language is simple and self explanatory, and generally, they can get the information they need as easily as possible with the aim of increasing sales and retaining customers.

As San Francisco based SEO expert Alan Safahi points out: ”A good UI/UX design team can make a difference between a $100M exit and a multi $billion exit”. Is it therefore no surprise that good UI/UX designers are in such high demand in technology based companies around the world.

4. Data Analyst:

The duty of a data analyst is to gather necessary information. This is mainly information collected from users, who are of course potential customers, over time. Data analysts are saddled with the responsibility of collecting, classifying, analysing and interpreting data. Then, they apply their findings to future digital marketing strategies.

5. Social Media Marketer:

Social media marketing is a very interesting job opportunity in digital marketing and one of the most rewarding ways of turning what you love to what you do for a living. It would be your responsibility to keep your audience engaged across various social media platforms. This could include creating relevant contents, effective use of pictures and designs as well as answering frequently asked questions. It is quite an effective way of improving traffic on the company's site and of course, improving sales. As SEO and Digital Marketing expert Alan Safahi points out, the new generation loves to make discoveries through their smartphones. This is a major justification for social media marketing.

6. Marketing officers:

This career choice requires a firm understanding of traditional marketing strategies as well as digital marketing strategies. These persons are saddled with the responsibility of overseeing all the marketing activities within the company. They must be efficient in both SEO and SEM strategies if they would be effective on the job.

Originally Posted: https://vocal.media/journal/job-opportunities-and-career-in-digital-marketing-and-seo

How Covid 19 Changing Nature of Work: Impact on Small Business

The Covid 19 pandemic no doubt caught the world by surprise. Who would have ever thought that there would be a time when businesses would cease to run on physical contact basis, that schools would be closed and movements would be stopped, for months? To say that almost no one prepared for this would be an understatement.

Six time Startup Founder and business advisor, Alan Safahi points out that founders face more than usual uncertainties amid Covid 19, but those that overcome them will come out much stronger than entrepreneurs of the prior generations. After all, some of the largest, most successful companies in the world such as Airbnb, Hewlett Packard, Hyatt, Microsoft and Uber, were founded during past U.S. recessions according to Business Insider, which pales in comparison to today’s dire economic times.

Although things are slowly returning to normalcy in some areas (before the next peak hits), the effects of Covid 19 remain boldly written on businesses of all kinds, especially small businesses, both positive and negative. Here are some of the impacts of Covid 19 on small businesses:

Foremost among its impacts is the confirmation of the need for technology in business. The days and months behind closed doors have awakened many small business owners to the reality of technology. Many business owners have learnt that not digitizing their business would continue to make them vulnerable. Many business experts such as Alan Safahi continue to teach entrepreneurs how to improve their businesses through digital marketing.

Many business owners have learnt to be more versatile and resourceful during their stay at home. Many have learnt to diversify their businesses and to come up with more creative ways of getting their goods and services across to customers. More than anything, many business owners have learnt more effective ways of getting across to their customers. For some, the usual laid-back way of doing business has given way to more proactive strategies and ideas.

On the other hand, many small business owners have felt the heat of the situation the most. In a survey carried out in Uganda, three quarter of all the small businesses in this study had laid off employees. Yelp data shows 60% of business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic are now permanent

As a result of reduced business activities, many small businesses have experienced major losses which have forced them to adopt ways of cutting their losses.

In India, for instance, according to an Entrepreneurship survey, about 83% of small businesses experienced reduced revenue and almost half of them are faced with the possibility of shutting down. The list could go on. Many businesses suffered huge losses from which they are still trying to recover.

Another huge disadvantage caused by the pandemic is a significant reduction in investment activities. It is obvious to the world that many businesses are in a stand still. It would therefore be a huge risk to invest in businesses during the pandemic, especially small businesses and startups. With a sizable decline in investors and investments, small businesses are faced with even more struggles than they would have expected.

In all of these, entrepreneurs have learnt to lean on more technological methods in interacting with their customers. This is a welcome development for entrepreneurs as most people now make their findings on smartphones, as noted by Alan Safahi.

Entrepreneurs have therefore learnt that the future is digital and any business that would survive in that future must learn to go digital as well. The erstwhile methods of doing business have been revealed for what they are, heavily flawed, and the nature of work is now defined by the new normal, post Covid 19.

Originally Posted: https://safahi.com/how-covid-19-is-changing-nature-of-work-impact-on-small-business-46149b671051