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If you want to get your business two steps ahead of your competition, you should include online video marketing as a tactic in their marketing plans. Doing so will expand the conversion rates and success of any advertising, marketing, or social campaign investment.
 
The reasons for using online video fall back to video being the best way to build business value at every stage of the customer life cycle.  Here are few ways that online video content marketing helps businesses:
 

• Bringing products and brands to life
• Converting browsers into buyers
• Improving customer service efficiency
• Building trust and authenticity
• Increasing traffic and time on site
• Expanding audience and building brands
• Improving internal communications with stakeholders

 
Because the use of corporate online video marketing is relatively new to the field of digital marketing, too few organizations use video content marketing effectively. Most are using traditional advertising and TV newscasts as their main web video productions. While most are posting these web videos on YouTube, some are just posting video content in a static video player that has no social sharing functionality or takes a long time to load.

Check out BizUnite's YouTube Channel Today! http://www.youtube.com/user/bizunitecom

Done right, Video Converts

Just like ten years ago when you needed a website to be competitive, website video marketing is very quickly becoming THE must have. There are many reasons why website video marketing is being line-item budgeted by marketers. One of these is that online video production content is the only marketing tool that has a long tail…meaning that a video today can be used for many years to showcase your company and establish longevity and credibility. This long tail means amortizing the marketing investment over a longer period of time. 

Additionally, a consistent video production strategy will improve your Google and YouTube algorithm rankings (they both give higher credit to more established content) and will make it easy for viewers to get more relevant content.

Business video marketing is also great for your daily sales and marketing tactics. Research from Forrester, ComScore, eMarketer, and other top organizations all support how marketing with online video production creates some form of action to move prospects into or deeper through the sales cycle.

• Video boosts conversion rates by an average of 9%. (Internet Retailer, October 2010)
• Videos are 53 times more likely than text pages to appear on the first page of search results. (Forrester, January 2009)
• Products that have videos are 95% more likely to be bought. (Internet Retailer, April 2010)
• Video adds two minutes to visitors' stays on websites. (Comscore, August 2010)
• Video increases the likelihood of a front-page Google search result by 96% with proper page optimization. (Forrester, January 2010)

Online video marketing drives action! Immediately after viewing a company’s video, buyers are far more likely to visit the company’s website or contact the company via phone. In fact, they can be up to 40% more likely to make some sort of contact. This is a pretty dramatic compared to other marketing tactics. 

Video is one of the best ways to engage and convert casual browsers into leads and paying customers because, simply put, video reaches out, informs, and builds trust with your customers more quickly, more easily, and more effectively than any other marketing tactic.

Given this, many businesses understand the power of video but are unsure where to begin. Here are five types of easy-to-create videos to help you get started.

1. Product education/demonstration. You have product/service information on your website…you talk about your products and services every day! Now do it in front of the camera. You are the expert; show your stuff.
2. Post-presentation objection handling. Record answers to the top three objections your customers have after you give your presentation and use them as follow-up material. Present them with confidence and conviction that will build trust in your team to drive more sales.
3. Customer testimonials. Your customers love you and most likely have relevant stories about your team, product, implementation, and service. Find a customer for each product/service you have and start filming!
4. Key people behind your sales team. Don’t your customers love your back office staff? These are the people that support your sales team and deliver the benefits to your customers. Give your sales team videos that educate your prospects on your talented team of professionals, which will be servicing them post-sale.
5. Thank-you videos. Differentiate your company with a video after that important sales meeting. Remind the prospect of your firm’s key value propositions and experience in a personal and information-rich video.

After your videos are produced, distribute them every day in your sales and marketing efforts, on your websites, and at other places on the Internet (such as social networking websites, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube).

Don’t wait until you have to catch up to your competition…gain a competitive advantage today and produce your first series of web marketing videos.

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Accounts Receivable Management: 5 Reasons Why Customers Pay Late

Accounts receivable management: 5 reasons why customers pay late and what to do in each case

Effective accounts receivable management is critical. In fact, it is what makes or breaks a business.

Small businesses however, especially those without sophisticated credit departments, have a hard time getting paid by their customers. The two co-founders of Funding Gates, Jean-Marc Freuler and Ismail Colak, provide their expert insights to millions of U.S. small businesses on what to do when customers don’t pay.

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Most of the time, your late-paying customers fall into one of the five categories we describe below. Your delinquent accounts will usually have customers from ALL of these categories. You should therefore know how to identify each customer's category, know the reasons and figure out how to act accordingly. Here's a basic guide:

1. INDUSTRY-WIDE PAYMENT PRACTICES

Reasons: Some businesses pay late because of their sales, receivables and inventory cycles, or operational practices that are customary in their industry.  Some industries are infamous for the notorious delinquency rates (such as construction and building supplies, manufacturing, wholesale distribution).

What you can do: Having a corporate credit policy usually helps. Signal your customers that your practice does not allow for average industry cycles. The fact that many businesses are not able to collect from customers does not necessarily mean you should give up on your receivables. Your customers need to know that you have robust credit policies in place. You need to follow-up regularly on late invoices. You need to help them with their payments (giving them the option to pay in installments, for example). The point is, if you do what everyone else is doing in your industry, your delinquency rates will be just like everyone else's. If you improve your credit practices, however, your customers will respond to your calls & payment requests.

2. CUSTOMERS WITH OTHER, CRITICAL SUPPLIERS

Reasons: You may not be ranked at the top of your customer's payment priority list. Your product may not be critical to your customers' business cycle, or your product may be easily replaced by products from other suppliers. Another important reason may be that your customer has other suppliers that have more stringent credit criteria. So, your customer pays them before paying you.

What you can do: The fact that they have other suppliers cannot be an excuse for them not to pay you. You need to have a firmer stand from the beginning. Have a clearly defined process for your accounts. There are many ways you can ask for the payment you deserve while still being cordial. Your customers need to know that it is as important for your business to get paid as it is for your customers' business. But we live in a distracted world, and getting your customers' attention like all the other suppliers is critical in the race to get paid. Always remember: the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

3. CUSTOMERS WHO ARE IN FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY

Reasons: The reasons for this can be anything. Your customer's business may be going through tough times and they really are unable to pay you back. This category carries by far the highest risk for your receivables. Today, overall business bankruptcy rates are lower than 2009 levels, however the failure rate is still quite high in several industries.

What you can do: To avoid facing such a challenging situation, you need to constantly monitor your customer portfolio to see if there are any changes on your customers' credit profiles. You can have an idea who is not doing well by simply looking at your customers' court records such as judgments, liens, suits, UCC filings and bankruptcies. As soon as you know one of your customers is in financial difficulty, you should take action. Adjust the credit limits based on the information you have. If you sold something and waiting to get paid, hurry up and get in front of the line. Because if you don't act quickly, you may never see that customer again.

4. CUSTOMERS WHO CAN'T TRACK THEIR PAYABLES

Reasons: Your customer's internal accounting practices may be a mess. A disorganized accounting department or a lack of headcount that knows how to track and process payables may cause delayed payments, not only to you but to everyone dealing with that business. This is a typical scenario for new companies and startups that don't have the systems in place.

What you can do: This customer requires more attention than others. You may need to follow-up regularly and remind your customer that they have an upcoming payment. Systematic reminders before and after the due date should become part of a standard operating procedure for this type of client. Depending on your relationship, if e-mails, faxes and letters are not powerful enough to get paid, you may have to try more severe methods and capture the attention of anyone in the company who is in a position to pay you.

5. CUSTOMERS WHO KNOW THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT

If a substantial part of your accounts falls into this category, you'd better do something to change that.

Reasons: It is the way you deal with your customers. If you have traditionally been tolerant towards the late-payers, your customers already know that there are very little repercussions to paying you late. In that case, it is obviously in their best interest to stretch the payments as much as possible. After all, it is basically free cash. The later they pay, the more working capital they will keep for their business.

What you can do: Standardize your credit policies. Set up clearly defined credit procedures for all your customers. Be firm on your deadlines and your follow-up practices. Collect more information, always monitor your customers, let the world know that you will follow-up on late accounts, precisely because it is your money. "Being predictable" is very important in credit. All your customers should know when they will be getting a call or a letter from you if they don't pay you. Predictability will lead to credibility. Credibility will help you get paid earlier than you otherwise would.

Always remember that a few basic changes in your receivables management practices can create wonders for your business.

For more information, please send us an email: info@fundinggates.com

Funding Gates
www.fundinggates.com
http://fundinggates.wordpress.com
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Start with Social Media

Getting Started with Social Media

I love social media. It’s fun, it’s free, and it only takes a little bit of knowledge to make you sound like you really know what you’re talking about. You can be a social media expert in less time than it takes to cook 60-second rice. You already know what a blog is; you’re reading one! Here are a few more commonly used social media networks.

The Big Three (and I’m not talking about the Boston Celtics):

Facebook: The mother of social networking sites. It’s very user-friendly, so if you’re new to the game, start here. You can build a Facebook page for your business which allows fans to follow your posts and updates. You can also collect contact information from fans who want to join your mailing list.

Twitter: Twitter is easy. It’s based on a concept called microblogging: blogging, but with far fewer words. You get a username and post updates of 140 characters or less, called tweets. Users who follow your tweets will see them appear on their Twitter homepages in real time.

LinkedIn: This is designed mostly for professional networking. You sign up and make a profile—kind of like an online resume—and connect with others in the online community by adding members to your network.

Also worth mentioning:

YouTube: YouTube is pretty fantastic. It’s a video-hosting website for short (mostly homemade) video clips. Each video posted gets a unique URL. The public can view the videos and comment on them.

MySpace: This chestnut has been in the game for a long time. MySpace users can make profiles, add friends, leave public comments, and post photos much like they can on Facebook, but MySpace caters towards artists and organizations who use it to promote their work. Musicians and band members, for example, can post downloadable recordings to their pages.

Lesser known/Up-and-coming:

GoogleBuzz: Like Twitter, but linked to your Gmail account. Your contacts can follow posts in your Buzz feed, including status updates, photos, links, and comments. Buzz is brand new. Read more about it here.

Digg: An online forum where users can share content from anywhere on the internet. The more diggs (votes) a post receives, the more priority it gets over other submissions.

Social Media is becoming more and more of a necessity for promoting your business. Find out what people are saying about it and doing with it here.

From: http://supportconstantcontact.blogspot.com/

New Customer, New World

Where is the New Customer? He's in the New World.... Are You? - Jeffrey Gitomer

The customer is making a comeback - slow though it may be. And when he (or she) returns, you're going to notice a change. A big change. FAIR WARNING: How you prepare for the new customer will determine your long-term success.

REALITY: While your customers were away, online has officially taken over. It's the new showroom and comparison shopper. You can chat, or phone in a heartbeat. You can see every option and some you never knew existed. It's fast, it's accurate, and anyone can choose anything, any time of the day or night.

Yes, the Internet has been there for a few years, but it has taken a firm hold as a trillion dollar option for consumers and customers every place in the world. Your world.

It's a different world now. We are not going to "recover," per-se. We're going to revive and revise. And you can be in it, or watch it pass you by.

Here are some examples of "different" on the business side. Car dealerships, stock brokerages, insurance companies, banks, homebuilders, commercial real estate agents, residential real estate agents, and mortgage lenders have all revised and restructured their business - and that's the short list.

And the customer is different too. Way different.

Let me give you the details of what the new customer (both business and consumer) looks like: (NOTE: I'm using "he" but I also mean "she.")
* He's going to decide somewhat slower. He's been hesitating for more than a year.
* He's angry about the value of his home, and the value of his investments.
* He will not be doing business the same way it's been done before.
* He will not be banking the same way he banked before.
* He will not be advertising the same way he advertised before.
* He will not be buying a car the same way he did before.
* He will not be buying a home the same way he did before.
* He will not be investing the same way he did before.
* He's online. Checking out your website - and your competitor's website.
* He's socializing. Telling everyone what's happening in his world and the world.
* He's Tweeting, Facebooking, and Linked-In-ing. Social media is still a firestorm.
* He's blogging about his experiences with you, for the world to read.
* He's YouTubing about his experiences with you for the world to watch - by the millions (any questions United Airlines?).
* He's Googling, not yellow-paging.
* He's texting. A lot.
* He's using his mobile device to do damn near everything.
* He's WiFi-ing in his hotel room, on the plane, in Starbucks, and at home.
* IF he's reading a paper, or getting the news, it's online.
* He's as likely to watch The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, or listen to Howard Stern for news as he is to watch a network "news" person read a tele-prompter.
* He's purchasing after midnight. By the billions.
* He's looking for ease of doing business with you.
* He is value oriented, but will look to price as part of the decision.
* He wants a relationship.
* He wants, needs, and expects GREAT service after the sale.
* He does not want to wait for anything or anyone.
* He needs help and expert advice.
* He's looking for ideas and answers.
* He can check your price and your facts in two seconds or less on Google.
* He knows as much about your product as you do.
* He knows MORE about your competitor's product than you do.
* He can pay right now IF you can take a credit card online.
* He expects someone to answer the phone when he calls that can actually HELP.
* He is SICK of off-shore call centers, erroneously called "help desks."
* He is SICK of you telling him how important his call is while he stands on hold.
* He is SICK of your recorded hold message.
* He demands the truth. All the time.
* He no longer trusts the institutions he used to hold sacred.
* He expects you to be as computer literate as he is.
* He needs to be understood and feel your sincere concern.
* While you are qualifying him, he is qualifying you.
* If he needs a referral or recommendation, he'll go to Craig's list or Angie's list or Google or his next door neighbor, or anyone else but you...UNLESS you have video testimonials online.

As you're thinking about (and making excuses about) these statements, you better be thinking about your answers and responses to them. And you better be making the strategic decisions and game plans to make them happen.

The economy is coming back - BUT NOT TO THE WAY IT WAS. Don't take my word for it. Ask any daily newspaper.

After reviewing these statements, ask yourself this BIG question: Will your new customer buy from you, or your competition?