Tag: Digital Marketing

How to Segment Your Email List Like a Pro: Part 2

October 26, 2018

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Communications Specialist We’re back at it today, teaching you how to segment your email list for maximum impact in your email marketing campaigns! Make sure you check out the first post in this series here. Prune Your List WiselyLet’s say that you’re three email sends in on a well thought-out campaign with a list that’s been run through NeverBounce. Now is a great time to take a peek at your analytics and open rates to get a sense of the picture your contacts are painting. You’re likely to encounter these types of recipients: 1. The Ones Who Open Every Email: Great, yes, keep them around! 2. The One Who Open One or Two: Encouraging for sure, but we’ll have to pay close attention to the subject lines that seem to catch their eye. 3. The Ones Who Open None: Tough crowd. We’re going to have to make some choices. The latter two categories may make us feel like tearing our hair out, but these are actually the types of contacts that help us become savvy marketers. If every contact opened every email, there’s a chance we would never know what makes certain subject lines

How to Segment Your Email List Like a Pro: Part 1

October 24, 2018

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Communications Specialist In our last post, we went over why cleaning your contact list is crucial for running a successful email campaign. Now it’s time to talk about how to use the analytics information you’ve gathered from your open rates to create even more wins down the road. Let’s start with going more in-depth on the topic of bounce rates. What is a Bounce?Simply put, a bounced email is an email that wasn’t delivered. This could happen for a number of different reasons, and depending on the reason, it is considered a hard or a soft bounce. A high bounce rate will eventually lower your sender score significantly. Hard BouncesHard bounces occur when an email is sent to an invalid email address. This may mean: Soft BouncesA soft bounce refers to an email that gets to a recipient’s mail server, but does not make it to their inbox. This type of bounce might occur because: Bounced addresses are almost entirely out of your control, but what is in your control is whether or not you send messages to them. And just to reiterate, it’s never a good idea to send emails to bounced addresses.

Cleaning Your Email List: Why It’s Important and How to Get Started

September 12, 2018

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Communications Specialist Whether you’re brand new to email marketing or you’re about to click send on your 100th message, your email’s success is only as good as your contact list. You may have heard terms like “clean” and “scrub” in relation to your list and wondered what they mean and how to get started. We’re here to break it all down for you and explain why it’s important to polish up your list so it’s as “clean” and up-to-date as possible. What is a Clean Email List?In short, to clean your list means to fully verify it. This means you’re making sure that each address is not only valid and deliverable, you’re taking steps to avoid wasting funds and effort on contacts who aren’t interested in your business. Cleaning your list usually involves two stages: So what’s the big deal in the grand scheme of things if your personal list or campaign isn’t getting the best results? Shouldn’t that affect your business only? A cut-your-losses-and-try-a-different-subject-line type scenario? Well, that’s exactly the way it used to be till spammers started taking advantage of their sending freedom in a big way. If you’ve had an email

The 6 Biggest Mistakes You Could be Making with Your Google My Business Listing

April 27, 2018

By Stepha Vesper Google processes more than 40,000 searches every second–that’s 3.5 billion searches a day! Needless to say, your Google My Business listing is a key piece (if not THE key piece!) of your digital footprint. Below, we’ll tell you the top six mistakes business owners make with their listing as well as the best ways to optimize Google My Business for happy customers and maximum return. Not Choosing the Right CategoryWhen you first create a Google My Business account, you’ll be prompted to select a category for your business from a drop-down menu. While this tiny task is easy to brush aside, choosing the wrong category has less-than-tiny consequences. That’s because the category feature is one of the primary ways Google accurately indexes your listing in local search results. Accidentally selecting the wrong category can “hide” your business from the right customers and confuse anyone who comes across your listing. If you set up your Google My Business listing years ago, it’s more than worth it to re-confirm your category choice. Google does allow you to add multiple categories to your business listing, but keep in mind that order matters. If you perform multiple services, you’ll want to

Strengthen Your Brand in 5 Easy Steps

April 20, 2018

By Sydney Arp Brand identity can be surprisingly difficult to nail down. It’s often easier to pinpoint what you’re not as a business than it is to articulate what you stand for. And what if you leave something important out? You do a lot of great things, after all. These are just a few reasons why we don’t focus on the face of our businesses as much as the actual doing. (And don’t get us wrong, doing is important!) But the truth is that today, your brand matters more than ever, especially to a millennial marketing audience. Millennials are loyal—once they’re captivated. In fact, 60% of millennials are often or always loyal to brands that have gained their trust, and that means they’re more likely to recommend those brands to friends and family. Word of mouth is still the best brand endorsement for nearly half of all millennials, and online reviews count. So how can you communicate a strong brand message without disrupting your day-to-day duties or overthinking it? Your Identity Starts with Your Perfect CustomerDon’t start with a mirror. Looking outward is actually the perfect place to begin when strengthening your brand identity. Imagine your perfect customer. You can

Tips on Marketing to Millennials

February 5, 2018

By Sydney Arp Millennials. Generation Y. It’s the age group that marketers across the country are endlessly analyzing. Let’s [try to] begin with a definition. Major publications label a millennial as someone who came of age around the time of the millennium (2000). Born between 1980 and 1995, Millennials range from 22-38. Yeah, you read that right. Some “Millennials” are nearly 40 years old. Surprised? The fact is, Millennials make up 25% of the American population. In the real estate industry, if you’re not marketing toward the millennial age group, you’re completely overlooking what should be your target market. Here are some insightful tips from a Millennial herself: 1. User-generated content is what we trust.43% of Millennials rank authenticity over traditional marketing tactics. We want to hear from a service user not a service provider. Think about it: our generation is more likely to trust news that comes from friends on our social media feeds than news we see from random sources or companies. In today’s world, the never-ending stream of promotions has transformed us into walking ad-detectors. Simply put, we know genuine content when we see it. Thus, brands that boast generalized, impersonal verbiage such as “the best” or

4 Quick Tips for Making the Most of Small Business Social Media

November 28, 2017

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Communications Specialist As a busy small business owner, it’s easy to let social media slip off your radar. But with consumers spending up to 53% of their online time browsing social media sites, carving out a slot in your schedule for posting can mean broadening your reach in ways you never thought possible. Here are a few tips for making time for social media and getting the most from your efforts. 1. Automate your posts.Using a platform that allows you to schedule your posts in advance can be a lifesaver when it comes to making time for social media. Setting aside an hour every weekend to schedule your weekly posts across all social media sites is a great way to make sure that the job gets done, even during your busiest weeks. NPI recommends SocialPilot for its affordability and ease of use. Like all great things, scheduling posts in advance can have its drawbacks. Here are a few things to consider: 2. Spend time online where it counts the most.Chances are that not every social media platform is going to be the perfect fit for your business. For example, you may find that Twitter

6 Traits To Look For When Hiring A Marketer

November 21, 2023

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing & Business Coach Entrepreneurs tend to start off their business solo, or if they’re lucky, they can tap into spouses or family members for help. Eventually, as business picks up and they begin to struggle to keep up with the demand, marketing efforts tend to be some of the first activities that begin to fall off. This situation isn’t all bad, of course! But once a business pulls back on marketing, that inevitably means that they’ll end up missing out on opportunities for further growth – leaving work either on the table for the competition, or leaving would-be clients’ needs unmet. Of course, business owners aren’t simply doomed to fall into this trap! They have options: first, to allow software to take marketing efforts off their hands, such as through scheduled social media posting, recurring email campaigns, or automated review gathering. Once these routes have been explored, though, it’s time to face the facts. It’s time for some extra help. Inviting a new voice into a small business can be incredibly exciting, and somewhat terrifying at the same time. After all, a bad hire could result in a time, effort, and money investment loss

5 Cost Effective Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses

November 14, 2023

By Sydney Bailey, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Director Seasoned business owners know that every industry experiences ebbs and flows. There are times when the phones are constantly ringing and the calendar is packed. On the flip side, there are stretches where work is more scarce. It’s often during the slow seasons where cutting back on expenditures is a natural impulse, but business owners should be careful not to handicap their marketing efforts. Marketing is critical for reaching new clients and keeping your business top-of-mind for your established referral sources, so you should be hesitant to cut your marketing spend when business is down. With that said, there are ways you can be more intentional with your marketing budget. If you find yourself limited on funds, here are a few cost-effective marketing strategies worth exploring. Refine Your Communication SkillsStanding out from your competition is critical when business slows down. For some owners, explaining to prospective clients exactly what sets their business apart can be difficult. While effective marketing and networking can make your phone ring, it won’t do much good if the person answering the call doesn’t conduct themselves with enough confidence to actually book the job. With this in mind, business

Key Steps For Managing Your Work Vehicle As A Home Inspector

November 7, 2023

By Jon McCreath, NPI, Inc.’s Technical Supervisor & Training Administrator When imagining life as a home inspector, naturally one’s mind jumps to the on-site experience of gathering photos of a house’s interior and landscape, as well as maybe climbing onto a roof or roaming through a crawl space. What people who haven’t actually been a home inspector may not realize is that a surprisingly large amount of our time is actually spent in the car, traveling between locations, especially if you’re an inspector that serves a larger or mostly rural region. Keeping your work vehicle looking sharp and in working order is crucial to running a professional, successful property inspection business. Although you may have a great system already in place, here are a few reminders about how to take care of your mobile property inspections headquarters! The Importance of Vehicle MaintenanceKeeping a consistent routine of vehicle maintenance and servicing appointments scheduled should be a normal piece of your business’s expenses each year. While it may seem obvious, if an inspector’s vehicle breaks down or is delayed on the way to a job, their entire day’s schedule could be thrown off. Emergencies happen, of course, but changing plans at the

Marketing Insights: The Importance of Finding Your Audience

October 31, 2023

By Zach Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Senior SEO & Marketing Strategist Any experienced marketer, when speaking about how to grow a business and reach long-term goals, will preach on how important it is for a business to find its audience. For many business owners, this might sound a little strange. After all, shouldn’t entrepreneurs be looking to find as many clients or customers as possible in order to convert on leads and maximize their sales? Of course this is true! But this doesn’t mean that the best marketing strategy is to speak to everyone all at once. Imagine you’re making a speech in a massive auditorium. For most people, the more people there, the more difficult it will be to capture everyone’s attention. If too many people are there, the audience further in the back will struggle to see you, and even the most expensive sound equipment will start to fail, leaving your message completely unheard to many. In the same way, marketing to a massive audience tends to be expensive, and a business that chooses to market in this manner can often see their message lost, becoming indiscernible as it competes with too many other businesses for attention. Instead of

Got Your Six: The Veteran’s Guide To Re-Entering The Workforce

October 24, 2023

By Sammi Marcellus, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator Enlisting in the military is a great opportunity for many to learn practical, real-world skills, all while serving their country. With that said, many struggle with making the move from the structure that military life provides, to the seemingly chaotic nature of being a civilian. Finding a career that’s fulfilling while also featuring these same benefits of a position in the military can be a tough ask, but that doesn’t mean veterans should be caught with application paralysis. Veterans looking to find a good job fit for themselves should recognize their strengths and the challenge ahead. To move forward with confidence, here are just a few notes to consider when pursuing the next chapter. Acclimate to Civilian LifeOne major struggle that Veterans experience upon transitioning away from the military is their daily schedule. In the military everyone has a specific job and their days are planned out extensively for them, which frees them up to focus solely on their duties rather and reduces the need for self-management. In the majority of civilian workplace settings, this strict schedule is gone, which can be jarring for many to adapt to. Veterans should decide early on

How Celebrating Holidays on Social Media Can Benefit Your Business

October 17, 2023

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Senior Marketing Communications Strategist As your business grows, building an audience online can quickly become a strong stream for new leads and an opportunity to set yourself apart from your competition. In our previous article discussing how to use pictures to boost engagement on social media, we talked about how varied content is important for businesses that want to improve their performance online. While this is a great goal in theory, coming up with a consistent stream of unique content is tough. That’s why if you haven’t jumped onto the holiday post train yet, now is the time to start! Holiday posts are a great way to capitalize on current events in a way that breaks up your regular social media schedule. For some extra inspiration before the holiday season really kicks into gear, here are some things to consider when it comes to posting during the holidays! Choose Which Holidays to HighlightCapitalizing on a holiday on social media isn’t as simple as looking at the next one on the calendar and making a graphic to accompany it. Ideally, owners and social media managers should take some time to think about why their business has

Tips for Delivering a Bad Inspection Report

October 10, 2023

By Jon McCreath, NPI, Inc.’s Technical Supervisor & Training Administrator There’s a reason why “don’t kill the messenger” is such a commonly repeated phrase. Delivering bad news is a tough position to be in, especially when someone is caught blind-sided by the message. Even though you may have not been the cause of the situation, you were the one that disrupted the status quo. Whether fair or not, the one that delivers bad news often becomes the villain, and no one wants to be the villain. Home inspectors are frequently caught in the awkward position of needing to deliver information that clients probably don’t want to hear. The truth of the matter is that issues and defects in homes would exist whether the inspector discovered them or not. It’s only through a thorough home inspection that buyers can make their biggest investment with confidence. For property inspectors, delivering bad news in a calm and courteous manner is a skill worth building. Start by setting the right expectations. Don’t Hide from the ReportMany negative reactions from clients can be curbed through establishing a proper understanding before the inspection even begins. Inspectors know very well that no home is perfect, but sellers

Getting the Most Out of Networking Events

October 3, 2023

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing & Business Coach There’s a lot that goes into growing a small business, between learning the industry, making smart connections, and keeping up with the newest innovations. Naturally, this means that networking events can be a valuable opportunity for entrepreneurs to get their foot in the door and truly elevate their business. Any time a business owner can get themselves into a room where they are surrounded by other like-minded industry professionals, they have a chance to learn new strategies and techniques that can take their business plan to the next level. Unfortunately, many find networking events to be lacking as they struggle to make meaningful connections. Whether spending time at a convention, giving a presentation, or attending some other industry event, sometimes it can be tough to see immediate returns on your time and energy. If you’re looking for some strategies on how to capitalize best on networking events, give this process a try! In so many ways, successful businesses are built on relationships. Here’s how you can more reliably make a good first impression. Take Some Time to PrepareAs with most things, good preparation is the best way to set yourself up

How to Prepare Your Business for Your Vacation

September 26, 2023

By Michael Trimble, NPI, Inc.’s Content Marketing Coordinator Small business owners take so much pride in their work, it can be hard to take even a short break. The risk of losing momentum, missing out on business, and potentially damaging valuable relationships keep small business owners from taking a vacation–some go years and years without a break. While these concerns are valid, many may not realize that they are missing out on a necessary reset by forgoing an extended holiday. The truth is everyone needs a physical and emotional break from their work. Plus, new experiences and a broader perspective can provide much-needed creative energy to entrepreneurs. If you’re nervous about how to handle an upcoming vacation, here are a few actions you can take to ensure your break goes off without a hitch! Notify Your Clients (and Share Your Experience!)If you are your only employee, vacations mean that your business can’t do much without you. To keep any consistent referral sources or clients from being surprised, it can be smart to send out a notification in advance. Whether through an email blast or a few phone calls to associates with established relationships, offering a heads up is sure to

What to Research Before Becoming a Home Inspector

September 19, 2023

By Celeste Black-Harr, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator There are plenty of attributes that draw those with an entrepreneurial spirit into the home inspection space. Whether it’s the opportunity to own a business, innovate within a market, or control a personal schedule, many look to the prospect of being a home inspector as the answer to their career goals. The only issue is that, with the wealth of information there is out on the internet about how to get started as a home inspector, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Owning a successful home inspection business begins with asking the right questions. How can I be sure that my business will be profitable? What business model should I choose? What hours should I list for my business? No two businesses are the same, and while there isn’t necessarily a cookie-cutter model for success, there are a few places worth starting before getting caught up in the minutiae. With this in mind, here are some important areas of research from which every prospective home inspector would benefit. Check Out Your State WebsiteThe first step of becoming a home inspector should always start with nailing down an area of operation and reviewing that state’s