As we approach the final stretch of 2023, businesses can thoughtfully reflect on the economic complexities they have navigated throughout the year while strategically charting their course amidst heightened scrutiny. Despite economic headwinds and global uncertainties, many companies embraced a proactive approach, seeking innovative ways to expand their market share and flourish. In this blog, we will discuss the meaning and importance of market share and dive into three key strategies that will help your business grow even through challenging times. 

Understanding Market Share

Market share reflects a company’s portion of the total sales revenue within a specific market. To calculate market share, divide a company’s sales by the total sales of all companies in that market. The higher the market share, the more dominant a company is in its industry and the greater its influence over market trends and competition. 

Why It Matters 

Market share ultimately works like a spotlight. The brighter the light, the greater the visibility. 

More market share means more brand visibility, which means more customers and, ultimately, more opportunities. Companies with more significant market share dominate their industry, are thought leaders, and become trendsetters. 

Strategy 1: Differentiation through Innovation

In a crowded and competitive market, continuous innovation is the bread and water for companies striving to stay relevant and capture customers’ attention.

Anticipating what consumers desire allows companies to develop products or services that offer unique and superior value.

Businesses that have embraced new ideas and transformative technologies continue to not only exist as top players but also thrive amidst the dynamic challenges of the modern marketplace. Examples of such companies include Tesla, which disrupted the automotive industry with electric vehicles, and Airbnb, which reinvented the hospitality sector. These success stories demonstrate the transformative power of innovation.

Here are some steps to help you foster innovation:

Promote a culture of innovation: 

It starts and ends at the top. Leaders need to cultivate and support a culture of experimentation and creativity. Ensuring employees feel comfortable enough to think outside the box, take calculated risks, and embrace new concepts, ideas, or technologies empowers employees to become drivers of change and innovation.  

Listen to Customers: 

Don’t just innovate for innovation’s sake. Listen to your customers. Your customers are usually the first to tell you what doesn’t work, what you could do better, their pain points, and what features, items, or services they wish you offered. Conduct surveys, read reviews and comments on your socials, and perform market research. 

Create Cross-Functional Teams: 

Different perspectives and experiences can lead to unique and innovative solutions. Cultivate cross-pollination of ideas by combining people from various departments with different backgrounds, work experience, and expertise. 

Strategy 2: Invest in Brand Advocacy

Customer loyalty is vital in a competitive market, especially during economically challenging times when customers and businesses cut unnecessary expenses to optimize operations and navigate financial constraints. Strong customer relationships create loyal customers who are great brand advocates. By spreading positive word-of-mouth, they help establish trust and credibility for the brand, which attracts new customers, ultimately contributing to a company’s growth and success.

Consider using influencers or employees as advocates to help your brand reach a wider audience and influence potential buyers’ decisions. 

Here are some steps to help you boost your brand advocacy besides investing in influencers:

Deliver Exceptional Customer Experiences: Providing excellent customer service and delivering top-notch products or services will naturally lead to satisfied customers who are likelier to become brand advocates.

Implement a Referral Program: Create a referral program that incentivizes existing and new customers to participate. Offer rewards or discounts to customers who refer others to your business and the newly referred customers. 

Host Events and Gatherings: Events or gatherings where customers can interact with each other and with your brand can foster a sense of community and strengthen brand loyalty, leading to increased advocacy.

Leverage Social Media: Brand advocacy thrives on social media, and it is one of the best places to engage with the modern customer. You can boost brand advocacy on social media by encouraging customers to share their experiences, reviews, and testimonials. Promptly responding to comments and messages will help you build a strong connection with your followers.

Strategy 3: Retain Existing Customers

Reaching new customers during economically challenging times can be strenuous. And to no surprise. Buyers are likelier to hesitate before committing to a new product or service, especially when money is tight. 

While acquiring new customers is essential in strengthening one’s market share, retaining existing ones is even more crucial during economic uncertainty. Loyal and happy customers are often more inclined to maintain ongoing business relationships and will be the first to spread positive referrals about your brand, product, and services. 

Here are some ways you can retain and invest in existing customers: 

Reducing the Feeling of Risk: 

Reducing the feeling of risk is essential in encouraging customer retention. Transparency in pricing and policies, offering trial periods, the availability to receive a refund, and providing flexible payment plans can help customers feel more comfortable and secure in their decision to stay with a company.

Offer Loyalty Programs and Discounts: 

There are many ways to protect your customer base and improve customer retention. One way to achieve this is by offering loyalty programs and discounts.  

With loyalty programs, businesses reward their customers for repeated purchases, referrals, feedback, or actions that benefit them. 

Getting rewarded gives customers a sense of belonging, recognition, and appreciation. With these new incentives and benefits, they will be more motivated to buy frequently and consistently.

Don’t Shy Away From Negative Feedback: 

Stop seeing negative feedback as the devil. Your clients provide you with a clear roadmap for enhancements and essential insights into areas that need improvement.  

Lean into this opportunity and use it to build stronger customer relationships that last. 

Strengthen Your Market Share with Powtoon 

During times when everyone wants to reduce costs and operate in the leanest and most efficient way possible, businesses must embrace change and adopt innovative strategies to stay afloat. Such times demand resilience and adaptability, and those who prioritize innovation, brand advocacy, and strong customer relationships are poised to emerge as industry leaders. 

Powtoon’s video creation platform allows your business to create engaging visual content that will differentiate your brand, increase customer engagement, and solidify your position as an industry leader. Sign up to Powtoon today to create studio-quality content that impresses clients and closes more deals. 

The post 3 Key Strategies to Maximize Your Market Share During the Great Rationalization appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

The sales landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years, encouraging sales teams to embrace a new approach to selling. This blog will explore six critical predictions for sales outreach and empowering sales teams in 2023.

Accurate Forecasting vs. Accountability

Gone are the days of assuming all deals will open and close within a quarter. To thrive in 2023, sales teams must prioritize accurate forecasting and embody accountability. Rather than fixating on arbitrary timelines, the focus should be identifying meaningful milestones and promptly delivering value to potential customers. From addressing their buyers’ pain points to showing them value, reps should establish detailed success plans with buyers. That way, reps can ensure a clear roadmap of the next steps and share responsibility for achieving mutual goals. This approach fosters transparency, trust, and deeper collaboration between sales professionals and clients.

Video Dominates Text 

In 2023, online videos are predicted to make up 82.5% of all web traffic, becoming the most popular content on the internet. People spend so much of their time watching videos that reading long text seems almost archaic in comparison. According to Vidyard, 71% of sales reps admitted that video emails outperform regular ones. The rapid surge in online video consumption has changed how information is delivered and consumed and how businesses interact with customers. Sales reps who take advantage of video are expected to see at least 5x higher open rates and 8x higher open-to-reply rates.

Focus On Quality Leads 

Instead of reaching as many prospects as possible, sales teams should focus on driving leads with a higher chance of converting. With tighter marketing budgets, fewer prospects will be available, so prioritizing quality over quantity is crucial. It’s essential that leaders identify and filter out which leads have a higher likelihood of converting over the ones that will not.  

The Continued Emphasis on Customer Personalization

Personalization in sales reflects professionalism, shows an understanding of your customer’s needs, and a sincere dedication to addressing those needs. Sales reps must be skilled in analyzing data, conducting thorough research, and recognizing potential buyers’ needs and pain points. That way, they can tailor their approach and offerings to each customer, resulting in a higher likelihood of success. This personalized experience strengthens customer relationships, demonstrates a genuine commitment to their success, and sets the stage for long-term partnerships.

Social Selling Takes Center Stage

75% of B2B buyers utilize social media when making their purchasing decisions and 

78% of businesses that use social selling outperform those that don’t. So, it is no surprise that social media integration into sales strategies will grow even stronger in 2023. Leveraging platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to build relationships and generate leads must become an integral part of the sales playbook. Social media enables sales reps to connect with potential clients, share relevant content, and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. 

Sell the Value, Not Just The Solution

Solution selling focuses on the features and benefits of the product and how they solve a particular problem. In times when market budgets are short, it’s simply not enough to identify pain points and offer solutions. Nowadays, sales reps must go beyond solution-based selling and concentrate on showing customers the product’s value. Consumers who are hesitant to purchase a product want to know that its benefits are worth more than its price.

Sales reps need to help the buyer envision how the product will change their life so they can justify the price they will pay.  

Elevate Your Sales Outreach with Powtoon

Staying ahead in sales requires innovative strategies that align with shifting trends. Video has emerged as a pivotal tool to elevate your sales game, and Powtoon offers the perfect platform to leverage its potential. From personalized engagement to social selling, Powtoon empowers your team to captivate audiences at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Craft videos to emphasize your product’s value, include them in your roadmap, and highlight your accountability by connecting with customers on a deeper level. Powtoon equips your sales team to drive engagement, generate leads, and secure conversions with an impactful, video-driven approach. Sign up to Powtoon today and elevate your sales outreach in 2023.

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Video bios offer small businesses and enterprises a unique and powerful opportunity to engage with potential clients and employees using dynamic imagery and emotionally-resonant content. These types of professional bios allow you to introduce yourself, your team, and your company to the world efficiently, which is increasingly important in an age when video content is becoming more and more popular.

These videos present an authentic representation of who you are as a business, and are a powerful tool that can boost your marketing strategy. That way you can show your clients your values and goals with an engaging video rather than showing them long, uninteresting text. As technology continues to advance, videos offer a creative way for smaller companies to showcase themselves on their website or social media channels. 

An About Us Company Video Attracts Both Customers and Job Applicants

Bring your brand and business to life with an “About Us Company Video”. A small business needs to capture the attention of both potential clients and job applicants to sustain growth during its early years. An “About Us Company Video” can help provide information about the company’s culture, values, mission, goals, and most importantly its unique offerings. Additionally, they are an excellent way to showcase employee stories, highlighting the hard work and dedication of each member of your team. These types of corporate videos have been proven to be successful video marketing strategies for lots of enterprises.

For customers, such professional bios offer a great way to learn about who is behind the scenes at your business. This can be especially important for small businesses that don’t have a lot of online presence or advertising budget. These short company bios offer a personal introduction to a company and can be easily uploaded to the company’s website, Instagram, or LinkedIn account.

For job applicants, a company bio provides an easy and informative way to find out about the company’s culture, work environment, and accomplishments as well as what skills it takes to become a successful member of the team. By sharing insight into how your current talent views their work and roles within the organization companies can showcase their valuable skills. This can help potential hires decide if they have got those skills as well and would be a good fit for your business before committing to a job application. 

(Tip: This type of video content can also be useful for employee training and onboarding.)

Video Improves Every Employee Bio

Employee bios are personal bios of the people who work within your company. They allow customers and job applicants to get an idea of who works at the company and what their roles are. Such videos can highlight job titles, and years of experience, or even include testimonials. They give potential customers and job seekers a glimpse into the company culture of the organization, allowing them to make more informed decisions about whether or not they want to do business with or join your company.

True, you don’t need a professional video to showcase the biographies of your team members, but they can be more effective than other types of content for several reasons. They include the following:

• Bio videos provide a more engaging way to connect with your target audiences. Audience members may be more likely to watch an animation than to read text or look at static images. Engaging videos can help you reach and pull in more potential customers or work applicants, resulting in better customer/employee acquisition rates.
• These videos give customers and applicants an inside view of the people who work within the organization. Rather than just reading about your team’s qualifications or background, the video allows viewers to get a glimpse into what makes each unique. This gives viewers a sense of trust in the company, which then leads to increased loyalty from both customers and applicants alike. 
• These short bio videos can be part of a larger company culture video and used to highlight a company’s culture and values. Use these types of corporate video styles to show off what kind of environment they will be working in should they decide to join the business or become a customer. 

If you’re not sure how to use video to introduce your team members, make a list of other companies in your field and check to see if they offer any video staff bio examples on their sites or social media platforms. Have a look at staff bio examples like these and gain inspiration for your next company video!

A Corporate Video Can Optimize Branding

Establishing your brand is key to differentiating your organization from the competition. A corporate video or brand video for your small business can help you achieve this goal by telling your story and showing off your team’s personality.

Be aware, the visual elements that represent a company (such as logos, color schemes, etc.) can significantly contribute to branding. Creating such corporate videos gives you the chance to include branded visual elements which will reinforce your company’s message. Music is a powerful tool when it comes to corporate videos, as it helps convey the tone of your business, so make sure to choose wisely.

Easily Generate Bio Videos for Your Small Business With Powtoon

If your business is small, odds are good you don’t have a large video production budget. Luckily, you don’t need one. With Powtoon’s templates, you can easily create award-winning bios for your marketing, customer support, or recruitment strategies without spending more than you can afford. Get started for free today!

The post Why Video Bios Are Perfect for Small Businesses appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

It might seem daunting to create content and edit a video to make it look professional and engaging. But I’ll let you in on a little secret! If you are working with the right software, software that is simple and easy to use that produces professional results every time, video creation and editing is going to become your new hobby and only mode of communication! 

And that’s where Powtoon comes in! Ranked highly by G2, one of the top peer-to-peer review sites, we are proud to announce that Powtoon has been granted multiple awards across a variety of categories in the creation space. 

So why not use one of the industry leaders in video content and creation to transform your communications. Here’s a look at what Powtoon is ranking for:

Content Creation

What is at the core of any video? It isn’t the animation and the fun colors and sounds, but the actual content itself. You want to make sure that the software you are working with either provides inspiration or can service the amount of content you wish to include in your video. Whether you have a pre-existing idea or need a little bit of guidance, content is key! 

Powtoon has been awarded as both a leader and high performer in content! Powtoon received the award for Enterprise Leader for Content Creation as well as being a High Performer for E-Learning Content. 

Presentation Quality 

It is the presentation software which allows businesses and clients to create clear, engaging and informative presentations, an important tool for any enterprise. When creating a presentation or video demonstration, don’t settle for less than the professional and quality outcomes. 

The key is having an easy-to-use software if you are a beginner video creator, as well as a software that provides experts with everything they need to produce a quality video. You want to make sure that the download quality is clear and precise.

Look no further than Powtoon, awarded High Performer Enterprise for Presentation. 

Animation

What is the most enjoyable part of creating a video? Adding in all the animation – the twists and turns, the ups and downs, the appearances and disappearances. Animation is what dazzles, excites and engages your audience, keeping them entertained and informed. You want to make sure the video presentation platform you have selected provides you an endless variety of animation options that give your video that little extra something.  

And who better to be awarded Leader in Animation than Powtoon! Powtoon prides itself on its endless animation possibilities, growing from the most simple movements to intrinsic motions of objects, customized characters, text and more, integrating a variety of styles and themes to suit any need. 

Course Authoring 

The time has come to shred all those long documents that put people to sleep! Excite your new employees, prospective clients and more with video presentations. Prepare educational material courses, whether it is onboarding a new employee or a demonstration of a new IT software. Ditch the documents and create videos, and revolutionize your general communications to be more accessible and easily understood. 

And what is the best platform to use for course authoring? Powtoon! Awarded Leader in Course Authoring! 

Start working with the best!

Start your video content and creation journey now, with one of the industry’s leading platforms, Powtoon! Go on! You will never look back! 

The post Powtoon Leads G2’s Best Software Awards in 2022 appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

In digital transformation consulting, results matter – but so do first impressions. Clients will evaluate a consultant’s ability to overhaul their company’s digital transformation process based on many things, not the least of which is the consultant’s proficiency with digital tools in their own practice. To gain the confidence of potential clients, use digital technologies that are sure to impress! 

Lead By Example

As a digital transformation expert, don’t just recommend digital tools to your clients – use them! This demonstrates your ability to innovate and gives your clients a taste of the end-user experience. Incorporating some of your favorite business applications into your practice will give your recommendations extra credibility, and make your work easier, too.

Workplace Communication Tools for Digital Transformation Consulting

Want to improve communication with your clients, your colleagues, and relevant stakeholders? Here are the workplace communication tools you’ll need.

Messaging app: Collaborating with colleagues on a big client project? A messaging app offers a convenient and contemporary way to connect outside of the outdated (and often ignored) email inbox.

Screen capture technology: What’s better than a detailed email or a vague verbal explanation of a tool’s digital capability and usefulness? A visual demonstration, of course! Screen-capture technology allows you to quickly and easily demonstrate the use of a tool and show clients exactly how it can improve workflow or efficiency.

Secure sharing platform: You become privy to sensitive and proprietary information when helping companies develop scalable digital solutions to improve their business processes. Any platform you use to share documents, videos, or presentations needs to be secure so the confidentiality of the information is not compromised. This is particularly important when using web-based applications; be aware of security and sharing settings so viewers can’t inadvertently stumble across content on a web search or internal users can’t accidentally share with an unapproved party.

Digital collaboration tools: Presentations or projects often involve multiple collaborators. You need to be able to create a joint proposal with your colleagues, solicit feedback from your supervisor, and share the final product with your client. Ideally, you’ll do this all on the same platform rather than emailing digital drafts back and forth. A web-based collaboration tool makes this possible!

Digital video creation software: Incorporating video helps facilitate clear communication with clients and colleagues – but this can be complicated and time-consuming without the right tech tools. Choose a digital video creation platform with user-friendly templates, easy customization, and branding options to create professional-quality videos. Embed video messages in internal emails to colleagues or use an animated explainer video to propose a new business process to clients. However you choose to use it, a video will get the message across far better than an email or verbal pitch.

Project management software: Scaling a company’s digital transformation is complex and often involves coordinating multiple people, timelines, tasks, and budgets. Project management software helps with oversight and collaboration between teams and quickly gives accurate project updates to clients and other stakeholders.

Collaborative team software: This “digital office” combines a few of the previous tools under one roof. A team-focused platform often includes messaging functionality, video chat, virtual meeting rooms, task-scheduling capabilities, calendar access, and document or project collaboration all in one spot. Other tools may even integrate with your collaborative team software, such as your timekeeping program or video platform. Communicate with clients, collaborate with colleagues, and store all your assets in one easy-to-access online hub.

ERP software: With an ERP, you can better serve clients and optimize your internal business processes with real-time data and information transparency. You can respond to inquiries faster and more accurately and reduce time spent on ancillary activities. 

CRM software: Unless you’re a solo practitioner, clients will likely interact with your company at multiple touchpoints so having all relevant customer information available in one place is essential for doing business. CRM improves interdepartmental collaboration and ultimately elevates the customer experience. If it integrates with your ERP software, it’s even better.

Time & expense tracking software: Are you working with other vendors on behalf of your clients? Do you incur business expenses from travel? Are you billing your consulting clients by the hour? A digital time & expense platform can help you keep track of billable hours, organize documentation for reimbursable expenses, and accurately invoice clients.

Scale Digital Transformation with Powtoon

Use Powtoon’s visual communication platform throughout the customer life cycle. Create attention-grabbing proposals, communicate with clients, share information with stakeholders, solicit feedback, collaborate with colleagues, and produce memorable wrap-ups at each project’s conclusion. Plus, you can streamline your business processes by creating informative or instructional videos and repurposing them for use with multiple clients! Your clients may be so impressed with your innovative professional comms that they switch to the platform themselves. (Trust us, it’s happened before). Sign up for free and see how Powtoon can facilitate your company’s digital transformation!

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