How to prevent online fraud? Time to protect your company

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Have you ever been afraid of falling victim to online fraud? Today we’ll tell you how to avoid it and discuss the various types that exist.

Technology has become an integral part of our lives, offering numerous advantages that make life easier. However, are these advantages a double-edged sword?

In the last year, cybercriminals have increased their activity in businesses by 44%. This surge has been observed during the declaration of the Spanish state of alarm. Spain, like other European countries, has witnessed the rise of cybercrime since 2011.

Over the past decade, online fraud has seen a growth of 813% in Spanish territory, with businesses being the most affected in 2020.

So, today we explain the types of deception to help you avoid them and prevent them from reaching your company or organization.

Types of Online Fraud

Companies can fall victim to various types of theft, with the majority being perpetrated through email.

Email spoofing, or the impersonation of a company’s identity, is the favorite tool of cybercriminals aiming to deceive consumers of that brand. Through this technique, scammers impersonate the identity of companies to send spam, spread malware, or engage in phishing practices.

Phishing is one of the most common actions to obtain customers’ personal data by impersonating their identity.

Types of Identity Theft:

  1. Fake Microsoft Technical Support:

This scam involves a Microsoft technician contacting the company under the pretext of “fixing various technical issues with the computer.” This allows them to obtain confidential information from the company without arousing suspicion.

  1. CEO Fraud:

This online fraud is based on deceiving a worker in the financial department with access to banking transactions. The employee receives an email from the “CEO, president, or director of the company” requesting an urgent and confidential transaction to another account, which belongs to the scammer.

  1. HR Fraud:

This scam targets the company’s Human Resources personnel. The department receives an email from a “worker” who wants to change the account where they receive their salary. A request like this results in the theft of an employee’s salary, transferring it to the scammer’s account.

  1. Sextortion Campaign:

This scam involves threatening a worker with the disclosure of personal or intimate content to their entire contact list if they do not make a payment to the provided account. This practice has various variants, including the use of other content to extort the company or the worker.

  1. Ransomware:

This scam involves blocking the company’s computers until an immediate financial transaction is made. Access to the computers is typically gained through the execution or download of specific content sent via email.

  1. Web Skimming:

Cybercriminals exploit unpatched vulnerabilities in content management systems or phishing campaigns to gain access to the store. This allows them to steal all personal information entered by customers.

  1. Website Impersonation:

One of the most commonly used online frauds involves copying the official website to obtain personal data and money from purchases. This is carried out through cybersquatting techniques, creating an exact copy of both the design and information on the website.

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Identify online fraud in your inbox

Email is one of the primary working methods for companies; hence, scammers will attempt fraudulent practices using this system.

Here are some elements to consider when receiving suspicious notifications:

1. Senders:

   Pay special attention to the senders of your emails; most of them have one of these structures:

  •  They do not match official addresses and are often similar (remember that if you want to confirm the contact, you can call the official entity).
  • The email starts with “Dear taxpayer” or “Dear customer” with the invoice number hidden. Companies usually identify themselves from the beginning.
  • They are different from previous messages or request personal information.

2. Links:

When receiving any link in the email, it is advisable not to open it until confirming its source. You can analyze the way the link is written.

Pay special attention to punctuation marks, the security certificate, spelling mistakes, or if it is very different from the official website link.

3. Attachments:

Attachments are another tactic used to spread malware or obtain personal data from your customers. Be suspicious when the sender is unknown, or your company has not requested such information.

According to a study by TransUnion, an international analysis and information organization, the most affected sectors are telecommunications, financial services, and gambling.

Another indicator in recent years has been the development of these scams in major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, or Valencia.

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With the technological leap we have experienced due to the COVID-19 health crisis, it was expected that these scams would increase.

Therefore, we have wanted to create this article to make you aware of how to protect your company from these frauds. Feel free to follow the advice we have provided.

Now that you know how to identify them, do not hesitate to contact HelloMrLead if you want to receive more information, discuss a specific case, and boost the LEADS for your business.

Predictable lead prospecting, a data-driven strategy

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Make a predictive lead prospecting (Predictable lead prospecting), is a very important task for monitoring current trends and for decision making in your company, learn how to use this information and meet your objectives. 

At first glance it may seem a long and complex process, but when making important decisions related to the fulfilment of our main objective, we should not overlook certain aspects that could be useful to us. A very effective and simple way to avoid possible errors is the analysis of lead prospecting.

INDEX

  1. What is the main objective of Predictable lead prospecting?
  2. Key indicators and questions. 
  3. Dimensions and classifications. 
  4. Examples of a case study. 
  5. Predictable lead prospecting analysis. 
  6. Conclusions. 

1. What is the main objective of Predictable lead prospecting?

One of our main problems and which we want to solve through a comprehensive prospecting analysis is the following: being a B2B marketing agency we want to find out if we are able to deliver within x days a significant number of leads to our customer. 

Meanwhile it is dedicated to analyze millions of pages of online stores and marketplace through artificial intelligence monitoring prices, analyzing competition. So while we as an agency can identify types of deals (objective profiles), which depend on the projection (international or national) and the type of company (brand or retailer). 

2. Key indicators and questions

The people involved in this case will be: an SDR, SDR Manager, Copywriter and a commercial director, for each position we build a different dashboard using various dimensions, metrics and KPIs.

To define them we have asked ourselves a series of questions, which will help us to know what data we must extract to achieve our goal from dashboards.

For example, to find the SDR indicators we have defined:

  • Am I more likely to schedule a brand or retailer meeting?
  • Am I more likely to schedule an international or national meeting?
  • Why do I lose brand/retailer operations?
  • Why do I lose international/domestic operations?
  • Where do the best deals work for me?

For other positions they would be very different, since the tasks and progress to be measured vary according to the type of work and its place in the prospecting chain. 

If you need help from an expert in obtaining leads or in approaching your predictable lead prospecting, contact us

3. Dimensions and classifications

It is important to define what our capacity is, so for this we look for what is the relevant information that will help us answer the questions asked above. This information will be displayed in graphics to make it more visual and easy to understand our ability, but taking into account classifying them into important categories of campaign such as:  

  • Company type
  • Projection
  • Won/Lost
  • Provenance

4. Examples of a case study

Below, we will expose the extracted data in a clear example of the analysis in the form of a graph, how the visual development that we are going to expose to the customer looks: 

  • Type of enterprise

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This is the graph that answers the question: Am I more likely to schedule a brand or retailer meeting?

To make the chart we have decided to filter by the number of deals we have at the stage “Appointment scheduled” and if these deals belong to the brand or retailer sector.

As you can see from the chart, I’m more likely to schedule a brand meeting.

  • Projection

This is the graph that answers the question: Am I more likely to schedule a national or international meeting?

To make the graph we have decided to filter by the number of deals we have at the stage “Appointment scheduled” and if these deals are national or international.

As you can see from the chart, I’m more likely to schedule an international meeting.

  • Lost/Won

The reasons for loss are as follows:

  • Don’t care
  • Others
  • Covered service
  • It’s not decided here, it’s decided centrally
  • He/She is not in charge
  • Internally resolved

This is the graph that answers the question of: Why do I lose brand/retailer operations?

To make it we have decided to filter by the number of lost deals we have in each stage, if these are brand or retailer and for the reason of lost.

As you can see from the chart, the main reason for losing is “They don’t care”. We mark this reason when the deal does not show any interest in the product of our customer, usually when they give answers of this type is because they have not read the mail or do not know very well what this is and what can bring them.

This is the graph that answers the question of: Why do I lose international/domestic operations?

To make the graph we have decided to filter by the number of lost deals we have at each stage, whether these are national or international and for the reason of lost.

As you can see from the chart, the biggest reason for loss is “Don’t care” followed by covered service.

The dashboard gives us a list of the lost deals with the reasons “They are not interested”, from this we can better analyze the emails and for example send them another proposal that is more appropriate to your product or service.

We will talk more about the subsequent actions derived from the in-depth knowledge of these reasons in other articles dedicated to Predictable Prospecting.

  • Provenance

This is the graph that answers the question of: Where do the deals that work best for me come from?

To make the graph we have decided to filter by the number of won deals we have and their origin.

There are 2 types of origin:

  • By the nature of the data (Migration* of other customers’ contacts or own BDDs)
  • By the channel through which we are impacting (LinkedIn and mail) 

Knowing how to identify the channel is more important than we think, we must know which of these works best for us to invest more time and money in this. For example, as you can see in the graph above the channel that works best for us is mail, since we have won more deals through this channel.

The origin of LinkedIn works the least for us, so we must invest more time and resources in mail and consider the use of LinkedIn as an additional channel, trying to automate most of the management of that. 

As you can see in the graph, the biggest reason for earned is the provenance by “BBDD Numbers”, in it appear phone numbers linked to the accounts of people included in that database and other data such as name, email, company.

These are the prospects that have run in campaign and have received the entire sequence of mail but have not answered, these are loaded to the CRM and there we give them the follow-up, these belong to mail, because that is the channel through which they are impacted.

5. Predictable lead prospecting analysis

After carrying out our research, if we look at the charts above, and with the help of other data such as the volume of companies we have in the databases we can finally say whether or not we are able to meet our goal.

Reviewing which sectors to bet on and with which we have the best results will give us an idea of where to lean more efforts and which ones to leave as means of reinforcement, this will help us to meet specific monthly targets on which we can effectively meet.

If you need help from an expert in obtaining leads or in approaching your predictable lead prospecting, contact us. 

6. Conclusions

  • The external impact

The graphical data compared and synthesized give us knowledge and allow us to correct the strategy and even the product if we see that the UVP and USP does not fit in the desired market.

It is very important to know our target to know with certainty to which people we should sell our service/product and how to do it to impact more.

Another important factor is knowing how to interpret the data, since as we have seen in the graphs of examples, they provide us with relevant information for our business, but without the appropriate analysis they do not facilitate the making of profitable and effective decisions.

For example, in the case in focus, there are several possible avenues for further action:

  1. Conduct a new market study, which interests the customer but does not generate many opportunities (retailers nationwide) to discover their needs and adapt the product. 
  2. Deepen the surveys of prospects not interested in the product to better know their motives and change consecutively. 
  3. According to the indicators achieved recalculate the price of the solution in relation to the objective annual turnover.
  4. Expand the vision to niches and markets with greater potential and/or lower cost of customer acquisition.
  • The internal impact

On the other hand, if we know how to squeeze the numbers and get to the bottom, we can not only correctly target the product or marketing strategies but we will manage to analyze and improve the business itself.

There are more or less efficient equipment and/or tools, only by looking at the performance in perspective can we make informed decisions about development, growth and investments, whether in the form of time or money.

For example, we saw above that with good BBDD and qualified SDRs we deliver more leads than we do with LinkedIn prospects. Great, we need to strengthen the SDR and Lead Prospecting team with human capital and automate LinkedIn management with tools to not focus on something secondary that is not even profitable.

Also dependent on the causes of loss of opportunity it is possible that some minor corrections in the BANT speech may decrease the leakage of prospects at the interaction stage.

By analyzing consecutively the metrics and indicators established for other involved positions we can perfect the process, the final goal may be to find a point where the cost of acquisition or the speed of maturation of a lead are the least possible.

If you need help from an expert in obtaining leads or in approaching your predictable lead prospecting, contact us. 

Copywriter vs Content writer: Definition and differences.

Although copywriter and content writer are usually positions focused on written and conceptual development, they are two roles with great differences, so if you are looking for candidates to join your team it is important to know the differences of each role, today we point out some. 

Index

  1. Work purpose. 
  2. What are its real objectives?
  3. Content development.
  4. Types of writing. 
  5. Job offers. 

1. Purpose of copywriters and content writers

Copy writing is to sell the brand, communication in its advertising nature, since its intention is to attract customers to use the products and/or services of a company.

On the other hand, content writer talks about the brand subtly while delivering some kind of valuable content, it is the art of selling people an idea, brand or ideology, the best wording merges the products and image of a brand to create the branding. 

For Mad Men fans, this is what Don Draper and Peggy Olson did all the time at Sterling Cooper (or whatever agency they were with at the time). They did not sell products, but ideas and emotions linked to products. So we could say that the content writer could be much more conceptual and the copy writer much more direct and punctual when looking for a lead. 

2. What are its real objectives?

Copywriting is about creating content, informing, educating or entertaining; having a clear purpose and/or reason behind the piece; representing the brand’s voice.

So the content writer focuses on the quality of reading, regardless of whether it is published by the same brand or an external platform. For businesses (and some data-driven publishers), content writing aligns with strategic business and marketing goals to attract potential audiences.

Here’s one way to look at both: content writing conveys information to the audience while copywriting reveals what the brand is about.

The two, of course, share similarities. On the one hand: objectives. Both copywriting and content writing ultimately seek to turn a reader into a sale or a potential customer. Another similarity: both need to be well written

The definition of quality writing is different in each case, but whatever the purpose, it attracts readers to keep reading. Bottom line: copy writer sells an idea, while cotent writer aims to create valuable content to help audiences understand their brand and generate interest.

3. Development of content

A content writer whose job is to produce copies, this can come in many forms, but the general idea is that a copywriter writes marketing material for a living, it’s his craft, hobby, skill, whatever you want to call it.

Now, a copywriter can be anyone, not necessarily a professional writer, but someone who produces content, thanks to the democratization of the internet, anyone can write now, including professionals, executives, bloggers, software engineers, CEO, etc. Of course, the best people understand the craft of writing content, but they may not. 

Bottom line: a content writer who writes marketing copies; a copywriter can be anyone who produces content.

4. Types of writing

A copywriter writes marketing material, a content writer writes content, but what kind of material and content? This is the last great distinction between the two.

Traditionally, content writer was limited to advertising, but the internet changed the scope of what editors can write beyond witty slogans, today, the list includes, but is not limited to:

  • Ads, online and offline
  • Content of the website
  • SEO content
  • Email campaigns
  • Commercial television or radio scripts
  • Video scripts
  • Press releases
  • white papers
  • Catalogues
  • Brochures
  • Postcards
  • Sales letters
  • Direct mail
  • Letras de canciones de The Beatles
  • Social networks

Today’s copywriters see a lot of overlap with content writers and technical writers, but remember: the point is to sell an idea as part of a marketing campaign.

Similarly, content writing has many opportunities to write different types of content, including, but not limited to:

  • Blog posts
  • Newspaper articles
  • Characteristics of the journal
  • White papers
  • Information bulletins by e-mail
  • E-books
  • Books
  • Publications on social media
  • Pódcast
  • Television
  • Film
  • Radio

Yes, even television and movies are considered content these days, just a different type (but that’s another story).

5. Job offers

Taking into account the different nature of these two positions sure that by publishing job offers you will seek different qualifications and knowledge:

The list of what is usually requested in a copywriting job: 

  • SEO and SEM knowledge
  • High English level, other languages are also valued
  • Good management Excel
  • High level of grammar and writing

Tools:

  • WordPress
  • Elementor
  • Mailchimp
  • Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads
  • Sales Navigator
  • Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Google Ad display and Google Trends
  • SEMrush

The list of what is usually requested in a content writer/manager job:

  • Creation of contents together with the search for truthful information about the service or product
  • Basic image editing and adaptation to different formats
  • Complete BBDD of bloggers and journalists, also contact them
  • Interact with other blogs, RRSS or forums.
  • Preparation of reports for customers
  • Office package knowledge

Tools:

  • Mailify
  • Experience with WordPress 
  • Prestashop (for eCommerce)
  • Knowledge of HTML and Photoshop
  • Trello, Basecamp, Asana, Magento

What you really need to keep in mind is that brands of all kinds need copywriters and content writers to stay up to date, so there are plenty of opportunities for writers to try both, it’s just a matter of leveling it according to your company’s needs.