WebProNews

Category: Marketing Strategies

  • 7 Local Marketing Tips to Help You Make More Sales

    7 Local Marketing Tips to Help You Make More Sales

    Most small businesses want to spread the word about their product or service to as many people as possible. But after covering the cost of inventory, employee wages, utilities, taxes, and a host of other expenses, many of these businesses simply don’t have enough money left over to launch widespread advertising campaigns. The good news is…even if you’re running a business on a tight budget, you can still afford effective advertising; you’ll just need to think local.

    Local marketing, or location-based marketing, is the process of optimizing your company’s website and online presence to drive traffic to localized areas. This is particularly useful now that Google’s algorithm utilizes location in its search results. People looking for goods and services online get results for nearby businesses relevant to their search request. This is a highly targeted, low-cost way for businesess—big and small—to reach customers.

    7 Ways to Increase Your Revenue With Local Marketing

    1. Optimize Your Website for Mobile

    Small businesses need to capture the attention of mobile searchers. Increase the odds of converting these leads by optimizing your website for mobile so that whatever screen your site is accessed on, it will still be displayed seamlessly.

    2. Get Your Business Listed

    One of the first things you can do for your small business is to get listed on Google’s My Business or Facebook. Doing this will enable you to update and manage critical information like your business address, contact details, opening hours, and images.

    3. Build Bridges With Local Businesses

    Align yourself with an established shop in the area and come to a mutual marketing agreement. For instance, a consultancy group could offer a discount on one of its seminars to the top clients of a local accounting firm. Working with these businesses enhance your credibility and gives prospective clients a chance to learn more about your company.

    4. Secure Testimonials

    A lot of people rely on online reviews when they’re trying to assess whether a business is trustworthy. Try to secure a testimonial from a resident since it will carry more weight, especially if it’s from someone known in the area.

    5. Use Social Media to Engage With the Locals

    Social media has made connecting with people so easy. You can integrate platforms like Facebook or Instagram into your customer service and outreach efforts. For instance, you could use hyper-local keywords in your posts or hashtags to establish your current location or put the focus on local stores that you have partnered with.

    6. Work With Local Publications

    Work with local publications to engender more face time with the area’s residents. Find a publication that ties up with your product or business model. Check if they’re looking for ad placements or even guest blog writers. You can even ask them if they can do a write-up about your company.

    7. Sponsor a Community or Charity Event

    Sponsoring an event is an effective way to utilize one of the most fundamental advertising tactics—putting your name on something. Consider sponsoring a neighborhood team or donating to a known charity in exchange for putting your brand’s name on the marquee or t-shirts from the event. You’ll be giving money to a good cause while ensuring that your company’s name is seen by a captive market.

    A local marketing strategy can be an effective way to generate sales for your small business without spending too much. Get your brand noticed by interacting with the community, whether it’s through local influencer, partnering with an established shop, or sponsoring an event.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • 5 Ways to Use FoMO in Your Online Marketing Strategy

    5 Ways to Use FoMO in Your Online Marketing Strategy

    It’s human nature to want to be “connected” or “in the know.” In the past, not knowing where new water and food sources are could result in death. The situation now isn’t as dire as it was before, but the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is causing people to become afraid of missing out on the latest trends, products, and ideas.

    Why FoMO Works as a Marketing Strategy

    While FoMO was only included in the Oxford dictionary in 2013, the idea has been around for a long time. Every generation, from Baby Boomers to Gen Xers, has always had the desire to be in the loop, but it could be argued that the rise of social media has taken this fear to new levels. According to a MyLife research, 56 percent of social media users are afraid that if they’re not active, they’ll miss out on the latest news, upgrades, events, and status updates.

    Marketers can, and have been, leveraging this fear and incorporating it into their strategies. This makes particular sense considering that studies have shown that 69% of millennials experience FoMO and more than half have made reactive purchases because of it. In short, these consumers have bought something just because they’re afraid of missing out.

    5 Ways to Use FoMO in Your Online Marketing Strategy

    Knowing how to utilize FoMO is an effective tactic for marketing your product or service. Luckily, there are several tried and tested techniques that can create a FoMO effect. Here are five examples:

    1. Have Flash Sales

    The flash sale is a very common FoMO marketing campaign. The idea of limited stocks and/or a limited time period naturally creates a sense of urgency. It also creates the feeling of scarcity when it comes to products. This leads to a major boost in conversions, as seen during Black Friday sales, end of season sales or anniversary offers.

    2. Organize Limited-Time Events

    Event organizers have also taken advantage of FoMO by limiting the number of seats or participants allowed in specific events. Some even offer exclusive seats and bank on the idea of a limited special offer to push people to purchase tickets. While this has been proven effective in music shows or conferences, a lot of businesses are now incorporating this idea to drum up excitement and interest in their podcasts or marketing webinars.

    3. Introduce Loyalty Reward Programs

    Loyalty programs are another sure-fire way to ensure long-term customer retention. By giving customers timely rewards and the odd special prizes, companies create a FoMo effect among those who are not customers or loyal members yet. This fear of missing out on special gifts and freebies will result in more people joining a company’s loyalty program scheme.

    4. Promote User Experience

    Letting your users or customers help is another good FoMO strategy. Some companies utilize user-generated content (UGC) to let site visitors and potential customers see and experience how “real people” use their products and services. This, in turn, leads to others wanting to experience and share their experiences too. Examples of these are marketing campaigns where consumers submit their photos or use certain hashtags.

    5. Give Rewards to Early Purchasers

    Giving away free products is undoubtedly a great way to attract customers. But you can make it even more compelling by limiting the freebies you give away. This is why some brick-and-mortar stores only offer a special discount or give a free gift to the first 200 customers. This then forces thousands of people to line up for the product.

    The fear of missing out runs deep in most consumers. However, the desire for instant gratification and the popularity of social media has given this fear an added dimension. No matter how you decide to use FoMO, you should incorporate it in some of your marketing campaigns in order to generate more sales and keep your brand relevant.

  • Why Live Streaming Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy in 2018

    Why Live Streaming Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy in 2018

    More and more brands are using live streaming to reach their audience and promote their business.

    Companies like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat and, Twitch have invested millions of dollars to build and improve their own live streaming platforms. The idea isn’t exactly a brand new one, as it has been around since 2011. But when Facebook launched its Facebook Live feature in 2016, live streaming was brought to the forefront.

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    Live streaming has rapidly grown in popularity because of its low cost and its sense of immediacy that gives viewers the feeling of being part of the action. In fact, the video streaming market is expected to grow from $30 billion in 2016 to about $ 70 billion by 2021, which makes it important for marketers to understand why it has become popular and how to use it to promote their brand. Here’s some insight:

    Live Streaming Gives Instant Gratification

    Consumers don’t want to wait a long time to enjoy their “win,” whether this is a discount, deal, or information. Live streaming gives them the instant gratification that they crave, by allowing them to interact immediately with your content.

    When users join a live stream, they can instantly start to participate in the commentary. Not only can consumers engage with the host, they can also communicate with others about the topic, the services, products, and other key content. Live streaming also gives the company instantaneous feedback regarding their content, thereby giving them an idea of the interest level of the product.

    Live Streaming Humanizes Your Company

    Businesses can use live streaming to give their customers a look behind-the-scenes. They can even introduce their teams or other employees this way. This helps give a human face to your brand and improve the relationship between your customers and you.

    Live Streaming Reaches More People

    Live streaming should be a key tool in your marketing campaign. Unlike email marketing, which only reaches people on your list, live streaming can generate leads from people you haven’t targeted. Word of mouth reviews or recommendations on social media can create interest in groups that the company wouldn’t even have thought of reaching out to.

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    There are endless possibilities with live streaming, and many companies have already integrated it successfully in their marketing campaigns.

    One brand that was able to leverage live streaming effectively was Kohl’s. The retail chain introduced an instant purchase feature via a live stream during New York Fashion Week. Viewers who watched the stream also had access to the different clothing featured on the host catwalk. Kohl’s masterful integration of the product links to the live feed led consumers to view relevant items and closed some sales.

    If you intend to use live streaming to promote your brand or eCommerce business, it’s important to be clear on what you want to achieve and what strategy you will use. Here are few ways to make the most of this marketing tool:

    • Product Demos: Many consumers don’t understand a product’s value until they really see how it is used. A live stream product demo can show audiences what they need to know about the product and answer their questions. Some companies have even closed sales moments after the release of a live stream demo. Brands with complex products should consider a live stream campaign to explain the principles behind their products.
    • Product Launches: Live streaming is a great way to launch new products or introduce additions to a product line. For instance, a handbag company can use Facebook Live to tease or showcase the new designs and colors of their spring collection.
    • Entertainment: Companies can live stream company rallies, debates, workout or cooking sessions, or concerts to provide clients with special entertainment. This can help boost a company’s popularity and image.
    • Q&A sessions: User-driven Q&A sessions can provide important and actionable data. It also gives brands an image of authority and credibility. These sessions can be hosted by an expert or an influencer. Getting a celebrity to appear will also be a big draw.
    • How-tos: How-to tutorials are one of the most successful strategies for content marketing, and using live streaming will boost this to a whole new level. For example, if you’re running an online bookstore, an author reading an excerpt from their upcoming book will attract a lot of views and attention.

    There’s a reason why big companies like Coke and Chevrolet have utilized live-stream marketing campaigns. It engages customers quickly and introduces products effectively. Live streaming will continue to be a major factor in marketing, so it’s time your business jump on the technology and uses it to your advantage.  

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • Why Your eCommerce Business Should Not Ignore Mobile Marketing in 2018

    Why Your eCommerce Business Should Not Ignore Mobile Marketing in 2018

    Mobile devices were named the leading digital platform in 2014, overtaking laptops and desktops. Since then, use of these gadgets just kept increasing. And even though some studies show the amount of time spent on mobile devices has gone down somewhat, non-voice mobile use in 2017 was still ahead of laptop and desktop use.

    Reasons eCommerce Companies Should Focus on Mobile

    Even though people are on mobile devices more often, companies didn’t put too much stock into using them to make sales. After all, most data showed that while people used their smartphones to check out products, most purchases were done on desktops, laptops, or tablets.

    However, the tide is now changing, as last year’s Cyber Monday saw $2 billion in sales on mobile devices. Retail visits accounted for 37.6% of sales while 21% of sales were done on smartphones. Conversion rates on these devices were pegged to have increased by about 10% since the previous year.

    Retailers have even more reasons to focus on mobile in 2018. Smartphones are expected to dominate this year, with about 36% of people around the world owning one. A large number of millennials are also foregoing computers and just using their smartphones to access the internet.

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    [Graphic via Hostadvice.com]

    Companies are also expected to come out with better retailer apps that are designed to encourage more consumers to purchase. The rise in popularity of PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet for mobile will also introduce fast and seamless transactions.

    3 Ways to Boost Mobile Sales

    Now that mobile shopping is on the rise, at last, retailers have to decide whether they are really going to focus on this trend or not. Retailers that don’t want to miss out on the growing sales opportunities of mobile devices, will first need to find the best ways to boost mobile sales. Here are some suggestions on how to go about it:

    1. Improve Mobile App Designs

     Even though most retailers have their own mobile apps, they often have bugs or are not designed for wide-scale consumer use. Because of problems with the interface and functionality, the apps have low conversion rates. Consumers also are not inclined to keep using them. One study revealed that more than 50% of retail apps are used less than 10 times and that 15% of consumers don’t even use shopping apps.

    There are several factors that consumers find off-putting with retailer apps. One is the limited visibility they have when checking product images. Push notifications also tend to interrupt shopping time and many apps crash or freeze when the user gets a phone call or text message.

    2. Optimize Websites for Mobiles

    Companies that have not optimized their websites for mobile viewing miss out on sales opportunities. Consider the fact that 87% of shoppers would first look for the product online before going to the store. About 79% of shoppers actually check a product online while on the store’s premises and 35% after leaving the store. This is an issue that companies should take seriously, particularly as mobile traffic is expected to overtake desktop traffic in the first quarter of 2018.

    Therefore, companies should make sure that their websites are optimized for mobile devices. One important factor that should be considered is the site’s layout and how it reacts to various screen sizes. Retailers should also take steps to minimize customer frustrations and mistakes. For example, offering alternative ways to input choices, like drop-down lists or tick boxes, will make for a more fun mobile shopping experience.

    3. Offer More Payment Options

    Giving consumers more payment options will also help boost mobile sales. Countries like China have already embraced mobile wallets and payments, and companies who want to tap into such a rich market should make sure they offer that particular payment option.

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    The increasing popularity of mobile payment apps like Android Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal is also expected to result in people relying solely on their smartphones when they go shopping. Offering customers various payment options can also expand a company’s reach to the millions of shoppers who use alternative payment systems.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • 5 Things You Should Know About Marketing to Baby Boomers

    5 Things You Should Know About Marketing to Baby Boomers

    Millennials have been on the radar of most marketers the past few years. While this is a large and potentially Image result for baby boomer disposable income 2018lucrative demographic, the most powerful group, at least when it comes to spending, is still the baby boomers.

    Marketers understand that about 70 million people from this generation will be entering retirement over the next ten years. However, there are things that make baby boomers unique. For one, they are an affluent group and retirement gives them a lot of free time to shop and flex their spending powers. According to Forbes, boomers will inherit about $13 trillion over the next 20 years.

    Companies should then be adjusting their marketing tactics to reach this large group of consumers. Here are five things you should know about marketing to baby boomers:

    1. Baby Boomers Don’t Like to be Called ‘Old’

    Just because baby boomers are mostly retired doesn’t mean they want to sit home and watch TV all day. Many people of this generation have the financial means and the desire to pursue the activities they didn’t get the chance to do when they were raising kids or part of the workforce. These retirees plan to travel to exotic locations, go on safaris, and skydive. While the marketing tactics you’ll need to use to get their attention may be different from other demographics, don’t assume that certain products and services won’t appeal to them just because of their age.

    2. Baby Boomers Enjoy Reading Good Copy

    Marketers should remember that baby boomers enjoy reading, so using trendy acronyms or Internet shorthand on Image result for senior reading tablet 300x300ad copy will not be appreciated. Boomers want to see information clearly printed out, so don’t be afraid of old-school, text-heavy advertising methods.

    A better approach for this generation is copy that’s straightforward, instead of today’s creative bells and whistles. Ad copy for boomers should address every possible question they might have. All the relevant answers and details should be included in direct mail ads, brochures, and on websites.

    3. Baby Boomers Don’t Like to be Rushed

    Aside from being more receptive to traditional marketing styles, baby boomers are also very careful when making purchases. Unlike the more flighty millennials, boomers consider each purchase an investment and will take time to study every product before making a decision. Their static budgets also mean this group is more careful about spending outside their limits.

    Boomers need to trust the brand. They need to fully understand the product, identify with other users and develop a rapport with the seller before making a purchase. While salespeople and marketers might be able to close a deal with a younger demographic with just one or two calls or emails, they would probably take a longer time handling senior consumers.

    4. Baby Boomers Prefer a Personal Touch

    Retirees have more free time on their hands which makes them more inclined to have lengthier social interactions with family, friends, neighbors and even salespeople. This opens a singular opportunity for a sales team to create sincere relationships with these potential clients.

    Sales teams should be prepared to invest time with a boomer. After all, the person at the other end has the luxury of time and willingness to listen and absorb your product’s features and value. 

    5. Baby Boomers are Tech Savvy

    Marketers should remember that baby boomers grew up with technology. This generation has made use of a plethora of different technologies since the introduction of the first black-and-white television set. This makes them unintimidated by more recent technologies like the internet or social media. In fact, the baby boomer generation spends as much time online as they do watching television. Studies show that 96% of baby boomers use search engines, 95% use email, and 92% shop for products and services online instead of shopping in stores and shopping malls.

    Boomers TV Usage Chart

    Graphic via dmn3.com

    Statistics also show that baby boomers are the fastest growing age demographic on Facebook, with an 80% rise in users between 2010 and 2014. By marketing your business to this generation through the web or social media platforms, you increase your chances to interact and do business with them.

  • 5 Brands That Used Influencer Marketing to Raise Their Profile

    5 Brands That Used Influencer Marketing to Raise Their Profile

    Influencer marketing is more than just a marketing buzzword these days. More companies are utilizing this marketing method to boost sales and grow their brands.

    For those still confused about what influencer marketing is, it’s simply the act of promoting or selling products or services via influencers, or people who have the ability to affect a brand. Where the main influencers before were celebrities and industry leaders, today’s influencers are more varied. Nowadays, top brands are seeking out bloggers, food critics, makeup mavens and celebrities who rose to fame on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.

    Brands that Benefited from Influencer Marketing

    Influencer marketing provides a lot of benefits. Brands can reach the relevant demographic and enjoy high levels of engagement. It’s also affordable and can help retain a brand’s authenticity. Numerous companies have already successfully leveraged these people to give their brand a boost.

    Clinique for Men

    Clinique is renowned for its hypoallergenic skincare for women. When the iconic cosmetic company launched a men’s line, they raised product awareness by partnering with a disparate group of male influencers from various professions. These influencers consisted of filmmakers, outdoorsmen, stylists, and lifestyle bloggers, each representing a group of men who would be interested in using Clinique for Men. Every post used in the campaign was unique and defined the influencer. For instance, surfer Mikey de Temple posted a photo of himself wearing his surf gear, with his surfboard in the background, along with a Clinique product.

    Clinique’s campaign was golden for several reasons. One, the company’s choice of influencers were so diverse that it expanded the product’s reach. Also, the posts integrated the product smoothly into a setting that was so natural to the influencer. This helped create a more organic interest in Clinique’s men’s line.

    Fashion Nova

    One brand that has truly embraced influencer marketing is Fashion Nova. According to the company’s founder and CEO, Richard Saghian, Fashion Nova is a viral store that works with 3,000 to 5,000 influencers. Its aggressive marketing efforts rely on lots of model and celebrity influencers, like Kylie Jenner and beauty vlogger Blissful Brii. The former has 93.8 million followers on Instagram while the latter has 93 thousand subscribers on YouTube. These two influencers alone have garnered millions of engagements, likes, and comments for the company.

    While other brands go for low-key but very relatable influencers, Fashion Nova went for the celebrities. While this will obviously net a company high-levels of engagement, it can also be costly. But as Fashion Nova has proven, it’s a worthwhile investment.

    Lagavulin’s Whiskey Yule Log

    This is a magnificent example of how an influencer marketing campaign made a product culturally relevant to a generation. Young people might not have a taste for single malt whiskey, but Lagavulin’s 2016 campaign featuring Nick Offerman changed that. Offerman’s iconic Parks and Rec character, Ron Swanson, is known for his love of whisky. Lagavulin’s 45-minute video took inspiration from YouTube’s yule log videos and simply showed Offerman quietly sipping and enjoying his whiskey next to a fireplace.

    The campaign was a success because Lagavulin found the perfect influencer for its brand. Offerman’s character proved to be a critical match for the target audience. As a matter of fact, the campaign was so good that it won an award for Best Influencer & Celebrity Campaign.

    Zafferano

    Zafferano does not have the same name recall as Nobu or other famous restaurants. But this Singapore-based establishment is a prime example of how social media can be used to boost audience engagement. The company tapped 11 Instagram influencers who are popular in the lifestyle and food category. They invited them to the restaurant for a special meal and in turn, they shared photos of the dishes on Instagram. The influencers also described the dishes and their dining experience. Details like price and availability were also included.

    Zafferano’s campaign is notable because of the experience it created for the influencers. This, in turn, helped them come up with authentic and sincere reviews. Since the campaign had such a genuine feel, it encouraged followers to interact and engage with the posts.

    Zara

    Clothing powerhouse Zara was one of the most profitable companies in 2015, and that’s partly because of its successful influencer marketing campaign. The company’s social media marketing campaign got some help from several top fashion-forward Instagrammers. The Instagram posts shared by these popular influencers showcased Zara’s clothing lines and their followers used these photos to get ideas on what’s currently trending as well as tips on how to work a particular style.

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    Zara’s campaign was a success because the company handed the control over to the fashion influencers, the people that customers looked to for fashion advice. The content that was used in the campaign was subtle and useful, which made it even more valuable to the influencers’ thousands of followers.

    [Featured image via YouTube]

  • Email Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2018

    Email Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2018

    The number of email users have grown exponentially over the years, and there’s no sign that it will be stopping in 2018. Studies have shown that almost 90% of American consumers use email, and 65% or more have bought something online due to promotional emails.

    This means the future of marketing relies on data-boosted content marketing. If you want to keep up with your competitors, you should watch out for these email marketing trends that are expected to dominate next year.

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    Marketers forecast that emails will show increased interactivity in 2018, with the goal of making them fun to read so engagement rates are increased and bounce rates reduced.

    One of the best ways to do this is to enhance emails by including image galleries, quizzes, GIFs, countdown timers, and add-to-cart capabilities. Quizzes and GIFS will lead to increased customer footprints while countdown timers create a feeling of urgency that will push recipients to take action within a stipulated time-frame. Meanwhile, including an add-to-cart function will shorten shopping time and enhance brand experience.

    Email Marketing Programs Backed by Artificial Intelligence

    It’s a given that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology will be a big part of the future. As a matter of fact, numerous tech companies have already invested heavily in developing AI technology that will make lives easier. Email marketing is one area that will reportedly benefit from machine learning.

    It’s expected that machine learning programs can assist companies and email marketers by suggesting ways on how to better segment email lists, incorporate product recommendations and design more personalized emails that target specific customers.

    Rise of More Plain-Text Emails

    The trend of using HTML-powered email templates with images is over. Instead, 2018 will see the rise of plain-text emails. Researchers have found that this style of email is more effective than the HTML ones. Marketing campaigns using plain text emails have been found to have higher delivery and open rates, as well as better engagement numbers.

    Marketing specialists have theorized that plain text emails look the same across various gadgets and look more personal. Recipients don’t have to open a browser to read a plain-text email. They’re also easier to format for mobile devices.

    Mobile Becomes a Priority

    More than half of emails are opened on a mobile device, and 2018 is expected to be the year when emails will be designed with mobile formatting as a priority.

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    Graphic via superoffice.com

    Pretty soon, companies will be obligated to have a responsive design when it comes emails. This trend won’t be limited to emails though. Subscription forms will also become more mobile friendly while articles will start wrapping up their content with an email signup form to boost conversions.

    Increased Significance of Gmail and its Subscriber-Level Filtering

    Gmail is becoming the primary inbox provider for a lot of companies. Therefore, most customers on subscriber lists have a Gmail address. But due to Gmail’s system of filtering email, it becomes imperative for businesses to think about how it will be placed in the inbox.

    In order for marketers to optimize clicks, opens, and conversions, they have to pay more attention to who they are emailing and how they’re sending their email.Questions like whether the subscriber is actively receiving and interacting with the email and whether they have economic value should be answered. Likewise, the frequency of emails sent, the order, and even the time that they’re sent becomes more significant.

    However, the upcoming year will see more companies using more robust analytics to optimize results and foregoing conventional rules like not sending mail to those who haven’t clicked or opened an email in the past three months.

    The year 2018 will see more emails that are deeply personalized and utilizing advanced automation technologies. The integration of AI and machine learning will also help marketers to harness the power of email marketing and use it to further their business.

  • Blockchain: How Will it Impact Digital Marketing?

    Blockchain: How Will it Impact Digital Marketing?

    The marketing industry generates billions of dollars every year. After all, every company needs ads and various marketing strategies in order to reach their target consumers.

    Forrester, a leading market research company, even said that by 2021, digital marketing costs will reach $120 billion. Unfortunately, about half of ad traffic is created by bots. It’s a decidedly dishonest practice, especially when you consider how much money companies put out just to reach prospective clients. But this practice might soon come to an end once businesses have a greater capacity to focus on specific customers.

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    Graphic via Techspot.com

    It’s a good thing then that digital marketing is very dynamic and open to change. It easily adapts to new technology and the shifting perceptions of customers. At the moment, there’s one tech advancement that has the potential to change digital marketing (and the world) like never before – the blockchain.

    What is Blockchain?

    Blockchain might seem too technical for most people to fully grasp, but it’s a fairly simple concept. The technology is essentially a public ledger that stores and distributes data. More importantly, everyone that uses blockchain can see and share all its data and by doing so, each user plays a role in keeping it updated and transparent.

    The system works by keeping data stored in a chain-like pattern and the transaction history is stored in “blocks.” Information stored in a blockchain can only be added to. It can’t be changed or copied. If someone were to attempt to change the history or hack the system, the ledger would have to be updated on all the users’ computers. Considering the number of users in a blockchain, this would be almost impossible to do, making the service very secure.

    How Will it Impact Digital Marketing?

    Blockchain is often linked to cryptocurrency. It’s decentralized nature, the freedom it offers, and heightened cybersecurity features makes it perfect storage for virtual money. However, blockchain also has a major impact on digital marketing.

    It Will Take Out the Middleman

    There’s always a middleman in digital marketing which means businesses only get half the value of what they have paid. Blockchain can do away with these intermediaries and help create better value for marketing campaigns.

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    Graphic via Linkedin.com

    With a blockchain, companies can forego the ad buy process and just target their prospective customers directly by paying them to view the ads. Businesses can use “microcurrencies” that customers can avail of once they’ve proven that they have watched the ad. The Brave browser has already started this, using their Basic Attention Token (BAT) to ensure that companies only pay for the ads that have been viewed by a real person.

    Trust is Built With Transparency

    One concern that companies have with online advertising is that it’s virtually impossible to know if the stats provided are accurate. There’s no way to check if the counted site clicks or followers are real customers, or even real people, for that matter. After all, ad companies can hire “clickers” or use bots to boost ad stats so distributors can charge higher fees.

    Blockchain will definitely have a significant impact here. Since the system is encrypted and transparent, companies can easily check if those viewing their ads are part of their target audience or not.

    Improves Accountability

    There’s nothing more disheartening than spending your hard earned cash on a counterfeit product. Blockchain can lessen the odds of this happening by improving merchants’ accountability in every step of the supply chain.

    Blockchain’s vaunted digital ledger system enables transparency that cannot be tampered with. Customers can check details like where the product came from, if it’s legit or fake, whether it’s bought from a physical store or an online action. Simply put, blockchain empowers the customer and improves their buying experience.

    There’s no question that the idea behind blockchain is a powerful one. The technology has the potential to impact cryptocurrency, digital marketing, and customer experience. The system is still in its infancy but is expected to see significant growth in the coming year.  

  • Should You Outsource Digital Marketing for Your Business?

    Should You Outsource Digital Marketing for Your Business?

    For most companies, digital marketing is essential to growing and retaining their customer base. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses are in the dark when it comes to implementing and managing this type of marketing strategy. As a matter of fact, an informal poll conducted by Smart Insights revealed that half of the businesses that use digital marketing don’t have a working marketing plan to go on.

    But before you hash out the details on when and where to launch your digital campaigns, you’ll first need to figure out who will get the job done for you. There are two approaches to tackling this problem: go in-house or outsource.

    The Case for In-House Digital Marketing

    A lot of companies take advantage of the abundant resources, current online technology and available information on strategies and techniques to manage an in-house digital marketing group. After all, there are several advantages to going this route, most important of which is saving money. Hiring a third-party marketing agency can be relatively expensive considering you’ll need to cover their costs as well as their “markups”. Another advantage would be having a dedicated team who knows the company’s specific goals and are working on a documented digital marketing plan. 

    However, one major problem that an in-house team often encounters is the steep learning curve employees without the relevant skill set face. More often than not, this would cause a slower ramp-up time for marketing campaigns. It’s also a sad fact that more than half of in-house digital marketers are ineffective because they learned about the system on-the-job, and did not undergo any official training.

    Choosing to Outsource Digital Marketing

    Outsourcing your digital marketing needs can be very beneficial, particularly if this task is not your forte. Tapping the services of a digital marketing group can give you several advantages, like having a team of experts readily available. This means that you won’t have to worry about a marketer going on a vacation or taking a sick leave. Your marketing needs will always come first, regardless of whether there’s a holiday or not.

    One big advantage of using a digital marketing agency is the insight it can give your business. Employers are often so consumed by the day-to-day running of the company that they don’t have time to understand the business more deeply, like studying what brings prospective clients to the site or how to optimize the company’s online presence. An unbiased set of eyes will give you a new outlook on how to handle your marketing needs. These marketing experts are also likely to be more up-to-date on the latest techniques and strategies being utilized in digital marketing circles.

    Perhaps the most important benefit outsourcing your digital needs give is that you get to focus on what’s crucial to your company. Businesses who opt to outsource do so in order to keep the marketing process separate from the company’s core operations. By being distinct, the marketers have more freedom to develop and execute winning marketing strategies and keep up with changing business needs.

    Graphic via Quartsoft.com

    Should You Outsource Your Digital Marketing Needs?

    Before you make a decision on whether to outsource your digital marketing needs, take the time to determine what you really need in terms of marketing. You should also consider the following when you begin your search for an outside marketing agency:

    • Your Company’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Knowing what your KPIs are will help narrow down what you need help with and what the marketing agency can do for you. KPIs will influence the strategy the agency will suggest, as conversions, traffic, cost and revenue per lead are key KPIs for businesses. Which means this is the first question any reputable digital marketing company would ask. Consider it a red flag if the agency doesn’t inquire about it. Conversely, you should also ask digital marketing specialists what they think about your KPIs and how to optimize it. A good company would help you pinpoint weaknesses in your current marketing strategy and introduce new ideas and strategies to help you get the best results for your business.
    • The Digital Agency’s Track Record: Don’t take recommendations at face value. Do your due diligence and check the marketing company’s track record. Ask what types of clients they have handled before and their success record. Most agencies would have case studies and a portfolio on hand. But bear in mind that some clients do ask for non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). However, agencies that can’t provide a single client to show or refer should not be taken seriously.

    While there are other factors to consider, the bottom line is that outsourcing your digital marketing needs would depend on what you actually need. If you want to hit targets consistently and predictably then maybe an in-house team is the way to go. But if you want to focus all your energy on the core aspects of your business, then a digital marketing agency can save you time and offer more flexiblity.

  • Does Influencer Marketing Really Work? Here’s What You Should Know

    Does Influencer Marketing Really Work? Here’s What You Should Know

    Companies have to fight tooth and nail to get their message across these days. And while content marketing still has its place, influencer marketing is the new trend, particularly with the ubiquitousness of social media.

    The site Relevance likened influencer marketing to “celebrity endorsement advertising,” when Nicole Kidman could plug Chanel #5 or Leonardo di Caprio could extol the virtues of just about any product in commercials and magazines. Influencer marketing is basically the same thing, except that these days, you use “influencers” and social media.

    How Does Influencer Marketing Work?

    Influencer marketing basically boils down to three things – get in touch with someone with influence, like a popular blogger, get that person to promote your company in some form, and boost your exposure on social media.

    Let’s say there’s a lifestyle maven named Party Pat with about 5,000 people following her on her blog and Instagram. You were able to convince Pat to help promote your online bookstore among her followers. She first blogs about her favorite books and mentions your store as her go-to place for ordering books. She later tweets or posts a photo of the latest book that she acquired and mentions how she easily ordered it from your shop and that it arrived in just one day. Her casual mentioning of your store and her experience could prompt her followers to check out your site as well.

    Related image

    The example might sound simple but it’s actually not. It entails a lot of hard work and preparation. First, you have to find an influencer who’s a good fit for your brand, whether they’re bloggers, YouTubers, writers with regular contributions to popular online sites, or industry experts. Next, you have to reach out and build a rapport with said influencer. Some do this by following the influencer and interacting with him or her while others do it the relatively old-fashioned way and send an email.

    If the influencer does respond, you still have to find a way to convince them to promote you. Maybe you can send a sample product or offer to be a guest blogger. Offer compensation is possible but could also be tricky. You have to convince and prove to the influencer that it’s good for them to help you out. This means that if you’re going to guest post, your content should be impeccable. If you’re going to send a sample product, it should be high quality.

    3 Tips for Using Influencers

    If you are convinced that influencer marketing will help you and your brand, consider the following tips:

    1. Know that the relationship between the brand, the influencer, and the audience must be real.

    Image result for real relationship with brandInfluencers have a strong following on social media because they capture their audience’s interest; they have established a relationship with them. Maybe they’re the same age as their audience, have the same interests, or have undergone the same life experiences. This strong relationship with their followers means influencers will only work with a company or brand that they and their audience believe in. For example, an influencer known for her quirky and affordable style of clothes won’t suddenly start campaigning for a high-end shoe brand.

    1. Be ready to play long-term.

    Don’t go into influencer marketing thinking that one sponsored post will shore up your business. While a one-time mention by a mega-influencer can make a big difference, it’s a rare, and very expensive, situation. Most of the time, influencer marketing should be looked at as a long-term approach, as you have to slowly build trust among the influencer’s followers.  Followers might have to see his favorite influencer trying or mentioning your product several times before they become curious enough to explore and give your brand a try.

    1. Give creative control over to the influencer.

    You might have complete control over your marketing strategy when it comes to traditional advertising, but influencer marketing is far from conventional. The goal is for your brand to have a quality engagement with the influencer’s audience. To achieve that, you have to relinquish creative control to the influencer, as they know their audience. They understand the best way to introduce your brand and make their followers receptive to it.

    Does Influencer Marketing Work?

    Image result for online influencer effectiveness

    There’s some controversy on whether or not influencer marketing really works. Data from a 2016 marketing survey has shown that 94% of those who used this marketing strategy believed it works. However, what the ROI is of influencer marketing is still something of a challenge this year. But there’s no question that this strategy has wide reach, especially with Facebook and Instagram being key platforms for influencer marketing.

    Influencer marketing might not be for every company, but there’s no doubting its influence on today’s social media savvy consumers.  

    [Image via Pixabay]

  • How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Startup

    How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Startup

    Launching a startup is exciting for entrepreneurs, especially in this day and age where technology has made doing business easier and more efficient than ever before. Technology has opened up a ton of marketing methods that allow you to sell your products and services and build your brand. These days, a startup may be able to bypass traditional marketing tactics via print and TV but most will need to utilize a digital marketing strategy to reel in and retain customers.

    If you have noticed the term “digital marketing” being used more often recently, it’s because this is the engine that drives today’s businesses, big and small. Digital marketing uses digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also mobile phones and other digital mediums to reach customers. According to Google, companies that use digital marketing strategies have 2.8 times better revenue growth expectancy than those that don’t. This is because customers rely heavily on the internet when it comes to making purchasing decisions.

    With all the opportunities that exist online, startups should be asking the following questions: what are the digital marketing activities that require low investment but let you reap maximum benefits, and how can you create a digital marketing plan for your startup? Here are some useful insights to help you in creating a digital marketing strategy that will bring you closer to your goals.  

    Establish Brand & Web Presence

    Image result for brand

    In creating a digital marketing plan, it is crucial to define a category for your product or service and map out its key benefits. Ask yourself this, “who is my customer and what exactly should they buy from me?” This is a necessary step in order to structure the right look and feel for your brand, from the name, logo, URL address, and others. You can then apply it to your digital marketing strategies.

    Next is to establish your web presence. At least 80 percent of consumers use the internet to make their search for information more convenient. Create not just a functional website for your brand but also one that is accessible in multiple platforms including smartphones, tablets, and Smart devices.

    Blog, Digital PR & SEO Marketing

    Part of digital marketing is promoting brands and services through one or more forms of electronic media. This means you will need a rich blog site, a Facebook fan page, and a Twitter account at a minimum. Some businesses even create an Instagram account. These channels allow you to regularly communicate with your customers. Whatever it is you share on your profile, your followers will see, increasing brand visibility and retention.

    Blogging should also be part of your plan. Around 53% of marketers say that blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. Why not, when it is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your site. To further support your web presence and social media activities, you will need to plan out your digital public relation efforts, which include techniques like crowdsourcing. This will allow you to monitor your online reputation.

    Digital marketing won’t be complete without incorporating search-engine optimization (SEO) and link building strategies. The main goal is to top the rankings in the search results when a customer types in keywords associated to your business. Early-stage companies should start with the on-page optimization of their site. Combine it with a strong social media presence, an engaging company blog, and strategic keywords and you’re looking at a plan that has a high potential for success.

    Online Advertising for Greater Exposure

    Image result for your ad here

    Lastly, your digital marketing plan should include the development of an effective online advertising program. Startups can take advantage of Google AdWords since it’s cost effective, flexible, and results-oriented. It is also highly-scalable, as it allows you to measure traffic to your site. You will know in real time what is or is not working for your online business. Thus, you will be able to find immediate solutions to improve your results.

    Technological advancement has enabled more consumers to rely on handheld devices, web searches, and other online tools to make purchasing decisions. In today’s startup industry, you need to be competitive for your brand to be a hit. Get into the trend with digital marketing solutions. If you are not the strongest marketer, you can hire a professional outside of your organization.

  • How Social Listening Can Strengthen Your Online Marketing Strategy

    How Social Listening Can Strengthen Your Online Marketing Strategy

    Businesses now have all of the tools necessary to find out how people feel about their branding efforts. Social listening is a marketing strategy that allows companies to read and respond to customer feedback on social media. This gives them the opportunity to fine-tune their marketing efforts to help them achieve their goals.

    Social listening is really more about understanding and responding to the comments you’re getting from your target market on social media. Integrating social listening into your current marketing efforts can help you craft the perfect strategy based on the needs of the people you want to attract.

    But how do you use social listening to strengthen your online marketing presence? 

    Have a Conversation With Your CustomersFeedback, Confirming, Board, Blackboard

    Think of social listening as a conversation with your customers that is happening online. As they provide you with feedback, you reward them with a response that assures them that their concerns are being addressed.

    It’s important that you become more aware of feedback cues and respond to them appropriately. Failing to provide customers with an actionable response will earn you a bad reputation and diminish customer satisfaction.

    Better Customer Service

    Social listening can be a very effective tool to use for improving your current customer service strategy. Using social media as a supplementary customer support channel makes your brand come across as more approachable to potential and existing customers.

    Customers no longer have to wait on hold in order to get a customer service representative when they can easily reach out to you via social media. Just remember to be especially responsive to complaints to avoid damaging your online credibility.

    Use Social Listening Tools

    Brands who argue that social listening is an exhausting marketing technique are those who do not know how to use online tools to their advantage. There are many social listening tools available that can help you efficiently manage feedback and respond to comments all in one screen. These intuitive tools make social listening less tedious and more focused.

    Finding the right social listening tool depends on your budget and needs. Below are a few programs you can choose from to improve your current online marketing strategy:

    1. BuzzSumo

    BuzzSumo allows you to closely monitor online engagement through their Content Alert feature. Similar to Google Alerts, you can set it to notify you of any trends based on specific keywords, domains, and authors.

    2. HooteSuite

    More popularly known as a scheduling tool, Hootsuite also has a feature that lets you manage and respond to complaints more efficiently. This can be a huge time-saver and is ideal to those who are new to online marketing.

    3. FollowerWonk

    FollowerWonk is a social listening tool designed for Twitter. This tool gives you access to insights about your competitor’s followers, which you can use to improve your strategy.

    Social listening is a marketing technique companies should not overlook. It is critical for your marketing campaign to be tailored to your audience in order for you to achieve the results you want. Use the internet in general and social media, in particular, to make your brand more approachable to customers.

  • Ways to Effectively Promote Your Business With Video Marketing

    Ways to Effectively Promote Your Business With Video Marketing

    From search engine optimization, the next evolution of online marketing is video. While mobile phones and social media are invaluable, they have created a generation with a relatively short attention span. A one-minute clip can explain a topic more than a three-page thesis can.

    This is probably why 70% of businesses that use video marketing for their ad campaigns have reported an increase in the amount of traffic to their sites. In fact, people tend to be more patient watching a video than sitting down to read text. According to statistics, the average length of an internet video is 2.7 minutes. Imagine what you can do with uninterrupted audience attention in that amount of time?

    Facebook knows full well the value of video marketing. A staggering eight billion videos are being watched on the social media platform every day. And 45% of people worldwide spend more than an hour every week on Facebook or YouTube watching videos.

    A video is much more likely to go viral in a short amount of time compared to written content or photos. In terms of organic reach, a clip is 135% better than photos.

    But what type of video marketing should your company make? Here are some suggestions:

    Company Information – This could also be your About Us video. In this clip, you should be able to sum up what your company is all about. Apart from being short—a maximum of five minutes would be ideal—your video should exude fun to retain the interest of your audience.

    Employee Profiles – BuzzFeed is a great example of a company that includes its employees in their videos. As a result, they have developed their own respective fanbases. Customers also feel that they are part of the company after getting to know each staff member.

    Raising Awareness – Another good use of video marketing is to educate your customers regarding the industry that you are a part of. It doesn’t matter if you belong in petrochemicals, education, or engineering. One example of useful content is to correct common misconceptions about the industry, or to educate them regarding your product.

    Recruitment – If you are recruiting, video marketing would be a good platform to tell potential applicants what you are looking for. In this short clip, you should be able to share your company culture and vision. Another idea is to take a video of new recruits expressing their expectations for the company and why they applied for a job in the first place.

    Virtual Tour – A virtual tour will give your customers the opportunity to view your business establishment or facilities. A short introduction of the employees and description about who does what will also be helpful.

    Message From the CEO or Top Execs – It doesn’t have to be profound. Even a simple greeting during the holidays would be a great idea for a video marketing campaign. More than anything, this will present a “human face” to your company. People are always in awe of the CEO, but by letting people see that he or she is human like everybody else, it will make your business more relatable.

    Video marketing is your best tool for rising above all of the social media noise. Of course, this means you may have to outsource this job to professionals. You can expect to pay somewhere between $1,000 to $5,000 per video minute for a low-cost option.

    For small businesses, video productions will more likely be DIY clips, which can save an enormous amount of money. The good news is the huge number of downloadable apps online that you can have for free. With these programs, you can edit your clips for a more professional-looking video marketing campaign.

  • Don’t Overlook Voice Search in Your Online Marketing Campaign

    Don’t Overlook Voice Search in Your Online Marketing Campaign

    The popularity of voice-activated smart assistants is gaining traction, especially with Apple hopping on the bandwagon with its Siri speaker due to be released soon. This is why businesses should include voice search in their online marketing campaign, rather than focus solely on text-based searches.

    In fact, voice search marketing is described as the new norm, which would have been unheard of just five years ago. One major factor is the increasing efficiency of machine-learning technology in finding user patterns to anticipate their needs.

    For instance, Amazon’s Alexa is billed to be capable of performing over 12,000 tasks, which is why it’s still the undisputed king in this increasingly competitive industry.

    A Different Beast

    In the past six months, 40% of mobile users have tried voice commands in asking questions or searching for products and services. Analysts believe this number will only continue to rise until such time when people won’t even be able to imagine how they survived without voice-activated apps in the first place, similar to how they feel about mobile phones today.

    When it reaches this critical mass, Google will surely introduce an update to its algorithm that will take into account voice search in order to rank your page.

    Voice search use among smartphone users in the U.S., as of October 2015*

    For marketers, this would be an entirely different beast altogether. Whereas text-related keyword searches are much easier to document, recording how many people are looking for “best pulled pork sandwiches, Lexington, KY” using voice search will be a tall feat.

    This will really turn the search engine optimization dynamic—which is the direct result of years of honing and polishing—up on its head.

    Better Results

    Unlike text queries, voice search will yield more accurate results. It basically pulls down the curtains, allowing internet users to skip one step. Instead of searching for “pulled pork sandwiches,” they can just go ahead and order the food from the best restaurant based on customer and critic reviews.

    Instead of searching for a particular song you can’t get out of your head, it may be possible in the future to hum the lyrics and the smart speaker will play the whole song for you. This brings convenience to a whole new level, unlike in text searches where you have to choose and phrase your words in a specific manner to get the most relevant results—and still having to go to that particular website to order food.

    Here are some quick tips to cope with the changes from text to voice search marketing:

    Mobile Optimization –  As voice search apps are gradually perfected, mobile optimization will become even more crucial. Website built with Flash will need to be redesigned and all websites will need to be responsive. Marketers will need to advise their clients of this major shift from traditional search to voice search. Another way to optimize the mobile experience is to make sure that their sites load fast. There’s no faster way to lose customers than a website that takes forever to display.

    Snippets – In voice searches, snippets are short descriptions about the company or the brand. This gives the users a little bit of information before they move along or move forward. Using traditional SEO techniques, you will need to optimize so you end up high on the search engine results page for snippets.

    Long-Tail Keywords – Voice search is different from text search in the sense that internet users will often talk normally as they would in a conversation, as opposed to using key phrases or keywords when they type on Google. This is where long-tail keywords are crucial because you can still reach your target market even with this major shift in the way people do their search.  

  • How Social Media Marketing Improves Your Google Rank

    How Social Media Marketing Improves Your Google Rank

    In boosting your search engine ranking, it’s almost criminal to exclude social media marketing, especially given its pervasive presence online.

    Last year, nearly 70% of people worldwide used social media in one form or another. Also in 2016, 2.34 billion people had a social media presence, and stats predict that this will increase to 2.67 billion by next year.

    Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2020 (in billions)

    It’s not clear how Google really gauges social media when it comes to ranking websites. That’s understandable, considering the search engine has always been very secretive about its algorithms. What’s clear at this point, however, is that social media does help in driving traffic to your site, albeit indirectly.

    The correlation can be found in the top ranking websites, which also have very strong social media signals. So even if Google says that social media shares don’t really count as one link, a large volume should account for something.

    Below are just some of the ways social media marketing can boost rankings:

    Cultivates Relationships With Customers

    Social media provides an easy platform where businesses can directly interact with their customers. More than superficial interaction, it actually allows you to develop a relationship with your clientele. Successful use of social media even gives the power to the consumers to dictate how product value is offered. It’s not just about numbers, but rather making them feel that they have a stake in the company. Cultivating your customers through social media will drive more traffic to your site, resulting in a better ranking on Google.

    Links to Your Website

    The main purpose of social media is to raise awareness of your product or service. The main goal of Google, meanwhile, is to give the most relevant result when users submit a query. Posting your web address on your social media page—and asking your customers to share it—will also drive traffic to your website.

    Businesses are always trying to figure out where their customers are, especially if their websites fail to get traffic even when they have existed for quite some time. Social media offers a ready customer base, with its almost three billion population. The trick is how to harness it.

    Means to an End

    You should keep in mind that social media is just a means to an end, as Google doesn’t really recognize any of it in its search engine results page (SERP). Knowing this, it’s important for you to make great content that can possibly go viral. YouTube, in fact, has become the battleground for marketers to create the next viral video. It may not directly lead traffic to your website, but it does make for perfect brand recall. Of course, knowing the attention span of Millennials, you’ll need to routinely churn out great content to be effective.

    In sum, just remember these simple steps to boost your Google rank with social media.

    • First, create an account on social media—particularly the big four of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube—which can help drive traffic to your website.
    • Second, fill your social media account with great content, with proper search engine optimization techniques, to make sure Google crawls through the page and indexes it in their search engine results page.
    • Third, make sure that the viewers or readers can see the share button to make it easy for them to post your content on their own social media accounts. Afterward, just wash, rinse, and repeat.

    Customers, however, are not as keen to forgive on social media, as compared to websites, when the company fails to respond immediately. As such, it’s best to appoint an administrator tasked to respond to queries or complaints on your social media page so your customers walk away happy. This increases the chances of visitors recommending your business to their families and friends.

  • 7 Tips in Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Agency

    7 Tips in Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Agency

    Digital marketing might have already passed its peak and is currently on the downslide. In the future, it’s likely that robots and machine-learning will dominate the advertising sphere, which would make human intervention almost irrelevant.

    Nevertheless, it appears as if its death is greatly exaggerated—in the near future at least. The rise of eCommerce, as brick and mortar stores are closing at a rapid pace, does highlight the need to hire a digital marketing agency to drive traffic to your site, and more importantly, convert this traffic into sales.

    You might say, “I can do this myself. How hard can that be?” This has to be one of the most common phrases uttered by businesses before quickly realizing their mistake when their self-initiated marketing strategy goes down in flames.

    If you do decide to hire a digital marketing agency, here are seven tips in choosing one:

    1. Narrow Down Your Goals  

    It’s going to be hard to craft a focused digital marketing campaign when you don’t know what your targets are. Do you have a specific amount of monthly traffic in mind? Do you want to land among the top results in search engine pages? Do you want a data report to determine where you are in your industry? It’s important that the digital marketing agency is able to provide you with all of these options.

    2. Don’t Get Too Hung Up on Price

    Sure, price is definitely going to be a factor when hiring somebody to handle your marketing campaign, especially if you are on a tight budget. But this should not be a deal-breaker. Avoid making the mistake of hiring somebody because they are the cheapest when they bring little value to the table.

    3. Look for Someone You Understand

     If you walk out more confused than when you walked in, it’s time to walk away and never look back. Be wary of
    agencies that can’t give you straight answers to simple questions, or try to regale you with technical terms and jargon without really explaining anything.

    4. Don’t Forget the Expert

    Executives like to talk to fellow execs, and that’s understandable. During meetings, you are likely going to talk to the top honchos of the digital marketing agency. But really, they are not going to be the ones who will do the heavy lifting. Try to find the one who will be assigned to your account and deal with that person directly.

    5. Vet, Vet, Vet

    Always take their word at face value. When you hire your employees, you always ask for their CVs and conduct extensive background checks. It’s the same with digital marketers who have to prove their capability to handle your account. Ask for references and talk to those clients personally. Would they recommend the company to you?

    6. Look Forward to the Future

     You have to grow with the digital marketing agency. Be straightforward with each other in the effort to boost your numbers. You need somebody who will think of your company as a showcase of their best practices, and not just a means to earn a profit. If the agency doesn’t return calls immediately, you could be down the totem pole in terms of their priority.

    7. Check Your Ego

     Some executives and supervisors are too proud to admit their ignorance. If you can’t understand what the digital marketing agency is saying, just ask. If you want something done but you’re not sure how to do it, collaborate.­ The success of the marketing campaign should not be the sole responsibility of the third-party provider. This is your business and you, more than anybody out there, has the biggest stake in the outcome.

  • 5 Digital Marketing Trends You Should Be Paying Attention to in 2017

    5 Digital Marketing Trends You Should Be Paying Attention to in 2017

    When it comes to digital marketing, content is still king. Content marketing comprised 20.3% of the digital marketing techniques implemented so far in 2017, although big data (crunching numbers to reveal buying patterns, for instance) is quickly gaining a foothold in online commerce.

    The point is, businesses that still do not see the significance of digital marketing to boost their presence and revenue will end up being left behind by the competition.

    According to a report from Statista, digital ad spending in the U.S. is expected to grow to $118 billion in 2020 from just a shade under $60 billion in 2015. That’s more than double in just five years. In the global scale, the amount is expected to reach over $250 billion by 2018.

    Here are just five of the digital marketing trends to watch for this year:

    1. AR & VR Technology

    The potential of augmented reality and virtual reality in business applications has never been more promising. After the gaming industry latched on to the new technology to enhance the user experience for gamers, developers have released apps that can help boost businesses. For instance, architects can make use of AR to give clients a virtual tour of what the finished product would be like. In digital marketing, businesses can exploit VR to help customers get a better picture of their vision more than any other type of messaging could.

    2. Live Videos

    Facebook Live and Snapchat Videos are just some of the platforms that can be exploited by digital marketers. Video content will dominate the scene in the next few years with Cisco predicting that 80% of consumer internet traffic by 2020 will be cornered by videos. Meanwhile, Facebook Live is growing 94% each year in the U.S. with eight billion views daily.

    Facebook was embroiled in a scandal when its video platform was used to broadcast several violent attacks, which prompted founder Mark Zuckerberg to announce the hiring of 3,000 more people to police the platform of any offensive content.

    3. Apps for Data Visualization

    Applications like Data Hero, Tableau, Dygraphs, and Visual.ly have been helping digital marketers package big data for easy consumption not just for businesses but the consumers as well. This is not exactly a new trend. However, for this year, it’s projected that businesses will make sure to exert more effort in using these tools to interpret the facts and figures at their disposal.

    4. Viral Videos Won’t Go Away Anytime Soon

    Last year, Samsung was the big winner after three of its video ads went viral. By December 2016, they already had almost 500 million views total. Viral marketing will continue to be an effective tool for brand recall. Google’s new updates, particularly on placing more importance on the social status for ranking, will really benefit businesses that invest in quality content. The downside is the short lifespan of viral video marketing. The trick is when to increase engagement, boost traffic, and convert them into income before interest wanes.

    5. Content With Short Shelf Life

    Businesses might dismiss expiring content as an effective means to build on the brand. After all, Facebook Stories or Instagram Stories only stay for about 24 hours before they are no longer seen again. Of course, this concept was copied from Snapchat, which has a similar feature. Digital marketers are basically exploiting the “fear of missing out,” which is human nature. Nobody likes to be the odd man out when everybody is talking about the latest video or when they grab the latest product, which is the reason why Kylie lip products sell like hotcakes even if they don’t really offer anything new.

  • 5 Instagram Marketing Tips to Help Your Business Grow

    5 Instagram Marketing Tips to Help Your Business Grow

    It seems Mark Zuckerberg’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012 is paying off, as the social media site is expected to hit $5 billion in sales by 2018.

    In fact, apart from Facebook or Twitter, Instagram has become the go-to platform for businesses seeking to increase awareness and engagement, not to mention sales. While other social media sites such as Twitter have suffered some fluctuations in sales and population, Instagram has benefited from piggybacking on the Facebook architecture.

    Instagram users are only a drop in the bucket when compared to Facebook’s 1.9 billion users. But what Zuckerberg provides is stability. As Facebook grows possibly to be the first company to be worth $1 trillion, the photo-sharing site is bound to be carried along.                                                                                                                                                          

    Below are some tips on how to leverage the platform in marketing your business:

    1. Use Instagram Insights 

    Just like Facebook Insights, there’s a tool in Instagram which is invaluable to any business, providing important metrics such as the number of times your post or video has been viewed (impressions), the number of clicks your link is getting, how many followers you are getting daily, and more. The results of this tool also include demographic info, which indicates the gender and age of your followers. This gives you a quick peek into the general profile of your followers so you can customize your marketing campaign to match their preferences.

    2. Engage Your Followers 

    Followers, particularly die-hard fans of a particular brand, like to be rewarded for their loyalty. This is why businesses should also assign an administrator to reply to relevant comments if they can’t do it themselves. Your customers will appreciate that their voices are being heard whether they’re giving suggestions or expressing complaints. It’s also good to follow your followers back to learn about their tendencies, likes, travels, hobbies, and any information you can use for your own benefit.

    3. Link Your Instagram Page to Your Website 

    Some businesses don’t connect their websites to their official Instagram account and vice versa. This is a lost opportunity for further marketing. You should also avoid flooding your page with photos of your products. Instead, use it as an opportunity to show the “human side” of your business. Buzzfeed is well-known for using its employees in its videos. As a result, traffic has gone up because viewers now relate more to the company because they know the people behind it. Don’t forget to add the location to your photos and videos for geo-tagging or search engine optimization.

    4. Contests and Rewards

     Small tokens are a great way to reward your followers. You can hold contests like who can write the best caption or description for a photo or video that you share. You can also ask your customers to send their best photos during holidays or special occasions like Mother’s Day. This type of marketing campaign is considered “low-cost, high-reward.”

    5. Make Hashtags More Relevant

     Industry specific hashtags in Instagram marketing are a given, but try to find your niche in the industry to distinguish yourself from all the companies out there. There are websites such as Soldsie that help businesses tweak their hashtags for optimization. It’s important that your hashtag is related to the image or video to prevent it from being categorized as spam. Piggybacking on trending hashtags is also a good idea, but make sure you don’t overdo it.

    One more thing to consider is timing. This is very important for Instagram marketing. Whereas peak hours will yield you more traffic (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), sharing your post after 5 p.m. EST will likely result in more engagement. If your marketing campaign is geared for other businesses, weekdays would be a good time to go online. Posting at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. would be worthless as this has been found to be the worst time for engagement.

  • Instagram Influencer Marketing Expected to Double in Two Years

    Instagram Influencer Marketing Expected to Double in Two Years

    With the decline of traditional TV and the growth of social media, influencer marketing has become one of the fastest growing advertising mediums. A recent study by Mediakix found that Instagram alone is expected to be a $1.07 billion market this year and $2.38 billion in 2019.

    In the past six months alone, Instagram added over 100 million users and growth shows no signs of slowing. With over 600 million global users and over 400 million of whom check Instagram every day, Instagram is one of the most far-reaching and highly engaged social media networks in existence today, according to Mediakix.

    Though there is no official number on the size of the Instagram influencer market, the study tracked common sponsored hashtags, including #ad, #sponsored, #spon, and #sp. In the past year, there was an increase of 4.8 million uses of these hashtags over years prior.

    In looking at a sample size of 500 recent sponsored posts, 58% were from accounts with more than 1,000 followers. The average follower size for accounts posting sponsored content was 32,000. Applying an average $10 cost per thousand impressions (CPM), an estimated $320 per post and an estimated total monthly spend of approximately $90 million resulted. This would put the overall total annual spend at over $1 billion.

    With the current annual growth, the market could reach a $130M/month spend by March 2018 and up to a $200M/month spend by March 2019 (nearly $2.4B spent on influencer marketing on Instagram alone).

  • Facebook Seeks To Be the World’s Largest Marketing Platform

    Facebook Seeks To Be the World’s Largest Marketing Platform

    Facebook sees a huge opportunity to become the marketing platform of record for businesses seeking to reach consumers and other businesses to promote cross-country sales. Facebook is uniquely positioned as both a social platform and a marketing platform that has an astounding 1.7 billion monthly active users, one-fifth of the entire world’s population. By 2018, according to eMarketer in an April report, overall internet users are predicted to grow 30% to 3.82 billion. If Facebook grows at the same rate which seems likely, they will have over 2.2 billion active users in less than 2 years!

    According to a February 2016 study by McKinsey Global Institute, 361 million people worldwide have participated in cross-border ecommerce. This is a growing and huge opportunity for Facebook, finding ways to make international ecommerce seamless and practical for businesses. Internal Facebook data shows that nearly 50 million businesses use Facebook to find customers, and 30 percent of their a businesses Facebook followers fans are in fact from other countries.

    Download Facebook’s Cross-Border Business Handbook for a full review of their international marketing opportunities.

    Australia

    Australia has a population of 24 million with over 21 million using the internet and of those one-third, or 14 million are active on Facebook. On average, people are checking their Facebook feed 14 times a day, making Australian’s an especially reachable target for cross-country businesses. They say that 92% of students below 25 years old access Facebook on a daily basis.

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    Brazil

    Brazil has over a 113 million internet users, 80 million digital shoppers and 49 million smartphone users. According to Facebook surveys, over 70% of users want to receive offers and information about brands and products.

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    Canada

    Nearly 30 million Canadian’s are on the internet and over 21 million of them are on Facebook. According to Comscore, 29% of all time spent on mobile properties in Canada happens on Facebook.

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    France

    Close to 50 million people in France are on the internet and 31 million of those are active on Facebook. One survey showed that 25% of internet users considered Facebook as one of their favorite platforms for discovering
    new content/ products or services.

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    Germany

    Germany has 29 million active Facebookers and 82% of all internet users in Germany say that Facebook is their favorite social platform. Over 32% of Germans say they use Facebook while watching TV. There are big marketing opportunities for sports related businesses in this country, with 10 million soccer fans using Facebook.

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    Malaysia

    Malaysia has a population of 30 million, 20 million of them are on the internet and nearly all internet users, 18 million, are active on Facebook. In Malaysia, the internet is Facebook!

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    Thailand

    Less than half of the 68 million people in Thailand are even on the internet, yet Facebook says that it has 40 million monthly active users there. It’s total ecommerce spending is around $1 billion, leaving substantial room to grow considering the population. Over 95% of people in Thailand use at least two devices and a third use three: a smartphone, a tablet and a desktop or laptop.

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    Philippines

    Almost all of the people on the internet in the Philippines are on Facebook, over 50 million with 1.2 more time spent on Facebook than TV, according to a Reach study commissioned by Facebook. Over 70% of internet users have seen or searched for product information on Facebook.

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    United Kingdom

    Most people in the UK are on Facebook, over 51 million of them, and 37 million of those use Facebook. With the UK’s ecommerce market expected to hit $132 billion by 2018, this is one of the world’s biggest marketing opportunities for businesses.

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    United States

    The US has over 200 million Facebook users, close to 77% of everybody on Facebook. The ecommerce opportunity for businesses will be nearing $500 billion by 2018 and Facebook is routinely used by US brands to promote their products.

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  • Facebook Expands Canvas Marketing Opportunities

    Facebook Expands Canvas Marketing Opportunities

    Canvas is Facebook’s mobile marketing platform for companies wanting to present a more immersive experience to potential customers. It’s a full-screen mobile ad that Facebook touts as loading nearly instantly and is designed specifically for Android and iOS devices. Using the same technology for loading photos and video quickly in the Facebook mobile app, Canvas can load up to 10 time faster than the mobile web.

    When Canvas launched back in February, advertisers had to have either a web click or website conversion objective. Making Canvas even more versatile for advertisers, especially for marketers looking to seriously gain brand engagement, marketers can now choose brand awareness or video view objectives. “This means brand marketers can use Canvas across their range of goals for their campaigns,” noted a Facebook post.

    The future of Canvas

    Facebook is seeking to make Canvas an extremely robust marketing tool, especially for companies looking for new branding and customer relationship opportunities. “The future of Canvas will include many more features designed to make this immersive, attention-grabbing format accessible to any business, regardless of size or creative resources,” said Facebook. “Recently, we introduced new metrics for Canvas to help marketers understand the performance of each component—videos, photos and buttons—within their Canvas. Marketers can now learn from each Canvas they run, determining which designs work best to achieve their campaign goals.”

    They plan to make Canvas simple for any brand to implement by providing advertisers with templates that immolate how other advertisers have used the new platform. Facebook says that the templates will be available over the next few months, but they provided one as an example:

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    360 Videos Coming to Canvas

    Facebook wants to make Canvas its most immersive ad format in order to attract the Madison Avenue brands. Soon they will be offering 360 videos that provide advertisers a unique way to engage people on mobile and interact with a brands advertisement. According to Facebook, ITAU, a Brazilian bank, used Canvas with 360 video in it to tell an immersive story for children, in order to let people know about the banks outreach and charity in the area of education.

    They are also offering the ability to link Canvas ads to one another via linked buttons and images, instead of just linking to a website. The allows advertisers to create a multi-Canvas experience. “By linking Canvases, Beats by Dre could invite people to explore differently colored versions of its iconic headphones, designed after different countries’ flags,” noted Facebook. “When people tapped on their different Beats options, instead of being driven to a slow-loading website, they got another Canvas, loaded quickly, that they could explore. Beats saw an average of 39 seconds spent in the Canvas, and 73% of the Canvas was viewed on average.”

    Brand Success on Canvas

    Facebook released some statistics from a couple of brands that have recently tried the Canvas marketing platform. Royal Caribbean used Canvas to promote a contest to win a free cruise where the last Canvas screen provided an access code and a link to enter the sweepstakes. Their cost per action was $0.17 and the average time potential customers spent on their Canvas as 72 seconds.

    They say that Canvas works for smaller localized brick and mortar businesses too. A company (Edifica) built a new condo complex (also called Canvas) in Peru and was looking to find buyers using Canvas. According to Facebook, they saw a 50% lower cost-per-click, a 15% lower cost-per-thousand impression, and a 2.3X click-through-rate versus their other link ads, and got a 46-second average time spent in their Canvas. It’s unknown how many of these clickers turned into condo sales.