Month: December 2018

4 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing Should Be Prioritized

Steven on December 28, 2018

Social media is a valuable tool that should be taken advantage of by businesses. Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube have provided a platform for thousands of individuals to promote their products and services. Learning how to market your goods and services through social media is a necessary skill. Entrepreneurs are not the only ones who can benefit from using social media. If you’re aiming to start a career in digital marketing, you have to use high-impact resume templates from ResumeSeed to get noticed by employers and have social media marketing skills to help in the growth of the company. Here are a few reasons why you ought to prioritize social media marketing when advertising your brand:

1. You Can Promote Your Web or Mobile App

Social media is one of the largest platforms where different types of consumers are present. You can use this extensive network to promote your web or mobile app and reach beyond your target audience. This is especially helpful if you’re on the website design prototyping phase of your business since it’s easier to conduct a market survey to gauge whether the web layout you’re working on is attracting the right people. Excellent user experience on your website can improve the SEO for your domain. Although social networking sites do not have a direct significant impact on search engine ranking indexes, these are the ways that social media can benefit SEO:

More organic followers – Aside from showing up in unpaid searches, you can gain organic traffic through advertising on social media. Endorse your links on your official profiles and create a consistent online presence. Don’t limit yourself to people who already know your brand. Use sponsored posts to reach more people who have the potential to become paying customers.
Better branding – Providing valuable and compelling content on your social media accounts can help boost the trust that consumers have on your brand. This can facilitate your rise in search engine rankings as people will click on your website if you’re considered an authority in your industry.

2. You Can Enhance Customer Loyalty

Engaging with customers on social media increases their loyalty. By listening to their concerns or thanking them for their support, you show that they’re vital assets to your company. Plus, you can create exclusive discounts and promos for your subscribers through the different channels that you have. Having conversations with your customers also humanizes your brand. Here are other helpful things that you can do:

Showcasing your unique voice and personality through posts – Your content can show the distinctive character of your brand.
Highlighting the contributions of your employees – You can show customers that real humans are working behind the scenes to provide them with quality products and services.
Working with key influencers on various social media networks – Connect more with your target audience by partnering with the people they follow.
Signing your posts with the initials of the one publishing it – If you have more than one person handling your social media channels, letting your followers know who’s tweeting and posting can help them see your brand as authentic.
Acknowledging issues and errors – Sincerely apologize for any mistake that your company has made. When you admit an oversight, you let people sympathize with you.

You Can Get Insight on What Your Customers Want

People are very vocal on social media. Use this to your advantage by analyzing and studying the trends on what your customers are watching and liking. You gain priceless insight into what content works for them. Moreover, you can also check their reviews and comments to see what aspects of the business you can improve on.

You Can Acquire Targeted Traffic

Social media provides you with targeted traffic. This means that the people who follow you on your various profiles are already interested in what you’re selling. They may just need a little convincing to add your products to their cart, but they’re hovering on the brink of clicking that button when they subscribed to you.

Conclusion

Social media offers several benefits to startups and established brands. Publishing content regularly can help put you at the forefront of peoples’ minds. Stay steps ahead of your competitors by developing a steady online presence so that it’s your brand that they remember, not your rival’s. Use social media marketing as a complement to your other marketing strategies.

Local Branding

How to Turn Your PR Disaster into a Marketing Opportunity

Steven on December 22, 2018

There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Wrong. On so many levels – more than 3 billion, to be more precise, because that’s how many people are using social media and can witness your public humiliation.

A PR disaster on social media spreads like wildfire, and you can expect a fierce backlash if you step on somebody’s toes. What’s even worse, you can permanently damage your business reputation.

A single mistake could wipe out years of hard work. Like the one involving American Apparel and the company’s infamous Tumblr post containing a picture of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The occasion was the Fourth of July, and their social media manager clearly mistook the Challenger explosion for fireworks. Despite issuing an apology on Twitter, the company stirred much controversy for its insensitive faux pas.

No matter how careful you are, such things happen even to the best of us, so here are a couple of tips on how to save your face and turn a PR blunder into a marketing opportunity.

Own it

The worst thing you can do is to try and get away with your mistake by denying it or blaming it on somebody else (just like American Apparel blamed their “young, international employee” who was unaware of the Challenger disaster and its significance in the history). This will most definitely cause a landslide which will bury you even deeper. Take a cue from Apple and their brilliant handling of a PR issue over offering a one-month free trial of its streaming services for which they didn’t intend to pay the artists whose music would be played during that period. Taylor Swift stood up against this practice and called her fellow musicians to do the same and boycott Apple Music. It took a simple “Apple Music will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period [sic]” tweet posted by Eddy Cue, the company’s SVP of Internet Software and Services. The aftermath? Taylor Swift starred in an Apple commercial soon after this whole mess was sorted out. Some skeptics believe that the whole thing was staged, but in any case, it was an amazing example of how to deal with PR disasters.

Timing is everything

Addressing the issue in a timely manner is crucial for overcoming the crisis, and you can’t do that if you don’t know exactly when, where, and how the problem appeared. This means that you have to monitor your social media channels very closely and constantly. The best way to do this is to set keyword alerts which will notify you in case that there are conversations with a negative context. Make sure to include different negative keywords which are used in negative comments. Check your hashtags too, because people often use them when they want to call brands out publicly. This is particularly important when it comes to Twitter because this social media channel with 326 million users globally is known to be fast-paced. If you don’t react right away, people will think that you don’t care. Airbnb was heavily criticized when it came to light that there were cases of racial profiling and discrimination on the platform, as many African-American travelers experienced discrimination. The company’s co-founder Brian Chesky reacted proactively and sent an email in which he admitted that they were slow to notice and address this issue, as well as that the management would take action to put an end to discrimination on the platform.

Leverage negative feedback

Negative feedback isn’t a bad thing. Quite the opposite, it actually helps brands realize what they need to fix and improve, thus indirectly reducing customer churn. Many brands make a big mistake by ignoring bad reviews and comments, which only additionally enrages their customers. Instead of that, make sure to respond to every question and criticism. But you have to very careful and formulate your responses properly, especially if a number of customers have the same complaint. Such a situation can easily get out of hand and create a snowball effect. It’s a good idea to consult a reliable digital marketing agency which will help you deal with it like a pro and prevent a major reputation risk. After a recall of 1.6 million vehicles back in 2014, GM didn’t leave anything to chance. The company used Twitter and Facebook to publicly and individually address every single complaint and offered possible solutions.

A friend in need

Sometimes the situation gets critical and you need to ask your biggest clients, partners, employees, and influencers for support. Of course, when something that can damage your reputation occurs, people who are involved with your business have to know everything about it, so make sure not to hold anything back. One of the most important things is to communicate clearly with your stakeholders, tell them your side of the story, and ask them whether they’re ready to stand by you. If you’ve built loyalty with them, the answer will probably be yes. Honesty and consistency are essential for rebuilding the trust and showing that you will go to great lengths to do everything right. You have another card up your sleeve – your social media following. Maybe you can ask them for their opinion as to what you should do to make up for your mistake. And since sharing is caring, offer a generous discount to compensate your customers. Needless to say, this is excellent PR as many of them will be happy to spread the word about your nice gesture.

Don’t dwell on it

After you’ve done everything to prevent and fix your PR faux pas, the best thing to do is to let bygones be bygones and move on. McDonald’s has had a couple of notable social media blunders, and one of the most recent is their Black Friday tweet from 2017 or should we say the lack of thereof. Namely, the company tweeted “Black Friday – Need copy and link”, which didn’t go unnoticed. But, their clever social media manager used this opportunity to masterfully promote one of their products by following up with “When you tweet before your first cup of McCafé… Nothing comes before coffee.”

As you can see, it’s possible to survive a PR disaster and leave without a couple of scars only, but you have to know the drill.

Top Tips For Handling A PR Crisis

It’s a worst-case scenario that can befall even the most prestigious organization: a public relations crisis. From a string of bad reviews to a serious financial scandal, a negative incident can have a powerful impact on a company’s reputation — no matter how small or diplomatic it is. That’s why it’s critical for every business to have a reaction plan in place. Here are some do’s and don’ts when navigating a PR crisis.

In today’s digital age, news can go viral almost instantly. The implementation of a swift and effective crisis management plan is essential. An organization should address the issue head-on, whether it’s with an apology, an explanation or an announcement. If an immediate, informative response is not possible, the business should at least communicate that it’s looking into the issue and give a reason as to why there will be a delay. Above all else, it’s important to take responsibility for what happened.

Before sending representatives to address the media, make sure they fully understand the response strategy and are given enough information to answer questions. If time allows, set up a practice session to ensure they are prepared. Emphasize that the company’s message must be consistent across multiple channels.

Refrain from saying “no comment,” as these are two of the most damaging words in PR. Shutting down communication leaves a gap for others to fill, and what they say may be worse than the truth. If an organization is waiting for more information, it should let the public know that it is working on a response or a reaction to the situation.

For more tips on how to handle a PR crisis, see the accompanying infographic.

News Exposure provides a variety of media monitoring services, including TV broadcast monitoring.

Digital Branding

The “B” Word: Why Is Branding Important and How Can Law Firms Do It?

Steven on December 22, 2018

The “B” word is dreaded across the law firm world. The mere mention of branding disrupts every department of a law firm from Finance to HR and even to the partners. It pushes them out of their comfort zone.

Branding is a huge undertaking for a law firm. The process is long and needs careful execution. To some extent, many believe it’s much too costly.

However, branding can help it in the long run. It helps market the products (its lawyers) much more effectively to potential clients. This can make a law firm stand out from competitors with established portfolio and years of service.

What is a brand strategy?

Apart from branding being conceptual, it is also highly concrete and calculated. An effective brand strategy has a solid and clear set of plans as well as actions that are governed by a specific defined goal or direction. These enable a law firm to improve its competence, solidifies its reputation and increase its position in the market.

Why is branding important for law firms?

Law firms stand out because of its partners and its line up of hugely popular and successful attorneys. Or, it will stand out because of the successful cases it managed. Lastly, it becomes an institution because of its longevity in the business.

It’s a little bit challenging for a law firm to get noticed if it doesn’t have any of those characteristics. On top of that, with all the existing fancy billboards that attorneys put up almost at every freeway, it’s hard for a law firm to stand out without an effective marketing approach.

Take note that building the brand is just one-half of the process. Communicating that out to the masses is the other thing. Today there’s social media and other online platforms to communicate a law firm’s brand. A lot of law firms has taken advantage of SEO services from companies, such as theseomarketingcompany.com to put them in the digital world’s map.

Building a Legal Brand

What makes a law firm’s legal brand?

A legal brand consists of a law firm’s history, mission, core values, and desired future goals. It takes a process of discovery to develop its legal brand. The results of the process uncover its goals, vision, distinct client offering, and its own unique values.

What does a law firm need to research?

Part of the whole process of building a law firm’s branding is extensive research. It should cover everything. From interviewing its staff and clients to looking closely at the competition, its research should be as detailed and comprehensive as to how it does to the cases it handles.

On top of that, it needs auditing of processes, efficiencies, location, and technology as well. Well-rounded research produces solid results that will be used for building the law firm’s future marketing brand strategy.

Knowing your audience

A law firm should have a tight grip on their target market. Once that has been established, it can perform its research on them and the competitors serving them. This includes looking into the targeted clients’ profiles, histories, social media behavior and so forth.

Getting to know yourself

What’s interesting is that a law firm should also look into the perspective of its targeted clients:

How do the targeted clients see the law firm?
What do they see as skills, experiences, etc.?
What elements and/or values of the law firm appeals to them?

What’s your value proposition or offering?

The next step is to build the unique values and what it can offer to its target clients. It will bring both worlds together. This will also help build how the brand can be communicated to clients. Creating a solid and passionate value is a great law firm branding itself.

How to build a differentiator?

Building the differentiator and making sure that it is well communicated by the brand takes a bit of a process and careful thinking.

The key is to really get to know the competition in the market and to build a simple brand that illustrates how the law firm is unique from the rest. This can come in short but strong statements and/or phrases that will make the law firm’s brand stick into the clients’ minds.

Conclusion

Now that the road-map has been built, the execution needs to be seamless. When the brand is defined and communicated, it is equally important for the law firm to live the brand and deliver according to it. The marketing campaigns will not do any good if the law firm continues to practice and deliver outside what its brand is saying.

Digital Branding

5 Tips to Make the Most of Paid Online Surveys

Steven on December 20, 2018

Do you want to take online surveys? Do you want to get the best rewards with less effort? Do not worry. You are at the right place!

Nowadays, online surveys are becoming a common way to make money online. There are various survey sites that offer the opportunity for people to share their opinion on different products. Most of the people who are looking for new ways to make money online eventually end up considering the idea of taking paid online surveys. Taking paid online surveys is one of those work from home options that can be a solid way to put some extra money in your pocket. But at the same time, we cannot deny the fact that the majority of the time that people spend online trying to take surveys for money ends up being wasted. But now you do not need to be worried about this because this article tends to highlight the top 5 tips to make the most of paid online surveys. Moreover, paid surveys reviews can also help you to choose the quickest, easiest and most effective options.

1- You need to qualify for some specific surveys to get rewarded

The first and foremost tip to make the most of paid online surveys is that you have to qualify for a specific survey in order to get rewarded. This is a fact that market research companies need valuable feedback for their products so, these companies take the help of various survey sites. With such sites, they collect the respondents’ opinion. But now the trend has changed. Now, the companies need targeted information. For this purpose, they are considering the demographics, personal interests as well as other characteristics.

To qualify for some online surveys, you need to work in a particular industry or be of a certain age to qualify for some surveys. For this purpose, you need to complete an accurate profile on each survey site with your personal information. In this way, you can become eligible for surveys that match your target group.

2- Keep your information up to date

One of the best ways to make the most of paid online surveys is to keep your profile updated. If your profile still has old information after you move, get older, or have other life changes, then it will create conflict if you are answering qualification questions. This is because some sites check these questions against your profile just to make sure that you are being honest. You can also be disqualified by such sites. Therefore, try to keep your information updated.

3- Always check your email frequently

There are different opportunities by the survey sites that are better paid than others. So, to get approved for those and to get the best reward, you need to check your email regularly.

4- Find time to take paid surveys

To make money from paid surveys, you should also look for breaks in your day where you can fill out a quick 5 or 10-minute survey to earn a few bucks. Moreover, downloading and using various survey apps can definitely help you in this regard.

5- Do some research

The last online survey tip is to choose wisely when deciding what sites to take surveys on. Try to do some research because the goal is to make money as easily as you can without wasting your time. After choosing some options, you need to decide what style, type of survey, and interface works best for you.

Follow all the above-mentioned tips to earn well with paid online surveys!

Digital Branding

Important Google Tools for SMES to Promote Their Businesses

Steven on December 19, 2018

This is a guest post by Melissa Crooks

In addition to Gmail, Google AdWords and Google Analytics, solutions that many people and companies already use, there are a number of free tools that Google makes available to any user. And SMEs can take a lot of advantage. In this post, we will talk about the top 10 free tools of Google.

What are the 10 best free tools from Google?

Google My Business

Nowadays, we can practically say that if your company does not appear in the Google search results (SERPs), it does not exist. Appearing in Google is essential to give visibility to your company on the Internet, and this is easy to achieve thanks to Google My Business.

This tool, in addition to facilitating the creation of the website of your business if you do not already have it, promotes the presence of your company in the Google results list, Google Maps, and Google+.

In addition, whenever someone directly searches for your company name, a tab will appear where you can post photos, specify the address and business hours, including updates – such as offers or product news – and allow your customers or users to leave reviews, which you can also comment to promote communication with your audience.

Think with Google

If you did not know that Google My Business existed, then you probably will not know that Think with Google exists either.

It is a tool full of resources so that marketing professionals can be up to date on trends and marketing campaigns. In Think with Google, you can find market studies, infographics, advertising trends and a number of articles and success stories that will help you grow your business.

Google Alerts

Have you ever mentioned your company in an online publication and you have not heard about it for several months? If you do not have any PR that monitors mentions of your business on the internet, you can always count on Google Alerts.

This tool allows you to configure alerts easily and quickly with respect to the keyword you want. It can be the name of your company, your main competitor or a technology or trend that you want to be well informed about.

Once the alert is configured, you will receive an email every time that an online publication mentions the keyword you have selected. You can choose the frequency of this notification, as well as the language or region in which you want Google to track the mentions.

In this way, you will always find out every time your company name appears in any online publication and you can help spread the news through your social networks and amplify the scope of the publication.

Photo credits: https://www.pexels.com/photo/coffee-apple-iphone-smartphone-38547/

Google Trends

Google Trends is a tool that allows you to explore the popularity of a keyword or expression over time. It allows filtering by countries, time intervals, categories, and type of search: web, images, news, Google Shopping or YouTube.

This tool is not only useful for marketing professionals since it is used to decide the keyword to use. It can also be used to detect market trends and improve the catalog of your company’s products.

Google Forms

Have you ever considered doing a survey to know their degree of satisfaction of your clients and find out what you could improve? Carrying out satisfaction surveys is an increasingly common practice since it is essential to know what customers think and thus improve our products or services.

To do this, Google offers a free tool that is very easy to use: Google Forms.

In addition to satisfaction surveys, the use cases of t Google forms can be very varied: brief surveys about a specific product, conducting interviews with clients, asking to know the opinion of your employees and collaborators about any topic, etc.

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts was designed to facilitate the communication of teams that work remotely. In addition to the possibility of chatting, this resource includes video chat, SMS and voice call via IP.

Given that more companies have professionals or teams working remotely, having a tool to communicate remotely is essential and much better if it’s free.

Its use is not limited to conversations or remote meetings with employees but also serves to hold meetings with clients from other countries, present a new product or service through video conferencing, interview candidates or participate in a remote chat.

Google Keep

Google Keep is the perfect tool to store notes, in text or audio format, to which you can also add images and set reminders. It is available in mobile app format, both for Android and iOS, and can also be used in web application.

Google Keep can be used from any device – tablet or mobile – and all are synchronized.

One of the most interesting features related to reminders is that you can set a geolocalized reminder. For example, you can configure that when entering a client’s office, the note with the details to be treated in a meeting should activate.

URL Shortener

Basically, URL Shortener, as its own name indicates, is a shortening of URLs (web addresses or links) very simple.

URL shorteners, in addition to displaying the shortest URL, are used to “trace” that web address. That is, to know how many people clicked and, therefore, know the interest in the content of the link.

If you already have a blog in your company but do not have any social media tools, you can start using this link shortener from Google, which also offers analytical data about shortened URLs: number of clicks, search engines used, mobile platforms (iOS or Android) and countries from which the link has been visited.

Google Calendar for Companies

With the number of meetings, activities, and events that we attend today, it is impossible to remember everything if you do not have a digital calendar with which we can create reminders and alerts that we can also receive on our mobile phone.

You can share your calendar with your work team. Thus, if someone needs to meet with you, you can directly propose a time of the day or week in which you know you have nothing scheduled.

You can also create different calendars – events, meetings with clients, birthdays, vacations – and share them with the rest of the team, which makes it easier for everyone to be well informed about what is happening in the company.

Author Bio:

Melissa Crooks is Content Writer who writes for Hyperlink InfoSystem, one of the leading app builders in New York, USA & India that holds the best team of skilled and expert app developers. She is a versatile tech writer and loves exploring latest technology trends, entrepreneur and startup column.

Digital Branding

How to Incorporate the Functionality of Instagram Questions in your Marketing Strategy?

Steven on December 17, 2018

Have you ever wondered how Instagram questions serve you for your marketing strategy? You are not the only one. Because of this, we have created this article to give you a general guide on how to use this new tool and increase the visibility of your brand in front of the almost 105 million users that Instagram has today.

1. Frequently Asked Questions about what you want

Frequently Asked Questions are essential when helping our brand’s customers and users. You can use the Instagram questions to offer direct contact with your followers, helping them with the questions they have about your products or services. You can choose a day or a few hours during the week to open this section with a post and then answer the questions you want.

On the other hand, if you are scared that there are malicious comments or too strong, the questions have two advantages for you. First, the question will be hidden if you decide not to publish the answer; and second, the question is not anonymous and you can manage the request privately. This is one of the best options that you buy real Instagram followers for their stories they have. Instagram stories are the latest trending features on Instagram. There is a scroll option and even you can skip your desired photo or video. Instagram also introduced once new feature IGTV for the people who want the longer videos than 1 minute.

2. Test field for something new

Are you about to launch new products or services and do not know if they will work? Then hurry up and ask on Instagram. Remember that marketing is also reading the market, and this tool allows you to know opinions directly with customers.

Do not be afraid to ask what you want, people are sincere in social networks and you can quickly know if your idea can work in the future.

3. Instagram questions as expectation

Every day we have ideas to tell and we want to give a small expectation to achieve impact by revealing the new thing we have. So, if we combine the question with images about the new thing that we are going to reveal, we can create an expectation about anything.

For example: If there is a contest, you can show part of the prize and ask something about the mechanics, like Do you want to win this…? or What do you think will be the prize for our contest? Also, you can use it for new products, relocation of venues, or whatever you decide.

4. Ask about the products you want to promote

At times our marketing strategies are focused on the promotion of specific products and services. That’s why IG followers questions allow us to put in the minds of our followers what we want. You can use this tool to ask about the models or types of preferred products within the category that you must promote and, even, to inquire about what kind of promotions or discounts your customers expect.

Digital Branding

Google AI Beats Turing Test: Should Content Writers Be Concerned?

Steven on December 17, 2018

Photo credits: https://pixabay.com/en/google-search-engine-browser-search-76517/

Technology is a gift. The ability to create, invent, and innovate has always been humanity’s greatest advantage, yet it has also been our greatest curse. We are incredibly capable of creating things that are as wondrous as they are terrible. The Internet, the atom bomb, cars, and now, artificial intelligence.

And why is artificial intelligence so scary?

Well, first off, scary may be a bit of an exaggeration. Its disadvantages,however, are real in the fact that artificial intelligence has the capacity to replace its human counterparts, whether it’s at work or in daily activities such as driving. The fear may stem from the fact that AI may not only be just as good as its human counterpart, but better.

So, what exactly is the Turing Test, and why is it relevant to know that an AI actually beat it?

The Turing Test is the most recognizable method of measuring the ability of artificial intelligence to mimic, or even emulate human intelligence. This test was designed by English computer scientist and mathematician, Alan Mathison Turing in 1950 in an attempt to measure a machine’s ability to showcase intelligence. The premise of the Turing Test was that only a human can truly be a judge of whether or not a machine is able to mimic human intelligence.

So, in the Turing Test, there are three parties involved:

The Evaluator (Control Variable)
The Computer (Test Variable)
The Human (Control Variable)

The test is simple. All three participants would be separated from each other. The evaluator will then interact with the human and the computer through a text-only medium. The evaluator then has to correctly discern between the computer and the human, and to identify which is which.

Enter Google Duplex. This is a new Google Assistant feature that is capable of making automated calls on your behalf. It even comes with a human-sounding voice. What sets Google Duplex apart as an AI is that it’s able to recognize fast speech, complex sentences, and long remarks.

This uncanny ability to sound human and to carry conversations can be seen in the technology’s blog where several recordings of phone conversations between the AI and human callers can be found. The results are as astounding as they are borderline worrisome.

However, Google itself makes it clear that the objective of Duplex is not to mimic humans. Rather, it’s meant to simply respond to a constrained scenario in which probable responses are easy to predict. While Google Duplex is, without a doubt, capable of making reservations on your behalf, you definitely won’t be able to make it call your mom in your place.

To ease your minds further, the answer is that AI simply isn’t advanced enough to completely replace humans (currently). This fact is further compounded when you take it in the context of professions that require a great deal of creativity.

It’s simple, really. In order to be able to attract human beings, you need to be able to be relatable to them. And well, machines simply cannot do that. So, tasks like content creation will definitely require the human touch at the helm. Therefore, gaining publicity through guest blogging is still going to be a relevant method of generating traffic and building relationships with partners. It’s simple marketing and psychology, after all. How can you attract someone who doesn’t understand you?

Local Branding

5 Signs You’re Losing Customers to Competitors

Steven on December 14, 2018

This is a guest post by Sander Riya Image via Pexels

It’s important to nurture your customers every step of the way in every way you can. Unfortunately, a lot of companies make costly mistakes that cause customers who could easily have followed through with sales to fall through the cracks far to often. You want to not only land sales with leads, but also follow up with existing customers so that you get more out of your efforts to find them with repeat sales down the road. The number one thing you need to be aware of to optimize your relationship with leads and existing customers is know how to recognize when you’re losing them unnecessarily. The following are five signs that you’re losing your customers to your competitors. Understanding the following information about why companies lose customers will help you to better nurture customer relationships.

1. Your website is too confusing to navigate

A website needs to be user-friendly above all if it is going to encourage customers to follow through to making a purchase. A lot of companies make the mistake of valuing aesthetics over user friendliness, and this can often lead to the intense frustration of prospective customers. Remember that not every customer out there is going to be particularly savvy with using the Internet, and Internet users are notoriously impatient these days. If website visitors run into frustrations on your site, they’re simply going to head back to a search engine and find your competitors. There are many ways you can focus on making your website more user friendly. Just go through the process of making a purchase on your site yourself. If you think that process could be more simple, you need to look to your web master or web hosting services to find a way to simplify purchases.

2. You don’t reliably follow up with prospects

A prospective customer or past customer may quickly forget about your company if you’re not following up properly. You need to check back in before not too much time has passed after a customer’s initial inquiry. This will remind your customer you’re there. It will also give you a chance to acquire more information on what your customer is looking for. You can use SEO to stay in the picture by making it so that your company’s website comes up pretty reliably in search engine results. Beside email marketing, you can also use content marketing to send out information that’s useful to those in your target market. The biggest thing you need to work on developing if you want to be able to follow up practically and effectively is an email list that will allow you to conveniently keep in touch with those interested in your company.

3. Your website speed just isn’t cutting it

The simplicity of navigating your website is not the only important factor when it comes to online customer retention. Another important factor you need to be aware of is how fast your website is working for visitors. The more website visitors you have, the more demand there is that’s placed on your hosting capabilities. For this reason, you need to compare web hosting types over time and make sure that you’re using a package that offers enough memory, storage, and bandwidth for your needs.

4. You’re out of stock on many items

When it comes to E-commerce websites, customers will quickly become frustrated if they’re trying to buy things from you and you’re constantly out of stock. If this is a common situation, it might be time to start putting more effort into ordering inventory in advance so that you don’t run out. If the problem is with your supplier, it’s probably time to start looking for alternative suppliers who can keep you readily stocked on what you need. Customers aren’t just going to you for the quality of your products, but also the selection you offer and the reliability with which you carry items shown on your website. Obviously, your customers will quickly look elsewhere if your company is unable to supply them with what they’re looking for.

5. You haven’t put any effort into making your website mobile-friendly

More and more consumers are doing their online shopping using a smartphone. As consumers become more comfortable with smartphone shopping, you need to make sure you’re accommodating your customer’s desires. If you’re never paid any attention to how your website looks on a smartphone or if you’re not sure your site is responsively designed or not, you should really look into it. It’s important to realize that a lot of people don’t even use a computer at home these days and use their smartphone for website browsing. If your site is difficult or impossible to navigate on a smartphone, there’s no doubt that you’re missing out on a lot of customers. As a business owner, you need to examine whether or not you see any of these signs at your company. If you do, you need to start putting more effort into how you can retain customers. By making some tweaks to your online presence, you might be able to not only ensure better statistics with following through with leads, but you also may be able to win back old customers who missed buying from you and appreciate the helpful changes you’ve made.

About the author: Riya is an inspired writer writing in several areas of expertise. With spending her years working marketing communication, Riya is delighted to work with aspiring small business owners. Apart from her marketing expertise, Riya always enjoys reading pocketbook, cooking, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter, @sanderriya.

Digital Branding Local Branding

Dos and Don’ts When Designing Your Business Logo

Steven on December 10, 2018

A logo is the first thing customers notice and remember. It’s the face of a business. Designing a logo can be as challenging as coming up with a business name. A successful logo design is the one that sticks even when the name is forgotten. It should speak to people even without any words. Just like that of McDonald’s – people crave for burger and fries whenever they see the big Golden Arches that resembles an M. The logo is what makes you as a business.

To make sure that the logo you create will stand out and be as effective as that of the top brands right now, here are the dos and don’ts in creating your tech startup or business logo.

Simplicity

DoMake your logo simple and clear. Most of the best companies have the simplest logos. Take Nike, for example. When you see their logo printed on something, you’ll know it’s Nike, and you’ll know that it’s a quality product. Let the logo do the talking for you. It should express your business’ quality and philosophy without saying a word. Do ask for a design proposal from your designer and show it to a few of your people to see if it’s appealing to the majority.

Don’t Putting too many images or details make the logo difficult to understand and remember. They defeat the purpose of having a logo, which is a representation of your company; you should’ve just written an essay if that’s the case.

Uniqueness

Do If you want to stand out, you have to be different from the rest. For instance, if you want to start a burger business, you know that there are so many burger joints out there and they all have burgers in their logo. If you make your logo a burger too, you can’t say that your burger is any different from theirs. Think of something that will say burger without the actual burger. If you pull that off, your logo will surely click and will be remembered among the rest of the burger logos.Don’t Making a logo after another similar business isn’t going to work and may put you into trouble, so don’t bother making it. Creating a logo is your chance to show that you’re different, so don’t try to make a logo that looks the same as another just to show that you’re at par. You’ll just be ridiculed and laughed at, and your business will not stand a chance with the big ones. Your logo is not just a marketing tool. It’s going to be your brand’s image, and you’d want your image to be unique. So, squeeze out your creative juices and come up with a logo that’s original and one of a kind.Font

DoMake a logo that is easy on the eyes. A clear and straightforward logo utilizes fonts that are not too complicated. If you are creative enough, you can use a custom font – this will make your logo even more unique.

Don’tDon’t make it hard for your customers to read what your logo is saying. If your logo is too complicated and unreadable, people will stay away from your products too, and that’s something you don’t want to happen.

Colors

DoYou may combine colors, but it’s best to stick with only a few. Three colors are acceptable depending on the design and concept, but two is ideally the maximum. Research the meaning of each color before you decide on which color you want to use for your logo. For instance, you wouldn’t want to use red or black if your business is about organic products. Colors also have emotional effects, so make sure that the logo’s colors stimulate the right emotions.

Don’t

Using more than two colors is an art but not particularly helpful for a logo. Colors that don’t convey the meaning or essence of your business are not the right ones.

Consistency

DoMake sure that when you’ve come up with a logo, you’ll stick to it. This is how your brand will be recognized and remembered. Hence, when you create a logo, try your best to make one that you can live with for the rest of your business’ life.

Don’t Changing your logo often will confuse your audience. You’re not promoting a good image and you will lose customers. No one will remember your company if your logo keeps on disappearing for a new one.

Meaning

DoCreate a design that has a meaning. You can’t just create an image without knowing what it’s for or what relevance it has for your business. There may be times that you’ll be asked by clients about the significance of your logo design, so you should have an explanation for it.

Don’t Not knowing your logo will mean that you don’t know anything about your business. Don’t let your logo fail you. It represents your business and what you want your audience to feel about it. It’s your identity, so don’t make one that doesn’t have any relevance or meaning to your business.

Keep these tips in mind and always remember that your logo will define your business. Make it simple and understandable for people to remember. The most successful logos are the ones a child can recognize. Opt for lesser words and focus on just the logo itself. You will see the benefits of a well-designed logo to your business in the long run.

Digital Branding

10 Tips For Your Content Marketing Plan

Steven on December 10, 2018

Having a marketing plan in the digital world of today is important whether you are starting a small business or already manage a large company. Content marketing is a strategic approach focusing on the provision of consistent, relevant content to your target audience. The plan ultimately drives consumer interaction and attracts more customers to your brand. Here are the top 10 tips for your content marketing plan to help you achieve this:

1. Do Proper Research

It is important to analyze your company, the services or products you offer, and even the industry itself before you dive into content marketing. You should find out what interests your target audience to offer them valuable content that they will enjoy. Once you tap into this buyer persona and tailored the content marketing plan to the target audience, you will start seeing more conversions in the end.

2. Establishing Your Objectives

What are your reasons for creating this content marketing plan? What is actually driving it? You obviously want to attract more customers, but getting more specific about your goals will help you identify the most suitable strategy for marketing. For instance, you may wish to improve customer retention, increase brand awareness, generate more sales, or just drive more traffic to your site. Each of the objectives will require a specific strategy, which is why you need to know your objective from the get-go.

3. Search for Content Ideas

Once you determine what your goals are, you can then search for ideas on how to execute your content marketing strategy. The brainstorming stage will help you see what others are doing to ensure that their sites are more SEO-friendly as well as improve their social media outreach. You need to find out how other companies present their videos, podcasts, infographics, and blog posts, noting what is effective about each strategy.

4. Determine the Categories and Subcategories of the Content

A content marketing plan is much more than simply uploading new blog posts each week. You need to set the categories and subcategories of the content to cover all your bases. For example, under “social media”, you should include a list of the social media platforms on which you wish to publish your content.

5. Use an Editorial Calendar

The most engaging content marketing plan is one that sticks to a particular schedule. Using an editorial calendar will help you keep up with the publication dates and motivate you to meet deadlines. The strategy will help you stay focused and avoid procrastinating. Just ensure that you schedule content publication at regular intervals to ensure that your audience stays engaged.

6. Determine Who Is Responsible for Creating the Content

Think about how you will be creating content for your brand. Will you be creating the blog posts yourself? Do you have an in-house content creation team that you have hired? Do you prefer using freelancers? Or do you plan to hire a third-party content company? Each option has its pros and cons, so weigh them carefully.

7. Create Quality Content

The focus should always be on publishing high-quality content whether you are creating it yourself or hiring someone else to do it for you. Know and adhere to your standards and ask for revisions if and when necessary. It’s better to have less high-quality content, rather than lots of lower quality stuff. In fact, a lower quality approach that focuses on having lots of content may harm your brand according to ClickFirst Marketing.

8. Make Recommendations

Recommending other blogs and websites might seem counterintuitive when you are trying to market your brand, but audiences usually respond to such helpful recommendations. To reach an even wider audience, you can network with other companies for mutual recommendations.

9. Customize the Content

Producing content regularly simple will not be enough if it is not original. A better idea would be to customize your posts. Customize the same content for various social media platforms, respond to your audience, and maintain your brand voice.

10. Implement Keywords for SEO Purposes

You can obtain a good SEO position by using the proper keywords, but ensure that you use them wisely. Avoid keyword stuffing and implement your target keywords into the content as naturally as possible.