Category: Digital Branding

Start-Up Business: Turning Your App Idea into a Business

Steven on April 23, 2020

Coming up with novel ideas is something we’re all capable of. Everything single one of us has woken up in the middle of the night or sat up straight in the bathtub with a lightbulb flashing over our heads, marveling in wonder at how brilliant our imaginations are, and how great we are at dreaming up new ideas and concepts. This, in itself, is nothing particularly special. What is special, however, is finding the resources, energy, and motivation to transform those ideas into something real, tangible, and – perhaps most importantly – profitable.

If you’re able to take these next steps with your mobile app ideas, then you’ll quickly make yourself stand out from the crowd… and the vast majority of ideas never making past the initial stages.

Taking Steps to Mobile App Success

Why do so many mobile apps never get transformed into businesses? Well, there is no shortage of reasons why this is the case. However, perhaps top of the (rather long) list is the undeniable fact that making mobile apps work as businesses is something that takes real-time, real effort, and real planning and validation.

Thankfully, there are plenty of steps mobile app developers and budding business people can take in order to help their ideas progress, and in order to gain success from the very earliest stages of development. In this blog, we’re going to look at some of the absolute essential actions you should be taking if you want to see your mobile app business take off… and they’re a lot simpler and easier than you might expect. Remember, these aren’t absolutely foolproof hacks for success, but they will establish good practices, and they lay the foundations on which mobile app business success can be built.

Identify Your Audience

Knowing your target audience isn’t just essential for mobile app businesses, it’s a key part of launching any business. It’s all too tempting to say ‘my app is for everybody’ – this isn’t going to get you anywhere.

If anything, you need to be narrowing down your target audience as much as you can, and identifying the key criteria which set your ideal market apart from others. Once you know exactly the type of people your app is for (and we mean age bracket, income level, job status, lifestyle, etc, etc, etc), you can start tailoring everything from your marketing efforts to your app design to appeal directly to them.

Research Your Competition

Once you’ve figured out who your app is for, and you know exactly what your app does and why it does it, the time will come to really check out the competition. Unless your idea is something completely novel and unique, there will be other apps out there offering very similar or identical solutions; your job is to research what difficulties they overcame, what their audience loves and dislikes about their app, and how you can take the concept one step further.

Clearly Define What Your App Is

Apps come in all shapes and sizes, styles, and uses, and the market can be massively confusing for those seeking solutions for their mobile devices. Your job is to define your app as clearly as possible: make sure that, from the very first moment, your audience can identify exactly what your app does, who your app is for, and how your app can make a positive difference. For example, you are developing an app for tracking calories, you might want to define the benefits of tracking calories and who can benefit from using the app.

This will help with everything from your listing on the App Store etc, to the way your app is marketed and used.

Carefully Consider Branding

Make no mistake: branding is of the utmost importance when it comes to your app business, as this will define how your app will be seen and received on the marketplace, and it will create that all-important first impression among countless competitors and distractions.

There’s plenty of information out there on the net regarding which colors communicate which ideas, and how logos, emblems, and slogans can make a difference, and we’d encourage you to spend some time getting used to the way branding can be key to getting your message out there. At some point, as your plans grow and start to become finalized, you’ll most likely need to start delegating certain tasks. Bringing in a branding or marketing expert and a copywriter could be one of the best decisions you make unless you’re confident you have the time and objectivity to really make it work by yourself.

Get It Out There

Once you’ve put the time in following the above steps (and believe us, this is far from an exhaustive list as you’ll also need to assemble a team of dedicated partners, and spend time costing your business venture), you’ll be ready to launch. While this is an exciting time, it’s also a period that requires plenty of preparation in order to get the most lucrative results.

You know the nature of your app better than anybody, so you’ll hopefully have a clearer idea of how to launch and what the launch will need. A website and some key social media platforms are surely essential, and most apps nowadays come with mailing lists and preview lists, too. Sites like the beta list can help you identify and target early adopters and influencers, and if your app has local appeal, then events, happenings, and parties might be appropriate, too. No matter how you approach your launch, your goal should be the same: to get people talking about your app, using it, and having the best possible experience with it. If your launch manages to do this while drumming up excitement, then you’re onto a winner.

Well, there you have it – Messapp’s guide to turning those ideas into a reality and making your mobile app ideas into a business that works for you. We’re specialists in mobile app development with years of top-level experience, and we’re confident we can assist you in making your concepts fly. Get in touch today to speak to a member of our team; it’s the first step towards success.

About the Author

Though a lawyer by trade, Vasily Malyshev found his passion for mobile tech, self-taught design, and development. He is the founder of Messapps, one of the top New York app development companies. Today, in addition to working with Messapps, Vasily is also teaching app development and marketing at New York University and regularly invests in other tech startups.

Digital Branding

Radar Speed Signs – How Effective And Beneficial They Are

Steven on April 20, 2020

People have consistently been in a rush looking for a thriller experience, and with regards to driving a vehicle, the vast majority will decide to drive it fast if there are no limitations.

More than 1.25 million individuals kick the bucket every year because of streetcar accidents. The numbers are crushing and that is the reason it’s more than would normally be appropriate to manage the speed of vehicles anyway conceivable to lessen the sudden passings and wounds.

Because of the innovation that has given numerous helpful alternatives, so as to forestall the mishappening. Radar speed signs are the subsequent stage in controlling rush hour gridlock speed. It is equipped for recording the speed of an approaching vehicle and afterward shows it through the LED lights. So in this post, you will get to know about the numerous advantages of utilizing a radar speed sign.

Significantly more secure than the speed breakers

It gives incredible security in contrast with hindrances that are bothering and excruciating. Additionally, the hindrance causes traffic speed capricious as certain vehicles don’t back off.

Radar speeds signs oppose habituation

The human mind gets desensitized to a dreary boost (therapists call this procedure habituation). That implies when individuals see the equivalent, static school zone sign or 20 mph give up and over, the psyche begins to overlook it. Sooner or later, it doesn’t enlist seeing it.

That is the place radar speed signs come in. Each time you pass them, they streak another bit of information. Their input is a continually changing upgrade in your static daily schedule, which implies you are less ready to habituate to them.

Can help calm the traffic- which is a great benefit

Erratic traffic is whenever more wild than controlled traffic. Traffic controlling would basically mean controlling velocity. What’s more, these radar speed sign sheets are the best things to trust. Henceforth, the responders of these sheets are far more than the standard ones. That is the motivation behind why these signs trailer sheets are confided in more than the standard ones. Traffic calming can be considered as one of the benefits of these sheets; that is startling when you hear their name.

Teach and educate the public and make better, happier citizens

Impossible you say? No, it’s true. There is some truly fascinating science about how the mind reacts to driver speed signs (called criticism circles) that says, let individuals know when they are speeding, offer them a chance to address their conduct and they will. That is instructing drivers and helping them to be productive members of society. People, in general, acknowledge a delicate update unquestionably more than glimmering blue lights in the rearview reflect. Furthermore, a nonappearance of speeding tickets makes for more joyful residents and happier citizens.

To wrap it up, these are a portion of the astonishing advantages of utilizing radar speed signs. Ideally, this snippet of data may help you in your future endeavors.

Digital Branding Legal Branding Personal Branding

6 Tips for Developing an Agile Brand

Steven on April 20, 2020

Change is constant and rapid in today’s time of doing business. The ability to adapt to change is not a luxury but a necessity. This makes it important for businesses to develop an agile brand. Brands should be quick to keep up with market trends and customer behaviors, among other things. In this short post, we’ll talk about some of the best ways to develop an agile brand.

1. Learn the Basics

It is difficult to develop an agile brand if you do not know the fundamentals of how to do it. With this, you need to study. For instance, one thing that could help would be taking a change management certification course. While there are many things that you can learn from the latter, one of the most significant you could learn would be how to create an agile and competitive company or brand that can stay attuned with the fast-changing marketplace.

2. Be Adaptive

To build an agile brand, you need to be nimble. To do this, learn how to take a risk. Do not be limited by your desire to be consistent. Take the case of Netflix as an example. It has changed its business model several times before it finally found the most profitable. By being adaptive, you are demonstrating that you are willing to bend a bit to keep up. Your brand strategy must be able to flow and flex with change.

3. Collaborate

An agile strategy for building a successful brand capitalizes on collaboration. By working together, you can create better solutions, which will be instrumental in the success of a brand. To build a collaborative environment, there is a need for openness and creativity. The more an organization learns to collaborate, the bigger is the room for improvement.

4. Build the Right Team

Speaking of collaborating, building an agile brand also calls for the need to have a competent team. Gather some of the brightest minds within the organization. The team should have people who can quickly implement novel strategies depending on current trends.

5. Implement Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping refers to the quick fabrication of several models. Agile brands should create beta versions of a brand strategy simultaneously. Instead of introducing one strategy and testing its feasibility, an alternative approach is to introduce multiple strategies at once, test, and see which ones will work the best.

6. Be Timely

To be agile, your brand needs to be timely. One of the best applications of this would be when it comes to releasing your marketing campaigns. Your materials should be relevant and well-timed. For instance, if it is Christmas, you need to release holiday-themed ads. By doing this, you can appeal more effectively to the emotions of your target audience.

We are living in a fast-paced society where businesses must keep up with the changes. With this, it is crucial to building an agile brand to meet the changing demands of the market. Take note of our recommendations above to make this possible.

Digital Branding

How Cloud Computing protects companies from Coronavirus?

Steven on April 18, 2020

With Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) creating pandemic and more and more deaths since its inception last December, the professional world has tried to make remote network arrangements for the work. The spread of Coronavirus has led all the businesses to work remotely. It shows that most of us are switching to the internet and cloud-based solutions.

The organizations which were already having remote network infrastructure are subject to benefits in this situation. They are in the process of updating their existing software services.
Other organizations that didn’t have any cloud-based services available for remote work are rushing to build their cloud call center software applications. They are concerned about the future and are preparing for any such pandemic outbreaks.
The Coronavirus disease that started in China had created several controversies in the past and today also. But, we must utilize our energy in finding a solution to fight against such disease. For companies, the best solution presently is to shift their focus on cloud computing.
Having a cloud application means businesses will have no effects on their work in such a pandemic. Having a cloud application will not only increase the scalability but also have additional benefits listed below.

Advantages of having cloud solution for your business amid Coronavirus

– Reduction in the cost

Businesses will save the necessary money using cloud solutions for their operations. These savings are in the form of a reduction in human resources, an increase in work efficiency, and deploying standard cloud solutions for multiple tasks.

The most significant reduction in the cost is the hardware, software, and additional technology infrastructure you have to purchase to fulfill the needs. Instead, here you need to focus on cloud-based solutions to meet your needs.

– Performance is improved

The cloud-based solutions, for example, S4 HANA cloud solution, and already running on tried and tested internet network.

You don’t have to worry about speed and efficiency. It is regularly updated to meet the requirements of the growing world.

It is best if you focused on how you will improve the solution; performance will increase by default.

– Reliable

When you are running your business operations using cloud solutions, it becomes necessary for you to check its reliability.

Talking about reliability, cloud solutions like S4 HANA cloud provides you the most important features like data backup and data recovery.

These two features are essential, especially when people are working remotely in COVID-19.

– Security

Along with reliability, cloud computing networks use the most critical security features.

When your organization is using cloud computing, be assured that cloud computing is the most secure network.

Your business is not only secured against any potential loss but also protected against all the security vulnerabilities your business will face in the future.

– Keeps you ready for the future

Businesses that were already present on cloud infrastructure are ripping the great benefits in today’s scenario.

They understood the importance of cloud-based solutions, and they prepared themselves in advance for any uncertain situations like COVID-19.

But it is still not late. You can always migrate to cloud-based solutions and be ready for any outbreaks occurring in the future.

Getting ready for cloud-based solutions like S4 HANA Cloud means keeping yourself prepared for any uncertain situation or possible changes and challenges the future will bring concerning our business.

Innovation is the real face against danger.

Let us consider the present situation. The companies are not working from their offices on account of lockdown. And employees are working from home.

In such a scenario, you may visualize that the only thing that is positive in such a situation, is the innovative ideas adopted by organizations to fetch the required results to their clients.

We are strengthening our toolset and more innovations are yet to come in the coming days.

Organizations have to admit that cloud-based solutions are the best solutions. Also, we always feel that innovation can face any danger that we all come across.

Conclusion

Day-by-day, we can see that an enormous amount of data is generated. With Big Data, you need big storage. And that is where the cloud computing steps-in.

Cloud applications provide organizations with all the facilities to store, analyze, and extract meaningful information from this enormous data in a scalable and cost-efficient manner.

Digital Branding

Winning Bid Management Strategies For Businesses

Steven on April 15, 2020

The competition in the B2B domain is growing these days and businesses are struggling to stay ahead. The biggest challenge relates to finding the best opportunities and capitalizing on them. Looking at the right places is important and so is using the right approach to get projects for your business. Bid management plays a key role in this aspect as you need to understand what really can make you successful with tendering. Essentially, you cannot follow a one-size-fits-all approach with tenders because they vary in size and complexity. Still, there are some bid management strategies you can rely on for winning the tendering game.

Develop corporate literature

Even before you start exploring opportunities, you need to have well-defined and coherent corporate literature in place. This is because businesses that collaborate with you would want to verify whether your organization holds relevant skills, experience and mindset to complete the projects to the highest of standards. Ideally, your corporate literature should include elements such as policies, licenses, accreditations and case studies. Beyond just having the right elements, it should have consistent, credible and rich content to showcase your achievements, track record and professionalism.

Source the right opportunities

Once you have the corporate documentation in place, you are all set to start exploring opportunities. Sourcing ones that are right for your business is vital. In the current landscape, Online Tenders make a smart approach for the organizations that want to find projects to match their capabilities. Besides capabilities, the other key considerations while assessing the suitability of tenders include domain experience, location feasibility, team skills and financial threshold. If you think that you can deliver to the buyer’s expectation, you can go ahead and bid.

Assess the buyer’s expectations

After ensuring that you can handle a project considering its specifications, you need to assess the prospective client’s expectations as well. They often have specific requirements and tender responses that fail to address these requirements tend to get lost in the crowd. A thorough look at the specification documents is the best way to get started. Further, you should pick the key information pieces, understand how the client’s organization operates and try to reflect the right mindset in your response.

Have a thorough bid management plan

Now that you have a clear idea about the project and client expectations, it is time to get started with creating a proper bid management plan. Creating a hurried response can kill your chances of success with tendering. Outline the key factors such as response to individual questions, documentation to be attached with the response and format of response. Ensure that you formulate the plan while keeping the submission deadlines in mind. Proper proofreading of the response before submission is also an important aspect of the bid management process. Something as trivial as spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, mathematical miscalculations and formatting problems can damage your chances.

An effective bid management strategy can make all the difference between success and failure for your business. So you must go the extra mile to create one and adhere to it as a standard for tender submissions.

Digital Branding Personal Branding

How to Come up with Topics for Your New Blog

Steven on April 13, 2020

Starting a new blog can be scary. Terrifying, even. It’s important to note that coming up with topics for your blog doesn’t have to be intimidating. There are a few things you can do to ensure you never have difficulties coming up with something interesting to write about, and they aren’t as difficult as you may think. In fact, they are actually pretty simple.

We’ll be going over some of those tricks in detail, so if you’re ready to start learning, keep reading.

Take Some Time to Brainstorm Ahead!

First, you want to start with a good old-fashioned brainstorming session. This is because taking the time to brainstorm topics is a major must when starting a new blog. With all the fake news out there, you’ll need to have unique ideas and supporting evidence, if you want your blog to stand out from the get-go.

Before you can come up with an entire list, though, you need to get the ball rolling and write down one or two of the topics that are already swirling through your mind. Even if you can only come up with one idea at the beginning, it’s all you need to get started.

From there, you simply need to change scope.

Let’s say, for example, you want to write a blog post about the importance of marketing. This is a pretty broad topic on its own, but if you change the scope, it opens up a world of opportunity. And before you know it, your one idea has turned into 6 or 7.

You can also write about topics like the importance of organic marketing, the most recent changes that have happened with marketing strategies in your niche, the differences between marketing on different social media channels, and much more.

All it takes to successfully change scope is a different perspective, a good brainstorming session, and the willingness to take some time to plan ahead.

Use Content Tools Like Google Analytics to See What’s Working

With that being said, though, you also want to make sure the topics you come up with will work. That means using content tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and ClickFunnels to keep an eye on how your blog posts stack up against the competition.

When audience members read content, they’re looking for a number of things, including easy-to-read layouts, mobile functionality, engaging copy, and accurate search engine optimization. Having the data from each blog post at your fingertips can give you the ability to analyze whether your topics and overall blog can satisfy those needs.

No Need to Look Far: Write About Topics That Concern Your Site!

No matter how well thought out your blog topics are, there’s no chance they will perform well if they don’t fit in with the content on the rest of your website. So if you’re having trouble coming up with blog topics, look no further than that topic! Most notably, your site’s security.

Cybersecurity is a major issue for every website owner, including you, and it can provide a broad range of topics for you to write about. Some examples might be the best way to ensure the backend of your website is secure and the best way to establish strong security initiatives among staff members.

How-To Guides Are Always Great and Really Popular!

If all else fails, you can never go wrong with writing how-to guides! These have been shown to perform well on a regular basis, especially in the online blog space.

Think about it.

One of the most common things people do is Google the answers they’re looking for. Your goal with how-to guides is to walk your readers through a process they don’t yet know how to do and provide them those answers.

Write What You Know

No matter what your blog is about, it’s always going to be possible to come up with topics. All it takes is a little time, a new perspective, and excitement regarding the experience your readers will receive when they click onto your content. What is more, there are plenty of writing and editing tools and services like ClassyEssay which apart from providing academic writing help can also assist you in creating catchy headlines and high-quality content on various topics for your blog.

And if you ever struggle to come up with new topics, just take a moment to breathe and walk through the strategies we outlined above. You know about more than you think, and there are plenty of people out there who want to pick your brain about every aspect of whatever your overall branding focuses on.

So go out there and start writing. You’ve got this!

Digital Branding

4 Web hosting types – Things you should know before going with a plan

Steven on April 11, 2020

For an online business, having a good secure managed WordPress hosting service should be at the top of any priority list they have. With so many types of hosting to choose from and “players” to go with, it might get a bit confusing sometimes.

Add in the fact that they all use the same terminology like bandwidth, SSD, storage, things can get even more unclear, especially for someone who is not that tech-savvy to begin with.

I want to discuss the main web hosting types in this text. As businesses grow, they may need extra resources which encourage better website speed, more storage space for media and servers that can handle larger amounts of public traffic.

Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll get a clearer idea for what each type is best for in what circumstances and what to go with for your own business.

Shared web hosting

Shared web hosting is best for those businesses who are still in their start up phase, meaning they do not need much extra resources to operate online.

If you need stable shared hosting under $1 with 99.98% uptime guarantee click here →

Why is it shared you may ask?

It’s quite simple. With these types of hosting plans you “share” webspace with others, sometimes, hundreds of websites hosted on the same server instead of having your own set of resources.

This leads to the biggest advantage that a shared web hosting plan can offer – it’s cheap price. The costs usually range from around 3 to 10 dollars per month and is quite obviously, the best choice for businesses who are still small and cannot afford to spend too much money on web hosting.

On the other hand, there are its limitations.

As you can assume, sharing resources with tens, sometimes hundreds of websites on the same server is not a good idea if you are trying to handle a larger amount of visitors,some may just slow you down.

These things do happen, and if a website gets an increased amount of visitors, not only will it slow down by itself, it will also affect neighboring sites, since everyone’s in the same boat.

In summary: Shared hosting is the least capable type of hosting plan with limited resources, nevertheless, a very good option for those seeking a cheap way to host their website when just starting out.

Reseller web hosting

Reseller hosting is similar to a shared hosting plan in some ways, though, not as quite the same. You see, the idea here is that you buy a hosting plan (similar to the resource capabilities of a shared hosting plan) and resell it to others for a monetary gain.

Basically, you are paying for a hosting plan that has extra administration tools and can be resold for other parties. This way, the parent hosting company gains an extra client and you are making business as being the middleman.

Typically, the prices here range from 15 to around 50 dollars a month, depending what resources are given with the plan that’s resold.

Apart from a regular hosting plan with a certain amount of bandwidth, disk space and capabilities of handling website visitors, you also gain a set of administrative tools which will let you take care of the people that you sold hosting plans to.

In summary: this type of web hosting is best for those who want to have their own web hosting business, or are looking to gain more hosting perks for themselves, by reselling the services of the parent company.

Cloud web hosting

Cloud web hosting is one of the latest innovations in the world of web hosting for businesses. Here, companies sell you a plan with the idea that you will need to expand in the future and gain more resources for your usage.

The biggest advantage of cloud web hosting is arguably its capabilities. You see, such servers are made up of smaller individual servers, joining up in one system capable of hundreds of websites with much bigger ease than that of a standard shared hosting plan.

In fact, after going with a shared plan at the start, it is best practice to move on to a cloud web hosting service as the next step. Most hosting companies in this case, offer prices based on the amount of resources you use up, so it’s more difficult to tell the exact price range for such.

In summary: if you want to go to the next level of your business growth after your initial plan, you can do that by choosing a very flexible cloud based hosting plan.

If you have not decided what to choose, give it a shot with web hosting trial offer from Hostens →

Virtual Private Server hosting

Yet another step forward after shared hosting could be by choosing a VPS or Virtual Private Server. It is what the name says – your own virtual private space. The main advantage here is that you also get additional resources when compared to a shared hosting plan.

It’s pretty-much another middle ground between sharing your resources with others, to having your own dedicated server. Even though the resources here are also shared among others, the difference from a shared hosting server is much more prominent in terms of what resources you have.

Here, you are also safe from neighbors, which may slow or even take you down with them as they receive more traffic, while also being a much cheaper option than a standard dedicated server.

Prices here range from 50 to about 100 dollars a month for your hosting plan.

In summary: a VPS is a very capable option, designed for those who want to maintain their independence from others.

The article was prepared by prepared by Hostens.com team

Digital Branding Legal Branding SaaS Branding

Global E-Commerce Usability Errors

Steven on April 9, 2020

If we talk about global errors, it is only one – the unwillingness to understand that there is a usability online store. Among businessmen, it is considered that this is a set of standards to follow. And rare owners know the truth: usability – an individual complex, which is determined only through regular testing.

Let’s analyze the most common mistakes that arise from a lack of understanding of usability and lack of testing.

No information about the product in the shopping cart.

There’s a problem. The customer puts the goods in the basket. And when he wants to re-examine the features, he finds neither an enlarged image nor a link to a detailed description. The only thing available to him is the price of the goods. To reread the specifications and check whether the product is selected, he will have to go back to the catalog. And then the buyer leaves.

The solution. Give the customer access to complete information about the product from the shopping cart. Some customers prefer to put all the products they are interested in in the cart, and only then get acquainted with the characteristics of the product and select it. This behavior is often found in spontaneous purchases and sales.

No information on product availability

There’s a problem. The customer puts the product in the basket. He fills out a special form and at the end of the procedure he finds out that the product is over. This can make him angry, which will significantly reduce his loyalty.

It’s a solution. Inform about the presence/absence of the product in time – in the product card or shopping cart. This way the customer will be able to replace one type of product with another or will not fill out the form at all, which will save his time and save your reputation.

There is no option of auto storage of selected products in the shopping cart.

There’s a problem. The client formed a shopping list in the shopping cart and accidentally closed the page. After re-entering the site, he finds out that the selected lots from the shopping cart have disappeared. This is one of the typical usability mistakes on the site that scares away most customers.

The solution. Use the option to automatically save a list of selected items. The connection between the site and the customer can be interrupted for completely different reasons. These are both technical problems during payment and bad internet connection. If you do not take care of auto-preservation, the customer either refuses to buy or significantly shortens the list by reviewing its appropriateness.

No indication of changes in the order amount

There’s a problem. The customer chooses a product, goes through registration and finds out that the original order amount has increased for a reason he does not understand. The shop does not report that the chosen method of payment or delivery adds a certain percentage to the final amount.

Solution. If the increase concerns payment, it should be indicated at the stage of choosing the payment method. If delivery is made for a fee, it should be indicated when choosing a delivery method. The buyer can get information about additional payments with advanced product options extension.

Conclusion

These are the rudest and common usability mistakes. As you can see, they are quite simple and obvious. However, their presence can significantly reduce sales and spoil the reputation of the online store.

Solving such errors does not require huge investments and special technologies. You need to conduct internal testing, to understand the problems and start fixing them!

Digital Branding

How to Use Digital Marketing in 2020

Steven on April 2, 2020

Digital marketing is an industry where everything happens with lightning speed.

Every year new trends appear while others pass into history. There is hardly a company that does not invest in marketing activities today. Software development agencies, eCommerce and even your favorite coffee-house at the corner, all use different means to promote their businesses.

Today, it is important to build a whole digital marketing strategy to maximize performance and minimize expenses. Let’s jump right into juicy details and learn what it takes to build successful marketing activities in 2020.

What is Digital Marketing and Why Use It?

Digital marketing encompasses all marketing activities performed on the Internet. Today, it consists of a wide range of marketing efforts and includes content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, paid to advertisements, etc.

Consumers spend a lot of time on the Internet surfing social media, looking up information and entertaining. In most cases, if you need to reach the target audience, the online world is the best place for that.

Digital marketing forms the basis of all marketing activities for a company. Embracing it, you will be able to stay competitive. Moreover, customers expect companies to invest in marketing so that they have the ability to interact with their favorite brands online.

Main Types of Digital Marketing

As was already mentioned, digital marketing consists of different activities that companies engage in to attract new clients and retain existing ones. Let’s take a look at the main types of digital marketing that can be applied in 2020.

Search Engine Optimization

You’ve probably heard a thing or two about SEO. During the process, you need to optimize the website and its content to make it rank higher in search engine results.

Search engine optimization includes both on-page (you perform directly on your website) and off-page activities (one that you perform outside your website but in relation to it). The first type of SEO usually includes working with keywords, meta tags, etc., while the second encompasses link building, guest posting, etc.

Content Marketing

Content marketing directly correlates with SEO. The main purpose of this marketing activity is to improve brand awareness with the help of content, including blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, infographics, etc. For example, if your company provides software development services, you can write an article “How much does it cost to develop an app?” explaining to the readers of your blog how your company approaches app development.

Social Media Marketing

The promotion of brand and content through social media channels is a common practice both among big and small companies. Based on the type of business you are running, you might need to engage Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Content that your share on social media should be fun, interesting, and created with less formality. Often, companies show the behind-the-scenes life of their companies and people that back-up all their operations.

PPC

Pay-per-click ads are thriving and bringing great results for companies that utilize them wisely. Aside from the most famous Google Ads, almost every social media offers such services. You can set up paid campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even on Quora.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the type of marketing activity when you pay other people or companies for promoting your services and bringing new customers. It is based on providing your affiliate partners with links that direct users to your website. You either pay some percentage from the sales generate from a brought customer or operate on the per-customer-based basis.

Email Marketing

Even though some say that email marketing will be dead soon, today it brings no less significant results than it brought a few years ago. Companies use email marketing as a way to communicate with their audience, promote content, offer discounts, tell about holiday sales, invite to events, and much more.

Influencer Marketing

In 2020, the number of social media users worldwide has surpassed 3.8 billion. For some companies, including eCommerce, fashion, and lifestyle, there is no better way to reach a target audience.

While the creation of your own dedicated group of followers on Facebook or YouTube can take a lot of time, you can speed up the process of building brand awareness with influencer marketing.

Influencer marketing entails cooperation with influencers, people or organizations that are widely known for having an expert level of knowledge and social influence in some specific field. When choosing such influencers, it is important to pay attention to their target audience and whether it relates to your target audience and niche.

Digital Marketing in 2020: Final Thoughts

With thousands of companies offering the same services and products, the need to invest in marketing activities has never been so pressing. There is a saying that if a business is not online, no one will know about it.

Digital marketing is a complex approach to business promotion that requires the participation of a whole group of specialists. Still, for small and medium businesses, it is possible to select up to three types of activities and concentrate all the efforts on them and later move to others.

Author’s Bio

Ana Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a custom software development company in Ukraine. She has been researching the field of technologies to create educative content of distinct topics including app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting, etc. The opportunity to deliver information for people who want to understand more about IT and app development processes is something that inspires Ana. You can get in touch with her on LinkedIn or reach her at ana.lastovetska@mlsdev.com.

Digital Branding

5 Do’s and Don’ts of Conversion Rate Optimization You Need to Understand

Steven on April 1, 2020

Conversion Rate Optimization is crucial for successful e-commerce. It is important that you convert visitors into customers otherwise e-commerce will not be able to earn a profit no matter how many visitors it gets. Whenever a visitor decides to come to your store, there is an opportunity to improve the conversion rate.

To enhance CRO e-commerce needs to observe customer behavior and offer a shopping experience that will help in earning their trust and loyalty. Learn from the actions of the customers and position your website in a way that customers are encouraged to make purchases.

Successful conversion rate optimization requires proper planning and strategizing. Here are a few important dos and don’ts regarding CRO.

Do’s

Technology has made its way into every aspect of our life. It is hard to imagine getting through the day without using your smartphone or laptop. To compete with other e-commerce businesses you must be aware of the latest technologies that you can use to improve conversion rate and improve sales. Digital marketing is continuously evolving and keeping up-to-date with all the emerging technologies. It is important to integrate the latest technology and you will be able to bring up the conversion rate.
To improve the conversion rate you need to be observant and vigilant. You also need to take a scientists’ approach and test strategies of the e-commerce site. By testing strategies, you will know if you are dedicating your resources and effort to the right strategy or not. You should also keep an eye on the competitors.
Measuring results is vital for CRO success. If you are not measuring results then you will not know if you are achieving your goals or not. Measuring results let you know about the effectiveness of the strategies you are using. You need to collect data and analyze it to get better results.
You must not let any sales opportunity pass by. There are going to be visitors that are ready to make a purchase and are on your e-commerce just to explore. You need to figure out a way to encourage customers to come back to your e-store and make a purchase. Make sure that you allow signing up for an email alert or newsletter so that you can keep them updated about what you have to offer. Easy signups are effective in bringing customers back to the online store and make some purchases.
Using exit-intent technology is a smart move as it offers a second chance to convert visitors just as they are about to leave the website. You need to offer a well-timed incentive that makes visitors curious and they are compelled to try out whatever you are offering.

Don’ts

Never make the mistake of thinking that you can never be wrong. To achieve success you need to focus on numbers as they are instead of as you want them to be.
It is not easy to find visitors for an e-commerce site because there is a lot of competition. If you are having trouble finding visitors then you should not just sit around and wait for visitors to come. Consider using paid advertisements as it will give you the boost you need.
Mistakes are a part of life and to run a successful e-commerce business you will need to take some risks. You need to realize that not all of your strategies are going to work. You should always plan for the best but prepare for the worst. Do not get discouraged if you make any mistakes because they offer a great learning experience. Mistakes let you know what strategies you need to avoid in the future.
Making drastic changes is not good for the conversion rate. It is the aim of every online store to quickly increase conversions but it is not something that is going to happen overnight. Conversion optimization takes planning and time as it is the science of making incremental changes and keep track of everything. Drastic changes do not pay off so it is better to add up changes and achieve the result you want.
Never forget the importance of business metrics. Metrics help in tracking the progress of a business and find ways to increase the conversion rate.

About the author

Usman Raza is the co-founder of a Church Marketing Company and marketing strategist working with various brands online. Usman is the content marketing manager at an Email Marketing Agency, WordPress Customization Service, and Nano Hearing Aids. He is devoted to helping small businesses bridge success gaps by providing in-depth, actionable advice on digital marketing, SEO, and small business growth. Follow him on Twitter @usmanintrotech.