Results for: content marketing

The Future of Digital Branding: Maximizing Your Online Presence

Steven on October 23, 2023

In the contemporary age of digital innovations, enterprises are in a perpetual state of adaptation to maintain their competitiveness. Among the domains where this adaptation is strikingly evident, digital branding takes the lead. An influential online presence is no longer an aspiration; rather, it stands as a prerequisite for triumph in the contemporary business milieu. To adeptly maneuver the continually shifting landscape and see the benefits of growth marketing, it is imperative to grasp the forthcoming developments in digital branding and master the art of augmenting your online footprint. This article delves into the metamorphosing strategies and emerging trends within digital branding, offering invaluable insights and recommendations for businesses aspiring to maintain their vanguard status.

The Evolution of Digital Branding

Embracing the Digital Landscape

The journey of digital branding began with the inception of the Internet. Initially, businesses focused on building static websites to establish their presence. As the online world expanded, so did the branding opportunities. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram became prominent spaces for engagement. However, the digital branding landscape has evolved even further, encompassing a broader spectrum of strategies and platforms.

Content-Centric Approach

Currently, content marketing is at the forefront of digital branding efforts. Content is king, and businesses invest heavily in producing high-quality content to engage and inform their audience. Blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, and social media content are now integral to digital branding strategies.

Future Trends in Digital Branding

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration

AI is set to revolutionize digital branding. By analyzing vast datasets, AI helps brands understand consumer behavior, predict trends, and automate various marketing processes. Tailoring content and marketing strategies to individual preferences is vital, and harnessing cutting-edge technology enables businesses to achieve this, resulting in an exceptionally immersive customer experience.

2. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)

AR and VR technologies are gaining momentum in the digital branding arena. They allow businesses to create immersive experiences that enhance product demonstrations and customer interactions. For example, a clothing retailer could offer customers a virtual dressing room experience, increasing engagement and conversion rates.

3. Chatbots and Customer Service Automation

Chatbots and automation are transforming customer service. They provide immediate responses to customer queries and can handle routine tasks, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues. This not only improves efficiency but also enhances the overall customer experience.

4. Video Dominance

Video content continues to be a dominant force in digital branding. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels are growing in popularity. Short-form video content is particularly effective in capturing the audience’s attention and conveying brand messages.

5. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is evolving beyond celebrities to micro-influencers with niche audiences. These influencers often have more engaged and loyal followers, making them an effective choice for brand promotion.

6. User-generated content

Brands encourage their customers to generate content like reviews, testimonials, and user-generated videos. This boosts authenticity and provides social proof, which is essential in building trust.

Maximizing Your Online Presence

1. Consistent Branding

Establish clear brand guidelines and visual identities to ensure brand consistency across different digital platforms. This consistency helps build trust with your audience.

2. Content Quality and Relevance

Allocate resources towards creating top-notch content that resonates with your intended audience. Sustain a commitment to delivering valuable information via blog posts, social media updates, and videos.

3. Social Media Engagement

Be active and engaging on social media platforms. Respond to comments, engage with your followers, and build a community around your brand.

4. Mobile Optimization

Ensure that your website and content are mobile-friendly. With the increasing use of smartphones, a mobile-optimized experience is critical for your online presence.

5. SEO Strategy

Develop a robust SEO strategy to ensure your content ranks well on search engines. This is crucial for organic traffic and visibility.

6. Email Marketing

Email marketing remains an effective tool for maintaining customer engagement. Personalized and targeted email campaigns can help retain and convert customers.

7. Data Analytics

Leverage data analytics to understand your audience better. Analyze user behavior, track key performance indicators, and adjust your strategies accordingly.

8. Online Reputation Management

Monitor what is being said about your brand online. Address negative feedback professionally and promptly and foster positive reviews.

The Role of Best Cloud Backup

Data security and continuity are paramount in the fast-paced digital branding world. One aspect that often goes unnoticed but is crucial is data backup. The best cloud backup solutions discreetly assume a critical function in fortifying your brand’s digital assets and guaranteeing uninterrupted business operations when confronted with unexpected circumstances.

During instances of data loss arising from hardware malfunctions, cyber threats, or unforeseen calamities, cloud backup solutions promptly recover your crucial data. This serves as a critical contingency, averting operational disruptions and preserving the integrity of your brand.

Furthermore, data security remains a paramount concern for both enterprises and individuals. In light of the growing occurrences of data breaches, ensuring the security and privacy of customer information remains a fundamental pillar in establishing and maintaining trust. Leading cloud backup solutions employ cutting-edge encryption and security measures to safeguard your data from potential unauthorized access.

Conclusion

Technological advancements and evolving consumer preferences mark the future of digital branding. To stay ahead in this dynamic landscape, businesses must adapt and leverage the latest trends and technologies. AI, AR, chatbots, and video content shape the digital branding landscape. Additionally, a strong online presence requires consistent branding, high-quality content, and engagement on social media platforms.

Amidst the dynamic landscape of digital branding, there are enduring priorities, among them the imperative of safeguarding data and upholding seamless operations. Unobtrusively, top-tier cloud backup systems assume a pivotal function in guaranteeing the security of your brand’s digital resources, fortifying your image, and maintaining the uninterrupted flow of your business operations.

To sum up, the trajectory of digital branding hinges on innovation, data-driven strategies, and a relentless commitment to delivering substantial value to your audience. Embracing cutting-edge technologies and ensuring the security of your digital assets through top-tier cloud backup solutions can bolster your online footprint and fortify your lasting triumph in the digital landscape.

Digital Branding

5 Common LinkedIn Advertising Mistakes You Should Avoid

Steven on August 30, 2022

With LinkedIn advertising, you can reach a more professional audience and direct message them. LinkedIn offers professional exposure to brands and enables you to target specific demographics. It also allows you to customize your advertising budget based on your desired conversions and campaign performance. While LinkedIn advertising effectively creates brand awareness and attracts new customers, errors can water down your efforts. This article outlines six common advertising mistakes you should avoid.

1. Not leveraging content

79% of content marketers say that LinkedIn ads generate the best results. And since users go on LinkedIn with an aim, including consuming professional content, creating content that your target audience finds interactive, educative, valuable, and information-rich is essential. LinkedIn is home to industry trends, news, insights, recommendations, and research. Without a content marketing strategy and knowing what you want to achieve with it, your efforts will amount to nothing.

To create content that hooks users, ensure your headlines are optimized for LinkedIn, ensure your content is easy to read, make a length optimal for the channel, create a compelling CTA, and keep your readers engaged with the right visual count. Creating content for your LinkedIn advertising campaign requires skill and can be time-consuming. However, a LinkedIn advertising agency Sydney or any other near you can help you meet your content marketing goals.

2. Using ineffective targeting tactics

LinkedIn has unique targeting alternatives, including company name, company size, member size, job title, and more for marketers. However, the many targeting options available make it easy to over-target your ads when building an audience on LinkedIn. If your audience is too small, you’ll have fewer clicks, leads, impressions, and sales opportunities. Ensure you understand what can narrow or expand your audience to prevent this mistake. If you make several choices within a class, your LinkedIn advertisements will target all of them, widening your audience.

3. Underutilizing the matched audience feature

LinkedIn has three matched audience types, including email contact, website, and account targeting, that can improve your ad campaigns. Since LinkedIn has excellent targeting alternatives, you might overlook these three campaign types.

Supplying LinkedIn with the customer data you gather is vital to your brand’s success and can bring more results at an affordable price. Consider including website retargeting, email contact targeting, and account targeting in your LinkedIn ad campaign to help you concentrate your efforts on accounts and users who’re more likely to drive revenue.These tools allow users to add LinkedIn tags, and notes, and categorize their connections for easier organization and even how to remove connections on Linkedin if necessary.

4. Underfunding your advertising budget

LinkedIn ads are quite effective, but they aren’t cheap. The minimum daily amount you need for any LinkedIn ad format is $10. If achieving this spend is challenging, explore other options. Consider allocating a significant part of your budget to a single campaign at a time so you won’t spread your LinkedIn campaigns too thin. Allow your campaign to succeed with more money and impressions, then utilize the website demographic feature on LinkedIn to track your ad campaign’s failures and successes.

5. Ignoring customer journey

Schematic representation of customers

Various types of ads are suitable for different sections of the customer journey. Consider your campaign’s goals and adjust your advertisements to meet your customers where they’re in the marketing funnel.

Endnote

When done correctly, LinkedIn advertising can be pretty effective for your business. Consider avoiding these LinkedIn advertising mistakes for successful campaigns.

Digital Branding

Top 10 SEO Companies for Small Businesses

Steven on July 26, 2022

To survive in this competitive ecosystem, small businesses need to make themselves visible online. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your target market can find you when they’re looking for your products or services. The challenge, however, is finding the right SEO company that can deliver results without breaking the bank. In this article, we will have a look at 10 of the best SEO companies for small businesses.

1. WebFX

WebFX is a full-service digital marketing agency that offers SEO services specifically designed for small businesses. Their team of over 150 experts will work with you to create a custom SEO plan that meets your specific needs and budget. In addition to SEO, they also offer a suite of other digital marketing services such as social media marketing, PPC, web design, and more. Moreover, WebFX also offers priority customer support so that you can get the help you need when you need it.

2. Ignite Visibility

Ignite Visibility is one of the leading SEO companies in the world. They offer a comprehensive suite of SEO services that are designed to help small businesses reach the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition to SEO, they also offer PPC, social media marketing, web design, and more. Ignite Visibility is a great choice if you’re looking for an all-in-one digital marketing solution.

3. EZ Rankings

Stay connected iwth social media

EZ Rankings is a results-driven digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO. Over the years, they have helped numerous small businesses improve their online visibility and reach their target market. Their team of experts will work closely with you to identify your business’s unique needs and come up with an effective SEO strategy that delivers results. They offer custom SEO packages that help you stay within your budget while still getting the most out of their services. If you are looking for an affordable and reliable SEO company, EZ Rankings is definitely worth checking out.

4. Coalition Technologies

The coalition is a global team of over 150 experts that has worked with clients such as Motorola, Manchester City Football Club, and the University of California. One of their unique selling points is their focus on long-term results, rather than short-term gains. This means that they will not take shortcuts that could jeopardize your website’s future success. Their popular services include SEO, web design, and social media marketing. If you’re a mid-sized business, Coalition should be at the top of your list. Their team will help you with everything from technical SEO to link building and content marketing.

5. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

If you’re looking for an SEO partner that can help you achieve top rankings and increased traffic, look no further than Thrive Internet Marketing Agency. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, this company has a team of digital marketing experts that are more than capable of helping small businesses grow their online presence. Services offered by Thrive include search engine optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) management, social media marketing, and reputation management. In addition, they also offer web design and development services. They can help you quickly build a high-quality website that is optimized for search engines and easy to navigate.

6. Victorious

With a focus on small and medium-sized businesses, Victorious is one of the leading SEO agencies in the game. Their team of experts is dedicated to helping brands grow their organic search visibility and drive more qualified traffic to their website. One of the things that set Victorious apart from other agencies is their use of data and analytics to drive their campaigns. This ensures that they are always on the pulse of the latest algorithm changes and can adjust their strategies accordingly.

7. Captivate Designs

Captivate Designs is an SEO company that specializes in small businesses. They have a team of experts that will help you with everything from keyword research to link building. Their services are affordable and they offer a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with their results. Moreover, if you are looking for a long-term SEO partner, Captivate Designs is the perfect option. They offer affordable monthly SEO packages that will help you achieve and maintain your desired ranking.

8. DAR (Digital Agency Reseller)

They are among the leading SEO resellers in the USA and work with over 500 digital agencies. They help small businesses with their search engine optimization needs by providing them access to a team of SEO experts. This is a great option if you’re working with a limited budget as you only need to pay for the services that you use. If you don’t need the complete SEO services offered in a package, you can pick a few à la carte services. This is a very practical and affordable solution for small businesses. They use data-driven methods to come up with the best possible strategies for their clients. So, whether you’re a startup or a small business owner, you can customize your SEO plan with DAR.

9. Market Keep

Market Keep is a results-driven SEO agency that specializes in small businesses. Their team of experts will help you create and implement an effective SEO strategy tailored to your unique needs, ensuring that your website ranks high on search engines and drives organic traffic. In addition, they also offer other digital marketing services such as social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing. Moreover, if you need dedicated assistance, you can opt for their VIP service which provides you with a personal account manager.

10. SEO India Online

SEO India Online has been in business for over 10 years. The company offers a wide range of SEO services including on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and link building. SEO India Online also provides social media marketing, reputation management, and web design services.

Wrapping up!

There you have it! These are 10 of the best SEO companies for small businesses. By working with any of these agencies, you’ll be sure to improve the visibility and traffic that you need to take your business to the next level. You can get in touch with these companies and request a proposal so that you can compare their services and find the perfect fit for your business.

Digital Branding

Short Yet Useful Guide on Brand Traffic in SEO and How to Influence its Growth

Steven on May 31, 2022

The queries “buy sneakers” and “buy sneakers on Aliexpress” differ in only two words, but carry a fundamentally different message. The first is a classic example of a commercial request, and the second is a commercial request by intent, but also a branded one since it contains the name of a particular site.

A large number of visits to the site for branded queries is a good signal for search engines. This means that people trust the company, and distinguish its site from competitors, that’s why it should be ranked higher in the search results.

Where to track branded traffic and how to increase it – read our article.

Best Digital Marketing Methods

How does branded traffic positively differ from non-branded traffic?

Clicks on branded queries differ from other clicks in a number of parameters that affect the SEO promotion of the site.

Higher CTR

The click-through rate of branded queries is higher, as the user is looking for a specific company, rather than choosing from a variety of offers in the search results. If the site has well-written meta tags and there are no gross technical errors, then it will take first place at the top and attract the majority of users who have set a branded query.

Increased conversion

Users who initially trusted the brand and searched for its website are more likely to make a purchase, call, or other desired targeted action.

Good behavioral factors

Behavioral factors such as time spent on the site, browsing depth, number of pages viewed, bounce rate, and other user interactions with the resource are crucial for SEO. For branded traffic, behavioral metrics will be expectedly high. The reasons for this are the same as in the previous two paragraphs.

Natural backlinks

If a brand is popular and trusted, people talk about it. Users willingly put links to the company’s website, thereby increasing the link mass in the most natural way. However, in order not to reduce SEO performance and the level of trust in the site, it is important to always check for broken links. This can be done using the broken link checker.

Low dependence on search engine algorithms

Google periodically changes its algorithms to counter the manipulation of unscrupulous promoters. At the same time, sites that use only white SEO methods may lose positions for a while. The popularity of the brand will help you not to lose a significant part of the traffic and adapt to changes faster.

Please note that it is not always justified to work on increasing brand awareness and investing in the growth of branded traffic.

This will not help if you have a local business – a small repair shop, a dry cleaner, a bakery, a flower shop. Your customers are those who live or work nearby. Also if your company – state contracts, which participates in tenders. In this case, the corporate website acts as a business card, and other factors influence the decision to cooperate. You shouldn’t spend money if you have an online store of inexpensive consumer goods. As a rule, users rarely look at the brand, more often at the price, ease of ordering on the site, payment, and delivery.

Effective ways to increase branded traffic

Digital Signage

Brand traffic can and should be influenced. Let’s say right away that direct cheating is a dangerous and inefficient way. But there are many legal ways to capture the attention of the audience.

#1. Social media activity

The company’s pages on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other sites provide an opportunity for active interaction with an interested, loyal audience. To attract the attention of subscribers, you can arrange contests and giveaways, and publish polls, reviews, and useful tips. At the same time, you shouldn’t strive to give a direct link to the site in every post – let users find information themselves. At the same time, the presence of a link to the site in the social network profile is a must!

Targeted social media advertising is great for introducing users to a brand and expanding your audience reach. With it, you can “get familiar” with a potential client who at some point will remember the company and want to learn more about the brand.

#2. Content marketing

Publications in thematic groups, interviews with company representatives, participation in podcasts, and collaborations with bloggers and influencers on TikTok help to increase information about the brand. If users know that the company provides quality, expert information in their field, they will look for answers to their questions on the official website. Moreover, good content can go viral, attracting new audiences.

#3. Presence in aggregators and directories

Such sites often dominate the search results, especially for geo-dependent queries. You can take advantage of the current situation by developing profiles on the most popular sites and, in fact, getting free attention from the audience.

Wrap up

Often SEO specialists and site owners don’t take into account traffic for branded queries as significant for promotion. This is a mistake. Branded traffic can indirectly influence the position of the site for non-branded queries and bring additional visitors. You can work on the growth of brand queries in various ways. The most effective of them are high-quality content on the site and external resources and activity on social media.

Digital Branding

Top Social Media Strategies to Drive Frozen Food Business

Steven on January 10, 2022

There were a time when independent food businesses were dependent mostly upon walk-in customers, word of mouth, print media evaluations before the new era of smartphones and social media started. In the digital age, everything is changed. The customers, on the other hand, are increasingly getting information, determining how to spend their time, and making purchases online.

A low-quality vendor with a high budget may still succeed simply because he or she can afford the rent across from the bus stop. But the case is totally opposite for a smaller one. Especially for a more ambitious artisanal bakery operating out of a home kitchen, as he or she might now compete.

Everyone has a chance at a slice of the pie with the correct new media marketing and branding strategy. Here are some of the best online techniques to consider for the better growth of your frozen food business:

1. Younger People Should Be Targeted

You are not alone if you still have the tape of your mother or father reminding you to eat your vegetables as a child. This reminder is also lodged in the minds of the younger generation of Millennials and Gen Z. When it comes to fresh and frozen vegetable consumption, it is the younger age that is driving the surge. As a result, when it comes to your frozen food business, this is the ideal market.

The truth is that the younger generation is far more health-conscious than their older counterparts. As a result, individuals are more inclined to choose frozen fruits or veggies over other options. This is because they know they are healthier.

2. Make Your Company Green

People are more concerned than ever before about where they spend their money. They want to know that their money is going to be well spent. If you show that your frozen food company cares about the environment, you’ll be able to gain traction in almost every market area.

For instance, you might want to supply environmentally friendly custom frozen food packaging. You want to make it known that your food was sourced responsibly. You want to make sure your customers know you’re working hard to be carbon-neutral.

3. Show Off Your Creativity & Variety

Finally, you must demonstrate sincerity, variety, and creativity. Customers want to know exactly what ingredients are used in their cuisine. Make every attempt to keep your ingredient list as short as possible. Provide organic alternatives. Single-serve portions should be made.

Try to come up with ways to serve cuisines that are influenced by many civilizations. You have various options to promote the Innovative frozen food items that you supply. From demos to signs, and from social media to email marketing, there is so much to avail.

Next, strive to get feedback from your clients through your marketing channels. You will inspire loyalty among your consumer base if you demonstrate that you care about what they have to say.

4. Distribute Dynamic Content

The purpose of content marketing is to build authority through information sharing. Google will rank you higher for related keywords if you post more helpful material regarding the food sub-niche. Your regular readers will love to share your dynamic and original material with others. They will also return for more if it actually gives value to your intended audience by addressing their interests.

Get started on your blog straight away so that your pages can begin to get indexed. This can take some time. Start by sharing some of your favorite cooking tidbits – they’re generally amusing.

5. Participate in Niche Food Photography Communities

Pinterest is only the beginning when it comes to exposing small frozen food brands via photo-sharing groups. Foodily, Instagram, Purple, Kitchen Artistry, dishPal, and food-oriented groups on Flickr are just a few of the super-targeted communities where opportunities abound. It is a nice selection to get you started.

Despite the fact that some of these platforms have a small audience, the people who use them have already decided that they are interested in what you have to offer.

6. Online Ordering Should Be Enabled

You may already be using your website as an eCommerce property, depending on the type of food you sell. This is a necessity if your consumables are packaged and can be sent easily. Online ordering has the power to increase sales to some great level, no matter if the food item must be delivered within a specific time frame. Although this is not the case when you are dealing with frozen food items.

Electronic payment alternatives and digital self-service ordering are greatly desired by both restaurateurs and food consumers. Experts claim that anything that can be bought by ordering online has a higher chance of boosting sales. Whether it is an edible product or a hot selling high speed robot arm, the right online information and ordering remove many hurdles.

7. Optimize Your Website on Mobile Devices

Hungry people sitting at home have two options. The first one is getting to know where to find good food. And the second option is attacking the empty fridge again and again. But when individuals are out and about, especially in an unfamiliar location, they will rely on their smartphones for directions.

Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly so that these potential customers do not depart with a bad taste in their mouths.

8. Optimize Your Website For Local Search

Google receives roughly two billion local intent queries per month from desktop computers in the United States alone. For example, if someone is interested in trade show rentals in Las Vegas, the person will simply type in Google search and hundreds of websites will appear. The same rule applies to your frozen food business.

More than half of all smartphone searches contain location-related terms. These stats make sense when you realize that the internet is a terrific resource for busy people looking for things to do on short notice. Geo-targeted campaign settings from Google and Facebook’s pay-per-click ad networks can help if organic local search results in your area are too competitive.

In Close

Today’s competition in the food industry is more fierce than it has ever been. It could be difficult for you to make your frozen food business stand out. You will not only protect your market share but also expand among the current demographic of shoppers if you employ these marketing methods.

Legal Branding Local Branding Personal Branding

Experts Discuss Small Productivity Tips for That Bring Big Benefits

Steven on June 8, 2021

In everyday work, there are a lot of challenges and sometimes even obstacles that prevent us to stay in focus all the time. It doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur, manager, assistant, junior or on any else position, it is important not to lose the thread. Here you will find many useful advice on how to save your time and energy, and at the same time to make the highest productivity.

Productivity in a Nut Shell.

Our partners from Managementguru suggests “Productivity in a Nut Shell”.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

Productivity can’t be better explained. Productivity is the result of a commitment to excellence, smart planning and focused effort. Remember – Effective people are preferred to, rather than efficient people as the former does the right thing and the latter does things right. Procrastination is like a credit card. It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill. The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action. Managementguru is the number one source for all things business. They’re dedicated to giving you the very best of information, with a focus on social media marketing and strategy.

Be more realistic about what you can deliver as a team.

Our partner Sherene Funk from Rain Retail suggests to “Be more realistic about what you can deliver as a team”.

We recently had a goal-setting session in which we determined that, in order to be more productive, we needed to be more realistic about what we can deliver as a team. It’s always best to under promise and over deliver. Realistic goals prevent overwhelm, increase motivation, and heighten the sense of achievement when projects are completed on time, or before.

Focus on time increments and small wins – Imed Bouchrika, project leader and chief data scientist at the academic research portal Research.com.

It’s easy to lose productivity when confronted with multiple tasks. Doing them all at the same will likely end up in you pouring in lots of initial work across a field of open-ended tasks at the day’s end. In short, you accomplish nothing.

Instead, focus on finishing one task at a time across increments of short periods. You can follow the Pomodoro Technique here, where you break work into 25-minute periods. Or devise your own increments. For example, divide an hour into two 30-minutes or four 15-minutes and allot a period for each task.

The time increments allow you to tune out of the paralyzing thought of needing to finish a lot of work NOW and instead focus on a small win, something you can easily take a good shot at. Achieving small wins will add up to wrapping up the big task sooner than later.

There is a postscript benefit to increments and small wins: It helps you squeeze out more outputs past your highest productivity level in a day. After all, it’s not that difficult to add just… one… more… 15-minute task even in your last hour of work.

Productivity is doing more with the tools and making sure the outcome meets standard of quality.

Our partner Andrea Curry from Zenefits says that “Productivity is doing more with the tools”.

There’s a lot of buzz words that are thrown around when talking about productivity. How many Medium blog posts or LinkedIn articles have you seen about “super-charging” our workday, “hacking our way” through a project, or “tips and tricks” to increase output with minimal input? For me, productivity is doing more with the tools I have and making sure the outcome meets my standard of quality. Honing productive habits help get this done. Step one is to get organized (and that doesn’t mean having an inbox with zero unread messages, though that helps!). Projects can get messy, so be sure that you use a system that helps you keep control and look at the big picture. I love using the online tool Asana for this reason. It helps with capturing my thoughts, outlining workflow, and I can easily update deliverables and due dates. The next thing to understand is that distractions will constantly come up. It takes a lot of self-discipline not to be pulled in different directions. It’s helpful to have an understanding of what is your “north star” — aka your purpose or big picture goal. If people or other projects pop up, ask yourself if this helps you achieve your goal, or if it will derail you. Finally, remember not to burn yourself out. You won’t be productive if you’re running low on fuel. Incorporate the things that help feed your creativity and bring you joy — whether it’s exercising, spending time with family, or taking a walk outside.

Take Charge Of Your Email Not The Other Way Round

Our partner Dr. Anthony Llewellyn from AdvanceMed suggest to “Take Charge Of Your Email Not The Other Way Round”

Dr. Anthony Llewellyn is a successful online doctor coach. He writes about the importance of getting in control of your email.
With so many points of contact into your business, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed at times. But whilst email is now considered by many as “low tech”, the “email list” still remains one of your greatest assets. So it’s important to be able to dedicate time to your email management. But that doesn’t mean it needs to always take away your focus.
One great tip I developed sometime ago came out from a bit of frustration. You see I was getting a bit sick and tired of being included as a “CC” into a whole lot of company wide and team email discussions. It often felt like I was being included either on a “just thought you should know” basis or even at times because the email sender didn’t trust the recipient and wanted some witnesses!!
So I went through my email inbox and saw how many emails I was getting on a CC basis. And I thought to myself. Would it be that different if I just chose to ignore these emails? So I set up a bit of an experiment. I set up an email rule to divert these CC emails into another folder before I could even notice them. Strangely enough, the sky didn’t fall in and the world kept rotating. I blissfully forgot about the presence of this folder for a few weeks and then I remembered it.
So I went back in and checked all these emails and to my great satisfaction, I realized that all the issues in these emails had either been inconsequential to me or dealt with in other ways, i.e. someone had come to speak to me about the issue or emailed me directly.
I’ve since used a variety of rules with emails to cut through and focus on what is important.

Recognize Your Strengths

Our partner Lori McKnight from CSI Stars suggests to “Recognize Your Strengths”.

Most people are much more productive when working on things that utilize their strengths. Identify what you excel in and focus the majority of your time on those activities. If you are in the right job, these things will be what most moves the needle and delivers results. The same goes for your team. Spend time getting to know each of your employee’s strengths. It is far more productive to leverage your peoples’ strengths than fix their weaknesses.

Identifying your employee’s strengths and recognizing their contributions will drive higher employee engagement. This, in turn, will boost your own productivity as you spend less time interviewing and re-training. Consider these stats:

Organizations that excel in employee recognition have 12x better business results
High-recognition organizations have 31% less voluntary turnover

Who knows…maybe a team members’ strengths will even complement a weakness of yours!

An organization that doesn’t trust its employees to manage their workload will quickly find itself with “doers” and not “learners”

Our partner Scott from Structural says that “An organization that doesn’t trust its employees to manage their workload will quickly find itself with “doers” and not “learners”

An organization that doesn’t trust its employees to manage their workload while being able to connect with others as needed will quickly find itself with “doers” and not “learners” which is an organizational death sentence in a world where the half-life of skills is so short.

Avoid getting caught up in the work of others

Our partner Clayton Kaufman from My Employees suggests “Avoid getting caught up in the work of others”.

“When you truly believe your work improves the lives of others, the difference you make becomes the anchor of your passion. Make the connection between the work you do and how that work makes life better for others. The decision to become a positive difference-maker for others contributes to a deep sense of purpose, fulfillment, and productivity”.

Plan your days in advance

Our partner Kelvin Mokaya from Fuzu suggests “Plan your days in advance”.

Knowing what you need to accomplish during a particular week will enable you to plan for the week. List all the tasks you’ll need to do in order of the urgency they need to be done and the amount of time it would take to complete each. This will make it easier for you to plan your calendar for the week while prioritizing the work that matters most.

Prioritize actions that will make tomorrow easier

Our partner, Fiona Adler from HR Partner, explains that prioritization is one of the most important, yet overlooked aspects of productivity. Taking the time to proactively decide which tasks are most important will put you streaks ahead. One key to this is acknowledging that you can’t actually do everything – you will always have more ideas and things coming at you than can possibly be done. Once you really understand this, the significance of prioritization is obvious – if you don’t do this, you’ll never get to those most important tasks.

But prioritization is hard, so one thing to remember when putting your tasks in order of priority is to emphasize those tasks that will make your tomorrow a bit smoother and easier. So prioritize things like; choosing a new HR system, posting a job ad for a new accounts manager, setting up a new process, or deciding on a strategic direction.

Invent your personal workflows that work best for you

Our partner Baiju NT from RoboticsBiz says it is vital to create personal workflows to efficiently manage your time and increase productivity. Productivity isn’t just all about checking boxes off your to-do list. It is about making sure you’re getting the right things done in the right timeframe, successfully and effectively. Creating a workflow enables you to train your brain and systematically get into an efficient cycle of executing tasks from the morning till the end of your day. Start the day with easy, regular, and repeatable tasks first, and then you will have more uninterrupted time blocks to accomplish larger time-demanding tasks in a day. Millions of people use productivity tools like Trello to get into personal workflows and achieve more every second.

Infographic provided by Food For Thought

Digital Branding

Some Branding Ways That Never Fails

Steven on May 8, 2021

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

Seth Godin

Many global reports reveal that up to 60% of millennials go for brands published or marketed on different platforms. The consistent brand representation has helped the reputed brand expand its business reach by 23%. And this has made more than 95% of the companies form their brand guidelines encompassing details like branding colors, values, ethics, and protocol.

Now when it works as the base of any strong business, why not give it the required attention and get started with the proper branding practices?

Try to make no mistake as branding acts as the most valuable asset for your business. No matter online or offline, branding plays a vital role in all aspects of the company. If you are an entrepreneur, our advice is to construct a business identity and maintain it at its best in the marketplace.

Some important marketing activities include –

Website and online marketing
Building a branding environment in the storefront
Work on content marketing and publishing
Give a try at some offline marketing tactics
Print signages and marketing collaterals

Here is how to make your marketing shout out loud –

Get a vision statement – Until you are not clear with what you want, you won’t be able to reach out to your ideal customers while leaving an impeccable impression on them. Know the value of marketing yourself as a brand and stand out from the crowd. Ask your marketing team to share content that shouts out loud to back your business.

Display the best in your brand – Until you won’t let people know what you have in your kitty for them, nothing won’t work. For this, you can get some signage boards or outdoor LCD screens displaying your best offers and deals. While you pick the showcasing LCD screens, go for quality ones that come with sunlight reliability and other remarkable features.

Infuse branding in everything – No matter if you are running a restaurant or an IT company in the middle of the vicinity, you should be good enough to embed your branding touch in everything you do. For instance – get a branding poster printed to be displayed outside a store or office, get some business cards, brand t-shirts for any official trip or event, and much more.

Be a sponsor – If your city happens to organize an event in the city, make sure to be a highlighted part of it. Be yet another sponsor to seek all the attention at once.

The final thoughts –

Making your brand do well in the current competitive times comes with many struggles and out-of-the-box ideas. While you may be paying all your attention to the website development for your business, it is essential to spend some heed to the offline marketing tactics. Brace yourself to get the best of these two worlds for your business.

Legal Branding

How To Choose An Orange County Personal Injury Lawyer

Steven on October 29, 2020

Have you been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault? You can easily have fallen over and hurt yourself due to an uneven slab on the sidewalk or from the water on a recently mopped floor with no sign outside.

But how do you get compensation at a time when getting to court is increasingly difficult and we’re all dealing with the implications of the pandemic?

You need to start by choosing a great Orange County personal injury lawyer to fight your case in California State. Here’s everything you need to know about how to find the best personal injury lawyer near me.

1. Do Your Research

Doing your research for a great lawyer might seem daunting but actually, it’s never been easier. Be sure to get on Google and research lawyers who specialize in your specific personal injury case.

But remember lawyers now spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on Search Engine Optimized (SEO) blogs designed to get them to the number 1 ranking on Google. They also spend money on other types of marketing as well such as a great website.

While this is great to see it’s not always good for the user as a law firm could have great content marketing skills that don’t always convert into great legal skills. Remember that Google is just one way of choosing a lawyer and that word of mouth and extensive research on reputable websites is another way.

2. Arrange a Free Consultation

A consultation is the next step after you’ve gathered a shortlist of candidates to be your lawyer.

It may seem that choosing a lawyer is a daunting prospect but during the pandemic, it’s vitally important that you are still able to have a conversation with your potential lawyers to make sure you are on the same wavelength.

Set up a video call using Skype, Zoom, or Facetime. Be sure to ask them what they can do for you and how they will approach specific situations.

Trust your gut instinct and don’t go with a lawyer who you think is going to ignore you or discard your wishes. This is how to attract the best personal injury lawyer for you.

3. No Win-No Fee vs Upfront Fee

No-win-no-fee cases sound like a great deal. If you lose you don’t have to pay any money. But beware. No personal injury lawyer worth their salt would take on a case they thought they were going to lose.

If you’re offered a no-win-no-fee it might be better to look at how much it costs to pay a lawyer upfront as this might be a lot less than the percentage the lawyer takes from your fee at the end of the case.

The costs for the court are always high but in the future, we could see them come down thanks to the rise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and online courts which can cut costs.

Hiring an Orange County Personal Injury Lawyer? Know What You Want

If you are considering hiring an orange county personal injury lawyer then be sure to be clear about what you want and to get a lawyer who understands your vision.

Consider a no-win-no-fee scenario but don’t be bound by it as paying upfront might be a better option.

If you are interested in reading more about hiring an orange county personal injury lawyer be sure to check out the rest of our site.

Legal Branding Personal Branding

4 Strategies to Grow Your D2C Brand

Steven on April 21, 2020

It’s estimated that direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand sales will reach $17.75 billion in 2020 — an increase of almost 25% from last year.

The COVID-19 crisis might have something to do with that. But even though the virus has caused an overall upswing in online shopping, this isn’t necessarily the case across all product types. Most people today are buying must-have items, rather than nice-to-have products and services.

Brands that sell directly to consumers, and especially those that fall under the nonessential category, face a difficult future. For instance, health and safety products, as well as digital streaming services, have seen increased demand — but fashion and apparel sellers are experiencing significant losses.

Some D2C companies will undoubtedly fail. But many will survive. For those that do weather the storm, survival will depend heavily on using the right marketing tactics.

Here are four tried-and-tested strategies to help you secure and grow your D2C brand, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Social Media Marketing

For a majority of D2C brands, social media is the most effective channel for online customer acquisition. Considering that more than half of all social media users use social media to research products, that kind of makes sense.

But as a brand, being active on social media isn’t enough to attract and retain customers. You also need to have a clear strategy — preferably one that doesn’t rely solely on promotional posts and ads.

Almost 80% of customers won’t hesitate to unfollow a brand that bombards them with sales pitches. And over 50% of consumers will unfollow a brand that shares irrelevant content.

So, what do customers want to see from brands they follow on social media?

Engaging, informative, micro-focused content that’s also timely, says Matt Seltzer, a market research and strategy consultant at S2 Research. Seltzer recommends looking at Wendy’s and Arby’s, two successful fast food D2C brands, for inspiration on how to stay top-of-mind with consumers via social media.

One of their keys to success? Creating and sharing social media video content to capture customer attention. If you’re not sure why video is such a powerful medium for D2C brands and social media marketing, consider that over 70% of customers prefer to learn about a product or service through video.

2. Personalized Shopping Experience

The average American customer is exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day (up from about 500 ads per day in the 1970s). To protect their sanity, most people have learned to ignore the vast majority of ads and focus only on the stimuli most relevant to them.

That might seem like bad news for marketers. In reality, however, reaching your customers isn’t any more difficult than it was 50 years ago — as long as you invest in personalization.

Consumers crave customized experiences. As many as 80% of customers are more likely to buy from brands that provide personalized shopping experiences. And 71% feel frustrated when a shopping experience isn’t personalized.

A further 70% of customers say they’d even let retailers track their shopping behavior if it resulted in an improved shopping experience.

Regardless of whether you’re creating website content, placing a social media ad, or sending an email campaign, make sure that your message speaks to each of your customers on an individual level (tip: omnichannel analytics might help).

3. Influencer Partnerships

If you’re not yet working with social media influencers (individuals with a considerable following in a specific niche), you’re not only missing out, but you’re also a minority.

More than 9 out of 10 marketers today use influencer marketing — and for good reason. For every $1 that brands invest in influencer marketing, they generate an average return of $18 in publicity value.

How is that possible? People really do follow influencer suggestions and behavior. Nearly 50% of consumers say they rely on influencer recommendations to help them make purchasing decisions. Moreover, 8 out of 10 customers have bought a product or a service after seeing it recommended by an influencer.

Yes, influencer marketing is undoubtedly powerful; but it needs to be handled thoughtfully. As more brands rush to secure deals with influencers, there’s a risk of oversaturating social platforms with sponsored content and reviews — which could actually reduce consumer trust in influencers.

The trick is to find the right influencers for your brand, rather than partnering with anyone and everyone with an audience. Your ideal influencers are those who speak to the same audience as your brand. Their followers are most likely to have a genuine interest in your product or service.

Finding influencers who are the right fit for your marketing campaigns isn’t easy. But it’s worth it, especially for D2C brands. D2C shoppers are almost three times more likely than traditional shoppers to admit that influencers and celebrities sway their perception of a brand.

4. User-Generated Content

Like influencer marketing, user-generated content (UGC) can also be a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal.

In fact, UGC is actually almost 10 times as impactful as influencer marketing. Unlike influencer content, which is usually paid for by a brand, UGC is a genuine expression of customer appreciation — and is, therefore, more trustworthy.

One D2C brand that has nailed user-generated marketing is Chewy, a pet supply store.

“Chewy’s branding on their boxes and the concept of your pets getting food and treats in the mail every month translates perfectly into excited pet photos and videos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,” says Boone Clemmons, Chief Strategy Officer at Brandwagon LLC. “There are also a large number of posts where pets excitedly open their Chewy box, as well as many posts of tired cats and dogs using their Chewy boxes as beds.”

So, how can you follow Chewy’s lead and get customers to post UGC about your brand? Oftentimes, it’s just a matter of asking! For example, over 60% of consumers say they would post about good health or beauty product experience on social media.

By encouraging consumers to share the photos and videos they create, you can inspire them to engage with your brand and produce authentic content that will lead to a larger audience and pool of customers.

Final Thoughts

With most retail stores closed and consumers under lockdown at home, e-commerce sales are booming. According to ACI Worldwide, many online retail sectors experienced a 74% increase in sales in March 2019 compared to March 2018. Also, nearly 10% of U.S.-based consumers purchased something online for the first time that same month due to social distancing.

The takeaway? It’s quite likely that the COVID-19 pandemic will change consumer shopping habits long term. So, what are you waiting for? Get on board with these strategies now to establish your brand as a leader in D2C marketing.

About the author

Laura Martisiute is a freelance writer with Plytix, a headless product information management system designed for fast-growing product brands. She’s a content marketing specialist with years of experience diving deep into the latest research on technology, business, and marketing.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plytix-com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/plytix

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.