Results for: content marketing

Digital Branding

Digital Marketing Content Writing Tips for Experts

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Before the advent of the internet, it was very easy to write an essay, article or content about anything that you wanted, as you only wrote the facts are quirky bits of information that worked in the piece that you were writing. However, in today’s digital world, the way that we write has changed dramatically. When writing for a digital purpose we need to think about keywords, for example, the way in which the keywords are used and how often these keywords need to appear in our texts. We also need to consider the structure and relevance of what we write. There are no right or wrong answers on how to write a digital piece, however, there are some tips that you could follow to make sure that you stick to the right lines and get the desired outcome that you need.  Below, we shall take a look at some of the ways in which you can achieve the perfect end result by using some interesting writing techniques offered by advanced writing experts from a professional company.

Researching keywords

Researching your keywords is a great way to start looking at what to include in your content, after all, there is no point in writing something about nothing. Searching for keywords that are relevant to your content and including them in a natural way, is the best way you can write a piece of content that is good for digital marketing. Do not fall into the trap where you just write content related to the keyword and nothing else. Natural yet engaging content that is relevant will be far better than a disjointed piece of work.

Keyword stuffing

As above, keywords are important when writing a piece of content however, how the keyword is used is also important. Do not be tempted to just to show the keywords in your content as many times as you possibly can, as this will make your content seem unnatural. The keywords, as mentioned above, should be placed naturally and where necessary. If you write the piece of content properly, at keywords should naturally fit into the piece of content that you are writing about.

Call to action

A call to action is a great way of adding to your content piece. This can be a powerful tool when you have written a piece of content that is engaging and interesting. A call to action should be nicely placed towards the end of the post. That said there is nothing wrong with putting a call to action in other areas of the post as long as it is relevant. A call to action can be something as simple as a ‘click here for more information’.

Language

The language that you use is very important when writing a piece of content. You have to remember that when you are writing a piece of content you have to consider the audience that you are writing for, for example, if you have a business site then you have to use business English or business related language so that is suitable for the people that are reading it. The same can be said for a car site the language has to be simple but concise and relevant to the car industry. It is important that you never write a poor piece of content, but you can use modern language i.e. slang language and colloquialisms. You could even get away with using incorrect grammar such as writing the word ‘e-mail’ without the dash or using the term Internet with a lower case ‘i’.

Hyperlinking

It might sound odd, but hyperlinking in your article is very important when thinking about digital marketing. Referencing the information you have used and sending links back to the original information is very important as it shows relevancy to what you are writing about. Having links to high authority sites such as the BBC is also important as they show that the whole article has been fully researched and that you are happy and comfortable to connect to other sites that are relevant to what you are writing about.

Paragraphs and bulleting

It is always advisable to write in paragraphs or bullets to break up the piece of content into bite-size readable chunks. It is far better to write smaller chunks of content, rather than long paragraphs, which will not engage the reader and the reader, will be left feeling bored. Bullet points are also a good way of writing your content because if you bullet each point within a paragraph, it will again reduce the amount the person has to read which will keep them engaged for longer. You can either use bullet points or numbers to break down a piece of content.

A catchy hook

When writing a piece of content, make sure that you have a catchy intro or a hook to make the reader want to continue reading. This is a good SEO tool, as it will engage the writer from the offset so that they can read the rest of the content and click along any links along the way get further information.

As you can see there are a number of ways that you can gain to help you with your digital marketing content production. If you follow the above steps, you will soon see that you are on the right path to making sure that each piece that you write will be suitable for your digital marketing needs.

Digital Branding

Social Media Marketing Tips for Effective Brand Growth

Social media is now essential to marketing plans across all business sizes. With over 4.2 billion social media users worldwide, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more offer immense opportunities to build brand awareness, engage with customers, drive traffic, and boost sales.

But, merely maintaining social media profiles does not suffice. Businesses need effective social media marketing tactics to stand out from the crowd and achieve substantial brand growth. This article outlines some of the top social media marketing tips.

Provide Value Through Thought Leadership

Position your brand as an industry thought leader providing education and insights versus overt sales pitches. Share advice, ‘how-to’ guidance, data reports, trend analysis, behind-the-scenes views, leadership perspectives, and more high-value content.

Such helpful and inspiring thought leadership content engages followers, establishes authority, and gives positive impressions that support conversion goals. It also attracts press, speaking, and partnership opportunities.

Engage Followers Through Two-Way Interactions

Simply broadcasting content will not cut it anymore. Brands need to have meaningful two-way interactions with their social media followers.

  • Reply to comments and messages promptly and thoughtfully
  • Ask for feedback through polls and surveys
  • Address queries and concerns effectively

Such personal engagement humanizes your brand and boosts affinity. It also provides valuable insights into customer needs and preferences, allowing you to refine marketing accordingly.

Execute Targeted Ad Campaigns

Paid social promotions provide a compelling avenue to connect with relevant niches and demographics aligned with the brand. Strategic ad campaigns targeted to the viewer’s location, age, interests, behaviors, and more can cost-efficiently amplify organic content reach and increase conversions.

It is vital to leverage unique ad formats and best practices of each platform for optimized results. For instance, leverage photo ads on Facebook, carousels on Instagram, and promoted tweets on Twitter.

Build Consistent Branding

A coherent brand image across social media cultivates familiarity and trust among audiences. Maintaining alignment with the core brand identity is vital.

  • Use consistent profile imagery, color schemes and voice reflecting the brand guidelines
  • Echo any signature slogans, themes or hashes that embody the brand’s essence

Such uniformity makes the brand instantly recognizable to users. It tangibly builds affinity that makes followers more receptive to marketing messages. Studies reveal over 30% revenue rise for brands leveraging consistent versus fragmented presence. Moreover, consistency aids discovery by making branded search terms more prevalent and findable across social platforms.

Create Appealing Visual Content

Visual content has become extremely popular on social media. Posts with images receive up to 180% more likes than text-only posts. When creating content, focus on:

  • Top-notch, attention-grabbing visual content that resonates with your brand image is crucial.
  • Infographics, stop-motion videos, announcement posts, behind-the-scenes footage, and tutorials.
  • Relevant hashtags that help discoverability
  • Optimized images and videos for mobile viewing experience
  • Customizable overlays with calls-to-action to encourage shares

Leverage User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) created by customers and fans provides authenticity that branded content cannot match. The most effective UGC includes product reviews/unboxings, testimonials, brand mentions, re-shares and more.

UGC can be seamlessly woven into other content like social proof. With permission, outstanding UGC can be adapted into ads and post boosting. According to Zippia, a staggering 78% of customers feel a connection with businesses that captivate them through distinctive and valuable content. So, inspire UGC creation through incentives and by delivering share-worthy experiences.

Establish Clarity on Objectives and Audience

The foundation for an impactful social media growth strategy is defining the core objectives and target audience. Evaluating crucial questions is imperative initially:

  • What are the vital goals intended for the social media presence?
  • Is the priority to drive traffic to the company website organically or enhance engagement metrics on the social platforms themselves?

Once the goals are established, the next step would be to analyze the consumer demographics, interests, behaviors and needs to accurately map the target audiences to create tailored branding and communication appealing to them. 

Having this clarity of purpose and understanding of the people you seek to connect with is vital. It enables crafting a high-level roadmap or framework across channels to achieve the envisioned social media success for the brand.

Implement referral marketing

Word-of-mouth referrals are extremely convincing in driving brand perception and sales. Social media referral programs incentivize existing customers to refer your business to their networks through:

  • Custom links
  • Promo codes
  • Gamification elements making referral generation competitive

Continually Assess 

Evaluating social media strategies based on tangible performance data is vital to optimize effectiveness. Most platforms provide insightful analytics on critical metrics like audience reach, engagement levels, and response rates.

To objectively determine campaign successes and shortcomings, brands should actively monitor these reports. These learnings empower iterative testing of creative formats, posting times, messaging angles and topics to drive higher engagement.

Wrapping Up

Executing these continually advancing social media marketing best practices necessitates commitment, vigilance, and adaptability. However, brands that embrace this process can achieve substantial awareness, engagement, and conversion growth over the long term.

SaaS Branding

Product Marketing vs. Product Management: Demystifying the Roles

Product management focuses on the development of a product while product marketing focuses on launching a finished product to the market.

I agree this is an oversimplified differentiation between the two.

In reality, the two disciplines overlap and are more intertwined. Not just the disciplines, even the roles, responsibilities, and skills of a product manager and a product marketing manager, who manage the respective disciplines, overlap.

This often leads to confusion between product marketing and product management and the role of a product marketing manager and product manager.

In this post, we will dig deep into product marketing vs. product management and the roles of a product manager and product marketing manager.

What is product management?

Product management is an organizational function that focuses on the management of the complete lifecycle of the product — from its conception to development, launch, and ongoing improvement.

A product manager or product owner is responsible for guiding the product life cycle.

Martin Eriksson calls product management the intersection of business, user experience, and technology.

Product management is different from project management, which looks into the day-to-day details of a product’s development. And product management is also different from product marketing, which takes care of marketing the finished product into the market.

What is product marketing?

Product marketing is an organizational function that focuses on launching a finished product to the market and making it discoverable to the customer with the purpose of selling it.

It includes deeply defining a product’s target audience, USP, and messaging and positioning, competitor research, and creation & distribution of the content.

A product marketer is responsible for creating, executing, and managing product marketing strategy.

What is the difference between product marketing and product management?

The difference between product marketing and product management is that product marketing focuses on launching a finished product to the market while product management is concerned with the creation of the product.

A product manager oversees the product management function whereas a product marketing manager oversees the product marketing function.

The confusion between the two roles and the two disciplines lies because they both are concerned with the successful launch of the product to the market.

A product manager researches and analyzes the market because they want to make sure that the product is the right fit for the market, desired by the end users, and fulfills the company’s objectives.

 

On the other hand, a product marketing manager researches and analyzes the market because they want to make sure that the developed product is reaching its intended target audience and is portrayed in the best possible light.

A product manager focuses on creating the product that is the right market fit whereas a product marketing manager focuses on positioning the product effectively to the right audience with the intent to make users purchase the product.

There are also some clearly visible differences between these two disciplines and roles.

For example, product marketing is not concerned with the technology part or the development of the product, but product management is concerned with strategizing, development, and user experience of the product.

Though product marketing can influence feature development with its deep marketing insights at any stage of product development and product development can influence product marketing with its product offerings at any stage.

Product marketing vs. product management

Product marketing 

Product management 

Focuses on bringing the product to market

Focuses on creating and  developing the product

Product launch, promotion, branding, positioning, and messaging 

Product roadmaps, defining features for development, maintaining backlog, and project planning

Work closely with sales, marketing, customer success, and product management team

Works closely with engineers, user-experience designers, and other stakeholders 

Achieve business objectives by  generating demand for products and accelerating sales

Achieve business objectives by delivering user-centric products that drive business growth

Focus on creating compelling product stories that resonate with your target audience

Gather user feedback continuously and use it to inform product development decisions

The role of a product manager

The role of a product manager is to ensure that the team creates a product that is desired by the customers and serves the business objective. They work cross-functionally with managers from various departments, including marketing, sales, finance, and legal to ensure that each step of the product development life cycle is executed properly.

This leads to a set of responsibilities of a product manager. Have a look at them.

 

Responsibilities of a product manager include:

  • Understanding and identifying customer needs.
  • Performing market research and competitive analysis to identify the product-market fit.
  • Representing the end-user needs and defining the vision for a product.
  • Creating a product roadmap (roadmap tools will ease this process), defining the project scope, setting goals and milestones, and defining strategy for product development.
  • Defining product features, coordinating product release, gathering feedback from end-users and stakeholders to iterate on the product to make improvements.
  • Communicating with stakeholders from various departments to align product development with business objectives.
  • Guiding teams through the entire product lifecycle.
  • Gathering feedback and guiding ongoing improvement on the product.

Essential product manager skills

A product manager is either someone who is a master at technical development with good business understanding or a seasoned marketer with decent technical skills who can drive the creation of the product.

 There is a certain set of skills a product manager needs to be successful in the role. Have a look at them.

  • Communication skills: A product manager has to lead the marketing, development, and business aspects of a product. They should have good communication skills to understand others and convey messages in a way that everyone can comprehend.
  • Project management: A product manager needs to oversee the entire product life cycle. They should have practical knowledge of project management methodologies to manage various projects, create product roadmaps, and devise an actionable strategy for product development.
  • Technical skills: A product manager needs to have a decent knowledge of technical software development including coding, testing, and deployment to lead the overall product development.
  • Research and problem-solving skills: A product manager should be able to research extensively to gain knowledge and find solutions to the problem. It is because they have to set a vision, guide teams through the product life cycle, and solve challenges daily.
  • Analytical and strategic thinking: A product manager should be able to think analytically, critically, and strategically. It also requires the adaptability and flexibility of mindset to make better decisions.

The role of a product marketing manager

The role of a product marketing manager is to design, execute, track, and manage the product marketing campaign. A product marketing manager works with the product development team, sales team, and marketing team to ensure the successful launch of the product.

A product marketing manager plays a key role in all three stages of the product launch:

  • Before the launch: By sharing insights to develop a product with the right market fit.
  • During the launch: By creating a product’s go-to-market strategy.
  • After the launch: By overseeing customer response to the product, receiving feedback, and taking necessary actions for potential improvement.

This leads to a set of responsibilities of a product marketing manager throughout the product lifecycle marketing. Have a look at them.    

Responsibilities of a product marketing manager include:

  • Deeply understanding the target audience and defining ideal customer profile and buyer personas.
  • Performing competitor research to learn about your competitor’s products and marketing tactics.
  • Establishing the product’s messaging and positioning to position the product appropriately in the market.
  • Creating a product’s go-to-market strategy and building the product’s branding and image.
  • Creating content including blog posts, social media posts, email newsletters, videos, and ads to drive awareness and demand for the product.
  • Managing the content calendar and content distribution to ensure the product reaches its intended audience.
  • Tracking the marketing campaign for the optimization and improvement.
  • Ensure the marketing, product, sales teams, and other stakeholders are all on the same page.
  • Guiding the marketing team to drive sales and profit for the business.

Essential product marketing manager skills

A product marketing manager is someone who is heavily skilled at marketing. There is a certain set of skills a product marketing manager needs to excel at the role. Have a look at them.

  • Team building and leadership: The marketing team works under a project marketing manager. They should have good team-building and leadership skills. It includes skills like communication, storytelling, conflict resolution, decision-making, and analytical and critical thinking.
  • Empathy: Emotions play a big part in product marketing. A product marketing manager should have empathy to understand the pain points of the customers. This not only helps you create effective market campaigns but also handles your team’s emotions well and understands your emotions better.
  • Meeting deadlines: A product marketing manager should be good at meeting deadlines. It helps them plan the content calendar effectively and deliver the content on time to lead business growth.
  • Strategic and tactical thinking: Strategic thinking helps a project create long-term strategy while tactical thinking helps a project manager take short-term marketing initiatives to achieve business objectives. A project manager needs both strategic and tactical thinking skills to create marketing campaigns that outperform the competitors.
  • Technical skills: A product marketing manager needs good technical skills including market research, competitive analysis, knowledge of various marketing strategies, content creation, content management systems, and knowledge of marketing automation to create marketing campaigns that serve business objectives.

Do you need both a product manager and a product marketing manager?

A product manager and a product marketing manager work closely together to achieve the common goal of product success.

It is because even the best product with poor marketing fails to reach its audience; resulting in a failure of the product.

Similarly, a poor product that does not fulfill end-users’ needs even with the best marketing strategy would not be able to make a mark in the market.

That’s why you need both product marketing and product management for a successful product launch.

Having said that, in some companies, a product manager takes care of the role of product marketing manager. In that case, it is good to make sure that the product manager along with the technical development leader has expertise in product marketing to make the product successful.  

Top online course for product managers

Learning courses can help you build the knowledge and skills required to become a successful product manager and get certified. Here are the top three online courses for product managers:

      

1. Product Management Program by Stanford School of Engineering

This program will equip you with the skills you need to be a great product manager. It covers topics like product creation, marketing, team operations, product costing, and more to teach you the skills you need for effective product management.

Course link: https://online.stanford.edu/programs/product-management-program

2. Product Manager Certification (PMC)™ by Product School

In this program, you will learn to build products end-to-end and get the hands-on experience you need to lead Product teams. You will gain practical skills and apply everything you have learned through a comprehensive final project to create a product from ideation to launch.

Course link: https://productschool.com/product-manager-certification

3. Software Product Management Specialization by the University of Alberta

In this course, you will learn to create better software products using Agile Practices. You will learn the Agile software management practices that will help you lead a team of developers and navigate the realistic scenarios you will face as a Software Product Manager.

Course link: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management     

Top online courses for product marketing managers

Have a look at the top three courses for product marketing managers.

1. Product Marketing Manager Certification (PMMC)™ by Product School

In this course, you will learn about how to master product positioning, deliver messaging that captivates customers, create exceptional go-to-market plans, and choose metrics to demonstrate impact. You will learn from the experts who designed marketing campaigns for companies like Spotify, Shopify, DoorDash, and more.

Course link: https://productschool.com/product-marketing-manager-certification    

2. Product Marketing Core by Product Marketing Alliance   

This course teaches you all the concepts you need to successfully promote and sell your product. You will learn about pricing strategies, market research, OKRs and KPIs, personas, messaging and positioning, go-to-market strategies, and more.

Course link: https://certified.productmarketingalliance.com/p/product-marketing-certified-core  

3. Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM™) by 280Group

Certified Product Marketing Manager credentials demonstrate your skills in creating and executing the marketing plan and budget, creating marketing campaigns to drive customer acquisition and revenue, and both strategic and tactical marketing functions throughout the product life-cycle. You can enroll in the Optimal Product Management Training course by 280 Group to prepare for the AIPMM CPMM™ certification exam.

Course link: https://aipmm.com/cpmm       

What is the salary of a product manager and a product marketing manager?

As per the Glassdoor estimates, the average salary for a Product Manager in the United States area is $125,778 per year, while the average salary for a Product Marketing Manager is $121,396 per year in the United States area.

The total pay range for a product manager is $121K – $206K/year. Whereas, the total pay range for a product marketing manager is $128K – $206K/year.

Wrapping it up

Product marketing and product management are two different organizational functions with the common purpose of launching a successful product that customers love to use and serve business objectives. A clear understanding of the role helps you implement the right strategies and appoint the right people to create successful products.

Digital Branding

How is Voice Search Going to Alter SEO and PPC Marketing?

In recent years, voice search has emerged as a transformative technology that is reshaping the way people interact with search engines and access information online. The rising popularity of voice-activated virtual assistants, like Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa, has driven the widespread adoption of voice search across various devices, from smartphones to smart speakers.

As this trend continues to gain momentum, it is essential for businesses and marketers to understand how voice search will alter Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing strategies. Since our digital marketing agency has already started integrating voice searches into our marketing strategies, we are here to help you understand the deeper impact of voice search on SEO and PPC, the opportunities we have, and the challenges it presents.

The Rise of Voice Search

Voice search has experienced exponential growth in recent years, driven by the increasing convenience and accessibility it offers users. Voice-activated virtual assistants have become integral parts of consumers’ lives, providing quick and hands-free access to information, services, and products.

According to a study by PwC, over 65% of people aged 25-49 speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once a day. This growing reliance on voice search is transforming the digital landscape and posing new challenges and opportunities for businesses and marketers.

Alterations in Search Behavior

Voice search has ushered in changes in the way people conduct online searches. Unlike traditional text-based searches, which typically consist of a few keywords, voice search queries tend to be more conversational and natural.

When typing a search query, users might type “best Italian restaurants,” but in a voice search, they are more likely to ask, “What are the best Italian restaurants near me?” This shift in search behavior necessitates a fundamental change in SEO and keyword targeting strategies.

Long-Tail Keywords and Natural Language

To optimize for voice search, businesses need to focus on long-tail keywords that mirror natural language. Long-tail keywords are more specific and often resemble the phrases people use in voice search queries. By incorporating these natural language phrases into their content and website, businesses can improve their chances of appearing in voice search results.

Featured Snippets and Position Zero

Voice search often relies on providing direct and concise answers to users’ queries. As a result, there is an increased emphasis on featured snippets or position zero in search engine results.

Featured snippets are highlighted information that appears above organic search results and is read aloud by voice assistants in response to voice queries. To optimize for voice search, businesses should aim to create content that succinctly answers common questions and appears as a featured snippet.

Impact on PPC Marketing

The rise of voice search also has implications for PPC marketing strategies. As voice search queries become more prevalent, traditional PPC ads may need to adapt to accommodate this shift in user behavior. Here’s how.

Targeting Conversational Keywords

In PPC campaigns, businesses should consider targeting conversational keywords that mirror the way people use voice search. This includes using natural language and long-tail keywords that are more likely to be used in voice queries. By aligning PPC ad copy with voice search behavior, businesses can improve ad relevance and attract more qualified leads.

Utilizing Ad Extensions

Ad extensions, such as call extensions and location extensions, are valuable tools for voice search optimization. Voice search users often seek immediate information, such as phone numbers or directions to nearby stores. Including ad extensions that provide relevant and easily accessible information can enhance the effectiveness of PPC ads for voice search users.

Challenges and Future Prospects

While voice search offers exciting opportunities for businesses, it also presents some challenges. The natural language used in voice queries can lead to more ambiguous intent, making it challenging to precisely target users’ needs. Moreover, voice search results are often dominated by a single featured snippet, reducing the visibility of other organic search results and PPC ads.

Voice search is undoubtedly transforming the landscape of SEO and PPC marketing. Businesses must adapt their strategies to accommodate the shift towards more conversational and natural language queries. Creating content optimized for voice searches is the only way businesses can position themselves for success in the era of voice search. Embracing voice search optimization will not only improve organic search rankings but also enhance the effectiveness of PPC campaigns, ultimately connecting businesses with their target audience in a more personalized and convenient manner. As voice search technology continues to evolve, staying ahead of the curve in SEO and PPC marketing will be essential for businesses seeking to thrive in the digital era.

Digital Branding

Agency or In-House Marketing: Which is Better?

If you are struggling with the important decision of how to handle your marketing efforts, you are not alone. Countless business owners spend months deciding if they should hire an external agency or build an in-house marketing team. It is a question that many brands grapple with, and as a digital marketing agency in London, we can tell you that there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

So, let’s look at what both these options bring to the table and help you determine which approach is better suited for your business’s unique needs.

Expertise and specialization

When it comes to expertise and specialization, agencies often have the edge. Marketing agencies are composed of professionals who specialize in various aspects of marketing, such as social media management, SEO, content creation, and advertising. They have experience working with a diverse range of clients and industries, which allows them to bring fresh perspectives and innovative strategies to the table.

For example, if you are a small eCommerce business looking to scale your digital advertising, an agency that specializes in eCommerce marketing can provide valuable insights and proven strategies to help you achieve your goals.

On the other hand, in-house marketing is more like you trying to assemble a team based on what you think your needs are at present and those that would arise in the future. You can’t expand on a whim should you ever need additional support. But you have more control over an in-house team due to the proximity. 

Cost and flexibility

Cost and flexibility are two important factors to consider when deciding between agency and in-house marketing. In-house marketing teams require hiring and training expenses, as well as ongoing salary and benefits.

On the other hand, agencies typically work on a contractual basis, providing flexibility in terms of budget and scalability. For instance, if you have a seasonal business with fluctuating marketing needs, an agency can adjust its services and budget accordingly, whereas maintaining an in-house team during off-peak seasons might be less cost-effective.

Control and alignment

In-house marketing teams offer greater control and alignment with your business’s objectives and brand vision. They have a deep understanding of your products, services, and target audience, which can result in more cohesive and personalized marketing campaigns.

That being said, you also have to spend more time training them in order to get the most out of your investment. In addition, having an in-house team allows for seamless collaboration with other departments, facilitating efficient communication and alignment across different areas of your business.

For example, if you value maintaining tight control over your brand messaging and want your marketing efforts to reflect your company culture accurately, an in-house team may be the better choice.

Resources and scalability

Marketing agencies have access to a wide range of resources and tools that may not be feasible for an in-house team, especially for small to mid-sized businesses. Agencies often have subscriptions to industry-leading software, market research databases, and analytical tools that can provide valuable insights and drive better marketing results.

Moreover, agencies can quickly scale their resources and adapt to changes in your marketing needs. They are good at pivoting. So, if you are launching a new product line or expanding into new markets, an agency can bring in additional expertise and resources to support your marketing efforts without requiring long-term commitments.

Industry insights and network

One of the significant advantages of working with marketing agencies is their exposure to various industries and their extensive network of industry contacts. Agencies often have a finger on the pulse of the latest trends, best practices, and emerging technologies. They have a broad view of the market and can provide valuable insights and recommendations based on their experiences with other clients.

Additionally, agencies may have connections with influencers, media outlets, and other relevant partners that can amplify your brand’s reach and impact. This can be particularly advantageous if your business operates in a highly competitive or rapidly evolving industry.

As is evident, the decision of choosing between agency and in-house marketing depends on several factors, including your budget, goals, desired level of control, and the specific expertise and resources required for your marketing efforts.

Both options have their advantages and drawbacks, so you need to assess your business’s unique needs, evaluate the costs against the benefits, and consider consulting with industry experts to determine the best approach for your business. Remember, it is not about which option is inherently better, it is about which is the most convenient for you. You might not get everything from either of the options. So, make sure you prioritize what’s more important to you before settling down on an option. 

SEO
Digital BrandingLocal Branding

How to Build Trust and Authority With Content

Getting to the first page of Google is half the battle. The other half is staying there, which can be incredibly difficult when you try to tackle the issue alone. But, when you have help and support from your customers, it becomes a bit easier. Staying in your customer’s minds and on their radar, long after they leave your site is priceless. With so many companies competing for attention, finding and keeping it can make or break your company’s profit margins. Trusty content that pulses with authority is exactly the way to achieve such a goal, but how can you get to that point? With several helpful tips&tricks we’ve curated below, you will be set on the right track for success!

1. Ask questions and provide answers

What’s the best way to get people hooked on what you are about to say? Offer a solution to their problems. Asking the right questions and giving the best possible answer gets people interested in what you have to say. Because you are saying what they want to hear, they will tune in whenever you are on and listen. Such interactions boost lead generation as all of these people have a friend who they will invite along to the show. 

Now you may be thinking, what are THE best questions to ask? Well, the answer lies in doing delightful research. You are in tune with your audience and your chosen field of study, so that makes you the right person to answer the question. Start with some general and seemingly obvious problems you are facing in your industry. Then turn those problems into questions and provide answers in form of your experience. And if that doesn’t work, then you can supplement it with our next suggestion.

2. Proof of concept

Saying you can do something is all great, but people today want proof of concept that your method works. Nobody believed that flying to the Moon was possible until humanity did it for the first time, and the same applies to any advice in the industry. Trust is built with evidence and hard data that can back up any claim you make. The best way to start is by using your data, from those successful business moves. You can use any presentation method you wish and tell a story. 

From how you prepared before beginning, how the problem occurred and how you fixed it, there is data in every step, and people are hungry for solutions. Other options include doing a bit more research and linking your story to someone else in the industry, who might have the same or similar situation. When methods become universally applicable, then your story gets more credibility, and all your claims now have weight. With weight provided by proof of concept, your tales stay embedded in your customer’s minds, and other winds can’t blow them away.

3. Consistency

Consistency always trumps chance. Diligent workers exhume confidence as we see them at their workstations day in, and day out. Making consistent content is equally important as making content in the first place. The quest in becoming trustworthy and respected is a marathon, one that it will take you years to reach. With every post, article, comment, and blog, you create more leverage toward your advantage. Consider the following scenario. 

Whom would you rather trust? Someone who did a job 1-2 times, or a person who did it more than a hundred? Who would do a better job at the end between two? The same principle applies to the importance of consistent writing. Once you get into a rhythm, your customers will get accustomed to and follow. Two articles per week are ideal for a good start, and all that’s left is to research what the ideal days are, so you are more in tune with your audience’s schedule. Or you can use the downtime and fill it up with articles, creating consistent engagement.

4. Professional help

Getting a head start in an industry with plenty of experienced and established brands can be somewhat difficult. Each day you spend by not starting or moving towards your goal, you are creating a bigger gap between you and everyone else. Established names have entire dedicated marketing and SEO departments behind them, which can be near impossible for regular or smaller businesses to compete with. 

Luckily for you and everyone else, the modern way of doing business is to outsource any hardships you may face. In the same way, big corporations have dedicated departments, so too you can follow their lead and outsource your SEO and article need to professionals in the field, like SEO Sydney Experts, and others that are readily available for help. Starting your department is expensive, takes a lot of trial and error, and, most importantly, time. For everyone, time and money are sorely lacking in modern business, so reaching out for professional help gets you on the fast track to success.

5. Influencers

Influencers

A schematic representation of influencer work in a nutshell

Short of hiring an entire dedicated staff for your cause, you can also cherry-pick the ideal individuals for your quest toward a greater market share. Influencers are established individuals in their respective fields that have cultivated a vide, loyal and interactive audience around them. Usually, an influencer has charisma, presentation skills, and a loyal following behind their actions and practices. Influencers’ names can easily be associated with any brand they choose to endorse or get sponsored by. 

When considering going with any influencers, due diligence and research are required. While it’s amazing when you get instant exposure to an incredible audience, a bad choice of influencers can backfire on your company. Influencers’ audience associates their deeds, name, and reputation with the brands they represent. So, they see a brand, your brand, and not the influencer. This means that any negative actions or moves the influencer can or makes backfire and reflect on your company.

Which leads to the polar opposite of the results you were aiming for. The prevent this, take your time to do research about the right influencers and take your time to know them, before you sight any papers.

6. Cooperation

One innovative way of reducing competition is banding up and providing a unified front thru cooperation. One company is strong, two are stronger, and so on. When two or even more companies join hands regarding the same goal, it sends out a message to your future customers. Several companies wouldn’t band together if they don’t collectively believe in what they are doing, and people can feel those vibes. When you partner up, you also have access to more resources to produce better results that will resonate with customers as they see several bands together, which brings certainty. 

When you wish to differentiate your company in such a partnership, and for all actors to get their fair share, try to set boundaries before you even begin. Each company can be dedicated to a certain step when creating content or interacting with customers, and all get their fair share. A homogenized entity can appear before customers, but what’s important is what happens behind the curtains. And everything has to operate silky smooth, so your joint appearance does not come off as forced, artificial or negative. Setting clear goals for your joining endeavor and boundaries that all involved can respect, sets the board for future successes.

7. Compare

How can people believe that your solution is better than all the rest? Comparison is one more proof of concept and method to cement your brand awareness and quality of content. The past is gone, but it leaves behind valuable lessons and info. You can always dig back and find previous situations, that don’t even have to be yours and compare your results. 

A side-by-side comparison can clearly show that your method is better and an upgrade when compared to the rest. You can try a more extravagant approach where you can compare yourself with a different company, but that can bring negative attention and send out mixed signals. Here it’s important to know what kind of brand you wish to establish and what type of trust you trying to build. One way to show humility is to compare your past results with current ones in areas of improvement. 

Humility, resolve to better yourself, and honesty goes a long way in making people trust you. When you put all your actions out in the open and clearly show that you have nothing to hide, while showing growth, progress, and results, customers will value your words and actions!

The best moment to start building bridges with your audience is right now! People flock to certainty, authority, and charisma. Such qualities are guiding grace that promises to absolve them of their difficulties and offer solutions to burning problems. Our modern world is filled with challenges and problems which we can’t all solve equally or at the same pace. When you present yourself as a person who can help, trust grows from those seeds, and from that point, you only need to cultivate the field. In no time at all, you will reap the rewards of your effort. We wish you all the best.

YouTube marketing
Digital Branding

YouTube Marketing: 7 Smart Ways to Grow Your Channel

Are you looking to make a strong start on YouTube, take your channel to the next level, or just for some interesting advice to consider? Here are seven great tips for YouTube channel success. 

1. Understand what “success” really means to you

What would you like to accomplish?

Deeper engagement and increased interaction with your brand – Does video need to be used to provide prospective customers with increased opportunities to have interactions with your brand?

Conversions – Do you need individuals to click through to a different website and perform an action? 

Video views – Would you like as many people as possible to view your video?

Visit Social Plus for help to make your YouTube channel a success.

2. Research keywords

Similar to when you are having content created for your video, to be discovered on the world’s second-biggest search engine, it is necessary to know what people are searching for. The YouTube Keyword Tool can be used to find the most popular searches in your niche. It is just as important for your digital media content to be optimized for search as it is for your website or blog’s written content. 

You need to be strategic, know who you would like to target, and do your research. YouTube videos are included in Google search results, so one of the most important steps you can take in your planning process is to cross-reference your YouTube and Google keyword research.  

3. Know who your competition is

Look on YouTube to search for videos that are already ranking well for keywords you want to rank for. Find out what you are faced with and look for strategies to outdo your competition. This phase can also help with your keyword research. 

This research can be used to look for opportunities that your competition might not be capitalizing on. Are there some keywords that get a lot of traffic that may be easier to rank for compared to the ones that you initially looked at? Are there some long-tail keywords that could be targeted that may cater to specific questions that a user has?

4. Create a great video 

Viral content is not created simply because you would like to. Unless it occurs by chance, viral content needs to be gripping and well thought-out. The content that is the most sharable occurs naturally and not intentionally. That might sound counterintuitive. You may plan to buy watch hours to grow your channel rapidly. However, staying true to your brand, and having digital content designed with a purpose for your intended audience will be engaging and informative.

It might not reach millions of people, however,  it will reach the right ones. No one will share a video with their friends that they don’t really like.   

5. Fill out the details for your video

When you are posting your finished video, always remember your standard SEO practices. Be sure to fill out all of the necessary fields and focus on your targeted keywords.  All of your important keywords should be placed in the front part of your fields, and they should also be included in your tags and description. Do not overdo things. Simply add relevant keywords that are backed up by the research you have conducted. 

Keep all of your important information above the YouTube “Show More” fold. That way users will not need to perform extra navigation in order to see all of the necessary details. Allow others to embed your videos so that they can be shared on websites. Otherwise, your videos can only be viewed on Youtube. It all depends on your knowledge of SEO. If the user experience is disrupted by any part of your navigation, you may lose your rankings as well as your audience. 

6. Make Use of the Featured Videos section

Youtube logo

The YouTube logo is displayed

When you are confident that your video is going to be a big hit, YouTube’s paid service called “Featured Videos” can be used so that your video is seen by as many individuals as possible in a short period of time. After the video has taken off, usually your organic traffic will outperform your paid traffic.  Just like you can pay for your chances to be increased to come up when individuals are searching for you on Google, the odds on your videos can also be increased. 

7. Add links to your videos 

Annotations can be used to link to other videos. This is done to maximize each viewer. They can pop up throughout your video and send your audiences to another video, or your blog and website. However, this should not be overdone. Be sure that your annotations do not interfere with the viewing experience. If you have a video that you would like to focus on driving views too, YouTube’s InVideo Programming can be used to insert a featured video overlay.

 A branding watermark should also be included so that people can navigate over to your YouTube page easily. Just one video has lots of potentials when it comes to having additional navigation options. Determine which ones best fit your business, and make sure you take full advantage of them.

Content
SaaS Branding

3 Best Online Summarizing Tools You can Use to Write Valuable Content Summary

Summarizing is one of the key practices in writing. So, how can a tool help you with that? 

From academia to professional landscapes, writing summaries is key in many situations. Often used as a method to shorten long-form texts and capture the key points, summarizing is a necessary factor in many aspects of the world today, such as:

That’s why writing summaries has become one of the key aspects of content creation. It’s not only an ideal way to communicate an idea in a simple way, but it also saves a lot of time. In other facets of life, summaries are a way to lure the reader into reading the entire thing, i.e., academic essays.

This also shows the writer’s prowess and understanding of the topic while giving the reader a glimpse into what they can expect. So, how do you write such summaries? And which are the best tools for doing so? Let’s dive in and find out. 

What Is Text Summarizing?

Text summarizing is a technique used to summarize a text into a concise and understandable summary. There are two major approaches to text summarization: extractive and abstractive. Extractive summarization relies on the source text to provide all the necessary information.

On the other hand, we have abstractive summarization, which requires the machine to generate its own content. Text summarizing has many use cases in our lives, such as when we want to read an article but do not have time for it or when we want to know the main points of a book without reading it entirely.

However, the requirement for a summary is far more imminent in academia and professional settings. Such as:

  • In academia, it poses the writer’s prowess to formulate content
  • In SEO, it’s a creative way to produce an article for the audience 

Furthermore, SEO or search engine optimization requires a good summary of metadata. While social media networks can also use a summary as a glimpse into an article for your audience. 

Where Can Summaries Be Used? 

Text summaries are a great way to understand the main points of any text. They are used in many different ways, from summarizing reading comprehension for students to summarizing scientific articles for the general public.

Let’s take an unconventional example, if you need to summarize a book for a friend who is too busy to read it, you can use a text summary. You can also use them as an overview of research articles or even in your own writing.

Importance of Summarizing

Why do you think the summarizing text is a skill that is becoming more and more important? In this age of information overload, people need to be able to quickly find the most relevant information. That’s one of the reasons, besides the technical requirements of academia and SEO.

However, summarizing text can be used in many different ways. For example, students can use it during their reading to find the main idea of a passage. Most importantly, they can use it during their writing process to ensure that they include all the necessary information in their paper.

A summary writer has two main goals: to summarize the text and provide an analysis of what is written. These analyses push the reader towards understanding the central idea. For instance:

  • Pushing a specific narrative
  • The resolution of the written text
  • What motivated the writer

These three factors are essential in academies. In professional settings, it could vary from metadata such as titles/descriptions or social media captions. 

3 Best Summarizing Tools You Can Use 

Now that we understand the importance of summarizing let’s talk about the tools that could help you get there. When picking the summarizers for you, we prioritized ensuring both sides have what they need, i.e., students and professionals.

These summarizers that we’ve picked are thoroughly vetted and used for various purposes. Therefore, to ease your text summarizing process, here are the three best summarizing tools available today: 

Summarizer.Org is one of the leading summarizing tools. Whenever you look for a tool like this on Google, this one pops up as one of the primary results. So, why did we decide to put it on our list? Here are a few reasons:

  • It has a length intensity bar so you can pick the ideal length of your summary
  • It can summarize in bullets or by the best lines in your text
  • It’s one of the quickest summarizing tools, even for 1000+ words
  • It’s free 

Now, if nothing else lures you, then you get all the benefits for free should be enough to lure you towards it. These factors make it the primary option for any sort of summary writing in 2022.

SummarizingTool.Net is another leading provider of summarizing prowess. This tool has basically the same UI but has additional benefits. Besides the shortening or lengthening of your summary, you can also pick various languages. Making it ideal for:

  • Both long and short summaries
  • Up to 8 languages supported at the moment
  • Ideal for both SEO and academic writers

While the quality of the summary doesn’t wane, the original research and informative prowess also remain constant in any content you summarize through it. Making it one of the premier options for writers today.

  • Sassbook.Com – AI Summarizer 

Sassbook’s AI summarizer might be a little complicated on the UI side, but it’s one of the best tools you can use today. It’s also one of the few tools that offer abstractive or extractive methods of summary writing. 

Moreover, it features options from small to best, verbose, or custom sizes of summaries. 

These factors are some of the main reasons it has made this list and is one of our three choices for astute text summarizers in 2022. 

Conclusion

We hope this article helps you understand the importance of summarizing and its main pillars. Therefore, the tools we’ve mentioned shouldn’t only help you achieve your goals, they shall help you write outstanding summaries. 

Branding
Digital Branding

Social Media Marketing Tips For Startup or Small Business

Starting a business is difficult, and it can be even harder if you’re on your own. There are so many things to keep track of, which is where some good social media marketing tips come in handy. You might be wondering what social media has to do with your business’s success rate. The answer is everything! If you have an effective social media plan in place, you can increase your brand awareness and make a lot more sales. Here are some great social media marketing tips for startup businesses or small businesses.

Make your business goals

The first step to social media success is knowing what your goals are. Are you trying to make more sales? Get more people to like and follow your page? Or do you want to increase your brand awareness? Whatever it is, be sure that those goals are clear before you begin. If you don’t set goals for yourself, you won’t know whether or not your social media campaign is working. It’s better to first figure out what you need from your social media campaigns and then start working on it.  

Plan out your week 

Once you’ve made your goals, go ahead and plan out what you’re going to do to reach them. If one of your top goals is getting more page likes, then spend half of a day each week trying to get that done. You could post an ad about the benefits of following your page on multiple platforms or advertise a contest where people have to like your page before entering. There are many ways for achieving this goal, so try brainstorming some ideas before getting started. Prepare a dedicated calendar for your social media and focus on creating quality content throughout the schedule. It will help you stand out from the others.  

  

Create engaging content 

Facebook marketing

One of the most important aspects of social media marketing services are creating engaging content that people want to share with their friends. If you’re looking for some inspiration, try taking a look at what your competitors are posting and see what they’re doing right. Also, keep track of what kind of content people responded to in the past and you might find that they enjoy videos more than images or that they enjoy humorous writing over serious topics. Doing this little research will help you gain more traction for your social media handles.  

Create ads for social media 

If creating engaging content is difficult for you, then one option would be to create ads instead. Ads require less thought but can still get your point across and help boost your page likes or social media following. You could also hire someone on Fiverr to create the ad for you! However, if you want to save some money, there’s always Google Adsense which allows you to host 

Logo

Analyze who your customers really are 

The next step in your business’s social media marketing plan should be figuring out who your ideal customer is. What age group do they fall into? Where do they live? How much money can they realistically spend on whatever it is you sell? This will help determine how often and where you post content so that the right kind of people see it.

Master the basics of social media 

Inforgrapjhic

Finally, don’t forget to master some of the basics of social media. You should be used to Twitter by now, as that’s probably where most people go to buy and sell things these days. Facebook is another great platform for selling your products, but make sure you know how sponsored posts work before going crazy with ads. Once you’ve mastered those sites it might also be a good idea to try Quora or Reddit as well since there are a large number of potential customers on those websites too. 

Do competitor research 

Once you’ve got some good content that you know is engaging, take a look at what your competitors are doing. You can do this by simply searching for their company on any of the social media platforms. If they’re not already following you back, consider sending them a message asking if it’s okay to check out their page and see what they’re up to. This is a great way to gain inspiration about future posts or learn about new ways to target potential customers. It will help you understand the latest market trends to gain more attention from the audience.  

Wrapping up 

By keeping these tips in mind and using them for inspiration, you can increase your sales through social media marketing even if you’re just starting out. It doesn’t have to be difficult! Use this information wisely and you’ll see an increase in the amount of traction to your business. Starting early with social media is an advantage for small businesses and you can gain a competitive advantage out of it.  

Social Media Impacts Your Company's Brand
Digital Branding

7 Secrets to Run a Successful Video Marketing Campaign

2021 is here to end, and it’s clear that video marketing is going to stay for many more years to come. Videos are not only easy to create but also capture audience attention more effectively than plain text. Moreover, it is also seen that videos are shared more than any other content type. This is the reason why every marketer is putting explainer animated video into the picture. 

So, if you haven’t created any video yet for your business, then it’s time to get going. Also, if you are already using it but didn’t get the expected result, you need to kick it up. For video marketing, monetized YouTube channels are so helpful to grab the audience’s attention. Are you also thinking the same? If so, then in this blog, you will see some cutting-edge techniques that will help you to give a boost to your video marketing campaign. 

Tips for creating a successful video marketing campaign

Let’s begin… 

1. Keep it short and crisp 

Today only those videos are successful if they are both short and sweet. If your video is as long as a long 30 minutes episode, then there are 90% chances that you won’t be able to get the expected result. Nowadays, no one has much time to spend on useless tasks. That’s why, if you don’t offer them content as per their expectations, then you won’t be able to engage viewers right away. 

Generally, successful video content is about to be completed within 1-2 minutes. So, if you are planning to create a video, make sure you consider its length. Also, if you already have long videos on your bucket list, then try to make them shorter and optimized so that they can be promoted on different social platforms. 

Add high-traffic and relevant keywords in the title

Say if you are from a marketing background or creating videos, then you might be familiar with the term SEO. Focusing on SEO while creating a video is another approach to getting excellent results. To get your videos ranked higher on the first page of search engines, you need to ensure that the keywords for which you want are added in the title. 

Just as a blog post, your video title is also essential for ranking on Google. So, whenever you create a title for your video, make sure you keep it under 66 characters, which includes your target keyword. Also, you need to check that the title is engaging and drive qualified leads. 

Try to use category tags

Another tip that will help you to make your video campaign successful is the appropriate category tag. Many people think that category tags do not affect the searches, but they do. Whenever you choose your video tags, they should be the same as the keywords you target for your video. 

Basically, there are two tags that you need to focus on, that is first tag and secondary tags. Try to keep your first tag as precise as possible. Also, the secondary tags are gradually broader than the other. 

Using accurate keywords and phrases is a great way to increase the chances of searches. So, make sure the tags that you use for videos are directly related to the title and context.

Follow a proper posting schedule

Many organizations did not see good results because they were unable to connect with the audience regularly. Are you also making this mistake? If yes, then you need to ensure that each video that you create is posted in the right way. 

By sharing regular content, people will get more attracted and linked with your brand. Thus, to ensure that each post has its own presence, you need to create a posting schedule as it will inspire the audience to come back and see more video content. This approach will be highly valuable if you are planning to launch your product or something exciting. 

So, what are you waiting for? Start establishing your business by sharing constant, engaging, and informative video content. 

Add customer-generated content 

Have you ever noticed what that extra thing that is making the videos successful is? From my experience, I realized that customer-generated content is one factor that is common in all high-performing videos. By adding customers to the videos, you can easily engage them towards your site and inspire them to make purchases. 

This tactic is highly effective because people love seeing themself in the content, and the probability of sharing the video also increases. The higher the number of shares, the more people will view the content, which will ultimately lead you towards your goal. 

Include an appealing call to action

For making your video campaign successful, you need to ensure that each video you create includes a responsive, simple, and engaging call to action. Adding this step to your checklist will inspire people to visit your site or download some resources or even view your social feed. 

Say, if you don’t want to add a particular content or an image, you can also instruct the viewers to take the desired action just by speaking. 

Customers enjoy videos if they find something informative. Thus, start adding excellent calls to action and see a good spark in the conversion rate. 

Evaluate video performance

Last but not least tip is evaluating the success of videos. Many of us keep on creating content but forget to analyze whether the audience actually likes the generated content or not. This is the reason why many brands are unable to see their video marketing unsuccessful. So, if you don’t want to be one of them, I would recommend you analyze the performance of videos.

To understand the performance, you can use Google Analytics to understand how your videos are performing. Say if any video content is not effective, then you can make the changes accordingly. Always remember, the more the analysis, the better the performance. 

Conclusion

Videos are an effective marketing strategy and have the power to thrill conversions. Indeed every video is not powerful, but hopefully, the above tips will allow you to make it highly productive. 

So, are you ready to make your marketing life much easier with awesome animated videos? Go ahead.

About the Author: Anna Wattson is a blogger and a digital marketing expert working with different brands and companies such as the Christian Internet Marketing Company, a Scented Candles brand, Church Marketing Agency, and many other companies. She’s devoted to helping small businesses bridge success gaps by providing in-depth, actionable advice on digital marketing, SEO, and small business growth. Follow her on Twitter at @annawattson24.