Results for: social media marketing strategy

Wedding planner
Digital Branding

Properly Rebranding Your Website, Social Media Accounts, and More

Changes often take place not only outside, but also in the depths of the company’s internal business processes. Modern successful organisations are constantly improving and strive to keep up with the times. This creates new products and services.

Processes often require both internal and external renewal of companies. Most often this is noticeable by external changes since they immediately attract attention. However, a huge layer of work is hidden in the internal aspects.

What is rebranding

Rebranding is a set of actions taken to change part of the internal business processes and external perception of the brand by the target audience.

There is a common misconception that rebranding refers exclusively to the external visual components of the brand, such as the logo and corporate identity. But this is nothing more than a redesign.

Re-branding is also often confused with repositioning, assortment changes and planned brand evolution. In fact, rebranding can include all the above elements and most often implies not only external changes but also significant internal transformation. It may relate to the ideology, mission, values, structure and quality of the company’s business processes.

Rebranding can affect such areas as brand positioning and its philosophy, changing visual components and their presentation, creating new services.

Why is the rebranding necessary? 

First of all, this process is necessary for solving new strategic tasks. For instance:

Radically change the range of goods or services;

Go to other product categories;

Change or significantly expand the target audience;

Use a fundamentally different approach to pricing;

Enter new markets;

Improve your reputation.

Also, virtually any brand must naturally evolve and develop, otherwise, it will be doomed. Starbucks is a good example – just look at the dynamics of their logo change.

In some cases, one can observe protracted rebranding races. Competing companies are actively competing for the audience’s attention in the media and advertising space, points of contact with the audience. When one of the competitors is noticeably updated, then the others also need to correspond to the changes in the market.

Mobile operators are a good example. They are constantly introducing new concepts. If earlier this happened more at the level of external visual solutions, such as logo, corporate identity and interior design of communication salons, now the range of changes affects the most unexpected elements of activity.

Reasons for rebranding

The market and competition are constantly changing, the target audience is maturing, its values ​​and needs are being transformed, and the next generation is growing up. All these factors must be taken into account in strategic marketing planning, otherwise, the success of the brand will be temporary.

It is necessary to constantly monitor changes in audience preferences and respond to them in a timely manner.

When is rebranding needed and how to know when it’s time to do it

The vision of business development has changed significantly;

The reputation of the company has deteriorated significantly;

You need to switch and focus on working with other segments of the audience;

There has been a change of owners or management team who want to change the direction of their activities;

A merger or acquisition transaction has taken place;

The brand is morally outdated and does not correspond to modern market realities;

The company does not systematically fulfil the assigned tasks and does not achieve; necessary goals;

The target audience or its key consumer segments have changed;

Very serious competitors appeared on the market and the brand became non-competitive;

When starting a business, the wrong target audience was chosen, the main direction of the company’s activity was incorrectly determined, or the brand was initially built incorrectly;

Consumers have lost interest in a product or want a variety of choices;

From the very beginning, the company’s products were not in great demand in the market.

Types of rebranding

Depending on the tasks set, rebranding can be complex or partial.

Complex rebranding is a total change in a company or project. Often, rebranding goes so far that the new organisation is unrecognisable compared to the previous version. In this case, a ubiquitous transformation takes place: a new design, logo, style, rejection of low-margin products and services, an improvement in the assortment, and new corporate ethics. But usually, the main line of business of the company does not change, as its client audience.

For example, the management of a law firm changed the name, design, logo, redesigned the website and focused on civil matters, but did not give up legal activity. This is a complex rebranding.

Partial rebranding is a change in a separate part of the company. For example, updating the logo if it is associated with unpleasant emotions, incidents, images, or even resembles another large corporation. Or a redesign of a product’s packaging in order to increase its awareness and make it more noticeable, which means increase sales. In this case, a specific task or problem is solved.

Rebranding stages

Marketing audit

Includes an analysis of the current state of affairs in the company. Find and evaluate strengths and weaknesses against the background of competitors. Be sure to study the current customer base: loyalty and trust of consumers, the motives for choosing a company, their demographic characteristics.

They also assess the company’s slogans, logo, design – what associations they cause and how this affects the level of customer confidence.

In addition, the audit program includes an analysis of the company’s resources: industry size, industry trends and prospects, sales channels, department functioning, leadership style, market positioning and finance.

Only in this way, it will become clear what to work on. With the help of an audit, you can find out whether a comprehensive rebranding is necessary or it is enough to limit yourself to point changes.

Brand repositioning

At this stage, a “road map” for rebranding is being developed, namely its terms, budgets, stages of changes. The concept of rebranding is also being formed – the main message and renewal tools. And, of course, this is tested, and only then implemented.

Rebranding of the corporate style

Change of style and all kinds of attributes (logos, packaging design and trademark) based on the road map and developed layouts. The look of the company is changing – a new strategy of communication with customers comes into force.

Interaction of the new brand with the audience

Social media rebranding

Clients get acquainted with the updated brand, evaluate the first results of the rebranding.

Social media rebranding tasks:

Increasing product awareness.

Forming an active and loyal social media community around the brand.

Solution

Development of an SMM strategy for the development of brand communities in all necessary networks. In the new design concept, use images that grab the attention of users and generate brand interest and useful content for users.

Website rebranding

The redesign work goes through six stages.

1. Analysis of resource indicators

Study of typical users and their needs. To understand the atmosphere and general style of the company, visits to the client’s store or office are possible.

2. Drawing up a concept

Generation of ideas for the website redesign. What will it look like? How does it differ from competitors? How to achieve maximum usability?

3. Text optimisation

Creation of high-quality, selling text on the home page of the site, which is optimised for search engines.

4. Design layout (site drawing)

5. Layout of the resource

6. Programming

7. Transferring the design to the site and embedding it in the CMS.

When adjusting the appearance, web designers from Sydney advise you to take into account the “convenience” of the resource:

Readability of the text

Visual perception (does the site look good)

Usability or ease of use (simplicity of the site structure, loading speed, etc.).

Rebranding mistakes

For rebranding to be effective, you need to be aware of the typical mistakes of its implementation:

Incorrect change of the name of the company: if you treat the renaming superficially, then the organisation can either be forgotten, or it will be a step backward. You cannot cross out what the brand’s activity indicates. Imagine what it would be like if Burger King was renamed into the just King;

Lack of testing often leads to the fact that reality does not coincide with expectations, and returning everything back is expensive and time-consuming;

The unsystematic nature of rebranding: current and potential customers will be confused, and such uncertainty can only be scary;

Unconstructive management: violation of the term for the development of layouts, incorrect delegation of authority on the issue of rebranding, there are no clear goals and distribution of responsibility, to this we can add ignoring the opinion of employees;

Unreasonable changes in the company’s brand in the form of “wishes” of the management or people responsible for the rebranding.

Conclusion

To successfully change the idea of a brand on the market, you need to carry out a set of measures that affect changes in ideology, positioning, appearance and communication style – in this case, the audience will believe you. Follow these tips, and we wish you a successful rebranding!

Digital Branding

Marketing for the Digital Age: Steps to Stand Out

Marketing has changed significantly in the digital age, and it continues to evolve. There are quite a few methods that every company in the digital economy needs to learn in order to stand out from the rest. The internet is saturated and the number of products and services available is unparalleled to any other time in human history. Luckily there are ways to promote your business and market ads to your target demographics. Below are a few tips that will help your company market itself in the digital age.

Master SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for any business that wants to land on Google, Bing, and others. SEO is essential to any company that needs to market itself digitally. It is the process of using keywords, hyperlinks, metadata, and more to ensure that the web page lands on search engines. If you do your best to hire people who understand SEO and keep learning about it on a continual basis you’ll have the chance to market your company successfully online.

Utilize Technical Writing Software

The use of technical writing software won’t just facilitate your SEO, it is a great resource for content web developers in general. Whether it’s technical code writing or video content, taking advantage of all the tools you have at your disposal will improve your online presence when it comes to digital marketing. From importing to authoring new content to publishing and analytics, tools like technical writing software will give you the power to effectively target ads and use digital marketing in a whole new way.

Stay Active on Social Media

Social media is not just necessary to promote your products or services to consumers, it is also integral for your online strategy. You’ll need to target ads while using analytics, hashtags, and other methods to market the business on social media. If you don’t already have social media employees, it’s a good idea to get started. When you don’t have a social media presence, it will be difficult for many people to find about your company.

Invest in Data

As a company involved in the digital space of technology, it has become imperative to gather data. Whether you’re getting data from your own site, online service, or buying it from another company, data is now extremely valuable. When you sign up for a social media platform, you agree to the terms and conditions to allow the company to sell your data. 

These businesses deal primarily in data. This is because it has become as valuable of a resource as oil. While the moral issues surrounding the buying and selling of data are dubious, it is a main-stay of the digital economy that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. If you want to expand and make it big with your start-up, you’ll need to deal with data as well.

Use Analytics & Spreadsheets

When you are handling a lot of data, your company will need to store and manage it. You can either store it on a Cloud service yourself, pay someone else to do it, or have full control over the data by keeping it on your own private server. Each method has its own workload and benefits. Depending on the security of the data and how much you want to have access to it, you can choose the storage and management method that works best for you.

Then once you have your data properly stored and organized, you’ll be able to use analytics and spreadsheets to determine the best ways to use particular sets of data. Some of it can be used in tandem with other sets, but some will need to be scrutinized individually. However you look at it, your digital business can use data to market more effectively to the target demographics that can be discovered and analyzed to expose new opportunities and ad potential.

Marketing has become much more complex in the digital age. The internet is complex and it takes a lot to stand out from the saturated crowd. But if you put in the effort to learn SEO, social media, data management, and technical writing software, your company will be able to market your product or service.

Ryan Beitler is a writer, journalist, and blogger who has written for AI Time Journal, Paste Magazine, The Slovenia Times, Addiction Now, and more.

Digital Branding

Nine Online Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make

Good marketing is a crucial element for every business’s survival and success. A well-planned marketing strategy can do wonders for your small business. Not only will it attract a considerable number of potential customers, but it will also give your business an immense opportunity for growth.

Online marketing is rapidly taking the lead among all other forms of marketing. While traditional marketing channels like TV commercials and billboard advertisements are still widely employed, their effect is no longer dominant in the digital era. With social media and e-commerce websites taking over the world by storm, marketers are making a paradigm shift towards digital marketing.

However, digital marketing is still an evolving concept. Hence, many businesses face issues when trying to market their product through an online platform. These marketing mistakes can create plenty of problems, and might even cost you your business. Therefore, identifying and avoiding them is essential. Below, we have pointed out a few online marketing mistakes small businesses often tend to make.

1. Not having a pre-planned strategy

Like any other business strategy, online marketing also needs a tremendous amount of planning. Without a well-thought-out marketing strategy, your marketing goals will lack structure and direction. You will be unable to reach your established objective, and your competitors might put you at a disadvantage.

To develop a marketing strategy, start by identifying your audience, and set a long-term vision and goals for your business. Most importantly, decide the online platform(s) you want to use for marketing purposes. You can implore the different techniques used for market research to devise a conclusive strategy for your business.

On the other hand, hiring a digital marketing agency can make your job easier. You can get assistance from qualified professionals and build an efficient and effective strategy for your business.

2. No social media presence

In this day and age, where social media is the “king” of marketing channels, not having a social media presence can put your business at a considerable disadvantage.

A social media page can help popularize your business and attract more potential customers. Social media is also an excellent avenue for you to interact with your customers and build long-lasting relationships. You can improve your services and quality by getting their feedback. You can also get an insight into consumers’ consumption patterns and develop a marketing plan tailored to specific groups.

Social media handles like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram also allow you to run advertisements for your business. While everything else is free-of-cost, these advertisements are not. However, these costs are scalable depending on your objectives. They are a great way to attract traffic to your page and increase your followers.

3. Entirely depending on paid advertisements

While paid advertisements can be immensely beneficial for your business, you should avoid solely relying on them. One reason for this is that these advertisements may not necessarily yield any long-term benefits. Also, back-to-back paid advertisements tend to have diminishing returns and can burn a hole in your business wallet.

Consider investing your time, money, and energy in other long-term and effective strategies like inbound marketing. Inbound marketing includes social media, SEO, and email. Inbound marketing promises long-term benefits and improves ROI.

4. Neglecting your social media account

It’s one thing not to have social media presence at all (we talked about that above), and entirely another to have one and neglect it. And believe it or not, small business owners are more likely to make the second mistake.

Some common mistakes marketing teams make are inconsistency with posting and replying late to queries. If you don’t post regularly, you might start losing followers, eventually dipping your engagement and traffic figures. Delayed responses to queries and an inactive social media account reflect poorly on the business’s ability to address customer concerns and create a bad reputation.

5. Not using videos

Studies report that 85% of the audience prefers watching videos over engaging with text and image-based content. Facebook and YouTube saw a massive increase in video content last year. Fun, humorous, and engaging videos attract a lot of customers. Video content is more memorable than text. It can drive immense traffic and is slowly becoming the preferred medium of many marketers.

6. Not marketing your website

If your business is new, then remember to market your website well. If you don’t invest in marketing your website, you will fail to attract even the smallest amount of traffic, leading to a tremendous loss in ROI. Think about it, many people don’t know about you, and you do not even market your website. Then, how do you expect visitors to your site? It’s a no-brainer!

It’s a very competitive digital world that we are talking about here. There are millions of websites up on the web. The chances of a person reaching your website are little to none if you don’t market it properly, which brings us to the next mistake.

7. Not investing in SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving your ratings on different search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. SEO makes it possible for customers to easily find your business and the products/services you offer while surfing the internet.

The problem here is that most business owners do not realize the full potential of SEO. They consider it to be useless and time-consuming. However, it is one of the most effective marketing tactics. If you can learn certain tricks of the trade like keyword research, keyword optimization, URL creation, you will realize the true potential that SEO carries. Yes, it is time-consuming, but the long-term results are worth the wait.

8. Spamming your customers

Being bombarded with an odd number of emails, texts, and messages is something none of us like. Customers hate spam! Spamming your customers can annoy them to the point that they might block you.  The last thing you want is to lose your customers for good!

Try and make your emails and messages relevant. Irrelevant and unnecessary spam emails can worsen the case. The best way to go about it is to communicate with your customers and only send them as few emails as they wish to receive.

9.      Marketing exclusively

Marketers often make the mistake of focusing on quantity over quality, i.e., they assume the higher the ad frequency, the higher the website’s traffic. However, it would be best to remember that your goal is to attract the right traffic and not all the traffic. Visitors who are genuinely interested in your business should be your primary focus. Others might waste your time and money, and will eventually leave. Define your target audience and focus on marketing to a niche rather than everyone.

Conclusion

Your marketing tactics will be of no use if you are not able to reach your goal. Small businesses often make the mistake of marketing their businesses without putting any thought into it first. Careful marketing is vital. It can make or break your business. Investing time, energy, and money in digital marketing is a valuable and valuable idea, but correctly investing those three resources is the key to success.

If you are a new business owner, make sure to surf through the above-given points to not make any marketing mistakes in the future.

Digital Branding

5 eCommerce Marketing Mistakes to Be Aware of in 2020-2021

With all the marketing efforts and spent resources on getting an eCommerce store to sell more, you surely wouldn’t want to repeat the calamitous errors of others. In this post, we’ll introduce you to the 5 things to be on the lookout for, bring up which mistakes not to repeat, give tips, and mention what you should get your hands on for your own online store if you haven’t up to this point.

1. Optimize your product images

If you know at least something about search engine optimization, you’ve most likely heard that page load times matter. A lot.

Not only is a slowly loading page terrible in terms of SEO (hint: Google won’t rank well a backpedaling page that takes forever to open), but it also causes terrible bounce rates. Users hate wasting their time waiting for the page to load. They get angry when this happens and leave the site.

Why am I bringing this up? Images are responsible for slowing down a page in way too many cases. Thus, being a marketing specialist, do what you can to optimize your eCommerce site’s speed. Consider implementing caching tools, perhaps, turn to your developers for this one as the best-fit tools to use will differ from one eCommerce platform to another.

If you fall short of techy background, try starting with manual image compression and opting for progressive image formats (these are, for instance, WebP or JPG). 

Below is a screenshot from a product page on the official Philipp Plein eCommerce store. As you can see, the site uses pictures of “weight-friendly” JPG format in the gallery. Plus, I ran a page speed test with a free tool just for fun, and this product page (although it has 5 high-resolution images in the gallery) loads in as little as 5.2 seconds which isn’t that bad.

Product gallery image type on the Philipp Plein website  Screenshot taken on the official Philipp Plein website

2. Add user-generated content widgets from socials

Using cross-posting as leverage is a wide-used marketing strategy. So why not solve several problems with one action?

How? By hooking up user-generated posts to your eCommerce website. You’ll enhance your social presence, grow your audience, enrich social media content, make existing clients who make the posts happier, and give other shoppers some inspiration to get your products.

A great example of such a UGC widget is the “Share How You Wear It” section available on the product pages on the official Reebok website. Clients are allured to make posts on personal social media pages, posts should feature the product that they’ve bought and tag the official @reebok account. If these simple terms are met, the person gets a chance to make it to the gallery.

User-generated content widget with client social media posts on the Reebok website  Screenshot taken on the official Reebok website

3. Get the most of your customer reviews

No matter how hard you try to persuade your potential customers to buy something, the words of those who have already purchased the product are still going to be more convincing. This is why it’s vital to not overlook the reviews that your customers give. Even more so, being a marketer, you should put in some effort to encourage people to leave reviews and to react to them too.

A hint here is to enhance your order delivery confirmation emails or communication. Add a short link to the feedback form on your website’s product page and offer several percent off for the future purchase or some other sort of perk to reward the person if they take the time to write a comment on the product they’ve bought.

From a technical perspective, the feedback section itself can be as fancy as you want. A good idea is to place a review summary prior to the specific client comments, this can assist users who are browsing the item in making quicker conclusions.

To provide you with an example of proper implementation and use of client feedback, here’s how customer reviews look like on the official Maybelline New York website. We see a star rating at the top of the page, the number of reviews (43) takes the user straight to the reviews if clicked. The section has a neat summary, every reviewer’s short personal data, and comments are seen.

Product reviews as seen on the Maybelline New York website  Screenshot taken on the official Maybelline New York website

4. Start using personal product picks

General “recommended products” sections are a deal of the past. Pitching items that the person may actually like and making such product choices based on the user’s earlier shopping carts, bought, and browsed items is a whole new thing. It’s a personal approach that everyone should strive for when communicating with clients, even if it’s done via a page on the web (marketers should be aware of that). And this can substantially grow your average check sizes.

This can be reached by getting a hold of modern personal product page functionality. It’s usually artificial intelligence-based, capable of tracking user behavior, and makes bulls-eye item choices that are displayed to the user.

To show you a neat use of this feature below is the “You may also like” product pick example on the official Fendi website.

“You may also like” personalization block on the Fendi website  Screenshot taken on the official Fendi website

5. Create gift finder sections, seriously

As marketers, you must understand the importance of making it easy to sell things. Putting together various guides, collections, and finders that’ll help users make up their minds as they’re in search of what to present as a gift to someone is a fabulous move. You assist your buyers and sell more.

It is considered good practice to place such “Gift Ideas” in the top menu of the online store. Secondly, it makes sense to break down the suitable items by recipient, occasion, or budget. Thirdly, if gift ideas are gathered as category pages, having on-page filters to simplify the search is nice too.

For some inspiration of what this can be like if handled properly, take a look at how the “Gift Guide for Men” is presented on the official Adidas website. As you can see, the guide is assembled as a separate page, furthermore, users can filter the gifts by size, category, product type, color, etc.

Gift ideas section for men on the official Adidas website  Screenshot taken on the official Adidas website

Final Thoughts

To conclude the above, marketers should be on the lookout for the following five mistakes:

  1. Unoptimized images or other factors that negatively influence page load times.
  2. Missing out on user-generated content via social media.
  3. Not using customer feedback properly (which is a mighty and persuasive tool).
  4. Not having your product picks personalized (and people like individualized shopping experiences).
  5. Not having gift ideas or gift-hunting guides up on the store.

We hope that you’ve found this piece handy! If you have any more often-occurring marketing mistakes in eCommerce in mind, feel free to share them in the comments below.

 

About the Author

Alex Husar

Alex Husar, CTO at Onilab with 8+ years of experience in Magento migration and Salesforce development services. He graduated from the Czech Technical University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Software Engineering. Alex’s expertise includes both full-stack dev skills and a strong ability to provide project-critical guidance to the whole team.

 

Social media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-husar
https://twitter.com/AlexHusar1

 

 

Digital Branding

3 Steps To Improving Your Paid Digital Marketing Campaigns

Digital marketing campaigns are always a delicate balancing act. You want to squeeze as much value out of each dollar you spend. Which is why most of us prefer to use strategies that capitalize upon methods that are more organic and produce a greater return on investment. While approaches such as email marketing can be versatile and simple, sometimes you have to go with a more direct method.  

Paid digital marketing has been known to have something of a negative reputation. However, when done correctly it can be a versatile tool. It can be used to produce swift results, support other marketing efforts, and build engagement. That said, it’s not always easy to know strategies to employ. 

Let’s take a look at a handful of good practices for your paid campaign. What tools can you use to keep your goals on track? Where should you be placing your resources? With some additional effort, you can start to see some serious improvements in your paid practices.      

1. Take Care with Your Keywords

One of the main problems companies tend to come up against during their paid marketing campaigns is ineffectual keywords. Not only can choosing the wrong words or phrases result in poor results, but you’re also going to be spending more money than you need to — especially if you’re using a pay per click (PPC) approach. Therefore, it’s important not only to choose your keywords carefully, but to review them throughout your campaign to make changes where necessary. 

Using a keyword planning tool such as Google Adwords is a good start. But you shouldn’t be relying upon it. The problem here is that your competitors are likely to also be using the same tools, so to simply pick from these lists can find you diluting their effectiveness. Such tools are usually best used as a jumping off point. They give you insights into the keywords that are popular in your niche and among your demographic. Use this data as you would any other analysis, and combine it with your own insights and expertise in the subject to find keywords and phrases that other businesses may not have yet stumbled onto.

Don’t forget that the information you gather during this paid campaign can also inform your more organic marketing later on. When you provide data on successful keywords to an expert in SEO they can use this to help formulate a strategy that improves your rankings. Think of your paid campaign not just as a standalone project, but another tool in your expanding arsenal.    

2. Use Your Socials

Your social media can be one of the most effective marketing tools you have at your disposal. This applies to both organic growth and your paid marketing campaign. There is a lot of discussion surrounding whether paid advertising on social media is effective or not. As always, you can’t expect to throw out some marketing copy on your socials and expect the boost you’re paying for to do all the leg work. Its success comes down to how you use it. 

  • Be Relevant. This is the big one. The audience you’re targeting on social media probably aren’t the same people you’re seeking to gain from other methods. Your analysis should have made that clear. Not only that, but there will also be a disparity between who you’re targeting on Facebook as opposed to who you’ll pinpoint on Instagram. These are all likely to be very different people who respond to separate ideas and approaches. Make certain that the content you present — the images, the text, the product — is relevant to the social channel you’re advertising through. 
  • Have Clear Objectives. On both Facebook and Instagram, you have the opportunity to set preferences for your paid campaign goals. This can be to reach a certain demographic, improve engagements, widen your reach, among others. In order to use these correctly, you need to be specific about what you’re hoping to achieve. The tools that these platforms provide are really useful, but you also have to be vigilant about whether you’re using the right tool to suit your overall objectives.
  • Create a Schedule. Like most marketing tools, social media is a scalpel rather than a grenade. Specify your ads to appear on the schedule that matches your demographics’ period of highest engagement. You should already be using a social media management platform for your regular posts, and the best of these also provide insights into user engagement. Use this data for your paid campaign.    

3. Go Multimedia

Paid digital advertising has something of a reputation for being boring. That, or suspicious due to it’s overly commercial approach and intentions. The thing is, everyone you are pitching to with your paid campaign will be made immediately aware that these are marketing posts. Therefore you need to give people a fresh reason to engage with your paid marketing content. 

Be varied in your approach and use a mix of media; videos, blogs, podcasts, images. Yes, you are advertising to your demographic, but you should also be using this as an opportunity to provide them with something they consider to be of value.    

Videos are one of the most versatile ways to approach this. It is most frequently at the top of lists of effective marketing tools. Create something entertaining and informative that features your product or service. Demonstrate how what you do makes a difference to your consumers, and give visual and audio cues to engage with your call to action. There is the added benefit that you can make money from YouTube videos, too. By building up enough engagement you can use this passive income to offset your paid marketing costs.      

Wrapping Up

Paid digital marketing may not have been your first choice of approach, but it can produce valuable results. By taking a few additional steps to optimize your keywords, and use the variety of digital tools at your disposal, you can make a significant impact. 

Digital BrandingPersonal Branding

How to Leverage Your Instagram Account for Marketing Campaigns?

Year after year, social media see a subtle increase in the number of users, especially Instagram, which now has more than one billion users. It’s not a surprise that many companies turn to this popular social media channel to carry on their marketing activities. 

In fact, brands are doing a great job on Instagram; almost 90% of Instagrammers follow a brand on Instagram. 

So, if you run a business and want to promote it on Instagram, you need to have a clear marketing strategy, because the virtual world is wholly different from traditional marketing.  

In the following, I’m going to show you how to employ Instagram to its full potential and promote your marketing campaigns based on the goals you wish to achieve. Here’s a graphic to cast a glance at:

Why is Instagram Perfect for Running a Marketing Campaign?

  • Instagram tools are free
  • Instagram marketing campaigns can be easily measured
  • You have unlimited access to potential customers all over the world
  • It is suitable for any business
  • Instagrammers love to consume products and services they find on Instagram

Top Marketing Campaign Goals that you Can Achieve Using Instagram

You may have many reasons to run an Instagram campaign, from announcing your new product to establish a better relationship with your potential customers. The good news is, no matter what your goal is, Instagram can help you achieve it.

#1 Marketing Campaign Goal on Instagram: Increase Your Brand Awareness

Although many businesses use their page only to sell their product and services, Instagram can be incredibly helpful for enhancing brand awareness. 

How can you make your brand more visible on Instagram? Easy; start gaining more followers and start engaging with them. 

You may hire an Instagram manager or use Instagram management apps to cut the expenses. If you don’t have any experience using these managing apps, you can try using those that offer Instagram followers trial to see if it meets your expectations. 

#2 Marketing Campaign Goal on Instagram: Increase sale

Instagram Shoppable was a revolutionary feature that the company introduced. If your marketing goal is to increase your sale on Instagram, a combination of Instagram Shop and Instagram Ads can be immensely helpful.

Instagrammers can access to shops in their Explore page and pay for the items on the app, which makes the shopping so much easier. Moreover, you can use Instagram ads to attract specific customers based on age, location, and gender.

To have an Instagram Shop, you need to have a business account and a Facebook catalog. Don’t forget that you can only sell goods on Instagram Shop, and not services.  

#3 Marketing Campaign Goal on Instagram: Introduce New Products or Services

You can use Instagram tools such as feed posts, IGTV, Live, and especially Stories, to introduce your new products and services.

Instagram Stories can be handy as they enable you to be more flexible and funny. You can use a wide range of tools available on Stories, such as a countdown sticker, to gain your followers’ attention for the upcoming products’ announcement.  

#4 Marketing Campaign Goal on Instagram: Target New Customers

With Instagram, you can focus on finding specific customers. For example, if you want to attract local customers, you can use geotags and locations hashtags that contain your city or neighborhood name. 

Another great way to target a specific audience is to use influencers. Usually, influencers’ followers come from particular demographics. For example, a beauty influencer might have more teenage and young women in her audience.

By investing in specific influencers for promoting your less-common products that might have a particular audience, you can save the budget and avoid mass advertisements.

Just be careful about fake influencers! These people use fake likes and followers to show you they have a high level of engagement. Want to spot them? Read this.

#5 Marketing Campaign Goal on Instagram: Improve Customer Relationships

Want to engage your customers with your brand, make them loyal, and even gain the trust of other followers? What is better than running an Instagram user-generated content campaign to do that?

Besides the fact that user-generated content is authentic and considered a free advertisement for your brand on the platform, it can significantly help you with the time-consuming process of content creation.

Many major brands, such as @gopro and @airbnb, constantly run Instagram UGC campaigns to maintain and enhance their engagement with the customers. 

Another great way to improve your relationship with customers on Instagram is by responding to them promptly on the platform. When you publish a post on Instagram, many (potential) customers ask questions about their purchases, new products, or even complaints about an issue they experienced with your brand. It is crucial to answering these queries quickly and with the right language. 

Don’t forget that people are more impatient on social media. They expect a reply in less than one hour!   

Final words

An active Instagram marketing can make a massive difference for your business. If managed correctly, the Instagram campaign can help you enter new markets, grow market share, and even improve stakeholder relations.

About the author

I’m Rezvan, a freelance copywriter at SocialPros where I write about Instagram marketing. I’m a Potterhead, resistant to caffeine overdose, and love old songs.

Legal BrandingLocal BrandingPersonal Branding

How Data Analysis Helps in Making Smart Marketing Decisions

Today, companies have a big quantity of data at their disposal. If utilized effectively and correctly, such data can be of top-notch help for making correct decisions and avoiding terrible mistakes in marketing and branding domains. Some approaches an enterprise can follow to use the information to gain a competitive edge in the market are listed below:

Investment of Funds

The success and failure of campaigns enable organizations to understand whether or not it is an effective investing budget in similar activities. For example, an event may do wonders if it’s attended by the right audience. When a product is promoted to uninterested people, the campaign will be a failure, irrespective of the exceptional attributes of the product. The information on the profile of site visitors and the corresponding conversions will throw light on whether the company should invest assets in similar campaigns and activities or not.

Product Launching Strategy

There are several methods of launching a new product in the marketplace. The company may prepare a massive event, get the endorsements done by celebrities, or conduct a press conference. By studying the information of previous campaigns, one might also decide the best way of communicating the benefits and advantages of the product to the target audiences and reporters.

Budgeting

The various tools for advertising include PR, social media, paid advertising, and many more. With the help of the information about the number of clicks, the number of shares, likes, & followers on social media websites, internet visitors, and subsequent conversions one may effectively find out the most feasible channel for accomplishing advertising and marketing activities, and accordingly set a budget for each of the channels. The company may additionally increase or decrease the finances based on the overall performance of the various mediums of advertising and marketing.

Deciding the spokesperson of the company

The spokesperson serves as the face and the voice of a business enterprise. While in maximum instances, the CEO speaks on behalf of the company at primary activities, Sometimes, other technical or product managers may also play the role of the company representative. The decision of selecting the proper spokesperson may additionally rely on the anticipated questions of the media outlets. If the data indicates that the media aims to cover the financial scenario of the organization, then the CEO would be the best person for the process.

Understanding of the Customer’s Needs

Data Analysis enables the organizations to gain insight into how much progression or regression their overall performance is showing. Data visualization is a great way to make sense of the data you acquire and analyze it. It additionally facilitates a higher understanding of the customer’s needs and requirements. Learning about customers’ necessities and behavior will open new doors for effective marketing. Companies can come up with innovations by keeping in mind their customers’ viewpoints. Data Analysis will help the company to gain insights properly and thus effectively lower the risk of business.

Companies that keep aside a huge amount of budget for advertising purposes must ensure that they take the effective and efficient strategies. In such instances, it becomes imperative for organizations to take the help of PR firms to decide the most feasible solution by analyzing data.

Legal BrandingLocal Branding

Marketing Tips for New Amazon Sellers

Selling on Amazon is great for online sellers and e-commerce businesses. However, competition is fierce. With millions of buyers ordering from Amazon annually, many people start their businesses on Amazon. 

To increase your amazon sales, you should quickly learn and adapt to the ever-changing market dynamics, such as using Amazon seller apps and keep up with the competition. An Amazon seller app will provide key analytics and other insights such as amazon fees, selling price, and information on Amazon products, which is valuable to help you succeed.

The landscape is continuously changing for amazon sellers, with some finding it challenging to keep up. Here is a list of 5 new strategies and tips to boost your Amazon sales in 2020:

Get Feedback and Customer Reviews

Positive feedback and customer reviews are essential on Amazon. Over 90% of buyers state that they always check the reviews section before purchasing from a seller on Amazon. Customers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations. While only 10% of Amazon buyers leave reviews after a purchase, you should maximize your amazon product reviews and after-sale customer feedback.

Proper Management of Inventory

Inventory performance will determine the success or failure of your business on Amazon. The more stock you have, the more you pay on storage fees, whereas having less inventory could also mean you miss out on potential sales opportunities. Make use of inventory management data-based tools to help with restoring decisions. This data-based software also limits human error while increasing your inventory performance on Amazon.

Be Unique and Stand Out From Competitors

Your unique selling point should differentiate your Amazon seller brand from those of your competitors. Work to address customer problems that your competitors are not. Go through customer reviews and find out reasons why customers love your competitor’s products, why customers don’t like their products, and also what customers think about competitor’s products. Solve these three customers’ pain points, and you will be on your way to making profits on Amazon.

Use a Third-Party Seller App

Over half of Amazon sales come from third-party sellers with over 60 million dollars’ worth of products sold annually. Third-party apps have come up to help sellers on amazon maximize their profits and efficiency. Make use of third-party apps to automate communication with your buyers, especially in a product review. With sellers always in competition, these apps have computerized their software to automatically adjust pricing while still optimizing it for profits and competition. Third-party apps also track your inventory every minute to ensure that you are not losing on sale due to a lack of products.

Make Use of Influencer Marketing Strategy

In today’s world, customers are more likely to purchase products from someone they trust or recommend. Thus, influencer marketing is among the best ways to boost your brand as well as sales. Connect with social media influencers to promote and review your products to their online followers. Through this, you will be connecting to potential online buyers you might otherwise never have reached.

As an Amazon seller, it is essential to keep fine-tuning everything. Ensure you continually improve your product listings and customer service and always monitor your competition to stay on top of everything. Create a brand on Amazon through the use of your products. Work with your sales channel, audience, and product to create a strong brand that will stand out to potential buyers.

Digital Branding

Why Listening Matters in Marketing

Listening and Empathy are Essential to Your Marketing Strategy

Have you ever attended a social event and found yourself talking to someone who only seems interested in what they’re about to say, rather than what you’re saying to them? In the marketing word, it’s not uncommon for brands to do the same thing to their customers. So much information is being yelled at consumers, but a truly successful brand needs to learn the importance of listening to their fans.

Take for example TV ads. While they can be an effective way to reach a large audience base, many find themselves leaving the room or fast forwarding through them to get back to their TV show. Why? It’s simple. People don’t like feeling like they’re being talked at and TV ads have a funny way of making customers feel like that is happening. As marketing has evolved and become more sophisticated, marketers have found new ways to get their information out that takes a more subtle approach.

Social Media for Social Listening

Social media gives brands a voice and customers too, making it one of the best ways to get the conversation started with your audience. These advertising channels create a sense of community, and make it possible for people with similar interests and views to congregate and discuss. Users like pages from brands they care about, and brands can use this to their advantage.

The one disadvantage of this however, is that social media can be like preaching to the choir. This is especially true when it comes to organic social media, since these users have basically “opted in” already to receive your updates. So sending out news updates has to be done tactfully, so they don’t lose interest and feel like your brand is infiltrating their newsfeed too much. Instead, use conversations to your advantage by:

  • Take Feedback from Customer Reviews – We all want to see the positive reviews roll in, but sometimes the negative ones can provide us with the most insight. Whether it’s a product or service problem, or a customer service issue, keep your cool with a negative comment and find ways to fix your customer’s experience. Negative product or service reviews can help you fix shortfalls in your products to enhance the customer experience.
  • Listen to Competitors – Another advantage of taking the time to listen is that you can see what competitors are doing well, and what pain points their customers are speaking out against on social media.
  • Find Relevant Audiences – Looking to your current customers can be a great way to acquire new ones. Taking a step beyond organic, using your audience members and their interests can be a great basis to bring your paid social media strategy off of. Facebook allows you to target users based on their interests. By understanding your audience, you can find new potential customers with similar attributes.
  • Keep the Conversation Going – Social media inspires conversations among groups of people, and your brand should be joining in as well. Engaging with customers on social media is a great way to build trust, answer questions, and education customers when applicable.

Conclusion

The invention of social media and popularity of blogs, whitepapers, and infographics that can be shared on social channels has created a new culture surrounded around starting conversations. Brands who can hone in on these conversations to understand their customers thoughts and feelings about their products, or even their company as a whole have a unique opportunity. By cooperation listening into your social strategy, you can truly see the pain points of your customers and find new ways to address them, leading to happier, more engaged customers.

Digital BrandingPersonal Branding

Digital Marketing Essentials for the Medical Community

Technology has transformed different sectors of the economy including the medical sector. The internet has proved to be a critical tool in the marketing world.

Just like any other sector, the medical community has taken advantage of the internet to market their services. According to a study conducted by Google, search engines drive users to medical facility websites three tines compared to other sources. The study also revealed that 44% of patients who search for information via their mobile devices end up booking appointments.

If you are looking to increase your presence online and reach many patients, then consider the following digital marketing essentials:

1. A simple website

Your website is an important element in your digital marketing strategy. It serves as your virtual office. As such, you should ensure that it is designed in a way that makes it easy for users to navigate. This is because not all of your patients may be well versed in technology and the internet.

When people visit your website, they are looking for specific information. You should, therefore make it easy for them to navigate and find whatever information they are looking for – in the shortest time possible.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is one of the best digital marketing strategies. If you are serious about your online business, then you need to employ the SEO technique.

The search engine optimization strategy ensures that your website is ranked on the first page of popular search engines. Another advantage of search engine optimization is the ability to focus on a specific category of audience.

That means you are able to create certain keywords that target certain patients in your area. For example, SEO can help bring attention to hydrogen peroxide IV oxygen therapy for those who could benefit from its medicinal potential.

3. Email marketing

Email marketing is another great component of the digital marketing strategy of medical professionals. Despite the fact that social media marketing appears to overshadow the use of emails, the truth is that email marketing is still effective. However, its effectiveness depends on how the strategy is being implemented.

Ensure that you segment and personalize emails to reflect the needs and interests of your patients. You cannot send similar emails to your existing and potential clients. In other words, your emails should be tailored to the needs of every client.

4. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social media has taken the world by a storm. It is estimated that there are almost 3 billion active social media accounts today. That tells you how much social media is influential in the modern world.

One area that has significantly been boosted by social media is marketing. Most companies have invested in social media marketing – because of its effectiveness. As a medical practitioner, you are able to reach a larger audience within a short time compared to other sources.

5. Content marketing

Content marketing is all about creating content that’s relevant to your audience. It is a marketing strategy that’s almost similar to search engine optimization.

When using a content marketing strategy, you generate content that will attract and drive traffic back to your website. In other words, content marketing guides you in producing content that’s engaging and relevant to your niche.