However, like anything else in business, it takes time, hard work, and commitment. New and growing small businesses such as business storage Vancouver or phone repair Calgary that commit to their branding can still make a splash, even if they don’t have a large budget to spend.

Tips for Creating a Winning Marketing Strategy on a Tight Budget

The first thing a business owner should do if they are attempting to create a branding strategy on a limited budget is to prepare in advance. Before you ever start your branding initiatives, have the essential aspects of your brand figured out, including its name, logo, website, social media handles, mission statement, brand identity, and anything else you will need to know to create an effective branding campaign. Attempting to figure these out along the way will only create confusion and inconsistency.

The most important concept a business leader must remember when creating a branding strategy is that brand marketing is essentially storytelling. Especially for small businesses, a big part of what people buy goes beyond the product — it’s the story behind it — so you must find the things that help you and your business stand out from your competitors, and work hard to emphasize those in any branding.

Strategic partnerships can help your brand get greater recognition. Look for other brands in adjacent industries whose own branding could benefit from a partnership. 

For example, a pet toy company and a pet food company could strategize an effective synergistic partnership because the two brands are not in direct competition with one another, and they share the same target audience. A strategic partnership could help both brands save resources on their marketing efforts.

Similarly, businesses should look for opportunities where they can strategically trade with potential marketing partners. Some marketing firms might be open to a bartering arrangement if it serves them. A company can provide its goods and services at a discount or free of charge in exchange for receiving free or discounted marketing services. 

Of course, this will be up to the discretion of both parties, and some marketing firms might not be interested in such an arrangement. However, it is worth asking — especially if the product or service you provide is useful or valuable.

How to Connect with Your Target Audience

For those who decide to get out there and do the branding work themselves, networking events such as conferences can be a great setting to spread the word about your business. Depending on your budget, your presence at these events may range from as simple as attending the event and handing out business cards to having a table representing the company. No matter how small the involvement is, networking events are a powerful way to make connections if you know how to approach them.

Growing brands should also take advantage of opportunities they can afford that help their community. Getting involved with the community by helping charity groups can be a great way for a brand to increase its presence, while also doing something good for its community. That being said, brands must take care to be authentic with this approach, as it can have negative effects if the public perceives the brand’s actions as “just for the optics.”

Furthermore, don’t underestimate the value of free opportunities to create and market your brand, such as social media. Social media marketing is a valuable tool because it allows brands to connect directly with their customers. Many brands have found success creating a humorous online persona or having playful “rivalries” with their competitors, creating moments that go “viral.” Other companies have created a customer-first online approach, using social media and DMs to provide speedy, convenient customer service and support.

Videos and articles are another way to get your brand’s name out there. Invest in yourself by becoming an expert in your field, and share your knowledge online to convince others of your expertise. Look for opportunities to publish guest posts and OpEds online, or start a YouTube channel or podcast to talk about topics relevant to your industry. Even if the audience is small at first, the people you reach will build up over time.

Ultimately, it is up to you to do the leg work, researching opportunities that allow you to work on your branding without breaking the bank. For example, there are plenty of websites that list your company for free. These business listing websites range from providing general information — such as Google and Yelp — to more industry-specific ones that cater to readers of a particular niche. Because many of these websites offer review features, it can also be a great way to get positive word-of-mouth about your business.

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Leverage your friends, family, and social influence. Ask friends, family members, and followers to share posts on social media, spread the word about marketing events, or leave a review for your business online. These steps don’t cost them any money and take very little time. Additionally, since you are asking your loved ones, chances are they will be enthusiastic and passionate about supporting you and your business.

Remember, when it comes to marketing, money doesn’t always equal success. Even if you have a huge marketing budget, there’s no guarantee that you will be successful. 

On the other hand, small businesses that don’t have a massive budget can take advantage of free and low-cost options like social media, word of mouth, and strategic partnerships to get the word out there about their brand. It might take a bit of extra creativity and elbow grease, but it will pay off in the long run.

The post Branding on a Budget: How Small Businesses Can Make a Big Impact appeared first on SiteProNews.

In this article, we will discuss the following Web3 growth marketing strategies that businesses can use to stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on the opportunities presented by this emerging technology:

• Building a Web3-friendly website and online presence
• Leveraging blockchain-based advertising platforms and reward systems
• Offering Web3-based payment options and incentives
• Creating decentralized applications (dApps) that solve real-world problems
• Collaborating with Web3 startups and communities to tap into new markets and audiences.

By adopting these strategies, businesses can not only increase their visibility and reach but also enhance their brand reputation, customer trust, and revenue potential in the Web3 ecosystem.

The Basics of Web3

Web3, also known as the decentralized web or the blockchain web, is the next iteration of the internet. Unlike the current Web 2.0, which is centralized and controlled by a few tech giants, Web3 is decentralized and empowers individuals and communities with more control over their data, identity, and transactions.

At the heart of Web3 is blockchain technology, a distributed ledger that records and verifies transactions without the need for intermediaries such as banks or governments. Blockchain ensures security, transparency, and immutability of data, making it ideal for applications that require trust and accountability.

Decentralized applications (dApps) are another key component of Web3. dApps are open-source software programs that run on a blockchain network and enable peer-to-peer interactions without intermediaries. dApps can range from simple games to complex financial systems, and they offer users greater privacy, security, and ownership of their data.

Smart contracts are another critical feature of Web3. Smart contracts are self-executing programs that automatically enforce the rules and conditions of an agreement between parties. They eliminate the need for intermediaries and ensure the reliability and efficiency of transactions.

Web3 is a game-changer for businesses because it offers them the opportunity to create new business models, tap into new markets, and build more trust and loyalty with their customers. With Web3, businesses can leverage blockchain to secure and manage their data, create decentralized applications that solve real-world problems, and offer Web3-based payment options that are faster, cheaper, and more secure than traditional methods. Additionally, Web3 empowers users with more control over their data and privacy, which can enhance customer trust and loyalty. Overall, Web3 offers a more transparent, efficient, and equitable online ecosystem that businesses can leverage to stay ahead of the competition.

Web3 Growth Marketing Strategies

• Tokenization and incentivization: Businesses can leverage Web3 to create their own digital tokens and incentivize customer behavior by rewarding them with tokens. For example, the online marketplace OpenSea rewards users with its native token, $OPEN, for referring new users to the platform. This incentivizes users to bring in more customers and creates a network effect that benefits the entire ecosystem. Tokenization can also be used to create loyalty programs, incentivize purchases, and offer discounts to customers.

• Decentralized apps (dApps): Businesses can build decentralized apps (dApps) that leverage blockchain to create new forms of interaction and value exchange between businesses and customers. For example, Nike’s CryptoKicks dApp allows customers to buy, sell, and trade limited-edition sneakers on a blockchain-based marketplace, creating a new revenue stream and a community of sneaker enthusiasts. Similarly, the music streaming platform Audius uses blockchain to enable artists to directly monetize their content and engage with fans, creating a more equitable and transparent music industry.

• Smart contract automation: Smart contracts can be used to automate and streamline processes, reducing friction in customer interactions. For example, the insurance company Lemonade uses smart contracts to automatically process claims and payouts, reducing the need for human intervention and creating a more efficient and reliable customer experience. Similarly, the ride-hailing service Arcade City uses smart contracts to facilitate peer-to-peer ride-sharing, eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing costs for both drivers and passengers.

• Social media on Web3: Social media platforms built on Web3 offer new opportunities for businesses to engage with customers and promote their brand. For example, the social media platform Steemit rewards users with its native token, STEEM, for creating and curating content, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem of content creators and consumers. Similarly, the blockchain-based social network Minds allows users to monetize their content and engage with a community that values privacy, free speech, and decentralization.

Overall, these strategies offer businesses new ways to leverage Web3 for growth, innovation, and customer engagement. By adopting Web3 technologies and principles, businesses can tap into new markets, build more trust and loyalty with their customers, and create a more equitable and transparent online ecosystem.

The Future of Web3

The future of Web3 is exciting and full of possibilities. Here are a few trends and developments that are shaping the future of Web3:

• Web3 interoperability: As Web3 grows and becomes more diverse, interoperability will become increasingly important. Interoperability refers to the ability of different blockchain networks and dApps to communicate and exchange value with each other. Web3 standards such as Ethereum’s ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens are already making it easier for different blockchain networks to interact, and projects such as Polkadot and Cosmos are building infrastructure to enable cross-chain communication.

• Web3 scaling solutions: As more users and applications join the Web3 ecosystem, scaling solutions will become essential to ensure that blockchain networks can handle the load. Projects such as Ethereum 2.0 and Layer-2 solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum are working on solutions to increase the throughput and reduce the cost of transactions on the Ethereum network. Other blockchain networks such as Solana and Avalanche are also exploring new approaches to scaling.

• Web3 privacy and security: As the importance of data privacy and security continues to grow, Web3 will offer new solutions that prioritize user control and ownership of data. Projects such as Zcash and Monero are working on privacy-preserving blockchain technologies that enable anonymous transactions, while solutions like IPFS and Filecoin are building decentralized storage networks that offer more secure and resilient data storage.

• Web3 governance: As Web3 becomes more decentralized, governance will become increasingly important to ensure the sustainability and fairness of the ecosystem. Projects such as Aragon and DAOstack are building infrastructure to enable decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that can make decisions and allocate resources without relying on centralized authorities. Similarly, projects such as Uniswap and Aave are using decentralized governance to give users a voice in the development and management of their protocols.

Overall, Web3 represents a new frontier for innovation, collaboration, and value creation. As businesses and individuals continue to embrace the potential of Web3, we can expect to see new forms of social and economic organization, new models of governance and decision-making, and new opportunities for growth and prosperity.

Conclusion

In summary, Web3 is a new paradigm for the internet that emphasizes decentralization, transparency, and user control. Web3 technologies such as blockchain, decentralized apps, smart contracts, and digital tokens offer businesses new opportunities for growth, innovation, and customer engagement. To stay ahead of the game, businesses need to adopt Web3 growth marketing strategies such as tokenization and incentivization, building dApps, using smart contract automation, and exploring social media on Web3. By embracing Web3, businesses can tap into new markets, build more trust and loyalty with their customers, and create a more equitable and transparent online ecosystem. We encourage readers to explore Web3 further and start experimenting with these strategies in their own businesses. The future of Web3 is full of possibilities, and by staying ahead of the curve, businesses can position themselves for success in the years to come.

The post Web3 is Taking Over: Get Ahead of the Game with These Web3 Growth Marketing Strategies appeared first on SiteProNews.

The evolved expectations of consumers have widened the boundaries and nature of business in the digital world. Now, staying relevant comes amid the responsibility of having access to a wide array of diverse strategies and tactics.

This piece of writing will shed light on some foundational B2B marketing strategies for B2B Tech startups who are ready to earn their space in the competitive market.

10 Successful Go-To-Market Strategies for B2B Tech Startups

Below are some proven Go-To-Market strategies for B2B tech startups to ensure long-term success and a smooth transition from Beta mode to the practical playground.

1. Targeted Growth Strategy

It is recommended to craft an in-depth strategic roadmap that includes your objectives, milestones, targets, strategies, and market competition. The final document must align with your business inspiration, vision, mission, & value prepositions as well as allocated budget, allowed budget expansion, operations, and practical initiatives.

It’s the perfect period to strategize everything related to your business and its products or services.

2. Finalize the Value Proposition for Your Business

It’s critical to acknowledge your products or services in terms of their practicality, advantages, use cases, and overall value to offer them effectively to the right market segment. You can unlock remarkable opportunities to gain B2B customers if you are able to clearly showcase the use cases and value of your B2B products or services. 

In this entire process, knowing your target audience is instrumental in effectively resolving their pain points and meeting their expectations & needs by offering your solutions.

Creating value proposition storyboards offers an engaging and creative way to get a clear idea of all these aspects. It can further help you in identifying and offering the right product or services to the right audience with a relevant message. It will surely improve your conversion rate to a significant extent.

3.  Competitor Research & Analysis

Irrespective of the type, category, or nature of the product or service you are going to launch, there will always be an alternative solution available in the market. 

To highlight the importance of your business solutions over rivals, it’s recommended to compare both your competitors and their offerings to acquire a cutting edge over their technology, features, and marketing tactics. 

It will also help you evaluate and improve your business position and refrain from underestimating or overestimating the market competition.

Using a comparison graph or statistical model can help you evaluate and fix hidden loopholes in your products or services.

4. Select a Targeted Niche

Relevant and targeted digital marketing strategies are more impactful in boosting your ROI instead of irrational and uninformed marketing tactics. 

The fundamental concept is to assess and identify the particular pain points of your B2B customers that you expect to resolve by offering your solutions. 

Therefore, it is recommended to target the particular market segment or niche that falls under the domain and usability of your B2B tech products or services. There must be a significant audience in your targeted market to ensure scalability & growth opportunities.

5. Focus on Offering Experience Rather than Plain Products or Services

In the mainstream scenario, the sales process involves blindly making sales pitches and cold contacts to push a product. It can potentially damage and exacerbate the customer’s lifetime value (CLV) for your business. There, you need to gear your efforts towards resolving customers’ pain points and their experience throughout their sales journey with your brand.

By highlighting and showcasing your B2B tech products or services as a solution to particular problems and pain points of your audience, you can scale your business to the new heights. This approach enables you to offer your products or services as a standalone and most suitable solution to your prospects. It will improve your customer satisfaction rate by offering remarkable CX.

6. Using Diverse and Targeted Go-to-Market Strategies

There are a variety of tools and tactics to craft some effective Go-to-Market strategies. The perfect Go-to-Market strategy relies on your particular requirements, but it’s recommended to consider the following four strategies as must-to-do.

• Differentiated: This strategy allows you to focus on offering something unique compared to your competition. It will help you instantly gain a competitive edge over your rivals.
• Dominant – This strategy enables you to engage and convert different customer types of customers either SMBs or enterprise-grade organizations. The fundamental idea is to showcase the relevancy and practicality of your B2B tech products or services for different clients belonging to different market segments or industries.
• Discrete – This strategy is a bit difficult to plan but significantly helps you in targeting customers with a very limited or restricted set of demands or expectations. 
• Disruptive- It helps you in targeting an oversaturated market or industry. By using aggressive pricing structures and offering budget-friendly solutions you can attract a major chunk of potential buyers from your competition.

7. Reevaluate Your Pricing Strategy

It’s also mandatory to revisit your pricing strategy after analyzing the pricing structures of your competitors. If your prices are too low, you can create doubt in the mind of your prospects and end up losing your customers to your competition & worsen your ROI.

In the B2B tech business, you can offer pricing based on per user, per GB, per utility, and version (Like freemium or premium versions of SaaS products). Invest time in choosing the appropriate model that suits your business model.

8. Choose Relevant KPIs to Monitor the Success/Failure Rates

It is recommended to opt for industry-specific and relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the success of your marketing, sales, and overall business model. 

Pay close attention to different KPIs to ensure the consistent and scalable growth of your business. You can choose different KPIs to evaluate the performance of your marketing, sales, lead generation, brand awareness, outbound, operations, development, and customer service avenues.

9. Take an Informed Decision While Choosing Your CRM

Your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform always remains instrumental in making your go-to-market move effective regarding your business and particular product or service. Your CRM assists you in developing, nurturing, and strengthening the rapport with your B2B prospects or potential clients.

Therefore, making a rational and informed decision while choosing is necessary to opt for the right CRM for your business. Nowadays, most businesses prefer cloud-native CRM platforms like SalesForce or Hubspot.

10. Brand Awareness

Create a compelling and impactful brand awareness campaign to attract and engage potential buyers. Create informative and engaging content for the awareness stage of your lead generation funnel to attract and generate B2B sales leads for your tech business. In the later stages, you need to nurture your leads to make them sales-ready prospects. 

Don’t forget to share your content, blogs, or articles on your social media pages to educate and inform your targeted audience on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Another vital aspect to consider is to keep your brand tone, theme, and messaging consistent across all platforms and web pages.

Conclusion

The fundamental aspect is not to get frightened from trying new and creative ideas. You need to continue trying new different B2B Go-to-Market strategies and testing the existing ones for a better debut in the market. With the digital world rapidly evolving, the key to surviving and thriving in this highly competitive world is to take rational and insightful decisions. However, if you’re finding it hard to access the right audience to launch your product with the right message. In that case, you can outsource your marketing activities to one of the most reputable product marketing agencies like Chasm. They have proven experience in serving a range of tech start-ups in strengthening their marketing strategies and helping them place their impactful first step in the market.

The post 10 Successful Go-To-Market Strategies for B2B Tech Startups appeared first on SiteProNews.

There are so many channels and options that it can be tough to know where to start. By understanding the basics and finding some digital marketing examples, you can start to create a plan that will help you reach your business goals.

In this post, we will discuss some digital marketing examples that you can use to promote your business. We will also look at some tips on how to get started with digital marketing.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

What is Digital Marketing and Why It’s Important for Businesses?

Digital marketing is the process of promoting a product or service online. It can be done through various channels, such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing.

You can use digital marketing to reach out to potential customers online. By doing so, you can increase your brand awareness and generate leads and sales.

Digital marketing is important because it allows you to connect with your target audience through the internet. It is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach out to more people and promote your products or services.

What are Some Digital Marketing Examples?

There are many digital marketing examples that you can use to promote your business. Here are some of the most common and effective ones:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can be done through on-page SEO, such as optimizing your website’s title tags and meta descriptions, and off-page SEO, such as building backlinks to your website.

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is the process of creating and sharing valuable content to attract and retain customers. This can be done through blog posts, infographics, e-books, and other forms of content.

3. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the process of promoting your products or services on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This can be done by creating and sharing engaging content, running ads, and holding contests and giveaways.

4. Email Marketing

Email marketing is the process of sending promotional emails to potential and existing customers. This can be done by building an email list and sending out newsletters, product announcements, and other types of email content.

The Basics of a Digital Marketing Strategy

The key advantage of a digital marketing strategy is that it allows you to target a specific audience with laser precision and measure the results of your campaigns in real-time. A well-executed digital marketing strategy can result in increased brand awareness, higher conversion rates, and more leads and sales.

Here are a few tips to help you get started with your digital marketing strategy:

1. Define Your Goals

What are you hoping to achieve with your digital marketing campaign? More website traffic? More conversions? Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can create targeted content that will help you reach your goals.

2. Know Your Audience

Who are you trying to reach with your message? Creating buyer personas can help understand your target customers and what they’re looking for.

3. Choose the Right Channels

There are a plethora of digital marketing channels available, from SEO to social media to email marketing. It’s important to choose the channels that will be most effective for reaching your target audience.

To help you choose the right channel, you can ask yourself these questions:

• Where does my target audience spend most of their time online?
• What type of content will they find most valuable?
• What is the best way to reach them?

By answering these questions, you can narrow down the list of potential channels to focus on.

4. Measure Your Results

Digital marketing campaigns can be tracked and measured with analytics software. This allows you to see what’s working and what’s not, so you can make necessary adjustments to improve your results.

Digital marketing is a powerful tool that can help you to reach your target audiences. By defining your goals, understanding your audience, and choosing the right channels, you can create a successful digital marketing campaign that will help grow your business.

Examples of Digital Marketing Campaigns

Some of the most successful digital marketing campaigns have been those that are based on user-generated content (UGC).

Taco Bell, for example, ran a campaign called “Live Mas” that encouraged users to submit videos and photos of themselves living their best lives. The company then used these submissions to create ads that were highly relatable and engaging.

Another example is the “Dove Real Beauty” campaign, which asked women to submit photos of themselves that celebrated their natural beauty. These submissions were then used in a series of ads that challenged traditional ideas about beauty.

These campaigns demonstrate the power of UGC in engaging potential customers and driving brand awareness.

Of course, these campaigns were run by huge companies with large budgets. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t create a successful digital marketing campaign on a smaller scale.

For example, you could launch a social media contest that asks users to submit photos or videos related to your brand. You could then use the best submissions in your ads and social media posts.

You could also create a blog series that covers a specific topic related to your industry. For example, if you sell health supplements, you could write a series of blog posts about the health benefits of different ingredients.

These are just a few examples of digital marketing campaigns that you could launch on a small budget. The important thing is to be creative and think outside the box.

How to Measure the Success of Your Digital Marketing Efforts?

Measuring the success of your digital marketing efforts can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a few key metrics that you can focus on to get a clear picture of how your campaigns are performing.

First, take a look at your click-through rate (CTR). This metric measures how many people are actually clicking on your ads and landing on your website. If your CTR is low, it could mean that your ad isn’t relevant to your target audience or that they don’t find it visually appealing.

Second, measure the conversion rate of your website. This metric tells you how many people are taking the desired action on your site, whether it’s signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. If your conversion rate is low, it could mean that your website is not user-friendly or that the overall experience is not positive.

Finally, take a look at your bounce rate. This metric measures how many people are leaving your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate could indicate that your website is not relevant to your target audience or that it’s not providing the information they are looking for.

In social media, take a look at your engagement rate. This metric measures how often people are interacting with your posts, whether it’s through likes, comments, or shares. If your engagement rate is low, it could mean that your content is not relevant to your target audience or that they don’t find it engaging.

There are a lot of tools out there that can help you measure these metrics and make your digital marketing efforts more effective. Google Analytics is a great free tool that can help you track your website traffic and conversions. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram also have built-in analytics tools that can give you insights into your posts.

How Digital Marketing Can Help You Reach Your Business Goals?

By now, you should have a basic understanding of how digital marketing can help you reach your business goals. Here we’ve outlined some different strategies and tactics available to you and given some tips on how to get started.

Remember, digital marketing is an ever-evolving field, so it’s important to stay up to date with the latest trends and changes. You should always be watching what your competitors are doing and looking for new ways to improve your own campaigns.

Digital marketing is a huge field, and there’s a lot to learn. But if you’re just getting started, you can choose one or two strategies and focus on perfecting them. As you become more comfortable with the basics, you can start to add more complexity to your campaigns.

The post Why You Should Incorporate Digital Marketing Into Your Overall Marketing Strategy appeared first on SiteProNews.

All business plans need a good marketing plan, after all. It is the foundation of everything you will need to do in the next few months as you introduce your brand and promote your products or services. It will help you figure out where you are going and which road you should take to get there. Without a good strategy in place, you will be lost in digital limbo.

A good marketing strategy should attract and build a solid customer base for your brand while helping you achieve your business goals, whether it’s generating leads or making huge sales.

But before you get into the tricky part, you must first consider some of the most critical elements of a marketing strategy. This will serve as your guide in creating an effective and successful plan.

1. Set Your Goals and Objectives

Setting your goals is not enough. You need to identify the goals that better position your brand for success. Start by determining your business directions and ambitions. What do you want to achieve? It can be increasing your sales revenue, establishing your brand identity, or expanding your customer base. 

If your business is already established, you might want to focus on growing your business. This will include expanding your product or service lines, decreasing time to market, and improving customer experience.

All of these goals will help you formulate a solid marketing strategy that considers every aspect of your business and financial goals. Keep in mind that you are following the SMART format when setting goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals.

2. Conduct a Market Research

Knowing your market can make a huge difference in building your marketing strategy. This includes finding your market size. To do this, identify the industry you are in and the kind of products you offer. 

A company selling appliances can start its research by knowing the approximate market size. How many households are in their area? What is the market’s buying power? Who are their competitors? Do they have a lot of marketing activities? 

Getting to know your market will let you identify the opportunities you can take advantage of and how you can build a strategy that will supplement your shortcomings. You might be able to offer an alternative product to the market.

3. Identify Your Target Audience

The next element on the list is the target audience. It’s essential to define who you are targeting by creating a customer persona describing the characteristics of your potential customers. You can also include their demographics, such as their age, marital status, gender, income level, and education. This information will help you see what kind of customers you are trying to win over, allowing you to tailor your products and services according to their needs.

You can also determine their pain points, an essential consideration to create a solid and loyal customer base. Down the line, you may want to consider analyzing their habits, especially when it comes to the media or platforms they use and the kind of content they consume. Armed with this knowledge, it will be easier for you to narrow down the points that will make your brand distinguishable from your competition.

4. Take Time to Analyze Competitors

You can’t leave out competitor analysis from the equation if you want to have an effective marketing strategy in place. You want to know what your competitors are up to and try to bridge the gaps that you find. They might be offering a limited variety of products, an oversight that you can easily exploit. They can also be rocking their current marketing strategy, so you may want to consider them as the benchmark as you get started on your own.

Analyzing your competitors means you should delve into their branding, current products or services, marketing activities, and even the social channels they use. Suppose they are running Google ads, which gives them substantial traffic. You will want to find what keywords they are ranking for and their target audience. You can determine their strengths and weaknesses through competitor analysis and identify strategies that you can emulate or avoid.

5. Determine Your Optimal Budget

Of course, when it comes to building your marketing plan, you should always consider your budget. How much can you shell out for your marketing efforts? Are you going to run ad campaigns on every platform you are in? If so, how much should your advertising budget be? 

Social media ads are getting more expensive, but you need to pay to get online visibility. The cost of these tactics will need to be considered carefully. Your budget can either limit or move your overall strategy forward.

6. Start Planning Your Content

At the core of every marketing strategy is creating valuable, relevant content. Firstly, you have to come up with solid and consistent messaging. How do you want your brand to be perceived? What message do you want to get out there? 

Many platforms rely on good content to draw potential customers, whether you want to increase your website traffic, boost your social media engagement, or build your email list. Content is king, as they say.

And when it comes to creating content, you need to keep your customers’ needs and expectations in mind. You must answer their questions, solve their problems, and guide them through every step of the customer journey. Good content can inform and educate. Ultimately, it’s always important to educate first and sell second.

7. Lay Out Your KPIs

A marketing strategy is never complete without identifying your KPIs. What metrics will give you an accurate measure of your success? Will it be clicks on your content, leads, or sales? Do you want to focus more on conversions? 

The results of your marketing efforts should tie up with your goals and objectives. That is why laying out your KPIs before putting your plan into action is imperative. Once you have gathered all the data, you must know what works and what you need to change. That is the only way you can consistently improve and succeed.

8. Run a SWOT Analysis

You must build a marketing strategy that is both effective and efficient. If you want to be consistently successful in your marketing approach, start with a SWOT analysis of your marketing program. In this method, you will determine your strategy’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can also use SWOT analysis to check your competitive position, target audience, current messaging, and product offers.

Wrapping It Up

A marketing strategy is integral to many brands and businesses, whether it’s an Amazon dropshipping enterprise, a clothing label, or a restaurant. It is the very foundation from which you start to make sense of your objectives and carefully lay out the steps to help you get there. After all, you won’t want to go into the battle unarmed.

If you want your marketing strategy to flourish, you must keep these vital elements in mind. While some elements can be situational, most are based on standard marketing principles. These elements will give your marketing plan a solid foundation, allowing you to focus on your goals and ensure that your business will succeed and thrive.

The post 8 Important Elements to Consider When Building Your Marketing Strategy appeared first on SiteProNews.

Coupons and discounts are frequently used by retailers in their marketing efforts to promote sales conversion rates and client loyalty.

Consumers can’t resist the opportunity to pay less for a product they want to acquire, no matter what client group your firm targets or how exquisite the things you sell are.

You may improve sales while creating brand loyalty using a coupon marketing plan, among other things.

We’ll examine the specific actions you need to take to start using coupons in your marketing plan in this post.

Determine the Sort of Coupon You’ll be Using

Coupons are available in a multitude of formats and sizes. Despite the fact that they all work in the same way, the slight distinctions between each coupon type might have an impact on how customers perceive cashback and act subsequently.

Set a Percentage

A percentage discount on a product’s original price is the most typical coupon. According to research, “percentage off” coupons are the most popular coupon kind, with 74 percent of internet buyers preferring them.

Various Coupon Marketing Modes

Free Shipping

This form of discount reduces a purchase’s shipping expenses, which is the most common cause for customers abandoning their online shopping carts. Although this sample may not appear to be a standard coupon, it functions just as effectively.

If you haven’t previously, we recommend starting with a percentage-based coupon because it’s the most popular and easiest to use. Any of the other coupon kinds may be tested to discover which one converts the best and generates the highest average order value.

Promo Codes

Promo codes have grown in popularity as e-commerce has grown in prominence. This type of discount is easier for the client to complete at the point of sale than downloading a coupon.

These codes are usually applied during the checkout process and consist of a combination of brand-unique digits and letters. They can be one-time-use codes that are tailored for a specific user or a generic code that can be shared.

Automatically Applied Discounts

Automatically applied discounts are becoming more popular since the customer does not have to do anything to obtain a discount. These are effective for e-commerce businesses because they entice clients with a discount offer, which reduces shopping cart abandonment and churn rate.

Coupons That Can Be Downloaded

Consumers may get these sorts of vouchers from a variety of places. Customers can get coupons straight from a company’s website, via email, or through social media. Most of the time, these coupons can also be accessed via mobile devices.

Coupons on Mobile Devices

Mobile-only coupons are offered by e-commerce platforms that have incorporated mobile applications into their operations in order to boost sales in this channel.

How to Optimize Your Coupon Marketing Strategies

Coupons, when handled effectively, may contribute a significant amount of top-line income with only a minimal marketing budget. It comes at a price, but it pays off handsomely. Here are a few of the most significant advantages of implementing coupon campaigns into your marketing strategy.

1. Customers That Are Loyal Should Be Rewarded

You may and should utilize discounts to reward loyal consumers if you have a loyalty club.

As an example, if a consumer spends a specific amount on your site, you might reward them by giving them a discount ticket for their next purchase.

According to one study, 76 percent of buyers desire customized offers based on their previous purchases.

Offering incentives based on prior purchases is a terrific way to tailor offers for your subscribers.

2. Boost the Effectiveness of Your Referral Campaign

The majority of referral schemes are based on coupons and discounts. Existing customers and new acquisitions, or “friends,” are both eligible for referrals. Each person earns a coupon for completing a task.

An existing customer brings a new prospect into the business and gives them a coupon to use. The original customer receives a discount or incentive code that may be applied to their next order after the new prospect, now a customer puts in an order.

3. Obtain Feedback From Customers

“Get 10% off by taking a 5-minute survey!”

These brief surveys may help you improve your business in a variety of ways, and they’re worth far more than the 20% discount. This data, taken together, might help you create a far better experience and reduce your need for discounts in the future.

4. Include a Time Limit

“Order before December 25 at 12 p.m. for a 30% discount!”

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, is a powerful conversion motivator. Customers will be pushed to check out as a result of the time constraint. Make your window of opportunity as realistic as possible, but not so far into the future that it loses its usefulness.

5. Holidays Should be a Priority

You may help clients rejoice by using “Santa Claus” as a promo code for Christmas or “USA” for the 4th of July. Using popular culture in your marketing techniques is also more applicable and remembered. It’s a yearly campaign that may be tweaked to match your company’s demands.

6. Shopping Coupons for the First Time

The importance of first impressions cannot be overstated. I’m sure we all looked on the internet once in search of a warm welcome offer for a brand with which we’d never done business.

You can simply find a welcome offer on your website, whether you’re a new brand or wish to extend your customer base.

7. Existing Customers’ Referrals Should Be Rewarded

If you’re like most business owners, you understand the value of word-of-mouth marketing.

The issue is that few marketers incorporate a predictable and repeatable referral mechanism into their campaigns.

The figures couldn’t be more telling. According to research, 83% of happy consumers are likely to recommend items and services to others. However, just 29% of people really do.

Discounts are thus a strong incentive for customers to recommend their friends and family.

8. Larger Purchases Get Discounts

The more items you buy, the more money you’ll save!

This offer is quite prevalent in the fashion industry, especially for more expensive businesses who wish to entice customers to convert.

This method may also be used by B2B enterprises who wish to focus on a certain item. On a hierarchical level, consider it a pricing plan.

9. Provide Subscription Discounts

Customer retention may be improved in a variety of ways.

Consumers today prioritize convenience over anything else. And the sooner and easier they can obtain what they require, the better.

You may give a discount on your subscriptions to encourage prospects to pick a subscription over a one-time purchase.

Most businesses can afford to do so because they know it will boost their customer lifetime value (LTV) and allow them to return their investment in the long run.

Advantages of Coupon Marketing

Attracts the attention of customers

Discounts may be utilized to attract more people since people desire to buy things. If your offer is only valid for a few days, please make it clear that your reduced items are promoted. People will rush in to have a look if they know they only have a few days to complete the task.

Boosts Your Brand Reputation

A company’s image can be improved by providing discounts to specific groups, such as the elderly or the military. If a firm gives discounts to individuals in difficult circumstances or those who may face financial difficulties as a result of a lack of revenue, it is demonstrating that it is attempting to assist people. Because many people think of businesses as money-hungry, any deviation from this perception might help them improve their reputation.

Helps in Obtaining Sales Goals

Every week, month, quarter, or year, many businesses set sales goals. If a corporation is on the verge of missing such goals, discounts may be used to help the company meet or surpass its sales projections.

Increases the Amount of Space in Your Store

Discount codes allow your store to make room. Items that you don’t expect to sell may sit in your business for months. By lowering the price and making room for additional things, you increase your chances of selling them. Reduced products that you don’t intend to sell should be placed towards the front of your store to account for every customer.

Allow Customers to Select You Over the Competition by Making It Easy for Them to Do So

Discounts, according to studies, make it less likely for buyers to compare your products to those of other competitors. This will allow new customers to choose your products and offer you an advantage over your competitors.

The Bottom Line

Coupons are an appealing strategy to increase volume and sales. Including them in your marketing mix can help you swiftly grow your consumer base and temporarily boost your conversion rates. While there is no genuine substitute for delivering high-quality items at reasonable prices, coupons can help supplement such efforts when the competition heats up or consumer expectations demand it.

Because becoming hooked on couponing may be a highly pricey, unsustainable tactic that many businesses can’t afford, plan ahead and budget properly. Coupons alone will not help you establish brand equity, but combining a clever coupon strategy with a high-quality product can.

The post 9 Coupon Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Results appeared first on SiteProNews.

While advertising on a limited budget is challenging, it is not impossible. 

And in fact, when you have to get creative, sometimes the out-of the-box thinking and tactics required, can yield some big results.

You may not have the budget of the big guys, but you do have the brains! You just need some scrappy marketing strategies.

What does it really mean to be a scrappy marketer? Basically, it means doing more with less. 

Getting creative and finding efficient and affordable marketing techniques.

It is possible to make an impact without a huge budget. Try these 5 scrappy marketing strategies to promote your business when you don’t have a budget!

1. Research

Research does not cost any money, just your time. But it is a crucial, and often overlooked marketing tactic. Even the big guys who do have a lot of money, often miss this first step and suffer because they do.

The internet is chock full of resources. With one google search, you can locate stories, webinars and case studies on marketing tactics and success stories.

Look at what other companies are doing. Research low-budget marketing tactics for new ideas. Look at your competitors’ tactics and try to understand what is and isn’t working. Just taking the time to learn may result in you stumbling across an affordable idea for your marketing mix.

Research your customer as well. Understand who they are, what drives them to purchase, and what they value. Knowing your customer can help you tailor your marketing efforts to uniquely work for them and deliver the best results. 

Research will not only help provide marketing ideas, but will also help you improve the ROI on your marketing investment.

And, there is a reason why research is my number one strategy. All your marketing tactics and strategies should start here. Take the time to educate yourself before diving into any activities.

2. Build up your social media

The beauty of social media is that it is free. Leverage all the appropriate channels for your company like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Consistent sharing will boost your engagement and reach, so create a schedule and stick to it.

Platforms like Hootsuite and Loomly can help you easily create and maintain a social media editorial schedule. With automatic posting, you can pre-write your posts a month at a time.

But don’t just post anything! Spend time crafting quality content and images. If you lack the budget for a graphic designer, you can use a tool like Canva yourself to easily create professional images.

Emotional content can also help boost engagement and encourage re-sharing. Join Facebook groups relevant to your topic and interact with your customers there. 

Sharing your content through these groups can amplify reach. Just make sure you abide by the group rules, especially with link sharing which is sometimes only allowed at certain times. 

Don’t get stuck in the mindset of only sharing to your company social media pages. Try tactics within each platform to improve your reach. Research the best hashtags to use, build relationships with influencers in the social media world and get your content out there! This is an unlimited marketing tactic that is 100% free!

While building up your social media marketing doesn’t require funds, if you do have some budget, consider ads. You can limit your spend to only what you can afford. With daily budget maximums and focused targeting available, it is an ideal and scrappy resource for the advertising funds you do have.

3. Leverage a digital intern

Take advantage of the digital age! While finding an intern in your town may be challenging, you can actually find a virtual one anywhere in the world now.

Contact local universities and colleges about offering an internship to students who need to bulk up their resume. 

Acadium offers digital marketing internships that benefit both the student and the business. For just $150, you can hire your own digital intern who will work up to 10 hours per week for 3 months.

Best of all, you can hire more than one and you can hire based on the tactics you most need assistance with. I am currently getting SEO assistance from my very own Acadium intern and am happy to have the super low-budget help.

4. Use these free-to-cheap resources

Sometimes some of the basics you need for marketing such as a graphic designer can take up the bulk of your budget. If you can find ways to minimize these costs, then it frees up funds for tactics such as advertising that will show the ROI you need.

Free resources like Canva and PicMonkey can help you create attractive images and graphics even if you do not have the budget for a graphic designer. 

Tools like these can help amp up your social media presence and content with polished and shareable images even with no budget. 

Another low-cost graphic design resource can be found with companies like Design Pickle and Pebbled that offer unlimited graphic design for a low monthly fee. I use this resource in my full-time marketing job and have found we save a ton. Best of all, they are fast and efficient with the work.

5. Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization can help get your website and your business more visibility. And many of the tactics around this are free. 

Work on the SEO of your website with relevant keywords and copy. Finding backlink opportunities on other sites will not only boost your SEO and ranking, but could bring important traffic your way. 

Sign up to receive emails from HARO. HARO stands for “Help a Reporter Out.” It is free and just requires a few minutes of your day to respond to journalists’ requests for soundbites and expertise. In return you will get a link to your website, not only giving you more exposure and traffic, but also improving your SEO.

Another free marketing tactic that also helps build SEO is guest posting. You can write blog posts and articles for other sites that are relevant to your niche. You can build your exposure, site traffic, and google search ranking.

Even when you have no advertising or marketing budget, you can still build your brand and your business. Just think creatively and stay scrappy with your marketing tactics. Exercising brains over budget can help your business growth!

The post 5 Scrappy Marketing Strategies When You Don’t Have a Budget appeared first on SiteProNews.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media marketing strategy can skyrocket your business in no time. There are so many social media platforms you can use as a part of your marketing strategies. However, the most common ones are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat. For a social marketing strategy to succeed, firstly, you need to set your goals. What is the main aim of your marketing strategy? Do you want to grow your brand, improve customer retention or increase sales? It is time to look up some marketing strategy templates available on the internet.

After you have defined your goals, you must analyze your target audience as thoroughly as possible, defining its age, income, location, interests, etc. However, it is crucial to assess the competition correctly when it comes to social media marketing strategy. You should try gaps where your competitors are not putting much effort and try winning the audience there. When you are a brand-new business, it is tough to compete against big players, so you must start winning the audience step-by-step.

When implementing a social media marketing strategy, it is crucial to decide which platform you will use for which purpose. For example, you can use Instagram to communicate with your audience and Facebook for customer support. Once you have chosen your platforms, it is time to set up your profile. It must be neat and attractive with pictures of the highest quality. You might want to hire a new employee responsible for promoting your brand and developing the content marketing strategy.

The social media marketing strategy will be successful if you post consistently. Set yourself a schedule and define the best time to create posts. It is crucial to track your success, too. Do experiments with content and define what your target audience likes best. A social media marketing strategy requires a lot of effort, but it is definitely worth it. You do not need to be present on every social media channel. Instead, it is better to concentrate on two or three channels where you will apply your strategy.

Influencer Marketing Strategy

Influencer marketing strategy is a part of social media marketing strategy when you collaborate with a person who has gained the trust and has authority over some people. Influencer marketing strategy is extremely popular and effective nowadays. People spend a lot of time on social media platforms and trust influencers, who, in turn, have established an image in the eyes of the audience and can impact their buying decisions.

Influencers are a great marketing strategy example as they can engage the audience and have established themselves and built a reputation as experts in their niche. While it might seem easy to become an influencer, it isn’t. To be an influencer and gain a loyal audience, you must stand out. It is not enough to make good pictures. Influencers must attract and retain an audience, too.

Partnering with an influencer can be a great marketing strategy. To find a match for your business, you will need to do research. Define how many followers the influencer should have and set your budget limit. Payment for an influencer’s marketing strategy also greatly depends on the niche, your product, and the competition.

Once you have chosen an influencer for your marketing strategy, you need to come up with a plan for your brand’s promotion. Define when and in what way an influencer will promote the brand. 

When you have found a potential influencer to collaborate with, you must ask for the statistics and see what other products they advertise. Make sure they are in the same niche as your brand is and have an audience similar to yours. If their profile matches your requirements, it is time to start collaboration and promote your business with an influencer marketing strategy.

Email Marketing Strategy

Email marketing can be very effective and give you an ROI of more than $50 for each $1 you invest. However, for email marketing to work, you will need to be creative and consistent. This marketing strategy has changed a lot, so you will need to adjust. The most effective way to increase the open rate is by sending personalized emails. If you use a person’s name, they are more likely to open the letter and click on the link you send them, which will result in better sales. Instead of saying “Dear client,” try “Dear John.”

When implementing an email marketing strategy, make sure the email is mobile-friendly. Most emails are read on mobiles rather than computers, so the emails must look good. If the emails you send are not optimized for mobile devices, the reader will probably unsubscribe and block them.

Another good opportunity to boost your email strategy is to re-engage existing subscribers who do not read your emails. Inactive subscribers can be re-engaged if you send them an email offering a good discount or even a free gift. Make the discount valid for a week to encourage your reader to act faster.

Conclusion

All in all, if you develop a good plan and stick to it, any marketing strategy, be it content, email, influencer, or saas marketing, will boost your business and promote your brand. The most important thing is to define your target audience and set realistic goals. Marketing strategies require a lot of time, consistency, and dedication. Do experiments and track the stats to see which strategies work for your audience.

What marketing strategies have you tried for promoting your business? Which ones were the most successful? Please, let us know in the comments below.

The post How to Bring Your Business to the Next Level With Marketing Strategies appeared first on SiteProNews.

Yet, many small business owners feel insecure about marketing, thinking that they do not have the resources that large companies do. Some are also under the impression that a good product will spontaneously attract customers and not require much nudging.

Yes, you did come up with a business idea you believed in and worked tirelessly to build a product/service around it. But not even the best product can speak for itself. It needs a little help to tell prospective customers about its functions and how it can help people looking to solve a problem or be entertained.

Thankfully, there are many ways to achieve that goal. And unlike traditional ‘old school’ marketing, small business owners can efficiently get the word out about their product at little to no cost.

How? Let’s find out below

1. The Best Place To Hide A Dead Body Is The Second Page Of Google Search Results – Unknown

You may already have a website or an online store running for your new business. However, when posting content on the online medium, make sure to tighten up your SEO skills to improve the likelihood of being found by the relevant audience.

According to Moz, the first page of Google results garners around 71 % – 92 % of traffic. Other studies also show that the initial five results receive 67.6% of clicks, whereas the remaining five just receive 3.73%.

Instead of posting just any content, focus on building a strategy that DOES NOT get buried on the second page of Google. Conduct thorough keyword research and see what your competitors are doing. Analyze the search intent of your targeted audience. And then create content accordingly.

2. We Don’t Have A Choice On Whether We Do Social Media, The Question Is How Well We Do It? – Erik Qualman

With over 3.81 billion active social media users worldwide, the need to maintain a robust social presence is apparent.

Create accounts on each of the leading social media channels. Besides posting your own content, encourage visitors to share their experience with your product/service. As we all know, word of mouth is the best advertising strategy. Enticing users to promote your brand through giveaways and contests can go a long way in building a credible profile.

You can also add social media plugins to your website to increase your social media account’s traffic to your main landing page.

3. If Social Media Is The Cocktail Party, Email Marketing Is The ‘Meet-Up For Coffee. The Original 1 To 1 Channel – Erik Harbison

Email marketing is often overlooked by entrepreneurs and small business owners. But did you know: For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42.

In fact, emails are said to be more effective than social media. What’s more? They are more read than social media posts and generate exceptional results such as click-through rates, open rates, and downloads.

Entice new visitors or customers to sign up for your email address by offering a freebie or a discount. Keep your email relevant and straightforward. Update readers regarding the latest happenings of your brand. And make sure to add a personalized touch to your emails by adding the recipient’s name in every newsletter you send out.

4. Videos Can Attract A Different Audience, One That Might Not Want To Take The Time To Read A White Paper Or An Article – Brick Marketing

Video is another valuable marketing approach that enables business owners to convey more information in a short time frame. Viewers also retain 95% of a message when watching it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text. Overall, videos generate more engagement, conversions, and shares.

When it comes to marketing, video content can be delivered through many different formats. For example, you can show instructional videos on how to use your specific product or do a live Q/A session on Facebook Live for real-time interaction.

You can also shoot ‘behind-the-scenes’ of new product development or share videos of consumer testimonials on your social media pages to build awareness and trustworthiness.

5. The Secret Gift Of Paid Search Is That You Get To Control The User Experience, Rather Than The Search Engine – Avinash Kaushik (Market Motive Inc.)

Paid Search methods are usually disregarded by marketers as expensive methods of advertising. And yes, truthfully, they are a bit pricey, but paid search methods offer enhanced exposure and visibility to a brand. The average click-through rate is also higher than other marketing methods, with PPC visitors 50% more likely to purchase than organic visitors.

To cut costs down, look for promo codes and discount offers for Google and Facebook Ads. Some web hosting companies offer advertising discounts to their members as well.

For PPC ads, make sure to identify the most accurate keywords in your particular niche. Create attractive ads and optimize each area to improve your chances of getting clicks.

Paid ads on search and social media sites also give targeting options. This allows you to show your ads only to those who are more likely to be interested in your product. When creating ads, make sure you consider your target audience and filter the demographics to reach the desired audience more efficiently.

6. The More Advocates You Have, The Fewer Ads You Have To Buy – Dharmesh Shah

Having as many supporters as possible for your business is the simplest and cheapest way to get the word out about your brand.

For example, ask friends and families to promote your product/services. Send freebies to influencers and ask them to post reviews on their social media channels. You will be surprised to see how many of them happily endorse your product for a freebie.

Talk to your existing and prospective customers as well. Respond to every query or comment you get on social media. Participate in online forums like Quora, HARO, and Reddit and answer questions relevant to your industry.

You can also collaborate with other businesses in your niche market and introduce your business to a relatively newer audience.

7. Stopping Advertising to Save Money Is Like Stopping the Clock to Save Time – Henry Ford

Last but not least, remain consistent in your branding efforts. With so much competition, it may seem like a challenge to get the word out about your company.

Don’t lose hope and put a stop to marketing if results don’t seem favorable. Instead, keep your business goals in mind and continue pushing various advertising strategies to continually entice the audience. With time and effort, you will surely be able to get the desired results.

Good luck!

The post 7 Low Budget Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses appeared first on SiteProNews.

Instead, marketing to the right audience is more about having an experimental mindset. One cannot rely on a single strategy to secure a place in the highly competitive marketing world.

That’s why some famous growth hacking agencies, with their data-driven approach, are so good and fast at taking any brand’s ROI to millions. They run multiple campaigns and try new ideas. After carrying out A/B tests to validate the techniques that bring results for the brand, they stick to them and improvise.

What are those experiment-worthy marketing strategies that make a brand turn into a standard household name?

In this post, we have rounded up the top 6 marketing trends that work great for brands in 2020.

Let’s see what these are.

1. Infographics Are Here to Stay

Marketers love Infographics for their “soft-selling” potential.

They make it easy for prospects to get an insight into your product’s growth by displaying ‘original content’ in the most concise manner. 

This transparency compels them to ‘buy’ without making marketers appear pushy at the same time.

In fact, high-quality Infographics receive three times more social media shares than any other visual content. There is a clear reason for it. Nobody has the time and patience to go through a 2000 word long post when the same points can be summarized in a pictorial representation.

But it is essential to mention here that infographics are a saturated space. To cut the crowd and make an infographic go viral, you need to do more than just feed data and images into it.

Take inspiration from DimeHub, a Kenya based Digital Marketing firm for creating Car Insurance infographics that got 5000 shares.

2. Social Media Live Streaming is in Demand

Live streaming is a more refined entry in video marketing.  

Consumers get to see the behind-the-screen of their favorite brands through live videos. The instant interaction between brand and customer fosters a high engagement rate. 

Customers find it easier to make up their minds to buy a service after receiving a real-time video response to their confusion or queries. This is precisely why 82% of viewers, when given a choice between a social media post and a live video, go for the latter option.    

Keeping this figure in mind, Molbak’s Garden + Home leveraged the opportunity in lockdown to collectively reach out to 17,000 audiences through live streaming their planting tutorials. 

3. Advocacy Marketing Builds Lasting Brand Authority

As online audiences and brands become savvy, Influencer marketing is losing momentum. 

There are now tools to detect influencers with fake followers and engagement. The number of influencers who buy followers to appear ‘big’ is increasing.

Consumers also find it difficult to trust ‘All The Good Praises Only’ about any product from these influencers. Thus, people become skeptical about an influencer using the product on himself.

When customers are pleased, they love to share their experiences. Advocacy marketing uses them as ‘advocates’ to vocalize their true feelings about a product. 

But you have to be creatively intelligent to make a campaign look real. For example, Apple asked its customers to take photos with their iPhones, share them with the company, and then

 selected the best ones. 

In short, although the participants did not realize it, their content was serving as a ‘referral’ to new customers.

4. Giveaways Always Bring New Business

Giveaways create a lot of buzzes.

If nothing else, they bolster brand awareness.

Although it is an old way of marketing, ‘Free Stuff’ still triggers people the same way.

There are heaps of contests already running on Instagram and Facebook. To make their giveaway posts discoverable, brands use hashtags and paid advertising on these platforms.

TikTok is one channel at the moment which is not saturated with giveaways. Hence, the scope to find potential audiences genuinely interested in trying your product is enormous. 

Where successful marketing with giveaways is concerned, simplicity goes a long way. Your giveaway post should clearly tell what the winner gets, its value, and the rules to enter the contest.

GroMo was wise enough to leverage all the online mediums to promote its giveaway which yielded a return of $8000 in sales.

5. Podcasts Create Positive Interaction

Podcasts can educate your audience about your brand while they also multitask.

If the speaker is creative enough, he can easily stretch hour storytelling most engagingly. Once the audience gets hooked, he can promote his brand in the most subtle way.

The on-demand availability of podcasts is what makes it stand out from other promotional media.

Even a retail giant like Sephora tapped into this minefield of marketing opportunities to carry out some savvy branding before launching its new lipstick series. 

6. Google Featured Snippet Has Upped the Marketing Game

A featured snippet is the shortest and most concise piece of information Google thinks answers a query right away. Thus, it displays this information along with the website on top of all search results. 

Even if your site is ranking on #10, it can get the top position in search results for its snippet. 

This eventually leads to more ‘Clicks.’

A youtube video that is SEO optimized to answer a query in 00:17 seconds also makes it featured. 

No method beats featured snippets in getting a brand the visibility and credibility it deserves.

Wrap Up

For a quick review, here are the best working marketing strategies of 2020:

1. Make engaging and concise infographics
2. Make live streaming an essential part of your marketing plan
3. Engage more and more customers through advocacy marketing tricks
4. Market using free giveaways
5. Incorporate podcasts in your promotional activities.
6. Make featured snippet worthy content, whether text or video.

We hope you liked this post.

The post Top 6 Marketing Strategies for 2020 appeared first on SiteProNews.

What is Data-Driven Marketing?

Also known as customer-centric marketing, data-driven marketing leverages customer data to predict future outcomes and achieve desired marketing objectives. While it’s only a matter of time before it becomes the standard practice, a Forbes survey found that nearly 50% of participating executives lacked expertise in this area. Although adopting a data-driven approach may seem intimidating or overwhelming, the truth is that without the role of technology and data research, there is no reliable insight into your target audience, customers or competitors. As the art of marketing continues to evolve, data-based decisions have undeniably become an integral part of launching a successful marketing campaign. Still not convinced? Check out the major benefits associated with data-driven marketing strategies:

Reach Your Target Audience

Demographic, behavioral and transactional trends are just a few examples of how data analytics can help marketers identify and better connect to niche groups within their target audience. Collecting data on key traits such as age, gender, household income and location can provide valuable insight into each segment’s buying habits, behaviors, motivations and preferences. Major executives are jumping on board including Janice Ross, VP of brand marketing at American Greetings Property, who stated, “Smart marketers understand that data must be used to create a strong consumer profile, then target that specific profile with the right type of branded message that will most likely tweak that profile to act.”

Personalize Your Message 

After the target audience has been defined, professionals can interpret customer data to create highly targeted campaigns that are tailored to their specific needs. 

While this may sound like a normal part of the job, collecting data on customer habits can serve as the driving force behind cultivating the perfect message for each segment of consumers. In fact, a 2017 survey found that marketers who successfully exceeded their revenue goal used personalization techniques 83% of the time. Not only does personalized marketing create a better user experience for everyone, but it can help marketers create strategic ads that pre-target consumers at the perfect time, such as the buying stage of their customer journey. 

Gain a Competitive Advantage

Data-driven companies keep their customers close and their competition closer. 

Incorporating data analytics into your marketing strategy can provide valuable insights into your competitors’ strategy, trends and overall performance. While access to competitor information may be limited, collecting any related data can at the very least, help marketers brainstorm ways to outshine and further distinguish their brand from the competition. Some companies have even figured out how to use location intelligence to gauge how customers interact with their brand versus their competitors. In turn, this data helps businesses’ strategize the best way to target wandering visitors who may be indecisive in terms of brand loyalty and more responsive to their message.

Predictive Analytics

With the proper amount of data and technology, companies can take advantage of predictive analytics to predict future outcomes and make well-informed marketing decisions. This advanced technology gives marketers the power to make specific recommendations or suggestions based on a customers’ past preferences including likes and dislikes, product ratings and purchase history. Rather than relying on gut-instinct, businesses can now refer to concrete data to gain a deeper understanding of their customer relationship and future behavior. In fact, major U.S. corporations such as Google, Netflix and Amazon are taking advantage of data-driven business models in order to consistently satisfy their growing customer base and stay one-step ahead.

Drive Business Growth

When it comes to customer loyalty and market growth, data-driven strategies have proven successful time and time again. The McKinsey Global Institute found that data-driven businesses are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain those customers, and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result. 

The Institute also found that companies who rely on data to make intelligent marketing and sales decisions were able to increase their marketing return on investment (MROI) by as much as 20 percent. Beyond improving overall performance, this progressive approach can uncover which marketing strategies have been successful or unsuccessful, saving valuable time and money in the future.

As technology and marketing continue to merge, it’s important to ensure your company develops the skills and expertise required to organize, interpret and manage big data. In order to conquer data-driven marketing, organizations should consider using automation tools such as Tableau or Google Analytics, as well as training or hiring a team of dedicated data analysts. As the old saying goes, it’s out with the old and in with the new, and data-driven marketing has most certainly proven its here to stay.

The post The Importance of Data-Driven Marketing Strategies appeared first on SiteProNews.

You can find plenty of examples of individuals who didn’t only use social media for socializing but have built an empire through it.

Once your business makes it to the social platforms, it can skyrocket revenue in a surprisingly short time. If done right, you can tell your story to the masses and build lasting relationships. However, if you don’t use it in the right way, it can backfire making you lose your prospective clients and brand individuality.

Not to mention, no one wants to explore the downsides of promoting a small brand on social media. That is why we are presenting effective ways that will help you promote your small brand on social networking websites with ease. 

1. Find your Platform

Finding your platform means you have to look for a social website where your target audience is most active. If it is Instagram, then try to dominate on the platform. However, you need to observe the activity or engagement across the platforms to find that one platform. 

Once you find it, create a proper strategy to promote your small brand on it. From content to interaction, include everything that encourages your audience to connect with your brand. 

Also, dominating one social website doesn’t mean ignoring other profiles. Create your business account on other social websites as well and maintain a moderate presence.

2. Craft your Content as per Audience

It might save you time to write one copy for your all networks, but, it won’t bring the benefits you are hoping for. This is because your LinkedIn audience is most probably different from your Facebook followers. 

You can tackle the content part quite smartly if you observe what makes your audiences different. Plus, you can go for tones, writing style or even vocabulary that you don’t use regularly. This tiny experiment will tell you which type of vocabulary is working for you on a certain profile. 

For instance, if you are connected to potential clients on LinkedIn, you need to keep your tone professional. For the people on Snapchat, we’d recommend engaging the younger audience with fun memes and gifs. 

Although you can keep your images and videos the same for profiles, you need to pay special attention to copy.

3. Keep your Goals Clear

No doubt, promoting your small brand on social media seems lucrative. However, it demands your time and sometimes money too. Before you invest any of those, be clear on what you want to achieve – leads or sales? Or, you are going to target both? 

You also need to track and measure results so it’s wise to keep an eye on the algorithms of each platform. Moreover, it’s imperative to observe the progress of the strategies you follow. 

For example, as a small brand owner, if you pay for an advertisement on Facebook, you should compare spent money with sales or leads to get an idea of whether it was a good decision or not.

4. Recognize your Mentors

Social media is an amazing way to tell the world about people who have inspired you to create your brand. It allows you to build connections in a meaningful way.

 If you follow the footsteps of certain influencers in your field, social media will not only help you to connect with them, but it will also provide an opportunity to thank them for being an inspiration. 

So, you can follow their profiles, share their approaches and whatnot. Who knows, they might respond and extend their support someday?

5. Cross-Promote your Channels

It is necessary to remind your audience to follow your other channels as well. This cross-promotion helps in bringing traffic and revenue. So, don’t hesitate when it comes to sharing your other social media profiles with your audience.

 All you need to do is provide a link on any of your social networking sites and encourage your followers to follow it. Most of these platforms offer sufficient space for a bio. You can also use this space to link all your social media accounts for maximum benefit.

6. Go for Social-only Discounts

If you look around, there are plenty of ways to promote your business on social media and offering social-only discounts is one of them. This simple strategy is ideal to capture the attention of a certain segment of your whole target audience. 

To excite your followers, you can offer 10%, 20% or even 25% discount deals on different products or services. It will boost engagement and generate profit too. 

You can create a striking post and share it on your social media repeatedly until the offer ends. Also, you don’t need to share the offer across all platforms to track the audience that took the most advantage; you can simply post it on only one channel and get the figures.

7. Get in Touch with Influencers

There’s a huge community of influencers on every social media platform. Influencers are people with hundreds and thousands of followers. No doubt, some people look up to these influencers and make decisions based on influencer suggestions. 

Be it Instagram or YouTube, you will find plenty of verified accounts to work with. You can approach influencers and ask them to feature your product, service or mention your brand in any way that results in more and more people learning about you. 

When a social media sensation recommends your brand, you are likely to receive the response you deserve.

8. Create Visual Content

It’s imperative for your small brand to get as much attention as possible. Experts recommend using visual content as a part of your branding strategy to engage your audience. So, if your business deals with products, you can show off them through videos and photos. 

For a service-based brand, you can make visuals discussing how your service can help your viewer. Visually-oriented channels like Pinterest and Instagram are a great way to draw attention to your brand.

9. Hire a Social Media Expert

You may have heard about social media experts who work on these platforms and ensure that their client brands stay ahead of the competition. If you haven’t considered this option, maybe you should now. 

Social media channels like Facebook or Instagram make changes in their algorithm consistently. As a brand owner, you likely don’t have enough time to dedicate to manage your social media channels. 

So, it makes sense to handover certain responsibilities to a professional social media person to get the job done.

10. Stand out and be unforgettable

Social media is fun but strange. It is still going to benefit your brand even if you don’t follow what others do. Many experts suggest social media is personal first and a job second. 

So, don’t be shy when it requires showcasing your persona. You have to tell the world why you are different. 

When you rise above the noise and provide something genuinely unique, your small brand will stand out and as a brand owner, you will be hard to forget.

It is indeed true that social media can change the fate of your small business, but it doesn’t happen overnight. To become a well-known brand in your industry, we’d recommend:

• Careful execution of the above promotional strategies
• Consistency throughout your journey
• Interaction with your audience and giving them the credit for your success

The post 10 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Small Brands appeared first on SiteProNews.

Increase your digital presence

With the number of people confined at home under quarantine, gaming and video apps have hit new download volumes, and people are investing more time online. You can enhance your brand visibility online by creating branded apps, games, and videos if you belong to the tech industry. You can also create relevant content to engage customers, such as videos of how to do simple exercises or make healthy meals at home to help them combat the virus.

Empathize & Strategize

It is essential to keep our relationship with existing clients alive. Consider creating a communication of business through digital outreach. Look at older leads that were on the backlist due to one reason or another.

Website Optimization

The continuous optimization of your website and its content is the ultimate way to achieve your marketing goals. Once you find the loose ends and determine your site’s vulnerability, you need to optimize them one by one. You need to update and optimize your website as well as the content.

Effectively communicate with customers

In this uncertain time, you have to improve the way you interact with your customers. Convince your customers that you still provide service as usual with a different kind of delivery. Sending your message via email or WhatsApp broadcast is the best way to go. Offer help to your customers regarding your business service.

Get innovative with Sales Presentations

Coronavirus is forcing many businesses to cut back on travel and in-person meetings. That means web-based presentations are more important than ever. Start repackaging your sales talk into a full-blown virtual presentation. Be prepared to do more of your pitch online instead of on-site meetings.

Focus on your employee’s satisfaction

Business success is dependent on employee satisfaction. And, in this lockdown period, it is essential to work as a team with your employees. Everyone is doing work from home. Take it as a positive way of doing work. Share positive thoughts with your team while promoting. Keep sales pitches at a moderate level.

Promote on Social Media

As people stay at home, they are spending more time on online streaming platforms for entertainment, social media for connecting to the outside world, e-commerce portals for shopping, and much more. With the high usage of these platforms, technology use is on the rise.

Plan for the future

Use this lockdown period wisely, and instead of panicking over the situation, strategize for future events. Think about how efficiently you can serve your customers/clients. Any major business decisions such as the launching of new products can be effectively implemented during this period.

Maintain a healthy relationship with contracted parties

Understandably, it might be challenging to pay out vendors during the lockdown. However, it would be helpful to give your vendors, suppliers, landlords, etc. advance notice in case of payment delay so that they can also be prepared.

Share the work accordingly

Divide responsibilities based on the capabilities and resources required to accomplish them. Having an informal group check-in each day keeps the team on the same page, promotes team-building exercises, and holds everyone accountable for their daily tasks and ongoing projects.

Evaluate Possibilities and Communication Plans

As an organization, you also need to communicate with your stakeholders, such as investors, suppliers, and vendors. Assess and evaluate various possible events due to the crisis and how they may impact the organization and its stakeholders.

Test out your strategies initially and keep a check on your return on investment to evaluate their effectiveness. Another valuable means for obtaining consumer feedback through primary research is via online questionnaires. Entrepreneurs must take a proactive approach to combat the current unpredictable scenario. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant challenge in the short run, but it also offers the opportunity to transform sales organizations and help companies become stronger.

The post How to Boost Your Business during the Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on SiteProNews.

For millions of business owners who had to close their stores overnight, easing the lockdown means that their offline stores have an opportunity to return to “business as usual, with new norms”. 

But as you know, with measures such as social distancing, the opportunities of marketing at trade shows, conferences and live events have disappeared overnight. 

This means digital marketing will matter more than ever for your small business. For millions of small businesses, the challenge is to remain profitable, recover losses and grow. A brand’s online presence is going to be extremely valuable in the market post-COVID-19. 

The importance of digital marketing 

This is your chance to use online channels to build trust with your customers. Show them that you care. Strategic digital marketing enables brand building by engaging with your target audience. The result is generating traffic, leads and ultimately sales. 

Even if you are not actively acquiring traffic or leads, there is no reason you should miss out on promoting your business using digital marketing. Because the right approach will help you emerge stronger and more profitable. 

In a post-COVID-19 world where people will shop online more often than visiting offline stores, both brick and mortar and eCommerce businesses will have to focus on gaining virtual traffic to become successful. 

The 4 digital marketing strategies to scale your online traffic and promote the reopening of your store, post lockdown:  

#1. Update your business’s information on Google – A crucial step when you open your physical store is to make sure that all the information posted online is relevant and updated. The first step a customer takes when they want to know if your store is open is to look for the information online. Update store hours on all online channels where you are present. 

Don’t miss out on updating the website, social media and your Google My Business listing. This profile is the first thing displayed when people Google your company. Updating the current information on Google should be your first action.

For businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak, Google created a resources hub with articles and video tutorials to update your Google listings. 

Update the following information about your business’s reopening: 

• Opening and closing hours 
• Contact information 
• Whether you allow walk-in or is it just takeaway 
• Measures you are following regarding social distancing 

#2. Digital campaigns to promote your store re-opening – Now is the time to let your customers know that you are opening the store again. 

Chances are, that with the existing uncertainty and after the long confinement, your store may not be the first place customers think of visiting when they are allowed to. 

However, they say out of sight is out of mind. Put down a marketing communications plan so that you are on top of their mind when the isolation is lifted. These campaigns are aimed to remind the customer of your brand’s existence and reopening. The channels that you should be using to communicate are: 

• Email marketing – To reach directly to your customer’s inbox, send an email newsletter to all your subscribers. Communicate in a personalized and contextual manner, if email marketing is set up for your business. 
• Announcing the reopening on social media – Get creative with your messaging on social media. You can even record a video to engage with your audience. 

You can design a cover photo for your social media profiles using DIY tools like Canva and Buffer. 

In case you have a budget for paid marketing, additional ways to promote the reopening of your small business are: 

• Running ads on social media and Google 
• Running an SMS campaign 
• Sending out postcards 

Explore non-digital advertisement methods such as word of mouth and adding an announcement to your store’s window. Your friends, family and network will also help you spread the word around. 

The pharmacy chain Walgreens uses emails to inform its customers about drive-thru shopping, free shipping on prescriptions and phone consulting with pharmacy specialists.

#3. Special promotions – You can go a step further to get customers back to your business by running a post-lockdown offer. 

Explore organizing offers such as “discount code on all or specific products” and a “buy one get one free”. Place this at the center of your digital marketing campaign. People may be hesitant buying and this could be the incentive nudging them to make a purchase. 

A consumer incentives survey by Wirecard found that 75% of customers who receive a reward are more likely to make another purchase from the same brand. Another 50% will discuss their experience with their network and leave a positive review. The majority of shoppers will not shop before they receive a discount or will look for discounts from competitors before buying, as per the National Retail Federation. 

Razor supplier brand Supply offers customers a Father’s Day sale discount of 20% on their products. 

#4. Leveraging content  – Conduct an audit of your content calendar for the coming weeks. Is the blog post or social media post that you scheduled to go live appropriate given the impact of the coronavirus. 

Ask yourself if it is relevant in today’s environment or if you can make it more helpful. Modify the tone and the information if it comes out as insensitive. 

Your brand should be optimizing content at every touchpoint. Think about striking the right tone by being empathetic to your customer’s situation. Don’t refrain from re-thinking your entire content strategy. 

If you are considering launching the spring collection for your apparel brand, how would you reposition your brand’s offerings? Instead of talking about how the collection could be enjoyed at barbecue parties, promote its suitability for conference calls. These seemingly minor tweaks show the human side of your brand without coming off as out-of-touch. Your messaging should resonate with customers. 

Clothing brand Draper James shared an impactful message from the founder Reese Witherspoon introducing their spring collection. She addressed the current situation and asked the audience if it was right to share the new collection, on the company’s Instagram page.

Everyone loves a comeback – Undoubtedly, the current crisis has resulted in a difficult moment for small businesses. There will be survivors and those who adapt and evolve will thrive. 

Smart business owners will have to navigate by constantly listening to customers who  provide insights on the best possible way to move forward. These 4 digital marketing strategies will help you adjust to meet the needs of the post-coronavirus shoppers.

The post 4 Digital Marketing Strategies to Promote the Re-opening of Your Small Business appeared first on SiteProNews.

Now as people are asked to stay indoors and practice social distancing, they find themselves looking to stay connected with friends and family and this is where social media has been shining over the past few months. Facebook and WhatsApp usage has doubled according to Mark Zuckerberg, and there has been a rise in support groups coming together to help others during this crisis.

Websites and apps like Reddit, Instagram and TikTok have also seen a surge in users.

But even then, your marketing strategies may not be as useful as they used to be, so where do you go from here?

Rethink your current social media strategies

This isn’t the time to attempt to capitalize on a global crisis. Instead, use this slower time to rework your marketing strategies to improve them. Reflect on your goals and priorities. With everything changing so rapidly and drastically around the world, your customers are looking for support. Instead of looking at attracting new customers, how can you retain your already established audience?

Share positivity

Social media is a place to start conversations and spread good news. Now, especially, all platforms are riddled with negative news. You can make a difference in your customer’s lives by sharing positive stories, photos or videos. Social media users are desperately looking for positive content to engage with amidst global panic and they’re more likely to keep following your pages if you’re creating positive posts. 

Show empathy

Through social media, you can let your followers know that you understand what they’re going through. It’s important to show customers that you care about them and not just their business. When sharing posts, pay extra attention to make sure that content is not insensitive or tone-deaf. When promoting products, customers will understand that you need to do so in order to stay afloat; try not to be too pushy when selling your products. 

Update your information

Customers will likely visit your social media pages in order to know whether or not you’re still operating and what times your business is open. Make sure that your operating times on social media and your website are up to date and share any relevant updates with your customers as soon as possible. This is important for cafes and restaurants especially – if you have reduced hours but do not update this to your customers, you will have them showing up at your business unhappy. 

Focus on engagement

Rather than focusing on conversions, shift your focus towards growing your social media pages and engagement. Build a better relationship with your followers online by creating content that they would want to see and interact with. Depending on the nature of your business, you can share tips on working from home, or even how to bake bread! Share light-hearted content related to your business or industry to increase social media engagement. It’s vital to remember that consumer spending has drastically dropped and promoting your products 24/7 will not make an impact on your customers.

Explore new platforms

If you’re not making use of most (or all) of the social media platforms out there, now is the perfect time to learn the ins and outs of every website or app. Of course, each platform caters to specific demographics. Facebook and LinkedIn are popular amongst older audiences, while TikTok and Snapchat are more appealing to younger generations.

Explore each platform and see how it could benefit your business as a whole – not just in creating leads and conversions, but by creating a loyal customer base. If it’s appropriate for your business to create TikTok videos that are fun and quirky, there’s no harm in doing so! Reach out to as many different types of audience as you can and experiment with different platforms. 

Create video content

There’s only so much Netflix users can consume, and when they’re looking for something new, you could play a huge role in what they watch! Create educational and fun videos for your viewers that your followers can engage with and share with their friends. Using apps like TikTok, Snapchat and even Facebook or Instagram Live have proven to be effective ways of engaging with audiences and now is a good time to experiment with different types of video content. 

Creating longer YouTube videos to create a following could be beneficial too. If you’re a restaurant owner, you could start teaching your customers how to make dishes themselves now that they’re home 24/7. There are so many types of YouTube videos out there and there’s always room for more, no matter what industry you belong to.

The post Making the Most of Social Media during a Pandemic appeared first on SiteProNews.