Basic Digital Marketing

It’s more effective than any blog or article. It has more impact than a professionally-done infographic or photo. We’re talking about video marketing.

Years ago, you had to spend tens of thousands to film video and then buy ad space for it. Technology’s made it possible to launch a video marketing campaign for as little as $100 or less.

Creating videos for digital platforms on smartphones as well as YouTube and Facebook is a science and an art. You want to capture attention and you want your content to get shared. Fortunately, users are looking for videos every day to watch.

Shares spread the word. More people see your posts and with that, you get more leads and conversions. You instantly expand your reach with shareable content.

Every day, 2 million blogs are published. Those articles are shared millions of times on social platforms. That’s a lot of noise to cut through. Shares only help. If you write your content right, maximize effectiveness. If you create share-friendly content, you maximize visibility.

Brands struggle with organic reach. If you aren’t getting the shares you want, find a fix. Change what you’re posting and how. Shares remain the most important target for brand awareness on social media. Here’s where to start with getting more shares on your posts.

Influencers are integrated into every social media platform. Instagram has them. YouTube’s filled with these personalities. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, Snapchat, and other sites love influencers.

Have you thought about hiring an influencer for your digital marketing campaign – if not, start. Influencers have a huge reach. They can drastically help increase likes, shares, followers, and revenues. Here are 21 reasons to hire an influencer on your next social media marketing campaign.

1 – Influencers are more relatable than celebrities

Celebrities live a privileged lifestyle. They can be very disconnected from an everyday person’s day to day. Influencers are considered more trustworthy, authentic, and relatable. Celebrity sponsorships have been happening forever! Leverage the newfound trust in influencers and generate an even higher return.

SEO is just as important today as it was a decade ago. Search engine optimization, aka SEO, is vital digital marketing. If you know what SEO is and you already have a strategy, you might think you don’t need to read this article – wrong.

SEO algorithms have changed a lot in the last couple of years. Mobile sites have priority. Voice search has impacted how sites rank. Some factors are not so important anymore. Elements are always changing around the algorithms that dominate what makes good optimization.

When SEO works, it gets more eyes on you. More visibility for your website. More leads. More conversions, if you set your content strategies right. You build brand awareness and position your website to maximize its potential. Here is what you need to be successful in SEO in 2020.

Do you ever feel like you’re writing and re-writing the same thing – this isn’t good content marketing. No one wants to read uninspired content marketing.

Even the best content marketers can get caught in a rut. When you have to turn out new marketing every week or two, eventually, ideas run short.

If your content lacks excitement or originality, stop. Assess where you’ve gone wrong. If you are not having any fun creating content, you can’t expect your audience to feel any different.

What is the best content marketing approach for engagement?

The best way to write content and create a content marketing campaign is variety. Switch it up. Move from content that’s info-based to opinion. Write out a range of different content types.

Writing emails is hard. This is why a lot of email marketing campaigns don’t always get results. You don’t want to come off like a spam email. You want to be persuasive, have a message that’s well thought out, and which contribute value to the reader’s life.

If you are not getting replies to your email marketing, this article will help you improve your writing skills. The objective may be to get a click but the underlying purpose of an email marketing message is to start a conversation in the head of a reader. If your response rate is lower than expected, here’s what to do.

Communities are born and bred off hashtags. International movements, from #metoo to #blacklivesmatter, all began with a hashtag. They’re the single most influential thing you can type into a social post.

If you want to attain success on social media as a new, unknown brand, or as a company already established, it’s through hashtags that you’re going to reach people. Use hashtags correctly and you can light up social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

What’s great about hashtags is that they don’t cost a thing. It’s all on you to choose social media hashtags, create your own, and use them to entertain, inform, and participate. This article’s to help you get a strong grasp on what’s the right approach to hashtags on a social media campaign.

Social media marketing is vital to digital branding. Every year though, things change. Updates roll out regularly and consumer demographics are always fluctuating. On a month to month basis, there can be massive changes in how to administrate a social media marketing campaign.

To save your budget, time, and effort only for the platforms that matter, we wanted to accumulate basic social media statistics from 2020 that show you who is using social media and why. After all, if you don’t know who is using a platform, you can’t expect to successfully target the user.

Every platform has user needs and habits. Once we have a grasp on those, it becomes much easier to see whether Twitter or Instagram’s better social platform for your brand. Culled from sources like Hootsuite, here is the latest data on social media sites and where to focus marketing efforts.

Millennials, millennials, millennials. Doesn’t the world just love talking about millennials? While companies were busy figuring out a way to market to millennials, little did they know that it wouldn’t be long before the generation’s time passed.

This year, Generation Z – those born between 1996 and 2010 – will make up 40 percent of all customers. The first generation born into a world of Internet, smartphones, social media, and technology, marketing to youth under 24 years of age is a different animal altogether than millennials.

Just like the world once bet to the whims of millennials, it’s time to hedge your investment elsewhere on the next generation. If you’re a brand marketing towards young adults and teenagers, this article will help you. Here are nine strategies to help connect with and win this developing consumer base.

A digital marketing team. Do you have one – if not, you may want to make change that. Marketing’s exploding right now. It’s getting businesses clicks, sales, likes, shares, attention, rewards, returns, and money. Who doesn’t want these things – if you’re not in business to be successful, you won’t be. It doesn’t get more cut-and-dry than that.

What a digital marketing team gets you is expertise, power, and the ability to achieve your objective. Whatever it may be, the objective’s achievable when you put in place the players needed. If you know your objective, the next step is getting your team. Your digital marketing team can be a single person – if they have all the right skills – or it can be two, three, or a half-dozen, or more.

There’s a hub of activity happening around digital marketing right now. Marketing gets results while at the same time being a very confusion assemblage of literally thousands of potential channels. To make it easy for start-ups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and corporations, this is your list of the players you need to take your brand to where you want it to go. At the heart of your marketing, these are some of the basic positions you want covered.

Influencer marketing is a sort of ‘celebrity sponsorship’ of 2020. It’s a way to maximize word-of-mouth, without going out of your way to promote yourself. There are 1,000s of micro-influencers and macro-influencers on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, blogging sites, and elsewhere. A successful, comprehensive influencer marketing strategy can mean a lot to a growing brand, instantly netting them the credibility and exposure many so desperately desire. But how do you know an influencer marketing campaign is working – let us help.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is when a brand hires an influencer to speak well about them. Most influencers do this by sharing links on social media posts that go out to all their followers, by sponsorships on a video or podcast, or similar means. There are all sorts of influencers out there, variations that go beyond what platform they’re on. It is important to partner with an influencer who is relevant to you and your audience, and who won’t jeopardize your credibility or harm perceptions around your brand. Done right, you can instantly get your name out to millions of people.

Consumers are smitten with voice assistant devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Since 2018, voice search has taken off in a big way. Every month, more users join the fold. Changing the way consumers search for products and services, as well as how they use search engines, voice search is also changing the way customers interact with their favourite brands.

Marketing’s an exercise is responding to and capitalizing on consumer behaviour. If you don’t already have a voice search strategy in place, you are at risk of being left behind. SEO is changing, as is how voice search is driving smartphone Internet use and social media. A new world awaits.

Is voice search a fad?

Different forms of voice-enabled technology have been on the market since the late 1950s. Throughout recent years – and even months – voice tech is getting better and better. By leaps and bounds, voice-enabled products are improving on word recognition accuracy, function, design, and more. If you have a smartphone and/or are on social media, congratulations – eventually these are areas that will be transformed by voice search.

In between the many permanent fixtures of digital marketing in 2020 are upcoming trends maximizing clicks, sales, engagement, and attention from consumers. As a reaction to new behaviours and tech in the marketplace, trending strategies are proving to be incredibly advantageous to new and existing brands looking to increase market share.

Just like the rise of smartphones forever changed the way we market roughly a decade ago, there’s all sorts of new trends in digital marketing that are setting business growth on fire in 2020! Though these won’t apply to every brand, there are certainly at least a few strategies here to employ in your next campaign. Here are 13 digital marketing trends in 2020 to watch for.

Is AR or VR better for digital marketing?

Augmented reality and virtual reality are go-to digital marketing components, already used by IKEA, Michael Kors, Starbucks, Nivea, L’Oreal, and Volkswagen among other brands. Last year was the technology’s biggest market year yet, and in the months to come the value of VR and AR marketing is expected to grow to $200 billion. The biggest downside to using VR and AR is affordability, with most small businesses priced out. That said, with popularity and adoption hopefully will come lower costs in the future.

LinkedIn boasts a massive user base of professional-minded people, brands, B2B sales opportunities, and more. Have you ever used it to do some old-fashioned cold-pitching – most haven’t. Sadly, though an effective sales strategy, this style of cold-calling or ‘direct marketing’ isn’t taken on by many.

We advocate for a re-think to anyone who has dismissed this type of old-fashioned sales technique. It may not be the most advanced or trendiest strategy for LinkedIn but it gets you results. In fact, big rewards exist for those who make the effort to gather new prospects, pursue leads, and focus on getting the word out. No matter what you’re selling, LinkedIn social selling strategies can help you boost engagement. Here are some tips, tools, and guidance on how to sell on social media the right way.

What is social selling?

Social selling is cold-calling prospects to find leads. It’s a classic lead generation technique, focused solely on generating interest and leads. This used to happen in the form of calling individuals from the phone book or door-to-door sales. On LinkedIn and other forms of social media, this selling’s done a little differently.

From an early age, we are told stories. Those that resonate with us at an emotional level are remembered and they come to transcend into something more meaningful. When we’re discussing social media marketing strategies, and in particular those that work the best, it’s storytelling which plays a key role in many of them.

The ability to tell a story can involve many things. For some, it’s a simple beginning, middle, and end. For others, it’s about introducing a conflict and resolving. It can be a moral lesson, entertainment, abstract, or strongly emotional. When you’re building a brand on social media, your ability to tell a story should be front and center. When a user sees a brand as more than commerce and a representation of something with true meaning – that’s when they click, convert, and start to associate themselves with a brand.

What’s the best storytelling strategy for social media marketing?

You social media posts should deliver a rich message, delivered in a story. Seeing the same sort of sales pitch that every other brand like yours has isn’t going to win you as much attention as telling a story. But what story do you tell – well, one that resonates and that hinges on who your audience is. Your story also must be authentic which relies on you and what your company represents. The best stories connect a real, truthful company message to the interests and emotions of the intended user.

“My website isn’t ranking. Can you help?” We get this question all the time. So you’ve created one heck of a website, packed with engaging content and keywords in what you’ve been told are all the right places. Yet, for some reason, your website is nowhere to be found on Google. You’re not getting the clicks you want and the clicks you are getting don’t relate close to keywords you’re targeting.

SEO is harder than it seems. It’s not just about publishing quality content and a fast, mobile responsive website. Plenty of other variables come into play – a lot you can control but others which cannot. You’re working against competition as well. If you think you deserve a higher ranking than what Google is providing you, let’s look at reasons why your SEO isn’t working and how to fix them.

You aren’t link building

The more high quality websites you have linking to your site, the more authority and legitimacy you’re giving yourself in the eyes of Google. Sometimes in SEO we don’t target links or comparatively, we target low quality links. These don’t work. Enact a link building strategy that focuses on high quality links. Once you’re supporting your website with good quality links, this demonstrates to search engine crawlers that you’re worthy a high rank.

No eCommerce brand gets to the top of Google, social media, and achieves their marketing goals without intelligence in strategy and a few key traits. This article will divulge key trends in eCommerce marketing in 2020 and how to succeed in this high-competition category. If your target for the next twelve months is to sell more and grow your brand, here are a few recommendations and sales strategies on how to do exactly that.

How important is an intuitive eCommerce website?

Before we delve into more advanced eCommerce marketing strategies, we’ve got to acknowledge the importance of having an intuitively designed website. Your navigation bar should include all products divided into categories. Integrate a search function that allows searching by keyword, which helps get a customer to a desired product in as little time as possible.

How do I write simple, detailed eCommerce product descriptions?

The simpler your eCommerce web design, the easier it will be for customers to shop and buy. Product descriptions shouldn’t waste time. State plainly what you’re offering. Use researched keywords to strengthen SEO. Include a list of all specifications. You want to give as much information as possible that would be relevant to a sale. You don’t want a customer to have questions and be on the fence about whether to buy or not.

Since inception, social media has been in constant change. Algorithms for organic reach in marketing have nearly disappeared, new platforms have arisen, old platforms have lost user attention, and more. What’s ahead for social media marketing in 2020 – we’ve got stats, facts, predictions, and strategies we think are worth paying attention to as we welcome in a new year.

Segmentation between platforms

Only so much time on a person’s hands, expect social media platforms in 2020 to become increasingly segmented with demographics exclusively held by certain networks. As a brand, targeting specific audiences will become easier although this could also bring in increased competition as well.

Easier eCommerce social purchasing functions

Do you use social media marketing to sell eCommerce products and reach new audience? Social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook are fully aware that eCommerce businesses use them to connect with new customers. Facebook, in particular, has become extremely eCommerce-friendly and other platforms are expected to follow. Expect 2020 to continue in the trend of it being easier than ever to shop and buy products right off a social platform.

You may be looking at the terms ‘content marketing’ and ‘SEO’ side by side, and be thinking, “Aren’t they the same thing?” The answer is that though they are very similar, they’re actually quite different as well.

SEO’s as important as ever in generating organic reach for a new or existing website. The truth however is that content marketing’s a stronger investment long-term for any brand. With SEO algorithms always at risk of changing, a traditional approach to search engine optimization is outdated and dangerous to spend a lot of time on. Here’s why your long-term digital strategy should center on content over search optimization.

What is the purpose of SEO?

SEO, aka search engine optimization, is a set of strategies that involve getting your website or content to rank at the top of search engines. Though SEO involves content marketing strategies, it’s primarily technical in the sense that it’s about getting the technical specifications right i.e. descriptions, keywords, meta data, headers, and general coding.

Have you ever looked at your Instagram digital marketing campaign and thought you weren’t reaching anywhere near the amount of people you wanted – so many do. Instagram’s highly popular as a social media platform, running entirely on people-to-people connection and hashtags. That’s right, we’re talking hashtags.

How you use them, which hashtags are right for Instagram marketing, and frequency of use are all important. Great campaigns are built off hashtags. Instagram success doesn’t happen by accident. Careful practices are used to gain more and more exposure, primarily through the selection of hashtags. For those that may be unskilled in this area or simply looking to brush up some knowledge on the most effective way to go about social media hashtags, consider the following.

Why hashtags on Instagram are important

Instagram hashtags can connect a brand with new customers who’ve not yet heard of them or who don’t follow them directly. They expand your reach significantly, can drop you into a conversation happening culturally where you get more exposure, and more. Instagram users follow hashtags, scouring new accounts for relevant posts in a social media conversation developed around their favourites.

Google Analytics is a goldmine of data for not only how your SEO is performing today but its potential for the future. Your website, for example, may be getting additional search traffic you didn’t expect on keywords you weren’t aware of. Many companies choose to invest in paid keyword research tools and SEO oversight software but Analytics remains as one of our favourites.

What sort of SEO information can I see in Analytics?

As the most popular SEO software for high quality small business websites, Analytics can share information like the average page ranking, click-through rates, and how much your pages are appearing in Google search results. This information is traditionally used to determine how successful a given campaign is. There are ways to dig deeper into Analytics though and flip the purpose of the app on its head, using it as an optimization tool.

Connect Google Analytics with Google Search Console

If you want to maximize the full scope of information you’re getting from Google Analytics, you have to sync it up with your Google Console. Integrate one into the other by first signing into Analytics and then selecting your website to connect to Console. Choose ‘Admin’ in the left taskbar, navigate to where you want to enable Console data sharing, and select ‘Property Settings’. Choose ‘Adjust Search Console’. Your website’s URL should be there which confirms it’s verified. Once completed, you’ll be able to access search console reports under Analytics’ Console tab and then under ‘Acquisition’, then ‘Search Console’, and then ‘Queries’.

Late November into December, it’s prime time to amp up social media marketing and eCommerce strategies to get consumers buying from your brand. Every year though, the noise out there on the Internet grows and the competition becomes fiercer.

As marketers ourselves, we don’t want to see any brand investing in strategies that don’t work or going down a path that isn’t going to lead to anywhere. So for this holiday season December through to January, here are some tips, tricks, and pointers in this ultimate guide to using social media marketing to sell more.

Start early

The best advice anyone can give for a successful holiday eCommerce marketing campaign or holiday digital marketing is to start as early as possible. Ideally, this should be around October 28-29. This then gives enough time for Halloween to pass and sets you up to attract as many gift buyers as possible throughout November to January. For this year, obviously, we are right in the heart of the holiday season so it’s late advice. For next year though, remember!

Every business, brand, personality, or organization has to sell something in order to sustain themselves. Be it products, services, or the brand itself, selling and sales are the most crucial component of long-term success in any category of business.

In content marketing, we prioritize creating the best quality content possible. This means to write and release content that resonates with one’s target audience, and which contributes value. Content can come in many forms, some more effective than others.

If you want to make the most from your brand’s potential and any existing marketing campaign you may be running, know you can make more money and sell more product with content marketing as a focus.

For the purposes of stretching your dollar as far as it can go and to maximize your return on investment, here are the 8 most effective types of content marketing guaranteed to help your business reach more customers and drive revenues.

With the arrival and passing of Black Friday, this marks one of the most competitive times of year across almost all eCommerce and online shopping platforms. It’s the holiday season! Every business that might have fallen behind on their numbers earlier in the year, with the right digital marketing holiday strategy, can boost engagement and potentially get their year to where it needs to be.

Did you know over 50 percent of all holiday shopping happens online – it’s true! Every year, more people are shopping online. In an effort to get you the biggest piece of the holiday online shopping frenzy, your 2019 holiday digital marketing strategy begins here.

Target locally and be specific

Everybody’s going to have launched some version of a holiday or Christmas marketing campaign. You’ve got to cut through the noise. The best way to do that is to target locally. Be specific in audience targeting. Consider digital marketing messages that make reference to local events, language or customs. Be local in your eCommerce holiday SEO keywords as well. This will help a great deal in reaching relevant customers in your marketplace.

Over 45 percent of consumers online watch at least one video every day on platforms like YouTube, Facebook Video, and others. If you know where to target your video, the rewards can be huge!

In fact, video is such a favored content type among Internet users that 80 percent of traffic is video. In recent years, YouTube’s overall mobile video consumption has increased 100 percent year over year. Needless to say, video marketing is on the rise!

Though more digital marketing campaigns are using video, few brands actually know how to determine whether a video strategy is successful or not. Measuring success is extremely challenging, without analytics. Thankfully, there’s more than a few places to look for info.