Basic Digital Marketing

If you’re looking for some new tools to liven up your marketing strategy, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll list some of the best new programs and apps for digital marketing. Read on to find out what these game-changing - and affordable - new tools are.

First on our list is Loom, a Google Chrome feature that turns recorded content into a shareable video immediately after the recording is complete. You can easily share these videos by email, with the options of downloading, deleting, and assigning passwords to them. If you already have Chrome on your computer, you can download Loom for free and send its contents to recipients on any platform.

Just Good Copy is a website that provides visitors with examples of quality email copy. Type in any email subject in the search bar or tag function and conveniently browse the plethora of results you’ll fobtain from popular sites like Trello, Dropbox, Upwork, and Pinterest. You’re bound to find something helpful, no matter your situation.

Have trouble organizing your browser tabs? Sort them out with TabCloud, a free program that can open and group together the sites you visit most often. For a seamless experience, sync your setup to other web browsers and use it for this purpose as well. TabCloud is currently only available for Android but will soon be compatible with iOS operating systems.

Keeping track of your company’s accounts across several social media platforms can be tricky, especially as those platforms become more and more different from one another. With the continuous evolution of each social media site, companies are forced to create content that fits the identity of every social media platform they’re a part of.

Although tweaking photos, videos, text, and ad formats to match the layout of the five social media platforms your company is present on can be tedious, it’s necessary for the continued success of digital marketing. Users can tell when a post was made for a different platform and has simply been copied and pasted to a new one to increase your company’s reach. It’s visually strange, and it rarely turns out good results.

When you join a new social media platform, take the time to learn more about it. Collect information on its setup, posts, users, algorithms, and anything else that’s relevant to your marketing scheme. Don’t create an account for a new site simply to be seen by more of your target audience. Instead, consider how you as an individual would use the platform. Adhere to the theme of each to fit in and appeal to potential customers.

As they grow, most companies find that some platforms are better for connecting to and interacting with consumers than others. You should certainly still advertise on these platforms, but less often. Video-centric applications, like Instagram and Snapchat, focus more on getting the word out to teens and young adults in a clever and visually interesting way. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are more about communicating information through text, usually to young adults and middle-aged individuals.

Today, more than half of Americans are on Instagram, and at this rate, that number will only increase. As a result, companies are taking advantage of Instagram marketing, but some are in the dark about how to reach their audience on such a big platform. Fortunately, the social media site comes equipped with many tools that marketers can use and has few limitations as to what strategies they can use.

Making your company’s profile visible on Instagram starts with the platform’s analytics. Look for features that help you measure the effects of your current marketing strategies. There are lots of features to choose from, so focus on finding something that can quantify the performance of individual posts by analyzing click-through rate, engagement, and reach.

Certain tools allow you to automatically post content at times you specify. This can help your company reach its audience after regular work hours and at times when your audience is most likely to see your content. Some features can even track relevant keywords and hashtags so you can better interact with your customers.

Take advantage of user generated content. If a satisfied customer makes an unsponsored post about your product, like it, comment on it, share it, or bookmark it to use later as a sort of testimonial. Many social media platforms collect user generated content, but because of its visual appeal, Instagram is the best platform to use it on.

Email marketing is becoming increasingly popular as marketers discover its benefits. Even so, there’s one type of email that most companies don’t spend much time creating, or don’t bother to send at all: transactional emails. These emails confirm customer product orders, notify customers when their merchandise has arrived, and thank customers for their purchases. The last on the list is surprisingly powerful.

Any marketing agency will tell you that thank you emails are more than worth it. Customers often expect to receive a thank you email for something as simple as an account sign up, and with this in mind, your company should never forgo them. Your marketing information goes right to the customer and is there whenever they need it. This information is also easily shareable when in email format, as a simple forward can expand the reach of your content more than you anticipated.

Most thank you emails contain important links. One may take the the customer to an advertised offer, while the other may lead to a higher risk but better reward offer that committed customers are more likely to take advantage of. They can also be personalized with the name of the customer or a set of products they may like. This is what makes them useful.

Letting your customers know what your product does and how it does those things is important, but consumers always pay more attention to photos. According to a recent survey, 67% of customers ranked photos higher than both descriptions and reviews for their importance in making a purchase. So don’t just use photos - use good ones, and use them in the ways we’ve described below.

Make sure every photo you use looks professional. Photos that are clearly pixelated, watermarked, or poorly lit should never be featured on your business website. By using large, professional photos with simple backgrounds, your customers become more willing to trust your company. Of course, it’s important not to crowd any page with photos. Only include photos that directly relate to your brand, or that you want people to associate your brand with.

Get as many different angles of your products as possible. While one high-quality photo of your products is good, giving your customers access to an array of photos from different angles will increase the chances of them buying your products. The goal is to simulate an in-person shopping experience on your ecommerce website. Add a zoom function or a 360-degree rotation tool and you’ll boost your conversions with those elements alone.

In the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, the power of compelling content cannot be overstated. Whether you're running an e-commerce site, a blog, or a corporate website, the effectiveness of your copy directly influences your conversion rate. Crafting content that resonates with your audience, speaks their language, and drives action is an art and a science. Let's dive into practical content tips that can transform your copywriting and propel your conversion rate to new heights.

 

1. Know Your Audience:

Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of effective copywriting. Conduct thorough research to grasp their pain points, desires, and preferences. Tailoring your content to speak directly to your target audience establishes a connection fundamental to conversion.

 

2. Craft Compelling Headlines:

The headline is the first impression your content makes. Create headlines that are attention-grabbing, clear, and promise value. According to studies, a significant portion of visitors decides whether to engage with your content based solely on the headline. Make it count.

 

3. Focus on Benefits, Not Features:

When showcasing your product or service, emphasize the benefits rather than just listing features. Help your audience visualize how your offering can address their needs or improve their lives. Highlighting benefits creates a persuasive narrative that drives conversions.

 

4. Use Persuasive Language:

Incorporate persuasive language that nudges your audience towards action. Words like "discover," "exclusive," "free," and "limited-time offer" evoke a sense of urgency and excitement. Crafting a sense of immediacy can be a powerful motivator for conversion.

 

5. Leverage Storytelling:

Humans are wired to connect with stories. Integrate storytelling into your content to create a narrative that engages emotions. Stories resonate and leave a lasting impact, whether it's sharing customer success stories, your brand journey, or illustrating a problem-solution scenario.

 

6. Optimize for Readability:

Ensure your content is easily digestible. Break up long paragraphs, use subheadings, and incorporate bullet points to enhance readability. Online readers often scan content, making it effortless to grasp key points quickly.

 

7. Create a Strong Call-to-Action (CTA):

A compelling CTA is the linchpin of conversion. Clearly articulate the action you want your audience to take, whether purchasing, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a resource. Make your CTA prominent, concise, and irresistible.

 

8. Incorporate Social Proof:

Build trust by integrating social proof into your copy. Customer testimonials, reviews, and user-generated content serve as powerful endorsements. They reassure potential customers that others have had positive experiences, instill confidence and encourage conversions.

 

9. A/B Testing:

Refine your copy through A/B testing. Experiment with headlines, CTAs, and content structures to identify what resonates best with your audience. Continuous testing and optimization based on data-driven insights can significantly improve your conversion rate.

 

10. Mobile Optimization:

With most internet users accessing content on mobile devices, ensure your copy is optimized for mobile. Short sentences, concise paragraphs, and easily clickable CTAs contribute to a seamless mobile user experience, positively impacting conversion rates.

 

 

Here are a few additional resources that can provide valuable insights on improving your brand's online presence through the effective use of content marketing strategies:

 

How to Market a Restaurant in Toronto

How to Outrank Competitors in Your Neighborhood

What does Google prefer, the quality or quantity of backlinks?

How does responsive web design impact website traffic?

 

Conclusion

 

In the digital realm, where attention is fleeting, mastering the art of persuasive copy is a non-negotiable aspect of driving conversions. You create a narrative that captivates and converts by understanding your audience, crafting compelling headlines, emphasizing benefits, and incorporating storytelling. Implementing these content tips and ongoing testing and optimization positions your brand for success in a competitive digital landscape. Elevate your copywriting and watch your conversion rate soar, unlocking the full potential of your digital presence.

 

 

Why Should You Opt for Content Marketing in Toronto with Unlimited Online Exposure?

 

Unlimited Online Exposure, a reputable digital marketing agency in Toronto, has established a solid reputation throughout its 27 years of operation. Being trailblazers in the industry, they have an impressive track record of successfully developing over 1400 websites.

 

Unlimited Online Exposure is committed to delivering cost-effective web design services and video marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing, chatbot integration, CRM implementation, inbound marketing, and local SEO in Toronto. Their services are tailored to boost brand visibility and drive online business success. To learn more, contact them at 416-477-0594 or visit their website.

The three most important parts of online retail are customer acquisition, conversion, and retention. If you’re active on social media and know how to advertise to your audience, it’s fairly easy for consumers to find your company. Turning those consumers into customers is a little trickier. They need to take well to your products, prices, themes, messages, and overall reputation to commit to your brand. Keeping those customers around is even harder, considering how short our attention spans as buyers have become.

Each of these elements is essential to generating revenue, yet many companies segregate their teams and have them focus on only one of them. Creating silos like this disrupts the collaborative nature of successful businesses, locking up important pieces of information and unintentionally wasting money. Instead, have these silos work together in ways that benefit everyone involved. The process starts with understanding how each element of ecommerce works.

Despite how long they’ve been around, Podcasts seem to be turning up more and more often now that digital communication is the norm. You may be considering starting your own, but are unsure whether or not it will pay off. Can podcasts thrive in the age of instant information? We’ve got some data for you that will help you draw your own conclusions.

A survey completed at the beginning of this year showed that 60% of people didn’t know the definition of podcasting. A mere 40% of participants had listened to a podcast in the past. A separate report released more recently stated that of the 5,700 participants polled, only 60% planned to listen to podcasts in the near future. On the other hand, 45% of that same group wanted more information about podcasting.

The number of podcasts that exist may not be increasing, but the number of podcast listeners is, thanks to Spotify, Pandora, and other music streaming services that offer audio content to their users. Between 2015 and 2017, the amount of monthly podcasts listeners rose from 17% to 24%. And soon enough, podcasters will be able to get a better idea of what their audiences enjoy.

To a certain extent, your company’s digital presence can be summed up by the amount of traffic that your website and social media profiles receive. Statistics show that less than 10% of bloggers collect more than $1,000 in profit per month, while less than 5% pass the $10,000 checkpoint in that same timeframe. Seems hopeless, right? Not exactly. Your saving grace is evergreen content.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of evergreen content, it’s the stuff that generates more than half of your website’s overall traffic despite its age and stagnation. To create such influential content, you can’t expect to spend a half hour at your computer screen whipping up a keyword-heavy article that will draw in your audience and make loyal customers out of them. You need to appeal to your readers with creative language and fresh concepts, but most of all, you need to give them something helpful.

Surprisingly, the most important element is the one that most writers miss when developing evergreen content. Trying to sell something to someone who thinks they already have everything they need rarely works. By highlighting or creating a problem and following it with your company’s solution, your readers will be convinced they’ll be gaining something by purchasing your product.

Although Google has made it clear that it does not use social media success to rank search engine results, your business’s social media accounts are still extremely important and strongly linked to SEO. With both tools, you aim to gain trust, generate site traffic, make conversions, and provide outstanding service. This is why SEO and social media go hand in hand.

Just behind Google in the search engine hierarchy is YouTube, which means your company should be using it whenever possible for ads and videos. Tangible results will take a while to see, but they’ll appear in good time if you follow an effective strategy closely. Keep your focus on creating social media content your audience will want to consume, and you’ll naturally go up in the rankings.

Because search engines index a large quantity of social media content, typing a company’s name into the search bar will often turn out that company’s social media accounts as some of the first results. Content that’s been highly interacted with is more likely to be indexed. If your content is good and you adjust your accessibility settings to raise more views, your company’s local SEO ranking will automatically rise.

Businesses often put a great deal of effort into building their business websites, but they tend to neglect their “About Us” page, focusing more on organizing their products, services, and contact information instead. Unfortunately, this is a missed opportunity, as many customers are interested in learning how your company came to be and what it stands for. Take a look at your “About Us” page and fix any of the following fundamental errors you find.

When it comes to writing effective content, avoid writing more than a couple paragraphs about your origins and achievements as a business. Though your audience will want to know a bit about that, it becomes tiresome to read after too long. Aim to explain what your company’s goals and beliefs are, and how you go about fulfilling them in a friendly, appealing manner.

When creating their business website, several companies make the mistake of only putting their products and services under the tabs labelled as such. However, putting a few of these things into your About section can entice customers and boost your sales. Mention how the website is laid out and where they can find certain items, making sure to explain what makes you a better choice than your competitors.

If you frequently use Instagram for marketing, you won’t just need to create good advertisements - you’ll also need to know the social media platform’s rules to avoid being banned. Read on to discover the most important policies Instagram requires marketers to follow.

When you post an ad on Instagram, you immediately give the social media platform the ability to use it in certain ways. Instagram obtains the rights to the ad, though these rights can be given to others as well, and can use it for free even if it generates income. Instagram can also sell their license to a third party that can then use your ad as they wish.

All of this means that advertisements with outstanding photos can be used by Instagram or other entities without compensating you. Most of the time, Instagram chooses not to do this, as it could quickly ruin their reputation. But marketers are warned of the possibility before they begin to advertise on the platform so they won’t be surprised if it ever happens.

If your company chooses to do a contest or giveaway on Instagram to grow its following and customer awareness, you have to make it clear that Instagram has no part in it, stating that the contest isn’t linked to or funded by the platform in any way. Failing to do this can result in a banned account or another unwanted outcome.

It’s obvious by now that good content is important to a company’s success on social media. But because there's so much emphasis placed on this fact, many businesses forget to include general information about their products and services. When customers look at your social media profiles, they’ll want easy access to digital information so they can find what they’re looking for. How do you make sure you’re doing it right? Follow the steps down below:

Start by getting on as many different social media platforms as you can. Although Facebook and Twitter are the two most common, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn aren’t too far behind. More platforms means more opportunities for customer messaging, higher SEO ranking, and a more likeable brand overall. Put the link to your business website in the bio of each of your company’s accounts.

Because your profile descriptions will appear most often when a customer searches a keyword related to your company, make them short but powerful, packing them with as many keywords as possible to up their chances of appearing first in the search results. While descriptions infused with inventiveness and out-of-the-box wording are interesting, they don’t provide basic information for your customers and don’t appear far up on the search page.

Many companies are beginning to use influencer marketing to create conversions, particularly through the use of social media platforms. Instead of relying on a single strategy that works for an unknown period of time, influencer marketing changes as consumers change. Your company can generate traffic not only through simple Google searches, but also through social media presence, email advertising, and even word of mouth. So how does it work?

To successfully participate in influencer marketing, your company will team up with another larger, more popular company that promotes your products or services for a price you’ve negotiated. Both parties gain respect, trust, and exposure through a functional influencer marketing relationship. If you do it well, it can greatly increase the number of conversions your company gets.

Before you team up with a company similar to yours, make sure you know who your audience is and are aware of their likes, dislikes, and interests. You should have a clear idea of the age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status of your target audience to better advertise to them. Interact with them through polls, surveys, and comments on the most popular social media sites, like Twitter and Instagram.

When SEO came into play a decade ago, anything online retailers created fell under that category. Whether it was good or bad, it was SEO as long as it was packed with relevant keywords and would show up on the first page of the search it was related to.

Now that SEO emphasizes keywords and the like much less, creators can focus on developing content that readers actually like, not just content they can immediately find. In fact, they have to develop good content, because their competitors have already started to do just that. They must achieve a healthy balance between quality and discoverability.

One you decide to zero in on improving your company’s SEO, keep in mind that you want to appeal to your customers. They don’t want to be blatantly advertised to; they want to be unknowingly drawn in by your seamless wording and superior products or services. That all starts with them being able to find you when they plug a specific term into their search box. Though it’s difficult to identify what this search term was, you’ll always know which page they ended up on.

To be a successful entrepreneur, it’s an absolute must that you sort out your finances. To ensure the success of your business, it’s important to follow a set of rules to make sure you’ve got your money under control. Here’s our list of financial guidelines to help your business stay afloat and eventually shine. 

Create and follow a strict budget. Running out of money is a quick and easy way to kill your business, regardless of the quality of the products or services your company offers. Put just enough money into employee salaries, especially towards the beginning, and keep a certain amount of money to invest or put away at the end of each month. By following these tips, you’ll never run out of money.

Keep track of what you give and what you receive. Take note of who your most prominent clients are and which enterprises you’re associated with to determine your return on investment. It’s equally important to monitor your company’s individual expenditures as well, because there can be unexpected costs and monthly rate increases in many places. Record every instance of outgoing or incoming money. 


As consumer habits and technology change, marketers change to accommodate. They’ve had no problem doing so in the past, and the present is no different - it simply offers new challenges to overcome.

Internet access is so common among consumers nowadays that they have the resources to do thorough research about the products and service they’re interested in, depending heavily on customer reviews and recommendations from friends or family members. Despite the patterns in consumer behaviour, no two individuals are identical. That’s why user personalization is so effective.

User personalization sends suggestions, photos, general messages, and special offers to potential customers with the use of artificial intelligence and advanced profiling. By combining these two elements, you’ll be able to cater to your customers almost perfectly and make more conversions than ever before. Enthusiastic customers enjoy receiving suggestions based on their past purchases and online behaviour.

With its 300 million photo-centric users worldwide, Instagram is fast becoming an attractive marketing site. Better yet, Instagram’s advertising setup is nearly identical to that of Facebook, the company that owns it. Rarely discussed however, is the price of advertising on this social media media platform.

Instagram advertisements are presented to their target audiences as sponsored posts, regular photo or video content with a blue sponsored tag above it. Even users who don’t follow the company posting the ad will see it if they fit the target audience criteria. The ads were originally reserved for partners of Instagram, but that changed two years ago when the platform gave all businesses the freedom to market as they please.

The average cost-per-thousand-views for photo ads in 2015 was $6.50. This price may seem steep, but data shows that users are more likely to click on your ads on Instagram than on other social media platform. The average cost-per-thousand-views for video ads was $3.00, while the price of the newly introduced carousel ads, a sort of photo album users can flip through and click on, has not yet been determined.

With the wide range of platforms constantly buzzing with activity, social media is the ideal place to advertise your company and its products. Nearly all social media platforms now offer features that market products to consumers that will like them and ultimately help companies create conversions.

The decades-old marketing strategy that focused on creating and maintaining customer relationships has been passed onto social media from print and television. This strategy is much more effective than adding a name to your marketing list and immediately pushing your products into the faces of your new customers. When companies take the time to gain their followers’ trust, they become more respected and talked about, expanding their reach.

It may sound mysterious, but it’s not all that difficult to do. Start by developing content for each social media platform you use, taking the time to cater to the audience and layout of each one. Your target audience will like the familiarity of the content’s style, making them more comfortable with your brand right off the bat.

Nearly every successful company has a great business website, but they need to have ways to get the word out and keep previous customers coming back for more. The best way to do that is through email newsletters.

Email newsletters are different from customer service and purchase confirmation emails in that they focus solely on content rather than details. Fluffed-up newsletters seldom keep the attention of your customers, so it’s important to incorporate your newest products and services into your newsletters without boring your readers or getting swept away in a sea of inbox emails. Look at your newsletters as a way of creating long-lasting relationships with your buyers.

You’ll make leads out of listed names by playing up your role as a credible source, creating a communicative network, and promoting related content without poking and prodding too much. If you think well-done newsletters aren’t worth your time, keep in mind that interested customers enjoy the ones from companies that put in the effort to stand out and meet each consumer’s needs.

Everyone wants to know just how much SEO will cost them but quantifying the effectiveness of SEO is difficult with things like search result attention and keyword ranking. Although each situation is different, it’s important to come up with a rough estimate for the cost of your company’s SEO. Here are some things you should take note of:

Start with some basic information about your company’s search result status. If you know your number ranking and the approximate SEO spending of your competitors, you can find out how many links you’ll need, what additional SEO improvements need to be made, the industry your company is part of, and how long it will take to complete the overhaul process.

After you’ve updated that part of business, it’s essential to stay on guard and match your competitors when they counter you. Because of this harsh reality, you’ll need more than keyword rankings to keep up; you’ll need high-quality content and rule-abiding strategies. Creating a private blog network, for example, could get your company into a lot of trouble.

It isn’t easy for Google to decide how pages in search results rank, so it relies on many things. However, it focuses the most on backlinks. The second most important feature is content, and understandably so. Mediocre content shouldn’t come before great content. If you want to rank higher in search results and gain traffic, follow our lead.

Start thinking about which websites you’d like to pull links from. Because each website is different in content, popularity, and web design, you’ll have to choose wisely. Make a concrete list of digital sources that contain material strongly related to your niche. These sources can be blogs, scholarly articles, databases, or even videos. Attach the links you know will benefit you, and start your research on the rest.

It’s very important to your research as well as conduct a website audit. Go to SEMrush or a similar program and type in the URL of your most prominent competitor. SEMrush will collect and show all relevant data from that website, including backlinks. Scroll down and press the “Backlinks” button to have a look at which links the company is using. If your competitors are successful, their backlinks are probably working.

With the recent increase in influencer marketing, previously unknown companies have gained more authority and legitimacy while forming lasting relationships with their audiences, creating long term customers. Its recent success has caused many brands to partner up with powerful market influencers and market themselves on several different social media sites.

Taking advantage of this trend, Instagram will soon introduce a special paid partnership tag for the stories and posts related to influencer marketing. The photo-based social media platform explained that it aimed to further its endeavour in connecting people with similar interests, which isn’t limited to personal account users. Instagram is set on making it more clear when paid advertising is being shown to its users.

The paid partnership tag was tested out on the platform in March of this year, and the finished product is expected to arrive in July or August. Of course, consumers aren’t the only ones who need to know about the tag and what it entails - it’s equally as important for brands that are active on Instagram to understand the ins and outs of the new feature.

Despite its waning popularity, Facebook is still going strong. If you’re wondering what the company has in store for its on-page advertisements, we’ve got all the information you need to decide how to use its system as part of your online advertising efforts.

More marketing companies are using Facebook to advertise their products this year, and nearly two-thirds of those companies stated that the platform was essential for success in their marketing campaigns. Facebook’s specialized ad controls were introduced less than a decade ago, which raised revenue from $272 million to $777 million in just one year. This year’s revenue will be around $36 billion.

Facebook’s personal account growth was 12.8% from 2015 to 2016, but slowed to 9.6% from 2016 to 2017. It’s predicted to drop to 7.9% from 2017 to 2018. This, plus limited page space, will cause ad spending to decrease to less than half of what it was in 2016.

Most startups and smaller companies don’t put much effort into creating a good Facebook cover photo. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to pick a clean, professional photo: your banner should both welcome your customers and let them know what they’re in for. Not sure where to start? We’ve got a few tips for you.

Before you begin creating your cover photo, define your company’s main goal. This goal should be fairly long-term to avoid having to change your banner constantly. Instead of opting for your brand name or logo on a neutral backsplash, design your cover photo around your main goal, which can include promotions, general sales, social media interaction, or new products and services. Place relevant buttons just below your banner as well. Your customers are more likely to click these buttons once they’ve been primed with the message on your cover photo.