5 Tips for Effective Digital Marketing

Posted on: August 22nd, 2011 No Comments

1295770 printers grunge 5 Tips for Effective Digital MarketingEveryone from the average consumer to the marketing departments of Fortune 100 companies are going digital. With this in mind, a digital marketing strategy is essential for any company that wishes to have longevity in their market. Consumers are increasingly partaking in commerce from mobile devices and are also becoming more comfortable with the impulsive nature that these devices tend to accentuate. This is good news for companies with the right digital marketing strategy.
 
 Below are five tips for effective digital marketing.
 

1. Social media is king. 

Any long term digital marketing strategy will include a comprehensive social media presence. Facebook alone accounts for a full one fourth of total clicks which are performed by internet browsers in the United States (statistics not available in South Africa).
 
Social media gives you the ability to connect with your audience in real time like no medium before it. One way to think of it is this:
Any offline promotion or communication has an online component. To maximize your business presence online, each of the ways that you promote and advertise offline should be done online as well. Online will reach more people, and cost less.
 
For instance:
Twitter is a great place to offer coupons, or if your business is appointment based, inform customers about last minute cancellations to keep your customer flow high. Facebook is a wonderful place to post pictures of your customers with you in the office. Nothing says "recommendation" quite like a smiling photo, which gives a tacit recommendation to anyone who views it.
 
There are many other ways to use social media, but the main thing to remember is to connect all of the various pages you will be creating, and to have different sorts of information on each page.
 

2. Blogging is the other king.

To keep your business in the top of the minds of your customers, there is no better activity than blogging. Blogging can keep your audience abreast of happenings in your industry, in your business specifically, and make you known as an expert in the field. People gravitate towards experts, and it gives your business instant gravitas without having to hard sell. It also shows the personality of your business.
 

3. Keep your web copy poignant and simple.

Ever since the Google Panda update, search engine optimization is more human than ever. No longer will search engines list a site well based on a single metric in a vacuum. Top web sites are the ones that give the best overall experience.
 
In terms of web copy, that means keeping it simple. There are still some technical nuances to know, such as putting keywords in headers, in the first sentence, and using the free resources that are readily available online to find adjunct keywords to flesh out your copy with. 
 
However, for the most part, your web copy should be written to a human audience, not for a search engine spider. Professional with a sense of humor is never wrong. Make sure that the text drives your customers to a single call of action.
 

4. Email strategy.

Direct email still works. Make sure that you are keen to the nuances of the new email systems. For instance, many email clients give a preview window on mouseover before the email is ever opened. If your customer base is receiving a newsletter from you, are they seeing an attractive title or headline in the preview screen, or a confusing block of text or half of an image that is too large? Things like this can make the difference between a sale and an opt out message.
 

5. Retention and remarketing.

There are now marketing programs offered that can place targeted ads for your business in front of customers who visited your web site but did not buy. This particular technique is known as remarketing, and is one of the highest ROI activities available on the market today. 
 
This type of marketing also helps in retention efforts, as people are naturally inclined to feel buyer's remorse if they buy something which immediately ceases to be promoted. Letting old customers see that the product or service they bought is still relevant will keep them happy with your business, and they will happily buy udpated versions and new products from you.
 
Digital Marketing although no longer in its' infancy is still quite new to many businesses, so make sure you get ahead of the crowd by finding a digital marketing agency, or in the worst case, starting to catch up!
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Tips for successful Email Marketing

Posted on: July 30th, 2011

Email marketing is the oldest form of online marketing, and it's only gotten more bigger as the use of email increases. No matter how many new types of marketing come into being, from video to social media, none ever replaces email marketing as a way to market products and generate visitors.

1208163 email Tips for successful Email Marketing

 
The following email marketing techniques have been shown to work well.
 
Our first item is to mention that one of the keys to sustainability with email list marketing is to keep things ethical and upfront at all times. Just doing that helps to build trust and solidify your relationship with subscribers which is crucial to success. Naturally, avoiding even the appearance of spam-like behavior is of utmost importance. As you probably know, one practice with email spammers is they purposely make it hard to get away from them – unsubscribe.
 
However, for honest marketers that's never a problem because any autoresponder service that is used will require the inclusion of an unsubscribe link in each email. That is a necessary step, but for honest marketers there's never a problem with that. That is also a measure that can help you, too. But it's also a trend that has been going on because countries all around the world are concerned about the spam problem. There are only good reasons for doing things the right way, perhaps the most important reason is it will be more profitable. Giving your subscribers and potential customers as much control as possible helps them to feel like you have respect for them, and that will go far and speak volumes for you. Using ethical standards in all your email campaigns will help to make your success a long-term proposition. 
 
You can also use the technique of offering your subscribers a bribe. Everyone likes to receive gifts or something for nothing. By delivering free bribes or gifts to your subscribers, you can boost your subscription rate and grow your list. This idea can be profitable for you by using it on two separate groups.
 
It can be used as a way to bring you fresh subscribers, but it can also be used to get your current subscribers to work on your behalf to bring you more traffic. This is how you grow your list and also make the most out of it. If you want to get more subscribers, conversions and sales you have to apply tactics like this. Free offers also have the potential to turn viral if enough people forward the message and bring you more traffic.
 
Focus on your stats and on what they say. Of email marketing services give you the information on where your current campaign will carry you and what your stats are. You must be sure to monitor all activity from your clicks and opens to unsubscribes. When you're just getting starting with your campaign, try out different types of formats and place your link in different areas to see how your subscribers respond back. Compare the outcome and see how it is possible for improvement. 
 
If you're not marketing via email, then you really should give it a try.


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Is Print Marketing affordable?

Posted on: July 29th, 2011

Let's face it. Advertising isn't exactly a bargain. But it doesn't have to be as costly an endeavor as many people believe it to be. 

1109654 first news Is Print Marketing affordable?

 
As we talked about yesterday, advertising is usually used as a surface treatment. Asking advertising to do the lion's share of marketing your product or service is a yeoman's task. That's when things start to get expensive. For example, a relatively unremarkable store selling relatively unremarkable products in a relatively unremarkable fashion will often times expect an advertising campaign to yield leads and sales. It's possible, but it will take a hefty cash commitment from the unremarkable player. The advertising message will need to be geared toward the masses and communicated to as many people as possible. That's not cheap – and it's not smart either. 
 
A remarkable business, on the other hand, is playing by an entirely different set of rules. A company with a remarkable product, service or method can deploy a remarkable advertising message to a small, targeted group of individuals who are most likely to appreciate the company's uniqueness and act upon it. They, in turn, will spread the word about that company. 
 
Another tremendous benefit enjoyed by companies that are remarkable is the concept of permission. A company with a unique size, flavor, or look has a better than average chance of requesting and receiving permission from their would-be and current customers to market directly to them with specific and relevant information. It's a concept we'll talk more about in a few days, but the concept is simple. When someone permits you to market to them, the task is easier, the cost is lower, and the results are better. 
 
Advertising is only expensive when you ask it to do a remarkable task for an unremarkable company. So dig deep and find out what's remarkable about your product or service or method or whatever and start telling the people who care. 
 
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