The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing for “Boring” Businesses

There’s a wealth of information about content marketing online, from ultimate guides that cover every possible aspect of the process to fun listicles of businesses that are doing content marketing right.

The only problem is that most of the examples you find in content marketing guides have little in common with the average business. Dig into the list linked above and you’ll notice that all six are marketing companies - not exactly a representative sample of small businesses!

It’s easy to generate interest and attention with content when you’re marketing to marketers. It’s also easy to attract attention when you’re a remarkable business like Tesla or Uber. But what if your business isn’t remarkable? What if you’re normal at best, and a little boring at worst? This doesn't mean you should confine yourself to traditional marketing tactics.

If you aren't a rock star brand like Apple or Red Bull, there’s no reason to ignore content marketing as a potential sales channel.

With the right strategy and approach, you can make it work. The key is in working out how you can make your “boring” business less boring, at least to the people that are most likely to read and respond to your content.

Below, we’ve shared three techniques that you can use to make content marketing work for your “boring” business. Whether you’re searching for traffic, links, social activity or direct sales, try all three before you write your business off as too boring or conventional for content marketing!

Focus 100% of your attention on reaching people that need you

Pretend you’re in charge of digital marketing for an accounting firm that specialises in helping small businesses deal with debt.

What would you write about? Since you’re not pioneering innovative new technology like Tesla or Apple, there’s little hope of attracting the attention of the mainstream media. Since you offer an extremely private service, it’s unlikely that people will share your content.

Instead of approaching content marketing like a business with broad, mainstream appeal would, by writing for the largest possible audience,“boring” businesses need to focus on writing for the small audience of people that truly, often desperately need their help.

For our example accountancy firm, this means writing helpful, insightful content for the owners of distressed, struggling businesses.

Start this process by making a list of the most common questions you receive from prospects and clients. Below, we’ve listed five questions that people seeking the help of an accountancy firm specializing in debt and insolvency might ask:

• I’ve just received a statutory demand. What should I do?

• My business is struggling. How do I know if I’m insolvent?

• What can I do to collect money from a non-paying debtor?

• How can I stop an aggressive creditor from winding up my business?

• How can I stop my business from becoming insolvent?

For a large content marketing campaign, you should make a list of at least 20 questions that you frequently receive from prospects and clients. These questions will form the focus of each article and blog post you publish as part of your campaign.

Once you’ve put together a list of questions, check the search volume for related keywords with the AdWords Keyword Planner. This will tell you how large the monthly potential audience is for each blog post you publish.

Select “search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category” and enter your primary keyword to generate a list of related keywords.

Our first example question about statutory demands receives a large amount of searches in the UK, indicating that there’s a significant interest in this topic:

All in all, there are 347 closely related keywords, showing that there’s a large demand for useful information about statutory demands. It’s also clear from the results that the most popular topic related to statutory demands is setting aside a statutory demand.

From this data, we know that an article or blog post like “How to Set Aside a Statutory Demand” will reach an interested, motivated audience. People need information on setting aside statutory demands, and a helpful, step-by-step guide could be very successful for our example business.

In short, the audience for this question needs our example company. They’re a fantastic match for our service and the best way to reach them is through content. As such, an article like this is a no-brainer and an obvious inclusion in any content marketing plan.

This technique can be used for any business, not just an accounting firm. Start by making a list of the questions your existing prospects and customers ask you. Then, verify that people need answers to these questions. If they do, answer them to reach an audience that needs you.

Your business is only “boring” to people that don’t need you. If you solve a problem for someone or provide useful information, you’re no longer boring. Write for people that need your help and you’ll quickly discover an audience that finds your business extremely valuable and interesting.

Find and talk about fun, unique, or inspiring aspects of your business

No matter how boring your business might seem to you, it’s probably far more interesting than you realise. Every business has a fun, unique or inspiring side that, once discovered, can be a significant asset for your content marketing campaigns.

Data from The New York Times Customer Insight Group shows that people share content for a variety of reasons:

• 49% share content to inform or entertain other people

• 68% share content to define themselves to friends and peers

• 78% share content to grow and strengthen relationships

• 69% share content to feel more involved in the world

• 84% share content to support causes or issues they care about

Of these five motivations, which can your business tap into?

Do you support an important cause or movement? If so, make it one of the key focuses of your content marketing. Involvement in a nonprofit or charitable cause can make a “boring” business stand out as a vehicle for social improvement and progress.

Even the simplest of businesses can tap into the power of content marketing for social good. In a Moz article, Robin Swire explained how he marketed a car parking business using topics like road safety, drunk driving and parking dangers.

One of the easiest ways to make your boring business more relatable to a wide audience is to talk about how you’ve helped people. If your business provides a service that solves problems, publish a case study explaining how you helped a specific client or customer.

The key is to focus on the few aspects of your business that are fun, unique or inspiring, instead of the hundreds that are boring.

Once you start using this approach, you’ll quickly discover that a lot of “remarkable” businesses are actually just as boring as yours.

Red Bull sells caffeinated energy drinks. It’s remarkable because it focuses on the unique ways people use their energy through extreme sports, risk taking and adventure.

Nike makes shoes and sportswear. It’s a remarkable brand because of its focus on how people use its products to achieve excellence and push the limits of human achievement.

Every business, no matter how boring it may seem, has a unique, remarkable and inspiring sidethat’s perfectly suited to content marketing. Once you discover yours, make it the focus of your content marketing efforts and you’ll quickly notice a measurable improvement in results.

Market your business using helpful tools instead of written content

Many people make the mistake of associating content marketing with written content. Since we typically associate content with articles, blog posts and infographics, it’s a very common mistake to make.

Content is actually far more than just the written word. Your content marketing could be built on helpful YouTube videos that your customers share. It could be built around interactive websites that guide your target audience through a specific process.

One of the best ways to market your “boring” business using content is to build helpful tools that provide value to your target audience.

Let’s return to the accountancy firm example we used above. Many of the questions this type of business receives are related to debt and finances - two topics that are perfect for online tools.

Instead of writing an article about how long it could take to pay off a certain amount of debt at a specific interest rate, our example accounting firm could create an online calculator that works out the repayment periods for business loans, credit card debt and other forms or borrowing.

Or, it could create a tax calculation tool that provides income tax, corporation tax and other tax estimates based on the user’s income or company revenue. Or a VAT calculator that works out roughly how much a company owes for its next VAT return!

Online tools are fantastic content marketing assets for businesses that solve problems. Since they provide valuable information based on user input, they’re built for sharing. They also help generate leads by attracting a very motivated, specific type of user.

An example of this technique in action is MoneySavingExpert’s mortgage calculator, which gives users the approximate lifetime and monthly cost of their mortgage. Banks like Sainsbury’s Bank and Barclays have similar calculators for car loans and other financial services.

The goal of any effective content is to answer questions and solve problems. If your business is built around helping people with a specific problem, consider using tools and resources as part of your content marketing efforts.

Not only will you attract readers and generate social sharing activity -- you’ll also generate real leads from users that find your online tools via Google Search.

How can your “boring” business market itself using content?

No matter how boring your business might seem, there are people out there who are eager to learn more about you. Through great content, you can reach them.

By focusing on the right audience, delivering the right message and publishing the right type of content, you can transform your business from boring to interesting and generate social activity, links and inbound leads from your content marketing efforts.

After all, your business isn’t as boring as you think. Answer the right questions and speak to the right people and you’ll quickly discover that your business is far more interesting and remarkable than you may have originally thought!

Whether you're a complete beginner, business owner or marketing professional looking to upskill, browse our globally recognised digital marketing courses to find something perfect for you.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

An Insider’s Look at Clubhouse

Everything you need to know about the buzz-heavy audio app.

Clubhouse is an audio-based social network that feels part corporate conference, part conference call, part corporate podcast. You’ve probably heard of it.

This new approach to online connection could impact:

• How we network

• How we communicate

• How we learn

• How we build status (Or social capital, if you will)

The need for such a platform is in sharp focus right now.

Social media today can be noisy, combative, and anxiety-inducing.

You might say that’s because social media involves people and people are all of those things.

There is little of what we could call “social connection” on social media, though. The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that totalitarianism feeds off loneliness. This is because in a lonely state we are cut off from human connection.

Worse, today we have social media to fill the void. Worse still, because it supplants human connection with a distorted simulacrum that offers very little in the way of actual social activity. We remain atomised, even when supposedly connecting with others.

Part of this problem lies in how the social networks are designed. They are visual platforms, built to promote posts that attract attention. Over time, the social hierarchy on these platforms has solidified, making it harder for new voices to be heard. People fall into line with their existing opinions and “conversations” descend into groupthink.

These days, people are painfully aware that they miss having actual conversations. It has never been clearer that social media does not address that need.

So, does Clubhouse fare any better?

Clubhouse Basics

• Clubhouse was founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth.

• Launched in beta in March 2020.

• iOS-only, for now.

• Invite-only, for now.

• Installed over 2 million times in the first week of Feb 2021. Installed over 10 million times in total.

• Free to join, with no ads. Clubhouse is introducing features like tipping and paid rooms, however.

• Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and valued at over $1 billion already (because why not, eh? That’s how valuations work these days. We will “unicorns” into existence).

• “Celebrities” including Drake (musician) and Elon Musk have popped in for a chat.

• It was popular in China, briefly, before it got banned.

• There have already been reports of sexism, racism, and antisemitism. Moderation of live audio is proving tricky.

• The conversations are deleted once the event ends.

The Experience

Clubhouse opens with a short set of options, similar to the opening sequence on TikTok.

You will note the ‘Hustle’ category at the top. Admittedly, you don’t get that on TikTok.

Although the technology and growth hacking sessions are the most popular, you will also notice the broad range of options here. Clubhouse does try to give a platform to groups that might otherwise feel left out on social media.

You pick a few interests and then Clubhouse recommends people to follow. It can look at your Twitter connections and phone contacts, should you wish.

Next, Clubhouse will create an automated list of conversations for you to attend. You can add these to your in-app schedule, or to your Apple/Google calendar.

As you can see here, there are already groups that set up events and invite speakers along for a chat:

The moderators of these conversations are volunteers and they can decide which audience members get to ask questions. They call this “getting on stage”. More on that later.

You can also browse all upcoming events, if you really want to explore the varied meats of our cultural stew.

Or you can start your own event and invite people:

When you have hosted three or more events, you can apply to host a “Club” at a set time every week. This is the best way to build up and sustain interest in a topic, as you can re-engage your audience in a consistent location. Clubhouse may offer sponsored Clubs for brands in future, but the feature is still quite experimental.

Once a session starts, you can pop in and listen. It works a lot like a panel session you’d see at any conference, but with the added bonus that you can “leave quietly” at any time. I hopped into this room to hear some advanced matchmaking tips:

I thought it was going to be about matching supply with demand in a platform-based business, but no. It was about how to find your perfect romantic partner.

I hit the ‘Leave quietly’ button so loudly, they may have heard me. But that’s the point: you can just move on to other ‘rooms’ until you find something you do want to hear.

For people who already spend their days with AirPods in, I can see the appeal. You can have this as background noise, with the odd comment or story cutting through. The sense that the conversation is ‘live’ - and that you can participate at any time - makes it more immediate than listening to a podcast.

Participants are, in theory at least, free to chat informally in a way they never would on Twitter or Facebook. Anyone with a sizable following on those platforms will carefully plan and consider each post these days, but on Clubhouse they can kick back and chat.

It is also possible to build a community around niche interests here. Facebook has been saying for years that it wants to encourage this kind of organic mini-network, to little avail.

The drop-in nature of Clubhouse removes some of the pressure on event curators too, as they can trial new topics quickly to canvas opinion. If no-one is interested, the conversation disappears at its conclusion and they can move on. It beats setting up a Zoom conference just to gain this knowledge, at least.

Conversations are structured, but they depend on moderators to keep things on track. The moderators are unpaid and they can decide who speaks during the session. The benefit for the moderators is that they can gain followers too, both through their observations in the session and their skill in facilitating a conversation.

For the speakers, Clubhouse is great because there is less concern that an off-the-cuff statement will be turned into a haunting meme.

Additionally, speakers can give the air of connecting with their audience, without actually having to do so. On Twitter, for example, anyone can leave a comment under anyone else’s post. Celebrities treat Twitter as a broadcast medium, while wishing to act approachable. How often do they read or comment on their fans’ comments, though?

Clubhouse does not make them play this role. They can talk among themselves and answer the occasional, saccharine question to keep the crowds happy.

Clubhouse: The Pros

You can set up an event to discuss anything on Clubhouse.

See?

Parts of it feel a little like Reddit, where people can discuss niche interests. Some parts feel like LinkedIn, with all the infernal connotations that phrase brings. Others are like Quora, as people discuss little-known facts about the world.

This is where platform design comes in. Can Clubhouse sustain a thriving ecosystem for all of these parts, or will it create a mirror-version of the existing hierarchy on Twitter/Facebook?

• Early adopters can quickly build a following, which has become more difficult on other platforms.

• For some, audio will be the ideal format to connect with new people. Text and images aren’t for everyone.

• It’s perfect for mobile/AirPod listening and it will plug a gap while we continue through lockdown.

• There is more of a thrill to hearing live conversations than listening to podcasts or turning up to a scheduled conference call. Plus, voice has an innate intimacy that text (even prose as florid as this) cannot match.

• It is possible to imagine how unexpected interactions could lead to exciting, new conversations. Clubhouse makes it possible to have these spontaneous exchanges, without the same baggage of other online platforms. We could have people with completely different viewpoints engaging in respectful dialogue, like the olden days. We can dream, eh?

Clubhouse: The Cons

• Live audio is very difficult to moderate. Livestream video is difficult, but there are improving tools to tackle this. Audio is a continuing challenge and it is left to volunteer moderators here. If Clubhouse doesn’t sort out user safety very soon, it won’t last long.

• Sensationalism tends to win. This format does not reward deep thinking - when people can drop in and drop out so easily, the pressure is on speakers to grab attention. Conspiracy theories have already found a home on Clubhouse.

• The same people hog the mic. You’ll recognise the people, because they’ll be the same people running events on your LinkedIn. I saw little evidence of a new form of social hierarchy developing here and if Clubhouse just becomes a giant corporate networking event, it won’t last long. Most of these people just are not as interesting as they think they are.

• And, of course, the big social networks are already planning to rip off Clubhouse’s best features.

The Clones

I teach executive education courses where we discuss why big companies don’t see new threats coming. These companies have all the money and all the resources, so why should a start-up cause them trouble?

There are lots of reasons why this happens, some more understandable than others.

When you look at Clubhouse, it’s difficult to have much sympathy for Facebook and Twitter - both of whom are now working on Clubhouse clones. Facebook and Twitter have huge teams of people who are responsible for coming up with new ideas, but they waited for Clubhouse to reach a $1bn+ valuation before announcing similar products.

It has been clear for some time that social media only covers one very small part of what we want from social interactions.

The problem for the incumbents is that audio is risky, which is likely why they have waited for Clubhouse to reach critical mass before asking.

As we have seen above, Clubhouse has its benefits and it is different, but it is still experimental. It’s also small enough to crush.

Mark Zuckerberg popped into a Clubhouse chat, in what many saw as a sign that the app had ‘broken through’. It now seems he was there to pinch the idea. Facebook has announced it is developing a Clubhouse-style product that it hopes will bring some organic interaction back onto the platform. But would everyone trust Facebook with their audio data?

Twitter, meanwhile, has been working on a new feature called Spaces for a while.

Rémy Bourgoin, a senior software engineer at Twitter, told MIT that the vision is for Spaces to be "as intimate and comfortable as attending a well-hosted dinner party."

He adds,

"You don't need to know everyone there to have a good time, but you should feel comfortable sitting at the table."

This is imagined as an “additional layer” to the conversations already on Twitter. It seems a more natural milieu for this than Facebook will ever be, even if Twitter remains a fair distance from such a lofty goal itself.

In testing, it looks like this:

It’s very similar to Clubhouse, although it has closed captioning as an added bonus. And of course, Clubhouse’s audience is already on Twitter.

Clubhouse: The Final Word

We opened by discussing the human traits that are exhibited on social media today. It is up to these companies to design platforms that encourage the human behaviors they want to see.

Think of it in the same way we would design a building. People act differently when in a comfortable home, as opposed to an abandoned warehouse.

Leaving it as a free-for-all will always see the louder, more aggressive traits win. In the real world, barbarians had the run of the place before we built up some laws and institutions.

Clubhouse has an opportunity to seize the fertile land left by Facebook and Twitter. How it builds on it will define its lasting prospects.

We know Twitter and Facebook will use their existing data and networks as leverage. If Clubhouse simply mimics this framework, stealing its audience will be a straightforward task. The incumbents have all the resources.

Being audio-only is a distinguishing factor, but it can be copied. Clubhouse will need its own form of social capital and a hierarchy built on in-app interactions to create some “switching costs” for its early users.

Clubhouse has plenty of early buzz, but relying on that shaky substance will offer little guarantee of long-term success. Right now, Clubhouse offers a home for conversations that would happen elsewhere in other circumstances. As we return to those old patterns, Clubhouse’s luster will diminish.

Were I Clubhouse, I’d look to Reddit for inspiration when it comes to organic communities. Reddit offers a place for a wide range of interests and it has steadily grown in popularity.

Clubhouse, unlike Reddit, is highly attractive for corporate customers and this creates options to build a viable business model. But only if it looks beyond its heady, early success to address the clear issues it faces.

Whether Clubhouse will remain relevant remains to be seen, but you can learn how to engage your target audience on different channels by enrolling in a globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts, to give yourself the best start possible.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

3 Ways to Create Mobile-Friendly Content

It’s no secret that mobile traffic continues to soar. According to Statista, mobile accounts for 51.92% of all web traffic and mobile usage typically surpasses desktop use, affecting everything from shopping to communication behaviors. Despite this widespread use of mobile devices, some marketers have yet to optimise their websites, ads and images for mobile success. If your mobile optimisation efforts are still lagging behind, here are three ways to ensure you’re ready to face a mobile-heavy marketing world.

1. Optimise Text

To create mobile-friendly content, you first need to understand how people read content on mobile devices. There are some key differences between desktop reading and mobile reading.

Reading Patterns

The following two viewing patterns have been generally accepted for desktop-based reading based on research trials:

1. The “golden triangle” is a viewing pattern in which viewers primarily look at the upper left corner of a search engine page or website. The principle resulted from eye-tracking studies in which the majority of rapid eye movement covers a triangular pattern.

2. The "F-shaped pattern" is a more popular reading pattern in which users look at the top, left to right, down, left to right again and then down further. It makes the shape of an ‘F’ in eye-tracking studies. This pattern does not apply to mobile readers because there’s not enough screen space to merit such sweeping vertical and horizontal movements.

When it comes to a mobile screen, as the image below shows, users give 68% of their attention to the center and top half of a mobile site and a full 86 % to the upper two-thirds. Anything below this point on the screen is rarely viewed; however, it’s best practice to optimise all your content.

Mobile Copywriting Best Practices

To make sure that your content has the biggest impact possible, follow these steps:

1. Headline: Your headline should be short so that it doesn’t take up the majority of the device’s screen. CoSchedule suggests that headlines with about 6 words get the highest amount of click-throughs. The Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer also scores shorter headlines (up to 5 words) the highest. You can also test your title’s usability on a mobile device with CoSchedule’s headline analyzer. We used the analyzer on this blog’s headline with the following result:

Your mobile headline should also pique the user’s interest and give a clear indication of what to expect from your content.

2. Summary: Some marketers are big fans of including a summary at the top of their posts. Consider this a TLDR (“too long, didn’t read”) for the top of your content. You can also incorporate a summary-type style into your first paragraph by clearly outlining what the reader will learn from the piece.

3. Body: Use “chunking” to make your mobile content easier to consume. Chunking is the practice of grouping related content into easily digestible “chunks,” or groups. Below is an example of what mobile sites look like, first without chunking (on the left) and with chunking (on the right).

Use the following to chunk your content:

• Images

• Styling (italics, bold)

• Subheaders

• White space

• Short paragraphs

• Summary

Use Shorter Words

Additionally, you may want to consider shorter, more precise words in your mobile content. The American Plain Language Action and Information Network has a list of some of the words you can simplify in all your content - and not just mobile - such as “some” instead of “a number of”, or “so” instead of “consequently”.  Here’s a list of 50 of the most used wordy phrases and their simpler alternatives from Daily Writing Tips. The Hemingway app is a great tool for helping you simplify your content in these ways and more.

2. Optimise Images & Videos

As we’ve seen in the chunked content examples, images are a great way to make your content more ‘readable’ on mobile devices. Screenshot, graphics, memes and more, add a visual punch to your content that keeps users interested. But there’s a catch: your images must be optimized for mobile. Otherwise, they could take up too much real estate or become illegible.

Eye-Tracking Studies for Images

Studies show that mobile users look at images more than they look at text. (Note: KG stands for Knowledge Graph – the entity results, panels and carousel summary are provided by Google.)

This image shows that a user’s eye is drawn to images over text. Intent, query, content, relevance, and location are irrelevant to the principle that the human eye is drawn to images. That can be good or bad. It’s good if your images add to your argument or make your point; it’s bad if they are simply distracting. To achieve the best results, offer your most valuable information directly after an image on both mobile and desktop devices.

Load Times & Images

Load times are one of the biggest deciding factors for users engaging with your content or bouncing back to the search results. You need users to see your content quickly, and slow load times are detrimental to this cause. Here are some tips for ensuring your images load speedily:

• Use Compression: Compression allows you to make your large files smaller without compromising appearance. Tools such as TinyJPG are ideal for ensuring this is done properly.

• Try Responsive Resizing Tools: We’ll talk more about site responsiveness later, but if responsive images are on your list, tools like embedlyDisplay can help.

• Create Pre-Optimised Images: There are many tools available that create pre-optimised images for emails, social media, websites and more. Try a tool like Canva to get started.

It may seem like an obvious idea, but you should always run your content (including images) through a preview process. Use your mobile device to check and see if you have enough white space to keep content readable. Try to imagine yourself as the end-user. Would you want to read and view most of the content and images on the page? Do the images have a clear purpose?

Optimising Videos

Mobile video consumption rises by 100% each year. And, by 2022, online video content will account for around 82% of all web traffic. If you want to encourage mobile users to watch your videos, follow these two tips.

1. Create Readable Text: First, make sure the text in your videos is readable on mobile devices. Then, make sure you have a transcript of the video for those that prefer to read versus watch. This will also help you increase the SEO value of your page. Many users play videos without the audio. In fact, 85% of video on Facebook is played without sound. Make sure your video makes sense without it.

2. Optimise Your Tech: By embedding third-party video hosting services like YouTube or Vimeo on your site, you can ensure bitrates, compression and more have already been optimized. If you choose to host your own video, invest in a paid tool like Wistia or use Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming.

3. Optimise Design

You might have been thinking we’d leave this one out. After all, aren’t images and words what constitutes design? The answer is not completely. You’ll have to follow some steps on the technical side to make mobile content work.

Responsive Design

We briefly mentioned it earlier, but what does it really mean? Some marketers incorrectly equate mobile design with responsive design—but they’re not the same. Responsive design should be used across all platforms. It means that as screen sizes change, your content changes to fit within them. See this image (from the Boston Globe website across different platforms) as an example:

Useless Sidebars

On desktop, sidebars can be a great way to facilitate the buyer’s journey and improve the user experience. On mobile devices, however, they’re simply a distraction. It usually gets pushed down to the bottom of the page and is rarely used.

So, unless you can create a fancy sidebar like Google did, it’s probably better to remove it altogether for mobile users. See this CrazyEgg blog for more info.

Navigation menus and other elements on your desktop website may also need to meet the same fate. Again, try your site out for yourself and see what’s valuable--and what needs to go.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Though they haven’t been heavily-tested or widely adopted (yet), AMP pages may help you get ahead of the mobile marketing curve. These HTML pages follow a specific format and were developed by Google and its partner brands. These pages get priority in the search results of mobile users for certain relevant queries.

They’re extremely fast, and Google is encouraging companies to try them out. To see a demo, use your mobile device and search for something on g.co/ampdemo.

As mobile traffic continues to grow, it’s our responsibility as marketers to keep up with the trends to provide an excellent user experience, no matter what type of device they may be using.

Plan, execute and manage more mobile marketing campaigns with our cornerstone certification in Social Media Marketing taught by the local industry experts.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

3 Axioms of Successful Marketing

Talk about ‘a new normal’ is cheap. And the brutal truth is that nobody has a working recipe, yet, for how marketing needs to change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of the virus on patterns of consumption, family life, work, and society might vary significantly (in nature and size) across different cultures, geographies, and industries. A good strategy for identifying what needs to change in marketing is to understand what doesn’t.

C Change

Marketing is not an exact science, yet it is a primary measure for companies to connect people with their products, for profit. In other words: it’s imperfect but important. And as a consequence, marketing is not only under constant scrutiny but also highly susceptible to change:

• A change in consumer needs may require the product to adapt.

• A change in competitive market dynamics may require pricing to realign.

• A change in media consumption may require promotions to be remodeled.

• A change in commercial logistics may require adjustments in placement.

• A change in _____ might require another ‘P’_____ to modify.

Surprise, surprise! Elements of consumption, culture, competition, categories, capabilities etc. change literally all the time. Call it the 4Cs, 5Cs, 6Cs or whatever… Marketing managers aren’t exactly new to living in a ‘VUCA’ world. It is the reason every decent marketer tracks and continuously re-assesses the context in which they must drive their business.

Equally unsurprisingly, concepts like the 4Ps, 6Ps (or however many Ps of marketing) continue to stick around. They provide structure to help embrace change in the dynamic world of marketing: Whenever a ‘C’ changes, a ‘P’ must compensate in some way, shape or form. It’s how companies have survived the last three industrial revolutions.

Sea change is inevitable, and it’s been like this … forever.

Same, Same, but Different – but Still Same

Unlike more easily predictable change (like cultural or technological shifts), COVID-19 came unexpected and hit hard, and fast. Suddenly, a multitude of Cs are morphing the landscape simultaneously. For example:

• Discreet, conveyable consumption is shifting from physical to digital channels (consumer packaged goods, entertainment etc.), while anchored or localised consumption (travel & hospitality, sports events, education, construction etc.) have largely tanked.

• Production-, logistics- and availability gaps led to price gouging in high-demand categories (health care, hygiene, home fitness etc.), but also created room for new competitors to enter existing markets, challenging lazier incumbents with innovation.

• Work- and family lives turned ‘hyper-local’ (working from home, home gym, home schooling etc.) during the first COVID-19 peak, and will remain more local than pre-COVID, with major cities re-modeling mobility solutions for a new future.

Analysts are still trying to understand which shifts are permanent, and which are temporary. There’s no question that there will be lasting change. Like there has been … forever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ However, there’s equally overwhelming consensus (see for example here, here, here and here) that COVID-19 essentially accelerates already existing trends, rather than creating new ones. The above examples only illustrate this point.

So, what’s with all the hysteria about a “new normal”?

Stand like mountain. Flow like water

The abruptness and intensity by which COVID-19 has brought change—and the fact that it (still) has no clear end-point—is exceptional. Like an adrenaline shock, it leaves untrained marketers overwhelmed, disoriented, and anxious. Pundits with a light form of adjustment disorder swiftly melted in their own hyperbole, declaring “the marketing playbook must be re-written” or that “traditional marketing is dead” and such… But does it? And is it?

‘Avoidance coping’ is a natural human response to sudden change, but it often leads to unjustified and inappropriate (over-re)action. Fortunately, most companies are somewhat immune to overreaction in that they can’t pivot on a dime, for structural reasons. Most of them shouldn’t pivot on a dime, for strategic reasons (or at least not based on hysteria). Because the data shows that over time, with more insight and pragmatism, the reactions to sudden change normalise, economic sentiment turns more optimistic, and the “pivot panic” naturally winds down.

‘Control coping’ is a more appropriate reaction pattern: instead of escaping into hyperbole, the focus is on confronting and embracing the changing landscape. Trained marketers track and continuously assess which Cs are changing and why, then manage or modify elements of Ps accordingly. When current (and familiar) trends suddenly accelerate, the existing marketing strategy (to manage the respective trends) should ‘stand like mountain’, while marketing tactics (to manage the sudden acceleration) should ‘flow like water’.

If a marketing playbook cannot inform such modifications, it wasn’t much of a playbook to begin with.

Some things never change

When the dust settles, some companies will have survived COVID-19, some will have thrived. And the ones which somehow spent the last 30 years willfully ignoring the 3rd industrial revolution will have died (quite a few of them already did: check out this chilling graph of COVID-induced bankruptcies).

So what separates the winners from the survivors? Sure, the winners will have “solid strategic foundations”, “flexible brand playbooks”, “modern marketing frameworks”, and “agile organizational structures”. But when we cut through the generic buzzword bingo, what does that actually mean?

There’s clearly no all-purpose recipe for success. But a reasonable proxy can be developed, by eliminating all the marketing variables, and making the constants visible. These constants arguably never change, should feel like no-brainers, and thus can serve as ultimate, immovable truths (or axioms) of successful marketing.

The three axioms of successful marketing are to:

1. Create a useful experience

2. Communicate a simple promise

3. Enable easy access to both

Axiom #1: Create a useful experience

It’s hard to argue with this as a starting point. But it would be erroneous to think this is (in any way) “basic”. To qualify an experience (product or service) as ‘useful’ is merely a simpler way of determining “product-market fit”—Venture capital’s treasured precondition for potential business success. It implies no less than offering a competitive (ideally superior) solution to a new or existing (ideally unresolved) consumer problem, for which there will be a sufficient market to build a sustainable and profitable business.

For an experience to be ‘useful’ it requires the brand to have:

1. Deep understanding of (relevant) consumer needs, and the market in which they are being met or remain unsatisfied. For example, Instagram is in the entertainment business and competes with Netflix and Nintendo just as much as with TikTok and YouTube.

2. A minimum viable product, which adequately (consumer-noticeably) addresses the need, and positions the brand profitably in the market. For example, Instagram’s IGTV product is a decent solution for interest-based, snackable video demand.

3. Identified a sufficiently sized, addressable consumer target group, which expresses the (met or unmet) need, and desires the experience. For example, IGTV’s target consumer may be 18- to 34-year-old YouTube users looking to fuel their passions.

4. Built a compelling, marketable value proposition around how the experience satisfies the need for the target group. For example, IGTV’s benefit communication could be centered around ‘continuous, personalized video inspiration for your passions’.

5. An easy and friction-free consumption ecosystem which reinforces the consumer need and efficiently supplements the desire for the experience. For example, IGTV notifies users of new content, based on past consumption patterns and interest preferences.

It’s a lot of effort to make something truly ‘useful’. The devil is surely in the details, but a ton of brands already fail at points 1 and 2 above.

Axiom #2: Communicate a simple promise…

… a promise for which the experience is proof and which people will listen to, understand, and remember. Similarly, it would be arrogant to dismiss this principle as banal. Many companies already struggle to recognise how their current experience positions them within the market, or how their vision (if they have one) develops the value proposition. There is also inexplicable yet widespread confusion over the difference between a promise, a purpose, and a differentiator—the WHAT, the WHY, and the HOW, respectively.

Attempting to derive a promise from such fuzziness is rather challenging, if not pointless. Fortunately, brands which have created a truly ‘useful experience’ have clarified consumer need, product and proposition to a degree that makes capturing the promise (the WHAT) relatively straightforward. For example, Geico’s “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance”, Walmart’s “Save money, live better”, or FedEx’s “when it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”.

We can see that an effective promise:

• tangibly and compellingly conveys the foundational consumer benefit,

• is coherent with the experience delivered by the product or service,

• consistently meets the consumer need, every single time.

When the product or service category itself already implies the foundational benefit (e.g. personal computer or automobile) the promise must not level down to convey secondary benefits, features, or reasons to believe. Instead, the promise must level up to impart a higher-order emotional reward (e.g. Apple’s “think different” or BMW’s “The ultimate driving machine”).

A promise is ‘simple’ when it meets these criteria.

• It can be conclusively communicated in a crisp, single-minded message—without any further explanation in complementary sub-paragraphs or visual aids.

• People, including those beyond the target group, intuitively understand the promise—even without seeing, and before experiencing how the product or service addresses the need.

• It spontaneously earns attention and immediately evokes a reaction—either a pragmatic “a-ha!” response, or a positive emotional response (of the heart or gut).

• The promise itself or the way it is communicated can be easily remembered—by simple association with the brand’s name (otherwise unaided).

None of this is banal, and yet the challenge only starts here: even a well-crafted ‘simple promise’ will remain categorically ineffective, when it is not consistently used over time. Which leads us to…

Axiom #3: Enable easy access…

…to both the experience, and the promise; and people will know your brand, find your experience, buy it, use it, come back to it, and talk to their friends about it. If that sounds too easy, it’s because it is. Having a useful experience and a simple promise doesn’t automatically translate into profits, without exposing both to the right target, at the right time, in the right place. And that is one of the most complex, challenging, and, indeed, critical marketing jobs to deliver for success.

A promise typically travels further, and reaches the target earlier than the experience. For example, I have never directly interacted with Tesla, let alone bought one of their cars, nor drove one myself. And I haven’t been in the market for buying a car since 2012. Yet, I am aware of the brand, its promise (sustainable transport), the category in which it operates (automotive), and at least one experience attribute (e.g. high performance, intelligent luxury).

A ‘useful experience’ with a ‘simple promise’ often garners such associations with category heuristics (like a baseline signal) through standard business activities like product demos, or more attention-grabbing tactics like generating earned media. In exceptional cases (e.g. Facebook, Amazon), this can constitute a sufficient basis for success that is driven by natural search and word-of-mouth. But the vast majority of brands will need cash money for their promise to travel.

Fortunately, and contrary to popular belief, effective reach isn’t simply a direct function of media spend. We’re not in the 1990s anymore. In order to enable ‘easy access’ to a promise, modern marketers will:

1. Define the communication context in which the target is receptive to the promise: time of day, time available, location, device, content type, attitude, state of mind, occasion etc.

2. Derive actionable receptivity insights via consumer research: e.g. connecting content consumption patterns with consumer need states and transaction occasions.

3. Synthesize context, insights and promise into a creative platform: i.e. a crisp, distinctive, insightful, sticky, shareable, and flexible idea that inspires execution.

4. Map insights and creative against a cost-effective media mix choice: e.g. discoverability, messages, formats, channels, timeliness etc. across each journey stage.

5. Consistently penetrate the promise across the mix and over time: i.e. ensuring creative integrity, sufficient reach, frequency, longevity, and ultimately memorability.

People who remember your ‘simple promise’ and associate it with your brand, have ‘easy access’ to it. But they also need easy access to the ‘useful experience’, in order for any of this to make sense (and profit).

Enabling ‘easy access’ to an experience may require decidedly varied approaches, determined by the nature and dependencies of the experience itself. A neurosurgeon, for example, offers a strictly anchored and localised experience (at least until 5G and mobile robotic surgical systems pave the way for remote surgeries). While they can effectively generate easy access to their promise, easy access to a neurosurgeon’s experience may ultimately be governed by availability and pricing.

In stark contrast, a digitally skilled company like Adidas can reproduce, distribute, and embed end-to-end commerce experiences right where the consumer need arises. For example, fans of Adidas Originals can not only find inspiration on Adidas’ Instagram feed, but also directly buy a pair of Stan Smiths, without ever leaving the app. This closes the time and space gap between promise and experience (or as Silicon Valley people like to say: “removes the friction”), avoids distractions, and increases the likelihood of transaction.

Running centralised logistics, and asking consumers to go to ‘stores’ is a last-century commerce model. Today, commerce happens on retail platforms (Amazon, Walmart etc.), marketplaces (Google, Shopify, eBay etc.), and social platforms (WeChat, Instagram, TikTok etc.). Tomorrow, it will be seamlessly embedded in entertainment channels (Twitch, Hulu, Nintendo etc.), IoT, operating systems (HomeOS, iOS, Android etc.) and ultimately bionic applications (lenses?).

Want to get to know more knowledge and skills pertaining to digital marketing? Join our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

IGTV Video: How Brands Can Use It

When it comes to social media marketing, video is one of the most useful and effective content formats. According to Cisco, we should have seen about 79% of Internet traffic in the form of videos by the end of 2020. And the success of Instagram Stories is an example of easy video creation and production becoming popular. 

Short-form video is really set to take off, not least through TikTok and Instagram's own Reels (launched in 2020). So, are people interested in long-form videos too? 

Like YouTube, longer-form videos are IGTV's speciality. But what makes IGTV so intriguing? Read on for an overview of the IGTV features, a guide on how to start and run your own IGTV account, and some best practice tips for this popular Instagram function.  

What is IGTV?

IGTV is an app that can be used alone or in tandem with Instagram. It's essentially Instagram's answer to YouTube in that it's designed for the mobile-optimised viewing of long-form videos.

Any user can set up their own channel and share video content that’s up to an hour long. The user or brand can decide whether they want to create channel-specific content here, or if they are interested in connecting it to videos they’re already posting on Instagram.

The main difference between IGTV and Stories is that these videos are typically several minutes to an hour in length. At this time, only the most popular, verified users are allowed to create one-hour videos.

For users, the app features an easy-to-navigate interface with various tabs including “for you”, “following" and "popular”. The search bar comes up with personalised suggestions for you. In addition, while you’re using the app, you’re automatically connected with existing Instagram followers who are intentionally using the app.

You can also continue watching an earlier video if you had to stop, a feature which is only recently a part of people’s “TV” experience.

In short, it brings the feeling of “flipping channels on a TV” to life, without (yet) having to deal with ads, but also without (yet) having the variety and versatility of YouTube.  

IGTV vs YouTube: Which is Better?

Using IGTV offers individual users and brands some benefits over YouTube. For one thing, there are no commercials at this point, so you can get ahead with your visual content without interruptions that can cause viewers to lose interest and change the channel.

IGTV is also designed for use on smartphones, with vertical videos that don't push users to move their phones into a horizontal position for viewing. It’s not only optimised for phone viewing, but it's also meant for users to upload videos via their phones easily.

Vertical videos were already made popular by Snapchat, and more recently by TikTok, so younger users will probably appreciate that extra little feature, even if they don't realise it.

YouTube and Instagram are natural rivals, with Instagram already having a "built-in" audience of 1 billion (by 2018) but only a fraction of people actually engaging in IGTV at that point. 

Guidelines for Using IGTV in Your Marketing Campaigns

Setting Up Your Channel

Once you’ve decided to use IGTV, the next step is to download the app and ensure that you have it accessible for your needs. You then hit the gear icon ("Settings") and create your channel. It's worth noting at this point that, just like YouTube, IGTV is optimised for both desktop and mobile, so if you feel more comfortable working or viewing on your PC, this won't be an issue.

Start Uploading

Once you've set up the app and your optimised bio, it's pretty simple to move into the uploading phase. Remember that you can't immediately record video like you can on Instagram or Instagram Stories. That has benefits and drawbacks, but in general, it's set up like YouTube where you can create multiple videos, then edit and release them later when you feel you have more time.

You can upload as many videos to your gallery as you want, and then they are ready to view right away. Your followers on Instagram will automatically see these videos, even if they’re not technically using the IGTV app.

Make sure your videos are in portrait mode at a ratio of 9:16, or no bigger, otherwise the video will not fit properly.

Tips and Best Practices for IGTV

Just like any other social strategy, you’ll want to be sure to design videos for the particular demographic you’re marketing to. To this end, you’ll want to have a grasp on what you’re already doing on Instagram and where it’s best serving you.

After you post, you can also share your IGTV videos through your other channels, and, most importantly, on your regular Instagram channel. Remember that, as with any other cross-posting exercise, you want to be super clear that you are posting on IGTV and for your followers to find you there. You'll also want to maintain consistency in terms of branding, visuals and posting schedule.

Make sure your videos are 15 seconds long or more, but not longer than 10 minutes. Depending on your product and message, a video of 3-4 minutes is typically a good length to aim for. And consider that your audience probably has a one-minute attention span, so be completely clear at the start about what you’re doing. Another option is to create a video series and break it up into smaller parts.

In the introduction, make sure you're not blaring music or being loud yourself, as it can turn people off, especially if they're watching in a public place or with headphones. These videos start right away when someone gets to the channels, so be prepared to have someone just “stumble” across your video, and don’t scare them away.

Don’t forget to utilise clickable links in the descriptions, which is similar to YouTube and is extremely useful for driving traffic to your landing page or any part of your website you'd like to feature.

Hashtags

If you already know how to use hashtags on Instagram, you will know how to use them for IGTV. Be strategic, use only a few relevant ones, and put them in the video description for better SEO traction. 

Metrics

Don’t forget to review your IGTV insights regularly, to get a clear picture of how videos are performing as well as to realign them with your key business goals. Remember that this is a relatively new platform, so if you see lower numbers than you expect, you may want to give it some time. 

How Are Brands Using IGTV in Campaigns?

Many brands and influencers are already tapping into this easy-to-use long-form video channel with plenty of success. Vogue US, for instance, shared a series called “Beauty Secrets", which features well-known influencers testing makeup products.

Netflix is another company that has used the platform to feature oddball humour such as the strange-yet-hilarious footage of Cole Sprouse, star of the hit show Riverdale, eating a burger. But of course, other companies might want to focus on legitimate promos, like visual content on makeup tutorials and cooking shows.

Tastemade UK and Bloomberg premiered various video series highlighting their products. Tastemade posted "A Taste of London" exclusively on the channel. The show features influencers eating food around the capital.

Test It Out

IGTV is probably a worthwhile platform to at least test out, if you already have a large Instagram following and your content is video-heavy. If you’re not quite making videos yet, or your videos are still quite short, YouTube and Stories will still work.

Remember that Instagram Stories are only temporary, while with IGTV you can create content that sticks around. So, it really depends on what kind of value your brand is getting out of a short versus lengthy video.

Longer videos mean longer engagement times, and this means more potential for embedding your brand into someone's memory. You also have a lot of room on IGTV for creative and educational video production and sharing, which could give your brand a whole new level of meaning to a certain subset of users - which, in turn, will boost your brand awareness, exponentially.

Want to know how to leverage other social media platforms? Join our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

11 SEO Tools For Optimal Ranking

We live in a time when advanced technology shapes the systems and structures used in business. Most companies have taken the initiative of adopting a digital outlook for a more natural way to reach their clientele. Thanks to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you can rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract the right customers. SEO can be quite challenging to master especially if you have no experience in digital marketing. However, you can now make your work easier with the help of the best SEO tools.

To help you begin your optimisation journey, here are 11 essential SEO tools I suggest you consider for the best results:

1. Google Search Console

Google’s Search Console, #searchconsole, is one of the best free SEO tools that you can use to view how your website’s is performing on Google’s SERPs. Once you register your website with Google, the console will provide you with a unique code. However, you don’t need to register for an account with search console for your website to be featured on the search results. It will still appear on the search results even if you don't have an account. The only downside is that you won’t have control over how your website is featured on search results. Registering for a console account allows you to understand how users and search engine bots view your site.

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a web crawler site used to highlight the weakest parts of your website. It is arguably the best-paying SEO tool in the market.

When you use the paid version, you can learn which backlinks your rivals are using and use similar ones to boost your site’s rankings. Therefore, this tool is most useful for online startups, so give it a try.

3. KWFinder

An SEO keyword tool just like Ahrefs, KWFinder is useful for tracing long-tail keywords that don’t offer a high level of competition. It is the best-paying SEO tool for keyword searches and renders analysis reports on SERP and backlinks.

You can also use the rank tracker tool to determine your website’s ranking and improvement progress.

4. SEMRush

SEMRush is categorised as a marketing SEO application. Experts recommend it since you can view your rankings, the changes made to it, and new opportunities to rank higher. The most used feature of SEMRush is Domain Vs. Domain analysis. This can render an analytics report that grants you access to your website’s traffic and search data. Comparing your website to your competitors will help you understand what needs to be changed on your site’s domain and keywords.

5. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is an SEO keyword finder tool. You can use it to search for useful keywords and also identify the SERPs (with the applied keywords) that have been ranked highly. This tool will let you identify short- and long-tail phrases, thus providing you with the best terms to use. The metrics found in Ubersuggest’s report are CPC, seasonal trends, and keyword volume.

6. SpyFu

SpyFu is one of the best free SEO tools. It offers an exceptional premium pass for those that want to dig deeper into SEO excellence. This tool is simple to use and an excellent choice for those that are starting out. You can use it to identify the number of searches applied to particular keywords. Also, you can search for the keywords used by your competitors.

7. Moz

Moz is another great SEO tool for experts in SEO. Moz offers full service, from site crawling or keyword recommendations. There is a free downloadable toolbar named MozBar that you can use to view your site’s metrics. Users have praised Moz for its regular company updates as well as the support team; if you ask a question, you’ll get a detailed response.

8. Woorank

It’s essential to report keyword performance to understand the industry better and improve optimisation for users. Woorank is an SEO ranking tool that lets you keep tabs on your marketing data and reports accordingly. The analysis tool also enables you to identify the keywords used by competitors and adjust your keywords accordingly. Another notable feature is Woorank’s ability to identify security loopholes in your site. The site guides you on how to seal those loopholes and prevent cyber attacks.

9. Answer The Public

There are many essential facets of SEO to consider, such as keyword research, competitor research, viral content, SEO audit, and rank tracking. Content creativity is also a crucial aspect of SEO. Answer The Public lets you identify the best topics to include in your eCommerce blog. This free tool enables you to create content around your website’s keywords - based on the niche you’re aiming for. It is great for creating your content strategy – you can get multiple title suggestions from one keyword.  

10. Google Trends

Google Trends is a free SEO tool that has been underutilised even though it’s had a long-serving presence. This tool can be used to get keyword information and acquire news about topic-related trends. Since there are several SEO applications to choose from, Trends is recommended for those that aren’t sure where to begin. In any case, this is a good tool to use during the developmental stage of your website.

11. Majestic

Majestic is a versatile marketing SEO tool that you can use at any point for your website’s ranking development. You can check how your website ranks via The Majestic Million feature, which displays the websites ranked as the top million overall. You can also view the number of backlinks used on your website, thanks to the Site Explorer feature. This is a reliable tool for keyword research, site comparisons, and website rank viewing.

Conclusion

In summary, optimising for SEO requires you to have the right approach from the start. Building your website for high rankings and traffic demands patience and the use of the best SEO tools around. It can take up to about 3 to 6 months to see significant results for SEO optimisation for a new site. It is difficult if you want to do it yourself without prior experience but having the best tool is an added advantage. This year, increase your organic search rankings by using the above SEO tools.

The best thing about most of the SEO tools above is that they are free and for the paid ones they have a free trial, after which you can make up mind about the tool.

Learn more about how to improve your SEO by joining our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Reduce Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates

If you imagine your online space as a large shop, you can see customers coming in and having a browse. When somebody leaves without buying, you don’t panic because that’s the nature of browsing. You know you can rearrange the floor or put up more signs to try to entice them to buy.

Now, imagine the checkout area. There are five customers, each with a number of products in their basket. Some are spending a lot, some only a little. But it’s all income and each person represents a potential repeat customer.

From your seat above the store, you watch four people dump their baskets and leave right before they get to the checkout. Alarmed? You should be.

In March 2020 alone, 88.05% of shopping carts were abandoned worldwide. And, what’s more, the current global mobile cart abandonment rate stands at 85.65%. That’s huge.

So, how can your business stop people from throwing their products back?

Know What You Can Convert

We all know that 100% conversion would be fantastic. But we also know that it’s never going to happen. So, where should you set your sights? What is a good conversion rate?

According to Khalid Saleh of InvespCro, it is important to understand the types of conversion and, crucially, whether you could convert the visit into a sale in the first place.

“It varies. What’s great for one industry might be below par for another.

“One multi-billion dollar company I once worked with had conversion rates of 41% for first time visitors. And they still wanted more.

“The key is to understand the average e-commerce conversion rate and benchmark your performance against it. Once you know whether you are meeting the average for your industry, you can work to improve conversion rates until you’re in the top 10 percentile of performers.”

He adds:

“Think about your own website and consider the type of browsing vs. buying of your average consumer. If you know that visitors tend to use your website for research but do not convert online, what can you do to convert more visitors into buyers?”

It is important then, to know what a good conversion rate for your business is and aim to get there.

Study your analytics before you do anything. Where is your conversion rate? What do you want to do? Think about conversion as a measure of success for your business, but it is not an arbitrary number. Do you want to double your online sales? Then double your conversion rate.

For your reference, here are some important variables that could affect your cart abandonment rates:

• The product or service type.

• The product / service cost or average order value.

• The traffic source.

• The device (mobile, tablet or PC).

• The platform (Windows, Mac, iOS or Android, for example).

• The browsing location.

Why should you be getting this right? 2020 eCommerce sales are projected to be around $3.914 trillion, for a start.

Get Your Funnels Right

To start understanding what we can turn into sales, it is important to know why people abandon baskets in the first place.

According to Kissmetrics, these reasons range from shipping to research.

While you may not always have a chance to ask customers why they are leaving – and exit surveys aren’t always a good idea – you can consult research to understand why.

Simple changes to how your site is presented can stop people leaving their carts. One obvious one is to show the final price that the customer pays when the product gets added to the cart. People don’t like being surprised by massive price additions like shipping and handling.

If you present the price early, customers will be more prepared to spend that money.

Conversely, you can turn this into an opportunity.

Offering free shipping to people who sign up as members or giving rewards points that can be redeemed against shipping costs can make customers more loyal, drive email signups and be a pleasant user experience.

Think about these barriers and what you can do to break them down.

This logic is key to getting your funnels right.

Basically put, a funnel is a process that any visitor takes from seeing your product to buying it. This could come from Facebook ads, organic search or inbound marketing.

A guiding principle in this area is: keep the process as simple as possible. Amazon is an e-commerce behemoth and is known for one-click ordering. Once a customer is signed in, they can enable their account to accept orders at the drop of a finger.

Why then, does your site ask for their mother’s maiden name when they want to buy a t-shirt?

55% of shoppers (potential paying customers) will abandon their cart for having to re-enter their credit card or payment details alone.

If you take measures to streamline your checkout process, removing any unnecessary elements of the journey that cause friction, you stand to reduce your card abandonment rates significantly. In fact, checkout optimisation can boost conversions by 35.62%.

Examine the steps your customers have to go through to buy your product from all angles and ask yourself: would I go to the hassle of shopping here?

​Companies Who Are Winning – And Why

When you think of where you spend money online, you will probably find that they have good funnels in common.

Here are some who are doing it right:

Netflix

The entertainment giant’s login screen is simple. It focuses on risk reversal and simplicity and has a clear call to action.

Again, the free trial is emphasised, the call to action is clear, and the USPs are outlined clearly as well as concisely. No unnecessary information is added. The page is completely digestible, even at a glance.

The customer is then asked for an email address and password – the first time they are asked to do more than click.

The free trial signup page, the final step, is simple, completely streamlined, and offers the choice of opting out of any marketing communications, which helps to buil trust. Note how little Netflix asks its potential customers to do. Since 2010, it has grown users from fewer than 20 million to 192 million. No small feat in anyone’s marketing playbook.

Crazy Egg

Website optimisation site Crazy Egg has doubled its conversions and revenue every year and this funnel is a big part of it. It is another example of simplicity as beauty.

CrazyEgg originates traffic from referrals, blog content, and promotions. At the base of its blog entries you’ll find an option to sign up for the newsletter and ‘stay in the loop.’. And, in the top right hand corner, there’s a clearcut CTA button asking visitors to ‘start their free 30-day trial.’  

By clicking the ‘free trial’ CTA button, you’re immediately navigated to a page that is clear, concise, and visually balanced. Like Netflix, you can sign up swiftly with a simple email and password and to inspire trust, a well-placed testimonial is located on the right-hand side of the page. Fast, streamlined, and completely frictionless.

Accessing the free trial sign up page (another one of CrazyEgg’s main consumer conversion routes or journeys), you will see that the premium or ‘Plus’ option is also highlighted to increase potential subscription value while formatting the features or USPs for quick page scanning. A design built to optimise the checkout process and reduce the chances or cart abandonment.

Take these examples and look at how you can implement them on your own funnel.

• Can you remove anything and make the process more visual?

• Can you nudge customers to make higher value purchases?

• Can you make the experience the same as gliding through an empty checkout at a physical store?

Carry out on audit of your user journeys and watch your abandonment rates decline.

Ready to learn more how you can improve the purchase journey to increase sales? Take a globally recognised certificate course to find out more - enrol today to enjoy courses taught by the industry experts, to know how to use the knowledge to advance your Internet marketing efforts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Growth Hacking - Simple Tips for Scaling Your Business

Digital marketing is an industry at the intersection of two rapidly changing landscapes. Online trends and terminology change as quickly as those in marketing, so it can be hard to keep up with each and every new concept.

One concept you may have heard of, but not be overly familiar with, is growth hacking. Far from being a meaningless catchphrase, the strategy can help your business without huge resource investment.

What is growth hacking?

Coined in 2010 by Sean Ellis, growth hacking is a mindset which does exactly what it sounds like – prioritises growth.

One of the men who popularised and optimised growth hacking is Ryan Holiday.

Here’s how he defines his methods:

A growth hacker is someone who has thrown out the playbook of traditional marketing and replaced it with only what is testable, trackable, and scalable.

“Their tools are e-mails, pay-per-click ads, blogs, and platform APIs instead of commercials, publicity , and money. While their marketing brethren chase vague notions like “branding” and “mind share,” growth hackers relentlessly pursue users and growth— and when they do it right, those users beget more users , who beget more users. They are the inventors, operators, and mechanics of their own self-sustaining and self-propagating growth machine that can take a start-up from nothing to something.”

While Holiday has worked with major brands such as American Apparel, the beauty of growth hacking is that smaller companies without massive resource investment can utilise its core principles.

This is because its “true North”, as Ellis put it, is growth.

Sometimes, this means playing on an uneven field, where the aforementioned startups and SMEs are up against companies who can take out Super Bowl ads or sponsor sports teams.

Growth hacking can differ from traditional marketing in that many of its users have fewer resources or are working with brands who have less cache.

Therefore, they have to be smarter, leaner and more agile than those focused purely on marketing.

Who does it replace in my company?

Nobody! Growth hacking is not a cure-all or some kind of digital panacea. Nor is sacking your digital marketing team to make way for a growth hacking guru an advisable idea.

Instead, your growth hackers should work hand in hand with your digital marketing team.

This is particularly true if your company is a small one. There, a culture of growth can be fostered alongside other aspects of your marketing strategy. In some companies, the growth function is tied to other, “more real” jobs on the digital side. 

In other, larger companies, this growth aspect can be used as a complementary skill to those of your marketing team.

Where growth hackers and marketers differ is in how they consider a goal achieved. Marketers can look at a campaign and consider it successful if brand awareness is increased or the company is better thought of than beforehand.

A growth hacker will have a more measurable, funnel-focused measurement that may consider the campaign a failure.

This isn’t to say that either one is right. It is to highlight that differences may occur and what is right will come down to your own measures of success, be they stated and quantifiable or more nebulous.

Case studies – and what you can learn

Far from being a buzzword, growth hacking has brought results that you have probably seen or used. Here are some examples and takeaways.

Hubspot

Hubspot’s founders were focused on building content and tools that would generate inbound leads which would lead to sales.

To that end, they invested heavily in blog posts, eBooks, and educational tools for marketers. They also launched website and social media grading tools and invested in webinars and teaching manuals.

The company had $883 million in revenue in 2020 after starting with just three staff in 2006.

Takeaway: Educate, engage and be useful

Slack

Team messaging app Slack has gone from 15,000 users to over 12 million in 2020.

To do so, they employed a number of strategies, none of them really that revolutionary. They defined themselves as a tool that was needed, but familiar, they convinced offices that they cannot be without it, and they focused their offering to be exactly what was needed.

But one move made the app a go-to for users: not charging. Using a free version showed off the uses and features of the platform before customers would be converted to premium accounts. The company saw a 30% takeup in the premium version.

This freemium model has been used by the likes of Spotify, LinkedIn and GitHub.

Takeaway: Give it away (to a point)

Tinder

Tinder is another company which used a number of strategies to grow at a rapid pace.

Now at 66 million users in 30 languages, it is easy to forget that Tinder was an app that started on a college campus. Tinder is an app that feels different in a crowded marketplace and constantly evolving new features, as well as introducing paid premium versions, Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold, which have around 5.9 million paid subscribers.

But one of Tinder’s biggest growth hacks was one that feels very analog in a digital world: they did the work on the ground. With online dating sites living and dying by the number of women who join, Tinder’s founders went to sorority houses and encouraged women to join by offering cookies, balloons and underwear. It wasn’t a sophisticated strategy - and a former Tinder co-founder went on to launch the successful Bumble - but it solved a potentially app-killing problem by knowing what it was and putting the work in to solve it.

Takeaway: Put the work in, on the ground if necessary

Beyoncé

The music industry is one which is built on hype and excitement. PR firms, music videos and millions in ad spend, that’s how you release an AAA album.

Unless you’re Beyoncé and you release an album recorded in secret with no notice as she did in 2013, (and 2016 and in 2020).The unusual decision saw the albums become a major part of the news cycle, rather than a footnote in it.

After setting the internet on fire, the 2013 album Beyoncé shifted 828,000 copies in its first three days on sale and has sold eight million overall.

While nobody is expecting your company to be Queen B, it is worth remembering that you don’t have to rely on anyone else to make you go viral in this day and age, not if your splash is big enough.

Takeaway: Be big, be bold, make your own headlines

How can I use the ideas of growth hacking?

No matter what your industry or your sales channels, there are simple things that you can do to implement a rapid growth strategy into action.

1. Work out your product

A key tactic of growth hacking is building a product for an already-established set of customers. In the words of Ryan Holiday:

“Isolating who your customers are, figuring out their needs, designing a product that will blow their minds—these are marketing decisions, not just development and design choices.”

Consider Instagram. The company started as a social check-in app named Burbn. While users weren’t taken with the check-in features, the founders used analytics to see just how their app was being used.

As you can probably guess, people loved it as a photo-sharing tool. A tweak and a rebrand later, the company sold for $1 billion to Facebook in 2012. All because the company paid attention to the product its users wanted.

2. Ensure you can scale

Can you actually scale your business? Let’s say you own the best sandwich shop in town and are on the end of a glowing newspaper review. You had been selling 45 sandwiches per lunch service, now demand is at 80. Can you actually meet that growth? If you want to start driving rapid growth, ensure that you have the infrastructure to handle success.

3. Set Your Goals

As we have already discussed, growth hackers should have clear, defined measures of success.Set a specific number of goals and stick to them, allowing you to test and optimise your approach.

4. Test, test and test again

As with any digital marketing approach, growth hacking needs super effective testing. As creative and different as strategies can get, you will not know if they’re actually succeeding without a good set of simple, lean tests.

5. Analyse and optimise

The last step in the process is to pay attention to your metrics – as Instagram found out, your audience will tell you something. From there, implement the best version of your strategy to help you grow.

Here is some suggested reading on the subject:

• Sean Ellis’s essay which coined the phrase and started a movement is essential reading

• Quicksprout’s definitive guide to growth hacking is, well, definitive

• Neil Patel’s step-by-step guide to implementing growth hacking

• Ryan Holiday’s book The Obstacle Is The Way and his resources for growth hacking.

Want to learn even more? Enrol in a globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts, to give yourself all the other how-tos.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

A Guide to Terms on Social Media Platforms

When you have to manage campaigns across all the different social media platforms, it can be handy to have a quick reference to all the different terms used on each one. Use this guide below to help you keep track of the variety of functions, options, and metrics across 6 of the most popular platforms. 

1. Facebook

Here is some key terminology used on Facebook:

• Profiles: These are for non-commercial use and represent individual people. Through your Profile, you can amass friends and you can also follow profiles to see public updates from people you're interested in but aren't friends with.

• Pages: These look similar to personal profiles, but offer unique tools for businesses, brands and organisations and are managed by people who have personal profiles. You can ’like’ a Page to see updates from that business in your Newsfeed. Businesses would always choose to create a page and not a profile for their social activity

• Business Manager: This is a platform that lets businesses more securely share and control access to their ad accounts, Pages, and other assets on Facebook.

• Creator Studio: This is a tool which allows you to track and manage content performance, even across different Pages if you manage many. There is a scheduling tool and an inbox which allows you to manage comments and messages across Facebook and Instagram.

• Facebook Ads: These are a means to amplify and target content to specific audiences for a fee

• Carousel: This is a popular post or ad format which allows up to 10 images or videos to be displayed in one scrolling post. You can highlight different products, showcase specific details about one product, service, or promotion, or tell a story about your brand.

• Events: This is a calendar-based resource which can be used to notify users of upcoming events or occasions to reach many people in a short amount of time.

• Watch: This is a free video-on-demand service you access through the Facebook site and app. It allows creators to upload their own short- and long-form videos, but it also includes original comedy, drama, and news programming.

• Live: This allows people, public figures and Pages stream and share live video with their followers and friends.

• Messenger: This is a communication tool that can be used by marketers to engage with customers via private message.

2. YouTube

Here is some key terminology used on YouTube:

• Channel: The channel serves your profile page, showing the account name description, the public videos the member uploads, and any user information the member enters.

• Subscribe: By subscribing to a particular channel or user on YouTube, you can receive instant updates whenever new content from that source appears.

• Title: This is the name which you give to each video you upload. Keywords are important here to ensure your content ranks well within search.

• Tag: Adding categories through tags also helps your video to reach relevant audiences.

• Description: This is a keyword-rich caption which appears underneath your video. Often businesses use this area to provide a strong call to action, link to a website or other social media platforms.

• Thumbnail: This is the custom image you can select as the cover of your video. This can either be a still from your video or a unique image uploaded to YouTube.

3. Instagram

Here is some key terminology used on Instagram:

• Feed: The algorithm-based home feed shows the photos and videos which Instagram thinks are most interesting to the user

• Search and Explore: This is where content of interest can be discovered from accounts you don't yet follow.

• Filters: These are a variety of photographic enhancements that can be applied to content before publishing.

• Stories: These are ephemeral short-form content which shows in the home feed and on a user's profile for 24 hours. These can be customised with filters and GIF stickers.

• Highlights: This give you the opportunity to save Stories in folders on your profile so they remain longer than 24 hours.

4. Twitter

Here is some key terminology used on Twitter:

• Tweet: This is the communication unit on Twitter. It is limited to 280 characters. However, the most common length of a tweet is just 33 characters. Only about 1% of Tweets hits the 280-character limit.

• Retweet: This is a tweet from another user that is shared publicly with your followers.

• Quote Tweets: These are retweets with additional comments added (up to 140 characters) before posting.

• Reply: This is a direct response to another user’s tweet which begins with the @ symbol followed by their username and then your response. Conversation replies are ranked out of interest, meaning that some replies in a conversation are not shown in chronological order. Replies are also grouped by sub-conversations to show the best content first, based on several factors such as interactions and likes.

• Geo-tagging: These is the act of stamping the location details of where a tweet was created which enables users to search for tweets within a given area. This can be enabled or disabled.

• Moments: These are curated stories showcasing the very best of what’s happening on Twitter, customised and editable to show the current topics that are popular or relevant to the user. They can only be created on Desktop.

• Mute Words: This feature allows users to stop receiving notifications for mentions based on specific words, phrases, usernames, emojis or hashtags.

• Twitter Trend: This is a particular subject or conversation topic that is popular around the globe or a specific area used to classify tweets on the platform and increase their visibility.

• Twitter Card: This is an enhanced version of a tweet that enables the attachment of media to tweets for the purpose of driving traffic to your website. There are four types of cards: the Summary Card, the Summary Card with Large Image, the App Card and the Player Card.

• Periscope: This is a live-streaming social app built into Twitter which lets users broadcast and explore the world through live video and social interactions.

5. LinkedIn

Here is some key terminology used on LinkedIn:

• Connections: People in your network are called connections. Your network is made up of your 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections, as well as fellow members of your LinkedIn groups. Your communication options for your extended network vary based on the degree of connection.

• InMail: These are private emails on LinkedIn, available only to Premium accounts, sent to fellow professionals without the need of an introduction, contact information or connections.

• Company Pages: These are specific pages for an organisation to post or promote content through paid campaigns

• Premium Accounts: These are paid-for subscriptions utilised for the purposes of career progression, recruitment, lead gen, business insights and learning.

• SlideShare: This is LinkedIn’s content hosting platform that works as a web service, letting you upload presentations, videos, infographics, and PDFs to share with everyone. It is a very convenient way to house all your brand’s shareable content in one place.

• LinkedIn Group: This is a page that supports specific, topical discussions moderated by group owners and managers.

6. Pinterest

Here is some key terminology used on Pinterest:

• Pin: Pins are ideas that people on Pinterest create, find, and save from around the web. If you click on the Pin, you can visit the website to see how to make it or where to buy it.

• Board: The Pins you save live on your boards. Name your boards and arrange them on your profile however you like.

• Group Boards: These are collaborative boards with other Pinterest users, often used to share ideas and plans.

• Rich Pins: Rich Pins provide more context about an idea because they show extra information directly on a Pin. There are four types of rich Pin: app, product, recipe, and article.

• Pinterest Browser Button: This is a browser extension which allows users to save ideas from around the web to a Board with one click

Now you are familiar with what each term means on different platform, time to further improve your social media marketing skills by getting a globally recognised certificate course- taught by the industry experts in Hong Kong.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Grow Your Email Marketing Database in a Day (The Loveable, Inbound Way)

The value provider, the relationship builder, the sales closer, the news sharer, the brand ambassador, the deal revealer – email marketing is the ultimate multi-tasker.

Think about it…

It’s the best way to stay in touch with prospects and keep them warmed up and ready to click, share and buy.

And the more email subscribers you have? The better your chances of increasing traffic to your blog, staying at the top of your customers’ minds, reminding subscribers to follow your social media channels, and keeping them wrapped up warmly in your sales loop.

You want more subscribers, don’t you? Let’s explore a few strategic ways you can grow your email database with ease (the inbound way), speed, and without being an outright nuisance…

First Steps First – Construct a Landing Page That Communicates Value

Before you begin implementing any of the ideas below, you need to create a landing page that clearly (and in as few words as possible) communicates the unique selling point of your emails. Can your subscribers look forward to a weekly newsletter packed full of industry insights, for example?

Answer the ‘Why Should I Care?’ Question:

Do you send regular emails that feature your latest discounted offers? Will subscribers receive monthly exclusive offers? You’ll need to answer that ‘why should I give you my details?’ question immediately.

Increase Your Conversions & Track Your Subscriber Growth:

To increase the chances of your landing page converting, choose as few fields as possible for potential subscribers to fill out. If possible, only ask for prospects’ names and email addresses. Create a goal in Google Analytics to help you track the number of new subscribers your landing page has netted you and tag the landing page’s URL any time you share it in your Google tagging document.

The Questions Your Prospects Need Answered On Your Landing Page:

• What value do I get?

• What makes your emails different?

• What type of content can I expect?

• How often will I receive emails?

• What details do I need to give?

Now, Let’s Start Building Your Email Subscriber Database:

1. Give Away Freebies Your Customers Want, Need & Appreciate

You can’t expect your prospects to give you their well-protected contact details without offering something of true value. It’s one of the best ways to generate new email subscribers and propel your lead generation numbers. But here’s the thing: you can’t just offer any old freebie, it needs to matter to your target audience. To identify the most desirable freebie for your target audience you’ll have to create and consult your target personas. You can then choose the giveaway that best solves your audience’s core problems and caters to their core desires.

Free Content Should Meet Consumer Needs:

Free content options you could consider offering include: whitepapers, industry reports, online webinars, and presentations. Again, your offer should depend on what appeals to your target audience’s desires.

An Example of Content That Matches Desire:

For example, say your target audience is digital marketing managers who want to impress their CEO at their weekly board meeting. In this case, you could create a short whitepaper or webinar that shows prospects how to track metrics that CEOs actually care about and want to hear (e.g. the most likely bottom-line figures).

Examples of Freebies:

Whitepaper, Webinar, Podcast, Product/Service Sample, Coupons, Free Career/Consultative Advice, Industry Reports, Survey Results, etc.

2. Create an Engaging Online Competition With a Priceless Prize

Another clever way to entice prospects to give you their email details is to create and run an engaging online competition that appeals to your audience’s competitive nature. A great place to create and run your contests is on one, or more, of your most popular social media channels. Examples of programs you can use to create social media competitions include Wazoku, ShortStack, and Rafflecopter. Whichever one you choose, simply create a competition that requires entrants to submit their email details to win.

3. Use Opt-In Monster Plugin to Capture Exitors

OptinMonster is a tool that allows you to create opt-in forms that appear on your website at that crucial point when your visitors are about to leave. The clever tool follows your user’s mouse and pops up when they are about to click the exit button – perfect for capturing a last-minute email address. Why not create a form that offers a freebie (like access to a valuable whitepaper) or gives details on why the user should subscribe to your insightful newsletter?

The beauty of OptinMonster is that it includes Analytics functionality that allows you to track and analyse the numbers of clicks and views your form accumulates along with the conversion rate for each form. Pricing options start at $49 per year for a basic package which allows you to create unlimited optin forms across one website, split test your forms, target your forms effectively and report on your findings.

4. Create Your Own Opt-In Form to Capture the Details of Engaged Visitors

If you don’t have the budget for OptIn Monster you can create your own opt-in newsletter sign-up form. To capture the attention of your most engaged readers, set your newsletter sign-up form to pop up when your reader gets halfway through a blog post, for example.

Design and Placement:

Our advice? Keep your opt-in form subtle, small, and light on content. And ensure it’s easy to exit from on desktop and mobile devices. You will also need to carefully consider where to place your opt-in box. Your blog is a good place to start. Only place it in contextually relevant places on your website – the places your customers would expect to see it and welcome the reminder. It’s best not to place it on any monetary pages of your site as that might override your core objective – to make money.

5. Use Sniply to Place a Sign Up Call to Action on Relevant External Sites

Do you share other brand’s content through your own social media channels? You can use a tool like Sniply to create a ‘Snip’ or banner that appears on the bottom of the web page you’re sharing. The user is presented with a call to action of your choice and may be directed to your newsletter sign-up landing page, and encouraged to join your subscriber list.

How to Use Sniply:

Sniply is super easy to use. Simply copy the URL of the link you plan to share and paste it into the Sniply box provided. Click ‘Create Snip.’ A pop-up box will then appear with your new Sniply link. Copy your link and use it when sharing your article instead of the original link. You can set up an account for free which allows you to create an unlimited number of shortened links, 100 conversions per month, and one user profile per account. The paid package is €19 per month and allows you to customise and brand your snips and create five user profiles.

6. Place Enticing Calls to Action in Relevant Spots

Sometimes all your readers need is a gentle nudge and a reminder about your awesome newsletter, upcoming webinar, or whitepaper giveaway to take the action you desire. But make sure that nudge is relevant – for example, feel free to include a call to action (CTA) to subscribe to your newsletter at the end of a blog post or in your bio for your guest posts on external sites.

The Importance of Value and Context:

Instead of starkly asking customers to sign up to your newsletter on social media, you could always create calls to action that hold access to gated content or unique offers. And don’t forget the importance of context – to avoid annoying fans and website visitors, only add your CTAs in the places that make sense (and are relevant) to their user journey.

For example, if you have created a how-to whitepaper on a hot industry topic, your LinkedIn company page and relevant LinkedIn groups could be the perfect places to share it. But don’t forget: you’ll need to add value and engage with your chosen group/groups before posting your own content.

Email marketing is just one piece of the puzzle that is social media marketing. Learn more about how to find other pieces by joining our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute