A branded website is the core of any digitally successful business
The growing popularity of the e-commerce channels and the avenues that these marketplaces presented forced many brands to be digital-first. The brands that were a bit slow to evolve, this COVID-19 pandemic provided the catalyst needed for them to expedite their digital transformation journey. Many were forced to rethink and redesign the entire customer strategy and implement a variety of integrated technologies in order to bring the guest experience into the transformative age.
In this age of digital transformation, customer expectations have also increased. Brands are well aware of how competitive the market space is and realise that they must innovate in order to maintain market dominance. In the not-too-distant future, every business will need to establish an online presence or risk falling behind. Those who are slow to adapt to the changing dynamics struggle to survive.
In contrast, those who cater to internet customers are reaping the benefits. The rules of commerce and interaction are changing rapidly. The reason is simple: everyone is going online, and brands need to stay in touch with customers to keep generating revenue and maintain their market share.
Every brand has a unique digital journey, however, there are some important steps that brands can follow to ensure a successful digital transformation journey. Performance marketing is driving this trend, wherein every entrepreneur, investor and professional want their ROI to better than the other. Tracking the journey of the customer journey is vital to understand consumer buying behaviour. Brands also need to keep upgrading their mark-tech to prompt more customer to buy their product.
Invest in a website
A branded website is the core of any digitally successful business. It is a full-blown digital marketing hub in and of itself. All other online activity must funnel into the website, which converts online and offline visitors into paying customers. A website can also enable brands to increase their offline revenues. Better visibility and online presence through enhanced SEO, well-curated product pages, along with the details of the company and service network can instil trust in prospective buyers. For many, websites can prove to be the first touch point with the brand and thus a great place to etch a lasting first impression.
Riding the e-commerce wave
Once this has been addressed, integrating an e-commerce platform to showcase the hero range is an excellent way to increase online presence and greater sales. Most brands, at the start of their online journey, try to spread themselves too thin. Managing supply chains and maintaining adequate inventory at all places becomes a challenge. The brands should start slowly and gauge the interest level and potential customers they can attract from each platform before adding new online channel partners. Flash sales have proved a good way to ascertain interest level and fine-tune strategy.
Another strategy that Indian brands are gung-ho about is D2C marketing. Brands are now calibrating new-age tools and conducting direct customer transactions on the website. It allows brands to connect with their customers at another touchpoint and control their entire online journey. Implementing structured data, such as the Product schemes, can enhance the user experience. Needless to say, adopting a D2C strategy not only makes the websites look good but must function even better. It also provides deeper insights into the customer profile and their preferences.
Build a social media presence
Digitise the business with social media strategies. Brands have realised they will have to be present where their customers are. To tap into the younger audiences, it is imperative to be active on social media channels. Some social media platforms can also be used as E-platforms. Focus on a limited number of social media channels and master them. Augmenting the digital strategy with video is crucial because it routinely generates the highest ROI and can be easily distributed across all social media accounts.
Increase sales using SEO
Though SEO optimization is commonly viewed as a way to increase site traffic, it is also one of the most effective ways to increase sales, particularly for digitization. The most significant advantage is that organic traffic generates a greater return on investment than any other traffic source. Optimizing the website and online content to attract high-quality traffic is the key to profitable SEO. This is achieved by targeting sales-friendly queries strategically and writing with conversions in mind.
Paid Online Advertising
Digital advertising allows one to generate consistent online sales through channels such as Paid Search ads aka SEM (e.g., Google AdWords) and Paid Social ads (e.g., Facebook and Instagram Ads).
Implementation
Adopt an omnichannel strategy utilising the aforementioned digital methods. With digitisation, even if not every online effort results in a direct sale, they all build something equally valuable in the long run: brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty.
Businesses that can structure their online presence and drive meaningful engagement can survive and thrive. Despite all the drive toward digital, a majority of businesses still have a long way to go on their digital journey. Building a strong online presence requires a consistent digital brand strategy, and one needs to keep improvising if they want to stick to the growth roadmap.
Blogging is a great marketing tactic to drive organic traffic to your website. Providing your consumers with valuable content and information can help solidify your status as an industry expert and create loyal customers in the process. A company blog can be even more successful with a strong inbound strategy that not only attracts visitors to your site but also gets them to come back time and time again.
The members of Forbes Communications Council know the most effective tactics for creating a blog that helps generate leads for your business. Below, 15 members explain the best ways to turn users who stop by or stumble upon your blog into repeat visitors.
1. Get Customers And Partners Engaged
Leverage your relationships with customers and partners to create fresh content and repeatedly draw in your audiences. If visitors are interested in your blog, they will want to know how others are engaging with your company. Also, I cannot say enough about visual media—images, GIFs, Instagram Reels and videos (both long and short form) are sure to bring visitors back wanting more! – Sally Frykman, Velodyne Lidar, Inc.
2. Add Email Opt-Ins To Posts
Users usually experience too many distractions when reading blog posts. Distractions make remembering your brand harder. Strategically adding email opt-ins to blog posts is a fantastic solution. Success is relative, but a good opt-in could convert 5% to 20% of the traffic into email subscribers, and turning subscribers into repeat visitors is surprisingly easy—just publish more great content! – Evgeny Redjebov, RallyUp
3. Establish Connections Between Writers And Readers
Establish connections between your writers and readers. Establish readers’ investment in the posts by building up anticipation of a new article, similar to how podcast listeners wait for a routine release day. Always remember the 80/20 rule—don’t always talk about your product or service. People are human too; give your blog posts some human elements to establish authenticity with your audience. – Brittany White, Apple Growth Partners
4. Write Thought Leadership Articles
Use your blog to provide thought leadership. Include links to articles that provide more in-depth insights into the thought leadership topics to encourage consumption of more than one piece of content gated, as well as links to gated content to build email lists for outbound campaigns announcing new content pieces on relevant thought leadership topics. – Katie Horvath, Aunalytics
5. End With A Clear Call To Action
Don’t leave site visitors hanging once they reach the end of your blog post. Without a clear CTA, first-time visitors may bounce. Serve up related, gated content suggestions at the bottom of the page to engage your readers further and capture their contact info, or prompt visitors to subscribe to your blog. – Merrily McGugan, WorkTango
6. Offer Some Kind Of Value-Add
Simply put, offer them some kind of value-add. This could be in the form of links to related content, an offer to sign up for a newsletter or more in-depth content that the visitor can download. It need not be anything mind-blowing; just give the user something in addition to their original intent for visiting. – Everett Millman, Gainesville Coins, LLC
7. Use Your Blog To Answer FAQs
Consumers conduct online research before buying a product or service. A blog that provides useful information and answers frequently asked questions establishes you as a valuable resource and authority. Good content often results in higher conversion rates. When consumers find useful, accessible content on your blog, they are more likely to find out more or inquire about what you have to offer. – Jessica Wong, Valux Digital
8. Map And Track Engagement
Map every piece of content you create to address customer pain points and help solve challenges. Track blog engagement along with all channel engagement to understand what kind of content is resonating with your audience. Engagement is how your audience shows interest. Doubling down on high-engagement content, interacting with comments/feedback and adding in interactive elements, such as polls, will also help. – Lisa Parcella, Security Innovation
9. Engage With Visitors At The Point Of Entry
Never just have a blog post—always offer related content and the option to subscribe. Present related articles, reports or other content to keep them engaged, and make sure to have those SEO-vital text links to other areas of your blog or website. – Clay Tuten, KeyMark Inc
10. Integrate Products Into Educational Content
Our blog is one of our superpowers. The best way to create repeat visits is to make sure your blog provides educational content that your organization is uniquely qualified to give. Your content should weave in products but should also address top questions, pain points and trends and respond with actionable advice and constructive takeaways that fit the brand and expertise of the company. – Jamie Gilpin, Sprout Social, Inc.
11. Provide Suggested Content
A company blog is meant to inspire your targeted audience to keep coming back and wanting more relevant content. It is meant to include topics and advice on how you understand what your audience is wanting to do and how they can utilize the content in their everyday life. To keep them coming back, don’t leave them hanging—provide suggested content, and don’t forget your call to action. – Wendi Sabo, ECI Software Solutions
12. Cross-Promote Blog Content
Invite visitors to follow you on social media, and be sure to cross-promote your blog content in other channels beyond inbound to increase exposure and remind viewers of the impact of your valuable content. Also, always offer related links to other blog posts they might be interested in to keep them on the site and give them a clear path to learn more about your company. – Jennifer Best, AAE Speakers Bureau
13. Strike A Regular Cadence
Provide high-quality, valuable content, and do it on a regular cadence. Company blogs can be fantastic ways to deliver all sorts of information to your audience (sales messaging, company news, thought leadership articles, reports or data releases, video content and more). If you are regularly updating the blog with great content, you will go a long way toward cementing your position with your audience. – Tom Wozniak, OPTIZMO Technologies, LLC
14. Build A Multichannel Marketing Nurturing Campaign
A multichannel marketing nurturing campaign will keep your users engaged with your content, and more importantly, engaged with you. Tools such as social media, targeted advertising, email nurturing and surveying can bring your users back to your content and give you valuable feedback on what is resonating (or isn’t). The more personalized, segmented and customized you can be, the better. – Sarah Falcon, Object Edge
15. Develop A Strategic Content Calendar
Consistently posting relevant, fresh content that resonates with your audience is the best recipe to keep them coming back and engaging. The most common mistake is letting your content get stale. Developing a strategic content calendar for your company blog with the understanding that it can evolve and change with the current trends should be the baseline during the initial thought process. – Chris Cline, State of Missouri Information Technology Services Division
The concept of building brand loyalty used to be relatively straightforward. Effective marketing and delivery of a positive customer experience would create a positive association for a brand. The lifetime value of that relationship could then be hugely profitable, with consumers unlikely to switch.
However, we now live in a world of choice and information overload. An increasingly digital landscape, dominated by tech giants who hold many of the cards. In this new world, run by algorithms and AI, traditional long-held attachments are being unwound. As we culturally shift in shopping habits, people are more likely to remember what they bought from Instagram or Amazon but not the actual name of the brand. Does this mean brand loyalty is dead or at the very least waning?
Brand communication – from top-down to influencer-led
In the old world, brand marketers would use above-the-line platforms to create a strong identity and desire for a product. The brand direction was determined in a very top-down fashion, often based on the instinct of the CMO. A ‘needs’ state was identified and answered and an advertising campaign was launched highlighting the brand’s unique qualities.
In today’s world, we have shifted to digital and younger generations will see campaigns on Tik Tok and Instagram where the product is being advocated by a brand ambassador or a paid-for ad placed on social. In this new era, the control of the brand’s identity has been repackaged, personalized, and filtered through the lens of influencers. Having never heard of the brand, the influencer’s recommendation can be enough to create a consumer of a brand.
In fact, large segments of audiences will have never even seen an advert on TV or in a newspaper because they don’t touch a newspaper or they don’t switch on a TV. Or the brand has not included it as part of its media planning. According to recent research by Nielson, only 10% of Gen Z rank watching TV as their most popular entertainment activity. In fact, across the 18-34 bracket, live TV viewership dropped by 23% year on year.
The changing nature of brand loyalty
So, this digitally dominant world has created an entirely different mindset when it comes to brand loyalty. For socially digital natives, brand loyalty is about what it offers to them in value. A brand like Paul Smith will have a huge amount of brand equity among Gen X or baby boomers for its quality, tailoring, or painstakingly built partnerships and marketing campaigns. However, this will mean nothing for younger generations living in the moment and wanting to know what a brand can deliver here and now.
For younger consumers, if it is a relevant brand, it will be popular for them. If it’s not, they are just not interested. Quality has given way to relevance or price consciousness. Indeed there has been a huge rise in interest among younger audiences in mobile phone brands that offer a lot of the same features as iPhones but for a fraction of the price, like Xiaomi built with an Android skin. The tease here is the freedom an Android device offers a user who doesn’t want to be part of or associated with ‘that crowd’.
For digital natives, there is a checklist of what is really important for them when they spend their money. In recent research, price promotion was rated as crucial for this audience, but ethics are also vital. How long is a product going to last and what are they going to use it for? Does it meet my needs and values?
The life cycle of brands
In this new age, the life cycle of brands is also shorter, almost sonic. Brands can spring up quickly to consciousness but equally, their success can be shorter-lived. This has been evidenced by the spate of high-street retail brands that have disappeared.
Glossier is a D2C brand that sprung up in relatively short order. They have quickly scaled up the ladder of investment based on perceived digital growth that would continue endlessly. The direct-to-consumer beauty brand has raised an astonishing $80 million in Series E funding and reversed the traditional model.
They have latterly embraced physical retail with a pop-up store in Covent Garden, London, and the swift ascent to being a much-loved brand is highlighted by the queues of people outside. However, they recently had to lay off staff as the growth they have experienced has not been maintained. Could the bubble burst as quickly as it was created?
How do brands build loyalty today?
It is certainly difficult for brands to build loyalty in the modern world because they are having to think about a very different culturally younger generation and manage a more traditionally minded older audience.
To square up this circle, value and values are two unifying themes that can be focused on, although realized in different ways. As consumers, we are all more interested in the purpose of brands and this is a clear differentiator. Brands today, particularly consumer goods products, have to think not only about how they make a product but also how they produce it. According to a study by Cone/Porter Novelli, 77% of consumers say they have stronger emotional bonds to purpose-driven companies.
Also, what added value are brands able to offer beyond the immediate product or service? How are they innovating to remain relevant? An excellent example of this is the Google Pixel 6 device, which enables users to remove photobombers and unwanted objects so that they “disappear like magic” using a “magic eraser”. Also, Portraits on Pixel represent the nuances of different skin tones for all people beautifully and authentically, to take true, accurate portraits. It’s innovations like these that create an immediate way for brands to build loyalty in the modern era.
Canny partnerships unite different audiences
Additionally, partnerships can be a great way of uniting seemingly disparate groups around common themes. CK1 Palace was a great example of this. A new collaboration between Calvin Klein and Palace Skateboards was launched with a tongue-in-cheek film celebrating cities that came to define these two labels. For streetwear brand Palace, it was London and its lively skate scene, with grainy film textures creating some retro cool.
Also included are high-contrast, black-and-white style studio shots, synonymous with Calvin Klein. The combination of nostalgia and modern relevance was a canny move that other brands would do well to replicate. Calvin Klein has opened new stores and you will see members of Gen Z proudly walking around Carnaby Street in London with a Calvin Klein shopping bag. This shows an effective strategy by a heritage brand to remain relevant and build loyalty with different audiences.
Towards a new approach
Creating brand loyalty today is far more difficult in a digital, social media-dominated world of increasing fickleness. Heritage brands are in trouble with a younger generation who has no interest in timeless qualities built up over many years. But brands can succeed if they adopt a new playbook. This needs to focus on the values and value of their product and on leveraging partnerships to remain relevant.
According to author Maurice Franks, “Loyalty cannot be blueprinted. It cannot be produced on an assembly line. In fact, it cannot be manufactured at all, for its origin is the human heart.”
Daniel formed Gekko in April 2002 and, over a decade on, it has grown to become one of the UK’s leading retail, field marketing, and experiential agencies providing results-driven solutions to technology and leisure brands. Whilst FMCG has been the traditional domain of the field marketing and impulse purchases, Gekko has carved out an impressive niche in a sector dominated by considered purchases. Through understanding great customer experience to motivate distinct shopper tribes, Gekko converts shoppers into customers of global consumer electronics brands. Daniel is a regular industry commentator in his capacity and experience as a business leader, tech champion and in brand marketing.
Taking an education-first approach to marketing your business.
Marketing can mean different things to different people, and how someone defines it often has a lot to do with their personal and professional experience. Those of us who have made our careers in marketing have a unique perspective, but even as professionals, we each view the job differently.
As you probably already know, generally speaking, marketing is the means by which a person or a company sells a product or service. Marketing can be subtle or bold, soft or pushy, but in the end, the goal is always to make a connection, and ultimately, a sale. As a marketing professional, my personal approach has invariably been centred around educating the customer, and this has worked for me and my clients. Even when I was in corporate marketing, I tried to educate rather than use pressure in sales.
I find this approach to work best for what I do because it tends to attract high-quality clients who are looking for a longer-term relationship rather than just a single transaction. However, it may not be the right strategy for every product or service. Nevertheless, now that I am a business owner, my fundamental approach to marketing has not changed, and I only want to work with clients — in my case, dentists — who understand and appreciate how educating their patients (customers) can help them grow their businesses meaningfully and sustainably.
An education-first approach
All our marketing takes an “education-first” approach. It is not a problem for us to give away our knowledge, because we market almost exclusively to dentists. Providing them with information actually encourages them to be more engaged in their marketing, and that benefits them as well as us. This type of approach helps us build rapport and trust with future clients. It also demonstrates our authority in the field, giving us credibility among the dental community.
We explain to our clients, in terms they can easily understand, exactly what we do, how we do it and why. Our clients appreciate knowing these details, because they are entrepreneurs themselves, and especially in the field of dentistry, they also believe that education is a fundamental tool in attracting and retaining customers (or rather, patients). An educational approach to marketing works well in dentistry, but it is also highly effective in a lot of other scenarios within the field of marketing.
I have written two books that highlight my approach to marketing. Each book took over six months to write, and they both have generated quite a bit of interest in my company. Not only do my books discuss education in marketing, but they also showcase the expertise and knowledge within the company, our philosophy and our values. When someone reads one of my books, it will either resonate with them or not. When it does, we know that they are the type of client who will be successful with us.
Giving away your secrets
As part of my mission to educate, I make a lot of knowledge available to the general public — most of it free of charge. My business partner and I speak at seminars and make live presentations to groups of dentists in the context of conventions and other events. We send weekly emails, write articles and blog posts, record podcasts and make videos, which are all intended to educate dental practices on how they can get more out of their marketing. In essence, I basically give away all my secrets as a marketing professional, but I don’t worry that the people who are listening, watching and reading will use what I’ve told them without hiring my company. If they do, and they are successful, then more power to them.
The clients I am really looking for are the ones who see the value in hiring us, because we have all this knowledge to share. These clients understand that outsourcing marketing to an expert is the best use of their time and money. These are the clients who appreciate education and are often already on a similar path but need to expand or update their marketing efforts. These are the clients who are engaged and open to new ideas. These are the clients we want, because these are the clients who stay.
I believe that, when all is said and done, if the product or company is the right fit, an education-first approach can benefit more companies and take their marketing to the next level. Don’t let the fear that someone will take your ideas and use them stop you from educating your target audience. Keep an abundance mindset, and realize that not every client is the right fit. The ones who are, will resonate with the information you share.
There are few more anxiety-inducing and cringeworthy sensations than leaning on a wet bathroom counter right before an important job interview. There are worse things in life for sure, but the embarrassment of wet pants while wearing my best (and only) suit remains with me today. Although, to be honest, I should have seen this coming, earlier my new silk tie fell into the sink so it was fairly obvious how that day was going to unfold.
I’d like to say that this was an exception in a largely successful career but sadly it was just one of several awkward and unsuccessful interview experiences.
Once I dressed for an early morning interview in the dark and later noticed that I had put on one blue sock and one black. I had also forgotten my belt. I spent a good part of that interview shuffling my feet to hide my mismatched socks while trying to hold my pants up. I still feel that if the interviewer had made a sincere effort to get to know me instead of just asking overused scripted questions, I would have forgotten all about my socks and pants and come across better.
I’ve found throughout my career that this is the key – figuring out how to make interview subjects comfortable. Even though I work in Human Resources, I am not able to ace interviews as a candidate. I’ve never felt comfortable in a formal interview and this has been reflected numerous times in my 20-year career, often with embarrassing results.
In-person interviews have been as challenging for me as an awkward first date, and I’m sure the employer wished they had never swiped right on my application. Based on some of my job interview experiences, I wouldn’t hire myself!
Rigid or formal interviews often left me feeling like an inadequate misfit. If you want to truly get to know me and see if I’m a fit for your organization, don’t paint me into a corner with another tired, overused job interview process. Pair me up with a genuinely curious interviewer who prefers interactive conversation over a cross examination and you’ll get to know the real me. Once some trust and a rapport are built, I’ll happily share my experiences, what I’ve learned along the way and why I might be a good fit for the job.
In one interrogation, umm, I mean interview, a questioner was taking notes so enthusiastically, her notepad flew across the table and landed on my lap. My joke about my elite athletic skills in catching balls – and flying notepads – was met with a bored blank stare. Later, I received feedback from that interview that I was throwing a bunch of “junk” at the wall hoping something would stick. So much for my elite athletic skills!
After another unsuccessful interview, I was told that I was “low energy and lacked enthusiasm.” I rectified that in a subsequent interview with espresso beans and an energy drink. I definitely wasn’t low energy then but as you can imagine, there were other issues. On the plus side, I did have a fast-paced workout in the gym that day.
All these awful experiences are fodder for my current work – training executives on hiring better leaders by changing the way job interviews and performance reviews are done. The challenge – as I know all too well – is to truly get to know the interviewee and “peel the onion” to better understand their motives, drivers, traits and so on. This is often a new experience for both interviewers and interviewees who are more comfortable with standardized questions that focus on past successes as opposed to drawing out character.
Moving away from boring clichéd questions that candidates have researched and rehearsed to death has worked for me. A two-sided engaging discussion means that I too can comfortably ask about the organization, culture, work and other things that interest me.
My appreciation for this new way of interviewing – focusing on character not just job successes – hit home when I applied for the position I’m currently in. It took several interviews – three different senior managers on three different phone calls. But for each call, we slipped into a conversation as comfortable as a fleece onesie. After some easy banter about children, hobbies and my weekend activities, I enjoyed learning about these people and the work they were doing. It felt like reading a really good book. Even when a question focused on something I couldn’t do, I felt comfortable enough to be honest. I was asked about my interest and experience in HR analytics. While I was eager to join this team, I never considered bluffing my way through the question. Instead, I recommended a colleague who I knew would salivate like a junkyard dog at the chance to apply his analytics passion.
Later, I told my wife that even if the discussions didn’t lead to a new job, I hoped to stay in touch with them as their passion for their work was contagious. But it turns out, being completely honest and not trying to be something I’m not had its rewards. I was hired after all, and have been in a role that fits my skills better than analytics for almost two years.
Applying for jobs is never easy. But it’s amazing how much you can learn about someone just by being kind and curious. And, as a bonus, with many interviews now being conducted virtually, no one will ever know if you leaned on a wet washroom counter.
Feature Image Credit: Illustration by Marley Allen-Ash
Reaching and influencing potential customers already on their way to make a purchase is a sweet spot for advertisers. The challenge is understanding their on-the-move behaviours to capture them at the right moment. Thanks to a new report from Waze, we explore the latest mobility trends in motion to see how brands and retailers can use these insights to make their ads travel further.
Did you know that a quarter of UK drivers would change their choice of retailer while on the road if they saw or heard an advert from another retailer that interested them? Or that 68% still prefer to drive to the shops for groceries rather than purchase online and have them delivered to their door?
The last two years have upturned UK mobility habits, but drivers have returned to the roads in a more significant and less predictable way than ever. That’s according to a new report, ‘Waze knows: the drivers of today and what’s fueling their purchasing decisions’, which gives fresh insight into the behaviours, motivations and engagement opportunities for UK drivers at a moment in time.
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Advertising decisions can no longer rely on old assumptions about drivers; consumers’ relationship with their car is changing and it has big implications for how advertisers engage drivers on-the-go.
“Global crises have caused surges in costs of energy and fuel this year, but we continue to see car journeys increase across the country,” explains Ruairidh Roberts, country manager, Waze UK. “Navigations are trending upwards across all commercial categories and driven kilometres are far exceeding pre-Covid levels (by 61%). What comes with this is an opportunity for Waze to keep cars moving freely, and for brands to reach drivers at exactly the right part of their day.”
The mindset of today’s drivers
The report found that almost a fifth (18%) of drivers are using their cars more often than they did before the pandemic, with 41% using them just as much as before. Twenty-eight percent use their cars daily and 74% at least 3-4 days a week and for nine in 10 (88%) of drivers, being able to drive is just as – if not more – important now than it was before.
There are demographic factors at play too, with the research indicating that younger people (particularly under 35s), those who are working, and those with children in the household are driving more often and taking longer journeys.
“Our research has unearthed new insights about driver purchasing decisions,” explains Roberts. “We now know that drivers are willing to make longer journeys for better promotional deals with more spontaneous decisions enroute. Advertisers can use these insights to improve their understanding of drivers’ motivations and capture spending potential at its most optimum.”
An essential purchase enabler
The UK might have the highest percentage of e-commerce buyers in Western Europe, but drivers still prefer to drive to buy their goods rather than purchase them online and have them delivered, finds the report. With the exception of white goods, this is true across almost all categories – but especially groceries (68% versus 17%). Toiletries and healthcare, clothes, furniture, home accessories and fast food saw a greater propensity for buying in-person versus home deliveries.
And despite the pandemic sparking a growing trend for shopping locally, many drivers still choose where to go to make a purchase based on cost and value – even if that means driving further. For example, 76% would drive past a petrol station to buy fuel if they knew they could get it cheaper a little further away. Similarly, 48% agree that they would drive to a discount store to buy a product, even if there were stores selling similar products closer to their homes. And 59% agree they would be more likely to drive to a retailer if they knew it had a sale on and there was a bargain to be had.
So, what does all of this mean for brands and retailers?
Drivers make decisions on-the-go and they are open to suggestions on the move. The Waze research shows that a quarter (25%) of drivers would change their choice of retailer while driving if they saw or heard an ad for another retailer that interested them. And one in seven (14%) have actually stopped and bought something while driving because of an ad they heard or saw while in the car.
The most spontaneous buys for UK drivers include clothes (20%) and fast food (19%) with the stats even higher among Waze users (both 28%). When broken down by driving persona, the ‘staycationers’ (46%), ‘sightseers’ (41%) and ‘commuters’ (29%) were more likely to make spontaneous purchases while on the move.
65% of drivers are using navigation apps like Waze to plan ahead for routes to purchases and shopping destinations as well as searching out businesses, retailers or services in a specific area. And users of the Waze app are more susceptible to advertising – 31% are more likely to choose to drive to a retailer if they had recently seen or heard them being advertised versus 25% of all UK drivers.
Katy Allison, media strategy manager, Marks & Spencer – Food, says a huge priority for the media strategy at M&S is driving footfall into stores – so reaching people on the go is an “extremely effective” tool to achieve this. She adds: “Platforms such as Waze offers us a unique navigation inventory and valuable intent signals about where consumers are going. These signals, coupled with the time of day, type of trip and even weather conditions, enables us to better understand consumers’ mindsets and serve real-time contextual messages during their journeys.”
Selling on Facebook can boost your revenue whether you run a Facebook Shop or sell on the Marketplace. Here’s how to use Facebook tools and features to make sales.
More than 90 million small businesses connect with customers through Facebook because it’s a prime spot for increasing brand awareness and building relationships. But you can also make sales directly through the platform. Have you explored your options for selling on Facebook?
There are dedicated spaces for selling, like Facebook Shop and Marketplace. Additionally, there are earning opportunities with organic and paid posts, Facebook Messenger, and groups. Learn how to sell on Facebook and why it’s essential to start now.
Why businesses should sell on Facebook
Social commerce is poised to go mainstream, as Insider Intelligence expects more than half of U.S. adults to make “a purchase on social media” in 2022. Likewise, Accenture predicted that social commerce (purchases made on social media) will “grow three times as fast as traditional e-commerce.” It also said that clothing, consumer electronics, and home décor are the categories that will see the most significant growth.
Building your presence and establishing your brand early can give you a head start as social commerce goes mainstream. By starting now, you can address some things that keep consumers from making a purchase.
Accenture found that “trust is the biggest barrier to adoption,” reflecting buyer protection and refund concerns. It also noted that the path to adoption is how “it was for e-commerce at its beginning.” Other worries include “distrusting platforms with payment information” and “being unsure if the products shown were legitimate,” according to Insider Intelligence.
Develop a small business Facebook strategy that outlines opportunities in different Facebook spaces. For instance, you may open a Facebook Shop, run ads, and sell during your live streams. Small teams or physical shops may prefer Facebook Marketplace and monetizing their posts.
Build a Facebook Shop
It’s free to open a Facebook Shop. During account creation, you’ll add goods to your product catalog. These can be just a few items that you upload manually, or you can sync to your online store or upload products from a spreadsheet. Like your e-commerce site, optimized descriptions, user-generated content (UGC), and high-quality photos are essential.
Once you open a Facebook Shop, you can tag products from the catalog during a Facebook or Instagram live stream and sell through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. In each situation, customers land on your product ordering page.
Although you can sell as an individual on Facebook Marketplace, it’s also a selling channel for your Facebook Shop. If you have a Shop, you can sell as a business in the Marketplace.
Run Facebook Ads
According to Meta (formerly Facebook), “Over 10 million businesses have used Facebook advertising, the majority of which are small to medium-sized businesses.” Use the Ad Manager, and choose from more than 25 call-to-action (CTA) buttons, including “Shop Now,” “See Menu,” and “Book Now.” You can also connect your ads to your Facebook Messenger account. Facebook reported that small businesses like Lalo realized “a 3x higher conversion rate when they switched to ads that click to Messenger.”
Join Facebook Marketplace
Although you can sell as an individual on Facebook Marketplace, it’s also a selling channel for your Facebook Shop. If you have a Shop, you can sell as a business in the Marketplace. In a 2021 first quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported that “more than one billion people visit Marketplace each month.” Buyers use your shop’s checkout feature for a seamless experience.
Sell during Facebook livestreams
Facebook Live connects your small business to customers in real time, allowing you to answer questions and discuss your products. With a Facebook Shop, you can feature products during your livestream and display product boxes with a CTA. If you use Facebook’s Commerce Manager, livestream viewers can go to your Facebook Shop checkout page.
Earn sales from organic posts
If your sales journey requires a hands-on approach and you’re not ready to embrace Facebook checkout or want to drive in-store sales, use your posts to generate sales. According to HubSpot, “Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.” Special promotions, limited-time offers, and giveaway entries for purchases can direct buyers to your product or landing page.
CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.
SEO affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to make money online. By ranking high for keywords that people are searching for, you can earn commissions from the products and services that you promote
In this guide, we’re going to show you everything you need to know about SEO affiliate marketing, including:
What is SEO affiliate marketing?
How does it work?
What are the benefits?
How do you get started?
What are the best SEO affiliate programs to join?
By the end of this guide, you’ll have a solid understanding of how SEO affiliate marketing works and how you can start earning money from it. Let’s get started!
What Is SEO Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of online marketing where you promote products or services and earn a commission for each sale that you generate
There are many different types of affiliate marketing, but SEO affiliate marketing is one of the most effective. As the name suggests, SEO affiliate marketing involves ranking high in search engines for keywords related to the products or services that you’re promoting
For example, let’s say that you’re promoting a course on how to lose weight. You might rank high in Google for the keyword “how to lose weight fast.” If someone clicks on your link and purchases the course, you would earn a commission. It’s important to note that Google ranking factors are always changing and you should stay up to date with the best practices.
How Does It Work?
SEO affiliate marketing works by getting your affiliate links in front of as many people as possible. The more people that see your links, the more likely you are to make a sale
By using these strategies, you can get your affiliate links in front of as many people as possible. The more people that see your links, the higher your chances of making a sale.
What Are the Benefits?
There are many benefits to SEO affiliate marketing, including:
1. It’s an effective way to make money online
2. It doesn’t require a lot of upfront investment
3. You can scale your earnings by increasing your traffic
4. It’s relatively easy to get started
These are just a few of the reasons why SEO affiliate marketing is so popular. If you’re looking for a way to make money online, it’s worth considering.
Let’s dive into some Affiliate Marketing strategies
There are hundreds of strategies to leverage to be successful in affiliate marketing. But to keep this article short and sweet, we’ll dive into the most common strategies.
1. Write articles and blog posts
This is one of the most common ways to get your affiliate links in front of people. By writing articles and blog posts about the products or services that you’re promoting, you can rank high in search engines and get organic traffic
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you wanted to promote some cat ear headphones. You could write an article like “best cat ear headphones” and include your affiliate links in the article. If someone reads your article and clicks on one of your links, they would be taken to the headphones where they could purchase it.
2. Create videos
Another great way to get your affiliate links in front of people is to create videos. You can create videos about the products or services that you’re promoting and include your affiliate links in the description
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you created a video about the weight loss program that you’re promoting. You could include your affiliate link in the video description so that people could click on it and be taken to the program’s website.
3. Run ads
Another option is to run ads. You can create ads for the products or services that you’re promoting and target them to people who are interested in those topics
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you wanted to promote a weight loss program. You could create an ad that targets people who are interested in losing weight. When someone sees your ad and clicks on it, they would be taken to the program’s website.
4. Optimize your website for search engines
Another great way to get your affiliate links in front of people is to optimize your website for search engines. This will help you rank higher in search results and get more organic traffic
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you have a blog about weight loss. You could optimize your blog posts for the keywords “how to lose weight fast” and “weight loss programs.” This would help you rank higher in search results and get more people to visit your blog.
5. Guest post on other blogs
Guest posting is another great way to get your affiliate links in front of people. By guest posting on other blogs in your niche, you can reach a whole new audience.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you wanted to promote a weight loss program. You could write a guest post for a blog in your niche and include your affiliate link in the post, this is an example of a website that does this very efficiently. This will help you reach a new audience and get your affiliate links in front of more people that otherwise had no chance of ever finding your links.
6. Participate in forums and discussion boards
Another great way to get your affiliate links in front of people is to participate in forums and discussion boards. By participating in these online communities, you can reach a whole new audience
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you’re a member of a weight loss forum. You could include your affiliate link in your signature so that people would see it every time you made a post. This would help you reach a new audience and get your link in front of more people.
7. Create an e-book or report
Another great way to promote your affiliate links is to create an e-book or report. You can include your affiliate links in the e-book or report and give it away for free
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you wanted to promote a weight loss program. You could create an e-book about weight loss and include your affiliate link in it. If someone reads your e-book and clicks on your link, they would be taken to the program’s website where they could purchase it.
8. Give away freebies
Giving away freebies is another great way to get your affiliate links in front of people. You can include your affiliate links on your freebies and give them away at events or online
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you’re attending a weight loss conference. You could include your affiliate link on some of the freebies that you’re giving away. If someone receives one of your freebies and clicks on your link, they would be taken to the program’s website where they could purchase it.
9. Write reviews
Writing reviews is another great way to promote your affiliate links. You can write reviews about the products or services that you’re promoting and include your affiliate links in them. This will help you reach a new audience and get your link in front of more people. You should also consider reading this article to learn how to mitigate the risks of affiliate linking.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you wanted to promote a weight loss program. You could write a review about the program and include your affiliate link in it. If someone reads your review and clicks on your link, they would be taken to the program’s website where they could purchase it.
10. Host a webinar
Hosting a webinar is another great way to promote your affiliate links. You can host a webinar about the products or services that you’re promoting and include your affiliate links in the presentation. This will help you reach a new audience and get your link in front of more people.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that you wanted to promote a weight loss program. You could host a webinar about the program and include your affiliate link in it. If someone attends your webinar and clicks on your link, they would be taken to the program’s website where they could purchase it.
These are just a few of the many ways that you can promote your affiliate links. By using these methods, you can reach a new audience and get your link in front of more people. Choose one or two of these methods and start implementing them today!
How do you get started with SEO affiliate marketing?
Before you can start using SEO to promote your affiliate links, you need to find a niche that you’re interested in. Once you’ve found a niche, you can start creating content that is optimized for search engines. This content will help you rank higher in search results and get more traffic to your website.
To get started with SEO affiliate marketing, follow these steps:
1. Find a niche that you’re interested in.
2. Do keyword research to find popular keywords that people are searching for.
3. Create content that is optimized for search engines.
4. Promote your content through social media and other channels.
5. Monitor your traffic and conversions to see what’s working and what isn’t.
6. Make changes to your strategy as needed.
SEO affiliate marketing can be a great way to get more traffic to your website and make more sales.
What are the best SEO affiliate programs to join?
There are a number of SEO affiliate programs that you can join. These programs will pay you a commission for every sale that you generate. To find the best SEO affiliate programs, consider these factors:
1. The program’s commission structure.
2. The program’s payout schedule.
3. The program’s terms and conditions.
4. The program’s selection of products and services.
5. The program’s support and training materials.
By considering these factors, you can narrow down your options and find the best SEO affiliate programs to join. Now that you know what to consider, once you’ve joined a few programs, you can start promoting their products and services and start earning commissions.
Our top choices
Some of the best SEO affiliate programs in our opinion are:
1. SEMrush
2. Moz
3. Ahrefs
4. KWFinder
5. SERPstat
These are just a few of the many SEO affiliate programs that you can join. Choose one or two of these programs and start promoting their products today.
Lucas is the Co-Founder & CEO at SEO Assistance. With a decade of experience in SEO, he has used his skillset to help grow thousands of businesses around the world.
Using search engine optimisation (SEO) can help your firm’s website standout in a competitive environment. In this sponsored article, Ewelina Radziewicz, chief operating officer at Intellistart, explains how your firm can start utilising this tool.
Building and growing a law firm requires a lot of work and is never easy.
It involves overseeing and managing the general operations, taking care of the financials, and the promotion of the firm and services. All while fee earning.
Aside from using traditional marketing techniques, you are now presented with new opportunities in digital marketing that you can take advantage of.
If your law firm has a website, that’s a great start. But your website alone might not be enough to generate new clients online. You need to make your website visible.
This is where search engine optimisation (SEO) comes into play.
But how do you warrant SEO’s effectiveness? More importantly, how do you use it to grow your business?
What does SEO have to do with law firm growth?
Due to the high accessibility of fast internet, users expect to find answers to their questions immediately, typically searched for on Google.
To meet their customers’ needs, Google attempts to serve them with the most relevant and credible websites with good user experience (UX) to ensure they continue to use the search engine.
So, as there are thousands of relevant law firm websites competing on Google, how does your firm’s website secure a top spot on the SERPs? This is where SEO comes in to help.
Combining SEO with other website improvements can give your firm a chance of not only appearing on the SERPs, but also climbing the top rankings.
This in turn can lead to more visitors to your website, which in turn creates more enquires, more clients and ultimately growing your business.
What every law firm’s SEO strategy must include?
Writing content plays a big part in legal SEO.
Producing helpful content will not only present you as the leader of your niche area to prospective clients, it will also allow you to place a wider range of keywords on your site, which will subsequently improve your SEO.
Writing web content will also give you good PR, as sharing educational and helpful content can create a good impression.
But it’s not the only thing. SEO also involves using a variety of qualitative content principles and technical improvements to increase your online traffic and rankings on the SERPs.
Without getting into too much technical detail, we outline some of the SEO strategy components below that you need to cover to ensure your content ranks on Google and helps your business grow:
Target relevant keywords and write original legal content
Keywords are individual words and phrases searched for on Google, for example, ‘personal injury compensation claim’ or ‘divorce solicitor in London’.
To be able to rank for keywords, you need to ensure you include the right amount of them in the right places. This means that, at the very least, they need to be present in your page titles, headings and the body of the text.
Do make sure you write original texts. If you take content from another site, Google might simply rank the original page instead of yours. Find out more about this.
Do your keyword research and keep an eye on the changes Google is implementing. If you keep up, you will be rewarded with increased visibility and resulting traffic.
Craft your metadata
Metadata is almost like your office front.
The meta title is the first thing a Google user will see. Then, most likely, they will see your meta description.
Whether a prospective client will click on the link to your website or not, depends on how well they respond to your metadata.
Google’s program constantly scans through websites to make sense of the pages and then match them with people’s search queries. By including keywords in your metadata, you will highlight the relevance of your law firm’s page.
Obtain good backlinks
Backlinks (other websites linking back to your website) are important for SEO. They essentially signal to Google that others vouch for the content on your law firm’s website.
For law firms, the Law Society Directory and the SRA’s Solicitors Register make great backlinks because they are trustworthy, popular and high-authority websites.
On the opposite end you don’t want links from spam / unreliable websites that Google doesn’t like and doesn’t want to serve to its users.
Earning good backlinks can have a positive effect on your website’s ranking position and thus search visibility.
You can gain backlinks to your law firm’s website by writing engaging content.
And the more closely you match your prospects’ search intent, the more likely others will also reference your website.
If you are presented with opportunities to guest blog, take them. If you can, create shareable content (such as videos and infographics) and use industry contacts and social media to share it.
It is also worth checking and removing any untrustworthy backlinks from your own website to improve your online authority score.
If, for instance, your website’s information architecture (IA) and navigation are complicated, and your UX isn’t accessible, visitors may struggle to navigate and read your website. So you need to make sure these are in tip-top shape.
Moreover, as more than a half of the world’s online traffic is now generated by mobile devices, mobile-friendliness matters more than ever. For good SEO results, it’s important to have a mobile-ready site.
To secure high rankings on the SERPs, you also need to make sure that your website loads quickly. Ideally in 2.5 seconds or less. Anything longer than that could result in lower rankings.
Also, don’t forget the most basic foundations of your site. Ensure all of your page links (URLs) are easy to read and that your website is safe and secure.
This, combined with good SEO practices. will help you gain higher website rankings and subsequently grow your law firm.
Use the free Google tools to monitor your website
There are different tools available out there to help you track your SEO and website performance.
The following are some of the most valuable free tools you can use to help ensure you get the most out of your SEO and support your law firm’s growth.
Page Speed Insights
Page Speed Insights is a great tool for testing your law firm’s website’s overall performance.
It is simple enough, giving you a score out of 100 based on several optimisation best practices and highlighting any problem spots.
The tool will help you ensure compliance with Google’s guidelines which can result in higher rankings.
Google Analytics and Search Console
Google Analytics and Search Console can collect and present enormous amounts of helpful data about your law firm’s website.
Some of the most helpful information they can provide you with include insights into how many people visit your site every day, which pages get the most views, and which search queries your website appears for.
Analysing this data can give you a better idea as to whether your website/SEO is generating any return on investment (ROI).
Keyword Planner
In respect of keyword tools, there are various free and paid keyword tools available on the internet. Without a shadow of a doubt, however, Google’s free Keyword Planner remains a leader among them.
There are a few reasons to use this tool; the main one being the free keyword research feature which can be used to inspire new pages and inform you whether the keywords you want to target ever get searched on Google.
Mobile-Friendly Test
This is one of the simplest tools created by Google.
The Mobile-Friendly Test is a test site you can use right now to see if your website is mobile friendly.
Look at any Target or Walmart store on a Saturday and watch as customers perfectly dominate the essence of physical-to-physical commerce. In fact, just the experience of being in a physical location leads most customers to make purchases far beyond their shopping lists. That’s the reason why brands spend millions of dollars on physical retail locations because they feel confident they can elevate and capitalize on the on-site shopping experience and the “serendipity” that happens in the store. Whether it’s waiting in a queue to enter the Louis Vuitton Maison Vendôme store in Paris or going down an in-store slide during a Showfields shopping adventure in New York, the world of physical retail has become more experiential and glitzy. It is one of the drivers of BIG retail.
But when we start to think about a brand’s physical footprint in virtual economies, we seem to falter. Does this footprint have a “toe hold” in the virtual world? I say a resounding yes!
As I continue to advise and work with brands in this new space, it is evident from my perspective that new commerce models are evolving, but they have not been done at scale. Even while the Metaverse is in a nascent state, these models will have a significant impact on customers’ choices and purchasing decisions. My advice to you is to buckle up, because we’re about to head into the future of commerce!
As a IMPORTANT note, we can all acknowledge that the Metaverse has serious implications for society. For example, one of my previous articles from August 2020 explored ethics and privacy in the metaverse. The article you are reading right now is specifically written to explore and present new commerce models, and should not be interpreted as the only thing of importance as we build the Metaverse. The intention of this article is to shed light on these new commerce models to create awareness and explore the possibilities of how commerce will transcend eCommerce and physical retail and also give professionals the nomenclature they might need as they explore these new spaces. These new commerce models should be approached delicately and with community and value creation in mind, for many of us, the hope is that potentially a web3 ethos of openness will also be adopted.
Virtual and Physical commerce collide as we enable the creation of the Metaverse. These new commerce … [+]
For centuries, the only viable marketplace (except for a “Sears” catalogue back in my parents’ time) was physical-to-physical (P2P). Customers went to a physical location, selected a product and exchanged physical “fiat” money in person for the material goods they wanted.
The dawn of the internet introduced new marketplaces for exchanges starting with social media apps and eCommerce. In the dawn of the metaverse and the coming era of web3, commerce will evolve and with this evolution, new models will emerge.
The marketing strategies, and even the products that brands will sell, will be different as we head into the successor state to today’s mobile internet, the metaverse. Whether the products are physical or virtual, professionals will have to consider demographic and psychographic data, skill-building and gamification, user interaction, events/experiences, digital twin technologies, and creating a unified commerce front…all with the intent of encouraging engagement with a product or service. Then add a layer of complexity to the mix when you factor in the importance of community, fandom, and authenticity and their impact on a fan and/or customer’s choices in the physical and virtual realms.
Many professionals use the term in-person shopping to differentiate it from virtual. I would suggest that all shopping is in-person, even if it’s done on a virtual platform or for the benefit of an avatar or a virtual home. There is still a human behind the decision making and the final purchase! (at least for now)
Is the Market Ready? Are You?
Direct to avatar was just the start. getty
According to a recent BigBusiness blog, “brands that do want to spend some of their marketing dollars on Metaverse tech should look for things that already work and then figure out how to make them even better with immersive tech.” Moreover, brands should start this process as soon as possible since the “new” costumer is already there.
A recent survey conducted by Zipline (one of the world’s largest delivery drone companies) suggests that 85% of Gen-Z respondents, 75% of millennials and 69% of Gen-Xers responded that they would be interested in hybrid shopping experiences, which include using mixed reality in retail stores and for online shopping. “The key is to engage consumers with entertaining and accessible digital content that lowers the barriers to entry and meets Metaverse users where they already exist,” said Zipline cofounder and CEO Melissa Wong. This might be in a popular game or in a physical store where people mingle in the flesh. Just don’t expect to get much out of spending millions on the next deserted island. Too many times we see brands build experiences that are brand driven instead of creating them with the player in mind, and then they wonder why no one came.
Of course, gamers are at the core of all this new activity. They are already in tune with this new reality and are this brave new market. A study from Newzoo found that gamers had higher-than-average positive attitudes toward brand names than non-gamers. They surveyed 75,000 respondents online from 36 markets worldwide and found that gamers hold a significantly more favourable attitude toward brands in sports, cars, drinks and fashion.
Making It A Reality
Augmented Reality Shopping With Garment Visualization Simulation Technologies getty
Current shopping models are Physical-to-Physical, Digital-to-Physical, and Virtual-to-Virtual. But what about going the next step and making the sale from Virtual-to-Physical and Physical-to-Virtual? When your customers are in the Metaverse, it’s virtual first. However, what happens when they want to purchase something physical in-game or in-world? Or when they are at a physical location, whether a store or a music festival and something they acquire at the location can unlock something else for them in the virtual world? We will dive deeper into these models later in this essay and in future ones.
In the Metaverse, there is an emerging business model focused on providing new products to digital twins of the customer, which would be the person’s unique avatar. This is called Direct-to-Avatar (D2A), a term that Ryan Gill, CEO of Crucible, and I first explored back in July 2020 in a highly cited article. D2A bypasses traditional marketing by focusing on in-game personas to sell virtual goods, physical items, or real-world experiences. D2A may sound counterintuitive, but it is becoming a fast-growing market segment with an increased sense of connection to purchase digital goods that may or may not come with real-world counterparts. D2A can be leveraged by brands to sell V2V, P2V, and V2P.
With D2A becoming a new model for D2C, this in itself signals a new frontier for B2B and B2C paradigms which will be impacted not only by gaming but also by AR and voice.
Discerning The Metaverse Through “Metaverse Moments”
Culture is being created in virtual spaces. getty
While the Metaverse may not be fully understood by many business professionals marketers, and communicators, many believe and agree that it is part of the future. Some companies are advancing into Metaverse markets, while others are stumbling into them. Separating impactful, meaningful activations from publicity stunts and teasing the real value of the Metaverse out of the hype can allow businesses to make rational decisions at this crucial state of the opportunities that are emerging. At the end of the day, what is the value you are creating for your community or your fans?
Right now, there is no universally agreed-upon definition of the Metaverse. While there are a few common criteria, most people have their own ideas about what the Metaverse is, or will be. And that’s okay. But, for the sake of common understanding, the Metaverse in this article does refer to a further convergence of our physical and digital lives.
As our current societies and economies are populated and shaped by individuals; the Metaverse is populated and shaped by our digital lifestyles. It’s about digital identity and ownership feeding, and being fed, by a new extension of human creativity. Additionally, culture is being created in virtual spaces, and that culture, in turn, impacts fashion, entertainment, and more.
The digital lifestyle isn’t new-we’ve been living it on phones, tablets, computers, increasingly in VR headsets and soon in AR glasses and other emerging display systems that bring our digital lives up to our physical lives. So, to what extent do we live party in the early glimpses of the Metaverse already?
The Metaverse that many imagine is still a long way off. But, the Metaverse isn’t (just) a virtual place at which we will someday arrive and will include our physical world. It’s an evolution. The Metaverse reveals itself more and more everyday in glimpses – “metaverse moments.”
While it’s important not to confuse these metaverse moments for the actual arrival of the Metaverse, we can learn from them about what the Metaverse will look like, and how we can build it, and build in it, successfully.
Pure Virtual Markets
Gaming economies have been thriving for decades. getty
Commerce is evolving into more virtual spaces and experiences, including experiences shared virtually through augmented reality. The world of the previous century was driven by physical-to-physical commerce – economic activity in the physical world buying experiences and items in the physical world. The Metaverse is driven by virtual-to-physical, physical-to-virtual and virtual-to-virtual commerce.
Virtual-to-virtual commerce has been happening in games for decades. This kind of commerce involves online economic activity buying online experiences and items. We can also call this the “direct-to-avatar” model – similar to today’s “direct-to-consumer” model but emphasizing that the “consumption” is taking place virtually.
According to Statista, in-game purchases alone accounted for over $61 million in 2021, with the total virtual goods market expected to reach nearly $200 billion or more by 2025. That’s possible, especially considering other kinds of virtual-enabled commerce, which is also growing in scale through app and hardware adoption. This is presenting huge opportunities for companies exploring these concepts – particularly at this early stage of the market.
V2P And P2V
There are activations and economies in the Metaverse beyond the virtual-to-virtual model. These are virtual-to-physical and physical-to-virtual.
Virtual-to-Physical activations involve purchasing a virtual good or making a purchase within a virtual-first marketplace or a gaming experience that may have some virtual benefit but that also allows some kind of physical product or experience. Physical-to-Virtual markets involve purchasing a physical item or experience that also “unlocks” some virtual component.
Some Virtual-to-Physical commerce activations are relatively simple, like making purchases through an AR or fully-virtual storefront. There are dedicated companies making bespoke virtual marketplaces that integrate directly with a retailer’s existing 2D eCommerce solution.
Many online retailers have also seen success creating immersive shopping experiences through applications like Snapchat. Parent company, Snap Inc., has been making eCommerce through the platform easier and more enjoyable for users as well as more efficient for retailers for a while now. And that’s just in time since a recent study found that over 90% of Gen-Z want to use AR for shopping.
NFTs Could Play A Role
While both of these examples are exciting, it is true that they are versions of how some eCommerce already happens. Nevertheless, there are more technologically advanced options with even more potential to reinvent business models and present new ones. Consider those that involve the purchase of non-fungible tokens.
NFTs represent and allow ownership of digital goods. But, through the magic of blockchain, they also allow the minter of the NFT to grant exclusive boons to the holder. Consider a restaurant that hasn’t opened yet but sells NFTs allowing exclusive access to owners when the restaurant does open. If done properly it becomes a new way for start-ups to generate capital, for example Fly Fish Restaurant which opens in 2023 in New York.
Some might think that the use of an NFT in this way is gambling. (In the example above, will buyers get enough use out of the restaurant to make up for their initial purchase? Will the restaurant ever actually open at all?) However, it’s more appropriate to think of this kind of use of NFTs as “crowdsourced corporations” earning start-up money in much the same way that a new corporation would make money by selling stocks.
Just like a corporation selling stocks, a startup selling NFTs can grant holders exclusive benefits including helping to make decisions about how the project is run. This can go as far as “decentralized autonomous organizations” that are run completely by the people that run the digital infrastructure supporting a project. But, that’s a conversation for another day.
First, we need to look at some forward-thinking companies that are making major strides in using the NFT option as the marketing hook. London-based, Auroboros, which was recently featured in a Netflix documentary, for example, is a Metaverse native luxury fashion house that is creating for both the physical and digital markets.
Highly successful, the founders seek to embrace the art and fashion worlds merging them into the Metaverse. They are being aided in this task by using Boson Protocol which is a decentralized Web3 marketplace that allows a marketer to sell physical products in the Metaverse as NFTs. Future commerce will run seamlessly with the company promoting its products while having direct access to its data to determine future sales.
Some consider Boson Protocol a new form of “banking” platform by eliminating intermediaries expediting sales, a belief recently supported with its partnership with MasterCard. Its appeal is far-reaching with Tommy Hilfiger, Hogan, Cider, IKKS, Anrealage, Deadfellaz, SSIAN and others partnering with Boson.
It isn’t stopping here. Last year, Balenciaga partnered with Fortnite, the world’s most popular video game, to promote the fashion company’s high-end fashion. Albeit an interesting match for a high-priced fashion company to team up with a game that teens and young adults prefer, it is certainly the beginning of partnerships that may eventually increase brand recognition and eventual sales for brands. Time will tell but companies are eagerly exploring these possibilities.
Enter Physical-To-Virtual
There is also a lot of work being done in activating physical items or experience purchases to enable virtual benefits. These transactions are simpler for people that aren’t (yet) into crypto and NFTs, and it gives them the comfort of having a physical item or experience regardless of whether the virtual benefit materializes – or even in the event that they choose not to interact with the virtual component at all.
One example from last year’s holiday season came from toy company MGA Entertainment teaming up with Ioconic to create NFTs and virtual experiences that were launched from QR codes in the packaging of the L.O.L Surprise! toy line. This was in keeping with the spirit and business model of the line, which already involved collectability. It also added fun new components without replacing the existing model.
This example was relatively limited in terms of scale – only select retailers were involved and not all purchases from within those retailers included the QR code to the experience. Some of this is because blockchain and NFT activations can still be relatively expensive – particularly at scale. It’s also because companies are still learning how these emerging technologies fit into the customer journey.
Regardless of these concerns, the companies that are using brand activations are creating sensations wherever they play out. The result is greater brand awareness, more positive impressions and more customers which equals more sales. According to product>lead,a brand activation strategy marketer, companies are finding great results with their brand activation efforts, such as Revolve using an annual festival to combine experiential and influencer marketing tactics driving 70 percent of its annual sales, or Top Line makeup developing a Shop Your Mood interactive feature to increase conversion rates without damaging their reputation, or even Samsung encouraging users to use Samsung Galaxy s9 smartphone to take photos in any condition using the #reimaginemuseum hashtag.
The Wave Of The Future Is Coming To Shore
Metaverse online shopping experience in virtual reality environment. Young woman shopping in … [+]getty
The time has come for business professionals to recognize that they have two options: they can stay entrenched in the traditional paradigms and strategies of consumer purchasing, shopper marketing, and customer experience or they can fully embrace new user journeys in the virtual spaces and in turn the Metaverse. Change and evolution in customer behaviours are not going away and will be further impacted by Gen-Alpha’s reality which further blurs the physical and virtual divide.
While there is still no perfect roadmap for marketing in the Metaverse, there are now sufficient examples of initiatives from which we can learn to help us move forward. Through a holistic strategy that has clear goals and that is flexible change you can eventually build the confidence to put your toe in the water so to speak. No one is suggesting that you go full-blown into the abyss. Taking measured steps is the realistic way to start. With each of your own successes, you will be able to close the gap between the physical world and the virtual world. When you do, you will be amazed at the results.
In the next article in this series, we will dive deep into the Virtual-to-Physical commerce model. This will include its current state, what a current customer journey looks at all the stages of the commerce model from pre-purchase to post-purchase, as well explore the impact of player actions, touchpoints, pain points, solutions, and challenges.
Cathy Hackl is a globally recognized Metaverse / Web 3 authority, strategist and tech futurist. She’s a business executive, keynote speaker and one of the most influential women in tech and is considered a leading management thinker by Thinkers50. She founded the Futures Intelligence Group, which was acquired by Journey, a new design and innovation consultancy. At Journey she leads the Metaverse Studio. Hackl has worked for some of the biggest names in tech including Amazon Web Services, Magic Leap & HTC VIVE.
