editor, Author at Mediastreet

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In Business, Don’t Follow Your Passions — Discover Them

December 15, 2020 No Comments

“Follow your passion” can have different meanings. It could mean “pursue a career in the arts,” or something else that may not be traditionally considered lucrative or sustainable. The phrase could also mean “do what you want, and don’t worry about consequences.”

In recent years, there’s been a strain of business advice that basically says don’t follow your passions. Instead, the idea is that you make a lot of money and then do what you want on the side.

In my experience, working hard revealed exactly what my passions were. Then, I could incorporate those into what I and my team do.

Like Attracts Like

You’ve probably heard some version of that, too. Essentially, the idea is that you’ll come across people in your life who are similar to you. Perhaps they believe similarly or act similarly, and so forth.

When I started Website Depot, we wanted clients. Through hard work and dedication, we were able to develop a client base. Sure, we had clients in all kinds of industries. But, after a while, we realized something: many of our clients were detox and rehab facilities. This isn’t something we planned on. While we were grateful for it, it’s not like we intentionally sought them out over clients in other industries.

In a way, it caught us by surprise. Why did we have so many clients in this industry? Then, after we did some reflecting, we realized that it wasn’t a surprise after all.

The Makings Of A Connection

The rehab industry isn’t very similar to the full-service digital marketing one. However, there are real similarities. For lack of a better phrase, it’s a “people” industry, too. In rehab, detox and rehab professionals have to be able to talk to and connect with their clients. They need to be able to evaluate them and help them to put together a plan. Through constant, thoughtful hard work, they put their clients in a position to be able to ultimately succeed.

When looked at through that prism, running a rehab facility and running an online marketing company have quite a few similarities indeed. Now, no one is comparing the work a detox and rehab facility does with that of an online marketing company. Their stakes are much higher; they’re helping people to deal with the underlying trauma that causes addiction. We’re helping folks to rank higher on Google. That said, once we thought about it, we realized exactly why we’ve drawn so many rehab facilities. Then, we decided to do even more.

In order to truly discover your passion, it’s important to be on the lookout and make deeper-level connections. Look deeper beyond what’s on the surface and use it to fuel your next move.

Where Passion Can Lead

Years ago, I started a site, an offshoot of my company called Reputation Rehab. The idea was that we would “rehab” a client’s reputation, should it have been sullied online, etc. It was always there but we never did much with it. But, after working with so many rehab facilities, I began to see how we could do more. So, I hired mental health professionals to my staff. If it was good for our clients, it should be good for us. Then, we rebooted. Now, we help more detox, rehab and mental health facilities than ever to reach more people.

Be open to where passion can lead. It could very well lead you to an old project or a new venture that drives your business forward.

How This Applies to Your Passion

Maybe, when you started your company, you knew exactly what you wanted it to be. More than just successful, you wanted to make a difference, one way or the other. Or, perhaps you knew what you wanted to do, but beyond “be successful,” you didn’t necessarily have an end goal in mind.

If you have a moment, look around to see who you’re attracting to your company. You could look at your clients, but also your staff, audience, investors, customers, and more. Do they have something in common? Are they who you want to bring into your life?

After all, we’ve all heard so much about the threat of “burnout,” of feeling “unfulfilled.” For many, that’s become even more prevalent during the pandemic. If you don’t feel fulfilled by what your business is doing, who it’s attracting or where it’s headed, of course you’re going to feel burned out and empty. That’s just human nature. If that’s the case, then you want to take steps to change that.

If you have clients whose work you believe in, think about what it is about them that appeals to you. Then, reflect on why they came to you in the first place. You might even want to talk to them about it. “You were the best in your field” might be why they initially reached out to you, but odds are that’s not why they’ve stayed with you.

From there, you can take real, tangible steps toward figuring out exactly where your passions lie. Then, you can go after them with all your heart and business aptitude.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Danny Star

Danny Star, CEO and Founder of Website Depot Digital Marketing Agency, has helped hundreds of small businesses grow and expand. Read Danny Star’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Ask the Future 50: what qualities will make the marketer of the future?

December 15, 2020 No Comments

By Sam Bradley

This week we reveal the Future 50 for 2020, our list of the best new brand-side talent from across the industry. But while celebrating the milestones our phenomenal 50 have already achieved in their careers, we also wanted to pick the brains of these marketing leaders of tomorrow.

And so, as the industry moves forward after a tumultuous year, the first question we put to our Future 50 is…

What qualities does the marketer of the future need to possess?

Harriet Lowe, portfolio marketing executive, ITV

They need to be inquisitive and never afraid to ask why. I think it’s really important that marketers of the future recognise they might have a different opinion or point of view to others in the room, and often by sharing this point of view great work can come from it. Although we can all learn a lot from people around us, we should never lose our own curiosity to challenge the status quo and be the most authentic versions of ourselves.

Mazen Mroueh, global digital manager, Friesland Campina

Marketers need to adapt and have an open-minded approach towards new market and technology updates. As a start, they need to be technically proficient, hybrid, agile, flexible to changes, creative, and disruptive. But also, they need to be socially responsible, honest, ethical, fair, transparent and direct with consumers.

Chad West, director, global marketing and communications, Revolut

Technical skills: you need to be able to source your own data, build your own dashboards and set up your own departmental processes. This involves learning to code basic languages and familiarising yourself with all the latest software in the market. Also, business acumen. Simply bringing customers into the funnel is not enough. You need profitable customers, which means you need to build a process to monitor and report on customer engagement and customer lifetime value.

Benson Mensah-Bonsu, sports partner manager, Twitter

Being agile is key in the long run. It’s hard to consider taking risks during the pandemic when many businesses have folded and people are furloughed/unemployed. Prior to Covid-19, I’ve seen marketers bet big on things that led to underwhelming results with minimal pivoting options to reach their target. Being agile with a minimal viable product allows you to continuously build and optimise your marketing strategy in response to the current fragile yet ever-changing state of the economy.

Elena del Boca, brand manager, GHD Italy

A modern, post-Covid marketer should have a strong ability to manage at 360° the engagement with consumers. The omnichannel model is a real challenge for brands and consumers today are used to navigating from online to offline and vice versa through new and different platforms. And their expectations keep increasing. We may call it the ’fusion marketing’ era, where the key is to follow the consumers, stay along with them in whatever space they are. The enormous availability of data is crucial today to execute this 360° strategy – it is mandatory for each marketers today.

Elizabeth Stone, marketing manager, for brand partnerships, John Lewis & Partners

Above all, marketers need curiosity. As customer champions, we should be constantly evaluating our environment and our customers’ evolving needs. We need to examine the wider world so we can identify trends, seek opportunities, spot risks and ask ’why?’ By doing this, we’ll generate better and more original ideas. Second to this is taking (calculated) risks to create bold marketing and obtain an advantage. You’re not going to make your brand famous by playing it safe. The qualities marketers need don’t change, only knowledge and skills. If you stay curious, you’ll pick those up along the way.

Shannon Ross, associate creative director, Spotify

The marketer of the future will need to possess compassion. We are now of an age where superficial ideas are so easily seen through, with the pandemic and social media holding a mirror to brands. The future marketers are people who will set the right tone for the world they wish to live in. The future marketers are those who identify the human truth in their target audience, zeroing in on people first and numbers second. That is how you move the needle on a brand. That is how you mould the future.

Brianna Foster, social editor, Pinterest

The main quality a future marketer possesses is the ability to authentically connect to culture. Marketing is all about connections – connections to a feeling, a friend, an aesthetic or even an avenue to the impossible. It’s not just one thing, but rather an evolving, fluid entity. When you think of marketing in a box, you don’t see the whole picture. A marketer of the future can take any preconceived notion of what marketing is and completely throw it out the window to create new concepts based on their own experiences, ideas and desired outcomes.

Sean Cook, senior social media manager, News UK

Innovation for me is particularly key when tackling marketing. At News UK, we pride ourselves on being first to new industry platforms, and being from a social media background, spotting new tools and trends in the market – and being first to test them within the company – is key for me to market our game in new ways. Over the last year, Dream Team was the first News UK brand to trial TikTok, quickly expanding to over 65,000 followers in a matter of months. This gave us a new, younger audience to push to our product.

Maeve Delahunt, business marketing lead, Snap

I truly believe adaptability will be the most important quality for a marketer, or indeed any professional. Living in such unknown territory, we need to stay flexible and nimble. We learnt so much in the first few weeks of lockdown alone when we were forced to completely reshift and strategize our marketing efforts almost overnight. By remaining adaptable and open to fresh perspectives, marketers can react to unforeseen challenges and capitalize on opportunities, future-proofing themselves and the organisations they work for.

Jack Mackie, social media manager, News UK

Adaptability. Markets and audiences are constantly developing, with new, innovative ways to communicate springing up almost every day. It’s essential to stay on top of trends and find out exactly what works for both you and your audience. While it’s always worth trying out new methods and strategies, don’t be afraid to move on when something isn’t working. Equally, never allow yourself to become too comfortable – just because something is working, doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

Franny Goldberg, associate director, content growth strategy and analytics, SiriusXM

A willingness to fail. As the digital landscape continues to grow, with new platforms popping up daily and algorithms changing constantly, we have to be willing to sometimes fail first, before we find true success. I believe testing is more important than ever, whether it be creative, targeting, messaging etc, and in order to gain significant insight, we must be comfortable with the idea that we may not hit our goals on the first try. Often you learn more from why something didn’t work versus knowing why it did.

Chris Lu, regional head of communications and marketing, AnyMind Group

There is an increasingly blurred line between PR and marketing, and the future marketer will need to play on both sides of the equation by finding a balance. Effective PR can become effective marketing for a business, while effective marketing can also become effective PR for a business – for example, the content marketing push were doing for influencer marketing in Asia (since June 2020) has not just driven customer interest, but also greater product branding, clarity and audience perception.

Amanda Walker, senior campaign advisor, Sydney Water

Be brave. My biggest challenge is getting people to see value in challenging ideas and doing things differently. I don’t believe in doing things just because it’s the way they’ve always been done. I’m not saying throw everything out, but having a brave mindset and the courage to look at things in a different way. To test and learn, have an ear to the ground, try new things – this is what inspires me. It definitely requires passion and a strong gut-level instinct but sometimes we need to set aside just examining the data and take a leap.

Rachel Flynn, brand awareness executive, Worldwide Cancer Research

Emotional intelligence. We treat everyone like we would ourselves. Since March 2020, we’ve checked in with our friends, assured them that their money’s well looked after and that there’s a light at the end of this dark tunnel, helping them imagine a world free of the ’two Cs’. But to do this successfully, we had to put ourselves in their shoes and put our fears aside so we could serve our friends better. We cared, and it worked; empathy and sensitivity will cure our friends’ anxiety and uncertainty.

Laura Scott, brand customer strategy manager, Lloyds Banking Group

I started my journey with the group in customer-facing roles and every job I have gone into since I have been told the strength I bring to the team is my ability to truly put myself in the customer’s shoes and champion on the customer’s behalf. It is important now more than ever to truly understand and empathise with our customers, building on our experience and understanding to get as close to the customer as possible. The skill to truly understand and cater to customers’ changing needs is the core quality any marketer will need going forward.

You can see the full list of our fantastic Future 50 and read about just why we think they’re the future of the industry here.

By Sam Bradley

Sourced from The Drum

In News

11 surprising graphic design trends for 2021

December 15, 2020 No Comments

By Daniel Piper

Animals in suits, anyone?

It’s that time of year again. With the end of 2020 mercifully in sight, design forecasters have begun making their predictions for what the world of graphic design might look like in the year to come. And judging by the latest infographic, there could be some surprises in store for 2021.

Packed with ideas and inspiration for graphic designers, the infographic by design agency 99designs reveals 11 trends for 2021, along with a handy explanation of each. And the one thing that ties them all together is the theme of “putting people first”. (Take a look at our best infographics for more inspiring examples).

Graphic design trends

2021: the year of geese in suits (Image credit: 99designs)

According to 99designs, 2021 will be all about people and characters. From authentic representation, ensuring that stereotypes are ditched in favour of diversity, to irreverent characters such as “anthropomorphic sushi” (fair enough), apparently we can expect to see lots of personality in design next year.

A few older styles will also be making a reappearance, the company says. ‘Symbol revival’ will see modernised versions of classic icons from empowering Goddesses to stars and stoic lions make a comeback, while the fun world of pop art is set to be resurrected. Expect grainy colours and heavy inking aplenty (check out our art techniques guide if you’re looking for tips).

In an accompanying blogpost, the company explains that “while past trends were driven by the promise of a new decade, borrowing from sci-fi and futuristic tech, 2021’s graphic design trends are putting people first.” The company sampled opinions from its global community of graphic designers to create the list of 11 upcoming trends.

This isn’t the first graphic design forecast we’ve seen for 2021. Last month, Coastal Creative revealed 8 huge design trends for 2021. Check out all 11 of 99design’s predictions in the full infographic below.

Graphic design trends 2021 infographic — (Image credit: 99designs)

By Daniel Piper

Sourced from CREATIVE BLOQ

In News

4 Reasons Live-Streaming Video Will Improve Your Business’ Brand Awareness

December 14, 2020 No Comments

By Prabalta Rijal

Live streaming has gained massive popularity over the past few years. Its popularity on social media and other digital platforms has turned it into an important digital marketing tool that can be used by big and small companies to raise brand awareness.

Nothing lures people in more than a good story. American story consultant, Robert McKee once said, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.” And in an age of technology, storytelling has become a cakewalk.

Gen Z, the youngest generation of consequence, comprises approximately 72 million Americans and 27% of the population. For Gen Z, storytelling and digital engagement is a daily priority as they connect on the Internet and social platforms for over 10 hours every day, according to a survey made by Adobe. They seek real-time communication with content creators, chat with trusted peers, engage in political discussion and answer live polls. They are, in effect, the primary active target audience sought after by video livestreaming services.

A survey by software company Livestream and New York Magazine shows that 80% of audiences prefer livestreamed videos to blog content. Moreover, with livestreaming becoming a popular feature on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, brands have accepted it as a vital component of social media marketing and invested 28% of their budgets on livestreaming shows.

Create authentic connections

Accelerating the importance of livestreaming is the fact that Gen Z is evolving into a critical consumer category. The “Next Generation Report” from Business Insider Intelligence says Gen Z will shortly become the largest consumer population in the U.S. According to Business Insider, they are already estimated to influence $143 billion in spending in the U.S. alone. With their ability to influence purchasing decisions, Gen Z is transforming livestreaming into an industry worth over $30 billion, which is expected to be worth over $70 billion by 2021. A new study by ABI Research further estimates there will be 91 million subscribers utilizing livestreaming by 2024.

What is more, Gen Z completely shuns traditional media, seeking instead platforms where they can directly connect with brands. Characteristically, this generation is partial to honesty and transparency, which livestreaming offers, with all the glitches of spontaneous reality. Savvy brands, therefore, are creating fresh digital marketing strategies incorporating livestreaming, especially during these challenging times, bringing events in real time to locked-down audiences.

Recycle content once and build new video assets

Brand marketers are discovering the value of livestreamed content beyond the event, incorporating livestreamed content in subsequent videos and building an arsenal of marketing collateral.

Vogue used the livestreamed Met Gala for a live video on behind-the-scenes activity in making it happen. The video received over 200,000 views. After National broadcaster KBS launched BMW’s M2 on Periscope, it subsequently used the launch to return with the brand’s first interactive live-action adventure, on the app.

Similarly, many brands are recycling livestreamed content as live video footage on regular brand videos, as an important part of subsequent marketing strategy, to draw new customers. Forbes quotes Brandlive as stating that nearly 95% of brand and agency executives said live video would be an important part of their marketing strategy.

Brand marketers, thus, see it as two for the price of one, and an opportunity to capture new customers.

Bridge the virtual and physical worlds

Not long ago, there were significant gaps in streaming media technology that made live streaming inaccessible to many organizations and limited their brand expansion within the boundaries of their business’ country of origin. Today all this seems like prehistory, as the technology leapfrogged into its current user-friendly format, providing digital marketers the option of using livestreaming to get their brand in front of global audiences in real time.

Generate Valuable Market Insight

At a live event, a brand cannot quantify how many in the audience are captivated or bored. But livestreaming allows brands to obtain information by asking questions like:

Were there more viewers at the beginning of livestreamed event that at the end? If so by how much?

When people return to re-watch the presentation, what do they watch?

What does the audience say about the presentation?

These features unique to livestreaming video provide critical feedback on real audience reactions that cannot be obtained in any other way.

Essential for improving brand awareness

Using livestreaming video has the potential of becoming a clear growth hack for almost any brand, as you will be better positioned to form those invaluable connections with your clients. If you know how to make use of the technology available, creating those connections could be easier than ever. Understanding why livestreaming matters could be crucial to improving your business’ brand awareness.

Feature Image Credit: Jasmin Merdan | Getty Images

By Prabalta Rijal

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

In News

Content Marketing Strategy vs. Execution: Finding the Ideal Balance

December 14, 2020 No Comments

By Michael Brenner

Content marketing is a contact sport. Just like any coach, you’re in charge of preparing for the game and carrying out those plans. Such is the life of a content marketer, where you must balance content marketing strategy vs. execution.

You can’t “win” at content marketing without a solid strategy. Nor can you do so without the ability to execute on it consistently. Let’s look at how both of these functions are critical to your game plan and how to find the right balance.

Quick Takeaways

A fruitful content marketing return for your organization requires both strategy and execution.
Different resources and tools are necessary to handle both sides.
Finding the right balance ensures that you can consistently publish content that’s relevant and engaging for your audience.

Start with a Strategy

Your first play should be a content marketing strategy. The good news is that most of you have one. According to a SEMRush survey, 77% of organizations have a content marketing strategy!

For those with a well-documented content marketing strategy, you can expect to benefit greatly. The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) reported that those that fit within this category are the most successful.

Having a Strategy Doesn’t Always Mean Your Content Marketing Is Effective

Just because you have a strategy, it doesn’t mean it’s effective. This is something many organizations struggle with due to a variety of reasons. They don’t have leadership buy-in, resources are slim, it’s just words in a document, or it’s not really a cultural foundation.

It’s easy to get derailed with your strategy. It’s also something that’s living and breathing. It’s not static. Rather, so many things, internal and external, influence it. Just consider the pandemic impact. This global health crisis changed the message and strategy for basically every company.

However, you can’t dwell on your strategy and stop executing it because it’s not perfect. It never will be. You have to start somewhere with good enough and then look at your content performance analytics and data to determine if your strategy is on point or way off.

What Makes a Content Strategy Effective?

If you aren’t sure if your strategy is effective, then it’s time to find out. In general, the most successful ones have these attributes:

Specific definition of goals and the KPIs (key performance indicators) you’ll rely on to measure effectiveness.
Detailed and heavily researched buyer personas. You must really know your audience to develop content that will resonate with them.
Types of content (blogs, eBooks, webinars, video, etc.) you’ll use and how they align with your buyer persona preferences.
Channels you’ll use to disperse and distribute content (social, email, paid, etc.)
Tools you’ll need to develop content workflows, track audience behaviors, set up campaigns, aggregate analytics, and leverage automation.
Foundational language that should influence every piece of content you create (value prop, USP (unique selling proposition), elevator pitch, taglines, vision statement, and mission statement).
Content production goals (how much throughput do you commit to every month—check out these insights on blog frequency, for example).

If your strategy addresses all these points, you should feel pretty confident that it can be effective. The challenge for many is how to execute it.

Content Marketing Execution: Turning Strategy into Action

Coaches create game plans with precision, and then they attempt to execute it. They know they’ll have to course-correct along the way because the unexpected is inevitable. When you watch an NFL game, you know these guys are professional athletes, the best of the best, but you can also tell when they aren’t executing—dropped passes, sacked quarterbacks, and huge mental errors.

That can all happen in content execution as well. Strategists lay out the plans for a content team to be successful. Yet, the same challenges keep popping up. Some of the biggest around execution are consistency and content creation workflows.

Consistent Production and Content Workflows

According to the CMI, 32% of marketers said their content workflows were either fair or poor. Additionally, other research confirmed that 60% of marketers find producing content consistently as one of their biggest challenges.

There is certainly reason for friction here. However, it’s not difficult to improve this part of execution. Technology is the answer. A content marketing platform can streamline workflows, provide you with dynamic content calendars, and help you identify where the impediments are.

For example, you might have a few design resources, yet they’re necessary for almost all types of content. If that’s what’s slowing your production, you can consider hiring more in-house talent or outsourcing.

You’ll likely never have “enough” resources. But redistributing them and augmenting your team with outsourced talent can help you reach your content production goals.

Data Should Influence Execution

Execution isn’t on autopilot. The content performance data you generate and analyze should inform it. It could change your strategy, as well. For example, you may learn that your audience has a high preference for visual content over written content. You’ll change your execution of tactics based on this to meet your audience’s expectations better.

Execution Requires All Hands in the Same Circle

Sports teams huddle and put their hands together to show they are one. Your content marketing team should do the same when it comes to execution. Much of this comes down to accountability and transparency. When you have a technology platform that tracks the status of every project, you’ll have a clear picture of who isn’t playing their role.

Then it’s time to investigate the issue and find out what’s actually happening. It may be a time to coach up, add resources, or make a cut.

Finding the Right Balance for Your Business

Content marketing strategy vs. execution is a core concern for any organization committed to content marketing. Having the right balance means your strategy has all the essentials, and you refresh it regularly but aren’t getting caught up in it being perfect. On the execution side, it means analyzing why you aren’t meeting production goals and how to fix your strategy so you hit your goals.

These two areas are necessary for achieving wins in content marketing—more traffic, leads, and sales. And we can help!

If you’re ready to get more traffic to your site with quality content published consistently, check out our Content Builder Service.

Set up a quick consultation, and I’ll send you a free PDF version of my books. Get started today and generate more traffic and leads for your business.

By Michael Brenner

Michael Brenner is a Top CMO, Content Marketing and Digital Marketing Influencer, an international keynote speaker, author of “Mean People Suck” and “The Content Formula” and he is the CEO and Founder of Marketing Insider Group, a leading Content Marketing Agency . He has worked in leadership positions in sales and marketing for global brands like SAP and Nielsen, as well as for thriving startups. Today, Michael helps build successful content marketing programs for leading brands and startups alike. Subscribe here for regular updates.

Sourced from Marketing Inside Group

In News

In these hard times, drive growth with RoI-driven marketing

December 14, 2020 No Comments

By M Muneer

Even though we term this sector as SME, there are some big differences as to how marketing executives should look at a 300-people company from a 10-employee firm.

The SME sector offers significant growth opportunities for the economy, and marketing to this large sector in India makes sound business sense for growth. Although many companies of local and international origin have positioned their offerings for the SME sector, many still have not been able to make a mark in a significant way.

SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM…. you name it, they are all targeting the SMEs if you just take IT sector companies alone. Amazon is making more inroads into this sector disrupting established players’ business models. Reliance Jio is following suit.

In order to minimise the risk and optimise resources in reaching out to SMEs, there are some interesting things companies can do. First, understand the buying mechanism in this sector. Even though we term this sector as SME, there are some big differences as to how marketing executives should look at a 300-people company from a 10-employees firm.

The propensity to buy more may not be there. Their lifetime value to a marketer is pretty low, as they do not buy much during their short time engagement.

It is best to avoid marketing to the micro business segment at least in the initial phase of your marketing campaign. You would find both ROI and response to your queries staying low in this segment. Therefore in order to show success with your marketing and have a wider acceptance within your company, it is best to plan differently.

Second, marketers should know who their best customers are. Do they know when reaching out to the SME sector that it is a good playing field to generate revenue? Will intuition pay off, as the data available is almost useless? How can a marketer really know where to put the initial marketing funds? The ideal way is to profile existing customers in several business sites against employee count.

Marketers can then analyse the types and sizes of the businesses that buy their products. By knowing approximate share of penetration within various employee-size firms you can have several analysis done on various buckets. Marketers then can target the prospects that behave like their best customers, thereby minimising risk and maximising profitability of prospecting.

By taking the step of understanding the actual profile of your existing customers, you will be able to align your marketing investment with the right opportunities. Remember what a direct marketing guru said: “Success is dependent upon 40 percent lists, 40 percent offer and 20 percent everything else.”

The third tip is about mixing market segments with channels for driving better performance. As we all know no channel optimally provides access to all required SME profiles you need for your products and services. Therefore it is imperative that you test and measure several of such channels to find the suitability in getting better response rates and ROI.

In my experience, the following three channel options should indeed be tested: social media, e-mail and telemarketing. If you intend to win the SME sector, these three channels must be used proactively. Typical utilisation should be in the range of 40-50% for social media, 30-40% for email and the balance for telemarketing.

By doing so you will indeed be utilising multiple channels in the true sense. This weightage is from the overall marketing budgets perspective including costs to acquire database and lists, and personnel costs of telemarketing.

The logical question now is how you can know the ROI of your activities. Since many variables are involved here, you need to analyse which mix of channels is most effective. The key is in finding the most effective combinations and frequencies with order costs.

As an example, consider segmenting the MSME sector by the number of channels and frequency as follows: Micro segment receive one emailer only; small segment receives couple of emailers and targeted social media impressions; and medium segment receive all the three: social media, e-mailer and telecall. You can also change the above by mailing three people at a medium size company, two at small and one at micro.

Or perhaps you should altogether drop micro segment, as these are probably not worth pursuing in the initial stage. It takes some experience before you climb the learning curve and understand what works for you based on various mixing options.

Finally, marketers should also focus on getting accurate analytics to ensure that the marketing strategy is appropriately framed. Both number crunching and interpretation are important in this respect. One of the biggest mistakes we see marketers making is in equating success of a campaign by measuring the response rate. This is especially true when we do thought leadership seminars with many IT companies.

We engage a thought leader to build relationship and prospecting, and till recently most companies measure the success by the number of target customers attending the free dinner and webinar sessions. It took several such events before one of our key customers decided to change the measure into business won from such gatherings.

In the SME sector, as many as 90% of respondents will not get to the purchase stage. So you may have done the best surgery, but the baby did not survive! Even with a fantastic response rate, your product or service can fail to take off if measures are not done right. What can you do in such a situation? Concentrate on measuring average orders, second orders and cross-sell propensity. By doing these activities you can segment the SME market appropriately and execute ROI-driven marketing programmes.

By M Muneer

M Muneer is the managing director of CustomerLab Solutions, an innovative consulting firm delivering measurable results to clients.

Sourced from moneycontrol

In Uncategorized

The 5 most effective ways to drive traffic to a site

December 11, 2020 No Comments

By Manu Gupta

The raison d’être of a website is to draw potential customers and help generate leads. This can be achieved by an intelligent mix of strategies that include paid advertising, SEO, social media, and email marketing.

Website traffic is the lifeline of every business. More visitors to the website mean greater number of prospective customers coming across one’s products or services, which, in turn, will generate more sales. Hence, driving larger traffic to a website is really a no-brainer for businesses looking to make a name for themselves in the market.

For small- and mid-sized business owners, a website is an essential extension of their business itself, and for some, such as the online stores, it is the actual business. After achieving a pixel-perfect website, it’s important for businesses to divert their attention to drive substantial traffic to it.

Here are the five most effective ways of bringing traffic to one’s website:

1. Leverage paid advertising

Most of the strategies to drive traffic are free, requiring dedicated and consistent efforts and time. Towards this end, a strategy that can be more effective, easily measurable and provide quick results comparatively will be investing in paid ads. These include pay-per-click ads, social media ads, display ads and video ads. Pay-per-click ad campaigns will allow one’s brand to be at the top of Google search results whenever a search towards that end is carried out.

Social media ads such as Facebook ads are cheaper and allow brands to set highly-specific parameters like demographics, age, behaviour, location and interests so that ads are shown to the intended audiences. Display and video ads are visual ads that can be shown on third-party websites.

2. Implement good SEO strategies

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of increasing the number of visitors to a specific website by ensuring a higher visibility for the site on the list of results given out by a search engine. Both on-page and off-page is an essential aspect of a successful website.

Backlinks, or creating links to other websites that can lead visitors to one’s website, especially are quite valuable for SEO as they represent ‘vote of confidence’ for search engine giants like Google. For SEO that drives positive results it’s important to ensure that the website and content are updated and relevant to those seeking one’s products or services. Appropriate keywords, captivating meta descriptions and valuable, catchy content are the deal-breakers in SEO. Sign up for our exclusive newsletters. Subscribe to check out our popular newsletters.

3. Be social

In the current digital era, a business can’t afford to not be on social media platforms. Globally, the usage of social media for marketing has doubled. One needs to be on social networks like Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter to reach out to their target audience.

No matter who the target audience is for a business, they are bound to be on a social network somewhere. The right way of connecting with them is through creating content specific to one’s industry or products so that it can draw followers in. Even for a niche market, one can find a following with consistency and premier quality content.

Also, using the right hashtags is equally important. People have become very selective about the content they consume and hence, they are resorting to hashtags as a way to filter and streamline the influx. Using hashtags smartly will enable businesses to target the right audience so that they are directed to their websites.

4. Invest in affiliate marketing

Affiliate programs allow brands to attract more traffic by tapping into other people’s users. Companies can publish their content on other websites and pay a commission on the sales generated. This way they can earn positive word-of-mouth for themselves. The pay-outs are made only when a genuine sale is made, which means there’s minimal risk involved. An affiliate program, once set up, can be left to go on autopilot so that one can focus on other aspects of their business. To get started, one must draw up a list of the best affiliate programs and then decide which can be appropriate for the purpose.

5. Use email marketing

Email marketing continues to be an effective channel for driving traffic to a website. It’s come a long way since the times of promotional blasts that were quite pesky for many customers. However, now email marketing involves building a well-thought-out sequence of newsletters or blogposts that can lead to more sign-ups that can forge long-lasting relationships.

In fact, even the basic and most primal welcome email is much improved than the old-school transactional kind. In its simplest form, email-marketing is a great option for showing off one’s latest blog post or for informing customers about an upcoming sale.

Summing it up Just creating an attractive website and waiting for the right audience to chance upon it won’t suffice. The competition is tough. Businesses need to adopt strategies to grow traffic on their websites. It’s important to focus on one’s target audience and quality of content to drive relevant traffic and get amazing results.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

By Manu Gupta

Sourced from YOURSTORY

In Uncategorized

Email In The Time Of A Pandemic: Channel Is Most Favoured By Consumers

December 11, 2020 No Comments

By Ray Schultz

Email reigns supreme as a customer engagement channel.

As consumers turn to digital as they cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, 91% rate email as a top communications channel, according to Critical Channels of Choice—How Covid Has Changed the Channels of Engagement, a study by the CMO Council.

Next are websites (61%), telephone (59) in-person (49%) and text (43%).

And when they have a critical need, 55% of consumers now view email as a channel they could not live without. That reflects a slight margin over the telephone, but it is a major shift, given that the phone was the overwhelming choice last year.

Telephone slipped, in part, because brands delivered a poor experience using the phone, the study says.

In general, consumers see email as:

Convenient — 29%
Trackable — 22%
Reliable — 18%
Fast — 11%
Trusted — 8%
Personal — 7%

Email is also seen as a trusted channel when consumers need to communicate with a brand. They prefer it even when they don’t get an immediate answer because “there’s a social contract that a brand will respond in short order, even if it’s an automated response,” the study states.

But email also brings challenges to brands, one of which is that consumers’ inboxes “are flooded with non-relevant marketing messages resulting in low open rates,” it continues.

Moreover, email is only one part of the multichannel environment that consumers find frustrating.

For one thing, 87% of are irritated by having to renter details in multiple channels — so much so that 73% question whether they should do business with that brand. Gen X is most irritated by having to repeat themselves, and Gen Z the least annoyed.

And in general, 65% say brands are not exceeding expectations with digital engagements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, 21% of consumers now prefer to engage with brands only via digital, from discovery to conversion. That’s up from 10% last year, likely reflecting the impact of the pandemic on habits.

On the privacy front, 25% of the respondents would share their personal data to receive more personalized experiences and offers. In addition, 22% would do so to receive better service, 15% for faster service, 9% to be able to self-serve and 7% to receive more engaging experiences.

The CMO Council surveyed more than 2,000 consumers in October. The survey covered six countries: the U.S., Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

By Ray Schultz

Sourced from MediaPost

In News

B2B Content Marketing Credibility Study, LinkedIn’s New Company Engagement Report, Global Social Trends & Microsoft’s Free UX Tool

December 11, 2020 No Comments

By Lane Ellis

Both B2B Marketers and Buyers Increasingly Sold on Conversational Marketing
B2B marketing professionals have found email, online live chat, social media, and chatbots have all seen increased usage in 2020, while phone and video call use has fallen by more than 10 percent, according to recently-released B2B buyer communication survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts

B2B Tech Firms Cut Marketing Budgets Due To Pandemic: Study
Despite an overall drop in marketing spending due to the global health crisis, budgeting for digital and content marketing are the most likely to see increased spending, while some 60 percent of B2B technology firm executives say that their key performance indicators (KPIs) haven’t undergone change. MediaPost

Subject Matter Expertise A Growing Factor for B2B Buyers When Evaluating Vendors
In 2020 over 32 percent of B2B and professional services buyers see subject matter expertise and industry knowledge as the top attribute when evaluating firms, a rate over 11 percent higher than 2018 figures, with client service flexibility the only other element that became more important during the past two years — two of several statistics of interest to online marketers in recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts

7 ways COVID-19 has changed B2B customer experience forever
The pandemic has blurred the lines between B2B and B2C marketing, brought more intelligent automation to customer experience (CX), and made trust a more important factor, and Adobe has taken a look at how these changes will play out in 2021 and beyond. Adobe (client)

Linked Rolls Out Company Engagement Report
LinkedIn (client) has launched a Company Engagement Report offering new insights for B2B marketers, especially those using account based marketing (ABM), featuring a variety of organic and ad engagement metrics, the Microsoft-owned professional social platform recently announced. Adweek

Facebook Once Again Experiments with Up and Down Votes for Comments to Optimize Engagement
Facebook has begun limited testing of Reddit-like upvoting and downvoting options among certain Facebook Groups, with an eye towards boosting relevant content and engagement levels, recent observations of the social media giant have shown. Social Media Today

Google’s Working on a New Process Which Would Convert Static Website Assets into Video Content
Google has launched URL2Video, a new prototype utility that incorporates some of Google’s AI systems to turn static website digital assets into video content, in a move that could lead to new digital marketing opportunities, the search giant recently announced. Social Media Today

Social Media Trends 2021 Global Report
Content remixing, memetic media, and nostalgia marketing are among the trends marketers are likely to see more of during 2021, according to recently-released global social media survey trend data from HubSpot and Talkwalker. Talkwalker

Microsoft Clarity, the company’s tool for visualizing user experience, is out of beta
Microsoft has widely released Clarity, a free service offering a variety of user engagement and other metrics using site JavaScript, previously available only in beta form, the firm recently announced. Marketing Land

B2B Content Marketers Getting More Successful in Building Credibility
B2B content marketers say they have found creating brand awareness, educating audiences, and building credibility and trust as the top three benefits of B2B content marketing over the past year, followed by lead generation and building loyalty with existing customers, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “CX is more than a department” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

New Photo Filter Shows What You Would Look Like in Facial-Recognition Database — The Hard Times

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

Lee Odden — #TimTalk – The Business of B2B Influence with Lee Odden — Timothy Hughes
Lane R. Ellis — 10 Tips for Prioritizing Tasks to Make the Most of Limited Small Business Resources — Small Business Trends
Lee Odden — 40 Marketing Quotes to Provoke Thought and Inspire — Visitor Queue

Have you found your own top B2B marketing stories from the past week of industry news? Please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for taking the time to join us for our weekly B2B marketing news, and we hope that you’ll return again next Friday for another examination of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

By Lane Ellis

Lane R. Ellis (@lanerellis), TopRank Marketing Social Media and Content Marketing Manager, has over 36 years’ experience working with and writing about the Internet. Lane spent more than a decade as Lead Editor for prestigious conference firm Pubcon. When he’s not writing, Lane enjoys distance running (11 marathons including two ultras so far), genealogical research, cross-country skate skiing, vegetarian cooking, and spending time with his wonderful wife Julie Ahasay and their three cats in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota.

Sourced from TopRank Marketing

In News

Google Says Its Ads Are Not Based On Personal Gmail Data, Rolls Out Email Privacy Options

December 10, 2020 No Comments

ByLaurie Sullivan

Google will roll out an option in the coming weeks that allows users to opt out of having their Gmail, Chat, and Meet data used to offer “smart” features like Smart Compose and Smart Reply.

Gmail permissions are being featured by Google as the next privacy setting. Whatever the choice users make, “Google ads are not based on your personal data in Gmail, Maalika Manoharan, product manager at Google, wrote in a blog post.

Earlier this year, Google advertisers gained the option to buy Product Shopping ads and Showcase Shopping ads for Gmail campaigns in March. They are reported in the Google Display Network.

Standard Shopping campaigns will automatically run on Gmail, when marketers opt in to Gmail, Discover, and YouTube campaigns.

Manoharan explains that automated algorithms, not manual review, make it possible for Google to offer the new privacy feature. A toggle disables the background data processing that makes it possible to collect and use the data, Manoharan explained Monday.

Users remain in control of their data, whether they are an individual Gmail user or a Google Workspace administrator.

The new option will roll out in the coming weeks.

The Privacy Checkup tab allows users to control whether the data in Gmail, Meet, and Chat can offer smart features in the tabbed inbox for Smart Compose and Smart Reply in Gmail, as well as a reminder when bills are due in the Google Assistant and restaurant reservations in Google Maps.

Google’s engineers at the Google Safety Engineering Center in Europe developed the setting, which may have been based on the Global Protection Data Regulations (GDPR).

Auto-delete was introduced as the default to give consumers greater control of their data.

The ability to turn on and off some individual smart features is not new. The setting, which now gives users a choice whether or not the data can be used, is designed to reduce the work of understanding and managing that process.

As with all Google products, Gmail, Manoharan writes, Meet and Chat are secure-by-design to help protect consumer data and safeguard privacy.