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By Jacob Cass,

Want to know how to get high paying design clients?

This video explains how I went from $300 design projects to 5 figure projects.

I concisely discuss 5 tried and true strategies to get high paying design clients including:

  • Your Portfolio & USP
  • Building Relationships
  • Marketing Strategies
  • Pricing Creativity (Proposals & Closing Deals)
  • Upsells

Inside, I recommended putting this book on your radar: Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns. It’s expensive ($200+) and only available on his website. Alternatively, you could read a short summary or a listen to a podcast to learn more about “value based pricing”.

Let me know if you have any other tips for how to get bigger design clients.

» Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

By Jacob Cass,

Sourced from Just Creative

By

Sometimes as a blogger, we aren’t always right in front of our computers to get things done. We’re often managing projects for our blog while traveling, running errands, or even waiting in line at the grocery store.

This is why, having a solid set of apps on your phone to make that easier, is a must!

Here are 12 of the Best Blogging Apps for Bloggers.

WordPress/Blogger/SquareSpace

Wherever your blog lives, you should have the app on your phone. If something comes up, you can easily fix it even if you’re not able to log in from a computer.

PayPal

Many affiliate programs and virtual assistants use PayPal as a method to send money back and forth. Keeping this handy in an app form can help you get and make payments quicker.

Adobe Photoshop Express

This app is perfect no matter what blogging platform you are on and can do basic Photoshop functions such as crop, edit, or even correct an image.

Pinterest

Pinterest isn’t just used for doing your social media on the go. You can look for trends and even pin from group boards using the app.

Dictionary.com

Whether I’m sitting in front of a computer or writing while on the go, having this app is great for double checking words and even has a thesaurus feature.

Google Analytics

Being able to check your site’s traffic while being on the go is a must! Especially if you are traveling and will be away from your computer for a while.

Google Keep

If you are looking for a great note taking app that can also organize your thoughts, this is the app that can do it all! You can share it across multiple platforms such as your phone, tablet, and computer to make sharing information easier.

Buffer

All too often I’ve gotten the email letting me know my account has been disconnected while I’m not able to login to a computer! You can check on your social media channels while you’re on the go, and reconnect accounts if you need to.

Instagram

This app is a must! Especially if you have a visual website. Having the app handy allows me to respond to comments quickly while I’m on the go, and upload photos as they’re happening.

Google Docs

If I have a lot of time to spare, sometimes it can be nice to crank out a blog post while I’m waiting for a car repair or if I’m feeling a burst of information while I’m out of the house.

Evernote

This app is great for organizing all your documents, information, and just taking notes as well. Evernote is also great for crafting a quick to do list.

Pocket

Have you ever found an article but wished you could save it for later? That is exactly what this app does! Don’t miss anything that comes across your newsfeed while you’re too busy!

You don’t need a lot of apps in order to get things done, but these 12 certainly can help you get work done when you’re not on your desktop.

By

EL – short for Louise, is a stay at home mom of a little boy with a big personality. After having her son, she realized how important it is for moms to take care of themselves physically and mentally. Her passions include fitness, healthy living, minimalism, and being the best mom possible.

Sourced from Jay Andel

By Barry Feldman

When Orbit Media Studios decided to research how business bloggers go about doing their thing in 2014, it wasn’t intended to be a one-and-done project. The mission was — and still is — to track how business blogging evolves.

Save time creating blog posts with these free templates.

Why? Because successful inbound marketers thrive when they master content marketing and, of course, blogging is an all-important cornerstone for most strategies.

After establishing some essential benchmarks regarding how bloggers create, format, and measure their posts in years one and two of the study, Orbit Media began probing the 1000+ bloggers that participated in the survey to learn which tactics contributed most to achieving their desired results.

For the past three years, Orbit’s been focused on correlating blogging tactics with results. As trends emerge, the story continues to get more intriguing with each passing year.

In late 2018, the father of the study, research master Andy Crestodina, put considerable effort into reporting how those that saw their efforts reap strong results differed from the pack.

The results of the survey, along with Andy’s comprehensive analysis and 25 graphs to depict the data, are presented in full here. However, this year — year five of research — me, Andy, and the data-crunchers at Orbit also set out to create a side-by-side-comparison of how the average bloggers’ tactics differ from the top 20%.

Spoiler alert — the conclusion is the more you put into business blogging, the more you get out of it.

Take a look at how above average bloggers get above average results.

infographic-blogger-difference-final

 

By Barry Feldman

Sourced from HubSpot

By

News just in …..

I woke to the news recently that I have been nominated in the Best Lifestyle Blog category of the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards. I sincerely thank whoever nominated me and I humbly accept the nomination.  I’m thrilled, proud as punch and amazed to even be nominated!

Nominated in Best Lifestyle Blog category

BUT….

But there’s a problem – I’m a fraud. Well maybe that’s a bit harsh, I just feel like a fraud and only sometimes, not all the time!

I think I’m having one of my confidence meltdowns – where I don’t think I’m good enough, or have anything interesting to say or get confused or simply overwhelmed by everything. Do you ever feel like this?

Despite having been blogging for years and somehow amassing thousands of followers, I still don’t think I’m any good at it.  I’m not looking for compliments here or being self deprecating,  I’m seriously doubting my abilities – which I do from time to time!  At least I’m an honest fraudster  🙂 I’ll be fine in a day or two!

Why do I do this to myself and where has this feeling come from? 

I really had to stop and think about it. I don’t know if I’m just having a mini confidence crisis,  feeling lost, overwhelmed by things going on or is it just a slight case of imposter syndrome?

Maybe it’s just a mix of lots of things.  Hopefully it will pass and I will resume normal transmission soon. Do you feel like this sometimes, I’d love to know?

But I’ve also read a few articles about on-line bloggers/wellness experts/influencers who have abused their power and had some major negative press, and well deserved I must say, as a result of their questionable actions. Only this week I read Jennifer’s review of a book about one such person and as she said, if it was a novel, it would seem unbelievable.

I’m not one to presume to tell anyone what to do. I don’t like to give advice very often as I don’t think I’m qualified to do so.  Blogging is different for everyone, some want to entertain you, some want you to buy things, some want to rant about issues impacting on their lives, some want to tell you what to do.

I suppose this hit me as we all tend to hide a little behind our keyboards.  Life isn’t always as we blog about it.

I’m fortunate to have met in real life, some of my friends who I’ve got to know through this blogging community.  They have all been lovely, real, kind, generous, authentic and caring people – something I aim to be too.

Blogging Awards in fiction

Given the recent nominations for those of us lucky enough to have received them, these two books by Holly Wainwright also struck a chord.  I read them a while ago, and although works of fiction, they hit a nerve.

I thought of them and had a wry smile, as I read the post about the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards.  Thankfully I think it is an over the top depiction of bloggers, and none of us are going to go to such lengths to win an award!!

They are light reading but for those of us who are bloggers they also have some home truths, as many people can, and do, get caught up in their own ‘online’ and sometimes ‘unreal’ world.

The Mummy Bloggers by Holly Wainwright:

The blurb:

Sometimes life behind the screen is not as rosy as it seems… 

Meet three Mummy Bloggers – each of them followed, idolised, imitated, taunted and trolled online.

Elle Campbell is a glossy, lycra-clad mum with washboard abs, a ten-year plan and a secret past. Abi Black has quit sugar, moved to the country and is homeschooling her kids. Leisel Adams slogs away at her office job each day before rushing home, steeped in guilt, to spend precious moments with her kids before bedtime.

When all three women are nominated for a prestigious blogging award with a hefty cash prize, the scene is set for a brutal and often hilarious battle for hearts, minds-and clicks. As the awards night gets closer, their lies get bigger, their stunts get crazier – and some mistakes from the past become harder and harder to hide.

The Mummy Bloggers is a frank and funny look at the perils and perks of life online.

This was my review on Goodreads:

I was conflicted with this book. I’m a blogger, though not a mummy blogger, more of a midlife blogger, and understood many of the issues. The using everything that goes on around you for fodder for a post, the social media aspect and the time involved in maintaining a blog. Holly Wainwright got most of these things spot on. It made me stop and think about my ‘following’ and how intrusive some parts of blogging can be, in terms of time and effort. I don’t blog for money, have nothing to sell, and use it as a creative outlet but I could still see similarities, which I didn’t like! I also didn’t care much for the main characters. My blogging community is a much nicer world than the three bloggers in this story, I’m happy to say. The story was quite well done but it all just left me a bit cold at times. I also read the second book before reading this one so maybe that clouded my thinking a bit. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.

How to be Perfect by Holly Wainwright

The bestselling author of The Mummy Bloggers is back with another page-turning, rip-roaring story about mums, phones and the cult of self-improvement. 

In the rolling green hills of Australia’s hippest hinterland, a new guru is blogging about her breakfast. 

ELLE CAMPBELL is back, holed up in an exclusive retreat where women pay thousands to mimic her extreme lifestyle, or die trying. But who’s bankrolling Elle’s new empire? And why are her two tiny sons suddenly absent from her glossy public image? 

ABI BLACK just wants to marry her true love under a tree in the garden on New Year’s Eve. But her ex-husband is building a financial cult in the shed, Elle is looming and her teenage daughter’s YouTube channel is gaining followers for all the wrong reasons. The wedding might have to wait. 

FRANCES GRAHAM has a colicky newborn, an absent husband and a WhatsApp mothers’ group that’s giving her anxiety. But she’s certain that if she can just be more like those fitmums on Instagram, things can only get better. And surely, if she can scrape enough money together to make it to Elle’s retreat, everything in her life will be just . . . perfect.

Through a world of fake gurus, green smoothies and bad influencers, How to Be Perfect follows Elle, Abi and Frankie into the cult of self-improvement that’s taking over your phone . . . and your breakfast.

These books show just how easily people can get hooked on believing something that’s far from real. I’m not sure I recommend you read these books but it showed me how thankful I am that my blogging community is completely different to the world in these books.

What I’m trying to say is that blogging is like any creative artwork, we all have our ups and downs from time to time, a crisis of confidence, writer’s block, burnout – you name it!

How to be a perfectly grateful blogger

MY 6 TOP TIPS ON HOW TO BE A GRATEFUL BLOGGER:

I suggest we:

  1. Engage with others regularly
  2. Find a blogging buddy or a mentor and interact
  3. Check in on your buddies from time to time – it can be hard to know why some bloggers just disappear from our feeds
  4. Never be mean or nasty in comments – it is fine to agree to disagree but do so politely
  5. Try to meet in person – it can be such fun!
  6. Support each other wherever possible

So, in summary, I am trying to be a grateful blogger and I truly appreciate all your continued support.  Thanks again for the nomination, it made my day 🙂

Deb xx

By

Sourced from Deb’s World

By Gary Horner

SEO is a growing field with nearly 70% of digital marketing spend on SEO. That means competition is growing fierce every day and you’ll be seeing more & more competitors show up on your turf.

That’s why you’ll need to come up with a strategy that involves maintaining your rankings. Here’s how you should approach it:

Revamp Your Content as The Top Ranking Sites Get Natural Links Easier

If someone is researching a topic, they’re likely to discover your site through Google and link to your content if it’s good. This makes it easier to stay on top.

In order to take advantage of this, revamp your high-ranking content and write something that is link-worthy. Ensure you have the best content out of all your competitors ranking on the first page. This way if someone decides to use Google as their source, you’ll be rewarded with the majority of backlinks.

In order to create great content, make sure it’s more in-depth than your competitors and use CRO techniques to improve bounce rates and dwell time. Also encourage user participation by asking them for their opinion in the comments. An active comment section can improve your rankings.

Optimize Your Titles to Improve CTR

Google has announced that CTR doesn’t improve rankings directly, but there are plenty of case studies showing that it does. Whether you believe that or not, it’s clear that CTR can indirectly affect rankings and results in higher traffic regardless of whether it can improve rankings or not. Higher traffic = more natural backlinks.

For this reason, optimizing CTR is one of the most rewarding tasks for SEOs. The best ways to improve clickthrough rates are:

  • Include a number in the title. Listicles work well. Having the year at the end of the title is also very good. Here’s an example: Top 10 Best SEO companies 2019.
  • Optimize for user intent. For instance, if a person searches for ‘SEO agency’ it means they aren’t looking for informational content, but to hire someone to rank their website noticed on Google. In that case a title like ‘SEO Agency – Get Front Page Rankings’ works very well. That’s the title used by the agency Bitcoin SEO which boasts a 11.7% CTR increase after changing it from just ‘Bitcoin SEO Services.’
  • Optimize the meta description for user intent. In five seconds, it should describe what the site offers and how the user can benefit from visiting their website.

Use Ahrefs to Discover New Competitors and Backlink Opportunities

Whenever a new competitor emerges into the front page, Ahrefs will notify you. Usually this means the competitor is executing a link building strategy that is working well for them. If you’re clever, you can analyze their link profile and imitate their links.

These links are clearly pushing them to the first page, so imitating their links will only make your site stronger. If they’re building blackhat links like private blog networks, then you should avoid using the same strategies as it will only hurt in the long term. Instead, try building links of your own:

Conduct Outreach for High Quality Guest Posting Links

Guest posts are one of the best ways of getting high quality backlinks. It’s whitehat and completely safe but can also be time consuming.

If you already have a high-ranking site, it’s wise to invest some of that money into creating awesome content and using that to pitch to other sites. If one doesn’t accept, try the another. Your content will never go to waste that way.

Create Internal Links to Your Blog Post

Go through your previous articles and find relevant blog posts where you can include internal links to your page. This will help improve the link juice flowing to that page and tells Google “this page is important,” making it rank higher.

The great thing about internal links are that you can use them as many times as you’d like, and they cannot be abused. If you want a page to rank higher, create more internal links to it.

Hire a Designer and Adding Multimedia

Images, videos, infographics and fancy UI can greatly improve the engagement rate of each post. It’s certainly expensive to implement so you should aim to improve conversion rates by using multimedia. Test it out on one page first. If it works well, continue adding multimedia on other pages.

Top sites such as Backlinko use a lot of multimedia and fancy UI designs. They do this for good reason. It makes the content more appealing to the eyes and improves engagement rate/user satisfaction. Google can determine whenever a user is satisfied and uses this as part of their algorithm to rank sites.

By following these steps, it’ll be nearly impossible for a competitor to overtake you, because you’ve established authority by satisfying user intent whilst age plays a huge factor in ranking too. If you’ve been ranking for years and have great content, a competitor will have to do something drastic to change that.

By Gary Horner

Sourced from TG Daily

By Wendy Marx    

The value of content marketing for PR and social media has become a slam dunk when it comes to digital marketing. And as new networks and platforms emerge, it becomes even more essential.

And if we had any doubts, a new  study from Brunswick shows that investors and analysts are making decisions based on the digital content of executives and companies.

The consultancy’s annual Digital Investor Survey tracks the digital behavior of investors and analysts around the world in terms of communications, research and information-gathering.

How Important Is a Digital Presence?

In a word…Crucial.

For instance, according to the survey, 90% of investors use digital platforms and channels to investigate companies and the issues surrounding them. Another 70% reported that they have made investment decisions based on digital research. These statistics prove a direct link between your content and communications and how willing people are to invest in your brand — aka, your bottom line.

You can almost guarantee that others who are looking to do business with your company will do the same. You need a digital presence to greet them at the door, so to speak, and give them a good first impression of your company.

And we do not mean just a static website. We are talking about a rich digital identity that make your brand stand out, such as a regular blog, social media presence, and search engine optimization.

“Building an effective individual digital profile is not just an essential component in a successful investor relations strategy, it is now a necessity for maintaining shareholder value and competing with peers that are more active in digital and social media,” Brunswick partner Marshall Manson told the Holmes Report.

If your brand is not available on a digital platform, such as a blog, to not mince words — you’re impacting your bottom line.

“As an industry we’ve always wondered, Mason continued, “but the research makes it absolutely clear: there’s a line between great communications and business performance.”

What Should You Do?

Knowing the crucial role of digital marketing, it’s essential to maintain your digital marketing and social media channels. Which translates to solidifying your content marketing.

Search engines and online publishers like blogs are the most used digital sources for investors. Social media platforms are also important with LinkedIn the favorite with 63% of investors using the platform for research, and Twitter the second most used platform at 55% of investors.

Wherever you go on the internet, you can’t ignore the role that content plays — whether it’s a blog shared on social media, visual graphics in your PR campaigns, or a video that you use to promote your brand across multiple channels. All of this and more falls under the content umbrella.

But this involves more than just creating content. You need to pay attention to content marketing trends, from blogs to social media, to public relations and ROI.

Brunswick provides three recommendations for communicators:

  • Ensure senior executives use digital and social to reach and engage investors, particularly LinkedIn.
  • Expand your digital universe to include podcasts, which are underutilized.
  • Maintain your SEO and content materials.

To give your content marketing a leg up for social media and public relations, we’ve expanded these three areas into 4 easy ways for you to

We’ve laid out 4 easy ways to use content marketing for social media and public relations. These methods will help you strengthen your communications strategy.

4 Ways to Use Content Marketing for PR and Social Media

1. Write and Maintain a Blog

For the past decade, businesses and entrepreneurs have been urged to maintain a regular blog. Not only does it show evidence of expertise, but it also directs people back to your brand time and time again.

And we now have even more proof of the value of blogging. The Brunswick survey showed that 61% of investors and analysts used blogs to make investment decisions and recommendations.

Blogging helps to boost your digital presence, not just on your site, but also on social. For instance, it gives you original content to post on your social media profiles. This original content bolsters your reputation and points your audience back to your website for more original content.

Note: Because of the very visual nature of social media, you need to include visual graphics when you post to social media. This includes blog images, infographics, and even videos to attract your audience.

Your blog is one of the top places where you can promote all of your media gems. This includes media interviews, major company-wide news, and awards. It is a great in-house platform to allow your audience to share in your brand’s triumphs. As a side perk, posting this kind of news strengthens your reputation as a top-shelf brand.

2. Invest in SEO

Search engines are one of the most heavily-used platforms for research — as proved by the 65% of people who use it to research investment opportunities, according to Brunswick. This makes sense, since who hasn’t tapped into engines like Google or Bing to find answers to questions or learn more about a brand?

Because of the heavily-guarded algorithms that ensure top-quality content on search engines. these platforms have gained a level of trust that few other platforms match. In fact, in Brunswick’s survey, search engines were trusted slightly less than The New York Times but above CNN when it came to trust.

Audiences know that not just any joe-blow with a computer can make his or her way onto that first page slot — it takes domain authority, link-building, and other strategies to get there.

SEO is a crucial part of today’s content marketing trends — and can be used to empower your PR and social media. Think of your latest bit of news or your campaign. When you build up your site’s authority through SEO and use the right keywords, you have the potential to expand your visibility and gain the trust of your audience.

3. Create a Podcast

Brunswick’s survey reported that 48% of investors said that they used podcasts for information about a brand. But sadly, podcasts are often forgotten when we discuss content marketing trends and strategies. And what a loss that is.

Podcasts were listed as the third most popular content (after search engines and blogs) used to make investment decisions.

While podcasts are among the most powerful pieces of content a brand can produce, they are also one of the most under-utilized. As a brand, you should give serious consideration to how podcasts could fit into your

Podcasts are a great place to promote your PR and social media. For instance, why not discuss a subject on your podcast and point your audience to your social media profile for more information? Have some company news or a PR campaign that you would like to promote? Use your podcast to get your audience excited about it.

4. Leverage LinkedIn in Your Strategy

In the past, many brands have relegated their LinkedIn maintenance to their HR teams. But what once started as a simple professional networking site has blossomed into a lot more.

Brands are realizing the far-reaching value of LinkedIn in the business landscape. It is now used as a publishing platform, to share company news, and as a place where prospective buyers and investors vet companies.

What makes LinkedIn so valuable? It’s trust factor. Indeed, Brunswick reports it to be the most trusted social network with a score of +26, which is on par with media outlets like CNBC. In an age where fake news is talked about seemingly all the time, this shows just how valuable LinkedIn is as a platform and a resource for your brand.

And if you’re still not convinced, consider that 48% percent of investors said that they used LinkedIn as part of their research into companies.

Take the time to familiarize yourself with LinkedIn’s best practices. This includes engaging with groups and communities and publishing regular content on the network’s publishing platform.

By Wendy Marx    

Sourced from Business 2 Community

By  Laura Jensen

We live in a world where we are incentivised to share. We digitally share our photographs, thoughts and buying habits more than ever before. There is a wealth of data available on consumers and if brands want to capitalise on this through their social media marketing, they need ways to collect and understand it.

However, the need for this data is far surpassed by the fact that it is unwieldy for brands to manage – the volume and velocity of data alone can make it a monumental task to understand. That is why the industry is changing and adapting to make sure this data is much more accessible.

As we’ve seen in the digital marketing sector as a whole, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing rapidly. With applications from voice search to chatbots, there’s a wealth of information that AI is already harvesting. But, there will be so much more it can do with social media in the future.

Assisting with social media marketing analytics

Steve Wozniak, when asked what his dream product would do, said that he’d love something that would give him “more time”. When a 400-millisecond Google delay results in 8 million fewer searches, the speed to insight needs to be lightning-fast.

Companies like Brandwatch, which provide a social listening service, are looking to use AI as a way to reduce the number of hours that social analysts spend looking at brand data. Instead of an average of 3.2 hours a week looking at basic analysis, social analysts could get on with the bigger things while AI makes that data easy to understand and easy to access across an organisation.

The way Brandwatch does this is by analysis the peaks and troughs in the charts and pulling together data from a number of different sources. This is then used to work out why charts may have peaked at a particular point – maybe a social post coincided with a news event from the same industry that drove new viewers to that channel. These AI insights make reporting on social media marketing far more straightforward, since they take out the guesswork of social analytics.

Integrating customer experience with social apps

As with chatbots, AI is becoming more of a feature on social channels, integrating customer care and social analytics through customer service.

As Donika Ruseva, the Digital Owner Experience Coordinator from Jaguar Land Rover, says, “There’s no better way to show off your brand than good customer service”. Many brands use automation to implement holding messages for complaints and comments on social media, to varying degrees of success, but there’s more that can be done with social and customer experience.

Messenger apps, such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, aren’t just for personal conversations anymore, but have become social media marketing platforms in themselves, providing access to both commerce and service apps. Personal banking apps, like Cleo and Plum, can help you save or manage your spending, while retailers like Made.com have created a conversational commerce experience for their customers. While these apps already exist, there’s a lot of scope in 2019 to see more businesses from different industries embracing this new use of messenger platforms.

From these AI apps, businesses can gain information on what their customers are primarily using them for, what aspects are important to them, and what trends occur on a regular basis.

AI and customer care

Supported by AI, businesses can achieve the quick, responsive and transparent response times that today’s customers expect. What’s more, AI can analyse what customers say in tweets, posts or comments.

Using AI to analyse sentiment and recognize key terms in messages to identify positive or negative feedback is already available, but there’s much more that AI can do for the customer care aspect of a business.Many AI systems have machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, and these are key to real-time self-service on customer service platforms. AI can respond to automated queries quickly and generate responses with accuracy and speed that humans can’t match; this is especially effective, as we’ve mentioned before, when applied to chatbots on messenger services.

There are a number of other services that AI can provide in the customer service sector, such as providing an easier way to identify customer issues on social by processing and learning from gathered information, defining customer behaviour patterns, such as when or how they might complain or talk about a product, responding with suitable solutions, products or discounts after receiving complaints or messages, and much more. We’re looking forward to seeing more intuitive measures, developed over the next year and beyond, applied to social media.

By Laura Jensen

Sourced from Business 2 Community

 

By Melissa Crooks

hen app development companies are looking to increase their level of reach, they must be willing to place themselves in the shoes of their target audience. App development companies that are able to do will always stand apart from the crowd. Digital marketing brings a wide range of benefits to any business and app development companies need to choose the proper strategy.

Top app development companies are always looking to boost their revenues. Digital marketing is one of the most important bridges that needs to be crossed. It is one of the healthiest marketing methods that can be used. It allows the company to reach out to their target audience more directly. A more healthy promotional environment is also created.

The top app development companies have the ability to cater directly to their clients’ demands and digital marketing is a key aspect of that equation. No matter what the client’s preferences or demands may be, digital marketing is an absolute necessity.

How Do The Top App Development Companies Benefit From Digital Marketing?

1. Global Reach

Any business that is looking to expand their reach will need to rely on digital marketing and an app development company is certainly no different. There are numerous constraints when it comes to expanding a company’s reach and digital marketing provides developers with the ability to surpass them. Digital marketing offers the necessary structure and refinement, so that you can find your chosen audience.

Gone are the days when an app developer had to limit the scope of their ambitions. With social media marketing or content marketing, the target audience is just one click away. In a climate where everyone owns a smartphone, digital marketing opens up a whole new world to the app developers who are ready and willing to embrace the possibilities.

The customer is more likely to remain engaged when an app development company takes the time to formulate the proper digital marketing plan. When the target audience is just one tap or click away, a digital marketing plan is one of the best ways for app developers to make sure that they are able to receive it. Geographical boundaries have been eliminated.

2. Increased Levels of Brand Recognition

The top app development companies have built a strong brand for themselves. Digital marketing is a pivotal part of the personal branding process and if app development companies are going to reach their full potential, they need to prove their excellence. The world of app development has never been more cutthroat and a plethora of different app development companies are competing for the same attention.

The survival rate for app developers is being whittled down on a constant basis, due to the heightened level of competition that is taking place. All it takes is the right digital marketing strategy for an app development company to stand apart. If an app development company wishes to make a name for themselves and maintain a certain level of cachet in the eyes of the consumer, they will need to emphasize brand recognition.

Fortunately, digital marketing provides companies with the tools that they need to accomplish this task. Content marketing, a top notch website and social media marketing all play a role in the company’s level of brand recognition. A brand needs to be recognized by the users that they are reaching out to but the brand must also be adaptable. A digital marketing plan shows the consumer what they are potentially missing out on by heading elsewhere.

3. Digital Marketing Is Easy To Track

Marketing efforts are not as easy to track as they once were. The “spray and pray” approach that app development companies were once able to use is no longer as effective. Digital marketing takes on a greater level of importance in this environment, because it is easy to track and monitor. This lets app developers find out more what aspects of their digital marketing campaign are working and lets them make the proper amendments.

Any marketing campaign is only as successful as the information that is provided and a digital marketing campaign is certainly no different. Digital marketing is especially useful because it provides real time insights that can be utilized quickly. There is no mystery when it comes time to figure out how the digital marketing campaign is affecting the company’s ability to reach the chosen goals and objectives.

No digital marketing campaign is going to be perfect. There are going to be areas that need to be worked on. Instead of relying on outdated marketing tactics that do not provide the real time insights that are needed, digital marketing provides actionable information that allows for the necessary modifications. Any marketing plan in the modern era needs to function as a living, breathing organism that can be altered on the fly.

4. Affordability

App development companies have to consider marketing costs when they are budgeting for each fiscal quarter. While there are some more traditional marketing techniques that will provide the desired results, efficiency has to be considered. In other words, what marketing plan is going to provide the largest possible bang for the buck?

When broken down into these terms, it is hard to match the benefits that digital marketing has to offer from a financial standpoint. App developers who are just getting started out and companies that do not have an unlimited budget are always going to be looking for inexpensive ways to maximize their reach. Removing the financial headache allows the development firm to avoid unwanted issues.

Social media marketing offers no shortage of free portals that allow a developer to speak to their audience directly. The costs of content marketing and a well crafted website are also relatively insignificant. No reputable app development company should be allowing outdated marketing plans to burn a hole in their pocket, not when digital marketing offers all of the same benefits at a fraction of the cost.

These benefits are designed to hold the attention of the consumer and keep app development companies from encountering the usual marketing pitfalls. Boosting revenue and strengthening company branding has never been so easy.

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay

By Melissa Crooks

Author Bio:

Melissa Crooks is Content Writer who writes for Hyperlink InfoSystem, a mobile app development company in New York, USA and India that holds the best team of skilled and expert app developers. She also writes for top app development companies. She is a versatile tech writer and loves exploring latest technology trends, entrepreneur and startup column.

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Social media marketing is a baffling area. It looks like anyone can do it: Post something (anything!) on social media, look for new content, talk with people, keep filling the Instagram page of your company with your most photogenic team. It sounds like a task for today’s social media age kids.

If you want your ROI to grow, though, that’s not the way to go.

It may look simple, but without economic resources, talented people and the right tools for the job, it is almost impossible to make social media marketing effective. This article will focus on marketing tools for social media. These SMM tools actually stand out because they are user-friendly and continue to improve in response to social media changes and trends.

According to the most important SMM tasks requiring automation, we’ve divided them into three groups: Social media management, social media monitoring, and social media advertising.

These social media social media management tools help you manage the workflow required by social media. So they really make it easier, more organized, less stressful and thus more efficient. Some of our favorites are here.

1. IFTTT

IFTTT is the freeway to get all your apps and devices talking to each other. Not everything on the internet plays nice, so we’re on a mission to build a more connected world.

IFTTT is a website as well as a mobile app. The free service was launched in 2010 with the motto: “Put the Internet to work for you”. However, in recent years it has changed a lot. You can currently connect all your “services” with IFTTT to complete tasks automatically.

There are numerous ways you can connect all your services – and the resulting combinations are called “Applets”.

Applets essentially automate your daily workflow, whether smart home devices or apps and websites are managed. For example, if you own the intelligent lighting system, Philips Hue, you can use IFTTT to automatically turn on a light each time you are tagged on a Facebook photo.

Price: free

2. Buffer

Buffer makes it easy for businesses and marketing teams to schedule posts, analyze performance, and manage all their accounts in one place.

BufferApp lets users manage a range of social media accounts, lining up updates to be shared in the future across a range of social networks.

Every time you find a post you want to share, a tweet you want to retweet, or whenever you write some content that you want to share out over time, you can add it to your Buffer.  This places it in a queue and the posts are sent out in order, at times you have pre-selected.

This means that you don’t need to choose a date and time for every single post you want to schedule.  You just add it to your queue, and Buffer does the work for you.

Buffer has a smooth, clean interface that is really enhanced by installing its browser extensions – a lot of its best functionality comes from these add-ons.

Price: freemium; paid plans from $15/mo

3. Quuu

Quuu is the number one source for content and the only place where each and every piece has been hand-reviewed in house.

Quuu’s main goal is to increase your follow-up and commitment to social media by helping you post hand-curated content in your niche. Quuu sends relevant, high-quality content from its niche to its users every day, which they can easily program and post on their social media profiles via Quuu scheduler or any other tool such as Buffer or HubSpot.

These suggestions include a link to the content (article, blog post, video, podcast episode…) and a text containing relevant hashtags and social handles (making it easier to tag the author or source).

Price: plans start at $15/mo

4. MeetEdgar

MeetEdgar is another programming tool that stands out for one reason: You can recycle old posts. This is more important than it seems: Content is forgotten and left behind even good and popular content. It is low-hanging fruit and too often a missed opportunity to recycle this old content so that it can get views again.

With MeetEdgar, you organize posts by category, schedule content by category, and then, every time the tool has gone through your scheduled posts, it will automatically post old content from each category so it can get attention again.

Price: $49/mo

Social Media Monitoring Tools

Social media marketing is divided into two processes. One is about the content you and your brand have. You create content, aggregate and share content with your audience and promotional content. The SMM tools discussed above to automate and optimize this part of social media marketing.

The audience is the second aspect of social media marketing. It’s your brand’s online mentions, reviews, questions, compliments, and complaints.

Although posting may be more important to raise brand awareness, it is also important to keep an eye on what people say about you and to respond appropriately. It’s almost impossible to manually find all brand mentions on social media, as people don’t always tag the brand even on social media platforms.

That’s why there are social media monitoring tools: To ensure comprehensive communication with an online audience. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Awario

Are you looking to bring your social media presence under one roof and get usable, real-time insights? Awario lets you join in conversations about your business after crawling the web and finding the people having those conversations.

When the web and social media are saying something about you, the Awario monitoring tool is able to pick up mentions instantly using non-stop monitoring in any language. This lets you respond quickly to what is being said, good or bad. You can then amplify the positive and clarify any negative comments or untruths regarding your brand before they get out of control.

Having a website and social media are now almost requirements for small businesses in today’s digital ecosystem. And once you create your channels, managing the different platforms and interacting with users takes a lot of effort. Being able to do it in one place, makes the task that much easier.

Price: starts at $29/mo

2. Mention

Mention offers real-time social media monitoring, and you can set up alerts for your brand, your competitors, and your industry. With this tool, you can view and respond to each like, tag, or mention (ah, see what they did there?) right in the app. You can also sort mentions by importance or significance, and even set up filters, including by source or by language.

Price: starts at $29/mo

3. Brandwatch

If your budget is much wider, Brandwatch can be your tool. The analytical data of Brandwatch is highly visual: If you are an agency, it is perfect to illustrate the significance of social media marketing for customers.

Price: starts at $800/mo

3. Talkwalker

Talkwalker is another tool at the company level that is without a doubt one of the most powerful on the market. It offers a wide range of filters, subfilters and coverage platforms. It covers not only social media, news sites, blogs, and forums, but also broadcasting, television and printing. The available data is nearly endless.

Price: starts at $9,600/year

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