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Not Your Mother’s Marketing: 5 Ways Social Media Changed Marketing Forever

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By Molly Townley.

The marketing landscape has been in a constant state of change for decades – from print ads and billboards to radio, television, and then moving online to digital marketing. It seemed like all there was to say had already been said, and then – social media popped up on the scene.

It didn’t take long for marketers to realize its huge potential. These platforms reached millions, and connected everyone to…well, everyone. Anything you had to say was visible, available, accessible, and sharable to everyone else in a matter of seconds. Then came the true marketing revolution.

Here are 5 ways social media changed marketing forever.

  1. A wider reach than ever before

There are 3.8 billion users on social media, according to recent statistics. That means 3.8 billion people that one can potentially reach through social media marketing.

Never before have brands been able to capture an audience this size, or their audience’s attention for as long as they can now. Marketing used to be limited to opportunities for it – ads in a magazine, on a billboard, on TV, in-person sales pitches – and the limited amount of customers were exposed to it sporadically, only under certain circumstances.

Nowadays, social media practically allows for non-stop marketing, all day, all the time. According to statistics, people spend, on average, just over 2 hours on social media every single day. That’s 2 full hours that marketers have a user’s attention throughout the day. Imagine how many TV ads a viewer would have to watch to achieve the same kind of impact.

The marketing never stops because it’s always there, with every use, and regardless of platform. Whether it’s a post on Facebook, an image on Instagram, or video ads on YouTube, marketers can reach their huge audience at any point, and on any platform.

  1. Unique opportunities for engagement

The most effective way to get someone’s attention and create an emotional response to your brand is to engage with your audience. Since the advent of social media, it’s easier than ever before to connect with customers and followers.

The more you engage with your audience, the more you can grow user engagement on your page. That is going to achieve a couple of things. First, it establishes a degree of relatability that people enjoy in a brand. It allows them to form an emotional connection to a company and its marketing, which in turn, creates brand loyalty.

Second, it helps tremendously with “shareability” – i.e. how likely people are to share your content with others. When you’re responsive, insightful, witty, creative – that gets people’s interest, they appreciate it, and they share it. That increases your audience and your reach.

  1. The ability to target specific audiences

In the past, targeting audiences was still possible, but more limiting. Ad placement during certain TV programs and movies was – and still is – common, to capture the attention of certain audiences. Say, running ads for beer during the Superbowl, or pantyhose during daytime soaps.

Social media helps make this type of specific targeting easier, more precise, and more sophisticated. It’s possible to target specific demographics according to the platform they’re active on, the groups they’re part of or even the hashtags they post in.

A company will know that if they are targeting Boomers, they need to place on Facebook, if they want Millennials, they go to Instagram, and they use Snapchat or TikTok to capture the attention of Gen Z. They can even access interest-specific groups, like wedding groups on Facebook, in order to address users directly.

  1. Seamless marketing

And speaking of non-stop, very precise marketing, marketing on social media also enables one to do so in a very seamless way.

  • Ads

Traditional ads are still present on social media, but they’re integrated into the user interface in such a manner that they look like regular posts. You can pay for actual ads, but there are other, more subtle ways to market, as well.

  • Posts

You can also make your own social media posts marketing your product or service. The bigger your audience and your reach are, the more users will be exposed to your messaging.

  • Influencer posts

Otherwise, you can take advantage of so-called “influencers”. Over the last decade or so, marketing has transformed thanks to the rise of influencers.

They are an exceptional marketing opportunity because the content they produce is not an overt ad. It’s framed as a review or opinion coming from real people that used the products or services and are offering their genuine opinions and experiences.

To gain exposure, a brand may send PR samples for consideration. Or they may pay for a sponsorship. Influencers have large followings of loyal, trusting users, so exposure on a platform like this can be very valuable and lucrative.

  1. More effective tracking

Marketing online and via social media also has invaluable advantages when it comes to tracking and measuring effectiveness. You are likely to see the effects in real-time, by taking a look at the interest and engagement you get on a post, as well as receiving and listening to customer feedback.

You can also track what is being said about your brand specifically, to gain awareness of audience opinions and interests. Following and tracking data this way is called social listening, and it enables you to pay attention to what audiences – and competitors! – are saying and incorporate it into your marketing to increase effectiveness.

In addition, you can plan posts according to what is likely to get maximum engagement and conversions, based on the data you’ve been able to collect, either actively or passively.

Tracking clicks, conversions, and revenue on social media is much easier than with traditional marketing avenues, such as billboards or print ads. You can use tracking software for a detailed breakdown of who is exposed to your marketing, for how long, or how effective your campaign is, and adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.

Final thoughts

Social media took the world by storm in a million ways and changed the way we socialize, and the way we market. Marketing has been made easier, quicker, more effective, more precise – and its full potential has not yet been reached.

Both social media and marketing are constantly changing. Every new platform or feature brings innovation and new opportunities for marketers to leverage and create clever, inspiring, effective campaigns. You have to keep up to stay relevant and retain the valuable attention of your audience.

By Molly Townley.

(email: [email protected])

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REFLECTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA SPEND: WHEN TO SHAKE UP THE MARKETING MIX

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By Ricky Ray Butler.

This year has ushered in a period of upheaval and recalibration. As consumers explore the societal issues surrounding them, a social reckoning has begun. Consumers are setting new standards for employers, brands and public figures and are closely watching who adheres to these expectations.

Simply sharing a statement is not enough. Instead, brands must promote change by putting their money where their mouth is. In some instances, this means significant donations or investments in diversity and inclusion within the organization. For others, it means re-evaluating partnerships with companies or individuals who have become complacent in the fight for social justice.

The #StopHateForProfit movement on Facebook is the latest example of this. On July 1, Business Insider reported that more than 500 brands had committed to the #StopHateForProfit movement, pausing ad spend on Facebook and Instagram in order to voice their concern over the spread of hate speech and misinformation on the platform. As of August 11, that number had more than doubled.

From my perspective, this movement is incredibly powerful and stems from the simple truth that companies today vote with their dollars. Where and with whom they spend their money exposes more about their social ethics than what they say. And paid media is arguably one of the biggest driving forces for how brands show up and support our digital world today.

This movement has aimed to inspire change within Facebook as a business. My company’s work with content creators and in influencer marketing has shown me, however, that some content creators could be negatively impacted as well. Aside from pausing ad spend with Facebook directly, I’ve observed that many brands have also stalled or pushed out influencer marketing campaigns, which has inadvertently affected content creators whose livelihoods depend on sponsored content.

There’s an important differentiation here that brands should consider: Most influencers today operate as small businesses, and Facebook is not a part of the transaction between brands and creators. So pulling money away from holistic digital marketing campaigns in this manner doesn’t end up affecting Facebook’s bottom line — only the creators’.

As we collectively work to adjust how platforms combat hate speech, from Facebook and beyond, I encourage brands to consider whether they can continue supporting and empowering creators who are spreading positive messages and bringing communities together on a daily basis. Influencer marketing offers an incredibly diverse ecosystem of backgrounds, interests, talents, lifestyles and audiences for brands to tap into. If you’re working with creators who align with your brand’s values, you can create a natural dialogue among consumers and products or services and tie it to the world around them.

Today’s content creators also have the power to drive awareness and action around pertinent societal issues and have the audience engagement necessary to incite real change and shape a better tomorrow. Yet, while the industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, I still run into the same misconceptions about how only certain brands are a fit for influencer marketing, how complicated the process can be and the ultimate return on investment.

At a base level, every brand is a fit for influencer marketing campaigns, as long as it’s partnering with the right creators. Although it’s mostly touted as effective for direct-to-consumer brands, there are a multitude of options for creators and platforms to reach even the most niche audiences, whether it’s small business and entrepreneurship tips, auto repair or human resources software solutions.

For more unconventional brands looking to pursue influencer marketing, it’s important to start by really understanding which channels your audience is on and partnering with the relevant creators from there. A younger audience looking for how-to videos might call for YouTube, whereas an entrepreneurial audience might call for LinkedIn or Twitter.

Another major benefit of influencer marketing is closer visibility into who is seeing your message and the content it’s integrated within. With automated advertising on social media and the internet more broadly, there aren’t enough checks and balances to ensure that your advertisements aren’t being placed against content that is deemed unsafe or unsuitable for brand safety guidelines. From my perspective, influencer marketing can help mitigate that fear because the message is integrated into the content directly and shared with a specific audience that is already tuned into that particular channel.

At the end of the day, I believe a campaign focused on disseminating helpful, timely information with the appropriate content creators is still a viable option for brands interested in partnering with influencers. This type of marketing gives brands the opportunity to bring together diversity in background, thought and interests. Instead of having a few blanket advertisements for different audiences, brands can leverage influencer marketing to communicate with audiences through the authentic voices of creators.

That said, when pursuing an influencer campaign, it’s essential to execute it thoughtfully. This will allow you to uplift the creative process for the content creators, as well as ensure that your brand is truly engaging with audiences in a genuine way and never forcing or disrupting the content itself.

Amid all the uncertainty, 2020 has inspired immense societal change and re-evaluation. Social media giants have work to do in mitigating the spread of misinformation and hate speech, and influencer marketing offers brands a powerful antidote by putting resources behind creators who are inspiring lasting, positive change.

Facebook is but one example of a platform on the wrong side of a controversy. These moments have happened before, with YouTube and “Adpocalyspe,” and I believe they will continue to happen in the future. Such challenges are inevitable — when the cards are on the table, brands must evaluate their responses and take decisive action.

For brands that have participated in influencer marketing in the past, I see now as the time to invest in more variety, support the small businesses and entrepreneurs we call content creators, and foster creativity and dialogue where we can.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Ricky Ray Butler.

Sourced from AdAge

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3 Steps to Improving your Marketing Intelligence Strategy

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By Leah Pope,

As businesses work to reopen and adjust to the “new normal”—navigating changes across customer preferences and the economy—marketers continue to employ agile strategies to contend with the shifting environment. Marketers are working to stabilize their operations by becoming radically efficient with time, resources and budget while simultaneously planning for future growth and transformation.

With a marketing strategy founded in marketing intelligence, they are fully equipped to tackle this seemingly daunting journey. Yet each marketer and marketing team is at a different stage in establishing their marketing intelligence strategy. To best understand where to improve and shift focus, it is important to assess your maturity when it comes to the three main pillars of marketing intelligence:

1. Data integration

How connected are your data sources and how seamlessly and quickly can you access them?

Today’s marketers are using a vast number of channels and platforms to reach their customers, with high volumes of siloed data stemming from each. As a result, data integration—the process of unifying and connecting marketing data—is a challenge for many. In fact, 57 percent of marketers spend a week or more trying to unify their data.

Without accessible, consistent data and a holistic view, it’s difficult for marketers and their stakeholders to see which new tactics and campaigns are working and which are not. To fix this, marketers need to harmonize their data and structure their taxonomy. With these processes in place, marketers are able to see any data– such as social, search, display, programmatic, web, email and CRM data– all in one place.

2. Analytics and insights

Next, take a look at your insights—how are they being generated and what actions do they inspire?

With landscapes shifting faster than ever, marketers need to act more nimbly in order to keep up. Marketers need to gain insights from their data swiftly in order to engage customers with relevant and helpful content and ensure they are using valuable budget efficiently and effectively.

With all the information in one place, marketers can quickly gather insights at scale. The power of artificial intelligence (AI) can also provide marketers with always-on insights into important KPIs and suggested actions for optimizing campaigns. Currently, 80 percent of marketers don’t have access to daily or real-time reports, but marketers are keen to expand their use of AI tools, with 47 percent of marketers planning to do so in the next year.

With consistent reporting and insights across channels, marketers can identify where to spend and move budget across marketing campaigns and channels in real time. They can also adjust messages, content and tactics to account for any changes across customer behaviours to drive better customer experiences and impact long-term loyalty and brand health.

3. Alignment and collaboration

Marketers are constantly working across multiple brands, business units, teams and regions, and a majority of companies are now contending with remote working environments. Marketers need to understand whether they’re operating cross-functionally in a successful manner. Is the entire business aligned to a unified marketing strategy? Does everyone agree on KPIs, goals and benchmarks? Are key stakeholders receiving the information they need, when they need it?

With a single system of record, marketers can build customized data visualizations, personalized to different stakeholders. This way, each stakeholder will receive the exact data and insights they want to track, all in real time. With all teams working from the same set of facts, KPIs and taxonomies, the data-driven culture across the organization will become elevated, leading to smarter decision-making that impacts the customer experience and business success.

Marketing intelligence allows marketers to power true business transformation. But this doesn’t happen overnight. No matter where you are in your journey, now is the time to assess your maturity when it comes to current capabilities, progress and goals for the future. Marketers and their teams have the opportunity to reflect on these three key pillars and understand their marketing intelligence maturity—where they might be able to improve and rethink processes and maximize efficiency and impact.

Feature Image Credit: iStock

By Leah Pope

Leah Pope is a seasoned world traveller and marketing executive. Acting as chief marketing officer, Leah leads all strategic marketing activities at Salesforce Datorama, a global technology company that provides a marketing intelligence platform for enterprises, agencies and publishers. Leah has more than 15 years of executive experience successfully delivering software products and services to market, having held positions of worldwide marketing leadership at Synthesio, IBM, Lombardi Software and Inquisite. An accomplished writer, speaker and blogger, Leah also sits on the Forrester Marketing Leadership board. Leah holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Marketing and History from Boston University.

Sourced from AdAge

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Putting Story At The Heart Of Marketing

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By Ethan Stine

The first time I told a room full of white-collar professionals about my ex-colleague’s near-kidnapping while we were promoting prize fights in Istanbul, I learned the real power of storytelling. And you’re paying attention now too, aren’t you?

It’s a true story that I’m usually excited to tell (mostly because we got him back in one piece), but what I came to understand from the first few times recounting the tale was that ignorance and boredom are potent poisons, and stories contain the antidote. So much of our lives are spent in routines and, when a window opens up and we get to peek through someone else’s lens, we can’t help but look. We want to understand, and we want to be entertained.

The Evolutionary Power To Move People

Whether or not it registers on a conscious level, for most people, stories are part teachers and part entertainers. They define our understanding of the world around us, functioning as a sort of series of dress rehearsals to help us build comprehension about things that we’ve never actually experienced. They’ve become so evolutionarily critical to us as a species that our brains have developed to release a series of chemicals in response to a good, character-driven story: Cortisol makes us sit up and pay attention, while oxytocin builds empathy and connection, and dopamine rewards us for keeping engaged with the narrative.

Let’s pause for a minute to consider the awesome power of that. We can convey information in a way that can move people to action. Without raising a finger, human beings can compel other human beings to feel and think in certain ways, and it’s because we’re programmed by evolution to do it. The ethical considerations are enormous. Despots frequently rise to power by positioning themselves as the leading characters in the story of our connected lives, portraying themselves as messiah figures who can “right the wrongs” of society. Good storytelling can be extremely dangerous when used by bad-faith actors.

Assuming you’re not a bad-faith actor, however, and looking at this through the lens of a communicator, is there anything more noble and powerful to learn how to do? Stories create new opportunities for us to learn from each other, and they motivate us to be better. They teach us about ourselves and serve as our escape from the mundane. A well-told story can be an enormous force for good, a vehicle to drive positive change and introduce innovation in our world.

An Industry-Agnostic, Evergreen Skill Set

Two years ago was when I really registered the pervasiveness of my hopeless addiction to stories. I was neck-deep in field interviews, collecting dozens of customer stories to feed to hungry sales and marketing teams at a newly minted business-to-business (B2B) unicorn, and suddenly it dawned on me: “I can’t get enough of this stuff.”

I was working alongside a team of delightfully qualified consultants, kicking whichever doors stood between us and a juicy narrative, documenting anecdotes and uncovering how some of the biggest and most innovative businesses in the world were using technology to overcome their prickliest challenges. How did a Fortune 500 cosmetics business shave weeks off the time it took them to get cash in the door from their biggest customers? What organizational shifts were happening among Europe’s largest manufacturers in response to the global demand for green energy? People I used to work with in the entertainment business asked me if I was bored in the corporate ecosystem, and I found myself surprised to tell them, truthfully, no. I was constantly learning and endlessly entertained. I was hooked on the story.

Today, I’m building out a fledgling (but supremely talented) marketing team at a series A venture that’s focused on supercharging productivity in the building industry, and you wouldn’t be surprised to know that the stories in this industry are also incredible. I’ve been fortunate in my career to have encountered a surplus of interesting people, and the stories I’ve heard from the folks creating our skylines from glass, steel and imagination are already contending for some of the coolest. Who wouldn’t want to go to dinner with the people who built the tallest towers in London and New York and hear about the challenges they surmounted along the way? Who wouldn’t want to meet the people building our skylines — universal symbols of human creativity, capability and progress?

The point is, there’s always something interesting worth knowing and sharing, no matter which industry you’re working in. The ability to get people to open up and translate their narratives into something that moves people is a totally evergreen set of skills that will serve any marketer for a lifetime.

The Power Of The Story-First Marketing Organization

When my team and I connect with customers, we proudly tell them that we’re a story-first marketing organization, and we tell them that we want to know ​their​ story. Our success as a team is dependent on more than just having successful customers — it’s contingent on us being able to unearth and understand their tales of struggle and success, and then our capability to shine a light on the good work they’re doing. We spend time thinking through media formats and delivery mechanisms. But without a good story to tell, a cause simply cannot be successful.

The imperative for those of us in marketing and communications roles? If you want to be successful in moving people, first always ask, “What’s the story?” Once you have the answer, put it at the heart of your marketing.

Also, don’t wander off with friendly strangers in Istanbul, but that’s a story for another time.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Ethan Stine

Startup veteran, story purveyor and Global Head of Marketing at Disperse. Read Ethan Stine’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Marketing has the power to change the world

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By Emma Mulcahy

Marketing holds a unique place in the modern world; it has the ability to challenge and shape perspectives, to inform culture and to kickstart movements.

Now, in a time of global crisis, we see more clearly than ever the industry’s ability to effect real change, by driving positive messages and offering platforms to those that need it.

It is in the spirit of this fundamental belief that The Drum and Facebook have teamed up to launch the ‘Marketers Can Change the World’ global initiative, which aims to unite and support the industry across three areas: EMEA, North America and APAC.

At its heart, Facebook exists to help create and sustain communities, even from a distance. Now, during Covid-19, that distance is felt more than ever. Pledging to donate $100mn to 30,000 small-to-medium size businesses (SMBs) across these markets, Facebook will support established and rising marketing leaders to rethink how these businesses are run and how we can make them more resilient in times of struggle.

Discussing the exciting new initiative and how marketing can effect positive change in the world is; General Mills marketing head- culture & brand experience (Europe-Australasia), Arjoon Bose, Bombay Sapphire brand director, North America, Tom Spaven, Facebook global industry relations and intelligence lead, Sylvia Zhou, and The Drum associate editor, Sonoo Singh.

What steps have been taken?

“You’ll have seen the Coronavirus Information Centre located at the top of your news feed from the start of the pandemic,” says Zhou. “This was introduced so that our users are up-to-date with news and developments, from a source they can trust.” Facebook has also offered free ads to public health authorities such as the W.H.O, created Community Help where people can support their peers and recently launched Facebook Shops to help users pivot their business online.

Spaven speaks of Bacardi’s commitment to their consumers during this trying period: “The bar and events industry was particularly impacted by Covid-19, so we wanted to give back to the businesses that have continually supported our business.” The project pledged $3mn in financial aid to bars and bartenders facing difficulty during this period, as well as offering up their platforms and marketing expertise for those that need it. For Bacardi, it was a case of serving those that serve them; an idea also seen at General Mills. With the enforcement of lockdown, Bose understood that it was essential to reiterate the kitchen as being the heart of the home and to promote the everyday products needed by families.

What more can bigger brands do to provide support?

“Now is the time to be bold and responsible,” Bose responds. Marketing has always been at the forefront of significant change. He argues that during these difficult times marketing gives consumers a reason to spend and a reason to hope. Now is the time to reiterate brand identity.

Spaven believes that going back to basics is the surest way to engage your consumer base. “The fundamentals of marketing, as well as of human behavior don’t change, only budgets and resources do.”

What are the objectives of the Facebook project?

The ‘Marketers Can Change the World’ global initiative supports small-to-medium size businesses (SMBs) across EMEA, North America and APAC and will focus predominantly on those run by immigrants, senior citizens, or women. “Statistics show that businesses run by these marginalized groups encounter more difficulties in acquiring resources and financial funding,” Zhou shares with us. The project will give rising stars in the marketing industry the opportunity to collaborate with senior mentors with vast experience in the field. Working together on a prescribed brief, the teams will create business policies that give value for the people and communities they impact. Facebook will provide essential training and access to tools that will allow these businesses to thrive both during and after the pandemic.

What knowledge will the mentors be able to impart?

Both Arjoon Bose and Tom Spaven express their sincere gratitude at having been asked to take part in the initiative as mentors. “This is a great opportunity to listen and learn from others, and to experience situations in a new way,” Spaven says. These views are echoed by Bose, who recognizes this opportunity to collaborate with different people and teams, as a teaching moment.

“I hope to be able to provide a fresh perspective to the team members and ask the right questions,” shares Spaven. This initiative lets teams combine the quick thinking of big brands with the even quicker movement of smaller, more centralised businesses.

At the heart of this, is our consumers- and their needs are changing rapidly. How are brands able to keep pace with this?

“Brands have to always be open to change,” states Bose. “Whether that’s remaining open to rethinking your retention strategy, trying out new tools or reprioritizing your products in line with consumer needs- we must be agile.”

Similarly, for Spaven businesses should always be thinking about their brand experience and how this meets customer needs. “Purpose is so important for every brand, but that doesn’t mean they all have to save the world,” he affirms. Understanding your brand’s mission and ensuring you deliver that, ethically and responsibly is enough.

Spaven adds that diversifying the industry needs to be a top priority if we are to truly meet the demands of today’s consumer; “It’s not about ticking a box, it’s about benefitting your bottom line- it’s just good business sense.”

Zhou agrees: “This mission is at the core of what Facebook wants to achieve in this initiative. By channelling our every effort into increasing the visibility of these groups, we want to create a ripple effect throughout the industry. This project will reveal the true power of marketing to influence for good and change the world for the better.”

By Emma Mulcahy

Sourced from The Drum

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Blockchain Marketing: The 4 Most Effective Ways to Get One Project Known

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Sourced from yahoo finance.

Technology and new ideas often go hand in hand. The challenge is often to express new concepts clearly and eloquently. This is where effective marketing comes into play.

PR and Content Marketing

Getting professionally written editorial content for your brand is a key factor in your path to success.

PR is an ongoing effort throughout the lifecycle of a company. Before the launch, you need a strong, concerted PR and outreach effort to reach all the major crypto sites. But even after, you need to keep the community informed and engaged with interesting new developments, partnership announcements, background stories, and news.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is essential in blockchain. There is no better way to get to new users, investors and clients where you have the most of their attention: in their inbox.

Always track and measure your email marketing. Many companies claim to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers in their list, but if you look at their email open rates, they are often below 1%. On CryptoCoin.News, we have an average open rate of over 25% because our readers did sign up to receive interesting crypto news.

Video Marketing

In the digital age, content is king. Video content is particularly adept at building credibility and authority for your token sale.

Successful companies have typically two types of video:

  • Explainer animation to give some background of your industry and your solution.
  • Interviews with the founders and company presentations by third parties.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a hybrid of old and new marketing tools. It takes the idea of celebrity endorsement and places it into a modern-day content-driven marketing campaign. Influencer Marketing works because of the high amount of trust that influencers have built up with their following and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.

In blockchain marketing, trust and authority building is a key component. That’s why Influencer Marketing is an important option in the marketing mix. Getting endorsed by the top YouTube crypto influencers can strongly influence buying and investing decisions.

Trust the Leading Crypto Marketing Agency

The team behind CryptoCoin.News has been active in online marketing for over 10 years, with experience in blockchain marketing since 2016. Trusted by over 150 clients, they know exactly which channels work for blockchain marketing. Paired with efficient, reliable and fast execution, CryptoCoin.News can be your partner for all blockchain marketing needs. Get in touch to schedule a free consultation at https://cryptocoin.news/advertise-with-us/.

Sourced from yahoo finance

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Online Marketing Tips That Actually Work

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By Evan Varsamis,

This year has been quite a roller coaster for marketers so far, and it’s still unclear how things will go in the next few months. However, when it comes to designing a marketing funnel, you can’t stick to your traditional methods anymore. You have to start thinking outside the box and picking up new techniques that can enhance your brand’s presence on the web. Online competition has grown massively over the last few years. It’s not just about being present on the web anymore. It’s about sustaining an omnichannel presence.

What Is An Omnichannel Presence?

Years ago, we used to think of online marketing as finding the platform that works the best for you and prioritizing your activities there. Today, with so many different platforms having unique structures, it’s even more difficult to figure out what works the best for your brand. It’s not about finding your best platform anymore. It’s about learning how to be present on every channel and make the most of it.

What works on Facebook won’t work on Pinterest. You have to figure out how to be present on both channels with equal effectiveness.

Now that you’re familiar with an omnichannel presence, let’s take a look at trends and online marketing tips that will help you sustain your business in 2020.

Cobranded Content

Every individual is loyal to a certain number of brands. As a marketer, if you can leverage that engagement by combining two brands, there’s nothing like it.

Sophia Bernazzani explained this concept beautifully on HubSpot: “One of my own beloved childhood memories was a product of co-branding: Betty Crocker partnered with Hershey’s to include chocolate syrup in its signature brownie recipe. There’s something brilliant about that co-branded product: It’s a fun way to marry two classic brands into one delicious experience for fans of baking and chocolate alike.”

So, to make your 2020 marketing work, you can connect with brands that appeal to you and use that collaboration as a marketing campaign. You could choose to go for video advertising or even audio influencing through podcasts or webinars. Either way, cobranded content can help you soar high with the help of loyal followers.

Micro-Influencer Marketing

If you have experience with influencer marketing, you’ll know why micro-influencers are the near future. Reaching out to big-time influencers is difficult, and you can’t expect them to review free samples that easily. So brands that are tight on budget can opt for micro-influencers who cater to their product niche.

These influencers have enough popularity to still be influential, and they also tend to have better engagement rates with their followers because they are less overwhelmed with sponsorship offers, which gives them the bandwidth to keep in touch with their followers. A study (paywall) from HelloSociety suggests that micro-influencers with around 30,000 followers have 60% higher engagement and are about 6.7 times more cost effective than influencers with more followers.

Nontraditional Social Media Marketing

Ever since we started social media marketing, we’ve primarily used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. While these platforms continue to be the rulers in the industry, there are several others that are making their way up with the help of the younger generation. These platforms include Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit and Medium.

So when it comes to planning a successful marketing campaign, you need to think outside the box and come up with ways to work on every platform instead of sticking to just one or two. In fact, it may seem far-fetched, but TikTok could work for your brand, depending on what you are trying to promote.

Contextual Targeting

When you throw random ads at people, you can’t expect the click rate you desire. That’s because not everyone will want to see the product you are showing them. Instead, with contextual targeting, you can showcase your ads on pages with related information. People who see your ads will have a higher chance of clicking them because they are already interested in your product niche.

Programmatic Audio

With podcasts and audio streaming apps becoming more and more popular, they’ve turned into avenues for online promotion. The advantage of programmatic audio promotion is that it enables you to place ads in the audio content.

Depending on your preference, you can opt for ad formats such as companion, ad pods, or pre-roll and midroll ads. Currently, companies including Google, Rubicon Project, SoundCloud and the BBC offer audio advertising features.

Video Advertising

Every social network is focusing on video content. Many are even looking for ways to implement product shopping directly from videos.

Consider using traditional video advertising methods by placing your ads on YouTube. You can even work with brands on Facebook and Instagram to promote your products in videos.

Mobile-Friendly Emails

As more people switch to primarily using their smartphones, the entire email marketing industry will change. Email designs need to be mobile-friendly and minimal, and they must have the call to action (CTA) button in a place where the user can easily find it. Another crucial point is to avoid too much content in your email. You can always opt for a drip email campaign to send out information sequentially.

Augmented Reality (AR) And Virtual Reality (VR

If you are an e-commerce brand, chances are you’ve already heard of implementing AR and VR for better product discovery. By implementing these technologies in your marketing funnel, you may be able to draw the attention of people who hesitate to purchase online. Give them the opportunity to try out products virtually before purchasing them.

Having said that, it’s also crucial not to forget the tone of voice you use while implementing all your marketing campaigns. The world is going through a massive change in 2020, and it’s important to understand the emotion of your audience before you try to promote a product or service to them. An empathetic and genuine tone can always take your brand a long way.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Evan Varsamis,

An entrepreneur and Founder/CEO at Gadget Flow, as well as an investor and marketing advisor at Qrator Ltd.

Sourced from Forbes

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What’s next for social ad spend as one third of brands plot hate-speech boycott?

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By Rebecca Stewart

As brands continue to add their name to the growing list of companies boycotting Facebook, fresh research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has painted a sobering picture of how marketers view the social network and its rivals.

Volkswagen and Mars are the latest corporations to halt ad spend with Facebook over its handling of damaging content and misinformation. The car marque and food giant join Levi’s, Coca-Cola, Unilever and more in signing up to the ‘Stop Profit for Hate campaign’ which is backed by civil rights groups including the NAACP, Color of Change and the Anti-Defamation League.

The coalition has been calling on major corporations to put a pause on advertising on Facebook for the month of July, citing its “repeated failure to meaningfully address the vast proliferation of hate on its platforms”.

Some brands have gone further, pulling the plug on all investment for the foreseeable future across all social networks.

The WFA’s research has revealed a diminishing faith in not only Facebook, but also its bedfellows, to address the issue at hand.

What did the WFA’s research find?

  • The WFA’s members control nearly $100bn in global ad spend. Following on from the news of the Facebook boycott, the trade body asked members about their policies on social media ad spend. The WFA’s research asked advertiser views on all social media platforms.
  • 76 responded, representing 58 companies and $92bn in marketing dollars.
  • Almost one-third of these marketers (31%) said they will, or are likely to, suspend advertising on social media over platforms’ failure to police hate speech. A further 40% said they were also considering doing so.
  • 17% said they were unlikely to withhold spend. 12% said they had no plans to withhold spend.
  • Brands were also asked which other actions they’d taken or had considered. 53% said they’d already had direct conversations with social platforms about hate speech. 48% said their main approach was to work through industry bodies to deal with the issue. 32% said they weren’t taking action for now and 13% said they were taking other actions.

What does the data show?

  • If anything, the survey shows how divided the industry is on how to handle the issue. Some brands are set on pulling spend, where others remain undecided.
  • The WFA also released some anonymised qualitative responses as part of the research. Again, these are a mixed bag: one marketer laments that it’s “simply depressing” how much the platforms are still falling short and says they would “appreciate support with identifying and viable alternatives for investments”.
  • Another pointed out that neither the platforms nor the advertisers propping them up are perfect: “Advertisers may pull out of these platforms,” the brand marketer continues, “but consumers will not.

What’s next?

  • Hate speech and how brands inadvertently fund it is an issue that has been on the WFA’s radar for some time. Working with social networks to find a solution to the problem is already being prioritised by the trade body’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).
  • For its part, Facebook has promised “new policies to connect people with authoritative information about voting, crack down on voter suppression, and fight hate speech”.
  • Actions include labelling posts that are potentially harmful and even in violation of the platform’s policies but are not censored by the platform because they are deemed newsworthy.
  • Facebook will also add a link to its voting information centre to posts that reference voting, including those made by politicians such as President Trump.
  • Speaking to the Financial Times earlier this week, chief executive of the WFA Stephen Loerke noted how this moment feels like a turning point amid the pressure of the ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ campaign.
  • “What’s striking is the number of brands who are saying they are reassessing their longer-term media allocation strategies and demanding structural changes in the way platforms address racial intolerance, hate speech and harmful content,” he explained.
  • The magnitude of the brand exodus won’t really be clear until Facebook releases its Q3 results in October.

Feature Image Credit: Volkswagen and Mars are the latest corporations to halt ad spend with Facebook over its handling of damaging content / Unsplash

By Rebecca Stewart

Sourced from The Drum

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The Best Hack To Being Recession-Proof: 3 Reasons To Never Stop Marketing

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By Pia Silva

The past couple of months of this global pandemic have brought up no shortage of questions for entrepreneurs: “How long will it last? When can I go back to work? How can I keep working through this crisis? My cash flow has essentially stopped; how can I save money—and my business?”

I really can sympathize with all of the above, because I asked myself similar questions during the 2008 financial crisis. Back then, I was just starting to get my business footing, and when the economy came crashing down, I, like many entrepreneurs across the country, found myself staring at very slim pickings.

So this time, I want to address the elephant in the room during times of economic uncertainty: Should you keep marketing your business to an audience that may be struggling financially, and is it even worthwhile to market your services when people aren’t in a position to buy?

Feature Image Credit: “How can this be happening? I cut my marketing budget!”  STEVE WASTERVAL

By Pia Silva

I am a partner and brand strategist at Worstofall Design where we build brands that turn expertise into profit. Unlike most branding firms, we build entire brands in days instead of months, and only work for 1-3 person service businesses. Our unique process and niche positioning has helped us to overcome the hurdles we struggled with when we were starting our business, reliably attracting a steady flow of high paying clients and allowing us to enjoy the freedom that inspired us to become entrepreneurs in the first place. At Forbes, my goal is to clarify and simplify the elusive idea of “branding,” and share practical tips and tangible steps to help businesses find their unique brand voice that leads to profit.

Sourced from Forbes

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Why You Should Focus on Brand Reputation Rather Than Marketing

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By Samuel Thimothy,

When you’re building a business, your reputation is all you have. While flashy marketing campaigns or persuasive sales materials can help you close a deal, they’re not going to be strong enough to keep your customers coming back to purchase again.

As an entrepreneur, it can be difficult to separate these two ideas. If you’re putting all your energy into attracting new customers, you might forget to give a customer who has purchased from you your best work.

Unfortunately, if the customer isn’t happy with what you’ve done for them, they’ll not only move on to a competitor, but they might tell their friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances about their bad experience. If that happens too often, you develop a bad reputation — the kiss of death in the business world.

On the other hand, a great reputation can bring in new business like a marketing campaign can’t. Here’s why.

Customers remember a great experience and strong reputation.

If you have a reputation for going above and beyond your customers’ expectations, they’ll never forget. What they will forget, however, is the marketing campaign you invested in so heavily. When the ads stop running and the campaign is over, your customers will stop thinking about it.

A brand reputation is emotional. If you were there to help a customer through a difficult time or you were able to brighten their day, they’ll keep that feeling with them long after the transaction is over. They’ll also keep that feeling in mind as they continue to make purchasing decisions, extending the relationship with your business and giving you repeat purchases.

To improve your brand reputation, focus on giving each and every customer a positive, unique experience. Solve their problems. Listen to their needs, and find a solution that works well for them — even if it involves a little extra work. You won’t be disappointed in the results.

A strong brand reputation also means you can invest less in marketing overall. When you’re able to create solid connections with customers who want to keep working with you, you don’t need to attract as many new customers.

Better yet, as your positive brand reputation starts to spread, you’ll get more referrals from the customers you’ve left happy for so long.

Customers share positive and negative experiences with their friends (and online).

You’ve probably encountered it before — you’re about to order a pizza to be delivered when a friend stops you. They tell you how a few months ago, they ordered a pizza from that same restaurant and had a horrible experience. You take their word of warning and choose to order from another place.

While you didn’t experience the bad experience directly, you were influenced by the reputation of the business. Because your friend didn’t believe the business was worth purchasing from again, you decided to purchase somewhere else.

If you’re providing a bad experience to your customers, you could be creating the same negative brand reputation for your business — causing you to lose business to competitors, even if you’ve never interacted with that potential client yourself.

Now, in this same example, let’s say your friend offered an alternative pizza shop for you to order from. They claim to order from this location all the time, and they always have a positive experience.

If you choose to listen to your friend, you’re again letting a brand’s reputation sway your decisions, this time on a positive note. Since you’ve heard good things from someone you can trust, you’re more likely to choose the pizza shop that has glowing reviews.

The same goes for online reviews. If a potential customer is considering working with you, they might jump online and see that your business doesn’t have great reviews. This is a problem that no amount of marketing is going to fix. On the other hand, a number of positive reviews could be just the thing the customer needs to pick up the phone and call you or finally make an online purchase.

Build a reputation– don’t sell a product.

It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers, especially when you’re growing a business. But your number of new business deals or customers acquired isn’t always a true indication of your success.

Instead, focus on the brand reputation you’re building. Because customers tend to remember experiences (both their own and their friends’) longer, your reputation will be harder to change than any marketing campaign. If you’re not building a positive one from the start, it could mean your business is dead before it ever really gets started.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Samuel Thimothy,

VP at OneIMS.com, an inbound marketing agency, and co-founder of Clickx.io, a digital marketing intelligence platform

Sourced from Inc.

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