IS YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY READY FOR 2020?
2019 is almost over and it is time to plan for the new year. You should already have a marketing strategy in place or at least a draft that you can tune in January.
The best practice will be to go through 2019 and figure out what worked and what didn’t. Optimize past strategies and explore and test some new strategies, even those that are outside your comfort zone.
Take for granted that you already have a great visual brand identity, a fast website that has all the requirements to grab potential customers attention, the key points for 2020 should be:
ONLINE REPUTATION
People that don’t know your business will search online and if you a good reviews/reputations you have higher chances to convert those people into clients. If you don’t have a good reputation or you don’t have any reputation at all you are basically invisible. Google reviews or any other reviews from a known website will help you to build your reputation.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Organic posts are definitely important to keep followers informed, updated on your business, but that is not enough. You need to enlarge your borders and reach out to a new crowd so that you will be always busy and therefore avoid a down period. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube ads will help you to spread the word and increase your business visibility.
CONTENT STRATEGY
The development of interesting content that is informative or self-explanatory, whether through a blog or video, makes you and your business an expert/authority of that industry. To be an expert or authority in your field is synonymous with trust and trust is equal to sales.
EMAIL CAMPAIGN
Even though social media is a great tool to communicate with your own audience, you have to keep in mind that the audience (followers) are never yours. If, for example, tomorrow Instagram or Facebook decides for some reason to close the channel you will lose all the contact. Instead, if you create your own email database you have full control and can contact then when you want and how many times you want.
Today email campaigns, if done properly, are still very effective. Obviously, the content has to be tailored to your audience. Everybody is different, everybody has different needs.
Doing all the above, you will help you be 100% ready for the new year.
For any questions or help please email us to email@mrsmartweb.com
- Published in Marketing
BENEFITS OF HIRING A DIGITAL MARKETING EXPERT
You don’t need to have a masters degree to know that a business without customers doesn’t have a long life or at least an easy life. In order to make a profit, you need customers and to get customers you need to have a marketing strategy in place.
In most cases, entrepreneurs run their business using some sort of technique they’ve heard about or have seen others use. The reason why business owners generally follow this path is that they think they are saving money, but in reality, they are hurting their business and brand financially.
Following are some benefits for hiring a digital marketing expert:
YOU CAN FOCUS ON RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS
Since an expert is taking care of the marketing aspect of your business, you can actually focus on managing inventory, developing new products or services, overseeing your staff fulfilling and orders.
COST EFFECTIVE
Outsourcing your marketing needs is cost-effective because you don’t have to pay employee benefits or a salary and you have more control over your budget and goals.
NEW IDEAS
Even though you know your business better than anyone, a digital marketing expert sees your business from a different perspective and creates new ideas based on the viewpoint of the consumers.
CONSISTENCY
Experts will make sure that your marketing campaign includes a consistent message and uses the same colors, logo, and taglines to ensure your brand and your goods or services are instantly recognized.
USE OF THE LATEST TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS
Marketing experts know how to get a company noticed because they have knowledge of the latest techniques and tools that will help implement the right strategy and get faster results for your business.
Let’s plan your next Digital Marketing Strategy.
- Published in Marketing
5 TACTICS TO DRIVE WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways to bring in business. Getting a recommendation on a product or service helps build confidence in buyers, giving them a certain level of assurance that their purchase won’t be a mistake.
For those businesses that have a small budget, word of mouth is definitely the way to go.
Here are 5 tactics to promote your business through word of mouth:
1. PROVIDE EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE
Great customer service is what makes the difference when your product/service are more or less at the same level of competition as others. Showing customers that they are important to you and treating them with the courtesy and respect they deserve is certainly a reason for customers to talk about your business.
2.THANK YOUR CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR BUSINESS
Being grateful to your customers, thanking them and showing them your appreciation with a special discount or giving away a gift card, is another reason for them to talk about your business.
3.BE ACTIVE IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Having a business page on all forms of social media like Facebook, Google +, Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram will help reach target customers and always invite them to share your page. In addition, always engage with customers and ask them for a testimonial or review for your business.
4. ASK FOR TESTIMONIALS AND DISPLAY THEM
Testimonials coming from satisfied customers definitely help to build trust and credibility. It is important to show them on your website and social media and be visible.
5. GET POSITIVE PUBLICITY
Sponsoring local events or festivals puts your business at the forefront of people’s minds and makes them inclined to spread the word about your business. Also, using the media to tell people about your business, can be an effective way of spreading the word, increase your credibility and generate sales.
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- Published in Marketing
6 SIGNS YOU NEED TO REDESIGN YOUR WEBSITE
Your website has a huge impact on your business and therefore it has to run smoothly and has to be up to date. Here are 6 signs to see if it’s time to revamp your website:
1. THE WEBSITE IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD
If your website is older than 5 years it’s a definite red flag, because the progress of technology in 5 years is significant and can not be ignored.
2. THE OVERALL WEBSITE DESIGN IS JUST OLD SCHOOL
If the look of your website doesn’t match the current trends, it could hurt your business image and probably send the wrong message to your visitor. It is a good practice just to stay fresh!
3. SLOW LOADING PAGES
If the website takes too long to load a page, chances are that the code is old or there are errors in it. Test your website with Google PageSpeed Test.
4. WEBSITE ISN’T MOBILE FRIENDLY
The percentage of people that use a mobile website is higher than a desktop website and in fact, Google decided a few years back to rank mobile-friendly websites higher.
5. WEBSITE IS NOT DELIVERING THE TRAFFIC AND LEADS
Looking at the analytics you can figure out your website performance. If your website is not getting any traffic or visitors are leaving the site very quickly you might want to consider a site upgrade.
6. WEBSITE OFFERS A POOR USER EXPERIENCE
Users website experience is what makes them to stay longer on the website and makes them want to come back. It must be easy and intuitive to find the menu anavigation, product and service information. If they have difficult to do that they will look elsewhere.
In conclusion, if you think you don’t meet one or more of the points listed above, it is necessary to act immediately to avoid to turn customers away and above all to minimize business losses.
- Published in Website
SMS MARKETING
Everyone has a smartphone and it’s use is increasing by the hour. Our phone is the first thing we check when we wake up and the last thing we look at before bed. Communication through phones via SMS (or Text message) or social media is without any doubt the primary method of communication today. The reason why people use SMS a lot is because it is a quick and easy way to get in touch with others. For that reason, SMS marketing is becoming the preferred communication tool between businesses and customers over email marketing. Statistics also confirm this trend…the open rate for emails is 20%, instead for SMS is 90%. This tells you the potential of SMS marketing.
But in order to take full advantage of this trend it is necessary that it is not overused leading your customers to block you.
Here are 5 useful SMS marketing tips:
1) Sign up for an SMS marketing tool;
You have to have a plan in place and the right tools to manage your campaigns;
2) Get Permission & Make Opt-out Clear;
You must have a list of users that give you the permission to send them text messages, otherwise you’re spamming them which is against the law.
3) Do not Overcrowd Your Message;
The message that you send out has to be simple, short and actionable, so users immediately understands what your are offering.
4) Time Your Messages Right;
Even though message are read immediately it is a good practice to send out the message at certain time like late afternoons, evenings or weekends.
5) Less is More;
The frequency of sending message out should be 2 per week. More than that can be annoying.
Please feel free to leave a comment below for any questions or help with SMS marketing campaign.
- Published in Marketing
MARKETING TRENDS FOR 2019
The marketing approach in 2019 is going to be, definitely, different from the 2018, because businesses are more aware that digital marketing is the way to go if you want to competitive in this era.
The 2018 was all about being active on social media and posting relevant content. Most the business followed the trend and because of that Facebook and Instagram changed the algorithm few times during the year to keep the social media platform always fresh and interesting. The change that really affected the most was the way posts were seen by the followers. Went from 100% visualization down to 10%.
Therefore, in 2019 posting organic content is not enough but it has to be complemented by pay ads in order to be more visible.
Besides social media the trend to focus on in 2019 will be:
- Social Media Pay Ads
- Video Content & Video Streaming
- Artificial Intelligence (Live Chat & Chatbots)
- Voice Search and Podcasting
Will help generate a lot more traffic and leads.
Video is getting bigger and bigger and will be a must in 2019 because it helps businesses to be more visible and promote products and services more effectively and plus to build brand loyalty.
More businesses will use automate customer service to engage with people that are on their website to provide almost instant answers through a sequence of questions.
Voice assistants and voice Search is going to grow more and more and therefore website and especially mobile websites they have to be optimized for voice search.
Using these trends will help your business to build a good audience, drive ads to it and retarget those people.
For any questions or help with your marketing campaign leave a comment or direct message.
- Published in Marketing
TOP 6 MARKETING MISTAKES THAT YOU SHOULD AVOID
Marketing is a vital process for any business, especially for start-up business, to increase branding and boost sales. Customers are the focal point, without showcasing them how you can help them with your services and products a business doesn’t have any future.
Following are most common marketing mistakes that any business should avoid:
1) Ignoring Social Media
Social media may not be the most favorite tool for some business owners but we can all agree that nowadays it is essential to market a business. A social media profile increases company exposure at least 30%. Obviously, with a proper strategies in place you can get higher results.
2) Neglecting To Have A Website
A website promotes your business 24/7. No employee can do that. If you don’t have website it means that you don’t have an online presence which also means that you are losing potential clients and online competitors are taking advantage of this.
3) Not Having A Marketing SEO Strategy
Just having a website is not enough. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows your website to be ranked high on relevant queries. In other words, a website without SEO is like not telling friends and family that you have a new phone number. If anybody knows about your new phone number how they are going to call you. Adding the right keywords, title and description will help your website rank higher.
4) Not Tracking Performance of Your Marketing Strategy
Knowing how your marketing strategy is performing is more important than the strategy itself. According to the results and progress, you can then review your initial strategy and make the adjustment accordingly.
5) Targeting The Wrong Audience
Targeting an audience is not a simple task. Firstly, you need to understand who your audience is (i.e. age, location, gender and so on). Once you’ve figured that out you need to find the right channel to reach them. Sometimes focusing on a single channel may reduce your exposure. Therefore, it is also important to explore different channels.
6) Focusing Too Much On Competitors
To know what strategy your competitors are using is definitely a good idea. But it is also never a smart idea to mimic them. A marketing strategy that works well for them may not work for you. Even though you have the same business, there are many factors that are different. Therefore, keep an eye on it and perhaps get inspired from what they do, but use the strategy that works best for you.
In conclusion, marketing is a long and slow process that needs constant attention and knowledge of new techniques and technologies. Avoiding the above mistakes will help you put your business on the right track.
- Published in Marketing
HOW TO OPTIMIZE A MOBILE WEBSITE FOR GOOGLE SEARCHES
More than 50% of google search is done on mobile devices compared to desktop. This will definitely increase!
What does this means for your mobile website? It means that:
- The website has to have a RESPONSIVE Design. Basically the website can adapt its content to any type of device, tablets, iPads, iPhones, laptops and desktop computers.
- The website should be secure with SSL certificate. The biggest one, as of October 2017, Google Chrome will start to warn people if website is secure or unsecure and eventually will put the website at the bottom of the list.
- The website has to load fast. If people go to a website that doesn’t load and clicks on the back button google sees it has a negative feedback which consequently penalizes the website.
- Another practice to make sure the website loads fast is to use the Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology. AMP is a way to build web pages for static content that allows the pages to load and pre-render in Google search much faster than regular HTML.
- The header image should be small because people don’t want to scroll too much before they find the content.. That could be annoying and people could leave the site. Also text should be a readable size and dark in color.
- Don’t use pop ups, especially those that take the entire screen, because in mobile site it is really hard to exit out of this pop up. Also using too many pop up affects the ranking in a negative manner.
Do you have any questions? Drop a comment in the box below
- Published in Website