Improving organic growth is one of the most ambitious digital marketing objectives a business can have. This metric refers to the number of unique accounts that have viewed a piece of content on social media. What makes the game hard is that organic reach excludes the use of paid promotional tools.
Although social media growth can be notoriously difficult to achieve organically, an organic reach and sub-sequential growth may be achieved through creative, continuous and consistent marketing efforts.
If you were not certain about the need to engage in social media management, the events of the last year have shown us that traditional, non-digital marketing is not enough anymore. People now interact with businesses mostly online, and you will need to have a digital presence and be visible to prospects online if you want to convert them to paying customers.
Why Should I Use Social Media?
Social media has become the most important virtual space where people interact with not only friends and family, but also with brands and businesses. Social media marketing is currently the most effective way of communicating to potential customers not only because more than half of the world's population is using social networks but also because it enables...
You can't think about 2021 online marketing trends without taking into consideration what has been happening over the last nine months. 2020 has certainly been an unprecedented year.
Among the chaos and uncertainty brought about by the big shifts in our society, many industries – marketing included – have had to evolve and adapt to fit a ‘new normal'. Various marketing trends we had predicted last year came true, such as voice search, content marketing, personalisation, and hyper-targeting, but unexpected ones developed as well, such as a general movement of services online and e-commerce platforms attracting more investment than ever.
A renewed focus on brand experience has developed due to lockdown laws and restrictions on visiting physical stores. Consumers are now attracted by the promise of health and safety and opt for increasing personalised service features.
New statistics, technologies, techniques, and digital marketing strategies are emerging every day. The way we attract, connect, and market to our audiences is constantly changing. As a business owner, you have to do more than just keep up with trends in marketing – you have to stay ahead of the game. Here is what you should expect in terms of online marketing trends 2021:
User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC)...
“The power of branding is its ability to influence behaviour. We brand companies so they can build reputations. A brand with a good reputation elicits more purchases, advocacy, donations, shares, etc.” Colin Finkle
This is why internationally-recognised brands like Apple, Coca Cola, Netflix, and Amazon are more than just the products they sell or their logo or their advertising content.
Brands are about experiences; as Seth Godin put it, “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, form a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another.”
They include a variety of subtle factors that define the way your business feels and how it is perceived by audiences.
The fascinating thing about brands and branding is that they are formed and exist, with or without our intervention.
What you can do is take action to create a brand that promotes your business effectively and positively. It's not just about writing a catchy tagline; you will have to make sure that the experience you provide lives up to the expectations your branding instills in customers.
How to Build a Brand
Building a successful brand is an ongoing process, but here are some starting points for beginners:
Find your key differentiator
Find...
The growth in mobile usage has changed the way people interact with the world and research information online. The average person spends around 3 hours a day on their smartphone. If you want to communicate your message to an audience you will need to reach them where they spend most of their daily online time. This is why your website marketing needs to be able to adapt to a variety of devices and browsers. By using a responsive web design you'll create an optimised browsing experience for you visitors.
What is a responsive web design?
Responsive web design is the approach suggesting that web design and development should adapt to user behaviour and environment (device orientation, screen size, and platform). This is different from building a standard mobile version of your website, which is no longer practical since there are endless resolutions and devices in use.
Responsive websites are able to automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size, and scripting capabilities. Flexible layouts used to be a luxury for websites, today designs are truly flexible. They can adjust to anything from a smartphone to a large computer screen. Even images can be automatically adjusted and layouts won't break- although they can get...
Graphic design has been around for as long as communication. The practice of combining text with images and concepts has entered a new, digital era with the advancement of the Internet, with graphic design playing a central role in websites and apps.
Graphic design has quickly evolved from traditional print designs to dynamic designs and computer animation. These have been perfected in the last two decades and are today used on a wide scale.
Graphic design is an omnipresent part of our lives and it plays a central role in business as well. Promoting products and services without using a combination text with image is unthinkable in this day and age.
As for the future of graphic design, experts talk about trends such as the fusion with augmented reality, 3D printing, impending collision with experience design and fully functional virtual reality. New technology and design concepts can offer an immersive experience so businesses can sell their products without even making a pitch.
Why is it important that businesses of any shape or size invest in design?
Whether we consume graphic design products through paper printed in our hand or by accessing virtual reality through brain implants, as some futurologists predict. Graphic design plays...
The shift towards digital has been a growing tendency in the last decade, with a growing number of businesses jumping on the online marketing bandwagon. However, something unexpected happened in 2020 that accelerated the rhythm of digitalisation in all areas and made businesses of all sizes take notice of digital marketing practices, such as investing in digital adspend and digital advertising – the Covid-19 pandemic. More and more aspects of business and marketing have moved online and are investing in marketing resources such as pay-per-click advertising. Due to lockdown and the subsequent social distancing rules, the way we interact with businesses and service providers is rapidly evolving.
Previously on the VMA blog we presented the main predicted marketing trends for 2020, but little did we know that our customers and other Australian businesses were going to catch up on these trends at a faster rate than expected:
Hyper-targeting
Personalisation
Customer retention
Content marketing
Voice search
Shoppable posts
Interactive content
Smart bidding in Google Ads
What we have observed is that numerous entrepreneurs have been doing their homework to catch up on the newest digital marketing strategies and prepare for the post-Covid-19 crisis period.
Why we are moving away from traditional media:
The general and continual move away from traditional advertising and towards...
Marketing is a domain in continuous evolution with the last couple of decades being dominated by digital marketing and integrated marketing practices. There are multiple views on how one should promote their business, some being more technical and others being referred to as creative marketing.
There is a famous saying that good marketing does not feel like marketing. But when you get down to it, any type of marketing is simply marketing. Its purpose is to get your message in front of your best prospects and customers.
As basic as it sounds, your marketing will only be effective when you think outside the box and stand apart from the competition. With so many businesses communicating to consumers on multiple channels and all the noise out there, you need to invest in creative marketing if you want your voice to be heard.
What Is Creative Marketing?
Creative marketing is defined as the process of selling things using creative talent in areas such as design, music, visual arts, interior design, architecture, etc. Creativity in marketing also refers to discovering new ways to communicate to customers and engage with them, such as online channels that were not available before.
Creative marketing is actually a bit of a...
When voice search technology came out in 2011, Siri was mostly a fun tool to play with. Voice queries would produce sometimes informative results but also laughable responses. Few people expected voice search to become a major digital trend. In less than a decade those who laughed at Siri's attempts to understand what users were in need of were proved to be quite wrong. Voice-activated technologies have evolved and their role within SEO has increased significantly.
We interact with digital devices using voice search more than ever and statistics suggests that our digital user experience will continue to benefit from this type of technology:
59% of web searches are performed using a mobile device. An important point as most voice searches are performed via mobile devices;
Voice search is the second choice for mobile search after the mobile browser. The majority of searches are usually done through the mobile browser, with voice searches being preferred to using a phone's search box or window, search apps, and texting other people;
85% of respondents in a survey reported using voice to control their smartphones; the most common actions taken through voice were obtaining directions while driving, making phone calls, sending texts, playing music and checking the...
Website hosting permits individuals and organisations to run a website or content web page on the internet. Hosting providers allow the files that make up a website or web application (code, images, copy etc.) available to be viewed online. As we know website data is stored and hosted on specific computers and these computers are called servers. Put simply – a web host allows you to rent physical server space on which to store the files and data which are necessary for your website to operate, hosting providers bridge the gap between your website and the web searcher who is looking for your site, when an internet user browses your website, they will be able to access your site with the help of the server.
Functions of a Web Host:
Web hosting eases the process of uploading content and making it live on your website, users require little to no specialist knowledge or the required equipment. Different web hosting providers offer different types of packages for different types of users. For example, a basic blog with little detail and low traffic numbers will require a lower level plan whereas a large website with high traffic numbers may require a more advanced service.
Why...
Telephony from Zoho CRM enables you to stay on top of leads and save money at the same time!
There are many ways you can get in touch with your customers, such as email, social media, live chats, etc. However, one old method to talk to people is still among the most effective, and that is telephony. Implementing quality phone systems and telephony software will do wonders for your business.
70% of consumers interviewed in a survey said that they would rather speak to a human customer service representative than engage with a digital customer service rep or chatbot. This shows that your customers would rather hear from you in person, and they prefer telephone interaction to other types of communication, no matter how advanced and convenient they seem on paper.
Having a reliable phone system for closing sales and offering customer support is vital for the success of your business. If you see telephony as an outdated service that hasn't evolved much, you are mistaken. VoIP phone systems are accessible to any small business and they come with huge benefits. Here is why you should move to a VoIP phone system:
Lowering cost per call
VoIP phone systems use Internet Protocol to...