Articles and Blogs

The need of the hour for companies is to create a strong brand image. Brand presence on social media helps improves the relationship between the brand and the customers.

Companies must analyze the kind of relationships they are building with consumers across the social media platforms to ensure that they are aligned with the overall metrics and targets for social media performance. Let us look at some of the relevant metrics that companies can use to assess the effectiveness of various social media platforms in improving their brand image:

1. Number of clicks:

This is one of the metrics a company can use to check whether or not the customers are responsive to their posts on social media. This metric represents the number of clicks within content shared by the company. These links may take users to the company’s website, to a company page within a social media platform, or to a resource or asset shared by the company. Such clicks indicate that users considered the company’s updates interesting enough to click on links within those updates.

2. Number of Likes and Comments:

This metric represents the number of replies and comments that the company’s content has generated. These replies and comments may be directed to the company asking for more information or providing feedback; they may also be discussions among the target audience members who are inspired by the content that the company has shared. A high number of replies and comments generally indicate a strong engagement with the target audience. However, care must be taken to ensure that negative and irrelevant comments and replies are addressed promptly and appropriately.

3.  Number of shares:

This metric represents the number of times content provided by the company is shared by its customers or subscribers. Consumers share content they like or find useful; thus, a high number of shares indicates that a large number of customers or potential customers perceive the company as helpful and knowledgeable and, by extension, may be more likely to purchase the company’s products or services.

These are some of the most common metrics that help companies to analyze the effectiveness of their presence on social media. The brands need to be active on such platforms so that they can address negative comments, stop spread of negativity,  and motivate the audience to make their content go viral and  increase sales of their products. 

E-mail Marketing, the action of sending commercial messages to a list of potential clients, is gaining a lot of traction in the advertising industry. However, tapping into the interest of these clients is not the only purpose which this effective tool serves. Solicitation of sales, donation and creating a stellar brand awareness  are easily attainable through E-mail marketing.

This strategy can not only be a swift andeffective but also a sustainable way of reaching out to potential customers and retain existing ones. Room to maneuver in e-mail marketing is high as you have the luxury to send personalized texts to specific people. This would help augment the ongoing relationship with your customers. Receiving irrelevant, continuous, and unwanted e-mails can irritate potential clientsalong with causing disgrace to the firm Marketing e-mails are typically sent to people who have consciously chosen to subscribe to a particular newsletter. This  acts like an advantage as customers who are interested in the product are more likely to engage with commercial e-mails. Response rates to one’s marketing campaign can get an immediate boost through E-mail marketing. However, word of caution here is to avoid overdoing it as a part of the marketing strategy.

The single biggest advantage of e-mail marketing strategy is the  variety of options available as mediums of marketing. One can send videos, animations, GIFs and plain text among others as attachments. These tools provide a lot of scope to enhance one’s business branding. Evaluation of these campaigns  can be done easily through the use of web analytics software. One can also set a benchmark by comparing results with other firms that use email marketing.

An added bonus of this strategy is its cost-effectiveness whereas other forms of marketing can be very costly. No media space, printing or advertising fees is incurred through e-mail marketing. Indulging in commercial e-mails also play a significant role in preserving the environment.. This segment of Internet marketing is not only easy to set up but also readily accessible for small businesses.

There are certain niggling issues  that can hamper this marketing strategy though! File sizes, problems with the designs, undelivered e-mails and spams are some of the limitations to this digital tactic. Overcoming these impediments can be key to a successful marketing campaign as ultimately  it is about adding and improving strategies for the development of the brand.

In this digital age where social media is increasingly used for advertising, e-mail marketing still cracks the whip!

According to a study conducted in the year 2000, it was found that a visitor’s average attention span on a web page was 12 seconds. Later research reported the decrease of attention span to 8 seconds on an average. What could possibly be the reason behind this decrease? Is technology the wrongdoer or should impatience of visitors be blamed?

The latter definitely gets a higher score!

We all happen to enjoy a fine story, however, when it comes to going through content on an online platform, most of us just browse the headlines and do not even read the second line. Many readers skip the entire content after reading the first two lines.

Why visitors do not scroll down?

Easy and fast online access is what visitors want. The way in which online content is consumed plays a prominent role. With the availability of a large number of articles, blogs, and other online content, people get multiple options to refer to. This eventually creates a generation of highly impatient readers who have the habit of switching articles and blogs. However, this has become a huge challenge for digital marketers and content creators.

Many digital marketers understand the importance of including images in web content as visual stimulation is something that is highly successful in drawing the attention of the audience. Sometimes the graphic or image is what attracts the visitors rather than the article’s headline.

However, there are many controversies about images fueling much fake news through digital content. This creates more confusion and impatience among the users.

Here are some ways which will help you in increasing the engagement of impatient visitors:

1)    Have an attractive headline

Create attention-grabbing headlines. At the same time, maintain the relevancy of the topic. Make the content thought-provoking and valuable in the introductory paragraphs. A short and interesting introduction is what will capture the attention of the audience

2)    Include more questions

By including more questions in your content, you can capture the attention of the users and keep them encouraged to go through the entire content to get the answer at the end.

3)    Easy and simple language

Use simple words and shorter sentences. You can also present your thoughts and opinions in a simple way which will make the content more appealing.

4)    Include more statistics and quotes

Real life statistics and relevant quotes from experts grab increased attention of the audience. This will provide the audience with more concrete, credible, and reliable information within a shorter duration of time.

Driving more traffic to your website, getting more sales, increasing social media followers; every business has certain objectives when it comes to email marketing. You may also want to get more effective outcomes from your promotional campaigns.

Whether you have a service website, blog, or have an online store, email is a very effective way of staying connected with existing customers. Here are some email marketing tips that you can incorporate to enhance your promotional campaigns.

1)    No experimenting in the sender field

Maintaining the sender field consistently will make it easier and more convenient for readers to see the sender of the email. This is crucial as it is the first thing that readers will look at even before going through the email.

2)    Have an attractive subject line

The next thing that readers pay a lot of attention to is the subject line. Invest a good amount of time to create an attractive and sensible subject line. Originality is the thing that needs to be given priority. Keep it crisp and short. Talk to your readers about their needs, fears, ambitions, desires or doubts.

3)    Personalize your email

If you happen to know your reader’s name, make use of different email promotional software for having a good email list. This can also be used in the main message of your email body for engaging your readers. Just be careful of not overdoing it. Putting the name of your reader in every line might feel creepy. Your objective is to appear natural.

4)    Offer value

There is a high probability that your readers do not care about the new staff in your company. All that they care is what solution you provide. When our email has valuable solutions as offers, people go through the entire emails.

5)     Place call to action and relevant links

You definitely want your articles and blogs to be read by the target audience. Ensure to include hyperlinks and call to action buttons in the email. Do not expect the audience to do guesswork. You also need to ensure that your emails are mobile optimized so as have maximum reach. This is an important aspect as more than 80% of the audience are active on smartphone or use android. Having mobile-optimized emails will assist in the flawless functioning of the email marketing on cell phones.

Marketers, website owners, and beginners in the SEO industry often come across the term “slug”. However, very few people have an in-depth comprehension of slug.

A URL or SEO slug is that part of a website’s URL which explains what a page is all about. This facilitates easy and convenient page readability for the users. It identifies the page on a site that can be read by the audience.

 Now let’s get to know what slug in WordPress is. Slug is that part of URL in WordPress which can be editable and modified while composing a new post. Even if you have more variables in your URL, slug in your WordPress will still be the editable portion of the URL.

What is a slug in SEO

The benefit of having slug in SEO is that you can alter the words to ensure that it consists of the words that you want to be ranked for. This is crucial as Google uses it as an indicator to identify what your webpage is all about. Moreover, it is also what audiences find in the search results.

How to optimize the slug

There are many things that you need to consider while creating an appropriate slug for your webpage or post. Here are some key elements which you should take into consideration:

No more use of stop words

Get rid of the words that are unnecessarily used in the post. Overuse of words such as “the”, “a“, “and”, and other similar ones should be filtered and removed.

Increase focus

It is not just the stop words that you need to filter out but also all those words which you do not really need. However, ensure that your slug makes sense.

 Make it concise and descriptive at the same time

The URL of the webpage is displayed in search results. However, there are many times when the URL is replaced with SEO breadcrumbs. This is when Google will display all phrases that are relevant and matching right from the search query. It is crucial to ensure a good presence of keywords when you opt for optimizing the slugs. You also need to give equal importance to filtering out stop words as search engines will not prefer blog or web posts having too much stop words. You will help yourself in getting ranked by the search engines by keeping your slug clean.

For the triers out there looking to master the art of content writing!

How many times has it happened that even after giving your best into an article piece, your write-up still carries a void within. A void that prevents your work from landing the perfect hit most of the times.

Well, it actually doesn’t mean the end of the road, not even close to be honest. Content writing is a skill that gets better with every attempt at writing. But as every other process, to be a PRO at one point in the future, today you have to set the fundamentals of it absolutely right in the first steps; no matter how small.

In this article we shall bring into focus the most vital basics in content writing that’ll help you develop a concrete foundation in the field and progress upon it.

1. Know the topic - Shots fired in the dark are always fun until you actually want to hit the target.  Every topic you write upon, it is an absolute mandate to check its current state of affairs, deduce an overall idea, and then start writing. Be sure of everything you are writing and confidently particularly about how and where you are heading.

2. Breakdown your article into various parts - A proper neat structure is as necessary as anything else while writing articles. It needs to have a head, a body (progression), and an end (can be non-decisive also).  A jumbled up article with no coherence (shall be discussed later), is always deprived of results.

3. Make your article breathable - The importance of space can never be overlooked in almost everything. When given two articles to read, where one is a long paragraph and the other is a well-spaced, divided into chunks article; anyone would read the later irrespective of how average it is or how good the first one is. A sensibly well-spaced article is easier to read and gains quick attention.

4. ‘You’ matter - While addressing your audience in your articles, use first person always (according to possibility of course). A ‘You’ creates an impression in audience’s heads that you are personally talking to them, addressing their problems. Who doesn’t love a bit of attention?

5. Coherence - As the article progresses, one statement should lead to another and together should form the entire work. If one point is coming out of the context to break monotony of the progress, it has to be layered down in the future to compliment the flow.  

With these points in mind start taking nimble steps towards content writing. As you develop around them, the flair in your articles would start growing.

As 2020 is drawing near, the prospect of digital marketing that comprises video marketing, content marketing, SEO, and more, is approaching a dramatic shift. That period is long gone when it was even possible for you to dismiss Visual search or Artificial Intelligence as ploys from the latest science-fiction movie blockbuster. It is quite a technological leap to claim that there are various new marketing strategies that are evolving. What must have worked for you in the last year might just not work for you this year. Therefore, in this high-tech era, all companies need to utilize them in order to outline their efforts in marketing.

Personalization is becoming one of the key differentiators in businesses these days. Now, the question that arises is what needs to be done for better delivery of a more personalized experience for your customers? Companies can win over a highly-demanding customer base by personalizing their experiences. Let’s understand what this means.

Traditional personalization originates from building a relationship of mutual trust and respect with your customers. To generate optimized results, you will have to incorporate collection of data relating to customers into your personalized marketing strategy. This also involves designing of marketing experiences that specifically focus on your customers through the content you provide.

User data is the pioneer of every personalized marketing technique. The future of your marketing campaigns will depend on how successfully you will be able to collect and analyse data. Collection of user data from e-mail list segments or studies will help you to create e-mail campaigns targeting consumers on the basis of their interests in buying products.

If you really want to stay ahead of the curve, you need to personalize your website content, products, services, and more. In other words, it means personalization of your marketing strategy. Custom content has become really easy to comprehend with the availability of data such as customer behaviour and purchase history. A recent study by a technological magazine revealed that around 96% of marketing practitioners are of the opinion that personalization enhances customer relationship and loyalty.

Look at the multinational technological giants, Amazon and Netflix- they are already accessing the dynamism of personalization. As soon as you log into your account, everything is personalized for you, starting from the text and search to the artwork.

With all said and done, personalization maximizes fulfilment and minimizes search time.

Businesses of any scale need to have a broader audience base and need to generate strong strategic leads in order to gain a competitive position in the market. In spite of fast-paced advancement in the industry of digital marketing, many individuals are still not aware of the concept of lead generation. It is a marketing strategy which captures and stimulates interests of the visitors in a product or service for generating sales.

Digital channels are mostly used to generate leads; however, recent years have witnessed these channels undergo various changes as an outcome of wide scale development in online and social techniques. Due to availability of more information, more number of self-directed customers have developed. Different techniques are used to establish and filter potential leads right before they are forwarded to the marketing department.

Role of lead generation

There have been many changes in the buying process in recent years. Digital marketers today incorporate many strategies to gain increased reach. They formulate their own kind of marketing approaches so as to be recognized by the target audience. Mass advertising and email blasts are even used by digital marketers. However, there are a number of options that are available for the purpose which has changed the dynamics of business from "Seeking Customers for Business" to "Customers Seeking Right Organization" for availing products and services. Digital marketers are also concerned about gaining insights on building a consistent buyer-seller relationship.

 Lead generation is definitely not a new approach to acquire a business. How trends have changed with time.

 How does this work?

Some firms focus on facilitating qualified leads to organizations. The entire process of generating lead is very easy; however, to do it right is tough. It starts with a firm developing partnership with any website or developing its own website on which services and products are promoted. A consumer seeks the products and services that he or she requires and eventually finds these on informational sites or directories. He or she then fills up an online form requesting quotes. The information provided by the buyer is verified and relevant providers are sought. These leads with complete contact information and buying requirements are forwarded to the prospectors through an email in the process.

 Why should you use this method?

Lead generation can be used by any business organization as it leads to a win-win situation for both the seller and buyer. Consumers can request required information from a different business which offer the service or product which they are seeking for. This provides the seller with a scope to pitch to the potential consumers who have permitted to do so. Moreover, lead generation proves to be cost-effective.

Lead generation can prove to be a very convenient way of increasing ROI and have a prominent expansion of your consumer base. Building business relationship is better when it is done organically; however, if you want a new way of doing business, it is a very good and effective way to expand your business.

Sure there are hundreds of Digital Marketing firms available for you to choose from, each making numerous promises in terms of results that would be best for your business. Amongst all the promises that a firm can offer, the one thing that no one can offer better than yourself, is developing a connection with your audience; simply put, no one understands your services as well neither can they be as convincing about it.

All the paid page advertisements and post advertisements work fine, but relying on spends every time to reach out to audience, is not exactly what defines a healthy digital presence.

So what exactly defines a healthy digital or online presence?

Well, the word at the very foundation of a healthy digital presence is ‘Unpaid’ or ‘Organic’reach.

For a social media page to be established on the web, it is necessary for it to reach its audience without any sponsoring. Of course for a page that is fairly new, it is not possible to have a following as such at the beginning itself, but the objective is to be so efficient with ads and social media page practices that one reaches that stage.

Apart from placing the most efficient of ads, your brand’s interaction with its audience over digital channels is the key element here. Most posts when sponsored throughout the platform, generally gain the reach and number, statistically speaking; but what makes an onlooker look out for your content the next time, is what we are going to enlist below. The factors to consider each time, every time, for a brand with a vision to become a social media giant.

1. Relatable posts - Creating a post whether informational or abstract, it is necessary to remember that you are designing or creating it for your audience. Firstly they need to understand the data, then comes the part where they appreciate the presentation of it.

Too mainstream they will overlook and too complex and they will pass. Finding the space in between is the key.

2. Attention to feedback - The feedback your audience provides in accordance to your brand, observe them closely. If not to all, reply to some.

In today’s age people post their satisfaction and frustration about a service quite openly on social media. It matters because other people before opting for your services have a quick look through your customer reviews.

Also, replying to your audience helps in making them believe that their voices are heard; nothing better to develop a connection.

3. Involvement of audience in promotions

For every offer that you plan, organize simple online contests for your audience to participate. Add brand related incentives, luring enough for them to participate and try winning. This helps in spreading a positive word amongst the ‘netizens’ regarding the prizes to be won, and hence spreading the brand name all over.

These are a simple list of practices with a significant impact potential!

Year 2019, and almost every 3 out of 5 persons own an Instagram account. Such is the hype of this social media platform that it almost feels unnatural to discover an individual who is not  in it!

With a majority of the world population active on Instagram, it easily becomes one of the most sought after advertising platforms for brands, both big and small.  That being said, in this article we shall bring into light the most common mistakes brands should avoid while promoting themselves on Instagram.

Focusing on quantity rather than quality

When it comes to publishing posts it is very natural to be eager at posting everything you know, and trying to push all of it to your audience. In the haste to achieve this, the focus shifts on the number of posts rather than the quality of posts, which in the long run has an adverse effect on your engagement ratio.

Fix: With information at your disposal, it is highly recommended that you develop post categories and divide your information accordingly. Place just one type of information in one post, and advisably not more. This gives an order to your post types, over which your audience’s attention never saturates.

Complicating Hashtags

The want of having a quirky and unique Hashtag on your post is what the game of hashtags is supposed to be. However, a complicated and lengthy Hashtag completely backfires as audiences find it too time taking and effort absorbing. They simply overlook it.

Fix: Hashtags are meant to be an interesting combination of simple words, mostly two to three and #NotMore.

Not  interacting with audience

Even for the most famous of pages, if the audiences feel their voices and opinions aren’t being heard, slowly the page engagement goes down.

Fix: Although it is not possible to reply to every feedback you receive on your posts, it is highly recommendable to reply to some of the genuine comments on your posts. It is equally important for the replies to be genuine and query based.  This makes your audience feel a bit personal about your page and its posts.

Preaching things up

When all your posts are about your own products and how good they are,  the attention around them reduces over time.

Fix: It is always advisable to not take your brand or product too seriously. Have a mix of post categories, and subtly market your features and USPs via meaningful interactions.

Forcing the stats

Matching projected stats of followers, reach, and likes is one of the goals when it comes to marketing. However not everything about your promotions should be built around them.  Bot generated followers and reach become quite distinguishable in the long run, and the final outcome is far from healthy.

Fix: Social media marketing is more than just likes and numbers. It is about building reputation, and creating a memorable brand image is a gradual process. Keeping your posts interactive, posting quality content, and connecting to your audience naturally is what needs to be done.

Authenticity is one concept that has a very crucial role to play in any kind of business. Despite having a prominent role, some businesses do not consider it as important as they should. If any business develops a reputation of being inauthentic, it can get very hard and would take a lot of time to get rid of the negative brand image.

Consumers  want you to be honest and transparent, which is very important for any brand to establish trust. It must ensure  to present its authentic self while making efforts to reach out to customers. Clearly, you need to have more authenticity in your content marketing strategies. Here are some ways through which you can do that.

Do not use random “content” and avoid market saturation

Market saturation has turned out to be an issue. The market is flooded with a lot of content. However, there is scarcity of valuable content providing authentic information that can convince people to make any purchase. Do not get into “random content creation” that is of lesser value. Navigating through a great deal of information can make customers lose interest and get stressed. You have to provide them with content that would make them more interested in your business.

Make good use of personality and personal brand

Spams and e-mails that insist people to buy things are not usually preferred by readers. However, it also does not make sense to send cluttered and large amount of information . You can have more authentic content marketing outcomes by making good use of your personality. Your organization’s personal brand has to be upfront and truthful. This is highly appreciated by the audience.

Avoid Gimmicks in your content

Party tricks and gimmicks such as using outright lies or stating possible facts in an exaggerated and absolute way are not recommended. These are not required in your content marketing strategies at all. The moment your audience finds them to be fishy, your efforts would be suspected which you definitely do not want.

Provide authentic knowledge and maintain transparency

Customers want to know your identity. If they do not find your organization to be authentic, they might simply choose any one of your competitors over you. You must provide your customers with all the information that they need to know about your brand and organization. Their preference should be the considered first. On a similar note, maintaining transparency in a very positive way can instill trust in your customers.

Long before social media came into picture, word-of-mouth was the holy grail for sharing and learning valuable information. This substantiates the fact that word-of-mouth is the oldest yet most effective form of marketing. 

Word-of-mouth can be an highly persuasive resource in your line of business to maximize your reach to the audience. It not only ensures garnering interest of potential clients, but it also gets everyone talking just as the name connotes. 

A recent study by a technological magazine revealed that before buying any product, about 62% of consumers search online for relevant information and reviews, and a walloping 90% depend on brand recommendations from family and friends. 

With the technological leap this generation has seen in such a short span, it is necessary to comprehend the significance of recommendations, reviews, and ratings when it comes to outlining your brand’s marketing strategy. To implement word-of-mouth marketing into your strategy, you can kick off with the following actionable tactics. 

Promote User-Generated Content (UGC) 

Encouraging user-generated content (UGC) serves as a really good indicator of the overall quality of a service or product. It will help your brand build trust and give marketing practitioners extra collateral to do business with. Depending on the fact that it is totally fair, UGC videos will increase the effectiveness of sales. 

Share Customer Reviews 

Sharing customer reviews is a powerful tool that bigger marketing firms should incorporate into their word-of-mouth marketing strategy. After all, there must be a reason to call it social proof! This will help your brand to assure your clients about the genuiniety of your claims. They would be more comfortable working with you. Once you get reviews, it will be easy for you to regenerate them. 

Get Ratings Directly on your Site 

You must provide people with the facility of rating or reviewing specific products and services directly on your website depending on your business model. Especially for e-commerce websites, it is profitable to scrape hundreds of responses together to make data-driven decisions and to increase leads, in a jiffy! 

Tempt your Customers 

When it comes to reviewing some sort of value in return, be it big or small, users are more likely to invest their time and faith on your business website. The odds are extremely low for Word-of-mouth marketing to fail if you offer your trusted users a reason to share their experiences with others. 

For your customers to have an exclusive experience, the easiest way to generate anticipation for your brand is to integrate these Word-of-mouth marketing techniques into your new lead gen tactics today. Don’t wait! 

From browsing e-papers in the morning to checking notifications in social media before going to bed, our life is defined by our online presence. It would be no exaggeration to state that technology has become indispensable.

Recent innovations have ensured that cutting age technology is easily accessible to all. One can now operate home appliances through various applications. That apart, music can now be played without lifting a finger through voice modulated gadgets. This enabling aspect of technology is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Machine learning is a major technology that has picked up a lot of steam in recent years. It is presumed to have the potential for highly effective marketing, built on profound, accessible data. Data- the essence of every marketing campaign has a huge part to play in this long line of web developments. Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence that makes software applications more accurate, and provides them the ability to improve learning from data, without being programmed to perform specific tasks.

This process of data analysis is based on the theory of pattern recognition and data-driven decision-making with nominal human intervention. In addition to these interfaces, the impact that machine learning could have on our lives is actually terrific. This prompts businesses and firms to carefully craft their marketing techniques.

Realizing that almost nothing can be accomplished without the web, studies show that about 84% of marketing firms have already started implementing machine learning. Furthermore, reports suggest that 75% of businesses adopting machine learning win over an increasingly demanding customer base of greater than 10%.

While offering ample opportunities, this marketing trend is significantly generating higher marketing ROI. This phenomenon is useful to quickly comprehend and act upon issues that actually exist in the sales and marketing funnel. Take for instance, Google machine learning product, 'Powerful Image Analysis' provide a better understanding of the content of a particular image, for e.g. a toy, and proves to be a stirring creation in this space.

Technology keeps on evolving. Huge advancements in machine learning will be a tipping point from a user-experience perspective. Furthermore, if executed correctly, this will help you convey the right information to your customers, rationalizing their pathway to purchase.

In the scramble for being more noticeable, implementing this marketing technology will not only make your marketing initiatives effortless but profitable as well.

What should one do to modernize digital marketing strategies for getting more acute and optimized results? How to capitalize on mobile technology for your business? In this world of technology-driven innovations, we have witnessed the perfect ‘one-stop solution’ to these challenges—the smartphone revolution! No medium is as good as the digital one, where everything is available at the tip of your fingers.

Keeping pace with the latest marketing trends and technological demands in the twenty-first century, promoting your products or brands by setting up a website to be immanently friendly to mobile browsing and/or setting up a mobile application ensures a global prospect base which can be exceptionally promising for your business.

Mobile Apps, designed to run on smartphones and other mobile devices, offer an ideal road map for any marketing practitioner. There is hardly any product which does not launch its mobile application in this present age. Research has shown that mobile applications help users to connect them to internet services more commonly permeated on desktop.

This type of simple access ensures your brand to win over an increasingly demanding customer base by proving a superior user experience. More than half of the consumers use mobile devices primarily for anything they need to find online.

Undoubtedly it’s an app world and let’s face it, the web just resides in it. We live in a society which is constantly on pins and needles. Users are well aware of their needs and they want them to be fulfilled in the shortest span of time. Even when computers take over one minute to boot up, most users find their patience tested. While this medium of communication has taken a backseat, mobile apps are catching on fast.

Mobile apps are, however, great for storing a substantial chunk of information. The user’s experience will be significantly enhanced since most of the information is stored within the application. There is no need to wait for the information to load as whatever little information needs to be updated can be easily performed in the background, enhancing your accessibility to other information while you wait for the app to load.

This hassle-free mode of advertising that you carry in your pocket inevitably drives the consumer towards the product of the particular brand. In fact, mobile apps have become so effective and popular among consumers that this marketing technique can no longer be avoided by businesses at any cost.

The year 2018 has seen drastic changes in the user’s behavior, due to which various digital marketing platforms have upgraded their algorithm. Prompting Digital marketers to change their strategies. The social media platforms, video marketing continue to dominate in lead generation whereas Amazon has become one of the most preferred digital marketing platforms with an introduction to new digital services feature.

Here we will discuss the trends which are going to be the hotcakes for digital marketing in the year 2019.

Facebook marketing

Advertising on Facebook is still a popular trend. Posting engaging pictures, updating status, uploading live videos about your brand are still going to attract a good number of audiences. As the number of users has drastically increased. However, in terms of Facebook ads, it might cost you more but its worth to invest. The main challenge that you are going to face is its algorithm, over a past year there have been frequent upgrades in its algorithm.

Instagram  marketing

Unlike Facebook, Instagram is also one of the good social media platforms to promote your business. However, the algorithm has got tougher to get the organic traffic. You can no longer grow traffic by just posting random things from your account. There is tough competition on Instagram with so many different businesses adapting to Instagram marketing. So in order to grow your brand on Instagram, you need to have high-quality content, using trending hash tags relevant to your business, and most importantly sticking to the niche. There are a variety of niches which you will find in Instagram, you need to finalize the niche relevant to your business and stick to it. This will help you in gaining good traffic.

Influencer marketing

This trend has generated excellent results for the businesses over the past year. This year it is still going to dominate, as users are more inclined towards YouTube influencers as well as Instagram influencers. Small companies or new entrepreneurs can also use this trend to advertise their business as influencers with over 10,000 subscribers can also give you good results.

Video marketing

It is the next best thing to get to know somebody in person. The audience gets a chance to engage with you, get to know about your brand, what you have to offer as per your products and services. With the increase in the number of users in Smartphone devices, the videos are getting more popular as people prefer videos when they use their mobile devices. Uploading videos with captions is also a great idea as some people prefer to watch video mute or in less volume and just read the captions. This type of marketing will give quick results and you will see the significant number of viewers as well as subscribers to your video within a few days of upload.

Amazon

It is one of the greatest platforms in recent time. Most of the people have not much idea about it. You can not only just sell your products physically in Amazon, but also can use its new digital services feature. This new feature helps you to sell your products organically. You could generate organic traffic and your brand will become a recognized one, as this platform is one of the leading e-commerce business websites.

You will find a lot of digital marketing firms promising good ROI. But the big question is how to choose the best for your business? It's important that they understand your product or service to be marketed, and the channels that will work best for you. To choose a suitable firm that not only has good expertise but can also live up to your expectations, you need to know the following key things:

Experience with old clients

Research on their portfolios and the type of clients they have worked for. This will give you a clear picture of whether they have experience with people in the same business segment as yours or not. Also, contact them to know their experience with that particular firm. This will save you time while scouting for firms.

If you have previously worked with different digital marketing firms, then jot down the key negative points that made you to look out for a new one.

Look at their areas of expertise

Digital marketing has a broad scope and not every company is well versed with all its aspects. Some firms specialize only in SEO while some provide website design, development, hosting along with SEO services. There are very few agencies that have expertise in all aspects . If you are looking at generating good ROI from your digital marketing activities, you must opt for a firm that has expertise in the areas of digital marketing that you are looking for

Some of the key features of digital marketing include PPC marketing, content marketing, SEO optimization (off-page/on-page), website design, analytics, and social media marketing/optimization, among others.

Nature/work culture of the firm

For a successful project, good coordination and adapting to the work culture is important for transparency as well as a smooth flow of information. Make sure that the hired firm has this quality.

Marketing Tools

The hired firm must be familiar and well-versed with key Digital Marketing tools such as Hubspot, and different analytics tools such as Google Analytics and various social media analytics dashboards. These tools provide key insights in formulating strategies.

Amount of content to be produced every month

This is one of the key things you must definitely look at. Digital marketing is not a cakewalk; it requires hard work and demands quality content for good SEO optimization. You must know how much content they are able to produce per month, as SEO work requires regular content creation and updates.

These discussed points will help you in getting the right firm that can meet your demands and expectations.

The fact that bulk email marketing is all about quantity cannot be denied. However, if you desire to have optimized utilization of your resources and obtain the best sustainable outcome in business, targeted bulk emailing is what you have to incorporate in your digital marketing strategy.

It starts with list building which requires a great deal of dedication and patience. Undoubtedly, this consumes time. It is only after you get a list of relevant email addresses that you can start segmenting them into various groups. You can then begin sending exclusive emails to target customers instead of forwarding the same mail to everyone.

Having a target list can help you carry out better email marketing as it will be highly personalized as well as customized in a better way. With a targeted email list, you can interact with the potential as well as existing customers who happen to have similar interests and seek the products and service that you offer. Moreover, you can do so in the tone, style and language that is appealing to them. This will convey a very personal feeling to your clients. They will be more responsive when they feel their interests are valued and taken care of.

You can tap into the segment of loyal customers with a targeted email list. Using such an approach will assist you in establishing a strong and long-term relationship with your clients. You can even use different types of communication styles for various classes of customers and prospects. This way they will relate to you in a better way which will further make your marketing campaigns more dynamic.

In order to create targeted email marketing campaigns, you have to consider certain pointers. You need to use “Opt-in Forms” for collecting email addresses along with identifying the target audience. This list can then be segregated into various groups depending on the available factual data. You need to compose a separate email message for every segment in order to get the desired outcome. Impressive, short, and to-the-point subject lines have to be composed. Do not forget to add meaningful creative content to it. Always work on creating a good and clean email list. Do not send emails to dead accounts relentlessly or your campaign will be labeled as “spam”.

Timing is one of the most important aspects of your campaign. You have to check on bounce and click through rates and accordingly devise the right frequency of sending the emails. Targeted bulk email marketing is thus a more effective, successful, and rewarding approach for your business.

Be it B2C or B2B, small or big, every business organization has its own set of obstacles that it faces when it comes to marketing its products and services. Some of the firms face budget constraints while some are impacted by the sudden external changes. Challenges are an integral part of business and certainly cannot be avoided as there will always be areas to work on. Here are top challenges that digital marketers currently face along with ways which will help in overcoming them.

Leads and traffic generation

Challenge:

Generating relevant traffic and leads has always been an obstacle in the digital marketing industry. There has been an increase in the trends of complexities regarding leads and traffic as different marketing channels including social media platforms have upgraded to increase their efficiency. This has heightened the level of competition in the market. With bigger platforms for digital marketing, options widen. With the availability of too many options, it becomes difficult to choose the right one for you.

Resolution:

You can resolve this ever-existing issue by incorporating a 2-step process.

Firstly, creating high-quality web content will help you to resonate with the requirements of the target audience. For instance, there are many research papers which state that video content attracts more traffic. It was also found that most of the audience prefers to watch live and recorded videos. Your strategy for lead generation has to be oriented towards generating high-quality, relevant content which is sought by your target audience.

The second step would be to structure out an appropriate promotional strategy for your content. You need to ensure that your audience finds your posts attractive out of a number of notifications that they receive daily. Although search is a crucial part of obtaining the required information, direct delivery of content is made through different social media channels. Make a social calendar and have a proper schedule for posts to have regular and timely content promotion.

Assessing ROI of digital marketing activities

Challenge:

It becomes very difficult for digital marketers for tracking and assessing the ROI of all digital marketing activities with the availability of different avenues which facilitate conversions. However, it proves to be a crucial aspect for every digital marketing campaign. Improving ROI assists you in optimizing your budget and in devising successful digital marketing campaigns for your brand.

Resolution:

Establishing links between all your digital marketing initiatives is important when tracking ROI is considered. This refers to the tracking of metrics from various websites and social media platforms along with evaluating data. That is why it becomes absolutely necessary to have an efficient analytics tool which will help you in connecting the dots. Incorporate an effective analytics tool that connects all social media channels and sites. This will help you in viewing all important metrics.

Choosing the right technology

Challenge:

Identifying the best tools and applications for carrying out marketing activities is another challenge. There is availability of a number of apps which will help you in conducting marketing activities, however, only a few of them are really effective when it comes to investment of money, time, and effort.

Resolution:

List out all your digital marketing requirements while looking for a specific tool or app. There are different apps for analyzing social metrics, scheduling web content and automating all the digital marketing processes. Instead of choosing different tools for different purpose, choose and invest in the app or the tool that will help you in handling multiple tasks together.

What could define ‘being successful’? It is truly a complicated idea. Many a times, the world points it out to us as the four P’s; Passion, Popularity, Penny, and Power. If passion can be considered as being successful and art success, then surely creativity is inspired by passion, and creativity comes from the original and unique content you create for your brand.

Good-quality content which not only informs but also holds the attention of readers advertently shows us that content marketing, as one of the digital marketing strategies, is one that can have maximum impact on the audience.

Bill Gates’s prediction was spot on, when he said, “Content is King”, because the digital medium of communication has taken over almost everything. The increased focus on content marketing strategy clearly asserts the fact that content rules the roost.

Transparency is what your consumers want from you. So, when a customer perceives the content that is displayed on your business website, you need to constantly strive to be true and genuine to your brand’s voice. Ensure a direct connection and build-up with your target audience by aligning your content with the voice of your brand. The significance of content marketing can’t be stressed enough as good content will not only succeed in meeting the demands of your target audience but will also fulfil the goals of your project, by emphasizing the targeted words in the right quantity.

A clear and specific marketing approach focused primarily on creating effective content to attract traffic is the best way to managing the expectations of the audience and ensures that you are getting value worth your efforts.

To boost your online presence in the market, ensuring the implementation of an interactive and information-rich website is highly essential. This will help in maintaining a consistent tonality for your business. Content that is irrelevant can surely cost your business a great extent. Your business needs to provide content that is accurate in order to catch the eye of a potential customer.

Incorporating efficient and detailed content in your digital marketing strategy can positively impact customer satisfaction and help you optimize your business website relative to loyalty.

To ensure the digital marketing strategy of your business is effective or not majorly depends on one key element, that is, to constantly generate and publish great content.

For more interesting articles, log on to SMstudy.com/articles

Personalization is a commonly used technique in many marketing organizations. Moreover tactical and strategic techniques that are oriented at creating convenience and ease for customers are evolving fast. These are very frequently used by digital marketing organizations that are highly growth-driven.

With fast-paced and frequent changes in international business, customers are becoming smarter and do not rely on commonly structured content or salespersons. They directly ask for highly personalized web content which resonates with their requirements. The more personalization you have in your content, the more your sales numbers and lead generation increase.

Incorporate predictive analytics

Most marketing agencies happen to segment their potential buyers by using “Buyer Persona Data” and structure content based on previous actions taken by visitors. Advanced personalization techniques, on the other hand, are based on predictive analytics that revolves around the experiences of individual customers and considers customer data for forming, developing, and expanding interactions. These interactions are based on the context, unique history of a client, preferences, and intentions that are obtained from engagement data. The outcome of such a technique can assist customers in making an educated and well-informed decision which appeals to them on a personal level.

Use customer-Centric approach

Get rid of the conventional approach that is centered on the product and incorporate customer-centric approach which is all about advanced personalization and buyer forward strategies. Process and mindset are altered so that the preferences of the buyers can be prioritized. This will result in the revelation of requirements and issues encountered by customers. You can also consider the following aspects to create a customer-centric approach with advanced predictive analytics.

• Collection of Data: Gather data which is derived from individual customer behavior.
• Visited content: You need to consider the consumed content that is based on changes in behavioral engagement.
• Channels: Pay attention to all the channels along with the touch points.
• Context: Give priority to the buying phase of customers which also considers location and time of buying.
• Uniqueness: Specify actions that are undertaken on the basis of a customer's intent.

Segmentation of your contacts and leads according to these aspects, calculating the trends in engagement and traffic, along with the creation of a predictive structuring framework for devising strategy would make the search experience simplistic and more convenient for customers. This will result in a prominent increase in the generation of leads and conversion rate.

For more interesting articles, log on to SMstudy.com/articles

An effective website is a critical component of a company’s overall online success. Company’s website serves as the central hub and foundation for its online activity. With a plethora of available website designs, the digital marketing team must determine the appropriate and optimal design and message.

Besides having a basic understanding of the technology on the website, the digital marketing team must also consider the following facets of creating a website.

Consumer Perspective

• Relevancy—Age, cultural nuances, geography, and other demographic factors of the target audience will influence the type of content on the website.

• Usability Design—The digital marketing team must take into consideration how technically savvy its target customer is. If the target customer does not generally have the appropriate comfort level with technology, the team should design a simple, text-based layout with easy navigation and basic features. If the target customer is comfortable and familiar with the Internet and computer use, a more intricate, interactive, and information-rich website can be implemented. The design of the site should depend on the expectations of both the users and the company. In some cases, the development might focus on consumer engagement, while in other cases, the design might be oriented toward supporting task-oriented behavior such as the ability to make changes to one’s account, purchase a product or service, and so on.

Site Development Perspective

• Purpose—Companies maintain a web presence for a variety of reasons. While some companies use websites as their main method of selling their products, other companies have an online presence just to support their business, message, and brand position. There are companies that use websites as a public relations (PR) tool, to enhance brand value in the minds of their customers, or to evaluate product feedback from customers that may help in understanding customer needs, general communications, product updates, and sales. The digital marketing team is responsible for ensuring that the website is designed to meet the overall strategic objectives outlined in the Marketing Strategy.

• Planning—The digital marketing team must work with the website development team to plan the execution of the website, beginning with creating a storyboard for the website; listing functional requirements; building the database structure; developing wireframes; and determining hypermedia linkages, search engine key words, graphical design components, user interface designs, audio/video sources, animation, and text requirements and formats.

• Performance— The digital marketing team also must consider the logical design of a good website, compare the performance of competitor websites to identify best practices, check for effective performance across browsers and operating systems, and perform usability testing of the website to ensure that it is easy to use.

• Maintenance—Websites create an online presence for a brand, so the marketing team must ensure that the website is maintained and tested regularly. Downtime on a website may adversely impact the direct online sales of products and may also taint brand reputation in the minds of consumers.

The brand messaging on the website has to be in-line with the overall brand message and must stay relevant to the target audience.

Visit www.smstudy.com/articles for more such interesting articles.

Sales and Marketing has evolved significantly over time going from the Barter System of 1000 years ago to Traditional Marketplaces, Seller’s Marketplaces, Conventional Mass-media Marketing, Fragmented New-age Marketing to today where Internet enabled business models have helped marketing evolved further.

In the past through our blogs, we’ve touched upon this evolution. In this blog, we will focus on the internet enabled modes of marketing specifically Facebook Marketing. With most customers now continuously spending their time online, businesses globally have understood the value of targeting them through the online mode. While the traditional methods of targeting i.e. TV, Radio, Newspapers etc. help is reaching to a larger audience fast, they are ineffective in terms of targeting a specific segment of the audience.

If a business wants to target a specific audience segment, you need to create a customer persona and then set-up filters to target and find the relevant audience. To target relevant audiences, Facebook helps you segment your audiences using these filters:

• Location: Reach customers by City, Country, even Postcode
• Demographics: Target people based on demographics like age, gender, relationship status, education, workplace and more
• Interests: Define your ideal audience by their interests, hobbies and Pages they like on Facebook. This may be based on their listed interests, activities, education, job titles, Pages they like or groups to which they belong.
• Behaviours: Reach people based on their purchasing behaviour, device usage and other activities

Besides these regular segments, Facebook has two advanced filters known as Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences.

Custom Audiences: Custom Audiences let you reach customers you already know with ads on Facebook. If you have developed a list of customer emails or acquired such customer data from your site, you can upload this list of email addresses or phone numbers to develop a custom audiences profile. Once you upload this list onto Facebook, you would be able to reach out to these customers on the facebook network and target them using your product advertisements. You can also build audiences from the people that visit your website or from people who use your mobile app. You can create a maximum of 10,000 Custom Audiences for those from your website or mobile app. Now while custom audiences might help you advertise to this list of audiences who have already purchased your product in the past, this is not really a good use of your investment as you can also target this audience by doing a simple (and almost free) email campaign. The real advantage of Custom Audiences is that it helps you expand your business over the Facebook network through Lookalike Audiences.

Lookalike Audiences: Lookalike Audiences helps you create new audiences based on traits from one of the following sources:

• Custom Audiences: As we've seen before, you can upload a list of your existing customers using Custom Audiences. The benefit of this is that we can then use Lookalike Audiences to find people who resemble that audience. Since the custom audiences have already bought from you, Facebook would be able to match their interests, and other characteristics to get you a bigger audience with the same profile. This would help you reach out to a wider audience who are more likely to buy your product.
• Website visitors: Like Google Adwords, Facebook also allows users to track visits to your website. You can install a Facebook Pixel on your site which would help facebook track the profile and behavior of this particular user. Then based on the profile of people visiting your website, we can create Lookalike Audiences to help you reach to a wider audience.
• Page fans: People who like your brand's page on Facebook are typical evangelists for your brand. Facebook allows you to use Lookalike Audiences to create an audience based on people who like your Page with the belief that the Lookalike Audiences will also exhibit similar behavior to this audience.

Visit www.smstudy.com/articles for more such interesting articles.

Customer feedback on mobile sites and mobile apps can be evaluated through multiple ways. In every case, feedback should be analyzed carefully and not ignored. For a company to ensure that its brand stays relevant to its target group, feedback from customers should be taken during separate instances of their interaction with the brand. Customers may provide feedback regarding the quality of product information on the app or mobile site, responsiveness of the mobile site, ease of making payments online, and ease of accessing customer support.

Developers use different techniques to collect user feedback in order to increase engagement. Some examples are as follows:

• App Store Reviews—App store reviews is the most obvious and basic method of collecting user reviews. The app store reviews are collected in the form of star ratings and written text reviews. Star ratings reflect how much the users like the app in general while text reviews are important to understanding the specific pain points and strengths of the app.
• In-app Feedback—One of the most effective methods of collecting reviews, in-app feedback, allows developers to collect feedback in the app itself. There are a number of turn-key plug-ins available that make it simple to prompt the user to review an app. However, it is important to time the prompt properly within the user experience. Some apps (mostly games) also incentivize users to provide feedback.
• Social Media and Forums—Social media and website forums can be used to start discussions about an app, invite suggestions, run polls, and get feedback on specific app features.

Analyzing customer feedback about a company’s product and related services can help a company identify areas where it is performing well and areas where it needs to improve its relationship-building capabilities.

Visit www.smstudy.com/articles for more such interesting articles.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or paid search advertising involves a company paying to have its ad appear on search results pages of search engines. PPC advertising providers such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing show sponsored ads, or paid search results, for most search queries. A consumer intending to purchase a microwave oven for her new modular kitchen may enter a query “microwave oven with convection and grill for home use,” seeking cost and feature information. A chain of electric kitchen appliances would likely then appear as a sponsored result. It is often observed that users with a high intention of making a purchase click on sponsored ads. This is especially true of highly transactional goods such as clothing, electronics, and consumer foods. 

PPC advertising has a significant impact on consumer metrics such as brand awareness and brand image, even among users who do not click on the sponsored advertisements. Image ads tend to be more effective in exerting positive impact and increasing visibility in search results. A consumer seeking a new microwave oven may choose to review multiple electric kitchen appliances advice pages before making a decision.

A business can increase the reach of its website using PPC advertising in the following ways:

Choosing relevant Keywords–keywords are the search terms used by consumers to tell search engines about the specific product or service they are interested in purchasing. For businesses looking for maximizing their reach using PPC or search engine advertising, the focus must be on bidding on keywords that are highly relevant to the search queries that are common in their business. Businesses can make use of their historical data and competitor data to determine the popularity and relevance of various keywords.

The price of keywords can vary greatly, from pennies to several dollars depending on popularity, demand, and the value to the advertiser. The ad’s “quality score”, rank and popularity of the keywords among the competitors determine the price an advertiser has to pay. The quality score is the search engine’s way of determining the relevance of an ad to the searcher by evaluating each keyword’s relevance to the business and its landing page, as well as other factors. The rank of an ad is determined based on its cost-per-click (CPC) and its quality score.

Choosing relevant Geography and Time–search engines have enabled business to analyze their past data to determine where their online customers are located and the best time to reach them. Based on this data and other internal research, businesses can choose the desired geography and time of day in which they should advertise their products and services for optimal results. For small businesses that cater to a local audience, geography-based targeting is especially important and helps ensure that their ads remain relevant.

Profiling the audience–Businesses must understand the profile of their target audience and create “user personas” that will help them identify the relevant ads for their customer base. A young age group may be attracted to video ads, while a more mature audience may prefer an image ad. Audience profiling may also help businesses identify the time of day when their target audience is most likely to make a purchase.

Selecting appropriate Ad sizes–Advertisements displayed on search engines and other third-party sites are available in different sizes, and the digital marketing team must customize their marketing content to the size of the ad being displayed.

Testing various Ads– Search engines allow businesses to experiment with two or more ad options in order to identify the more attractive one, commonly referred to as A/B or multivariate testing. A business can divide its marketing budget between two or more ads to be displayed to a similar audience throughout the day if it is unsure about the most effective advertising message for its products or services.

Customizing Language–businesses can also customize their ads based on the language preference of their target audience to make sure the intended marketing message is relevant and reaches audiences around the world. 

For more interesting articles, log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

E-mail marketers use a number of metrics to help determine the success of campaigns and provide guidance on how to improve e-mail marketing efforts. Among the most common metrics are the following:

• Open Rate—This metric refers to the percentage of e-mails in an e-mail campaign that is opened. A high open rate is an indication of high engagement. Oftentimes, high engagement is the result of a strong and appealing subject line.
   
• Hard Bounce/Soft Bounce—A hard bounce occurs when an e-mail fails to be delivered as a result of a permanent issue, such as a non-existent address. A soft bounce occurs when an e-mail fails to be delivered as a result of a temporary issue, such as a full mailbox or an unavailable server. This metric provides an indication of list quality.
   
• Click-through Rate (CTR)—This metric represents the number of unique clicks on a given URL divided by the number of times the e-mail is opened. An even better indicator of engagement than open rate, a high CTR indicates that the content was compelling to the reader.
   
• Conversion Rate—This metric indicates the number or percentage of recipients who respond to the call to action in an e-mail marketing campaign or promotion. A measure of an e-mail campaign’s success, conversions can be measured in sales, phone calls, appointments, and more.
   
• Cost per Thousand (CPM)—This metric refers to the cost per 1000 e-mail addresses on a purchased or rented list. A rental list priced at $100 CPM indicates that the list owner is charging $0.10 per individual e-mail address.
   
• Opt-in Rate or Subscribe Rate—This metric measures the growth of the e-mail list. Opting-in or subscribing to an e-mail list requires an individual to choose to receive e-mail communications by supplying an e-mail address to a particular company, website, or individual. Customers who opt-in or subscribe accept inclusion on the list and grant permission to the company to send them e-mails. Subscribers can often indicate areas of personal interest and/or indicate which types of e-mails they wish to receive from the sender. A growing opt-in rate is an indication of expanded reach.
   
• Opt-out Rate or Unsubscribe Rate—Opting-out or unsubscribing from an e-mail list is the result of someone choosing not to receive communications from the sender by requesting the removal of his or her e-mail address from the mailing list. Regulations regarding the use of e-mail lists vary from region to region. It is generally not acceptable to send list-generated e-mails to receivers without their permission. Unsubscribe options are often mandatory on subscription e-mails.

Here is an example of E-mail Marketing Metrics:

Customers who register for program loyalty cards usually have the option to join an e-mail list. They can be given further options to receive e-mail offers and information from associated companies. A customer agreeing to participate in all e-mail lists after registering for a department store loyalty card can anticipate follow-up e-mails from the department store and other consumer product distributors. The department store will want to track its opt-in rate to measure the consumer’s perceived value of receiving ongoing correspondence from the store. The opt-out rate will help to quantify the actual quality of the correspondence being sent. Regularly sent e-mails that do not provide value to the customer will have a high opt-out rate.

For more interesting articles, log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

The Internet has become the primary source of information for the majority of consumers. Keywords and phrases are typed into a search engine on a computer or mobile device, and a vast volume of related content is presented to the consumer. Once the results are displayed (in order), the user can click on any of the displayed links to visit any particular website or web page for the information needed.

Studies suggest that when using search engines, most people do not go beyond the listings mentioned on the first couple of pages of the search engine results list. It has been noted that ninety percent of all users do not look past the first thirty results. This means a high-ranking website has a much higher probability of getting traffic from search engines than a lower ranking website. Obtaining high rankings for relevant keywords and phrases in search engines is a critical factor in increasing traffic to the website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves a number of activities and initiatives that businesses can implement to achieve high search engine rankings. Such activities address both on-page and off-page ranking factors that can impact a website’s or web page’s search engine rankings for specific search terms, resulting in a high placement in a search engine’s “organic,” or “natural,” or “unpaid” search results.

SEO activities can be grouped into two broad categories: On-Page Optimization and Off-Page Optimization

On-Page Optimization refers to the optimization activities performed on the website itself. Some of the common on-page optimization tasks include the following:

• Creation of Unique, Accurate Page Titles
• Creation of Proper Meta Tag Descriptions
• Optimization of URLs
• Ease of Navigation
• Optimization of Content
• Anchor text
• Optimization of Images and Videos
• Use of Heading Tags
• Use of robots.txt
• Creation of Mobile Site

Off-page optimization promotes a website in the right ways to improve its reputation, so the ranking of the website rises. Off-page optimization refers to off-site factors that have an effect on a website that are not controlled by coding on the website. Some of the factors that deal with off-page SEO are:

• Search Engine Submission
• Directory Submission
• Social Networking
• Blog and Forum Posting
• Link Building
• Article Submission
• Press Release Promotion
• Document Sharing
• Questions and Answers Sites
• Business Reviews

Apart from these techniques there are two of the famous SEO Techniques also being used by many marketers. White Hat techniques that are recommended by the search engines and Black Hat techniques are not. White hat SEO is more popular technique than Black Hat as this strictly follows the search engine guidelines and also gives long term benefits. Whereas the black hat SEO exploits weaknesses of search engines to get more traffic for the website.
 

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

With the new-age demand of video content and not many competitors globally, Instagram has decided to compete with YouTube by launching its new venture IGTV. After launching the ‘Stories’ feature where users could upload short videos that last for 24 hours, the new IGTV allows its users to upload videos of length 1 hour.

During the launch of IGTV last week at San Francisco, the CEO of Facebook owned Instagram Kevin Systrom said, “It’s time when video uploading experience should move forward and evolve. IGTV is targeting video creators to upload long-form videos”. With this it is very clear that Instagram is planning  a head-on competition with YouTube. Recently Instagram reportedly crossed a billion users globally and IGTV has a good scope for content creators to reach a wide audience through it.

Accessibility

IGTV can be accessed from a button on the Instagram homepage and it also has a separate standalone application as well. On clicking the IGTV button on Instagram app or by visiting the dedicated application users get to see the popular videos across the network. As per the official blog posted by Instagram, IGTV will spotlight popular videos generally of Instagram celebrities, verified handles, and various other creators with large following.

Design and Model of IGTV

IGTV is believed to be a competitor for YouTube but it will be ad free. The design and model of IGTV is based on the understanding of user behavior that Instagram users would like to know content creators in a better way. Say for instance a user watches the story of a dish posted by a chef. With the Instagram stories feature, the user can see the short video of the dish being made, but with IGTV the user can see the entire cooking process and get to know all details. The model of IGTV is such that users get engaged to it completely and not opt out to its competitors for browsing videos.

What’s Special for Content Creators?

There are several mobile vloggers and content creators who use their smartphone to create engaging content and IGTV is apt for them. Currently IGTV supports videos that are shot in vertical format only. This can be beneficial for content creators using mobile, as many smartphone users have a tendency to shoot videos vertically. This can also be a demerit for certain creators mostly the ones migrating from YouTube, where the landscape mode videos are a trend. But then to adapt to a wider audience this can be worked out using several software as well. Within the IGTV app the users can browse wide range of longer-form videos by just a swipe.

Instagram has evolved considerably from what it was in the beginning, from initial days of uploading pictures with filters to Instagram stories and now to IGTV. With the growing social media generation across the globe losing interest in television, Instagram has an opportunity to become a mobile TV. It has all the potential to become a reliable place for users to watch engaging content on the go.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

When Facebook bought the photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 Billion, it left many curious as to why would it spent that kind of money on an app which was not performing well. But the answer is Facebook wanted to perform well in the world of mobile, and the key to this was acquisition of Instagram. Facebook was clear about its intent that it would let Instagram operate independently and not integrate it in to the parent app. However in the following years Instagram emerged as a possible competition to Facebook itself! 

Statistics of Usage:

The research firm emarketer observed that Facebook lost close to 2.8 million users aged under 25 year in the year 2017. This was the first time that the social media giant faced such a dip in users. Reports suggest that this decline is not expected to improve anytime soon as well. On the other hand Instagram has seen an upward trend. From 600 million users in 2016 it reached 800 million users in 2017. A lot of experts are even predicting that at this pace Instagram will overtake Facebook by 2020.

Mobile Friendly App:

Since Instagram is available in an app only format, it has taken mobile friendliness to a different level. Ease-of-use of the app is pretty much the reason why people are onboarding Instragram. It offers a great user experience and interface to its users.

Integration of Stories Feature

Though Snapchat was the pioneer in introducing the Stories feature, Instagram replicated it and used it in a successful manner. While Facebook also introduced Stories feature in its layout it was not successful in implementing it in the right manner. Interestingly Instagram was able to beat Snapchat in its own game.  

Integrating E-commerce

Facebook was the first social media platform which successfully integrated e-commerce in its platform and the massive user base worked in its favor. But as the advertiser content started to grow, users’ timelines became more of an advertorial section rather than updates from friends and family. Facebook then tweaked the algorithm to improve the quality of time a user spends on Facebook by restricting advertised content in the newsfeed of users thus limiting the reach of content. However Instagram seamlessly integrates e-commerce without affecting the user experience. The in-app payment feature is revolutionary and Instgram has mastered the art of selling online.

User Experience on Instagram

It has been observed that the community on Instagram is more sophisticated than on Facebook. While Facebook hasn’t been much successful in controlling online bullying and trolling, Instagram’s design and features have restricted certain elements from disrupting the its amazing vibe. The platform has more positivity compared to Facebook.

Verdict

So the final verdict is that Instagram has a better user experience than Facebook and appeals more to the younger generation. While Facebook gets a whopping 2.20 billion active monthly users, it is still too big for Instagram which is at 800 million monthly users to currently pose a threat. However the future of Instagram looks very bright.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

The traditional marketing funnel focused on methodically moving prospects from the awareness stage through consideration to the purchase stage. But for today’s digitally-oriented world, where customers are more knowledgeable, connected, and empowered than ever, the traditional funnel fails to serve modern-day business needs and has lost its relevance.

To adapt to the contemporary trends and overcome the issues with the traditional marketing funnel, the modern marketing funnel was introduced. With the introduction of this funnel, there was a paradigm shift in the way the entire process was viewed. Unlike the old-fashioned funnel that focused more on the point of purchase, its contemporary counterpart centered around the buyer’s journey, from start to end.

Let’s take a closer look at the different stages of the Modern Marketing Funnel by dividing it into three sections-

·         The Top Section

·         The Middle Section

·         The Bottom Section

The Top Section of Your Funnel

The top of the funnel represents the initial interaction stage. This is also where most of your qualified audience is. This stage of your funnel is important as this is where you need to build awareness among the audience about your products and services and/or the benefits of collaborating with you.

The main purpose of the top tunnel is to push prospects down the funnel into the ‘think’ stage, where the first intent of purchasing your product arises in the mind of the customer. Two major strategies that are used in this stage are online ads and social media.

The final result of this stage is brand recognition.

The Middle of the Funnel

In this section of the funnel, prospective leads advance from the first interaction towards a sale, or perhaps a successive sale, based on their knowledge of your brand so far.

After gaining awareness about your brand, prospects move to the consideration stage. This part of the funnel is a bit delicate as most of the customer research and discovery take place at this stage. When your target customers are in this part of the funnel, it is important to establish authority and drive them to your website.

Some of the best strategies for this section are SEO, Video marketing,             PPC search ads, and Email marketing.

The Bottom Section

This is the final stage of the customer journey and it also includes revenue-building and customer loyalty.  This is the part where prospects convert to clients. The biggest challenge that marketers face in this stage is producing content that actually prompts the prospect to make a purchase.

Once your prospects have converted, you can put your customers to work by making them brand advocates to spread the word across the different social media platforms.

Some successful strategies for this part of the funnel include SEO, pay-per-click ads, and email marketing.

The modern marketing funnel works aptly for the digitalized world. Knowing and understanding the different stages of the funnel will not only help you in putting your energy and focus at the right place but will also give you the most effective results.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

All branding and advertising in offline channels should be integrated with a company’s digital marketing strategy. Offline branding and advertising activities can be significant contributors to expanding reach for digital marketing channels. Companies often offer exclusive promotions and coupons to consumers in order to encourage use of the company’s website, social media channels, and mobile site and app. Traditional advertising, such as television, radio, and print ads can provide an effective means of driving consumers to the company’s online channels.

In addition to traditional advertising, many marketing activities are designed to create a direct link between offline and digital channels. A couple of such tools used for integrating offline branding with your mobile devices are discussed in this article.

Quick Response (QR) Code—A Quick Response code is a standardized code consisting of black and white squares, which can be read by mobile devices that have a QR code scanning app installed. The code typically stores a URL, and when one scans the code with the QR scanning app, the mobile device opens the website linked to the URL. A QR code can be printed on many kinds of offline materials, and individuals can scan the code and visit the associated URL. A benefit is that users are not required to type the web address to reach the website when using the code. Thus, QR codes offer convenience, bridging the online and offline marketing worlds, and can substantially increase the reach of companies as they can generate traffic to their websites from offline channels. Given that users are expected to take their mobile devices out, open the QR code scanning app, and then scan the code to reach the website, companies often offer incentives to customers to perform these steps. Thus, the benefit of scanning the QR code should be clearly mentioned in the offline channel, and the website that is linked to the QR code should be optimized for mobile devices. QR codes should also be tested appropriately before they are implemented in offline channels. The digital marketing team should ensure that popular QR code scanning apps are able to effectively scan the company’s code and bring up the relevant page. Also, individuals should be able to access the Internet in places where QR codes are displayed. For example, displaying QR codes in in-flight magazines may not receive a high response rate as few people use the Internet while flying.

Near Field Communication (NFC)—Near Field Communication is a set of standards for mobile devices, such as smartphones, that allows two endpoints, which are NFC enabled, to communicate directly over short distances (typically less than ten centimeters) using radio waves. NFC-enabled devices can be powered or unpowered in order for communication to take place. Unpowered devices are NFC chips, called tags, which can contain a variety of data, including website URLs. Powered devices include smartphones that have NFC technology enabled on them. Companies can use NFC for increasing reach by inserting NFC tags in a variety of offline marketing materials, such as posters, brochures, and mailers. Users who have NFC-enabled smartphones can tap a poster containing an NFC tag and be directed to a website which may have special offers. NFC can also be used for making contactless payments, so customers can both see an offer and pay for a product using NFC through an app. Thus, NFC, like QR codes, helps individuals who are offline link to a company’s website to get more information or to purchase products.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

A latest study says that bots may be behind most of the links shared on Twitter and not human users.

A research by Pew Research Center states that almost seventy five percent of the tweeted links to one of the most popular digital platforms could be automated bots and not actual human users. The study was conducted for 1 million tweets in English language where users shared links to 2315 websites.

It was found out that these bots tweeted links of pornographic content and websites 90% of the times. The bots are also effective in sharing news content. Pew research shortlisted 500 suspected bot accounts and found out that they were responsible for 21% of the tweeted links to trending news and current affairs. In comparision to this activity the top 500 human users only contributed a pale 6% of the links of these new outlets.  These tests were conducted over a period of six weeks.

 “The results illustrate the pervasive role that automated tools play in disseminating links to a wide range of prominent accounts on Twitter,” the Pew researchers said.

But it seems bots are not limited to trolls, spammers and fake accounts. Many organizations such as The New York Times and Netflix also operate bot accounts.  So it may not be a bad thing after all.

There have been reports which have suggested that bots can be used to populate social media with one sided biased content but Pew Researchers found no political links or bias with the links shared by these bots. It was split evenly between conservative and liberal content. 

 “Automated Twitter accounts actually share a higher proportion of links from sites that have ideologically mixed or centrist human audiences – at least within the realm of popular news and current events sites,” the report said.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

In this age of technology, startups have hugely benefitted from digital marketing. Owing to the low cost, it has emerged as one of the most important and preferred pillars of marketing. The results derived and return on investment (ROI) from digital marketing efforts can be seen in real time. In this article we discuss on how digital marketing can be harnessed for driving growth.

1.      Website should be mobile friendly

If startups don’t have a mobile app, then they should focus on creating a mobile friendly website. The most common mistake that startups make while designing the website is that they build a website which is not mobile optimized or mobile friendly. Stats today say that 80 percent of the traffic is driven through mobile. Hence a website which is not optimized for mobile viewing will see a greater number of dropouts.

2.      To be present where the audience is

Digital marketing requires a presence on relevant platforms. For a startup it is very important to understand where exactly its audience is. The startup should identify the right social media platform where most of its audience is concentrated. Audience can be spread on different platforms based on demographics and other parameters. Hence the startup should identify the right audience where it can focus more. At the same time the startup should also focus on maintaining its presence on all relevant platforms.

3.      Monitor Analytics

Analytics give a good insight into how existing promotions have been performing and hence give scope of improvement and improvisation for current marketing campaigns. Monitoring analytics will help in reducing cost per clicks (CPC) and cost per impressions (CPM). It also helps in improving content quality.

4.      Generate Leads from targeted platform

It’s advisable to generate leads from targeted platforms. A startup also has to ensure that they are not wasting on resources. For example if a startup is catering to young masses then it should focus on platforms like Facebook & Instagram, but if the target audience is professionals then LinkedIn is the right channel where leads can be generated.  

5.      Emphasis should be given to a website.

Website gives the first impression of an organization. Any prospective lead would first check the website before making any purchase. If the user interface and user experience are not attractive enough, then the user may not engage with the website. The website should give an idea about the business in first 30 seconds of browsing. Uncluttered websites with a good layout have more chances of a user completing a buy from it. The interface should be neat and professional and the load time should be fast. The organization should also make sure that it has a dedicated page for sharing contact information.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

What do I post on Facebook???  - It’s a question that small business owners often struggle to answer. Sharing links to some good articles and providing informative content is not enough to keep the audience engaged. And posting similar content time and again can hamper your reputation rather than building it.

If you too have gotten into the rut of mundane Facebook posting, here are some amazing ideas that will not only cement the relationship between you and your audience but will maximize your engagement. After all, that’s the reason we’re on Facebook, right? Let’s check it out -

Quote Images - It’s a tried and tested method that many marketers use and the simplest way to boost engagement. Quote images have the capacity to get shared and even go viral sometimes. A motivational or whimsical quote can stir up different emotions in viewers - emotions that they experience but often fail to express in words. So, make use of powerful quote images to entice the audience into hitting the like and share buttons.

Fill in the blank - There is something about these posts that people just love! Fill in the blanks have proven to receive more engagement than basic questions. Just rephrase what you want to ask in a fill in the blanks format and get ready to have responses poured in by your fans.

Ask For Advice - This is another great way to engage with your Facebook fans. Does your business need a new logo or you’re trying to decide on a title for your upcoming video? Just ask your fans. This idea is great in a number of ways. First, people love to give advice and opinions to help solve a problem. So you can expect a lot of engagement. Second, your fans will feel that they are a part of your business. This will help them relate to you more.

Run a poll - Yet another amazing idea to engage with your audience is running polls. You could gauge product interest, discover audience segments, get customer feedback, and even show fans how relatable you are. Polls are an easy and creative way to grab your fans’ attention. The best part is that you’ll be able to boost your overall engagement while encouraging your audience to vote for something they like.

Caption this - Post a funny picture and ask your fans to caption it. You’ll be amazed to see the response to your post. People love to show their creative side and sense of humor. It’s a widely known fact that photos capture more views on social media and if your photo has more people commenting on it, imagine the kind of engagement you’ll receive.

There are numerous ways you can connect with your audience on a deeper level. The above mentioned Facebook post ideas will give you a head start on how to do so. Go ahead and try these amazing concepts as there’s audience engagement - guaranteed!

As a marketer, it is necessary for you to stay fine-tuned about what’s going on in the world of social media marketing and what the latest social media updates are. The world’s most popularly used social media platforms keep updating their sites and introduce new and exciting features very often. If you stay informed and add these updates to your social media strategy, you have a better chance of getting more engagement and better profits.

So, here we go. Let’s take a look at some exciting updates by renowned social media giants.

Facebook’s collaborative stories for events and groups

We all know that following Snapchat’s lead, Facebook too included Stories as a feature back in 2017. But here’s what they have added to this feature that even Snapchat can’t match up to.

People using Facebook Groups or Events can now post stories that can be viewed by group members or members of an event page. Users can also contribute to that story but will be moderated by group admins. With the help of this feature, several people can collaboratively tell a Story as seen from different angles.

Instagram’s live broadcasting with a guest

With Instagram’s announcement of a collaborative broadcast, users are now able to stream live videos and add guests to their videos. The platform uses a split-screen format to display each user and the story appears in the feed of two follower-circles.

This is one feature that can boost engagement to the highest level, and if a lot of people view the story, you can secure a spot on Instagram’s Search and Explore tab.

Snapchat’s branded lenses

Incorporating the concept of Augmented Reality (AR) into its platform, Snapchat’s Lens Studio introduced a feature that allows users and businesses to generate their very own AR lenses.

This update by Snapchat gave users an easy and exciting way to engage and enjoy the augmented reality experience. For businesses, this feature can help create memorable experiences that can raise brand awareness and boost sales as well.

Twitter’s more personalized and creative direct messages

Twitter’s Direct Message Cards are like a marketer’s prayers answered. This feature can enable businesses to share engaging content in the form of images and videos and even add customized CTAs (call to action buttons) in to one personalized direct message.

The platform’s rationale behind this update was to give brands the flexibility to build rich and individualized interactions that could help them enhance their interactions with consumers.

LinkedIn’s native video

LinkedIn’s update for adding a native video feature to its timelines opened a door of opportunities for professionals across the globe. Following this feature, users can record or upload and share videos with the LinkedIn Community.

As the internet traffic for website content continues to grow, using LinkedIn’s native video features, users can gain a better understanding of their video audience. They can also screen comments and social reactions to realize what’s working for them and what’s not.

While most of these updates have been there for quite some time now, many marketers have still not incorporated them into their social media strategy. As the number of users on social media continues to grow, it is necessary that you keep pace to make every social media interaction with your company a notable one.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

It is a widely understood fact that branding is what characterizes your business and sets it apart from competitors. A brand is more than just a name or a fancy logo design. It is how customers perceive your business and its offerings, and how they interact with you.  Small and medium enterprises often fail to understand that branding cannot be ignored, no matter what your trade is or which industry it belongs to. If you fail to brand your business, it might eventually fade away.

If you’re a small business owner and are chalking out a branding strategy for your business, here are some avoidable mistakes you should steer clear of in order to present the best image to your clients-

Unclear Definitions

This is a very common mistake that small businesses tend to make. They fail to clearly define who they are and what they excel at doing. If you’re unable to express what you’re best at, your audience will desist from choosing your offerings. Your main objective should be to define yourself in simple words while stating how to stand out from others.

Inconsistency

Brand consistency has a remarkable influence on your business. Once you’ve made your brand identity, make sure you do not change it completely. Being consistent can help build brand awareness and credibility. Make sure that you are consistent with color, graphics, style, and language.

Ignoring Social Media

As a marketer, you should have no doubts about the reach and power of social media channels when it comes to brand building. In fact, marketers should understand that social media is vital to building a brand. You can use it to build brand awareness and increase exposure.

Poor Rebranding

At some point in time, you might feel the need to rebrand your business. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. But remember that any changes made to a recognized brand can affect the relationship built with customers, adversely. So, if you’re planning any changes, make sure that you educate your followers thoroughly about the alterations you’re about to bring to your brand.

Not Keeping Tab of Branding Efforts

Any process or strategy that you adopt to promote your brand needs to be tracked. Many businesses put in so much time, money, and effort into branding their business, but they forget to keep tabs on what’s working and what’s not. If you’re doing the same mistake, stop now! Start makings sheets, collecting data, make use of project tracking tools to know how well your branding strategies are working.

Branding is mandatory for small businesses to get recognized in today’s competitive market. If you understand how important your brand is to your success, avoid these mistakes to establish trust and build result-driven business connections.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

It is anticipated that by the year 2020, native advertising will fetch a whopping 74% of the total ad revenue earned. The reason is simple - brands are experiencing more brand lift and better engagement via this channel than others. As the percentage of mobile traffic continues to grow, it is likely that mobile native ads will invade the ad space entirely.

That being said, let’s take a look at the top trends that will dominate the future of mobile native advertising -

The Mobile-First Viewpoint

Mobile phones have dominated internet traffic, accounting for 59.9% of the total traffic generated in 2017. As a result, the percentage of mobile traffic is estimated to grow in 2018.

Also, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, are heavily dominated by mobile users and this clearly indicates why advertisers should switch to ad formats that fit better on these portable devices.

So, start strategizing with a mobile-first perspective!

The Dominance of Social Media

As social media continues to maintain its dominance over native advertising, Facebook will rule the social media space. The key factors behind Facebook’s hold over the social sphere are the size of its audience, the myriad ad formats it offers, and the vast network of its users.

Facebook’s ad revenue, coming from mobile ads, has increased by 3% in a year and this growth shows advertisers where their focus should be. Other platforms that have a significantly growing number of active monthly users are Instagram and Snapchat.

The Significance of Channel-specific Content

To become successful with native advertising, it is important for advertisers to understand the significance of channel-specific content.  Since different platforms have different needs and specifications, marketers are required to create content that complies with the channel’s provisions to engage better with its users.

For instance, the appropriate video length for Instagram is 30 seconds whereas, for Facebook and YouTube, video length may vary from 1 to 2 minutes.

These are the major trends that advertisers must look forward to in 2018. As mobile native ads continue to grow in prominence, marketers need to advertise with a mobile-first viewpoint while understanding the dominance of social media in this field and the significance of creating channel-specific content for better engagement.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles

The internet is full of educative and captivating sites where people can spend their time.  It also offers businesses various platforms where they can interact and connect with their customers. One such site that is continuously growing in all capacities is Quora - a Q&A website that is fueled by communities, and a platform that marketers can make the most of. From content ideation to establishing themselves as subject matter experts, there’s a lot that marketers can achieve through this amazing platform.

Here we’ve put together a few strategies that will help business owners make the most of this platform. Let’s take a look -

Track topics related to your niche

Quora offers marketers a fun way to do market research. You can find out what people want to know about your industry and get notifications about the same in your inbox. You can start following topics by simply typing it into Quora’s search box. Quora will also give you a list of autocomplete options as you type. Also, when you visit a topic page, you’ll find a list of associated topics to follow. Besides topics, you can follow other professionals from your niche and get notified as and when they answer any question.

Find the top questions to answer

Find questions that have a lot of upvotes. These are questions that have gained momentum on the platform and are viewed most by users. Answering questions is not only a great way to interact with the community and share your knowledge; it is also a great way to establish yourself as an expert on specific subjects.

Answer a question with authority

As you answer a question with authority, you are viewed as an expert and you also gain influence. This is one of the most immediate benefits of Quora that marketers can take advantage of. Good answers are a compilation of references, statistics, and sources. It is best if the answer is kept short and has links to external sources that provide detailed information about the topic.

Format your answers in an eye-catching manner

Even though Quora is not much of a visual network, it would be great if you could throw in some visuals in your content. Many users include images in their answers. This helps readers understand the answer better and is also a great way to grab the attention of your audience. After all, the human brain processes visual content faster than text. In addition to images, you can use custom formatting like bold, italics, bullet points, number lists, hyperlinks, and more to make your content look more organized and visually pleasing.

Quora is an outstanding and user-friendly platform that marketers can use effectively to promote their business. Adopt the above stated Quora Marketing Strategies for your business and let your profits soar.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

As businesses turn towards social media to up their game, social platforms also offer new and exciting features to brands to help them take full advantage of their social presence. Twitter, one among the leading social media giants, has introduced many additions to facilitate business and promotion.

While we are well aware of how popular Facebook and Instagram ads are, brands shouldn’t doubt the influence of Twitter ads. Twitter witnessed a 150% hike in engagement rates in 2016 and video ads are something that brands can leverage on. While there are many options for running ad campaigns, brands should consider the benefits of Twitter ads that can make them stand out.

Twitter Ads are precise

Twitter ads follow a certain level of precision and are subtle. Users can scroll through these ads and they naturally blend into the feed of appropriate followers. These ads are engaging and feed-friendly especially for users who like to scroll through their feed. These ads follow the prime objective of building brand awareness. Twitter exclaims that that 40% of users tend to buy a product within a month of viewing an ad in their feed.

Twitter Ads are economical

Twitter allows you choose exactly how much you wish to spend and what audience you would like to target. This helps brands to narrow down on prospects that are of greater importance to them and save some ad dollars in return. What more do brands need than getting a full control over their budget?

Twitter Ads can be tailored to your needs

Twitter ads can be customized to suit your needs. Right from sponsored content to endorsed videos, brands have the liberty to modify their campaigns and ads as per their needs and requirements.  Twitter states that their video ads are more memorable as compared to ads on other social media platforms.

Twitter offers various features for advertising and promoting your brand. So, if want to gain more followers on your Twitter account then give Twitter Advertising a try. It will help you raise the awareness of your brand and make a lasting impression on an appropriate audience.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Instagram Stories have the capability of driving a ton of engagement and value, whether the story is being shared from a personal profile or a brand account. Stories are all about documenting what you see, what you do, and where you go. Your memorable moments are fodder for Instagram stories that make seconds-long videos that stay for 24 hours and display what’s going on with you.

To create your own story, open the Instagram app, and tap the camera icon placed on the top left-hand side of your phone. You can share a photo or video from your gallery or click a new one instantly.  Here are a few different options Instagram offers that can help you make your brand story more engaging -

Live - You can start filming and broadcasting live by simply toggling your screen to the "Live" option. Just like Facebook Live, your followers can view you live and express their views as comments. When the broadcasting is done, you can decide whether to save it or let the video disappear. You also have the option to share your story for another 24 hours.

Normal - Just like the name suggests, the normal mode lets you capture and share an image or a video. To do that, tap the camera icon under this option to click a photo, or hold it down to record a video. The maximum length of your Instagram Story should be 15 seconds. So, if you want to share a video that doesn’t fit this 15-second cut, you can either record it in 15-second stints or split it into 15-second sections using any video splitting tool.

Boomerang - In boomerang mode, you can film three-second, looping GIFs. 

Superzoom - This awesome feature offers a video recording lens with which you can quickly zoom in on your subject. The video length is three seconds and the camera zooms in real close. The interesting part of this feature is that you can add a dramatic soundtrack to play alongside your video.

Rewind - This is another unique feature by Instagram that can help you make your content look more stylized and creative. With this lens, you can film a video footage in reverse.

Stop Motion - This creative option offered by Instagram helps you weave several still images into one continuous video. The cool stop-motion videos created as a result give the impression of a flip book.

Hands-Free - Before you use this feature, make sure you prop your phone in a steady position. Once you’re all set, call ‘action’ to start filming a video hands-free.

Use these features to tell your brand story to your audience. Before sharing, make your story all the more exciting with stickers, location, and hashtags. You can also use poll stickers - a very creative technique to interact with your followers. There’s a lot more that Instagram offers. So, keep clicking and see how you can leverage on the latest updates from the app to tell your story in the most unique way.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Infographics is an entertaining, educating, and an extremely useful tool that you can use in your content marketing strategy. It can be used to graphically or visually represent information, data, or knowledge that can be understood by the viewer quickly and clearly. The use of  infographics has had an increasing trend in the last decade as it is an effective way to spread your brand message in an innovative way.  But how do infographics help you achieve this? Let’s take a look -

Attractive and Compelling - People love facts, figures, and statistics, and they are attracted more towards images and graphics. Using colorful and eye-catching infographics is the best way to get your message to the audience. It is the secret ingredient of having addictive content.

Easy to View and Scan - 90% of the information our brain receives is through visual sources. Hence, making use of colorful infographics helps you tap into the optic nerve of your audience as you provide them content that is easy to scan, view, and understand.

Viral Nature - The fact that infographics are striking and can be shared easily on social networks makes it viral in nature. Inforgraphics are shared on social media sites more than ordinary text content. With infographics, just a click is enough to make your content go viral.

Brand Awareness - Infographics offer a great way to increase brand awareness amongst audiences. An infographic, with your logo and brand embedded on it, can be used as a powerful tool to generate greater brand awareness.

Get More Traffic - Infographics are linked to your website and hence, whenever people click and share them, it automatically drives traffic to your website. It is found from research that for businesses that use compelling infographics, traffic grows at an average rate of 12%.

Better SEO - Infographics are viral in nature and so more and more people will link to your site. As a result, your website will get indexed higher on Google’s page rank algorithm making your website better optimized for search engines.

Shows an Expert understanding of a Subject

Creating an infographic requires expert knowledge of the chosen topic. Use of correct information and data that is both relevant and trustworthy is important to connect with the audience and to show that you’re an expert in that field.  

Content marketing is not limited to blog posts anymore. Instead, it needs a diverse skillset to create content that can be used to build an audience. Infographics help enhance brand visibility and recognition within the content marketing strategy. Include this useful visual tool in your content marketing strategy and attract more audiences. 

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

If an attractive headline is what attracts people to click your links, then scannable content is what keeps them from getting bored easily. While readable content helps you keep your readers motivated throughout the entire post, making your content scannable simply means that you need to organize your content in an easy-to-read format no matter what its length is. Here’s how you can do it -

Sub-headings - Subheadings help you divide your content into smaller easy-to-read chunks. People on the web don’t usually have the patience to read an entire blog or article. Rather they prefer scanning through the important and noticeable parts. Putting sub-headers will guide your readers through your content and make the scanning process easier.

Use Shorter Paragraphs - Your paragraphs should consist of 2 to 3 sentences at most. Shorter paragraphs help readers to understand and digest information easily and inspire them to read on. Writing in short paragraphs also provides ample space and makes your content look less crammed. So, balance your post well with short paragraphs that keep your readers absorbed.

Bullet list - You can use bullet lists to make your content look more attractive and also provide your readers with a visual break. This feature comes in handy especially when you have loads of data to presents like statistics, examples, ideas, data, etc. Not only do these make your content look appealing, but they also help readers scan your content easily.

Visual Aids - Most people are visual learners. In fact, it is easier to explain your point with images as people tend to remember well when facts are presented visually. It is not only fun but also a great way to connect with the audience emotionally. However, make sure that the images you use are relevant and of high quality.

Highlight Key Points - You can use highlighting options to draw attention to certain key points in your content. Capitalizing words, using italics and underling, or even using pull quotes are some ways of doing this. Highlighting helps you convey the tone to your readers when you are trying to make a point.

Finally, take care of what font you are choosing as they affect the look of your post. The font, its size and color can greatly impact the readability of your content. The better looking your content is, the higher are the chances that your readers will spend more time on it. After all, the goal is to get your visitors to read your entire content and not just your heading.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Facebook recently announced that it will be making a significant algorithm change to its system in a while. This new algorithm will give more emphasis and views to posts by family and friends rather than other pages, videos, and groups. They are doing this to improve user experience and ensure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.

This new tweak will result in lower visibility to organic posts from pages, celebrity pages, and news organizations which means that users will see more posts of friends and relatives who they care about. Videos which are considered passive by Facebook would also be not featured on users’ timelines. This is the result of context collapse where users sharing updates about themselves has reduced significantly. If people stop uploading updates about themselves, then there is no data for advertisers that can be used. This will result in lower revenues for Facebook. Hence in order to encourage people to comment and upload updates, Facebook will now give more emphasis on news feed from friends and family.

This announcement and the tweak comes in the face of criticism coming from all quarters regarding reports of social media being the reason for depression and sense of  isolation among  people.  Facebook believes this tweak will make people more connected to their near and dear ones. "The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post Thursday. 

This move by Facebook, where it will highlight content that it deems as meaningful would greatly reduce Facebook’s role as a news source for many. However it will not affect advertisements, which will continue the same way as it used to. But businesses which were dependent on organic traffic will feel the pinch.

Facebook has often been ridiculed for being a platform where views of like-minded people are reinforced by similar posts from their friends.  Facebook believes this is very much similar to how people interact offline as well. Facebook in its defense has claimed that Facebook users are exposed to opinions from various sources and not limited to only one kind of opinion and voices.

Zuckerberg said that he has taken it as a challenge to fix Facebook.  "Facebook has a lot of work to do — whether it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent," he wrote. He said it is very difficult to ensure that the platform is safe from abuse and inline bullying, but Facebook is doing everything in its capacity in order to do so.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

The face of customer service has gone through a radical change over the last few years. Today, customers don’t want to wait in long queues and want their issues to be solved in seconds! They prefer customer service through online platforms over traditional methods.

As a brand in today’s age, you would definitely have an active social media presence to promote your offerings and entice customers to buy your products and/or service. So, why not take advantage of these platforms to provide customer service as well?

Twitter for Customer Service

Twitter is just 11 years into its existence. Is it capable of providing the best customer service? Let’s check out -

• Twitter data is a treasure house of valuable customer and marketing data. It can provide insights on trending products and services, customer opinions, customer likes and dislikes, and customer feedback; and also resolve critical issues.
• Using Twitter, you can effectively integrate social data into your existing CRM. 
• With an active Twitter account, you can respond to queries privately, through direct messages or publically, via tweets.
• Providing customer service through Twitter is way cheaper than providing it through a call center. You can economize on infrastructure, issue resolution, market research, and provide customer satisfaction easily with your Twitter profile.

How to use Twitter for Customer Service?

Now that you’ve understood the potential of Twitter for customer service, you can use it for your own business. However, with Twitter’s crowd and clutter rising day-by-day, it might be difficult to make yourself heard. So, here are a few ways you can use Twitter as a customer service tool, effectively -

• Be Proactive - Your Twitter handle isn’t enough for you to get noticed. Let your audience know how you can help them via your account. Provide links to your current 'Help' and ‘FAQs’ pages on your Twitter account to help customers understand that you are aware of the issues they face.
• Be Positive - See and learn from how leading brands handle different types of queries. Issues can take an ugly turn and create a bad brand image.
• Host Events - Keep your customer intrigued by organizing live events, chats, contests, giveaways, and more. Make sure to create a hashtag for your event, promote it on other platforms, tweet when users are most likely to be online, and display Twitter walls.
• Keep Tab of Mentions - Keep a track of what content from your website is being shared and the users who share it, to handle issues in a proactive manner and promote your brand effectively.

Twitter can help you create an instant impact and provide the best customer service. Once you’ve mastered this versatile platform, you can go ahead and try other social networks to see what suits your business the best.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

In the ever-growing digital marketing space, businesses must be aware of the various digital marketing channels that are best for them. In this article we bring to you the top three channels that are widely used by majority of sectors and businesses.

Before starting, one must understand the needs and wants of the business. Once you understand the requirement of the business, only then you can devise a marketing plan, and engage the required digital marketing channels. It saves time and resources.

1. Display Ads

This is one of the most widely used forms of digital marketing. Placing graphical ads on websites, videos, or e-mails is display advertisement. The ads can be in the form of images, text, animations, or videos. The content should preferably be interactive.

The placement of the ad should be smart and so should be the targeting. The success of the ad is taken into measure by calculating the number of clicks on the ad. The number of impressions made by the ad depends upon your set target and the budget. 

The ads can be targeted based on demographics, choices of the users, behavior, and other relevant parameters. By proper targeting the ad reaches the relevant people and generates better impressions.             

The performance of such ads can be monitored by tools such as Google Analytics. Even native analytic tools of certain digital marketing platforms provide an insight into the performance of the ad. With this, a user can monitor how the ad is performing and how it can be improved. Display ads not only promote but also increase the presence of the brand online. It also helps in driving new leads and sales.         
 

2.E-mail Marketing

E-mail Marketing is a great way to reach customers and improve relationship with them.  Email marketing is a tried and tested method of gaining new customers and creating brand awareness.

E-mail marketing is a great way for small companies who are on a limited marketing budget. The only challenge of this method is building a database which can be time consuming. However, if targeted properly, this method shows good results.

A marketer should use this method in a careful manner and not overdo it. People do not go through all their mails and by sending a lot of mails you may end up upsetting a possible customer. A marketer should avoid spamming a customer’s inbox.
 

3. Social Media Marketing

Social media has emerged as the most preferred channel of promotion for majority of marketers. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and blogging websites have taken the digital marketing space by storm. Social media platforms are not just a great platform to connect with people but also provide marketers an ocean of opportunities.

Marketers have realized the power of social media in brand building and engaging the customers in real time was never so easy. The power of engaging with the customers has resulted in greater brand awareness.

What works in favor of Social Media is:

1. Huge pool of possible customers.
2. Effective tools to target specific audience.
3. Not so expensive advertising fee.
4. Engagement with customers.
5. Transparency about the brand

These platforms also provide their own analytic reports where a marketer can monitor how their brand is performing. One should do a proper research about the possible platforms their company needs to market their brand in. Not all platforms will deliver the desired output. A marketer should also be acquainted with social media etiquettes for avoiding any social media gaffe.        
 

Conclusion

While all the above three channels are good in their own way, marketers should brainstorm and find the required platforms, as well as how their brands need to be positioned and marketed. If you jumpstart into digital marketing without a proper plan, it will cost both time and resources without delivering the proper results.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Every business owner wants to achieve their goal, take their business to the next level, and become successful. But the problem is that we’ve got only 24 hours in a day and handling marketing, advertising, promotions, business development, and customer service together often seems impossible. Wearing so many hats at the same time is difficult and the best way to overcome this limitation of time is by automating your marketing processes.

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to using software that automates certain repetitive marketing activities. By automating tasks like emails, social media activities, and other online actions, the business owner gets more time to focus on other important aspects of the business. With the help of marketing automation software, you can combine marketing campaigns across all channels, right from direct emails and phone calls to online, social, and mobile campaigns.

How does marketing automation benefit a business?

• Enhanced Efficiency - With marketing automation software an employee is as good as a department of fifty sales and marketing professionals. Marketing automation software enables you to set up lead nurturing and marketing campaigns that automatically get triggered when a certain condition is met.
• Increased Revenue - Automating your up-sells, cross-sells, and customer follow-ups will help you boost your customer lifetime value. And when you mix this with improved lead management, you are most likely to produce a better return on investment through your sales activity.
• Improved Accountability - Marketing automation clearly helps identify where the bottlenecks exist. With its well-defined processes and bird’s-eye reporting of all of the company’s activities, you can know where you excel and where you are lagging behind.
• More Creativity - When you free your employees from repetitive work by automating your tasks, you provide them more time to focus on the creative aspects of their job. This impacts employee productivity and proficiency positively and prevents wastage of valuable time on mundane repetitive work.

Now that you’ve understood how marketing automation can help you, choose the best tool to take your business to the next level.  With more and more businesses adopting automation, the sooner you adopt this measure, the longer you’ll stay in the game.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Facebook is not exactly a video sharing platform but current trends suggest how much emphasis Facebook gives for videos. Facebook has been rolling out features and tools to promote video sharing. Features such as auto play and the new feature where sound is on by default is a new addition to Facebook videos. Facebook announced, “We’re always working to make Facebook a better place to watch videos. That’s why videos now play with sound on automatically. Use the volume icon on any video to make the sound right for you.”

As people scroll down and see videos, they also expect to hear sound. It was initially tested with a limited set of users and after positive feedback they rolled it to all users. Another feature related to sound is the grow-in and fade-out feature of sound while scrolling.

In case someone doesn’t require sound to be played automatically, it can be turned off in Facebook App on both Android and iOS. One can change the auto play option in the settings panel and turn off the default sound option as well.

This decision by Facebook can propel it to become one of the major video sharing platforms by increasing views and encouraging content creators to make videos for Facebook.  However a point to note over here is advertisers would be cautious before flooding the videos with ad content because reports suggest that videos with sound are not the most popular formats around. Auto play sound feature can take the user off guard if the user is in public space. The user will quickly look for ways to disable the sound in such a scenario. 

Facebook is working on rolling out a user experience that will improve the watch quality and will make videos seamlessly transition while changing to full screen. Facebook is also trying out an enhanced progress bar for making the video viewing experience better. They are also testing the picture-in-picture feature which will allow users to minimize a video and continue browsing the news feed.

Facebook announced its entry to bigger screens with an app exclusive for Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. The video app allows a user to watch the shared videos based on the pages or friends you follow. Facebook announced it is working on allowing streaming of videos to a TV from any mobile or handheld device. 
 

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Facebook AI features are constantly being upgraded. However, starting from today, Facebook will use the Facial Recognition technology to find people in your photos even if you haven’t tagged them. However the user will have an option to add the tag or leave themselves untagged. They can also report the photo if they find it inappropriate. This will work in all countries except EU and Canada where Facial Recognition laws are restricted. Facebook believes that this feature will empower a user to control their image online.

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence in the form of Facial Recognition is something Digital Marketers have always dreamed off. Approximately 300 million images are uploaded every single day. Facebook has billions of images of not just users but also thousands of brands in their database. If Artificial Intelligence automatically hashtags brands, marketers will be able to more accurately conduct sentiment analysis by taking into account the reactions, feedback, suggestions, and comments.

Armed with this new tool by Facebook, digital marketers can now not only target demographics, but also understand how their target customers spend time and interact with the brand, which can give good insights into the customers’ lifestyle. These features will allow marketers to track current trends and understand the various ways how their products are being used.

The downside is that not everyone likes their pictures to be tagged and this could also infringe user’s privacy. Facebook has equipped users with Privacy settings and users could activate or deactivate the setting as and when required.

This feature that will be rolled out today will give Facebook a picture of how users react to the new feature. So far Twitterati have reacted strongly to this by branding it creepy. At the moment all Facebook users have been signed up for this by default. However if the user doesn’t want to get automatically recognized they can opt out of this.

Here is how you can opt out if you don’t want to be tagged automatically:

• On the top right of Facebook’s homepage click the gear icon.
• Next from the menu, select Privacy Settings.
• On the left side of the page you will see the option to select Timeline and Tagging.
• You will see questions: Who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded? If you want to opt out, then select No One. By doing this you will have the right to tag your own pictures.

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

With the potential of bringing elements of the virtual world into real life, augmented reality is enhancing our perspective - the way we see, hear and feel everything around us. Virtual reality and augmented reality have taken the world of digital marketing by a whirlwind and have become the central focus of mobile innovation. And, the introduction of ARcore by Google and ARkit by Apple has enabled businesses, both big and small, to create powerful and interactive augmented reality based applications.

Here’s a peek into how augmented reality is going to help businesses in providing a better brand experience to customers -

Breaking through the concept of boxed interfaces

People have now adapted to viewing content in boxed spaces such as mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. This limits the content area that can be seen. Augmented reality provides a way more interactive content space that is both appealing and engaging. You can use the entire space around you for holding content, thus providing a fresh new experience for the audience.

An interactive approach to marketing

Augmented Reality provides an out-of-the-box functionality to deliver great customer experience and stand out from the crowd. Customers are already encumbered with different types of content; hence marketing product in the manner similar to all the others has zero effectiveness. With augmented reality, marketed can use innovative ways to market themselves and interact better with their customers.

Reinventing E-commerce

Augmented reality has changed the face of e-commerce. It has made shopping easy by combining the ease of purchasing online with the dependability of buying from a brick-and-mortar store. Businesses like IKEA and Houzz have used augmented reality to help prospective buyers visualize how a piece of furniture would look inside their home. This not only provides enhanced brand experience but also helps customers make better purchase decisions.

Augmented reality has the potential to involve far more than what’s mentioned above. From powering utility apps to empowering the gaming industry, it has much to offer. With such great potential, it is a definitely a trend that marketers should get a good grasp of and include in their marketing strategy.
 

For more interesting articles log on to SMstudy.com/articles
 

Creating a Facebook page can be easy, but gaining followers and keeping them engaged is a different ball game! Users engage with content that adds value to their lives - content that makes them wonder, provides some amusement, helps them relate to something, and assists them in connecting with others. 

The basis on which all engaging content is created is the ability to attract and hold the attention of viewers. Here are different content types that help drive engagement on Facebook -

Entertaining Content - It is not necessary for brands to always maintain a serious and professional demeanor on Facebook. They can publish content that entertains and amuses their customers, as long as it is true to their core. Famous brands like Pringles ad Oreo have received plenty of accolades for their innovative and rib-tickling content.

Informative Content - Another way of enticing audiences is to provide information and educate them. By providing the audience with interesting facts and data about a particular theme, they will eventually engage and try to learn more about the subject. One of the best examples of this content type would be Starbucks, which provides people with tips to help them use their products.

Relatable Content - As a general principle, people are more likely to like and share content that they can relate to. This type of content tends to evoke feelings of nostalgia in the viewer and they connect emotionally. Nowadays, leading brands are creating memes on different life situations that the audience can connect and relate to.

Trending Content - Trends refer to the most talked about topic of a specific time period. When a subject is trending, posts related to that subject are likely to get more traction than regular content. Brands can use trending hashtags, hard-hitting news headlines, and other talked about topics on social media to their advantage.

User-Generated Content - This is the most interesting content type and guarantees maximum engagement. Here, brands share something posted by users and leverage on content created by the customers of the brand. An example would be the campaign by Lay’s, wherein the popular potato chips brand encouraged consumers to share their own Lay’s moment on their Facebook page.

Adding value to content is more important than ever. If you want users to engage with your brand, create content that provides them with the value they looking for.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

A world without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat would become so dab and meaningless to some. We are surrounded by digital social media networking platforms and life without them seems difficult now. The advent of such platforms led to a major shift in the marketing space and a whole new area in digital marketing cropped up. Today digital marketing has taken a lead role in defining the marketing strategy of a company. Facebook which was initially conceptualized as a medium to stay connected to friends and family has become a huge marketplace where marketers market their products and services.

In this article we will discuss how Social Media evolved from a marketer’s perspective.

1. Automating Chat through CHATBOTS

In 2016 Mark Zuckerberg announced that third parties can create automated personal chatbots, and it was accepted with aplomb by all marketers. Chatbots provided the option to automate and assist in data retrieval. The real-time engagement made possible by these chatbots takes off some amount of pressure from the shoulders of customer service agents. Prompt replies to comments and queries improve the user experience. This experience allows users to get a response from the organization and helps marketers to collate data for future analysis. The downside is that chatbots need to be given clear direction and purpose and only then will it be able to deliver. However Facebook released a report which showed that 70 percent of the chatbots failed to respond. This puts a question mark on the convenience and reliability of chatbots. It needs to be seen whether chatbots can be used effectively or if it fades away without much noise.

2. Leveraging Influencer Marketing

Gains on social media can be made through influencer marketing. Social media influencers play a big role in marketing a product or service. On social media, numbers really matter, and the best way to drive in the numbers is through influencer marketing. Reports from Twitter suggest that 49 percent of users rely on recommendations by influencers. Around 40 percent follow news updates from such profiles. A lot of people actually decide what they wear, eat, and drink based on suggestions made by influencers on Instagram! These influencers command a high trust value among users, and brands work with influencers who have a high engagement rate. This association brings in numbers.

3. Using Live Video Streaming

Live Videos are spontaneous, engaging and come with an element of surprise which hooks the audience. There is no rule which explains the virality of content and hence this makes the platform a level field for content creators. Live Videos give ample number of opportunities to brands for brand placement and such videos not only give a sneak peek but also create the required hype to keep users hooked onto the brand.

4. Giving Emphasis to user-generated content

Reports from Nielsen suggest that 83 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. A whopping 66 percent trust the reviews and recommendation of reviews posted online. Among the volume of content that is shared on an everyday basis, it becomes a difficult choice for consumers to pick something. Hence they prefer to follow user recommendations and follow the ones suggested by their friends and family. Marketers now use various ways to feature user generated reviews alongside their products in a subtle manner and convey how good their products are. They use existing customers, who could be part of our friends and family group, to be the brand ambassador of the product. This is a very cost effective medium as well.

5. Revolution brought by the Smartphone

Smartphones have brought a change like no other. As smartphones evolve, they also push marketers to introduce concepts that make their products relevant and up to date with current trends. Video content is highly watched and most of the video content is being viewed on mobile devices. This makes not just video content, but content discovery on mobile devices, and optimization for mobile viewing also very important. 

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

After the latest iPhone X hitting the market, Face ID technology is the latest buzz in the market. According to Apple, iPhone X has the most sensitive camera with sensors that detect unique facial structures of users to unlock the device. The previous generation iPhones have thumbprints for unlocking the phone securely, but with Facial Recognition technology Apple has taken a bold step towards innovation and new technology.

The Face ID technology has some really interesting functions as well. The animojis in iPhone X replaced traditional emojis by animating them and reflecting the user’s facial expressions. The accuracy that these animojis have of the user’s expressions is commendable. And that marks the beginning of augmented reality in applications that uses facial expressions of the user.

Face ID technology is not something very new in the marketing world. Many brands have already attempted it in limited functions. In 2012, a children’s charity program called Plan UK used facial recognition posters that could say if you are a male or a female and later on create the poster accordingly. If any woman looked into it at Oxford Street, London, she would see Plan UK’s 40-second video clip covering all its activities. On the other hand, if a man comes in front of the poster it just drops a message asking them to visit the website. The purpose was to make men feel ‘excluded’!

Also, Virgin mobile had introduced a very short communicative ad back in 2013 that asked users to blink eyes so as to ‘click’ and proceed with the story, just like turning pages in a book. It also used to change the story based on the eye movement of the users.

There are few basic differences between the facial recognition attempts made in past and the ones being done in the recent times. Firstly, the Face ID technology has got much more sophisticated in terms of catching detailed expression on a user’s face. Secondly, the technology has now come into the hands of the users in form of mobile phones, unlike previously, when it was used in form of billboards or specific designated places only.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

It is a known fact that video marketing has changed the face of content marketing. Thanks to its viral nature and ease of access, video marketing stands out as a smart way to entice the audience, build brand value, and boost business. Despite the innumerable benefits, many marketers are still reluctant to try their hand at utilizing this channel. They are misguided by various myths surrounding the concept and fail to add it to their marketing strategy.

So, here we’ve listed some myths associated with video marketing that you should dispel to realize the full potential of this amazing marketing channel -    

Video marketing is expensive

When it comes to making a video for their brand, most marketers imagine a fully equipped movie set, with lights, cameras, and all the vital accessories. But that is not how it is. The basic idea behind a marketing video is to harness the sentimental value of the video to deliver a message that really stands out. And this can be done in a number of ways.

Nowadays, creating a video is a lot easier than it used to be. Your smartphone can do the trick as long as your content is genuine. Audiences give priority to authenticity rather than quality. So, don't stress about having a limited budget if you have something valuable to convey.

Tracking ROI on videos is difficult

It is difficult to track ROI on videos unless you’re using the right tool. Most marketers fail to measure a video’s impact as they are limited by the tools they use. What they need to do instead is measure their videos just like they measure their website.

There are various video enablement platforms that provide a full picture of how well the video is doing, similar to the information that analytics tools provide for a website. Videos have features that make them extremely trackable, provided you use the right platform.

Understanding when and where to use video is challenging

Video marketing without a clear plan can be challenging, which is why you need to develop a video marketing strategy. Videos have numerous applications which can be realized as soon as you accept the fact that they can be created in-house and within a defined budget.

Once you’re all geared up to enter the field of video marketing, put down your strategy in writing, and discuss and get approval from company stakeholders. Define your goals and set clear guideline for everyone involved to make the entire process a piece of cake.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

So, you’ve written an excellent blog, and it has all the essential elements of a great blog post - a captivating headline, an attention-grabbing lead paragraph, appealing supporting points, and a very persuasive call-to-action. But your blog still fails to get the traffic it deserves. Why?

The online marketplace is crowded with competing messages from millions of companies striving hard to capture audiences’ attention and drive more and more traffic to their website. In such a competitive scenario, it is not easy to get the attention that you wanted to achieve with your compelling content. However, there are some tips and tricks that you can follow to get some spotlight, entice new readers to visit your blog, and ultimately, drive traffic to your website.

Guest blogging

Guest blogging can be used as a tool to drive traffic to your website from other blogs. It is a tried-and-tested recipe for generating traffic and growing your blog network with the other individuals interested or working in your niche. The trick is to find the top trending blogs that accept guest posts and then contribute quality content.  Guest blogging helps in getting huge web traffic and also helps you in establishing a strong relationship with professional bloggers. 

Writing about others

Analyze someone from your niche or individuals doing something extremely well. Do a teardown of their work or the methods they employ; or write a case study. If you’re writing about a particular topic, just cite some motivating thought or any out-of-the-ordinary practice that you’ve come across or have seen people applying. Then forward this link to interested individuals, and ask them to reshare.

Be active on forums

Participating in niche forums and providing solutions to problems posted by others is a great way of grabbing the attention of members of the forum. If your answers are compelling enough to create a buzz, other members would want to know more about you. So, they’ll look you up and also visit your blog by clicking on the link you’ve given in your profile. However, this strategy works well in the long run, as long as you apply it consistently.

Encourage your readers to share

If you offer thought-provoking content to your readers, they’ll definitely be willing to share it. At this point, your job is to make it easy for your audience to share your posts. Employ easy-to-use social share plugins that allow integration of share buttons on your website effortlessly and swiftly.

The above-mention off-site SEO practices can help in ranking your site at top results, reach a larger audience, and connect with bloggers and influencers. There are more methods that you can adopt. So, think beyond what’s convenient and consider techniques that yield success without much effort.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

Facebook recently announced sweeping changes to its business page, to help brands interact with customers and boost their after-sale activities. Since 2015, Facebook has declared various updates, all with the aim of turning its business pages from being just a promotional tool to a full-service customer hub. As marketers, it important to stay updated with these changes as they could drastically affect your social media marketing strategy.  

The first reform in the Facebook business pages came about in the year 2015 with the call to action button. This button was strategically placed within a page's cover image and enabled customers to get in touch with the business easily. Next, Facebook targeted the direct messaging system for brands. By tracking the response rates of businesses, Facebook awarded badges to brands that responded to inquiries quickly. This new system encouraged future customers to contact with the brand through direct messaging.

Facebook further upgraded this feature by allowing brands to set their own average time for responding to customer queries, enabling customers to get an idea of how much they would have to wait to hear back from the brand. Businesses were also provided the ability to set away messages for instances when they could not respond straight away. Following this came more advanced updates showing Facebook’s determination to turn its marketing and promotional tool into a progressive digital customer service hub.

Another significant upgrade by Facebook was the remodeling of the email-like inbox used by marketers to see and respond to the direct messages sent by customers. The new inbox provided businesses a reverse-chronological feed of all the other times when the customer has interacted with the page including comments and private messages. They could also view the information available publically on that client’s Facebook profile.

Statistics reveal clearly that as mobile usage continues to grow, more and more people avail social media presence of a business to interact and engage in customer service. However, emails and phone calls still remain the most preferred channel by customers only due to the fact that customers are not fully content with the kind of service they receive on social media.  Responding to customer queries and complaints is important to save the brand from being put in a bad light. And Facebook, with its updates, is assisting marketers in doing so.
 

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

Visual search is the new trend this year. Pinterest was the first platform to come up with a visual search feature called Lens. This was followed by Amazon’s Spark to promote product search by allowing prime users to have a tailored feed of products worth buying.

The new entrant in visual search is eBay which normally doesn’t make it into news like Amazon, but this time they surely have tried their best to give its users a great shopping experience. Towards October end this year, eBay rolled out its new image-recognition feature for mobile apps allowing shoppers to use pictures instead of words while looking for products.

EBay uses convolutional neural network technology which processes images once they are uploaded to find products searched by users on its website. Deep learning and computer vision are the other two advanced elements of artificial intelligence responsible for this improved buying experience.

The technology used by the image search feature gives a complete representation of the image being searched and thus it enables the system to compare it with similar products listed on the site. The outcome being that items ranked in terms of visual similarity appear on the results page. This is possible due to eBay’s Kubernetes platform which enables giving quick search results.

With the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence, visual search lets mobile users find the products they love real quick, which enhances the overall shopping experience.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

Image Source: eBay

The Facebook Network with almost 2 billion users is a huge potential for companies to build a brand presence, attract, and engage with customers. The reason why a brand should have a page on Facebook is strategic and very different from a general profile page.  This article provides you some useful insights on how to make the most out of your Facebook Page.

The business page should be up to date

One may think that people don’t check out the details or the description shared by the company but a lot of people following or visiting your page would look at the ‘About’ section to know more about the company. By providing important details and the right keywords, people will be assured that they have landed on the right page. This also gives the page a more professional look. The description should be complete with location, business hours, contact information, and other details. The profile picture should be the updated logo of the company. If your page is eligible for a blue tick which means ‘Verified Page’, it adds credibility for your page. 

The content should be captivating enough to attract users

A page should have content that is captivating or attractive enough to make a user like the page. Facebook has altered the way businesses are able to reach their followers. The new ‘News Feed’ algorithm has changed the way notifications are shown to a Facebook user. The organic reach of pages have gone down, hence using the right keywords can make your post reach the right set of people. Also using contests and giveaways can be effective tools in engaging the audience.

Facebook live videos can also be effectively incorporated in the marketing strategy to boost the page appeal. Facebook live videos provide a great opportunity for sneak peeks, pre-event updates, product launches, and more.

Facebook ‘Shop Now’ button

Your Facebook page allows you to set Call-To-Action buttons on your page. One of the options available is “Shop Now”. By making this option open for the users, brands can see conversion coming from their marketing activities on Facebook. This button can give easy access to users to shop quickly.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

You might be pretty active on twitter - retweeting few times a week or even engaging with followers on a daily basis. But when it comes to marketing your business on any digital platform, it is important that you stay on top. Twitter is a powerful social media tool that can be used to boost engagement. So, if you are active on this popular 280-character social media site but have not yet used its inbuilt features to build your engagement and link clicks, then get ready to change your marketing game on Twitter with these simple hacks -

Create your own Twitter moment

In response to Instagram and Snapchat stories, Twitter gave its audience a content curation tool to share a collection of tweets in a dynamic way. This unique method of story-telling can be used by businesses to promote their brand and collect content generated by users. Create your very own Twitter moment, and introduce a new product or market an existing one in a brand new way.

Use Twitter’s inbuilt analytics tool

Twitter has its own analytics tool that is free and all-inclusive. It provides a wide range of data and statistics related to your Twitter account and gives you information related to your followers, activity, and more. By keeping a tab on this data, you can identify content that resonates with your followers and tweet content that appeals to your audience. You can also increase the number of retweets, clicks, and comments by posting when your target audience is most active.

Make use of Twitter polls to gain traction

One of the best and easy-to-use features on Twitter is Twitter Polls. The greatest benefit of this attribute is its ease of use - all a poll does is ask for a click. Users do not have to complete pages of questions or visit an external website. Also, you get the results immediately, which you can retweet to your followers.  You can use this awesome feature to leverage a Twitter trend and put your brand in front of an active audience.

Use Twitter’s advanced search feature

Twitter’s advanced search operator allows you to include and exclude key information so that your search results are more relevant and valuable. With this feature, you can drill down your searches to analyze your market, track positive and negative sentiments, and even enhance your geo-targeting based on the number of tweets in a particular location.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

Facebook rolled out its brand new video platform, ‘Watch’ to select users. Watch will showcase original programs supported by Facebook and also videos from original or independent film creators. The videos will be featured in a section that will be personalized based on the user’s preferences. The new tab will be available on Facebook Apps for iOS, Android, web, and television.

Currently the shows on air include NAS Daily where the creator posts daily VLOGs for a global audience. It also features shows from Gabby Bernstein & Kitchen Little. Facebook has also reached an understanding with Major League Baseball to stream one live game every week.

If all goes well, this could be a game changer for Facebook in terms of generating revenue. Facebook has created an Audience Network where content creators can generate revenue through ads.

Here is the video where Facebook introduced 'WATCH'

Till now the video tab was a jumbled up list of videos from content creators that you follow.  Watch will put more structure in how videos are shown to a user. The new categories will include “what friends are watching”, “what’s making people laugh” and “most talked about”. Watch also has a category for videos which are longer than 10 minutes. You can create a watch list where you can add videos that you wish to watch later.

Facebook is betting on the communal viewing aspect of Watch. It believes Watch is different from other services because it enables you and your friends to discover content and watch together. Videos are a great means to connect and bring the community together. Facebook is stressing on the point that this new feature is organized around “friends and communities”.

Currently the Watch feature has been rolled out to only a few content creators and will be rolled out globally in a short while. Currently there are dozens of shows to watch but once it’s open globally, the space is going to explode and it will have thousands of creators contributing content.

This brings us to the important question of whether Facebook will succeed with Watch? It’s too early to underestimate Facebook. While Netflix, Amazon, HULU & YouTube have gained a lot of space in video content, Facebook has a lot to catch up. But given the fact that it’s a 2 billion strong community, it won’t be very difficult for the cash rich Facebook to make Watch a success. It also has the backing of big publishers and media houses. Also, Facebook has a great product team which iteratively works on the features to increase their addictiveness.

It’s too early to bet big on Facebook or to completely underestimate its potential. Watch is a new feature that could evolve into a great asset and mark Facebook’s entry into video content.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

One of the best networks to include in your social media marketing strategy is Instagram. You can use this platform effectively for promoting your brand and enhance visibility. Instagram allows you to curate images and video to craft a visually enriching experience for anyone viewing your Instagram profile. But similar to using any social media platform for marketing products, creating genuine content that grows organically requires marketers to follow specific guidelines. 

When it comes to marketing your products on Instagram, here are some mistakes that you should avoid making - 

No link in Post

Of the many mistakes you can make as a marketer, this is probably the biggest error. Instagram provides its users space in the bio where they can insert a hyperlink. People can click on this link to reach your website. So use this space and provide a link to your business page or else a particular product page. Remember, the easier you make it for your audience to find you on the web, the more traffic you will get.

Inaccurate description

A profile with a missing description will make you look unprofessional. Your bio should include a proper description about you and your business. However, make sure that it is eye-catchy and interesting and does not focus only on you or your products. To make your bio description look classy, you can provide a very brief description of what you do or describe the philosophy or mission behind your products.  

Photos with poor resolution

Instagram is all about visuals. Hence, the higher the resolution of your images, the more attractive your page will be. Take full advantage of this creative platform and no matter how big or small your business is, use images with high resolution to create visually pleasing content. It is ideal to make the resolution of the image twice the recommended size so that it looks great, even when it is compressed.

Monotonous Posts

A lot of marketers make the mistake of posting similar looking photos. On Instagram, it is important to consider your entire feed rather than focusing on individual posts. You need to keep posting interesting and engaging content so that your followers don’t get bored. Take pictures of your products with different backgrounds to add colors to your feed. Add lifestyle shots and other content that is appropriate for your audience.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

Watching videos on Internet has become synonymous with YouTube. As a video sharing platform, YouTube is  mammoth in terms of video content that is shared globally every single second. While till date, YouTube was not challenged much, its rival, the social network behemoth Facebook has given high priority to video content and though still in early stages is shaping up to be a favorite for video content creators.

Why Facebook?

Facebook without any doubt is the largest social media platform today. It has a very powerful native tool in the form of News Feed. While music creators, artists, content creators exclusively released their video on YouTube till recently, they have now also started to upload their video content on Facebook.

The Facebook algorithm also favors natively uploaded video content. Facebook’s News Feed feature has disrupted the way in which video content is shared. The News Feed feature allows Facebook to decide on what content is shown on your timeline, instead of you searching for content. This gives a new meaning to marketers where a user enters the realm of Facebook with an open mind to absorb any type of video content rather than searching for a specific artist or content. The autoplay feature also helps in boosting the views of the video. Facebook thus can also engage a lot of users from the not-so-actively engaged audience.

Why YouTube?

YouTube is a very different platform compared to Facebook. The content id and monetization method is very advanced. Although Facebook manages to engage a lot of non-active users, YouTube is a hub for engaged users who if subscribed to the channel make it a very powerful and loyal audience base.

YouTube’s suggested videos which pop  up as suggestions have been a boon to new content creators as it drives a lot of traffic. If videos are tagged correctly, then YouTube gives the highest form of traffic. Collaboration videos on YouTube generate massive traffic through crossover audiences. Here YouTube clearly has an edge over Facebook. On YouTube a user searches for content with a fixed idea and is suggested related videos from other channels.

So which one to choose?

Deciding which platform to opt for depends on certain goals of the content creator:

1. If you are starting from scratch then Facebook is a good platform for engaging new users. It is also great because it offers paid promotion capabilities.
2. If you are collaborating with an established YouTube artist then YouTube is a great platform since a lot of traffic will flow to your channel when people search for the artist.
3. While Facebook will get the views pretty quickly, the engagement may not be as great as YouTube. YouTube will build up slowly, but creates a loyal and engaged audience.
4. If only gaining audience is the goal then Facebook is the perfect choice. However considering ads and monetization availability for video content on Facebook is still in development stage, YouTube offers an established platform for monetization of videos and generating revenue from ads.

So we can conclude that the choice of the platform depends on the end goal of the content creator. The creator has to analyze the short term and long term goals before opting for one platform. But a good advice would be to engage both the platforms for maximum audience.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

Understanding audience behavior is important for any business. Getting a clear idea of how consumers react and behave can help you improve your practices and boost customer retention. With readily available technologies, nowadays it is easier to analyze audience behavior and understand how and why they are interacting with your brand. Having gained the right insights, you can anticipate customer needs and amend your strategies accordingly.

Google Analytics is one of the best tools available that can be used effectively to understand web users. It helps in tracking an incredible diversity of data such as how visitors reached your site, how much time they spent on the site, what kind of content kept them intrigued, and more. By keeping track of such data, you can gain meaningful insight to rework your brand and marketing strategy.

Google Analytics can help you keep a track of numerous data, all of which may or may not be significant for your website. But here are a few ways in which Google analytics can help in boosting your business effectively.

Bounce Rate - This is one of the most significant pieces of data measured by Google Analytics. The bounce rate for your website indicates what percentage of viewers navigated away from your website after viewing only one page. Bounce rate gives you an idea of how engaging your website is. A higher bounce rate means that you need to optimize your website with more engaging content that keeps customers interested and involved.

Potential New Markets - Google Analytics helps you understand what activities your audience gets involved in on your website. By tracking the geographical breakdown of these activities, you can identify new potential markets where you can expand your business.

Popular Content - Another data that analytics tools help you in understanding is what pages of your website have good traffic and conversion rate. With this, you can gain insight into what content is resonating and create more of it to drive more traffic to all your pages.

Source of Traffic - The source of the traffic can provide huge insights into future online marketing. It helps in understanding what ad buys are driving the audience to the website, whether investments made in social media are paying off, and whether organic efforts such as blogs are working.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

On Facebook Pages or threads there are three kinds of traffic. One is organic traffic, second is inorganic traffic, and third is viral traffic. The quality and genre of content play a major role in creating traffic. Facebook encourages content creators to develop quality content that can drive high traffic to their pages. However the Facebook algorithm restricts the view of content to a certain set of people.

Inorganic traffic is traffic that is generated through paid promotion. Facebook Adverts highlight your content to a targeted audience of your choosing. The targeted audience are those who are likely to react to your post and in turn likely to generate sales for you. Facebook adverts are a relatively cost effective way to boost your reach. But Facebook boosting should be done in a smart way where the marketer should precisely define the target audience. The flip side is that you will end up spending for an audience that doesn’t connect to your product or service. The “reach” that you will see will be the number of views that your post received after Facebook promoted the post on your target audiences’ timeline. 

Organic traffic is generated when Facebook decides to show your content on your audience’s timeline. The algorithm of Facebook is such that say if you have 30,000 followers then not all 30,000 will be shown the content on their timelines but only a fraction of the original number can see the post. Organic traffic also includes instances when people search for the page and check the post. Organic traffic is customized for each user by Facebook and depends on content that you have viewed in the past. The Facebook algorithm works in such a way that the organic traffic that you receive is based on your previous clicks and activities on Facebook.

Viral, however, is a term that is used when the post appears on a user’s timeline because a friend or a page other than the source page has shared the content. When content is shared, based on the quality of content, it may be shared by users and the reach can improve significantly. This sort of content in popular terms is known as viral content.  So content that is displayed on your newsfeed is generally organic but if it comes to your timeline because it was shared multiple times by others then it can be termed as viral content.

What does this mean for your business? It has been observed that posts that are shared more reach more people. Such posts not only bring lot of new visitors to your page and website but also convert into sales. So marketers should focus on creating quality content that would be shared, so as to optimize for reach, and in the long term conversions as well.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

Twitter recently announced that they will be expanding the character limit from 140 characters to 280 characters. Now this is a big move by the social media giant considering the 140 character limit that millions of Twitter users got used to. Currently this feature is made available to a few selected Twitter users. Twitter will be testing the new framework before it does a broad roll out of the new character limit.

Most Twitterati reacted furiously to this move, some welcomed it, and some denounced the idea. Twitter has introduced this new limit in order to attract new members who they believe will join Twitter once the 140 character restriction is taken off. However there are several marketers who have not liked the idea because while they have spent years to perfect the art of writing an effective message in 140 characters, they believe the 280 character limit will take away the sheen from Twitter. There are many brands for example JetBlue, Wendy’s, and others who have created massive engagement through rigorous ways of creating and publishing effective messages in 140 characters.

The longer tweets will bring new users to the platform, but the worry is that the feature won’t cater to Twitter’s power users which include news organizations, journalists, politicians, and experts that brands specifically target on the platform. The longer tweets are also difficult to pop up organically in the newsfeed which will result in less organic reach.

Longer tweets will also mean less tweets that contradict Twitter’s goals. For marketers it will not be of much use because Twitter is extensively used as a live event tool and the short message format was effective rather than the proposed passage format.

The new format will currently be accessible to a few only and the impact this change causes will reach us as more people start using it. Till then marketers should brace themselves as to how they can use the new Twitter Format.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

Facebook is a community that has almost 2 billion visitors every month. Marketers have understood this and have utilized the platform for their brand promotion and marketing activities. The most popular medium on Facebook to promote a brand is through Facebook Pages. Though starting a Facebook Page is easy and anyone can do it, creating a page which has high level of engagement is difficult.

A Page needs a comprehensive strategy for generating likes, engagement, and generating leads. So here is a list of tips that you can use to increase the engagement:

1. Create a brand Page and not a personal profile for business

A personal profile with your business name is not the right way to promote your business. A personal profile comes with its set of limitations. In a personal profile one needs to send friend requests or accept friend requests in order to connect. However in brand Pages a person can follow your updates by simply “Liking or Following” the page. A personal profile can only have 5000 friends thus restricting you to a smaller audience.

2. Assign Page roles:

Assign Page roles such as Admin, Moderator, & Editor based on the role each member in your company has to play. The various roles have different jobs to perform in a page. This will avoid any mishaps while posting and will keep the page free from spam.

3. A recognizable profile picture

A page should have a profile picture that the audience can relate to and recognize immediately. The profile picture should not be ambiguous and should not create confusion. A profile picture gives a lasting impression to the audience. Keep in mind the dimensions of the profile picture. The profile picture displays at 170x170 on desktops and 128x128 on smartphones.

4. Choose an interesting cover photo or video

Choose a cover picture or a video that is engaging and speaks about your page. Facebook has recently added a feature where you can also upload a cover video. This can be a short introductory video that users can watch in a few seconds.

5. A CTA or Call To Action is very important

It is very important to include a CTA button in your page which will deliver you the desired output. The CTA can be anything from “Learn More”, “Watch More” to “Book More”. A call to action delivers you the result you wish to add more emphasis on.

6. Complete the Profile

Fill up the ‘About’ section and leave no element incomplete or blank. The description that you provide in the ‘About’ section is still one of the most looked after sources of information by users when browsing through a page.

7. Populate your timeline

Once your page looks complete, it is important to populate your timeline. People don’t want to follow a page which is low on content and information.  So start posting pictures, updates, videos, and stories that say something about your marketing activities. Focus more on video content because videos reach more users than other types of content.

8. Keep a track of Page Insights

Page insights give a great detail of information about your page, demographic of your audience, timing of posting content, trends etc. Keeping an eye on insights will help you in a better way to design and develop content that your audience likes to see. You can figure out timings when your audience is active and hence you can post during those time periods.

9. Monitor comments and engagement

Keep an eye on engagement and respond when necessary. Keep up the engagement on your page by interacting with your audience. More engagement leads to more organic traffic to your page.

10. Promote our page for more followers

Invest in Facebook Adverts to get more followers.  Facebook ads get you more followers from the targeted audience. Create an “Ad” and then promote it.

The Facebook Page is a powerful tool for marketers to connect with the audience. A marketer should strive hard to post relevant and useful content in a regular manner to maintain engagement.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

Churning out consistently great content ideas for your business campaigns can be overwhelming and it’s a rather challenging task when you’re working towards deadlines. A good content is the heart of any content campaign and the enthusiasm that surrounds that idea is what gets you through the entire content creation process and your customers to like and share your content.

Spending your time and effort on a bad idea will not only waste your valuable resources but you will also fail to attract your audience. So, here are four content ideation techniques to generate unique ideas for your next content marketing project -

The Swipe File

Ever heard of the concept of a swipe file? A swipe file is a stock of tried and tested ideas. So if you don’t have this file yet, start collecting images, ideas, technologies, and approaches that inspire you or that you would want to know more about and keep feeding them to your swipe file. Great ideas are reused over time in different ways. Referring to ideas that have grabbed your attention can help you in generating new ideas for your next campaign.

Effective Brainstorming Sessions

The two important parts of a successful brainstorming session are participants and parameters. A good brainstorm involves two or more creative brain working towards a common goal. When you brainstorm to find the right mix, sitting down with people who have no familiarity with the subject and individuals from other teams can help in gaining different insights and viewpoints on a topic. Also, outlining a few key parameters is beneficial but being too hung up on the constraints can block the creative thinking of the group.

Problems and Solutions

If you’ve hit a block in generating new ideas from scratch, you can take advantage of your most valuable asset - your customers. Keep a record of all the customer complaints and queries you’ve received earlier regarding your products and services. You can take the customer’s point of view into account and address potential issues by offering solutions within the content you have created.

Horizontal thinking

Another great technique for content ideation that is proven to work is horizontal thinking. It follows the concept that one of the best ways to develop a fresh take on a new idea is to approach it sideways. Many artists follow this technique and it's also called lateral or tangential thinking.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

No matter how much you hate it, you have to deal with negative feedback when it comes to featuring your business on digital platforms. Unless and until you are extremely flawless in your dealings, you will be subject to negative comments from customers. So, what do you do with such comments? Ignore them? Delete them? Express regret? Or argue with the commenter?

Negative feedback gives you the power of spotting customer complaints easily and working on those complaints as soon as possible. By responding quickly and constructively, you not only provide good customer service but also showcase your brand’s personality. So, here are some smart ways you can respond to negative feedback from customers -

• Keep Your Cool

When dealing with negative comments, it is important to keep your calm. Whenever you come across any negative feedback or an offensive remark, don’t reply immediately. Take time to consider and then come up with an appropriate response. Try handling the situation humorously as sometimes it is the best way to reduce the prevailing tension. Understand the intention of the customer and craft your response accordingly.

• Know Your Responsibility

Clearing up with unsatisfied customers according to their whims and fancies may sound easy. But your ultimate responsibility lies towards your brand and your customers. So, focus on people who could be potential buyers. If the negative comments are made by people who do not belong to your target market, then you don’t need to appease them. Simply address the issue and demonstrate your brand’s personality.

• Identify Pointless Communications

You’ll come across different kinds of brand haters on social media. There are some who like to agitate you with their illogical remarks, some who get offended easily and take everything personally, and some who go one step ahead and start abusing your brand. Regardless of which kind you’re dealing with, stay focused on constructive criticism. Use your wit to create a situation that your supporters can enjoy, and if you’re unable to reason with these haters, feel free to use the delete button!

Negative comments provide a golden opportunity of interacting with your target audience and maintaining your brand’s disposition effectively. You just need to maintain a positive attitude and keep a few things in perspective to handle haters and stay focused of commenters who actually matter. 

The Internet has become the primary source of information for the majority of consumers. Keywords and phrases are typed into a search engine on a computer or mobile device, and a vast volume of related content is presented to the consumer. Once the results are displayed (in order), the user can click on any of the displayed links to visit any particular website or web page for the information needed.

Studies suggest that when using search engines, most people do not go beyond the listings mentioned on the first couple of pages of the search engine results list. It has been noted that ninety percent of all users do not look past the first thirty results. This means a high-ranking website has a much higher probability of getting traffic from search engines than a lower ranking website. Obtaining high rankings for relevant keywords and phrases in search engines is a critical factor in increasing traffic to the website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves a number of activities and initiatives that businesses can implement to achieve high search engine rankings. Such activities address both on-page and off-page ranking factors that can impact a website’s or web page’s search engine rankings for specific search terms, resulting in a high placement in a search engine’s “organic,” or “natural,” or “unpaid” search results.

SEO activities can be grouped into two broad categories: On-Page Optimization and Off-Page Optimization

On-Page Optimization refers to the optimization activities performed on the website itself. Some of the common on-page optimization tasks include the following:

• Creation of Unique, Accurate Page Titles
• Creation of Proper Meta Tag Descriptions
• Optimization of URLs
• Ease of Navigation
• Optimization of Content
• Anchor text
• Optimization of Images and Videos
• Use of Heading Tags
• Use of robots.txt
• Creation of Mobile Site

Off-page optimization promotes a website in the right ways to improve its reputation, so the ranking of the website rises. Off-page optimization refers to off-site factors that have an effect on a website that are not controlled by coding on the website. Some of the factors that deal with off-page SEO are:

• Search Engine Submission
• Directory Submission
• Social Networking
• Blog and Forum Posting
• Link Building
• Article Submission
• Press Release Promotion
• Document Sharing
• Questions and Answers Sites
• Business Reviews

Apart from these techniques there are two of the famous SEO Techniques also being used by many marketers. White Hat techniques that are recommended by the search engines and Black Hat techniques are not. White hat SEO is more popular technique than Black Hat as this strictly follows the search engine guidelines and also gives long term benefits. Whereas the black hat SEO exploits weaknesses of search engines to get more traffic for the website.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles
 

Twitter has emerged as a very important platform for marketers. Marketers use Twitter as a medium to engage with the audience. Twitter can be an effective marketing channel for the company, but at the same time the company should be careful not to offend anyone or carry out a marketing stunt that may backfire.

We highlight five major Twitter marketing mistakes that marketers should avoid on Twitter.

Don't Oversell.

Twitter is a community and being too brand centric may backfire. A community needs posts which are engaging and informative. Overselling of a brand may not go down well with the audience who may chose to ignore it or in some cases unfollow. Content should be engaging and intuitive where the community can discuss and interact. A golden rule of sharing content on your Twitter handle is 80% of the content should be third party content/ community engagement content and 20% should be brand related.

Consider all sorts of feedback

Feedback plays a very important role in creating brand loyalty. Take all sorts of feedback with utmost importance and value each of them. Taking appreciation and criticism in a healthy manner can go a long way in nurturing relationships. Not responding to tweets can amplify the problem and create a bad image for the company.

Keep track of tending topics

Be updated on what's happening around especially what's trending on Twitter. Monitor trends and try to connect your promotional content in sync with the trending topic. Since the tweet features the trending topic, the reach of your promotional campaign also amplifies. However use a trending topic only when it finds any relevance with your brand. The fear of missing out should be well evaluated before jumping the bandwagon.

Don't Overuse hashtags

For new Twitter accounts with less followers the use of hashtag is important. The hashtags are sort of a label which put your tweet under a particular label and people searching for that label can see your tweet. However with time, marketers should evaluate the use of hashtags and should only use one to two relevant hashtags. Overuse of hashtags is annoying for some of the followers.

Do not offend your followers

Twitter marketers should be careful while tweeting content that can spiral into a controversy. A tweet should be carefully drafted to ensure it doesn't offend the sentiments of a particular section of public or audience. There have been many cases where even innocent looking tweets became controversial and companies had to issue apology notes and were in news for wrong reasons.

Twitter is a powerful tool and can benefit marketers to a great extent, but at the same time marketers should be careful in drafting tweets.

For more interesting articles log on to: www.smstudy.com/articles

The online marketplace is crowded, and often marketers find it difficult to make a mark. One of the best ways to establish brand presence among the target audience is through digital marketing campaigns. However, rapid advancements in the digital landscape call for ready knowledge of the latest digital marketing trends in order to keep pace with competitors.

The digital space is characterized by dynamicity and advancements. It’s always a good idea to assess the success of your marketing campaigns each year end and focus on marketing strategies that will develop in the coming year. With the introduction of new digital marketing trends such as transient content on Instagram, improvements in live streaming, modifications in Google AdWords, and several algorithm updates, there are more ways to create a better strategy to engage with customers to market your product.

As you strategize your moves for your next campaign, here are five latest marketing ideas that you can try, to take your approach to the next level -

Live Streaming

With its insanely growing popularity, live streaming is something you should definitely add to you must-try list. Live streaming enables you to reach, engage, and communicate with your target audience in real time. This immediate and direct approach is a powerful tool to engage with your audience for a longer time and build trust. You can use live streaming to host How-to sessions, product demos, and Q&A rounds related to your product and services.

Ephemeral Content

Another buzzword that has gained admiration in the field of digital marketing is ephemeral content. This feature allows sharing of content for temporary consumption, where the post has a limited life span and disappears after a fixed time period. Creating such disappearing content might sound impracticable to you as a marketer, but if it is an opportunity to engage with your audience then why not give it a try? Ephemeral content helps you reach a young and broad-minded audience, so when publishing such content, make sure you create what your users truly want to view.

Personalized and Innovative Content

You’d probably know about the significance of content marketing in commercial online success. So, you might think of this as not-a-latest technique. But with the online marketplace getting crowded day by day, and more and more brands striving to create fresh content, you should always give content the first priority. An effective way of making sure your brands stand out is by personalizing your content. Personalized and innovative content is key to connecting with today’s sophisticated audience.  

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses e-mail as the delivery medium for communicating a marketing message to a group of people. E-mail marketing can have many different styles or levels of personalization, but any e-mail sent to existing or prospective customers can be regarded as e-mail marketing.

Specifically e-mail marketing is used to support customer loyalty and encourage repeat business with existing customers, as well as to deliver information and offer promotions to both customers and prospects via newsletters and other forms of communication

Good e-mail marketing software is a key component of a successful e-mail marketing system. The software should enable the company to manage its e-mail subscription lists, allowing recipients to easily subscribe and unsubscribe; send e-mails to subscribers or to recipients on a purchased list successfully with minimal delivery issues; provide predefined templates to enable streamlined e-mail creation; and, provide an auto-responder to manage recipient replies.

The software should also track the effectiveness of e-mail marketing campaigns and provide regular reporting to measure various performance criteria including messages delivered, click rates, and bounce rates.

Companies that have the in-house technical expertise and resources may prefer to develop their own system rather than rely on a third-party provider for this service.

If a company chooses a hosted service provider, it should perform due diligence to ensure the provider has the right expertise and a good track record with its customers.

When choosing a service provider, it is important to consider many factors: a successful deliverability rate, features and tracking capabilities, available support, and the overall cost of service.

Reputable e-mail marketing service providers try to ensure that customers’ e-mails are not blocked by major ISPs. However, it is sometimes difficult to control whether or not the e-mails arrive in the recipient’s inbox or the spam box.

Although most e-mail marketing service providers designate a quality score to help indicate the likelihood of the e-mail being delivered, getting whitelisted is the most effective way to ensure that e-mails get delivered properly.

Whitelisting specifically allows e-mails from a certain source or sender to be delivered into an e-mail inbox. Adding trusted e-mail addresses to a personal whitelist lets the e-mails from that source pass spam and junk mail filters. Different e-mail client and Internet security platforms have a variety of methods that allow users to create whitelists.

A company needs to collect the e-mail addresses of its customers to enable the company to run e-mail campaigns. A list developed in this way is commonly referred to as a “house list” and is derived from the company’s own database of current customers, previous customers, inquirers, responders, contest entrants, and so on.

One of the most effective ways of collecting prospective customers’ e-mail addresses is by having an opt-in subscription form on a landing page on the company website. Visitors to the site provide their e-mail addresses and agree to accept offers or information. Most e-mail marketing services provide functionality to integrate subscription forms on a website.

Growing the size of an e-mail list is important, but it is only valuable if there are engaged customers on the list. Companies need to build strong, trusted relationships with their subscribers. Repeated e-mail messaging that does not engage customers will be ignored and customers will eventually unsubscribe from the list. Sending high quality, relevant content is extremely important.

If a company always sends advertisements or promotional e-mails, subscribers may feel like they are being too “marketed to” and tune out the messages or unsubscribe.

When designing e-mail content, it is important to identify the key messages that the e-mail should communicate and the specific information that will move the recipient from his or her current perception to the desired perception, overcoming any barriers to conversion.

E-mail marketing has proven to be one of the most effective digital marketing channels. When well executed, e-mail marketing can benefit many types of businesses for many different purposes. Through e-mail marketing, a company is able to keep in touch with customers and prospective customers easily and efficiently. It is a cost-effective way to transmit valuable information relevant to a customer’s interests.

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

After Facebook purchased the immensely popular photo-sharing social network Instagram, it was officially opened up to all advertisers in the 2015. This was a highly-anticipated and long-awaited social media channel for marketers, because let’s face it, with more than 600 million users per month, Instagram is quite the catch. And although it’s still very young and not everyone has tested the image-centric waters, recent feedback suggests it’s going swimmingly.    

It was reported that 31 percent of all advertisers using their company’s ad automation software were spending marketing dollars on Instagram. With user engagement second only to Facebook, Instagram is considered by many digital marketers as a necessary component of any social media marketing strategy, but some changes may be required.  As marketers move in to the unique Instagram environment, adaptations may be necessary to the existing look and function of ads.

Instagram currently offers three options for advertisements; photo, video, carousel and stories, and they’ve done a nice job explaining what they offer and how they can help businesses on their information page https://business.instagram.com/advertising/

With Instagram advertising in mind, some things to consider are…

1. It’s a visual medium, so bring the goods, or go home. Gorgeous images, interesting videos, highly polished or insanely cool, Instagram is the marketing channel where creativity can and should run wild and where special attention should be given to the aesthetics of the advertisement.

2. Tiny URLs, not just for Twitter anymore. Unfortunately, Google analytics does not track traffic generated from Instagram. Create customized short links in order to track the flow of traffic being driven by the Instagram ad. Bit.ly is a great resource for customizing a short link that can then be tracked.

3. Hop on and share the ride. Improve exposure through sponsored posts on peer feeds. Posting sponsored content on an Instagram account that is relevant and shares a similar demographic can yield wide exposure. This can also be done by including trending hashtags with Instagram ads/posts. The Instagram explore feature allows users to easily search for trending hashtags, so you can serve up biggie-sized exposure by simply adding a trending hashtag to an ad/post. According to Richard Lazazzera, content strategist at Shopify and founder of A Better Lemonade Stand, Instagram is currently the cheapest CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of any ad platform, so it’s worth participating and sharing.

4. And finally (and as always), bring them into the funnel. Once an ad has managed to capture attention and perhaps even a “follow”, it’s time to consider the next step in bringing a customer deeper into the marketing funnel. One of the best (and easiest) ways to accomplish this is to ask for an email address. Whether it’s a newsletter or additional relevant content a company is offering, opportunities for snagging an email address can create marketing success. A direct contact, such as an email address, allows for direct communication, which can be more personal and meaningful for both the customer and company.

Find additional posts on digital markting at www.smstudy.com/articles

Which is the most used social media channel?

Among all social media channels, Facebook clearly emerges as one of the widely used social media platforms with more than 2 billion users associated with it. This data is lucrative enough for any business to market themselves on Facebook and present themselves to the widest customer base.

Facebook for businesses

With huge power and potential through its large customer base, Facebook has gained a great amount of respect among business groups. Although Facebook was launched as a platform for young college goers to communicate among themselves, it is being used for various purposes now. Some of the business uses include revenue generation, promotion, marketing, and customer service. Facebook has understood that each business is different and thus serves each of them in a different way, enabling them to reach their target audience. Here are some of the important aspects that can boost your business really well:

Updating/Posting regularly - Regular posting on Facebook enables the page to remain active and the content reaches the audience. This helps in building a relationship with the customers. The consistency of posts proves your commitment towards the audience. Posting content that helps the customer with your product or services helps you build reputation and trust. It is important that content is curated every time before publishing on Facebook.

Getting involved – Although posting can generate engagement there won’t be any two way interaction if you do not respond to comments or messages that you receive. Hence, it becomes essential to get involved with the customers by interacting with them. To make customers get involved you can post regular questions asking for feedback of the products or services taken. You can also create an interesting discussion by putting up a topic related to your product or service. By getting involved you get to know what interests them and why it elicits interest. Opinions matter and you need to make them feel that way through interaction.

Not just text but post info-graphics, images and videos too – While texts get the audience reading, the same idea represented in the form of an image gets more attention. Adding statistics and info graphics to posts can work wonders as well. Creating an event or posting a video related to your service and products helps a lot to grab attention. It is proven on social media that graphic elements work better than just text.

Not to use Facebook as a promotional tool – Content shared on Facebook should be informative, exciting and educational instead of being only promotional. “Hard sell” tactics can have negative results and can damage the brand. Post content that your target audience would find interesting to read or view and would also go ahead and share with their friends. The content should be in a manner that it interests them.

Integrating website with Facebook pages – Integrating Facebook pages with the website helps the users understand and get a fair idea of your brand. It also works as a back linking technique and can get your website a good amount of traffic from Facebook. The appearance of the Facebook page of your brand must match the website, the graphics and colors used in your website must reflect on the Facebook page as well. It helps the users connect to your brand much better.

Utilizing the ‘Call to Action’ button – The introduction of the call to action button by Facebook for business pages helps businesses to directly generate a call to action from the audience . The key benefit of the feature is that users get a real response to any query related to your brand and they can also proceed to buy if they find interest in them.

There are multiple channels online which you can use to promote your business but it is essential that you don’t ignore Facebook. It is one of the most popularly used channels and can boost your business real time and can help you reach a much wider audience. The basic aim of any marketing strategy is to reach the targeted audience and to encourage them to buy your products or services. Facebook does that the best way without any doubt!

For more interesting articles log on to www.smstudy.com/articles

Search Engine Advertising places online advertisements on the search results pages from search engines and their partner sites. Companies can further expand their reach beyond search engines to advertise to more niche audiences available on third-party websites, such as popular blogs and news channels that can help drive relevant traffic to the company’s website.

Advertising on search engines helps the company market to audiences that are explicitly searching for a specific term and also helps the business reach a wide audience range. However, advertising on third-party websites helps the business reach out to a target audience that may not be explicitly searching for the business or its products, but are likely to still be interested in purchasing its product. For example, a website selling fitness products can make use of third-party fitness blogs where it will be exposed to a relevant audience. In order to effectively utilize third-party websites, a company should ensure that the websites where they advertise are relevant to its business and that the audiences coming to these sites are decision makers. The practices used to improve the effectiveness of search engine ads discussed previously are also valid for advertising on third-party websites. Besides using the best practices for digital advertising, businesses should also select appropriate ad types and remarketing techniques when advertising on third-party websites.

Ad Types

In order to effectively utilize third-party website advertising, businesses must understand the various types of ads that can be created and their effectiveness in converting the target audience. The various types of ads used by businesses include the following:

• Text Ads

These are simple ads that highlight the product features and/or offers using only words. The message length is generally restricted and the digital marketing team must ensure that the relevant call to action is present in the message to prompt viewers to inquire further about the product or service. Text ads are the most common style of ads used by businesses around the world. Businesses may also include a call-back number as part of their ads to enable customers to reach them via phone.

       Examples of Text Ads:

• Text ads typically include one or two lines of text along with a clickable link to a web page. The hotel industry uses these text ads predominantly in third-party websites to promote offers. These text ads are displayed in different shapes and sizes, and most of them are paid ads. Listed below is an example of a text ad. 

• Image Ads

Image ads enable marketers to include relevant images, customized layouts, and background colors. For some companies, visually displaying their products may be more effective as an advertising technique than text ads. This is particularly relevant for websites selling consumer goods where the products are visually appealing enough to drive audiences to the website.

       Example of Image Ads:

• Image ads, often in the form of banner ads, make an impression on customers by using a combination of graphics and text. For instance, fitness companies use images promising health, strength, and attractiveness in ads to capture the attention of consumers.

• Video Ads

Video ads are an engaging way to create energy and excitement about a product. They can be used in individual display units but are commonly embedded at the beginning of other videos available on third-party websites. News agencies and video hosting sites enable advertisers to include video ads that play in the initial seconds before a user watches the video. This increases the reach of the video as the user has an interest in the content following the ad.

Ad overlays are another feature used by businesses on a video that the consumer views. An overlay is usually a clickable, one-line text ad displayed at the bottom of the video. This is an advertising technique commonly used on video-hosting sites.

       Example of Video Ads:

• Video ads are growing in popularity as Internet speeds are increasing and most devices support video players. For instance, movie production companies use video ads with embedded trailers to promote their movies and showcase the ads on various video portals and websites for maximum views. 

• Rich Media Ads

Rich media ads are image ads incorporating animations or other elements that provide users with ways to interact with the ad. Such elements are often customized to match user behavior. The targeted and personalized nature of the ads is intended to generate greater engagement, resulting in more views and clicks. Examples of rich media ads include ads with revolving pictures of products and ads with animated layers that capture the viewer’s attention with a variety of targeted messages and images.

       Example of Rich Media Ads:

• Rich media ads may contain a combination of images, video, and text using Flash or HTML5 technology. They include multiple ways to involve an audience with the ad such as sharing in social media, calling, booking, and e-mailing. In the automobile industry, rich media ads are often enabled with video, call back, polling, and booking test drive capabilities—all in one ad. This increases user interaction and brand awareness.

• Remarketing Ads (or Retargeting Ads)

Sometimes an individual visiting a website may be interested in purchasing a product but may not be ready to purchase it. The user’s behavior depends on where he or she is in the purchase cycle or funnel. Remarketing enables businesses to reach consumers who have already visited their site. After the visitors leave the business’ site, the business follows up with related ads when the user visits other similar and relevant sites. Since the customer is already qualified as a strong lead, having spent time on the website, remarketing provides an effective way of reaching an already engaged target audience.

In order to effectively utilize search remarketing, the digital marketing team must enable remarketing in the search engines and build campaigns specific to each category or product in their portfolio. Companies can market the product to customers they know have expressed interest in the product through their search history. Remarketing ads are displayed to the consumer by the search engine on websites he or she visits later. These websites may not be as directly related to the initial searches. Since the advertising is displayed on a broader range of sites, the reach of the business is increased thus raising visibility within the target audience.

        Examples of Remarketing Ads:

• Airline websites or online air ticketing websites use remarketing ads to increase conversions and also keep visitors informed even after they have left the company’s website. If a potential customer visits a website to look at flights or hotels in a certain city but does not make a purchase, banner ads then appear on other sites the person visits. In other words, the products and services individuals express interest in are marketed to them later to get them back to that initial site to purchase.

• Native Advertising

Native advertising is a form of online advertising that blends in with its surroundings. The objective is to promote a company’s product or service in a way that is ‘native’ to the platform in which the message appears. Native ads are promotional pieces that are attempting to look like the material to which they are adjacent. Advertorials, which are ads promoting product but made to look like editorials, are one of the most common forms of native advertising. Given that consumers are savvy to the various tactics that digital marketers use, it is important that native advertising provide value to potential customers. While native advertising can be perceived as annoying, it can also be an effective tool if properly used. Those who are successful in this approach offer new, useful, relevant content that consumers are willing to take the time to read and often share.

       Example of Native Advertising:

• An online home goods retailer has heard a lot about native advertising and decides to add this form of advertising to their marketing mix. The company tests a few approaches, such as suggested posts on Facebook or promoted tweets on Twitter, to see what works best with its audience. The business decides to start with Facebook suggested posts and sponsored ads on Yahoo. These two approaches require a photo, headline and a line or two of content to blend into the rest of the content, while also having some targeting to better reach the intended audience. The retailer also tests sponsored content on a few home lifestyle websites. They write an informative article that is highly targeted to the site's audience, helping to promote their brand and a few key products, ultimately driving customers to their site.

What Is C2C  E-Commerce?
Consumer to Consumer (C2C) e-commerce is a modern version of the classified form of advertising. When individuals participate in online trading of products and services, such trading is clubbed in the C2C e-commerce category.

How it Works?
Typically the sellers list their products or services on an aggregator website like eBay, Craiglist, OLX, or Gumtree. The listing is usually free but at times the aggregator website may charge a small nominal fee for the listing. The buyer can then look up for required products or services on these websites and pick the seller of their choice by considering factors such as price offered, customer ratings for the seller etc

Examples of C2C
There are many aggregator websites which offer a range of products and services online. eBay, Craiglist, OLX, Gumtree to name a few are the best examples of this form of e-commerce. The listings can range from brand new products to used products. Services are also often listed on such platforms. The interested buyer can get in touch with the seller and take it forward from there.

Facebook’s Entry into C2C
Facebook’s e-commerce platform called Marketplace is making a headway in the Europe. Facebook announced that Marketplace will be launched in 17 countries including Ireland, Denmark, Austria, France, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. After the initial launch in the US, UK, Australia & New Zealand they expanded into Mexico, Chile & Canada.

Currently Facebook is not charging buyers or the sellers for using its platform so it will not add to the company’s current revenue. However a no fee platform will make Marketplace an attractive platform for customers and could give a serious challenge to C2C giants such as eBay and the classifieds site Gumtree.

In Western Europe, eBay has emerged as the most popular C2C e-commerce site in terms of unique visitors. comScore reported that eBay attracted more number of desktop users in the Netherlands compared to any other platform. In UK & Germany, eBay came second to Amazon. In the third largest economy of Europe, eBay came fourth behind Amazon and two local competitors. In countries such as France, C2C platforms are gaining popularity as trends show that more digital buyers make C2C purchases and do it through such digital platforms.

Facebook is widely used in Europe and eMarketer’s forecast suggests that 85% of the social network users come from Western Europe. Facebook and social media platforms haven’t been successful in getting its users to do shopping on their platforms. But with Marketplace they have the right platform to unsettle C2C giants like eBay and Gumtree.

For more ineresting articles on Digital Marketing visit: www.smstudy.com/articles

References:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/15/facebook-adds-ebays-daily-deals-to-its-marketplace-on-mobile/
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16152264/facebook-marketplace-ebay-daily-deals

Search Engine Advertising (SEA), or paid search, is the way in which advertisers obtain a prominent listing for their company through the paid auction model, whereby the company bids for specific terms or phrases, called keywords. SEA allows companies to create targeted advertisements, which are shown to users when they search for the keywords based on a predetermined bidding algorithm. Generally, the main objective of an SEA campaign is to increase reach and awareness and keywords are critical for achieving these objectives.

Keywords are terms and phrases associated with a company’s product. For businesses seeking to maximize their reach and awareness using search engine advertising, the focus must be on bidding on keywords that are highly relevant to the search queries that are common in their business. For example, the searcher may be looking for a garden hose, but the business must think broadly and choose keywords that can be associated with garden hoses, such as garden supplies or water hoses. Businesses can make use of their past data and competitor data to determine the popularity and relevance of various keywords. The more relevant the keywords are to a business and website, the more cost effective the online search advertising campaign will be.

The price of keywords can vary greatly, from pennies to several dollars depending on popularity, demand, and the value to the advertiser. For example, the term “gloves” or “warm gloves” may be expensive, while a very specific product term or more obscure term, such as “polka dot linen gloves,” may be much cheaper. The amount a given advertiser will pay will vary based on a number of factors including the ad’s “quality score” and the rank of the ad as well as the popularity of the keyword among the competitors. The quality score is the search engine’s way of determining the relevance of an ad to the searcher by evaluating the keyword’s relevance to the business and its landing page, as well as other factors. Typically, once an advertiser has identified the keywords that they want to ‘bid’ on, they must determine the maximum price per click that they will pay and then group similar words with relevant ads to display for those keywords. The rank of an ad is determined based on the cost-per-click (CPC) and the quality score.

Keywords can also be localized to make the search more relevant and reduce the bid amount. For example, a musical group performing in Washington D.C. could use a keyword “music show in Washington D.C.” to ensure that their ad is seen by users who are interested in attending a music show in the same city. Localized keyword advertising provides a more focused reach for businesses, ensuring that the business is advertising to a targeted audience and not advertising in markets where the business will not see a significant return on its investment.

Please visit www.smstudy.com for more information.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or paid search advertising involves a company paying to have its ad appear on search results pages of search engines. PPC advertising providers such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing show sponsored ads, or paid search results, for most search queries. A consumer intending to purchase a microwave oven for her new modular kitchen may enter a query “microwave oven with convection and grill for home use,” seeking cost and feature information. A chain of electric kitchen appliances would likely then appear as a sponsored result. It is often observed that users with a high intention of making a purchase click on sponsored ads. This is especially true of highly transactional goods such as clothing, electronics, and consumer foods. 

PPC advertising has a significant impact on consumer metrics such as brand awareness and brand image, even among users who do not click on the sponsored advertisements. Image ads tend to be more effective in exerting positive impact and increasing visibility in search results. A consumer seeking a new microwave oven may choose to review multiple electric kitchen appliances advice pages before making a decision.

A business can increase the reach of its website using PPC advertising in the following ways:

Choosing relevant Keywords–keywords are the search terms used by consumers to tell search engines about the specific product or service they are interested in purchasing. For businesses looking for maximizing their reach using PPC or search engine advertising, the focus must be on bidding on keywords that are highly relevant to the search queries that are common in their business. Businesses can make use of their historical data and competitor data to determine the popularity and relevance of various keywords.

The price of keywords can vary greatly, from pennies to several dollars depending on popularity, demand, and the value to the advertiser. The ad’s “quality score”, rank and popularity of the keywords among the competitors determine the price an advertiser has to pay. The quality score is the search engine’s way of determining the relevance of an ad to the searcher by evaluating each keyword’s relevance to the business and its landing page, as well as other factors. The rank of an ad is determined based on its cost-per-click (CPC) and its quality score.

Choosing relevant Geography and Time–search engines have enabled business to analyze their past data to determine where their online customers are located and the best time to reach them. Based on this data and other internal research, businesses can choose the desired geography and time of day in which they should advertise their products and services for optimal results. For small businesses that cater to a local audience, geography-based targeting is especially important and helps ensure that their ads remain relevant.

Profiling the audience–Businesses must understand the profile of their target audience and create “user personas” that will help them identify the relevant ads for their customer base. A young age group may be attracted to video ads, while a more mature audience may prefer an image ad. Audience profiling may also help businesses identify the time of day when their target audience is most likely to make a purchase.

Selecting appropriate Ad sizes–Advertisements displayed on search engines and other third-party sites are available in different sizes, and the digital marketing team must customize their marketing content to the size of the ad being displayed.

Testing various Ads– Search engines allow businesses to experiment with two or more ad options in order to identify the more attractive one, commonly referred to as A/B or multivariate testing. A business can divide its marketing budget between two or more ads to be displayed to a similar audience throughout the day if it is unsure about the most effective advertising message for its products or services.

Customizing Language–businesses can also customize their ads based on the language preference of their target audience to make sure the intended marketing message is relevant and reaches audiences around the world. 

A company must analyze the kind of relationships it is building with consumers across all of its social media platforms to ensure that they are aligned with the overall metrics and targets for social media performance as mentioned in the inputs section of this process. Each social media platform generally has its own analytics dashboard, which provides a variety of information to a company about its social media activities. As each of these dashboards displays different types of metrics depending on the platform, a company must have a thorough understanding of these metrics so that it can compare the effectiveness of the various platforms. Such a comparison can be done by using metrics that are easily understood and that can be derived from data provided by the dashboards, if the metrics are not already presented. Some important metrics are as follows:

1. Number of Shares—This metric represents the number of times content provided by the company is shared by its customers or subscribers. Consumers share content they like or find useful; thus, a high number of shares indicates that a large number of customers or potential customers perceive the company as helpful and knowledgeable and, by extension, may be more likely to purchase the company’s products or services.

2. Number of Replies and Comments—This metric represents the number of replies and comments that the company’s content has generated. These replies and comments may be directed to the company asking for more information or providing feedback; they may also be discussions among the target audience members who are inspired by the content that the company has shared. A high number of replies and comments generally indicate a strong engagement with the target audience. However, care must be taken to ensure that negative and irrelevant comments and replies are addressed promptly and appropriately.

3. Number of Clicks—This metric represents the number of clicks on the links within content shared by the company. These links may take users to the company’s website, to a company page within a social media platform, or to a resource or asset shared by the company. Such clicks indicate that users considered the company’s updates interesting enough to click on links within those updates.

In addition to monitoring the above metrics on a quantitative basis, it is also important to watch for shared content or consumer responses that spread to an abnormally high number of users. This process is referred to as “going viral.” If such content or responses reflect a positive consumer perception, a sudden increase in leads and purchases for the company can be the result, and only if a company is tracking its social media activity closely would it know the reason for the sudden increase and respond accordingly. On the other hand, if such content and responses reflect a negative consumer perception, the company’s relationship with its customers and potential customers may suffer significant damage.

Visit www.smstudy.com to learn more about social media analysis and its metrics.

In this digital age, businesses that fail to operate online risk going offline for good.

The growing popularity of smartphones, tablets and digital media provides opportunities for a company not only to use fragmented new-age marketing effectively to promote existing products, but also to come up with innovative business models where product demo, customer acquisition and order fulfillment can take place online.

Innovative business models might include the following:

Online Marketplaces—Several e-commerce companies have created global online marketplaces for selling books, consumer goods and other products. In such business models, customer acquisition is usually initiated through the company’s website. The company coordinates with its multiple suppliers to source products; samples, demos and product reviews are provided on the website; customers make their purchases online; and items are shipped directly to customers.

Here is an example of Online Marketplaces:

• Book publishing and retail businesses, which historically gained much success using traditional business models, have been significantly affected by the advent of online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Alibaba and Flipkart.

Online Services—Online services have significantly impacted many traditional product and service industries by transforming existing business models and creating new ways to conduct business.

Here are examples of Online Services:

• Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and online maps have made physical maps redundant.
• Online learning tools have gained popularity and, at times, can complement or even replace physical classroom training.

Online Networking—The Internet has made the world a smaller place. People can now access their networks at all times. These changes have significantly impacted the way in which people communicate with each other and, in turn, have created new possibilities for innovative business models.

Here is an example of Online Networking:

• Social media channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and Google+ have significantly changed the way in which people communicate with each other.

Business Models Using Smartphones and Tablets—Smartphones and tablets are Internet-enabled devices that allow people to have an ongoing connection to the Internet. Since individuals usually carry their smartphones and tablets with them, mobile apps are becoming increasingly popular. Innovative business models based on the use of mobile devices can disrupt several existing business models—more so in industries that rely on other forms of communications and networking. 

Here are examples of Business Models Using Smartphones and Tablets:

• Social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn provide mobile apps that enable users to easily share photos and updates or chat with friends.
• Some mobile apps allow users to locate nearby restaurants, read reviews and also post reviews about their experiences.

In terms of business, the popularity of the Internet has fueled the “adapt or die” landscape more than ever. Business models that integrate online marketplaces, online services and online networking, and that allow for compatibility with smartphones and tablets, offer businesses excellent opportunities for sustained success.

A company must understand its competitors’ relationships with customers, so that it can identify and address gaps in its own relationship management processes, and incorporate the best practices being followed by competitors. In addition, this analysis provides the company with benchmarks against which it can measure its own relationship with customers. To analyze how competitors are building relationships with their customers through their websites, the company should monitor the following:

1. Marketing Messages on Competitor Websites—These messages may include the benefits of competing products, special offers and promotions, demonstration videos, and product trials. All of these messages have an element of customer-centricity and help to build a relationship between customers and the business.

2. Third-party Analytics Data about Competitor Websites—There are a number of websites that provide free or paid information on relationship-related metrics. This information about a company’s competitors is helpful in identifying what works well for the target audience. A company can choose from a wide range of metrics, but some of the most important metrics are as follows:

• Bounce Rate—This metric measures the percentage of visitors who exit a website after visiting just one page. A high bounce rate indicates a low level of engagement with customers, implying they did not see what they expected to find, or the first impression of the site did not sustain their attention.

• Time Spent on Site—This metric indicates the amount of time visitors spend on a website. A long amount of time spent on a site generally indicates that a website is able to provide a good customer experience and, therefore, starts to build a relationship with visitors.

• Average Number of Pages Visited—This metric indicates the average number of pages viewed by each visitor to the website. A higher number can indicate that visitors are more engaged and browsing a large amount of content on a competitor’s website. However, it may also be the case that information has been split among multiple pages, thus requiring visitors to browse many pages to find the information they seek, which may be a negative indication. When evaluating a competitor’s website based on this metric, the business should try to gain a sense of the customer experience in order to fully understand the data. In some instances, a high average on this metric may not necessarily be a good indicator. A more reliable indicator, in such cases, may be the total time spent on the website.

3. Marketing Messages and Promotions on Other Channels Directing Customers to Competitor Websites—Businesses should observe whether competitors send e-mail or SMS messages, advertise in traditional print channels, or use other channels to promote their products and services, attracting customers to their website with offers or promotions. These promotions may include invitations or updates regarding loyalty programs and special events. The company should actively monitor competitor use of all such channels to gain a comprehensive picture of all the relationship-building activities that competitors are engaging in with customers.

4. Customer Service and Support—The company can also monitor the various ways competitors provide contact support on their websites. A wide choice of options indicates a high level of focus on building customer relationships. Similarly, availability of the customer support team (with twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week being the best) is also an indication of good customer relationship building. Other elements to monitor are the comprehensiveness of competitors’ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and real-time chat features, as well as the existence of a contact form or call-back option.

“Social media” is an umbrella term that includes web-based software and services that bring users together online and allow them to exchange ideas, discuss issues, communicate with one another, and participate in many other forms of social interaction. With the proliferation of different forms of social media, such as blogs, forums, audio-visual sharing sites, personal networking sites, and professional networking sites, consumers are constantly bombarded with many marketing messages

Social media is important to every business that has a web presence as it can help drive traffic to the company’s website and ultimately increase sales leads and conversions. As well, different social media platforms are more likely to reach certain target audience segments, and messaging can be customized for each platform.

The various models of social media-enabled sharing are of the following content types:

1. Blogs—Blogs are content created by individuals, groups, or companies to express their opinions, or provide information or insights on specific topics of their choice. The most popular blogs choose topics that are of interest to a large community. However, niche blogs catering to a certain targeted audience can be successful if they dominate the share of voice in that particular subject area. Successful blogs have something interesting, useful, or creative to share, and do that sharing with an engaging style. Blogs may contain images, infographics, or videos in addition to text. In most cases, they are also open to comments from readers. From a company’s perspective, a blog or Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed is an effective means for updating actual or prospective customers of happenings related to the company or the company’s products. RSS feeds use standard web feed formats to publish blog posts and syndicate data automatically. RSS feeds benefit users who want to receive timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate data from many sites.

2. Discussion Forums—These are websites used for discussing issues related to a specific topic. Participants in such forums may be asked to register. They are encouraged to ask each other questions, answer questions, and share information. Many forums allow participants to rate each other’s contributions, enabling contributors to build their reputations over time. Some discussion forums may be hosted and moderated by the company, in which case, the company would have some influence on the content of the discussion. In other cases, discussion forums are independent of a company; however, companies should be aware of popular discussion forums in which their products may be discussed and make an effort to respond to customers within those forums.

3. Professional Networking Sites—These sites relate to people, groups, or companies sharing professional updates, content, and discussions generally related to an organization, a company, a product, or a profession. These sites are used to build an individual’s personal brand as well as to raise awareness of businesses’ brands and their products or services within the online community. Companies share such professional updates for various purposes, such as sharing product launch information, communicating offers and discounts, announcing changes in policies, and sharing media coverage. Relevant and engaging updates can help companies build and retain a loyal base of customers.

4. Social Networking Sites—These are posts that pertain to people or groups sharing personal updates about themselves or about a topic. These updates are generally shared with friends, relatives, or acquaintances, but they may also be shared with the general public. A company needs to create content or share updates that are relevant, interesting, or entertaining enough for people to share with their personal network, and the content shared should also align with the marketing objectives for a product or brand. Therefore, businesses should focus their social networking site updates on useful and interesting information on subjects related to the company’s product or brand. This channel provides the opportunity for companies to share their brand personality and advertise company events, sales, and discount coupons. The focus of these updates should be on fun and engaging shareable content. Also, companies that have a high level of brand loyalty and where customers relate to the brand strongly may find customers voluntarily creating content or experiences related to the brand, or sharing the brand’s updates. 

5. Video Sharing Sites—This activity relates to sharing videos, audio, infographics, or images with other people. Such content can be shared with any person or group. In most social media channels that are focused on sharing such content, people can vote on or rank audio-visual content or add their comments. Thus, these channels integrate the discussion forum element into audio-visual sharing. For example, on YouTube—a social media channel for sharing videos—users can “like” or “dislike” a video, comment on the video, and reply to each other’s comments. Companies can use such channels very effectively as videos, images, and audio can have a much larger impact on the target market than text updates. Many companies invest in creating engaging and interesting videos about their products, which sometimes become extremely popular and drastically increase brand visibility. Some also create melodies around their product, which can become as popular as songs in their own right or as ringtones for mobile phones.

The features and functionality of social media platforms are constantly evolving as lesser-used functionality is removed and replaced by new functionality. It is critical for the digital marketing team to be up-to-date on the latest trends in social media and to understand how other organizations use social media to their advantage. Marketers also need to be aware of paid opportunities within social media marketing such as sponsored updates and ads, as well as earned opportunities to disseminate marketing messages by organically building followers. Often, a combination of paid and earned campaigns yields the best results. 

It’s my morning routine: I sit, smartphone in hand, twitter app open and dig into the chatter. Quickly scrolling through breaking news, taking in headlines and laughing at Michael Moore’s latest quip, I pause on a presidential candidate’s tweet; a candidate I support. As I read the tweet and agree with its message, nodding my head in a “you said it, brother!” manner, I’m also debating whether to heart or even possibly retweet. I can see that it’s been hearted and retweeted thousands of times already and a part of me truly wonders what is lost to my 45 followers (most of whom are trying to sell me something) if I don’t share?

Will they miss out on some vital information?

Will they be annoyed?

Will they disagree?

And then, I have the aha moment.

The truthiest truth is this: I should “heart,” “like,” “share” and “retweet” content I believe in. Not for my followers, since they’ll most likely receive the same information from various other sources, but because we now have the power and the platform to really say what we think, feel, believe. And that is real power. And who am I to turn away such a gift?

All this power is made even more potent because everyone is listening!

For example, marketers and companies want to test the waters with a brand or product, continually finding new ways to slice and dice the data to arrive at the best metrics for planning and executing marketing and sales adventures. 

Or political parties taking the temperature of the society on the importance of an issue or testing the potential of a particular smear campaign (I’ve seen it, it’s ugly).

Or news media outlets continually gathering sentiment, feedback and sometimes actionable intel (in the case of citizen journalism) on stories, topics, issues and events.

These golden nuggets of information or social insights reveal so much about who we are and what we care about that no marketer, politician or gatekeeper can resist.

After my early morning aha moment, my eyes are opened to the dangers inherent in such a powerful tool and what could happen if the tables were turned on us lovers of online democracy. Citing various examples of self-censorship, an article on The Intercept addresses a recent study on the chilling effect created by widespread surveillance. And that, of course, includes social media channels where users know they are being read, monitored.

According to author Glenn Greenwald, “The fear that causes self-censorship is well beyond the realm of theory. Ample evidence demonstrates that it’s real— and rational. A study from PEN America writers found that 1 in 6 writers had curbed their content out of fear of surveillance and showed that writers are “not only overwhelmingly worried about government surveillance, but are engaging in self-censorship as a result.”

And this is no stand-alone, one-off study. Data abounds (and compounds) indicating that we, the watched, are watching what we say.

This makes me fret— a sweaty-palmed, hand-wringing sort of fret.

If we begin to see ourselves as oppressed by the experience of sharing on social media, we’ve collectively gone through the looking glass. We’ve embraced an alternate reality where we are not free to contribute to the construction of a society or the promotion of an idea (or even product). We’ve turned away from the greatest contribution and benefit Twitter and other social media platforms provide…the opportunity to engage in the global marketplace of ideas, to hear and be heard, to make a difference.

So, setting fear aside, I embrace the power of my opinions and retweet that tweet. To do my part, to provoke, to question, and in this instance, to add my one voice to the many.

Even if it means being the 3,478th person to retweet a tweet, it matters.

For more on sales and marketing, visit smstudy.com.

A number of factors make developing a mobile app difficult, such as the existence of multiple mobile app platforms, various operating system versions for each platform, and multiple device types, each with its own set of unique features. Given this variety, there are also many ways to design a mobile app, but the three most common methods are native app development, cross-platform development, and web app development. The company must decide which of these types of development methods is most suited for its needs. This decision should be guided primarily by what makes the most sense for the customer.

Let’s now discuss Cross-Platform Development along with key characteristics and situations in which this type of method should be chosen.

Cross-Platform Development—This method involves developing the app once on a cross-platform app development framework and then running it on multiple platforms after making suitable adjustments for each platform. The apps are listed in the mobile app store of each platform and can be accessed and downloaded.

Key characteristics of this method are as follows:

• Ability to Use Operating System and Device Functionality—Apps that are developed using the cross-platform development method do not have as much ability to use the operating systems and device functionality as apps developed using the native app development method since some features are made available only to native app developers by a mobile platform in order to promote the platform. In addition, any new upgrades to the operating system of a platform or additional device features are not immediately available to cross-platform frameworks—and sometimes are not made available at all.

• Ability to Be Used Offline—Because cross-platform apps are installed directly on mobile devices, just like native apps, some or all features may be used even when there is no Internet connection because the app can use data stored locally on the device. Once an Internet connection is restored, the mobile app can synchronize new data with a central server.

• Cost of Development—The cost of developing apps for multiple platforms using a cross-platform framework is much lower than the cost for developing native apps for each platform. The cost savings are a result of the fact that the basic code of an app built using a cross-platform framework is the same across platforms with only small adjustments being required for each platform. Most of the development effort for one platform can be reused for all other platforms.

• Level of Skills Required—If a company wants to create apps for multiple platforms using a cross-platform framework, the app development team only needs to know how to create apps on one framework. Thus, even moderately skilled resources might provide enough expertise in app development if the company chooses this method of development.

Here is an example of Cross-Platform Development:

• Most gaming apps use cross-platform development, which helps them function on one or more operating systems. Creating an app using cross-platform development has enabled these gaming companies to target the entire mobile, tablet, or other device market, which uses different operating systems. Such cross-platform apps have a larger customer base than native apps.

A number of factors make developing a mobile app difficult, such as the existence of multiple mobile app platforms, various operating system versions for each platform, and multiple device types, each with its own set of unique features. Given this variety, there are also many ways to design a mobile app, but the three most common methods are native app development, cross-platform development, and web app development. The company must decide which of these types of development methods is most suited for its needs. This decision should be guided primarily by what the makes most sense for the customer.

Finally let’s discuss Web App Development along with key characteristics, and situations in which this type of method should be chosen.

Web App Development—Web apps may be accessed through an Internet browser by any device and on any platform. The app runs on a central server and generally does not need to be customized for different platforms. For a long time, web apps could not use any features of the device or operating system, or run offline, but recent developments have made this functionality possible. However, the performance and user experience is generally not as good using this method in comparison with apps developed using the native app development or cross-platform framework methods.

Key characteristics of this method are as follows:

• Ability to Use Operating System and Device Functionality—The ability for web apps to use the device operating system and functionality is quite limited and has only recently been made possible. Use of upgraded features of either the operating system or devices is even more limited than that of apps built using the cross-platform framework.

• Ability to Be Used Offline—Recent developments have made it possible for web apps to be used offline in a limited manner. While users are online, data is stored in local memory and can then be accessed while offline, to be later synced once a network connection is restored.

• Cost of Development—The cost of developing web apps is low because the app generally needs to be created only once, regardless of how many different platforms or devices access the app.

• Level of Skills Required—If a company wants to create web apps, the mobile app development team must know the markup language being used by most web app development frameworks.

Here are a few examples of Web App Development:

• Document viewers and builders, spreadsheets, chat applications, and webmail are some examples of common web apps. They are primarily accessed through an Internet browser and are functional irrespective of the operating system or device on which they are used. These apps require an Internet connection to work and can also be used offline with certain limitations.
• The advent of HTML5 has made it possible for web apps to use any features of the device or operating system, or run offline, Hence, HTML5 is the language used by most web app development frameworks.
• Another common web development framework that is also used for web app development is Ruby on Rails. If a company is using Ruby on Rails to create its web app, it will require resources skilled in the use of this framework.

A number of factors make developing a mobile app difficult, such as the existence of multiple mobile app platforms, various operating system versions for each platform, and multiple device types, each with its own set of unique features. Given this variety, there are also many ways to design a mobile app, but the three most common methods are native app development, cross-platform development, and web app development. The company must decide which of these types of development methods is most suited for its needs. This decision should be guided primarily by what makes most sense for the customer.

Let us discuss Native App Development along with key characteristics, and situations in which this type of method should be chosen.

1. Native App Development—This method involves developing apps directly on a specific mobile app platform using the platform’s programming language and native code. The apps are listed in the mobile app store of a platform and can be accessed and downloaded.

Key characteristics of this method are as follows:

• Ability to Use Operating System and Device Functionality—This ability is high for native apps as they are built directly on a specific mobile app platform that provides access to all features of the operating system of the platform and devices that run on the platform. Whenever there are changes to the operating system or when additional features are supported on newer devices, native app developers are able to upgrade their apps quickly.

• Ability to Be Used Offline—As native apps are installed directly on mobile devices, some or all features may be used even when there is no Internet connection because the app can use data stored on the device. Once an Internet connection is restored, then the mobile app can synchronize new data with a central server.

• Cost of Development—The cost of developing native apps for multiple platforms is relatively high primarily because developing the same app for different platforms requires almost the same effort for each platform. There are only a few components (e.g., user interface design) that can be leveraged across platforms. Most of the programming must be done from the beginning for each new platform. For this reason, some companies choose to create an app for only one platform.

• Level of Skills Required—If a company wants to create native apps for multiple platforms, the app development team must be skilled in developing apps for each of the platforms. Thus, highly skilled resources are needed for multi-platform app development. If a company does not have technical resources skilled in multiple platforms, it may need to invest time and resources in training existing resources or hire external resources for the app development effort.

Here is an example of the Native App Development:

• Many native apps are included with the factory version or manufacturer’s version of a mobile, tablet, or other device. The camera, e-mail, and settings on a smartphone are a few native apps that can be used offline and then synced with other devices. These apps are created using native code and the platform’s programming language. At times, an update of the operating system is needed to upgrade the functionality or the version of these native apps.  

One of the first considerations when building a website is the site’s structure. A well-planned structure is fundamental to the success of the website and can prevent issues in later stages of the site development. Website architecture design involves planning the layout and design of the website, identifying the pages to be included, determining how consumers will navigate the site, and planning how these pages will link together. Based on the learning from marketing research and competitor website analysis, the digital marketing team—along with subject matter experts, such as website developers—is responsible for ensuring an optimal website architecture design.

A key factor that the must be considered when planning the website architecture is click-depth. Click-depth or crawl-depth refers to the minimum number of clicks required of a website visitor in order to get from the “root” web page to a desired web page. The root web page is the page that displays when only the domain is in the URL (i.e., no path information is included). The objective is to enable visitors to find what they are looking for with ease. Companies must ensure that the click-depth is kept as low as possible, so that users and search engines can reach any point on the site within a minimum number of clicks.  

The digital marketing team analyses how each page will be linked internally and externally, creating categories and subcategories within the site. While creating the website, search-friendly URLs should be used to increase the relevance of the links and help the organic ranking for the website. Additionally, duplicate meta tags, meta descriptions, and titles should be avoided to prevent confusing web crawlers.

In short, the website architecture design should assure visitors they are on the right page; ensure visitors can easily find what they are looking for by providing a clear navigation path and search feature; properly link together the various pages; and ensure that the website is easy to navigate not only for users, but also for web crawlers so that the site content can be detected by search engines.

A critical component of website architecture is scalability. Website designers must ensure that websites are designed in a way that navigation is not compromised when new functionality, product lines, or business units are added. Consumers have a low tolerance for long wait-times or high click depth pages and will quickly leave a site that does not provide optimal usability. For example, a business may start with a simple website to build awareness of the brand, and provide details of the product offerings; however, if the company chooses to add an e-commerce component at a later date, the e-commerce capability should be aligned with the existing product catalog so that customers can continue to navigate the site with ease and purchase products quickly and securely. A well-thought-out architecture at the planning stage will enable this new functionality without overhauling the existing site.

Although businesses will have a defined team that is responsible for the technical aspects of designing the website, it is important for the marketing team to possess a basic understanding of the various website formats and their advantages or limitations. This knowledge helps the marketing team make an informed choice on the kind of information that they would like to include on the website and whether the existing web design is capable of displaying the required information in the manner intended by the marketing team.

A brief overview of the more frequently used web languages follows. As previously mentioned, expertise in this area is not a necessary requirement for marketing teams, but a general understanding is recommended.

XHTML / HTML

XHTML is the basic language of the web. Using this technology alone will enable website developers to build simple, text-based websites.

A more advanced version is known as Dynamic HTML. DHTML is the concept of using a combination of a static markup language (such as HTML), a scripting language (such as JavaScript), a presentation definition language (such as CSS), and the Document Object Model (see below).

DHTML allows scripting languages to change variables in a web page's definition language, which in turn affects the look and function of otherwise "static" HTML page content, after the page has been fully loaded and during the viewing process. Thus, the “dynamic” characteristic of DHTML is the way it functions while a page is viewed, providing greater interactivity and accessibility to users.

The Document Object Model

The Document Object Model, or DOM, is a language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML, and XML documents. It allows a web designer to manipulate the contents of a web page.

When an HTML page is rendered in browsers, the browser downloads the HTML into local memory and automatically parses it to display the page on screen. The DOM is also the way JavaScript transmits the state of the browser in HTML pages.

CSS

CSS stands for cascading style sheets and is a style sheet language used for describing the appearance and formatting of a document written in a markup language. CSS is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content from document presentation, including elements such as the layout, colors, and fonts. This separation can improve content accessibility, provide more flexibility and control in the specification of presentation characteristics, enable multiple pages to share formatting, and reduce complexity and repetition in the structural content.

JavaScript

JavaScript is used in conjunction with HTML to access the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web page. JavaScript runs locally on the user's computer and can respond quickly to the user (as opposed to scripts that run on the web server that may take longer to react).

There are several advantages to using JavaScript, including:

• Dynamically changing images when the user hovers over them;
• User input on a form is validated;
• A new window opens when a link or image is clicked.

Some of the key metrics used to track SEM campaigns are as follows:

1. Cost—The total amount spent on search advertising, which should fall within set budgets. Cost cannot be evaluated in a vacuum, and one must also consider reach, ROI, and other factors to determine if the cost is justified.

2. Maximum Cost-Per-Click (CPC)—This defines the maximum amount a business is willing to pay when a potential customer clicks on an ad. A maximum bid is set for each keyword individually and also for a particular Adgroup (default Max. bid). An ad’s average position or rank is most heavily determined by two factors—quality score and maximum bid. While efforts should be constantly directed toward increasing the quality score, Max. bid is a key tool to change the average ad position. This should be used in such a manner that the top performing keywords in any campaign always fall into the desired range of average ad position.

3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)—Click-through rate is one of most important metrics to measure the performance of digital marketing campaigns. CTR is defined as the number of clicks an ad receives, divided by the number of times an ad is shown. CTR reflects the effectiveness of a keyword and the advertisement that goes with it. CTR can be improved by doing any of the following:

• Writing effective ads that are highly relevant to the keywords
• Improving quality scores
• Creating appropriate landing pages, site links, and extensions
• Using testimonials and ratings/certification badges from partners and authorized entities

4. Quality Score—A quality score is the search engine’s measure of the relevance of keywords and ads. It is an important metric because it ensures that users see relevant ads for their searches. Improving the quality score maximizes the effectiveness of a campaign, as CPC drops and average ad position increases. Also, a good quality score is a reflection of effective landing pages, therefore, the conversions are also likely to increase. There are a variety of factors that affect the quality score. Some of those factors are listed below:
   • the click-through rate (CTR) of the keyword and corresponding ad
   • the relevance of the keyword and ad to the search query
   • the relevance of the keyword to its ad group
   • the CTR of the display URLs in the ad group
   • the quality of the landing page

5. Conversion Rate—Conversion rate is perhaps the most important digital marketing metric to track. This metric shows the ratio of number of people who clicked on an ad and went on to complete the desired action (goal completion) on the website or mobile app to the total number of people who clicked on the ad (total clicks). The desired action can be a purchase, a trial, a sign up, or a form completion. Conversion rate is calculated using the following formula:

Search engine advertising is a method of placing online advertisements on web pages that show results from search engine queries. However, companies can expand their reach beyond search engines to advertise to niche audiences available on third-party websites such as popular blogs and news channels that can help drive relevant traffic to the company’s website.

Although advertising on search engines helps the companies advertise to audiences that are curious about a specific term and also help the business reach a wide audience range, advertising on third-party websites helps the business reach out to a more focused audience that is likely to be interested in purchasing their product. For example, a website selling fitness products can make use of third-party fitness blogs where it will be exposed to the relevant audience. In order to effectively utilize third-party websites, businesses should ensure that the websites where they advertise are relevant to their business and that the audiences coming through these sites are decision-makers. 

Since multiple vendors bid for keywords to advertise their products in the online space, it is important for businesses to ensure that their ads are appealing and effective, and that they drive traffic to the website. Besides increasing traffic to the website, an effective ad will be deemed of higher relevance by the search engine and will enable businesses to place the ad at a higher position than other ads at a relatively lower bid amount.

The practices used to improve effectiveness of search engine ads discussed previously are also valid for advertising on third-party websites. Besides using the best practices for advertising, businesses should also select appropriate ad types and remarketing techniques when advertising on third-party websites.

Many companies design mobile specific sites for visitors accessing the website through smartphones and other mobile devices. Analytics of data from mobile and other devices differs from analytics of website data mainly in terms of metrics and tools used to measure the performance. Some data collection methods are similar to those used for websites: For example, tagging methods are very useful for both channels. Companies that develop mobile apps use software development kits (SDKs) that include web analytics tools. Mobile app developers add code with analytic functionality to mobile apps to capture app-related metrics data.

Metrics used to track performance usually include page views, number of visits, geographic data, and information related to mobile devices such as screen size, operating system, data service provider, and device model. Data collected is measured against the mobile channel objectives, targets for performance, and ROI. Some of the metrics specific to mobile apps include the following:

• Screen Views—Mobile apps do not have pages that are the same as mobile websites. Rather, content is displayed in multiple screens. The number of screen views for an app is equivalent to the number of page views for a mobile website.
• User IDs—Instead of using cookies, mobile apps tend to identify users via user IDs. This helps to understand the behavior of visitors individually, and data can be analyzed for these individuals for different versions of the mobile apps. The user IDs also help to analyze the customer experience across multiple applications.
• Offline Data—For some mobile apps, users do not always require an Internet connection to access the information. Mobile app developers can store the analytics data on the mobile device and only transfer the data to the server periodically.

All branding and advertising in offline channels should be integrated with a company’s mobile marketing strategy. The mobile site and app should be prominently branded with the logo and colors of the company integrated into the design in order to ensure consistency of branding across all marketing channels. Offline branding and advertising activities can be significant contributors to expanding reach by encouraging the use of the mobile site and app in all media. Companies often offer exclusive promotions and coupons to consumers in order to encourage the use of the company’s mobile site and app. Traditional advertising, such as television, radio, and print ads can provide an effective means of driving consumers to the company’s mobile site and app.

In addition to traditional advertising, many marketing activities are designed to create a direct link between offline and digital channels. Such tools include the following:

• Quick Response (QR) Code—A Quick Response code is a standardized code consisting of black and white squares, which can be read by mobile devices that have a QR code scanning app installed. The code typically stores a URL, and when one scans the code with the QR scanning app, the mobile device opens the website linked to the URL. A QR code can be printed on many kinds of offline materials, and individuals can scan the code and visit the associated URL. A benefit is that users are not required to type the web address to reach the website when using the code. Thus, QR codes offer convenience, bridging the online and offline marketing worlds, and can substantially increase the reach of companies as they can generate traffic to their websites from offline channels.

Given that users are expected to take their mobile devices out, open the QR code scanning app, and then scan the code to reach the website, companies often offer incentives to customers to perform these steps. Thus, the benefit of scanning the QR code should be clearly mentioned in the offline channel, and the website that is linked to the QR code should be optimized for mobile devices. QR codes should also be tested appropriately before they are implemented in offline channels. The digital marketing team should ensure that popular QR code scanning apps are able to effectively scan the company’s code and bring up the relevant page. Also, individuals should be able to access the Internet in places where QR codes are displayed. For example, displaying QR codes in in-flight magazines may not receive a high response rate as few people use the Internet while flying.

• Near Field Communication (NFC)—Near Field Communication is a set of standards for mobile devices, such as smartphones, that allows two endpoints, which are NFC enabled, to communicate directly over short distances (typically less than ten centimeters) using radio waves. NFC-enabled devices can be powered or unpowered in order for communication to take place. Unpowered devices are NFC chips, called tags, which can contain a variety of data, including website URLs. Powered devices include smartphones that have NFC technology enabled on them.

Companies can use NFC for increasing reach by inserting NFC tags in a variety of offline marketing materials, such as posters, brochures, and mailers. Users who have NFC-enabled smartphones can tap a poster containing an NFC tag and be directed to a website which may have special offers. NFC can also be used for making contactless payments, so customers can both see an offer and pay for a product using NFC through an app. Thus, NFC, like QR codes, helps individuals who are offline link to a company’s website to get more information or to purchase products.

When creating an online presence, one of the initial steps is to explore various digital marketing channels available in order to maximize the reach of the products or services being offered. Given the nature of the online world, which is constantly evolving and expanding, several new channels are developing with greater frequency, and audiences are continuously exploring new sources of online content. The digital marketers must regularly assess and reassess digital marketing channels for their effectiveness.

To identify the most effective marketing channels for an organization’s products or services, marketers spend a considerable amount of time and effort identifying and understanding the dynamics of all available digital marketing channels and evaluating these channels relative to their company’s overall organizational goals and objectives.

As part of this process, the team identifies target customers in the digital space, their likes and dislikes, their perceptions of the company’s brand and its major competitors, their digital needs related to the brand, and how the brand may fulfill these needs. All of this information, along with an understanding of current trends in the digital marketing space, should be recorded for future reference.

Web analytics are used to evaluate and better understand the available digital channels. Web analytics involve the collection, measurement, analysis, and reporting of web data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.

Analyzing such data helps a company to assess and improve the effectiveness of its website. This information also helps the digital marketing team better understand consumer behavior and identify the strengths and weakness of the company’s current online offerings.

This may include understanding how many people are visiting a website, which pages are most popular, which paths are most popular, where people are coming from, where they drop off, how long they stay, and other similar factors.

All such factors provide the digital marketing team with a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of current digital marketing initiatives and enable the team to identify possible new channels and digital marketing opportunities. Examining the social media investments of competitors can also help companies evaluate where they should be allocating resources.

Any business with a strong Internet presence that recognizes a decline in its website traffic should explore possible sources of the decline. Based on the web analytics data, the company may explore several options, including revising the current website in order to keep it fresh and relevant to its target market or making adjustments to site navigation to improve usability. Other Digital Marketing channels, such as mobile devices or social media might also be explored as potential aids in improving reach and strengthening relationships with existing customers.

Sales and Marketing has evolved significantly over time going from the Barter System of 1000 years ago to Traditional Marketplaces, Seller’s Marketplaces, Conventional Mass-media Marketing, Fragmented New-age Marketing to today where Internet enabled business models have helped marketing evolved further.

In the past through our blogs, we’ve touched upon this evolution. In this blog, we will focus on the internet enabled modes of marketing specifically Facebook Marketing. With most customers now continuously spending their time online, businesses globally have understood the value of targeting them through the online mode. While the traditional methods of targeting i.e. TV, Radio, Newspapers etc. help is reaching to a larger audience fast, they are ineffective in terms of targeting a specific segment of the audience.

If a business wants to target a specific audience segment, you need to create a customer persona and then set-up filters to target and find the relevant audience. To target relevant audiences, Facebook helps you segment your audiences using these filters:

• Location: Reach customers by City, Country, even Postcode
• Demographics: Target people based on demographics like age, gender, relationship status, education, workplace and more
• Interests: Define your ideal audience by their interests, hobbies and Pages they like on Facebook. This may be based on their listed interests, activities, education, job titles, Pages they like or groups to which they belong.
• Behaviours: Reach people based on their purchasing behaviour, device usage and other activities

Besides these regular segments, Facebook has two advanced filters known as Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences.

Custom Audiences: Custom Audiences let you reach customers you already know with ads on Facebook. If you have developed a list of customer emails or acquired such customer data from your site, you can upload this list of email addresses or phone numbers to develop a custom audiences profile. Once you upload this list onto Facebook, you would be able to reach out to these customers on the facebook network and target them using your product advertisements. You can also build audiences from the people that visit your website or from people who use your mobile app. You can create a maximum of 10,000 Custom Audiences for those from your website or mobile app. Now while custom audiences might help you advertise to this list of audiences who have already purchased your product in the past, this is not really a good use of your investment as you can also target this audience by doing a simple (and almost free) email campaign. The real advantage of Custom Audiences is that it helps you expand your business over the Facebook network through Lookalike Audiences.

Lookalike Audiences: Lookalike Audiences helps you create new audiences based on traits from one of the following sources:

• Custom Audiences: As we've seen before, you can upload a list of your existing customers using Custom Audiences. The benefit of this is that we can then use Lookalike Audiences to find people who resemble that audience. Since the custom audiences have already bought from you, Facebook would be able to match their interests, and other characteristics to get you a bigger audience with the same profile. This would help you reach out to a wider audience who are more likely to buy your product.
• Website visitors: Like Google Adwords, Facebook also allows users to track visits to your website. You can install a Facebook Pixel on your site which would help facebook track the profile and behavior of this particular user. Then based on the profile of people visiting your website, we can create Lookalike Audiences to help you reach to a wider audience.
• Page fans: People who like your brand's page on Facebook are typical evangelists for your brand. Facebook allows you to use Lookalike Audiences to create an audience based on people who like your Page with the belief that the Lookalike Audiences will also exhibit similar behavior to this audience.

Search Engine Optimization involves a number of activities and initiatives that businesses can implement to achieve high search engine rankings. Such activities address both on-page and off-page ranking factors that can affect a website’s or web page’s search engine rankings for specific search terms, resulting in a high placement in a search engine’s “organic,” or “natural,” or “unpaid” search results.

The goal of off-page optimization is to promote a website in the right ways to improve its reputation, so the ranking of the website rises. Off-page optimization refers to off-site factors that have an effect on a website that are not controlled by coding on the website.

Some of the factors that deal with off-page SEO are:

• Search Engine Submission—The website needs to be submitted manually to the most popular search engines to get listed for free and quickly.

• Directory Submission—The website needs to be submitted to high quality directories.

• Social Networking—A presence in social networking sites, and creation or involvement in online communities, increases the reputation of a website considerably. Search engines place a higher ranking on sites that are active in social networking.

• Blog and Forum Posting—This is one of the most powerful ways to promote your company’s website. Writing quality blogs and participating in public user forums is a great way to increase the online reputation of a website. It is also a good idea to create a blog and forum as part of the website itself.

• Link Building—Link building is a standard off-page optimization technique. There are several ways to increase backlinks to a website. However, it is important to note that search engines are very strict with respect to unethical Link Farming. A site that has thousands of links, often to unrelated sites, will be considered spam by the search engines. Reciprocal linking is common and generally accepted if it is not excessive and provides value to the site visitor. Public blogs, forums, and directories are great sources for backlink building.

• Article Submission—Writing industry-related articles and submitting them to popular article sites such as ehow, Ezine, Go Articles, Hubpages, and Buzzle help to establish an online reputation and can also be used to increase links to the website.

• Press Release Promotion—PR submissions in popular online PR websites, such as PRLog, PRWeb, Market Wire, PR Newswire, 1888pressrelease, 24-7 Press Release, Open PR, and PR Leap, increase a company’s online reputation considerably.

• Document Sharing—Sharing business documents, information brochures, and presentation slides in document sharing websites, such as Google Docs and Slide Share, helps to increase online brand visibility.

• Questions and Answers Sites—Participating in popular question and answer sites, such as Quora, Google Questions and Answers, Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answers, and Stack Exchange, is another great way to increase website link popularity.

• Business Reviews—Participating in business review sites, such as Google Reviews, Yahoo Local Listings, Consumer Search, Trustpilot, and RateitAll, increases online reputation.

In addition to the activities mentioned above, other off-page optimization activities such as Social Bookmarking, Photo and Video Sharing and Promotion, Search Engine Local Listings, Yellow Pages, Maps, Social Shopping Networks, and other activities help to increase the online reputation of a website leading to improved search engine listing.

It is also important to note that different search engines assign different weights to the various SEO activities. These change over time as new standards and formats are developed.

When Guerlain, a French beauty brand, wanted to target a younger audience for its thirty year old iconic Terracotta bronzers it chose Instagram.  

When Lexus, a luxury automobile brand, wanted to target a younger audience for its brand IS, it went ahead with Tumblr.

These are examples of changing trends in consumer marketing. Gone are the days when any product launch or repositioning meant TV or radio or print ads. The advent of digital age has provided businesses with numerous platforms to reach consumers. Brands, both new and established, have started using channels which are suitable to their product, campaign, and target audience. Hence, when established brands like Guerlain and Lexus wanted to reach out to younger audience they chose a medium which gave them the best opportunity to do so.

The consumer attention span is ever shrinking. In today’s information age, audiences are flooded with content available at a single touch. This abundance of content makes it harder for good content to cut through the clutter and get noticed, but images capture the attention of consumers. They have the ability to convey messages easily and can have a much larger impact on the target market than text updates. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Look at one of the images published by Guerlain which beautifully establishes the connection between Terracotta and Paris. This is the reason businesses are using image centric social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, and Snapchat.

These sites allow users to share content with other people or group. If brands are successful in creating engaging and interesting content, it increases their reach as well as brand visibility. The Guerlain Terracotta campaign reached 965,000 while the Lexus Signal campaign had more than 85,000 notes. In most social media channels that are focused on sharing such content, people can vote on or rank or add their comments. Thus, these channels also integrate the discussion forum element. At times, such posts from users may be misused by competitors or by people with ulterior motives, resulting in hate speech, insults, swearing, and general unpleasantness. Given the fact that these sites are vulnerable to such consumer misbehavior, forums may require moderators or restricted access protocols to ensure that discussions and feedback stay relevant, socially appropriate, and unbiased. Hence, as with most marketing channels, image centric channels also require suitable content and proper monitoring to ensure a successful campaign.

Please visit www.smstudy.com for more details.

Sources:

http://instagram-static.s3.amazonaws.com/case_studies/IG_Guerlain.pdf

http://blog.business.instagram.com/post/124675270476/glowing-results-for-terracota-did-you-know-that

http://shortyawards.com/6th/the-signal-lexus-tumblr

As consumers have found multiple ways of searching, learning about, and purchasing various products and services, so have businesses found multiple ways to reach their target audience. With the evolution of channels, the metrics for performance measurement have also evolved from simple circulation numbers to page views, click-through rate, bounce rate etc. With so many metrics to choose from it is critical to identify the right metrics to track a channel or campaign performance.

While selecting metrics it is advisable to select and prioritize a few important metrics that can appropriately determine the success or failure of the objectives outlined for a channel. If unnecessarily large number of metrics are defined, then a substantial amount of time may be wasted on collecting and analyzing data produced by too many metrics, which may not add value to the final analysis. Essentially, it is preferable to have a few key metrics which are clearly defined and aligned to channel objectives.  For example, if one wants to track the performance of a website one can look at the following metrics:

• Visits—This metric provides information on a website’s effectiveness in reaching out to the target audience. This shows how many times in total a particular website has been viewed.

• Page Views—The number of page views helps to monitor the website content and provides information on popular pages and engagement of the visitors.

• Traffic Sources—This metric provides an overview of various sources that generate traffic to the website. Most of the analytics tools categorize the traffic sources into— Direct Traffic, Search Traffic Including Paid and Organic, Referral Sites, and Others.

• Bounce Rate—Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who visit the website and then exit the website without going to any other page. This information helps to understand if the right audience is visiting the website, and if the information provided on the website meets their expectations.

• Exit Pages—These pages refer to the last page a customer visits before leaving the website. Knowing this helps to identify the pages where visitors decide to leave or drop off the site.

Another important aspect of identifying appropriate metrics is that one should be able to measure and analyze the underlying data. There are some metrics that a business may want to measure but obtaining underlying data for the metric may prove to be difficult or expensive. In such cases, it may be preferable to replace the metrics with ones that are available and measureable.

Selected metrics should also be relevant to the channel. One should not select a common set of metrics for all channels just for the sake of simplified data collection and analysis. Even if the overall objective is the same, each channel is unique and should be assessed using appropriate metrics. Hence, metrics will change if the channel changes. For example, for tracking a social media campaign one can use the following metrics instead of the ones defined above for tracking website performance:

• Potential Reach— This refers to the potential target size a given activity (e.g. post, tweet, etc.) can reach within the company’s social media network.
• Number of mentions—This refers to the number of times a company or its products have been mentioned on social networking sites. This metric needs to be qualified with information regarding the type of mentions being received.
• Number of Shares/Retweets—This metric represents the number of times content provided by the company is shared by its subscribers or followers.
• Number of Replies and Comments—This metric represents the number of replies and comments that the company’s content has generated.

Please visit www.smstudy.com for more details.

Sentiment analysis is the science of inferring insights from data generated in social media and goes beyond social media metrics such as the number of likes, shares, mentions, and followers. Sentiment analysis is a significant component of social media analytics; it involves processing consumers’ opinions, conversations, and sentences to detect and understand consumer emotions and mindsets toward brands or topics. The data gathered might be from blogs, forums, social media posts, reviews, wikis, and more. Sentiment analysis uses parameters such as context, tone, and emotions among others.

Sentiment analysis categorizes the divergence (positive or negative) of a post, comment, or statement that establishes the positivity, negativity, or neutrality of the sentiments around a topic.

Social media monitoring software is one of the ways companies use sentiment analysis. These software packages and tools use natural language processing techniques and statistics to analyze sentiments on huge amounts of social data.

Analyzing audience sentiment in online conversations is a leading indicator in foreseeing the outcomes of coordinated activities as varied as political events, marketing campaigns, and product launches. For example, sentiment reports pulled in advance of a presidential election can help identify trends that can predict the winner.

Business questions that can help gauge sentiment include the following:

• How do people feel about the product or brand?
• How are people responding to campaigns or product launches?
• Is there a way to predict the outcome of a campaign or event so that the company knows how to invest in marketing?
• Why aren’t consumers buying the product?

Sentiment analysis of social data empowers business decision-makers to understand consumer attitudes and behaviors. Since social data is voluntary and user generated, mining this data and effectively classifying or coding it allows companies to forecast with some certainty customers’ feelings towards campaigns, brands, content, and products.

Small publications and authors often use the online marketplace (companies such as Amazon) to sell their books. These small publications do not have the resources to reach a global audience on their own. Thus, strategic partnerships with online booksellers or websites that have a huge reach will help them promote their books effectively.

Visit www.smstudy.com to learn more ways to monitor and optimize social media use.

As a seller, your website or ecommerce webstore can bring you a good amount of traffic and sales. It offers a great way to attract new customers and increase the reach of your products and brand. However a small company typically may not have the resources to create a comprehensive website, set up a payment gateway, or invest on online marketing efforts. Even an existing seller could face a roadblock when it comes to increasing reach, as online marketing spends become progressively higher. This is where alliances or relationships with online marketplaces can help.

Strategic alliances or relationships with online marketplaces are very effective for increasing reach. An online marketplace is a type of e-commerce website where product and inventory information is provided by multiple third parties, and the transactions are processed by the marketplace operator. The product offered could be a physical product, such as clothing, furniture, books, or electronics. Or it could even be an intangible product, such as an online training course, downloadable game, or streaming video.

The marketplace processes consumer transactions and the participating retailers or wholesalers fulfill and deliver the products and services; thus, the online marketplace or site is really the middle-man. Some marketplaces may also handle order fulfilment and delivery management services, for which they typically charge a premium. Because marketplaces offer products from many providers, they offer a wider selection and more competitive prices than those offered by the e-commerce sites of individual businesses.

For a small manufacturer that does not have a large enough brand to attract brick-and-mortar retailers and does not have sufficient money to gain and manage a critical mass of visits on its own website, partnering with an online marketplace makes perfect sense. It helps the manufacturer save the costs involved in online marketing and enhancing customer experience. For the online marketplace, it means an additional product or brand available for its customers to choose from, thus becoming a win-win relationship for the marketplace operator and the small manufacturer.

These companies benefit by paying a small percentage of their revenue to the marketplace operator who can provide those services. Since the marketplace operator typically has multiple—sometimes thousands of associated parties promoting their products on the website, it is cost effective and scalable. These online marketplaces are often the primary destination people choose to purchase a particular product. If you’re looking to increase reach, marketplaces offer you a quick and easy access to new markets.

Small publications and authors often use the online marketplace (companies such as Amazon) to sell their books. These small publications do not have the resources to reach a global audience on their own. Thus, strategic partnerships with online booksellers or websites that have a huge reach will help them promote their books effectively.

Visit www.smstudy.com to learn more ways to increase your online reach.

“A massive chunk of the advertising market is based on smoke and mirrors, or even outright fraud,” says Matthew Ingram writing in Fortune magazine.[1]

After describing fraudulent activities such as “pixel stuffing” and “ad stacking”—to be discussed in a later post—and their dilatory effects on the online ad industry, Ingram says, “But the biggest fraud of all is the use of “bots,” software programs designed to mimic the activities of human browsers.”

Bot is short for robot as in the “software program known as a “robot,” “spider,” or “crawler” [that] scans web pages, follows links between pages and sites, collects information about websites, and indexes this information” used by browsers for compiling their databases.[2] This was the early use of bots, and they became familiar through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. A bot used to defraud online advertisers is more of a creepy “crawler.”

These evil bots are part of the problem of slowing growth for online advertisers. “Ad blocking is costing the industry $781 million a year—yet makes up only a sliver of the total $8.2 billion lost to major problem areas including bot traffic and content piracy,” observed a 2015 report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reported by Tim Baysinger in AdWeek. Baysinger adds that “The IAB argues ‘non-human traffic,’ or bots, create more than half the losses, around $4.6 billion.”[3]

The view doesn’t get better for 2016, “Online ad fraud driven by bots will cost brands $7.2 billion globally this year, according to a forecast in a new joint study by the Association of National Advertisers and White Ops,” according to another AdWeek article by Christopher Heine.[4]

Not all bots are bad, though.

Bots automate tasks that are repetitive and too costly to be done by humans, such as helping to monitor and improve SEO, “Increased mentions and links on other websites and online news sites may provide a significant boost in search engine rankings. This improvement may be measured by tracking the rankings in search engines that are popular in the geographies where the company operates. There are a number of tools (both free and paid) available online, that can automate the tracking process of search engine rankings for companies,” says Digital Marketing, the third book in the SMstudy Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge (SMstudy® Guide) series.

Other online campaigns can benefit from bots as well, “Marketers managing e-mail distribution in-house will need to subscribe to a service that automates, tracks, and evaluates their e-mail campaigns,” according to the SMstudy® Guide.

So, how does a company protect itself against the bad bots?

"‘Some basics include knowing your supply chain partners and investigating new potential relationships using address information, tax IDs, and background checks,’" Nick Terlizzi, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP and a member of its EY Media & Entertainment Advisory Services told Baysinger. This suggestion also applies to ameliorating the damage done by content piracy.

"It also underscores the need for the entire marketing ecosystem to manage their media investments with far greater discipline and control against a backdrop of increasingly sophisticated fraudsters," says Bob Liodice, Association of National Advertisers president and CEO, in a statement reported by AdWeek.[5]

Until that marketing ecosystem is built, online advertisers will need to recognize that these bots are not the ones they are looking for and keep on moving.

For additional interesting and informative articles on sales and marketing, please visit SMstudy.com.

(Jim Pruitt, SMstudy staff writer contributed to this article.)

[1] Matthew Ingram. (July 1, 2015) “There’s a Ticking Time Bomb Inside the Online Advertising Market.” Fortune. Retrieved 5/25/16 from http://fortune.com/2015/07/01/online-advertising-fraud/

[2] Digital Marketing, book three of the SMstudy Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge (SMstudy® Guide).

[3] Tim Baysinger. (12/1/2015) “The Online Industry is Losing $8 Billion a Year, and Ad Blocking Is the Least of Its Worries.” AdWeek. Retrieved on 5/25/16 from http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-online-industry-losing-8-billion-every-year-168389

[4] Christopher Heine. (January 19, 2016) “Bots Will Cost Digital Advertisers $7.2 Billion in @016, Says ANA Study.” AdWeek. Retrieved on 5/25/16 from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/bots-will-cost-digital-advertisers-72-billion-2016-says-ana-study-169072

[5] Christopher Heine: previously cited

It’s my morning routine: I sit, smartphone in hand, twitter app open and dig into the chatter. Quickly scrolling through breaking news, taking in headlines and laughing at Michael Moore’s latest quip, I pause on a presidential candidate’s tweet; a candidate I support. As I read the tweet and agree with its message, nodding my head in a “you said it, brother!” manner, I’m also debating whether to heart or even possibly retweet. I can see that it’s been hearted and retweeted thousands of times already and a part of me truly wonders what is lost to my 45 followers (most of whom are trying to sell me something) if I don’t share?

Will they miss out on some vital information?

Will they be annoyed?

Will they disagree?

And then, I have the aha moment.

The truthiest truth is this: I should “heart,” “like,” “share” and “retweet” content I believe in. Not for my followers, since they’ll most likely receive the same information from various other sources, but because we now have the power and the platform to really say what we think, feel, believe. And that is real power. And who am I to turn away such a gift?

All this power is made even more potent because everyone is listening!

For example, marketers and companies want to test the waters with a brand or product, continually finding new ways to slice and dice the data to arrive at the best metrics for planning and executing marketing and sales adventures. 

Or political parties taking the temperature of the society on the importance of an issue or testing the potential of a particular smear campaign (I’ve seen it, it’s ugly).

Or news media outlets continually gathering sentiment, feedback and sometimes actionable intel (in the case of citizen journalism) on stories, topics, issues and events.

These golden nuggets of information or social insights reveal so much about who we are and what we care about that no marketer, politician or gatekeeper can resist.

After my early morning aha moment, my eyes are opened to the dangers inherent in such a powerful tool and what could happen if the tables were turned on us lovers of online democracy. Citing various examples of self-censorship, an article on The Intercept addresses a recent study on the chilling effect created by widespread surveillance. And that, of course, includes social media channels where users know they are being read, monitored.

According to author Glenn Greenwald, “The fear that causes self-censorship is well beyond the realm of theory. Ample evidence demonstrates that it’s real— and rational. A study from PEN America writers found that 1 in 6 writers had curbed their content out of fear of surveillance and showed that writers are “not only overwhelmingly worried about government surveillance, but are engaging in self-censorship as a result.”

And this is no stand-alone, one-off study. Data abounds (and compounds) indicating that we, the watched, are watching what we say.

This makes me fret— a sweaty-palmed, hand-wringing sort of fret.

If we begin to see ourselves as oppressed by the experience of sharing on social media, we’ve collectively gone through the looking glass. We’ve embraced an alternate reality where we are not free to contribute to the construction of a society or the promotion of an idea (or even product). We’ve turned away from the greatest contribution and benefit Twitter and other social media platforms provide…the opportunity to engage in the global marketplace of ideas, to hear and be heard, to make a difference.

So, setting fear aside, I embrace the power of my opinions and retweet that tweet. To do my part, to provoke, to question, and in this instance, to add my one voice to the many.

Even if it means being the 3,478th person to retweet a tweet, it matters.

For more on sales and marketing, visit smstudy.com.

Sources:

New Study Shows Mass Surveillance Breeds Meekness, Fear and Self-Censorship, Glenn Greenwald, April 26, 2016 https://theintercept.com/2016/04/28/new-study-shows-mass-surveillance-breeds-meekness-fear-and-self-censorship/

When creating an online presence, one of a marketing team’s initial steps is to explore the various digital marketing channels available that will maximize the reach of their products or services. Given the nature of the online world, which is constantly evolving, new channels are developing with greater frequency, and audiences are continuously exploring new sources of online content. Knowing this, marketers must continually assess digital marketing channels for their effectiveness.

To identify the most effective marketing channels for an organization’s products or services, marketers spend a considerable amount of time identifying and understanding the dynamics of all available digital marketing channels and evaluating these channels relative to their company’s overall organizational goals and objectives.

When first moving into the digital marketing realm, it is common for a company to veer towards Facebook and Twitter, considering their global reach. And if so many companies before them have done the same, why not follow the crowd, right? Wrong!

Snapchat is the place to be. Seriously. And here’s why…

According to Adage, “Snapchat entered into a niche that's so forward because it's catered towards a generation even its creators didn't understand. It's not that the user interface is complicated, it's that the user interface doesn't even exist. It makes assumptions about its users preemptively and doesn't care if it's shutting out an entire generation.”

The niche generation Adage refers to is the Millennials. If Millennials are your target market, which by the way, they should be considering a recent piece by Entrepreneur stating that 89 percent of Millennials use social media, then exploring Snapchat should definitely be considered.

In the initial stages of researching digital marketing channels, a company’s marketing team identifies target customers in the digital space to understand their likes, dislikes, perceptions of the company’s brand, its major competitors, their digital needs related to the brand, and how the brand may fulfill these needs. All of this information, along with Documented updates of current trends in digital marketing, should be recorded for future reference. But, how does this data lead to a successful ad campaign directed at a target audience? Exploring the many social media platforms that can engage a target audience is a good start.

Snapchat offers brands the opportunity to create their own account allowing them to be followed by their customers, but the app has also paved the way for Snapchat influencers to have great sway over their followers. Influencers, in general, are people that have extremely large social media followings and are paid by companies to advertise their brand. The use of influencers has proven to be a smart move, since, as noted by Jay Baer, president of Convince & Covert “only 33 percent of people in America actually follow brands”

In the end it’s all about reach. The more people you can reach in your target audience the better, so it is important for a company’s digital marketing team to explore all options. Maybe even if that means stepping out of their comfort zone and focus on a new avenue for social media marketing. Based on the low level of online brand loyalty, companies like Snapchat have thought outside the box to offer innovative ways to reach target audiences without a company having to push to gain followers.

For more interesting articles visit SMstudy.com

Sources:

“To Big Brands, From a Millennial: Snapchat Filters Are Where It’s At,” Jillian Hausmann, March, 28 2016. http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/steps-brands-sponsor-snapchat-filters/303288/

“The Real Generation Gap: How Adults and Teens Use Social Media Differently,” Kathleen Davis, August 26, 2013. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228029

“11 Shocking New Social Media Statistics in America,” Jay Baer. http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-research/11-shocking-new-social-media-statistics-in-america/

Consumers rely on their mobile devices to keep them in-the-know in order to make decisions regarding their personal and professional lives. Think about it, on average you check your smartphone 85 times per day. That’s 85 chances for companies to get their brand seen. And most companies have attempted to optimize this opportunity by expanding their reach through mobile apps, but have fallen flat.

Here’s why: micro-moments, or “intent-driven moments of decision-making and preference-shaping that occur throughout the entire consumer journey.”  

Let me break it down for you a little further. People use their smartphones to purchase products, look up information, and watch videos. Sometimes they just reflexively turn to their device. According to Google, “In these moments, consumers' expectations are higher than ever. The powerful computers we carry in our pockets have trained us to expect brands to immediately deliver exactly what we are looking for when we are looking. We want things right, and we want things right away.”

So what can we do? According to Digital Marketing, book 3 in the SMstudy® Guide, “Rich media ads are image ads incorporating animations or other elements that provide users with ways to interact with the ad. Such elements are often customized to match user behavior. The targeted and personalized nature of the ads is intended to generate greater engagement, resulting in more views and clicks.” These types of ads woo users into making the clicks that get them to the right thing right away.

Here are a couple easy tips for creating the perfect micro-moments for your company to fully get use of those dollars it spends on marketing:

Create a blueprint: we all need to start somewhere, and the best place is the drawing board. Figure out what your target consumers are looking for and when. It is helpful to use Google Analytics to assist this process. With this data you can efficiently decipher what draws consumers to your brand and at what time. Time is an important factor that many companies overlook. Consumers are more likely to search for information on their phone while they are performing a task, so releasing a micro-moment during regular business hours can promote viewers to keep on viewing. Provide your audience with what they want, when they want it.

Understand your consumers: People process visuals 60,000 times faster than text, so give the people what they want, videos! Quick thirty-second to one-minute videos that engage consumers will increase click-rates from the micro-moment to your website. It is important to create the right moments that make consumers want to learn more about your brand.

Create a moment that seamlessly leads to your product. This may seem like a no-brainer, but the content you create, whether it be visuals or text, better give the consumer relevant information about something they are interested in as well as information about your product. There needs to be a connection between the two. A good example of this is Dunkin’ Donuts. The company released an app that not only navigates you to the closest Dunkin’ Donuts coffee shop, but also depicts the wait time at each location, so customers can plan their route to the coffee shop with the least amount of wait time. The app and the micro-moment that was launched with the start of the app seamlessly takes the consumer to the product.

Become one of the successful brands that use micro-moments to market products, and for any questions refer to SMstudy.com to help you with all of your sales and marketing needs.

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

A “Dancing Bear” is very interesting and entertaining to watch, but the more you watch the more you think, what is the point?

Nicholas Griffin, regional director at Allen International equates a dancing bear to the digital experience. Everyone is looking for the digital experience: a computer-automated world that will get you what you want when you want it. But the more you think about it, what is the point?

Everything is right at your fingertips in the digital world, but that is until you open your mobile app and you can’t seem to navigate the app to save your life. Gone are the days where you could pick up a newspaper and skim through the pages until your eyes land on an article that tickles your fancy, welcome to the new age where that darn search button on your favorite news app appears to be hiding from you.

The information that you thought was right at your fingertips is actually not. And you’re not alone. Your customers are having the same experiences. So, what do you, as a company, to fix this problem for your customers?

The answer is quite simple really, look to SMstudy. According to Digital Marketing, book 3 in the SMstudy® Guide, “User interface refers to the quality of design, ease of navigation and responsiveness of an app or mobile site. An app or mobile site might perform all the functions and have all the features that customers want. However, if the graphic quality is low, or navigation is not intuitive, or the app or mobile site is slow to respond, then the perception of the app or mobile site from a user’s perspective is negatively impacted.”

In order to avoid the “Dancing Bear,” companies need to ensure their customers that they can do anything with the touch of a button and that button should be very easy to find. But don’t stop there. The app or mobile site also needs to be engaging. Which sounds difficult, but it’s really not. If you create content with your customers in mind rather than your business, the content will feel tailor made and will attract more customers. Visuals are processed 60,000 thousand times faster than text, so they are also a must.

But how do you know if your company has produced a product that will truly satisfy your customers? As noted in Digital Marketing, A/B testing can be very useful when a company is unsure whether their app or mobile website is, in fact, engaging, easy to navigate and performs all of the features their customers are looking for. The company can divide its’ budget between two or more design layouts and track the response rate.

Lucky for you the “Dancing Bear” is easy to evade if you keep a close eye on it, and for any future questions in regards to your sales and marketing needs visit www.SMstudy.com.

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer. contributed to this article]

There are 83 million Millennials. That is 83 million young adults that were born in the early 80s to late 90s, and 71 percent of those young adults check their social media websites every day. It only makes sense that companies have moved to social media when it comes to advertising their brands.

Snapchat, a company born in 2011, is now worth 18 billion dollars. So, ask the question. Go ahead. How did they do it? They learned how to monetize their product. Snapchat Discover is part of the latest app update. It provides companies with the ability to market their brand on the Stories menu. This not only eliminates the restriction of only being able to reach the people that personally follow a company but also costs 100 dollars CPM or cost per mille. For those who have no idea what that means, that is 100 dollars per 1,000 views. You can imagine how fast the money is being raked in when you consider there are 100 million daily active Snapchat users and the number is rapidly growing.

As fantastic as the new Snapchat Discover is, it doesn’t really assist companies that are not able to fork out large sums of money to reach the masses. Companies such as The Coca-Cola Company have figured out how to overcome this issue by handing the metaphorical reins over to Snapchat Influencer, Harris Markowitz. Snapchat Influencers are just your average Joes that have accumulated millions of followers by utilizing the app to it’s potential. The Coca-Cola Company partnered with Harris Markowitz to organically advertise their brand.

Markowitz has been providing weekly exclusive content for their Snapchat Story by, “reflecting the company's set mission: to refresh the world, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness, and to create value and make a difference. The Snapchat stories Coca-Cola creates refresh the organic advertisement world within the app by meeting all of their company missions in a creative way,” said Julian Gamboa, Lead Course Assistant at the University of California, Berkeley.

So not only do these snaps reach the followers of The Coca-Cola Company, but every single one of Markowitz’s 5 million followers has the opportunity to enjoy the engaging and entertaining Snap Story. By hiring Markowitz, The Coca-Cola Company went from promoting their brand to the few that have chosen to follow the company to having the brand viewed by millions of users virtually overnight. Other companies such as Taco Bell and Mashable have also jumped on the organic advertising bandwagon by partnering with Snapchat Influencers.

Partnering with an influencer on social media almost tricks viewers into thinking they watching their favorite Snapchat star’s Story and in the digital marketing world we like to call this native advertisement. According to Digital Marketing, book 3 in the SMstudy® Guide, “native advertising is a form of online advertising that blends in with its surroundings. The objective is to promote a company’s product or service in a way that is ‘native’ to the platform in which the message appears. Native ads are promotional pieces that are attempting to look like the material to which they are adjacent.”

The going rate for partnering with Snapchat influences varies as much as their online personalities, but there are best practices when it comes to negotiating a mutually beneficial agreement. Most influencers accept a flat fee. It simplifies the process for everyone and it is helpful for the allocation of funds months in advance (if need be). As Snapchat charges cost per mille, so do influences. For the most part. Influencers have also been known to ask for a percentage of the sale rather than flat compensation, as well as free products or services.

According to Ad Week, “Snapchat splits revenue with the media companies for ads on Discover channels, and those sponsorships can cost as much as $75,000 a day, say marketing execs. In other cases, brands like McDonald's cough up as much as $750,000 for daily official sponsorships.”

Companies like Boost Insider aids brands in finding the right influencer for them at the right budget. You can partner with an influencer for as little as 200 dollars, but, again, this number does depend on the amount of followers the influencer has. For small business, hiring an influencer is not out of the cards, it will drastically improve the way you organically use Snapchat and give you the fun of going native.

For more interesting articles about sales and marketing, visit www.smstudy.com/articles

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

Accepting that the sales and marketing funnel will always be leaky is akin to accepting that, despite all efforts, we will not grow taller… or younger. It’s never going to happen, we know this. The marketing funnel will always be leaky, no matter how talented and thorough sales and marketing teams become at plugging the holes. But accept it we must! Since as of today, there is no leak-free funnel and none on the horizon, we all just have to deal.

We learn from SMstudy that the leaky funnel is an analogy. Water being poured from the top represents prospective customers and the water existing from the bottom represents converted customers. 

SMstudy states: “Digital media reaches out broadly and acquires potential customers using a variety of online tactics. Marketers then capture information about those customers and begin to target them more effectively with marketing messages and other digital marketing initiatives, and many become qualified prospects or leads. Eventually some of the qualified leads buy the product, thus becoming customers.”

In a perfect place known as “Sales-and-Market Landia,” every dear soul who ever views our ad, not to mention visits our website, would be swirled into our seamless steel-trap funnel with no chance of escape except out the bottom as the proud owner of our product or service, free to roam and spread the good word.

Well, the real world is not “Sales-and-Market Landia,” and most of those who venture into the funnel will ultimately slip through the cracks on their way to the final stage (aka the sale). Leakage numbers vary, but according to Lisa Cramer nearly 80 percent of those who fall into the funnel are never brought to sales. On the bright side or perhaps a cautionary warning, 60 percent of leads who enter the funnel will end up purchasing within the next 24 months… just maybe not via that same funnel.  

With figures like these it’s no surprise we find all sorts of advice on how marketers can plug the holes of their own unique funnels. Just google, “plug leaky funnel” and you’ll see what comes back, a bucket load of funnel advice. 

Basics such as data analytics and understanding the Point of Loss (POL) and Point of Influence (POF) can help to identify and shore up the holes, and realistic genuine attempts should be made to do so. But at some point, acceptance of a leaky funnel is key to not obsessing over the holes and maintaining your sanity.   

David Lund of Marketing Executives Networking Group recognizes the inevitable nature of the leaky funnel and the necessity of accepting said leakage, but still offers these simple steps to increase sales even for a hole-riddled funnel:

• Put more total people in the funnel.  Your funnel still leaks, but more people in should mean more people out.  If only 1-5% of the people at the top of your funnel actually buy from you or sign up for your services, you need to first focus on improving your funnel rather than putting more people into it.
• Put more of the right people in the funnel.  You hope to attract and sell more of your target audience.  But, if you don’t clearly understand why they are choosing you, this approach will not be fully effective.
• Retain more of the right people in the funnel.  By slowing or stopping the leaks in your funnel, you will optimize your efforts to attract and retain more target customers.  This is usually a much more productive near-term effort versus just spending more on ads or offering promotions.

So, ideally, yes, all holes would be plugged and anyone who ever knowingly or unknowingly fell into our funnel would come out the proud owner of whatever product or service was for sale. But that is a myth, a dream straight out of “Sales-and-Marketing landia.” The truth is, despite all our efforts, there will always be holes. Always. But still we plug on!  

For more articles on sales and marketing, visit smstudy.com/articles

[Spring Eselgroth, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to this article.]

Photo credit: Catherine, https://www.flickr.com/photos/rumpleteaser/2812559753

Sources:

SMstudy Guide, Digital Marketing, pg.62-63.

Sales Success as an Optimistic Cynic, Tibor Shanto, Pipeliner CRM, July 7, 2015, http://blog.pipelinersales.com/sales-professionals/sales-success-as-a-optimistic-cynic/

The Beginner’s Guide to Identifying Leaks in Your Sales Funnel,” Dale Cudmore, The Daily Egg, June 8, 2015, http://blog.crazyegg.com/2015/06/08/leaks-in-your-sales-funnel/

“How to Reduce Lead Leakage Now,” Lisa Cramer, Marketing Profs, Oct. 27, 2011, http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2011/6227/how-to-reduce-lead-leakage-now

“Do you know where your marketing funnel is leaking and how to stop it,” David Lund, Marketing Executives Networking Group, July 30, 2013, http://mengonline.com/blog/2013/07/30/do-you-know-where-your-marketing-funnel-is-leaking-and-how-to-stop-it/

An effective website is a critical component of a company’s overall online success. Company’s website serves as the central hub and foundation for its online activity. With a plethora of available website designs, the digital marketing team must determine the appropriate and optimal design and message.

Besides having a basic understanding of the technology on the website, the digital marketing team must also consider the following facets of creating a website.

Consumer Perspective

• Relevancy—Age, cultural nuances, geography, and other demographic factors of the target audience will influence the type of content on the website.

• Usability Design—The digital marketing team must take into consideration how technically savvy its target customer is. If the target customer does not generally have the appropriate comfort level with technology, the team should design a simple, text-based layout with easy navigation and basic features. If the target customer is comfortable and familiar with the Internet and computer use, a more intricate, interactive, and information-rich website can be implemented. The design of the site should depend on the expectations of both the users and the company. In some cases, the development might focus on consumer engagement, while in other cases, the design might be oriented toward supporting task-oriented behavior such as the ability to make changes to one’s account, purchase a product or service, and so on.

Site Development Perspective

• Purpose—Companies maintain a web presence for a variety of reasons. While some companies use websites as their main method of selling their products, other companies have an online presence just to support their business, message, and brand position. There are companies that use websites as a public relations (PR) tool, to enhance brand value in the minds of their customers, or to evaluate product feedback from customers that may help in understanding customer needs, general communications, product updates, and sales. The digital marketing team is responsible for ensuring that the website is designed to meet the overall strategic objectives outlined in the Marketing Strategy.

• Planning—The digital marketing team must work with the website development team to plan the execution of the website, beginning with creating a storyboard for the website; listing functional requirements; building the database structure; developing wireframes; and determining hypermedia linkages, search engine key words, graphical design components, user interface designs, audio/video sources, animation, and text requirements and formats.

• Performance— The digital marketing team also must consider the logical design of a good website, compare the performance of competitor websites to identify best practices, check for effective performance across browsers and operating systems, and perform usability testing of the website to ensure that it is easy to use.

• Maintenance—Websites create an online presence for a brand, so the marketing team must ensure that the website is maintained and tested regularly. Downtime on a website may adversely impact the direct online sales of products and may also taint brand reputation in the minds of consumers.

The brand messaging on the website has to be in-line with the overall brand message and must stay relevant to the target audience.

Down ‘n’ dirty or überposh, there’s a place for all quality of video marketing in the world today.

Recently we noted marketers’ growing acumen at not only parsing available social data, but also using the social media environment to probe the social community and glean consumer preferences and other social insights.  

We said, “Filling the role of the modern-day focus group, social media insights are also valuable for taking the temperature of the public on an idea such as a logo or slogan, a product or service. Testing the social media world’s tastes and perceptions allows for adjustment before launching, saving money and perhaps even preventing a catastrophic mistake.”

A recent experiment co-sponsored by Google and L’Oreal was one such probe that asked “whether storytelling changes for different age groups?” Results provided interesting insights into the minds of the under-45 crowd and how they respond to various styles of video marketing.

The study presented three L’Oreal ad spots (via YouTube) promoting a new eyeshadow. Researchers then documented which of the three had the greatest impact across three age groups: 18 to 24, 25 to 34 and 35 to 44.

The first ad is a traditional cosmetics commercial- gorgeous photography, high glamour. The kind of ad we’d expect to see on television. This one was named “The Glam.”

The second was more of a how-to video but still retained some glamorous elements. This one was called, “The Show.”

The third, named “The Tell,” was a user-generated DIY video. A regular “girl next door” talking about the makeup and how to apply it. Straight forward and practical.  

The results were both expected and surprising. Let’s explain…

“The Glam” scored very well, indeed. Topping the charts for both the 18-24 and 35-44 age groups, with no major difference in their rate of viewing.

The report states that “Regardless of age, "The Glam," the most traditionally structured and produced video, was the most "unskippable" ad with the strongest view-through rate (VTR).”

No real surprise here, right? We all love gorgeous images, compelling copy and a little eye candy never hurts. 

But here is where the experiment gets interesting.

Although “The Glam” view rates were 82% higher, it was “The Tell,” the DIY, user-generated styled video that did exceedingly well with the 18-24 age group (aka millennials) in the category of Ad Recall, coming in 100% higher than “The Glam.”

What the marketing study showed clearly was the changing generational tastes in regards to how marketed products are received. “The Glam” was accepted by all age groups as the highest visual quality with superior storytelling, but failed to provide the same viewer retention as “The Tell.” “The Tell” provided obvious how-to value and millennials had no problem accepting the unpolished amateur style of video. In addition, because “The Tell” felt more like “taking advice from a friend” it produced a click-through rate two times higher than the “The Glam” and “The Show,” meaning even in its bling-less status, the how-to video created a stronger call to action.

The report suggests millennials are miles more accepting of low-fi video production than the Gen Xer's… even when they know it’s an ad. For marketers that’s a pretty big deal. If the study proves accurate upon additional testing, anyone with a smartphone and some chutzpah can shoot marketing videos (bringing the cost to nearly zero) and still have the same chance at online virility, the holy grail of digital marketing.

All this to say, there appears to be a place for both “The Glam” and “The Tell” in today’s online marketplace, given the tastes of millennials to accept less traditional, high-gloss marketing as long as it offers legitimate value. This opens the door for greater marketing opportunities no matter what the budget.

For more articles on Sales and Marketing, visit smstudy.com.

[Spring Eselgroth, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to this article.]

Sources:

“2015 Will Be the Year of Video Marketing,” Tyler Lessard, Dec. 17, 2014 http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/26719/2015-will-be-the-year-of-video-marketing

“How Demographics and Storytelling Style Affect Video Ad Effectiveness,” Ben Jones, January 6. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/how-demographics-storytelling-style-affect-video-ad-effectiveness.html?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Think

“In Search of Social Media Insights,” SMstudy.com. http://smstudy.com/Article/the-search-for-social-media-insights

Photo credit: Laura Lee Moreau

Moms and dads have to make difficult parenting decisions on a daily basis. Similac, a formula brand, released a parody about the squabbles parents often encounter when it comes to the best way to raise a child. Should you breast-feed your child, pump, or use formula? Should you stay at home with your child or use daycare services? Should the father stay at home with their child, while the mother works? 

The parody begins with mothers and fathers gathered in a park quite forcibly stating why they are the better parents. In the midst of all the judging, fighting, and name calling a stroller rolls down a hill. The parents instantly stop their bickering and run after the stroller. They become an army of people all fighting for a single cause—to save the child, because parents, whether they are mothers or fathers, are all parents first. Similac used this argument to launch the “Sisterhood of Motherhood” ad campaign that aims to “encourage parents to come together to focus on shared goals, not differences because when it comes down to it, we are all on the same side,” the company’s press release states. 

The parody and the following campaign reached 6 million views just two weeks after they were released. The parody spread like wildfire through all platforms of social media due to its funny, but honest message. Ad Week deemed it the “Most honest ad ever about parenting.”

According to Digital Marketing, book 2 in the SMstudy® Guide, Similac hit the nail on the head with this advertisement. As noted in the book, “Consumers share content they like or find useful; thus, a high number of shares indicates that a large number of customers or potential customers perceive the company as helpful and knowledgeable and, by extension, may be more likely to purchase the company’s products or services.”

But how do you encourage social media goers to share information through the various social platforms? I remember sitting in my small office in San Francisco’s financial district when the CEO of our company shared a video with our team stating that it was going to go viral. I watched it and agreed that it was good, but no, it was not going to go viral and this is a common misconception in the corporate world. If you create it, then it will go viral.

In a recent article, we discussed that it is not about creating content, but creating the right content. The article states, “a company must ensure the content is engaging, easy to grasp, and attention-grabbing. You can increase engagement by following one simple rule: create content for your audience, not for your business. Identifying trending topics also makes content feel tailor-made and makes your company look up to date with the current market.”

Similac’s audience is mothers. Whether it be the stay-at-home mom or the mom climbing the corporate ladder, they both make trips to the grocery store to purchase formula. So, in this case, a company must appeal to women, and Similac did just that by pulling on our heart strings. Now that’s how you make a video go viral. 

To learn more about sales and marketing, visit www.smstudy.com

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

For roughly a decade technology has been facilitating the brushstrokes to paint an ever clearer picture of consumer behavior. Over time, analytics has helped solve the mysteries of the where, the when and the how often as it pertains to clicks, views or anything else online for that matter. In the process, the human behind the consumer data has been neglected.  The time has come to treat them like real people again.

The next new wave in marketing (there’ve been two so far according to reliable sources) will be marked by a return to the personal touch. There exists an emerging opinion that a continuation down the path of the science of analytics will not yield the desired results. And if anything, at some point it becomes a liability and deterrent to constructing strong enduring relationships with customers. The kind built on trust, respect and understanding. Or so believes Jahia, a leading User Experience Platform for Digital Transformation.

They state: “Building 1:1 customer relationships means relating in the most appropriate way for each customer. It is vital to find the right balance in communicating just enough - too much and they are annoyed, too little and they feel forgotten (or forget you).”

As I mentioned recently in the article “How Information Finds You: Hyper-relevant Content Marketing,” there is a refinement process occurring in digital marketing that emphasizes the use of high-quality content and a marketing strategy that employs the smartest possible implementation based on what is known about the viewer/consumer. This is the future of digital marketing due to several factors, including the phenomena of “peak content”. A more nuanced marketing approach that acknowledges the human being on the other side of the conversation is where everyone should be headed.

Again from Jahia: “The right relationship is not the same for every brand or every customer. It depends on both the product or service you offer and each customer’s individual preferences. The core of that relationship is giving the customer the feeling that they have as much control over the relationship as you do. That includes giving them transparency into what data you keep about them and how you use it — this is the beginning of trust.”

In addition, for the sake of a company’s longevity, to manage and use consumer data responsibly will set any marketer ahead of the curve; soon enough federal regulation will catch up and kinder practices will be required by law. By setting up a marketing system that respects privacy AND manages to market in an informed, logical manner is a vanguard move.

Jahia notes: “Very soon, this privacy and usage standard will not be simply the voluntary action of ethical companies. Emerging legal regulations will make it mandatory as it catches up with the digital revolution. This has already begun to be legislated in European courts. The courts determined that there is a ‘right to be forgotten’. This is just the beginning of the what is to come in the next few years. The courts are recognizing that individual’s privacy rights need to be respected, even on the internet. No enterprise can afford to be behind in this area.”

Creative ways to cultivate real relationships with customers will be the mandate for marketers and sales professionals in the coming months and years. Systematizing that cultivation with a hyper-relevant content strategy is only a portion of what the future will require; the rest will rely on the sales and marketing teams’ skill, intuition and ability to empathize with consumers.

In 2016, the big data boom will settle into the tasteful, refined use of the data to provide value and relevance to the public. Now that we have a clear picture, what marketers do with it matters.

For more intersting articles on sales and marketing, visit www.smstudy.com/articles

[Spring Eselgroth, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to this article.]

Sources:

Discovering Third Wave, Jahia, Feb. 10, 2016. https://www.jahia.com/files/live/sites/jahiacom/files/Discovering%20Third%20Wave%20of%20DX.pdf

The bounce rate (BR) or the percentage of people who entered a website and immediately left, is a popular metric companies use to determine the quality of a webpage.

According to Digital Marketing, Book 2 in the SMstudy Guide®, bounce rate is defined as “the percentage of visitors who leave the first page of a website they encounter without clicking to other pages on the website. A lower bounce rate from a modified advertisement would indicate that customers were leaving the page less often, possibly because they were finding the page relevant to the advertisement. The target bounce rate should be the bounce rate of pages linked to similar advertisements that the company has used successfully.”

So, a BR is not exactly a percentage of people who visited a website and immediately left, but actually a percentage of people who visited a website but then performed no other trackable actions. Technically, according to these guidelines, a person could read a 10-thousand-word article on a company’s website and share it with five hundred of their closest friends without actually performing a trackable action. A common misconception in regards to BR is often the way it is calculated. If a company does not take into consideration the example above, then the bounce rate will appear to be too high.

Once a bounce rate is properly calculated, it’s time to get down to business. User experience should be the first factor a company looks at in the hopes of reducing their BR. People that browse websites are looking for a seamless passage through the site. If a company’s website is confusing, difficult to navigate or causes confusion, people will tend to look for another site they can get around more easily. As the old saying goes, “keep it simple, stupid.” Another easy way to enhance user experience is to ensure the content is relevant and engaging. This can be done by creating videos, images, blog articles, and more.

One additional action that can easily improve a person’s user experience is customizing language to region. As stated in Digital Marketing, “In order to ensure that the marketing message is relevant and reaches audiences around the world, businesses can also customize their ads based on the language preference for their audience. For example, a company providing services in Canada may wish to develop both French and English versions of their ads to target search queries in either official language.”

For more information about bounce rate and how to lower your company’s percentage visit www. SMstudy.com where you can be sure you will be able to take a seamless journey through our website. 

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article] 

Big data and analytics become an integral part of marketing since the inception of internet in the late 1990’s and the introduction of smart phone and other internet enabled smart devices in recent times. Big data usually refers to the data sets with sizes beyond the scope of commonly used software tools to collect, clean, manage and process data within an acceptable time frame. With the rapid advancement in technology and increasing use of smart phones and other internet enabled devices, organizations today face overwhelming volume of data through multiple channels and devices. The main roadblocks while using big data are:

• Capture high volume of data from multiple sources and consolidate the data
• Data cleaning (i.e. removing redundant or unnecessary data – internal data, data generated due to testing, deletion/ blocking of cookies)
• Data storage
• Data sharing/ transfer
• Data visualization
• Data analysis

Now the important question is why should organizations use big data and analytics. The answer lies in decision making. Organizations cannot afford to make any decision just by guess or gut feeling. The use of predictive analytics and certain other advanced statistical methods to extract value from data leads to more confident decision making which in turn results is greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk.     

Big data enables marketers to increase the size and range of information sources while speeding up reporting, enabling real-time forecasting and more informed and accurate decision-making.

marketers benefit from a large volume targeting options when it comes to online advertising. The growth of cookies and information-rich social media, means that the data is there to go beyond simple demographic, geographic, psychographic and time-based targeting options. 

Big data analytics helps optimizing campaigns and improve results in a scalable, real-time manner.

Big data transformed the last-click conversion attribution model to the multifaceted attribution model which takes into account all touch points across consumer purchase life-cycle. It was complicated earlier to capture these different, interrelated factors and their relative weights. But big data makes it easy to track, analyze and evaluate activities to see what is actually driving customers to engage.   

Find additional posts on sales and marketing at www.smstudy.com/articles. 

[Suman Ghosh, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to the article.]

Sources:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/65260-the-top-four-applications-of-big-data-in-marketing/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mckinsey/2013/07/22/big-data-analytics-and-the-future-of-marketing-sales/#6f0ec1ee344d

A 30-second spot during the Super Bowl can cost upwards of four million dollars, so it better pack a punch. It appears that the Frito-Lay’s marketing team agrees. For the last ten years, Doritos, a Frito-Lay brand, has asked people from around the world to submit a commercial to the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest. The winner attends the game, receives one million dollars, and lands a “dream job” at Universal Pictures.

This year marks the 11th and final competition and there are three finalists in the running. The first commercial, “Ultrasound” isn’t for the faint of heart, but is hilarious. “Swipe for Doritos” is a play on a popular dating app, Tinder, and “Doritos Dogs” is very cute and very clever. Who doesn’t love dogs? The three commercials are quite different, but they all have one thing in common, you will most likely be sporting a six-pack after viewing them from laughing so hard.

Go to https://crashthesuperbowl.doritos.com/finalists/ to vote for this year’s winner.

With the use of the hashtag, Doritos is able to access all platforms of social media for maximum reach, relationship, and reputation. According to Digital Marketing, book two in the SMstudy Guide®, “Social media channels provide a good marketing medium for businesses to run offers and promotions to engage audiences and reach desired objectives. These offers and promotions are typically valid for a fixed time frame, require audiences to participate by discussing their experiences while engaging with the brand and offer attractive rewards to audiences that engage with the brand.”

The three finalists were announced on January 4th and now people will have until February 7th, the day of the Super Bowl, to see if their favorite won.

The Doritos #CrashTheSuperBowl was the first of its kind. It paved the way for companies such as Chevrolet and CareerBuilder, who also pursued online commercial competitions, but Doritos was the only campaign that succeeded. Last year’s fan favorite had more than seven million views!

A study done in 2015 by Medill IMC’s Spiegel Digital and Database Research Center showed that people who participated in the contest were more likely to buy the product and thanks to these participants, sales increased by 42 percent in the first week (post events) and continued to increase by 35 percent by the fourth week.  

With the success that has been generated over the years with this campaign, it will be exciting to see what Frito-Lay comes up with next. 

For more interesting articles about Sales and Marketing, visit - www.SMstudy.com/articles

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article] 

One hundred days before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) gathered moms all around the world in a great, big group hug. Best known for products such as Pantene, Tide, Pampers, Bounty, and Oral B.—products that make bath time, laundry, clean-up, and brushing teeth just a little bit easier—the company launched a commercial portraying all the tasks a mother performs on a daily basis to support their child in achieving their dreams. The commercial closes with four children competing successfully in the Olympics and running up to their moms to thank them for getting them there.

The ad—that was spread through social media, TV and print—was a real tearjerker, making everyone grateful for the women who always cheered them on the loudest: their moms. If this commercial didn’t pull at your heart strings and make you tear up, then you were simply unhuman. The company reminded people from all walks of life that their success is, in big part, their mother’s success as well.

In order for P&G to create the ad campaign that was required to relate with their target audience they had to form a content creation and distribution plan. As stated in Digital Marketing, book two of the SMstudy Guide®, “The content creation plan identifies the type of content the business intends to create in order to connect with the target audience. The distribution plan charts how the organization intends to ensure that the created content reaches the intended audience by highlighting the chosen social media channels and detailing how each will be used to ensure maximum response to the content.”

The targeted audience of the commercial is moms. So, to ensure sales P&G appealed to the person responsible for completing the daily household chores. It is easy to forget everything that mothers do for their children, they don’t just raise them, they nurture them with love and with the help of P&G’s products.

P&G continued to clean up with this campaign, launching similar commercials prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2013 Special Olympics, as well as several other commercials titled “Raising an Olympian.” Providing audiences with a behind-the-scenes look at the amount of support moms really give their athletes, the brand used these commercials as a chance to sell their products. They showed moms cleaning their child’s uniforms with Tide laundry detergent and cleaning up after early morning breakfasts before practice using Bounty paper towels.

The initial commercial has six million views on YouTube and has been like 700,000 times on Facebook. I think we can officially say that P&G perfected the content creation and distribution plans making it the winner of the campaign Olympics.

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

It is often said that companies that listen to their customers grow fast! Customer feedback is an integral part of a company’s vision for growth. Feedback gives important insights about the company from the customer's eye and helps in positioning of its products.

How the customers perceive the company and its brands can be understood from customer feedback. Customer feedback plays a crucial role to maintain a positive image of the company by addressing negative customer feedback. Since, customers present their opinion in all the available channels, it is necessary to monitor all feedback resources to maintain the goodwill of the company. Customer feedback enables the company to identify its potential issues and help to build strong relationship with customers. It also gives an insight into the choices, preferences, likes and dislikes of the customers.

Customer feedback plays a significant role in refining social media strategies of the company. In today's world, most of the customers have presence on social media and share their opinions on social media. Potential customers assess the products and services of the company based on the reviews of existing customers. Positive feedback serves as evidence that the strategy the company has adopted is yielding desired results.  To establish healthy relationship with customers, companies may use e-mail marketing, conduct surveys on social media to gather information from existing customers. Collecting feedback from customers at different stages helps companies to gauge its future relationship with customers. Companies can make efforts to understand the needs of potential customers through online forums, blogs, etc.

All efforts of the company go in vain if the company does not form strategies to address negative feedback promptly. Companies should monitor negative feedback and should promptly solutions/replies that address the customers’ concerns. When customers are satisfied with the companies’ products and service, they provide positive, which ultimately increases customers reach.

Hence, collecting customer’s feedback within time can make you aware of your shortcomings and you can get the opportunity to improve your business.

Corporate sales or Business to Business (B2B) sales involves sales activities between different businesses. For example, a firm that manufactures tyres sells its products to a firm that manufactures automobiles. 

Sales and Marketing existed way before currency came into existence. Corporate sales has evolved along with sales and marketing.  Let’s have a quick run through the evolution of sales and marketing along with it the evolution of Corporate Sales:

1. Barter System:

This was the first kind of sales activity that was practiced thousands of years ago when were no coins and other forms of money were not common. People used to give things they dealt in, in exchange of things they wanted to procure. For example, if a farmer wanted to purchase some wooden furniture, he could do so by giving some of his harvest to the carpenter. Though the barter system was practiced centuries ago, it still can replace money in conditions like unavailability or instability of currency due to high inflation.

2. Traditional Marketplace:

Traditional marketplaces are usually small markets where price negotiations and other decisions related to sales are made quickly—often by one or two persons. There may be significant flexibility regarding discounts and additional product benefits. The focus is more on short-term gains and less on long-term transactions and relationships. There is negligible branding and advertising; rather the objective is to sell what has been produced.

3. Seller’s Marketplace:

The main objective of the seller’s marketplace is to establish a supply chain to procure products, and then establish a distribution channel to sell the products to a wide variety of customers, often referred to as “mass marketing.” The practice of using channel partners to sell products was established during this period.  Emphasis on branding and advertising is minimal in a seller’s marketplace.

4. Conventional Mass Media Marketing:

The objective of conventional mass media marketing is for organizations to create strong brands and differentiated brand perceptions so that consumers will desire and purchase their products rather than those available from competitors. Thus, mass media marketing usually uses cumulative repetition over time to influence consumer attitudes and purchase actions. Mass media marketing also involves creating distribution channels and appropriate pricing and positioning strategies to ensure that desirable products are available to customers at specific price points. 

5. Fragmented New-Age Marketing:

In recent times, the media has become increasingly fragmented with several hundred television and radio channels, as well as a large variety of print media, including newspapers, magazines, and trade publications. Moreover, since the late nineteen nineties, with the increasing popularity of the Internet and, more recently, smartphones, many options now exist for advertisers to reach a global audience using digital media marketing methods such as cell phone apps, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, QR codes, gamification, and proximity marketing (e.g., Foursquare).

6. Innovative Internet-Enabled Business Models:

The growing popularity of the Internet, smartphones, and digital media provide opportunities for a company to not only use fragmented new-age marketing effectively to promote existing products, but also to come up with innovative business models where product demo, customer acquisition, and order fulfillment can also take place online. 

Corporate sales has evolved concurrently with sales and marketing from barter system to being online and is evolving day by day as new methods and technologies come to the fore.
 

The concept of Growth–Share Matrix was created by Bruce D Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). It later came to be known as BCG growth-share matrix. During the late 1960’s this model was conceptualized to evaluate the potential of a product portfolio along with its strategic position in the business.

In the BCG growth–share matrix is one of the most sought after models to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the product portfolio of an organization. This matrix helps the organization to take corrective actions at proper time and frame strategies to increase profitability from each product in a particular portfolio.

In this matrix, vertical axis shows the market growth rate and horizontal axis represents the market share. The matrix divides each product from a product portfolio into the following four categories:

1. Cash Cows:

These are highly profitable products of a company. As these products have high demand and market share. They act as a great source of cash flow for an organization. The market share for cash cows should be monitored closely to ensure they do not move from the category of cash cow to the category of products classified as “Dogs.”

2. Stars:

As the name suggests, these are the star products of a company with high market share and high growth rate. These products lead the emerging markets. Although they are a great source of cash flow, the company needs to invest a lot in creating such products and carrying out its associated business and marketing operations. When the growth rate of such products lowers, they usually fall in the category of “Cash Cows” and help the company sustain the market share.

3. Dogs:

These product categories have very low market share in stagnant or declining markets, thereby generating low or no cash returns. Investments on such products are not recommended because they do not bring any remarkable benefits to the company. They may be utilized as a loss leader to gain the attention of new customers.

4. Question Marks:

These are the products with low market share but a high growth rate. The direction of such products cannot be predicted. If they continue with the high growth rate, they can become “Stars” over a period of time. And as the growth rate slows down, they may become “Cash Cows.” However, if these products continue to have a low market share, then over a period of time, as the market starts declining, these may fall in the category of “Dogs.” Hence, this product category is a question mark for an organization. These products cannot be left as it is though; at some point of time, the Management has to decide whether to invest in such products or not.

So, this matrix is used to evaluate the degree of appeal of every business unit and help the organization decide the appropriate amount of investment required in each product.

Experienced sales teams usually have an already set sales process. Based on the changing needs of the business this process may have to undergo some fine tuning or improvement. It is important to constantly monitor and evaluate your sales process for alignment with overall objectives of your business. A new company however would need to establish a sales process from scratch. They may use an established process already being used by a similar business or create a sales process of their own. This article briefly describes the five basic steps of a B2B sales process that can be used by any company or business involved in B2B sales.

Understanding these five steps and adapting them to suit the business requirements will help establish a framework for a comprehensive and effective sales process. The five steps are as follows:

Pre-sales—This first step in the sales process involves reviewing the current activities and selling processes. These activities include those carried out from the initial contact with a customer to the final delivery of a product or service. This step allows a developing company to assess its organizational capabilities to carry out the sales process. It includes understanding and strengthening the value proposition for customers. The different channels required to sell products in the future are also determined. Planning sales governance, setting sales targets, setting up the incentive structure for the sales team, and creating the marketing assets is also done at this stage. The sales team is also trained on products as well as the sales process and negotiation to prepare for selling activities.

Profiling of Target Customers—The first step in the prospecting stage, profiling target customers and decision makers, involves identifying and benchmarking profiling criteria for prospects and for decision makers. Characteristics of ideal customers, such as annual budget, are used to benchmark the profiling criteria.

Lead Generation and Qualification—The second step in the prospecting stage, lead generation, is the act of identifying prospective customers and generating ways to gain new customers. Profiled criteria and benchmarks are used to generate better leads. Lead generation uses various offline and online techniques and can be inbound or outbound.

Needs Assessment—Conversion starts with understanding customer needs for products or services. This understanding of needs is vital in the conversion process and enables the sales team to demonstrate to the customer how their product can fulfill the customer’s requirements.

Presentation, Negotiation, and Closure—This is the final stage in the conversion cycle. The corporate sales team presents the features, benefits, and advantages of the proposed products or services that can fulfill the needs of the prospects. At this stage, prospects present their objections to the sales proposal. It is the job of the corporate sales team to overcome these objections to close the deal. 

In God we trust, all others bring data—an apt description of today’s data driven business organizations. Need to conduct a promotional campaign? Have to change the product packaging? Should we introduce a new brand? Every decision needs to be backed up by data. Yet, data is necessary but not sufficient. Data collection has become easier with recent innovations but it is not very useful until it is converted to information.  Data mining is a processing tool which makes it useful by discovering information from the collected data.

Data mining is the most used secondary data processing tool. Through data mining, researchers can discover unknown valid information from huge databases; these discoveries help organizations make key business decisions. In other words, data mining is an exploratory data analysis without any prior hypothesis. Data mining helps organizations understand consumer buying behavior and trends for the near future; this process can also predict changes. Data mining is an important tool that allows researchers and analysts to manage businesses effectively and make key strategic decisions. Data mining is relatively easy when organizations have their own data warehouse. However, it is not necessary to have a data warehouse to perform data mining.

Data mining operations are classified into four major categories: predictive modeling, database segmentation, link analysis, and deviation detection.

• Predictive Modeling—This is a form of inductive reasoning that takes specific data or information and makes a broader generalization. This technique uses neural networks and inductive reasoning algorithms to predict future trends. The conclusion from this method is always predictive and may not be accurate.
• Database Segmentation—This is used to classify the data into clusters. The segmentation is done using statistical cluster analysis techniques.
• Link Analysis—This approach involves determining the associations between data and sequential patterns. This method helps discover the association between two or more data records, which in turn helps determine a possible solution to the research problem.
• Deviation Detection—This method helps researchers determine the data or records that cannot be considered or included in the analysis. In this method data are identified and removed if they are not within the scope of the research problem.

Please visit www.smstudy.com for more details on Data Mining.

Account management deals with the processes that follow customer acquisition. It includes onboarding, account classification, alignment, and client management.  Customers may have diverse needs and may be classified as a key account or a strategic account, based on current sales revenue and potential for future growth. The account manager who is part of the corporate sales team is an integral part of account management. Account management involves determining how to best meet client needs and support the ongoing growth of the account. The existing sales organization structure should provide a means for accounts to be assigned and supported effectively. In some instances, with key accounts, adjustments to the sales structure may be required in order to effectively manage and support the account.

It is mostly true that the higher the customer satisfaction, the higher the level of customer retention. Customer satisfaction is one of the key performance indicators for a business and is often the focus of many companies. A customer is more than satisfied if the outcome of a product or service surpasses expectations, satisfied if the outcome matches expectations, and dissatisfied if the outcome does not match expectations. Customer satisfaction varies from customer to customer and depends on several factors. More often than not, a positive perception of a brand results in higher customer satisfaction. Performance expectations stem from various factors including past purchases, word of mouth testimonials, and marketing pitches. It is important to balance the promises made by the marketing team with actual outcomes.

The customer relationship management (CRM) system and ongoing communication play an important role in supporting account management. The CRM system is a repository of customer-related information that assists in documenting and managing the company’s interaction with customers. It helps in synchronizing and organizing customer service and support. CRM systems also help a company develop a customer-centric approach, even while handling multiple customers. Account management focuses on building firm-wide relationships and maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and customer retention. The company needs to continue delivering the product or service as well as communicate and promote the features and benefits of additional products and services. Such promotional programs are aimed at increasing the client’s exposure to the company’s product and service portfolio, thereby increasing the potential for cross-selling activities. In order to ensure continual improvement through customer feedback, the company also needs to regularly review and assess customer accounts.

Visit www.smstudy.com to learn more about Account Management.

A successful organization needs to be future oriented. Establishing and managing a sales process for a product requires a forward looking goal. Sales forecasting provides that goal. Sales forecasting can be defined as estimating the sales and revenues of a particular product or a range of products for a given period of time. Sales forecasting is crucial not only for providing goals for the sales teams but also for planning and allocating resources. Forecasts are also used for evaluating the performance of sales units or channels.

Various methods of sales forecasting can be used to determine sales targets. The forecasting method used by an organization depends upon the organization’s specific requirements and the nature of the business.  These methods can be divided into two primary types:

• Qualitative Methods: Qualitative methods are subjective in nature. Forecasts are established using consumer expectations, sales force expectations, executive opinions, and the Delphi method.
  • Consumer Expectation: This method of forecasting depends on the response of customers with regards to the expected consumption in the forecasting period. It gives a forecast that is closer to market potential than it is to the expected revenue.
  • Sales Force Expectations: This method of sales forecast uses estimates of the sales force to arrive at the forecast number. Since sales people are closest to customers, they have a good understanding of the market and can often estimate future sales more accurately. These estimates are then adjusted by management, based on the past accuracy of the estimates and other factors, in order to arrive at a final forecast figure.
  • Executive Opinions: This method of sales forecast uses estimates given by the key executives within the company to arrive at the forecast number. These key executives represent various departments in the company, such as sales, finance, operations, marketing, etc. The estimates provided by executives can vary greatly and are often either averaged out to arrive at a forecast, or are determined when general consensus is reached following a group discussion.
  • Delphi Method: In this method, executives are interviewed separately and are asked to give their estimates about the forecast. It is an iterative method in which all the estimates are combined and a summary report is created post iteration. This report is then shared with all the executives who are required to give a revised estimate based on the feedback or arguments from other executives.

• Quantitative methods: Quantitative methods use empirical analysis to make forecasts. Two popular quantitative forecasting methods are time-series analysis and explanatory methods.
  • Time Series Analysis: Time-series analysis is the simplest method for quantitative forecasting. It takes into account historical data and trends to make predictions for the future. Past sales figures, when adjusted for market factors and growth rate, give a good estimate of future sales. Some popular methods used in time-series analysis are moving averages, exponential smoothing, and decomposition of time series.
  • Explanatory Methods: Explanatory methods are different from time-series analysis. They do not use historical sales data to predict future sales, but rather take into account different factors that can affect sales. Tools such as regression and econometric modeling are used to establish causality between other factors affecting sales.

After finalizing the sales forecast, the forecasted revenues are assigned to the sales units as sales targets. The forecasted revenues are further divided and sub-divided into different product units, geographical units, and eventually territories, resulting in targets for individual sales representatives. Since sales targets are directly linked to all sales and marketing and financial objectives, having a good sales forecasting process in place is essential for achieving the company’s overall objectives.

Please visit www.smstudy.com for more details on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods of Sales Forecasting.

Lean Startup and its founder Eric Ries have been around long enough for professionals to begin coming up with their own takes on Ries’ central Minimum Viable Product (MVP) concept. Some of those new takes propose alternatives: a startup should begin with a minimum viable product or a minimum lovable product or a minimum viable brand.

And once the executive suite has decided which it will start with, how does the marketing team deal with that choice?

Starting lean Ries’ way is definitely connected to marketing, describing entrepreneurship as “operating under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” Ries shares three questions he asks himself that can help professionals be more entrepreneurial within their daily business activities: “ ‘who’s the customer for this?’ ‘What is the benefit to the customer, what is it that they hope to get from your work?’ and ‘how do you know that you have positively impacted them?’”[1] 

Once an entrepreneur asks those questions, the sometimes difficult task of answering them begins. Many of their answers can be found through established market research processes, “Marketing Research is the systematic process of collecting, processing, and analyzing data to provide required information to decision makers,” says Marketing Research, book two in the SMstudy Guide to the Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge (SMstudy® Guide) adding, “it can provide information for pricing a new product or for designing a new mobile app or for finalizing the new TV advertisement for a product.”[2]

The way “minimum viable product” is defined by developer sources and forums such as Techopedia puts it directly into the arena of marketing research. Techopedia says, “A minimum viable product (MVP) is a development technique in which a new product or website is developed with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters. The final, complete set of features is only designed and developed after considering feedback from the product's initial users.”[3]

This is a way—an inexpensive way according to its proponents—for gathering primary data. The SMstudy® Guide says, “When the needed data is non-existent, outdated, incorrect, or inadequate, the researcher needs to collect primary data.” Because startups often are presenting new products, innovative approaches or totally new services, it is likely that the needed data is non-existent.

“Primary data may be obtained from consumers, subject matter experts, random samplings of a target segment, organizations, and other sources,” according to the SMstudy® Guide. The release of a MVP is designed to gather information from consumers: Techopedia says each MVP “has enough value that people are willing to use it or buy it initially, demonstrates enough future benefit to retain early adopters and provides a feedback loop to guide future development.” That feedback loop is the key component for the MVP as a marketing research tool.

The phrase “enough value that people are willing to use it or buy it initially” becomes important in the dialogue surrounding Ries’ concept. “Sure, there are the same highlighted examples, but in today's highly competitive markets aiming for a product that customers will tolerate rather than love seems foolhardy,” says Brian DeHoff, co-founder, CEO of Aha! in a comment on a Quora thread.[4] Instead, DeHoff suggests striving for the Minimum Loveable Product (MLP), one that the consuming public will not just accept, but take to their hearts.

“Every startup should be brand-led and market-informed,” says Gerard Danforth in that same Quora conversation, suggesting that startups should, instead, aim for “the Minimum Viable Brand (MVB).” A practice he says, “helps ensure that the initial hypothesis is grounded in strategic intent and market insights.”

Greg Ettinger found that the apparent first use of “minimum loveable product” came from Spotify’s Henrik Kniberg’s description of the term—“So the squad needs to figure out the smallest possible thing they can build to fulfill the basic narrative and delight the users.” He concluded that when compared with Ries’ MVP, “Both describe the simplest version of the product that is narrative-complete (i.e. solves an existing problem) and capable of delighting users without being feature-complete.” The choice between the two becomes a matter of emphasis more than substance.

Whatever choice a business makes, SMstudy can help with books in the SMstudy® Guide on marketing research, marketing strategy, digital marketing and corporate sales.

For more interesting articles on sales and marketing, visit http://www.SMstudy.com.

[1] “Video: Eric Ries Talks to Beth Comstock about Entrepreneurship in the Age of Uncertainty” GE Reports. Retrieved on 5/23/16 from http://www.gereports.com/a-lean-mean-startup-machine-business-strategist-wants-companies-to-embrace-uncertainty

[2] Available at http://www.smstudy.com/Individuals/Buy-SMstudy-Guide

[3] “Minimum Viable Product (MVP)” (2016) Techopedia. Retrieved on 6/8/16 from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27809/minimum-viable-product-mvp

[4] From Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-minimum-viable-product

When faced with a difficult task, do you instinctively fight or flight? If you lean toward fighting, you are considered to be a member of the population with a “Growth Mind-set,” a term coined by Carol Dwerk in her 2014 TED Talk, The Power of Believing You Can Improve.

Dwerk defines the “Growth Mind-set” as people who see an error and attempt to fix it. People that believe “abilities can be developed, they engage deeply and process the error, learn from it and correct it.”

Sales professionals are constantly facing new challenges  In order to address them, they must tackle them head on, and at the same time, learn from the process, whether the outcome is a success or failure.

Training is a key element of Corporate Sales. It is essential for the corporate sales team to be thoroughly trained in their job function and be very knowledgeable about the products or services they are selling. This is required in order to capitalize on sales opportunities, capture the maximum value for sales, and maintain positive relationships with customers. Corporate selling relies heavily on person-to-person relationships, and well-trained sales personnel are better equipped to initiate opportunities, communicate the value of a product or service and close sales.

In order to be considered a sales professional, there are two styles of training that must be mastered: Sales and Negotiation Training and Product Training.

The focus of sales training is to generate gains in individual sales. Sales training covers the entire range of processes, tools, and skills required—from prospecting to closure. Negotiation training helps the sales teams understand the dynamics of the negotiation process, minimize conflicts, and arrive at mutually beneficial outcomes. Effective negotiation can promote lasting relationships between a company and its customers.

Product training is equally important for the corporate sales team. Product training equips the team with the skills to effectively address customers’ technical concerns, communicate the value proposition, assess needs and answer questions. Product training transforms the corporate sales team from simply sales representatives to solution providers or consultants for the customer.

The two styles of training are defined as:

Sales and Negotiation Training- In this form of training process, the sales team is trained in the sales process, from prospecting to closure of the sale. The team is also equipped with the necessary skills to negotiate the sale to arrive at mutually beneficial outcomes.

Product Training- In this form of training process, the sales team is trained on the various products and services of the company in order to effectively communicate the value proposition, answer customer inquiries, and provide ongoing support to customers.

Training is important for existing corporate sales team members as well as new recruits. However, it is particularly important for every new member of the corporate sales team to undergo thorough training before being fully inducted into the sales team. 

Just because you have yet to learn the skills needed to excel in the professional world of corporate sales does not mean it’s time to engage your flight response. Keep your focus on the word “Yet.” You are not there yet. But with the help of SMstudy, you can learn how to process an issue, learn from it, and correct it. It’s all about the fight.

To read more articles about sales and marketing, visit http://www.smstudy.com/articles

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article.]

Sources:

Carol Dwerk, “The Power of Believing you can Improve,” 2014. https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en#t-338450

Sales and marketing go hand in hand. The marketing team creates the content, and the sales team follows up with the consumers of the content to create potential leads. Right?

But there might be an easier way.

Marketers are continually improving their skills, so, for the most part, they read and study a lot of content. A company’s sales team will notice when a person has delved into their company’s content and naturally, the sales team cold calls them. However, what if the marketer is simply doing some research or looking to better their own marketing capabilities and are NOT a potential consumer of the product, JUST the content?

This can be relatively annoying for both sales and marketing professionals. How does a sales team recognize who is an actual lead and who is just another professional?

Generate a profile for a targeted lead. “Know that not everyone who downloads your content will be your ideal customer. For those who leave their details you need some way of carefully segmenting this list based on a profile of your dream customer. Get your sales team to approach these people respectfully. Don’t bombard them with product or service offers – you have to earn the right to sell. Prove you have their best interests at heart. Build relationships. Court them with more valuable content until they are ready to buy,” says Sharon Tanton, marketing and business developer at Valuable Content.

Another option is to focus on creating valuable content. Tanton notes, “a company would be far better off producing a well-rounded product and then creating some fantastic content that tells the story of how their product works and what value the product brings to its users. If the product is great, I believe I would hear about it on my social networks. We all love to share good stuff. Great content spreads and takes root on the web, and I’ve found it at the right time – e.g. the time when I was looking for information about a specific product.”

In Tanton’s suggested process, sales teams could target leads that come to them due to their company’s successful content that has already stirred up the consumer’s interest rather than cold calling and hoping for a lead. It is a waste of time and it generally irritates consumers and can even cause a drop in sales.

By creating a Content and Distribution Plan for social media marketing a company can ensure that their content is relevant, timely and well written and that it reaches the target audience using the optimal means as determined by the social media marketing team.

Content creation should ideally start by defining a quantity goal and a publishing schedule with proper deadlines. Once the publishing schedule is finalized, attention should be paid to the quality of each piece of content being distributed.

As stated in a previous article by SMstudy, “In addition to good quality content, an effective social media effort must have a good distribution strategy. In other words, it needs to be shared. And that shouldn’t be a problem if the content is engaging. People naturally share information for many reasons; they could simply like the content or perhaps find it interesting. But whatever the reason, a company must ensure that their content provides their consumers with something that encourages shares or else it will be lost in the sea of content.”

Focusing efforts on creating valuable content will then bridge the gap for the sales team, eventually eliminating the need for cold calls. Sales and marketing goes hand but marketing by necessity goes first, so create content to produce the sales, rather than attempt sales from the produced content.

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

For more interesting articles visit http://www.SMstudy.com

Were you ever required to write a research paper in one of your classes in school?

One of our editors here at SMstudy used to be a public school English teacher. He remembers the anxiety that the traditional research paper assignment caused some of his students. They complained of stomachaches, headaches and sleep deprivation due to nightmares.

He recalls telling them that they still had to do the paper and do it on time, and they didn’t have to like it. He could have been nicer, but that was “back in the day,” and we all know how bad it was “back in the day.”

That experience is not very different from what some marketing professionals undergo when facing a marketing research project. Like the rare students that loved (cough cough) doing research papers, there are professionals who relish marketing research. Yet, a significant number of professionals prefer jumping directly to the creative aspects of getting a product or service to market without all the number crunching and bean counting that often accompanies market research.

The first obstacle our colleague’s students had to hurdle was understanding what a research paper is. That is also true for marketers. Simply put, “Marketing Research is the systematic process of collecting, processing, and analyzing data to provide required information to decision makers,” according to Digital Marketing, a book in the SMstudy Guide to the Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge series (SMstudy® Guide). When this is understood, the marketer can begin the project.

The first step for the students was to answer the question, “Is my topic researchable?” To answer this, they had to determine if others had written about their topic and if those writings were in a form that the students could understand. Even though they are on similar topics, a doctoral level paper on the precipitation characteristics of hydrocarbon molecules in aerosols doesn’t help a high school student researching air pollution.

“In marketing research, the first step is to define the research problem and objectives of the research,” says Digital Marketing. Like the students checking to see if others had written about their subjects, the marketing professional will use background information to evaluate the research problem and move forward, “Background information puts the research objectives into context, helping the researcher understand why certain research objectives are being pursued… The background information provides hints to the researcher regarding what information he or she should be looking for and where to look for it.”

“Once the research problem is properly defined, the next step is to choose a research design that can address the problem and objectives,” says the SMstudy® Guide. Choosing a research design—“a set of guidelines or a blueprint that specifies the methods and procedures for obtaining and analyzing the required information”—involves many of the same concerns the students had determining if their topics were researchable. The marketing researcher checks to see if his or her own company, industry associations, educational research institutions, competitors or others have already compiled and published the needed research.  Using these resources, called secondary data sources, is also the least expensive method to provide appropriate and accurate information and data.

At times a marketing researcher may be faced with no previously published research. In this situation, primary research must be done and the researching team develops and utilizes tools for gaining data directly from the marketplace. These can be surveys, questionnaires, pilot programs, test marketing campaigns and many more. Primary research is more time extensive and dollar expensive than secondary research.

Not every marketing professional enjoys marketing research, and that’s why research companies exist. After all, research projects aren’t really scary enough to give professionals nightmares and they are easier with a bit of understanding and help.

For information on how to get a copy of Digital Marketing by SMstudy, please visit SMstudy® Guide.

For additional interesting and informational articles on sales and marketing, please visit SMstudy.com.

Startup “is shorthand for an ethos that the organization holds dear: speed, flexibility, a willingness to be daring and experiment,” writes Beth Comstock in the introduction to “Video: Eric Ries Talks to Beth Comstock about Entrepreneurship in the Age of Uncertainty” in GE Reports.[1]

Comstock, Vice Chair of GE (General Electric), puts this ethos at the heart of the Lean Startup managerial movement that she credits to Eric Ries and his Times bestseller, The Lean Startup. 

When Ries describes what he means by “lean startup,” he says, “We take ideas from lean manufacturing and apply them to the process of innovation itself… we build a minimum viable product … rapidly iterate, discover what is it that the customers want,” and then learn how to build a sustainable business around that. This approach is one of the most effective ways people successfully navigate innovation and change: taking ideas that work in one field and applying them where they can do a lot of good in another field.

The field of sales and marketing has seen its paradigms shift on an almost daily basis—the sellers’ market morphs into conventional mass marketing, which transforms into mass media marketing, then into internet sales and fragmented new-age marketing, and so on.  Technological innovation continually creates both new markets and new ways to reach established markets.

How do professionals successfully navigate this ocean of innovation? SMstudy—the global training and accreditation organization whose experts share their content through the SMstudy platform—takes ideas from the fields of project management and process engineering “to provide a practical and process-oriented approach to Sales and Marketing that emphasizes how its various elements can be integrated to develop a comprehensive and effective organizational Sales and Marketing Plan,” according to their website. [2]

Ries sees that “entrepreneurship is the missing function in corporations… imagine your business but with one of its major silos gone: there’s no marketing, there’s no operations, there’s no finance, you’d say, ‘Wait a minute, we’re in trouble.’”

Startups and established companies often find themselves in this position, but the missing component is an integrated marketing strategy and the capacity to deliver such a strategy. SMstudy’s Guide to the SMstudy Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge (SMBOK® Guide), also referred to as the SMstudy® Guide, “is a series of books that provide guidelines for the Sales and Marketing of products and services. It offers a comprehensive framework that can be used to effectively manage Sales and Marketing efforts in any organization,” according to their website. The process-oriented approach enables companies to design and build marketing activities and departments that match their needs, size and resident expertise.

Describing entrepreneurship as “about operating under conditions of extreme uncertainty,” Ries gives three questions that can help professionals be entrepreneurial within their daily business activities: “You can always be asking yourself ‘who’s the customer for this?’ ‘What is the benefit to the customer, what is it that they hope to get from your work?’ and ‘how do you know that you have positively impacted them?’”  These are topics covered in the SMstudy® Guide.

Being entrepreneurial, using lean startup processes and applying insight across business domains is helping companies like GE and SMstudy move successfully into a future of continuing uncertainty.

For more insights and articles on sales and marketing, visit SMstudy.com.

(Jim Pruitt, VMEdu staff writer contributed to this article.)

[1] Retrieved on 5/23/16 from http://www.gereports.com/a-lean-mean-startup-machine-business-strategist-wants-companies-to-embrace-uncertainty.

[2] http://www.smstudy.com/Individuals/Buy-SMstudy-Guide

A common misconception is that if you have many followers on a social media platform then you are followed by many. But that isn’t necessarily true.

You could have 20,000 followers, and yes, that looks impressive, but does that mean that 20,000 people are actually engaged in your content? This can be false advertising for a company’s consumers, but it is also misleading in regards to a company’s analytics. How can you really gauge your company’s engagement when likes are able to be purchased?

It isn’t about the amount of people that follow your brand’s page or view a piece of content marketing, so why do some many companies feel they must rake in the followers and likes? How do you fix this issue?

According to Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia, “Instead of talking about how many people see your content, we need to be focusing on how much value that piece of content actually brings your audience.” In social media channels, high-quality content is of the utmost importance. Companies worldwide invest large quantities of money to create quality content, but in many cases, that content is not distributed properly.

Audiences neither find it nor share it. A good Content Creation and Distribution Plan for social media marketing will ensure that a company’s content is relevant, timely and well written and that it reaches the target audience using the optimal means as determined by the social media marketing team.

One of the major debates regarding content creation is between content quality and quantity—how much content is enough and how good does it need to be?

Content creation should ideally start by defining a quantity goal and a publishing schedule with proper deadlines. Once the publishing schedule is finalized, focus should be on quality for each piece of content being distributed.

In addition to good quality content, an effective social media effort must have a good distribution strategy. In other words, it needs to be shared. And that shouldn’t be a problem if the content is engaging. People naturally share information for many reasons; they could simply like the content or perhaps find it interesting. But whatever the reason, a company must ensure that their content provides their consumers with something that encourages shares or else it will be lost in the sea of content.

Vaynerchuk states, “Bottom line: I don’t care how many people see something, “I care about how many people see something.” Quality over quantity. Depth over width. Reach does not equal value and follower count doesn’t mean people are listening.”

So, it’s time to stop fretting over followers and put that time and energy into creating content that will engage; one must remember that it all begins with Content Creation and Distribution Strategy.

To read more articles about sales and marketing, visit http://www.smstudy.com/articles

Sources:

Gary Vaynerchuk, “Numbers Don’t Matter, Influence Does,” May 16, 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/numbers-dont-matter-influence-does-gary-vaynerchuk?trk=hp-feed-article-title-channel-add

A well-planned, comprehensive marketing strategy for a product or brand is essential to its success. The marketing strategy determines the specific resource allocation and activities involved with all other aspects of marketing. The effects of a well-positioned marketing strategy reverberate throughout the entire spectrum of marketing options and therefore should not be treated lightly or given short shrift.

The SMstudy® Guide notes, “marketing strategy defines a product or brand’s unique value proposition, target markets, and the specific strategies to be used to connect with defined audiences. It also specifies the pricing and distribution strategies for a product or brand and outlines the specific metrics, objectives and budgets for all its marketing activities.”

So, what are the basics of creating a comprehensive marketing strategy?

In essence, there are four main areas of research and analysis that should be addressed during the creation of any marketing strategy. They include:

1. An analysis of market opportunity– this includes a look at both the internal capabilities of a company as well as external factors that may impact a business.
2. Defining the competition, targeting and position– exploring the current competition, understanding industry trends and creating future competitive scenarios helps in selecting target market segments.
3. Determining pricing and distribution strategies– assessing the value of the product based on its features, analyzing the features and price of competitive products and understanding the mindset of the consumer lays the groundwork for a successful distribution strategy, one that ensures that products and services are delivered and sold in the most efficient manner.
4. Determining metrics, objectives, marketing aspects and budget allocation– this includes the selection of metrics such as customer reach, brand perception, product availability and sales and profitability as well as details setting targets and allocating budgets.

The chosen marketing strategy has far-reaching impact on all other aspects of marketing. In addition, other aspects of marketing work synergistically with the marketing strategy. Consider the following:

Digital Marketing

Marketing strategy elements such as product features, target segments, and distribution strategy are key determining factors for a robust digital marketing campaign. Product category and product features determine how suitable a product is to be marketed online. Some products or services are more conducive to online marketing than others. Given that digital marketing activities can be integral to a number of other elements of the marketing strategy, the impact of the marketing strategy may be far greater on digital marketing activities depending on the specific product-market combination.

Marketing Research

Marketing research provides valuable insights on the performance of a marketing strategy and is helpful when companies need to take steps to resolve issues. Many of the research activities carried out for one process in marketing strategy may also be used by other marketing aspects. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind all the processes of marketing strategy while designing a research project to ensure that additional relevant information is also collected if the incremental cost of collecting that information is acceptable.

Corporate Sales

Product features and target markets determine how suitable a product is to be sold through business-to-business channels, and how budget and resources are allocated accordingly for corporate sales efforts. Marketing strategy also provides the corporate sales team with market intelligence related to competitors and industry trends, which helps the company to position itself strategically for each business opportunity.

Branding and Advertising

Branding and advertising build awareness of a product with customers and then ideally transitions them to loyal customers. This evolution of trust is made possible by understanding customers’ needs and ensuring that the company’s marketing activities are oriented towards meeting those needs in the best way possible. Customer profiling is a part of the marketing strategy.

Retail Marketing

Target market segments and product features determine how suitable a product is to be sold through retail channels, thereby determining the budget and resources to be allocated to retail sales. Within retail sales, a company needs to further decide whether to sell directly to the end customer or to use intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors, and retailers. With the global rise in e-commerce, this decision is generally a complex one and needs to be made in alignment with the marketing strategy where target segments and a distribution strategy have been clearly defined. 

For more details on the processes of marketing strategy, visit http://www.smstudy.com.

The goal is to never go out of business, right? But how do you ensure your company stays in the black? Sure, it may take blood, sweat, and tears, but the to ensure you don’t go under to notice market trends and be willing and able to flow with them.

“I wake up every morning and think about how I can put myself out of business,” says Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia. What Vaynerchuk means is that every day he puts himself in his competitor’s shoes and thinks, “How could VaynerMedia be put out of business?” And the answer is simple really, be one step ahead of the game which is possible by performing a market trend analysis.

According to Marketing Strategy, book one in the SMstudy® Guide series, “A market trend analysis is an analysis of past and current market behavior and dominant patterns of the market and consumers. An important aspect of conducting a trend analysis for an organization is to obtain insight into the market scenario, consumer preferences, and the macroeconomic environment.”

Vaynerchuk stated that companies such as Uber and Airbnb should never have even been created. Not because there was no market for them, there was and we all know it, but because taxi and hotel companies should have capitalized on the market shift first before Uber and Airbnb has the chance to swoop in and snatch up a healthy chunk of their respective markets. By performing a market trend analysis, companies such as Hilton and Yellow Cab would have seen where the market was headed and could have predicted and evolved with the market.

Taxi companies blame Uber for putting their companies out of business, but they failed to do what Vaynerchuk does every day —look for trends in the market and adapt to them.  

Jon Nordmark, co-founder of iterate, singled out the online retailer Amazon as a good example of an innovative company that has evolved with the continuing development of technology. Not only have they surpassed other American online retailers by sixfold as of 2015, but they have also nudging into Fedex’s turf thanks to their Amazon Prime delivery options.

Since its Inception, Amazon has become complete lifestyle. It is a one-stop-shop for not only retail items, but they have also moved up to number eight on Forbes “The World’s Most Innovative Companies” list due to Echo, a wireless speaker and voice command service first launched in 2015.

Echo has it all: it plays music, answer questions, orders pizza from Domino’s, manages home security devices and air conditioning through voice control and will even request an Uber. Summing up Echo, CNET stated, “The Echo may be the closest thing we’ll have to a Star Trek computer at home.”

It may be nice for a company to feel comfortable, but it can lead to complacency. Instead companies should be looking forward to what is coming next. You never know if and when some college student in San Francisco might create the next best thing that fits just right in this evolving market and an existing company might miss its chance!

For more interesting articles visit SMstudy.com

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

Sources:

Forbes, “The World’s Most Innovative Companies,” 2015. http://www.forbes.com/innovative-companies/list/3/#tab:rank

Gary Vaynerchuk, “Uber and Airbnb Never Should Have Happened the Way They Did,” May 13, 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/uber-airbnb-never-should-have-happened-way-did-gary-vaynerchuk?trk=hp-feed-article-title-channel-add

Jon Nordmark, “Amazon Ecosytem Lock-In = Prime + Echo+ 2lemetry,” May 12, 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazon-ecosystem-lock-in-prime-echo-jon-nordmark?trk=prof-post

20 years ago people had to be convinced to use the Internet. How often did we hear the question, “What would I use it for anyway?” It’s comical to think that people needed to be convinced to use the Internet considering nowadays people can’t survive without it.

The first smartphone was released in 1992 by IBM. It was considered a smartphone because of its virtual assistant capabilities, but the smartphone of today is light years more advanced. The timeline is a little blurry, but many would say that the first actual smartphone was the Sidekick, released in the early 2000s. Smartphones in existence prior to the Sidekick were for corporate professionals, but the Sidekick advertised to a younger market. Teenagers no longer had to wait until they got home from school to sign on to AIM to speak to their friends, the capability was right in their pockets!

In the last 15 years the smartphone technology has increased rapidly. According to Monica Anderson at the Pew Research Center 68 percent of adults in the United States use a smartphone. 88 percent of 18-29 year olds own a smartphone while only 78 percent of the same age group own laptops or desktop computers. As the use of smartphones increases there is less of a need for a laptop or desktop computer. And why would you need one, when a smartphone is just a smaller computer?

Mobile technology has been advancing at a very fast pace. The average American uses a smartphone to view product reviews, make price comparisons, and find information about products while they are shopping in-store. With consumers increasingly using technology on the go, a company’s Digital Marketing Strategy must be designed to take full advantage of this consumer trend, especially in consideration of a recent study released by the Daily Mail stateing that smartphone users check their phone 85 times per day on average.

Google coined the term Micromoments for all the times smartphone owners use their device. This could be to a simple check of a notification that popped up from a news organization or using the phone to check reviews before purchasing a product. Companies must capitalize on these moments if they are looking for consumers. The trick is to ensure customers and potential customers have access and are able to land on a company’s mobile version of their website when they are using their mobile devices. So, businesses must ensure that they have a mobile-friendly website.

The following factors will ensure a company’s website has the right design for their consumers:

Usability and Design - Organizations with established large scale websites have recognized the growing need for compatible tablet and mobile-accessible content and have implemented updates to their websites to reduce and streamline content and website size in order to be more suitable for mobile-accessible devices. Nevertheless, this approach is sufficient only for sites that provide static, one-way dissemination of information. As more customers demand interaction via mobile devices and tablets, the usability of these updated sites could diminish.

Performance - The advent of these devices has also provided companies with an opportunity to gather more personal data from their users, and in turn, push relevant, context-driven content. Such mobile-optimized content must load quickly on mobile devices to ensure that the performance expectations of consumers are met.

The rapid rise in smartphones, tablets, and Internet-enabled wearable devices has led to a shift in web design approaches, with web development for these devices becoming a much higher priority than it has been in the past. The advancement of technology only brings more opportunities for businesses and consumers, so join in!

Sources:

Victoria Woolleston, “How Often do You Check your Phone?” October 26, 2015. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3294994/How-check-phone-Average-user-picks-device-85-times-DAY-twice-realise.html

Brad McCarty, “The History of Smartphones,” http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/12/06/the-history-of-the-smartphone/#gref

Jason Duaine Hahn, “The History of the Sidekick: The Coolest Smartphone of All Time,” September 11, 2015. http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/09/history-of-the-sidekick

Monica Anderson, “Technology Device Ownership,” October 29, 2016. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/technology-device-ownership-2015/

Companies have long known the financial benefits of online training over physical classroom learning. In fact, companies can save anywhere between 50–70 % on training costs by switching to e-learning alternatives. So naturally it was love at first sight for company bean counters and executives; however, humans, or e-learners, clearly were not so impressed.

Early assessments of e-learning iterations were pretty unanimous: they were dry, boring, technically complicated and didn’t satisfy any quality benchmarks. In other words, the courses weren’t top notch, according to Francisco J. Garcia Penalvo, professor at the University of Salamanca who documented the origins and subsequent growth of e-learning in his book, “Advances in E-learning: Experiences and Methodologies.”

“In spite of everything, the growth of e-learning is unstoppable, and every important institution (academic, enterprise, or otherwise) knows about the necessity of creating and developing a department or service specially devoted to this subject. E-learning deserves to be considered as a real revolution, ‘The Globalization of Training,’” Penalvo said.

Many of those early complaints are now in the past as e-learning has matured over the last ten years and evolved into a human-centric learning experience with technology (ironically) aiding the e-learning “revolution” Penalvo speaks of enthusiastically.

Although a reported 20% of surveyed individuals still note technical issues as the main frustration with e-learning, it now appears that technology has caught up with our learning preferences and e-teachers as well as learning management systems (LMS) are tempting more students than ever on a global scale. In 2015, the global market for e-learning was $170 Billion, a staggering increase of $75 billion in five years.

One technology that has allowed tremendous growth in the field of e-learning is the global penetration of mobile phones. At some point in 2016, 2.1 billion smartphones are estimated to be in use around the world. In particular, China, Indonesia and Russia are anticipated to see substantial growth in smartphone usage over the next two years. And in the case of India, smartphone usage is predicted to surpass the U.S. as the second largest user of smartphones in the world by the end of 2016. This boom has opened up a huge population to the opportunity of lifelong learning. This period of intense growth in smartphone use has tracked with the rise in e-learning to such an extent that it has been noted by Ambient Insight Research, an online resource for statistics and information related to the e-learning industry.

The report states “The astonishing growth rates and adoption rates in countries like Laos, Thailand, Uganda, Cambodia, and Ghana are good examples of once-nascent markets that became vibrant revenue opportunities for suppliers in just the last two years (literally "overnight" in the context of a learning technology product lifecycle.)”

One such company offering human-centric learning options at the vanguard of e-learning is VMEdu, Inc. Refined over seven years, the VMEdu Cloud Learning Management System (LMS) offers one of the finest platforms for e-learning currently available globally. The VMEdu LMS is open to anyone, anywhere (in any language) and offers ultimate flexibility for both students and teachers, including mobile as well as hybrid options.

VMEdu is a global leader in adult education through its multiple brands and partner ecosystem. The company has taught more than 500,000 students from 150 countries and 3,500+ companies and has an extensive V.A.T.P. (VMEdu Authorized Training Partner) network of 800+ partners in 50+ countries.

For more information on VMEdu’s e-learning courses, platform and training opportunities, visit vmedu.com.

Sources:

“Advances in E-Learning: Experiences and Methodologies,” Francisco J. Garcia Penalvo, University of Salamanca. 2008. Information Science Reference, Hershey, NY.

“Mobile Worldwide Active Smartphone Users Forecast 2014 – 2018: More Than 2 Billion by 2016” Ambika Choudhary Mahajan, Dec. 18, 2014. http://dazeinfo.com/2014/12/18/worldwide-smartphone-users-2014-2018-forecast-india-china-usa-report/

“International E-Learning Market Research Report 2015,” Ambient Insight Research http://www.ambientinsight.com/Reports/eLearning.aspx#section2

“The Top eLearning Statistics and Facts For 2015 You Need To Know” eLearning Industry

http://elearningindustry.com/elearning-statistics-and-facts-for-2015

“It is important for us to note that the fact that we are in the twenty-first century does not make all the earlier avenues of sales and marketing obsolete.” – Marketing Strategy, Book one of the SMstudy®Guide.

Online marketing is where it’s at, right? The benefits are numerous and have been noted extensively in reports and articles galore by marketing professionals and others who’ve taken the time to track the data and offer the proof. Online marketing is definitely where it’s at. Or, is it?

Today, many companies and brands opt for a fragmented new-age marketing strategy, one based primarily on a digital, multi-channel approach that includeds all available avenues via the Internet, such as websites and social media, and tools and devices, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and so on. But in all the excitement of new technologies and the myriad of new ways to reach people with our marketing messages, SMstudy reminds us that “rather than viewing these changes as completely replacing earlier practices, sales and marketing approaches should be viewed as a continuum where recent innovations can co-exist with earlier practices.”

In other words, online marketing might not be the only game in town. Some old-school methods might, in fact, be cooler (and more appropriate) than you think. Take snail mail, for example.

Direct mail, which seemed to have gone the way of paper news and landline phones, is now seeing a revival. The most commonly cited reason is the personal factor. In an age where we receive a slew of emails every day, to receive a piece of paper mail with our name on it (as opposed to “current resident”) seems positively Downton Abbey. We’re loving the nostalgia of it and it’s standing out in our consciousness, because unlike email, paper mail is rare nowadays. Craig Simpson, direct mail marketing professional, emphasizes the personal touch of direct mail.

“It makes it seem like someone put some extra effort into what they sent as opposed to just quickly shooting off another email,” Simpson said.

Simpson goes on to point out the additional benefit of being able to “spruce up physical mail in ways that you just can’t achieve with email.”

Other noted plusses for direct mail include the ability to precisely target market segments and the fact that compared to email, physical mail has a greater likelihood of being opened.

Direct mail is also a flexible channel with a variety of options. Postcards, flyers, publications and free samples are all on the table when considering direct mail.  

SMstudy states, “It is a fact that people now spend more time on the Internet using devices than they spend through conventional mass media, such as television, radio, or newspaper.” So, it is logical to focus many marketing efforts online.

However, if physical paper mail is best in reaching a company’s audience and in turn reaching the company’s goals, marketers should not be afraid to pull out an “oldie but a goodie” from the continuum of sales and marketing.  

 For more on sales and marketing, visit smstudy.com.

Sources:

“4 Reasons to Use Direct Mail Marketing Instead of Email Marketing,” Craig Simpson, Feb. 17, 2015. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242731

“What Are the Benefits of Direct Mail Advertising?” Rick Suttle, Houston Chronicle

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-direct-mail-advertising-3476.html

SMstudy®Guide, Marketing Research http://www.smstudy.com/SMBOKGuide/Overview-of-SMstudy-Guide

Engineers have a maxim: “That which gets measured gets done.”

This is a significantly more sophisticated way of saying that when the cat’s present the mice work.  From a management point of view, the application of metrics and testing can be an effective tool for keeping senior management in the workroom, even when they’re actually on the beach in Puerto Vallarta.

When metrics and testing are used this way, they lose their effectiveness as tools for quality, learning and improving. When they are used appropriately and are in the hands of the people who will learn the most from them, metrics and testing can enable a marketing team to zig when the market zags and, thereby, outpace the competition. “The Sales and Marketing teams determine the appropriate metrics that will be used to quantify the objectives or outcomes after executing the Marketing Strategy,” says Marketing Strategy, book one in the SMstudy® Guide series.

The goals and objectives of a product’s marketing strategy have already been decided by senior management, stakeholders and the marketing team before metrics are chosen. While senior management controls the big picture, whoever controls the metrics used in testing and measuring a process controls the process. When one sees the activities involved in getting a product launched, established and profitable in its market segment as a process, it becomes apparent that the best people to choose the appropriate metrics would be the marketing team.

The marketing team will not choose metrics in isolation, however, because the inputs for the determining metrics process include the positioning statement—which describes the value a product or brand offers to its target customers—the pricing strategy, the distribution strategy; industry benchmarks and key performance indicators (KPIs) and the goals that are defined at the corporate and/or business unit or geographic levels.

Metrics for measuring the effectiveness of sales and marketing activities can be broadly classified into four categories: customer reach, brand perception, product availability, and sales and profitability. In addition to these category metrics, a Product Life Cycle Analysis is an important tool in this process because it identifies the metrics that are important at each phase of the sales and marketing timeline. The metrics that the marketing team selects may depend on the size and complexity of the company, type of industry, their own preferences and other factors.

Although there are many possible metrics that can be used to measure the effectiveness of a Marketing Strategy, the SMstudy® Guide suggests that the marketing team should “select and prioritize only a few important metrics that can appropriately determine the success or failure of the objectives outlined in the Marketing Strategy.”

The tools the marketing team can use for determining metrics includes meetings and discussions, during which “various business units or departments within the company work together to ensure that their selected metrics are aligned.” Additional tools the team can use are Product Life Cycle Analysis, the SMART Framework, customer reach metrics, brand perception metrics, product availability metrics, and sales and profitability metrics. More detailed information on each of these tools can be found in Marketing Strategy.

Well-chosen metrics will keep you in control.

For more interesting article on sales and marketing, visit SMstudy.com.

“Sell yourself” has been the mantra of experts in both resume writing and job interviewing since the mid-1990s. As employment rates fluctuate like celebrity popularity, that mantra is more true now than it has ever been and opportunities to use it come more often.

“What is disappearing today is not just a certain number of jobs, or jobs in certain industries, or jobs in some part of the country—even jobs in America as a whole. What is disappearing is the very thing itself: the job,” wrote William Bridges in his 1994 book JobShift: How to Prosper in a Workplace Without Jobs.  Bridges identified “the job” as the twentieth century’s concept of the career: a job one would do at the same company for the entire time from being hired to being retired. It is that job, the career, that he saw disappearing.

Using emerging employment patterns from Silicon Valley and technology, he described a workplace in which people with marketable skills move from one project to another, from one company to another with some of the companies even being competitors. One’s career was no longer a relationship between worker and employer, but the continual utilization of skills to provide a service companies will pay for.

Bridges suggested that workers begin to view their relationship with their organization as a marketplace. This means selecting and developing skills based on what businesses need and want, “Your customer’s worlds are changing just as fast as yours is, and yesterday’s services are either no longer as useful as they once were, or are so widely available that neither you nor they can profit by concentrating on them.”  

As time has passed, it has become apparent that each employee needs to have more than one service to offer employers; so much so, that workers not only need to see their employers as markets, but themselves as entrepreneurs. “We are all entrepreneurs now,” says Liz Ryan, CEO and founder of Human Workplace.  

In describing people who have let their “selling yourself” skills lag as “asleep,” Ryan says, “They don’t know what kind of Business Pain they solve for employers. They’re not thinking of themselves like entrepreneurs, the way all of us need to do — even kids who are just finishing college.”

The question becomes, “How does one think like an entrepreneur?” Ryan suggest asking ten questions. SMstudy offers resources to help answer those questions. 

For example, Ryan says a worker should ask him or herself, “Can you list eight to twelve organizations you’d approach right now if your job disappeared — organizations that employ people like you?” Where does one begin to answer a question like this? Usually, the first resort is to think about companies that other have talked about, but one could approach this like a marketing team. When given a new product, a marketing team begins a process of analyzing market opportunity. They determine the strengths and weaknesses of both the product and the company, the opportunities and threats in the marketplace, and define and identify market segments, according to Marketing Strategy, book on of the SMstudy® Guide.

Before getting into identifying those eight to twelve organization, a personal inventory of one’s strengths and weaknesses is in order. Once that is known, the employee as entrepreneur can begin to describe the characteristics that companies must have to be considered a true opportunity. This is analogous to selecting target segments for marketing, “After the market segments have been identified, the company conducts a market attractiveness analysis to identify the relative attractiveness of each segment. The marketing team should also create ‘personas’ of ideal customers in each segment,” according to the SMstudy® Guide.

Ryan’s second question for workers to ask themselves is “Do you know what your talents are worth in the talent marketplace (not just what you’re getting paid now)?” Marketing teams determine pricing strategies for themselves, “When a product’s price, value proposition, and positioning are optimally aligned, a company is in a position to maximize revenues and profits.” The value proposition is the answer to “why should we hire you rather than someone else?” Pricing can be determined by using several of the sites and organizations that track average salaries per industry.

Ryan has eight more questions that are worth considering, even studying, and we (editorial we) do not want to take the wind out her sails by repeating all of them here. The point here is that for those who see the validity of her assertion that we are all entrepreneurs as workers, SMstudy has some resources to help function that way. And that way can lead to maximized revenues and profits!

Ryan. Liz. (3/23/16) “The Fatal Career Mistake You Won't Realize You're Making.” Forbes. Retrieved on 3/25/16 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/03/23/the-fatal-career-mistake-you-wont-realize-youre-making/2/#22546fee5a52

The SMstudy® Guide is a series of six books that provide guidelines for the Sales and Marketing of products and services. It is available at http://www.smstudy.com/SMBOKGuide/Overview-of-SMstudy-Guide.

It seems that there are some dangers with “going native.”

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has increased its oversight of native advertising online and on smartphones. The most recent company running afoul of this intensified supervision is Lord & Taylor, who just settled with the governmental body over charges that “it deceived consumers through paid article in an online fashion magazine and paid Instagram posts,” according to the FTC.

Part of Lord & Taylor’s problem were efforts to produce and publish native advertising. “Native advertising is a form of online advertising that blends in with its surroundings,” according to Digital Marketing, book two of the SMstudy® Guide. The FTC’s charges identified activities among which were “a seemingly objective article in the online publication Nylon and a Nylon Instagram post, without disclosing that the posts actually were paid promotions for the company’s 2015 Design Lab clothing collection.” Here was an attempt to blend in with the surrounding content that seems to have blended in all too well.

“While native advertising can be perceived as annoying, it can also be an effective tool if properly used,” asserts the SMstudy® Guide, and the FTC is addressing both points: annoying and proper. What is the proper use of native advertising? The FTC’s actions against Lord & Taylor has resulted in an agreement between the two entities that is open to comment until April 14, 2016. This means the public can become part of defining what is proper.

While that discussion is going on, another facet of technology-driven changes in advertising will definitely become part of the dialogue: using the smartphone. “Unlike traditional marketing in public spaces--such as billboards, magazines, and television--the smartphone is a highly personal space for the consumer and requires an entirely different engagement model,” says Christina Desmarais in an opinion piece for Inc. magazine online.

With personal engagement comes personal offense. The reaction of the consumer becomes less “Do you really think that little of your customers?” and more “What type of girl do you think I am!” 

Those who wish to use native advertising will need to develop a keen sensibility as marketing becomes more personal and the natives become more restless.

For more interesting information and articles about Sales and Marketing visit SMstudy.com.

“Lord & Taylor Settles FTC Charges It Deceived Consumers Through Paid Article in an Online Fashion Magazine and Paid Instagram Posts by 50 ‘Fashion Influencers’” (3/15/16) Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved on 3/24/16 from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/03/lord-taylor-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived-consumers-through

An overview of the SMstudy® Guide is available at http://www.smstudy.com/SMBOKGuide and a free course on Digital Marketing is available at http://www.smstudy.com/Certification/Digital-Marketing-Associate.

The agreement will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through April 14, 2016, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final. Interested parties can submit comments electronically by following the instructions in the “Invitation To Comment” part of the “Supplementary Information” section.

Desmarais, Christina. (2/29/2016) “Why Everything You Know about Marketing is Obsolete” Inc. Retrieved on 3/24/16 from http://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/why-everything-you-know-about-marketing-is-obsolete.html

Apple will be 40-years-old on April 1st. It is no longer the young hip company that many of us still see it as. Technically, it is a middle-aged company, so maybe it is time for some mature decisions when it comes to its products.

Yesterday, Apple released a list of new items that are to be available in the upcoming months. The first is the iPhone SE. “It looks like the iPhone 5S, Apple's last 4-inch phone released in 2014, but has the same processor and graphics performance as the iPhone 6S. Inside is Apple's A9 chip, which doubles the speed of the iPhone 5S. It can use Hey Siri, the hands-free voice assistant, has a 12MP camera, and shoots 4K video. There is an NFC chip inside so the phone can work with Apple Pay,” said Apple CEO, Tim Cook.

For a company that was deemed the most innovative company by the Boston Consulting Group in 2015, it seems to be slowing its pace with this new release. But why?

Apple sold over 30 million iPhone 5s last year. There is a demand for a smaller, less expensive phone, so it only makes sense that Apple would market to this audience. But for a company that focuses on innovation, this new release is out of the norm.

The company is well aware of the fact that they aren’t going to lose customers due to this mature, thought-out decision thanks to their brand loyalty. According to Marketing Strategy, book one of the SMstudy® Guide, “This metric (brand loyalty) is reflected by how many customers purchase a brand repeatedly. It indicates the commitment that customers have towards a brand and is the basis of a strong relationship between the brand ad its customers. The underlying metrics for brand loyalty may be the percentage of repeat customers out of total customers, the frequency of repeat purchases, and the degree to which other brands are also purchased along with the brand under consideration.” With a bit more than a billion Apple devices in live use around the world today, the brand loyalty is definitely there.

Since Apple is a 40-year-old company that has made a name for itself in the world of innovation, it is a smart move to put on the innovative breaks when it comes to the iPhone and focus on what the people want. And what they want is a phone that fits well in their hand, has a great camera, and runs quickly. Really, who does use all of those extra features anyway?

This doesn’t mean that Apple won’t be launching the iPhone 7 at their regular release time in September (and it better be amazing … and if it’s not, I will probably still purchase it), it just means that the company thought good and hard about why 30 million people chose the smaller, cheaper iPhone 5 over the more advanced iPhone 6S.

We all have to grow up someday, even Apple. It is enlightening to see the company break free from the Peter Pan Syndrome and make responsible decisions to further their brand and their company. But we all look forward to what it will come up with next. My vote is for holograms, anyone else with me?

For more interesting articles, information and resources visit SMstudy.com

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

In most companies, the sales force is the most critical part of the business; thus determining the sales force size is critical in planning for sales governance. Although the corporate sales team is one of the most valued assets of the company, it can also be expensive to maintain. Increasing the size of the sales force may increase sales volume but at a higher cost to the company. It is therefore necessary to determine the optimal sales force size. The size of the sales force will also affect territory design.

The three most commonly used methods to determine sales force size are as follows:

Breakdown Method

This is the simplest method among the three. In this method, each member of the corporate sales team is assumed to possess the same level of productivity. In order to determine the size of the sales force needed, the total sales figure forecasted for the company is divided by the sales likely to be generated by each individual.

However, this method fails to account for differences in the ability of salespeople and the difference in potential of each market or territory. It treats the sales force as a function of the sales volume, and does not take profitability into account.

Workload Method

The workload method is also known as the buildup method. In this method, the total workload (i.e., the number of hours required to serve the entire market) is estimated. This is divided by the selling time available per salesperson to forecast the size of the sales force. This method is commonly used since it is easy to understand and to recognize the effort required to serve different categories of customers.

However, this method also has some shortcomings. It assumes that all accounts in the same category require the same effort. Other differentiating factors such as cost of servicing, gross margins, etc. are not considered after the accounts are categorized. It also assumes that sales persons are equally efficient, which is generally not true.  One way to overcome this shortcoming is to adjust the sales force size, determined in the last step, for efficiency. The sales force can be classified into different categories based on their efficiency and the actual number of sales persons required can then be calculated with this adjusted number.

Incremental Method

The incremental method is the most precise method to calculate the sales force size. The underlying concept is to compare the marginal profit contribution with the incremental cost for each sales person. The optimal sales force size as per the incremental method is when the marginal profit becomes equal to the marginal cost and the total profit is maximized. Beyond the optimal sales force size, the profit reduces on addition of an extra sales person. Therefore, sales people need to be added as long as the incremental profit exceeds the incremental cost of adding sales people. The main shortcoming associated with this approach is that it is difficult to estimate the additional profit generated by the addition of one salesperson and is therefore difficult to develop.

Thus sales force needs to be properly organized, motivated and compensated in order to have the right size to do the workload, alignment to cover all needs, and keeping them happy and selling. At the end of the day, they are the ones who get the customer to give up their money for the company’s product or service. 

To read more articles about sales and marketing, visit www.smstudy.com/articles

In this competitive age an effective sales organization is supported by marketing assets and includes a proper sales structure. The sales organization and governance must be designed to optimally support sales targets and create visibility into the sales team’s performance to allow for adjustments and course corrections as necessary to ensure that the business meets its sales revenue objectives. Since sales targets are directly linked to all sales and marketing and financial objectives, they are essential components in the achievement of company’s overall objectives.

Most experienced sales teams have an existing sales process. If this is the case, it is important to constantly evaluate, improve, and fine tune different components of the process. A new company, however, must define a sales process by adapting established frameworks to suit the specific needs of the business, leveraging identified strengths, and identifying and filling gaps.

Five Basic Steps in Sales Process

1. Pre-sales—This first step in the sales process involves reviewing the current activities and selling processes. These activities include those carried out from the initial contact with a customer to the final delivery of a product or service. This step allows a developing company to assess its organizational capabilities to carry out the sales process. It includes understanding and strengthening the value proposition for customers. The different channels required to sell products in the future are also determined. Planning sales governance, setting sales targets, setting up the incentive structure for the sales team, and creating the marketing assets is also done at this stage. The sales team is also trained on products as well as the sales process and negotiation to prepare for selling activities.
    
2. Profiling of Target Customers—The first step in the prospecting stage, profiling target customers and decision makers, involves identifying and benchmarking profiling criteria for prospects, as well as decision makers. Characteristics of ideal customers, such as annual budget, are used to benchmark the profiling criteria.
    
3. Lead Generation and Qualification—The second step in the prospecting stage, lead generation, is the act of identifying prospective customers and generating ways to gain new customers. Profiled criteria and benchmarks are used to generate better leads. Lead generation uses various offline and online techniques and can be inbound or outbound.
    
4. Needs Assessment—Conversion starts with understanding customer needs for products or services. This understanding of needs is vital in the conversion process and enables the sales team to demonstrate to the customer how their product can fulfill the customer’s requirements.
    
5. Presentation, Negotiation, and Closure—This is the final stage in the conversion cycle. The corporate sales team presents the features, benefits, and advantages of the proposed products or services that can fulfill the needs of the prospects. At this stage, prospects present their objections to the sales proposal. It is the job of the corporate sales team to overcome these objections to close the deal. 

Understanding these five steps and adapting them to suit the business requirements will help establish a framework for a comprehensive and effective sales process. 

To learn more about the sales process, visit www.smstudy.com

How many articles on leadership include advisories to “Play Poker, Not Chess” and “Blow up the Enterprise”? Not many, and certainly not as many as this author would like. However, in a series of articles on leadership for Forbes Magazine in 2012, Alex Knapp gave these two bits of advice using episodes from the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises as source material.

Knapp used Starfleet captains James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard as positive leadership examples in articles titled “Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk” and “Five Leadership Lessons from Jean-Luc Picard,” respectively.  For negative examples, he visited Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s nemesis in an article called “Five Leadership Mistakes of the Galactic Empire.” Besides an affinity for the number five, Knapp gives an interesting twist to traits of leadership that are far from unfamiliar territory. His unique insights, dead-on applications and intriguing examples give this well-discussed topic new spirit and made reviewing some old saws interesting and enjoyable.

Giving well-discussed topics new spirit and making them both interesting and enjoyable is the challenge for all writers and educators.  While writers are more or less on their own, there is help for professional trainers and educators.

The Internet provides opportunities for new ideas and new discussions of old topics. It also simultaneously presents multitudes of people talking about these same things. Ideas, terms, and examples are bound to be repeated and repeated and repeated. The challenge for professional trainers is to keep their material fresh, relevant, and attractive. This requires knowing one’s students and this is where playing poker instead of chess comes in. Knapp writes, “For all of its intricacies, chess is a game of defined rules that can be mathematically determined. A far better analogy to strategy is poker, not chess. Life is a game of probabilities, not defined rules. And often understanding your opponents [students] is a much greater advantage than the cards you have in your hand.”

This isn’t to say that the “the cards you have in your hand” are not important; trainers and educators put most of their attention on them, and rightly so. However, in addition to knowing one’s subject matter, professional educators must share it in evocative and effective ways. And those are not the only things professional training providers must do. Each must also prepare knowledge assessments and track student progress. Aligning tests to the requirements of appropriate, associated certifications is often more than a trainer can handle. For this, the educator needs to follow the advice one learns from Jean-Luc Picard, “When you’re overwhelmed, ask for help.” 

                Knapp observes that seeking help “is a hard thing to do.” Because of this, there are organizations making it easier for professional training providers to get help, especially with tasks such as preparing and giving exams and tracking student progress. One such company is VMEdu, Inc., a leader in the professional training and certification industry that has developed a versatile course delivery platform and back office support. During the seven years it spent creating its Learning Management System (LMS), the company used it with its PMstudy and MyITstudy brands, whose students have achieved 98.7 and 99.2 percent pass rates, respectively, on professional certification exams. The LMS system helped PMstudy grow to be the largest PMP trainer worldwide and the SCRUMstudy brand to become the global accreditation body for Scrum with a network of more than 800 training partners. VMEdu now offers its platform and back office services and products to professional trainers across the globe.

For professional trainers in its VMEdu Authorized Training Partners (V.A.T.P.) and VMEdu Authorized Content Providers (V.A.C.P.) programs, it also develops apps designed to generate additional leads, provide immediate feedback on courses and lessons and generate up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, according to VMEdu. The training apps VMEdu has already created include interactive case studies, specialized glossaries, games, flash cards and practice exams.

                Using an episode in which Captain Kirk, a 23rd century space explorer, mixes and uses gunpowder to save himself and his crew, Knapp points out that there was no need for Kirk to know this information because “Starfleet officers fight with phasers and photon torpedoes.” However, Kirk is a voracious learner and develops expertise outside of his primary field of focus. Knapp applies this to leaders saying, “In the same way, no matter what your organization does, it helps to never stop learning. The more knowledge you have, the more creative you can be. The more you’re able to do, the more solutions you have for problems at your disposal.” During World War II, General Eisenhower of the Allied command used a group of officers to increase his own knowledge base and put more solutions at his disposal.

Creating mobile apps and databases for following student progress may not be your primary area of focus, but they are two solutions for problems facing the trainer in the technological age. Knapp tells his readers that “Kirk’s reputation at the Academy was that of a ‘walking stack of books.’” Where Kirk had Starfleet Academy and General Eisenhower had his officers, today’s professional trainers have companies such as VMEdu.

Keeping one’s training fresh and interesting with unique insights, engaging mobile apps, and intriguing examples is a huge challenge, but NOT a challenge the modern professional educator must meet alone.

Works Cited

Knapp, Alex. (5 March 2012) “Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk.” Forbes. (3 January 2014) http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/05/five-leadership-lessons-from-james-t-kirk/

− ­− − (13 March 2012) “Five Leadership Lessons from Jean-Luc Picard.” Forbes. (3 January 2014) http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/13/five-leadership-lessons-from-jean-luc-picard/

− ­− − (13 February 2012) “Five Leadership Mistakes of the Galactic Empire.” Forbes. (3 January 2014) http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/02/13/five-leadership-mistakes-of-the-galactic-empire/

It has been said that we are exiting the post-capitalism era, and we weren’t even aware of it. We can thank this monumental shift to advancements in technology. Many terms have been thrown around in regards to what sort of economy we have ventured into—such as the sharing economy or frictionless economy—but what path are we really following?

In a recent article we discussed what exactly the frictionless economy is. The frictionless economy centers around companies that provide platforms on which suppliers and buyers can do business directly. Uber, Etsy, and Fiver are just a few of the hundreds of companies that have sprung up in the last decade offering people the ability to be a “self-entrepreneur.” 

According to Alex Chriss, vice president and general manager at Intuit, “What we find so exciting about this trend is it’s solving what has traditionally been the number one challenge any entrepreneur or small business owner faces: finding customers. We’ve seen millions of small businesses struggle to find their next customer – and this struggle has set a bar, a hurdle for entrepreneurs to jump over. Technology is lowering this bar.”

But what about the sharing economy? Companies such as Airbnb and City CarShare allows owners to rent out something that they are not using. This has generally been sharing a house, car, or bike, but the only constant in technology is change, so this sharing could expand to new avenues. Each sharing-economy styled company provides users with ratings or reviews, so that trust is built on both sides of the transaction.

So, which economy are we really entering? One thing that we have learned from technology is that there are no limits. So, why would we limit ourselves by believing that we are entering just one sort of new economy? It seems to be that we are entering various economies that will create branches rather than one straight path. VMEdu gives professional trainers and educators the ability to be a part of both the frictionless AND sharing economy, with its Learning Management System (LMS). The VMEdu Authorized Content Partner (V.A.C.P.) program is one of the finest adult learning platforms available. The V.A.C.P. program is for anyone looking to create online adult learning courses for any subject and in any language. 

As a partner, you can create and upload your courses with the user-friendly VMEdu Course Builder. You can also run the courses on your website for free. Course materials can include videos, test questions, flashcards, glossaries, case studies and more. 

Once your courses are uploaded via the VMEdu Course Builder you have the option to sell them to the VMEdu network of more than 750 Authorized Training Partners (V.A.T.P.s) in 50+ countries. Having the support of such a strong network will help you reach a larger number of potential consumers in a shorter amount of time. 

The V.A.C.P platform gives you the ability to sell your own courses, do business directly with customers that have been provided for you, and be your own boss in addition to hosting your courses on your own website to share with your contacts. This program equips you for whichever future economy becomes our reality.

You can find more information on the VMEdu V.A.C.P. program at www.vmedu.com/Benefits-of-VACP.asp 

[Stephanie Vezilj, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to this article]

To professional educators and trainers, Salman Kahn, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, is a legend, a modern-day Shakespeare of the learning world and “such stuff dreams are made on.” 

Khan began his journey by helping his cousins with their math homework using the Internet and Yahoo’s Doodle Pad. Having three degrees from MIT in math, electrical engineering and computer science helped a lot. Later, he posted the lessons on YouTube; they went viral and now he runs an online educational organization that stretches education into new shapes and new possibilities.

Kahn’s path was pretty unique back in 2009, but now crowds of people have YouTube channels for their lessons. In 2012 60 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. In 2014 more than 300 hours of video were uploaded every minute. The educator wanting to repeat Khan’s experience has a lot more competition than they used to.

To help educators have a place to be seen and heard, VMEdu, Inc. has launched its own cloud-based course sharing platform. The platform took more than seven years to develop and has been used by the company’s training brands—such as PMstudy, SCRUMstudy, and 6Sigmastudy—to establish themselves in their fields and become some of the largest training companies worldwide. Through these brands and the platform, VMEdu has more than 800 authorized training partners (V.A.T.P.s) globally.

The company has now opened its Learning Management System (LMS) to non-A.T.P.s in a program called “VMEdu Authorized Content Providers” (V.A.C.P.). This program enables any organization that has created courses related to any field of adult learning in any language to launch courses on their own website for free—this is where the “shoe string” in the title comes in. In addition to launching and managing the course, content providers get their own mobile app, have the opportunity to sell to the VMEdu Partner Network (800+ Partners), offer their courses on SMstudy and track student progress. 

The company helps content providers “easily create [their] online courses through an easy-to-use cloud interface ‘VMEdu Course Builder’.” The interface allows educators and trainers to upload “videos; test questions; flashcards and glossary; case studies; study guides and more.”

More on the shoe-string thing: the VMEdu website says, “Unlike other traditional LMS platforms, you do not have to pay any licensing fees, buy expensive hardware, or hire expensive software professionals to launch your online courses and mobile apps. There is no cost associated with creating or uploading your courses.”

Some VMEdu Authorized Content Providers will be “the-next-big-thing” in educational innovation and quality. Others are “the-now-best-thing” in quality education built on the most up-to-date technologies and methodologies. Whatever role a trainer wants to play in adult education and professional training, the VMEdu’s Learning Management System is ready to help.

It’s not like riding a Tsunami.

But it is exciting, exhilarating and breath-taking to get in early on one of the disruptions that are rapidly reshaping the world we swim in.

Disruptions that wipe the landscape clear are dramatic and threatening. And they are rare. Disruptive inventions and practices in business and industry happen gradually; so gradually, in fact, that they often seem inevitable. This is a point bestselling author Hugh Howey made in a recent article about the state of publishing: “All manner of publishing has been greatly disrupted, but it’s often hard to see because what has changed is what’s now missing from our lives. And these missing things have not disappeared all at once. Rather, it’s been a gradual vanishing.”[1]

The world of publishing—which Howey says includes such products as encyclopedias, maps, those liner notes in albums and CDs, how-to books, instructions enclosed in products, newspapers, magazines and novels—provides an excellent example of the disruption that is now going on in education and training.

Michael Horn, in a piece on Forbes.com, described the disruption this way: “Much of the growth of online learning isn’t just in accredited higher education institutions, but in unaccredited institutions that are hired to do a similar ‘job’ as that of many accredited higher education institutions—advance adult learners in their career pathways. These organizations don’t need accreditation per se though, as they will ultimately develop their reputations from the success of their students with employers.” He cites research done in this regard by Michelle R. Weise and Clayton M. Christensen of the Christensen Institute.

Horn’s suggestion is that schools of higher learning should enhance their online presences and offerings. He gives examples of partnerships that colleges, universities, corporate entities and training organizations can make as a way of turning his suggestion into a reality. One of the companies facilitating this disruption in education and professional training is VMEdu, Inc. This company has a global reach with more than 750 partners in its VMEdu Authorized Training Partner network. It is expanding this with the launch of its VMEdu Authorized Content Partners (V.A.C.P.) program.

In discussing the digital disruption of the publishing industry, Howey says, “In just about every measurable way, these have been great developments.” The V.A.C.P. program brings an enhanced Learning Management System (LMS) and other great developments arising from disruptive innovations in adult education and training to any organization that has created courses related to any field of adult learning in any language; or is already using another LMS to host their courses.

The V.A.C.P. program enables content providers—educational institutions, training companies and those with an expertise worth sharing—the ability to launch courses on their own websites for free, get their own mobile app, sell their courses to the VMEdu Partner Network, offer Sales and Marketing courses on SMstudy, and efficiently track student progress.

Looking at the changes in publishing, Howey says, “It’s difficult to find anything to complain about with this transition, unless you are a middleman who no longer provides a service commensurable with your cost. This is an important point, the act of offering a service that matches your cost.” Educational providers and trainers are very familiar with the costs of some of their products. Student loan debt in America is almost infamous. VMEdu says, “There is no cost associated with creating or uploading your courses, and zero licensing fees.”

The same goes for certain mobile apps for partner courses: “VMEdu will take care of all expenses related to creating, maintaining and upgrading your mobile apps—you pay only $1 per student per month for every student accessing your courses through the mobile app.” This is an example of where the company earns its income.

“Last year, Amazon paid out over $140,000,000 to authors in its Kindle Unlimited program. That doesn’t count the dollars paid for book sales,” says Howey. The disruption of traditional publishing is enabling those who create the works to share a much larger portion of the revenues they generate. Through VMEdu’s cloud-based LMS, the same is happening for adult and professional education providers.

For those considering an educational venture into the new cloud-based ocean of opportunity, come on in; the water is fine.

Surf the VMEdu website and learn more about its V.A.C.P. program: Benefits of Becoming a V.A.C.P.

[1] Howey, Hugh. (2/2/16) “The State of the Industry.” The Wayfinder. Retrieved on 2/3/16 from http://www.hughhowey.com/the-state-of-the-industry/

It may be time to recognize that data collected from social media will not so easily reveal its immediate impact on a company’s sales (as we’ve said before, it’s proven to be a bit slippery). But this doesn’t mean the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater. In finding ways to prove its value, social media marketers are changing the conversation away from a cause/effect relationship between a company’s marketing and its ROI to a deeper understanding of social data’s value. And as it turns out what it offers is way more valuable- the unprecedented parse-able social insights of a population.

In a recent post, we explained that the number one problem facing social media marketers today is tying social data to an increase in the bottom line (or the sales of a product or service). The challenge of “proof,” in turn, was making it harder to make a case for additional investment in social media marketing.

We said, “Demonstrating the value of the social programs within the company was, in fact, the top challenge noted (60%) by survey participants consisting of 600 media marketing professionals.”

 The State of Social Marketing 2015 report by Simply Measured states, “Companies of all sizes and maturity levels are struggling to prove the value of their social programs. Social media activities can be difficult to quantify, and marketers are trapped between readily available “vanity metrics,” such as Likes and followers, and difficult-to-measure objectives such as brand awareness.”

We went on to suggest that unless there’s a collapse of the capitalist system, better tools will surely arise to address the challenge. But we also noted, of equal, if not greater importance, would be the ongoing discovery of more creative and accurate ways to query the data.

As marketers hone in on methods to extract the gold nuggets of consumer intel out of the mountain of information, they’re hitting upon the true capital of social media- the most comprehensive picture of consumer behavior, sentiment and decision-making process they’ve ever been blessed to lay hands on. This might not be the smoking gun that ties directly to a sale, but, in fact, presents many more gifts in the long run as John Donnelly III, SVP of global sales and marketing at Crimson Hexagon, points out.    

 “One of the most effective ways to glean consumer insights is by analyzing social media conversation… sales teams are realizing that social media is rife with information about what their prospects care about, how they consume media and what motivates their decision-making,” said Donnelly.

Based on Donnelly’s presentation and other insights, here are some ideas to consider when taking the dive into social data.  

Get granular. Almost any question a marketer has regarding brand perception, market competition and the general sentiment of people discussing a product or brand can be found through social media analytics, so ask away.

Getting granular also let's marketers zero in on microsegments of the population that either are or can be Word-of-Mouth advocates for a brand or product.

Word of Mouth is the golden standard for all marketers. The ability to target Word-of-Mouth advocates on social media can be the difference between success and failure. Writing for convice&convert, Devon Wijesinghe discusses the importance of Word of Mouth and how it can be used.

“This rich source of information comes in handy when you’re looking to generate Word of Mouth about your brand. Tapping into the “right” market segments—segments whose interests and values are aligned with your brand—can be the catalyst your campaign needs,” Wijesinghe said.

Layer trending topics on top of a hyper-targeted market segment (both bits of information available through social media data analysis) and a marketer has made a happy marketing marriage.  

Focus groups may be passe according to some, but testing is still very much a part of the marketing strategy. From a product standpoint, social media insights can reflect the strengths and weaknesses of a product’s lifecycle as well as the effectiveness of current marketing efforts. Filling the role of the modern-day focus group, social media insights are also valuable for taking the temperature of the public on an idea such as a logo or slogan, a product or service. Testing the social media world’s tastes and perceptions allows for adjustment before launching, saving money and perhaps even preventing a catastrophic mistake.  

Social media data is virtually limitless (pun optional) and social media marketers are stepping up and learning how to use it best. We expect to be reading many more social media data “hacks” in the future. Stay tuned.

Visit smstudy.com for additional articles on sales and marketing. 

[Spring Eselgroth, VMEdu staff writer contributed to this article.]

Sources:

"How to Sell Smarter Using Social Insights," Devon Wijesinghem http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-measurement/social-insights/

"Supercharge Your Selling Strategy: The Power of Social Data," John Donnelly, https://inbound.org/discuss/john-donnelly-forget-the-focus-group-how-social-insights-can-help-you-sell-smarter-at-inbound15

The State of Social Marketing- 2015, Simply Measured, http://simplymeasured.com/#sm.0001gymsunkgqdcepli19xtqnlo4p

How can you keep from being one of the three?

A stat being tossed around a lot these days is that three out of four startups fail. Such odds even seem favorable when compared to direr (and possibly more realistic) observations that “nine out of ten startups fail.” Neil Patel made that claim on Forbes.com, suggesting that “entrepreneurs may even want to write their failure post-mortem before they launch their business.”[1]

What causes these failures?

A look at more than one hundred essays by the CEOs of failed startups two years ago revealed to Fortune.com “that the number-one reason for failure, cited by 42% of polled startups, is the lack of a market need for their product.”[2] Most inventors and innovators imagine that they are providing something people need—the next best mousetrap. Yet, according to these CEOs, there was a clear misalignment between imagination and market reality.

How can someone avoid that threat?

A look at other items in the poll—pricing/cost issues, poor marketing, ignoring the customer and mistimed product launches—provides a clue. The one thing that all of these threats have in common is that they are sales and marketing issues. They are all things that are discussed in SMstudy’s Marketing Strategy, volume one of A Guide to the SMstudy® Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge (SMBOK® Guide).[3]

Marketing Strategy has an entire section titled “Analyze Market Opportunity,” which would definitely help avoid the problem of having a product without a market.  Pricing and cost issues can be addressed with knowledge gained from the section on “Determine Pricing and Distribution Strategies.”

The book discusses PESTEL Analysis, which entrepreneurs can use to evaluate macro-environmental factors such as political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors that affect the successful and timely launch of a product or service.

Writing about “Ten Essential Startup Lessons” for Entrepreneur, John Rampton includes as his number 7, “Become a salesperson. If you want your startup to succeed, then you must sell. You’re going to have to market the company's product to employees, investors and clients.” Then he asks, “But did you ever take a ‘Salesperson 101’ course in college?”[4]

The complete SMBOK® Guide is more than just “Salesperson 101.” It includes books on branding and advertising, digital marketing, corporate sales and market research. For the inventor, innovator and entrepreneur, the six books that make up the Guide give insight and direction for turning their product or service into a business—a business that has customers.

Offering some “Startup Advice” on BothSidesoftheTable.com, Mark Suster says, “When you start your company the very first question you need to ask yourself is which kind of customers do you want to serve.” He discusses going after elephants—what others call “whales”—when one really needs to hunt deer. It’s a great analogy and explains one of the reasons startups often have “suboptimal results.”[5] Defining the market and identifying market segments is covered at length in Marketing Strategy.

A Guide to the SMstudy® Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge by SMstudy is not a collection of inspiring or amusing anecdotes about sales that hit the stratosphere; they are practical, process-oriented collections of processes and best practices that help companies create and develop sales and marketing plans and departments that succeed.

SMstudy also offers courses online and in mobile apps that put the information entrepreneurs need where they are when they need it.

How can you keep from being one of the three . . . or one of the nine? Start your startup with SMstudy.

[1] Patel, Neil. (1/16/15) “90% of Startups Fail: Here’s What You Need to Know about the 10%.” Forbes.com Retrieved on 2/12/16 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/01/16/90-of-startups-will-fail-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-10/#185237c255e1

[2] Griffith, Erin. (9/25/14) “Why startups fail, according to their founders.” Fortune. Retrieved on 2/12/16 from http://fortune.com/2014/09/25/why-startups-fail-according-to-their-founders/

[3] http://www.smstudy.com/SMBOKGuide/overview-of-SMstudy-guide

[4] Rampton, John. (7/25/14) “Ten essential Startup Lessons That You may not have Learned in College.” Entrepreneur. Retrieved on 2/11/16 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235905.

[5] Suster, Mark. “Startup Advice.” BothSidesoftheTable.com. Retrieved on 2/11/16 from http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/on-entrepeneurship/

In sales, all that matters is the bond between the seller and buyer. The buyer always finds arguments to have a better deal than the quoted one, and that is when the negotiation skills of the seller comes in! Negotiation skills are much like a language. People who are unacquainted with the concepts and terminology of negotiation may find it intimidating.  With proper training, constant use and practice, it can be learned and mastered.

Negotiation Strategies

• Distributive Negotiation - This type of negotiation often results in a win-lose scenario. The parties involved in this type of negotiation work towards getting the most out of a fixed value or sum. Hence the gain of one party results in the loss of the other. Say for example, you are bargaining to buy a gift from a foreign trip where you are not going to purchase from the seller again. Given the nature of this strategy, very few negotiations are truly distributive.
• Integrative Negotiation - This type of negotiation is carried out with the objective of achieving a win-win scenario. The deals negotiated with this strategy are meant to create and deliver value for both the parties by integrating their interests.  Examples for this type of negotiations can be mergers and acquisitions or the relationship between a manufacturing company and its suppliers.

Negotiation Styles

Kenneth W. Thomas identified five styles of negotiation based on dual-concern model.

• Accommodating - Individuals who emphasize on preserving personal relationships and consider other party’s problems during negotiation.
• Avoiding – Individuals who do not enjoy negotiation and try to avoid the confrontational aspects of it.
• Collaborating – Individuals who enjoy the problem solving aspect of negotiation and tend to use creativity to come to mutual agreement.
• Competing – Individuals who enjoy and dominate the negotiation process.
• Compromising – Individuals who are eager to close the deal by being fair to all the parties involved.

Preparing for Negotiation

There are four steps to prepare for a negotiation:

• Consider what would be a good outcome for both parties. The negotiator should determine the interests and objectives of his party as well as those of the other party. This is to done by thorough research or by having a dialogue with the other party. Areas of common ground, compromise and opportunities for favorable trade need to be understood.
• Learn about the people on the other side before negotiation. Negotiating is an interpersonal activity. Experienced negotiators know this and try to learn as much as they can about the people on the other side. Experience of the negotiators, their negotiation style, their levels of authority, the culture of their organization and the importance of the deal for their organization are some of the things that can help you during negotiation.
• Gather external information about the deal points and negotiate from your positions of strength. Each side wants to get a fair and reasonable deal at the end of the negotiation. It is a good practice to benchmark with industry standards for the negotiation. There are many criteria for fairness and reasonableness. During preparation, it is essential that the team research the criteria that is more favorable to them and should be ready to show that those criteria are more relevant than other factors.
• Determine the authority position of the person with whom you are negotiating. Ideally, the negotiator on the other side should have similar authority as the negotiator on your side. To determine the authority of the negotiator on the other side, one must try to figure out the decision making process of the other side. 

For more intersting and informative articles on sales and marketing, visit www.smstudy,com/articles

Until recently, scientists believed that at a certain age, the human brain simply stopped growing. We now know that the human brain keeps developing, making new neural pathways into adulthood and can stay sharp throughout a lifetime if given the proper nourishment. Delving into understanding a brand new concept or learning a new activity are now touted as paths to a sprier, more agile mind that can keep us happier and healthier as we get wiser.

If we consider that the extremely large demographic cohort, the baby boomers, are turning 65 at a rate of 10,000 per day and are keenly aware of the latest research in brain health, it’s no surprise that we are seeing a growth spurt in adult learning. And as many also have the ability to access courses online, it’s safe to say we are entering an online adult learning boom. Authors Matthias Finger and Jose Manuel Asun agree.

In their book “Adult Education at a Crossroads: Learning Our Way Out”, they state, “adult education is indeed burgeoning. Never before has there been so much talk about “learning” and not only about children, but learning by all members of society.”

With adult learning bigger than ever, now is the time to let your inner teacher shine and share what you know. If you’ve dreamed of leading a class or feel you have a valuable subject to teach, it’s never been easier to put together a course with the VMEdu Authorized Content Partner (V.A.C.P.) program.

The VMEdu Cloud Learning Management System (LMS), built and tested over a period of seven years, is one of the best in the adult learning field. Content partners can join and launch courses for free and VMEdu provides the tools and assistance for those with the desire to create educational materials, but find themselves a bit “rusty” in their technical skills. 

Along with helping create your courses, VMEdu designs a best-in-industry mobile app for each content partner at zero-cost for Android Phones and $250 for iPhones . Courses can be made available and sold through VMEdu’s partner network of more than 750 Authorized Training Partners (A.T.P.s) around the world.

With the V.A.C.P. program, the opportunity to teach and share is closer than ever. The ease of the VMEdu platform and program guarantee a positive experience for all, including the large number of adult learners seeking stimulating, informational, inspiring classes. The adult learning boom might just be one of the best things that ever happened to you, whether you’re seeking to teach, to learn or both.

To learn more about the V.A.C.P. program, visit - www.vmedu.com/Benefits-of-VACP.asp

Sources:

“Adult Education at a Crossroads: Learning Our Way Out,” Matthias Finger, Jose Manuel Asun. 2001.

“Baby Boomers Retire,” Pew Research. Dec. 29, 2010.  http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/baby-boomers-retire/

Could a beer seller’s story about their purple wisteria saving the day help you?

When the story is an example of using psychology and emotion-driven sales, it can and probably should. London Pride accomplished this with their advertisement featuring a uniquely ancient wisteria plant: “The purple genus has been steadily scaling our brewery walls since 1816. It’s the oldest in England.”  It seems the Brits value their past, their national pride and their wisteria.

“London Pride beer uses emotion-driven marketing … that hooks the reader with a memorable story about something Londoners are familiar with and proud of,” says Kath Pay in Leveraging Psychology in Digital Marketing.

A Guide to the SMstudy® Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge (SMstudy® Guide), makes a similar point: “The most popular blogs choose topics that are of interest to a large community. Successful blogs have something interesting, useful, or creative to share, and do that sharing with an engaging style.”

How does one leverage psychology in his or her marketing efforts? SMstudy® Guide’s book Marketing Strategy explains one of the ways: “Psychographic segmentation is primarily used for consumer markets and involves segmenting buyers along one or more psychological variables including, but not limited to, the following—Attitude, Personality, Values, Fears, Lifestyle, and Life stage (e.g., early childhood, youth, young adult, newly married, married with young children, married with teens, empty nester, elderly and retired).” This type of segmentation begins the process of researching and analyzing a target market’s psychological profile.

“To make the path to conversion clear, you must understand the psychological cues that prompt action, and then consider the entire customer journey, using both implicit and explicit directional cues,” says Pay.

How can you find the cues that prompt consumer actions? The SMstudy® Guide helps here, too, suggesting the use of behavioral segmentation and explaining, “There are five variables that can be used for behavioral segmentation.”

Needs: Users are segmented on the basis of their needs related to a product. Here it is important to understand the users’ category and brand purchasing motives, their value systems and their perceptions in order to draw a composite image of each user and his or her needs.

Consumption Behavior: Purchasers may not be the direct consumers or may not be the only consumers for a variety of products. Therefore, consumption patterns for these products should be considered separately.

Purchase Behavior: Users are segmented on the basis of their purchasing patterns. Some of the patterns are non-user, potential user, first-time user, one-time user (also referred to as “one and done purchasing”), repeat user, former user, product/brand loyalty-based user and early adopter.

Communication Behavior: Users are segmented on the basis of how much they communicate about the product with others before, during and after purchasing. In this respect, opinion leaders are particularly influential as they are knowledgeable about, or are regular users of, particular products; are very vocal about their views regarding such products; and command the attention of other potential customers. In addition to examining how these users communicate, it is also important to understand how they prefer to receive communication. For example, what types of media do they consume?

Consumer Purchasing Roles: Consumers can be categorized based on their roles in the purchasing process. Individuals take on one, several or all of the following roles in the purchasing process: initiator, influencer, decider, buyer and user. When segmenting based on consumer purchasing roles, businesses will often target influencers rather than buyers in an effort to connect with those with the most influence on the purchasing behavior of the group.

Looking at the traits that put consumers in each of these categories provides cues to their motivations and the directions those motivations will lead them.

Using some practical suggestions from www.SMstudy.com can help leverage psychology and make people think that buying from you is a good idea. Cheers.

With explosive advances in online communication and cloud formations, intellectual property has become prime real estate. If you have been dreaming of a castle in the sky, now is the time to build it, and VMEdu, Inc. is ready to help.

With its launch of the VMEdu Authorized Content Partners (V.A.C.P.) program, the company opens its full-featured, cloud-based Learning Management System (LMS) to any organization that has created or wants to create courses related to any field of adult learning in any language; or is using another Learning Management System (LMS) to host their courses. The platform and program enables anyone to create and host their courses with zero upfront investment and no technical expertise.

The versatility of the LMS provides content experts with the option of hosting their courses on their own website. The VMEdu technical team provides them with their own high-quality mobile app. If your course content has more than 60 minutes of video, VMEdu will cover all expenses related to creating, maintaining and upgrading your mobile app in an Android version. Additional mobile apps can be created for $250.

This state-of-the-art platform from VMEdu is expected to disrupt the Learning Management System market. With zero upfront costs, best-in-industry mobile apps at zero-cost for Android Phones and experience from teaching more than 500,000 students from 150 countries and 3,500+ companies, VMEdu is definitely positioned to make that happen. To help them, the company has a huge VMEdu Authorized Training Partners (V.A.T.P.) network of more than 750 partners in more than 50 countries.

How valuable is cloud real estate for training professionals? The V.A.C.P. Program offers the opportunity to dramatically increase revenues. In addition to the earnings from students taking their courses on the VMEdu platform, V.A.C.P.s can make their courses available for sale through VMEdu’s fast-growing V.A.T.P. partner network. Promotional courses can be offered for free in order to extend market reach and build increased revenues more gradually. 

What keeps this from being pie in the sky is that the VMEdu Cloud LMS is, by far, one of the best adult learning platforms globally. It has been built over a period of 7  years–with millions of dollars of investment–and tested thoroughly by launching multiple courses and websites that have become international leaders in their fields. Moreover, VMEdu’s strong back-end capabilities allow its partners to easily manage their relationships and training requirements with VMEdu, Inc. VMEdu’s LMS is hosted in a scalable cloud infrastructure and already hosts hundreds of courses with more than 50,000 learning resources including videos, questions, case studies, simulated exams, flashcards, study guides and more.

Cloud opportunities are growing, but many feel anchored to the ground because of a lack of technical expertise or liquid capital. The V.A.C.P. program will put you in your sky castle with zero setup and maintenance costs and no technical knowledge or infrastructure required. Unlike other traditional LMS platforms, one does not have to pay any licensing fees, buy expensive hardware, or hire expensive software professionals to launch online courses and mobile apps. There is no cost associated with creating or uploading courses. Unlike traditional LMS platforms that usually have negligible support for mobile apps, VMEdu creates the best-in-industry mobile apps at zero-cost for Android phones (if more than 1 hour of video courses is uploaded) and $250 for iPhones. One can save more than 90% of current LMS expenses by using the VMEdu LMS–and also have significantly more capabilities than those offered by traditional LMS platforms.

Your place in the Cloud is waiting for you. Pick up your keys at VMEdu.

To learn more about the VMEdu Authorized Content Partner Program, visit www.vmedu.com/Overview-VACP.asp.

Great teachers are rare. Great teachers should be prized for what they give to the world. A great teacher should not have to slog it out alone, wasting precious time taking care of the tedious work that must be completed in order get thier courses recognized and propeled to success. This is where the VMEdu Authorized Content Partner (V.A.C.P.) program can come in handy. The V.A.C.P. program offers to take on the heavy lifting of course preparation, presentation and management, leaving great teachers with time to do what they do best...teach!   

The VMEdu Authorized Content Partner program provides real advantages for teachers who are ready to get the word out about their courses!

The V.A.C.P. program lets teachers create and upload courses through an easy-to-use cloud interface called the VMEdu Course Builder. Everything related to your course, including videos, test questions, case studies, flashcards study guides and more can be included. And have no fear, the VMEdu technical team is always available to assist with course creation or any other technical assistance. There is no cost for creating or uploading your courses, and zero licensing fees.

The creation of a mobile app is another perk of the V.A.C.P. program. VMEdu can create a mobile app to support your courses with both your company name and logo. This app can be used by students to experience all available  courses as well as provide students with flexibility they need in their learning experience. Apps can be downloaded from the Google Play Store (for Android App) or Apple App Store (for IOS App).

In addition, VMEdu has a global partner network of more than 750 Authorized Training Partners (V.A.T.P.s), and if so inclined, teachers can sell courses to the VMEdu A.T.P. partner network. Prices are set by the teacher and VMEdu assists in reaching out to its large network of corporates, colleges/universities, training companies and individual trainers. This helps increase reach and at the same time garners additional customers and revenues. More specifically, if a course relates to sales and marketing, teachers may consider selling their courses through SMstudy.com, the global accreditation body for sales and marketing certifications.

VMEdu understands that managing classes can take up a ton of valuable time, so they’ve created an easy-to-use portal where teachers can manage course-related activities such as student access, course financials and course reporting.

With all the benefits of partnering with VMEdu, teachers now have an option that makes sense. The V.A.C.P. program is the accommodating, helpful, time-saving platform that teachers need, so they can focus on the important work of teaching.

For more detailed information of the VMEdu Authorized Content Partner program, visit http://vmedu.com/Benefits-of-VACP.asp

There are, on average, 12 billion web searches conducted in the United States EACH month. This ginormous figure highlights (and underscores) the importance of where your online content appears in search engine results and what can be done to improve a site’s ranking on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of modifying online content to improve its “searchability”. The SMstudy Guide®, Digital Marketing book describes SEO as an optimization of a website through editing, tagging or coding pages in order to improve online traffic.

The book states, “The objective is to ensure that the site appears in search engine results for the keywords that are most relevant to the business. SEO also involves removing any barriers that would prevent search engines from indexing the site, as well as promoting the site to increase the number of backlinks or inbound links.”

Since its rise to prominence in 2010, Search Engine Optimization has been evolving at a brisk clip and 2016 will be no exception. As we close out the first month of the new  year, two important SEO trends are beginning to come into focus.

Trend #1

In 2016, the lines will blur (even more) between social media content and traditional web content. As social media content is now being indexed by the search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing, the chances of social media content coming up in search engine results has greatly increased. This is good news for marketers, but it will require greater focus on incorporating SEO best practices into social media marketing. 

Brian Honigman, CEO of Honigman Media explains “Today, links are mainly achieved through developing original content that is in turn, shared across social media. Links to your content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and other social networks help the search engines understand what websites are credible and should be ranked for what keyword phrases.”
 

Trend #2

Consider these two statistics regarding mobile use:

1. Four out of five consumers use smartphones to shop.

2. 70% of mobile searches result in an online action (such as a purchase).

With the continued increase of smartphone use, it’s no surprise that the latest Google algorithm update nudges mobile-friendly sites to the top of its search results. This is a clear indication that focusing on optimizing mobile content is now just as important as optimizing web content.

In more general terms, SMstudy’s Digital Marketing suggests optimizing website responsiveness to ensure easy viewing on mobile devices. The book goes on to suggest, “Maintain a separate mobile site since mobile users prefer websites in which content can be consumed on a smaller screen and on the go; provide only relevant content: and maintain a light mobile site to ensure faster loading the mobile site.”

For more articles on sales and marketing, visit smstudy.com.

[Spring Eselgroth, SMstudy staff, contributed to the article.]

Sources

SMstudy Guide, Digital Marketing, pgs. 77-78.

“Eight Ways Social Media Affects SEO”, Brian Honigman, Sept. 11, 2013. http://blog.sumall.com/journal/8-ways-social-media-affects-seo.html#ixzz3yTSPgOWt.

“From Brick-and-Mortar to Mobile Click-and-Order: Which Retailers are Carving Out Space in the M-Commerce Market?”, Sarah Radwanick
Lead Corporate Marketing Manager, Sept. 19, 2012. http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2012/9/Retailers-Carving-Out-Space-in-the-M-Commerce-Market.

“70% of mobile searches result in an online action…within one hour”, Ahmed Ahmed, Dec. 20, 2012. http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/70-mobile-searches-lead-action-within-1-hour-infographic.

“Search Engine Optimization Stats,” Hubspot.com, http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics.

Guts are squishy, often irritable, and can be irregular, yet, many sales and marketing professionals base their practices on “gut feelings” and hunches. 

“Marketing departments will continue to become less dependent on quantifying the value they are delivering to the organization based upon squishy, feel-good branding efforts and they will be even more driven to leverage data and analytics across all marketing channels,” says Russ Hearl, VP at DoubleDutch[1] in a collection of seven sales and marketing predictions for 2016.

To do this, marketing departments will need to borrow some tools and techniques used by other managers in their company. One such tool suggested by SMstudy in its book Marketing Strategy is Value Chain Analysis: “Value Chain Analysis is used to analyze the value created by a company’s current activities. It explores where more value can be added, as well as where value is not being added throughout the chain of activities.”

In addition to “quantifying the value [the marketing department] is delivering to the organization,” the data collected in the Value Chain Analysis can be used as benchmarks for evaluating the company’s existing accounts with a BCG Growth-Share matrix[2]. “Among the many things you should do is start by going backwards, not in how you sell, but how you plan and set yourself up for success,” suggests Tibor Shanto in “It’s A New Year – Let’s Go Backwards.”[3] Identifying which accounts are Cash Cows, Stars and Dogs can give great insights in how the company has set itself up for success in the past.

Shanto says that sales professionals need to make plans for the new year based on data. Among the data required, he includes “some core conversion rates: number of proposals that close, number of real prospects required to generate a REAL proposal, and number of people/companies you’ll need to engage to land one REAL prospect.” Based on a well-developed example, Shanto concludes, “The key is to execute a well-planned strategy, rooted in the real numbers to drive real results.”

“One of the most widely used criteria for lead qualification is BANT, which stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Time frame,” says the SMstudy® Guide for corporate sales. An analysis in each of these areas produces real numbers that can be used to build successful strategies. SMstudy’s soon-to-be-released Corporate Sales book presents and analyzes the processes of lead generation, lead qualification, needs assessment, negotiation and closure—all within the arena of creating sales strategies that work.

Thinking about sales and marketing from a strategic point of view that leverages data and analytics demands a new approach. That approach is being championed by SMstudy and presented in our six-volume SMstudy® Guide because we want today’s sales and marketing professionals to be tomorrow’s success stories.

Find additional posts on sales and marketing at www.smstudy.com/articles. 

[1] Quoted by Erin Sherbert in “Seven Sales and Marketing Predictions for 2016” (12/7/2015) Salesforce Blog Retrieved on 1/26/2106 from https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2015/12/sales-marketing-predictions-2016.html?d=701300000021KSN&soc=LinkedIn

[2] The BCG Growth-Share matrix by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is discussed more fully in SMstudy® Guide; Marketing Strategy, book one of A Guide to the SMstudy Sales and marketing Body of Knowledge (SMBOK® Guide), pages 42+ [available at http://www.smstudy.com/SMBOKGuide/Overview-of-SMstudy-Guide]  

[3] Tibor Shanto. (1/7/2016) “It’s a New Year – Let’s Go backwards.” SellBetter. Retrieved on 1/25/2016 from http://www.sellbetter.ca/its-a-new-year-lets-go-backwards/

Last year 540 million dollars was spent on marketing globally. 90 percent of that marketing went unnoticed. This number does not represent the percentage of marketing that was liked or disliked, instead it includes the billboards that fade into the background of a city skyline or a print ad that was flipped past while searching for a story about some sort of celebrity gossip.

Marketing managers often ask their teams, “How should we brand our product?” Or “What will make a consumer want to buy a product?” But maybe they should be asking, “How do we get noticed?” Because if you can’t get noticed, then why even bother?

In order to get your marketing noticed, we need to reinvent the wheel a bit. Marketing automation is just as necessary to marketers as QuickBooks is to accountants. According to Tim Asimos vice president & director of Digital Innovation, “Marketing automation provides marketers a powerful and easy way to integrate all the components of their online marketing program into one system, helping to more intelligently manage the customer experience across online channels. And over the last several years, the software has seen enormous growth, fueled by the likes of Act-On, Pardot, Marketo and Hubspot among others.”

Not only does marketing automation save time and improve efficiency, but it also gives marketers the ability to focus their attention on creativity and innovation rather than worrying about the nitty gritty aspects of a campaign. Asimos notes, “As today’s buyers (B2B and B2C) have become increasingly sophisticated and research oriented, marketing and sales simply have to change their approach. Customers are in control and want to make informed decisions. And they seek out information that is educational, insightful and helpful, not the in-your-face sales messages that dominated marketing of the past.”

So how you produce this sort of material? It’s quite simple, really. Companies can perform surveys to gather the necessary data to target their decided consumer base.

As stated in Marketing Strategy, book 1 of the SMsutdy Guide®, “Surveys typically gather quantitative and qualitative data. They are conducted to help companies understand how their brands are viewed in the market and to identify the brand attributes that are preferred by customers. Surveys also help to determine how customers view the company’s products or services relative to competing products. Customers may associate positive attributes with a company such as reliable, innovative, fast, secure, and friendly, or they may perceive a company or a product in a negative fashion and provide attributes such as inconsistent, frustrating, slow, or mediocre when describing their perceptions.”

Leveraging marketing automation software can provide your online marketing program a much-needed boost. It saves you time and increases reach and engagement by sending relevant and timely content to prospects. It also allows for marketers to focus their energy on creating the magical content that’ll get a campaign noticed.

To learn more about improving your marketing efforts, visit www.SMstudy.com today.

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article] 

The national unemployment rate is 5 percent, but this number does not include employed people still looking for THE job. With that being said, what can you do to get a leg up on the competition? And let’s be honest, competition is what it’s all about, right? Each person that applies for THE job (the one you want) should be considered your rival. So, how do you stand out with a potential employer and knock your competition back on their heels?

The answer is simple. Certifications. If you are applying for a position in sales or marketing, a certification from SMstudy will put you one step in front of your peers. A certification shows prospective employers that you are passionate about sales and marketing and an added perk- the training will give you the confidence you need to ace that interview.

Adding certifications to your resume also demonstrates that you are able to work hard towards a goal and finish it successfully, something employers consider carefully. If you are able to set your sights on a goal, work towards it, and achieve it. You will ultimately master a new body of knowledge. Or in the case of SMstudy, a Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge.

As stated at SMstudy.com, “It is important for us to note that the fact that we are in the twenty-first century does not make all the earlier avenues of Sales and Marketing obsolete.”

Technology has changed the way people reach, interpret, and react to information. Therefore, companies are searching for new ways to broaden the scope of sales and marketing thanks to the ability to reach their consumers through the Internet. Given these new forms of buyer-seller options many professionals believe that the information age, brought upon by technological advances, has redefined the roles of sales and marketing.

According to Mike Templeman at Forbes, “Marketing technology is growing at a rapid rate. And that growth is causing it to bridge the gap between sales and marketing by understanding the areas of the funnel that used to be the domain of the sales team. For instance, a remarketing campaign can continue to market to a potential customer even after the sales person has initiated contact. Similarly, marketing automation is also a technology that continues to touch the client, through email campaigns, even after the sales team has made its claim.”

With this information in mind, why wouldn’t you want to earn a certification in sales and marketing with SMstudy? I can’t think of one.

For more information and resources visit www.SMstudy.com

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

We recently read that “We are living in a post-advertising world.” The claim was made by John Horsley, director of Digital Doughnut, a global digital marketing community. Horsley should know, so we took notice.

Horsley explained his claim in a LinkedIn group forum: “Conversations have replaced campaigns, engagement trumps reach, and brands are no longer built by above-the-line agencies, but at every touchpoint the business has with its customers. And the thread that links all these elements is social media.” This resonates with us at SMstudy. We have included a lot about touchpoints, engagement and social media marketing in A Guide to the Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge, also referred to as the SMstudy® Guide.

Horsley was using his claim to incite and invite members of the group to take part in a survey being conducted to explore the current status of companies and social media and contribute to his work “New Report: Social Media’s Impact on Customer Experience.” He says “businesses have been slow to respond, often hampered by outdated structures, siloed thinking and a lack of strategic understanding.” Now, that really resonates with us because we wrote an entire book on Marketing Strategy as one of the six aspects covered in the SMstudy® Guide and we offer certifications in marketing strategy.

His claim did not resonate so well with others, however. One group member commented, “Social media channels are simply another way to touch someone, as is and remains advertising. Effective communications usually consist of multichannel or cross channel strategies.” We had to agree with several points here. Our Digital Marketing book says, “Given the nature of the online world, which is constantly evolving and expanding—new channels are developing with greater frequency, and audiences are continuously exploring new sources of online content—digital marketers must regularly assess and reassess digital marketing channels for their effectiveness and applicability in helping achieve the company’s overall organizational goals and objectives.”

Social media provide many opportunities for delivering messages that advertise. Within Marketing Strategy whole sections have been dedicated to planning and developing social media as well as other digital channels.

The term “posting” (as it is used in advertising) comes not from posting mail but from a time when fences, street lamp poles, telephone posts and any available urban wall space were festooned with advertisements for products, shows, soon-to-arrive circuses and political candidates. When the rampant postings got out-of-hand, a new posting appeared saying, “Post No Bills.” Now, many marketing and advertising messages are being posted online and in social media. Perhaps we should say we’re living in a post-post-advertising world? Well … maybe not.

Another commenter added, “effective marketing communication is always a delicious idea (whatever it might be) served on many different (multichannel) dishes.” And that’s an idea we can relish.

To get more insights about sales and marketing, register for the free SMstudy subscription today - http://smstudy.com/Subscription/Free-Subscription

When creating a brand for your company do not use an American celebrity to shoot chocolate bars at innocent bystanders. Apparently Mars, the company who produces Snickers chocolate bars, did not get the memo.

In July of 2008, Snickers UK launched a commercial starring Mr. T, an American actor and one determined (and brave) speed walker. In the commercial, Mr. T crashes through a building, in what appears to be a supped-up pickup truck, and pulls up alongside a young man wearing tight yellow shorts. Mr. T proceeds to open fire with what appears to be a Gatling gun, pelts his victim with Snickers bar “bullets” and yells, “Speed walking?! I pity you fool. You a disgrace to the man race. It’s time to run like a real man.”

The commercial was pulled after just one week.  The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights advocacy group, criticized Mars for spreading, “the notion that violence against LGBT people is not only acceptable, but humorous.”

Mars could have avoided this marketing failure by taking a look at Marketing Strategy, book 1 of the SMstudy Guide®. According to the book, “Brand perception refers to how prospective and current customers react to seeing or hearing about a company’s product or brand and how the company is perceived within the market. Leading organizations across industries realize that a powerful brand is one of their most important business assets, so they work hard to maintain a positive brand perception as it helps to increase sales and improve profitability.”

This was the second commercial in a three-part campaign entitled, “Get Some Nuts.” Mars had envisioned Mr. T as the face of the Snickers brand, but instead they were branded the company with the face of homophobia. Snickers could have avoided this issue by performing surveys as explained in Marketing Strategy. “Brand perception can be measured using a variety of approaches, but it is mainly measured via research surveys that question participants about the perceptions of the company and/or its products. Surveys typically gather quantitative and qualitative data. They are conducted to help companies understand how their brands are viewed in the market and to identify the brand attributes that are preferred by customers.”

The intention of the “Get Some Nuts” campaign was to target men and their masculinity. In order to be a real man you need to be tough and aggressive like our good ole pal Mr. T. Mars could have avoided yet another blunder by sticking to Marketing Strategy. As stated in the book, “Once a company has identified all market segments, explored the competition, and then compiled the details of competitive products, it should then analyze the various segments and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by the company in order to identify the target segments in which the business would be most competitive. This process involves identifying the type of customers a company plans to target and the product categories under which it intends to create products.”

In this case, the campaign did not just humiliate homosexual men, which makes up 1.8 percent of the male population, but also men perceived to be “wimpy”. The campaign only targeted men that are rugged and tough, which does not help a company when it comes to forming target segments.

Companies can benefit from providing their employees with the knowledge that can be found in the SMstudy Guide®. If only Mars had been aware of what a Sales and Marketing certification can do for its company, they may have eluded a very big marketing fail.

For more information and resources about Sales and Marketing visit SMstudy.com.

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

A “soup-to-nuts” attitude is the best way to approach any career. Demonstrating an intense interest in a subject and presenting a thorough understanding and a “can- do” work ethic are all feathers in your professional cap.

While in some fields extreme specialization is still required, there’s a growing trend toward job consolidation or the combination of what was once two separate careers into one. And in fact, as the trend doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon, broader skillsets may be a requirement in the future. Thus the need to wear more than one hat (at least professionally speaking) will continue to be increasingly important.

One of the main reasons for this shift is the impact from technology. Over the last decade advancements in technological solutions have transformed the way companies do business. The opportunities technology provides for streamlining workflow, such as automation or software application utilization, is a movement that’s been noted across industries.

Using sales as an example, Stuart Leung of salesforce.com said, “Technology is transforming the world of sales. Going forward, only organizations that use powerful tools and technologies such as big data, social media, mobile technologies, and the cloud to streamline the sales process will remain profitable and competitive. Those who choose to retain outdated sales techniques may ultimately cease to exist.”

The rise in technological advancements has also been noted in the trend toward streamlining staff as well. As technology provides tools that allow for greater efficiency, a staff member is freed up to handle more aspects of the process…not simply one small part. In many fields this has led to the combining of jobs when it’s seen as beneficial and appropriate.

There exists a natural symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing departments. Streamlining and job combining between the two allows for a more efficient workflow and optimizes the sharing of objectives and the continual free flow of communication.  Of course this is good news for a company, but it also opens growth opportunities for current or future staff members as well.

For a sales and marketing team member, there are clear benefits to possessing knowledge of both the sales and marketing processes. It sets you apart as someone who can offer comprehensive critical thinking. It also allows the “left hand to know what the right hand is doing”, or in other words there is smooth communication and understanding between the two sides of the sales and marketing spectrum. To be well versed and authoritative on the workflow of connecting potential customers with valuable content and to provide knowledgeable sales skills to assist customers in finding solutions can set you apart when out on the job hunt, working toward greater responsibility within a company or even considering striking out on your own (ala the entrepreneur).

Whether you’re seeking to align your skill set with the new professional landscape or planning to move into a sales and marketing field and want to show a comprehensive knowledge of the continuum of sales and marketing, SMstudy can get you there.

SMstudy offers training and certifications on its own platform available through the SMstudy website.

• SMstudy has gathered expert instruction and guidance from all over the globe to offer a vast library of information on the various aspects of sales and marketing.
• SMstudy is budget friendly. Many courses (and Associate certifications) are free to all.
• SMstudy is a major opportunity for networking with others who share an interest in sales and marketing.
• SMstudy offers the opportunity to share sales and marketing knowledge and insight through the SMstudy platform that allows the creation of training materials such as videos, study guides, mobile apps and more.

For interesting articles about Sales and Marketing, visit www.SMstudy.com/articles

Over time, we’ve seen a number of companies that acquire leader status in their product/ service either by slightly improving their product over existing competitor products or by providing the same product at a lower cost either by operational efficiency or loss-leadership. While such strategies might help companies gain leadership status for a while, it will never help them attain truly sustainable leadership.

To attain a truly sustainable brand, companies need to change their competitive landscape and provide their customers with a product which is truly revolutionary and still difficult to replicate. And if you are able to combine that with addressing an environmental need, you’ve really hit a home run. This is why the success of Tesla to establish their name in the automotive industry through their electric vehicles is to be taken note of.

Tesla Motors to the uninitiated is a leading American automotive and energy company involved in design, manufacturing, and sale of luxury electric cars, electric vehicle powertrain components, and battery products. Tesla Motors was incorporated in July 2003 with an aim to commercialize electric vehicles. Let’s look at the factors that helped Tesla grow into their target market.

1. Focused initial launch: Tesla’s initial strategy was to target the early adopters. They started out with the Roadster which was in the premium sports category and target influencers like George Clooney, Leonardo Di Caprio etc. who endorsed the product and the philosophy of it being environmental friendly.
2. Develop Ecosystem: In order to make the electric vehicles viable, Tesla also needed to invest heavily in infrastructure around filling stations. Each electric vehicle like any normal vehicle has a certain mileage when full. For electric vehicles to become the new standard, Tesla needed to replicate the existing ecosystem which they’ve done using the Tesla Superchargers. Not only have they set up a comparative ecosystem, they also provide these stations for free. Superchargers have increased their coverage and already cover most states in the US and countries around Central Europe and crucially, are growing really fast.
3. Focus on Design: Despite the obvious advantages that Tesla provide with their car being environmental friendly and zero cost charging, Tesla has also focused heavily on ensuring that the design of the car is futuristic and user focused. Features within the design like apps to show car’s charge level and other functionality, keychain remotes, large storage space for long journeys, customizability of car give it an edge over even the  regular cars in the market. So just from a design perspective, the cars are attractive to an audience that might not be too concerned over the environmental impact of their car.
4. Amazing drive experience: We’ve already spoken about how the design of the vehicle is really impressive for Tesla, but when it comes to driving, the Tesla literally takes the breath away. These cars are designed with a low center of gravity making them more stable then regular cars. The engine of the car is completely silent thereby enhancing the driving experience of users whereas the acceleration is really quick to cater to a younger audience too.
5. Tesla Energy: Besides their vision around cars, Tesla as a company has ambitions to really promote re-usable modes of electricity and as a part of their ambition, they have extended the use of Solar electricity to other products under their Tesla Energy brand. Tesla recently announced the launch of its Home energy device Powerwall which sold out almost immediately. With such products aimed at the right audience, Tesla should be able to maintain an edge over competitors.

Thus we’ve been able to see how Tesla as a company have not only created a new line of products but have also grown them into mass market usage by developing an ecosystem around them. Any this not only creates a barrier to entry for new players without capital backing but also the ones with deep pockets who will find it tough to compete with the technological superiority that Tesla has created.

For more interesting articles about Sales and Marketing, visit www.SMstudy.com/articles

Product positioning is a very important tool for an effective marketing strategic planning. Product positioning creates an image of the company’s products in the mind of consumers, highlighting the most important benefits that differentiate the product from similar products in the market. Product positioning involves identifying points of parity and points of differentiation that enable a company’s product to both meet market standards while offering consumers additional value on key dimensions such as quality, innovation, price, leadership, and functionality, among others.

Product positioning starts with identifying the specific, niche market segments to target e.g. not just working professionals but single working professionals of age group 25-30 years, having an annual income of $50,000-$60,000, and enjoy adventure activities. After segmenting the target market by demographic and psychographic attributes, marketers must understand customer needs. With well-defined target segments, product positioning enables a company to meet very specific needs of a particular market segment, offering value that may not be provided by competitors.

Marketers must keep an eye on the competitiion while considering positioning elements of their marketing strategy. An effective positioning must convey a message to customers why this company’s product should be preferred over the other competitor’s products of similar nature. In other words, the company should not go by the flow of the market i.e. copying what the competitors are doing rather they need to stand out from the crowd by offering distinguishing or differentiated product attributes and other value added services.

The next stage is how to communicate the differentiated offerings to the identified niche market segments. This is possible by selecting the appropriate communication channels that are tailored to connect with their identified target audience when they will be most receptive to these messages. Say for example, a sports car manufacturer position their products through communication via television advertisements during sports events like formula one. They also use print media by running full page high resolution color ads in sports magazines.

It is important that the business incorporate the product positioning across all facets of the business, including manufacturing and customer service in order to ensure consistency of the positioning from the consumer’s standpoint. Further, the positioning must not only align with other divisions and with the current corporate objectives, but also provide long-term sustainability and remain relevant for product variants and for future market scenarios. Using strong product positioning is a key component to the success of the Marketing Strategy and to meeting overall corporate objectives.

To learn more about the product positioning, visit SMstudy.com.

Snapchat, the quick and fleeting photo messaging application, has become increasingly alluring for companies wanting to dip their toes in the “Ephemeral Marketing” waters.  Truthfully, the app had a rocky start entering the digital marketing world, but companies such as McDonald and Chat Sports have now mastered the art.

Snapchat launched in 2012 and currently has 50 million users sending more than 400 million picture or video messages (“Snaps”) per day. That is 46 snaps a second. It’s no wonder companies and marketers want to utilize the app!

Snapchat has several features that are useful in marketing a brand or product. You can send pictures or videos to your followers, but the media will only be visible for up to 10 seconds and then it will disappear, as per Snapchat rules. So, the trick is to use the medium effectively considering the time constraints. Companies have also found the story feature to be very convenient, even if it may sometimes require a workaround. Since users can post snaps to their story, but only users that follow a company can actually see the company’s story, social media strategists put on their thinking caps.

One example of social media “assistance” was used by the American fast-food restaurant McDonalds. McDonalds wanted to employ Snapchat to promote a new product, but they had yet to expand their follower base. The company turned to Twitter, another social media platform, to release a photo from their Snapchat account with the words “stay tuned” written in French fries. This generated a curiosity that in turn built their user base. McDonalds then snapped several pictures on their Snapchat story to ensure their product was seen by all of their followers.

Another example comes from Chat Sports. Chat Sports took a different route in order to grow their following.  The company sent a snap to their followers announcing the opportunity to win free baseball tickets if they could get five of their friends to add “ChatSports” on the app. This expanded their base and also provided the company with the capability to reach their target audience.

There are several other ways for companies to market their brand or product on the app. The NBL snapped behind the scenes videos to promote  games. Taco Bell and GrubHub used the app to send snaps with discount offers. But you better be quick if you want to grap the offer; customer only has ten second to take a screenshot of the coupon before it disappears. Companies have even promoted their live events by urging users to send videos of their experience and send it to the company for free tickets.

As stated in Marketing Strategy, book 1 in the SMstudy Guide®, “It is a fact that people now spend more time on the Internet, via smartphones, tablets, or computers, than they spend on conventional mass media, such as television, radio, or newspapers. This is especially true for the thirty-year-old and younger market segment. Since sales and marketing is most successful when it meets the demands of consumers, this change in consumer preferences is significantly altering the sales and marketing landscape for established companies. Businesses are discovering that conventional mass media marketing has limited effectiveness and some customer segments are not even reachable using these traditional media forms. “

A study done by re/code gets to another reason why companies are so keen on Snapchat. Out of the 50 million Snapchat users, 84 percent are Millennials. If Millennials are your target,  then where else would you want to be! Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean that Millennials have a short attention span, it’s that the attention that is given needs to be quick and genuine which is exactly what Ephemeral Marking promotes. 

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

How do we inspire people to take action such as buying a product or service? Everyone wants to know! Well, author Simon Sinek says the answer lies in the Why, the centermost part of his Golden Circle.

Imagine a bullseye target with three rings (such as the one in the above image); the outer ring is What, the middle How and the center is Why. Simply stated, the What is the product or service you provide. The How is everything that you or your company have done to improve upon or create the What. In other words, all the selling points of the product or service. And finally, the Why. The Why is the place where the purpose or belief behind the company is stated and hopefully inspires a person to action. Ideally, they relate to the company’s core beliefs. This is the Golden Circle, and according to Sinek it explains all human decision-making behavior.

Sinek states that all human decisions, such as “should I buy this product?” occur in the limbic system, the part of the human brain that is directly responsible for feelings of trust and loyalty. Interesting to note, the limbic brain’s reaction to a company’s core beliefs (their Why) is not logical and lacks the capacity for language. From this understanding we gain important insights into what drives a person to make a purchase. It’s not the description of what a company does or how they do it, although those can be beneficial in supporting the decision. The How and the What do not sway a consumer to buy; it is the Why that compels humans to purchase a product or service.

Sinek repeats his statement twice for emphasis, “people don’t buy What you do, they buy Why you do it.”

Will an understanding of The Golden Circle affect marketing success? Sinek gives a definitive Yes!

As an example Sinek uses is Apple computers.  

As we can see Apple’s What is great computers.

Their HOW is an offering of greater creative freedom, less viruses, user-friendly interface, etc. All the cool things MAC computers can do.

And finally the WHY. In the case of Apple, we see a very strong belief and ideology emanating from the company. They believe in challenging the status quo and thinking differently as Apple’s Think Different marketing campaign declared in the late 1990s. The Think Different campaign has been Apple’s boldest “Why statement” to date and is still credited with its success nearly 20 years later. Take a look at an example, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones”, and see if you feel anything bubbling up…

Once consumers made the “Why connection” with Apple, the bond has proven nearly unbreakable. So strong is the loyalty, in fact, that people are willing to purchase, not only their computers, but all the other products Apple has released, including iPhones, iPads, etc.

Sinek notes that every incredibly successful company (such as Apple) has done so through clearly showing and explaining why they are doing what they do. As he points out, every company in the world can say what they do…and many can tell you how they do it. But very few can clearly tell you why they do it. And that makes all the difference.

And one more time for good measure…

“People don’t buy What you do, they buy Why you do it.”  So, focus on the Why.

Watch Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk here…

Find more articles on sales and marketing at smstudy.com.

[Spring Eselgroth, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to this article.]

Let's assume that it is the year 2000. Try and think of what are the biggest companies you know about in this era. Chances are, you would be thinking of a giant in IT, Manufacturing or Finance set-up. These companies come with a few common factors: 

1. They have multiple offices around the world
2. They employ tens of thousands of employees
3. They have large capital investments in equipment, assets etc.

Now whether you think of an IT leader like Accenture, an Oil and Gas leader like Shell, a Manufacturing giant like Boeing, these factors are common to them. Any airline operator will need to invest a huge amount on leasing their fleet or paying their ground staff around the world.

However, the last five years have led to some companies creating multi-billion dollar investments despite having zero assets of their own, very small employ strength that operate out of a single office. We will look at two such companies who have leveraged on technological advancement and under-utilized inventory globally to develop huge businesses where none existed- Uber and Airbnb.

Now everyone would have heard of atleast one of these companies but if you have been living on a lonely island for the past few years, Uber is a taxi-aggregator that helps consumers hire taxis on the go through their app and Airbnb is an aggregator for people to find and rent lodging around the world. What's amazing about these businesses is that Uber does not own a single one of it's taxis and similarly Airbnb does not own any of the properties listed on their site.

What they have done is develop a two-sided marketplace where on one side, they identified an underutilized asset and found a way of addressing the same by providing them a platform to better utlize the asset and on the other hand, they have provided consumers cheaper and/or better options to use these services. The idea seems really simple when you think of it. There are people who stay in a house and have an empty room. Now they can just list this room and get some revenue out of it. At the same time, for customers, these rooms are cheaper than what a hotel room would cost. What Airbnb has been able to do is recognize this gap in the market and provide customers an easy way to view these listings. 

Now the basic question that comes to mind is: If the idea is so simple, why did no one thought of it before? 

Well like every major company in the world, the reason Uber and Airbnb were so hugely successful was not because someone thought of this unique idea all of a sudden, it was only at this point in time that technology had evolved to make such a model viable. Ten years back, there were low internet penetration, very few smartphones which meant it was almost impossible for such businesses to take off. There was no real benefit in me calling the uber office when I am stranded somewhere asking for a cab. And even if I did that, I would have to give them exact directions while someone from their office tried to call their cab drivers and find which cab driver was in the nearby locality to pick me up.

What has helped Uber is the new ecosystem:

• Everyone now carries around a smartphone and is able to use their app
• Uber is able to track their cab drivers to assign the nearest one to you
• Uber was able to integrate these under-utilized cabs and get them more revenue
• At the same time, Uber was able to increase their fleet by allowing anyone with a car to make money
• Financial transactions are done with the click of a button making the user experience extremely smooth

Now with the new concept of sharing economy that Uber and Airbnb have evangelised, we see a number of businesses that come up for optimizing under-utilized inventory. Whether it is a marketplace for Adventure activities connecting adventure groups to consumers, Food delivery connecting restaurants and home chefs to customers, Utilities connecting electricians/plumbers etc to you. The ecosystem has helped these two-sided marketplaces really explode onto the scene.

Can you think of an underutilized asset that hasn't been optimized yet? You could be onto the next billion dollar idea.

For more interesting articles about Sales and Marketing, visit - www.SMstudy.com/articles

In 2004, the Dove brand released the Real Beauty Campaign to spark discussion about beauty. The ad might have seemed unconventional to some, but the controversial questions sure made people reevaluate their own opinion of what beautiful is. The ad asked the public whether the women presented in photos were “Oversized or Outstanding” and “Wrinkled or Wonderful?” Viewers were asked to then vote at RealBeautyCampaign.com.

This is an example of a positioning statement. According to Marketing Strategy, book 1 in the SMstudy Guide®, the positioning statement is the main output of the Create Differentiated Positioning process. It is generally a short sentence or phrase that captures the essence of the value a company’s products offers to its target customers. The positioning statement should create an image of the products, highlighting the most important benefits that differentiate them from the competitor products and that offer the most value. It should be specific enough that it covers any key benefits to target customers, yet broad enough that it stays relevant for product variants and for future market scenarios.”

The conversation did not stop there. In 2005, Dove kicked off the second and most iconic phase of its campaign by featuring six truly beautiful women—curves and all—to emphasize that you do not have to be thin to be beautiful. Women come in all shapes and sizes. Shortly thereafter, Spain banned overly thin models in the world of fashion.

In response, Dove launched a series of commercials artificially transforming real women into models. The commercials showed the digital process of developing an ad campaign. A “real” woman was transformed through hair and makeup before a photo shoot. Viewers then entered the world of Photoshop, where the woman’s neck was elongated, eyebrows were lifted and cheekbones were emphasized. How real is that?

Over the past decade, the campaign has evolved into much more. As the Real Beauty campaign points out, females are bombarded with an unrealistic and unattainable depiction of beauty, so Dove set out to change the minds of little girls around the world. The Self-Esteem Foundation was created by the Dove brand to inspire and educate young girls affected by low self-esteem, which can affect a child into her adult years and cause her to fall short in reaching her potential.

Dove not only marketed its brand but also widened the scope of what is considered beautiful.

For more interesting articles about Sales and Marketing, visit - www.SMstudy.com/articles

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

By mid-2014 media trackers noted an interesting trend in news consumption. After years of floundering and grasping for innovative ways to engage readers, news outlets such as The New York Times, Bloomberg News and others were seeing their greatest success with email newsletters. Despite all the technologically-enthused punditry to the contrary, old school email emerged as the best method for news delivery.

In a New York Times article from the same year, David Carr reported that news outlets had discovered that their greatest chance of getting “eyeballs” was in the inbox.

This may come as a shock given the newer options (including all the various aspects of social media) out there in the media landscape. It would’ve seemed logical that as new channels for dissemination opened up, there would be a permanent migration away from email marketing, but that has proved to not be the case.

As Carr points out, “newsletters are clicking because readers have grown tired of the endless stream of information on the Internet, and having something finite and recognizable show up in your inbox can impose order on all that chaos.” 

As we embark on 2016, email is officially re-emerging as one of the best tools in today’s marketing toolbox as well. This time not because it’s the default (like it was in the 1990s/ early 2000s), but because email possesses some real advantages over its flashier social media cousins.

In fact, as early as the second quarter of 2013, the Custora E-Commerce Customer Acquisition Snapshot was reporting a four-fold increase in customer acquisition via email over the prior four years. In fact, acquisition through email had grown more quickly than acquisition through social media, despite an increase in social media marketing during the same timeframe.

Three years in and we’re still seeing a customer preference for email marketing. So what are the advantages of email marketing and why has it become the “channel of choice” for many consumers?

A few key factors seem to be the main drivers of the “back-to-email” trend.

One important factor was the advent of the mobile email apps. Gmail and other email mobile apps have opened up the email experience to the mobile user in a way not previously possible.

In addition, the rise in smartphone use has contributed to the ease with which people can check their emails. One third of American consumers reportedly check their email “throughout the day,” and the average person is looking through their inbox 150 times a day, according to an August 2015 Business Insider report.

The article states, “now users are able and prompted to check email on the go, and their attention is no longer divided by a multitude of emails in an inbox checked a few times per day – this means they can pay more attention to each message as it comes through.”

Another important development in email is personalization. The ability to personalize an email has proven to be appealing to recipients. Email marketing platforms such as Constant Contact and Mailchimp allow for user-friendly, one-step personalization.

Author Anne Muehlenhaup notes in her article “The Resurgence of Email Marketing” that personalizing email campaigns based on geography is also an important benefit.

“The result is a more intimate outreach to prospective buyers that delivers to them only the information that is most relevant and specific to them,” Muehlenhaup says.

And the last and perhaps most important benefit of email marketing is it allows the sharing of meaningful, relevant content. Marketers can provide quality content and at the same time keep a customer or potential customer informed on company announcements and product updates.

In a piece titled “5 Must-Haves to Revamp Your 2016 Email Strategy”, Natasha D. Smith, senior editor of Digital Marketing News quotes Christopher Lester, VP of sales for Emma  who states, “The overall theme we see happening (in email marketing) this year is relevancy—in other words, what's relevant to the consumer and not to solely the sender of the message. The expectation of the consumer is that it's not just content for content sake.”

And finally, compared to social media marketing which can be challenging to track in regards to click-through rate, page views and conversions. Email marketing provides a clear look at consumer behavior and how retention and conversion can be improved moving forward.

Although the future may prove different, it appears (at least for now) that convenience, personalization and quality content make email marketing a weapon of choice for sales and marketing teams and the vehicle of choice for today’s consumer.

Sources:

“For Email Newsletters, a Death Greatly Exaggerated” David Carr. June 24, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/business/media/for-email-a-death-greatly-exaggerated.html?_r=1

Custora Ecommerce Customer Acquisition Snapshot Q213, http://blog.custora.com/custora-content/uploads/downloads/2013/07/Custora_EcommSnapshotQ213.pdf

“People either check email all the time, or barely at all” Matt Rosoff, Aug. 17, 2015  http://www.businessinsider.com/how-often-do-people-check-their-email-2015-8

“The Resurgence of Email Marketing” Anne Muelenhaupt, Sept. 22, 2015  http://blog.act-on.com/2015/09/resurgence-email-marketing/

“5 Must-Haves to Revamp Your 2016 Email Strategy” Natasha D. Smith, Jan. 12, 2016,=. http://www.dmnews.com/email-marketing/5-must-haves-to-revamp-your-2016-email-strategy/article/464405/

[Spring Eselgroth, VMEdu staff writer, contributed to this article.]

The ever changing market trends and varying demands of customers have propelled companies to think out of the box and foray into market each time with new, updated or upgraded offerings that would outplay its rival products/services. In an attempt to capitalize on market, companies deploy numerous instruments and analytics to measure their efficacy level in several aspects of business. The latest being what we call “Opportunity Analysis”. As marketing professionals say “every non customer is an opportunity and it remains an opportunity till he/she becomes your customer.” So basically every customer as well as non-customer is opportunities. So if a casual conversation converts into sales conversation and that ultimately turns into a lead and further a customer/client, it’s called winning a customer and vice versa.

Customer win/loss analysis is a process of understanding why sales opportunities are either won or lost. A careful win/loss analysis is a cost-effective and less time-consuming tool to understand how customers perceive value. The perceived value by different customers is the deciding factor whether you win a customer or lose.  While customer need analysis is the most basic arena where sales people are often taught upon, but marketers argue it is not always the need that gives rise to a sale.

The process for win/loss analysis starts after a sales opportunity has been won or lost. A meeting is held with important stakeholders and includes the sales, product, account management, and customer service team members. After this meeting, the win/loss analysis interviewer must know the details of how the lead was generated, the events that took place during the sales process, and the product or products discussed. Customer interviews also need to be scheduled immediately after the opportunity has been won or lost to ensure maximum recall from customers about their experience in the sales process.

Here comes the customer feedback which is of utmost importance as the resultant responses devise the sales strategy for future. The customer feedback may be collected regarding customer perception in the areas such as

• Performance of the corporate sales team: Company must know what role its trump cards played in the sales process. After all corporate sales team is the interface between customer and the company and loopholes in the same might result in downfall of future sales.
• Marketing materials: Here the focus in on marketing assets that the company has. Feedback on the same helps in improving quality of Marketing Assets, Company has to offer.
• Sales process: Feedback on the sales process is the stepping stone for future sales strategy. Profiling, generating leads, presentation, negotiation are some of the major areas where customer feedback counts a lot.
• Product features: Customer feedback on product features informs seller analyze the product’s sales value proposition and whether seller needs to reposition the product with additional features or continue the existing one with regular up gradation.
• Comparison with competition: This is something where the customer’s feedback drives the marketing strategy experts contrive better action plan to deal with competitors.
• Pricing: Negative customer feedback on pricing can only be partially side-lined if the company is offering optimum value in comparison to its competitors at a given price and the product has some unique sales value proposition (e.g. i Phone). But if the customers feel availability of another product with same features and utilities at a cheaper price, then it is nothing less than a warning bell for the seller.

Customers change and so does their perception and demand. It’s important for sellers to consider each potential customer as an opportunity.

"To learn more about Customer Win/Loss analysis and related analytics, visit “www.SMstudy.com”.

Here at SMstudy, we've always been amazed with how Sales and Marketing has evolved over time and never has this growth been more prominent than in the past couple of decades. Technological innovation has been the main driver for these changes and the job of the typical Marketing individual has also changed a lot as they continue to follow the technological adoption cycle. Earlier the marketing individuals used to focus on TV, Radio and Newspapers to reach out to their audience. This was till the internet arrived and changed Marketing forever. 

The internet brought with it new ways of marketing with Search Engine Marketing, Paid Adwords, Search Engine Optimization becoming the buzzwords to reach out to audiences. The modern day Marketing professional had to track customers interactions online and understand how to best optimize them. They started analyzing huge chunks of data to understand where customers were spending time on their site, where they were dropping off, what they were buying etc. to provide more focused advertising to them.

The amalgamation of technology and marketing has let to a new phrase “growth hacker” coined by Sean Ellis in 2010. A growth hacker is a personn who understands technology, marketing, data and product to find a strategy and create scalable growth models for an organization. Growth hacking’s goals are based on marketing but driven by helping improve product experience and hence a Growth hacker understands technology as well as marketing enabling him to implement any change he/she wants.  

A Growth Hacker can create online Google adwords, Facebook, Twitter campaigns, can make high quality landing pages that are going to have awesome CPC, and can also manage targeted email campaigns like a normal Marketing professional. However, at the same time, the Growth Hacker is equally adept at having conversations with the technology team, develop web pages, design mobile and web user experiences etc. 

We will follow this blog up with another entry on how Growth Hacking has helped companies achieve viral growth. A typical Growth Hacker will base each and every decision of his on a simple question ”What will be the impact on growth?”

Example of Growth Hacking:

Paypal’s friend referral: As a new payment mechanism primarily fighting with large banks, PayPal’s big challenge initially was to get new customers to adopt their product and get them started on using it. Traditional advertising was too expensive and also there was no assurance that people who they reach out to, would use them. Initially, the PayPal team thought of doing business development deals with big banks but that didn’t work out and they understood that they needed a direct to customer approach that would provide a organic, viral growth.

So they started a referral campaign wherein any customer of theirs would get $10 for each friend they refer that joins up and these new customers, upon joining get a $10 amount too. Although this cost PayPal a $20 customer acquisition cost, they were able to witness a 7 to 10% daily growth and acquired 100 million users in a very short span of time. Not only did they acquire these new users, but because the new users already had $10 in their PayPal account, they would end up using PayPal to use the amount.

For more interesting articles about Sales and Marketing, visit - www.SMstudy.com/articles

It’s the age old question for rock bands everywhere: how do you get jaded, hardened music critics and advertisers to listen to your jams when many (in fact, most) CDs and MP3s submitted will immediately be allocated to the circular file (a.k.a the trash can)?

In a brilliant play to persuade the taste makers to take a listen, the German electronic music label Kontor Records utilized mobile technology and a whole lot of groove to promote one of their artist’s latest singles.

In 2015 Electronic music artist Boris Dlougosch’s single arrived in offices as a vinyl album, which in itself gets high marks on the cool scale. But it gets better. The album arrived with its own 2-D cardboard player and instructions for downloading an app that allows the listener to play the album with their smartphone. Yes, you read that correctly…the vinyl album is played with a smartphone! A virtual needle allows listeners to skip through the track just like on a real turntable.

Check out the video…

As the Office Turntable shows, mobile apps can be used in highly creative ways. But mobile apps of varying creativity levels and other personal devices are a large part of a company’s digital marketing strategy.

Digital Marketing, book 2 in the SMstudy Guide® states that since an increasing percentage of consumers use the Internet on-the-go, having a mobile version of a website helps a business reach out to consumers across all devices connected to the Internet.  

Novelty in marketing is a tried and true way to grab attention and create interest in a company’s product or service. The SMstudy Guide®, Digital Marketing book supports this idea when discussing innovative internet-enabled business models.  It says, “The growing popularity of the Internet, smartphones and digital media provides opportunities for a company to not only use fragmented new-age marketing effectively to promote existing products, but also to come up with innovative business models where product demo, customer acquisition, and order fulfilment can also take place online.”

 In the case of Back to Vinyl: The Office Turntable marketing campaign, old school vinyl and new school technology come together to give a truly novel music experience that also allows for careful tracking on engagement. According to Kontor, of the 900 mailers sent out, they’ve had a 71 percent activation rate, which they claim is a 64 percent increase above their average. Sounds like they’re on a roll.

(Spring Eselgroth, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article.)  

With the ever increasing B2B sales and rapidly expanding global network, organizations today face a tough challenge  dominating the competition and gaining substantial market share. Moreover to answer questions like “Where are we now?, Where do we want to be?, and How do we get there?”, companies require a concrete strategy to help comprehend and answer these questions at hand. These multifaceted problems requires the senior management of the companies to work in tandem to create and define “Corporate Strategy”, that helps address the ever increasing challenges of the corporate competition.

Corporate Strategy defined by the company’s senior management team are guiding principles for the organization as a whole which takes into consideration an assessment of the existing capabilities of the company and external opportunities and threats to the business. Thus formulation of a company’s Corporate Strategy requires inputs from multiple stakeholders, particularly senior management who are well aware of the strengths and weakness of the organization.

To device a proper Corporate Strategy most companies use existing documentation regarding their Corporate Product Strategy, Corporate Marketing Strategy, Corporate Operations Strategy, Corporate Finance Strategy, and Corporate Human Resource Strategy. These documents are integrated to help define a coherent Corporate Strategy. The level and complexity of documentation for these strategies vary depending on the size of the company and the breadth of its product portfolio and geographic reach.

Many companies execute strategic planning exercises at appropriate and specific time intervals like once or twice a year to arrive at a corporate strategy. This process helps ensure that leadership team has coherently defined goals and strategies that align with the overall strategic goals of the organization.

Corporate Strategy is often defined at a company level; but strategy can also be formulated at lower levels depending on the size and complexity of the organization. For example, the Corporate Strategy for an entire company can be divided into strategies for each business unit or geographic region and then divided further into specific product or brand strategies for each product or brand in a defined geographic region. The Product or Brand Strategy is the lowest level of this hierarchy.

Corporate Strategy thus acts as a benchmark for the company to execute future plans by carefully assessing it internal and external capabilities and helps inundate actions that aid in achieving overall targets and goals.

Every year when the holiday season rolls around people take a glance at their bank accounts and ponder what exciting technological gadget will be released just in time for the shopping rush. This year it was hoverboards. There was just one problem… they are known to catch fire and burn down houses.

The hoverboard of today is actually just a two-wheeled self-balancing motorized scooter, but that is a mouthful, so hoverboard it is. And most importantly, the boards will not levitate like Marty McFly’s, but they may spontaneously combust.

To date there have been ten recorded instances in the United States in which hoverboards have gone up in flames. Most of the fires did not cause any real damage, no fatalities, except to the board of course. However, a hoverboard is currently suspected to be at fault for the burning down of a house in New York.

The reason for the fires is the lithium battery. After the first hoverboard was released, dozens of companies popped up selling their version of the product. The only problem is that if the battery isn’t connected to the wiring correctly it will explode, causing a very real firework show. Major distributors of the product, such as Amazon, pulled numerous hoverboard brands from shelves due to incorrect wiring. Amazon released a compliance statement, "Manufacturers must provide documentation demonstrating that all hoverboards you list are compliant with applicable safety standards, including UN 38.3 (battery), UL 1642 (battery) and UL 60950-1 (charger)."

Name brand hoverboard companies such as Swagway and Razor have applauded Amazon for their initiative. The cheap generic brands with the faulty wires were bad seeds and needed to be eliminated, but the question is, what do the name brand companies do to regain faith in their product?

According to the Marketing Strategy, Book 1 of the SMstudy® Guide, “Risk-Sharing Pricing is a strategy that businesses may employ when there is a potential for consumers to avoid buying a particular item because of a perceived risk associated with the product. In a risk-sharing pricing scenario, the seller shares some of the risk with the buyer or takes on all of the risk to induce a favorable buying season.”

Razor has stated that their batteries are manufactured by Samsung, a very reliable brand, but to ensure safety, they include a warranty with each hoverboard sold. In this case, the buyer is still expected to undertake some sort of risk, but hoverboards are worth it, right?

Swagway’s hoverboard is built with plastic rather than metal, so the hoverboard is sold for the low price of $399 dollars. When the majority of hoverboards are in the 1,000-dollar range, $399 looks very reasonable. The company is selling a cheaper product that appeals to the same buyers that were looking to purchase the less expensive generic brand, but still follows the safety standards. In this case, the seller is taking on all of the risk, but is also assuring the consumer that the product is a safe alternative.

Most people would think that Swagway and Razor would want to go out with a bang, but in this case, reliability works.   

[Stephanie Vezilj, SMstudy staff writer, contributed to this article]

In the 1998 film The Truman Show, a man named Truman Burbank, played by comedian actor Jim Carrey, stars in the ultimate reality show. At the film's onset we learn that Truman is the first person to be adopted by a corporation and that since the time of his babyhood, Truman has been used, unbeknownst to him, as the star of his own real-life reality show, a show that entertain millions of viewers worldwide  as it unfolds in real time.

But there are other stars with whom he unknowingly shares the show; the ceaseless parade of products cleverly woven into the artificial tapestry of the stage set Truman calls home.  

With no way to break for commercials, since the show is live 24/7, product placement is the obvious choice for advertising. Snatching at any opportunity to slip in a plug for gardening sheers or vegetable peelers, Truman’s family and friends (all actors) awkwardly discuss the merits of wares and services within the program. Everyone is “in the know” on the embedded product “advertisements”, everyone except Truman. He moves through his staged world unaware of the exaggerated enthusiasm with which his “friends and colleagues” discuss a certain beer or truck.

The film’s director, Peter Weir, uses the film as an opportunity to turn the camera on itself and satirically question the part product placement plays in Hollywood. In The Truman Show, Weir is clearly reflecting the reality of the ascent of product placement in films in the 1990s, because although product placement has been seen in film since the early 20th century, the golden age officially began with the release of Spielberg’s ET in 1982. Anyone remember Reece’s Pieces?

It’s been observed that over the last few decades we’ve seen an increase in the amount of product placement in both films and television according to Dr. Mary Lou Galician.

In her book, Handbook of Product Placement in the Mass Media: New Strategies in Marketing Theory, Practice, Trends, and Ethics, Galician states, “What is most important regarding the evolution of product placement is the increasing number of high-involvement placements found during the 20-year period of the study. These high-involvement appearances nearly doubled from 1977 to 1997, further indicating that product placement has become an integral aspect of making Hollywood movies.”

So, what does this mean for marketing strategy? 

As Dr. Galician points out in her findings, which cover a 20-year analysis of Hollywood films, product placement is on the rise. This will mean continued opportunity, but also continued competition and possibly threat. The SMstudy Guide, Marketing Strategy book states that opportunities and threats should be determined before embarking on a marketing campaign. In considering product placement as a marketing option, opportunities may include reaching a larger or more responsive segment of the market. Threats may include negative backlash or a company may simply find they are priced out of that particular avenue for marketing their product.

Additional opportunities may arise in the growing opportunities for other film-related product marketing. Dr. Galician notes that there has been a rise in product “tie ins” and “cross promotion” creating more marketing opportunities and greater integration between film and consumer products and services.

As stated in Marketing Strategy, first book of the SMBOK (or SMstudy Guide), potential innovation should always be considered when planning a marketing campaign. New and innovative ways to integrate a product with a film or television show are in continual research and development.

While covering the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Molly Wood, senior tech correspondent for National Public Radio’s Marketplace, half-jokingly stated that the real “big story” to come out of the renowned conference was not a cool new gadget, but rather the arrival of Lyft and Uber, two of the world’s largest ride-sharing services, to the streets and porte-cochere of hotels all over the city. According to Wood, Las Vegas was the “last bastion” of official taxicabs, which had in years past been the bane of many conference goers; cabs being too few and wait time being too long.  

The city’s cab companies’ final acquiesce to ride-sharing is a prime example of the rise and power of what could be referred to as the smartphone economy, or an economy made possible by the advent of smartphones. Companies like Lyft and Uber owe much of their success to the technological game changer, which allows for instant communication between users in addition to many other benefits such as internet connectivity, etc.

As noted in the SMstudy® Guide’s first book, Marketing Strategy, disruptive technology such as smartphones need to be considered in a company’s product strategy. Basing a business on a technology such as smartphones makes it necessary to pay special attention to developments in that particular technology and continual assessment of evolving risks and opportunities for strategic innovation.

The book explains, “Rapid changes in the internet, e-commerce, telcom, social media, and clean technologies can be very disruptive for existing companies in these fields, but can also generate significant opportunities for innovation. “

Another significant factor in the rise of ride-sharing services in the United States is the decidedly anti-ownership mentality of its largest population cohort: Millennials. According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs titled “Millennials- Coming of Age”, “access not ownership” is the Millennial mantra.

The report states, “Millennials have been reluctant to buy items such as cars, music and luxury goods. Instead, they’re turning to a new set of services that provide access to products without the burden of ownership, giving rise to what’s being called a ‘sharing economy’.” 

Having a clear understanding of market trends, especially trends related to large demographic groups is also essential for any business hoping to find a home in the current and future economies.

Again, Marketing Strategy includes understanding market trends as one of the six components of a market analysis. In addition, as in the example provided here, data on a specific cohort or demographic can be beneficial when conducting a PESTEL analysis as it can satisfy the “S” or Social Factors of the analysis.

The book states, “social factors reflect the social and cultural state, attitudes, and behaviors prevalent in a market. Changes in these factors may impact the demand for a particular product or product category.”

Ride sharing is disrupting the long-held position of the taxicab industry and if Goldman Sachs’ prediction is correct, the larger idea of car ownership in the United States will most likely be disrupted as we move forward. Tectonic shifts in the US economy are here or on the horizon, and much of it hinges on the accessibility and connectivity smartphones provide.

Early in the life of Southwest Airlines key success factors were identified that propelled the startup airline to become the number one domestic carrier in the United States.

For Southwest, key success factors were a commitment to efficiency in all aspects of the company and the fastest turnaround time of any airline. This allowed Southwest to log more flight time which meant more profit compared to other airlines that maintained longer ground time.

Over time Southwest has managed to keep to these simple key success factors and has seen sustained growth over its 45-year history. A true success story considering the airline industry is notoriously dicey and many run afoul and end up taking major losses or worse, bankruptcy.

Discussed in Marketing Strategy, the first book of the six-book SMstudy Guide, key success factors are one of the six components to be considered when conducting a market analysis.

The book states: Identifying key success factors helps an organization focus on existing strengths that have contributed to success and seize opportunities that can give it a competitive advantage. Such factors might include accessibility to essential resources, distribution channels, patents, operational efficiencies, technological superiority, and so on.

The other five components include: assessing distribution channels; cost structure analysis; understanding future growth rate; market trends and knowing the market size.

A thorough analysis of the airline industry allowed Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher and team to clearly identify what they were up against in regards to the industry's pros and cons and where efficiencies could be incorporated to the benefit of both the company and its customers.

Old Spice was in dire need of a revamp in order to resurrect its failing company in 2010. Old Spice hired the agency Wieden+Kennedy to help them compete with hipper brands—such as Axe—to appeal to every man rather than just “old” men.  

According to Marketing Strategy, Book 1 of the SMstudy® Guide in order to launch a successful marketing campaign you must “Identify the competition, create a differentiated positing statement for the product, and select the target market segments.” Old Spice accomplished their face-lift by doing just that.  

The “Smell Like a Man, Man” campaign debuted during the 2010 Super Bowl, with Isiah Mustafa as the face of the brand. Mustafa teased the female audience in “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” commercial, associating Old Spice with luxury and the “perfect man” (obviously, see image below). The commercial spread like wildfire through all platforms of social media thanks to its humorous and entertaining monologue. The initial video gained more views in 24 hours than President Obama’s presidential victory speech.  Three months after the commercial aired, sales had increased by 55 percent. Old Spice followed up with several commercials in the coming months and they all had one thing in common, they all began with hunky Mustafa saying the line, “Hello ladies” making it crystal clear that he was comparing himself to “their man.” 

Due to the campaign’s success, the Old Spice YouTube channel is both the number one most subscribed to and the number one most viewed sponsor channel. The initial video gained more views in 24 hours than President Obama’s presidential victory speech. Building on its success, Old Spice decided to venture in a new direction of marketing—fragmented new-age marketing. According to Marketing Strategy, Book 1 of the SMstudy® Guide, “While mass media marketing is less targeted and primarily focused on affecting emotional attitudes about the brand, new-age marketing is data-driven and more focused on driving specific calls to action by engaging.”

Old Spice took to social media to generate even more publicity by tweeting, "Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, or maybe the Old Spice Man shows up @Old Spice." And show up he did. Mustafa soon appeared on Twitter responding to tweets in near-real-time videos. Within two days, Old Spice released more than 180 “shout-outs,” that were scripted, filmed, and posted online within 15 minutes of the initial Tweet. Old Spice specifically responded to questions posed by celebrities and others with large networks to not only maximize reach, but also to target those who have credibility and influence over social media users.

Old Spice’s Twitter following increased by 1,000 percent and the commercial received more than seven million views in one week alone, making it the fastest growing interactive campaign ever. Wieden+Kennedy breathed new life into a crotchety old brand, and Old Spice—and all the ladies—couldn’t have been happier.

A salesperson is the one who doesn’t think in term of sales rather believes in building a business.  A set of unique personal attributes along with approach to work makes a complete salesperson. It is always difficult to recruit and retain productive salespeople.

So, Sales training is essential for new sales team members as well as experienced professionals to hone their skills to deliver results. As the various Aspects of Sales and Marketing change over time, it is necessary for the corporate sales team to receive training on a regular basis. Sales training keeps the corporate sales team up-to-date about changes in the market, new sales techniques, gaps in existing processes, and changes in the industry with respect to PESTEL factors.

The corporate sales team is the company’s first point of contact with its customers.  Therefore, sales training for corporate sales team should be comprehensive and cover the entire range of processes, tools, and skills required from prospecting to closure.  And in designing sales training programs, the requirements and experience levels of the sales team members are taken into consideration.  If sales training does not match the team’s level of proficiency, it will not be effective and, its value may be questioned by the team.

Sales training should impart the following to the corporate sales team:

• Knowledge of sales processes: Sales training teaches the corporate sales team about the various processes involved in the sales cycle—prospecting, lead generation, qualification, needs assessment, presentation, and closure. For example, CRM training is essential for a sales team to learn how to plan sales activities by using a customer database to develop target lists and identify customer needs and customer potential for specific products and services.

• Knowledge of the industry, market, and target segment: This includes knowledge about competitors, understanding of the target segments, knowledge of macro-environmental factors that affect the industry, and knowledge of industry practices. For example, a supplier of manufacturing equipment needs to understand the production processes of its customers which will allow them to provide definite product recommendations to its customers to improve productivity, eliminate waste, or reduce manufacturing costs.

• Soft Skills: Soft Skills or People Skills are the personal traits that define an individual's ability to communicate and interact with others. The six critical soft-skills for sales person are communication, flexibility, teamwork, positivity, time management and confidence. Soft skills help the corporate sales team develop and maintain good relationships with prospects and customers.

• Knowledge of tools and marketing resources: In addition to understanding the CRM system, sales personnel need to be aware of existing marketing resources such as presentation templates, e-mail templates, videos and other internal and external marketing assets that can be used during the sales process. For example, In L’Oreal a gap was seen in product knowledge within its sales team, so they carry out an e-learning program for empowering their team.

• Motivation: Motivating the corporate sales team is necessary to prevent lags and burnout. Motivational training is more important for existing corporate sales team members than new ones because of their longer exposure to achieving sales targets. For example, Best Buy Company used Path to Excellence initiative. Best Buy awarded sales force badges to ones who implemented concepts taught in training and badges led to four distinct levels of recognition, ranging from bronze to platinum.

• Business values and ethics: A corporate sales team that demonstrates good business values and ethics will have a significant effect on the success of the organization. The corporate sales team must be trained on business values and ethics, irrespective of their experience prior to joining the company. 

There are various modes of delivering sales training to the corporate sales team:

• Classroom Training:  An instructor in a lecture hall or classroom typically conducts classroom training. This provides a setting for participants to learn new skills and concepts, and to practice and demonstrate the learned skills.

• E-learning:  In e-learning situations, training is delivered through electronic media and allows sales team to brush up their product knowledge. E-learning can be provided through instructor-led virtual sessions, using on-demand content stored in a central repository, or through online forums for collaborative learning.

• Libraries/Repositories:  Corporate sales team can use industry reports, sales books, research data, and other texts to increase knowledge about the industry and to improve existing sales processes.

• On-the-Job Training: For effective real world training, new sales team members are paired with senior sales team members to learn actual sales processes. On-the-job training is traditionally the most commonly used mode of sales training. In Walgreens, “Well Experience” training was given in pharmacy environment to get a hands-on experience. They used games like merchandise scavenger hunts for sales team to familiarize with new store layouts.

Sales training can be carried out using a combination of the above modes of training based on company requirements. Continuous sales training is recommended for the corporate sales team. 

Just because we’re in the twenty-first century doesn’t mean that all the earlier avenues of Sales and Marketing are obsolete. Some consumer goods companies still spend a good chunk of their marketing budget on conventional mass media marketing. Sometimes a seller’s marketplace is still your best bet for items with a limited number of producers, or where the production is highly regulated by the government or controlled by monopolies or duopolies. And traditional marketplaces continue to flourish today in some regions of the world.

The point is that sales and marketing isn’t anything new—it’s not even replacing earlier marketing practices. You can think of sales and marketing approaches as a continuum along which recent innovations co-exist with earlier practices. And any given company’s sales and marketing teams are the ones to make the strategic decisions that will work best to achieve the company’s wishes and needs. To do this, they need to keep in mind what works best with their potential consumers.

Sales and marketing students can find it tough to wade through various authors’ and teachers’ perspectives, which can come across as unpractical or outdated. The truth is that any authority on sales and marketing will vary according to individual or industry preferences and experiences on both the timeline and the map.

The SMstudy® Guide aims to simplify these biases by not limiting the concepts to the perspective of any particular author or industry. The SMstudy® Guide was developed by VMEdu, Inc., a professional education provider that has educated over 400,000 students worldwide in more than 3,500 companies. The fifty plus authors, advisors and reviewers of this book have worked in multiple marketing environments and geographic regions across an eclectic variety of industries. Thus, the insights provided in this book provide a comprehensive detail of the principles and concepts related to sales and marketing. It also articulates an action-oriented process approach that can be used by sales and marketing practitioners to gain a better understanding of the subject, and then construct a comprehensive and effective Sales and Marketing Strategy for their companies, including all relevant Aspects of Sales and Marketing.

Determining internal organizational capabilities is an integral part of a companys market opportunity analysis. It helps explain whether a company can afford to create a successful product or brand.

In the late 1960s, Bruce Henderson of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) conceptualized the BCG Growth-Share Matrix to evaluate various business units of a company on the basis of their relative performance in a particular target market. However, the matrix can be equally applied to evaluate the various products or services offered by a company.

This tool is a two-by-two matrix containing four quadrants, with the vertical axis depicting market growth rate and the horizontal axis representing market share. It provides a way to determine the appeal of each business unit, product or service, which in turn can be used to determine the amount of investment, if any, that should be made in each product.

BCG Growth-Share Matrix classifies products into four categories: Cash Cows, Stars, Dogs and Question Marks. The Cash Cows and Stars are the strengths of the company, while the Dogs are generally weaknesses.

Cash Cows:

These products have high market share but low growth rates. The commanding position of Cash Cows ensures a continuous source of cash flow for the company.

Stars:

These products have high market share in markets and high growth rates. They are typically market leaders in new and emerging markets. To ensure that products considered as Stars continue to generate profits, a high amount of investment is required.

Dogs:

These products have low market share in stagnant or declining markets. However, they can be profitable for a company by being loss leaders for a particular market or product segment. In case there are no such benefits involved, it is better for a company to discontinue products in the Dogs category.

Question Marks:??

As the name suggests, this product category poses a question mark for management because, at some point, a decision has to be made on whether to invest in the product or phase it out. Question marks are present in markets with high growth rates but low market share.

For example, a leading electronics company can categorize its products as follows:

Cash Cows: Laptops that have high market share but low growth rate

Stars: Smartphones and tablets with high growth rate and high market share

Dogs: Music players and desktop computers with a low or declining market share

Question Marks: Television sets that have a low market share but have the potential to achieve high market share in the future with some investment

Before entering a new market, targeting a particular segment, or introducing a new product, it is necessary for any organization to explore opportunities and threats to decide which strategy to follow. The external factors that help a company achieve its goals are considered opportunities, while those that hinder a company`s efforts are considered threats.

The external environments that can affect the growth of a company make up two groups: the macro-environment and the micro-environment. A company has zero or little control over the macro-environmental factors. These can be the laws of the country of operation, environmental factors such as weather and climate, political situations, and so on. On the other hand, micro-environmental factors can be controlled by the company; these are the factors that have a more direct impact on the operations and success of the business.

Porter`s Five Forces for Industry Attractiveness, Market Analysis, Marketing Research, and PESTEL Analysis are some of the tools that organizations can use to explore opportunities and threats.

• Porter`s Five Forces for industry attractiveness helps a company decide whether or not to enter an industry. If it already has a presence in a particular industry, then using this model enables a company to devise strategies to achieve and maintain profitability. The five forces are the Threat of New Entrants, Threat of Substitutes, Bargaining Power of Customers, Bargaining Power of Suppliers, and Competitive Rivalry.
• The purpose of performing a market analysis is to understand the attractiveness of a market, identify patterns, and predict future events. David Aaker outlined the following dimensions of a market analysis: Market Size, Market Trends, Market Growth Rate and Profitability, Industry Cost Structure, Distribution Channels, and Key Success Factors.
• Marketing research is conducted when the available information is not sufficient for understanding the external factors that can impact a company. Interviews, group discussions, and survey questionnaires are the primary ways to collect information for any research.
• PESTEL Analysis is used to analyze Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors. It is an effective tool to measure the overall business environment of a market.

Analyzing opportunities and threats that are native to a particular market is an obligatory task for every organization. Success comes from strategies that take advantage of important opportunities and avert threats.