Marketing & Advertising

When running an SEO campaign, it is important to make sure you are doing everything you can to make it profitable. But with so many elements to consider, this can seem like an impossible task. In this article, we will be providing you with 5 important SEO trends you need to be aware of in 2021 to ensure your campaign is a success.

The Use Of Voice Search

Many SEO specialists have been saying that voice search will be the future of how people search, the implementation of content and keywords to cater around conversational speech has continued to expand. As a result of this, Google has generated featured snippets and other information that Google Home devices and other voice-activated computers can also use. This is only set to increase as more and more people begin to regularly use voice search.

Video SEO Optimisation

Alongside the use of voice search and optimising for this, it is important to make sure that you are making the most out of video optimisation. With many people using YouTube and other video platforms to see tutorials and look for an answer to their questions, many are using SEO optimisation such as captions and keywords to ensure your video is not only beneficial for your customers but also linking to your website to ensure your Google rankings are improved. By using an agency such as absolute digital, there are several ways that you can go about achieving this in a few simple steps.

Understanding Mobile-First Indexing                       

Mobile-first indexing has been a huge part of Google and the way that they operate since its implementation in 2019. With Google ranking websites based on the mobile version of the site, you need to make sure your website is mobile optimised. With the use of an agency, you can begin to optimise your site to make it worth your while and improve your Google ranking position.

Search Intent Of The Audience Is Crucial

Alongside understanding mobile-first indexing, it is important to make sure that you are aware of the search intent for your audience. By making sure that you are aware of this search intent, you can then begin to tailor your SEO strategy with just a few simple steps, allowing you to get the most out of the process and make sure that you are writing and generating content that will work for you.

Understanding Changes In The Algorithm

The final element you need to consider is the ever-changing Google Algorithm. With many updates happening throughout the year, staying on top of this and ensuring you are aware of these updates will benefit you and the growth of your Google ranking positions as well as organic traffic and other core benefits of an SEO campaign.

With this in mind, there are several ways that you can continue to improve your Google ranking positions and ensure the longevity of your business both online and in your physical store.  

Times Square, NY, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. With more than 50 million annual visitors, the daily pedestrian count can go as high as 460,000 on the busiest day.

Many businesses leverage this crowd to advertise their brands through massive billboards and other offline advertising methods. That’s why flyer distribution NYC, especially in Times Square, can be a great advertising opportunity, especially for businesses in New York.

Offline marketing has been the primary way of reaching potential customers. It is one of the most effective ways of advertising for local businesses. To give you more insights into the world of offline marketing, here are seven effective offline advertising strategies for small businesses in New York.

Participate in trade shows and business expos

Business expos and trade shows are some of the best places to promote your business. Regardless of your company size, it’s always good to be present around your potential customers and create local brand awareness. You may think it’s useless to be just another business in such trade shows, but you have to be at the right place and the right moment.

A lot of influential people attend business expos, including investors and top executives. You never know when you might find a prospect who can bring you new opportunities. You can find numerous trade shows and business expos across various parts of New York.

Use business cards

Business cards are one of the best offline marketing strategies for small businesses. Business cards are not only a point of contact to you, but they also represent your business.

Many business owners underestimate the power of business cards as they believe they have a strong online presence. Little do they know that business cards are a great way to enhance your online presence by mentioning your business website URL and social media handles on the business card.

They are a great way to leave a point of contact to the prospect quickly. That’s why every business owner, executive, and employee should have a business card.

Flyers and Pamphlets

Distributing flyers and pamphlets to people at any local area or event is still a very effective strategy to gain local brand awareness. You can hire local offline marketing agencies for pamphlet and flyer distribution in NYC or any other region that you want.

Hold online and offline contests.

Contests are a creative way to market your business by encouraging people to compete for a prize. You can host an effective contest if you can determine what type of contest people are more likely to participate in and what rewards should be given to the winners.

If done right, offline and online contests can create a lot of buzz for your brand. You can either provide cash prizes and goodies or gift the winner your products or services for free or at a discounted price.

Community engagement

Communities are the tremendous driving force for local businesses. People love to support the companies that flourish in their region. The fact that your business is a part of their neighborhood will help you get a lot of local recognition.

If you are a part of various local communities, you can leverage that to market your business. You can sponsor local events to become a known entity in your local region.

Distribute merchandise

Merchandise refers to the items that carry your brand identities like your logo, tagline, hashtags, or anything related to your brand. Merchandise can be an excellent way to create a local customer base who feel proud to use your product.

You can distribute your merchandise like t-shirts, pens, coffee mugs, USB flash drives, backpacks with your logo on them at any business expo or similar events.

Brand collaborations

Collaborating with reputed local brands is one of the best strategies to share their brand equity. When you collaborate with a reputable brand, people automatically associate that reputation with you. Both the businesses can promote their products to each other’s customers, which gives both parties access to a new set of potential customers.

Is your ecommerce business not driving enough sales? Are you not getting the most from your marketing budget?

Don’t worry because you’re sailing in the same boat as hundreds of other ecommerce businesses. From poor sales to low ranking to clicks with no conversions, even your best marketing strategy may be falling on its face.

With the competition level rising each passing day as customers are shifting to online purchases, it becomes challenging to stand out in the clutter. But, your next client will probably find your business online. So, to leave a lasting impression and ensure a loyal customer base, you need to revamp your digital marketing strategy.

But with the proliferation of the marketplace and a bouquet of options available to customers, it becomes difficult to get the attention you need to drive traffic and attract customers.

To make your life easier, we will discuss some must-have digital marketing tips to take your online presence to another level.

Are you ready?

Let’s get started.

6 Digital Marketing Tips to Expand Your E-Commerce Online Presence

Here are six digital marketing tips to get started with:

1. Add Videos

If you still haven’t realized, videos slay on social media and are one of the best ways to attract customers to your ecommerce business. So, whether you want to increase SEO engagement, conversion, or brand awareness, you need compelling and exciting videos.

With 68% of customers looking for video-related content before buying a product, videos are perfect for creating a seamless on-site customer experience. You can use videos to tell a story or use product videos as virtual salespeople explaining features of your product – either way, it will improve your customer’s shopping experience.

Creating videos is one side of the coin and getting it noticed is another. So, how can ecommerce brands get their efforts noticed?

To increase SEO and make your video searchable, eCommerce businesses should use an automatic subtitle generator. It will automatically generate subtitles from your video content and help you make it searchable. Also, when you add subtitles to your video content, you increase the experience of customers suffering from autism, and it helps provide clarity to technical terms.

Why add videos? With 85% of Facebook videos being watched without sound, adding subtitles to your product video could be a game-changer for your business.

2. Make use of artificial intelligence (AI)

AI is everywhere, and your ecommerce business is no different. To increase sales, improve customer experience, identify exceptional target prospects and create a more efficient sales process – AI is slowly becoming the backbone of an ecommerce business. 

Ecommerce businesses can use AI to accurately predict how a customer will behave based on their past behavior. Using the latest AI solutions, you can generate significant new leads. It helps you gather data that provide you with strategies you should implement to encourage purchase, conversion, and increase loyalty.

Also, to provide a seamless customer experience and solve customer queries on the go, you can take help from chatbots that use AI technology to interact with customers. Apart from offering excellent customer support, Natural Language Processing (NLP) can easily interpret voice-based interactions with customers and address customers’ needs.

From intelligent product recommendation to inventory management, integrating AI in your ecommerce business could help you steer your ship in a preferred direction.

Why use AI? 47% of customers are open to buying online items using a chatbot.

3. Use advanced product filtering

The rule here is simple: the faster your customers find products, the easier it becomes to find products of their choice and the faster they will make a purchase.

That’s where product filtering comes into the picture. If your ecommerce business is offering tons of products, a cutting-edge filtering system could be the difference between failure and success. It can not only take your customer experience to a different level, but it will also drive sales, grow your revenue and enhance your SEO.

From category filters to thematic filters to filtering products by reviews, you can make the search simpler on your website. Adding these filters will improve customer experience, and you will see some tangible benefits quickly.

Why use product filtering? 42% of ecommerce websites lack advanced product filtering, and the absence of it results in loss of revenue and customers switching over to competitors.

4. Focus on User-Generated Content (UGC)

As the famous saying goes, users trust other users over brands. This has given rise to user-generated content in ecommerce, and it is slowly outranking every other content type.

Content created by existing users and fans is trustworthy and authentic.

To create UGC, use hashtags on your social media channels and encourage your customers to use them. Also, by providing an easy way to share online reviews, you can build a loyal customer base.

With customers trusting online opinions and reading reviews, an ecommerce business that ignores UGC is the one that fails to attract their potential customers.

Also, it’s a cost-effective way to grow your business, combat negative online publicity, and improve your organic presence. UGC is an excellent option for any business that is strict on a budget but not on enthusiasm to provide content that resonates with their customer requirements.

Today, UGC is the way forward and a must-have for ecommerce brands looking to make a lasting impression.

The bottom line is that UGC gives your ecommerce business a way to pat itself on the back and solve customer problems.

Why focus on UGC? Ecommerce websites that feature user-generated content on their website can increase their web conversion by a whopping 29%.

5. Optimize your ecommerce website’s layout

Don’t just create a website that allows customers to purchase, focus on user experience to improve your website and allow visitors to convert into customers quickly. From navigation, layout to content, and product description, everything should work together to provide a seamless customer experience that instigates a customer to make a purchase.

Your goal is to provide an easy and simple checkout that naturally inclines a customer’s purchase from our website. So, test the website layout, including icons and elements, language in the conversion element, and product pages. You can use heatmaps to understand customer behavior on your website. Even if you plan to use a simple website design, keep your users in mind.

Also, give importance to optimizing your website for mobile because a mobile-friendly website is no longer a requirement; it’s a necessity. Optimizing your website’s layout is paramount for turning visitors into customers and customers into repeat customers.

Why optimize your website? 38% of visitors stop engaging with websites if they find them unattractive, and 88% never return to a website after encountering a bad user experience. So, as a business, it’s imperative to give weightage to website layout and design.

6. Reduce cart abandonment

The primary reasons for customers abandoning their cart are unfavorable shipping conditions and an overly complicated checkout process. If during a checkout process, your website crashes or takes ages to load, a customer is likely to leave all items in the cart.

So, to reduce cart abandonment and ensure your customers don’t switch to your competitors, focus on creating a cart abandonment email strategy that gets triggered every time a customer leaves unpurchased items in their cart.

It’s a great way to revive your lost customers. You can offer some discount to encourage your customers to finish their purchase. In case you charge a shipping cost, you can offer a free or discounted shipping option.

To further decrease your cart abandonment rate, you can use exit-intent pops, reengage with inactivity sensor pop-ups, create a sense of urgency, and provide incentives based on the value of products in the cart.

Why reduce cart abandonment? 87% of customers abandon their cart because of the cumbersome checkout process, and a single cart abandonment email can increase conversion rates by 10%.

Are you ready to expand your online presence?

You don’t need a million-dollar digital marketing budget to expand and increase your ecommerce business. A few steps taken one at a time can help you differentiate yourself from the online competition.

Use these six digital marketing tips to expand your ecommerce business and ensure you never face a shortage of customers. However, after implementing most of these strategies, you have to remain patient to see these tips work their magic on your customers. Focus on knowing your customers, understanding their requirements, and providing a user experience like never before.

For ecommerce brands looking to get one percent closer to Amazon or eBay, they need to give preference to user experience and customer requirements. Keep your customers at the heart of everything and see your ecommerce business flourish in no time.

Remember that not all strategies will work for every brand. So, if one digital marketing tip doesn’t result in the expected conversion rate, don’t lose heart. Try another one from our list!

Also, don’t forget to complete a status check on what’s working and what’s not!

Which of these digital marketing tips are you planning to implement?

It is difficult for people outside the industry to accept that B2B marketing is unique. The techniques employed to service this market sector are worlds apart from the standard approaches to consumer-focused marketing.

These differences have a profound impact on the development of each sector’s marketing strategies. Read more below.

Defining B2B marketing 

B2B marketing is about the selling of a company’s product or service directly to another company. In B2C, consumers choose the products they want to buy based on price, as well as status, popularity, and other triggers that appeal more to their emotions. On the other hand, B2B buyers make their decision to purchase according to price and potential for profit. 

B2B companies buy in bulk, so in terms of a product purchase, they are already different. B2B companies sell products wholesale, so they need to utilise an ecommerce platform that can offer purpose-built solutions for B2B wholesale smoothly and efficiently. 

The differences in B2B and B2C marketing

B2B marketing focuses on meeting the needs of other businesses. The audience is different, and their needs are unique to their company, thus the success of a B2B marketing campaign depends on bringing more prospective customers to a company’s website, building engagement, and finally, increasing sales. 

Building relationships

In B2B marketing and lead generation, the effort focuses on building personal relationships to establish long-term business relationships. The relationship-building phase in B2B marketing is crucial, particularly during the buying phase. It gives you the chance to prove your brand of business ethics, morals, and practices. The priority of B2B marketing is lead generation, including repeat and referral business.

In B2C marketing, the focus is on transactional relationships. The marketing effort is focused on getting the consumers to buy more products, not on building personal relationships with the customers. 

Branding

Branding is an integral part of B2B marketing, which is another facet of building a closer relationship with customers. Branding means delivering consistency in product presentations and the delivery of services or products. The company should strengthen brand recognition to allow your company’s personality to be more visible, as this supports lead generation, as well. 

In B2C, the prestige that the brand will bring is more important. 

Maintaining open communication 

While the tactic of appealing to emotions is more applicable to B2C marketing, you can also use this tactic during the client’s decision-making process. You should maintain open communication between you and the client. Use this time to compare your company’s positive aspects versus your competitors to ensure that you can be steps ahead of them. It is during this time that the B2B customer evaluates your company, and often their decision will be based on rational motivations, such as whether choosing your company will be good for their business.

Audience targeting

B2B companies operate in a niche market, so it is critical to understand the demographic of your target audience. Understanding your audience means compiling and analysing accurate data, quantitatively and qualitatively. Use your business tools to collect high-quality data, not only regarding your consumers but also your particular sector.

Since the decision-making process from a B2B customer takes longer, support their decision by fielding marketing efforts that will keep your brand on top of the list. Constant communication is important, just like building a firm relationship with your customers is vital to ensuring your company’s success. 

Your company’s logo is synonymous with the company as a whole. When you think of your favourite brands, what comes to mind? You may have automatically considered the Nike checkmark or McDonald’s big golden arch because they’re so memorable and impactful. Logos are critical to the success of your company. They provide a palpable visual symbol that people associate with you. Logos provide comfort, familiarity, and the essence of your brand.

If you’re getting your business off the ground, you have probably already started to consider logo options. How are you going to make yours stand out? You must create a unique, sophisticated logo that matches the personality of your business. Check out these tips to get you started.

Identify Why You Need a Logo

Some businesses don’t require a full-blown logo. All they need is their business name typed out in an appropriate, simple font. Ask yourself, what is the objective behind your logo? Is it to attract a larger audience? Is it to make a lasting impression on new and current customers?

Sit down with your team before you tackle anything else to get to the heart of this question. Once you start pumping out ideas, you’ll have a clearer vision for your company logo and why it’s a necessary component of your long-term marketing strategy.

Define Who You Are

Once you have a stronger understanding of the why part, the next step is to solidify the who. You already have a sense of who you are as a company and what your values are. But it’s never too late to regroup and narrow things down even further for your marketing and promotions campaign.

Get the team together to dig deep — how can you emulate who you are in a logo? Will it be a sleek typography design, or will there be additional visuals? Will you include a symbolic motif, such as a plant, animal, or something else related to the products you sell? How will such a symbol speak to your audience?

Be Aware of the Competition

Be mindful of what’s happening around you. What’s working for your competition and what isn’t? It would be best if you didn’t steal design ideas from anyone else, but checking out what’s popular and what’s not in your industry is to be expected. You’ll gain a better perspective of the direction you want to take with your logo.

Put It Everywhere

Once you’ve ironed out the details with your team and graphic designer, you’ll have a new logo to show off. So, what now? You put that logo anywhere and everywhere! The logo intends to promote your business and increase your brand’s reach.

Consider working with a professional screen-printing company and print your logo on t-shirts and other clothing items. You could also make your own face mask designs with your logo clearly outlined. Find a custom printing company that offers facial mask options in addition to traditional clothing.

Your brand’s logo is an extension of you and your business. By taking the time to ensure it perfectly encapsulates your values, goals, and style, you’ll generate long-lasting brand recognition and loyalty.

There are many different ways to market a venture and get more traction when it comes to brand awareness, leads, and sales. After a very tough year due to the global pandemic, entrepreneurs in most industries are looking for ways to recover and get ahead again.

One way to cement your name in your sector is to utilize promotional products. Branded items don’t have to cost too much but can have excellent results. Here are some things to consider as you research and buy gear for your business in 2021.

Work Out Your Budget

Work out how much you can afford and want to spend on your purchase of promo items. Set yourself a budget before you start investigating options so that you don’t waste time looking at products that aren’t feasible from a financial perspective. Having a budget from the start also makes it less likely that you’ll get so excited by an option that you order it in bulk when it’s actually too expensive.

Get Clear on Your Goals

Determine, early on, what your specific goals are when buying promotional products. In turn, you’ll become targeted in your search for suitable goods. What kind of impression do you want the items you give consumers to have, and what do you hope the marketing avenue will achieve for your business?

For instance, do you hope to acquire more leads and brand awareness, or are you looking to highlight a new campaign or product or service offering? Perhaps you want to thank your current customers or suppliers or recognize and reward valued team members? There are many different goals possible, so work out what’s important to you. Then you can search for products with the best chance of making these outcomes possible.

Know Who You’re Buying For and What You Want Gifts to Represent

Know exactly who you’re buying for when you research goods. Understand the type of person or organization you plan to gift items to, and who these people are, what’s important to them, how they live and work, what might be memorable to them, etc. Consider tastes, family status, hobbies, lifestyle, location, age, stage of life, and more. Promotional products have more impact and deliver a better return on investment when properly targeted to specific recipients.

It also pays to research if your competitors give out promo gear and, if so, what kinds of things and to whom. You want to try to stand out from the crowd and avoid investing money into goods that are too similar in type, look, or style to items consumers receive from other businesses. As you research potential products, also consider what your organization does particularly well that other companies don’t, and how this is of value to your clientele. Try to find promo items that relate to this in some way.

Plus, keep your venture’s mission, values, and company culture in mind when choosing goods. For instance, if you run your business in a way that focuses on sustainability, you’ll want the promo things you buy to be similarly earth-friendly. Or, if your brand revolves around offering unique products made in small batches that people don’t find elsewhere, steer clear of promotional gear that’s run of the mill and generic.

Keep Lead Time and Distribution Factors in Mind

Buying items is just one part of achieving success from promotional gear. You also need to be able to distribute it effectively, at the right times. As such, as you investigate options, keep lead time and distribution factors top of mind. If, for instance, you plan to exhibit at a trade show or have a booth at a conference in a couple of months, check that the goods on your shortlist will be available and shipped to you or the event venue in plenty of time. It helps to use suppliers you’ve dealt with before or those with good reviews for delivering when they say they will. Also, speed up processes by utilizing helpful procurement tech tools to make prompt payments. Inventory management systems also help with tracking and managing the bulk items you buy.

It can cost thousands of dollars to secure quality promotional goods and deliver them to the people on whom you want to make a positive impression. Be smart and strategic about your choices, and look for ways to get the best return on investment.

As a business owner, you want to build your brand and let more people know about your products or services. You do all these things to make sales in the end. After all, this is what will keep your company going and growing. Investing in sales analytics tools is one thing to consider to help increase your sales. This software can guide you in generating leads, determining which of them should be prioritized, and the best approach on how to convert them into actual clients. Here are other proven strategies on how to improve your sales.

Ensure your Products and Services are top-quality

The products or services that you offer must be high-quality to get return customers. Satisfied clients will keep coming back to you, and they will also spread the word about your business. Recommendations from those who tried your products or services are still the best forms of advertisement. It applies both to the word of mouth and online reviews or comments. People are more likely to try something when they hear positive feedback about it.

Focus on Existing Clients too

Some companies focus too much on getting new clients. It’s not a bad thing, but you should also not forget about your existing clients. Since they tried your products or services before, they are more likely to do business with you again, especially if they were happy with their experience. Reach out to them and offer discounts or exclusive deals as a way of thanking them for being loyal clients. This will strengthen your relationship, and they will keep using your company.

Understand your Clients

Listen to what your clients want. Get to know more about your target market, their interests, and buying habits, so you can tailor your marketing approach, and improve what you offer based on their needs. Some ways to do this are through surveys and reading the comments that they leave about your business.

Offer the best Customer Service

Excellent customer service can help encourage customers to buy your products or use your service. It will create a positive experience, so they will be more likely to go to you for their needs. Make your website informative, so they can check the information they need anytime. Offer various methods on how they can contact you for convenience. Some of them are chat, phone, email, and online forms.

Know your Competitors

Get to know about the companies that are in the same industry. Doing so will help you determine their strengths and weaknesses. You can get inspiration from their strengths and adopt them with your practices. You could also learn from their weaknesses, and find ways on how to convert them into strengths to benefit your business.

Create Effective Marketing Campaigns

Getting the word out there about your company and effectively enticing customers to try your products and services is vital to increase your sales. No matter how exceptional your products or services are, if people don’t know about it, it wouldn’t generate profit. Remember these tips and apply them in your business operation to successfully increase your sales. Never compromise the quality of your products and services so clients will stay with you.