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What To Look for in a Digital Marketing Agency

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What To Look for in a Digital Marketing Agency (1)

If you don’t have the time or resources to look after your company’s digital marketing, you will need to choose the right agency to get the best possible outcome.

A digital marketing agency can specialize in all areas of marketing, from website to social, PPC to SEO.

It will depend on what type of digital marketing you need when it comes to deciding who to hire: do you want someone to look after your social media? Or do you need a full rebrand or a new website? Keep these questions in mind when doing your research.

There are certain traits to a marketing company you should also look out for when doing your search. This blog will discuss signs of a good digital marketing agency, from an easy-to-use website to a good portfolio.

An Impressive Portfolio

The first step to choosing a digital marketing agency is looking at their portfolio. You can see the type of clients they’ve worked with previously, and they should be proud of the work they’ve produced.

Looking at a portfolio is especially important if you’re looking for graphic design work.

This is a good chance to see if they’ve worked with a variety of clients or if they tend to specialize in one type of area. You can also use this to work out if they are a good match for your company.

A Team with Experience

You want a team of marketers who know their stuff. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Check the company’s LinkedIn to see their staff members and take a look at their experience. If you know you want to focus on SEO, have a look at their SEO Executive’s experience. Or if you want a website rebrand, make sure they have a good graphic designer on their team.

Great Reviews

Take a look at reviews to see what their previous clients have said as this can be very telling about how the agency has treated clients in the past. They may also reveal some important information such as how long the project took and how much they kept the client updated.

A Good Social Presence

A digital marketing company should have an impressive social media presence. It can highlight their company’s culture, previous work and industry expertise. If you’re wanting them to look after your own social media accounts, you should make sure to check out how they conduct their own.

An Easy-To-Use Website

For customers to stay on your website and make a purchase, you need an easy-to use, well-designed website. With this in mind, a digital marketing company should have a website that is an example of this. If they can’t design themselves a good website, what makes you think they can do so for you?

They Have Realistic Goals

If a marketing company starts making over the top promises, you should see this as a big red flag.

Listen to what they’re claiming to have done in the past, and what they’re promising you. If they’re saying things that seem completely unrealistic, it probably is. You want to work with a company that is realistic and transparent with you.

They’re Easy to Contact

You shouldn’t struggle to get in touch with a digital marketing agency. Their contact details should be clear and easy to find on their website, and if you get in touch, you should hear back from them quickly.

If they don’t stay in touch with you or take a while to get back, you may want to think about whether they’re a good match for you. Your digital marketing is important and if you have emergencies, such as your website going down, you want to be able to trust that they’ll get back to you quickly.

Find the Right Agency for You

If you’ve never had to work with a digital marketing agency before, it’s important to do some homework to find the right company for you. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions, they’ll be happy to help you understand the process and clear up anything you aren’t sure about.

Why Animated Video Is a Great Way to Get Your Marketing Punching Above Its Weight

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Animated Video

Even on a small budget, all firms can produce engaging video content. With animated video, rich content can be tailored to generate leads, raise awareness, and demonstrate products. Best of all, it can be done in a fraction of the time of 3D video to enable you to start reaping the rewards much sooner. 2D video has been a true game-changer that enables smaller companies to join big rivals in video marketing.

Animated video is a great place to start getting your marketing efforts to punch above their weight! Joining the video marketing revolution is not just a bonus – it is almost essential in the digital era. A quick search of your competitors is likely to show that they are already on the bandwagon – and it is vital your firm joins them.

All industries have a finite group of good-fit target buyers. And everyone knows the stats about how much easier it is to retain an existing customer than it is to win a new one. With these things in mind, letting your competitors get too many new customers from well-produced video content is a dangerous game to play.

Getting started with animated video

The first decision to make is what kind of video content to produce. Are you going to focus on short content for social networks that is designed to generate new leads? Will you focus instead on product demonstrations to showcase your different use cases? Or will you produce validation-stage content to convince interested prospects to make the final step and buy from you?

Ideally you need all three types of videos but be realistic and produce a content production roadmap that aligns with your priorities. Positioning the right type of content at different stages of a buyer’s journey will help guide them through the selection process from finding your firm to confirming your credentials to help them.

Animated video can be used to achieve all these objectives. It can also be achieved without the cost, time or complication involved in producing 3D video. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that poorly produced animated video will not be a good look for your firm. With this in mind, the next step is to invest some time into bringing a video production partner on board with a longer-term plan in mind.

Recruiting an animated video agency

You have made the bold decision to go ahead and generate some animated video content for your products – congratulations! This is a big step, and video content will now become a vital branch of your overall marketing strategy.

To ensure your brand is positioned as it needs to be, the next step is to spend some time finding a good partner that provides animation video production services. You can easily make a shortlist with a simple Google search. But once you have done this, the real work starts.

Approach 5-6 agencies that stand out to you and make them aware of your interest in finding out more about what they can offer. Make them aware you are also looking at some other options in parallel – this should help keep them on their toes and hungry for the business. It will also tell them you are serious about moving ahead with video production.

When you meet with your shortlisted agencies, communicate your plans with them. Ask for their advice on how they think your brand should be positioned and test their credentials on topics such as what call to action they suggest using.

Also ask them for some evidence of results their other work has produced. Doing so will ensure you are talking with a video company that is focused on delivering commercial results, and not just the prettiest end products. This may sound obvious, but you are looking to video to drive results, not to win Oscars.

Ask the agencies to see a highlight reel of their previous work. See if they use a different style for each client, or whether their approach is quite rigid. You should also talk to them about what has worked well, and some things they feel they could improve from previous projects. Look for an openness and candid dialogue to see how responsive they are to feedback.

It is also important to establish commercial terms from an early stage. Ask how their contracts work in terms of amendments and post-production work. You should expect at least a few amendments as part of the package.

Above all – enjoy! You have made a wise choice to invest in animated video.

3 Key Advantages of SEO for Your Brand

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3 Key Advantages of SEO for Your Brand

The Gold Coast is one of Australia’s most popular tourist destinations. It has long drawn Australian families due to its beach resorts, seaside, amusement parks, shopping, nightclubs, and countryside; however, visitors are not the only ones Gold Coast can attract, but also paying customers. Investing in seo services gold coast would help you attract more paying customers than you can imagine.

There are many things that seo services gold coast can offer, some of which are taking control of Google rankings, getting your brand in front of the right people, and driving targeted traffic to your website. So here goes an SEO agency that companies consistently turn to for revenue-boosting results.

Increases Your Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing complement each other exceptionally well, as both add exposure to search results. However, PPC promotes your website at the very top spot of search engines’ search results. Meanwhile, search engine optimization is kind of the same thing.

Now you may be wondering what the difference is? Picture this as an example: the first two to three websites on every search result are paid as it acts like a promoted advertisement, whereas SEO would organically help you reach the top of search results.

Why would it help you, you ask? Websites with the help of PPC would always be on top of the search results engine no matter what you do, which means that even with the help of SEO, there will always be two or three other brands that customers would see first. Just imagine if SEO and PPC would combine in helping your brand—that would mean you would always be the first website that customers see.

Having both SEO and PPC search results shown at the very topmost of every search result would increase the credibility of your brand and make customers treat you trustworthy enough to buy seo backlinks

Gives A Huge Advantage Among Your Competitors

Your competitors will almost certainly be investing in SEO, so why should your brand be the one to miss out? You should invest in SEO agencies because those who invest heavily in SEO would always outrank their competitors in search engine results, especially if the SEO agency you invest in knows their way in digital marketing as this would help you gain market share.

When you think of it, the first page of a Google search always receives more than 90% of traffic, and your brand cannot afford not to be on the first page, especially if you see your competitors vying to be at the top of that page.

Another advantage of investing in an SEO agency is they would begin by recognizing who are:

  • Your competitors.
  • Assessing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
  • Developing and managing your online reputation.

Through this, they would make sure your site loads as quickly as possible and would be mobile-friendly toward users so you could put out the best content. An SEO company would always focus on giving site visitors the best user experience to turn into paying customers and break your drought in return-on-investments.

Helps You Reach Broader Audience

Although many marketing strategies focus on a specific intended audience, SEO agencies can help you attract anybody with purpose at any given point in time, regardless of where they are.

While it is typical for SEO agencies to always focus on reaching your brand to a specific target audience to boost your profit, Its agencies can also help attract more prospects. These prospects could be interested in working with your brand because SEO experts would focus on target keywords and not simply on demographics.

It has been proven to have numerous advantages for businesses as investing in it can result in long-term growth. Additionally, brands that support SEO can gain credibility and trust from their audiences—whether they are site visitors or paying customers or even another brand that could be interested in doing business with you.

 

 

How To Create An Engaging Virtual Sales Pitch

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How To Create An Engaging Virtual Sales Pitch (3)

Due to the ever-changing needs of the current times, many businesses have shifted their sales approaches to virtual methods. If you belong to your company’s sales team, you’re probably used to meeting up with your prospect for some in-person discussions and presentations. However, virtual meetings have become a norm and have somehow replaced face-to-face interactions. Because many companies have realized the convenience it brings, you now face the challenge of brushing up your virtual sales pitching skills.

One common mistake many sales commit is applying the same approach with virtual and face-to-face sales pitches. Although there are similarities in the meeting’s goals and stages, there should be modifications to how you’ll deliver an engaging online pitch. So, it makes sense that you improvise your sales pitching tactics should there be limitations and possible distractions during online meetings.

Here are some tips on how to make your virtual sales pitch more engaging:

 

1. Break The Ice 

Many office managers often think of practical ways to break the ice and apply fun virtual events for work when meeting internally with your team. This is known to be an effective way to boost conversation among participants. The same concept should apply when you have an external meeting with your clients or prospects. In addition to strengthening ties between participants, icebreakers can also reduce tension. By devising some short activities like figuring out some conversation starters, the meeting will be less awkward, reducing dead air.

Effective salespeople use icebreakers to get the conversation started with prospects. You want to keep prospects from being defensive by letting them talk about themselves with an effective icebreaker. This encourages them to build their confidence around you and makes them feel more at ease and less guarded. When you shift the attention to the prospect, you can effectively distract them by stopping them from thinking of how badly you want to seal the deal.

2. Use The Storytelling Technique 

One great strategy to improve your pitch is to use the storytelling approach. You shouldn’t dwell too much on product benefits and features. The best way is to share a relatable story or experience that will pique their interest and curiosity. Today’s marketing begins with an emotional story with a substantial impact on prospects, which can be very effective as a sales tool.

Use emotions as leverage to keep your story engaging. It is an excellent way to demonstrate how your products and services solve real-life problems and target prospects with real-life scenarios. However, there are essential elements of the story that you should follow and keep in sequence. You need to present a problem, explain how your product or brand solved it, and finally explain the positive results of the situation.

3. Use Visuals  

Human beings are usually visual creatures, so it would be valuable to conduct a sales pitch through the support of visuals. There are ways to create engaging virtual presentations to keep your prospects interested. When you use software presentation tools, try to insert as many graphics, pictures, and figures as opposed to bulk texts. Your participants will be more engaged when they see something they can understand better.

4. Keep Your Pitch Short And Concise 

Create pitches as short and as straightforward as possible. You may have lengthy information, but chances are you have a time limit to convey it. Hence, it’s essential to make the most of every second you have. Keep your presentation organized and in sequence, and don’t forget to insert a Q&A at the end.

You can accommodate prospective clients more efficiently by providing more detailed information in the Q&A portion. You’ll also be able to hear their honest thoughts and opinions. From there, you can assess your chances of closing the sale. Another strategy is to inform your attendees that they can politely interrupt your presentation should they have questions regarding your presentation. This allows you to fix their concerns and eliminate confusion right away.

5. Support Your Pitch With Data 

Your sales pitch can improve significantly by using valuable data. You can prove your claims by supporting them with evidence. Your attendees may already trust your brand, but keeping them in the same boat will require you to exert extra effort. This is when data become crucial. Respond to that question right away, and then demonstrate its validity throughout the meeting. The goal of your presentation should be to inspire, educate, and empower your audience.

Conclusion 

Virtual meetings have undoubtedly become a mainstay for many businesses today. Thus, it’s crucial to brush up on your virtual sales pitching skills in no time. Hopefully, with the tips and pointers shared in this article, you can improve your pitch and start converting more sales through online meetings.

What is Planning Concepts? And How do we use it?

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What is Planning Concepts_ And How do we use it_

The following describes the terminology used in Planning to explain commonly used objects and concepts:

Also read: These are the Most Demanded Marketing Profiles

Project

In Planning, projects remained the top-level items containing all the work done on a given media plan or set of related campaigns. A project proposal example has goals, a budget, start and end dates, and much inventory that you stay interested in purchasing.

Plan

In a project, the plan is intended to capture the list of sites you intend to acquire from the publishers you purchase inventory.

Site

Like Campaign Manager 360, placement is the media inventory of a website, app, or video where your ad appears. It represents a series of specifications regarding technological compatibility, size, and cost and quantity models.

Inventory

Inventory is the collection of locations that can be purchased. The Inventory is typically added to Planning when a publisher responds to a Request for Proposal (RFP) that a Planning user submits. Additionally, users can add inventory directly in planning or import placements from a linked Campaign Manager 360 campaign.

Inventory Providers

Inventory providers, such as publishers, have ad space to sell on their websites, mobile apps, or video content. It providers can enter Planning to supply inventory to media buyers and negotiate on requests for proposals. More information on the negotiations

Request for Proposal (RFP)

A request for proposal (RFP) remain a file sent to inventory providers to request media (that is, advertising space) to purchase for advertising purposes. Many inventory providers, such as publishers, only provide inventory to buyers after receiving an RFP.

You can use the Planning RFP section to request inventory from publishers and negotiate with them for the merchandise they offer. More information on how to create RFPs

Negotiation

When you’ve submitted an RFP to an inventory vendor, your responses will appear on the Negotiation page. On that page, you can review your offers and make counteroffers. More information on the negotiations

Execution

Once you have selected the media you want to publish, you can send it to Campaign Manager 360 to run it in one or more campaigns on this platform. The process of carrying out a plan in Campaign Manager 360 remain called “execution.” Media remain delivered to Campaign Manager 360 campaigns through an execution channel, which links to a specific Campaign Manager 360 campaign created in Schedule. Execution channels represent the highest-level link between Planning and Campaign Manager 360 and allow you to specify how Planning media properties remained mapped to Campaign Manager 360 sites.

When you link a plan to a Campaign Manager 360 campaign, you can send Media from Planning to Campaign Manager 360. Also, if any placement is modified or added directly in Campaign Manager 360, you can synchronize and reconcile planning changes.

Orders

Some means must remained insured; To do this, a seller and a buyer must sign an order, a document that can be generated and posted in Planning. An order can contain information such as the buyer and seller contacts and the terms and conditions of the contract. Insertion orders can secure new campaigns. Additionally, rankings can remain updated to reflect actual quantities delivered.

Score Cards

A scorecard remain a summary of the main statistics associated with a plan. These cards are available in the Plan, Inventory, Trade, and Executions views. The estimated statistics shown are from the calculations you provide when adding inventory.

In addition to the scorecards provided by default, you can select items in any of the four views in which they appear and compare their statistics with those of the plan as a whole.

Also read: Documentary and Ways of Narrating

A Complete Guide to Mobile Website Testing for Better User Experiences

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A Complete Guide to Mobile Website Testing for Better User Experiences

The growth in mobile browsing shows the necessity of mobile website testing. To reach a wider audience and maintain a competitive edge, websites must be easy to use and deliver a seamless and effective user experience on mobile devices. Mobile website testing differs from desktop website testing. Furthermore, various difficulties arise because of variations in screen size, quality, and technology between mobile devices.

Android and iOS being the dominant mobile operating systems, which are constantly evolving with new versions, make testing increasingly difficult. To provide consistent user experiences across all platforms, comprehensive testing is required, as these variations can have significant impacts on how a mobile website performs and displays.

This article will highlight excellent mobile website testing approaches. In addition, it will discuss best practices and benefits that may assist developers and testers in creating strong, user-friendly, and adaptive mobile websites for modern mobile users.

What is mobile website testing?

Mobile website testing is a method to determine a website on a mobile device to verify if it is accessible and functional. This involves examining the page for errors, inconsistencies, and any issues with navigation, user interactions, page design, and overall functioning.

This testing takes place on a number of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and even feature phones. It can also be performed on certain web browsers or operating systems which involves looking through its functional and non-functional components.

Mobile website testing is an important aspect of identifying issues and ensuring their early resolution. This improves user experience and reduces the possibility of negative reviews, revenue loss, and website abandonment. To make sure that mobile websites are high-quality and satisfy user expectations, developers must give testing top priority.

Types of Testing for Mobile Websites

Security testing

This testing checks a website for vulnerabilities such as incorrect session management, authentication problems, and unsafe data transmission or storage. Make sure the website complies with security regulations such as GDPR and that sensitive data is secured.

Usability testing

This evaluates the mobile website’s user experience. End users often demand a visually appealing and straightforward layout, rapid response times, and smooth navigation. This will usually consist of testing mobile websites with actual groups of end users.

Functional testing

This testing ensures that all of the site’s essential functionality, such as registration forms, menus, buttons, payment gateways, and authentication processes, work seamlessly. Test a variety of real-world situations, such as ordering something or logging in using a social media account, etc.

Performance testing

Mobile users frequently encounter fluctuating network conditions. Conducting performance testing allows testers to test the speed and responsiveness of the website under various conditions, such as low bandwidth, slow internet connections, and high traffic. It measures page load times and optimizes resource utilization.

Geolocation testing

Testing GPS functionality in various locations is essential because a lot of mobile websites depend on location-based services. Simulate multiple locations to confirm that the website properly handles geolocation permissions and provides relevant content.

Cross-browser testing

Mobile web users browse websites using a variety of browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. Cross-browser testing guarantees that the website appears and performs properly across all major browsers.

LambdaTest is a reliable cloud-based option for those looking to improve their cross-browser testing procedures. This platform provides extensive testing environments that support a wide range of browsers and operating systems, as well as automated testing capabilities.  Testers can access this scalable and reliable testing infrastructure from anywhere.

LambdaTest is an AI-powered platform for test orchestration and execution that allows for the large-scale execution of both automated and manual tests. The platform offers a complete cloud-based infrastructure for automating cross-browser testing. With this platform, testers can perform real-time and automation testing across more than 3000 scenarios and real mobile devices. Additionally, Lambdatest offers responsive testing, visual testing, geolocation testing, and screenshot testing features, providing a seamless testing experience.

Furthermore, testers can also perform Selenium mobile testing on real mobile devices hosted on the cloud, assisting testers in improving the application quality for optimal performance and user satisfaction. A further unique feature of the platform is its one-click bug tracking feature, which enables testers to quickly report issues using a variety of bug management tools, like Jira, Asana, Trello, Github, TeamWork, Hive, and many more.

Why is testing mobile websites important for testers

Mobile web testing is necessary because of the various methods by which users access content across different browsers and devices. With varied screen resolutions across browsers, optimizing websites for smooth functioning becomes critical to retaining potential users. Mobile testing assures website responsiveness across many devices, which offers several benefits such as:

Increasing Mobile Use- Mobile devices and PCs are currently responsible for a large portion of global internet traffic. To acquire this vast audience, developers must have websites that are compatible with mobile devices.

Enhanced User Experience

Mobile-friendly websites offer a better user experience than desktops, increasing trust and engagement. Testers can ensure that their websites are appealing and functioning across all mobile platforms through device-specific responsive testing.

Better Search Engine Ranking

Mobile-optimized websites score higher rankings in Google and other search engine results. Mobile website testing increases SEO and exposure by adhering to mobile optimization guidelines.

Better Security

Testing mobile websites can identify security flaws that might put user data at risk. By resolving these issues, users can experience more confidence knowing that their data is protected on the website.

Bounce Rates Drop

When users encounter problems with navigation or functioning, they abandon websites that are not mobile-friendly. By lowering bounce rates and maintaining user engagement, mobile testing helps in dealing with these issues.

Rapid technological evolution

Due to the rapid advancement of mobile technology, new devices, operating systems, and browsers keep coming. Developers can remain ahead of the curve and provide a flawless experience regardless of the device’s age or specifications by performing regular mobile testing.

Methods for Mobile Website Testing

Mobile website testing can be challenging, but it can be made much simpler with the right strategy. Here are a few methods for testing the mobile website:

Testing on real devices

Without testing the website’s performance on real devices, no mobile website testing plan is complete. Testers can simulate real-world conditions like intermittent Internet and limited battery life and find exactly how the website performs by using an actual device. Additionally, they can see how it works with device hardware like cameras, touch displays, and GPS. This method guarantees that testers find user environment-specific problems before launching the website.

Testing on Chrome DevTools

This toolkit enables testers to simulate numerous mobile devices and screen resolutions to evaluate how the website performs on each of them. Testers can select from a list of devices, manually customize the dimensions, modify the zooming settings, and replicate geolocation or network circumstances.

Using test automation tools

Automation tools allow testers to automate tests across numerous devices and are the fastest and most scalable way to test mobile websites, particularly if they need to shorten their time to release. Setting clear testing goals, selecting the right framework, and developing appropriate test scripts can help testers speed up regression testing, especially when executing the same test cases on various devices, and operating system combinations.

Testing on emulators and simulators

Android and iOS simulators are a useful and affordable approach to finding UI and UX flaws and testing for mobile website accessibility, even if they focus mostly on native application testing.

Although these tools can help testers identify both functional and visual flaws, they might not accurately simulate real-world situations like battery life, hardware performance, or specific network problems. They work well for initial evaluations, but for an overall illustration, real device testing should be included.

Challenges in mobile website testing

Here are some issues that could occur while testing mobile websites:

  • Various mobile devices have different screen sizes, operating systems, and hardware, making it challenging for testers to achieve comprehensive test coverage.
  • Mobile websites need to function across different devices, OS, and browsers. Ensuring compatibility across various environments is a challenging task in mobile website testing.
  • Mobile devices connect to the internet with cellular data, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. Network fluctuations can affect the performance of the website, causing delays in loading, connection problems, or potential crashes.
  • Font size, color contrast, and navigation impact user experience and require detailed examination.
  • Security is a major concern, especially if the website requires users to share personal information.
  • Performance testing can be difficult because it requires identifying device-specific security vulnerabilities.
  • Frequent system updates can cause compatibility issues that affect the app’s features.

Best Practices for Mobile Website Testing

Test with the end user in mind

A website’s success is determined by its ability to satisfy the expectations of its users. As a result, behavioral analytics should be used early to establish a feedback loop. This will assist in guaranteeing that the mobile website is in alignment with user demands, allowing testers to make changes based on real-time feedback.

Prioritize core functionality

Mobile websites are used for distinct objectives by users. Regardless of the design features, if the essential functionality such as navigation, sign-ups, or purchasing, don’t perform properly, users will quit. Make sure the testing plan puts these crucial features first to prevent interfering with the user experience.

Test early, test often.

Integrate test automation early in the process to detect issues as they emerge. Parallel testing across many devices and configurations ensures a fluid workflow without bottlenecks, allowing for continuous quality assurance. Using a combination of exploratory and automated testing is also essential. Testers should balance exploratory and script-based testing when testing mobile websites.

Script-based testing works well for figuring out functional problems and decoding faults. Exploratory testing, on the other hand, is essential to comprehending how users engage with the website and what special use conditions would need to be taken into account.

Define a device selection strategy.

Testers can’t test the website across all browser, device, and operating system combinations. Create a support policy for the platforms and devices they plan to test using end-user data. To make sure testers are serving as many end users as possible, review it regularly.

Optimize for page load speed.

Speed is critical for mobile users. To improve load times, compress images, minimize redirects, use browser caching, and reduce server response times. Regularly evaluate the mobile website’s performance under different network situations to keep load times as minimal as possible, resulting in enhancing user retention and experience.

Utilize a cloud service to test on more devices.

Testers can utilize emulators during development, but the website must finally be checked on real devices. It is not practicable to have a complete inventory of all mobile devices. Consider utilizing a cloud-based device management platform that allows the entire team to easily access a variety of devices and platform versions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mobile devices have become an essential part of people’s daily routines. In the current era of digital growth, when web technology is in ongoing evolution, incorporating mobile website testing as a key component of developing a website guarantees that the website aligns with the users evolving demands.

For testers, having a mobile-responsive website with smooth user interaction is critical. This post provided insights into essential components of how to test websites on mobile devices, their importance, and the best practices for generating high-quality results. Knowing the different types and methods of mobile website testing saves both effort and time. It improves the user experience through realistic tactics which result in optimal outcomes.

Content plan: Why it is Essential in a Content Marketing strategy

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Content plan_ Why it is Essential in a Content Marketing strategy

A content plan is the set of information logged and documented to guide the actions of a Content Marketing strategy, defining which ones will be published, their objectives, and respective launch dates.

Regardless of the segment your business remains dedicated to, and if you want to work with Content Marketing, it is essential to have a content plan.

Content Marketing can remain used to achieve different objectives in each channel that makes up the strategy. For that, it is necessary then to recognize what result you want to achieve.

When we do not have a content plan, we may improvise or make assumptions that only time can show how accurate they were or not.

Having a content plan can help us reduce the margin of error so that, in this way, we achieve the objective we intend with our Content Marketing strategy.

If you want to apply it to your company and understand why you need a content plan, how to implement it, and the risks that can be run by not having one, join me for the next few minutes to understand it better and start creating unforgettable materials for your potential clients.

Also read: Templates for Social Networks: and it’s Elements

Why is a Content Plan Necessary?

Think for a moment which of the conquests in human history would have remained achieved without having a plan? Maybe none, right?

So you must understand that a content plan is going to help you in different aspects of a marketing strategy, such as:

  • associate clear actions with defined objectives;
  • anticipate possible difficulties that may arise along the way;
  • recognize other moments in which the method may vary;
  • know in depth the buyer persona of your product or service;
  • establish a purchase process that leads visitors to become customers;
  • check available resources and budget.

A plan can remain seen as a bridge that allows you to reach different places within your content strategy. That existence consolidated will help you grow with your digital marketing strategy at a similar time.

Creating content and publishing it without a specific reason, without knowing the audience you are offering it to, and without knowing the expected result can be detrimental.

Having a plan can be seen, at first, as something that demands a lot of effort, but I think that it can be more work to make up for the time lost by not having planned before.

What does a Content Plan Include?

Next, I will mention what a content plan must have to respond to a marketing strategy.

If you think that you do not have everything you need, do not worry, the important thing is to recognize that you can start today and move towards results.

SWOT Analysis of the Strategy

Here I refer to everything that a weakness, opportunity, strength. And threat mean for the company ( SWOT analysis ) to implement a company’s content strategy.

Market Research

Knowing which references within the business segment and the actions developed can bring enough ideas of what this plan will include, activities that already exist and can be improved. Or opportunities in alternatives that have not remained created.

Definition of the Buyer persona

Content creation must have significant prior knowledge of the market niche to which it is going to target.

The plan must remain oriented to the buyer persona, representing the ideal client profile to remain achieved in the strategy. For this, it is necessary to take into account information on the following factors:

  • wants and needs of the ideal client;
  • sex;
  • age;
  • consumption habits;
  • professional and individual aspirations;
  • channels where you usually consume content;
  • economic profile;
  • among others.

What is Native Advertising? And Benefits of Native Advertising?

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What is Native Advertising_ And Benefits of Native Advertising_

In this article, we are profitable to talk about what native advertising is, analyze in detail the most common formats in which it remains present, and see the benefits for your brand. If you want to reveal all its secrets, keep reading!

What is Native Advertising?

We can define native advertising or native advertising as “a form of advertising in paid media that adapts in form and functionality to the environment in which it appears, allowing it to impact the user in a less intrusive way than with traditional advertising.”

An essential element of this advertising type is that it is not perceived as advertising since it is 100% integrated into its environment. For example, when it remains located in an online medium, we will see that it fully respects the editorial style format.

Still, for ethical reasons, we must always clearly show that this remains promoted content.

Native advertising depends on the quality of the content.  It must not be excessively promotional and must always provide value to the user, whether in the form of information, entertainment, or, better yet, both at the same time!

We must first discuss the user’s problems and concerns, and only then can we present our product or service as a possible solution.

Another key is that it must remain fully adapted to the different devices and platforms that we can find on the Internet, either through texts, images, videos, or interactive content. The user can dialogue.

Why does Native Advertising Work?

According to Online Publishers Association (OPA) surveys, 53% of users are more attracted to native advertising than to other traditional formats. To understand this success, you have to put yourself in the user’s shoes and understand their browsing experience.

Generally, when we visit a web page, we can see a large number of banner ads. As users have become “desensitized” in front of them, they have become more and more visible, more intrusive, and more annoying to try to get attention. The result is that the experience of reading or consuming the content is affected and, instead of being attracted to the brand, the user perceives the ads as a nuisance. So much so that the use of ad-blocking programs has increased by 92% since 2014.

Instead, native advertising is seamlessly integrated into the user’s browsing experience, for example, to offer them content similar to what they have just read and that may therefore interest them. In this way, it not only allows you to bypass ad blockers but is also much more attractive.

For users, native advertising has many advantages. Instead of invading him to claim his attention, he offers him something that interests him and that he wants to consume. Although it remains labeled as advertising, it does not generate a reaction of rejection and avoidance because it tells you things you want to know. And for publicists, it is a chance to have the attention of potential customers to develop the brand’s story in a much more extensive way than with traditional banners. As the Anglo-Saxons say, it’s a win-win!

Benefits of Native Advertising

More new traffic.  Native advertising allows us to reach users who no longer respond to traditional advertising, representing an exciting traffic source. Besides, this traffic usually has a low cost per click.

More visibility.  Users are “trained” to ignore advertising when reading articles online. But being integrated, native ads overcome these defenses and be 53% more visible than classic banners.

Better browsing experience.  Since we are not interrupting users’ reading, the browsing experience is much more pleasant with native advertising, and consequently, our brand reputation improves. The result is that users receive this advertising better and are more willing to share it, especially in content ads.  32% of users would share advertising through their social networks if it provided them with reasonable value. Therefore, we see that the chances of triggering a viral response are much greater than in the case of traditional advertising.

We are learning about the interests of the target.  The analysis of the reactions to the content that we disseminate will allow us to modulate and adapt our communication strategy to be increasingly effective.

Native advertising is not aimed at direct sales but attracting users in the early stages of interest through engaging content. Therefore, it is an excellent way to create audiences for retargeting campaigns and guide them little by little on the path to becoming a loyal customer of the brand.

Native Advertising Formats

There are numerous native advertising formats, as well as different classifications of them. For this article, we will focus on the three that we consider most relevant today: branded content, native display ads, and content ads.

1) Branded content

Branded content consists of content created and published by third parties and sponsored by the brand. The most common example is the sponsored posts of influencers, who reach agreements with brands to promote them through their social networks. This type of content is trendy on Instagram.

Another example of branded content is editorial articles published in the media that talk about a brand’s products and services, such as gift suggestions for occasions such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

It is essential to note that the creation of the content corresponds entirely to the influencer or the medium in these cases. Hence, there is no such rigid control as in traditional advertising. It is about a more open dialogue between the brand, the influencer, and their audience.

The great secret of branded content is that it generates trust in the audience. Since the brand remains recommended by a user or a medium that users follow and trust. As always in advertising, it is essential to have solid ethical principles. So that this relationship works and the user’s trust remains not betrayed.

2) Native display ads

Native display ads are promotional advertising 100% adapted to your environment. They remain displayed through a network of publishers, such as search engines, apps, or blogs.

These contents remain identified as advertising; the most common is that they carry the label of “sponsored content” or similar. Still, as they do not hinder the reading experience, the user does not perceive them as intrusive. They are received much differently than traditional banner advertising, and the proof is that they receive higher click-through rates. According to some studies, CTR can be double and brand recall four times higher.

When creating native display ads, we can opt for a more promotional approach or direct the user to a content site.

3) Content ads

We can define content ads as content sponsored by the brand displayed as suggested reading in editorial media and blogs. We seek to attract traffic to our site through high-value, non-commercial content, which focuses on the topics of interest to the user. Therefore, this type of native advertising integrates into its environment at a functional and aesthetic level and in the background.

The content sponsored through content ads will always be related to the brand; for example, in a tourism brand, we can talk about travel destinations. But it is not intended to sell, or the user is required to convert since we understand that it is still in the early stages of the conversion funnel.

For this type of advertising to be effective. We must attract the user to continue browsing our website, subscribe. Or perform other actions (always not related to the sale). In this way, we can continue to nurture our relationship with him through a lead nurturing strategy.

These ads are usually displayed at the end of a news story, suggesting that they read an article. Or watch a video related to the content they just consumed. This relationship must remain well established so that the user is interested in the content we are going to offer. Suggestions remain usually presented in a  block or widget with various related content, all integrated into the communication medium’s design.

When the user clicks on the headline and image displayed in the widget. We redirect them to a web page or an article on our blog with the promised content. With this, we are offering you high-value information and focusing on forming a long-term bond.

Conclusions on Native Advertising

Native advertising is booming and, for most brands, is an essential part of their marketing plans. If you want to succeed with yours, dare to jump right in! to the pool and keep these final recommendations in mind  :

Clearly define your goals. As in any other marketing tool, before launching into native advertising. We must be very clear about what we are looking to achieve. As we have seen, this type of advertising works very well to attract users in the early stages of the conversion funnel. So we must look for ways to retain them to become part of our database or our audiences for remarketing.

Take utmost care of the quality of the content. It has to adapt to your audience’s tastes fully and interests, meet their expectations (or even exceed them). And have the best technical quality you can offer. The more value you provide to users, the easier it will be for your content to end up going viral.

Look for integration. Of course, native ads should be similar to their environment at the design level, but the proper integration goes further. Think about the places where your ads will remain shown, the editorial line. And the type of audience you are looking for.

Promote in its fair measure. Content ads must represent your brand and values. But you must be very cautious when introducing promotions, offers. Or other promotional content. Think of them as the first few kilometers of a long-distance race to reach the conversion goal.

Identify your native advertising. Finally, remember that we seek to offer a smooth browsing and reading experience. But the content promoted by a brand must remain indicated as such. If they add value, this fact should not generate rejection in the user.