The online marketing industry is indeed complex, but its volatile nature makes it an exciting option for businesses that look forward to reach an ever-growing consumer base. Organizations that adapt to the sweeping changes in customer preferences leg up in the marketing ladder, and those who ignore them, get left behind in the marketing race. It’s now time to plan and think about your 2016 marketing strategies with these predictions:
Engaging and interactive content in the form of animations, diagrams and quizzes is the need of the hour. Ephemeral video marketing is going to provide huge success to businesses having their own mobile apps.
In 2016, brands need to give a big push to mobile optimization.
Business owners can increase their online visibility in a more intuitive and convenient way by having their own dedicated application.
These three online marketing trends will play a huge role in 2016. For this reason, businesses and marketers need to shift their resources in exploring these emerging marketing trends to achieve greater success.
The terms Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are often used interchangeably, but they are actually different digital marketing services. The main goal of both the SEO and SEM processes is to increase the visibility in search engines but they use different strategies & tactics for getting better ranking in the search results. To describe in simple terms, SEO is about optimizing web property but SEM goes beyond SEO. Read below to know how SEO and SEM differ from each other.
Search Engine Optimization – Defined
In clear words, SEO is the process of optimizing a website in order to get free traffic from search engines. Recent search studies have revealed that 33 percent of searchers go to website ranking #1 in search results. This means SEO has a great importance for online businesses. An optimized website is easily understood by search engines, and hence, website ranks higher in ‘algorithmically’ determined search engine results. SEO works by improving ranking of a website organically. It doesn’t involve paying for better ranking in search results. The two main pillars of search engine optimization are:
Search Engine Marketing – Defined
SEM is a broader term that increases visibility of a website in search engines by using optimization and advertising strategies. SEM includes Pay Per Click ads, banner advertising, SEO tactics and other search engine-related marketing methods. A research study has shown that more than 80 percent of Internet users search information about a product or service on search engines. SEM is an effective digital marketing method to capture the interest of these potential customers at the beginning of the buying cycle. A website ranks higher in search results with the combined efforts of these two categories of SEM:
Which is better – SEM or SEO?
The argument here is not about which is better. SEO and SEM are not interchangeable or competing services. SEO is a component of SEM services. When it comes to driving traffic to your website, you need to have a strong marketing strategy that will include both SEO and SEM activities. That’s why companies that uses both SEO and SEM services often win in the search engine rankings!
We have entered the last month of the year – December! In 2015, we have witnessed several changes in the way enterprises are marketing their business. Digital marketing is changing faster than ever and there’s a lot more to come. If the changes in 2016 are an indicator, you can expect more changes in 2017. However, before closing the chapter of 2015, get a grip of 10 incredible marketing statistics of the year so far.
#1 – 50.3% of eCommerce website traffic comes from mobile devices.
#2 – 98% of B2B companies consider marketing content a core component of their overall marketing strategy.
#3 – 54% of B2B marketers generate leads from social media platforms in 2015.
#4 – Content marketing generates 3 times the leads generated by traditional outbound marketing, but it costs 62% less than traditional marketing.
#5 – 43% of online advertising dollars are spent on search advertisements.
#6 – 74% of consumers prefer to receive commercial communications via Email.
#7 – 90% of social traffic is driven by three networks – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, with half of it coming from LinkedIn alone.
#8 – 40% of people say they will choose a different website if the first one is not mobile friendly.
#9 – 67% of shoppers are more likely to buy from an eCommerce website that is compatible with mobile phone.
#10 – Mobile devices account for 53% of paid-search clicks.
These digital marketing stats explain why social media, mobile and content marketing are proving to be so successful. Seeing these stats, it cannot be denied that digital marketing will continue to grow into 2016.
With the fast changing online world, marketers and business leaders are facing tremendous pressure in attracting, engaging and interacting with genuine customers. Everyday, digital marketers fill their Facebook page with unique posts, amazing Twitter feeds, update Instagram profile, and post professional content in LinkedIn page, but still they feel that the results are not satisfying. Just creating pages on social sites and increasing followers & likes
– it’s not going to work that way anymore! It’s time for a change in thinking and change in SMO strategies!
Running social media campaigns might seem to be easy for you, but it’s quite tricky. Your goal is not to be good at social media, but to be good at the business of social media. You cannot deny that social media traffic is the biggest referrer of your website. If you understand the difference between actual impressions and potential impressions, you will win the battle of social media. Here are some new tactics to try to get more value out of your social media marketing plans:
# Humanize Your Social Media Presence
Reliable reach is best possible with E-mail, phone and even fax. When it comes to social media, reliable reach becomes a bit difficult. Firstly, you need to be sure that your messages get through to your prospective customers. Secondly, you need to interact with customers on a more personal level. This will improve brand loyalty, increase conversion rates, and faster audience growth.
# Remain Global But Don’t Forget Local
The only difference between “good” and “successful” social media marketing is effectiveness. “If you’re thinking of change in your social marketing, first change your thinking about social media.” There is no shortcut to success. Plan your social marketing strategy, integrate the above mentioned plans into your own and see how it works wonders!
Do you know the word “real-time” has been mentioned for 391K times on social media sites in the month of April 2015? This clearly indicates that real-time data has gained tremendous value in the evolving landscape of digital marketing. Digital marketers are embracing real-time marketing to engage with more customers and increase conversion rates. But, what actually is real-time marketing?
Some marketers believe that real-time marketing (RTM) requires greater efforts as you need to constantly monitor upcoming events, breaking news and other real-time information to create a message for grabbing an instantaneous opportunity. RTM is actually a flexible marketing activity in which you changes the actions on your website and social sites based on the changes in the consumer behavior, external news and other relevant trends. A strict fixed marketing strategy is not going to work anymore.
Some real-time marketing activities include:
In short, your RTM mantra should be – Get Real-Time, Get Ahead…
The best way to do real-time marketing to drive sales or generate buzz is to use “Newsjacking.” Inject your ideas into a breaking news story and enter customer conversations to better utilize digital marketing platforms. So, don’t use digital marketing now, but utilize real-time marketing activities for creating brand awareness and generate engagement.
Do you know that only 26% of users keep the mobile apps they download? The first hardest thing is to get users to download your app, but if they find it not-so-interesting, then they are likely to uninstall your app. Today, in the evolving mobile marketing landscape, first impression and subsequent impressions, all are essential to keep your users engaged and increase retention. How you can turn your app installers into power purchasers? To put it simply, your app should be something that users actually want to use it, otherwise, your app will be pushed aside by the user! Here is how you can increase your mobile app engagement:
Making your app engaging is a very high-stakes game. Don’t let your app fade into the dark. If the app preferences of today’s mobile shoppers are changing, you should change your mobile communications strategies. The more you communicate, the greater will be your app engagement. So, to achieve app success, follow this mantra – “Make it tenacious.”
Today, Java is the most widely used and highly popular language for developing web and mobile applications. Java software development requires considerable amount of substantial experience, time, effort and intelligence. That’s why more and more corporate companies and enterprises are outsourcing their Java development works to countries such as India and Ireland. Outsourcing Java practices to offshore vendors is not only time saving for your business but it is also pretty much inexpensive. Off course, outsourcing to offshore partner is tempting but here are the real reasons why you should outsource Java development works:
Enormous cost savings: The cost for offshore Java development depends on the brand name, complexity and size of the project. By outsourcing your project to a reliable Java development company, you can get excellent quality Java development services at low cost. No need to hire, pay or train in-house Java developers! You can save up to 60% on Java software development by outsourcing your project.
Assurance of better quality: When working with offshore Java developers, you’re not required to worry about the quality. Outsourcing companies have number of Java engineers who possess arcane skill set in Java programming and knowledge of latest Java technologies. You only get high quality enterprise Java applications and 24*7 technical support throughout the software development cycle till project delivery.
Not infrastructure, only manage the project: Some reputed outsourcing companies offer ‘hire dedicated resources’ model for Java development projects. Juggling between internal resources and newly hired Java developers can significantly delay your project. When you hire offshore developers, you can monitor the progress of your project on a daily basis and are only needed to manage the project, not the infrastructure or your hired in-house employees.
Final words..
Focus on your core business processes rather than investing thousands of dollars in one time business functions. Outsourcing your project frees your major capital investment to make profits in the business. Outsource your Java application development project today to get better quality work at economical rate and round-the-clock support.
As you build your eCommerce store, you must be thinking of how to market your activities to drive sales online. You cannot expect sales come flooding in with your spanking website. You need to be naïve and go beyond the traditional marketing borderline when it comes to driving traffic and converting them into shoppers. Paid search, also called pay-per-click, is one of the most effective ways for eCommerce stores to get to the top.
A recent survey has revealed that 99% of e-retailers spend some of their marketing dollars on pay-per-click search advertisement. Just as the adage goes: Not all customers are created equal; similarly, not all paid search campaigns can yield equal value. So use these three main drivers to get maximum value from your paid search campaigns:
Product listing ads: Are you unfamiliar with the term product listing ads (PLAs)? Well, you must know about PLA if you want to drive most traffic and profit for your online store. PLAs come up when a customer searches for a product on search engine. A PLA features an image of the product, its price and the name of the store. PLA is the quickest way for customers to compare products during what-to-buy stage. So, if your product is listed on PLA, it can lead to an immediate sale.
PPC Ad extensions: Are you already using Adwords? Great! But now it’s time to think above Adwords. Include ad extensions to your adverts to earn higher click through rates (CTR). Ad extensions are like adding extra information to your adverts for improving its relevancy. There are four types of ad extensions that you can use for your eCommerce PPC campaign: Sitelink Extension, Review Extension, Structure Snippet and Callout Extension.
Optimize Landing Pages: You can quickly lose your potential customer if your customer doesn’t get what you promised in your Ad. The landing page is the sales conversion engine of PPC campaign. To improve your conversion rate, your landing page should be optimized in a way that matches your ad’s description, answers the visitor’s query and contains quirky call to action button.
Implement these ideas to optimize your paid search campaign and continue to measure along the way. Though pay-per-click advertising is an appropriate marketing strategy for eCommerce business, but results may vary from brand to brand. However, the better you’re at optimizing your PPC campaign, the greater will be the conversion rate.
Email marketing is a powerful tool to reach potential customers if done in the right way. Generally, the best practices of a good email marketing include writing a catchy subject line, an engaging body content and providing a quick call-to-action button. However, unlike in B2C marketing campaign, where you need to tap into the emotions of customers, in B2B email marketing, it’s all about logic. B2B recipients don’t buy the moment they receive your email, they first explore your website for more information and then make decision accordingly. So, it’s important to strike the right chord for tapping into the strengths of Email marketing to engage B2B clients. Here’s how you can do that –
It’s a huge pitfall if you modify your B2C emails to send them to B2B clients. You need to create focused and segmented emails with industry-specific content for B2B recipients. Because remember email is still your workhorse for B2B marketing!