The future of e-commerce

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future of ecommerceSince the web first ushered in a new era of e-commerce, marketplaces, payment services, and massive scaling of shipping and distribution networks have made e-commerce successful. This reading considers how e-commerce might change over the next decade.

Future trends for e-commerce

No one can say for sure which innovations today will be used tomorrow. However, a few e-commerce trends stand out:
  • Specialization of smaller retailers
  • Immersive customer experiences
  • Distribution and delivery innovations

Specialization of smaller retailers

Large online marketplaces and retailers will still probably account for most online purchases. Smaller retailers may increasingly become more specialized by offering highly customizable products, niche product categories not offered by larger retailers, and more personalized service.

Immersive customer experiences

Today, many customers still like to go to a physical store because they want to handle or try on an item before they buy it. Virtual and augmented reality can provide immersive experiences online so customers feel like they’ve handled an object or tried on a garment without actually making a trip to the store. Virtual reality (VR) is fully immersive. By putting on a VR headset, users are able to view a simulated physical world with audio-visual feedback. Imagine putting on your headset and going to the virtual dressing room to try on clothing items before buying them. That is an example of a VR experience. Augmented reality (AR) is semi-immersive. Users may not need to enter a simulated physical world. AR adds audio-visual feedback to your existing world. What if you could automatically view sunglasses in your shopping cart overlaid on a virtual image of yourself on your phone? What if it saved items from any e-commerce store so you could “try them on” again? This would be an AR solution to shopping at different stores in person. Chatbots are computer programs designed to simulate conversation with human users. They can ask you if everything is fine and if you need help. This would be an online version of a sales associate asking you the same questions in a physical store. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning by chatbots using data from actual conversations may improve the overall experience for shoppers.

Distribution and delivery innovations

You might have heard or read about the possibility of drones or self-driving vehicles making the last-mile trip between a warehouse and a residential home or office. These methods of distribution and delivery may be commonplace in the next ten years.

Key takeaway

No matter which technologies end up being adopted over the next ten years, e-commerce will continue to grow, and our daily lives and habits will change, too.

Bonus

Want to experience AR? Google has added 3D animals to its AR search results. If you have an Android smartphone or Apple iPhone, complete these steps: 1. Open your browser app (preferably Chrome). 2. Enter “Bengal tiger” for a search. You can also enter a dog breed like “Yorkshire terrier” or “German shepherd.” Note: You may need to scroll down in your search results for the 3D animal. 3. Click View in 3D. 3D animals 4. After clicking View in 3D, if you want to view a true-to-size version of the animal in your physical space, click View in your space. Note: This step requires you to give the app access to your device’s camera, microphone, and device storage.  

Understanding the traditional marketing funnel and the digital marketing funnel

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A marketing funnel is a powerful way for businesses to focus and coordinate their marketing efforts. To get the most out of a marketing funnel, businesses must optimize their work at each stage of the funnel to reach desired outcomes. The marketing funnel video in this course introduced you to a simple and generalized funnel design with four stages:
  • Awareness
  • Consideration
  • Conversion
  • Loyalty
You also learned that there are multiple versions of marketing funnels. Marketing funnels have been revised over time to reflect changes in business, technology, and even customer behavior. This reading provides a brief history of the funnel’s evolution.

Evolution of the marketing funnel

How is tofu related to a marketing funnel? Actually, ToFU (not the bean curd product) is an acronym for Top of Funnel. There are also MoFU and BoFU which stand for Middle of Funnel and Bottom of Funnel, respectively. When using any funnel, the aim is to get the most desirable outcomes for ToFU, MoFU, and BoFU. As you read about different funnel designs, you can also think about how the desired ToFU, MoFU, and BoFU outcomes for each are similar or different.

Traditional sales funnel

Funnels probably took shape first as sales funnels. A simple sales funnel has awareness, interest, decision, and action stages as depicted in the following graphic. marketing funnel Desirable outcomes for a sales funnel, like the one shown in the graphic, might be:
  • Awareness (ToFU): The customer has a general awareness of your brand, product, or service.
  • Interest (MoFU): Your brand, product, or service comes up as a top choice when the customer researches, comparison shops, or thinks about options.
  • Decision (MoFU): The customer chooses your brand, product, or service over your competitor’s.
  • Action (BoFU): The customer purchases your brand, product, or service.

Combined marketing and sales funnel

Most likely, combined funnels for marketing and sales grew out of sales funnels. One example is shown below. digital marketing funnel Desirable outcomes for a combined sales and marketing funnel, like the one shown in the graphic, might be:
  • Awareness (ToFU): The customer has a general awareness of your brand, product, or service.
  • Interest (MoFU): Your brand, product, or service comes up as a top choice when the customer researches, comparison shops, or thinks about options.
  • Desire (MoFU): The customer has motivation or an incentive to purchase your brand, product, or service.
  • Action (BoFU): The customer purchases your brand, product, or service for the first time.
  • Conversion (BoFU): The customer makes regular purchases and a customer relationship is established.

Digital marketing funnel

As business and technology evolved, more specialized funnels were then developed, as in the case of a funnel entirely dedicated to digital marketing. An example of a specialized digital marketing funnel is shown below. Note that the Remarketing stage of the funnel is only for customers who engaged with your brand, product, or service at least once before and didn’t previously convert. New customers can proceed directly from the Consideration stage to the Conversion stage. remarketing funnel Desirable outcomes for a digital marketing funnel, like the one shown in the graphic, might be:
  • Awareness and engagement (ToFU): The customer has a general awareness of your brand, product, or service, and engages in online activity to learn more.
  • Consideration (MoFU): Your brand, product, or service comes up as a top choice after the customer has engaged.
  • Remarketing (MoFU): The customer who didn’t convert is re-engaged to consider your brand, product, or service again.
  • Conversion (BoFU): The customer purchases your brand, product, or service for the first time.
  • Retention (BoFU): The customer makes regular purchases and a customer relationship is established.

Other marketing funnel variations

Today, specific funnels exist for many individual areas of marketing. Examples include an e-commerce marketing funnel, a social media marketing funnel, and even a content marketing funnel.

E-commerce marketing funnel

An e-commerce marketing funnel can include the following stages that focus on attracting and retaining customers:
  • Awareness: Build awareness of your e-commerce business.
  • Consideration: Build the brand.
  • Differentiation: Stand out in the business category.
  • Purchase: Reach shoppers most likely to purchase.
  • Brand readiness: Increase the potential for shoppers to make return purchases.

Social media marketing funnel

A social media marketing funnel can include these stages that turn a customer with brand awareness into a customer who is an advocate:
  • Awareness: Attract potential customers unaware of your brand, product, or service.
  • Consideration: Stand out among your competitors so potential customers have a good impression of your brand, product, or service.
  • Action: Convince potential customers to act and make a purchase.
  • Engagement: Keep customers engaged after they make a purchase so your brand, product, or service remains top-of-mind and in the spotlight.
  • Advocacy: Build trust with customers so they recommend your brand, product, or service to others.

Content marketing funnel

A content marketing funnel can include these stages to help marketers organize and focus their content:
  • Awareness: Build web pages, blogs, social media posts, infographics, and podcasts.
  • Evaluation: Focus on surveys, email, webinars, and educational events.
  • Conversion: Provide customer success stories, webinars, specifications, and demos.

Key takeaways

The key takeaways for funnels are:
  • There isn’t a single funnel that fits all needs.
  • Funnels are created for general sales and marketing needs.
  • Funnels are also created for specialized areas of marketing.
  • Effective marketing efforts incorporate funnels to optimize desired outcomes.
Finally, as a reminder, although this reading introduced a variety of funnels, the marketing funnel that you will refer to often in this program is the one shown below. social media funnel

Understanding customer journey and key touchpoints

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customer journeyYou may have heard about the customer journey, now before a purchase happens, each interaction with a brand during a customer journey is called a touchpoint. Customer Touchpoints are important to monitor because they reveal the kinds of decisions customers are making during their customer journey to purchase your product or service. Touchpoints occur when a customer engages with your website or mobile app. But they also include customer interactions on all media channels before a customer discovers your website. This reading explains how to classify touchpoints for media channels, and how to use these touchpoints to learn more about your customers. customer journey

Touchpoints relate to a specific context or need

When you identify touchpoints, you may be tempted to list social media or display ads. These channels may be the mediums in which touchpoints occur, but actual touchpoints provide much more information. When you identify a touchpoint, think about how the interaction might satisfy a customer’s need. For example, instead of classifying social media as a touchpoint, classify a customer’s response to a flash sale announcement on Twitter as a touchpoint. When they click the link, they are interested in knowing what they can purchase at a discounted price. From the example, notice how much contextual information is lost if you simply lump every social media interaction under a single touchpoint called social media. Touchpoints have context and reflect customer needs. In the example, the context was curiosity, and the need was saving money.

Touchpoints are customer-centric

Touchpoints should also be customer-centric. Going back to the previous example, imagine if you viewed touchpoints from the perspective of the business instead of from the customer experience. If increasing sales is a business goal, touchpoints can easily become part of a rolling calculation, like a ratio of touchpoints to purchases. While a ratio of touchpoints to purchases is still informative, notice how a customer-centric versus a business-centric analysis can provide more insights about buyer motivations.

Key takeaways

Use touchpoints to your advantage. To get the most from touchpoints, carefully define them for all media channels. Touchpoints that are customer-centric and relate back to their needs will yield the most useful data about customer motivations, preferences, and behaviors

Advantages and challenges of digital marketing over traditional marketing

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digital vs traditionalTraditional marketing is marketing that isn’t online. Marketers reach potential customers through printed media, television, radio, direct mail, phone calls, or billboards. Digital marketing is marketing that is exclusively online. Digital marketers focus on potential customers who engage with online content, including search engine results, email, video, blogs, or social media. This reading describes the advantages digital marketing has over traditional marketing and some definite challenges, too.

Digital marketing advantages

Digital marketing has certain advantages over traditional marketing because it:
  • Reduces wasteful spending
  • Adapts to new technologies
  • Reaches target audiences with more precision

Spending

Digital marketing uses content in a variety of formats that can be easily converted from one format to another, making spending more cost-effective. Digital marketing also reduces wasteful spending. For example, television or billboard ads are equally seen by those who have an interest in your company or product and those who don’t. Traditional marketing always wastes some budget on people who will never buy a product or service. In contrast, digital ads can be selectively shown to people who are more likely to have an interest in that product or service. Digital marketing that is more strategically focused on the right people yields a better return on spending.

Technology

Various technologies enable organizations to engage and interact with customers more effectively, which is a big part of digital marketing. Developing a good online relationship with customers makes them more likely to find your business, become loyal customers, and even share their recommendations with others. Digital marketing tools also enable companies to collect data and measure the results of their marketing efforts more effectively. When marketers receive data faster, they’re able to change direction easily if a marketing effort isn’t producing the results expected. Measuring the success of digital marketing campaigns is key to ensuring that you get the results you want. Digital marketing adapts to new technologies. There are always new opportunities to reach customers in different ways, especially compared to traditional marketing.

Target audiences

Digital marketing tools and data enable you to expand your customer reach well beyond that of traditional marketing. Ad visibility and audience coverage can be tailored to meet your specific business needs and goals. When you reach the right audiences, you’re more likely to increase sales and develop sustainable customer loyalty programs.

Digital marketing challenges

Digital marketing also has certain challenges that are associated with spending, technology, and target audiences. For each advantage previously identified, there are also associated challenges.

Spending

Advantage: Digital content is easier to create. Challenge: Organizations engage in omnichannel marketing—the integration or synchronization of content on multiple channels—so customers can have a consistent brand experience. This increases the amount of content required, so even if it’s easier to create digital content, much more content needs to be created overall. Furthermore, it’s not just about the amount of content created, but its quality. Advertising is a crowded space. Content must be distinctive to positively impact customer awareness and change their behavior. Advantage: Digital marketing is more cost effective than traditional marketing. Challenge: If an organization is working towards an omnichannel presence, the cost of marketing on all channels adds up quickly. Getting support or buy-in for extra or additional budget to cover the cost can be difficult.   Technology Advantage: Digital marketing adapts to new technologies. Challenge: As a marketer, learning and keeping up with new technologies and tools is a constant requirement. Marketers must also stay up-to-date with and follow all user privacy and data sharing regulations worldwide. Omnichannel marketing also makes it more difficult to track where sales come from. Marketers must rely more heavily on analytics tools to help them do that.   Target audiences Advantage: Digital marketing tools expand customer reach using specific audiences. Challenge: The digital space is a crowded field that’s getting even more crowded. It’s harder for marketers to stand out with their advertising, even when they are targeting the right audiences.  

Key takeaways

Various technologies make digital marketing more cost-effective and adaptable than traditional marketing. Digital marketing tools also enable more advanced and targeted audience selection for marketing campaigns. However, these benefits come with some challenges. In a digital space that’s both crowded and noisy, it’s harder for a company’s brand and advertising to stand out. Marketing professionals must keep up with technological advances and customer behaviours that change rapidly.

Email Marketing, A Must Use Digital Marketing Strategy To Help Boost Sales In Your Business

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Companies providing email marketing services in Ghana

Email marketing

Email marketing is the oldest form of online marketing. It is the most direct and effective way of connecting with your leads, nurturing them and turning them into customers. Most digital marketers use email marketing to advertise special deals, highlight content or promote an event. Email marketing is one of the most popular and effective tools to help you boost sales online. In this article, we’ll share how email marketing can help your business grow and few tips to get you started.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing strategy used to promote products or services to prospects and customers. Effective email marketing can convert prospects into customers, and turn one-time buyers into loyal, raving fans. Using emails can also help your customers to become aware of your latest items or offers. Email marketing can play pivotal roles in lead generation, building relationships and also driving traffic to your blog, and social media.

How email started

Engineer Ray Tomlinson, the father of emails, in 1971 launched the world’s first email while in a windowless room in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The message was nothing special, a series of numbers and letters that looked more like a password than a message, but its significance was profound. The email was sent from one computer to another, travelling through a network of machines not unlike the internet we know today. Tomlinson also introduced the “@” symbol in email addresses to the world. In 1978, Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager for the now-defunct computer company Digital Equipment Corporation, sent out the first commercial and unsolicited mass e-mail promoting his firm’s computer products. Sent to hundreds of computers over ARPANET (a precursor to the Internet; see DARPA), Thuerk’s message immediately gave birth to email marketing. There were only a few hundred people on the list, but that was enough for Thuerk to claim the mantle, “Father of Spam.” Today, we’re inundated with email marketing campaigns, and spams, but there’s no denying the impact a well-crafted message can have on your customers.

Why is email marketing important?

Agencies in Ghana to help you with your digital marketing strategy You now know what email marketing is. Let’s talk about why email marketing is relevant for your business. Despite the rise of social media, and a hundred other forms of messaging, the traditional email format feels relatively old. However, it still remains one of the most powerful and effective way to nurture leads and boost customer loyalty. That’s why almost every social media platform requires you to have an email. The email list can yield dramatic rewards for business owners. According to Direct Marketing Association, email marketing on average sees a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI) for businesses in the US.

Importance of email marketing

1. Email is the #1 communication channel. You can go for a few days or weeks without checking social media like Facebook or Twitter, but most people use email every day, if not multiple times a day, so it’s safe to say that email marketing is good for business. At least 99% of consumers check their email daily. That can’t be said of any other communication channel. 2. You own your list. On any social media platform, your account (along with all your fans and posts) could be suspended or deleted at any time, for any reason, without notice. However, you own your email list. No one can take those leads away from you. 3. Email converts better. People who buy products marketed through email spend 138% more than those who do not receive email offers. In 2015, a study by the U.K.-based Direct Marketing Association (DMA) found that for every $1 spent, email has an average return on investment (ROI) of $38. That’s huge! The average order value of an email is at least three times higher than that of social media. 4. Email marketing allows you to run A/B tests. With email marketing, you can run A/B tests of a subject line or call to action to identify the best performing message using email marketing software that can also be configured to easily send out emails.

How to get started with email marketing?

Email marketing companies in Ghana Email marketing is made up of several moving pieces, but that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. Here’s how it breaks down:

Step 1: Establish your goals

But signing up to an email marketing tool and jumping to send your first email, it’s worth taking a minute to think about your goals and what you really want to achieve with email, as that will dictate the type of campaigns you send, who you target, the content you include, and how you measure success.

Step 2: Build your email list

Now that you have identified your goals and what you want to achieve from email marketing, it’s time to build your email list so you can start sending campaigns that those goals. There are a couple of different ways you can build your email list, but the right method depends on the goals you establish in Step 1. 

First, create a branded opt-in pop-up form for your website

Pop-up forms provide visitors with a quick, convenient way to share contact information and subscribe to your list while they’re browsing your site, making them a powerful tool for audience growth. 

Create marketing campaigns to find your people with Facebook ads

Facebook ads can help you reach new audiences and find new customers by targeting people who’re similar to your existing contacts. But Facebook ads aren’t just used for selling stuff, but also to generate leads by collecting emails through ads that link to your landing pages with opt-in forms. In just a few steps, you can create an ad that drives people to your site so they can quickly and easily sign up for your email list.

Step 3: Select the type of campaigns you want to send

There are several different types of email campaigns you can send to subscribers, and the type you choose really depends on the goals you established in Step 1. The campaigns could be newsletters (about one main topic of interest), Marketing Offer (offering discounts and special promotions), announcement (announcing a new product, feature, or service), and event invitation.

Step 4: Create your first campaign

Now that you’ve decided on your goals, built a bit of an audience and selected the type of campaign you’re going to send, it’s time to start building your email. Find tips to making the most of your email marketing campaigns in the next heading.

Step 5: Measuring your success

After publishing your email campaign, it is now time to keep track of your progress and learn exactly how many new people join your email list. You can track the success of your email marketing campaigns: using tools like Google Analytics.

Email Marketing Strategies

Effective email marketing takes effort. Here are a few strategies for making the most of your email marketing campaigns:

Send relevant emails

Once someone has trusted you with their email address, don’t abuse that trust. Inundating your audience’s inbox with emails will cause them to lose interest or unsubscribe entirely. Focus on sending them relevant, engaging messages about the stuff they like, and they’ll be loyal for a long time to come.

Attract your subscribers

Grow your email list, you need to attract people with a compelling offer. You need a lead magnet, something awesome that you give away for free in exchange for an email address. It doesn’t have to cost you anything to create. Some popular lead magnet examples are: eBooks, resources or consultation.

Seek permission

Probably the most obvious problem is when your email gets sent to a subscriber’s spam folder. Before you can email anyone, you need their permission.

No purchased emails

While buying email lists may sound like a great shortcut, it isn’t. And we do not recommend it. We also do not recommend adding emails from people’s business cards that you collected at seminars or workshops unless you have their permission. People who don’t opt-in specifically for your email list are not interested in your services. Emailing them, therefore, is a complete waste of your resources.

Consistency

it’s important to email your subscribers consistently, so your list doesn’t go stale. So to keep your list fresh and filled with engaged subscribers, it’s a good idea to periodically remove inactive subscribers. An inactive subscriber could be anyone who has not engaged with any email in the past 6 months or more.

Timing

Timing can have a huge effect on subscribers opening your emails, so think carefully about what time and day you send your emails.

Make subject lines stand out

When it comes to email open and click rates, your subject lines are everything. Your job is to make your subject lines stand out. The subject line should entice curiosity, include numbers, be friendly and speak in a language and style that your subscribers use themselves.

Be friendly

When you draft your subject line and message content, write as though you are speaking to a person, with a personal subject line and a personalized message.

Mobile friendly

Mobile email accounts for 67% of all email opens, depending on your target audience, product, and email type. Make sure your email is responsive and includes easily loadable media. Also consider the fact that mobile screens are smaller, so long subject lines may get cut off on mobile devices.

Content must be engaging

If a subscriber is happy with your content, they are more likely to open your emails in the future. Conversely, if a subscriber is displeased with what they get, they probably aren’t going to open your emails again, and they may even unsubscribe. Simply make your content engaging and appealing t your subscribers.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a powerful driver of sales & revenue for your business, and has a greater reach and return on investment than any other channel available to marketers today. Follow the steps outlined in this guide for a quick start to email marketing and campaign success. Get started with email marketing today with SEO Digital!

Grow Your Business In 2021 With Social Media Marketing

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wHAT YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW ONLINE IN 2021

What Is Social Media Marketing?

  Social media marketing first started with publishing where businesses were sharing their content on social media to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, increase sales. But social media has matured far beyond being just a place to share content. These days, businesses use social media in a myriad of different ways. Some ways in which businesses use social media are, monitoring social media conversations and analyzing their reach, views, likes, follows, engagement, and sales. Social media marketing is simply digital marketing that involves connecting with your audience to market your brand and boost sales for your business or company. Social media marketing activities involve publishing radically different social actions such as sharing short messages/texts, videos, media links, joining events/groups. It also involves the use of paid social media advertising to drive audience engagement, build brand awareness and increase sales. We’ve created this guide to help you understand the relevance of social media marketing and how to develop a compelling social media marketing plan for your business this year. The major social media platforms in 2021 are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat

Why is social media marketing relevant in 2021?

Relevance of social media While it may seem overwhelming, the importance of social media cannot be overstated. It’s so important that 97% of marketers and 78% of salespeople are using social media for their business. Plus, its benefits extend far beyond increasing sales. However, not all businesses are aware of the benefits of social media marketing. 50% of small businesses aren’t using social media to promote their business. That’s an alarming number. Even more concerning is that an additional 25% don’t plan to use social media in the future either.

How Will Social Media Boost Your Business Online

Reach the right customers online with social media 1. Makes it easy to promote your business 2. Help you increase your clients reach 3. Promotes brand recognition and awareness 4. Increase traffic to your website 5. Build your conversions 6. Enhance communication and engagement with target audiences 7. It is mostly FREE! Do you now see the relevance of using social media marketing to boost your brand online and drive sales? Are you ready to get started with marketing on social media? Here are a few things to consider before you kick-start your social media marketing

1. Start With a Strategic Goal

Setting a strategy goal for your business online Social media strategy planning starts with identifying your brand’s goal. Maybe, you want to use social media to increase your brand awareness, generate engagement around your brand, or even drive website traffic and sales this year. Either way, your goals will define your content strategy and how much time and energy you’ll need to dedicate to your campaigns. Additionally, the goals you set for your business must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound). Starting a social media marketing campaign without a strategy goal in mind is like going to visiting a new city without a map—you might have fun, but probably get lost. Second, research to know which social media platforms your competitors are and where they have their largest reach/following. Your competitors can provide valuable data for keyword research and other social media marketing insight. Start by creating accounts on the same platforms to beat the competition, but always do it better! You can also figure out which social media platforms you want to focus on. Aside from the major social media platforms, there are also social messaging platforms like Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat you can explore. Always start with a few platforms that you think your target audience is rather than to be on all platforms.

Here are quick questions to ask yourself when defining your social media marketing goals:

Why do I want my brand on social media? What am I hoping to achieve with my brand through social media campaigns? Who is my realistic target audience? Where does my target audience hang out and how would they use social media? What message do I want to send to your audience using social media marketing? Your business type should inform and drive your social media marketing strategy. Last, think about what type of content you want to share to attract your target audience best? Will they be images, videos, or links? Is it going to be informational, educational, or entertaining? With time, you can always change your strategy according to how your social media posts perform by tracking the data using analytical tools.

2. Plan and Create (curate) compelling content

Creating compelling content on social media for businesses in Ghana By now, you have managed to figure out your strategy goal through research and planning. But how about your content strategy? The next thing to consider after setting out your goal is to develop your content strategy with great, compelling, and innovative ideas. Publishing content to social media is as simple as sharing a blog post, an image, or a video on your personal Facebook or Instagram profile. But in this case, you will want to plan your content ahead of time instead of creating and publishing content spontaneously. Also, your content must be informative, educational, or entertaining depending on the goal you set for yourself in the beginning. Examples of content you can consider are stories, images, short-lived videos, and showing your audience the human behind the posts they see. To ensure you are maximizing your reach, always publish content at the right time and frequency. There are a variety of social media scheduling tools that can help you publish your content automatically at your preferred time. This saves you time and allows you to reach your audience when they are most likely to engage with your content.

3. Listen and Interact With Your Audience

Social listening will boost your business As your business and social media following begins to grow, conversations about your brand will also increase if you strategise well. One key to being successful in social media is to listen and interact with your audience. People will comment on your social media posts, tag you in their social media posts, or message you directly. Always find time to respond and address their concerns. This will show you are reliable and they can trust you for a quick response to your products. So what is social listening? Social listening involves tracking conversations around your brand and in your industry and using the information to review your marketing strategies. Social listening and interacting will help you understand your audience better, where they like to hang out, and what they like to talk about. It is simply finding out what people are saying about you. If you’re not using social listening, you’re leaving a lot of great insights on the table. Social listening and social monitoring are however two different things. Social listening involves what your audience does and social monitoring is about why they do what they do. People might even talk about your brand on social media without letting you know. So you will want to monitor social media conversations about your brand. If it’s a positive comment, you get a chance to surprise them. Otherwise, you can offer support and correct a situation before it gets worse. There are several social media listening tools out there that you can use, explore and find the one that best suits you and your budget.

4. Track your analytics

Tracking analytics on social media Along the way, you will want to know how your social media campaign is performing. Are you reaching more people on social media compared to months back? How much positive feedbacks do you get? How many people used your brand’s hashtag on their social media posts? The social media platforms themselves provide a basic level of such information. To get more in-depth analytics information or to easily compare across social media platforms, you can use a wide range of social media analytics tools. For example, Google Analytics can be used to measure your social media marketing techniques, as well as determine which strategies are better off abandoned.

Metrics you can measure with analytical tools

1. Reach
The number of unique accounts that have seen any of your posts.
2. Clicks
Refers to the number of clicks on your post or account. Tracking clicks per campaign are essential to understand what drives curiosity or encourage people to buy.
3. Impressions
The total number of times all of your posts have been seen.
4. Engagement
This refers to the total number of social interactions divided by the number of impressions and sheds light on how well your audience perceives you and their willingness to interact. It can also be measured by the number of times your post was liked, saved or commented on.
 5. Hashtag performance
What were your most-used hashtags? Which hashtags were most associated with your brand?
6. Saved
This refers to the number of unique users that saved your post.
7. Profile visits
Times your profile was viewed.
8. Following
The number of accounts that started following you. Having these answers can help shape the focus of your content going forward.

5. Advertising

Advertising on social media When you have more funds to grow your social media marketing, an area that you can consider is social media advertising. Social media ads allow you to reach a wider audience than those who are following you. These platforms are so powerful nowadays that you can specify exactly who to display your ads to. You can create target audiences based on their demographics, interests, behaviours, and more. When you are running many social media advertising campaigns at once, you can consider using a social media advertising tool to make bulk changes, automate processes, and optimize your ads. CONTACT SEO DIGITAL NOW TO HELP YOU DEVELOP A COMPELLING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY Contact SEO Digital Ghana Now At SEO Digital Ghana, we use social media marketing to build your brand and boost your sales. Get all the benefits of social media with SEO Digital Ghana Now!

Digital Marketing, What Your Business Must Know

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What is Digital Marketing?

    Digital marketing, also known as online marketing or internet advertising is a big deal these days. Internet usage has doubled over the past decade. This shift has massively affected how people purchase products, services and interact with businesses. So, what is digital marketing? It is simply the use of the internet, emails, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other channels to reach the right consumers. All these forms of marketing help introduce people to your company and convince them to buy your products. One key element of digital marketing is that, it requires the use of innovative approaches to attract and understand your potential customers as compared to traditional marketing.

Digital Marketing Assets and Strategies That Can Boost Your Brand

  Digital Marketing Assets Digital assets and strategies are vital in today’s market and if you don’t keep up, you will be left behind. Let’s take a look at what your business needs to maximise its marketing plan and start reaping profits.

Digital Marketing Assets

Assets are values owned by a group or company. Marketing items used to project your business and get potential clients attracted to buy your products are termed Digital Assets. Are you using the available digital assets you have at your disposal to boost your marketing? If you’re unsure, don’t worry, here are few examples:

Digital Marketing Strategies

Strategies for digital marketing is also constantly evolving. Some strategies businesses use are:

1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising

PPC advertising is any type of digital marketing where you pay for every user who clicks on an ad like Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.

2. Paid Search Advertising

Google, Bing and Yahoo allow you to run text ads on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to target potential clients who are actively searching for a product or service like yours.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

With SEO, you can rank pages or blog posts on your site organically and not have to pay directly for every click, but this usually takes quite a bit of time and effort.

4. Paid Social Media Advertising

Social media platforms like Twitter allow you to run ads on their site to increase your business’s visibility with audiences.

5. Social Media Marketing

This is free and organic however, organically marketing your business on social media takes a lot more time and effort but in the long run, can deliver much cheaper results.

6. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

CRO is the art and science of improving your online user experience. Most of the time, businesses use CRO to get more conversions (leads, chats, calls, sales, etc.) out of their existing website traffic.

7. Content Marketing

This is another fairly broad digital marketing term. Content marketing covers any digital marketing effort that uses content assets (blog posts, infographics, eBooks, videos, etc.) to build brand visibility, drive clicks or sales.

8. Native Advertising

Ever get to the bottom of an article and see a list of suggested articles? That’s native advertising and mostly fall under content marketing because it uses content to attract clicks.

9. Email Marketing

This form of online marketing is the oldest and it’s still going strong. Most digital marketers use email marketing to advertise special deals, highlight content (often as part of content marketing) or promote an event.

10. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is essentially paying someone else (a person or a business) to promote your products and services on their website.

How Powerful is Digital Marketing Now?

    With technology continually evolving, so do the behaviours of consumers. As a result, we have seen how traditional forms of advertising has continued to decline. We have also watched how digital advertising have grown from strength to strength. Some reasons for this include, an increase in the way we access information, news and an increased activity on digital devices. In addition, digital marketing is affordable, which allows any sized business with any size budget to target specific markets effectively. Today, just having a website is no longer enough to engage your audience and convert them to new customers. It is now important to consider implementing a complete digital plan that works across multiple channels. With this in mind, here are 7 reasons why you need digital marketing for your business:

1. Increase reach

    Competitor analysis   With the growth of the internet, more people are spending their time online. Over 7.7 billion people use the internet across the globe. It has become an integral part of everyday life to conduct searches, check social media, and purchase products online. Your customers are online, which highlights the importance of digital marketing. They’re browsing the web looking for your products or services. If they can’t find your services/products because you’re not online, you risk losing those leads to your competitors. To drive the best results for your business, you need to build your online presence. This will help you reach more audience that want your products or services.

2. More Advanced Analytics

  Advanced analytics   With digital marketing you know the following about your ads and audience:
  • Whether they actually saw it. With traditional marketing like TV and radio ads, you don’t even know that much.
  • What they interacted with
  • If they liked it
  • If they lingered on it
  • What they viewed
  • If they shared it with a friend
  • Did it prompt another action
  • If it led to a sale
You also learn much more about the people interacting with your ad:
  • Who’s most interested in your ads
  • What are they like
  • What makes them more likely to take an action
  • Who is easiest to convert
  • Who spends more
  • What do they do online
  • Gives you their demographics
  • What terms do they use to find you online
  • Which websites do they visit that lead them to yours
All of this easy to with free analytics software like Google Analytics. You can gain even more insight with paid tools. In addition, you can use what you learn to cut costs where you aren’t seeing an ROI and increase efforts where you get the best results.

3. Keep up with your competitors

  Competitor analysis   Online marketing is highly competitive and your competitors have already taken advantage of it. They’ve created social profiles, adapted their website for SEO, and run paid advertisements to reach new leads. This reason in itself is one of the reasons why you should use digital marketing. If you want your business to compete with others, you have to do what your competitors are doing and even more. By neglecting digital marketing, you’re already falling behind your competition. Your competitors are gaining traffic that could be yours if you’re also investing in digital marketing. Customers online won’t know that your business is an option and will automatically choose a competitor. You must invest in digital marketing to get leads to consider your business as an option.

4. Target the right audience

  Increase target   The ability to target the right audience is one of the most obvious reasons why digital marketing is important. Imagine being able to market directly to people who have an interest in your products or services. You have the capability to directly reach leads interested in your business. With digital marketing, you can target your audience more precisely than traditional methods. You can input important information about your audience and use that information to shape your marketing campaigns. It makes it easy for you to reach the right people. When you better target your audience, you drive better results with your campaign and reach more leads.

5. You can monitor and optimise your campaigns for better results

  Monitor online campaigns   The importance of digital marketing is that you can easily track and monitor your campaigns. When you invest time and money into your campaigns, you want to know that they are working. Internet marketing makes it easy for you to track your campaigns, which allows you to adapt and drive better results. It can be challenging using traditional methods to know the results of your campaign. If you run a TV ad, you may have to ask every person that comes into the store about what brought them to your business. It would be a very time-consuming effort that could annoy people who visit your business. You don’t need to worry about bothering your audience with online ads. Every campaign you run is easily trackable to see if it is driving valuable results for your business. In addition, metrics such as impressions, clicks, views, comments, conversions, and more can be analysed. When you track your campaign’s performance, it’s easier to fix it and adapt to changes. With traditional advertising campaign, you typically can’t make changes until the campaign is over. It only benefits the next campaign you run, which can feel like you wasted money on the previous campaign. Whereas with online ads, you can see if they are successful or need improvement. If they need improvement, you can make immediate changes and implement them at any point during your campaign. In addition, online marketing helps you spend your budget more wisely to get more out of your campaigns.

6. Best return on your investment (ROI)

  Return on Investment (RO1)   If you want to know the importance of digital media, look at the results it drives for businesses. Marketing strategies online have awesome return on investment (ROI). When you invest in these methods, you’ll get more out of them. For example, email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing method. Every $1 spent, you have the potential to earn a whopping 4400% in return. This is a great opportunity for you to grow and earn a profit from your marketing efforts. Internet marketing is also cost-effective and hence, leaves room for a great ROI. It doesn’t cost much to run a social media ad campaign, compared to certain traditional methods, and this gives businesses an opportunity to grow.

7. Easy to Scale & Adapt

  Scale up digitally   For small businesses, it becomes very clear when you see how easy it is to scale and adapt as your business grows. Example, with social media campaigns, you can choose a daily budget and know how much it will cost without having to renegotiate an ad spot on TV. As you continue to convert that traffic, you just increase your daily spend and revenues with it. If you got a massive order from a customer and need to scale back to avoid getting backlogged, it’s just as easy. The power of digital marketing lies in the fact that, you can get instant results and analyze data fast to reduce wasted ad spend.

Digital Marketing Strategy

  Digital Strategy At SEO Digital, we recommend a professional online plan to raise awareness of your business and engage with prospective customers. Hence, strong digital marketing strategy should consist of the following elements:

1. Website

Build a functional, professional and easy to navigate website. Include a blog on your site to update and inform your customers of any news in your industry. Also, consider inbuilt functionality to streamline office processes and make the customer experience better.

2. Search Engine Optimisation – (SEO)

Your website needs to include high quality, relevant content about your business and services. A number of SEO techniques such as high quality content, and keyword research can all help with your online presence. Keep this up to date and integrate it with a website measurement tool such as Google Analytics to improve your chances of being found online. Additionally, using strong quality content and relevant keywords on your website can improve your organic search results and make you visible to people.

4. Mobile responsiveness

If your website is difficult to read, the chances are prospective customers won’t make an enquiry. Make sure your website is optimised for mobile devices and creates a pleasant user experience.

5. Social media

The development of social media platforms will grow your online audience, and assist with online marketing. Social Media allows you to speak directly with your customer base to provide valuable information and build trust digitally to to increase your audience.

6. Online Advertising

Consider using various online advertising streams to increase your brand awareness. Common online advertising strategies such as Google AdWords allow you to target specific demographics and set your budget to suit your business. Online advertising is a highly effective way to add impact to your business and brand.

7. Nurturing your leads

Your digital strategies need to engage your customers to get them to take the next step and make a purchase. You need to have clear ‘call to action’ strategies built in to your digital platforms and make it easy for the customer to take that next step.

CONTACT US NOW FOR A DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

  Contact digital marketing expects in Ghana   Digital marketing is becoming more complex, as we develop new ways of effectively reaching clients and driving revenues online. Your digital marketing strategy and assets are essential in driving business success. Contact SEO Digital today on info@seoghana.com or +233 50 664 3847 if you would like to review your business’ online marketing to increase your client base and profits.

SEO vs SEM – Choosing The Right Strategy For Your Brand

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy that is organic and uses tactics to place the brand among the top results of a search engine. For SEO, brands don’t pay and it is done using the below techniques:
  • On-page SEO – targets a specified keyword of the pages on a website and appeal to the search engines. Strategies include content creation and keyword optimization.
  • Technical SEO – uses the non-content elements of your site and improves the backend of your brand. Strategies include data, security, and crawlability.
  • Off-page SEO – links to other high-quality sites to build your brand’s reputation. The main strategy here is link building which in turn builds the site’s credibility.

What is SEM?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is often referred to as paid marketing and it involves strategies to optimize the ad and pay to place your brand’s ad. This is also commonly referred to as PPC (Pay per click) marketing. The SEM process goes like –
  • Perform a keyword research
  • Create campaigns
  • Place ads at the top after a search
  • Pay as per the number of clicks
Are SEO and SEM similar? Both of these are search marketing strategies to offer more visibility to your brand. Here are a few similarities:
  • Place your brand at a prominent position
  • Drive traffic to your site resulting in more conversions
  • Analyse the most popular keywords to target them
  • Continuous testing and optimization is a must

Then why choose between SEO or SEM?

Irrespective of the similarities, there are a number of differences which will force your brand to choose what suits you best:
  • SEM is a paid tactic and appears as an “Ad”. SEO results appear as a search option
  • SEM results include ad extensions, while SEO results appear as featured snippets
  • SEO is absolutely free, SEM is paid of course
  • SEM is target audience-specific, SEO is keyword specific (indirectly the target audience’s thought process)
  • SEM results are immediate, SEO takes time to grow visibility organically – slow and steady

So how do I choose?

Once you have understood the difference between the two search marketing strategies, it is important for you to analyze which is better for your brand.
  • SEM is better for brand’s with higher competition
  • SEO is better for those who know the target audience and want long term benefits
  • SEM is better for short-term, higher budget strategies, while SEO is preferable for higher valued industries that would like to establish their brand on the internet well
  • For newbies, SEM will help put you on the map immediately at least for a short while, while SEO helps establishes your brand
Plan and choose your strategies or as you dive deeper, you may understand that a combination of both works for you! It is a must to have SEO strategy for any small to huge organizations in the world of Google (or any other search engine like Bing) – its race and the brands that occupy the first page always are seen with a stronger value. SEM is required for the same brands, say when they introduce a new product or when they need to generate leads sooner for some reason or other, there is no way to depend on inbound leads that are organic and may or may not come at the time you wish for it.

How to Increase The Conversion Rate on Your Website

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A conversion is when the traffic on your website is converted to customers who end up giving business to you. You may be getting all-time high traffic, but it would be no use if you aren’t getting any conversions.

The first indication of a good digital marketing strategy is to be getting a fair amount of traffic on your website. If that is working for you then the next step is to start getting some conversion. Although many experts say that there are specific keywords you can use for leads and conversions, there is really a number of strategies you can use. They have been discussed below.

1. Reduce the Number of Fields

When you have an email form that requires customer information, reduce the number of fields that the customer has to fill.

Customers usually like to keep it brief and concise. The more the number of fields they have to enter, the less likely they are to place an order. In some cases, each added field can reduce your conversion rate by as much as 11%. Therefore, always make sure to have only the most necessary fields.

2. Reduce the Risk

When shopping online, customers tend to be ambiguous about what they are ordering. Consequently, this reduces the number of people who convert. There is a certain percentage of online shoppers who are highly risk-averse. In order to increase your clientage to these individuals, make sure you give them guarantees about your product.

The best strategy is to have a refund policy. A refund policy where no questions are asked is certainly the most effective in this regard. If your product has some sort of certification then include that on the website as well.

3. Include testimonials

One of the most effective ways to increase your conversions and also bettering your services is by getting feedback. If feedback is positive, then you can make a testimonials tab and add it in that. Similarly, add all positive feedbacks that your product gets.

This includes a human element in digital shopping that helps clients build confidence in your product. Use testimonials whenever possible because if a visitor can relate to another customer then they are most likely to buy from your website.

Moreover, testimonials also increase your relative online authority which is a great way to increase your number of leads.

4. Put a Spotlight on Why Your product Should be Used

Your clients should be convinced that your product can help them. The most effective way of achieving that is by being explicit about the qualities of your product. If you are selling a phone and its battery lasts for a significantly long period, be explicit about it. Showcase all the qualities of your product so as putting a spotlight on them.

Furthermore, you can try and create a separate column on each product of why it should be bought. This strategy offers good readability as well for your website.

5. Make Headlines that Work

Headlines play a crucial role in getting traffic and focusing the emphasis on a particular quality of your product.

A good headline can change how a visitor looks at your product because it gives the first impression when your website is opened. As a general trend, the first impression is carried on.

How to Increase Sales of Your Brand in 8 Clever Ways

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The only way to make your business successful is to increase sales. Don’t overwhelm yourself even if the sales are increasing. Make sure your customers have an amazing experience when they buy your products. Create effective marketing strategies and work on improving your sales every week. You don’t want to lose your loyal customers in any way.  SEOGHANA shares the top 8 ways to enhance your business sales today.

1. Remove Sliders from Your Homepage

You may think about including a slider image if you read web designing tips. It has a few benefits. A slider allows you to add different features with the content you create. Remove the slider if you intend to boost your sales. There is no hard evidence that you need a slider for your website to increase sales.

2. Point out Which Plan Is More Popular

Use psychology to your advantage and create slogans that resonate with the customers. Most of the marketers use statements such as America’s Number 1 to appear like experts. These statements can influence you to buy a product even if you have no solid information about it.

3. Include Your Contact Information

Customers become angry when they are unable to find the contact information. Consider adding your contact details even if you are a B2B company. This might turn out to be the best tactic for your company to boost sales. Many vendor websites fail to mention their contact information.

4. Use an Inspiring Plan Name to Encourage Upgrades

Try to mention brilliant clues on your website to change the decision of your customer. Increase the conversion rates by creating an inspiring name for your brand. One that sticks with the customers after he or she hears it first. Try to offer different plans for the customers to select.

5. Remove References to Buying above the Fold

Often companies persuade people to try their product before speaking about the price. Instead of bashing about prices make sure the customer likes your product. Get rid of every reference that leads customers to buy your products. Don’t mention the price anywhere on your front page.

6. Make Your Landing Page Match Your Ad

There’s a simple way to boost sales if you are using paid ads. Make the ads correlate with your landing page as the perfect sales strategy. This may encourage customers to sign in and buy your products. Match the layout and color theme of your web pages and ads.

7. Show Trust Icons on the Checkout Page

Trust and loyalty are the two major things you need to strengthen to boost sales. Studies show that many online customers don’t buy a product if they don’t trust the website. Mention a short description defining your security measures. Customers don’t share basic information if they worry about their online safety. A certified seal can help you become a trusted friend of many new customers.

8. Include Images with Your Testimonials

Share a few stories to connect with your customers. Testimonials are very important, like reviews to increase conversions. Take a step further. Show pictures of your customers who have enjoyed your services or products. Quotes with images on it are one of the effective ways. People can relate to your customers and it is an amazing way of social proof.