Why Digital Marketing Is a Better Platform for Your Brand

Digital marketing uses online distribution channels to advertise products and services to a target audience. Nowadays many companies and entrepreneurs are beginning to rely on digital platforms as a safer bet. The rise in marketing spends for the digital medium is increasing exponentially and is becoming the preferred choice for brands to launch their campaigns.

There are numerous advantages to launching advertisement campaigns on digital platforms, which are as follows:-

• Feedback: Digital marketing helps companies get better feedback on their campaigns. It facilitates two-way communication between companies and consumers. This allows companies to have an interaction with their consumers rather than a one way broadcast.

 

• Advertising to a target audience: Digital marketing is undoubtedly the best platform to advertise to the youth. Research has shown that the youth of today spends more time on the Internet than any other mass media. This form of marketing helps connect advertisers to the youth as well as other digital savvy parties, thus creating a two way medium that has a higher level of involvement. If consumers like the campaign, they share it. This works on the principle of “word of mouth”, a concept that does not apply much to TV and print media.

 

• Cost effective: Thanks to the option of digital marketing, companies can make changes to their campaigns before investing heavily in other advertising channels. It has also helped companies gain immediate insight into consumer sentiments and effectively target the right audience. This in return has reduced media waste and has aided in decreasing costs.

 

• Originality: Most consumers are still not accustomed to seeing advertisements on digital media platforms; therefore, the mere originality of this form of media appeals to people. This also helps generate awareness about the product or campaign.

 

The growing use of smartphones, broadband and social media has spurred brands to reinvent their marketing strategies in order to increase their campaigns’ reach and effectiveness. Not only does digital marketing increase the reach and cost-effectiveness of advertisement campaigns, but it also helps to make them more personal and relevant to consumers.

 

 

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Digital Marketing Tips for Insurance Agents

The digital age has taken the insurance industry by storm. Over 85% of all insurance buyers use online research to purchase insurance. Digital marketing has changed the way we keep in touch with and are identified by potential customers. It is by far the most efficient client-acquisition tool. If you can’t be found on the web, you stand to miss out on enormous potential growth.

It is important that insurance agents understand how digital tools can be utilized to attract new customers. It can also be used to strengthen relationships with existing customers through social media marketing, search engine optimization and Internet marketing. Despite the fact that digital marketing tools are an ideal fit for insurance agents, they are scarcely being used due to lack of time or expertise. A few simple steps can be undertaken to start an effective digital marketing strategy. They are as follows:

• Invite questions: Since insurance is something everyone has questions about, a great way to gain the trust of potential customers and to increase their awareness about your product is to start by inviting questions. This can be done through blogs, social media, or on your website.

•  Answer them for free: People are always looking out for the occasional freebie, and answering their questions for free helps to build trust and is also a great endorsement of your abilities.

• Offer advice: Since the main aim of digital marketing is to attract potential clientele, offering valuable advice increases the likelihood that people will come back to you in a professional capacity. People are constantly researching insurance policies online and a great way to capture the bulk of that research traffic is to have informative blogs, whitepapers and other such resources on your website.

•  Social media optimization: A great way to be proactive is to start by sharing your content widely across social channels and creating new blog content every week. You can either do this by employing a digital marketing company who can do this for you or devising a strategy and starting once you are ready.

 

The insurance industry is evolving constantly and it is time to adjust your marketing strategy before you are left behind.

 

 

 

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How a Proper Marketing Plan Can Help One Achieve Maximum Efficiency?

Marketing gurus around the world will tell you that without marketing and advertising one cannot get anywhere. These campaigns play a vital role in establishing the identity of a product and in making it a brand anyone can recall at the drop of a hat. As a matter of fact, no matter its size, every organisation is aware of the level of competition it faces in the marketplace. So, what are the best tips one needs to follow to achieve maximum target market infiltration via marketing campaigns? Let’s look at the ones listed below:

Bull’s Eye:  The first and most important thing you need to do is create a niche for yourself. Target the right kind of audience that suits your product and you can never go wrong. The basic idea is to persuade your target audience to choose your products over your competitors’. Make sure that you understand who your audience is and what they want from you, before you try to sell anything to them. This in turn will increase your sales and profits and help you flourish in the market.

Right Channel: Don’t over think when it comes to deciding the means of reaching your target audience. Figure out which channel would be the most effective means of gaining their attention. For example, there is a vast difference between the types of audience for a direct mailer campaign and for a social media campaign. Similarly, a combination of both would appeal to a completely different set of people. You can use research data to figure out the channels that your target segment is most likely to pay attention to.

Establish yourself:  Unless people know that what you offer can be of benefit to them, they won’t opt for your products. Hence, establish your credibility via various methods. For instance, you could write articles for the foremost industry-related publications. You could also give out catalogues and brochures which answer FAQ’s or maintain a blog that features similar literature.

Be honest:  They say what goes around comes around. So if you want people to trust your organisation and its products and services, make sure that you are trustworthy and honest in all your endeavors. Once you have lost your reputation by being dishonest or cheating someone out of their hard-earned money it is very hard to build a name for yourself again.

Ingenuity and research go hand in hand when it comes to converting a potential customer into a consumer. Be very thorough while designing a marketing plan. Unless you pay the utmost attention to details like imagery and language, there is a good chance that they will completely ignore your product, since it didn’t make much of an impression on them. Plan properly and success is sure to be yours! All the best!

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5 Points to Consider Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

If there ever were a question that we would choose to headline our FAQ section, the one above would be it.

Over the years, this single query has struck a common chord across the length and breadth of our client list. Having said that, however, our personal experience with some of the top brands throughout the market capitalization spectrum has led to a startling insight about businesses:

Hardly a handful of brands out there have a fair idea about how to choose a digital media agency!

In such a scenario, the decision to hire a marketing agency that operates exclusively in the digital domain has to be the result of a well thought-out process. Here are five pointers that will be helpful in making that decision:

1. Commitment:  Digital marketing is not a flash in the pan phenomenon. It is an experience that’s best had when immersed. Unlike the piecemeal campaign approach of yesteryear's, digital marketing is about doing things in a more cohesive manner. So a firm better be prepared to introspect and ascertain whether they’ll be willing to put in their everything when they decide to go digital.

2. Road-Map: Clueless minds are obstacles on the pathway to progress. Before speaking to a digital marketing agency, formulate a road-map of the goals that are expected from such a move. Even a rough-cut would do, as it offers the agency a chance to formulate a more complete solution. This is better than taking shots in the dark.

3. Money Talks: For digital greenhorns, it may often be a hazy prospect to assign numbers to the venture. Having a range in mind in such a scenario would often set the ball rolling on the feasibility and scope of the promotional initiatives that are expected to emerge later on. The better digital agencies out there will always be around to assist and guide in these matters, so the budget need not always be set in stone at the beginning.

4. Employee Involvement: For any promotional endeavor to truly flourish, it is imperative that the organisation’s employees be involved. This means that each and every employee in the company must be convinced of their brand representation skills. Enthusiasm and a keen backing from the management go a long way in making this happen.

5. Stakeholder Approach: The very nature of digital marketing lends itself best to setups that are agile in their approach. Thus, forging a sound, strategic partnership is preferred over simply signing them on as service vendors. Support has to come from both the agency side as well as from the client for the partnership to truly succeed.

At the end of the day, digital marketing is a continuous process. There are multiple examples of brands using this gift to wonderful effect. If you’ve got something to add to what’s been said above, feel free to head over to our comments section and help spread the knowledge.

 

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Critical Success Factors in Digital Marketing for Small & MediumEnterprises (SME’s)

The Marketing strategy in its modern version is a seamless blend of the offline and online promotional initiatives. Each element is designed to ebb and flow in complete synchronization with the other. This is also a dynamic approach. The strategic projections are constantly changing and brand success in the competitive business scenario is directly linked to the continuous and optimum usage of such approaches.

Here are Three Interesting Statistics to put things into Perspective:

 

1. 9 Out of 10 People searching for products and services online tend to use popular search engines like Google, Bing and so on


2. Trust perceptions among 80 % of people tend to be higher for businesses that have an online presence


3. 5 out of 10 people also conduct their own background research to verify the claims made on the website

 

Thus, the success of any strategic initiatives in the Digital Marketing Domain depends quite heavily on how good the ‘Website’ is.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), everywhere, are starting to wake up to the potential enormity of the gains online. This sentiment was found to be running true at a poll run by Bord Gais Energy. The respondents of this poll were members of the Small Firms Association (SFA) that had gathered for a free “Business Bytes" seminar on digital marketing.

The poll threw up some interesting trends. Chief among those being the ones listed below:

• 75% SME’s preferred to let in-house teams manage their digital marketing initiatives

• Over half of those polled had assigned a specific staffer to spearhead their efforts in this field

• They alternatively preferred an industry specific training course if no such staffer could be assigned

• Almost 60% of SME’s had an Ecommerce based website

• 20% had their sales being funnelled in from clients based outside their country of operations

• Social Media Platforms like (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc.) were the second most popular method of establishing an online presence

• Linked In was rated to be one of the most promising brand outreach platforms by 70% of those polled

• Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-Zines & Blogs were the other platforms preferred by SME’s

• Most businesses consider digital marketing to play an important role in their market success strategies and they are ramping up ad-spends in response

Thus, Product & Service Innovation, Social Media Engagement, Secure Payment Gateways and a solid, backend presence are all important for Brand Success in the competitive business environment.

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Adwords, Promote Your Posts and the real value of the Digital MarketingAdviser

The race to grab the lion’s share of those elusive eyeballs has been heating up in recent years. The two dominant players in the game have been upping the ante, firing salvo after salvo at each other. Both Facebook (the world’s most popular social media platform) and Google (the undisputed king of all things search) have been locked in this high intensity battle.

The Rankings Game:

For years, savvy marketers have been deploying Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics in a bid to stay ahead of the competition. Every brand worth their reputation is engaged in a never ending game of rankings where the higher one goes, the better are the revenues. With, Social Marketing has been creating all the right buzz around the digital world and everyone has been keen to get their share of the pie, it was only a matter of time before the battle shifted here.

Advertising and the art of revenue generation:

Since the beginning, Facebook has been hard pressed to prove its worth as a revenue generating advertising platform. As it continues to grow in popularity and the world starts to revolve round likes and follows, dissent has been springing from the shadows. Just recently, the top automobile manufacturer – General Motors announced that it was pulling the plug on its advertising spends on Facebook. This came as grave news for the social media giant as it put a severe dent in its assault on Google’s hugely successful Adwords program.

Promote Your Post:

Seeking ways to stem the hemorrhaging, Facebook recently announced the launch of the ‘Promote Your Post (PYP)’ feature. Leveraging its advantage of being the gatekeeper to the vast amount of personally identifiable information of its billion plus members, the giant has chosen an interesting path. As per the information available, Promote Your Post functions around the fact that a promoted post wont just reach the followers of the promoter, but also the friends of their followers. This ‘revolutionary’ feature is said to offer a highly viral way of improving the reach of the brand under promotion, thereby giving maximum bang for the buck.

Standing Tall (Google Adwords):

The verdict is still out on the real-world effectiveness of this new feature. Especially considering that it appears to be a social take on the Google Adwords program. Such approaches and announcements are becoming rather common with each passing day. It is leading to what is being called as a marketing information overload. As brands grapple to understand which side they should play on, they are losing valuable time and money during the convoluted decision process. Priceless resources that’d be better off being deployed towards adding to the revenue bottom line.

Advisor, Friend and Guide:

It is where the value of a quality advisory partner is coming to the fore. Digital marketing advisors are perched at a perfect vantage point, to take stock of the situation. Through their years of experience and talented army of trained personnel, they are poised to perfection in their role as an advisor and guide through the marketing quagmire.

So the next time someone boasts that they don’t need the services of a dedicated marketing advisor smile politely and walk away. It is no point arguing with a fool, for they will only pull you down to their level and then beat you at it!

Click! Click!

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Banks and the Digital Marketing Conundrum

Let’s admit it, one of the first thoughts that come to mind when thinking of advertising by banks and other financial institutions like credit societies, is that of suit and tie bankers exhorting everyone to become their customer. Even as the world has been going digital and with the institutions too following through, somehow, they have limited themselves to the technical aspects of things. Marketing, especially in the digital domain has been restricted on a major part to promotional containers that are otherwise known as banner ads. This has been the case for all but the big guns in the industry, which have had the resources necessary for a full blown digital marketing blitz at their disposal.

All things D:

For many out there, the digital initiatives have not expanded beyond their core website. However digital today encompasses multiple platforms that exist in the online world together with the various handheld device categories. From acquiring new customers to retaining the already existing ones, any marketing activity carried out in the digital domain falls under this. And this is usually the point where savvy marketers start to realize that digital marketing is in reality a sub-section of the whole promotional paradigm. Just as conventional marketing aims revolve round the building up of excitement, engagement and loyalty from customers, so do the digital aims. Those on the lookout for differentiating factors would be well served to look in the direction of the technological role and its influence over the execution of marketing initiatives.

Tech Strides:

The past decade has seen an entire generation of people being tagged as early adopters of all things tech. As the numbers start to swell, so do the expectations that their brands similarly embrace the technological advances as quickly as they do. It therefore makes for a prudent judgement to get onto the tech highway rather than risk losing out and get left behind in the dirt of obsolescence.

Error Correction:

The thing about errors is that everyone makes them; even the most successful firms out there have made their share of mistakes over time. Marketing and especially the digital domain is no different. Retail giants, production majors, banks and the lot, they all have their share of ‘experience’ it their kitty. But just because they can’t be fully eliminated doesn’t mean that one sits back and does nothing to prevent them from occurring. Especially because a great majority of these errors are avoidable in the first place!

Silo-Free Zone:

It saddens us to no end when we come across artificial silos being created among the marketing division at many firms. Marketing, whether in the conventional or the digital iteration, can be most effective when there is a seamless exchange of information and ideas. Putting up barriers to appease the misplaced notions of divisional hierarchy and protocols actually ends up preventing organizations from realizing their true marketing potential.

Lining up the Sights:

It could be that game of darts or a session of target practice, what matters is getting it closer to the bull’s-eye. Every business worth their binaries has a website these days. Many put up a reasonably good effort but then let it go downhill from there. The website is soon neglected, like a castaway that is of no real value. The truth couldn’t be further away from that.

Corporate websites are the digital outposts of businesses and indeed, the first lookout for information searches are made on them. While Facebook posts and tweets are great, the first property to be updated must ALWAYS be the company website. Unfortunately, those in the financial sectors either relegate their websites to the bottom of the updates hierarchy or end up creating an informational nightmare. Bestowing the title of an investment on a website and restoring it to its rightful pride of place is the best way to stem this rot.

Collection, Measurement & Analysis Cycle:

The verdict may yet be out on the pros and cons of Google’s free analytics program over the other enterprise options available in the market. But what successful firms vouch for, is the rich data being generated by visitors to the website. However, one can accumulate data by the terabytes and yet be clueless about its significance. This is commonly found in businesses who do not know the ‘what and whys’ of data collection in the first place. Thankfully, they can mount their own rescue ops by identifying the Key Performance Indicators or KPI’s. While the website performance indicators for each business would be different, there are a few key ones that need to be mapped across all sites. These include:

• Percentage of New vs. Repeat visitors


• Number of pages viewed in total by each visitor at every instance


• Pages viewed by new visitors and the time spent on each one of them


• Pages from where visitors tend to quit the website


• Total number of instances where visitors leave after visiting a single page (Bounce Rate)


• Pages featuring details about the products and services on the site and the amount of time spent on them by new visitors

Besides these, from a financial services point-of-view, it is important to track the percentage number of pure visitors to the inquiries generated from the site. The branch locator page too is another parameter that should be looked into.

The ‘Click’ Factor:

When people talk about getting onto the social media ad campaign bandwagon, it is imperative to check if they’ve leveraged the most powerful ad network out there – Google. Its AdWords program is indeed the leading product in the market and by a huge margin at that. While others are struggling to play catch, it is still some time before anyone is going to get close to this behemoth. The paid search platform offers a highly effective way to get the message across to the right type of audience. These ads can be tailored to target on the basis of an extremely detailed set of parameters ranging from demographics to geo-political preferences and pretty much everything in between. To top it off, the costs involved in leveraging this highly potent tool can start from a couple of cents per click and go up to a few dollars, depending upon the bidding. But do ensure that the budget’s in place for the campaign. One of the worst things that could happen would be to run out of funds, just as the clicks start to pour in.

Parting Shots:

At the end of it all, there is no single approach to marketing supremacy. We are all part of the learning curve, albeit, for some it appears steep, while some find it to be smooth runnings. That said, a watertight website and a finely tuned paid search campaign are sure to go a long way in ironing out the bumps. The choice though, is yours to be made!

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