How to improve the ROI of your Content Marketing 

Business research conducted by the Content Marketing Institute has identified best ways to improve the ROI on its field of specialization. First of all the entire strategy must be put in writing. This will include the target audience as well as key metrics to be tracked. Each piece of content must have attached a Call to Action (CTA). The content to be marketed must align well with the company’s brand image. Costs must be minimized in any case by initially keeping focus towards the basics. The digital marketing efforts must be targeted using social media platforms best suited between options such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google Plus. The data analytics which will be generated will give the marketers an idea on products or services that are working best. Depending on such analysis, efforts must be made to maintain leadership positions in categories firm is doing well. The content marketing team must meet up frequently to discuss matters. Also instead of creating new content each time, one can regurgitate successful ones at periodic intervals.

Social Media matters: 8 ways social media can help launch new Products

Social media has emerged as one of the strongest tools to generate effective digital marketing. A study just concluded has earmarked some ways in which the same can aid the launch of new products. Clues must be released from time to time using video based teasers. Live video streaming must be employed especially as they draw out eyeballs on Periscope or Facebook.  Time bound offers must be released on Snapchat to establish connect with younger users. Brand advocates must be identified across the social media landscape as such people can become genuine cheerleaders for the brand. To do this social media can also be used to establish connect with influential bloggers. Their followers can be reached out then. All key social media pages or handles across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn etc. must mention exact product launch dates. A specific hasthtag must be created specifically for the launch event. And finally all this effort at reaching out to potential customers over social media must not be a one off for the launch, but must instead translate to long term benefits by crowd sourcing the idea for the next thing to be developed by the organization.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2016/04/08/social-media-matters-8-ways-social-media-can-help.html

How B2B Marketers can get started with Social Media

Social media is usually considered to be a potent tool for marketers dealing with the B2C segment. However, studies have uncovered the truth that it even does well with B2B sales. The study conducted by McKinsey points out that social media is an ideal tool for companies to uncover business intelligence on competitors. When social media chats are tracked, it is clearly understood that organizations ‘talk’ about brands. Also peer and user reviews are so commonplace on social media, that positive vibe is always created for firms one way or the other. International container shipping giant Maersk Line is one such industrial player that has made great use of social media to channel digital marketing. They are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Learning from Maersk, the correct audience needs to be identified and connected with. Direct sales pitch must never be adopted. Also social media marketing can best communicate to the wider audience regarding the concerns and objectives of the firm. And analytics must be made appropriate use of.

Firms moving to integrate Social Media Marketing

A CMO Survey was conducted by Duke University according to which firms are increasingly looking at integrating their digital marketing operations with the mainstream one. Social media currently occupies just a tenth of the marketing pie, but is expected to soar to around a fourth over the next four years. Majority of marketers rated their organizations at 4.2 on a scale of 7 for social media marketing preparedness. However, only a sixth confirmed that they will be able to give exact quantitative correlation between advertising spend and returns on digital side. Mobile advertising is another field where budgets are expected to more than double in just the next three years. Crucially the percentage of marketing spend on gathering of data and business analytics of the same is expected to increase by another two-thirds in three years.

Social Media works for B2B Sales, Too

Social media is proving to be an extremely useful tool for finalizing B2B sales. A studyorganized by Bain & Co. clearly demonstrates that customers are progressing in very different direction to sales processes. Instead digital marketing campaigns are providing better returns even though several organizations surveyed do not feel confident of their own capacities in the same. Thus one way to ensure this is to get associated with fellow businesses which in turn will cater to the final customers. Adobe had a similar evolution as it used to be lumped as simply a desktop publishing company. But post its acquisition of Omniture which is into business analytics, theperception has shifted towards being a content leader.

People based Marketing is key to humanizing the Consumer Experience

Till a few years back, a powerful weapon for marketers was the digital cookie. The cookie would track user patterns on the browser and would target advertisements accordingly. This worked well till the advent of smartphones which has meant that now most of us spread our digital footprint across various browsers across devices. Thus a more human centric approach is required. Market research conducted by eMarketer publication tells us that by the year 2018, nearly three-fourths of digital marketing sped will be on smartphones. The Facebook Atlas provides us with an alternative way of conducting the same. The Facebook ID is tracked and using that the person’s usage habits are tracked across devices and platforms. Customers must be urged to somehow inform marketers regarding preferences and choices.

The customer journey to online purchase- 10 predictions for 2016

With the online shopping footprint ever increasing, certain predictions have been made in this regard for the new year. Whether the journey lasts from awareness to final purchase will largely depend on emotional connect and not the price tag alone. Certain marketing channels will get found out and phased out by customers. Customer decisions will get fortified by influencers promoting certain brands over others. Advertisements will get more interactive to get better results from digital marketing campaigns. Social media will aid corporations in this regard. Time lag between choosing a product and its delivery will reduce due to emergence of pick-up option from stores. Sales teams will utilize business analytics to conduct locations tracking of potential customers using mobile phones and trigger action. Mobile phone searches will be driven by the three pillars of speed, trust and convenience. The sales decision online will however be dependent on the quality of smart phone visuals. Finally, the level and type of online purchase will depend on the learning styles of individuals namely whether they prefer visual, auditory or kinaesthetic modes.

10 Stunning Marketing Predictions for 2016

Marketers made certain predictions for their field before the start of 2015. Now with 2016 set to begin, certain predictions have been made for the upcoming year. User experience will get paramount importance as marketers will try to hook customers using samplers. Majority of top brands will adopt local customs to emerge winners in micro-markets. The proper use of business analytics will start co-relating to marketing efficiency. More number of markets and segments will get explored in upcoming times. Networking will continue to remain important and fruitful connections will be sought. For digital marketing, the smartphone will reign supreme replacing laptops and desktop computers. Corporate strategy will get influenced by digital assistants. Search engines such as Google will now provide instant social media content as well. Likewise, social SEO will further influence brand visibility. Finally, local search engines will expand to the extent that local sellers will be able to track customers and notify accordingly.

6 Ways Social Media can be a game-changer in 2016

Social media has proven to an integral cog for digital marketing in the year 2015. Going on to 2016, social media can actually prove to be a game changer in certain ways that have been identified. Videos will continue to rule the roost and more of that is needed across social media platforms. With increasing importance of the social media, cyber security will attain top importance to prevent leakage of data which would facilitate competitors’ business intelligence grasping abilities. Advertisements will now be powered by branded content. Customization for individual users will gain traction. Till now social media was more of a branding tool, but now it will actually start generating the final sales. Crucially the Internet of Things (IoT) will enable increased level of social intelligence allowing smart devices to extract further data and even analyze on its own market trends.

Values of Traditional Marketing that Digital should not Ignore

Marketing remains the proverbial backbone of businesses. In spite of the new found popularity of digital marketing, traditional methods need to be equally respected and learnt from. Traditional methods laid the foundation for the modern growth story. The methods sought to achieve consistency across its branding towards customers. While certain markets are ideal for digital methods, other demographics are better suited to the traditional approach. In this way separate business channels may be aligned towards common company goal. Quality must never be left to deteriorate. Business innovation must never be carried for the sake of it, instead one musts tick towards what the brand really stands for. A perfect example would be Coca Cola’s innovation with the drink which left customers frustrated and seeking the old taste they were habituated with. The original product created a lasting impact, which is what marketing approaches ultimately must aim at.