BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE WAS A TIME LEGO LOST SIGHT OF THEIR CUSTOMER
There aren’t a lot of toy manufacturers that can claim global brand recognition like LEGO. Think about it – there have been close to four generations of kids that have been able to build cars, space ships, and ancient civilizations, all using fun little plastic bricks! However, this article is about how the brand’s profits had declined significantly in the early to mid 2000’s, even despite having world-wide awareness.
In the early 2000’s, LEGO began over-developing its core product line. At the time, management allowed free reign to product development teams to design different kinds of creations for children to build. This new artistic freedom was happily embraced, but the result was the production of complex designs. Remember LEGO Bionicle?
They incorporated tons of new components that weren’t interchangeable with other products within the line, and as a result, their parts inventory exploded and supply costs ballooned. Making matters worse, most of the new designs didn’t appeal to many kids, leading to a significant decline in sales.
Ironically, reducing the creative freedom of their design team was the solution to reversing supply chain and profitability problems. As a result, team workflow was reorganized to include: marketing managers who understand the customer’s tastes, preferences, and purchasing behavior; manufacturing managers who can control operational costs, and market researchers who conduct prototype testing. As a result, profits grew over 430% between 2009 and 2017. (1)
THE TAKEAWAY
Although innovative product design has always been a strength for LEGO, history has shown that developing products, services, and a marketing strategy is done most effectively when working with guide rails. This means that initiatives are planned with a complete understanding of the customer taken into consideration: meaning a solution that appeals to the customer. This goes to show that consumers will seek out what they ultimately want – and if what you’re offering doesn’t stack up, they will go somewhere else.
Proecho Solutions Has Been Rated as One of the Top 100 Agencies in North Carolina
At Proecho Solutions, we help companies grow! Our team provides data-driven services and combines them with creative insights to produce the best solutions for your problems. This dedication to bringing the best services in the industry has managed to catapult us to an amazing milestone this 2021!
We are very excited to announce that we have been recently named as one of the best advertising agencies in North Carolina by Clutch. Their 2021 research showcases the best companies and agencies in different industries, and we are fortunate to be included on that prestigious list.
In case you haven’t heard about Clutch, they are a well-respected ratings and review platform based in Washington DC. They help vendors like us connect with clients and buyers who are looking for partners on their next projects. Their platform also features a lot of articles to help you understand the B2B industry more.
Furthermore, we would also like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to our clients who supported us throughout the years. You have been the reason why we were able to achieve this milestone and we are truly grateful for all your help. Please continue to support us and our team in the future.
Do you want to learn more about the latest news and tools in the market today? Feel free to download our ebook and learn more about marketing and advertising and how technology is shaping both industries.
Interested in working with us? Schedule a discovery call with our team today! We are looking forward to hearing from you.Share
The Difference Between Inbound Marketing and Account-Based Marketing
One of the most challenging components of launching any marketing campaign is deciding which approach to employ. Two predominant strategies exist in the world of digital marketing; Inbound Marketing and Account-Based Marketing.
There are stark differences between the two. Knowing what those differences are can help you decide which tactic is right for your business or agency.
THE BASICS OF INBOUND AND ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
In a nutshell, Account-Based Marketing is an approach to advertising that targets through personalized communication. Inbound Marketing takes on more of a broad consumer attraction method, using content creation to promote products or services. The differences here are quite obvious, and it’s common for most companies to choose one marketing strategy over the other. However, it’s not unheard of for larger businesses and corporations to use both, and yield quite powerful results.
We’ll talk more about that later. For now, let’s get detailed about the ways that Account-Based Marketing and Inbound Marketing vary.
ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
When it comes to using Account-Based Marketing, the targeting method is rather specific. It involves deliberate and carefully planned marketing to certain accounts.
Account-Based Marketing rarely focuses on smaller clients but instead places fixation on higher-level accounts. This focus gives business owners the ability to reach stakeholders directly.
Every Account-Based Marketing strategy must include a lot of custom-created content, with a particular audience in mind. The content must be relatable to the group you’re sharing it with since it’s a relatively small pool of accounts and shareholders.
Using exclusive channels such as email and targeted ads, you can effectively optimize your reach, which works well, especially when your business has a niche market. Once you’ve established your ideal brand voice or persona, it’s a bit easier to define the accounts you want to address.
Companies that choose Account-Based Marketing often find that it’s a wonderful way of retaining current business relationships while expanding upon them as well. It will attract new accounts, as long as the ad targeting is correct, and eventually increase lead generation.
EXAMPLES OF IMPLEMENTING ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
There are plenty of ways to execute Account-Based Marketing other than utilizing your business email account, and a fair amount of well-known businesses who do just that.
Host events (Virtual included) for your targeted accounts.
Ask your targeted accounts to engage with you via educational content.
Put together a smart, account-based, valuable direct mail campaign.
Compile the contacts for your target accounts, and create an appropriately personalized email for each of them.
Further, engage your desired accounts by enlisting the help of partners.
Make use of your social media presence to engage the accounts you want to target tactfully while focusing on delivering relevant content at the right time.
Don’t be afraid to get creative with your Account-Based Marketing methods. As long as you stay professional while remaining unintrusive, you’ll see great results.
EXAMPLES OF COMPANIES THAT SUCCEED WITH ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
Many established companies have seen fantastic results using Account-Based Marketing, including:
Charles Schwab
Century Link
Panasonic
Portland Trail Blazers
Roche
Fujitsu
INBOUND MARKETING
Inbound Marketing is different from Account-Based Marketing in that it focuses on a much more comprehensive range of customers. By creating high-quality, relevant content, along with special offers tailored to readers, a broad audience reach is possible.
Inbound Marketing has an established process, and most teams and marketing agencies in Asheville follow it. With Inbound, you’ll want your content to attract the right attention, followed by converting those potential customers into clients, followed by closing the sale.
When all is said and done and the sale has come to fruition, inbound marketers need to release some killer customer service, following up, and ensuring that the customer has had an exceptional experience.
Inbound Marketing has everything to do with delivering the right content at the right time. There is a method to what seems like targeting madness. Contrary to what many think, Inbound Marketing is not haphazard, but instead, incredibly focused.
It qualifies leads through repeated offers, contact forms, emails, and relevant content that moves them down the sales funnel. Inbound Marketing is the right choice for businesses with a widespread audience and a vast range of products and services.
Inbound Marketing allows for the generation of new interest on a massive scale.
EXAMPLES OF INBOUND MARKETING
There are many beneficial ways to put Inbound Marketing to use, and it comes in many forms, making it even more accessible. It encompasses a wide variety of marketing tactics, including the following.
You can apply search engine optimization to your website and entire ad campaign.
Publish quality, relevant blog content at least sixteen times per month.
Create video content and a series is even better.
Put together an infographic for your potential clients, based on whatever you want to show them, whether it be the way your product works or your sales over the last month.
Start a podcast and find a broad reach across many platforms. Podcasts are a great way to appeal to clients that you may not have reached otherwise.
Write a whitepaper that looks great and presents your product or service in an in-depth, professional way. Customers that qualify for your services will greatly appreciate this.
No matter which path you choose to take concerning your Inbound Marketing, be sure to try more than one tactic. The great thing about this marketing strategy is that many can be employed at once, creating a robust digital marketing campaign.
EXAMPLES OF COMPANIES THAT SUCCEED WITH INBOUND MARKETING
It’s not uncommon for businesses with great success with Inbound Marketing to be on a larger scale. Smaller companies can excel with it too, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a business with an online presence that doesn’t utilize SEO. It’s a great strategy to have in your marketing toolbox.
Starbucks
Dunkin’ Donuts
Salesforce
GM
Target
Pink Lily Boutique
COMBINING INBOUND AND ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
It’s common for most companies to choose one marketing strategy over another, which often has much to do with the type of business model they’ve developed. However, Inbound and Account-Based Marketing tactics do not have to be exclusive. Marketing teams can easily combine them.
The primary purpose of both Inbound and Account-Based Marketing is to target specific audiences by using valuable content that converts. When they’re combined, they offer a powerful advertising punch packed with influence. There is plenty of opportunities that come with mixing these two advertising methods.
An effective way to combine IM and ABM is to generate new leads using Inbound Marketing, and then picking those leads apart to identify a few key accounts to market your Account-Based content. This unstoppable blend allows for expanding new leads and pulling accounts that seem like a good fit.
For success, using these methods together, it’s vital to make sure that all content produced is above and beyond when it comes to quality.
FINDING PROGRESS WITH YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY
No matter which type of strategy you choose to employ for your advertising campaign, ensure that you and your team are putting as much effort as possible into helping it to succeed. Whether you decide on Inbound Marketing or select Account-Based Marketing, you’ll have a great chance of success, as long as you implement correctly and evolve when necessary. Share
Are You Making These Common Keyword Research Mistakes In Your SEO?
Keyword research is one of the central pillars of an effective local SEO strategy. When you make the right keyword choices, all your traffic generation techniques can be optimized correctly. Primarily, keyword research will be used to influence your SEO decisions. You can, however, use the data to make better choices about content marketing, social media, and video creation. While most marketers will perform a level of keyword research, some mistakes frequently occur. The following errors won’t always ruin an SEO campaign, but it helps to avoid them if you want to achieve serious search rankings.
ONLY DOING KEYWORD RESEARCH ONCE
The most intensive period of keyword research will be when you are setting up your site or embarking on a paid advertising campaign. This phase can lead to much useful information that will drive your planning into the future. The search results don’t remain stagnant, though, so you need to update your research periodically. An estimated 15 percent of all Google searches per year are brand new, meaning you can find relevant keywords based on trends, product releases, and more. Aim to make keyword research part of your regular schedule.
IGNORING SEARCHER INTENT
Google is focused on searcher intent when they answer a query. In the past, results for a search were often broadly tailored towards a keyword. However, improvements in the algorithm mean the listed pages are now tightly focused around the search intent. If you are targeting a keyword, look at the top results and think for yourself about exactly what a searcher would be looking to find. The content you create, including the title and URL, can then be tailored to deliver a close match.
ONLY TARGETING THE MOST POPULAR KEYWORDS
Most niches will have several broad keywords terms that have a high search volume. These keywords can be enticing as they would bring a great deal of traffic. You may find, though, that these popular terms don’t convert particularly well, with searchers having a range of needs. While it can be useful to target these popular terms, also make sure you focus on keywords with moderate or low search volume. The traffic for these terms can add up, and they often convert exceptionally well.
FORGETTING TO ANALYZE THE RESULTS PAGES
Keyword tools are a vital part of your research. A quality tool will provide search terms and related data. Unfortunately, many people take this information and immediately start a campaign. Analyzing the results pages, though, will give much useful information, allowing you to make considered decisions. Go to Google and search for your desired keyword. Look through the first page results, focusing on the type of content that Google is offering and the titles for each page. This research will explain in better detail precisely what you should be doing to rank successfully.
BUILDING MULTIPLE PAGES FOR EACH KEYWORD
As a site develops, it is common to find multiple pages targeting the same keyword. This approach might be by accident or design, but it is unlikely to produce positive results. Google can struggle to understand which page to rank, damaging the chances for either page. Also, other sites might not know which page to link to, so your backlinks are split, and each page receives a lower level of authority. Try to structure your site so that each page has a focus on a particular keyword, providing the most comprehensive information about the term.
Targeting the right keywords can save your business a lot of time and money. Keywords that are too competitive or don’t offer any real search volume will not provide the type of returns you want. In most cases, though, these keywords will still require significant effort to gain top rankings. By avoiding the common mistakes, you can focus on the right areas, selecting keywords that are achievable and convert. Fundamentally, keyword research is an integral part of online marketing, so following the right path has to become a significant priority.
How To Stay On The Top Of Google Search Results
There’s plenty of advice out there to tell you how to get your website to the top of Google search engine rankings. Once you get to the top, however, what does it take to stay there? Read on to learn what you need to build a strong local SEO strategy.
UPDATE YOUR CONTENT ON A REGULAR BASIS
When Google released its Caffeine update a couple of years ago, it enabled the search engine to crawl and store websites much faster than before. This meant that Google was able to see when websites added content. Google’s update came to mean that websites with the freshest content were pushed to the top of the search rankings.
Not only do you need to keep creating new pages for your website, you need to update old pages with new content and keywords, as well. You should be able to keep your pages as fresh as possible by putting in some keyword research.
KEEP CHECKING OUT THE COMPETITION
If you don’t keep an eye on your competition, it’s likely that they will try better moves than you at some point to overtake you in the search rankings. Free tools such as Ubersuggest help you get a detailed look at competing websites to see what keywords they use for their advertising and what their ad copy looks like.
GET GREAT SOCIAL SIGNALS
A lot of business owners argue that social media isn’t worth the time. It’s true that the number of times that a post gets shared or liked on social media does not directly affect search rankings. It does help indirectly, however, by giving web pages more authority and traffic. If you are to remain in the top three on Google’s search rankings for your keywords of choice, then, you need to pay attention to the social signals that your content gets.
The first goal should be to post quality content on social media as often as possible. It can also help make sure that the captions and posts are built around good keywords. When audiences find your business by the keywords you use, they will like and share your content to make it popular, which send social signals to Google. Your popularity on the social networks can help you get to the top on Google.
MONITOR MORE EFFICIENTLY
You need to keep an eye on every variable that is likely to affect your ranking, and take action the moment you detect a problem. A website business analytics dashboard AHREFs can help you stay on top of a wide range of variables from keyword rankings to linking websites. When you have every detail to do with your website accessible in one window, you’re usually able to keep track of more, and act quickly on any problem that turns up.
MAKE YOUR WEBSITE MORE USABLE
Building a website that loads quickly and allows easy navigation is important if you want to maintain your ranking. If your website either fails to load completely in a short period of time, or makes navigation difficult, it will likely send visitors away. When a website has visitors who stay for only a short time, it affects the site’s search ranking.
NEVER STOP BUILDING LINKS
You need a great link profile to even enter the top three search rankings on Google. If you want to keep your position, however, you’ll need to continue to build links even faster than before. This is because once you get to the top, you will have your competition studying your link profile to build a similar one for themselves.
If you want to stay at the top on the search engines, you can’t slack off on the effort that you put into building a great website experience. You will need to continue with everything you did to get to the top, and then do some more.
Common Web Design Mistakes To Avoid & Other Helpful SEO Advice
SEO is crucial for promoting and growing your brand. This is because only the top ranking sites on search engines get the most clicks. Using SEO enables you to boost your website’s ranking in Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and stay at the top.
However, SEO is no mean feat, and even experts can make mistakes. While designing your website, you must be aware of the most common mistakes that can happen, how they can affect your SEO, and how to avoid them.
Otherwise, since the first five sites take about 67% of site clicks, these mistakes can cost you dearly. To help you avoid such costly mistakes, we will take you through the six most common web design mistakes that can hurt your SEO and how to correct them in time.
1. YOU FORGOT TO MAKE YOUR PAGE ACCESSIBLE
A study done by the Search Engine Journal reports that site accessibility and indexation take up about 21% of SEO mistakes, making accessibility a significant SEO error that many people make out there. This is the number one web design mistake that can impact your SEO.
To create an all-inclusive content that accommodates every type of reader, you should prioritize features such as alt text and omit other features like iframes.
To fix this problem, include alt text in your images so the visually impaired reader or visitor can decipher the content depicted by pictures. Put accuracy first, then keyword density.
Also, be sure to remove any iframes on your website as they can negatively impact your page’s overall speed, and they also don’t contribute much to your SEO objectives. Finally, get rid of any flash elements on your pages, as well.
A ‘noindex tag on robots.txt prevents the search engines from indexing your page. Therefore, you can invest heavily in keyword research and SEO, but unfortunately, you won’t rank anywhere near the top of the SERPs.
Failure to remove the noindex tag from your site is among the most common SEO mistakes, accounting for about 4.68%. Sometimes it may be necessary to omit some of your pages out of organic search, but you shouldn’t keep all of it out.
To fix this particular problem, Check for the noindex tag on the robots.txt for each of your pages. Remove it if you want to achieve better SERPs.
3. INSUFFICIENT CONTENT
Third on the list of web design mistakes is insufficient content. Gone are the days when website content used to be shorter. These days, most websites have a minimum of 1000 words, and the trend keeps changing. Of course, you don’t have to make every
SEO-oriented page long. However, if you want to see better results from your site, investing about 6 hours on your content, and you can achieve about 25% success.
Experts recommend giving Google or similar search engines a minimum of 300-500 words to work with. However, longer content like 1000+ words is ideal. In a recent study conducted by SERPIQ, the first SERP generally contains a minimum of 2,416 words, with the tenth having about 2,032.
This is not to say you should strain to attain the required word count. You only need to ensure the content is long enough to cover and address the searcher’s intent and topic. Suppose you can achieve that with 300 words, well and good. But if it requires 2,500, by all means, invest the time and attention needed to accomplish an in-depth resource.
To fix the problem of insufficient content, go over the original article to see if there’s something you missed or relevant points you omitted and try to churn at least 300 words out of it.
Look for any helpful resources relevant to the topic and flesh them out. You can also go over your competitor’s site and see what they’ve created out of the same topic, then work on creating a better piece to outshine them.
Go a notch higher by creating longer content in the future and publish them regularly. If you’re no expert in content creation, consider outsourcing or contracting the work to SEO writers. This will help you meet some of Google’s required standards which are expertise, authority, and trust.
4. YOUR HTTP STATUS CODE IS PREVENTING YOUR PAGES FROM CRAWLING
A server status code 4xx or 5xx (in which x’s represents numerals) can keep search engines from crawling correctly on your pages, leading to an SEO approach that doesn’t meet the cut. These web design mistakes typically happen when you have broken server links. It can adversely affect your Google ranking since the search engine has a fixed crawl budget for each site and wouldn’t waste it on sites that tend to send broken links.
To fix it, use an SEO tool to remove any broken links with 4xx or 5xx HTTP status codes. If this is beyond you, enlist the service of an expert.
To help prevent web design mistakes, this tool helps accelerate the loading time of pages on mobile devices, enabling pages to be more user-friendly. Studies have shown that AMP can significantly improve your page’s ranking on SERPs.
However, incorporating AMP with Javascript or CSS stylesheets can cause Google to index your page ineffectively
Solution: Don’t use Javascript code or CSS stylesheets together with AMP since they’re not compatible. Instead, consider using AMP independently on other pages. Also, ensure you remove any expired tags in the AMP document.
6. IMPROPERLY OPTIMIZED META-TAGS
Meta tags are essential texts within a webpage that explains what the contents of that page are all about to Google and other search engines. This helps the search engine decipher what the page is all about to give it proper indexing.
If you’re not providing meta tags in your content or doing it the wrong way, you’re treading on a dangerous SEO path.
So retrace your steps and get back on track, ensure your meta title has a maximum of 11 words, and let each meta description have between 150–180 characters. Include the focus keywords into both the meta title, meta description, and naturally throughout the content. To create perfect SEO-optimized content, incorporate other relevant keywords throughout the text alongside the focus keyword.
Additional Considerations
Web design mistakes are common, and these mistakes have a way of ruining your site’s SEO ranking. However, with proper guidance and support, you can avoid them even if it’s your first time designing a website. The good news is that SEO is ever-evolving, so you can continue learning a new trick each day.
As search engine algorithms continue to change, so do SEO strategies. We hope these six web design tips and SEO mistakes can help you get started on the right foot.
How SEO Marketing Can Quickly Increase Traffic To Your Site
SEO usually takes time to show results, and it will often be weeks or even months before your site ranks well in the search engine result pages (SERPS). This might make some people reluctant to use SEO if they are looking for fast results, but good SEO practices can do more than just get your website ranking in Google. However, adopting a good SEO strategy can also help you to gain traffic in the short term even if your website is not yet ranking well. Here we take a look at how this is possible.
GLORIOUS GUEST BLOGGING
Guest blogging remains a cornerstone of a good SEO strategy. Guest blogging allows you to acquire backlinks, which act as recommendations, telling Google that a lot of people are talking about your site. These recommendations then encourage Google to rank your site well. But that’s not the only benefit they can bring.
Good quality backlinks on guest blogs are typically found in good quality content. This means content that is interesting and useful, occasionally compelling people to click on your link and, hey presto, you have organic traffic coming your way. Even better is that it’s likely to be relevant traffic – provided your link ties in with the content it is found in.
WHAT’S THE CATCH?
The catch is that you need to create content that is genuinely good quality. Try to keep customer value management in mind at all times; offer something of value to the reader. Try and make sure your content helps them in some way by giving useful, actionable information and advice. Your content will also typically need to be posted on good-quality, relevant third-party sites that see a lot of traffic themselves. Such sites are likely to have high editorial standards meaning sub-standard content will be rejected.
There’s another reason to focus on good quality content that’s useful to people – it also encourages people to share it with their friends and family. Sharing will also help to get more traffic to your site in the short term, while also helping to build a natural backlink profile that benefits SEO in the long term.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA
Having social media accounts won’t contribute directly to giving you a boost in the SERPS. They can, however, contribute to SEO indirectly, meaning they should still be incorporated with your SEO campaign. Using social media will also help to send you traffic in the short term. Sharing good quality content on social media means more people are going to see the content, meaning more people will click on your link and end up on your website.
Using social media also means more people are likely to share your content, which itself means more clicks and more traffic coming your way. Plus, of course, shared content means more quality backlinks that will help get your website noticed on Google in the long term.
FOCUS ON LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS
Long-tail keywords are basically keyword terms that contain several words. For example, a long-tail keyword would be something like “where can I buy discounted computer hardware,” as opposed to something like “discounted hardware.”
The main advantage of this is that long-tail keywords are less competitive – fewer businesses are targeting them, meaning it will take less time for you to rank. The downside is that fewer people are using long-tail keywords in their searches, meaning less traffic will be coming your way. However, using the right content strategy, you can have several long-tail keywords helping to bring traffic to your site.
Using long-tail keywords will also help you to rank for standard keywords in the long term. In the example given above, the long-tail keyword also contains the term “discounted hardware,” meaning you could rank for that term also in the long term. Try and incorporate both short-term and long-term strategies in your keyword research to help you make the best of both worlds.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If you’re looking for quick-fix SEO that gets your site ranking in the SERPS quickly – you’re going to be disappointed (depending on your definition of quick). This does not mean, however, that good SEO practices can’t start sending traffic your way even if your website is still ranking on page 50 on Google. Indeed, use the right strategies and focus on quality, and you can have good quality traffic coming to your site quicker than you might expect.
4 Tips For Creating An Impressive Website
The following four tips will put you well on your way to a website that has a good chance to attract and hold visitors. You have about five seconds or less to entice a visitor to decide to navigate your website or move on to another. Here are the top four, and a few more, things you need to achieve this as suggested by small business website design companies like Proecho Solutions.
STRUCTURE CONTENT USING A LOGICAL VISUAL HIERARCHY
The visual hierarchy of your home or landing page is about the color, contrast, and size of the visual elements on the page. It directs the eye to a particular order through relative prominence. Research shows that every website page has a visual hierarchy, but only if it is deliberately used to attract and hold visitor’s attention does it contribute to a good website.
You want to grab the visitor’s attention to the important elements first. The layout will put important things at the top of the page whether they are headlines, graphics, icons, or videos. Contrast and white spaces make it easier for the visitor to see each element.
PLACE KEYWORDS HIGH ON THE HOME PAGE
The first thing a visitor wants to know is if they can get what they want from the website they landed on. To achieve this, your home page needs a descriptive headline at the top of the page that informs the visitor within the first five seconds that they are in the right place.
You may be tempted to write a clever phrase or something humorous at this point but, it’s better to give a clear and simple presentation than to try to catch visitor’s attention with something clever. Most people don’t want to waste time wading through text to get answers to their questions. A crystal-clear message is the best way to hold the visitor’s attention. For example, if you are selling organic cotton baby clothes, visitors need to know that immediately. A good headline would be Comfortable, Organic Cotton, and Affordable Baby Clothes.
USE HIGH-QUALITY IMAGERY
Beautiful photographs, especially of human faces will communicate your objectives as well or better than text. Photos of faces can guide the visitor’s attention.
One famous example found through a study is that if the photo of a baby is looking at the camera, visitors look at the baby. If the baby is looking at the headline, people look at the headline. In other words, the line of sight in a photo of a human face can guide the visitor to a service page or call-to-action. Another effective way to guide attention is with arrows.
Memes are one way to attract visitors especially if they are clever or funny. You can find programs online that teach you to make your own memes or offer free templates for professional-looking memes.
Make sure all the imagery you use is high resolution. Any photo taken with an old smartphone may not give the sharpness you want. However, you should avoid stock photos. People appreciate genuineness, and a few high-quality photos from your business will be more impressive than stock photos that they see on other websites in your industry. Luckily, there is plenty of photo and video editor software to help you make this happen.
SOME DOS AND DON’TS
Do put your social media links at the bottom of the page and not the top. Do put HOME on the left of the menu because that is where visitors expect to find it. Don’t link your service page to your blog page. You want to keep visitors on your service page, and it is too easy to exit from a blog page. Do be careful linking to other sites. If your visitors go to that link, determine if it will help your business. Do use clear, professional SEO text with the right number of keywords to make Google put your site higher on the first page. Don’t keyword stuff as this will not help with Google. Do use short paragraphs and avoid walls of text. Do put the call-to-action high on the page.
Despite being one of the world’s largest producers of electronics devices, you may be surprised to find out that Samsung electronics started out primarily as a low-tier manufacturing brand with cheap consumer perception. In this analysis, find out how Samsung’s marketing strategy literally transformed them into the global electronics powerhouse seen today.
A Brief History About Samsung
Back in 1970, Samsung’s electronics unit started out making cheap TV sets for the Sanyo label, but over time, it transformed into an innovative company and has turned out to be a pioneer in developing large flat-screen displays, plasma TVs, and cutting-edge smartphones. But until the mid-1990s, they competed mainly by developing technical components and low-cost manufactured products for bigger brands, such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, and GE. They were also selling other low-cost consumer products – like TVs and microwave ovens under the Samsung brand through discount chains like Walmart.
Until the 1997 Asian market crash, the low-cost-driven competitive strategy worked well for them. At the time, the market for memory chips and other components Samsung supplied to electronics producers saw increased competition, leading to excess capacity, while sales of the Samsung branded products were falling as well. Despite these facts, the company’s CEO Yun Jong-yong voiced that Samsung could produce products that were as good as Sony’s, but because of the brand’s downmarket image, their TV’s would sit at the back of the stores.
What Is Samsung’s Marketing Strategy?
Samsung’s marketing strategy focuses on developing new innovative products that are supported by strong branding and promotional campaigns. Mr. Yun initiated a new competitive strategy with the goal of developing and marketing superior products while also building an image of Samsung as a stylish, high-quality brand worthy of a premium price. The objective was to establish a unique position using technical innovation while designing more appeal to a younger generation, as well as upscale customers around the world. Yun argued that to continue to compete on price would eventually be their downfall.
R&D Into Innovative Tech
Samsung chose to invest heavily in technical innovation and R&D. In order to have a competitive advantage driven by innovation, Samsung had to become a pioneer in developing new technology. During the 90’s, Sony had an advantage in consumer-electronics, but it was rooted in analog technology. The digital world required new products and consequently, the firm shifted substantial resources into developing large-area LCDs, chipsets, and cellphones. Fast forward to the economic crisis of 2008-2009, Samsung spent over 7 Billion dollars for nearly 6% of the unit’s revenue into research and development, and at the time more than 25% of the company’s workforce engaged in R&D.
Product Development & Design
Understanding that cutting-edge technology does not always guarantee market success, Samsung also focused on product development and design. Their goal was to create products that deliver benefits that at least some segment of consumers will consider to be worth the price. Since many product benefits may be subjective – attractive styling, say, or a cool image, or maybe the quality of camera – new product development at Samsung usually involves a team of designers who collaborate closely with the firm’s engineers, manufacturing teams, and marketers.
Brand Building Campaigns
Last and certainly not least, Samsung’s marketing strategy focused on creating a promotional campaign to build Samsung’s brand image. Revamping their marketing efforts was just as critical to the success of a new competitive strategy because even the most technically sophisticated and well design products are likely to fail unless customers know they exist, can acquire them easily, and think they’re worth the money.
Eric Kim was brought in to head a global marketing effort. One of his first moves was to re-organize the firm’s distribution channels to be consistent with the strategic objective of establishing Samsung as a high-quality brand. To start, many of the company’s products were pulled out of the low price discount chains and shifted distribution through big-box electronics stores like Best Buy and online shopping through Amazon.
To ensure consistent marketing communications across all markets, they also consolidated their roster of advertising agencies from 55 down to one global advertising group (WPP), who launched the organization’s first brand-building campaign. Using fashion-forward TV commercials, they created a contemporary sense of style while also promoting the technical sophistication of their products. WPP also made use of promotional tools such as product placements, social media ads, sponsorships, earned media, and online advertising to strengthen the brand.
What Were the Results of Samsung’s Strategic Marketing Decisions?
The revamped competitive strategy and marketing programs that Samsung designed and implemented have been a huge success. The global value of Samsung’s brand increased by more than 200% from 2003 to 2008, and it took over Sony as the most valuable consumer-electronics brand.
As a result, the unit sales grew to $119 billion by 2009, and with the advent of the Samsung Galaxy, revenue has grown into a staggering $218 billion as of 2018. According to the vision statement on its website, Samsung seeks to achieve $400 billion in sales while placing Samsung Electronics’ overall brand value among the global top 5 by the end of 2020. Additionally, it seems they continue to lean into their strengths, as Samsung continues its commitment to furthering innovations in technology and products. For instance, the release of the Galaxy Z Flip and the Galaxy Fold are two of the latest examples of leading innovation coming out of Samsung.
If you are already doing SEO or want to start, a common question is whether you should outsource your SEO efforts to a company. Control and financial concerns may make you hesitant to hire out, but outsourcing to an agency can be a much more efficient option. All too often, managers attempt to save money by doing it themselves, only to find themselves in over their heads, wasting both time and resources. That’s not to say that insourcing isn’t a good option for you, but if you’re on the fence, here are some reasons why you should hire an SEO agency.
It will save you time.
Most business owners and managers do not have the luxury of time, especially for a strategy as time-consuming as SEO.
SEO is a never-ending process that necessitates numerous hours of research, optimization, and maintenance. When you outsource SEO to a company, you get a team of experts behind your brand, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business. This is one of the reasons why many businesses find it appealing to hire an SEO agency; they specialize in completely managing your search marketing campaign practically 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
An agency can handle all of the time-consuming tasks associated with search engine optimization, such as:
Keyword research and a coordinated SEO strategy that focuses on your company’s key performance indicators (KPIs).
Meta-data optimizations tailored to your needs
Keyword density and content optimization
Internal linking optimization on a strategic level
Campaign data analysis, reporting, and data-driven adjustments
Monitoring for indexing issues and SEO performance issues
You can see all of the results, but your company won’t have to worry about fitting search marketing into an already hectic schedule.
It saves you money.
To finance the salaries, software, and equipment required to build a complete team of in-house SEO professionals, a significant and ongoing investment is required. One of the advantages of hiring an SEO company is that they can provide a strong team and resources at a lower cost than it would take to maintain an in-house team.
The service fees required to pay an outside company can be a turnoff for many businesses – but the importance of SEO for business growth and its unbeatable ROI make it impossible to ignore.
According to Statista research, SEO is one of the single most effective ROI-driving marketing strategies available, with 32% of marketers worldwide claiming the highest ROI and 41% claiming a medium ROI. This means that one of the most significant advantages of hiring an SEO firm is that any costs are offset by the valuable revenue generated.
Even better, the long-term growth in brand recognition and customer loyalty that SEO provides can allow businesses to save money when attempting to achieve the same results with other strategies – such as search PPC, paid ads, commercials, and so on.
Take Advantage of Industry Knowledge
Agencies provide a diverse group of experts, such as SEO professionals, web developers, and content writers, who are prepared to handle specific situations. Every individual in an agency has a focus and excels in that area to deliver the best results to your company.
Hiring an SEO company means getting advice from experts who specialize in SEO, have years of experience, and know more than you do.
Search engines like Google and Bing are constantly releasing new updates (dozens or even hundreds per year), making it difficult for businesses to keep up. Worse, they can cause businesses to lose important traffic without even realizing it!
Here are some of the reasons why hiring an SEO agency will provide you with nothing but professional assistance:
Agency experts can keep an eye on industry news channels, forums, and competitors for information on algorithm updates and their impact on SEO rankings.
Monitor the health of your website for indexing issues, traffic drops, ranking loss, manual actions, and other issues.
Capable of diagnosing problems and determining the root causes of algorithmic penalties and drops.
Provide direction and development advice for resolving issues.
Experts have access to cutting-edge technology and key industry platforms – and they know how to make the most of them. And they spread it to your brand.
They’ve worked with brands similar to yours before.
SEO agencies have worked with a wide range of clients and industries and have a thorough understanding of which strategies work best. They’ve already gone through years of trial and error and rigorous testing across a wide range of business landscapes, so they’re already ahead of the curve in terms of what will drive results.
So, why should you hire an SEO firm instead of doing it yourself? After all, who knows your company better than you do?
An agency, on the other hand, will have worked with dozens of other brands in your niche that is similar to yours. They will have assisted other businesses in rising to the top of page one of search results. And they can do it for you again. Agencies also understand how to combine your expectations with their strategies to create a fully customized campaign. For instance, they can:
Use their client SEO case studies to demonstrate tried-and-true strategies.
Rely on keyword research, competitor analysis, and effective content.
Pinpoint the KPIs and audiences that are important to you and know how to tailor SEO to them.
Create strategies for business-to-business (B2B), eCommerce, service-based marketing, software, content publishing, and other industries.
Target high-value, conversion-ready audiences at every stage of the sales funnel by focusing on “search intent.”
Increased Efficiency
Agencies have a tight-knit team that can develop and implement your SEO strategy at the same time. Agencies have the team and resources to make seamless changes with SEO professionals, website technicians, and content writers on staff. Because they are constantly working on your website, updates can be made much faster, and any urgent changes can be made on the spot.
Keep up with the latest trends.
SEO is always changing. Strategies that worked last month may no longer be effective today, so staying on top of trends and algorithm changes is one of the most important aspects of SEO. SEO agencies devote time to research and trend monitoring that many businesses do not have.
Your Company’s Security
SEO can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, as it opens the door to search penalties, spam, and hacking. One of the reasons why hiring an SEO agency makes so much sense is that SEO agencies know what to look for to avoid any negative consequences and keep your website (and rankings) safe!
Going with an SEO agency can be a great option for some businesses, but keep in mind that not all agencies are created equal. If you decide that outsourcing to an agency is the best option for you, make sure you do your homework. Be wary of any companies that offer guarantees or anything else that appears to be too good to be true (These could be red flags for a digital marketing agency).
This is where professionals can assist you.
Agencies have a dedicated team to monitor tools such as Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, and others for major issues. Errors such as black-hat attacks, bad backlinks, manual actions, security vulnerabilities, and so on can cause major issues if you don’t know what to look for. Another advantage of hiring an SEO company is that they can help protect your brand from negative publicity, competition, common SEO myths, and other threats.
Get Useful Data and Analytics to Help Your Business Grow Even More
The ability of SEO is to increase site traffic and drive long-term sales. But, an often-overlooked side benefit of hiring an SEO firm is the extra stuff: data!
You’ll also get professional insights into the data that you can use to grow every aspect of your business.
Most brands already use statistical data to better understand their customers and grow their businesses. Most businesses already use data tools like Google Analytics to track site traffic and key performance indicators (KPIs). So, why should you hire an SEO company to handle all of this? To digest the data you require to fine-tune your overall online strategy, and they’ll know exactly how to incorporate that data into the SEO campaign they run for you.
Consider the following capabilities of a digital marketing team:
Assist you in defining your ideal target customers and aligning your keyword strategy with those audiences using keyword research tools.
Determine which channel (i.e. social media, PPC, blog , etc.) are most beneficial to your business.
Understanding concepts such as “search intent” will allow you to precisely target conversion-ready searchers.
Monitor search traffic click data, impressions, and click-through rate (CTR) to determine where pages can be improved.
To determine where shoppers are most interested, read and comprehend data from Google Analytics eCommerce reports.
Isolate areas of a site that have a higher “bounce rate” and devise strategies to help prevent site exits.
Understand traffic data to identify when something is wrong and how to fix it before it’s too late.
What content leads to conversions and what does not.
These are just a few of the advantages of hiring an SEO company, particularly in terms of how data-rich, agency-level analysis can help you understand your entire digital marketing strategy. Not just look.
You Increase Your Sales and Revenue
This may seem self-evident, but it bears repeating. One of the most important reasons to hire an SEO agency is to increase sales and revenue. And not just a little. A lot.
According to BrightEdge research, search engines generate 40% of all online revenue and more than 53% of all internet traffic! SEO leads have a close rate of more than 14%. They are 8X more likely to close than leads from outbound marketing strategies. Businesses that rank first on page one of search results can expect to receive more than one-third of all clicks!
These figures highlight the importance of search optimization in driving actual sales/revenue.
SEO is far too important to overlook. So important that the benefits of hiring an SEO company have become too great for many businesses to overlook. Because of the importance of SEO as a foundation for business growth, it is not worth the risk of getting this channel wrong.
When is the best time to contact prospective customers? When they need something repaired and are prepared to hire a home service professional such as yourself?
Wrong. All of the time is the answer.
Here’s what we mean by using the marketing funnel as an example. Consider a marketing funnel to be a funnel that you would use to add oil to a bottle. The marketing funnel looks kind of like this. It depicts the typical customer journey and how you should market to customers at each stage of that journey.
While there are numerous theories regarding the various layers that comprise the marketing funnel, they all effectively boiled down to these layers:
These are the stages that a consumer goes through when becoming a new customer. The marketing funnel, like the funnel you use to change your oil, is widest at the top and gradually narrows as you move down. This represents the fact that when you market to customers at the top of the funnel (those who are just beginning their customer journey), you will start with a large audience, and that audience will shrink as you target more serious prospects (those who are ready to hire a professional).
Why is the Marketing Funnel important?
To be visible in all of the layers of the customer journey, you must have a full-funnel marketing strategy, which is especially important given that people tend to interact with a business several times before deciding to use their services.
Implementing a full-funnel marketing strategy can help you position your company to stay in front of customers and attract more jobs.
A Breakdown of the Marketing Funnel
Here’s a breakdown of each of the marketing funnel’s layers to help you better understand the consumers’ mindset at each stage of their purchase journey (and how to best appeal to them at these times). As you can see, as you move down the funnel, the consumer’s level of intent to make a purchase decision rises.
Low Intent: Awareness & Discovery
The awareness level is at the top of the funnel, where the consumer first makes contact. They may not even be aware that they require your services or who you are, but your company is gaining visibility in their eyes. The first step toward acquiring a customer is to ensure that they are aware of your existence!
Top-of-the-funnel advertising examples include:
Campaigns on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
Marketing and advertising through video (YouTube and Facebook)
Blog entries
Billboards
Commercials on the radio
Commercials on television
The goal of awareness is to build your company’s brand by being visible across multiple platforms. It’s well-known that when it comes time for a consumer to make a purchasing decision, they’re more likely to go with a company or brand with which they’re already familiar. Being active and visible to potential customers before they need your assistance will increase the long-term success of your business.
Moderate Intention: Evaluation & Purchase Intent
This is the funnel’s center. At this point, the potential customer is aware that they have a problem and are looking for specific solutions. They may also be aware of your company (due to the visibility you created with an upper-funnel marketing strategy) and are now deciding whether your company is the best choice. The research phase is another name for the consideration phase.
Examples of common mid-funnel strategies include:
Targeted content marketing via social media platforms
Email marketing campaigns
Product specifics
Coupons and specials
Referrals by word of mouth
Reviews
During the consideration stage, your goal is to ensure that your company stands out from the competition. You must be able to articulate why your company is superior to the competition.
High Intent: Purchase & Loyalty
This is the point in the funnel where the person searching has the greatest desire to book a job. They have finished all of their research and are ready to hire you.
Consumers with high intent are likely to respond favorably to:
Google paid advertisements (pay-per-click ads that appear in the search results)
Personalized search ads (ads that appear when someone searches for your business by name)
Display advertisements (ads that appear while people are browsing other websites)
Advertisements for remarketing (ads that appear to people who have already visited your site)
Local Services Ads (the “Google Guaranteed” advertisements that appear at the top of search results)
Conversion is the process of converting a prospective customer into a paying customer.
Using a funnel to combat weather changes
Because the home services industry is heavily influenced by seasonality, it’s critical to stay in front of potential customers as much as possible all year. If someone sees your trucks, billboards, or Facebook ads on a regular basis, they will be much more likely to contact your company when the time comes to hire a home services professional.
Consider the HVAC industry as an example…
As we near the end of the summer and enter the fall season, the HVAC busy season is coming to an end, which means that search volumes for HVAC services will drop significantly.
What are you doing to keep potential customers aware of your business during a time when they are unlikely to seek out your services? A full-funnel marketing strategy will help you stay visible and memorable in this situation.
If you’re not running social media awareness campaigns, writing helpful blogs, or advertising your company on TV or radio, one of your competitors will. When the cold season arrives, the customer will already know who to call. Make certain they will contact your company!
5 Points to Consider for a Successful Earned Media Strategy
If you’ve ever posted about the shoes you just bought or retweeted a brand’s hilarious meme, that is considered a form of earned media.
Although, people typically don’t just randomly post about brands. Something has to happen to encourage them to share, such as a high-quality product or an extremely informative blog post, to give them reason enough to post.
Just as you can’t completely control the earned media you receive from audiences, you also can’t sit back and expect it to come to you. To perfect your earned media strategy, as with most aspects of marketing, you must put in a lot of effort.
What exactly is earned media?
Earned media refers to coverage or promotion of your brand obtained through natural means. It’s a very effective form of content marketing, but it’s also the most difficult to obtain.
Earned media, owned media, and paid media are the three types of media. Paid media is anything you paid for, such as a magazine sponsored post, a social media ad, or an influencer’s post. Owned media refers to content you’ve created or distribution channels you control. A blog post on your website, for example, a social media post from your account, or a newsletter. To differentiate the social media channels, some people add a fourth type of media, social media or shared media.
Earned media differs from the other two in that it is media that you do not and cannot control. Earned media includes a mention on Instagram when someone visits your shop, an unsolicited Yelp review, and even a reshare of your blog post.
What is the significance of earned media for brands?
Consumers rely on recommendations from friends and family, as well as online review sites and unpaid social media influencer posts. All of these are examples of earned media that can help your brand’s reputation.
Earned media examples
Earned media comes in a variety of forms, and they all take time to develop. Many of these are the natural result of community building and a strong press strategy.
Review sites
Earned media from review sites includes feedback from sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google My Business. Honest and positive feedback is media gold. According to a Brightlocal study on consumer review behavior, 87% of them read online reviews for local businesses and only 48% would consider using a business with fewer than four stars.
It is not enough to understand how consumers interact with reviews; it is also necessary to understand what they do after reading them. After reading a positive review of a local business, 31% go to the company’s website, and 28% look for more reviews. The average consumer will read 10 reviews before deciding whether or not to trust a company.
As you can see, reviews play a significant role in a consumer’s purchasing decision. If you want to stay on top of online reviews, you’ll need an effective review management strategy.
Coverage in the media
You may believe that media coverage is a type of paid media, which is correct in some cases. Media coverage that your brand pays for and controls is referred to as advertising spots or sponsored articles.
Earned media is when you are mentioned or written about in the media without having to pay anyone. For example, your product may be featured in a gift guide, or your company may have done something noteworthy that was covered in a television segment.
This is where public relations work comes in. You can certainly do outreach with press releases, but you have no control over when or where coverage occurs.
Social Media Shoutouts
Social media shoutouts can occur in a variety of ways. The customer may have had such an amazing experience at your restaurant that they felt compelled to tell others about it. Or your product met a consumer need, and they want to tell others about it. Or maybe you posted something amazing on Instagram that had to be shared with others.
You have no control over what people post on social media, but you can certainly influence them. You have control over how your brand behaves, how good your product is, and how interesting your content is. The more you do these things on a regular basis, the more likely it is that you will receive social media shoutouts.
Brands such as Red Bull retweet fan comments and may also repost them to other networks in order to capitalize on brand shoutouts. One way to encourage more of these shoutouts is to incorporate user-generated content into your content marketing strategy.
Search engine results
Earned media is influenced by search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines take notice every time you add new content to your website. If someone’s search query matches one of your recent blog posts, you might appear on the first page of results. Paid media, such as paid search advertising, can be used to guarantee placement, but SEO tactics allow you to work organically to obtain ‘free’ placement if you execute them successfully.
There are numerous factors that go into a fully developed SEO strategy, ranging from keyword research to technical best practices. Some important foundational elements are creating high quality and useful content that meets your audience’s needs. Try to align with your marketing personas’ search intent and interests to create findable and share-worthy content for your audience. This approach will provide more value than simply pursuing the most popular keywords, which may or may not be related to people’s reasons for purchasing your product or service.
5 Points to Consider for a Successful Earned Media Strategy
Now that you’ve learned about some of the different types of earned media, here are some pointers to help you get more of it. Many of these tips cross platforms and channels, allowing you to boost various types of earned media with just one of these tactics.
Establish and maintain media relationships
Do you think of talking to journalists and members of the media only when you need something done?
Media relationships are similar to any other type of relationship in that they must be nurtured and built on trust.
A journalist may not require your product right away, but if you’ve established a working relationship, they may remember you when an opportunity arises.
This relationship-building does not have to be done solely via email.
Social media and public relations complement each other because they allow both brands and journalists to keep track of what the other is up to.
Make content that is both interesting and engaging.
Content worth engaging with and sharing is an important component of content marketing success. If it strikes a nerve with the audience, they will feel compelled to share it. Earned media includes retweets and reshares, as well as accounts that share content on their own.
From 167M #TikTok videos watched to 575K tweets, we're producing a whole lot of data!
Domo’s infographic, for example, was so intriguing that Sprout simply had to share it with their audience. It counts as earned media for Domo in this case.
Use all of your distribution channels.
Are you distributing your content in every possible way? Don’t rely solely on social media as a means of content distribution. Distribute your content through your newsletter and encourage your employees to share it.
Use an employee advocacy strategy to send your best content to people who are already big fans of your company to make this easier for you. Consider your employees to be another type of brand ambassador and a way for your customers to connect with your company on a personal level.
Create and demonstrate expertise.
What is one strategy for getting your brand recognized as an expert in articles? Showcase your industry knowledge with blog posts, social media posts, and other types of owned content. You’ll naturally become a go-to source for your industry as you establish yourself as an expert.
Harvard Business Review, for example, is well known in management circles for publishing interesting and relevant articles on how to improve business management. This trust did not emerge overnight. It was built over years of producing consistently high-quality content.
Be exceptional to your customers.
According to Statista, 59% of customers view brands that respond to questions or complaints on social media favorably. While social customer care has been around for a while, it is still an area where few brands excel. So, when it does happen, those fantastic social shoutouts occur.
This isn’t just limited to social media. Being great with your customers should occur in person, via email, and in any other way you interact with them. People notice when you go above and beyond for your entire customer base, not just the influencers. Chewy receives shoutouts like this on a regular basis because their customer experience team takes care of their customers in unique and personalized ways.
How to Monitor and Measure Earned Media
You may be wondering how to tell if an earned media strategy is effective. Depending on the direction of your strategy, your tracking method will differ. You can track earned media data on social media by keeping an eye on your brand mentions and keywords.
Earned media includes every retweet, repost, and reshare. Keep an eye on your brand’s share of voice to see where you stand in your industry. Are you receiving more attention than your competitors? If you’re creating content for your website, look at your referrals to see if you’re getting more social media referrals or being ranked higher in search results.
Begin Developing Your Earned Media Strategy.
Earned media is one of those types that every marketer desires but does not always receive. This is because the strategies you employ do not guarantee success; rather, they increase your chances of success. Earned media, on the other hand, is some of the most influential media available. Every brand wants more earned media, from review sites to social media shoutouts.
Starting with influencer marketing is one of the simplest ways to get started. You can start a paid influencer strategy to build relationships with brand advocates, which will lead to more earned media.
NINE UNUSUAL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
Updated: 6/03/2020
Getting noticed on social media is a constant challenge for any small business, especially with so much competition from other brands. If you have limited resources, it’s also difficult to maintain a consistent social media presence.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to build your social profile if you’re willing to try a different approach. Here are nine unusual social media marketing ideas you can try to help you be more creative and boost your social media impact.
TALK ABOUT YOUR COMPETITORS
If you think your product or service is better than everything else out there, explain to your followers why you think so and refer to some of the competition. This is called “building selective demand” and toilet paper brands love to do it. It’s a good way to get people thinking about the benefits of what you offer and where your product or service has more value than competitors. If a competitor responds, it’s good entertainment for your followers and can benefit both parties. Obviously, don’t make claims that you can’t back up. And keep it fun (and respectful) by using a little clean humor.
SHOW YOUR UNIQUENESS
A brand’s personality is a key part of any social media strategy, but many businesses fail to embrace their individuality. Social media is the perfect channel to show how unique you are and build a following of like-minded people. Being unique is more memorable and helps to differentiate you from the competition. So think about what makes you unique and boldly show your true personality – people will feel a stronger personal connection with your brand and are more likely to remain loyal customers.
ASK INTERESTING QUESTIONS
Post questions that will make your followers think about your product or business in a different way. Many big brands use this technique. For example, if you sell ties, you could ask: “Who is your favorite tie-wearer of all time?” It sparks a conversation around your brand and people stop thinking about you as just another business trying to sell them something. What interesting questions could you ask your audience? Don’t forget to use an image alongside your question to make it more eye-catching (bonus points if it’s contextually relevant).
SHARE YOUR NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
Most businesses understand that ignoring negative feedback is counterproductive, and the best way to deal with it is to respond directly, offering to resolve the issue. But you can go one step further by reposting the negative feedback alongside your response so that all your followers can see it. While you need to get the execution right – and clearly show how you can fix the problem – it’s a great way to build trust in your brand. Tackling negative feedback head-on will earn the respect of a lot of people.
BE UNASHAMEDLY RESPONSIVE
Many brands only reply to a handful of questions on social media. Just look at any feed and you’ll see plenty of unanswered questions. According to one social media study, brands only respond to 11 percent of people (1). What if you were different? You probably can’t reply to every comment, but you could try to reply to 50 percent of people, or even more. It’s a great opportunity to build relationships and show you listen to your audience.
GET EMOTIONAL
Professionalism is important in business, but this doesn’t mean that you have to be serious all of the time. Showing your emotional side from time to time is a simple way to humanize your brand and make more people notice you. If there’s a positive news story that makes you happy, share it with everyone. If something makes you angry, why not tell your followers? Also, don’t be afraid to use emojis to express yourself.
SPARK A DEBATE
Do you have an unconventional opinion about something? Say something controversial that relates to your business to get people talking. Using the tie-selling business example, they could post this: “We think more women should wear ties. Do you agree?” It’s not too controversial, but it’s enough to spark a debate among followers. As long as you don’t say something too divisive, it’s a great way to get more attention on social media.
BE REFRESHINGLY HONEST
Understandably, most companies don’t want to come across as too promotional. But ultimately, every consumer knows you’re a business trying to sell them something. From time to time, clearly tell them why you think your product or service is great, and why you think they should buy it. You might annoy a few people, but the majority will appreciate your honesty. When done properly, it can be refreshing and many of your followers will like you for it.
INTERVIEW A FOLLOWER
Pick out an interesting comment from one of your followers and reach out to them, asking for a brief “interview” via direct message. Ask them about their experiences with your products and services, or what they would like to see from your business in the future. Then create a short blog post revolving around the results of the “interview” and post a link to social media.
IT’S ALL UP TO YOU
If you’re struggling to engage your social media audience, remember that social media is a tool that you choose how to use. There aren’t any “rules” you have to stick to. By being a bit more creative than your competitors, you can stand out from the crowd, build a loyal following, and make sure your social media strategy isn’t a marketing dead-end, but a powerful tool for business growth.
