Looking for the best all-around team that can help you conquer a vast range of digital challenges? Here at Proecho Solutions, we strive to help businesses grow and thrive. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, our team provides all sorts of solutions such as:
Today is an extremely proud moment for us because we’re celebrating another recognition that was made possible by our clients’ support. Just recently, Clutch announced that Proecho Solutions is part of the list of leading firms in North Carolina’s advertising space this 2022!
“We’re proud to earn this special honor from Clutch two years in a row! It wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of our team and the support of our customers. THANK YOU!”
— Chief Executive Officer of Proecho Solutions
Clutch is an independent B2B platform that connects small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses with service providers that fit their needs. Year over year, Clutch Leader Awards recognize the highest-performing B2B companies by industry, service focus, and location. By running thorough research, the website determines the outstanding leaders that demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to excellence. We’re truly ecstatic to land a spot on their esteemed Leaders Matrix for our category!
To earn this recognition, companies are evaluated on a strict set of criteria which includes verified client testimonials and extensive portfolios. Needless to say, we’re celebrating this moment because of our clients’ awesome support and trust.
Thank you so much to all of our incredible clients who helped us get to where we are today. We appreciate all the opportunities you’ve entrusted us with. It’s an absolute honor to be your trusted partner through highs and lows.Achieve 10x better results with Proecho Solutions? Leave us a message to tell us what you need and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
While it’s hard to quantify the effect of a single backlink on a single page, we can look at the correlation between the backlinks and the ranking of a group of pages. Based on a study by Ahrefs there is a clear trend between the number of referring domains to a page and its organic search traffic (see graph below).
What is a referring domain?
A referring domain means a unique website linking to your page. “Unique” means a site that hasn’t previously linked to your page, as opposed to a site that has already linked to your page before.
Why are referring domains important?
The referring domains act as a “vote of confidence” from another website. When Google crawls a site it trusts and sees a link to your site, it considers this as a vote that your site is trustworthy/popular. The more unique votes Google encounters, the more confident it is that users will find value from your page, thus improving your ranking in SERPs.
There are several factors that influence how effective each referring domain is:
How trusted is the referring domain?
Is the page that links to your page relevant to your industry / topic of the linked page?
Is the link “dofollow” or “nofollow”? (Dofollow backlinks and nofollow backlinks are two ways of identifying a link and telling Google how to associate the website you are linking to your website. Dofollow links are a way to pass on authority to a website, while a nofollow link does not pass on link juice.)
Is the anchor text relevant to your page?
What is guest posting?
Guest Posting is the vehicle by which we optimize the 4 criteria:
The websites we choose to post on are filtered by a third party metric that measures the authority of the website
Since we write the article ourselves, we control the content and can ensure the article is highly relevant to the page we link to
A “nofollow” basically means here’s another resource, but we’re not giving it a vote of confidence, whereas “dofollow” means we are giving it a vote of confidence. We only post on sites that allow us to link to your page using a “dofollow” link.
Anchor text is the actual text of the link. If you wanted to rank a page for the search term “leather boots” a link with anchor text, “premium leather boots” would be more effective than a link with anchor text, “click here”. Again, since we control the content, we can optimize this text to be highly relevant to your page.
Why are guest posts important?
Let’s take a look at it from Google’s perspective. When a website begins to gain more and more votes of confidence, the algorithm’s thought process goes a little like this:
“Wow, this is great content, let’s see how it compares to existing articles…Okay, it’s better than most but there are a few that are similar quality. Let me look at the other metrics to determine how to order these. Ah, I see that these other articles have upvotes from other websites and have been around for a while and I know that our users are finding what they need in these existing articles because they’re staying around long enough to read all of the content. I’ll put the new one below these for now and reconsider its position if things change.”
The links from guest posts help break this tie with your page winding up higher in the results. Even if the content on your page is much better than a competitor’s page, the page with the better links will often win the exchange. The “quality” of content is subjective by nature and difficult for a human to compare accurately. It’s even more difficult for an algorithm. This is evident if you’ve ever seen popular websites on the first few results of the SERP but not found what you’re looking for in the articles and had to click on results at the bottom of the SERP to find what you’re looking for. The big names won the top spots because they’re more trusted, rather than because their content surpassed the others.
Final Thoughts
A final note on why guest posts are important — when we research the keywords or search terms we want to target with blog articles, we look for the terms with the highest traffic that we have a good chance of ranking for. We can see how many referring domains the competitors have and what quality those referring domains are. Knowing we will have a few referring domains shortly after article creation allows us to target search terms with higher traffic. Without referring domains we may only be able to confidently target search terms with 50 – 100 searches per month as opposed to terms with 500 – 2000+ searches per month.
Instagram is constantly evolving and changing, so today we’re sharing all of the new Instagram updates 2022 that all businesses and Instagram marketing agencies should be aware of.
This includes a significant one that will carry more weight with the algorithm than anything we’ve seen in a long time.
Instagram is now offering free credit to users who shop on their platform.
The first on our list of Instagram updates 2022 was a pleasant surprise for us was an Instagram popup offering us $5 or $10 to shop at our favorite Instagram shops. Another thing we’ve noticed is that Instagram is offering consumers a 20 percent discount and free shipping!
When we click the hamburger icon on the profile and then click Cart, our offers appear at the top. As a result, this is consistent with the significant push we’ve seen to transform Instagram from a photo and video sharing app to a shopping platform.
You can now use another Reel to respond to comments on your Reel.
Someone commented on one of our team’s Reels on her creator account, and Instagram prompted us with the following message:
“You can now respond to a comment with a Reel that contains the comment as a sticker.”
Your reply Reel will be visible in the comment thread as well as anywhere else you share Reels. We’ve seen this format on other social media platforms like TikTok, so Instagram is naturally following suit. If you get a lot of comments or questions about your reels, this presents a great way for you to engage your audience while also increasing your exposure.
Added text-to-speech and voice effects to Reels
The next item on our list of Instagram updates 2022 is about Reels once more. The text-to-speech feature, according to Instagram, “lives within our text tool in the Reels camera and allows an auto-generated voice to read your text aloud.” Text to speech allows you to add narration to your Reels without using your voice, allowing you to be more creative and add fun and humor.
You can see how the text-to-speech tool looks in this image. These tools simply give you a little more creative freedom as a small business owner to create trendy, attention-grabbing Reels.
Instagram is now allowing US creators to use Live badges.
“By enabling badges, you can get paid for the Live content you’re creating,” Instagram claims. Your viewers can buy badges in $0.99, $1.99, and $4.99 increments, and as supporters, they will receive a personalized thank you message as well as increased visibility in your Live. This is big news for creators because they now have the ability to monetize their content within the Instagram app.
This feature is now only available to creators in the United States who are 18 or older and have at least 10,000 followers. In addition, they must have a creator or business account. Finally, they must adhere to Instagram’s partner monetization policies as well as community guidelines.
You can check your Professional dashboard to see if you’re eligible. If you aren’t, you can apply for monetization on that page. This feature will not only help creators earn a little extra money, but will also encourage audience engagement.
The algorithm’s chronological order has been restored.
If you’re an early Instagram user, you’ll recall that the posts you saw on your feed were determined solely by the order in which they were posted. That was replaced a few years ago by an Instagram algorithm that allegedly serves you posts based on what it believes are your preferences.
However, after years of complaints from users who were dissatisfied with the algorithm- both on the consumer and business owner sides- Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri revealed that the company is working on a version of its feed that will display users’ posts in chronological order, in contrast to its current ranking algorithm, which sorts posts based on user interests. Apparently, this feature has been in the works “for months,” with Instagram aiming for a release in the first quarter of 2022.
Small businesses and influencers have been attempting to decipher the algorithm for several years by requesting as many likes, comments, saves, shares, and story engagements as possible. Despite all of their engagement, many of their followers were still not seeing their posts.
As a result, this one on our list of Instagram updates 2022 would be extremely beneficial to small business owners.
This is because a chronologically-based feed will increase your account’s chances of organic exposure and engagement. However, it is important to note that the chronological feed will be an option that users can choose to toggle on their home screen.
However, this leaves it up to the user to decide whether they want to keep the algorithm as is, view their feed as it has been for the last few years, or switch to a chronological view. According to one article, “the current feed uses AI to create what Instagram considers a more personalized feed, based on user activity.” Despite the company’s claims to the contrary, it has remained unpopular with a large number of users.
As a result, we may see a large number of people opt for the new chronological version. If you’re looking for Instagram marketing services to help you with your IG marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out.
One of the most difficult challenges for small businesses may be achieving sustainable growth. Your company’s future must be able to generate leads and expand your customer base. Facebook marketing strategies can be used to your advantage. Concentrate your efforts on a few key areas, and you’ll be able to grow your brand while also attracting paying customers.
What Are the Differences Between Organic and Paid Social Media?
Both organic and paid social media tactics can help you achieve your objectives. The distinctions are in the amount of exposure your content receives and the speed with which results are obtained.
Paid social is a great way to get results quickly after placing an ad or paying to boost a Facebook post. When it comes to paid social, your exposure ends as soon as your budget runs out.
Organic methods require a little more time to implement, but the results can be more long-lasting.
Because online promotion can be costly, you must maximize the return on your investment. You can achieve excellent results by combining organic strategies with the best return on investment for paid methods. Check out these 7 Facebook marketing strategies and tips to help you grow your brand.
1. Optimize Your Profile Page
Most Facebook marketing agencies will tell you to start off with optimizing your profile page to provide your audience with as much information about your company as possible. Check that your contact information is complete, correct, and up to date.
When you reach 25 followers, don’t forget to choose a vanity URL. A vanity URL is a unique page address for your company’s website. Typically, it will be your company name or a phrase associated with your brand.
Your profile page should link to your website, and your website should link to your profile page. Create a banner for your cover image and use your logo as your Facebook profile picture.
2. Make a Content Plan.
Successful Facebook marketing strategies necessitate regular content posting. To ensure that you do this, create a content calendar that includes the following items:
industry and social events,
seasonal patterns,
popular subjects,
as well as interactive content
Additionally, keeping your communication linear will encourage people to return to your profile.
When planning your content, research keywords: find out what keywords are being searched for in your field and create content around those keywords. You can also use a tool like Google Trends to find out what topics are trending in your niche.
After you’ve created your keyword list, you can use Facebook Creator Studio to schedule your content ahead of time, saving you a significant amount of time by doing all of your social media and content planning for the month at once.
3. Be Authentic. Be Consistent.
Though regular posting is necessary, you don’t want to get to the point where you’re simply uploading content for the sake of posting. If you want to maximize your return on investment, you should post with a specific goal in mind.
Try to relate to and understand your customers when creating content: how will your audience perceive your content? After all, you’re doing it for them. Be approachable, engaging, and informative.
Writing a useful post will not result in sales unless you can persuade your audience to take action. That is why you must include a strong, visible call to action – and don’t forget to include a phone number or page link.
4. Be Aware of Your Competitors.
Your small business isn’t the only one playing the Facebook marketing game. You’ll need to keep an eye on your competitors so you can compare your efforts to theirs. Try to take advantage of any additional research that you may have that your competitors do not.
When benchmarking, you should also consider what is working for your competitors: what types of posts generate the most interaction for them? What kind of return on investment do they get from their paid ads? What kind of money are the big players putting up?
5. Concentrate on Developing Your Community
Create a Facebook Group centered on the interests of your customers. The more tightly knit the community you build, the more people will trust your brand. Because not all small businesses can benefit from the creation of a Facebook Group, you must first consider whether your target audience requires this and then determine what conversation topics will pique their interest.
What will entice them to join your group? People appreciate having their own space. Consider how you can give back to your community while also supporting your clients. This will undoubtedly pay off, as you will soon notice an increase in brand loyalty and may even discover some brand ambassadors!
Participate in other community interest groups as well. By positioning your company as an authority in your industry, you will gain a loyal following, which will translate into sales and brand equity.
6. Make Use of Custom Retargeting Audiences.
Retargeting on Facebook is a type of digital advertising that targets users who interacted with your brand but did not convert. Here’s how to get started with custom audiences:
Navigate to your Facebook Ads Manager.
Audiences should be chosen.
Select Custom Audiences to create an audience.
Then, from the dropdown menu, select a target audience.
This will generate a pixel code, which you must then insert into your website.
With the Custom Audiences feature, you can use retargeting on your email and eCommerce lists. You’ll also be able to show ads to a custom audience that you’ve created using your email lists.
7. When Possible, Increase the Visibility of Your Posts (i.e. boost them)
When you share content on Facebook, it is not shown to your entire following. This is done to encourage businesses like yours to pay a small fee to boost their content. Though this may appear to be an unusual business model, it can be beneficial to your company. You can increase your following and generate leads by spending $5 to boost a well-crafted piece of content. Don’t forget to invite people to like your page and follow your brand when promoting a post. If done correctly, a small investment can go a long way.
Using Facebook to Get the Most Out of Your Marketing
With over 2.6 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a robust platform. With so many people spending time on Messenger, in groups, and simply scrolling through their feed, your company’s target audience may be on Facebook as well. If they are, use an effective marketing strategy to convert them into paying customers.
The best way to use Facebook marketing strategies for your small business is to combine organic and paid methods. Monitor your metrics to track engagement and compare your methods and results to the market’s top players.
With over 80% of businesses on Facebook, why leave the extra revenue on the table for someone else to take? Even on a shoestring budget, your small business website and a solid Facebook marketing strategy can generate leads and sales.
Even more importantly, you will have the opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your audience. This can only lead to increased business authority, as well as higher conversion rates.
Startups, like any other firm, can’t flourish without a solid startup marketing strategy. A well-documented plan for startups explains a company’s strategy for achieving its objectives. In other words, a good marketing plan serves as a road map for a startup’s success.
Startup Marketing Plans Are 100% Necessary
A marketing plan consists of strategies for the promotion of a startup’s products and/or services. It’s important to know, while there is no standard template, it usually includes details, information, timelines, and checklists that serve as the starting point for guiding the marketing process.
Standard marketing plans assist startups in identifying the right customers, media channels, and ways to target them. For most brands, the success of the business is highly dependent on a solid startup marketing strategy that is implemented on time. Marketing plans for startups can help by:
Determining the efficacy of a startup’s marketing strategy
Clarifying the market position of services and products
Understanding your market, competitors, and customers
Defining a company’s products and services
Recognizing and implementing various marketing strategies
The Elements of a Startup Marketing Plan
After reviewing hundreds of case studies from different digital marketing agencies for startups, we developed a marketing plan outline that can help you get your business off the ground quickly and easily.
First, customers must be identified.
First and foremost, you need to determine who exactly are your customers in as much in-depth detail as possible. Simon Sinek suggests beginning with “WHY” before moving on to HOW. Determine who your customers are and then develop a startup marketing strategy for them. You should be aware that numerous other startups are selling nearly identical products to yours. So, what is your competitive advantage? First, you must determine which type of consumer you are attempting to reach. Your efforts would be rewarded if you provided a comprehensive description of these categories. Describe the target audience in great detail so that everyone understands the goals you’re trying to accomplish.
For instance, here’s a buyer persona sketch for an e-commerce store selling yoga leggings.
Demographics: Primarily females between the ages of 18 to 28, University and College education, with median income of $40K per year.
Psychographics: Interests include athletics, gymnastics, fitness, yoga, and exercise.
Objectives: To become more attractive and slim.
Purchasing Power: $50-$100
Problems:
Lacks time to go out and purchase fitness gear from a local store.
Desires to lose weight quickly
Wants compression pants that will help lose weight and gain muscle
Follow the Buyer’s Journey
After there is a good understanding of the customer and buyer’s persona, you can begin tracking them to gain additional information about their purchasing habits and preferences. This will uncover the future marketing focus of your startup. It’s important to develop clear and actionable information into how to expand your business further. As a result, it is critical to track the buyer’s journey using various tools and software.
For example, you can use analytics tools to translate website traffic into the buyer’s journey. Google Analytics is a free tool that provides a wide range of tracking options, including purchases, phone calls, and contact form submissions.
Differentiate Yourself From the Competition
The only way to stand out from the crowd is to leverage your unique position. A key component of a startup marketing strategy is by implementing features and benefits that competitors do not offer. Search forums, social media, and other online communities are great places to learn what your customers like and dislike. Then, simply incorporate those features into your offer.
Then promote the features in the same places so that potential customers are aware that you offer these features. A simple yet comprehensive positioning statement of how you will meet the needs of your customers while outperforming the competition can work wonders for you. A positioning statement with a goal-oriented approach to problem-solving is preferable to a skewed vision.
Include Marketing Concepts for Specific Niche Markets
Anyone who is starting a business from the ground up should find a way to give their company an advantage. One of the most important ways for a company to gain a competitive advantage is to identify a market niche where it can best implement promotions to outperform other players in that market segment.
Finding a niche can be challenging. However, owning a specific niche should be one of the primary goals for the business. By researching the details about the niche segment, you can really gain an understanding of the market in which you’re operating, where gaps in the market are, and how to capitalize on the niche segments.
To summarize:
Look for new trends.
Experiment with new technology.
Discover and pursue market opportunities.
Create novel solutions to a problem.
Ensure startup marketing strategy is documented before starting.
Selecting Profitable Marketing Channels
When you first start, you will focus on multiple channels, but after a few months of trial and error, you should have identified a few channels that work.
Forbes reports that:
Among the hundreds of marketing channels available (PR, influencers, events, digital, podcasts, print, newsletters, partnerships, and so on), it’s critical to choose the ones that will work the hardest for you for the least amount of money. A good marketing strategy begins with strategically placing bets on a few channels where your customer is most likely to see your message AND take action (like, share, buy, comment, sign up, review).
It’s also important to ensure that you’re engaging with customers at every step of the purchasing journey, from brand awareness to customer purchase. Also, be sure to stay in touch with customers after they’ve purchased to nurture brand loyalty and consumer advocacy.
Now, repeat the process.
Stay with your plan once you’ve devised one. Implement the plan for six months and then measure results to understand what worked and what didn’t. There will be times when the strategy does not go as planned; keep track of these instances and monitor your progress. You’ll have gained enough experience after six months to make better-informed decisions in the future.
Marketing Channels for Startups
Now let’s look at tactics for promoting your startup to gain new customers. Aside from the traditional approaches such as radio, print, or broadcast media, we have compiled a shortlist of various communications channels that can help grow your business.
Let’s look at how to use them effectively to make an impact.
Social Media
Social media has especially grown in popularity over the last 15 years, and serves as a good starting point for modern-marketing methods. It has transformed into an essential component of any marketing strategy because it allows you to reach a larger audience without a big investment. By taking a strategic approach, you can concentrate on smaller goals. Use it in conjunction with your other content, such as newsletters, blog articles, influencer collaboration, ebooks, and so on.
Points to remember:
Test content across all social media channels, but focus on a select few that are successful.
Post engaging and helpful content that raises brand awareness.
Assist potential customers by answering their questions in communities and groups.
Search Engine Marketing (SEO)
The majority of digital startups continue to rely heavily on search engines for increasing site traffic and growing revenue over a long-term timeline. They generate traffic organically from search engines like Google through blogging, earned media via public relations, and building backlinks through guest posting. That is why startups should prioritize improving their rankings on search engines, but not rely solely on it. A solid SEO strategy significantly reduces spending while increasing potential ROI.
When you first start with search engine marketing, make sure to:
Experiment with high-volume long-tail keywords to generate relevant traffic to your website.
Email Marketing
Whoever said email marketing is dead, is dead wrong! Email marketing continues to be an effective medium of promotion and marketing for most companies. It is also an essential component of a marketing strategy and can be effectively used for retargeting. Email marketing tactics can help businesses expand their reach, and to convert visitors into customers, email marketing necessitates the automation of drip marketing campaigns.
Email marketing is implemented as a way to move visitors from the awareness stage to the conversion and loyalty stages by sending relevant marketing material to customers at different steps of the buying journey.
Startups that want to grow their business through email marketing should:
A/B test email subject lines, headlines, and content.
Subscribers can be segmented based on their interests and preferences.
Paid Promotion
Simply put, paid advertising is absolutely crucial to the grow of any business. As a startup, you must first become acquainted with your brand before advertising it to the appropriate audience and target market. You can impress your audience and extend the reach of your business by targeting customer preferences and advertising relevant messages to them. It’s important to ensure that you identify the most effective paid marketing channels for gaining new clients. For example, Facebook marketing strategies like paid ads work great for consumer products but are less effective at driving growth for business-to-business brands.
There exists a degree of uncertainty when it comes to paid marketing and digital advertising. That’s why experts advise that your strategy should not rely solely on paid advertisements as the primary source of inbound traffic. Please keep in mind that paid ads rely on either purchasing intent or impulse purchases. People who use search engines have higher purchasing intent, whereas people who browse social media feeds in their spare time are more likely to make impulse purchases.
Referrals and Affiliates
People frequently affiliate and referral programs confused.
Affiliates are other businesses that are attempting to make money by promoting your products.
Referrals are repeat customers who recommend your business to their friends and family.
Obtaining affiliate partnerships for your startup is one of the most effective ways to gain new customers quickly. Affiliate recommendations typically come with more authority, which positively influences people to sign up for your program. From an ROI perspective, you only have to pay your affiliates a commission when someone signs up through their referral link, rather than spending on tactics that drive traffic to your website.
In comparison to paid marketing, affiliate partnerships are a more effective way to acquire customers.
Another effective way to grow sales is through referral marketing. Generally speaking, referrals don’t perform as well as affiliate marketing, but it’s still a good marketing strategy for startups. For instance, companies like Lyft and Uber make excellent use of referral marketing. When someone downloads their app, they receive a message informing them that if someone else uses their coupon to get a ride, they will receive a credit to be used in their app.
Because of the direct impact on increasing profitability, affiliate programs deserve special attention in your startup marketing plan.
Startups can use this marketing strategy to grow their exposure and gain more customers. However, to pull this tactic off successfully, it’s important that customer support is superior. If not, you’ll risk losing your affiliate programs if errors occur with customers sourced from affiliates.
Blogs and Public Relations
Startups should also concentrate on developing content as part of their strategy. This entails developing six-month keyword research, blog marketing, and outreach strategy focused on organic rankings. According to the Content Marketing Institute, blog articles alone are an effective way to raise brand awareness about your product than any other medium. Another benefit of content marketing is you own the content. You don’t know when the social media algorithm will change, or when the paid marketing channel you use to promote your products will increase in price. But you do know your blog will always be working for you, 24/7/365.
Marketing Through Influencers
Influencer marketing is another approach to generate buzz for startups. As a result, it is a critical component of the startup marketing strategy. It entails identifying, collaborating (and most times, paying) a social media influencer to spread your message within their network. Influencer marketing does not guarantee sales, but it is an excellent way to raise brand awareness.
It’s important to remember:
Influencers can be used to test new products in the market more quickly.
More ROI can be obtained by utilizing micro-influencers.
Focus on a variety of micro-influencers to expand your reach.
Offline marketing should not be underestimated.
Digital marketing is absolutely sufficient to spark growth on its own. However, some startups require traditional marketing mediums to succeed. Print media and television marketing, billboard and transit advertisements, event marketing and sponsorship, and guerilla marketing are all examples of offline marketing channels. Because of their impact on effectively growing a brand, these marketing options should be considered when developing a startup marketing plan.
Other examples also include sales brochures, business cards, flyers, and vouchers. Before deciding on the type of offline channel to use, it is critical to first have a deep understanding of your customers.
Marketing Performance Metrics
Now that you’ve determined all aspects of your marketing strategy, it’s time to put your plan into action. Begin by marketing through various social media channels, start broad then narrow your campaigns to a few that work.
Prepare to Make Changes
Lastly, don’t be afraid to change the direction of your campaign to find a successful marketing strategy for your startup. Things have a habit of changing. To meet market demands, all businesses must be ready to change the course to maintain a competitive advantage.
Were you able to use this guide to create a startup marketing plan? What else should we say about it? Let us know by sharing this article on social media and tag us in the post!
Guest posting has risen to become one of the best Search Engine Optimization practices for any website, from everyday bloggers to large corporations. One of the biggest challenges for an online business is getting your messages to your potential leads, and though a solid social media strategy will always be beneficial, it can take a while to see the fruits of your labor. This is where guest posting can come in. Below you’ll learn how guest posting can help your bottom line, and how to do it the right way.
First, it’s important that we answer the question, “What is guest posting?” According to newbreedmarketing.com:
Guest blogging, also called “guest posting,” is the act of writing content for another company’s website. Generally, guest bloggers write for similar blogs within their industry in order to: Attract traffic back to their website.
It may seem counterproductive to spend time writing articles for other sites (that you may even look at as competitors no less), when you could be using that time to create content for your own site. But the opportunities that guest posting can offer you can be monumental for your SEO and sales goals. Here are some of the things that guest posting can do for your site.
INTRODUCE YOU TO A NEW CROWD
Writing blog posts for other blogs allows you to get in front of their audience, thus raising your brand awareness to potential prospects who may be unfamiliar with your brand.
INCREASE YOUR BRAND TRUST
If your brand provides quality content, people will come back for more. It’s really as simple as that. Building authority in your industry goes hand in hand with building customer trust. Guest posting on other related sites allows you to display your depth of knowledge in your field.
HELP YOU PULL IN MORE SITE VISITS
A website without traffic is a website without profits. When your article goes live on another site, this can supply you with months and years of traffic, depending on the popularity of the site that it’s posted on and how helpful your post is.
ENABLE YOU TO GET FREE BACKLINKS
One last advantage of guest posting is that it allows you to get a backlink to your website, which is a major factor in SEO ranking. Why? Because backlinks are the lifeblood of SEO, and typically the more backlinks a website has, the higher Google will rank it in search results.
QUICK TIPS FOR OUTREACH
Start by making a list of anywhere from 10-50 sites that you’d like to guest post for.
Determine whether or not the site accepts accept guest posts first.
Bypass your competition and instead look for related blogs to write for.
Shoot for sites that are bigger than yours, but not so much that you’ll likely get ignored.
Don’t forget to continuously do keyword research to find new opportunities.
GETTING YOUR PITCHES READ
When you’ve discovered the sites you’re going to write for, you now have to figure out how to produce an astonishing pitch that is sure to make the blogger you’re reaching state yes without fail. Here are a few ways to do this.
BE A “PEACOCK”
How can you make your ideas stand out from the rest? Try to think of unique angles to subjects that have been discussed recently, or consider re-hashing an old post and spinning it with new ideas and updates. Be sure to create a title that is attention-grabbing and memorable, and don’t be afraid to include links to other noteworthy pieces that you’ve published. It’s OK to show off a little bit.
CUSTOMIZE EACH OUTREACH EMAIL
Your content strategy can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. Don’t send the same template email to every site you pitch. Make sure to tailor all of your pitch emails to the specific person (and site). Also, be sure to include the person’s name (and the name of the site) as well as a reason why your pitch should be considered.
BE GENUINE
Attempt to make an actual connection with whoever you’re contacting. Keep in mind, there is a human behind that site as much as there is behind yours, and regardless of whether their blog is bigger than yours, we’re all human at the end of the day. Be yourself and be clear about what you want from them. When it comes to effective outreach, people are more receptive than you may think.
Lastly, don’t spam your prospects. Create a spreadsheet or other tracking document and note all of your follow-ups. Try following up once or twice, and if they don’t respond then simply cross them off your list.
Guest posting can offer a great way to meet and share with other bloggers, introduce your content to new audiences, and get valuable SEO backlinks. Remember to be personable, direct, and unique when conducting your outreach. It’s really just a numbers game at the end of the day.
Successful Marketing Requires Understanding Your Customer’s Wants and Needs
At the end of the day, the basic customer’s wants and needs are the primary driving force for taking action to engage with your brand and buy your products or services. Whenever a need goes unsatisfied, there exists a gap between what a customer desires and what they currently have – whether on a physical or psychological level. This is important to remember for global mass-market organizations, mid-market companies, and small-to-medium-sized businesses because the impact is the same. If a need in a market is unmet, the competition will have an opportunity to gain an advantage when contending for the same customers.
Consumer Needs
This is where human psychology and behavior come into play, which focuses on the premise that every human has a need. Needs can be a basic physical need critical to our survival, such as food, drink, shelter, and sleep. People also have social and emotional needs that are critical to one’s happiness and mental health, such as belonging, security, esteem, love, and self-fulfillment. Needs are what motivates the behavior of people to make a decision to find a solution, which in many cases is “consumption behavior”. Having needs fulfilled do not come from marketers or social forces; they come from the basic biological and psychological aspects of human existence.
Similar to customers, businesses also have needs that must be satisfied to assure survival and well-being. The driving force behind the needs of an organization is determined by the strategic objectives and the resources required to achieve the objectives, such as capital, equipment, inventory, supplies, or services.
Consumer Wants
A consumer’s wants usually reflect the desired preferences for specific ways of satisfying a need. Thus, people usually want particular products, brands, or services that satisfy their needs in a specific way. A person is thirsty but wants something sweet, so perhaps they choose a Coke. Someone may need a new car, but they want a pickup truck because they live on a farm (a truck will best fit their needs) but they want Ford because “they’re tough” or perceived a dependable. When considering a B2B organization, a company may need office space, but they want an office with a prestigious address in midtown Manhattan.
Usually, needs are relatively few, but wants are shaped by social influences (celebrity or influencer endorsements), past history (recalls or awesome charitable work), and consumption behavior (the product or service is practical, functional, and effectively solves a problem). It’s important to remember that different people have different wants to satisfy the same need. Everyone needs to keep warm on a cold winter night, but some people want to use a down comforter while some people want to crank up the heat, and others may even want to use an electric blanket.
These differences between the customer’s wants and needs help to shed light on whether or not marketing campaigns and advertising can actually meet people’s wants and needs. Neither a marketing agency nor any other social force can create the physical and emotional aspects of being human. However, marketing and social forces can influence and customer’s wants and needs. A major role of a marketing agency is to help develop and promote products or services by simulating a customer’s specific want for a specific brand that helps them better satisfy one or more of their needs.
Some business owners question whether or not a strong focus on customer needs and wants is always a good thing. It’s been argued that a customer may not always be able to articulate what they need or want. For instance, the smartphone is a good example of how consumers may not know that a product or service is technically possible, however, the need for more convenience always exists.
Akio Morita (late CEO of Sony) once said:
Our plan is to lead the public with new products rather than ask them what kind of products they want. The public does not know what is possible, but we do. So instead of doing a lot of marketing research, we refine our thinking on a product and its use and try to create a market for it by educating and communicating with the public. (1)
In fact, the Chrysler Minivan was developed with little or no market research. (You’re welcome, Karen.) In comparison, the Ford Edsel, New Coke, and McDonald’s Mclean low-fat burger, were all flops that were developed with a lot of customer feedback. (2)
When you think about it, the laws of probability dictate that some new products will succeed and even more will fail, regardless of how much money is invested into market research. Although, we should point out that without fault, critics of customer market research argue that paying too much attention to needs and wants can suppress innovation, leading companies to produce only marginal improvements, or even settling for producing line extensions of products and services that already exist, wrapped up with brand messaging as something different. How then, should business owners and marketers find a balance in this dilemma?
Conduct Market Research
While end-consumers may not always be able to accurately describe what they want, the same usually is not the same for business-to-business customers. In fact, the customer’s wants and needs of a B2B business are generally very clear and easy to understand. Oftentimes, B2B products are developed by the urging of customers and are designed in partnership between vendor and customer.
In contrast, gaining an understanding of consumer markets through research and opportunity analysis should be approached from an R&D perspective. This can be achieved by a conversation (conducted via focus groups, surveys, etc.) about technical concepts that can then be turned into salable products or services. The following is a great example of how we utilized social media to conduct market research for our client, Well Played Board Game Cafe.
A customer focus is critical for business development. It’s important to utilize analytical insights, market experience, and customer inputs to decide what products or services to make, what benefits they will offer to customers, and whether customers will value the benefits – at least enough to make it commercially viable.
The success factor of focusing on the customer often becomes clear when businesses attempt to develop a variety of new product offerings from an already well-established and successful product or technology. (i.e. Crystal Pepsi). In the case of new innovative technology like Augmented Reality, the tech must first be developed into a prototype or product concept before consumers can react and the commercial potential can be determined. In other cases, customers are able to describe the specific benefits they need or want without knowing what is technically feasible.
Customers usually find it easier to express what they don’t like or want about a product or service and what additional benefits they would like from something new. For example, before Apple introduced the iPod (yes, even before the iPhone), very view people knew about the convenience the product provided or were unaware of the possibilities of digital technology. At the time, if you asked a customer if they would buy a product smaller than a Sony Walkman that could store 10,000 songs they could import from their computer without messing with changing CDs and the songs won’t skip we all would say “YES PLEASE!”
THE TAKEAWAY
Although a strong focus on customers is necessary for developing new innovative products, it also shouldn’t hinder business owners from focusing on satisfying the wants and needs customers are able to articulate by improving current products or services. More importantly, even though organizations can succeed in the short run by ignoring customer desires, incorporating a strong customer focus pays off over time in terms of market share and profit. (3)
1. Quoted in Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, Competing for the Future (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press. 1994)
2. Justin Martin, “Ignore Your Customer”, Fortune, 5/1/1995/ P121-126
3. “The Effect of Market Orientation on Business Profitability,” Journal of Marketing 54 (4/90) p1-18
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
