18Nov

Grow Your Small Business with Digital Marketing Trends

November 18, 2021 W. Scott Cain 69

In a world full of an abundance of choices, consumers rarely choose a small business. They see it as a risky option or already have a trustworthy brand for their needs. With that being stand, the internet is full of inspiring stories of small-scale businesses who made it out big. One of the most crucial components of their success formula is digital marketing.

It denotes a set of tactics and strategies that helps to drive leads and transform them into customers. Due to the advent of modern technologies, this process is becoming more personalized and seamless.

In that sense, here is a round-up of some of the best digital marketing trends that

AI

One digital marketing trend that has been in development for some time now is artificial intelligence. Several AI tools have recently arrived at the market that helps to process large quantities of data and turn them into actionable insights. Most importantly, AI compares data gathered across digital cyberspace and provides suggestions that are suitable for a particular brand and its marketing campaign. As a result, marketers can save lots of time and money that would have been wasted in a dead-end strategy. Ideally, artificial intelligence learns new things along the way and becomes more powerful.

Wi-Fi

In today’s conditions, free Wi-Fi is seen as an amenity rather than a useful perk. People expect to get free Wi-Fi in public places like airports, restrooms, and other social hotspots. Small businesses can this as a means to collect user information and produce relevant advertisements. It is more impactful than other targeted ads on Facebook, Google, or other platforms. Moreover, businesses can put their audience at the forefront of things in order to complete a conversion. When the right system is in place, it can also prove to be a powerful tracking method to analyze different demographics.

Agile

The Agile framework revolutionized the delivery of software products. Before Agile, businesses had to rely on a parallel development methodology that is slow and extensive. There were also a lot of problems involved in this method because the design team cannot incorporate different philosophies into a single unit. Agile marketing is scalable enough to adapt these principles and have them incorporated into marketing campaigns. The primary focus is to follow a high-value project that implements small actionable campaigns for the target audience. This practice results in high-focused marketing efforts capable of delivering better results.

Personalization

Recent developments set the bar high for personalization. Customers value brands that take the effort to address their pain points and have them resolved. The personalization efforts further extend to cold leads who may want to engage with a business in the future. There are many produce personalized campaigns for target audiences. The most prominent method is focusing on mobile device users. They make up a significant portion of web traffic and have the best reach than desktop users. The key lies in ensuring personalization that resonates with all demographics of target audiences.

Social media marketing

In any case, social media should be the critical component of any small business marketing campaign. These platforms provide the easiest and most cost-effective way to reach customers. The only real problem is the availability of different channels to reach users. Businesses are often unclear about where to invest their time and efforts. Hence, a comprehensive social media analysis is vital to find the ideal segment of the audience who are sure to engage with the campaign. Social media platforms are also effective to build a loyal consumer base who also acts as brand ambassadors with their reviews and testimonials.

Another biggest trend that should be followed is social media stories. Instead of individual posts, businesses can use them as a means to communicate core values or principles. They use stories for behind-the-scene footage to develop a closer relationship with the audience. Moreover, stories give them the opportunity to stand out.

Local ads

Lastly, the true and tried digital marketing trend that works for small businesses is local ads. Google introduced Local Services to connect customers with regionally relevant brands. Businesses should create a Local Service profile by providing various contact details to allow consumers to reach their service. Moreover, they should prioritize getting positive reviews from existing clientele and use them as a tool to improve credibility. Reviews also help to strengthen search engine rank positions because more customers will reach a business that is trusted by many.

10Nov

The Most Common Landing Page Mistakes

November 10, 2021 W. Scott Cain 68

In digital marketing, landing pages are specific web pages created for the purpose of branding or advertising. A user lands on this page when they click on a link from ads or emails. Instead of encouraging exploration, these landing pages are designed to focus on calls to action. For many businesses, these landing pages are the best option for increasing conversions.

Despite all the design guidelines available today, mistakes are quite common when creating landing pages. These mistakes could hurt the conversion rate of businesses and result in a waste of time and money.

Here are some of the mistakes that lead to poor results.

Not enough landing pages

Studies show that having more landing pages promises better results. Businesses create landing pages with the aim of catering to specific buyer needs. They try to appeal to that set of audiences, so having only one landing page will set up for failure. To avoid this, brands should make sure to create enough landing pages for different conversion objectives. They focus on each stage of the consumer journey and understand the pain points of target audiences to create an impactful landing page.

Message

Each landing page should carry a specific message at its core. Most importantly, businesses should communicate this message in a compelling manner. Customers will make up their minds in less than 50 milliseconds. This means that messages without any focus may fail to convince users about a product or service. One way to avoid this is by focusing on the core value proposition of a brand. They should tell that they can solve the problem and explain the benefits. Especially for landing pages, the core message should match the headlines. Moreover, each landing page should have a unique and relevant message to convince the audience.

Distractions

After creating a compelling message, the last thing businesses want to do is impose distractions. There are different types of distractions that take the user’s attention from the core message or benefit. Choice fatigue is the most common danger of creating distractions, as the user will fail to take the required actions to complete their conversions. This mistake can be prevented by removing any unwanted elements from the landing pages. It is essential to keep the users focused on the primary message and make the actions to be taken clear. This helps customers to complete the desired action without any distractions.

Friction

A distraction-free landing page still may suffer in conversions because of frictions. These are barriers that minimize engagement between audiences and a business. As a result, they may quit the session without any conversions. Similar to distractions, there are different types of frictions. To avoid this, evaluate the web page from the viewpoint of customers. Take note of things that may deter them from completing a conversion. Some obvious friction-creating elements are pop-ups and hijacked scrolls. Brands should pay attention to their CTAs and heedfully craft the steps that will help visitors to convert.

Unoptimized forms

The most important friction point in landing pages is formed. Even though they help to share information, forms not designed for conversions will affect the session. A form may have problem areas that create friction. Most importantly, such design issues may affect even existing customers from completing conversions. First, businesses should address the design flaws in the forms and make necessary improvements. Instead of traditional design formats, businesses can opt for multi-step forms. This new trend generates incredible conversion rates without even giving the impression of completing a form. It also significantly improves the overall user experience.

Loading times

The cardinal sin of all landing page design mistakes is slow loading times. Generally, users are sure to quit pages that load slowly. Reports show that many businesses lose more than 50% of their visitors due to slow loading pages. This mistake will also affect the search engine rankings of a website. Hence, businesses should keep an eye on the loading times of their landing pages. They can use a fast hosting provider or minify website files. Minimizing server requests will also optimize the webpage for better speed as well as image optimization. As cited before, page speed is a crucial ranking factor in Google’s Search Algorithm.

Final thoughts

Landing pages drive customers to a business. They may inquire about a product or make a purchase instantly. Either way, optimizing landing pages is proving to be a worthy investment that yields many long-term benefits. Ideally, it communicates highly specific marketing messages without sounding salesy.

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