9 Intriguing Digital Marketing Stats From This Week
The past few days saw the digital marketing world awaken from its post-holiday slumber and really put out some eye-opening stats.
How to Create Digital Marketing Plan for Start-Ups
Having a strong online presence has become a necessity for businesses of all sizes.
You just launched a startup and need to get your brand in front of as many eyes as possible. The problem is you are not just competing in your industry, you are competing with the millions of other marketing messages that consumers are bombarded with every day. What’s an entrepreneur to do?
Statistics show that more than half of consumers turn to the internet for information before making purchases:
- Data reveals 67 percent of consumers are influenced by online reviews (Moz)
- 54 percent of online buyers read online reviews before purchase. (Marketing Tech Blog)
- More than half (54 percent) of online purchasers said they had read online reviews prior to hitting the buy button, while 39 percent of consumers who made purchases in-store did so, according to a study from customer ratings and review firm Bazaarvoice Inc. (Internet Retailer)
Fortunately, there are a few digital marketing tips for startups we wanted to share:
- Use your starting position as a baseline to measure your overall progress against.
- Determine your startup’s goals; ensure these goals are specific, measurable and realistic.
- Identify your customers.
- Study your competitors.
To start, it is important to set up a website for your startup if you haven’t already. Whether you hire someone to design and create your website or choose to build your own is up to you. However, it is often more cost-effective for a startup owner, especially one with a low budget, to build a website. From smaller websites for start-up to multi-language sites across the globe, Onimod Global has a perfect website for every budget.
Once you have your website set up, you’re ready to take the next steps to develop your digital marketing strategy:
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- Implement perfect SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by researching keywords and building links.
- Create relevant content and use content marketing to attract potential clients as well as satisfy Google for ranking purposes.
- Consider email marketing to share the content you have created on your website.
- Use social media marketing to boost your startup’s online presence and increase traffic to your website
- Analyze your results to determine where you are seeing success — and make changes in the areas where you are not.
Onimod Global are here for you every step of the way as you build your company. We are Digital Marketing gurus with expertise in multipl-digital channels.
Contact us today and find out why we’re the best choice for launching your new business to where it needs to b this 2017.
5 Digital Marketing Predictions for 2017
This past year has been an intense one, to say the least. But we’re finally nearing the end, and we’re ready to set our sights on 2017! Of course, in order to make appropriate assumptions about what will occur next year, we have to look back at some of the notable digital marketing predictions that came true this year.
Throughout 2016, we saw a rise in voice search queries, Google’s Penguin algorithm began updating in real-time, mobile-friendly sites continued to be rewarded, and so much more. Social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram expanded their arsenals, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology was such a favorite this year that Amazon was sold out of its Echo and Echo Dot devices at one point.
Since many of these popular trends are still pretty new, we can only expect them to continue to grow in the new year.
Below are some of our digital marketing predictions for the upcoming year
1. The shift from desktop-first to mobile-first will continue
Mobile search has always been an important component of SEO — and of digital marketing in general — so it’s no surprise that its role continues to grow as years pass. In 2015, Google released a mobile-friendly update to their search algorithm. Since this update, mobile-friendly websites have had the advantage over others when it comes to mobile rankings.
Today, many businesses are receiving more traffic from mobile search over desktop. In fact, Moz performed a study that showed 20 out of 24 industry niches note mobile as their primary source of web traffic. As technology progresses and Google continues to reward those with mobile-friendly sites over others, we have no doubt that the mobile-first trend will continue to rise and most likely overcome our desktop-first mentality.
2. Say hello to Progressive Web Apps
If the mobile-first shift comes to pass, it’s possible that the move towards PWAs will as well. Just as AMP (a code that optimizes mobile websites) took precedence in 2015 and 2016, PWAs, or Progressive Web Apps, may take center stage in 2017. Users are becoming less and less patient with page load speeds, and even a highly optimized site has trouble loading within 3 seconds. Enter: Progressive Web Apps.
They’re defined as user experiences that have the same capabilities as a web page, and are reliable, fast, and engaging. In other words, they allow a website/website page to work as if it were an app, without actually being an app. Although PWAs may not be suitable for every type of business, there are plenty that could benefit from them, such as content-heavy or real-time data sites, chat-related platforms, news outlets, and blogs.
As consumers yearn for safer, faster, and easier-to-use mobile-friendly websites, we can expect to see a greater prominence of Progressive Web Apps in 2017. They may even replace the use of separate mobile sites or apps entirely — but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
3. Live video will take over (at least with social media and content marketing)
Consumers have become accustomed to carrying around mobile devices and having practically anything they need right at their fingertips. Now, both brands and individuals have begun using livestreaming as a way to be more in-the-moment with their followers (capitalizing on that whole #FOMO trend of the last couple years).
In the past, brands chalked up their entire video marketing strategy to the hope that one of their videos would go viral. However, as video (live video, in particular) becomes a larger part of users’ everyday lives, brands are going to have to work on continuously creating quality video content.
Joe Pulizzi remarks on how video will become an important part of content marketing strategies in 2017 in an article for the Content Marketing Institute:
“It doesn’t take “Chewbacca Mom” to show us how big and important using video and having a visual storytelling strategy are…most brands [should begin] building a process and organization around the ongoing delivery of valuable information through video.”
As top platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are incorporating live video, we can be sure we’ll see it grow in 2017.
4. Native advertising will flourish
Back in the good ol’ days, online advertising was defined by intrusive pop-up ads and annoying flashing sidebar ads. And it’s important to remember that most of those ads were irrelevant and spammy.
While there are still plenty of ads like this, native advertising has helped online ads become more user-friendly. And to ensure that users don’t click on unwanted ads, brands are required to clearly label these ads as such. Websites like BuzzFeed, Mashable, and even The New York Times offer sponsored content that relate the ads to content users are already interested in viewing.
Brands are also taking advantage of the native advertising potential on social media sites like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. With Facebook pushing their Promoted posts and ads and Instagram releasing it’s “Shop Now” button, we’re sure to see more online native advertising in the coming year.
5. People are going to want to SEE the data
Data is key to knowing the who’s, what’s, when’s, why’s, and how’s of your marketing strategy. However, that doesn’t mean analyzing data is easy. In all honesty, it can be boring and immensely time-consuming when done properly. Even if you analyze data every day, digesting all those numbers can be tricky.
Thankfully, there are plenty of data visualization tools that can help. As technology evolves, so are visuals; and as more data visualization tools become available, the more businesses are going to start using them. In addition, as narrative content grows in popularity, the need for visual storytelling grows.
Keeping these technological and content marketing trends in mind, 2017 is probably just the beginning of the data visualization revolution.
Recap
While we don’t have a crystal ball to know exactly what 2017 will hold, we feel it’s safe to say there is a lot to look forward to. What are your digital marketing predictions for the upcoming year? Leave your thoughts in the comments — we’d love to hear ‘em!
H/T: Business2Community
Happy Holidays from Onimod Global
At the holiday season, our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible. It is in this spirit that we say… Thank you and best wishes for the holidays and happy New Year!
The team at Onimod Global.
8 Fun & Noteworthy Digital Marketing Stats From This Week
The last several days provided an array of digital marketing data points, with figures aplenty about consumers’ search habits, mobile habits, social platforms, bad ads, chat bots and more.
The following eight stats particularly got our attention.
1. Santa Claus = “totally a dog person”
SLI Systems studied more than 5.5 million consumer searches on ecommerce sites during the four weeks leading into the holiday seasons, and it found dogs are more than twice as likely to receive gifts from their owners than cats. Purr-ty surprising, huh?
2. Insta-success
On Thursday, Instagram revealed it now has 600 million users. The photo- and video-sharing app has been on a rapid growth trajectory, adding 100 million accounts in just the past six months. Check out this six-year timeline to see its quick ascent in the digital realm.
3. Publishing anarchy in the U.K.
KPMG’s recent survey of 2,000 Britons found that 49 percent of them expect to download ad blockers in the next six months. Forty. Nine. Percent.
4. Irrelevance sucks, AGAIN
Speaking of bad ads, Fiksu DSP released a study on Thursday, most notably reporting that 77 percent of consumers are likely to delete an app if they repeatedly receive an irrelevant ad. It’s the second week in a row we’ve highlighted such a stat about brands’ lack of relevance.
5. Yikes, Yahoo!
With its Verizon merger at risk, this had to be a painful admission: Yahoo said Wednesday that more than 1 billion user accounts were breached in August 2013. The hack appears to be separate from the 500 million account breach that Yahoo reported this September, and it follows a history of security problems for the digital company.
So, Yahoo has 1.5 billion accounts? While there are obviously individuals with multiple accounts, just for fun, let’s imagine every user only has one: That calculates to 20 percent of the world’s population.
6. The potential marriage, by the numbers
This year, according to new eMarketer numbers, Yahoo will get $2.98 billion in total digital ad revenue worldwide, or 1.5 percent of the global digital ad market. In 2017, Yahoo’s net worldwide digital ad revenue is expected to grow to $3 billion, per eMarketer, but its market share will drop to 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, the researcher estimated Verizon garnered $1.41 billion in digital ad revenue worldwide this year, or 0.7 percent of the global ad market.
7. Ever-expanding web of influence
Meanwhile, new research from Conductor concluded that 80 percent of marketers plan to ratchet up their investments in 2017 when it comes to online marketing, SEO and content. The study’s results suggest that digital’s years of growth will continue for at least one more.
8. Chatty folks
According to a [24]7 study, roughly 29 percent of consumers stated that chat is their preferred method to contact a retailer when shopping online, making it the most popular channel of customer service over phone and email.
Bonus stat: the smartphone era
Hey, we’re not done! A Forrester Research study commissioned by SteelHouse revealed that 3 out of 5 marketers said they would prefer a single platform for media buying.
Double-bonus stat: Hey Phelps, you rule
OK, we have one more. Adweek creative editor Tim Nudd has selected Under Armour’s “Rule Yourself” spot, starring Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps, as the Ad of the Year. It has been viewed on YouTube 11.6 million times. Check it out below.
8 Companies Doing Social Media Right and What Marketers Can Learn From Them
Are you reaching your audience on social media the right way? Marketing Land Columnist Jordan Kasteler takes a look at 8 brands you can take a page from. Read more
Essential Steps to Implement Now for 2017
As we approach the final month of 2016, it’s time to reconsider your ongoing SEO efforts and look at ways to step it up a gear for 2017. Read more
The 7 Best Ad and Landing Page Elements to Boost Online Conversions
When it comes to success with paid search, it’s not just about ad copy. You have to pay attention to your ad extensions and your landing pages as well.
In this article, Mona Elesseily from Search Engine Land discusses the specific ad features and page elements that searchers/shoppers want when they’re shopping online. She also covers ways to also incorporate the elements using PPC/paid search.
1. Images
Seventy-eight percent of shoppers want images.
Shoppers respond well to images. It’s the reason Google has been and is continuing to increase the number of images we see on search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s also the reason good online retailers allow us to zoom in and view products from different angles.
An awesome way to increase the number of images in the SERPs is to use product listing ads (if applicable). We love how product ads allow us to take up space and show more than one product in the shopping pack. We like adding ad annotations like price drop alerts (in Bing), merchant badges and product ratings to make ads pop even more and grab buyer attention.
Focusing on feeds now will pay dividends in the future, as shopping feeds will likely appear in more places in the SERPs (Think image search and local ad units), and feed-based advertising will become much more commonplace. It’s a good idea to prep for opportunities that will come along in the not-too-distant future.
2. Product reviews
Sixty-nine percent of shoppers want product reviews.
It’s a great idea to have them on your site and also to incorporate them into PPC ads using review extensions. Review extensions are finicky, as there are lots of search engine policies related to posting “accurate and current” reviews. It’s not uncommon to have ads disapproved a few times before they get approved.
It’s worth noting that reviews can be no more than 12 months old to appear in Google Trusted Stores, and hence, review extensions. Consistently ask customers to review products, so that review extensions (and seller ratings, for that matter) will continue to appear in your account.
3. Side-by-side product comparisons
Forty-six percent of shoppers want side-by-side product comparisons.
These are effective ways to compare your company products or to compare your product against the products of competitors. Graph or table format tends to be the easiest to read and allows shoppers to better digest information.
Here’s an example from Phillips and some of their natural light wake-up lights:
Personally, I like to highlight (or badge) the most popular product. Badging is very effective in improving online conversions, and I’ve seen increases of more than 20 percent when tables include a badge. In the example below, the pro version of the product is the most popular and is denoted using the color blue.
This example would have been even better if the blue column were marked “best seller” (or similar wording).
4. Customer testimonials
Forty-two percent of shoppers want customer testimonials.
I find these very useful, especially if there’s a striking difference between you and your competitors.
I work with a company that manufactures a product that’s more expensive than their competitor’s product. Their testimonials highlight other benefits and do an effective job of making the extra cost negligible. The “negative” is offset by the awesome knowledge and customer service.
Testimonials effectively encourage people to bite the bullet because they know their overall experience will be good and that they’ll be thrilled with their purchase.
5. Video product demos
Thirty percent of shoppers want video product demos.
This is especially true if the product is complicated or hard to understand. For example, let’s say you sell car replacement parts, and the parts are tricky to install. Here’s an example of videos from 1aauto.com.
In PPC, video extensions are a good option to consider. At this point, these are only available in Bing.
6. Live chat with shopping assistant
Twenty-two percent of shoppers want live chat with a shopping assistant.
A good option for this is the ActionLink extension in Bing. We’ve seen higher ad engagement as a result of including this, especially in industries where people have a lot of questions, like home renovations.
7. Links to media coverage of company products
Nine percent of shoppers want links to media coverage of company products.
On sites, people often include “as seen on” and other such credibility indicators. Be sure to also include links to media coverage. I test short video clips of the media coverage on pages. Sometimes, having clips in addition to links to media coverage boosts conversions.
Top 3 Digital Marketing Tips to Earn More Traffic to Your Website
We’ve all heard the statistics and reports on how search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical focus point for businesses on the internet. Setting a perfect stage for customers to come in and patronize your business in the form of a great website design is not just enough to make your business successful. You need several customer attraction points that can deliver not only the right quantity of referrals to your business but will also direct targeted, ready-to-buy customers to your business.
Social media may take the lead in website traffic referral for business on the internet, but what is undeniable is that search is still the leading source of the most targeted customers on the internet.
While this fact is known to most digital marketers, many are unable to recommend the right steps needed to attract qualified leads to their clients’ businesses.
This article will explore methods your business can use to make better gains through the search engine and improve sales.
Get on Google My Business
With Google’s increasing advancement in listing businesses along relevant search results, digital marketers and business owners are seeing better opportunities to get listed and be showcased directly to their customers.
Google My Business offers businesses with a brick-and-mortar presence the ability to get their business’ opening hour, phone number and location displayed to customers in search results and on Google Maps.
What’s more impressive is the “view office” feature that allows potential customers to take a virtual tour of your office without leaving Google or their seat. This will offer businesses several benefits which include increased trust and confidence in customers that have taken the virtual tour.
Use the instructions on Google My Business by Google to get started on setting your business up for the listing.
Encourage User Review
A lot of reports have shown that users who read reviews on your website, whether the customer reviews are negative or positive, will be highly likely to consider making a purchase from your website. Even leading digital marketing experts agree that using customer reviews on your website can enhance trust and transparency in your business.
The best performing businesses have customers leave reviews on their websites so that potential buyers understand that they are dealing with trusted entities.
There are several ways to encourage your customers to leave a review on your website. Being creative and open about the process will make them feel more comfortable to share their experience doing business with you and thus encourage others to come aboard.
Take Advantage of Off-Page Optimization
Off-page SEO is an important aspect of search optimization that businesses can take advantage of and get increased presence on top search results. While most businesses concentrate most of their resources on on-page efforts, signals like links, citations, and references on other websites are very credible ranking signals that Google considers.
In a comprehensive list that tries to share most of Google’s ranking factors, Brian Dean places the off-page optimizations efforts among the signals that Google’s algorithm considers when ranking a website.
Search engines have always been a very important aspect of digital marketing. This makes it critical for businesses to get search engine optimization right.
Onimod Global offers large agency services with boutique client interaction. Let us evaluate your companies digital efforts at no extra cost. Contact us today for a complimentary evaluation of your business.
Ref: Huffington Post. Google Business. Onimod Global.
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