Tag Archive for: Content Marketing

Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Small businesses should always be looking to find opportunities to stay ahead of the competitive market and reach their potential customers. With the right tools, you can create an effective strategy to have a big return in reach and awareness. 

The internet has become an indispensable tool for almost any consumer making a decision. Whis is why it’s always a good time for business owners to think about the most effective small business marketing ideas. 

Unsure of where to start improving your website or social media pages? Here are 5 quick and effective ways that you can jump start your digital marketing for your SMB.

1. Research Competitors and Differentiate Yourself

Competitor research is important because as a small business, you’ll want to be able to offer additional value in the market. One way to do this is by using Google Search Ads. Doing a search and seeing the results that pop up is a great way to start. For example, if you’re a plumbing company and you see the terms “No Call Out Charge”, “Fully Qualified Plumbers” and “1-Hr Response” for your results, they’re likely to be great selling points for other businesses looking to compete with these results.

How can you differentiate your company from other plumbers in the area who provide similar services? Most times, if you don’t have anything that differentiates your company from others, you can invent one. You can do this by giving your products, services, and reputation more attention and detail.

2. Get Your Website Basics Right

Users are increasingly demanding in terms of the experience they expect from a website. They want a fast loading website as a minimum requirement. As a local business, you may not have the budget of larger firms, but you can at least get the basics right.

Here’s a couple things you can do to fix this problem. You can start by test your website’s mobile speed with Google’s free tool and see how you could decrease bounce rates. If this doesn’t provide clarity you can move onto the following options:

1. Compressing Text and Images: Decreasing or converting your image sizing and scales can help dramatically, as well as removing any video content that isn’t critical to your site’s content.

2. Website Design: Over-designing web pages by adding loads of banners, images, icons, and other additions can lead to slower loading times.

3. Mobile Optimization: Last but not least, making your site mobile friendly is probably the most important thing you should do for your website. A majority of consumers now access the internet via mobile browser. So make sure your website is designed so that it is responsive per device and screen size.

3. Improve Google My Business Listing and Customer Reviews

When a customer searches for your products or services, your online reputation could be the deciding factor. Luckily, Google My Business gives you control over how people perceive your business.

Some of the common mistakes to avoid include:

  • Duplicate listings
  • Setting up unnecessary new listings after a change of address
  • Business name misuse e.g. adding unnecessary promotional messages

Customer reviews are not a new concept, but you might be surprised at how often they are overlooked. 30% of consumers said that reviews were a key factor in judging local businesses, so make sure this as a top priority in your digital marketing strategy.

4. Create Interesting Blog Content

In highly competitive industries, a content strategy is necessary to drive search results. When working with smaller businesses, it’s likely that they will not rank on the first page of Google for a broad term related to their product or service. Blog content plays a big role in creating and converting leads to customers. You can easily increase your organic traffic for local businesses through researching blog content that you can create in house. Here are a couple tips to amp up your blogs:

  • Putting the audience first
  • Making sure it’s SEO friendly
  • Correct tone of voice
  • Showing readers they can trust you

Final Thoughts

As a small business owner, you can use digital marketing to reduce barriers-to-entry in your industry by increasing the reach of your business through the Internet. But you need a plan to get there. A strong content marketing strategy and experimenting with different topics, measuring the results, and tracking your progress all help you develop an effective coverall content marketing strategy.

Onimod Global is your Chicago-based, in-house marketing team, your partner experts for specific marketing verticals or some nice balance in between. We excel in customer service and will teach you the most relevant and up-to-date digital marketing skills. From social media to SEO and paid search, you will have the tools to ensure your business succeeds online.

Have questions about creating your online presence and need help strategizing? Contact us here today.

How To Choose Content Marketing Topics

When choosing content topics, most digital marketers try to write about things they believe is relevant to their audience. While relevance is important, alone it’s not enough. Furthermore, some seemingly relevant content topics may not be a good fit for your brand. 

Effective content marketing grows only when you understand the competition at stake when trying to get the audience’s attention. One of the biggest questions you can ask yourself is, how do you determine topics that are a good fit but also have a positive impact on ROI?

Here are a couple tips on how to choose your content marketing topics effectively.

Find the content topic that your audience is most interested in

If you have two related topics in mind, write about the one that gets more average engagements on social media. While this may sound simple, its often times overlooked. A common problem most people run into is quickly sorting content or blog ideas to find the best topic out there. Evaluating topics with alongside of your social data can be a significantly easier step for analyzing content.

For example, if you’re writing about nutrition or fitness, you might want to critique different diets. In this search for the terms “Paleo” and “Vegan,” it’s easy to see that content about vegan eating is more popular.

“Vegan” has a much higher average level of engagement. So, writing about it can give me a competitive edge, making it easier to get my audience interested in my content, and extending its reach with more social shares. This search took less than a minute, making the Content Analyzer an efficient choice for maximum ROI.

Find topics with less competition

Just as it can be wise to opt for long-tail keywords with lower competition instead of core keywords with tons of competition, using content marketing topics that meet your business goals AND are less competitive is a great option for maximum impact.

Another option would be to pursue different types of content based on how saturated or competitive the content landscape is. If you are writing about a topic with high competition, here are a few tips:

  • Create higher production value content such as videos, courses, ebooks, or original research
  • Consider paid distribution, such as advertising on social media
  • Collaborate with influencers to increase the distribution power behind the content
  • Make sure you have a promotion plan in place that extends beyond the initial post-publication phase

Can the message be shared across multiple mediums?  

Social networks are where conversations take place on different topics. In most content areas, the conversation will gravitate toward one network over another. By comparing the performance of different topics through various networks, you can develop content that will appeal to target audiences on specific networks.

Content marketing takes a good balance of storytelling, educating, convincing and should include a call-to-action. Once you’ve landed on a strong topic, it’s equally important to ensure you’re able to create multi-purpose content out of it. You want to choose topics that you’re an expert on, but you don’t want it to be too niche. This may cause a shortage of material and of those actually interested in reading it. Not only that, but it might also be difficult to share that content across multiple mediums and platforms.

For example, mobile app development content performs better on Facebook and low code performs better on Twitter. If you want your content to reach people on Twitter, it would be a good idea to frame the piece around low code. You want to find the sweet spot between broad and niche. Ideally, you will find content pieces that can be featured in a number of ways. For example how-to content could be created as:

  • A YouTube video
  • An infographic
  • A blog post

You want to be able to then share these pieces of content across social platforms. Having flexible content ensures that all members of your audience will be able to find something they best relate to and be able to find it in multiple places. This also creates less work for you, as you can successfully reuse and share topics.

Final Thoughts 

Mapping out and choosing the right topics for content marketing takes strategic planning. Learning what content performs best among your audience takes time and experimenting. Continually measure and track your strategy and make changes when necessary. Choosing the right topics is essential to developing and driving an effective coverall content marketing strategy.

More From Onimod Global

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. If you’re looking for assistance with your content marketing or any other areas of digital marketing, contact us today!

How To Increase Your Online Visibility Through Social Media

Social media plays a vital role in today’s society. It can help you generate buzz around your products and your brand by having users share your content. But social networks are incredibly busy and filled with stimuli. With so much going on, how do you make sure that users will find your content throughout all this mess? Read on to find out more…

Social media is a great resource when it comes to increasing your online visibility. There are so many ways that an organization’s pages can be optimized in order to do so.

We’ll take a look at how you can bring a couple of strategies together to generate more searches for your business—and from this, achieve a greater online presence.

Does Social Media Posting Help With Online Visibility?

While social media cannot directly impact your rankings, you can create a more holistic approach to online marketing. However, social media activity can raise your company’s profile and increase the clicks on their website. What are you aiming to achieve by linking social media activity with online visibility? Here’s a couple things you can do to get started:

  • Getting clicks on your organization’s website
  • Having an increase in online searches for the company
  • Social shares for a wider post reach and increased audience
  • Sharing information to help analyze social engagement

All of the things above have one thing in common and that is that they all increase the possibilities for lead opportunities. The way you can achieve lead opportunities above is by having and creating quality content. Often times quality content gets overlooked, its truly one of the best ways you can leverage and boost your online presence.

Which Social Media Platforms Are the Best for SEO?

Which platforms do you currently use? Most social media platforms can help with online visibility. A lot of people have that mindset, but you should honestly be thinking about  using the platforms that will help you reach your target audience. Each social media platform works slightly differently when it comes to encouraging clicks and shares.

It goes without saying most brands have a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Google My Business accounts. But many businesses also utilize Youtube, Tiktok and Pinterest. But which performs best? Facebook continues to be powerful all over the world. With more than 1.71 billion monthly users, the social media platform is ripe for SEO. Be attentive with your company page and find and nourish your best promoters on the platform. Facebook is a great lead generator, so always stay on brand and use targeted keywords in your posts. Make sure to cross-post videos you produce and publish on your YouTube account as well.

Although Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, they perform differently for different organizations’ offerings.

Also, any social platform a company uses has to be “on brand” for them, otherwise it will defeat the purpose of boosting your SEO. At the end of the day, a great website should have all the key elements of an effective inbound marketing strategy:

  • An active blog.
  • Responsive design.
  • Intuitive navigation.
  • Effective conversion strategy with calls to action.

What Are the Best Ways to Optimize Social Media for Better Online Visibility?

How can you make the most of your brand’s social media platforms? Here are a couple of techniques that you can use to improve your websites online visibility. 

LinkedIn & Facebook

Most people breeze by “SEO-ing” their About us/Summary section. It’s one of the easiest ways to put the information you want out there for leads to easily access. Filling out as much as you can in the About section is a great start.

  • The “About” summary section gives you the capacity to use 2,600 characters (on LinkedIn, Facebook gives you 50,000!) to explain what you do. Use keywords that your clients are using to find your products and services.
  • Use keywords that describe your products and services in your headline.
  • The “Experience” section also gives you 2,000 characters to show case your expertise. Make sure you include a few paragraphs that talk about what your company provides from a product/services perspective.

How do You know if your Social Media Strategy is Improving SEO?

All social media platforms have some sort of analytics feature that you can use to measure the attention your socials are getting. You can also look into social media engagement tools, which you can download and use to generate tables and graphs. You can compare the social media and website stats to see the effect the former has on the latter. Lastly, you can see the organic changes in your Google Analytics account.

Last Thoughts

Social media is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. It can help you generate buzz around your products and your brand by having users share your content.

As trusted Google experts, our team is here to help with holistic digital marketing strategies including optimizing your Google Business Profile listing and ensuring you have the highest rank possible. Whether you’re looking for SEO tips, social media marketing ideas, or paid media strategies, our goal is to make your business more successful. Get a free audit and see how you can improve your digital presence with us here.

Skills Every Digital Marketing Agency Should Excel in

A great digital marketing agency should have the ability to learn your brand quickly and be ready to act as your in-house digital experts.  Since the digital industry is so diverse, how do you know if a digital marketing agency is really as great as they claim to be?  

Looking for a new digital marketing agency but have no clue where to begin? Working with a good digital agency that specializes in quality marketing strategies is an obvious starting line. Knowing how to choose a digital marketing agency is essential in your search to find the right agency fit for your brand.

Spending money on digital marketing is a big deal, and you want to find an agency that makes the most of your money and works with your business goals. If you’re tired of being burned by agencies that make big promises but deliver no results, check out our three must-have skills (and top red flags) to watch out for. 

1. SEO & SEM

Across the board, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most important skills you can have in this field. Knowing how SEO and content optimization work is essential for running a successful campaign. A good marketing agency should have an up-to-date website. If they’re practicing their SEO successfully you can easily find them doing a simple google search. 

Both SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) form your entire digital strategy on a data and content level. At the end of the day, a great website should have all the key elements of an effective inbound marketing strategy:

  • An active blog.
  • Responsive design.
  • Intuitive navigation.
  • Effective conversion strategy with calls to action.

2. A Solid Team

A great agency should have a team that is equipped with versatility and expertise. Building a team that has experts in their respective fields i.e. design, development, SEO, content strategy, social media and brand development, will only make your agency more sought after and stronger as a whole.

Content is perhaps the core of digital marketing. Content marketing will continue to be a crucial part of the game no matter what happens. After you’ve created your all-star team you should then be able to create high quality, SEO-friendly content for various channels. By understanding how to create an effective content strategy you’ll be able to easily engage and convert to various audiences.

Things can be a little challenging when it comes to creating different content formats. From video to social media, emails, web content, blogs, e-books, videos, and white papers, it can be tough to create content that translates to these different formats. Working together as a team is the best way to face the beast that is, content marketing.

3. Tools and How to Utilize Them

Due to the marketing industry being so technology-driven, you need a good grasp on technology as well as be able to learn it quickly. It is immensely beneficial for a marketing agency to have a solid understanding of marketing tools as well as the technical skills that go along with them. For example, a CMS like WordPress – used by a third of websites – can be tweaked to boost SEO. 

Project management tools are important and its always good to ask what platform your desired marketing agency is using.  Nowadays there are many tools you can use to get the job done, for example Google Analytics, Hubspot, Salesforce, the list goes on. The bottom line is, any agency should be comfortable and familiar with all of these tools.

Now that we’ve covered the 3 top things to have as an agency, lets discuss the 3 Red Flags to watch out for.

Red Flag #1 – You Don’t have an Account Manager

A solid agency will pair you with a marketing strategist or account manager who oversees your business’s marketing success.

Something to look out for is talking to a new person every time you call. When you’re looking for an agency, make sure to ask who will handle your account. If it’s one person, that’s great. If they’re running a call center, look elsewhere.

Red Flag #2 – You Can’t Access Your Marketing Data

If the agency refuses to give you access to analytics, you should find an agency that will let you track your marketing success with them. There’s no reason for a digital marketing provider to be dishonest or hoard a business’s data.

The right digital marketing agency will allow you to see your data, and they’ll talk to you about the analytics as they work to improve your marketing performance.

Red Flag #3 – False Promises

If an agency is promising you that your business will be at the top of search results by working with them in a matter of weeks – it’s a bad sign. It’s always important to ask how if they’re promising you things they cant keep. If they’re talking about paid advertising, then rest assured you have nothing to worry about.

Its always best to find an agency that has realistic goals for you to improve your local search results.

Last Thoughts

Digital marketing is fast-paced and demanding. Understanding an agencies top 3 must haves and top 3 red flags to look out for will have you off to the races. At Onimod Global, our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

From SEO to social media, content marketing and strategy, We can help you gain up-to-date and relevant knowledge that will help you become an awesome digital marketer. Got questions about Facebook advertising or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

Content Marketing & SEO

SEO and content marketing are made for each other. A lot of people are confused about SEO and content marketing. Neither works well on its own, but, together they are a powerhouse for internet marketing. Let’s take a quick look at the importance of each and then how they work together.

SEO and content marketing go hand in hand. Without each other you would not be able to fuel your potential online success. As a quick recap, it’s important to know the terms before we dive into SEO and Content Marketing.

SEO Basics

SEO (search engine optimization) is a way to improve the position of a page in search engine results by tweaking on-page and off-page factors.

Search engine traffic can be maximized by:

  • Optimizing pages until they appear on the 1st page of search results
  • Claiming special features like the local search map results or search snippets
  • Getting links into other high-traffic content

Content Marketing Basics

Content marketing is a way to use content to create interest or trust. Advantages of content marketing include:

  • May provide a lot of long-term value: The content created for these campaigns can be so effective that it can get shared for years in emails, lists of top guides, and social media channels. This kind of exposure isn’t vulnerable to sudden search engine updates.
  • Supports your brand: One of the benefits of content marketing is that providing solid information is always good for your reputation. Communicating helps customers know where you stand. The communicating you do during content marketing has a lasting impact on your brand.

Whereas content marketing is focused on using valuable and relevant content to drive customer and client action that in turn, becomes profitable. The most important thing to remember about the two is that SEO is strategized around content marketing. Every website needs words, substance, keywords and images in order to be successful.

Here’s a look at Content Marketing & SEO and what you need to know.

Keywords

The key to SEO is researching and finding relevant keywords and making use of them in your content so they rank higher in the search engine results pages, also known as, SERPs. You should avoid filling a page with keywords and over optimizing. In order for SEO and content to work, you need to find a balance between the two.

Keyword strategies are imperative for effective search engine marketing (SEM). Embedding target keywords is essential to rank well and boost traffic. Follow a strategy and avoid stuffing them in the content. Repeating keywords has a negative impact on SEO. Follow a reasonable approach and use the main keywords in the title and body section.

Quality Content

SEO and content marketing require consistency. Fresh, unique and creative content gets indexed quickly and ranks higher than low-value and repetitive content. Your content should be able to lure in your clients as well as solve a particular issue. One can write influential content by using important keywords and targeting visitors. 

This is the most important factor, where Google determines the relevance of a page and ranks a piece of content. By understanding the purpose of the page you’ll be able to better understand what criteria goes into evaluating that page for quality. 

User Experience

SEO is significantly more than just blogs, keywords and backlinks. It is equal parts, enhancing metadata and using the appropriate tags. It is also part of creating an experience for the user that is enjoyable. Optimizing URLs and making the slug everything after the (.com) concise, drives the search engine to find the relevant subpages and categorize the different parts of your site. This is crucial to the success of any SEO campaign. Technical optimization plays a key role and makes a web page appealing to the search engine and ensures that the site has no broken links and no error codes. Otherwise, it will be poorly ranked by the search engine. 

Header tags and title tags benefit the user by strategizing the content in a way that is useful and simple for readers to understand. A good title tag ensures a great user experience because the visitor can recognize the information from the page before they actually click on it. 

Final Thoughts

The biggest takeaway from this article is when Content Marketing & SEO work together in harmony you’ll see online success. Your Content marketing will only be as successful if it is properly paired with the appropriate SEO. 

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, expanding your social presence and digital marketing. Got questions about how to develop a digital marketing strategy for 2022 or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

The Importance of Digital Marketing in 2022

Digital marketing is more important now than ever. You can utilize digital marketing to target specialized markets, allowing you to reach out to customers who may not have previously considered your company. But this industry is fast-growing, which also means ever changing and evolving. Where do you start if you want to develop a digital marketing strategy? Right here. 

As marketers think about building brands in the coming years post-COVID, how is digital marketing being leveraged to help companies bounce back? More importantly, how should you redefine your strategy for 2022?

According to a CISCO report, 90% of North Americans use the internet, and usage is expected to reach 92% by next year. Customers are now spending more time and resources on owned-media channels such as websites, mobile apps, and customer-service channels. There is also a noticeable increase in customer-conversion rates, with social and digital video channels driving the highest ROIs.

Having a digital marketing strategy in place allows you to reach millions of people cost-effectively. If your business doesn’t have a strategic digital marketing plan aligned with your business plan your business can suffer and you could lose out to competitors who are more digitally savvy.

Reasons To Use Digital Marketing

1. Reach a Specific Audience. 

With media like TV, billboards and radio, you are reaching out to a broad audience, and the chances of targeting a specific group of customers is low. Whereas in digital marketing, you can use the features of a marketing platform to specifically target an audience based on age, interests or behavior. 

Your chances of reaching the right audience are significantly higher, and you can pick and choose these metrics as your needs change. It also allows you to identify subgroups within your clientele. If you have more than one type of product, you can tailor a campaign to this more specific group of customers.

2. Access Metrics of your Digital Marketing Strategy ─ All in One Place.

Digital marketing metrics are the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the success of a business’s marketing efforts online. The goal of using digital marketing metrics is to track and decipher the way consumers interact with your brand online through websites and social media platforms. While there are many benefits of using metrics, the main use of metrics are used to drive improvements and help businesses focus their people and resources on what’s important. Overall, metrics reflect and support the various strategies for all aspects of the organization, including marketing, competition, standards, or customer requirements and expectations. 

Metrics indicate the priorities of the company and provide a window on performance, ethos and ambition. This allows you to determine your return on investment. You know exactly how profitable your digital marketing campaign was, as you can see the results of each aspect of your efforts.

3. Becoming Visible Within the Industry.

Some of the largest corporations have millions of dollars to spend on traditional advertising. If you don’t have that kind of ammunition, digital strategies allow you to outrank big corporations on a smaller budget. 

Here’s what visibility in business can do for you:

  • Helps you get exposure to a larger audience.
  • Build your brand awareness, so that people know who you are and how you help. 
  • Establishes your credibility and expertise.
  • Allows you to reach and sign more ideal clients.
  • Connects you to opportunities you wouldn’t have otherwise. 

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is made up of multiple elements, and knowing what they are and how they work is key to understanding why SEO is so important. In short, SEO is crucial because it makes your website more visible, and that means more traffic and more opportunities to convert prospects into customers. 

It’s also a valuable tool for brand awareness, building relationships with prospects, and positioning yourself as an authoritative and trustworthy expert in your field. More traffic means more potential clients becoming aware of your brand and services.

SEO is composed of three parts:

  • On-page SEO focuses on the content on your website’s pages. You can research keywords that resonate with your buyer persona or keywords that potential clients might ask. The task is to create quality content when answering those questions, so your pages rank higher.
  • Off-page SEO relates to all activity that happens away from your website. It involves external optimization practices that happen away from your site rather than on it. The main technique used for off-page SEO is backlink building since quality backlinks to your site from external sites tell search engines that your site is valuable and high-quality which helps to build authority.
  • Technical SEO is the back end of your website. Things like coding, image compression and cascading style sheets, also known as CSS. These are important aspects of your website that determine how quickly your pages load. Search engines like Google use it as an important ranking factor.

Social Media Marketing

Social media networks are open to all, giving businesses a chance to follow their consumers’ activities or potential buyers. This helps marketers become more informed about their target audience, likes, dislikes, and interests so that they can create a better marketing strategy to attract customers. The opportunities are endless when it comes to social media marketing. A big plus in  using this type of marketing tool is that most of the basic services are free. 

The end goal is to create more traffic and generate leads for your business. The social media channels you can use for this purpose are:

  • Facebook.
  • Twitter.
  • LinkedIn.
  • Instagram.
  • Snapchat.
  • YouTube.
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest

In an increasingly connected world, your approach to marketing must be just as integrated.

Last Thoughts

In this day and age where just about everyone is connected to the internet, it is crucial for any business to have a strong online presence. As we continue to move forward within the digital age, younger generations are likely to be centered on using the internet to access different services. Having a strong digital marketing strategy is a must if you want to succeed in the increasingly competitive industries across the globe.

Could your digital marketing strategy use a boost? Onimod Global is your Chicago-based, in-house marketing team, your partner experts for specific marketing verticals or some nice balance in between. We excel in customer service and will teach you the most relevant and up-to-date digital marketing trends. From social media to SEO and paid search, you will have the tools to ensure your business succeeds online.  

Have questions about creating your online presence and need help strategizing? Contact us here today.

Why Digital Marketing is Crucial for Small Businesses

Effective Digital Marketing is paramount in helping small businesses learn the online habits of customers – which in turn they can better target their ideal customers. Here, we have listed the benefits of digital marketing strategies for small businesses to help them market their products or services with the right digital media planning. 

When small businesses get started, their main focus is how to attract customers to shop at their store and how to get them to utilize your services. Most small businesses may rely on traditional forms of advertising, such as print ads and mailers. Small business owners have a tendency to believe, if they offer a good product or service, it’s only a matter of time until new customers find their way to them.

While this strategy may bring in some business, there is an easier route to take. Small businesses should consider the marketplace of prospects that are available online. Small businesses, no matter how new to market, should never overlook the opportunity that digital channels can bring. This is a way to generate leads and convert interest into customers. Here’s a look at the benefits of digital marketing and the ways online platforms can be used to help grow your business.

Online Marketing & Its Benefits

With endless opportunities, digital marketing can seem intimidating if you’ve never used it for a business before. There are many different social media platforms and marketing terms that may make it seem like a bigger project than it is. It’s easy for small businesses to believe they don’t have the time or money to compete online. As a result, many take things slowly and stick with one or two forms of traditional advertising, assuming that their business will evolve as time passes.

The marketplace is competitive and while word of mouth and customer recommendations can help drive traffic, customers will struggle to find your business unless you show up in the places they spend time. Delaying building a presence online is not an effective approach. The best way to ensure success is to promote your business is to use target marketing to attract customers that are interested in your specific service and/or product. 

You can find an excess of potential customers online. It’s a larger group than you’ll ever be able to attract only locally. Using digital marketing techniques, you can reach a global audience in a way that’s cost-effective, scalable and measurable. Some of the benefits of using Digital Marketing tactics include:

  • Target the right audience at the right time – personalization is simpler with digital marketing.
  • Get to know your audience and drive engagement to create brand loyalty. Get some inspiration by creating a customer loyalty strategy. 
  • Track and monitor responses to your marketing efforts easily and instantly (i.e.) any social media platform which are typically free of cost. 
  • The ability to reach out to anyone and anywhere as there are no geographical boundaries with digital.

Get to Know Your Target Audience

One of the great things about digital marketing is that it allows you to engage with new customers. You can get to know them and their pain points, and in turn, provide them with a solution. Social media and blog posts are a great way to start a conversation. It’s important to make note of any comments or responses to your posts, it’s another great way to strengthen your strategy. Using digital marketing helps you stop wondering who your customers are so you can personalize communications and refine targeting. 

By doing this, you will build a relationship with your customers. You become more than a business, you become a reliable partner. Remember, people are also more likely to buy from businesses that they have already bought from and had a good experience with. When someone is interested in your business, whether it’s in your niche or they are curious about your brand, the first thing they will do is research online and see what they can find out about you. 

With today’s digital age, customers expect to find a business website or social media page easily. They also might be looking for reviews so they can learn what other people are saying about your company and whether it is a good place to do business. For local businesses, 87% of consumers read online reviews – a growth of 6% from 2019 to 2020.

So if a potential new customer can’t find you online, they may conclude that your business doesn’t appear to be legitimate. There is a very good chance that a lot of these prospects may decide not to take your business seriously and they will quickly take their business elsewhere.

Do More While Spending Less

Small businesses and start-ups are always trying to achieve as much as possible through their marketing on a budget. Advertising online can stretch your budget further and will allow you to refine your target audience. Social media is particularly good for this as it enables you to set a daily budget for a discrete audience that has an interest in your brand or ethos. Most importantly, it allows your business to exclude the people that would never buy from you – saving you time and money!

The key with advertising on social media is to select the platform that will work best for you and your brand. Don’t pick TikTok just because it’s trending or advertise on LinkedIn when you’re not trying to generate B2B interest. Research social channels, see which social media platform matches what you’re looking for and run some simple tests to see what messaging and content works. 

Last Thoughts

Ultimately, you are the one steering your business to success. Where do you want to go and what does success look like for you? Are you looking to develop a website that can generate leads? Or maybe you want to set up a Facebook campaign to see the results. The first step to achieving these goals is to develop an understanding of digital marketing and how it can have a positive impact on your business.

Onimod Global is your Chicago-based, in-house marketing team, your partner experts for specific marketing verticals or some nice balance in between. We excel in customer service and will teach you the most relevant and up-to-date digital marketing skills. From social media to SEO and paid search, you will have the tools to ensure your business succeeds online.  

Have questions about creating your online presence and need help strategizing? Contact us here today.

Social Media Design Mistakes All Marketers Should Avoid

Social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest in particular, have become a vital part of every marketer’s toolkit. But just posting carelessly is not enough. If your content isn’t reaching or engaging as many users as you’d hope for, there could be a specific reason. It’s quality over quantity when it comes to social media posts, and graphics are essential for success. Small changes can make a huge difference when it comes to design.  

Keep reading to learn the top 5 mistakes to avoid when it comes to social media design. 

Blurry Images 

If your image file is too small and has to stretch, this usually results in pixilation and poor quality. This can make your brand look unprofessional and are rarely shared by other users. Make sure the images you post to your pages are high-resolution and are the right dimension for the platform. 

Hard to Read Fonts 

While a font may be pretty, it might not be the best for social media. When users are scrolling, you want to make your graphics eye-catching, but clear and easy to read. When you have limited time to get your message across, you want to make it count. Many marketers go with Sans- Serif fonts because they’re modern, simplistic and good for digital screens. 

Limited Viewing Options

Most social media users scroll via mobile devices. So you need to make sure your designs transfer from desktop to mobile. It’s important to always keep in mind that not all graphics are one-size-fits all, especially when going from platform to platform. When your channels and audience varies, so should the style of your content. 

Stock Imagery 

Authentic content is key when it comes to social media. Users like to feel connected to brands and get a peek behind the curtain. Taking your own photos is one way to support this connection. 

It should be noted we’re not suggesting to never use stock photos. They do have their place, as adding royalty-free images to blog posts or articles are a convenient way to compliment your message. 

Too Much Clutter

A common mistake made with design is filling up every inch of space. This looks cluttered and can confuse users. Negative space is essential with good design, as the background is just as important as the imagery. White space helps direct the eyes of your audience to important points of your content, helping you get your message across in the most efficient way. 

Social Media Marketing with Onimod Global 

When you take the time to plan, create and customize your graphics to suit your brand and preferred social platforms, the results are worth it. Sometimes, outsourcing these efforts can make a world of difference. At Onimod Global, we’re experts in social media, digital marketing and graphic design. We offer high-end design and branding for your business, as well as the ability to boost social reach, engagement and conversions. Ready to bring your social media marketing to the next level? Contact us today.

Why You Should Invest in Video Ad Marketing

Investing in video ads can help drive brand awareness, more engagement, foster a greater audience connection and ultimately boost sales. If you’ve yet to commit to a solid video marketing strategy, here are 3 reasons to consider. 

Better Engagement

Movement and sound are two elements of an ad that easily catch user attention. They also help convey efficient, effective messaging, both which lead to higher engagement. This format is additionally effective in delivering your narrative to the target audience with a tailored message that’s easy to consume. Video ads that capture the interest of users and follow through with a CTA are more likely to succeed with keeping audiences interested. 

Additionally, research has found that the average user remembers 95% of a message when watched, compared to 10% when read. Meaning potential customers are more likely to recollect your brand’s message through video content, rather than a static image or text ad. 

More Shareable

Video content is quick, concise and makes it very easy to tell stories that are easy to consume by users. Video ads offer brands the perfect opportunity to express themselves and tell consumers why they can be trusted and why their products or services are worth purchasing. All of these elements also make videos much more sherable. As seen on Twitter, where 700 videos are shared by users every minute. Posting more shareable content helps increase your brand reach, generate more awareness and put yourself in front of more customer prospects. 

Higher Click-Through Rate

Along with being more engaging, videos also get a much higher-click through rate. According to a Smaato study, the average CTR of video ads via mobile is 7.5 times higher than standard display ads. One particular brand even found that video ads generated 47% higher CTR on Facebook than text ads. 

Final Thoughts

Though video ads can be more time consuming and costly to create, their ability to effectively narrate your story allows you to engage more prospects, gain higher reach and generate more ad clicks. 

At Onimod Global, we’re experts in all things digital marketing, including SEO, SEM, social media, web dev, graphic design, branding and more. If you’re looking to get started on building a video marketing strategy, we can help. Contact us today. 

More from Onimod Global

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

The Benefits of Webinars for Business

Webinars and virtual events have become a turning point for meetings and business in general, exploding during the pandemic. Let’s explore everything business professionals need to know about the benefits of hosting these successful virtual seminars.

During the pandemic, live events were canceled across the globe and businesses were forced to use the internet and wireless communication systems to replace in-person meetings. While there’s no substitute for the excitement of live events, in many cases it’s more practical for people to attend remotely. Did you know that webinars are some of the highest converting forms of marketing? 

Webinars are the next best thing to replace face-to-face interaction with customers and employees. There are very few if any besides webinars that can replace the connection that in-person interaction holds. More and more companies are realizing that without that internet presence it is hard to grow because of the easy access, each business has a complete capability of doing it. 

What is a Webinar?

Just like a seminar or convention, a webinar helps businesses bring together a wide and varied group of people, albeit over the internet. To host a webinar, you will need to find a webinar platform that will help you share your presentation with others online. This webinar software will let you create your own virtual online meeting rooms that you and your attendees will use to view and follow the presentation. Presenters can also share their desktop screens, files, and any open applications on their computer or mobile device, with their audience during the presentation.

It is worth mentioning that webinars are quite different from simple marketing videos, in that the audience follows your presentation in real time. Furthermore, the presenter and audience can engage with each other, leading to the sharing of highly insightful information.

Why Create a Virtual Event?

If you’re involved in a field such as education or public speaking, webinars and online events are probably already part of your marketing strategy. However, there are many ways that other types of businesses can benefit from webinars. Some of the key benefits for driving business include:

1. Virtual Events are Built for Engagement

Your attendees are looking for education and connection, and a webinar can provide both. can help you create that sense of connection and engagement that you miss by not being in person. Virtual events and the platforms that power them are optimized to keep conversations, ideas, and engagement flowing constantly. Webinars are truly unlike anything else; if done right, you can keep your audience engaged for hours on end and that’s something that videos put simply, struggle to do. Not only that, but your audience can also ask questions and get real-time feedback on the training.

2. Reach a Larger Audience

When it comes to trade shows, geographical location is everything. After all, you can only reach out to an audience where a particular show is happening. But that’s not the case with webinars.

One of the biggest benefits of a webinar is that it enables you to reach out to participants and sponsors anywhere in the world. There are no geographical barriers because you’re online. You can be sitting in the US while your audience is viewing you from Australia.

Anyone with an internet connection can join your webinar.

2. They Position you as an Expert in your Field

It’s a free webinar… Who cares? Well, your audience does. And just because it’s “free” doesn’t mean they’re not exchanging anything for the content.

Audiences join webinars because they want to learn. Learn more about the topic and challenges you are speaking about and learn more about the solutions to these challenges. To attend a webinar, your prospect has to register, put the date in her calendar, set aside time for the event, show up at the right time, and then give you around 1-hours of their time. They’re essentially jumping through these hoops just to listen to you talk about a certain subject; this positions you as an expert before you even start teaching the content.

3. Webinars Generate Leads

As mentioned earlier, webinars are some of the highest converting forms of marketing. One of the best reasons to create a webinar or other online event is to generate leads for your business. Webinar attendees provide information to attend your webinar. You can also have virtually unlimited attendees at a single webinar. From a bare-minimum standpoint, that’s like collecting a bunch of quality business cards.

4. Saves Time & Money

Webinars can be a great option for businesses dealing with shrinking budgets. In fact, virtual events are about 75% less expensive than in-person experiences, as hosts typically save money on staff, venue, setup and takedown, accommodations, meals, travel costs, and more. At a minimum, the only thing planners have to worry about paying for is the cost of their virtual meeting platform. Although virtual events do require some setup time (e.g. event website, registration, event marketing, and promotion, etc.) and some extra coordinating with presenters, it’s tremendously less than that of an in-person event.

To organize and host a successful webinar, you don’t need much more than a list of invitees, a webcam, some scripted content that you want to share with said audience, and a broadband connection to stream high-quality footage directly to your audience. Hiring a digital marketing expert that specializes in webinar hosting is also an invaluable tool to make sure you’re getting it right.

Host a Webinar with the experts at Onimod Global

If you want to reach out to a broad audience, and boost your engagement and conversion rate, webinars are the way forward.

If done right, webinars can be better than visiting a prospects personally or jumping on a call with them. The biggest benefit here is that it provides an online space to nurture your seasoned, quality leads. On the other hand, you can also leverage webinars to form a great first impression.

Onimod Global has helped hundreds of our clients across the United States and globe plan, set up and execute webinars to generate business in an unbeatable fashion.

Ready to take the plunge? Contact us here today.