Tag Archive for: Email Marketing

Marketing Automation: Why It’s Essential and What to Avoid

/in /by

As more businesses shift away from traditional marketing tactics, agencies should follow suit. The times of one-time projects, lower value relationships, and thoughtless solutions with no unified reporting will lead to failure. The demand for full digital marketing services continues to increase, meaning agencies are taking on new clients while trying to keep existing ones happy. But with the rise for the need of digital services also comes the rise of resources available that makes providing those services easier. 

Some agencies have started using automated marketing systems to increase both sales revenue for both their company and their clients. These solutions allow repetitive tasks like email marketing, social postings, and ad campaigns to be automated, not only for efficiency, but to also create a more personalized experience for users. Not to mention, every step customers make can be triggered and tracked as they go through your marketing funnel. Allowing marketers to make appropriate adjustments to ads, campaigns, website, etc. 

Marketing automation is becoming a must have for agencies to stay relevant, but it can lead to failure if it’s not correctly implemented. 

 

Why You Should Use Marketing Automation 

 

Higher Value Relationships 

Marketing automation presents the ability to build and provide hyper personalized services for clients. This includes things like initial automation technology adoption and strategy, creation of email templates, nurture sequences, landing pages, as well as ongoing campaign assets, analytics, and optimization. Providing all these services ,in addition to the initial transition, makes it difficult for clients to change agencies. Not to mention it sets you apart from the competition, as many agencies have not yet integrated automation into their marketing strategy. 

Recurring Revenue 

Marketing automation is what can make an agency go from completing endless one-time projects, to being a consistent, must have resource for a number of companies. Marketing automation is necessary for almost any client and many companies struggle with technology. Many companies also struggle with knowing where exactly they need to personalize messages and where they shouldn’t. That’s where you should come in, and ultimately move towards a retainer-based relationship and consistent revenue. 

Proving Value 

Clients always want to know they’re getting the best ROI possible. When marketing automation is carried out correctly, there should be no issues presenting results. It gives you the ability to show measurable results with comprehensive lead-to-revenue reporting. Since it’s rooted in data, you’re provided the necessary numbers to help clients pinpoint what should be focused on and what should be tossed. Marketing automation also becomes more valuable and a better investment the longer it’s used. The more data there is, the more accurate the results will be, and can hopefully show month to month improvement. 

It’s Necessary to Stay Afloat 

According to Ad Age’s Agency Report 2018, U.S. agency growth is the slowest it’s been since 2010, except for those offering digital marketing services. With the need for digital services growing, marketing automation is basically becoming a must to stay in business. Companies need more data than ever to feel confident about their spending. Marketing automation can assist with all of these aspects when executed correctly. You can create new streams of revenue, attract new clients, provide real evidence of ROI and a service too complicated to take on in-house. 

 

Marketing Automation Mistakes 

A misconception has grown around automation that is can salve for any slowdown in marketing growth, including the need for generating new leads. This leaves many marketers with sophisticated tools automating the middle-of-the-funnel, but no real strategy or solution to generate new leads to nurture in the first place. This commonly results in marketers purchasing email lists to nurture instead of generating inbound leads. While this is a quick solution, it doesn’t work long term. This strategy fails to create a solid foundation for healthy, long-term customer relationships. Instead, it produces spammy content and incredibly low ROI. 

Another mistake is using marketing automation to force customers through a funnel with arbitrary touch points and irrelevant content. Marketers try to pass customers on to the sales department as quickly as possible, creating a disjointed customer experience. When marketing automation operates in a silo like this, points of friction are introduced that stall and strain what could have been productive, long-term customer relationships. Instead, there should be a contextual experience built on each customer’s individual needs. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Marketing automation can be a powerful and effective tool. To make it work it’s essential to understand all components and distinctions. Marketing automation should always be backed by an inbound strategy centered around the prospect, using all the information known about a person to inform the automation strategy. The ultimate goal is to deliver the information people need to make a purchase, when they need it, right where they’re looking for it. 

 

More From Onimod Global 

At Onimod Global we are experts in marketing automation and customer relationship management software. Our work is creating digital synergy and cross-channel digital marketing campaigns driven by machine learning analytics and human intelligence. Together ensuring your brand meets the consumer when and where they need them. Learn more about what we do, or become a client today. 

 

 

The 411 on 1:1 Marketing

/in /by

The “one size fits all” mass marketing method has been well on its way out of style. Before it was all about getting out a message to as many people as you possibly could, hoping that at least one of them would become a customer. Over the last few years marketers have discovered that going this route is generally not the most cost effective. They’re now trying to send out more personalized messages to a more specific target market. 

One-to-one marketing, also referred to as relationship marketing, is by no means a new strategy, but has become one of the most popular buzzwords of 2019. It focuses on personalized interactions with each customer, catering to their individual behavior and needs. The challenge faced by marketers now is how to achieve this digitally. While brands are constantly updating their process to be more customizable, it still has yet to be perfected.

Types of One-To-One Marketing

Customization

This gives each customer the ability to customize the product to fit their own taste. The company doesn’t have to learn the preferences of each individual customer. It just has to produce and manufacture each product differently, according to the preferences set by the customer.

An example would be how Nike.com gives consumers the opportunity to customize their own shoes, deciding the colors, material used, etc. Some social media platforms also let users customize their profiles by giving the option to alter their feeds to fit their own preferences and interests. 

Personalization

With personalization the company takes the time to learn the personal preferences of each customer individually. The company then customizes its marketing plan accordingly, catering to the tastes of each individual.

Amazon.com is considered one of the most successful at using this strategy. They collect data on users based on what they have bought or looked at in the past. Amazon then uses that data to recommend new products for them to purchase.

Why it Works

One-to-one marketing takes customer relationship management data, then segments, activates, and measures that data to discover the customers of highest value, while maximizing reach to them. One-to-one marketing generates lift, has the ability for extremely specific segmentation, as well as producing measurable results. You have the ability to substantially increase conversion rates due to the fact that you’re delivering more relevant messages to each audience segment, according to the feedback from those segments. You’re also creating micro-segments, targeting each customer specifically and uniquely.

Getting Closer to One-to-One Personalization

As we said before, this is not a new concept, but taking it and perfectly applying it to the digital marketing world has difficulties. MarketingLand has found 5 steps brands have started integrating into email campaigns, attempting to get closer to reaching one-to-one personalization.

1. Practice Good Data Hygiene

Remove inactive subscribers, duplicate emails, and fake accounts regularly. The quality of your content doesn’t matter if it’s not making it to the right, and legitimate, people.

2. Maintain Good Relationships with ISPs

Brands need to follow the best practices to maintain good relations with internet service providers such as Google, Yahoo, etc. A poor reputation can prevent your brand’s emails from reaching your subscriber’s inboxes. Monitor your reputation by frequently reviewing and adjusting targeting, frequency, and deployment strategies.

3. Use User-Friendly Templates

The development, creation, and deployment of campaigns can take weeks, maybe even longer, if marketers don’t have a streamlined process with the right tools in place. Marketing teams can build responsive, dynamic campaigns without coding, using drag-and-drop functionality. Production time can be cut in half, allowing your team to create more relevant content for more of your audience.

4. Dynamic Content Blocks

These have the ability to cater to each subscriber segment, creating greater efficiencies when changes frequently occur. For example, in retail there is a constant movement of pieces from inventory to offers that have the possibility of changing at a moment’s notice. Building automated pieces of content into template ensures that these last minute changes can be made with no real labor. This reduces production and also allows the design team to focus on other, more important tasks.

5. Have a Robust Trigger Program

This is the easiest way to implement personalization for email programs. The program delivers relevant content in a timely manner with the results being open rates exceeding far above averages promo messages. MarketLand suggests to frequently check subscriber activity, purchase history, browser behavior, preference data, etc. to find additional ways to boost your program. These triggers can provide a jump in revenue with less maintenance in content creation.

Additional Thoughts

All marketers are aware that individualized content is the best way to build awareness and relationships with customers. While it’s easy for smaller companies to personally communicate with each individual customer, there are many barriers when trying to make that happen on a much larger, digital scale. Despite the challenges, marketers are employing a variety of strategies that are allowing them to get much closer to one-to-one personalization. 

More From Onimod Global

The digital marketing experts from Onimod Global are here to make sure that you receive the best information possible regarding the digital marketing industry. You can access our full compilation of news articles here!

 

Industries Benefiting The Most From Digital Marketing Campaigns

/in , , , /by

Although running successful digital marketing campaigns can be beneficial for many industries, there are some in particular where ROI is much more substantial. It’s almost an “adapt or die” scenario for companies within certain industries in an advertising market dominated by digital media. Listed below are a few industries that have substantial returns on investments when it comes to digital marketing efforts.

Health:
The health industry in today’s market is comprised of millions if not billions of dollars. Physicians, dentists, and any other entities involved in the health industry produce significant returns from clientele. The importance of effective search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) strategies to appear on the first page of search results is huge. The ROI is so substantial that there are some health clinics and larger hospitals that allocate millions of dollars to their annual advertising budgets. That alone shows the importance of leads and conversions and why digital efforts need to be emphasized in the health industry.

Food and Restaurant:
The scope of the food and restaurant industry has changed drastically. Businesses are always trying to find new ways to attract consumers to their venues and get customers to feel connected to their brands. Many restaurants have started to prioritize social media advertising as a way to reach target markets and new audiences. According to Toast Inc, “there has been a 20% overall increase in restaurants advertising on social media so far in 2017 compared to historical data.” Therefore, restaurants have started to pick up on the digital advertising trend and those who fail to adapt will suffer in the long run.

Law:
It’s no surprise as to how much money is involved when it comes to the legal industry. The ROI for defense attorneys and law firms is in most cases substantial. However, it was reported by Greentarget in a survey that in 2014 only one in four law firms prioritized their digital marketing plan over other marketing efforts. Although it was three years ago, this statistic is mind boggling due to the high amount of search traffic for law related key words. Essentially, in order to stay on top of competitors in the legal industry, a major online presence is needed and prioritizing digital marketing efforts is a must.

Auto:
Marketing has always played a huge role in the auto industry, but the traditional days of billboards, magazines, and radio ads are diminishing. With the majority of today’s consumers searching online for automobiles, the importance of digital marketing has increased tremendously. eMarketer  stated that “spending on advertising in traditional media by all major auto companies is following a downward trend, while spending on digital advertising is increasing every year. In fact, from 2014 to 2015, it rose almost 22 percent.” In the end, it’s clear that companies within the auto industry will continue to battle it out through digital marketing and continue to find new ways to reach consumers.

In Need Of Digital Solutions?: At Onimod Global some of the clients we serve are in these industries and we know what it takes to deliver positive ROI. If you’re associated with a business seeking improvements with SEO, SEM, Website Development, or any other digital marketing service feel free to reach out to us on our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you!

Why Email Marketing is Thriving

/in , /by

As new technologies are developed, previous practices and techniques become outdated. Email marketing is different. This more traditional form of digital marketing still performs well in today’s modern environment, and here is why.

The Data:

An info graphic created by WebsiteBuilder gives stunning statistics about email marketing. According to the graphic, 71% of mobile purchases are the result of emails sent by companies. The graphic goes on to claim that emails deliver an ROI that is 3 times higher than that of social media.

This data clearly shows that email marketing is still influential and effective. Even small businesses can see huge growth with these strategies. So how can you better your email marketing to drive these same results?

The Potential:

Email marketing has evolved. In order to garner attention from potential customers and clients, your business needs to stay ahead of the game. There are plenty of email marketing programs that will allow you to more easily connect with users. As long as they provide a big enough database for your contacts, easy data export capabilities, and trendy templates, you should be set.

One of the most important things to remember when crafting your email is this: build a relationship. Not only do you want to interest and engage the user, but you also want them to become personally invested in you and what you have to say. This all comes from a connection.

The Logic:

Many consumers receive these emails because they asked to in some way or another. Whether they subscribed to a newsletter or followed a company on twitter, they gave permission to be contacted.

Since the user has already done most of the work, now all you have to do is make them care. Assist the consumer by helping them learn what they have to gain from working with your business.

Promotional offers and discounts are highly effective when used in email marketing. General information and updates within the company also help to keep subscribers involved. Whatever the recipient may be looking for, try to help them find it with your emails.

Time to Spring Clean Your Digital Marketing?

/in /by

Yesterday brought the official first day of spring – Now is the time to dust off the old and get your digital marketing sparkling like new! Read more

Google Search Algorithm Update February 7th

/in /by

We just had some Google algorithm update a week ago potentially targeting spammy links I believe. And now a week later, around February 7th, yesterday, it seems there was another algorithm update. This update doesn’t seem specific to links or spam but rather just a normal unconfirmed Google update where ranking changes shift based on something changing at Google.

I do not believe it is related to the mobile bug because most of the automated tracking tools only track desktop search.

There is some chatter, the chatter in the SEO community is not YET that hot but it might heat up throughout the day as people check their analytics and tools.

An ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has these posts:

SERPs movements again in our vertical. We’re seeing some recoveries from previous penguin casualties and some domain crowding. Spam STILL having a huge positive impact.

Yesterday (Tue 7th) I saw a huge spike in organic traffic, ~30% over avg, and 18% increase from previous record day in November. It’s a Canadian financial-related site. Increases from both Google.ca as well as other search engines/

Here is a post on Twitter that even caught Gary Illyes attention:

Screen Shot 02-08-17 at 01.51 PM

 

And here are the tracking tools showing changes on the 7th, note Mozcast is well behind in terms of tracking so this might be related to the link spam update we covered last week?

Mozcast:

click for full size

SERP Metrics:

click for full size

Algoroo:

click for full size

Accuranker:

click for full size

RankRanger:

click for full size

Have you noticed any changes over the past 24 hours?

 

 

 

HT SE Roundtable

Bing Ads Rolls Out Scheduling for Ad Extensions

/in /by

The option to show extensions during store hours or time-sensitive promotions is available in all markets. Read more

9 Intriguing Digital Marketing Stats From This Week

/in /by

The past few days saw the digital marketing world awaken from its post-holiday slumber and really put out some eye-opening stats.

Read more

5 Digital Marketing Predictions for 2017

/in /by

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 firstMobile 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

mobile appIf 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)

live videoConsumers 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

native advertisingBack 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 visualizationData 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