Category: Martech

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Custom Manufacturing: Expectations vs Reality

on April 15, 2019

After years of decline and overall slow growth, the manufacturing sector is starting to thrive once again. No doubt aided by technological growth and innovation, the uptick should largely be seen as a positive thing.

On the flip side, however, there are still major challenges to be faced.

In this article, we take a look at what these challenges are – and we also present some solutions.

Shortage of Labor

Baby boomers acquired lots of skills that were valuable to the manufacturing sector. In 2019, however, many are exiting the workforce and taking those skills with them. As a result, the worry is that they’ll leave behind 2.4 million unfulfilled jobs.

The rise of Artificial Intelligence, robots and automation are helping to plug the gap, but only to a certain extent. A labor shortage is real, with the lack of trade school opportunities for young people being a growing problem.

A solution lies with solid training programs aimed at teaching candidates the right skills needed to thrive in the manufacturing sector. These skills include sheet rolling, robotics programming, and welding.

Manufacturers also need to improve the way they attract workers, and this means employing extensive digital marketing strategies and utilizing social media.

Keeping Up To Date With The Latest Technologies

Cloud computing, robotics, artificial intelligence and the Industrial Internet of Things are just some examples of advanced technology that is helping the custom manufacturing sector.

The problem is that many manufacturers are struggling to keep abreast of all the latest changes and advances. Worse still, technologies are developing at such a fast pace that once manufacturers have got to grips with a piece of technology, a new one is developed.

It’s a smart idea for businesses to work closely with consulting firms who have experience with manufacturing, and the latest technologies. This will allow the business to make faster strides forward, and it will give them the insights and assistance needed to adapt as fast as – if not faster – than their rivals.

This is key because, as analyst firm IDC points out, spending on drones and robotic systems is expected to eclipse $115 billion by the end of 2019.

Other technologies manufacturers need to get to grips with include blockchain, which will soon directly impact the cost-effectiveness, security, and speed of financial transactions and operations in the manufacturing sector.

3D printing is another piece of technology that is continuing to evolve and improve. Its ultimate benefit will be cheaper, stronger and better manufacturing.

Cybersecurity

So, technology is rapidly evolving. While this is clearly beneficial to the manufacturing sector, there is a darker side. Namely, those cybercriminals are upping their game at the same time.

Cryptominer’s and banking Trojans have been named as the two biggest cybersecurity threats that the manufacturing industry is now facing. The concern is that too many manufacturers are still using old and outdated security systems that are simply unable to thwart these attacks.

Businesses need to start employing better, more sophisticated and advanced ways of keeping their networks strong and secure. The traditional firewall approach that worked in the past is no longer enough.

To that end, it’s a good idea to make sure all your computer security software is updated frequently. Educate your staff about the telltale warning signs, too.

Fierce Global Competition

The U.S. has traditionally been the world’s most competitive economy – but all that has now changed. China is now leading the way, although the U.S. is still in hot pursuit.

To get back on track, attracting the best talent and getting to grips with the most sophisticated and up-to-date technologies are essential. Production will need to be shifted to a higher value, too, while offering new service-based pricing models and product-as-a-service are seen as other ways to keep the manufacturing sector competitive.

Attracting The Right Leads

In the past, manufacturers would rely on ‘old school’ ways of attracting leads – cold calls, trade shows and the like. In 2019, that won’t cut it anymore.

Manufacturers need to invest heavily in a robust digital marketing strategy. While building a website is important, what’s more, important is that manufacturers take care of the many facets of digital marketing to increase leads. This means creating content marketing campaigns, SEO campaigns, email marketing campaigns, and even social media campaigns.

Digital marketing is all about building relationships and connecting with people where they are at. It also means creating lots of value and giving things away for free that educates their audiences, such as eBooks, case studies and infographics.

Conclusion

Whatever kind of manufacturing industry you’re involved in, it’s really important that you’re aware of the expectations and the realities.

Custom manufacturing is heading in the right direction, and it’s really important that your business follows the latest trends. Use the tips in this article to get up-to-date with where custom manufacturing is, and then put into place plans of action that generates better results in our ever-evolving world.

InsightsMartechSaaS

How to Create A Vision and Strategy For Getting More Instagram Likes?

on April 11, 2019

There are several profiles on Instagram; however, only a few of them stand out and are popular online. If you want to join this league of popular Instagram profiles, you should create a vision and strategy that will help you to achieve your goal. Before working on your Instagram profile, the following are some questions you should ask yourself-

What is the purpose of your Instagram profile?

Now, if you are a person or a business, you first need to answer this question- why are you here on Instagram? What is the purpose of your Instagram profile? What do you want others to think or even speak about your brand? These are the first questions you should ask yourself. Once you get a clear understanding of the above questions, you will be able to get the answers and create a good Instagram profile for your followers.

Extra tips for business profiles on Instagram

No one will visit your profile without reason especially if you are on Instagram for business. As a business brand, you should ensure your profile is complete and the response time you take when it comes to getting back to your customers should be short. It is best for you to activate an automated response system on the profile to reply to the customer once he/she sends you a message. This will increase the integrity and goodwill of your business with success. Remember, no one will like to visit a business profile on social media if they have never heard of the brand or the company before. The profile you make for your business should reflect authenticity and the quality of your business in a positive light. This helps you to get a lot of инстаграмнакруткалайков too.

What do you want your profile to look like 5 to 6 months from now?

If you wish to have a popular Instagram profile, you should always focus on development and growth. Make short and long -term goals. At the end of 6 months from now, how many followers do you want? You should write them down and check what your most important objectives are and what should you do to attain them. Create plans and strategies that are in sync with your social media goals-you are bound to get positive results!

Last but not least, evaluate your profile from time to time. Check out other profiles and see whether yours is appealing or not. Think about your profile and look at it from the point of view of a visitor. Make changes as and when desired. If you have a business profile and are looking for a wider audience, embrace an Instagram marketing strategy for your company. This marketing strategy will help you reach your targeted audience faster. Make sure that your Instagram profile for your business gives you an overall view of your products and services to the targeted audience you intend to reach out to. This helps you to increase SEO traffic and improve lead conversions.

You can automate your social media with Somiibo’s free instagram bot to increase your followers on auto-pilot which will save you time and give you a chance to focus on creating good content. Automating your marketing process is a great investment in any business and is worth considering for just about any industry.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

Zoho Vs. Salesmate – Which CRM You Should Choose for Your Business?

on April 11, 2019

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a tool that enables businesses to organize and access customers’ data. In the past, this was done manually where businesses made paper notes to keep a record of the activities and metrics related to the company. But today, businesses have realized the importance of quality customer service, and now they need something more advanced than notes and sheets. This is where the CRM software comes into play.

Many businesses have invested in CRM software application such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services to unify their strategies related to customer services. CRM software has become a business necessity which is why they have taken the lead as the largest software market in the world. By the end of 2017, the global CRM software market was generating a net revenue of $39.5 billion. Its global revenue is expected to reach $80 billion by 2025.

Two important CRM software commonly used today are Salesmate and Zoho. If you are going to select a CRM software for your business, you need to compare these two and decide which is right for your business.

Zoho Vs. Salesmate

Both Zoho and Salesmate are CRM systems that assist small and large corporations to convert the lead into customers. In this post, we will compare various factors of the two software so that you can decide which one works well for you. These factors include basic features, pricing plans, support, and integrations among other things.

Ideal users of Salesmate and Zoho

The two software platforms differ from one another based on who they are ideally meant for. Salesmate CRM can be customized for a diverse range of businesses. It can meet the needs of various small and large enterprises to organize processes and gain an edge in the competitive market. The different versions and industries that Salesmate serve include:

  • Real Estate CRM software: It allows you to manage contacts, automate activities, and facilitates a smooth sales process. Also, if you need a real-estate logo, the best place for buying it is DesignHill.
  • CRM for construction: It helps you to stay organized and seamlessly handle your bidding process and sales deals
  • CRM for lawyers: SalesmateCRM for law firms to help them maximize efficiency and increase their revenue
  • SaaS CRM for startups: Helps sales reps to simplify sales processes, organize workflows, and provides a holistic view of your prospects
  • Salesmate CRM for agencies: organizes and automates sales operations of media, marketing, and digital agencies
  • CRM for higher education: Helps the competitive educational market to organize processes and records

While Zoho works for similar enterprises, it is mainly intended for large businesses and organizations along with small scale corporations. It is aimed for slightly matured businesses and caters to a sales force of a thousand persons and beyond.

Plans and Pricing

While the introductory Zoho CRM pricing is affordable, the cost inflates every time you are looking for advanced features. Zoho offers a free version of the software which distinguishes it from a Salesmate. However, the free version is generally a poor representation of CRM software as it misses a lot of important features. The standard version of Zoho costs around $15 while the cost goes up to $18 if you are using the professional version.

On the other hand, Salesmate offers a simple and affordable pricing plan. It costs $12 per user/month when billed annually for all the features. It also offers a free trial period of 15 days which can be activated without a credit card. Once the 15-day trial period is over, you have the option to either pick a monthly or annual billing plan.

Features comparison

Salesmate features

Salesmate offers a myriad of features and brings all your favorite apps into one CRM. It enables you to sync apps like Google Drive, Gmail, Contacts, Maps, and Calendar into one CRM. Additionally, it allows you to connect with apps like MailChimp and Shopify and provides a plethora of plugins to convert your leads. You can also set up a professional email signature and further make it appealing by the signature template creator offered by Salesmate. Other features that Salesmate CRM offers are:

Accelerated Sales

  • Pipeline management
  • Tracking activities
  • Smart Emails

Smart Productivity

Gain Visibility

  • Tracking sales goals
  • Sales intelligence
  • Sales forecasting
  • Mobile apps

Zoho features

Zoho CRM software brings all your channels together in an organized timeline. You get to see all your emails arranged in a CRM pipeline and respond to customers with ZohoSalesInbox. It also allows you to contact customers inside the CRM with the click of a button. Other Zoho features include:

Salesforce automation

  • Pipeline analysis
  • Real-time forecasting
  • Lead generation and qualification

CRM workflow management

  • Email notifications with templates
  • Workflow alerts while creating and modifying records
  • Instant notifications to third-party apps

Sales tracking

  • 360-degree view
  • Monitoring sales opportunities
  • Sales pipeline and escalation process
  • Import sales opportunities from third-party services

Document library

  • Send documents from your CRM
  • Role-based folders and sub-folders
  • Quick feedback from team members to improve documents

Integrations and Apps

Both Salesmate and Zoho enjoy plenty of third-party app integrations, but the variety of apps it Salesmate offers in its standard version far exceeds its competitors. It integrates well with Gmail, Drive, Shopify, WordPress, Squarespace, to name a few.

Customers support

CRM software is known for its poor customer support. But unlike others, the Salesmate CRM prides on a massive support center. It provides tons of articles and guides that answer many common customer questions. What distinguishes Salesmate from Zoho is the availability of ‘live support’ which comes handy when you need a swift response in case of CRM software malfunction. This is the reason why Salesmate enjoys a 5-star review rating when it comes to customer support. Check Best Zoho CRM Alternatives.

The verdict

Choosing a CRM software that not only your requirements but also falls within the confines of your budget sometimes become a challenge. If you’re looking for a CRM software that is affordable and yet provides all the features that matter, we recommend Salesmate. However, if your business can afford the premium packages delivered by Zoho, you won’t be disappointed by it either.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProductsSaaS

Best Practices for Mobile Application Testing

on April 1, 2019

Mobile application testing companies have come up with various solutions to create effective and reliable mobile applications. Challenges that testers face are growing due to the continuously growing type and number networks, devices, and operating systems. The most important point to note down is the difference in user skills. Mobile app developers are finding solutions to meet these challenges and deliver a high performance so that their application can get five-star ratings.

When testers carry out testing on mobile applications, following are the best practices that ensure that an app is reliable:

  • Devising a Strategy

Testers should devise a proper strategy before beginning a test. This strategy must clearly list down guidelines for performing tests. This helps testers in following step-by-step tests that ensure nothing is left unattended.

  • Performing Tests on Real Devices

 

Although, testers use emulators and simulators while testing applications in the early stages of development, but testing should be done on real devices as well. This helps in achieving realistic results and getting a better understanding of the app and its usability.

  • Testing Often at Early Stages

It is important to test an application as soon as it has reached a logical stage of development. It helps testers in identifying issues and saving the cost of fixing petty bugs and errors. Moreover, testers can utilize tracked test cycle results for introducing further improvements in the app.

  • Setting Device and OS Preferences

It is not possible to test on all devices, networks, and Operating System (OS) combinations. Testers must identify the devices and OS that the application under test will be able to cater to and then carry out tests on them.

  • Automation Testing

Testers should save their time by using automation testing because it has a higher ROI. On the other hand, they must also require to carry out periodic maintenance of the automation test suite.

  • Performance and Security Testing

With the help of performance and security testing, testers can easily make their app robust and prevent it from any glitches to the end users. They can also check the app from all aspects particularly with reference to third party and open source software packages.

  • Testing Battery Consumption and Interoperability

Testers should ensure that they check how much battery the app consumes. Due to the high consumption of the battery, most of the users delete applications. Thus, it is important to check how the app adjusts when there is variation in the network strength.

  • Global Availability of Application

The application can be appealing worldwide if it is adaptable to different geographies. Testers should ensure that they support various languages and currencies so that the users can make purchases easily.

If an application is slow or crashes too frequently, then it will not be able to remain in the market for too long. Testers should be vigilant in picking their tools and strategy so that they can make their applications successfully accepted worldwide. Mobile application testing companies ensure that they follow the above-mentioned strategies in order to provide excellent testing services for any kind of mobile applications.

Author Bio

Ray Parker is a senior marketing consultant with a knack for writing about the latest news in tech, quality assurance, software development, and travel. With a decade of experience working in the tech industry, ray now dabbles out of his New York office.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

Understand The Power Of Artificial Intelligence In Digital Marketing

on April 1, 2019

In this new era of marketing, technology has observed outstanding advancement. Along with path-breaking progression, the world has become more automated. Right from smartphone to the crewless aircraft everyone loves to explore the leading edge technology in their daily life. Among numerous innovative trends, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has great applications in several fields. Well, a great influence we can see in the digital marketing industry. Today, a digital marketing department is able to achieve its business goals without any hassle and whole credit goes to AI.

How AI Affects Digital Marketing?

According to a report, 55% of digital marketers rely on AI for business promotion. That’s confidence! This technique offers an incredible platform to grab the attention of core customers and associate them with business for a longer time. Other than that there are many remarkable outcomes that only possible with the advanced AI strategies such as:

  • Behavior Analysis

Artificial Intelligence is more about analyzing immense amounts of data and making decisions as per the findings. This predictive analytics is a fantastic method in which AI is transforming digital marketing. Now what AI performs here? It transforms analysis of this data and transforms into user-friendly information! AI is being more and more applied to unorganized data which do not have a ‘set record’ format like social media feeds, documents, audio transmissions, digital pictures and videos used to collect facial expression, creating these disparate data sources to provide insights on behavioral patterns of consumers that remain or elusive. The interesting thing is that AI can perform this task much quicker and perfection than a human ever could.

  • Customized Marketing Solutions:

There is no denying the fact the social media marketing plays a vital role in the digital marketing industry. It has the power to take the profits of digital marketing techniques to the next level. So, you will be glad to know that with the use of Artificial Intelligence a digital marketer can easily improve his output by making more effectual and customer-targeted materials. To perform this task, several tools are employed to assist in using AI. The greatest benefit of involving AI is producing customized marketing solutions. Rather than having a one-size-fits-all marketing operation that tries to attract the customers, the customized solutions will directly hit your target audience. There are a few tools that quite valuable for digital marketers:

  • Rocco.ai – An Artificial Intelligence-powered marketing supporter that learns the inner workings of your business and suggests the most appropriate action to take for your marketing strategies.
  • Acquisio – Increase your digital marketing technique by using ML to optimize cost efficiency and enhance significant customer views
  • Emarsys – Utilize AI marketing that enables machines to make decisions for you and customizes ad campaigns for every customer.

  • Enhance User Experience:

User Experience is the area where Artificial Intelligence makes a remarkable impact. Let’s understand this fact with a simple example:

  • As the customer plays a vital role in business, similarly, content is quite essential for a marketer. If the marketer is able to align the content marketing strategy with AI, it could be ground-breaking. This means AI can easily improve the user experience by providing customized content to the customers as per their searches, purchasing behavior and interests.
  • Next, the biggest example is Chatbots. They are incredibly making the process of automating responses to core buyers’ frequently asked questions even simpler by offering them with the best approach to find the service or product they are seeking. Chatbots are programmed by AI and its capacity to answer open questions. They contain numerous benefits for the customers and enhance their experience in an effective way. They serve the customers 24×7 and able to retain the crucial data. They are easy to operate and never lose their patience.

  • Make Decision Making Process Easy:

Another effective aspect of Artificial Intelligence is augmented reality. This aspect offers the customer leverage to view and feel the product before purchase. In this way, a customer can easily evaluate the entire features and other essential components of the product. This will enable them to make a fair decision. Now they can better decide whether they should invest in that product or not. This will stimulate a quicker response from the customer and in turn enhance the revenue. It means if AI enters, it can make an extensive impact by an increase in better strategies for SEO as well as digital marketing.

  • Generate More Leads & Maximize The ROI

If you ask a marketer what is the most important thing for his business growth probably he would say more and more leads. But do you know what they do for this task? They implement different strategies in order to associate the core customers with business. This is because customers are the real asset of any company. If they are able to grab their attention, they can easily improve the ROI of the business. Now you will be glad to know that just as Artificial Intelligence can shift a large amount of information to make c buyer personas, it can perform the same to find your core customers.

In fact, if we consider the case of recruitment, there is also the influence of AI. It helps screen candidates and makes shortlists to assist the employers to recruit quicker and hassle-free. Not only this, it effectively reduces the cost of recruitment process too. Different platforms such as LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator enables users to seek employment leads and potential clients.

Final Takeaway:

The future of digital marketing is closely linked with AI. Now, most of the reputed organizations are involving this approach in business and exploring outstanding perks. Many small scale or medium scale companies are comprehensively chasing this path to get the most of its great power in the domain of digital marketing. The integration of AI doesn’t remove the human essence from marketing. In fact, it makes jobs more comfortable and saves a lot of time! Utilizing AI into your digital marketing techniques give business the insights it requires achieving goals.

Author Bio

Vincent Lambert is the co-founder and president of TactikMedia, innovative digital marketing, and web development agency. Vincent’s biggest priority is to attract quality traffic to the website, which ultimately will bring in quality leads, thanks to top-notch work in organic and paid searches. He has a solid understanding of everything relating to SEO, cost per click, remarketing, and conversion optimization.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Understand the Essential Nature of Content Marketing and How it Works

on March 30, 2019

Content marketing is very important as it can instill a lot of confidence in your brand by simply demonstrating the expertise, the authoritativeness and the trustworthiness that your brand has in being able to satisfy the specific needs of different users. This also goes on to drive more conversions and also brings your revenues up. Today content marketing is a very important aspect of the several different strategies for link earning. In this article, you will be learning more about why content marketing is important for your business. Because it is a highly fast and really effective channel for marketing, a lot of business enterprises have these adopted certain strategic approaches for content marketing. This has resulted in them getting a lot of benefits to be consistently produced which can entertain, inform and also solve a number of different problems and that can help in persuading their audience. From content marketing, one can get rewards which are not just like leads or revenues but also with a number of different benefits which might be easy for quantifying and measuring business insights. Content marketing has become one of the essential aspects of your marketing process. It has grown a lot in the last few years. Some industries have conducted surveys and showed that a lot of business enterprises have actually increased their total budget for content marketing by around seventy-five percent.

Basics of content marketing

Content marketing can be basically defined as one of the most strategic approaches for marketing which is specifically focused on the creation and the distribution of several valuable, reliable, relevant contents in a consistent manner in order to attract some clear audiences and also to retain them so that the customer action can become more profitable for the business. Compared to the traditional methods of marketing in which the companies would only thrust the products and brands they had to consumers, the content marketing is basically dependent on the techniques of inbound and pull marketing in which the companies would be offering you more relevant, beneficial and also insightful information to the audience and that too for no extra cost.

Why should you invest in new content marketing techniques?

1. Get more organic traffic and increased SEO: Search engine optimization goes together with marketing in such a manner that the content marketing might often get built in for a lot of SEO projects. One of the main reasons why this will help is because the content will help to build more organic visibility which is directly intended for the long tail search which is done via search engines and also in an indirect method which supports the main categories, services, level pages for products and by providing other additional information which focuses on the niche topics. These days, it has become almost too common for seeing the websites which get a lot of the organic traffic which they can from pages which are oriented around content and not on category service based pages or even their home pages. The increase in the growth of organic traffic will help the brands in exposing themselves to a lot of other prospective customers and will assist the target audience with more information. Because it is more helpful for the audience so the total process of buying will lead to not just increase in organic traffic but also to increase in your conversion also. 2. Demonstrate the credibility of your website to your audience: The credibility that your business website has will be quite instrumental in the number of conversions that you get. In order to be aware of the specific contact information that one needs to have, a lot of consumers will be quite apprehensive when they first visit a business website. The content marketing may influence a lot of users in such a manner that can help in demonstrating what your company truly stands for and that it is worth their trust. There are different testimonials or reviews which can be used as simple formats for your content, and they can also present your core message to the audience and instill more confidence in them in using your products. When you are good with the content marketing aspect, then you will be able to establish your business in a way that it can help in getting your business to be presented in a lot of different and interesting mediums also. Also Read: 15 Content Marketing Benefits That Can Increase Your Audience Engagement 3. More credibility for the major search engines also: Content marketing will also help in enhancing the credibility of your business enterprise to major search engines also. Search engines actually like companies which can reflect the expertise, the authority and the trustworthiness which their company has through their business website. A lot of major search engines have in fact clearly outlined it that they take the content that is posted on the business websites to be one of the most critical factors which decide the ranks that they will get in the search engine result pages. 4. Appealing to other users in different stages of buying: You should have pages created to woo users at different stages of their buying. This will also help you to attract those users who have put in their specific requirements and whose further requirements can be adjudged or pre-empted. This will be useful because content marketing can use this for targeting them and get in more conversions for you. In the event that you should require more information about content marketing then you must check out with the popular branding services. They will provide you with all the important details about content marketing and help you understand its importance for your website.

Conclusion

Content marketing will be here for a long time, and it is an essential aspect of business marketing these days. It will also go on to develop more in the future and has been quite influential in the strategies for marketing for a lot of business enterprises. Thus, you need to have a clear plan for content promotion in your marketing strategy. Hopefully, the information mentioned in this article will have helped you.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Crucial Factors That Will Improve Conversion Rates Using

on March 29, 2019

Psychology And Web Design

Conversion rate optimization is necessary if you want to see your company’s revenue growth. After all, you want to run a profitable business, don’t you? So, in order to do so, you need to draw people in, you need to get them to check out your stuff, and to actually use the services and goods that you have on offer. Not an easy task, we know. Then, add in the completion that you may face, and things get truly complicated. In order to push through, to get ahead, you need to use every single trick you have at your disposal. One of these can be psychology. Psychology ties in both web design and improving your conversion rates. Tap into what makes people tick, what makes a person focus on one aspect of a website, neglect the other, what makes people stay, what makes people leave. Once you understand why people make the choice they make, you will have a much more organic and clear approach towards creating a web design that will boost conversion rates drastically.

Attention spans and usability

The first thing you need to keep in mind is just how short our attention spans are. We only have so much energy, so much processing power we can use at any given moment. Understand that if you want to get higher conversions rates, you need a website that doesn’t drain people’s attention, that doesn’t just divert people away the moment they see it. If you want your website to be usable and to not drive away traffic, you need to not allow peoples attention to get away. So, here is what you should focus on. First, get your page load times in order. You want your website to respond as quickly as possible, with minimal loading times. If people have to wait too long for their page to load, they will just go to another website. There are a couple of things you can do to regulate this, like optimizing images on your website. Then, you want to keep things clear and readable. Keep things legible, don’t overstuff your website, or put too many elements in it, just so they can take up space. Too many features will just draw the attention of users away from the things you want them to focus on. We know you want to get that special segment or that amazing feature that you worked so hard on, but there is no point to it if it’s just going to drive away traffic.

Guiding your users

Humans are visual creatures and don’t think that how your website looks don’t matter. The presentation of a website is an important part of UX design, one that shouldn’t be neglected. Keep in mind that your website is a means of communication between yourself and your potential clients. Why not make this channel as pleasing as possible? Hopping Mad website development professionals, for example, will tell you that you need to almost lead your customers by the hand. Things like leading your consumers to where you want them to go, understanding how color influences our thoughts and feelings – this is what you should be aiming for. So, things like directional cues that lead you from one piece of information to another, while blocking out those that just don’t matter. It’s your responsibility to lead people through your website. In more clear terms, this means you create a hierarchical structure that naturally flows. Things like arrows, pointers are not as subtle, but they can get the job done.  Have menus, buttons, and directions that vary in size, in accordance with their importance.

Usage of color

By using color (or lack of it) properly, you can draw more visitors in, and keep them right here, at your website. You may scoff at the idea, but it’s a scientific fact that colors influence our emotions, the way we think and the way we act. Read up about how colors influence people, and apply that to your website design. However, you also want to use lack of color to your advantage. Namely, by using whitespace and the empty room on your page, you can create a very interesting aesthetic. By using white space properly, you can draw people’s attention away from one area, and then push them towards some other space of a point of interest.

Annoyance

Annoyance is perhaps a bit crude of a term, but it’s perfect to describe what you don’t want your visitors to feel when they visit your website. Namely, think of the things that would annoy you if you were to visit a certain website. Then, think about whether any such elements are present in your own thing. For example, we already mentioned how short our attention spans are. But, your content matters here as well. Sales language, too many calls to action, just forcing your user to do things in general, all of these things are not going to be received warmly. Try not to sound like an aging used-car salesman as well. Present people with clear, actual facts about your services and products.

Content

Using psychology can help you make the most out of your conversion rates, and your web design. Try to avoid annoying your customers, and create a clear and precise website. Take color theory into consideration, and work hard to maintain your user’s attention spans. Psychology can be a fantastic tool to add to your conversion rate optimization arsenal.

DevelopmentMartechProducts

Four Ways Online Shopping Has Changed

on March 29, 2019

The holiday shopping season is almost at an end. Every year, retailers look back to analyze how the season went for their profits and losses. While the numbers are still being crunched, retailers are noticing some changes to this season versus Christmases past. Let’s analyze how online shopping has changed how people buy for Christmas.

1. More Online Shoppers

Nearly 8% of American consumers are buying online. They are using the Web or their phones, up from just 22% in 2000. More than half purchased something by using a mobile device. Another 15% clicked a link from social media. Some read blogs or news feed before buying something. Therefore, Americans are turning to their computer or phone instead of going to a  brick and mortar store. To convince people to come inside the store, many retailers offer to pick up service. You can purchase online and pick up the item in the store, but one flaw in this plan is that the advertisements make it seem to be immediate. However, the item is not usually in the store right away.

2. Shoppers Want to Compare

Although people are using online shopping, they aren’t doing it because they can get a package delivered to their door. They are doing it because they want to compare products from different companies against each other. Therefore, people are going to review an item on one Website and see where is the best place to buy it. They are looking at reviews and prices. They also want the best service. In Christmases past, people would be loyal to one store and purchase everything there. Today, they have no qualms of going from one place to another, especially because these places are all online.

3. Cost Still Counts

Online shopping is popular because sometimes, retailers will price products less online than in the store. About two-thirds (65%) of study participants say they chose online products because of the cost – and often go for different discount apps to find the best prices. However, if the price is the same online as in the store, that same 65% will head to a store over online shopping. Most people still prefer to shop at a store. The desire to shop in a store depends on how often people go online to shop. And, older Americans are more likely to shop in a store while younger Americans are more likely to shop over the phone. Retailers that gave the same discounts online via coupons and codes on a site like Raise and in-store capitalized on both groups. About a quarter of Americans will buy without checking online prices for comparison’s sake, and only 14% would purchase online without checking retail prices.

4. Growth Happens, But Tiny

Although the number of shoppers turning to online to purchase has increased in the last five years, it still represents only 15% of global commerce. And, though it might be $526 billion, it remains a mere 10% of all retail sales. Therefore, the majority of retail sales still happen in brick and mortar places. Those going online via smartphone represent 25% of all online shoppers. Desktop purchases comprise most of online shopping. The difference is that people are using online shopping to decide what to buy when they go to the store.

About the author

Usman Raza is a marketing specialist at PSDtoWPService.com and co-founder of Christian Marketing Experts. He has been writing for magazines and newspapers since 2001, and editing and managing websites since 2006. A generalist, his most covered topics are business and technology. Follow him on Twitter @usmanintrotech.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

A Detailed Analysis of Social Media Management Organization

on March 28, 2019

Online life began as a fun method to interface with family and companions and has now become into a moderate, fundamental showcasing methodology for organizations and all things considered. Sadly, numerous organizations are overpowered by each of the assignments that go into dealing with various messages crosswise over numerous online networking accounts. And, they are contracting specialists to deal with it for them. On the off chance that you appreciate tweeting, sticking and sharing, at that point beginning social media handling organization may be for you. Here are some of the steps to begin.

The role of a social media consultant

After you have taken the responsibility of handling the social media channels, you have to get into the shoes of a social media consultant. To understand your roles and functions, you have to know the job of a social media manager. The SM manager has to execute numerous services catering to the needs of the clients. The services that come under their supervision are as follows:

  • To create showcasing systems dependent on customer objectives.
  • Web-based life account set up.
  • Post designs and content in the interest of the customer.
  • Remain current and offer on patterns and news applicable to the customer’s the same old thing.
  • Gaining more followers.
  • Network assistance to the customer’s objective market.
  • Client administration for the customers.
  • Creating a report to keep a track on the procedure.

You might think that it is too much work. Hence, before you end up changing your decision, take a look in the next section of this article.

A deeper analysis

Every coin has two faces. Similarly, every enterprise has both some cons as well as pros. Hence, it is essential to know all the pints. The following section will highlight the brighter and well as cloudy aspects.

Pros

Here are numerous valid justifications to consider beginning the management task.

  • Getting paid to utilize online networking, if that is something you as of now appreciate doing.
  • It doesn’t take many ventures or gear to begin particularly in the event that you as of now have a PC and Internet administration.
  • You get to observe your business proceeding from any place of your choice. The only criterion is to have access to an internet connection.
  • You can concentrate on the one or couple of online life locales you know best, rather than knowing each and every web-based life stage.
  • The requirement for online networking directors keeps on developing as increasingly solo-preneurs, consultants and independent companies redistribute this undertaking.

Points to Consider

Obviously, there are a couple of points that you need to consider before beginning a web-based life the executive’s business.

  • Internet-based life is a test for one individual dealing with their profile; it’s much increasingly hard to deal with a few organizations’ profiles.
  • Not all organizations comprehend the intensity of internet-based life, so you may need to offer them on the advantages you can give.
  • You speak to the organization, not yourself when you’re doing web-based life for other people. This implies you have to follow up for its benefit dependent on its tone and disposition.
  • You have to remain alert of the changes in approaches, calculations, and different parts of every internet-based life stage with the goal that your endeavors in the interest of the customer keep on conveying results.
  • Alongside a comprehension of how to draw in your customers’ intended interest group, you likewise should probably make designs to pull in them to the post in any case.
  • You will probably need to put resources into devices, for example, booking administrations and eminence free designs, and illustrations altering programming.

Qualities of a social media consultant

Even though courses in online life the executives are springing up, turning into an internet-based life director requires experience more than instruction. So, there are things online networking administrators need to know past how to take a decent selfie.

1. Comprehend web-based social networking as a showcasing instrument

It is one thing to get a group of supporters to a feline traps YouTube feed, and it’s another to manufacture a following for a business. Online life promoting is not quite the same as conventional showcasing, which is the reason numerous organizations battle with it. Online life is tied in with having a fascinating, enlightening, or potentially engaging discussion with the market.

2. Information about the subtleties of the different stages

There is nobody estimate fits-all with regards to posting via web-based networking media. Every stage has its principles and techniques for best-promoting practices. How a business advances on Instagram ought to be not the same as how it showcases on LinkedIn, because every stage is boundlessly extraordinary.

3. The capacity to create techniques that meet the customer’s objectives

Powerful online life showcasing requires defining objectives and afterward building up an arrangement. Online networking chiefs likewise need to enable customers to comprehend internet-based life and how it functions, and work with them to create objectives that best fit web-based life. For instance, look into recommends that a couple of offers are made through online life. In any case, online networking is compelling at structure dependability and trust, so commitment and the rundown building would be preferable objectives over deals.

4. Have the capacity to catch the customer’s voice

If the customer is fun and idiosyncratic, internet-based life posts ought to mirror that. It is important to understand not just the needs of the customers, but also the preferences. Remember your social media accounts reflect a part of your personality and taste. People or followers tend to associate you with a specific attribute. And, they start expecting posts and content of that same altitude.

5. Capacity to deal with a few web-based social networking stages for some customers

There are a large group of instruments, for example, Hootsuite to help oversee stages, yet association and an arrangement are pivotal to guaranteeing each customer gets their online life needs to be met.

Hopefully, this article gives you a brief idea of the responsibilities of a Social media consultant. All the best for this new venture!

InsightsMartech

Why Influencer Marketing Is an Important Factor in Marketing

on March 26, 2019

Influencer marketing is a vital part of any good brand’s strategy. It is a type of marketing which majorly focuses on using the key leaders of the market to drive the message of a brand and to cater to a larger proportion of the demand. It goes hand-in-hand with two other influential forces of marketing – social media marketing and content marketing.

No matter what type of business you own logo design or digital marketing or a fashion clothing line, if people don’t know it, it doesn’t exist. That’s where influencer marketing helps you out.

Unlike traditional advertising, influencer marketing requires less investment and yields more return. Several organizations create campaigns explicitly catering to the influencer community that can help spread the word out. One thing to keep in mind is that social media and content marketing often fit influencer campaigns, but are not synonymous with influencer marketing.

So who is an influencer?

We have been talking about influencer but who exactly is an influencer? Unlike the common industry notion, an influencer isn’t just someone with a high number of followers, but someone with the power to influence his/her audience enough to make someone perform an activity like purchasing a product, using a service or registering for an event.

Top three factors to consider while identifying influencers for your brand are – Influencers:

  • Reach
  • Credibility, and
  • Salesmanship

Reach is an influencer’s capability to provide or deliver a particular message to a large audience base. However, reach should not be the only considering factor. This is because of his/her credibility and salesmanship to that large reach will only be able to offer you the required ROI (return on investment). What is the point of investing in a person with more than 20,000 followers if they cannot generate any engagement or conversion, isn’t it?

How does Influencer marketing work?

The influencer gets sponsored or paid by the brand to post various types of content on their social media forum. Paid sponsorship works to its own advantages and guidelines. More substantial influencers and companies work exclusively.

Understanding what is fit for the brand

Before concluding and changing your marketing strategy, it is beneficial to understand if the influencer marketing scheme is even suitable for the brand. It is essential to know if the influencer is going to help in serving and helping you reach the product to larger masses? Does your product or brand has or requires a social media presence? If yes, what kind of presence and under what category? Does the chosen influencer fit your product and your target market? Take a decision based on the answers to these questions. Go ahead with influencer market if and only if you have some feasible solutions.

Why is Influencer marketing important after all?

There are many reasons why one should get influencers on-board. To make your campaign’s functioning smoother, allocate a specific budget for it in your marketing strategy.

Given below are certain pointers as to why one needs to hire influencers, from an influencer’s point of view:

  • Consumers trust influencers: Social media activities are all around us, and hence the brand, if not marketed well online, will lose its value and charm eventually. Your brand is all about what its consumers think of it, and that’s what an influencer will do for you. They will use their audience’s trust in them for your brand.
  • The shift from celebrities to people with opinions: Obviously, celebrities are much loved and play a pivotal role as always, but this era is more about people who have an opinion, and are leaders and influencers. The consumers look up to these influencers for honest opinion and feedback.
  • The sudden and rapid growth of social media: social media is something everybody knows about and is on. It is not age bound either. Every age group is on social media, and it is the easiest way to reach out to the mass. The influencers write a blog or make a post on their Instagram and the number of people on Instagram today; it is relatively easy to market via social media platforms. for example, you own a logo design company and want to spread the word about it.

You will reach influencers and ask them to spread the word that would encourage clients to create a logo or use a tool to design a logo.

The bottom line

To sum up the entire scenario, Influencer marketing is one of the most essential and pivotal steps in making and sustaining a brand in today’s time. It is not for every brand though. Influencer marketing can be done only on a particular kind of products, and there have to be influencers who target the market with the product you wish to cater. If one does not evolve with the evolving world, then the brand will lose its power and charm. The consumers today trust all the recommendations from influencers.

They are the people who are selling the products today. It is no longer about what the biggest celebrity has to say about the product; it is about people like you and me, what do we think about the product which matters to the audience. So don’t ignore influencer marketing when you sit down to build your brand’s strategy.

About the author

Alice Jackson is a Blogger, Digital Marketing Consultant and a brain behind AI-powered logo maker tool at a  crowdsourcing company, Designhill. She is a social media enthusiast, online market analyst, amateur designer, and an avid author. She has written on several topics including social media marketing, content marketing, personal logo design trends, startup strategies, and e-commerce. When not writing, she loves spending her time reading romantic novels.

1 … 13 14 15 16 17 … 20