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    10 Best Sites for Royalty Free Images

    Posted on by Albert Astillero

    Using a high-quality photo to represent your brand or use it for an article is an easy way to upscale your content by a mile instead of posting without one. Especially in a world full of multimedia content scattered all over the web, people’s attention span is also getting shorter, so plain long paragraph blogs won’t be enough to get people interested. If properly used, images could also add much more context to your content and separates it from the rest, resulting in much higher traffic to users. 

    Fortunately, you’re not the only one. Bloggers, content creators, e-commerce website owners have similar problems sourcing high-quality stock photos for their brand, so businesses noticed this need and provided an excellent solution. Today, we will share our little secret to you in sourcing some of the finest stock photos from the best sites offering royalty-free images online.

    Pexels

    Are you searching for high-quality images taken by professional photographers worldwide? You might want to check out some of the most beautiful collections at Pexels. Upgrade your marketing campaigns by taking advantage of their wide range of photos that are free to use. You’ll also be helping free-lance photographers by downloading their images, so it’s a win-win situation!

    View their licensing details.

    Unsplash

    Since we’re talking about the best royalty-free image sources online, we can’t simply forget about mentioning Unsplash. With over 2 million free high-quality stock photos taken by professional photographers worldwide, it’s a total one-stop-shop for stock images online! Diversity is one of the main reasons Unsplash remains one of the most widely used image sources online today. They have a range of categories that brands can capitalize on and use for their marketing campaigns.

    View their licensing details.

    Negative Space

    Sourcing royalty-free images online isn’t just about having tons of photos. It’s also about the user’s ability to conveniently brush through those millions of photo selections. With Negative Space, you could easily find what you’re looking for through their seamless filtering options, making it effortless to find exactly what you’re looking for. With these features, you won’t have to spend much time scrolling through many images, giving you more time to polish your content.

    View their licensing details.

    Kaboompics

    If you happen to be looking for images taken by an inspired creator, Kaboompics is the way! Karolina, the spectacular talent behind these free images, has taken the world by storm with her remarkable stock photos that she offers freely for people online. She has decided to take her hobby to the next level by providing thousands of free stock photography with distinct color palettes, ideal for social, websites, and more!

    View their licensing details.

    Canva

    Most people might already be familiar with this one as they are one of the leading online graphic design sites. Besides having an easy-to-use editor, Canva also offers a ton of free stock images, so you won’t have to switch tabs looking for photos online as you can go straight to editing those free stock images all at the same place! Canva is famous for its straightforward interface, and you’ll find more ways to take advantage of their free features for your marketing schemes.

    View their licensing details.

    Reshot

    Are you looking for free high-resolution photos? How about vector illustrations and SVG Icons? Reshot has got you all covered! Offering a wide selection of bold and fearless designs for businesses, you’ll surely love Reshot the moment you see their website and how unique they are when it comes to presentation, not to mention what they provide. Their motto is having offer instant downloads with no strings attached, made by designers for designers, and stress-free browsing. Reshot is undoubtedly shaping the modern landscape of free-stock images as they embark on a more seamless way to give creators and website owners what they genuinely need. Feel free to visit their site and check them out for yourself!

    View their licensing details.

    Nappy

    Nappy is a royalty-free image source that aims to leap forward for the cultural representation of black and brown communities. They aim to crush the cultural boundaries and represent their own by providing high-resolution images for brands to use worldwide. Regardless of your stand on their mission against lack of diversity, you can’t simply ignore that their pictures are outstanding and worthy of being seen.

    View their licensing details.

    Hubspot

    If you’re a blog junky, you might’ve read some of their blogs that talk about a wide range of topics, mainly in the e-commerce business world. However, not many people know that Hubspot also offers a selection of high-quality stock photos on their own as they have found a shortage in this area. They’ve divided their free stock photos into four distinct categories: office-related, computer, kitchen photos, and miscellaneous.

    View their licensing details.

    Pixabay

    Speaking of the traditional image sources in this list, Pixabay is worth mentioning for its consistent service in providing royalty-free images for businesses online. Aside from offering a wide range of free stock images, they also carry out vector graphics, illustrations, videos, music, and sound effects free for everyone. There is no question why Pixabay remains one of the classic sources out there, as they have everything you’ll need to enhance your already beautiful content and take it to the next level!

    View their licensing details.

    Rawpixel

    Feeling creative, you might want to check out how Rawpixel is smashing the free-stock game by providing some of the most diverse selections for everyone! By visiting their website, you’ll immediately see how they aim to separate themselves from the traditional free-stock image sources by overcoming creative boundaries with the help of their talented team and community of inspired creators. Brush through their topics and easily find ideas to represent your brand in many different ways! You’ll find primarily free options on their website. However, the paid option will serve as their means of contribution towards Hope for Children, a non-profit organization for children worldwide.

    View their licensing details.

    Wrapping Up.

    We hope you’ve found a ton of value in this post, especially in sourcing free images online. Indeed, spending money on resources such as images may help. Still, it doesn’t mean you’ll be disabled without cash, as you have many free image source options to brush through online and may find even better pictures to represent your brand!

    Cyber security concerns in the world of digital marketing

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    The significance of cyber security is seemingly more notable in this ever-growing digital world we live in. Yet despite the surge in online shopping, many businesses and shoppers are unprepared to deal with vulnerabilities. As the world of e-commerce and digital marketing expand hand-in-hand, the opportunity for attacks becomes more prominent. Listed below are three prevalent concerns where businesses could greatly benefit from professional cyber security services. 

    #1: Malware and remote access to customer relationship management (CRM)

    Cyberattackers target CRM software to access personal and financial information about employees, customers, and vendors. Not only does this cause irreparable damage to a brand’s image, but it also exposes weakness in the system. A CRM is where businesses store the majority of their private data, which is why it’s essential to stay ahead of hackers by testing for security weaknesses before they’re exposed. This will help to build meaningful customer relationships and grow your company revenue. 

    While building a secure website should begin in the development stage, stricter security measures may be needed later as well. However, are there any things you can do to maintain cyber security in-house? Be sure that any software you download comes from trusted sources and partners and always log out of CRM when you’re not actively using it. 

    #2: Phishing and email marketing

    Email-based attacks have increased in frequency since the rise of this digital marketing service, but even more so since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, where businesses saw an increase in new, organic, online traffic. 

    For those who’re unfamiliar with the terminology, phishing is a word that’s used when hackers pose as real businesses and send malicious emails to people to trick them into revealing financial information, system credentials, or other sensitive data. In this regard, business owners must remain aware of email phishing tactics while email users avoid strange requests for information. 

    #3: Fraud and social media marketing

    Social media is one of the many elements that make up the bread and butter of the digital marketing industry. As such there are cyber security concerns around attacks where hackers are impersonating businesses or deploying ransomware—a type of malware that threatens to publish the victim’s personal data and block access to it unless a ransom is paid. 

    Businesses should aim to enhance their cyber security by opting for services that bolster incident response plans. This could include stronger, diverse passwords that differ from other programs and applications and the use of 2-factor authentication (2FA). 

    Have you been a victim of cybercrime? Drop a comment below to share your experience. 

    Best Digital Marketing/SEO Jokes & Puns

    Posted on by Nurul Afsar

    Hey there, Digital Dynamo! Before you dive deep into that vast sea of algorithms, backlinks, and whatnot, how about a chuckle or two? Or better yet, a snort-laugh that makes everyone around you slightly concerned! Dive into this treasure trove of the finest (and funniest) digital marketing and SEO jokes and puns. Whether you’re the ‘I-know-SEO’ superstar or the ‘I-thought-SEO-was-a-typo’ newbie, we’ve got something to make you giggle. Fasten your laugh belts, because we’re about to take you on a wild, whimsical ride through the quirky lanes of digital marketing humor. And trust me, by the end of this, you’ll say “I never META joke I didn’t like!

    1. Why do mobile marketers make good parents?
      They are responsive.
    2. Why are SEO guys the worst dancers?
      They do not have any algo-rythm.
    3. Where does the SEO do his grocery shopping?
      Any store with organic and fresh content.
    4. What do SEOs use when they go fishing?
      Linkbait
    5. What two things do SEO pre-schoolers have at break?
      Cookies and link juice boxes
    6. Why did the SEO cross the road?
      He wanted to get hit with traffic.
    7. What does the SEO use besides consonants?
      Disavowels
    8. How did the SEO find her way back through the woods?
      Bread crumbs
    9. Why did the SEO expert get kicked out of the grocery store?
      Cutting in line to be the 1st position
    10. Why is it wrong to have lots of Pandas in the same cage at the Zoo?
      It could be considered stuffing!
    11. What do you call an SEO expert who sells vans?
      Danny “SellAVan”
    12. What do you call a game where touching the person makes them NOT it?
      Alt tag
    13. Why are SEOs good at game shows?
      They’re good at Quick Answers
    14. What are the two favorite animals of an SEO?
      Panda and Penguin!
    15. What does the SEO wear to the wedding ceremony?
      A Black Hat.
    16. Why does the SEO never eat soup?
      It’s usually thin content.
    17. What does the SEO guy say before bungee jumping?
      I hope I have a good bounce rate.
    18. Why did Tiger Woods get into SEO?
      To get his #1 ranking back.
    19. What does an SEO drink to build muscles?
      Link Juice!
    20. How does the SEO name her son?
      JSON.
    21. Why did the marketer break up with the calendar app?
      Because it was too many dates!
    22. Why do SEOs hate running marathons?
      Because they dread long tails!
    23. What’s an SEO’s favorite city?
      Rankfurt
    24. Why did the marketer go to school?
      To improve his site’s education level!
    25. Why did the social media manager go broke?
      Because he couldn’t ‘Ad’ up his expenses!
    26. What did the marketer say after a successful campaign?
      “That’s ad-tastic!”
    27. Why do SEOs like to work at the zoo?
      Because they know how to handle the SERPents!
    28. Why did the email marketer get kicked out of school?
      Too many spam reports!
    29. Why was the SEO expert so happy on the camping trip?
      Because he mastered the camp’s site!
    30. How did the pay-per-click specialist feel when he discovered meditation?
      At peace with every click!
    31. What did the digital marketer say to the billboard advertiser?
      “Looks like your ad’s taking up too much space!”
    32. Why did the SEO get kicked out of the party?
      He brought too many bad backlinks!
    33. Why don’t SEO experts go to college?
      Too much duplicate content!
    34. Why did the conversion rate optimizer get kicked off the soccer team?
      Too many goal abandonments!
    35. What’s an SEO’s favorite weather?
      Cloud optimization!
    36. How can you spot an outgoing SEO?
      They stare at your shoes instead of their own when talking!
    37. Why did the Facebook marketer get kicked out of the bar?
      Too many targeted shots!
    38. How do SEOs stay calm during stressful times?
      They keep their internal links in check!
    39. Why was the SEM expert good at basketball?
      Great ad placement!
    40. What does the SEO say at the end of a yoga class?
      Namaste on the first page!

    PPC vs. SEO: Which provides more value?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    While all digital marketing services have their purpose, there may be a route to take that’s more suited for your business. When it comes to PPC and SEO, more digital marketing services are strategic and possess the power to generate traffic and conversions. That said, before you decide whether one or both is more suited to your needs, you have to understand what they do and their pros and cons. 

    What’s Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)?

    Known most often as PPC, this digital marketing service uses targeted advertising to buy visits to your website. Business owners pay a fee every time someone clicks one of their ads—the cost varies depending on where the ad is placed (Google, Facebook, etc.) and your budgeted monthly ad spend—which is leveraged by search engine traffic or by bidding for keywords related to the products or services you’re selling. 

    What are some advantages of PPC?

    • This digital marketing service is known to produce quick results. Once your campaign is launched, you should see an uptick in traffic, clicks, and conversions. 
    • PPC is easily controlled. Business owners set a budget with a goal of how many leads they hope to get in return. 
    • You don’t need to worry about search engine algorithms when you use PPC because you aren’t trying to obtain an organic position. You bid for your spot!
    • PPC allows you to easily target potential customers based on keyword searches, their geography, and even the time of day. This cannot be done with organic traffic.
    • These types of campaigns allow visuals in addition to text. This can help a user to be more inclined to click on the advertisement, which increases the average click-through rate. 

    What are some disadvantages of PPC? 

    • It usually costs more than SEO to get good results, as some keywords have higher price points than others. 
    • The research required to know which keywords to target is time-consuming, on top of managed ad spend and measuring returns.
    • PPC only remains effective while you’re paying for it. Unlike SEO which continues to draw in traffic as a long-lasting method, the minute you stop your PPC campaigns to divert the budget elsewhere, potential customers won’t be able to find your site the same way. 
    • Click fraud is a problem that occurs when companies use manual clicks or damaging software to simulate human clicks from various IP addresses. This will rapidly increase your cost. 

    The best way to maximize and manage your PPC campaigns is to hire a specialist whose primary responsibility is to research and implement money-generating ads.

    What’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

    As one of the most common digital marketing services, SEO is all about optimizing your web pages to get them to rank higher in search engine results. This enables search spiders to understand your web pages and rank them above your competitors. Keep in mind that search engines like Google are consistently changing their algorithm to provide more helpful content to their visitors, which can affect your rankings if you aren’t on top of these new requirements. While cultivating inbound links from other sites dictates your “link authority” elements like blogging, social media marketing, and videos are other ways to effectively use your quality links. 

    What are some advantages of SEO?

    • This digital marketing service is cost-effective and is incredibly budget-friendly to set up and manage. 
    • Organic SEO is completed with long-lasting intention, meaning that when it’s properly optimized with good link authority, your site can continue to rank even if you step away from it for a few weeks.
    • SEO helps to build credibility and trust.

    What are some disadvantages of SEO?

    • When compared with PPC, SEO is a much slower process, as it can take months to start seeing results.
    • SEO is ongoing. Your site will never be 100% optimized so it will require continued work to reap the rewards of higher rankings.
    • SEO is very time-consuming.

    The best way to maximize and manage your SEO campaigns is to hire a specialist whose primary responsibility is to research trending keywords, write authoritative copy, and gain valuable backlinks.

    There is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital marketing, which is why the answer to the which provides more value depends on you. If you have the budget, a PPC campaign will offer you the fastest results. However, if a longer timeline is something you had in mind, SEO efforts achieve some of the best results and return over time. Either way, Trek Marketing can help get your digital campaigns launched! 

    Which of the two digital marketing services has proven better for your business? Let us know in the comments section below. 

    4 ways to measure digital marketing success

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Your website is part of the consumer journey, which means there’s a strong need to measure its efficiency. Digital marketing success relies heavily on a brand’s ability to sell online and maximize return-on-investment (ROI). While clicks do possess some power to provide companies with insight into how their efforts are being recognized in digital advertising, there are many more in-depth metrics that point to digital marketing effectiveness. 

    By the overall site traffic 

    While you can measure site traffic in a few ways, Google Analytics is a great free tool that helps business owners to monitor their site’s performance to know which digital marketing efforts are working best for their campaigns. Not only does examining overall traffic to a website give you an idea of how many visitors are stopping by, but Google Analytics also allows you to filter by day, time of day, click-through rates, conversions, session time, the source of the traffic, and even offers you insight into if the users are new or returning. This enables business owners to view a more complete picture of their web traffic allowing them to tweak website goals and the purchase cycle of the consumer. Understanding your campaigns better can also allow conversions, traffic, and sales to grow as you continue to target returning customers and better target the first-time consumer.

    By mobile traffic

    Much of your website’s digital traffic is likely coming from mobile devices. Because of this modern-day trend, it’s essential that you know the percentage of users accessing your site via mobile and whether or not it demands more attention. Mobile traffic metrics teach business owners how many users are accessing their sites via mobile and can even break down by demographics such as age, location, and gender. You must examine how long each user is active on the site and compare it with your non-mobile traffic to determine where users are most engaged and work towards enhancing those experiences. 

    By traffic sources

    All of your outgoing campaigns should be tagged to allow for easy examination by traffic sources to your site. This means that whether you’re sending an email, leaving a blog live on your website, or posting through your social channels, everything will be trackable back to its source. Things like keywords, what websites users are coming from, and search traffic percentage are all sources that can be highlighted by your marketing efforts, allowing you to know where to allocate future funds for digital marketing strategies.

    By time spent per visit

    With easy access to viewing the average time that each user spends on a site, businesses can learn more about their content’s engagement. The longer users spend on pages they’re viewing, the more likely they’re to enjoy the content and the experience offered on your website. Ultimately, taking the time to measure this metric will allow you to understand how your campaigns are performing and provide you with a deeper insight into how your digital marketing strategies are co-existing overall. 

    Are your digital marketing strategies measured by any of the above metrics? Do you know of some other resources that business owners can use? Please drop a comment below and tell us your thoughts.

    How to make your social campaigns more festive for St. Patrick’s Day

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    While St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated as a means of commemorating Christianity in Ireland, it has since evolved into a celebration of culture and heritage everywhere. Whether you enjoy grabbing a pint of Guinness, eating up some bangers and mash, or simply indulging in the traditional sound of Celtic music, the holiday is a great way to engage and entertain your audience with vibrant marketing ideas. Here are a few that we recommend if your social campaigns are lacking festive assets. 

    Run a promotion where customers can save some “green”  

    If you’ve been looking for a great way to segway into a sale, St. Patrick’s Day could be your business’s perfect opportunity. Not only is this festive occasion super lucky, but since it’s one where gifts aren’t needed, it’s a time where shoppers can reward themselves instead. One of the easiest ways to advertise an upcoming promotion is via social media. Whether you want to create and share a St. Patrick’s Day graphic or advertise a product that also happens to be green, there are many ways that your business can keep your audience engaged (and entertained!). 

    If you aren’t confident in your ability to shamrock-and-roll a brilliant St. Patrick’s Day campaign, Trek Marketing can assist you will your social media marketing management for this holiday and any upcoming events. 

    Host a St. Patrick’s Day giveaway or contest 

    Everyone loves a good freebie! As a business owner, contests are a great way to engage with your audience and gain train that will increase your following. While advertising your giveaway on your website is bound to create hype, we also recommend sending out an email and posting about it on your social channels for quicker and easier exposure.

    Your social media marketing management team will encourage you to include some rules that are directly beneficial for your business such as: must be following all social media accounts, must like and save social media posts, must comment and tag friends on social media posts to gain entries, and for additional entries, please share the post on stories. This creates the ultimate traction among all applicants and gives their friends an option to follow you as well. Be sure to also include contest dates and let followers know that unfollowing the account(s) will exclude them from future giveaways. 

    Post behind-the-scenes photos and videos

    Whether you take a few snaps of your team packaging post-promo orders or a couple of clips of your warehouse, these types of behind-the-scenes content give customers a better understanding of how you coordinate your business, helping to build strong relationships with customers and leads. This is especially important whenever there are holidays and you can show off your festive workspace! 

    Harness the power of “reactions” on Facebook

    There was a time when users could only select “like” on Facebook content, however, now there are six additional ways that they can respond: “love”, “angry”, “haha”, “wow”, “sad”, and more recently, “care”. These reaction buttons harness a lot of value for businesses as they allow brands to gauge the interest or feelings about how their followers are reacting to a particular topic. If you’re finding lots of “angry” or “haha” reactions to relevant, important content, perhaps it’s time to consider social media marketing management in your strategy budget. 

    Which of the following suggestions did you find most useful for the upcoming holidays? Drop a comment below and let us know.

    How to market for the travel industry

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Are you ready to get your digital marketing efforts recognized within the travel industry? If so, you aren’t alone. With spring quickly approaching people are starting to research and book their yearly travel plans. This means that you need to be ready for those searching for cheap travel deals, flights, and hotels. Here are some ideas on how you can win over consumers.

    Monitor search stats

    Leisure travellers go on a couple of trips per year, which means they must do regular research before those vacations can be booked. Each month, search engines such as Google and Bing see millions of searches using keyword varieties pertaining to many types of travel. 

    Here are some that have proven to be most popular:

    • Airline tickets
    • Airline reservations
    • Hotel and motel reservations
    • Vacation packages
    • Car Rentals
    • Cruises

    Since most customers plan ahead when booking a trip, it’s important that you plan your digital marketing strategies well in advance. Whether you manage an airline, a luggage company, or hotel digital marketing, all efforts should be catering to months ahead, while also considering last-minute travellers. 

    Understand the customer journey

    While it would be great if shoppers searched for a travel-related keyword, saw your paid search ad, clicked, and immediately purchased, the reality is that each customer journey is far more complex than that. In fact, one person may have hundreds of interactions with travel brands while researching a single trip. 

    Here are four key moments where you should aim to win over your customers using your chosen digital marketing strategies:

    • The dream stage: This is where those who are thinking about planning a trip find ideas and inspiration on where to go and what to do. While it isn’t easy to capture conversions during the dream stage, you can make an impact that will help them to consider your product or service when it’s the booking stage. 
    • The organizing stage: Once people get past the dream stage, the organization stage is where they’re in deep consideration mode. The destination has been selected and the next steps are choosing a hotel or airline to book, often based on location, cost, and timing. While there’s not much you can do to change the cost and timing as an airline, with hotel digital marketing, you can amp up your creativeness to excite shoppers about your location. 
    • The booking stage: Now that customers have made their decision, they’re ready to make reservations. This would be a great time to upsell your other services. For example, if you operate a hotel, perhaps tour packages, room upgrades, dinner reservations, and/or massage packages would be options to market at this point. 
    • The experience stage: Tied into the booking stage, the experience stage is where you have an opportunity to offer further interactions with your customers. Whether this is a further chance to upsell a service, offering a discount for a later time, or waiting until the service has been performed and asking for a review, the experience should never go overlooked. 

    After two years of limited travel through a global pandemic, people are thinking more and more about how they will be using up their vacation time. By understanding the above key moments you can influence the customer journey and increase your digital marketing conversions.

    Target the right audience

    The demographics of your target audience should be a strong consideration in your digital marketing efforts. Whether your product and/or service caters to families, seniors, or women versus men, things like age and income are also very important. For example, if your hotel wants to promote family travel, we recommend targeting women between the ages of 35 to 49. This is because they’re often the ones doing most of the research and booking. Also, be sure to write your ads or other hotel digital marketing efforts from the perspective of the buyer person to create emotion that will encourage clicks and conversions. 

    Is your business ready to welcome travellers again? Drop a comment below to share your plan with us. 

    Why is email marketing so important for small businesses?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    While email marketing for small businesses differs from email marketing that’s used by large corporations, it’s equally strategic. You start by setting goals, picking the necessary tools to determine your target audience, building a list of tactics, optimizing, formating, creating, and scheduling your content. The only defining detail that separates each email marketing strategy is the tactics used to do all of the above and the scale at which it is done.

    How can small businesses take advantage of email marketing? 

    If you haven’t already, as a small e-commerce business, you need to start reaping the benefits of email marketing. This digital service allows companies to build trust with local customers and is a huge advantage that they can hold above larger corporations who fail to resonate within these smaller communities. That said, transparency and honesty with your clientele are key, which is why unsolicited or generic emails will easily lose ground in favour of more modern approaches. 

    Before you can plunge into sending emails, you must first get customers to subscribe and agree to be a part of your email list. Not only is this a requirement for legal purposes but it allows you to ensure that your list is filled with potential buyers that are interested in your products and brand. To capture lots of emails, be sure to make the signup easy to find with minimal steps involved. While growing your list might take time, this will allow you to prepare your digital marketing goals and speak with an agency that offers email marketing services. Professional email marketing will ensure that your newsletters are of higher quality and filled with exclusive, eye-catching content to promote your brand and assert you as a knowledgeable member of your industry. Instead of screaming for attention, you’re strategically generating a buzz that helps to cement strong customer relationships. 

    How do small businesses measure email marketing success?

    There are many ways that a small business measures the effectiveness of its campaigns. Success rates can be measured with several metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, time spent on pages, and conversion rates. You should keep track of the number of emails that get marked as spam and also those that are forwarded. Then, compare that with the number of emails that were deleted before or after they were opened. All of these metrics yield valuable insights for future emails and further develop your email marketing strategy. 

    How do you improve the efficiency of your email marketing?

    Many effective methods ensure email marketing success, including:

    • Optimize emails for good display on mobile phones
    • Create a schedule for sending emails and adjust it according to metrics 
    • Cater content to a targeted audience
    • Divide your mailing list into segments and build tactics to appeal to each audience
    • Test your emails before sending them
    • Monitor their performance reports and develop ongoing changes to your email marketing strategy

    Do you have any more questions about email marketing for your small business? Drop a comment below for a prompt response.

    Will you be trying these 3 digital marketing consumer trends?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Every year we experience revolutionary digital marketing trends that help to lay a foundation for the future of online advertising. That said, after two groundbreaking years for online shopping, 2022 is only expected to continue the rise with social shopping adding to the momentum. With these new and exciting developments to the digital world, it has become more important than ever to ensure that your business is communicating with its audience. Listed below are three of the key digital marketing consumer trends to be mindful of in 2022. 

    Work on creating some short, punchy videos

    Whether you’re more familiar with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or Snapchat, it’s clear that the landscape of social media has shifted in favour of short and punchy video posts. Since it would be challenging to ensure that your business is relevant across all of the above platforms, we recommend selecting one or two to focus on. Short videos zero in on our fast-paced way of life, which is a direct reflection of the way we consume content. Digital content needs to possess a simple message while also presenting content that’s engaging by asking consumers to participate; examples include the start of a viral dance move, a challenge, or a survey, but at the very least, encourages them to leave a comment. The best thing about these types of social videos is that all business owners have access to creating content like this with the help of their smartphones. Start by filming a few candid videos of your business, some behind-the-scenes, DIY, and other unpolished videos by using the apps to crop, create, and add audio to make it more appealing to your target audience. 

    Ensure that your content is telling a story

    This recurring digital marketing trend is key for a brand looking to market new and existing products. E-commerce selling in the modern landscape requires business owners to dig deep, believe in their products and/or services, and continuously show why what they offer is between than the competition. Part of your delivery should involve some form of storytelling, whether it be debunking myths about your industry, explaining how the product solves consumer problems, or showcasing testimonials through your social stories. While these efforts might not result in direct sales, they’re a great way for brands to put consumer needs at the front and center! 

    Exhibit privacy, transparency, and trust-building 

    Digital marketing trends are at an all-time high, which means that online advertising is also in overload. This means that more consumers than ever are concerned with the interaction that can happen with suspicious content. This is why it’s important to prepare your business for tighter privacy restrictions that may alter the way that they can track users’ behaviour. On that note, Google announced its curtailing of third-party cookies by 2023, which means that many marketers are going to be forced to reevaluate their strategies. While this is not the end of data-driven content, it could be the end of targeted advertising, with a new era springing forth in the trust and transparency between company and consumer. 

    Be sure that as a business you’re communicating with customers about the data that you collect and what it’s used for. This makes it easy for consumers to opt-out if they want which formulates a great foundation for a customer relationship. 

    Which of the above digital marketing trends would suit your business best? Drop a comment below to share.

    How to create attractive and engaging content

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Content marketing has quickly become a strategic approach for businesses looking to share valuable and relevant information with customers within their industry. While it may be easy to share content on your blog, social media accounts, and through email, developing great content that stands out on a consistent basis to your audience is the only way to develop your content marketing strategy. Listed below are some steps you can take to help your produce content that will reach and engage with your target consumer. 

    Know your audience

    Identifying your target audience allows you to look beyond the basics. Things like their demographics, psychographics, and behaviours help to understand the type of content that may interest them. Content creators visualize their audience before adapting marketing personas that help to establish a composite of the reader. Whether it’s the topic of a blog, a social media post, or an email, knowing your audience before creating the content will do wonders in attracting them to it. 

    Ensure that your headline is powerful 

    The headline of your blog, social media post, or email is the hook that catches and lures in the customer. While it needs to be consistent with the information that you want to present, it should also exhibit actionable keywords that help with your search engine optimization (SEO) while also utilizing language that’s attractive to the audience. 

    Tell a story

    Part of creating engaging content is using a series of words to tell a story. You shouldn’t just jump into your piece without first setting the stage nor should you simply stop writing because you’ve reached your minimum word count (unless it’s a social post, of course). All content should have a beginning, middle, and end if you’re hoping to attract and engage with your audience.  

    Provide useful information that’s quick to read

    Online shoppers are time-crunched and may have just come across your digital marketing efforts while aimlessly perusing the web. All that matters to them at that moment is what your content is doing to educate, inform, or entertain them. Many customers are consuming content while on the go, in short spurts of time between other activities. Be sure to use simple words, write direct sentences, and use an active voice in your content. 

    Are you in need of a content creator? Trek Marketing offers a wide range of digital marketing services that work to develop your business’s content. 

    What type of content attracts you as an online shopper? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.