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    The pros and cons of outsourcing your digital marketing project

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Targeting the growth of your e-commerce business should be an essential part of your online marketing strategy, especially in these unprecedented times. If you’ve resorted to Googling “outsourcing digital marketing in Vancouver”, know that you aren’t alone. Many business owners are on the hunt for ways to get ahead of their competition, and to help you make the best business decision, it’s important to know if the benefits outweigh the risks. 

    How to determine if outsourcing is for you

    Outsourcing your digital marketing is when you use a third party to create content or perform marketing services on behalf of your brand to promote the growth of your business. This could include writing copy, blog management, creating social media posts, producing custom video content, constructing lead magnets, designing ads, managing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, setting up Facebook ads, and managing your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. While these are a few examples of what types of services you can outsource, there will always be options for more assistance elsewhere. 

    What are some pros of outsourcing digital marketing?

    Do you or your employees possess any hands-on digital marketing experience that could be advantageous in the implementation of future strategies? If not, here are some reasons to consider outsourcing digital marketing, especially in competitive marketplaces like the city of Vancouver.

    • Expertise: Whether you select an agency or a freelancer to be a part of your team, someone with expertise in the digital marketing field will know of ways to get things done more efficiently and effectively.
    • Money savings: While you may think paying someone to perform a service costs too much, it’s important to remember that if you lack the skills needed to get traffic to your website, you won’t be making any money to begin with. Consider the person you hire as an investment. The best part is that most agencies offer hours-based packages to allow you to start small and add more time as your business grows. 
    • Accessibility to multiple services: While this benefit may be achievable with the right freelancer, often the ability to subscribe to multiple digital marketing services can only be found within an agency. Outsourcing digital marketing in Vancouver gives business owners the power to access an entire team of staff that through collaborative efforts will provide your e-commerce brand with a menu of options to increase conversions. 
    • Frees up your time: By relying on experts to get your online marketing tasks done you have more time to dedicate to other aspects of running your business. 

    What are some cons of outsourcing digital marketing?

    Depending on how you measure your businesses’ success, it may be best to keep some of your digital marketing efforts in-house. For that reason, here are some examples of why you may want to not outsource all of your digital marketing services.

    • Fear of brand consistency issues: Every business creates values and a reputation over time, which can make it difficult to feel comfortable passing the reins to someone that doesn’t live and breathe every aspect of your brand. 
    • You won’t have 100% control of all timelines: While services like blogging, email marketing, and social media possess the ability to formulate strict posting schedules, other efforts like SEO and PPC advertising can take more time to show their value, and if you’re using a freelancer for any of the above tasks, you will need to remember that their ability to rearrange other commitments to prioritize you might not always be possible.
    • Not as much freedom to offer a personal touch: Small businesses build their brand on connecting with their customers, and while outsourcing gives you access to so many amazing resources, mastering the tone and voice you’ve envisioned may take time for other people to covet. 

    In our professional opinion, none of the above cons possess any inabilities inhibiting them from being overcome. Especially through the use of proper implementation and communication by outsourcing to the right digital marketing company in Vancouver.

    Do you possess any other questions or concerns about outsourcing? Please drop them below for a speedy reply.

    Do customers shop directly from social media platforms?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, consumers flocked online to grab hold of the products they needed to avoid going into stores. This sparked a record influx of global retail activity. Now, over a year later, our spending behaviours haven’t changed much, with many consumers still preferring to purchase their favourite products and services online. While conversion rates for your business can increase with the right digital marketing tools working to bring traffic to your website, the same thing goes for social pages. But is it worth investing more time and money into your social strategy if you don’t know if customers are shopping directly from your social media platforms? 

    How do you do your online shopping?

    Since Amazon and eBay first launched sitewide online shopping in 1995, consumers have been hooked on the convenience of front door delivery. However, with the rise of social media over this last decade, there are now more ways than ever to find and buy innovative products through the use of your social channels. Aside from targeting your ideal audience on their preferred platform of choice, there’s also a generational breakdown of purchasing patterns that influence the likelihood of your ideal customer buying directly from your social platforms. 

    • Generation Z (Born 1997 to 2012): Being the most technologically influenced generation, Gen Z’ers are strongly influenced by social media and are very comfortable purchasing from channels like Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram shopping. 
    • Millennials (Born 1981 to 1996): While this generation has also grown up with the power of the internet at their fingertips, for them to feel confident in making a purchase, social selling needs to be more persuasive. This is where investment in your digital strategy is crucial! 
    • Generation X (Born 1965 to 1980): Although this generation isn’t as digitally savvy as their predecessors, they are common online spenders. While it may take them a little longer to complete a purchase due to the desire to test out the products in person, they are on social media and can be more easily eluded through the use of email marketing. 
    • Boomers (1946 to 1964): This price-conscious and fiscally conservative generation is starting to come around to the concept of online shopping. However, they still prefer to browse for new products and aren’t as comfortable achieving purchase confidence through online means like reviews and blogs. So, while social selling might be a tougher call on these consumers, many are coming around to Facebook and will click through and log your website for a later purchase. 

    Which social media platforms are consumers most likely to shop on?

    Consumers who are comfortable with social shopping have endless choices for purchasing platforms. Needless to say, some are more popular than others.

    • Facebook: As one of the leading social media channels bridging generational gaps, Facebook is also one of the most common social shopping platforms, with opportunities for businesses to grab the attention of an audience from Gen Z to Boomers. While Facebook Marketplace has quickly become the new craigslist in terms of commerce, there is a “shop” feature available on business pages where the owner can import products and make them available for purchase directly from Facebook’s checkout page. 
    • Instagram: Even though Instagram shopping is newer than the purchasing features on Facebook, it’s a booming online marketplace for business owners to find new customers. As a visual and auditory-based social platform, Instagram shopping is an exciting new experience and once the consumer commits and orders their products, they can choose to do a shoutout to your brand as well. With the ability to tag on posts and stories, the possibility for creative content is endless with Instagram shopping. 
    • Pinterest: While this platform doesn’t allow respondents to make purchases directly from the pinned products or elaborate vision boards, its browser allows users to seamlessly switch between the website/app to make a quick purchase from the business, which doesn’t disrupt the social media experience. So, while you aren’t buying this on Pinterest’s servers, consumers can still stock up on an assortment of ideas that inspire them. 

    Where should you be selling? 

    We wish it were as easy as recommending a single tactic for all e-commerce businesses across the board. Nevertheless, there is no one-size-fits-all suggestion for a successful social shopping strategy. What we can suggest is that you start by prioritizing social media shopping tactics on the platforms you currently possess a following on and build your strategy from there. 

    To learn more about where your target social media audience might be, contact one of Trek Marketing’s Client Success Managers for a free consultation. 

    Do you have any questions about getting Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram shopping started? Drop a comment below to let us know. 

    What’s the difference between omnichannel and multichannel?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Each professional digital marketing agency does its part in overlapping the world of e-commerce, social selling, and digital marketplaces, and since ever-changing technology requires constant adaptation, business owners need to understand the efforts required to keep up with the times. That being said, if you haven’t heard about multichannel or omnichannel, we’re excited to break down these buzzwords to help shape your digital strategy moving forward.

    What’s multichannel retail and how does it work?

    Multichannel retail is a business strategy that allows shoppers to purchase goods and services from e-commerce vendors in multiple different ways. Not only does it blend the customer experience by giving consumers the choice to engage on the channel they prefer, but multichannel retail is also flexible in behaving to the confines of each individual sales channel — physical stores, online stores, e-commerce platforms, third-party marketplaces, mobile apps, and social media platforms. While each professional digital marketing agency has its own way of explaining the process that makes up multichannel marketing, we compare it to a wheel with spokes — at the centre of your wheel is the product, the outer rim consists of the consumers, and each channel offers an independent opportunity to reach them, allowing them to make a purchase. Once it’s clear which channels best resonate with your target market, you can further optimize your digital strategy to maximize sales on those channels. 

    How do businesses benefit from multichannel retail?

    Since multichannel retailing allows business owners to target their audience from a variety of sales channels, there are loads of benefits that it can offer to the brand:

    • Higher revenue: Whether you’re a first-time business owner or an established company fixed on making a change, the truth is, you can invest loads of money on advertising and marketing to establish trust and brand awareness, but if your customers only have one way to purchase from you, you possess less of an opportunity to increase your conversion rate. That’s why it’s so important to spread your business strategy across multiple channels! If your brand pops up more often, it receives more attention and can attract more customers in ways that may be more appealing to their purchasing power. 
    • There are more ways to buy from you: Consumers are often hesitant to buy from a business that they’ve only seen a time or two. However, the more your brand shows up on their online feeds, the better the chance of them remembering your business. Single sales channels may prove to be a good strategy to focus on for older demographics, but younger shoppers trust your brand when it’s shown to them more conveniently, allowing them to select a purchasing method that meets their comfort level. Talk about competitive advantage!  
    • Collect valuable data: Multichannel retail collects way more data than a single channel, which translates to more information learned about your ideal consumer. The data you collect can be used by a professional digital marketing agency layer to better promote your brand by improving on business strategies to improve your ability to reach prospective shoppers. 

    What’s omnichannel retail and how does it work?

    Omnichannel retail is a business strategy that focuses on providing customers with a seamless shopping experience, whether it be from a mobile smartphone, a desktop computer, or within a brick-and-mortar store. By focusing on the entire experience from start to finish, this approach allows businesses to communicate in a way that aligns with the consumer lifecycle, instead of each individual stage of advertising the product. This type of e-commerce retail enables consumers to purchase from wherever they are, instead of relying on accounts to channel and offer a positive experience. Essentially, omnichannel retail removes the boundaries between sales and marketing channels to create a unified front for the brand. With a focus on onsite, social, mobile, email, physical, and instant messaging, the experience of commerce unfold right in front of the consumer.

    How do businesses benefit from omnichannel retail?

    Since omnichannel retail allows consumers to reach your business page at their convenience, there are loads of benefits that it can offer to the brand: 

    • More availability: While it’s important to reach your audience from a variety of channels, it’s equally as important to ensure that they can use the device that best meets their needs, which helps free up your time from dealing with consumer optimization issues. 
    • Increase in sales and traffic: There’s no point in running an online business if you aren’t interested in increasing the traffic to your website that will result in more sales. Omnichannel will help to promote a strategy that improves the customer experience from mobile, web, and even in stores, and with these multiple purchasing leads, an increase in sales and traffic will follow. 
    • Purchasing start and finish can differ: As long as the process results in a sale it doesn’t matter where the consumer clicked through to. Consumers can see your website on one channel and complete their purchase on another, creating a better retail journey and engaging relationship through the development purchasing channels that you’ve created.  

    Do you have any further information that you feel would benefit the above blog submission? Drop a comment below to let our staff writer know. 

    SEO-related issues that cause search rankings and traffic to drop

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Many reasons can lead to a drop in a site’s search rankings and traffic, with everything from technical on-site issues to off-site SEO issues and other external factors. Whether you’re currently experiencing an issue or you want to prevent it from happening in the near future, we recommend reading this blog and using it as a checklist for diagnosis. That way when you’re ready to invest in a search engine optimization service, you will see the value and work that goes into getting your website noticed!

    On-site issues that cause rankings to fall 

    The way your page is optimized has a huge impact on its ability to rank well. The following on-page ranking factors can affect your website’s search: 

    • Your site needs updating: It’s crucial to keep your website up-to-date to remain competitive in your industry. Updates could include fresh content, revised backlinks, or even web development and optimization efforts. 
    • Lack of content: On the whole, a shortage of content provides very little value to your readers, especially if you’re lacking to utilize the power of pages and blogging to assist your SEO strategy. 
    • Removal of traffic-driving content: While it makes sense to remove duplicate and irrelevant content from your website, be sure that you don’t remove anything that is currently driving traffic. It’s a better use of your time to take care of technical SEO, such as which pages aren’t receiving traffic, rather than thinning out your more masterful pieces. 
    • You’ve recently updated your website: A new website design is usually quite good for your web traffic. However, its crawlability and indexability will face issues if you don’t remember to perform redirects. 

    Off-site issues that cause rankings to fall

    The following off-site ranking factors can affect your website’s search: 

    • Links have been removed from sites: Check to make sure you haven’t dropped any links if your traffic starts to slow down. Webmasters often clean up their links and analyzing these removals will help you to prevent a severe drop in your ranking. 
    • A site linking to you went down: If a website goes down permanently, the traffic you received from that site is likely lost. Truth be told, there’s no way for you to prevent or protect yourself from this happening. You just need to be on top of replacing that site with another one if it ever comes up. 
    • Sites linking to you have a drop in their traffic: If the site that has your links is penalized or removed from Google’s index, you will receive a loss in your traffic as a result. This is why ongoing link acquisition is crucial! 

    How do you go about tackling any or all of the above SEO-related issues?

    Before your company can consider hiring a professional to carry out a search engine optimization service, it’s important to know what it includes. Why not start your venture by delving into the custom strategy offered by Trek Marketing, which will be laid out for you upon completion of your free SEO audit?

    External changes that impact your site beyond your control

    There is an assortment of other external factors that could impact your search rankings and traffic, including:

    • Featured or rich snippet changes: If you have a snippet driving traffic, your traffic will drop significantly overnight if the SERP changes and no longer displays that snippet. 
    • Audience search behaviour changes: Your target audience changes over time, which is often a result of consumers keeping up with trending products and services. Aside from whatever is current, be prepared to switch up your SEO strategy for seasonal changes as well. 
    • Errors on the server side: Issues with servers not being able to properly serve a website puts your search ranking in trouble. Google won’t recommend your website as the answer if it’s having difficulty for a significant length of time accessing your website. 

    Do you know of other factors related to SEO that directly affect your search rankings and traffic? Drop them below to start a discussion.

    Marketing tips for St. Patrick’s Day procrastinators

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Has so much gone on in the past year that St. Patrick’s Day opportunities have slipped your mind? Yup, the holiday season is tomorrow and this reminder could be your four-leaf clover, and an incentive to get your gears moving. Don’t drown this missed business moment in a pint of green beer, but instead, skim the marketing ideas below which are intended to inspire the ultimate procrastinator. That’s right! We’re more than a Vancouver digital marketing agency; Trek Marketing is downright festive every lucky chance we get!

    Offer your customers the green light with an intriguing discount 

    The beauty of being an e-commerce business owner is that you can change your website’s prices at the click of a button, while also promoting immediate attention via your engaging social media channels. So, just because tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, doesn’t mean you can’t catch the attention of your target audience by putting together a last-minute sale. Also, be sure to let your customers know that they’re lucky to be a part of your thriving brand with a personable email about this fun holiday, including some highlighted products or services that are a part of your festive sale. 

    Play up the greenness 

    Whether you work alongside a Vancouver digital marketing agency or all of your efforts are completed in-house, one of the best ways you can showcase your spirit for St. Patrick’s Day is by playing up the greenness. While it would be ideal to have a web developer add a graphic or two to your business page, if you let time slip away and are wanting to do something last-minute, the best thing you can get on board with are some custom designs. The best part is that the same image can be used across your social media channels and if you’re set up with an email marketing framework, a simple announcement about your sale with some call-to-action buttons is all you need to bring in some shoppers. 

    Note: Just because the colour green is symbolic of St. Patrick’s Day, doesn’t mean you need to have a leprechaun and a pot of gold on your image. Instead, you could use the colour green to cast attention on the holiday, while also promoting your businesses’ eco-conscious (green) efforts. 

    It’s always good to do things a little differently

    Although the season is known for shamrocks and leprechauns, you can be different by leaving these elements out of your marketing material. In fact, consider doing a little research on the history of St. Patrick’s Day and use your digital marketing services to pass on your knowledge to your customers. It’s way less salesy, and even though it might not bring in a whole of conversions right away, this type of promotion is aimed at creating a connection with your audience, which you may find to be more “pot o’ gold” effective in the long-run than a traditional sale. 

    What other ways do you or your Vancouver digital marketing agency implement last-minute, seasonal promotions? Drop a comment below to share your expertise with our readers.

    5 tips for how to proofread like a pro

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Proofreading is an essential skill that many talented writers working at digital marketing agencies in Vancouver have, ensuring their client’s messages are communicated clearly, effectively, and professionally. While spelling and grammar tools are valuable as backups for business owners, it’s important for the person writing to thoroughly review their written content before anything is published live for the consumer world to see. Since many business owners are passionate about their products and often busy handling other affairs, they rely on the professional services of Trek Marketing to plan and create their content for them. Needless to say, we do possess clients that are aspiring writers themselves, and since today is National Proofreading Day, we have some tips for those who want to challenge their skills. 

    Tip #1: Be sure to read your writing out loud 

    Reading written content out loud is extra beneficial in the proofreading process because hearing the words can help you to find missing or misspelled words. Even the best writers will regularly read through their work as a benefit to the writing process. Not only will this technique help you in catching unnecessary phrases, but it will also allow you to create coherence in your writing, find your voice, and become a better reader and writer overall. 

    Tip #2: Change the way you look at your writing 

    Even the most proficient writers working at digital marketing agencies in Vancouver and beyond should take hold of an opportunity to revamp the way they analyze their writing. In fact, when re-reading the same types of content on the same types of platforms, it’s quite easy to glaze over simple mistakes, especially if proofreading is an essential role in your day-to-day job. As a way to combat this, try printing out the document, or conversely, open it on your desktop. Sometimes even changing the font or colour of your text is enough to visually alter the copy to make you more aware of mistakes that are slipping through. 

    Tips #3: Check for a variety of elements when proofreading

    Until your writing has been published it’s considered to be in its drafting stage, and there are an assortment of components that you could be looking for, aside from spelling mistakes and grammatical correctness. For example, you could fact-check your work to ensure that the proper names, dates, numbers, and resources were used to create the content. Once all of the above details are verified, you also want to read your work again to ensure that the overall flow of the writing is meaningful, systematic, and comprehensible. By splitting up what you’re looking for each time you proofread, it’s far easier to focus on an individual aspect and catch the little mistakes. 

    Tip #4: Ensure that any keywords and phrases you use are correct

    Novice writers heavily rely on their thesaurus to write a good piece of content, however, they should also remember to keep the dictionary closeby. Many words in the English language are interchangeable in their meanings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best words to use in a particular writing project. This is especially true for longer documents. While you may want to get creative to avoid using the same words over and over, you also want to ensure that these changes don’t affect the meaning of the copy. 

    Keep in mind that sometimes consistent use is beneficial, especially if you’re an e-commerce business trying to get noticed on the wide web. Digital marketing agencies in Vancouver focus on a list of key terms as part of their search engine optimization service and create custom content to help your business rank better on popular search engines.

    Tip #5: Edit and read your work with a fresh set of eyes

    If you’re reading through your content and can’t seem to find any mistakes, chances are that you’re too tired to catch them. We recommend that you take a break between long proofreading rounds and switch between tasks, giving yourself some time to focus on something different and taking advantage of looking at your work again at a later time. Be sure to utilize this time and plan in advance so that you can include these breaks, yet still have enough time to make any changes before your upcoming deadlines. Alternatively, pass your work off to a friend or colleague to allow them to review your content for errors or edits missed. 

    Do you have any proofreading tips that you’d like to share with our readers? Drop them in the comment section below. 

    6 digital ways to improve real estate in a booming market

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    In the last year, the global coronavirus pandemic has shattered world economies, yet the real estate market has prospered despite job loss due to stay-at-home orders. While low-interest rates seem to be one of the driving factors keeping the housing market afloat, the extremely tight supply of homes is also a reason for the high demand. Needless to say, in this seller’s market, there are a variety of ways that digital marketing is improving the real estate sector for buyers, sellers, and listing agents. 

    How can digital marketing for real estate benefit buyers, sellers, and realtors?

    While every industry should adopt technology to attract new customers, some can achieve considerable heights through the help of professional digital marketing, and real estate is one of them! With fresh and exciting innovations, realtors are finding new ways to market properties and both sellers and buyers are loving the engagement that comes with this type of branded content.

    Here are some added benefits:

    • Digital marketing saves time and resources: Sellers can display their properties online which allows them to gain a further reach, whereas, buyers can take part in interactive tours, have face-to-face meetings, and read details about prospective properties before even stepping foot in them. 
    • Digital marketing raises the online visibility of real estate companies and listings: Achieving more website visitors is crucial for real estate and often using digital marketing to build up online traffic and increase customer service through informative blogs and social media posts are the best ways to build confidence, trust, and brand identity. 
    • Digital marketing boosts professionalism: Visualization tools (i.e., 360° modeling) are growing in the real estate industry, and if you want customers to remember your company, we recommend investing in this form of material. 

    What can the real estate industry do to improve its digital experiences in a booming market?

    Whether you’re looking to buy or sell a home or you’re the agent listing and showing properties, the scope of real estate is increasingly becoming more reliant on the internet as an external resource. 

    Those in the industry who want to reach and connect with potential buyers and sellers should consider the following digital marketing tips: 

    #1 – Share properties before they hit the market: In a thriving market, there will always be a lack of inventory, which is why it’s important to select an experienced agent that can find prospecting properties and potential buyers before hitting the open market. 

    #2 – Streamline communication with your clients: Communication is key in many buying-selling ventures, and in today’s fast-paced environment, timing is everything. Whether you choose to text, email, or call your client, understanding their preferred method of communication is what will lead to the most proactive relationships. 

    #3 – Allow clients to leave reviews: One way to improve current consumer engagement is by obtaining quality customer reviews. This can easily be done online by asking happy clients to leave a Google review or simply emailing a response that can be posted live to the website. 

    #4 – Educate your clients: While buyers can easily find properties at the click of a button, they still rely on you for advice and guidance. Use digital marketing to educate your current and prospective clients by creating FAQs sections on your website, as well as writing a fulfilling blog that can address common questions and concerns. 

    #5 – Always work on building your online presence: While you’re likely busy with the insane market, eventually housing will see a dip, and that’s when you can improve your authority through digital means. This means that you can continue to engage with clients via social media, organize ongoing marketing campaigns, and actively seek out new and improved ways to connect with your audience. 

    #6 – Invest in marketing automation: If you’re looking for an innovation that saves you time and improves your ability to add value to the consumer, you should consider marketing automation. Marketing automation allows you to create lead magnets that attract your client by setting up automated campaigns followed by initial interactions. This strategy allows you to program the type of property, area, and even price that your client is looking for and pool together properties as they become available. An email can then be sent out with some pre-scripted text to allow them to contact you if it’s a suitable fit. 

    Are there any ways that digital marketing and real estate tie together that we didn’t discuss? Please drop your opinions below.

    Why having a professional digital strategy will help you to boost sales throughout the pandemic

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Before the pandemic, established brick-and-mortar businesses were still finding success through regular foot traffic, however, as non-essential shops were closed to slow the spread of the virus, e-commerce has heightened in popularity (even more so than before) to accommodate the influx in online shopping, live-streamed events, and social connections by way of digital platforms. This means that many companies that only had a physical presence moved to e-commerce, while those who had an online store needed to revamp their strategies to attract more customers and increase sales. Since the global crisis is far from over, the solution to continuing business as usual rests with a proper strategy from a reputable digital marketing agency in Vancouver. Let the suggestions begin.

    Allows you to turn online platforms into an opportunity

    Online marketplaces, such as Amazon and eBay, are commonly used platforms where vendors sell their products at wholesale prices to be fulfilled by the company. For example, Amazon places orders in bulk and holds inventory in their fulfillment centres (except vendors who can fulfill their orders and ship directly to the consumer). That being said, with help from a professional digital marketing agency in Vancouver, your e-commerce storefront could start gaining traction as a top shopping destination. Whether you choose to use PPC advertising to launch ads that drive results or rely on social channels like Facebook and Instagram to promote your products and services, there are opportunities everywhere!  

    Make strategic changes to your website

    Regardless of whether you’re building an e-commerce website from scratch with a web development company or you’re reevaluating what can be done internally to drive traffic, it’s important to make strategic decisions when deciding how to use your budget to invest in your business. An abundance of people have flocked to the web as a replacement for their in-person purchase, and with everything from search engine optimization services to blog and content marketing available at your fingertips, you need to find a good digital marketing agency that promotes a seamless pivot to digital. 

    Utilize the current capabilities of digital innovations

    We’re living in a technological era and this digital world is only expanding more each day. This is why it’s so important for the modern retailer to invest in digital technologies that possess the power to provide users with a compelling online experience. 

    Here are some things that your digital marketing provider might suggest:

    • Predictive analytics to help you offer what your audience wants/needs.
    • AI-powered search to help your audience find the best products. 
    • Real-time inventory management to optimize your budget and reduce your overall business costs.
    • Interactive functionalities.
    • More multimedia content.

    The pandemic has changed the way retailers are conducting their businesses. What plans do you have on the horizon for your e-commerce company? 

    What’s BERT and how is the technology advancing digital marketing?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Google’s BERT, otherwise known as Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, is a Transformer-based machine learning technique that’s used for natural language processing (NLP). This update is helping Google to better understand natural language for search results, which means that it’s also an incredibly beneficial digital marketing advancement. More and more consumers are speaking questions directly into their smart devices, which has made it challenging for search engines to interpret spontaneous spoken query. BERT specializes in natural language as a whole and voice search queries, in particular, making it a modern technology that is changing the field of search engine optimization and digital marketing as a whole. Continue reading to learn more about the science behind BERT and how it could revolutionize content marketing. 

    Some background information

    The interdisciplinary scientific field of computer vision deals with how computers work to gain a high-level understanding of digital images or videos. As an advancement that works alongside digital marketing, it seeks to better understand and automate tasks that humans do. That being said, researchers have shown time and time again that there’s value transferred learning — “pre-training a neural network model on a known task… and then performing fine-tuning” — using a trained neural network as the basis of a purpose-specific model. This technique has shown to be useful in many natural language tasks in recent years! 

    How does BERT work? 

    BERT is not only a digital marketing advancement, it also benefits a variety of tech-related fields. However, to properly understand how BERT works, you must first know the breakdown of the following terms:

    • Transformer: an attention mechanism that learns contextual relations between words in the text.
    • Mechanisms: encoders that read the text input and decoder to produce a prediction for the task. 

    BERT uses a Transformer in its original form by separating two mechanisms. Since the goal of BERT is to generate a language model, the encoder mechanism is enough to provide detailed workings of the Transformer. 

    While directional models, which read the text input sequentially (left-to-right or right-to-left), the Transformer encoder reads the entire collection of words all in one go. Therefore, it’s considered to be bidirectional, allowing the model to learn the context of each word based on where it’s placed among its surrounding words. 

    To overcome the challenge of prediction of the next word in a sequence (for example, “The dog chased his ___”), BERT uses the following two strategies: 

    1. Masked LM (MLM)
    2. Next Sentence Prediction (NSP)

    MLM is a model that attempts to predict the original value of the masked words, based on the context provided by the other non-masked words in the sequence. 

    There are three ways in which it does this:

    1. Adds the classification layer to the top of the encoder output.
    2. Multiplies the output vectors by the embedding matrix and transforms them into vocabulary.
    3. Calculates the probability of each word with SoftMax. 

    NSP is another model that receives pairs of sentences as the input, learning to predict if the second sentence is a subsequent sentence in the original document. 

    To help this model distinguish between two sentences, the input is processed in the following way: 

    1. A [CLS] token is inserted at the beginning of the first sentence, followed by a [SEP] token at the end of the second sentence. 
    2. The sentence embedding is an indication that both sentences are added to each token.
    3. A positional embedding is then added to indicate the position within the sequence. This portion is presented in the Transformer paper. 

    For the model to accurately predict if the two sentences are connected, it also performs the following steps:

    1. The input sequence goes through the Transformer model.
    2. The output of the [CLS] token is transformed into a 2×1 shaped vector using the following classification scheme: learned matrices of weights and biases. 
    3. The probability is then calculated through the IsNextSequence with SoftMax. 

    What does this mean for digital marketing advancements? 

    There are a few things you can take into consideration if you work in digital marketing:

    • Model size matters.
    • There is higher accuracy.
    • BERT’s bidirectional approach (MLM) outperforms after a small number of pre-training steps. 
    • Offers research tools and methods for consumer-centric content marketing. 
    • In-depth demographic analysis showing users’ locations, devices, and applications. 
    • Supports social media listening. 

    Do you want more helpful, actional content? Drop some comments below to give us some blogging topics to research.