Blog | Page 25 of 32 | Trek Marketing

How does digital marketing provide business flexibility

Posted on July 16, 2019January 27, 2020 by Alex Wilks

In a world where the benefits of digital marketing are ever-growing with wide-spread technological developments and the growth of online users, it only makes sense to promote state-of-the-art products and services through e-commerce websites. For decades conventional marketing was the only way to get the word out, but now businesses have the option to advertise electronically across various online mediums. The question is, how is it that internet marketing is continuing to offer entrepreneurs advantageous flexibility while placing classified ads are slowly becoming a thing of the past?

Digital marketing allows you to make changes

Traditional marketing comes in many forms — billboards displays, newspaper advertisements and even TV and radio endorsements — but one of the main disadvantages is that there is an inability to make tweaks to the campaign it has been launched. After all, it isn’t cheap or easy to take down a billboard and whip up a new one if something is spelled wrong, so, naturally, no one wants to have to throw away their publication. That being said, digital marketing has the ability to be a lot more fluid when it comes to fixing errors, allowing business owners to change around the text and image after publishing. Even social media posts, search engine optimization copy and curated blogs are able to be edited at a later date. So, this means that if you happen to make a careless error or a simple misprint, chances are that it can be fixed quickly and effectively.

Digital marketing allows you to attach links

Humans are visual creatures which means that a high percentage of our society processes things better through the help of visual aids. So, if you’re hoping to teach consumers about your products and services, linking your content will allow them to easily access what you’re selling, the reviews and other helpful sources that articulate your point. Not to mention links give potential customers a choice when it comes to clicking and viewing rather than a more forceful approach. The public can’t choose their radio advertisements, but they can choose which emails they open. So, having the choice to click and read through the use of helpful links is one of the many advantageous benefits of digital marketing, giving consumers an added element of control.

Narrows your focus to the right audience

While a traditional marketing advertisement is announced to the public, in a newspaper ad or in the form of a commercial, digital marketing is a more focused endorsement, only advertising to more narrowed group of willing subscribers, those who have searched for a specific key term or simply people who have liked the business’ social channels. While traditional ads do have the power to be geared towards a certain audience (advertising a sporting goods business on an all-sports channel) it doesn’t have the same opportunities to reach customers. The narrow focused of digital marketing has a greater chance of targeting an interested audience.

How have the benefits of digital marketing helped grow your e-commerce business? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

How can your business benefit through the use of graphics?

Posted on July 9, 2019January 27, 2020 by Alex Wilks

One of the powerful things about being socially connected is that you’re able to gain an original insight from the sensory information you’ve obtained in your physical environment, while also processing insightful information that you have received based on your online perceptions. While all our senses — sound, touch, smell, sight and taste — work together to form our understanding of the world, our visual sense is where we get most of our information from. After all, the digital influence of social media is vast, so it can be very advantageous for marketers to use an assortment of visual materials to carry out their strategies.

Is your content strategy visual?

Graphics should be the main feature of your content strategy and depending on the type of e-commerce business that you operate, these visuals may even be needed alongside defined text in order to really grab the attention of browsers and interested shoppers.

When you’re branding your business, there is no better way to connect to your audience than through channels available in the social media marketing model. Finding leads, funneling sales and demonstrating your company’s expertise are a few reasons to share content across your social channels, but visuals are harder to ignore when potential customers are scrolling through their feeds. This is why graphics have the power to influence your digital strategy in a way that gets you noticed.

What types of visual content can you share?

Having a graphic designer contrive a few original graphics or illustrations is incredibly beneficial for your business because the average user’s social feeds are constantly flooded with tailored content. In order to help your digital ads stand out, you’ll need to try extra hard to pull the customers in using enticing visuals. The more unique the content is, the better position you will be in to establish a connection. This means that your designs need to support the tone of your business while also dabbling in a variety of colours and an array of typography styles.

Photos and videos are another great way to show your audience what goes on behind the scenes of your business. Not only does this little insight make an excellent addition to your Instagram story, but this visual content also tends to receive more engagements within the sphere of social media.

Also, if you’re wanting the digital influence of social media to excel your business, quotes and screenshots are other visual elements that draw customers towards your e-commerce website. This is because they’re relatable, shareable and reflect the values of your company, establishing your brand’s values without the need for any long, boring descriptions or informative posts.

How do you use the digital influence of social media to weigh your marketing strategy? Drop a comment below to start a conversation.

How Do Customer Data Platforms and Customer Relationship Management Systems Differ?

Posted on July 2, 2019January 27, 2020 by Alex Wilks

Analyzing a collection of data is one of the main fundamental elements that a professional digital marketing agency uses to build the foundation of their future marketing strategies. This is because modern marketing is all about leveraging consumer habits to enable smarter, more efficient and personable marketing campaigns that attract target audiences to interact with the brand. While Customer Data Platforms (CDP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are two types of technologies that create these connections, there are some distinct similarities and differences that enable each to play a role in customer data collection.

What is CDP?

CDP is a type of software that creates a customer database that’s accessible and persistently unified to pull data from multiple customer-related sources. It also allows the data to be cleaned and combined together into a single view section which can be made available on various marketing systems. When it’s used effectively, CDP gives a scalable, 360 view of your customer’s experiences.

What is CRM?

CRM are technologies that manage business relationships and interactions with customers as well as work on improving professional relationships with potential customers. These tools support the company’s contact management, sales management and the overall productivity for the business.

How do they offer benefits?

Marketing organizations generally utilize CDP because of its simplified approach to exposing customer behaviours and engagement across varying channels. This enables a digital marketing agency to quickly learn about which connected systems should be used for each client. Whereas, CRM is more likely to be used for sales-based organizations because they collect and track information about prospecting customers.

So, what’s the best choice?

That’s the interesting part. There’s no need for you to pick just one. The best thing that you can do for your company is to understand the differences between them, know their strengths and weaknesses and apply them in the areas that can positively affect your marketing goals.

Here are some examples of how they work:

CDPs manage multiple data sources into a single customer view.
CDPs create customer profiles that are advantageous when you’re developing your social or email campaigns.
CDPs are great for sending alerts to customers who have abandoned their shopping carts.
CRMs capture and track customer details which makes them great to help with engagement of the customer lifecycle.
CRMs help to understand the business relationship with the customer.
CRMs provide information to marketing sales teams.

As a digital marketing agency, how do you use each data management system to determine your future marketing campaigns? Tell us in the comments section below.

4 ways to improve on your email marketing

Posted on June 25, 2019January 27, 2020 by Alex Wilks

Email marketing is one of the most influential digital marketing techniques available in terms of receiving wide-spread reach and engagement. Maybe it’s because emails are often a less intrusive form of advertising or perhaps it’s because they’re packed full of exclusive promotions that customers are able to take advantage of. Regardless of how we break down the significance of email marketing, it’s important that it be made a part of your digital marketing strategy. Because, whether you’re in need of an extra push to get yourself started or you’re simply looking at ways that can revamp your strategies, here are a few ideas that you can use to start improving enticing more clicks.

Be goal oriented

In every aspect of your life goals help to motivate and keep you on track, so, why should running your e-commerce business be any different? If you hope to have a successful email marketing campaign, it helps to define and lay out what you’re hoping to achieve and when you’re hoping to achieve it.

That being said, if you’re just starting out with email marketing, you need to ask yourself what you’re expecting? Then again, if you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, before you begin your campaigns, you’ll need to determine the purpose and then craft or hiring someone to complete the work. Is it a welcome email or an engagement email? Are you nurturing an ongoing campaign or simply wanting to boost traffic to your page? All these questions and more can really help to define and drive your emails in the right direction.

Define your target audience

When you are able to determine the gender, age and overall demographics of your audience before launching an email campaign it can drastically affect your open rates. Because let’s face it if the people you’re reaching out to aren’t all that interested in your products or services, why would they bother to click and buy? So, once you’ve created a subscription list it may be worth segmenting your clientele into smaller lists that allow you to send re-engagement emails to your regulars.

Make your emails personal

It’s important to personalize all the emails that your company sends. Why do you ask? Well, not only can this build a sense of trust with your email subscribers, but it can also increase your chances of receiving a higher open rate. So, we recommend that each email be coded by a professional programmer to include personalized features, like a customer subscriber’s name in the headline. Something as simple as this configuration has the power to make your regular customers feel more appreciated and also allow new, potential customers feel an added element of professionalism.

Create some automated emails

Many of our digital marketing clients rave about automated emails. Not only does this allow you to promote your business at every monumental turn, but it also gives you more time for other tasks. So, before you launch your email marketing campaign it’s important to have automated emails, such as a basic customer complaint reply email, a welcome email and possibly even some a few emails that can promote changes on your site (ex. a blog is posted). This allows your customers to have more opportunities to engage.

Are there other ways that you’ve worked on improving your email marketing strategy? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

What Types of Social Media Graphics Can You Use to Influence Your Digital Strategy?

Posted on June 18, 2019January 27, 2020 by Alex Wilks

One of the best elements of social media, aside from the vast amounts of useful and share-worthy information, is the astounding volume of visual content. While there are many sensory perceptions that are stimulated when we scroll through our social media channels, the field of visual recognition is the most powerful by far. So, if you’re a business owner trying to gain social media influence or a designer creating stimulating graphics, it’s paramount to have effective visual content to reach out to your target audience.

Social media marketing graphics

Graphic design is probably one of the most important parts of your content strategy, because no matter how thought-provoking and moving your text is, if the graphic isn’t mind-blowing, how motivated will your audience be to tune into what you have to say? After all, the noteworthy quote is that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so, how can you compete with this age-old tradition?

Vibrant graphics allow your company to tell a story without relying on words to convey a particular meaning. This means that when you’re on the hunt to revamp your social media marketing strategy, a designer has the power to utilize visual materials, based on your business model and marketing strategy, to draw in an intuitive audience and increase your social media influence. Not only does a graphic designer know how to use colors and typography to create an impactful image, but they also know how to navigate the graphics across professional and more relaxed social channels.

What types of visual content can you work with?

Did you know that there is an array of visual content that you can use to boost your social media influence? Here is a list to start:

Graphics: illustrations or visual graphs that stand out on social media feeds.
Photos: Using creative angles and photoshop to create something unique.
Videos: People are very engaged by videos, especially while out on-the-go.
Animations: Relatively new, but an incredibly powerful way to grab your follower’s attention.
Quote images: This innovative visual combines the best of both worlds, text and shareable images.

What are some things to keep in mind?

Although it’s always best to hire a graphic designer when you’re on the hunt for professional visual content, if you’re wanting to take a stab at mastering graphics on your own, here are some tips to keep in mind.

Understand colour: Read up on colour theory and how different hues have the ability to affect moods and emotions.
Understand contrast: This refers to how the colour, size, texture, shape and layout work together.
Understand typography: Font and structure of the visual content is an essential elemental detail to any graphic.

Do you have any other visual design techniques that have the power to increase your social media influence? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

What is the effect of digital marketing on the grocery industry?

Posted on June 11, 2019June 14, 2019 by Alex Wilks

It wasn’t long ago that the concept of ordering groceries digitally was considered to be absurd. After all, how did we expect that the supplier would ensure high-quality products? Needless to say, with ever-growing e-commerce technologies working alongside large grocery chains, this absurd concept evolved into a graciously developed idea with an online platform that included a shopping cart, promotional discounts codes and even a section where customer reviews could be written about products and services. While brick-and-mortar grocery shopping will probably never fully disappear, as our lives become busier and more career-oriented, the convenience of online grocery shopping can only become more appealing. And just like how the world of reading newspapers and cutting out magazine clippings has become far less common; grocery digital marketing may strive to replace the tradition of word-of-mouth advertising.

How has the influence of grocery digital marketing grown?

Digital technology has the power to expand multiple types of shopping experiences, including the grocery industry. In fact, 51% of grocery sales in 2016 were influenced digitally according to this study.

Just as the number of online shoppers and mobile users has skyrocketed in the past decade, so too has their trust for making their purchases online. And with other sectors, such as electronics, home, health and apparel having maintained a high frequency when it comes to digital shopping, grocery has proven its worth with advantages like the promotion of convenience and a clear way to assist with every day time management.

There has been an increase in online revenue

The most tangible evidence to support the benefit of online marketing is noticing an increase in business revenue. While grocery digital marketing has just started to hit the tipping point in regards to digital influence, over the past few years the industry has seen a shift with customers researching potential purchases online before heading to a brick-and-mortar shop to buy. While 9% more likely to carry out a purchase, customers are seemingly increasing their spending by 19% through the use of digital resources.

There has been an increase in online reviews

Past customer reviews harness power over future customer purchases. In fact, 29% of customers try out products based on a review that they read online. That’s why authentic reviews should be a part of your grocery digital marketing strategy. After all, credibility is essential if a business hopes to see more online sales.

Foster their trust

Digital marketing is a great way to foster the trust of new and potential shoppers. Even in the grocery industry, reaching out to your customers to find out how their experience was is essential, so, businesses hoping to maintain their confidence in buying should accommodate their interests by asking them to rate their purchase. They should even consider offering them a loyalty coupon in exchange for their time. This method will encourage familiarity and will also establish them as their main grocery supplier when life gets too busy to head to the store.

How else do you feel grocery digital advertising has evolved over the years? Drop a comment below to start a conversation.

How to digitally market your cannabis business?

Posted on June 4, 2019September 21, 2021 by Alex Wilks

Legalization in Canada and many American states have set a blaze of accessibility to those seeking herbs or hemp-infused topicals both medically and recreationally. That being said, while the cannabis industry is booming with new, innovative sectors, such as politics, finance, health, wellness, cosmetics and even fashion, marketing cannabis to people looking to buy weed online can still prove to be quite difficult — especially if you are trying to use Google Analytics or paid advertisements through social channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. That being said, if you’re a cannabis connoisseur who’s wanting to grab your slice of the “edible” pie, then it’s about time that you learned the ins and outs of marketing cannabis.

What is the advertising roadblock for cannabis?

While Canada as a nation has legalized recreational cannabis, most the world, including 19 states in the U.S., have made little-to-no progress in legalization. This means that social and advertising platforms have to limit their cannabis-related content and advertisements to appeal to places where it remains illegal. While marijuana prohibition is a real thing, there are things that you can do as a business owner to overcome these hurdles.

There is a way to find organic reach

Just because there are restrictions when it comes to advertising that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways that you can get the word out digitally for people to buy weed online. Since cannabis-related brands are hitting a block on paid advertising, they’re able to also try other digital marketing strategies such as posting organically through various social media, taking advantage of the old-fashioned ways of public relations or using SEO methods to get broader exposure.

Cannabis marketing on Instagram

Instagram is not only a platform for posting the most aesthetically pleasing travel and food photos, but it has also transitioned into an exciting digital mall. While most cannabis retailers aren’t allowed to cash in on this opportunity, that doesn’t mean that they can’t build their audience organically.

Here are some Instagram tips:

Focus on your organic reach by establishing visually appealing photos and using popular/branded hashtags.
Be quick to respond to your customer concerns and comments.
Work with an influencer to create a word-of-mouth marketing scheme.
Utilize the stories feature to highlight promotions and unboxing events.

Cannabis marketing on Facebook

While Facebook possesses a stricter policy on the promotion or sale of drug-related products, they’re still some ways that you can market your cannabis business.

Organic is always the first place to start, just keep at it on a regular schedule to create traction.
Use the messenger feature in order to enable a fast response time to your current and potential customers.
Promote exclusive deals and offers through your business page and your messenger app.
Use Facebook stories to highlight your products.

What are the rules on the other popular channels?

Twitter: No paid promotions are allowed on Twitter but you can start conversations through the use of trending hashtags.
Pinterest: Probably one of the strictest platforms, Pinterest does not allow the promotion of anything THC-related.
LinkedIn: Some paid promotions are allowed because it serves as a platform to report industry news. Although be sure to use strong visuals in order to grab your audience’s attention.

Do you use social media to find a good place to buy weed online? Drop a comment below to let us know.

How do you successfully strategize your SEO campaign?

Posted on May 28, 2019September 21, 2021 by Alex Wilks

While there are many branches of digital marketing that are vital in helping businesses grow, search engine optimization holds a next level advantage. SEO has the power to utilize top search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, through the use of organic and paid advertisements. This means that you have an opportunity to research relevant key terms in your industry and use them strategically on your website in order to have your business appear on an organic, online search. And, if it’s within your budget, you can also pay a marketing company to manage your SEO, allowing them to work on getting your website to the top of various search engines. However, while these marketing strategies for SEO have the power to bring success to your business, there are a couple of other ways that you can devise your SEO campaigns to bring your products or services a little extra traction.

Update your content

In order to reap the benefits of your SEO strategy, it’s important to flag your target audience in a larger way. That’s where content marketing can come into play. While you can easily include industry-specific key terms on your home page or services description, if you’re hoping to have your business appear at the top of more search engines, applying this method to the entirety of your website will only prove to be more beneficial. Start by selecting a few popular products to target and then proceed by finding out which words people are using to search for these products online. The next thing you want to do is re-write the meta descriptions and copy for your chosen topics. This will help your organic ranking on popular search engines by allowing customers to find your website with ease.

Google AdWords is your friend

If you’re determined to have your business appear at the top of Google search rankings, then you will need to utilize Google Adwords to get you there. While we mentioned the power of keywords when creating your content, Google Adwords allows you to bid on these industry-relevant terms in order to have clickable, paid ads that appear above the organic search rankings on a Google search. So, while you will have to pay Google when potential customers click through to your website from these ads, you’re giving yourself the best opportunity to get noticed without having to pay for social media or more traditional forms of advertising.

While these marketing strategies for SEO have the power to drive customers to make purchases, there are many other digital marketing methods that could also benefit your company. Contact a member from our team to learn how email marketing, social media marketing, PPC advertising or blogging services could benefit your business.

How did you learn about the importance of marketing strategies for SEO? Drop a comment below to let us know your thoughts.

3 ways to diversify your hotel marketing strategy?

Posted on May 21, 2019April 29, 2019 by Alex Wilks

The best part about operating a business within the travel and hospitality industry is that since we’ve entered an era where people are extremely co-dependent on foreign getaways, your business has a greater opportunity to thrive and be noticed. While the opportunity to vacation abroad has always existed, for many people in contemporary society it was always beyond reach because of commitments like buying a home and starting a family. However, the dawn of this new era has unhinged an assortment of growth and opportunities for hoteliers worldwide. So, in order to keep up with the fast pace of the industry, you’ll want a strong, digital hotel marketing strategy in order to steer potential go-getters in your direction. Here’s how to get started.

Customize and personalize your hotel brand

With the technological development of social media, travelers are always on the hunt for an “Instagram-worthy” experience that extends beyond the traditional, cookie-cutter one that their peers may have already done. That’s why it’s incredibly important for you to capitalize on this concept when you’re formulating your hotel marketing strategy. This means that you should ensure that all of your digital marketing posts and campaigns highlight an assortment of authentic experiences so that your hotel seems like an edgy choice. Not only does this bring focus to the top things to do in the area, but you’ll also want to mix in some personalization when you’re trying to target a particular audience. For example, if you’re seeking out a millennial audience it’s best to connect with them by showing pictures of amenities such as a rooftop view or an attraction, such as a booze cruise, that can be easily added to their booking. However, if you’re targeting a more seasoned age range, perhaps highlighting relaxing luxuries like the pool and bar area would be a strong marketing tactic to try. Keep in mind that you want to represent your brand in a way that caters to all demographics in order to show that your hotel space is a spot that’s suitable for couples, families, business people and retirees.

Get social

We’re sure by now that you know how the power of social media has the ability to take a simple brand or idea and spread it vastly across the social sphere. So, why are you not taking advantage of this opportunity? You have the ability to can climb Google ratings through the use of marketing methods like SEO and also, by joining popular social channels like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you’re able to gain access to a wider range of consumer demographics. This will allow you to establish a concrete sense of authenticity and build a solid foundation with your customer relationships. After all, engagement is one of the most advantageous ways to build trust within your brand and since all your competition is already on-board, it’s about time that you started getting social.

Don’t forget about mobile devices

The ability to browse and book through the use of your mobile is one of the most important ways for today’s travelers to find out about your business. After all, many potential customers are searching for hotel accommodation, carrying out bookings, receiving confirmations and tracking accommodation addresses and deadlines through the use of their booking website or app. That’s why it’s essential for your business to have a responsive website that’s easily available on all mobile devices. However, don’t forget about developing your traditional interactions as well!

Are there other ways that you can diversify your hotel marketing strategy? Please drop a comment below to join the conversation.

Why should you outsource your digital marketing?

Posted on May 14, 2019April 23, 2019 by Alex Wilks

Investing in your digital marketing strategy is vital for the future of your business. After all, with the vast increase in online technologies, the ever-changing world of the internet is only expected to expand. While there are so many reasons that businesses outsource digital marketing rather than keep the projects in-house, the fact is that professionals come with an increased set of skills, the motivation to maintain a high level of performance and some added industry knowledge in the field that can help keep your advertising costs low. While the right amount of resources and confidence is always a good starting point, there are many other arguments as to why you should keep outsourcing your digital marketing efforts.

You get some extra tools added to your toolbox

While business owners have an opportunity to take initiative by expanding on their own industry knowledge and skills, many are already keeping busy with their other fundamental, operational ventures. That being said, your digital marketing strategy shouldn’t have to take the backseat just because you don’t have the time. Essentially, when you outsource digital marketing, you’re handing over these imperative tasks to a professional who knows what they’re doing. These trained individuals are knowledgeable, possess an acquired list of relative experience and come with a set of industry tools that can be used to implement, track and obtain successful marketing results. That’s why working alongside a digital marketing firm is a powerful way to decrease your costs because you’re then able to pay these professionals for the exact amount of time needed to complete a particular campaign or task rather than scrambling to get it done yourself.

You can bridge your knowledge gap

While it’s quite possible for business owners to be knowledgeable and passionate about their products and services, it’s very likely that they don’t know the best way to reach out within their consumer market. That’s why it’s important to really recognize the skills and expertise that a marketing professional can bring to the team. Yes, you can read Google answers to your questions online or look for a how-to video on YouTube, but when you outsource these delicate tasks to someone who has specialized trained, you’re ensuring that your approach is going to be more successful and effective.

You will have more time

Time is a valuable commodity in the business world. So, put simply, saving time saves you money. That being said, when you outsource digital marketing efforts to someone else, you’re able to clear your schedule for other high-demand tasks and allow yourself to work more productively without being sidetracked. Another advantageous element is that when you’re able to concentrate on and complete your other marketing efforts, which in turn increases your businesses revenue. Your outsourcer is then able to create efficient marketing campaigns that will get traction and results.

Are you still unsure of why you should outsource your digital marketing efforts? The best thing to do is to seek out a working relationship with a digital marketing agency. That way if you like the results, you’re able to move ahead and if you don’t, then you can move on.

How do you think that outsourced digital marketing can meet the needs of your company? Tell us in the comments section below.

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