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    Tag: Pay-Per-Click Advertising

    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. 

    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. 

    4 Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Whether you’re a new entrepreneur or a seasoned e-commerce business owner, there’s no denying that digital marketing is an important investment for anyone who runs a small business. Since digital approaches to reaching target customers aren’t going anywhere, you should know a lot about the tools at your disposal to ensure that you’re working towards building a strong strategy. Below we will share some digital tips on improving your search engine optimization (SEO), building an audience on social media (SMM), and some best practices for utilizing email. 

    Don’t put all your efforts into one area

    While there are many ways a company can market their potential offline—promotion through relevant events and conferences, business cards and/or flyers, or wrap your car with your business information—digital marketing is a more powerful way to promote a small business. Efforts like SEO, SMM, and email marketing are digital channels that allow you to connect and interact with your target audience with sales and conversions in mind. Since all of these digital marketing strategies provide something different for your small business, be sure to spread the budget around and slowly build up each online strategy over time.

    Be smart with data

    There are many insights that can be found within your business metrics if you know where to look. With everything from Facebook reach to website bounce rates and everything in between. That said, the best way to move forward is to focus on a particular metric and see how it has changed over time, then you can add it to your list of upcoming marketing efforts to get you closer to your overall goals. For example, if you’re trying to grow your audience using existing email subscribers, you might want to track the number of clicks a paid ad earns to attract brand-new customers outside your current audience. If you have three new subscribers, your data should let you know with confidence where those emails came from. 

    Interact with your audience in a meaningful way

    You don’t need to only focus on social media when looking to connect with your target audience. Other elements like creating new content pages or sending out polls by email are also great ways to directly access your customer base and train them to rely on your platforms for meaningful, engaging messages. 

    Heavily invest in your SEO strategy

    Copywriting takes new heights when it’s sprinkled with snazzy, industry-relevant keywords that are highly sought after on search engines. While it’s important to retain information to ensure your copy speaks to customers in a language that they understand, possessing the right keywords will ensure your digital marketing efforts for your small business don’t go unnoticed, as search engines will point visitors towards your site. Aside from content curation, savvy SEO services should include time spent on securing backlinks, reorganizing page layouts, and ensuring best practices for headers, URLs, and meta tags to keep up your presence in ongoing searches.

    Keep Track Of Your Competitors

    Whether you own a large or small business, keeping track of your competitor’s marketing efforts should be automatic as it is one of the best ways to gauge how you are doing in the market. This is also your chance to find your edge amongst other small businesses in your niche, therefore getting more pieces of the pie or market share. This strategy will save you tons of marketing budget and time as you can see what’s working and what’s not. Trial and error are expected, especially in digital marketing, but finding ways to gather data without taking risks efficiently is a huge plus.

    Keep Trying New Things

    What’s cool about digital marketing is the avenue and broad stream of opportunities to gather your online presence. Sure, you have to be consistent in your marketing campaigns, but you shouldn’t be afraid to do things differently from time to time. When the market is bombarded with the same marketing strategies all day long, trying to get the same attention, adding a slightly different touch to your marketing efforts makes all the difference. If you’ve been doing well in SMM for a while, try spending some time on Email Marketing and try your luck. You might be surprised by how many opportunities you leave on the table. 

    Know Your Audience

    Before you make any digital marketing efforts, it is crucial to find out who you are trying to target. As you dabble around market segmentation, you’ll find it easier to know where they are and what type of marketing strategies should be best to get their attention. This increases the accuracy of your marketing efforts, saves you tons of budgets, and allows you to spend your focus where it’s needed. Small Businesses will benefit from this strategy as they tend to have a more focused niche than larger companies. Use this advantage to penetrate those untapped markets.

    Add Visuals to Your Content

    Most of you might agree that content remains the king when marketing. However, the types of content today are pretty different compared to previous years. You may notice that a lot of visual content is the ones that are taking giant leaps, whether in video format or simply adding related images in blogs. Statistics show that including visuals in your content increases more than 80% of the engagement and 20% or more clicks. Creating content with images makes it more shareable than just plain texts. Think of images as icing on top after writing a very insightful and exciting copy.

    Be Consistent With Your Brand

    Being consistent with your brand and what you’re brand is standing for is an excellent way to gain and keep loyal customers. Flexibility is essential in Digital Marketing, but your small business’s mission and vision should remain consistent as it grows with your followers. Always look at the bigger picture and create marketing efforts that you think will last the test of time and stay relevant for years to come.

    Good Customer Feedback for Social Proof

    Have you ever bought a product before without even thinking twice just because your friend bought the same thing? Most of you can probably relate to this. This is the power of feedback. Say you successfully led your potential buyers to your landing page. One of the first things they’ll look for is the reviews. Making efforts to get as many good quality reviews as possible is one of the best ways to grow your business.

    Do you have any questions about our digital marketing tips for your small business? Drop a comment below for a prompt response. 

    How to use cross channel insights in digital marketing

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Competition can make or break an online business and if you’re at a crossroads where you feel it’s time to take on a new approach when it comes to strategizing your digital campaigns, cross channel marketing might be just the breakthrough your business needs to better serve your customers! A business needs to move beyond usual resources to find insights that allow them to grow, especially when looking to gain efficiency channel-to-channel. 

    Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO)

    While both of these digital marketing services are good to focus on when you want to increase the sales and conversion rates of your business, one focuses on targeting a niche audience through paid search results while the other utilizes keywords and builds up the organic traffic to the website over time. That being said, cross channel marketing comes into play when the above two services work in conjunction with each other and use the power of high-converting target keywords to focus on building clicks through organic search results. Cross channel marketing also looks at longer-tail variations of targeted keywords and considers the intent of the user who’s searching. 

    While paid search is a low funnel approach that often sees high intent-based users that are ready to immediately purchase, organic search is more likely to draw in information-seeking users that may peruse your website and shop at a later time. With this in mind, both services have the potential to increase the behavior metrics of your website such as time on site, pages per visit, and the bounce rate when working alongside each other. 

    Google My Business and paid search/social

    If your business has the funds to expand your cross channel marketing efforts, there are also some other ways to refine and target your audience! Aside from researching your potential customers interests, geographies, affinities, you can also utilize Google My Business (GMB) data from users that request directions to your brick and mortar location. 

    While it’s always a great idea to nurture your existing customers, GMS insights provide excellent opportunities to expand on paid searches and open new opportunities for modified social targeting. 

    Polling and content marketing

    While polls are not a new concept, in the world of digital marketing, they’re a great way to see what gets your social audience excited! Businesses are able to utilize polls to learn more about their customers and the type of content that they enjoy seeing, topics that interest them, and issues that may worry them. Aside from gaining valuable insights, this type of cross channel marketing also allows you to draw on social engagement to determine a new perspective on where you should invest your time and resources. 

    Are there any other ways that you use cross channel marketing for your online business? Drop a comment below to share with our readers. 

    How to use Google Adwords for your business

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    There are a lot of expenses that come with e-commerce operations and since most small business owners don’t have access to endless marketing resources, it’s important to select the best advertising methods to start generating revenue. So, since it can take months to increase your organic search ranking through the use of search engine optimization (SEO), we recommend investing in pay-per-click advertising campaigns like Google Adwords to get yourself started. 

    What is Google Adwords?

    Google Adwords is a pay-per-click online advertising platform developed by Google where advertisers can bid to display brief ads, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. These ads can be placed in the results of search engines (ex. Google Search, Bing Search) as well as non-search websites, mobile apps, and videos. Google Adwords also works as a keyword tool, allowing users to target specific words or phrases they’re hoping to target to get their ads highly ranked on various search results pages. 

    How does it work?

    It all starts with a query. When a user searches for something on Google, it will look at the Adwords advertisers pool and determine whether there will be an auction for those terms. If one or more advertising is bidding on keywords that Google deems are relevant to the search, it will trigger an auction. This is where the advertisers will identify which keywords they want to bid on, how much they’re willing to spend, and create groupings using these keywords that can pair with their ads. Google then does the work by entering the keyword from that advertiser’s account, along with their maximum bid. 

    If you’re wondering how Google determines which ads are shown where, once an advertiser has entered into an auction, Google will look at two key factors to determine ad rank: maximum bid and quality score. The maximum bid is the set price the advertiser specifies for that keyword, whereas the quality score is a metric that determines how useful the ad is to the user (max bid x quality score = ad rank > position). 

    The auction is run billions of times each month. This allows results that users find relevant to their searches and advertisers to connect with potential customers for cheap.

    What are the top advantages of using Google Adwords?

    Google Adwords is a powerful keyword tool when it comes to advertising your business online. Listed below are a few advantages that you can enjoy on this paid marketing platform.

    • Targeting is more precise: This ensures that each ad is only displayed to users that are more likely to become potential customers. With the ability to filter audiences based on geographic location, age, gender, and more. There’s even a feature that allows the targeted audience to see the ad on specified devices or at certain times. 
    • You only pay for results: With Google Adwords, businesses only pay for the clicks their ads get, rather than the impressions. This advertising model only costs money when the targeted user takes action. 
    • Performance can be easily tracked: Whether you want to track the number of users that view and click your ad, those taking action, or those spending money, Google Adwords is the perfect tool to increase profitability. 

    Do you need help setting up and managing your Google Adwords account? Once you determine your budget, it’s time to speak with one of Trek Marketing’s Client Success Managers. 

    What do you think is the most advantageous part of using Google Adwords for your business? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

    Valentine’s Day tips for last-minute implementers

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Do you have a good relationship with your target audience? Would you say you go together like search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising? While most professional digital marketing services take time to generate ongoing growth and conversions there are some things that you can do last-minute to entice your customers to shop. Valentine’s Day is one of the most overlooked occasions when compared to other days like Black Friday or Christmas, and even if your product(s) and service(s) don’t scream romantic, you can ramp up some sales by following the tips we recommend below.

    Host a flash sale for your shoppers

    Since Valentines’ Day is the celebration of love, it’s a good idea to show your customers some love and appreciation during this time by offering them a great deal on your products and services. One of the best ways that you can do this as a business owner is by surprising them with a generous flash sale… because of course, everyone loves to save money! Since the following idea can be executed rather quickly by sending out a short, punchy email and otherwise promoting it through your existing social media channels, you can consider hosting a sale last-minute. The best part is that if you possess an overwhelming amount of inventory for a few particular items, a last-minute sale can also double down as an opportunity to unload products that aren’t selling as well on regular calendar days. Whether you just have a buy 2, get 1 free sale, a store-wide discount, or a featured sale on a product category, giving your customers a deal is a perfect incentive to inspire them to make a purchase and possibly even tune into other sales or promotions that are offered in the future. 

    Email your customers some personalized Valentine’s Day cards

    While we did mention above that emailing is a great way to connect with your audience last-minute, if you aren’t up to hosting a sale, but you still want to take advantage of this tactic, we recommend coordinating a cute email campaign allowing you to send out virtual Valentine’s Day cards. Your card should coordinate with your brand and include a punny poem or a letter of appreciation to your customers, and if you’re feeling edgy, you can include a shop now button in there as well. This takes a lot of hassle out of putting a lot of work into your website and it shows your customers that you’re fun and not just sales-focused. 

    Create a quick landing page dedicated to themes of the holiday

    Landing pages, also known as lead capture pages or destination pages, are a great way to promote Valentine’s Day specials, and since the holiday is geared towards buying gifts for your loved ones, they can be extra beneficial when created specifically to target your audience and draw in shoppers. Now, if you don’t possess the knowledge of how to coordinate a strategy that targets a certain search engine optimization search result, don’t worry. As a professional digital marketing company, we have the skills and experience to market your promotion using industry-relevant key terms and phrases. 

    Last-minute doesn’t mean you have to tap out! How are you planning to orchestrate something for your company this Valentine’s Day?

    Make 2021 the year you crush your digital marketing goals

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    If 2020 has taught us anything as digital marketing professionals, it’s that consumers heavily relied on available online conveniences to keep themselves safe during these crazy times. Whether it was virtual doctor’s appointments, online grocery shopping, or simply transitioning to ordering more of their necessities through e-commerce sources, it’s clear that the digital age is evolving and growing to suit this new normal. So, if your business missed out on some of the digital opportunities that were available, why not start 2021 off right by crushing your digital marketing goals? 

    Invest in professional search engine optimization services

    For business owners who don’t already know, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of traffic to a website or web page via search engines. Since SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct or paid traffic, it can take a bit of time to improve your business ranking, especially if you aren’t using professional search engine optimization services. SEO is broken down into two categories, requiring work to be completed both on-site and off-site. 

    Some examples of on-site work that your SEO specialist would do as part of your search engine optimization service would include: 

    • Page layout optimizations
    • SEO audits
    • Page speed optimizations
    • Finding and fixing broken links
    • The creation of engaging content

    Some examples of off-site that your SEO specialist would do as part of your search engine optimization service would include:

    • Public relations
    • Guest posting
    • The creation of engaging content for back linking 

    Consider the benefits of pay-per-click advertising

    Pay-per-click advertising, better known in the digital marketing industry as PPC, is a method of online marketing where business owners can place ads in strategic places online and pay a fee only when that ad is clicked on by a visitor. It’s a quick way to buy quality visits to your site rather than attracting them organically, which can take time as we’ve discussed above. 

    How does it work, you ask? Well, when a user clicks the ad, your business will pay the host a specified fee, which can range between $1 to $2 and as high as $50 depending on where your impression is posted. 

    Here are some of the best benefits achieved through PPC:

    • Ads are extremely targeted to your audience
    • Ads retarget previous visitors
    • Ads are cost-effective
    • Ads are trackable
    • Ads are fast 

    Email marketing is good for sales and brand loyalty 

    Email marketing is the act of sending online messages and newsletters to a group of subscriber emails. In its simplest form, each email strives to target new and recurring customers to come back to the website and make a purchase. While email marketing relies heavily on sending advertisements to solicit sales and traffic, it also works as an opportunity to offer industry-news, business updates, or up-to-date inventory revisions. 

    Here are some of the best benefits of email marketing:

    • It’s good for customer acquisition
    • It’s an economic and cost-effect digital marketing strategy
    • Each email can be personalized through customization
    • Newsletters are designed to be action-oriented
    • It’s easy to measure profit using the appropriate tracking tools

    If you aren’t marketing on social networks, you should be

    Social media marketing is the use of an assortment of social media platforms and websites to promote your businesses’ products and/or services. Although it’s challenging to create a following with a strictly sales-oriented agenda, many business owners utilize the power of each platform to create a relationship with their customers by sharing images/videos and posting other engaging content. 

    Here are some of the best benefits of social media marketing: 

    • Increases brand awareness
    • Improves search engine rankings
    • Increases conversion rates
    • Leads to better customer satisfaction
    • Offers more brand authority
    • Allows you to gain valuable insights

    Top it all off with some insightful blogging

    Business blogging, while not as easy to track conversions, is an essential element that should be part of every digital marketing strategy. Business blogs are a space where you can create custom content that may appease your customer’s interests or even answer questions they have pertaining to your products, services, or the general larger umbrella of your niche industry.

    Here are some of the best benefits of business blogging: 

    • Increase your business visibility online
    • Builds brand awareness
    • Builds up SEO authority 
    • Asserts your position as an expert within your industry
    • Offers free content to your subscribers
    • Supports the growth of your business
    • Engage with customers

    Do you have any further questions about any of the above digital marketing services? One of our Client Success Managers would be happy to answer your questions via email, by phone, or through a virtual chat.

    Which of the above digital marketing services would your business benefit most from? Drop a comment below to compare with other e-commerce business owners.

    Common digital marketing mistakes to avoid as an entrepreneur

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Since it’s difficult to guarantee which investments will generate a consistent return, e-commerce business owners will often face marketing hurdles where they will struggle to see profitable results. So, whether you’re looking for help with various digital marketing activities or simply want assurance that you’re on the road to success, an assortment of digital marketing services are available at your fingertips. But first, here are some common mistakes you should avoid!

    Didn’t formulate a digital strategy

    While it would be silly to not utilize the power of social media for marketing purposes, most business owners use their channels to publish a stream of over-promotional content that generates little engagement, which is not beneficial for the time that it takes to perform the task. Any form of return in digital marketing requires the development of a coherent strategy that will underpin business objectives and push forward likable, inviting content. Focusing on posts that highlight keywords via pay-per-click advertising or only crafting brand-related content won’t get you the results that you’re looking for. This is why the best thing you can do is to take the time to understand your target audience and research how they engage with the channels you’re using because this will help you to narrow your focus and avoid wasn’t money by moving forward with no strategy in place.

    There are digital marketing services that can offer you help with all of the above and what’s even better is that hiring a social media manager is a cost-effective way to combine research and content creation with the added bonus of customer service. 

    Don’t cut your spend, move it around

    There are a lot of opportunities for growth in digital marketing, and as a result, common issues are faced by business owners. There’s a belief that return-on-investment (ROI) should come immediately after the trial of a small Google ad or a one-time SEO campaign, but often these investments take time to make money. So, instead of swiftly cutting your spend, consider moving it around to another digital platform that may produce more return. The best thing to do is evaluate your marketing budget, see what is and isn’t working, and increase in the areas where you’re seeing conversions. 

    Consult with a member of the Trek Marketing team to determine which digital marketing services would offer the best ROI for your e-commerce business. 

    Keep pace with the digital marketing trends

    E-commerce businesses have ramped up the use of trending features such as more video content and Chatbots, and have also increased their presence on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. So, if you want to remain competitive in your industry, you will need to keep on track of what’s engaging your target audience. The best way to implement and manage an effective digital marketing strategy is to constantly evaluate what’s working, allowing you to make positive changes and push forward in the areas that will generate a higher return. It’s also important to learn from your competition, remain focused on your growth, and keep in mind that building your business will be a long-term game of trial and error. 

    Not Knowing Your Target Market

    One of the most effective strategies in marketing your products or services is profoundly understanding your customer’s pain points and what type of person is more likely to be interested in what you’re trying to offer. Formulating a buyer persona is an excellent strategy used by professional marketers to streamline their target and know what type of people they are trying to aim. 

    Knowing your target market is as important as anything else, especially in advancing technology today. Social algorithms already have much more data than ever before about their users’ interests, hobbies, and even buying behavior. Therefore, having a deeper understanding of your target market allows you to maximize your campaign’s efficiency and even take advantage of sophisticated digital tools in today’s online business world.

    Failure to Track Measurable Goals and Milestones to Hit

    Many entrepreneurs have been successful in their business in the digital space but staying successful is a whole different conversation. In most cases, even a thriving business at its early stages could quickly lose track of its progress because of failing to track its progress and setting goals to target. 

    The e-commerce business is continuously ramping up, meaning you also have to step up your game and never lose sight of your improving your business as a whole to stay relevant to the market. Tracking your progress through statistical analytics by digital services allows you to have a leg up on your competition and gradually improve your online business over time.

    Not Flexible Enough to Try and Test Different Strategies

    There is no shortage of digital marketing strategies that effectively ramp up your engagement, traffic, or even sales almost instantly. While there’s a value in staying consistent about your current method that has already been working for you, being open to other opportunities would open up so many doors for your business, especially in a constantly evolving world.

    An Entrepreneur’s ability to do trial and error, whether through specific marketing campaigns, trying out new digital strategies, or other things, is a massive advantage for taking advantage of opportunities ahead of you. It is likely that an effective digital marketing strategy from just six months ago now could no longer be relevant today. That is why it’s best to keep being updated and allow yourself to try out new things that might or might not work for the sake of the business. This is a common trait for thriving businesses in today’s world.

    Focused on blending in instead of standing out amongst your competition

    Another common mistake for up-and-coming entrepreneurs trying to find their success in the digital space is focusing too much on blending in instead of finding ways to stand out. The reason behind this is to remind you that you’re in the business of offering products/services that are distinctly unique from what the market already has to offer.

    Unrealistic Overnight Success Expectations

    Setting goals and targets are excellent, but expecting unrealistic results over a short amount of time is detrimental and could hold your online business success even further down the line. There is nothing wrong with high-ambitions and having the confidence that your product or service online would do well. However, patience is a huge thing, especially when entering a highly competitive market. 

    Understand that you’re not the only one who’s trying to get a fair share of the market and that you’ll have to earn it gradually with patience and wit if you want your business to thrive. A good rule of thumb when it comes to setting expectations is to set goals that are hard enough to keep you going but aren’t too challenging and leave you in a slump. Small wins, whether in sales, engagements, followers, or any progress in your digital marketing pursuit, get you going and are much more effective for sustainable growth instead of unrealistic expectations.

    Failure to Adapt to New and Updated Strategies

    Keeping an eye on and constantly updating your digital marketing strategies is a huge plus for your e-commerce store to stay relevant to your chosen niche market. Many factors may impact how well a particular digital system might or might not work, so it’s always best to keep open and flexible for future adjustments.

    Undervaluing the Power of Customer Reviews and Feedback

    Online Reviews and Customer Feedback is an excellent social proof and way to get more traction on your e-commerce business. However, not many entrepreneurs understand the value of having honest feedback from customers, whether good or bad and how it could impact your business as a whole.

    Genuinely listening to what your customers like about your products and what they dislike gives you ideas on improving your business. Businesses that listen to their customers will likely have their way to building their community and engagement over time.

    What did you learn from the above blog submission? Drop a comment in the section below to converse with other readers. 

    Tapping into success: Which offers the best ROI? Google or Facebook ads?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Google Ads and Facebook Ads have a longstanding rivalry and when it comes down to your return on investment (ROI), it’s essential to invest in the right platform that will generate ad revenue. A professional digital marketing agency would easily be able to determine which platform would work best for your business, but for those who have been in the game for a while, you may possess enough knowledge to kick things off yourself. Continue reading to learn the differences between these two advertising platforms.  

    Google Ads versus Facebook Ads

    While you were probably drawn to this blog submission looking for a definitive answer, we’re here to tell you that there really isn’t a “best” option, because both platforms perform differently from one another, bringing unique benefits to the table for online businesses. 

    Instead, try asking yourself the following questions before you invest money into either digital marketing effort: 

    • What is my budget for digital advertising?
    • Which platform would better reach my target audience?
    • What stage of the consumer’s buying journey am I trying to make a profit on?

    Since most internet users regularly utilize both of the following platforms, it’s more important to channel your pay-per-click advertising services towards efforts that focus on the age, income range, and lifestyle of your audience. Thus, to increase your ROI it’s important to break down what makes each platform unique before you make your final decision towards rolling with one or both. 

    A breakdown of Google advertising

    As businesses grow and transition to the online realm, customers have more choices now than ever before on where to make their purchases. Although, to be a successful business owner, one must deliver and retain customer interest at every stage of their browsing experience. Thus, many e-commerce companies rely on Google!

    What types of campaigns can you run using the Google platform?

    • Search network campaigns
    • Display network campaigns
    • Google Shopping Ads 
    • Video campaigns 
    • App campaigns 

    Facilitating purchases is one of the many perks of the Google platform, and through pay-per-click advertising services, business owners have been able to approach their audience with the use of industry keywords within their content, only paying for the service when their ad is clicked by the consumer. This technique is an efficient method that’s super popular for those looking to expand their digital marketing efforts. 

    A breakdown of Facebook advertising

    While Google Ads focus on paid searching, Facebook Ads are all about paid social, targeting audience behaviors and patterns to make each advertisement effective and personal. 

    Below are some formats of ads that can be done through Facebook:

    • Video advertising
    • Photo advertising
    • Slideshow advertising
    • Carousel advertising
    • Dynamic product advertising
    • Lead form advertising

    What are the ROI benefits of each platform?

    While both platforms work as channels to utilize pay-per-click advertising services, they also offer different benefits to the business owner.

    Benefits of Google Ads:

    1. You can bid on a number of keywords and get your ads to rank higher, reach new people, and increase your exposure. 
    2. You’re able to earn higher SERP (search engine results page) rankings by creating relevant ads. 
    3. The search and display networks help you to create ads that will appear in search results and generate more leads.

    Benefits of Facebook Ads:

    1. Consumers are always sharing information about themselves on Facebook (interests, beliefs, hobbies, etc.) and you can use this to collect data on your target audience.
    2. Once you have collected a database of people that are likely to be interested in your products or services, you can import it into Facebook and target those people using your ad campaigns. 
    3. Earn sign-ups, sales, subscriptions, follows, and leads. 

    Which platform are you most excited about? Drop a comment below to compare with other readers. 

    What are the best PPC strategies for your e-commerce website?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    If you’re looking for an easy way to improve your digital marketing strategy while keeping the costs down, we recommend driving shoppers to your website by using pay per click advertising. This form of online exhibition only charges business owners once prospective customers find the ad using various search engines and click upon it. This means that payment is processed after traffic is achieved, as opposed to using other organic, digital marketing methods such as SEO. It’s 2020 and about time that you increased your business conversion rates using the power and effectiveness of pay per click advertising! 

    Carefully choose your advertisement platform  

    Just like traditional advertising, part of orchestrating successful pay per click advertising lies with carefully selecting the right platforms to distribute your announcements. There are plenty of ad placement options such as Google Shopping, Bing, Amazon Advertising and Facebook. Thus, ensure that you understand the trends of your ever-growing, dynamic industry before allocating a budget to any of the above platforms. Keep in mind that Google and Facebook shared 58.5% of the total US digital ad spend in 2019. 

    Review and utilize industry keywords

    If boosting the awareness of your e-commerce business is a huge part of your PPC strategy, then it’s important to research, review, and utilize previously generated search queries that are relevant to consumer purchases from your business. Through this PPC optimization process, you’re able to profile them into high converting search queries and terms, which can later be merged and used among your branded terms, model names, part numbers, and even SKU codes. Also, when time permits, you must next make a list of negative keywords in your pay per click advertising campaigns. This is because when you bid high on PLAs (product listing ad), it exposes your products to a wider range of searches instead of just improving Google rankings. As a result, you get to bid higher while also averting a lot of unwanted search traffic.  

    Expand your PPC spend 

    It can be difficult for business owners to manage personalized user experiences, which is why when they’re navigating the hard terrain of pay per click advertising, they often seek help from industry experts. In terms of communication, every consumer responds to something different, so it can be challenging to grow and build your brand loyalty and create new, meaningful relationships with your customers. That being said, be sure to look for a super-flexible and responsive ad platform that will allow you to showcase your products and services using an easy-to-navigate layout. 

    Quality content is the key 

    A good way to get your customers excited about what your business has to offer is by providing them with high-quality, well-written content. Since creating some flashy PPC ad copy won’t be enough to get yourself noticed, you’ll need to compliment your intuitive text using enticing colours, engaging videos, graphics, seamless navigation, and descriptive product information.

    Do you have any other feedback for pay per click advertising? Drop a comment below to share.