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Local Search remains the most relevant means of attracting traffic and customers for millions of small and medium businesses around the world. When we talk about Search Engine Optimization your success is not decided by how many users visit your page, but the relevance of those visits. If you run a Car Hire in East London, South Africa website visit from those looking for this service in London, UK won’t don’t offer you any benefits. The vast majority of businesses cater to customers in their vicinity and that makes the appearance of business listing websites important for increasing their discoverability on the search engines.

You might ask – “what is the best way of local search marketing in 2020”? The answer to that is – Google My Business Optimization. Ask any local SEO agency for small business and they would tell you the importance of creating a powerful business profile on Google. While you need to sustain your efforts in website optimization, it needs to be complemented with Google My Business Optimization. In fact, most small businesses and agencies see this strategy precede on-site optimization, reputation management, and web designing in terms of importance in local searches.

What is Google My Business?

You shouldn’t confuse Google My Business with other listing sites as many businesses tend to do. It is a set of tools that lets you optimize your business’ profile on Google. Your business profile can appear on Google Map and Google search listing even if you haven’t added it manually as the search engine’s crawlers are constantly adding new businesses to their list for the benefit of millions of users around the world. The source information from various directories and add a business profile to their ever-growing list.

Once a business profile has been created users can rate your business, add photographs, write reviews, and report discrepancies in the information they view on the profile. With time Google would draw data from various sources and populate the profile with information. Hence, you need to take complete command over your business profile instead of letting Google and their users decide how your profile appears to the masses. 

Benefits of Google My Business Optimization

Like most other things with Google, your business profile is dynamic. They appear differently on different devices and also platforms. For instance, what would appear on search results would be significantly different from what you see on Google Maps.

The profile keeps changing as and when users add data and feedback and you need to constantly monitor it to attract potential customers to it. There are several benefits you can draw out of Google My Business Optimization and they are –

• Target Your Customers – Targeting the right customers and in the right geography is important for any small and medium business. This is where Google My Business profile helps reach out to the right set of customers and grow your business. You will increase visibility and trade inquiries in local searches.
• Control Information – By taking command over your business profile you will be able to control what’s said and written about your business. If you don’t do so, your services and product information may be misrepresented. You must remember that user-generated information doesn’t always represent businesses in a fairway.
• Earn Customers’ Trust – In this information age, customers want to trade with businesses that offer them maximum information about products and services. They prefer businesses that enjoy good ratings among existing customers. Creating a good business profile and updating it regularly will help you earn the trust of your customers.
• SEO Score – How can we forget SEO in all this? Google My Business optimization helps in improving your SEO score and brings more traffic to your website. According to experts Google My Business profile contributes as much as 25% for local search engine rankings! That’s encouraging, isn’t it?

Tips for Google My Business Optimization

A local SEO agency for small business with its feet on the ground would help you get the best out of Google My Business listing. They would implement the right optimization tricks and strategies that boost your discoverability and engagement. But as a business owner, it would be wise for you to learn the tricks of this trade.

Let us take you through a few tips that will help you optimize your profile –

All Details Must Be Keyed In

Would you print a business card without your address or phone number? But when it comes to Google My Business profile this is one of the mistakes many small businesses make. The completeness of your profile is one of the most important optimization steps you need to undertake. When you have your name, address, phone number, website, business hours, etc. it not only improves your discoverability but also leads visitors to actions such as visiting your office/store or calling you up for inquiries. 

Create a Rockstar Business Description

How well you describe your business would determine the amount of mileage you draw from your profile. You have 750 characters to play around with and use them all to describe your business to its best. Make use of keywords relevant to your business as this improves discoverability. This is extremely important for businesses whose brand names don’t reveal their products and services. Be genuine and unique with your business description, and make sure you have a CTA to attract new customers.

Choose the Right Category/Sub-Category

An automobile-restoration business is different from an automobile repairer, an accounting school is different from an accountant, a Chinese restaurant is different from an Asian cuisine restaurant. Hence, you need to choose the right category of business from the list Google offers you. There would be dozens of sub-categories under each category and you must make sure you are getting it right. Along with the categories and sub-categories you also need to choose the right attributes from the list Google offers you. For instance, if you running a bed and breakfast you need to choose attributes such as Pets Welcome, Airport Shuttle, Baggage Storage, etc. relevant to your business.

Update Photos

Photographs are one of the best ways to attract new customers to your fold. Your image might serve as the perfect guide for customers to find your business on a busy street. These also help you attract users who search for a business using Google’s image search. Photographs also give users a sneak peek into your business. For instance photographs of your restaurant shall offer users a glimpse of the ambiance inside. From location to parking availability and overall image of your business, there are dozens of clues that potential customers look for in photographs. Make sure you update the photos regularly with the latest ones to help your potential customers.

Use Profile To Market Your Business

When you have discounts and offers lined up, you’d usually take to social media to reach out to potential customers. You can do pretty much the same on Google My Business profile. For instance, if you are offering discounts during holiday seasons or special days in the calendar you can post the same on your description. This serves as an additional pull factor for the customers and is also one of the best ways of keeping your profile page updated.

Activate Messaging

This is one of the features that few businesses leverage but it has got immense potential. There is a messaging option on Google My Business that allows customers to reach you through text messages on your phone directly. This is the easiest way to respond to users and turn them into full-time customers. Active this feature and you will gain a lot of traction.       

Ask Customers for Reviews

Ratings and reviews are one of the most important factors when it comes to leveraging Google My Business profile. Here you have to be proactive and ask you’re satisfied customers to write reviews. This is very important as satisfied customers often don’t care to leave behind reviews but disgruntled ones do hurting your business. Positive reviews will attract more customers to your business and also boost the ranking of your profile page. They also help burry negative reviews and improve your ratings.

Respond to Negative Reviews, Answer Question

Like all businesses yours too won’t be able to satisfy all customers, and they are well within their rights to write adverse reviews about your business. In such cases, you should respond to those reviews in a polite and professional way. Tell them why you weren’t able to live up to their expectation and the lessons you have learned. This is a sign of a professional business that is constantly working towards self-improving. If a question has been asked, respond to them immediately as you’d do on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Don’t Try Fooling Google

Last but not least you should avoid playing mischief while optimizing your Google My Business Profile. Do not try and stuff keywords to boost your discoverability especially when those keywords have no or little relevance to your business. Don’t get fake reviews written to boost your ratings as Google’s advanced algorithm can easily distinguish a genuine review from a fake one. You can invite a penalty where your profile might be flagged.

Final Words

To conclude, you clearly see the idea and benefits behind Google My Business profile optimization. All you need is a good local SEO agency for small business by your side to optimize your profile and complement it with other SEO strategies to get the best out of Google’s local search results.

Learn more about Google My Business Attribute in Google My Business Profile

Search engine optimization is the pathway to increasing the quality and quantity of online traffic by enhancing the perceptibility of the web page to consumers of a web search engine. A significant aspect of this optimization lies in the competitor analysis and ranking factors of keywords. Hence, this article provides an overview of the trends to follow in 2019 for SEO.

Be Aware Of the Latest E-Commerce SEO Trends

The most relevant trends to know about according to the 47% of top SEO professionals are:

1. Figure Out What The User Wants:

What does your audience prefer- audio or image or simple text? According to the experts, it is vital to understand what the audience wants in 2019. CEO of Market Mindshift, Miny Weinstein says that one needs to understand the user’s query and answer them accordingly.

Content won’t grow if it’s meant for the wrong audience even if it’s superbly written. As the CEO of Express Writers states that if one’s website heightens the user’s journey, then it is successful. The new-age high-ranking websites are all about the requirements of the users worldwide. It is essential to focus on the content and how it can reply to the queries of the target audiences.

2. The Key Is Structured Data Markup:

Structured data is added straight to a page’s HTML markup. Search engines use standardized data to produce rich snippets, which appear in search results. For example, if someone searches for a restaurant, they can view the details about it along with its name. So structured data markup is essential to magnify the success of the website.

3. Invest In Technical SEO:

Technical SEO has gathered itself quite popularity and will be very important in 2019. The key areas to consider in technical SEO are Speed, JavaScript, and the Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). Users won’t prefer websites that take forever to load. Hence working on technical SEO is vital in 2019 to enhance the visibility of the website.

4. Move Past The Google Search:

Google has always dominated the search market, but recently Amazon is getting a massive share of the e-commerce traffic. So to boost up your business, get into the field to fight out the different search engines in the cyber world.

One needs to optimize its content according to the users’ gadgets too. That refers to enhancing it for gadgets like mobile phones, speakers, etc. As studies suggest, 55% of houses would have smart speaking devices. So to keep to the race, enhance features of the site to satisfy the user’s requirements.

5. Construct Brilliant Content:

As Jeff Bullas states that quality content allows the creator to establish a special bond with their readers. 2018 saw the focus shifting to the content of the articles which need working in 2019 too. Content will always be the king, and proper content will always attract the right audience for it. Correct content also helps to get appropriate links to associate them with the website increasing its popularity.

6. Increase The E-A-T:

Another key trend to follow in 2019 is E-A-T. It refers to Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness in terms of Google’s search quality rating rules. Few tips to optimize the E-A-T signals are:

• Ensure the security of the website
• Make investments in generating reviews and user management
• Take advantage of the in-house experts
• Display the credentials
• Look for established and experienced journalists and writers
• Do a thorough research
• Make investments inaccuracy
• Make accessible communication with the public

7. Importance Of On-Page Optimization:

On-page optimization is another feature to work upon in 2019. This feature ensures that web pages are ranked superior to attract high-end traffic consistently. On-page optimization refers to both HTML source code and the content of a website or page which can be enhanced concurrently.

Some critical webpage optimization includes:

• Shortening the conversion process,
• Content that replies to the general users’ questions,
• Usage of chatbots
• Enhancing the content of the site
• Appropriate heading and titles, etc.

8. Enhance “Voice-Search”:

People now prefer searching using their voice rather than typing. That is because it is easier to ask the search engines to look for answers rather than typing them. Even this feature is gaining popularity among people who prefer their native languages. Hence enhancing this feature would garner more popularity among the users.

9. Shift The Focus On Machine Learning:

As there is a rise in the artificial intelligence system, there is a steep rise in machine learning. Machine learning is the ability of the machines to study and improvise from previous experiences automatically. It is a process that can utilize data, learn from it, and make decisions without much human intervention. As it eases out the problems faced by computers, hence shift the focus on machine learning for better results.

10. Incorporation Of Featured Snippets:

Featured snippets have been there for an extended period of time but only a few years back gained popularity. They respond to specific questions but don’t just directly resemble the relevance algorithm of Google search.

Featured snippets are of 3 types:

• Paragraph Snippet which appears during a voice search
• List snippets appear mostly during recipe searches
• Table snippets come from customized tables relevant to specific searches

SEO trends, by their very description, are recurring. However, they’re also a product of the continuous developments of the SEO concept. For this, you need a professional SEO agency that will take care of your business. Hence, it is worthy of investing in the study and researches governing such events.

Reviews and testimonials on your products/services are an important part of your brand image. These components help you build up the credibility of the business. Therefore, every business owner must have at least a few testimonials of his/her services and products on the websites. Various studies show that the customer service and support will take precedence over price and product in different industry verticals by 2020.

Your customers will most likely not give a review until you are providing them with exceptional services. In fact, most of them will still not come forward to give you a commendation. This is the main reason why the accumulation of more honest reviews and testimonials is tough. However, there are a few techniques that you can use to get the right reviews for the business.

Here are a few actionable tips on how to get the right reviews for your business on the internet. The prerequisite for getting great reviews is that you provide excellent service, support and product to the customer.

Incentivize the Process

Incentivizing the process is the fastest way to get more reviews. Although it costs money, the return on investment is generated in the short run. The incentivization of review generation process is usually the technique used by large corporations. You don’t have to give stuff away for free for every review. Instead, you can give your customers discount coupons and offers if they post a review on your website. Studies show that 89% of businesses compete in the market solely on the quality of customer experience that they provide to their loyal as well as new customers.

Note: You should not perform a quality check on the testimonials. Posting only the positive ones will raise a lot of eyebrows. So, you should post only genuine and unfiltered testimonials on the website. The smart consumer understands that even the best product/service will have a few negative reviews.

Include the Reviews in a Case Study

If you are selling an enterprise-scale product/service, you need to generate case studies to capture the attention of the new prospects. The case studies on how your product/service helped a customer can help you generate a lot of confidence in the customers. The reliability index and NLP score both will increase by a significant amount when you create readable and actionable case studies for the prospects. Only 1 in 26 customers will willingly tell the business about a bad product/service. Therefore, if it important that you constantly update your collection of case studies.

You can create a case study on a single client or on a particular use case in which you helped multiple clients. Your existing customer support and success teams can help you generate these case studies.

Have a Face-to-Face Interview

If you own a geographically challenged business, having a face-to-face interview is the best way to generate positive reviews about the business. Let’s say that you own a restaurant in Chicago. Now, you can ask your customers to fill a small form while they pay the bill or have an interview with them as they are about to exit the restaurant. Research suggests that 55% of your customers will be willing to spend more on your offer if you offer them excellent customer service.

These processes help you in two ways. Primarily they help you collect the right reviews from the customer. On the other hand, it helps you show your customers that you truly care about them.

Use Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective tools that you can use to collect reviews from thousands of customers overnight. It can also help you identify various cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. The email marketing campaign works well if you have great content to send. Studies show that for every 1 USD that you spend on email marketing you can get a return of up to 38 USD.

Sending the emails in a timely fashion should be on the top of the priority list. If you are delivering products, you should send a follow-up email to collect a review as soon as the product is delivered. On the other hand, if you are delivering services, you should follow-up with the customers within a couple of days after they use your services.

Respond to the Reviews

You should always try and respond to all the reviews that you get. Responding regularly helps customers notice that you truly care about their reviews. You must show a willingness to adapt to the requirements of your customers. You should also thank the reviewers in case they post a positive review of your product/service.

Sam Walton, one of the world’s most successful retailers and founder of Walmart rightly said the customer is the king. If you can keep your customers happy, they will spend lavishly on your offer.

In today’s world of cut throat competition, digital marketing is regarded as the spinal column of any industry or business. In order to make their presence felt and to reach out to the mass, business organizations need to use all the different types of online professional and social platforms. With every passing day, the concept of digital marketing is growing at a rapid speed and gradually, it would replace the conventional form of marketing; both print and electronic. This is what the experts have forecasted.

There is another technology, which is expanding at a fairly rapid pace, it is “Blockchain”. It is believed that this particular technology is going to bring about a drastic change in the domain of business operations. Blockchain is a mechanism that can be implemented in order to elevate the platform of Digital Marketing.

How Digital Marketing can get influenced by Blockchain?

Blockchain can affect many facets of communication and business. However, when it comes to its impact on financial transactions and banking sector there has been some discussion and confusion. These two areas are quite significant; however, the impact of Blockchain can go beyond finance and currency to affect marketers of all kinds of services and products.

• Altering Data Collection: These days, the internet is accessible to anyone. However, there are different gatekeepers they need to go through, in the form of web browsers and ISPs. Almost all our online activities can be learnt by these companies, from the articles we read, things we buy and even people we are communicating with.

This is where Blockchain comes into the picture. As far as data privacy is concerned, Blockchain can prove to be very effective indeed. The network of Blockchain is devised on “Blockchain-verified signature”, this would ensure that all of your personal data remains safely with you instead of the servers.  It is like inserting a key to a lock when you use a particular app or visit a website. A personal copy is kept with you all the time and when the key is placed in the lock, you take the data once you are done. There is no log maintained which would keep a track of who used the lock.

• Display Advertising: As far as online display ads are concerned, though the marketers are getting good results, yet there are a couple of serious flaws in them. From the advertiser’s point of view, they can be quite complicated and difficult to manage. At the same time they can be quite expensive too. Besides, 2 for profit companies; Google and Facebook control the inventory.

The issues pertaining to digital advertising from the perspective of the user are well documented. The display ads are annoying, intrusive and can drain the battery of the mobile device and at the same time waste a lot of bandwidth.

The Brave Blockchain browser has BAT, which is Basic Attention Token, which attempts to fix all these types of issues by altering the ways ads are being interacted by the users.

• BAT is used for Buying Advertisement: Usually, these are private tabs located in Brave browser. However, they are capable of pushing landing pages and notifications.
• BAT Compensates Users: The users get to decide what kind of ads they wish to see. It not only provides more accurate consumer details to the advertisers, but at the same time, it helps the users to learn more about the brands and the products which they are looking for.

Advertisers and Publishers Compensates Advertisers: Under the revenue sharing program of BAT, the publishers can receive a huge portion of advertisement spend than the consumers. BAT can also be charged by them for accessing subscriptions and premium content. It’s a win-win situation for both the parties. Marketers get better targeting and ad performance data. On the other hand, the publishers get enhanced ad controls over the displayed ads and revenue. The users on the other hand get fewer and better quality advertisements which are related to their interests. The users do not need to compromise on their personal data. This is possible due to the encryption feature of Blockchain. What is most important is the fact that the owner is given back the value of their attention.

• Security of Digital Assets and Ownership: Blockchain has proven to be a revolution in the domain of digital economy. Different projects like Steem, Poet, Tao and others were designed to achieve this. This would help filmmakers, artists, photographers and others to present their work in front of a huge audience and they don’t even have to pay any intermediary like Bandcamp, You Tube and others for security and exposures.

The entertainment economy which is based on Blockchain also allows the artists to present themselves directly in the market in front of their audience without sharing their revenue with different platforms like SoundCloud or Facebook. This would allow the artists to be recognized based on their work and effort and not only just because they have paid extra money for listing their songs right at the top of the music platform.

Reality vs. Possibility

It needs to be remembered that the mentioned scenarios are the ideal cases which are based on projects and technology which are under development phase. It is not yet sure whether the vision which has been set by Blockchain will at all becomes a reality, particularly when cryptocurrency is at its infancy.

However, even if a couple of commercial uses of Blockchain become reality, then it can dramatically change the way in which marketers seek buyer’s attention. The fact that it is being seriously looked into and some of the brightest minds are working on it, the possibility of it turning into a reality is quite high. If it turns into a reality, then it would be a revolutionary change in the domain of digital marketing. Already it’s been used in trial basis and the results have been quite encouraging. The fact that it would have an impact on Digital Marketing, it has already created a buzz in the market.

What are its benefits?

Here are some of the major benefits that can be associated with this technology

• Transparency: One of the primary benefits of Blockchain is the fact that it is based on open source technology. This means that other developers and users have the chance to update and modify it as per their requirement. What is most crucial about it being open source is the fact that it makes alteration of logged data inside a Blockchain very difficult. When there are countless eyes keeping a close eye on the network, in that case someone might see the alteration of the logged data. This is what makes Blockchain a very secure and advanced technology
• Transaction Cost Reduced: With the help of Blockchain, business to business and peer to peer transactions can be completed without intervention of a third party. The fact that there is no involvement of a middleman, it means the cost automatically gets reduced
• Faster Transaction: As far as banks are concerned, it takes days for transactions to settle completely. This happens because of the protocol used by transferring software used by the banks. Besides, the fact that banks are only open during the normal working days, which is 5 days a week, leads to such a delay. There are banks located in different time zones which can also delay the time of processing. When it comes to Blockchain, it works 24/7, seven days a week and hence the transaction is being processed in a quicker time.

• Decentralization: Another important fact that makes Blockchain so poplar is that it has no central hub for data. The fact that it is decentralized, makes it more flexible and at the same time reliable. This feature also makes it secure and it ensures that if any information is being accessed by unauthorized hands, then only a minor portion of data is compromised and not the entire network.
• Networks Controlled by Users: The controlling feature of Blockchain is what encourages the cryptocurrency investors. The developers and users can get to call the shots rather than third a third party.

Conclusion

Despite of these advantages the success of Blockchain is not full proof. However, the fact that it has been tested and is still being with encouraging outputs, goes a long way to show that it can certainly prove to be highly effective as far as facilitating digital marketing is concerned.

As per the experts, if Blockchain can be implemented and it delivers what it is supposed to, then there would be a radical change in the domain of digital marketing. With ease of advertising, the process of transaction would also become much easier. It would allow the banks, investors a global reach to carry out their transactions without any third party intervention. This is perhaps the most appealing feature of Blockchain. It is expected to bring about a drastic change in the domain of digital marketing and would enhance the entire process in terms of quality and speed.

The constant incoming of new technologies and ideas ensures that the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve in 2018. Though it is always important to know the latest trends going on in the market, according to digital marketers, this year the best approach is to go for a good blend of the basics and the upcoming trends. After all, simply getting the latest technology at your disposal is no good if you are unable to use it rightly. And it is not wise to write off all the old methods thinking they have had their run because the focus still remains on product, customers, and what works for a business.

A winning strategy for e-commerce marketing is definitely ambitious but not immeasurable and unattainable. According to certain statistics, the global e-commerce market is going to grow by 21% this year and that presents massive growth opportunities for your business. The following are the top ideas in writing an e-commerce marketing plan that you need to try out in 2018.

Defining Your Resources

Before you get into the details of the marketing strategy, the first thing to consider is the resources that you possess and that includes everything from tools, team, to budget.

Tools: There are ample numbers of tools present to help you with the marketing strategy. These are the tools that help in boosting the revenue.

Team: The work of the team or yourself (if you are that one man army!) is to sort out the tasks according to priorities and set the plan for reflecting the skills and size of the team. The key lies in making the most of your time.

Budget: The budget, regardless of the size of your business, has a limit. Make sure that a marketing budget is set early on before you chalk out the rest of the plan. This guides you to a real plan.

Search Engine Optimization

For all the times that you have heard that SEO is longer relevant, it is time to negate those statements as SEO is here to stay for the year 2018. Did you know that about 87% of the clicks for organic searches go to the first five links? Still thinking not considering SEO as a marketing factor is a good idea?

The foremost factor driving SEO is the content and that incorporates all the keywords, product titles, and written copies that you have in the website. The first step of setting up SEO practices for your website is through running a thorough audit. The audit includes off-site and on-site analysis, keyword search, and technical analysis. After you are done on the points of auditing, the picture is clear in your mind about what you need to do. During the audit itself you will understand that it is not all about the keywords but rather the focus should be on creating relevant and high quality content.

However, do not let that give you the idea that keyword search is any less important. You need to choose the keywords carefully. The ones that are too popular would make you get lost among the big rivals in the game but at the same time, you need to set up something that people are actually searching for.

Pay Per Click Advertisements

If you are a new e-commerce store that wants to promote the business on Google, going for Pay per Click adverts would be a sound decision. With all its advantages, it is also true that SEO takes time to show you the results. PPC, on the other hand, is one of the quickest ways to come on the first page. Another good thing about pay per click is that you can easily check the results and also track the click rate on that page. The campaign can accordingly be modified according to the budget constraints that you have. Thus, it also saves you from overstepping your budget. It starts from barely a few cents and the end results make it highly cost efficient option and it is one of the best ways to get to the top of the search results.

There are two pointers that you need to keep in mind right here:

It is different from search results: When you are paying to come in the search results, the results do not appear in the same way as the organic results. A sponsored list comes on top of the actual organic search results.

It is not an add-on to SEO: Such advertisements do not have any direct bearing on SEO. You might be spending on Google but that does not guarantee that your rankings will be bumped up. Having said that, you will definitely have a good position in the search results thus, the extra traffic will come to you site.

Content Marketing

When considering on a long-term basis, the greatest way of ranking on the search engines is through having the consistency of creating relevant, high quality content. This includes all of the things that are written on your website. So, if you do not have a blog yet, start creating it right now.

Having a maintained and fresh blog that is constantly updated with interesting posts will help you in standing out from the competitors. The algorithms of Google are really smart at finding and ranking good content. In terms of ideal content, it by and large depends on the business that you have. In a survey done in 2016, it was seen that the pages ranking in the top ten of Google pages had about 1,890 words. Strong evidence also suggests that customers prefer to read informative and authoritative posts. So, the general consensus holds that long content with enough information has a good chance of standing out in the crowd.

Even if you cannot update with great frequency, do not move your focus from informative and unique content. It helps if you research beforehand on the type of content that your audience wants to read and deliver accordingly. Keep the comments enabled and engage with the readers as it works to your advantage in getting the ranks.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most classic strategies of e-commerce marketing but it still holds its ground this year. The reason why email marketing is not going to lose its popularity anytime soon: you get a return on investments at the rate of $44 for every dollar spent. This is higher than all other forms of marketing that you can try for your business!

In this year, you can expect email marketing to develop and get merged with artificial intelligence (AI). AI is already making the impact felt through optimization of the subject lines, testing, and copy. AI will even help in the collection of data for a business and thus, you will be able to reach out to the audience in a much more personalized way.

For an e-commerce site, email marketing does work to an advantage as it lets you communicate with the buyers directly. But, the way to success is having a fresh listing of interested customers. The emails need to be segmented so that they cater to recipient’s interests and that is only possible through a deep understanding of the buyer’s personas.

Social Media

Social media is actually one of the major things that make the world of digital marketing go round. There are already more than 2.46 billion people on the social media platforms all over the world and this is one number that is only expected to rise in the times to come. You can already fathom the huge marketing potential that lies there for any e-commerce platform. But do not let that give you the idea that your aim should be to stay on every possible social media pages out there. The trick lies in managing the resources and using the ones that help you in reaching out to the target audience.

Social media actually acts as a customer service instrument for an e-commerce platform. An e-commerce platform having a strong presence on the social media forums pays off immensely. The buyers who get a positive experience on social media also suggest that company to other friends of theirs and thus, the efforts pay off.

92% of buyers read online the product reviews and thus, it will help your business to stay on track if you continuously monitor social media for feedback. It is all about going and pleasing a wide audience.

A successful e-commerce marketing plan begins with having a good understanding of the target market. And this is something that will remain unchanged through the years. There can never be such a thing called enough research as you need as much information as possible to set your plan of action. Start the strategizing process as soon as possible rather than getting into the thick of the things and then planning the next move. This is the ideal e-commerce marketing plan for the year 2018, and as it seems, even beyond this year.

For the longest time, video marketing was something that was only associated with the big companies and brands with a huge budget. But the times have changed and right now even the startups and entrepreneurs are starting to understand the reach of a video content and leveraging all the benefits that come with it. You can ask any digital marketer and the answer would be unanimous: video marketing is more than a passing trend. It is here to stay and for good reasons.

Some of the prime reasons why video marketing has gained such a massive popularity are because it does the threefold job of building a brand, generating leads, and gaining sales online. A survey of over 570 digital marketers done by Wyzowl stated that video is an essential part of the marketing strategy for 85% businesses and among the people 99% plan to continue using this strategy this year and the next. Also, YouTube released a recent stats mentioning that people spend over a billion hours on watching videos every single day. So, are you planning to join the bandwagon and set up a video marketing strategy? If yes, then take a look at this step by step guide to help you set up a strategy that actually works.

Step 1: Choosing Your Audience Right

Take a good stock at the people that you want to reach out to. How are you benefitting them? What do they look for online? What time they come online and how much time do they spend? This is the cornerstone of your video marketing strategy as it decides whom you will target and how you will communicate your brand’s message. If you are not sure about the audience, begin by profiling the target audience according to your ideal customer. Make sure that this target audience that you are selecting has an actual need of your product and you meet that need in a rather unique way.

Stemming from the earlier point of uniqueness, it is also time to take a good look at your competition. What makes them gain that loyal following and what makes you different when you are aiming for that same pool of followers? It’s time to do a thorough research: Google the facts, read the blogs present about your verticals, send out surveys, and engage in online communication in relevant forums.

After you know your audience, you will also understand where most of their time is spent online, be it Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat. That is where you need to run the video content.

Step 2: Set Up and Nail the Video Goals

Yes, videos work but that does mean you make a movie out of it! The video must be short with a direct message. Each video that you post must come with only one goal and there is no need to try to attain multiple goals through one video. You will anyway create tons of such videos and publish them every week and thus, you will get plenty of opportunities to share your clever ideas and attain all of your goals.

The first thing to consider is the purpose of your video. Videos can be used for branding, promotion of specific sales, announcement of important news, and for generating leads, and so on. Once you are sure about the purpose of your video, you can create the content accordingly to get that message through effectively.

One of the clever strategies that you can try in this regard is to break down the months into categories. Start by the branding video to show your brand effectively to every customer out there and then move on to the sales videos. The next step is videos for special promotions or particular sales. You can pique the audience interest by launching a teaser video in between.

Step 3: Develop Your Branding Language

Even in the same vertical, two companies can never be alike. So, when setting up your strategy, start by writing down what you hope the viewer to think after this video gets over. Then, whenever you sit down for creating content make sure that you go back to this question and have a proper answer for it.

In terms of answering this crucial question, it will help if you are clear about the tone and the style of the company’s message. A good example of this is given by Mail Chimp. Every video that they create has a fun element to it but at the same time, they do not forget to add value. This is exactly what the customers remember and expect from the brand. Thus, there will be a continued element of fun and value in the video content that they create.

Take a look at the frontrunners in the market at present, including those outside your vertical. All of them have a language which makes them one of a kind. For some brand it is humanitarian, some are sporty, some others are fun and quirky, and so on. Thus, it is important to sit back and consider the branding language first.

Step 4: Go Ahead and Create That Content

All of the earlier steps have brought you up to this step where the preparation is done and you can finally go ahead and create your video content. In this step, your focus lies on creating the clearest possible content with the highest quality.

Besides the audience, you will also have to consider the platform where you will publish the video. Different platforms offer you different limitations and advantages of publishing a video. Consider the appearance and the feel of the video that you are about to publish. You need to ensure that it relates to the audience and to the message that you want to deliver.

In terms of videos, there is no particular thing that can be pinpointed as ‘it works.’ Different strategies work for different brands. You can always create a video that has only video without any sound if that is powerful enough to capture the attention of the audience. An animated video can work the best for a brand that is peppy and playful. The key lies in making sure that you capture the attention the audience in the first three seconds so that, they feel like they want to see and thus, know more about your brand.

Step 5: Write an Eye-Catching Caption for the Video

When watching the videos on social media, the viewer would usually read the text first in the video and then immediately go towards the caption. Sometimes they move towards the caption even before that video is complete. The caption that goes with a video on social media can actually make the difference between a viewer checking it out or scrolling down to other videos.Facebook recommends putting up a descriptive title for the video to make it searchable easily.

You will take some time but you will need to make a committed effort to master the art of giving a strong caption. The captions must come with a clear pitch and you can even put in some emojis if you feel that is appropriate for your brand. Give a strong call to action in the video and make sure that it initiates enough attention to motivate the audience to comment and share with their friends.

You can give the caption as a simple question or a statement but make sure whatever caption you give is authentic and not plagiarized from anywhere else. The netizens of today are savvy enough to smell plagiarism from a mile afar.

Step 6: Run the Campaign for Your Brand

The recent Facebook changes might have led people to freak out but the wise marketers understand that it is high time to move away from organic content to campaigns. The present scenario is the actual proof that compared to images a video ad campaign is more likely to draw in the customers. According to Theresa Shepard, from Shepherd & Schaller Sporting Goods, the financial gain is what makes the video campaigns win over anything else. For the brand, Shepard noted that there was more than 50% rise in store visits after they started their video ad campaigns.

So, get down to it and start learning as much as you can about running the video ads. With the conversion optimizer feature, Facebook at present seems like the best place to learn the workings of these ads. The conversion optimizer feature ensures that the videos get seen by the target audience who is most likely to feel interested in the brand and thus, provide you with the sales lead that you are hoping to achieve.

Lastly, keep in mind that the truth lies in the numbers. Thus, you will have to go through the whole process of analytics and use suitable tools like Funnel Dash, needls, and Ad Espresso to help you in that job. You will need to track everything right from your sales, reach, and clicks as the final part of your strategy.