I wrote this email to a client today. I have been working with them to set up and activate the things which will move them towards sales. And I answer the Chicken and Egg question too…. read on
I think you have made significant progress in understanding three things which are essential to a successful new business development process.
Deep focus on the target prospect companies and how to find individuals and make contact with them
Validation that there is a flow through activities from awareness, interest, desire, action (AIDA)…. e.g.XYZ is moving down that funnel well. Also you have closed off the funnel for ABC and won’t waste time with him – he got returned to a ‘holding pattern’ in the newsletter mailing list.
Recognition that we need to get to know more new people and to find ways of becoming relevant to them – from personal chat / email to newsletter subscription to face to face meeting.
My guidance is being acted upon and you are seeing results which will bear fruit. Also it’s forcing you to challenge presumptions and to run little experiments to see what the market responds to. These both change over time and so I have learned never to guess. But you knew that, didn’t you?
New Business is a Process
Creating a set-up that delivers a stream of leads for your business is how successful sales and marketing combine in a B2B organisation. The underlying principles are the same for every firm yet the implementation and the diligent persistence of action is frequently what sets apart the successful from the rest.
Who starts first? Marketing or Sales for new business success.
Can I help you?
If you’d like an appraisal of your current situation and recommendations for improvement which you can implement yourself, get in touch.
What we will do is
Review your recent new business success (or otherwise)
Assess the process
Research the possible bottle-necks, gaps and successful elements
Guide towards an improved method
Chicken or Egg; which comes first?
So to answer the question – it depends. No, that’s not a cop-out.
Marketing comes first when the firm already has revenues and is looking to grow average size of sale, launch new products or new markets.
Sales comes first when the firm has a product and is not yet profitable enough to invest in intensive marketing or isn’t converting enquiries to revenue.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Which-came-first.png642900Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2018-11-15 09:00:582018-11-15 11:00:43Who starts first - marketing or sales?
Whether in content marketing or a Google AdWords campaign, the role of keywords cannot be underestimated. It’s one of those things some people are quick to ignore, but which could very well spell the end for business.
To that end, you need to be working overtime to find the right keywords for your campaigns. Unfortunately, this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Most of the top keywords are extremely competitive. On AdWords, those competitive keywords can be very expensive.
As a shrewd business person, you may want to preserve your budget by avoiding these overly costly keywords at least until you have a winning formula. On the flip side, cheap keywords rarely return a profit. That’s why other marketers ignore them in the first place. Paying for them would be akin to throwing your money down the drains.
This leaves you with only one option, to find potential keywords that haven’t become too competitive yet. The following are three ways to unearth these unknown high-performing keywords;
1. Invest in Keyword Search Tools
Keyword search tools are software programs specially designed to help marketers find the right keywords for their campaigns. You’re required to enter the parameters of your search, including your target audience, geographic location, and type of business, and then the tool looks up and returns the most relevant keywords for your business.
It doesn’t end there; some keyword search tools are now built in such a way that you can consistently monitor high performing keywords in your industry. This would allow you to keep your ads and content relevant throughout. Some of the best keyword search tools out there include; Soolve, KWFinder, and WordTracker Scout.
2. Learn From Your Competitors
There are several approaches you can use here. But one of the easiest and most effective methods is manual checking. The first step is to identify the products or services of focus. For instance, you can choose to check one of the products in their video blogs. After picking the product, go to Google and search that product or service (we recommend that you use Chrome for your search).
On the first page of results, click the first item on the list. Once you’re on the desired page, click Cmd + Alt + u to view the page source. Here you’ll find the code for that page. Now, check the whole page for non-branded keywords, focusing on titles and headlines. You’ll learn all the keywords they use to rank so well on search engines.
3. Use Google to Rig the Game
Finally, you can also use Google to find the right keywords for your digital campaign. Since you probably already know about auto-complete and related searches, we’d advise that you shift attention to three other useful sources for unique, often unknown keywords; Google product taxonomy, Google sets, and Google Trends.
Google Taxonomy is used as part of the mechanisms for Google Shopping for categorization of products. Google Sets can be found via the “Google Sets” category found in Google Spreadsheets. Lastly, Google Trends is a special website created by Google to help users learn what people are searching at different places in the world.
Get Started Today
While not a complete list, these three sources should help you find unique, yet inexpensive keywords for your marketing campaign.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Sudip Mutthttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgSudip Mutt2018-11-14 18:15:172018-11-14 18:15:17Keyword Search Simplified - 3 Ways You Can Find the Right Keywords to Siphon Traffic From
My eCommerce SaaS has a conversion rate of 7% (2 new subscribers a day). I only get 1200 page hits a month though. How can I get more traffic?
The service is called Trendosaur. It helps online retailers make money by showing them the most profitable products to sell. My subscribers love the service. I’ve been running it for just over a year. The landing page is converting really well, but now it’s time to scale up the traffic numbers. Finding it really hard to get more than 40-50 page hits a day. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I know you should not rely solely on inbound traffic. That’s a fool’s errand in today’s crowded market.
Other marketers will suggest SEO, Content Marketing, Lead Funnels, Keyword search terms, LinkedIn Content, SEM, Social adverts, remarketing. All good ideas and definitely part of the marketing mix needed – but they miss one fundamental comprehension of how modern marketing works.
Inbound and Outbound is the key strategy
When you take a product to market you need both awareness and targeted prospective buyers.
The joy of inbound is that if someone is looking, with good SEO, Keywords and Content Marketing you can appear in search results. But for B2B markets, rarely is someone looking and the search volumes are so small, so niche that these volumes won’t deliver you the customer buyers in any great size or at scale.
I recommend 2 things
Outbound Selling. Research a list of retailers who could use you and approach them direct. Direct sales is very powerful – it draws attention to you and then your content marketing / SEO will serve to bring them back to your site.
Sponsor a retailers podcast like Ecommerce Fuel with a landing page / special sign up deal.
I used both of these to grow Rowperfect.co.uk/shop such that we now have a paid Christmas promotion page based on that list which is a great case study for this method.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/trendosaur-2.png6241232Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2018-11-13 09:23:272018-11-13 09:23:27My SaaS has 7% conversion rate, how to improve?
New challenges are what we thrive on and so the opportunity to work with a client on migrating them to a Multi Language and Multi Currency website was exciting.
Specifying the Minimum
WordPress Multi Language plugin logo
Key to getting a great outcome was the first step of the site adjustment – what was the minimum viable site which would work?
The site has three main parts – a membership area, an online shop and a blog. We decided to start with the blog and shop.
Creative Agency Secrets used our Sub-Contracted Services to find a great developer for the job. It was important that they had already used the plugin we selected – WordPress Multi Language (WPML).
The most visited pages were prioritised for translation and the migration plan included adding shop products in descending order of popularity.
Integrations with MailChimp were also planned and a range of marcoms tactics to publicise to the existing user base.
Currency choices
Stage two was to add multi-currency to the site. Since German was the language we added, it was clear the Euro currency was needed. Finding a good plugin wasn’t hard – but customising the display to suit the site made usability better.
The default install is below – the user has to notice that the flag doesn’t match their country and then click the down arrow to find alternatives. This was clumsy and not very obvious since nothing actually mentioned that this related to payment choices.
Drop down currency choice
Our improvements were made with two changes – firstly displaying the currencies side by side in a grey bar and secondly by adding a label “Change Currency”.
Change Currency label
Lastly we recommended the client pay for the fully functioned version and add many more currencies – we selected these based on the countries where website visitors come from.
Full multi currency list
Unexpected outcomes and challenges
Here’s our list of things which we found challenging and which should help you shortcut your own learning.
Back end is duplicated now in each language – but you have to select each page or post individually for translation
Creating new landing pages for each language means that the URL needs to also change, making the site structure more complex
The tags and categories can be translated, listed for the translation team to work on or left untranslated
Categories lists (created alphabetically in English) are listed differently in other languages
The media library is common to both – but labels, naming and searching is in each language
Publicity tools like OneSignal work across the whole site and were sending out updates in both languages. Customers noticed and told us they didn’t like this.
Mail Chimp allows editing of database field labels e.g. “Subscribe here” but we found that a lot more work was needed to update all the messaging with subscription confirmation emails, unsubscribe messages etc.
Overall we found that we needed to create “rules” for the teams using the site – marketing, translation, web and merchandising so that it was clear where and how we expected any product, image or article to display and be included in the taxonomy. Many of these rules could not be anticipated and so necessitated detailed checking of each others’ work to identify mis-matches.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Full-currency-list.png3461092Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2018-11-12 11:48:022020-01-24 01:45:12Case Study: Multi Language Website
Twice a year you get a chance to run a promotion themed around the biannual clock changes in spring and autumn (fall). We call it daylight savings or “summer time” but either way, the clocks advance or retreat an hour.
Here are 5 themes for promotions you can run in your marketing
Daylight Savings promotion for clean carpets
5 Daylight Savings Promotions
A reminder – some products change over time and so using this clock change as a reminder can help your customers. Toothbrushes need changing each season; Carpets get cleaned twice a year – a campaign we did for Cleaneze carpet cleaning.
Something to do – A new activity which reflects the new season we move into. Start a sport in Springtime. Or new clothes for winter.
Stopping doing something – This is great for diet products or changing habits – if you swim in the ocean in summer, you could move to pool swimming in winter.
A change of routine – working with children and particularly small babies is challenging getting them to sleep. Promotions for Sleep remedies, child care advice and behaviour coaching.
Modern clocks are often automatically set to change – but how about all your old manual clocks – could you offer a service to show how to change the clock on your car dashboard?
Meanwhile, what could you customer be doing with the time saved? Send her a stress ball, a gel eye mask to relax with, a new book or magazine voucher or a coupon for a free coffee and a muffin.
I got a call this week and asked to advise an event which is for business to business audience how I could help them double their attendees in the last 4-5 weeks before the event happens.
This is my advice.
Last-minute event marketing
Set up a tripwire webinar to drive interest / registration details
Find people with mailing lists and agree a joint venture collaboration with them to promote
Run a competition to win a free ticket (combine with webinar)
Telesales follow up to all webinar attendees (and non-attendees). Best to use GoToWebinar as it tells you who attends.
I do not think affiliate marketing would work in New Zealand for B2B events. But offering a second ticket free if one person buys can add headcount.
I do not think radio advertising will work because which station(s) do all your target audience listen to? But podcasting could. Find business podcasters in your niche.
Digital marketing is now a fully-fledged, accessible, gigantic industry – dabbled in by most companies across the world. From humble beginnings, it’s taken some twists and turns on its way to ubiquity – and now, it’s something that’s developing and changing in ever-increasing spirals of complexity and competition. In order to stay ahead of the curve, able to benefit from the latest techniques and trends, you need to be a party to the information that matters. It’s that information that is shared for you below – to help inform your future digital marketing strategies.
Programmatic Marketing
There is little doubt that the new kid on the digital marketing block is likely also to be the most-used form of digital marketing in the future. Programmatic marketing may not have been around for all that long, but it’s quickly gained plaudits for its ease, lack of expense, and the fact that it can target groups of web users based on the digital footprint that they’ve left behind in the form of data, transactions and prolific social media use. Look into guides for programmatic marketing tips that’ll help your business secure a fulfilled and bright future.
Email Marketing
Contrast the newest form of marketing with one of the stalwarts of the industry, the emailed marketing campaign. You may find that the humble email – sent to your subscriber list, however large or small – is not mentioned in the marketing literature, but truth be told it’s still seen with great fondness and admiration within the digital marketing sphere. MailChimp and other providers of neat email marketing services have helped rejuvenate the method in recent years, showing that emails still have a place in winning back customers who’ve already traded with you once before. Try out a campaign to see what your ratios and click-through are.
Website Marketing
Some marketing techniques don’t even require you to leave the comfort of your website. To use these efficiently, you need to deal with some of the professionals in the web marketing space, like those found at digivante.com. Here, you’ll discover, alongside long-time specialists in making your website a fit-for-purpose click-and-sale machine, how to make your site burst with features and services that attract increased custom to your site and to your business. Simply learn from the digital marketing executives you partner from, and you’ll find that your site converts visitors to customers more readily.
Data Analysis
Data, in truth, has always been a big part of how digital marketing has developed – but it’s now, in the age of mass data banks that are able to be analyzed through complex suites of software- that we are moving to ‘Digital Marketing 2.0’. As well as programmatic marketing campaigns, we’re now looking at a new range of marketing techniques developed alongside the data that companies find so valuable. You’ll be able to identify the places at which your customers find out about your company – and maximize your investment of marketing in these spaces – in order to build a marketing strategy that’s sound, secure and long-lasting.
These marketing tips will help you get up-to-date and savvy with the latest in the world of digital marketing in a complex and competitive space.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Digital-Marketing.jpg500889Sudip Mutthttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgSudip Mutt2018-10-09 15:00:152019-10-09 15:10:57Digital Marketing Strategies You Need to Try
E-commerce is rapidly becoming one of the fundamental components of a monetized internet, and it is important to understand that it is an area that is constantly in a state of flux. Your traction in the e-commerce world depends a lot on the kinds of technology you are equipped with. Choosing the right e-commerce platform is thus imperative to your success. The biggest challenge for new starters lies in the reality that there is not one ‘correct’ platform. Every business is unique and therefore has unique requirements. Nonetheless, here you can find some of the leading platforms for e-commerce in 2018.
Big Cartel
Big Cartel is currently one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. Although Big Cartel is an established brand within the e-commerce platform market with an efficient 24-hour support team, this is a very basic option – branded as being suitable for “artists and makers.” The platform limits a business to 300 products and only five images per product. This platform is only perfect for a very basic e-commerce store. Choosing the right platform for your company is crucial because out of 12 million active sites, only 650,000 e-commerce sites make more than $1000 a year.
Magento
Magneto, the e-commerce platform owned by Adobe, is an open-source e-commerce website, which means that the source code of the product can be modified and customized. This is actively encouraged by the company – which is naturally an enviable option for eager web developers. Magento’s scalability and reliability have made it one of the most popular e-commerce platforms available and boast high-end clients such as Coca-Cola and Paul Smith. This platform, however, is not for the faint-hearted and it is not suitable if the e-commerce company cannot comprehend complex code.
Shopify
This Canadian-based e-commerce solution was established in 2004 and has been recognized as one of the most innovative e-commerce platforms due to the emphasis the company places on keeping up with relevant trends and technologies. Mobile payment is the biggest e-commerce trend in 2018, and it promises to rapidly transform the current digital marketplace. Shopify has its own coding language which can cause problems for some entrepreneurs, however, there are professionals such as those at www.blackbeltcommerce.com who can assist in navigating this platform and their unique ‘liquid’ code, as well as offer theme customization and digital marketing services.
YoKart
This platform was designed with startups and small businesses in mind. YoKart specializes as a solution to multi-vendor stores including Amazon and eBay and the smaller host of stores on the internet today. The newest version of this platform is also multilingual and multi-currency, which is extremely important in the current global climate that exists both ‘on’ and offline.
Choosing the best e-commerce platform may seem confusing at first. There is only a few dollars discrepancy between the average monthly cost of the different services, which means it’s hard to pick between them. It is worth researching each platform thoroughly to avoid wasting time and money on a service which cannot satisfy your company’s needs.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Best-eCommerce-Portals.jpeg719987Sudip Mutthttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgSudip Mutt2018-10-08 15:18:132020-01-24 01:45:12The Best E-Commerce Platforms
In eCommerce, the amount of traffic that comes to your site is going to determine your overall success. After all, if you don’t have anyone coming to your site, you can’t possibly generate any sales.
Unfortunately, launching an eCommerce shop is easier than ever these days — and people know it.
As a result, the competition is only getting tougher, and standing out enough to convince people you’re the brand they should trust is proving to be just as difficult.
In fact, 61% of marketers claim that generating traffic and leads is their top challenge, and only 22% of businesses cite satisfaction with their conversion rates.
So, there seems to be a lot of work to do.
But driving traffic to your online store doesn’t have to seem impossible.
In this post, we’ll share with you some of the best ways to generate more traffic (and high-quality leads) to your eCommerce shop.
So, let’s get started.
Evaluate Your Current Traffic
The only way you can successfully drive more traffic to your eCommerce shop is first to determine just how much traffic you’re currently getting.
One of the best ways to do this is to sign up for a free Google Analytics account and connect it to your online store so all sorts of helpful data, including site traffic, can be tracked and monitored.
Audience Overview
If you go to Audience > Overview, you can get a great idea about how much traffic your site sees on a regular basis.
Also, check out metrics such as:
Users
New Users
Sessions
Sessions per User
Pageviews
Pages/Session
Average Session Duration
Bounce Rate
And this is only the beginning.
If you really want to gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ purchasing journey, learn how monitoring cross-channel reports in Google Analytics can reveal how people behave as they switch between eCommerce channels.
You can also check out tools such as SimilarWeb and Alexa to learn about not only how much traffic your eCommerce shop sees, but how popular your site is, where site visitors are coming from, and what search engines people use to find you.
Alexa Traffic Ranks
How to Drive More Traffic to Your eCommerce Shop
Now that you have a good idea where your site stands in relation to others, and how much traffic you’re currently getting on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis, it’s time to look at ways to ramp up your efforts to get more.
1. Invest in Google Ads
One of the fastest ways to drive more traffic to your website is to pay for it. And it just so happens that Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is an easy way to do just that.
Create ad campaigns that display in Google search results whenever someone searches for a term related to your ad.
Google Ads
When someone sees your ad and realizes you offer what they’re looking for, they’ll click on your site and check you out.
Not only will you get paid for every click your ads receive (yay for site monetization), you’ll reap the benefit of the added traffic.
And, since the person clicking your ad saw something they liked, the chances of them making a purchase once on your site are much higher than someone who just happened to come across your website.
2. Ramp Up SEO Efforts
Understanding the role SEO plays in driving traffic to your site is crucial to your success.
If you don’t focus on SEO, you run the risk of two things happening:
Showing up in the wrong results. You might rank well in Google search results, but if it’s in results that have nothing to do with your online store, no one will click to visit. And even if they do, they’ll abandon your site immediately when they realize you don’t have what they need.
Not ranking well. You might show up in relevant search results, but if you haven’t done your keyword research, chances are high you’ll end on page 2, or 3, or worse. Since 95% of all web traffic goes to those on Google’s first page, you’ll have no one clicking on your site to visit.
If you notice that your eCommerce conversion rates are low, check out these SEO best practices that will help you show up in the right search results so better leads land on your site and buy:
Include keywords in your online shop and blog content
Externally link out to authoritative sites
Create a Google sitemap so your online store indexes properly
Add keyword rich product descriptions to all images
Include detailed meta descriptions
Internally link to your own website, so Google indexes everything you have
And lastly, optimize your eCommerce shop for speed and performance.
It’s likely you know who your biggest competition is.
And, while it’s natural to want to beat them when it comes to traffic, conversions, and sales, sometimes it’s a good idea to network with your competition too.
One great way to expose your brand to a broader audience, and drive more traffic to your site, is to scope out industry leaders in your field and ask if you can submit a guest post on their website.
Doing this does many things:
Gives you the opportunity to offer their audience a solution they may not have
Shows people you too are an industry leader
Gives you a chance to include backlinks to your website within the content
Nets you an author profile that links back to your website
Allows you to interact with a new customer base in the comment section and on social media when the post goes live and people engage
Although guest posting is a time-consuming thing, the benefits you receive are tremendous – including the fact that it helps you drive a whole new group of people to your store to buy.
4. Add Video Content to Facebook
We all know that social media plays a vital role in most marketers’ lives.
By 2020 video ads are expected to account for nearly 80% of all internet traffic
Facebook is the number one social media channel for video content, including ads
4x as many customers state they’d rather watch a video about a product than read about it
Amazon
If your target audience is found on other channels such as Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, you can expect the numbers to be similar, even if on a smaller scale.
Using social media and video content helps build brand awareness and drive traffic to your online store in ways many other marketing efforts can’t.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re a startup looking to build brand recognition, or an established online retailer looking to grow your business, you’re always going to face challenges when it comes to driving traffic to your eCommerce site.
Luckily, there are many ways you can help increase traffic, conversions, and sales on your site.
All it takes is using some of the above-mentioned tips and tricks. Trust us, with enough focus you’ll see your numbers continue to rise, along with the quality of your leads.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/5.jpg341512Sudip Mutthttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgSudip Mutt2018-10-03 19:15:192022-12-19 13:51:184 simple (yet effective) ways to drive traffic to your eCommerce site
Who starts first – marketing or sales?
/0 Comments/in B2B, Marketing, Sales /by Rebecca CaroeI wrote this email to a client today. I have been working with them to set up and activate the things which will move them towards sales. And I answer the Chicken and Egg question too…. read on
New Business is a Process
Who starts first? Marketing or Sales for new business success.
Can I help you?
What we will do is
Chicken or Egg; which comes first?
So to answer the question – it depends. No, that’s not a cop-out.
Marketing comes first when the firm already has revenues and is looking to grow average size of sale, launch new products or new markets.
Sales comes first when the firm has a product and is not yet profitable enough to invest in intensive marketing or isn’t converting enquiries to revenue.
No related posts.
Keyword Search Simplified – 3 Ways You Can Find the Right Keywords to Siphon Traffic From
/31 Comments/in Marketing /by Sudip MuttWhether in content marketing or a Google AdWords campaign, the role of keywords cannot be underestimated. It’s one of those things some people are quick to ignore, but which could very well spell the end for business.
To that end, you need to be working overtime to find the right keywords for your campaigns. Unfortunately, this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Most of the top keywords are extremely competitive. On AdWords, those competitive keywords can be very expensive.
As a shrewd business person, you may want to preserve your budget by avoiding these overly costly keywords at least until you have a winning formula. On the flip side, cheap keywords rarely return a profit. That’s why other marketers ignore them in the first place. Paying for them would be akin to throwing your money down the drains.
This leaves you with only one option, to find potential keywords that haven’t become too competitive yet. The following are three ways to unearth these unknown high-performing keywords;
1. Invest in Keyword Search Tools
Keyword search tools are software programs specially designed to help marketers find the right keywords for their campaigns. You’re required to enter the parameters of your search, including your target audience, geographic location, and type of business, and then the tool looks up and returns the most relevant keywords for your business.
It doesn’t end there; some keyword search tools are now built in such a way that you can consistently monitor high performing keywords in your industry. This would allow you to keep your ads and content relevant throughout. Some of the best keyword search tools out there include; Soolve, KWFinder, and WordTracker Scout.
2. Learn From Your Competitors
There are several approaches you can use here. But one of the easiest and most effective methods is manual checking. The first step is to identify the products or services of focus. For instance, you can choose to check one of the products in their video blogs. After picking the product, go to Google and search that product or service (we recommend that you use Chrome for your search).
On the first page of results, click the first item on the list. Once you’re on the desired page, click Cmd + Alt + u to view the page source. Here you’ll find the code for that page. Now, check the whole page for non-branded keywords, focusing on titles and headlines. You’ll learn all the keywords they use to rank so well on search engines.
3. Use Google to Rig the Game
Finally, you can also use Google to find the right keywords for your digital campaign. Since you probably already know about auto-complete and related searches, we’d advise that you shift attention to three other useful sources for unique, often unknown keywords; Google product taxonomy, Google sets, and Google Trends.
Google Taxonomy is used as part of the mechanisms for Google Shopping for categorization of products. Google Sets can be found via the “Google Sets” category found in Google Spreadsheets. Lastly, Google Trends is a special website created by Google to help users learn what people are searching at different places in the world.
Get Started Today
While not a complete list, these three sources should help you find unique, yet inexpensive keywords for your marketing campaign.
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My SaaS has 7% conversion rate, how to improve?
/0 Comments/in B2B, Marketing, Sales /by Rebecca CaroeI know you should not rely solely on inbound traffic. That’s a fool’s errand in today’s crowded market.
Other marketers will suggest SEO, Content Marketing, Lead Funnels, Keyword search terms, LinkedIn Content, SEM, Social adverts, remarketing. All good ideas and definitely part of the marketing mix needed – but they miss one fundamental comprehension of how modern marketing works.
Inbound and Outbound is the key strategy
When you take a product to market you need both awareness and targeted prospective buyers.
The joy of inbound is that if someone is looking, with good SEO, Keywords and Content Marketing you can appear in search results. But for B2B markets, rarely is someone looking and the search volumes are so small, so niche that these volumes won’t deliver you the customer buyers in any great size or at scale.
I recommend 2 things
I used both of these to grow Rowperfect.co.uk/shop such that we now have a paid Christmas promotion page based on that list which is a great case study for this method.
No related posts.
Case Study: Multi Language Website
/0 Comments/in B2C, Marketing, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca CaroeNew challenges are what we thrive on and so the opportunity to work with a client on migrating them to a Multi Language and Multi Currency website was exciting.
Specifying the Minimum
WordPress Multi Language plugin logo
Key to getting a great outcome was the first step of the site adjustment – what was the minimum viable site which would work?
The site has three main parts – a membership area, an online shop and a blog. We decided to start with the blog and shop.
Creative Agency Secrets used our Sub-Contracted Services to find a great developer for the job. It was important that they had already used the plugin we selected – WordPress Multi Language (WPML).
The most visited pages were prioritised for translation and the migration plan included adding shop products in descending order of popularity.
Integrations with MailChimp were also planned and a range of marcoms tactics to publicise to the existing user base.
Currency choices
Stage two was to add multi-currency to the site. Since German was the language we added, it was clear the Euro currency was needed. Finding a good plugin wasn’t hard – but customising the display to suit the site made usability better.
The default install is below – the user has to notice that the flag doesn’t match their country and then click the down arrow to find alternatives. This was clumsy and not very obvious since nothing actually mentioned that this related to payment choices.
Drop down currency choice
Our improvements were made with two changes – firstly displaying the currencies side by side in a grey bar and secondly by adding a label “Change Currency”.
Change Currency label
Lastly we recommended the client pay for the fully functioned version and add many more currencies – we selected these based on the countries where website visitors come from.
Full multi currency list
Unexpected outcomes and challenges
Here’s our list of things which we found challenging and which should help you shortcut your own learning.
Overall we found that we needed to create “rules” for the teams using the site – marketing, translation, web and merchandising so that it was clear where and how we expected any product, image or article to display and be included in the taxonomy. Many of these rules could not be anticipated and so necessitated detailed checking of each others’ work to identify mis-matches.
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Daylight savings promotion ideas
/0 Comments/in B2C, Marketing, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca CaroeTwice a year you get a chance to run a promotion themed around the biannual clock changes in spring and autumn (fall). We call it daylight savings or “summer time” but either way, the clocks advance or retreat an hour.
Here are 5 themes for promotions you can run in your marketing
Daylight Savings promotion for clean carpets
5 Daylight Savings Promotions
A reminder – some products change over time and so using this clock change as a reminder can help your customers. Toothbrushes need changing each season; Carpets get cleaned twice a year – a campaign we did for Cleaneze carpet cleaning.
Something to do – A new activity which reflects the new season we move into. Start a sport in Springtime. Or new clothes for winter.
Stopping doing something – This is great for diet products or changing habits – if you swim in the ocean in summer, you could move to pool swimming in winter.
A change of routine – working with children and particularly small babies is challenging getting them to sleep. Promotions for Sleep remedies, child care advice and behaviour coaching.
Modern clocks are often automatically set to change – but how about all your old manual clocks – could you offer a service to show how to change the clock on your car dashboard?
Meanwhile, what could you customer be doing with the time saved? Send her a stress ball, a gel eye mask to relax with, a new book or magazine voucher or a coupon for a free coffee and a muffin.
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B2B Event Marketing tips
/0 Comments/in B2B, Public Speaking /by Rebecca CaroeI got a call this week and asked to advise an event which is for business to business audience how I could help them double their attendees in the last 4-5 weeks before the event happens.
This is my advice.
Last-minute event marketing
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Digital Marketing Strategies You Need to Try
/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Sudip MuttDigital marketing is now a fully-fledged, accessible, gigantic industry – dabbled in by most companies across the world. From humble beginnings, it’s taken some twists and turns on its way to ubiquity – and now, it’s something that’s developing and changing in ever-increasing spirals of complexity and competition. In order to stay ahead of the curve, able to benefit from the latest techniques and trends, you need to be a party to the information that matters. It’s that information that is shared for you below – to help inform your future digital marketing strategies.
Programmatic Marketing
There is little doubt that the new kid on the digital marketing block is likely also to be the most-used form of digital marketing in the future. Programmatic marketing may not have been around for all that long, but it’s quickly gained plaudits for its ease, lack of expense, and the fact that it can target groups of web users based on the digital footprint that they’ve left behind in the form of data, transactions and prolific social media use. Look into guides for programmatic marketing tips that’ll help your business secure a fulfilled and bright future.
Email Marketing
Contrast the newest form of marketing with one of the stalwarts of the industry, the emailed marketing campaign. You may find that the humble email – sent to your subscriber list, however large or small – is not mentioned in the marketing literature, but truth be told it’s still seen with great fondness and admiration within the digital marketing sphere. MailChimp and other providers of neat email marketing services have helped rejuvenate the method in recent years, showing that emails still have a place in winning back customers who’ve already traded with you once before. Try out a campaign to see what your ratios and click-through are.
Website Marketing
Some marketing techniques don’t even require you to leave the comfort of your website. To use these efficiently, you need to deal with some of the professionals in the web marketing space, like those found at digivante.com. Here, you’ll discover, alongside long-time specialists in making your website a fit-for-purpose click-and-sale machine, how to make your site burst with features and services that attract increased custom to your site and to your business. Simply learn from the digital marketing executives you partner from, and you’ll find that your site converts visitors to customers more readily.
Data Analysis
Data, in truth, has always been a big part of how digital marketing has developed – but it’s now, in the age of mass data banks that are able to be analyzed through complex suites of software- that we are moving to ‘Digital Marketing 2.0’. As well as programmatic marketing campaigns, we’re now looking at a new range of marketing techniques developed alongside the data that companies find so valuable. You’ll be able to identify the places at which your customers find out about your company – and maximize your investment of marketing in these spaces – in order to build a marketing strategy that’s sound, secure and long-lasting.
These marketing tips will help you get up-to-date and savvy with the latest in the world of digital marketing in a complex and competitive space.
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The Best E-Commerce Platforms
/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Sudip MuttE-commerce is rapidly becoming one of the fundamental components of a monetized internet, and it is important to understand that it is an area that is constantly in a state of flux. Your traction in the e-commerce world depends a lot on the kinds of technology you are equipped with. Choosing the right e-commerce platform is thus imperative to your success. The biggest challenge for new starters lies in the reality that there is not one ‘correct’ platform. Every business is unique and therefore has unique requirements. Nonetheless, here you can find some of the leading platforms for e-commerce in 2018.
Big Cartel
Big Cartel is currently one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. Although Big Cartel is an established brand within the e-commerce platform market with an efficient 24-hour support team, this is a very basic option – branded as being suitable for “artists and makers.” The platform limits a business to 300 products and only five images per product. This platform is only perfect for a very basic e-commerce store. Choosing the right platform for your company is crucial because out of 12 million active sites, only 650,000 e-commerce sites make more than $1000 a year.
Magento
Magneto, the e-commerce platform owned by Adobe, is an open-source e-commerce website, which means that the source code of the product can be modified and customized. This is actively encouraged by the company – which is naturally an enviable option for eager web developers. Magento’s scalability and reliability have made it one of the most popular e-commerce platforms available and boast high-end clients such as Coca-Cola and Paul Smith. This platform, however, is not for the faint-hearted and it is not suitable if the e-commerce company cannot comprehend complex code.
Shopify
This Canadian-based e-commerce solution was established in 2004 and has been recognized as one of the most innovative e-commerce platforms due to the emphasis the company places on keeping up with relevant trends and technologies. Mobile payment is the biggest e-commerce trend in 2018, and it promises to rapidly transform the current digital marketplace. Shopify has its own coding language which can cause problems for some entrepreneurs, however, there are professionals such as those at www.blackbeltcommerce.com who can assist in navigating this platform and their unique ‘liquid’ code, as well as offer theme customization and digital marketing services.
YoKart
This platform was designed with startups and small businesses in mind. YoKart specializes as a solution to multi-vendor stores including Amazon and eBay and the smaller host of stores on the internet today. The newest version of this platform is also multilingual and multi-currency, which is extremely important in the current global climate that exists both ‘on’ and offline.
Choosing the best e-commerce platform may seem confusing at first. There is only a few dollars discrepancy between the average monthly cost of the different services, which means it’s hard to pick between them. It is worth researching each platform thoroughly to avoid wasting time and money on a service which cannot satisfy your company’s needs.
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4 simple (yet effective) ways to drive traffic to your eCommerce site
/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Sudip MuttIn eCommerce, the amount of traffic that comes to your site is going to determine your overall success. After all, if you don’t have anyone coming to your site, you can’t possibly generate any sales.
Unfortunately, launching an eCommerce shop is easier than ever these days — and people know it.
As a result, the competition is only getting tougher, and standing out enough to convince people you’re the brand they should trust is proving to be just as difficult.
In fact, 61% of marketers claim that generating traffic and leads is their top challenge, and only 22% of businesses cite satisfaction with their conversion rates.
So, there seems to be a lot of work to do.
But driving traffic to your online store doesn’t have to seem impossible.
In this post, we’ll share with you some of the best ways to generate more traffic (and high-quality leads) to your eCommerce shop.
So, let’s get started.
Evaluate Your Current Traffic
The only way you can successfully drive more traffic to your eCommerce shop is first to determine just how much traffic you’re currently getting.
One of the best ways to do this is to sign up for a free Google Analytics account and connect it to your online store so all sorts of helpful data, including site traffic, can be tracked and monitored.
Audience Overview
If you go to Audience > Overview, you can get a great idea about how much traffic your site sees on a regular basis.
Also, check out metrics such as:
And this is only the beginning.
If you really want to gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ purchasing journey, learn how monitoring cross-channel reports in Google Analytics can reveal how people behave as they switch between eCommerce channels.
You can also check out tools such as SimilarWeb and Alexa to learn about not only how much traffic your eCommerce shop sees, but how popular your site is, where site visitors are coming from, and what search engines people use to find you.
Alexa Traffic Ranks
How to Drive More Traffic to Your eCommerce Shop
Now that you have a good idea where your site stands in relation to others, and how much traffic you’re currently getting on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis, it’s time to look at ways to ramp up your efforts to get more.
1. Invest in Google Ads
One of the fastest ways to drive more traffic to your website is to pay for it. And it just so happens that Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is an easy way to do just that.
Create ad campaigns that display in Google search results whenever someone searches for a term related to your ad.
Google Ads
When someone sees your ad and realizes you offer what they’re looking for, they’ll click on your site and check you out.
Not only will you get paid for every click your ads receive (yay for site monetization), you’ll reap the benefit of the added traffic.
And, since the person clicking your ad saw something they liked, the chances of them making a purchase once on your site are much higher than someone who just happened to come across your website.
2. Ramp Up SEO Efforts
Understanding the role SEO plays in driving traffic to your site is crucial to your success.
If you don’t focus on SEO, you run the risk of two things happening:
If you notice that your eCommerce conversion rates are low, check out these SEO best practices that will help you show up in the right search results so better leads land on your site and buy:
And lastly, optimize your eCommerce shop for speed and performance.
Monitoring your site’s desktop and mobile speed is easily done using Google PageSpeed Insights.
PageSpeed Insights
See how fast your pages are loading and receive recommendations from Google for optimizing further.
After all, even a 1-second delay has the potential to derail your site’s conversion rates by as much as 7%.
3. Submit Guest Posts
It’s likely you know who your biggest competition is.
And, while it’s natural to want to beat them when it comes to traffic, conversions, and sales, sometimes it’s a good idea to network with your competition too.
One great way to expose your brand to a broader audience, and drive more traffic to your site, is to scope out industry leaders in your field and ask if you can submit a guest post on their website.
Doing this does many things:
Although guest posting is a time-consuming thing, the benefits you receive are tremendous – including the fact that it helps you drive a whole new group of people to your store to buy.
4. Add Video Content to Facebook
We all know that social media plays a vital role in most marketers’ lives.
But what you may not know is how powerful Facebook advertising can be in the digital marketing world when you add video content to your arsenal:
Amazon
If your target audience is found on other channels such as Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, you can expect the numbers to be similar, even if on a smaller scale.
Using social media and video content helps build brand awareness and drive traffic to your online store in ways many other marketing efforts can’t.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re a startup looking to build brand recognition, or an established online retailer looking to grow your business, you’re always going to face challenges when it comes to driving traffic to your eCommerce site.
Luckily, there are many ways you can help increase traffic, conversions, and sales on your site.
All it takes is using some of the above-mentioned tips and tricks. Trust us, with enough focus you’ll see your numbers continue to rise, along with the quality of your leads.
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