Integrated Digital Marketing

Use the most effective digital marketing channels today to reach and advertise to prospective customers and clients.

Custom Web Design/Development

Its time to create a stunning and custom-designed responsive website for your business today!

Responsive Web Development

Let us help you make and develop your website to become responsive and friendly to mobile and tablet users.

CJG Digital Marketing Strategic Formula for High-Impact and Profitable Campaign

Plan

Use the most effective digital marketing channels today to reach and advertise to prospective customers and clients.

Execute

We gather the most useful digital tools and execute the plan carefully and methodically.

Optimize

We check the actual data generated by our campaign and see which things are needing more optimization.

Convert

By doing the three strategies above, it will allow us to deliver more conversions and sales for the marketing campaign of your business.

Latest Post

November 29, 2018Digital marketing / Social Media MarketingIn this day and age where 42% of the world’s total population is on some type of social media, it is no wonder why more and more companies are hopping on to the social media marketing bandwagon. With such a huge user base, it would just be natural for businesses to take advantage and use this platform to extend their brand reach, enhance their customer service, and boost their sales.However, with its popularity, it also means that the competition in the social media space these days is quite tough to overcome. With so much noise from big brands competing for the likes and shares of the users, it’s easy to wonder how small businesses and those new to the trend could possibly stand out.However, this should not deter you from using social media in growing your company. Whether you are just getting started with this tool or want to further solidify your current approach, the key to using this platform successfully is to create an effective plan. Without further ado, here are the steps that you can take to create an effective social media marketing strategy for your business.1. Identify and Set Your GoalsWhether to increase brand awareness, generate leads or make sales, your social media marketing goals will define the extent of the activities you need to include in your strategy as well as identify the best tactics that will help you achieve these goals.When identifying your goals, it’s important to ensure that they are S.M.A.R.T.:Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-boundBy following the SMART framework, you can ensure that the goals you will set can actually lead to tangible business results rather than just idealistic notions. Some of the social media goals you can consider are:Increase brand awareness Drive traffic to your website Generate new leads Increase revenue Boost brand engagement Build a community around your business Effective social customer service Increase PR mentionsIt is also important to document your social media goals so that your team will have a basis to consult forward, as well as to improve your chance of achieving them. According to a recent study, people who write down their goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to accomplish their goals successfully than those who don’t.2. Analyze Your Target AudienceAll your social media marketing efforts would all go to waste if you don’t select the right target audience for your campaign. Identify and analyze your targeted audiences through their demographic segments, psychographic characteristics, and social profiles to help you identify what types of content, themes and topics would appeal to them as well as identify the best and most appropriate social media platforms that will reach out to them.To help you get started, here are the most popular user demographic profiles of the top social media platforms in the market, based on the in-depth guide from SproutSocial:FacebookWomen users (89%) 18-29 year olds (88%) Urban- and rural-located users (81% each) Those earning less than $30,000 (84%) Users with some college experience (82%)InstagramWomen users (38%) 18-29 year olds (59%), Urban-located users (39%) Those earning less than $30,000 (38%) Users with some college experience (37%)TwitterWomen users (25%) 18-29 year olds (36%) Urban-located users (26%) Those earning $50,000-$74,999 (28%) Users with college experience or more (29%)LinkedInMen users (31%) 18-29 year olds (34%) Urban-located users (34%) Those earning $75,000 or more (45%) Users with college experience or more (50%)3. Identify and Monitor Relevant MetricsOnce you learn about your target audience and decide which social media channels where you will focus your efforts, you must then pick the relevant metrics to determine if you are inching towards your goals or not.When setting social media metrics, it is best to assign a separate metric for each channel you’ll use, or separate metrics for different features of each channel. For instance, you should assign brand awareness metrics for your paid social media marketing but assign engagement metrics for your organic social posts.4. Create, Curate and Share Engaging Social Media ContentThe right content plays a huge role in the success of your social media marketing campaign, especially if your goals are about brand awareness, thought leadership, audience engagement, and lead generation.If you already have blogs on your website, you can compile them and pick the ones that you think will resonate the most with your target social media audience. If you have none available, you can start by sharing content from industry authority websites, or start from scratch and create your own epic content that gets maximum social media engagement.5. Track and Optimize Your EffortsFinally, an important part of your campaign is to effectively track and monitor your social media marketing performance. Through analytics and data monitoring, you can gain valuable insights that can help you formulate changes in your campaigns to make them better and more effective towards achieving your goals.There are several third-party social media analytics that can provide you with insights like which type of content attracts more of your targeted customers, which content generates higher engagement rates, and which content generates higher click-throughs. You can understand which timing and posting frequency would be best for getting results. There are various tools and applications that can help you track your performance, on top of the native analytics tools most social networks offer users.ConclusionSocial media, just like other digital platforms, is ever-changing and evolving. So, even with well-planned and detailed social media marketing strategy, you must constantly monitor and keep track of the trends and shifts in the industry so you can make adjustments and incorporate new tactics as you move forward. With that approach, you are more likely to gain significant returns from all of your social media marketing efforts in the long-run. [...]
June 22, 2018Brand Marketing / StorytellingA strong branding will set you apart from the rest of the crowd all vying for your niche’s attention, but cultivating it is no walk in the park. With so many businesses nowadays, better branding makes sure that your business is in for long-term success by making it easier to grow your company, navigate challenges, and charge a premium. The problem with trying to boost branding is that most marketers get it wrong. Branding is more than just the visual layout you choose for your packaging, or the copies you write, or your posting times on Facebook. It’s your business’ image as a whole — from the way you connect with existing customers, to the intonation of your social media posts. The deeper nuances of branding often are lost in translation, and that’s why businesses fail at it. This doesn’t mean your brand has to suffer the same fate. In this infographic, we detail the four ways you can boost your business branding this year and set yourself up for more success moving forward.1. Build an emotional connectionPatrick Renvoisé explains that the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience suggest that people make decisions based on emotions that they later rationalize, which also applies to when they’re being marketed to. Telling customers outright to purchase products or services doesn’t work anymore, but associating the brand with feelings, identities, and experiences make for a strong branding. Some of the most successful brands, such as Apple and Coca-Cola, use emotions to their advantage. They have successfully identified their emotional “Right Space” — the core emotions that they want every customer to feel — and focused their efforts into making their audience feel the emotions they want them to experience. Branding Strategy Insider suggests asking yourself this one question: “If you could make your customers feel one emotion, what would it be?” and answering it through these steps:Understand you are todayCalled the “Now Space”, this is essentially what your brand is currently making your customers feel. It’s critical to identify where your brand is building a positive emotional connection so that you can execute consistently through that direction.Identify where you need to goEvery brand has an emotional “Right Space”, where purchase intent, loyalty, and advocacy is maximized. It should be ownable (your customers should strongly associate those emotions with you), credible (it must make sense for your brand to direct customer emotion that way) and profitable (these emotional triggers should lead to long-term competitive advantage).Uncover how to get thereThe key to building and growing your brand is executing with consistency. Every touch point — visuals, copy, posts, content, etc., should be unified with the goal of triggering the right emotional response and connecting it back to you.Accelerate brand growth with your Right SpaceOf the 5,000+ possible human emotions, which ones make up your brand’s emotional “Right Space”? And how do each of your marketing tactics perform against that emotional territory?2. Establish brand authenticityWhile strategies such as contests and sweepstakes are good ways to bring in some quick attention to your brand, it ultimately doesn’t do anything to boost branding and set the company apart. Ultimately, boosting a brand requires you not just to make customers feel like they need you, but also be someone genuine in ways more than just making a sale. Brands need to be loyal to their purpose, vision, and strategy versus chasing trends. Customers don’t want to feel like you only see them as potential leads or sales. Continually shifting and changing yourself will make them think that you’re just trying to appeal to them based on what’s popular now. Stay true to what your brand is about. 3. Cultivate your reputationGone are the days when companies can directly control the status they have within their niche. In the age of social media, reputation can quickly turn the tide with your every move. Being aware of what people are saying about your brand is critical. As consumers, we’re all more inclined to trust the word of our friends more than the promises of corporations — a principle that every brand should keep in mind. Cultivating your reputation doesn’t just mean tracking what people are saying about you; it’s also about the way you respond to your customers, especially those that complained. Addressing negative comments or situations with an explanation and solution can help recover the relationship with that customer, which will add to your brand’s overall value.4. Play with your brandAccording to a study from Edison Research, only 33% of consumers have ever followed a brand on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. After all, consumers join social media to follow people, not companies. As HubSpot puts it, your customers are not your investors, and they certainly don’t enjoy corporate speak. Getting serious with them might not always be the best strategy, especially when it comes to your social media posts. While you can preach all day about the ways your company can help your audience with their problems, sometimes it pays to just casually connect with your community. This fosters trust amidst the fact that most consumers often don’t trust brands online. This doesn’t just apply to B2C brands. Even B2B brands can take the risk and break out of the boring corporate mold. What’s essential is always thinking of your brand as a real person, only bigger, and that it doesn’t have to be constrained in its stereotype.Branding can be a more complicated matter because it goes beyond the numbers and analytics that businesses so often rely on, but it doesn’t mean that strengthening it is next to impossible. By focusing on the deeper, more connective aspects of your brand, it’s more than possible that you will soar in the coming years. [...]
March 16, 2018Digital marketing / Infographic / Social Media MarketingSocial media marketing may have been the dark horse of the marketing world before, but it has since become one of the top strategies that businesses adapt to reach and engage their target market, promote their products and services, and ultimately, drive leads and sales. With 98% of digital consumers being social media users nowadays, it’s almost unthinkable nowadays to have a business and not have a social media account to go along with it. The popularity of social media marketing in helping businesses achieve their goals, has, unfortunately, led many to consider it as some magic solution to instant visibility in their market. This belief gave rise to many social media marketing myths that can damage an otherwise promising strategy. In this infographic, we dispel the top social media marketing myths may be holding back your business from achieving success:Likes and Follower count = successIt’s typical thinking that numbers — and large ones at that — mean quantifiable success, and that’s why many businesses often feel the need to chase more and more likes and follows through their social media accounts. The truth behind this, however, is that following or liking doesn’t automatically mean you’ve gained a new customer. In fact, not all your followers might be interested in your brand at all. When it comes to gauging your success in social media, you need to look past the raw numbers and focus on engagement metrics, because this is where you see if your likers or followers are genuinely invested in your content. Like the adage says, “Quality over quantity.”Social media is free marketingWhile it doesn’t cost anything to sign up for a personal or corporate account with any of the major social media platforms you’ll probably consider using (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) and post content, this doesn’t mean that social media marketing is truly free. With social media, you’ll have to invest time – lots of it – into research, effort, and refinement. Like everything else in your campaign, social media marketing demands attention and hard work, which means that you can’t just rely on scheduling organic content and hope for the best. Your time and effort are valuable, and the more you pour into your social media marketing strategy, the higher ROI you may be able to get.You must “get” social media to succeedMany businesses make the mistake of assuming that their social media marketing manager has to be someone young — a late Millennial at least — because “social media is their domain.” Don’t buy into this. Social media marketing is not rocket science that must be done by someone who has met all the intellectual criteria. Its basic premise is simple: talk to your customers and show them that you’re an authoritative, trustworthy source. This is also grounded in the demographics of social media users. Contrary to popular belief, millennials are not the only ones using social media. According to HubSpot:40% of Facebook’s active users are over age 35 52% of 55-64-year-old internet users have joined a social network 93% of US adult internet users are on FacebookTo put it simply, just because someone’s young doesn’t mean that they’re automatically a “social media genius.” While there may be young SMM managers out there that are acing the game, they most likely developed the skills through trial-and-error, not because of their age.You need to be active on every platformThere are a multitude of social media platforms out there, and it can be tempting to sign up for every single one so you can reach out to the majority of your target audience. This, however, can be detrimental at times. After all, not only will you be spending so much time managing every single account you’ve signed up for, but you’ll also have to continually adjust yourself to the different ways that each social media platform should be tackled. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Focus your efforts on the platforms where you’ll get the best results. Hootsuite recommends finding the perfect platforms for your business through these criteria:Target demographic – Which networks does your audience spend time on? Think about their possible online behavior and where this fit. Functionality – Each social network has a characteristic that you need to consider. For example: are you aiming for discussion (Twitter) or showing your products (Instagram)? Specific metrics – Based on your business goals and objectives, what results are you seeking for? What key metrics are you looking to achieve? Consider which platforms will help you generate the results your seeking.Social media is a separate strategySocial media marketing is often described as an independent strategy, and in some ways, it is. It has its own best practices and can technically be performed even if no overall strategy manages it. However, it still runs best when used in synchrony with other, interrelated strategies like content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing, and personal branding. More than anything, these strategies all support and draw power from each other. Your website and content’s reach can be multiplied through your social media efforts, while your social media posts are backed up by strong branding and the presence of your website for optimum organic posts that are interesting and eye-catching.Audience comes naturallyThe typical advice in content marketing and social media marketing circles is to “create high-quality material,” and the rest will come naturally. Enough “good” content will attract the right kind of audience, and your strategy will be successful. Unfortunately, this isn’t entirely accurate. Even good content starts out in a vacuum. You need to properly promote that content if you want it to be seen by an audience, which can take some time and a lot of effort. You need to provide your audience with the initial push that will encourage them to share your posts on their own.Hashtags are extremely importantSince the usage of hashtags in Tumblr (first called “tags”) and Twitter that later spread to other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, etc., they have been popular among users who want their posts to be noticed by the public. The point of hashtags is that they join common conversation threads, especially about events, marketing campaigns, or special news, but it’s not necessarily going to blow your lead goals out of the water, especially if your hashtags are more generic. Hashtags can also be a turn-off for some audiences, especially when overused. It gives the impression that you are trying too hard to be seen or are spamming your followers. It’s essential to practice control and not overdo your use of hashtags whenever you can.Social media doesn’t drive bottom-line resultsMany marketers think that social media marketing is just good for engaging your audience, but it’s so much more than that. Not only is social media a useful traffic generator for your content and website, but it also drives leads and customers. HubSpot reports that companies that use Twitter have an average 2x more leads than those who do, and those with 1000+ Twitter followers get 6x more traffic. LinkedIn and Facebook are also useful in acquiring customers for a majority of companies who use them for marketing.Social media is a valuable and worthwhile strategy with its cost-effectivity and powerful connection to potential audiences. However, to be truly useful with it, you need to know exactly what you’re getting into and avoid believing these myths.   [...]
October 27, 2017Content Marketing / Infographic / SEOSEO and Content Marketing has been the focus in the field of digital marketing landscape for many years now. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), often regarded as the framework of any online strategy, has been the key strategy for attaining brand awareness, online visibility, and increased traffic. On the other hand, content marketing has been the way to go for companies seeking a higher level of engagement and loyalty from their audience and present customers. Given the enormous benefits that each strategy offers, it would be unwise not to use both of them in your marketing campaign. If you don’t believe so, then check out this infographic as we outline the reasons why SEO and content marketing are a perfect match for a top-quality marketing campaign.   [...]
August 31, 2017Content Marketing / InfographicContent has, in recent years, become a vital part of marketing strategies and of the Internet in general. In this age, marketers know the adage “content is king” – a true testament to just how important content is for businesses and consumers alike. According to Growth Company, content allows a brand to position itself as a market expert, and develop its prevalence in the market and trust among its customers. 53% of marketers even say that blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. However, content marketers know fully well just how hard it can be to produce fresh content all the time, and the slump of a burnout can take a toll not only to the content creator but to the whole strategy as well. Or they may experience a downslope on engagement on their content that it can seem tedious to produce more when no one is listening. This doesn’t have to be the case. In this infographic, we will show you 4 best time-saving content strategies that you can use to renew, refresh, and recycle your content for a bigger reach. [...]
July 31, 2017Brand Marketing / InfographicEvery brand, like humans, has their own distinct voice that conveys their messages to others and sets them as a unique entity. Finding your brand’s voice should be one of the first things that you’ve settled when developing your marketing strategy and plan – and that’s how important it is. It’s an integral part of your company’s identity, and as such, should be suited to you perfectly. With so many businesses and brands out there, however, it’s relatively easy to fall into a monotone – a brand voice that cannot be distinguished from the rest with how similar it is to others. If your brand voice feels lacking, don’t despair – it just needs a few extra flavors to make it effective! In this infographic, we discuss just how you can do so. Spice up your brand voice now with these 8 steps!  [...]
May 18, 2017Infographic / Social Media MarketingUndoubtly, social media has become a premier platform for businesses and marketers alike. With over 2.8 billion active social media users worldwide as of January 2017, it has become the largest congregation of the world’s population that it’s a huge loss to any business that has not yet placed itself in social media. And with an avenue that promotes the freedom of expression, it’s relatively easy to be the voice of the population. It’s also relatively easy to be ignored as well. A big factor that plays into an account’s obscurity lies in the mistakes that the user commits with their online presence. In fact, Sprout Social’s survey of more than 1,000 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter users found that there are six major social media mistakes that any business – even yours – can be prone to at any given point. And they can result to you losing followers quickly. In this infographic, we will discuss these six mistakes and what you can do to avoid them. [...]
April 25, 2017Content Marketing / InfographicMost companies think that content marketing is done when they’ve published a piece of content or they’ve put it on their social channels in full expectation of massive engagement from the audiences. However, to truly have a successful content marketing strategy, a critical aspect has to be focused on: content promotion. This can be difficult as the Internet is a crowded place. No matter how informative or amazing your content is, there are also a lot of content out there vying for the same attention you want. For you to stand out from the crowd, it all falls on how well and how much you promote your content for it to get noticed. In this infographic, we present to you some ways to promote your content and get it circulating in your niche: [...]
March 30, 2017Digital marketingThe rapid rise of Internet as a part of the daily lives of people have caused major shifts for businesses, especially in marketing. Many have realized that they are able to target more audiences that were previously inaccessible to them due to location and budget constraints, and have more measurable statistics they can track to figure out if their strategies are giving them their desired results. The beauty of digital marketing also lies in how it isn’t something restricted to a business’ status or how popular a brand is. With digital marketing, what matters most is how much you understand your audience and potential customers, and while a large budget can certainly get you initial attention via paid advertising, in the end it lies with how well you can connect with your audience in order to convince them to check you out. Digital marketing, when done right, can even propel SMBs on par with some of the bigger fish in the industry. And to stand out from the crowd, it takes some innovative ways that are guaranteed to reap your business success on its digital marketing efforts. Today, we’ll discuss 8 innovative ideas for SMBs this year and how they can help them amp up their digital marketing strategies like never before.Create quality, informative contentEasily one of the methods gaining popularity with recent years, especially with digital marketing trends, content marketing gives you more than a few benefits for a handful of 500-or-more-worded article detailing your insights and expertise.Image from BloggersandBacon.com Here are a few tips you can follow for creating content that can help you drive traffic to your website:Create and distribute valuable, timely, relevant, informative and entertaining content. It provides you with the opportunity to drive organic traffic to your website and increase customer acquisition. According to Social eMedia, marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to realize a positive ROI. Explore other formats of creating content. Unlike before, blog posts aren’t just the only way you can deliver content to your niche. Try options such as e-books, infographics, webinars, podcasts, videos, white papers, and case studies where you can detail topics and ideas connected to your business that can be of use to your audience. Have a strategic content promotion plan to attract traffic to your content. Start sharing your content in social media in strategic points – usually when it’s freshly-released and then a few instances over the next weeks.Employing a full-force social media marketing strategySocial media has become an integral part in the lives of the most of the population today, and it’s more than certain that your market can be found in multiple social media platforms.Image from DoraSeeks.com This avenue is your easiest highway to getting noticed by your market, but you must play it smart as well.Focus on one to three social media platforms at a time. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to present in various social media platforms. Not only will you likely end up straining your efforts, your attention is also divided by managing multiple accounts when you can just focus on three at most. It’s also likely that the bulk of your market can be found in a specific social media platform, eliminating you the need to hunt them down extensively. Post smartly and strategically after gaining insights on your audiences’ behavior. Social media posting is not also a simple principle of posting whenever you please. Your audience may be active in a specific time period, and many Analytics can give you this information. By posting whenever your audience is most online, you can target their attention more easily. Grab the attention of and collaborate with your niche’s influencers – people who are well-known throughout your niche by being people of credible status whose opinions can influence consumer behavior, especially if you are working with a millennial market. Their words get out quickly, and if you manage to grab their attention, you’ll gather more audiences in a shorter span of time.Repurpose content for more coveragePublishing content is definitely a good marketing tactic, but it doesn’t mean that you won’t face days when you’re running low on topics to discuss. If unsolved, you might find yourself at a loss on what to publish next, which can deprive you of the benefits you’re enjoying with content marketing. A way to prevent this is by repurposing your content. Here are a few pointers to consider when repurposing your content:Evaluate what format you can repurpose it to. Content can be translated to various formats when repurposing them, depending on where you plan to repost it or what you think can be a better medium for your message. For example, webinars can be recorded and repurposed into video tutorials, blog posts can turn into podcasts or infographics, and even multiple posts about a certain topic can be condensed into a comprehensive guide. Determine if you need to update your previous content. Sometimes, all it takes is updating a previous content for it to be repurposed. Great examples of these are yearly trends (i.e. fashion trends, technology trends, etc.) and statistics-related posts. Research on if there are any updates on any of your previous topics and use them to repurpose your previous content. Touch up more on a point you mentioned before. In extensive guides or posts, you may have mentioned a point that might be worth expanding on but you never did to cut down on word count and length. Now’s the chance to give more insight on that specific point.Try out guest posting in various websitesTo get your reach out, especially if you are looking to being recognized as a thought leader, you should try your hand in responsible guest posting. It’s a great way of introducing yourself to more audiences without needing to pay for advertising (in most cases). (my guest post piece in techinasia.com) Many websites have blogs that allow guests to write for them and have certain rules about advertising your business – such as allowing you to have an author’s bio where your business’ link can be featured, or can allow you to feature your products as examples for the points you are trying to make. Essentially, guest posting is similar to content marketing, only you do it in another website and you have to adhere to the website’s posting guidelines. However, the payoff is great, especially if you manage to publish a quality article in a reputable website.Participate in forums and groupsMainstream social media platforms are not your only method of connecting with the bulk of your market. Many businesses may not know of this and many marketers may see this as outdated, but you have a good chance of connecting with your market through forums and groups online.Quora, Reddit, LinkedIn Groups, and Google+ are just some of the platforms that offer this experience. Here are some tips you should keep in mind:Engage with these online communities, share your insights, and converse with them in an authentic manner. Many of these online forum and group members are used to conversing with all types of people online and can feel if you are genuinely trying to give input or just looking for a sell. In a sense, this is where the millennial behavior has rooted from. Make sure you are in the best area to be talking about your expertise in order to tap on the right niche you are looking for. For example, Reddit has subgroups called “subreddits” where people talk with others depending on the label of the subreddit – be it video games, politics, science, sports, etc. Provide links to your website or blog whenever relevant so people know that you can help them more through the proper channels, and that you may even have some answers in your own domain that they may not be aware of. This gives you credibility and gains trust for your brand.Switch to inbound lead generationBig businesses have already started to grasp this concept, but if you haven’t, it’s definitely the time to do so. Inbound lead generation simply makes use of marketing so that customers come to you, instead of you trying to push your brand onto them. The key with inbound lead generation is the opt-in: everyone you speak with has indicated their interest and given permission for a follow-up. There’s no need for cold-calling, cold emailing, or even extensive advertising involved for campaigns that employ this. Some of the ways that you can employ inbound lead generation may be methods you’re already doing today – if you’ve been following the tips on this guide so far. You can also take steps like optimizing your landing pages to be more inviting and easy to navigate through or even giving them free stuff in exchange for leads (i.e. email addresses).Explore video marketingAs we mentioned earlier, videos are starting to become a trend with content marketing, and for good reasons. They are dynamic and informative without boring audiences with excessive words and insane post lengths. In fact, Cisco estimates that by 2019, video will account for 80% of global internet traffic, and 85% in the US.Image from Linkdex.com A great example of this lies with BuzzFeed’s Tasty. The minute-long videos (sometimes more) of cooking demonstrations have gained massive popularity for anyone and everyone who loves food, loves watching cooking shows and videos, or are friends of these people. They average hundreds of thousands of shares as well as millions of views in Facebook alone attests to their massive success. Just about anything can be made into a video – from Top 10 lists to general information – and most of the time you won’t need an extensive production team or equipment for it. Quality phone or digital cameras and a good knowledge of what format you’re going for sometimes is enough to get you started.Hold contests onlineMany people are competitive by nature, especially when the rewards are something they absolutely need or want.Image from ScottsMarketplace.com While the idea of contests may not necessarily be innovative, taking it to the Internet has been a trend for the recent years due to its accessibility to everyone, even those who are not in the general vicinity of the business, allowing audiences from far and wide to participate.Social media or Internet contests can range from anything like witty captions for pictures, submitting the best content or comments they can give pertaining to a subject, “Likefests”, etc. The key is making your own spin to the contest type. Offer them prices that are hard to come by, such as a few hundred dollars’ worth of products or services, concert or movie tickets, the chance to contribute to your business, or even be featured on your social media pages. The more prestigious or hard-to-come-by your prizes are, the better the chance of people joining. Associate it with a unique and memorable hashtag, or timing it with holidays, events, or special occasions. That way, it’s easier for you to come up with contest themes and get more people engaged.If your business is not yet implementing a polished and systematic digital marketing strategy, this year is the best time to do so. With the markets now heavily concentrated in the Internet – a trend that only grows with each passing year – you will be missing out on an enormous portion of opportunities. Digital marketing isn’t hard to accomplish these days, and making the most out of it will give you a huge boost towards success. [...]
March 7, 2017Brand MarketingBrands now play an important role and are accepted as generating business and sustaining growth. Companies with a strong brand tend to have a more advantageous place in the market, since a well-defined, holistic brand not only helps a company to differentiate itself from its competitors, but also creates positive communication to satisfy and convince potential customers. According to a study entitled: “Relationships Between Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality, Trust, Value, Loyalty, And Brand Equity” which aimed to focus on the certain milk brand in Vietnam, branding surely plays a significant role in its decision making process. The function of a brand is not only to enhance the value of a product beyond its functional purpose, but it is also related to trust, loyalty, perceived quality and brand awareness. In Marketing, there are often three concepts that usually confuses people: perception, awareness and recall. Although at some points, they can be synonyms to each other, in the world of digital marketing, they differ in meaning, reach, and success measurement. This article dares to point out the main differences of the three ideas, as well as illustrate where their lines become blurred. Firstly, it is important to clearly define each of them to further understand what these terms really mean in marketing. What is Brand Perception?Although it spells the word ‘brand’, it is not actually controlled by the companies. In fact, it is owned by the consumers. It is what the audience think and say about your brand. According to Brandwatch, it may be more reflective of their aspirations for the brand, rather than the reality of public opinion. The public forms its perception through the sum of all experiences customers have with your brand. Different factors such as paid advertisement, store employee interaction or a customer service call shapes their perception ultimately. Companies usually measure and gather information about their brand perception through surveys and focus groups. These data gathering mechanisms is an essential part of any strategy in measuring and improving brand perception. By knowing how the public perceive a brand helps in modification and improving what needs to be upgraded or developed.   Photo from Graphic Brand What is Brand Awareness? On the other hand, brand awareness is the likelihood that consumers recognize the existence and availability of a company’s product or service. Regardless of perception, the acknowledgment from the public that a certain brand exists is the mere measure of this idea. By promotion of a product or service, companies create brand awareness. Brand awareness is particularly important when launching new products and services; and following through to ensure that a company clearly differentiates itself from other similar products and services and competitors. For Management Study Guide, Brand Awareness is the the degree to which consumers precisely associate the brand with the specific product. It can be measured from familiarity about a name to its identity and availability Improving the public’s awareness of a brand can be as simple as simplifying names’ or terms’ pronunciation or spelling. The challenge is making it stand out and unique as well.illustration from Digital Third Coast What is Brand Recall? From the name itself, Brand Recall is the measured influence of a brand by which the name, the product or the service, is remembered or recalled by the public. This is an important factor in producing return or loyal customers. In measuring brand recall, researchers generally look at two types: unaided and aided recall. Aided Brand Recall, as the term suggests implies that the brand name is actually brought into discussion, asking questions like: “Do you remember BMW brand?”, purposely mentioning the company and enhancing the respondents’ memory. Meanwhile, in Unaided Brand Recall, the interviewers would passively wait for the respondents to mention the specific company or product. Some people also confuse brand recall to brand recognition, which is a slightly different concept. There cannot be a brand recall if there is no brand recognition in the first place. According to Marketing 91, The stronger the brand, the easier will be for the customers to recall it. Building a strong image can be traced by a good brand recall. With all these measures that unite your brand to your audience, what should companies really prioritize? Which metric matters? According to Survey Gizmo, each one is vital in creating a whole-rounded, complete and holistic experience for your customers. Moreover, all of these three measures give the companies a more valuable data into the position of your brand among your competitors. All three give you very different take, by which companies can utilize in strengthening their business and standing in the market. Brand Awareness and Recall affects the public Perception. At the same time, perception affects how companies strengthen their awareness campaigns and strategies. Chron says that brand awareness has several distinct effects on consumers’ perception of different brands, and working to build brand awareness is crucial for small business success. By having ample data about brand perception, awareness and recall, companies can successfully identify and address their niches. Measuring perception, awareness and recall: How do these terms encompass each other? Survey Gizmo offers this equation: Brand Perception + Awareness + Recall = A Complete Picture. The ideal formula describes a company that has a well-rounded measure of their customers’ feelings, thoughts and overall impression of their service or product. Companies should have a good sense of their awareness, recall, and perception scores at all times. Moreover, these three concepts affect and will have an effect to each other, as well as your customer’s relationship with your brand and company or organization. Imagine a brand with low awareness: it will also be less likely to be recalled. This can also translate to poor perception, or worse, have a negative impact overall. Simply speaking, this is bad for business. Survey Gizmo says, “In a perfect world, the high awareness of your brand leads to significant association with your brand category (brand recall), which leads to a great perception of your brand, which ultimately leads to raving customers and long-term loyalty. Companies need to realize the importance of investing time, effort and resources and knowing how their audience and customers react to what they offer, not just through product or service reviews, but also through these three measures. Because the technology made the market more competitive for any business or industry, the need to adapt to these is crucial. Acknowledging the importance of Brand Perception, Brand Recall and Brand Awareness is one step forward to a more ensured success. If not, the data collected through these measures would aid any business to further develop, improve and upgrade the overall experience their consumers associate a brand as well. [...]
February 23, 2017Content Marketing / InfographicMost businesses acknowledge the importance of communicating to their clients, customers, or audiences—whatever term they may address them. Because of the continuous development of technology today, as well as the growing innovation of products and ideas, sometimes, the way these companies relay their messages to them can make or break their reputation. Public Relations (PR) and Content Marketing are two very related work but are entirely different from each other in terms of usage, cost, reach and success measurement. At the same time, PR and content marketing basically have the same end goal: relay brand’s message to the public. To fully understand how different, they are from each other, it is essential to know each concept’s definition.   [...]
January 24, 2017Content Marketing / InfographicDecades ago, most businesses can only promote their brand using the traditional model of marketing such as billboards, flyers, newspaper, television, and radio. But then, these mediums became less and less effective, not to say that only the big players – multinational companies and corporations can afford to implement them. Eventually, the industry started to shift away from these costly direct marketing tactics towards a more “strategic marketing approach” which resulted in developing Content Marketing among others. Referred to as the practice of creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and retain a targeted audience, and ultimately, entice a consumer to do business with you, this approach is currently being used by 88% of B2B and 76% of B2C marketers today to establish brand image, acquire more leads, and increase their sales today. In the small and medium-sized business context, content marketing, if executed properly, will not only allow you to compete with much bigger brands, it also positions your brand as a major player or even a leader across a broader market, thus giving your customers a reason to trust your business in delivering great results. If you happen to own a small or medium-scale enterprise, then this post is perfect for you. In this infographic, we share to you the guide that can help SMBs kick-start their content marketing campaign and enjoy its benefits that they have never reaped before. [...]
January 13, 2017Digital marketingKnowing how to properly communicate with your audience can make or break your business, regardless of how great your product or service is. Indeed, defining and creating your brand voice should be one of your first steps in developing your marketing strategy and plan. Your brand’s voice is your company’s personality and mouth piece. It could be both the tone you address your clients or the style of writing you use in different marketing materials you publish. It is an integral part of your company’s identity, from the words you choose to use to the sentences you write. Some think that defining their brand voice is easy. But the truth is, it takes time, reflection and a tough decision making. Finding the suited brand voice for your business should be well thought of and well executed. Creating and defining your voice is a process of selecting a set of traits that comprise an identity, and then communicating in a way that expresses and prioritizes those traits. How can your business find its very own brand voice? Here are some steps and tips that can help you: 1. Do the four-part formula According to Stephanie Schwab, selecting the perfect and well-rounded  brand voice should start in a formula. Business owners can define their brand by assessing four facets that will make you pinpoint your brand’s mission, personality, and voice.  Image from the Social Media Explorer  Business owners should think about:Character / Persona you want to embody: Finding the perfect brand voice means giving voice to your company, as if making it a person. If your brand is a person, how does it sound like? Tone you want to assume – In what manner do you address your customers, formal or casual? Should you sound professional, yet humble or intimidating yet top performing? Language you will use – What kind of words do you use in your social media conversations? Consider the use of jargons, colloquialisms, and buzz words. The length of words and sentences can also determine the language you will use. Your true Purpose – This is the most important facet of determining your brand’s voice. More than style, what is your purpose, what is your drive?2. Create a word bankWord Bank Sample from Content Marketing Institute Because there are millions of adjectives to choose from, it would be helpful if you list down what your company specializes, or what characteristics describe your business best. Think of the words you want your customers to associate your brand with. It is also ideal to include in your word bank a list of your customers’ needs. What do you offer that make them come to you or avail your service? You should define your brand based on your ability to fulfill such demands. 3. Pick three words to describe your brand.From your self-assessment and word bank, pick the top three words that describe your company or business best. Think of your brand as a person, how would you describe its personality to someone? You can also base the words you will choose on the objectives and vision of your company to further define your voice. If your mission is to deliver happiness, opt for words that are fun, cheerful and outgoing. If your company means serious business, pick words that exude excellence and passion.   Simple Slogans Work! Photo from Designmantic  4. Compare and differentiate with other brandsWhen defining your brand voice, you need to distinguish your edge with your contemporaries, meaning you need to compare and differentiate with your competitors’ brands. What tone did they use? What are the words they used to describe their company? Are your ideals the same? How can you be better? 5. Mirror your customers. One of the best ways to succeed in business is by mirroring your customers. Mirroring can be done from reflecting their physical stance, or by agreeing to them most of the time. In the business setting, mirroring is one of the most effective ways of building rapport. Your brand’s voice should represent the beliefs and has the same principles of your customers. Your goal in creating and defining your brand’s voice is to build affinity with your customers by using the diction and sentence structure that’s appealing to your audience and authentic to your offering. This is how you engage them.   Illustration from Glasbergen Cartoons  6. Deliver Your voice is just one part of the brand, after all, it should be a complete experience for your customers. Your brand voice should not only represent your company but also be translated into your works with the visuals, digital and social media presence, packaging and overall brand marketing and strategy. It should also be your priority that your team members know your brand voice by heart, and ensure that they know and understand how to relay this voice into action. Meet with your team and share with them the process of how you’ve come up with your brand voice. Ask for their inputs too. Their hands-on experience of communicating with your customers can give them insights that can benefit your business as well.7. Be consistent.Your brand voice should not only be used when you’re trying to impress a potential client, or when you are making a sale. What your customers see on your published materials should reflect what they would expect to experience in the physical setting. A consistent company is a reliable company, and that ensures that more than their brand voice, every part of the experience will be of equal quality. 8. Change if you must. Thanks to the ever-dynamic technology and continuously innovating online platforms, every company can continue to develop their own brand voice as time progresses. Business owners should keep in mind that their brand voice is not meant to be definite all throughout. As your business and brand messaging evolves, new competitors come into your market, and new trends are worth trying, it’s good to regularly re-evaluate your brand’s voice and assess its strengths and what areas should be improved. With your team, discuss the strategies that work or that don’t and brainstorm ideas on how to address the issues. Remember, your brand voice is not fixed.  Business owners shouldn’t try to finish creating and defining their perfect brand voice. It should be fluid, going with the flow of communication trends, keeping with the steady pace of your audience and taking newer chances for better communication strategies. Your knowledge about brand voice should evolve, too. Never stop analyzing the voice of your competitors. Never stop learning from leading brands. [...]
December 28, 2016Infographic / Social Media MarketingSocial media has had an enormous impact in today’s digital marketing landscape. in 2016, the social media sphere has continued to rise with more 2.3 billion active users and more than 1.9 billion active mobile social users worldwide. In return, 83% of all marketers have already taken advantage of social media marketing to increase their sales and boost their brand identity. With these figures, it is safe to say that social media indeed is one the most indispensable tools in marketing products and services in today’s competitive market. And as we approach 2017, its popularity among marketers is expected to boost up, making other sales methods to be obsolete or inappropriate in today’s digital environment. Ramp up your social media marketing strategy as we present to you some of the trends that we are likely to witness in 2017 and beyond. [...]
December 21, 2016Content Marketing / InfographicOut of many strategies that truly revolutionize the face of the marketing industry , today is content marketing. The process of creating engaging and valuable content has enabled a lot of companies to connect with their target market, establish brand trust, generate leads, and eventually earn more profits. And as we approach 2017, content marketing continues to grow its popularity among businesses, and many are already setting up their budget for the next year. But before you finalized your marketing resources, check out this infographic as we gathered eight biggest trends that are likely to happen in the content marketing sphere in 2017. [...]
December 13, 2016Infographic / SEOFrom Google’s reliance on artificial Intelligence to the much-awaited final update for Google Penguin, the SEO landscape has seen a lot of developments in 2016. But overall, it has been a fascinating year for most SEO practitioners who could cope with the changes in the search engine arena. And as the year 2017 rapidly approaches and changes in customer’s search behaviors and Google’s algorithm updates continues to flock in, now is the perfect time for you to plan your winning strategy for your SEO success in 2017. In this infographic, we will explore the top trends and shifts that are likely to transpire in the SEO landscape this coming 2017. [...]
November 30, 2016Digital marketing  Christmas is almost here! Big brands are busy with promotional marketing activities, customer behavior spikes, and everyone wants to take advantage of this season to get noticed by their target market and make sales as well. With all the buzz everywhere, you can step up your game and be on par with the big-timers! Here are 8 actionable tips to help you get started. 1. Research for Buyer Intent Keywords First, make sure that your customers can find you. It’s easy to get buried and ignored with the multitude of websites trying to get noticed during the holiday season, and even big names have this problem from time to time. Make sure you know how to stand out from the crowd.Image from ConsumerReports.org Know who your buyers are and their buying intent(s) Your potential buyers have a specific behavior when it comes to looking for what they wish to buy: they start looking through Google using very specific phrases such as “What to get your mom for Christmas”. These are called “long-tail keywords”, and are usually less competitive in terms of search engine results. Gather a list of keywords and topics based on the holiday you are focusing on – for example, Christmas. You can do this by using Google Keyword Planner, or Conductor Searchlight’s Audience Intent Explorer. They will give you keywords based on what you search, as well as their frequency of usage. 2. Increase activity and convenience by optimizing your websiteEven the way your website works can make or break a sale for you and your potential buyers. If they can do everything they want quickly and easily, plus get a few perks that they’d appreciate, they’d come back to your website more and would probably even turn to loyal customers. Tip 1: Display a large search box prominently on your websiteImage from ColorLib.com The presence of a large search box in the center of your website can “entice up to 40% of users to search”, according to the CEO of Swiftype, Matt Riley. He also adds that “users who search convert at a 50% higher rate”. A large search box encourages your potential buyers to search what else they need that might be available in your website, since it’ll be easier for them to browse without having to go through your website’s catalogue repeatedly. Tip 2: Add reviews to your product pagesImage from CustomerSure.com Reviews are helpful for users who are looking for third-party opinions on items they are looking to buy. Some website providers, like WordPress, have plugins like WP Customer Reviews that equip your website with a review area where customers can leave theirs in. For those without plugins from their providers, you can use Testimonial Robot or InnovaReviews to add a review area to your website. 3. Create buzz on your products by the power of social mediaIt’s likely that anyone with access to an Internet connection has a social media account, where they spend time connecting with friends and family, as well as the rest of the world. This is also a great avenue to connect with your potential buyers as it provides a more interpersonal connection with them. Tip 1: Promote your products, offers, blog posts, etc.Image from SocialMediaToday.com This is a no-brainer: you can use social media to announce your new articles, new offers, new items, etc. It’s the fastest way your customers will be informed of what’s happening with your website, and the fastest way news can travel through. For an added exposure, consider using Facebook Ads, as they can appear in the News Feeds of people who might be interested in your posts based on their Interests or frequent searches. Your Facebook ads can also carry over to Instagram this way. Twitter, Pinterest, and Google also have advertising options which you can try out. Tip 2: Hold social media contestsImage from RIgnite.com Challenge your audience into participating by offering them something they can’t resist: a bundle of perks, items, or even free shipping. These contests can be anything from a “sharing” contest where a certain number of random people who shared your post will win, to contests where they must submit content like drawings, writing, or their opinion on one of your products. Tip 3: Post things that are relevant to your products and to the holidayImage from @cocacola (Instagram) Judd Marcello, the vice president of marketing for Smartling, advices to “use social channels to get followers and fans to spread holiday cheer via promotions, deals, add-on sales and fun seasonal messages”. Whether your posts (particularly pictures) deal with your products directly or not, implying that you are with your customers in celebrating the holiday spirit appeals to them, and makes them engage more with your social media account and your website. 4. Make sure you post valuable contents for your holiday customersContent marketing is still an infallible part of any good strategy. It gives information in an entertaining manner, but also motivates and convinces your customers to act depending on the type of what they read. Most companies use holiday-themed content, but posts that resemble sales pitches become the norm when the “shopping season” sets in. Everyone wants to sell, but this just drives customers away.Image from christmas on Buzzfeed Focus on getting people to know and recognize your brand, and relating your company to events and topics that matter to your audience. Don’t force a connection to the point that it tries too hard or makes no sense – your customers will pick it up. Strike the balance between making your brand known and relating to your audience. Some of the topics you can go for are gift guides, 12 or 25 of something, holiday tips, or reminiscing posts (creating nostalgia). 5. Get in the holiday spirit with your website’s themeYour website’s appearance (as well as any other medium you use online) create interest and reinforce the holiday theme when you change its appearance accordingly. Some, however, think that there needs to be a complete overhaul of their theme and image when the holiday season rolls in. That doesn’t need to be the case – your branding can still shine through despite the change in atmosphere. Tip 1: Consider adding festive elements to your existing designImage from TheDeepEndDesign.com Sometimes it’s enough that you change the colors a bit to reflect the holiday’s traditional scheme. For example, your black-and-white minimalist website could do with a splash of red and green, or changing your header image to something that incorporates the traditional symbols for the holidays. If you feel like adding virtual lights or tinsel won’t make your website look cluttered, add it in as well. If you feel apprehensive about adding decorations in your website or doing festive cover photos and profile images for your social media pages, ask the help of a graphic designer you know, or hire one for your company. They can provide expert aesthetic opinion on designing and your websites and collaterals that your customers will appreciate as well. Tip 2: Look through your website provider’s themes gallery for an upgradeImage from ElegantThemes.com Some website providers like Wix and WordPress have galleries where pre-existing themes can be used or bought for your website. It could be a nice gift to your users to present a better-looking website layout with festive elements for the season. Try to retain some similar elements from your old theme with the new one, so the change would not completely confuse your users. Tip 3: Don’t overhaul your entire identity – just add and modifyImage from UnlockWindows.com We’ve mentioned it before; you don’t need to design a completely new logo or change your default color scheme just to make the holiday design fit. Google lets its logo look more festive by adding elements like gifts or making an “o” look like a peppermint candy, but the logo is still the same, recognizable brand. You’ll save a lot of stress by just seamlessly adding to your logo and not starting from the ground up when it isn’t needed. 6. Bring back abandoned cart shoppers by reminding and offering deals Cart abandonment is when your customers try shopping in your website, put some items in their carts, then suddenly disappear or stop before they checkout the items. Business Insider says that the number one reason why people do this is because of unexpected changes in pricing, which usually occurs through the addition of shipping costs. There is also the case of people just wanting to check out prices of items (which is why you should display prices outright beside the products), not being ready to purchase the items they were planning to, or not meeting the required value to avail of free shipping. Tip 1: Remind them of their carts thoroughly and quicklyImage from WebsiteMagazine.com In the case of not being ready to purchase the items, you can negate this by sending a personalized email to the abandoned cart shoppers to remind them that they still have remaining items in their cart, preferably 24 hours after they have abandoned it. That way, when they are ready to make a purchase, they remember their pending items. The email must include the items they were about to purchase and all related information about it, such as price drops, quantities they were looking to purchase, and other related items in their wish list. Informing about discount codes or other available offers, as well as scarcity notices, are also necessary information that can convince them to buy their pending items sooner. Step 2: Convince them to purchase NOWImage from Shopify.com You can also offer deals like a few days of reserving the items they were looking to purchase, especially if you pair this with the sense of urgency that there are limited stocks left. You can also give them discount codes that will expire in a set number of days (akin to an activation code that will only last for a few days before you are asked to register again) to trigger them into purchasing. 7. Drive in more purchases by offering incentivesNothing brings in more customers than incentives to buy and get what they want at a lower price. It’s part of the concept of reciprocity – when they buy something for you, you give something back to them in return. Tip 1: Offer themed dealsImage from ShensAddiction.com Chances are, your customers are looking for items from a set “category” to give out to people in their circles, for example, mothers that they know (e.g.  a friend who is a mother, an aunt, a neighbor) or fans of a certain show or movie franchise. By offering them themed deals, like giving them an item from the category list for free when they meet a certain amount of purchases from that category, they are encouraged to buy more to qualify for that offer. Tip 2: Free/discounted shippingImage from CreativeIntent.com In the above tip about cart abandonment, we mentioned that one of the major reasons why people don’t continue with purchases is because of shipping costs. Offering free or discounted shipping not only is a good way to minimize cart abandonment, but also entice buyers to purchase more to meet the required value for free shipping. Also, consider offering discounted shipping if their purchases fall near the requirement for free shipping. This way, those who are disappointed about not meeting the free shipping can still get some compensation for their numerous purchases, and your customers will appreciate the discount. Step 3: Coupons for first-time and top customersImage from Beeketing.com First-time customers need a little more convincing to purchase from you, while top customers can use the appreciation. Coupons are a great way to introduce your first-time customers to what you can offer and to thank them for choosing you, while top customers will more than likely recommend you more to their peers due to the great treatment they are receiving. 8. Gain year-long loyal customers by running back full circle post-holidaysAfter the holidays are over, it might be tempting to go back to your natural swing of things, but that’s leaving your whole strategy high and dry. It’s best to end it with a good note, and to actually wrap up your holiday promotions and marketing strategy. Marloes Oost of Mapp advises to keep in mind that your audience is probably thinking ahead to the coming year, and to “give them what they need to start their year off on the right foot”. In short, show them support and that you are still there for them.Image from Pinterest.com If these tips seem complicated, always remember that you don’t need to do every single one of them – just pick what you think is the most effective for you. Like Adam Baker would say, “Start small. Start with one.” If you tried out one of our tips, share your experiences in the comments! [...]
November 22, 2016Digital marketing / InfographicIf there is one thing in this information-driven world that many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have not fully utilize yet, it is the digital marketing. Truth be told, digital marketing has a lot of intricacies that a simple business owner might not be able to grasp right away. The fact that it operates on the internet makes it quite daunting, right? But this pointless fear towards digital marketing weighs no more than the benefits it can bring to your business. Unknowingly to the most business owner, putting up an online property is much easier and more affordable than building a brick and mortar store! Check this infographic as we offer our 4 step-by-step process that can help you achieve your business goals in today’s digital age.   [...]
October 28, 2016Content Marketing  In our last post, we have discussed the basic ideas about the strategy of content repurposing. As an effective way to maximize the mileage of your best content, content repurposing is such a unique way to keep your blog fresh and updated every now and then especially in times when you are running out of new ideas and concepts. To help you extend the life of the most successful contents in your blog, you come to the right place! Detailed below is the complete guide that will teach you how to repurpose your content to gain maximum audience reach, authority, and SEO boost while saving you a lot of time and effort along the process. Stage 1: Finding Content for Repurposing  1. Find Your Evergreen Content The first step in repurposing is turning to your evergreen content. This type of content has the elements which make it a perfect piece for a repurposed content that can drive traffic to your site. To find out which of your content qualifies as an evergreen here are the three characteristics that it should have:Timeless: Evergreen content stands the test of time. Except for sometimes needing a few tweaks here and there, evergreen content won’t change much and is practically everlasting. Valuable and High Quality: An evergreen content must be valuable and high quality enough to get noticed. If a piece of blog content that you intended to be evergreen isn’t valuable to your readers and doesn’t attract substantial views/engagements when it’s first published, it will never become evergreen. Canonical: An evergreen content is an in-depth, detailed, and it likely took you a lot longer to create than some of your other, non-evergreen blog contents.Example of an Evergreen Content Source: Moz 2. Check Your Site Analytics Aside from finding out your evergreen content, you can also use your most popular content that performed best in the past few months or even years. You can find out which of your content has resounded the most by looking at your site’s analytics. Here are some of the ways to find your top content in Google Analytics:Determine Your Time Frame- If you want to choose the best performing blog for this year, you have to set the start date at 1/1/ 2016 and the end date to the latest date possible.Source: VimmView All Pages- You can now view what pages on your site received the most page views for the year. Just scroll to the Behavior Selection then click Site Content and finally click on All Pages.Source: Vimm This will generate a report that shows all your content and the total amount of pageviews that each content has received which is shown below.Source: Vimm NOTE: Aside from your evergreen content and most popular post, you can also repurpose any other kind of content in your website if it presents value to your company and to your audiences such as the company’s background, customer testimonials, or product catalogs. Stage 2: Repurposing Content With your evergreen content and most popular content at hand, the next step is to transform this content into an equally engaging piece by means of changing the format and/or changing the target audience. 1. Create New Articles and Blog Post Certainly, your available high-quality content can be a source for new topics for your next article or blog post. Use either of your evergreen or most popular content and make each of your takeaway points into an individual blog post that adds more substance to the original post. To create new articles from your old post:Identify the key points in your old post that needs more explanation or refurbishing. Depending on your target audience, expand each subtopic and vary your tone and perspective for each type of readers (for beginners, intermediates, experts). Update any outdated information. Re-share your new blog post as a content upgrade on your own blog or on various social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and on social bookmarking sites such as Pinterest and StumbleUpon.  These Two Blog Post Only Revolves Around Relevant Topic (Social Media) but With Different Purpose and Scope Source: CJG Digital Marketing 2. Create a Presentation Some of your audiences might find some of your written content such as whitepapers too long to read. In that case, converting them into a slideshow/presentation is an ideal way if you want to maximize your long-form content as well as to attract more readers to your website. Here is how you convert your old post into a presentation:Break down your content into stand-alone points. Use one slide to feature your main point. Use the next slides to develop your main point. Don’t use bullets too much and make sure that each slide only includes one idea only. Use attractive images. It’s okay to use a lot of slides Include a call to action at the end of your slideshow.An Example of an Old Post Converted into a Slide Deck Source: Blogging Pro 3. Make a Video Content Videos are one of the most useful forms of video nowadays. According to a report from Cisco, by 2020, over 82% of all web traffic will come from video, which makes it an effective format to many content marketers who want to repurpose their old piece into a more visually engaging content. To create a video content using your existing blog:Break down your existing content into several key points and on which your script will develop. Invest in a good camera and great microphone to make your video more interesting to watch. Edit your video, but don’t overdo it. Publish your videos on your website, on YouTube or on your own social media profile.Customer Testimonials Converted into a Video Source: Convince and Convert 4. Design an Infographic Like video content, an infographic is made for those who learns visually rather than by written content. However, infographics usually present bite-sized content to make it easier for the audience to understand a certain topic and are also known for using a lot of statistics and vibrant images to make the content more credible and interesting to read. Here are the following steps to convert your old post into an infographic:If you can’t design your own infographic, consider hiring a firm who specializes in creating infographics since they have the knowledge and skills to transform your written post into a visual content. Create an initial layout on how you want your infographic to look like. The color and font of your choosing should match your brand image. Highlight the major points on your content and instruct the graphic designer to put emphasis on these points using vibrant images. Promote your infographic especially on Pinterest and Visual.ly.Example of an a Blog Post Repurposed into an Infographic 5. Create A Podcast There are people who prefer to listen to your content rather than to read it. And creating one doesn’t require too much effort and time. However, it is important to keep in mind that your recorded audio must be of quality to make it easier for your audience to understand what you are saying. Here are the steps in creating your own podcast:Choose a good microphone. A USB microphone that can directly plug directly into your computer is an ideal choice. You also should add a pop filter to filter out breathing sounds. Install a recording software. For starters, you can use Audacity since its free and it comes with an easy to use interface. It lets you record and saves your audio file into a variety of formats and it has some good tools for noise reduction. Break down your content into several parts to serve as the key points on which your script should revolve.You can promote your podcast on your own blog, on iTunes or on your own social media profiles for maximum exposure. Content repurposing can save you a lot of time and money as you continue to delve into the world of content marketing in the long-run. In fact, you can also consider the “repurpose-ability” of your future content before your start making one to ensure that the value of each is maximized and that you reach different segments of your audience. [...]
October 14, 2016Infographic / Paid AdvertisingThe main point of Digital Marketing for most business website owners is to draw in visitors that convert – turning them into leads or even sales. A particular website may have several sources of traffic, some of which may be free while others are paid. However, not all visitors to a particular website will convert. So, it is very important that your digital marketing efforts cater to a targeted audience otherwise, all your traffic generation efforts will go to waste. Digital Marketers should know that each source of traffic draws in a particular type of audience. But highly-targeted visitors who are very interested in your content, products and services have greater chances for conversion. These are the types of audiences targeted by a paid online campaign, and the following lists down the most effective paid traffic ideas that will deliver the results you want.  [...]
October 6, 2016Influencer MarketingIf you are feeling clueless about what Influencer Marketing is, don’t worry, because most likely, you have already encountered or been exposed to this popular form of marketing today. In today’s world where digital media and the internet are becoming commonplace for marketers to deliver their marketing message, the multi-million-dollar question of how to exponentially increase its impact to your untapped audience still remains one of biggest quest that needs a solution, or there’s an existing one already? Join us, as we discuss in this blog post the quick facts about the fastest growing online marketing strategy today: the Influencer Marketing. What is Influencer Marketing? Influencer Marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to a larger market. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead inspire or hire an individual to get out the word for you. It often goes hand-in-hand with two other forms of marketing: social media marketing and content marketing.The Relationship Between Content Marketing and Influencer Marketing Source: Pulp Functions What is an influencer? An influencer is an individual who has a substantial impact on a group of people who follows them on their blog or social media channels. They are called “influencers” because they have the power to move those followers to action. These individual are more than just marketing tools; they can be considered as social relationship assets.Journalist Academics Industry Analysts Professional Advisers Celebrities Individual brand advocatesTraackr has also made an infographic showing the different faces of influence:   Source: Traackr  Most of the time, these persons run their own blogs or do write ups for their own company. They can also be found in different social media platforms with thousands of people following and spreading their content all over their networks. The Evolution of Influencer Marketing Though it sounds like a new concept in marketing, the use of influential people to connect the brands with their audience isn’t relatively new. In an in eBook by Tapinfluence, it was discovered that the first widespread use of influencer marketing can be traced back in the late 1800’s, as cigarette and home goods companies were endorsed by a celebrity.An Original Pears Soap Unilever Print Ad from 1900.  In 1955, the two-step flow theory by Lazarsfeld and Katz, claims the majority of people are influenced by secondhand information and opinion leaders. This reinforced the idea of leveraging the power of opinion leaders to get people to change their attitudes and behaviors.The Two-Step Flow Model Influencers only started as a regular people who were excited to share their thoughts, insights, and passions. Today, there are five areas in which the influencers world has evolved since its inception.Visual Content– Years ago, blogs were the usual platform for influencers. But today, content sharing is shifting to more short-form and visual platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Vine. Monetization– Banner advertising and CPM’s were originally used by influencers to monetized their blogs. However, the rising popularity of sponsored content was proven to give influencers a steadier source of income. Demographics- Moms used to dominate the market for sponsored content. Today, Millennials have overtaken parenting bloggers as the primary target audience for brands. Quality over Quantity- Influencers are now more involved throughout the marketing campaign process. This results in a more engaging content that has a longer shelf life and feels more authentic to the reader. Careers- Being an influencer means dedicating nights and weekends to a personal passion while still working for a regular paycheck. For many, these efforts have translated into a real income, as brands began hiring successful influencers to run promotional influencer programs in-house.Influencer Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing Many people are using influencer marketing and word of mouth marketing interchangeably. However, there is a solid difference that sets the two disciplines. Influencer marketing is the concept of engaging key individuals to leverage their already established influence among different people in their niche. An example if this is when an influencer tweets “This article from X company is a must read!” Word of mouth marketing happens when normal consumers pass a message coming from an influencer to their friends and families, resulting in a purely organic reach and exposure on brands. To cut it short: Influencer Marketing is the process while word-of-mouth marketing is often the medium. Here is an example is this Instagram post from Julie Sariñana, one of the top bloggers on the internet today who partnered with Chanel for this influencer marketing campaign:Source: SocialMedia Examiner Image Criteria for Influencer You cannot simply contact a famous blogger or journalist and tell them that you need their influence for your marketing campaign. There are some certain criteria that you have to follow to ensure that your ideal influencer is best fitted for your brand’s identity.Personality Type- Decide if you need an activist, an informer, an authority etc. to best promote your campaign or product. Genre- Such as technology, fashion, travel, marketing, etc. Niche- Know where industry your company belongs to. Topics- Pick a topic that your ideal influencer sometimes talks about on social media or blogs. You will be referencing this topic when you reach out and explain how you can work together. Type of Reach- Know your influencer’s channel that will best suit to your marketing campaign objective.Influencer Marketing: Why your Brand needs it Influencer marketing is considered as  the fastest growing online customer acquisition strategy. Aside from this, there are other facts and statistics revealed by Tomoson that proves that influencer marketing works:Businesses are making $6.50 for every $1 spent on in influencer marketingSource: AdWeek59% of marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets over the next 12 months.  Source: TomosonEmail and Influencer marketing are the most cost-effective channels, rated at 22%.  Source: Tomoson51% of the marketers believe they acquire better customers through influencer marketing. Asked about this result, Jeff Foster, SEO of Tomoson said that “Social Media users tend to spend more money, and are more likely to spread the word to friends and family”Source: TomosonWhen asked about the most effective platform for influencer marketing, 37% chose blogs and 25% chose Facebook.Source: TomosonMarketers consider sales figures to be the most important influencer marketing metric, selected by 56% of the participantsSource: Tomoson With its widespread use today, it is apparent that influencer marketing can help a business to further increase its identity into the eyes of the consumers. But more than that, this approach must always result in a stronger and more natural relationship between your brand and your customers. If done right, a successful influencer marketing can lead to higher customer engagement, increased sales, and stronger brand equity. [...]
September 22, 2016StorytellingEach of us has a fair share of stories that we’d like to hear or read even when we were just a kid. Somehow, these stories, tales, or anecdotes have brought us into a new realm where we can imagine ourselves dealing with the other characters, or perhaps stirring us to be like the protagonist itself- aspiring to be a better person or yet achieve our greatest dreams and aspirations in life. Having said that, a lot of the businesses today has gone dull and lifeless when it comes to telling their brand story so much in favor of their advocacy. Ask yourself: Does your customer know your company very well? Or maybe have you given them a different viewpoint on how you do your business? Just like how Geoff Mead- founder of Narrative Leadership Associates- have said: “They (companies) lose their extraordinary ability to stimulate both the feelings and imagination of the teller and the audience.” Aside from separating you from the “me too” crowd, creating a great and powerful story- poured with a splotch of creativity- will allow you to frame the uniqueness and value of your brand, building a much wider market that actually cares about and wants to buy your product. Brand StorytellingBrand Storytelling simply refers to sharing your company story to connect with your audience. It is the story of how your company or brand came into being. It’s an in-depth exposition of the company’s aspirations, vision, and mission. It should possess the following characteristics:It shows that your brand can transcend culture, time and location. It bridges the gap between the consumer and the brand by showing how the company can also relate to the sometimes hostile realities of everyday life. It offers valuable insight into human weaknesses, poor choices and frailty. It tells the story of a company that cares about its consumers, which should be the reason why it created a product to minimize the pain points of everyday living.Quicksprout, on the other hand, defined what brand storytelling is NOT:A long-winded, 5-paragraph essay about your company A blog post Something isolated A fragmented view of your company Something reserved for the marketing team only A PR stunt A viral video A tool to manipulate customers and prospects Boring Artsy  John Simmons quotes Robert McKee in his book The Invisible Grail An Effective Way to Connect with Your Audience Many companies like Lego, Coca-Cola, and Google have become known not only for their mastery in their respective industry but also of their propensity for storytelling as well. Compared to traditional advertising, brand storytelling is the most effective way to connect with your audience today. It is done through the following techniques:The Classic Theory Pattern- This technique is by far the simplest way to craft your story.  One example of classic story patterns is “The Hero’s Journey,” in which a person seeks to right a wrong or overcome their past. It follows the simple pattern of having a “protagonist” and “antagonist” in the story which makes it relatable to many. Authentic Story- The best way to tell a story is to tell a true story. You can tell the story about the original recipe that your grandmother has developed 50 years ago. Or have interviews with real people in your next video presentation. Just make everything relatable, likable, and real. Don’t Sell Your Product- You aren’t going to sell your product, but you are going to allow your story to sell your brand.For example, Budweiser created an ad few years ago to help reduce drunk driving. The lead in the commercial was shown adopting a puppy, taking care of it until it is a grown up dog. One night, the lead goes to his friend’s house to have a drink. Later, that man was shown driving, while the dog is waiting for him to come home. Morning comes and we are left to believe that the man was killed in a car accident- the dog’s fate unknown. Finally, the man returns and tells his dog he slept at a friend’s house. Budweiser didn’t have to sell their beer to gain support for their brand. All they say is:   Designing Your Brand StoryYou can ask the following questions to develop your brand story:The reason for the Company’s Creation– What is the reason for your existence? To answer this, you must identify first the purpose of your company. By answering this, you can establish a clear idea on what sets you apart from the competition. Company History/Background– Elaborate the struggles that your company had to endure when it came into being and the challenges it overcame in the process. The Protagonist– Identify the key people who played a large role or greatly influenced your company to reach its current situation. It can be your employees, the CEO, or even the customers as well. Their own insights can make your story more appealing to emotions because of their fresh perspective on how well you coped with struggles and challenges. Corporate Mission– Identify what you want to achieve. Showcase the solutions that you are offering that can solve the pain points of day-to-day struggles in life. Share Your Failures– Showing to your audience that you, too, had to face failures is a great way to connect with them on a deeper level. Failure is the evidence that you’ve sincerely tried your best, just like everybody else. Your ability to bounce back after each failure is a strong demonstration of humanity- which is a long lost element in the marketing industry today. Business Gaps– There are times when business is at its peak, but before that, there will be times when our company cannot escape the harsh reality after committing mistakes. Accept the challenge by showing to your audience that you’re willing to give in everything to be better.Additionally, here is the 20 Keys to A Brand Story, courtesy of The Story of Telling:   As we are being choked by a lot of commercials that only talks about profit and actual utility of the product, it is nice to have a fresh breath of air through storytelling. Even without your product, your brand story can immediately ignite your audience’s emotion, thus a higher level of connection is made. As such every time they see your logo, visits your website, or reads about your blog posts, all they will remember is the great story that is behind your company’s success. 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September 16, 2016Content Marketing / InfographicContent marketing has proven to be one of the valuable assets that a company can use to engage and inform customers. Since 2010, companies throughout the world has steadily increased their allotted budget for their content marketing strategy. And on top of that: There are now over 4.6 billion pieces of content produced daily, surpassing the amount of information that humans have produced in the last 5,000 years. In this content-rich digital world, how do you plan to make your content stand out? In this infographic, we will present to you the best eight content marketing practices that can help you improve your content marketing campaign in 2016 and beyond. [...]
September 2, 2016Content Marketing / InfographicCreating new content on a regular basis is not an easy task, specifically if you are new in this field. With many of the industries experts saying that in order to stay on track, you should create x number of content within a week, which is quite exhausting especially when you operate your business with a limited workforce. Fortunately, a great content that was already produced a long time ago can be recycled and repurposed into a new and equally engaging content. Content repurposing is the simple concept of reusing a piece of content into something new and different, that can further extend the life of your content, maximizing your investments along the way. Check-out the infographic below as we explain what this strategy is and how it can help boost your campaign. [...]
August 18, 2016Content MarketingGIF source. Content marketing is something that most businesses today should never take for granted. In fact, it’s the leading marketing strategy among today’s biggest digital-based economies. That is why each year, hundreds of seminars and workshops are done  all over the globe, all with one goal: To be better at doing content marketing. But for you who don’t have that much time and budget to travel across the world, we have compiled in this post all the necessary things that will transform your own content marketing campaign for good. 1. Set the Foundation First The very first step that you have to take for a successful content marketing campaign is to establish a strong footing on the fundamental aspects of content marketing such as the content marketing plan, your objectives and target audience, and the publishing platform that you will use for each type of content that you will create.Create Your Content Marketing Plan – You have to create a document file that will guide you on all the content marketing actions that you will take. Hubspot offers a free content planning template if you are having trouble to start from the scratch. Set Your Objectives – It is important to have a clear vision on what you are aiming to achieve for developing a content marketing plan. To help you establish a concrete goal, just remember that it has to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound), should answer the question “What do you want to do for your customers?” and should stick to your core message. You can find more inspiration at MissionStatements.com Identify Your Target Audience- To pinpoint your target audience, you have to: 1. Select the specific people who are interested in your topic and, 2. Make sure that it is a viable market. You also have to create a persona that will represent the average person in your target market, and your content should sound as if you are writing for that specific persona. Devise Your Content Strategy – You need a strategy for every content that you will create. It should contain a benefit statement or tag line crafted from your core message, and keywords crafted from your secondary messages that will summarize. You will use this two as your guidepost for every content that you will make. You also have to specify the type of contents you want to create. After you finished identifying each one, you should write it down to your content marketing plan and editorial planner.Figure 1Types of Content from JeffBullas.comChoose Technology Platform- You have to specify what technologies you are going to use to deliver your content to your target audience. It could be in the form of:WordPress- for website/blog combination YouTube and Vimeo- for videos Stitcher and iTunes- for podcast Amazon– for eBooks Facebook, Twitter, Google+ – for social interactionYou should also set an objective for each channel, and decide how you are going to use each platform. For example, you can use Facebook to engage your customers in a more personal way, and Twitter to share some quotations and personal thoughts about your niche.  2. Set an Editorial Calendar You need an editorial calendar to be able to catch up on every content that you are scheduled to create. This will make your content marketing strategy more organize and consistent, and consistency is one of the keys to achieving success in content marketing. To create an editorial calendar, this steps from Hubspot will help you to create one:Make or download a calendar template. Hubspot offers free templates which contain three editorial templates: One for Google calendar, one for Excel, and one for Google sheets. Open the Google Calendar and select “Create new calendar” under the “My Calendars” drop-down arrow on the left-hand side of your screen. Fill out all the necessary field but don’t select “share this calendar to others” yet. When you’re done filling in the details, click “Create Calendar” Select “Import calendar” under the “Other Calendars” drop-down menu on the left side of your screen. Choose file and then locate the CSV file entitled “Blog Editorial Calendar – Google Calendar” that was included in the ZIP file you downloaded with the offer. For the “Calendar” option, be sure to choose the name of the calendar you just created from the drop-down Then, click “Import.” A dialog box will appear saying that 7 events were added, click “Close”. Navigate to January 3, 2016, and you should see one “Blog TBD” calendar event on each day from 10 am to 11 am. Fill the calendar with your publishing schedule. It is up to you if you want to publish every day, but remember to always go with the quality of your content than quantity. If you have a regular publishing schedule, like every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10 am, for instance, then put that in as a recurring “slot” on your calendar. Just select one event and click on the days that you want that event to repeat. Share your editorial calendar with others by clicking “Share this Calendar” option in the drop-down menu beside your editorial calendar.3. Don’t Forget to Set-up your KPI’s In content marketing, it is very important to track all your key performance indicators to give you the idea on the success of your content, and the projected return on investment rate for money spent. If you don’t have any idea which KPI to choose, Neil Patel has suggested a few key metrics:Comments – People usually comments on content that gets their attention and engages them. Track the number of comment you get on every content you post, and as much as possible, analyze each comment for spam and malicious links. This will ensure that your audience’s discussion is not distracted from the topic you posted. Page Views – This metric provides a solid understanding of the type of reach you’re gaining with your content. SimilarWeb offers a free service that will help you to have some estimated value and daily page views of a certain website. The example below shows the total visits and other information of the of Forbes website using SimilarWeb: Average time on page – Consider this metric as the “amount of interest” that your audience has to your content. Also known as dwell time, this signifies the amount of time it takes a user to come back to Google after looking at a site. Social Sharing – If your content is shared across different social media platforms, it only means that your content is helpful, fresh, and worth reading. Keyword Ranking – You need to consider the role of keywords and ranking in your content. If your site has a low search engine ranking for targeted keywords, it means that your content is not attracting organic traffic.4. Build the Right Team Aside from your topics, metrics, and tools, the success of your content marketing strategy will also depend on the human element: Your Content Marketing Team. To ensure that you have the right people that will help you to achieve your content marketing goal, here are the four tips from Inside Content Marketing for building a content marketing successful team:Hire a Journalist – Writers with journalistic experience has the same skill set as copywriters do. And they know a good story when they see one, and can bring a new perspective to your marketing efforts. Outside Expertise – Having an outsider’s perspective on your business and content will help you assess if you are slipping into sales and marketing talk which is the furthest thing from the kind of compelling storytelling required for a successful content marketing. Invest in Education – Content marketing is always evolving. There’s always a new technique, approach, or tool out there on a near-daily basis. Helping your team to grow and learn more holistically about content marketing will give them more confidence in their work. Online certifications and courses offered by Online Marketing Institute and Skillshare abound to help content marketers to stay at the top of their game. You May Need a Publisher – Publishers may have the reach that you may not. They also know their audience and can help you connect with them. Working with publishers to create custom content can help you reach a wider audience and do so more effectively.5. Write your Content…like a Pro Now that you have completed all the basics, it’s time to go to the next step which is creating content. All content starts with the written word or concept, either it’s a blog post, an eBook, an image, or podcast. To learn how to write a relevant, creative, and engaging content, just follow the steps below.Choose Your Topic- The major source for your topic is your editorial calendar. Check it and see what’s scheduled for production. If you feel like creating something that will perform very well in social media, you can BuzzSumo to help you come up with titles. With BuzzSumo, you can create content based on topics that have the most shares. Do Your Research – Look for information that will prove your points and validate your opinions. This could be in the form of quotes, statistics, case studies, stories, and ideas from respected authorities. Feedly, which you can see below, can help you to save and organize useful articles and statistics coming from different sites that could serve as your source for your future content.Organize your Ideas – All of your collected information should be in the structure of: Introduction, to get people’s attention and tell them what information they’re going to get if they keep reading; Body, is where you elaborate your main point; Close, to summarize all your and bring back everything to your main point; and Call to Action, where you tell people what they need to do next. Write Your Draft – You should only be roughing out your ideas in writing draft, so don’t exert too much effort on perfecting it. Pick and develop one part of your article at a time e.g. Introduction. A startling statement or surprising statistic in the introduction can help you hook people’s interest to get them reading. Just remember to sustain your tone and keep your message as coherent as possible as you go through the other parts of your content. Edit. Edit – Before you proceed in this step, remember to give yourself a little bit of rest to ensure that your mind will function very well in correcting every small detail of your content. After that, you can now evaluate your written piece: from its organizational structure, introduction, title, to tweaking the language. There are online tools such as Grammarly that will help you to proofread your content by checking its grammar, contextual spelling, punctuation, style, and sentence structure.  6. Include Visuals in Your Written Content BuzzSumo found that posts with an image every 75-100 words got the most shares across the platforms. Having said that, images are an effective way to get people read your whole post, and putting enough images between sections will help them to understand better your points. To do this, you have to:Use an image at the top of the post, either before the text or after the first sentence o first paragraph. If possible, try to include image between every section of your content. This will make every section more interesting to read. Choose colorful images to prove some of your points. It may include colorful graphs or colorful image banner.This example shows a colorful image banner which also includes the title of the blog post:  7. Explore Evergreen Contents Evergreen content is a type of content that is not usually get out of date, always appear fresh and timeless, and very useful and relevant to readers. Creating one is a great strategy for improving your search rankings, as well as improving your content.  Here are some simple tips on how to create an evergreen content:Write for beginners to make it as readable and comprehensible as possible. Make a compelling headline. Make your topic as specific as possible Make it sound like it offers immediate value.A good example of evergreen content is this one for fixing flat tiresYou can learn more about Evergreen Content in our previous post 10 Actionable to Create an Evergreen Content According to Experts. 8. Try Newsjacking You can leverage on trending and popular news stories to increase the media mileage of your content. It’s a simple strategy that can bring a lot of benefits such as improved brand reputation, higher traffic, and increase social shares and activities. Follow this simple tips to create your first newsjacking content:Mark your editorial calendar for special events throughout the year. This will give you the time to plan how you will relate the event to your business. OnThisDay is an online calendar that can help you track special events that happened on a specific date Monitor the news and stories on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to help you identify news fit for newsjacking Avoid newsjacking stories about death and tragedy. Post your content when it is most relevant.A good example of newsjacking article that we did was this about the marketing lessons in Pokémon Go:You can learn more about Newsjacking on our previous article Newsjacking in Content Marketing – Things You Should Know 9. Use Influencer Marketing to Promote your Content Promotion is a vital step to ensure that your target audience will get your message. And because the Internet today is so crowded than it was few years ago, a strategy like Influencer marketing can help you to reach your audience as quickly and easy as possible. To use influencer marketing in your content promotion, you can follow this simple steps from Convince and Convert:Create a list of potential influencers who influences your buyers. You can do this by typing in your business keywords on Twitter and LinkedIn search box. Meltwaters Blog Search Engine as well as Twingly are valuable resources if you are looking for influential bloggers. Once you have identified a list of influencers, prioritize them based on who you think will have the most impact, focusing your efforts on just a few at a time. Send them a personalized e-mail that explains that you have been following them for a while and would like to introduce yourself and your business. Make the process of working with you as easy as possible. Send them a thank your e-mail for their work and ask them to share the content with their audience.One best example of use of influencer marketing is this one, targeted to trendsetters and early adopters:  10. Repurpose your Content It’s natural to feel tired thinking and thinking of new topics for your content. But luckily, there is a secret in producing a new one and it is called Content Repurposing. The idea behind this is to reuse the idea and other information in your past contents and refashion them into something original like in a new format. To repurpose your content, you can:Take an interesting part from one of your last post e.g. interesting point or fact, then flesh it out for another post where you can discuss it even further Collect all your blog post that are well-received by your audience and compile them into an eBook Turn your how-to posts into a video tutorial Turn your blog post into an infographicIn the image below you can see how we repurposed our standard blog post into an infographic: 11. Consider Paid Content Promotion Social media marketing is an invaluable tool for boosting one’s content in terms of social shares, traffic as well as buzz around them. Steps:Identify which contents you would like to be promoted (we usually promote ALL of our blog posts) Select which channels you would like to use (FB works better, Twitter, Instagram have options as well) Choose your desired budget (the higher the better exposure, reach, social shares and traffic) Select the duration of the promotion Rinse and repeatYou can also explore different paid content promotion channels such as Outbrain, Taboola, Disqus and so on. 12. Strategic Content Outreach The last and most actionable tip we can offer you is the implementation of strategic outreach. In our experience, this works better for visual contents such as infographics, videos and visual guides. Steps:Identify the niche or category of the content you would like to promote Search for authority and relevant blogs in that niche or category Prepare your customized outreach email per blog Find the contact us page or editor’s email Send the customized email one at a time (prepare to do some negotiation) Follow-up unresponsive editors Rinse and Repeat.Success in content marketing only comes if you have the habit to continually improve yourself. In this ever-changing digital world, content marketing, combined with the power of social media outreach, link building, and SEO is necessary to bring in the positive results plays a large role in any digital marketing efforts. But it is also important to keep in mind that those tips are not only meant to keep you on track but ultimately, it is for your readers and audiences, who will certainly benefit from your well-crafted contents. [...]
August 9, 2016Infographic / SEOSince Google rolled out its Penguin Update last 2012, many SEO people (including me) soon began to panic and realized the cold hard truth that excessive link building is not going to cut it anymore. A lot of SEO companies with their clients soon began to notice that Google is dead serious in its efforts to combat spam, a lot of business owners had been penalized due to Penguin which had a profound impact in the SEO community as a whole. The industry is forced to think beyond the box and thus it gave birth to what we call now as link earning. Knowing the difference between link earning and the traditional link building for someone who are still clinging to the old SEO mindset of the past might be harder to grasp. But we hope that this piece will give you a clearer idea of their differences. To help you more understand their differences, here is an overview: Link earning is an approach that uses the quality, usefulness and relevance of your contents to earn citations or credits back to your site. Link building on the other hand, focuses  more on  the intent of finding websites that would allow you to create links back to your site, taking little or no regards to the relevance or value of the content. Whether link earning strategy is a higher evolution of link building or not, it’s one of the most efficient ways to rank well in search engines, considering that Google want us to focus more on quality. This infographic will show why link earning has essentially replaced traditional link building as a technique to achieve sustainable and long-term Google rankings. [...]
August 2, 2016Marketing LessonsImage source:giphy.com It’s almost been a month since the released of the newest and one of the most successful mobile game in the history- the Pokémon Go. With over 30 million users worldwide, the game has already earned around $35 million in revenues, and is even overtaking the world’s biggest social networks, too. The global success of this mobile game is really an inspiration not only in the gaming sector but to other industries as well. In fact, a lot of small business are now capitalizing this phenomenon. Local stores, restaurants, movie theaters and other businesses are driving huge amounts of foot traffic and conversions by simply “luring” Pokémon trainers inside their Pokéstop stores. Whether you’re a fan or not, there is no stopping this worldwide hit game. In this post, we consider why Pokémon Go has been a huge success- and the marketing lessons we can all learn from this nostalgic mobile gaming app. 1. Be Proactive in Attracting Customers One of the perks of this game is that you can use “incense” to lure Pokémon monsters. Many users have used this feature to catch Pokémon without going outside of their houses. But just recently, a Reddit user sneaked through the  game’s code and found out that incense spawns one Pokémon every five minutes while in fix position, and 1 Pokémon every minute while moving.  This lead to many app users being infuriated because they have used so much incense without knowing how to use it more efficiently. As a marketer or business owner, you don’t want to be in the same situation wherein you are like a Pokémon trainer waiting and spending money just to realize that you could have gained more customers if you made the first move of engaging with them. Many businesses fail at this because they thought that their customers will go rushing inside their store after displaying their products in the rack or writing the menu on the display board. Unfortunately, that is not the case, in fact you could be missing out a lot potential customers just because you think that capturing your customer’s attention is as rare as finding the deceptive Mewtwo. Make sure that you implement your marketing tactics efficiently by proactively seeking and reaching your customers through sending your marketing message in various channels. Whether it’s a monthly e-mail, regularly posted blog content or social interaction, keeping them engage with your brand or business will always reward you with satisfying results. This part of the infographic by OpenView shows the statistics of the power of proactive prospecting:2. Give the Best Customer Experience Most part of this game requires you to walk around the block, or even the whole city, to collect those Pokémon. This type of experience that delights our five senses and gives us new ways to craft memorable experiences are the main reason for the success of the said game. If your customers have a good experience with your product, then expect them to pay you with loyalty. Whether it’s the thrill of hunting Aerodactyl in the park, or providing a smooth checkout process with an enticing free-shipping offer, customer loyalty will be guaranteed. This statistic from Genesys shows the direct relationship between customer experience and customer loyalty/retention.   3. Having a Strong Marketing Mix In Pokémon Go, the player will have the opportunity to join one of the three Pokémon trainer teams prior to finding a Pokémon Gym. When capturing a gym, you have to analyze your Pokémon monsters and create a team of six that will try to take down the Pokémon that guards the gym. Now a lot of actions will follow through: you tapping your phone like crazy until the blue bar at the top of your screen is full, that lets you fire a stronger hit to beat down the other Pokémon. Now, what it has to do with marketing? As you can see, managing a business in today’s tightly competitive market requires an extensive analysis to create an equally competitive strategy that can give you an upper hand in the competition. Researching and analyzing your company’s strengths and weaknesses is the first step. Then you also have to know the same thing about your competitors. Understanding the current situation of the industry and other factors that might affect your business operations will then follow. All of the information gathered are vital on which aspect of marketing mix- product, price, people, distribution, and promotion will give your product a competitive advantage that can surely take down your competitors and give them a run for their money. 4. Brand Identity  If you grew up in the 90’s, it is impossible that you never heard of the massive phenomenon called “Pokémania”. Now that the people who have played Pokémon in their Nintendo game consoles 20 years ago are all grown up, many of them are all excited to fulfill their childhood dreams of catching Pokémon in real life. With the hype all revved up again, it is almost surreal for Pokémon creators to experience the massive phenomenon happening again after 20 years, and this time with larger audience. This just proves the power of an effective branding strategy with a large market presence, which can always dominate the market with a great product with very minimal effort, even after the years have passed. Wonder what makes people go crazy again about Pokémon Go? The infographic from Business2Community  shows the different aspects of why consumers follow a particular brand:   5. Keep Your Customers Well-Informed The enjoyable game itself has a downside too. Many of the Pokémon Go users complained about its lack of basic instructions or advice about how to actually power up or evolve their Pokémon monsters. Though there is a “help center” option, it is buried in the game’s settings screen that also links to developer Niantic’s help page. That is why it is no wonder that a bunch of explainers and tutorials about how the Pokémon gameplay works flooded the internet. As a marketer or business owner, we want our customers to be fully knowledgeable about our product or service offering, without them relying on other parties for source of information. Inaccurate and incomplete information, aside from it gives your customer a less delightful experience, it might also result to lower customer retention and eventually, loss of sales. Sure enough, Pokémon Go will still manage to improve itself, and so is your business. This statistic from BenchmarkPortal shows how volatile SMB’s are when it comes to sending valuable information to customers:6. The Power of Viral Marketing If you come to think of it, Pokémon Go creators didn’t have invested that much in advertising. Beyond a handful release of notifications from their official twitter account, and a 3-minute trailer released in YouTube, no TV commercials for this game have been commissioned and in-app advertising is very minimal. Niantic, the creators of Pokémon Go, has only relied on word-of-mouth to promote the game, prior and after of its release date. Unofficial viral pictures, videos and social media posts shared online that reference created the buzz about the game, even many of them haven’t played it yet. This is by far the strongest proof of the power of viral marketing to increase brand exposure and improve the relationship with the existing audience. Check the infographic from Smart Insights to know why word-of-mouth is the most influential element that drives purchase decision today.   7. Find The Gap Undeniably, Pokémon Go has greatly innovated how mobile gaming should be. From taking advantage of people’s desire to seek adventure and try something new in this vast digitized world, to the utilization of Augmented Reality to make the gaming experience more exciting, it is very evident that Niantic, has tapped something magical that lead to the success of the game. This sets the rule that whatever industry you belong to, it is your duty to be always keen on what has not been provided yet in the market. In a study conducted by Lab42 reveals that customers are willing to pay more for innovative products, especially in electronics. Whether it’s a new customer experience or unique product feature, innovation done right will always lead to increased customer satisfaction and retention. 8. Simplicity is the Key“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. With thousands of gaming apps available today, it is a very tough job for a game developer to create something that will really stand-out in the market. While most of them are fully packed with high definition graphics and visual design, Pokémon has managed to keep their game as simple as possible, which makes it fairly easy to play for the user. Today, marketers see consumers as web-savvy, information-driven individuals who swoop on whichever store offers the best deal. Because of this, companies have ramped up their marketing message to promote customer interaction, to the point that almost overwhelms their customers. Most people do not like complexity when dealing with your business or product, it might get them dizzy! In fact, in the annual Global Brand Simplicity Index released by Siegel + Gale revealed that those businesses-called “disruptors” outperformed many of the biggest brands because they are able to deliver top-notch customer experience with simplicity as the core of their value propositions. The lesson to be learned here is to stop doing your complex and pushy approach to your customers and start simplifying your business: address the existing problem and solve it in the simplest way possible. The images below are screen grabs from the video of Siegel + Gale that shows why simplicity is the key for your business success.Who would have thought that this newest game in town could bring so much lessons to all marketing practitioner and professionals? With its introduction of using social community and latest technologies it is certain that Pokémon Go has set the gaming standards higher in today’s technology driven world. With these marketing lessons, we hope that we have given you a different perspective on how a simple mobile game can actually improve the marketing aspect of your business. [...]
July 26, 2016Infographic / SEOSince the technology today allows more possibilities more than ever and gives us the opportunity to reach as many people as possible, a large number of businesses such as start-ups and even those who have been in their industry for a long period of time are considering to place their bets into the online world. To have a long lasting win in the competitive market, business owners are seeing Digital Marketing as their ticket to success. One of the most efficient and effective ways of digital marketing is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. SEO according to Search Engine Land, is the process of getting traffic from the free and organic (non-paid) search results on search engines. So if you have or own a business, seeking the help of an SEO to improve the quality of your website to get a higher page ranking on the search engine results is one of the smartest way to build your presence online. Higher traffic to your website could mean many things: potential customers, improved brand awareness, and possible partnership with other people that are interested in your products or services. But not every day is a good day, its easier said than done. SEO itself is a complex discipline, which is primarily because search engines like Google uses an ever-evolving algorithm. Success in improving one’s ranking in search engine results requires set of skills to meet the demand of different algorithms being implemented in various search engines. There is always a way to succeed, but the path to failure is easier. Join us, as we take a look at some of the SEO mistakes you should not make if you want to maximize SEO for your business.  [...]
July 19, 2016Digital marketingWriting a post about a current trend or fad will surely attract large number of visitors to your website. But have you ever asked yourself if the content you just posted will stay relevant in Internet in the next few months or years? It is not a doubt that one of the goals of content marketers is to write something that is going to be useful for their audience and website over time. So discovering how to harness the power of Evergreen content can be your key to a successful content marketing campaign. Evergeen content is usually a content that does not get out of date, always appears “fresh” and “timeless”, and lastly very useful and relevant to readers. On this article, we have compiled the tips to create an evergreen content straight from the experts in this field and steps on how to do them, check them out below. 1. Write for Beginners – Stephanie Norman of Positionly.com Why? Because many of your readers out there are only just starting out on the topic you are writing about. Remember that your goal here is to write a content that will impart knowledge to your readers over time, especially for the newbies. Things to do:Start with an introduction by explaining what your topic is all about. Explain common ideas and knowledge in your industry for your reader. Avoid using technical words too much, but if cannot, explain them.This infographic from Red Evolution is a great example of a piece written for newbies in SEO:2. Don’t Overdo it- 1st Quality Content Overdoing your topic may get your readers confused and bored if you focus too much on it. Try to keep your content as simple and dynamic as possible by:Avoiding information overload by using some informative and entertaining information.3. Write a convincing headline- Graham Charlton of Search Engine Watch Sometimes, a convincing headline is all that it takes to persuade your visitors to click your blog article. A convincing headline should be but not limited to:Unique, so your readers will perceive your post as fresh and different. Specific, to let your readers know whether or not you are presenting something interesting for them. You can also use numbers, so that your readers will know how much information they are going to get in your blog. Should convey usefulness, to give the readers a reason to continue reading.A good example of a headline that has these qualities is this blog from Stylist: 4.Be the definitive source – Kevan Lee of Buffer Blog By being the ultimate expert on the topic you are covering, search engines like Google will definitely love you and will give you a sweet spot in its search results page. You can achieve this by:Making sure that your article is “in-depth” and contains all the elements that your topic should cover. Pulling a research process to gain more knowledge from interviews and other documents related to your topic.5. Narrow down your topics – Ramsay of Tyrant Blog One of the major characteristic of an evergreen posts is that it only covers a very specific topic.  This ensures that you will sustain the originality in your post and will also provide you the opportunity to create another topic related to the one you are writing.Break down your general topic into its sub-topics Choose which of these sub-topics is the most compelling and what the readers will expect from you to write.6. Consider writing in different formats – Sujan Patel of Search Engine Journal Evergreen content does not only come in articles (usually in a text format). So if you ever have a hard time writing your first one, consider the following formats:How-to’s, Guides and Tutorials – If you have some knowledge on how to create or do something (like this one) in a step by step manner, this format is for you. Let’s just assume that the steps or techniques involve will not be outdated in the near future. Infographics – Perhaps the most widely used format these days. Infographics are simple visual contents that were converted from text contents. Infographics usually works well vs the standard format due to its nature of easy readability. (If you ever need an infographic creation service, don’t hesitate to drop us an inquiry). Frequently Asked Questions- FAQ posts reflect what the beginners want to know in your niche. You can follow great examples compiled at Hongkiat website. Definition Post- Explaining something for beginners has and will never go out of style. It also makes a great evergreen content, too. From “What is Content Marketing” to the “What is CMS”, definition post is one of the easiest content to create since a lot of information are out there already. Just make sure to add twists and latest information and you are way to go. Historical or Origin Posts- This one requires more time to make since you have to research about the history or origin of the subject first. But when done right, it will usually pay off. A great example is this infographic from our blog about the history of Google Updates:If you want to see more formats to use in writing evergreen content, check out this website. 7. Make it Action-oriented – Susanta Sahoo of Top League Technologist Write your evergreen content in a tone that it offers immediate value to its readers. The secret here is to use keywords that signifies immediacy like:Today Right now Immediately At once InstantlyIdeally, these keywords should be placed in your headline or in the meta description of your post. A great example for this one is this blog by Man Vs Debt: 8. Be comprehensive –  Al Gomez of Content Marketing Institute Perhaps, one of the most important (if not the most important) strategies that you can do to create an evergreen content is by making it comprehensive, longer and usable. If you go to the Internet’s most popular marketing blogs such us Buffer, Quicksprout, Hubspot, Content Marketing Institute among others. They all have 1 thing in common, most of these blogs have longer contents! So if you are wanting to create an evergreen content for your business, make them longer. But just because most successful blogs make them comprehensive does not necessarily mean you have to do it in ALL occasion. Some niche may not be suitable for longer and comprehensive strategy so be aware and use with caution. 9. Keep it up to date – Amie Marse of Business.Com Occasionally visit your content and check if some of the information you placed there are still up to date. Remember that change is constant and there is always a room for improvement. Here are the things to check if your evergreen content is still fresh as it’s supposed to be:Information that changes over the course of time. If you’re an SEO, these things are most probably the Google’s search engine algorithms. Information that has to be added aside from the things you placed in your content. Examples like: the newest factor that will help you to rank well in search results that has to be added in your list, or questions received in your social media account that has to be answered in your FAQ. If you placed links in your content, there is a chance that they are outdated. Updating your links is great because it ensures that your readers will get all the information you shared and Google’s search algorithm counts content freshness as their basis for ranking pages.10. Back-up your claims/points with citations (our tip) Perhaps the last important thing that you should remember if you want to create evergreen contents for your business or website is by backing up your claims or points with citations. Just like in the Academic setting, citing sources to back-up your claim is the norm. You will not be viewed as someone who has an integrity in the Academic setting without proper citations. In the digital marketing world, citation is a must too. You can’t go around claiming something to be true without a verifiable source or citation. So make sure that you properly cite authority sources with your points to make them much more powerful and thus make your content evergreen. Evergreen content is a must nowadays especially in complex world of digital marketing, and now you know how to create one! As they say, knowledge is power if properly applied, so apply these tips today and let us know the results. If you find this useful, just hit the share button and leave us with your thoughts below. [...]
July 8, 2016SEOLast year, Google unrolled one of its biggest announcement that probably left most SEO’s surprised and shocked (including me): search queries will now be processed and monitored through the support of a machine that is capable of teaching itself, and that is the new kid in SEO Town, Google RankBrain. Just like the old adage says “Necessity is the mother of all invention”, on what purpose is this machine was built? What is the science behind it? What benefits will it bring to its users? And is it a threat to SEO? Check-out my thoughts below. According to Google, brand new or unique search queries, make up the 15% of the total number of searches per day, which is a whopping 3 Billion queries, do the math and we will come up with 450 million ambiguous searches, that large amount of figure will probably make you think that Google’s research scientist has probably taken the wrong path in their lives. It is where the RankBrain will come into the picture. Starting from the simplest question up to the complex ones, join us and let us unravel on the next big thing that might change the way we search. What is Google RankBrain? It is a machine-learning artificial intelligence that is used to improve processing search queries.   This new system was developed to further increase the relevance of the results the users are looking for. This development sets another milestone in in history as machine-learning and artificial intelligence are brought to spotlight. What is Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence? Machine learning is a method of teaching computers to make and improve predictions or behaviors based on some data. Artificial intelligence on the other hand, is defined in practice as systems that are designed to learn and make connections. Those terms are fairly synonymous to each other, so you may hear them used interchangeably. Straight from science fiction novels and movies, machine learning and artificial intelligence are now the real deal for one of the biggest tech company in the industry. Is RankBrain the newest algorithm for ranking pages? The answer is no. RankBrain shouldn’t be confused with the existing search algorithm called Hummingbird. Hummingbird is the overall search algorithm that is responsible for ranking pages, and was developed to focus on word meaning while taking consideration of its context, semantic clues and proof words. The machine learning capability of RankBrain aims to improve the performance of the said algorithm. How does Google Rank websites? Google uses signals or ranking factors that makes it possible to guess what the users might really be looking for. According to Google, they have over 200 signals that help them to determine how to rank pages. Technically speaking, how a query is refined- which the RankBrain ensures, does not imply that each of the results presented were in good ranking. But according to Greg Corrado, senior research analyst of Google, RankBrain is now the 3rd most important signal or ranking factor, considering that it’s only been a few months since it first rolled out. But why is it so? Greg said in the interview in 2015 that RankBrain has a component inside of its system that has the capability of ranking pages. Google later revealed in March 2016 that the first two factors are content and link How does RankBrain refine search queries? According to Search Engine Land, the early days of refining search queries involves largely a group of people having created stemming list and synonym list or making database connection between things. And as stated earlier, 15% of the total searches per day are queries that Google had never seen before. Judging it from here, 450 million ambiguous searches is still a very huge number to be processed by humans. RankBrain is designed to effectively interpret and even translate long and unique searches by finding a pattern or semantic relationship between those queries, resulting into more relevant results. An example is when someone entered a query like “Pineapple house with circular window under the sea”. Through the help of RankBrain, Google will show the closest results for that query which is:From a technical point of view, Google stated that RankBrain converts those written verbal queries into a mathematical entity called vectors, and if RankBrain encounters words or phrases it is not familiar with, it will then make a “guess” by finding the most relevant set of vectors associated with the query itself and filter the results accordingly. A test was even conducted by Google to measure the effectiveness of RankBrain to predict the relevant pages it will display on top of Google results and it showed 80% relevancy rate versus the 70% of the old model which was handled by humans. How does RankBrain learn? RankBrain learns offline, according to Google. The machine learns by feeding it with batches of historical searches and if the predictions made were good, an updated version of RankBrain will go live and then the learn-offline cycle is repeated. How can I learn more about RankBrain? Since RankBrain’s concept largely plays on vectors, Google has posted a blog which talks about how the system learned the concept of capital cities just by various news articles. There’s even a research paper which can be viewed online about words and phrases and their compositionality. Google’s word2vec will also let you play your own machine while enjoying the interesting properties of words and exploring the vector representations of words and phrases. Should the SEO feel threatened by this new thing in Town? According to Adam Stetzer of Search Engine Watch, RankBrain has become a big game changer especially in local business industry. This biggest update from Google might help the local burger joint or home-based boutique shop to be on top of search results, thanks to RankBrain’s insight. As of now, it is safe to say that RankBrain is a friend, or a mentor perhaps. According to Aleh Barysehvich of Search Engine Journal, “One of the RankBrain secret is so simple that most of the online marketers miss nowadays: Learn from your audiences. Adapt to their change of needs. Find connection to what the people searches and what they want. Since it will all boils down on how the SEO manages a website, they must not only give emphasis on a content about single keyword phrase, but also creating contents that focuses on keyword phrases and other phrases related to that keyword.” At the end of the day, RankBrain was made to meet one goal: to cater the end-users need of quality, relevant information. And as an SEO professional or agency, your goals will mostly likely to align with Google’s and RankBrain is now one of your friends that can pave the way between your potential customers and your site. What do you think of RankBrain? Will it be likely to be used in much wider than just interpreting search queries? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. [...]