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As a small business we tend to focus on building and marketing our company brand. However, did you know that it is just as important to promote your own personal brand and this is even more crucial for small businesses, entrepreneurs and those who are in-between kick starting a side hustle. So, on this topic of personal brand, Little Steps Digital is excited to announce a partnership with Johnathan Maltby, Personal Branding and Career Consultant. As part of our partnership, Johnathan will be providing valuable insights on personal brand strategy, he is also offering some great personal branding services including one-on-one and business consulting also workshops. We look forward to collaborating and hosting some webinars for you.
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| Let’s just say that 2020 has been a year no one could have seen coming, and at the time of writing it continues to throw us curve balls! Small businesses as you know have been at the frontline in the trenches and taking every day as it comes. This means that it can be hard to focus on things like marketing, but if you are able to take that little bit of time each day on marketing, over time it will pay dividends. I have compiled some tips and tricks for those of us who are working from home and in need of a little inspiration to liven up their social media channels. |  |
1. Firstly, how to get inspired?
So, first things first, inspiration. Treat inspiration like redecorating your house. Ask, what are your options? This can be done like an interior decorator does when putting together an inspiration-board which has all the different materials, samples and breathtaking images.
You can create an inspiration-board for your social media channels. Creating an inspiration board is easy, you can start by writing down all your ideas, cutting out clever ideas from magazines or saving images from Pinterest.
Once you have the general vibe of what you want, make an action list for the concepts you think could make great content and before hitting the post button, it’s a good idea to review your content before posting immediately and ask the questions “What do I want to achieve from posting on Social Media?” “What are my company values?” “How do I want to be perceived?”
2. Enough of that, it’s time to make a real mess!
After you have your inspiration-board ready, it’s time to get creative. If you are working with a physical product, why not set up your own photo shoot. Look around your house and rummage through those old boxes, there are sure to be some good props around the house. If you are struggling, your garden or local park could also be a treasure trove of leaves, flowers, seeds and fallen branches or pebbles. Once you have some props which match the vibe from your inspiration board, try to think how you can set up your product and treat it like a small photoshoot. You need to consider the lightning and the background—and always think outside the box, you will be surprised by your results! I try to use natural light where possible and time your shoot around it.
Here is an example I like by an Australian jewellery brand called Kristin Ash (https://www.instagram.com/p/CDNPdd2JxcR/), they have some very impressive posts to get you inspired for your own shoot using props like magazines, trinkets, plants, or a piece of fruit.
Another cool idea is to take advantage of any interesting materials in your house, use natural materials/objects/things you have in your house to showcase your product (timber table, marble counter top, plants, veggies, fruits, chopping boards, any type of stones or linen). Here is a great example using your kitchen counter top: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCfbFXapd-5
Be sure to also keep abreast of the latest trends, 2020 is the ‘golden year’ despite the pandemic, so don’t hold back. Anything you have in your house that is gold looking, for example, use your gold / brass side table as a stand, work with what you have and play with your house and use it to help your products look even better.
And, if all else fails you can simply hold your product in your hands, and don’t forget to take care of them before you shoot, wear a nice ring, bracelet and maybe that nail polish you always wanted—now you have the perfect excuse!
3. Shoot your product and touch it up
Once you decided what you want to shoot, where you’re going to shoot it, it’s time to think about how. You don’t need a fancy camera to produce good content on Social Media, you can easily shoot with your phone, but remember, don’t zoom! It’s always better to move closer (zoom results in a lower resolution image) and then if it needs cropping, this can easily be done in your phone or computer.
Also, be creative when it comes to taking a picture of your product or even if it’s a normal inspirational post, try to use different angles (lie down to the floor, take a picture from above, use an interesting corner, or reflection etc), the less postprocessing the better.
4. Make a habit of it
Once you have done your first shoot, keep your inspiration-board ready and don’t be afraid to mix it up to keep things fresh, but with all things it’s best to make this a habit. Maybe allocate some time each week and keep up with your content creation (even from home!).
Also, even when everything returns to normal, keep up your routine and continue creating your own content, it is a great time to be creative, and see things from a different point of view - never underestimate the power of creativity, it is in everything we do.
Let your mind go and remember never think you can’t do it; you just need the right motivation to get you started.
So, first things first, inspiration. Treat inspiration like redecorating your house. Ask, what are your options? This can be done like an interior decorator does when putting together an inspiration-board which has all the different materials, samples and breathtaking images.
You can create an inspiration-board for your social media channels. Creating an inspiration board is easy, you can start by writing down all your ideas, cutting out clever ideas from magazines or saving images from Pinterest.
Once you have the general vibe of what you want, make an action list for the concepts you think could make great content and before hitting the post button, it’s a good idea to review your content before posting immediately and ask the questions “What do I want to achieve from posting on Social Media?” “What are my company values?” “How do I want to be perceived?”
2. Enough of that, it’s time to make a real mess!
After you have your inspiration-board ready, it’s time to get creative. If you are working with a physical product, why not set up your own photo shoot. Look around your house and rummage through those old boxes, there are sure to be some good props around the house. If you are struggling, your garden or local park could also be a treasure trove of leaves, flowers, seeds and fallen branches or pebbles. Once you have some props which match the vibe from your inspiration board, try to think how you can set up your product and treat it like a small photoshoot. You need to consider the lightning and the background—and always think outside the box, you will be surprised by your results! I try to use natural light where possible and time your shoot around it.
Here is an example I like by an Australian jewellery brand called Kristin Ash (https://www.instagram.com/p/CDNPdd2JxcR/), they have some very impressive posts to get you inspired for your own shoot using props like magazines, trinkets, plants, or a piece of fruit.
Another cool idea is to take advantage of any interesting materials in your house, use natural materials/objects/things you have in your house to showcase your product (timber table, marble counter top, plants, veggies, fruits, chopping boards, any type of stones or linen). Here is a great example using your kitchen counter top: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCfbFXapd-5
Be sure to also keep abreast of the latest trends, 2020 is the ‘golden year’ despite the pandemic, so don’t hold back. Anything you have in your house that is gold looking, for example, use your gold / brass side table as a stand, work with what you have and play with your house and use it to help your products look even better.
And, if all else fails you can simply hold your product in your hands, and don’t forget to take care of them before you shoot, wear a nice ring, bracelet and maybe that nail polish you always wanted—now you have the perfect excuse!
3. Shoot your product and touch it up
Once you decided what you want to shoot, where you’re going to shoot it, it’s time to think about how. You don’t need a fancy camera to produce good content on Social Media, you can easily shoot with your phone, but remember, don’t zoom! It’s always better to move closer (zoom results in a lower resolution image) and then if it needs cropping, this can easily be done in your phone or computer.
Also, be creative when it comes to taking a picture of your product or even if it’s a normal inspirational post, try to use different angles (lie down to the floor, take a picture from above, use an interesting corner, or reflection etc), the less postprocessing the better.
4. Make a habit of it
Once you have done your first shoot, keep your inspiration-board ready and don’t be afraid to mix it up to keep things fresh, but with all things it’s best to make this a habit. Maybe allocate some time each week and keep up with your content creation (even from home!).
Also, even when everything returns to normal, keep up your routine and continue creating your own content, it is a great time to be creative, and see things from a different point of view - never underestimate the power of creativity, it is in everything we do.
Let your mind go and remember never think you can’t do it; you just need the right motivation to get you started.
Small business tips & tricks
Author: Beatrice Pipero
Author: Beatrice Pipero
| When getting new staff shots done to update your website and social media channels, a professional photographer with a solid portfolio is the obviously best. However, this can be out of reach for small businesses with limited budgets. Hiring a professional photographer can be expensive, especially as your team will likely grow or even shrink over time and getting a photographer regularly could end up rather costly. Well, what to do then, well obviously DIY! Warning: Same as with DIY renovations—if not done correctly the results could be catastrophic, but for your brand identity and credibility rather than your house—so do your research before dusting off your camera gear! |  |
So, what should you do? Let’s break down the process step by step:
1. Don’t panic, you’ve got this
Let’s be realistic, you won’t become a photographer in one day. Firstly, select someone from your team or even yourself to take on this job. The most creative person would be the best pick, but even without a creative bone in your body, with some basic techniques, you can still achieve great results.
2. Find the perfect venue
Scouting out the perfect location doesn’t have to be overly complicated, just start by writing down some nice areas or backdrops you like near the office, such as a funky brick wall or a nice coffee shop with a trendy lounge area, or even just a well-lit wall or a corner of your office with some nice plants.
Selecting a good location is crucial but other factors also need to be considered relating to location; say you decide to get the shots from your office terrace, then you need to first find out the weather forecast, the best time of day, and if at that trendy café, when is the best time to not get in the way of other people? Before work or during the lunch rush probably isn’t a great idea—and be sure to ask permission first.
One last thing to think about with venue is consistency (check out Cummins & Partners Instagram page). Do you want all the images to match? This will create a strong image and constancy, and will require going back to the same spot each time you hire a new member.
On the other hand, you could go to the complete opposite and mix it up, going for something personal to each team member. Perhaps they would like to select a spot to reflect themselves and the work they do? This is trickier, but can still been consistent if you take the images in the same style and use the same lighting.
3. Light, light & more light
Light is essential, even the best location can be ruined with bad lighting. For a good headshot, it is key to favour neutral light, but if your team member is struggling to see, then the light is too harsh (check out Etsy Australia ‘Our Team’ page). Strong light will also wash out their expression and detail. On the other hand, using a very dark location won’t make it easy to get high quality photos, especially if you don’t have experience using lighting. To sum up strong lights and darks are great for moody artistic shots but not for the vast majority of companies.
4. Choosing the right equipment
Yes, you can use your phone. Nowadays mobile phones cameras take high quality photographs, so if you don’t have the latest 1000-megapixel full frame monster, your phone will be sufficient, but if at all possible use a tripod for stability.
If you have a camera like a good point and shoot or even better a DSLR but lack the skills to fully utilise it, the automatic mode can suffice. With a few tweaks once you have uploaded the images to your computer the images should look great. There are always plenty of videos online to help, just type the make and model number of your camera into YouTube and hey presto!
For post processing your images, ideally you will have someone in the office who is a whiz at Photoshop, Lightroom or any number of free alternatives. But if not, again don’t worry you can simply click on any image in your computer and select the modify button and make some minor adjustments. This can also be done in most cameras, but the small screen can be rather deceptive.
And, most importantly, any modifications you make to one image should be carried across all the photos for consistency—while practicing some restraint, please no crazy filters and nothing Instagrammy.
5. Give your employees some tips on potential outfits
Unless your office has a uniform, outfits will likely differ widely, but you can always recommend that everyone wear either a white or black shirt. Again, this is best discussed with your staff and you can come to an agreement. Not only is it best to involve your staff, but please let them know in advance and also shoot out a quick friendly reminder the day before, no one wants to suddenly realise they are getting their photo taken and haven’t had any time to prepare.
The idea behind keeping the outfits consistent is to get your team’s individual personality to be the star of the show, but in pursuit of creating a strong and professional brand identity there must still be flexibility and room for the team to represent themselves. Also, be sure to let them check the photos you are taking during the shoot, always take more than you need, and again show them the final product and get their consent before publishing online. Respect any staff who do not wish to have their photo published.
6. Visualise the photo before you take it
When taking the shots, visualise before you take the photos, imagine you are a film director holding out your thumbs and index fingers to frame the perfect shot. This is a surprisingly effective technique even if done only mentally.
A few more tips before we finish up, during the shoot, don’t be afraid to pose your subject, ask them to look left, right or adjust a stray clump or hair or who knows, even a piece of lunch lodged in their teeth. Also, if the subject is taller or shorter than you, try and crouch down a little or even stand on a little stool to get them face on, and do your best to get them relaxed, this may involve turning the radio up, making small talk or a light-hearted joke.
7. Have fun!
Finally, have fun. Make the person laugh as it will break the ice for sure (UAP did a great job!). Capture all the smiles, it will help a lot if the person feels comfortable with the environment and the person who is taking the shots. The camera will capture the mood.
In the end there is no right or wrong way, but do your research, and check look for some examples for inspiration. Here are some I’ve prepared earlier from a range of Melbourne companies to get your creative juices flowing.
1. Don’t panic, you’ve got this
Let’s be realistic, you won’t become a photographer in one day. Firstly, select someone from your team or even yourself to take on this job. The most creative person would be the best pick, but even without a creative bone in your body, with some basic techniques, you can still achieve great results.
2. Find the perfect venue
Scouting out the perfect location doesn’t have to be overly complicated, just start by writing down some nice areas or backdrops you like near the office, such as a funky brick wall or a nice coffee shop with a trendy lounge area, or even just a well-lit wall or a corner of your office with some nice plants.
Selecting a good location is crucial but other factors also need to be considered relating to location; say you decide to get the shots from your office terrace, then you need to first find out the weather forecast, the best time of day, and if at that trendy café, when is the best time to not get in the way of other people? Before work or during the lunch rush probably isn’t a great idea—and be sure to ask permission first.
One last thing to think about with venue is consistency (check out Cummins & Partners Instagram page). Do you want all the images to match? This will create a strong image and constancy, and will require going back to the same spot each time you hire a new member.
On the other hand, you could go to the complete opposite and mix it up, going for something personal to each team member. Perhaps they would like to select a spot to reflect themselves and the work they do? This is trickier, but can still been consistent if you take the images in the same style and use the same lighting.
3. Light, light & more light
Light is essential, even the best location can be ruined with bad lighting. For a good headshot, it is key to favour neutral light, but if your team member is struggling to see, then the light is too harsh (check out Etsy Australia ‘Our Team’ page). Strong light will also wash out their expression and detail. On the other hand, using a very dark location won’t make it easy to get high quality photos, especially if you don’t have experience using lighting. To sum up strong lights and darks are great for moody artistic shots but not for the vast majority of companies.
4. Choosing the right equipment
Yes, you can use your phone. Nowadays mobile phones cameras take high quality photographs, so if you don’t have the latest 1000-megapixel full frame monster, your phone will be sufficient, but if at all possible use a tripod for stability.
If you have a camera like a good point and shoot or even better a DSLR but lack the skills to fully utilise it, the automatic mode can suffice. With a few tweaks once you have uploaded the images to your computer the images should look great. There are always plenty of videos online to help, just type the make and model number of your camera into YouTube and hey presto!
For post processing your images, ideally you will have someone in the office who is a whiz at Photoshop, Lightroom or any number of free alternatives. But if not, again don’t worry you can simply click on any image in your computer and select the modify button and make some minor adjustments. This can also be done in most cameras, but the small screen can be rather deceptive.
And, most importantly, any modifications you make to one image should be carried across all the photos for consistency—while practicing some restraint, please no crazy filters and nothing Instagrammy.
5. Give your employees some tips on potential outfits
Unless your office has a uniform, outfits will likely differ widely, but you can always recommend that everyone wear either a white or black shirt. Again, this is best discussed with your staff and you can come to an agreement. Not only is it best to involve your staff, but please let them know in advance and also shoot out a quick friendly reminder the day before, no one wants to suddenly realise they are getting their photo taken and haven’t had any time to prepare.
The idea behind keeping the outfits consistent is to get your team’s individual personality to be the star of the show, but in pursuit of creating a strong and professional brand identity there must still be flexibility and room for the team to represent themselves. Also, be sure to let them check the photos you are taking during the shoot, always take more than you need, and again show them the final product and get their consent before publishing online. Respect any staff who do not wish to have their photo published.
6. Visualise the photo before you take it
When taking the shots, visualise before you take the photos, imagine you are a film director holding out your thumbs and index fingers to frame the perfect shot. This is a surprisingly effective technique even if done only mentally.
A few more tips before we finish up, during the shoot, don’t be afraid to pose your subject, ask them to look left, right or adjust a stray clump or hair or who knows, even a piece of lunch lodged in their teeth. Also, if the subject is taller or shorter than you, try and crouch down a little or even stand on a little stool to get them face on, and do your best to get them relaxed, this may involve turning the radio up, making small talk or a light-hearted joke.
7. Have fun!
Finally, have fun. Make the person laugh as it will break the ice for sure (UAP did a great job!). Capture all the smiles, it will help a lot if the person feels comfortable with the environment and the person who is taking the shots. The camera will capture the mood.
In the end there is no right or wrong way, but do your research, and check look for some examples for inspiration. Here are some I’ve prepared earlier from a range of Melbourne companies to get your creative juices flowing.
| Author: Beatrice Pipero 1) Choose a colour palette Many times we underestimate the power of colour. When you decide to start a social media page for your company, you have to keep in mind that it is really important to choose three main colours to use throughout your posts. This is the perfect way to step-up your social media game and elevate your page visually and your costumer will better gauge the “vibe” of your brand. |  |
*Key tip: use the main colour from your logo as the primary colour. For the gold standard check out Coca Cola (https://www.instagram.com/cocacola/?hl=en) with their instantly recognisable trademark palette of red and white - aim high!
2) Post your content at least 3 times a week
Consistency is key. Set certain days and times when posting content, and stick to it.
You need to be in your clients consciousness by keeping them abreast of all the cool stuff you have in store or are doing. On the other hand, over killing your feed with too many posts can cause the opposite effect and overwhelm prospective customers. Balance how many times you want to post, create a schedule and keep a good variety of topics you want to share, and you will notice the improvement in your page in the long run.
3) Be original & keep it simple
Wherever possible, try not to use stock images. Be original, take your own pictures, have fun with it, be creative and it will pay off big time.
The content should make your brand personal, relatable and trustworthy. This can be done by taking a snap from time to time in your office including of your team, highlighting events your company is participating in or whatever cool things your company is doing and posting it. Your clients want to feel a connection and nothing is better than show them who you are, what you stand for and the faces behind the brand.
4) Interact with your audience/clients
Something to keep in mind is the importance of customer service. Be there for your customer, interact with them, not only on your website, but also on your social media pages as well. Nothing looks worse than clients comments going unanswered or answered in a rude and surly manner.
Another way to engage and top-up your content is to tag and re-post content from your clients which will make them feel important.
5) Giveaways are the right way
Finally, giveaways are a really good way for your business to showcase their product and boost short-term interest. Perhaps, create a multichannel campaign and giveaway some freebies! The giveaways need to have a significant enough value for people to engage, but the engagement and the hype if managed well can supercharge your business in the short-term.
Again, consistency is key, and you don't want interest to wane; every three months could be a good place to start, or align with appropriate holidays where spending is higher to multiply the effect of your hard work (Christmas sales, Boxing day, Cyber Monday, Easter holidays, Mother’s day..)
2) Post your content at least 3 times a week
Consistency is key. Set certain days and times when posting content, and stick to it.
You need to be in your clients consciousness by keeping them abreast of all the cool stuff you have in store or are doing. On the other hand, over killing your feed with too many posts can cause the opposite effect and overwhelm prospective customers. Balance how many times you want to post, create a schedule and keep a good variety of topics you want to share, and you will notice the improvement in your page in the long run.
3) Be original & keep it simple
Wherever possible, try not to use stock images. Be original, take your own pictures, have fun with it, be creative and it will pay off big time.
The content should make your brand personal, relatable and trustworthy. This can be done by taking a snap from time to time in your office including of your team, highlighting events your company is participating in or whatever cool things your company is doing and posting it. Your clients want to feel a connection and nothing is better than show them who you are, what you stand for and the faces behind the brand.
4) Interact with your audience/clients
Something to keep in mind is the importance of customer service. Be there for your customer, interact with them, not only on your website, but also on your social media pages as well. Nothing looks worse than clients comments going unanswered or answered in a rude and surly manner.
Another way to engage and top-up your content is to tag and re-post content from your clients which will make them feel important.
5) Giveaways are the right way
Finally, giveaways are a really good way for your business to showcase their product and boost short-term interest. Perhaps, create a multichannel campaign and giveaway some freebies! The giveaways need to have a significant enough value for people to engage, but the engagement and the hype if managed well can supercharge your business in the short-term.
Again, consistency is key, and you don't want interest to wane; every three months could be a good place to start, or align with appropriate holidays where spending is higher to multiply the effect of your hard work (Christmas sales, Boxing day, Cyber Monday, Easter holidays, Mother’s day..)
| As a small business you have collected the much-needed monies and finally have some budget that can be used towards marketing, what now? Many of you will be faced with a dilemma in deciding which kind of marketing activities to do, whether it is traditional or digital marketing methods and questioning which is better for your business. |  |
We are not going to lie, it can all be quite puzzling and confusing deciding whether traditional or digital marketing is better for your business. We have clients that are excited to embrace the digital marketing landscape, however there are still many small businesses that will stick to traditional methods only and the main reasons is the perception that digital marketing is “overly complicated” and “too technical” for me.
So, how do you distinguish between the two and know where to spend your budget when it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing? To be honest, the debate between traditional and digital marketing has been a lengthy and continuing one.
If we were to go back to basics, the use of newspapers and magazine print ads are a simple example of traditional marketing, alternatively flyers, brochures, radio or TV commercials are also common forms of traditional marketing. On the other hand, digital marketing includes building a website, Google advertising, social media advertising such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The major difference between traditional and digital marketing is that digital marketing looks to provide value by using content marketing and other solutions. Traditional marketing is typically looking to increase sales with ad spots, not to necessarily provide added value.
The reality is that you cannot just depend on outdated marketing methods anymore. If you are seeking the answer to which one is better, it ultimately comes down to which one aligns with the needs of your business. Below we discover key points of traditional and digital marketing to help you decide which would work best for your business.
Digital Marketing:
Cost: Much more accessible and scalable for smaller businesses due to multiple options to increase or decrease the number of impressions you want to achieve from online ads.
Time: Creating a digital campaign such as a digital ad is possible to turnaround in a short time frame and additionally you can get them updated with much more ease.
Data-driven: You can tailor a campaign to specific audience demographics, such as gender, location, age and you can create an audience solely of people that have already visited your website. Data tools provides insights on your campaigns in real time and allows you to adapt very quickly to improve your results. You can view the number of visitors to your site, peak trading times and conversion rates all with a click of a button.
Longevity: Digital marketing strategies such an evergreen content will stay on your site indefinately, which serves as an always-on strategy which can at anytime generate clicks/traffic and improve your overall SEO ranking.
Interaction: 24/7 communication with your audience is possible which allows you to answer queries promptly and customize content accordingly. On social media you can encourage your prospects to visit your website, read about your products/services and provide feedback.
Traditional Marketing:
Cost: Advertising placements and print marketing can be costly. Unless you can produce flyers or magazines inhouse, printing materials requires multiple expertise to execute your idea including project manage, design, print and distribute.
Time: Traditional advertising can time consuming, a print ad has various touchpoints before it reaches print. An advertisement needs to be approved by publishers, created, printed and approved again. If the advertisement is incorrect, you go back to the beginning of the process which means delays and production issues.
Data-driven: Traditional advertising is all about guessing and speculations. Information on audience and real time insights can be tricky.
Longevity: It has been deliberated that traditional marketing makes a longer-lasting impression as its tangible. The audience can have a hard copy of print materials of which they can read or browse through over and over again. However, measuring the success of print is still subjective.
To conclude, we believe that when it comes to understanding your return on investment (ROI). Digital marketing wins as it not only tracks your ROI, its analytic abilities allows you the chance to boost it. However, we do believe that if possible a multi-channel approach that leverages the benefits of both traditional and digital marketing can be viewed as most beneficial.
So, how do you distinguish between the two and know where to spend your budget when it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing? To be honest, the debate between traditional and digital marketing has been a lengthy and continuing one.
If we were to go back to basics, the use of newspapers and magazine print ads are a simple example of traditional marketing, alternatively flyers, brochures, radio or TV commercials are also common forms of traditional marketing. On the other hand, digital marketing includes building a website, Google advertising, social media advertising such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The major difference between traditional and digital marketing is that digital marketing looks to provide value by using content marketing and other solutions. Traditional marketing is typically looking to increase sales with ad spots, not to necessarily provide added value.
The reality is that you cannot just depend on outdated marketing methods anymore. If you are seeking the answer to which one is better, it ultimately comes down to which one aligns with the needs of your business. Below we discover key points of traditional and digital marketing to help you decide which would work best for your business.
Digital Marketing:
Cost: Much more accessible and scalable for smaller businesses due to multiple options to increase or decrease the number of impressions you want to achieve from online ads.
Time: Creating a digital campaign such as a digital ad is possible to turnaround in a short time frame and additionally you can get them updated with much more ease.
Data-driven: You can tailor a campaign to specific audience demographics, such as gender, location, age and you can create an audience solely of people that have already visited your website. Data tools provides insights on your campaigns in real time and allows you to adapt very quickly to improve your results. You can view the number of visitors to your site, peak trading times and conversion rates all with a click of a button.
Longevity: Digital marketing strategies such an evergreen content will stay on your site indefinately, which serves as an always-on strategy which can at anytime generate clicks/traffic and improve your overall SEO ranking.
Interaction: 24/7 communication with your audience is possible which allows you to answer queries promptly and customize content accordingly. On social media you can encourage your prospects to visit your website, read about your products/services and provide feedback.
Traditional Marketing:
Cost: Advertising placements and print marketing can be costly. Unless you can produce flyers or magazines inhouse, printing materials requires multiple expertise to execute your idea including project manage, design, print and distribute.
Time: Traditional advertising can time consuming, a print ad has various touchpoints before it reaches print. An advertisement needs to be approved by publishers, created, printed and approved again. If the advertisement is incorrect, you go back to the beginning of the process which means delays and production issues.
Data-driven: Traditional advertising is all about guessing and speculations. Information on audience and real time insights can be tricky.
Longevity: It has been deliberated that traditional marketing makes a longer-lasting impression as its tangible. The audience can have a hard copy of print materials of which they can read or browse through over and over again. However, measuring the success of print is still subjective.
To conclude, we believe that when it comes to understanding your return on investment (ROI). Digital marketing wins as it not only tracks your ROI, its analytic abilities allows you the chance to boost it. However, we do believe that if possible a multi-channel approach that leverages the benefits of both traditional and digital marketing can be viewed as most beneficial.
| Digital marketing is full of technical terminology and buzzwords. When you start talking to marketing professionals about creating your marketing campaign for your business it’s essential to ask questions and ensure that you understand the jargon as you want to get the most out of your marketing to grow your business. We have compiled a simple list of useful marketing terms that you may encounter in the whirlwind of digital marketing: |  |
SEM
SEM known as search engine marketing. A form of marketing that involves paying for the ranking of your website on the search engine via having your ads served only when a user searches for a keyword (or phrase) that you are bidding on. SEM allows you to target audience segments via interests, location, age, gender and other demographics.
SEO
SEO known as search engine optimization. Opposite to SEM, the process involved with SEO is promoting your website organically through establishing key search terms and creating relevant content. SEO requires some groundwork and understanding of the search terms your customers use to find you.
PPC
PPC also known as pay per click. The ability to bid for keywords by paying a certain amount to the ad platform every time a user clicks on your ads.
Buyer personas
A depiction of your ideal customer based on market research and customer data. Understanding your buyer personas influence aspects of your overall business especially your marketing strategy.
CTA
CTA means call to action. The desired action to the audience designed to provoke an immediate response. You will find this in a form of a button on a webpage, advertisement or piece of content, ideally a CTA aims to prompt a conversion such as "Buy Now", "Learn More" or "Subscribe".
A/B Testing
The testing of two different versions of content to see which one is better at achieving the desired result. For instance webpage, email headline, ad or CTA.
Re-targeting
Digital marketing at its best! A marketing tactic where you can target users who previously visited your website with online advertising across the web and social networks.
Contextual marketing
Targeted advertising based on user information, such as online browsing habits and search terms. The objective is to offer products and services to customers, who are already interested in them.
Evergreen marketing
Content that will continue to attract customers long after you publish it and requires little or infrequent updating for instance how-to or top-tips content.
CRM
CRM also know as customer relationship management. A software that’s assists in managing and tracking your customer information and touch points. A CRM can aid your marketing efforts by enhancing your ability to target and track.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation connects all your marketing processes in one central place. Additionally, it provides key marketing functions like customer segmentation, email automation, campaign management, analytics and reporting.
SEM known as search engine marketing. A form of marketing that involves paying for the ranking of your website on the search engine via having your ads served only when a user searches for a keyword (or phrase) that you are bidding on. SEM allows you to target audience segments via interests, location, age, gender and other demographics.
SEO
SEO known as search engine optimization. Opposite to SEM, the process involved with SEO is promoting your website organically through establishing key search terms and creating relevant content. SEO requires some groundwork and understanding of the search terms your customers use to find you.
PPC
PPC also known as pay per click. The ability to bid for keywords by paying a certain amount to the ad platform every time a user clicks on your ads.
Buyer personas
A depiction of your ideal customer based on market research and customer data. Understanding your buyer personas influence aspects of your overall business especially your marketing strategy.
CTA
CTA means call to action. The desired action to the audience designed to provoke an immediate response. You will find this in a form of a button on a webpage, advertisement or piece of content, ideally a CTA aims to prompt a conversion such as "Buy Now", "Learn More" or "Subscribe".
A/B Testing
The testing of two different versions of content to see which one is better at achieving the desired result. For instance webpage, email headline, ad or CTA.
Re-targeting
Digital marketing at its best! A marketing tactic where you can target users who previously visited your website with online advertising across the web and social networks.
Contextual marketing
Targeted advertising based on user information, such as online browsing habits and search terms. The objective is to offer products and services to customers, who are already interested in them.
Evergreen marketing
Content that will continue to attract customers long after you publish it and requires little or infrequent updating for instance how-to or top-tips content.
CRM
CRM also know as customer relationship management. A software that’s assists in managing and tracking your customer information and touch points. A CRM can aid your marketing efforts by enhancing your ability to target and track.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation connects all your marketing processes in one central place. Additionally, it provides key marketing functions like customer segmentation, email automation, campaign management, analytics and reporting.
As a small business, you will no doubt be feeling the pinch with the current crisis being faced by the world. This has sparked some conversations with clients regarding tips on how to survive these quiet periods and how best to spend their time.
Let’s face it, we are familiar with the highs and lows of running a business, as small business owners we are used to facing “good news and bad news,” and that’s accurate with a recent rundown of headlines. We recommend that you keep motivated through these troubled times by making the most of your quiet times with our top 4 initiatives:
1. Focus on your existing clients/customers
The cost of acquiring a new customer is far higher than retaining an existing one. Your current customers are your best business asset especially in quiet times as they are familiar with your business operations and trust your products and services. During quiet times, you can plan a customer retention strategy. To get started, we recommend you reach out to your existing customers to get insights and see what the appetite is for additional services or products. Secondly, evaluate your existing data and look for trends. Once you have all the needed information you can begin to create and design a campaign. An example of a retention campaign could be a customer loyalty program which rewards customers for their continued support or develop a series of eDMs with tailored content promoting upsells and cross-sells of your existing services and products.
2. Keep in Touch
There is no better time to maintain and build on your existing relationships, this not only includes customers but your contractors, suppliers, communities, media and investors. Reaching out to your stakeholders via a call or with a personalised email on industry updates, latest news, offers or just a quick hi will ensure that a good relationship is maintained and will provide a much-needed business supporter who can potentially assist with sending business your way.
3. Work on your business
Now is the perfect time for getting a headstart on your business tasks that you may have been pushing aside. Use this time to reassess and refresh your website, update your social media profiles, develop case studies or update your marketing plan to reflect your current business goals. Additionally, you could catch up on your general administration such as organising paperwork, filling receipts, tracking invoices, scheduling appointsments or reviewing your business plan.
4. Take an online course or workshop
It’s a great time to invest in yourself and keep up with the latest trends in your industry by enrolling in an online course or workshop to learn some new skills. This will not only give you credibility but help you to position yourself as an expert leader in your industry.
Let’s face it, we are familiar with the highs and lows of running a business, as small business owners we are used to facing “good news and bad news,” and that’s accurate with a recent rundown of headlines. We recommend that you keep motivated through these troubled times by making the most of your quiet times with our top 4 initiatives:
1. Focus on your existing clients/customers
The cost of acquiring a new customer is far higher than retaining an existing one. Your current customers are your best business asset especially in quiet times as they are familiar with your business operations and trust your products and services. During quiet times, you can plan a customer retention strategy. To get started, we recommend you reach out to your existing customers to get insights and see what the appetite is for additional services or products. Secondly, evaluate your existing data and look for trends. Once you have all the needed information you can begin to create and design a campaign. An example of a retention campaign could be a customer loyalty program which rewards customers for their continued support or develop a series of eDMs with tailored content promoting upsells and cross-sells of your existing services and products.
2. Keep in Touch
There is no better time to maintain and build on your existing relationships, this not only includes customers but your contractors, suppliers, communities, media and investors. Reaching out to your stakeholders via a call or with a personalised email on industry updates, latest news, offers or just a quick hi will ensure that a good relationship is maintained and will provide a much-needed business supporter who can potentially assist with sending business your way.
3. Work on your business
Now is the perfect time for getting a headstart on your business tasks that you may have been pushing aside. Use this time to reassess and refresh your website, update your social media profiles, develop case studies or update your marketing plan to reflect your current business goals. Additionally, you could catch up on your general administration such as organising paperwork, filling receipts, tracking invoices, scheduling appointsments or reviewing your business plan.
4. Take an online course or workshop
It’s a great time to invest in yourself and keep up with the latest trends in your industry by enrolling in an online course or workshop to learn some new skills. This will not only give you credibility but help you to position yourself as an expert leader in your industry.
Customers want their experience with your brand to be seamless and relevant. So, how do we ensure that you are providing the best possible experience? The best way is to visualize how your customer interacts with your business by mapping it, this is also known as customer journey mapping.
Customer journey mapping is a powerful tool that outlines and visualizes your customers path-to-purchase. The ultimate goal of creating this map is to better educate your business about your customers and their behaviors, it enables you to identify and relieve customer pain points, roadblocks and most importantly drive sales.
Other benefits to consider:
So, how do you create a customer journey map? You need to include every point where your customer comes into contact with your brand, from digital marketing to print advertising to customer service and packaging.
You should build a customer journey map as a tool to use in your overall planning, here are our simple steps to help get your started when creating your own map:
1. Profile your customers
Create a profile or avatar of your target customers, including:
2. Map touchpoints
Create a list of all the different ways a customer can interact with your brand. Some common examples include:
Online:
Website, social media, Google ads, email and shopping cart
Print:
Advertisement, editorial, catalogue and direct mailout
Customer service
Packaging
Try Googling your business to see all the pages that mention your brand and use it as a checklist.
3. Identify pain points
Its important that once you have established your brands touchpoints that you look at potential roadblocks that are stopping your customer from making their desired action, for example the navigation on your website is confusing and unclear which makes it impossible to find your product range.
Take the journey yourself and see what pain points you encounter when purchasing a product or finding out more about your services.
For instance:
4. Collect data from current customers
It’s important to include quantitative elements from your website analytics, CRM, feedback forms or call centre software as this will assist in providing a more accurate representation of your customers journey.
For example your call centre reports or customer feedback forms might highlight trends with customers asking the same specific questions about your service.
5. Analyse the big picture and build your narrative
At this stage you will notice trends and patterns in the experience. Once you have all this data you are ready to consolidate the information into a diagram or infographic that demonstrates your narrative.
Customer journey mapping is a beneficial tool for businesses to understand how customers interact with your brand and enhance opportunities for your business to improve the journey. Your map is constantly changing due to customers demands and needs to be revisited regularly and updated as required.
Customer journey mapping is a powerful tool that outlines and visualizes your customers path-to-purchase. The ultimate goal of creating this map is to better educate your business about your customers and their behaviors, it enables you to identify and relieve customer pain points, roadblocks and most importantly drive sales.
Other benefits to consider:
- Highlights where customers interact with your business
- Gives a bird's eye view of the entire customer journey
- Improved customer retention
- Identifies the gaps between the desired vs. actual experience
- Develop higher customer conversion rates
So, how do you create a customer journey map? You need to include every point where your customer comes into contact with your brand, from digital marketing to print advertising to customer service and packaging.
You should build a customer journey map as a tool to use in your overall planning, here are our simple steps to help get your started when creating your own map:
1. Profile your customers
Create a profile or avatar of your target customers, including:
- Customers demographics
- Personality traits
- Income and economic information
- Emotional states
2. Map touchpoints
Create a list of all the different ways a customer can interact with your brand. Some common examples include:
Online:
Website, social media, Google ads, email and shopping cart
Print:
Advertisement, editorial, catalogue and direct mailout
Customer service
Packaging
Try Googling your business to see all the pages that mention your brand and use it as a checklist.
3. Identify pain points
Its important that once you have established your brands touchpoints that you look at potential roadblocks that are stopping your customer from making their desired action, for example the navigation on your website is confusing and unclear which makes it impossible to find your product range.
Take the journey yourself and see what pain points you encounter when purchasing a product or finding out more about your services.
For instance:
- Are you achieving your goals on the website?
- When you are clicking on a Google ad, are you sent to a relevant page?
- What are the steps you are going through before reaching the shopping cart?
4. Collect data from current customers
It’s important to include quantitative elements from your website analytics, CRM, feedback forms or call centre software as this will assist in providing a more accurate representation of your customers journey.
For example your call centre reports or customer feedback forms might highlight trends with customers asking the same specific questions about your service.
5. Analyse the big picture and build your narrative
At this stage you will notice trends and patterns in the experience. Once you have all this data you are ready to consolidate the information into a diagram or infographic that demonstrates your narrative.
Customer journey mapping is a beneficial tool for businesses to understand how customers interact with your brand and enhance opportunities for your business to improve the journey. Your map is constantly changing due to customers demands and needs to be revisited regularly and updated as required.
When we first speak to small businesses about setting up a digital campaign or conduct a marketing audit we like to understand what the main action they want their customers to make and what they constitute a conversion.
So, what constitutes a conversion? A common misconception is that conversions are only sales, this isn’t necessarily correct. Conversions aren’t restricted to sales, it’s about getting potential customers to respond to your CTA (call-to-action) for instance completing a contact form, subscribing to your newsletter or downloading a whitepaper.
Obviously, getting a sales conversion is the ultimate but in reality, it takes time for customers to interact with your company and brand before making the conscious decision to convert. This ties in with the three stages of the customer journey, which is frequently referred to as awareness, evaluation and conversion.
Most of the time businesses talk highly about the amount of traffic landing on their website, which at first sounds impressive but what they fail to mention is what happens after that traffic has landed on their page. Sadly, they do nothing and when we look into the website analytics, we see that the bounce rates are extremely high. This is why we need to look closely at how these customers interacts with your brand and how to drive the them towards your CTA.
When it comes to low conversion rate there are two obvious reasons that contribute to a high bounce rates on your website, including:
Below we highlight our top 3 strategies for getting your potential customers to click and convert:
Know you customers
Personalised marketing is something your customers expects. If you are trying to talk to everybody, you are not going to get qualified leads and most importantly little to no conversion. Your potential customers have needs and expectations, when you speak directly to the people you want to target, you are most likely to attract the right people and most likely they will want to interact with your brand and do business with you.
Building buyer personas for your target market can help improve the way you interact with your potential customers and in many ways benefit you in all aspects of your marketing. Take some time to develop your buyer personas by establishing what best describes your typical customer and create a profile based on their demographics, values and challenges.
A variety of potential customers will come to your homepage, so it needs to cater to every one of your buyer personas and this will allow you to craft your marketing campaigns and web design accordingly.
Optimise your design
It’s important that your website presents your business in a way that matches your expertise. Your websites homepage is the most visited page, it needs to be user friendly and provide a seamless experience. An eye-catching headline, nicely written copy, good visuals and a powerful CTA will stick in your potential customers minds.
Create dedicated landing pages so that when your potential customers clicks on an ad for a specific product or service, they will see information about that product or service on the landing page. Another way to improve user experience is ensuring your acquisition forms are short and your CTA buttons are kept clear. These little tweaks can make a big difference to help users move forward to the next step and convert.
Lastly, look at your data as this can give you a true representation of the good and the bad of your website and adjust your design accordingly.
Test Test Test
In order to track conversions, you need to set up your conversion tracking. At first your might think this sounds like a bunch of boring number crunching but it also allows you to do some experimenting with A/B testing. You can test anything from your website, online ads, emails and social media.
So, where do you start? Google Analytics is one of the best testing tools, you can easily set this up and start looking at your website in more detail. You can create two variations of a single webpage and test the design, headlines, buttons and colours to determine which version converts more successfully.
Headlines and CTA buttons are two powerful hooks which have the ability to make or break a conversion. Here are a couple of tips to think about:
A headline is one of the first things that captures attention, so it’s important that you use the right wording and font to effectively grab their attention. Test different copy, as well as different text styles and text sizes to get the best results.
An effective CTA button should give the user a sense of urgency, it needs to encourage you to act now or miss out. For example, a CTA button that says “Start Now” instead of “Start” may give a sense of urgency that makes your potential customer not want to avoid it. Where you place your call to action can have a huge effect, so test your CTA buttons above the fold, below the fold or on the left/right of the page.
So, what constitutes a conversion? A common misconception is that conversions are only sales, this isn’t necessarily correct. Conversions aren’t restricted to sales, it’s about getting potential customers to respond to your CTA (call-to-action) for instance completing a contact form, subscribing to your newsletter or downloading a whitepaper.
Obviously, getting a sales conversion is the ultimate but in reality, it takes time for customers to interact with your company and brand before making the conscious decision to convert. This ties in with the three stages of the customer journey, which is frequently referred to as awareness, evaluation and conversion.
Most of the time businesses talk highly about the amount of traffic landing on their website, which at first sounds impressive but what they fail to mention is what happens after that traffic has landed on their page. Sadly, they do nothing and when we look into the website analytics, we see that the bounce rates are extremely high. This is why we need to look closely at how these customers interacts with your brand and how to drive the them towards your CTA.
When it comes to low conversion rate there are two obvious reasons that contribute to a high bounce rates on your website, including:
- The design isn’t user friendly and is difficult for users to navigate
- The page doesn’t show the users the value of your product or service
Below we highlight our top 3 strategies for getting your potential customers to click and convert:
Know you customers
Personalised marketing is something your customers expects. If you are trying to talk to everybody, you are not going to get qualified leads and most importantly little to no conversion. Your potential customers have needs and expectations, when you speak directly to the people you want to target, you are most likely to attract the right people and most likely they will want to interact with your brand and do business with you.
Building buyer personas for your target market can help improve the way you interact with your potential customers and in many ways benefit you in all aspects of your marketing. Take some time to develop your buyer personas by establishing what best describes your typical customer and create a profile based on their demographics, values and challenges.
A variety of potential customers will come to your homepage, so it needs to cater to every one of your buyer personas and this will allow you to craft your marketing campaigns and web design accordingly.
Optimise your design
It’s important that your website presents your business in a way that matches your expertise. Your websites homepage is the most visited page, it needs to be user friendly and provide a seamless experience. An eye-catching headline, nicely written copy, good visuals and a powerful CTA will stick in your potential customers minds.
Create dedicated landing pages so that when your potential customers clicks on an ad for a specific product or service, they will see information about that product or service on the landing page. Another way to improve user experience is ensuring your acquisition forms are short and your CTA buttons are kept clear. These little tweaks can make a big difference to help users move forward to the next step and convert.
Lastly, look at your data as this can give you a true representation of the good and the bad of your website and adjust your design accordingly.
Test Test Test
In order to track conversions, you need to set up your conversion tracking. At first your might think this sounds like a bunch of boring number crunching but it also allows you to do some experimenting with A/B testing. You can test anything from your website, online ads, emails and social media.
So, where do you start? Google Analytics is one of the best testing tools, you can easily set this up and start looking at your website in more detail. You can create two variations of a single webpage and test the design, headlines, buttons and colours to determine which version converts more successfully.
Headlines and CTA buttons are two powerful hooks which have the ability to make or break a conversion. Here are a couple of tips to think about:
A headline is one of the first things that captures attention, so it’s important that you use the right wording and font to effectively grab their attention. Test different copy, as well as different text styles and text sizes to get the best results.
An effective CTA button should give the user a sense of urgency, it needs to encourage you to act now or miss out. For example, a CTA button that says “Start Now” instead of “Start” may give a sense of urgency that makes your potential customer not want to avoid it. Where you place your call to action can have a huge effect, so test your CTA buttons above the fold, below the fold or on the left/right of the page.
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