best marketing blog
November 16, 2021
8 Ways That Brands Can Utilize TikTok in Their Marketing
I hate to admit, but I’m among the former, and it wasn’t until just recently that I began looking at it from a brand perspective (as opposed to lamenting the fact that everyone can sing and dance except me).
Aside from its clear youth appeal, TikTok provides a growing range of ad options, and is taking extra measures to educate its users on how to safely use the platform.
Are you thinking about adding TikTok into your digital marketing mix? Then read on to learn more about the short video app.
What is TikTok?
TikTok, similar to Vine before is, is all about short videos.
Most of the app's former Musical.ly users simply uploaded videos of themselves lip-synching to music videos, while the more talented, enthusiastic, and technically proficient members uploaded videos of original content. The latter cohort went on to become influencers on the platform.
multiple clips together for up to 60 seconds of total recording. Users are also able to upload longer videos which have been recorded outside the app itself.
There's also a live-streaming option and a range of filters and tools to help improve your video presentation.
The app is attuned to modern usage trends, and caters to an audience looking for a new and exciting way to connect. And clearly, based on the download stats, it's hitting the right notes with users.
How Can Brands & Marketers Make the Most of TikTok?
Using TikTok for marketing is actually much simpler than you'd think.
There are currently three key options for brands looking to utilize TikTok for promotion:
- Create your brands' own channel and upload videos relevant to your business
- Utilize influencers to open your content to a much broader (but well-targeted) audience
- Pay to advertise utilizing TikTok’s new campaign options (though, personally, I’d recommend holding off on this until the market is a bit more established)
We’re full of fun and creative ideas for marketing on TikTok. Here are a few that we hope you can use or draw inspiration from:
- In a world where consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical of ads, the raw, unedited videos on TikTok can be a great way to showcase people using your brand in their everyday lives.
- TikTok videos can also be a great place to showcase business behind the scenes or in-the-moment content - for example:
- Human Resources can make trainings more interactive by going live on TikTok to conduct their sessions
- Landing pages can have you popping on to drive traffic to lead magnets
- With such a young demographic, TikTok can be great for higher ed marketers and students within colleges and universities. There’s already a lot of content to be found on campus - sports, BTS, dance marathons, these all do well.
- Boutiques can use TikTok for the ever-popular try-on videos - you can film a whole seasons worth of sales in a fun sped up video and you can even add your own hype music
- Of course, larger clothing brands also see almost immediate success as well. Last fall, Guess was the first brand TikTok collaborated with in the US for its #inmydenim campaign
- Does your product require assembly? User-friendly step by step videos can be produced on TikTok, and even linked to on your packaging.
- Restaurants also have significant opportunities. Chipotle was the first major chain to jump onto the platform, and it recently launched its second major TikTok campaign with the #GuacDance challenge, which encouraged fans to show off their avocado-themed dance moves inspired by Dr. Jean’s “Guacamole Song.”
- #HashtagChallenges are great because they prompt engagement. They’re simple to join in and fun. If you’re not yet a well-established brand, you can also consider using influencers to help kickstart your challenge campaign.
As a marketer - but also as someone who is heavily influenced by marketing AND as someone that regularly writes on social media trends, I like to test new marketing channels and ideas. Generally, if there's something that's growing fast, I'll do a 1-3-month test before writing or publicly speaking on it.
In my time with TikTok thus far, I've seen promise, and an opportunity to connect with audiences in new, fun and engaging ways.
It still has a way to go yet before it becomes a key channel, but it may well be worth considering for your 2020 campaigns.
Written by: Lucy Rendler-Kaplan See full article here
November 12, 2021
6 Marketing Trends to Prepare For in 2022
6 Marketing Trends to Prepare For in 2022
Marketers face a landscape disrupted by a pandemic, new business models, new applications of tech, and the fallout of regulatory changes.
You can't go through something like a yearlong (and counting) global pandemic and not expect some things to change. Then again, marketers and change aren't exactly strangers. Marketing professionals have always lived in a world where consumers' preferences are constantly evolving and they are forced to adapt. In the past year, marketers have done so in spades, rolling with the abrupt suspension of in-person events, a massive shift toward digital marketing, and -- for many -- reduced budgets.
As the economic recovery gains momentum, many marketers will likely find themselves with more dollars to spend. But how and where should they spend them? Will people be yearning for a return to the old normal or continue to embrace the habits they developed over the past year? What messaging will resonate and which channels will reach the post-pandemic consumer?
As the marketing gaze turns futureward, here are some trends to look for in 2022.
1. The Future of Events Will Be Hybrid
When the pandemic forced closures and social distancing requirements, marketers faced the cancellation of all manner of in-person events, from store grand openings to big-ticket concert series. In their place, virtual events became a mainstay for engaging with customers and leads. Increased spending on social media and other digital platforms helped make these events successful. Now consumers -- and the marketers who pitch to them -- face two warring impulses. The urge to gather again is strong, for sure. But having experienced the immediacy of live events from the comfort of their couches, many consumers are happy to keep things virtual. To cater to both audiences, you'll need to craft hybrid events. In-person events will have a strong digital component, and technologies like AR and VR can create an immersive experience for those who prefer not to venture out.
2. Content Alignment Will Never Be More Important
Any company that wants to own its industry will need to align its PR, thought leadership, and SEO. Consider this thought leadership Venn diagram, which shows the importance of overlapping visibility, credibility, and authority. If you can align these things, you can easily stand out in your industry.
That means you need to have some source content on your website and other things you own like social or sister sites. Once you get a solid base of authority on different topics, then work to gain added credibility by adding the PR element, where others are quoting or mentioning your content. Finally, make sure that people are linking to your content under certain topics that you can own ... which hints at my next point.
3. Marketing Companies Will Take More Ownership
I'm seeing more sales and marketing companies take ownership in the products or services they help sell. This shift makes sense to me, because if you are able to sell somebody's product and bring in significant revenue, you will ultimately increase the value of that company. If you have an ownership stake, you'll be even more motivated to knock it out of the park. It's hugely beneficial on both sides.
If you are in marketing and sales, start looking first at what products and services will benefit from your services. Then identify which of those companies will allow you to put performance metrics in place to gain some ownership as you meet those goals. For example, TechCrunch recently reported on an outsourced CMO firm that created its own venture firm to invest in companies that can benefit from the firm's resources.
4. Engaging Nonprofits Will Be a Big Part of Marketing Plans
More and more, consumers are looking to support companies that have a mission or give back in some way. This trend is only going to increase, and a well-rounded marketing plan should take part in this development by partnering with nonprofits. This partnership opportunity has the potential to not only grow your business, but also align you with philanthropic missions that are important to you.
Expanding your brand and reach while engaging in advocacy for a nonprofit is a win-win. However, your marketing plan shouldn't end at simply expressing support for a charitable organization. It should include effective goals such as product placement, affiliate marketing, percentage of sales donations, or corporate sponsorship. According to nonprofit executive coach Mallory Erickson, these types of partnerships can help you reach a new audience around the globe.
5. A.I. Will Make Influencer Marketing Easier and More Results-Driven
The death of influencer marketing, while often predicted, has yet to occur. Valued at $9.7 billion in 2020, the market is estimated to reach $15 billion by 2022, with a near majority of marketers reporting they budget more than 20 percent of their spend on influencer content. Not that influencer marketing hasn't changed over the years -- the recent shift toward micro-influencers and their more highly engaged audiences being one example.
The next shift will be the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence. You can leverage the technology for everything from influencer identification (A.I. can watch and assess millions of influencer videos in ways a human can't) to performance influencer marketing. In this model, powered by predictive A.I., you pay only for the conversions and sales influencers produce. ROI is practically assured.
6. Marketers Will Find Alternatives to Third-Party Cookies
With Google's recent announcement, another predicted death -- that of the third-party cookie -- has been postponed (until 2023). But while the delay means that marketers' need to wean themselves from 3P-cookies-based targeting strategies has become slightly less urgent, it is no less critical. Consumers are demanding greater privacy protections and control over their data, and marketers will need to adjust.
You could begin by increasing your efforts to gather and fully exploit first-party data -- after all, first-party cookies aren't going anywhere. Or you can use tools like Google's Privacy Sandbox or FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) to achieve personalization and consumer targeting without intruding on user privacy. Regardless, CRM tools, surveys, and interactive content will become increasingly instrumental to marketing success.
As brands vie for consumer attention in these still uncertain times, marketers will find themselves in a familiar role: change agent. By taking these six trends into account, you'll be able to stay ahead of the curve.
Written by: JOHN HALL, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, CALENDAR
@JOHNHALL InC.com View article hereJune 12, 2018
11 Power Sales Words to Use in your Sales Emails
What you say on your sales emails is as crucial as what you’re actually selling. An email is significantly different from a call or a face-to-face meeting. With emails, you can easily be ignored.
Keep your email off the spam folder by catching your reader’s attention. Use sales language that is powerful and can convert your audience into buyers.
1. Benefits
When it comes to sales words, benefits trump specifications and features, almost always. Using ‘benefits’ shifts the focus from impersonal details that may or may not interest your readers. You only have a few seconds before they click the delete button.
So, appeal to their needs. Sell your product’s benefits by talking about how it can improve people’s lives.
2. Value
Engage Selling Solutions owner Colleen Francis once claimed in her book Nonstop Sales Boom that customers “…only care about value and achieving their objectives.”
So, on email, talk about value, not price. Value is a powerful word. Price is objective; value is variable per person. When you use the word, you reach out to each person’s sensibilities. They think and assess for themselves. They might even click on your link to learn more about what you offer.
As Warren Buffet, American business magnate and philanthropist, said: “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
3. Show
As sales words go, ‘show’ is a positive interactive word that you can use to imply your willingness to communicate with your audience. It works better than ‘learn,’ which – regardless of its positive meaning – implies one-sidedness. When you say ‘show,’ you are reaching out and telling your reader that you’re there to help.
Instead of saying “learn more about our product,” say: “Let me show you how our product adds value to your life.” It makes people feel good and signals what could be the start of a good business relationship.
4. You
Sales is not about you, your quota or that sales team leaderboard you so want to top. It is about the client. Without their willingness to listen, you won’t be able to take further steps in making the sale. And, people always pay attention when you start talking about them.
Even on email, your choice of pronouns communicate what you value more. So, use ‘you’ instead than ‘I.’ Because, in the end, you want your reader to think about themselves and the value that your product brings into their life.
5. Because
Harvard University professor and social psychologist Ellen Langer once did a study on the impact of using ‘because’ in phrasing statements. She went out to see if people would let her cut in line using these lines, alternately:
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”
The last two sentences that used ‘because’ gained around 90% affirmatives. People responded more positively when a reason was offered.
So, when you make a statement – let’s say a claim about your product – add in a ‘because’ and then explain why. People become more open when they try to understand.
6. And
Usually, sales people use ‘but’ when trying to counter an objection. This is a negative word because ‘but,’ as is, signals an opposition. Your prospect knows that you are about to argue with an opposing statement. This is likely to put them in a defensive.
Instead, when you need to append anything to an original statement, use ‘and.’ This is an inclusive word. When used, regardless of how you use it, you sound like you agree.
Take, for instance, these examples by Seamus Brown, a sales trainer:
“I see that you only have a budget of $50,000, but let me tell you why our system costs $100,000.”
“I see that you only have a budget of $50,000, and let me tell you why our system costs $100,000.”
Not only does the second statement sound more positive. It also acknowledges the client’s reservations and offers an explanation to counter the client’s statement, without sounding negative.
7. Power Words/ Emotions
When you sell, you not only appeal to a person’s needs and values. You also appeal to their emotions. Strong feelings, such as joy, fear and distress, come with certain predictable responses.
If your sales strategy requires appealing to these emotions, then you should use words that could evoke them. A good guide is Jon Morrow’s online article called “317 Power Words That’ll Instantly Make You a Better Writer.” The words he put together are known to evoke certain human emotions. Of course, choose your words wisely. Be clear about what you want to achieve first.
8. Free
Ali Abdullah, an entrepreneur, once claimed that: “Two of the most powerful words in the English language are ‘free’ and ‘sex.’ While the latter is a bit racy, the former presents an opportunity all brands should capitalize on.”
‘Sex’ has no place in your sales email – unless, of course, it’s what you’re selling and it’s legal. ‘Free,’ on the other hand, offers many possibilities.
Consider a University of Minnesota 2012 experiment wherein they made consumers choose between similarly-sized lotion bottles. One claimed to offer 50% more free lotion while the other was cheaper by 33%. People chose the bottle with the free content by about 73% of the time.
Dan Ariely, a behavioral scientist, claims that ‘Free’ is always the more interesting offer because it increases the value of the product.
9. Imagine
‘Imagine’ is one of the most powerful sales words you can use in your email. It invites your reader to experience your product vicariously through imagination. When they do this, they stop being passive listeners. They become active participants who, alongside you, are thinking about a better future because of your product.
10. Opportunity
In sales, you want your prospect to acknowledge a problem and then see your product as the solution for that problem. The thing is, ‘problem’ is a negative word. It puts people on the defensive and makes them less open to discussing possibilities.
An easy fix is to use the word ‘opportunity’ instead. Because, in truth, a problem is also an opportunity to achieve something better. You just have to make your prospect see it, and take action.
“Your problem is that you’re hungry.”
“You now have the opportunity to eat what you love.”
Check out the two statements above. They both describe the same situation. However, the second one is more inspiring. It makes you want to reach for the nearby fork and eat with gusto!
11. Their Name
People want to feel that you are speaking to them directly, and that they’re unique to you. You can communicate this simply by saying their names. This is a powerful move and it tells your audience that you’re paying attention.
You can easily do this over the phone or face-to-face. It is harder with sales emails, however, especially when you’re doing blast emailing. A work-around here is to use mailing programs that allow you to use variables in your email text. A simple use of the “first name” variable in the greeting section of your email can make a big difference.
Written by: Dan Sincavage
View Full Article Here
View Full Article Here
January 12, 2018
What is Deep Learning? Here's Everything Marketers Need to Know
The machines are here.
You may have heard rumors about artificial intelligence (AI) potentially taking over our jobs. And the question is: Should you be concerned?
In my opinion, we should be excited.
AI -- especially “deep learning” technology -- brings new opportunities and innovation in the way digital marketing, sales, and customer support are handled.
But what is deep learning? How does it work? And how can it be applied to marketing and sales in your company?
What Is Deep Learning?
Deep learning is a discipline within AI that uses algorithms mimicking the human brain. Deep learning algorithms use neural networks to learn a certain task. Neural networks consist of interconnected neurons that process data in both the human brain and computers.
Neural Networks in Advertising
Let’s assume we are an online car dealership, and we want to use real-time bidding (RTB) as a mechanism to buy ad space for our product on other websites -- for retargeting purposes.
RTB is an automated process that takes place in a short time frame of under 100 milliseconds. When a user visits a website, an advertiser is alerted, and a series of actions determines whether or not that advertiser bids for an ad display. Have a look at the image below:
Source: Periscopix
In RTB, we use software to decide if we want to bid for a certain ad -- the software will make a decision by predicting how likely the website visitor is to buy one of our products. We call that "buying propensity."
In this instance, we'll use deep learning to make this prediction. That means our RTB software will use a neural network to predict the buying propensity.
The neural network inside our RTB software consists of neurons and the connections between them. The neural network on the above image has only a handful of neurons. In reality, a digital neural network has thousands -- or even millions -- of neurons and connections.
In this scenario, we want to find out if a certain website visitor is likely to buy a car, and if we should pay for an ad to target her. The result will depend on the interests and actions of the website visitor.
To predict the buying propensity, we first choose several “features” that are key to defining this person’s digital behavior. In our example, those features will consists of which of the following four web pages were visited:
- Pricing.
- Car Configurator.
- Specifications.
- Financing.
Those features will influence the output of our neural network -- or, essentially, our conclusion. That output can have one of two values:
- The website visitor is interested in the product, or “ready to buy.” Conclusion: We should display an ad.
- The website visitor is not interested in the product, or "not ready." Conclusion: Do not show an ad.
How the Neural Network Functions
Let's have a closer look:
For each input, we use “0” or “1”.
“1” means the user has visited the webpage. The neurons in the middle will add the values of their connected neurons using weights -- or, more simply put, they define the importance of each visited webpage.
This process continues from left to right, until we reach the “output” neurons -- “ready to buy” or “not ready,” as per our earlier list.
The higher the value of the output, the higher the probability that this output is the correct one -- or the more accurately the network predicts the user’s behavior.
In this example, a website visitor looked at the Pricing and Car Configurator pages, but she skipped Specifications and Financing. Using the numerical system above, we get a “score” of 0.7, which means that there is a 70% chance this user is “ready to buy” our product.
So, if we look at our original formula, that score indicates the conclusion that we should buy the RTB ad placement.
Training of the Neural Network
Now that we know how a neural network functions, let's have a look at how to make sure our output neurons are calculated correctly, in order to make the right decision.
The challenge is to come up with the correct “weight” factors for all the connections inside the neural network, which is why it needs to be trained.
In this context, “training” means that we feed the neural network data from multiple website visitors -- things like visitor features (which web pages users have visited), as well as indicators of their eventual purchase decisions from us (which are labeled as "yes" or "no").
The neural network processes all these data, adjusting the weights of each neuron until the neural network makes appropriate calculations for each person within the training data. Once that step is done, the weights are fixed, and the neural network can more accurately predict the outcome for new website visitors.
The Future of Deep Learning
Democratization of AI
AI is quickly finding its way into marketing tools that we use every day. Take, for example, the AI-powered Chatbot builder by Motion.ai (part of HubSpot), which allows you to easily create and publish your own chatbot.
Another example is Dialogflow, a platform from Google that lets you build a chatbot for your company or service.
It certainly doesn't stop there. AI can assist with the setup of advertising campaigns, hyper-personalize emails, optimize lead scoring, categorize and escalate customer issues, and actually help you with anything that requires data processing or orchestration.
Deep learning can be applied in any area of digital marketing, provided that you have a sufficient amount of “training” data. The challenge is typically to extract data from your various marketing tools -- that's where data integration platforms like Blendr.io will be crucial in connecting your data silos when you start experimenting with deep learning and AI.
The Future: AI ... That Builds New AI
Google explains that the process of designing neural networks often takes a significant amount of time for development and experimentation, because all of the neural network layers have to be crafted by people. That's why Google invented AutoML: AI that can build new and better AI algorithms.
Imagine what that type of technology can bring to something like marketing automation, for example. The AI will be able to build additional, customized AI algorithms that will learn and automatically optimize nurturing campaigns, for example.
Though deep learning may sound complicated, it's a process that, much of the time, boils down to math. Neural networks “learn” in a manner similar to humans: by viewing many examples, and discovering the commonalities among them.
Once the neural network is trained, it can perform complex tasks and a certain level of reasoning. Deep learning and AI can be integrated into many aspects of digital marketing and sales automation. The machines are not coming -- they are already here.
Originally published January 05 2018, updated January 08 2018
Written by Niko Nelissen
photo by: H Heyerlein - unsplash
December 29, 2017
4 Marketing Strategies Every Startup Can Afford
You don't need to outspend your competition. You just need to out-think and out-work them.
Do your products sell themselves?
Having a great product is essential, but that alone isn’t enough to make your startup successful. Aside from your fantastic product, you’ll also need a stellar marketing strategy to grow your startup. But for many entrepreneurs, it's simply not realistic to spend a lot of money to acquire new business.
Instead, consider a few of these cost-effective marketing strategies that can help generate early successes.
Affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is the most cost-effective marketing strategy that works. I believe all businesses -- regardless of size -- should adopt referral, or affiliate, marketing. I've used it with a good deal of success and put it to work in all my online businesses.
Here's how it works: Encourage people to recommend your products to others, and pay a commission only when someone purchases your products through those referrals.
Start by setting up an affiliate program though networks such as ShareASale or ImpactRadius. You then can promote your affiliate program by featuring it prominently on your website and inviting customers to join the program. Additionally, you can choose the right reward structure -- one that’s compelling enough for your network's members to engage.
Email outreach also can serve as an efficient tool when communicating with influencers:
- Create a list of influencers and experts in your industry,
- Send an outreach email requesting they try your product for free, and
- Explain the monetary rewards they could earn by referring a user.
Content marketing.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, nearly 90 percent of brands use content marketing to grow their businesses. It's the perfect marketing strategy for startups and small businesses because it works within the confines of limited resources.Even though content marketing is extremely popular, not everyone finds success with this tactic. Lack of a documented content strategy is one of the primary causes. Without this crucial piece, your efforts will be less effective. As a result, you could face significant challenges when you attempt to implement content-marketing tactics.Streamline your content-marketing process by creating an editorial calendar. Identify any bottlenecks and evaluate your content planning. Measure your strategy's progress, tracking how well your content is performing to attract the audience.Do-it-yourself PR.
More than 540,000 new businesses launch each month. That means you'll encounter some serious competition to grab your target market's attention. If you want to generate favorable and frequent public-relations mentions, build quality relationships with the journalists and bloggers in your industry.Be prepared that you might not always get a response when you make your pitch. You can increase the likelihood of getting coverage if you differentiate your pitch so the tone or angle of each is exclusive to the journalist and her or his publication. Do some research to discover which writers or videographers cover which aspects of your industry. Then, tailor your press release, teaser, or pitch-by-phone to fit those respective beats. Free tools such as Help a Reporter Out can assist in your quest to gain access to email addresses that belong to journalists looking for interviews in your space.Piggyback a popular platform.
When you’re launching a bootstrapped startup, the real challenge is coming up with a marketing strategy that requires little to no funding. Piggybacking another well-grown platform is a great strategy to get your product in front of potential customers. Airbnb’s integration with Craigslist is a perfect example of ad hoc integration for user acquisition.Craigslist doesn’t allow integration with any third-party services that cross-post listings to the site. To build a backlink and attract users, the team at Airbnb reverse-engineered how Craigslist's forms worked -- then made Airbnb's own site compatible with that workflow. Just a few clicks allow users to easily cross-post a listing to Craigslist while also placing a backlink that points to their own site.The general rule of thumb: Find the right platform you can leverage to grow your startup and create a strategy that works to acquire customers.
Syed Balkhi • Guest Writer - Entrepreneur.com
Photo by: Jason Briscoe - Unsplash
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
