Highlights of Marketing Trends for 2022 (from HubSpot)

HubSpot does an annual survey of 1000 marketing professionals around the world (both B2B and B2C) and from that data they create an overview of trends to look for in the coming year.

Here are some of the 2022 trends and information about what they are and why marketing professionals are embracing them:

• Influencer marketing will evolve from a trend to a common marketing tactic.

When marketers collaborate with influencers and industry thought leaders in their industry, they can expand brand awareness and gain fans from the influencer's own audience. 

• Video marketers will keep content short.                                                       
  

Short-form content is the second most effective trend marketers are currently leveraging. 

• Mobile optimization will be even more important. 

More than half of annual online website traffic comes from mobile devices, including tablets.  

• Permanent social media posts could overtake ephemeral content.

While ephemeral content -- which often stays published for 24-hours before disappearing (unless it's saved or archived) -- isn't going away any time soon, brands have seen that permanent social media content -- such as standard posts, videos, and live events that show up on a platform's feed and can be viewed again days later -- might be more effective within their marketing campaigns.

• Companies will prioritize social responsibility.

• Experiential marketing could make a comeback.

• More businesses will use SEO to concur search traffic.

While SEO is not new, its strategies are becoming even more ingrained within modern-day marketing strategies. 

• Virtual events will continue, but some brands will invest less.

Despite losing some shrinking virtual event budgets, marketers won't be leaving the virtual event space any time soon. In fact, a whopping 80% of marketers plan to invest the same budget or more into virtual events in 2022.

• More consumers will hear branded audio content.

53% of professionals whose companies leverage content marketing find "podcasts or other types of audio content" effective when it comes to engagement and brand awareness. 

• Inbound marketing will remain a best practice for growing brands.

• Consumers will step into virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences.

Ever watched a 360° video on Facebook? That’s VR. What about IKEA’s IKEA PLACE app which helps you visualize virtual furniture in your very real room? That’s AR.

Source: HubSpot https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-trends

Bring Your LinkedIn Profile to Life

LinkedIn users: Did you know you can add a 30-second intro video to your LinkedIn profile? 

It’s called the Cover Story feature and the functionality is available via the LinkedIn app only. It’s a great way to introduce yourself, add some personality to your profile, or set yourself apart from the competition.

Simply go to your LinkedIn profile page (via the app), click on your profile picture and it will give you the option to add a video.

Film it directly in the app or upload a pre-recorded video from your phone.

It’s only 30 seconds long so you want to plan what you’ll say to have the most impact in this short snippet! What do you want your LinkedIn visitors to know about you or how you can help them?

Once you add your Cover Story video, it will replace your profile picture and it will be outlined by an orange circle (see photo).  Check out my LinkedIn Cover Story!

Marketing Tips to Boost Your Holiday Sales!

It's time to plan your holiday season promotions. If it's the busiest selling time of year for your company, you'll want to start now and do it right. Here are some tips to help you make this season your best-selling one yet! 

1. Get Started Early

While the official holiday season begins right after Thanksgiving with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, this year you’ll want to start your marketing campaigns earlier than normal.  With COVID affecting supply chains and shipping, customers will be eager to get their shopping done early in order to get the
right gifts without any delays!  

2. Make Online Shopping Easy

While in-person shopping will be increased compared to last year, COVID worries will still keep some people away from crowds at the stores.  To accommodate all buying preferences, be sure that your website’s online shopping experience is a smooth one and ready to impress.

In addition to shipping products, trends like buying online with curbside or in-store pick up will continue to be popular this year.

3. Embrace Email Marketing

Your customers and prospects will be looking for great holiday deals and discounts.  During the holiday season, consumers frequently check their email for offers that can help them save.

Use email to send holiday coupons to your targeted list of customers and prospects. Treat your customers to specials, free shipping and secret sales tailored just for them. 

Email continues to drive website traffic and sales. It is proven to be consumers' preferred method of contact with the brands they know and love.  And your existing customers are valuable- on average they spend 31% more than new customers*! 

3. Social-ize

Social campaigns should play a significant role in your holiday marketing. Your customers and prospect will be scanning social networks for gift ideas and the best offers.  It's crucial to create a social posting schedule to ensure that you don't miss a beat. Map out all of your posts for the social networks that are right for your business during the weeks leading up to and through the holiday season.

Remember to balance your promotional posts with useful information. Produce content that helps your customers such as advice, tips, and include fun stuff like videos and photo contests to keep your audience engaged.

4.  Retargeting

A high percentage of shoppers will abandon their online shopping carts and leave websites without making a purchase.  Don’t miss out on these potential sales!  A remarketing ad campaign can help.

For instance, by installing a Facebook pixel on your website, you can then market to your website visitors via Facebook advertising.  Facebook’s “custom audience” lets you send ads to people who have visited your website in the past 30 days. If they didn’t previously make a purchase, hopefully, your retargeting FB ad and offer will prompt them to buy!

Need help pulling your holiday marketing campaigns together? Contact Jocelyn Murray
to see how I can help!

*Source: Invesp

 

*According to Invesp

Are You Managing Your Online Reputation?

Are you managing your Google My Business profile to ensure that your business's online reputation is a positive one?  This free tool allows you to be visible in the Google search results and on Google Maps too so it’s an important component of your online marketing strategy.

Begin by making sure your profile is complete so you give your prospects and customers the entire picture of your business. Be sure to include the basics (hours of operation, address, description of your business) as well as links to your website, social profiles and appointment or reservation booking interfaces. Don’t forget photos, videos and posts where you can share offers, news, announcements or event details with visitors.

Google reviews are one of the most important features of your Google My Business profile. Did you know that 80 percent of consumers trust online ratings and reviews* as much as a recommendation from a friend or family member? Regularly monitor and respond to your reviews. Have a plan for how to respond to each type of review to ensure customer satisfaction.

Tracking and improving your reputation is an important component of your business’ marketing and will lead to higher visibility and more conversions.

*BrightLocal

Creative Email Content Ideas for High Impact and Results

Coming up with valuable content for your email campaigns can be challenging. Once you've determined your campaign's goals, message and frequency, how will you draw readers in and engage them?

Here are some ideas for developing creative, valuable email content to connect with your audience:

Share your expertise

You are an expert - at least your customers think of you that way. Share your expertise by writing articles, tips, or by answering customer questions.

 

Use facts & testimonials

Facts about your products or your industry, quotes from customers, stories about their experiences and even advice from your customers can be effective.

 

Include links

Links give your audience the opportunity to interact with your message. Point them to a web page, blog, email address or a PDF.

 

Offer discounts & coupons.

Discounts, coupons, contests can work for the right audiences.

 

Encourage exclusivity & VIP status

Upscale hotels often offer special privileges and rewards to their most esteemed, frequent customers. People love exclusivity: remind customers of how special they are to you, treat them like VIPs and watch your ROI grow.

 

Hold giveaways

Give away a free product or service to everyone who responds or to one contest winner.

 

Remember: your email has to contain something that's worthwhile or useful to your audience. Some respond to coupons and discounts while others care about information and knowledge. Determine what motivates your audience and is useful to them.

For help with your email marketing strategy and plans, contact MER at 203.543.1455.

 

 

 

Attract the Right Prospects with Inbound Marketing

Attracting prospects by providing interesting and valuable content is an effective form of marketing that "pulls" prospects in.  Blog posts, videos and social content let you impart your knowledge and establish your expertise in the industry.  

Offering this helpful content in exchange for prospect data such as name, business or email address is the basis for inbound marketing campaigns.

This approach is vastly different from traditional outbound marketing which involves a "push" approach where companies use paid advertising to get products and messages in customers' minds and hope they take action.

Creating inbound marketing campaigns for a defined target audience to generate qualified leads is one of the best ways to market online. 

Here's an overview of how to execute your inbound campaign:

1.  Identify the audience

Define your target audience and their specific needs and pain points. Consider surveying or interviewing existing clients or prospects from your target audience to determine:

• Demographics

• Biggest challenges

• Perceptions

2. Set goals

Determine what type and how many leads the campaign should generate by a targeted date.

3. Create relevant offers and landing pages

Create a content offer (an eBook, checklist, informational video series, etc.) that's valuable to the target audience. In exchange for your prospects' contact information, give them access to this valuable content (downloadable PDF).

Having an effective landing page (with a call to action and lead capture form) on your website is crucial to converting prospects.

4. Choose promotional channels to get the word out

Decide which organic and paid channels to use to reach your audience and promote your offer. Email, social media and paid advertising are good places to start. Develop campaigns and schedule posts or ads to drive traffic to your offer/landing page.

5. Engage

Once you capture prospect information, what will you do with it?  Develop an engagement strategy that helps you build a long-term relationship with these prospects. Create a series of relevant follow-up emails as well as sales team actions to turn your prospects into warm leads or even new clients.

6. Monitor progress

Assess whether your set goals were met and where campaign improvements can be made. Test different offers to see what gets the best response and closely track your promotional channels to understand where the leads are coming from.

Use inbound marketing to attract targeted customers by creating content and experiences that are relevant and valuable to them.  

Contact Jocelyn at MER to discuss how to start your next inbound marketing campaign!

Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

What is digital marketing? It encompasses all marketing efforts that use the Internet and online digital technologies and devices. It includes a wide range of channels, such as websites, email, social media, SEO, mobile and pay-per-click ads.

With digital marketing, small business owners can promote their companies and compete with larger ones. Choosing the channels that will be most effective for your business can increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website and generate more sales and leads.

Here are 5 digital marketing tips to help promote your business online:

Invest in Website Marketing

Websites are the most essential digital marketing tool—you own it and control it. Make sure your website is up-to-date, mobile-friendly, and easy for users to navigate, as well as modern and clean-looking. Investing money in your website is a good way to maximize its effectiveness.

Use your site to create landing pages (standalone web pages) for each of your marketing campaigns. Landing pages (as opposed to your home page) are where visitors “land” after clicking on your ad, email or social post. Landing pages are a good way to increase the conversion rates of your campaign. They’re designed with a specific goal or call to action (CTA) and work well if you’re trying to get a visitor to act (sign up, download information or make a purchase).

Start a Blog as Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

Starting a blog on your website is one of the best free marketing tools available. On your blog, you can write about topics related to your business, showing your expertise and providing helpful information. Blog content that’s relevant to your target markets will drive people to your website and help your search rankings—content that’s relevant to your target audience will naturally rank in the search engines.

Use Search Engine Optimization to Be Found Locally

If most of your business comes from local customers then local SEO, which helps businesses be found in a specific geographic market, should be part of your digital strategy. Include your business city and state in your website’s title tag, alt tag and in your content. Ideally, your home page should include the name, address and phone of your company and it should match your Google My Business listing.

Google uses inbound links, or backlinks, to gauge the quality of your website. Inbound links occur when another website links back to your site, so be sure to post hyperlinks to your web pages from social media sites, online articles and guest blog posts. Also ask your business partners to post links to your site on their Resources page.

Another way to optimize local SEO is to completely fill out your local profiles on sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Bing, and so on. For a fee, Moz Local will ensure your business listings are correct and consistent on sites and directories that factor most in local search engine results.

Maximize Your Use of Positive Online Review and Testimonials

It’s also important to leverage the power of social media and social proof for your business. Social proof is how prospects and customers are influenced online by what others around them think and do. Having positive reviews and shares of your content on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram can create a buzz and generate more interest in you and your products or services.

Build an Email List and Leverage Email Marketing

Behind websites, email marketing is considered the second most effective digital channel. Email lets you stay connected with customers and engage with them on a regular basis, easily providing them with news updates, special announcements and offers. It also helps improve your brand recognition and credibility. All it takes is one well-constructed email to drive traffic to your website or social media pages.  

A solid responsive email list can be more valuable than a big social media following. When building an email list, start with who you know—customers, prospects, chamber members, business partners, family, and friends. Include an option to sign up for your email list on your website and social media, using helpful information, coupons and special offers to entice them!

It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need to use all of these digital marketing tools listed—instead, figure out which ones are most effective for your business.