Six mobile marketing tips for businesses and brands

From chatbots to personalisation, here advertising and mobile experts share their tips on how to master mobile marketing.

We type tap and swipe our phones, on average, 2,617 times a day, according to new research by data company dscout. For heavy users that can rise to more than 5,000 “touches”. The figures are stark: mobile is where you find people’s eyes and hands. It means that brands can’t afford to ignore mobile as a marketing platform; it’s now an essential way to attract new customers and build brand awareness.

Telegraph Media & Tech Connect asked some of the top ad agencies and mobile experts to share their tips for marketing on the powerful, pocket-based platform. Here’s what they said:

1. Know your chatbots

“Chatbots provide a great opportunity for brands to engage in a personal and smart way with their audiences. We’re seeing a big shift in traffic from traditional social media platforms to messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.

“With six out of the top 10 most used apps globally being messenger apps, it seems like a really interesting way for brands to exploit having a direct conversation with their customers. This worked well for KLM Royal Dutch airlines, when it launched a chatbot via Facebook Messenger to deliver flight information, itineraries, boarding passes and even delay information. That’s both useful and relevant.”

2. Think about how people travel across devices

“How you advertise across these devices depends on your product. Marketers need to understand how devices fit into the customer journey. There’s often a very complex path when people discover a new product or service: they jump between devices during the research and consideration process (this can be very varied across industries and product types).

“The size of the purchase makes a massive impact; a car purchase will involve a very different path across devices than buying replacement ink for a printer. It’s so easy to buy ink from Amazon on a handheld mobile device, you almost don’t even think about it. But if you are buying an insurance policy, it’s a lengthier process. Understanding how devices fit into your specific customer journey is important.”

3. Stop obsessing over tech and focus on users

“Businesses focus on what application or technology is coming next, but the people using it don’t care about technology – they care about what technology enables. The best technology is seamless, useful and invisible. Rather than focusing on technology or trend, shift your thinking to the user first: to their behaviours (the way the mobile user consumes content in a more snackable way); location (tailoring content depending on whether the user is at home in front of the TV or in a shop); and their need, which tends to be more immediate compared to a desktop user.”

4. Personalisation breeds quality

“Personalisation is the big trend in mobile. As datasets become richer, artificial intelligence becomes more powerful and shapes expectations, brands will be expected to offer more personalized content and better-curated experiences through mobile. Eventually ‘Recommended for you’ will reflect where you are, what you're doing and what your needs are, with no questions asked.

“In particular, it means that good content will find its way to the right people, creating a strong incentive for marketers to place an emphasis on quality rather than quantity when it comes to content.”

5. Sites need to work for mobile; being responsive isn’t enough

“Consumer behavior is different on mobile, which means that site builds must exploit the functionality mobile offers, with click-to-call buttons or GPS store locators to ensure the needs of consumers are met.

“If you have an app, it’s also really important to think about how it works with your site. 

“Having a single user journey – with actions performed on one touchpoint showing up in another – is critical to ensuring that the customer journey is seamless. The key here is they can continue whatever it is they started on the device or touchpoint, they choose.”

6. Ask yourself: where is the right place to advertise?

“Two important areas of mobile content consumption are the social ‘feed’ (Facebook, Twitter and so on) and editorial ‘read’ environments (for example, an article on the MailOnline mobile site). But consumers in the ‘feed’ are in a very different mindset than those in a ‘read’ environment.

“We asked a group of mobile users to spend 15 seconds interacting with a social feed and 15 seconds reading an editorial story. We found that users in the feed scrolled past about three ads, translating to a dwell time of only about 1.5 seconds per ad. In the editorial environment, users scrolled past an average of one ad, with five seconds dwell time – a much better exposure for a brand.

“But it’s not just about speed. Consumers in a feed are searching for something to engage with, but in read mode, they’ve already opted into an article they want to pay attention to – much better exposure for contextually relevant brand messaging.

“There’s one more thing to remember: grabbing an engaged consumer’s attention isn’t enough; if you don’t serve an ad that’s more creative and interactive than a standard static banner, for example, you can’t blame the audience for failing to interact with it.”

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5 Social Media Marketing Rules You Should Live By

With the explosion of social media, any business owner who wants to cultivate a stronger relationship with their customers and earn more clients in the process should utilize social media marketing. With millions of people using social networking sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on a daily basis, using social media can give your business more exposure.

Things to Remember with Social Media Marketing

Before you launch a social media campaign, here are some of the most important things you must know to help ensure the success of your social media strategy,

1. Post on a regular basis

When it comes to social media, how often you post is very important. After all, the more your audience hears from you, the more likely they are to trust you. Also, it helps you stay relevant. Therefore, make it a point to post regularly on your social media accounts so you won’t easily fade from your audience’s consciousness.

2. Post relevant content

While it is true that posting regularly is important, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should post just anything that catches your fancy. Remember, what you post matters, too. For better customer engagement, post content that is relevant to the products or services that you’re offering and can help solve your audience’s problems. Always consider your audience’s welfare and interest when choosing which type of content to post.

3. Share and retweet

A great way to expand your audience reach is to show that you’re a thought leader or an influencer in your market. One effective way to do that is to share and retweet relevant content produced by other people in your niche or industry.

4. Respond and engage

Social media won’t be fun if1 you’re the only one who gets to do the “talking.” To have a better and bigger social media presence, take the time to engage your audience or followers. Respond to their questions and comments. If you legitimately know a solution to one of their problems, be a darling and share it with them.

5. Learn from your mistakes

As with anything in life, learning from your mistake is one way to improve your social media presence. To determine what works and what doesn’t, take a look at your previous posts and see what makes them a success or a failure. Once you have a clear grasp of what sort of content your audience likes, make sure you refrain from posting content most of your followers don’t care about.

Source: http://bit.ly/29VcTHU

20 Simple, Useful Content Marketing Tips That Often Go Overlooked (But Shouldn’t)

1) Look for Blog Topics Right in Your Email Inbox

You likely get a hefty stream of questions, comments, and inquiries about your business every day and, chances are, some of them keep popping up again and again. When you find yourself answering the same question from clients or buyers time after time, consider turning it into a blog post for your company’s site. In addition to acting as a one-stop-shop FAQ, this also makes your company more relatable, provides the consumer with valuable information and shows them you are thinking about their needs and concerns.

2) Embed Your Videos

Repeated studies have shown blogs with videos are more likely to get additional hits and shares than those without videos. That said, consider taking all of the promotional or educational videos your company has made over time and integrating them into blog posts.

In addition to providing customers with additional ways to consume your content, videos are also highly linkable, which means there’s a good chance your website will reach more people than just your existing customers.

3) If You Don’t Have Any Videos — Make Some

What does your company do better than any other company out there? What can you teach people? Is there a chance you could take that expertise and excitement and turn it into a video?

A company that sells fly fishing equipment could put out a series of videos on fly tying, whereas a content creation company could put together a few videos on publishing great blogs. There is a huge demand for knowledge in the world and when you share yours, people are likely to pass it around, driving more traffic and additional customers your way.

4) Compile a “Who-to-Follow” List

You’re an expert in your field and people know that, but people always want to learn more. Create a well thought-out “who to follow” list of other people who excel in your field to help them do just that. Doing this offers two distinct benefits: first, consumers will appreciate the fact that you’ve positioned yourself as a trusted source of information and, second, the people you link in the article will appreciate that you’ve directed traffic their way and are highly likely to return the favor.

A good portion of effective content marketing is developing a positive reputation. and there are few better ways to do this than by word-of-mouth and building relationships with other experts in the field.

5) Create a List of Facts that Supports Your Mission

People love learning new things and lists of facts are compelling and easily shared. To create a piece of content that has a high probability of being linked to, compile a list of facts that support your company’s main goal or mission statement and then publish it in a blog or infographic.

In addition to fulfilling the customer’s need for knowledge, this move also goes to show your company is thoughtful and has done its research.

6) Tell a Great Story

Anyone who has ever seen an Apple or a Subaru ad knows the power of those companies lies in their ability to tell a great story that moves their target audience. Take some time to consider what your company cares about and how that intersects with the company’s mission — be that sales or conversions — and then find a way to weave that into your content marketing.

If you’re selling a lifestyle product, tell a story about how the product provides happiness, comfort, or safety. By far the best way to gain customers is by tugging on their heartstrings and telling a compelling story.

7) Consider the Questions Your Customers Ask

When a buyer wants to purchase something, they almost always turn to the internet for advice and research purposes. When a person types a question into Google, they will be met with literally millions of answers and it matter whether or not your company’s answer is among those they see.

In today’s era of content, it is no longer enough to have a great product. People need to see it and rely upon it before they make a purchase and this requires a company to build authority right off the bat.

Consider what types of questions your customers are asking and answer them via your blog or website post. Doing this establishes you as an expert in the field and builds the consumer confidence needed to drive sales and conversions.

8) Make It a Date (Specifically)

While many companies offer ample opportunities for consumers to sign up for an email list or blog subscription, very few offer specific content at specific times. Author and lifestyle coach Tim Ferris often does this with astounding results.

By offering customers an invitation to tune into a podcast, webinar, or video conference in real-time, you build a more tangible connection than can be produced through an email list subscription. In addition to contributing to customer confidence, a move like this also helps build a community around your business or product and may well stem off into additional marketing opportunities, such as podcasts, down the road.

9) Put Promotion First

When a company goes to design a product, the first step is often making sure that there is a market demand for said product. If there is not, manufacturing the product has the potential to result in a huge loss of time and money. The same goes for content, believe it or not.

In order to employ great content marketing, think about how you will market your content before you develop it. If you can’t come up with a place to promote a given piece, it might not be worth the time and effort to produce.

10) Embed Yourself in the Community

Nowadays, there are hundreds of online forums and communities (Reddit being the best known) dedicated to discussing specific topics. Find a few of the communities that pertain to your businesses specialty and join in the discussion.

As you participate in the forum, mention that people can find more information back at your blog. In addition to further establishing yourself as an authority in the field, this approach also allows you to learn new things and gain a deeper understanding of your customers.

11) Upload Visual Content to SlideShare

SlideShare is a popular content-sharing platform that accommodates PowerPoint, PDF, KeyNote, and OpenDocument content presentations. Think of it as the YouTube or Instagram of slideshows.

The great thing about SlideShare is that once you’ve uploaded your content, the sky is the limit. Users can share, link and re-share your content to platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, which means more traffic for you.

12) Join & Use Pinterest

Often thought of as the place where mason jar inspired DIY projects go, Pinterest is an often overlooked social media platform that holds great potential to boost your business to the next level, with millions of active users and growing.

Create some great articles, link them with infographics or visuals and then post them to boards related to your niche. Pinterest allows users to share and re-share content, which means anything you create that is interesting and visually pleasing stands a good chance of being plastered over dozens or even hundreds of Pinterest boards, putting you in touch with new customers and expanding your company’s reach.

13) Recycle Content

For most companies, having a large content creation team is out of reach. For this reason, it’s wise to learn to recycle great content for extended use. Ways to do this include putting the relevant statistics from a blog post into an infographic or tweeting a previously published blog post’s important points throughout the course of a week. By learning to recycle great content in new ways, you save yourself from the burden of having to create great new content constantly without sacrificing

14) Aim for Evergreen Content

If you’re familiar with content marketing, you’ve probably heard the term “evergreen content.” Evergreen content is an important marketing tool that remains relevant no matter when it is published. This means that an article published today can be shared in five years without having to be amended.

This obviously does not apply to content that changes often, such as medical data or sales statistics, but can easily apply to how-to guides or informative content. By aiming to create evergreen content, you set yourself up for highly sharable content and backlinks that persist far beyond when the article was written.

15) Optimize Social Media

Nowadays, social media rules the internet and accounts for an estimated 23% of the total time consumers spend online. By optimizing your content marketing pieces for social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, you increase your chances of being shared and passed around the Internet. Create an informative video to share on Facebook or create a killer infographic and send it out in Tweet form. No matter what you do, do not overlook the veritable content marketing gold mine that is social media.

16) Know Your Audience

Content marketing is a world in which you want to make things personal. If you don’t know who your target audience is, it’s nearly impossible to effectively customize content for them and even harder to get them to engage with your business or product. For this reason, it’s wise to spend some time with Google analytics or another similar tool to figure out who’s truly paying attention.

What do those people do? Where do they live? How old are they? What are their buying habits like? Chances are, you’re going to speak differently to an eighteen-year-old hipster than you would a 75-year-old retired nurse, and it’s important to tailor your content to fit the different sectors of your audience. One-size-fits-all content results in poor business performance and minimal customer connection.

17) Optimize Your Blog URL

This is a simple step, but it can be a big one in terms of accessibility. Before publishing a blog post, alter the generic URL to contain a keyword or relevant phrase rather than a string of letters and numbers. Always, always make sure your keyword is in this string. Your rankings will thank you later. In addition to giving new viewers an idea what the URL contains, this format also makes your URL’s easier and more attractive to share.

18) Opt for a 50/50 Split Between Text and Visuals

Content marketing research and the anecdotal evidence of those in the fieldhas repeatedly proven that a combination of text and images is more effective than either text or images alone. This might explain why infographics are so wildly effective.

Instead of being too text- or visual-heavy in your content marketing material, aim to strike a balance between the two. Write a blog post that is broken up by relevant images or create an infographic that overlies a helpful chart or icon with brief text-based interpretations of the data. Doing this provides the most value for your customers and helps you consistently create high-quality content.

19) Utilize Active Reading

Active reading, or the process of actively picking apart a piece of content to discern things like the narrator’s perspective and unanswered questions allows you to build knowledge and fulfill the gaps in the market, further enhancing authority and content presence in the online world.

Although there is a lot of great content in the digital sphere, much of it fails to meet all of a consumer’s needs and, by actively reading what else is out there, you can learn to identify and then fill in the gaps.

20) Be Original

Ultimately, every company does content marketing a little differently and while there may be some value in taking a hint from the world’s most successful companies, there is no use in trying to imitate them. Dedicate some time to figuring out what makes your company special and unique and build on that. Your customers will appreciate it.

Conclusion

A thread that runs throughout nearly all my points is originality. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be original in all you do. Use storytelling and visual content. Think about who you’re talking to. Then secondarily, think about keywords so you can keep your ranking potential high when you publish your content.

So, in conclusion, find your content marketing style and balance consistency, SEO implementation, and engagement.

Source : http://bit.ly/29fvSO4

The Advantages of Working for a Startup

There are many different risks that appear when working for startup companies. Over 75 percent of startups fail, so it is quite obvious that job security is something that is not a given, no matter how great the initial project is. Short-term risks are definitely high and the pay is not normally high when you are initially hired.

While the disadvantages are obviously numerous and should not be taken lightly, many are still highly interested in finding startup jobs. You have various different sites to help you find a startup job. The demand is high for these jobs, but why is that? Mainly: a startup job offers many advantages that often can’t be found in other traditional jobs.

Motivating Growth Environment

One of the advantages of working for a startup company is that the companies will encourage individualism and creativity, and strict hierarchy normally doesn’t really exist. This basically means that you will get a lot of freedom. The workers manage to directly influence the evolution of a startup, making this highly attractive for those that want to make a difference.

Working in a startup is something that is normally associated with risks but it is also something that is attractive because of the environment offered. Combine this with the potential growth that is much higher with a corporate job and you have something that is attractive for a large part of the population, especially younger people.

Attractive Extra Perks

The salary that you get in a startup job is normally lower than what you would obtain something else but the business owners do manage to attract many through extra perks. For instance, the company can allow you to work from home or can offer free meals. We can also highlight the fact that for many that look for a startup job it is the satisfaction of doing a really good job that is enough. While many work for salaries, some are attracted by other things.

Quickly Gaining Skills and Experience

The startup environment is naturally one that is sped up. You basically end up learning everything that you need to do in a much shorter period of time as you are forced to do this. Many skills can be gained and all those can be added to the CV.

A problem with the larger corporations is that job descriptions naturally limit duties. This is not actually the case in a startup since working there will force you to move to other duties and to constantly adapt. You can even end up mastering a brand new job, making you a lot more valuable for the future employer.

Should You Work For A Startup Company?

The truth is that working for a startup company is definitely not something that is for everyone. You may want to try it out though since startups can help you to grow at a much faster pace than regular jobs in large corporations. For many, this is the largest advantage associated with working for a startup.

 Source : http://bit.ly/1QryE0S

What Is the Best Social Media Platform for Driving Traffic?

There almost too many social media accounts to count at this point.  Everyone that has taken at least a vague interest in putting their business out to the public has jumped onto Facebook.

Whether you do Facebook ads or just use Web or foot traffic to drive visitors to your Facebook Page, being on FB is almost a prerequisite. 

So this article is not about Facebook per say, it is really about knowing your demographic and the platforms at which are most valuable and can send targeted viral traffic to your website.

Tumblr

My choice for creating shareable GIFs and funny memes that can send a large amount of reblogs, likes etc to your post.  The traffic that you get from Tumblr may not be the highest quality as with the type of viral shares that happen, not everyone that shares your post (hopefully you linked back to your website) will visit your site, and those that do may not be your target market.  Here is an example of a tumblr post that generated 535 notes and sent 53 viewers to the website that put that post out. Now, these funny gifs have little to do with “web design” but the title of the post “can’t touch my web design” was followed up with MC Hammer doing the Can’t touch me dance. And dancing dogs etc.  So that is rather funny.  Tumblr is a great platform for driving traffic.  If you create shareable, viral content like this, you can gain lots of visits and notes and shares that will help with strengthening the power of that Do Follow Link from Tumblr.

Reddit

A very difficult platform to master.  Shares or posts are voted up or down with Karma points.  If you are deliberately trying to make self-promotional shares for the aim of driving traffic to your sight without providing value first, well then you will most likely get harassed by other Redditors or booted completely.  Here is a great getting started guide for reddit. If your post is helpful and gets upvoted a bunch, you can get loads of traffic from Reddit.  This traffic can be very niche specific and targeted if your post was in a very niche part of Reddit.

Facebook

Yeah I know boring right?  Well Facebook Ads are still one of the best ways to really drill down and get in front of those targeted potential customers.  You think all that data that you put up about yourself in college was just so your friends could know that you love Tommy Boy and that you love wakeboarding?  Well maybe back in 2004 it was, but now that data is harvested for the (almost) sole intent of marketing things to you.  I do not market via Facebook ads currently but have dabbled with the interface and it is extremely targeted and for that I think, this is the king for paid social traffic.

Source : http://bit.ly/1XsLs8G

Top 7 Startup Marketing Mistakes

When starting your own business, especially the first one, there’s definitely a learning curve. As an entrepreneur, you have so many things on your plate you have to deal with for the first time, that it is inevitable that you will make mistakes.

Also, marketing is usually not a founder’s specialty, and that’s why we tend to see many startups making the same avoidable mistakes.

Here are the top 7 startups marketing mistakes and how to avoid them:

1. Not identifying your target audience  – Some startups fear of “missing opportunities” and decide to cast a wide marketing net. But, one of the staples of marketing is targeting, and if your message is vague and unclear, it will not be effective. Before launching any marketing campaign, stop and strategize. Who is your target audience? For example, if you have a solution for enterprises in the financial sector, you need to understand WHO in those enterprises you are selling to. Is your product a solution for IT executives, CMOs or CFOs? Each role has a complete different set of priorities and responsibilities, and the success of your product is very much dependant on identifying your exact target audience.
2. Failing to check marketing results –  Marketing is a continuous process and is not a set and forget one. In order to understand if your marketing efforts bear fruit, you need to setup the necessary analytics tools and check your results on an on-going basis. Tracking everything, including the amounts you spend on each channel and how much traction you receive, is crucial for understanding marketing results. Without tracking, you will not be able to calculate your ROI and will not have the sufficient information needed to make improvements in your activities.
3. Spending too much money too soon – This is actually a common mistake that startups make on all fronts. According to CB Insights, among the 20 primary reasons causing startups to fail, the #2 is running out of cash (the #1 result for failing is that there’s no market for the product). Unlike the option of hiring a programmer for a low salary but a large chunk of options, you can’t pay Google for AdWords in shares. But, there are ways to launch and grow your startup with no or minimal budget. Before jumping to marketing tactics and spending a lot of money on buying media, spend time in analyzing and figuring out what is important to do now for your marketing, and how much – if at all – will it cost.
4. Failing to check on competition – Few are the companies that don’t have any competitors. Even if you think that’s the case, map the closest ones to you as your company cannot operate in a closed-off bubble. Follow your competitors’ social media accounts, create alerts on their brand name so you are always on top of things. We all know that users are comparing when shopping, especially in the early stages of the purchase cycle. The purchase will probably not happen once they first visit your site and chances are they will look at competitors to compare. Don’t mimic what your competitors do but rather, add reviews and posts to your website that compare you and the competitors. Adding such a comparison page has also side benefits, including increased SEO for your site.
5. Expecting immediate results – Marketing takes time, and it is very much dependant on the market (if it’s educated or not), type of product (quick online purchase or a slower buying process) and clients (individuals vs. SMBs vs. enterprises). If you have a B2C product and run a Facebook campaign, it’s OK to expect fast results. If you, however, have a B2B product and run a LinkedIn campaign – you have to chill. The campaign can provide you valuable leads, even in the form of a comment from a potential client to a promoted post. But don’t expect immediate results as the buying process itself takes time. In addition, most marketing budgets, especially ones that involve building online presence and SEO, require months of efforts before you can see results. SEO is not exact science but estimation is that it can take a brand name up to a month to rank on top 3 results and a niche keyword up to a year to rank.
6. You keep recycling – One aspect of marketing is content and for it to be effective, it has to be good quality one. Recycling content is OK, to a point. Even if you don’t have any news or product launches, you need to be innovative and come up with new angles and stories to existing ones. If you published a press release about new data your company found, you cannot re-publish the same data as ‘new findings’ 6 months from the date of the original release. You can follow up with new information, mention the initial release, but to showcase the data as new or even – gasp – copy and paste from the first release, is not effective at all and can also paint your company as untrustworthy.  
7. Lastly – not investing at all in marketing – This can be one of your biggest marketing mistakes. Investing in your marketing does not necessarily mean putting aside a hefty marketing budget, but rather investingthought into it. Running forward with your company’s roadmap while leaving marketing activities behind can be a crucial mistake as marketing defines the positioning of your company in its market, your brand and the packaging of the product you are selling. As budgets are often tight in startups, marketing can be viewed as a frivolous expense. But, it can be done for a minimal budget and if you keep an eye on results and make sure to shift efforts towards the positive ROI channels, any funds you invest will come back, with an interest.

Source : http://bit.ly/1PTZmL4