Tag Archive for: Digital Marketing

The Future of Marketing Leadership

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While some individuals seem to be born with the gift of great leadership, for many others it is a skill that is learned over time. There is no perfect formula to follow when mastering such a skill. In reality, there are many different paths that people can take in becoming an excellent leader.

Most often, this path starts with a journey of self-discovery. Building off of one’s biggest strengths has proven to be very effective in personal growth. Rather than focusing on areas of weakness, it is much more valuable to focus on an individual’s strengths.

As great leaders develop their skill sets and emerge into the modern age of marketing, huge challenges await them. With this type of constantly evolving environment, leaders must learn to evolve as well.

Future leaders that are willing to adapt and experiment with new technologies, methods, and strategies are much more likely to succeed. As humans, we often resist change, but that does not stop it from happening. This ideal will be key to upcoming leaders in the marketing world.

In particular, columnist Colin Lewis believes that the hiring process will be greatly affected by advancements in the advertising industry. He makes a clear argument over the fact that, “new skills are going to be required that we cannot even imagine today, just like we could not imagine a ‘social media manager’ role 10 years ago.”

Of course, we cannot expect every aspect of the job to change. Cornerstone characteristics of today’s marketing industry such as creativity and exceptional communication abilities are not going anywhere. However, Lewis says that for the future marketing leader, these skills will not be enough.

Instead, future leaders will take on all tasks. This includes ones that definitely fall beneath them to lower ranking employees. These leaders will do it all anyway, because they know that all levels of the marketing process are important and hard work always pays off.

3 Digital Strategies for Local Businesses to Drive more Foot Traffic

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As foot traffic for local businesses continues to decline due to online shopping preferences, it’s essential for companies to pursue an effective digital marketing strategy. Through the use of digital marketing there are numerous strategies that businesses can implement that will help increase foot traffic. Three simple and cost effective strategies include using local business directories, advertising locally through Google AdWords, and prioritizing social media efforts.

1. Utilize Local Business Directories:
Failing to use local business directories will already put your organization at a disadvantage. Sites like Yelp, Manta, Yellow Pages, Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List, and others simply can’t be ignored. Not only are listings free to create for your business, they will help increase search visibility (SEO) and overall brand awareness. It’s worth pointing out that from our current SEO work we have been noticing that local business directories are dominating the organic results. Interested to see how well your business ranks online? Run a free scan on the Onimod Global website by CLICKING HERE.

2. Local advertising with Google AdWords:
In addition to local business directories, advertising locally through Google AdWords can be another effective digital strategy for driving foot traffic. According to the Search Engine Journal, “1 out of every 3 online searches now has local intent.” Some benefits of running local search ads include: increasing local visibility, generating phone calls from customers, and an overall enhancement in local awareness. Ultimately, advertising locally with Google AdWords will ensure your business with a competitive advantage if used efficiently.

3. Prioritize Social Media:
Using social media as a local business seems like an obvious and easy way to increase foot traffic, yet there’s more to social media than just posting once or twice per week. According to DMN “over half of consumers say they’re influenced to think highly of a business after seeing positive praise online.” Now in order for a local business to get plenty of recognition through social media, it starts with connecting with customers and making them feel important. All local businesses should focus on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus as social media starting points. When local presence increases other platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat can come into play. Essentially, being consistent and visible on multiple social media channels will only help increase local foot traffic.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

How to Create the Perfect Digital Marketing Strategy

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The key to a great digital marketing campaign is the well thought out plan behind it. If you try to launch any campaign without specific directives, it’s likely that you will waste a lot of time and money without producing any real results. This is why many businesses turn to a digital marketing professional. The experts at Onimod Global are here to assist you, and provide insight into what it takes to put together a high quality digital marketing strategy.

Persona Development

Every marketing strategy should be focused around the consumer. The first step in your strategy is to identify who this consumer is. Many professionals outline a buyer persona because it has been proven to be a substantially more effective marketing method.

The persona allows you as the marketer to develop a much more detailed description of your ideal target audience. These details include goals, challenges, interests, and personal priorities of the consumer.

Campaign Goals

In can also be beneficial to ask these detailed questions of your own company and product. Clearly defining the final objective is essential. Much of the strategy will be built around what you eventually hope to achieve with the digital marketing campaign.

While most plans are structured around conversions and sales, there are a wide variety of other goals to be considered. Increasing brand awareness through simple traffic and reach campaigns can be very effective. It is also common to launch campaigns with the intent to gather positive reviews about a product or company. Make sure that you are considering all of your options before moving on to the next step.

Measurement

Your measurements will depend upon the chosen objective for the marketing strategy. Determining the overall success of your digital marketing initiatives will be shown through key performance indicators.

Common key indicators are conversion rates, click-through rates, and overall impressions. If your campaign spans across multiple platforms, it would be wise to link them all together in Google Analytics.

Analyze

Google Analytics is a wonderful tool for digital marketers. This program allows you to combine all of your data into one easily manageable source. After letting all of your ads run over the course of a few weeks, you should have plenty of solid information regarding your marketing efforts. Once the data is compiled, it is easy to glean insights about the campaign.

Analytics provides an opportunity to compare all marketing mediums in use side by side. This way you can clearly see if the Facebook ads are outperforming the Bing ads. Looking at the overall performance of these many platforms can help you see which is most successful, and which is not.

Revisit and Readjust

Now that you possess tons of information and insight into your digital marketing activities. Using analytical tools you should be able to pick out details about the different ads and how they are running across different platforms.

With this information, you should be able to determine how to best spend your ad dollar. Trim the fat of the campaign and eliminate poorly performing advertising options. Or, you can try to rewrite your ads completely and start fresh.

Whatever you decide to do, now you know how. A new plan must be created every step of the way. They do not all have to be incredibly complicated or intricate, but they do need to be intelligent business decisions. The key to any advertising strategy is to have one. Plain and simple.

Why Digital Marketing is a Major Career Opportunity

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With Digital Marketing being the heaviest advertising route used by most organizations today, the career opportunities are flourishing. Whether through digital marketing agencies or companies hiring “in house,” there are plenty of jobs to be filled. Many individuals from the older generations are unfamiliar with concepts like SEO, SEM, Social Media Marketing, Website Development, and other parts of the digital world. Listed below are some reasons as to why digital marketing continues to be a “hot” field for many years to come.

1. Heavy Demand:
It’s no surprise that the demand for digital marketing experts is increasing at a rapid rate. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, “It is anticipated that there would be around 150,000 digital marketing jobs at the end of 2020 and not enough professionals to fulfill them. there will also be a rise in demand for digital marketing professionals by about 38% this year.” Therefore, learning the appropriate digital marketing skills will provide you with a huge competitive advantage in the job hunt.

2. Always Changing:
Digital marketing is an ever changing industry. Web, mobile, and other digital technologies are changing at an extremely fast pace. So why is this a reason to pursue a digital marketing career? Most people aren’t comfortable with or afraid of a field that always adapts, so they decide to stay away from it. It’s essential to understand and stay on top of the current trends in digital marketing to outsmart competitors. See how a client of ours (Theory) utilizes digital marketing to maintain a competitive advantage in the bar industry in Chicago. CLICK HERE to view the case study.

3. Field for Everyone:
The entire landscape of digital marketing consists of numerous skill sets, making it applicable for all sorts of jobs. Many digital marketing organizations not only consist of SEO/SEM strategists, they include graphic designers, business development executives, content writers, social media specialists, and other opportunities. Ultimately, digital marketing is a versatile industry, meaning it requires a mixture of these numerous skills. Passionate about social media, being creative, or writing? Then the digital marketing industry may be for you.

4. Great Opportunity for Advancement:
In addition to the great job outlook for digital marketing careers, the opportunity for advancement in the field is also promising. Entry level positions out of college typically consist of digital marketing strategists, social media specialists, SEO/SEM strategists, etc. If you’re able to catch on quick and continually learn more about the digital marketing world then advancement to an upper level position is highly feasible. Digital marketing managers, director of digital, or a VP of marketing for example are all respectable and reachable advancement opportunities.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

5 Tips for Creating Effective Landing Pages

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When seeking conversions of any sort, a landing page can “make or break” a user’s decision to convert. Building a compelling landing page tailored for conversions is much easier said than done. There are numerous factors that go into the creation of a landing page, but what separates good landing pages apart from bad ones? This post will explore five effective landing page practices from our previous experiences thus far at Onimod Global.

1. Use a Landing Page Template:
In today’s digital world, setting up a landing page from scratch may already put you at a disadvantage. There are many online resources out there that provide user friendly templates to get you started on the right path. Some that come to mind are Instapage, Leadpages, Unbounce, and certain WordPress plugins. Most landing pages that you’ll come across today are most likely created from a template.

2. Emphasis on Call to Action:
Having a clear call to action is one of the most important features for any landing page. The call to action is essentially what you want website visitors to do. Some highly used call to action phrases include: buy now, register, more info, sign up, contact us, etc. It’s also important to not distract site visitors with lots of other requests on the page. There should typically be only one, clear cut call to action. Ultimately, the call to action is by far the most important aspect of any landing page.

3. A/B Testing:
A/B testing is one of the most efficient strategies when it comes to finalizing a landing page. A/B testing consists of tweaking certain characteristics to test one landing page layout against another. Characteristics that can be tested include text font, color, size of buttons, navigation features, subheadings, use of bullet points, and any other web page feature you desire. The overall purpose of A/B testing is to ensure that your landing page is user friendly with main points and the call to action being “eye catching.”

4. Precise Information:
The last thing you want to do with any landing page is ramble on with information and drive potential conversions away. Over time research has indicated that the more choices you offer people, the less chance you have of getting desired conversions. A couple of questions to ask yourself when constructing a landing page are “do I really need to gather every piece of information possible?” or “is it relevant to include every piece of company information?” Keeping forms short and simple will most likely increase your response rates and moving all company info to the “about” page is probably your best bet.

5. Show Off Credibility:
It’s no surprise that consumers tend to place a higher value on products/services that other people have already approved. Showing off statistics, testimonials, or mentions from the media is an effective way to display an organization’s credibility. Great testimonials in particular should always be showcased somewhere on the landing page. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, whether it comes in the form of testimonials or even likes and shares.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

4 Reasons Why Your Blog Traffic is Poor

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Driving traffic to a blog is much easier said than done. The internet is filled with millions of blogs and it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. There are many potential reasons behind the struggles of your blog traffic. Whether it’s bad SEO, inconsistency, or boring content, it’s never too late to “resurrect” your blog and turn things around. From our blogging experiences at Onimod Global, we have came up with four major reasons listed below as to why your blog traffic may be struggling at the moment.

1. SEO is Lacking:
Ensuring that your blog posts are as highly optimized as possible for relevant search queries must be a top priority. It’s important to point out that a strong SEO presence doesn’t just happen overnight, it takes time and effort. Some facets of your blog to pay the most attention to regarding SEO are the URL title, meta descriptions, key words, headlines of articles, etc. Downloading an SEO plugin for your blog will also help. “Yoast SEO” for instance is by far the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress and should be utilized by all users.

2. Low Emphasis on Social Media:
In addition to focusing on SEO, sharing blog content on multiple social media platforms will most likely be the most effective way to drive traffic. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Google Plus, and other social mediums should all be utilized. The hardest aspect of sharing content on social media is gaining a respectable and loyal following. If your blog is in its early stages and seeking initial traffic, try requesting friends and family members to share your posts through their social media accounts. You never know who will come across your blog and become a fan of your content.

3. Inconsistent Posting:
The last thing viewers/readers want to see is inconsistency or inactivity when it comes to blog posting.  If you want readers to keep coming back and become “regulars” you need to be consistent with your blog. Consistent and frequent posting can also be a factor when it comes to SEO. The more content you put out there online, the better chance you have of ranking on search engines. Ultimately, not sticking to a consistent posting schedule will most likely result in one thing – a decrease in viewership.

4. Headlines and Content lack Engagement:
It’s not hard to figure out that in order for a blog to become successful and drive traffic, the headlines and overall content must be engaging. Headlines should always be designed to grab attention because it is the first impression that potential readers will have of your blog. Your content could be stellar, but if headlines are bad people will have zero interest in clicking on your posts. Regarding content, if you want readers to keep coming back and even start to share posts, your content must be compelling. The famous saying “content is king” is extremely accurate when it comes to blog posting. At the end of the day, if your blog content sucks readers will have no interest in coming back.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

5 Ways to Increase your Organization’s Impact on Twitter

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Consistently posting on a business Twitter account may start to feel like a meaningless and repetitive task, yet it’s important to build a brand and keep audiences engaged. According to Marketing Land, there are “currently over 300 million monthly active users on Twitter, with 50% of these users being more likely to be consumers of the brands they follow.” Therefore, your company’s Twitter activity must be a priority and listed below are a few ways to maximize your impact on the social media giant.

1. Interact with your Audience:
It’s very easy to ignore or forget about replies and direct messages from followers. Keeping track and replying in a timely manner will make your audience feel important and connected to your brand. It’s also a facet that will set you apart from other company Twitter accounts. Look at Jimmy John’s for instance, they take pride in interacting with their customers and have gained a large following on Twitter as a result (476K followers). Ultimately, if you go the “extra mile” when it comes to interacting with followers you will get noticed.

2. Follow Trends and Hashtags:
This concept may seem like a simple task, yet many business accounts either ignore or forget to utilize hashtags and trends that Twitter has to offer. The major benefit of paying attention to trends is more visibility. We’re not suggesting to overuse hashtags, but implementing at least 2-3 per tweet will have a positive effect on your impressions, interactions, and overall visibility. #MondayMotivation or #FridayFeeling for example are two frequently trending hashtags that can easily be inserted in tweets to catch more eyeballs.

3. “Follow and Retweet for a Chance to Win”:
This is one of the most common Twitter strategies in the game, but don’t underestimate it’s effectiveness. If you’re a frequent Twitter user you probably encounter these tweets all the time. It’s simple, fun, and an effective way to build relationships with current and future consumers while growing followers at the same time. Although many users may unfollow your account if they don’t win anything, your tweet will still produce a ton of impressions and enhance brand awareness.

4. Allocate Time into Profile:
As simple as this idea sounds, many companies don’t put in enough time and effort to their Twitter profiles. Depending on the industry, tweeting at least 3-5 times per week will show consistency. Inactivity for long periods of time can be a turnoff for potential consumers. Even paying attention to simple aspects like your profile images, bio, and likes can have a major impact on your brand’s image. Setting up a schedule each week for when, what, and how much to tweet is one easy way to maintain a consistent Twitter presence.

5. Don’t Solely Focus on Products/Services:
It’s obvious that Twitter and social media in general is a large marketplace for product/service promotion, but followers don’t like being bombarded with product information. This could potentially make your account look like a scammer and you will lose followers as a result. One idea for producing content is to pay close attention to how competitors use their Twitter and make note of which types of posts draw the most engagement. Another idea is to interact about what’s happening within your community. Essentially, the overall concept with tweeting content is to be as relevant as possible to your audience’s interests.

Follow Us: If you enjoy reading our content be sure to give us a follow at @OnimodGlobal or visit our website at www.onimodglobal.com. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the digital marketing world!

3 Deadly Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

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Digital marketing is often much more difficult than many people think. You can’t just hand over a marketing department to any millennial with a laptop and a Facebook account. You need a trained professional. Onimod Global is here to help with a quick list of marketing mishaps to steer clear of.

1.) No Clear Marketing Strategy

This is without a doubt the most effective way to sink your company. Moving ahead with digital marketing initiatives without any type of real game plan is detrimental. Not only will it waste time and money, but some of the damage may be irreversible. It can be very hard to change a consumer’s perception of a business once they’ve already interacted with it. After all, no one gets a second first impression.

Make sure to develop a real strategy before making any major moves. Consult with real professionals outside of your business. You may also want to seriously consider hiring someone full time to run your marketing campaigns. Digital marketing is not something that can be learned overnight. It requires real experience and education to be implemented successfully.

 

2.) Limited Social Media Exposure

First of all, you need to make sure that your brand exists on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram are just a few to get started. If you aren’t on these 4 basic platforms, then you are most certainly missing out on an enormous customer base.

Being present on these various platforms is invaluable to your brand’s identity. They are also completely free, aside from the time it will take to get them up and running.

If potential customers cannot find you anywhere on the internet besides your website, they may think that your company is a scam. Social media is a perfect way to build up a solid foundation and spread the word about your business. It is also a great way to push your content.

 

3.) Not Enough Content

The more original content you generate, the better. Whether in the form of a tweet, blog, or newsletter, these all have the potential to gain more traction for your business. This is a great way to get people interested in what you have to say.

Every extra minute you spend inside of a particular platform helps you gain more knowledge and credibility. Engaging with others is a great way to prompt them into engaging with you. The more time that you spend tweeting, retweeting, hashtagging, and following major influencers, the more recognition your brand will receive.

Which Social Media Platform is best for Paid Advertising?

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If you’re an organization that utilizes social media channels for sponsored advertising, it’s important to determine which platform to allocate the majority of the budget to. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have unique advertising options and contain different types of audiences. This post will evaluate each of the three platforms and give direction on which advertising medium is right for your organization.

Facebook:
The largest empire in the social media world has about 1.3 billion registered accounts and around 175 million daily users according to the Business Insider. Therefore, with these astounding numbers the biggest upside to sponsoring content on Facebook is visibility. The advanced targeting options and cost effectiveness of Facebook are also massive bonuses. Targeting options consist of location, interests, education, work, gender, and relationship status. These advanced settings allow businesses to hit their target audiences to ensure ad dollar is spent as efficiently as possible. Ultimately, from my experiences with paid advertising on social media, I would argue that Facebook is the superior platform when it comes to targeting capabilities and cost effectiveness.

Twitter:
Relative to Facebook advertising Twitter is another viable option for promoting sponsored content. Although the number of accounts and users don’t match up to Facebook’s rank, Twitter still has a substantial following that can’t be ignored. Twitter’s targeting capabilities are probably it’s best feature, as you have ability to target by interests, keywords, hashtags, and even followers. Based of previous experience, I would argue that advertising on Twitter is your best option in terms of generating impressions. Running awareness campaigns is most likely your best bet with advertising on Twitter, however it can be difficult to measure cost effectiveness. Essentially, if you’re focusing on brand awareness – Twitter advertising is your “go to” option.

LinkedIn:
In theory, sponsoring content on LinkedIn seems like a great idea if your target audiences are more “professional based.” This can be true if your targeting options are set right and have appealing ads. Reliable leads can be generated through led-gen campaigns, but the cost per lead can be very high. Some of our experiences with LinkedIn advertising have seen high CPCs, low CTRs, not a lot of clicks, and a higher cost per conversion. A major positive however is the quality of these clicks – which are typically very high compared to clicks on Facebook, Twitter, etc. In the end, LinkedIn is by far the least cost effective advertising platform, but if utilized correctly it can generate some high quality leads, viewers, and overall visibility.

Contact Us: With our cross channel expertise in social media management and advertising, our team at Onimod Global can help solve all of your digital marketing needs. Feel free to reach out to us on our Contact Us page to get a free evaluation today. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Reach Senior Citizens Using Digital Marketing

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Today’s aged consumers were not raised in a technologically advanced world. However, this does not mean that they should be counted out entirely when it comes to digital marketing.

By The Numbers:

Older consumers possess huge amounts of people that are primed for purchases. These older generations are in control of of large majority of the disposable income used each year in the United States.

The volume of potential customers is staggering, and could definitely be utilized by businesses wishing to reach out through digital advertising. Do not let them go unnoticed.

Primary Devices:

Aged consumers are also not as resistant to digital devices and platforms as many may assume. In fact, a Nielson report shows a 16% increase in use of tablets by those 50 years and older. The same report also claims a 12% growth in smartphone use for this same demographic.

As older citizens are adapting to newfound technology, it is important to appeal to them just as you would to any other consumer.

This generation is following many of the same trends and patterns of behavior as millennials. Both groups are starting to shift toward mobile in a very large way. This shift creates the perfect opportunity to reach baby boomers.

Utilizing mobile targeting options through various platforms like Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, etc. is essential to meeting the needs of this consumer base. Refining your options to target those who are retired, within a certain age range, or are located in popular retirement destinations such the state of Florida are all excellent ways to get started.

Strategy:

Begin by casting your net as far as you possibly can. Include everything, don’t hold back. Once you’ve accomplished this, you can start to dial it back in and optimize your targeted areas. Trial and error is the best way to figure out what will work best for your business.

Over time these small alterations will begin to show great growth. This whole process is called achieving “micro-wins”. You can learn more about this process by reading this article of ours: “Micro-Wins: The Key to AdWords Success”.