5 Proactive Content Marketing And Planning Trends To Follow
Jun 11, 2016
10 min read
Digital marketing is the form of content marketing, marketing automation, paid advertising and mobile optimization will all continue to grow in the coming years. Some of the new marketing trends that’ll see the light of the day in 2016 are:
1. Digital Marketing is not a niche channel anymore
Digital has become so mainstream and central to marketing, that it does not require niche treatment. Findings released by Gartner about their study concerning digital marketing clearly prove the above point. Marketers have stopped making a distinction between offline and online marketing disciplines. Today marketing is a mixed effort of both the platforms as people opt for digitally-led experiences and traditional advertising. B2B firms, like their B2C counterparts, have begun to realize that they have numerous tools, tactics, and channels to reach and engage their target audience.
2. Advocate Marketing
Until now B2B marketers were focusing a lot of time and effort on the pre-purchase part of the customer journey. But increasingly, firms are realizing success by also concentrating their efforts and energy on providing value beyond the sale, with the aim that the client will turn into a promoter- an advocate who wilfully refers your business to others and provides references. Referrals have long been considered a valuable form of marketing, and are popular for delivering qualified leads that tend to become clients and are loyal to the business for a long period of time. While loyalty programs have become a staple in retail marketing, we are seeing a new version of them being adopted by B2B businesses.
Advocate marketing software platforms such as Influitive and CustomerAdvocacy help marketers in building advocacy relationships with clients by increasing social media engagement, generating reviews for their products, and capturing referrals. These platforms make the use of customized portals and allow firms to invite their best customers to participate in challenges and provide feedback to earn gifts like badges, special event invitations, and award ceremonies.
3. Search Budgets Shift to Content
A report released by PulsePoint and Digiday found that budget allocations for content marketing are bound to increase by 59 percent, far outpacing search and social budgets. Search engines are rewarding websites with high quality and relevant content much more than companies who have merely invested in the technical aspects of SEO.
Today rankings are more independent of technical SEO and more about creating content that people are searching for in order to earn rankings. Rankings are also affected by providing content for long-tail keywords that now contribute to 70% of the search traffic. So while SEO and SEM will still have a role in a B2B marketer’s budget, the trend will be more about providing content that entices the target audience.
4. Online Advertising Disruption
Even though Google is moving towards promoting display video ads in search engine result pages, the year ahead should make for some major disruption in the online advertising space. A recent report published by Pagefair and Adobe found that ad blocking in the US grew by 48% from last year and there are now almost 198 million active ad-block users around the world. Another major trouble to the B2B marketers was that click-through rates were massively declining across all ad formats and placements is only 0.06%. So this clearly reinforces that users are annoyed with content that is not relevant to them or that they don’t seek in the online space.
Another trouble to the advertisers is caused by the Bot-frauds that have been estimated to cause a loss of $6.3 billion dollars to the industry globally. The research conducted by WhiteOps and the Association of National Advertisers recently analyzed over 3 million websites and found that bots accounted for 23 percent of video ad impressions, 11 percent of all display impressions, and 19 percent of all retargeted ads.
Even after all this, online advertising is not going to disappear anytime soon, but ad-blockers, bot-frauds, and excessively low click-through rates are still going to haunt many B2B marketers.
5. Email Marketing is Alive!
Many people predicted the death of email marketing, but the research data shows quite the contrary. According to the research conducted by Gigaom Research, marketers still rank email as the most effective tactic for conversions, awareness, acquisition, and retention. While many B2B firms have stepped up their email marketing campaigns, others have not leveraged email marketing to its full potential. In 2016, we’re going to see a trend towards more effective use of email marketing by B2B companies.
There are many reasons to support the above statement such as better ROI, effectiveness, and measurability, but one noteworthy reason for them all is mobile. As B2B businesses have been wondering all the way long how to leverage mobile, the answer has been under their noses all this while. A study conducted by Moveable Ink found that in the first quarter of 2015, 67% of all US email opens occurred on a mobile device- and 75% of those were smartphones. While the data is variable in many studies, the growth in mobile email opens is staggering and the shift towards mobile opens is undeniable.
While there are certainly other trends likely to appear in the B2B space in 2016, these five ought to stand out and for sure to happen. If we missed out on any of the happening trends around, let us know in the comments section.
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Proven Ways to Reduce Your Product Return Rate
Product returns are a bane for a company that can hinder its revenue and growth. Fortunately, some effective magical tactics can make a difference. Let's see how you can implement these hacks in your strategies. A higher-than-usual product return rate is something you may sometimes encounter if you've been operating an eCommerce business for some time. Returning products may be a major concern for business owners, leading them to raise prices to recoup some of their lost money. But obviously, that can't be maintained indefinitely as a strategy. Your company needs a better method for handling product returns and improving the customer experience. Make Sure Every Product Listed Has High-Quality Images and Descriptions Product Images Too many online postings just include one fuzzy photo of the goods. You can cut down on returns if you dedicate time to reviewing your present e-commerce listings and ensuring each item has a high-quality image, a thorough description, and, if applicable, a video. At the very least, you need four photographs of each product, one from each of the four cardinal directions. Description For the best possible pre-purchase experience, you should emphasize the product's dimensions, weight, and material in the description. Always use the most up-to-date product descriptions to avoid refunds due to customer misunderstanding or inadvertent overselling. Use the resources offered by various e-commerce sites as a starting point for crafting the ideal product description. Or, it's better to leave this job to us; we have a team of copywriters, A + content writers, and editors who excelled in churning out the best content for your products that can attract customers to your products. Product Videos Including a short video about your product in a listing doesn't need a huge time commitment or financial investment. To cut down your returns, you should create a short, straightforward video providing a 360° view of the product. An explainer video on the product's usage may improve the purchase experience for customers and make it easier for them to utilize the product once they have it, especially for more complicated items. Implement Size Guides and Fitting Tools Review your current size recommendations to ensure they are accurate and user-friendly across all platforms. In this way, you may prevent your return rate from going up as a result of clients buying the wrong size. From virtual room planners that display how furniture will fit into specified measurements and places to a simple slider on the product indicating how it fits on most customers (i.e., fits as expected or fits larger than expected), there is a wide variety of fitting aids available to consumers today. In this regard, a customer-voted "overall size" bar chart will benefit you. Along with a size guide, this provides the shopper with a great visual of how the item will fit. Adding a size guide or equivalent feature to your product listings will reduce the number of returns you receive due to people buying the wrong size. Encourage Patrons to Provide Feedback and Provide Incentives for Doing So You need to establish a fundamental procedure to increase the number of reviews for your business's products or services. Give discounts wherever you can. You might use a free incentive program to encourage consumers to leave positive reviews and show appreciation. It's probably no surprise that 95% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase; this means that positive evaluations have the potential to boost revenue and decrease returns on e-commerce sites. You may then change your advertising, listing, or email strategies in response to the concerns and challenges that have been brought to light. Lead the Way in Providing Exceptional Service to Customers Make it simple for buyers to get in touch if they have any questions or problems with your goods. Therefore, customers won't become irritated, which increases the likelihood that they won't return it. You should also include live chat and instant messaging features to the standard contact channels apart from phone and email. This creates a direct line of communication between you and the client, facilitating the speedy resolution of any issues that may arise. Make Sure Every Order Is Correct Inadvertently delivering the incorrect product to a consumer is a problem that all businesses eventually confront. Considering that incorrect items are cited by 23% of customers as the cause for their return, focusing on better order fulfillment is a smart place to begin when trying to minimize the number of items sent back to you. Relying on pen and paper to keep track of orders and deliveries can cost you. Thus, implementing a system to manage orders, pick, pack, dispatch, and delivery is straightforward. You Should Give Packing Top Priority Packaging issues will vary greatly from product to product. When deciding on packaging for an item, it is best to keep in mind the item's final destination. Don't skimp on the bubble wrap and extra-sturdy boxes when shipping fragile goods; packages may get jostled, dumped, or piled on top of one another. Never ship an unmarked or unidentified product to a customer; clearly label the contents and any special handling or storage requirements. If your customers still receive damaged products, you may assume that the problem is with the courier and not your packaging. This provides you with the opportunity to assess the efficiency of your couriers. For example, if you see a pattern of high returns from a single courier, you should look for a replacement. Manage Your Stock You must keep track of all returns processed for future analysis. Try keeping track of returns for a month in an Excel spreadsheet, making sure to mark the return reason if you haven't done so before. After the month, you can look at the numbers and decide where to make improvements. The necessary adjustments are dependent on the specifics of the situation. A few examples of such concepts are: While preventing consumers from changing their minds is impossible, if this is a common cause for returns, you may need to reevaluate your advertising and customer base. Loyal customers are less inclined to return their purchases. Examine your whole supply chain, especially the delivery unit, to ensure your customers receive the right products. Take Action Against Repeat Offenders Companies have gained notoriety for going after customers who return many things at once, taking advantage of more liberal return policies to effectively "rent" goods. People who are serial returners might cost businesses thousands of dollars since they use the product just once, like wearing a piece of clothing, before returning it. According to studies, 30% of consumers knowingly overbuy things so they may return them for a full refund, and 19% of consumers order many variations of the same item so they can make a decision after they have all of their options. Some of your customers may be "problem returners," which is something to keep in mind if the volume of returns is causing concern. The acquired data must be examined for distinct patterns in order to make this determination. If you suspect any serial returner, you should monitor their purchase patterns so you may warn them or perhaps temporarily disable their account. Become the Go-to Email Expert in Your Field Make use of MailChimp or a similar service to set in motion a predetermined series of automated emails to be sent to customers once they have placed an order. Provide detailed instructions on how and when customers may contact you to make changes to or cancel their order before the goods are sent. Links to your various communication channels, including live chat and instant messaging, should be prominently displayed so customers can easily modify their orders without having to call. Customers sometimes forget exactly what they purchased when they reach the payment page; these emails are a fantastic way to remind them and discourage returns due to incorrect color or style selections. Lengthen Your Returns Policy Policy return periods often last no more than 30 days. Double or quadruple this if you want fewer returns at your online shop. Increasing the number of days a customer has to return a product reduces the sense of urgency associated with returns. Most returns are motivated by this sense of urgency; therefore, reducing it increases the likelihood that consumers would keep the goods they were originally planning to return (or simply forget about them). This will cut down on the number of returns you get and, in some cases, may even improve your return reasons. Final Thoughts Some products will inevitably come back. However, by adhering to the procedures described in this article, you can reduce the number of returns you get. Expenses associated with returns have a significant impact on annual revenue for firms. These payoffs were often avoidable. Insights into where issues are occurring can be gleaned by investigating customer returns and their causes. Fixing such issues will make your clients happy. When customers don't have to send products back, you save money on shipping, repairs, and more. It improves interactions with customers and fosters confidence in your company. Know more about how to overcome your product return problem from our experts. We will advise you on the best possible routes. Contact us now! ...
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5 Common Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
Marketing is a kind of big investment for all sized business. A powerful marketing plan not only brings you across the right customers, but it can also let everyone talk positive about your organization and your product or services. However, this marketing strategy should be properly planned and developed properly. Even a few flaws of your marketing plan can cause a big disaster in your business, costing your business millions of dollars in other expenses and huge loss of revenue. Here is a list of five common mistakes which most of the business owners make while marketing their business online: 1. Choosing wrong Target Audience Always remember that you cannot sell your products or services to everyone. Generate an effective idea of the psychographics and demographics of your target market and focus at it effectively. If you have customers from different psychographic or demographic purchase from you, it acts as an additional bonus for your business. As soon as you start focusing on a definite group, its trends, interests and purchasing habits, you will soon understand its requirements. This will help you in providing a creative marketing solution to the users. 2. Lack of Testing and Market Research Initial testing and market research are essential processes as they help in determining the overall performance of your marketing efforts. They also find out what exactly your existing customers and clients expect from your business. You should try to ensure that you execute your task accurately when in terms of testing your different prices, packages and offers, The next step is to obtain a feedback of your customers to analyze their reaction towards all your marketing initiatives. 3. Not Updating your Business Website Maintaining and updating business profile reflect your business presence in front of your current and prospective customers. If you have a blog on your website, then, it should be updated as well. It can also help you in building trust and loyalty between you and your clients. Updated content on your website even helps your business in building domain authority. 4. Improper Positioning and focus area Marketing is not just about building up a big organization while ignoring the most essential aspect i.e. brand awareness in this process. Try to generate a creative marketing plan which demands an instant and positive response from your customers. Improper market positioning and focus area could be avoided by following a genuine solution and positioning of successful marketing. 5. Losing your Repetitive Customers Eighty percent of your business comes from your current customers and the remaining twenty percent is the outcome of your prospective customers you have attracted. Losing your current and repetitive customers can have a destructive effect on your business profits. This can cost you ten times the actual cost to sell your new customer than selling it to your current customer. Conclusion By avoiding the above stated common marketing mistakes, you can definitely increase the potential of your business growth and success rate. To know more about marketing strategies and latest digital trends of marketing, Contact us ! ...
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Why Should You Leverage AI Algorithms for Personalized Offers and Recommendations?
Being a business owner, it will always disappoint you when your shoppers do not convert. It generally happens when they don't get what they are looking for. You might need to understand that one of the critical factors that drive conversion and customer satisfaction is relevance - the relevancy of suggested products and services. It leads marketers and retailers, especially online businesses, to broaden their spectrum and shift towards advanced strategies that enhance segmentation and personalization, and leveraging AI Algorithms is one of them. Today, the majority of the companies have enabled AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning tools to automate things and offer relevant content to users. According to Statista, 70% of European and North American decision-makers in online commerce believed that AI could help them with personalization in 2021. With the proper utilization of AI, you can deliver a personalized experience to your customers at the right time and improve customer engagement. Suppose you are a marketer or thinking of stepping into the e-commerce world. In that case. In that case, this blog could help you understand the significance of AI and machine learning algorithms in enhancing the customized experience for your customers. So, please fasten your seat belts and get ready to experience this exciting journey of AI and its features in personalizing marketing! The Future is Personalized Content Whether it's Spotify or Netflix, be it Amazon or McDonald's, we all are surrounded by personalized experiences everywhere, every day. And that's why these brands have attained a position that everyone admires. However, like these names, customers expect the same level of personalization from all the global businesses. Investing in customized content helps in building customer relationships and enhancing brand loyalty. 91% of consumers prefer to shop with the brands that provide personalized offers and recommendations to them, as per a survey report by Accenture. And why not, especially when you show your consumers what they want to see when you offer the things they want to buy and suggest to them the options they can choose from. All these things make your customers happy, and happy customers are crucial, as they don't just buy, but they also promote your brand. Always remember, there's one thing that speaks louder than your brand's objectives, ad campaigns, and marketing strategies, and that's the voice of your customers. But doesn't it boggle your mind why personalization is crucial in satisfying customer expectations? Well, here are some statistics to show that and to make you understand the negative consequences of lacking personalization: Lack of personalized content frustrates your users. Yes, that's right. As per a survey report by the Association of Customer Loyalty, 74% of customers get frustrated when they don't find the website content personalized. According to a report by Infosys, 59% of the respondents believe that personalization has a profound impact on their shopping decisions. No personalization means lower customer engagement. If your brand does not offer personalized recommendations, you are more likely to lose customer engagement. According to a report by Invesp, 56% of online customers return to a website that recommends relevant and personalized products. Lack of personalization can make the customers leave your brand. Well, that's something serious. As per a research report by Accenture, 33% of the consumers ended their relationship with brands that lacked personalization. Your consumers can say goodbye if you are still using poor personalization tactics. It's not just about customizing the user experiencing but customizing it using the right tactics to get the desired results. According to the analytics data shared by Smart Insights, 63% of customers stop exploring and purchasing products from brands that use poor personalizing strategies. It is probably clear to you how not prioritizing and developing custom experience can drive you towards the risk of getting left behind. Therefore, customer personalization is essential to build a personal connection between your brand and the customers. Wait a minute, you read about the importance of personalization in customer experience, but do you know what customer personalization is? Or are you just caught up in the buzz about what your brand needs and what you are missing, even when you are not sure what it is? Don't worry if you are in the "not having an exact idea" camp; the following sections will guide you through the idea of customer personalization and how AI algorithms can help you in it. What's Customer Personalization? Have you heard about a "one-to-many" relationship? It is a kind of relationship in which one entity of the first group can interact with many of the second group, but vice versa is not true. An entity of the second group can only interact with a single entity of the former group. Confusing, right? No worries, let's understand it through a simple example. A person can own multiple pets, but each one of those pets will have only one owner. Well, customer personalization also works somewhat in that way. When you send mass emails to your customers and clients, customer personalization makes sure that all of your customers get an email that feels unique to them. For instance, assume an email blast sent to all your customers with their respective first names. Now, with personalization, you analyze your shoppers' behavior, interests, and requirements and show them the right digital content that satisfies their expectations. It helps brands improve customer engagement, make them valuable, and ultimately results in sales and productive growth. Customer personalization blurs the idea of marketing. It turns out to assist the users in getting the suitable options, best offers, and recommendations based on their habits and taste. You can look at the example of Starbucks' mobile app to understand the significance of personalization in boosting sales. The company released their application that combines their loyalty programs with personalization, with which the customers can fully customize, pre-order, and take away their drinks from any location. The consumers feel it is helpful, and their interest in the app is easily visible through the results. Presently, the Starbucks mobile app drives approximately 22% of all the US sales for the company. The Combine Power of AI Algorithms and Customer Personalization Consider the image available above. What do you understand from it? Just a robotic hand-holding (or offering) a customized cocktail drink, right? Do you get any idea after seeing it? You might have already understood its significance. However, let's discuss the concept behind it anyway. Suppose you own a club and know some customers frequently visit your place and order the same drink every time. Now, imagine how good it would be if you could record their preferences and when the next time they visit, they could get their drink even before they order it. Well, it would be hard luck for you if they have recently changed their preferences (which generally does not occur). However, if the stars are in your favor, it can make your customers extremely joyful that someone cares for them. Now, the question is, how would you record the taste and preferences of all your customers. Well, that's when AI and machine learning algorithm will do their job. With the right AI approach, you can record a large quantity of data, gain insights from it, and predict all your customers' wants and preferences. It would also help you predict what product your customers want or what content would interest them. The robotic hand in the above picture is also AI-enabled and works the same way. It made a personalized drink based on the customer's usual choice and taste, probably making them happy. How does AI work in Personalizing the Content, Offers, and Recommendations for the Users? AI algorithms in personalization work based on a customer's past experiences with a brand. Let's understand this through Netflix's AI and machine learning approaches to deliver a personalized experience to all its users. If you are a Netflix user, you can recall when you first registered your account on the OTT platform. It asks for your top 3 preferences of movies or shows that you would like to watch. Netflix will recommend other options that you would probably want to watch based on your choices. Not just this, when you finish a movie, the platform will recommend you some other options under the category "Because you watched that, you might like to watch this…." So, ever wondered how Netflix does that? Well, it's all the magic of AI. It records your preferences and tries to deliver you the same personalized experience the next time you open your app. According to Todd Yellin, VP (Product) of Netflix, the brand runs almost 250 A/B tests every year, each one of them offering two unique versions of experience to users to see their engagement and reaction over them. Moreover, in 2014, Netflix used approximately 76,897 "altgenres" to figure out what show or movie it should suggest to all its users, not just to customize their experience but to make them return for more. Similarly, the eCommerce platforms, such as Amazon, derive the users' data by analyzing their online browsing habits, search history, interests, social media posts, and much more. With AI tools and machine learning algorithms, this massive amount of data is processed in microseconds. Every time they visit, a relevant and personalized experience is delivered to each unique user. Let's get an idea about this through some different features of real-time personalizations using AI and machine learning. Personalized Marketing and Recommendation Have you ever searched for a specific clothing item on Google and got surprised when the same thing is recommended on Amazon as well? Well, that's what AI does. It follows you throughout the internet by analyzing your browsing history and shopping behavior and pops out every time to make you purchase that product. The companies will offer you personalized offers and discounts, such as free delivery or a discount coupon code under the "Only for you" category to lure you into buying it. Amazon has been a leader in this area by developing an algorithm that has proven effective in customizing product recommendations since 2000! Personalized Messaging It has proved to be one of the most efficient ways to grab your attention with the help of push notifications, personalized emails, and text messages. Enabling AI and machine learning in this area will help you analyze the users' device usage and behavior to learn about their interests and daily activities. With this, you can sit back and relax while your system sends the refined and most customized content to your target audience at the right time of the day. These notifications can be anything from discount coupons to best offers, everything with the ultimate aim of grabbing your customers' attention. Zomato can be a great example of the proper use of personalized messaging. The company shares the most personalized form of in-app and device notifications to make the users click on it. Remember, the more customized a message is, the more likely it will grab the customers' attention. According to a study, 90% of marketers who use personalization in email marketing increase open and CTRs. Personalized Timing Now, this is something different and challenging to achieve when personalization, but not impossible eventually. You can show personalized messages and content to your customers, but not everyone shares the same daily routine. Even a specific individual does not follow the same daily pattern or activities. However, AI and machine learning algorithms help customize the content delivery time based on previous engagements and shopping behavior. In addition, the system can also analyze the specific days or months in which a particular customer usually shop. For example, in India, people wait for "Diwali Sale" or "Great Indian Sale" on Amazon in the hope of getting better prices and discounts on the products. Similarly, in the US, people look forward to the "Black Friday Sale" to get the best deals on their favorite products. Notifying your customers during these days with personalized offers and recommendations can remind them to visit your online store and shop. Take Away Marissa Mayer, former President and CEO at Yahoo!, once said, "To me, the future is personalization." Indeed, it is, and you can easily see it every day, everywhere. Today, when every business is striving hard to lead in the digital world, integrating personalization into your marketing strategies can be a plus point. As per the latest report by SmarterHQ, 80% of regular buyers only purchase from brands that personalize the shopping experience for them. Moreover, 86% of marketers have observed a measurable growth in their business outcomes after running personalization campaigns. However, customer personalization is not as easy as it looks, and you have already seen this through this blog. But, thanks to AI and machine learning algorithms, personalization becomes more automated and effective. Since the future of the online retail market would be more personalized, it is crucial to enhance customer experience and engagement, and personalization could be the key. Therefore, by having a professional and skillful marketing agency by your side, you can retain your customers through personalization and can always be their favorite. ...
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