Fintech Marketing 101: The Best Online Marketing Strategies

Fintech Marketing 101: The Best Online Marketing Strategies

Financial technology has officially reached the early stages of mass adoption. People are now depositing checks and rebalancing their asset portfolio on the go, instant personal loans are available online, and businesses can receive funding within a matter of a few hours! Fintech is slowly creeping its way into the mainstream. Therefore, it is the ideal time for a startup in this industry to shine.

So, how can you write your fintech startup success story? The answer is “with an excellent online marketing strategy!” Sure, online marketing alone cannot make your company successful. However, without it, your products/services may remain in the shadows forever. That is why building a strong strategic foundation should be one of your priorities.

Importance of creative online marketing

Most fintech companies are employing the latest technologies to enhance and automate the use and delivery of financial services. Building a revolutionary product or solution may be the first step towards success. However, proper online marketing is just as necessary for gaining recognition and drawing the attention of the consumers.

Fintech marketing involves a combination of tactics, designed specifically for financial technology firms. Creating a foolproof strategy for such a growing vertical can be challenging. The number of startups is increasing, and traditional banks are adopting emerging technologies to provide better products and services to the customers. Making one company stand out in the crowd is undoubtedly tricky.

The biggest hurdle standing in the way of fintech marketers is to get people to trust unfamiliar and potentially helpful tools. Many of the technologies may seem opaque and complicated to the average man. Then there are security and privacy concerns as well as vague policies and terms on rates and charges. Making them believe in the product or solution, and getting them to use it for handling transactions and managing finances can be hard.

So, it is evident that the same old ideas and concepts are not going to work when it comes to promoting a fintech startup online. Better and more innovative strategies are required. Below are a few top tricks that industry experts swear by.

Fintech marketing

Go mobile or go home:

Ever since the advent of smartphones, we have been spending more and more time on these little handheld devices. Studies show that the average consumer spends about five hours daily on the phone. Mobile app usage has increased up to 69% since 2016. From shopping to banking, everything is done on mobile today. Targeting mobile users is thus necessary.

So, how can you ensure that your fintech marketing strategy is in line with the growing mobile usage? Start by building a mobile responsive website. It will not only help you rank higher and better in Google SERPs, but you will be more likely to convert visitors. Moreover, since 52% of the total online searches are carried out from mobile, you can no longer ignore it.

To attract mobile users, you must:

  • Make your website content crisp and concise.
  • Remove clutters such as unnecessary pop-ups, widgets, and content.
  • Improve website navigation and loading speed.
  • Add visual elements such as icons, infographics, images, and videos to content.
  • Use extensive and responsive fonts and non-intrusive animations.

All in all, you must make sure that your website looks and performs exceptionally well on mobile as well as on the desktop. Then you can think about investing in SEO and ads.

Create high-quality content:

You may have heard this one before, but it holds much more weight now. Valuable content is essential for effective online marketing. It can be a listicle that clarifies consumers’ doubts and questions about your product or solution. You can also create “how-to” articles to highlight the best ways to use your tools. Informative content is in high demand, and the more value you can add through content, the better it is for marketing.

As per a recent study, 45% of the millennial population wants financial services and products to help them manage their finances. However, 37% of them stated that they were unable to find helpful resources online to help them understand essential topics. As a result, most millennials are left uneducated and confused about one of the most vital responsibilities of adulthood.

The statistics may seem somewhat shocking. However, this is your chance to step in and offer this generation something that other financial companies have not. By creating valuable content, you can educate and inform both adults and young adults. It will not only build trust, but it will also increase brand authority.

Embrace social media:

When it comes to social media, opinions, and views are divided mainly. While some people are avid social media users with active profiles on all major platforms, others refuse even to download the apps! As a fintech startup, your target market will define your social media marketing needs. From Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and more, options are plenty. You need to choose a platform that suits your product/service and target audience.

Be bold when branding:

Want people to know and remember your company? If you’re going to create a stir, the best idea would be to invest in branding. Consumers will know you by your brand. So, you must focus on building a killer brand image. You may have the best content, a highly functional and mobile-friendly website, and an excellent social media strategy. However, without proper branding, none of it will bear fruit.

online marketing

Branding strategies and tactics will, of course, depend on your target demographic and company culture. If you are primarily targeting millennials and young people, you should not be hesitant to go bold when branding your fintech startup. You may choose to create an imposing, powerful, and sharp image, or you may go with a bright splash of color. No matter what you do, make sure to keep your ideas fresh and memorable.

Over-deliver when possible:

If you ever over-deliver, make sure to promote that act over and over again. For example, Southwest Airlines gets a ton of free PR by doing acts of kindness. Remember the time a mom thanked the Southwest flight attendants because they helped calm her baby? What about the time the company reunited a mother with her unconscious son? The world loves when a company cares about its customers. If you ever go out of your way to help/appreciate your customers, do not let that go unnoticed!

Excellent customer service always pays, and what better way to serve your customers than to over-deliver through products and services? If you do good, you can expect to do well! However, it does not necessarily mean that you should follow in the footsteps of Southwest and copy their stories. Over-delivering does not always mean grand gestures. You can achieve the same goal through small yet sentimental acts. Even a simple act of thanking your customers can go a long way when it comes to earning love and trust.

Run ad campaigns wisely:

Want to run an ad campaign for your fintech startup? You have plenty of choices to pick from! The problem with many fintech startups is that they are afraid to use new and innovative marketing tactics. For example, instead of reaching consumers online, many fintech companies are still relying solely on radio commercials and TV ads.

Google, Facebook, and YouTube are all excellent platforms where you can run your paid ad campaign. However, you must set up your social and Google ad campaign keeping factors such as demographics, budgets, interests, images, keywords, and call to action in mind. You can optimize pretty much every aspect with just a few clicks of your mouse!

Radio, television, and billboards are part of a dying market. Though they worked beautifully in the past, they are no longer effective in today’s technologically-driven society. Therefore, you must rethink your strategies and focus your budget and energy, where it is likely to have the most impact.

Wrapping up

Fintech marketing is a relatively new concept, which is why there is still room for experimenting. However, you should always be wise when gambling with a new idea for ranking top keywords like instant personal loans, Business loans, etc. As a startup, you can begin with the tips mentioned above.

How to measure the efficiency of your PPC investment?

How to measure the efficiency of your PPC investment?

A pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign can be a good investment for your business. The PPC or cost-per-click model is used to drive traffic to your website. You have to only pay when your ad gets “clicked on” by a user.

But you’ll only know if the PPC campaign is a good investment if you analyze the results to ensure you’re getting the most for your advertising dollar. Whether you manage to advertise for your own business or clients, you need to determine if you’re getting an appropriate Return on Investment (ROI).

How do you know what to monitor, analyze and adjust?

We’re here to help you with our tips for how to measure the efficiency of your PPC investments. Using the 6 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) we outline here, you’ll be able to assess the performance of your campaign.

Getting Started

Like any aspect of your business, it’s important to establish goals for your campaign before you start. Having goals means you can analyze your results against those goals, and make any adjustments if necessary.

Your goals will also determine which KPIs you may want to focus on over others.

Examples of objectives for your campaign include:

  • Signing customers up for regular emails or newsletters, to enable you to develop a customer database.
  • Driving traffic to your website.
  • Converting that traffic into sales.
  • Increasing recognition of your brand.

Once you’ve established your advertising goals, you can set up your campaign, and monitor and examine results.

To do that, here are the 6 KPIs on which you should focus.

1. Clicks

You’ll never reach any campaign goal without having users click on an ad, whether the objective is a brand enhancement or conversion to sales. Therefore, the number of clicks is an important measure.

Let your campaign run for a while, and continue to monitor clicks. They can be an early indicator of success, but as the campaign progresses, you may want to make adjustments. That can include pausing ads that aren’t performing well and increasing the bid on ads that are performing well.

Clicks are enjoyable to watch, but they aren’t the only indicator of success.

2. Click Through Rate (CTR)

Another key metric is CTR, which is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks your campaign received in a given time frame by the overall impressions.

In other words, if your ad was viewed 500 times (known as some impressions), and was clicked on 100 times, your CTR is 20%.

CLick Through

CTR

Tracking your CTR throughout the life of the campaign is good. You can generate reports by week, month, or whatever time frame works for you or your client.

There are different ways to determine what’s an acceptable CTR. That could be by comparing to industry standards, for instance.

Wordstream analyzes the data for Google Ads and can provide you with the information you need on a good target CTR, with data updated for 2018.

For instance, the average CTR for the search for the Travel and Hospitality Industry is 4.68%, and for E-commerce is 2.69%.

At least, this can provide a benchmark for your business. But monitoring CTR will also help you analyze individual campaigns for increases or decreases in CTR.

3. Cost Per Click (CPC)

It’s good to keep track of your CPC, or the amount you pay for each click on an ad. This helps you monitor your budget, but also the effectiveness of the campaign based on the cost.

To calculate CPC, you divide the total cost of your campaign by the number of times an ad was clicked.

cost per click

Check your math and figure out the campaign’s total cost by multiplying the CPC by the number of clicks your ads received.

campaign cost

cost per click

The CPC data will measure exactly how much you’ve paid for a campaign. This is helpful because while you may have set a budget and a bid price when you set up your PPC campaign, it doesn’t mean that’s what you actually pay. Actual costs can be different than bids.

The cost of an ad can be determined by other competitors in a PPC auction, so CPC helps you track your actual spend.

If your CPC goes up, your advertising spend increases as well, so obviously your ROI is going down. In an ideal situation, over the course of a campaign, your CPC should decrease, and your ROI will therefore increase.

4. Conversion Rate

It’s great to know how many users see your ad, click on your ad, and what that costs, but all that doesn’t mean much if they don’t complete the desired action once arriving at your website.

That’s what makes conversion rate so important.

Whether your “conversion” is an actual sale, providing an email address for a newsletter, or completing some other type of form, the conversion rate will tell you if you’re successful with that goal.

To calculate this metric, divide the number of people who “convert,” or complete your desired action, by the number of people who clicked on the ad.

conversion rate

PPC analysis

If your conversion rate isn’t where you want it to be, you may have to look at your website to make adjustments.

For instance, analyze your user experience to ensure your landing page:

  • performs on a variety of devices;
  • it has a good load speed;
  • is mobile friendly;
  • and, the desired action is clear to users (form submission is clear and simple, for instance).

Make enhancements if necessary, and continue to check your conversion rate for improvements.

If your conversion rate goes up, you’ll be spending less on advertising to get a sale or other desired action. Therefore, your ROI will go up. So you always aim for an increase in your conversion rate.

5. Bounce Rate

This could also be called the opposite of your conversion rate.

Your bounce rate is the number of visitors who click through to your site and but leave without completing your desired action.

A high bounce rate will send you back to your landing page to look for further enhancements. Review again to make sure it’s user-friendly and has a clear call to action to point people to your desired conversion.

You will always aim for a decrease in bounce rate.

bounce rate

6. Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)

It can be argued that this is the most important KPI, particularly in terms of determining your ROI.

After all, what is more important than looking at the revenue earned vs. the money spent? To determine an effective ROAS, a break-even measure is a dollar earned for each dollar spent.

To calculate ROAS, divide the revenue of the campaign by the cost. If you made $500 and spent $100, your ROAS is $5. In other words, for every dollar you spent, you earned $5.

You should note that sometimes a bounce rate can be artificially inflated. For example, a user lands on your page, and then calls your business, then leaves. This would still count as a bounce, but in fact, the user actually converted

Revenue cost

This number provides the bottom line on how the marketing budget has supported the business.

Final Thoughts

A PPC campaign requires planning, monitoring, and adjusting.

Like any aspect of your business, you want to be sure you establish goals and measure performance against those goals.

Launching a PPC campaign won’t be effective if you simply launch and leave it. You must monitor to make adjustments if necessary.

Knowing how to measure the efficiency of your PPC investments is vital to ensuring a positive ROI for your business, or your client’s business. Measuring and monitoring these 6 KPIs will ensure you get the most out of your PPC spend.

5 Tips To Boost Conversion Rates Of Your Emails

5 Tips To Boost Conversion Rates Of Your Emails

One of the oldest means of marketing; email marketing still works like a charm whether it’s to reveal a new product to your existing customers or to connect with more potential customers for the same, with an email conversion rate you can do it all.

Just write up a great one. Use a good structure and design — the right links. And SHOOT!

email marketing

If only it were all that easy.

While email marketing is just a simple term, its right implementation can get the best in a sweat.

From writing a great subject line to keeping the mail body comprehensive yet short. And then the pressure of compellability, I tell you. All of it requires some in-depth analysis, research and the right choice of words (of course).

But does it mean email success is too hard to achieve? Well, not if you go by these five tips.

5 Killer Tips to Boost Email Conversion Rates like anything

Here are the top tips for leveling up your email marketing game to earn a spate of conversions.

1. Make use of existing intel

Be it offline or online; data is an integral part of all businesses.

Gathered after several hits and trials, it helps businesses strategize and optimize better for their future projects, including email marketing campaigns.

But how exactly?

Well, it’s a lot like targeting.

The data would tell you a lot about your audience. Its likes/dislikes. Geographical locations. Age group and the gender that they belong to. The brands that they love the most. Products that they are interested in. And a lot of other stuff.

Now here you need to do is make use of this data.

Craft your emails by that. Use it to be relatable with your emails. As relatable as you can be. Do you know how a joke suddenly becomes way funnier the moment you start relating to it? The same tactic works with all forms of content “Emails too.”

This will make your prospects believe that you can feel their pain and so can help them too.

2. Refine your email list

While you might be sending out emails to some subscribers who gave you their email addresses at one point in time, turns out not all of them are receiving those emails now.

Reason?

Every email list in the world has the following categories of subscribers.

  • Confirmed: Those who confirmed their subscription to your newsletter/mailing list
  • Unconfirmed: Those who didn’t prove their subscription
  • DNC list (do not contact): The ones who blacklisted you (no further contact)
  • Bounced: The file with (now) invalid email addresses

Now, this might have got you wondering,

All mailing lists are divided into four categories, three of which aren’t worth a try. But how does it matter? Why do I need to refine?

Well, I hate to break it down to you. All email service providers charge their consumers for every single email that they send.

This means that sending emails to the people who don’t want to see your emails or don’t want to respond to them or aren’t even going to receive those might be costing you $$ unnecessarily.

The solution is easy. Just take out an hour and refine your mailing lists.

Every time you shoot emails, make sure they are going to the right audience. Failing at that will cause you throwing money for nothing.

3. Create outstanding mail copies

Not to pressurize you or anything, but your mail copy can make or break your email campaign.

It’s like while we all try to persuade users with our content, there is a whole bunch of competitors trying to do the same.

A myriad of emails is sent every day, every week and every month. What magical do you think your email copy has to beat them all and be clicked on?

Well, in all cases we can still be better. Aiding to that, let us look at the four ‘U’s of email copywriting.

Urgency

While the world is moving at the speed of light and everybody is super busy, getting users to click through your emails in the first go is a challenge.

But is there a way to win? Well, do we say no to any urgent calls? Highly rarely, right? That’s the key. If you can create urgency in the readers’ minds, you can win their attention that can lead to more clicks.

Still, don’t get it? This example might help.

Let us say; you want to buy an electric guitar. You visit a website reviewing the model that you want to buy. You read the reviews. I liked the product. And chose to sign-up for updates, so you don’t miss out on the latest offers or updates.

The next noon you receive an email offering a limited time discount on your favorite guitar. Wouldn’t you consider it? Well, even if you won’t, somebody else will.

Email conversion

What it does is boost the chances of the user opening up your email. The rest of the best (i.e., conversion) still depends on other factors like CTA, landing page, etc.

Uniqueness

The next thing your email copies need to be is unique.

Just as discussed in the sections above, we receive a large number of marketing emails every day. How many do we click?

Well, if we notice carefully, it’s easy to conclude that emails that are unique and interesting make us want to know more. And for that, we generally click through.

For example, a while ago, I received this email from NeilPatel.com’s email list that I once subscribed to. First, I saw it on my phone and couldn’t just archive or delete or even ignore it (which I or maybe most of us generally do).

This is what the email’s snippet said.

Email

Starting with the title, it’s simple and spots on. Something that every internet marketer/website owner would love to know. And then the first text in the email. As relevant and essential as it could be.

He starts with his success story. He is implying that this hack really worked for his website and so it can work for mine.

Now, here, he might have lost me if I had just read the title. But then the right next line goes like ‘Over the last 30 days, I generated 53878 visits from …’.

Who wouldn’t want to know more?

This is one excellent example, and there can be many others like this.

So, think of creating unique subject lines and useful opening texts like these. Chances are, your conversion rates will be boosted.

Ultra-specific

Just as mentioned in the very first tip, you need to make use of the data that’s available to you. The aim is to know your consumers better. Understand their needs and then craft emails with that intel.

You need to know their problems the best and then address those in your emails. If you can do that, more of your emails will be read.

Usefulness

Why waste a sentence saying nothing? – Seth Godin.

Brownie points if you feel that the above quote makes sense.

The thing with the content that you create is that it has to be useful at all costs. Because, what’s the point of creating any content at all if it doesn’t help its audience?

Also, if you aren’t helpful to the audience, why will they subscribe to you? Or buy your product? Or even listen to your words at all?

So, keep this in mind and try to create useful content for your audience.

While writing great email copies will require brainstorming and more time, it’s highly crucial. Coming up with perfect email copies is how you can compete with other businesses sending emails to your prospects.

Also, you can use a good video to charm up your emails. Emails with visual content get higher CTR.

4. Work on your CTAs and Landing Pages

You might have spent hours and hours brainstorming the right design, layout, text copy and everything else for your entire email, but right before you send it out, two things matter.

CTA and landing page.

Getting users to click through and read your email is a tough bet; we all agree. But what’s more robust is to convert them. And basically, that’s what every other step in the process comes down to.

So, how to do it right? How to optimally pick and design your CTAs and landing pages?

Well, let’s start with the CTAs first.

One common mistake that marketers generally make is generic with their CTA copies.

While writing a CTA saying ‘Read more’ or ‘Fill form’ might seem like a good idea to some, turns out it isn’t!

CTAs that are too generic can bore the reader. And CTA copies that impose work turn them off. I mean, who likes extra work on their desk?

CTA image

In cases like these, saying ‘Read more’ will make the user imagine huge blocks of text which he/she’ll have to go through.

Solution? Come up with better CTAs. Better here means actionable. Something that makes the user go through your CTAs smooth. A CTA that offers the users something of their interest.

For example, instead of using “Read More” as a CTA, try out options like “Find out more.”

We might like finding new useful stuff, but we aren’t always in a mood to read, are we? Just take it like that. And save yourself from repelling readers.

Once you have created the right CTA copy, you should start getting more clicks, leading the users to your landing page. Just what we need to focus now.

While you are trying to craft your perfect landing page, the following tips will help you.

Create great headlines

The first thing that an average internet user will see in your landing page is your headline.

If you fail to make an impression with that, chances are, you’ve lost the user.

What you need to do is create headlines that grab the reader’s attention — telling them about your product or service. And not exceeding 20 words at max (preferable limit is 10).

And once that’s done, move on to optimizing your landing page further.

Be persuasive with subheadings

Another characteristic of actionable content is persuasiveness.

And right after you’ve crafted a good headline, you need to work up your subheadings similarly. But how can you make it happen? Well, keep the following tips in mind.

  • Give details in your subtitles. A subheading is supposed to be more informative/in-depth than the main heading.
  • Make it have information gaps. How does it work? Make a point that you’ll discuss later in your content. Maybe at the end of your content.

This will keep the user intrigued till the end of the piece.

Use visuals

The next thing you need to keep in mind is the right use of visuals.

No matter how great your textual content reads, without the right visuals, it’d still not be thoroughly optimized. While picking the right one for your landing page, keep the following points in mind.

  • Everything your landing page pictures need to be.
  • Large in size.
  • Highly relevant to your product/service.
  • High quality.
  • Highly intriguing and attention-grabbing.

Your best bet would be to use fresh, converting and actionable infographics for your landing pages.

The right images on landing pages can boost overall conversion rates by up to 89%.

5. Fine tune your offer

While you might have tried anything and everything possible to acquire conversions with email marketing, it might not still work for you. Reason can be your offer.

It’s like even the copywriting experts like David Garfinkel say that a fair copy with a reasonable offer can work wonders for all marketing campaigns. Like, also if your grammar isn’t correct or you’ve made spelling mistakes, your drive can still sail with a reasonable offer.

Do you see how it works?

It’s like we need to get into our prospects’ shoes. When planning on making a purchase, would you go for a great offer or good grammar?

It’s all simple. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.

email conversion rate

Final words

Email marketing is an excellent way of driving in bundles of conversions for your business. The problem which catches marketers cold is the right optimization.

In this post, I tried to share some useful tips for boosting email conversion rates. Hopefully, this helped you.

Still, have doubts? Share and discuss this piece with your marketing friends. It will help.

Future of Web Design That Every Marketer Must Master

Future of Web Design That Every Marketer Must Master

The future is never predictable. But then some people shape the future. And when it is about web design, the people developing the future are none other than the people who have been looking at the market quite closely.

With newer techniques coming in regularly, the businesses that can make a mark are those that can adapt the trends more welcomingly. So, if you wish to move ahead of your competitors in, you need to get a firm grip on the trends that are going to come up next. And to help you with it, here I have come up with a list of few web design trends that are potent enough to rule the market shortly.

So, let’s dig deeper into the details.

Developer Tools Are the New Game Changer

Moving forward in 2019, web designing is becoming even important. With more people shifting towards the digital end, the wave of new trends is coming even more often. But there are issues.

The main problem according to Craig Frost, who works as a web designer in Pusher is nothing but the requirement of high-quality software. Yes, there is a constant requirement of high-quality software, but unfortunately, there aren’t good enough developers to fill such needs. And even if some developers are efficient enough, but they face mane infrastructural obstacles, and this shortens down their capabilities.

But if a frown occurred on your forehead going through the last line, then let me comfort you with a piece of information. If you take a closer look, you’ll quickly notice that there is an outburst of top-notch developer tools. And these are capable enough of solving these modern day problems.

Yes, such developer tools are capable enough of introducing several features in applications that can be included in real time. And such applications get updated so quickly with even requiring to refresh the browser.

Interactive and Conversational Interfaces

Getting a better grip on the mindset of website visitors can prove to be effective in recent days. And yes, this can be the key that will unlock the world of innovations for you. Of course, this is a one-way path. You don’t have any other option left. And the only option is nothing but shifting towards interactive and conversational interfaces.

Conversational interfaces are shortening the hassles big time. Through conversational interfaces, you can just let the website visitor roam about your website depending on a simple screen-based user interface.

Previously, interfaces used to prevent the website visitors from deviating from their goal and provides them with continuously popping up cues that help them in the same.

But that’s a different scenario in the case of conversational interfaces. Hinting on how it works, I’d instead say that, using interactive interfaces you can roam about in a website even if your hands are preoccupied. AI and Machine Learning do the rest for them.

And this is helping businesses to increase their transparency in front of their potential buyers, as Hilary Stephenson said.

Introduce Animation

There was a time when people used to consider animations as an obstruction, an annoying inclusion to web design. But now things have changed big time.

Animations are now one of the most critical inclusions to a website. They now guide visitors through the site. They have become a better way to provide visitors with valuable information.

Some people in the industry consider this upsurge of animations as a comeback, but what senior developer Mike Burgess says is, animations have been there all along. He further adds animations have been finding a way to balance things between utility and sophistication. And now as they have figured out what can be the difference, you can quickly notice their efficiency in web design.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

You’re well acquainted with 3D, aren’t you? And there’s where VR and AR come in action.

Though, there is a habit of a few developers of considering virtual reality more as a short-lived craze but, TBH, VR is right now busy in developing a good relationship with the base of our generation, i.e., the younger people. Yes, kids, these days, know better about Virtual Reality than older people do. So, if you start working on it, you are inevitably going to see good times soon enough.

And, talking about Augmented Reality, yeah, it is true that AR has taken much time to reach us, but we can’t deny that it is a thing of the future. Both Apple and Google have placed their respective AR tools in the market, named ARKit and ARCore, respectively. And with the arrival of them both, we can now expect things to get fixed a lot quicker.

So, I guess, this is high time for you to jump into it.

Open Source and Ownership

Newer technologies are getting introduced with us with every passing day. And they are coming with a lot of promises. And we can’t be sure about them until we get our hands on them.

But this approach towards breaking the barriers is fundamental. By mentioning the term ‘barriers’, I refer to the ‘walled garden’ that has been created by the industry leaders.

This approach is essential as this attitude will clear up the confusion if this hype is short lived. And that will help the newer technologies gain trust.
But breaking the barriers is a tough job. And you know that already. So, you can easily sense why breaking barriers are essential. Because whenever some newer technology tries to get out of the loop, we experience something completely fresh. Something that hasn’t been experienced never before. And some industry biggies trust this agenda.

This might come out as something really big. So, if you have an idea that you feel is out of the box, validate it and then give it a try. You never know, it might turn out as the much-awaited gig.

What’s Your Take?

This entire thing going on in the market currently is somewhat community driven. And which community to be in is the major concern of most marketers out there. But, you have us.

And now as you have come across the things that you need to consider, things might get easier on your behalf. As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side, but the final take is always under your control. Be wise. And if you have any further queries, feel free to get in touch with us.

Ways to Make Money on Instagram as Creative Graphic Design Expert

Ways to Make Money on Instagram as Creative Graphic Design Expert

There are so many ways in which graphic designers and illustrators can make money on Instagram. With more than 1 billion users on a monthly scale and highest per follower interaction rate of the social network, IG has become a major part of multiple people’s lives.

So, IG is equivalent to big businesses these days. There are over 2 million active advertisers right now on the platform with 72% of the people on the platform have bought something after checking out the ads on the platform.

As people are using IG a lot more these days to find illustrators or graphic designers to work or just collaborate with, or even for procuring services, using IG is vital for all the creative minds out there in the market.

In case, you are following under the graphic design niche and want to make money using the power of IG, you have to end up creating some of the engaging posts for reaching multiple people. It helps in providing a complete base of some of the loyal followers. You will come to learn more about that from Gramblast right away and things will start to work out pretty well.

Trying to add Shopify has made selling on the IG a lot easier than before. However, getting the perfect feed seen by the right people is not always as simple as it might sounds. Using the platform well is not all about cramming posts with hashtags, taking some stylish photos of breakfast and necessarily having most followers around here for sure.

So, if you are planning to find out more about the ways in which you can actually harness feed to get more followers and make money, then move forward and read through the article in details.

Have to switch to the current business account:

The easiest and quickest way to procure insight right into IG account is to make the switch from personal to the business account. It can always offer you insight into followers. It can further enable you to see how these posts are actually performing and creating some of the promotions.

  • It means if you want, you can even add that contact button right to the account.
  • For switching the account to a business setting, you can easily go to the settings and then
    select Switch to Business Profile option.
  • For doing that, you might have to get yourself a business FB page and only your personal
    profile won’t be of any help around here.

Write clearer bio with the link:

Your bio is always in need to tell users who you actually are and what you do. You need to showcase the level of your personality. As IG is a visual platform, therefore; a blurry and out of focus profile picture won’t help you out a lot. Using a cleaner image, on the other hand, will show you who you actually are and what you are planning to promote or sell in a clear manner.

  • The bio in the IG account will be that one place where you can actually post an active link. So, make sure to choose that link wisely. Linking to the website, shop or even to a recent project might help you big time.
  • If you have this tendency to change continually where you might want people to look, you can end up adding Bit.ly link. After that, you can update where Bit.ly directs to other than having to keep on updating bio with new link.
  • For example, check out the effective bio of Gavin Strange with more than 14K followers. If you check out his bio, you will come to know about his day job, the name of the alias, his books and some of the other projects he is up to.

Your feed is more like your portfolio:

Always remember that your feed needs to be visually cohesive as possible and you might get across a sense of style. Followers actually like it when there is a bit of consistency in the feed so that they are well aware of the points to expect from checking out the feed.

  • You can always play the role of a curator and take outside look at the feed. It is actually going to be your portfolio.
  • It actually takes people longer time than you think to recognize work and people find it rather difficult to get associated with more than on one or two things. Therefore, it is always a smart move if you are actually concerned with building up an audience to so same thing all the time.
  • Sometimes, you might feel a little bored of posting the same old thing. But, you have to make ways to entertain yourself. If you are bored with your work, you won’t be able to entertain your followers that much. It should not be the case like this one.
  • For achieving the major form of visual cohesive, you have to approach the feed as you might have with the portfolio. Check out about the ways in which your shots might look next to one another and then try adding on with the variety.
  • Avoid taking all the pictures or videos from the same angle. If you want, you can consider adding a proper color theme and think about the various filters you are actually using and what they have to say about you and the work you are portraying.
  • Next, you have to be very careful while adding some of the curated behind the scene versions or even posts, dedicated to working in progress for showing up your personality better. It can further make the users feel a lot better and personal, as they will get a glimpse of the insight of your working area more and well.

You are always invited to come and check out with experts in this section for your help. They know what you are looking for and would like to help you big time on that. For some more details in this regard, make sure to log online and get quality help now.

Use Video Content from Influencers and Users to Fully Realize ROI

Use Video Content from Influencers and Users to Fully Realize ROI

The past year has been a tumultuous for many brands and marketers. Deterioration of trust and slowdown of organic reach has forced marketers to dive deeper and deeper into paid strategies.

One of the most relevant and exciting trends in the sphere of digital and especially social media marketing is the trend towards video. The trend isn’t merely being driven on the consumer side, but is also being heavily inspired by technological forces.

Thus it isn’t just speculation in regards to where we’re headed to in the world of video marketing, the data is clear – it speaks for itself. Video is the future, and we’re only at the beginning of the video world. This year is definitely the video’s time to shine.

In this article, I’ll explore the video statistics on the consumer side and two primary strategies that businesses of all sizes can start to adopt in regards to their social media marketing on social media to maximize their ROI.

Video statistics on the consumer side

video content

Source: Oberlo

 

Millennials between 25-34 years old consumed the most video content online. More pertinently, in the United States, most of this video content was consumed using a mobile device and consumption of video content has been steadily growing over time.

Turkey and Saudia Arabia rank highest, with 95% of all their internet users watching online video content on all devices. More and more video content is being viewed now than ever before. Naturally, video content on social media is a favorite.

Whether on blogs, Instagram or YouTube, consumers are expecting more video content. This statistic alone shows how videos are getting popular over time. With video becoming a significant influence on consumer decisions, it comes as no surprise that video content drives purchases.

Are businesses over-saturating the internet with content?

Perhaps.

There are 1 billion blogs today – that’s one blog in 7 people!

The text sphere is without a doubt over-saturated, but the digital marketing world is in a state of constant change and evolution, and content marketing is projected to continue growing in 2019.

One of the fastest growing trends in the content marketing sphere is video. The benefits of video-based content are clear – it’s more personable, people get to know you, your personality, and your company in a better way.

Now that you’re convinced that video is the future, you’re probably thinking of the barriers your business faces to capitalize on the video content marketing world.

Break down the barriers and embrace the era of the ready-made, ad-hoc appeal of video

Many brands fear video content because of the belief that videos need to appear well-produced. They fear that they don’t have an event that’s “sexy” or exciting enough.

Embrace the ready-made. But what exactly is ready-made?

Some people think (Merriam-Webster has this as one of their definitions) that ready-made is synonymous with lacking originality or individuality. This has led to many brands trying to challenge themselves to create creative video content, which is severely limiting.

This is the era of the ready-made, the age of the decentralized ad-hoc approach to everything. Forget perfectionism. If you aren’t embarrassed by your first video release – you’ve released it too late.

Creative content exists as a result of the many iterations that came before. Analyze what’s working, test, trek in the same direction and take a sharp turn to align with your business’s vision.

User-Generated Video Content & Content from Micro-Influencers

My e-commerce fashion brand heavily utilizes micro-influencers and user-generated content (UGC). We know that organic content works best; we know that our consumers love to see content from real people.

The reason we work with micro-influencers as opposed to more massive influencers (apart from budget) is that they usually have the time and enthusiasm to commit to a more extended program of content.

We’ve been pushing our video content agenda by asking micro-influencers we work to create short video content with full creative freedom. We then repurpose these videos for our various social channels and promote them with small budgets.

Incentivizing UGC

UGC isn’t a new concept, yet it seems marketers are only starting to realize it’s potential in creating online buzz.

UGC isn’t only the best free marketing for your business ever; it increases brand engagement, builds a community and creates social proof and trust amongst potential customers.

Unlike influencers, creators of UGC aren’t partners of the brand. They’re not contracted and are more like fans than professional partners.

Still not convinced?
Here are the statistics.

  • 88% of consumers trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they believe recommendations from their contacts.
  • 74% of consumers rely on social media to inform their purchasing decisions.

Now, you might have doubts about the quality of videos created by your customers. Not all of them will be usable, and most likely none of them will have studio production value. That doesn’t matter.

How many viral videos were shot with an iPhone camera?

How many influencers rely on their smartphones selfie camera to communicate with their audience?

The statistics show that 70% of millennials don’t even turn their phones horizontally when watching videos on mobile. (AdNews)

Consumers like original content and content is king. It doesn’t need to be hugely groundbreaking content; it needs to be relatable.

Live Video

New technology is continuously driving the evolution of digital marketing. One of the largest implicating factors for live video is the rolling out of 5G this year.

5G on smartphones means high-quality live videos that don’t lag. It also means instant download/streaming of video content.

A hugely under-valued sphere in the digital marketing world is live-video. Many brands have been extremely sheepish in this regard.

What content should they share? Are their day-to-day operations exciting enough? Are their events sexy enough? These are the wrong questions.

Your consumers want to know everything about your brand. They want to see behind the scenes. They want to see what’s going on. They don’t care if the video was shot on the iPhone, or if it was shot with a 4K Red camera.

What is the ROI of video marketing?

Video content marketing

Source: Oberlo

This will differ from business to business, but the most straightforward and quantifiable returns are sales, website traffic, and followers.

If you take advantage of UGC and micro-influencers, you’ll need a minimal investment to start creating video content. More of your budget will probably go towards promotion.

This means you essentially have nothing to lose so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see instant results. Your ROI will only be realized through patience. Put in the work, experiment, measure your video marketing to see what works best and keep doing that.

Final Thoughts

Remember when we wrote about how video claimed 80% of all web traffic? Well, we’re beyond that now, and content marketing departments in businesses are growing.

If it isn’t already, get on board the trend and give your consumers what they want. Don’t be discouraged by false barriers to entry. Technology has broken down most barriers, so embrace it and capitalize on the ready-made, ad-hoc decentralized method of putting out content.