Day: July 14, 2022

  • 12 Gift Ideas for The Small Business Owners

    12 Gift Ideas for The Small Business Owners

    12 Gift Ideas for The Small Business Owners

    holidays are coming are you done with your Christmas shopping or are you one of those people who do things at the last minute? Whether you’ve done all the gift-wrapping or are yet to find the perfect gift for your loved ones, we’ve curated a list of gift ideas for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and digital marketers in your life!

    Noise Canceling Headphones

    Some people’s focus sharpens and thrives when outside noises are blocked and they can only hear their thoughts, or in my case when I can only hear the music I’m playing. Working on a marketing plan for businesses takes a lot of time being immersed in your own thoughts, researching, and looking out for inspiration. Without getting distracted by unnecessary noise, noise-canceling headphones are your best pick.

    These Sony headphones and Apple AirPods pro are great options.

    Bluelight-Blocking Eyewear

    Blue light is very damaging for your eyes, it’s the light that’s emitted from devices and screens. This light is known to cause headaches, dry eyes, blurry vision, and insomnia. If you are getting a gift for someone who spends more than half of their day facing a screen – PC, laptop, or phone – the best you can get them is this blue-light-blocking eyewear. These specs are prescription-free glasses that have filtered lenses that can help minimize the effect of blue light.

    A Trusty Notebook

    Ideas are everywhere, and they pop when you least expect them. A handy and durable notebook that can be carried anywhere will be very much appreciated by business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers alike. 

    A notebook will not only ideas but also reminders, to-do lists, future plans, and other things that need to be written down. A Moleskine is a classic notebook that’s stylish and functional at the same time.

    Big Whiteboard with Markers

    Make your buddy’s brainstorming session a great one by gifting him a big whiteboard. With a long list of things to do, a whiteboard is something any entrepreneur or business owner will appreciate receiving because no matter how cool the apps and tools are we can find online, we’d always go back to do the traditional thing – like writing. 

    Tip: With this item, the bigger the better!

    A Bluetooth Speaker

    In today’s world, working from home has become the norm. Music, podcasts, and audiobooks are great sources of entertainment. A BlueTooth speaker can elevate the mood and enjoyment as you get through your work while listening to your favorite tunes and podcast episodes.

    This one is a great pick.

     

    A Laptop Lap Desk

    Digital Marketers, entrepreneurs, and business owners are always on their laptops, so basically, getting them this laptop lap desk is just a logical thing to do. 

    This specific one has a built-in mouse pad and phone holder, so it’s going to be helpful when you want to lounge and work away from your desk.

    A PopSocket

    With the large phones, we have today, it’s super convenient to have something that can help us grip them more to avoid dropping them. Good thing there’s a thing called a pop socket. This is a handy phone accessory that isn’t just there for its look, as it is highly functional. Just stick it to the back of your phone and you’ll have a phone grip and stand in one.

    An Ember Mug

    Another thing in this list of gift ideas for small business owners is this unique mug. Do you love coffee but hate it when it gets cold? This cup is the answer to your dilemma. The Ember mug is designed to keep your coffee hot and fresh – even if you poured it an hour ago. What an innovation!

    Stress Relief Candles

    It’s the winter season, a time to slow down, chill, and relax. But then, work doesn’t stop, does it? Gift your loved one’s relaxation in a form of a stress-relief candle. With a lot of scents to choose from, these Bath and Body Works three-wick soy-based wax candles can burn up to 45 hours to refresh minds and reduce stress.

    Subscription to HeadSpace or Calm App

    A subscription to a meditation app can be a reminder to your loved one that it’s vital to take time out and breathe. Stress can lead to burnout and can make running a business be an even bigger challenge than it already is. This would be a great gift to remind them to have a work-life balance.

     

    Gift Ideas for The Small Business Owners

    Subscription to their Favorite SaaS

    Whether your loved one is an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a digital marketer, they will love and appreciate it if you gift them a premium subscription to their favorite SaaS product. Maybe they like Audible or Spotify or even Grammarly. These apps are great for the productivity and inspiration that they will need to get their work done.

    A Masterclass

    If you are unfamiliar with this, Masterclass is an online learning platform, just like Skillshare and Udemy, that offers classes taught by some of the biggest names in the world. Do you want to learn how to cook like Gordon Ramsay? He teaches a class here! Natalie Portman teaches acting, RuPaul teaches self-expression and authenticity, Stephen Curry teaches shooting, ball handling, and scoring, and so many more. Aside from these, several amazing classes could be useful to entrepreneurs, business owners, and digital marketers. 

    Today, they have an offer, a buy one get one deal for the holidays! Don’t miss out!

    It’s been a hard year for all of us. I hope this holiday season gives us hope to look forward that the next year will be better. And hopefully, this list of gift ideas for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and digital marketers will give you that light bulb on what to get for your loved one. Happy shopping!

  • 7 Benefits of Digital Marketing For Your Business

    7 Benefits of Digital Marketing For Your Business

    7 Benefits of Digital Marketing For Your Business

    It’s not a question that with today’s digital age, we all face our screens almost all the time every day. And with this, the world of marketing evolved to get on with the times. Digital marketing has become larger than ever as more and more consumers turn to researching and buying products online. Here are seven (7) benefits of digital marketing for your business you need to know if you didn’t yet.

     

    Benefits of Digital Marketing

    It is cost-effective

    This may be the biggest benefit of digital marketing as it helps you obtain more leads while getting more of your money’s worth in the long run.

    When compared to traditional marketing methods, you can compete with larger businesses because you all have a level field in digital marketing. Digital marketing is a more affordable way to advertise and market your business to potential customers. PPC or Pay-Per-Click ads allow you to work within your budget. You can also partner with digital marketing agencies to help you with your brand’s online marketing strategy.

    It is measurable

    When you spend money on digital marketing campaigns, you can easily track and measure what happens to your campaigns. There is analytics you can analyze to improve and make your digital marketing strategies better to get more favorable results.

    While traditional marketing tactics are effective, they can be difficult to track and measure.

     

    7 Benefits of Digital Marketing For Your Business

     

    It enables you to target ideal customers

    The good thing with digital marketing is that you can target your ads and show them to the right people who are interested in your brand and want to hear what you offer.

    With traditional marketing, it’s difficult to target the right people because your ads generally go to everyone in hopes of reaching the people who will be interested. With digital marketing, you can filter who you want your ads to reach by specifically targeting those who fit your buyer personas.

    When you create your Facebook or Instagram ads, you can set your target audience by defining their attributes such as age, gender, hobbies, occupation, location, and more. You can be as specific as you like. By narrowing your specifications, you’ll reach your ideal audiences more effectively.

    It allows you to leverage social media

    Social media is a crucial part when you want to market your business online. With digital marketing, leveraging social media has now become a part of it. Social media marketing can widen your audience reach and increase your brand awareness. You can also tap into influencer marketing which can be very beneficial for your business.

    It helps you connect with mobile customers

    Another one of the many benefits of digital marketing is it lets you connect with mobile phone users easily. With how the world has become more mobile-friendly today, people of all ages are browsing and consuming content mainly through their phones. This is the perfect opportunity to market your business. With digital marketing, you’ll be able to reach your target audience on their computers, tablets, and mobile phones.

    It improves your conversion rate

    One of the benefits of digital marketing is how it can significantly increase your conversion rate. This is made possible due to your ability to target specific leads as stated earlier. As you focus on your target audience, you increase the chance of converting potential leads into actual customers, and this will help your business grow.

    It provides a way to really build relationships

    The good thing about digital marketing is it’s more than just advertising and marketing. It’s also about connecting, engaging, and building relationships with your audience and followers, and even with other brands. Trust is crucial and when you build relationships with customers, you increase your client retention levels.

    Build a sense of community with your audience by valuing their feedback and opinions. Maintain your relationship with your customers by sending them a follow-up email after their purchase. You can also send them special offers that are customized for them regularly. 

     

    Final Thoughts

    If you own a business and you still haven’t dabbled into digital marketing, this is the time you start. Get on with the times because this digital age won’t be going out soon. With all the benefits of digital marketing we just shared with you, it’s definitely a win-win to get your business into its game.

    For more articles like this, visit our blog and our Facebook Page.

  • All About Influencer Marketing

    All About Influencer Marketing

    All About Influencer Marketing

    Due to the large influx of both big and small businesses coming into the online world, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for brands to get attention on the internet. This has made consumers doubt the brands that self-promotes. New digital marketing strategies have been planned and created, and one of these is influencer marketing.

    Ten years ago, influencer marketing was only limited to celebrities. But times have changed, and now in this modern digital age, tons of newly grown influencers have been paving their way into the market.

    Influencer marketing is now an established form of online marketing and has been a buzzword in the media for a while. If you are one of those people who haven’t heard about this term yet, you have come to the right post. We will talk all about influencer marketing, what it is, why it’s important, how it works, and how you can leverage it for your business.

    What is Influencer Marketing?

    Influencer Marketing is a form of online marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from people who has a large following on a distinct niche who can likely persuade other people to buy your product – hence the term “influencer”. This type of marketing involves collaboration between the brand and the online influencer to market their products or services.

    Rather than doing all the marketing yourself across your consumers, you instead hire and pay influencers to get the word of your brand out across their followers.

    Influencer marketing goes hand-in-hand with social media marketing and content marketing. Influencers have their social media accounts, the platforms where they are expected to spread the word. Influencer campaigns carry content elements, whether the brand has created content for the influencers to share, or the influencers create the content themselves.

    What is an Influencer?

    An influencer doesn’t automatically equate to celebrities. You can be an influencer without being a celebrity. So, what makes a person an influencer?

    An influencer is defined and characterized as someone who has a loyal band of followers and has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of his/her knowledge, position, authority, and relationship with his/her audience. They are regarded as experts in their niche and what they recommend is highly considered by their followers.

    Influencers are real-life consumers who are knowledgeable about certain topics. This gives them the “influence” they have that enables them to urge their followers to take desired actions.

    All About Influencer Marketing

     

    The Importance of Influencer Marketing

    The influence economy has forever changed the way we purchase stuff. About 67% of marketers report that they are engaged in influencer marketing. With more mainstream exposure, this type of marketing will undoubtedly rise. Brands that don’t take part in this innovation will more likely miss out on the grand idea that consumers are now in control of the buyer’s journey.

    The conventional ways of digital marketing no longer yield the desired results. Over 66% of customers are bombed with too many marketing messages online and about 20% of these will avoid the brand because of the excessive ads. This is why marketers should care about influencer marketing because this is one way to prove your brand’s authenticity.

    Smart marketers leverage influencer marketing to create engagements with their consumers. Unlike conventional digital marketing, influencer marketing goes beyond just reach and clicks, they create ongoing conversations with potential customers that drive purchase and gives the results you desire.

    Customers want authentic people who attract and influence their perceptions. It’s not a question of doubt, content creators have a huge influence to drive business growth and deliver authenticity that resonates with their audience.

    How It Works

    It’s important to recognize that brands no longer have the center stage, it’s the consumers who run the show. If you want to take part in the conversations and customer engagements, you have to think like a consumer. These people have conversations over various social media platforms, this is where influencers emerge.

    The goal here is to plug into new communities and connect your product/brand to new viewers via a trusted voice in the community. Authenticity creates trust and people gravitate toward online influencers because the content they create is valuable. Collaborating with these influencers will allow the brands to integrate their message into their content which will be shared with their followers. To ensure authenticity, the brands must allow their influencers to be true and sincere when doing sponsored content. Consumers do not appreciate insincere and irrelevant content, this will negatively affect the influencer’s power as people start to unsubscribe.

    Brands wanting to be pertinent to consumers should approach the media as a way to attract, engage, and convert prospects, which means they should create content that consumers care about and trust. Collaborating with influencers is the most effective way to make this happen. Influencers are experts at generating online discussions so the content they share with the brand’s message will be discussed, shared, and reposted. This is earned media and what makes this valuable is that it is trusted more by the consumers. When influencers write about their own experience with the brand and share compelling stories about it, it will influence their audience.

     

    How to Use Influencer Marketing for your Business

    Before you start looking for influencers to collaborate with and create a strategy, there are a few things you need to determine to set the stage.

    Know Your Audience

    Define your target audience. Who are you trying to reach? Who are your target consumers? Who do you want to hear your message? 

    Set Your Goals

    The key to influencer marketing success is setting appropriate goals. For influencer marketing campaigns, some of the common goals are brand awareness, gaining social media followers, getting people to try your product, and increasing sales.

    Define What Success is

    How will you and your client measure success? Define some key performance indicators (KPIs) and by setting up the right tracking methods, you will be able to identify where a consumer is in their buying journey – awareness, consideration, preference, purchase, or loyalty.

    How To Get Started

    There are five key components to build an influencer campaign:

    • Planning your strategy
    • Selecting and Identifying your Influencers
    • Content Collaboration and Campaign
    • Optimization
    • Analytics Monitoring

    Planning Your Influencer Marketing Strategy

    It takes careful planning to make a successful strategy. Research is key.

    Selecting and Identifying Influencers

    This depends on your budget and the scope of your campaign. Influencers come in all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, and have varying levels of impact. You can find them in agencies and webpages online.

    Content Collaboration and Campaigning

    Creating great content is what makes up a great marketing campaign. Your content should compel your target audience, authentic to the influencer’s voice, and stands with your brand’s values and objectives.

    Optimized Distribution

    Create a content strategy that extends its usefulness. Use content from your influencer in your testimonials. Feature celebrity influencers in your print ads. You can even share your content in your newsletter. Don’t just stop with the content that influencers have created, optimize it to get more results.

    Analytics Monitoring

    To check if your influencer marketing strategy worked, monitor your analytics. There are different metrics and methods for measurement to define your success. Collect more data so you can optimize your marketing efforts. Based on these data, you can rank your influencers, conclude which content resonates best with your audience, and see which social media channel is best for sharing.

    The Bottomline

    There’s only so much we can do with today’s technology, but one thing is for sure. Influencer marketing has come a long way and has the potential to become the future of digital marketing. Taking advantage of how consumers would rather hear from real people than brands, influencer marketing is the best choice because it delivers connections and authenticity that the consumers crave.

    Visit our blog for more digital marketing and business development articles.

  • Why Video Content Matters to Marketing: Here are 9 Important Benefits

    Why Video Content Matters to Marketing: Here are 9 Important Benefits

    Why Video Content Matters to Marketing: Here are 9 Important Benefits

    Content marketing is a strategy effective in building brand awareness and reaching your target audience. One form of content marketing that has been gaining traction for years now is video marketing and for today’s post, we will be talking about why video content matters to your marketing strategy.

    Marketers have said that videos have become more important than ever and as shown in this statistic report, using videos as a marketing tool has become vital.

    Also read: Top Tips for Video Marketing 

    Here are 9 reasons why video content matters to marketing:

     

    Videos are Great in Explaining Everything

    Videos are a great medium to introduce, explain, and show off what your company is all about. Launching new products or services? Make a detailed video to show its features and benefits. Video content is useful as it helps potential buyers learn more about a product.

    96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service and 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. That’s why 85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. (source)

    There’s a lot of ways to leverage video marketing into your business strategy and it doesn’t have to be expensive. This visual element is such a good tool to help businesses explain how things work and it greatly affects the potential buyers’ purchasing journey.

     

    You Can Use Video in Many Ways

    When it comes to making and using video content, you have a lot of options to choose from. You can find the method that’s perfect for your company’s goals. Of course, the most obvious choice is YouTube, but there are other platforms you can use aside from this giant.

    Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat allow you to post short videos that disappear after 24 hours and these are great because they are quick to create and are personal as they speak directly to your audience. For these stories to be effective though, you’ll need to have an audience on your social media.

    There’s also live video which has grown in popularity in recent years. On platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitch, you can have live stream events for your business. Live video is effective and highly engaging compared to regular videos.

    You can make webinars that you can use to directly interact with your potential clients. These webinars are created to address specific questions and concerns about your product and service or teach your audience about your field and company.

     

    Videos are Great for SEO

    Search engines like Google love videos and websites are more likely to rank on the front page if it contains videos. Videos are highly engaging content and they can keep visitors on your website stay longer.

    And as Google owns YouTube, which is the world’s 2nd largest search engine, relevant videos are favored by Google in their search results.

    Optimize your videos on YouTube for SEO by writing catchy titles and detailed descriptions. Add your website, products, and services links, too.

     

    Why Video Content Matters to Marketing

     

    Video Builds Trust

    A video is a great tool and a powerful medium for marketing as it allows you to connect to your target audience on an emotional level. This emotional connection your build with your audience is what makes them trust and do business with you. Building this trust will link you to your audience and will gain you the chance of winning over new customers.

     

    Video Shows Great Return On Investment

    Creating effective video campaigns may look like you need to have a big budget, but the cost is not as high as it used to be 15 years ago.

    The ROI you get from creating videos will also depend on several things such as how well organized your content is and the quality of your videos. But nonetheless, with strategic planning, a well-produced video will provide an ROI for your investment.

     

    Video Engages Even the Laziest Buyers

    Videos are great for learning and they are very easy to consume. In today’s fast-paced world, people are too occupied to read long texts, so having videos that provide audio and visual content is preferred. Customers love seeing products in action and videos provide this kind of content.

     

    Videos are Mobile-Friendly

    The majority of the population today has a mobile phone and 90% of consumers watch videos on their phones. With the growing number of smartphone users over the years, your videos will keep getting more and more audience. More audience means more potential customers.

     

    Videos are Shareable

    As stated above, videos are popular for mobile users. With the video formats we have available, it’s easier to share them on whichever platform you want. This can potentially increase your content’s reach and will also mean an increase in your brand awareness and possibly conversions!

     

    Video Drives Traffic and Boost Sales

    Adding product videos to your landing pages can increase conversions and sales. A high-quality video with great content will drive leads to your business and traffic to your website. Not only will videos get potential customers to interact with your brand, but they will also aid them through their purchasing journey as they get to know more about your products and services.

     

    Videos are a vital part of your marketing strategy and it’s a great way to reach your audience. The best part is creating quality videos has become easier than before and it’s been made available to everyone.

    If you still haven’t incorporated video marketing in your business strategy, then perhaps this is the sign that you should.

    Need guidance and help? Ve Digital offers videography services. Contact us today!