June 2016 -

Here is what you should do to Video Market your Small Business

A lot has been said about how videos can improve your Google ranking and how they help in business marketing. However, the question remains, “How do I go about it?”

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Videos are undoubtedly a very good source of web traffic. When incorporated into your marketing strategy, they help your SEO rankings, by attracting more visitors to your website. They also increase the ‘visit length’ i.e., the amount of time a visitor spends on a website, from a few seconds to several minutes. In fact, YouTube has become the second largest search engine after Google, after overtaking the likes of Yahoo, Ask and Bing.

In fact, many people are more interested in watching videos, than reading articles about the required information. A blog article with an embedded video carries more value as it increases the average ‘visit length’.

How influential are these videos?

The age old saying goes, “A picture is worth 1000 words”. We would like to add that, “A video is worth a billion pictures”.

Video Marketing Example for a Restaurant

For example, if you are a restaurant, and want to do online marketing for your brand, it will make more sense if you use videos rather than pictures. People will find nice looking pictures of restaurants everywhere; they are very common. But videos are a different ball-game altogether. In fact, there are different types of videos that can be put up on your website or blog to attract more visits, increase the visit length, and obviously, improve the SEO rankings.

Videos of the restaurant exteriors, interiors and overall ambience
Video reviews of restaurant by customers
Do-it-Yourself (DIY) recipe videos

All the above types of videos can be incorporated into your website or blog, to attract more customers to your restaurant offline as well as online. Apart from YouTube, there are similar sites like Vimeo as well as Vine (a part of Twitter), which are also a great source of videos. The embed code is provided in these video sites so that you may incorporate any video you like into your web page so that it plays on your website.

What exactly do I put into these videos?

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The material for these videos depends on your product or services. Here are some tips to start with:

Product videos: If you are selling a physical product, you can shoot a video of the product from different angles. For example, if you are selling a mobile phone, then it must be shot from all angles, in order to give a correct perspective. The same logic is used to sell clothes, where models walk on the ramp wearing them, and their video is shot from various angles.
How-to videos: People love to see how the product actually works in real life. These videos can include celebrities, giving a demo of the product. This is an interesting way of online marketing.
Product testimonials: Testimonials can give authenticity to your product. People who use your product may be asked for testimonials, which you may incorporate into your website. Whether it is a physical product or a fast food place, genuine customer reviews add tonnes of authenticity to your brand.
Be consistent: Create a sense of expectancy; make your videos so interesting, that people long to see your videos, and there is a sense of expectancy and buzz, even before the new ones are out.
Being human: You can cut across barriers by showing your human side and letting people know that you are not just a business. You may shoot, “Behind the scenes” videos and introduce your audience to all your staff that actually makes your product ready, by putting in, many hours of work.
Voice-over and music: Your video will definitely look cool if there is a music clip running in the backdrop. A voice over can also be added, wherever it is necessary.
Working for a cause : Make your business benefit the society; work for a cause. Create a video about the charitable work you are doing. Let the audience know, how the community is being benefitted because of you.

The above points are just like the tip of an iceberg; you will learn more during the course of their implementation.

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Process of shooting a video

In order to shoot your video for online marketing, you will need a good digital camera or mobile phone with a high-resolution camera. If you really need a high-resolution video, then you may have to invest in a High-Density video camera. Some cameras may also contain a provision to plug in a microphone, for audio clarity. Apart from that, you will also need good video editing software; in most cases, Windows Moviemaker comes in handy and can readily be downloaded for FREE. If you are having a Macintosh, then iMovie can do the job for you.

Video Marketing

Once you have created your movie, it is time for video marketing to help it reach a wide audience. You may post it on sites like YouTube or Vimeo. You may also share it on Twitter, Facebook and other social media with relevant tags. The titles you give to your videos are very crucial. They must be so interesting, that the user should be prompted to click on its link and watch the video right away, without wasting time. You may also encourage others to embed your video on their sites, in order to reach a wider audience. Thus your videos will be seen, liked and shared for by a lot of people. More and more people will start subscribing to your Video channel. You will come across as someone who provides value and people will start liking and even sharing your posts. People will begin to trust you, as you gradually position yourself as an expert in your particular field. It is only when this trust is established, that you can start promoting your product ‘directly’ through your videos. Since a trust has already been established with your audience, your product video will be received well. Last but not the least; make sure that your product lives up to the mark.

Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook Marketing for Business

While using Facebook to market your business, certain unwritten rules need to be followed to make sure things run smoothly.

It is a well known fact that Facebook can help your business reach a bigger audience. In fact it is the biggest audience. So, how do you go about it? How do you leverage the power of Facebook, in the right way? What are the Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook Marketing? So here we go…

Do’s: There are many things to do, when it comes to marketing your business on Facebook. Below is a list of must-do things.

Have a good thumbnail

A thumbnail or profile picture can be something which identifies you. It can be a photo or your company logo. Make sure it is visible to the user.

Keep your messages consistent with your cover theme and profile picture.

The postings must be in line with the company message. For e.g., if you are a restaurant, you may post anything related to your field like the latest menu items, specials, food, and latest recipes. Your fans do not expect you to post about NBA, Football, Cricket, Science or Politics. Excel in your related area. Also keep your postings in consistence with the colours on your company logo.

Target the right people

You need to know about the audience you are targeting. Use Facebook tools and tailor your posts to the right audience. Your content needs to be tailored according to their age, gender, location and other factors. For e.g., if you are targeting teenage girls for selling cosmetics, use a pink theme colour and not black. Similarly, if you are a restaurant, and targeting the nearby office-goers, use bright red, as red is an appetite stimulator, according to colour psychology.

Time your posts correctly

People are usually more active on Facebook in the latter part of the day or evenings, when they tend to take a break from routine work and unwind. So time your posts from 1PM to 5PM. By timing your posts accurately, you can make sure that they will show up on your fans’ timelines in the first place, and not get ‘buried’ by other posts.

Analyse your own performance

Use Facebook insights and find out which of your posts has done better than the rest. You may accordingly modify your future postings to suit the taste-buds of your fans. Give them more of what they like to see!

Tag people

You may tag people, especially any of your fans who have been actively engaging with you online, liking and sharing as well as commenting on your posts. You may also tag people who have provided services, like catering etc. They will definitely love it and you will definitely get noticed online.

Make your post viral by a paid campaign

The posts which are performing well, as indicated by your FaceBook insights, can further be boosted by means of a paid campaign. This will make it reach a wider audience and become more viral.

Don’ts: Here is a list of what shouldn’t be done in order to avoid Facebook blunders.

Stop bombarding fans’ timelines

Do not post more than 2 or 3 posts a day. If you exceed the number, there are chances that you are bombarding your fan’s timeline with your postings, and this is one of the most common FaceBook blunders. The result is obvious, they will dislike you immediately and you will thus start losing fans one by one. What you need to do, is spend the extra time in creating high quality posts for the future.

Never forget to mix up different kinds of postings

Always make your page interesting to the viewers. Do not just post text or photos always. Be different, and mix it up to make things more unpredictable and interesting to view. Post videos, audio, slideshow presentations, other people’s posts (in your related field), occasional humour, quizzes, puzzles and many more. This leads to more interest, engagement, likes and shares for your postings.

Never give admin rights to everyone in your company

Given that your company consists of different departments or individuals, who may occasionally contribute with social media postings, it is important that you exercise moderation in giving them the rights. Do not give admin rights to everyone, while you may definitely give them the right to make and edit their own postings.

Never Leave the information Blank

Don’t leave your people guessing what your company really is about. It is always good to have a brief description about your company, with a web link for further information.

Don’t be slow to react

When your fans comment, the usually expect a quick response. Whether it may be negative or positive, they usually expect your reply within an hour. Your failure to do so, can lead to resentment and even anger.

Don’t overtly depend on Facebook

Facebook is a social media and you need to build a loyal following. However, getting thousands of people to like your page, doesn’t guarantee 1000 leads. Social media is more about awareness, getting people know about your brand and engaging them. You also need to have other relevant social media accounts like Linked-in, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Quora. You need to check where your audience hangs out and then reach out to them via relevant social media. Apart from that, you undoubtedly need a blog, which connected to your website. A website along with regular blogging is your basic necessity for SEO and the related organic traffic. You can then use social media to reach out to more people. Putting all eggs in one basket, i.e., FaceBook, isn’t such a great idea.

These are the do’s and don’ts of Facebook marketing, that you need to follow in order to make the most of your company page.

The Importance of Content Marketing for any Business

A lot has been said about Content Marketing and how it helps in SEO. So what’s it really about and why do businesses need it?

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People have been watching traditional advertisements over the years, and really lost trust in all those self-aggrandising slogans and punch lines.

The world is now changing, and customers are getting more interactive. They want to know everything about their product, how it looks from different angles. They want to interact with the manufacturer to know more about it, read the customer reviews, and buy them only when all their doubts are satisfied.

All this is possible thanks to digital and social media. Traditional media obviously couldn’t get you all this extra interactivity and information. Speaking of social media, this is used to create an awareness of our product. However, everything cannot be crammed onto social media. One obviously cannot write blogs on one’s social media timeline. What can be done, is, links with pictures can be posted, so that the interested ones can click on the link, visit your website and read through your content, whatever it is about. In fact Google is giving preference to content than other SEO technicalities.

What is Content Marketing?

As the word suggests, content is written by businesses to market their products or services. The primary aim of content marketing is to supply valuable and FREE content to attract an audience and build a following. The type of content you create must impart valuable information and may be indirectly related to your product or field. Thus, people will interact with you, trust you and listen to your take on the subject at hand. Last but not the least, chances are, that they will also be curious about your products and services. And want to know more about it.

Your content can then be used to gradually educate the audience about your product so that they can trust what you are offering. Thus, the FREE and valuable content can convert prospects into clients, and clients into repeat buyers.

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How is it different from Social Media Marketing?

When you are marketing via Social media, you tend to post various text, images, and videos on Facebook. This means that the source of content is within Facebook itself and being used to achieve your ends.

However, when it comes to a content marketing strategy, your website’s blog is the place where all the action happens. The content will be posted on your blog page. Then, you leverage the power of social media by posting a link to the blog article, infographic, video on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google PLUS and other Social Media.

Now that we know what Content marketing is about, why should we go about it, or what are its advantages? So here we go:

It builds trust: People do not perceive traditional advertising as seen on TV and newspapers, as trustworthy content. Gone are the days, when the ‘loudest shouter’ on traditional media won more customers! This is where Content Marketing comes into play. In this case, the users themselves share likeable content with their friends. The message is spread by the most trusted media i.e., via ‘word-of-mouth’.
Gets you conversions: Content marketing can also help in the generation of quality leads. The more you satisfy a need, more the engagement you will generate. You can write exceptional content. Now there is again two types of content and that is:

Un-Gated content: This content is readily available as part of your About and Blog pages. This contains all the information the audience wants to know about your company and your product. This information is FREE and readily available on the website.

Gated content: This can be more specific information related to the subject, written as downloadable PDF. This can be accessed by registering your name and email ID. Depending on the perceived value of the information, you may ask users to give additional details like telephone number, address, occupation among other things. These registered users are your leads. These leads can be converted into customers at the appropriate time.

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It builds solid relationships: This is a type of marketing which gives more to the customers instead of asking them to buy products. Customers get a lot in terms of free information and knowledge. The video blogs also provide entertainment as well as the latest trends in the given field. Customers can, in turn, comment on the blog and share with friends if it is interesting. Thus, solid relationships are built with fans, who themselves become your brand ambassadors and propagate your product to friends via social media.

It can be measured for effectiveness: While is it very difficult to measure the effect of traditional advertising, one can definitely see the results in content marketing. The likes, shares and level of engagement of a given blog posting can easily be ascertained. Steps can be taken to mould future content based this particular response.

It does multiple tasks: Unlike traditional media, Content marketing can actually serve as a one-man army i.e., it can handle multiple tasks, generate awareness of the product and spread the word to prospective audiences. Once published, it can also initiate dialogue and thus facilitate interactivity.

Influence people even before they think of buying it: A content marketing strategy begins after a ‘buyer persona identification’, or identification of the target market. In a target market, you may have different personality traits and obviously unique personalities. Once we identify who our market is, we need to find out what they are lacking, and how we can genuinely help them with our product or services. With the help of our content, we can convey this message to the concerned audience and thus develop a rapport, even before they think of buying our product.

Content is well perceived if it comes with a social message: It will establish you not just as a business, but also someone who stands for human values and does their bit for the society and country as a whole. People would love your human values

Thus, we can see how content marketing can be influential, and powerful medium. One can use a solid strategy, convey our message to the intended audience in a subtle and respectful way.

How do you promote your Business with Mobile Internet Marketing?

Mobile internet marketing, which also includes App marketing, can help you drive engagement to your brand, grow your customer database and get more sales.

It is a well-established fact that more than 50% of web visitors browse through mobile devices. In fact, Amazon.com has recently released stats that showed that 60% of the users did their purchasing in the recent holiday season over the mobile. That amounted to around $1 Billion in sales for Target.com.

A strong mobile marketing strategy is a must. According to target.com, it was reported that more than 60% of its traffic from November to December 2015 came through mobile devices.

In order to benefit as a business owner from your mobile internet marketing strategy, here are a few tips for having a mobile friendly website:

Have the right set of keywords

Keep the keywords phrases to a minimum of 3 words, don’t go beyond that. Also, make sure that you make use of local terms along with the keywords. That way, you will be more visible in local searches.

Provide contact information

If your business has a physical office, then provide the exact address and location details. Make sure that you include a map. This will enable your customer to find you locate you more easily. If you need to register on Google maps, go ahead and do so.

Incorporate the offers on-site

Once you have a campaign running, you also need to have offers incorporated onto your mobile site. Along with the offers, also, place an opt-in form for users to register and receive future promotional offers.

Be device friendly

Make sure that your mobile website is compatible with all devices. Update your code, in case, a new device comes along, so that users of this new device don’t miss out on any of your offers.

Location-based mobile internet marketing strategy

According to stats, shopping takes place within a 15 km radius of a consumer’s residence. Hyper-localized or location-based mobile advertising, uses data analytic tools and IP geo-location technology to influence social data insights and location data. Make sure that you use this new technology to target people based on their ‘current’ geographical location.

SMS Mobile Marketing

There is a myth that SMS mobile marketing is full of rules and regulations and there are a lot of cases pending in the courts where people have these businesses ‘cornered’. The fact is that SM marketing is like any other channel like social media and email, where certain rules and regulations (classified under “common sense” category) do apply!

A few SMS tips:

Your SMS campaign has two parts (a) keyword and (b) short code
It also includes a call to action
Add incentives as part of your message ($20 off or 50% OFF)
Make sure you have an opt-in message first so that only willing customers will be part of your list.
As your campaign goes along, analyse how it is going. Also, have a consistency about your campaign and don’t stop all of a sudden.
You may thus, send them relevant offers if they are presently very close to your location using hyper-localized SMS mobile marketing.

Using WhatsApp and WeChat

You may also use popular chat applications as part of your marketing campaign

If you are targeting Chinese, then get your advertisement on WeChat
If you are targeting India or Singapore, you need to know that WhatsApp is a very popular means of keeping in touch
You may use such popular Apps as marketing platforms and run some popular contests to encourage people to share these contest pictures across their contacts in their network.

Thus you can have the vast expanse of the mobile world at your disposal, and make the best of it using a proper mobile strategy, and incorporating the above-mentioned tips.

When and where do we reach these mobile users with our ads or online campaigns?

According to stats over 90% of these users have the mobiles with them 24×7. That means they can be reached anytime with our ads and online marketing campaigns.

Customer Service

Most of the online products involve shipping, handling, and door delivery; thus, the consumers need you to be there when they have clarifications or complaints. There is no space for a mobile “dead air”. The services must be managed efficiently and appropriate communication channels must be kept open, all the time!

There are so many innovative ways to do mobile marketing and so much literature written about it, that most people really don’t know where to begin. Here are a few more ideas:

Discovering new ‘mobile habits’

For e.g., taking a “Selfie” is a popular hobby, it can be exploited to serve your business ends. Photo contests can be held, where people click selfies with your products and stand to win goodies.

Selfie Campaign called #KissForPeace

Axe Deodorant capitalised on this selfie craze on Valentine’s day in 2014. Going with their tagline, “Make love, not war”, they asked couples to take selfies of them kissing each other, in order to support their cause for peace. This generated 10,000 tweets on Twitter and 8,000 on Instagram. The company also cross-promoted this contest on other media like TV and even the Billboards in Times Square.

The IKEA way

Ikea has recently come up with a mobile Application (App) , where you can take pictures of your home, and then place the desired furniture (from the 3D IKEA catalogue) in that space and see how it looks. Now this can automatically attract lots of signups and downloads, product awareness as well as sales.

Mobile App marketing – develop an innovative App

You may plan your mobile app marketing strategy along those lines. For E.g., if you modify cars, then you can have a similar application which can do the below tasks.

Users will be able to select their car model from the 3D – library display in the app.
They can choose to colour the car according to their choice
They can add a spoiler, bumper, halogen lights, and other accessories, carpets, seat covers etc, and see how their car looks like thanks to the App’s realistic 3D simulation capability.

Having an ‘app marketing strategy’ results in the below advantages:

You will be visible to your prospective customers all the time.
It is a direct marketing channel, where your services and products can be got at the touch of a button.
You can also be sending updates and offers directly to customers.
More the app gets downloaded, more is your customer database – it is as simple as that!

If all these ideas are confusing and still you don’t know where to start, then look around to find a success story and take-off from that point. Success in the world of internet mobile marketing is just a matter of spotting the opportunity when it comes along and making the most of it before your competitors do.