Annoying Digital Marketing Tactics We'd Like to See Disappear

I don't think it is a huge surprise for anyone (other than those doing the spamming) that ad blockers have become the norm when browsing the web. There are plenty of irritating digital marketing tactics which led to people using not only pop up blockers, but to discontinue their consumption of content from specific publishers.

What type of tactics may have led to this?  I thin the 5 below are a big reason why we've seen this shift in online behaviour. Hopefully we will see their use drop in favour of more customer-centric tactics:

Pop-ups

Popups may seem as old as the internet, but I am not talking just about overly promotional popups here. According to recent conversion rate statistics, having a popup come up after a certain action was taken on a page (say, scrolling half-way down a blog post) increases the likely hood of a completed action. Generally 2% more conversion than other types of ads.

However, popups have the complete opposite ability as well. They can turn your users off entirely (like me) and interrupt the content consumption process. While I understand that "free" content also comes with the user having to see ads, or provide contact information, there are much better ways to guide me towards an action than to entirely cover your content piece with a popup.

Here is a great policy/mentality from Copybloggers on what popups could do and why they don't use them:

There is no questions popups "work" - but to what end? We're not willing to risk the relationship with our audience for a spike in opt ins.

Precisely my thinking - while getting more people to sign up for your email, or download an ebook might be good short-term, constantly bombarding your audience with popups can have a detrimental long-term effect on your readers.

Take an example example below from Neil Patel's website (online marketing expert):

I use to read some of the blog posts to see how to improve conversion rates, get visitors, etc. There was some good information there (some, everything was taken with a grain of salt). I sometimes shared an article or two with my audience. However, with such invasive ads I got really frustrated. I could not get through the article without having to close down multiple popups...and even when I closed an entire-page popup another smaller popup would come up. Just to the side of the page now:

I get distracted from the actual post. I get frustrated. I leave. As a matter of fact I stopped reading any of the blog posts on that platform, and I have not shared a single thing since. I have slowly begun to eliminate other blogs that use popups from my reading lists as well.

Plus, it looks like Google is going to penalize websites for pop-ups starting in 2017 - so it might be better not to implement this option in the first place!

But, if they have such great conversion rates why should they be dropped? Are there alternatives?

You can incorporate other means of getting people to take an action. A sign up for on the left/right-hand side bars of your blog, permanent bars at the top or bottom of your pages as users scroll, etc. These are non-invasive and allow readers to sign up on their own terms without interrupting their reading or viewing process. Just like this example below from Smart Bug Media (blog I referenced above for the improved conversion rate statistic of popups):

Clickbait Titles

This is one is fairly self explanatory. How many times have you opened up your Facebook feed to see something along the lines of "Dog Gets Rescued from Shelter, You Won't Believe What Happens Next" - only for that next to be a 30 second video of a dog just running around in a backyard, much like any other dog would. Below is an example I came across recently (and have since unfollowed the page entirely):

While clicks usually result in ad revenue for these types of websites, clickbait titles such as this one should be avoided at all costs. It comes from a football club fan page I amwas following. As a matter of fact, similar to Google penalizing pop-up pages, Facebook (potentially other networks as well) will start penalizing clickbaity articles in the near future. Meaning that there will be new algorithms which push any clickbait titles to the bottom of results - making it hard to get attention (which is the actual purpose of clickbait titles). Ironic, isn't it?

Over-promised & Under-delivered Content

Insert one of: Ultimate, Epic, Awesome, Complete, Only

followed by Guide to Something...

Ultimate guides should be exactly that: ultimate. Once a viewer reads/watches/listens they should be able to do something they weren't before able to. Whether it be build a website, a wooden shed or simply power-wash their deck.

Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of "Ultimate" guides which aren't all that ultimate (have you gotten sick of that word yet?). Far too many content publishers slap on these words to get people to download content which ends up being most common sense, or just plain basic knowledge that could be found anywhere.

Let's keep content expectations realistic, not everything has to be "Awesome" or "By Far the Only Thing You Need" - as a matter of fact quick/short guides can be helpful as well. Don't over promise and under deliver! Create content that is of value to your audience.

Opportunistic Trend Chasing

We've all been told that we should be monitoring trending hashtags and topics so that we may join the conversation to potentially increase our reach, right? Absolutely.

However, not every trending topics or hashtag should be used just for the sake of increased reach or performance. The most notable example is DiGionro Pizza's "#WhyIStayed" blunder where the brand's Twitter profile used a hashtag intended to open up a conversation about domestic violence, to promote a pizza:

Following this update, plenty of Twitter users back-lashed. DiGiorno had to backtrack and apologize for not paying more attention to the topic at hand. If you're unsure of the trend at the time, DO NOT USE IT for promotional purposes. As a matter of fact, even if you do know the topic try to steer away from using it as a promotional channel. Instead focus on how your brand can contribute to the conversation. Relevant content? Support? Etc.

Overly Promotional Updates

Come one, come all! Buy this amazing thing for this amazing price!! 

Any of this sound familiar? Yeah, sure does - let's leave it in the past. It doesn't belong online. There are much better ways to get people to buy and none of them have anything to do with multiple exclamation points (not that there is anything wrong with them, but one is usually enough to get the point across). Here is an example I recently came across in one of the marketing subs on reddit: 

What was the first thing that came to your mind from that title? Spam. It's exactly what it is - communicate your content or offers in a more customer-centric way. Think about what it can do for them (other than save or make money). Can it make them smarter? More efficient? Does it make them feel a certain way? Contribute, don't promote.

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Unknown Saturday, October 01, 2016  

How to Get Started With Digital Marketing

Sometimes I get caught up talking about all the technical aspects of search engine rankings and website design that I forget to cover the basics: how to get started with digital marketing. Early adapters are already well on their way and can digest the somewhat-technical information shared about the topic. However, business owners or marketers who have yet to take the online plunge probably have limited knowledge (not a bad thing at all, not all of us can be experts in everything).

Having recently met with a client who has high law/financial technical knowledge, he reminded me that sometimes we forget to talk in terms that anyone can understand. We immediately resort to technical jargon, industry specific abbreviations and concepts because we spend countless hours in our industries and professions. It is important to keep certain information understandable by anyone - not because they are not capable of understanding, but because they are most likely specialized in other professions and haven't been involved in what services you may offer (just like I myself would not be able to give you sound legal advice).

Hopefully this post will provide a high-level overview of the digital world and how it can be used to help your small business carve out a niche of its own.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing in short is the ability to make yourself visible to the right audience at the right time. Keep in mind that I used to word visible: because what everyone is trying to do is grab someone's attention. Every time you want to run a paid ad, come up on the first page of Google or have people interact with your social media post you are trying to captured a little bit of that attention. Hopefully it leads to an action being taken - but before that can happen you need to present. As you can see by the breakdown  below, the least amount of time is spent shopping online. The other 95% is what digital marketing is meant for: being active within the right community and interacting with users on their own terms:

Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-people-spend-their-time-online-infographic

The other part of digital marketing is context. Getting attention is good, getting attention at the right time is awesome. Imagine you are running a sponsored ad to sell a high-end camera to photographers but the target you are trying to reach is new & upcoming photographers. Perhaps it would be more effective to promote a blog post or ebook on how new photographers can get their business off the ground instead of trying to sell the camera immediately. Much easier said than done of course!

The different areas of digital marketing

Keep in mind that each of these areas can have an in-depth post of their own with detail specifics. This is just a brief overview - feel free to browse the blog for more information on each.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Marketing (SEM)

Usually the most confusing or hard to understand concepts for many small businesses. Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) refers to the "organic" or non-paid efforts that aim to get your web page(s) to the top of Google (or other major search engines) pages. These are the search results you see underneath the ads. Keep in mind that SEO professionals don't rank your entire website for key terms but individual pages.

Search Engine Marketing (or SEM) on the other hand refers to paid efforts that get your communications on search engines. These would be paid ads or display banners that you come across in search engines. To get this positioning you have to usually pay per click (charged every time someone clicks on the ad) or pay per impression (paid based on the amount of times the ad is seen). Positioning of your ad compared to competitors is dependent on bid amount (how much you're willing to pay for a click or impression) and the quality of the ad (if the search terms match, landing page relevancy, etc.).

Email Marketing

One of the earliest forms of digital communication, email is still regarded as the most effective tool to drive results with digital efforts. And that should not be a surprise to anyone - people can customize the amount of emails they receive and marketers can customize the messaging on a personal level. 

According to emailisnotdead.com article, 61% of consumers like to receive weekly promotional emails and 28% want them even more frequently.

By following recently introduced CASL regulations, small businesses can communicate on a personal level with the customer. As you can see by the statistic above - majority of people prefer to receive email. When you have a customer who is willingly receiving communications it increases the possibility of an action being taken.

Social Media

Probably the most recognized marketing tactic - social media has grown into a huge tool for small businesses. With the introduction of sponsored ads, analytics tools and company pages majority of today's popular social media networks are developing their networks with companies in mind. Not just users.

There are two things to keep in mind with social media as it relates to business purposes:

1. Your business does not need to have a presence on every single social media network. Do some research, evaluate your resources and target the networks that make most sense.
2. Don't just post promotions or sales. It's called a social network for a reason. Post helpful, useful or interactive content that users will find engaging. Also, don't just post all the time - put in the effort to interact and respond to comments to show that you are truly an active member of the online community.

Content Marketing

The hottest topic of late has to be content marketing. It has been used as a buzzword far too often that majority, if not all, small business owners have heard of it. Content marketing plays a big role in the other areas as well: it can be shared using email or social media, it plays a big role in search engine rankings as it is more likely to get shared than corporate web pages, etc.

Hardest part about content marketing is making it relevant. You want to create a blog post, ebook, video - whatever that piece of content may be - that is going to engage users in a way that evokes an action. That action can be for them to share it with their own network/community, to fill out a form, download a report, etc.

The best content usually evokes emotion in users, making them feel a deeper connection with your brand: bring out a happy feeling, helping resolve a task faster, solving a difficult problem, connecting them closer with others, etc.

Analytics

The main difference between traditional and digital marketing efforts is the ability to track and evaluate campaigns. Big data is big business now; there numerous companies dedicated to providing analytics solutions that can track anything from your paid advertisement clicks to website interactions.

The most common tools that small businesses use are the ones that are free: Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, etc. Majority of online networks come with some sort of reporting ability. Be sure to set goals before you start and associate those goals with tangible performance indicators (or stats). This will help you measure how well something is work (or not). That way you can be ready to tweak your efforts to make sure you are getting the most out of your marketing.

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This is just a brief list of online marketing areas that are most common - there are plenty of other ways to engage an audience online. We've put together a list of emerging concepts for 2016 & beyond that you can take a look at here.

Where to Begin

This depends on where your small business currently stands with its online presence.

On Your Own

If you've got the time and a can-do attitude; there are plenty of resources, tools and solutions to help you automate digital marketing and do it all on your own. Keep in mind that certain things might be easier than others: sharing a Facebook post on a company page is much easier than researching a good key term to rank every single page of your website. As is editing all the different elements of those pages requires technical knowledge.

Doing things yourself may be more cost effective but remember that efforts, when done incorrectly, can have a negative effect on your business. If you're unsure of how to do something always do research, find step-by-step guides or consult someone who can steer you in the right direction.

Hiring or Outsourcing

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things to learn you can always find someone (whether hiring or outsourcing) to do it on your behalf. Sometimes it might be better for business owners to focus on what their expertise are and let professionals handle the marketing side. After all, many business utilize outside accountants, graphic designers and other service providers. In the same way a digital marketing professional or company can be utilized to help build an online presence.

Not all freelancers or companies will be right for you. Digital marketing services can be pricey, and majority of small businesses don't have the budget to outsource ALL digital efforts. At the same time, be wary of any company or professional guaranteeing you instant success. Much like other functions, digital marketing takes time and on-going work in order to yield positive results.

Helpful Resources

Regardless of where you stand, below are some of the posts we've put together that can help make your efforts a little bit easier:

• Outsourcing vs. In-House digital marketing
• How to tell your small business story
• Should you hire an employee or a freelancer
• FREE online marketing tools for small businesses
• Differences between promoting & engaging

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Hope that was helpful! If I've missed something or you'd like to add more, the comment section is a good place to do so.

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Unknown Tuesday, July 05, 2016  

Ad Blocking Hysteria in Digital Advertising

Publishers are frustrated and taking action. Readers with ad blockers are increasing in number. Advertisers are questioning paid ads. The online advertising industry is going bonkers over ad blockers.

Surprisingly, ad blockers have just started to take off in the last couple of months. Personally, I've been using one for a couple of years now. Yes, I am part of that group that chooses which ads I see and which I block. However, recent publishers have been blocking readers with ad blockers. You may have seen a message similar to the ones below:

Telegraph (British News Website)

NARCITY Toronto

Funny text and emoticon to encourage turning the ad blocker off, but if you notice in the right hand side...they already have a pop up active before the user even had a chance to access the article!

I, myself am not a big fan of invasive pop-ups. While I understand that they can drive results, they can also annoy certain users. If the goal of your landing page is to have someone subscribe to the content via email, a form or field in the right column another area of the page suffices. In the end, it is the quality of the content that will determine the best subscribers.

So, why the recent rise in the use of ad blockers?

My gut feeling tells me two reasons for the recent rise. The growth of mobile and free downloadable apps has shown a HUGE increase in invasive ads. I recall downloading a couple of productivity and exercise apps that were free, and every part of the app had some sort of advertisement. Not only that, but I would have to wait for a while to get from one part of the app to the other due to load time of the ads.

As you have probably experienced, accidentally clicking on the app ads happens all the time with touch devices (maybe it's just my lack of accuracy). This drove me crazy and I eventually uninstalled all the apps that were extremely heavy with their in-app advertisements.

Second reason would be that some advertisers and platforms are just far too invasive or overloaded with ads. Have you ever gone on a "reasons to do so and so to get better so and so" article only to find that its bombarded with ads? Ads are usually found:

• between paragraphs
• in left and/or right columns
• before and after comment section
• pops ups come after a certain level of scrolling

This usually results in long load times (on mobiles devices specifically), data consumption, overloading of information which results in lost attention from reader, and most importantly..some of the ads are far too click-bait oriented or in some cases, not even relevant to the actual topic.

Let's look at an online sports blog, Hypun and one of their recent blog posts overloaded with ads:

Top (just loaded) part of blog post

Far too many ads at the initial loading screen of the post.

Middle of page (article content):

As if the first loaded ads were not enough, another three are loaded while reading body of post.

Bottom of page (usually comment section):

Some ads are repeated from the top while others are not even basketball related at all.

Publishers rely on ads to provide free content

And always have, you don't have to look for to find commonalities. Especially in traditional media that we consume in our daily lives: radio, television, newspapers, magazines, etc. I fully agree with this concept and support free articles and music if they are supplemented with advertising messages.

Now, with that being said both sides (viewer and publisher) have to find a common ground as to what is an acceptable amount of advertising. But what about publishers such as Hypun mentioned above, who don't earn as much money as say Telegraph (newspaper mentioned above as well) and therefore try to run an excessive amount of ads to make money? Well, to be frank with you I am not a 100% sold that displaying a higher volume of irrelevant ads is the way to increase ad revenue. Regardless of publisher size, popularity or topic. Why?

This blog post is the reason why, the huge rise of ad block users is why; people get fed up waiting for ads to load and looking at click-bait articles that eventually leads to getting distracted. Users will either resort to ad blockers or not go back to the website, both of which will result in loss of ad revenue.

Click on image to view Google Play Music ad.

On a personal note - I have started using ad blocker on YouTube a long time ago. And I was recently reminded of why I did so. I do not have an ad blocker on my phone. While I was listening to some music on the device during common household chores, I think every-single-song in the YouTube playlist was preceded by the exact same ad: the Google Play Music service. Sorry Google, but I have to voice the concern of the amount of times that ad was aired during the playlist. I believe the words "sunburn synths" will forever be embedded in my brain! Either tone down the volume or have better targeting.

What can publishers do to make things better?

Create better content of course. If you provide unmatched value that will result in valued users, then there won't virtually be any issues when it comes to ads. The use of "virtually" there is also dependent on the type of, and volume of ads. Obviously ads are needed to make things run as they do - but overloading the page with irrelevant messages and making it difficult to actually read what the article is about will deter users. Carefully reviewing proposed ads and advertisers can also eliminate any irrelevancy issues or click-bait material.

Secondly, if the advertising model isn't able to meet publisher's revenue goals perhaps they should consider having a subscription based service. Whereas interested users can pay to access ad-free, well created content while the free articles or previews are only limited overviews of a topic. Ads aren't the only way to attain revenue, and instead of increasing ad volume to meet those goals perhaps other means of revenue generation should be considered.

What can advertisers do to make things better?

Create better ads. Do not fall into the click-bait trap of creating over-the-top article headlines, poor blog posts or offers. If you genuinely put effort into your ads, they will yield better results compared to trying to find the quickest shortcut to making a quick buck.

Secondly, and just as important is where you place your ads. Targeting not only helps generate better results and return on your investment, but it simultaneously helps eliminate the problem of seeing an ad that is completely irrelevant to that publisher's content. 

What can users do to make things better?

Understand that the advertising model allows everyone access to free and unlimited content on the web (and some of that content is very, very good). While one website may abuse their advertising placement does not mean that every digital space will do so. I willingly turn off my ad blocker on certain websites, as a matter of fact I actually clicked on some of the ads that drew my interest. There is nothing wrong with ads when they are done right.

Another option is if you truly are bothered by ads; don't visit the website or look for a subscription-based model that is ad-free. Both you as the user and the publisher/advertiser would be better off. We as consumers of all this information have the ability to channel our attention to the right areas, much like our hard earned dollars are channeled to the brands that we trust. Attention is the digital currency.

So where do we go from here?

As you can see from the above points, each party can do a little more to improve the other's experience or goals. Taking these steps will help rid the web of inefficient web pages, ads and everything that has led to users relying on ad blockers. Obviously we can't eliminate every single spam site, and that is the same reason we can never eliminate the use of ad blockers. We can just encourage where they are used.

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Unknown Thursday, February 11, 2016  

8 Commonly Overlooked Digital Marketing Efforts

So you have put together an awesome blog post - comes with plenty of visuals, original ideas and it even has a video as part of the write-up. It is published and "online" for everyone to see, but yet there is no one coming to the post. You may be asking yourself: why is my digital content not being seen?

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is easy to get caught up in finishing a really good piece of content and just expecting results to come on their own. There are a number of digital marketing efforts that accompany every piece of content created, whether that's a blog post, video, mobile app, whitepaper, ebook, etc. I recently finished up reading Youtility - a great book covering effective online marketing. One key concept that stuck with me was the fact that online marketing does not have a finish line - it is an ongoing endeavor that has to become a part of everyday tasks.

Here is a useful list of items that are usually overlooked when creating content online. The list takes into consideration efforts necessary before and after the content is put together - covering all the important factors of successful engagement and reach. For the purpose of this post we will mainly focus on blog posts - but these efforts apply to all branded content being produced.

1. Goal Setting

The first and foremost step in any marketing strategy; making sure that you have set measurable goals. What is the purpose of your blog post? Most of the time it is to educate, inform or provide some type of benefit to the readers - but how can you connect those goals to performance?

Image courtesy of bplanet / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Put together both qualitative (quality of comments, location of readers,etc) and quantitative (links from other bloggers, number of views, etc.) measures that directly relate to your goal. Having benchmarks can help you evaluate your content marketing. This way you eliminate any guess work from your reporting and know ahead of time what type of analytical information you will be focusing on.

2. Research

After you have established measurable goals, it is important to research not only the topic you will be writing about but your potential audience. Do they prefer to engage with videos more than images? Will an e-book or infographic be better suited to present the information? Most of the time it is not a clear cut answer, and in many instances it may require a combination of different visual components.

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Another thing to keep in mind is your topic - did you do SEO research on it and focused on keywords that will help your post be easily searchable? Take the time to optimize your content to what your audience is actually searching for as opposed to what you think the audience is searching for. You would be surprised at some of the topics or terminology that is being searched once you actually do the research!

3. Accessibility

Late last year we outlined a number of items on SMBs Holiday Marketing Wishlist, but the main one that applies to this point is responsive design. You don't have to read a blog post to know that mobile devices are furiously taking over our daily lives, including business interactions. Having a blog post that is easily view-able on an iPad and a BlackBerry is important (and all other devices).

If you do not make it accessible across various devices and operating systems you could be losing a lot of audience members. It would be a shame to have that great blog post go unnoticed because it impossible to view on a smartphone or different browser (anyone still use Internet Explorer? You betcha!).

4. Shareability

The best marketing or branding is word of mouth, is it not? So having a blog post that cannot be easily shared can cause a problem in the digital alternative "click to share" concept. Have social media share buttons readily available on your post, embed code for all your infographics, pin buttons on images, etc.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Convenience is key, the easier you make it for someone to share your content the more likely it will be shared. The level of quality matters as well, but putting extra work on the audience to share will only discourage any action.

5. Marketing Your Marketing

Another great mention in Youtility is the concept of "marketing your marketing" - meaning that you do not stop at just putting the new blog post live, but that that you share it across all of your channels. Do you have a newsletter? Is it included there? Part of your website? Guest blogging on a relevant blog? Be sure to get the word out in as many ways as possible (without spamming) and increase your reach.

Informing your audience in offline channels can also be beneficial, while most of our focus is on digital branding - taking an integrated approach is ultimately the best option. Have your blog post as part of your in-store signage, get all employees involved and encourage them to share with customers if its appropriate.

By doing this you will actively increase the chances that the content is seen, shared and engaged. It is no longer left to chance but is strategically launched to your community.

6. Listening and Following Up

Don't talk AT your community, talk WITH them. Believe it or not even the most recognized brands do not have the answer to all of the burning questions that some people may have. If someone posts an informative comment that expands on the post - why not thank them? Invite them to do a guest-post? Perhaps your organization can do a follow-up post to the first one based on those comments.

The worst thing that can happen is for people to leave this feedback or appreciation to just "sit there" without directly responding. The purpose is to be engaging - setup notifications and monitor your content to know precisely when something new comes up. This way you can respond accordingly and connect with your audience when the time is right.

7. Measuring Performance

Remember the first point? We'll here it is again coming back to haunt you. After all is said and done, if you do not have anything to measure against all of the above mentioned effort can seem worthless. Seeing the progression and exceeding your goals can be a rewarding experience. Alternatively, falling short of your goals is a great way to learn what worked and what didn't, where there is room for improvement and what can be implemented in real-time to make sure that goals are attained.

Image courtesy of jannoon028 / FreeDigitalPhotos.ca

Keep track of content performance, connect analytics data to goals and measure the success of your digital branding.

8. Repurposing (or Reimagining) and Improving Accordingly

Content Rules, another great book written on online marketing, introduces a great concept of repurposing or reimagining your content. If your blog post was a huge hit with the audience, why not create an e-book out of it? Perhaps it could be upgraded to an infographic if it was written some time ago. Could you turn it into a mobile app? After you have had a chance to listen to your audience and measure against your goals, you can improve the content and let your audience guide it in the right direction.

The possibilities are usually endless if the content is of good quality, useful and engaging. Repurposing lets you cycle through your content without discarding it - making it easier on your content creation and time management.

After all you never know what can happen, maybe this post ends up in a whitepaper one day?

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Unknown Tuesday, April 08, 2014  

Why Online Small Business Branding Is Like a Rock Concert

I am a big fan of metal (if you have not yet heard of Mastodon, you need to check them out!) and rock, sometimes heavy - sometimes mellow, depending on my mood. Over the past two years I really got into concerts and music festivals (nothing like a muddy, outdoor heavy metal festival on a sunny & rainy summer day at Heavy TO in 2012).

Recently, I have been invited to go to a small venue for a local Hamilton, Ontario band called Monster Truck - I had my doubts. I heard a couple of their songs on the radio but that is about it, the venue was small - but I gave it a shot.

They did not only stump all of my assumptions, but rocked out in the best way possible. The amazing energy, sound - crowd involvement and best of all: a great musical experience. I went from leaning back on the bar to jumping, headbanging (its just not the same without long hair) and video recording most of the songs.

So how does this tie into small business branding online? Well just like me; a not-so-familiar concert goer of a local band, some of your audience members probably do not know too much about your local business. Once they enter your social media sphere, your brand has to bring the energy, content and genuine interaction in order for them to have a memorable experience, and hopefully become fans going forward.

Let's breakdown the connection even further:

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The Band

The band = your team. The band is made up of 5 members: the singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer and band manager. Without each teammate the band would not be able to function, much like a great small business or marketing team. The world wide web, social media networks and ebalsts (virtually anything digital) is your concert hall.

Once you step onto that stage you have to constantly be focused, bring your a-game and have a set list ready to play in order to engage your audience. All eyes are on you, and everyone has paid for their ticket - eagerly waiting to hear what content you put together for the show.

The digital brand strategy is your band's tour plan, while your individual concert set lists is the content you plan to deliver on a nightly basis.

Now that you have the plan laid out, and the tour has been finalized - let's look at each team member's role in this rock tour.

Singer

The front-man of the group; always bringing the emotion, energy and directly engaging with the crowd. Finds creative ways to get the group involved and makes sure that everyone is having a blast. This would be the SEO/social media specialist of your team. 

Directly interacting with your brand's audience members and coordinating all content efforts - as a front-facing role, this person has to be ready to engage the audience, provide timely customer interactions and find creative ways to keep the community rocking out.

Guitarist

Shredding epic riffs, and providing the main sound for each song - the guitarist takes each song to the next level. Once the vocals die down, the drums slow down - the guitar solo brings on sounds that make the entire concert hall go crazy. Having epic riffs and sounds is crucial; just like having a digital strategist to plan out epic content. 

Your digital branding strategist comes up with content, the schedule, ideas, execution and everything that makes a good blog post, social media update, infographic, video, or any piece of content look great.

Each and every week (or concert) there is a planned set of solos of content that will engage your audience. While the singer delivers it to the audience, the guitarist makes them headbang!

Bassist

Usually overlooked, but nonetheless important part of the band. Hangs out in the back - provides depth to the sound and gives each song that completing sound. Bassists usually do their research and are very knowledgeable on music, giving feedback and direction to the band. This would be your analytics and analysis person, responsible for measuring the success of all online efforts.

Good analytics professionals have a keen ability to take data and turn it into meaningful analysis. Continuously monitoring and improving all strategies is key to adapting to an ever changing digital landscape. 

Having someone that can help shine light on huge amounts of data, find trends - connect variables to performance, is a huge benefit for your band's long term success.

Drummer

Usually taking the back-seat to the rest of the team, the drummer provides the sound that connects the entire song. Follows the tune of each song, makes sure it sounds good and ads the connecting drums beats without which none of this would be possible. This of course is your technical developer role. 

If your organization is involved with anything online, you need to have a dedicated IT/web developer teammate that knows the how-to of all the efforts; social metadata, web development, social apps, database integration, API, etc.

 At some point in time you will run into technical difficulties or challenges, and having someone who understands the language will ensure you can utilize all of the necessary tools to make your concerts (or online interactions) go smoothly.

Band Manager

The person that makes it all happen, believes in the band and goes out of their way to make sure it succeeds. This of course is the small business owner, or marketing manager.

The manager constantly learns new ways to stay relevant, gives motivation to his team and ensures that they have the necessary tools to be successful. They usually go out of their way to make things happen and give regular feedback (both positive and negative) to the team based on performance.

What separates a good band manager from the bad? They allow autonomy, encourage development, provide direction and give the band confidence to truly create an epic sound (or brand personality).

Alright now that we've covered the band, lets see what the audience is made-up of!

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Audience

The real reason any band or brand exists in the first place - the people who listen to the tunes, buy stuff or in any way interact with the b(r)and. The audience members for each concert are made up of three different types of fans: crowd surfers, casual listeners and new to the scene.

Image courtesy of ponsuwan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Each of these audience members experiences the concert differently, and depending on how your concert goes - they could move from one category to the other.

Crowd Surfers

The loyal fans that try to make it out to every show they can - they buy all the records, they actively talk about the band in forums, social media and eagerly wait for new music to be released. This would be your brand loyalists - people who love the brand and regularly consume it.

This is your bread and butter, the people who re-tweet, share and like most of your social media updates. They can't wait to see what is going on with your brand and willingly encourage others to become brandlievers (terrible pun, I know).

However, if they attend your concert (or join your social media network) and you fail to perform with epic content, or bring energy like they are use to your brand bringing, they may slowly lose their interest and move into the casual listener section.

Casual Listeners

This group of fans listens to the music occasionally - depending on their mood they may or may not go to your concert. If it's convenient for them to attend, they will - but will not go out of their way to see a live performance. These are people who sometimes engage your brand and use your services/products, but do not actively seek it.

The best way to reach this segment is to have a contextual approach - when they need something you offer, make sure that you are available and relevant at the time of need.

Think of it as having a concert in their home town, on a night they feel like heading out with their friends and listening to some great tunes, by no means an easy thing to do. Depending on their long-term experience with your brand they could either become crowd surfers or remain casual listeners.

New to The Scene

Image courtesy of phanlop88 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last but not least - these are people who have not yet heard of your band (or have to a limited extent) and got convinced by their friends to come along for the experience. These are your potential customers.

These will be new followers on social media, new visitors to a website or first-time consumers of your brand. The first experience you create is a memorable one - if you cannot deliver the first time around, the potential will not be realized.

This audience group is the most interesting as it has the potential to become a brand loyalist, casual buyer or completley opposed to the brand. It all varies by their first experience at the show.

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That is the connection between rock and digital branding. Of course some team members may take on shared or less responsibilities than what is mentioned here. Sometimes a band has two guitarist, or the singer plays guitar and sings - just like many online professionals are both the social media strategist and analytics professionals.

Each band is made up differently, as is their sound - it all has to be relevant to their unique audience so that both sides can rock out to the same tune.

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Unknown Wednesday, February 12, 2014  

2013 SMB Digital Marketing Holiday Wish List

Small businesses are always looking to improve their marketing and brand. With the year coming to an end, here are some things that I think small business owners would like to stuff their stockings with in order to get their organization and online community humming in the new year.

Stocking Stuffer #1: Responsive Online Hub

This is an idea that you may or may not have already come across, but it is something that every organization should be focusing on. As most blogs and business articles may have highlighted the trend for 2013 - it is now going to move into the affordable pricing for all business. With plenty of responsive design services available online, small businesses and organizations should be taking advantage in building their websites to be optimized for multiple devices. Why?

Well the way people interact and view content is shifting towards mobile. With ongoing statistics indicating the increase use of mobile devices for browsing, shopping, and content consumption it will be crucial for SMBs in effectively catering to their community.

Stocking Stuffer #2: Dedicated Online Involvement

The hardest part of having an effective branding strategy for the digital landscape. To really have an

effect online - there needs to be a significant amount of time invested in creating engaging content, interacting with audience and continuously improving your online hub. While having a digital media or marketing specialist is a privilege most small business can't afford, it would be the ideal situation. If this is not an option look into training current employees with the basics of SEO, web design, social media, etc. and have them be involved in all of your corporate efforts online. If that is not an option, look into the different digital branding services available and include these expenses into the annual marketing budget.

Another important factor in having this dedication last throughout the year (avoiding burn-out after the first few weeks) is to include it into the annual business planning. Most organizations budget their expenses for the year, plan their holiday events, promotions but very few include their online efforts into those plans. Create a content calendar, schedule updates, allocate employee (or personal) time to these efforts as they are as important as all other parts of your business!

Stocking Stuffer #3: Analytics Turned Into Analysis

Get involved in analytics - but don't just track numbers for the sake of tracking numbers and stats. Set goals, measure them and see how you are performing against your own expectations. Having numbers turned into meaningful results (whether positive or negative) is critical into successfully improving upon all of your digital efforts.


The most common website tracking service for website stats is Google Analytics, but having ways to measure social media efforts, email marketing, content reach and other online tactics is important as well. Find tools that are suitable for your organization, employ them and turn numbers into meaningful insights.

Stocking Stuffer #4: Subscribe To a Good Blog

Keeping up with the latest developments within your industry, online trends or just general business news. Blogs are not only a great way to stay up to date, but to learn something new - a way to engage on social media better than now, learn how to edit HTML web pages, increase email campaign responses, etc. Following a good blog can also connect you to industry experts, which can lead to establishing a new network to share ideas and knowledge.

For a good list of online marketing blogs covering everything from design to conversion, you can take a look at a solid list from unbounce here. So snuggle up for the winter season and increase your RSS feed with some of these great blogs.


What would you put as part of your small business holiday wish list for 2013? Leave your thoughts in the comment section and let us know!

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Unknown Sunday, December 08, 2013  

Entrepreneurship in the Age of Digital Branding

Entrepreneurship - the cornerstone of Canadian businesses. According to Industry Canada 15.4% of Canadians were self-employed in 2011 (numbers remained steady in 2012) - with the likelihood of that percentage increasing in the upcoming years. Canada is the ideal landscape for embracing entrepreneurship and allowing passionate people, ideas and solutions to thrive. Particularly in our location (Kitchener-Waterloo, ON) there are many start-ups, entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals that turn their ideas into viable businesses (just check out Vidyard, Thalmic Labs, ClevrU as living proof).

Entrepreneurs are able to find a need in the market, provides quality solutions for that need and deliver excellent customers service along the way. It is the epitome of our economy; the ability to individually build a business, more specifically a brand that will be associated with an innovative solution that no one else is able to provide, or provide well enough.

Unfortunately, not all entrepreneurs are highly qualified in all aspects of successful business management - a local, home-made BBQ restaurant owner will be a master chef but may not be a immersed in accounting. Furthermore, entrepreneurs are often limited in time as they already spent working more hours than employed individuals. This makes running and growing a business in the long-term seemingly difficult; often larger companies are able to out-compete as they have entire departments allocated to each functional business area, whereas the entrepreneur usually does majority of the work him or herself. One area specifically that often gets overlooked is marketing, communication and the community which makes everything possible (aka customer).

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Luckily over the past 20 years we have experienced a major shift in communication. With the advent of the PC, and more recently the mobile device generation (tablets, smart phones, watches, glasses, etc.), publicizing and content sharing is no longer limited to publication houses, or big businesses. Everyone now has the ability to communicate (cost-effectively) with large or small audiences, meaning that entrepreneurs now have the means of attaining good marketing without having to go through expensive channels (TV, radio). The key is to find a community which can be engaged and interacted with in a meaningful way.

You may, or may not have heard the term "content is king" with digital marketing, but it refers to the idea that creating content will give an upper hand in attracting customers and developing an online brand. This is true, with one exception: interesting, engaging, helpful and relevant content is king. Simply creating blog posts for the purpose of having a blog is no longer feasible. Help someone resolve a problem, answer a question, make them laugh, entice them to read and share with others, etc. By no means an easy task, but definitely an attainable one.

Entrepreneurship no longer competes with big businesses, but with original ideas and innovation both in the unique solutions it provides but in the content (or marketing) that it produces. Entrepreneurs have to adapt and become publishers, not for the sake of their brand but to stay relevant and keep their unique solutions up to date. To cleverly compete with big businesses and keep their competitive edge. Each entrepreneur has something unique to offer, a personality of their solution and brand (much like their own personality; quirky, analytical, playful, engaging, etc.). Their marketing should be the same; don't tell people that you are unique or best at what you do - let them figure that out through open communication, find you at their own convenience and engage with your brand through interaction. Failing to do so may put you behind, as Alan Quarry (one of my former, very insightful university marketing professors and successful entrepreneur) says:

"Status Quo" is Latin I believe for "RoadKill". The riskiest thing you can do today is play it safe and stand still.
— Alan Quarry (@aquarry) May 8, 2013

Entrepreneurs are all unique in their own way, why shouldn't their marketing be? The digital branding age now makes all of that possible. Let's make use of it!

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Unknown Sunday, July 07, 2013