Tag: Digital marketing

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A guide to effective email marketing for small businesses

Today, businesses have many ways to reach out to their customers to share new products, services, and promote their brand. Email marketing is not just for big businesses, and small businesses can easily implement email marketing campaigns to reach their customers. Let’s see how email marketing for small business owners can help you reach your goals this year.

What are the benefits of email marketing?

Email campaigns are easy to implement and are a cost-effective way to communicate with your clients. It is also more personal than other forms of advertising because the user is the one to sign up to receive them. Here are some of the benefits of email marketing for small business owners. 

  • Cost-friendly

The cost of an email campaign depends on how many emails you send per month and the size of your subscriber base. Some platforms allow you to send an unlimited number of emails for $25-30 per month. 

  • Revenue

A recent study found that the ROI of an email campaign can be as high as 122%. This is four times higher than any other form of digital marketing. An email marketing campaign increases revenues by improved sales conversions because it is more targeted. It also results in increased website traffic and improved brand awareness. 

  • Ease of communication

It is easy to get the word out to targeted customers with useful information about your products and services, tell them about new products, sales, and promotions. With one well-crafted email, an active subscriber list, and a good mail provider, you can efficiently communicate with your audience anywhere they have access to email. 

  • Newsletters

Email newsletters are an excellent way to keep in touch with your target audience. You can do feature articles that might be of interest to your audience and touch base in a way that does not sound overly promotional. 

  • Promotions

Regular sales and promotions through email are an excellent way to let your customers know that they are in an exclusive club. This is a great way to let them know about holiday sales and special subscriber-only offers. 

  • Updates

You can let your customers know about any changes at the company or policy updates quickly and easily through email. 

  • Reminders

Emails are an excellent way to send reminders about special promotions, abandoned shopping carts, and when a bill is due. 

  • Automation

 The best thing about email marketing is that it can be fully automated. Once the initial email journey is created, you can sit back and let the software do the rest. 

  • Build & nurture relationships

Regular contact with your customers keeps you on their mind. The key is to value these relationships and do not become spam. 

  • Customer loyalty

When customers feel that you have crafted a message just for them, it helps to build loyalty. They can feel like they are part of the family because of the personalized message that they receive. 

  • Increase customer engagement

Email marketing campaigns are an excellent way to increase customer engagement. You can provide fun quizzes, surveys, and videos to keep your customers engaged.

How do you create an email marketing strategy for small businesses?

As you can see, email marketing campaigns can open doors and do things that other forms of advertising cannot. The next thing you probably want to know is how to develop an email campaign and an effective marketing strategy. The first thing you need to do is to explore the different email providers available and choose one that is right for you. 

  • Gather contact information

Once you have chosen an email provider, you need to start building an email list. You can do this through a contact page, a popup that asks them to sign up, or by providing special promotions of offers for signing up. You can also collect emails through your social media platforms. 

  • Choose your message

Now, it is time to decide what types of emails to send and how frequently. If you are not sure, you can hire a professional to recommend a campaign scheduled. 

  • Create your content

The next step is to create your content. You can create it yourself, or you can hire a copywriter who knows the right language to use to reach your audience. 

  • Ensure usability of web and mobile

One of the most important factors in today’s world is to make sure your email and westie are mobile-friendly. A large number of people have access to email and the web through mobile devices. 

  • Create a schedule

Make sure that you create a schedule and stick to it. If you commit to sending out an email a month, then make sure you do. Your customers will expect it. 

  • Track performance

Most mail service providers have built-in tracking. This allows you to make adjustments as needed. You should be tracking metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, ROI, unsubscribes, bounce rate, and site traffic. 

Types of email marketing software

Today, you have many email marketing solutions for small businesses that are cost-effective and can be scaled up as you grow. Here are some of the best email marketing software for small business owners that we think you should consider. 

  • MailChimp

 MailChimp is one of the most widely used email providers for small businesses. One of the reasons why they are so popular is that they allow you to do email automation, newsletters, and segmented lists. They are affordable, and you can scale up as you grow. 

  • Moosend

Moosend is another popular email company. They allow you to add customized forms to your website and manage a contact list. Moosend is an excellent choice for beginners because is it easy to learn. It is easy for beginners, but it also has enough advanced features for experts. 

  • Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is an excellent choice for beginners because they have an extensive library of templates and free tools. They have drag-and-drop customization and optimization for mobile. You can start with a free account and then move up to enterprise-level solutions as you grow. 

  • BOMA Marketing

 BOMA Marketing has an extensive library of resources for all aspects of digital marketing. You can do your email, social media posts, blog posts, and social media ads all from one platform. It also has a content library in case you run out of ideas of things to talk about in your newsletter. 

Email campaigns continue to be one of the most effective marketing tools for growing your brand. You have many resources available if you want to do it yourself, or you can always hire a professional who provides email marketing solutions for small business owners and free your time for other important tasks. 

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Design & technology

How SMS marketing can grow your online business

According to Finances Online, 48% of customers prefer receiving brand updates through SMS — making it one of the best channels for your marketing efforts. It’s great for offering upfront value to customers, therefore, eliciting interest and engagement — which ultimately leads to sales. If you plan to use SMS marketing to grow your online business, then this guide is what you need.

But first…

What is SMS marketing?

It’s a strategy that uses permission-based text messaging to engage your customers on their mobile devices at a personal level. SMS marketing requires explicit consent from recipients before companies can start sending them messages. There can be severe legal consequences if you send unsolicited texts to people.

Why you should start using SMS marketing

SMS marketing takes you where your customers are, giving you opportunities to connect with your target market on smartphones they look at for hours. Plus, mobile devices are direct and immediate channels, making them one of the best touchpoints to send customers targeted marketing messages. Whether you’re running a content marketing campaign or using webinars to bring in website traffic, SMS marketing can help you build a subscriber database to increase brand loyalty. Consider these other reasons why you need to use SMS marketing.

Increase customer engagement

SMS marketing can enhance how your brand engages with your target audience throughout the customer life cycle because they allow instant interactions. Sending sales-related offers such as discounts, vouchers, promotions, and even birthday greetings, for instance, helps you nurture customer relationships while promoting your marketing content. Studies even show that text messages have a 99% open rate, and 94% are read within five minutes and customers are six to eight times more likely to respond to CTAs in a text message. Plus, the click-through rate for links is 19% in SMS compared to 4.2% in email, which is crucial when you want to generate traffic.

Streamline data gathering

Using SMS lets you gather customer feedback and get great reviews swiftly, which helps in enhancing your marketing strategies to achieve higher customer satisfaction. Additionally, your SMS marketing campaigns are trackable, allowing you to get analytical insights on what works and or not and helping you refine your strategies for better results.

Integrate with other channels

SMS can integrate with and support your other marketing channels, such as email and social media. For instance, you can send text reminders to customers about emails you’ve sent about their orders or other marketing materials, which can increase your email open rates.

Use automation tools

Email marketing automation platforms let you send messages directly from a web app and connect them to your scheduling or booking system. However, timing your SMS marketing strategically and knowing when your audience is most responsive on top of running your campaign takes time and effort.

Centralized e-commerce marketing automation platforms such as Omnisend provide a solution by letting you integrate several channels, such as email and SMS, to your workflow. Combine automated text messages with email and push notifications on workflows that include pre-built sequences with text messages for cart abandonment, birthday, order & shipping confirmation sequences, special offers, and more. Omnisend provides SMS list building tools that incorporate signup boxes with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) compliant templates to collect phone numbers. Plus, it offers personalization and opt-out instructions in the messages you send.

The platform also streamlines your campaigns through automated text messages for your customers’ order follow-ups and confirmations and browsing abandonments. Additionally, Omnisend’s SMS campaign segmentation profiles your customers to help personalize your marketing efforts more. With automation tools, you’ll run your SMS marketing campaigns seamlessly and strategically without spending too much time and effort while getting excellent results.

Implement the right SMS marketing strategies

Write an excellent SMS marketing copy that provides value to your customers, instead of generic messages that lead them to skip through your texts or tag as spam.

Welcome message

This is the first message your customers will get from you, so you need to make it count. Personalize your message by addressing each person by name, grabbing additional attention, which can push your engagement levels higher. Send unique one-time coupon codes as well to entice them into purchasing. Plus, this can make them feel like they’re part of an exclusive group with access to offers other people don’t get.

Abandoned cart reminders

Optimize your communication to recoup the sales from your high-intent shoppers. Send them a text message reminder, and provide a direct link to their cart. This way, they won’t have to navigate to your site to complete the purchase.

Feedback

70% of customers consult reviews or ratings before they decide to purchase, but generating these reviews can be difficult. SMS marketing allows you to seamlessly follow up with your customers after they make a purchase. Text them a poll, asking if they’re satisfied with their items. If they give a positive response, ask them for a review. Keep your survey brief, focused, and contextual to help support your marketing efforts. Additionally, offer incentives for survey participants by delivering a unique coupon code once completed and entice them to make another purchase.

Contact local SEO & SEM experts

Promos

It’s a simple text blast to your subscriber list with an offer that drives them to your website. Create a sense of urgency to your offer with time-limited promos to motivate people to take immediate action, which helps increase your conversions and sales. Provide a direct link to the product or category you’re looking to push as well, to make them easier for your customers to find.

The success of your SMS campaign can boil down to whether or not you’ve added enough value to your audience. Streamline your SMS marketing, as well as your other marketing efforts, by using some of the best task management tools to manage and track your campaigns.

Wrap up

With the right approach, SMS marketing can be your go-to strategy to reach your audiences quickly with highly targeted messages and build brand awareness and loyalty. Not only is SMS marketing perfect from helping you generate more engagements and traffic, but it can help you get truckloads of sales.

Categories
Design & technology

How to market your small business online

Getting a small business off the ground is a challenging, time consuming and costly exercise. After going through the effort of planning and setting up, the next thing you need to focus on is getting found by potential customers.

Usually, this means paying for ads. Thankfully though, there are ways that you can get around paid advertising, to begin with, especially when your budget may be a little low after paying for setup. Instead, you could invest in a professional graphic designer to revamp your logo or animation on your site. Or maybe you don’t yet have an online website and need to hire a qualified web designer or developer. Below, we’ve gone through the top 6 advertising methods that you can engage in to get your small business off the ground.

Source: Blue Platypus

Google my business

If you’re wondering how thousands of businesses manage to appear on Google Maps, then the chances are that they have a Google My Business profile. These are completely free and are a great way to help potential customers discover you.

Many internet users perform search queries which include terms such as “near me” e.g. “lawyers near me”. With an optimised Google My Business profile, you could appear in both Google’s search results and Maps for related customer queries.

Some of the key benefits of owning a Google My Business profile include:

  • You can get found on Google Maps
  • A potential customer can build their trust of your business through customer reviews
  • Information such as opening/closing and peak visit times is available on demand
  • An optimised GMB profile helps improve your search rankings

Google My Business also offers insights on how many people visited your profile, and whether they did so via Maps or a search query. If you see that it’s beginning to pay off, you can always pay to show up at the top of the maps pack, which will help your business generate even more enquiries.

Social media

Social media networks are visited by billions of people every day. As a result, they’ve become a mighty competitive space between businesses. In fact, social media websites Facebook and YouTube are the second- and third, most visited websites in the world.

It’s no secret that just about all social media channels have become a “pay to play” environment in terms of exposure to new customers. Though there are always ways to beat the system.

Generally, posting content across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are completely free, albeit with limited exposure. With Facebook in particular, though, you can take things one step further.

There are many neighbourhood community Facebook groups, each presenting an opportunity to reach a localised audience. Every time a new post is made within these groups, users are notified.

To find a neighbourhood community group, begin by typing in a suburb name in the Facebook search bar. Then, you will see a list of related groups under the “groups” tab. When you find your group, join and then you can begin posting away. Just be mindful of any community posting rules.

Another great way to increase exposure via social media is with the use of “stories”. This is a feature derived from Snapchat and has been adopted by Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Email marketing

The letterbox drop of the 21st century, email marketing is among the most effective online advertising channels. You can take advantage of email marketing platforms such as Mail Chimp who offer their services for free for up to 2,000 subscribers.

The trickiest part is building up a relevant subscriber list. Depending on how aggressively you want to generate subscribers, this could be a costly exercise, though we’ll keep to the free methods.

The easiest and cheapest way to acquire a new email subscriber is to ask a customer in person. If someone has engaged with your business already, then the chances are that they will be more open to receiving emails from you due to familiarity.

Another great way to obtain new email addresses for free is through the use of lead magnets. For example, if you own a pool cleaning business, then you can offer a free downloadable pool safety checklist in exchange for website visitor emails. This is something that you can ask your web design expert to setup for you.

The final free method that we’re going to is the method of blogging. Essentially, this is offering free and useful information to your website visitors. Take this article, for example. At the end of the article, you can place a newsletter sign up form. Then, users who find your articles useful might be inclined to subscribe.

Abandoned cart emails

If you own an e-commerce site, chances are you’ve experienced customers leaving your site before finalising their purchase or completing a form. This is can be referred to as an abandoned cart. A way to win back these customers is to implement an abandoned cart email strategy for your business.

Firstly, this involves capturing the customer’s right email in the early steps of your online form. As long as you can successfully capture your potential customer’s email, you can target them with a personalised follow-up email.

There are multiple reasons why a customer may have leave part-way during your checkouts process, from the shipping costs being too high to getting distracted. Strategies for your abandoned cart emails can include sending easy steps to complete their purchase or creating a clear call-to-action.

Another strategy can you implement is applying a multivariant split test on both your email campaigns and landing pages. By implementing this technique, we were able to convert 60% of users who landed on our abandoned cart landing page.

Local citations

Local citations are the digital version of those thick Yellow Pages books that were once delivered to your door on an annual basis. Here you can input your business details such as name, address, phone number, trading hours, services you offer, website address and more.

Admittedly, these have become less effective as free advertising methods, and many businesses have moved over to paid services such as ours where you only pay when you get a potential customer.

Online directories mainly apply to businesses with physical addresses. If you don’t operate from a physical address though, you can look for link roundups related to your services online. Then, ask these websites to include your site as well.

Contact local SEO and SEM experts

Review websites

Many customers turn to review websites to find out whether or not a business is worth visiting or not. Think of Word of Mouth. Not only is it the best way to get free publicity, but on this Australian site, customers can leave reviews about businesses such as restaurants and bars, dentists, beauty salons, doctors and more.

The best part about Word of Mouth is that the brand has built trust among its community members, meaning that all you have to worry about is getting some positive reviews. The Word of Mouth website receives thousands of visitors on a monthly basis, so this represents a massive opportunity in terms of reach.

Thankfully, Word of Mouth allows you to list your business for free. Using the free profile, you can respond to customer reviews, upload photos and even post your own deals. There are also paid options, which allow you to create targeted ads, including customer support and even remove competitor ads from appearing on your profile.