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Tag: digital marketing trends

Sales and Marketing During the Holidays, in the time of COVID-19

The pandemic has turned the whole business world upside down. People staying indoors and being more cautious has significantly limited operations of many establishments. While many retail merchants have been affected by this turn, it doesn’t mean your business should too.

Luckily, there are many tools and solutions available at our disposal to still connect with consumers and stay relevant even when meeting physically has become difficult. With the holidays coming up, what businesses can do is to gear up on their online marketing presence to interact with their prospective customers. The holiday season is still much anticipated by both buyers and sellers alike so here are some useful strategies for your business to keep up with the changing times.

Boost your eCommerce (it’s never too late) 

If you had previously not thought of launching an eCommerce site or platform, then now is absolutely the best time to do so. Research shows that mid-April saw a rise in online shopping orders by 146%, while in February the online conversion rates were only at 8.8%. This shows that even at the early stages of the pandemic, consumers were already adapting online to mitigate the risks of traditional shopping. Adobe’s study shows that 78% of customers still plan to spend the same amount of money for the holidays and even more.

If you were not convinced by online shopping then, then these numbers should convince you, given the positive outlook for many online merchants even at a time of the pandemic. It’s never too late to join the eCommerce bandwagon

Get with the Times, Encourage Contactless Transactions 

Appealing to what is the norm can win you over some customers. Social distancing has now become a norm for many people, along with minimizing as much travelling and contact as possible. Seeing businesses do the same shows customers that you don’t just mean business but that you are also sensitive about what they need. Successful online sellers have been encouraging their customers to purchase online to help customers feel safe. While this calls for greater effort on the part of the businesses, it is something that will pay off.

If you plan to capture a younger target market, Gen Z are actually the widest adopters of contactless activities. Ads that target this younger crowd make it more likely for them to take advantage of this type of transaction.

Have Your Brand in Multiple Channels 

Studies have shown that many channels affect customers while they are in their customer journey from researching all the way to purchasing. In this day and age, one channel is not enough. A key takeaway here is knowing how each of your channels can work together to help customers in their journey. They may go to your Facebook or Instagram account and check your posts and customer reviews, but it is through your eCommerce website that they close and make the deal.

60% of all e-commerce visits have been through mobile, so that is another factor to consider. Is your website mobile-friendly? Do you have social media presence that any customer can just look up with their phones?

Exploring many channels is great in also being able to expand your brand’s reach. Know your different audiences on Facebook, Instagram, your website, and so on.

Plan Special Holiday Promotions 

There is nothing more enticing than a special offer. Some tactics such as limited sales, promo codes, free samples, e-gift cards, or early access, are ones you can use for your business to catch the eye of many new customers. This is also great in creating touchpoints with existing customers and showing them that you are offering them something new and valuable.

You can time your campaigns with dates customers already associate with promotions such as November 11 or December 12. This can show your customers that you are going with the times, since customers may already be ready to spend during these times.

In Conclusion

Don’t let your business get left behind in the hustle and bustle of online marketing and sales campaigns over the holidays. Think of this as a great opportunity for your business to explore new territory and hopefully find a place to stay even during these uncertain times. A takeaway with all these strategies is to be open and flexible so that even when challenges such as a pandemic arises, your business is still rolling with the times. There is no true one-size-fits-all solution to each business as each one is unique, so being willing to try and adapt is one trait that all businesses should have in order to survive. Jumping right into digital marketing can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be, especially with the right partner such as iManila. Learn how we can work together when it comes to crafting you an effective holiday online campaign.

5 Effective Strategies in Marketing to the Gen Z

Each year another Digital Marketing trend is being discovered and we have to keep up in order to maintain our brand awareness. It’s a fierce competition among brands in the digital world but we have stick to our core – which is to be organic while staying relevant and always adapting to the rapidly evolving digital marketing world.

When we open the internet, it’s hard to determine which trend is on the rise and which trends we need to keep up with especially since consumers’ interest and behavior are unpredictable. Hence, we present to you 5 effective strategies for 2020 that will help give your brands maximum exposure.

  1.       Artificial Intelligence

This 2020 is the year where artificial intelligence is the next right-hand in securing data. It may help global businesses and industries in the next decade but it’s taking the simple job of what humans usually provide. Using AI can help brands gather data to review consumer behavior and search patterns and provide what’s best to increase sales. Soon, AI will be the driving force you will see it in other services such as:

–          Basic Communication

–          Product Recommendations

–          Content Creation

–          Email Personalization

–          E-commerce transactions

  1.       Programmatic Advertising

With the help of Artificial Intelligence, Programmatic Advertising is also one of the big trends in terms of tracking because it is easier for the younger generation as they are more active online. Under Programmatic Advertising comes Real-time bidding. This type of automation is more efficient and typically gives higher conversions while lowering customer acquisition costs.

  1.       Chatbots

Chatbots will continue to be an important digital marketing trend this 2020. Chatbots are AI-based technology that provides instant messaging to customers in real-time at any time. This trend will continue as 80% of businesses use chatbots to connect. At the same time, research shows that 63% of respondents prefer messaging a chatbot when it comes to communicating with brands.

  1.       Conversational Marketing

With the use of Chatbots, we can say that customers prefer more conversations in a way that allows them to interact and connect with their favorite brands. Long before the traditional type of marketing, this type of marketing is available to multiple channels to create relationships between brands and customers because the goal of this trend is to enhance user experience that will provide higher engagement and long-term loyalty.

  1.       Video Marketing

Gone are the days when consumers are pleased to see marketing ads through images and GIFs. Thus, Video Marketing is making its way to increase brand awareness of any brands because customers want to experience first-hand product preview even just through a video. According to surveys, a higher percentage of consumers want to watch a video to get information in order to make online purchase decisions. And with the rise of YouTube, this paved the way to bring videos to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. One thing’s for sure, video marketing will be one of the most important trends in the next 5-10 years.

Want to know how your brand can reach Gen Z? Ask us how! Drop us an email at [email protected]. 

A Guide to Consumer Experience Online

Up until a few years back, it would take a while before a shopper made a decision on which brand to buy along the aisles of a grocery store or supermarket. But as the years went by, technology gifted us with exciting innovations. Mobile phones became more powerful than ever. From having a mobile phone with the singular functionality of doing voice calls, the mobile phone developed into an all-in-one device that more or less had the same capabilities as a personal computer. It became faster and more efficient and allowed people to have technology readily available in their pockets.

This advancement in technology has, in response, led to changes in behavior. Research shows that the current global population spent an average of 6 hours and 42 minutes online. Currently, in the Philippines, the average time being spent online is 10 hours and 2 minutes. This actually makes us one of the countries with the longest Internet activity. In which, various businesses, like you, can take advantage of.

Human Attention Span Is Getting Shorter Than Ever

In a study made by Microsoft two years back, it was revealed that the average human attention span is at eight-seconds, making it shorter than the attention span of a goldfish at nine (9) seconds. This only means that your message and idea should come out clearly to viewers in eight seconds or less!

New statistics from Google also revealed that you only have six (6) to eight (8) seconds to get online audiences’ attention. Whether we like it or not, the realities of user experience all happen within an average moment of 8 seconds – what Google calls micro-moments.

What are micro-moments?

Micro-moments are the collective activities and experiences of people online. It is the usual things we look at or search for online. And usually, these moments are so short, menial, and unnoticeable – and yet collectively an indication of our total online experience.

When we search for something and can’t seem to find it in a snap of a finger, ultimately we shift to different search terms or a different application or browser just find what we need to know NOW. This is a perfect example of micro-moments.

New Consumer Reality

Micro-moments are the new consumer reality. Consumers rely on their smartphones to make pre-purchase validations even before making an actual purchase whether it be online or offline.

In between those micro-moments online, within those quick tapping of their phones, and impatient waiting for seconds, a business has to be there with them – a brand has to be able to show them the things they need to get quickly.

Do you need to adapt to this new reality?

The quick answer: YES! The economy of mobile and consumer experience requires businesses to always be on their toes especially when it comes to improving their customer’s purchase journey and experience.

Why? Because in this day and age, consumer experience is one of the most shared experiences online. Great experiences spread like a heart-warming story – the type people will love. Bad experiences, on the other hand, spread like a wild-fire that turn everything in its path into ashes. In short, customer experiences shared online about your brand can either make or break your business.

These experiences are the online consumer micro-moments that brands and businesses should give importance to. These moments sandwiched in eight (8) seconds have gained the power to change the course of how some leaders run their businesses.

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Are you ready to change the way you run your business? Let iManila help you make consumer-based strategies to enhance your business’s marketing. Learn more about our digital marketing services by clicking the link below.

imanila.ph/digital-marketing

A Guide to Consumer Experience Online

 

In the yesteryears, it took quite a while before a shopper makes a decision on which brand to buy along the aisles of grocery stores or supermarkets. But as years go by, technology gifted men with exciting innovations. Handsets became powerful than ever before. From just sending voice calls across the globe to efficiently communicate, handsets became wireless and less chunky yet powerful.  It started sending short messages, then became integrated with applications such as radio and camera. It also became an all-in-one device that stores different type of media. And when the processors and new wireless technologies came in to play. A simple mobile phone became smarter that it began doing the sophisticated capabilities of a personal computer. It became faster and more efficient that people became more reliant on this technology wherever they go.

And at the birth of the web 2.0, it only takes some apps like the social networking sites, a mobile browser, and data connection to shift the entire user experience into what we call “digital precipice”. And as of today, the current global population spent an average of 135 minutes (2.25 hours) online.  That means that when the average sleeping hours of the global population is 387 minutes (6.45 hours), the global population is spending an average of 14.45% of their time online when they are awake.

Human Attention Span Getting Smaller than ever

Though the 2.25 hours seems a huge time span to capture their attention, it is important to note that it is the summation of all their online activities throughout the day. They spend it in between work and school breaks, traveling time, and idle times at home. That only means that when they are online, they are multi-tasking, making their attention span shorter than ever.

In a study made by Microsoft two years back, it was revealed the average human attention span is at eight-seconds, making it shorter than the attention span of the goldfishes at nine (9). And to be able to successfully send messages and ideas online, it should be useful and interesting enough that it can capture people’s attention in eight seconds or less.

And surprisingly, the new realities of the audiences and consumers right now are their experiences online within that eight (8) seconds margin. New statistics from Google revealed that you only have six (6) to eight (8) seconds to get online audiences’ attention. And whether we like it or not, the realities of user experience all happens within an average moment of 7 seconds – and that is what Google calls micro-moments.

What are micro-moments?

Micro-moments are the collective activities and experiences of people online. It is the usual things we look at or search for online. And usually, these moments are so short, menial, unnoticeable, but are collectively an indication of our total online experience.

When we search for something, yet we couldn’t find it in a snap of a finger, we tend to shift search terms, or applications used, even the people we talk to just to get what we want to know.  This is a perfect example of micro-moments.


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New Consumer Reality

Micro-moments are the new consumer reality these days. Consumer relies on their smartphones to make pre-purchase validations. before making actual purchase both online and offline. This is what has transformed purchase patterns of consumers over a decade.

In between those micro-moments online, within those quick tapping of their phones, and impatient waiting for seconds, a business has to be there with them – a brand has to be in there showing them the things they need to get quickly. This reality among consumers is slowly becoming the reality for brands and businesses.

Do you need to adapt to this new reality?

Technology brings life new experiences. And these experiences are either bad or good. If people feel good about these experiences using new technologies, it will remain as good memories and it will last for months or even a year. The same goes with bad experiences – they become bad memories.

And in relations to businesses and brands, the economy of mobile and consumer experience requires businesses to be on their toes always, especially in terms of improving their customer’s experience towards their brand, be it tangible products or services.

Why? Because consumer experience these days are easily shared with other people online. Good experiences spread like a heart-warming story, or like a Good-Samaritan story, people will love. Bad experiences, on the other hand, spread like a wild-fire that turn everything in its path into ashes. In short, customer experiences shared online about your brand can either make or break your business.

These experiences are the online consumer micro-moments that brands and businesses should be very particular about. These moments sandwiched in seven (7) seconds has gained powers to change the course on how businesses should reconfigure the way they used to do their businesses.

So, do you need to adapt to this new reality online? The answer is a clear YES!

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And if you are ready to take on this new challenge, let iManila help you make consumer-based strategies to enhance your business’s marketing. Learn more about our digital marketing services by clicking the link below.

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