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Tag: email marketing

Digital Marketing 101 For The Holiday Season

While many of us may be feeling indifferent about celebrating such a drastic year, there’s essentially nothing else we can do but make it count. After all, having survived a pandemic with our loved ones in tact is something also worth celebrating.

From a business perspective, the holidays should be too worrisome because people will continually consume and Filipinos, naturally, aren’t the type of people to shelf a holiday season.

The only problem is that the most effective marketing campaigns you could potentially use are particularly costly especially during the holidays. But for businesses who badly want to top its competitors off, you can do so without breaking the bank.

Here, we have rounded down four of the most effective marketing strategies to single-handedly rocket your promotional campaigns this coming holiday season.

Put your social media pages to work

One of the many reasons why businesses have thrived amid the pandemic is through social media, especially through Facebook. For one, in the Philippines alone, we already have more than 74 million Facebook users as of 2019 and still rapidly increasing. On top of that, Facebook held a staggering 93% of the country’s market share of users this year. The Philippines isn’t called the Social Media capital of the world for four straight years for no reason.

Every businessman can attest to how they furthered substantially because of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms, especially in the holiday shopping season.

Get more people to know about your holiday promos, discounts, perks, deals or have them purchase your product directly through Social Media Advertising. Set up your campaigns according to your objectives. If your goal is to build your presence online, well then Awareness ads will make that possible for you. Or if you want to acquire new audiences, generate leads, or get them to message you, then Consideration or Acquisition ads are your go-to. But if your main objective is to boost your sales, Facebook has made a way to reach people who are most likely to purchase or retarget people who have once viewed your product but didn’t purchase through Conversion ads. Facebook’s algorithm will make sure that you target the right people at the right time.

However, these ads may not possibly work spot on without having compelling, timely and mobile-first creatives, correct messaging and the right timing of your ads. These factors play together to give you the best possible outcome.

Also, don’t try to spam them with your discounts or by doing any false advertisements. You don’t honestly expect them to just sit around and do nothing, do you? Sincerity and authenticity can assure your business repeat purchases.

If this is something you are finding too hard to navigate, just leave us a message so we can help you.

Understand SEO and blog often

With the growing concerns about transportation and contracting the virus easily while outside, more and more people are compelled to just shop online.

This is one good reason as to why you should build a website or an e-commerce platform for your brand ASAP.

Once you have built the website, optimize it for SEO. This way, you get to be visible on the search engine results pages without having to run ads. You need to vie for certain keywords that you would want your website to show up to if people would search for it.

One important key tip to further increase your visibility in SERP’s is to publish an article at least once a week to pull in consistent visitors that would eventually translate to customers. The most successful SEO campaigns require captivating content, appealing visuals and few tricks and skills to make your website rank in no-time.

SEO would also work best if done alongside Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-Per-Click Ads. Note that Google prioritizes ads over organic ones so it would be for the best if you let the two digital marketing strategies work side by side.

Maximize Google search, display and YouTube ads

Google is the most popular search engine in the world, especially in the Philippines where it covers 95.43% of our total search engine market share according to Global stats.  This a huge business opportunity that you should look into especially that website traffic surges dramatically during the holidays.

If you want to target the right people at the right time and get a more meaningful business outcome, you should probably try doing Search ads. Once people search for the keywords that you bid for, it would only take a click to get them to inquire about your services or best – to buy your product immediately through your e-commerce website. This is intent-based, meaning people come to you instead of you coming to them.

A display ad, on the other hand, is the other way around. You introduce your ad to a more diverse set of people around your area of targeting. This ad shows up to Google’s audience networks, and partner sites like national news sites, popular sports or fashion sites, etc.

YouTube ads are ads that we usually see while streaming in the site. There are a number of ad placements that you can choose from depending on your liking. YouTube ads guarantee to boost your brand awareness or increase your YouTube following, if done right.

Shopping ads, on other ad, are highly relevant during the holidays. The ads appear before the search results, and once your audiences click them, they will automatically be sent to your website giving users a chance to complete their purchase easily.

Try Email Marketing

If you are trying to target people who habitually check their emails like professionals, businessmen, or people in organizations, then you probably try email marketing.

Send a monthly newsletter carrying all the announcements, news, stories, and blogs that you would like to promote during the holidays. Make it as short and sweet or as comprehensive as possible or lure them to click the “Read more” button directed to your website. This way, you can increase your website traffic and have them recall your brand.

Another important touchpoint is that you should keep as many email addresses as possible on your database. Grow your company database through website sign-ups or by running Leads Generation ads on Facebook. Whichever strategy you decide to use in order to grow your user list, make sure to keep this in confidentiality because a healthy database and information are one of the most golden assets of a company these days!

We are only a few days away from Halloween and a few weeks away from December so we suggest that you start working on these recommendations – pronto!

The good thing is that you don’t need to stress yourself in learning these holiday marketing strategies we have laid out for you. Have an expert that you can absolutely trust like iManila to do the work for you.

Request a quote for our Social Media Management, Social Media Ads, Google Ads, SEO services or Email Marketing services today. You can also leave us a message or email us at [email protected] to learn more!

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4 Ways Digital Marketing Can Help During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With the ongoing lockdown measures due to COVID-19, more people are staying at home. But what does it mean for marketers?

Traditional marketing platforms like billboards and street signs are now left unseen, with people staying at home, and away from the roads. On the other hand, a vast majority of those staying at home are spending more time online whether working remotely or reaching out to friends and family.

While we are in the middle of transforming into the “new” normal, take the time to assess and explore options to bring your business back up.

On our latest blog, let us share some insights on how you can utilize digital marketing during this time:

Reach out to your customers through Email Marketing

As one of the most cost-effective options to communicate with your audience, creating email campaigns can help you reach out to your existing clients. A simple reminder to let them know that you are here to serve and help them online can go a long way.

Update your Website FAQs

People are regularly searching for information online, now more than ever. Do not miss out on customers looking for your product. Update your website content to ensure that common client queries are on your website. Answering these questions and content to your website can give you an opportunity to rank higher on Google search engine results pages for keywords related to your business.

Communicate through Social Media

Utilize your social media platforms to interact, inform and share positive thoughts to your audience. Whether it is updating your business hours, taking online orders, or simply ensuring everyone’s safety, make use of your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or other social media platforms, to keep your customers updated.

Additionally, you can also explore running ads on Facebook or Instagram to generate awareness and grow your audience.

Consider running a Google Search Campaign

Running a Google Search Campaign is the best way to reach customers who are interested to purchase your product or service. This can be especially helpful for businesses producing essential goods to let your customers know that you are taking orders online and delivering directly.

Digital marketing never stops and can help reach your target consumers despite the lockdown.

Need a hand in reaching out to your audience through digital marketing? Talk to us today! Drop us a message at https://imanila.ph/lets-talk/

5 Things Businesses can do Online while on Community Quarantine

Business as usual? Just because the rest of the community is under quarantine due to the pandemic, doesn’t mean that your business online has to be idle.

 

Despite all of the negative things happening around us, there’s always a positive. Think of this time as a great opportunity to revamp your business online, especially if this is something that you somehow never found the time to do before. With a lot of people stuck at home and relying on the Internet to cover for their boredom – chances are your potential customers are out there searching the web or scrolling through social media! So on the positive side of things, there’s no better time to leave your mark online than right now!

 

Here are five things you can do for your business online while on community quarantine.

 

Update your website’s images and content

For businesses already with a fully-functional website, now is the perfect time to revamp and freshen up your site. Whether it’s changing the landing images or updating the captions to be more eye-catching, having an aesthetically pleasing website is vital in keeping your site visitors engaged enough to check out what you have to offer.

 

Write content for your website’s blog page etc.

Again, if you have a fully functional website, maybe now is the perfect time to produce relevant content to give potential customers reason to stay on your website longer. Writing content for your website’s blog is one way to do this. How can this help your website? The more relevant the blogs are to your possible customers, the bigger the chances they are to visit and constantly return to your website and to learn more about what your company has to offer. This is a way for you to soft sell your website. Remember that most people search for answers on the Internet, so having the right articles that answer their questions just might mean another customer for you.

 

Get a website

If you’re a business owner who has never had the time or the opportunity to create a website, then what better way to spend all your time at home than by conceptualizing the kind of website you want for your company? There are many reasons why having a website has been proven to be valuable to businesses. Credibility is definitely one of those reasons. For a startup business who wants to leave a good impression on their potential customers, having a website is the best place to start. If you own a business that allows customers to purchase your products or services online, then your own website can become a one-stop-shop for all of your customer’s needs.

 

Start a Facebook fan page for your business

In the Philippines, Facebook is undoubtedly the most used and subscribed social media site. This makes it a lucrative option especially when most of your potential customers are frequent users of the site. While a website is used by customers who actively search something on the web, having social media presence on Facebook is a way to reach out to them when they’re just passing the time scrolling through their feeds. Facebook fan pages can provide an easy way to communicate with your customers with just a single click of a button.

 

Explore other social media channels

While almost everyone uses Facebook nowadays, it’s not rare to see people using other forms of social media such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and even LinkedIn. Chances are your potential customers also use them. Knowing who you are targeting as a customer is important in deciding what other social media sites to branch out to. Each social media site differs in their approach to reaching out to their users. If you want to promote videos of your business, then maybe getting a YouTube Ad is for you. If you like to present the products beautifully, or if you’re trying to get influencers on board then maybe Instagram is your best bet. Remember that the more present you are online, the easier it is for your customer to find your brand.

 

While normal business operations may be down for the meantime due to the quarantine, digital marketing never stops. This is one of the biggest advantages of going digital – that it can bridge communication and information online without needing to be physically present. This works the same for businesses too. If you are just thinking of expanding your business online then there is no better time.

 

We know that doing this alone might seem intimidating, so getting an expert’s help can be a great way to get started. Let a partner agency guide you through the digital landscape to help you reach your business goals online. iManila is here to help you despite the pandemic. Our lines continue to remain open as we continue to help businesses stay online no matter the economic situation. Reach us through our website, and drop us a question. iManila: Improving Lives Through Technology. #iManila #DigitalAgency

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]. 

Gmail Phishing Scam on the Rise!

 

For most of us, email is a way of life. From work to personal communications to smartphone applications downloads, our email is our virtual online address where most of important documents and updates are sent. That being said, email is an indispensable online asset. Modern life isn’t just the same without it. Unfortunately, it’s the one thing that most of us tend to neglect, especially when it comes to security.

In the past weeks, a phishing scam over Gmail has circulated and propagated in the World Wide Web, escaping the scrutiny of both experts and new users of this email platforms.

Wordfence  (security team behind WordPress) revealed how the phishing scam worked using its account to send unsolicited emails that contained that same malicious strings that pretended to be an authentic Gmail log-in page.

After the victim is fooled to logging in at the fake Gmail login page,  the attacker gains access to the victim’s account. This cycle continues as the attacker uses the compromised account to send malicious emails to other people in the email’s contact list.

That’s why this phishing method “gained popularity” among hackers in the past year: as it effectively tricked people into thinking that they’re opening content from a trusted contact. Furthermore, the hackers behind this method makes it much deceitful as they emulated the way the victim user sends his/her emails from the subject down to email body.

How to detect this?

The phishing technique is deceiving even experienced, technical users – the kind who are already aware of attacks designed to extract valuable information through online.

What makes this recent uncovered technique so much more dangerous is that the location bar shows the text string “accounts.google.com” – a legitimate Google page. However, in this phishing attack, there’s a text string (“data:text/html”) preceding “accounts.google.com.”

There’s also another large chunk of text appearing on the far side of the location bar, which is the file that ultimately sends one’s credentials to the attacker.

These hard-to-spot text strings differentiate the phishing log-in page from the legitimate sign-in page. Most will see “accounts.google.com”, believe it’s the real thing and continue with the log-in.

Prevention

Wordfence provided advice on how to avoid being victimized by this phishing attack:

“Make sure there is nothing before the hostname ‘accounts.google.com’ other than ‘https://’ and the lock symbol. You should also be keen about the of the green color and lock symbol that appears on the left. If you can’t verify the protocol and verify the host-name, stop and consider what you just clicked on to get to that sign-in page.”

The use of 2-step authentication is highly advised. This method uses a secondary verification mechanism for users, and to regularly change passwords.

Wordfence also received word from Google regarding the attack. The tech giant acknowledged it and said that they’re strengthening their defenses against it.

“We help protect users from phishing attacks in a variety of ways, including: machine learning based detection of phishing messages, Safe Browsing warnings that notify users of dangerous links in emails and browsers, preventing suspicious account sign-ins, and more,” said one of the Google representative.

Wordfence suggested that Google should incorporate a design that allows users to easily identify the malicious, hidden text strings seen in these attacks which is similar to the way that the Google Chrome browser labels insecure “https” pages in red and secure, trusted ones in green.

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To know more about how to make your website secured and safe for your users, you can check iManila’s hosting page and check how our secured  hosting  packages and safety features such as the SSL certification can help you secure your business online.

 

Source: Wordfence.com

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