KKom, Inc.

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Inbound Marketing

Marketing Strategies for Corporate Businesses: Expectation vs Reality

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Marketing is a huge challenge for any business. Whether you’re a startup or have been running your business for a while, effective marketing is always changing. You may expect one result and get another, either positively or negatively. How can we know what to expect – and what not to expect? Let’s take a look at some different marketing tactics and their realities in the business world.  

Social Media 

Social Media Marketing can cover a wide range of channel options.

This strategy is a no-brainer in today’s world. Most people (most of your customers, at least) have at least one social media account. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even YouTube are popular platforms for selling. However, if you’re just getting started with social media, there are a few key things to remember.  

Expectation: No one pays attention to ads on Facebook. 

Reality: People pay attention to good ads. It’s true that most people will scroll past ads on Facebook or other social media. That’s why you have to make the most of your advertising strategy. Focus on visuals first and foremost. Once you make them stop scrolling, have some enticing, clever copy that will convince people to click. There are plenty of books, resources, and agencies that will help you with online ads. 

Expectation: Your likes and follows correspond to sales. 

Reality: While follower count determines the reach of your business, it doesn’t guarantee the number that will actually buy your product. Social media presence alone isn’t effective marketing. Posting regularly, sharing testimonials, buying ad space, and making great videos will be sure to reel in more buyers. 

Cold Email Marketing 

Email marketing reaches all of your contacts fast and effectively.

Email service is the grandfather of digital communication. It’s just as relevant – if not more so – today than it was in the 90s. Most corporate businesses need an email campaign plan. You have 2 options: Cold email and “warm” email. While the latter goes to subscribers, cold emails are unsolicited and typically viewed as being “spammy”. However, when done right, you could have yourself a nice strategy. 

Expectation: Cold emails are always ignored and deleted. 

Reality: Cold emailing works when done with care. The worst mistake you can make is not knowing your recipients. By that, we mean having researched the person or company. Potential customers will appreciate seeing their name, a brief explanation of why they were chosen to receive the email, and how you can serve them individually. Automated cold emails are technically spam. Unique, thoughtful cold emails don’t have to fall under that category. You may want to assign someone to work on this full-time in order to produce individual emails. 

Traditional Marketing 

It’s even older than email marketing. It’s been around for generations, and it’s still as important as ever. We’re talking billboards, brochures, flyers, commercials, mail, posters, magazine ads – the works. The truly traditional way of marketing is costly, but it’s worth it. 

Expectation: Traditional marketing is a thing of the past, so it won’t increase sales. 

Reality: Is there a billboard you pass daily that is ingrained in your photographic memory? Maybe a restaurant ad telling you to turn off at the next exit? A catchy slogan? Which magazines do you skim through in the grocery checkout? Traditional marketing is everywhere. If it didn’t work, it would have long died out. Many members of the older demographic don’t use email or social media. If you’re looking to reach elderly folks (as well as younger), traditional methods are essential. 

Radio reaches people in many places like cars, work, and even in their homes.

Expectation: No one listens to the radio or watches cable TV anymore. 

Reality: According to a 2019 study by The Nielsen Company, 90% of Americans listen to the radio at least weekly. People still listen to the radio in their car, at work, and some people even listen at home these days. You’re not wasting any effort with radio ads. Cable and satellite TV are a little iffier, as consumers in those industries are declining. However, commercials still reach millions of people every day. You have an audible and visual advantage to really make your company shine.  

Conclusion 

No matter which route you go (or how many you choose), smart marketing will take your corporation to new heights. Consider your expectations of reality and turn them around for the good of your business. Creativity and confidence are key! 

7 Digital Marketing Tools that Will Continue to Evolve

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Digital marketing tools have become essential in order to lead the marketing game. These tools are always evolving and businesses have to grasp their use quickly to take advantage of them. However, among hundreds of such marketing software packages and applications, you have to find the ones that offer you the best value for their prices.

To help you with that, we have enumerated seven digital marketing tools that will continue to evolve to take your marketing strategy to the next level.

1.     Hubspot Marketing

HubSpot offers many useful tools that help entrepreneurs grow their businesses regardless of what stage they are at. All they need is to set up a web form and live chat software to capture leads. After that, they can send various email marketing campaigns, gather all the data into their CRM software and assess the behavior of the visitors.

From managing social media content to tracking messages and generating leads, the tool is an all-in-one solution for the marketers. The best part about this tool is that it is evolving with time with the introduction of features that facilitate better sales and improve inbound marketing.

2.     Proof Marketing Platform

The digital marketing tool connects to a website to use social proof to improve conversions on the site. It implements reviews, social proof messaging and videos that are geared to targeted customers when they visit the site. The tool is further boosting its features with hot streak notifications and live visitor count being a few examples that many brands can use to improve customers’ perception.

3.     MOZ SEO Tools

Moz provides an excellent selection of paid and free SEO tools. Marketers can perform page analytics keyword research, and backlink analyses by using MOZ.  Plus, it offers an excellent site-crawler feature. MozBar is evolving with its improved Chrome plug-in that can provide instant metrics for different WebPages at one click. 

4.     SEMRush Digital Marketing

SEMrush is an all-in-one tool for digital marketing that offers assistance with many tasks, such as position tracking, keyword research, and identifying different backlink opportunities. Plus, marketers can use this tool to do a technical and comprehensive SEO audit.

5.     Google Analytics Web Tracking

Looking for an advanced digital marketing tool that can help you get a ton of valuable insights on customer engagement with your website? Google Analytics is your go-to tool. You can explore this digital tool on Google Analytics Academy to learn about its ever-improving features.

6.     Canva Graphic Arts Suite

This tool is for marketers who like designing professional-level graphics. It helps them create infographics, CTA buttons, and images for social sharing.

7.     BuzzSumo

This research and monitoring tool can help marketers identify the latest trends and hot topics. BuzzSumo is an ideal tool for generating creative social media ideas, blogs, and high-performing content. It also identifies influencers and monitors brand performance. The paid tool is committed to bringing more innovative features to help customers rock their marketing strategies.

Bottom Line

Overall, the given digital marketing tools are perpetually evolving to provide ample opportunities for marketers to improve brand image among consumers. You have to pick the tool that best suits your business or use a combination of these to create a solid marketing strategy.

What’s the Secret to Rank at the Top in Google Search Results?

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Whether you are a startup or an established enterprise, improving the visibility of your business on the web is imperative to succeed. Most buyers these days prefer to start their research online before they intend to go to a retail location to make a purchase, and this isn’t limited to retailers, many buyers in the industrial sector start their prospecting through search engines!

According to a survey, 89 percent of people search online before making a purchase, even if they are buying from a local business. That means if an entrepreneur wants to attract valuable traffic and lead it to the relevant resources on the website, he or she needs to secure the top ranking on Google search results.

But it is vital to understand that there is no magic to conquer the rankings. The only secret that can help you soar high in Google searches is to employ effective strategies.

If you don’t know how to do it, we have you covered here.

The Secret to Rank at the Top of Google Search Results

Put Together Your SEO Strategy

The very first step to take is to put together the right and relevant SEO strategy. It is worth mentioning that companies fail with their marketing before even getting off the ground because they focus on the keywords that are either too broad, irrelevant,  do not get sufficient traffic, or are very competitive.

Remember that a focused keyword list is always broad, but it is essential to narrow it down through extensive research. You may be surprised by what you find, sometimes people find your business using terms you haven’t considered.

You can narrow the relevance and competition of broad keywords to incorporate specific services and local elements. For instance, instead of using “marketing,” you can go for “inbound marketing” or “digital marketing.”

Make an Ongoing Web Content Strategy

“Do not let your website get stale” was the key message Google put out when it updated the Panda algorithm in 2011.  That means the search engine rewards the websites that continually improve their content, grow the number of resources on web pages, and improve relevancy.

Therefore, you must build your website better over time to improve its search engine rankings. You can keep the website fresh by adding informative content, tools, and resources to help your visitors navigate and stay longer on your website.

Optimize for Focus Keywords

Keep in mind that each page of your site needs to incorporate some critical optimization components. Each page should stick to one main term or topic, this helps Google understand the content of each page without getting confused about the purpose of the page. So make sure your web pages contain and address the following elements with focus keywords.

  • 70 characters page title
  • Alt Text
  • H1 and H2 title text
  • Meta description of at least 155 characters
  • Content keywords at least once with included variations as necessary

Bottom Line

All in all, from building a solid strategy and implementing it effectively to keeping up with the Google algorithm to make a significant adjustment, you need to do a lot to rock the ranking game. In the end, make sure that you stick to the best SEO practices once your website has ranked high to maintain your ranking.