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Category: Our Ideas

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 info@imanila.ph to learn more!

iManila is now a Microsoft Partner!

The year isn’t over for iManila just yet! Recently, we received news that we are now officially a part of the Microsoft Partner Network or (MPN). Being a Microsoft Partner in our industry is important as this gives us more access to tools and information that will help expand our business, the way we engage with customers, and eventually help drive more clients.

This new honor once again only proves that time and time again iManila has stood to withstand the cycle of evolution, by constantly adapting to changing economic situations, market behavior, and consumer preferences. Getting local support from an internationally renowned company such as Microsoft is a huge deal for our company as we consider ourselves a small fish in a big pond in the industry of IT and Digital Marketing.

What are the benefits of being part of the MPN?

First off, as a Microsoft Partner, we’ll now be able to gain instant access to exclusive resources, programs, tools, and connections to foster business growth and possible opportunities. Microsoft offers different business opportunities to help support and evolve the businesses of companies in their Partner Network.

Microsoft is also the best platform to connect with and reach out to other partners through blogs, case studies, stories, and social networks. Being part of the MPN allows our Technical Support team access to different kinds of trainings that will allow us to keep our goals and visions up to date.

There is power in partnership. Moving forward, we know for sure that together, we can accomplish more. We’re looking forward to the resources, programs, and tools that will help train all of us and at the same time build some more innovative solutions, help us connect with customers, and differentiate our company in the marketplace.

We’re excited about what the future brings for us especially now that we’re officially part of the Microsoft Partner community. If you want to learn more about Microsoft’s top-of-the-line and highly secure collaboration tools, business emails and cloud solutions, we would be happy to help! Our dedicated technical support team have the expertise to support your business’ needs. Get help from a Microsoft partner such as iManila. Visit our website at http://staging.imanila.ph/hosting/microsoft-365/ to learn more.

The Importance of Identifying the Right Target Audience

Picture this: you are thinking of all the possible marketing tactics you can employ for your business. The carousel ad you saw on Facebook showcasing different products, the Instagram story Ad while you were browsing your stories, and the Google Display Ad that you saw as you were surfing the web made you wonder the kind of reach your business can get simply by trying out these different digital marketing efforts. But when you sit down with a marketing expert and they ask you about who you are targeting, you realize you haven’t thought about that part yet.

Who is the target? 

Knowing who your target is the first step for any company when it comes to developing an effective marketing strategy. A target market is a set of individuals that share similar needs or characteristics that your company hopes to serve. These people are targeted to be the end users who will be purchasing your product.

How do you determine the target market?

Because you want to get the most sales out of your marketing efforts, perhaps you’re thinking about capturing the interests of as many people as possible. However, in marketing, the opposite holds true: the more defined and clear the target, the more chances your marketing will work.

When you define your product and what it does, it becomes easy to determine who the end users will be and what they will like the most out of your offering. The key is understanding the needs of your customer, their pain points, and how you can meet that need with your product. This is possible through market research such as customer focus groups, industry reviews, or market surveys.

Making specific messages

Once you have successfully narrowed down a target market, then you can begin thinking of messaging that can appeal to them. This is important as it is about how you approach and come off to your possible clients. How you would approach selling coffee to someone who wants the premium coffee experience would be different to selling coffee to a busy worker who needs coffee to stay awake. Each target segment has different and unique needs and the message has to be one that clearly gets across how their needs can be met with the product.

Getting the audience right 

Usually, the target audience is also the intended recipient of your marketing message but sometimes, it isn’t so clear cut. There are some products where the buyer of the product is not the same as the end-user, so in cases such as this, it is important that the messaging is to the person who is making the purchase. In some cases, this does not ring true. An example would be toys for kids because while the parents pay for the toys, the kids get to influence their parents to buy the toys so in this case, it works that the toys are marketed directly to them.

Being more cost-effective 

Knowing who your desired target market is, makes it easier to make decisions when it comes to budget allocations. If you have a much narrower targeting, you will save on money and get a better return on investment. For instance, you would get better results by targeting women aged 20-30 and into cooking rather than targeting just women. Your money is not going to waste on wasted audiences if you have clearly defined your target audience because you are taking out of the equation people who are unlikely to purchase your product.

Now that you know about the first step to an effective marketing campaign, you are ready to move onto the next stage. Here in iManila, we believe in the importance of getting the right message across to the right audiences. We are dedicated to helping you achieve your business goals through the right digital marketing. Learn more about how we can work together. 

What you need to know about E-Commerce Marketing

The digital world is now officially a huge part of our daily lives with the new normal that we are promptly facing. The pandemic has made everyone realize that we all have to adapt to living online. We are now living at a time wherein e-commerce is beneficial to every business and consumer.

A lot of changes have happened in the past few months, a lot of lives have changed, some businesses have closed, while different people and communities have been struggling financially. This crisis has tested us but one good thing that has come out from it is how we have adapted to living our lives online.

Let’s begin by first defining what is e-commerce marketing. E-commerce marketing is about driving brand awareness and call-to-action for consumers to buy your products and avail of your services. You have to successfully cater to your buyer’s preferences and work your way around it effectively to reach your target market and to effectively make sales conversions through online platforms whether it be through your website or through social media.

Here are some ways to make the most out of e-commerce marketing:

  1. Build a strong bond and loyalty.

One of the most essential tasks that you should focus on is the strong bond and loyalty towards the consumers. The benefits of customer relationship strategies should be well taken care of and be established. Nowadays, consumers develop a relational approach that relates to customer loyalty.

There is a lot to take into account for an effective service type to build on customer bond and loyalty. For your brand to succeed it must have a sustainable competitive advantage that increases customer retention and attraction to your brand. For as loyalty increases, the volume of purchases and customer referrals also increase.

Once you’ve developed a strong bond with your consumers, a lot of marketing benefits will follow such as, the good ole’ word-of-mouth marketing, good reviews, testimonials, and even case studies. Once successfully done, your e-commerce store will be filled with people that are engaged to your products and services, thereby increasing the level of brand awareness and driving more sales.

  1. Customize and personalize your e-commerce site.

Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they can remember. The best brands are usually remembered through different promotions and unique offerings. Every consumer is always satisfied when they have a personalized experience thus it makes them feel special, helping improve their shipping experience.

In a traditional retail store, we would always visit stores that make us feel known and special through its store employees. Brick and mortar stores are designed to attract customers while products are laid out to grab attention. The same goes for e-commerce stores, where buyers should be made to feel welcome and should have a positive user experience from the homepage to the inner pages.

Customized and personalized e-commerce sites make the users’ experience and purchases faster and easier. It is all about treating every person who visits your site as an exclusive customer. Tailor fit your site to reflect the unique needs of every buyer in a way that they will feel like they are part of the brand’s journey.

  1. Establish and capitalize on user-generated content (UGC).

To make it big online, you have to cut out and push through ahead of your competitors. Brands should always keep on trying something new and staying in trend to remain and be known as number one. One way to stay influential is through user-generated content. User-generated content allows marketers to let their consumers do the talking for them. It is about allowing people to advertise your product for you based on their own experiences and feedback.

  1. Provide an Add-to-Cart option.

An e-commerce site is not without a shopping cart. It’s almost similar to the traditional shopping cart, but this time around, everything just works with a click Having a well visible shopping cart allows buyers to control what they want to buy and allowing them an easier access to proceed to check-out to purchase the items on their cart.

Most importantly, a visible add-to-cart option on your website lets users know that they can get what they need with no fuss. It is also important that upon checking-out, users are aware of your company’s return policy, delivery procedures and options and that when needed, a customer support representative is available to answer any concerns.

  1. Create a responsive and effective web design.

Having a responsive and modern web design is an important aspect of an e-commerce website. The design should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on the adjustment to the screen size, platform, and orientation.

Follow the rule that “less is more” but also don’t be afraid to use a different mix of artworks, designs, and images. All of your e-commerce strategies will only work well when your website has a responsive design, is easily viewable, and can be accessed with the use of any gadgets. Finally, always make it a point to organize your content, keep the words simple and make sure that your website can be easily navigated regardless of age or gender.

Not sure where to begin with your e-commerce marketing? Having the right agency partner can help you establish your business goals and thrive in the “new normal”. iManila can develop the best, user-friendly, modern and easy-to-use e-commerce website for your business. Let’s talk or check out our website at www.imanila.ph to learn more.

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