Reasons to Invest in eSports Marketing
The picture of young adults sitting in front of their computers playing video games is not the picture of sports that most people have in their mind. Nevertheless, esports are becoming big news, and sports leagues in their own right. That is one big reason to invest in esports marketing. It’s big money, and the number of brands who are feeling the excitement of this type of sports marketing is growing and building. That could be all the reason needed, but here are some more.
Why are brands so attracted and what are some of the other reasons for investing in esports marketing?
Not familiar with esports? Some people still think of electronic video gaming as kids trying to avoid their homework, or nerds in mom and dad’s basement, but it has become much, much more. These ‘kids’ are not kids, but professional players taking part in video gaming competitions in sports arenas with paying fans. And these players have fans, spectators, investors, and the whole thing operates as any other kind of professional sporting event. The players make money from sponsors, subscribers and by being as highly skilled as the more traditional kind of professional sports player. Brands are becoming involved in esports marketing for the same reasons that they might have invested in the top teams and players from the NFL, NHL, FIFA, or the NBA.
If this is new to you, there really are many good reasons to invest in esports marketing.
Reason 1 – The market. It is a fairly young demographic, and the eSports market is huge. Players and spectators, and even casual video game users, are part of the market that marketers would be investing in. It includes professional players, as well as hobby players and fans. There are a lot of fans, and the hours spent daily watching, or playing, or looking up information on the games and players is staggering.
Reason 2 – There is a big opportunity for growth. As more people become aware of the potential, or just the overall entertainment factor, more and more, people are discovering the players, the games, and that market is just getting bigger. Brands are not only investing in the players, but there is investment potential in sponsorship, advertising and franchising, and in eSports marketing—just as there always has been in sports marketing. Reach the audience while they are live streaming on online platforms like Twitch, or YouTube.
Reason 3 – High user engagement. While it might surprise some to realize that people are willing to invest time and money to watch others play a video game, there are many people who do, and who will also purchase tickets to go to a stadium and watch live tournaments. The eSports marketing audience is highly engaged, and they give a lot of time to eSports every day.
Reason 4 – The audience. The audience that eSports marketers would be reaching with their advertising, or sponsorship is not just huge; its worldwide. No borders or boundaries, just an internet connection, and anyone can play or watch esports. And they are. Many of the players, creators, and their audiences are from Asia. CNN Business suggests that those who do choose to invest should not focus only on the North American market.
Reason 5 – It’s just getting started. Professional video gaming is fairly new in the sports world. There is a lot of information available to raise interest and show where it is coming from and where it’s going. Revenue is expected to reach $1.79 billion USD by the end of 2022. in addition, a talk at TedX called on the Olympics to consider including Esports in 2024! Watching this talk will give you an idea of the popularity and potential of esports marketing.
Esports is part of a minds ecosystem that includes more than just its young, international fans. The interested parties in the esports world include teams, tournament organizers, streaming platforms, game developers, and upcoming future fans and players. There is opportunity for investment and involvement from everywhere. Just check out Wikipedia’s page for professional esports leagues and tournaments. Esports marketing is an investment area that will give back with its dedicated fans, professional players, up and coming users, and game developers. There are big opportunities in all aspects.
Four Questions to Ask a Lifecycle Marketing Agency Before Hiring Them
Businesses looking to increase revenue will want to consider implementing a lifecycle marketing strategy. By hiring a lifecycle marketing agency to implement this strategy, your business can determine and address your target market’s needs.
An experienced lifecycle marketing agency should have the ability to understand your business’s target market in order to help you retain and grow customer value over the long-term.
Marketers who think long-term about their relationships with customers tend to experience greater ROI for their efforts. Rather than trying to constantly bring in new prospects, using lifecycle marketing to bring existing customers back again and again is the ideal situation. Hiring a lifecycle marketing agency to help achieve this will save you money because existing customers tend to spend more and are easier to sell to than new customers.
What is Lifecycle Marketing?
Lifecycle marketing aims to identify your target market’s needs as they evolve from prospect to customer to advocates. Each “cycle” gives insight into how contacts engage with a business’s content. In doing so, marketers can segment their database and make more data-driven decisions. By hiring a lifecycle marketing agency, businesses can prioritize the most engaged and interested contacts, entice them with relevant content and ultimately gain a new customer.
The “cycle” starts when customers educate themselves about your business (awareness) and become more engaged with your brand (engagement). The cycle continues as customers research what you have to offer and begin to compare it to other options (evaluation). Once the customer has decided to buy (purchase), the cycle, then uses additional promotions and re-engagement campaigns (post-purchase) and customer engagement (advocacy) to encourage repeat business, they thus start the cycle again.
It’s important to note that the lifecycle stages will differ from company to company because of sales cycle length, website content, and the complexity of your product or service.
Now that you understand lifecycle marketing, it’s time to find a lifecycle marketing agency to work with you. When considering hiring a lifecycle marketing agency, it’s important to ask these four questions:
Do You Have Proven Results from Past Clients?
Before hiring a lifecycle marketing agency, you’ll want to ask for referrals and results from past clients. Any reputable company will be pleased to share their successes with future clients. Past clients may not necessarily provide specific analytics, but they can at least confirm if they experienced a positive impact on their business and lead conversions as a direct result of the lifecycle marketing agency’s efforts.
If a lifecycle marketing agency is unwilling or unable to provide references, it could mean that they have not achieved anything significant to date. It could also mean that they do not have a solid reputation and should be avoided at all costs.
What is the fee structure?
A project could take six weeks or six months. Discussing budget and costs in the early stages is important in order to avoid any surprises. When hiring a lifecycle marketing agency, it’s also important to know if the agency charges by the hour or by the project (a set fee/retainer) – granted there will be instances when an agency will do extra work above and beyond the contract, which would result in additional hourly charges. Most businesses have a set marketing budget for the year, so ask the tough questions before hiring a lifecycle marketing agency. Ideally, you can find a lifecycle marketing agency that can work within your budget and also deliver results.
How Often Will You Send Us Progress Reports?
A lifecycle marketing agency should be able to provide you with performance updates. This shows that agency’s willingness to be transparent, and it is another indicator of process management. A good marketer keeps you informed about campaign progress and performance on the key performance indicators (KPIs) you agreed on at the outset. Thus, reports should be focused on those KPIs, and they should provide enough detail for you to tell that the marketer did some actual work, but not so much detail that you can’t make heads or tails out of it.
Five Facts to Know About Social Media Marketing Services
Whether you are a small or large foreign business, social media marketing in China is your best bet to reach the growing number of upwardly mobile Chinese consumers. However, since China has banned many of the leading Western social media platforms, you will need to sign up with their Chinese counterparts. Weibo, Baidu, and other social media companies dominate the online space in China and get nearly a billion daily views. By promoting your products or services on these social media platforms, you can increase your sales potential and derive great business benefits.
However, establishing your business brand in China and promoting it on Chinese social media requires a knowledge of the Chinese language and culture. You’re not going to make a dent in the Chinese market if you don’t know either. While you should certainly strive for language fluency, a quicker way is to hire a reputable social media marketing service for your business promotion. You should check their marketing experience and ask for references before you hire them.
Here are five facts you need to know about social media marketing services in China:
- They will help you with official registration
Foreign businesses need the Chinese government’s permission before they can market their products or services on social media in China. The government will also keep tabs on what you promote in your social media posts. After you register for a social media account, you must submit a verification application and your business registration documents to a government authority. You must then pay the requisite verification fee. The process is tricky without Chinese fluency, so hiring a social media marketing service in China will help. They will assist you with creating and registering the social media account for your business.
- They will assist you with language matters
You need to know the Chinese language to market your products or services in China. While there are many English speakers in China, the majority of social media users communicate with each other in local languages and dialects. It is not easy for foreign business personnel to pick up the language, although they ought to certainly make an effort to learn it for long-term gain. So, it makes sense to hire a social media marketing service to help them navigate their way around the Chinese market.
- They will inform you about social media trends
You need to keep tabs on local social media trends and leverage those to promote your products and services. A China-focused social media service will know about local celebrities, fashions, music, films, dramas, books, and other popular cultural trends, and how to incorporate the top search terms about these in your social media marketing campaigns. By using these search keywords and phrases in your social marketing campaigns, you can increase your website traffic.
- They will guide you on cultural issues
You need to be sensitive to cultural sentiments when promoting your products and services. Otherwise, you might end up offending and alienating your potential customer base. You could also find yourself in legal trouble with the Chinese authorities. A China-focused social media marketing service will advise you on the issues you can use for your business promotion and the things you ought to avoid.
- They will channel your business to your target audience
You need to research the target audience for your products or services and segment them according to age, gender, likes, dislikes, and buying habits. The social media marketing service will gather and analyze the market data, and help you to incorporate the information in your business advertising campaigns. Furthermore, they will help you monitor your traffic trends and note which marketing methods are working and which aren’t. You can then alter your social media marketing campaigns to get better results.
By partnering with the right social media marketing service and engaging in consistent social media marketing, you can attract the right target audience for your products or services. Regular and professional interactions with this audience will assist you in building up a loyal brand following. And gaining access to one of the most vibrant economies in the world in this manner will, in turn, boost your sales and bring you business profits.
How to Choose the Best Advertising Agency
So: your small business is starting to grow, and you are running into the issue of trying to expand further, but organic growth when doing your own marketing isn’t cutting it anymore. You may be at the point where you need to start ramping up your marketing by hiring an advertising agency Austin to assist in your marketing efforts, but how do you choose the best advertising agency for your business? There are a lot of aspects to look at before you should settle on a company to take over your marketing campaigns.
Know What You Need
One of the first things you should do is determine what it is exactly what you need from an advertising agency in Austin so you have a starting metric for choosing an agency that is the best for you. Knowing what you need can determine what agency you choose, especially if you are deciding to branch out into a new platform for advertising that you haven’t used before, or if you plan on modifying your brand identity. If you are hiring an advertising agency, are you just hiring them for a single marketing campaign, or are you looking for a long-term relationship with an agency? Also, do you want your new agency to be the gateway to other clients for you? If you are hiring an agency, you will likely be asking about their past or current clients, so you need to know beforehand how important their client roster is going to be for your decision-making process. You also need to know what the new marketing campaign is for: is it for a new product, or are you just looking to boost sales? All these factors are going to affect who you are going to choose an advertising agency in Austin.
Decide on a Budget
When it comes to advertising, a budget is an absolute must. If you are hiring an advertising agency in Austin, you need to know how much money you are willing to spend on the marketing campaigns. This budget is likely going to be higher than what you had been spending when you were doing advertising for yourself, but you don’t want to overspend; the purpose of hiring an advertising agency is to boost your overall profits. When determining an advertising budget, you need to keep some things in mind. For instance, advertising agencies will either charge by the hour or the job for creative services, and there is often a 15% media commission above the hard costs of production. The 15% media commission is provided to agencies by the media outlets as a gratis for their business; it rarely changes, but the other fees often change based on city and market. When interviewing an advertising agency, they will often give you an estimate of costs based on what you want, and the job length. Be sure to be clear in communicating what you need upfront, and be sure to keep the timeline on schedule so that budget costs do not get out of hand.
Choosing an Advertising Agency
Once you have determined what you need, and the budget you want to be working with, you’ll need to search for advertising agencies that interest you. You can use web searches, or find out who makes ads you like in your area or industry to see if they would be a good fit for your business as well. Once you have a list, you can start sending out feelers in the form of brief letters to the CEO or VP of the agencies you are interested in. You can inquire about their capabilities, state your advertising objectives, get a sample of their work, state your timeline, and request a presentation from them.
Next, you need to look at the attributes of the agencies that come to give you presentations. A few questions you should ask during the presentation include:
- The strengths of their team and creativity;
- Who will be the point of contact;
- How closely you will work with their creative team;
- Their examples of good advertising;
- Can you speak with their other clients?
The presentation is a perfect opportunity to get a real feel for the advertising agency and whether they will work well with your company. Do they listen to you, do they understand the objectives, have they worked in your industry before, are they creative? Choosing the best advertising agency in Austin for your company can be a daunting task, but if you just break it down to knowing what you need, how large a budget you have, and what to look for when initially interacting with an agency, it can be worth it in the end for your business growth.
Digital Advertising on Baidu: A Recipe for Success
Entering the Chinese Market? Hire an Experienced Digital Market Agency
There is a growing interest among global businesses to market their products and services in the Chinese market because of the market potential. However, one should not overlook the fierce market competition. Therefore, clear-cut and inventive schemes and accurate implementation is necessary for gaining the desired market penetration. The optimization of the websites to local standards and flawless online promotional activities are essential for this. Here, the expert guidance and assistance of an experienced digital marketing agency become imperative. Such agencies that have through experience in the Chinese market will have comprehensive knowledge about the buying interests of the varied customer segments in the country.
Digital Advertising on Baidu: A Recipe for Success
The first thing to do, as regards the promotional activities in China is to make the website search engine-friendly. Baidu is the primary search engine in China, and almost all of the Chinese populace uses this one for performing their internet searches. All other search engines are irreverent in China. Hence, you must make sure that your company website comes in the first pages of the search engine result page. That said, advertising on Baidu in English will not be that beneficial, and on the contrary, it is very much advisable to create the advertisement material in Mandarin. This strategy will do a lot of good for your ad campaign.
Create Web Pages in Mandarin
As far as the Chinese websites are concerned, it is not a must that the landing pages must be in the local language Mandarin. Therefore, if you want the web content in English, you can create the site accordingly. However, you must take into account one major factor. In general, the Chinese population has a passionate preference for vernacular. They don’t just love the language; they have an ardent attachment to it. According to the prevailing trend, an internet search will be always using Mandarin keywords. For this reason, landing pages created using this language are more likely to attract the attention of the Chinese population. For that reason, it will be practically wise to create web pages in Mandarin. If the pages are in English, then for sure, the bounce rate will be very high, which will not be beneficial for any website.
Advertising on Baidu in English
Considering the love and fondness of the Chinese population towards Mandarin, which is their mother tongue, it will be practically advisable to create all of your advertisements in this language. Such a decision will be much more advantageous than placing English language ads. If you still wish to stick to try advertising on Baidu in English, you must make sure that the advertisement is translated into Mandarin in the same ad or place a similar ad using Mandarin. Naturally, everyone will wish to gain profits from online portals; hence, if you are aiming for the Chinese population, placing ads in Mandarin is highly beneficial.
Find Out an Expert Digital Marketer
Locating a competent online marketing agency is the prime thing that you will have to do if you wish to market your products or service in China. The main thing, which you must make sure while selecting such a company is the practical experience as regards the online functioning methods that prevail in China. The company must be familiar with the major search engines such as the Baidu and Sogou, as well as the social media sites like the WeChat and Weibo.
You can find such competent online marketing companies by searching through the internet. Although you will be able to find a plethora of digital marketing companies, you must select an experienced company, which has thorough knowledge about the prevailing online marketing tendencies in China. You can assess the professional proficiency and aptitude of the company by the existing client-strength. When you see that a particular company has a good bunch of clientele, you can certainly consider the company as a leader.
How to Improve SEO Ranking of an eCommerce Website?
If you own and operate an eCommerce business; you need SEO to get more customers. You also need SEO to stay ahead of your competitors. But finding a spot on page one of a search result is not easy. It is even more difficult to get the number one spot on a search page. For a business to maintain its top ranking on a search page can be challenging by astronomical proportions.
If you are nowhere near the top ranking or the first page of a relevant search page then you need to improve it without delay. Not doing so can translate into huge losses for your eCommerce business.
Here are some ways to improve the SEO ranking of an eCommerce website.
Website Audit
Identifying the problems on your website is of great importance as it can help you see the existing problems. Unless you know the reasons for the low ranking of your website, you cannot implement the right strategies to improve it. You can hire a professional SEO company for performing a complete website audit and create the right plan for you. You can even hire the same company to perform all the tasks related to SEO.
For instance, local Frisco SEO companies can help your eCommerce website rank well for localized searches. If they have the team in place for national or global SEO then they can even help you expand the reach of your business further. But it all begins with an audit to check for the SEO work required or left to do.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is extremely important for businesses as these are the words used by potential customers to look online for products or services they need.
Every business needs different types of keywords relevant to their business. One keyword cannot be sufficient for the SEO needs of an eCommerce company. You will need keywords for all your product offerings in all categories. Your prospective customers must be able to find your website when they are looking for products in your business category. Otherwise, you risk losing business.
Keywords help in creating the content for your website as well as for the website’s right architecture.
Content Creation
Content such as blogs helps search engines to find your website as per specific searches. Quality content helps with higher rankings. Quality content is also what makes your customers spend more time on your website.
Relevant and good content also helps with content distribution on social networks. As more and more members of a social network find your business content and deem it worthy of sharing it with their friends and followers; it will help new people to find your business page and ultimately your website.
Website Architecture
The structure of an eCommerce website must be simple and easy to navigate. The pages must be optimized with the help of the relevant keywords to help your target customers to find them easily. Internal linking and good navigation aid website pages to rank higher on search engines.
On-Page and Off-Page SEO
On-page SEO is all about ensuring that the keywords are where they need to be on a page. Off-page SEO is all about external links, which help in providing more authority to a website.
Broken links or poor quality links are bad for a website. So, you need to collaborate with experts in your field and other authority websites for such links.
For on-page SEO for category pages, you will need to use the keywords in the URLs, body copy, images, and metadata. You need to do on-page SEO for your product pages as well by using a mix of keywords and content.
Local SEO
Many businesses own and run physical stores in addition to their eCommerce websites. If your business has a brick-and-mortar presence; then local SEO strategies can help drive traffic to your store. Through it, your website can also get some traction.
You can do so by partnering up with your preferred search engines in order to show up on local searches. You will also need backlinks from local resources.
You will need to tweak SEO strategies as per the unique needs of your eCommerce business.
Why Search Engine Optimization is Important in 2019?
Usefulness of SEO
Search Engine Optimization is vital to bring any website to the limelight. Creating a website is more or less easy when there is a functional platform. However, the task of grabbing the first slots in the SERP (Search Engine Result Page) for the site is a bit tricky. Clear-cut strategies and focused initiative for implementing the same is imperative here.
Only when the search engines give top rank to the site, the site will become worthwhile, because, only then there will be the desired type of traffic. For effective sales, there must be visitors from the targeted audience.
Why Search Engine Optimization is Important?
The present time is noteworthy as regards internet usage. Online trading has become a fundamental area of action in all modern societies, and even people from small towns and villages have started to take up online shopping. Human life without internet is an unthinkable topic currently.
In a nutshell, each day or rather, each minute is vital, as far as the internet is concerned. Every single minute, hundreds and thousands of shopping portals, websites and blogs are emerging. Hence, it is of great significance that companies should intensely focus on bringing the related online sites to the forefront of the SERP.
Areas Where One Should Focus
• Customer Requirement: You must be aware of the desires and requirements of the customer segments, where you want to concentrate your promotional activities. A clear understanding of these factors is essential to make the related campaigns successful. Companies can make this part safe by entrusting the task of SEO works to a professionally capable company that has proved its competence.
• Keyword Research: The searching process will be different in different customer segments. For instance, some may use short keywords or commonly used words for searching the products or services they require, while some others may use different forms of keywords or key phrases to search. Here, SEO agency should pay special attention to fix the precisely needed keywords and phrases, and for this, keyword research is highly important.
• Promotional Method: Moreover, customers will have different types of likes and dislikes; some may like videos, and some other segment will be for audio. Hence, the SEO manager must have a comprehensive awareness regarding these mental penchants of the targeted audience. If the promotional activity is in a video format and presented in front of an audience who is not interested in the same, the whole connected tasks will go futile. This pragmatically means loss of time, money, and effort.
• High-Quality Content: Companies must make sure that the details they are going to present in front of the targeted audience are valuable. The search engines always prefer to project the websites that carry the descriptive story about the products or services. So, while creating the contents, companies must give due importance to the quality and trustworthy nature of the same. The content must give the right answers to the probable queries of the customers.
• Give Importance of Various Search Engine Algorithms: There are various other search engines other than Google, which hold high relevance in the contemporary period, like Bing, Amazon, etc. Amazon shopping has become all the rage in our time. Hence, precise optimization is the need of the hour. The SEO works must target all leading search engine and must satisfy the related algorithms. Companies must give due emphasis to both on-page and off-page optimization.
• Optimize for Various Gadgets: In our time, there are various devices through which one can use the internet facility like desktops, laptops, tablets, Smartphones, etc. Therefore, for getting better results, one will have to optimize the site in line with the specifications of these gadgets.
SEO
If you want to reach your prospective clients in The Woodlands, then it is imperative that you must make the related SEO The Woodlands perfectly in tune with the local market conditions. For such effective SEO works, you must get hold of a technically perfect agency, which has the relevant experience. Internet search is the best option to find such professionally capable SEO companies.
How to Use WeChat for Business – A Quick Tips for Marketers
According to reports, there are 1.112 billion active WeChat users which make this platform a gold mine for marketers. Here we have listed some effective WeChat marketing tips to engage users and get the best out of this popular app.
Get the Right Type of WeChat Account
WeChat offers different types of accounts like Subscription, Service and Enterprise accounts. Marketers should go for a Subscription account which is more like daily news feed.
The WeChat subscription account focuses on information and brand communication. It allows users to publish once a day to subscribers. Also, subscription account holders can publish 1-6 articles at a time.
After you have set up your WeChat subscription account, you need to get your account off the ground to connect with users. Here are 10 effective ways and marketing tips to use WeChat account for promoting your business.
Use QR Codes to Your Advantage
WeChat automatically creates a QR code for every WeChat account on the platform. You can also customize the QR code with your branding. WeChat app comes with an in-built QR Code scanner so users will not face any difficulties to scan your QR code and connect with your brand.
You can post these QR codes on different marketing channels such as social media platforms, brochures, product packaging, and brick and mortar stores.
Use WeChat Location-Based Marketing
WeChat apps can detect the location of users which helps businesses target potential customers nearby. The chat platform offers several features like Shake”, “Look Around” and “Drift Bottle that enables users to find the list of people around them and send them a message.
Use WeChat HTML5 Campaigns
WeChat accounts are capable of hosting pages built with HTML5. Businesses can use this feature to create unique and creative marketing campaigns and increase customer engagement.
Brands can create HTML5 campaigns with creative features like quizzes, games, voting, and more. This can encourage the audience to participate and brands can offer incentives such as gifts and discount coupons to people who connect with the brand.
Leverage Knowledge Opinion Leaders
Knowledge opinion leaders (KOL) are valued by WeChat users and brands need to leverage KOLs to connect with the audience. You can search for KOLs on WeChat and opt for a co-operation model where you create and confirm the content with KOLs who then publish on their official WeChat accounts.
Since KOLs have a large number of followers and trust and confidence of their followers, it can be useful to promote your brand. In recent years, KOLs have become one of the main drivers of WeChat marketing success for businesses.
Use WeChat Advertising
WeChat offers several advertising tools which are only available to official WeChat account holders. Prior to launching an advertising campaign, you need to create a good amount of content to ensure followers keep coming for more content.
WeChat offers three types of ads- KOL Ads, Moment Ads, and Account Ads. Though all types of WeChat ads are useful to marketers, WeChat moment ads are primarily used for marketing brands.
WeChat Moment Ads- These are similar to Facebook Feed ads. The minimum cost of activating WeChat Moment Ads is $7.50. This money can be used to buy ads with different targeting options. The price of moment ads varies and depends on factors like location and target audience group.
Start Loyalty Program on WeChat
Loyalty programs are a comprehensive approach to building long-lasting relationships with customers. These programs allow you to identify consistency and loyalty of individual and corporate customers. Loyalty programs can be supplemented by sending the latest news and exclusive discount offers to followers or granting special coupons, or gifting VIP cards to certain customers. The emphasis on loyalty program should focus on customers who have been purchasing your products and services for one or more reasons.
When you reward your repeat customers through a loyalty program, it motivates them to come back for purchases and also recommend your brand to their relatives, friends, and people they are close to.
The above given WeChat marketing tips enables you to use the WeChat platform to connect to the Chinese audience and increase engagement that first steps to make any marketing campaign successful. Do you have any questions about WeChat marketing?
Four Questions to Ask a Voice Marketing Agency Before You Hire Them
It’s a good bet that you, or someone you know, is using voice-activated technology for all kinds of reasons. They are certainly very convenient, entertaining and incredibly useful when we don’t have our hands free. Statistics, already over a year old, say that voice activated-devices are already in cars, in the homes, and in the offices, of over 39 million Americans. That means that a voice marketing strategy should be in your future plans.
But if you have never worked with a marketing agency before, let alone voice marketing, how can you be sure that you will find the right marketing agency for your brand?
Before you start, however, be sure that both you and the agency are on the same page. Do you expect the same things from this newest, and still developing form of advertising and brand building? This is not marketing as you know it, and there are many questions and many things to understand about it. Like all marketing strategies, the digital marketing agency that you will be working with to develop your brand should be willing to take risks, but be safe. This means, knowing your character, your brand and your customer, so that you can understand how voice fits in.
Here are four questions that you should ask a voice marketing agency before you hire them.
1) How can a voice marketing agency connect me to my customers?
This question implies understanding and is one that you and the voice marketing agency should discuss together. One answer is that customers are using voice assistants because they want information right now, at a time when they don’t have hands or eyes free to find it themselves. That means that if your brand is the first one that comes up in the answer to the search query, then the customer is yours! They are not likely to look for a second choice if they like what they hear. This is one area where you and your voice marketing agency should be ready to think outside the box.
2) Where is voice marketing the most popular?
If a particular age group uses it more often then consider the types of incentives that would appeal to this demographic. In its way, this is where voice marketing and other forms of digital marketing are similar. The same questions should be asked, but expect the answers to be more focused. Consider what you have in addition to voice and brand that can be used as a hook to keep the customer when you have them. More of digital marketing these days is already moving into the local area and this is one area where a voice marketing agency can really help.
3) What does my brand sound like?
Ask yourself this question, and think it through. Voice is about character, tone, language and purpose. Consider these things when choosing the personality of your voice marketing agency. These four things answer the questions of who, how, what and why, and they will determine how voice marketing will be used to reach your customer.
4) Are you ready for the next step?
It is very likely that the better this technology becomes, the more people will be using it. In the future, your customer will be connecting with you and your brand in ways that we have not yet even considered. The way people search and interact with the internet is set for a big change. Voice marketing is a different form of advertising and it is changing the future of digital advertising.
Once you have discussed these questions with your digital marketing agency and have a good idea about where your voice marketing agency and your brand development strategy are going, you are ready to begin. Make sure that you like the way your brand is developing and it all sounds and feels right to you. After all, you are considering hiring a digital marketing agency because of the advantages that outsourcing marketing in the digital, information world can offer you. Be sure that you consider an agency that is willing and able to move forward into the future with you. It’s an exciting time to be in business!
Crucial Interview Questions for Marketing Positions
When you are interviewing for a marketing position, it is best if you prepare in advance for the variety of questions you are likely to encounter. The most commonly asked questions deal with your knowledge about the marketing industry in general and in specific about the company you hope to work with. Prospective employers will want to know how much you have bothered to research their products and services.
Even if you are seeking an entry-level job, you should do your research. It is far better to be over-informed than clueless. Since you want to work with them and immerse yourself in the marketing of their products and services, you had better find out everything you can about their business.
It is generally easy to find information online, so find it and take notes. Don’t take interviews lightly. People are offering you their valuable time when they interview you, so always try to do better on your end. If you don’t get the job, it shouldn’t be on account of a lack of preparation on your part.
Here are three essential interview questions for a marketing position:
1. Why are you interested in this specific marketing job?
Generally, interviewers don’t want to hear the answer that mountaineers give for climbing a mountain – because it is there. No, they don’t want you to tell them that you applied because the job was on the job board and your dire financial straits compelled you to apply. Even if that is the case, the interview isn’t the place for such unvarnished honesty. They have limited time, and they only want answers related to their interview questions for marketing position. They want to hear professional-sounding and convincing reasons for your interest in the job.
For instance, you applied because your skills match the ones they require, and you think you have what it takes to handle the position. If you give this answer, explain it with verifiable examples of any similar work you undertook, and try not to sound like a corporate robot. Don’t tell them you are passionate about marketing. That is what they probably hear from everyone, and if they hire you, it will be for your originality, not your clichés.
2. If we hire you, what can we expect from you in the first few weeks?
Interviewers ask this question to discover how much you have researched the position you are applying for and the company you want to work with. If you have done your research, you will know the type of work that you must do in that position, and you will also have an idea about how that applies to market the company’s products and services. Having a basic idea of your job responsibilities is very important. It tells the interviewer that you know how to prepare in advance and that you are earnest about wanting to work with them.
Give them a gist of what you know and then take the opportunity to ask for more information about the work and the company. Normally, they ought to be glad to tell you since you have shown yourself to be sincerely interested.
3. What different marketing concepts do you think we should use for our products and services?
This is another question to gauge your awareness of what exactly the company does and how it markets its products and services. Take the time to read the content on the company’s website. Do they talk about their current marketing efforts on their blog? How do they use their social media? How many marketing platforms do they use? What kind of marketing campaign have they run in the past or are currently running? What appears to be their target audience? What kind of public response are they getting? How do they interact with their clients or customers?
Look at their competitors, see what they are doing in their marketing, and make comparisons. Think about what you would do differently if you were handling the company’s marketing efforts. Why would that be necessarily better than what they are doing at present? You need to be able to explain this succinctly. Try to explain in a helpful tone, not in a critical tone. They are hiring marketing professionals to assist them in doing better, not for listing their mistakes and giving them superior treatment.
Keep in mind that you are marketing yourself every time you go for an interview. Pull that off well, and the rest will be a breeze.
Why Now Is the Time to Hire a Local SEO Services Company?
A professional and well-established SEO company delivers results no matter its location. But, the question of local SEO vs. national or remote SEO comes into the picture as soon as you consider the audience you want to target. When your business relies heavily on local clientele in Houston, it becomes important to hire someone who understands their mindset, buying behavior, preferences, and the like. Hence the need to choose a local SEO company Houston. Here is how they help and why you need to hire them right away.
They speak the same language
A prime reason to choose a local SEO company in Houston is that they speak the same language as your business, which also happens to be that of your customers. This is extremely important when creating content for SEO purposes. Web page copies with the same spelling, dialects, and other keywords that are specific to your locality or area connect better with the audience, especially when you are focusing on improving search engine rankings for your local business.
They have better local knowledge
When you choose to work with a local SEO company, you can be guaranteed of a better working knowledge of the area they cater to. For instance, if you are a travel company that is looking to sell local attractions, a local company will have a better idea about the places that people like to visit. This can help them integrate search terms into the webpage content without borrowing information off obsolete websites or typical result pages.
They have a better understanding of local culture and audiences
Local SEO companies in Houston have a better understanding of the local culture than one with a national presence. They know what’s acceptable and what isn’t. Also, what clicks with people, be it keywords, search terms, images, and so on. Local SEO companies typically know the general demographics surrounding your business including what interests them and how they can be reached effectively. This is especially helpful when you want to market your business to the local crowd. These service providers also tend to have similar work cultures and find it easier to work in tandem with your team than some faraway company with people from a different background.
They understand local competitors
Because they function in the same region that your business is in, local SEO companies tend to know a great deal about your partners and potential ones. They also figure out competitors more easily, and probably also know how the latter work on their search engine optimization tasks. When you need references, these service providers are more likely to direct you to someone in the same area than a company that’s far away and hard to reach.
They help comply with local laws and regulations
Search engine optimization may be about your website, but it also requires complying with local laws and regulations when they are present. One of the biggest advantages of hiring a local SEO expert or agency in Houston is that they have a good knowledge of what’s okay and what’s not ok with the authorities. Unlike a remote SEO service who may have a limited idea about local compliances, and who could potentially land you in trouble.
They allow for in-person communication
You may have more options when you choose to work with a national or a remote SEO company, but there are benefits of in-person communication that you can have only with a local SEO provider. Having a face-to-face meeting helps develop better rapport. It also gives you the opportunity to discuss concerns, clear doubts, and gain a better understanding of everything to do with your search engine optimization project. Being in the same locality, these service providers are also more reachable and approachable.
They have a fine grasp on local SEO
Local SEO is increasingly becoming a specialized field and there isn’t a better choice than an SEO company in Houston to get this job done for you. Optimizing your website to show up on local search results requires listing your business online with many local directories, something that a local search engine optimization company tends to know better than a service provider miles away.
Does SEO Help You Grow Your Business?
Search engine optimization impacts your business in many ways. Unless your Woodlands business webpage shows up on the search results page, there is hardly any chance that you will gather clicks or customers for that matter. This is where SEO companies in The Woodlands come into play. In addition to getting you to top on the search engine results page, they can help create an indirect positive impact that allows growing your business. Here is a look at how it is possible.
Increase inbound traffic
Generating leads is always a difficult part of any business. Outbound marketing practices are usually the go-to method but cold calls, emails, and other techniques can actually prove to be costly in the long run, especially if you are just getting your business started off the ground. Search engine optimization, on the other hand, helps augment your sales and marketing efforts by drawing quality inbound traffic. There is also the upside of making this happen in a cost-effective manner. With regular efforts, SEO can give you targeted results, which grow over time.
Build credibility
Getting visitors or potential customers to trust your brand is something that takes a long while especially when done through old-school means like word of mouth referrals. In an era where search engine results have the same credibility, thanks to reviews or feedback, ranking on top can make a drastic impact on how people perceive your brand. The Woodlands can help you get there faster while sustaining your place through ongoing efforts. Including the right keywords and structuring your website in a manner that appeals to search engines can help build your trust and credibility in their eyes, which in turn can get you more qualified traffic.
Get visitors to take action
Drawing visitors or potential customers to your business website is only one part of the game. The true benefit comes when these people convert into paying customers. The Woodlands SEO does more than insert keywords into your web content. It optimizes the site for the right keywords that matter to your business while also making the site more user-friendly and easily discoverable. This helps immensely by letting your website be seen by the right people at the right place and at the right time. SEO gives you the advantage of getting the right customers and not just random visitors who are there to waste time. These potential buyers land on your website because they are searching for those keywords linked to your product or service. This, combined with a website that caters to their needs, gets them to convert into a buyer.
Websites aren’t always about sales. Your goal may be to get customers to join your mailing list or take part in a survey. When you are a local business, the goal may event be to share contact information or details about your services, so that they can follow up later. The Woodlands SEO companies can help with all of that.
Deliver long-lasting results
Using traditional methods of marketing or advertising has limitations in terms of the duration. You can drive results only as long as they are running. Chances of conversion or recall, once the ads have been pulled down, are pretty rare. SEO, on the other hand, lets you reap benefits in a sustained manner and stay on top of search engine results for a long time. This is made possible through ongoing efforts. While it may not give you immediate results like a PPC ad, SEO can still give you an advantage over your competition by making your business more visible in the long run.
Give better returns on investment
When compared to traditional methods of offline advertising and newer ones through digital means, search engine optimization gives you better ROI and at lower costs. This is typical because it helps you connect with the right target audience – people who genuinely take interest in or search for your product or service. Also, SEO is not on-the-face like a PPC or social media ad. There is no hard selling and your business website shows up on the results only when people search for related keywords, thus giving them an impression that you are doing things right.