by Marianna Muscat | Mar 6, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing
If you are looking for a digital marketing solution that is more accurate and gives you more reach in your advertising budget, you need to start using geofencing. With geofencing, you can reach people in precise areas based on the places they go.
You can build geofencing around events, building, competitor locations, and even convention centres and conferences. If you are a personal injury attorney who wants to reach victims in hospitals, for example, you can build a geofence around specific hospitals that you want to target. If you are a business who wants to advertise to conference attendees at a convention centre, you can similarly build a geo fence around the conference centre that is hosting an event. You can even build a geofence around your competitors’ businesses!
When your target audience walks inside of your geofences, you have the ability to serve ads to them or up to 30 days after they leave your location. They will see your ads when they are on apps such as Weather Channel or Words with Friends, and when they are on websites that have advertising space. You can also track the foot traffic of people who saw your ads by building what is known as a ‘conversion zone’.
Geofencing is the new frontier of geolocation marketing, giving digital marketers a significant edge in their advertising reach. Whether you are a car dealership who wants to reach potential clients or a company who wants to market to conference attendees, the uses of geofencing are limitless. WSI OMS can be your partner to help you reach your marketing goals.
by Marianna Muscat | Feb 26, 2019 | Website Design, Website Development
Are you a website developer (or are you thinking of having a new website designed?) Then consider these interesting web development trends:
Push notifications started as a way to prompt people to take action, but they have evolved to become much more. You will notice the push notification permission box on many websites that you visit. If you have clicked on a box that has asked you whether the site can send you notifications, then you have approved push notifications. If your site has been designed in WordPress, then you can use One Signal to add push notifications to your site. Alternatively, you can also consider a dedicated push notification platform such as the PushCrew.
In 2017, 50,3% of website traffic came from mobile searches instead of computers and tablets. This means that the most successful developers will focus their efforts on responsible web designs and mobile-first web design. In December last year, Google announced that it is getting ready to launch its mobile-first indexing. Mobile-first indexing means that Google will use the mobile version of the content or indexing and ranking to better help their (primarily mobile) users find what they are looking for.
Animations are used to make websites more interactive. These animations can range from micro-interactions and scrolling effects to motion graphics and background videos. Impress your clients by incorporating these types of animations into your next designs!
Putting a light header on top of a dark video has become the norm in videos that are embedded on websites. Consider the tone and shades of your videos to choose an appropriate header when you embed the code from YouTube on your site.
Need help with your web development or design? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | Feb 19, 2019 | Content Marketing
A content marketing strategy is great, but getting the actual writing part right is a bit of a skill. If you have already committed to blogging and posting in 2019, make sure you avoid some of the pitfalls that many writers and bloggers fall into:
Maybe the topic you are writing about is very corporate and not at all fun, funky or funny. That does not mean you have to sound like a robot. If you are not familiar with the topic and are doing research online, consider listening to a few podcasts or watching a couple of YouTube videos on the topic. The best way to write naturally is to write the way someone speaks, so hearing about a topic you are researching instead of reading corporate articles and reports can help you to sound less stiff and formal.
Nothing is as boring as reading clichés in writing. One cliché that we often read in blog posts related to digital marketing is “in this day and age”. Nobody needs to read that. Other clichés include “tantalise your taste buds” and “stuck between a rock and a hard place”. If you are on a roll with your writing, it can be tempting to use these tried and tested sayings, but rather spend a bit of extra time coming up with a new way to get your point across.
People do not want to read long bodies of text online if it is not formatted in a digestible manner. Use subheadings and bullet points to break up your text so that people can skim the content to find what they are looking for.
Need help with your content marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | Feb 11, 2019 | PPC
If you are already using a paid search strategy, then you should definitely consider adding Gmail ads to your marketing mix. Not only are these ads less competitive, but you will be able to ensure that your brand is front and centre on a platform that people monitor for hours each day. An added benefit is that if you have struggled to get your emails into your potential customers’ inboxes due to spam filters, Gmail ads will ensure that you make your way there.
If you have not used Gmail ads before, these ads show up as an unread email with a little green “Ad” sign, similar to other Google ads. Here are a few tips to make sure you boost brand awareness and your bottom line:
As with any PPC campaign, you need to choose your keywords. Some of the strategies to follow include:
- Keywords based on certain words or phrases, and
- Targeting your competitors’ branded keywords.
If there are a few big name brands in your industry, you should definitely use their brand names in your Gmail ads, but be sure to make it clear why the reader should switch to you instead. If you are offering a discount or incentive, make it obvious in the subject line.
You can target your ads by using a list of names that you have already built into your account. This is a good approach if you are trying to upsell to existing clients or if you are running a remarketing campaign.
Some people do not know about this option, but you can also upload your contact list and use similar audiences to grow your list. This is a great way to reach much more people.
- Narrow Down Your Demographics
If you are selling products to men aged 20 to 40, then you need to make sure you are not wasting clicks on people who do not fall into this demographic. You can use your Google Analytics to drill down into the people who are converting on your site by clicking on Audience > Demographic > Overview.
Need help with your Gmail ads or PPC strategy? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | Jan 29, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing
The start of a New Year is the perfect time to look at some of the video marketing trends that may emerge. Video has grown in popularity with more and more people watching video content on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and the rise of native video advertising on the web.
It is projected that 80% of internet traffic in 2019 will come from video, and businesses are jumping on the bandwagon. For example, local telecommunications companies like MTN and Vodacom are encouraging the consumption of video by lowering data costs and introducing data lite platforms like MTN Shortz and Vodacom’s Video Play app. With this in mind, here are some of the trends to look out for in 2019:
Engaging with audiences in real-time is becoming increasingly popular, with the advent of live video streaming on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. Live video is not only cheaper, but it is seen as more authentic – modern audiences are hungry for authenticity from brands. Live video is also interactive, giving audiences an opportunity to engage with brands in a face-to-face format.
Most user generated content is shot on a mobile. Brands are also exploiting the advanced video production capabilities of modern smartphones by shooting entire commercials on iPhone. What this means is that more mobile-friendly video content will be available online. The shape and size of handheld screens mean we’ll see more vertical and square-shaped video formats.
Video has encouraged the growth of online learning platforms. E-learning lets students engage with course material outside of a traditional classroom setting through video tutorials and live streaming. Webinars can be seen as a form of e-learning, where companies provide a teaching platform where they share industry insights and expertise.
Video blogs are quickly overtaking traditional blogs. Vlogs are engaging and have never been easier to make with vloggers using smartphones and free video editing software to get their content out there. For businesses, blogs are also a great brand-building tool, by driving awareness and allowing audiences to converse with the brand.
WSI OMS offers the best in contact marketing services. If you need help with your content marketing strategy, then contact us today.
