The ‘Back To Basics’ Marketing Success of Oatly

Have you noticed the endless choice of milks you can add to your latte or cappuccino right now?

From soy and almond to hazelnut, rice, and beyond, there has never been such an eclectic mix of ways to experiment with your morning coffee. And, of all the alt-milks on the market right now, oat is arguably the top dog.

Oh, and in case you're not aware, Oatly is one of the world's leading purveyors of plant-based milk.

In fact, Oatly has seen an incredible rate of growth during the pandemic, with an impressive 2020 sales growth of 295% across all of its product categories, globally. And, with the brand’s success set to continue, Oatly is in the midst of launching an IPO by the end of 2021.

Oatly is in its prime right now, but how did the brand’s seemingly overnight success come about—and how does it approach its marketing activities?

We’re going to take a look at Oatly’s colossal success and explore the brand’s forward-thinking ‘back to basics with a twist’ approach to marketing.

Bowl and spoon at the ready—let’s dive in.

Rise of the Plant-Based Milk

With the threat of an environmental crisis looming, people are more eco-conscious with their consumer choices than ever.  A revolution is in motion.

But, believe it or not, plant-based milk is not a brand new concept. In fact, Belgian brand Alpro was founded in the 1980s and is often referred to as the pioneer of alternative milk products—with soy, hazelnut and oat all part of its range. But, a decade after the company’s launch, a new brand began its journey...

Formulated in Sweden by food scientist, Rickard Öste, during the 1990s, Oatly was created to appeal to people who have a lactose intolerance while providing a healthier, more environmentally-sustainable alternative to cow’s milk.

Given that around 68% of the world is estimated to be lactose intolerant and that oat milk offers a solution to a variety of consumer pain points (the environment, allergies, and personal health), Öste’s oat milk product was tipped for great things.

The product’s original incarnation, ‘Mill Milk’ was rolled out in Europe but with minimal success. Following that, an oat-based yoghurt with Danone flopped—something wasn’t hitting the commercial mark.

After going back to the drawing board and reimagining his brand image and marketing strategy—something we’ll talk about in more detail below—Öste launched Oatly, expanding his product range to meet the needs of a growing market. Now, Oatly owns 65% of the Swedish non-dairy category.

Savvy marketing and branding aside, one of the key components of Oatly’s roaring success is down to seizing opportunity when it arises. In this case, it’s the sharp uptake of eco-consciousness and veganism. Oatly made its mark in Sweden, and now is enjoying world domination (of the plant-based variety). Today’s consumers are holding brands more and more accountable for their practices in terms of sustainability

By 2025, the vegan food market is set to be worth a whopping $24.06 billion. And according to Global Market Insights, the plant-based milk market will reach $12 billion in value alone by 2026.

Oatly is right where it needs to be—but since it launched in its current form around 2016, the brand took a bold marketing leap—adopting a level of vision its competitors were unable to achieve.

“You see a graphic that shows up on the news of the categories that are surging in growth. And you're like, OK, hand sanitiser, that makes sense. There was a toilet paper shortage. I've read about that. And then you see oat milk on that list, and you're like, 'What, how is that on there?”Mike Messersmith, President of Oatly, North America

Brand Awareness: Going Straight to the Frontline

The uptake in oat milk did indeed soar during the COVID-19 pandemic and Oatly reaped the rewards. But, before that happened, the brand did something a little unorthodox by today’s standards.

Rather than investing in droves of Google Ads or going straight in for the social media kill, Oatly decided to expand its commercial reach and raise vital product awareness in the US (a huge target market) by going straight to the front line—the coffee shops.

To ride the crest of the plant-based wave and place its product (and branding) right before a captive coffee-drinking audience, Oatly teamed up with a selection of artisanal coffee shops where patrons were more likely to seek an alternative to dairy in their daily cup of Joe.

Through the baristas on the front line, Oatly positioned itself as the greatest alternative to dairy, searing its name (and its taste) into the minds of satisfied coffee drinkers across the nation. Arguably, the most creative part of the initiative is the fact that Oatly made a Barista Blend that is thicker than its traditional products—making it easier for those advocating for Oatly to make better, more attractive coffees for their customers.

Eventually, coffee shop consumers began to recognise the Oatly name, and the brand expanded its cafe-centric domination, placing its now-famous Barista Blend in these trendy, quirky, independent venues across the nation (coffee shops that align with Oatly’s brand image and ideals).

In 2018, Oatly opened its first factory in New Jersey—and a shortage of its signature oat milk even saw committed converts buying severely marked up cartons of the stuff on eBay.

This is arguably one of the most successful cases of bold, creative marketing in recent history—but Oatly knows how to do digital too.

What Sets Oatly Apart

Following the success of its barista-based initiative, Oatly invested in its online presence with campaigns and messaging that stand out from the crowd.

Brand principles

From the start Oatly has been dedicated to helping the planet with a more than palatable plant-based alternative to dairy milk. And, all of the brand’s campaign messaging reflects its ideals and delivers them to its audience in a way that really resonates.

Oatly’s recent ‘Help Dad’ campaign, for instance, targeted teens, inspiring them to convert their fathers to plant-based milk through a series of humorous yet provocative videos:

Some of the ads earned prime time Saturday night ad slots in the UK and although some saw the campaign as blinkered and ageist, the brand’s uncompromising tone shone through. To supplement the campaign and engage dairy-loving dads (and their kids), Oatly created a dedicated microsite to helping middle-aged men (identified as the demographic least likely to convert to plant-based milk) switch to Oatly with info, tips, and recipe ideas.

Oatly also created a landing page that encourages consumers to sign a petition against the EU’s censorship of plant-based products.

Informative, direct, and dedicated to the cause, ‘stop plant-based censorship’ is another effective digital outlet for the brand’s mission for sustainability.

Unique tone of voice

In addition to its unwavering brand ideals and its ever-expanding range of oat-based products, Oatly stands out from the crowd due to its unmistakable branding and unique tone of voice.

This video jingle from Oatly’s very own CEO, Toni Petersson, is a prime example of the brand’s playful yet direct brand messaging.

Akin to British drinks company Innocent, you can spot Oatly’s brand voice a mile off—making it instantly recognisable and as digestible as the products themselves.

Oatly knows its audience inside-out and as such creates messaging that strikes a personal chord with its audience across just about every touchpoint imaginable.

Staying true to its original marketing focus, the brand also has an Instagram channel dedicated to baristas where it shines a light on this 21st-century artform while providing a branded space for coffee professionals to connect, share insights or simply enjoy browsing.

The brand’s messaging takes on a life of its own—and it has the creative assets to back it up—initiatives like its closest Oatly-serving cafes map, called Oatfinder.

Oatly’s brand tone is fun and accessible—but when it comes to sustainability, its messaging pulls no punches. It’s this idyllic balance and clearcut commitment to its original mission that contributes to Oatly’s ongoing global plant-based milk domination.

Oatly: the Future…

An ever-expanding product range and a continual rise in popularity mean that Oatly is likely to enjoy riding the crest of the plant-based wave for some time to come.

To expand its commercial reach while maintaining its commitment towards a more sustainable planet, Oatly is currently working with two non-profit organisations to encourage farmers to start growing food-grade oats as part of their regular crop rotations. And, with initiatives like this, irresistible digital content is likely to follow.

There is a small wave of consumers that has been boycotting Oatly due to a recent deal it made with Blackstone—an alleged donor of the Trump administration and a firm accused of contributing to  Amazon deforestation.

While some former brand advocates have accused Oatly of getting into bed with the enemy and selling its soul, the brand came back with, as you might imagine, a well-executed statement:

"We thought that if we could convince [Blackstone] that it’s as profitable (and in the long-term even more profitable) to invest in a sustainability company like Oatly, then all the other private equity firms of the world would look, listen and start to steer their collective worth of 4 trillion US dollars into green investments."

Despite the recent controversy, the fact remains that Oatly is currently at the top of its game—and the best may be yet to come. If nothing else, this story goes to show the power of persistence and the value of going against the grain in a competitive digital world.

Oatly shows how a successful and effective marketing strategy can help a brand stand out in a crowd - if you seek more local examples, join our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts and get the global recognised certificate today!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

What are the Benefits of Earning a Digital Marketing Certification?

A qualification can be the key to starting your digital marketing career or advancing it. It doesn't matter if you're experienced in the field or just starting out. Obtaining a qualification/certification offers many benefits, including the fact that you do not need any prior educational background to start.

The following are some of the benefits of getting a certification:

Stay On Top of New Developments

Certifications help you stay on top of new developments in your industry. Innovations in technology are constantly advancing, so staying up-to-date on digital will help you stay competitive.

Make Yourself More Employable

The trend of college graduates being underemployed is on the rise. According to The Washington Post, this has resulted in 40 percent of graduates being in jobs that don’t require a degree. This has resulted in colleges offering certificates before graduation so students can have the skills employers are looking for. Therefore, if you want a job in digital marketing, being certified shows prospective employers that you have the necessary practical knowledge.

Get Yourself Ready for Promotional Opportunities

Hard and soft skills are needed for digital marketing. One or two specialties in your niche can help you advance quickly in a company. It is easy to become a successful content marketer or manager if you are an expert with PPC and SEO, for example.

Demand a Higher Wage

The earning potential of a digital marketer is high. It is one of the top ten highest-paying jobs without a degree. A certificate on your resume will strengthen your ability to command a higher salary and give you the confidence to know that you deserve it.

Set Yourself Apart from Peers

Certifications will set you apart from your competitors during job interviews and promotions. Furthermore, it illustrates a desire for self-improvement that reflects highly on your character, not just having the relevant certifications and skills.

Combine Education with Practical Knowledge

In reality, you may believe that formal education is important. A digital marketing certification is a combination of education and hands-on experience. It meets the requirements for post-secondary education that focuses on teaching you the knowledge you are going to need in the real world.

Be Your Own Boss

By obtaining a recognized qualification in digital marketing, you will have the knowledge and experience to set up your own business. Having your own business will also allow you to become a freelance digital marketer and travel around the world. Certifications should also demonstrate to investors, stakeholders, and customers that you know how to grow and promote a business to make their investment (money or time) worthwhile.

Take the first step towards a successful digital marketing career with a certification.

Learn more about how to have a holistic social media marketing strategies by joining our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

6 Reasons Nobody Reads Your Blog

While 91% of businesses were using content marketing, not all are getting good effect from it. If you’re disappointed by your blog’s traffic, you aren’t alone.

To be honest, some businesses simply have expectations that are too high – anticipating every post to go viral. However, if after a couple of months of blogging you’re still only receiving a handful of views, it may be time to make some changes. You can learn more with our content strategy blog article.  

In the meantime, the following list shares six reasons why no one is reading your blog. Chances are, if your traffic is miniscule, you’re making one of these mistakes.

1. Your blog doesn’t have a relevant focus

The Digital Marketing Institute prides itself in providing unparalleled digital marketing insights and advice – both through our courses and on the blog.

But what would happen if you arrived at our blog next week to discover we had written the world’s best article on cats?

Regardless of your personal preference toward them, you’d probably be a bit surprised. After all, you came here to learn marketing strategies, not pet grooming tips.

The crux of the matter is this – if we began producing blog articles on random, inconsistent topics every week, we’d quickly lose readers. And rightly so!

If your blog traffic is struggling, the first question to ask yourself is: Does the blog offer content that people actually want, on a regular, reliable basis? While one great article can drive traffic to your site, it won’t necessarily retain those visitors. The purpose of your blog should be to establish yourself as a thought leader on a specific topic. Know what that topic is – and focus on it exclusively.

“Focusing is about saying no.”Steve Jobs

2. Your content simply isn't good enough

Gone are the days when you could write a blog post in 15 minutes and rank at the top of Google. With the plethora of high quality sources and a multitude of content channels available today, readers aren’t willing to put up with mediocre content, nor do they have to.

If the focus of your blog is on track, then take a look at the quality of your content. Does your blog provide value-add, or is it just rehashing what people can learn elsewhere? Would you actually subscribe to your blog, or would you consider it a waste of time?

Poor quality blog posts can turn customers away – so give your readers something worth reading! If you can’t invest enough time to post daily, transition to a weekly or bi-weekly publishing calendar. It’s better to produce one high-quality piece than 10 embarrassingly cheap articles. Just remember that high-quality content is not going to come for pennies. You’re better off paying a premium for one exceptional blog per month then buying a cheap post every day.

If you do your blogging right, the time and money investment is worth it. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. so you Invest more time in fewer articles, develop thought leadership content, and watch your following grow.

3. You don't have SEO in mind

Do you remember, back in the day, when you would click on the top Google search result only to find a spammy blog post full of ads and absent of value? Back then, digital marketing consisted of keyword stuffing your blog posts to trick search engines. Even if the article was completely incomprehensible and worthless, the right keyword strategies would get it to the top of search results.

Fortunately that isn’t the case anymore. However, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is more important than ever. While social media strategies can give a post short-term bumps in traffic, the long-term, residual traffic will come from ranking high in search results.

Although this can’t be done overnight, there are a few things you can do to improve the SEO of your articles and blog posts.

Start by including keyword phrases in titles, subheadings, and within the text. If someone searches for “ways to improve my blog traffic”, a title called “10 Ways to Improve Your Blog Traffic” will usually place higher than a title like “A Blogger’s Journey Towards Discovery and Growth”. Sure, the first title isn’t as creative, but search engines know that it will help the reader. Write your content for people and Google.

Use tools and plugins to help monitor and improve your content’s SEO. One great freemium tool for WordPress users is the Yoast SEO tool, which is recommended and used by thousands of top bloggers. The plugin tracks your keyword usage across titles, within the text, and on images to improve your content’s chances of being ranked well in search engines.

Next, boost the traffic to the blog post through social media, links on your own website, and links from other authority sites. If you’re writing high quality content, people will naturally want to share it – but you can boost your visibility by contacting industry influencers and sharing your new blog post with them. If it would be useful to their audiences, they may very likely mention your site in one of their future blog posts.

4. Your content is too self-promotional

It’s a harsh but largely universal truth: Nobody cares about your company or product. Yes, you might be excited about your new service or speedy growth, but other people don’t care. They’re too busy trying to solve their own problems and satisfy their own needs.

Too many blogs are stuffed with overtly promotional content – making it very clear that the focus is not to provide value to the customer, but to drive sales. No one is going to follow a blog that shares article after article praising their own product. People read blog posts to gain insights or be entertained – not to view ads.

“But isn’t the purpose of a blog to drive sales?”

Absolutely! But blogging is a long-game strategy. Your blog posts should have a Call-to-Action, but that CTA shouldn’t be “Buy, buy buy!”

Instead, provide valuable content that’s relevant to your potential customers. Then, encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter or download a whitepaper with industry-specific advice. Once you have the person’s email address, you can send them a direct email asking if they have any questions about your product or are interested in a trial/discount.

Most of your blog readers will never become customers. But that’s okay. Continue to provide valuable content and those readers will share your posts across their network – increasing the likelihood of being noticed by interested prospects.

Keep your blog focused on education, not sales, and your sales will also improve.

5. Your editorial calendar is irregular

It has become less important to publish a new article every day, with the rise of all those other content channels, like your Twitter and Facebook feeds. But your dedicated readers should at least hear from you on a consistent basis. Remember, content marketing is a strategy – which means a lot of planning should go into it. If the goal of your blog is to lead readers further down the funnel, then part of your content strategy should be consistent publishing. And, your blog posts can provide a lot of the content that will feed our other channels.

It’s all too easy for someone to forget that they subscribed to your blog if they go three months without receiving an update. Then, when they suddenly see an article in their inbox, they disregard it, or worse, mark it as spam.

Many content writers (particularly those that double as small business owners) discover that their creativity and productivity ebbs and flows. One week they could produce two or three pieces of content with gusto! But, after wearing themselves out with this onslaught of articles, nothing else could get published the following week.

If this happens to you, consider scheduling a couple of articles a week, and saving the rest to populate your editorial calendar going forward. If you find yourself with enough content 2-4 weeks in advance, you won’t neglect your readers and will save yourself time and pressure by not having to produce a constant stream of content when it’s simply not feasible.

6. Your content isn't being promoted effectively

While this is important for everyone, it’s particularly necessary for a new blog. Regardless of how compelling your content is, if you don’t distribute it appropriately, it will never make the required impact.

Your content marketing strategy shouldn’t end when you hit “publish” on your CMS. In fact, this should just be the beginning. Spend the next week posting the article on your social media accounts, email it to subscribers of your newsletter, and personally share it with relevant industry influencers who may be interested in sharing it on social media or linking to it in an article of their own.

No one is going to advocate for your blog more than you – so make sure you’re putting in the time and energy necessary to guarantee its success. And this doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Over 81% of marketers realize an increase in traffic with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing.

Closing Thoughts...

There’s a reason that 73% of organisations have someone in place to oversee their content strategy – it takes a lot of work! But even a small, one-man-shop can benefit from intelligent content marketing. Commit to consistently publishing high-quality, focused content that provides value, share it across your network, and watch your readership grow.

As long as you use blogging (and not sales or advertising) strategies for your blog, you can expect to see a healthy ROI over time.

Eager to learn more? Join our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Risqué Brand Tone on Social Media: Where to Draw the Line?

The noise on social media is increasing, and the potential reach for brands is actually declining – Facebook page posts only have around a 2% reach. Brands are now being forced to get more creative, and creativity can end up going many ways we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. Examples of witty, bold, clever, pun-driven social media posts are almost endless.

Here’s the thing though: taking this direction can either be incredibly successful or fail spectacularly. A well thought-out campaign can turn into a fully-fledged tone on social media, while a poorly executed one can damage the brand’s reputation long-term and deter even the most loyal fans.

In this article, we’ll dive into what makes up a brand’s voice, tone and image in the first place. Then, we’ll look into many examples, both good and bad, to inspire you and save you from repeating other companies’ mistakes.

Voice, Tone and Brand Image

While these might feel like just different names for the same thing, a brand’s voice, tone and image all represent a separate entity of their online presence.

Buffer sums up voice and tone as follows:

Voice: Your brand personality described in an adjective. For example, a brand can be lively, positive, professional or witty.

Tone: A subset of the above-defined brand’s voice. Tone adds specific flavor to your voice based on factors like audience, situation and channel.

On top of that, Management Study Guide defined brand image as the current view of the customers about a brand, a unique bundle of associations within the minds of target customers.

Essentially, your brand should have one voice and many tones that refine that voice depending on the occasion and platform. As a result of your activities, your audience will have a perceived image of your brand.

The lesson here is clear: when you decide to write your social media posts in a certain way, keep in mind that it goes beyond how you believe they will be perceived – your audience makes the ultimate judgement. Sprout Social published a study which shows that snarky and funny behavior from brands on social is desired and expected, but not prior to honesty, friendliness, and helpfulness:

Let’s dive into the potential audience touchpoints on social media that play an important role in defining your voice and tone.

Where Do Your Tone and Brand Image Make an Impact?

Every point of interaction between you and your audience – points where you get to be professional, serious, snarky, bold, and many other things – can typically be sorted into one of the three categories on your social profiles.

Your social media ID: profile description, profile photo and header image

In most cases, profile imagery and descriptions are a place where companies describe what they do and showcase their logo, photos of their retail space and their team members. They typically use phrases such as “We help [audience] do [goal]”, or “Welcome to [company name] official Twitter page.” It’s a quite a standard and most frequent approach.

However, many companies across various industries use this space in a bolder way, often using their target audience’s phrases, puns and wordplay, wit and jokes to set potential followers’ expectations for the content they will see should they choose to follow.

Below is an example from Old Spice. It is so consistent with all their social media activity, and even their TV ads, that you can almost hear Terry Crews screaming at you as you read their Twitter bio.

Another example comes from Innocent Drinks, whose Twitter bio reflects their entire light-hearted, health-driven online presence, as well as their mission. It can also be a good idea to directly say what to expect from your particular social media profile, just like Paddy Power does.

Public, planned posts

For most companies, the bulk of their social media existence is based on the posts they publish from their accounts to the general public. From plain text and photos through to videos, GIFs, links and polls, there is plenty of room to express your brand’s personality.

When it comes to planning these into the marketing calendar and scheduling them, the majority play it safe. They post about their ongoing offers, customer reviews and new products. They adjust their posts to the season of the year, relevant news, or anything else that they know their customer would be talking about.

And then there are the risk-takers. When you see these daring posts in your feed, you almost always want to look at people’s reactions. They can vary from hilarious to straight-up shocking, and brands who excel at this never seem to lack ideas for more.

One example comes from Steak-umm, which, unsurprisingly, sells steak products. This is the look and feel of their Twitter feed on a daily basis:

Another example comes from The Hustle, a tech and business newsletter that’s quite popular with their #showerthoughts:

Interactions

The third place is in your comments, replies and any other interactions with your audience or with other brands. As you’ll see in further examples later on, this is often the most fertile ground for exchanges that turn viral and reach a broader audience than a regular post ever would.

It can be risky to talk to others in such a public space without potentially offending someone directly. It is always a human being at the other end of that conversation, so taking the creative path in replying to others may result in a raving fan or a lifelong nemesis.

Pop-Tarts doesn’t hide from the fact that their products may be faulty, and they reply to complaints in wonderfully honest and amusing ways:

As a final example of this, it’s impossible not to mention Wendy’s. They have a reputation for roasting both their competitors and everyday people who tweet at them. It’s positively accepted, and they don’t look like giving up anytime soon:

What Can You Learn from the Best and Worst Examples?

Some of the examples so far probably gave you a solid idea of a whole spectrum of options when it comes to testing the limits of your tone on social media. Some examples mentioned so far have been mild and chuckle-worthy, but as you’ll see in this section, things can escalate pretty quickly, even from a single post, and results end up being spectacularly great or remarkably awful for the brand.

Risqué content is typically humorous, snarky, clever, witty, cynical, and potentially many other things – and most often a mix of a few of these. However, there’s a common theme in all of this: aiming to trigger a strong emotion and an intense reaction. The usual rule is: the deeper this aim, the fiercer the reaction, either positive or negative.

Let’s dive into some more examples from both sides and identify a few lessons every brand can learn from them. One of the most important elements to keep in mind is the immediate context for the intended recipients – the target audience. Their existing relationship with the brand, and the tone they’re used to, plays an essential role in this.

Just think of it like this: you probably aren’t expecting the same serious and professional tone from your life insurance provider and the pub down the street. Let’s look at some common denominators for quirky brand activities on social media.

Leveraging trends, seasons and news

Being current means being relevant, which Lidl knows and implements regularly, like in this tweet when Ireland was stuck under snow in February:

Creative agency R/GA reacts to news and current topics daily, and is not afraid to mention politics and provocative topics. The reactions they spark are overwhelmingly positive.

Sadly, hopping on trending topics doesn’t always turn out great for brands. One of the most frequently frowned upon action is piggybacking on the death of a celebrity or a disaster of any kind. Cheerios made this mistake with Prince’s death, and Kenneth Cole slipped up at the time of a military coup in Cairo. Both tweets have been deleted soon after, but their screenshots are still available:

Alluding to or enticing age-restricted behavior

Unless your brand exclusively talks about adult-only topics such as gambling, drinking and sex, the safest thing is probably to steer clear from them. Brands with a wide enough reach for their social posts to catch fire almost definitely have minors in their audience. They risk the anger of protective parents, teachers or simply any common-sense grown-up audience when they take this route.

Ryanair recently regretted a campaign for students who were about to graduate from high school. People complained that they were encouraging binge-drinking, and the post was then removed:

Joking on someone else’s account

Finally, the most frequent path with edgy social tone – and the one that most easily catches fire quickly – involves interacting with other accounts and taking advantage of something they did or said. It seems like brands do this to prove they are a level above, cleverer and witty.

One of the most extraordinary recent examples of this, and the one with a tremendous reach, is the chain reaction to IHOP’s recent temporary rebrand to IHOb which aimed to push the sales of their burgers.

The amount of PR they received was beyond measure, with reactions from Burger King, Netflix, Timehop, and Whataburger:

These posts largely represented the existing tones of these accounts, and the reactions of their respective audiences were incredibly positive.

Old Spice reacts to silly tweets with, well, silly tweets, and just like everything else with their social media tone, it works:

The negative example for this section is a rather spectacular one. This seemed like an innocent exchange between a frustrated Thameslink traveler and Thameslink’s customer service representative...

This ended up being a full-blown social media spectacle:

How Can You Take Action (And Not Mess Up)?

We’ve covered a lot – the good and the bad, the mild and the huge, the logical and the peculiar. This space is impactful beyond words, and it’s difficult to boil it down to a few universally applicable takeaways that you can implement and end up with a quirky, popular social media presence.

That’s because there is no magic formula or a tried and trusted recipe. As you have seen, different tones work with different audiences. Would the mildly offensive tone Wendy’s use work for Innocent’s audience? Probably not. Would it work vice versa? Maybe, but then we wouldn’t know Wendy’s as a bold and courageous brand online.

All these brands have something in common: they’ve done something brave in a public space that is quick to judge and where nothing can go unnoticed. Some of them have done it once and have likely given up because it went terribly wrong. Others have been going at it for years and have created a recognizable riskiness to their tone which everyone now knows them for.

The ultimate takeaway is this: there is always space to test and explore your tone, but it’s crucial to do it slowly and with great care. Things aren’t universally funny and not everything is obvious, and if you want to become more audacious on social media, you should take it one toned-down audacious step at a time.

Here are some things you can try:

• When you want to share something you find funny, like tweeting a joke, sharing a pun, or making fun of someone, take it to 5-10 people first. Try to talk to these people individually (not in a group) and simply gauge their initial reactions. If your idea is good, you will get a positive response from all of them. If not, go back to the drawing board.

• When you experiment with something new, follow your audience’s real-time reactions. This will help you not only measure the success of your post, but also react as quickly as possible in case you need damage control.

• Create guidelines, a file with examples (both bad and good), and keep educating company staff both in and outside the social media team.

With these examples and tips in mind, you will now see social media in a slightly different light – hopefully helping you and your brand to shine in a way that makes your perfect audience feel exactly the way you hope them to.

Hungry for more tips? Learn more about how to have a holistic social media marketing strategies by joining our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing for “Boring” Businesses

There’s a wealth of information about content marketing online, from ultimate guides that cover every possible aspect of the process to fun listicles of businesses that are doing content marketing right.

The only problem is that most of the examples you find in content marketing guides have little in common with the average business. Dig into the list linked above and you’ll notice that all six are marketing companies - not exactly a representative sample of small businesses!

It’s easy to generate interest and attention with content when you’re marketing to marketers. It’s also easy to attract attention when you’re a remarkable business like Tesla or Uber. But what if your business isn’t remarkable? What if you’re normal at best, and a little boring at worst? This doesn't mean you should confine yourself to traditional marketing tactics.

If you aren't a rock star brand like Apple or Red Bull, there’s no reason to ignore content marketing as a potential sales channel.

With the right strategy and approach, you can make it work. The key is in working out how you can make your “boring” business less boring, at least to the people that are most likely to read and respond to your content.

Below, we’ve shared three techniques that you can use to make content marketing work for your “boring” business. Whether you’re searching for traffic, links, social activity or direct sales, try all three before you write your business off as too boring or conventional for content marketing!

Focus 100% of your attention on reaching people that need you

Pretend you’re in charge of digital marketing for an accounting firm that specialises in helping small businesses deal with debt.

What would you write about? Since you’re not pioneering innovative new technology like Tesla or Apple, there’s little hope of attracting the attention of the mainstream media. Since you offer an extremely private service, it’s unlikely that people will share your content.

Instead of approaching content marketing like a business with broad, mainstream appeal would, by writing for the largest possible audience,“boring” businesses need to focus on writing for the small audience of people that truly, often desperately need their help.

For our example accountancy firm, this means writing helpful, insightful content for the owners of distressed, struggling businesses.

Start this process by making a list of the most common questions you receive from prospects and clients. Below, we’ve listed five questions that people seeking the help of an accountancy firm specializing in debt and insolvency might ask:

• I’ve just received a statutory demand. What should I do?

• My business is struggling. How do I know if I’m insolvent?

• What can I do to collect money from a non-paying debtor?

• How can I stop an aggressive creditor from winding up my business?

• How can I stop my business from becoming insolvent?

For a large content marketing campaign, you should make a list of at least 20 questions that you frequently receive from prospects and clients. These questions will form the focus of each article and blog post you publish as part of your campaign.

Once you’ve put together a list of questions, check the search volume for related keywords with the AdWords Keyword Planner. This will tell you how large the monthly potential audience is for each blog post you publish.

Select “search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category” and enter your primary keyword to generate a list of related keywords.

Our first example question about statutory demands receives a large amount of searches in the UK, indicating that there’s a significant interest in this topic:

All in all, there are 347 closely related keywords, showing that there’s a large demand for useful information about statutory demands. It’s also clear from the results that the most popular topic related to statutory demands is setting aside a statutory demand.

From this data, we know that an article or blog post like “How to Set Aside a Statutory Demand” will reach an interested, motivated audience. People need information on setting aside statutory demands, and a helpful, step-by-step guide could be very successful for our example business.

In short, the audience for this question needs our example company. They’re a fantastic match for our service and the best way to reach them is through content. As such, an article like this is a no-brainer and an obvious inclusion in any content marketing plan.

This technique can be used for any business, not just an accounting firm. Start by making a list of the questions your existing prospects and customers ask you. Then, verify that people need answers to these questions. If they do, answer them to reach an audience that needs you.

Your business is only “boring” to people that don’t need you. If you solve a problem for someone or provide useful information, you’re no longer boring. Write for people that need your help and you’ll quickly discover an audience that finds your business extremely valuable and interesting.

Find and talk about fun, unique, or inspiring aspects of your business

No matter how boring your business might seem to you, it’s probably far more interesting than you realise. Every business has a fun, unique or inspiring side that, once discovered, can be a significant asset for your content marketing campaigns.

Data from The New York Times Customer Insight Group shows that people share content for a variety of reasons:

• 49% share content to inform or entertain other people

• 68% share content to define themselves to friends and peers

• 78% share content to grow and strengthen relationships

• 69% share content to feel more involved in the world

• 84% share content to support causes or issues they care about

Of these five motivations, which can your business tap into?

Do you support an important cause or movement? If so, make it one of the key focuses of your content marketing. Involvement in a nonprofit or charitable cause can make a “boring” business stand out as a vehicle for social improvement and progress.

Even the simplest of businesses can tap into the power of content marketing for social good. In a Moz article, Robin Swire explained how he marketed a car parking business using topics like road safety, drunk driving and parking dangers.

One of the easiest ways to make your boring business more relatable to a wide audience is to talk about how you’ve helped people. If your business provides a service that solves problems, publish a case study explaining how you helped a specific client or customer.

The key is to focus on the few aspects of your business that are fun, unique or inspiring, instead of the hundreds that are boring.

Once you start using this approach, you’ll quickly discover that a lot of “remarkable” businesses are actually just as boring as yours.

Red Bull sells caffeinated energy drinks. It’s remarkable because it focuses on the unique ways people use their energy through extreme sports, risk taking and adventure.

Nike makes shoes and sportswear. It’s a remarkable brand because of its focus on how people use its products to achieve excellence and push the limits of human achievement.

Every business, no matter how boring it may seem, has a unique, remarkable and inspiring sidethat’s perfectly suited to content marketing. Once you discover yours, make it the focus of your content marketing efforts and you’ll quickly notice a measurable improvement in results.

Market your business using helpful tools instead of written content

Many people make the mistake of associating content marketing with written content. Since we typically associate content with articles, blog posts and infographics, it’s a very common mistake to make.

Content is actually far more than just the written word. Your content marketing could be built on helpful YouTube videos that your customers share. It could be built around interactive websites that guide your target audience through a specific process.

One of the best ways to market your “boring” business using content is to build helpful tools that provide value to your target audience.

Let’s return to the accountancy firm example we used above. Many of the questions this type of business receives are related to debt and finances - two topics that are perfect for online tools.

Instead of writing an article about how long it could take to pay off a certain amount of debt at a specific interest rate, our example accounting firm could create an online calculator that works out the repayment periods for business loans, credit card debt and other forms or borrowing.

Or, it could create a tax calculation tool that provides income tax, corporation tax and other tax estimates based on the user’s income or company revenue. Or a VAT calculator that works out roughly how much a company owes for its next VAT return!

Online tools are fantastic content marketing assets for businesses that solve problems. Since they provide valuable information based on user input, they’re built for sharing. They also help generate leads by attracting a very motivated, specific type of user.

An example of this technique in action is MoneySavingExpert’s mortgage calculator, which gives users the approximate lifetime and monthly cost of their mortgage. Banks like Sainsbury’s Bank and Barclays have similar calculators for car loans and other financial services.

The goal of any effective content is to answer questions and solve problems. If your business is built around helping people with a specific problem, consider using tools and resources as part of your content marketing efforts.

Not only will you attract readers and generate social sharing activity -- you’ll also generate real leads from users that find your online tools via Google Search.

How can your “boring” business market itself using content?

No matter how boring your business might seem, there are people out there who are eager to learn more about you. Through great content, you can reach them.

By focusing on the right audience, delivering the right message and publishing the right type of content, you can transform your business from boring to interesting and generate social activity, links and inbound leads from your content marketing efforts.

After all, your business isn’t as boring as you think. Answer the right questions and speak to the right people and you’ll quickly discover that your business is far more interesting and remarkable than you may have originally thought!

Whether you're a complete beginner, business owner or marketing professional looking to upskill, browse our globally recognised digital marketing courses to find something perfect for you.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

An Insider’s Look at Clubhouse

Everything you need to know about the buzz-heavy audio app.

Clubhouse is an audio-based social network that feels part corporate conference, part conference call, part corporate podcast. You’ve probably heard of it.

This new approach to online connection could impact:

• How we network

• How we communicate

• How we learn

• How we build status (Or social capital, if you will)

The need for such a platform is in sharp focus right now.

Social media today can be noisy, combative, and anxiety-inducing.

You might say that’s because social media involves people and people are all of those things.

There is little of what we could call “social connection” on social media, though. The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that totalitarianism feeds off loneliness. This is because in a lonely state we are cut off from human connection.

Worse, today we have social media to fill the void. Worse still, because it supplants human connection with a distorted simulacrum that offers very little in the way of actual social activity. We remain atomised, even when supposedly connecting with others.

Part of this problem lies in how the social networks are designed. They are visual platforms, built to promote posts that attract attention. Over time, the social hierarchy on these platforms has solidified, making it harder for new voices to be heard. People fall into line with their existing opinions and “conversations” descend into groupthink.

These days, people are painfully aware that they miss having actual conversations. It has never been clearer that social media does not address that need.

So, does Clubhouse fare any better?

Clubhouse Basics

• Clubhouse was founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth.

• Launched in beta in March 2020.

• iOS-only, for now.

• Invite-only, for now.

• Installed over 2 million times in the first week of Feb 2021. Installed over 10 million times in total.

• Free to join, with no ads. Clubhouse is introducing features like tipping and paid rooms, however.

• Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and valued at over $1 billion already (because why not, eh? That’s how valuations work these days. We will “unicorns” into existence).

• “Celebrities” including Drake (musician) and Elon Musk have popped in for a chat.

• It was popular in China, briefly, before it got banned.

• There have already been reports of sexism, racism, and antisemitism. Moderation of live audio is proving tricky.

• The conversations are deleted once the event ends.

The Experience

Clubhouse opens with a short set of options, similar to the opening sequence on TikTok.

You will note the ‘Hustle’ category at the top. Admittedly, you don’t get that on TikTok.

Although the technology and growth hacking sessions are the most popular, you will also notice the broad range of options here. Clubhouse does try to give a platform to groups that might otherwise feel left out on social media.

You pick a few interests and then Clubhouse recommends people to follow. It can look at your Twitter connections and phone contacts, should you wish.

Next, Clubhouse will create an automated list of conversations for you to attend. You can add these to your in-app schedule, or to your Apple/Google calendar.

As you can see here, there are already groups that set up events and invite speakers along for a chat:

The moderators of these conversations are volunteers and they can decide which audience members get to ask questions. They call this “getting on stage”. More on that later.

You can also browse all upcoming events, if you really want to explore the varied meats of our cultural stew.

Or you can start your own event and invite people:

When you have hosted three or more events, you can apply to host a “Club” at a set time every week. This is the best way to build up and sustain interest in a topic, as you can re-engage your audience in a consistent location. Clubhouse may offer sponsored Clubs for brands in future, but the feature is still quite experimental.

Once a session starts, you can pop in and listen. It works a lot like a panel session you’d see at any conference, but with the added bonus that you can “leave quietly” at any time. I hopped into this room to hear some advanced matchmaking tips:

I thought it was going to be about matching supply with demand in a platform-based business, but no. It was about how to find your perfect romantic partner.

I hit the ‘Leave quietly’ button so loudly, they may have heard me. But that’s the point: you can just move on to other ‘rooms’ until you find something you do want to hear.

For people who already spend their days with AirPods in, I can see the appeal. You can have this as background noise, with the odd comment or story cutting through. The sense that the conversation is ‘live’ - and that you can participate at any time - makes it more immediate than listening to a podcast.

Participants are, in theory at least, free to chat informally in a way they never would on Twitter or Facebook. Anyone with a sizable following on those platforms will carefully plan and consider each post these days, but on Clubhouse they can kick back and chat.

It is also possible to build a community around niche interests here. Facebook has been saying for years that it wants to encourage this kind of organic mini-network, to little avail.

The drop-in nature of Clubhouse removes some of the pressure on event curators too, as they can trial new topics quickly to canvas opinion. If no-one is interested, the conversation disappears at its conclusion and they can move on. It beats setting up a Zoom conference just to gain this knowledge, at least.

Conversations are structured, but they depend on moderators to keep things on track. The moderators are unpaid and they can decide who speaks during the session. The benefit for the moderators is that they can gain followers too, both through their observations in the session and their skill in facilitating a conversation.

For the speakers, Clubhouse is great because there is less concern that an off-the-cuff statement will be turned into a haunting meme.

Additionally, speakers can give the air of connecting with their audience, without actually having to do so. On Twitter, for example, anyone can leave a comment under anyone else’s post. Celebrities treat Twitter as a broadcast medium, while wishing to act approachable. How often do they read or comment on their fans’ comments, though?

Clubhouse does not make them play this role. They can talk among themselves and answer the occasional, saccharine question to keep the crowds happy.

Clubhouse: The Pros

You can set up an event to discuss anything on Clubhouse.

See?

Parts of it feel a little like Reddit, where people can discuss niche interests. Some parts feel like LinkedIn, with all the infernal connotations that phrase brings. Others are like Quora, as people discuss little-known facts about the world.

This is where platform design comes in. Can Clubhouse sustain a thriving ecosystem for all of these parts, or will it create a mirror-version of the existing hierarchy on Twitter/Facebook?

• Early adopters can quickly build a following, which has become more difficult on other platforms.

• For some, audio will be the ideal format to connect with new people. Text and images aren’t for everyone.

• It’s perfect for mobile/AirPod listening and it will plug a gap while we continue through lockdown.

• There is more of a thrill to hearing live conversations than listening to podcasts or turning up to a scheduled conference call. Plus, voice has an innate intimacy that text (even prose as florid as this) cannot match.

• It is possible to imagine how unexpected interactions could lead to exciting, new conversations. Clubhouse makes it possible to have these spontaneous exchanges, without the same baggage of other online platforms. We could have people with completely different viewpoints engaging in respectful dialogue, like the olden days. We can dream, eh?

Clubhouse: The Cons

• Live audio is very difficult to moderate. Livestream video is difficult, but there are improving tools to tackle this. Audio is a continuing challenge and it is left to volunteer moderators here. If Clubhouse doesn’t sort out user safety very soon, it won’t last long.

• Sensationalism tends to win. This format does not reward deep thinking - when people can drop in and drop out so easily, the pressure is on speakers to grab attention. Conspiracy theories have already found a home on Clubhouse.

• The same people hog the mic. You’ll recognise the people, because they’ll be the same people running events on your LinkedIn. I saw little evidence of a new form of social hierarchy developing here and if Clubhouse just becomes a giant corporate networking event, it won’t last long. Most of these people just are not as interesting as they think they are.

• And, of course, the big social networks are already planning to rip off Clubhouse’s best features.

The Clones

I teach executive education courses where we discuss why big companies don’t see new threats coming. These companies have all the money and all the resources, so why should a start-up cause them trouble?

There are lots of reasons why this happens, some more understandable than others.

When you look at Clubhouse, it’s difficult to have much sympathy for Facebook and Twitter - both of whom are now working on Clubhouse clones. Facebook and Twitter have huge teams of people who are responsible for coming up with new ideas, but they waited for Clubhouse to reach a $1bn+ valuation before announcing similar products.

It has been clear for some time that social media only covers one very small part of what we want from social interactions.

The problem for the incumbents is that audio is risky, which is likely why they have waited for Clubhouse to reach critical mass before asking.

As we have seen above, Clubhouse has its benefits and it is different, but it is still experimental. It’s also small enough to crush.

Mark Zuckerberg popped into a Clubhouse chat, in what many saw as a sign that the app had ‘broken through’. It now seems he was there to pinch the idea. Facebook has announced it is developing a Clubhouse-style product that it hopes will bring some organic interaction back onto the platform. But would everyone trust Facebook with their audio data?

Twitter, meanwhile, has been working on a new feature called Spaces for a while.

Rémy Bourgoin, a senior software engineer at Twitter, told MIT that the vision is for Spaces to be "as intimate and comfortable as attending a well-hosted dinner party."

He adds,

"You don't need to know everyone there to have a good time, but you should feel comfortable sitting at the table."

This is imagined as an “additional layer” to the conversations already on Twitter. It seems a more natural milieu for this than Facebook will ever be, even if Twitter remains a fair distance from such a lofty goal itself.

In testing, it looks like this:

It’s very similar to Clubhouse, although it has closed captioning as an added bonus. And of course, Clubhouse’s audience is already on Twitter.

Clubhouse: The Final Word

We opened by discussing the human traits that are exhibited on social media today. It is up to these companies to design platforms that encourage the human behaviors they want to see.

Think of it in the same way we would design a building. People act differently when in a comfortable home, as opposed to an abandoned warehouse.

Leaving it as a free-for-all will always see the louder, more aggressive traits win. In the real world, barbarians had the run of the place before we built up some laws and institutions.

Clubhouse has an opportunity to seize the fertile land left by Facebook and Twitter. How it builds on it will define its lasting prospects.

We know Twitter and Facebook will use their existing data and networks as leverage. If Clubhouse simply mimics this framework, stealing its audience will be a straightforward task. The incumbents have all the resources.

Being audio-only is a distinguishing factor, but it can be copied. Clubhouse will need its own form of social capital and a hierarchy built on in-app interactions to create some “switching costs” for its early users.

Clubhouse has plenty of early buzz, but relying on that shaky substance will offer little guarantee of long-term success. Right now, Clubhouse offers a home for conversations that would happen elsewhere in other circumstances. As we return to those old patterns, Clubhouse’s luster will diminish.

Were I Clubhouse, I’d look to Reddit for inspiration when it comes to organic communities. Reddit offers a place for a wide range of interests and it has steadily grown in popularity.

Clubhouse, unlike Reddit, is highly attractive for corporate customers and this creates options to build a viable business model. But only if it looks beyond its heady, early success to address the clear issues it faces.

Whether Clubhouse will remain relevant remains to be seen, but you can learn how to engage your target audience on different channels by enrolling in a globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts, to give yourself the best start possible.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

11 SEO Tools For Optimal Ranking

We live in a time when advanced technology shapes the systems and structures used in business. Most companies have taken the initiative of adopting a digital outlook for a more natural way to reach their clientele. Thanks to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you can rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract the right customers. SEO can be quite challenging to master especially if you have no experience in digital marketing. However, you can now make your work easier with the help of the best SEO tools.

To help you begin your optimisation journey, here are 11 essential SEO tools I suggest you consider for the best results:

1. Google Search Console

Google’s Search Console, #searchconsole, is one of the best free SEO tools that you can use to view how your website’s is performing on Google’s SERPs. Once you register your website with Google, the console will provide you with a unique code. However, you don’t need to register for an account with search console for your website to be featured on the search results. It will still appear on the search results even if you don't have an account. The only downside is that you won’t have control over how your website is featured on search results. Registering for a console account allows you to understand how users and search engine bots view your site.

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a web crawler site used to highlight the weakest parts of your website. It is arguably the best-paying SEO tool in the market.

When you use the paid version, you can learn which backlinks your rivals are using and use similar ones to boost your site’s rankings. Therefore, this tool is most useful for online startups, so give it a try.

3. KWFinder

An SEO keyword tool just like Ahrefs, KWFinder is useful for tracing long-tail keywords that don’t offer a high level of competition. It is the best-paying SEO tool for keyword searches and renders analysis reports on SERP and backlinks.

You can also use the rank tracker tool to determine your website’s ranking and improvement progress.

4. SEMRush

SEMRush is categorised as a marketing SEO application. Experts recommend it since you can view your rankings, the changes made to it, and new opportunities to rank higher. The most used feature of SEMRush is Domain Vs. Domain analysis. This can render an analytics report that grants you access to your website’s traffic and search data. Comparing your website to your competitors will help you understand what needs to be changed on your site’s domain and keywords.

5. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is an SEO keyword finder tool. You can use it to search for useful keywords and also identify the SERPs (with the applied keywords) that have been ranked highly. This tool will let you identify short- and long-tail phrases, thus providing you with the best terms to use. The metrics found in Ubersuggest’s report are CPC, seasonal trends, and keyword volume.

6. SpyFu

SpyFu is one of the best free SEO tools. It offers an exceptional premium pass for those that want to dig deeper into SEO excellence. This tool is simple to use and an excellent choice for those that are starting out. You can use it to identify the number of searches applied to particular keywords. Also, you can search for the keywords used by your competitors.

7. Moz

Moz is another great SEO tool for experts in SEO. Moz offers full service, from site crawling or keyword recommendations. There is a free downloadable toolbar named MozBar that you can use to view your site’s metrics. Users have praised Moz for its regular company updates as well as the support team; if you ask a question, you’ll get a detailed response.

8. Woorank

It’s essential to report keyword performance to understand the industry better and improve optimisation for users. Woorank is an SEO ranking tool that lets you keep tabs on your marketing data and reports accordingly. The analysis tool also enables you to identify the keywords used by competitors and adjust your keywords accordingly. Another notable feature is Woorank’s ability to identify security loopholes in your site. The site guides you on how to seal those loopholes and prevent cyber attacks.

9. Answer The Public

There are many essential facets of SEO to consider, such as keyword research, competitor research, viral content, SEO audit, and rank tracking. Content creativity is also a crucial aspect of SEO. Answer The Public lets you identify the best topics to include in your eCommerce blog. This free tool enables you to create content around your website’s keywords - based on the niche you’re aiming for. It is great for creating your content strategy – you can get multiple title suggestions from one keyword.  

10. Google Trends

Google Trends is a free SEO tool that has been underutilised even though it’s had a long-serving presence. This tool can be used to get keyword information and acquire news about topic-related trends. Since there are several SEO applications to choose from, Trends is recommended for those that aren’t sure where to begin. In any case, this is a good tool to use during the developmental stage of your website.

11. Majestic

Majestic is a versatile marketing SEO tool that you can use at any point for your website’s ranking development. You can check how your website ranks via The Majestic Million feature, which displays the websites ranked as the top million overall. You can also view the number of backlinks used on your website, thanks to the Site Explorer feature. This is a reliable tool for keyword research, site comparisons, and website rank viewing.

Conclusion

In summary, optimising for SEO requires you to have the right approach from the start. Building your website for high rankings and traffic demands patience and the use of the best SEO tools around. It can take up to about 3 to 6 months to see significant results for SEO optimisation for a new site. It is difficult if you want to do it yourself without prior experience but having the best tool is an added advantage. This year, increase your organic search rankings by using the above SEO tools.

The best thing about most of the SEO tools above is that they are free and for the paid ones they have a free trial, after which you can make up mind about the tool.

Learn more about how to improve your SEO by joining our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Reduce Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates

If you imagine your online space as a large shop, you can see customers coming in and having a browse. When somebody leaves without buying, you don’t panic because that’s the nature of browsing. You know you can rearrange the floor or put up more signs to try to entice them to buy.

Now, imagine the checkout area. There are five customers, each with a number of products in their basket. Some are spending a lot, some only a little. But it’s all income and each person represents a potential repeat customer.

From your seat above the store, you watch four people dump their baskets and leave right before they get to the checkout. Alarmed? You should be.

In March 2020 alone, 88.05% of shopping carts were abandoned worldwide. And, what’s more, the current global mobile cart abandonment rate stands at 85.65%. That’s huge.

So, how can your business stop people from throwing their products back?

Know What You Can Convert

We all know that 100% conversion would be fantastic. But we also know that it’s never going to happen. So, where should you set your sights? What is a good conversion rate?

According to Khalid Saleh of InvespCro, it is important to understand the types of conversion and, crucially, whether you could convert the visit into a sale in the first place.

“It varies. What’s great for one industry might be below par for another.

“One multi-billion dollar company I once worked with had conversion rates of 41% for first time visitors. And they still wanted more.

“The key is to understand the average e-commerce conversion rate and benchmark your performance against it. Once you know whether you are meeting the average for your industry, you can work to improve conversion rates until you’re in the top 10 percentile of performers.”

He adds:

“Think about your own website and consider the type of browsing vs. buying of your average consumer. If you know that visitors tend to use your website for research but do not convert online, what can you do to convert more visitors into buyers?”

It is important then, to know what a good conversion rate for your business is and aim to get there.

Study your analytics before you do anything. Where is your conversion rate? What do you want to do? Think about conversion as a measure of success for your business, but it is not an arbitrary number. Do you want to double your online sales? Then double your conversion rate.

For your reference, here are some important variables that could affect your cart abandonment rates:

• The product or service type.

• The product / service cost or average order value.

• The traffic source.

• The device (mobile, tablet or PC).

• The platform (Windows, Mac, iOS or Android, for example).

• The browsing location.

Why should you be getting this right? 2020 eCommerce sales are projected to be around $3.914 trillion, for a start.

Get Your Funnels Right

To start understanding what we can turn into sales, it is important to know why people abandon baskets in the first place.

According to Kissmetrics, these reasons range from shipping to research.

While you may not always have a chance to ask customers why they are leaving – and exit surveys aren’t always a good idea – you can consult research to understand why.

Simple changes to how your site is presented can stop people leaving their carts. One obvious one is to show the final price that the customer pays when the product gets added to the cart. People don’t like being surprised by massive price additions like shipping and handling.

If you present the price early, customers will be more prepared to spend that money.

Conversely, you can turn this into an opportunity.

Offering free shipping to people who sign up as members or giving rewards points that can be redeemed against shipping costs can make customers more loyal, drive email signups and be a pleasant user experience.

Think about these barriers and what you can do to break them down.

This logic is key to getting your funnels right.

Basically put, a funnel is a process that any visitor takes from seeing your product to buying it. This could come from Facebook ads, organic search or inbound marketing.

A guiding principle in this area is: keep the process as simple as possible. Amazon is an e-commerce behemoth and is known for one-click ordering. Once a customer is signed in, they can enable their account to accept orders at the drop of a finger.

Why then, does your site ask for their mother’s maiden name when they want to buy a t-shirt?

55% of shoppers (potential paying customers) will abandon their cart for having to re-enter their credit card or payment details alone.

If you take measures to streamline your checkout process, removing any unnecessary elements of the journey that cause friction, you stand to reduce your card abandonment rates significantly. In fact, checkout optimisation can boost conversions by 35.62%.

Examine the steps your customers have to go through to buy your product from all angles and ask yourself: would I go to the hassle of shopping here?

​Companies Who Are Winning – And Why

When you think of where you spend money online, you will probably find that they have good funnels in common.

Here are some who are doing it right:

Netflix

The entertainment giant’s login screen is simple. It focuses on risk reversal and simplicity and has a clear call to action.

Again, the free trial is emphasised, the call to action is clear, and the USPs are outlined clearly as well as concisely. No unnecessary information is added. The page is completely digestible, even at a glance.

The customer is then asked for an email address and password – the first time they are asked to do more than click.

The free trial signup page, the final step, is simple, completely streamlined, and offers the choice of opting out of any marketing communications, which helps to buil trust. Note how little Netflix asks its potential customers to do. Since 2010, it has grown users from fewer than 20 million to 192 million. No small feat in anyone’s marketing playbook.

Crazy Egg

Website optimisation site Crazy Egg has doubled its conversions and revenue every year and this funnel is a big part of it. It is another example of simplicity as beauty.

CrazyEgg originates traffic from referrals, blog content, and promotions. At the base of its blog entries you’ll find an option to sign up for the newsletter and ‘stay in the loop.’. And, in the top right hand corner, there’s a clearcut CTA button asking visitors to ‘start their free 30-day trial.’  

By clicking the ‘free trial’ CTA button, you’re immediately navigated to a page that is clear, concise, and visually balanced. Like Netflix, you can sign up swiftly with a simple email and password and to inspire trust, a well-placed testimonial is located on the right-hand side of the page. Fast, streamlined, and completely frictionless.

Accessing the free trial sign up page (another one of CrazyEgg’s main consumer conversion routes or journeys), you will see that the premium or ‘Plus’ option is also highlighted to increase potential subscription value while formatting the features or USPs for quick page scanning. A design built to optimise the checkout process and reduce the chances or cart abandonment.

Take these examples and look at how you can implement them on your own funnel.

• Can you remove anything and make the process more visual?

• Can you nudge customers to make higher value purchases?

• Can you make the experience the same as gliding through an empty checkout at a physical store?

Carry out on audit of your user journeys and watch your abandonment rates decline.

Ready to learn more how you can improve the purchase journey to increase sales? Take a globally recognised certificate course to find out more - enrol today to enjoy courses taught by the industry experts, to know how to use the knowledge to advance your Internet marketing efforts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Growth Hacking - Simple Tips for Scaling Your Business

Digital marketing is an industry at the intersection of two rapidly changing landscapes. Online trends and terminology change as quickly as those in marketing, so it can be hard to keep up with each and every new concept.

One concept you may have heard of, but not be overly familiar with, is growth hacking. Far from being a meaningless catchphrase, the strategy can help your business without huge resource investment.

What is growth hacking?

Coined in 2010 by Sean Ellis, growth hacking is a mindset which does exactly what it sounds like – prioritises growth.

One of the men who popularised and optimised growth hacking is Ryan Holiday.

Here’s how he defines his methods:

A growth hacker is someone who has thrown out the playbook of traditional marketing and replaced it with only what is testable, trackable, and scalable.

“Their tools are e-mails, pay-per-click ads, blogs, and platform APIs instead of commercials, publicity , and money. While their marketing brethren chase vague notions like “branding” and “mind share,” growth hackers relentlessly pursue users and growth— and when they do it right, those users beget more users , who beget more users. They are the inventors, operators, and mechanics of their own self-sustaining and self-propagating growth machine that can take a start-up from nothing to something.”

While Holiday has worked with major brands such as American Apparel, the beauty of growth hacking is that smaller companies without massive resource investment can utilise its core principles.

This is because its “true North”, as Ellis put it, is growth.

Sometimes, this means playing on an uneven field, where the aforementioned startups and SMEs are up against companies who can take out Super Bowl ads or sponsor sports teams.

Growth hacking can differ from traditional marketing in that many of its users have fewer resources or are working with brands who have less cache.

Therefore, they have to be smarter, leaner and more agile than those focused purely on marketing.

Who does it replace in my company?

Nobody! Growth hacking is not a cure-all or some kind of digital panacea. Nor is sacking your digital marketing team to make way for a growth hacking guru an advisable idea.

Instead, your growth hackers should work hand in hand with your digital marketing team.

This is particularly true if your company is a small one. There, a culture of growth can be fostered alongside other aspects of your marketing strategy. In some companies, the growth function is tied to other, “more real” jobs on the digital side. 

In other, larger companies, this growth aspect can be used as a complementary skill to those of your marketing team.

Where growth hackers and marketers differ is in how they consider a goal achieved. Marketers can look at a campaign and consider it successful if brand awareness is increased or the company is better thought of than beforehand.

A growth hacker will have a more measurable, funnel-focused measurement that may consider the campaign a failure.

This isn’t to say that either one is right. It is to highlight that differences may occur and what is right will come down to your own measures of success, be they stated and quantifiable or more nebulous.

Case studies – and what you can learn

Far from being a buzzword, growth hacking has brought results that you have probably seen or used. Here are some examples and takeaways.

Hubspot

Hubspot’s founders were focused on building content and tools that would generate inbound leads which would lead to sales.

To that end, they invested heavily in blog posts, eBooks, and educational tools for marketers. They also launched website and social media grading tools and invested in webinars and teaching manuals.

The company had $883 million in revenue in 2020 after starting with just three staff in 2006.

Takeaway: Educate, engage and be useful

Slack

Team messaging app Slack has gone from 15,000 users to over 12 million in 2020.

To do so, they employed a number of strategies, none of them really that revolutionary. They defined themselves as a tool that was needed, but familiar, they convinced offices that they cannot be without it, and they focused their offering to be exactly what was needed.

But one move made the app a go-to for users: not charging. Using a free version showed off the uses and features of the platform before customers would be converted to premium accounts. The company saw a 30% takeup in the premium version.

This freemium model has been used by the likes of Spotify, LinkedIn and GitHub.

Takeaway: Give it away (to a point)

Tinder

Tinder is another company which used a number of strategies to grow at a rapid pace.

Now at 66 million users in 30 languages, it is easy to forget that Tinder was an app that started on a college campus. Tinder is an app that feels different in a crowded marketplace and constantly evolving new features, as well as introducing paid premium versions, Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold, which have around 5.9 million paid subscribers.

But one of Tinder’s biggest growth hacks was one that feels very analog in a digital world: they did the work on the ground. With online dating sites living and dying by the number of women who join, Tinder’s founders went to sorority houses and encouraged women to join by offering cookies, balloons and underwear. It wasn’t a sophisticated strategy - and a former Tinder co-founder went on to launch the successful Bumble - but it solved a potentially app-killing problem by knowing what it was and putting the work in to solve it.

Takeaway: Put the work in, on the ground if necessary

Beyoncé

The music industry is one which is built on hype and excitement. PR firms, music videos and millions in ad spend, that’s how you release an AAA album.

Unless you’re Beyoncé and you release an album recorded in secret with no notice as she did in 2013, (and 2016 and in 2020).The unusual decision saw the albums become a major part of the news cycle, rather than a footnote in it.

After setting the internet on fire, the 2013 album Beyoncé shifted 828,000 copies in its first three days on sale and has sold eight million overall.

While nobody is expecting your company to be Queen B, it is worth remembering that you don’t have to rely on anyone else to make you go viral in this day and age, not if your splash is big enough.

Takeaway: Be big, be bold, make your own headlines

How can I use the ideas of growth hacking?

No matter what your industry or your sales channels, there are simple things that you can do to implement a rapid growth strategy into action.

1. Work out your product

A key tactic of growth hacking is building a product for an already-established set of customers. In the words of Ryan Holiday:

“Isolating who your customers are, figuring out their needs, designing a product that will blow their minds—these are marketing decisions, not just development and design choices.”

Consider Instagram. The company started as a social check-in app named Burbn. While users weren’t taken with the check-in features, the founders used analytics to see just how their app was being used.

As you can probably guess, people loved it as a photo-sharing tool. A tweak and a rebrand later, the company sold for $1 billion to Facebook in 2012. All because the company paid attention to the product its users wanted.

2. Ensure you can scale

Can you actually scale your business? Let’s say you own the best sandwich shop in town and are on the end of a glowing newspaper review. You had been selling 45 sandwiches per lunch service, now demand is at 80. Can you actually meet that growth? If you want to start driving rapid growth, ensure that you have the infrastructure to handle success.

3. Set Your Goals

As we have already discussed, growth hackers should have clear, defined measures of success.Set a specific number of goals and stick to them, allowing you to test and optimise your approach.

4. Test, test and test again

As with any digital marketing approach, growth hacking needs super effective testing. As creative and different as strategies can get, you will not know if they’re actually succeeding without a good set of simple, lean tests.

5. Analyse and optimise

The last step in the process is to pay attention to your metrics – as Instagram found out, your audience will tell you something. From there, implement the best version of your strategy to help you grow.

Here is some suggested reading on the subject:

• Sean Ellis’s essay which coined the phrase and started a movement is essential reading

• Quicksprout’s definitive guide to growth hacking is, well, definitive

• Neil Patel’s step-by-step guide to implementing growth hacking

• Ryan Holiday’s book The Obstacle Is The Way and his resources for growth hacking.

Want to learn even more? Enrol in a globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts, to give yourself all the other how-tos.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Grow Your Email Marketing Database in a Day (The Loveable, Inbound Way)

The value provider, the relationship builder, the sales closer, the news sharer, the brand ambassador, the deal revealer – email marketing is the ultimate multi-tasker.

Think about it…

It’s the best way to stay in touch with prospects and keep them warmed up and ready to click, share and buy.

And the more email subscribers you have? The better your chances of increasing traffic to your blog, staying at the top of your customers’ minds, reminding subscribers to follow your social media channels, and keeping them wrapped up warmly in your sales loop.

You want more subscribers, don’t you? Let’s explore a few strategic ways you can grow your email database with ease (the inbound way), speed, and without being an outright nuisance…

First Steps First – Construct a Landing Page That Communicates Value

Before you begin implementing any of the ideas below, you need to create a landing page that clearly (and in as few words as possible) communicates the unique selling point of your emails. Can your subscribers look forward to a weekly newsletter packed full of industry insights, for example?

Answer the ‘Why Should I Care?’ Question:

Do you send regular emails that feature your latest discounted offers? Will subscribers receive monthly exclusive offers? You’ll need to answer that ‘why should I give you my details?’ question immediately.

Increase Your Conversions & Track Your Subscriber Growth:

To increase the chances of your landing page converting, choose as few fields as possible for potential subscribers to fill out. If possible, only ask for prospects’ names and email addresses. Create a goal in Google Analytics to help you track the number of new subscribers your landing page has netted you and tag the landing page’s URL any time you share it in your Google tagging document.

The Questions Your Prospects Need Answered On Your Landing Page:

• What value do I get?

• What makes your emails different?

• What type of content can I expect?

• How often will I receive emails?

• What details do I need to give?

Now, Let’s Start Building Your Email Subscriber Database:

1. Give Away Freebies Your Customers Want, Need & Appreciate

You can’t expect your prospects to give you their well-protected contact details without offering something of true value. It’s one of the best ways to generate new email subscribers and propel your lead generation numbers. But here’s the thing: you can’t just offer any old freebie, it needs to matter to your target audience. To identify the most desirable freebie for your target audience you’ll have to create and consult your target personas. You can then choose the giveaway that best solves your audience’s core problems and caters to their core desires.

Free Content Should Meet Consumer Needs:

Free content options you could consider offering include: whitepapers, industry reports, online webinars, and presentations. Again, your offer should depend on what appeals to your target audience’s desires.

An Example of Content That Matches Desire:

For example, say your target audience is digital marketing managers who want to impress their CEO at their weekly board meeting. In this case, you could create a short whitepaper or webinar that shows prospects how to track metrics that CEOs actually care about and want to hear (e.g. the most likely bottom-line figures).

Examples of Freebies:

Whitepaper, Webinar, Podcast, Product/Service Sample, Coupons, Free Career/Consultative Advice, Industry Reports, Survey Results, etc.

2. Create an Engaging Online Competition With a Priceless Prize

Another clever way to entice prospects to give you their email details is to create and run an engaging online competition that appeals to your audience’s competitive nature. A great place to create and run your contests is on one, or more, of your most popular social media channels. Examples of programs you can use to create social media competitions include Wazoku, ShortStack, and Rafflecopter. Whichever one you choose, simply create a competition that requires entrants to submit their email details to win.

3. Use Opt-In Monster Plugin to Capture Exitors

OptinMonster is a tool that allows you to create opt-in forms that appear on your website at that crucial point when your visitors are about to leave. The clever tool follows your user’s mouse and pops up when they are about to click the exit button – perfect for capturing a last-minute email address. Why not create a form that offers a freebie (like access to a valuable whitepaper) or gives details on why the user should subscribe to your insightful newsletter?

The beauty of OptinMonster is that it includes Analytics functionality that allows you to track and analyse the numbers of clicks and views your form accumulates along with the conversion rate for each form. Pricing options start at $49 per year for a basic package which allows you to create unlimited optin forms across one website, split test your forms, target your forms effectively and report on your findings.

4. Create Your Own Opt-In Form to Capture the Details of Engaged Visitors

If you don’t have the budget for OptIn Monster you can create your own opt-in newsletter sign-up form. To capture the attention of your most engaged readers, set your newsletter sign-up form to pop up when your reader gets halfway through a blog post, for example.

Design and Placement:

Our advice? Keep your opt-in form subtle, small, and light on content. And ensure it’s easy to exit from on desktop and mobile devices. You will also need to carefully consider where to place your opt-in box. Your blog is a good place to start. Only place it in contextually relevant places on your website – the places your customers would expect to see it and welcome the reminder. It’s best not to place it on any monetary pages of your site as that might override your core objective – to make money.

5. Use Sniply to Place a Sign Up Call to Action on Relevant External Sites

Do you share other brand’s content through your own social media channels? You can use a tool like Sniply to create a ‘Snip’ or banner that appears on the bottom of the web page you’re sharing. The user is presented with a call to action of your choice and may be directed to your newsletter sign-up landing page, and encouraged to join your subscriber list.

How to Use Sniply:

Sniply is super easy to use. Simply copy the URL of the link you plan to share and paste it into the Sniply box provided. Click ‘Create Snip.’ A pop-up box will then appear with your new Sniply link. Copy your link and use it when sharing your article instead of the original link. You can set up an account for free which allows you to create an unlimited number of shortened links, 100 conversions per month, and one user profile per account. The paid package is €19 per month and allows you to customise and brand your snips and create five user profiles.

6. Place Enticing Calls to Action in Relevant Spots

Sometimes all your readers need is a gentle nudge and a reminder about your awesome newsletter, upcoming webinar, or whitepaper giveaway to take the action you desire. But make sure that nudge is relevant – for example, feel free to include a call to action (CTA) to subscribe to your newsletter at the end of a blog post or in your bio for your guest posts on external sites.

The Importance of Value and Context:

Instead of starkly asking customers to sign up to your newsletter on social media, you could always create calls to action that hold access to gated content or unique offers. And don’t forget the importance of context – to avoid annoying fans and website visitors, only add your CTAs in the places that make sense (and are relevant) to their user journey.

For example, if you have created a how-to whitepaper on a hot industry topic, your LinkedIn company page and relevant LinkedIn groups could be the perfect places to share it. But don’t forget: you’ll need to add value and engage with your chosen group/groups before posting your own content.

Email marketing is just one piece of the puzzle that is social media marketing. Learn more about how to find other pieces by joining our globally recognised certificate course today - taught by the industry experts!

Source: Digital Marketing Institute