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Data Protection – What and Why do you need it?

What is data protection?

Data protection is the process of safeguarding important information, aiming to minimize business loss by guaranteeing data integrity and availability. Data protection strategies usually consist of a combination of data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity techniques, and elements like cybersecurity management, ransomware prevention and regulation compliance among others. Protecting data from compromise and restoring data after corruption are the main goals of data protection. 

What are the threats? 

Here are four situations in which a data protection strategy would come in handy:

1. Media failure

Data protection’s goal here is to make data available even if a storage device fails. This can be accomplished with synchronous mirroring, RAID protection, erasure coding or replication. 

2. Data corruption

If data is corrupted or accidentally deleted it can be restored with snapshots or clean copies of data from a storage system at particular points in time. Most storage systems in today’s time can track so many snapshots without any effect on performance. When data is corrupted or deleted a snapshot can be mounted and that data can be restored almost instantly.

3. Storage system failure

Replication technology on top of snapshots helps protect against multiple storage drive failures. With snapshot replication, only changed blocks of data are copied to secondary storage systems that are available if the primary storage system fails. 

4. Data center failure

Protection against the loss of an entire data center requires a full disaster recovery plan. Snapshot replication is one replication method that can be costly. Cloud services are another alternative, offering replication and backup products and services that facilitate rapid recovery in the event of a data center loss. 

GDPR or the General Data Protection Regulation is described as the biggest milestone in data protection laws, in a generation giving ordinary people unprecedented control over the information companies hold on us. It is all about data rights and privacy to protect individuals. 

What’s the reason for the new law?

Today nearly every part of your life can be digitized and tracked. Every picture, every journey, every purchase, and even more of your personal information is collected, stored, and traded by companies and governments. The new GDPR covers things that could identify us – your name, contact details, location of your computer, and personal data. From now on organizations will have to prove they have a lawful reason for holding that kind of data. And more importantly, showing that they keep it safe. 

What’s with all the emails?

Companies need to prove your consent if they want to keep information about your name and email address on their system. That’s why everyone’s inbox is bursting at the moment. But some experts don’t think companies need to send all their users’ emails at all. In some cases, companies who are contacting might be acting illegally because if a company can’t already prove consent, they shouldn’t be emailing you to confirm your details.

If you don’t reply to the emails, then that company should delete your information from their system. It is not surprising that businesses are nervous about GDPR. The potential penalties for firms are massive – Up to 4% of a company’s annual turnover. This serious legislation is supposed to empower the people who give companies their data. 

What new powers do people get by GDPR?

If a company has to ask for permission to store your data then they will have to be much more upfront about it. If a database of a site you use is hacked, and the information is stolen, then the organization that was storing information will have to tell you about the hack within 3 days and you now have the right to see your data. 

What does the new GDPR law do?

The UK government says that it will bring the EU regulation into British law – regardless of how the BREXIT deal pans out. But millions of people outside of Europe are going to be affected as well. Because companies that have operations in European countries all have to sign up to the rules along with organizations based outside of Europe that store data of EU citizens. So GDPR is something, that could affect the way, the whole world thinks about data.

GDPR is supposed to stop data breaches. Facebook has already said that they are going to apply the EU rules to all of their users around the world. Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant needed to regain users’ trust after the Cambridge Analytical scandal in which the company was accused of using personal data from Facebook users, harvested without their consent, to try and influence elections. 

Tips to get your company GDPR complaint

  • If you are collecting emails which most websites are doing, go and email these people promotional offers, even though they bought just one product from you. Because people are checking out and buying one product, it doesn’t mean that they are opting into continually getting emails from you.
  • Someone is coming to your website within the EU, have a little notice, at the bottom of your site, and you can talk to a lawyer to figure out the right text, something around, this site uses cookies to provide a better experience. They can either click the accept button or the deny button. If you don’t want to use the deny button, then there is a button that says learn more, and that takes them to the privacy policy. 
  • In your privacy policy, let people know what tracking solutions and third-party services you are using. Let them know how long the cookies will last if you are using an email solution or if you are using analytics like Google Analytics, let them know when they can opt-out, out and how to delete their data, because that way if the user doesn’t want to be tracked, they can opt-out.

And with that we arrive at the end of the post, we hope you learnt something new regarding Data Protection, why it’s so crucial and how you can do it too. Make sure to follow us on our social media handles below and we’ll catch you in the next one.

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Content Marketing Digital Technology eCommerce Marketing Industry Insiders Pay-Per-Click Advertising

AI copywriting and PPC performance

The fact that this technology works by feeding a system with loads and loads of data, setting up systems to help the computer analyze the input and generate fitting output from the existing data in a different language, makes it clear that AI is not here to replace humanity, instead, it works like smart storage or a smart encyclopedia to aid the work process and help people work faster. AI copywriting can simply translate to a productivity hiking mechanism in a simpler language.

What is AI?

AI, or artificial intelligence, refers to the ability of a computer or machine to perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This is achieved through the use of algorithms and machine learning techniques, which allow the AI system to analyze and interpret data, and make predictions or decisions based on that information.

AI systems can be trained to perform a wide range of tasks, from recognizing objects in images and understanding spoken language, to playing games and making predictions. Some common applications of AI include image and speech recognition, language translation, and autonomous vehicles. 

One of the key characteristics of AI is its ability to adapt and learn from experience. This allows AI systems to improve their performance over time, and to handle more complex tasks. This technology can be applied to a wide range of fields, including healthcare, finance, transportation, and manufacturing, among others.

What is AI copywriting?

Machine Learning and AI opened a whole new world of ideas and techniques for us to experiment with. AI copywriting is the process of using artificial intelligence (AI) to create written content. This can be used for a variety of purposes, such as generating marketing copy, news articles, or social media posts. AI copywriting can be done using natural language processing (NLP) algorithms and machine learning techniques, which allow the AI system to understand and generate human-like language.

There are several benefits to using AI for copywriting. For one, it can save time and effort by automating the writing process. Additionally, AI systems can generate high-quality content that is consistent and free of errors. AI copywriting can also be personalized, allowing for the creation of customized content for different audiences.

Another major use of this tech is in copyediting, AI has built-in tools to correct grammar and vocabulary. They can also offer beautifully fabricated rephrased sentences. This software is generally driven by loads of well-written texts such as dictionaries and books from famous authors. Some of the most famous pieces of tech among these are Grammarly and Quillbot.

AI in Digital Marketing

AI has proved to be unexpectedly useful in a lot of ways in digital marketing, specifically designed for these tasks, it’s pretty fast and accurate. Here are some of the most evident uses of AI copywriting.

Generating ideas

AI can help generate ideas for topics to write about, by analyzing data and trends to identify potential angles and topics that are likely to be of interest to readers.

Research Assistance

AI can help with research by quickly and efficiently gathering information from a variety of sources, allowing writers to focus on the creative aspects of writing.

Content creation

AI can be used to generate initial drafts of content, which can then be edited and refined by a human writer. This can save time and effort on the part of the writer, allowing them to focus on more complex or creative tasks.

Editing and proofreading

AI can be used to assist with editing and proofreading, by providing suggestions for grammar and style improvements, as well as identifying potential errors or inconsistencies in the text.

Personalization

AI can be used to personalize marketing messages based on individual customer preferences and behaviours. This can make the messages more relevant and engaging to the recipient, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Optimization

AI can analyze data from previous marketing campaigns to identify patterns and trends that are associated with higher conversion rates. This can help marketers optimize their messages and tactics to improve their effectiveness.

Testing and experimentation

AI can be used to quickly and efficiently test and experiment with different versions of marketing messages and tactics, allowing marketers to identify the most effective approaches in a shorter amount of time.

SEO

AI copywriting can help with SEO and keyword selection by using natural language processing (NLP) to analyze a website’s content and determine which keywords and phrases are most commonly used and relevant to the site’s content. This can help the site’s content to rank higher in search engine results for those keywords, which can in turn drive more traffic to the site. 

Additionally, AI copywriting tools can help to generate new content for a website, using the same NLP techniques to ensure that the content includes the most relevant and effective keywords for SEO. This can help to improve the overall quality and relevance of a website’s content, which can also contribute to better search engine rankings.

Conclusion

AI copywriting can be used in digital marketing to generate high-quality, relevant content for websites and other digital platforms. This can help to improve a company’s search engine rankings and drive more traffic to its website, increasing its online visibility and ultimately leading to more sales and revenue. AI copywriting tools can also be used to analyze a website’s existing content and suggest improvements, making it more effective at attracting and engaging visitors.

Thanks for sticking with us until the end! We hope that this post was insightful and that it has sparked some new ideas for you. Be sure to find us on social media for more such relevant content, it’s free!

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Content Marketing Digital Technology eCommerce Marketing Industry Insiders

First-Party Data – The Future of Digital Marketing

The internet is more privacy conscious than ever. Some of the biggest tech companies have made the move to ban third-party cookies, which track people’s activity across the web. These cookies provided detailed customer information to advertising platforms and allowed businesses to create ultra-targeted campaigns. For those wondering how the ad campaigns will succeed without this data, the solution is first-party data. 

What is first-party data?

First-party data is information about your audience collected by your business. You don’t purchase or use insights from another business. Instead, customers directly provide you with their information. First-party data may be anything from customer emails to a record of different actions someone takes on your website, like purchases or content downloads.

You don’t need to manually track every interaction with your customers. Great tools exist to help you manage your first-party data. They are a customer relationship management system (CRM) and a customer data platform (CDP). Both of these technologies gather first-party data that helps you gauge where your potential customers are in the sales pipeline and how you can best interact with them to make a sale. CRM software offers you a way to track interactions between your team and your customers.

It is a Central location for remembering customer interactions like sales calls, deals won, and contact information. A CRM makes a huge difference for your sales team. A CDP helps you track the interactions a customer takes after they discover your business. This gathers information like website behaviour and user demographics to help you understand more about your audience. A CDP can help make your marketing strategy more personalized and effective. 

Why does it matter?

  • From a data compliance perspective, there is very minimal risk for business owners. 
  • From a quality perspective, there are a lot of questions about the likes of Google and the other conglomerates about the quality of the data that is accessible. 
  • From an accuracy perspective, as you collect it, you understand the quality of it, and then you know it is accurate because it is very much one-to-one. 
  • From a relevancy perspective, if you collect it in a correct way, and you use it correctly, you have greater insight into the relevance of the specific audiences so that you can use it later on in ways that apply to your business.
  • Cost-effectiveness – It is very cost-effective to use your data in your customer base because it provides a strong return on investment results.

Benefits of first-party data

  • Reach consumers who expect to hear from your business

It might be easy to tap into third-party data. But what you save in time and effort, you pay for in a lack of marketing effectiveness, especially as these capabilities start to disappear. First, party data is collected from your website visitors, email subscribers, and current customers. They have chosen to make a purchase, contact you, or take another action with your business.

Your marketing messages are likely to be welcome, not ignored – especially if it is useful to them in their journey to make a purchase. In fact, research shows that brands that use first-party data in their campaigns see improvement in their conversions, brand awareness, and other business metrics. 

  • Tailor the brand experience to your customers.

More than 60% of consumers expect businesses to use personalization. One study revealed that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company if they experience personalization. Using your customer data you can craft ultra-targeted ads based on different interactions with your business. You can send extremely relevant emails to people who fit your ideal customer profile.

You may even upload a list of contacts targeted with Google ads customer match. First-party data can lead to more successful, personalized campaigns for your business. 

  • Increase your marketing ROI

Targeting people who have shown significant interest in your business means you don’t have to waste money or time on irrelevant low-quality leads. You can focus your budget on the people who are most likely to convert with the highest customer lifetime value, leading to less wasted spending and a positive return on your marketing investment. 

How to collect first-party data?

Make sure your customers know to process their information and what you will do with it once you have it. In addition, give people a way to opt out, if they only want some marketing messages or decide that they want none. A tried-and-true strategy to collect first-party data is to offer something valuable in exchange for customer information. 

Tips for gathering first-party data 

What can you offer people that makes them want to give you their emails, names or phone numbers?

Some strategies to gather this data include: 

  • Ask people to fill out an email subscription form on your website to receive a helpful newsletter 
  • Offer a rewards program in which people share their information to get special deals and benefits when they shop with you. 
  • Track customer information when they make online and offline purchases
  • Provide a unique piece of content to those who give you their contact information.
  • Sharing an information-packed webinar with people who RSVP via email.
  • Adding a contact form to your website that asks people for their information.

And with that we come to the end of this comprehensive journey, do let us know your thoughts and takeaways from it in the comments down below. Throw us a follow on social media on the below handles to stay updated. Till then, we’ll catch you in the next one.

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Content Marketing eCommerce Marketing Industry Insiders Pay-Per-Click Advertising

PPC and Link-Building: What’s the Connect?

If you’re simply starting off to create an advertising method, then you could examine approximately the electricity of hyperlink construction, and what sort of it could supercharge a search engine marketing marketing campaign.

Though hyperlink construction is truly an effective discipline, like every advertising method, it shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. In today’s post, we’ll examine the connection between PPC and hyperlink-constructing, and the way the insights you glean from PPC campaigns can tell your hyperlink-constructing method for extra achievement.

How to Succeed in PPC Marketing

Before we get into how you could leverage PPC findings for higher hyperlink-constructing, let’s move over a number of the essential standards of PPC advertising achievement.

Effective Keyword Research

Just like while growing content material, selecting the proper key phrases will decide whether or not or now no longer your PPC advertisements might be visible with the aid of using a selected target market segment. Researching, testing, and tweaking your keyword choice as you incept and control a marketing campaign will magnetize your target market, and make certain that you’re getting a terrific return on funding out of your PPC budget.

Know your Audience

Although PPC is closely statistics-driven, and a mile’s cry from greater creative, conventional marketing and marketing techniques, you’ll nevertheless want to craft your advertisements primarily based totally on the company expertise of your target market. By going into PPC campaigns with a clean image of your purchaser personas, the target market segments they feed into, and the way this must tell your replica, you’ll be capable of experiencing more potent consequences properly off the bat.

Leverage Automation

All fundamental PPC structures now provide automation tools you could use to herald greater leads, enhance your conversion fee, and experience a more potent ROI, all whilst saving your group time and energy. PPC automation algorithms also are able to read endless statistics units to tell decisions, primarily based totally on your performance, budget, and goals.

Strategies to Follow When Building Quality Links

Now that we’ve checked out the important additives for achievement in PPC advertising, it’s time to run via a number of the handiest hyperlink-constructing techniques you could appoint for a hit marketing campaign. Here are our pinnacle three for the contemporary search engine marketing climate.

Three Main Link-Building Techniques to Use in 2022

1. Digital PR

Digital PR refers to making use of confirmed PR approaches to earn natural one-way links. This method grows linkable belongings, including long-shape weblog posts, infographics, and interactive content material, then sells those belongings to newshounds or guides in a manner that encourages them to jot down approximately your business enterprise or belongings and hyperlink to them. 

This tactic is reasonably tough due to the fact you’ll want to give you a few certainly notable content materials to earn a hyperlink. However, if it’s a hit, you could advantage of a few highly precious hyperlink equity.

2. Contributed Content / Guest Posts

Contributed content material and visitor posting had been famous techniques for hyperlink construction for a little time, and for a terrific reason: it’s a notable manner to generate the sort of accept as true with great alerts that Google favours while rating websites. 

“Providing precious, optimized content material to actual businesses’ websites thru visitor posting allows [business] to construct herbal references from associated web sites with inside the industry,” says hyperlink-constructing agency Hive19. “Like all advertising activities, there are right variations of this – and bad. Specialise in operating intently with editors to offer editorials that seamlessly in shape with their logo voice and editorial calendar.”

3. Reclaiming Unlinked Brand Mentions, Broken and Lost Links

Sometimes, all of the essential legwork is accomplished withinside the manner of gaining a hyperlink, and all you need to do is attain the proper contact. There can be times in which a blogger has noted your logo, but is now no longer connected to it. 

In different cases, there can be hyperlinks pointing to useless pages that had formerly hosted content material to your subject matter or niche, which may be reclaimed with the aid of growing a comparable piece of content material and achieving out to the referring domain’s webmaster.

Sometimes one-way links are misplaced via habitual protection of a referring domain, and an easy e-mail to the webmaster may be sufficient to update it. Combining those varieties of low-putting fruit may be a notable manner to supercharge your backlink profile, and require little or no effort! 

How PPC Analytics Can Help Inform Your Strategy

For many marketers, PPC statistics are used to tell contemporary and destiny PPC campaigns, and their usefulness stops there. Though you could now no longer be privy to it, there are some methods of PPC statistics analytics that may be used to tell and optimize your hyperlink-constructing method.

Use PPC Data to Identify your Strongest Landing Pages

If you’re handling a huge internet site with huge PPC campaigns, then it can be difficult to recognize which pages might be the most prudent to target in a hyperlink-constructing marketing campaign. PPC analytics suites provide a short and clean manner to look at a whole breakdown of your touchdown pages, key phrases, and the way they’re being acquired with the aid of using your target market.

Simply drill right all the way down to the vacation spot URLs to your marketing campaign, and examine metrics like conversion fee, and clickthrough fee with the aid of using key-word, etc. By carving off a share of the maximum-acting touchdown pages, you’ll without problems be capable of prioritizing goal pages in your hyperlink-constructing marketing campaign.

Use PPC Data as a Starting Point to Recycle Content

To turn the preceding method on its head, PPC statistics also can be used to perceive pages that aren’t acting nicely but display loads of untapped potential. Let’s say, for example, that you’re jogging a marketing campaign marketing and marketing a loose e-book in your advertising agency. You might also additionally have a notable clickthrough fee for a keyword like “content material advertising manual”, however, see that a terrible share of human beings is really downloading the e-book. 

This suggests that despite the fact that human beings are finding your replica compelling, they’re now no longer satisfied with the aid of using the content material for your pages. These varieties of eventualities may be a superb starting line as a way to recycle content material and appeal to new hyperlinks via great, authoritative pages.

Look for Spikes in Demand to Inform Topical Content

Finally, reading each of your very own advertisements and the common CPC for sure key phrases may be a notable supply of suggestions while you’re seeking out topical content material. If a sure advert unexpectedly profits a miles better-than-common click-via, and tendencies to your different advertisements cut price a customary leap to your logo equity, it can be time to trip the thrill around a sure subject matter with the aid of using assembly with applicable content material. 

Conclusion 

This article has given you the basics of leveraging PPC insights for a greater focused and statistics-targeted hyperlink-constructing method. We’ve mentioned the connection between PPC and hyperlink construction and the way those precious insights can assist manuals and tell your hyperlink-constructing method for extra achievement. 

Adopting hyperlink-constructing techniques including virtual PR and visitor posting to reclaim unlinked logo mentions, the usage of your PPC statistics will assist, tell and optimize your advertising method going forward. By figuring out your maximum and lowest-acting touchdown pages via PPC insights, you’ll be capable of prioritizing the maximum precious pages for hyperlink construction and notice better ROI in your advertising efforts.

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Content Marketing eCommerce Marketing Industry Insiders SEO

Online Discovery #101 for SMBs

For a freshly established business, you’re not expected to set up a proper marketing budget but at least start putting some investment into it. Business is basically about generating revenue by selling or renting a product or service. When you’re providing a product, you might need a starting investment, but when you’re providing a service, you might just need to work on your skills or market your business organically.

Whether you’re targeting organic marketing or a mix of organic and paid campaigns, we’ve got some incredible strategies for both scenarios. Later we’ll discuss how a hybrid strategy can yield the most efficient results. Let’s first get started with skills—

SEO

Looking at stats, anyone can easily tell that almost 70% of traffic comes from organic search results and ad campaigns. Constituting such a huge share of the market, search engines filter out the best content from the overflowing pile of excessive extra content. To pull out these gems, search engines need a hierarchical filter to carefully brew out the most useful and relevant results to keep the user’s interest intact. 

Contrary to the common belief, organic search results and ads are closely related and can be used perpetually. It helps you build more efficient and effective ad campaigns when you know what the users are looking for and what they find the most useful. Setting up fruitful SEO infrastructure is not that difficult, start with keyword research.

Keywords are the highlights of your topic and these can be simply explained as the words that have the highest possibility to be searched for. once these simple keywords are identified, head onto tools like ahrefs, Google ads, semrush, and many more to evaluate the popularity of those keywords and their usefulness. read more about keywords and SEO in a more detailed segment here.

Consistency is the key

Once you have your key points and a basic theme for your blogs, start posting consistently, and release quality content weekly that adds value to your user’s time and fulfills the user intent.

Another important aspect is backlinking which is very essential as it can drive traffic from trusted sources to your site, which is generally high-yield traffic as it has been filtered.

Content marketing 101

prioritizing quality content will start to show results progressively and will reflect in your stats, leveraging these results to their fullest potential is your primary task. Analyze what type of content suits best for your page, for many, it’s just blogs and videos.

Studies show that over 86% of growth-driving content is blogging and is widely preferred across businesses, while surveys conducted over the internet, time and again, indicate the fact that videos are indeed affecting the marketing curve for many retailers. 

Learn at every step, starting your own blog will help you get a better hold of SEO strategies and user intent from a broader perspective. Adding value to your potential customer’s life with every type of content that you put out is an opportunity to build consumer trust and loyalty.

Connect

Connecting with your audience is the most important step after establishing links. Once you have an active group of users or leads, you must stay in the loop with them. There are several ways to do this, one of which is to make them subscribe to your email newsletter and feed them with relevant informative emails weekly. 

Another easy way to stay connected to your people is by setting up your social media handles and posting relevant stuff regularly to keep your people updated. Social media presence might seem like a crucial step, but staying connected is definitely one of the most fruitful things a digital marketer can do. Another additional tip would be providing an occasional special offer to your followers to win their trust more.

Even just sharing your blog links on your social page makes a whole lot of difference, after all, it’s much easier to directly feed people what they want rather than just letting them find it on their own. People who already follow you are following for a purpose and if you’re ready to feed them with adequate information then they are more than happy to read and connect!

Start with ads

Now that you know what your audience wants and you also have at least some active users, it’s time to move on to paid ads, PPC stands for pay-per-click ads, and start setting up ads with your latest learnings about SEO. The first step before actually publishing these ads is to first run some test runs and see how efficiently they perform. Once done with the testing phase, move on to setting up different ad groups and seeing what’s working the best and then investing further money in similar sections and similar ways of producing ads. 

Facebook ads

Facebook ads can be helpful for small businesses looking to increase their visibility and reach a wider audience. By creating targeted ads and promoting them to a carefully defined audience, small businesses can increase brand awareness and drive traffic to their website or physical location.

Additionally, Facebook offers a range of advertising options and formats, which can be customized to fit the needs of a small business. For example, small businesses can use sponsored posts to promote their products or services or create video ads to showcase their brand more engagingly.

Overall, using Facebook ads can be an effective way for small businesses to increase their visibility and reach potential customers. By carefully defining their goals and target audience, small businesses can create ads that are more likely to be successful and drive results

Google ads

One of the key benefits of using Google ads for small businesses is that they can be highly targeted. Small businesses can use keywords, location targeting, and other tools to ensure that their ads are only shown to people who are interested in their products or services. This helps to maximize the impact of their advertising budget and ensures that their ads are seen by the right people.

Additionally, Google offers a range of ad formats, including text ads, display ads, and video ads, which can be customized to fit the needs of a small business. This allows small businesses to create ads that are effective and engaging, and that help to drive traffic to their website or physical location. As opposed to Facebook ads, Google ads are broadly known as search ads that are served when a user searches for a related specific service. Facebook ads are a type of interruptive ads, meaning that they will interrupt the user’s feed to display a tentatively useful or relevant ad to them.

Feedback

Ask for reviews and referrals: Word-of-mouth can be a powerful marketing tool for small businesses. Encourage your satisfied customers to leave reviews on your website, social media pages, and other online platforms, and ask for referrals from people who are happy with your products or services.

Conclusion

The major takeaway here is that your presence, not just physical but online is necessary for the proper functioning of your business. Having a professional, well-designed website is essential for small businesses looking to increase their online presence. Your website should include information about your products or services, your contact information, and any other relevant information that potential customers might be looking for. 

To make it easier for potential customers to find your website, it’s important to optimize your website for search engines like Google. This involves using keywords and other techniques to improve your website’s visibility in search results. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can be powerful tools for small businesses looking to increase their online presence. 

By regularly posting engaging content and interacting with your followers, you can build a loyal audience and drive more traffic to your website. Online advertising platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads can be effective ways for small businesses to increase their visibility and reach a wider audience. By creating targeted ads and promoting them to a carefully defined audience, you can drive more traffic to your website and ultimately boost your sales.

Thanks for reading so far, we hope that you made the most out of it. Feel free to drop your questions, queries, and valuable feedback in the comments down below. Find us on our social media handles below to stay updated, see you at the next one!

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Agency Life Content Marketing eCommerce Marketing Industry Insiders

Digital Marketing Agency #101

Digital marketing agencies are companies employed by other businesses to manage their digital marketing activities:

from designing social media strategy to informing and executing the SEO optimization of web pages and content.

Depending on the size and scope of the needs of the client, the digital marketing agency–typically a team of digital marketing experts–will work on both short-term campaigns and long-term maintenance of a business’s digital marketing output to achieve specific and measurable company goals such as boosting traffic, sales, or engagement.

What is a Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing agency performs the functions of a digital marketing team or supports an existing in-house digital marketing team on behalf of a company or client. These capabilities will vary depending on the specific needs of the business you are responsible for, but typically you will use omnichannel, multichannel, or single-channel marketing across websites, blogs, social media, and platforms, to reach your customers and prospects through email and more digital marketing channels.

A digital marketing agency may be employed to execute a strategy already created by a business, or they might be brought on to help advise on strategy, or plan it from scratch. The goal of these innovative strategies is to market products and services online to enhance interaction and ultimately increase sales and revenue. A digital marketing agency might manage social media accounts, optimize website pages, create and publish content for blogs or other publications, or implement an SEO strategy to ensure a brand appears high on search engine result pages for relevant search terms.

A digital marketing agency will typically employ experts from specific areas of digital marketing in order to offer various specializations and expertise. Those areas might include:

  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Email marketing
  • Content marketing
  • Content and copywriting
  • Social media marketing
  • Search engine marketing (SEM)
  • Data analysis
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Brand management
  • Video creation
  • Digital PR
  • Marketing automation
  • Graphic design
  • Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
  • Community management

3. Why Use a Digital Marketing Agency

Choosing to hire a digital marketing agency over building an in-house team (or doing everything yourself) has many benefits.

Staying on top of these changing trends and predicting future trends are tasks that a digital marketing agency`s team of experts will be routinely performing for all their clients. For smaller companies, startups, or sole traders, a digital marketing agency can provide either an extension to a small in-house marketing team, or provide a complete marketing package, supporting a company with its collective knowledge of all areas of digital marketing, such as SEO, SEM, PPC ads, and social media marketing. 

When a company outsources its marketing needs to a digital agency, a company with limited marketing resources can rest assured that its marketing demands are in expert hands. You benefit from the best digital marketing tools However, while these tools offer great value to marketing teams and professionals, there are two potential problems for businesses.

And new digital marketing tools are popping up all the time. Agencies should always have budgets for access to the latest and most impactful digital marketing tools and train their teams of marketers on how to use them for maximum benefit to their brands and businesses. Customers pay a flat agency fee, so no additional investment in digital tools is required. Hiring a digital marketing agency can give you a new perspective on your ideas from people learning about your business for the first time.

When you work for an agency, you are not limited to the marketing knowledge of one or two individuals, but rather the combined experience of many professionals. Since the clientele that agencies typically work with is broad, from large corporations to start-ups to freelancers, their team will likely have experience working for companies like yours and will be able to provide helpful guidance and advice specific to your problem.

4. What services do digital marketing agencies offer?

We have already outlined some of the main services that digital marketing agencies can offer their clients. Now let’s take a closer look at the specific actions digital marketing agencies can take to increase traffic, engagement, sales, and revenue from their clients.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of improving a website’s content to make it easier for users to find it on search engines such as Google and Bing. The more relevant a search engine algorithm deems a website to be in relation to a certain theme or word, the higher up that page gets ranked on a search engine’s results pages (also known as SERPs). When this happens, users searching that search term (or ‘keyword’) see that website first, and are therefore more likely to visit it.

Within a digital marketing agency, marketing specialists will use the following tactics to improve a client’s SEO, and therefore boost website traffic with interested users:

  • Keyword research
  • On-page optimization
  • Information Architecture
  • Answering common industry search queries with high-quality, relevant content
  • Link building
  • Competitor research and analysis
  • Page navigation
  • Focus on the user experience

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

PPC is a form of search engine marketing (SEM) which brings users to a company website through paid search advertising campaigns, with the long-term goal of making the website as visible and easy to find as possible. PPC works by charging the person who has placed an advertisement (in this case, a digital marketing agency or the client) every time a user clicks on one of their ads.

PPC advertising can be a cost-effective digital marketing technique as the advertiser is only charged when a user actually lands on their website but is not charged for simply running the ad. PPC is also targeted, allowing advertisers to choose demographics such as location, language and device type.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is the process of planning, creating and publishing eye-catching, engaging, high quality and relevant content on a company’s social media platforms. These social media channels typically include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but also sites such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, and TikTok, depending on where your company’s audience spends most of their time.

The purpose of posting content on social media is to grow your audience, followers, or community. Build brand awareness and authority, convert and retain customers, and increase business revenue. In reality, it is an opportunity to promote products and services, educate users about what a company does and means on a daily basis, and interact directly with its target audience.

Marketing automation

Marketing automation is what happens when tools and services are used which can automate different marketing activities to streamline activities and goals, enhance efficiency and productivity, and enable the tracking and analysis of large amounts of data. A digital marketing agency can set up marketing automation tools on behalf of a company or client for a range of activities related to:

  • Social media planning, scheduling, and posting
  • Analytics and ROI tracking
  • Conversation monitoring
  • Campaign segmentation
  • Content curation and management
  • Email marketing (email outreach, customer journey emails, and newsletters)
  • Lead generation, analysis, and management
  • Testing
  • Website visitor tracking

Email marketing

Email marketing is the creation of sequences of emails to promote a product, offer, or service to a company’s client base or users. Creating sequences which align with the customer journey–from the “Welcome” email sequence through to “Sales” emails–the goal of email marketing is to address the user’s needs, solve their problems, and answer their questions at every stage of the journey in order to convert a lead or nurture a sale.

Conclusion

By leveraging various digital channels, such as social media, search engine optimization, and email marketing, a digital marketing agency can help businesses connect with potential customers and build brand awareness. Additionally, working with a digital marketing agency allows businesses to focus on their core competencies while leaving the complexities of digital marketing to the experts. 

With the ever-increasing importance of digital marketing in today’s business landscape, partnering with a digital marketing agency can be a crucial step toward achieving long-term success. With that, we’ll see you in the next one, follow us on our social media handles below.

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Content Marketing Digital Technology eCommerce Marketing Industry Insiders

How to Lead Your Digital Transformation with Marketing 2023

Every marketer wants to create a better customer experience. The prospect or consumer experience is key to not only conversion and increased revenue, but also customer loyalty and advocacy, so this is what makes or breaks your business.

The Marketing Evolution: The Leadership, Transformation, Skills, Challenges & the Future study found that 71% of senior marketers and 61% of mid-tier marketers are responsible for their organization’s digital transformation.

Yet, according to The 2021 State of Digital Transformation, only 23% of CMOs are supporting digital transformation, with more IT taking the lead.

However, that is not the case as the leader and her team are perfectly positioned to play an active role in the transformation. This blog validates the skills and knowledge that will level up your marketing to accelerate and execute some of the best digital transformation strategies.

Why is a marketing manager best suited to lead?

The role of the marketing team is to inform, influence and transform. This requires unique skills and broad insight into how companies and clients work. When it comes to creating a digital transformation strategy, marketing leaders can step back and look at the big picture. Create a vision of where your company is and needs to be.

This applies to the company as a whole and its functions, not just marketing. Because digital transformation must focus on the entire customer lifecycle, not just part of it.

Know Your Customers Your job is to keep up to date with new trends and developments. This includes not only technology but also customer needs and behaviours. This is important for any business when planning scenarios and looking to the future.

The importance of customer experience cannot be ignored either. Customers are becoming more sophisticated and demand a consistent and seamless omnichannel approach across all touchpoints across the organization.

So when your customers click on your social media post to learn more about your new product, make sure the next touchpoint is related to that product (such as a custom landing page) and mentions your brand. Otherwise, you will quickly lose your customer’s attention.

Understanding Data

Marketing leaders rely on data. This can help you make better decisions, whether it’s paid advertising performance or conversion rates.

There may be vast amounts of data, but it’s the ability to uncover critical insights for your business. You need data that drives performance, leads, and sales. Your marketing team can help your business get there.

Developing a strategy for digital transformation requires not only understanding business data, but also the entire ecosystem. Do you know what your competitors are doing? What is your industry overview and what are the key developments over the next 12 months?

Market research and forecasting are part of the CMO’s job. It’s about assessing the external environment and understanding how companies fit into it. This allows you to improve where it matters and focus on areas that may be underdeveloped or under-resourced within your organization.

Soft Skills

Technical knowledge and skills are essential in today’s work environment, especially in marketing. But it’s not the whole picture.

Equally important are soft skills, also called power skills. This includes behaviour, personality traits, and work habits. It also helps form diverse and agile teams. This is essential to any digital transformation process.

According to ‘The Future of Work:

2022 Global Report’, the top skills employers are looking for are soft skills such as reliability, flexibility, problem-solving and teamwork/collaboration. Other Soft His skills include creativity, innovation, curiosity and persuasiveness.

What Every Marketer Should Have:

1. Agile Strategy

Agility is essential to digital transformation. It helps companies respond to internal and external changes. This rapid pivoting capability helps maintain or improve customer engagement and fosters employee harmony by creating productive and engaged employees.

This is why a marketing leader and his team should adopt agile strategies. But what does that mean?

Enterprise agility is not just about delivering products and software, it’s about how a business is structured, operated and behaved. It’s about establishing deep connections, new directions, and operational flexibility.

2. Enterprise Agility

This should not only focus on being customer-centric, it should also focus on internal talent. Optimizing skills and knowledge through simple upskilling with continuous learning and integrated agile thinking.

Ultimately, it is a holistic and integrated view of the entire business environment, where everyone is working towards a common goal and ready to adapt as needed.

How do you make a difference?

Leading and embracing change can be difficult. But in today’s fast-paced environment, you have no choice. The pandemic shows how quickly the external environment can change without warning, and how we respond can make or break our success.

There are five easy steps: 

1. Listen

This focuses on listening to customers and employees. Take an interest in customer feedback, such as reviews and phone calls, and involve customers in surveys and focus groups. Create a feedback environment for your employees and hold regular meetings to gain insights.

2. Evaluate

Focus on business objectives and relate to KPIs. Then use the data you want to see where you can make the biggest changes. Empower marketers with the information they need to make informed decisions, rather than waiting for more data.

3. Implement 

Educate your team and prepare for change. Each team member should know what, when, and what is expected of them to achieve it. This includes providing training where necessary and being able to discuss the ‘why’ for further development.

4. Execute

This is how you execute your decisions and follow up with your team. This phase asks for you to communicate the firm’s expectations and identify early adopters.

5. Iterate 

Commit to the changes you are making and bring the team along. If you made any changes, go back and repeat these steps for subsequent changes. Change is hard but ultimately worth it.

Conclusion

And with that, we come to the end of this brief journey, hoping that by now you have a rough sketch of the strategies and plans to ride this wave of digital transformation that’s committed to last at least this decade. See you in the next one, catch us on our social media handles below.

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Industry Insiders

Digital Transformation in Healthcare

The 21st century has seen a proliferation of digital technologies in healthcare, allowing for more efficient and accessible medical care. In this article, we will take a comprehensive look at the current state of digital transformation in healthcare, and examine the key trends, technologies, and strategies that are driving this change.

The Digital Healthcare Revolution

The 21st century has witnessed a significant shift in healthcare towards digitization. The use of electronic medical records (EMRs), cloud-based systems, and telemedicine has enabled healthcare providers to offer more efficient and convenient services to patients. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the adoption of digital technology in healthcare, as it has become necessary to provide healthcare remotely to patients and healthcare providers. 

From virtual consultations to online prescription renewals, the digitalization of healthcare has made it easier for patients to access medical care and for healthcare providers to manage patient information.

The Importance of Digital Transformation

The adoption of digital technology in healthcare brings a multitude of benefits. Firstly, it improves patient outcomes by providing healthcare professionals with real-time access to patient information, enabling them to make more informed decisions. Secondly, it streamlines operations by automating manual processes, reducing errors, and increasing efficiency. 

Additionally, digital solutions such as telemedicine and e-commerce are providing patients with greater access to healthcare services in rural or underserved areas. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital healthcare solutions have become a lifeline for many people, enabling them to continue to access medical care while minimizing the risk of transmission.

The Rise of Digital Health

The rise of digital health can be attributed to several factors. One major factor is the increasing demand for healthcare services due to an aging population and a growing global population. Another factor is the rapid advancements in technology, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things, which have made it possible to collect, store, and analyze large amounts of data. 

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital solutions in healthcare, as it has become necessary to provide healthcare remotely to patients and healthcare providers.

The Future of Digital Health: Key Trends

Digital transformation in healthcare is being driven by several key trends, and these trends are likely to continue shaping the industry in the future.

Telemedicine

One of the most notable trends is the increasing use of telemedicine, which enables patients to consult with healthcare professionals remotely. This trend is particularly beneficial for patients in underserved or rural areas who may not have access to healthcare services nearby. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine as it has become necessary to provide healthcare remotely to patients.

Wearables and IoT

Another trend is the use of wearables and other digital devices to collect patient data and enable remote monitoring. From fitness trackers to smartwatches, wearables can track a wide range of health metrics, including heart rate, sleep patterns, and activity levels, and provide real-time insights into patients’ health. Additionally, IoT devices are being used in hospitals and clinics to streamline operations and improve patient care.

Artificial Intelligence

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are being used to analyze patient data and identify patterns, which can help healthcare professionals to make more informed decisions. From predicting patient outcomes to identifying at-risk individuals, AI is enabling healthcare providers to improve patient care and lower costs.

E-commerce Marketing in Healthcare

E-commerce marketing is playing a significant role in driving digital transformation in healthcare. By leveraging e-commerce platforms, healthcare providers can expand their reach and serve more patients. Online appointment booking, telemedicine, and home delivery of prescription drugs are some of the ways that e-commerce marketing is being used in the healthcare industry. 

Additionally, through digital marketing strategies such as SEO, PPC, and social media marketing, healthcare providers can effectively target and connect with potential patients. These strategies allow healthcare providers to build trust and create a sense of connection with patients, even when interactions are taking place remotely.

With the rise of telemedicine, e-commerce marketing in healthcare has also become increasingly important. Patients can now easily book virtual consultations, purchase prescription drugs online and have them delivered to their homes, and even order medical equipment online. This not only provides patients with more convenient access to medical care but also helps healthcare providers to reach more patients and boost their revenue.

Challenges and Opportunities

While digital transformation in healthcare is bringing many benefits, some challenges must be addressed. One major challenge is data security, as the increased use of digital technology raises the risk of data breaches and cyber-attacks. 

Additionally, the rapid pace of change in the industry can make it difficult for healthcare providers to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. Despite these challenges, there are also many opportunities for healthcare providers to improve patient care, increase revenue, and streamline operations. 

One such opportunity is the use of data analytics, which can help healthcare providers to identify patterns and trends in patient data, and make more informed decisions. Additionally, the use of digital technology can also help healthcare providers to reach and serve more patients, particularly in rural or underserved areas.

Conclusion

In conclusion, digital transformation in healthcare is rapidly changing the way the medical industry operates. The adoption of digital technology in healthcare is improving patient outcomes, streamlining operations, and providing patients with greater access to healthcare services. 

E-commerce marketing is playing a significant role in driving this change by enabling healthcare providers to reach and serve more patients through online channels. As technology continues to advance, we can expect to see even more innovations in the healthcare industry, and it will be important for healthcare providers to stay updated on the latest trends and technologies to improve patient care and increase revenue.

To stay up to date on the latest trends and opportunities in digital healthcare, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media. By doing so, you’ll be the first to know about new developments and opportunities in the industry.

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Customer Experience: What it’s all about

 What is Customer Experience (CX)? 

In short, customer experience involves putting the customer first. This requires an unwavering focus on the customer’s experience  with the brand. This includes everything the customer touches, hears, handles or sees during the interaction with the product or service. CX requires companies to care deeply about their customers and  serve them in the best possible way. 

 Companies that excel at CX: 

  •  Delight your customers 
  •  Create a true emotional connection with them 
  •  Turn them into loyal fans and advocates 
  •  If you can provide customers with a great customer experience when they interact with you – at all touch points – you can stay behind your competition and receive financial rewards. 

What is Customer Experience (CX) 

What is Customer Experience Management? 

Customer experience is something that every organization manages,  intentionally or not. There are no hard and fast rules about what you should do. This means understanding that many interrelated processes, tools and responsibilities must come together to deliver an overall great experience. 

Organizations that create exceptional customer experiences know that  experience management is an ongoing process and the mindset of the entire organization rather than  the responsibility of just a few employees. 

 Managing CX includes: 

  •  managing customer expectations 
  •  adopting an ongoing CX mindset 
  •  increasing awareness of your brand or product 
  •  protecting against shrinking margins or competition 

Increasing customer retention and loyalty several competitive elements to consider when looking at the overall customer experience: 

First, what are the business priorities of your organization – for example, to increase revenue or profit 

Second, your brand – how the company stands out, what it is famous for and how it does things differently 

Third, the customer – ​how you satisfy their needs, how you achieve her goals with minimal friction, and how you satisfy their emotional needs 

It may seem like a simple  exercise to satisfy all three of these  elements, but you will quickly discover that there can be conflicts between them. them and congratulations. For example,  your customer’s requirements may not match your business goals – and sometimes they may even be polarized. The job of customer experience management is to find the sweet spot for all three. 

 What does a CX manager do? 

Companies offer products and services long before customer experience was formalized as a topic. Some may ask who  now has to fulfill this role and related tasks in the organization? Because digital is the primary channel of the customer journey, digital marketers are often best positioned to take on the role of CX leader and drive awareness of the customer experience across the enterprise. 

While providing a great customer experience is everyone’s job in the organization, some people may not know exactly what  they need to do or question why they should spend their time doing it. CX leaders must identify and answer these questions. 

 It is important that CX managers implement detailed processes that enable: 

  1.  Aligning employee behavior with the overall CX strategy 
  2.  Creating and measuring data that provides customer insights 
  3.  Products and services are intended for both internal and external users. 

It is also important for the CX manager to assess how competent their organization is in various technologies before starting CX transformations. By evaluating individuals and teams and conducting  digital maturity assessments, they can set realistic goals based on their ability to meet customer needs.

Finally, it is critical that CX leaders act as the voice of the customer – and bring the voice of the customer into the boardroom, the dining room and the shop. It should have an impact on decision-making at all levels of the organization.

 What is Customer Experience (CX) 

 How does CX affect performance? 

Customer experience can sometimes seem difficult to measure because it consists of so many moving parts, from sales  to service. One of the most compelling reasons why an organization should pay attention and invest in its customer experience is the link between CX and financial results. 

Great customer experiences can improve companies’ financial results. Brands that excel at CX are found to increase revenue and create more shareholder value than brands that do not. That’s why it’s important to measure the value of CX in your organization, compare yourself against your competitors and work to improve areas where you’re not doing well. 

Forrester, a research organization, rates companies to create a Customer Experience Index (CXI). Forrester’s CXI score measures how successfully a company delivers customer experiences that build and maintain loyalty. It shows in several areas how certain brands rank and what the average score is. It’s a powerful tool for understanding who is doing CX well and where you stand against your peers. 

What is a service shadow?  To truly understand  and improve the  CX, you must experience its service as a customer. This should apply to the entire organization: everyone should shadow the real customers who interact with the company. This type of observation is called a service shadow. By performing regular maintenance checks, you will quickly discover areas of poor performance and opportunities for service improvement. 

The service shadow should cross many different and important channels, including  calls and digital services. It can help create a simple customer journey template that lists all the steps and available channels so you don’t miss any of them. You need to have a deep view of the entire customer journey to form a complete picture and  fully understand the needs of your customers. 

  1.  What is Customer Experience (CX) 
  2.  What is Customer Experience (CX) 
  3.  What is the Customer Experience Pyramid? 
  4.  What is Customer Experience Management? 

Customer experience is something that every organization manages,  intentionally or not. There are no hard and fast rules about what you should do. This means understanding that many interrelated processes, tools and responsibilities must come together to deliver an overall great experience. Organizations that create exceptional customer experiences know that  experience management is an ongoing process and the mindset of the entire organization rather than  the responsibility of just a few employees. 

  •  Managing CX includes: 
  •  managing customer expectations 
  •  adopting an ongoing CX mindset 
  •  increasing awareness of your brand or product 
  •  protecting against shrinking margins or competition 

 Increasing customer retention and loyalty several competitive elements to consider when  looking at the overall customer experience:

First, what are the business priorities of your organization – for example, to increase revenue or profit.

Second, your brand – how the company stands out, what it is famous for and how it does things differently. 

Third, the customer – ​how you satisfy their needs, how you achieve her goals with minimal friction, and how you satisfy their emotional needs.

It may seem like a simple  exercise to satisfy all three of these  elements, but you will quickly discover that there can be conflicts between them. them and congratulations. For example,  your customer’s requirements may not match your business goals – and sometimes they may even be polarized. The job of customer experience management is to find the sweet spot for all three. 

 What does a CX manager do? 

Companies offer products and services long before customer experience was formalized as a topic. Some may ask who  now has to fulfill this role and related tasks in the organization? Because digital is the primary channel of the customer journey, digital marketers are often best positioned to take on the role of CX leader and drive awareness of the customer experience across the enterprise. 

While providing a great customer experience is everyone’s job in the organization, some people may not know exactly what  they need to do or question why they should spend their time doing it. CX leaders must identify and answer these questions.

It is important that CX managers implement detailed processes  that enable: 

  1.  Aligning employee behavior with the overall CX strategy 
  2.  Creating and measuring data that provides customer insights 
  3.  Products and services are intended for both internal and external users. 
  4.  It is also important for the CX manager to assess how competent their organization is in various technologies before starting CX transformations. By evaluating individuals and teams and conducting  digital maturity assessments, they can set realistic goals based on their ability to meet customer needs. 

Finally, it is critical that CX leaders act as the voice of the customer – and bring the voice of the customer into the boardroom, the dining room and the shop. It should have an impact on decision-making at all levels of the organization. 

 What is Customer Experience (CX) 

 How does CX affect performance? 

Customer experience can sometimes seem difficult to measure because it consists of so many moving parts, from sales  to service. One of the most compelling reasons why an organization should pay attention and invest in its customer experience is the link between CX and financial results. 

Great customer experiences can improve companies’ financial results. Brands that excel at CX are found to increase revenue and create more shareholder value than brands that do not. That’s why it’s important to measure the value of CX in your organization, compare yourself against your competitors and work to improve areas where you’re not doing well. 

Forrester, a research organization, rates companies to create a Customer Experience Index (CXI). Forrester’s CXI score measures how successfully a company delivers customer experiences that build and maintain loyalty. It shows in several areas how certain brands rank and what the average score is. It’s a powerful tool for understanding who is doing CX well and where you stand against your peers.

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Industry Insiders

3 Marketing Bloopers Digital Marketers Can Learn From

When we think of speakers, we usually think of actors spouting lines or collapsing on set. However, the marketing world sees its fair share of fluff – errors in judgment that can have devastating effects on a brand’s reputation. 

The marketing game not only causes reputational setbacks, but  can also seriously drain your advertising budget. Misplaced messages, poor campaign strategies, poorly thought out images and investments in the wrong channels are  the most common marketing mistakes that brands make.From Lunya’s confused HandMaid’s Tale underwear campaign to Pepsi’s creepy Chinese ad copy translation, GAP’s quirky temporary rebranding and more, marketing talk is not uncommon. 

 3 Marketing Bloopers Digital Marketers Can Learn  

 Some bloopers are small, some are big, but they all have one thing in common – they take time, effort and resources to recover from. To help you avoid making  your own mistakes, here’s a look at two of this year’s worst marketing mistakes and older classics, and what we can learn from them. 

 1. Burger King’s Awesome Marketing Fop 

The tweet was an attempt to push back against marketing communications that were quickly removed after causing outrage online. The original marketing hook was “women belong in the kitchen,” but with little context around it, the controversial slogan became a slogan for sexism. The timing was particularly unfortunate because the tweet was posted on International Women’s Day, a day that celebrates women’s empowerment and gender equality. 

This social media marketing hoax caused a hot segment to spread and unfortunately earned 527% more engagement than the brand’s scholarship program ad: 

 Lesson: 

 The culture industry is indeed male domain , and while the campaign was meant to make things better, it  buried itself deeper than a  pickle wedge in a giant hamburger stack. 

 Keys: 

  •  When developing  marketing messages for a specific event or party: 
  •  Share your ideas and content with relevant audiences internally 
  •  Collect feedback before signing up 
  •  Avoid  overly controversial copy 
  •  Choose language, images or concepts very carefully 
  •  Use your message to empower your audience, don’t create a sense of alienation. 
  •  Remember that not all advertising is good advertising. 

 Tip: Consider using a social media style guide so everyone on your team and working with your brand knows the agreed tone  and tailored messages for all relevant platforms. 

2. Snickers ad campaign fails 

Snickers Spain got its reputation in  hot water this year when it released a misleading video ad that used one of the brand’s slogans: “You’re not the one who’s hungry.” 

There is nothing wrong with that. clause itself (actually solid  copywriting), but the context in which it was used caused an unwanted association. 

The ad shows influencer Aless Gibaja transforming into a Snickers “man” after eating a Snickers bar. This misogynistic homophobic narrative is ill-earned high-level negative publicity almost as soon as the campaign launches. 

Even Spain’s Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, publicly slammed the ad with a tweet that read: 

 “Our society is diverse and tolerant. I hope that those who have the power to make decisions about what we see and hear in commercials and television will learn that too.” 

Lesson: 

If political parties and figures are seen criticizing your marketing campaign, you are likely to lose a large portion of your target audience and existing brand advocates, even if you offer a full and honest apology. 

Before working with influencers, make sure they are relevant to your niche or industry and work closely with them to make sure they like your message. It is recommended that you build strong influencer relationships and avoid controversial advertising ideas that have no meaning or substance – as this will almost never end well.

 3. Timothy’s World Coffee Rewards Misfortune 

Last but not least in our selection of marketing mistakes is the infamous example of an earlier failure of Timothy’s World Coffee, an established brand that is  still trying to redeem itself from this folly. 

To expand their social media reach, a brand offered current and prospective fans a coupon or free sample for following them on social media—usually an effective tactic for driving engagement and loyalty. 

Unfortunately, Timothy’s World Coffee offered more than it could deliver and ran out of  free K-cups in just three days. A full two weeks after this embarrassing blow (that’s a pretty big hiccup), Timothy released a public message announcing that they were giving away coupons and samples  on a first-come, first-served basis. While this claim may have resonated with consumers immediately after the incident, the  delay in communication caused outrage and further dug the brand  into a publicity hole. 

Despite the apparently genuine second apology message and its offer to send  a free coupon to all disgruntled customers, the damage had already been done. 

 Lesson: 

 If you’re going to offer an incentive, coupon, freebie — or basically any promise — through any consumer channel or touchpoint, you need to make sure you deliver on your offer. No exceptions. No compromises.

Whether you’re offering free shipping to follow your brand,  running a contest with multiple prizes, or offering unique content to sign up for an email newsletter, you should never offer anything less. Always strive to provide value and demonstrate that  you are trustworthy – if you don’t, almost all marketing efforts will fail. 

Oh, and if you screw up, deal with it publicly in a hurry, instead of letting the problem drag on for hours, days or (worse) weeks. 

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