While consistent uploads, relevant content, user intent fulfillment are undoubtedly the most crucial aspects of successful marketing, but that alone won’t give you the magical results you’re seeking. 

While organic rankings are achieved through best-in-class SEO, there’s much more that goes into bringing your business to the top of the charts if you’re planning to run ads. Budding businesses must use ads strategically to get the best out of their marketing budget.

Search marketing keywords can be expensive with some terms costing hundreds of dollars. Planning and execution of a good marketing strategy are crucial. Here are 6 strategies to get the highest returns from your ad campaigns.

1. Using keywords smartly
2. Out-of-the-box search content
3. Optimize your landing page
4. Landing page alternative
5. Search engine alternative
6. Keep evolving

Using keywords smartly

Short keywords are expensive and broad, they can bring in unwanted visitors and thus more unnecessary clicks to pay for. Long tail keywords are generally way less expensive, also you bring in visitors that are likely searching the same thing and have a much higher conversion probability.

Keep in mind, half of the search queries are 4+ words, and the user you bring in is way more valuable. If you’re a brick-and-mortar store at a particular location, then your search keyword term can end with your location. Having a more specified and common description of your business is the key takeaway here.

Out-of-the-box search content 

The present-day user doesn’t remain on the “all” search result channel, the user will find content that’s useful to them on images, news, and video channels of search engine results. Apart from optimizing your search engine ranking on the homepage, focus on optimizing in these channels too.

As we said earlier, tagging your location as a brick-and-mortar store will boost your visits a lot. Studies say more than 72% of people who search for a local store, visit a store within 5 miles of their reach. 

Optimize your Landing Page

If you’ve read our article on SEO 101, you might know that the landing page has a world of relevance when it comes to user retention. A site taking more than e seconds will be left by 72% of users. Another study shows that landing pages that are not satisfactory will lose 97% of leads instantly.

Analyze that number and now think of how many wasted clicks were paid for? The landing page should be fast, easy to navigate, and should have satisfactory information or lead to the user. Call-to-action buttons will play a major role in conversion at the end of the landing page.

Landing Page alternative

While it’s important to build a very strong landing page, at times it can simply be replaced by something of value to the user. If you have a blog post or other relevant content that can add value to the user’s intent, then link that instead of your landing page.

Adding a call to action button that earns the loyalty of the user will prove useful in the long run. This user will add to your site visits and indirectly increase your organic ranking. Also, this loyal user has a higher tendency to convert to a lead if they come across your site again.

Search Engine alternative

While the first thing that comes to mind after hearing search engine is Google, though desktop users are well used to search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo. These search engines with others count for the rest 66% of search engine clicks.

One advantage is the cost of competitive keywords, which is way less on these less competitive search engines. Depending upon the type of product and service your business is offering, you can opt for different search engines for better engagement and higher ROI.

Keep Evolving 

With trials and errors will come feedback, you can analyze your own data and pinpoint which actions are yielding leads and which actions are fruitless investments. Reworking your ad campaigns from time to time will lead you to perfection. This will ultimately improve your ROI. 

With previous ad campaigns, you’ll also be able to analyze which keyword terms are performing well and should be used more often. These Investments are initially cheap and you can cap them off weekly for data analysis. Once you’re familiar with the results and techniques, you can invest more.

If you have any questions about these techniques, feel free to comment them down below and if you liked this article, consider subscribing to our newsletter for the latest updates. Also, you can catch us on social media.

Nonprofit organizations are unique in the marketing world. They have a set of challenges that other brands don’t and vice versa. Because non-profits are typically focused on supporting a cause and not selling a product, they have to get creative with their marketing strategies. 

Although digital marketing is one of the most affordable ways to reach an audience these days, it’s also more competitive than ever before. Non-profits have to find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition while also keeping their costs as low as possible. 

The good news is that there are plenty of cost-effective ways for non-profits to market their organization. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your organization to the next level, these 8 strategies will help you leverage the power of digital marketing so you can put your best foot forward and support your cause at the same time!

1. Host an Event to Build Awareness

One of the best ways to get your non-profit organization in front of potential donors is by hosting an event. Whether it’s a fundraising event or a conference, getting non-profits together in one place is an excellent way to grow your audience. When trying to decide what kind of event to host, keep in mind that you’re not looking to sell your organization in the same way you would a product. 

Instead, you want to use the event as a way to inform people about the cause and make them feel invested in the organization. With that in mind, it’s important to choose an event type that’s engaging for your target audience. For example, if you work with children, hosting a conference might not be the best idea, whereas a sports-related event might be more fitting. 

There are a few things you’ll want to consider before hosting an event to build awareness for your non-profit. First, make sure you have enough budget for the event. You don’t want to end up in debt because your event lost a ton of money. Next, consider the location of your event. Will it be indoors or outdoors? Will it be held at night or during the day? All of these things can impact how many people you end up getting.

2. Utilize Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing trends in digital marketing. It’s also incredibly popular among non-profits because it’s cost-effective, direct, and measurable. Most non-profits aren’t able to hire big-name celebrities to endorse their organization, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t options for using influencers in your marketing. 

For example, if your organization deals with sports, you can partner with athletes, sports media, and sports journalists to build awareness for your cause. The trick here is to make sure you’re targeting the right people. The best way to do that is by using social media to find influencers in your niche. 

Keep in mind that you’ll want to tailor your pitch to each person. You can also give influencers an incentive to partner with your organization. This could be something as simple as offering them early access to an event or publication date.

3. Create Content That Educates and Counsels

One of the biggest mistakes that non-profits make when it comes to online content is focusing too much on fundraising. While it’s important to get the word out about your organization, the people you’re trying to reach aren’t necessarily going to donate right away. 

In fact, most people will want to learn more about your cause before they take any action. Therefore, it’s important to use your digital properties to educate and counsel your audience. This will help them become more familiar with your organization and feel more inclined to donate when they’re ready. 

For example, if you work with children, you might not want to focus your website on how much money you need to keep the lights on. Instead, you could write posts about child abuse prevention, early childhood education, and other topics related to your cause. 

When creating content, you don’t want to just stick to blog posts. You can also make videos, podcasts, and other visual formats. Just be sure to focus on the cause and don’t mention anything about fundraising. While your website should have a donation button, you don’t want to shove it in your visitors’ faces.

4. Utilize Video Marketing Strategies

Videos are one of the best ways to educate your audience and counsel them. They have also proven to be one of the most effective ways to generate traffic and leads for non-profits. Unfortunately, creating videos can be extremely expensive. You might even have to hire an assistant just to edit your videos. 

If you want to create a video marketing strategy for your non-profit, it’s important to keep these costs in mind. Thankfully, there are a few ways to cut down on the cost of your video marketing strategy. First, you want to make sure you’re using the right equipment. 

This could be something as simple as a phone or a webcam. You can also use free software like Jing to record your videos. You’ll also want to make sure you’re using the right video strategy. It’s important to have a clear call to action with every video you create.

5. Build a solid email marketing foundation

Email marketing is one of the oldest digital marketing strategies around. While younger generations might not be as familiar with it, it’s still just as effective as ever. If your organization doesn’t have an email list, it’s important to start building one. 

Not only is it one of the most cost-effective ways to market your non-profit, but it’s also the most direct. You can send your subscribers content like blog posts, updates, and other information related to your cause. You can also use your email list to solicit donations. 

With that in mind, it’s important to be clear about your email marketing strategy. You don’t want to just spam your email list with a ton of messages and hope they donate. Instead, you want to create a clear strategy that includes when you should be emailing your list and what you should be including in those emails.

6. Leverage free tools and services

When it comes to digital marketing, there are plenty of free tools and services you can use to get ahead. From social media management to online hosting, there are cheap options for pretty much everything you could ever need to run your organization’s digital marketing. 

One of the easiest ways to manage and scale your digital marketing strategy is by using a content management system (CMS). A CMS is a website that lets you easily edit your website’s content without having to understand how to code. There are plenty of free CMS options out there. 

WordPress and Squarespace are undoubtedly the most popular CMS platforms. Another way to cut down on your digital marketing costs is by hosting your website on a free platform like Wix or Squarespace. These platforms don’t cost a thing and allow you to build and customize your website without any web design experience.

7. Use Facebook to drive awareness

If your non-profit has an established Facebook page, you can use it to drive awareness for your organization. The trick here is to make sure the content you’re posting is relevant to your cause. There are a few ways you can use your Facebook page to drive awareness for your organization. 

You can post about your organization’s mission and vision, you can repost content from your website, or you can post about upcoming events. Whatever approach you take, it’s important to focus on quality over quantity. You don’t want to post once a month and fill your page with random posts. Instead, you want to post a few times a week and make sure each post is engaging.

8. Guest blogging

Guest blogging is another excellent way to drive awareness for your non-profit. It works in a similar way to creating content for other websites. You write an article about your organization, publish it on a website, and then you get credited, and the website links back to your page which provides you with more reach and traffic.

Guest podcasts, Live conferences, or collaboration videos can be leveraged as well. Organizing these events with similar organizations or influencers will greatly increase your reach and help your message spread. 

Final thoughts

Many brands believe that the only way to go about marketing is to pay for online ads. This is not the case with nonprofits. Instead, it’s important to create content that educates and counsels your audience. 

You also want to be sure that your content is engaging and that non-profits and potential donors can relate to it. If your content is engaging and entertaining, there’s a good chance people will stick around and read it.

If you liked this article, make sure to check out more such premium content on our page. You can ensure to never miss out on content like this by subscribing to our newsletter. If you have any queries, drop them down in the comments or just hit us up on social media.

Higher education is a topic of paramount importance when it comes to the modern world. This whole market is given a lot of attention by the crowd and the authorities since it plays a pivotal role in determining the future of a nation itself. However, it is a market that has been observed to transcend all geographic boundaries and spread its wings to the international arena. Higher education is no longer a local issue but a matter that can be mitigated and directed by several global factors. Many Global factors can affect the future of higher education which will in turn impact the working of the associated institutions as well.

Some of the very few factors that have been witnessed to play a drastic role in this sector include Economic shifts, labour market changes, the medium of learning, and a rise in non-traditional students across the globe. The mobilisation of students internationally has been a very significant factor that has induced several trends in the higher education sector. Several challenges hinder the growth of this market. Some of the very hurdles that have been restraining the rejuvenation of this market are factors like limited budgets and skill gaps. These factors influence future graduates to acquire the skills that they desire in a rather negative way as it’s making the process more and more difficult for them.

What to keep in Mind?

The Deloitte Higher Education leadership team recently released a report that exhorted the various leaders of the Higher education Industry to focus more on a list of factors to prepare them for future battles. They had come to this conclusion upon analysing the various trends and movements in the industry over the past decades. These factors include:

• Cloud Readiness

Digitalisation and the introduction of virtual possibilities pertinent to the higher education sector throttled the growth of the industry at a whole different level. Hence various platforms came into place as media to transfer and share information and relevant resources. Hence, it’s trivial that the market needs to occupy itself with an efficient Cloud system that enables cross-functional collaboration across various platforms. This calls out to the various Chief Information officers to form strong partnerships and help each other out for their development and success. The authorities and leaders need to focus on helping the team understand what we aspire to achieve and how to go about it. They need to give more priority to building an efficient team of functional leaders that can define the expected delivery of the desired services so that you could direct the rest of the organisation in understanding the goals. They should also prepare themselves for a huge change that spans their technology, business practices and strategies, people and data. This change is quite inevitable if they wish to sustain themselves in the market and succeed as well.

• Risk Management

The sudden changes will surely make you more dynamic and your business fruitful but it also comes with a lot of risks. If these risks are not strategically analysed and managed then they can easily lead your company to a crisis. Hence institutions must be ready to analyse and address such possible risks not as an individual but by integrating the functionalities of various departments and strategically studying the risks and all of their consequences. It is only obvious that organisations will be able to tackle such sensitive risks through the “enterprise approach” and the risk management systems hence created would be the stronghold of the institution when it comes to identifying and addressing such threats.

• Identity and Access Management

The current virtual world is filled with several cyber threats. Hence it is pivotal to have a good cyber risk management system and adept Identity and Access Management capabilities. It has multi-fold applications when it comes to the higher education market and it has become more budget-friendly over these years hence assisting us with associated cyber risk management.

• Mergers and Acquisitions

The current economy of the higher education market is prone to a lot of threats and challenges. Hence companies should join hands and face these risks together. Integrating their domains and forming mergers can help them deal with all such challenges the financial uncertainty could cause.  We need to be ready to find the right partners whose goals and aspirations would align with your company and share the institutional values and missions with them.

The Current Global Market Trends

Studyportals, an online educational and research domain recently released a report analysing the various trends in the higher education market using linear projection modelling. The report was quite elaborate and can help even laymen get a good grasp of the various drives in the higher education market. Let’s go through some of the prominent trends that were pointed out in the study:

1. Disruption caused by AI

Technology and Artificial intelligence have gone through a fantastic period of development in these past few decades. The turnover of this market was also a whopping sum. According to a study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute researchers, 73% of the paid manual work can be automated with current technology. This would also displace a huge number of people from their jobs depriving them of their jobs. Hence the report of Studyportal exhorted on the fact that the way of learning and education need to be improvised and they need to finesse and train their talent/value-based skills more than technical skills as the latter will sooner or later be replaced by the emerging AI industry. Organisations need to focus on preparing the students with other virtues like perseverance and resilience and inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit within them.

2. The Shift towards Emerging market

Engagement in the higher education sector has seen marvellous growth over these past years. However, the UNESCO statistics from 2012 pointed out that this rate of enrolment was much higher in lower-middle-income countries than in high-income countries. It also came to their attention that around 75% of STEM graduates were concentrated around the BRICS region (Brazil, Russia, India, China. South Africa). This can be mainly attributed to the fact that developing nations have been putting their investment into the development of their education industry to produce quality human resources. They have also given more priority to international student movements so that they could enrich their country with diverse and skilled human resources. However, this percentage is only 8% in the US and 4% in Europe hence evidently proving to various companies that they need to focus on growing their market in these regions as well.

3. Skills gap

Another survey by PayScale noted that college graduates were approved to be skilled enough for being a part of the workforce by 50% of the managers. However, the task is to sustain this skill for a long-term goal and be creative with the respective skills and their application. This can only be induced in students through global collaboration programs and that sector hence is of prime importance.

4. Urbanisation

It has been very well remarked by global analysts that urbanisation has been shooting up in the 21st century. More and more active human resources are being displaced to urban areas hence making it pivotal to make such zones creative hubs for higher education and innovating the whole sector itself around the culture and trends of the zone. Universities need to collaborate so that the versatility of the topic comes from collaborations with each institute specialising in a particular area.

5. Mobility of Students and Immigration Restrictions

It was noted that a great number of foreign students enrolled in high-income nations and according to Millennium Development Indicators about three-quarters of the internationally mobile students preferred to choose more developed nations.

6. Increase in Demand but not Supply

It is estimated that by 2030 there will be an increase of around 120 million students enrolled in higher education and a 50% increase in international student enrolment. However, the real question is the current world and higher education sector, are occupied to capacitate such a huge student community.

7. Non-Traditional Students

There will also be a surprising increase in students over 24 years of age in the higher education sector between 2015 and 2030. This will call for a complete restructuring of the education system and betterment and renovation of the curriculum.

8. Unstable Budgets

The budget for higher education has seen a major depletion over these years, especially in developed nations like the US. This has also motivated other countries to do the same. With a dwindling budget of this sort, development seems very difficult for the market and there needs to be more investment so that the market could transform according to the vital requirements of the modern student community.

9. Internationalization

Internationalization has been noticed as a major factor and tactic that has been established in the higher education market for the growth of this sector. It aids in integrating intercultural and international dimensions of pedagogy and learning. It became evident that this process improved the quality of education and also boosted the generation of revenues. It assists in creating more effective collaborations with an improved quality of the information that is shared. It also helps in meeting the demand for cross-cultural exposure for students hence equipping them for their international careers in a more sophisticated way. It also contributed to a global increase in tertiary enrolments. It is only obvious that with the rise of internationalization the higher education market shall also reach its prime.

The Future

Reports by Massification of Higher Education Revisited show that by 2040 around 600 million students enrolled in universities around the world. The data reflected an average growth of 4.2% every year that varied according to the region under focus. With such a high community under growth global institutions need to revamp and prepare for a much more enhanced and elaborate system that could effectively occupy this thrifty student community with their requirements and needs. With the right management of such mass human resources, we could indeed reach lengths of development that were never reached before. With proper planning, creative collaborations and integrations and a much more stable budget and increased investment this market has the capability to prosper.

If you’ve read our previous articles on integrating AI with marketing, you might know that the modern marketer uses AI in a vast number of operations. AI is nothing but machine learning fed with user interaction data to predict the next right step for converting a user to a customer.

User interactive data is used in a plethora of operations, from predicting what the user would want to buy next to suggesting to the user how to do it. AI is already helping marketers write and edit copies, promotional emails and push notifications among others.

Everything sounds good until the user stops sharing their data. With the upcoming of new operating systems in flagship mobile devices in the year 2022, privacy has become the selling point. The user interactive data will now be marked as “private” and will be inaccessible soon.

Let’s dive into the world of Privacy Paradox and answer the most concerning questions:

• What is Privacy Paradox?
• What are the Laws & Regulations?
• What’s installed for the future?

What is Privacy Paradox?

To understand this you must know what a paradox is, it’s a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement that upon investigation, turns out to be true. Now rolling back to 2001, when Barry Brown conducted a study among the early internet shopping users.

When the users noted that their actions and behavior were being tracked and analyzed to provide better recommendations, they instantly seemed to have concerns about their privacy. Simply put, the users disagreed to trust the companies with their data, while they still wanted a personalized shopping experience.

This ironic situation gave rise to the term ‘Privacy Paradox’ and managed to thrive in the customers’ mindset for more than two decades. Today, the personalized shopping experience has reached sky limits but the Privacy Paradox still makes many users think twice before shopping.

Observing this enthralling concern by users around the globe, Governments of various countries are now formulating and implementing new privacy laws that limit companies’ access to user data. The collection, storage, usage, and disposal of data is being highly regulated.

What are the Laws & Regulations?

For the United States, HIPAA and COPPA are active since the year 2016. They are specifically designed under the foundation for Data Privacy and Regulation. Laws like General Data Protection Regulation are long in effect in the European Union.

2018 marks the year of implementation of the so-called “GDPR lite” or CCPA law for California. Some other countries have regulations made but pending approval, these include CPA (Australia), PIPEDA (Canada) & PDPA (Singapore).

These laws demand some seemingly simple rights, these include:

Right to access and rectification – This simply states that if the user asks, they should be informed of the data being collected and should be able to edit the access to any segment of their dislike.

Right to data protection – The organization collecting the user’s data should be responsible and careful of any personal data that they’re collecting.

Right to data consent – Access to Personal data should be consensual with the user. They can opt to not share or edit the use of the data collected.

Right to be forgotten – The user must have the right to ask for the deletion of any of their data, including archived data.

The responsibility of handling and securing the sheer amount of sensitive data comes with massive fines for misuse or loss. Marketers have a difficult time storing this sensitive data and are always at the risk of being punished for any misuse of the same. All of these regulations and restrictions raise one question, what’s next?

What’s installed for the future?

While data collection regulations might sound evil, they can be in a way good for you as a marketer. Think of it as collecting less irrelevant data, the processing becomes faster and easier and so do the storage and security.

It’s evident that the data that’s more useful to you is easier to collect and the results are easier for the user to digest. Timely reminders of sales, events, and discounts related to the recently shopped categories by the user won’t be a problem for them. 

Personalization is for the customer’s own good and interest, and if the user seems to be satisfied with a particular level of personalization then let that be your optimum level or the upper limit, that’s all the data you need!

Marketers frequently use and comprehend phrases like conversion rate, cost-per-click, return on investment, and search engine optimization. And that only scratches the surface of the information needed for a marketing position.

The necessity for digital transformation has increased across industries, especially since Covid-19 required businesses to focus their marketing efforts online. This means that businesses require marketing graduates with digital abilities who can increase brand awareness, provide leads, and boost sales.

The issue is that a large number of graduates are leaving universities and colleges without the digital competencies needed by businesses. According to “Work Ready Graduates: Building Employability,” nearly 80% of companies think that current graduates do not arrive completely prepared with the skills they require to be work-ready.

In this blog, we examine 7 strategies that universities and colleges may use to increase the employability of marketing graduates and address the scarcity of digital skills.

What do students of today want?

Graduates in marketing who have spent time and money studying for a degree want to leave school with transferable abilities they can apply in the workplace. They want to be able to apply for a job with the assurance that they will be called in for an interview, or even better, that they will receive the job!

Unfortunately, many people can’t say that. Work can be intimidating, and the marketing industry has quickly developed to now include specialisations like sponsored search, content marketing, social media marketing, and data analytics, among others.

Focusing on employability-enhancing skills and making investments in future-enhancing activities are what students expect from the higher education industry..

According to Cengage’s “Graduate Employability” survey, 66 percent of graduates want more practical experience and think institutions should focus on:

• Access to online courses and certification programmes, as well as practical learning
• internships funded by the school
• mentoring programmes and connections to regional business leaders

Today’s marketers are not only expected to have more sophisticated digital skills than other recent grads but also require them. Marketing students want the following in addition to practical experience:

Knowledge of digital platforms and technology that is practical

A qualification or diploma that increases job opportunities and is respected by companies

Essential soft skills like critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving.

What talents are in demand from graduates by modern employers?

Businesses require marketing graduates who can use the most recent technology, are socially adept, and are work-ready. Marketing Week’s analysis revealed a sharp increase in demand for marketers with expertise in social media, e-commerce, and data analytics.

According to WeForum, the top rising vocations in 2025 will be data and artificial intelligence, content production, and cloud computing. The most in-demand talents will be analytical thinking, creativity, and adaptability.

Marketers will continue to have a high demand for digital expertise. Customers are becoming more discriminating and demanding, and they expect content and message that is relevant and individualised. Increased automation will result from this.

So how can educational institutions prepare graduates in marketing for the workforce? And what are the answers to the problems they are facing?

What difficulties do teachers encounter?

According to Microsoft’s report, “Unlocking the UK’s Potential with Digital Skills,” only 28% of business leaders think the educational system provides appropriate digital training.

According to an ITIF analysis, the situation is even worse in the United States, where one-third of workers lack digital skills, 13% have none, and 18% have only moderate digital skills.

What difficulties do therefore higher education institutions encounter when trying to teach digital marketing?

1) Outdated marketing education programmes. Numerous colleges and institutions do not update their curricula every year or even every two years, resulting in outdated content. Digital marketing is frequently completely excluded.

The following was revealed by the authors of a study of undergraduate programmes published in the Journal of Marketing:

We discover that a disproportionately high number of educational institutions don’t offer any courses that specifically cover marketing analytics or digital marketing. That recognised business schools of all levels, including some larger programmes, may be failing to prepare marketing students for the realities of the corporate world and possibly widening the digital skills gap is extremely troubling.

2) Identifying the right teaching talent – It might be challenging to impart current understanding of digital marketing to students when there is a skills gap among university/training staff in this area.

3) Knowing what businesses want is important because there may be a discrepancy between what an institution of higher learning thinks employers want and what employers actually want of graduates.

4) Time restrictions – Resources in higher education might be scarce, and it takes time to develop or update course materials. Frequently, the tools needed to do this are not readily available.

5) Difficulties with cross-collaboration – It can frequently be difficult to put essential departments and functions on the same page and develop a cohesive plan throughout the institution.

6) The rapid speed of change in digital platforms and technology makes it challenging to stay current and incorporate new information into curricula and instruction.

In order to teach pupils digital skills, colleges and institutions require assistance given the difficulties they face. Let’s examine the process for doing this.

How can educators support students’ professional success?

Colleges and universities are in a special situation. They serve as a conduit between recent graduates and businesses and offer the chance to match skill sets with industry demands.

Here are seven practical strategies educators can use to support students’ professional success:

1) Provide work-integrated learning – This innovative strategy will assist higher education institutions in including workplace learning in their curricula. In order to incorporate brief projects that give students real-world experience with companies into their curriculum, Arizona State University created a pilot programme using the Riipen platform.

2) Offer a third-party credential with current digital content – If developing or updating course material for your marketing curriculum is difficult, team up with a reputable third-party certification organisation that provides universities and colleges with content that has been approved by the industry.

3. Provide personnel with digital skills training. Educate university or college staff in the field of digital marketing so they can better grasp the market and assist students.

4) Obtain accreditation for your digital marketing curriculum. Not only will this strengthen your offering, but it will also help graduates in their job searches.

5) Form partnerships with regional businesses or brands. This will enable you to connect with the regional business community and provide students with practical knowledge and experience through internships or work placements.

6) Be innovative with your teaching techniques. Introduce digital tools like gamification or experiential learning into the classroom.

7) React to changes in the market by adding new resources to the curriculum that can be offered as course supplements.

25% of Americans reported interest in non-degree qualifications, whereas 37% of Americans expressed interest in skill training.

Strada analysis

What role will digital marketing play in schools going forward?

Making sure marketing graduates have marketable skills and are prepared for the workforce is difficult. But the initiative to close the gap is with universities and colleges.

The secret is to provide content for your marketing campaign that is current and relevant. Giving students practical knowledge and marketable skills will be made possible by incorporating real-world experiences through case studies and experiential learning.

While work-integrated learning, mentorships, and connections to the local business community can provide graduates with the practical experience in digital marketing that they presently lack.

Above all, think about including digital marketing classes in your marketing curriculum. This strategy will not only provide new, industry-relevant content, but it will also bring value that could raise enrollments and improve student employability.

The 21st century has made its mark in history to be an era of economic revolutions. The commercial and business industry has never bloomed in history with such remarkable achievements and milestone findings before. Innovation has become the cornerstone of business with Customer Satisfaction as one of the central themes, unlike the earlier strategy which was centralized more on a profit-based system.

When it comes to business strategies entrepreneurs mostly resort to two kinds of strategies: the conventional method of Sales funneling and the modern method of Life Cycle marketing which is more popularly known as the Customer Journey. Both of these are quite similar in various aspects and are seen to focus on similar stages of a customer buying a product. Such business strategies aid us in understanding the various factors affecting our business, and planning and implementing an efficient business strategy to increase lead conversion. Ultimately the goal of both these strategies is to increase the leads on our products henceforth increasing our business. Even though they are similar in many ways both of them have separate and unique central ideas when it comes to analyzing the market. Let’s dive deep into the specifics of both to get a more clear perspective:

Sales Funnel

The Sales Funnel aka marketing/purchase/conversion funnel is one of the most primitive yet quite successful and efficient business strategies that focuses on customer conversion and revenue. The core principle is rather the direct economic development and prosperity of your business. It was first introduced as the AIDA model in 1898 by E. St. Elmo Lewis. Here AIDA stands for the different funnels: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. The 1904 January to June of the magazine Salesmanship portrayed it as a chart explaining exactly how the mechanism of the AIDA model works.

As the diagram itself shows Sales Funnel is a marketing technique implemented n these four levels of purchasing. The process is drafted in such a way that the consumer gets to know and understand more about your business to indulge them with your company and nurture the then-formed bond at each funnel. These funnels may actually vary in nature according to the kind of business and target audience you have. However, the broad classification almost covers all possible phases that you might encounter. They are:

Awareness

The initial point of contact with the customer, where he or she is just a curious child oblivious of your products and your brand. The sole idea in this phase is to educate them about your products and nurture the curiosity that has to maintain their interest in your brand. We use various methods like SEO, Content creation, Social media marketing, paid to advertise, and other types of web presence to enhance this curiosity and enlighten our customers about the products and services we offer. This is also the phase in which we focus to make put brand more popular with the target audience and try to analyze how the customer came about knowing or choosing our brand.

It was found that about 39% of consumers give up on a website if the site and its graphics take too long to load. The technical SEO techniques we implement in this primary funnel help us to eliminate such issues hence maintaining our site traffic.

Research

The Research funnel as the name suggests aids the customer in understanding and learning about the company by providing them with various tools. This includes Custom content, FAQs, and new forms of information like live videos and apps. It is quite pivotal to use more engaging ways of helping the customer understand your company as you don’t want them to get bored of your brand through monotonous forms of information.

Decision Making

The final decision-making funnel intends to give that last push to your customer to buy the product. When it comes to the point of buying the product the consumer always looks out for the various options and packages you provide. Hence lead nurturing at this stage is mainly implemented through exclusive promotions, free trials, and consultations as incentives to buy.

Purchasing

In the end, your lead flows into the last funnel making the lead a customer. At this point, our chain of actions is focused on turning them into return customers and developing loyalty within them to our company. A variety of incentives like using newsletters, digital feedback cards, reward programs etc are brought into place to revisit and allure the past leads and to keep their interest fresh.

Why Sales Funnel?

The sales funnel strategy has been in the industry for a long time now and it has proved to show better results. It is a very straightforward way to ascertain the best way to allure leads. However, it also has another important aspect that will aid your business planning. Upon reviewing the analytics at each funnel and the response of the customer to each of your incentives, you could revamp and modify your ideas and themes. This also assists you in planning your annual budget as well as a proper content and marketing strategy for the future.

Life Cycle Marketing

Life Cycle Marketing(LCM) aka Custome journey is one of the most successful modern marketing strategies that has a prime focus on the customer’s sales experience from the discovery of the brand to purchase. It has been noted by several critics that this method is more relevant to the modern consumer. Just like in the sales funnel strategy LCM also has distinct phases into which this focus is divided.

The framework of LCM is centered around inspiring lead conversion by focusing on the customer and not the sale which makes it different from the Sales funnel strategy. This is the major difference between both these strategies and hence the Sales funnel strategy is sometimes called primitive when compared with LCM. The idea of LCM sprouted from the fact when a customer feels connected to your brand around 57% tend to spend with you and 76%vwill prefer to buy from you over your competitors. This statistic makes LCM extremely relevant for the modern market. After all, numbers don’t lie!

The various stages of LCM include: Awareness

The first part of Life Cycle Marketing is very similar to the first funnel. This includes the discovery of your brand by the consumer and the part where they decide whether or not he is interested and should learn more. What makes LCM different here is its value-based approach that is not so sales oriented. It was observed that modern consumers detest the aggressive pressuring sales strategies and find a more value-based approach comfortable, This comfort of the customer is the very essence of LCM.

At this level, LCM focuses on High-quality content that is oriented in such a way that it plants s seed of trust in your consumer about your company and make them aware of what your brand and domain stand for. We motivate the customer to take action through various tools like High-quality SEO blogs that would also spread brand awareness, Lead magnets and e-books, Videos, Social media Content, Original research, case studies, and a  Community building around your brand creating an intimacy with the consumer.

Intent

A combination of both the Research and Decision making funnels, the intent phase focuses on indulging and interacting with the consumer on a one-to-one basis. This level aims to understand the customer and his needs and nurture a close relationship with him. Various methods of Conversational marketing like LiveChatting, Chatbots, etc are used at this level to gain the attention of the consumer and interact with them more informally.

Decision

This stage marks the consumer becoming a customer by choosing your brand and purchasing from your company based on the awareness and intent that you allured in them. At this stage, LCM focuses on giving them a warm welcome to their brand and providing immediate assistance in case of any queries. Lifecycle marketers also give immense importance and reach out to get Customer feedback as they never want the customer to feel like any of their reviews are left unheard. This is the very stage that bears the fruit of all the effort that we put into the previous stages.

Loyalty

The Loyalty level is a vital part of Life Cycle Marketing. Lifecycle marketers never want our customers to feel like a stranger once they have joined the brand. Even though marketing to those in the loyalty phase is similar to marketing to purchasers in the sales funnel, The focus is completely different. This focus is something that lacking in the sales funnel strategy and one of the prime reasons that critics argue LCM is more suitable for the modern consumer.

In LCM this phase is centered around giving attention to the overall experience of the customer nf what they could do to make them feel more valued hence retaining the sale. Once again, It’s not the repeat purchase that they focus but it is the customer dissatisfaction and experience. Devices like Thank-you cards, follow-up emails, and exclusive access to new products are normally issued at this stage.

Why LCM?

LCM as mentioned explicitly above assists us in building and improving quality customer service within a brand. It also spread light onto new ideas and courses of action we could resort to improve customer experience and creating loyal customers. The customer journey also plays a pivotal role in understanding where and how we could improve our products and the brand itself. As we give the core attention to the whole journey of the customer we can redeem customers’ full value for a lifetime of doing business than just a single sale.

The Last Call: LCM or Sales Funnel?

We have already gone into detail about the minute and detailed aspects of both LCM and Sales funnel and what sets them apart. Even though it has been suggested that the LCM strategy is more suitable for the modern consumer the analytical power and advantage of the Sales funnel strategy can’t be left unnoticed, after all a business is more about sales than customer loyalty. However, this very line of thought is why LVCM came into being in the first place. People just don’t like aggressive sales tactics. Even though the Sales funnel is primitive in these terms it has been proven to work efficiently in the past few decades of its existence.

So the last call is solely based on you and what your business is. You have to choose what suits your business and your product the most and most of all it has to align with your ideals.