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10 Steps to Jumpstart Your Digital Marketing Campaign

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If you’re looking to jumpstart your digital marketing campaign, you’ve come to the right place. Digital marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. It can help you reach more customers, create brand awareness, and boost sales. With the right strategy, you can get your digital marketing campaign off the ground and running in no time. Here are 10 steps to get you started:

1. Set Goals: Before you do anything else, you need to set goals for your digital marketing campaign. What do you want to achieve? What are your objectives? Make sure you’re clear about what you’re trying to accomplish and set realistic goals.

2. Research Your Market: You need to understand your target audience before you can create an effective digital marketing campaign. Research their demographics, interests, and purchasing habits. This will help you create content that resonates with your target audience.

3. Create a Strategy: Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to create a strategy. Set out a plan of attack for your digital marketing campaign. Decide which channels you’ll use, how you’ll promote your content, and how you’ll measure your success.

4. Build a Website: Your website should be at the center of your digital marketing campaign. Make sure that it’s user-friendly, visually appealing, and optimized for search engines.

5. Create Engaging Content: Content is king when it comes to digital marketing. Create content that is interesting, informative, and engaging. You can create blog posts, videos, infographics, e-books, and more.

6. Leverage Social Media: Social media is a great way to reach a large audience. Create profiles on the major platforms and start engaging with your followers. Post content regularly and respond to comments and messages.

7. Invest in Paid Advertising: Paid advertising can be a great way to get your content in front of more people. You can use platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Twitter Ads to get your content seen.

8. Monitor Your Progress: As your campaign progresses, you need to keep track of your results. Monitor your website traffic, social media engagement, and sales to see what’s working and what’s not.

9. Analyze Your Results: Analyze the data you’ve collected to see what’s working and what’s not. Make adjustments to your digital marketing campaign based on your findings.

10. Keep Improving: Digital marketing is an ongoing process. Keep testing and tweaking your strategy to get the best results.

By following these 10 steps, you’ll be well on your way to jumpstarting your digital marketing campaign. Good luck!

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A Guide to Understanding the Basics of Digital Marketing

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Digital marketing has taken the world by storm. It is the process of promoting products and services through digital channels, such as websites, search engines, social media, email, and mobile applications. It is an effective way to reach and engage with customers. With the right strategies, digital marketing can be a powerful tool for businesses to increase their brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales.

To get started with digital marketing, it is important to understand the basics. Here is a guide to understanding the basics of digital marketing:

1. Know Your Goals: Before you jump into digital marketing, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Knowing your goals will help you determine the type of content, platforms, and strategies that will be most effective for your business.

2. Choose Your Platforms: There are many digital marketing channels available to choose from. Consider which platforms fit best with your goals and target audience. Popular options include search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media, email marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

3. Create Engaging Content: Quality content is key to engaging with your audience. Create content that is relevant to your target market and offers value to your customers. Additionally, use visuals to grab readers’ attention and promote your content using SEO tactics.

4. Track and Analyze: Digital marketing is all about testing and tracking. Use analytics tools to measure the performance of your campaigns and adjust your strategies accordingly. This will help you identify what’s working and what’s not so you can optimize your efforts for better results.

By understanding the basics of digital marketing, you can create and launch effective campaigns that will help you reach your goals. With the right strategies and tactics, you can maximize your return on investment (ROI) and find success in the digital space.

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Making Sense of Social Media and Digital Marketing Strategies

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Social media and digital marketing are two of the most powerful tools available for businesses today. As technology continues to develop and become more accessible to individuals around the world, businesses have been quick to jump on the bandwagon, leveraging the power of social media and digital marketing to reach their target audiences in powerful new ways. Unfortunately, this also means that many businesses are struggling to make sense of the ever-changing landscape of social media and digital marketing strategies.

Fortunately, there are some key strategies and tactics that any business can use to make sense of this new landscape. For starters, it’s important to understand the different types of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, as well as the different types of digital marketing strategies, such as SEO, content marketing, and email marketing. Knowing how each of these strategies and platforms works, and how they can be used to reach your target audience, is the key to making the most of your social media and digital marketing efforts.

Once you have a basic understanding of the different platforms and strategies, the next step is to create a plan for how you’ll use them. This plan should include goals and objectives for each platform and strategy, as well as a timeline for when each goal should be achieved. This plan should also take into account any budget restrictions you may have, as well as any potential risks associated with implementing a particular strategy. Finally, it’s important to regularly monitor your progress and adjust your plan as needed in order to ensure that you’re getting the best possible results from your social media and digital marketing efforts.

By taking the time to develop a comprehensive plan for your social media and digital marketing strategies, you’ll be able to navigate the ever-changing landscape with confidence and make the most out of your efforts.

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Unlocking the Digital Marketing Secrets: How to Maximize Your Results

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Have you ever wondered why some businesses seem to effortlessly reach more customers, generate higher profits, and gain more influence on the web? The answer is simple: they know the secrets of digital marketing. Digital marketing is the practice of leveraging technology to promote a business, product, or service using digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and websites. By unlocking the secrets of digital marketing, businesses can maximize their results and reap the rewards of their investment.

In order to unlock the secrets of digital marketing, businesses must understand the fundamentals of digital marketing and how to effectively use these techniques to reach their target audience. The key is to create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that includes a combination of tactics that will help drive traffic, leads, and conversions. Some of the most common tactics include search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and paid advertising. Each of these tactics can be used to reach different objectives and should be tailored to the goals of the business.

When creating a digital marketing strategy, it is important to consider the overall objectives of the business, including its target audience, budget, and timeline. Once these objectives are established, businesses can begin to develop a plan that outlines a series of tactics and strategies to help them achieve their goals. Additionally, businesses should track their results over time to ensure that their efforts are paying off and to adjust their strategies accordingly.

By following these steps, businesses can unlock the digital marketing secrets and maximize their success. With the right strategy and tactics, businesses can reach their target audience, generate leads, and increase their profits. By leveraging the power of digital marketing, businesses can take their business to the next level and stay ahead of the competition.

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How to Utilize Social Media to Your Digital Marketing Advantage

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Social media can be a powerful tool in any digital marketing strategy. It is a great way to reach a wide audience, build relationships with customers, and increase brand awareness. By taking advantage of social media, businesses can create content that is engaging and informative, while also providing a platform to communicate with customers and potential customers. Here are a few tips for utilizing social media to your digital marketing advantage.

Create a plan for how you will use social media in your marketing efforts. This should include deciding which platforms you will use, how often you will post, what type of content you will create, and how you will measure success. By having a plan in place, you will be better able to leverage social media to reach your goals.

Create a content strategy that will help you engage your target audience. This should include creating content that is relevant to your target audience, using visuals and videos, and utilizing different social media platforms to reach different audiences. Also, consider including influencers in your content strategy to help amplify your message.

Measure and track the success of your social media campaigns. This will help you understand which strategies are working and which ones need improvement. Keeping track of the data will also help you adjust your approach in the future to ensure that you are getting the most out of your social media efforts.

By following these tips, you can effectively utilize social media to your advantage in your digital marketing efforts. With a little effort, you can create a powerful social media strategy that will help you reach your goals and engage your target audience.

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Three Essential Tips for Effective Digital Marketing

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Digital marketing is an important part of any business’s success. It’s an effective way to reach potential customers and build brand awareness. However, many businesses struggle to make the most of their digital marketing efforts. To help you maximize your digital marketing campaigns, here are three essential tips.

Create quality content. Quality content is key when it comes to digital marketing. It’s the foundation upon which all your other efforts are built. Make sure your content is engaging, relevant, and informative. It should also be optimized for search engines to help your content appear in search engine results.

Use social media effectively. Social media plays a critical role in digital marketing. It’s a great way to reach out to potential customers and build relationships with them. Make sure to post regularly and use social media to promote your content and drive users to your website.

Measure and track your results. With digital marketing, it’s important to track the results of your efforts. This will help you identify what’s working and what’s not. You can use analytics tools to measure website traffic, conversions, and other metrics. This will help you make informed decisions to maximize the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns.

By following these three tips, you can take your digital marketing efforts to the next level. Quality content, effective social media use, and tracking results are essential for success in digital marketing. With the right approach, you can reach more customers and increase your brand awareness.

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Why streaming live church services is a must

Churches the world over are facing a crisis of membership.

According to a 2015 Pew Study, the average number of Americans attending a church service at least once a week dropped 4% to 36% between 2007 and 2014, while the number of people attending “seldom or never” increased by nearly 5% (30%) in the same period. Similarly, in a 2018 study, Gallup highlighted that the average number of Catholics attending a church event once a week is down to 39%—a 6% drop over the previous period.

The majority of those choosing to skip out on their regular church services are members of younger generations, with the average age of a typical church-goer falling around 69 years. Not all churches are falling victim to lower attendance; on average Protestants are continually reporting steady attendance, though fewer and fewer Americans are actually identifying as Protestant. Ultimately, total numbers for Protestants are in decline. Churches that are bucking the trend of falling church attendance are those reaching out through social media, apps, technology, and live streaming.

But, it makes intuitive sense, doesn’t it?

If you want to reach a younger audience, you must speak to them in a language they understand. For today’s youth, that means technology. They live in a world of Snapchat, Vine, Twitter, and YouTube. If this is how Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X are interacting with each other, the traditional ways of their parents’ and grandparents’ churches simply won’t speak to them.

It’s time for churches to make a change. Not in message, but how that message is delivered.

Finding a place for new technology in your church

A lot of the issues facing churches today are less about the actual problems being fought and more about how they’re approached. For example, many churches are having difficulty retaining their young members. In fact, a Gallup study showed that membership among the 21- to 29-year-old demographic is down 4% from 40% in 2007. A Pew study, highlights that Millennials are distancing themselves from the rigidity of organized religion, while nearly half of believers not attending church regularly claim preferring to worship individually, according to separate Gallup research.

Taken together, the research suggests that instead of focusing on adhering strictly to the traditional in-person-only format, churches should focus on attracting new members and reaching existing members in new ways. By centering church efforts on attracting and engaging with the community in new ways, you show them that a good, moral message can still be engaging, fun, and meaningful.

One way to do this is to interact with this audience on social media, through live video, GIFs, and Snaps that speak to their hearts and digital desires simultaneously. Likewise, many successful churches are adopting new tools for worship including bible study apps for smart devices. These approaches support the changing worship style of young generations while ensuring that the community built around the congregation is strengthened.

How live streaming church services benefit your congregation

What is live streaming?

Live streaming is an interactive broadcast of video on one or multiple, various online social platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Live streaming incorporates live commenting and chatting to help spur engagement. For several years now, video content online has been taking over as the most engaging and popular on the internet.

Because more than 44% of Americans not attending church list preferring to worship on their own as the primary reason they no longer visit services, churches can use live streaming to open their programming up to those who have chosen to forgo more traditional church events. Live streaming allows your congregation to enjoy a more casual atmosphere and experience a greater level of openness. An article in the Kansa City Star addressed just how some churches are reaching out successfully to younger generations:

By updating long-considered immovable church more—dress codes and preaching styles, attitudes toward the secular, a willingness to discuss the taboo—and embracing modern music and technology (AD3 preaches not from a Bible but from his iPad), these churches brim with youthful vivacity.

Live streaming is a simple change churches can make in order to free younger people from the rigid rituals and judgement of more traditional churches.

Why stream live church service?

Why use live video on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter?

Facebook’s umbrella of social tools and YouTube are far and away the world’s most popular social networks. Of the top 6 social apps by user count and engagement, Facebook products fill 3 of the highest slots. YouTube comes in second only to Facebook’s main platform itself.

Both Facebook and YouTube, as well as a number of other popular networks like Twitter, have live video options and adoption of this technology is impressive. The number of Facebook Live videos from 2016 to 2017 increased 4x, while some experimenting from AgoraPulse show that engagement measured in watch time, comments, reactions, and shares is all significantly higher for Facebook Live video than standard uploaded video. How significantly? On average, live streamed video on Facebook shows 2x more reactions, 13.9x more comments, and 4.3x more shares.

That’s a lot of community engagement.

Improve accessibility

Over 81% of the population has at least one social media account. If you want to reach your audience, whatever age they are, you must meet them where they are—online.

As more and more people seek new ways of building their spirituality, they are searching for connections all over the web. Consequently, there is a growing opportunity to reach your congregation and new members with live stream. Live video of church services, prayer groups, or bible studies can be streamed on numerous engaging social platforms simultaneously using tools like A. Smith’s Streaming package. Believers can worship at home, on their commutes, in a cafe, or in the park.

Strengthen community

Social media at its very foundation is meant to facilitate connection and communication. This fundamental function allows you to connect to members of the church and for them to connect easily with one another. Ed Stetzer at Christianity Today highlights, “[t]hrough Facebook and Twitter or through a church blog, I can easily communicate directly with the people in my congregation, throughout the day and week” and “[t]hrough social media, a new attendee can connect to other church members before he or she ever has a chance to meet at a church gathering or a small group.” Because it is a powerful tool to connect community, church leaders who are serious about strengthening roots within the community should prioritize social media, content, and spreading their message through these channels.

With an effective live stream strategy, you can build a powerful presence online to spread your message, reach your congregation, and connect with other believers.

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6 Reasons Your Local Business Listings Need to Be Accurate

As a business, how likely is it that potential customers will come through your door?
The whole point of an online presence is to entice customers into your store, your leasing office or your showroom so you can convert them to paying customers rather than just browsers online.

Further, nothing is more frustrating as a customer than finding out that you have been given the wrong information about where a business is located. As a customer, how likely are you to give this company your business? Not very. In fact, according to Placeable, 73% of consumers stated that they lose trust in a brand when the online listing shows incorrect information.


1. Missing hours of operation information can be a dealbreaker

There are many things that people look for in listings, whether they are looking at that search engine on a PC or on a mobile device. The top piece of information that most people look for is the hours of operation, since their search is likely for a business that they frequent quite often.

In fact, in a study conducted by local data aggregator Localeze, hours of operation were noted as the most helpful feature in selecting a business during local search. 76% of respondent reporting that they expect this information when searching and 61% believe that it is a feature that helps them to select a business.

Even if people are new to a business, it doesn’t give people a good impression if the business hours are not listed and they don’t know that it’s only open from 11 a.m-6p.m. Tuesday-Saturday .Imagine that potential customer who is ready to spend their money in store, but shows up on Monday at 7 p.m. only to find it closed. That customer is likely going to do another search on a mobile phone to find a different store and spend their money there.


2.You can’t spell NAP data (and score a citation) without an A(ddress)

While most people would assume that the number one reason people do a search online is for the address or location of a business, the address is actually behind hours of operation as the second most desired information. But, of course, the whole point of being in business is to make money doing what you love or selling what you love. And that happens by attracting foot traffic and increasing customer base.

It bears repeating that if a business address is incorrect on listing sites such as Google or Bing, then customers will not be crossing the threshold. A simple thing such as the wrong number on a street address, or even the wrong town, can mean that a customer cannot find you. The US Postal Service relies on a complex system of checks to verify and standardize addresses, and many of the search engines will default to the USPS for correct mailing addresses.

What this means for the average new business owner is that unless a business is in an established location, getting the correct address on their listing means that both the address from City Hall and the information on USPS must be consistent. If USPS doesn’t recognize that address, then a business owner must contact them to verify their new address and get that information updated on USPS’s online database.


3. Local searchers are mobile creatures

According to Localeze, mobile-phone-based searches drive in-store purchases with more than 75% of searches ending in a purchase—if a business has their listing details correct. Now if half of the people searching for a business listing on a local search engine, such as Google Local/Maps, can’t find the store’s business listing details, then the business is going to lose 100% of their business.

For ease of use for potential customers, some of those details need to be as readily available as possible in a mobile-friendly manner. This can be accomplished with a responsive website that supports cellphone and tablet-specific versions.


4. Updated, accurate websites still serve as a first impression

At the same time, more than 60% of searches on PC platforms such as website portals, Internet Yellow Page directories and local sites have a similar chance of ending in a purchase. While mobile searches are becoming more of a standard in where a customer searches, a business owner should not discount the power of a fulsome, consistent and accurate listing that is reflective of the business website.

Any listing should be linked to the business’s website and feature the exact same information, but more of it. While a website should be enough to entice a customer to visit or buy, if those inconsistencies exist, then trust issues may arise in a business’s practices before a customer ever crosses their threshold.


5. Local searchers mix it up across multiple devices, situations and times

People who search for listings are doing it in many more ways than when the Internet first coalesced into existence about two decades ago. In that time, we went from working on desktops to laptops to PDAs to Blackberries to Apples to tablets—and in each iteration, the methods of search have changed.

However, that has slowed over the last five years or so as web developers realize that they need to be smarter. Rather than designing three different sites for three different platforms, they have created websites that are scalable to the search device. And that has been helped along by the proliferation of types of devices in use everyday.

According to Pew Research Center, In 2015, smartphone ownership in America was at 68%, with tablet and computer ownership at 45%. Statista says that almost half of American adults use their smartphones the most to search for local information online, the other half being split between computers (40%) and tablets (11%). According to Localeze, like the types of devices used, what we are searching for varies by the time of day and device. Entertainment is searched for during work hours on computers, restaurants during evening using phones and health/fitness evening using tablets.

The most important part of those mobile searches is accuracy. If someone cannot find your business in a local search or find inaccurate results whilst out and about, then your business has lost the chance for that browser to become a customer. So having those listings correct in all of the device formats is a must as we, and our technology, continue to evolve in the way we interact with local businesses.


6. Local search results are trusted sources of information

Last but certainly not least is the fact that local search results are considered the most trustworthy. In a study by Neustar, it was determined that these searches, such as “used games Raleigh”, are what people do the most since they put that trust in local business more than big box, big website stores.

Think about it, would you rather find a local store where you can get that latest purse in town right now? Or you can wait a week for delivery, which is four days past the event that you want it for! Local searches lend themselves to instant gratification and that interaction between browser and salesperson will convert that browser from someone who might get just the minimum to a loyal customer who feels like a million having spent a little more, but getting what they consider to be gold!

Those interactions are what lead people to local searches and the absolute necessity of getting your listings correct. Trust leads to loyalty, which leads to more business, which leads to happy customers and business owners.

And it all starts with that correct listing in that customer’s local search.

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What are Listings and Why Do They Matter?

Listings are an online summary of essential information for your business that serves as a powerful tool to help customers find you online and in real life. Here’s what you need to know:

NAP+W

No, we didn’t fall asleep on the keyboard. NAP+W is the acronym that explains all the information that should be included in business listings.

Name
Address
Phone number
+
Website

These four pieces of information are the business listings starter-pack. They provide the basic information potential customers need to have in order to research, contact and locate your business.

Want to score some major bonus points? Include information like hours of operation in business listings—it’s what consumers are most interested in!


Will my listings work?

The effectiveness of a business listing depends on the information’s presence and accuracy. Listings are available through a variety of sources, including search engines, online directories and maps, or social sites. When it comes to listings presence, more is definitely better. Availability on as many sources as possible will create multiple avenues for consumers to find your business. But (and this is a big but), presence only pays off if the listings are accurate. Listings are accurate if the information is correct and consistent across all potential sources. Seems easy enough, right?


Why are listings important?

Listings with good presence and accuracy will undoubtedly pay off for your business. Here’s how:

No more hide and seek

Just as the brightly lit bat signal guides everyone’s favorite caped crusader (that’s right Superman, we said it!), accurate and readily available listings will help guide consumers right to your business’s doorsteps.

They even have similar shapes. Coincidence? We think not…

If a business’s listing is incorrect or missing, the majority of consumers will feel less confident about the brand, likely leading them to choose a competitor’s product or service. The availability of accurate listings ensures customers are actually able to find brick and mortar locations while they’re open for business. This means money in the business owner’s pocket and, just as importantly, it means the business can be reviewed.

“In my humble opinion…”

An ample review pipeline is an essential tool for developing a business’ online reputation and fostering brand loyalty. Reviews allow customers to communicate their experience with a business to potential buyers, but if consumers can’t find a business listed online, their opinion of it won’t be well-informed. Accurate listings create the opportunity for transparency between businesses and consumers in the form of reviews, and the availability of this information will help increase a business’s visibility.

All aboard the search engine

Consistent, accurate listings and the generation of reviews will directly benefit a business’s visibility by boosting its ranking in local search engine results. Search engine optimization is a complex tool, so why not take advantage of it by simply ensuring your business is listed accurately! Increased visibility means more customers, and what business owner doesn’t want that?


Now what?

This listings low-down provides a basic definition and describes the benefits of business listings. Create listings on sites worth lots of points to improve your listings score. We’ve ranked them by importance using a lot of key factors—how many sites reference them, traffic, demographics and more.

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