Throughout the past few years, Google Maps has been growing in popularity as an avenue for local businesses to advertise to potential customers, and rightfully so. Google Maps Ads is a great way to reach on-the-go users who are ready to buy. Learn how you can take advantage of Google Maps Ads’ features.
When you search for a business on Google Maps, you’ll notice that there may be one or two top results accompanied by a purple ‘Ad’ symbol. Once you click on these ads, you’re taken to that business’s usual information page. The primary purpose of these ads is to increase visibility for local businesses by ensuring that they rank first or second in Google Maps’ location results. Using Google Maps ads can help increase foot traffic for a business by reaching more potential customers.
Google Maps has recently made multiple changes to their ads through features such as promoted pins, in-store promotions, local inventory search, and a customizable business page. Promoted pins are probably the most interesting new feature from Google. In a sea of red “pins” that appear when you search for a business, advertised results show up as purple pins designed to grab the user’s attention. These pins are also accompanied by the business’s logo, which helps the search result to stand out as well. To stand out even further, businesses can use the new in-store promotions feature to showcase coupons and discounts on their ads. Google does not plan to use any further attention-grabbing features, such as audio or interstitials, so as not to distract users who may be driving.
The main reason advertising on Google Maps is so advantageous is that its 150 million monthly users open the app with a specific need in mind that your business may fill. Google Maps Ads are also a relatively new form of advertising, so there won’t be as much competition to grab users’ attention. Since Google Maps is mobile-focused, you’re able to reach people when and where they are looking for you. For this reason, Google Maps Ads is a useful tool for local businesses looking to compete with larger chains.
If your business isn’t currently advertising on Google Maps Ads, consider that around 90% of all global sales this year will happen in stores. Customers are eager to find information on local businesses before they even enter the store, with 82% of customers claiming to consult their phones about purchases before shopping in person. Google Maps ads can further help businesses by allowing them to showcase what is currently in stock with a feature called local inventory ads. Considering one in four people say they avoid stores because they don’t know if a product is in stock, this could be a highly effective way to gain more in-person customers.
The order in which Maps search results are presented to a user is not random; in fact, it relies on a variety of factors such as query context, location, search history, interests, behaviors, time of day, and demographics. Thanks to this algorithm, Google Maps Ads can target potential customers with the most interest in your business.
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Struggling to navigate the digital marketing landscape? Need help improving your paid marketing or SEO efforts? Our team at Relevance Advisors can help take your advertising to the next level. Reach out today.
2020 was a difficult year to say the least. The devastation of COVID-19 has drastically affected people’s day-to-day lives, and that impact of those effects is still being felt even as the pandemic nears its conclusion. We may very well be entering a “new normal,” and the digital marketing landscape is no exception. As we move forward, it’s important for marketing professionals to keep in mind the ways in which consumer behavior, advertising, and more have changed as a result of this and last year’s events, and what we can anticipate for the future.
Given the stay-at-home orders and general safety concerns regarding in-person gatherings during the pandemic, it probably comes as no surprise that there was a huge surge in online sales, since people were choosing to shop from the comfort and safety of home. According to one study, internet sales saw a 7% increase during the summer months of 2020. Another global survey indicates that this rise in online shopping will outlast the pandemic, as most respondents say that they will continue to shop online.
What does this mean for marketers? With more eyes than ever online, a strong internet presence is vital. Businesses should consider introducing or improving digital advertising efforts, even if they don’t currently have an online store.
App downloads reached an all-time high last year, and social media apps like Facebook and Twitter became essential to many during the pandemic given the impossibility of in-person meetings. Even before COVID-19, advertisers could reach potential consumers on these platforms, but the importance of these channels to brands has become greater than ever. Not only have more people downloaded social media apps since the pandemic began, but there has also been a shift in the user demographics, which marketing professionals should keep in mind when advertising on these platforms.
Take TikTok as an example. It was a largely Gen-Z-focused app, pre-pandemic. During COVID-19, it saw a growth of 180% among users aged 15-25. But, it’s also seen a general surge in use by adults in general. Usage of the app by people over 18 doubled from March 2019 to March 2021. This is a seismic shift, both in sheer number of users and in demographics. As a result, advertising tactics you may have once considered for this channel may need tweaking to appeal to the app’s userbase today. This mindset should be applied to advertising on any major social media app. Pay attention to how the pandemic has affected usage of the apps, as that could have a direct impact on the effectiveness of your messaging.
With about half of consumers trying new brands, it’s increasingly clear that brand loyalty is far less prevalent than it once was. Marketers cannot necessarily rely on shoppers to purchase from them simply because they have before. The shift to online shopping has been reflected in increased interest from consumers, but also in the increase in competition as businesses scramble to enter the landscape or otherwise expand their online presence.
With so much competition online, businesses must work harder than ever to maintain the interest of consumers, even those who have been loyal customers in the past. Keep the interest of consumers by focusing on your messaging, which needs to be relevant, engaging, and “real”.
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Struggling to navigate the digital marketing landscape? Need help improving your paid marketing or SEO efforts? Our team at Relevance Advisors can help take your advertising to the next level. Reach out today.
Hello! My name is Mia McKee and I'm the Summer 2021 Digital Marketing Intern at Relevance Advisors. I am a Washington, D.C. native but have spent the last four years at the University of Alabama. Although I earned my Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology, I have decided to pursue a career in advertising. I was able to take marketing and advertising classes in the past year that led me to this decision and I’m excited for the opportunity to learn more at Relevance this summer!
Although I am looking forward to all aspects of this internship, I am especially excited for the real-world client experience I will gain from creating an SEO audit for a nonprofit of my choosing. I am interested in digital marketing because it is a precise and cost-effective way to advertise a business. I love how it allows an advertiser to be more in tune with their target audience, get to know their customers more personally, and help create brand loyalty. As someone who wants to work with small businesses and nonprofits, I see the field of digital marketing as essential to my career path.
I am working with Relevance Advisors remotely this summer and will be pursuing my Master of Arts in Advertising and Public Relations in the fall. I believe this internship will help prepare me for success in my future studies. My graduate course is a two-year program in which I will gain comprehensive knowledge of communication theories and industry trends. I will also learn how to form data-driven insights and recommendations for businesses. Students in this program have the option to declare a concentration in either advertising creative or media strategy to further define their course of study. I’m excited to begin my master’s.
Outside of the classroom and (remote) office, I love to spend time with my family and friends. I also love to swim, run, and read. In my free time this summer I am training for a half marathon that will take place in the fall. I am passionate about photography; wherever I go, my camera follows. My passion for photography and creative work in general is what originally drew me to advertising. I love the challenge of capturing a feeling, idea, or message. Although advertising is quite different from photography, I believe this challenge is central to both fields.
I am grateful for the opportunity to expand my knowledge of the digital marketing landscape this summer and look forward to all that is to come in this internship.
If you listen to the radio, stream music, or subscribe to podcasts, chances are you’ve heard an audio ad. Unlike more visual methods of advertising, this type of ad relies heavily on stellar voice work, sound effects, music, and messaging to capture the attention of listeners. Despite the popularity of audio ads, they’re often overlooked and underappreciated as a method of communication from business to consumer. However, a good audio ad can succeed where other methods of advertising have failed, and can act as the driving force behind your next marketing campaign.
Unlike many visual forms of advertising, which are limited to being displayed in certain dimensions or locations (ie. billboards or online banner ads), audio ads can be played in situations where visual media is not available. Someone driving home from work, or listening to a podcast on their morning jog, will be able to hear your message without the need for a screen or a sign in front of them. In other words, audio ads possess a versatility that more visual methods of communication might lack. Remember, though, that the lack of a visual aid means that your audio ad needs to be especially engaging.
When we say audio ad, by default, we’re generally talking about a well-produced, company-created advertisement, with professional voiceover work and sound effects included. This is known in radio advertising as a produced spot. But let’s expand our definition a bit. Audio ads are really just any instance where your product is advertised using audio, right? This is where sponsorships and live reads come in.
Sponsorship messaging is becoming increasingly popular, especially on podcasts. If you’re a podcast listener, you know that podcast hosts will often take a break during their show play a message thanking their sponsors, and advertise a product themselves. This is a powerful (and more cost-effective) way to speak to your audience, because the message is coming from someone who enjoys your product, and whom the audience trusts. All you need to provide is a script, and it can be as vague or as specific as you’d like. The host can tell people all about your brand with their own personal cadence and flair, making the message really stick for listeners. (Sometimes, this is done live, rather than via a prerecorded message. When that happens, it’s a live read.)
Now, this isn’t to say a creative message with all the bells and whistles a marketing department can provide won’t always have a place in the world of audio ads. Spotify, Pandora, and other streaming services favor these sorts of ads, because they keep listeners’ attention in-between songs by professional-grade sound effects and music in the background. There are benefits to both professional and more “organic” messaging, so do your best to determine what types of audio ads are going to be most effective for your company on different platforms.
As we’ve mentioned, audio ads are versatile, and the message can come from you, an influencer, or any other trusted source. As a result, they’re quite an effective tool for increasing engagement, especially among distracted or multitasking individuals- namely, those listening to podcasts while working out or completing some other activity. In fact, YouTube – a historically visual platform – recently rolled out its own audio ads program, as it recognized a need to engage those who might play videos of concerts, podcasts, and music while engaging in something else.
And these ads do work at capturing attention. Research shows that over 80% of podcast-listeners surveyed always pay attention to podcast advertisements, and over half of those surveyed reported purchasing something from a podcast ad.
Just remember that audio ads rely more on repetition to be effective, since they lack visual representation. Media Space Solutions claims your audience needs to hear your ad at least three times before they’ll take action. But, once the message sticks, it stays. There’s a reason people remember jingles from ads they saw over a decade ago.
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Audio ads are just one of many forms of advertising you can use to promote your products or services, and the most successful businesses will take advantage of multiple mediums and messaging tactics to engage their customers. Looking to increase your paid media presence? The experts here at Relevance Advisors would love to work with you!
With the start of the shortest month of the year, Google announced big changes for their keyword matching behavior. Namely, Broad Match Modified is going away and all of those capabilities will now be included under Phrase Match. As a refresher, BMM (denoted with +) included the keywords and/or close variations. Your Ads would show if all of the terms in your keywords (and related) were in the search query. For example, if your keywords were +blue +bike +girl, your Ad would show for the query “Blue Bicycles for Sporty Girls” because each term (concept) was present. Phrase Match (denoted by “”), on the other hand, would match your Ad to a query if your keywords (or related) matched the set inside the quotes. There could be no extra words in the query, unless they were before or after the quoted terms.
Now however, Phrase Match will incorporate all of these matching behaviors, meaning all of the keywords must be present in the query, but extra words are allowed in between. This also means that word order, with respect to meaning, will be taken into account.
What does this mean for you? The change won’t be fully implemented until July 2021, and you don’t need to take any action. It should be noted that by July 2021, you cannot create new BMM terms, but your current BMM terms will just follow the new behavior. You might see an increase in traffic for your Phrase Match terms, and likewise, a decrease in volume for your BMM terms. It is recommended that you monitor your performance and you could add more Broad Match terms or more Phrase Match terms in order to offset the possibility of decreased traffic.
For more information, click here.
The content and layout of a product page are some of the most important aspects of an effective e-commerce site. As an online retailer, your main goal is to maximize your conversions, and an optimized product page can make all the difference. Still, the benefits go beyond just sales; proper pages can increase brand awareness, encourage reviews, lower product returns, and boost your website’s SEO rankings in search results. In other words, product pages are a vital part of your online business for more reasons than you might think, and there are a million and one ways to go about making a product page that’s going to get you the results you’re after.
Given all this, it can be difficult to know what makes a page more effective than another, or what’s going to work for your business specifically, or which factors you should even consider. Luckily, we’re here to make things a little bit easier.
Today, we’re providing you with some general tips on how to optimize your product pages. We understand every industry and every website is different, but in general, these rules-of-thumb are a great place to start.
If your product photo is a dimly-lit, blurry image of the product in a color that isn’t available on the website, customers will be skeptical of the product’s quality, at best. At worst, they may question the site’s legitimacy and decide against making any purchase at all. It’s crucial that you have at least one well-lit, high-quality photo of the product you’re selling that matches the description. It should be clear enough that consumers can make out specific details.
Ideally, you’ll have multiple photos from every angle, or even a video that shows how the product functions. And, if your product comes in multiple colors or fits, you should provide visuals for each variation. Good product photos increase buyers’ confidence in you as a seller, and in the product as well.
Images of the product aren’t enough to make a sale. Customers need to know specific details about the product before they’re willing to add it to their cart. Enter the product description. Your description should go over everything from color to material to function to features. There’s a lot to cover, but remember, while it’s important to be detailed and informative, most people don't want to read paragraphs of text about a product. Keep it concise, and only highlight what’s necessary. Use a couple of sentences to describe the product, then provide details in bullet points underneath.
If a customer is interested in your product, the last thing you want to do is make the process of purchasing that product a confusing or difficult endeavor. Any calls-to-action, such as the “Add to Cart” button, should be consistent, distinct, and easy to find. If consumers have to hunt for the button that will allow them to make a purchase or add their cart, they may give up and go to a competitor to get what they need. This isn't ideal, so make sure you’re implementing clear and visible buttons and instructions that will make shopping as easy as possible for your shoppers.
Reviews are often trusted by consumers because they’re from people who actually use the product. After all, customers know that the goal of an e-commerce site is to make a sale, so they rely on reviews from people who have purchased the product in the past to see if they were satisfied. That’s why more product reviews typically lead to more sales. So, make sure your product pages list reviews, and make them easy to navigate. Allow customers to filter by good (or bad) reviews, or by whether the review contains an image of the product. This increases your transparency, which will increase buyers’ trust in your online store.
Also, consider quoting some especially flattering testimonials in your product description, and include their name (if you can). Customers will appreciate having outside opinions on a product they’re considering.
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A good product page could be the difference between a purchase and an exit from your website. If you need help with your e-commerce site, or want to improve your SEO rankings, reach out to Relevance Advisors today for a consultation. Our team would love to hear from you.
For online retailers looking to expand their brand presence and target potential shoppers who are already interested in similar products to theirs, Pinterest is a wonderful platform to advertise on. Although it hasn’t always seemed big enough to compete with the likes of other major social media platforms, many people do not realize that Pinterest, a visual discovery engine used to help people find all kinds of inspiration, is now the fourth most used social media platform in the US.
People use Pinterest for a variety of reasons, but what remains for certain in all users is that people go on Pinterest to find things that they want to buy, see, hear, smell, eat, drink, or do in real life. Here are a few statistics about Pinterest’s audience that show just how impactful the platform is on people’s everyday activities and purchases:
This longing for interaction beyond the platform itself creates a wonderful advertising space for companies who create great products that people would love to buy. With such a large user base, Pinterest creates potential for your online retailer to grow significantly. A great way to go about using Pinterest effectively is by promoting pins that you create or that are directly from your profile. Through thoughtful audience targeting, quality content creation, and smart ad spending, you can create Promoted Pins and Product Pins that are sure to create a positive impact on sales for your online retailer.
Pinterest Product Pins are a type of Promoted Pins within the Shopping With Pinterest. Promoted Pins are simply pins from your profile or pins you create separately that you can pay to promote to a targeted audience. Similar to many other widely-used advertising platforms, posts participate in contests of post relevancy, business quality, and willingness to pay per impression to determine which post will be shown to an audience member over another post. Here’s how Pinterest explains it:
“For each available ad impression, our auction system selects the best ad for that position, based on the likelihood of a desired action occurring and how much that action is worth to you. The likelihood of the action occurring depends on factors like landing page quality and targeting relevance. Your bid tells us what you'd pay for the action you choose to optimize for.”
Certain pins have a price tag icon on them, indicating that they are a Product Pin that your audience can interact with to purchase the item directly on Pinterest. They will be able to see up-to-date product information about price and availability and be able to purchase it on your online store, all within the Pinterest external application. Once they are finished with their purchase, they can simply click the X in the top left corner of the tab to be able to continue browsing Pinterest.
There’s no time to waste -- keep reading to learn the process for quickly creating Product Pins directly from your online catalog.
The process for creating a product pin simple--but to do it most effectively requires some knowledge about the platform, your product, and your audience.
Using the Pinterest Shopping function on your Pinterest Business account by uploading your product catalog is sure to help you get your products in front of the right audience, right when they are searching for it or even just browsing their feed of similar products.
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As e-commerce continues to take over the web, effective paid social ad spending is growing even more impactful and necessary. Reach out if we can help your online retailer navigate this space by beginning your Pinterest ad spending journey or embarking on other paid social endeavors.
What is it like to be an intern at Relevance Advisors? I’m glad you asked! My name is Michaela, and I am finishing up my role as the summer 2020 intern for Relevance Advisors. Over the past ten weeks, I’ve earned Google Ad Certifications, learned how to set up and manage Google Ads campaigns, written blog posts, attended webinars, observed client meetings, and much more, all while working remotely.
When I applied and interviewed for the internship, I thought I would be spending my summer in Atlanta working in the office with the team at Relevance Advisors. I was excitedly apartment searching and preparing to move to the city. However, when Coronavirus hit and didn’t let up before the summer, I feared for the future of the internship. Would I be moving down to Atlanta for the summer? Would I still be able to do the internship at all?
As June rolled around, Coronavirus was still widespread. The solution? I became Relevance Advisor’s first remote intern. Although working from my childhood room at home in Indianapolis wasn’t quite what I had imagined, I still learned a ton about digital marketing and found a bright side within the change. Read on and watch the video below to learn more about the internship program at Relevance Advisors during the age of COVID-19.
A Typical Day as a Remote Intern
A typical day interning remotely usually looks a little something like this. I start work between 8:00 am and 9:00 am each morning. I begin by answering a question on a site called Basecamp about what I plan on working on that day. At 9:00 am, I join the Daily Scrum meeting, where the team touches base about what we’re going to work on and ask any questions we may have about the day ahead. This meeting is great because it allows me to begin each day knowing what I need to work on.
The rest of the work for the day differs based on the day and the current projects. At the beginning of the internship, I typically had one or two training meetings with team members each day where they ran through each of the client accounts, taught me how to access important programs, and taught me a variety of skills. I never felt confused on how to complete a task.
From the very first day, I was able to work on real client work, such as blog posts and push notification scheduling. When I wasn’t working on assigned tasks, I worked towards completing my Google Ads Certifications. It was great working on these certifications alongside the assigned tasks because I felt that I was getting to practice what I was learning while I was learning it.
As the internship went on, I had weekly tasks that I typically worked on for certain days. For example, each Monday I would complete search term reports. On Tuesdays, I would write and schedule blog posts for the following week. However, I also enjoyed variety in what I was able to work on each week. If I saw that there was a client call or a task that I wanted to learn about, I was encouraged to ask to join. No day looked exactly the same, and the internship was tailored to what I was interested in.
The Work
As I mentioned before, I’ve had the opportunity to learn and work on a wide variety of projects. During the first three weeks, I worked a lot on my Google Ads Certifications. While I was working on these, I also began working on blog posts for clients, sat in on client meetings, created search term reports, and more.
As the internship went on, I was able to help set up a new campaign in Google Ads based on insights from research that I conducted. I was also able to use this research to brainstorm and propose new blog content based on the success of previous posts and pages. I also was shown how to create ads on Amazon and social media, how to optimize Google Ads campaigns, how to use platforms like Klaviyo and Hubspot, and more.
One thing that interns get to be a part of are quarterly offsite meetings. This meeting is a time where the team gets together to review the previous quarter and create goals for the following quarter. The meeting covers the business side of Relevance Advisors, which is a fantastic opportunity for interns to be a part of.
Every intern also has the opportunity to create their own SEO Audit for a non-profit organization of their choice. I enjoyed being able to reach out and help a great organization in my community while getting hands on experience with search engine optimization. During this project, I learned how to use programs such as Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, and Google Analytics. I also learned how to create title tags, meta descriptions, alt text, and more. It was very rewarding to be able to use what I had learned all summer to help a wonderful non-profit.
The Culture
Dream big, follow through, be nice, love what you do, and pay it forward. These are the core values at Relevance Advisors, and they are lived out each and every day.
From just my first interview with Relevance Advisors, I could tell that everyone was focused on doing great work with integrity, and that they were focused on the success of their clients. Over the course of my internship, I’ve continued to see this lived out.
Everyone on the team at Relevance Advisors was welcoming to me from the very first day and were genuinely excited to help me learn and be successful as an intern. This internship isn’t one where you’ll just be getting coffee or taking meeting notes. Interns are given meaningful work to help them learn as much as possible during the course of the internship. The team at Relevance Advisors genuinely wants to see interns learn and be successful.
The Interview Process
Before I was offered this internship position, I was very nervous about what to expect in the interview process. After applying to the internship program, I received an email with a few questions to answer. After submitting my answers, I was contacted to schedule a first round phone interview. This interview was upbeat and informational. I was able to ask a lot of questions about Relevance Advisors and the internship program.
I had two more rounds of interviews after this. The conversations I had during the interviews, as well as the information I learned about the work that interns were able to do, is what drew me to this position. Everyone I spoke to was very kind, and I could tell that they were genuinely committed to ensuring that interns learned as much as they possibly could about the topics of digital marketing that they were interested in. I was excited that there was the potential to work on real client work as an intern versus only observing the work.
How do you ace your interview? As cliche as it sounds, my best advice for the interview process is to be yourself. Everyone at Relevance Advisors is friendly, genuine, and easy to talk to. If you’re nervous (I was too!), try having a friend or family member help you do a practice interview. Practice running through explaining how your work, extracurricular, and previous internship experience makes you a good candidate for this position. I found that just running through some practice questions helped me feel more comfortable and confident going into the interview!
The Unexpected Benefits of Being an Remote Intern
Although I was excited to be living and working in Atlanta this summer, there were some unexpected benefits of a remote internship. First and foremost, working remotely gave me the freedom to work from anywhere. I quickly realized that this meant I could visit family from out-of-state that I wouldn’t normally be able to visit. When I visited, I would work my internship each day and be able to spend the afternoon and evening with family. This freedom to work from anywhere was a terrific benefit of the shift to the remote internship.
Another benefit was the money I was able to save while living at home. Although the suburbs of Indianapolis don’t come close to how cool it would’ve been to be in Atlanta, the remote internship allowed me to save money on rent, food, gas, and other expenses.
The internship at Relevance Advisors is a fantastic experience. Interns are able to get hands on experience with real client work while learning a ton about a variety of digital marketing topics. The team is supportive and wants to ensure that every intern is successful and has a great experience.
As my remote internship comes to an end, I can confidently say that I felt no disconnect because I was working remotely. There is quick communication among the team, and they were quick to hop on a video meeting for training or to answer questions. It was an incredible summer internship, and I would highly recommend you apply if you are at all interested! Check out the “Digital Marketing Internship” tab to learn more about the internship experience at Relevance Advisors.
Calendars, agendas, reminders, alarms, and constant alerts - oh my! With so many notifications popping up in the world, it can be easy to forget about the many minute tasks of digital marketing. Lucky for us, marketing automation can save us from unnecessary stress and wasted time. Read on to learn about the power of marketing automation.
In order to best utilize marketing automation, we must first understand what it is. Essentially, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Marketing automation is a technology that manages marketing processes automatically. This means that instead of a human managing the facets of marketing campaigns manually, marketing automation does it for the human. This significantly lessens the workload and works to avoid the human error that’s inevitably present in standard manual marketing management. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Through marketing automation campaigns, you can automate different tasks and transactions with ease. Whether it’s emailing, social media marketing, or live chats, it can be automated. With automation, your possibilities are practically endless! There’s a plethora of different software available to help you and your business stay up to speed with marketing strategies and methods of delivery. Installing automated marketing can be as simple as a few clicks!
Source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/marketing-automation-tools/
One of the most obvious benefits of automated marketing is the increased availability of employees. This means increased productivity with some companies estimating up to 95% increases in staff productivity due to marketing automation. Additionally, marketing automation has shown to increase sales productivity by 14% and reduce marketing overheads by 12%. With statistics like that, it’s no wonder why so many companies are implementing marketing automation into their work lives. Beyond the improved flow and revitalized energy of your company, marketing automation also enables you to keep consistent communication and create a personalized experience for your customers. From crafting relationships to drive business with improved lead generation, there’s no doubt that a simple software is worth a try. After all, marketing automation has shown to increase lead generation by a whopping 451% and sales opportunities by 20%.
While automated marketing is a great tool to drive business, it’s important to maintain an active role in the marketing process. In order to get the most out of your marketing automation, be sure to follow these best practices.
Efficient marketing is strategic and well planned, so it’s important to define a clear end goal for your marketing journey. What do you want to achieve? Make quantitative goals to explicitly define standards to be met and drive motivation to reach those set numbers. This will not only set your business on a solid track for success, but it will help define your marketing automation strategy, which will develop and grow over time with your company.
Don’t underestimate the power of graphs, charts, and diagrams. There’s plenty of software available that can create visuals for you in the matter of a few clicks, so why not utilize it? Visuals are one of the most efficient ways to stay informed and respond quickly.
Judge what is working and what isn’t. There’s no one strategy that works for everyone, so take the time to decide what works best for your company. Analytics are extremely valuable, especially when you’re just beginning your automation journey.
While marketing automation is great for sharing the best leads and when to communicate with those leads, it can’t tell you how to communicate with them. To take full advantage of your automation platform, be sure to create content that represents your brand and shares your message. It’s time to turn your leads into conversions!
Let’s face it, marketing automation can’t magically fix all of your marketing problems. When introducing this software to your business, it’s important to have realistic expectations and achievable goals for your industry. Some marketing ventures must be long-term in order to fully reap the benefits, so start exploring now!
What marketing automation software will you try out next? Share your thoughts and tips down below!
It’s hard to deny the impact that Amazon’s e-commerce platform has had around the world. In 2018, Amazon made over 232 billion dollars, becoming the top platform for brands to sell their products on. As an ecommerce company, you know how important it is to utilize Amazon for your products. But exactly how you set up your storefront on Amazon can greatly impact the success that you find there.
Annual net revenue of Amazon from 2004 to 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars)
Amazon’s complex search algorithm is called “A9”. A9 decides which product recommendations to make by compiling the data from the hundreds of thousands of searches that users have already made. Amazon’s recommendations are generated by both customer shopping preferences and past purchases. Amazon uses a different algorithm because all of their visitors are high-intent customers, meaning that they are much more likely to make a purchase.
Now that you understand Amazon’s A9 algorithm, you can better optimize your storefront to increase your traffic and sales. In order to do so, there are five major parts of your account that you need to pay attention to. The first of which is your product listing title.
Your product listing title is the first thing a consumer sees when they come across your listing. To help more people see your product, incorporate keywords in your title. But what does the keyword research process involve? In order to create the most optimized account possible, you should be sure to track keyword positions regularly. There are several third party tools that make Amazon keyword tracking easy. Some of these include Viral Launch and Keyworx. With these tools, you can view up-to-date data about relevant keywords including historical trends, search volume, and competitive keyword tracking.
Only use keywords that have a high search volume and do not sound extraneous when they are used in your title. Your title should be under 200 characters or so. However, Amazon tends to change their algorithm frequently, so the exact character count you have to adhere to may change. When incorporating keywords into your title, be sure to use pipes and dashes to improve readability and split the keywords throughout your title. The goal of your title is to make one that sounds cohesive and not machine written while incorporating relevant keywords and specifics when it is possible. For a strong example of a good product listing title, see the image of the Bose headphones below.
In the bullet points of your product, be sure to list the product’s key benefits. These bullet points should answer the question: Why is your product better than that of your competitors?
Your product bullet points can include value-adds such as incentives or freebies that you are offering. In your bullet points, include primary and secondary keywords. While your bullet points should point out key features of your product to customers, they should do so in a way that incentivizes them to purchase at that moment.
In your product description, you have more characters to tell the story of your brand. What sets your brand apart from the dozens others just like you? Why should shoppers trust you and your products? Is your product easy to use or does it require a laborious learning process? Whatever questions you want to address in your product description, be sure to be authentic and use keywords when possible.
We’ve talked about the importance of including keywords in product titles, bullet points, and descriptions above. Amazon offers an opportunity to implement backend search terms into the platform. There are five fields for sellers to implement these terms. Each line has a 50-character limit with a setting against repeating keywords or quotes. If your keyword list includes “soccer” “ball” and “sports equipment” your backend search terms could include long tail terms that incorporate top keywords like “soccer balls”.
Images are an absolute necessity on Amazon. Upload high-quality images that show off your product on a white background. If your images are large enough, then users can zoom in on to see certain aspects more clearly. Benefit driven imagery is the best way to give customers a visual idea of your product’s capabilities as they incorporate additional text and graphics. The example below shows key components of this smartphone screen protector with helpful graphics.
Source: https://www.junglescout.com/blog/5-types-of-amazon-product-photography/
