Digital Marketers' Blog

The process takes advantage of the rapid display of static images that have minimal differences. Once displayed, the images create a sense of motion. This is the foundation of complex animation that goes into creating our favorite movies. Away from cinema and into marketing, animation has found its place in the effective promotion of businesses online and on television.

Data released by Statista show that the size of the global animation market stood at $372.44 billion in 2021, and is expected to exceed $587 billion by 2030. Besides, the use of animation is not just limited to the entertainment industry, and it has gone on to become an extremely effective tool in marketing over the last few years.

Devoid of Typical Restrictions

Have you thought of creating an advertisement for your business and found something difficult to achieve? Well, animation is free from most types of restrictions. This is because animation professionals can create just about any kind of illusion and they don’t have to deal with the limitation of using a camera and actors. With animation, your pizza will fly to its destination and your products will transform into talking cartoons. No matter what you want to achieve with your advertisements, expert animation artists have the capability to deliver.

Wide Appeal

Given the versatility that animation brings to the table, it’s common to find people who enjoy watching animations across all age groups, right from children to baby boomers. As a result, including animation in your overall marketing strategy is bound to help reach a larger audience base. This aspect gains particular importance in fields where competition between businesses is rife and the order of the day is to attract new customers.

Reaching Out to Youngsters

Since animation finds favor across age groups, it also holds the potential to appeal to younger audiences. For most businesses, this generation accounts for a significant percentage of their target audiences.  A number of popular brands have already used bite-sized animation videos instead of long-form content to attract and retain the attention of younger audiences. Remember that content that’s boring or static stands little chance when it comes to winning over a young audience.

Subtle

While storytelling is a very important aspect of successful animation marketing, you don’t have to come up with a Moby-Dick to produce desired results. All you need is a short story accompanied by captivating visuals that your audience finds enjoyable or beneficial.  The fact that animation helps make your marketing videos less formal increases the likelihood of their striking the right chord with your target audience. Besides, it’s fairly easy to create animated ads that don’t really feel like advertisements.

The Time Factor

Creating traditional marketing videos involves various complicated processes that one may do away with when it comes to animation. For instance, there is no need to travel between multiple locations or wait for ideal light/weather conditions. Besides, background music and voiceovers give digital agencies that specialize in this realm the ability to create appealing animated videos much faster than they would conventional videos. Another distinct benefit is the possibility to tweak existing content instead of going through the entire process gain.

Takes Little Time to Explain Ideas

Being able to put your message across in a quick and efficient way is crucial if you wish to succeed in this fast-paced world. Fortunately, animated videos can help you do just that, which is why many people prefer them over textual content, images, and even live-action videos. Bear in mind that the time it takes to put your message across through an animated video is typically much lesser than through any other medium.

The Cost Factor

You probably know that traditional advertisements can be rather expensive to create. You’ll need to pay an advertising firm to take care of the advert and the cost will be anything but peanuts. This is because you’ll need to account for costs related to possibly expensive setups, outdoor shoots, and actors.

Besides, there are scores of commercials out there and you’ll have to do something out of the ordinary for yours to be exceptional. This is tricky especially if you are shooting the advert with a camera and real people because costs can escalate quickly. With animation, you don’t really have to worry about your wallet because the advert will not cost you as much money.

The Visual Effect

Ask any good restaurant, consumer goods, financial, or nonprofit web design company what it feels about the importance of creating appealing visuals and the answer will remain pretty much the same. By now, it’s well established that people prefer watching videos about products and services as opposed to reading about them.  Besides, videos are more effective when it comes to conveying marketing messages.

In this day and age, it’s hard to find another medium that can hold its own against animated videos in delivering concise and stunning portraits of different types of products and services. This is because animation videos have great potential when it comes to grabbing the attention of viewers across spectrums.

Encourage Engagement

Animated videos give you the ability to highlight your target audience’s pain points in a quick and easy manner, thereby helping attract its attention. In addition, this helps you hold its attention and encourage it to watch the entire video. Once your audience finds your videos captivating, it’s bound to get involved in the story that you have to tell. While the control and flexibility over animation help encourage participation, it also makes your audience feel connected to your brand and the products or services it has to offer.

Convert Visitors to Buyers

There are various advantages of using animation videos with websites, provides they’re funny, relevant, or informative. This is how you attract attention. This is also how you ensure that visitors stay on your site long enough to grasp the important details that will lead to them actually buying something from you.

You can also use animation in your video marketing campaign or through video-based websites such as YouTube and Vimeo. The most important thing is to ensure that a professional takes care of your animation video’s creation. What’s also crucial is that your animation video should contain content that can easily convert a visitor into a buyer and a buyer into a loyal customer.

Improve Brand Recall

Several professional web design companies now use animated videos to help create and build brand awareness. Given the long-lasting effect animated videos have on viewers, and the fact that businesses use their brands’ colors, logos, and other elements in such videos, it’s fair to expect them to recall your brand at a later stage.

Simplify Complex Ideas

A very important benefit of turning to animation videos is that they let you explain even highly complex ideas in a relatively easy manner. Besides, adding a voiceover to the mix makes it possible to explain concepts even to audiences that might have little to no knowledge about your products or services.

How You May Use Animation in Marketing

Leading digital marketing agencies now know how to use animation videos that produce desired results across different mediums, from websites to television.

• Website animation. Some websites boast of providing interactive animations that are at par with modern-day video games with the aim of keeping visitors on the websites for longer. Fun elements that encourage users to spend more time on your website increase the possibility of their making purchases (or taking other desired actions). Animations can also help liven up your website for a fraction of the cost of live-action videos.
• Emails. The benefits of using animated videos or GIFs in emails include being able to grab readers’ attention, showing off your products/services, creating awareness about new launches, and most importantly, making the best use of the little space you have available to showcase your offerings. However, compatibility can often play a role in a user’s ability to view animation in emails depending on factors such as the device being used and file size.
• Presentations. Using animation videos in presentations with clients can help you get to the point in a quick and effective way. Such videos can be particularly beneficial when getting real products and setting them up might seem challenging.  While animation videos can help demonstrate complicated processes and systems, they can also take viewers through different stages of projects that are currently underway.
• Television. The use of animation in television commercials is not new, but the advancements are plain to see, particularly after the advent of 3D animation. Combined with high-definition or 3D viewing, animation videos with a range of special effects can help present your products or services much like an immersive theme park ride. 

Types of Animation Videos for Marketing

It’s rare to find an agency that still creates traditional animation videos by using a hand-drawn labor-intensive frame-by-frame process. Now, even the top advertising agencies turn to alternatives such as 2D animation, 3D animation, stop motion, and motion graphics.

• GIFs. Although GIFs have been around for more than three decades, a number of marketers still use them to good effect when it comes to attracting attention through websites, emails, blog posts, and social media platforms. They can be particularly beneficial when announcing new launches or promotional offers. A distinct benefit of turning to GIFs is that they give you a low-risk and low-cost way to get on the animation bandwagon.
• Explainer videos. An explainer video is one that helps your target audience understand the nuances of your products or services or one that tells your brand’s story. While a live-action explainer video can be boring, animation gives you the ability to add as much creativity into the mix as you like. Marketers use animated explainer videos across platforms, from websites to social media campaigns to emails. Explainer videos for social media should ideally limit to no more than one minute. 
• Micro-animations. Micro-animations are small and typically functional animations that provide visual feedback and help tie together various elements of a design or an interface.  Besides, these animations give you the ability to convey various messages without the use of text. Examples of micro-animations include like buttons, swipe buttons, call-to-action buttons, and buttons showing the current system/upload/download status. Micro-animations can help improve navigation, encourage interaction, increase engagement, communicate information, promote taking specific actions, and improve user experience. 

2D Vs. 3D Animation for Marketing

Modern-day digital marketing agencies are capable of handling varied 2D and 3D animation requirements based on client requirements. 2D animation is the more affordable alternative and these animations are typically quicker to create. In addition, you may adapt 2D animations to work with various web- and print-based materials. 3D animations, on the other hand, are dynamic in nature and typically more eye-catching. Besides, 3D animations also come with a variety of interactive options, which, when used in the right manner, can come with a high return on investment (ROI).

CONCLUSION

Animation is not everybody’s cup of tea and you will need to find the best animation artists to deliver what you need. Fortunately, the online world lets you narrow down the top digital agencies. What follows is getting a team to work on your ideas and transform them into short yet interesting animation videos that will market your business.

Unlike most conventional videos, simple animation videos don’t take a lot of time to create. Besides, once you work with a team of experienced professionals who know your requirements well, you may expect your online efforts to deliver great results.

If you’re not sure about how to move forward, or if you still have questions about how animation videos can help promote your business, getting in touch with a web design company that specializes in this realm might be in your best interest.

Originally posted in: https://www.topnotchdezigns.com/the-wonders-of-animation-in-marketing/

This is a significant issue when it comes to boosting digital marketing campaigns. As several ads essentially advertise to the wrong audiences, this problem often results in squandered (or unoptimized) ad money. Google is one of the foremost players in online advertising, with its Google Ads platform (previously AdWords) leading the pack.

The tech giant knows a thing or two about ads and has the data to prove it. Luckily, Google is always looking to ramp up the efficiency of its ad tools and campaigns by using this valuable information. One of its additions is the Google custom intent audiences feature, which maximizes conversions by leveraging search intent data.

What’s the Key Functionality of Google Custom Intent Audiences?

Google custom intent audiences are customizable for Google Ads, YouTube, and Google Display Network ads. This function helps advertisers target on-the-market-to-buy audiences. Instead of honing in on the general interests and demographics of users (a shot in the dark), it goes one better.

Google custom intent audiences adverts target those who’re currently searching online for specific products or services. Adding relevant keywords, competitor URLs, and even competitor apps in Google custom intent audiences helps advertisers to reach the right buyers, not just regular internet users.

Google custom intent audiences are generally optimized using:

• Searched-for keywords. The keywords internet users search for online help. When customers enter keywords like “pet gerbil for sale” or “best plumber near me,” it’s likely they’re looking to purchase these goods or services. Advertisers may use keywords such as these in Google Ads custom intent audiences to target such audiences.
• Browsing activity. The browsing patterns of specific internet users are another indicator of an intent to buy. When internet users visit a competitor’s website, it’s likely they’re researching or buying similar products or services to yours. Advertisers may input competitor URLs in Google custom intent audiences in order to reach competitors’ customers.
• App downloads. The kind of apps a customer downloads and purchases from may also be revealing and useful. Those who regularly use competitor apps are prime audiences for competitor ads. Advertisers may optimize Google custom intent audiences to target these customers.

What Value Proposition Does Custom Intent Audiences Offer Advertisers?

Using Google custom intent audiences to optimize ad campaigns provides plenty of benefits. Not only may advertisers improve their conversion rates, but they may do so without spending more on Google Ads.

The main value propositions custom intent audiences offer include:

• Saving money by not displaying ads to irrelevant audiences without the intent to buy.
• Advertising to customers who are ready or researching goods and services to buy.
• Reaching new customers who may not fit the expected audiences set in affinity ads.
• Competing for customers directly with those selling similar goods and services.
• Displaying ads to customers who have just searched for similar items on mobile apps and sites.

What Are Google Custom Intent Audiences Best Practices?

Google custom intent audiences is an invaluable tool, helping advertisers, businesses, and individuals cut down on ad spend while achieving more profitable ad campaign results. Instead of paying for visibility, custom intent audiences place ads where they’re more likely to convert.

Yes, the audiences you’re targeting with Google custom intent audiences are more likely to be on the market to buy. However, it’s still advisable to follow a few Google custom intent audiences’ best practices when setting up your campaigns.

Prioritizing Google Ad Goals

Businesses advertise for many reasons, not just to sell goods or services. Brand exposure, encouraging walk-ins, or just getting a new product or service visible are some. If you just want to promote, it may not be necessary to use Google custom intent audiences.

The basic Google Ads affinity audiences feature that targets internet users based on their general interests may provide you with better results. It will ensure more of the general public is exposed to your ads, and if the ad campaign is pay-per-click, it can make it more affordable.

The Google custom intent audiences function is better suited to increase eCommerce sales, and not so much to get your brand out there. As the ad spend is optimized by only showing ads to audiences searching with the intent to buy, your ad visibility may be less broad.

Reading Up On Google Custom Intent Audiences

Google custom intent audiences may be foreign to some Google Ads users who haven’t explored it yet. As with setting up any new type of ad campaign, be sure to read up on how it works. Following instructions and tips will ensure you avoid making common mistakes that may affect the efficacy of your campaign.

There are many excellent offline and online resources you may use, including:

• Google Ads Custom Intent Audiences Guide.
• Semrush’s top-ranking Ultimate Guide to Google’s Custom Intent Audiences.
• Our “How to Set Up Google Custom Intent Audiences” guide that’s part of this post.

Doing Your Keyword Research

The Google custom intent audiences function helps advertisers target internet users with an intent to buy. However, do you know which of these keywords are the best to add to your unique campaigns? Doing adequate keyword research beforehand is vital to ensure the best ad campaign engagement and results.

You may use a number of free and paid tools such as Google Keywords (part of your free Google Ads tools), Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator, and the Semrush Keyword Research Tool. Look for top-ranking keywords that are also moderate to low difficulty to ensure maximum exposure.

Knowing Your Ad Types

There are various types of digital adverts you may create using Google Ads. Display ads, video ads, product listings, native ads, and social media ads are just some examples. Knowing ad types and which are best for your Google custom intent audiences campaign will ensure its efficacy.

There are different ad payment structures too, with pay-per-click being a common example. Pay-per-click (PPC) is a popular form of advertising that aims to bring down costs. PPC ads only cost money when someone clicks on your ad or performs a specified action.

Investing in SEO

PPC ads are a popular option because of their low cost. However, you may also increase the efficacy of your Google custom intent audiences ads by improving SEO on these and your linked website, product listing, or app. Displaying good-quality ads may lower their cost-per-click (CPC) by improving their Google Ads Quality Score.

SEO extends to your written Google custom intent audiences ad content, including captions, descriptions, and calls-to-action. Visuals, such as the quality of your ad images and relevance, also matter. The quality of ads as well as their SEO and PPC bid ranges also work together to improve the likelihood of these winning a bid for ad space.

Knowing Your Ad Bid Ranges

Selecting the correct PPC bid values for your industry will ensure your ad campaigns reach Google custom intent audiences. Each industry has its own ideal cost-per-click (CPC) values. If you set your ads for less, they may struggle to win bids and get displayed to potential buyers.

Ideally, you should hire a digital marketing company to help set up advanced campaigns. It may assist you in making the right decisions regarding keywords, URLs, and apps to include, as well as how much to spend on your PPC campaigns. An advertising company may help you set bid ranges and set up effective internet marketing campaigns.

Knowing Your Competitors

Since Google Ads’ custom intent audiences function may help you target competitors’ customers in campaigns, you need to know how to identify them. Search online for the top companies in your niche using the keywords you wish to use in your ad campaigns.

Save each competitor’s URL and find out if it has an app. You may use this information to define your Google Ads custom intent audiences later on. You may also use these competitor URLs and unique page URLs to generate top-ranking keywords through various paid and free keyword generators.

Optimizing Your Ads

Ad content, including graphics, photographs, calls-to-action, and descriptions, is a vital component of ads. While it’s important to optimize your ad audiences using Google Ads custom intent audiences to see results, you also need to ensure the content in your adverts is appropriate for the purpose and audience.

If you’re trying to sell coffee beans, an ad talking about your coffee shop with a photo of a cappuccino probably isn’t going to cut it. You need to ensure you highlight the product with eye-catching visuals, animations, videos, and the right approach to content marketing.

Set Up Your Custom Intent Audiences Separately

You may generally use more than one Google custom intent audiences configuration on an ad campaign. There’s no necessity to put all of your keywords in one basket. Separate and group similar keywords together.

You may create a singular Google custom intent audiences configuration for each grouping. Then, mix and match these with ads. Separating Google custom intent audiences configurations also allows you to test out and better define what works and doesn’t by using Google Ads insights.

Familiarizing Yourself With Google Custom Intent Audiences Settings

The Google Ads custom intent audiences function allows you to customize your audiences to target internet users intending to buy. However, knowing which types of keywords and URLs are best to use in Google Ads custom intent audiences campaigns is important.

Here are some relevant custom intent audiences keyword and URL examples:

• Keywords such as “buy coffee beans,” “order groceries online,” and “hire a restaurant website designer.” Adding specific terms like “buy online,” “organic,” or “near me” may also help narrow down your audience.
• Competitor URLs relevant to your industry, region, and company, like www.coffeebros.com or www.topnotchdezigns.com, are another way to optimize Google custom intent audiences.
• Adding apps from your main competitors is also ideal.

How to Set Up Google Custom Intent Audiences

Setting up Google custom intent audiences for your Google Ad campaigns is easy. Just follow these steps and start advertising to internet users with the intent to buy your goods and services.

1. Navigate to Google Custom Intent Audiences

In your Google Ads account, click on “Tools & Settings,” then “Audiences.” Select the “Custom Audiences” tab and choose “custom intent” from the drop-down menu. You may also choose “custom affinity” here if you’d prefer to launch an affinity audience ad campaign.

2. Name Your Custom Intent Audience

On the Google Ads new custom intent audiences page, you may set the name of the new audience. You may create and save multiple audiences, which you may use across various ad campaigns going forward. As such, it’s a good idea to name each in order to differentiate them later on.

3. Choose Your Targeting Option

Once on the Google Ads new custom intent audiences page, you’ll be presented with a number of settings. One is labeled “Include people based on their:” and allows you to choose who you target. The Google Ads targeting options in the drop-down include “Google search terms” and “In-market keywords.”

For those advertisers looking to target potential buyers, “in-market keywords” is the best option. In-market keywords or segments target internet users that have been identified as displaying an intent to buy. perhaps by searching keywords or websites selling goods and services.

4. Enter Your Keywords & URLs

Now that you’ve set up your new Google custom intent audience, it’s time to fine-tune it. The URLs and keywords you researched prior will come in handy here. Be sure to compile a list of these prior to setting up Google custom intent audiences. You may also use the “Ideas” tab to get more suggestions if you just have one or two URLs and keywords on hand.

5. Save Your New Google Custom Intent Audiences Configuration

Once you’re done adding keywords and URLs and otherwise setting up your Google custom intent audiences, you may save it. To save your Google custom intent audiences, click “Create” at the bottom of the page. You may now use your new Google custom intent audiences configurations in your ad campaigns or come back and edit it later.

CONCLUSION:

Using unfamiliar advertising tools may be quite a challenge, especially if you’re not familiar with them. Google custom intent audiences builds on data Google Ads has gained from its platform. While the older “affinity audiences” is great at targeting like-minded individuals broadly, it isn’t the best at converting, mainly because the audiences it targets aren’t necessarily looking to buy.

Google custom intent audiences helps advertisers effectively narrow down their audience, cut ad spending, and increase conversions by targeting those ready to buy. If you’re unsure where to start with Google custom audiences campaigns, do consult a digital marketing company.

Originally posted in: https://www.topnotchdezigns.com/what-is-google-custom-intent-audiences-5-ways-to-use-it/

The Benefit of Being Local

When it comes to brand management, local businesses have some distinct advantages over their global counterparts. For example, local brands tend to have more opportunities to discover the needs of their target audience, all the more so when they deal with them in person. Local brand management also benefits significantly from word-of-mouth because satisfied customers tend to share their positive experiences with friends and family. Local businesses may also benefit by partnering with other local businesses, creating a win-win situation for all involved.  

How Local Brand Management Works

There is more to local brand management than running ads on social media and offerings product giveaways. Given the fast-paced world we live in where consumers have access to most of the information they need through the internet, it’s important that local businesses follow a multi-pronged approach.  For instance, even local businesses may benefit by looking at how digital branding can help boost growth.

Carry Out Market Research

A good local brand manager will start by identifying your target audience and understanding what it wants, and then move to devising a suitable marketing strategy. Missing this crucial step will, in all likelihood, result in a campaign that fails to deliver desired results.  The various aspects that require attention when carrying out market research include:

• Size of the local market you serve
• Number of competitors and their unique selling points (USPs)
• How far people are willing to travel to buy your products/services
• Ideal customer’s profile (age, income level, education level)

Carrying our competitive intelligence (CI) is also an important part of local brand management. This involves collecting and analyzing information that you gather about your competitors and other market factors with the aim of gaining a competitive edge. 

Find the Right Message

Connecting with local audiences requires that you remain consistent with your messaging. However, it’s crucial that you find the right message first. The message you convey should ideally touch upon aspects such as what your brand stands for, its USP, and the benefits you have to offer.  Depending on the message you wish to convey, its tonality may vary from humorous, to professional, to quirky. In addition, just about every message you put across should come with an effective call to action (CTA).

When arriving at the message you wish to convey, you should tailor it in a way that it appeals to your target audience. When it comes to spreading the message online, including your location in your messaging would help probable customers in your vicinity find your business with ease. 

Build Local Partnerships

Partnering with other local brands that complement your business or align with your objectives can help both in attracting new customers. One way to go about forming new partnerships is to join local community service groups or chambers of commerce. You may consider partnering with local groups that support different social causes and helping them in any way possible. While this would show that you’re giving back to society, it may also help portray your brand as one that people can trust.

The efforts and results of your partnerships do not have to limit to the brick-and-mortar world. For instance, if the business you partner with also has a website, both might benefit by driving backlinks to their respective websites. Once you increase engagement levels with other local businesses, you may expect your target audience to view your brand as one that is trustworthy as well as authoritative.

Connect With the Community

Businesses that cater to relatively small geographical locations – be it a small town or a suburb – should focus on building trust and long-term relationships. Bear in mind that public perception has a significant impact on local businesses, which is why you need to go that extra mile to show your customers you care about them. Successfully connecting with the community in which you operate requires that you listen closely to feedback, respond to messages in a timely manner, and resolve problems as quickly as possible. By providing excellent customer service, you may expect to earn your customers’ trust and loyalty. 

Use Social Media

Using social media can go a long way when it comes to local brand management. With a host of social media platforms from which to choose, local businesses get different ways to connect with their target audiences. These platforms increase the exposure that your brand gets in the online world, and they also help drive traffic to your website. In addition, local businesses may use social media to develop loyal fans.

Businesses may use social media to get insight into what their customers want. Given that this medium helps you connect with your audience in an engaging manner, you may go on to build lasting connections. 

Think Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) remains among the top online tools in increasing brand awareness and generating new leads. When people look for local businesses in their vicinity, it’s important that your business shows up in relevant online search results. Using the services of a good digital marketing agency that specializes in local SEO can help improve your brand’s visibility in online searches. When this happens, you may expect a steady flow of new leads. 

Among the first things you may expect your local brand manager to do is claim your Google My Business page, and verify your address and phone number. Paying attention to your website is equally important because it serves as the backbone of your online presence. To increase its visibility in online searches, it should:

• Have a mobile-friendly design
• Have fast loading speed
• Use on-page and off-page optimization
• Use localized keywords
• Include internal and high-authority external links

Offer Localized Content and Promotions

Offering localized content and promotions gives your business the ability to connect with its target audience in an easy manner. When you provide localized content, you essentially offer information about your business and its products/services that people may find when they carry out area-specific searches using Google and other popular search engines. Time-based promotions make for a tried-and-tested method when it comes to achieving quick short-term gains. One easy way to spread the word in the online world is by using Google Posts. These give you means to engage with your customers and they also let you provide details about your business and its promotional offers.

Build Online Reputation

Brand reputation management is just as important for small businesses as it is for large businesses, all the more so in the online world. According to local SEO statistics collated by HubSpot, people looking for local information account for 46% of all Google searches. 97% of people learn about local businesses online than anywhere else. In addition, 78% of location-based mobile searches lead to offline purchases. These numbers highlight the importance of managing your brand’s reputation well.

Data released by Trustpilot highlights the importance of reviews in building online trust. It suggests that nine out of ten people read online reviews before making purchase decisions. It also points out that more than 60% of consumers will not buy from businesses that censor their reviews. As a result, if your business has a poor rating or only a handful of reviews, it is possible that your audience will look elsewhere.

Ways to manage your brand’s online reputation include, but do not limit to:

• Encourage customers to post online reviews
• Monitor online reviews
• Provide answers promptly
• Address negativity quickly and effectively
• Own up to mistakes and take remedial measures
• Monitor search engine results
• Develop a crisis management strategy
• Use paid and earned media

How Local Brand Management Can Help Boost Your Business

If you look at any of the top local branding examples, you’ll notice that they come with multiple benefits. Besides, just how effectively you manage your branding may have a significant impact on how your business performs in the long run. Here are the main benefits of getting your brand management right.

Build Authority and Visibility in Local Markets

A good branding agency understands the importance of building authority and visibility in local markets. If your business shows up on the first page of online search results, it goes to show that your brand fares betters than most of its competitors. The more the number of relevant keywords your business ranks well for, the higher the visibility you may expect. In addition, when your business consistently shows up in top online search result positions, it also helps build authority.

Increase Brand Recognition

A strong brand helps increase recall value, and this helps promote brand recognition. This essentially means that when consumers are looking for products/services related to ones your business offers, they find it easy to recognize your brand. When this happens, you may expect your target audience to favor your brand over its unrecognized competitors even if they know little about your business.

Show That You’re Aware and You Care

A significant aspect of a local brand manager’s job profile is to ensure quick responses to online customer reviews and comments on social media platforms. When people look for businesses online, one aspect that draws particular attention is the reviews and comments written by customers. However, while consumers wish to look at what the customers of any business have to say about it, they also pay due attention to how businesses respond. 

How you reply to your customers’ reviews and comments, especially the negative ones, plays a crucial role in how the online audience perceives your business. When you take time to reply to all your customers and handle negativity with tact, it shows that you listen to and care about your customers.  If you, on the other hand, don’t reply to your customers or are frivolous when dealing with unhappy customers, you may expect people to view your business as disinterested or digitally unaware.

Make Feedback-Based Improvements

Another way in which your business might benefit by turning to local brand management is by making changes based on your existing customers’ feedback and suggestions. For instance, if you run a coffee shop and frequently find customers asking if you might add more variations or a more elaborate snack menu, that might be the way to go. Remember that listening to customer feedback and implementing suitable changes can not only help in retaining existing customers but attracting new ones as well.

Small businesses may look at what their customers have to say in their online reviews and comments and take a cure or more from there. This becomes a little challenging for mid-sized and large businesses that deal with multiple locations because identifying specific trends can be a problem.

CONCLUSION

Local businesses stand to benefit greatly if they employ the right tactics in managing their brands. No matter which industry you belong to, you need to start the process by carrying out market research, as this step gives you an indication of what might work well for you. Making sure you get your message across to your target audience in the right manner will help your cause. This is also the case if you build partnerships with like-minded or complementary businesses in your vicinity.

Since a large part of getting local brand management right relates to the online world, it’s important that you devote adequate time and resources toward this medium. Be it creating a user-friendly website or using different social media platforms, being able to connect and engage with your audience over the internet is crucial. If you’re unsure about what the process entails or how to move forward, partnering with a good digital agency might be in your best interest.

Originally posted in: https://www.topnotchdezigns.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-local-brand-management/

Given the ever-evolving online marketplace, there is no single best digital strategy to generate more leads. Often, businesses are found devoting adequate resources toward search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. 

How SEO and PPC Work

SEO refers to a process that involves optimizing on-page and off-page elements with the aim of ranking higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This is because websites that appear on the first pages of online search results account for a significant chunk of traffic generated when users conduct online searches using relevant keywords. 

PPC involves turning to the paid advertisements you get to see above and below organic search results on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Google Ads, for instance, is Google’s PPC advertising solution. With these ads, you pay per click, which essentially means you pay only when a user clicks on your ad, and not each time it’s displayed.

Organic SEO Vs. PPC for Lead Generation

SEO involves refining web pages until they rank highly in SERPs. Good digital marketing agencies rely on different approaches so users get to view your website among the top results when they carry out online searches using relevant queries or questions.  One of the reasons that SEO remains a great tool for lead generation is that people turn to search engines such as Google and Bing to consume information and make purchase decisions.

One simple way to boost SEO lead generation is to provide content that your target audience finds relevant and beneficial. Long-form blog posts that extend to 2,000 words or more may work well when it comes to attracting leads. Embedding an offer in your blog posts, providing a free industry-specific tutorial/guide, or using exit pop-ups with offers may do the trick when it comes to building your email list.

Moving to PPC, a distinct benefit is that you get to tailor-make your online ad campaign based you’re your specific target audience, no matter how large or small it might be.  Besides, by using available tracking methods and making use of good customer relationship management (CRM) software, marketers get the ability to generate much-required connections between ad campaigns and eventual purchases.

Creating unique landing pages for each ad is a well-established best practice shared by all top digital marketing companies. What’s important is that you create persuasive ads by making compelling offers and targeting keywords that accompany intent to purchase. Testing and analyzing follows to maximize a campaign’s lead generation potential.

The Potential to Drive Traffic

If you look at the organic ads vs. paid ads comparison from the point of view of driving traffic to your website, the winner depends on how well your website currently ranks in online searches. For example, if your website ranks highly across desired keywords, you may expect more organic leads than the leads your PPC campaign generates. So, if your website features in the top five results for a given keyword, you don’t need to include it in your PPC campaign because you already have a steady flow of organic traffic. 

According to data released by BrightEdge surrounding the share of web traffic by channels, organic search accounted for 53% of all website traffic in 2019, up from 51% in 2014. PPC visits, on the other hand, accounted for 15% of all website traffic. This goes to show that SEO brings with it more potential to drive traffic when compared to PPC, especially when websites attain first page positions in online searches.

The Cost Factor

PPC gives you an effective way to get short-term results, and you may expect to receive qualified leads from the first day. However, this comes at a cost. SEO, on the other hand, can bring traffic to your website for a fraction of the cost, or even for free if you carry it out on your own.  Besides, even if you use the services of an advertising agency that specializes in SEO, it may still be more cost-effective than other mediums.

Understanding how much Google Ads cost gives you an indication of how the PPC pricing system works with other platforms such as Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, and  Instagram, because they all rely on the PPC model.

While PPC can be expensive, that’s not necessarily the case, especially if you run a local business that targets a small geographical area and focuses on no more than a few keywords. However, the costs can be rather high if you plan to target larger areas or run international campaigns. In addition, PPC requires a steady inflow of cash. 

Another cost-related drawback with PPC is the possibility of getting into bidding wars with your competitors. This requires regular monitoring of bids, positions, click-through rates, and quality scores.

Ease of Use

If you do not have the required know-how, it is best that you let experts handle both aspects. SEO requires formulating and implementing different long-term strategies, and it can take months or even years for a website to make it to the first page of online search result pages.  With PPC, understanding how to create and run ad campaigns is crucial for positive outcomes. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO Compared to PPC

When your website ranks highly for different keywords, it results in more people being able to find your website when they carry out online searches. With the passing of time, your target audience becomes more aware of your brand and what it has to offer. However, SEO requires looking at generating leads over the long term.

Benefits of SEO include:

• Promotes online visibility
• High potential to boost web traffic
• Helps build credibility and trust
• Results in low-cost traffic
• Comes with a high return on investment (ROI)
• More sustainable than PPC
• Improves click-through-rates (CTRs)

Probable disadvantages of SEO include:

• Takes longer to achieve desired results
• SEO remains an ongoing process
• Requires good quality content that users find beneficial
• Can be time-consuming if you plan to go at it on your own
• Analytics can be vague
• Not the best for time-sensitive content

Pros and Cons of PPC

It’s not without reason that some of the biggest names across industries as well as local businesses turn to PPC to get traffic to their websites. However, much like SEO, PPC also comes with its share of possible advantages and disadvantages.

The pros of PPC include:

• Provides near-immediate results
• Ads are placed on top of organic search results
• Allows more granular targeting of customers than SEO
• No requirements for visual ads
• Increased brand visibility
• Ability to tweak budgets
• Easy to set up
• Ability to test ideas/concepts quickly
• Access to metrics such as keyword popularity and conversion rates
• Ads stay in place until you keep your PPC campaign running

The possible downsides of PPC include:

• Can be cost-prohibitive for small businesses
• Requires ongoing investment
• Bidding wars may spiral out of control
• Easy to replicate by other marketers

What is Better: SEO or PPC?

Whether you might benefit more from SEO lead generation or PPC leads depends on multiple factors. You may consider relying on SEO if:

• You need consistent results. SEO works best when you look at the long-term picture. You cannot expect to rank high for a competitive keyword in a day or a week because making it to the top of search results takes time as well as effort. What helps is that once you start ranking high for your chosen keyword/s, you may expect a steady flow of organic traffic. However, you need to ensure staying on top of your SEO campaign to ensure its longevity.
• You wish to create an authority website. If you want to create an authority website that serves as a resource center for any given niche, you need to consider working with a professional SEO company. This is because people should be able to find your website through the results of their online searches. Implementing different SEO strategies to create high-quality SEO-based content that your visitors find beneficial helps sustain the traffic your website receives over a period of time.
• You want to improve the value of your website. When it comes to improving the value of your website, SEO serves best. This is because it focuses on different aspects such as volume of traffic, keyword ranking, page ranking, quality of backlinks, and domain authority.

Using PPC might work well for your website if:

• You want quick results. The results that PPC advertising delivers can be rather quick. For instance, you may expect PPC leads within a few minutes of getting your campaign underway. This is because ads are displayed on search result pages almost as soon as they’re approved. PPC ads may work well when it comes to launching new products/services, running seasonal campaigns, and promoting affiliate products with high conversion rates.
• You want highly qualified leads. The SEO vs. PPC comparison tilts in favor of the latter when it comes to the quality of traffic. This is because PPC gives you the ability to display your ads to as wide or narrow a target audience as you like based on various parameters such as age, income groups, gender, hobbies, and location. As a result, PPC leads generally tend to bring with them higher conversion rates than what you may expect through SEO lead generation.
• You wish to run a time-sensitive campaign. If you plan to run a promotional offer for a limited time period, PPC scores over SEO. This is because the latter tends to take time to deliver results. PPC, on the other hand, can start producing favorable results from the first day.
• Your website is not optimized yet. If your website is not optimized for search engines yet, you may think about using PPC until your SEO efforts start bearing fruit. This way, you don’t have to wait for the benefits of SEO to kick in to start boosting your brand’s online presence.  Once your website starts getting the desired organic traffic, you may reconsider your PPC strategy.

Integrating PPC With SEO

Organic and paid search work together and deliver desired results provided a good integration strategy is formulated in advance. This is because marketers can leverage both methods to meet short-term and long-term goals.  Advantages of using organic and paid search together include:

• Get short-term and long-term benefits through PPC leads and SEO lead generation
• Using refined keyword data from PPC campaigns to improve SEO campaigns
• Landing page optimization and A/B testing from PPC can help improve performance in organic searches
• Use PPC ads to retarget traffic from organic searches for maximizing conversion
• Test keywords through PPC platforms and use high ranking ones in your SEO efforts
• Use PPC and SEO to target prospective customers from different stages of the sales funnel

CONCLUSION

There is no clear winner in the organic SEO vs. PPC comparison because both come with their unique advantages and possible shortcomings. For instance, while SEO works well if you’re looking at long-term gains, PPC gives you the ability to boost your online presence quickly.  Besides, PPC traffic sources, be it Google, Facebook, or Twitter, are ideal if you wish to target highly specific audiences.  

In many cases, organic and paid search work together to boost a brand’s online presence.  This can be done by using PPC for time-bound promotions and SEO for increasing organic traffic. If you’re unsure about how to approach the process, seeking advice from a reputable internet marketing agency might be in your best interest.

Originally posted in: https://www.topnotchdezigns.com/organic-seo-vs-ppc-a-comparison-that-looks-beyond-lead-generation/