The Changing Face of Digital Marketing: What small businesses need to know for 2018

Digital marketing never stays static, and 2018 is going to be no exception.

As a small business owner, or the person responsible for marketing in a small organisation, what do you need to know at the start of this year to stay ahead of your competition?

We asked Tim Butler, founder of Innovation Visual, to reveal the key digital marketing trends that every business owner will need to get to grips with in 2018.

1. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a significant force in marketing now and in 2018 people will realise that it is impacting their marketing in many different ways. AI works by learning and responding and this power is being used in a number of areas of marketing and customer service.

Machine learning – the ability for AI to learn and improve itself without explicitly being programmed has seen the functional scope of what is possible expand rapidly in recent years.

Marketing is at the forefront of AI use. Google’s AdWords and Facebook both use AI to refine who is shown what adverts. AI goes even further beyond this in marketing.

• 2. Voice Search & Digital Assistants

The most commonplace use of AI is in the digital assistants like Amazon Echo’s Alexa, Google Home’s Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri. The rise of voice search is something you need to be aware of due to the pace at which it is growing. There are an estimated 50 billion searches per month now activated by voice.

The searches are on both Voice First devices (those that do not have a screen, meaning all interaction is through audio, like Amazon Echo and Google Home), mobile phones and increasingly desktop devices that have voice search capabilities.

For small business owners in 2018 the huge rise in voice search will impact consumer businesses more than B2B. However, both should be implementing plans to benefit from, rather than be left behind by this technology. The main impact areas from voice search are:

No screen for search results

Only the first result is read out by devices so being number 2 in the results now has little benefit. The fight to be the number 1 search result is going to become increasingly intense for marketeers going forward.

Longer and question based search queries

Voice searches tend to be longer and more sentence based than typed search queries. The impact here is that you need to start optimizing your content for themes, not rigid sets of keywords.

Retained context & personalization

The AI is retaining the context of what has been said before, which means that the results provided are dependent on this and increasingly granular personalisation.

Local & mobile bias

A large majority of voice searches are being done on mobile devices. Google has said that 20% of its mobile device / app based searches are now done by voice. Searches like ‘find a coffee shop near me’ take into account the user’s geo-location data to provide results.

Dis-intermediation 

Voice search is facilitating greater disintermediation. If you ask Amazon’s Alexa to order you a large peperoni pizza one will arrive from Domino’s. You do not get the choice. Being the chosen supplier or being number one in results gives massive market power when voice search is going direct to transaction.

3. Chatbots

Helpful chat boxes in the corners of websites have become increasingly popular.

Often when discussing their use with clients over the past few years the issue has been manning these chat systems, so that web visitors have someone ready to interact with, especially in smaller businesses and outside of normal hours. This problem is ceasing to be a problem through the application of AI.

Chat systems powered by AI can understand the conversational tone and like search algorithm changes, hold previous data to form context. Good bots can provide personalised responses to people’s questions.

For the customer, this can mean that rather than scrolling through lots of different options of products they can use the chatbot technology and ask it questions and eventually get a customized product recommendation that fits their exact need.

It sounds great and it is when it works, but for anyone who has used a poor one the level of frustration can become overwhelming!

2018 is going to see much better chatbots as the technology becomes more mainstream and mistakes that have come before are learned from and improvements are made.

The other big difference is the way that bots can integrate with existing messaging Apps such as WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger by inviting the Bot to join a conversation. This will make bots much more prevalent in 2018 and just like voice search make their use by people habitual not exceptional.

4. Smarketing

No, it is not a typo. Smarketing is a term being championed in a number of places, especially by HubSpot. This is going to be getting more traction in B2B marketing in 2018 as an approach to deliver better customer acquisition and sales results.

The Smarketing theory is that businesses need to stop thinking about Sales and Marketing as two separate functions. This can be easier said than done, especially with established hierarchies and managers protecting self-interest, but it makes sense.

To a potential customer they view a potential supplier in singular terms. To them the experience they have with that business should be consistently good throughout their buying journey. So, they should not experience a dramatic change in tone, approach, content or even offering when they move from browsing a website to being contacted by a sales person.

There is a benefit for businesses acquiring new customers by taking an Smarketing approach. If you have a joined up Smarketing team you do not face the issues of marketing pushing the wrong types of leads, or the wrong level of seniority, or too many / too few leads into the sales function.

A seamless Smarketing team leads to better customer experience, which is likely to improve close rates and reduces internal business inefficiencies reducing cost and improving output.

Why then would you not have a Smarketing team in 2018? It will come down to the matter of it requiring a substantial change in the mind-set of the organization.

Is your business ready to change in 2018? If it is you could gain a competitive advantage. If not you could get left behind as your competitors take your business.

5. Rise & rise of inbound marketing

Inbound marketing has been around for some time. Since John Deere started the Furrow Magazine in 1895 if you include the offline approach. However, digital inbound marketing continues to gain ground and in 2018 it is set to become as mainstream as having a mobile friendly website for B2B companies.

Inbound also feeds into the trends from search engines to look for content and optimizing for themes. Building great content is great for your visitors, the search engines know this, but inbound marketing and content marketing places the emphasis much more on getting this content to achieve the business goals.

If you follow inbound marketing techniques you create your content in a much more structured way.

Content is focused on specific audience groups, personas, and their needs. Their need for information changes through their buying journey and good inbound marketing addresses not only the differing content needs at different stages, but crucially also moves the prospect along the buying journey.

Does your business have documented target personas? Does it understand their buying journey? Does your marketing team have a content strategy? If you are not answering yes to all of these questions then make 2018 the year that you start benefiting from inbound marketing.

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About the author

This guide has been written exclusively for ByteStart by Tim Butler, founder of Innovation Visual, a digital marketing consultancy specialising in developing your online presence and digital communications. Using the latest techniques in SEO, PPC and online content creation, Innovation Visual works to increase conversion rates, basket values, and return frequency. Tim is a regular contributor to ByteStart, and you can find more of his insight in;

Social Media Advertising Opens the Doors to New Customers

It’s fairly safe to say that social media has changed our lives. Networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have opened up new ways to communicate and share our passions and daily lives. As a result, they have attracted hundreds of millions of active users. The online advertising research company eMarketer estimated that 593.7 million people worldwide used Instagram at least once a month in 2017.

All of these networks have benefited from the fact that consumers eagerly share their interests across these networks, generating a substantial amount of data about these consumers that advertisers can use to deliver targeted ad messages. This has led to the massive popularity of social advertising as a way to reach very targeted audiences – the same eMarketer report estimates Instagram sold $4.10 billion in advertising in 2017.

Many businesses are aware that social media gives them an opportunity to interact with their customers by sharing content, news and special discounts to those who “follow” the company’s pages. But many do not know that they can amplify their voice across these networks through the use of paid advertising, which can put them in front of both their existing customers and new prospects.

Facebook allows advertisers to set their goals, determine the audience targets that they want to reach, set budgets and then run campaigns across the network (here is an overview of the basics). Advertisers can get very creative with their targeting. They can pursue consumers who recently visited their site or looked at items at online retailers. They can target completely new audiences who have the same characteristics of customers (in other words, those who are “likely” to be customers). Many of the same parameters and strategies can be applied to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

 The best part is that these opportunities are available to advertisers of all sizes and advertisers don’t have to approach social advertising as a do-it-yourself endeavor. Ad agencies, local media companies and other ad services providers, including Sound Publishing, can help advertisers take advantage of social advertising to grow their business. In fact, here at Sound all we need is your desired audience and what you’d like your campaign to do (such as promote the launch of a new store or bring new visitors to your website), and we will handle the rest, including creative, campaign set up, and reporting.

• SOUND PUBLISHING
• Mon Jan 22nd, 2018 12:48pm

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8 tips for getting social media ads right

Are your social media ads missing the mark? Contributor Peter Minnium outlines eight tips and tricks to help you connect with your audience and build a community of loyal followers.

A friend recently complained to me that the targeted ads that persistently stud her social media feeds are not only disruptive but also frequently irrelevant. She uses social media primarily to keep track of friends and to follow artists and crafters that could offer her inspiration or technical knowledge.

As she vented her frustration, I wondered why the ads she saw were still so consistently missing the mark despite the great leaps in ad targeting technology. Surely there must be a better way for brands to reach audiences through social media.

Surprisingly, though almost two-thirds of social media users are irritated by the number of promotions that clutter their feeds, and 26 percent actively ignore marketing content, a whopping 62 percent follow at least one brand on social media.

According to the GlobalWebIndex, 42 percent of social media users are there to “stay in touch” with their friends, while over a third are also interested in following current events, finding entertaining content or killing time. Though 27 percent of users find or research products on social media, most usage is skewed toward building relationships. As such, it’s clear why many social media users are annoyed by ads they find intrusive, irrelevant or boring.

While this data helps us understand why users may find ads abrasive, it also gives us a glimpse into why they are so open to following brands on social media. Today’s hypercompetitive ethos is not limited to brands or ads. Consumers want to know about the latest trends in fashion and technology, and they want to know first. By following brands, users can keep tabs on the latest and greatest.

Following also allows consumers to interact with brands more directly and to voice their dissatisfaction when brands misstep. A full 46 percent of users have “called out” brands on social media, and four out of five believe that this has had a positive impact on brand accountability. The good news for brands is that when they respond well, 45 percent of users will post about the interaction, and over a third will share the experience with their friends.

Brands should note that 60 percent of callouts are in response to perceived dishonesty, which should lend some context to the fact that 30 percent will unfollow a brand that uses slang or jargon inconsistent with the brand’s image. This can be a costly mistake, as 76 percent of users aged 13 to 25 stopped buying from brands after unfollowing.

The news may seem bleak, but the truth is that these facts draw a clear path for brands that want to tap into the unprecedented consumer access offered by the social media revolution. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

1. Be authentic

Above all, brands need to strive for authenticity. Consumers have shown that they are not only open to branded social media content, they welcome it, provided the content is useful and relevant rather than disruptive to their experience.

From social media usage statistics, we see that users are most interested in staying connected and entertained. Brands that share news of upcoming trends or offer content that stands on its own merit can add value to users’ social media experience while reaching out to a more receptive audience.

2. Be useful

Understanding how individuals utilize their social media presence can help brands leverage their marketing dollars. Users may not want to see a soft-drink ad while scrolling through pictures of a friend’s trip, but an airline ad might hit home.

Instructional videos can be a particularly effective way of reaching an audience in a useful manner. Like many others, my friend would be far more welcoming of how-to videos from a yarn supplier than of the seemingly arbitrary clothing ads that pepper her crafting-heavy social media feeds.

3. Be contextual

As always, context is key. Not all social media interactions are alike. Users may look to one branch of their network for entertainment or news and to another for technical knowledge or inspiration.

While the current targeting approach estimates user proclivities based on the activity and interests of their network as a whole, determining how users relate to specific nodes in the network will enable brands to reach out to users when and where they will be most receptive to the marketing content in question.

4. Be credible

Differentiation is also critical in establishing credibility. An American Press Institute study showed that users place greater weight on who shares content than on where it came from originally. Social media users, especially those in the 13-to-24 age bracket, will actively share and discuss content they find engaging.

Brands can make use of this phenomenon to proliferate their content, but only if those who share it are perceived to be trustworthy by members of their network. How connections respond to a user’s posts or shares can be more important than how much the user shares.

5. Be accessible

Brands need to build an audience of active and reliable followers who will help spread branded content to loyal followers of their own. Beyond publishing content that is engaging and true to their image, brands can accomplish this by making themselves more accessible to consumers.

Instant messaging can be a powerful tool for answering consumer questions, responding to complaints and building more intimate relationships with followers. By responding in a more immediate and personal way to users, brands can empower users to take the initiative in building a stronger relationship with them.

6. Be persistent

The most important factor that determines a brand’s success in the world of social media is perseverance. In part, this means being responsive to user feedback and actively working to improve their social media presence.

At the same time, brands need to stick to their guns. A majority (some 60 percent) of users need to interact with content between two and four times before taking action, according to a Sprout Social survey. A steady production of quality content will keep users tuned in, translating user engagement with content into tangible results.

7. Be testy

Brands too often fail to invest in testing to understand the effectiveness of their social media advertising. It’s easy to make excuses for not doing so: “the per ad investment is too small,” “I get metrics from the platform,” or “we don’t have time” are the most frequently heard.

This is a mistake. Without independent validation that the ads achieve their objectives (both attitudinal and behavioral), a brand can’t be sure it’s made it through the gauntlet of challenges outlined above.

8. Use your listening skills

Brands that listen actively to social media users and respond earnestly to their needs and interests stand to gain a foothold in the new marketing frontier. Over 75 percent of users in the Sprout survey report purchasing a product after interacting with marketing content on a social media platform. Furthermore, just as many users discovered a new brand through social media as in-store or via a conventional ad.

While many brands are struggling to reach consumers on social media (and not for lack of trying), they can overcome the resistance they are experiencing by opening their ears — before their pocketbooks.

Article by:Peter Minnium 

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7 Secrets to Successful Facebook Ads

Cannot stress the importance of getting up to scratch with social media ads if your a new business or entrepreneur. Check out the vid its good starting point :) Are you using social media to contact your customers?