September 2019 - Stevens & Tate Marketing

The Benefits of Mobile Marketing Automation

September 26, 2019/in Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Nicole Wagner

According to the Pew Research Center, around 81 percent of adults in the U.S. have a smartphone. First off, if your online presence isn’t optimized for mobile use at this point, this is something you need to update immediately. Secondly, consumers who have smartphones are easier to reach because people tend to have their smartphones on them at all times. There are many ways you can reach them, including through text, the web, email, and in-app messaging. As a result, you need to implement a mobile marketing strategy. However, mobile marketing can take up a lot of resources, which is why you’ll want to consider mobile marketing automation. The following are six mobile marketing automation benefits you should know about:

1. Improve Accountability

Marketing automation allows you to see the overall effectiveness of your marketing and sales departments by providing birds-eye view reporting of your pipeline. This makes it easy to pinpoint issues, and to determine what is causing them. Not only does this mean that it’s easier to hold your marketing and sales personnel accountable, but it allows you to address bottlenecks in your pipeline.

2. Reduce Staffing Costs

You can automate many of your mobile marketing campaigns based on certain triggers, such as actions taken by your leads. One of the advantages of being able to do this (besides saving a significant amount of time) is that a single employee can handle tasks that would normally take dozens of employees to complete. Since you won’t have to hire more employees to handle time-consuming tasks, you’ll save a lot of money on staffing.

3. Increase Revenue

You can set up specific messaging based on actions that your leads or customers take. If a client purchases a specific software solution, you can use automation to automatically send recommendations for additional, services that are related to their purchase. This can help to increase up-sells and cross-sells. Not only can this increase short-term revenue, but effective follow-ups help increase the lifetime value of your B2B customers.

4. Improve Effectiveness

Mobile marketing automation will help improve the effectiveness of your mobile marketing efforts in numerous ways. It can help you reach leads at the right time, and help personalize interactions to improve your chances of converting.

5. Reduce Repetitiveness

Without automation, your staff would spend a lot of their time on mundane tasks. When tasks are mundane and repetitive, your staff will be more likely to make errors. Automation prevents these errors from occurring. Additionally, repetitive tasks can be incredibly boring and are not creatively fulfilling. Allowing your staff to focus their time on more important aspects of marketing will make them more productive. This is true especially when their tasks actually require them to take full use of their creative abilities.
These are five reasons you should consider implementing mobile marketing automation. Because of how prevalent mobile use is these days, mobile marketing is a must. The best way to engage with your audience effectively is through the use of mobile marketing automation.

Inbound marketing will help you grow your business by attracting website visitors, converting them into leads and closing leads into customers

5 SEO Concepts for an Improved ROI

September 24, 2019/in Articles, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

Most businesses have at least a basic grasp of SEO (search engine optimization). However, the more you dive into SEO, the more complex it can get. It’s not just about using keywords throughout your content in order to boost your rankings on search engines, after all. The following are five SEO concepts that you should know as well that could potentially help to improve your SEO strategy’s ROI (return on investment):

1. Off-Page Vs. On-Page SEO

SEO can be classified into two categories: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to techniques used to optimize your SEO directly on your website, such as keywords, meta descriptions, alt text, title tags, internal linking, URL structure, and page performance (such as how fast your pages load). Off-page SEO refers to SEO optimization that takes place outside of your site, such as earning quality backlinks, writing guest blogs, building a strong social media presence, interacting with consumers on other forums and blogs, and more. Both are important to generating signals that Google and other search engines take into account when ranking pages.

2. Mobile Indexing

Almost half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices these days (not counting tablets). If you want to keep your mobile audience, your site needs to be mobile-friendly. However, that’s not the only reason to have a mobile-friendly site. Although Google used to rank your site separately for mobile SEO, this will no longer be the case. All of your ranking signals will now come from the mobile version of your site instead of the desktop version. As such, if your site isn’t responsive or mobile-friendly, it could hurt your rankings even for the desktop version of your site.

3. Semantic Search

Google has continually worked to provide better query results by improving their ability to understand the context of user queries and the relationship between words. Semantic search allows Google as well as other search engines to understand natural language queries better. This means that Google will be more likely to understand what a piece of content is about if it’s in-depth and will be able to present it to more user queries as a result, whereas writing shorter content based around specific keywords will provide search engines with less context to work with.

Similar Article: Local SEO Marketing In 2019: 5 Easy Tips To Dominate Local Search

4. Page Segmentation

Search engines don’t just scan content for keywords, they also scan for the location of your content. This means that content that’s located in the main body text probably has more value in terms of SEO than any text placed in alternative positions, such as in the sidebars. Page segmentation is even more important now considering how mobile devices often hide parts of the page.

5. Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are short, fact-based answers that are presented at the top of Google’s SERP (search engine results page) when the user searches for a simple query. For example, if you perform a search query for the meaning of a word, a snippet from dictionary.com will be presented at the top of the page. The goal is to improve the user experience by providing answers to queries that don’t require the user to click on a link. If you provide a lot of content addressing common questions that are relevant to your business, this content could be potentially featured as a snippet.

These are five important SEO concepts that you should know. By understanding these five SEO concepts, you can greatly improve your SEO strategy, which, in turn, should help you to improve your ROI.

Integrating Social Media & SEO Efforts For Enhanced Search Engine Results

The Importance of Google Ads Quality Score

September 16, 2019/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

When running a PPC (pay per click) campaign, you’ll want to make sure your ad’s content is of high quality. You’re investing in these ads, after all. The last thing you want is to pay for clicks if those clicks aren’t converting because of poor ad copy, poor landing pages, or poor use of keywords. It’s one of the reasons why you should pay attention to the Google Ads quality score. However, Google Ads quality score doesn’t just give you an idea of the quality of your ad, it can also affect the performance of your ad, which is why you’ll want to track your quality score and improve it if possible.

What is Google Ads Quality Score?

The Google Ads quality score is a rating that’s given to PPC ads based on a number of different factors. These factors include how relevant your keywords are to their ad group, how relevant your landing pages are to the ads they’re linked from, the quality of those landing pages, the relevance of your ad’s copy, your click-through-rate, and the historical performance of your AdWords account. Google doesn’t divulge how much weight each factor holds in the calculation of its quality score; however, the click-through-rate is the most important factor. This is because a high click-through-rate indicates that your ad must be relevant to users.

Why You Should Improve Your Google Ads Quality Score

Besides rating the quality of your PPC ads (and therefore giving you an idea of whether you need to improve your ads or not), the quality score of your ads will actually play an important part in how they perform. Higher quality scores directly correlate with lower your cost per conversion and your cost per click. This is because not only does a high-quality ad perform better in general, but Google rewards ads with high quality scores with lower costs and higher ad rankings.

Similar Article: How Your Web Page Speed Effects Your SEO and Adwords Performance

3 Ways To Improve Your Quality Score

The following are three ways that you can improve your Google Ads quality score:

Do your keyword research – You not only need to make sure that the keywords you choose are relevant to your ads, but that they are competitive as well. Look for long-tail keywords in particular and make sure that you divide your keywords into organized groups that can be more successfully tied to your individual ad campaigns. In addition to looking for high-quality keywords, you should also keep a list of negative keywords to avoid.
Test your ad copy – In addition to writing quality copy that’s free of errors, you should test out copy that’s more targeted to individual ad groups. The more effective your ad copy is, the more click-throughs you’ll obtain, which contributes to a higher quality score.
Optimize your landing pages – Landing pages should connect directly with your ad groups, meaning that they need to be relevant to the copy of your ads. Generic landing pages can confuse visitors and hurt your conversion rate. Not only should the offer remain exactly the same as it was on the ad copy, but you should be using the same keywords as well.

PPC campaigns can be a very effective part of your online marketing strategy; however, their success depends on their quality, which is why you should pay attention to your Google Ads quality score and make every effort to improve it. Improving your Google Ads quality score not only improves the general quality of your ads, it will put you in a better position to succeed as a result of being rewarded with higher ad rankings.

Understanding the Difference Between Earned Media vs. Paid Media And Embracing The PESO Model

September 12, 2019/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy, Media /by Nicole Wagner

When it comes to digital marketing, there are four main types of media. The first, owned media, is relatively obvious. Owned media refers to the media that you own, such as your website, your blog, or your social media pages. Then there’s paid media, which often comes to mind first. However, you could argue that earned media is just as important. The following is a breakdown of earned media vs paid media as well as the importance of following the PESO model, which implements all forms of media for a more balanced digital marketing strategy.

Earned Media vs Paid Media

Paid media consists of the marketing elements that you pay for. Traditionally, paid media consisted of things like TV commercials and magazine ads. However, these days, they also include PPC (per-per-click) ads, social media ads, and display ads. To get the most out of your paid media, you have to plan your marketing strategy carefully and make sure that you’re targeting the right audience. However, paid media can be quite effective at helping to increase brand exposure and web traffic.

Earned media is essentially a form of marketing that you do not pay for and do not own. Customers and brand advocates generate earned media. In a way, it’s like a digital form of “word-of-mouth.” Earned media can include having reviews written by customers as well as professional product review sites or having news stories published about your company. Any kind of publicity that you didn’t pay for is earned media. Earned media is an excellent way to increase brand recognition even though you don’t have direct control over it; however, earned media is also free.

What Is The PESO Model?

Earned media and paid media are not the only types of media you should be concerned with. Owned media, which includes marketing elements that you have direct ownership and full control over (such as your website and your business blog) as well as shared media, which is the media you earn through social media engagement (shares, likes, and comments), both play an important part in helping to grow your brand. The mistake many businesses make is to focus more on one type of media than the other.

Similar Article: Using The Right Media Mix During Each Stage Of The Buyer’s Journeys

Gini Dietrich stressed the importance of integrating all four forms of media with her PESO (paid, earned, shared, owned) model. By implementing the PESO model, you integrate all four forms of media to strengthen your ability to attract leads and convert customers. For example, the use of paid media and shared media can help draw the attention of prospects. Earned media helps to establish the credibility of your brand so that those prospects trust you. Owned media, such as eBooks or whitepapers, help showcase the value of your brand.

While knowing the difference between earned media vs. paid media is important, it’s also important that you don’t value paid media over earned media or vice versa. They, along with shared media and owned media, play an important part in helping to grow your brand. Finding the right balance can take some time, but as long as you keep the PESO model in mind as you create your marketing strategy, you’ll end up having a more balanced and effective marketing campaign.

The Difference Between Landing page vs. Homepage

September 10, 2019/in Articles, Directors, Website Design /by Nicole Wagner

Once upon a time, when the web was still in its infancy, the homepage was considered the most important page on your website. While the homepage is an essential component of your website, it shouldn’t necessarily be the first page that visitors see. The webpage functions more as a way to draw visitors into the marketing funnel than anything else. Unfortunately, many businesses focus heavily on sending new leads to their homepage, which can actually be a mistake. Doing so can confuse new visitors because they won’t know where to go from there. Instead, you should be sending new visitors to a landing page. The following is a breakdown of the main differences between landing page vs. homepage.

What Is The Function Of A Homepage?

The homepage is the page that should occupy your root domain. For example, if someone types in www.yourwebsitename.com, it should take them to your homepage. When you add a link to your main social media profiles, you want it to direct users to your homepage. This is because the main function of your homepage is to provide an overview of your company. Visitors should get an idea of who your business is and what services you provide. It should also act as the main hub of your website from which visitors can explore at their own pace — meaning, you should have links to all other important pages on your homepage. Last, but not least, your homepage should inform visitors as to how they can get in touch with you.

What Is The Function Of A Landing Page?

Landing pages are pages that are specifically designed to receive traffic from specific sources. For example, if you run a PPC ad, users who click on that ad should be taken to a landing page. That landing page should be specifically designed for that particular ad. For example, if the ad is for a special discount on a specific product, your landing page should reflect that. If you send the user who clicked on that ad to your homepage instead, they would simply be confused. You’re basically forcing them to go on a search for the ad’s offer without any clear directions as to where to go.

Landing pages are created to stay focused on a single topic or offer and encourage visitors to take specific actions, such as filling out a form or downloading an offer, to name a couple of examples. A landing page shouldn’t have links to other pages unless they’re relevant to the action you want them to take. Adding irrelevant links to your landing page can distract visitors from what you want them to do.

Landing pages can be created for all kinds of marketing efforts, including not just PPC ads but also for different CTAs that you include in your blog posts. These landing pages may not be a permanent part of your website either.

Similar Article: 5 Types of Landing Pages To Increase Your Lead Conversion Rate

The Main Difference Between Landing Page Vs. Homepage

When it comes down to it, the homepage is an overview of your business that introduces visitors to your marketing funnel, whereas a landing page helps to convert visitors immediately by prompting specific actions. Although your homepage isn’t the end all be all of your website like it was during the early days of the Internet, it still plays an important part in your marketing efforts. However, it’s important to understand when it’s more appropriate to send visitors to a landing page instead of your homepage.

6 Mobile Marketing Tips

September 6, 2019/in Articles, Directors, Mobile Advertising /by Nicole Wagner

The mobile market has skyrocketed over the past decade. It’s estimated that around 96 percent of all American adults own a cellphone and that 81 percent of Americans own smartphones. That’s more than the number of Americans that own desktops or laptops. It’s also estimated that around 20 percent of American adults access the Internet solely through their smartphones. As such, it’s no surprise that businesses both big and small are focusing more and more on mobile marketing. At this point in time, the mobile market accounts for almost 75 percent of all digital advertising spending. Keeping all of this in mind, the following are six mobile market tips to help strengthen your mobile marketing strategy:

1. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile-Friendly

Your mobile marketing strategy is going to fall flat on its face if your main site isn’t mobile-friendly. Few mobile users are going to be patient with your site if it has trouble loading on their phones. Not to mention that if your site doesn’t display properly or is difficult for mobile users to navigate, it will hurt your mobile SEO. The best way to ensure that your site is mobile-friendly is to use a responsive design and to design it with mobile use in mind.

2. Improve Your Local SEO

People often use their smartphones while on the go in order to look up products, services, or businesses within their vicinity. By strengthening your local SEO, you improve your chances of being found during these searches. You can improve your local SEO in a number of ways, including by using local keywords, creating local-based content, submitting your NAP to local directories, and by setting up a Google My Business page. mobile market

3. Advertise Promotions Through Text

Sending promotional content through email is often unsuccessful. This is because many people receive so many emails that they often miss your emails — not to mention that they may just choose to ignore it if they can tell it’s promotional. If you get leads to subscribe to SMS marketing, then you can text them promotions instead. Texts are much more likely to be seen and opened.

4. Invest In Video Content

Watching video content has never been easier with the use of smartphones. In fact, more than half of all mobile traffic is used for video. As a result, creating video content is an excellent way to engage your mobile audience.

Similar Article: The Importance of Implementing a Marketing Dashboard

5. Use QR Codes In Store

QR codes can be scanned to bring mobile users to a specific page. For example, putting QR codes in your store that take users to a discount page can help motivate them to make a purchase. It also encourages customers to continue engaging with your brand. One way you can do this is by having a QR code for your Facebook page at your checkout. You can also put QR codes on your website. This will allow mobile users to quickly scan the QR code on their computer to direct them to your site on their smartphone.

6. Optimize For Micro Moments

Micro-moments are those moments in which people use their phones to look something specific up. For example, quickly looking up the weather before heading out of the house is a micro-moment. These micro-moments happen all day long, which is why you should optimize your content to address potential micro-moments that are relevant to your business. You can do this by creating bite-sized content that’s both easy to consume and visually stimulating.

If you haven’t implemented a mobile marketing strategy yet, then you need to do so soon. Without an effective mobile marketing strategy, you’re limiting your audience reach greatly. Be sure to keep these six mobile marketing tips to keep in mind, whether developing or strengthening your mobile marketing strategy.