iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Has Digital Marketing reached its peak?
A Brief History of Media Channels
1605: first weekly newspaper is published
1900: first radio is invented
1927: first television is invented
1989: World Wide Web is invented
2007: iPhone is first sold to consumers
2015: Amazon sells Echo, the first Voice Device
Has Digital Marketing reached its peak? No.
Digital Media is still young and growing.
Who’s the Media? You the Media!
Online marketing provides brands with unlimited opportunities to connect and communicate with consumers 24/7 and at very low costs (like free).
It’s the Wild Wild West of Marketing for Brands
Every brand has an equal opportunity to leverage digital marketing today. There are no rules (and no cost barriers) to prevent a brand from creating digital channels and posting content every single day, once or twice a day or more.
Remember, make every connection count. Each time your brand connects with consumers, it is an opportunity to build awareness, communicate a message, and most importantly to shape consumers perceptions of your brand.
Sending reports today; tell me if don't receive mike.weil@insights4less.com or mike@brandlovefunnel.com
iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
SALES TIPS:
1. The best time to cold call is between 4:00-5:00pm. The second best is 8:00-10:00am. The worst times are 11:00am and 2:00pm. (InsideSales and Kellogg School of Business)
2. Thursday is the best day to prospect. Wednesday is the second best day. Tuesday is the worst day. (InsideSales)
3. In 2007 it took an average of 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. Today it takes 8 attempts. (TeleNet and Ovation Sales Group)
4. 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after the meeting. 44% of sales people give up after 1 follow-up. (The Marketing Donut)
5. After a presentation, 63% of attendees remember stories. Only 5% remember statistics. (Chip and Dan Heath)
6. 70% of people make purchasing decisions to solve problems. 30% make decisions to gain something. (Impact Communications)
7. Each year, you’ll lose 14% of your customers. (BusinessBrief)
8. Prospects that buy have 58% more objections than prospects who don’t. Learn to appreciate objections as they provide opportunities to solve customer problems.
9. The #1 reason Customers buy from you isn't service, selection, quality or price -- it's your confidence! (Guerilla Selling)
iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
A big theme in Gartner's recent Multi Channel Marketing Effectiveness Survey (client subscription required) is the emergence of mobile as a dominant channel for multichannel marketers. Now, for those who have been watching mobile's share of ad revenues and digital time spent climb steadily upward, the notion of mobile's dominance may seem old hat. It clearly enjoys that status for the audiences marketers are trying to reach.
But marketers often have struggled to effectively incorporate mobile into their marketing strategies. We've seen that most multichannel marketers, for example, don't see a need to go beyond creating mobile extensions of existing desktop-based engagement techniques (e.g., the website, advertising, search and email) — a finding consistent with the marketers who've used Gartner's "Marketing Maturity Assessment" tool (client subscription again required) and rated mobile marketing their least mature capability.
This is one of those rare occasions where we can legitimately say, "What a difference a year makes." In 2016, marketers told us that on average, they were using 3.5 mobile techniques (out of a total of 13 we asked them about) and had another two in the pilot stage. Fast-forward to 2017, and marketers now have 4.3 tactics live on average, and are piloting 3.1, representing a combined increase of 33%. As my colleague Charles Golvin observes in his research note, "Multichannel Survey 2017: Marketers Succeed by Leveraging Mobile Throughout the Buying Journey" (yep, client subscription still required), a number of key factors explain this growth:
Expanding options available to marketers — These include mobile messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger, as well as tactics like mobile wallet cards becoming better integrated into mobile marketing suites.
Marketer alignment with customer behavior — Because customers are spending more time on mobile devices and engaging in a greater variety of ways, marketers are recognizing that they must meet customers on their own terms.
Beyond the growth in the number of mobile marketing techniques marketers are using, they now view mobile as one of the most effective channels at each stage of the buying journey. For the critical conversion portion of the customer journey, 15% of respondents say that mobile is themost effective channel. That's an important finding to remember at this most mobile time of the year, when consumers rely heavily on their devices for both shopping and buying (witness mobile's annual record-breaking performance during the Black Friday weekend and Cyber Week).
Mobile advertising remains the top-ranked mobile technique across the buying journey, supported by a host of other tactics, notably mobile-optimized websites and mobile apps. For example, among respondents currently using, piloting, or with explicit budget for mobile-optimized websites and mobile apps, 71% say they agree or strongly agree that their mobile website and/or app plays a central role in converting interested audiences into paying customers. This belies the oft-cited chestnut that "mobile doesn't convert" consistently from a digital commerce perspective.
All this is not to say the fabled "year of mobile" is upon us, but there is strong evidence to indicate the past year has been one in which mobile marketing has made significant strides. And that puts marketers a step closer to their elusive, mobile-centric customers.
iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
3 Content Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2018
An amazing year comes to an end, complete with videos going viral, news-feeds getting chaotic and organic reach nosediving. If content marketing is your game, 2018 would be the year videos take centerstage. It’s going to be exciting and super competitive. These are the trends and focus areas for 2018, something I’m pasting on my wall. Happy New Year :)
1. Videos will continue to dominate
If you’ve been procrastinating about getting on the video bandwagon, it's time to get started. With low cost smartphones and cheaper data, video is exploding on tiny screens everywhere. You got to experiment with different video formats. Live video is turning out to be huge, we got 65,000 comments on an experiment just last week.
Regional content is fast becoming a big deal in India, an experiment this year hit 20 million views. Even LinkedIn is going gaga on videos, with incredible engagement. It’s time to deep dive and find the format which works for you: short form, long form, web-series, 360 video, live video, interactive video or the enchanting AR/VR.
2. Organic reach will nosedive
With so much competition and chaotic news-feeds, Facebook has made it harder to reach your audience, unless you pay. Your content needs to work harder. If you want to reach millions on low budgets, either have kick-ass share-worthy content or cough up the moolah!
Remember.. views can be bought.. engagement is earned.
Focus on creating content for low attention spans, tiny mobile screens, think conversations not campaigns, obsess about storytelling not high production value and most important: Distribution! We’ll beat platforms at their game, when we make our message so powerful that every messenger becomes an evangelist, spreading our content like wildfire.
3. Brands will be built on content, not advertising
Our generation is trained to ignore Ads. The radars in our heads are so evolved, we can spot BS miles away. Ad blockers are on the rise, TV numbers are down and when was the last time you shared an Ad? Ads will need to evolve, be more authentic and BS free. Engagement is more important than views.
We need to reach their hearts, not bombard their eye-balls.
We’re living in a time where staying relevant is more important than recall. To create kick-ass content, we need multi-skilled storytellers in our teams. Filmmakers who double up as designers, designers who know copywriting and writers who know communication and branding. We need to groom multi-talented rockstars!
Happy Content Marketing in 2018 :)
One more thing..
If you’d like to read more about my experiments in viral marketing or be the first to know when the books comes out.. signup for the Mailing list, connect on LinkedIn or Tweet me up. Oh and here’s the latest viral video :)
iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Building Your SMS Marketing Strategy
As mobile marketing continues to expand marketers and businesses are constantly improving on their SMS mobile marketing strategy. Every day the number of smartphone users increases, as does the dollar amount spent on mobile marketing to reach these users. It’s clear that mobile marketing is essential, but many marketers and businesses are missing the mark when it comes to their SMS marketing strategy.
These same businesses and marketers are focused on one thing; native apps. Native apps are a powerful tool for businesses willing to spend the money and time required to build and maintain an app. According to Forrester, 80% of native apps go unused. Investing tens of thousands of dollars into an app that could go unused is not an effective mobile marketing strategy.
Numerous businesses have put the cart before the horse and are focused on building their native app. They are doing it wrong, as an effective SMS marketing strategy is built from the ground up. Forrester explains that the use of mobile technology and native apps is not lining up with customer behavior. Even advanced smart phone users prefer campaigns to be delivered via SMS.
Remember it starts with SMS.
With the variety of tools available, many businesses are hesitant to start with mobile marketing because of the learning curve for them and their customers. According to the Direct Marketing Association, 33% of customers prefer offers via text messages. SMS text messages are a mobile technology that almost all mobile phone users are familiar with. With SMS marketing messages, companies present their campaigns to customers in a way they understand and are comfortable with. In addition, businesses can run reports on SMS campaigns to see how their customers are engaging with them.
The second piece to any SMS mobile marketing strategy is a mobile website. If customers are receiving a SMS message with a link to a non-mobile friendly website, then the customer will navigate away, and that business will lose revenue. A mobile website is key. Nine out of ten mobile searches lead to an action, and over half of those searches lead to a sale (Search Engine Land). Investing the time into building a mobile website is worth the ROI. Businesses that are hesitant to go mobile will lose revenue against businesses that have adapted a mobile-first mobile marketing strategy.
Have questions on your SMS marketing strategy? You can contact us here, or call 877-511-6624
iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Four Reasons Mobile Is the Sweetheart of Digital Marketing in 2016
To continue on from yesterday's Valentine's Day: 4 Reasons Mobile Is the Sweetheart of Digital Marketing in 2016
Valentine’s Day has left traces of love in the air. So what’s the apple of every digital marketer’s eye in 2016? Mobile marketing of course! Here’s why:
1. Mobile-Only Internet Usage Surpasses Desktop-Only Users
Desktops have always been primary venue for internet access, but for the first time ever, the number of users who only access the internet on mobile devices exceeded the number of users who only access internet on desktop devices. Mobile has gone through a huge makeover in the past few years: smaller devices with better processing systems, 4G data speed, and an all-around improved design. These advancements, paired with users’ desire to have all the world’s information conveniently stored in their back pocket, has caused mobile to eclipse desktop in multiple capacities.
2. Mobile Marketing Improves Your Connection with Customers
If mobile is the sweetheart of digital marketing, then customers are the sweetheart of digital marketers. What better time to talk about our love for customers than the day after Valentine’s Day? A company can’t get much closer to a customer than being permanently attached to their right hand. Mobile allows brands to implant themselves in the customer’s daily life. It also allows brands to gather information about each individual that they’ve never had access to before. We can finally give our customers the personalized experience they want and deserve.
3. Mobile Apps Are Replacing Mobile Optimisation
Many businesses are beginning to see the light! Mobile apps look awesome, are user-friendly, and have greater functionality than mobile-optimised sites. As businesses realise the value of a mobile app, mobile-optimised sites are becoming irrelevant. Additionally, there have been drastic advancements in app indexing—which is similar to SEO—for apps on Google and in the app store. This evolution of app discoverability will give businesses the kick they need to add an app to their digital marketing strategy.
4. Apps Will Become an Integral Part of Our Lives
Everyone has an app for everything: an app that wakes them up in the morning, an app that sends them live updates about bad routes, an app that stores the podcasts you listen to on my way to work. Without my apps, you would not only be late every day, but even worse, bored during your work commute.
Apps have become so interwoven into the fabric of our daily lives that many of us wouldn’t know what to do without them.
Want one?? It's really simple, get in contact with the experts- Us! And let us show you how!
iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
So I read an article the other day from the columnist Jessica Valenti of the Guardian US, which entitled ‘My daughter won’t ever know of TV commercials – and I’m surprisingly sad’. The piece was all around how we’re moving into an age of where streaming and buying your TV programmes are becoming the norm. Things such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV have fuelled this new era of moving away from the traditional television set and actually using alternative platforms to stream their videos from iPads, to iPhones and whatever people can get their hands on. The article points out that paying for programmes and stuff that you want to watch works out to be very economical and financially beneficial as you watch what you want, when you want without any hassle of advertisements.
The columnist then writes about how she took her 5 year old daughter to the doctors, to which there was a TV placed up for all the patients to watch whilst they were waiting. On the TV, an advertisement for a toy came on, and this 5 year old went crazy. It instantly sparked excitement and enthusiasm around the product which after which after all, is the ideal result of this form of advertising.
After reading the article, it really puts in to perspective of how the younger generation who are being brought up in this current digital streaming age are missing out on TV advertisements. After all, TV ads have always been an integral cog within the mechanics of large scale marketing, but will this change? Will TV adverts become obsolete in the next 25 years? Are we moving to a digital age whereby TV advertisements will not be sufficient?
All these questions come into play when you read something like this and it questions the whole age of marketing. Already, we’re seeing a natural progression to marketing via digital platforms, but will it come to a point of where TV ads are just not done anymore? It’s very upsetting to some extent as TV ads often spark excitement for both marketeers as well as consumers – I mean, imagine a life without a John Lewis Christmas advert coming on your TV?
However, the flipside of this is that this could ignite a new revolution of marketing as we speak. It’s essentially part of the product cycle. TV advertisements may be coming into the maturity/decline stage on the timeline, and this then provides us young, fresh, and enthusiastic (and good looking may I say) with an exciting new challenge; Finding alternative ways of marketing. Maybe this could make TV advertisements more effective? By making TV advertisements extinct, it will in turn make them rare, and as the great poet Juvenal once said ‘Rare is the union of beauty and purity'. TV Advertisements could become so rare, that people value them more as seen with this 5 year old kid...
But how about the bigger picture? TV advertisements are a great way to get a whole different perspective of things. I mean from my personal experience, watching the Cadbury’s Gorilla advert sparked so many things. Just seeing a Gorilla drumming away to Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight was absolutely epic and for me, I was sold instantly. My imagination and creativity just elevated and my whole perception of marketing had been transformed.
So this poses a great question on society... will the kids of tomorrow become ‘less creative’? Will there be a national shortage of marketeers? Will there be a global shortage of marketing professionals?
Okay... I know that was slightly over the top, but you get the picture right? Overall, a crazy debate into what marketing of tomorrow will actually become...
