Savannah 10, May, 2022

Digital Marketing

6 ESSENTIAL SOFT SKILLS FOR DIGITAL MARKETERS

At the beginning of every task, you should focus on not just completing it but doing it right. The right skills and experience will get you there.

Digital marketing was brought about with the innovation of the internet. LinkedIn says the Digital Marketing Specialist role is a top 10 in-demand role with a whopping 860,000 job openings. So what skills are required to start a career in digital marketing? I would love to split those skills into two; soft skills and technical skills. In this article, we will deal with soft skills.

Let’s go through the soft skills needed.

SOFT SKILLS

They are also known as basic skills. Soft skills are those that make you who you are. They cut across everywhere and are not industry-based but contribute a great deal to your productivity. How you work and relate with others is influenced by your soft skills. So, which of those skills do you NEED in this field?

1. Communication

Marketing is communicating about a product or service to an audience that might be your potential customers. Proper communication is getting the message through in a manner that is easy for your audience to consume and understand. No one wants to keep reading/listening to the same message over and over. While communicating, ensure you check on some of these points;

Do you understand what your audience needs?

Before communicating, you have to first understand what your audience is looking for. Don’t go advertising a shoe to someone looking for a tire.

Answer THEIR questions.

Give your customers the answer they want to hear and that’s how you grab their attention. If you’re trying to sell a service/product, your client needs to understand why they need it and how they will benefit.

E.g. Stephen wants to have his social media page managed for him, he wants to understand what you will do for him and how it will impact him. If you start talking about social media statistics, how it has evolved, and it’s worth, you will be overloading information on your client. Go straight to the point and tell them what your strategies are and how you plan to manage and grow his page.

Do not leave room for guessing.

While addressing an issue, ensure you do it exhaustively. There’s a thin border-line between giving enough and giving too much. Give enough that the client is satisfied. Sometimes too much leaves one confused and they can’t make a choice.

Grab their attention and make it brief.

Once you initiate a conversation, aim at grabbing their attention. You won’t have it for long, so once you got their attention, go directly into communicating the important part.

2. Persuasion.

As a marketer, you need to convince people to purchase a product/service. Once you’ve grabbed a prospective client’s attention, the main task is to make the client know why they need what you offer. Make it seem like they are missing something. The difference between a ‘need’ and a ‘want’ is that you cannot do without the need.

3. Multitasking

Digital marketing is a wide field that encompasses a dozen tasks. If you’re starting off or working with a small team, chances are, you wear several hats. At one point, you could have several projects from different clients, or you could also be playing different roles e.g. content writing, graphics design, analytics etc. Have a schedule of what needs to be done, their relevance and a timeline, this will help you juggle through the tasks with none being left behind.

4. Creativity

Content creation is the backbone of marketing. What message are you trying to convey and how are you going to dispense that message? That is where creativity comes in. Your audience has probably seen bucket loads of videos, pictures and text prior to yours.

To grab their attention, you need to do something different…or better yet, what has been done you need to do it better. Don’t be afraid of trying new things. Try different methods and models and see which one works. They probably won’t work the first time but don’t stop there.

5. Adaptation

As stated above, digital marketing was first heard with the emergence of the internet. Since the internet emerged, it has been 30 years but the rate of change is rapid.

Digital marketing means marketing on the internet, and to be a good marketer on an ever-changing platform, then you need to adapt to the rate of change. Advance your strategies and models. What works today won’t stay the same, always familiarize yourself with the latest developments.

6. Teamwork

A normal day for a digital marketer involves interacting with designers, videographers, writers, your client, and several individuals. Good interpersonal skills help you communicate and relate with all these individuals to accomplish the shared goal.

This list is not exhaustive. There are many other soft skills that you might require but this is a good starting point.

Savannah 4, May, 2022

Digital Marketing

5 IMPORTANT REASONS TO USE VIDEO IN MARKETING IN YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY.

Videos are consumed by the loads today. They can be educational, recreational, or marketing videos. The demand for videos is way over the supply.

Don’t get me wrong, there are loads and loads of videos on the internet, but what makes viewers want to see them? Mainly for information, consumers are surfing the internet looking for information or recreation. Relevant and valuable content will always get consumers asking for more.

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri stated that the platform is no longer just a photo-sharing application. Creators are encouraged to produce more video content by aligning the algorithm more toward the exposure of videos.

The majority of social media platforms are encouraging video content. Instagram introduced Reels, Live, Stories, and IGTV a few years ago. Facebook not lagging behind introduced Watch, Stories, Live, and recently Reels. Twitter and LinkedIn are not left behind as they advocate for video content.

There’s a move by all social platforms to incline towards video content, but why? Here are some of the reasons to use video in your online marketing strategy.

1. Lead generation

This is a crucial step in the sales process since your leads are your potential clients. This is the process of attracting prospective customers with the aim of turning them into purchasing customers in the near future.

Using video marketing will earn you 66% more leads. These are individuals who will inquire and submit their details to learn more about a product, service, or promotion.

2. High conversion rate

Videos are attention-grabbing, cultivating, and are relatable, no wonder more than 60% of consumers have admitted to purchasing a product/service after watching a video, and 8 out of 10 people paid for an application or software after watching a video.

Make your viewer feel seen and that you understand their problem and your solution is the best one for them.

3. Wider reach.

Cat videos, car videos, any kind of videos, people love watching them. Twitter gets over 2 billion views daily on its videos which makes up 5% of twitter’s total content.

These numbers get better as you move to platforms like TikTok and YouTube which are primarily videos. The mere mention of video in your Email increases its chance of getting opened by 7%. There’s no doubt video content has the widest reach.

4. Return On Investment (ROI)

Marketing is an investment with the hope of getting value for your money. ROI is dependent on the business and what they refer to as a conversion. It could be the download of software, a file, or a purchase. 89% of marketers say the ROI on video marketing is satisfactory.

5. Information packed.

From the infographics, captions, voice-overs etc. A video holds different formats of information all at once. The ease of consumption of video content is much easier than reading. Imagine having all those components on one page of a book. The book would look clumsy and too busy for your eyes making it hard to read. But video content incorporates all these formats of information and disseminates them in a way that is not only easy to consume but easier to remember.

There are more reasons why video content should be included in your next marketing strategy. Ensure you first understand your audience, decide on the type of content you want to come up with, draw a script, decide on the format of the content, shoot, edit then publish.

The demand for video content is at an all-time high and shows no signs of slowing down as 8 out of 10 viewers would love to see more video content. 720,000 hrs of videos are uploaded on YouTube every day and 1 billion hours are watched per day.

The demand outweighs the supply. Get on the trend and start producing awesome videos!

Savannah 27, Apr, 2022

Digital Marketing

5 Must-Know Video Content Formats For Digital Marketers

Videos are currently the most consumed content on the internet. Chances are you’ve watched a video or two today, right? In 2022, video content makes up more than 80% of online traffic consumption.

What is video content?

Video content is any form of content that uses video to pass a message, educate and entertain. Video content is mainly used by businesses to advertise, promote and create brand awareness and this brings us to the concept of video marketing.

86% of businesses use video content as a marketing tool. Video marketing is the best form of digital marketing especially on social media platforms, which have the largest number of video consumers. Across all digital platforms, videos perform extremely well.

When video marketing is mentioned, many think of a large budget and that shouldn’t be the case. In fact, creating videos today is easier than ever.

By using a basic smartphone and numerous, free video editing tools, you can produce a video with a budget of close to nothing, and minimal skills are required during the editing process. That said, ensure you produce videos that offer value and are captivating.

Before you start shooting your video, you have to outline what is the purpose and format of the video. Are you trying to teach something? Maybe you want to show your customers how a certain product is used, or you just want to announce an offer on your products/services. There are many types of video content formats that you can use.

Today we will cover the 5 common types of video formats.

Types of Video Formats.

Let’s go through some of the types of video content formats and their primary purpose(s).

1. Video Ads

This is the most common and the oldest type of video content. To date, Video Ads are still in use and work since there’s still a good number of television viewers. Businesses are now moving towards advertising on digital platforms since the conversion rates can be easily tracked compared to the latter. Video Ads are used to increase your brand awareness and communicate to the customers e.g. when there’s a sale.

2. Explainer Videos

It is easier to learn about a product/service through a video than by reading its description on the website or anywhere else. 72% of consumers prefer to learn about a product/service through a video and a higher number of consumers have admitted that a video influenced their purchasing decision.

3. Demo/Review Videos.

These videos are used to demonstrate how a product works or how to access/use a service. The majority of these videos are watched by individuals who are on their purchasing journey. They could be comparing the ease of use of your product against another, the quality and functionality of your product. In some cases, they already purchased the product and are trying to find their way around it.

4. Testimonial Videos

Word of mouth is powerful especially if it comes from a customer to other potential customers. A simple video of a customer reviewing your product or talking about a service you offer and how it solved their problem could go a long way. This has given rise to user-generated content, where consumers produce content to market businesses. Consumers consider user-generated content as more authentic and are more likely to view and believe them.

5. Animation/ Infographic videos.

Infographic videos are used to explain hard-to-grasp concepts. A good example is the Google Digital Marketing course which makes use of infographics to aid in teaching. They are lively, fun, and packed with information. It’s highly recommended when you’re trying to explain something technical to your audience.

Now that you have learned about some of the video formats, what format suits you best?

THE 3 MOST COMMON FRAUDS IN DIGITAL MARKETING

Savannah 7, Apr, 2022

Digital Marketing, Integrated Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing

THE 3 MOST COMMON FRAUDS IN DIGITAL MARKETING

The internet has greatly revolutionized the corporate world and business environment in general. One of the impacts of more businesses going online is the emergence of digital marketing. Digital marketing simply refers to the efforts and steps taken by a business or corporation to market their goods and services using the internet as their preferred medium. It simply takes the advertising campaigns, be they videos, banners, or voice-overs and attempts to reach their target audience via digital platforms on the internet such as social media and affiliate websites.

However, the rapid growth of digital marketing has led to emergence of various forms of fraud in digital marketing. These scams can target not only the businesses wishing to advertise but also the target audience and search engine ranking algorithms. The scammers take advantage of the relative lack of knowledge of most people about how digital marketing works and the eagerness of many new entrepreneurs to jump onboard the digital marketing bandwagon without carrying out due diligence.

The following are some of the most common frauds in digital marketing that every online entrepreneur must be aware of before contracting a digital marketing company so as to avoid falling victim to them.

Categories Of Fraud In Digital Marketing

Fraud in digital marketing falls into 3 broad categories:

Placement Fraud
Traffic Fraud
Action Fraud

1. Placement Fraud

In this category of fraud, scammers often use underhand tactics to illegitimately place ads on a legitimate publisher’s website or user’s computer. This is done in order to artificially inflate the scammer’s clicks on these ads for the benefit of the scammer. The fraud is facilitated via a variety of mechanisms. They include:

Malvertising – This fraud involves the perpetrator exploiting weaknesses in a website or Content Delivery Networks to place malicious advertising software on the website without the publisher’s (owner) permission. This results in the users being bombarded by unwanted advertisements and pop ups which generate clicks (and therefore revenue) for the perpetrator.
Stuffing and Stacking – These involve unscrupulous advertisers hiding features such as ads and keywords on a page such that they are invisible to the human eye but sufficient to spoof ranking algorithms into ranking that particular webpage higher and fraudulently increasing revenue for the scammer.
Domain Spoofing – This is a common fraud in which fraudsters launch a domain name that looks very similar to a trusted domain. For example they may start a site called alibaba.co to take advantage of alibaba.com’s popularity. This falsely inflates the value of their ad space and they proceed to charge premium rates to place ads there making the business being advertized to pay way more than the ad space’s actual worth.
Ad Injection – This digital marketing scam targets computer users and involves scammers installing malware into an unsuspecting user’s computer or browser in order to display unsolicited ads whenever the user goes online. It may also involve your local Internet Service Provider inserting ads into the content you view when online. The best way to prevent this fraud is having an updated firewall and anti-malware system at all times and avoiding visiting shady and unsecured websites.

2. Traffic Fraud

Traffic fraud involves using illegitimate means to boost traffic to one’s site. Increased traffic means increased revenue for both the ad publisher and the business being advertised. It is therefore not surprising that traffic fraud is one of the most prevalent digital marketing scams.

Traffic fraud consists of two categories which are:

Impression Fraud (pay for rankings) – This scam involves artificially boosting the web page impressions through generating fake traffic to the site. Since most of the emerging online businesses tend to be desperate for quick traffic and high rankings, they are often lured by unscrupulous marketers who often use bots to illegitimately drive traffic to their sites. While it may seem enticing, this scam is very dangerous for the owner of the website since they could potentially get their ads demonetized and search engine ratings severely lowered when caught.
Click Fraud (paying for clicks) – This scam takes advantage of the pay-per-click model of digital marketing in which the marketer is paid for each click generated through their links. Like impression fraud above, the scam often targets new businesses that are willing to pay in order to get clicks to their website. The affiliate marketer then proceeds to employ the use of bots or click farm to artificially boost the number of clicks to the client’s site. The fraud is also highly frowned upon by search engine administrators and ad companies alike and carries harsh penalties if discovered.

3. Action Fraud

This fraud consists of actions taken by the fraudsters while pretending to be other users in order to benefit themselves. It may involve things such as signing up for a service, filling a form or simply making a download.

The fraud also takes on many forms which include:

Conversion Fraud – This fraud occurs when a scammer uses bots to fraudulently make conversions such as signing up for newsletters. The scammer then claims the conversions as his and pockets the money from it. It may also happen when a scammer uses stolen personal details to sign up or purchase items for themselves without the knowledge of the real owners of the information.
Affiliate Fraud – This scam basically involves affiliates engaging in fraudulent activities with the aim of collecting revenue that they do not deserve. A dishonest affiliate marketer may set up a specialized website with the aim of attracting users interested in a specific product. The aim is to bombard the user’s devices with the affiliate’s cookies. This means that when the user eventually visits the actual website even on their own the affiliate can then claim revenue for generating the lead when in the real sense they didn’t contribute in any way. A robust tracking system on the part of the business contracting the affiliate marketers is the best way of avoiding being a victim to this scam.

Savannah 1, Apr, 2022

Digital Marketing, Integrated Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the promotion of brands with the aim of connecting potential customers using the internet and other means of digital communication. Digital Marketing Agencies exist for one main goal: help companies promote their brands with the aim of connecting potential customers.

The kinds of services offered by Digital Marketing Agencies vary from agency to agency and they could be any or all of the following: Search Engine Optimization commonly referred to as SEO, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Web Design, Social Media Marketing/Management, Email/Text Outreach Marketing, Content Generation, Content Optimization, Affiliate Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), among others.

Here are five reasons why your company should partner with a Digital Marketing Agency

1.Broader skill set at a lesser cost

If nothing else, this should be the main reason to partner with a digital marketing company. A digital marketing company has an entire team of specialized and experienced professionals to work on your project. This will cost less than what you would incur if you were to come up with the entire team on your own and work on the project yourself. This is even a better option for small business that do not have resources to hire a full time SEO specialist. A full in-house digital marketing team will result into a significant overhead cost for the business especially a small business as salaries, benefits, recruiting and more will bring expenses to the business. An external marketing agency may offer a lower cost to do the same work that an in-house marketing team will have done at higher cost.

Blog: Re-inventing the 'desired' skill set of your employees — People Matters — Image from people matters blog

2. Expertise and productivity

Digital Marketing Agencies have people with expertise and different skills sets in digital marketing sector. This will give you an advantage in getting high quality work in an efficient way allowing you to redirect your efforts and time to other things. Partnering with them also gives great value on investments as 100% of it goes to production of deliverables. None of your budget is being spent on benefits, equipment and hiring. These agencies are also efficient in that they handle multiple accounts, which helps them meet strict deadlines and most company budgets. In a typical situation they can get work done faster than in-house teams that are working on the same project for the first time

3. Less commitment compared to hiring a full time in house team

The process of hiring a full house team involves activities such as recruiting interviewing, onboarding etc. This are all activities that the company is responsible for. These are time consuming and expensive tasks. A marketing agency can do all the hiring and recruiting of digital marketing experts, and you can outsource the skill from them

4. A broader network and access to advanced tools

A broader network and access to advanced tools – Working with many clients builds a network of vendors and channels that can to future partnerships for your company. A digital marketing agency will also have a more tools and resources available to them that will enable them to complete the project faster. This may include some tools and resources that are only available to companies in the industry and industry professionals.

Building a Wider Network | Thinking Bigger

5.Creativity and objectivity

Using an in-house team can sometimes nerf the creativity process as they may be people thinking as a group and people having tunnel vision. Partnering with a digital marketing company however may be better as we will have an opportunity to get creative aspect of a person seeing the company from the outside unlike an employee. A digital marketing company is not also influenced by internal biases or assured knowledge so its easier to sieve a clear message to the target audience. Internal teams may have too much knowledge such that they may try and say the same thing and over saturate with knowledge, this may result in confusing the target audience with too much information.

6 Essential Soft Skills For Digital Marketers

6 ESSENTIAL SOFT SKILLS FOR DIGITAL MARKETERS