Posts in Category: Blog
Why you need a global content strategy
I mentioned the importance of being a global brand, and optimizing for your key markets and audiences. This means you need to have a global content strategy, which is why this blog post will focus on localization. Localization is just what it sounds like: adjusting your content to present what is most relevant to a specific market. Why? Because it has great effect on consumers’ purchasing behaviour:
72.1% of consumers spend most or all of their time on websites in their own language
72.4% of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a product with information in their own language
56.2% of consumers said that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price
So how do you do this?
- Research: Look at the numbers. What are your most important markets? Do you have the resources (time, expertise)? How do you prioritize? And maybe the most important question – what are your business goals? Don’t forget to look at what your competitors are doing and find your advantage. When you’ve decided on your market(s), do your research and do not trust your “gut”.
- Execution: Localization does not only mean translating your content, you also need to point your visitor to the right landing pages without a glitch. There are different technical solutions here, so you need to find what works with your platform.This is important – you don’t want Google to index your translated content as duplicates. And make sure to Google’s href lang tag to display the right content in search engines.
- Translations: Be consistent with your language and tonality and don’t overdo it, because it will take time (and time is money). And do not forget the SEO.
- Consistency: A localization is not a one-time job. It takes time and consistency and you need to work with all content parallell.
- Implement this strategy in all social channels. And see if there are more social platforms that you might be overlooking. Again – do not trust your “gut”.
Good luck, bon chance, 祝你好运,Viel Glück!
Should you do video marketing?
Think with Google recently posted the article New Data Shows Online Video Ads Drive Consideration, Favorability, Purchase Intent, and Sales. We’ve already seen motion as a medium in the rise and growth of Periscope, Facebook Live Video, Instagram Video and Vine. Not to mention YouTube continuous growth – with a ROI that is higher than on TV in various categories. In the article, Google shares data from two recent studies that shows just how much YouTube can move the needle on brand metrics across the consumer journey—from consideration and favourability to purchase intent and sales.
According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, 64% of marketers plan to increase their focus on video content. Brands and marketers have reason to embrace video, not only because it allows them to have a stronger connection with their audience, it’s also proven to have higher engagement. In other words – in 2016, video needs to become a bigger part of every company’s content and marketing strategy. Now’s that time to start thinking about reallocating your digital marketing budgets.
So should you do video marketing? The answer is probably yes.
E-commerce Marketing
Speaking of digital trends, I just came across this e-commerce marketing guide from Veeqo. They’ve summarized eight strategies for paid online channels for 2016 that you can use for your online business. Some may work perfect for you, other won’t – take a little time to think what’s relevant for you and make it count.
Read the post What are the best marketing options in 2016 and what can I do? here!
Digital trends for 2016
This year has not started out strong blog wise for, but I though I’d post a few thoughts on what’s ahead for 2016. In short, we will see much more money invested in digital marketing. That means all areas: Search, Mobile, Social, Display and Video. This is just a few areas that I think will be most important. Brief, but important – the ones that have the biggest impact on your online business. Now’s the time to think about how this can integrated into the digital marketing strategies, instead of doing it halfway through 2016.
Mobile’s continued dominance over desktop
The dominance of mobile traffic is now a fact. In 2016, we’ll see a continued strong growth in mobile use (which Mary Meeker’s pointed our in the annual mobile trends round-up). To no surprise, the use of mobile marketing will continue to be one of key trends to follow in 2016.
Creating personalized content
The only way to make consumers engage and interact with your content is solution based personalization. Making this effort, you can expect an increase of sales, higher interaction (time spent on page) and more happy customers. The key is that you take the time to research your consumers’ needs. This may well begin by drawing out buyer profiles and knowing consumer demographics, and behavioral preferences. One size does not fit all.
Understanding micro targeting
Targeting niche audience sizes and making use of data led advertising tools bringing in more effective results from campaigns. Targeting has evolved a lot in 2015, so it comes as no surprise that businesses are making targeting strategies more elaborately than ever. Speaking of personalization, I mean.
Being global, not local
You competition is no longer just local. Most online businesses sell their goods world-wide just a click away. You need to optimize for your key markets, find your customers where they are and look for new, innovative solutions to satisfy their needs. Wherever they are. 2016 is not the year to think small because no one else is.
Paying for Social
We might still think that our personal, social networks are just that – personal. But this is no longer the case. Brands and companies is already treating Facebook and Twitter like the great paid channels that they have evolved into, finding their customers where they interact with each other and share their personal interest and preferences. Targeting them has never been easier – “social” will now become an even larger piece of the bought digital budget.
Increasing digital marketing budgets
Over the past few years online marketing has grown more and more competitive, a trend that will continue in 2016. Companies are expected to spend $10 billion more on all areas of digital marketing than they did in 2015.
Best nine
Here’s my nine most liked pictures from Instagram this year, generated here. A lot of me apparently. But this year was good. A lot of changes, trips and some glitter. I spent the holidays sick in bed unfortunately but my hopes are high for this year. Happy holidays!
Internetworld
A few weeks ago Emelie Fågelstedt wrote a piece for Internetworld about online shopping behaviours, and how Sweden based companies can fit on a global market, with much more competition. I said a few things on it (but it’s in Swedish). Here you can read the full piece!
My year in music
The other week, Spotify released their annual music report titled ‘2015 Year In Music’ which is a neat feature that provides a recap of the most popular songs and artists that have been played all year. What’s fun is that they also do it custom made for your streaming account. Spotify presents your top acts and songs, how much time you spent listening to Spotify tracks, how many tracks you listened to — and they also conclude with putting together a new ‘Play It Forward’ playlist based on your listening habits to help you close out the year discovering new music.
Here’s what my year looked like:
Cyber November Thoughts
This season is actually the first I’ve tried doing online marketing campaigns for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It was fun, so I thought I’d share my results. I did a few different campaigns for different objectives, working especially with email marketing and Google’s (text) Ads. One of them was a simple 3 for 2 discount on all products with a unique promo code.
And the results? I was surprised to see that the conversion rate increased by 1.5%. So did the traffic. And the revenue. We barely lost any profits since the offer just topped of our regular multi-buy offer (no scam, obviously). The weekly turnover doubled. First, for the week ending with Black Friday. Then, the week starting Cyber Monday. Why? Because we managed to reach both old and new customers with an offer just as good for both segments. We reached our loyal customers who likes our stuff and wants more, we reached spontaneous shoppers who like a good deal and we caught the ones who missed out on Black Friday, and have them come back for Cyber Monday. Or for more, it seems. Because the very best part is that the traffic and sales continue to increase steadily. Did I mention that these two days were part of a holiday email marketing series? This means that we keep offering good news and offers. So far so good.
Here’s a very brief list of what I did:
Newsletter
Integrated both Black Friday and Cyber Monday in a series of holiday newsletters (that was of coursed cross-posted in all social media) and scheduled them for 23.59. I also set up reminder automations for unpoens (a bit risky, but worth it if you’re usually non-spammy)
Adwords
Separate, branded campaigns promoting the offers and adding a text add-on on all campaigns scheduled only for Black Friday Cyber Monday.
On-page
Overlay/pop-up with the offer for all new visitors, not coming from any of the sources above and offering them even better deals if they sign up for newsletter.
Even if you don’t have a big budget, I’d definitely suggest to spend it on limited offers like these. They drive traffic and they convert like crazy. We’ve had similar deals before – we even have a permanent multi-buy offer that’s pretty generous to begin with. But people buy, because they want to buy. And they want to wait until Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, then Cyber November. That’s what marketing does. Another post of how to keep (and care for) your customers after the holidays is coming up.
Sick days
I’m home sick on a Saturday and so far I’ve turned to Netflix, youtube yoga and Pinterest. Here’s a few things that made me feel a little better:
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Black November
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two typically american shopping holidays we’ve started to adapting to internationally. Black Friday is always the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving, and is sort of the official start to the Christmas Shopping Season (although we know that that’s already started…). Black Friday started way back in 1960’s, but is now kicking it online too with just as crazy sales and offers, getting crazier each season. In 2015, it’s predicted to be the be the biggest day of spending on the internet — ever.
There’s also Cyber Monday, Black Friday’s shopping companion, which is the Monday that follows Black Friday. The two have started blended together and creating Black November – a month filled of crazy pre-Black Friday shopping deals. Needless to say, these two shopping holidays are a great opportunity for any business to, well, make money. And when it comes to holiday shopping, it’s all about the deals. The good news for shoppers is that those deals are being offered earlier and earlier. The search – we know – starts online:
The top questions people were asking about Black Friday on Google in 2014:
What time do stores open on Black Friday
What time does Black Friday start
When does Black Friday end
What to buy on Black Friday
Source: Google data, November 2014.
With Black Friday now just a day away, you need to have everything in place. There’s really no reason to wait for Friday to take care of your online holiday shopping. Don’t know where to start? Look at Shopify’s excellent 26 Point Checklist!
The Swedish People and The Internet
The Swedes and the internet is a yearly report that documents how Swedish people use the internet and how it affects their lives. As a Swede, it’s really interesting to read and you can view the English summary here. Will post my own thoughts and reflections as soon as I’ve gotten through it!