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Creative marketing is more than just putting a smile on people’s faces and grabbing their attention. Companies that create an artistic splash can capitalize on multiple strands. With the audience already clutching for straws in a deluge of information overload, brands need to come up with amazing, useful, and memorable ideas in ads to promote their message into the minds of their consumers or lose their identity to a nameless and faceless sea of oblivion. In this saturated digital environment, digital marketers need to make sure that their brand can be seen and heard while putting it at the forefront of people’s minds. Creative advertising that is easy, succinct, witty, and simply digestible can help you make a big difference. If you are up for a little magic and aspire to communicate with your audience in a way that they have not seen before, you can still make your brand stand out from your competitors. A creative ad can increase sales and heighten brand awareness. Coming up with some smart and amazing ways in which advertising affects consumer behavior will help brands create stronger, more memorable, and thought-provoking ads. Creative marketing is something that can make a difference, drive business performance, and shift consumer perceptions. 2017 saw myriad faces of marketing campaigns, running the gamut from digital to print to even statues. Here are 6 of the most creative and craziest ads of 2017 that will make you look twice and imprint their essence in your mind. Let’s get into it!

1. IKEA’s Special Offer for Pregnant Women

Who could have thought that pee advertising could be such a jaw-hanger? Pee on an advert and get a special discount. Sounds weird? Thanks to pregnancy test kits, this advert is all that people could talk about. IKEA has come up with a tongue-in-cheek approach to its marketing campaign that presents pregnant women with a special price on a new baby crib. At first sight, IKEA’s, which was initially featured in a Swedish women’s magazine, appears as a typical advert promoting the Sundvik baby crib. But if you read the description carefully, women are asked to pee in a marked area. It acts as a pregnancy test, showing a special discount offer on the baby crib when it detects a positive!

2. Nike’s Ad features Arab Female Athletes

Nike advert features five successful Arab female athletes from different parts of the Arab world exercising and competing. The brand has made a successful attempt to smash stereotypes about women leading home-bound and restricted lives in the conservative society of the Middle East. Nike aims to highlight the stories of successful professional women athletes to instigate others. In these inspirational ads, the brand wanted to use the prowess of sports to change society in a positive way.

3. Procter & Gamble: The Talk

Procter & Gamble, best known for selling myriad brands of beauty soaps, has come up with thought-provoking, heart-wrenching ads, known as ‘The Talk’. The campaign #MyBlackIsBeautiful aims to make the world a better place, devoid of bias, and offer an equal opportunity for success for everyone, regardless of race, gender, and the color of their skin. The two-minute ad depicts black mothers sharing the harsh realities of being an ethnic race, and the truths about racial stereotypes and bias spreading like wildfire in the U.S. This powerful #TalkAboutBias ad from P&Gis designed to celebrate cultural identity and launches a conversation about racial prejudices that children will inevitably face sometime in their lives. This type of great marketing campaign can change minds and inspire a real, lasting change.

4. "MailChimp" Campaign

Did You Mean MailChimp’ is one of the best marketing campaigns of MailChimp so far? The brand launched an artful campaign to play on its own name - MaleCrimp, MailChimp, KaleLimp, FailChips, VeilHymn, SnailPrimp, JailBlimp, WhaleSynth, and NailChamp. They all rhyme with “MailChimp. The company is not troubled by what people call it, but rather concerned about providing the right tools for their clients, while giving them the confidence to grow their company in the best possible way.

5. CNN Facts First

CNN, the most trusted tag in the realm of worldwide news, launched an ad campaign that differentiates CNN from other cable news networks. CNN’s ad campaign “Facts First” was a direct response to Trump’s attack on the media.   The short ad features a single, unchanged visual of an apple in a minimalist fashion. "This is an apple. Some people might try to tell you that it's a banana. They might scream, 'Banana, banana, banana,' over and over and over again. They might put a banana in all caps. You might even start to believe it's a banana, but it's not. This is an apple." The voiceover states.

6. Burger King “Flame Grilled”

Burger King has creatively leveraged photos of restaurant fires in its creative marketing campaign. The campaign “Flame Grilled since 1954” shows an unbelievable series of print ads, portraying real-life emergency scenes of actual Burger King Restaurants at times when it caught fire. The brand wanted to convey the message that no matter what the situation is, they always flame-grill their burgers, even amid disastrous upheavals.

Final Words

You have seen a barrage of ad campaigns hither and thither through the years, but the above-mentioned ones will surely inspire you to spruce up your next marketing campaign. It is awe-aspiring that brands of today don’t feel any hesitation to weigh in on some hot-button topics. Let’s see what 2018 has in store for the advertising world!

Email marketing continued to be a powerful tool for businesses, and several innovative ideas helped enhance campaign success. Personalization remained crucial, with segmented lists and tailored content driving engagement. Interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and clickable imagery added to email creativity and user involvement. The rise of mobile-first designs made responsive emails a must for reaching a wider audience A large number of emails hit your subscribers’ inboxes every day. In this highly fierce business world, brands can’t afford to lose interest in their subscribers. But if truth be told, on average, 25% of your email list will die off every year, and the trend is projected to carry over in the encroaching year. Therefore, email list retention should be a high priority for nearly every brand. If your subscribers have stopped engaging but remain subscribed, they can damage your email engagement and deliverability rate. However, creating effective re-engagement emails tailor-made for your inactive subscribers can do wonders. If done right, re-engagement emails can reduce the list churn rate and boost your email engagement rate. Re-engaging your inactive subscribers can help you maintain inbox placement rates for your emails. If you are looking for some effective ways of reviving the flame with your inactive users who no longer respond to your emails but remain subscribed. Here are some stellar and creative email re-engagement examples to inspire your next email marketing campaign in 2018 to win back the interest of your inactive subscribers. Also Read: Different Ways How Email Marketing Can Help You Grow Your Business

1. L.Bean

L.L.Bean has decided to incorporate a friendly tone in their emails to pique the curiosity of their inactive subscribers. While their dormant members may have missed a lot by not keeping up, the Email reassures them that they still have time to catch up. Considering that most people may not want to be bugged by a constant stream of Emails. They also offer their subscribers other ways of connecting with them, such as Twitter and Facebook. The wander-lust-inducing picture in the Email also serves to create interest in their outdoor gear.

2. Urban Outfitters

This is another great example of a re-engagement email which shows a unique yet creative way of knowing your target audience. Urban Outfitters used a format that perfectly caters to a generation that loves texting. This way, the brand succeeded in capturing the attention of its readers. The format is easy to comprehend and encourages their subscribers to read on and respond. It perfectly suits their communication style. Phrases such as “come back” and “miss you” in the subject line can resonate with your audience and make them feel special.

3. Pinkberry

Pinkberry came up with a creative idea of re-engaging their subscribers and incentivizing them by offering a free product, a sweet seduction to be sure. They used the term “miss you” to make their readers feel emotionally connected. After all, there’s nothing like a free froyo to say “Welcome back bro”!

4. Grammarly

Grammarly used an interesting way to re-engage its inactive subscribers by giving them a badge called a “Wrinkle in Time badge”. They used a persuasive CTA button GO to encourage its users to click the button and use the service again. They also persuaded their readers to check their premium version and encouraged them to check the special price.

5. 9th & Elm

The brand used a masterpiece in its subject line: “Sometimes you just need a little space”. The understanding statement softens the hearts of the subscribers and makes them realize how approachable and considerate the sender can be. 9th and Elm maintain an extremely polite tone when they ask their subscribers to take a decision: part ways without any strings attached or re-engage. This option is cleverly displayed at the end of the Email. This email preference reassures the subscribers that the decision of whether they want a future with the brand is entirely theirs and theirs alone.

6. Habitat

Habitat came up with a creative way to keep their email subscribers engaged and in the know at all times. They gave them the option to engage and encouraged them to connect on Facebook to stay abreast of their latest developments.

7. BirchBox

Who doesn’t love surprises? Surprises come with a lot of emotional baggage, ringing a distant bell and making us feel almost childlike again. Birch Tree has beautifully leveraged this sentiment in their re-engagement email by providing their subscribers with two amazing options which they can garner at subscription. What a rewarding way to re-engage!

8. Feelunique

Feelunique tries to win back its inactive subscribers by giving them a plethora of exciting offers. They offer their subscribers a chance to join their VIP shopping club and avail 10% off on every product for a lifetime. For subscribers, it’s rather impossible to resist these exciting offers.

9. Lowe’s

Lowe’s sent a re-engagement email to capture the attention of their inactive subscribers by informing them that they have made some improvements in their products since they have been away. They have smartly highlighted how millions of satisfied members are using their services. They also incorporated social media buttons in the footer to create more engagement across multiple platforms as well.

10. Crocs

Cross strives to win back its inactive subscribers by offering an exclusive discount of $10 on their next purchase. They have adorably humanized their brand with the “sniff sniff” microcopy. They tried to sway their subscribers by highlighting a message at the bottom of the copy training to their shoe donations, showing how they are bringing comfort to people in need.

Are You Ready to Win Back Your Inactive Subscribers?

Every brand that uses email marketing as an integral part of their digital marketing strategy should create an effective re-engagement email marketing strategy to revive their email subscriber list and engage with their marketing content. Come up with a unique and hard-to-resist approach to bring your old customers back and increase your chances of getting more leads and conversions. Try these innovative re-engagement email marketing ideas to bring your lapsed subscribers back into the pool of active customers and re-engage their interest in your brand through unique and fresh content.

2017 is pirouetting on the brink now and over the year, we have witnessed our fair share of quite a few interesting developments in data trends. “As every entrepreneur and investor sifts through year-end data to predict the next trend or opportunity for financial success, there is a much easier way of accurately predicting the future: hang out with those who are creating it.”–Jay Samit - Author and Digital Media Innovator. The above quote perfectly embodies the dilemma that each digital marketer or everybody operating their own business goes through as the curtains fall on yet another year. Social media websites tried every trick in the book to woo people towards their specific websites and offered new and exciting features. Let me offer you a quick sneak-peak back into the year that is crawling by:

• Twitter tried hard to grow its user base but in vain as Facebook led the way.
• Twitter even introduced the 280 characters tweet but that only served to enraged-hard Twitter fans.
• LinkedIn made major inroads in making sure they are a force to reckon with, especially by garnering a place in the Microsoft family.

Now as we drag through the last few remnants of 2017, we need to set our sights on what’s in store for us in the year to come. If you’re a brand builder aspiring to ace your marketing plan for the encroaching year, it is crucial to get to grip on the projected data trends. A clearer picture is beginning to emerge when it comes to predicting the hottest data trends for 2018. Following are 5 such trends that brands across the globe need to pay heed to, to make sure that their marketing plans are in top-notch shape.

1. Real-Time Data

Real-time data will probably ride the waves of popularity for companies worldwide. Marketing honchos and business owners together need to make adjustments in real time to get the better of their rival firms. To achieve a better ROI, this is going to be a crucial factor for businesses to discover real-time data analytics tools and apply them to fruitful results.

2. Artificial Intelligence

In the coming year, the combination of artificial intelligence and data analysis will be a lethal one, to say the least. With the integration of AI technology into various data analysis platforms, digital marketing agencies can now truly leverage the power of AI to maximize their marketing ROI (Return on Investment).

3. Predictive Analysis

Once AI and machine learning start leading the way in 2018, predictive analysis will also bask in the limelight. It will primarily be used by companies to understand patterns in their data and subsequently make business decisions based on those pattern analyses. Businesses are sure to see a steady rise in many types of predictive analytics like Geo-Location and HR, among a plethora of others.

4. Data Visualization

Another vital factor that is going to be huge in marketing will be data visualization. Business owners no longer need to scratch their heads in bewilderment as they can use visual data offered as a service by companies adept in it. This is surely poised to be a major game changer for companies around the world.

5. Distributed/Blockchain

Distributed/blockchain analytical options will be a major factor for businesses as customers are increasingly looking for transparency in their operations and service standards. This push for transparency will make way for data analytics to take center stage. With the recent astronomical rise in the blockchain sector, analytics tools in this concern will give companies an option to share their stats with their customers and ensure complete transparency in every aspect.

Final Thought

The above-mentioned data trends are poised to revolutionize the way businesses manage their digital marketing and take care of critical data. I am sure that with a better awareness of these trends, you will be better prepared to tackle any problem in this concern.

My college friend is an ambitious website designer. Just like any custom website design agency, my friend dreamed of rocking the boat with his website design skills. But as they say, when the fog settles down it is then we see what our target is. Although it was a magnificent piece of artwork when it came to design, my friend started worrying about when he started generating leads with the website. So, this was the time when I stepped in. We had a three-hour meetup in a Coffee shop (I take a high dose of Coffee whenever I need to think) and along came some ideas that can help my friend to start generating leads for his business.

20 Tips To Start Generating Leads With Your Website

Here you go:

     1. Start with Prospects' Pain Points:

Of course, the whole business is about your prospect, but we realize that on our website there were no pain points that we were addressing or demonstrating anything that can help the potential customer understand how our product will solve their problem. We revamped the website, the text, the photos, and even the taglines to what users really wanted.

     2. Educate About your Product:

It doesn’t matter if the product is new or old, you need to educate the users on how to use your product. Make videos, and slideshows, and show the user how the product is helping them to solve their problems. One thing you need to focus on is the creative. Be creative and make your users fall in love with how you display the why of your business.

     3. Use Persuasive Call-to-action Buttons:

You need to tell the users when and where to buy the product. Make clear and big “Buy Now” or “Order Now” buttons throughout your website. Integrate links into your blogs that will redirect users to the services you’re offering.

      4. Use the Power of Internal Linking:

At times when you write a blog, you solve a problem. And when users visit your website they are trying to solve their problem. In your blogs, you can use internal links that can help users to better understand their problem and once they understand it they will ask you to solve the problem for you.

      5. Write Content for a Kindergarten Kid:

Don’t ever let your users second-guess what you’re trying to say. If you’re selling a product ask them to buy the product. If you’re informing about a product launch make it easy for the users to relate to their problems. How your product can solve their problems?

      6. Use Persuasive Headlines to Steal Their Hearts:

Of course, you don’t know who is going to visit your website that is why you need to keep it neutral for both genders. The main goal here is to engage users with headlines that can find a sweet spot between your consumer and what service you’re offering.

      7. Build Your Brand:

It is not just about starting a business or making money. The goal here is to establish a brand personality for your brand. And align that personality with the needs of your consumer. Take human traits like honesty, transparency, and humor and defuse them into your brand personality.

      8. Include Visually Appealing Graphics:

Don’t just shoot your products with any digital camera. Use DSLR to take photos that can win the hearts of your customers. Pictures when done right, can trigger emotions and force the users to buy from you.

      9. Don’t Ignore SEO:

So what if you have the best product on your website? If the product doesn’t reach the user, what good it is in the first place? Plan to do SEO on your website. Hire an affordable SEO services agency to make peace of mind and focus on other important stuff.

      10. Make Your Products Searchable:

Use an intuitive search bar so that users can search for your products without thinking too much about them. Give them suggestions and learn their search behaviors. Make suggestions based on their patterns.

      11. Position Your Top Team in the Market:

When Tony Hsieh started using Zapppos.com Twitter handle, sales skyrocketed to around 250%. Why? Because people started trusting Zappos more when the CEO himself was on social media interacting with the public. Make your top managers write blogs for your niche.

      12. Be in the Front:

If people don’t see you often, they will soon forget you for sure. You need to be there in the front. With your blogs, with your promotions, and with your marketing strategies. Research shows that blogging 2-3 times a week captures most of the benefit in terms of customer acquisition.

      13. Keep an Email List:

Your marketing efforts depend upon the people you reach. You need to give as much information as you can to your audience and engage them to ask for more. Give eBooks, a marketing plan, or even a social media strategy, and ask users to give their email in return. Use that list to know what users want and give them the solution.

      14. Add Social Media Buttons:

Is your brand on social? If yes, are there multiple ways that users can connect with you on social media? If not, make sure you do it right now. Give users the option to connect with you with their favorite social media.

      15. Make it Easy to Connect with You:

Don’t assume that readers will think to copy your link. Make it easy for them to send your posts to friends and colleagues.

      16. Make it Easy for Users to Connect with You:

Make it easy for potential buyers to connect with you. One thing you can do is to include your “contact us” in your call to action buttons. A simple number, email, or even a social media connection can help your user to connect with you.

      17. Use Comments to Engage:

Offer prospects the opportunity to interact with your firm via the comments section of your blog. While this may not be as direct as other ways of using your blog, it can help you by getting questions in the open and answered.

      18. Make Fans Contribute to Your Blog:

One sure-shot way for brands to engage users is to allow them to guest post on your website. Alternatively, feature a customer of the week to help readers identify with other consumers.

      19. Connect with Users on Social Media:

Offer customers the ability to connect with you on social media. Give them ways to connect with you. This will allow them to build trust and do business with you.

      20. Promote Your Brand on Other Forms of Internal or Owned Media:

Expand the reach of your website using your other forms of internal media such as your emails, customer service interaction, signature files, and packaging. While this may sound like it’s circular, it helps introduce your website to people you didn’t know were interested in your content.

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Our digital marketing agency cares more about your ROI than your profits. That is why we are here to turn your ideas into reality. For award-winning websites & game-changing apps contact us now!

You’ve probably noticed that the use of virtual reality (VR) has nearly tripled in just one year. Everyone wants to incorporate it into their business strategy. Virtual reality is the new must-have piece of content that is now considered a sustainable content solution. And while every brand is rushing to reveal its VR experience, some are investing their time and efforts in creating solid strategies that will ensure a better return on investment. Despite what others think about virtual reality, it’s important to carefully figure out if your visual content strategy really needs VR in the first place. According to Content Marketing Institute, 71% of consumers think a brand that uses VR is forward-thinking. One thing is for sure, these forward-thinking brands stand out and gain more customer attention. Creating a content marketing strategy for virtual reality requires a deeper understanding of engagement through interactivity.

6 Must-Haves for Creating Content Marketing Strategy for VR

      1. Consider Your Existing Audience First

How do your ideal customers consume your content? Determine the medium – webinar, Q&A, live videos, or vlogs. Regardless of the type of medium or the content schedule you have created. You can continue with that strategy by implementing VR technology. If you focus on video marketing, you can start creating VR content on Facebook Spaces. Mobile app companies can infuse virtual reality content for use with an iPhone, Samsung, or Google VR headset. Let’s take the example of Stubhub, they allow their customers to see a 360-degree VR view from their actual seats, on every ticket purchase. By incorporating VR, Stubhub.com is now able to offer a great customer experience and help customers better navigate to a purchase. The brand is intelligently solving your customers' problems by tweaking their existing content to enable VR abilities.

      2. Create a Unique Experience

Let’s accept it, virtual reality is not about the content, it’s all about offering the best user experience. Your content marketing strategy should be devised in a way that gives customers an in-depth view of your product offerings.   Take Shopify – the ecommerce giant, as an example. The ecommerce platform is about to release its latest thread studio, which is basically a VR app that will take customers into a virtual studio to view products. Once the customer has chosen his favorite color and design, he sent to Shopify’s print-on-demand provider. From here, customers can bring their virtual vision to life. In the future, brick-and-mortar stores will be replaced by virtual stores that allow consumers to walk through and browse without being physically present at the store.

      3. Keep Long Distance Customers in Mind

VR will make it simpler to craft content for long distance buyer pool. As VR will transform the home buying process, it will also help realtors take their widely located potential buyers through a completely virtual tour of their property. Now customers from all around the world can see a home inside and out just like they are visiting physically. Real estate businesses will be able to allow their clients the ability to make custom changes to the home by using the VR app, offering a more interactive user experience and giving clients an immersive view of what it would be like to live in the home.

      4. Give Customers an Immersive View of Products

Showing consumers a visual of what household items, furniture, and other products will look like is an important way to encourage them to make a purchase decision. Take home improvement giant Lowe’s Innovation Labs as an example. The brand has already added a VR element that is truly based on the concept of home customization. The home improvement design and visualization VR tool Holoroom takes homeowners through a model home and provides a look at what the home would look like with home improvement products. They provide their customers with an immersive, intuitive experience in the home of their dreams.

      5. Offer an Emotional Journey

You can take your customers on an emotional journey through your virtual reality content. Here, emotional refers to, what your target customers are most passionate about and craft content that meets those areas. For instance, if you are writing a travel blog, probably your main goal is to promote the vacation packages you have mentioned in the blog. You can provide customers a one-of-a-kind experience by taking them to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, or atop the Eye of London through the impressiveness of virtual reality. Honor Everywhere offers a virtual reality experience to military veterans and allows them to visit the war memorials and enjoy the experience using VR headsets.

      6. Encourage User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is gradually becoming a staple in content marketing. The main objective of content marketing is to create communities, user-generated VR content is a new concept that will drive further development in VR hardware. In the future, consumers will be able to equip themselves with 360-degree cameras to create their own finest VR experiences. Tools like Facebook Spaces, YouTube, Periscope, and Insta360 allow people to shoot advanced content via their phones. And brands can easily integrate user-generated VR videos onto their website. Digital marketing agencies looking to make VR a significant part of their digital marketing efforts should prepare themselves. It’s never too early to come up with a compelling UGC campaign idea, as in the coming years, the demand for user-generated VR content will continue to grow.

Okay! What’s Next?

Should your 2018 content strategy include virtual reality? For many brands, the answer is a big NO. 2017 is the year when businesses at least start acknowledging its presence and start implementing it in their businesses. In addition, the innovation of VR marketing strategies proves it is going to be a major player in the future of content marketing. Content creators should start A/B testing with virtual reality technology. You can start with individual posts or landing pages, and gauge the user response. And create your 2018 content marketing strategy accordingly. Trust me, there is no ideal time than present to start thinking of innovative ways to make VR beneficial for your brand.

From traditional to digital, marketing has gone through a paradigm shift. Slowly but surely, digital marketing is replacing digital marketing. More and more users are using their mobile phones to access the internet. With the exponential rise in the popularity of social apps, marketers have to adapt to succeed. Among those popular social apps is Instagram, a photo-sharing app that has attracted more businesses than any other social app. It offers businesses the opportunity to showcase their products and services in front of its massive user base which is very active on the platform. The added advantage of seeing products and services in action along with the opportunity to explore new products and services brings customers to Instagram. Brands can get the best out of Instagram by implementing effective marketing strategies that are focused on increasing brand awareness, reach, and user engagement. But, what does a successful Instagram marketing strategy look like? Here is an infographic that shares 10 successful Instagram marketing strategies that can take your brand one step closer to Instagram success.

Despite knowing the statistics and click rate, everyday marketers come up with the latest banner ad ideas. Or more irritating, autopay video. And the reason is simple! Okay... do you remember when was the last time you intentionally clicked on the banner ad? And what was the sole reason behind it? There are a ton of spammy, horrible ads floating around because they are being presented with no value and lack context, and eventually, many of us think they are untrustworthy. More than 60% of banner ads are clicked accidentally. While only 9% of them are viewed for more than 1 second. Marketers always struggle hard to increase sales and generate more and more website traffic using marketing techniques such as content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, webinars, influencer marketing, video marketing, or any other technique that can boost their bottom line. But modern consumers are more intelligent than ever before, they sense these techniques and easily get irritated by belligerent ads. But sadly, marketers aimlessly sell banner ads despite knowing the fact that consumers won’t click purposefully on those banner ads. In 1994, Joe McCambley created the first banner ad for AT&T and it disseminated very quickly. The banner-ad pioneer, McCambley said in his article for Harvard Business Review.

“Banner ads didn’t always suck. I should know. I helped create the first one. My children tell me that’s like inventing smallpox”.

To prevent this digital disease, many browsers such as Safari launched a feature that disables cross-site cookie tracking, whereas Google Chrome is soon launching its built-in ad blockers for its users. In March 2017, SmartInsights reported that across all ad formats and placements, the ad click-through-rate is only 0.05%. Online marketers are unable to increase digital revenue and the amount of traffic through banner ads selling. However, they can improve their sales and conversion rates by effectively using digital marketing channels. Here are some tips and tricks for marketers that help them improve their marketing strategy and increase their digital revenue.

Improve the Speed of Your Mobile Website

Well, it’s no wonder if your website is slow or takes forever to load, no one bothers to stay on it. And if no one stays on your website, no one is purchasing any product from your website. Improving your website speed must be a high priority. If you improve your website speed, especially on mobile by 30%, chances are you will grow your mobile revenue by 25x.

Improve Your Customer Acquisition Strategy

Stop investing your time, energy, and money on low-intent or irrelevant customers. Instead, focus your efforts on determining the right customers who are actually willing to spend consistently. These are the best customers on which marketers should be investing their time and efforts and drive them to your websites.  

Embrace the Power of Behavioral Email

Sending the same email out to your prospect list, regardless of their interests won’t help your customers. It will only increase the unsubscribe rate. So, if you are aimlessly sending your emails to your prospects without knowing their pain points and interests, and emailing at a 0.3% unsubscribe rate, then in the near future you are simply not going to have anyone left to send a newsletter or email.   Instead, start focusing on sending behavioral emails. In behavior emails, you can send the most relevant and to-the-point message to a targeted group of people based on their interests, and actions they are actually taking in real-time. This includes shopping behavior, cart abandonment ratio, sending messages on their devices, and realizing the fact that it takes at least four to five visits for a new user to purchase for the first time from your website.

Discover New Revenue Generating Tactics

Let’s face it, consumer-based marketing is the future. Brands are not marketing to cookies anymore, they are marketing to real people. So, the first step you can take to generate revenue is to identify who is actually visiting your website and observe what they are doing when they stay at your website. Online marketers who accept changes and prefer a consumer-centric approach are able to generate more revenue across all the existing digital marketing channels. By smartly using these channels, marketers can attract the right customers using the right strategy.  

Key Takeaways

The digital landscape is changing, marketers need to stay ahead of the curve by using smart tactics and marketing strategy. You can generate the best ROI by solving customers’ pain areas with valuable information, outstanding customer experience, and incentives. No matter the type of marketing channel you are using, the rules are the same. Identify your audience, know their interests and pain areas, create things they’ll love, and then measure your marketing impact.

Did you know that more than 55% of consumers plan to shop online and in stores on the biggest shopping weekends of the year – Black Friday and Cyber Monday? The holiday shopping season is just around the corner. Excited? Me too. Some statistics suggest, that in 2016, Black Friday generated 3.6x more orders, whereas, Cyber Monday generated 3.1x more orders than the average number of orders received in November. Adobe named Cyber Monday 2016 was the biggest online sales in the history of US retail as it made $3.39 billion online in a single day… which is a 10.2% increase year-over-year. Frankly speaking, it is one of the most revenue-generating days of the year for many businesses and your social media campaign plays a crucial role. Nothing entices shoppers more than a good shopping deal, all you need a marketing magic to generate more leads and sales. So, what does your digital marketing agency need to do during the largest sales days?    To better prepare you for successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday social media campaigns. Here are some amazing social media marketing campaign ideas you can freely steal and implement to make some new sales records this season. Let's get to it!

Stick to the Basics

Whether you are going to start an email marketing campaign for Black Friday or Cyber Monday or planning to come up with some unique social media campaign for this holiday season. Keep these basic things in mind as you need to stand out from the rest this holiday season and make more money.

1. Offer Inexpensive Shipping

Appropriateness and reliability matter more especially in this holiday weekend. Free shipping is a number one incentive for the majority of shoppers. While same-day and two-day shipping also makes shoppers shop online. So, make sure you have a smooth and fast shipping process to attract more and more customers this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  

2. Don’t Forget Mobile Buyers

As more and more people are turning to smartphones when it comes to online shopping, still mobile conversion rates on smartphones were only 1.9% as compared to desktop conversion rates of 4.3%, according to Adobe report. Smartphones play a key role in generating Black Friday Cyber Monday traffic, so there is a huge opportunity for brands to avail this opportunity and make the traffic double, triple, or even quadruple. Make sure your website is responsive, looks perfect, and works well on all mobile devices.  

3. Focus your Efforts on the Right Channel

Always invest your time and efforts in the channel where your audience is present. It is advised to focus on a few networks that can generate more traffic, engagement, and eventually revenue. Your brand doesn’t need to be present everywhere.

4. Start Planning and Implement Early

Don’t wait until the last minute to run your social media campaign and expect big results. Start planning your campaign ahead of time. Decide what you want to achieve with BFCM social media campaigns. What are your goals, success metrics, and target audience? And how do you reach them? So, start preparing and execute as early as possible.

5. Create a Landing Page  

If you are planning to promote your Black Friday Cyber Monday deals on social media, creating a landing page is a worthwhile option. You can create separate landing pages for both occasions. This way you can convey your brand message and offer special deals while increasing your chances of an improved conversion rate. You can create different landing pages for your sales efforts in different product categories. Okay, let's jump into some great ideas for your BFCM social media campaigns.

Special Deals and Discount Offers

Adobe reported prices of televisions, tablets, toys, and pet care were unbelievingly dropped in 2016. So, you can also come up with an amazing discount deal for the BFCM season. You can start sharing your top selling products or discounted deals on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and can get some orders through special sale offers of BFCM. If you add high levels of creativity, you end up with great results. eBay offered the best deals on Black Friday in 2016 and announced it on Facebook. Have a look at Amazon's top lightning deals, especially made for Black Friday. They show amazing discounts, urgency, and a shortage of products just to create BFCM madness. Chubbies come up with a unique idea of Cyber Monday or Thighber Monday deal - they offered 12 different gifts for 12 different hours. This trick not only makes the customer pay money for cool gifts but also creates curiosity among shoppers to keep checking back for more gifts that Chubbies brings every hour. Oh and by the way, if you want amazing hosting deals, do check out Black Friday hosting deals on HostNoc. 

Boycott BFCM

Have you ever thought of boycotting BFCM? Of course not! They are the most popular shopping days of the year, in fact, the best time for retailers to take the cash from customers. At this time of the year, when everyone is getting mad about Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, why not boycott BFCM? Let’s take an example of REI, an outdoor clothing and gear store. They suspended their online sales on Black Friday and started an amazing #OptOutdoors campaign. If REI can do it, so can you. Change the perception of BFCM, come up with a unique idea to attract customers, and make a good profit from this BFCM.

Use Live Streaming Videos

Live videos are one of the hottest digital marketing trends these days. Nowadays, users prefer to watch Facebook Live videos 3X more than those that are not live, Facebook reports. In addition, users comment 10x more on Facebook Live videos. Also Read: Latest Trends in B2B Digital Marketing for Brand High level of engagement, instant feedback, real-time value, and users’ interest - the benefits of live videos are unlimited. The idea of going live streaming with Facebook Live can do wonders this BFCM season. Yes, try it! Let’s take an example of boohoo.com here, they ran a campaign: “We are giving away a prize a minute, just comment your answer for the chance to win! Head over to Boohoo for up to 50% off + free delivery for Black Friday” So, invite your fans to attend the live session and offer special deals for them to hold their interest.

Add a Pinch of Humor

Insert some humor into your social media posts and it can do wonders for your brand. Make your customers laugh, if you add a little humor to your campaigns, people will open their wallets for you.

Still not Convinced? Here are a Few Reasons:

• Humor works because it attracts the attention of people, especially on social media.
• Humor makes your brand unforgettable and creates a strong emotional connection.
• Humor puts customers in a pleasant mood and this happiness becomes associated with your brand.

Stay away from serious, generic BFCM social media posts, and come up with some funny social media copy, just like Amazon did. Any brand can be funny, add social media humor this holiday shopping season.

Run Paid Campaigns

Your options are limitless when it comes to paid social media campaigns. Run your paid campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other channel where your audience spends most of their time. It is advised to retarget campaigns for BFCM this year and you will be all set to stay ahead of most competitors.

Key Takeaways

Go beyond creating a tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram hashtag for the biggest sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Social media is filled with endless opportunities around the shopping season, it’s up to you to get the most out of them. There is no need for a massive fanbase to run a BFCM social media campaign, all you need is a creative idea, proper planning, the right channel, the right audience, and a pinch of humor to run a successful BFCM social media campaign.

Marketing managers and team leads of all the companies look to achieve the target given to them to succeed. It’s a race to the top! Each company looks to attract a maximum number of eyeballs on its website and ultimately convert the visitors into leads. A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead judged more likely to become a customer compared to other leads. Getting the right leads is not just difficult, for some brands it is difficult. It is wise to work with a sustainable strategy to get qualified leads and help customers come back for more business. A good lead takes time to close. It is nurtured and takes a lot of time to convert. A qualified lead is something which is ready for the salesperson to convert. It is more like a baked cake ready to be eaten. If brands take time to understand the MQL process. And how it can be leveraged to generate leads that convert visitors into raving fans. In fact, the digital marketing and sales teams work together to generate the lead. If we talk about the actual marketing qualified lead definition it is agreeing the customer to buy the product. This is done by figuring out the problem of the customer and convincing the customer to buy the product. Unless the MQL is not clear it will not help anyone in the company. The marketing qualified lead definition needs to be transparent to the whole company. Everyone from sales to marketing should know that everyone is on the same page when it comes to converting the customer, it is important to consider the fact that a lead should be solid enough to bring back the customer for more. Companies spend millions of dollars in devising the perfect marketing campaign through which they can maximize their sales. Nothing comes easy. For everything to work a company needs to start from somewhere. Starting with the MQL is the first step and this Infographic deals with 6 tips that marketers can use to reach their goal in this regard.

Young and aspiring entrepreneurs make sure they come up with a business plan which is free of any error. They deem this the most important factor for the success of their startup/SME. However, marketing and sales plans are part of an overall comprehensive business plan. Today’s fierce marketplace calls for further emphasis on the marketing plan. A marketing plan is just as critical as a business plan. Through a well-thought-out and crafted marketing plan, a company can focus on winning and keeping the customers, the strategies involved, facts and figures, and objectives. To achieve sales goals, a taut marketing plan is a necessity. Think of it as your plan of action; what you are selling, who is your target audience and the tactics involved in generating leads for completing the sales process. Many people have the misconception that a marketing plan is a lengthy document and needs to be written in a cheesy way to attract customers. The reality is few simple steps involve a marketing plan and there is no need for a bulky document. 2018 is just around the corner and companies, both seasoned players in the market and new entrants, have to rethink their strategies. The following Infographic is all about creating a marketing plan in 6 easy steps so that you can devise a strategy to make 2018 the most successful year for your venture.