Web page speed is the time taken to load the content of a web page. It determines the frequency of users visiting a website. Fast-loading content keeps the user glued to the website.

A report showed that you lose many viewers if your web page takes more than 3 seconds to load content. And if it takes 1 more second to load, by then you would have lost 90% of your viewers.

It eventually leads to people badmouthing your website which further decreases its potential viewers. This also affects the SEO of your website.

Statistics on web page speed

• Page load time 1s to 3s: it causes a 32% probability of bouncing
• Page load time 1s to 5s: it increases the probability of bouncing to 90%
• Page load time 1s to 6s: the probability of bouncing further moves up to 106%
• Page load time 1s to 10s: the probability of bouncing inclines to 123%

Some other related data

• It takes around 27.3 seconds on a mobile phone and 10.3 seconds on a desktop to fully load content
• Larger pages consume 318% more time to load than smaller pages
• Light pages load 486% faster than large pages
• Page speed insight score: 44
• Time to Interactive (TTI): 2.6 seconds
• First Contentful Paint (FCP): 2.9 seconds
• First Input Delay (FID) : 242 milliseconds
• Time To First Byte (TTFB): 3.7 seconds

A delay in the loading of content causes significant harm to the website.

Tips To Improve The Speed OF A Web Page

In this section, we will be discussing some tips to improve web page speed:

1. Reduce Image Quality

An image is essential to make your point more impactful. It is more necessary for an e-commerce site. But having more images in the content will lead to an increase in page load time.

A high-quality image takes even more time to upload, further lowering the web page speed. So what to do?

• You can reduce the number of images in your content. Just keep the effective images.
• Crop image to focus on the main content.
• Load images in jpg.
• You can reduce the size of the image to less than 100 KB to further reduce the time taken to load content. You can use various websites to reduce the size of images.

2. Optimize Videos

Many web pages contain videos. High-quality videos act as a speed blocker to web pages. To improve the speed of a web page compression videos using video compressor tools.

3. Reduce Redirects

It has been observed that redirects take more time to load content. Redirects require additional permission from HTML which takes extra time. So, try to direct your viewers straight to your website.

4. Reduce HTTP Requests

A web page consists of files, images, etc. And to load a page, a file, or an image on a server, HTTP permission is mandatory. So more the number of files and images, more are the requests required to be taken. It further increases the time required to load content on a web page. Load only what is needed. You can remove unnecessary characters like spaces, commas, etc. This will help to improve your web page speed.

5. Use AJAX

Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. It is a technique which helps to boost speed while loading content. It prepares content to be loaded beforehand while the viewer is still viewing previous pages. It has unique techniques and is one of the best ways to improve web page speed.

6. Server Response Time

To improve web page speed, server response time needs to be improved. Look for problems that are delaying server response. Have a look at memory or slow routing, etc. Lack of memory drastically decreases the speed of the server. Fix these issues to improve server response time.

7. Page Caching

Look for plugins or websites to serve cached pages. Cached pages improve the speed of loading web page content. You can use plugins like W3 Total cache if you are a WordPress user. This page caching plugin helps to load pages quickly.

Hence, optimizing page cache helps to boost speed. Make sure your browser is utilizing local memory.

8. Use CDN

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. You can use CDN to increase web page loading time. Example: Amazon Cloud front.

Conclusion

Here we have discussed a few ways which will help you to improve web page speed. To maintain loyal customers, a good number of viewers, as well as a good rank on search engines, it is important to improve your web page speed.

According to data, a user likes content to load within 3 seconds. If it takes more time, then the probability of bouncing increases significantly. It causes more harm to an e-commerce site.

E-commerce sites have to load more images and files to tell visitors about their products in detail. So, the chances of delay in web page speed are quite high. Most importantly, it causes the customer to lose interest to visit the site.

Hence, it reduces the probability of the shopper returning to that site. So, make sure you effectively manage that and use good techniques to improve web page speed.

The post How To Improve Web Page Speed appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

With the emergence of schema.org in 2011, the world of SEO and SERPs underwent a monumental facelift.

However, the rate of adoption for the said structured data markup has not been as satisfactory as one would have hoped for.

Even though contemporary SEO practices have moved further away from their keyword-stuffing days, there is still a wide scope for improvement.

Including the integration of structured data, there are a lot of under-the-hood changes that SEO experts can make to win the rank race.

So, if solutions are already out there, what restricts several website owners and their chosen SEO analysts from pursuing them?

Most commonly, the biggest impediment to SEO success is a lack of technical know-how. For instance, some people are still perplexed over what structured data means.

We’re here to hopefully change that!

What exactly is structured data

In layman terms, structured data is nothing but a snippet of code written in a specific format. It is designed in a way to make immediate sense to search engines.

So, by integrating structured data into the code of your website, you’re merely telling search engines what your website is all about.

Consequently, when your webpage pops up on a search, it is displayed in a descriptive format rich in the information provided by the structured data.

Hence, the top results in a typical Google search are often manifested in the form of ‘Rich Snippets’.

Now, if you’re wondering why should you even bother with persuading Google to display your webpage as a ‘Rich Snippet’, here’s an interesting figure.

Studies have indicated that by the virtue of a rich snippet, click-through-rates for a product can soar as high as 677%. Take a moment to digest the magnitude of this number.

When viewed from a different lens, this phenomenon also translates into a 20-40% increase in traffic.

Let’s revisit our definition of structured data with this new information.

We can say that structured data is a format-specific snippet of code that allows search engines to index your webpage in a detailed manner. This improved communication between the webpage and the search engine thereby leads to favourable outcomes.

But, just knowing what structured data means doesn’t have many practical applications. To reap the traffic-increase and CTO-surge reported above, you must acquire the technical skills needed to implement structured data.

In other words, you need to familiarise yourself with the ins-and-outs of a few technical tools.

Structured Data: A technical perspective

The speediest solution to implementing structured data is to use the Schema WordPress plugin.

But, even if you wish to go the plugin route, you still need to know how to use the WordPress console.

Once you set the plugin up, you’ll be able to add structured data using various schema types and publication categories.

However, even though plugins are easy-to-implement, they don’t give you the ground-level control that manually entering schema markup does.

So, if you’re ready to get your hands dirty, it is time to fire up Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.

Here’s a breakdown of what you need to do next:-

• Choose the website tab, select your preferred data type, and enter the URL of the target website.
• Click on the ‘Start Tagging’ Button.
• Now, based on the data type of your choice, the tool will display data items on the right side of the screen. Simultaneously, your webpage will occupy the left side of the screen.
• Pick and choose different components from the left portion of the screen to fill up data items on the right. You can also add custom data tags by clicking the ‘Add missing tags’ button.
• Once you’re done tagging the elements of your choice, move to the top right area of the screen and click the ‘Create HTML’ button.
• The script thus created will be in the JSON-LD semantic annotation. Since this is the annotation preferred by Google, you don’t need to tamper with it.
• Thereafter, add the markup to your website’s code. (You have the option to download the script as an HTML file).
• Lastly, click the ‘Finish’ button and wait for the tool to prompt you further.

You can also identify issues with your structured data using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

Structured Data: The Impact

At a time when voice search is among the key technologies that are at the epicentre of future SEO developments, structured data is bound to be a significant concern for SEO experts all around.

Firstly, optimising content for featured snippets also ensures that it gets picked up by voice search. In fact, 40.7% of voice search answers come from featured snippets.

Secondly, properly implementing structured data and following Google’s general structured data guidelines helps with the said optimisation.

By inference, focusing on structured data will increase the voice search traffic that your website gets.

Furthermore, enterprise customers of the schema app reported that the mere addition of schema markup led to a myriad of business-centric results including 35% more conversions, 26% more clicks, 20% higher CTR, and more.

Structured data also helps with enhancing the usability of AMPs or accelerated mobile pages.

Given how 63% of Google’s search engine visits in the US are mobile searches, joining in on the multiple benefits of AMPs only makes sense.

All in all, structured data has SEO-centric practical applications that not only deliver results in the present but are also going to stay relevant for a sizeable time period.

The Take-Away

Even though structured data is not a ranking factor in itself, it influences many aspects of your website that real ranking factors are concerned with.

Moreover, earning the top positions in organic search is getting more and more intricate with each passing day.

In such a landscape, you can’t neglect essential practices and hope to stay ahead of the curve!

The post What is Structured Data and Why is it Important? appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

In a world where 93% of all online experiences start with a search engine, marketers cannot afford to miss out on the treasure trove of conversion opportunities that search engine marketing provides.

However, like most marketing channels, SEM is an umbrella term that contains different factions.

SEO, the first sub-specification of SEM, is concerned with organic methods of generating traffic. PPC advertising, the second sub-specification of SEM, is SEO’s paid counterpart.

The above remark may seem like an oversimplification of two broad marketing areas, but the focal point of our discussion has little to do with definitions.

We’re here to question the validity of treating SEO and PPC advertising as opposing forces.

Let’s start with two foundational statements:-

• SEO and PPC deliver proven results
• SEO doesn’t negatively affect PPC and vice-versa

Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to infer that the most effective SEM practices should leverage both, SEO, as well as PPC, in a combined fashion.

But, we don’t expect to throw seemingly far-fetched principles in your face and expect you to play ball. So, let’s dive deeper into the two statements mentioned above.

SEO and PPC deliver proven results

If you have doubts regarding the efficacy of SEM practices, a change of opinion is only a google search away.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll find:-

• A 2017 study suggests that 87% of marketers believe SEO to be a profitable endeavour.
• In the US alone, 1.3 million businesses were able to generate $335 billion of economic activity using Google’s search and advertising tools.
• A 2016 study by Formstack dictates that PPC ads are among the three biggest reasons for on-page conversions.

We can go on and on, but you get the idea.

Furthermore, given the myriad of analytical tools out there, it isn’t difficult to track the results that your business’ SEM initiatives create.

Even if you use nothing but Google Analytics, you’ll still end up with more insights than you’d know what to do with.

All in all, the individual effectiveness of SEO and PPC strategies has been heavily demonstrated over the years.

The takeaway is that they just work!

SEO doesn’t negatively affect PPC and vice-versa

Upon careful evaluation, you’ll recognise that the two clauses in this statement share a reciprocal relationship.

The first clause asserts that effective PPC advertising has no malicious bearing on the intended results of SEO practices.

The second clause states that the inverse is also true.

Now, before we tread into the realm of redundancy, let’s talk about some insights from around 400 studies conducted by Google.

Researchers found that even if you completely remove paid ads from the equation, only an abysmally low percentage of lost clicks is recovered in the form of organic traffic.

More precisely, about 89% of incremental clicks lost by eliminating the influence of PPC advertising are lost permanently.

This clearly shows that PPC-generated traffic doesn’t share any major overlaps with SEO-generated traffic.

But, what about the impact that SEO has on PPC advertising?

Consider the situation in which a user searches for “best bedside tables”, and a product from your website pops up among various paid ads.

However, the caveat in this hypothetical example is that we’re assuming your website also occupies one of the top organic positions.

The point that we’re trying to drive home is that when effective SEO practices work in synergy with effective PPC strategies, your website ends up with the maximum SERP coverage.

The decreasing visual differences between both these channels further reinforce the above argument.

The math beyond this point is fairly simple. The more your website shows up in search results, the higher are your chances of conversion.

As Rand Fishkin from moz.com explains, simultaneous exposure to PPC ads and organic results is more powerful than individual exposure to each marketing channel.

How SEO and PPC can work hand-in-hand

The most prominent intersection between SEO and PPC occurs at the time of keyword research.

Since both marketing channels depend heavily on keyword optimisation, insights gathered by working on one channel can be subsequently used to propel growth in the other.

But, before getting into the nitty-gritty of how SEO and PPC can synergistically boost conversions, one thing needs to be made clear.

Working on SEO is like running a marathon whereas investing in PPC advertising is analogous to executing a sprint. The former takes a lot longer than the latter to yield results.

However, SEO-generated results are also more permanent in nature.

So, if you’re starting from scratch, you can leverage the immediate results generated by PPC advertising to discover a few effective keywords.

Consequently, you can use this information to kickstart your SEO initiatives.

Thereafter, when your SEO efforts gain some traction, you can use the keyword data from your success to re-energise your PPC campaigns.

And the cycle goes on …

The Take-Away  

Generating organic traffic ceased to be free a long time ago.

Given the cutthroat competition that plagues the top spots on organic results, you cannot hope to drive conversions without the help of a seasoned SEO analyst.

Also, given how long it takes for SEO strategies to kick-off, it would be foolish to discount the power of PPC advertising.

Simply put, irrespective of how you approach SEM, you cannot drive conversions without investing time and resources.

However, by viewing SEO and PPC as birds of the same feather, you:-

• Increase brand awareness
• Maximise SERP coverage
• Bolster your keyword research
• Generate quantifiable results
• Maximise your long-term as well as short-term ROI

So, by all means, let them flock together!

The post SEO and PPC — The Rivalry That Never Should Have Existed appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

Investing time and energy in social media marketing without tying your efforts to a strategy is like participating in an archery contest with a blindfold on.

But, merely having a social media strategy is not the cure to all your marketing woes.

You need to ensure that your strategy is driven by data and not by whims. In sophisticated terms, you need to narrow down a social media strategy that is results-driven.

Several questions naturally stem from the above statement.

For instance,

• What does results-driven even mean?
• Which results are we talking about?
• How are they measured?
• To what extent should the said results be measured?

And so on …

The answers to these questions will help us in uncovering what a results-driven digital marketing strategy looks like, and how you can build one.

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

What does results-driven even mean?

Within the purview of our discussion, think of a results-driven strategy as one that engenders measurable progress by leveraging the insights provided by quantifiable metrics.

To make the most out of your results-driven action-plan, you should navigate your marketing efforts by:-

• Setting S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Based) goals.
• Delineating sensible metrics to track your progress on those goals.
• Being open to experimental ideas.
• Using your failures to discover room for improvement.
• Taking action based upon your learnings.

Brainstorm S.M.A.R.T. Goals

The full form of this acronym is not nearly as important as its essence. So, we’ll not entangle you with a letter-by-letter analysis of what S.M.A.R.T. goals are.

(However, here’s a brilliant resource if you want to want to approach the rest of this sub-heading with an increased sense of familiarity)

Instead, we’ll focus on the practical implications inherent to this goal-setting framework, as well as the data that you should leverage.

By thinking within the box of S.M.A.R.T. goals, you no longer have the option to swim in the waters of vagueness.

As per the S.M.A.R.T. framework, it isn’t enough to strive for more sales than before.

• You need to give a number to your ambition.
• You need a number that you can track.
• You need a number that you can realistically achieve.
• You need a number that justifies its pursuit.
• You need to tie that number to a well-defined timeline.

Here’s an example of a smart goal to eliminate any confusion: Since traffic originating from Instagram generates the most conversions for my website, I strive to cumulatively increase my followers every month till the end of this quarter. I will strive for 100 more followers in the first month, 110 more followers for the second month, 120 for the third month, and 140 for the last month

Note: For the sake of creating a results-driven digital marketing strategy, it is generally better to base your S.M.A.R.T. goals on conversions rather than impressions. However, we provided a contrasting example above to assert yet another important lesson. There is no universal approach to goal setting. You just need to know what the rules are so that you also know when to break them.

Some additional considerations:-

Industry Trends:- Don’t forget to account for industry trends like seasonality (how certain industries flourish during specific parts of the year and experience a slump in other months) while focusing on conversions. This will help you in keeping your S.M.A.R.T. goals relevant as well as realistic. Use tools like Statista and SimilarWeb to gather useful insights.

Historical Data:- Use Google Analytics to get an idea of your past performance so that you have some idea about what works and what doesn’t. Identify the correlations between website traffic and marketing channels. As exhibited in the S.M.A.R.T. goals example used above, insights gained from analytical data can help you in identifying channels that yield the best ROI.

Monitor the right KPIs

A pleasant after-effect of sticking with the S.M.A.R.T. framework for goal setting is that you automatically end up with the right key performance indicators.

However, given the myriad of insights provided by modern-day digital analytics tools, it is easy to get suckered into tracking unnecessary metrics.

For instance, tracking your unsubscribe rate isn’t always a fruitful endeavour. If you are meeting your conversion goals irrespective of a somewhat displeasing unsubscribe rate, you perhaps don’t need to lose sleep over it.

Now, we’re not saying that you shouldn’t try to know your customers/potential customers as much as you can.

All we’re saying is that make sure you don’t waste time tracking metrics that don’t offer any practical benefits.

Consider saving that time and spending it on gathering valuable information instead.

Don’t overlook small details while focusing on the bigger picture

Tracking your big-picture goals is imperative to growing your business in the digital age.

However, it is also pertinent to ensure smooth functioning of the internal machinery that ensures the propagation of your digital marketing efforts.

For instance, if you’re trying to increase the organic traffic on your website, thinking from an advertising-oriented standpoint isn’t enough.

You also need to ensure that the internal processes that increase the face-value of your website are all nicely oiled-up.

This includes optimising for SEO-centric aspects like keyword-research, site-speed, UX-design, backlinks, and more.

Simply put, don’t get so engrossed in tracking your progress that you forget to keep a check on the building blocks on your business’ digital presence.

Embrace experimentation

At its core, marketing itself is nothing more than an experiment.

After all, it is a dynamic endeavour that caters to the shapeshifting yet ever-existing gap between consumers and products.

Thus, you sometimes need to be able to step away from time-tested pathways and take the road less travelled.

For instance, you can endlessly tweak your copy to check all the right boxes and end up with a grand total of zero conversions.

However, under the same circumstance, something as simple as changing the colour of the ‘call-to-action’ button on your website can yield the intended results.

Eloquently put, you need to strike a balance between staying within the box of S.M.A.R.T. goals and thinking outside of it.

Follow the Deming Wheel

In the 1950s, Dr. William Edwards Deming, a well-known management consultant, came up with something called the Deming Wheel or the PDCA cycle to help businesses continuously improve their products and services.

The acronym, PDCA, stands for Plan, Do, Check, Act. This model can also be leveraged by digital marketing professionals to continuously improve their strategies.

• Plan:- As we’ve discussed above, start with creating S.M.A.R.T. goals to ground your progress in quantifiable terms.
• Do:- Execute your plan in multiple stages to ensure that you don’t get stuck with a strategy that isn’t doing you any good. In other words, design goals for quarters instead of for the entire year.
• Check:- Keep a track of the right KPIs to get reliable measurements of your progress. Periodically identify improvement avenues, and keep making relevant adjustments in your S.M.A.R.T. goals.
• Act:- Now, once you perform the first three steps for a good number of times, you’ll most likely identify glaring errors in your digital marketing strategy, and stumble upon long-term solutions. Implement those solutions, and return to step one.

Well, the Deming Wheel is exactly like the circle of life. It never ends. But, just like the circle of life, it affords you many opportunities to make the right changes.

The Take-Away

With data science and other novel developments in business analytics fostering large-scale customer research in a manner hitherto unimaginable, metrics have become an inseparable part of marketing strategies.

Thus, being results-driven is inarguably the sane choice for marketers in the digital era. However, it is also wise to address metrics with a healthy dose of scepticism.

Well, we’re not telling you to be sceptical of the figures themselves, but of the implications that they come with.

In a nutshell, be mindful of how you use data, and leverage it to improve your strategies.

However, at the same time, don’t stop listening to your gut, and dare to be experimental from time-to-time.

The post How to implement a results-driven digital marketing strategy? appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

This projected growth only means one thing. To survive and thrive, businesses will need to move with the times and increase and diversify their DM spending.

However, choosing the right type of DM to invest in can be tricky. To help you start off 2020 on the right foot, here is a breakdown of six key trends that will shape the market next year.

1.  Chatbots

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, chatbots are becoming better at communicating with consumers by the day. Many even consider them superior to human customer support for the following reasons:

• Chatbots are cheaper than humans. No further explanation needed here.
• Chatbots are also more efficient. They need no time to rest and can answer questions in real-time 24/7. That is particularly important in a global market with customers based in different time zones.
• Chatbots save time. They don’t need as much time to think, formulate their answers, or consult with colleagues as humans do. They don’t forget and they provide quicker responses, thereby helping customers make decisions faster.
• Chatbots are always in a good mood or, rather, appear to be in one. They always treat customers with respect and are to the point, informative, and unbiased.

All of the above leads to more personalized service, improved customer satisfaction, better ratings, and, eventually, higher profits. And with chatbot communication becoming more natural and sophisticated with every passing minute, it’s no wonder that companies will continue to embed chat windows or verbal interaction options on their websites.

2.  Private Messaging Apps

The use of private messaging (PM) apps to communicate with customers has been gaining in popularity and is expected to expand even further in 2020. Businesses now commonly use PM groups and mobile apps, such as WhatsApp, Viber, and WeChat, instead of or in addition to email. For instance, customers and businesses currently exchange a staggering 20+ billion messages via Facebook Messenger per month.

Furthermore, many brands plan to monetize PM apps and allow customers to buy products and services directly through them. The mobile app WeChat Pay has made paying online easier, and users of Venmo and PayPal can already use these apps to send or receive money.

PM apps also help businesses tap into the growing demand for personalized marketing. Their overall effect leads to:

• Direct and fast communication with clients
• Increased brand and product awareness
• Better client relationship-building
• More flexible customer support
• Boosted sales

 3.  Personalization

For quite some time now, big market players such as Amazon have relied on ever-increasing personalization to great success. Small and mid-sized businesses are catching up on the trend too, and over 90% of online advertisers will resort to some type of personalization by 2020. What’s more, we might even see an influx of entire personalized websites as soon as 2021.

Given that 70% of consumers now expect tailored content and product suggestions, personalization is not just some fad but a lasting benchmark in DM. Some ideas that you should consider incorporating into your business include:

• Address customers by their first name in all forms of communication.
• Analyze consumers’ behavior and recommend similar or related products based on their purchase history.
• Use personalized email campaigns, which have been shown to receive41% higher click-through rates compared to traditional emails. Consider using email marketing tools, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact, as well as automation engines, such as HubSpot and Pardot.
• Collect data on consumer buying habits and interests through surveys or studies.

4.  Voice-Powered Search

Voice assistants, such as Alexa, Google, and Siri, are now a standard feature of most smartphones and PCs. In fact, over a quarter of U.S. adults own a smart speaker, and 50% of all searches in 2020 will be voice-powered. Therefore, you should definitely consider using a voice search in your DM strategy.

In addition to being popular with consumers, voice assistants can add value to your SEO, speed up AI deep learning, and help build a mobile-friendly space. However, to make the most of voice-powered search, keep the following points in mind:

• Use long-tail key phrases that mimic real-life conversation (i.e., “How to make broccoli cream soup”) instead of short keywords (i.e., “broccoli cream soup”).
• Use full, grammatically correct sentences.
• A conversational tone works best.
• Think of common questions that people might have regarding your products or services and provide detailed answers.

5.  Insights-Driven Marketing

Insights- or data-driven marketing uses consumer analytics to boost performance. Companies that use analytics are 23 times more likely to both attract new and keep old customers.

While there are many analytics tools on the market, Voice of the Consumer (VoC) techniques is a particularly exciting development. These include building online customer communities and platforms that can deliver key insight into consumer preferences and behavior. A great example is Red Bull’s use of the insight platform Vision Critical.

6.  Smart Bidding in Google Ads

Automation has long been a staple in digital marketing. However, the Google Ads updates that were officially announced at the 2019 Google Marketing Live event suggest that automation and smart bidding will continue to grow even further.

While Google Ads already relies on deep learning to optimize bids, the recent changes aim to maximize conversions by:

• Optimizing bids by letting you choose conversion actions at the campaign level
• Allowing you to optimize bids across multiple campaigns using a set of desired conversion actions
• Allowing you to set bids to change automatically at the beginning or end of a sale

To Conclude

Tools such as AI, next-generation SEO, hyper-targeted ads, interactive content, and consumer analytics can truly level up your business and skyrocket its performance. Companies worldwide have been quick to realize this, as the DM industry should reach more than $375 billion by 2021. That would amount to 49.6% of the total media ad spending globally. That means that digital marketing is not only not to be ignored but should also be the cornerstone of any successful marketing strategy.

The post Trends That Will Shape Digital Marketing in 2020 appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gradually unleashing a trail of revolutionary waves in business. Because of being endowed with never-before capabilities to derive efficiency, AI is steadily emerging as a potential game-changer for many business spheres.

Owing to its ability to react rationally—as if humans would do, AI has been bringing in more and more efficiency in many facets of business operations, and Digital Marketing is no exception. In fact, AI and Digital Marketing have already begun to move hand-in-hand.

Saving time and resources, AI is expected to unleash several never before attributes to efficiently and effectively conduct Digital Marketing campaigns to derive higher Returns on Investment through better decisions.

But, before proceeding further along with this blog, we find it worthwhile to make it amply clear that AI has not arrived on the business scene to replace jobs of marketers or advertisers; but it is here to unleash their true creative potential.

However, to leverage the true potential of AI, these professionals must train themselves to adapt to the AI environment.

What is AI?

It is pretty clear that no amount of discourse on the broad spectrum of benefits AI entails for Digital Marketing will be helpful if in any case, the reader is yet to know what AI itself actually is. In simple terms, AI is analogous to teaching machines how to think and react as humans would.

Similar to the imitation of how the human brain works, AI empowers machines to execute tasks rationally.  One can also think of AI as implanting into machines the abilities to think, respond and perform tasks like humans. Also, AI-powered machines can learn from experience and adjust to new input.

AI is increasingly becoming popular across industries due to:

• Increasing efficiency in business operations by bringing in higher precision and accuracy apart from fewer errors
• Generation of valuable business insights through deeper data analysis
• The capability of functioning in various devices—GPS Trackers, Voice Assistants, Home Automation Systems etc—with smart algorithms
• Adaption to new data inputs through progressive learning algorithms

With exceptional capabilities to empower businesses through the collection and human-like interpretation of data—and also learning from the data, AI is revolutionizing many aspects of businesses, enhancing efficiency and cutting time and resources. Demand for AI has been growing substantially across several industries—agriculture, automobile, healthcare, manufacturing, banking, insurance etc.

AI and Digital Marketing

Not long ago, marketers were afraid to incorporate AI in their digital marketing strategies.  But, the situation has been reversing gradually with the subtle benefits of AI coming to the fore. Of late, they have gained a lot more confidence in view of the benefits that could be derived out of AI.

In a recent survey on 1,600 marketing professionals, 61% of them said that AI will be the most important data initiative in the coming years. In another survey by Salesforce, 51% of the marketers covered under the survey revealed that they were already using AI, and 27% of them considered incorporating AI in their strategy in the near future.

AI tools are evolving more and more and speculations are rife that a day might come when AI capabilities will be able to surpass human abilities.

With the astounding capabilities of collecting, analyzing and appropriately applying business data, AI is transforming Digital Marketing strategy in many notable ways, increasing productivity for the marketers by saving money, time and energy.

Also endowed with the distinct ability to be capable of learning from the data, AI is slowly taking over the human role of predicting future market trends through data-driven analysis—empowering marketers to react proactively to the changing market.

A glaring case in point of the recent usage of AI in Digital Marketing is by none other than Amazon, which uses AI to show only the relevant products to specific website visitors—and that is based on the history of previous purchases, searches and views.

And the spontaneous question that arises in this regard is: how personalizing user experience benefits Amazon? The answer is pretty clear: that increases the likelihood of the shopper making an initial purchase or becoming a repeat customer.

AI-based Digital Marketing strategies can transform the way in which marketers communicate with their audience.  Given the specialized capabilities of AI, its application in Digital Marketing can help in driving relevant traffic, new customer acquisition, increase sales and retain existing customers.

So, let us carefully examine the range of benefits and options offered by AI, and analyze how those can fit into Digital Marketing strategies.

Creating and Generating Content

Can a machine write? At first, it seems not. Although AI tools hitherto cannot write on their own, such as a political opinion for a newspaper or a blog post, yet there are areas in which AI can generate contents based on data and information, helping to attract visitors to your website.

In this way, you save a lot of time and resources. Globally acclaimed media companies, Associated Press and Forbes, use intelligent tools, like Wordsmith, Articoolo and Quill, to create news, which also results in enhancing clicks on their websites.

AI can create unique content, giving the impression as if a human wrote it, with the help of templates and fill-in-the-blanks, wherein you can enter keywords and data. Another classic example is the Washington Post, which publishes numerous articles written by the AI tool, Heliograf.

Content Curation

By now, the capability of AI to generate content is clear; then what is the next? It is the curation of content– or showing visitor specific personalized content, recommending options that visitors may find interesting, such as “Customers who bought this also viewed” in every product page in Amazon.

But how does it help in Digital Marketing? Simple, your website will attract more visitors, enabling you to better connect with them to sell your services. An example will make things clearer. Suppose you have a news website; if you show the visitors articles that are more relevant to them—based on the individual history of the categories of news they already read on your website– they are likely to spend more time on your website.

Email Marketing

Many brands have now started embarking upon personalized email marketing campaigns, based on preferences and user behaviours—leveraging the power of AI. Personalized email marketing involves sending out relevant emails to customers’ inboxes with subject lines, product recommendations and messaging—all customized on the basis of customer’s behaviour.

In this way, AI can enable reaching the right customers and that too in the right time, enhancing the likelihood of conversion. Implementing smart Machine Learning algorithms, AI tools can analyze millions of data about the consumer and based upon which critical information, such as the best times and days of the week to contact the user, the contents that catch their attention the most, the email subjects generating more clicks and so on.

Digital Advertising

It is well-known that AI has already transformed the Digital Advertising space. And many organizations now actively use AI to run their Digital Advertisement campaigns. AI is implemented across online platforms, such as Facebook, Google and Instagram, to analyze users’ information—such as gender, age, interests, demographics etc.—to show them the most relevant advertisements, and that apparently increases the likelihood of generating sales.

Research has shown that the global digital advertisement spends stood at USD 273.29 billion in 2018, and the expenditure is expected to increase substantially in the future. AI can help marketers to make strategic decisions about where to allocate their budget and whom to target by enabling them to spot micro-trends and predict future trends. They can thus ensure that their spends on Digital Advertising deliver the best possible results.

Online Searches

Two AI-based innovations–Voice Search and Google’s algorithm, RankBrain—have already brought in a tremendous revolution in internet searches and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Voice Search does away with the usage of the typical keywords you would type in a classical Google search and enables usage of conversational language, easing the online search.

Google has already acknowledged in its blog that around 70% of the searches Google Assistant receives are in plain, natural and conversational language, free of keywords.

While conducting online searches through voice, marketers need to orient their verbal contents in a way that a user would verbally express themselves, without the involvement of any keywords. Any brand, which can leverage the benefits of Voice Search will truly see a substantial increase in organic traffic.

RankBrain, Google’s AI-powered algorithm, delivers more relevant internet search results, interpreting user’s voice search language and context.
Chatbots

Chatbots, the typical cases of AI usage, act as virtual assistants for consumers. Adding Chatbots to your websites, emails and apps, you can communicate with your existing as well as would-be customers in better ways. Using Chatbots, you can reach many customers and prospects and respond to their queries.

Chatbots are capable of answering the most common questions your customers might have. And engaging in human-like conversations, Chatbots also improve customer experiences. Furthermore, Chatbots are making the process of automating responses for the queries of potential buyers even more easy by providing them with a way to search for the product or service they are looking for.

The functionality, of finding the correct response to user’ queries by Chatbots, is implemented by using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques.

Sephora, a French beauty product company, demonstrates a good example of using Chatbots to communicate with potential customers. Its Chatbot gives beauty advice to the users and recommends to them products in accordance to their needs.

So, Chatbots behave like some kind of sales representatives for your business. AI has amazing power, is not it?

Predictive Analysis

Pro-action rather than reaction apparently helps in marketing. And to be proactive to the imminent change, one needs to get some idea of the possible future trend. In this context, the role of Predictive Analysis comes to the fore.

The analysis of data, using statistical algorithms and Machine Learning techniques to predict the future scenario based on historical data is called Predictive Analysis. Used in several areas of business, including Digital Marketing, predictive models make it possible to forecast stuff, such as the possibility of a specific prospect becoming a customer, the quoted price necessary to make a conversion, or which customers are likely to make more than multiple purchases.

Ranking of Prospects or Lead Scoring is a typical example of the application of AI in Digital Marketing. The generated models can be trained to segregate prospects or leads based on pre-defined criteria as possible purchasers, which could be followed up by the sales team.

In this way, the sales team will not waste any time on chasing leads that will never convert. Implementing AI in Digital Marketing will not only result in increasing sales but also considerable saving of time and resources.

Website Design

AI has the capability of taking out the entire toll involved in website design.  For example, the AI-powered website design platform—The Grid—can design a website based on the user data and the manner in which they interact with your content.

That means, there is no need for the brands to deploy a design team, and the only thing that needs to be worked upon is the content.  There are other similar AI-powered website design platforms, such as FireDrop and Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI).

However, these AI-based website builders are still in their early years, you can expect them to gain sophistication in the coming years.  According to speculations, these website builders are the future of Digital Marketing.

Conclusion

AI can be a game-changer for digital marketers by enabling them to create personalized contents for users and at the same time, avoiding wastage of time and resources. The success of any Digital Marketing strategy lies in the creation of great customer experience, which could be attained if relevant content could be sent to the user.

When the content is tailored and appealing, the user tends to spend more time on the page. And driven by interest, they are likely to convert and also might become recurring customers.  This way, brand loyalty can also be achieved.

With the ability to collect data and decide which content is applicable for specific users, based on historical data and past behaviour, AI gives the impression that the brand was built specifically for them.

The post How is Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizing Digital Marketing? appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

As the numbers via Ve Interactive suggest, marketing automation for B2B is on the road to become an industry worth $5.5 billion dollars. This shows that the interest in marketing automation is here to stay for a long time. And companies getting a first-mover advantage are likely to thrive over their competitors in the industry.

What is marketing automation primarily used for?

A combination of web-based tools and services are utilized to automate and manage marketing processes and tasks. So, all the repetitive, manual activities turn into automated processes. This includes actions related to website management, social media, emails, and others. A variety of purpose-built applications, software, and tools are incorporated to attain accuracy and effectiveness.

There are 3 major areas of marketing automation:

1. Customer behavior and marketing automation

With insightful tracking codes, marketers can monitor how customers behave online. The patterns are identified and analyzed, which helps in creating behavior-based groups. Marketers can conveniently divide their market into various behavior-based segments.

2. Sales and marketing automation

Marketing automation is also used for business development. The customers move from one phase to another until they reach the level of purchase. This process involves segmentation and nourishment of different segments depending on qualifying leads, interests, intent and other behavioral patterns. The automated approach relies on social media, email, content marketing and search engine optimization.

3. Workflow and marketing automation

Marketing automation also improves the internal processes such as budgeting, managing digital assets, preparing a marketing calendar, and a lot more. Automation in marketing is extremely important for large organizations with complex requirements.

Problems solvable with marketing automation

1. Low rate of conversion

Marketing theory says that ideally, a potential customer turns into a customer after getting an interest. But the ground-level reality completely different. There are consumers who look for in-depth information and education before making a decision.

Consumer requirements are easily deliverable with the help of marketing automation. Marketers can nurture consumers on multiple channels and smoothly increase the rate of conversions. A variety of relevant marketing automation tools are available out there to help in the process of customer nurturing.

2. Inefficiencies of marketing

In the world of marketing, time is everything. Marketing automation allows organizations to leverage time and reduce inefficiencies. This includes all the time required to create, schedule and send emails and other communication models.

Marketing automation reduces the time required and increases the efficiency in terms of hottest leads. The efforts become result-oriented, making every marketing strategy a success for organizations.

3. Unengaged customers

Using marketing automation allows organizations to think beyond traditional marketing. It creates a perfect environment to engage all customers. Low engagement with customers harms the brand loyalty. Every business requires customer service, account management and other ways to provide personalized engagement.

Customers are available on many channels such as emails, social media, mobile, and others. Reaching them on all the channels is key to becoming memorable. At the same time, companies can judge preferred communication models for different customer groups. It helps in covering a wide range of marketing automation challenges.

Using best-suited marketing automation tools, a company can enhance the impact of web intelligence, SMS messaging, subscription management, social marketing and a lot more. It all reduces the number of unengaged customers to a great extent.

4. Unaligned marketing and sales strategies

Thanks to the technology, marketing, and sales strategies can align together nowadays. For instance, marketing automation combined with CRM solutions creates a great alignment between marketing and sales departments. Each team can gain accurate data using the right tools, which syncs marketing and sales activities with each other.

Using the same technologies, the two departments can collaborate efficiently and run campaigns together. This ensures that every prospect sees a clear and targeted message at the right time. This increases the chances of attention and conversion as well.

5. Increasing revenue

Usually, before moving forward with marketing automation, companies utilize email marketing. Various platforms provide statistics related to click-through rates and more. These basic statistics help in judging the performance of an email campaign.

However, these statistics fail to provide knowledge of the comprehensive health of marketing initiatives. The marketing team can’t understand if the efforts are impacting company’s revenue as desired.

With marketing automation, companies can easily track customers and prospects at every step of their buying cycle. It provides a bird-eye view of the marketing strategy and its impact on company revenue.

Conquering marketing automation challenges

There are a few challenges in marketing automation, which requires attention for efficient adoption. The technology asks for a continued commitment to manage content, data, information, and processes. The efforts reduce eventually as a company adopts this technology. In order to ensure the success of marketing automation, you should:

• Divide deployment in multiple stages to ensure accuracy at every stage.
• Aim to engage customers in a comprehensive manner using the right automation tools.
• Understand the skills in terms of market and technical knowledge.
• Ensure complete documentation of each and every automated effort.
• Review regularly to modify your approach in future.

Partner with reliable marketing automation companies in India to follow best practices, gain support and increase marketing ROI. Ready to get the benefits of marketing automation?! There is a huge list of marketing automation benefits you can expect with successful adoption. It improves customer engagement, number of opportunities, on-time communications, diversity of communication models, and a lot more.It would not be wrong to say that marketing automation is a business transformative technology.

• You spend lower cost to obtain more qualified leads.
• Customer relationship improves, which increases the percentage of customer retention.
• Sales and marketing departments can align together for collaboration and high revenue.
• Marketing ROI reaches a whole new level of excellence.

All in all, there are both direct and indirect benefits to utilize through marketing automation. Smart organizations are partnering with trustworthy platforms to transform their marketing approach. You should also move ahead and adopt marketing automation for qualified leads, rewarding customer loyalty, and increased revenue.

The post 5 Chronic Problems You Can Solve with Marketing Automation appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

The digital marketing world is constantly crossing newer milestones with each passing day. It is changing and growing continuously. In order to keep up the pace with the technological advancement of the latest age and enhance your business growth, you must integrate your marketing endeavours with the growing digital marketing trends in 2020.

Make your brand marketing more impactful and relevant by following these successful digital marketing trends to push newer boundaries in 2020

Digital Marketing Trends

1. Augmented Reality

The technology related to Augmented Reality (AR) is still untapped in more than one way and still in its infant stage. It offers great scope to your brand to get greater ROI with your digital marketing endeavours.

It is well-known that games like Pokémon Go that were AR-based became a major hit among the people in mid-2016. A large segment of manufacturers and developers are working to create wearable gears based on AR technology to enhance the user experience and creating value for their brand.

In the upcoming scenario, traditional advertisements will give way to AR-based 3D advertisements, allowing the users to stream 3D content directly to get an advanced experience. It enables the users to connect with your brand offering on a much deeper level emotionally.

It also enables your marketers to augment your brand awareness, leading the customers to test your products well before they move towards placing the orders.

2. Marketing Automation

The various mechanisms related to marketing are getting accelerated by data-driven technologies. Marketing automation enables marketers to establish better relationships with their customers by automating some of the repetitive tasks such as e-mail reminders, social media postings and leads generation.

It is especially beneficial for the new market entrants and small companies that are competing with the top-notch companies by saving their effort and time. Customers are attracted to the brand in a better way when they receive e-mails that cater to their particular requirements.

The process of marketing automation requires the use of software that is needed to be uploaded with the necessary data related to the user’s personalized data. It is a complex technology that can be better managed by partnering with a professional and experienced digital marketing company.

3. Artificial Intelligence

AI has been continuously making dramatic shifts in the digital marketing world for the developments of any brand. It is running parallel to any other marketing tactics and promises to offer you better marketing opportunities in the future.

It analyses the behaviour of your users by reading their search patterns on various social media platforms to enable the brands to understand the demands of their users better and offer them the services accordingly.

AI can solve the problems much more effectively than any human mind, and provides you a defined output without any definite possibility of errors.

Repetitive tasks can be better handled by AI bots that reduces the load of the employees, further enabling them to perform better. It allows your marketing team to develop a highly curated content that will be highly significant for the recipients.

4. Impactful Stories on Social Media

Social media platforms are ever-evolving and presenting the brands with unlimited opportunities to grow their business with digital marketing efforts. It enhances customer engagement in a big way.

Also, it enables marketers to keep the online audience updated with all the current developments taking place in your industry domain. It gives way to daily promotions of your brand by posting marketing content on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

5. Visual Search

Brand optimization with visual search is a great way to offer focused and defined results for your users. It allows the users to click a picture or upload a picture related to the product they are looking to find online.

It directs them to the items without any hassle. Even though it is in its nascent stage, it holds great potential to become a leading digital marketing technology to deliver perfect results.

6. Influencer Marketing

Under this marketing trend, brands use key figures to promote their brand offering among the online audience. Instagram is rapidly growing up the ladder to become a major source of becoming a platform used for influencer marketing.

As the network of social media is scaling up with every single day, there is a rapid increase in the number of influencers as well. Users tend to listen to these well-known celebrities and popular figures ardently.

With the increased use of hashtags and promotional content directed by the influencers on their social media handles, smart brands are taking the content reference from these mentioned posts, and locating the precise on-brand engagements, thereby enhancing their performance of better user engagements. It also plays as a great medium to enhance human-to-human connections and showcase your brand creativity.

7. Programmatic Advertising

An extension of AI to improve the efficiency of your marketing endeavors. Previously, ad industry was managed manually by publishers that controlled and ran the ad industry on the basis of hectic meetings with middlemen and unending negotiations.

With the multiplication of online publishers on a daily basis, it has turned out to be a challenge for the advertisers to keep up the pace with it. The solution is bringing in automation in the advertising industry to take better control over things.

It allows your brand to cut out the middleman and make the advertising procedure simply. Marketers are developing target-oriented ads that are produced by using and analyzing the personalized data of online visitors.

It has enabled the brands to promote transparency in their advertisement campaigns and curtail the instances of fraud, created by the middlemen. It also makes the process of advertising quicker that leads to increased conversions, better ROI and a decrease in the cost of spending. This digital marketing trend is definitely here to stay.

8. Video Marketing

It is one of the ever-growing trends in the digital marketing world. Over the years, visible growth has been seen in user engagements led by pre-made video posts and live videos.

It channelizes the information of a particular product or service to the audience in a much clearer manner, making a direct connection between the audience and your brand.

Directly dealing with the audience via Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels with the help of personalized messages and video content enables you to improve the consistency of lead conversions, thereby leading to better opportunities of your business development.

9. Use of Chatbots

It is a mode where you engage with your customers on a real-time basis via an instant messenger and provides solutions to all their queries related to your brand offerings. Over the years, many companies have agreed to the viability of integrating chatbots in their digital marketing strategy to add value to their business.

It also allows your brand to offer high-quality services to your customers at any hour of the day, and meet the expectations of your customers at every single time. It has been observed after research that almost 80% of the businesses are planning to incorporate the technology of chatbots in their marketing planning by 2020.

10. Voice Search

Technologies of Google Voice and Apple’s Siri have already made a big name for themselves in the digital world. Voice search provides precise answers to the customers without confusion, leading to the desired outcome for them.

Most of the successful marketers create a detailed voice script matching the customers’ requirements and offering creative solutions to their concerns. In the digital marketing world, people are looking forward to creating better voice scenarios based on surveys, internal data, and communications with real customers.

Not just the target audience, it is also hitting successfully with the new and emerging digital audience as well, especially in the small cities and towns.

To emerge as a successful marketer, you can very well explore the great potential of voice search for your marketing efforts related to brand promotions.

11. User-Generated Social Media Content

It has been on the trajectory of growth in recent years in the digital marketing world. User-generated content is any type of brand-related content that is shared by the brand audience on their social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

Attention is better directed towards producing and promoting more and more user-generated content, as the targeted audience looks forward to getting validations from social and digital marketing platforms.

It also enhances customer engagements with your brand. It creates a chain of customers that bring closer the potential leads with the existing customers smoothly. It is a growing trend among the millennial generation and needs to be used to its full potential to get better access to lead conversions and brand promotions.

2020 will be all about enhancing the user experience by delivering better personalized, AI-driven and automated content.

To stay ahead in the competition, you need to get a better grip on generating custom content, integrating it well with audio and video enhancements to attract the attention of the targeted audience towards your brand in a seamless manner.

The post Top Digital Marketing Trends to Follow in 2020 appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

Call it the epic battle between David and Goliath. From downtown New York, Venice, Paris to Munich, the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) outnumber the number of blue-chip multinational corporations doing business.

Yet, the tragedy of this truth is that the population of MSMEs across the world makes for statistical data and a crowd but established market-leading brands that come under the shelter of scaled-up blue-chip corporations are the ones that people know, recognize and transact with.

In other words, blue-chip corporations have a reputation that could range from great to good or bad. MSMEs on the other hand despite forming the pack of the global economy are the herd; the ones that investors, customers, and employees do not know.

Digital marketing companies and consultants including us at TIS acknowledge the fact that in best cases MSMEs at best struggle to build a reputation and thus are unable to leverage it as a move of strategic behaviour and branding.

The gravity of the challenge only increases if the reputation is bad. However not everything is lost and at last paradise, it seems can be regained. Thanks to the evolution of the digital ecosystem for doing business and the cost, process and time efficiencies of online reputation management being offered by digital marketing companies, MSMEs can look forward to reinventing the rules of competition in the market.

Challenges and Solutions for MSME Brands in a New Age Digital Economy
From having a website that is fully functional and running, investing in social media marketing to creating laser focused content that showcases the key brand differentiators, there are tons of things that MSMEs can pursue within their stipulated budgets.

The key is to take a top-down insight of the rules of engagement, get the basics right and to place digital marketing initiatives and programs for online reputation management at the centre of the business model, not at the periphery. This calls for a change in mind set and a leap of faith; believing that the net of their investments in online reputation management will appear when they need it.

For MSMEs to succeed with their reputation management before target audiences of investors, customers and employees, it is vital for them to understand that the point where digital marketing outscores conventional brick and mortar marketing are: scalability, data-driven approach to decision making and costs.

Once the culture barrier is broken, it is advisable for MSME brands to take a holistic view of the grey areas that need their immediate attention. Remember that the urgent areas may not necessarily be the most important ones, but are those that need to be dealt with straight away before committing precious resource to a scaled up program or initiative.

As a leading online reputation management we at company TIS have diagnosed insights and experiences of working with both blue chip corporate and MSME brands across the globe to find areas that need improvement. Further we also suggest the following benchmarked practices that in our view shall empower and enable brands of small businesses to be more and do more:

1) Product Managers for Brand Positioning
Why do MSME brands fail to showcase their product offerings? Is it the lack of utility in it or failed customer excellence? In most of the cases, it is the lack of product placement in the value market that leads to its downfall. As a matter of fact, product manager is extensively responsible for taking the product through a product process framework, study each of its behavioural reactional in the climate chain and to objectify the brand’s goal.

2) Enhanced team collaboration amongst various departments
It is important to knit and grit the complete departmental structure into a single thread to ensure one voice for an overall business. When each department has the same message to deliver, across all its platforms, channels and products, the sense of authenticity is delivered into the minds of the audience, creating an inevitable reach of your business. But you need to be consistent in enhancing the customer experience and product catalogue to always be the hit list.

3) Create a Rich User Experience across all platforms
The key priority of the online visitor is the “Rich User Experience”. The presence of numerous alternatives has made your task even more tough to always stay ahead of your competition. For the search engine ranking , user experience (UX) is the first factor to consider, having failed to deliver it you might lose audience in a matter of seconds. As a brand, you need to be fluence your data analysis and focus on the area where you lack perfection and work in accordance to generate rich user experience for your visitors.

4) Highlight Your Premium Products
Focus on the premium quality product is ever increasing with the augment of e-commerce in India. We as an audience don’t just want things to be quick but the best (without going through the hassle of pick-in pick-out) with a tentative conclusion. Explain to them your premium products in the first display to become their first preference (especially the millennial crowd).

5) Safeguard Authenticity with Increased Data Protection
Heard about the data leak from the leading fintech company in India? That’s what leniency in giving concentrated focus towards data protection can lead to. With the increased number of cyber crime reported on the daily basis, it is really important for the internet companies to build and advance level of data protection to safeguard consumer data and to maintain its’ social reputation.

6) Look for the Right Domain Name to Complement your Website
As a result of constant feeding and general outlook, we tend to show strong trust in domains like .com, .org, and .co.uk., it is primarily due to the authenticity we have been associating with it and that’s exactly what you got to for your business. Choosing the right domain for your business can build a sense of trust and authenticity in your brand with easy customer attraction.

7 Link your Online Presence to the Current Domain Name
Social reach is the most effective fundamental of augmenting your online reach. With the boost of twitter and Facebook for voicing opinions, social media has gained pace and so should be your integrated marketing. Link your existing social presence to your domain name, such as social media platforms , product page, and websites to redirect people into viewing your product detail through any of these links.

8) Incorporating Branded Emails into your Work Flow
India is in a constant run to go digital. So why should your business lag? But getting a fancy and a branded email for your business is only possible after a successful completion of creating a website for your blog with a specific name. usually the email name is linked to the domain that is created based on your company’s name. Getting one such email for your company will augment your online reputation management and in building consistency of your brand throughout the internet management chain.

A VISION FOR MSMEs IN THE GLOBAL DIGITAL ECONOMY
At TIS, we have worked with both top blue chip and MSME brands and thus here we offer a snapshot of the insights on what MSME brands can do surmount challenges to reputation building they are faced with, by leveraging digital marketing. First, think of all the reasonably good to great locations in your location for retail commercial spaces.

It costs less to design, develop and rank a website on search engines than to rent or lease a brick and mortar location in a posh area already inhabited by big brands. Second, social media marketing offers a scalable and cost rationalized solution for branding and reputation management than say the use of media vehicles like print, radio, and television.

Third, an MSME brand can track and analyze data to get clear cut insights on digital media platforms, something that is very costly do in a conventional brick and mortar platform to keep track of their reputation in near real-time times.

Fourth, accepting digital payments through payment gateway development and integration navigates an MSME towards online tax returns submission and enhances compliance and regulation that further augments reputation.

With the above-mentioned elements of value addition that online reputation management can offer, MSMEs can look forward to not just competing but winning against blue-chip brands. Yes, at TIS we believe that a David can win against Goliath.

The post 8 Tips to Enhance Your Brand Awareness and Presence Online appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.

Ecommerce business has taken off for a long flight. With an annual compounded growth rate of more than 25% across the global economy, it looks like finally, eCommerce has announced its bid to stay in time.

These are still early days in the year 2018 and one can expect big things to happen to the eCommerce vertical, especially the manner in which inbound marketing is leveraged shall be a key differentiator.

TIS, the leading digital services consulting company in India offers an insight into these top seven inbound marketing best practices that shall enable the eCommerce vertical to leverage digitization to take the big leap after having crossed the threshold level of growth in sales and gross merchandise value.

Put a Premium on Shortened Lead Times and Charge More from the User

One day delivery or same day delivery is going to be the next big thing for ecommerce enterprises. Walking into 2018, there is ample evidence to suggest that the end user is more than willing to pay a higher price for same day delivery of merchandise at his door step.

Two things matter. First, the creation of a fully digitized supply chain network to facilitate fast innovate to market, time to order and order to cash. Second, the leveraging of smooth logistics infrastructure and assets to ensure last mile delivery of merchandise shall hold promise for the end user to pay more.

Review Marketing for Greater Transparency and Incentivising Customer Reviews

Great customer loyalty is earned. At times when discounts and offers are used as traffic building measures by eCommerce portals, there is a smarter way. Customer review marketing can be leveraged by ecommerce portals on search engines to drive traffic by lending credibility to their brand value.

The eCommerce sponsor brand lavishing praise on itself in advertisements and customers going gaga on it are completely different ball games. Again honest customer reviews with the usual and believable hint of negative reviews that are bound to come from a minor fraction of customers are bound to gain more traction than sponsored reviews that can be easily made out to be false.

Customers can be incentivized for leaving great reviews with personalized discounts and offers that motivate review marketing.

User Generated Content Marketing on Social Media Platforms

User-generated content marketing is expected to pull eCommerce enterprises in a big way on social media platforms in a big way in 2018. This implies that e-commerce brands must resort to and will be seen leveraging new inbound marketing strategies like user-generated content on social media platforms to motivate user engagement, pick insights on trends and market demands, curate product development and delivery and interact with customers to make them feel empowered. Ecommerce brands can be expected to focus more efforts on social media optimization and user generated content that is 20% more effective in gaining traction in the market.

Augmented and Virtual Reality Technologies to Redefine Customer Experience

Small things matter in a big way. The use of augmented and virtual reality technologies to reinforce and strengthen customer experience shall be one of the greatest levers of change and growth in the ecommerce vertical in the year 2018.

Augmented and virtual reality technologies can reinvent the way people try products especially wearable durables like clothes, smart watches and wrist gear, spectacles and others. To be able to experience the look and feel of such wearable products without having to put a toe out in the sunshine is going to be a big brand differentiator for ecommerce enterprises.

Triggered Emails Shall Be More Effective in Driving Sales than Legacy Email Marketing

Imagine the plight of a user that awakens from a state of deep sleep to a flurry of emails that have no context, purpose and value. On top of that, to receive such emails at odd hours is even more frustrating and is likely to draw the wrath not the loyalty of the user.

Triggered emails that are precision controlled for offers, discounts, content distribution and well-timed shall be far more effective in driving sales. Keeping space between two consecutive emails sent to the customer is important. Timing the triggered emails to perfection using automated mailing software products shall also create more value as opposed to legacy email marketing practices.

Digital Wallet Payments for Less Cash Revenue Models

Digital wallet payments are likely to drive less cash revenue models in the eCommerce vertical in the year 2018. A study on digital payment trends suggests that 23% of payments are made on smart phones, 19% on tablets and another 16% on desktop devices. Digital payments can enable eCommerce enterprises to save big time on the shoe leather costs of having to deal in cash, cash logistics, and cash security systems and cash management.

Chat Bots are Likely to Redefine Customer Relationship Management

Chat bots are going to be in use big time in the eCommerce vertical in the year 2018. Imagine the plight of a customer that awakens to a rude shock in the evening after returning from work to open the pack and find a demerit in the product that mandates an exchange or a quick remedy.

The store is closed and the customer services team may have winded up for the day leaving the customer no other option but to share his angst on social media platforms. This can and will change with the use of chat bots that can be used to send automated replies to customers when they send their grievances.

It goes a long way in retaining the customer with credible evidence of care and assurance that the necessary shall be done sooner than later.

Influencer Marketing to Gain Traction in the Market

On the eve of New Year, a reputed global ecommerce brand ran an influencer marketing campaign involving an actress that was shown opening a surprise gift box sent to her on her birthday. The box was personalized and the influencer opened it to explore the inside stuff.

The video of the influencer sharing the happiness of being gifted by an ecommerce brand went viral and caught traction in the market. Influencer marketing on social media channels is likely to be one of the big inbound marketing innovations in 2018.

The post 7 Inbound Marketing Aspects Must for Ecommerce Businesses in 2018 appeared first on Digital Marketing Agency - TIS India Blog.