10 Amazon Algorithm Hacks to Accelerate eCommerce Marketing
Amazon’s algorithm cares about relevance, conversions, and customer experience. Here’s how to boost your eCommerce marketing to get Amazon pages right. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, TechCrunch announced that Amazon had already taken over about half of the entire eCommerce market. During the outbreak, eCommerce spiked. Larger and recognizable online brands gained the lion’s share of that boom, so it’s easy to imagine that Amazon has retained or even increased its position as a market leader. If, like so many others, you’ve decided that joining Amazon is a lot easier than trying to beat them, make sure you employ the best tactics to gain as much visibility and as many sales as possible. Begin by understanding how the algorithm works and the Amazon marketing hacks you can use to benefit from that knowledge. Ten Amazon marketing hacks to help ensure your products gain exposure Actually, Amazon only has three core ranking factors. They based these upon their intimate knowledge of what it takes to sell well on their platform. Improving these will help you gain more visibility and earn higher revenues: Conversion rates: Higher total sales and higher sales per visit can help win favor from the Amazon algorithm. Of course, more sales and profits benefits you as well. Relevancy: Amazon needs to see product pages as relevant to searches and also-bought and also-viewed suggestion boxes. People who want what you’re offering will be able to find you, further increasing your chance of making sales. Retention and customer experience: Having repeat customers, a good number of mostly favorable reviews, and a low defect rate can help you find favor with Amazon’s ranking scheme. They’re signs that you’re satisfying first-time buyers well enough to turn them into loyal customers. Of course, most businesses set eCommerce marketing goals that will help them attract and retain customers. To use Amazon marketing services to meet these goals, consider these ten tested tips: Optimize product listings: Clear images, engaging, informative text, and a completed product page can keep customers on the page longer. They’re more likely to consider you credible enough to buy from. Bounce rate, time spent on page, and of course, sales all factor into the algorithm. Encourage social interactions: Make sure customer questions get answered and try to encourage reviews. You should never pay for reviews, but you’re certainly free to ask for them. Having more social interaction also gives you user generated content that can feed Amazon’s algorithm and even help you rank well in other search engines. Price right: Amazon makes it incredibly easy for shoppers to compare prices. You need to make certain you’re either competing on price or making it clear why some aspect of your product makes it worth more than seemingly similar products that cost less. Craft good titles: Optimize your product title by including search terms and product and brand names. You should strive to maximize both clarity and relevance. Your title needs to encourage buyers to click while also letting the search engine understand the nature of your product. List product features: If you list your product features with bullet points and additional search terms, you’ll make it both user- and search-friendly. A list makes it easier for buyers to quickly figure out if your product meets their needs. Fill in the specification section: Amazon provides this section for such important information as size, weight, and color. Completing it provides customers with information in a fairly standardized form that they’re used to. It also shows Amazon that you’re diligent. Carefully consider categories and subcategories: Some people browse by category and subcategory. By choosing the right ones, you’ll have a better chance to get found both by searchers and browsers. Spend time choosing search terms: You can find some research tools that will help you uncover the types of search terms that shoppers may use to find products like yours. Avoid frivolous or subjective terms while including as many potentially relevant terms as possible. Provide excellent customer service: While Amazon cares about sales and conversions, they also care about returning customers. Your attention to quality, prompt shipping, and other aspects of customer service should help you enjoy better reviews, repeat customers, and a better rank. Become an Amazon Prime seller: Amazon Prime members now outnumber non-Prime shoppers on the site. Naturally, they give more exposure to Prime sellers. You need to apply and in some cases, work your way up to getting accepted into the program as a third-party seller. Why spend time on your Amazon product listings? While Amazon has plenty of shoppers, it also attracts fierce competition. It might seem like you need to spend a lot of time in your product page to get it right. Many sellers invest in an eCommerce marketing agency to help them get started. After all, a well-crafted product page can complement your excellent service and high-quality products to keep producing sales for years in the future. As you work to improve the way that Amazon’s algorithm views your pages, you will also improve your chances to sell more products and grow your business.
Does Social Influencer Marketing Actually Work?
By finding the right influencer, social influencer marketing can deliver authentic messaging, a targeted audience, and more profits to your business. Almost everybody has made at least one purchase because somebody they knew — or at least, knew of — introduced them to a product or service. Today’s social media influencer marketing just takes old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing online to active social platforms. After all, such social sites as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are one of the first places today’s consumers turn to look for advice about purchases. Learn more about potential benefits of developing an influencer marketing strategy and how to go about finding the right influencer for your brand. How social media influencer marketing works Traditionally, marketers might have found a celebrity or authority on a topic to mention or promote products. Today’s social platforms have given birth to an entire new industry filled with people who attract a large audience through their own content. Finding the right influencer means having a spokesperson who has already attracted an ideal audience for your brand. For instance, sales of your exercise bike or nutritional shake mix might benefit from the exposure a popular online fitness guru could offer by reviewing it for an Instagram or YouTube video. Similarly, a beauty company might look for a popular model or beauty expert to demonstrate their products. Since there are so many social sites and influencers online these days, you might also benefit by working with an influencer marketing agency instead of trying to handle everything on your own. These are some of the tasks that an influencer marketing agency can help with: Understanding your brand and products to determine the ideal audience Helping to develop an influencer marketing strategy, including the choice of goals and metrics Selecting and vetting social influencers and negotiating terms and rates Running and monitoring campaigns Reporting upon the outcome and suggesting the next steps According to HubSpot, an overwhelming 94 percent of marketers had a positive opinion about influencer marketings. On the other hand, almost 80 percent admitted that determining the actual ROI of their campaigns has proven challenging. That’s why you should not skip the second step that includes setting goals and figuring out how to measure them. Can influencers help drive sales? Influencers don’t always need to have massive audiences to benefit your company. For instance, some businesses have enjoyed great success with so-called micro-influencers who have less than 10,000 followers. Most important, any representative for your brand should have a good reputation and a loyal and targeted audience. In addition, your small business or startup may find that influencers with smaller audiences will work within your budget, increasing the chance of earning a profit. In fact, HubSpot highlighted one study that found micro-influencers tend to command more engagment than big-name celebrities. No matter how big of a following an influencer has, it’s important to make certain they’re credible, possess a positive reputation, and won’t engage in any tactics that can do more harm than good. According to Neil Patel, millenials still tend to trust influencers but less than they did a few years ago. He says that most campaigns tend to earn decent returns, but a little less than one in five make nothing at all or even lose money. In particular, influencers with millions of fans may charge tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for just one post or video. This underscores the point that some businesses may want to begin by looking for microinfluencers who may lack massive reach but can deliver a good return for a few hundred dollars instead of several thousand per post. Once you’re certain you know how to use influencers to deliver your marketing message and make a profit, you can always scale up by either finding more small influencers or a big-name celebrity. As a note, Patel also agreed that marketers he had spoken with said the biggest challenge was measuring ROI. Testing with a smaller, budget-friendly audience can give you the confidence you need to pursue bigger audiences. Yes, social media influencer marketing still works A thoughtful influencer marketing strategy can deliver many benefits to your business. Some examples include brand recognition, exposure to a targeted audience, an authentic delivery of your message, and valuable word-of-mouth advertising. If you’re new to influencer marketing, you should make sure you have clear, measurable goals and choose your influencers wisely.
How Out of Home Advertising Complements Digital Marketing
Do I need a billboard for my business? Learn how out of home advertising and digital marketing work together for great results. While scholars believe human societies were first introduced to oral advertising, it did not take long for those old-time marketers to discover the power of signs. At least, they’ve found papyrus advertising posters that date back to ancient Rome, Greece, and even Egypt. In societies with low literacy rates, they relied upon pictures. In the Digital Age, you might wonder how an out of home advertising agency can possibly still help achieve your business goals. After all, isn’t everything online now? Actually, buying a billboard and working with an OOH advertising agency may serve as the perfect solution to some struggles you face attracting more attention to your social media, digital ads, and business site. Is an outdoor advertising agency beneficial to digital businesses? When you think of the largest players in online advertising, companies like Amazon, HBO, Apple, and Google probably come to mind. According to The Outdoor Advertising Association of America, these companies ranked in the top 10 for money spent on out-of-home ads. Netflix, the online streaming service, made it to the top 15. Just as surprising, the OAAA said that tech-related companies made up 25 percent of the biggest spenders. Together, Facebook and Google will contribute to over one-quarter of the total spend. Not only that, outdoor advertising had experienced constant growth every quarter since the Great Recession, not counting the coronavirus outbreak. According to the president of OAAA, Nancy Fletcher, companies spend money on this kind of advertising because it provides the perfect complement to their social, mobile, and search tactics. Of course, these days, an out of home advertising agency might suggest electronic billboards and not just static ones. In that way, you might think of them as giant monitors in very visible locations. These allow advertisers to display very slick, sophisticated ads that can cast a very wide net. In other cases, the old-fashioned, static kind may also serve your purposes. How can a billboard advertising agency help your business? To understand how an OOH advertising agency might help you find outdoor ad placements to help improve your overall marketing plan, it will help to consider an example. For instance, Apple solicited images from iPhone users to use on the digital billboards they used for their ads. The “Shot on an iPhone” campaign helped demonstrate the types of photos that people could capture with their phones. It also gave contributors and their own social circles plenty of incentive to share images on social sites. In this case, the digital and outdoor advertising worked together to help Apple enjoy a sort of synergy that they could not have achieved with either one alone. People saw the billboards who might not have visited the company’s digital platforms. In turn, contributors were quick to share their own photos to have them displayed both online and outdoors. In simpler cases, businesses can use a billboard at the top of their marketing funnel to help attract more attention. Interested people will return to their computers and phones to seek out more information about the quick message they saw while they were commuting or running errands. Does outdoor advertising work? Some outdoor advertisers have also used mobile phone data to detect when people pass near their outdoor signage. In that way, the physical and virtual world of advertising merge even more. For some other examples: A study from Ocean Neuroscience found that almost half of mobile users were more likely to click on an advertisement after first seeing the brand advertised on a billboard. Another study found 46 percent of people said they’d searched for something after first seeing it mentioned on an outdoor advertisement. Online advertising has grown increasingly competitive and expensive. Ad blockers or simple online ad blindness have also made attracting attention on the internet more challenging. Engaging billboards can help attract more visitors to your business site or social pages and serve as the perfect complement to digital marketing. If you’ve been considering ways to grow your audience, don’t overlook the power of signs.
What Your Retail Packaging Design Says About Your Brand
Retail packaging design sets expectations and even evokes emotions. Learn how to create a good first impression and making the unboxing experience special. Marketers know that consumers often will judge books by their covers. Of course, it’s not just books but the retail packaging design for almost any kind of product. Colors, shapes, and other design elements do more than make a first impression. They might even impact the customer’s psychological state. Even beyond any words on the box, you can utilize your packaging to tell shoppers a lot about your brand. That’s why many businesses go so far as to hire an experienced packaging design agency to design custom product packaging that will help them stand out among their competition. What to consider for custom product packaging design Direct Packaging Solutions, one packaging design agency, touched upon two ways that package design can affect the customer experience: First impressions: Consumer research has found that packaging can change customer expectations for a product. As an example, MacBook has a reputation for having one of the top package designs on Amazon and other online venues. Owners mentioned how much they appreciated the way their Apple packaging displayed and protected their laptops and accessories. They enjoyed the unboxing process and liked the box so much that they didn’t want to discard it. Emotions: Several aspects of the packaging can actually evoke specific emotions. For instance, many food brands use red because it can stimulate appetite, and yellow tends to communicate happiness and competence. Even shape might matter. As an example, one beer company developed a bottle with a thicker neck and more angular shape to look more masculine and appeal to men. Of course, you can also use your consistent style of packaging to reinforce your brand. When people think of Tiffany, they tend to visualize the blue boxes. Likewise, it’s hard to think of Coca-Cola without picturing the iconic red can. Packaging can also communicate something about your company’s purpose. For instance today’s customers like to see recyclable or reusable packaging. Amazon should know quite a bit about packaging, and they have gone out of their way to promote their program to reduce packaging waste. Tips for top packaging design on Amazon and other eCommerce sites For selling online, you need to make certain that your package doesn’t just look good in person. A full-sized and thumbnail photo also has to entice clicks. For that, you need clean, clear, and uncluttered graphics and fonts. Even so, it helps to give your packaging a unique, distinctive look to attract attention. You might even use your packaging to solve a problem and make your product more functional. For instance, what could be a better example of a common packaged good than ketchup? Heinz got a lot of press for coming up with the genius idea of giving their bottles a wide top, so they could be packaged and stored upside-down. For years, customers had complained that they had to struggle to get the last bit of ketchup out of the bottle, and the new design used gravity to solve a 150-year-old problem. According to CNN, they increased sales by six percent in a year when their overall industry only rose by two percent. Businesses can profit by making their customer’s lives easier, and sometimes, packaging can help. How to start designing outstanding packages As with any aspect of marketing, you should understand your target market. For instance, CBD packaging might reflect health and nature, but boxes for luxury goods should communicate a sense of indulgence and style. Experienced product packaging companies can make certain your packaging reflects well on your company in both appearance and function.
Use These Tactics to Advertise Like Chewy.com
DTC brands are known for their clever, original, and on-trend ads. Read what we can learn from the pet product marketing tactics Chewy.com uses to connect with audiences. In a few short years, DTC (or D2C) brands have gone from a novelty to an essential part of the lives of most consumers. Emarketer forecasts that DTC sales will account for $17.75 billion of total ecommerce sales in 2020, up 24.3% from the previous year. Many of the newer DTC brands who have become household names have used highly memorable and creative direct to consumer marketing approaches to gain traction. One such example is Chewy.com, a DTC pet brand. Let’s take a closer look at how Chewy.com advertises, and what we can learn from their pet product marketing approach. Using a Savvy DTC Ad Strategy to Build Market Share This Chewy.com ad cleverly targets the new parent demographic. One of the primary benefits of Chewy’s direct to consumer marketing model is convenience — it delivers toys, chews, food, and treats directly to a consumer’s home, in a box. For new parents, saving a trip to the local brick and mortar pet store is a significant draw. Chewy’s ad shows how its service can ease the burden of new parenthood, often one of life’s most overwhelming experiences. Chewy’s ad is smart for another reason: It targets a large and growing demographic. Pets are often regarded as “training babies” by millennials, who are delaying the rituals and milestones of adulthood longer than earlier generations. Because younger people humanize their pets and treat them as family members, they are more willing to pay for premium products and services. Focusing on the “new parents with a dog” market is a smart move for Chewy.com, given their passion and willingness to spend. Chewy’s ads also make an economic case familiar to DTC or D2C brands. This ad stresses that all the products offered by Chewy are not only cheaper than those found in a brick and mortar retailer, they also come with free shipping. It’s a powerful ad because today’s “pet parents” want to do more for their animals, but they may be constrained by lack of income (a particular problem for younger pet parents). Chewy’s ad maintains that it’s possible to buy the best for your animal by opting for their low overhead DTC model. Chewy.com also released ads focusing on the ease of the delivery and exciting experience of “unboxing” a collection of dog food, treats and toys; an ad showing how Chewy.com customer service reps can assist with helping find food for dogs and cats who are “picky eaters”; and ads that feature specific owners and their dogs, all enjoying Chewy.com boxes. All of the ads are upbeat, brief and colorful and feature lots of testimonials and images of happy pets. Additionally, all of the company’s pet product marketing messages highlight at least one aspect of Chewy.com DTC value proposition: Cheaper products, easy delivery, the boxing experience, etc. Experience-based Advertising and Pet Product Marketing, Chewy-style Chewy operates on the premise that consumers only share two types of experiences online: Great ones and terrible ones. So Chewy, obviously, strives to generate the former. The company has drawn notice for sending flowers and condolences to a customer who called to cancel an order after a pet’s unexpected death. The customer was stunned and appreciative and later shared the story on social media. Chewy is also known for sending handwritten notes addressed directly to its customers’ pets — a whimsical touch that plays extremely well in an era when most of us humanize our animals. The Takeaway for Pet Product Marketing DTC brands seeking to build awareness, attract new audiences, and engage with their existing customers would do well to consider Chewy’s direct to consumer marketing, DTC advertising, and customer service model. Chewy’s ads are not high concept; instead, they hammer home the core value proposition of the company’s DTC model and show plenty of happy and excited pets. At Bigeye, we have the experience and expertise to create top drawer DTC ad campaigns such as those created by Chewy.com. Contact us today for more information about how we can help you reach your goals.
Understanding the Psychology Behind Perfect Brand Names
See how the emotional response brand names elicit from consumers can impact your business to ensure you choose the best brand name. Almost all guides to starting a new business include picking a name as one of the first steps. That might sound like a simple task. Still, you should carefully consider the emotional impact of any names under consideration. You certainly want to avoid making the list of the worst all-time business names. Yes, there’s a pizza restaurant named Poopsie’s and a propane company called Passmore Gas. You can even find a popular taco joint in Texas called Dumass Tacos. The founders may have been in on the joke and appear to have succeeded anyway. As local business owners, they probably knew their market pretty well. Still, the joke might get old and in particular, not so well embraced for companies that hope to grow into a national or even international eCommerce brand. You’re starting a new business. Risky of frivolous company names can backfire when you need to use them to appeal to an audience that you haven’t even had a chance to get to know yet. That’s why business naming services exist. They focus upon not just helping new brands avoid offensive or misunderstood names but even by using the psychology of branding to create a positive impression. Why does psychology matter for brand naming companies? Brand names may do more than help people identify different companies. Sometimes names provide clues about what the company does, how they work, or what they believe in; however, often, they don’t. According to Psych Central, brand names trigger more of an emotional response than other nouns. While people tend to process language in the more rational parts of their brain, they also pass a brand through their more emotional, right side before responding. That makes brand names an important part of marketing. While the rational part of a consumer’s brains may make logical comparisons, advertising works mostly because of how it can make people feel about the company. Companies reinforce this response by presenting their brands with consistent fonts and logos. One psychologist who studied the psychology of branding even went so far as to conclude that the way people thought about brand names appeared to give them a “special, neurological status.” Creating a brand name you won’t regret Julian Shapiro founded NameLayer, a company which provides business naming services. He mentioned considering the emotional reaction that you want customers to have when they hear your brand, even without knowing one other thing about your business. Shapiro referred to this quality as gravitas, or the degree of seriousness you hope to evoke from customers, investors, and even employees. You can certainly choose a fun name, even for some serious businesses. Still, this tactic won’t work for all types of companies. As an example, he said that he wouldn’t pick a domain like Securit.ee for a cybersecurity firm. On the other hand, he’d be fine with playing with domains and extensions for a casual clothing or photo-sharing site. Think about the types of prospects you plan to court and how you attend to acquire them before you decide how serious you need your name to sound. If you choose your own name or try some suggestions from business naming agencies, you should still try to figure out what sort of emotional reaction each name elicits before settling. You will probably benefit by asking other people for their perspective. Shapiro suggested passing names by partners, colleagues, and perhaps even better, friends who aren’t involved in the business. How to choose the perfect brand name You can find plenty of advice about picking the perfect brand name. For every set of rules, it’s easy to find examples of companies that violated these rules and succeeded anyway. Still, these risk takers either knew their market very well or got lucky enough to enjoy some benefits that outweighed the potential risks of eliciting the wrong reaction. As a business owner, you’ll have plenty of other business matters to focus on without having to worry that you’ve offended part of your market.
10 eCommerce Marketing Tips to Improve Customer Service
Improving customer service means improving eCommerce marketing in order to retain and attract customers. Learn to improve customer service with these tips. In recent months, eCommerce has enjoyed an incredible boom. At the same time, consumers also have plenty of choices and the means to research them. While online shoppers tend to demonstrate loyalty to brands they love, a poor experience will encourage them to try another internet shop. That’s why you need to prioritize customer service as a key part of your eCommerce Marketing strategy. Consider these key stats from HubSpot that illustrate why you need to invest in high-quality customer service: American shoppers who say customer service factors into their shopping choices: 90 percent American consumers who say they’ve switched companies in the past year because of poor customer service: 49 percent Mostly, it can cost between five and 25 times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. Even if you’ve hired a high-quality consumer marketing agency, worked hard to develop your brands and packaging, and done everything else right, poor customer service experiences can keep prospects from making their first purchase and just as bad, prevent a first-time buyer from making a second purchase. Ten eCommerce Marketing Suggestions to Improve Customer Service You can benefit by investing in some fairly simple and affordable enhancements to your customer service. This is true if you market other company’s brands or rely upon direct to consumer advertising. Consider these tested tips to help show prospects and customers that you care about their experience both before and after you make a sale. Create a knowledge Base: You can find plenty of software and plugins that will make it simple to add an online knowledge base to your eCommerce site. You might start by answering the types of topics that customers frequently ask you or your existing customer service people. Show transaction history online: Giving customers the ability to login and see their ordering, billing, and shipping history online will help eliminate a lot of questions and misunderstandings. Create how-to videos: Posting videos that explain how your website or even some of your products work will help answer questions, increase customer satisfaction, and probably even drive sales. Create a scalable team: While a lot of these steps can help reduce the number of customer service reps you need, make sure you can handle peak demand. Offer live chat: According to Forrester, typical live chat sessions can cost up to 30 percent less than comparable phone calls. Some software allows you to use pre-written macros to answer frequent questions, and often, agents can handle more than one chat session at a time. Develop a multi-channel customer service strategy: Besides offering support on your website, you can also consider it on social media channels. This way, you meet customers where they spend a lot of time. Also, by giving an irritated or anxious customer a place to send a message you may prevent them from venting in a public post. Use help desk software: Not only can this software help track touch-points, it can also keep different service channels integrated. For instance, you can keep a record of interactions from social media and your website stored in one place. Offer a 24-7 voice system: Even if you can’t possibly keep somebody online 24 hours a day, you can still take messages that get routed to your held desk software for responses during the next business day. Even in this age of social media messaging and live chat, some folks still like to speak with a live person. Keep your FAQ updated: Once you get your customer service rolling, you should find that some questions occur more frequently than others. Having those clearly addressed in a simple FAQ should head off a lot of contacts and customer frustration. Track and measure customer service: If you want to keep improving, you need a way to measure your progress. In addition to tracking the number and types of request, you may want to send out surveys after a contact to give customers a chance to provide feedback. Even if you initially only provide limited options for customer to get in touch, it’s important to ensure that confused or dissatisfied people have a way to get their concerns addressed. Any growing eCommerce business must attract and retain customers. Poor customer service experiences will turn away customers, even for companies who do a lot of other things right.
How Ben & Jerry’s Flipped the Lid on Content Marketing Strategy
Ben & Jerry’s content marketing strategy involves bold flavors and social activism to maintain a positive brand and reputation. From their fanciful flavor names to the way that they embrace political activism, any experienced content marketing agency should understand that Ben & Jerry’s provides a good example of a successful brand that does things a little differently. For example, most agencies will usually advise conducting market research as the very first step in developing a content marketing strategy. In contrast, Ben & Jerry’s current CEO, Matthew McCarthy said that conducting too much market research can lead to mediocrity. Find out how this beloved brand has retained its market position by delivering what customers want without trying to spend to much time upfront attempting to even predict what that is. What’s Different About Ben & Jerry’s Content Marketing Strategy? Instead of creating a perception of maintaining just another high-quality ice cream brand, Ben & Jerry’s continues to generate a positive brand perception by working to disrupt their market and revolutionize society through their content marketing strategy. Maintaining Their Reputation as a Disputer So how can the CEO of Ben and Jerry’s say that too much research, a staple of most content marketing plans, can lead to mediocrity? McCarthy told Marketing Week that he spent years working for Unilever and for much of that career, they relied upon consumers to tell them exactly what they wanted. Of course, he agrees that this kind of research still provides an incredibly useful tool. However, he’s learned that it’s impossible to please everybody and by trying, it can lead to not actually pleasing anybody that well. If you ask a random group of people to choose their favorite ice cream, a lot of them might settle upon chocolate, vanilla, or maybe, strawberry. Instead, Ben & Jerry’s has stood out by coming up with interesting and memorable concoctions that may or may not rely upon the old standby flavors as part of the mix. Instead, they begin by having product development teams work with their flavor gurus, also known as professional chefs. After they’ve developed new flavors, they may test them by either sending them directly to market or by inviting small groups of Ben Jerry’s fans to try a scoop. And he believes this practice continues to help them grow and maintain a reputation as a market disrupter, even though they’re an established brand that’s been around for over four decades and has a presence in at least 35 countries. So, when Ben & Jerry’s introduces such brands as Phish Food, Cherry Garcia, and Americone Dream, everybody wants to find out what the buzz is all about. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve associated at least some of their flavors with celebrities. They can also glide a bit on not just their own media presence but also that of the people or concepts they honor and support with their delicious pints. How Ben & Jerry’s Maintains Their Activist Image Ben & Jerry’s dedicated one of the most popular flavors, Americone Dream, to Stephen Colbert. Not only that, a portion of profits also goes to some of Stephen Colbert’s favorite charities. Not only should an inbound marketing agency consider this an example of genius marketing, they should also take note that the favor’s really good. Who wouldn’t like a fudge-covered pieces of waffle cones and caramel swirls drenched in a high-quality vanilla base? Plus, each pint helps such worthy causes as the environment, veterans, and disadvantaged children. Just mentioning it here will probably move a few more pints off the shelf. Don’t forget to try the Chunky Money while you’re at it. Besides sales, the extra attention has generated plenty of positive press from news agencies, supported charities, and of course, Colbert himself. Ben and Jerry’s recent statement on white supremacy should not have surprised anybody who has followed a company that already introduced flavors like Pecan Resist and Justice Remix’d. Not only did their statement help them solidly their serious stance as a brand with a purpose, it also helped them align with activist movements. What’s Activism Got to do with Ice Cream and Content Marketing? When asked by Marketing Dive what activism has to do with ice cream, the CEO said, “Not a lot. Except we care about it, and our team cares.” Judging by the extra positive mentions that Ben & Jerry’s has received by blogs, news sites, and even activist organizations, it looks like their customers care too.
Let Goat Yoga Enlighten Your Viral Content Strategy
Goat yoga videos went viral through engaging content and good promotion. Add viral content to your social media marketing strategy. It’s been the butt of jokes, pun intended. People who have never seen it always ask if it’s even real. Comedians on late-night TV make fun of it. Still, goat yoga has turned into a serious business, mostly because of a successful content media strategy. No content marketing agency or forgive me, guru, can give you the exact formula to guarantee a viral content marketing strategy. Still, it’s easy to pick out what viewers found engaging and sharable when they viewed goat yoga videos online. Can goat yoga teach you how to get a video viral? That’s My Idea! Marketing, a local content marketing agency for a goat yoga location, offered a very transparent glimpse into their social media strategy. Like any good marketers, they defined their target market. They decided taking yoga classes in a field with cute, little goats would appeal to the most to females who were at least 25 years old. Once they had their target, they promoted videos of the activity on Facebook. Of course, by then, lots of people had already heard of goat yoga, so their job may have been a bit easier. According to CNBC, the original founder of Original Goat Yoga actually started gaining attention through a story and photos in Modern Farmer. The videos arrived somewhat later. She made a solid six-figures her first year just from viral media attention. During that time, images and videos of goats and yoga students in action spread fast. For her, the business grew so quickly that gaining attention was the least of her problems. Instead, she needed to abruptly leave her full-time job and struggle to get the infrastructure in place to support all the people who wanted to attend classes. During that first year, her expenses kept up with spiking revenues because she had never planned to grow so fast. At least from a marketing perspective, it was a job well done. Later, she managed to develop revenue and funding sources to make the rest of her business as successful as her marketing. The ingredients of the goat yoga viral content strategy While the exact formula might not work for every business, it’s easy to spot the qualities of the photos and videos of goat yoga classes that engaged viewers: They’re fun, interesting, and effective: People have a natural attraction to cute animals, and these dwarf goats are as photogenic as kittens. People also have an interest in yoga. While neither goats nor yoga are new ideas, combining them was novel. Like peanut butter and chocolate, putting goats and yoga together produced magic. It’s like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups of exercise and animal videos. People who have tried the classes in person say that having the goats hop about is surprisingly calming. They’re visually appealing and engaging and very sharable: The goats snuggle, prance, and sometimes, even hop up on the yoga students while they’re holding their poses. While the videos are actually fairly simple and easy to understand, the unpredictable nature of the animals generates countless possibilities. The combination of visual appeal and simplicity makes this kind of content very sharable, and that’s a key ingredient for viral content. They evoke positive emotions: Goat yoga doesn’t just connect with its audience. It also helps connect the audience to nature and animals. This sort of content almost immediately evokes a sense of joy, makes people laugh, and relieves stress. These days, it’s easy to get bombarded with bad news and negative emotions, so the goat yoga videos offer a pleasant refuge. What can goat yoga teach a content marketing agency or business about viral videos? Neil Patel, the internet marketing guru, published some simple characteristics that he believes every viral video needs. As you explore his suggestions, you can see how goat yoga videos provide a great example: Rapid engagement: To get attention on a busy video site or social platform, videos need to gain attention quickly. Novelty: If you’re advertising a type of yoga class or a toaster, you should stand out by doing something different. Think about the example of advertising a blender by finding out if it could blend a cell phone or tablet. Decent quality: These days, you should pay some attention to production values. That’s true even if you can’t yet afford professional equipment or producers. Even if the videos aren’t perfect, they still need to be good enough. Practicality: This might appear almost counter-intuitive when you’re talking about producing novel content; however, videos that offer accessible solutions tend to garner the most views. Promotable: Even the most sharable videos need to gain that initial audience, so have a plan to distribute and promote the videos in order to help them gain momentum. If you read more about the early days of goat yoga, you will learn that the founder hit upon a fantastic idea, promoted it, and then let her audience find her. She honestly never expected it to gain momentum as quickly as it did. If you’re setting out to develop viral content, you should first define your target audience and research the types of content that have a good chance of appealing to them. Original Goat Yoga first distributed to Modern Farmer. You may want to spend time figuring out the sorts of platforms and publications that your audience might frequent in order to create your distribution and social media strategy. Even though viral content relies upon having the audience share it, you first need to develop that audience. Even the most successful marketers will admit that they need art, science, and some luck to produce viral video content. By neglecting the important characteristics of a viral content strategy, you’ll greatly reduce your chances. Still, by studying past successes, you can craft and distribute content in a way that will greatly improve your odds, so you won’t need to rely upon luck
Rules for CBD Advertising on Social Media
CBD advertising rules and even laws are evolving, so a CBD marketing plan has to exercise caution. Learn the safe way to market CBD. With the passage of the Farm Bill in 2018, the federal and almost all state governments consider CBD legal in at least one form or another. While the government has relaxed its stance on this non-psychoactive component of cannabis, some social sites have remained unfriendly to products that contain CBD. As a CBD marketing agency or business, you must navigate some tricky rules for CBD advertising on social sites. Rules for CBD advertising on social media sites According to Search Engine Journal, CBD products will generate billions in revenue while remaining extremely profitable over the next few years. Despite the apparent legality and profitability of this sector, most social networks have either restricted or forbidden advertising. This includes such large players as Snapchat, Google, Instagram, and even Facebook. Can you run CBD advertising on Facebook, Twitter, and other big social media sites? Even though Facebook’s policies didn’t specifically mention CBD as banned from the site, some advertisers have reported warnings and even account terminations over their promoted posts and feed ads. At first, these restrictions even applied to ads that didn’t mention CBD but pointed to landing pages with these products. According to Digiday, Facebook may have relaxed this restriction on topical products or any ads that point to landing pages with either topical or ingestible CBD products. Even so, at least one legal firm in the CBD industry, Harris Bricken, says that it’s probably wise to confirm this with your Facebook account rep as even Digiday reported getting this information from an inside source. According to these legal CBD experts, no business or CBD marketing agency can afford to lose their investment in growing a social presence by having their account abruptly closed. Harris Bricken also mentioned that Twitter has published somewhat more straightforward policies, though they’re still fairly restrictive. Basically, they advise advertisers to get advance authorization before running ads, which is what the law firm advised Facebook marketers to do. In general, advertisers also must only promote topical products. Twitter will also forbid ads targeting a handful of CBD-unfriendly states and anybody under 21. It looks like social site policies for CBD advertising are still evolving and typically murky. Other platforms, like Google and Instagram, also have restrictions. As a general rule, do your homework before setting up any advertising campaigns to ensure you don’t waste time and worse, risk losing your valuable account. General rules for CBD product marketing While you may want to tread carefully to comply with an advertising platform’s terms of service, you particularly don’t want your CBD product marketing to run afoul of the law. For example, South Dakota has not yet legalized CBD at all, and some other states impose restrictions on the percentage of THC that might be found in any legal CBD products. Selling illegal products in these states could potentially result in felony charges. As with various ad platform’s terms of service, state laws might change rapidly too, so your wise to stay updated. Besides state laws, the FDA has published fairly clear restrictions about the types of advertising they allow, and apparently, these rules are in a state a flux as well. The Broadcast Law Blog issued some commentary about recent updates to CBD advertising rules that my provide some clarity: Don’t make any specific health claims in CBD advertising. Don’t advertise to children or in states where your product might be illegal. Unless you’re marketing an FDA-approved medication, be specifically wary about advertising ingested products. With all these CBD advertising restrictions, how can you market? If you’re starting a CBD brand, all of the restrictions on social media posts and other ads can prove quite restrictive. Still, plenty of CBD companies have found channels to help improve awareness of CBD, their products, and their businesses. Big Commerce studied some CBD marketing experts to determine which tactics that have been proven most effective and safe: Generate plenty of content: While you need to tread carefully when making an specific medical claims about CBD that haven’t been approved by the FDA, you can certainly produce content that relies upon medical studies or testimonials to help educate consumers about your product’s benefits. This sort of content can help raise awareness of both your product and your brand. Focus on organic reach: Since you’re developing content, you might as well use it to your benefit. Some social sites may disallow paid CBD ads, but they might not impose such restrictions upon non-promoted posts on your page. Good keyword research to use in your content can also help you craft articles, graphics, and videos that will be likely to rank organically in search engines. Conduct old-fashioned, in-person social outreach: Even though digital marketers tend to think of digital social networking, trade show marketing still provides an important source of marketing to many companies. You’ll have the chance to engage in word-of-mouth marketing, generate buzz, hand out samples, and of course, take some orders. Consider affiliate marketing: If you have an affiliate program, you can offer some percentage of sales to other marketers in exchange for their contribution to your revenue and attention. Some affiliates may already have the kinds of websites, social platforms, and blogs that will work well with your product. Rely upon influencers: By having influencers spotlight your products, you have a chance to greatly increase awareness of your brand. Even though you might hesitate to tell people your CBD cream helps relieve pain, influencers in the wellness or fitness category can provide their own testimonials. Start a subscriber list: You can offer discounts, samples, or other promotional offers to attract subscribers to your email or text messaging list. If these subscribers find their subscriptions valuable, you’re likely to retain them and even encourage them to pass along your message. The future of CBD marketing Right now, social media rules, laws, and even interpretations