Jaw Dropping Stats That Will Make You Want to Take a Second Look at Pinterest

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One of the best ways for brands to expand their consumer bases is through digital marketing, and while most people think of such online marketing in relation to major social networks like Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest is actually an exceptionally valuable tool for marketing.

Stats on Pinterest

Not only can individuals create accounts with Pinterest, but businesses can as well. There are a wide number of positive statistics that show why Pinterest is such a powerhouse in the marketing world.

  • 176 million registered profiles
  • 42% of the US adult women use Pinterest
  • 150 million active users
  • 80 million active monthly users from outside the US
  • 84% people on Pinterest use the website across multiple devices
  • 72% people on Pinterest use this platform to determine what to buy offline
  • 85% of users are women
  • 70 million active monthly users from the US
  • 87% Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest
  • 83% users would rather follow a brand or company than a celebrity
  • 75 billion pins
  • 70% of sales due to promoted pins are from new customers
  • 55% shoppers claim Pinterest is their favorite social media platform

Below are a few reasons why Pinterest is so effective as a marketing tool.

Conversion Rates

When a viewer on the Pinterest platform sees your work, it is far easier for them to be converted into a customer than it is through other social networks like Facebook or Twitter. You’d have to pay for a higher tier of advertising on those platforms in order to get the same sort of visibility.

Higher Traffic

Any business that relies heavily on internet-based sales wants to receive as much traffic as possible for the highest possible revenues. Pinterest is good at generating this sort of traffic around your site thanks to the way it links everything together.

The Power of Micro-Influencers

If you’ve never heard of micro-influencers, be prepared to hear more about them in the future. This idea is that a customer for a brand that has a lot of influence in the online sphere can actually promote the brand to their followers. Since Pinterest is more of a visual search engine than a social network, micro-influencers can create permanent viral content easily.

Infinite Pins

There is no news feed in Pinterest that favors newer content over older. It works based on searches and the discovery method, so Pins that were created years ago are just as relevant as those created today. This means you don’t have to worry about updating your page with new content just to avoid blending into the background.

Greater Inbound Linking

Linking is one of the linchpins of digital marketing, and Pinterest is one of the easiest platforms to use effective backlinks. Each Pin you post will include a link to the source from which the content was originally gleaned. As a business, this means that every piece of content you produce will be easily accessible by those searching for such content through re-Pins.

Macro-Influencers

Pinterest is useable as a micro-influencer and macro-influencer platform at the same time. Macro-influencers include those who are exceptionally prominent in both the online and real-world realms, like celebrities or politicians.

Conclusion

Pinterest is exceptionally valuable as a social media network and as a marketing tool because of the way it’s different from other such platforms. By properly using Pinterest, you can put your brand or service in front of a large audience seeking exactly what you offer.

495 Digital

No One Using Your App? 7 Ways to Bring it Back to Life

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improve-app-performance

You’ve invested time and money into an app. You and the rest of the team think it’s pretty cool. But two things are jumping out at you: You have zero reviews, and your downloads don’t outnumber your Facebook friends.

It’s time to brush the dust off and get serious about discoverability and engagement. While it’s hard to make a living in the app store, there IS still money to be made. Here are 7 ways to breathe some life into a deadbeat app.

1. Create a User Tutorial

If you want to bring back your first time users, one of the best ways is to create a user walk-through for your app. People need to understand how to use the content that you provide before they will make a purchase. A user walk-through is one of the best ways to introduce yourself to a new audience.

2. Clean Up the User Interface (UI)

If you are not getting the download percentage that you want, you should try to make the interaction with your application easier. Cut down on the number of clicks that people need to perform in order to get something out of your app. Clean up your user interface.

3. Dazzle the Eyes

You can always make your application look better. If given a choice between two apps, all else being equal, the average person will pick the one that catches the eye. Apps are very competitive. Make sure that you have a great-looking user interface and front screen so that you can get all of the traffic that you are supposed to.

4. Give Users Value

Provide real value to the people you are trying to target. One of the best ways to keep you coming back for more and make a purchase is to save them time or money. Entertain them if this is your niche. In some way, you have to make their lives easier, or there is really no reason to come back to your offering. You should also look to provide value that your application users would not have if you were not there.

5. Be OmniPresent

Be a consistent presence in the lives of your target audience. No matter how you choose to engage, consistency is definitely a positive character trait in the marketing and in the design of your application. Get in their heads by getting in their emails. Use push notifications. You can also make use of badge notifications. You can tie in a discount or some sort of a bonus feature announcement when you do this. You actually have many different choices – connect offers in different ways so that people who come to you will not get bored with your consistency.

6. Personalize the App Experience

Look to personalize every single message that you send out into the ether. As the world becomes more digital, the customers in that world demand more personalization. This may seem counterintuitive, but it it is actually exactly how you would expect people to act. As everything becomes colder, personalization is had at more of a premium. If you are the company that provides this to them, then why wouldn’t they come back? They will definitely want to get in touch with you because of your warm countenance and inviting appearance.

7. Hone the Functionality

Lastly, you can always improve the core functionality of your app. You may not be getting the sales that you think you deserve because you have not yet provided the core functionality that your target audience is looking for. Actually, you may have this functionality, but it could be hidden behind a wall of errors. You need to constantly test your application in order to understand what is going on with it. Add new features when the time is right, because your competition will always be catching up to you if you are standing still.

Follow the seven tips above for a higher conversion and retention rate. Applications today are among the most competitive technical products on the market, so you should always look to update your value to the consumer.

495 digital

Your Customers Are Mobile, So Why Aren’t You?

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Just because customers can find your business online using a desktop computer doesn’t mean they can find it using a mobile device. Smartphones and tablets have smaller displays, different operating systems, software and other nuances. Statistics show, however, that 77 percent of U.S. adults own a smartphone, and conversions on mobile devices are 64 percent higher than those on desktop computers.

As a business owner, you can — and should — target these users with a mobile-centric marketing strategy.

Define Mobile Marketing Goals and Objectives

You should first define your mobile marketing goals and objectives. Maybe you want to beat a competitor who’s currently ranking at the top of Google for mobile searches related to your business, or perhaps you want to attract 20 new customers every week.

No two businesses are the same, so it’s important that you create goals and objectives aligned with your business’s needs.

495-digital-marketingDevelop Mobile-Friendly Web Design

Run your business’s website through Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool. If it returns the message “not mobile friendly,” visitors on smartphones and tablets will experience usability problems like content wider than the display, hard-to-read text and two or more links placed too closely together. Not only does this discourage mobile users from interacting with your site, but search engines may lower its ranking as well. Thankfully, a simple solution is to use a responsive web design, which changes your site’s layout automatically to achieve a high level of cross-compatibility on all devices.

Add Your Business to Mobile-Friendly Directories

Your website isn’t the only place where mobile customers can find your business online; they can also find it on web directories. By listing your business on mobile-friendly directories like Yelp, Yellowbook, Whitepages, Superpages.com, Angie’s List and Merchant Circle, you’ll have an easier time reaching mobile customers. Many of these directories also support customer reviews, allowing your business to develop a positive, trustworthy reputation among its audience.

Target Mobile Users With Paid Ads

When advertising your business online, consider paid advertising platforms that support mobile targeting. On AdWords, for example, you can use device targeting for Display Network campaigns, and you use mobile bid adjustments — a feature that automatically bids higher for mobile impressions — for Search Network campaigns. Even Facebook Ads supports device targeting under user behaviors.

Keep in mind that you should only target mobile users with ads after updating your site with a mobile-friendly design.

495 digitalPersonalize Your Mobile Marketing Efforts

Many business owners overlook the importance of personalization when promoting their business online. They focus on the technical aspects of digital marketing like measuring click-through rates (CTR) and conversion, forgetting the personal touch that really connects with users. Think about what makes your business unique and memorable, and try to convey that message in your mobile marketing efforts.

Partner With the Right Digital Marketing Agency

Finally, partnering with the right digital marketing agency, like 495 Digital, can maximize your business’s online visibility for mobile users. Unless they work in the digital marketing, most business owners lack the time needed to create and manage mobile marketing campaigns. They toss up a couple of mobile ads, neglecting to monitor and optimize them thereafter. Thankfully, the right digital marketing agency can take this burden off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on your other elements of your business.

Remember: Mobile marketing requires time, resources and patience. With smartphone usage on the rise, however, it can pay off for your business by attracting new customers and establishing your brand as an online authority.

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What You Should Be Prepared to Spend on Digital Marketing in 2018

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Gone are the days when businesses of all shapes and sizes spent the majority of their advertising dollars on traditional advertising mediums like billboards, newspapers, T.V., and radio. Now, almost all businesses regardless of their size spend most of their hard earned profits on digital marketing.

Statistics don’t lie!

Over the last decade, there has been a strong shift to online advertising by offline businesses. In fact, the advertising budget allocated to traditional methods has dropped by single digits every year over the past 5 years and digital marketing advertising has grown by double-digit percentages during the same time frame for businesses across the globe.

As a small business, your revenue dollars should go a long way when it comes to advertising your company’s products/services online. Since you will not have as big a budget as the “Big Boys”, you can not afford to throw them at every digital marketing method and see what sticks.

In order to get a decent ROI on your online advertising efforts, you should know which areas of digital marketing to prioritize first and what portion of your budget you should allocate to each.

What Does a Realistic Marketing Budget Look Like?

All businesses, large and small, must reinvest their revenues to keep the company going and growing. This is perhaps even more important for small businesses who wish to survive in today’s competitive business environment.

If we take a look at a recent CMO Spend Survey which gathered data from companies around the world as to how much they allocate towards their online advertising, we can get a good foundation as to how much your small business should allocate towards

 your digital marketing campaigns.

Overall Marketing Budget

According to the survey, most businesses allocate at least 10% of company revenues on various forms of marketing.

Digital Marketing Budget

According to the survey, the majority of today’s businesses spend over 25% of their total marketing budget on digital marketing.

Prioritizing Your Digital Ad Budget

The next step in figuring out how much you should spend is to figure out which part you will spend it on. Digital Marketing is a huge field and consists of many methods and strategies. Therefore, it is important for small business to narrow down the range of the most important aspects of digital marketing in order to spend their money wisely.

According to a recent marketing chart, successful B2B digital marketing campaigns over the last few years were mostly geared to generating leads and converting those leads. Basically, this equates to getting online traffic (visitors) and converting them to leads or sales.

There are three main digital marketing priorities that can accomplish these tasks:

  1. Digital Advertising
  2. Content Marketing
  3. Website Development & Design.

Digital Advertising: This consist of paid advertising mediums like Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, Youtube Ads, and a host of other social media and lesser-known platforms that offer Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Pay-Per-Impression (PPI), or a flat rate to show your ad for a specific time frame. This is the fastest way to generate traffic to your site but can be the most expensive as well.

Content Marketing: Content is still king online, therefore it is important to provide your visitors with engaging and relevant content that is provided free of cost (at first). This helps build trust and a long-lasting relationship which is the most important part of the conversion process. Engaging content includes blog articles, press releases, videos, infographics, and images.

Website Design/Development: Aside from being part of a well-rounded Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, your website should be properly arranged for ease-of-use and conversion tactics. Once you have guided visitors to your site, engaged them with valuable content, you then want to make it easy for them to opt-into your prospect list and become a part of your sales funnel, which hopefully ends in a new customer.

How Much To Allocate

Now that you know how much to spend for your digital marketing campaigns (25% of 10% of revenue), as well as which areas of digital marketing to focus on first, we can now break down the percentages even further for each of the three main areas of digital marketing.

Here is the breakdown:

13% of your advertising budget should go to Digital Advertising.

12% of your advertising budget should go to Content Creation/Marketing.

12% of your advertising budget should go to Website Design/Development.

For example, in very simple terms, assuming you have an ad budget of $10,000 the allocated amount would look something like this:

Digital Advertising: $1,300

Content Creation/Marketing: $1,200

Website Design/Development: $1,200

Conclusion

Having a planned out budget for your digital marketing campaigns is essential for you and your small business to see a positive ROI. Allocating the budget through the 3 main categories listed above will ensure a continuous amount of customers/clients both now and well into the future.