Viral marketing is undoubtedly hit-and-miss and, therefore, we would never claim to have found a foolproof formula. It’s extremely gratifying and good for business when you do hit on a campaign that spreads like wildfire. But, there are no guarantees. So, there shouldn’t be too much disappointment when your efforts don’t go quite as planned. The next time you start working on a potential viral campaign, try to make the following points part of your approach:   • Don’t Leave it to Chance – Know Your Audience If your campaign has any chance of going viral, it needs to be targeted. And, you need to know everything about your audience. What is the best time to launch for maximum impact? What does your audience want and need? How and why should they respond to your campaign? Make sure you’ve answered these questions thoroughly before you get going.   • Keep the Message Simple All it takes is a single image or one simple meme to go viral. You need to focus on minimal information and maximum impact. Devise something that can be consumed, understood and interpreted at a glance, and that can inspire a reshare or retweet in a second. Don’t make your reader have to think about it for too long.   • Focus on Visuals As a corollary to the previous point, in order to make your campaign as simple as possible, you should focus on powerful images and minimal text. Less really is more in this instance, and the old adage that a picture paints a thousand words is absolutely true. A single image that catches the eye and sums up the message will do a lot more than a paragraph of even the best copy.   • Let it Happen, Don’t Push It Remember that most things that go viral do so completely organically – and often by accident. You can’t force it. You need to put your message out, having done all the necessary prep work, and then let it attract an audience naturally. There will be times when it won’t work and you’ll need to go back to the drawing board, but don’t let that worry you. As long as you’ve done your homework regarding your audience, you are more than likely to hit the target eventually. Your chances of doing so will increase each time you try, so keep at it!   WSI OMS can help you with your viral campaigns. Contact us to find out how.   Please follow and like...

Behavioural marketing can take a bit of research and legwork, but it’s well worth the effort. Below, we discuss just three of the many ways in which investigating the behaviour of your audience and altering your marketing accordingly can be extremely good for your business! 1. You Can Up-Sell Through Remarketing This is possibly the easiest form of behavioural marketing! And, everyone from Amazon to your local online shoe retailer does it. Simply put, algorithms enable you to sell more to returning customers on the basis of their previous searches, views and purchases. The more they visit, the more you can refine your marketing communications, the easier their buying experience gets, and the more likely you are to make more sales. 2. Segmented Content = Marketing Precision The more you get to know about your target audience, the more you can sharpen and refine your marketing approaches to each segment. In turn, these approaches are likely to be more effective and lead to more conversions because of the narrower scope. How you segment your market depends on the specifics of your business. Consider the case of Orbitz, an online travel website that experimented with serving different content to its users on the basis of whether they were working from a Mac or PC. Mac users were served more expensive accommodation options in their searches, compared to the PC users. This was reportedly on the basis of research that showed that Mac users were, by and large, more affluent and tended to spend about 30% more on travel. Controversial though this case may be, it presents some very interesting ideas as to how you can divide up your market. It could be along the lines of income or perhaps gender or location – the exact methodology depends on you.   3.Direct Resources into Audiences That Are More Likely to Convert Segmenting your audience on behavioural lines can also help you to focus your marketing budget on those sections that are more likely to convert to a sale. Once you get an idea of which part of your audience is most likely to spend, you can then, for example, place higher bids on pop-up ads directed at them specifically, while downplaying or eliminating ad spend that targets other, less lucrative segments. This may lead to slightly higher outlay, to begin with. But, with the increase in ROI would be worth it.   WSI OMS can advise you on all aspects of your online marketing operations. Contact us to find out more. Please follow and like...

Much of the talk in the world of online marketing is about drawing readers to your site. But that’s only the first part of the process. Your focus should really be on making sure that, once readers come to your site, they become paying customers.  The principles that drive conversions in online business are not much different to those in brick and mortar retail spaces. It’s all about your product, how you package it, your prices, your service and the environment. If a customer walks into a well laid out and designed shop, is met by competent and helpful staff, and finds good value for money, he/she is likely to make a purchase. In the online space, the same principles apply. Consider these five important actions to convert site visits to sales. Make your USP unmissable from the first click You can’t give visitors time to look around the site, not find what they need and move on – because they will in less than half a minute. From the moment they enter your site, if it is not already apparent from the social media post or email they clicked through from, your USP must be obvious and unmissable. Spell it out. Be classy and clever but never subtle. Engage your visitors Don’t just offer information passively – invite readers to interact with you and your product. Offer a tester of your product and ask for feedback. Keep them thinking about the product and engaging with it.  Avoid clutter and give your clients breathing space Cut down on the text and make good use of white space. Offer only the essential information and allow your customers the space to make their decisions. Add value Everyone loves a bargain. You don’t have a live salesperson on your website to upsell and/ or haggle with your clients, so you have to let the website itself do that work for you. In addition to your central USP, offer add-ins, complementary products and packages deals. Always put a time limit on those to encourage the purchase. Maintain a relationship after the sale From a “thank you” mail to follow-up offers, continued post-sale communication with your customers are always a good idea (unless they say otherwise, of course). Show your appreciation and they will likely return the favour. Contact WSI to assist you in creating a sale-closing website and marketing strategy. Please follow and like...

Did you know that 95% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service? And that 81% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video? Video marketing is a powerful way to boost brand awareness and sell more products. A new infographic by Webmstersjury.com lists some key stats that would make any business owner or marketer think twice about ploughing their marketing budget into anything besides video marketing. 97% of marketers, for example, say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service and 76% of businesses say it helped them increase sales. Here are a few interesting statistics about viewing platforms from the infographic: YouTube Video 87% of marketers have published video content on YouTube; Out of those, 90% found it to be an effective strategy; 87% of marketers say they plan to use video marketing in 2018. Facebook Video 70% of marketers plan to use Facebook Video in 2018; 68% of marketers have published video content on Facebook; Of those who used it, 87% found it to be an effective strategy. Instagram Video 41% of marketers have used Instagram video; Of those who used it, 78% found it to be an effective strategy; 44% say they plan to use Instagram video in 2018. Twitter Video 39% of marketers have published video content on Twitter; 40% plan to use Twitter video in 2018. LinkedIn Video 38% of marketers have published video content on LinkedIn; Of those who used it, 75% found it to be an effective strategy; 55% plan to use LinkedIn video in 2018. For more interesting statistics about video marketing, see their video marketing infographic. Need help with your video marketing or digital marketing strategy? Then contact WSI OMS today. Please follow and like...

 Google’s featured snippets are a massive talking point within the online marketing community at the moment – and there is no doubt as to why! They provide marketers with an amazing opportunity to get their content featured and, as a result, to generate more clicks to their website. Here is what you need to know about this relatively recent search engine revelation, and how best to use it to your advantage. Google Featured Snippets and Traffic to Your Website  The question on most online marketing experts’ lips is not whether or not Google featured snippets help to generate more traffic to a website. But, rather, how much traffic they’re able to generate. According to ConfluentForms.com, a website that scores a Google featured snippet can expect to enjoy a resultant 20 – 30% boost in traffic. What Triggers Google Featured Snippets to Appear?  Most marketers assume that it is only question-based Google search queries that trigger the appearance of featured snippets. However, that is not the case. Research has shown that long-tail queries increase the chances of featured snippets appearing, and that they tend to pop up in non-question-based queries just as often. How Do You Get Your Website’s Content Featured?  Unfortunately, there is no quick SEO fix or code that can help you to score a Google featured snippet. The best way in which to make it happen is to keep creating original, high-quality content as part of a detailed content marketing strategy. Try to think about the type of information that your target market may be searching for, and tailor your content around this. You can also increase your chances of being featured by putting a targeted query in a <h2> subheading, followed by a concise answer. Long-form content is also favoured by Google, so don’t be afraid to elaborate further down on the page! For more information about Google featured snippets, online marketing and SEO in general, get in touch with the WSI OMS team today. Please follow and like...

There are many online marketing tools that can help you attract new visitors to your website, and increase your online exposure – from paid Facebook advertising, to Google Adwords and banner adverts. You’ve probably used, or at least heard of, all of these. But what about native advertising? Native advertising is a relatively new form of online advertising, where adverts are designed to blend in with a website’s look and feel. This is a more unobtrusive form of advertising that is proving highly effective for a number of reasons: Native advertising is cost-effective Banner adverts on popular websites are often very expensive. At the same time, pay-per-click ads that target customers via Google keywords can also be costly, especially in competitive industries. Native advertising on the other hand often allows for much lower and customisable budgets, so that even small businesses find them financially viable. Native adverts have a lower cost per click Most native advertising platforms allow for very specialised targeting. This allows you to create adverts that are highly relevant to specific segments of your target market, and this high level of customisation results in a lower cost per click. You’re also likely to attract more clicks when you use native advertising, as levels of engagement are far higher, as compared to traditional digital marketing. The reason for this is likely due to the unobtrusiveness of the adverts that are created to match the web design of the page on which they appear. Native adverts are less likely to annoy website visitors A lot of banner advertising is distracting and annoying for internet users, so much so that most people are aware of adverts in their peripheral vision but actually tune them out. Because native advertising is less in your face, and blends in with the design of the page on which they are placed, they are actually more likely to attract the attention of website visitors in a positive way. Native advertising attracts genuine customers Native adverts blend seamlessly into a website which makes them unobtrusive, however they are clearly marked as adverts so there is no deception involved. Internet users tend to avoid banner adverts, and a high percentage of click throughs from these adverts are accidental. With native advertising however, you’re assured that a large portion of customers click on your advert out of genuine interest. Are you looking for expert digital marketing services for your business? Contact us today for help, advice strategies that work! Please follow and like...