4 Marketing Strategies to Get Ahead in 2025
It’s a new year. You’ve evaluated the past year and you want to shake it up this year.
Since the emergence of AI, everything is moving ten times faster than previous years so staying ahead of the curve has never been more important.
Planning and staying one step ahead of your competitors is the way to win in 2025.
In our blog, we discuss the 4 marketing strategies to implement in 2025 that align with our predictions about digital marketing and social media trends (You can catch up on it here) we discussed in our previous blog.
We provide in-depth insights into finding and analyzing data, along with recommendations for useful tools and resources.
Let’s set you up for success!
Understanding Marketing Strategies
Before implementing any strategies, it’s important to evaluate where you are now, not the future.
Take note of past results, ROI, and whether you hit past objectives and goals before setting new ones.
This gives you more clarity and direction on where to take your business in 2025.
Determine your business goals. What’s your biggest goal for 2025? Where do you see yourself in a year’s time? What will you be proud of this time next year?
Think long-term then work backwards into short-term goals and actionable steps you need to take each month to hit the end goal.
Best practice to set long and short-term goals is by using the SMART method. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
A long-term goal for brand awareness could be to increase market share and attract a younger demographic (millennials aged 25-35 in urban areas) by 20% within the next 12 months.
Long-term goals take time and need to be monitored throughout the year to see whether you are on track.
Implementing short-term goals can keep employees and teams on track and accountability.
A short-term goal could be to increase social media engagement on Instagram by 15% within the next 3 months.
3 months is an average timeline to evaluate whether your strategy is working or needs to be adjusted.
Once you know your long-term and short-term goals, it’s time to implement the strategies to get there.
Data-Driven Decision Making
The Power of Data Analytics: Unlocking hidden insights about your audience
Your analytics are your best-kept secret. They let you know what’s working and what’s not. Businesses that fail and get left behind continue to do the same strategies each year because well.. if it’s worked before, it’ll work again, right?
But there’s a reason why they aren’t getting results. They fail to keep up-to-date with trends and prefer to stick to what they know. In business, you need to be agile and always ready to switch directions if needed. Because if nothing changes, nothing changes.
Your goals for your business this year will determine what you should be focusing on.
If you want to increase brand awareness, your focus should be on showing your expertise and awareness around your product or service.
Ask yourself “does our target audience need more information about what we provide? Do they understand how our product or service works?”. What differentiates you from your competitors?
Increasing brand awareness can be done through content marketing such as writing in-depth articles, blogs, tutorials, and guides about your products or service.
If your industry is more technical or buyers need more information before investing, in-depth whitepapers or e-books are valuable resources that can move them further down the funnel.
Tracking your social media insights such as reach and engagement are a direct link to see if your content is resonating with your target audience.
Establish thought leadership in your industry by engaging in industry news and discussions with potential customers.
If you’re driving traffic to your website, check your insights on your hosting platform and implement Google Analytics. On the platform, you can view bounce rates, dwell time, and page views to see your user behaviour.
As a general guideline, a bounce rate of 40% or lower is considered good but above could indicate a problem.
Check your page speed insights to see your website’s loading time. If a website takes too long to load, people get frustrated and will choose someone else.
High page views indicate the type of content that is popular and engaging for your audience.
The algorithms are constantly changing but by analyzing your analytics and reviewing at the end of each month, you can be ready to adjust your strategy quicker.
Essential Tools for Data-Driven Marketing
Google Analytics is an important tool to use for making data-driven decisions. It gives you clarity on what’s driving traffic to your website… or not.
Are they spending time on your website or bouncing straight off? It only takes a few moments for a customer to decide if you are the right fit.
If you want to see if your website is driving traffic, key metrics to analyze are bounce rates, dwell time, and clicks.
If you have an e-book or a lead magnet on your website (we highly recommend it!), analyze how many clicks it gets on a daily basis.
Is your website clear about what you provide? Is the messaging speaking to the right audience? Where do you show up on Google? Is your website optimized for search results? What about voice search optimization?
Whether you’re a beginner or advanced at analyzing data, knowing where and what to analyze can be confusing.
Let’s say you want to see whether your messaging is clear on your website. Add Google Analytics G4 onto your website and you can see in real-time about your users behavior.
Google Analytics G4 replaced Universal Analytics two years ago and offers even deeper insights about your website and its traffic. We wrote a blog on everything you need to know about GA4 here.
You can track how users are finding your website. Through search engines? Social Media? These insights will help you refine your strategy especially regarding SEO.
Sites like SemRush, Moz, Ahrefs give a deeper insight into keywords your competitors and target audience are searching for.
Create a document like an excel sheet and download the top keywords to start implementing onto your website.
Making your website SEO-friendly is important because if Google considers your website to be a reliable source for lets “digital marketing”, you can be ranked in the top 10 and have a higher chance of getting your content seen.
If you don’t have a huge budget and you’re just starting out, Keywords Everywhere and Google Search Console are beginner-friendly and don’t require any budget.
Think of what your target audience would search for. Another cost-effective way to find questions for keywords is check out the “People Also Ask” section on Google’s homepage.
Since Google+ arrived, voice search optimization is one strategy you need to implement this year.
We wrote a blog about voice search optimization which you catch up on here.
We dive into the different strategies to implement with regards to SEO and optimizing your website to show up in results.
It’s a competitive field but implement the tips and you’ll be ahead of most.
Businesses should have a social media presence to expand their reach and communicate with their customers to get real-time feedback. Listen to your customers.
Always keep them in mind when you are creating a strategy. After all they are the ones that buy.
Whether it’s LinkedIn, Instagram, Tiktok or another platform you use, each one offers deeper insights into your analytics.
A business account displays impressions, reach, clicks, new followers, and interactions.
Don’t make the mistake of reviewing the analytics and then doing… nothing. Data is there for a reason.. to inform your strategy and what direction to take.
If a piece of content gets more reach and engagement compared to others, do more of that. If website clicks are low, are you promoting your products or services enough? Is your audience well-informed about the desired outcome from your business?
Your audience potentially needs more information before buying especially if you’re in the growth stage of your business.
Establishing authority on social media takes time. Don’t feel defeated if you don’t get the results you want straight away.
Consistency is key.
Personalized Customer Experiences
Personalized customer experiences will continue to be important in 2025. Gen-Z and millennials value authenticity, community, and being heard.
They don’t want to be one of many, they want to have a deeper connection with the brands or businesses they invest time and money in.
Both Millennials and Gen-Z are willing to spend more money on experiences, in-person and online so it’s important to create a personalization strategy.
We created a blog on the things to avoid in your personalization strategy here.
Don’t get too personal or you’ll creep your customers out.
If you’re struggling to get customers to engage and convert, your content or emails probably aren’t personalized enough and are getting lost in their emails.
Invest time into understanding who your target audience is on a deeper level, know and know what they need to hear before they need to buy.
Not everyone buys the same.
Some are analytical and need results while others are more emotional and connect through stories.
Segmenting your audience based on the insights your CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) gives or email marketing platform like Mailchimp allows you to personalize your content to their interests, needs, and where they are in the buyer’s journey.
For Mailchimp, segment your audience by demographics (female, 25-35 years old, Ireland), and their activity in the last 30 days. Did they open your email in the last 30 days? Did they click on any links within the email?
If they never opened your email, this could be a sign that your subject line didn’t intrigue them.
Subject lines should tell your audience what it’s about. Adding a sense of urgency and their name such as “(name) limited offer available inside!” can intrigue your audience to open the email.
They open the email but don’t click on anything like your call to action or website, it’s possibly unclear to your audience about what action you want them to take.
In Mailchimp, check audience insights and it gives you a complete overview of the actions your audience is taking (or not taking!).
If you’re a beginner, start with simple segments and slowly build upon it when your audience grows.
An example of segmentation could be – Female customers from 30-45 in Ireland who have made a purchase in the last 30 days.
You can re-engage them with a special offer or limited discount for them because they already have shown interest.
Segment your audiences based on these deeper insights to create a seamless experience for your customers and reach the right people at just the right time.
While AI is great to implement into your strategy to make your workflow more efficient, never lose the personal touch, the human. Customers can sense AI from a mile away.
Authentic and Engaging Content
Content is King. Can you guess who coined this term? Gary Vaynerchuk. He’s not wrong.
Content is the best way to connect with your audience but most businesses fail because they post product features or information their audience isn’t interested in.
Well, how do you find out what your audience wants?
Analyze your data. No content, no data. More content, more data.
If your business has been around for years, we’re sure you have pages upon pages of data to analyze and start to spot trends.
If you don’t have pages of data, don’t worry because there’s always a way to gather information. You just need to be a bit more creative.
Create polls, questionnaires, or forms to get feedback directly from your audience to start collecting data and creating new segments.
Don’t be afraid to ask them what they want to receive or what topics they are most interested in.
If you’re still unsure, analyze what your competitors are doing and see what’s working.
This can give you inspiration into what your audience would like to see but remember to always add your own personal experience, results, and expertise. People buy from people.
Check your competitors’ social media likes, followers, views to see what content is performing well and resonates with an audience similar to yours.
If you have the budget, tools like BuzzSumo or Backlinko have tools which can help give you a more in depth competitor or brand analysis.
Research trends, reports, and predictions from sites like Google Trends, Statista, or the Hubspot blog who publish industry trends and reports to help you create a clear content strategy.
It’s important to remember, what works for one business mightn’t work for yours.
Use social listening tools like Brandwatch, looking at hashtag trends and using communities and forums like Reddit or Quora to see what people are talking about.
You would be surprised at the value you can find online if you look in the right places.
The Art of Storytelling: Connecting with Your Audience on an Emotional Level
Every business has a story. It’s important to get it across in your messaging so you can create emotional resonance with your audience.
Since the advancements of artificial intelligence and virtual reality, it has pushed businesses to create richer, more personalized narratives.
But what if you don’t know your story?
Get clear on your why
Use Simon Sineck’s framework, don’t start with the “how” you do it but rather why you do it.
Why did you start your business? Most start because of a pain point they were experiencing and couldn’t find a solution so they filled the gap.
Go deep into the pain point, the challenges and successes you’ve achieved in your business journey.
Customers find it aspirational, inspirational or relatable.
What makes you different
Now you can look at the “how” you do it.
What differentiates you from your competition? Highlight your customers’ experiences, their results, and how you helped them achieve their desired outcome.
The Vision
No one starts a business to have an easy life. We start because we have a vision for our own life but also for our customers.
A future life where you help thousands of customers improve their productivity, health, expenses, and so forth.
What is the driver behind your business?
Now that you have the why, the difference, and the vision, it’s time to create the…
Brand Identity
Without an identity, your brand or business can get lost and blend in. To create one, you need your
- Mission
- Vision
- Values
- USP/UVP
- Positioning
- Visual Identity
By combining your brand’s story with identity, you make it easier for you to stand out.
Establish your brand origin. How did your brand come to be? What inspired you to start your business? Was it a personal journey or a solution to a problem?
Next, establish your core values that reflect your business and everything you do. Is your brand courageous? Not afraid to go against the norm? Or is it about making a social impact?
If your brand was a person, how would you describe them? This plays into the brand’s tone of voice, personality and visual identity (logo, typography, font) online. How do you want to be perceived?
Every person will have a perception of your brand depending on how they interact with you. Make sure messaging is consistent across all channels or people get confused and are unsure what you stand for.
Origin story, personality, core values, and visual identity, it’s time to create a brand narrative. How has your product or service improved someone’s life?
What impact did you have on them?
Customers love seeing a journey, a transformation, overcoming challenges and persevering regardless. Intertwine your story into your identity and you can stand out.
Tracking the Impact
How do you know if your story is connecting with your audience?
By monitoring your website traffic, social media reach and engagement, or brand mentions, you’ll be able to analyze what’s resonating with your audience or not.
A great example of a brand story is Nike.
Nike is famously known for its quote “Just Do It” and the tick logo. They collaborate with influential figures like Michael B. Jordan, Lebron, Serena Williams, and tell stories of overcoming adversity and challenges.
When you watch any of Nike’s campaigns, you are always moved into emotion. Inspiration, aspirational, motivated to take the plunge and “Just Do It”.
Your brand story makes you unique.
Social Media Marketing Channels
One of the biggest challenges businesses face is choosing the right platform to spend their budget and resources on.
You might think being everywhere is the right approach but there’s only so much time, resources, and money before it can all fall apart.
Have you created a buyer persona? and target audience?
Because there’s a difference between the two and having both will help you zero in on your audience.
Buyer persona
A buyer persona is a fictional character you create from studies, feedback, focus groups and surveys from real people about your product or services.
This requires deep research and listening to your audience about their pain points. From that, create this fictional persona and don’t forget to give them a name!
They represent one of your key target groups, based on the information you found.
Meet Martha. She’s a 31 year old and has lived in Ireland her whole life. She works in the healthcare industry and has been there for over 10 years.
She enjoys her work because it gives her a sense of purpose and passion but the long hours writing reports are taking her away from her children. She values quality time with her family but her job is tiring and requires a lot of mental energy.
She wishes there was a product that could save her time, improve her productivity, and give her back time with her family.
Now we have a mental image of who our buyer persona is.
Target Audience
Now it’s time to create our target audience.
This is a much broader concept compared to Martha, it’s grouping similar individuals who share certain characteristics together to target more efficiently.
If you are a software company, developing a product for the healthcare industry to improve efficiency, save time, and is cost effective, our target audience could be:
- Industry: Healthcare industry
- Company Size: 10,000 – 20,000
- Income: 35,000 to 45,000
- Location: EU countries
As you can see, target audiences are broader but buyer personas enable you to get deeper into your audience’s mind.
From this, make a decision about where you think your target audience is going to be hanging out.
If you’re targeting the healthcare industry, invest resources into LinkedIn compared to Instagram. A professional industry like healthcare mightn’t be spending time creating videos or stories on Instagram, they are busy enough as it is.
Organic Reach vs. Paid Advertising: Finding the Right Balance
There’s always debates about whether to go with organic reach or paid advertising. Which one is better?
This is why reviewing the past year of results is important because by using the data, you can decide on the direction you want to go.
So what are the Pros and Cons?
If you don’t have a huge budget, organic content is cost-effective as there’s no direct financial investment. It helps build long-term relationships and trust as it feels more genuine and authentic to your audience.
High-quality, engaging content with the correct keywords can also improve your SEO results.
The cons to organic marketing is limited reach as organic reach on most platforms is declining making it harder to reach a large audience. Rather than investing with money, you’ll be investing more effort and time commitment to create, schedule, and engage with your audience.
It’s harder to measure ROI because there’s no direct way to analyze the return on investment.
Let’s move to paid ads marketing.
The pros are an increased visibility as you can reach a wider audience quicker and more effectively. Unlike organic reach, with paid ads you can target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.
It’s much easier to track key metrics like clicks, conversions, and return on ad spend and understand what’s driving results.
However, investing in paid ads requires a big budget to run and maintain paid campaigns. If you are running ads, you need to have in-depth knowledge and skill in ad targeting, bidding, and optimization.
There’s also a high potential for ad fatigue as overexposure of ads can lead to decreased engagement.
So when should you consider paid advertising?
If you’re launching a new product or service, this can generate awareness and drive initial sales.
However, if you’re a new business, focus on organic reach first to build a customer base first to see what content resonates with your audience.
Offers around Christmas or specific holidays can maximize reach and engagement but it can be competitive so make sure to start early, have a good budget set aside, and constantly monitor it to adjust if necessary.
Perhaps you have a specific target audience that is quite niche.
It might be more difficult to reach them organically and ads can get in front of them faster.
Ads are a great way to drive traffic to landing pages to capture leads for a targeted ad campaign regarding an event, special deals, or another offer.
It’s important to evaluate resources, funds, and energy and decide whether advertising is the right approach for your strategy.
The Importance of Social Listening: Understanding Customer Sentiment
Let’s take you back to school for a moment.
Bare with me… in school, gossip was the highest form of currency.
We’re creatures and if there’s anything people love more than is hearing about other peoples lives.
Audiences crave authenticity. That’s why businesses are increasingly embracing behind-the-scenes content
They want to see the human element behind the brand and connect with the people who make it happen.
Gossip was a form of currency in school, social listening is the form of currency online.
Gen-Z has grown up with social media and has no issue about voicing their opinions about topics, products, or services they have invested in.
Understanding social listening and being able to implement feedback quickly is important for businesses if they want to remain on their customers’ good side.
Use tools like Brandwatch, Hootsuite, Sproutsocial often to listen to what your customers are saying about you.
You can turn on notifications and create filters on the platforms to be notified when someone mentions your brand or business, positive AND negative.
Responding back to customers quickly and efficiently not only creates amends faster but customers appreciate when they feel seen and heard.
Deleting negative comments or failing to respond back quickly will result in further negativity. Listen to the gossip because you’ll save yourself a lot of time.
GoViral Conclusion
Start 2025 strong with long-term and short-term goals and set actionable steps to achieve each month.
Review at the end of each month and adjust your strategy when necessary. You don’t want to get halfway through the year and realise you’re not achieving what you set out to do.
Get clear on the why behind your business, the story, and the vision you want to accomplish. Then implement strategies that will take you closer to your end goal.
Struggling to achieve your goals every year? Don’t have a clear marketing plan? Content failing to get in front of the right audience?
Contact us today to enquire about our services and how we can help you achieve your business goals.
The Top Digital and Social Media Marketing Trends in 2025
As we close off another year, it’s a great time to reflect back on what has happened in the digital marketing and social media space.
2024 saw a rise in Artificial Intelligence, greater focus on community, personalization became more important to consumers than previous years, the boom of personal branding, and so much more.
We’ll discuss what trends stood out for 2024 and our predictions for 2025.
The Trends of 2024
-
Short-form content VS long-form content
The age-old battle between the content formats continues to rise as TikTok and Instagram fight over their audiences’ attention.
While TikTok has increased length time to ten minutes following YouTube shorts strategy, Instagram allows users to record up to 90 seconds.
Despite both platforms increasing the recording time, short-form content still continues to win.
31% of the marketers believe that short-form videos offer the highest ROI.
Long-form content does have the potential to generate ROI through correct ad placement and sponsorships but short-form content sparks intrigue and interest in the audience leading to more engagement.
Short-form content continues to reign over long-form content because of the potential to provide value in a short amount of time. We don’t see long-form content taking the lead anytime soon in the near future.
-
Generative AI:
Artificial Intelligence has been around since 2015 but it has grown in strength over the years especially in 2024.
Integration of Generative AI into digital marketing and social media platforms has enhanced efficiency and allows businesses and marketers to produce large volumes of content in a shorter amount of time.
From the latest Mckinsley Global Survey on AI, over 65% of businesses are using Generative AI, doubling the number than just a few months ago.
We don’t see it stopping there. As more and more businesses adopt Generative AI into their business, we can see it evolving more each time.
Take for example, Instagram.
Instagram always had artificial intelligence capabilities but in recent years, it has been integrated into the platform from AI-generated influencers to chatbots to AI-generated content.
-
Influencer Marketing Vs UGC (User-Generated Content)
Influencer marketing rose in the early 2000s with many brands investing their budget into influencers to reach a wider audience.
Many saw the advantage of influencing because they already had built a strong following that engaged with their content and had influence over their community.
However in the last few years, the rise of influencer marketing has slowed down as many people are moving more towards authenticity and relatable content.
Many influencers display an idealistic lifestyle that many aren’t infatuated with anymore.
Influencers are paid to talk about the businesses product or services which most people are moving towards relatable and more authentic content.
Enter a new player… UGC has become a fan favorite with brands in the last few years and it’s clear to see why.
User-Generated content is an easier way for people to get started in the content creation world as they don’t need to build a following first to sell to.
User-Generated Content is created by customers or fans of the product which feels more relatable and authentic.
It also is a better choice for those who don’t have a big following and who don’t want to shine light on themselves on the internet.
Instead they create content for businesses and they own the content you produce. For brands, UGC content is much cheaper for the business compared to influencers.
Depending on the type of influencer whether it’s a nano, micro, or macro influencer, the price can range from 100 euro to nearly 10k for one reel.
The platform, number of followers and engagement rate is highly dependent on how much you get paid for a reel.
Compare that with UGC where your audience and engagement rate doesn’t matter as much, the focus is on producing relatable and authentic content.
This starts to build a positive association with the brand as they come across as relatable and authentic.
In influencer marketing, influencers tend to already have a “warm” audience that’s ready to buy while UGC creators have less pressure to build connections with an audience. It’s up to the brand to have that warm audience already.
However, UGC isn’t simply taking a video about how much you like a product. If that was the case, everyone would be making bank.
Instead, UGC creators need to have a deep understanding of the psychology behind selling and what captures people’s attention along with skills such as copywriting and understanding the brand’s target audience.
Despite this, we predict UGC will become the bigger player compared to influencer marketing because of the authenticity and relatability.
Download GoVirals Top Digital and Social Media Predictions for 2025
-
Short-form content VS long-form content
The age-old battle between the content formats continues to rise as TikTok and Instagram fight over their audiences’ attention.
While TikTok has increased length time to ten minutes following YouTube shorts strategy, Instagram allows users to record up to 90 seconds.
Despite both platforms increasing the recording time, short-form content still continues to win.
31% of the marketers believe that short-form videos offer the highest ROI.
Long-form content does have the potential to generate ROI through correct ad placement and sponsorships but short-form content sparks intrigue and interest in the audience leading to more engagement.
Short-form content continues to reign over long-form content because of the potential to provide value in a short amount of time. We don’t see long-form content taking the lead anytime soon in the near future.
-
Generative AI:
Artificial Intelligence has been around since 2015 but it has grown in strength over the years especially in 2024.
Integration of Generative AI into digital marketing and social media platforms has enhanced efficiency and allows businesses and marketers to produce large volumes of content in a shorter amount of time.
From the latest Mckinsley Global Survey on AI, over 65% of businesses are using Generative AI, doubling the number than just a few months ago.
We don’t see it stopping there. As more and more businesses adopt Generative AI into their business, we can see it evolving more each time.
Take for example, Instagram.
Instagram always had artificial intelligence capabilities but in recent years, it has been integrated into the platform from AI-generated influencers to chatbots to AI-generated content.
-
Influencer Marketing Vs UGC (User-Generated Content)
Influencer marketing rose in the early 2000s with many brands investing their budget into influencers to reach a wider audience.
Many saw the advantage of influencing because they already had built a strong following that engaged with their content and had influence over their community.
However in the last few years, the rise of influencer marketing has slowed down as many people are moving more towards authenticity and relatable content.
Many influencers display an idealistic lifestyle that many aren’t infatuated with anymore.
Influencers are paid to talk about the businesses product or services which most people are moving towards relatable and more authentic content.
Enter a new player… UGC has become a fan favorite with brands in the last few years and it’s clear to see why.
User-Generated content is an easier way for people to get started in the content creation world as they don’t need to build a following first to sell to.
User-Generated Content is created by customers or fans of the product which feels more relatable and authentic.
It also is a better choice for those who don’t have a big following and who don’t want to shine light on themselves on the internet.
Instead they create content for businesses and they own the content you produce. For brands, UGC content is much cheaper for the business compared to influencers.
Depending on the type of influencer whether it’s a nano, micro, or macro influencer, the price can range from 100 euro to nearly 10k for one reel.
The platform, number of followers and engagement rate is highly dependent on how much you get paid for a reel.
Compare that with UGC where your audience and engagement rate doesn’t matter as much, the focus is on producing relatable and authentic content.
This starts to build a positive association with the brand as they come across as relatable and authentic.
In influencer marketing, influencers tend to already have a “warm” audience that’s ready to buy while UGC creators have less pressure to build connections with an audience. It’s up to the brand to have that warm audience already.
However, UGC isn’t simply taking a video about how much you like a product. If that was the case, everyone would be making bank.
Instead, UGC creators need to have a deep understanding of the psychology behind selling and what captures people’s attention along with skills such as copywriting and understanding the brand’s target audience.
Despite this, we predict UGC will become the bigger player compared to influencer marketing because of the authenticity and relatability.
If you want to stay ahead of the curve and be two steps ahead of your competitors, download our Top Digital and Social Media Trends of 2025 predictions below.
The New Google: Voice Search Optimization
There’s been a wide variety of trends in 2024 but one that’s recently emerged is voice search optimization. Voice Search Optimization is the process of improving your online presence so you can appear for voice search queries.
With many voice assistants implementing into our day-to-day lives such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, or Google’s Assistant, it’s no wonder voice search it’s becoming more popular.
We’re going to dive into the background of voice search, benefits, its impact on user behaviour and search, and the potential drawbacks. Businesses primary goal is to get selected to be read aloud by voice assistants when users perform a voice search.
Don’t worry, as always we’ve got you covered in this blog so you’re ready to take on 2025.
How Voice Search Technology Actually Works
Dating back to 1925, research on the concept of automatic speech recognition (ASR) started that had a limited capacity around understanding words.
In the last two decades, we’ve seen a massive leap in voice recognition technology, largely driven by Artificial Intelligence and deep learning.
Nowadays, the systems can understand context, recognize emotions and even comprehend tones of voice and accents. It’s crazy how fast it’s developed and we can only imagine it will continue to grow in 2025.
Voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistants, and Apples Siri are commonly used worldwide and are continuously learning each day, improving their predicative capabilities and enhancing the user experience.
We’ve started to move away from traditional text-based searches as there’s been changes in how we phrase our queries. If you’re looking for a restaurant or a store near you, traditionally you would search “restaurants near me”.
But asking a question phrased in a voice search query sounds more like “Hey Siri, can you find me a restaurant nearby?”.
It takes on a more conversationalist tone, longer questions, and aligns more with how we naturally speak.
We have started to see a shift in user behaviour and how we search and interpret information.
There’s over one billion voice searches taking place. There’s so much potential for businesses to increase their visibility online to a broader online, achieving better results and more opportunities to attain new clients.
This shift in user behavior to voice search queries is down to efficiency, speed, and convenience. Over 56% of users turn to voice search on smartphones to gather business information, emphasizing the vital role of optimizing for voice search.
Key Players in the Voice Search Ecosystem
Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri are in the top three in the voice search ecosystem but Google is currently taking the lead with Amazon’s Alexa not far behind.
Google’s assistant has been around since the launch of it in 2016, is praised on its natural language processing capabilities and understanding of complex queries, making the interactions more human-like.
Its compatibility and easy integration into apps such as Gmail, calendar, maps and much more makes day-to-day tasks easier to implement, offering the user an easier and more efficient experience.
Amazon’s Alexa, currently in second place, has started to integrate their Anthropic’s Claude AI into Alexa, enhancing its conversational capabilities and making it more responsive.
By integrating Claude, it will be able to handle larger queries and provide more context-based responses, much like Google’s Assistant.
After becoming a household name, its integrated itself into home speakers and devices worldwide.
Alexa has the ability to recognize different voices and personalize each response based on the individual’s preferences.
In third place, Apple’s Siri is a favorite for Apple users because of its easy integration into Apple’s ecosystem. Iphones, Ipads, Macs, Apple watches, Siri is there to answer any question you have.
Allowing you to create custom voice commands that trigger specific actions or workflows, say goodbye to repetitive tasks that eat up your time.
While Apple is making big strides in its natural language processing capabilities, it just falls short of Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Google will maintain its position, or will Amazon finally take the lead in 2025.
Optimizing Content for Voice Search Queries
User behavior has changed so by understanding user intent, you’ll be able to optimize your content to achieve better results while reaching a wider audience.
It all comes down to convenience and efficiency as people are consistently on the go.
Think of the everyday lifestyle of each person. If you’re driving and need the nearest gas station, you’re not going to pull over to type out your query. You’ll use voice search to find the one closest to you.
People use voice assistants for simple tasks such as a to-do or shopping list.
Many will use voice search to find the closest supermarket with Christmas puddings (did you know it’s Christmas soon?) or the nearest store to pick up last-minute groceries before the big day.
The more convenient something is, the more likely you are going to use it. Before creating a voice search SEO strategy, keep these seven things in mind.
Longer Phrases
If you’re in a rush, we generally type out short, simpler phrases to get the answer quicker.
But with voice search, there isn’t a limitation and people will use longer phrases just as they would in a conversation.
Before creating content, think about the way you speak with a friend.
It’s conversational, natural, and more relaxed. This will help outline what questions you need to create content around.
Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords are much harder to rank for while long-tail keywords tend to get less search traffic.
Long-tail keywords have a higher conversation rate compared to short-tail because of the specificity of the question, showing the users intent behind the search.
Spend time researching long-tail keywords over short-tail to help you rank higher and incorporate them onto your landing page or site to help you get picked over your competitors.
Local and Nearby Information
If we’re on the go, we aren’t using voice search to find our next holiday (well maybe you are!).
Normally we are looking for a supermarket or hairdressers nearby that is the most convenient to us. Remember, convenience is what we are aiming for.
Pay more attention to local SEO to help you rank first in the voice search results. Make sure you have submitted your site to the local directories.
Understanding your target audience
If you understand and speak the language of your target audience, it’ll help you craft a voice search marketing strategy that’s tailored to their behaviours and preferences.
Tracking and measuring what keywords direct people to your site will help refine your strategy and focus more on the tactics driving the audience to your site.
Optimize for Different Devices
Voice search is more commonly carried out on mobile devices so it’s important to optimize your site for screen-first and smart devices to help in your content strategy.
Searches are more natural so read your content aloud to see if it sounds like a conversation you would have with a friend.
Featured Snippet
Voice search is more competitive compared to traditional search as only one result will appear which means a huge chunk of your strategy should be focused on creating featured snippets.
Featured snippets are short chunks of text featured at the top of Google’s search results in order to answer a search query quickly. Convenient, right?
They are chosen based on how accurate and close to the question the person asked.
Review your current content and see what sections can be optimized for voice search to help gather valuable traffic to your website.
They are mostly informational so ask a relevant question and answer between one to three short sentences.
“How-to”and “Best” are often used in featured snippets more than anything else. Lists are also the most common format to rank compared to paragraphs or text.
Lists are easy to read and quick to follow so by combining the best words, using them in a list format, you’ll have a higher chance of reaching that top spot.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Answering the most common questions on your site is the best way to rank especially for the featured snippers.
Make sure to make it search-friendly and natural in tone and stick with short sentences.
Tracking Voice Search Performance
Like anything, tracking how well your voice search is doing is important to understand your content and SEO strategy is working.
Unlike text-based searches, voice searches are often delivered in direct answers through voice assistants making it harder to track clicks and engagements.
Despite this, there are still a number of ways to track and analyze what’s working and where there needs to be improvement.
Previously we mentioned long-tail keywords, featured snippets, and optimizing your site for mobile devices to increase your chances of ranking on Google.
Track how often you secure a featured snippet for a search query as this can boost your visibility immensely.
Monitor what pages the snippets are coming from and optimize the rest of your content to increase your chances further.
Using Google Search Console is a great tool to track what search queries are driving traffic to your website.
Long-tail keywords and questions are the best to monitor for deeper insights into how you’re ranking.
Optimizing your site for mobile devices is important because they are more likely to rank well for voice search results.
Monitor how people are interacting with your site by analyzing three key metrics on Google Analytics.
Bounce rates, average session duration, and pages per session will indicate whether your site needs further optimization for mobile-site users.
Using tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, AHREFS, and SEMrush can help determine if your efforts are paying off.
GoViral Conclusion
The world of digital marketing is changing fast and it’s important for businesses and brands to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements to not fall behind.
By implementing a voice search SEO strategy into your content strategy, the higher the chances of your site being viewed by the right audience.
There’s been many trends emerging this year but we see voice search becoming even more important for 2025 as user behavior and intent changes.
Start creating your strategy now and you’ll be one step ahead of your competitors.
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Case Studies: How Top Brands Nailed their Christmas Campaigns
Christmas is just around the corner and as we near the end of the year, we think it’s a good time to reflect back on past Christmas campaigns and do a deep dive into WHY they nailed it.
Christmas is a time full of nostalgia, childhood memories, warmth, gift-giving, and a reflective period of the year just gone.
We’ve all seen campaigns that have gone above and beyond but sometimes it’s the simplest campaigns that pull on our heart strings.
Ever wondered about the psychology behind Christmas Ads? We’ll dive into what tactics brands use to draw you in emotionally and break down the top three Christmas campaigns in our opinion as well as the controversy around Cola-Cola’s latest Christmas Ad using AI.
The Psychology behind Christmas Ads
Retailers save up their budget all year to go all in on their Christmas campaigns and they have good reason to do as the market is extremely competitive.
Ads are emotionally and tug on your heartstrings to make us emotionally connected in a feel-good way with the brand – fostering brand loyalty and driving sales.
But what draws us in?
We’re emotional creatures, we want to belong and crave connection even more so since the pandemic.
Every advert you watch, it’s normally followed with a dynamic relationship such as grandparents, families, and children along with a storytelling element. It takes us on a journey and the magic that follows on Christmas Day.
When you can see yourself in a story, you feel more emotionally connected to it and build an association with the brand.
Branding of Christmas
Christmas is a jolly season and there are many brands we can think of off the top of our heads that we associate with Christmas.
Cola-Cola being the top (however, who knows for how long after the stint they pulled this year), with John Lewis coming second.
If we break down what a brand means, it’s a “concept” broken down into a collection of associations that we organize in our brain to make sense of information.
When you’re exposed enough times to something, we start to begin to understand a “concept”.
In an article on Psychology Today, they use the example of learning the concept of a dog. We weren’t explicitly told what the exact features of a dog were when we were younger but we grew up seeing them in movies, books, and in real life.
When we think of a dog, a big dog like a labrador might be easier for us to use as a “prototype” of dogs compared to a small chihuahua.
Brands utilize Christmas as their broader prototype and build their whole strategy around it.
The packaging, commercials, and the iconic tune of Cola-Cola, no wonder we associate Christmas with the famous coke bottles dressed as Santa.
John Lewis on the other hand is tied to family, traditions, and wholesomeness which ties into the broader concept of Christmas.
Brands that play the long-game throughout the year increase their sales massively when the time arrives.
Boots: ‘The Christmas Makeover’ by VML
Boots’ Christmas campaign has caused quite a stir among viewers, causing many people commenting it’s too “woke” and complaining that they won’t buy from boots anymore.
It released its 2024 festive marketing campaign, “The Christmas Makeover”, unleashing the magic of beauty with actor and Bridgerton star, Adjoa Andoh as Mrs. Claus in a wonderland of Boots beauty.
Its campaign brings us on the story of Adjoa as she leads her squad of beauty elves in “Mrs Claus Werkshop” on packing presents for beauty enthusiasts.
With a swipe of the famous No7 lipstick, which is iconic to Boots, and a swift outfit change, Mrs Claus takes charge of helping the elves pack up presents for the big day.
We catch glimpses of the viral brands that are showcased such as Elf, Bubble, Sol de Janerio, and Lanegie.
Along with the amazing Adjoa Andoh, this short film also features two renowned beauty social media influencers who work with Boots on an ongoing basis, helping Mrs. Claus tests out the products before they get sent on their way.
If we compare other campaigns where Mr. Claus is normally at the forefront of the tale, this twist on Mrs. Claus taking control is a reality many mothers experience leading up to the big day, ensuring everything goes smoothly.
The witty ending of Adjoa as Mrs. Claus saying “You thought it was all him?”” and a playful wink puts a different spin on the normal tale of Mr. Claus and his elves.
This campaign empowers women and shines light on the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
Women tend to do twice as many festive chores compared to men and are always thinking of the smaller details that go into the festive day.
Boots target audience is between the ages 22 to 55 years old, covering Gen Z and Millennials which care about authenticity, transparency, and most importantly, self-expression.
In a report titled “The Future of Consumer Behavior in the Age of Gen Z,” Mintel, a market intelligence agency, reports that 54% of Gen Z adults trust online beauty influencers and makeup artists.
Since the rise of UGC and influencers, Gen Z is more likely to buy from content creators who they trust which brands will need to implement into their strategy for 2025.
Although this campaign rustled some feathers, it hit the mark and spoke directly to their target audience who favor self-expression, inclusivity, and diversity.
Sainsbury’s: ‘Sainsbury’s Big Christmas’ by New Commercial Arts
In Sainsbury’s 2024 Christmas campaign, the retail giant masterfully tapped into our collective nostalgia by reimagining Roald Dahl’s beloved classic, “The BFG” (Big Friendly Giant).
This choice not only entertains, it weaves in a narrative that resonates deeply with the audience.
The campaign’s parallel between the BFG’s journey across the UK sourcing the finest ingredients and our own familiar Christmas traditions.
Just as families head out on a quest to gather the perfect ingredients for the big day, the BFG’s adventure mirrors this relatable holiday ritual.
It’s a shared experience of Christmas preparations that brings households together across the nation.
The juice, “Phizzwizard” serves as a great metaphor for the Christmas magic that happens. This captures that magic that makes ordinary moments into extraordinary memories.
Sainsbury’s has created a campaign that not only captures the imagination but also reflects the true essence of Christmas in 2024.
The Family Portrait by JD Sports
JD Sports has got us in our feels as they redefine family during their Christmas campaign titled “Family”.
JD Sports take on Christmas is different but simple as it showcases different forms of families that make the festive season special across the country.
A change from the usual families around dinner tables and exchanging gifts, it’s more an embracement of spending time with friends.
While Christmas dinner and gift-giving is the conventional acts throughout many campaigns, this campaign focuses on the simple joys in life.
Meeting friends, getting their favourite food from the local kebab shop.
This is a huge sense of community and belonging felt throughout this campaign as it showcases the different realities of communities felt across the country.
Everyone has their own unique experience of Christmas and what it means to them.
JD Sports is celebrating not just family relationships but the connections and friendships you make along the way.
It opens up another insight into the lives of many and how they celebrate the big day.
It honors authenticity and relatability and feels more down-to-earth in comparison to other campaigns.
JD Sports is the leading sports fashion and trainers company in the UK that offers limited edition collections and exclusive designs from the best brands around the world.
The usual dressing up glam for the festive season is toned down with many sporting JD sports casual wear pointing towards a more relaxed feel at Christmas.
Many well-known names such as Central Cee, Maya Jama, and members from the Beta squad can be spotted throughout, showing different traditions and the connections they have.
Aside from well-known names, it’s the cast of real people that show their traditions.
From two friends sharing a sandwich while fishing, the playful fights in the kitchen with your siblings, to the late-night shifts.
There’s a sense of togetherness, belonging, and inclusivity felt through every scene that makes us feel warm inside.
Representation is important to viewers and JD Sports stepped away from the conventional and moved more towards the reality.
Controversy at Christmas
Coca-Cola’s “Holidays Are Coming” 2024
The iconic tune, the red van, the excited faces, and gathering of families as they wait for the Coca-Cola truck to go through their town.
Once their campaign hits the telly, we know it’s officially Christmas, it’s time to get into the full swing of the festive season.
However, this year they used an AI version for their campaign, labelled as “Real Magic AI”, which hasn’t gone down too well with their audience.
Some have labelled it inauthentic and eerie compared to its normal human connection and personal touch advertisements that bring families together.
In comparison to other campaigns where families rush to catch a glimpse at the Coca-Cola truck, this time it felt animated and emotionless as the AI-generated animals and people watched on in anticipation.
Cola-Cola has associated itself with Christmas for many years with different campaigns throughout the year focused on giving and sharing, a feeling felt specifically at Christmas.
Its red and black color makes it easy to associate to the familiar colors Mr. Claus dresses himself in.
The 1995 iconic “Holidays is Coming” that started it all contrasts dramatically with this year’s campaign compared to the usual story of the red truck driving through the snow, lighting up lights on the streets and homes as it passes by, igniting that sense of magic we all feel at Christmas.
The spirit of togetherness is missing here, as we don’t see those heartwarming moments of friends hugging or families coming together that we often expect in holiday ads.
Although there has been some support towards the AD, calling it creative and innovative especially with the advancement of AI this year, others feel it lacks the magic it once had.
Many consumers are still distrustful of AI especially when it comes to data, privacy, and transparency.
While Cola-Cola did disclose it was created with AI, it’s hard to distinguish between what’s human content and AI-Generated as AI gets more advanced.
People buy from people, not AI-Generated figures.
This could have a massive blowback on brands that choose to switch out real people over generated images.
We connect with a brand through an emotional connection seeing real people use their products and services.
It’s why UGC has blown up in the last few years, it’s created by real people who we can relate to.
When people don’t know whether the content they are seeing is real or fake, it creates a sense of distrust.
A study published in the Journal of Hospitality Market and Management, customers are less likely to purchase if a product is labeled as “AI”.
Participants were shown two products with a description with the only difference being one was labeled AI-powered and the other not.
After being asked about their willingness to buy the product, those who saw AI in the product description were less likely to buy.
Consumers are still distrustful of AI and brands need to be aware how it impacts their reputation and the purchasing decisions of their audience.
Is this the start of AI Christmas campaigns for the foreseeable future?
GoViral Conclusion
It will be interesting to see next year whether many follow in Cola-Cola’s footsteps and integrate AI into their campaigns despite the impact it can have on consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Authenticity, community, and belonging are feelings that consumers are valuing more and more each year.
When brands capture these emotions and create a narrative that sparks the magical spirit of Christmas, customers are more likely to purchase and brand sentiment increases.
Not to mention, awareness of your brand can skyrocket and continue past December into the New Year.
If you need help creating an effective campaign, Contact us!
Paid Ads: 7 Key Metrics to Track for a Successful Strategy
Tracking metrics for a successful strategy is just as important as tracking your steps. Tracking our steps and eating healthier to get fit means we are looking after our body. Just like our body, we need to track metrics in our business to make sure it has a healthy input of money and output of quality content. They say success is subjective but if you don’t track any metrics, how do you know if your business is booming? Nobody likes to waste money so in this months blog, we are highlighting the top 7 metrics to track for a successful paid ads strategy. We got you covered!
The Importance of Tracking Metrics
Let’s break down why tracking metrics is important for your business.
Posting content is crucial for your business because it gets your product or service in front of your ideal customer.
Without content, it makes it hard for people to find your business and buy your products or services. But posting a piece of content once a week isn’t enough to understand if the content resonates with your audience.
The amount of content produced across platforms such as TikTok and Instagram can make it feel like you’re posting into the void. We know the feeling, don’t worry.
Understanding your metrics is crucial to understand your customers’ pain points, how they interact with your content, and whether it’s bringing you in sales.
Posting content that goes viral is great but how many times does this type of content convert? Not often.
It gets eyes on your content and your business but the percentage of people who come from a viral video aren’t your ideal customer.
Having a large following is a boost for vanity metrics but that doesn’t pay the bills.
At GoViral, we are proud of our marketing strategies because we combine inbound marketing with targeted PPC campaigns to get the best visibility for our clients.
Adding PPC campaigns into your strategy is a cost effective way to target your ideal audience but in a less spammy way.
The cost? The only time you pay is when someone clicks on your ad.
Integrating these two methods ensures our clients get their content in front of the right people and guide them along the customer journey.
PPC campaigns achieve amazing results for your business but tracking key metrics is vital for ensuring every click is worth the cents.
Setting up a PPC campaign needs to be well thought out and adjusted if you’re not achieving the results you want.
First things first, goal setting. What’s the purpose for the PPC campaign?
Setting Goals for Success
To achieve anything worthwhile in life, you need to set goals so you have something to work towards.
Outlining the process of how you are going to achieve that goal makes the process simpler and smoother to achieve.
If you don’t have an end goal in sight, you are just going through the motions and the end never ends.
Let’s not do that, especially with a PPC campaign.
Whether its new customers, driving traffic or increasing sales, PPC campaigns are the most effective way to get your products or services in front of them.
Start off defining your goal by using the SMART method (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related) to break it down into simple steps.
For example, if you’re a B2B company and want to generate leads, you can run PPC campaigns to get customers onto your landing page using targeted keywords related to the problems your software solves.
You can then offer a free trial or demo of their product.
Here they can capture emails and create an emailing list for new product releases or events in the future.
You need to A/B test ad variations to see which ad performs best, adjust the bid depending on how well it’s doing and be ready to refine the campaign if it isn’t achieving the results you want.
Everything in marketing is about testing until you find the “stickiness”.
Think of it like shopping for the best outfit.
You spot two dresses that are in the shade blue but one is slightly lighter.
You decide to try them on to see which one suits you better.
In the changing room, you try on each dress and notice the lighter blue makes you look pale, draining you of colour.
The darker blue makes you look more vibrant and bronzed.
You decide to go with the darker blue because it makes you look and feel better.
Like choosing the best outfit that makes you look and feel good, people are more inclined to click on an ad and convert if it makes them feel like you understand their problem and can provide a solution.
If people are clicking into your ad and not converting on your landing page, something is wrong with the copy or your audience targeting isn’t right.
Get clear on WHO you’re speaking to, what you can do for them and target the right audience who are likely to convert.
GoViral’s Success Strategy
At GoViral, we see the importance of PPC campaigns and the amazing results it has achieved for our clients.
Our client, Jabra, attended GITEX Africa last year and needed our help in creating a campaign before, during, and after for GITEX Africa this year.
We discussed their goals for the PPC campaign and what they’d like to achieve.
Last year, their PPC campaign achieved 44 sales qualified leads and 4 marketing qualified leads.
With our expertise and knowledge of getting the best results from PPC campaigns, we exceeded last year’s results, achieving 99 sales qualified leads and 24 marketing qualified leads.
When done right, PPC campaigns are powerful for your overall business objectives.
Let’s dive into the top 7 key metrics we focus on to achieve these results.
The 7 key metrics
1. Impressions
This is how many people have seen your ad while browsing the internet. Impressions give you an indication of whether your keyword targeting is correct, if your bidding is too high or low and if your copy is resonating.
Main reasons for low impressions are incorrect keyword targeting, poor ad copy or boring creatives.
Your bid might be too low for it to compete with other ads that are bidding for the top.
This can be a struggle for smaller businesses but investing in keyword research, targeting the right audience and have copy that speaks directly to the customer can increase your impressions.
2. Clicks or CTR (Click-Through-Rate)
CTR is an important metric to analyze because it helps when optimizing your budget.
Ads with a high CTR cost less per click which reduces spending large amounts of money on PPC campaigns.
A/B testing ad variations and copy can single out cost-effective keywords and highlight what ad is resonating most with your ideal customer.
Once you notice what ad variation is resonating most, the budget can be adjusted accordingly and help push your ad.
To understand how much each click costs, divide the total number of clicks by the total number of impressions and multiply by 100%.
Think of the last time you clicked on an ad.
What was it about the ad that made you click?
3. CPC (Cost-Per-Click)
In an ideal situation, your CTR should be high and your CPC low.
This shows that your ideal customers are resonating with your ad and are clicking through to learn more about your business.
CPC focuses on optimizing your bidding strategy for PPC campaigns where you can identify keywords or ad placements that are driving clicks.
If a specific keyword is gaining more traction, you can adjust your bidding to be higher on that word and lower bids for others.
If you have a high CPC, your ad could be targeting the wrong people.
Make sure your copy and creative is clear about who its targeting or you’ll end up with a hefty bill and no sales.
To find out what your CPC is, divide your total ad spend for a specific day or campaign by the total number of clicks your ad receives during that period.
4. CPA (Cost per Acquisition or Paying Customer)
CPA relates to how much it costs to acquire a paying customer in terms of clicks.
The only metric you want to be high is your click through rate.
If your CPA is high, like CPC, your audience targeting could be incorrect as its shown to those who are unlikely to convert.
Understanding your audience and segmenting them correctly will give you a much higher return on investment and less headaches.
Find out how much it costs to acquire a paying customer by dividing the total ad spend within a specific timeframe by the number of conversions people carried out after your ad or campaign.
5. Conversion Rate
A huge indicator of whether people are carrying out the desired action is your conversion rate.
This looks different for every business. If you have a newsletter, a conversion could be a subscribe, if you have an E-book on the best ways to convert audiences into customers, this could be a download.
It doesn’t necessarily mean a sale.
Low conversion rate means there’s friction somewhere along the customers journey.
Something is making them leave your landing page or worse, not even clicking into your ad.
Understanding how a person interacts with your content will indicate what needs to be improved.
Maybe your call to action isn’t clear or your layout of your website is confusing.
Your website needs to be clear and straightforward so that you’re guiding the customer with ease through the journey.
To understand what your conversion rate is divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors to your website and multiply by 100.
For example, 1,000 people visit your website a month and 50 people convert – (50 conversions/1000 visitors) x 100% = 5%.
6. ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)
This helps us measure the actual revenue generated for every euro you spend on your advertising campaigns. So think of your CTR, CPC, and CPA.
The ONLY metric we want high is your CTR. If your CPC and CPA are high also, your ROAS is going to be low indicating your campaign isn’t profitable.
The aim of your campaign is to earn more revenue from your ads then the amount you’re investing in them.
If you have a set budget, ROAS is extremely important to ensure you’re making every euro count.
Divide the total revenue generated from the ads by the total ad spend to figure out what the ROAS is for your campaign.
7. Quality Score
Your quality score is based on how relevant your content is according to Google Ads.
This rating can make or break how well your ad will do because it considers whether it will resonate with your ideal customers, whether the keywords match and if your landing page answers what the customer is looking for.
Your quality score is important when looking at your CTR. If your quality score is low, expect a higher CTR.
A note from our PPC Specialist
As a passionate PPC specialist, I believe in the power of a well-executed Google Ads campaign, here are a few tips to help you on your path to PPC success!
Start by setting clear objectives that align with your business goals – whether it’s driving traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales, know what your goals are.
Make sure you conduct thorough keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner and aim for a mix of broad, exact, and long-tail keywords to capture both wide and specific search intents.
Write ad copy that’s not just clear and concise, but also engaging.
Highlight your unique selling points (USPs) and don’t forget to include strong calls to action that make users want to click.
When users click on your ad, your landing page should be fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate, ensuring a seamless experience for visitors.
Don’t overlook ad extensions!
Use sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets to pack more information into your ads and boost their visibility.
Conversion tracking should be a top priority, set it up to see which keywords and ads are performing best, and use this data to fine-tune your strategy and get the most out of your investment.
Monitor your bids and adjust them regularly to make the most of your ad spend.
Automated bidding strategies like target CPA or ROAS can help optimize for your campaign goals.
Continuously A/B test different ad copies, headlines, and landing pages to find the most effective combinations and keep improving.
Remarketing is your friend!
Re-engage visitors who’ve interacted with your site before, and use dynamic remarketing to show them personalized ads featuring products or services they’ve viewed.
Lastly, keep a close eye on your campaign data, regular analysis will help you spot trends, strengths, and areas for improvement, ensuring you’re always moving forward.
Happy Optimizing!
GoViral Conclusion
Understanding the seven key metrics of paid ads can transform your business and get your content in front of the right audience at the right time.
You want the customers’ journey to be smooth from the moment they see your ad to conversion.
At GoViral, we ensure your PPC campaign is tailored to your businesses’ objectives, targets your ideal customers and achieves the results you desire.
Don’t spend time on trying to figure out how paid ads work and lose out on money. Get in contact with us today to start getting a positive return on investment for your campaign.
Contact GoViral Digital today to learn how our expertise in inbound marketing can develop an effective paid ads strategy, getting your content in front of the right people and achieve measurable results for your campaigns!
The Age of Personalization: Personalization Marketing Gone Wrong.
Hey… you… yes you. We’ve been waiting for you. If you’ve watched the series “You”, you know Joe’s fascination with finding his one true love and goes as far as stalking them to find out everything about them. Much like Joe, businesses gather information and data on their customers to adjust their personalization efforts. However, too personal, the customer feels creeped out but if too generalized, the customer feels one of many. Don’t be like Joe. We’re going to dive into the mistakes businesses make that give the customer the ick and how to avoid being called out for stalking.. just kidding but businesses need to be mindful of the information they store and what they do with it. Let’s dive into how businesses can be less like Joe and more like a friendly reminder.
Beyond the Algorithm
If you’ve ever received a personalized gift for your birthday, you know that feeling.
It makes you feel special and seen, making you feel warm inside.
Well, that’s what companies have been trying to do with their products and services making their customers feel heard along the buyer’s journey.
When personalization is done right, customers engage with the business and show loyalty towards that brand. They’re happy to tell people about you over a cup of coffee or recommend using your products online. The dream outcome for a business.
The problem is companies often still see customers as a demographic rather than a real person who has interests, beliefs, pain points, wishes, dreams.
While understanding the demographics of a person like their age and location is beneficial for companies to target their desired audience, this gives a very surface level understanding of who their audience is.
How can you personalize the content your audience receives if you don’t even know what they want?
Automation has helped businesses speed up their processes and workflow but if there’s limited data or worse, wrong data about a segment of your audience, your audience will have no problem leaving a one star review.
The last thing you want is your businesses reputation damaged because you didn’t do enough research into your customer.
You need to know your audience like the back of your hand.
Ever wondered what that looks like?
Let’s dive into…..
Daisy’s Personalized Journey
Meet Daisy.
Daisy is 27 years old, living in Barcelona, and is a digital marketing freelancer.
Daisy is a typical Apple customer who buys products online because of its quick delivery and discounted prices if she buys a bundle.
Daisy goes for a walk at one “o” clock every day to get some fresh air.
Sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time hurts her eyes.
She goes for these walks to feel re-inspired because her concentration levels normally fall in the afternoon.
Daisy loves listening to Mel Robbin’s podcast to get her creative juices flowing again.
Daisy puts her earbuds in, presses play but wait, there’s something wrong.
Nothing is coming out of one of the earbuds.
Daisy hates when this happens because she likes to block out the noise around her and focus on the podcast.
Frustrated about her earbuds not working, she quickly opens up her phone and types “apple store close to me”.
Daisy is a regular customer at apple who buys online but she doesn’t want to wait a few days to get her new earbuds.
She notices there’s an apple store about ten minutes away from her.
Daisy checks to make sure they do in-store pick up.
The relief she feels when she sees they do.
She clicks into the apple website, logs in, and goes to her previous orders.
As she’s about to repurchase her last pair, Apple sends her a discounted code to thank her for being a loyal customer.
Directly after purchasing, she receives a thank you email with her order number for pick-up.
The earbuds are in the store so she grabs her jacket and takes off on the walk.
Arriving at the store, she heads inside to give her order number to the manager.
After five minutes, Daisy gets her earphones and is excited that she can finally listen to Mel Robbin’s podcast on the way home.
She’s super happy with her experience that she leaves a review on the Apple website, thanking them for their quick delivery and great customer service.
Personalisation should be discreet and blend seamlessly into their buying journey.
Daisy moved down the funnel quickly, from becoming aware of her problem, going directly to conversion because of previous positive experiences with Apple that addressed her needs and desires.
Messaging, targeting and timing matter.
Reeling in the Years of Personalization
Personalization isn’t a completely new concept.
Remember that fancy hotel you went to for your anniversary, the hotel manager upgrading you to a suite with balloons and chocolate congratulating you.
The restaurant singing “happy birthday” for your 50th birthday.
Your local shop knowing your first AND last name, asking “how’s the family?”.
The only difference is personalization upgraded to the digital world.
Let’s take a look back at where it all began…
The year was 2011 and you just received an email that had YOUR name in the email. This email is personalized for YOU!
In comparison to how everything is personalized now, this seems small but to have an email with your name was major.
Amazon saw an opportunity and in 2012, they took the first step in personalizing product recommendations, creating a benchmark for other businesses.
This algorithm had the ability to recommend products to the customer, based on what they were looking for.
Seeing the increase of engagement and the value personalisation had, businesses wanted to do the same for it’s customers.
In 2018, personalization spread and websites were adapting to customers needs, ensuring the products were shown based on previous purchases.
If you bought a train ticket to Barcelona, it’s no surprise tourist attractions or hotels in Barcelona would show up, preparing you for your trip.
Understanding the customer’s journey and thinking “what does the customer need”, NOT “what should we show them”. You wouldn’t show an ad for a trip to Madrid after they’ve bought a train ticket to Barcelona.
It’s 2024, where are we now?
We now live in the age of “hyper-personalization”, merging behavioural and real-time data to understand how a customer shops, how they browse and so forth to match products or services to their needs and interests.
But are customers happy about businesses collecting and analyzing data?
Personalized Marketing Gone Right
A business that understands personalization understands the customer and gives them the experience of being seen and heard, which results in them becoming returning customers.
Think of a business that gave you that experience.
They understood EXACTLY what you needed at the right time and overall, it was a positive experience.
Amazon excels in personalization because customers are happy to share their data in exchange for product recommendations that align with their interests and needs.
There’s a reason why customers are influenced by influencers and content creators, we trust recommended products that come from real people.
TikTok took this idea and added TikTok shop to the platform which saw an increase in sales and brand growth. We trust word of mouth and referrals.
Businesses, be AWARE!
Word-of-mouth is powerful so if a customer has a bad experience because of your personalisation strategy, be prepared to receive backlash.
Other businesses that understand personalization are Netflix, sending out content recommendations based on what you watch, having you doom-watching (like doom-scrolling) episode after episode.
Think of Spotify, especially at Christmas Time. The famous Spotify Wrapped is all over everyone’s stories, showing off what artist or album they listened to the most throughout the year.
Businesses that understand their target audience reap the rewards.
GoViral to the Rescue
Look, we’ve all been there. Sent the wrong message to a friend. Booked the wrong train. Took the wrong turn.
Human error.
But for businesses, it’s crucial to be careful with customers’ data and how you plan to use it.
If you’re cutting corners on your personalization strategy to save time, expect errors that will cost you more than an unsubscribe.
Let’s dive into the top three errors we see businesses make and how to avoid your business getting a bad reputation….
1. The Infamous Email Error
You have a large campaign where you need to send out emails to your target audience.
Instead of manually entering everyone’s name, you enter an automation – hi <firstname>, we want to tell you..
But what happens if a person didn’t sign up with their first name?
That person receives the email the same way you sent it – hi <firstname>.
Oops.
Always make sure you have a fallback phrase that relates to the email content.
This makes the customer feel involved and part of a bigger community.
Popular clothing brands will use a fallback phrase like fashionista, travel brands might use adventurer.
This phrase is still personalized to the audience, avoiding the loss of a subscriber.
2. When content hits too close to home…
Sending irrelevant content can put your customer off but sending too relevant content will trigger a bad response from your customers.
Campaigns related to health, mortality, or family need to be carefully thought out, ensuring the correct data is up-to-date.
If you don’t have the correct data to deliver to your target audience accurately, scrap personalized campaigns.
You want to add value to your customers through your content, not confuse, upset or anger them.
Giving the customer the option to opt-out of certain occasions such as mothers day and fathers day is a way to show your customers that you value them, creating a stronger relationship.
3. Research Past and Present World Events
Real world events like natural disasters, political issues or terrorist attacks are also something businesses need to be aware of.
Automation allows a business to send out campaigns to a large amount of people in a short amount of time but be aware of the variables you enter.
Like the email error, always make sure different variations of variables are tried and tested before sending out.
An example would be adidas personalization error where they sent out a targeted message congratulating Boston Marathon Runners for surviving the marathon.
Big mistake.
People on social media were quick to remind adidas about the real survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.
This stresses the importance of researching past and present events and to try out different wording with variables to make sure the campaign goes smoothly.
You can create temporary filters that target insensitive language related to a specific event before the campaign to ensure the correct wording is used.
We can’t control natural disasters or other such events but we can control our wording so be mindful.
GoViral Conclusion
We know the importance of personalization but getting it right seems to still be an issue for businesses. Using out-of-date data and miscommunication between teams leads to customers receiving the wrong messages. Every business needs a strong personalization marketing strategy so that the customers feel like the message was just for them.
At GoViral, we ensure our client’s have an up-to-date CRM and a personalization strategy, turning their target audience into customers. If your personalization marketing strategy is causing more friction than sales, get in touch and GoViral can help create a seamless experience for your customers every step of the way.
Contact GoViral Digital today to learn how our expertise in inbound marketing can develop an effective personalization strategy that speaks directly to your customers every step of the way!
Authenticity is in, Artificiality is out.
We are back with our monthly GoViral blog and this month, we are delving into the topic surrounding how businesses that are value-driven and have strong brand messaging are maximizing their brand loyalty. People are sick of being sold to and want to feel seen and heard. Most businesses continue to miss the mark, updating people about product features but fail to show the true value and people behind the brand. People buy from people. We share four simple but effective strategies that your business needs to implement if it wants to thrive this year. Let’s get into it!
How businesses are missing the mark
Traditional marketing techniques were straight to the point and created for the masses. There wasn’t a specific target audience they wanted to target, it was for everyone and anyone.
Marketing to the masses has proved costly to businesses and takes up valuable time that can be better spent elsewhere. Businesses that cut costs on marketing are missing out on maximizing their brand loyalty through engaging with their community and having strong brand messaging.
People are more interested in the people behind the brand than the products.
People crave connection
The rise of social media and apps such as TikTok during the pandemic saw a huge increase in people spending more time on their phones to stay connected to their family and friends. When was the last time you looked at your screen time?
With businesses, hospitality and other establishments closed down because of coronavirus, people wanted to stay connected more than ever.
What once was an app for teenagers showing off their best moves has exploded into a platform where social issues such as equality, diversity, and inclusion are spoken about daily. The pandemic, along with the rise of TikTok, opened up a platform for people to speak up and stand up for what they believe in.
A piece of content or a story that invokes an emotion in the person reading causes people to act out an action. This can be reposting to their story for their followers or sharing directly with their family members because they know they’ll appreciate the content. People like to share content that aligns with their values.
The power of storytelling
The rise of social media and apps such as TikTok during the pandemic saw a huge increase in people spending more time on their phones to stay connected to their family and friends. When was the last time you looked at your screen time?
With businesses, hospitality and other establishments closed down because of coronavirus, people wanted to stay connected more than ever.
What once was an app for teenagers showing off their best moves has exploded into a platform where social issues such as equality, diversity, and inclusion are spoken about daily. The pandemic, along with the rise of TikTok, opened up a platform for people to speak up and stand up for what they believe in.
A piece of content or a story that invokes an emotion in the person reading causes people to act out an action. This can be reposting to their story for their followers or sharing directly with their family members because they know they’ll appreciate the content. People like to share content that aligns with their values.
How Gen Z’s Values are Shaping the Content Industry
Companies know what products they sell but do they know the values that represent the business? The term “value statement” is used in marketing strategy because of its importance to the all-over success of a business. If you don’t know what your value statement is, start writing one.
One of the most important cohorts that are value-driven are Gen Z.
They are the first generation to grow up with the internet compared to Millennials and Gen X.
This means they’re more clued in on what’s happening in the world and are more involved in social issues, not afraid to speak up on certain issues especially if it involves a business.
Gen Z’s values are centred around diversity, inclusion, equality, and sustainability. Fast fashion brands have come under fire for unethical labor practices and disregard for the environmental impact it has. They aren’t afraid to boycott a business if they fail to explain their reasoning behind unfavorable conditions.
Stories captivate customers and build brands
Let’s look at some examples of businesses that have set the bar for having strong brand messaging and clear values.
Take a look at the image below. What’s the first thing that comes to mind?
Nike.
If you guessed correctly, then you know how powerful brand messaging can be. Coupled with their slogan “Just do it”, people KNOW who Nike is and what they stand for.
Collaborating with influential athletes such as Michael B. Jordan and Simone Biles and sharing inspiring and motivational stories of people who just DID it, people resonate with the brand and feel inspired.
Nike is much more than a shoe company, they are a performance company that makes shoes as a way to inspire and enable people to perform at their very best.
Overcoming challenges is a big part of life and people find this concept relatable, therefore, strengthening the relationship between Nike and its customers.
Understanding your audience
Jabra, one of our clients at GoViral, is another great example of having strong brand messaging and clear values.
Their technology has evolved beyond the workplace to everywhere on the go. Changes in how people work after the pandemic pushed Jabra to adapt to the current situation. With many workplaces changing to remote or hybrid work, Jabra understood the difficulties that you encounter with technology.
Jabra understands exactly who their audience is and speaks directly to them about the problems they face. Not afraid to create something new and experiment with their technology, they are always seeking to improve to better serve their audience.
Now that we have learnt that traditional marketing is dead and how Gen Z are shaping the content industry, let’s dive into strategies to start creating content that will get people to buy.
1. Craft your story
No business starts with loyal customers or high revenue returns. Every business started from the bottom and made its way to the top. That story is what gets people to buy.
What’s the businesses’ origin story? What values does the business believe in? What struggles did it encounter? What transformation or journey did your product or service bring you on?
2. Connect emotionally to your audience
Don’t tell them about the product. Tell them how it will make them feel. If we take a pair of headphones, no one is going to connect with the product if you tell me it has great sound. Go deeper than that.
Block the whole world out with our noise-canceling headphones to wind down after a stressful day at work… you get the point.
Give them an experience and how they will feel when they buy the product
3. Show, don’t tell.
A business can say its product is amazing but the consumer is in charge of making that decision. If a customer isn’t happy with a product, they aren’t going to shy away from speaking about it on social media. The product or service needs to help fix a problem. A skincare product that gets rid of acne. A pair of shoes with insoles that make you feel like you are walking on clouds. A jacket that feels like your grandparent’s hug.
Let the product speak for itself. Customers won’t have a problem telling everyone about the impact it had on them.
4. Call to action
Customers can resonate with your story and connect to the product but fail to act because they don’t know what the next step is. Be clear on what you want them to do. Whether it is subscribing to your product launch, attending an event, or making a purchase, there needs to be a clear call to action and a reason WHY.
GoViral conclusion
We can all learn something from Nike and Jabra regarding their strong brand messaging and clear values that resonate with their target audience. People don’t want to hear about the next product launch if it isn’t solving a problem for them. Get clear on what your business stands for and show up as that every time your audience sees you online. It’s harder to grab people’s attention but with strong brand messaging, your business will be top of mind for them. Don’t blend in, stand out amongst the crowd.
Contact GoViral Digital today to learn how our expertise in inbound marketing can enhance your brands presence and help tell your brands story.
Leveraging PPC Campaigns for Maximum Event Exposure
When hosting a large-scale event, gaining significant exposure to your target audience and attracting attendees are the top priorities. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful tool that amplifies your event’s visibility and boosts ticket sales effectively. Below we will discuss strategic tips and tactics for using PPC campaigns so you can ensure your event not only reaches but resonates with your target audience.
PPC advertising offers a unique advantage in that it places your event in front of the right audience at the right time. With the ability to target specific demographics, interests, and geographical locations, PPC campaigns are tailored to speak directly to people most likely to be interested in your event. Effective PPC campaigns allow you to cut through the digital noise and reach potential attendees that drive both awareness and conversions. In the following sections, we explore how to utilize the full potential of PPC to create impactful campaigns that capture attention and convert leads into event attendees.
Define Clear Objectives
When launching a PPC campaign, it’s important to gain clarity on what you hope to achieve. For events, objectives and goals can range from increasing brand awareness to driving ticket sales or encouraging sign-ups for a webinar about the event. It’s important to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to guide your campaign structure and implementation.
Understand Your Audience
Detailed knowledge of your audience’s demographics, interests, and online behaviors will help you to create specifically targeted ads that have a much higher likelihood of conversion. Using data from past events, website analytics, and social media insights to build a comprehensive audience profile will help you to understand and choose your keyword selection, ad copy, and targeting options.
Choose the Right Platforms
There are several different PPC platforms and they all offer different advantages depending on your event type and target audience.
Google Ads:
- High intent targeting: Google Ads operates on the principle of search intent, meaning your ads appear to people actively searching for your product or service leading to higher conversion rates.
- Vast reach: Google provides a vast reach online with millions of searches per day. This can significantly increase your visibility across a range of demographics.
- Flexible budget options: With Google Ads, you’re able to adjust your budget based on your financial constraints and goals. With options like cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) pricing models, you can choose the campaign that best suites your objectives.
- Robust analytics: Google Ads offers comprehensive analytics that help you track metrics, such as, clicks, impressions, and conversions.
- Geotargeting capabilities: Because you can target your ads to specific geographic locations, you are also able to promote local events or segment your campaigns based on where your target audience lives for better accuracy.
- Ad formats: Google Ads provides a variety of ad formats, including text ads, image ads, video ads, product listing ads, performance max, etc. All of these allow for versatile marketing strategies with the ability to test different content types to see what works best.
Social Media Ads:
- Advanced targeting options: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer precise targeting options based on user demographics, behaviors, interests, and connections.
- Visual engagement: As social media is inherently visual, it is an excellent platform for engaging potential customers with eye-catching images, videos, and interactive content.
- Brand engagement: Due to the nature of social media, two-way interaction between you and your audience allows for relationship and community building through increasing loyalty and engagement around the event.
- Retargeting capabilities: Social media platforms excel at retargeting; this allows you to present ads to users who have visited your website but haven’t converted. This is a great way to remind those users about your event and encourage them to buy tickets, register, or book a demonstration.
- Real-time adjustments: Social ads can be tweaked in real-time based on performance data and this allows for dynamic adjustments to maximize your campaign’s effectiveness.
Craft Compelling Ad Copy
While writing your ad copy, be sure you are clear, concise, and compelling. It’s important to include essential details about the event, such as what, when, and where, and make sure to highlight unique selling points that make your event unique. Using strong call-to-actions (CTAs) like “Register Now”, “Book Your Seat”, or “Get Tickets” drives urgency and improves conversion rates. Make sure to test different versions of the ad copy to see what resonates best with your target audience.
Utilize Engaging Visuals
As mentioned above, visual ad platforms like Facebook and Instagram use eye-catching graphics or videos which can significantly enhance your ad’s performance. When creating your ad visuals, ensure you’re appropriately reflecting the theme of the event and create an appeal to the emotions of potential attendees. Short, engaging videos, typically under one minute long, that give a sneak peek of the event highlights can be particularly effective.
Optimize for Keywords
When building out your PPC campaign, keyword optimization is vital for success. Ensure you conduct thorough keyword research to identify terms that potential attendees might use to find events like yours. Include event-specific keywords, such as “tech conferences in 2024” or “virtual marketing summit” and broader terms that relate to the industry or interests aligned with your event. Using negative keywords is also beneficial to prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant searches, which in turn saves your budget for more qualified leads.
Implement Geo-Targeting
Geo-targeting allows you to tailor your PPC campaigns to reach people in specific locations when you have physical events. For global events, you could consider targeting key cities or regions where your potential attendees are based. For virtual events, you can target a broader geographic area but focus on regions with a higher concentration of your target audience.
Set a Smart Bidding Strategy
PPC platforms offer a variety of bidding strategies that can help you maximize returns on your ad spend. Automated bidding strategies like “Maximize Conversions” in Google Ads can optimize your bids in real-time to get the most conversions for your budget. It’s important to regularly review and adjust your bids based on how your ads and campaigns are performing so you ensure optimal results.
Track and Analyze Performance
Tracking and analyzing your results is crucial to understanding the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns. Set up tracking for key conversion points, such as registration completions or ticket purchases and use analytics to monitor which ads are performing well and why and adjust your strategies accordingly. Doing this will not only help you optimize ongoing campaigns, but it will also provide valuable insights for future event marketing strategies.
Conclusion
PPC campaigns are a dynamic tool that seeks to maximize exposure and drive attendance for all variations of events. Understanding your audience, crafting targeted ads, and continuously optimizing based on ad performance allows you to significantly enhance the reach and success of your global events. As you prepare for your next big event, integrate these PPC strategies to not only meet but exceed your marketing objectives, ensuring your event gets the attendance it deserves!
Are you ready to boost your event’s visibility with powerful PPC campaigns? Whether you’re new to PPC or looking to enhance your existing campaigns, GoViral is here to help! If you have any questions or need more information on how to effectively leverage PPC for maximum event exposure, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Contact GoViral Digital today to learn how our expertise can bring PPC campaigns and event management to the next level.
GoViral Case Study: Timing PPC Campaigns for In-Person Events
A common question among marketers: how far in advance should I advertise an in-person event? When should I start using my PPC advertising budget? At GoViral we’re committed to learning from experience, so let’s take a look at the numbers from three recent events.
When Should I Start Advertising an In-Person Event?
Over the past few years we’ve helped one of our clients, a global leader in business and consumer electronics, advertise their presence at in-person industry events.
When our client attends these events, they want the best bang for their buck. Their end goal is leads. Getting face time with existing and potential customers is invaluable.
But even priceless marketing activities are limited by budget. Regardless of your budget’s size, you need to think carefully about how and when to spend it. So let’s take a look at lead time. How far in advance of an event do we see results for booking in-person meetings?
Our Results from Three Recent Events
For each of our three most recent events, we launched our PPC campaign at a different point in advance of the event date. One campaign started 17 weeks before, one 4 weeks, and one just 3 weeks before the start of the event.
Keeping in mind that we define a lead as someone who schedules a meeting with our client during the event, here are the results of total number of leads acquired by campaigns of varying lengths.
As you can see, we acquired more leads with a shorter timeline ahead of the event. In other words, more time did not translate to more leads.
Furthermore, the Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) decreased as the lead time decreased. How much did we spend to acquire each lead? Considerably more when we started earlier.
Takeaways for Advertising Events with a PPC Campaign
Our overall takeaway? Don’t assume advertising an in-person event earlier means your results will be better.
There are other factors besides the timeline to consider, of course. But one thing is clear from our results: most of our leads for in-person events were acquired in the three weeks immediately before the event.
Our experience has shown that PPC campaigns for in-person events can find success even when limited to the month leading up to the event, and in fact we have had most success acquiring leads during that time.
Further Considerations
As with all marketing advice, your mileage may vary. Consider your specific situation and make strategic decisions accordingly.
Maybe your event requires early registration, or maybe there’s a competing event in a different city on the same dates. In those cases, you might want to start earlier.
Remember that a marketing campaign requires careful planning, including consideration of the buyer’s journey and other factors specific to your business.
However, if you find yourself starting your advertising efforts just a few weeks before your event, don’t despair! There’s still time to get results.
Looking to advertise an in-person event? Let us help you! Tell us more about your project and request a proposal.
Best Practices for Email Marketing
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is still the most effective marketing channel, leaving behind newer marketing channels like social media.
Data suggests that the number of email users increases every year, making it is a great way to generate more leads for your business and build a community for your brand. This is why email marketing should be the key pillar of your strategy.
Serving a purpose in the buyer journey, emails can be promotional or informational. You can announce special offers, new products, sales or discounts with a clear call-to-action (CTA) through promotional emails.
Informational emails are typically company announcements, newsletters, etc. Imagine your company reached a milestone or there are some issues with shipping, the best way to reach your contacts at once is through an email.
But if you’re confused about where to begin, that’s absolutely normal. We’ve put together a list of best practices for email marketing to spruce up your emails.
Don’t Buy Contact Lists
Well, the reason behind this is two-fold. First is the GDPR. These regulations restrict marketers to send emails to unsubscribed consumers.
Secondly, there is no point in sending emails to a person whose contact you bought rather than an interested customer through a previous interaction. You will see the results drop instantly.
Clean Your Mail List Regularly
Following the previous point, it is equally important to review your subscribers and remove the ones who haven’t engaged with your emails for a long time. We know it could be extremely satisfying to see a huge senders list, but sending out emails to non-engaged users will affect the open rate.
The key is to analyse your campaign quality against your loyal customer base.
Personalise Greetings
How often do you come across an email that reads, “Dear Member”?
Terms like members, subscribers, VIP or others should be for internal use. Using a personalised greeting gets the attention of the reader right away. And you don’t need to write 50 names and send out 50 emails manually anymore. Marketing tools help configure the greeting and automatically send the emails to the names on your list.
Incentivise the Subject Line
Want to increase your open rates? Include the offer in your subject line.
“Free shipping”, “$25 off on your first purchase” or “Earn referral bonus” are examples of some incentive focussed subject lines that could work wonders.
Great practice for subject lines is to keep it between 30 to 50 characters. Why? Email services often cut off lengthy subject lines and your readers won’t be able to read it fully without opening it.
You aren’t writing a story in the subject line; create a sense of urgency for them.
Make your CTA the Hero
If your user has to scroll down to find the main message and CTA of your email, chances are you’ve already lost him.
Research suggests that 57% of the time is spent on above-the-fold content which is the information that’s visible to readers before they scroll down. To increase your conversion rate, the first thing your recipient should see is the main message and CTA.
Email Signature and Logo - A Must
41% of marketers said they use email signatures for branding and visibility.
Even if you are sending an email to all contacts in the database on behalf of your company, it should include a signature of a specific person. The reason for this is to there is a human behind the email. People tend to read emails more when they see it is from a person rather than the marketing team.
The chances of a customer making a purchase goes up 34% when logos are included. The best way to leverage it is to include your company logo in the email signature.
Build a Cohesive Look
Your webpage should match the emails – headline, copy, and look. Consistency is the key to email marketing.
The look and feel of your emails shouldn’t be far different from your other assets like the website, landing page, social ads, etc. Not only does it help build your brand visibility, but it also increases trust in your customers.
Say No to “No-Reply” Emails
What is the point of your email marketing campaign if your customers can’t even interact with you when you send them promotional materials? Personally, I don’t even bother to open emails with the words “no reply” or if the sender’s address is noreply@xyz.com.
As previously mentioned, your customers are far more likely to open an email when they see it is from a human being. Marketing tools allow you to set automated emails from a specific email address. Set it to your first name to give your emails a human touch.
There you have it! You can use the above practices to add a competitive edge to your email marketing campaigns.
Marketers today have many channels to promote their business, but the challenge is learning how to prioritise your efforts for the best results.
Want to prepare an email marketing campaign for your business? Contact us to learn more.