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It’s a new year. Last year might have been good or bad for your business, hopefully good, but it’s done and behind you now. The future beckons. You have big plans for Digital, you want to grow, sell more, communicate better, reach more people, sell more goods, and create great content but, where do you start? Stay tuned to find out.

1. Perform a visual audit of each of your digital platforms 

• Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Website, Email, TripAdvisor
• Take a longer look at all the artwork you put out during the year
• Critique and confirm whether or not it properly represented your brand

2. Perform a content audit:

• Take a closer look at the content you created. This includes offers, information, videos and shared material
• Critique the content you created in relation to the goals you had set

3. Develop an annual analytics report:

• How many people saw your content?
• How many engaged with your content?
• What was the gender distribution if applicable?
• How many were new vs repeat visitors?
• Who are these people and how much info do you know about them?
• How many people were converted per platform?

4. Perform a usability audit of the relevant Digital platforms:

• How easy is it for people to find information on your website?
• How easy is it for people to navigate your mobile App?
• How are your marketing emails designed?

5. Perform a comprehensive engagement report:

• How many people saw your content?
• How many did something with your content?
• How many liked your content?
• How many shared your content?
• How many people communicated with you or others via your content?
• How many downloaded your content?

You need to find out what worked and what didn’t work. And one of the advantages of digital marketing and advertising is that the tools exist that can easily and quickly give you the data let you know how each platform or vehicle performed.

These audits and subsequent reports will give you a foundation and direction of where to start, stop or improve with you Digital Marketing, Advertising & Communications efforts going forward into the New Year.

You want to put together a digital marketing and advertising campaign but you do not know where to start here’s how:

1. Define your campaign goals and objectives 

Before you start you need to decide exactly what you’re trying to achieve with your campaign. Be very clear. When I say goals, it could be conversions, you’re trying to sell a certain number of products or maybe if you own a hotel you want to sell a certain number of rooms within let’s say a month. It could be followers you want to hit a certain number of followers on your social media platforms from where you are now to where you want to get to. It could be engagement you want, for people to talk about your brand. You want to be able to engage them and have conversations but if you go to the engagement make sure you can measure that engagement it could be you want to create brand awareness and what does brand awareness mean? You also have to decide that’s what the goal is going to be or like most campaigns you might want to generate leads. You want to do a campaign where people are asked to either fill in a form or submit some data that allows you to be able to follow up, later on, to lead them down the path to conversion whatever possible.

2. Define your target audience

You can’t be everything for everyone. You have to know or decide who you’re trying to sell to and where they are. Are you a national company where you have stores? Are you regional trying to reach people in Tanzania or Kigali or Entebbe or are you just really trying to target people who are within a certain neighbourhood? It’s a narrow beam so define your target audience again where they are and who they are naturally. Survey who they are or you can even look at who your competition is targeting and the goal here is to try and build a niche or people who are more likely to engage the brand or buy the product or service.

3. Develop your customer or buyer persona

Take your customer as a person and describe who they are and how this will work is that you’ll be able to use this person’s description of who they are when you are targeting your campaign messaging. An example would be; this is a Sharon; Sharon is a software engineer. You describe her demographics and then you say that she is into let’s say travel, she follows politics and she loves pets. That way when you’re coming up with your targeting then you know exactly what profile to use to come up with the correct group of people to talk to.

4. Define your budget

If you’re going to have a successful campaign, you’re going to spend money on these digital platforms. You are going to run ads. You have to agree on how much money are you willing to spend to hit your target and the targets are based on the objective. Be realistic because we cannot say that you’re trying to get to a thousand orders and you only need to spend a thousand shillings. So look at what you are trying to achieve whether its conversions, Leads, how many people you are trying to reach and then work backward to come up with a certain amount of money that you know you need to spend on these platforms to reach that magic number of people in your target audience that you need to convert to get to your goal. Define and stick to your budget then run your ads based on your budget and you should be able to achieve your goal.

5. Select the digital platforms or channels

To run the campaign remember we spoke about going through the process of defining and developing your customers’ persona and the process of deciding what your budget is. A combination of these two factors will help you decide which channels are best suited for running a campaign because if you know who you’re targeting, you have an idea where your target audience would be spending their time on in the digital platforms. Some people depending on their persona will spend more on Facebook versus the websites or more on Twitter than Instagram. So be clear about what platforms you want to run your campaign on. And again, use the homework you’ve already developed in building your customer persona and in defining your budgets to help you to decide on the best channel for a successful campaign.

So, there you have it. You’ve gone through the steps, you’ve done your due diligence, you’ve done your homework so now all you have to do is just execute. Happy selling!

Is Email Marketing still relevant? YES

Email, has now been around for over forty years. It’s a form of communication that many argue is outdated and irrelevant in this world of smart phones and social media that we live in today. Email has been used for many years for personal communication, business communication, and yes – marketing & advertising.

However, many people would relate email marketing with being interruptive, spam related, and often irrelevant & mass communicated information.

But the truth is, email can still be used as an effective and very powerful marketing tool. And today I’m going to share with you few but very important tips on how you can use email marketing to grow your business

In today’s world, the consumer is king – it’s all about putting the right thing in front of the right person at the right time, and using email marketing is lets you do that.

When someone fills out the information on your website, you now can effectively communicate with them through email and slowly nurture them through their purchase journey

And because they gave it to you, this person’s email isn’t from a random list of contacts you purchased online; it’s a real person with real interest in whatever it is that you’re offering. So Progressive companies can take advantage of that. They can use the power of email to start a conversation and build a relationship with a prospect over time.

There’s so much to cover on how you can use email marketing as a powerful tool to grow your business. But I’m just going to share 4 key areas that would make a huge difference:

1. Build an Opt in list:

No one wants to receive emails from a company they don’t want to hear from. It happens a lot unfortunately and that’s one of the things that gives marketing emails a bad name.

An effective email marketing program is heavily influenced by the quality of your email list. And the more people you have on your list who want to and know that they are on your list, the better results you will get.

Here’s what I trying to say; give your current and potential customers an opportunity to willingly join your mailing list. How?

• Make it easy for them to sign up from your website
• Request them for their email addresses during your interaction with them
• Let them know that you shall be sending them useful information about your products or services that could help
• AND, make it easy for them to opt out of your list whenever they want

2. Share content that is relevant:

Remember, it is a privilege to be given someone’s email address. We forget that an email address is actually personal information that’s unique to an individual so it should be treated with the sensitivity it deserves. When someone gives you their email address, they are basically saying, “I don’t go around dishing out my personal contacts to strangers. I am sharing this with you because I trust you, and I am giving you direct access to me and the opportunity to engage me one on one”.

Therefore, don’t abuse the privilege you have been given by selfishly sending out information that only benefits you. Share content that helps the customer first before it benefits you. For example:

• It can be a discount offer that helps them save money
• It can be a notification of upcoming service disruption to help them plan ahead
• Transactional emails – Your order has been received
• It can be info on a new version of a product they have that can be more useful to them

The more useful info they get from you, the more they trust you. Which means they will want to keep hearing you, and you can continue to build that relationship as you lead them down different conversion points in their customer journey

3. Segment your email campaigns:

Segmentation is a huge driver for success in your email marketing efforts. You can now segment your database based on where the user, prospect or customer is in the buyer’s journey which further puts the right thing in front of the right person at the right time. You can have automated emails sent out to segmented groups of users who have certain characteristics and use those characteristics for dynamic email marketing.

Segmentation Examples:

• First time buyers
• People in the same industry – travel agents
• Repeat customers
• Based on gender
• Based on region

We notice from the client email programs that we do that segmented emails generate more leads, lead to increased email open rates, and have lower unsubscribe rates.

4. Personalize your emails:

Everybody likes to be addressed by their name. It’s like walking into your favorite restaurant and the hostess sees you and says, “Hi Martin, welcome back”.

You feel recognized and gives you a feeling that they know you and understand your needs.

Any credible email marketing application will allow you to personalize your emails for the most effective results. Based on how you engaged with your customer, you should at least have the user’s first name, last name, and email. And just like that, you can send a personalized email to every person in your database, and this does make a difference.

Personalized emails, e.g. addressing people by their first name, see improved click-through rates, increase in conversions and personalized subject lines always have higher open rates

So here’s my conclusion about email marketing:

I think we agree that email marketing is not as powerful in this part of the world (Kenya) has it has proved to be say in the US. BUT, if used and developed well, it can really be a differentiator.

And I would concur that the old way of doing email marketing no longer relevant in 2019 ; With purchased lists, non-relevant content, and spammy subject lines – you’re more likely to end up in a person’s junk folder than grabbing their attention in the inbox.

However, through the use of segmentation, personalization and a a true effort in understanding of your customers and where they are in their purchase journey, it’s now easier than ever to put the right thing in front of the right person at the right time through email.

People are still checking their emails more now than ever before and it’s undoubtedly one of the most profitable marketing channels out there.

One thing is for sure – email marketing still VERY relevant.

Get S.M.A.R.T on Social Media

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker

So you’ve set up your firm’s social media profiles and you’re all fired up to get posting. However, you now realize that it’s not just about posting that ‘Instagram-worthy’ image, you need to consider why you are putting out content in the first place. Well, stick around and let us share with you a thing or two about setting brilliant goals for your social media strategy.

Goals are vital in helping you track your progress and keeping your digital marketing efforts focused. Putting down a detailed plan on how you intend to live a healthier lifestyle will aid you in keeping score on your workout sessions and figure out whether the daily nyama choma indulgence is holding you back from eating cleaner. In the same way, optimizing your social media presence requires a well thought-out blueprint to increase the chances of achieving your ultimate objective as a brand.

The S.M.A.R.T Goal Framework

Several self-help and entrepreneurial reading material have recommended using the S.M.A.R.T framework to set goals that are – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

• Specific

Growing your social media audience is a great goal but pretty vague. How many followers are you looking to gain? Which social media platforms are you targeting? Clarity makes it easier for you to determine what exactly you are forging towards.

• Measurable

The ability or inability to measure a goal determines how specific it is and whether it is making a contribution towards attaining the firm’s objectives. Perhaps you want to use social to monitor brand awareness, how will you know how many people are familiar with your brand? The number of impressions per posts? How many profile views you get monthly? The value of numbers cannot be overstated as you are able to figure out how far or close you are to achieving your aim.

• Attainable

You definitely want to steer clear of being overambitious. Looking to jump from an engagement rate of 1% to 8% within a few months is quite a stretch and will have you and your team scrambling to hit a poorly chosen target. While a “go big or go home” perspective can get you motivated, a realistic approach to goal-setting may be gradual but fruitful in the long run.

• Relevant

Just like investing in a credit card terminal may not be suitable for your “2 bob per page” photocopy services, putting lots of effort into content that will be irrelevant to your objective is a waste of time and resources. Looking to drive traffic to a website’s landing page? Then adding a link to your captions will be more effective compared to just uploading a glossy image for your posts.

• Timely

Procrastination…the feeling that you have an entire lifetime to get things done. Putting down due dates on various tasks gives you and your team that extra push to make sure you stay on top of things.

You can now warm your cup of coffee, take out your notebook and begin goal-setting! Hello #SocialMediaGoals.

Disruptive innovation is simply a paradigm shift brought about by innovation that changes the way we look at a certain field or industry. Okay, I may have lost you at thee words paradigm shift but bear with me a little.

Digital marketing is admittedly one of the fields where the term “paradigm shift” is common vocabulary, but that’s not because we are trying to sound smarter than we are. Digital Marketing is a landscape built on and in an everchanging environment of disruptive innovation, where of advancements and innovative ideas change the entire landscape almost overnight.

Let me break this down a little. It is impossible to discuss digital marketing without Facebook coming up in the conversation. A little over 15 years ago this was just a way for nerdy Harvard students to chat, today it is a multi-billion dollar monster of a business that is almost as essential to any marketer as a good website. Facebook has irreversibly changed the way people communicate. Facebook created a platform (for better or worse) where people can share larger and more intimate aspects of their lives. Their experiences, thoughts, ideas, likes and dislikes.

YouTube begun as way for amateur video makers sharing their content with friends, 1 years later, there are over 400hours of videos uploaded to the site every minute. YouTube has become a hub for all video content from DIY tutorials and daily Vlogs (video blogs) to large production movies. YouTube changed the way video content is consumed. Studies show that as of 2017, more hours of YouTube videos exist than all the television broadcasts since the television was invented in the 1920s. YouTube made video publication and distribution available to the public creating a platform for more intimate videos that catered to a wider range of niche markets.

This disruptive nature of the digital marketing industry creates for a tenuous environment where one has to be ready to adapt or fall into obscurity. From 2004 to 2009, Myspace was the largest social networking site, however as Facebook came to the forefront, it steadily declined. As of 2108 (yes it still exists), Myspace is ranked 4,153^rd by total web traffic. A far cry from its days at the top.

Sometimes however, adaptation is not enough to keep a company afloat, the relatively young Snapchat (founded in 2006) burst on the scene with a bang reaching peak popularity in 2015/2016 with over 10billion daily views. Snapchat fought tooth and nail against giants Instagram, Facebook and Twitter carving out for itself a respectable market share. In a bid to slow Snapchat’s growth which was largely based on the disappearing videos feature. In 2017, Facebook and Instagram both introduced similar feature greatly stunting Snapchat’s growth. Snapchat remained popular with its core demographic, but this was not the end, in 2018 Snapchat published an ad quiz created by a 3^rd party meant to engage users with pop culture references.  One of the questions in the quiz made insensitive reference to a domestic abuse incident between pop culture icons Chris Brown and Rihanna. Outraged by this incident, Rihanna made a statement in which she asked her millions of followers to remove the app. Within 24hrs, the Snap Inc. (Snapchat’s parent company) stock had dropped by 4 % costing the company almost 1 billion dollars.

What does this mean for you as a marketer?

1. Do your research. Stay ahead of the trend by keeping abreast of what is going on in the industry.
2. Have a contingency plan. Never put you eggs in one basket. Platforms will come and go and you need to be ready to adapt when one platform fails.
3. Think outside the box. Yes, I know that’s a very cliché statement, but in an industry that knows no norms, be the innovative change. Be the disruption that changes the world.

Are you ready to be the disruption? What’s next for digital marketing? Is Vero the next big social network? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Search Engine Optimization (or SEO for short) isn’t what the blogosphere would have you believe. It is not some unstoppable big bad monster lurking in the shadows trying to destroy your company and everything you hold dear. At its core, SEO is simply the process of making sure that the people that need to find you can find you. As long as you focus on these two key components of any search, you and your beloved will be just fine (no pitchforks and torches necessary).

The Human Aspect

Each search is done by a person looking to achieve a certain goal. This goal could be to find your business, to find out about the products and services you offer, or even just to get directions to your doorstep. As a brand, your goal is to make sure you are easier to find than your competition while making sure all the information potential clients would require is available to them.

The most important step to doing this is to view your company from the perspective of a customer to figure out what it is your clients look for when they look for you. One you have channelled the inner client within you write down a list of words that people would use to find you (hold on to these). These “keywords” form an essential basis for your website. Sprinkling them in a frequent manner on your website makes sure that when people look for you, they find what they are looking for.

The Cogs in the Machine

Working on SEO without understanding how search engines work is like going monster hunting with a quiver full of arrows and no bow. You may get lucky and prevail in the end but it is ill-advised, so please sit back and allow me to string your bow.

Search engines are software systems that scour the world wide web for information which they display in Search Engine Result Pages, or SERPs for short (we digital marketers are obsessed with abbreviations). Basically, search engines find the stuff they think you are looking for. To do so, they crawl through your website and find as much information as they can about it from each page. The search engines scrutinize every aspect of each page from the visible content to the media. Like a mother-in-law, search engines are very judgmental, looking at every tiny aspect of code behind your webpages.

Search engines are however text-based systems making text-based content your best friend in SEO. For these, the best policy is to regularly sparingly add the keywords in the text where they make sense; search engines penalize web pages that just stuff keywords in illogical places especially in page descriptions that are just keywords with no context. When it comes to non-text elements such as images and video content, search engines rely on the descriptions of them in the website code. To optimize non-text content, you should use the relevant keywords to name your files as well as use keywords to describe them in the meta-tag (it’s like a description that only the search engines see).

The monster hunting world of SEO is vast with many tools and methods to achieve your goals. The process is long, arduous and recurring but it is very effective and with the rewards being more than worth it. We hope this at least helped you get to know the monster a little better. Go forth and HAPPY HUNTING.