Be Different or be dead

June 28, 2019

How Instagram can be used to gain an advantage over your competition

How Instagram can be used to gain an advantage over your competition.

With so many people becoming a part of the massive social media revolution, Instagram has become one of the biggest platforms available. In fact, Instagram is now the second biggest social media platform, with around 800 million active monthly users. It comes after Facebook,  which has about 2.07 billion active users worldwide.
This is why many users, especially entrepreneurs, are taking advantage of these platforms to reach out to potential clients.

Why Instagram?

Facebook might have more than twice the number of users that Instagram has, but these two have their differences in terms of reach and form of promotions, making it necessary for most businesses to use both to improve their online presence and have an edge against the competition.

What makes Instagram a must-have for some businesses is that its mobile-centric photo sharing capabilities makes it a favorite for people in terms of capturing moments to share with and captivate audiences.
So, compared to Facebook, Instagram is a better choice when it comes to promoting your brand.

Getting started with Instagram for business

If you are one of the many business owners and entrepreneurs who have decided to go on Instagram and reach more consumers, here are nine things that you need to work on to promote your business online:

Fill out your bio strategically

Let the people of Instagram know who you are and what you do. Creating a credible identity on Instagram is a necessity. This way people will understand what you brand is about and if you are something that can be a part of their interests.
At the same time, you need to incorporate keywords that will help search engines know what your business is for.

Find, follow, and interact with your ideal customers

Instagram is not just about gaining as many followers as you can. It’s also a good tool to understand how you can better cater to your potential clients. Instagram is a great platform for businesses to have a better understanding of the people who can potentially become a part of their clientele.

Think about your product

How can you better promote your brand and your product on social media? It’s not just about words or numbers. Instagram has proven time and again how powerful photos can be when it comes to gaining a large number of followers, and more importantly enticing people to purchase products as shown on the photos shared by your brand.

Expand your reach with #hashtags

Hashtags have become a very important part on the online world. Think of it as the best bots out there. It has helped people find more interesting items in relation to a certain topic they are using to search and promote with.
If you are looking for the best way to reach more potential clients, hashtags should always be a part of your posts.

Build anticipation and offer exclusivity

There is a certain charm when it comes creating suspense and anticipation. Many people like having their curiosity piqued. Some brands that market online tend to take advantage of this by sharing a number of posts that entice other users to click on their post and learn more about their company.
Some brands, on the other hand, run competitions and quizzes and give out their product as prizes to the winners.

Think strategically about your posts

For your posts to be more effective and be able to reach more clients, you have to identify a specific strategy. It’s ideal to schedule regular posts and that you maintain a common theme throughout all your posts and these posts should promote your brand.
Riding the waves of viral videos or photos from famous people can also help you get more followers.

Coordinate with social media campaigns

There are various social media campaigns that can give you inspiration on how to get more followers. Many social media influencers and brands make use of Instagram’s live video feature to interact with clients and get more people to follow their page.
With a bright idea in place, these social media campaigns can help you go trending and become the talk of the media.

Announce new hires, promote your culture

If you want people to get more involved in your company, let them know as much as you can share with them. Let the public understand what type of environment your company has and who are the people behind your brand.
If you onboarded new people, share it with your followers and let them see what your brand is all about.

Showcase your customers and service

To make the most of social media, it’s not always just about your brand. Sometimes to be more inclusive and to create better connections with your customers, it’s ideal that you share the limelight with them, too.
Get your customers involved with your brand and share with your followers who your customers are. You have a famous person as one of your customers? Snap a photo of them with your product and share that with the people.

Instagram can definitely give you a better online presence. If you are new to this social media platform, these nine things can definitely help you promote your brand and reach more people who can turn into your own followers and clients.

— Marquis Matson is a writer, social media manager and SEO content marketer.  She currently lives on the coast of Ecuador, working remotely as a freelancer. Her primary focus is on building online visibility of new, up and coming brand, particularly brands that promote health and wellness. She lives a nomadic lifestyle, though is originally from California.

• Posted 6.28.19 at 04:08 am by Roy Osing
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December 19, 2018

4 silent killer marketing strategies for new age small businesses

4 silent killer marketing strategies for new age small businesses.

For any small business today, gaining the advantage over your competition can be tough work.

The sheer scale of competition which exists is quite hard to get over, in any industry. Even the smallest of towns is likely to have at least one competitor waiting for you.

For that reason, getting your marketing strategy just right is so important.

Not sure how to beat the competition as a small business with a limited scope and budget?

Here are some good ideas. Use these, and you can very quickly make a telling impact on your visibility.

Get set up on Google My Business

As the most popular search engine by far, Google is where most of your resources should be going. Google My Business is very important as it
— adds credibility to your business and
— boosts visibility on searches.

It should be a major part of your small/local business advertising strategy. You will soon find that using a tool like GMB works as it allows you to easily rank higher simply by filling in the profile. If you really want to make big gains with GMB, then hiring a social media marketing manager makes a lot of sense.

Simply showing yourself as a professional who has his/her own GMB page, though, will make you seem much more approachable and professional. For that reason, it’s worth trying out.

Optimized correctly, GMB could help you to bring in a huge amount of organic visibility.

Make use of social media

Secondly, make as much use of social media as you can.

With billions of users across platforms like Facebook, you can easily run cost-effective advertising campaigns with huge reach and immense potential.

I recommend that you work with a social media marketing advertising expert to help you get the ads right, though. While they are cost-effective, like any other kind of advertising you will burn through a lot of money if you aren’t sure what you are doing.

However, the ease of ad testing and multiple A/B testing solutions makes it easy for you to find a winning, profitable ad without breaking the bank.

As far as paid-for advertising for small businesses goes, making use of social media is a winner. Don’t try and push forward without a consultation, though, as it’s easy to waste resources without a clear marketing plan in place.

Run a webinar

How often do you find yourself answering the same old questions to customers? Do you wish that you could make it easy to point them to an easily understood, relatively short but fully detailed answer?

Then do a webinar.

These can be easily hosted on live streaming platforms like YouTube, and can make it easy to answer common questions and complaints in your industry. You could use your webinar to help answers common questions, go into detail about an upcoming industry change or simply ask for some feedback from those who are present.

Either way, running a webinar makes a lot of sense as it allows you to showcase your authority and give people information for free. People love value, especially from a small business. With a webinar, you answer questions for them, you give them valuable information (for free) and you prove your expertise.

Awesome, right?

Write an article (or articles)

Want some exposure that will only take you some time to put together? Then write an article. You could send it to local media or local/niche blogs that fits with your business. You can make it easy to get a lot of exposure in a short and simple amount of time – all simply by using your expertise and knowledge.

If you are a good writer, then you can do this yourself and just spend some time writing. If you are not a good writer, then jot down a series of popular and important points and hire a freelancer.

I recommend that you write up a few pieces you can offer to sites right away (though only give one article per website: never send the same piece to two sites unless one rejects it) so that they can see what you are made of as a writer.

Doing this, you can easily boost exposure with people who are interested in what you have to say. You can also make it easier for your business to be seen and for your reputation to grow. You are giving people free advice and information – it’s only natural they’ll be curious to see what else you have to offer.

For any small business wishing to get ahead of the chasing pack, these conventional ideas should make that easy.

Small business marketing does not have to be complex or taxing: simply thinking a little outside the box, or using inside-the-box methods well, can make a huge difference.

So, where will you start?

— David Guetta is a entrepreneur and freelance writer. He works closely with B2B businesses providing marketing, business, technology, content that gains social media attention and increases their search engine visibility.

• Posted 12.19.18 at 04:03 am by Roy Osing
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October 24, 2018

5 easy ways to use Instagram to grow your business

If you have successfully set up an Instagram account for your business, then you are on the right track. However, setting up the account is the easier part, finding followers and converting them into customers is the hardest part. You must be looking for strategies and methods to grow your business with Instagram.

Worry not, we’ve got you covered with our 5 different ways to grow your ecommerce business with Instagram.

These tips will help you connect with your audience, build relations with influencers, and bring in more sales for your online business.

1. Create content your customers want

Make sure that you craft a niche for yourself and create content that resonates with your audience. If you have a fitness-related business, then your posts should be a mix of fitness tips, product showcase, motivational quotes, etc.

It’s up to you to figure out what your audience likes and what they want to see. If there are any content themes or style that resonates with your audience, then you should cover that aspect. Once you figure out what works and what doesn’t, start posting images, videos, quotes, and promotional content that ties into your business and resonates with your target audience.

A great way to find out what your audience loves is by researching your competition. Check out what your competitors are posting and take that as inspiration for your content.
You can also take inspiration from popular websites and blogs in your industry. Always keep in mind that engagement is the REAL King. You need to populate your account with content that gets real engagement.

2. Actively engage with influencers in your industry

One of the easiest and fastest ways to go higher in Instagram ranks is to build and maintain relationships with Instagram influencers in your industry. These influencers already have a massive fan-following and getting your brand a mention (shout-out) from one of these influencers can give your Instagram profile and your overall brand image instant credibility.

Influencers get approached by popular brands and companies on a very consistent basis because their single post provides a lot of value to these brands. So, most of these influencers offer paid shoutouts while some of them do so organically for free.
You can start off by commenting on their photos, videos, and other posts. You can also tag them in your content, they will receive a notification every time you tag them in our posts. This way they will become familiar with you and your brand and will be more receptive to your offer.

You can also offer them free samples of your products so they can review them and mention them in their posts. This way your products will be in front of a large audience that trusts the particular influencer and value their word.
However, be very selective of who you connect with. Look for influencers that have a high engagement rate and are known to get their followers to take some action.

3. Use strong call to action on your profile

There are a lot of companies and brands that have started posting on Instagram. Sadly, their content lacks any goal. They never tell their audience where to go or what to do.
For this purpose, you need to always use (Call to Actions) in your content, on your bio, etc. The call to action should be clear and should direct your followers to your store or product page. You have nearly 150 characters to use in your Bio, so make a witty CTA that works best with your audience.

If you are selling physical items, then posting images and videos about your products should be your go-to strategy. However, what adds extra oomph to your content is when you add CTA in your comment section. Mention your item in the comments section, provide a link to the sales page and direct people to the page.

4. Make your product images shoppable by tagging them

We already talked about using Call to Action in your content and bio. Now, comes the advance CTA usage. Having your product images tagged is a great way to increase your overall sales.
Tagging your products in your Instagram images provides a very clear CTA and makes it very simple for your followers to purchase from you. Instagram has recently allowed business accounts (in select countries) to tag items in their content, similar to how you tag people.

The setup is quite simple. You can quickly transform your Instagram profile into a sales channel with just a couple of clicks.
Here are the steps to get you started:
— Create a “Shop” section on your Facebook Business page which is connected to your Instagram business account
— Add your products to the Facebook page. Wait for a notification from Instagram that says you can now start tagging products. It takes a few days for the approval.
— Now, Whenever you are posting an image on Instagram, click the “tag a product” option, and you should see a list of all your product from the Facebook shop. Tag each product accordingly.
Whenever a viewer clicks a product tag, they are taken to the product page to buy it.

5. Pay attention to analytics

Finally, you should keep a close eye on the analytics inside your Instagram account. This area provides you with very useful information and data that can be used to increase the engagement on your content.
You can also see when your followers are active on Instagram under the “Audience” tab. You can break this down to each hour and plan your future content according to the peak times.
Pay attention to the photos and content that gets the most likes and comments, this is what your target audience prefers. You can use this data to curate content that your audience loves and increase overall engagement.

Hopefully, these easy-to-follow tips will help you grow your business with Instagram. Feel free to let us know what other methods you use on Instagram to grow your business.

— Saleem Ahrar is well-versed in knowledge about ecommerce strategies, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship. He spends his time testing new approaches, hacks, and tricks to help the e-commerce community.

• Posted 10.24.18 at 03:55 am by Roy Osing
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July 9, 2018

Why a marketing bundle really sucks like a dirty martini

Source: Unsplash

Why a marketing bundle really sucks like a dirty martini.

Many like a dirty martini; I don’t.

I love martinis but please keep them clean and uncontaminated by dirty fluids that violate the clear pristine gin and vermouth mixture. I don’t mind if you put 4 symmetrically organized olives on a skewer in it because they are gone before any real contamination can occur — I love olives but hate the juice.

I feel the same way about bundling and the way it is practised in the marketing world today.

Bundling — add a number of products together and give the customer a discount.
Combine two products and get 10% off the total price for both; take 3 products and the discount goes up to 15%. The more you buy, the more you save. A pretty simple idea.

To me, however, bundling practised in this manner is like mixing a dirty martini.

It contaminates and dilutes the basic marketing tenet that says price should be a direct function of value; the greater the value, the higher the price.
And, conversely, the lower the value, the lower the price.

I’m not aware of any marketing principle that advocates increasing the value of an offering and then reducing the price.
Even if economies of scale and scope were in play, the right thing to do would be to maintain price levels and reflect the benefits of the lower costs in increased margins.

But rarely does merely selling two products together materially drive cost down; bundling isn’t physical integration.
Combine long distance service and internet service on a customer’s bill, and the telecom company doesn’t realize any measurable cost savings as a result of the combination yet the customer gets a discount for signing up to two communications products.

It’s an illusion

And it’s a pipe dream to believe that lower bundle prices stimulate long term demand and increase revenues. Combined billing for long distance plus internet service doesn’t stimulate usage of either.
I’ve had home phone, long distance, internet and TV services bundled together for years, but still treat each one separate and distinct from a consumption point of view — my usage hasn’t changed for any one of them.

The customer loves getting the discounts but no real value is created for the organization. In my former CMO days, I was skeptical to the point of a non-believer of bundling activity — I viewed it as lazy marketing and slight of hand.

Bundling drives marketing creativity to zero

It’s a no brainer — it doesn’t take a marketing graduate — to add and bill two services together and apply a discount.
What talent does it take to do that? What value proposition does the addition produce other than a lower price?
When long distance and internet service are sold together, what unique communications value is created by the synergy between the two services other than a price discount? Right. Nada.

Marketing professionals should be motivated to create new packaged solutions that seamlessly integrate a number of product elements and apply premium — not discounted — prices that reflect the added value created by the package.

Bundling ignores basic pricing principles

The function of price is to value the exchange between an individual and an organization that satisfies each party to the transaction. A successful value exchange leaves the customer happy with the money they have spent for the benefits they have received ; the company is better off because they realize an acceptable margin.

It’s easy to offer volume discounts but it completely ignores the impact it has on profitability. You can’t sell a martini if it doesn’t make money.
Do you really think a discount should be offered if you buy two drinks? Never seen a two-fer on martinis.

Bundling gains no competitive advantage

All marketing teams think by offering bundles they create customer loyalty; that by offering reduced prices for volume, customers will decide to stay with the organization forever.
Not true. People are fickle when it comes to price and will go wherever the lowest price is offered.

The reality is that most competitors offer bundles and therefore competitive advantage is conferred on no one. All the banks use bundling, all the telecom companies offer them — every sector is represented in the bundling dysfunction.

Bundling gives customers the wrong message

Increase the number of products provided and get a price savings is exactly the wrong message that should be given to the market.
In life the more value you receive the higher price you expect to pay. In martinis, the better the gin, the higher price for the martini — bar stock gin is sold at a lower price than Brockmans.

Bundling screws them over

Customers deserve more value that satisfies their overall wants and desires and we should be doing it at prices that reflect the value they perceive they’re receiving.
This preoccupation with discount bundling is a distraction to the marketing profession from what they should be practising.

Bundling is a red herring; it’s the olive juice that screws up a perfectly good martini.

What people really want are integrated packages that satisfy a broad range of what they covet. Packages that reflect their lifestyle, for example, that might seamlessly integrate elements like a vacation, meal, wine, snuba and a car rental or if it’s a business, elements like sales training, CRM apps and logistics assistance.

Bundling is marketing’s dirty martini; it muddies the waters of good marketing

Let’s get back to the basics — create more value for customers and charge premium prices that reflect it.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.9.18 at 03:43 am by Roy Osing
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